Page 74 of Diamond

I'm still trying to figure out a topic of conversation that won't make my cheeks flame when the path gets more rutted.

Soon after, we get to a ridgeline that is almost too slim for an argila to walk along. I use one hand to hold on to the edge of the cart for safety, and another to hold the chamber. But Kuret suggests that it might be better to put it between us. "Our bodies will act as a shield so it does not fall out."

I agree but the path is still too uneven to make any changes without falling off.

Kuret tries to make sure that Roshan and Darya go through smoothly all the while holding onto the chamber, until a sinkhole suddenly forms behind us.

I hear Kuret mutter something under his breath as the chamber starts to slide down the back of the weathered wooden cart. I reach both of my hands out to grab at it and catch it just before it falls off the back.

"Nasrin, are you alright?" he asks me, and I grunt out an answer.

The strain is hell on my back. My arms burn as I struggle to keep the chamber in some semblance of stability and somehow I succeed.

With a low bellow, Darya pulls us up and I get the chamber moved back into place.

A moment later, it occurs to me that I shouldn't have been strong enough, but I don't have time to figure out the reason.

Poor Darya is struggling to pull the cart through the rapidly crumbling ridgeline, and it's clear she's not having an easy time. I want to reach forward and tell her it will be okay, but I am still trying to get both me and the chamber steady.

This delicate balancing act is taking far more energy than I would have thought, but somehow I continue to manage it.

"Pull yourself up. Take my hand," Kuret calls down, his voice a bit louder than the argila's braying but still strong enough to reach me. He stretches out a three-fingered hand and I grab onto it, letting him pull me up.

At the same time, Darya pulls hard, with Roshan urging her on, manages to get the cart out of the rut it was stuck in.

I am still pulling the chamber forward when the back of the cart falls into another hole that wasn't there before, and the chamber slips out of my grasp. "No!" I exclaim, clawing at the empty air in a desperate attempt to catch it.

I watch as the chamber falls into the sinkhole like a heavy stone in a stream. The cart follows close behind, getting caught on a jagged outcropping along the inside wall.

Kuret leans down, trying to grab it and find enough leverage to lift it out, but it's no use. Without hesitation, he decides to climb in himself to retrieve it. I express my objections, but he waves away my concerns and lowers himself down into it.

After our impossible attempts at getting the cart unstuck, we both freeze when we hear a wet, honking sound.

Jumping to my feet, my eyes meet Kuret's and he has the same panic in his eyes.

He looks ahead as he hops off the cart, his body going tense, and eyes wide with realization. "They are close. I will go and try to hold them off."

He doesn't let me speak before screaming a battle cry and running ahead with one hand on the hilt of his blade and a large stick that I hadn't seen him pick up in the other.

"Never again!" he bellows out as he charges.

And with that, he's gone.

All the commotion is too much for the argila, who start bleating and trying to move away from the rut where Darya's stuck. Roshan bites desperately at the straps holding Darya.

I hop on the back of the cart and climb forward until I reach the point where the harness is, then try to undo the knots, but my hands are shaking too badly.

I hear the honking getting closer, and I look up furtively.

Kuret's hair is a swinging blur in the distance, and I watch him punch an arm right through one of the genali.

I wonder where the rest of them are, but then a bullet hits far too close to us, clearing my mind of any questions. I give up on the knots, grabbing my knife and slashing at the straps connecting Darya.

"Run! Go protect Darya!"

The argila race off before I am even done with my sentence. Understanding my message, Roshan heads straight for the female, while another projectile whistles close by and buries itself in the ground by my foot.

I let out a yelp and scurry away.

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