by Frank Morin
Was there maybe a higher speed to air than he had yet discovered? Could he convince Air to share another secret? She seemed pretty competitive and she probably wouldn’t like it when he explained that as much as he like flying with her, she just wasn’t fast enough anymore. She might share it.
Or she might shove a tornado down his shorts to remind him to have respect.
Kilian waited for him at the bridge, leaning against the railing, looking bored. Connor was going to make a wisecrack, but Shona’s voice caught his attention. He had fallen into the habit of maintaining a low tap rate with all of his affinities. Now he focused on quartzite and applied a little more to his ears to catch her words.
“Connor, please respond immediately if you can hear me. I will continue repeating this message every ten minutes until you get it. We’ve received another update from our asset. If you can find Kilian, bring him too. Then Wolfram needs both of you to help with the next act in his little play of disinformation for Craigroy’s listening device.”
“What is it?” Kilian asked.
“Shona. A new update from our contact down south.” They were too far away for the queen to eavesdrop on their conversations, and Rory had an excellent picket of Pathfinder scouts to block any enemy Pathfinders from sneaking close enough to listening to what they said, but Connor could still not bring himself to say Ailsa’s name aloud. She was in more danger than any of them, and he would not risk adding to that out of carelessness.
In moments they found Shona in the central palace. Rory and Ivor were off meeting with troops who were working on rebuilding the city’s battered defenses. Shona was dressed in an elegant gown of blue satin, and her appearance startled Connor. She looked as regal and beautiful as ever, but he’d gotten used to seeing her wearing battle leathers.
Kilian waved. “What have you learned?”
“The queen has ordered her troops to prepare to move out. Based on timing of this message, we’ve probably got a couple days before they begin to march.”
“That seems like a long time,” Connor commented.
“I don’t think you’re the only one who needed some time to recover,” Kilian said, expression thoughtful. “But the delay does seem unusual.”
Shona said, “It sounds like few understand the extent of her injuries. She’s marshaling everyone.”
Connor grimaced. They had incinerated and destroyed her down to the tiniest bits. If he had focused a little longer and reduced that one chunk of skull down to the component molecules, would she still have been able to regenerate, or might that have actually killed her? To think they had been so close and still failed galled him to no end.
“She’s going to wait for the armies?” Kilian asked, sounding surprised.
“Worse, it sounds like she wants to personally help her army prepare. She’s got sculptors preparing a bunch of low-grade sculpted stones.”
“She’ll already have a huge advantage in numbers,” Connor complained.
“We rattled her,” Kilian said, but didn’t look pleased. “That means when she comes, she’ll hit us with everything she’s got. She’ll want to overwhelm us before we can surprise her again.”
“Not good. We’re supposed to be the ones with new ideas,” Connor said with a frown. On top of the annoyance factor for having to face someone they didn’t yet know how to kill, plus an army way bigger than their own, it seemed downright insulting for that army to also prepare new, creative ways to make their lives even more miserable.
Kilian added, “I suspect the fact that we blocked her from sandstone bothered her most of all. No one has ever hit her like that.”
“She’ll be ready for us to attempt to duplicate the trick. We’ve lost the element of surprise,” Shona said gravely.
“So we’d better come up with something extra creative too,” Connor said.
“In just a matter of days? We worked all winter to develop the plan we just tried against her. We can’t retool all of that overnight.”
Kilian said, “We’ll have to retool some of it. We lost marble and that means the Builders have too.”
Hearing him say it reminded Connor of how much they’d sacrificed. Not only the lives of two mighty Fast Rollers, but also one of the most powerful affinity stones. Marble fueled many of the Builder mechanicals, and as he considered the ramifications on their weapons and attack strategy he grimaced. Just dealing with that one problem would require an enormous amount of rework.
Shona said, “The Builders are already on it. Verena is working here in Merkland and Hamish has gone up to the pass to oversee efforts there.”
“Good. Those two have a knack for figuring out impossible things.” Kilian paced away, expression thoughtful. “If the army moves out in the next couple of days, they could be here in ten if she doesn’t kill half of them in forced marches.”
That gave them a little time, but not a ton. Connor asked, “Are you sure she’s planning to wait for the army instead of hitting us again by herself?”
Kilian said, “We’ll need to prepare for both eventualities. She could make a strike at Merkland and try to take us out, or brain-wipe some of us, or simply destroy most of our forces.”
“Rory and Ivor are already seeing to defenses,” Shona said, “but it sounds like she actually plans to remain with her army this time.”
“So we need to figure out how to lure her out again,” Connor said, thinking fondly of the vomit rocket.
Kilian nodded. “That would be ideal. Even if we cannot kill her outright, if we can drive her off again, that will give our armies a chance. If we can defeat her army, we might gain more time to figure out a winning strategy.”
Connor hated how so much of their battle strategy had to revolve around the fact that it was extremely unlikely they could actually kill the queen. Defeating her army would be a good first step, but there had to be a way. He had hurt her badly. Could he figure out how to hit her again with that supercharged death beam? Unless she was tapping quartzite, she wouldn’t even be able to see it coming.
Could they again block her from healing? He doubted it. She was far too crafty to walk into the same trap twice.
Shona pulled a small, rolled parchment from a deep pocket of her dress and handed it to Connor. “This came with the latest report. It’s addressed to you.” She didn’t look pleased that Ailsa was keeping secrets.
Connor took the parchment and broke the seal, curious why she would keep some of the material separate. The only reason he could think of was if she had a personal message concerning his family, but she’d never done anything like that. When he unrolled it, he frowned and glanced at Kilian.
“It’s gibberish.”
Kilian took the letter and nodded. “This must be extremely sensitive information. She’s encoded it.”
“What does that mean?” Connor asked. Shona leaned closer, studying the scroll with interest.
“See this ink blot near the bottom?” Kilian pointed at what Connor had seen only as a weird, curling smudge. “This means that this is part one of three parts of a message encoded using the Grandurian spy cipher.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Connor said.
Shona looked eager. “I have. We’ve intercepted a few Grandurian communiques over the years, but we never figured out how to decipher them.”
Kilian chuckled. “I bet you have. Don’t worry, Lady Shona, I can decipher it when we have all three parts, or I could have Wolfram or Verena do it.”
“Since we’re all on the same side now, wouldn’t it be wise to share the secret with some of the rest of us?” Shona asked sweetly, her expression as innocent as a babe’s.
“Nice try, Shona,” Kilian said with a wink. “Perhaps some day, but the king alone authorizes each individual given access to this secret.”
She shrugged. “A girl can’t be blamed for trying.” Then she grinned and changed the topic. “On a much happier note, Rory just announced that they’re moving up the wedding.”
“When
?” Connor asked.
“Tomorrow.”
11
It’s All a Matter of Priorities
Verena removed the piece of marble from the base of a diorite missile. Her fingers moved quickly with efficiency honed over the last couple of hours of repeating the same operation a hundred times.
The warehouse in the military district of Merkland was packed with even more missiles waiting their turn. Huge piles of now-useless marble was piled in overflowing crates on one side of her worktable. Stacks of crates filled with little pieces of quartzite took up the space to her right. Thankfully, they had a lot of quartzite, and Merkland cutters were working feverishly to pound more large blocks into appropriately-sized chunks.
Verena tossed the piece of marble aside with a feeling of frustration. They’d worked so hard to develop all of their battle mechanicals. Marble played a key role in so many of them, but now it was gone, snuffed out in a way Verena never would have imagined possible.
The researcher in her loved the fact that they were learning some of the deepest secrets of affinities, power stones, and the sylfaen. There was so much she wanted to know, so much she wanted to explore, and those glimpses into deeper truths offered tantalizing hints into entirely new branches of Builder study.
Her drive to understand those truths had proven frustrating, though. She’d tried every way she could think of to connect with Water again, but hadn’t felt so much as a glimmer. She had hoped developing the Sucker Punch higher-level mechanical might do it. She had to be missing something fundamental, but what? If she could only reach that Builder threshold, she might unlock so many answers and access so much more power. They desperately needed it, and she vowed to find a way.
In the meantime, they still had to survive the next battle. While she worked, her mind dwelt on the one overriding question that nagged at her like a thorn in her mind.
Why?
Queen Dreokt was scared of Builders. Something about Builders, some subtle aspect of their powers they had not yet recognized held the key to weakening the queen. It had happened to the ancient king, and her tirades against Builders and her reported reaction to the sculpted scone assault confirmed that. If only Verena could figure it out, that would change everything.
She slipped a quartzite block into position on the missile and secured it. If they had time to carefully craft the dimensions of the quartzite being placed at the base of every missile, they might actually improve performance, but there were simply too many to replace. They’d planned to complete that testing weeks ago, but it hadn’t been a high enough priority since they had plenty of marble.
Even if they knew the exact parameters, it would take the cutters too long to shape the pieces. Gisela and her tiny team of sculptors couldn’t help with that either because they were frantically rough-sculpting as many stones as they could. A stone sculpted to five times magnitude might not be enough for ascension, but they still offered dramatic improvements in power.
Plus, the sculpted obsidian pieces were still critical in so many of their mechanicals. If the queen had snuffed out obsidian instead of marble, she might have done the Builders far more damage. Verena shuddered to even think about it. Hopefully the queen would never discover how their remote mechanicals worked, or no doubt she would do just that.
As soon as she completed that missile repair, she nodded to two assistants waiting at either side of the table. They carefully hefted the completed missile and moved it to an empty rack on the far side of the room. As they fetched another missile for her, two other soldiers took up the completed missile and carried it away to install on one of the many mechanicals or flying craft being refitted.
Other Builders were working on the projectiles used by the rapid-fire siege weapons, or working on finalizing a batch of enormous bombs. Verena was not sure that was a great idea. The bombs had at first represented an enormous battlefield advantage, but the enemy was ready for them now. Harley had used their porphyry rage bomb against Merkland at terrible cost. The entire city might have been destroyed if not for Connor’s miraculous stilling of the entire population.
The new bombs might prove critical if the battle went against them. The queen’s forces lacked marble so they would no longer be able to siphon away the flames of a large explosion. The army might include many new Petralists, but most Pathfinders would lack any notable power with the air to deflect such bombs.
Earth and water were still viable, but since those would act as the primary battle stones for both forces, Verena expected that every Spitter and Water Moccasin would quickly become fully engaged. They would probably not have the attention to watch for large bombs.
While she mulled over the question of how to deal with some of the more complex marble mechanicals, she was surprised to see the hulking form of Erich enter her workroom.
He spoke in Grandurian. “Hail, Builder. How is the work going?”
“As well as can be expected. If they hit us now, we’d be in trouble. I bet less than ten percent of our missiles have been retrofitted with quartzite so far.”
“Unless they launch a surprise attack, it sounds like we should have at least a week to prepare.”
She hadn’t heard that, and breathed a sigh of relief. It would still take every effort to prepare in time, but her sense of frantic, near-panic faded.
He added with a grin, “Rory and Anika have announced they’re moving up the wedding to tomorrow.”
Verena shrieked with joy, which startled her assistants. One of them backpedaled, his face draining as he glanced at the missile, no doubt expecting it to blow up in their faces. The other one leaped forward and grabbed the weapon to keep it from rolling off the table. Verena had forgotten they were standing there. They wouldn’t have understood the conversation since neither of them spoke Grandurian.
She hugged Erich, laughing with joy. She was so thrilled that Rory and Anika had figured out how to make their seemingly impossible relationship work. Their love story inspired the troops and had come to represent the heart of the revolution. Choosing to move up the wedding to before the impending battle was a brilliant stroke. It would give everyone a refreshed sense of hope.
She reassured her two assistants, then told Erich, “How do you feel to know your sister is marrying an Obrioner general?”
He shrugged. “Rory is the only man strong enough for her. He fights with honor, and he will cherish her.”
Verena agreed completely. She loved weddings, but had avoided Anika in recent days. She had every excuse, with preparing their trap for the queen, but seeing Anika so happy, immersed in her wedding planning was painful for Verena. She longed to be doing the exact same thing, planning for her union with Connor. She understood why Connor wanted to wait, but she didn’t agree with him. Maybe when he saw how happy Rory and Anika were together, he’d realize he was being silly.
Then she gasped as a terrible realization struck. She placed a hand over her mouth and whispered with wide-eyed terror, “My dress will never be done in time.”
Erich laughed. “That was Anika’s first concern too. Rory suggested they encourage everyone to come to the wedding in military uniforms so they wouldn’t have to worry about that.”
Good idea. “Anika will definitely wear her wedding dress, despite how much Rory says he prefers her in battle leathers. I’m one of her chosen maids, so I need to get my dress done too.”
Erich shrugged. “With all this work, you think you’ll still finish?”
“I might have to quit a little early today and stay up really late tonight, but we’ll get it done. If I can design an entirely new higher-level mechanical of arcane power to rob healing from the queen in just a couple days, I can complete a wedding dress in one night.”
“And your gift?”
Verena groaned. “I haven’t even thought about that yet. I figured we had plenty of time.”
“Me too. I have ideas, but since none of us might live out the next two weeks, I’m thinking I should make something memorable.�
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He was right. As much as Anika loved flowers, she did not need any as presents. She had access to literal tons, and as a champion florist, she could compose far more elaborate, beautiful arrangements than Verena ever could. A battle-themed gift definitely made sense, but what?
Anika would enter battle at Rory’s side. Dressed in her battle leathers and with all of the weapons and powdered granite for an extended bash fight. What could Verena add that she would appreciate and that might give her an edge?
Erich said, “I’ve had a new battle hammer forged for her. Complete with affinity symbols engraved on the head. Would you touch the stone and harden it?”
“Of course. I’d be honored.” No doubt a lot of soldiers would carry hardened granite weapons into battle. Touched by a Builder, they were stronger than steel and virtually unbreakable. Verena suspected Anika might end up receiving more than one new hammer as wedding gifts.
Erich waved goodbye, grinning like a boy. “I’ll bring it by later.”
As Verena got back to work, she let her fingers run through the practiced motions while she pondered the question.
What gift to give the battle maiden bride of the great General Rory for her wedding on the eve of battle?
12
Everyone Loves a Jean’s Jacket
Hamish soared over the split peak of Badurach Pass, loving the chance to simply fly and enjoy the skies. The Hawk was fun, better than most of the other flying machines, but nothing matched his battle suit. The afternoon sun warmed his back, and he could see for miles.
Just for fun, he rolled into a forward somersault, then into a spiraling twist, ending in a barrel roll, and couldn’t help lighting off a couple of multicolored flares. Laughing with the pure joy of untethered flight, he banked around the mountain until the huge host marshaling to the north came into view.
The entire plateau on the Grandurian side of the pass was covered in soldiers and mechanicals, their packed ranks stretching for miles. Ilse and Wolfram had been busy. Dozens of huge earthen buildings stood in ordered rows. The fact that those had been built before Connor calmed the elements was remarkable. Walking with earth along the pass had been tricky business.
