The guard twisted his hands together as he made a pained expression. “King Rothael said you’ll get your asses up there within the minute, or you’ll have no asses to worry about.”
“Then we will be up as soon as possible,” Lileth said, nodding to the guard, who turned on his heels and trotted off.
Cole stood and kicked his bunk, immediately regretting doing so with bare feet. “I’m sick of always being on the run! It’s go-go-go, every day! We’ve earned some time off.”
Lileth reached down and healed Cole’s foot with a droplet of rosy light. “We’ve been here for over two days. You were gone for some time while you Traveled. I don’t know if Traveling is the same as sleeping, but if you are tired I suggest you ask Eliza to guide you through a Passion-dream. It’s a clever form of hypnosis that can grant you the benefits of a full night’s sleep from a few minutes of day-dreaming.”
“Two days!” Cole gasped, rubbing his foot. “I hope this isn’t like when I disappeared from Earth. I would be gone for days or weeks at a time, over and over for months on end. Maybe this time was just because I was so tired from running around half the planet. I’ll talk to Eliza about the hypno-meditation thing.”
Eliza’s thoughts bloomed in his mind: “Just tell me when, brother.”
“How long have you been eavesdropping?” Cole demanded.
“I do not actively listen, but when you speak my name I can’t help but tune in. It’s almost like picking your whispered name out of a noisy crowd. You can sever the connection if you’d like,” she offered, her smile palpable through the link.
“Not now, but privacy would be nice sometimes,” Cole said, trying to mask his imagination, which had just wandered towards a fantasy that included himself and Lileth alone in the baths. “Stop laughing at me! Did you hear what the guard said when he came in a minute ago?”
“With my own ears. Don’t worry, we are clothing and hurrying our ‘asses’ as we speak. See you soon.”
Cole looked up at Lileth, hoping she hadn’t noticed his sudden lapse in attention. She stirred, as if suddenly rousing from her own day dream. “I thought you wanted to return to Terra. Have you changed your mind about going home?”
“I’m not sure I have much of a home to go back to,” he said, swallowing back an ache in his chest.
Lileth swooped down and gave Cole a quick, soft kiss on the cheek. “You have a home here.”
Cole suddenly felt as if he was the tallest man on Aeneria.
They wolfed down as much food as they could before heading back upstairs at a steady trot. Cole had no problem keeping up with the rest, but he didn’t like how Valen chose to carry Milette in his arms. She was a prisoner after all. Throughout the stone house the gas torches had been extinguished, replaced by the gratia-fed lights that had filled the whole estate with an ambient white glow. Frustrated engineers ran about, dousing fires and tinkering with old machines that had sparked and smoked to life. Guided by urgent instructions from passing guards, the unit found the throne hall where both Kings and several important-looking people were gathered around. Cole noticed the white-haired captain from the greeting party skulking behind King Auger with her arms crossed.
“Took you long enough,” Roth barked without looking at them. “They’re all here, go ahead and get started, Auger.”
King Auger beckoned them all closer to a wide table he leaned over. “Right then, gather round and take a good look at the overlays here. It’s been a lifetime since these things were running so forgive my fumbling.”
They all pulled in close, trying to get a good view. Cole hopped up onto Goran’s back so he could see over everyone’s shoulders. The table was six-sided with little drawers running up its length. King Auger opened one drawer near the top and a ribbon of woven azure light flowed out of a hidden slot, rippling and twisting into a miniature landscape.
King Auger pointed with his hammer: “The old machines powered up a few hours ago, including this map overlay. When the battle-alarms went off we thought it was some sort of glitch in the hardware. It wasn’t until our senior engineer took a look that we discovered the alarms to be genuine.” He motioned towards a man holding an armful of books and clipboards.
The man dropped one of his books and bent over to pick it up, only to drop the rest in a heap. He ignored the pile and shuffled closer to the table. “That’s right! The alarm systems may be old but they work just fine; however, it’s taking us a good while to deduce their finer machinations.” He pulled a miniscule notebook from a leather pocket on his belt, squinting his eyes and flipping through the tiny pages. “Battle overlays…battle overlays, yes! Sorry Kings, the old runes have me completely flummoxed.” He bent down and ran his fingers over the drawers, opening one near the bottom.
The model-landscape shifted to a depiction of the White Sands, including a tiny Morthain buried beneath its center. In stark contrast to the azure map were five red blobs blinking at the edge of the display. Looking closely, Cole saw the blobs crawling steadily towards Morthain.
The engineer replaced his notebook back into his belt. “As you may have guessed, those red things on the edge there are what’s setting off our alarms. We don’t know what they are, but we’ve been tracking their trajectory for the last hour and they are certainly headed for Morthain. And, they are certainly humongous. Ships perhaps. Their pace has been erratic, but we estimate their arrival within the hour.”
“That will do, Thanis,” King Auger said, slamming the drawers shut. The overlays whipped back into their slots. King Auger addressed Roth with a sober look. “Seeing as your lot have an appointment with the council, I assume you’ll be taking your leave before our guests arrive?”
“It pains me to miss a chance to draw munisica with you, but yes, we will be leaving. In your fastest ship,” Roth added.
An annoyed huff drew all eyes to Captain Seive. Her mouth looked like a dam holding back a flood. She surveyed the unit with a look of contempt before returning her sneer to Roth. “After nigh on thirty cycles you come here unannounced with your band of tramps from the other side of the planet. You insult our guards at every turn and make a mockery of our navy, and now you have the audacity to demand our fastest ship? What gives you the right? Old ways be damned, I won’t grovel and bandy favors for some forget-me-not King who wasn’t there for us when we needed him the most.”
Without warning King Auger’s hammer flashed through the air, pinning Captain Seive face first against the table. “You dare challenge King Roth after he evoked the trial? He had the good graces to spare your life and you spit at him now? You’ve no idea what this man’s done for Morthain, for your ancestors!”
The King’s hammer-hand lifted just enough to allow Captain Seive to speak. “I don’t care what he’s done for my dead uncles. Let them return from the aethers and lick his munisica. I won’t. I’m concerned with today’s Morthain, not yesterday’s half-remembered glories. Forgotten Kings and old traditions hold no sway over the wars of now. I set myself against this false-king with every bone and breath.”
“You lack-honored, toothless snake!” The King pressed his hammer deeper into Captain Seive’s back. She made no effort to resist. “You know nothing of war. I’d smother you now if I didn’t need you. Consider yourself relieved of rank. Report to the sergeants out at the proving grounds.” He removed his hammer, producing a muffled crunching from the captain’s chest.
Seive pushed herself off the pedestal, clutching her ribs and taking tiny breaths through thin lips. Her brittle gait suggested nearly all of her ribs had been broken by the King’s hammer. She walked stiffly towards the door, careful not to touch anyone on the way out. Everyone moved aside and a few of the dignitaries muttered their disapproval.
“Wait,” Roth’s voice thundered across the hall. Seive paused at the door without turning around. Roth’s munisica clacked against the polished tile as he walked over to her, pausing just behind her back. “Look at me.”
Seive hesitated, but then hobbled ar
ound on the spot, still clutching her chest. The color had vanished from her aged face, turning nearly as pale as her long snowy hair.
He bent down so his eyes were boring straight into hers. “Do you know why they call me Bonebreaker?”
“No.” Her voice was as thin and dry as a dead leaf.
Roth brought a dragon clawed hand to her chest, gently moving her hands away with a single bladed finger. For a moment Cole thought he was going to check to make sure all of her ribs had indeed snapped, but the wicked claw shrank and receded back into a naked hand. Roth pressed his palm against her chest, pearly light shining from in between his fingers. There were several loud pops as Seive drew a pained, full breath, followed by her sigh of relief. The color returned to her face as her chest resumed its normal cadence. She looked as if she wanted to thank him, but Cole was sure she was keeping her mouth shut out of spite.
“In my youth, Morthain was a wild, raw land with no one to guide her. So I took it upon myself to invoke the Blood Trial upon the entire city with hopes that I could hammer the separate factions into something useful. Not a single one would bend, so they had to be broken. The Blood Trial brought every citizen to me in single combat, and I defeated them all. The old ways demanded I kill everyone, even the children. Instead, I flouted tradition and took payment in my own way: One broken bone from every single person. Something that takes time to heal and would hurt enough to make them think about it every day. Morthain had to be broken into a thousand pieces and thrown into a furnace before it became something real. You are too young for me to have known you, but I remember the names of your fathers and battle-matrons and they were among the hardest to break. So, tell me, will you bend or will you be broken?”
Seive’s eye twitched, but her face betrayed no other emotion. “I will bend myself in half for Morthain, but I won’t bend for you.”
“Good.” Roth’s lips pulled back into a wolfish smile as his munisica returned. With the flat of one of his bladed fingers, he struck her upper arm, producing a crack like a gunshot. Seive’s eyes went wide.
Roth turned and strode back to the group at the table, “Auger, promote her to War Captain. I want her in charge of all your defenses.”
King Auger’s jaw dropped. “But that’s preposterous! We are not at war, the rank wouldn’t make sense.”
“She’s going to disobey you again,” Roth explained. “She’s one of your best. It won’t take her long to move up the ranks and be a thorn in your ass again. Unless you want to kill her you’ll have to promote her. That way her disobedience will be taken for good advice instead of outright defiance. And as for the war,” Roth tapped the ends of his claws on the pedestal, “I’d wager these visitors are not your neighbors bringing you a pie. War is upon you, King.”
“Damn you Rothael, you’re right,” King Auger admitted, looking older than ever as he ran a hand over his eyes. “War Captain, muster our navy and every member of the guard. I want your plan on how we are to receive our visitors in half an hour. Rothael, there’s a bus waiting outside to take you all to the docks. Ask the port-master for our fastest ship and best crew, though I’m afraid our entire fleet is in a poorly state.”
Eliza chimed in, “I believe that can be remedied in no time at all, King Auger.”
Auger raised a bladed eyebrow. “Really? And what is your remedy, dear one?”
Eliza walked over to a gratia stone embedded in the wall behind Auger’s throne. The surface was dusty and dim, but after rubbing her hand on it, the stone popped with vibrant pink light. Hidden machines buried in the walls of the throne hall vibrated to life, summoning a team of engineers, who set to removing panels and inspecting wires.
“Your gratia stones, where did you get them from?” Eliza asked, drawing the King’s attention back to her.
An engineer emerged from a cloud of smoke coughing and waving her arms. “Our records show they were purchased in bulk from a dealer in Oberon City. They worked for some time, but when Morthain sank beneath the sands they dimmed every cycle until they stopped working altogether. We can only put a minimal charge to them, no matter how much Rage is applied.”
Eliza rubbed the stone again, which grew so bright that a high ringing filled the air. “That is because they are Passion stones. Every single one I’ve seen is a Passion stone. I bet the ones on the ships are as well.”
Every engineer in the hall broke into a chorus of irritated moans and muttering, kicking circuit boards and banging tools off panels.
“It’s settled then!” King Auger slammed his hammer on the table, nearly splitting it in two. His face lit with a hard happiness that made even the shrouded half look cycles younger. “You’ll have our sharpest crew and fastest ship, which ought to be a fair shade faster with a contribution from the young lass. Mind you, it wouldn’t hurt relations with the local gangs if you showed the other crews how to charge their ships. They might have a few oddballs skilled with Passion. This revelation will go a long way to reforging Morthain to its former glory. Perhaps it’ll even open a few eyes to the other magics. Now, begone! All of you!”
The group scattered. Morthain’s dignitaries left through the main entrance with the lead engineer. The unit gathered around Roth. Before he lost his chance, Cole ran to the side exit, catching Seive before she could leave.
“Wait! Seive, uh, I mean War Captain, I have a favor to ask,” Cole said, blocking the door with his arm.
The newly promoted War Captain halted before him. The hand of her uninjured arm was balled into a fist. “You have thirty seconds. Speak.”
Cole ignored her long, pointy munisica growing longer by the second. He called over his shoulder, “Hey Milette! Get over here!”
Milette wrapped her half-arms tightly around Valen. “No!”
Cole felt his own munisica aching and itching as they shot out, making him a few inches taller. “It’s going to be real hard for you to walk over here with no feet! Move your ass, NOW!”
Milette scowled and jogged over, halting in front of him and averting her eyes. She made it clear she wasn’t going to say a word.
Still blocking the door, Cole turned back to Seive: “The guard is low on recruits right?”
“Desperately low,” Seive replied. “Your thirty seconds are up by the way,” She added, glancing down at Cole’s munisica.
“Well, here’s your newest recruit. Meet Milette, my prisoner of war,” Cole said with more confidence than he felt.
Seive measured Milette, her eyes falling on her stumped wrists. “You’re joking.”
“You are out of your little mind!” Milette’s voice became a shrieking wind. “I’ve no attachment to this wretched city, and absolutely no aspirations to go fight someone else’s war. You go too far, Master. I won’t have my life dictated by a child who clearly has no idea what he’s doing. Kill me now if you must, but dignity has a price.”
Cole sighed, looking to Seive. “Will you take her?”
“That’s not my call.” Seive walked around Milette, appraising her as if she were livestock at an auction. “Very lean. Horrible attitude. I can tell by the way she walks that she’s hopelessly inflexible, though perhaps not impossible. The lack of hands is an obvious problem, but there are workarounds.” She did one more loop before placing her munisica lightly on Cole’s outstretched arm. “I could put a word in with the senior sergeants at the proving grounds, but that’s all I can do. Now, get out of the way. I have much to do.”
Cole took his arm from the doorway, knowing this was the best deal he was going to get. Seive gripped her broken arm and sped off at a dead sprint, her bladed feet tearing up chunks of tile as she went. Cole glanced up at Milette, who looked as if she were readying a spell to fling at him. “Before you start spitting at me, just hear me out. You’re right, I’m way younger than you and I’ve no clue what I’m doing most of the time. You know I’m not going to kill you, but I’m stuck. I can’t bring you with me and I won’t release you back to where you can hurt more soul flies.”
Milette cocked her head with a derisive chuckle. “I refuse to join this gang of sand-sailors, or whatever they call themselves. So, what does the wizened Master wish to do with me?” It sounded more like a challenge than a question.
“I’m not doing anything with you,” Cole replied with a sneer of his own. “Consider yourself released. You’re no longer a prisoner. Go on.” He motioned towards the main door.
Milette’s jaw worked open and closed a few times, the lashes of her eyes flapping like a bird caught in a storm. “I…but what does that mean for me? I can’t go out there.” She jabbed her stump towards the door. “I’ll die a starving beggar! I’ll be mugged every hour! I have nothing, not even the means to defend myself! Even if I could somehow climb out of this pit I’d never make it across the sands. You crippled me human, you owe me more than that!”
“Then I suggest you make nice with the sergeants at the proving grounds,” Cole replied, keeping the tortured soul fly in the fore of his thoughts before she could rouse his sympathies. “Or go make nice with the assassins and thieves out on the streets. Either way, I’m done with you.” Cole stepped away, leaving Milette babbling with fury.
As he turned away from her, he felt something chilled land on the back of his neck, scrabbling and searching. Goran’s primal bellow echoed throughout the hall as he thundered to Cole’s side, but Cole’s Rage was already there. In the blink of an eye, the shroud enveloped the entirety of his skin and hair, protecting him from whatever Milette had just cast at him. Cole’s vision flashed red as his heart hammered in his armored ears like a steel drum. He turned slowly to face Milette. The sheer force of his glare seemed to send her sprawling back against the wall. Cole reached up with savage claws and snatched a smoky, translucent snake from his neck. Without taking his eyes from Milette, he squeezed the phantom creature, which bit and thrashed harmlessly against his shrouded arm. The snake went limp, and with a quick jerk Cole whipped it against the wall where it splattered, covering Milette in chunks of viscous grey smoke.
Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers Page 12
