Heart of Gold

Chapter Seventeen - Hope

Kilnor watched his teammates disembark from the ship, Cade taking point with Zandin and Zalon on either flank.

"Bring her back," Kilnor whispered, knowing his teammates would hear the soft sound.

Cade threw a single salute to his younger brother before he disappeared into the trees, Zandin and Zalon following just behind.

Kilnor stared after them for a long moment, before he gritted his teeth and hit the button to lift the ramp, resolved to watching the screen for their reappearance.

***

The forest through their night goggles was no less eerie, though it was certainly brighter and easier to navigate. Cade was not sure how the technology worked, but he did know that wearing the goggles allowed him to view the forest almost as one might in daylight, but without having to use a torch or light to give away their position.

Not that there seemed to be much position to give away. They all wore ear pieces that linked with the communicators on their wrists, but the ear pieces also magnified the sounds around them, and Cade could hear nothing unnatural.

No footsteps as guards swept through the trees. No murmurs as guards conversed. Not even the rustle of clothing. No, the only sounds were the faint whispering of the trees, and the soft sounds of bird calls.

They had spread out. Cade knew that Zandin and Zalon were someplace either side of him, but not exactly. They all were moving with the shadows, using the trees for cover. Their dark uniforms had been designed with camouflage in mind, and all of them knew how to best use it.

"I think we are about a click out," Zandin's hushed voice spoke directly into Cade's ear. "Should we head directly to the location, or find a vantage point?"

From back on the ship, Kilnor chimed in, declaring that they should head directly to the location.

"No," decided Cade, ignoring his brother. "I want to get a look first."

Kilnor knew better than to grumble through the communicator, and so he stayed silent. Cade could almost feel his annoyance.

"We should head left, then," Zandin directed. "It looks like there is a hill that should overlook the signal's origin."

Considering the ground already had a slight slope upwards on the left side, Zandin's suggestion seemed to be a sound one, and Cade authorised the movement.

With the ear piece in his ear magnifying sound, Cade could hear each of his breaths loud and clear. The sound was oddly isolating, and he tried to hear past it, to the sounds of the world.

The three comrades moves swiftly through the night, and t did not take long before they were convened on top of the hill. Zandin had been entirely correct in this places suitability as a vantage point. The hill dropped away on side to reveal a much larger and steeper slope, and far away, at the base of it was another clearing, in the centre of which stood a building.

"That should not be there," Zalon voiced what they were all thinking. "It was not there on the satellite."

"They are blocking it somehow," Zandin suggested. "Coding? Someone who hacked into the system?"

Both were valid possibilities, but neither seemed directly relevant to their task at hand: rescue Sunny.

"The place looks abandoned," Cade observed quietly. "I cannot see anybody, or anything moving."

A sharp intake of breath audible through the communicator suggested that Kilnor did not like the sound of that, but he did not speak or comment.

"We should head down."