Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series)

by J. Barton Mitchell

  “That’s right,” Dresden said with a smile. “Well, I have an eye for talent. Right, Parker?”

  “If you say so,” Parker answered. The first officer still hadn’t warmed to her, but she didn’t blame him. In fact, she didn’t blame any of the Wind Traders for whatever feelings they harbored. The lives they’d come to love were fading, and it was her fault, directly or indirectly.

  “Where’d you ‘recruit’ the fleabag?” Mira nodded toward Nemo.

  Dresden looked down at the animal with affection. “He found me, came on board at dock in Midnight, just like that, never left, like he’d always lived here. I liked his presumptiveness. Always liked cats better than dogs, really. They’re survivors, they don’t trust easy. You earn a cat’s trust, it means something. Your dog though, he doesn’t trust easy either. I like him too. He can stay when you leave.”

  “He’s not my dog,” Mira reminded Dresden again. “But he goes where I go.”

  Max opened an eye and studied her briefly, before yawning and closing it. It was as much sentiment as she was going to get.

  Radio chatter flared to life from the scout ships. Mira didn’t have her earpiece in, she looked back at Dresden.

  “Understood,” he responded. “We’re cresting the rise now, should see it in a few seconds.”

  “See what?” Mira asked darkly.

  “Smoke,” Dresden replied.

  The Landships and Sorcerer all came to the top of a large, rolling hill and when they did, they could see trails of thick, gray smoke drifting into the air probably ten miles away. That was the estimated distance to Burleson, where they were supposed to meet the Phantom Regiment.

  “Not a good sign,” Dresden remarked.

  Mira moved to the railing and stared at the smoke. The fire had been a big one. The smoke was turning white now, which meant most of the flames were out.

  “What do you want to do?” Dresden asked.

  “Get the scouts back here, signal defensive formation,” Mira ordered. “Sorcerer goes in hot.”

  Parker motioned to the flaggers in the crow’s nest, and they started signaling the ships around them. More radio chatter erupted. The engines of the locomotives rumbled powerfully as the train picked up speed and thundered ahead.

  Mira could see the gun ports opening up and down the sides, the cannons being primed. White Helix scampered onto the roofs, masks lifting up, Lancets pulled from their backs. A thousand of them covered the train as it roared forward.

  In cases like these, Sorcerer would barrel into whatever location was questionable, armed and ready. In the case of a town or a city, where the Landships couldn’t enter, they would circle the perimeter. Assembly dropships would follow and deploy walkers, and if necessary, Mira could guide in Brutes with reinforcements.

  She reached out toward the Ospreys, told them what was happening.

  Guardian, they projected back. We follow.

  Feelings of eagerness washed over her as the Ospreys roared past, hoping battle would find them. It would eventually, she knew, and Mira wondered how they would feel then. They didn’t seem to factor in that most of them could no longer survive outside their armor, that they were vulnerable, but she had no desire to remind them. The truth was, she needed them ready and aggressive.

  The Wind Shear broke off with the other ships to circle the city: the ruins of a flat desert town, not unlike Rio Vista, in a small valley. Mira could make out more detail. A lot of the city had burned, but the fires were mostly out. There was no movement she could see, but the memory of the trap a week ago was still heavy in her mind, and she let Sorcerer move in, watched the Ospreys unload their walkers and the Helix deploy onto the roofs of the buildings that were still intact.

  They waited for any sign of a threat. More radio chatter erupted, and Mira slipped on her headset.

  “No hostiles.” It was Dasha’s voice, predictably disappointed. “No nothing. Whatever happened here, we missed it.”

  Mira turned to Dresden. What was supposed to have happened here was a meeting of great importance, and now it looked like they had just taken several steps backward.

  * * *

  IT WAS CLEAR THE ruins had been the site of an intense battle. Buildings still smoldered and the burn marks up and down the streets were the distinctive, sulfurous-colored scars of plasma bolts.

  The destruction moved through downtown, intensifying at what remained of an old brick schoolhouse. Most of the building was gone now, burned and crumpled, but enough of it was still standing to explore. Mira stepped into the ruins, flanked by Dasha, two Arcs of Helix, and a few Wind Traders, including Conner and Dresden.

  Max pushed ahead, nose to the ground, and they soon heard him barking on the other side of a wall of fallen brick and mortar. When they dug through it, they emerged in the school’s old gymnasium, the basketball court splintered, the scoreboard rusted and fallen. Everything else was covered in plasma bolt burns, a sign that Assembly fire had been concentrated here, and all around was the gruesome evidence.

  Bodies littered the gym, lining what remained of the stands, or fallen in the center of the floor. Some hung from the rafters, where they’d claimed elevated positions to shoot through the topmost windows. They were either bent at strange angles that seemed inhuman, or charred to varying degrees. None of them moved.

  Mira wanted to shut her eyes, but forced them open. She needed to see this, to remember that there were Assembly out there very different from Ambassador.

  Everyone moved forward, studying the death. The place still smoked, weapons were strewn everywhere. The bodies were all kids, their gear was chalky white—it was intentional, Mira guessed, for blending in amid the concrete jungle of the San Francisco ruins. Their chest plates were each painted with a single black skull.

  “Definitely Regiment,” Dresden observed. “But there’s way more here than were supposed to meet us.”

  “Maybe they were planning a trap,” Dasha mused.

  Dresden shook his head. “They wanted this meeting, they wanted help. They must have come here for something else, but I can’t think why.”

  “They pulled back,” Mira said. “Retreated.”

  “Out of the ruins?” Conner asked in a skeptical voice. “Phantom Regiment are fanatics, tough as nails, all the resistance groups are.”

  “Didn’t … retreat,” a weak, raspy voice stated.

  Everyone spun and saw a figure near the edge of the bleachers, covered by two other bodies. A survivor.

  Max growled protectively, but Mira had a feeling there was no need.

  She yelled for someone to get a first-aid kit, but when she reached him, she saw just how futile that was going to be. The lower half of his body was mostly black, and he was bloody. She could see where it had pooled under him, and she was surprised he hadn’t passed out.

  His eyes were almost fully black. He was close to twenty or maybe even older. Mira had always heard the rumor that the Tone spread slower the closer you were to the Assembly Presidiums, which meant resistance fighters got as much as an extra year before they Succumbed.

  “Water would be nice…” he told them.

  Dresden kneeled and unstrapped his canteen, let him drink. Mira kneeled down too.

  “You said you didn’t retreat?” she asked.

  The survivor shook his head. “We … pulled the young ones out of the city. Those were the orders. The kids and the girls, the nonfighters…” He looked at Mira with intensity, she could see the decision to leave the ruins had been hard. “Brought them here, but … they followed…”

  “Assembly?” Conner asked, and the kid nodded.

  Mira looked around the gym again. All she saw were the bodies of soldiers. There were no “nonfighters” here. “Where are they?”

  A smiled crept onto his face. “They made it. We … held them off…”

  It all fit. They had some sense the Assembly were coming, got the nonfighters they’d been told to evacuate headed off, then this kid and his cohorts bought tim
e for the others to escape with their lives.

  “Where’s the rest of you?” Mira asked, though she was hesitant to hear the answer. If the Regiment had evacuated people out of the ruins, it must be bad. “The main force, are they still in San Francisco?”

  The smile vanished. “Dead…” Dread filled Mira to her core, and she forced herself not to react. “If not now … they will be…”

  The answer only gave slight hope, but it was something. “Where?”

  “HQ,” the kid told her. His voice was weakening. He coughed raggedly. “They were … overrun. More Assembly than I’ve ever seen … different colors, different types.” A fit of coughing consumed him and Dresden gave him more water.

  Mira looked at Dresden while he did. “Do you know where they operate from?”

  He shook his head. “We always traded here, in Burleson, that’s how I knew the place. Landships don’t go near the Citadel ruins, it’s suicide.”

  Mira turned to Dasha. “Get me the map. Hurry.”

  A Helix runner leapt and disappeared through one of the gym’s shattered windows in a flash of yellow, headed back for the train. Mira turned to the soldier. His eyes were becoming glassy. “What’s your name?”

  “Major,” he said.

  “Not your rank, your name.”

  He shook his head, smiled again. “It is my name. My rank’s … sergeant…”

  Mira smiled too. “Okay, Major. I want you to rest, but I need your help. We have an army outside. We can help your people, but I need you to show me where they are.”

  He studied her oddly. “An army?”

  Mira nodded. “An army.”

  The smile faded again, the notion didn’t seem to bring much hope. “You’ll need one…”

  The words sent a chill down her spine.

  The same Helix from before leapt through the same window, landing on the old wooden court. A few steps later she reached them, handed over the giant railroad map, and Mira spread it open.

  “Major,” she said, holding it up for him to see. “Where?”

  He studied it … then raised a hand, pointed to a spot.

  Everyone bent and looked. It was some kind of old manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Oakland.

  “Good news, bad news,” Dresden stated. “Place has a train yard, so Sorcerer can get there, but the Landships are a no-go. It was always gonna be this way. Closer we get to the old city centers and out of the Barren, there’s just no room. Debris, fences, downed power lines, not to mention buildings.”

  “Highways…” Major said, looking at them.

  Dresden shook his head. “Highways are crammed with cars, there’s no way—”

  “Clear now … All the roads are. No cars, no obstructions. Assembly … got it all.”

  “The Collectors,” Mira said. She’d only seen a Collector once. They were giant machines the Assembly deployed in ruins to collect all the scrap that was there for recycling. In a way, she supposed it made sense they would have cleaned the streets. They used the raw material to build the Citadel, and the Citadel was beyond massive.

  Mira looked up at Dresden and Conner. “If that’s the case, then the Landships can operate inside the city. We can use them in the fight.”

  “Maybe,” Conner answered. “Even just one car in the middle of a road makes it unusable, but, yeah, I don’t see why we can’t try.”

  “You hear that, Major?” Mira said, looking back at the kid. “We’re going to go get—”

  Major hadn’t heard. He’d gone limp, his eyes closed. He was with the rest of his men now. He’d come here to save one group of people. The information he’d provided might save more, but he would never know. Mira sighed. As much as he deserved to be mourned and honored, the realization of just what was happening in San Francisco didn’t allow for it. If what remained of the Phantom Regiment were fighting for their lives, then that meant Mira might lose them and their knowledge of the ruins. It might mean the difference between reaching Zoey and not.

  Mira turned and looked at Conner and Dresden. “I hate to ask this, but—”

  “We have to save them, I get it,” Conner stated without irony or hesitation. “Without them, it’s going to be a hell of a lot tougher.”

  Mira was surprised by his acceptance. They had come a long way, Conner and his people. They had all cast their fate to the same wind.

  Mira looked at Dasha. Dasha nodded back, and Mira could see the eagerness in her eyes.

  “Let’s move,” Mira said, and then they were all up, Max tearing back the way they’d come, blazing a path through the rubble.

  “When we get back to the train,” she told Dresden, “find Smitty, tell him to bring a welding kit.”

  Dresden studied her curiously. “You have a plan.”

  Mira did, in fact. One as dangerous as it was improbable, but all her plans seemed to be of that kind lately. But if there were as many Assembly where they were heading as it seemed, it might be their only shot.

  “Do I want to know?” Dresden asked further.

  “Definitely not.”

  38. WHERE THE WINDS TAKE YOU

  THE DARK RUMBLED around Mira as she finished the Mercurian artifact, watching as the Interfuse took hold and the combination hummed to life. Sparks lit up the darkness as Smitty finished welding the last of the column in place. It was made out of bits and pieces he’d taken off the remaining Landships. It wasn’t pretty, but it should work just like any other Landship Grounder. Mira handed Smitty the Mercurian and he started attaching it under the top edge.

  Her artifact, the horrible one that manipulated the Tone, was wired into the Grounder, ready to be activated, and the idea gave her pause. She just hoped the Grounder worked, redirecting the effect of the combination into the superstructure of the train, instead of just amplifying it even further. If it didn’t work, when it was switched on … she might Succumb the entire army all at once.

  Never again, you said, Ambassador projected, and it carried a tangible feeling of betrayal. She understood the alien’s reservations, and it was right, she had promised, but, as usual, things had gotten complicated.

  I know, she projected back, but you see the advantage it gives us, right?

  It is abomination.

  Mira sighed. Yes, I agree, but you see the advantage?

  There was no response from the alien.

  Ambassador, she projected again, I need to know you understand.

  Yes, it finally answered. We understand.

  Just factor it into your strategy. It should push them toward you. When it does …

  Rock. Paper. Scissors.

  Mira smiled as her radio headset crackled, Dresden’s voice echoed in her ear. “Mira, you almost ready?”

  Smitty looked up at her and nodded.

  “I think we’re done, yeah,” she answered. “Why?”

  “Take a look.”

  Mira moved for a ladder inside the compartment and scaled it, popping open a hatch in the ceiling. It was night now. Outside, the wind blew her hair wildly and she felt the rumbling of Sorcerer’s locomotives vibrating through her. All that power, from diesel and fire, made for a much different ride than the Wind Shear.

  She could see the Helix deployed on top of the train, crouched and ready. Osprey dropships roared along above, carrying silver Spiders and Mantises. Landships, shadows on either side, their sails plumed outward, rolled over the smooth cement of a highway, wide enough for them to run in pairs. It was like Major had said, the roads had been cleared, there were no obstructions, which meant they could use ships in the city. If only they had the full fleet, she thought.

  Mira pushed the thoughts away. They didn’t have the full fleet, she reminded herself, and there was no point thinking about it.

  She looked ahead, down the line of train cars to where the tracks were taking them.

  There were lights in the distance, coming closer. Tracer fire flared into the sky. Plasma bolts and missiles streaked through the air. Explosions blossomed up and,
for brief moments, illuminated the large buildings that surrounded the old manufacturing facility that was their goal.

  The scale of the battle, even from this far away, was striking. She’d never seen anything like it, and they were heading right for it. Looking at it all, it was hard to imagine they weren’t already too late.

  “Valley of Fires, huh?” Mira said into the radio.

  “Yeah,” Dresden replied after a moment. “Good luck, friend.”

  “You too, Dresden.”

  The ruins of San Francisco grew on the horizon. She could see the flickering lights of the Citadel stretching into the sky. It was all just miles away. She shook her head as the first of the projections reached her. Thousands of them, all in the ruins. She would have to fight them, push them away, and she hoped she was up for it. Mira had never had this many in her head at once.

  Dasha crouched next to her, and Mira looked up at her. It was time.

  “Seek,” Mira said.

  Dasha smiled. “And find.”

  She moved off and Mira hit the button on her radio. “Do it.”

  She felt the train rumble harder as it picked up speed, thundering forward and leaving the Landships behind. Above, Osprey engines roared as they accelerated, and she could sense the feelings of anticipation from the silvers. There was no doubt conflict would find them this time.

  Mira slid back down the ladder and moved for the Grounder. Smitty was holding a rifle now, ready to fight with everyone else. The sight made her hesitate. He wasn’t a fighter, none of the Wind Traders were, but here he was.

  He stared at her and shrugged. “You go where the winds take you, not the other way around.”

  Mira nodded, gripped his shoulder.

  The train shook hard, she heard the hum of a Barrier combination activate as plasma bolts sparked into it. They were in range, both to fire and be fired upon. It was now or never.

  She moved for her artifact. Her hands shook. Other than the quick use of it with Ambassador, the last time she’d used the thing was in Midnight City, and she’d watched someone she’d once considered a close friend twisted and destroyed by it. If the Grounder didn’t work right …

  More explosions flared outside. The train shook.