by Vic Davis
The itching was intense but just as futile as the previous attempts. Two high energy tendrils darted out and perforated the Alpha’s form walls piercing its core. It fell slowly to the surface of the flow; the shield cage winked out of existence almost immediately.
“It took you long enough,” snarled Stinky angrily. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been violated like that. I have forgotten the rage that accompanies such experiences. I have never felt more helpless.”
“That shield was a piece of work. You made it so complex I almost couldn’t map it. What were you thinking? Or perhaps not thinking.”
“I was trying to make that arrogant Mesmer work harder,” sighed Stinky now showing signs of complete exhaustion. “It never occurred to me that you would try and gate through it. Very impressive by the way. I don’t think even Mistress could have managed that. Ah, she hated these creatures and yet she could not bring herself to extirpate them.”
Humble now came forward. “You would be doing us all a favor if you did. But none of us can help being what we were made to be. Not even this arrogant specimen now decohering before us. The combination of over-confidence and zealousness was terminal when it ran up against a bigger monster. Er, no offense intended Pilgrim.”
“On the topic of monsters,” wondered Pilgrim, “how is it that our Omega friend could resist its commands for so long? It put up a terrible struggle before it broke.” The Omega was now still, reclining nearby on the hard surface of the flow. Mong seemed agitated as it flittered back and forth trying to comfort it or perhaps rouse it from some near-catatonic state.
“Ah, that would be my doing,” confessed Humble sheepishly. “I knew we needed some edge if the trap was going to work. I worked on building up a suggestion within the Omega to act as a barrier. Every cycle during feeding time I reinforced it. Guess it worked.”
“You are pretty good Humble,” joked Pilgrim.
“Yes, well, I’m not so sure about that. But thanks all the same.”
“We should officially add them to the True Path,” signaled Pilgrim. “We could use the help. I think they have proven themselves.”
Lacks and Steadfast had now returned from their mad dash. They were clearly overjoyed to find the Alpha defeated and Humble un-devoured.
Zuur poked the decaying remnants of the Alpha with its statue. “The curse of Codex was strong with this one.”
“You harbor ancient grudges. Why can’t you be more like Voor?” snapped an irritated Stinky.
Zuur was about to reply when another runner mounted on a Trissa arrived. The soldier noticed the decohering form of the Council Alpha on the ground but seemed unphased and incurious. It saluted sharply. “A message from General Vinks: The city is abandoned. We are moving into it immediately to search for supplies. Please report at your convenience.”
“Thank you! Tell the general we will come at once,” replied Stinky. “Oh and take this one back with you.” Stinky pointed at the dazed soldier who had accompanied the Council Mesmer. “It’s been through the wringer and needs some help.” The runner complied.
Stinky formed a tendril and scratched the crown of its ovoid form. “Well, I suppose we were due some good news. Let us go report our success. That shall cheer them up even more.”
With some effort they managed to get the exhausted Omega back into the wagon. Humble was worried that it might have suffered some additional mental trauma but was hopeful that it would recover quickly. Humble resumed its therapy and emotional support duties riding along in the wagon as they joined the column now victoriously entering the oft-contested city without a fight.
The wagon rolled through the main gate and entered a ghost town: empty streets, ruined buildings, an ominous silence in the ether. The trip up the hill through the Merchant’s Quarter and into the main courtyard of the citadel was uneventful. Pilgrim looked up to the rooftop and recognized where it had gated in the last time it had been here: a desperate mission to save its friend and mentor Valor. So much has happened since then, thought Pilgrim. So many friends lost.
Breaker was there waiting for them with a grin on its form walls. Vinks, Tencius and Bleaks hovered nearby giving orders and overseeing the erection of a temporary command post. Pilgrim wondered how long they planned on staying here. The city had a morose feeling to it. It was like returning to the scene of multiple crimes.
“I hope we aren’t planning to loiter here too long,” signaled a now fully recovered Stinky. “We should push onward as soon as it is feasible.”
The comment caught Vinks attention. “Rest assured, we will be here only until we have replenished our supplies from what is readily available. I hope to leave by the start of the next cycle. I’ve given orders for the mustering to start at the gate that faces the next node on our route.”
Breaker noticed the distressed state of the Omega in the back of the wagon and Humble’s concerned demeanor. “What’s wrong with your pet Humble?”
“It seems our plan worked,” reported Pilgrim. “While you were conquering the city, we had a close encounter of our own. The Alpha revealed itself and then made a go at the Omega. Luckily, Humble outsmarted it and gave us the time to eliminate it.”
Vinks seemed especially cheered by the news. “This is a good start. It’s a quick jaunt down the Pilgrim’s Road through the next two nodes to Urta’s Rest. There are multiple slip points on each vertex barrier in both nodes. If we are confronted on the Pilgrim’s Road, as I assume we will be, we will need to assess the situation and be creative. We must first stock up here as best we can.”
Breaker weighed in. “We must hope that we do not collide with whatever defensive force they send to thwart us. If we use our scouts and Channelers to our advantage, we might be able to get around them. Urta’s Rest will be the problem though. There is but a single slip point into the core nodes around Instrumentality. And the city of Urta’s Rest is a fortress. We will need some clever ruse or incredible luck to solve the tactical problems there.”
“First we need to get there,” cautioned Vinks. “And we won’t be underway until we finish our work here. I suggest we cease our worrying and our chatting and get to it.”
The gathering broke up quickly after receiving the general’s mild admonishment. Stinky and Zuur elected to proceed to the mustering point near the gate to await their departure. Humble, still concerned about the Omega, accompanied them with the wagon; Mong rode in the back as well. Vinks had assigned Tencius and Master Sergeant Bleaks a mountain of logistics work to climb if they were going to meet the departure deadline; they disappeared quickly eager to get started. Lacks and Steadfast were needed to perform a scrying, so that left Breaker and Pilgrim alone.
“We should do a tour of the citadel,” suggested Breaker. “I doubt the last time you were here that you had the chance.”
“I’m not so sure that I want to,” replied Pilgrim morosely. “I think I’ve had enough therapy sessions for this lifetime.”
“Come now. The unexamined life isn’t worth living or something along those lines. Didn’t I teach you to always try to examine history and learn from it? I know that I did, in between trouncing you in countless games of strategy and skill.”
The boast provoked a wry smile on Pilgrim’s form walls. “Lead on then Professor Breaker! But be warned, there will be no tip at the end of the tour unless you are both amusing and thorough. And do not think to swindle me at some shop run by your accomplices. I am aware of such tricks.”
“Good. The grand tour it is then. Let’s start at your birthday party. It’s nearby. Well, what’s left of it. They never really got around to fixing it. Follow me.”
They made their way through the maze of corridors on the upper levels of the citadel. The grand dining room was in a dismal state: piles of rubble, a large hole in the domed ceiling, the scars of the source-charge detonation evident everywhere. “You were on a platter over there,” signaled Breaker. “We couldn’t believe what we were seeing at the time. The patterns of your core were
so— alien.”
“Yes, So I have been told,” signaled Pilgrim thinking of its first meeting with Mistress. “Some thought them a bit of a disappointment. Or not really what they were looking for.”
Breaker was too engrossed in its own reminiscences to notice the joke. “Valor thought we should put you out of your misery. You were in utter agony judging by your whimpering moans. I don’t know why I did it, but when the guards arrived, I pulled the fuses on the source-charge canisters and picked you up.”
“I don’t recall any of this,” signaled Pilgrim. “I must have been in a complete state of shock. My memories begin with that wagon ride. You, Valor, Humble, Lacks and Steadfast. The games that we played. Before that there was only pain and—” Pilgrim paused as if trying to find the right symbol to describe something.
“And what?”
“A desire for revenge. It’s dulled now. But I’m glad we came here. One needs to be reminded from time to time of the wrongs that must be redressed. Valor, Mistress, The Commander, Master Lock to name just a few. They must all be avenged.”
Breaker grimaced. “I miss Valor. I can’t really believe it is gone. It fought off Xodd and an entire squad of guards here. I pulled those fuses and thought at the time I would never see Valor again. It would have gladly given its own coherence for mine. I have failed it terribly.”
Breaker seemed on the edge of an abyss of despair. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea, thought Pilgrim. “Nonsense,” replied Pilgrim, “we will deliver this weapon and destroy the prison orb before it yields its evil unto this world. Then together, we will go find Valor’s clone and set things right.”
“You should have seen the expression on the clone’s form walls Pilgrim. It wasn’t Valor. Yes, the form was the same; it was a Telzra Talent, but it wasn’t our Valor. It was devoted to that creature, Xodd. They didn’t even need a Mesmer to influence or dominate it.”
Pilgrim could think of nothing to say. They hovered in silence for a few moments then departed; the tour continued down deeper into the bowels of the citadel. They came to the lower level that housed the lab of the citadel’s alchemist. Breaker signaled grimly: “In there they tortured and mutilated Valor. I cannot go inside again. The Citadel Alchemist disappeared shortly after we capture Timathur. I do not know if it was an accomplice. It seems unlikely though. Such work would need to be done by a team with specific expertise. A forced conversion into anamorph form is a delicate procedure. I doubt if an explosives maker could do it. But we could not ask it.”
There was a spark of recollection in Pilgrim’s transom. “Ah, I know the one of which you signal: an odd creature. It helped me chase Xodd as it fled with Valor’s budding. Yes, down this long corridor to the vault. If I remember correctly there should be a large spherical void ahead.”
“Yes, exactly. We wondered what had caused that.”
“My Fibonacci lash struck the Alchemist’s source-charge canisters or perhaps they were grenados; it precipitated a violent reaction that dissolved flow with effortless ease. Not just flow though: everything caught within a spherical radius from the point of detonation, or reaction. I’m not sure how or why. I’m not even sure that it would work again if we tried. It’s more than likely that the alchemist had fabricated some special blend of source-charge.”
Breaker seemed intrigued. “It’s worth investigating. We could use any advantage that we can find. If we make our way to Urta’s Rest, I fear we will be hard pressed to get through either the slip point defenses or the city’s walls. But let’s return to the surface. I have had enough reminiscing.”
Pilgrim agreed. They returned to the main courtyard of the citadel and found Vinks in an enthusiastic mood. “Ah, you are back. I was afraid you might get lost in that labyrinth under the citadel.”
“We tempered our explorations, general,” replied Breaker. “And how goes the search for supplies?”
“Not as well as I had hoped,” grumbled Vinks. “But perhaps we will find more on the way down the Pilgrim’s Road?”
An odd feeling came over Pilgrim. “Yes, I think we will. And not only that. I have a feeling that we will find a lot more than we expect.”
Chapter 12
Flawed Expectations
“This is not what we expected,” apologized Voor rather non-plussed.
“It is exactly what I expected,” signaled Xodd. “But it is enough for me that we are no longer in that cursed node.”
“My lord captain, where are we?” asked Malador.
“We are no longer in one of the Empty Nodes,” observed Block. “That much I can feel.”
Xodd almost wished that Block had been one of those who had wandered off to their doom in the Hidden Node. But the sergeant had survived; so had every other member of the original company, formed underneath the citadel of Limonur, save poor Wrong Way Ridi.
Xodd’s little army now lay encamped on a desolate, empty plain in some undetermined node. Leaving the Hidden Node had been a much different experience than entering it; an intense portal sickness had befallen them once the transition was complete: a nearly disabling dizziness, fogged transoms, a lingering feeling of lethargy and enervation.
“I never want to experience that again,” signaled Grivil. “It far exceeded the worst bender I ever had in any of the taverns of Privil’s Landing. It was like being tossed into an ether storm of the worst magnitude.”
Xodd observed the Master Channeler with annoyance. “Now that you feel better, perhaps you could motivate yourself to some level of usefulness and do a scrying or whatever it is you do, to figure out where we are?”
“Yes, of course Captain Xodd. I cohere to serve you,” replied Grivil with a mock enthusiasm that bordered on insolence.
“You cohere for no other reason at this point,” admonished Xodd. “Do not forget that.”
Grivil dismissed Xodd’s threat with a flippant wave of tendril and headed off to find a place to settle down; a meditative state was needed to perform a scrying. Xodd watched the Master Channeler depart then turned to Groz nearby. “Groz: accompany our singleton master and watch over it. We cannot afford to lose it or have it decide to wander off from us.” Groz departed and headed off stealthily after Grivil, who had now fixed its sights on the supply train in the rear as a suitable place of refuge.
“In the meantime, we should set up a camp here,” ordered Xodd. “Until we know in which direction to head, there is nothing else to be done. Don’t get too comfortable though. Grivil may be an insolent coward but I doubt it will take it long to complete its scrying. Hopefully, we have not landed on the far side of Sindari Sai.”
The remark roused Voor’s lead pilgrim from its silent ruminations. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that captain. The Codex here assures me that the calculations were acceptable. Apparently, the pathing was a little off but not disastrously so.”
Xodd was immediately worried at the phrasing of Voor’s last few symbols. “A little off?”
“I can feel them,” announced Codex softly. “There are many source beings in this node. So much temptation. I miss the stolid companionship of my flow friends already.”
Xodd gave the strange ovoid creature an appraising look. “What can we expect from you, Codex? Will you be able to provide us with an army of inerts? Can you mask us from the enemy’s scouts? If you give into such temptations, what will become of you? Why must you restrain yourself in the first place?”
Voor broke into a disconcerting outburst of laughter that passed sequentially from one pilgrim down to the next. “Ah, so many questions. All will be revealed in time. I have set this mad scheme in motion and even we cannot even tell where it will all end. First, we need to situate ourselves, then let us discuss our future plans.”
They did not have to wait long. Grivil returned; it had quickly found the lay of the land. They were not far from a small settlement of source-beings. Beyond it was a large concentration of source energy that must be a major city: a hub for multitude of satellite towns and villages.
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“You have brought us to Urta’s Rest!” exclaimed Xodd angrily. “I was a fool to trust you.”
“Yes, we will have to make do. The Codex is not infallible. Still, we have made some progress,” signaled Voor optimistically.
“I did caution you that the computations were probabilistic in nature and that small changes in input parameters could lead to drastic changes in output,” signaled Codex calmly. “This coordinate outcome was one of the best available. I am quite pleased.”
“I am surrounded by useless fools,” announced Xodd. “So be it. Where is this nearby source gathering? We will proceed there and then assess our situation.”
Grivil indicated the proper direction, and the entire caravan was once again under way.
The flowscape was flat and unassuming broken occasionally by strange swirls and fractal patterns that lay recessed from the surface. The Old Alchemist tried on several occasions to leave the caravan to inspect them and had to be not-so-politely herded back to the group by Block. After a cycle of travel with few rests, the distant outskirts of a small source-farming village came into view: a clump of square buildings and less than impressive warehouses piled haphazardly onto each other.
“How big do you think it is,” asked Block.
“Big enough to suit our purposes and remote enough from Urta’s Rest to be useful for a while at least,” signaled Xodd pensively. “We must first ensure that no runners escape to warn the authorities in Urta’s Rest. If my memories are correct, then there should be a central garrison there of at least a thousand city guards reporting to a local enforcer who in turn reports to a Council governor.”
“A thousand guards in this dump of a small-town captain?” wondered Block aloud.
“No, you idiot,” scolded Xodd. “A thousand in Urta’s Rest. Here we face perhaps fifty at most. This is but one of many source-farming towns established around the hub of Urta’s Rest. This node is nowhere near as rich as the core nodes that surround Instrumentality, but it is considered a strategic choke point: in the adjacent nodes to the one side is a branch of The Shards, to other there is nothing: no slip points or resonance points. Supposedly there were Hidden Nodes lurking there. But Voor and Codex have corrected our misunderstanding.”
