by Hanna Peach
Alyx noticed that each man was armed. She clutched her sword handle. Good lord. Were they meant to fight a whole camp of mortal men? Impossible. No two warriors, no matter how savant at fighting, would last against these numbers. How long would they remain unnoticed? Not long if they stayed here. Alyx grabbed Jordan by the arm and pulled him into the nearest tent, praying it would be unoccupied.
Thankfully, it was. It was a small space created by the musty-smelling canvas held up by a single pole at the center. A rolled-out rug empty of persons, and a single pair of worn boots was almost all that was in here.
“Thank God,” a voice from behind her called out. Alyx spun around, drawing her sword, her actions causing Jordan to do the same.
A man wearing a smart black jacket, double-breasted with red buttons, stood at the tent flap where they had just entered. His intelligent-looking face was finely featured and cleanly shaved. He seemed curiously unperturbed at the two blade points that were pointed at his chest.
“Your most esteemed eminents, you both need to come with me,” he said.
“Why?” Alyx demanded. “Who are you? Where are we?”
The man laughed. “Oh, your most royal of highnesses, this isn’t time for games. To the war room at once.”
With this he turned with the grace of a dancer and disappeared out of the tent flap. Alyx breathed in deeply. War room. Did he say war room? She didn’t have a good feeling about this.
“At least they seem to be on our side,” Alyx mumbled to herself.
The flap moved aside as the man stuck his head in again. “I implore you, my noblest of the noble, you absolutely must come at once,” he pleaded. “They could attack any minute.”
The “war room” was an open-air platform made of weaved wood. It floated high up on the air, defying all laws of gravity, tied to the ground with a single golden cord. It swayed gently and pulled and released against the cord as if it was a ship among the clouds. The sloping gold and red roof of the war room was tiered and matching dragon statues skittered along the ridges and edges like playful woodland creatures.
Alyx didn’t even fuss when Jordan swept her up in his arms and lifted her up off the ground towards this peculiar war room while the man who had identified himself as General Brody climbed up a rope ladder. Alyx felt a rush of relief as they left the crush of bodies and tents and mess below.
Once in the war room, Jordan stood next to Alyx, who stood next to Brody and, at Alyx’s request, a young boy who was playing the role of scribe stood next to Jordan. He held a chalkboard tucked in one arm and chalk in the other, writing down what was being said so that Jordan could “hear” as well.
“What are we looking at here, Brodster?” Jordan asked him.
“That’s General Brody,” he emphasized, mouthing the word clearly to him and wagging his finger to his name being chalked out on the board.
Jordan grinned. “I know. I think Brodster suits you better.”
Alyx hid a smile as Brody fought to remain unflustered. He handed Alyx and Jordan a telescopic lens each, brass and hand hammered into shape, delicately folding around a circular lens piece. She held the telescopic lens to her right eye and surveyed the scene before her.
Below them lay the camp that Alyx and Jordan had walked into, a sprawling ant’s nest of tent poles and canvas. Thin lines of smoke rose across the camp from small open fires where the men were cooking their food. She could smell the smoke and cooking meat, and her mouth watered.
Along one side of the camp was a river stretching across the horizon from a set of mountains that fringed the camp to the east. The mountain looked as if it were holding the river taut over its shoulder. The river was wide enough that arrows and catapults would fall short across it.
Beyond that lay another camp, similar in its sprawl but taking up a larger area. In her lens she found a group of men in the fore. No. Not men. Not Darkened. But demons. Through her lens she watched as two creatures, both green-skinned and thick-limbed, fought over a bloody stick of meat. She hoped to God it was animal meat. She drew back a breath and snatched the lens from her eye as if the image burned her.
She turned to Brody. “Who is camped across the river?”
“You know who they are,” Brody said simply.
Alyx pressed her lips together and replaced the lens to her eye, refocusing on the enemy camp. Devils and humans. On opposite sides of a river. Preparing for war.
This is what it could look like if we fail to stop the creatures from breaching Earth’s gates.
A shudder ran through her. Was this a premonition?
Brody began to speak, pulling her out of her thoughts. “It has come down to this. Their numbers are larger than ours by almost two to three times. Their weapons are superior. The river is wide, but it is not so deep that it cannot be forded. We have calculated that it may take about half an hour to cross. Given the size of our army, it would take us an extra twenty minutes on top of that for all of us to reach the other bank. Given the size of theirs, it would take them another thirty minutes. They could all be at our tent flaps within an hour.”
Brody turned to both of them. “So, my esteemed lieges, do we attack first or do we wait for them to attack?”
Alyx was silent as the squeak of chalk continued, carrying with it Brody’s final question to Jordan. Then the chalk was still.
“We should attack,” said Jordan. “We can’t just sit around and wait for them to make the first move.”
“But their numbers are greater than ours,” said Alyx. “In war, nine times out of ten it comes down to who has the greater numbers…” Unless we can work an advantage. Alyx tried to remember where she had read this. She was sure she had read this somewhere…
Sun Tzu. The Art of War.
She remembered talking about this book with Mayrekk. It was actually a carelessly spoken quote from this book that had caused Alyx and Mayrekk to realize that they both read illegal mortal books. Sharing this common secret had been the thing that secured her trust in him. At the thought of Mayrekk, Alyx’s resolve firmed up. She would get Jordan and her out of here, get the Threads of Dark and see Mayrekk again. Her thoughts sharpened as more and more of the strategies in The Art of War filtered into her mind.
Alyx eyed the setting sun. Almost night. Then she eyed the length of the river. Half an hour to ford and another half hour for the last man to cross. That meant when the last of the demon army had entered the river, only half of their army will have reached the bank on our side. The beginnings of an idea began to stir.
“Do our men have pillows?” Alyx asked Brody. The chalk noise began again.
Brody appeared startled at this question, his mouth popping open and shut several times before he responded with a hesitant, “Yes.”
Alyx lifted an eyebrow. “You’re unsure if they have pillows?”
“I’m unsure as to why the sleeping conditions of our men have anything to do with war strategy.”
“Watch and learn, Brodster. Watch and learn.”
He sighed. “That’s General Brody,” he muttered.
* * *
Their men worked tirelessly into the night, Alyx and Jordan helping them. Now the sun was less than an hour away from peeking up over the horizon. Alyx sat on a chair up in the floating war room, her clothes sweaty and dirty, her pants smelling like river. She nervously eyed the demon camp through her lens as they readied themselves for the morning. She hoped that what they had done would be enough.
Jordan sat in a chair next to her, fingering the mysterious box that Argyll had given them. He had been at it since they had returned to the war room. Brody appeared at her side, his fingers twisted together in front of him. His eyes were sallow from sleeplessness. She probably looked as tired as he did.
“Morning, Brodster,” Jordan called out as he looked up briefly from his hands.
Brody ignored this remark and spoke instead to her. “They are ready as per your orders, my mistress of highest.”
Alyx took a deep brea
th and surveyed the ground below, where the army of mortals she commanded stood ready to attack at her order, ready to die at her order. This couldn’t fail. This had to work. “Order them to ford the river.”
Brody tipped his head forward in a respectful nod. “As you wish.” Then he disappeared from her side, no doubt to issue forth her command. The war room was silent except for the rattle of the wooden box as Jordan played with it.
Alyx leaned forward in her chair, her elbows on her knees and telescopic lens to her eye. Like an ant’s nest just awoken, the mass of men below began to move, trickling through the gaps between the tents to the edge of the river. She chewed her lip as the first of them entered the water.
* * *
It’s funny how when the world becomes silent, your thoughts become louder.
At first Jordan had cursed his lack of hearing and he berated himself for losing the game that gave him this temporary silence. He felt close to useless as Alyx issued commands and huddled, heads bent over, with Brody.
Then he had remembered the strange box that Argyll had given them. This was how he could be of use. He was never good with strategy or logic games. His complete failure at the logic game in the previous arena was evidence of this. But he was good with his hands. He’d figured out how to open Michael’s chamber of Eden. He would damn well figure out how to open this box.
Sitting in the war room as the army was preparing to undertake Alyx’s plan, he had stared at the markings on the box first, turning it over in his hands, trying to discern a pattern. He ran his fingers over the smooth surface. As far as he could tell there wasn’t any break or crease in this box. But he knew from past experience that a well-made box wouldn’t show any.
Take Vix’s Chinese Puzzle Box for instance. He had picked it up once when he had been in Vix’s room at Aradale. It had been perfectly smooth as well but, as Vix had shown him, several sections slid out. She hadn’t gone as far as to show him what was in her Puzzle Box, but that was Vix. Didn’t matter how close you got, you always had a sense that there was much more she was holding back from you.
Jordan peered at the patterned box. What if this box worked the same way?
He began, with gentle fingers, to pull and push at parts of the sides of the box. He muttered a “yes” of triumph under his breath when a section of the box slid out. This must be a puzzle box. To open it he had to figure out the right combination of moves. Now he just had to figure out the rest of it…
* * *
Alyx barely noticed as Brody reappeared silently at her side. She was too busy watching the arrowhead of men beginning to ford the river. The river was shallower because of the dam that they had built farther up the river; sand and mud shoveled into empty pillowcases and food sacks were stacked in a lumpy wall across the river.
Brody leaned down and explained to her that the section of the river bed they were fording was thick with mud and difficult to walk through. It was taking longer than they had expected for them to cross.
Alyx noted with a sinking heart that the demon camp began to hum with activity not long after her army started fording. Alyx’s knee began to shake with nervous energy as she watched. Along the other side of the bank, a wall of snarling beasts was growing.
Her army fording the river seemed to slow down as they met the halfway point. No doubt from there, they could hear the growls of the blood battle that awaited them when they finally made it to the other bank.
“Your orders, my loveliest of—?”
“Seriously,” she said, “enough with the highest most esteemed stuff. Just call me Alyx.”
He nodded slowly. “Very good…Alyx. Your orders?” The nerves were evident in his voice.
The shaking of her knee increased as she watched her army cross the halfway mark. She could now hear the hungry roar of the enemy from here.
“Pull them back,” she said, not able to take it anymore. She slumped back in her chair. “Pull them all back.”
Brody let out a huge breath of relief. He nodded and raced off to fulfill her orders.
Moments later, the back of the army had begun to turn back, but the front of her army was still moving forward. It would take several minutes for the order to retreat to reach the front. She could see the mass undulation as the message to retreat traveled to the front of the army. Alyx rubbed her face, catching several beads of sweat on her fingers.
There was a loud furious cry that rose from the enemy bank when they realized that Alyx’s army was retreating. Alyx could hear the distinct chant of “Cowards!” drifting up to where she sat.
Jordan had looked up from his wooden box and was watching the scene below them. He reached out and folded his fingers through hers, giving them a light squeeze. A show of support. Alyx gave him a tight smile. She hoped that she was doing the right thing.
The green-skinned wall on the opposite bank broke with a triumphant cheer as they raced into the river after her retreating army. She expected as much. She probably would have done the same thing.
Brody reappeared at her side. “They’re attacking my most…er…Alyx. As you predicted.”
She nodded, not taking her eyes off the scene. Jordan’s fingers never left hers.
Her army was quicker returning from the river now that they had a snarling army at their heels. Finally, the last of her army withdrew from the river.
“Ready them. As we discussed,” she said to Brody.
“Those commands are already issued,” he said. “Your army already knows what to do from here.”
Alyx glanced up to the war-hardened general. She let out the smallest of smiles. “You know,” she admitted, “you’re a bit of alright, General Brody.”
He smiled in return. “Please, call me Brody.”
Soon the devil army had breached their banks. Alyx was up on her feet, pacing the war room now. The sounds of fighting started drifting up to them. Alyx focused her lens on the opposite bank. The enemy army had almost all entered the river.
She felt something cold being pushed into one of her hands. She glanced down to find that Brody had pushed a flare gun into her hands, two silver barrels protruding from a black gun-like handle. “At your command.”
She pointed the flare out over the battleground and placed the lens back to her eyes with her other hand. She watched as the last of the devil army entered the water. Almost…almost. Not yet. Not yet.
Now.
She pulled the trigger of the flare gun. It erupted with a small boom. Two seconds later there was an explosion over the river. The clash below seemed to pause for a second, faces turned up towards the azure fire falling like rain.
Alyx trained her lens to the sandbagged wall where she knew that a team of men were cutting open the pillows filled with sand. She waited. A small smile tilted the ends of her lips when she saw the water break the dam and begin to roar down part of the mountain like a bellowing dragon.
Back down the river, heads tilted towards the thundering noise. There was a stricken pause…then the chaos began. The devil army swarmed like scared rabbits, some trying to push the group forward onto the fore bank, others trying to race back to the far bank. There was pushing, the weaker ones falling under legs clambering over them like stepping stones. The stepping stones continued to pile.
But the water was too fast for most of them. It thundered over the rabid army like a herd of wild mustangs. On the near bank, Alyx’s army was making short work of the demon army already on dry land, disbelief and despondence making them slow and stunned.
In clusters they fell until only her army was left standing, backslapping each other and wiping sticky blood from their blades.
“Well done,” Brody said softly from beside her.
Alyx nodded to him in acknowledgement. “Couldn’t have done it without your help.”
“Alyx!” The urgency with which Jordan called to her made her spin towards him.
Jordan was holding the box in his hand, but the lid was open.
“You opened it!”
She stepped towards him, propelled by curiosity as to what was contained inside.
* * *
Jordan watched Alyx move towards him. Even in the complete silence that currently enveloped him, she seemed to move as if to music. She stopped in front of him, her eyes wide and focused on the open box in his hand. With his other, he pulled out the simple wooden flute from its place, simply constructed with a different symbol painted on each reed. Six reeds. Six symbols.
Alyx took the flute from his hands and turned it over in her fingers. The cutest little crinkle appeared between her brows.
Brody said something which caused Alyx to look back at him over her shoulder. A small nudge of Jordan’s elbow alerted him to the scribe, who was holding the board out to him. Jordan had quite forgotten that he was still there.
“The last arena awaits you,” was written in chalk. The last arena? He glanced over the edge of the war room. Surprise and then the warmth of pride overtook him as he surveyed the victory below that he had missed. He had been completely consumed with unlocking the puzzle box.
“You did it,” he said to Alyx, a smile stretching across his face.
“We did,” she mouthed, indicating the flute.
We make a perfect team. Why can’t you see that? But this, he kept to himself.
Alyx placed the flute back in his hands and pressed at his left elbow and pointed across the room.
“I know I’ve seen these symbols before somewhere,” Jordan started saying as he turned, “I just—” but he cut off when he saw the stone doorway on the other side of the floating war room. It was activated, the empty space between the arches black. But that wasn’t what got his attention. It was the symbol in blue flames sitting on the keystone. His mouth dropped open when he realized where he had seen it before.
Alyx began to walk towards the doorway. But Jordan remained where he was, fixing his eyes down to the flute in his hands. Yes. The symbol above the door was replicated on one of the reeds of the flute. He racked his memory for the symbols that he had seen on the two previous doorways. Yes. Those two other symbols also matched two of the symbols on his flute.
