The rural locals couldn't have missed the 'scurrying many-legged beasts'. The driver barely had to ask anything, before we picked up the trail of the Conglomerate detachment.

As we circled around the outcrops and crevices, the road lost its width and gained jagged rocks to compliment its mud and gravel. Soon the clumsy wheels of the cart couldn't navigate the ever rougher terrain.

I got out of the cart. We were on the right track, as evidenced by the distinctive foot prints of a carriage.

As I looked up the steepening country, a sigh of exasperation left my lips. I wasn't made for mountaineering. Even if I didn't get lost, it would take hours to reach the top of the crags.

At least Ansis had given me good shoes. I told the driver to get back and tell the Roluan authorities, where I was going. If nothing else, they might be able to haul my bones out of what ever gorge I fell into.

My breath faltered, and I stopped to look at the rather barren view. Rolu wasn't a lush country: even in the warmest of summers the moors were tinged with brown. Yet there was stark and uncompromising beauty in that windswept land. It would have been shame, if people had to die for the sake of what was hidden below.

The foolishness of my attempt made itself clear. My feet ached, and the cold air seeped through my clothes. My plan didn't go further than appearing in the view of Bemariq. If he could not be convinced, it mattered little what I did.

A swift movement down the slope caught my eye. A large but agile critter jumped between rocks. It found the path I had used and hopped towards me. The familiar nimble Jaan carriage, followed further down by more cumbersome transports with thick chitin covering.

I sat on a stone to wait.

Sitolytta's carriage stopped next to me. Clinging to the back were two soldiers in full combat gear.

The magnatess peered from the window. "So, you weren't a distraction."

"To what?" I clambered onboard.

Two more soldiers sat inside, their faces set into frowns that barely contained their excitement. As soon as I was seated next to the magnatess, the carriage leaped into motion.

"The dig site was attacked", Sitolytta said. "Your suit was the main asset stolen."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Three of the guards got shot, but only one died." The magnatess scowled and squeezed her fists. "Oh, I felt awful to have been fooled by you! But seems you also were tricked."

"Only by my own expectations. I was more... bullied with the implied threat of physical force."

Sitolytta made a dismissive gesture. "The lot of women, I'm afraid."

I glanced at the soldiers riding with us. "That's rather rich coming from you."

The magnatess smile became more smug. "I did not claim we have to settle for it. Do you know, why the Conglomerate hurried to these cliffs?"

I explained about the secondary entrance, and what I assumed was the Conglomerate's plan. What they were going to do once inside, I didn't want to guess aloud.

"My suspicions were close enough." Sitolytta tapped her chin with a long finger. "It was convenient that I found you. Would do me a favour?"

"Of what sort?"

"Say that you gave your carapace to me as a gift."

"Why-- So you can officially claim the Conglomerate 'stole' it instead of legitimately repossessing?"

"Exactly. Without some justification, I fear this will end up as an old-fashioned scrap, in which might alone decides right."

"Incidentally, I find it hard to trust you with any more favours."

Sitolytta chuckled. "Come now, lady Usinilim. At the moment, I'm not your enemy."

"Alright. I actually gave the carapace to you, even if I completely forgot about it. There. But the identification ring, that is mine."

The carriage reached the lower summits. The ground was too stony for following foot prints any longer.

A pained grunt from the carriage told we were in the right direction. The beast swerved behind the cover of large rocks.

"A needlershot", a soldier said from the outside of the carriage said. "From too far away to penetrate."

"Did you see, where it came?" Sitolytta asked.

"I think I saw a helmet among the stones. Up and right from us."

"Alright." The magnatess opened a elytron and pointed towards a low ridge. "Make the carriage circle so we come above them and stay out of range. Don't answer those warning shots. Our business is purely legitimate, now that lady Usinilim has joined us."

Below was a steep ravine lined by broken sediment. There the Conglomerate group prepared their equipment. A silver-haired and tall shape --Ayimun-- was conferencing with a smaller one, presumably Luwud Duy.

A detachment of huge myrmidons, clad in dark grey-purple carapace, stood proudly without any sign of acknowledging that they might soon find themselves surrounded. Even their sharpshooter had come down from his perch.

My Bemariq crouched in front of a casket. A young woman in a servant's gown fidgeted beside him.

"I don't see any doorway", I said.

"Look there." Sitolytta pointed into the distance. "The gravel of that slope has been recently dug, into what looks like a tunnel big enough to crawl into. A landslide must have buried the entrance."

"Oh, Bem..." I mouthed. He must have dug through day and night in this bleak environment, like a man possessed. "I need to go down there."

Sitolytta gave me an amused look. "Did you suddenly come up with a plan?"

"No. I need to hear him say it, that this all is worth the cost."

"I'd prefer to keep you away from all starfarer technology, considering that access granted to you." The magnatess drew a whistling breath and sighed. "Perhaps I owe you that much. Go on. But don't make the situation any worse."

I choked on the dust cloud, which had been lifted by my clumsy descent down the gravel slope. A myrmidon strode to me, his man-length needler casually aimed at my direction.

"Are you going to shoot an unarmed woman?" I asked.

The soldier's inhuman mask didn't let me see his face, though I did imagine a casually cruel smirk on it. He gestured with his weapon. "Come along, girl."

"Ah..." The pleasant tone from Ayimun was incongruous to his barely veiled sneer. "Lady Usinilim. You ultimately decided to join us."

Bemariq turned to me. His eyes flared open. "You shouldn't be here, Sirin."

"I have to be here." Though my jaw quivered, I did my best control my voice. "I need to stop you from committing this mistake. Even if you get inside, this isn't the proper way to conduct your research! You just changed one set of looters for another."

"Less than ideal circumstances are better than none", Bemariq said.

"You said it yourself", I insisted. "That this needed to be done right."

"Gag her", Ayimun said.

"No!" Bemariq yelled. "If you touch her, you won't have my help."

I stepped forward, but a myrmidon shifted to make clear he wouldn't let me closer to my husband. I said: "Bem, the Conglomerate will let you have only your personal glory, if that. What good is fame to a man like you? I didn't fall in love with your renowned name."

Bemariq shivered. He took the wrist of the servant woman in his. The ring --my ring-- was in his other hand.

Among all the danger, the despair from that gesture drowned my mind.

"Bem", I whimpered. "Please, don't..."

My husband closed his eyes and sighed. He dropped his arms, looked at me and smiled. "What a fool I've become."

He strode to me, and I hurried to him.

"Take the ring", Ayimun commanded.

A myrmidon stepped between me and Bemariq. My husband lifted the hand holding the ring away. A shrill scream filled the air.

The soldier struck Bemariq's chest with the stock of his needler. My husband crumbled, only to receive a sharp jab into his face. Another myrmidon grabbed Bemariq's hand and clawed the ring out.

The two men let my husband fall on the stony ground. My vision was blurry, as I pawed and hugged my Bemariq.

"Sirin..." he breathed.

I was filled with an urge to scream, the need hold his hand, the desire to kiss and make love to him. A hand touched my cheek, and I found enough of my calm to stop sobbing.

"I'm fine", Bemariq lied. The skin of his brow was cut and bled over his face. At least his proud nose was still on straight, and his pained grin had all of the teeth.

I took his hand and squeezed it hard enough to sink my nails into his palm. He deserved a little pain, and it might have helped clear his head.

"Commandant", Ayimun barked. "Get the servant into the suit. We will have to be inside, before the Jaan sow brings forth her whole stud farm."

Though the Jaan forces would outnumber them, the group of myrmidons wouldn't have expected too much trouble, even without the overly advantageous positions, which the crags were rife with.

Even now, Ayimun wasn't ready to escalate the conflict into an actual war. What he assumed he could find was worth being driven into a hole with only one exit. He must have been after weaponry; something to fire the grand opening shot of an oceanic war with.

Based on what I had seen in the vault, Ayimun's errant was not a mere fool's. He had to be stopped.

The servant girl had been undressed and was being fit into my carapace.

I gave Bemariq a quick kiss, stood and said: "The suit is locked to everyone but me. But I'll help you. In exchange, you must let Bemariq stay here. He's wounded and can't follow us inside. With me, you won't need him."

Commandant Duy turned to look at Ayimun. The associate must have understood that I'd betray him at the first chance I got. In order to give me the opportunity, he'd have to think himself smarter than me, which --based on his behaviour towards me-- wasn't far-fetched.

"Alright", Ayimun said. "Let's move."

I glanced Bemariq, who gave dazed but understanding look.

"Stay safe", he whispered.

I pursed my lips. "I'll try."

After undressing, I took the ring from the quivering girl.

The myrmidons kept their needlers at my head, as they helped me into my suit. Should the carapace armour stop the projectile, the impact from such a gun would still turn my brains into mush.

Even without their guns, fighting the myrmidons was no option. Though their armour was degenerated compared to mine, the finely bred strength, aided by the brawn of several massive men, would overpower me.

The familiar power surrounded my body, but I wasn't willing to admit that I was trapped despite the tightness of the suit.