Grand Design, page 27
“Easy,” I said, handing down the order to some of my knights. Behind me, the bundled-up Reacher was being stripped of the identifying parts of his clothing, while another man was quickly putting it on just as fast.
The clan lord had told me only five knights were allowed to accompany me down underground. But to actually capture and crew the ship, I’m free to bring more people. So, I had Teed go around getting a small crew of Reachers who owed him favors just for this. Airspeeders could be driven by a crew of one, technically, but it sure wasn’t an easy task. There’s more to keeping an airspeeder in the air than just steering it away from the ground.
And more importantly it would look rather weird to see a crew of one.
Another bonk in the night, and there weren’t any more marshals around to give us any trouble. The only ones remaining in the hanger were the common Reachers, who were more focused on getting their own deadlines met than questioning the whole. So, now it was time to stroll in and steal the airspeeder under everyone’s noses.
Now, as I was saying before, Reachers are panicky little creatures of habit. Scare one with a change of plans, and the rest of the hive gets scared as well, screaming bloody murder and asking for pay raises. So, the best way to get to the prize was to pretend everything was going according to plan.
Hence me and mine strutting right up into the hangar, like we belonged there. Even had some workers hauling food and gear, the heavy stuff. Some Reachers gave us a glance, and then went right back to their tasks. We reached the side of the airspeeder with little issue, where part two of my plan came into work.
A group of Reachers were gaggling inside the airspeeder, some actually busy cleaning while the rest were playing cards at a table. They all glanced up at us as we walked in. “Uhh, is there a deployment?” one of them asked, looking very confused, and a little worried.
I drew deep into character. I was a knight who’d been given last second orders, in the middle of the night. I was too stressed and tired to deal with anything more. I’d just barely gotten my gear on and marched on over to this stupid hangar for something only the gods knew about since nobody bothered to fill me on any details.
Ergo, I just wanted this ship up and running so I could go down to the cargo bay and get the rest of my sleep while the pilots got me and my knights where we were needed.
I drew out a carefully prepared counterfeit orders, rolled up in an authentic looking piece of paper, and tossed it onto their table. “Orders from the top,” I said, voice tired and praying for everything to get just done. “Other ships aren’t ready or already booked, so this one’s the one we’ve been assigned to. Go get this authorized while we get the ship started. We got to be out in the freeze yesterday.”
The man closest to the tossed orders opened it up, gave it a quick look and closed it. “Okay, I’ll grab the marshals and we’ll have you setup, sir.” He turned to the others who sat a little dumbfounded, before nudging his head in a pretty universal order for Get moving you lazy fucks.
Teed was already making his way to the pilot’s seat while the rest of his small handpicked airspeeder crew were taking their positions and going through the motions. Gear and supplies for the trip were being brought in, and put into place, snuggly on the sides. The Reachers inside the ship were hastily clearing up their workstations, mops and other maintenance gear, making a quick scramble to get outside.
Sagrius and the rest of the Winterscar knights I’d brought with me made their way to the cargo hold where they took their seats. I escorted the Reacher in command as he made his way outside and scanned around the hanger.
A marshal was by his workstation, pretending to do the same things he’d seen the real marshal do right before we jumped him and stole his lunch money, and then stuffed him away kicking and screaming in a closet somewhere.
The imposter turned to glance at the Reacher who was waving him down for attention. “Emergency dispatch?” he asked, walking up, playing his part perfectly.
The Reacher passed on the falsified orders, to which my mole opened up, pretended to give it a look, and rolled it back up, turning around and waving over another imposter marshal. “All right, I’ll bring this back and mark the ship for emergency away mission.” He turned to me and gave me a salute. “Please, go right ahead and get everything set up, sir knight, we’ll handle the rest of the legwork from here. Safe journey.”
“Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing,” I groaned “Thanks for understanding the situation and time crunch, I appreciate it.” I shook his hand like it was a done deal.
My mole turned to the Reacher. “Start preparations for the hangar, I’ll go file this with the Logi. Let’s try to move fast.”
The Reacher at my side considered it job done for himself and waved to the rest of the departing crew, making sure his little flock of followers had all disembarked from the ship. The only people left aboard were Teed, his mutinous crew of daredevils, and my five knights waiting for me to climb aboard.
The imposter marshals grouped up, passing along the falsified orders and all pretending to authorize it. Somewhere a Logi was waking up in cold sweat, with a terrible gut feeling that something hadn’t been filed right. But the poor bastard would only find out tomorrow, when the captured marshals were let loose.
The rest of the Reacher nest was roused awake, like it had been prodded by an angry taskmaster. They followed through on their work without question, sealing the internal hangar bulkheads and flooding the room with the frozen waste air. And most importantly, no questions asked since everyone thought everyone else had already authorized the launch.
Five minutes later, the massive doors rumbled open and that’s how you steal an airspeeder in style.
Teed punched in the commands, setting the ship into autopilot. The white wastes now truly surrounded us. “Going to be a while before we reach the entry point Kidra’s team used. Make yourself comfortable, kid.”
“I brought my favorite blanket, no worries,” I said, settling into the co-pilot seat. There was something oddly tranquil about watching the white wastes illuminated by a full moon. A vast empty plane of silver stretching out on all sides, reflecting light from the ice. The light played tricks on the speeding ground underneath, making my eyes spot the dark contrast instead of the brightly lit reflections. Like weaving trails on the ground, bits of crushed ice and snow being blown backwards as we soared over.
The trip would take a full day and night at our current pace. In the cargo hold, the knights continued to train with fractals, trying out some of the ones sourced from Talen’s books, or found in Atius’s notes.
The ones leftover from Talen were building blocks, utility that offered interesting and novel uses, not specific for combat. The ones leftover from our clan lord were clearly made to be used in a fight, but they always required a soul to connect to it. In order to fully use those spells, the knights would need to multi-task, being able to spread their soul out in a way none of them had ever practiced before.
I had a cheat in that I could go all-in on commanding the occult while Cathida controlled my body. The rest of the knights needed to do it the old-fashioned way.
Captain Sagrius walked in, just as I was about to doze off. He reached the side of the cabin and sat. “My lord, a word if you will?” he asked.
I gave him a sleepy nod. “Sure, what can I do for you, Captain?”
“The men and I are ready and willing to follow wherever you go. But we are still…inexperienced underground. The only time we’ve been there had been with Shadowsong, fighting off that machine ambush. We’re worried that the time we had with Ironreach on what to expect won’t be enough.”
I’ve been underground only once, so I’m not exactly a veteran. But Ironreach was, and he’s spent the last bits of free time he had teaching the team and I everything we’d need to know to reach the city. Well, not everything about the underground. That would have taken him weeks to unpack, but everything that we’ll likely run into between here and there.
“Don’t worry, Captain. I don’t think getting to the city and general survival is going to be the hard part for us. We’ve got more than just books and tips, keep in mind armor itself can hold our hands through this.”
“The armor?”
I patted the side of my head. “We’ve got a full manual on how to survive down there, where to find food, and best places to sleep in safety. The armor will have that information loaded in memory and guide us step by step, highlight where to go and what to eat. Even without the manuals loaded in, we have Cathida who’s got a lifetime of experience traversing the underground. Getting to one city is going to be the easy part.”
With Father, I’d been down there for a half day and our entire mission was to escape. This time, the trip would take three days, which meant we’d have to camp, sleep, and source our own food down there. There’d be downtime, and Ironreach stressed quite a lot that finding the right place to set up a camp was among the most important things I needed to know. Even if I needed to stay up another two hours or backtrack, just to find a suitable location, or stop early if I’d stumbled on one, it was important enough.
The number one cause of death was ambush by machines. Given that we had a Feather likely behind us, that ambush might be more than just deadly.
I’d like to have said that our trip there was full of adventure, but I’d be lying. It was a tranquil ride, with nothing in every direction for a few hundred miles. The most interesting thing we passed was a bit of ruins that had just started to peek from the underground, pushed up by the mites, likely within the last few days since that location hadn’t been logged previously on our charts. And still, it was a good detour away if we had been in the business of going exploring.
The destination was likewise just as non-descript. A simple crevice, a mile long, that was wide enough that snow couldn’t pile up and cover it all. Crevices like these were a bit everywhere, but if they were small enough, they’d be covered up by snow and become undetectable without special scanning tools. This particular crevice was well survivable, as it was angled in a way that wind would clear off the snow rather than blow it in. By the base, sheltered from the wind and a few feet already underground, were five square habitat tents, unpowered and unused.
A few crates of foodstuff along with spare environmental suits, soap, sponges, and other survival tools were left in perfect condition. Normally, if things had gone according to plan, this little campsite would have been inhabited. Kidra and her knights would have been camping here for a few days, waiting for a pickup. They could have even been outside, sparring with one another, or having a smaller team go a little way underground to collect frostbloom or even fish if there were any rivers or lakes nearby underground.
But the camp was pristine. Unused, left behind by Kidra in preparation for their return. And beyond that little sign of life, the darkness of the underground loomed before us all.
The ice crackled and crunched under our boots as we arrived at the small nook of shelter, taking stock of the site and the current state. Behind, Winterscar scavengers in full suits were busy bringing more crates and supplies to add to this campsite, for when my own team returned and prepared for camp. A survey showed that the current rations Kidra had brought were more than double what would be needed to keep five knights well fed for a few weeks. A little odd of her to go overkill like that, but better more food than a lack of it. The crew lowered new boxes, stacking them in the shade and corners, then made their way back to the landed airspeeder. Leaving only knights behind, staring at the entrance to the underground.
It was time for farewells. For now. He’ll be returning to the clan, where he’s already prepared to face judgment. It was that, or wait out here for possibly weeks—or even indefinitely if I died down there—which was a pretty terrible waste of both his talents and keeping an entire airspeeder idling away while the clan had need of it.
Going underground with me was a death sentence to him or any of the airspeeder crew, given they had no armor and only basic combat training. There’s a reason it was clan law to bar entrance to the underground for scavengers and leave that domain only to knights and escorted traders. So, back to the clan he’d go.
The weekly airspeeder coming here to check if Kidra had returned or not would be my ride home, too, assuming everything went well. As for the rest of his crew of temporary conscripted pirates, they planned on donning environmental suits and finding a way to sneak into the clan after being dropped off a few miles off the colony side. It would be a long walk, and they’ll probably get caught, but riding back in the airspeeder was a guarantee of getting caught anyhow so they hedged their bets here.
The comms crackled. “See you in a few weeks, if all goes good,” Teed said. “And I hope you’ll have company with you when you do.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not returning alone up here. And thanks for the lift.”
I saw him wave from the cockpit, as the massive airspeeder lifted back up off the ground, making a lazy turn all the while speeding up. Soon the engines were a distant noise, a white comet flying over the frozen waste.
As for me and the knights, I turned to face the dark entrance, a steep drop into a different world.
It seems almost like fate in a way. Father had been right, all that time ago, as we rose on the elevator, seeking safety. Even back then, desperate to escape the underground, I knew it would eventually come to this moment. Where I would stand at that precipice between realms.
Between who I’d once been and who I could become.
I took a deep breath, and then stepped forward, back into the world below.
CHAPTER 24
INTERLUDE - GENERAL ZAANG
General Zaang watched the news and reports across the screens in the command bunker. Machines flooded the streets now that the gatehouse defenders had surrendered. Surprisingly, the metal monsters had spared the knights. They followed the terms they’d set, leaving cowering soldiers alone while the bulk of the machine forces scurried into the city like a fire hydrant let loose.
He kept a close watch for signs of betrayal. An errant swipe from a machine to kill some fleeing civilian, or some surrendered soldier getting their heads torn off. None of that happened. The screamers howled in victory and raced through the streets on all fours like animals. But they otherwise ignored the citizens. The only exceptions he’d seen were the odd stops, where a group of hulking machines would stare at a terrorized citizen, before they turned and continued their direction, curiosity sated.
Zaang wasn’t sure what was stranger. The view of so many machines all running loose inside the city, or that there wasn’t any bloodshed to be found anywhere.
A massive difference from their regular known behavior. Massive difference. That tiny spark of hope deep in his mind grew a little brighter. That this To’Wrathh Feather had actually been honest about her terms. He’d already resigned himself to being killed. Expected it even, considering he’d been the opposing leadership and general. But hope was something hard to stamp out, and any drifting embers would reignite flames.
The duel between the Feather and sword saint had ended. Poorly. The moment they’d broken the tower, Lady Winterscar was too clever to remain on the front lines fighting in a doomed fight. Instead, she employed a series of clearly pre-planned maneuvers, escaping deeper into the city and disappearing from view entirely. The general did not know where she’d gone into hiding, but he wished her well and hoped she had the good sense to escape the city while she could.
As for himself, given the direction that the machine army was moving, he already knew what was coming. The screamers were clearly running for very specific targets. The government buildings, where the consuls would be hiding. And here, his command bunker.
Soon enough, they reached the parameter, where only one Screamer proceeded, walking to the opening and saying something to the guards standing by. Screens here only captured visual data, not audio. His comms crackled. That was his second in command, informing him that the machine had requested entrance.
Politely.
“Let it in,” he said, taking another sip of his cup before turning to the rest of the surrounding staff. “I don’t want to see any heroics from any of you. We’ve lost. If you can, try to find a way outside and hide among the citizens. I’ll obfuscate the records and burn up any personnel paperwork to make it seamless for you all. No telling what will happen to me or the people who lead the defense. But the citizens seem to be left alone so far, so that’s your best bet, folks.”
The command group stared at him. And didn’t move. He gave them another twenty seconds before it was clear he was dealing with the stubborn type. “Fine, you fools. Stay here and die with me then. Do as you please.” He scoffed, though felt oddly at peace with this.
It wasn’t long until that envoy entered his sanctum, with its horrifying half-skull ducking under the doorway in order to fit into the tight corridors. He’d seen these up-close a few times, back when he was a regular in the line. This one looked no different, besides the strange new behavior. Looking around with what he’d almost attributed to curiosity.
It stalked in closer, those claws and frame more than strong enough to tear him limb from limb, and his officer’s dress would do nothing to help. One massive claw like hand, reaching out right past his right side to lie on the desk and give the hunched thing support. The white skull like head lowered until violet eyes met human ones. “Our lady. She calls for you. You will come. She will speak. You will listen.”
Zaang swirled the last of his cup and downed it with a satisfied sigh. The glass clinked as he set it down while he stood, brushing off dust and preparing himself for anything. Execution, or dinner. It was a coin toss at this point. “By all means, lead the way.”
That machine nodded slowly, lifted that hand off the desk, and turned back. “Good. Follow.”
He learned a few things on the way. The machine had a name, Yrob. The Feather in charge of everything seemed close to this one, given that To’Wrathh had ordered him directly. Outside the bunker, the streets had grown empty. The moment the pillar fell, the city’s backbone was broken. The fighting had died down a moment later as the general surrender came blaring out. People huddled in their homes, windows shut, except for tiny cracks where they all huddled and watched. Machines stalked the roads now, lumbering around with a steady gait.
The clan lord had told me only five knights were allowed to accompany me down underground. But to actually capture and crew the ship, I’m free to bring more people. So, I had Teed go around getting a small crew of Reachers who owed him favors just for this. Airspeeders could be driven by a crew of one, technically, but it sure wasn’t an easy task. There’s more to keeping an airspeeder in the air than just steering it away from the ground.
And more importantly it would look rather weird to see a crew of one.
Another bonk in the night, and there weren’t any more marshals around to give us any trouble. The only ones remaining in the hanger were the common Reachers, who were more focused on getting their own deadlines met than questioning the whole. So, now it was time to stroll in and steal the airspeeder under everyone’s noses.
Now, as I was saying before, Reachers are panicky little creatures of habit. Scare one with a change of plans, and the rest of the hive gets scared as well, screaming bloody murder and asking for pay raises. So, the best way to get to the prize was to pretend everything was going according to plan.
Hence me and mine strutting right up into the hangar, like we belonged there. Even had some workers hauling food and gear, the heavy stuff. Some Reachers gave us a glance, and then went right back to their tasks. We reached the side of the airspeeder with little issue, where part two of my plan came into work.
A group of Reachers were gaggling inside the airspeeder, some actually busy cleaning while the rest were playing cards at a table. They all glanced up at us as we walked in. “Uhh, is there a deployment?” one of them asked, looking very confused, and a little worried.
I drew deep into character. I was a knight who’d been given last second orders, in the middle of the night. I was too stressed and tired to deal with anything more. I’d just barely gotten my gear on and marched on over to this stupid hangar for something only the gods knew about since nobody bothered to fill me on any details.
Ergo, I just wanted this ship up and running so I could go down to the cargo bay and get the rest of my sleep while the pilots got me and my knights where we were needed.
I drew out a carefully prepared counterfeit orders, rolled up in an authentic looking piece of paper, and tossed it onto their table. “Orders from the top,” I said, voice tired and praying for everything to get just done. “Other ships aren’t ready or already booked, so this one’s the one we’ve been assigned to. Go get this authorized while we get the ship started. We got to be out in the freeze yesterday.”
The man closest to the tossed orders opened it up, gave it a quick look and closed it. “Okay, I’ll grab the marshals and we’ll have you setup, sir.” He turned to the others who sat a little dumbfounded, before nudging his head in a pretty universal order for Get moving you lazy fucks.
Teed was already making his way to the pilot’s seat while the rest of his small handpicked airspeeder crew were taking their positions and going through the motions. Gear and supplies for the trip were being brought in, and put into place, snuggly on the sides. The Reachers inside the ship were hastily clearing up their workstations, mops and other maintenance gear, making a quick scramble to get outside.
Sagrius and the rest of the Winterscar knights I’d brought with me made their way to the cargo hold where they took their seats. I escorted the Reacher in command as he made his way outside and scanned around the hanger.
A marshal was by his workstation, pretending to do the same things he’d seen the real marshal do right before we jumped him and stole his lunch money, and then stuffed him away kicking and screaming in a closet somewhere.
The imposter turned to glance at the Reacher who was waving him down for attention. “Emergency dispatch?” he asked, walking up, playing his part perfectly.
The Reacher passed on the falsified orders, to which my mole opened up, pretended to give it a look, and rolled it back up, turning around and waving over another imposter marshal. “All right, I’ll bring this back and mark the ship for emergency away mission.” He turned to me and gave me a salute. “Please, go right ahead and get everything set up, sir knight, we’ll handle the rest of the legwork from here. Safe journey.”
“Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing,” I groaned “Thanks for understanding the situation and time crunch, I appreciate it.” I shook his hand like it was a done deal.
My mole turned to the Reacher. “Start preparations for the hangar, I’ll go file this with the Logi. Let’s try to move fast.”
The Reacher at my side considered it job done for himself and waved to the rest of the departing crew, making sure his little flock of followers had all disembarked from the ship. The only people left aboard were Teed, his mutinous crew of daredevils, and my five knights waiting for me to climb aboard.
The imposter marshals grouped up, passing along the falsified orders and all pretending to authorize it. Somewhere a Logi was waking up in cold sweat, with a terrible gut feeling that something hadn’t been filed right. But the poor bastard would only find out tomorrow, when the captured marshals were let loose.
The rest of the Reacher nest was roused awake, like it had been prodded by an angry taskmaster. They followed through on their work without question, sealing the internal hangar bulkheads and flooding the room with the frozen waste air. And most importantly, no questions asked since everyone thought everyone else had already authorized the launch.
Five minutes later, the massive doors rumbled open and that’s how you steal an airspeeder in style.
Teed punched in the commands, setting the ship into autopilot. The white wastes now truly surrounded us. “Going to be a while before we reach the entry point Kidra’s team used. Make yourself comfortable, kid.”
“I brought my favorite blanket, no worries,” I said, settling into the co-pilot seat. There was something oddly tranquil about watching the white wastes illuminated by a full moon. A vast empty plane of silver stretching out on all sides, reflecting light from the ice. The light played tricks on the speeding ground underneath, making my eyes spot the dark contrast instead of the brightly lit reflections. Like weaving trails on the ground, bits of crushed ice and snow being blown backwards as we soared over.
The trip would take a full day and night at our current pace. In the cargo hold, the knights continued to train with fractals, trying out some of the ones sourced from Talen’s books, or found in Atius’s notes.
The ones leftover from Talen were building blocks, utility that offered interesting and novel uses, not specific for combat. The ones leftover from our clan lord were clearly made to be used in a fight, but they always required a soul to connect to it. In order to fully use those spells, the knights would need to multi-task, being able to spread their soul out in a way none of them had ever practiced before.
I had a cheat in that I could go all-in on commanding the occult while Cathida controlled my body. The rest of the knights needed to do it the old-fashioned way.
Captain Sagrius walked in, just as I was about to doze off. He reached the side of the cabin and sat. “My lord, a word if you will?” he asked.
I gave him a sleepy nod. “Sure, what can I do for you, Captain?”
“The men and I are ready and willing to follow wherever you go. But we are still…inexperienced underground. The only time we’ve been there had been with Shadowsong, fighting off that machine ambush. We’re worried that the time we had with Ironreach on what to expect won’t be enough.”
I’ve been underground only once, so I’m not exactly a veteran. But Ironreach was, and he’s spent the last bits of free time he had teaching the team and I everything we’d need to know to reach the city. Well, not everything about the underground. That would have taken him weeks to unpack, but everything that we’ll likely run into between here and there.
“Don’t worry, Captain. I don’t think getting to the city and general survival is going to be the hard part for us. We’ve got more than just books and tips, keep in mind armor itself can hold our hands through this.”
“The armor?”
I patted the side of my head. “We’ve got a full manual on how to survive down there, where to find food, and best places to sleep in safety. The armor will have that information loaded in memory and guide us step by step, highlight where to go and what to eat. Even without the manuals loaded in, we have Cathida who’s got a lifetime of experience traversing the underground. Getting to one city is going to be the easy part.”
With Father, I’d been down there for a half day and our entire mission was to escape. This time, the trip would take three days, which meant we’d have to camp, sleep, and source our own food down there. There’d be downtime, and Ironreach stressed quite a lot that finding the right place to set up a camp was among the most important things I needed to know. Even if I needed to stay up another two hours or backtrack, just to find a suitable location, or stop early if I’d stumbled on one, it was important enough.
The number one cause of death was ambush by machines. Given that we had a Feather likely behind us, that ambush might be more than just deadly.
I’d like to have said that our trip there was full of adventure, but I’d be lying. It was a tranquil ride, with nothing in every direction for a few hundred miles. The most interesting thing we passed was a bit of ruins that had just started to peek from the underground, pushed up by the mites, likely within the last few days since that location hadn’t been logged previously on our charts. And still, it was a good detour away if we had been in the business of going exploring.
The destination was likewise just as non-descript. A simple crevice, a mile long, that was wide enough that snow couldn’t pile up and cover it all. Crevices like these were a bit everywhere, but if they were small enough, they’d be covered up by snow and become undetectable without special scanning tools. This particular crevice was well survivable, as it was angled in a way that wind would clear off the snow rather than blow it in. By the base, sheltered from the wind and a few feet already underground, were five square habitat tents, unpowered and unused.
A few crates of foodstuff along with spare environmental suits, soap, sponges, and other survival tools were left in perfect condition. Normally, if things had gone according to plan, this little campsite would have been inhabited. Kidra and her knights would have been camping here for a few days, waiting for a pickup. They could have even been outside, sparring with one another, or having a smaller team go a little way underground to collect frostbloom or even fish if there were any rivers or lakes nearby underground.
But the camp was pristine. Unused, left behind by Kidra in preparation for their return. And beyond that little sign of life, the darkness of the underground loomed before us all.
The ice crackled and crunched under our boots as we arrived at the small nook of shelter, taking stock of the site and the current state. Behind, Winterscar scavengers in full suits were busy bringing more crates and supplies to add to this campsite, for when my own team returned and prepared for camp. A survey showed that the current rations Kidra had brought were more than double what would be needed to keep five knights well fed for a few weeks. A little odd of her to go overkill like that, but better more food than a lack of it. The crew lowered new boxes, stacking them in the shade and corners, then made their way back to the landed airspeeder. Leaving only knights behind, staring at the entrance to the underground.
It was time for farewells. For now. He’ll be returning to the clan, where he’s already prepared to face judgment. It was that, or wait out here for possibly weeks—or even indefinitely if I died down there—which was a pretty terrible waste of both his talents and keeping an entire airspeeder idling away while the clan had need of it.
Going underground with me was a death sentence to him or any of the airspeeder crew, given they had no armor and only basic combat training. There’s a reason it was clan law to bar entrance to the underground for scavengers and leave that domain only to knights and escorted traders. So, back to the clan he’d go.
The weekly airspeeder coming here to check if Kidra had returned or not would be my ride home, too, assuming everything went well. As for the rest of his crew of temporary conscripted pirates, they planned on donning environmental suits and finding a way to sneak into the clan after being dropped off a few miles off the colony side. It would be a long walk, and they’ll probably get caught, but riding back in the airspeeder was a guarantee of getting caught anyhow so they hedged their bets here.
The comms crackled. “See you in a few weeks, if all goes good,” Teed said. “And I hope you’ll have company with you when you do.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not returning alone up here. And thanks for the lift.”
I saw him wave from the cockpit, as the massive airspeeder lifted back up off the ground, making a lazy turn all the while speeding up. Soon the engines were a distant noise, a white comet flying over the frozen waste.
As for me and the knights, I turned to face the dark entrance, a steep drop into a different world.
It seems almost like fate in a way. Father had been right, all that time ago, as we rose on the elevator, seeking safety. Even back then, desperate to escape the underground, I knew it would eventually come to this moment. Where I would stand at that precipice between realms.
Between who I’d once been and who I could become.
I took a deep breath, and then stepped forward, back into the world below.
CHAPTER 24
INTERLUDE - GENERAL ZAANG
General Zaang watched the news and reports across the screens in the command bunker. Machines flooded the streets now that the gatehouse defenders had surrendered. Surprisingly, the metal monsters had spared the knights. They followed the terms they’d set, leaving cowering soldiers alone while the bulk of the machine forces scurried into the city like a fire hydrant let loose.
He kept a close watch for signs of betrayal. An errant swipe from a machine to kill some fleeing civilian, or some surrendered soldier getting their heads torn off. None of that happened. The screamers howled in victory and raced through the streets on all fours like animals. But they otherwise ignored the citizens. The only exceptions he’d seen were the odd stops, where a group of hulking machines would stare at a terrorized citizen, before they turned and continued their direction, curiosity sated.
Zaang wasn’t sure what was stranger. The view of so many machines all running loose inside the city, or that there wasn’t any bloodshed to be found anywhere.
A massive difference from their regular known behavior. Massive difference. That tiny spark of hope deep in his mind grew a little brighter. That this To’Wrathh Feather had actually been honest about her terms. He’d already resigned himself to being killed. Expected it even, considering he’d been the opposing leadership and general. But hope was something hard to stamp out, and any drifting embers would reignite flames.
The duel between the Feather and sword saint had ended. Poorly. The moment they’d broken the tower, Lady Winterscar was too clever to remain on the front lines fighting in a doomed fight. Instead, she employed a series of clearly pre-planned maneuvers, escaping deeper into the city and disappearing from view entirely. The general did not know where she’d gone into hiding, but he wished her well and hoped she had the good sense to escape the city while she could.
As for himself, given the direction that the machine army was moving, he already knew what was coming. The screamers were clearly running for very specific targets. The government buildings, where the consuls would be hiding. And here, his command bunker.
Soon enough, they reached the parameter, where only one Screamer proceeded, walking to the opening and saying something to the guards standing by. Screens here only captured visual data, not audio. His comms crackled. That was his second in command, informing him that the machine had requested entrance.
Politely.
“Let it in,” he said, taking another sip of his cup before turning to the rest of the surrounding staff. “I don’t want to see any heroics from any of you. We’ve lost. If you can, try to find a way outside and hide among the citizens. I’ll obfuscate the records and burn up any personnel paperwork to make it seamless for you all. No telling what will happen to me or the people who lead the defense. But the citizens seem to be left alone so far, so that’s your best bet, folks.”
The command group stared at him. And didn’t move. He gave them another twenty seconds before it was clear he was dealing with the stubborn type. “Fine, you fools. Stay here and die with me then. Do as you please.” He scoffed, though felt oddly at peace with this.
It wasn’t long until that envoy entered his sanctum, with its horrifying half-skull ducking under the doorway in order to fit into the tight corridors. He’d seen these up-close a few times, back when he was a regular in the line. This one looked no different, besides the strange new behavior. Looking around with what he’d almost attributed to curiosity.
It stalked in closer, those claws and frame more than strong enough to tear him limb from limb, and his officer’s dress would do nothing to help. One massive claw like hand, reaching out right past his right side to lie on the desk and give the hunched thing support. The white skull like head lowered until violet eyes met human ones. “Our lady. She calls for you. You will come. She will speak. You will listen.”
Zaang swirled the last of his cup and downed it with a satisfied sigh. The glass clinked as he set it down while he stood, brushing off dust and preparing himself for anything. Execution, or dinner. It was a coin toss at this point. “By all means, lead the way.”
That machine nodded slowly, lifted that hand off the desk, and turned back. “Good. Follow.”
He learned a few things on the way. The machine had a name, Yrob. The Feather in charge of everything seemed close to this one, given that To’Wrathh had ordered him directly. Outside the bunker, the streets had grown empty. The moment the pillar fell, the city’s backbone was broken. The fighting had died down a moment later as the general surrender came blaring out. People huddled in their homes, windows shut, except for tiny cracks where they all huddled and watched. Machines stalked the roads now, lumbering around with a steady gait.
