The Severed Tower

by J. Barton Mitchell

  “The Tower’s will is hard,” the crowd repeated softly.

  Avril glared at Gideon when he stopped before her. “Is honor so important?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “Honor is not about our choices,” he answered. “Honor is about how we live with the consequences.”

  Avril held Gideon’s gaze a second longer—then nodded. Dane looked away. Apparently it was decided, and there was nothing either could do to change it. Back near the tiny bridge and the river, Ravan smiled.

  “Did you find what we have all been waiting for?” Gideon asked.

  Avril looked toward Zoey, clinging weakly to Holt’s back, the air around her fluctuating with Ambassador’s green laser light. As Gideon’s attention shifted to her, she saw something strange. His eyes were free of the Tone, but they were also clouded milky white. It was … odd.

  “Do your … eyes not work right?” the little girl asked.

  The White Helix close enough to hear turned in shock.

  “Zoey…” Mira said cautiously.

  But Gideon only smiled. He moved toward Holt and Zoey felt him tense slightly. Ambassador rumbled behind her.

  “No,” Gideon said. She still couldn’t feel anything from him, but his voice was soft and comforting. “But they once did.”

  “What happened to them?” Zoey asked, studying them up close when he stopped in front of her. It was like they were full of fog, but it didn’t look scary or painful.

  “What is your name, little one?”

  “Zoey.”

  Gideon paused, considering the name, and right then there was a slight sense of feeling from him. Like the release of some long-held tension. But it lasted only a moment, and the old man was unreadable again. “I lost my sight when the invaders came but as it turned out, the loss was—auspicious.” He spoke without any hint of bitterness or regret. “My name is Gideon, and we are very humbled by you, Zoey.”

  Zoey’s eyes narrowed. “What does humbled mean?”

  Gideon smiled once more, his gaze drifting off to the left. “It means … it makes us happy that you are finally here. We have waited for you a long time.”

  “Why?”

  For once, Gideon seemed surprised. “You don’t remember?”

  Zoey shook her head. “I don’t have many memories. Not since Holt found me. I think … they did something to block them.”

  “Interesting.” Gideon’s blank stare lifted up to the huge silver walker, as if studying it curiously. Ambassador rumbled back. “The Tower’s will is complex.”

  “Why does everyone believe this Severed Tower place can control things?” Holt asked. “It’s just another Anomaly, isn’t it?”

  The White Helix, Avril and Dane included, stared at Holt as if he had uttered something unspeakable.

  “Comparing the Severed Tower to an Anomaly is like comparing the light from our tents to their reflection in the river,” Gideon answered with patience. The water flowed past, headed south, a wavering, shuttering band of muted color. “Anomalies exist because of the Tower.”

  “But what the hell is it?”

  “It is where everything began.” Gideon’s gaze shifted to Zoey again, or at least as much as it could. “And where it will end. The Tower is special. Unique, perhaps in all the universe, and it shapes the Pattern to its will. It has been doing so since the beginning. Orchestrating a symphony of events and choices all leading to this moment. To the return of the Reflection Box—and the return of the Prime.”

  “Why?” Mira asked.

  “I do not know,” Gideon admitted. “The Tower has a will, it is clear; I’ve seen too much to doubt it. But that will is mysterious. And unknowable.”

  “A friend of mine believes, like you,” Mira said, “that the Tower is conscious; that it makes things happen.”

  Gideon’s gaze shifted toward Mira but never settled on her. “The one who stole your Offering. The one who uses the relic of luck. He is right. And astute. He sees things in a different way. Perhaps he knows more than even I, who is to say?”

  Mira stared back at Gideon with alarm and wonder. “How did you…?”

  “Like everything, he and it pass through the Pattern and leave a wake behind them. That wake, those vibrations, show much to those trained to sense. If your friend manages to reach the Tower … then it is as designed.”

  “You’re saying the Tower wants Ben to make it inside?”

  “I’m saying that nothing happens by chance, where the Tower is concerned. If he lives and enters it, he has some role yet to play. And if he has your plutonium, then our path is clear. We must find him before he does so, otherwise the Prime will lose her chance. Which means … the Tower will have provided a way.” Gideon’s gaze, such as it was, moved back to the hulking silver walker behind Zoey. “Which brings us back … to this. Something else out of place. It cannot be coincidence.”

  “His name is Ambassador,” Zoey informed Gideon. “He helps me feel better.”

  “Then I am grateful. Tell me, what abilities does this machine have?”

  “It doesn’t have any weapons,” Holt said. “Seems built for ramming. It’s got an energy shield of some kind, too.”

  “And it can teleport,” Mira said pointedly. Gideon raised an eyebrow at that.

  “That’s right,” Holt agreed. “It teleported us.”

  “Ambassador calls it ‘shifting,’” Zoey clarified.

  “And can it ‘shift’ anywhere?” Gideon asked.

  Zoey started to shake her head, then stopped. It hurt when she did that. “No. Only to places he’s been before.”

  Gideon thought another moment. “Zoey, can you ask Ambassador if it can shift to a location that someone else has visited?”

  Zoey closed her eyes and reached out to Ambassador. His presence blossomed in her mind, a shimmering field of colors that was there and not there.

  He responded instantly. Scion. These … are friends?

  The walker was worried for her safety, and she didn’t blame him. They were surrounded by thousands of warriors, each bearing powerful weapons and the skill to use them.

  Yes, Zoey thought, though it was more complicated than that. They want to know if you can shift to a place where someone else has been, even if you haven’t?

  Ambassador did not reply immediately, the answer must have required thought. If they touch us, yes.

  Zoey looked back to Gideon. “He can do it, but whoever does has to touch him. Holt and Mira couldn’t do that, so I did it for them. I touched their minds to his.”

  “What are you thinking?” Holt asked, staring at Gideon suspiciously.

  “I have been to the Tower, or at least as close as one might get without an Offering. If the Prime can touch our minds to the invader’s, it can teleport us there. We will make up the time that has been lost, and we will be able to catch your friend.” Gideon’s gaze hovered a few inches to the side of Zoey. “Girl, you must listen to me and answer honestly. How many do you think you can ‘touch’ at the same time?”

  Everyone looked at Zoey and her face reddened at the attention. “I … don’t know. I’d never done it before.”

  “How difficult was it?” Gideon asked her. “How difficult was touching two minds, including your own, to the invader’s?”

  That one she could answer. “It was easy. It only hurt a little.”

  “Good,” Gideon nodded, as if that was the answer he was hoping for. “Avril, prepare two Arcs, you and another will lead them, and I will accompany you. The rest of the Helix will disband Sanctum and make speed after us.”

  “Wait a damn second,” a new voice yelled behind them. It was Ravan, and she and her men were advancing forward. “Avril’s not going anywhere but with me. That was the deal.”

  “When we are assured the Prime has reached the Tower, then she will be yours. As is her duty, as is her obligation.”

  Avril looked down, trying with difficulty to contain her frustration.

  “You’re a damned liar and a crazy old
man,” Ravan said.

  “Rae…” Holt started, but she waved him off.

  “I don’t believe in any of this, I don’t believe in fate or destiny, and I sure as hell don’t believe in some magical tower that pulls everyone’s strings. I make my own choices. I believe in my wits and my men and that’s it, and anyone who believes in anything more is an idiot.”

  “No one has asked you to believe anything, nor do I proclaim to know anything. I simply observe. It is all anyone can truly do.” Gideon did not turn to Ravan as he spoke. “You are here. And the Prime would not have reached me without you. Perhaps the Tower is done with you now, who is to say? But Avril will not be yours until we reach it. If you want her, then you must come with us. This is why I feel you still have some role left to play.”

  At the words, Ravan stared uncomfortably at Holt. He looked back with an equal level of discomfort. Neither of them liked the fantastical or the idea of fate, but both had come here anyway, out of obligation. They had a lot in common, Zoey knew. It was the source of all their feelings—and all their problems.

  “Fine,” Ravan said, “but my men come with us, and that’s not negotiable.”

  “That’s insane!” Mira exclaimed. “You’re talking about four dozen people at once!”

  “I believe Zoey has the ability,” Gideon said simply.

  “You don’t even know her,” Holt shot back, and Zoey could feel the anger in him. “She’s hurting, look at her! Every mile we go, the weaker she gets. What you’re talking about might kill her!”

  “You underestimate the Tower’s influence. Look what it has done.” Gideon gestured to the silver walker. “Arranged events so that this machine would be here, at this moment, with its unique abilities. Only by doing so could we catch the one who has your Offering in time. The Tower wants Zoey to reach it, and so she will.”

  “And who the hell says that’s a good thing?” Holt asked pointedly.

  “I assume,” Gideon answered, “that Zoey does.”

  Everything stopped. The people all looked at her again. Zoey knew she had to answer, and that she was making a choice by doing so. She wondered, though, given what Gideon thought of the Tower, if she had any real choice at all.

  “I want to try,” Zoey said. “I think it’s important.”

  At the words, Holt and Mira’s anger faded, but their trepidation remained.

  Gideon turned and studied his disciples. His voice was loud enough for all to hear. “The Assembly are here, in force. They move slowly, but they are coming. Concentrate and you will feel them shift the Pattern, as I do.”

  Murmurs echoed from the thousands of White Helix around them. Zoey knew Gideon was right. She could feel them, too. It was the Royal, and it would do exactly what it had told her. Find her, no matter what. The thought chilled her.

  “These Assembly are not like the one here now.” Gideon pointed toward Ambassador. “Their goals do not align with ours. They know the Prime is close to the Tower. They will try and stop her from entering, they will try to claim her for their own, but they will not succeed.” Gideon’s sightless stare swept over the multitude one last time. “Break camp. Form the caravan. Prepare yourselves. The cycle we have waited for begins this day.”

  Cheers erupted again, Lancets pounding and spraying hosts of multicolored sparks that lit up the darkened landscape. Even Avril and Dane looked at each other with anticipation and eagerness.

  “Strength! Strength! Strength! Strength!” The chant filled the air.

  Holt, Mira, and Ravan stared at each other with uncertainty. Zoey buried her head in Holt’s back and shut her eyes, trying to drown out the loud chants and the world, as it shook all around her.

  37. PAPER DRAGON

  HOLT WATCHED THE CITY break down around him, and it wasn’t a delicate process. Tents broke loose from the walls and fell to the canyon floor below, in heaps of fabric. The effort continued on the ground, the Helix swarming over the tents and structures like ants, methodically and efficiently disassembling everything at once. It looked like it would be done within hours, but one question still remained. How did they transport it? It would be a monumental feat to carry everything that made up this place.

  The small bridge Gideon sat on earlier was broken into three separate pieces near the flowing river, stacked in front of the strange phone booth from before, the only thing in the entire camp that, so far, had yet to be touched.

  Seconds later Holt saw why. There was a loud groaning as someone opened the rusted, glass door. The gray, sparkling storm that had been swirling inside the thing erupted outward, but it didn’t dissipate in the air or explode or even expand. Instead, there was a deep, muted thump of sound as the energy rearranged itself into a perfect circle of dim light that swirled like a pinwheel, around and around in the air.

  The pieces of the bridge began to move forward, pulled by some unseen force. As Holt watched, they lifted up into the air and flew straight into the wavering energy field, disappearing in flashes and loud thumps that filled the canyon and then were gone.

  Holt’s eyes widened.

  A line of White Helix began to march toward the phone booth, carrying the tents and structures, and, one by one, threw them into the spinning gray field. They must be able to place the pieces and parts of their city inside that energy, reseal it all back in the phone booth, then transport it. It was an ingenious system—and a frightening one. What would happen if a person were sucked inside that thing?

  “Does it make you nervous?” a low, intense voice asked. Dane stood next to him, staring at the strange, spinning circle of energy.

  “Everything in this place makes me nervous,” Holt said back.

  Dane didn’t reply with the dripping sarcasm Holt expected. Instead, he merely nodded. “It’s not like it is for Freebooters, coming here. There’s no training before you step into the Strange Lands. You have to find the White Helix on your own. It’s a test, and many don’t survive it.”

  Holt studied Dane. He wasn’t sure what the point of this conversation was, but he listened anyway. He didn’t have any desire to antagonize the guy.

  “I made it halfway through the first ring before I saw anything out of place,” Dane continued. “Two Landships, crashed and burning next to each other. Wind Traders never come into the Strange Lands. Must have gone off-course or tried to lose some Assembly gunships, but, either way, it was a bad idea. They ran right into a Phase Field. You know what that is?”

  Holt shook his head.

  “Neither did I then.” Dane still didn’t look at him, his words slow and thoughtful. “Nastiest Anomaly in the first ring. Make anything passing through them intangible for a second or two. Sounds harmless enough, until you figure that being intangible means you sink straight into whatever you’re standing on. Roof of a building, hood of a car, even the ground. And then, when the field vanishes—you reform inside solid matter.”

  Holt winced at that last part.

  “Ships were all merged and blended together, it didn’t even look real,” Dane recalled. “Dumb kid that I was, I went inside, slipped in where one of the hulls had split, but I only took a few steps before I saw the legs. Hanging down from the ceiling where their owners had fallen through the top deck and reformed. Just legs. Still in jeans, still wearing shoes. Torsos were up top, no doubt, on the other side, but I wasn’t about to go check. My curiosity was kind of gone at that point. Never felt fear like that before. Real fear. Like ice in your veins. I almost turned around, headed back to Freezone, but I didn’t. I kept going, not sure how. For years, you know, I saw those legs hanging from that ceiling. Every time I slept. Every time I didn’t have anything else to think about. It’s why I drove myself so hard. Kept myself so occupied I didn’t have time for nightmares. Then I met Avril. Somehow, I don’t know, she took it away. She made it stop. I think it was because she gave me something else to focus on. I’m probably not making much sense.”

  “Actually, you are.” Holt thought of his sister, Emily, the weight he
’d carried for so long, and how Mira and Zoey had helped take it away. It was as Dane had said, they’d given him something else to focus on, too.

  “Good,” Dane replied. “Then you understand what she means to me. Why … I reacted the way I did. With you.”

  Dane had already apologized to him for what occurred back at the gym, but that had been at Avril’s command. What he’d just said now was probably the closest thing to a real apology Holt would ever get, which was fine. He didn’t need one to begin with. “I get it.”

  The two of them stood there silently, watching the line of Helix tossing pieces of Sanctum into the swirling energy field, and then Dane turned and left as silently as he’d come.

  “Just making friends all over the place, aren’t you?” Ravan studied him from behind with a dry look.

  Holt studied her back. His feelings, where she was concerned, were a conflicted batch now, but he was still glad she was safe. “You’re the one here to take Avril away. If he’s looking to put the hurt on anyone, it’s you.”

  “That places him at the end of a very long line,” Ravan said, “and if I were you, I’d be more worried about Avril finding out who pulled the trigger on her brother.”

  “Well, I don’t intend to tell her. Do you?”

  “Don’t know,” Ravan said with a smile. “Depends on how nice you are to me on the way back to Faust.”

  Holt frowned, started walking instead of continuing the conversation. But, of course, he sensed Ravan next to him. “That deal was made when you had me tied up,” he said.

  “A deal’s a deal, and I always have more rope. Found inventive uses for it before, I’m sure you remember.”

  Holt, in fact, did recall. Vividly. His face reddened. “Ravan…”

  “Oh no, look at that,” she said with mock concern. “I’ve embarrassed him … and I wasn’t even trying.” She liked getting under his skin, making him squirm. Sometimes it had been attractive. Other times not.

  Holt tried to shift the conversation. “What do you think of this place?”