Steamsworn (Steamborn Series Book 3) by Eric Asher Page A

supports that ran underneath the cliff base of Dauschen. It was their target, though Jacob couldn’t see how they could possible reach it.
    “It’s higher than I expected,” Charles said before he cursed. “I’m not sure we can even reach that from here.”
    Charles swept the lantern to his left and then his right. A path led out in both directions. To the left, the path descended while the steel seemed to rise ever higher. “Come on. Let’s try following the right path deeper into the cave.”
    Jacob adjusted his heavy backpack and followed Charles. Samuel brought up the rear.
    The humidity made the ever-narrowing tunnel even more claustrophobic than the space itself should have been. Jacob had never considered himself frightened of small spaces, but by the time Charles had to squeeze sideways through the narrower parts of the tunnel, he was ready for wide-open spaces.
    Jacob’s right hand clenched his backpack as he sidestepped down the corridor beside Charles. His left held up his lantern, for all the good it did.
    It was only a few more minutes in the tighter sections of the corridor before it opened into a wider cavern and Charles leaned over, taking a deep breath.
    “I may be getting too old for this,” Charles said with a weak laugh.
    Samuel grunted as he slid out of the narrows. “Yes you are.” He ruffled Jacob’s hair and winked.
    Charles raised his lantern and squinted at the wide steel cylinder. “That’ll do. We need more charges at each location,” he said as he patted the steel. “I want to be damn sure this goes down in one blast.”
    Something squeaked in the shadows, and the sound echoed all around them.
    Samuel swung his lantern around the small cave. “Let’s plant the charges and get out.”
    “You’d never make it as a miner,” Charles said.
    “A miner? I’m much too pretty for that.”
    Charles snorted. “Just an observation.” He lowered his backpack to the ground. He ducked around the steel supports and stretched his arms around them. “I think five charges would probably cut them, but let’s play it safe.”
    “What’s safe?” Jacob asked.
    “Damn good question there,” Samuel muttered.
    Jacob caught a smile beneath the glint of lantern light on Charles’s glasses. “Six should be fine. Tie them down with a length of blasting coil. With the transmitter attached to the igniter, we should be able to detonate these remotely.”
    “Should,” Samuel said. “We better be sure.”
    Charles nodded and pulled a copper trigger out of his vest. He stared at it for a moment and then pulled the trigger, held it, and slowly released it. “We’ll know soon enough. There’s a lot of rock between here and there, but I’m optimistic. Smith claims the advances they’ve made over the past decade give the transmitters an expansive range.”
    “Well, they reach Bollwerk from here,” Samuel said, “but that’s not with thirty feet of stone in between.”
    Charles nodded. “I know. Let’s get these charges set.” He slid a brass bar through the copper trigger, tested it to make sure it couldn’t move, and then nodded to himself.
    “What’s that?” Samuel asked.
    “It’s a safety, so we don’t accidentally blow your pretty face off while we’re underground.”
    “Oh,” Samuel said with a frown. “I may not have thought this adventure all the way through.”
    Charles dragged his backpack over to the nearest support and held up his lantern.
    Jacob walked over to the cave wall. “This used to be a copper mine, but it looks strange.”
    “Yes,” Charles said. “There’s a webwork of copper running all through these caves. I’ve never seen anything else like it, personally, but copper will stop a signal from just about anything.”
    Jacob frowned and followed the line of Charles’s lantern. “How’s the remote trigger going to work?”
    “We’ll know when we get back to the safe house. There’s no sense worrying about it until then.”
    Jacob knew Charles