City of Steel (Chaos Awakens Book 3)

by Heath Pfaff

  Haley’s smile fled her face and her expression darkened. “Where would we go, Merrick? Xan is ... he’s missing.” Tears threatened to sting her eyes and she blinked them away. “There isn’t much time left for any of us. We don’t have anywhere to go. All of our plans are destroyed.”

  “We don’t have to give up, Haley.” Crow said. He reached a hand out and took one of Haley’s in his. His touch was warm on her skin, and she found herself blushing as he had moments before. “We could go someplace together and start a home. Now that the weapons aren’t cursed we could find some place where the trolls can’t get to us and just try and live out our lives.”

  “A home?” Haley asked, not sure what Crow meant by that exactly. Was he implying that he wanted to marry her, or was he just talking in the general sense of the word? Haley found herself blushing again and wished she had her mask on to hide the expression, though the mask would have reflected it to some degree anyway.

  Crow looked a little surprised at himself. He cleared his throat. “We could share a place, together. If you wanted. I mean, you could have your own place if you don’t want to live with me.”

  Tilda laughed as she entered the room. “That was one of the more awkward conversations I’ve ever had the privilege of breaking up.”

  Crow released Haley’s hand and she took a step back from the bed, her fingers moving to cover the burned side of her face without meaning to. What was she even thinking? Crow was a good looking young man who could have any girl he wanted. He couldn’t really be interested in her. She was just a burnt, damaged girl, and only one person had ever not thought of her that way. Xandrith.

  “We’re just trying to decide what we do next.” Haley said quietly, looking for where she’d left her mask. She saw it sitting on a table a few feet away and she recovered it, sliding it quickly over her face. Beneath the magic wood façade she felt safe. She felt like no one was judging her.

  “You are welcome to stay here as long as you need to.” Tilda said with a shrug. “I don’t think this place will be safe much longer, though. The mechanna creatures were dangerous, but I’d learned how to avoid them. There’s something else out there in those woods now though. Trolls, if I’m guessing correctly. Trolls are mean bastards, and they’ll come looking for us if they find any sign that we’re around.”

  “Won’t the mechanna things take care of the trolls?” Crow asked.

  Tilda nodded. “Sure, they would, if they were still out there. I haven’t seen one of them since the day you two arrived on my stoop. I don’t know where they went, but it doesn’t bode well that they’re gone and the trolls are moving in.”

  Haley tried not to let her voice hold as much desperation as she felt. “What do we do then? If even this place isn’t safe, where do we go?” Xandrith would have known what to do. No matter how bad things had gotten, the assassin always knew what he was going to do next. Haley wished that some of his decisive nature had been passed on to her. She desperately wanted to know what she should do next. A part of her wanted nothing more than to head out and search for the assassin again. She couldn’t make herself believe that he was gone. She wouldn’t believe that he was dead. She’d fought with him. They’d parted on terrible terms, and it couldn’t end like that. Xandrith couldn’t be gone thinking that she hated him.

  The guilt of that thought burned through her like a terrible fire and she felt a wave of nausea rise up strongly for a second. The damned cursed weapon had ruined her last moments with the assassin. No, she forced herself to stop thinking like that. He couldn’t be dead.

  Tilda sighed. “I know a place that we could probably go. I’ve never been there myself, but I have friends, contacts, who reside in a fortress far to the north of here. They’ve told me time and again that if the entire world fell, that fortress would keep standing. If I’m to leave this place, then that’s where I would go next.” She looked sadly at her hut. It was clear that the place was as much a part of her as any place could be a part of someone. “I know it’s not much, but I am not eager to leave this place behind.”

  “Do you think if Xandrith got out of the Gray Ways, maybe he found the fortress?” Haley asked, wanting something to hope for.

  It was Crow who spoke though, and it surprised Haley. “Xandrith is dead, Haley.” He said, his voice firm, not mean, but spoken strongly. “We can’t keep making our plans in hopes that we’re going to find him again. You need to think past that.”

  Haley’s face tightened beneath her mask, a wave of anger flooding through her. “He’s not dead, Crow! Just because he didn’t come out of the Gray Ways before we had to leave doesn’t mean he’s dead. We can’t just forget about him!” Her words were hot and angry, far fiercer than she’d meant them to be.

  Crow flinched as if struck. “Haley, I’m not trying to hurt you.”

  “Just shut up, Crow.” Haley snapped, and she walked from the bedroom out into the main room, leaving the young swordsman and Tilda in her wake. What right did he have to say that Xan was dead? What did he expect to accomplish by saying things like that? What did he even want from her? He pretended to be so nice all the time, and that had to mean he wanted something.

  A hand touched her shoulder, and Haley rounded on the hand’s owner ready to lay into them with a burning fury, but it was Tilda and not Crow, as she should have known. Crow couldn’t really leave the bed. Haley’s mouth worked soundlessly a few times, and then she just shook her head.

  “Child, I know you’re sad. I know you cared deeply for Xandrith, but you can’t keep living every day like he will walk back into your life at any moment. You need to live and be happy. Wouldn’t he have wanted that for you? That’s what your friend in there wants for you.” She pointed towards the room where Crow lay.

  Haley wanted to snap back in anger, but the anger was being consumed and washed away by a deep, overwhelming sadness. “I loved him.” She said softly.

  Tilda put a hand on the side of her face. “It’s okay to love someone, even if they’re gone, but don’t let the ghost of a love lost haunt you to the point that you too become a phantom. Why don’t you and Crow join me at Forge Haven? It’s a long trip, but that place should prove safer than this one. If nothing else, it might give you some more time to think.”

  A tear streaked down Haley’s mask, but she refused to acknowledge that it was there. “Yeah, let’s go to Forge Haven.”

  The silence of the forsaken city was intimidating. It was difficult for Xan to believe that it was the same place he’d left not long ago. All signs of civilization had been burned away, leaving an impressive metal skeleton of what had once been a marvelous city and a testament to the ingenuity of the mechanna. Xandrith wanted nothing more than to find his way out. His surroundings were depressing enough without the growing concern of the time that was slipping away from him.

  Xandrith stopped suddenly in his tracks, his churning internal dialogue put on hold by an alarm from his ever keen senses. He turned his head to the side and listened carefully. The quiet of the Forge was punctuated only by the sounds from the broken reservoir. Xandrith kept listening. He’d heard something else. A steady clicking sound. It came again, growing slightly louder with the passing of the seconds. It was the sound of claws on metal. Something in the city was moving besides the assassin, and it was coming in his direction.

  Xandrith scanned his surroundings quickly, looking for a place to tuck himself away. He was far too injured to run, and confronting whatever was behind him didn’t seem like a better alternative. If he could find a place to hide and let his pursuer slip by him, he might have a chance. Xan ducked into the burnt remains of a home, passing through the open door without touching it so as not to make a sound. His motion was slowed by his broken leg and his reliance on his makeshift cane, but he still moved with practiced silence.

  The inside of the home was just as burnt as the outside. Whatever explosion had consumed the Forge, it had been thorough. Xandrith was beginning to suspect that it had indeed been th
e mechanna who had burned their own city as a final blow against the trolls. The totality of the damage spoke of a planned maneuver, not the result of a hastily thought up action. Xan couldn’t help but wonder and hope about the damage they might have inflicted with their massive sacrifice.

  The assassin made his way deep into the home and then tucked himself under the remains of a kitchen table. It was far from an ideal hiding place, but it would have to suffice with his current level of limited mobility. With any luck he wouldn’t need to hide there for long. He forced himself to relax and listen. The clicking sound was more difficult to hear from inside, but Xandrith quickly picked it up again. It had drawn closer yet and was accompanied by the dull thud of something heavy walking down the metal road. It was a troll, and a large one by the sound of the steps.

  Xandrith wasn’t sure how the creature had survived the explosion. All the other trolls he’d seen had been nothing but ash and bone floating in the flood waters. He supposed it would have been too much good fortune for them all to be dead. His day hadn’t been going particularly well to that point, and it made sense that it wasn’t going to get better.

  “That’s some negative thinking.” Young Xan spoke up. He was sitting atop the table Xandrith was hiding under.

  Xandrith placed a finger across his lips and swatted at a leg that wasn’t really dangling in front of him.

  Young Xan lowered his voice. “Does this make you feel better?” He asked with a grin. “I don’t think it’s going to hear me anyway.”

  The assassin glared from his spot beneath the table. Imaginary Xan hopped down from the table and crouched down so he could make eye contact with the real him. “We’re in trouble again.”

  Xan nodded.

  Young Xan’s face grew serious. “No, I mean we’re in real trouble, Xandrith. You’re hiding under this table thinking that big guy is going to just walk right on by but he’s not going to do that. Trolls have a keener sense of smell than we do, and you’re bleeding all over the place. He’s coming for you, and you aren’t going to be able to hide.”

  Xandrith opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it again. Of course younger-him was right. That was why this troll seemed to be following the exact same path he’d taken. It was following the scent of his blood.

  Imaginary Xan nodded. “We need to get out of here as fast as we can. This place isn’t secure enough. We need some place where we can shut that thing out or it’s going to kill us.”

  Crawling back out from under the table wasn’t easy, but Xandrith did it quickly. He moved through the house looking for a second way out. The footsteps outside were close now, just beyond the front door. A window opened out onto a small open area behind the house. Xandrith scrambled through the window, making the best of it with his broken leg. He landed on shattered glass, making a huge amount of noise.

  “This game could be amusing, little human.” A deep, rumbling voice called through the house. “How far and how fast can you run with all those injuries?”

  Xandrith forced himself to move. He had to fight back the panic that told him to throw his cane away and just run on his broken leg. He wouldn’t get far like that. He crossed the small open area and looked back over his shoulder just in time to see the troll emerge from around the house. It was a massive creature, easily twice as tall he was. Its flesh was blackened and split in multiple places, though Xan could see in the light spilling down from the shattered ceiling above that it was healing its wounds quickly. It had four horns rising from its crown, two spiraling horns on the side, and two longer and straighter horns rising up from the front of its skull. Its eyes burned red as though they were the heart of a blacksmith’s forge. Even if Xan had been in perfect health with all of his weapons this wouldn’t have been a fight he’d have wanted to take on.

  “Oh, what are you?” The troll asked mockingly. “I thought your blood smelled strange, but I didn’t think I’d find myself a halfling.” It began to cross the courtyard, walking slowly, taking its time. “I’ve only seen one of you before. Tell me, did you kill your mother when you hatched from her womb? I hear that’s what happens when a halfling is born. Human flesh isn’t strong enough to survive all that clawing and ripping. Of course, usually they don’t even survive the breeding. Human women are so flimsy. They rip and tear so easily.”

  Xandrith ignored the teasing. It didn’t apply to him anyway. He forced himself to move as quickly as possible, past the block of housing and out into the street beyond. He needed to find some place to lock himself away from the troll before it stopped playing with him and came in for the kill. He wouldn’t last long once it became serious about its pursuit. He glanced quickly from home to home, looking for one that might provide some measure of protection, but they were all the same. Ahead he could see the end of the block of houses, and beyond that lay an open area that might have been used as some kind of underground park before the city’s residence had fled. There was nowhere left to hide. He hobbled towards the park.

  There were artificial trees covered in handholds and crawlspaces that had been crafted of wood and metal. They looked like they’d been built for children to climb, but Xandrith hoped they would serve to keep the monster behind him at bay. He approached the nearest structure and ducked into it, wriggling his way between bars of steel and beams of rugged but charred oak. The spaces weren’t really made for an adult to fit through, but Xandrith forced himself inside anyway, abandoning his crutch quickly as he realized it just wasn’t going to make the journey with him. His leg screamed in agony with every twist and bump, but he couldn’t let the pain slow him down. He was halfway into the structure when the troll spoke from behind him again. It was closer than it had been before.

  “This is a feeble attempt at escape, halfling. I thought we would enjoy the chase for longer than this.” It stepped into the park, looking even more horrifying and gigantic amidst the skeletal remains of the children’s playthings.

  Xandrith stopped in his tracks and curled himself as small as he could in the middle of the puzzle of twisting metal bars and wood beams. The troll wouldn’t be able to fit through the openings, and he was far enough in that it couldn’t just reach in and grab him.

  “It has been a rough day, troll. Go find sport somewhere else.” Xandrith called out at his tormentor. “Surely someone with two working legs would give you more sport than this?” To his own surprise, his voice didn’t waver as he spoke.

  The troll chuckled, a booming, grating sound like hollow bones being dragged over a metal washboard. “Perhaps I would find better sport elsewhere, but you and I are here already and you seem lively enough. You can tide me over until I find my next little human. Besides, I think I want your puny little horns. They’ll make an excellent necklace.” He stepped forward and reached towards the structure in which Xandrith was taking refuge. His massive hand encircled one of the steel bars and he pulled at it with a grunt. Wood screamed as it splintered and the bar came free, bending beneath the troll’s grip. He tossed it aside and reached for another.

  “I could just crawl out of the other side of this while you try to get to me from that side.” Xandrith said, not because it was a great strategy, but because if he could stall for time he might come up with a better one.

  “Go ahead. I can run around this thing faster than I can pull it apart, meat. There is nowhere left for you to go.” Another bar ripped away as he finished this statement and the troll grabbed a hold of one of the support beams, its claws sinking into the wood as though it were slightly packed snow.

  “I should warn you, I’m armed.” Xandrith threatened, his mind racing for an escape.

  “I’ll have those off soon enough.” The troll answered smoothly. He gave a roar and tore the first support beam from the ground, causing the part of the structure closest to him to fall apart. “Humans, you think you own this world.” The troll growled. “You’re so smart, beautiful, strong, but you are nothing! Your kind chased ours into the darkness, away from the sun and the light, an
d you thought we’d never come back. We would have killed you all last time if not for the orcs, but this time the world will be ours. We will have the sun back, and you will be exterminated like vermin.”

  “You think your god will spare you when he comes to power?” Xandrith snapped, the question springing from somewhere between anger and fear.

  The troll stopped his destruction and considered Xandrith more carefully. “What do humans know of our god?” Then his fiery eyes opened a bit wider. “Oh, you’re not just any halfling, are you? You’re the assassin. Xandrith. Our god told us of you.” A black, vile tongue rolled across its split lips on a mouth that stretched from one of its ears to another. “Devouring you will be a distinct pleasure.”

  “I’ll ask again, what makes you think your god is going to spare you once you get him to his source of power?” Xandrith pressed, seeing an opening to at least buy himself some time.

  The troll rolled its shoulders in indifference. “Whether the god spares the trolls or not, he will at least deliver upon his promise wipe humanity from this world. That’s all that matters.”

  Xandrith slowly slid his knife from its scabbard, hiding it along the inside of his arm. “You hate humanity so much that you’d destroy your own people, and this world, just to be rid of us? I don’t believe that.”

  The troll tossed back its head and roared, a deafening screech of inhuman pain and rage. “You can’t begin to understand how much we hate you, meat! You will never know the breadth of our fury. We despise everything about your pathetic weakness. We were stronger! We were right! We chose the course of power and embraced our destiny, and you cast us into darkness for that! You were us! You had the chance to be great, but you not only turned your back on our people, you shunned us and scoured us from beneath the sun! We would die to the last number just to destroy you all.”