by DJ Molles
Sagum gripped the rail with both hands, squinting as though trying to swallow a large pill. “Well, see…far be it from me to assume I know how to handle praetors, but if they’re like every other man on the face of this scorched earth, then maybe giving them time isn’t the best idea.”
Lux looked at him, a shade of curiosity in his eyes. “You’re right. You don’t know how to handle praetors. But then again, I typically don’t either. So tell me what you’re getting at.”
“If they’re pissed off, keeping them busy is better than leaving them alone. You leave them alone, they’re going to start talking. Griping. Coming up with schemes and shit.” Sagum shrugged. “But maybe praetors aren’t like all the other men on the planet.”
The skiff rocketed out of the valley and into the vast stretch of open flatness. It banked sharply to the left, and Sagum spotted a smoggy-looking black line in the distance. Karapalida.
“You raise some interesting points,” Lux finally admitted.
“Their existence is upset because they currently don’t have orders. They’re just running around. I imagine for someone who grew up their entire life used to having a strong authority figure telling them what to do all the time, a lack of orders might make them feel a little…insecure.”
“Praetors. Insecure.”
“Well, you know. Not insecure like ‘Does Daddy really love me?’ Insecure like, ‘This Lux guy isn’t taking charge of us, so maybe we should mutiny.’”
Sagum watched the effect of his words on Lux. Which was little more than a slight widening of the eyes and a clench of the jaw. But for someone as stoic as Lux, that said a lot.
Sagum shuffled his feet. “Frankly, I’m kind of obviously allied with you. So if they do mutiny, I assume they’ll kill me. So it’d be great if you kept that from happening. I’m extremely interested in self-preservation. It’s kind of a personal obsession, actually.”
“Well, then I would suggest you stay close to me,” Lux said, very seriously. “I still have my shield and longstaff. If it comes to that.”
Sagum nodded ahead at the city which had begun to take shape as they drew closer. “Listen. I’ve been meaning to say, it might be best if you didn’t just roar in there with a hundred praetors. I imagine people are pretty on edge right now. It might send the wrong message.”
Lux looked at him like he didn’t understand. “Why would Karapalida feel threatened by a demigod and praetors? If anything, it should make them feel safer.”
Sagum cringed. “Well, you know. Take a good look at that city.”
Lux did so. The skyline of the New Section was missing some obvious chunks, and black smoke trailed into the sky from a dozen points across the cityscape.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Karapalida, but that’s not what it looked like last time I was there. Granted, it’s been a while, but still. Looks like a fight happened. And we don’t know who’s sitting in there, and whether or not they’re hostile. Shit, the place could be chock full of Guardians for all we know.”
Lux’s face fell. He drew up his hands and pressed his index fingers to his temples, wearily massaging them. His face suddenly seemed as dour as the centurion’s. “Everything has changed too rapidly for me to keep up with.” He straightened. “How do you suggest we proceed, then?”
“Lux, I really appreciate you treating me like a friend and all. Really, it’s very flattering for a demigod to befriend a peon—an Outsider peon at that. But this might be one of those circumstances where you need to take charge.” Sagum jerked his head behind them. “Show the guys you know what you’re doing.” He hesitated. “But still…you know…don’t go charging into Karapalida.”
Lux’s teeth flashed for a bare second. “Fine,” he growled. Then gave Sagum a withering glance. “Do your other companions find you so tiresome?”
“Yes,” Sagum said, simply. “Yes, they do.”
Lux thrust himself off the fore rails and stalked to the aft. Sagum followed after him, affording a single glance to the jumble of parts that lay on the ground—all that was left of Whimsby. Bren stood beside them, almost protectively.
“Centurion,” Lux called out in a commanding voice.
“Yes, Paladin Lux?” the centurion answered, with just a tinge of irritation evident.
Lux stopped at the controls and stared at the centurion for a long, uncomfortable moment. Long enough that the centurion’s eyes started to jag about, and the look of irritation was replaced with a look of fear as he realized his attitude had not gone unnoticed.
“Halt the flight,” Lux finally continued. “And put us down one mile out from the edge of Karapalida.”
The centurion opened his mouth as though to ask a question, but then thought better of it. “Yes, paladin.” He turned to his second in command and nodded, delegating the order. The lower-ranking legionnaire turned to the back and held up his hands, giving a series of visual signals that Sagum couldn’t make sense of.
As the flight of skiffs drew closer to Karapalida, Sagum swayed as their own began to decelerate and drop altitude, until the ground seemed to skim by just under the belly of the craft.
They came to a stop at the prescribed distance. Sagum glanced out towards Karapalida, and could just make out the figures of people at the edges of the city. A wind had kicked up, filling the air with a thin layer of dust that caused the city to look foggy, and he couldn’t make out the specifics of the people that he saw.
Who were they? And were they watching this flight of skiffs? Were they preparing to fight them off?
“Centurion,” Lux spoke again. “Have your men make preparations for camp here. I’m uncertain about Karapalida and where their loyalties lie, and I want you to remain at a distance until I achieve more clarity on the situation.”
Lux turned to Sagum and lifted an eyebrow. “I assume you will accompany me?”
Sagum read the subtext loud and clear: Or would you rather stay behind with a bunch of pissed of praetors?
“Yes.” Sagum smiled. “I’ll accompany you.”
Concerning whether or not those figures he’d spotted had seen them, Sagum got his answer as they approached, on foot.
When they were still several hundred yards from the entrance to the New Section, a tumult of bodies morphed from between the remains of the desecrated buildings. At first, Sagum thought it was just a crowd, but then he spied the shields, and the even ranks of legionnaires.
“Well,” Lux said, sounding satisfied. “It looks as though we’ve maintained control of Karapalida after all.”
Sagum was not so certain, but decided to keep it to himself. Lux needed to take charge here. After all, Sagum was comfortable resigning himself to the fact that he didn’t know what the hell was going on. Best to let the responsibility for how things went rest solely on Lux.
The incoming ranks of legionnaires didn’t stop at the edge of the city, but trudged out in double-time to meet them halfway, the sound of their boots striking the hard-packed dust like a steady, rhythmic thunder.
Lux stopped, a slight frown crossing over his eyes. Or maybe he was just squinting against the sun.
Sagum wiped sweat from his brow and shifted, a note of concern rising from the center of his gut. “There’s sure a lot of them.”
“Indeed,” Lux answered. “An entire cohort.”
Standing there, baking in the hot sun, they waited as the legionnaires disgorged from the city, forming into two files as they approached. Sagum was trying to count them, but once he got to about a hundred, he decided it didn’t really matter. A hundred legionnaires could kill them just as dead as two hundred. Even with Lux’s shield and longstaff.
As the cohort of legionnaires drew within fifty yards of them, they began to fan out, creating a semi-circle around them that Sagum interpreted as decidedly unfriendly. Given the way Lux’s eyes carefully tracked the edges, Sagum figured he was equally concerned that they were about to be surrounded.
But once the semi-circle had been formed, the l
egionnaires halted, two long lines of them, back to chest-plate and shoulder to shoulder. They drew their shields to the front and rested them on the ground, creating a wall.
“Well.” Sagum cleared his throat. “At least they’re not pointing guns at us.”
“Mm,” was Lux’s only reply.
A legionnaire in the center raised his head. “Legatus Mordicus coming through! Rank! Split!”
The very center of the line opened up—just two legionnaires, stepping out and over—and in the gap they created, Sagum spotted one figure that he didn’t recognize, and another that he did.
“Thank Primus,” Lux uttered. “Mala’s here.”
Sagum quirked his head to the side, studying Mala as she approached at the side of an older man with a grizzled face and legionnaire’s armor. He held off on sharing in Lux’s thankfulness. There was something in Mala’s face that seemed to bear a warning.
The hard-faced man that accompanied her seemed to be looking at them, though his brow was drawn so tightly over his eyes that Sagum couldn’t be sure. The set of his mouth was grim and joyless. His right arm swung lazily around a holstered pistol, while his left rested on the pommel of his blade.
No colors, Sagum noted. No banners displaying whether they were Truth or Light. No colored capes upon their backs. It deepened his sense of unease.
Mala and the old legionnaire stopped about two paces from them. Mala, Sagum noted, stood just a half-step behind the man. A sign of respect. Something that seemed entirely out of character for her.
Lux shifted in the ensuing silence. The scrape of his boots across the ground was the only noise besides the steady breath of the wind in their ears.
The old man was close enough now that Sagum could see his dark eyes underneath the craggy overhang of his brow. They ignored Sagum completely and seemed fixed upon Lux.
“I assume,” Lux finally spoke. “That you are the Legatus Mordicus that was announced?”
“I am,” the legatus answered, curtly. “Paladin Mala here tells me that you’re called Inquisitor Lux of House Rennok.”
“That is correct.” Lux nodded to her. “Mala. Glad to see you’re still with us, though you look a little…”
“Like I was shot?” Mala suggested.
Lux gave a brittle twitch of the mouth that wasn’t quite a smile.
Finally, the legatus deigned to rest his gaze on Sagum. “And who’s this?”
“He’s called Sagum,” Lux answered, and Sagum winced, for once wishing that he’d never taken the moniker.
“Sagum?” Legatus Mordicus wheezed out a dry chuckle. “As in of a cape worn by a legionnaire?”
Lux turned and looked at Sagum as though he weren’t quite sure how to answer that. Sagum didn’t think Lux had ever gotten the full story behind the name.
Sagum quickly smiled and waved it away. “It’s a silly name. A nickname really. Has nothing to do with anything. You know how nicknames are—other people give them to you, and then you’re stuck with it.”
Mordicus grunted. “And what are you supposed to be?”
Sagum blinked rapidly. “I’m not…I don’t…what do you mean?”
Mala leaned forward over Mordicus’s shoulder. “He’s a tinkerer. A former Outsider. A friend of Perry and the others.”
“Are they here?” Sagum couldn’t help himself from taking a step forward. “Are they alright?”
Mordicus tilted his head back. “They’re alive. Only the legionnaire named Stuber has stayed.”
Sagum frowned, confused. “Stayed? What do you mean? Where did the others go?”
“That’s no concern of yours,” Mordicus replied. “Stand by, tinkerer. I may have use for you.” He turned his gaze back to Lux. “As for another paladin…well, we already have Mala. I’m uncertain why you’re here. Perhaps you can enlighten me.”
Mala took a step forward, now standing side-by-side with Mordicus. “Why did you leave Praesidium? And where are the praetors?” her gaze went over Lux’s shoulder, peering into the distance. “Is that them, hiding behind your skirts?”
“I ordered them to stand by at a distance,” Lux replied, keeping his voice even. “As for Praesidium…there is more to tell. Must it be done out in the hot sun, or am I permitted to enter the ruins of your city?”
Mordicus held up a hand towards Mala, and Sagum was surprised to see her acquiesce to the flippant motion. Though, admittedly, he did see a flash of irritation in her face.
“How many praetors have you brought and what is your intention with them?” Mordicus demanded flatly.
“My intention with them is to keep them alive,” Lux answered. “They were with me when the Sons of Primus were released and the Guardians descended, and so I have kept them with me.”
“They were with you,” Mala interjected. “So you could arrest me.”
Sagum heard an awkward titter, and realized it was coming out of his own throat. “Okay, let’s not rehash past mistakes. That doesn’t help anyone. Right? I mean, we’re moving passed that. We’re in new territory. Maybe we should try to work together.”
Mordicus didn’t look at him. “Are you in the habit of letting an Outsider and a tinkerer speak for you?”
Lux bristled. Shot Sagum a warning glance. “No, I am not. Though, what he says is true. The paradigm has changed. Nothing is as it was. We will have to find a new way forward. And that is why I’m here.”
“Is it now?” Mordicus now looked up at Mala, who towered over his shoulder. “What do you say to that, Paladin Mala?”
Mala skewered Lux with a challenging gaze. “When last we spoke, you expressed some reservations as to where your loyalties lie.”
“Mala,” Lux ground out.
“Well?” Mala demanded hotly. “Have you solved this crisis of conscience? Are you allied with the rest of the paladins, hiding in The Clouds? Are you allied with the Sons of Primus?”
“A faithless traitor is one to talk about loyalties,” Lux snapped.
“Well, this is going well,” Sagum murmured. “Maybe you should have let me speak—”
“Silence!” Lux barked.
Sagum stared up at him, unable to stop himself from feeling betrayed in that moment. What had he expected, though? To be bosom buddies with a demigod? Of course Lux would sweep him aside when the circumstances called for it. Maybe Mala was right. Maybe Lux wasn’t sure where his loyalties lie.
“I did not come to be berated by you, Mala,” Lux seethed. He looked at Mordicus. “Nor by a legionnaire, legatus or not. I came to see if I could find allies—people that wanted to survive these Guardians. Have I come to the wrong place then?”
Mordicus smirked. “I suppose that depends. Paladin Mala, do you trust him?”
“I have nearly an entire cohort of praetors at my disposal,” Lux said, tightly. “I say this not as a threat, but as an offer of goodwill. We are stronger together.”
Mala considered him for a long moment. “You know, Lux, when you get right down to it, you were the true cause of all this.”
Lux blinked, his eyes averting into the distance, something like ill-concealed shame passing over his features. “I was unaware. My actions were unintentional.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Mordicus raised his hand. “What are we talking about?”
Sagum stood there, waiting for Mala or Lux to fill the legatus in. And then he realized that Mala was giving him a darkly bemused look. She wanted him to say it—to bear witness against Lux. And now Mordicus was looking at him too.
Sagum’s throat constricted. “Well…you know…there was a lot going on at that moment. Who’s to blame? That’s a difficult question to answer. It kind of depends on your perspective, like, well, who actually—”
Mala rolled her eyes and interrupted: “It was a bolt from Lux’s longstaff that caused the first Son of Primus to be released.”
Lux snapped his head around. “I was firing on your enemy! The one that was trying to kill Perry!”
“You ignored our warnings to stay out of it
,” Mala shot back.
“That’s enough,” Mordicus said. He didn’t say it loudly, but his voice carried such command, apparently even amongst the demigods, that everyone fell silent.
Sagum cast a look of apology up at Lux, but it didn’t seem his demigod friend was interested in making eye contact with him at the moment.
Mordicus shook his head. “Paladin Mala clearly has reservations. A lack of trust will undermine us as much or more than any exterior threat. Your praetors could be useful to me, but I have no desire to ally myself with you, Paladin Lux.” He looked at Sagum. “You, on the other hand, seem to just be caught up in the whirlwind. And I have need of a tinkerer to work on some equipment that is vital to our efforts. Sagum, if that’s what I’m supposed to call you, you’re welcome to stay in Karapalida.”
Sagum’s mouth worked silently, several different responses colliding on the back of his tongue and none of them making it out. He glanced back and forth from Lux to Mala to Mordicus. But what he was really thinking about was Whimsby.
All the little parts that made up Whimsby’s brain, and Bren, the mech, who had offered himself up to bring Whimsby’s core processor back to life.
All of that was behind him, back at the skiffs.
And how awkward would that be? Hey, Lux, I’m going to leave you high and dry after I betrayed you to Mala and Mordicus, but can I come back with you and retrieve Whimsby and Bren?
“Um. Thank you,” Sagum stammered. “For your…generous offer. But I have work that I’m still in the middle of with Lux.”
Mala frowned at him. “What are you up to, tinkerer?”
Sagum looked again to Lux, but he was still refusing to even look at him. Back to Mala. “I’m trying to bring Whimsby back to life. He got inside a Guardian’s brain. He knows what they know. He has information that we could use. If I can get his core processor up and running again.”
Mala, to her credit, did not scoff at this. “You may be better equipped to finish that project in Karapalida. Surely you don’t have many resources at your disposal out there.” She nodded back into the wastes.
Sagum pictured Bren’s guileless face. His strange desire to give up his own existence for Whimsby’s. Or to exercise some semblance of agency over himself. Perhaps a bit of both.
