"This..."
The messenger did not understand. "What good will that do? Buy them time?"
"Doesn't matter. Clear it!"
At Aili's command, Pain Gang members in bulky cotton clothes swarmed to the tunnel entrance and began hauling away the rubble.
The Wolf Gang messenger watched for a while, grew bored, and waited in the empty shed.
But the tedious work continued through the wind and snow for two hours. They dug six or seven meters in, yet the rubble showed no sign of ending.
The gang members kept working. No one complained.
They had followed their leader out of the Northern Frontier. Without him, they would already have died in the bellies of rats.
The Wolf Gang messenger said impatiently, "How long did they spend filling this in? Are they really inside?"
He still had to collect their heads and report back to the Wolf King.
"Rama."
Aili, who had stood in the wind and snow all this time, called out a name.
Rama lowered her bow and entered the Mine Tunnel.
"Shh..."
She motioned the gang members around her aside and told them to keep quiet. Then she slowly pressed her ear to the rubble and listened for sounds on the other side.
The sounds of breathing and heartbeats gradually faded as Rama focused her attention beyond the stone.
Faint, jumbled sounds reached her ears, too muddled to make out. Rama was about to listen more closely when the stone against her ear suddenly shifted aside and a longsword stabbed through.
Thud—
With all her attention on listening, Rama had no time to react. The blade pierced her head.
"Rama!"
Aili's eyes blazed with fury. "Attack!"
The Pain Gang members charged at once, slamming into the pile of rubble. It had seemed sturdy, but only a thin layer remained.
The