by Jez Cajiao
“Sorry, everyone. This is Oracle; she’s my companion, my lover, and also the keeper of knowledge for the Great Tower,” I said, figuring it was best to get it all out of the way straight away.
“Uh… okay… I guess… wait, lover?” Athena stammered, inspecting Oracle’s diminutive size and then considering me, flashing a reflexive look ‘downwards’ before she could help herself.
“God dammit. Oracle, take your full size, please. The last thing I need is rumors starting…” I grumbled, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
Oracle laughed and blurred; there was no better way to describe it, really. One minute, she was about a foot tall, while the next, she hovered slightly before touching down, just over five and a half feet of stunning, voluptuous beauty.
“She changes her size whenever she wants,” I clarified. “She is usually around six inches to a foot tall most of the time now, for some reason.”
“It makes people act nicer to me,” Oracle clarified as she bounced her hair with one hand. “Besides, when I’m this size, everyone just stares at my tits and ass, and it’s not like I can’t cast spells the same, big or small,” she added, and Athena, Romanus, and Alistor flinched, looking away quickly, even as I felt the amusement flowing through the bond I shared with Oracle. She’d deliberately been bouncing gently on the balls of her feet so that she could draw their eyes and catch them. Restun had glanced at her once, clearly assessing whether she was a threat, and had gone straight back to standing at attention, unphased by her beauty, while Augustus was used to her and her tricks by now.
“Uh, so… my collar?” Athena said, shaking her head and trying to get the conversation back on track. I reached out and hooking a finger under the rim of it as she pulled it back up into view for me.
“Right, moving swiftly on…” I muttered, studying the collar. I decided to try something I’d not done for a while, but something that had been in the back of my mind for days. I reached out, or in, to Amon.
“You there, you crazy old fart?” I directed to him, only to be met with silence. “Amon!” I tried again, and I felt… something, a stirring… like when you’ve woken up after a long sleep to find you’ve slept on your arm and it’s gone numb. That sensation just as feeling starts to return, when it’s as much looking at your fingers moving, as it is actually feeling the motion, the point where you can just feel it starting to respond.
That was what I felt.
“Amon, are you there?” I tried again, and this time, I felt Oracle join me, doing something I couldn’t quite define.
“S…laves…” I felt and heard him respond. “No… slaves were banned, they were… freed… that’s it… they were freed. No slavery in the Empire…” he continued, before reverting to mumbling and muttering.
“That’s the point, Amon!” I growled at him. “I need to know how you helped me to shatter the collars before!”
“Break them… yes… break them all…” I heard him mumble. A sense of anger rose briefly, followed by confusion, and just as I was about to give up, a sudden ‘burst’ of information flooded my mind, staggering me mentally and physically.
Chapter Two
“My lord!” Romanus cried, darting forward, but before he could reach me, Restun caught me under the arms and steadied me.
“Lord Jax?” Athena asked, concerned, stepping back and tucking away her collar as every Legionnaire in the room went on high alert.
“I’m all right…” I said, shaking my head, dazed by the information.
“I’ll deal with that, Jax. Just relax. You do what you need to do here, but then you need to rest,” Oracle said firmly, taking my hand as Augustus dragged a chair across and Restun helped me into it.
“I’m all right…” I repeated, panting, my heart hammering at the barely sensed information I’d just absorbed. It felt as if someone had poured the ice water melt from a glacier directly into my brain, shocking and freezing me at the same time. I could feel so much knowledge bubbling away in my mind, but even as I frantically tried to grasp and understand it, it began to seep away, a weak human mind such as mine unable to absorb it all.
“Oracle…” I whispered. “Find the key.”
“I will.” She nodded soberly to me, before shrinking down and landing on my chest. Leaning back against me and closing her eyes, she dove into the mass of knowledge, searching for the key to that lightning attack we’d unleashed on the city, the way we’d torn the collars apart, interrupting the owner’s control and slamming the power back into the control devices, causing them to explode.
I didn’t need the explosion now, but I knew instinctively that I needed the key to that power to completely free the slaves we had brought aboard.
“I sent Legionnaire Grizz to verify whether you were well enough to join us, Lord Jax; I apologize. I should have waited. You had, after all, sustained terrible injuries. Let us get you safely back to your cabin, or perhaps an interior one? Captain, can one of the storage cabins be cleared now? With speed, please?” Romanus said, his tone and expression making it clear to Athena that it wasn’t a request.
“Of course, Legion Prefect.” She straightened her shoulders and called over two of the bridge crew. “Tal, Viktor, get the cabin next to here, the big one, cleared out, right goddamn now!” The pair saluted and ran from the bridge.
“Grizz, Westin, Holtic, go help,” Romanus ordered, and all three saluted before sprinting to assist the other two.
“I’ll be okay…” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “It’s nothing you did; it’s Amon. The bastard never does things by half…” I squeezed my eyes shut, missing the glances the small group shared.
“Amon? As in, the Eternal Emperor Amon?” Romanus asked after several seconds, and I nodded, wincing as my head felt like it might fall off.
“Yeah, I can talk to him. Most of the time, he’s fuck-all use, but sometimes... wow… that hurt. Felt like downloading a kilo of ice cream into my brain. Talk about brain freeze…”
“Iced… cream?” Augustus asked in confusion.
“You guys don’t have that, huh?” I asked, glancing up at him blearily as he shook his head in confusion. “Well, you’re in for a treat a’ some point, then. My ex loved the stuff an’ insisted we learn t’ make it ourselves. Remin’ me when winter comes. Hell, remin’ me when I learn an ice spell,” I mumbled, slightly slurring my words.
“Lord Jax, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that looking at my collar would do…” Athena started, and I shook my head.
“No, nothing you did, don’t worry. It just made me aware of an issue we needed to address. How many freed slaves do we have with us; still collared, I mean?” I asked the group in general, and Alistor was the one to respond.
“One hundred and seven, Lord Jax,” he stated flatly.
“Then I have a hundred and seven reasons to get this sorted damn quickly,” I replied, making sure Oracle was safe as I stood up by cradling her to my chest. “I’ll sort this in the next few days, or at least, I’ll do my best. I promise, Athena.” I nodded to her. “As to the captaincy, if Elise picked you out, then yes, that’s good enough for me. The chief engineer should damn well know what the ship needs.” I paused, looking around. “I assume she is the chief engineer, right? When I spoke to her before, she was, anyway…”
“Yes, my lord,” Athena responded smiling widely. “Thank you! I won’t let you down. Elise is the chief engineer, and she’s been swearing constantly about some Skillbooks? She’d have been here now to greet you, but we couldn’t find her. She and her team are constantly running from issue to issue, trying to get the ship up and running properly.”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked Augustus, turning to him. “Oracle said they were, but I’ve no idea what’s going on here, and...”
“Point,” he said, shaking his head in apology. “Jax, how about we fill you in on everything first? Then you can make some quick decisions and go back to bed and get some rest?” His offer made me nod in agreement. “Prefect?” Augustus asked, a
nd Romanus nodded to him to continue.
“Very well. So, if we roll back to the last few hours in the city, Jax, when we were boarding the ships and while Jian had his little ‘accident,’ Prefect Romanus and the rest of the Legion were taking the shipyards. They essentially stormed the security posts, wiped the floor with the city guards, and took command of the Battleship. We also made off with three cruisers, including the two that were in their berths and the one that we boarded straight from the Skyking’s lair. That’s the ‘Star’s Glory,’ which is a crappy little trader vessel, but it’s armed and it flies, so to hell with it. And last of all, three fast scouts, one we claimed, and two that were at rest. Mal came through for us, stripping the Stockpile down to the nails and rat shit. We’ve got more parts than we know what to do with. He brought us the essentials from the main Stockpile, and practically every manastone in the city, from what I can tell. There are several dozen tons of hardwood and planks, several dozen barrels of pitch and naphtha, all the nails we could ever need, and best of all, the sneaky bastard even raided the ships’ weapons store when we got to the shipyard. Made it out with ten cannons, two of which can’t be fired unless they’re integrated into the superstructure, they’re that powerful. The Legion and other crews also cleared out the rest of the stockpiles in the Shipyard as best we could. We’ve got everything from spare engines to toilet-seats. Lights to navigation equipment. Even the cooks have a dozen new knives each. Foodwise, we could feed these refugees for at least a year, provided they like beans and bread.” Augustus shrugged casually, as if to say it was all the same to him.
“Once you were injured, I took direct command,” Romanus interjected, taking over from Augustus. “I ordered the ships be boarded, and we took off, bearing south-east, after a discussion with Augustus and a disreputable man named Mal, who claimed to be your ‘right hand in all this mess.’ We had two of the cruisers with captains who knew what they were doing fire on the shipyards when we left, and, as we’d already been declared apostates, we took the opportunity to, ah… demonstrate our disapproval of the Dark Legion as we passed over their marshalling grounds…”
“We shit over the side,” Augustus clarified, making me laugh out load.
“Now, now, Maniple Primus… but yes, we, ah… did relieve ourselves thoroughly as we passed overhead. “Anyway… moving on, we set a course out to sea, waited until we were out of sight of the land, then adjusted course for the Sunken City. We’re currently about three hours out from landing. Unfortunately, we are merely limping along, due to the unfinished condition of the Battleship. I dispatched two fast scouts to look the location over, and they found that it is not as uninhabited as we had hoped. There are two camps present, presumably one from Himnel and one from Narkolt, judging from the flags their ships fly. Both have an Airship on standby. The camps are ringed with stakes and what appear to be defensive positions, but it’s unclear if this is to defend against each other, or the Sunken Cities’ inhabitants. The scouts also made preliminary maps of the upper city and marked the best landing areas. I gave the orders that we were to land as soon as possible, the larger ships at least, with the scouts staying high and watching out for anything heading our way.” Romanus cleared his throat uncomfortably before going on.
“The Engineers are aware they’ll have a short period of time to enact any repairs and essentially do any work that they can to improve the ships while we’re grounded before we set off again. There’s also the matter of that smuggler called Mal, who is evidently in command of a ship called the Falcon. He said that you’d given orders that the next destination after this was to be the Great Tower of Dravith, and Maniple Primus Augustus vouched for that. Is this still the aim?” Romanus asked carefully.
“It is; is there a problem with this?” I asked, eying the Legionnaire.
“Not to the final destination, my lord, no, but the smuggler had said that we were to stop for no more than a single day launching north-east, and then swinging around to head for the Tower, staying out of sight of the land and any following ships. I would request we stay grounded longer, however. Several days docked on the Sunken City would enable us to search it more thoroughly, enact greater repairs and upgrades to the ships, and possibly even make the Battleship into a weapon in fact, as well as name?”
“Sounds reasonable,” I agreed. “Surely there won’t be much to loot from the city, though. I mean, it’s been here for a damn long time, right?”
“Yes and no, my lord…”
“Jax,” I interrupted. “For the love of the gods, Romanus, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. From here on out, just call me Jax, please. In public, fair enough, call me ‘Lord’ and all that, be formal when it’s needed, but in private, please don’t. It’s easier on all of us.”
“Very well, Jax. Augustus explained that you prefer informality, but as we’ve yet to get a measure for each other… well, it seemed prudent to err on the side of caution.”
“Yup, understand that, but seriously, Jax is fine. And as to my decisions, if you think I’m making a mistake, speak up. I might not agree, or I might even tell you to get fucked, but I will listen, I promise that. I want to hear your advice, not have you blow sunshine up my arse, okay?” I said, meeting the eyes of every person in the small group, waiting for nods and verbal acknowledgement before moving on. “You were saying, Romanus?”
“Yes, thank you. So, getting back to the Sunken City; do you know much of its past?” the Centurion Primus asked, continuing when I shook my head. “The Sunken City was discovered, at least as far as we can find in historical records, around a hundred years ago, along with the first of the crude Airships. Gnome-built, I’ll stress. We, as in the rest of the races, have had Airships for about thirty years now. It’s long been believed that the gnomes found the secret to the Airships aboard either this crashed flying city, or in a Vault somewhere in the mountains. This Sunken City’s true location was kept from most of the realm by the gnomes until about twenty years ago, when too many sailors had learned of it for it to remain hidden any longer. The gnomes had apparently looted most of the upper floors by the time the cities of Himnel and Narkolt sent their forces to search the place. The lack of any real loot and the high concentration of Specters, not to mention standard undead creatures, meant it was abandoned as quickly as it was found. Once Airships became more commonplace in the cities, researchers begged, borrowed, and stole enough to get out here, and it was when those first crude Airships reached the Sunken City that true exploration began. It is heavily overgrown with various plant life, and the surrounding shoals are extremely hazardous to waterbound vessels. This means that a small group of researchers is stationed on the leeward side of the city from Himnel, while a small group from Narkolt has set up camp on the windward side, with a squad of soldiers protecting each.” He smiled ruefully, shaking his head. “Not that I think they’ll want to mess with a force this large, of course.”
“Probably not!” I agreed, grinning.
“As I’d mentioned, when the City was discovered, it was covered with plant life and surrounded by these shoals… it was initially assumed to be a small island, from what the gnomes have told us. Due to the misconception, it went largely ignored, until the Airships spotted a pattern to its shape and landed. Several abandoned camps were found, and finally, a known pirate ship that had been beached in a small bay was unearthed, arousing suspicions that at least one pirate had been using it to store their ill-gotten gains. That, of course, led to a race to search the island, which is how they found the truth of the Sunken City. The top floor has been thoroughly mapped out and stripped bare, but the lower you go, as I’ve heard it, the more difficult it becomes, with creatures nesting, collapsed and flooded levels, and a variety of guardians.”
“What kind of guardians?” I asked, sitting forward quickly.
“There is a variety, unfortunately; mainly Spirits known as Revenants or Specters. They are believed to be the original crew, cursed to spend eternity protecting the c
ity as punishment for their failure to protect it in life. Both types are extremely aggressive, and they won’t stay dead, so their presence had greatly slowed exploration and looting. Then there are then more common undead, risen skeletons, adventurers and explorers who were killed, that sort of thing. Lastly, there are rumors of feral creatures and Golems roaming the lower levels, as well.”
“Golems?” I perked up hopefully.
“Yes, and they are apparently extremely hostile to explorers, unfortunately. They seem to be unconcerned with the upper levels, but the ones closer to the core, they protect most assiduously. Teams sent into those never return.”
“Okay, well we can take a few days on the island, see what we can find, and if the Golems can be hacked, maybe?” I said to myself, rubbing my chin.
“Hacked?” Romanus asked. “Hacked apart, you mean? They are apparently made of several different forms, some metal, some stone…”
“Ah, no; where I come from, there were groups that ‘hacked’ secure locations and items, it means to take control of them, to remove their allegiance to the city, for example, and convert them to serve me.”
“Is this possible?” He frowned. “I mean, I saw the Golems on the main deck, but…”
“The deck?” I interrupted him abruptly. “What are they doing on the deck?”
“Standing,” interjected Athena. “They just stand there all day and get in the damn way. I’ve had my people shore up the deck underneath them, but I tell you, a wooden ship, especially one that’s half-built, is no place for those monstrosities!”
“No, I mean they’re just standing there? They’ve not been put to work?” I clarified, looking around. “Augustus, I told you I set them to obey your orders…”
“I’ve not been able to order them, Jax, unfortunately… and even when we arrive, the entrances to the Sunken City are legendarily small. They’re unlikely to be able to fit…”
