by E. M. Hardy
Along with these dolls, Suhaib encountered hundreds of other constructs as well. These were larger, four-legged ones, and they seemed to be carrying huge loads of clay that they deposited into piles. They were transporting this clay from somewhere else, maybe Martin’s pyramid in the mountains. And they moved in orderly lines as far as Suhaib’s eyes could see. All above them orbited dozens of spherical relics which looked exactly like the orb that the prince had first met in the sandstone labyrinths.
They probably served as Martin’s eyes in the sky, which could explain the group of people coming up the road to meet them. When they got closer though, Suhaib remarked that these weren’t men. They were like the dolls in that they were faceless and made of clay, but their features were much more clearly defined. Hands, feet, knees, elbows… they were anatomically identical to humans. Still no faces and still made of clay, but more man-like.
Suhaib halted his camel, holding up a hand with an open palm and signaling the men following him to keep their weapons sheathed. He rode onward, escorted by two armsmen along with Munjid and Faadi, as the man-like constructs assembled in front of him.
“Prince Suhaib! I am glad to see you’ve returned, and in much better shape this time around.” Martin’s voice came from one of the man-constructs, despite having no mouth. It was disturbing enough with the floating sphere, but now it was doubly so coming from these strange copies of men that were almost as tall as he was.
“Yes, well, it’s one thing for common bandits to chase down a small band of explorers. It’s quite another to go up against this many soldiers and armsmasters that are fully prepared for war. How about you, Martin? I see that you’ve been very busy these past weeks.”
“Indeed. I’m producing more constructs now, plus I’ve secured a pretty nice supply of clay to the east, so it should only take a month or so for me to build roads to your emirate.”
The speed of construction alarmed Suhaib. He had expected progress to be slow, maybe a dozen or so years. These things looked to be very useful creations, not needing food or water or rest. But still… a single month? The thought boggled the mind.
“Just how many more constructs are working on these roads, and how many more will you be able to send?”
“There are currently 537 dolls working on-site, supported by 492 cow-boxes. I’ve got another 2,056 dolls on the way, followed by 1,732 cow-boxes to keep the clay stocked up.”
Suhaib’s heart skipped a beat at the numbers. The progress was impressive enough as it was, and now Martin was going to send even more of these things? “Cow-boxes?”
“Yep. The four-legged things carrying the mud? I call them cow-boxes. The builders called them Loaders and the little ones Shapers. I just called them as I saw them, and it sort of stuck in my memory. Oh, and you’re looking at my new walkers. They’re a human-like design I recently picked up in another pyramid. They’re pretty versatile, and I’m planning to have them form the bulk of the forces patrolling these roads. What do you think?”
The twelve walkers moved as one, flinging their bent elbows and straightened arms to their foreheads in a sharp salute. In the distance, the hundred other walkers mimicked the movement—sending chills up Suhaib’s spine at the uncanny precision of their movements.
“They’re… impressive.”
The walker that Prince Suhaib was talking to lowered its salute and cocked its head to the side. “Well, I can’t promise that they’ll be much use as soldiers right now. I still don’t know how to fight, and I really, really need training. The Renese general absolutely trashed me when we sparred, and I think the man enjoyed demolishing me a little too much. And when I say demolished, I mean he literally demolished the walker I used to spar with him. The brute broke an arm, snapped off a leg, and proceeded to behead me with his bare fists… the sadist. Had some fun on my expense just because my walkers aren’t made of flesh and blood.”
It took a while for it to register in Suhaib’s mind, but when it did…
“Wait. The Renese general? You have made contact with other people? Beyond the mountains!?”
“Yep. I was digging up a pyramid in a swamp that I thought was in the middle of nowhere. Turned out that the swamp belongs to this Ren Empire, and they sent their troops thinking I was an invader. Now that I think about it, they had a point as I was pretty much doing that—invading their lands, I mean.
“In any case, I’m still negotiating my status with them. I just surrendered to their general and told them why I was digging up one of the pyramids on their lands. They have historians with records describing how these invaders came to their lands through rifts, so they at least think my story is somewhat credible. They’re considering vassalizing me, which I plan on accepting since it’s the fastest way for me to build trust with them.”
Martin’s walker shrugged nonchalantly at the whole idea, as if surrendering his forces and being subjected to the humiliation of becoming a vassal was a light affair. The young prince was unable to resist shaking his head at the absurdity of his reasoning, especially since it complicated his plans to negotiate an alliance with Martin’s forces against the cartels.
“So what about our earlier agreement? Would you still be able to provide troops to secure these roads, to help us fight against the thugs hired by the cartels? Would your status as a vassal affect anything?”
“Not really. I can still help you out. The terms of my status as vassal is to maintain no more than 500 walkers in Renese territory, to pay a tax for occupying Renese land, and to answer the call of the Empress when she asks for help. Other than that, I pretty much have free rein of anything else I plan to do—especially outside of Renese borders. That, and I’m not actually a vassal yet. One of my walkers is at their capital city right now. I’m about to meet this Empress for the first time and swear fealty to her in a few hours.”
“But… you’re here right now. In the walker I’m talking to.”
“Oh. Oh, yeah I forgot to mention…”
“…that I can control different walkers…”
“…while thinking multiple thoughts…”
“…all at the same time…”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
The new voices came from three other different walkers, who stepped up to talk to Suhaib one after the other. The young prince stepped back, disoriented by the experience of four people—no, four things—talking to him at the same time, all speaking as one. Then he turned to the hundred other walkers in the distance, and they all waved at him as he did so.
Uhi was in the Invisible World, on the border and actively watching his meeting right now, but even he could feel that she was just as disoriented as he was. That was saying a lot, considering that the jinn are usually capable of seeing the Visible World in ways that mortal men cannot.
“What in Jahannam?” It was Faadi, who dismounted from his camel and walked up to one of the walkers. He poked his face into it, examining it closely from head to toe. “All the constructs down there, all the walkers here… you’re simultaneously controlling all of them? At the same time?”
“The dolls, cow-boxes, and eyeballs sort of have their own minds. I just think what I want them to do, and they find some way to do it. These walkers though, they’re like extensions of myself. Think of it as controlling a limb. That’s the closest analogy I have.”
“I can’t imagine having to control more than two arms and two legs. Hundreds of limbs? No, hundreds of entire bodies?” It was Munjid who spoke this time now. He too dismounted from his mantle and joined Faadi in examining the walkers. Except in Munjid’s case, there was more fear in his eyes than curiosity.
“Try thousands of limbs. I’m currently controlling 2,632 walkers. Two thousand are on their way here as we speak.”
“That… that is insane! Mind-boggling! How… how are you still thinking straight?”
“Eh. I got used to it.”
Suhaib found himself grinding his teeth at how flippantly Martin was tr
eating this whole affair, but he forced himself into stillness. He was sent by his father to negotiate a deal in his name, and that’s exactly what he would do. The alien nature of Martin aside, he needed his help dealing with the cartels and securing a future for his emirate.
“I am pleased at this news. At the rate you’re going it would only take you a month or so to get to Ma’an territory. Add a week or so, and you’ll be connected to our capital with your roads and obelisks.”
“Nice. And how about the ruins you mentioned? Can you point me in the right direction?”
“Yes, of course.” Suhaib gestured to one of the soldiers, who brought out a canister. The young prince twisted the cover off and pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment. It was a map of the Bashri Basin. A walker moved beside him and studied the map as Suhaib pointed out their current location on the map.
Suhaib’s finger indicated the north-eastern edge of the map, which was ringed with images of mountains. To the southwest lay the Ma’an Emirate, with a river cutting through its territory and ending at a sea further to the west. The capital, al-Taheri, sat at the mouth of the river.
“As you can see, the Ma’an Emirate is not as large as our neighbors to the north and to the south. Only our prime location near the Hayawiya River and the al-Shuraq Sea gives us the prosperity we need to maintain our independence.”
Suhaib’s finger traced north-northeast of the al-Taheri, toward a spot in the desert. “This is where you’ll find your ruins. Beware though. These ruins are haunted by earthen creatures very similar to your own. Where you are quite amicable, these creatures are driven to attack anyone or anything that enters the ruins. You will have to find some way to deal with them if you want access to the ruins.”
The walker examining the map nodded, its hands stroking its chin in thought. “Okay. I’ve got it memorized now. Thanks, Suhaib. And don’t worry, I’ll uphold my end of the bargain. Roads to Ma’an, walkers to guard the way. I will greatly appreciate it if you can send information on other ruins my way. I should be able to—”
The walker in front of Suhaib stiffened, looking off in the distance. The other walkers copied it, all facing the same direction. The orbs that floated lazily in the sky now shot toward the direction they were looking at, cutting through the sky in a speed that was a far cry from their previously languid pace.
“Prince Suhaib, I see around a hundred riders on horseback approaching our position from the west, about ten miles out. Friends of yours?”
Suhaib furrowed his eyebrows. “Horseback? This far out in the Bashri? That’s not ours. A hundred bandits? No, that’s not like them. Describe them to me. ”
“Give me a second… okay, they seem to be carrying bows, lances, sabers… and they’re wearing armor? Getting a closer look… round plates held together by what looks like leather straps.”
“Disc armor? Okay, those aren’t mere bandits. Any colors? Flags?”
“No, none at all. They see my eyeballs now, and are moving faster. I’m guessing they’re hostile… wait. Oh no. There’s another group coming from the northwest. And another from the southwest! I count… around two hundred or so. To be exact, 243 riders all in all. And… they seem to be accompanied by an equal number of jinn.”
The young prince blanched. Almost two hundred and fifty riders converging on their location, along with the same number of jinn? It didn’t make any sense. The bandits the cartels sent were always ragtag, nothing more than criminal scum directed to annoy the Ma’an. It was rare enough for them to have mounts, either camel or horse, and to have this many well-armored riders with combat jinn escorting every single one of them?
And that was when it hit Suhaib. He recognized the descriptions of the riders. The weapons, the armament, the jinn… they were akinji—raiders employed by the other emirs to harass their enemies. In times of war, they were the advance troops that would forge ahead of the main force to sow discord within the lands of their rivals. Sometimes, they were even employed as shock troops, leading the way to shatter formations before the infantry or heavy cavalry arrived to finish the job.
If these were akinji, then that meant the emirates were now directly involved. This in turn could mean only one thing: the cartels were stepping out of the shadows.
Chapter 17
Martin expected that his hundred walkers would be enough to deal with the occasional brigands. His dolls could make sticks, sharpen the ends, and hand them out to his walkers. Long sticks for spears, short sticks for daggers, medium-sized sticks for javelins. ‘Pointy end goes in the other guy’ worked well enough for the impromptu militias, anyway. He even thought that two thousand walkers marching from the Qleb Sierra was overkill, that he was sending way more than he needed.
This though, this was far from dealing with a handful of common riffraff. These cavalrymen were armed and armored with equipment that screamed professional military. They also outnumbered Martin’s walkers, even with the aid of Suhaib and his guards.
And then there was the matter of fighting against jinn. He knew precious little about the ethereal companions of the Ma’an, and they were reluctant to talk to him anyway. They seemed afraid of him, even more so than their human bond-mates.
What really worried Martin, however, was the prospect of dealing with unknown magics.
Most jinn and humans possessed abilities that he was at least familiar with. The elite armsmasters escorting the young prince were skilled with all sorts of weapons, while the jinn bonded to them pulled out similar weapons of their own. Then there were magic-users like Suhaib and his jinni. The prince had told him that she was an expert in unbalancing her enemies with spells that manipulate sand and light, while he was capable of manipulating stone and earth.
Men and the tools they use, he could anticipate. This applied to the jinn that reflected the skills of their bond-mates. If the enemy had people like Suhaib and jinni like Uhi, then it would make the task of dealing with them even harder. That added another layer of complexity in dealing with the enemies charging in.
An enemy with superior weapons, training, numbers, and mobility… Martin knew there was no chance in hell his walkers would be able to win a fight against that kind of odds.
This was why Martin decided that his top priority was to keep Suhaib and his entourage safe.
He had a thousand other constructs here. Granted, half were dolls and the other half were cow-boxes, but they could at the very least hamper the enemy. He could always make more constructs, but finding new allies here would be far harder; he only had to delay his enemies long enough to give Suhaib’s party enough time to retreat to the safety of the mountains.
The road to the pyramid was complete, and his lines of other constructs would be arriving to reinforce Suhaib’s party soon enough. Yes, his latest constructs were called walkers, but they could run as well if they needed to. Couple that with the fact that they didn’t need to stop for food, water, rest, or sleep, and he was pretty confident his walkers would arrive within two days. That should be enough time for his future allies to seek cover.
“I have to go back to Ma’an. I need to be there to warn my father.”
The nearest of Martin’s walkers stepped back, shocked by the prince’s sudden declaration. “What? You want to go through that? You won’t get far against those numbers, not to mention that they have horses while you’re on camelback!”
“You don’t understand. Those are akinji, raiders that belong to the other emirates. Their respective liege lords unleash them on their rival’s territories, even during times of peace. Their job is to stalk their victims, keep them in check, and scout ahead in case their rivals are building up forces near their borders. They usually leave us alone since our borders are so small and well-fortified that we hurt any akinji raiding parties more than they can hurt us.
“The fact that they’re out here, in the neutral sands of the Bashri, means that the emirates are on the move. If the cartels have a hand in this, then it is ent
irely possible that my father’s lands are in danger. I need to return, bear news of this to him so that he can prepare.”
Martin would not have any of that.
“Listen, Suhaib. These are open sands with no cover in sight. Your enemies are on faster mounts. If you try to go back, I guarantee you that those raiders, those akinji, will get to you and cut your men apart. This is why you need to get away from here as fast as you can. Follow the road east and then north, and don’t slow down for anything. Keep following the road through the mountains until you break through and reach my pyramid in the swamp. I don’t have any food or water for you and your people, but the Ren on the other side of the mountains do. I will keep sending walkers here while building more roads and obelisks along the way. At the rate my constructs are developing roads, I should be able to reach your father’s emirate in a month. I could be able to help out there.”
“A month!” exclaimed Suhaib. “I cannot hide away while my family and my people need me the most!”
“Prince Suhaib, the advice of your new ally sounds fair.” It was the young prince’s merchant friend—Faadi, according to Martin’s memories. “The Emir has been preparing for an assault from the cartels for years now. If the cartel’s pet emirs are on the warpath, then your sister’s scouts would have noticed them coming. Your father would then evacuate his people to the capital, which has been well-fortified and generously provisioned in preparation for just such an invasion.”
