The first figure emerged from the tunnel and David let his fire rise to meet them. The flame roared out of his hands, a wall of crimson and gold that filled the entrance and sent shadows scrambling across the cavern walls. He heard shouting from the tunnel, heard someone curse, heard the scramble of feet pulling back from the heat.
Lucas was beside him now, his body already twice its normal size, his hands clenched into fists that looked like they could punch through stone. Becca had disappeared into the shadows, her form flickering at the edges of David's vision, waiting for the moment when she'd be most useful.
More figures appeared from the tunnel, four of them, masked and armored, moving with the kind of coordination that came from training and experience. They spread out across the cavern, their weapons raised, their eyes scanning for threats. David recognized the way they moved, the way they checked each other's angles, the way they didn't hesitate when they saw the flames. Professionals. The same kind of people who'd attacked Kaito.
One of them stepped forward, his hands raised in a gesture that might have been peace if the others hadn't been fanning out behind him. "We're not here to fight you, Ashborn. We're here for what you found. Give it to us and we'll let you walk out of here."
David kept the fire burning in his hands, kept his eyes on the speaker, kept his breathing steady. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The man laughed, a short sound that didn't reach his eyes. "You've been running around the Expanse for two days following a map your father left you. You think we didn't know? You think we haven't been waiting for you to lead us here?" He gestured at the empty pedestal behind David. "Where is it?"
"You're too late." David let the fire build higher, let the heat fill the cavern, let the man see what he was dealing with. "It's gone. Hidden somewhere you'll never find it. Somewhere no one will ever find it."
The man's expression shifted, the easy confidence cracking into something uglier. "You're lying."
"Try me."
For a moment no one moved. The fire crackled in David's hands and the shadows pooled at the edges of the cavern and Lucas stood like a mountain between them and whatever the masked men had planned. David could feel Becca somewhere in the darkness, could feel her waiting, could feel the tension winding tighter and tighter until something had to break.
The man gave a signal and the other three moved.
David didn't think. He threw fire at the two on the left, a wall of flame that cut them off from the rest of the cavern, and Lucas charged the one on the right, his massive fist connecting with the man's shield and sending him flying into the cavern wall. Becca appeared behind the speaker, her shadows wrapping around his throat, her dagger pressed against his side.
"Tell your people to stand down," she said, her voice cold, and the man raised his hand.
The two on the left had stopped, held back by the fire that was still burning between them and David. The one Lucas had hit was struggling to his feet, his arm hanging at an awkward angle, his mask cracked. The speaker stood very still with Becca's shadows around his neck and her dagger at his ribs.
"You're making a mistake," the man said, his voice tight. "You don't know what you're dealing with. You don't know what that thing is, what it can do. Taking it was the worst decision you've ever made."
David walked toward him, the fire still burning in his hands, his eyes locked on the man's face behind his mask. "My father died to protect it. My mother died to protect it. And you think I'm going to hand it over to the people who killed them?"
The man's eyes went wide. "You don't know what you're talking about. Your parents—"
"My parents were murdered by people who wanted what you want. People who've been hunting for it for eighteen years." David stopped a foot away from him, close enough to see the fear behind the mask. "So here's what's going to happen. You're going to walk back out of this cavern and you're going to tell whoever sent you that you found nothing. That the vault was empty. That whatever they've been looking for isn't here and never was."
The man stared at him for a long moment. "And if I don't?"
David let the fire in his hands flare, let the heat wash over the man's face, let him feel what it would be like to burn. "Then I'll make sure you don't walk out of here at all."
Becca tightened her grip on his arm. "David."
He knew what she was saying. Don't do this. Don't become them. Don't let the rage win. He pulled the fire back, let it sink into his hands, let it wait.
The man was breathing hard now, his confidence gone, his training failing him. "You think hiding it will keep it safe? You think they'll stop looking? They've been looking for eighteen years. They'll look for eighteen more if they have to. They'll find it eventually. They always find what they're looking for."
David stepped back and the fire in his hands died completely. "Then I'll be ready when they do."
He nodded at Becca and she released the man, stepping back into the shadows, her dagger disappearing like it had never been there. Lucas moved to David's side, his body still shifted, his fists still ready. The other three masked men had gathered behind their leader, watching, waiting, unsure of what to do next.
"Get out," David said.
The man stared at him for a long moment, something shifting in his expression. Hatred maybe, or respect, or just the calculation of a man who'd lost this round but was already planning the next. Then he turned and walked back toward the tunnel, his people following, their footsteps fading into the darkness until there was nothing left but the echoes.
David stood there for a long moment, the silence pressing against him, the adrenaline draining out of his body and leaving something hollow behind. Lucas's hand found his shoulder and squeezed.
"You okay?"
"No." David looked at the empty pedestal, at the place where the egg had been, at the thing his parents had died to protect. "But I will be."
Becca emerged from the shadows, her face pale, her eyes fixed on the tunnel where the masked men had disappeared. "They're not going to stop. You know that right? They know you have it. They know it's somewhere. They'll keep looking."
"Then we'll keep hiding it." David turned away from the pedestal and walked toward the tunnel, toward the surface, toward the long walk back to First Landing. "Come on. We need to get out of here before they change their minds."
They moved through the tunnel in silence, the light from David's fire the only thing pushing back the darkness. The walls were bare here, no symbols, no carvings, nothing to show that this place had ever been anything more than a cave in the side of a mountain. His father had built the vault to be found and then forgotten and then found again when it needed to be. He'd built it to last, built it to hide, built it to protect something that people would kill for.
And now it was empty.
The climb back to the surface took less time than the descent, adrenaline pushing them faster, the fear of the masked men returning pushing them harder. Lucas was breathing heavy behind David, his body back to its normal size but his face still tight with tension. Becca was silent, her shadows moving around her like a shield, her eyes scanning every shadow for threats that might still be waiting.
They burst out of the cave entrance into the fading light of the Expanse evening and for a moment they just stood there, breathing, existing, letting the relief wash over them.
Lucas dropped to his knees. "I hate caves. I really hate caves. I never want to see another cave for the rest of my life."
David sat down beside him, his legs giving out, his body finally accepting that the danger was past. "It wasn't that bad."
"It was terrible. It was dark and cramped and there were people trying to kill us and also the whole thing was underground which is where things go when they die." Lucas flopped onto his back. "We're never doing this again."
Becca sat down on David's other side, her shadows retreating, her face relaxing into something almost human. "He's right. It was terrible."
David looked at them, these two people who had followed him into a cave in the middle of nowhere, who had stood beside him against armed assassins, who had trusted him when he'd given them no reason to trust. "Thank you."
"For what?" Lucas asked, not moving from his position on the ground.
"For coming. For staying. For not asking questions I couldn't answer."
Lucas lifted his head to look at him. "You said you'd explain later. I'm holding you to that."
David reached into his pocket and touched the crystal, felt its warmth, felt the presence of the egg somewhere in the shelter that only he could reach. "I will. I promise."
They lay there in the fading light, the mountain behind them, the Expanse stretching out ahead, and for a moment it was enough just to be alive, just to be together, just to have made it out.
Then Lucas sat up. "We should probably move before those guys come back with friends."
David stood, his legs steadier now, his mind clearer. "Yeah. Let's go home."