by Chad Queen
“We’re in Rynth. There are Skex here. Thousands of them. We’re going to stop them.”
Cade furrowed his brow. “How?”
“We have the bomb,” Jace cut in.
A voice, a female’s, sounded from inside the ship, startling Ashlyn. Any damage we do to them in Rynth will only be temporary. There are still thousands of Skex headed to Rynth.
Ashlyn frowned. “Who is that?”
“Eos. She’s a, ah, a machine. It’s a long story. But chances are she’s probably right.”
“If this is a waste of time, then what do you recommend?” asked Elon.
“Why don’t we take the fight to them?” said Jace.
“What do you mean?” asked Cade.
Jace grinned. “Cade, I found it.”
“Found what?”
“The Exilia!”
“The what?” Cade asked, confused.
“Oh, sorry. That’s what I named her. It’s the starship inside the Nexus!”
“You’re kidding me,” Cade said.
The female voice spoke. My diagnostics report the primary power cells for this ship have almost been depleted. It has insufficient power for launch.
Jace frowned. “Maybe we could route power from the Thread?”
Cade shook his head. “Yeah, about that…we turned it off.”
“You did what?” Jace exclaimed.
“Another long story,” Cade said. “We’ll have to think of something along the way.”
Cade felt the uncomfortable heat from the chipcoins in his pants pocket. He moved them to his jacket pocket. He was still in awe at how much power the coins had given him. “Too bad we don’t have access to a cache of chipcoins.”
“Why would that help?” asked Jace.
“The coins can generate a tremendous amount of power, like a small reactor. If we had enough of them…”
Eos stepped in. It would be difficult, but it is not impossible. However, you would need tens of thousands of chipcoins to make it work.
“Is that all?” asked Elon.
Cade looked up at the screen and raised an eyebrow.
“The Royal Bank is not far from here. I just don’t know how we’d move them,” Elon offered.
You don’t need to, said Eos. If you can create a trail of coins to the main vault, we can chain them together to reach the cache.
Elon smiled. “I think it’s time we made a withdrawal.”
Before Cade could reply, an alarm sounded within the Thread control room. Cade. We must leave now, said Eos.
Cade looked at the faces of his friends on the screen. “Good luck.”
“Don’t worry about us, just get over here!” Jace replied.
Cade grabbed Eos from the panel and backtracked to the room where the underground rail station had been located. It was an older train, first-generation by the looks of it. It was surrounded by Skex who looked to be frozen in place.
“What’s going on?” he asked Eos.
The Wraith you killed was likely the one controlling these Skex. Without a master, Skex go inert.
Cade sidestepped around the group and boarded the train. “Okay, Eos, do your thing.”
I cannot. We deactivated the power when we shut down the Thread.
“But you just said we have to take the train.”
I cannot activate it. But you can move it.
“Eos, we don’t have time for this. What are you talking about?”
Encode with the track.
While a Bearer could summon an object they were not touching by encoding with it; they could conversely move themselves by trying to summon an object that was heavier than they were.
“That’s impossible. The amount of energy required do to that would drain the phantom immediately.”
Unless you amplified the phantom.
The coins. By his estimation, there were at least thirty cars on the train. The majority of them were still packed with one thing: crates of chipcoins.
“You’re not suggesting…”
It will be good practice.
Cade shook his head and moved to the front of the train so he could see the track. He encoded to the floor of the train car, rooting him in place. He’d shoot right through the glass otherwise.
He closed his eyes and reached. He visualized his hands, reaching into the infinite expanse of the Firmere. There. He felt the presence of the chipcoins.
Connection established, a monotone voice echoed in his mind. With it, he felt his phantoms grow stronger. He put his arm out and encoded to the section of track before him.
Nothing happened.
He closed his eyes again. He reached farther, holding more of the chipcoins through the Firmere. He felt his phantoms begin to strain and pull on him, like wild dogs on a leash.
He opened his eyes and held out his arm once more, encoding to the track.
He almost jumped when the entire train began to creak and groan as the wheels struggled to turn. Steady, he told himself. The wheels began to turn and yielded a bit more with every second he maintained the encoding.
Eos remained silent. Cade wondered if this was something that happened during the time of the Ancients? Perhaps the Ancients, at the pinnacle of their phantom-based technology, flew around from place to place using a similar concept?
The wheels were gaining momentum. They were moving, and the phantoms were holding. It could work.
He just hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
42
Withdrawal
Engage Phase 2 of Chalician currency exchange program, by order of King Liam. Ensure that all outstanding chipcoins are enumerated according to the provided instructions and prepared for shipment from the Bank of Rynth to the Thread.
—Top Security Clearance Order
Ashlyn’s palms were sweaty as they entered the Royal Bank of Chalice in Rynth. It was the largest bank in Chalice, and it housed more of the country’s wealth in its vaults than all other banks combined. The exterior of the building was the most impressive piece of Ancient architecture in Rynth. Adjacent to it was the Nexus, the tallest structure in all of Chalice.
The interior of the bank was breathtaking, albeit man-made. The polished white marble was inlaid with bronze filigree, weaving and curling around the floor like a vine wrought of polished metal. To either side of the entry, a grand stairway swept upward to private banking rooms.
Elon eyed her as they walked in. “Relax, will you?”
Ashlyn glared at Elon. “There is an entire army of Skex literally right underneath us! How can I be relaxed?” Elon just held a finger to her lips and rolled forward into the main foyer.
Ashlyn took a deep breath. All she had to do was make sure there was a trail of coins linking to the main vault so Cade could use the chipcoins there. No problem.
A thin yet very tall man dressed in a fine charcoal-gray suit was barking orders at scurrying workers. “I want those backup power cells up yesterday, people! And turn off the lights in the auxiliary vaults. I don’t want to waste what little power we’ve stored up. There’s no telling when the power will be back on.”
The man turned and glided up to them as they entered the foyer. “Welcome to the Roy…oh my. Your Highness…er…Highness-es! My apologies for not recognizing you sooner. I had not received any notice of your arrival, or I would have prepared you a more fitting reception! Please, please, right this way.” Ashlyn was surprised he recognized them until she realized that Elon was likely a regular visitor. He signaled to one of the tellers behind the counter before escorting them onward.
He led them to a lavishly decorated sitting room off to the side of the main foyer. This particular room was where the biggest account holders were able to do their business discreetly. He nodded to one of the young scribes in the room. She looked at Elon, and her eyes grew wide before she hurried off.
“This is hopefully more to your liking. Apologies for the power outage. We’re still trying to remedy the situation. No doubt you are here to check on the sta
tus of the current audit?”
Elon showed no hesitation. “Precisely. The king is always telling us to be more hands-on with the state of affairs in Chalice, so we thought it best to personally see to the progress. I hope our spontaneity hasn’t inconvenienced you terribly.”
“No, of course not, please don’t mention it. Flexibility is a cornerstone to our success, and besides, it is rather an honor to be visited by two members of the royal family in one day. I have already arranged for your account manager to come show you our progress within the vault. Refreshments will be arriving soon, but please do not hesitate to let any of us know if you desire anything else.”
Elon glanced briefly at Ashlyn. “That sounds lovely. Thank you.”
The man paused. Does he suspect something? Ashlyn tried to shrug it off; she was being too paranoid. The man spoke to one of the tellers in the room and then left.
Elon looked at Ashlyn triumphantly. “You see? Nothing to it.”
“I’ll feel better once we’ve made it out of here.”
Elon frowned.
“Do you think Father knows about the Skex in Rynth?” Ashlyn asked.
Elon sighed. “I don’t know. He is very secretive about his dealings with the Wraiths. I can’t help but think he has some leverage he is unwilling to share with me. Let’s try to stay optimistic. We’re not out of the game yet.”
A short old man, dressed in a fine but old-fashioned tan suit, entered the room. Through his manicured white beard he flashed a warm smile. “I hear today is my lucky day! I get to guide not one but two of the royal family in the same day. You two should know better than to get an old man too excited.”
Ashlyn couldn’t help but smile. Elon was right; this would be easy.
He led them down to the entrance of the vaults, guarded by a host of armed soldiers the bank kept on watch at all hours. The bank had too much money to risk anything less than maximum security.
“You’ll notice this large door here to the vault. I wish we could say we built this beauty, but this is a remnant of the Ancients’ unparalleled skill in metallurgy. This door is the only way in and out of the vault, and the door itself is built out of an indestructible alloy known as invelium. It is, without a doubt, perfectly impenetrable.”
Saying the round metal vault door was large was an understatement. It was as tall as a house and looked to be at least ten feet thick. Ashlyn realized the smaller vault doors she had seen in Toltaire were likely modeled after this design. Six large metal hinges along its edge held it in place. The vault door was already wide open. They conducted so much business during the peak hours, it was more efficient to leave it open throughout most of the day.
“This large room here with all the cabinets, which we call Prime, is where we do the majority of our work,” the man said, gesturing to the bank workers hurrying about. Steel cabinets, inlaid with rich dark wood accents ran from the floor to the top of the vaulted ceiling, which was twice the height of the vault door. Rolling ladders were used by the workers to reach the higher cabinets. There were even harnesses attached to the ladders for the workers to secure themselves should they fall from the ladders.
Ashlyn heard a deep rumble that seemed to reverberate from the floor beneath them, almost like an earthquake. Their guide raised an eyebrow for a moment, and the noise seemed to stop as suddenly as it started. Ashlyn shot a concerned look at Elon, her lips pursed.
The man cleared his throat. “Ahem. Let’s continue, shall we?”
As the old man bustled about on the tour, Ashlyn, following behind Elon, slipped a chipcoin from her pocket and slid it between two cabinets they were standing against. They had agreed Ashlyn would have to be the one to place the chipcoins in the bank. Elon was insistent that being in a wheelchair made her an unwilling spectacle.
“Just beyond this point is the great warehouse. Soon to be empty, sadly. Now that chipcoins are being taken out of circulation, we are shipping out crates of them daily. There are so many, we estimate it will still take about four months to empty them all.”
As he recounted the fate of the chipcoins and why the royal notes were being utilized, Ashlyn pulled out another chipcoin and tucked it into a groove next to the main doorway. She hoped she had spaced them well enough.
Just as she was wedging it into place, a man who looked like a security officer, ran up to them at full sprint, eyes wild. He stopped just short of them, breathing heavily. We’ve been discovered, Ashlyn thought, fighting down panic. The man hunched over, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “Your Highnesses! Skex have…have breached the bank. We must get you out of here!”
Ashlyn’s heart sank. She looked to Elon, who looked equally grim. They had run out of time.
The four of them hurried uphill as best they could back through the passage from which they had come. When they reached Prime, they were horrified by the gruesome scene. The motionless bodies of bank employees who had been hard at work only moments before littered the room. A small security team had fallen back into Prime, trying to protect what remained of the workers.
The room itself was in ruins as surviving employees managed to pull down the large cabinets that had lined the walls to form a crude barricade. They huddled behind it, terrified and defenseless against the sudden onslaught.
A deafening boom sounded from the front of the building, causing Ashlyn to instinctively duck down. Her ears rang while the din of chaos continued to rattle in the background. She turned to see what had caused the explosion and to her horror saw the guards who had attempted to defend the entrance were no more.
Elon. Ashlyn turned to Elon to see if she was okay. Elon nodded to her, her lips drawn into a hard line. She stood.
The first few steps were shaky, but she found purchase on the smooth metal floor. Standing tall, Elon’s body belied its intended masculinity, showing hints of curves not seen from her chair. Others might have noticed, too, were it not for the sounds of battle coming from the bank’s lobby. Stray energy blasts knocked down cabinets and sent the frightened workers to seek shelter deeper within the vault.
Elon, stance now firm, grabbed a hold of the massive vault door. “Guard! Ashlyn! Give me a hand!”
Pushing aside her shock, Ashlyn ran to the door and pulled as hard as she could. Despite the door’s incredible weight, the hinges were well taken care of, and the door began to move.
Just as the door was almost sealed, an energy blast ricocheted into the room. It missed Ashlyn but caught the guard next to her. She fought the urge to scream and held her position.
Elon and Ashlyn closed the remaining gap and rotated the manual lock into place. Once secured, they fell to the floor, winded and out of breath. “That should hold them,” said Elon.
They could feel the vault door vibrate as energy rounds pounded into it. Invelium was indestructible. They were safe. Even if they didn’t survive, their part to play was over.
Elon grinned at Ashlyn. “Guess my secret’s out.”
Ashlyn laughed, which settled her nerves somewhat.
Another large explosion sounded, and the door shook. A loud humming sound spun up, becoming louder and louder. The vault door became hot to the touch.
“That can’t be good. We should get back,” said Elon. They retreated farther into Prime, opting for cover behind a fallen cabinet far from the door.
Elon shook her head. “So much for invelium. Looks like the Wraiths came prepared.” Elon, who had sat back into her chair, pressed a button, and the intricate machined arms on both sides of the chair separated with an audible click, revealing the unmistakable grips of casters. “So did I,” she said, drawing one out.
“This one has a bit of a spread to it. Just point and shoot.” She handed the caster to Ashlyn, who took it, awed. Elon pulled out the other caster and double-checked the ammunition in the barrel. “You’ve got seven shots there. Make them count.” Ashlyn nodded.
Elon reached into the pack secured in the chair’s secret compartment and pulled out an immense diam
ond the size of a grapefruit.
“What is that?”
“It’s the Vissera Diamond, the largest diamond in the world.” She grinned at Ashlyn. “I borrowed it.”
“You borrowed it?” Ashlyn was floored Elon had managed to sneak it out of the castle. Though with a wheelchair with concealed storage, maybe it wasn’t that unreasonable.
Elon shrugged. “I like to be prepared.”
The door was changing color now, first turning to orange and red and then to white as molten invelium began to pour into the room. In moments, the door was gone.
“Elon?”
“Yeah?”
“I know we’ve only really been sisters for a couple days now, but…I…”
Elon touched Ashlyn’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “We’re going to survive this. We’ll catch up after we squash these bucket-heads.”
Ashlyn laughed, despite her nerves, and nodded.
The Skex came, flooding into the room like ants. Five…eight…twelve…too many. Ashlyn’s grip tightened on her caster, face flushed from the oppressive heat of the now cooling metal. This is it, she thought. They couldn’t win against these numbers, but she would do her best. The thought calmed her somehow.
After them, a tall, muscular man strode into the room, resplendent in traditional body armor. The markings were those of the royal house. “Father?” both Ashlyn and Elon said at the same time.
“Elon? Ashlyn? What is the meaning of this?”
Ashlyn stepped forward, disgusted. “Father? You are with them? How could you?”
The king’s eyes were hard, and his jaw was set. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
“You never do, do you? You think this is how you help our kingdom? By killing your own people?”
“What else would be done? Allow for our entire country, our entire planet to be wiped out by the Wraiths? I have only acted out of love for this kingdom and saving the people within it. But love comes at a price.”
“But the price…is too great,” said Ashlyn.
The king shook his head. “Your mother said the same thing before she died. You two are so alike.”
