ã€ŠThe Noon Odysseyã€‹


 Before Noon Chapter 1 | The Birthday Summons

    Chapter One

    The Birthday Summons

    Fort Backwater

    Colony Two

    1 September 2727

    Agloff¡¯s mother had said she was going to find his brother. She must have screwed that one up because that was fifteen years ago, and she still wasn¡¯t back yet. It was a fact his peers were at no pains to remind him of on a daily basis.

    Another such taunt rang in his ears. The foreman¡¯s shadow moved across Agloff, flexing its piggy fingers. It raised an arm to strike, and he winced in expectation.

    Agloff jolted. Pain stung his cheek. He clenched his face without a sound, then politely straightened his back, and waited as the foreman moved on to the next one down the line. That might be the last time that happens, he thought.

    ¡®Last night of the indenture; gotta make the most of it. Two hours¡¯ overtime, Ashborne,¡¯ the foreman, Marcus Persky, called. Indenture. They could call that for what it was: cheap labour for the Fort.

    Agloff murmured his acceptance. His colleagues didn¡¯t react anymore. It was like they were a part of the machinery, patiently awaiting their own beatings.

    There was a nervousness along the line tonight, each of them deep within their own heads. For as soon as they finished their servitude today, they got their school results tomorrow. Every time the thought came around, Agloff¡¯s body tightened.

    But today was a good day, Agloff told himself. It was his eighteenth birthday for one, but for whatever tomorrow brought, countless days of all-round misery and minor injury were almost over. This seedy factory at the back of Fort Backwater had been his school and his work for a decade. Persky could delay Agloff¡¯s freedom by all the hours he wanted. But he couldn¡¯t stop it. And with that freedom, the world beyond would come into terrifying focus. But that was for tomorrow¡¯s Agloff to worry about, he supposed.

    ¡®Oi Ashborne,¡¯ Persky added. Agloff winced for the second blow but it never came. He was a thin and wiry boy, taller than most with elbows and shoulders pointy like knives. It made for an easy beating as the bruises formed quickly. Instead, the foreman tossed a small envelope onto the line in front of him. ¡®Letter came for you,¡¯ he said.

    Agloff couldn¡¯t imagine who would be writing to him, unless it were a response about an apprenticeship. He didn¡¯t recall applying for anything, unless Ariea had done it on his behalf, which would not be out of character. He scooped the envelope from the floor and tore it open:

    Dear Mr Ashborne,

    Warden Elena Drake of Fort Backwater requests your presence post-haste at the Council Offices Uptown at 8.30 this evening, the First of September, to discuss an urgent matter. Please rearrange any other engagements.

    Apologies for any inconvenience caused,

    Secretary Flick

    At once, his heart pounded in his ribs, and a million possibilities scurried through his head. Why would the Warden of the Fort want a meeting with him? What had he done? Was he in trouble? Was it a job offer? (Not likely; his school grades were middling). He raked a hand through his mop of mud brown hair and thought.

    ¡®You coming out later?¡¯ Ariea Finland asked Agloff from the station adjacent. Agloff stuffed the letter into his pocket, pretending it was nothing. He knew his friends had planned a trip to one of Backwater¡¯s less dead dives, an ale house up on Short Street.

    ¡®Maegen was coming too,¡¯ Ariea continued. ¡®You could maybe ask her out? I¡¯m like ninety¡­ seven percent sure she likes you, you know.¡¯

    Agloff felt his cheeks turn a shade rosier as he smeared his wounds across his sleeve.

    ¡®What about you?¡¯

    ¡®Me?¡¯ Ariea leapt back defensively.

    ¡®I mean, are you going? I wasn¡¯t planning to myself,¡¯ he said, hiding the shot of anxiety coursing inside him.

    Ariea¡¯s bob of auburn hair tilted in judgement, and she drew a finger across the redness of Agloff¡¯s lips. She had a pretty, round sort of face, with round features. Her skin was delicate and pale.

    ¡®I am and you should come. You do realise people enjoy their birthdays, right? Traditionally,¡¯ she said.

    Agloff feigned disinterest. ¡®I don¡¯t know. You know I¡¯m not into it. I was gonna stay home and watch something,¡¯ he lied. Were it true, Old Earth movies still beat going out, even with Ariea. It wasn¡¯t Maegen he cared for.

    ¡®I mean it¡¯s your birthday, I guess. We were basically going out for you!¡¯

    ¡®And not because we finished our indenture?¡¯

    ¡®Okay, fine, but this is the one night of our lives we get to dream! Before we get our results tomorrow, inevitably find out we missed out on what we wanted, and the abject despair of being a logger or street sweeper for the next fifty years sets in.¡¯

    ¡®Those are good jobs,¡¯ Agloff pretended. He watched her eyes twinkle.

    ¡®You¡¯re allowed to dream, Agloff.¡¯ She placed a hand at his shoulder. At once, Agloff felt comforted.

    ¡®I have a dream.¡¯

    She laughed, then stifled it into a cough. ¡®There are bigger dreams than being a postman.¡¯

    ¡®Doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s anything wrong with it. And it¡¯s mail rider, actually.¡¯ Or striders as some people called them. The thought sucked him in, again and again. To roam the Colony aback a horse, secret messages and love letters bundled in his saddle bag. He could visit every town, make the Colony his sticker book, to be collected. Not that he could actually ride a horse, for now.

    He would need passing grades in numeracy and literacy. Better than that in modern history and geography and to excel in his physicals. That last one was hard because no matter how much Agloff seemed to eat, none of it seemed to cling to his bones.

    Ariea excelled at the sciences. She was destined for medicine, although she denied her talent. Like all talented people did.

    ¡®You could come with me. A travelling physician.¡¯

    Ariea smiled. ¡®Turns out you are a dreamer. This is home, Agloff.¡¯ She paused. ¡®Maybe one day, when you learn how to read a map.¡¯

    Maybe one day, he thought, his deliveries could lead him home to his mother, to his brother. But they were less than whispers on the wind. That was a more impossible dream.

    ¡®Anyway,¡¯ Ariea said, ¡®if ya gonna be a misery and stay in, check on my dad when you get home. He said he felt funny.¡¯ Agloff nodded as she turned to leave. It would be a detour on his way to Drake. Persky dismissed them one-by-one until Agloff was the only one left. His eyes lingered on the doorway until long after Ariea vanished from view. As if in half-expectation she might have forgotten something and had an excuse to come running back.

    But no. He carried on into the narrowing sunlight. Its glare blurred his vision through the slats of the window across the belt opposite him. He guarded his eyes with one hand and inspected crates of pulped beef chattering towards him with the other.

    Overtime whittled by with his mind occupied by circular thoughts, the kind that spiralled, inwards and downwards. Dreams of scaling Backwater¡¯s walls and walking through the unsoiled air to where his mother might have been. In his mind he had already made the journey countless times. To the rolling pastures at the end of the Colony, or the Scourgelands to the south, where Winter dare not touch them and the land was arid and tasteless. Then Marcus Persky appeared and dismissed him with little more than a flagrant wave. Reality crushed Agloff again like a sack of bricks, and his mind beckoned back to his mysterious meeting with Warden Drake.

    He departed into the night, grateful he would never have to tread the factory floor again. His feet skimmed over the battered cobbles, eyes scanning from beggar to beggar with a shameful look, praying they would not halt him. They were crammed into every crevasse, hustling and bartering for rations and beds in groups of six or more, like strange, patchwork families.

    But then his progress was stunted in the thick crowd trudging down Main Street. All the night-shifters headed for an evening¡¯s labour; all the day-shifters starting to head home, all bobbing in their pale grey boiler suits. Some hauled heavy loads across their backs. Agloff knew them to be miners and loggers, taking their tools beyond the walls. Some worked in the factory like him. Some laboured on the farms outside. This was the only future his indenture bought him. Life-long back pain and a boiler suit. The thought that he might suffer their fate for another fifty years stirred a deep-seated dread. The untamed plains of Colony Two beyond Backwater could be no worse than this.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡®Tina!¡¯ a woman cried ahead. The hoard turned to the side of the road. Agloff craned his giraffish neck for a better view. For a moment, the world was plunged into silence by the woman¡¯s tide of gentle sobs.

    ¡®Who could have wanted anything with Tina?¡¯ she said to the heavens. Her gaunt figure was bathed in rags. The kind Agloff felt sorry for but wanted nothing to do with. ¡®She was ill, God bless her. My own granddaughter. Who¡¯d want to snatch her?¡¯

    Another one, Agloff thought. There had been murmurs people were vanishing off the streets, mainly out-sleepers. But he hadn¡¯t seen it himself yet.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to find her,¡¯ one man said, stepping forward from the crowd. A white strap on his shoulder marked him a councillor of the Fort, one of twelve.

    The woman snatched her arm away, eyes alight with rage. ¡®This is you, your lot and Drake, snatching people in the dead of night. What is it? Got too many people so you pick on the sick? Or are you chucking them outside, to Winter, in the hope they won¡¯t come here¡­ She never left her bed!¡¯ She pounded weak fists on the man¡¯s chest, but he failed to move, unsure of how to act in full view of his public. Agloff could see through the councillor¡¯s fa?ade, that rulebook of dos and don¡¯ts that guided politicians¡¯ every word. Of spin and half-truths.

    First had come the odd instance: a beggar never seen again. Then a few, then dozens, then people disappeared from inside their homes. Always the weak and the sick. There were mutterings it was Winter, others said it was the Fort. Try as he might, Agloff always felt detached from it. It had always been someone else¡¯s problem. Never something that would affect him.

    Above, the clouds parted and the sky was split in two by a blinking ring that arced from one horizon to the other. Everyone seemed to look up in solidarity.

    Cerberus, they called it, a ring-like superstructure, swallowing the entire planet, built to watch over the largest prison ever constructed by man: Colony Two, otherwise known as Earth. Every now and then a ship would hum in the distance, from Atlas or one of the colony worlds. It would deposit its human cargo, whatever their crime, and leave as calmly as it had arrived. Cerberus was a reminder to all they could never leave this planet, no matter how far they ran.

    The crowd then cleared and Agloff darted up a side road that sloped uphill. In keeping with his word to Ariea, before seeing Drake, he would check on Michael. The flats were like scaffolding laced together by rope and curtained in rags, with a room or two to a family. They tilted over the narrow streets, guarding the paths below from the moonlight. Agloff fumbled for his key and stopped before a narrow three-floored house he was grateful to call a home. It was one room to a floor. The kitchen, then Michael Finland¡¯s room, then his and Ariea¡¯s.

    Seeing as his mum wasn¡¯t about, a family friend, Marty Naples, had arranged for Agloff to be a ward at Michael¡¯s home when he was three. Agloff dropped his keys against the kitchen surface and turned to see Mr Finland¡¯s breakfast untouched beside him: crusty porridge and a ripe glass of milk. Agloff gagged, clearing it away. Maybe Michael had to leave in a hurry this morning, he thought. He called up the ladder. Silence.

    That was odd.

    Maybe he had to work late.

    Both were unlikely.

    He couldn¡¯t linger though; Drake¡¯s summons awaited. He powered uptown to the council offices. His exhaustion was buried in the fist of panic that gripped him. He didn¡¯t know what it was, but he wanted it over, bolting past the terraces at Acre Square on Main Street and towards the offices.

    Agloff¡¯s destination was a squat dome. It was one of the few brick and mortar buildings of Fort Backwater built after the Departure, when humanity drifted on to worlds anew. Neat columns circled it, supporting a capped roof that hung over the building¡¯s edges. He felt nauseous, unsure if it was the running or anxiety. Be brave for once, he told himself and ascended a flight of steps into a tidy entrance hall. From the desk opposite, an administrator peered threateningly from over his file through a pair of tinted spectacles. He studied Agloff up and down, lingering on Agloff¡¯s moulting boiler suit, fraying at its creases.

    ¡®Business?¡¯ he said, returning to his file. Agloff silently stepped forward and passed him the letter. The administrator considered it then replied with a sigh of recognition. He stood, indicating for Agloff to follow.

    He led out into a long corridor. For the life of him, Agloff could not imagine anyone wanting or needing this much space to live in. One room was surely enough. This just seemed wasteful. He passed the offices of people with fancy titles he had never heard of, their names inked onto their doors. Then, the administrator pushed the lockless door open to the office of Warden Drake. The sign on her window dubbed her ¡°Chief Lawmaker and First Councillor of the Fort.¡± A throaty voice beckoned for him to enter.

    ¡®Ah, Agloff,¡¯ Warden Drake said, pointing for him to sit. ¡®A pleasure.¡¯ Her desk arced across the back of a circular office. She raised her head from some important document and smiled. Her greying hair was knotted up in a bun and the glare of her glasses hid the lines drawn across her eyes.

    ¡®Warden,¡¯ Agloff said, with all due deference.

    He then realised that there was a third person in the room. Ariea was backed against the wall across from him. She was clad in a tidy black dress and heels, her face made up and prettier than it already was. Agloff said nothing, confused.

    Ariea opened her mouth but Drake spoke first. ¡®I¡¯ve already spoken to Miss Finland. That will be all, Ariea,¡¯ she said. ¡®If you wait outside for Agloff.¡¯ She waved an arm at the administrator who nodded his head and escorted her from the room. ¡®I was very sorry to interrupt her night out. Completing your indenture is meant to be a joyous occasion. Regrettably¡­¡¯ Her voice tailed off before she could complete her thought.

    ¡®Can I ask what happened?¡¯ Agloff said, urgency in his voice. ¡®Am I in trouble? Is this about my results? Did I fail?¡¯

    ¡®Of course not! I wanted to talk about your mother.¡¯

    ¡®What about her?¡¯ Agloff¡¯s heart thumped harder. A coldness filled his body. He couldn¡¯t move. He couldn¡¯t think. Raw panic gripped him. It took every morsel of energy in his body to appear calm. This was what he had waited for all his life.

    Drake sighed. ¡®When she arrived nearly eighteen years ago with you, and you alone¡­¡¯ Drake¡¯s words seemed to pre-empt Agloff¡¯s next question as it raced through his mind. His brain moved faster than it could keep up with itself. ¡®She was a strange woman.¡¯

    ¡®How¡¯s that?¡¯ Agloff wondered if he should be offended.

    ¡®Most people were just happy to be here, to have a place to exist, refugees or crooks. Colony Two is about fresh starts, after all. Not her. You could say I was intrigued. And suffice it to say, I think she was far cleverer than she ever let on.¡¯

    ¡®So, why¡¯d she leave?¡¯ Agloff¡¯s hands fidgeted in his pockets.

    Drake bit her lip. ¡®She said only that a man called Jask may come looking for you. I am afraid I don¡¯t know why. Your mother was incredibly guarded.¡¯

    Agloff frowned. ¡®Jask?¡¯

    Drake looked unsettled all of a sudden. ¡®He¡¯s the leader of Winter. Are you familiar with it?¡¯

    ¡®Everyone is,¡¯ Agloff said before it dawned on him what she said: the leader of Winter, an order whose name invoked dread across the Colony, wanted him. It was a thought almost too big to comprehend. ¡®Jask wants me? Specifically?¡¯

    ¡®Jask wants you and you specifically,¡¯ she repeated.

    ¡®Why me?¡¯ Agloff said like it was a complaint. ¡®What have I done that I don¡¯t know about?¡¯

    ¡®The question I¡¯ve asked myself for fifteen years. At the time, her warning seemed innocuous. But time strengthened Winter. There were many days that it was in my interests to move you on. But no,¡¯ said Drake, amused. ¡®It was never within me to do that to any child. But now, it is time you moved on, for the safety of my citizens.¡¯ She collected her walking stick, concealed from under her desk and stood. ¡®If Jask were to come here one day, I¡­¡¯ The thought seemed too terrible for her to even entertain.

    ¡®You- You¡¯re asking me to leave?¡¯ His voice begged.

    Agloff felt sick. He couldn¡¯t become a mail rider without his grades. The towns would think him a vagrant. Would he wander the Scourgelands to the south? He could seek refuge at the Underground out west. His mum¡¯s friend, Marty, had said he was going there, years ago, when he left Backwater for the last time. Leaving was always Agloff¡¯s dream, for some distant time ¡®when he was older¡¯, trained for it, capable. This was what he wanted, to leave. But its sudden imposition on him was terrifying. ¡®When he was older¡¯ had become now.

    ¡®You know what Backwater was before we came here, Agloff?¡¯

    Agloff shook his head.

    ¡®A factory. The whole town. Out in the middle of nowhere, on a hilltop. Pipes and concrete. We tore it down. Anything we could repurpose we did. There was no surplus. That¡¯s the hand the Confederacy left us when they built this place. The Colony is a world of beggars and crooks. We make do but we can do little else.¡¯

    Fun story, thought Agloff, but he couldn¡¯t say what that had to do with him, or Winter.

    ¡®There¡¯s a reason every fort in the Colony made its home in small towns, plants, retail lots. Cities were too big to be viable. We have no resources, no defences.¡¯

    ¡®So, what are you saying?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m saying if Winter came for you, what could we do to stop them?¡¯

    ¡®Well, what could they do to you?¡¯

    ¡®They¡¯re a cult, fanatics of Jask. They roam between forts like animals. Thieving. Kidnapping. They¡¯re of a creed, a faith I¡¯ve never known, and I¡¯ve seen a dozen worlds, stood on half as many. They just fell from the sky on the back of Cerberus one day. I don¡¯t know exactly what they¡¯re capable of, but I¡¯m not inclined to find out. We don¡¯t have the means to safeguard you and repel them. You must go.¡¯ She sighed deeply. ¡®But arrangements have been made in that regard; you need not worry. I suspect, aside from Miss Finland, there is little here for you.¡¯

    ¡®Why not tell me sooner, Warden?¡¯ Agloff said, as politely as he could manage. His panic submitted to anger. Why had he been led to believe he was welcome here? Or was it a blessing? He now had a reason to go out and find his family.

    ¡®The way things went were not the way I would have chosen,¡¯ said Drake. ¡®When she left, near three years later, she told me if she didn¡¯t come back that I keep an eye on you, and I have done, from a distance. I¡¯m not sure why I was inclined to do as she asked. Maybe, her being a single mother, I can empathise. I thought it better not to interfere. To let you live. But I¡¯m telling you now.¡¯ Drake was unmoved.

    She then reached an arm to a drawer and rummaged until she found a grey file. ¡®Anyway,¡¯ she continued. Turning to what looked like a random page, she traced her finger across the words and started reading.

    ¡®What is it?¡¯

    ¡®I know you feel compelled to find her, so I feel obliged to tell you. Your mother,¡¯ Drake said, flashing the file at Agloff. He thought he caught a glimpse of the word Andromeda. ¡®I was curious why Jask wanted you and assumed it had to do with her. When she left, I reached out to a few contacts from my time aboard the Sochi.¡¯ She paused. Agloff noticed her eyes flash towards a photo frame in front of her. Then, she began to read from the file. ¡®Andromeda Ashborne was born on the Freedom Ark Olympus on the twenty-fourth of July twenty-six-seventy-seven.¡¯ She glanced up. ¡®But the child was stillborn.¡¯

    ¡®But my mum didn¡¯t die as an infant, did she?¡¯ interrupted Agloff, unsure if he had heard correctly. ¡®You¡¯re saying what? They had a miscarriage? They can¡¯t have!¡¯

    ¡®Yes. Three months pre-term. They did name the child Andromeda though, for administrative purposes. Conveniently, both her parents, Joseph Ashborne and September Lewis, died in an industrial accident on the ark a few weeks after Andromeda¡¯s ¡®birth¡¯. ¡®I don¡¯t know who your mother is, but she is not Andromeda Ashborne. The identity is stolen.¡¯

    Drake said nothing for a moment, apparently allowing time for the enormity of what she had said to sink in, but it never did.

    ¡®Regrettably, for our citizens¡¯ safety, you need to leave Fort Backwater, Agloff. And you will need to leave tomorrow.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 2 | Winged Fever

    Chapter Two

    Winged Fever

    A normal mother, that¡¯s all Agloff wanted. Someone to be his best friend; to cut his hair and tie his shoelaces until he learned how; to sit by his bed at night until he fell asleep because he was scared of the dark. Whoever the hell the woman described to him was, she surely was not that.

    Drake turned through her file once more.

    ¡®Her other request for when you turn eighteen,¡¯ she began, munching on a nut from a bowl on her desk, ¡®was that I give you that. It¡¯s a letter, to you, from her.¡¯ She pushed it across the desk.

    Agloff wondered if his chest might burst. He wanted to know but was also scared of knowing. His brain was consumed by a multitude of alternate universes, each where the paper in front of him occupied a different truth. He reached a timid hand to unfurl the edges, half-expecting swathes of text to be redacted because they were somehow inappropriate. But no. The words sat there in slanted handwriting in their entirety. With deep breaths, he read.

    Agloff,

    If you¡¯re reading this, then I never returned. I am so sorry. Now, it¡¯s for your own safety you must stay at Backwater, but I know I would be happy in the knowledge that you¡¯re safe there, from Winter and Jask.

    Now you¡¯re old enough, I want you to know what happened. I was a nurse in the Confederacy working with a man called Tomas Wise. We had a confusion with another man, Abbadiah Thawn, and my children and I became hunted by Winter as a result. I fled Ku to Earth as a refugee, and you and your brother, Eron, were split for your safety. You, with me, and Eron with Tomas. We planned to meet on Earth.

    Tomas never made it. I thought him dead. I thought my other son dead, so I raised you, as though you were my only child.

    When you were three, I received a letter from Tomas. He was still alive! In another fort, far from Backwater. He urged us to move to him, that we were unsafe at Backwater. I do not know what to think but if there is the slightest chance I can bring your brother home, I will take it. It is for that reason, I travel alone, and I write this letter.

    I don¡¯t ask your forgiveness, only your understanding. I cannot tell you more. The rest, if you are desperate, I am sure Marty can tell you. I wish I was the person you think me to be rather than the one I am. I am so sorry. Please don¡¯t chase me.

    I love you, now and always,

    Mum

    A paper clip fastened a second scrap of paper to the letter. Agloff turned it over in his shaking hands and saw a faded photograph. His mother stood with waves of dark hair, with two chubby infants nestled in her arms. Scribbled underneath in that slanted handwriting were the words ¡°I love you both¡±.

    Agloff had imagined them, many times. The same fantasy, where he and his twin tumbled through the long grasses that rolled away from the Fort and down to the river. The water carved the flatness of the land in two. The congregation of trees clustered on either side of its banks keeled over, as if kneeling to the water in prayer. His mother sat at the waterside, watching her boys play, contented. His unknown father was circling the pair of them, his arms spread as wide as his smile. They were normal, he thought.

    The image lingered, left there like a scar that still hurt when touched. But for all his mother¡¯s letter presented Agloff, he could only throw his head back, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with how nebulous her words felt.

    If her intent was to dissuade, she failed. Agloff felt his disappointment punctuated by impulse. It was a relapse, and this urge to indulge in his childhood addiction returned. To understand. To follow her. That journey was his calling, to those places he had already seen so vividly in his mind¡¯s eye. And she had left enough of a trail for him to follow.

    But where might he even begin. Marty had told him nothing of this Tomas Wise all those years ago. And who was Jask, really? And Thawn? Names alien to Agloff. The thing that preyed most on his mind though was the industrial accident that killed his grandparents. What if it were more than mere convenience as Drake had described?

    What if it was murder?

    Agloff read the letter three times before he finally set it down. ¡®Where did she go?¡¯ he asked after a long silence.

    Drake sighed. She removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. ¡®I don¡¯t know.¡¯

    Agloff stood. Anger welled inside him. Why, he thought. Why has this been kept from me for fifteen years.

    ¡®Don¡¯t lie to me.¡¯

    ¡®I never knew¡ª¡¯

    He tried to fight back his rage, he did. He knew who he was talking to. But it was helpless. ¡®Don¡¯t lie to me! You¡¯ve lied to me for fifteen years! Keep the truth hidden from me. I had a right to know! Now suddenly it¡¯s convenient for you that I leave, you¡¯re telling me as, what, a courtesy. You¡¯d promised her you¡¯d keep me safe, didn¡¯t you?¡¯

    He waited. Drake said nothing.

    ¡®Didn¡¯t you! She clearly thought so.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s cheeks throbbed but he swallowed the feeling, panting in the pause Drake left him.

    ¡®Are you done? I said I never knew what Winter would become. I swear I never knew where she was going. Like she said, Marty might know.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not leaving because of some grand plan you dreamt up for me. I wanted my grades, and I wanted to be a strider. Travel the Colony on my terms. Not yours.¡¯

    He saw that was impossible now, just like his other dream. Agloff backed away from her toward the door. Drake¡¯s face looked wounded. ¡®Think long and hard about what it is you want, Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®I know what I want.¡¯ He span, yanked the door by hinges and lurched into the corridor. He didn¡¯t know what he was thinking, consumed by primal instinct. He just acted.

    Blinking, Ariea looked back at him outside, confused. She cocked her head like an animal. He grabbed her and ran.

    ¡®Agloff, what on Earth¡ª¡¯

    They chicaned around absent-minded office workers first, then Drake¡¯s voice boomed down the corridor behind them. They twisted, turned, this way then that. Each corridor led to another, as if this place had been designed to confuse, spinning their heads in dazzling marble swirls.

    They arrived at the main hall, as black-clad guards moved to barricade the doors.

    ¡®Where are we¡ª Where are you taking¡ª¡¯ Ariea blurted. ¡®Agloff! I¡¯m in heels!¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯re going. We¡¯re leaving,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®Away from here, from Backwater.¡¯ He led her another direction. ¡®Drake lied all my life, about who I am, who she was.¡¯

    ¡®Who who was?¡¯ said Ariea. Agloff yanked her arm in another direction, round three more corners and corridors. Agloff then spied an open door and ran toward a smaller passage.

    ¡®My mother. My brother,¡¯ he said. ¡®But now she¡¯s kicking me out.¡¯

    Ariea yelled for him to stop. ¡®Agloff! She told me the same. She said she¡¯d ¡°made arrangements¡± for you to go. It¡¯s why I was there.¡¯

    ¡®Whatever that means.¡¯ Agloff pointed at a staircase down. ¡®Down here. We just need to get away from Drake.¡¯

    ¡®Why can¡¯t we talk to her about it?¡¯

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡®What chance do we have of that? We¡¯re just kids to her. She¡¯s hidden the truth from me for fifteen years. Who¡¯s to say she¡¯ll tell us it now if we follow her arrangements. We leave on our terms, right?¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s face looked flustered, as though all the thoughts in the world were scurrying around her head.

    ¡®We? You want me to come with you?¡¯ she asked.

    ¡®You¡¯re the only person I would.¡¯ Agloff stopped to hold out his hand to her, then she took it. As what, he didn¡¯t know.

    Ariea tried to smile. ¡®I trust you.''

    ¡®The strider and the doctor,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®I said you could be a travelling physician.¡¯ He tried to smile back at her.

    ¡®We need to get my dad!¡¯ she blurted.

    ¡®We can pick him up.¡¯

    Agloff carried on, and the passage sunk into darkness. He reached out a hand against the walls to guide his descent. The lights were dim, and the stairs uneven beneath him.

    ¡®There¡¯ll be a way out beneath these tunnels, bet.¡¯

    He could hear tangled voices distantly above them. Searching shouts, and a chorus of footsteps, but the way still looked clear.

    The tunnel widened and the steps vanished. Ahead, a cavernous hall had been burrowed into the rock beneath Backwater, half-lit in the gloom of a thousand candles.

    ¡®These tunnels can lead us out,¡¯ Agloff said. He held Ariea¡¯s hand tighter and ran toward the distant twilight.

    ¡®Ariea¡­¡¯ whispered a voice then.

    They skidded to a halt, and dust choked the air. Agloff turned and Ariea led him on. It was then Agloff noticed cells dug out from the walls of the cave, pale hands gripping the bars. This was a prison, Backwater¡¯s prison.

    ¡®Ariea¡­¡¯

    They followed the voice. A purplish face pressed against the bars, a glimmer of recognition behind otherwise vacant eyes. He looked empty, as though all sense of himself had been lost. Creases in his skin fractured like clay, and the whites of his eyes tainted a deep red.

    But he was otherwise familiar.

    Agloff¡¯s hand taped his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Ariea knelt beside him.

    ¡®Dad,¡¯ she whispered. Her voice was so delicate. ¡®No.¡¯ She whimpered, and her chest convulsed as she did. Agloff felt her heart crack, then shatter. ¡®Dad! Dad! DAD! HELP ME!¡¯

    But what could he do but stare? The horror of it all was somehow addictive. He closed his eyes, and the image lingered there on the backs of his eyelids, a face suspended in unending terror.

    Suddenly, Ariea¡¯s grip on his hand slackened, and Agloff turned. Her body tumbled down with a thud, blood at her nose, and a masked guard stood over her.

    Agloff¡¯s hesitation was his undoing. His legs froze, and then gave way as a blow struck his calves. He followed Ariea to the ground and in the overhead gloom, two silhouettes leaned across him. Agloff was conscious enough to see the baton rise to strike his face, and then the world sank into the blackness of their uniforms.

    *

    Agloff shot upright. Ariea was already awake beside him, eyes raw. Makeup and blood painted her face. From a bench opposite, in the candlelit cavern, Warden Drake looked at him through her bird-like features.

    ¡®As I said upstairs,¡¯ she croaked, ¡®are you done? Running was never an option.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m done.¡¯ Agloff kicked his legs out at the dust.

    Then, he remembered. He stared at Michael Finland, face struck in a shaft of light from the tunnel ahead. Agloff stifled all feeling down into his chest to not break down where he sat. In an hour, his life had unravelled. All of it, like a weaver was spinning him into threads.

    Ariea gulped and rubbed her eyes by the sleeve. ¡®What¡¯s happened to them?¡¯ she said eventually.

    Them? Agloff¡¯s eyes passed from Michael to the next cell and the next. Each had the same purplish occupant, forsaken and whimpering.

    Drake¡¯s neck sank between her shoulders. ¡®Month ago, a construction foreman washed up in an outflow, like them, outside the walls. He was the first. Since then, it¡¯s almost every fort. Every town. We don¡¯t know where it came from.¡¯

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ murmured Michael. His voice was so faint it may not be heard in anything but the silence that possessed them. Agloff looked at Ariea. She turned, scrunched her eyes shut. Her saw her refusal to look back, for fear of how it would surely hurt her if she did.

    Agloff recalled how Mr Finland had been unable to sleep the last two days, how he felt faint, only to brush it off as an autumn cold. He had made his traipse to work in a splutter of coughs and sneezes. It¡¯s why his breakfast was untouched. It dawned on Agloff; the missing. All of them were contained in this chamber, away from prying eyes. That woman¡¯s granddaughter, Tina, she was down here somewhere. Behind bars or a bag of plastic, the distinction scarcely mattered.

    ''It only becomes infectious within a few hours of death. So, we acquire them, quarantine them and dispose of them.¡¯

    ¡®Dispose,¡¯ spat Ariea. ¡®They¡¯re people.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s inhuman,¡¯ agreed Agloff.

    Drake huffed. ¡®You¡¯re children. You don¡¯t understand,¡¯ she growled at them. ¡®The shit I have had to deal with. There¡¯s more to this than you¡¯ll ever understand. You don¡¯t know how the world works. You¡¯re children.¡¯

    Like Ariea, Agloff wanted to spit back at her. The condescension. The presumption that his age somehow made him an irredeemable idiot.

    ¡®Well, make us understand,¡¯ he said. The want to hold his tone waned. ¡®What is it?¡¯

    Drake beckoned a doctor from down the chamber. Clad in scrubs, an old man wandered towards them. She waved for him to speak.

    ¡®Our understanding is limited,¡¯ he said, ¡®It causes the blood to clot, hence the purplish hue of the skin. It places a great deal of strain on the heart, leading to cardiac arrest. Our efforts to create a cure have been unsuccessful, as is the case with other forts.¡¯

    ¡®Does it have a name?¡¯

    ¡®We call it winged fever, for the blotches across the skin, like wings.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re as good as killing them down here,¡¯ whispered Ariea.

    ¡®AND EVERYONE IS AS GOOD AS DEAD IF I LEAVE THEM OUT THERE!¡¯ Drake¡¯s voice commanded the room. The shadows and candles seemed to worship her, baking her in a sickly golden glow. ¡®Yes, it¡¯s cruel. Yes, it¡¯s unfair. Get over yourself, girl.¡¯ She cursed to the dirt. ¡®I never should have told you the truth. Just moved you on. Dissatisfied, ungrateful as you are.¡¯

    ¡®Would you have told me?¡¯ Ariea asked. She stared blankly at the shapes on the wall as a tear beaded down her cheek. ¡®About him, if we hadn¡¯t found this place.¡¯

    Drake thought a moment. ¡®I doubt it,¡¯ she said.

    Agloff followed Ariea¡¯s gaze to the wall.

    ¡®I meant what I said. I¡ª We want to leave on our terms.¡¯

    Drake almost laughed. ¡®Look around you. With what leverage?¡¯ Half-a-dozen guards closed around them and Agloff¡¯s ears tuned to the tightening of their fists around their batons. Drake stood then, clacking her walking stick on the ground as she did so.

    ¡®You don¡¯t see, do you? I¡¯m offering you a kindness. You¡¯ll be delivered to the Underground to live under their care. Hell, both of you if that¡¯s what you want, not fed to the dogs in the wild.¡¯

    ¡®I want to choose my life,¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®Choose what? Life as a drifter, from fort to fort? You¡¯ve never left Backwater. You don¡¯t know what the world is like. Why do you think after the Departure, after the war, those of us that had nowhere to go or were left behind, our first instinct was to lock ourselves behind thirty-foot walls?¡¯

    Agloff puffed out his chest. ¡®Because it¡¯s dangerous. I mean, it is a prison.¡¯ He meant it more condescendingly than it came out. ¡®We¡¯d be careful.¡¯

    Drake rubbed her brow. ¡®Careful doesn¡¯t cut it. I suppose you don¡¯t know about Scourgers, or vagabonds. And the roads are full of gangs and Winter¡¯s pilgrims. Gangs that answer to Winter. The independence of all the forts, of the whole colony hangs by a knife edge. The further you get from Backwater, the more they¡¯ll come for you. I¡¯m doing you a goddamn favour here, can¡¯t you see!¡¯ Drake choked tearfully. ¡®When Winter comes, they will move heaven and earth to find you.¡¯

    Drake could try and dissuade him from taking this path alone as his mother did. But it made no difference. He had no home at Fort Backwater. At least, he didn¡¯t think so. It was hard to tell. He had spent his whole life here, but it held no place in his heart. Unlike Ariea.

    ¡®You tell me Jask¡¯s after me, that my mum ran off and leave it there? You just ship us off to the Underground? You¡¯ve told us nothing,¡¯ said Agloff.

    Drake¡¯s sighed woundedly. Agloff wondered if she thought herself a good person, for all the secrets she kept, from them, from her citizenry.

    Secrets were her trade, he deduced.

    ¡®I told you. Marty Naples knows more than I do,¡¯ she said eventually. ¡®That is the Old God¡¯s truth¡¯ Agloff noticed Ariea recoil at Marty¡¯s name. Her memories of him were not the fondest. His bitter tirades and angry performances. Visit after visit. Until one day he decided not to come back. ¡®The Underground is beyond the Colony, a dustbowl, but you¡¯ll be escorted there, and safe.¡¯

    Agloff had heard tales of the Underground, captured in the imaginations of storytellers. Whole hives of people living under the earth. It was also where Marty had said he was going.

    An unlikely coincidence, he thought.

    ¡®We get a say in this?¡¯ Ariea protested eventually.

    ¡®No. Your little childish stunt has lost you any say in the matterIt was a matter of business, between Fort Backwater and Governor Fall of the Underground. He will exchange protections and supplies for you both.¡¯

    Agloff thought Ariea might slap Drake and curse the woman, but she resisted, said nothing.

    Drake continued, ¡®I already have people preparing your belongings for travel. You can sort through what you want this evening.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll get my things myself. We done here?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Yes. Unless you want to say goodbye t¡ª¡¯

    ¡®No.¡¯ Ariea¡¯s voice was numb. Agloff knew she would regret this later. ¡®I want to go home.¡¯

    As a guard made to escort them from the chamber, Agloff stopped.

    ¡®Agloff¡­¡¯ Michael moaned. The word fell from him, half-spoken.

    His hand was outstretched. Fingers clawed at the air. Agloff was hypnotised by the fissures of his skin, worn into scars by the labours of his work and the sickness slowly eating him. And yet, Agloff couldn¡¯t bring himself to feel sad, just pity. Mr Finland was trapped in two cells, one of flesh, and one of stone. He would be free of them both soon.

    Agloff edged closer. His fingers extended. He wanted to hold his hand, lest he die alone. It was the humanity he deserved. To die as a man, and not as a monster, wheezing and groaning in a prison cell.

    Agloff would not be scared of him.

    He gripped on to Michael¡¯s palm. The lean man strained a crooked half-smile through a spate of jerks and tics.

    Then came a shout. Footsteps hustled through the chamber. Agloff felt a weight drag him back, his arm wrenched from Michael¡¯s. A blow struck his back and Ariea yelled them to stop. But they didn¡¯t. Agloff tumbled against the stone, groaned.

    ¡®Stun him!¡¯

    His body shook. He was numb, drifting in and out of consciousness. Voices around him blurred into one. ¡®¡­Hospital¡­ bed¡­ test¡­ Finland¡­¡¯

    For a moment, he seemed to enter the world for the first time again. His eyes squinted and he saw shadows swarm him and a mask lower over his face. From their voices, Agloff could make out two words:

    ¡®He¡¯s immune.¡¯

    Then, the world turned black.

 Before Noon Chapter 3 | Beyond the Walls

    Chapter Three

    Beyond the Walls

    Agloff felt something warm in his hand. It moved, wriggled. But it wasn¡¯t indelicate, quite the opposite in fact. He wanted to lie here forever, suspended between fleeting wakefulness and some splendid dream.

    ¡®Mornin¡¯,¡¯ a deep voice growled, and the warm thing jolted in surprise.

    ¡®Bloody hell, Oxford,¡¯ Ariea yelped and Agloff¡¯s eyes strained open. She snatched her hand free from his and leapt to attention, like she was somehow embarrassed.

    Agloff¡¯s head rolled over his pillow. He was in a hospital ward, but there didn¡¯t seem to be any other patients. To his left, pouches of blood were stashed and tagged on silvery racks. He rubbed his hand by a puncture mark on his arm. What had they done to him? Am I dying? I don¡¯t feel dying.

    Then, he strained his head to the window opposite where a handsome man split the morning sun in two.

    ¡®He lives! Take it easy. You been out two days.¡¯ The man¡¯s angular features buried themselves in a bushy mane and Agloff suddenly felt conscious of the few wisps of hair poking from his chin, plucking at them with his fingers. ¡®You look like shit though.¡¯

    ¡®Thanks.¡¯ Agloff rubbed his eyes.

    ¡®Oxford Blue, Operative of the Underground.¡¯ He offered a hand, which Agloff declined. He looked at Ariea.

    ¡®Complicated,¡¯ she said.

    ¡®Drake said someone was escorting you to the Underground. I¡¯m that guy.¡¯ Oxford¡¯s waves of matted hair flopped this way and that as he spoke and Agloff was weirdly captivated. ¡®We¡¯re leaving once you¡¯re up. They have your stuff.¡¯

    Agloff blinked, his brain computing. ¡®So, I don¡¯t have winged fever? I¡¯m not ill?¡¯ His chest became tight. He searched Oxford¡¯s eyes for any flicker of deception.

    ¡®We don¡¯t know how, but you seem to be immune to it. You¡¯re the first reported incident of immunity in the entire Colony.¡¯

    ¡®Is that why Jask wants me?¡¯

    It seems hard to believe they aren¡¯t connected. But how could he have known before Agloff did.

    ¡®It¡¯s¡­ possible,¡¯ Oxford said, but Agloff could tell he was reluctant to be drawn into answering questions. ¡®Right now, we just need to get you out of here. Winter is moving west. Drake had word pilgrims were sighted not far from here. You turned eighteen at the right time. You¡¯ll be safe at the Underground.¡¯ How could Oxford possibly be sure of that?

    ¡®Backwater will be safe, yeah?¡¯ Agloff could hardly say he loved this place, but it had raised him all the same. And he was of no mind to let it fall to Winter.

    ¡®As can be. Governor Fall of the Underground is sending Drake men and food, in exchange for you.¡¯

    It made no sense to Agloff. Why was he of such interest to the Underground, or to anyone in the Colony? With his immunity, it made sense. But this deal was struck before anyone knew. Jask wanted him before anyone knew. Why then, he thought. His immunity; his mother; Jask, the deal between the Governor Fall and Drake. There was an answer in the web these threads spun, somewhere.

    ¡®Oxford,¡¯ Ariea cut in, moving to sit at Agloff¡¯s bedside.

    The operative nodded and stood to leave. ¡®Take it easy, Ashborne. They took a lotta blood.¡¯ He vanished out the doorway, his leather coat tails flapping at his heels. Oxford¡¯s words seemed to trigger something in Agloff. His head span, a numb pain throbbed against the back of his skull.

    Ariea then leaned over Agloff. ¡®Close your eyes,¡¯ she whispered by his ear. ¡®I got you something.¡¯

    Thoughtlessly, Agloff obeyed.

    A moment later she nudged him to open them. A scruffily wrapped brown paper parcel plopped into his hands.

    ¡®Happy birthday.¡¯ She grinned. ¡®Sorry I didn¡¯t get the chance on the day.¡¯

    He tugged the ribbon, and the parcel unfurled and within sat a grand, leather-bound book, entitled Collapse of the Feng: A History of Humanity from the First Encounter to the Foundation of the Colonies.

    Agloff smiled wider still, geeking out as he did. ¡®You know I never get you this much, why do you even bother? Thank you.¡¯ That year, all he had managed to find her was a book of sheet music for her violin, from this weird-looking collector up Riya Avenue. She embarrassed him sometimes.

    Ariea shrugged as if to say the matter was of no importance. ¡®You¡¯re welcome,¡¯ she said. The words seemed to fly over Agloff¡¯s head: acknowledged but barely listened to. He was just happy she was here.

    Agloff reached out an arm and hugged Ariea tight. ¡®You¡¯re the best.¡¯

    ¡®Nah, you are.¡¯ The edges of her lips perked into a tender smile, and she watched as Agloff flickered through the pages of the book. But sooner than he had time to pore over them, Oxford returned, a flurry of shouts and snipes chasing his footsteps down the corridor.

    ¡®¡ªWhen you offered Ashborne to Governor Fall, the deal was unconditional!¡¯ Oxford yelled. ¡®His immunity changes nothing.¡¯

    ¡®On the contrary,¡¯ came the harsh tones of Warden Drake, ¡®it changes everything. We need to hold him. We need to run tests. We have the chance to find a cure¡ª¡¯

    ¡®With respect, I think that is for the Underground to decide. You and Governor Fall have a contract.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t think you give a damn about respect. I think you look down on the forts. Until he¡¯s beyond those walls, Ashborne is still my citizen and until I decide otherwise, I will do with him as is in the best interests of this fort. You¡¯re a kid, Blue. A goddamn kid. I have run Backwater for eighteen years¡ª¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re running tests with no permission!¡¯

    ¡®The greater good.¡¯

    ¡®Warden.¡¯ Oxford said it like a protest. ¡®You don¡¯t get to just change your mind. This contract is binding. You renege now, and Fall¡¯s men won¡¯t be coming here to protect you. Quite the opposite.¡¯

    The pair of them barged into the ward. Drake waved a hand for Ariea to give way and sat on the end of Agloff¡¯s bed. Her narrow frame cast a long shadow. Gingerly, Agloff stood and looked at both of them. He had no care for their squabbles.

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on,¡¯ he said.

    Drake spoke, ¡®Exactly, you don¡¯t understand what all this is¡ª¡¯

    ¡®But as I said downstairs, shouldn¡¯t I get to decide what happens with my life?¡¯ Agloff finished his thought. He was no longer wont for niceties, least of all for Drake. She was only his superior until he left after all. ¡®What does staying buy me other than living as your lab rat?¡¯

    The Warden reached a hand to Agloff. ¡®Agloff¡ª¡¯

    ¡®If this is the only choice, I¡¯m going to the Underground. You don¡¯t get to kick me out and change your mind when it suits.¡¯ He searched for the right words, as a light feeling rushed to his head. In leaving, he could fulfil his purpose now, to find Andromeda and Eron. It was a seed gestating in the root of his consciousness. And Marty and the Underground were the start of it. He wondered how he might leave that place too, but that was a bridge to cross another day.

    Drake scowled, standing again. She hmphed.

    Ariea looked up to Drake. ¡®I don¡¯t think you have any respect for us,¡¯ she sneered. ¡®Agloff is just an inconvenience to you. You did what? You sold us, hell to Feng. Tell yourself whatever you like, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re any better than the rest of them.¡¯ Ariea¡¯s eyes twitched, as if she feared she had crossed the limit of Drake¡¯s patience.

    The Warden said nothing at first.

    ¡®You have an uncanny propensity to sniff bullshit, Ariea. You tried sniffing him?¡¯ She snapped a look at Oxford. She was a snake, thought Agloff. Like she might fall through one¡¯s fingers and then choke them with her own if they didn¡¯t hold their guard against her. Vulnerable but deadly. ¡®You think Governor Fall will treat you any kinder than I will?¡¯

    ¡®And that¡¯s your fault,¡¯ Agloff said.

    Drake¡¯s hand shook at her side. Agloff wasn¡¯t sure if it was rage or the years within them. Her hand ducked to her back pocket.

    In a heartbeat, the air became still, and all sense of the world beyond the ward was lost. Warden Drake trained a pistol at Oxford.

    ¡®I would do it, you know, for my fort.¡¯

    ¡®You pull that trigger, Warden, you declare war on the Underground.¡¯

    She shook her head. ¡®No. I let him go, I condemn my world to fall, slowly, unendingly, day-by-day, as another soul and another and another ends up dead from winged fever. I knew the boy was valuable to someone. I didn¡¯t know he was valuable to everyone.¡¯

    Oxford returned the compliment. He pointed his rifle at Drake. ¡®Your hands are shaking.¡¯

    Drake looked down at them.

    ¡®From ten feet, I¡¯m not convinced you could kill me, Warden.¡¯

    Agloff caught himself in the moment. But it didn¡¯t end. The passage of time seemed to wait on his decision. His eyes pivoted from Drake to Oxford, as their words sparred.

    Could he really stay? But there was nothing here, he thought. Life as a strider maybe. Or more likely locked up below, a blood farm for Drake until she cured the fever. Was he selfish to not want that? Was staying a moral duty?

    But leaving took him to everything else. Out into the Colony and beyond, to chase the words his mother wrote so long ago. And Marty was at the Underground too, Marty who Drake told him had the truth.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡®If you stay, Agloff,¡¯ said Oxford then, ¡®you will never see the sun again.¡¯

    ¡®You could save a thousand lives,¡¯ Drake pleaded.

    Their heads turned to him, almost forgetting the enemy opposite.

    ¡®At the Underground, you could be part of a people, a home,¡¯ Oxford said. ¡®And you could see Marty again.¡¯

    Agloff looked at Ariea. ¡®What happens to Ariea in this?¡¯ he said. ¡®Where does she fit in your grand plans?¡¯

    There was a look shared on their faces. A vacant look that said, ¡®she didn¡¯t.¡¯

    That was their greatest insult, he thought. He stood in his pyjamas, pulling Ariea to her feet as he did. How did he choose between them, he thought.

    ¡®GUARDS!¡¯ Drake called. She summoned their footsteps to her heels. They flanked her, guns trained, in their black uniforms. ¡®Take the girl! If she stays, Ashborne stays!¡¯

    And there, he knew, he would never choose Drake.

    ¡®I¡¯m not staying,¡¯ he spat. ¡®Not for you.¡¯

    Ariea stepped out from behind Agloff. ¡®You witch!¡¯ she yelled.

    Oxford covered them both, they shuffled backwards towards a second exit, as the guards passed Drake in their faceless guises into an arrow formation.

    ¡®Go!¡¯ Oxford said to Agloff. ¡®Go! Go downstairs. Your stuff is there. Ariea¡¯s too. Don¡¯t ask. Just grab.¡¯ He turned his look to Drake. ¡®WE HAD A DEAL!¡¯

    ¡®Not anymore,¡¯ she said. ¡®On the contrary, what we have is a cure.¡¯ She looked across at the blood pouches glinting in the sunlight, then at Agloff.

    ¡®GO!¡¯ Oxford bellowed. ¡®I¡¯ll follow you.¡¯

    Ariea grabbed Agloff¡¯s hand, yanking him into the staircase at their backs. They scampered down the floors, two steps at a time, into a waiting area, where Agloff saw their bags bundled up.

    ¡®What are we doing?¡¯ Ariea looked at him beggingly. But she was the decisive one, Agloff thought. Possessed of an instinct, his mind snapped into focus. Something told him this was the right thing to do.

    ¡®We wait for Oxford.¡¯

    Ariea didn¡¯t question. She nodded. This wasn¡¯t the time for an unplanned escape, thought Agloff. He could strategise his way to Eron later.

    Then the air snapped by three gunshots. They were louder than Agloff imagined. Silence swallowed them for a moment before came three thuds. There was a rush of footsteps and Oxford leapt at their faces.

    ¡®Go!¡¯ He repeated his order, and they launched themselves into the light of day. Once they were out of sight of the hospital, they slowed to a walk.

    ¡®Keep to the side streets,¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®Did you kill her?¡¯ Ariea said.

    Oxford looked back at her sternly. ¡®I urged her to reconsider her decision.¡¯

    ¡®Oxford, did you kill her?¡¯

    He had the look of a killer, thought Agloff. Or someone who could do it if the moment demanded.

    ¡®No, I didn¡¯t kill her. I can¡¯t say the same for her guards.¡¯ He voice was cold, with sudden authority.

    Ariea then dipped her head at Agloff. ¡®Why does everyone want you?¡¯ she said tiredly.

    ¡®Because Jask and Winter want me,¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®And why do they?¡¯

    He paused. ¡®I don¡¯t know.¡¯

    ¡®Anyway, you got your wish.¡¯

    Agloff frowned. ¡®Huh?¡¯

    ¡®You always hated this place.¡¯

    ¡®I hate it more now.¡¯

    Even so for everything she had said, Agloff couldn¡¯t help but pity Warden Drake, which he was also sure was the last thing she wanted.

    They turned into a larger road, led by Oxford, and Agloff thought a slow pace might lessen their conspicuousness. But their bags baited curious looks from passers-by. Common sense dictated that travellers were strange folk. Stranger than foreigners, and not to be trusted. Each fort in Colony Two was an island nation. To travel further than from one¡¯s bed to their work was perverse to many. Even French Town, not ten miles over the valley, may as well have been on the arch of Cerberus.

    Agloff looked down at his feet. Unease set into his body, at the thought of what was hidden below. Men and women marked for death by the stain of winged fever. Their brother, their sister, their mother, their other would never know what had happened to their loved one, unless the same fate befell them.

    ¡®You okay?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Yeah, it just makes me weird to think about them. Letting her keep it a secret. We¡¯re doing the right thing, right?¡¯

    ¡®There was no right thing to do,¡¯ she said. Her conviction was his strength.

    She pretended to be happy, but her face was reddened and raw by the days alone in the hospital. Every so often he caught a glance of her in a moment of loneliness and he saw the pain that caused it.

    A minute later, they passed onto the farmers¡¯ market. He, Ariea and Mr Finland came here every Tuesday. Now he was leaving, he was sure he would miss it. Fresh pastries and cut sandwiches perforated the air like lures for hungry customers. There were two dozen or more stalls, zig-zagging around the fountain at the middle of the square, each with their wares spilling their boxes to entice and entertain. Fruits, fabrics, knick-knacks.

    They cantered up the cobbles of Main Street where the gates to the fort grew in their eyeline, a blot between the tilted stacks of half-made buildings. The gates were open for the loggers. People never went near the perimeter wall, and he was never quite sure why.

    Oxford led them through, into the mire of boiler-suited loggers and their cart-bound loads heading the other direction.

    There, Agloff took his first step into the rest of the universe. Each that followed now would be the farthest from home he had ever taken.

    He took a long, hard breath, and smiled.

    If not in the way he expected, he was here. He was free, if he had ever not been in the first place. His life was his own, at least between here and the Underground. And it was a big, damn world out here.

    In eighteen years, Agloff had never felt the wind whisk through his hair, unbroken by the angles of streets and buildings, or belts of wild grass bend underfoot, every step soft and satisfying. The land instantly fell away from Backwater Peak, cascading in all directions. He had the urge to dive, and roll, carried by gravity into a band of trees that guarded a stream at the foot of the mound. The image had been richly imagined and yet still paled to reality. It was a scene lifted from one of his books. The land flowed in waves of patched grass and woodland to the horizon. French Town was a distant brown smear. From the stream, a dusty track ebbed out to Corten Bridge and marked out a path into the Colony beyond. It was like a thousand micro-worlds stitched together.

    In the other direction was Lake Principia: the lifeblood of Colony Two. A thousand miles long and almost as wide. The rivulets and streams that fed it, fed the whole of the Colony. Every town and every fort rested within eyeshot of one of them. Even Eden, the seat of Winter¡¯s power, sat proudly on the River Nanda.

    ¡®Pretty damn cool,¡¯ Oxford said, pegging his hair back into a ponytail. He laughed at the sight of them both. ¡®Onwards,¡¯ he bellowed and Agloff thought the wind might carry his voice all the way to Principia.

    ¡®What¡¯s your job?¡¯ Agloff asked Oxford as they trudged down the hillside. For a moment, Agloff felt he might he tumble as his boots slid against muddy grass. ¡®Like your job job?¡¯

    ¡®My job job?¡¯ Oxford repeated. ¡®Special Operative.¡¯

    ¡®But what does that mean?¡¯

    Oxford raked a hand through his ponytail thoughtfully, then tightened his raincoat across his shoulders to stop his bag straps from slipping. ¡®I smuggle, or gather intelligence¡­ on Winter, other forts and towns. I deliver supplies. I deliver people.¡¯ He waved a hand to gesture Agloff and Ariea. ¡®Whatever¡¯s required for the Underground.¡¯

    ¡®So, you¡¯re a dogsbody?¡¯

    ¡®If you like.¡¯

    ¡®I wanted to be a strider.¡¯

    Oxford laughed at this. ¡®I¡¯ve crossed paths with a few of those in my time. We have no need at the Underground. We use pneumatic tubes.¡¯

    ¡®And how many days will it take to get there?¡¯ demanded Ariea as they reached the stream. Oxford ignored her for a moment to gather his thoughts. He pointed along the river, muttering to himself.

    ¡®We¡¯ll follow it lakeward, over Kimsy Bridge, through the trees, via March Town and then along the shoreline west,¡¯ he announced. ¡®And four days? Took me three when I got transferred here, but there was only one person I had to look out for then, so allow for a day longer.¡¯

    ¡®Excuse me!¡¯ Ariea protested. ¡®I- we are perfectly capable of watching out for ourselves.¡¯

    ¡®You ever gone further than that river?¡¯

    ¡®No further than the gate actually,¡¯ Agloff quipped.

    ¡®You do as I say, all¡¯s good.¡¯

    Minutes eked into hours, passed only by Oxford¡¯s ramblings. In particular, Agloff had discovered much about his fianc¨¦e, Alice Middleton. Apparently, she was a military instructor of impeccable renown (so he said), who was desperate to start a family; anything to keep Oxford at home. At every utterance, Ariea offered up a contemptuous ¡®hmm¡¯, while Agloff gave only frugal replies, thinking it was better to just let Oxford¡¯s speeches play out rather than risk provoking they last any longer.

    ¡®What is the Underground?¡¯ Agloff asked at one point. For so long it had been little more than rumour, a vague myth of some great subterranean city. Ariea gave him a look as if to say, ¡®why are you trying to punish us?¡¯ but he ignored her.

    ¡®It¡¯s home is what it is,¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®Okay, but if we¡¯re living there, we should know more than that.¡¯

    Oxford huffed. ¡®It¡¯s bunch of HabComs, habitation complexes- bunkers basically, built before the war. They were unused, so we showed up and moved in. We¡¯re fully self-reliant. Folks ain¡¯t fond of strangers though.¡¯ That was no less true anywhere else, Agloff bemoaned. ¡®Everyone folks meet, they¡¯ve seen every day their entire lives. People don¡¯t tend to come and go apart from sleepers and operatives like me. But keep your heads down and you¡¯ll be fine.¡¯

    ¡®Why are we going?¡¯

    ¡®Because the Governor of the Underground paid for you.¡¯

    ¡®But why?¡¯ Agloff pressed. ¡®How did he even know who I was or that I was at Backwater? Or that Jask wants me? How¡¯d he know I was worth anything?¡¯

    Oxford stopped, stooped to look at Agloff. ¡®Listen, friend, you¡¯re asking questions I ain¡¯t paid to know the answer to. I don¡¯t know what Fall wants with you. I can only guess.¡¯

    ¡®Then guess.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯d rather not. Forts and towns do favours for each other all the time. I¡¯m just the muscle that¡¯s paid to carry them out.¡¯

    ¡®So, I¡¯m just a favour for Drake?¡¯

    He sensed Oxford¡¯s patience wane. ¡®You¡¯re immune, right? If she could use you to make a cure, she would have had leverage over the other forts. She would no longer have to rely on them. She coulda made them work for her. I¡¯m guessing Fall has similar plans. You happy now?¡¯

    Agloff knew Oxford was right. Guessing was pointless and pouring over the whats and whys would only make him more anxious. He would see when he got there, he told himself over and over. For now, he should just enjoy the journey. Or try to.

    They were led on upstream and the sun sank into their eyeline. The squelching mud of marshland licked the soles of Agloff¡¯s boots, and all he could think about was how much he really, really wanted a hot shower.

    When the last glimmer of daylight dipped below the horizon, Oxford ordered them to halt, casting the stack of bags strapped over his shoulders into a tangle of shrubs. He said they should be safe here. Backwater was as far west as civilisation went, and to the south were the untamed Scourgelands; arid land, travelled only by vagrants.

    Oxford pulled a small flask and a knob of string from one of his pockets. Agloff and Ariea too dropped their bags, and Agloff collapsed to the ground, spread his limbs like a starfish.

    ¡®Ariea, come here¡¯, Oxford said softly, crouching between bent-over flower beds nestled on the banks of the stream.

    Agloff perked up his head to watch as Ariea followed his steps, stride-for-stride. She squatted beside him. Reaching a hand into his pocket, Oxford pulled out a small square of parchment. He lay it flat against the ground and buried a hand in the topsoil, producing a handful of dirt. He funnelled it through his fingers and onto the parchment.

    ¡®When you live in Underground, you live within the soil,¡¯ Oxford whispered. His voice was something tenderer than Agloff had heard before. ¡®The earth provides for us, so that, when we die, we return you to the soil, to sustain those who come after us. I didn¡¯t know your dad, Ariea. But we can return him to the earth, in spirit. He should be remembered.¡¯

    Ariea looked at Oxford, and Agloff caught the glint of her eyes in the twilight glow. She mumbled something in reply that Agloff could not hear.

    Oxford unwound the knob of string, tying the soil into the parchment by its corners and then doused it in fluid from the flask. With one hand, he lowered the parchment into the stream and with the other he produced a small lighter. As he let one hand go, the other clicked, and the parchment alit in an amber blaze, carried gently by the current downstream, on to Lake Principia.

    Oxford guarded Ariea by his arms and the fire swallowed them in silhouette. She turned to hug him. Agloff began to walk forward but then thought better of it. Was he allowed to share in this moment?

    He restrained himself and watched the pair of them from a distance, wishing he had done something too. He knew her pain. But he was too awkward to help it. They hadn¡¯t even spoken about it. The man who had raised Agloff was gone and yet he felt cruel nothingness.

    He watched. Was he¡­ jealous of Oxford?

    But what could Agloff have possibly said that would have made her world seem any better? It was as if he didn¡¯t know how to act towards her. And instead, he let Oxford do the things it should be him doing.

    His train of thought ran. I should just ask Ariea if she likes me.

    Yet, such was his fear that she would say no, he thought it better to avoid the question altogether. He could fantasise in the idyllic uncertainty that not-asking afforded him.

    Soon, the tinge of the package bobbed out of sight, and Agloff summoned the courage to sit beside Ariea on the riverbank. He wanted to talk about something, anything else, but his mind circled back to the one topic that seemed somehow inescapable.

    ¡®You okay?¡¯ he said, and Ariea nodded. ¡®After I saw Drake, I never told you about the letter from my mother.¡¯

    ¡®Oxford and Drake told me when you were asleep. Pretty insane,¡¯ she said, biting her lip. ¡®I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, I think it¡¯s wonderful if you find your parents.¡¯ There was reservation in her voice though that suggested it would not be entirely wonderful.

    ¡®You think it¡¯s a wild goose chase?¡¯ Agloff asked. Why couldn¡¯t he think of something other than himself to talk about? He should have just said how pretty the river was, or the stars, or something otherwise irrelevant.

    Ariea gave a shameful nod. ¡®I don¡¯t know, maybe. I mean, I do agree with you. It¡¯s just if there¡¯s a chance¡­ why wouldn¡¯t you take it¡­ I guess.¡¯

    Agloff said nothing. There was nothing else to say. He bowed his head, quietly ashamed, and saw her outstretched hand, bedded against the grass. For a moment, he wanted to reach out and hold it. He paused. But what good would that do, he thought.

 Before Noon Chapter 4 | March Town

    Chapter Four

    March Town

    The next day was d¨¦j¨¤ vu. They followed the river, guarded by the intermittent trees patrolling its banks. As sunlight waned, the lines of trees thickened into dense forest, shrouding the waterflow on all sides. Agloff¡¯s legs throbbed but he numbed his mind to it. He wandered in quiet amazement. Every step felt like the voyage into the great unknown that it was. It was like some strange city. Trees were buildings marking out roads and alleys in the gaps between them. Loose leaves gathered at their feet, as if they were wading through a crowd up one of Backwater¡¯s roads.

    But progress felt scant, like they hadn¡¯t really moved all that much. Lake Principia seemed no closer in sight, yet Oxford was insistent they were near their crossing, and the road through March Town that granted safe passage out of the Colony, to the Underground. Oxford¡¯s gushing anecdotes about Alice reached no end but it was cute, Agloff supposed. He could even begrudgingly stretch to say he envied Oxford.

    By the time Oxford called it for the day, Agloff and Ariea were grateful to oblige. Agloff had already rearranged his bag across his shoulders several dozen times, as the pointed edges of his belongings cut into his shoulder blades. He slung them into a dense thicket with a satisfying thud and his legs gave way beneath him, collapsing into jelly where his bag lay to cushion his head.

    At once, Oxford rummaged through his own and Agloff heard a distinctive click as he produced a switchblade.

    ¡®Expecting anyone?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Food,¡¯ Oxford replied with a wry smile. ¡®Better to be safe than sorry, and better while it¡¯s still light- just about.¡¯

    ¡®You want our help?¡¯

    ¡®Thanks, but, uh, you¡¯d get in the way,¡¯ He suppressed a snigger. Ariea scowled a little and moved closer to Agloff. ¡®Do not go from this spot, yeah? I¡¯ve done this a lot, no offence. I¡¯ll be back.¡¯

    ¡®When?¡¯ she snapped. It was obvious she wanted him gone as long as possible. The journey was getting to her as it had for Agloff. The respite from Oxford¡¯s monologues was welcome. Agloff hoped all the hares and foxes had decided to make home particularly far away today.

    ¡®Whenever I got something to bring back.¡¯ He vanished into shrubbery.

    Agloff and Ariea lay in silence for a moment, content in the peace nature¡¯s frontier afforded them. The hustling and bustling of Backwater now felt so insignificant, so distant.

    They lay face up towards the canopy, guarded from the heavens, then stretched out their bodies into the leaves. At that moment, Agloff felt high, caught in the scattered evening light, not wanting to move from this bliss, for fear he may never be able to reach it again.

    The sky submitted to hues of violet, then pinkish-red, then black and the pair of them lay in joyous silence. There was no sign of Oxford, two hours since his departure, but this fact did not bother Agloff as much as he might have expected. Here, he felt surprisingly safe. It was weird. Nothing was said between he and Ariea and yet it felt as though nothing needed saying.

    Agloff then rolled to the side. A patch of thicket swayed under a low hum, but it wasn¡¯t the wind. The noise rocked back and forth, and the leaves seemed to follow it. His eyes traced the rhythm to a moonlit clearing and vague shapes swooping beyond. The floor of leaves tremored in the irregular beat. It was an exchange of grumbles, he heard. Louder.

    He rolled back to Ariea and saw her swipe a tear from her eye. He realised then she hadn¡¯t shared in his peace. But she kept her sobs well hidden.

    ¡®Is that something?¡¯ she said, pretending he didn¡¯t see her as she was. She pushed a face full of wind-struck hair from her eyes. ¡®Sounds like something. Might be Oxford.¡¯

    Agloff listened. There were two noises, not one. ¡®No, I don¡¯t think so.¡¯ He stood.

    ¡®Well, don¡¯t go and see, sit down for heaven¡¯s sake, Agloff. Don¡¯t be a hero.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not going to hurt me.¡¯

    ¡®Could be a bear.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not a bear.¡¯

    ¡®Well, imagine if it is. Can¡¯t be too careful. I mean, we must protect you at all costs, saviour of the Colony and all that.¡¯ Ariea snorted with a sort of polite laughter. Agloff frowned. The grumble grew louder. ¡®Are you absolutely sure that is not a bear?¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t be a hundred percent sure,¡¯ Agloff said defensively. ¡®Probably a couple of foxes. What if I go and hunt one of them and bring it back and we¡¯re sat eating spit roast fox and Oxford¡¯s just so cheesed off because he¡¯s got too much pride?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not convinced you could catch a squirrel, to be honest,¡¯ Ariea said, deadpan. ¡®But prove me wrong. Go on then. But Agloff¡­ if it¡¯s not a fox, come back quick.¡¯

    He nodded, searched Oxford¡¯s bag for a second blade, concealing it up the arm of his sleeve, and walked towards the moonlit clearing, the see-saw of noises. Each step, the grunts became sharper. Would he startle them? Scare them away into some burrow in the ground. He gripped the blade tightly, concentrating on every breath.

    The grunts loudened and Agloff backed against a tree. They were but a few feet away, shielded from view by dense wood. A sudden silence followed, then a faint whimper and Agloff halted, glancing down at his feet. The golds and ambers of the day had melted into grey in the darkness. He glanced up, composed himself. Cerberus flickered with red lights, as it rotated above the Colony.

    Shuffling his knife in one hand, he peeled back branches with the other. He grimaced at each crunch of leaves as if it were some terrible pain. A dark shape hunched over the ground before him, muttering, mumbling.

    It stood and morphed into the shape of a man. But it wasn¡¯t Oxford. Agloff leaned back, clutching the edge of his blade in cold, shaking fingers.

    Its head tipped to one side, mouth wide and panting. His eyes bred a violent hunger and blood licked his cheeks. But it wasn¡¯t the giant¡¯s own. He noticed a second shadow, unmoving at its feet. He waited.

    The figure stepped forward into a moonlit shaft and Agloff saw a flowing grey robe clasped across his shoulders. A small insignia was emblazoned across his left breast; a mark Agloff knew.

    Winter¡¯s mark.

    He wanted to run. But neither leg yielded to his command. He was sucked to the ground in the vacuum of silence that split them. Agloff tried to say something, anything that might delay the inevitable. But no words came. He half-choked in coughs and wordless murmurs. All but his mind were paralysed.

    Then the man laughed. It was a manic grin. Delight even. Agloff backtracked into a tree, cut alight in an arrow of moonlight and the man of Winter seemed to recognise him.

    ¡®You¡¯re Agloff Ashborne,¡¯ it said.

    Its hand reached out, closed around Agloff¡¯s wrist. The other motioned towards his face and the world fell darker still. Wide fingers pressed inwards against his temple and Agloff thought his head may split in two.

    He screamed.

    ¡®Birch!¡¯ the giant¡¯s voice called. The ringing in Agloff¡¯s ears built to a climax, the hand tightened its grip. He saw nothing but black and his knife jerked from his hand.

    Then, the pain lessened, the hand slackened, and Agloff¡¯s cheeks felt nothing but the warmth where the fingertips had held on. They rolled down Agloff¡¯s body, falling to the floor. He saw the pilgrim of Winter flayed against a bed of leaves, next to the second shape it had been hunched over when Agloff had found it.

    Oxford Blue took two steps towards Agloff. He wiped his blade against the cuff of his sleeve, then collected the one Agloff had dropped, and dangled it before him. Oxford¡¯s face bore none of the jest Agloff knew. His eyes were wide and features like stone, cold and sharp.

    Agloff stooped his head. ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯

    ¡®This is what I do Agloff: day in, day out. I leave the Underground. I trek across the Colony, hundreds of miles from one fort to another. Sometimes I¡¯m a dignitary, sometimes I¡¯m a messenger, sometimes I¡¯m a killer. I know these forests, these lands. They¡¯re where I sleep every night. I know how to hunt, how to kill, how to wound, how to hide, how to track, when to run and when to stand still. You don¡¯t. You know jack shit about anything outside of Backwater.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡®But Backwater¡¯s gone now. Drake¡¯s gone. I am your protector, with the intention of delivering you safely to the Underground. There is no rebellion here, there is no not obeying me. Discipline starts and ends with me. I am the highest authority and when I tell you to do something I do so because that it what I want you to do, and what I expect you to do it. Maybe you heard something, maybe you needed the toilet. Frankly, I don¡¯t give a shit. You do what I tell you to do.¡¯

    The operative paused. Agloff could do nothing but nod limply. He felt like a scathed child. Pain still throbbed the sides of his head.

    ¡®I¡¯d say thanks for the boar, but it¡¯s too big. Come on.¡¯

    Agloff looked down at the second body and saw it was indeed a boar, as still as the giant who tamed it. That must have been what he had heard, their wrestling match until the pilgrim prevailed.

    ¡®There¡¯s another one¡­ I think,¡¯ Agloff mumbled. His tone was that of a boy who had been sent to his headmaster.

    Oxford turned back, tightened a rope across his shoulder on which a gutted fox hung. ¡®You sure?¡¯

    ¡®Someone called out.¡¯

    ¡®Wasn¡¯t Ariea?¡¯

    Agloff shook his head. ¡®Said ¡°Birch¡±, so maybe he had a partner.¡¯

    ¡®Pilgrims aren¡¯t fond of travelling alone. They may well be tracking us. If they weren¡¯t, you¡¯ve just given them a good excuse to. We need to go.¡¯

    They made for the spot where Ariea was now anxiously stood, with the bags tucked around her feet. She shot forwards and wrapped her arms around Agloff¡¯s shoulders. The pair of them said nothing and shared a look but its meaning escaped Agloff. His thoughts spiralled on Oxford¡¯s words still burning in his ears. He thought his heart might burst from his ribcage.

    ¡®We¡¯re leaving,¡¯ Oxford said, gesturing to Ariea to gather the bags.

    ¡®B-But? We were staying the night?¡¯

    ¡®Ran into a pilgrim. They don¡¯t travel alone, and they saw Agloff.¡¯

    Ariea shot a furious look of ¡®I told you so¡¯ at Agloff and again his gaze shifted to his feet. She stubbed her fist on his arm. ¡®Idiot,¡¯ she mouthed.

    ¡®I know a place to hide out at March Town,¡¯ Oxford continued. ¡®So, shut up and do what I tell you.¡¯

    If Agloff had been scared to provoke Oxford before, he damn well was terrified now. The miles passed by in total silence. Ariea seemed incredulous. Every now and then she would shoot Agloff one of her discerning, judgemental looks. He just beat it away, pretending to stare at a tree or whatnot.

    But the trees were starting to thin. They passed through a narrow canyon, guarded by lines of tortured rock, and into less charted land.

    The canyon bloomed into a wide basin. These, Oxford told them, were the rocky flats. Agloff couldn¡¯t imagine a place so big and so empty, even as he had stood at Backwater Peak. But there was a magic in its infinity. The stars danced over them in unfamiliar clarity and Agloff was briefly distracted from everything. Cerberus was baked in the glow of a band of stars behind it brighter than Agloff had ever seen. He walked in view of the heavens, and, in this place, he thought he could reach up and touch them.

    But soon enough, the flats took their toll.

    The uneven land cut into the soles of his shoes. Stones and ridges lurked in the darkness to trip him in places. Great fissures in the rock waited in others- cracks and valleys as big as rivers. It didn¡¯t rain out here, Oxford said. He said they¡¯d be lucky to last the daytime in the heat. The temperate greens of the inner Colony were traded for layers of grey on grey on grey. And, but for a distant row of mountains to the south, the land was open to the full beating of the sun during the day, and the biting winds at night. But the winds were preferable, Agloff was sure.

    They turned from the crack they were following, and onto a road that headed southwest towards March Town. This was the road to the Underground. The tiredness in his joints pulled Agloff¡¯s aching shoulders ever closer to his knees. Soon, the sky paled into dawn, and he wondered if his skin would start peeling from his bones.

    The roads out here cracked like clay, upended by grasses puncturing through its surface. It dropped off into a ditch on either side. Dozens of cars had apparently been driven to the side of the road and stopped, as if in the panic of some great disaster. Their rusting fossils nestled in long, bleached grass, ghosts from a world that died long ago.

    ¡®The hell happened to this place?¡¯ Ariea said coldly, running her finger across the bronzed frames of one of the cars.

    Oxford raised a hand to guard his eyes against the sun. ¡®Same thing as happened everywhere. Planet got screwed.¡¯

    ¡®But the cars,¡¯ Ariea said. She poked her head through one¡¯s window.

    ¡®The last call went out from the colony ships, last ticket off-world. Trucks of soldiers, went town-by-town, knocking on doors to collect people. Like¡­ conscription to the new world.¡¯

    ¡®People just stopped and went with them?¡¯

    Oxford nodded calmly. ¡®Didn¡¯t matter what you were doing. Or what you could take with you. You saw the trucks, you went.¡¯ He brushed an arm against a car roof. ¡®Even if you were already going somewhere, you got out and went to go somewhere else.¡¯

    ¡®How do you know that? Were you here?¡¯

    ¡®Folks were refugees from the Partizan, so we lived through it on Mars. Post 474. Our truck was already full by the time we saw it¡­ Left behind.¡¯ Oxford seemed to let his words hang in dead, still air.

    ¡®Were refugees?¡¯ Ariea asked, cautiously.

    ¡®There was a fire in HabCom Two. I was at school.¡¯ Oxford said bluntly, as if the whole matter was of trivial importance.

    ¡®I¡¯m so sorry,¡¯ she said.

    ¡®Don¡¯t be.¡¯ He breathed deeply. ¡®Had enough people say that. Not your fault and not like anyone can change it.¡¯

    As they approached March, buildings gradually stacked up on either side. Their husks were a microcosm of the world that came before, but the undergrowth had long since overcome them. Mother nature was a slow disease, reclaiming the land from men and women who had long since returned the earth. They passed into the centre of March Town. A main street ran about a mile westward. On either side, shops sat half-destroyed, awaiting their next customers with ¡®sale¡¯ signs blazed across their windows, like a tainted memory. The buildings cut up the wind into an unearthly whisper, and Agloff felt a quiet unease, like he was walking over someone else¡¯s grave.

    ¡®Does anyone come here anymore?¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Scrappers. Scourgers. No one you¡¯d want any business with,¡¯ Oxford said, straightening his ponytail. Agloff scanned the scene with curious eyes. It was sad but peaceful here.

    ¡®You couldn¡¯t survive out here for more than a couple of days unprepared,¡¯ Oxford squatted to grind a finger against the dust. ¡®Bone dry. Dried up decades ago.¡¯

    Suddenly, their heads turned at a growl on the wind, bedded in its haunting whistles. Oxford followed the noise with slow, deliberate steps. Agloff and Ariea at his tail. It was a strange kind of noise. They shifted down an alley that cut adjacent to the main road.

    ¡®Oh, Cerberus above me,¡¯ Oxford whispered as he rounded into an empty car park. Agloff realised the growls weren¡¯t the wind at all. The wind was merely its messenger. Instinctively, he reached out a hand, but Oxford ordered caution. Agloff had seen it in picture books before, the fauna of Old Earth¡¯s untamed and tempestuous backwaters. They had called it a lion.

    Agloff imagined them lean and muscular, but this one was slight; the contours of his ribs were revealed for all to see through its sandy coat. It dragged a wide paw through its mane from where it lay as yellowed eyes scanned each of them. Content they were harmless, its head sank across its paws and moaned to the wind once more, lacking the energy to do anything else.

    ¡®Well,¡¯ said Oxford, straining to hide his delight, ¡®ain¡¯t he bloody magnificent.¡¯ His split into a smile from ear-to-ear, wider than Agloff thought possible. The feeling spread from Oxford like a contagion, and Agloff couldn¡¯t help himself from grinning.

    He imagined he might have been scared of it, but he could only manage pity instead. His eyes traced its slender body. On its hind leg, a knife wound had punctured the skin. The fur around it was matted by blood and Oxford made to inspect it.

    ¡®What happened to it?¡¯ Ariea spluttered.

    Gingerly, Oxford spread two fingers across the wound and the lion murmured in discomfort. But too weak to do anything about it, it ruffled its mane and plopped its head back across its paws.

    ¡®It¡¯s a knife wound,¡¯ said Oxford eventually. ¡®Not very deep, mind.¡¯

    Ariea raised an eyebrow. ¡®How did anyone even manage to get this close to it? It¡¯s a lion for God¡¯s sake.¡¯

    Oxford nodded. ¡®Yeah but look at it. Bastard is so damn thin. There¡¯s nothing to feed on round here.¡¯

    ¡®How¡¯d it get out here then? It¡¯s too hot.¡¯

    Oxford shrugged. ¡®I¡¯ve seen wild lions before but out in the grasslands to the north. Maybe scourgers caught it. Or a gang to sell on. I know the Regent of Whitecastle would pay good coin for beasts like this.¡¯

    Agloff sighed. Even at twice the size of him, his overriding feeling was to scoop the lion off the ground and nestle it in blankets. To tell it that everything would be okay. But he remembered then what Drake had told him: the world beyond the walls is rarely so kind. ¡®Can we help it?¡¯ he asked Oxford.

    ¡®What is there we can do?¡¯ Oxford paused. ¡®Nothing. We can¡¯t take it with us,¡¯ he said, laughing dryly.

    Ariea knelt closer and reached a hand to its thigh. She smoothed the fur under her palm and whispered to the animal. They were empty words. But the lion looked contented somewhat.

    ¡®Would it not be kinder to kill it?¡¯ Ariea said, swallowing.

    ¡®Do you want to?¡¯ Oxford held out his blade to her.

    Ariea reached out but couldn¡¯t take it. She sank shamefully. Agloff knew he was the same, capable of mercy in thought only, if not in action. He wondered if she saw her father in that mewling creature. ¡®Best not to leave a fresh wound for them to track us with. There¡¯s nothing we can do,¡¯ Oxford said.

    They left the lion where it lay and headed in-town, led onto a high street off the main road and up a small row of shops. Agloff wanted to stay a little longer. He wanted to keep the lion company. To study its nuance, the detail and design in its finest of features. To nurture it to health like it might have become an unlikely companion. But no, and he wondered if he might see such an awesome beast ever again.

    ¡®Where are we going?¡¯ Ariea asked Oxford grimly. Her shoulders slackened and her bags straps fell down to her elbows. Half of her looked broken; the other half looked empty.

    ¡®I know a couple guys. We can hold out with them till shit blows over.¡¯ Oxford raked his eyes up and down the street for something in particular. With a yelp of recognition, he tightened his straps and guided them down the way. Sandwiched between a pharmacy and a bakery, was a narrow inn called The Felled Giant.

    It was a miserable looking place, blacker than coal and three stories high. Agloff could conjure an image of the kind of customer that frequented as dead a dive as this. He had seen a dozen such pubs squeezed on to street corners at Backwater.

    Ariea huffed. ¡®Doesn¡¯t this place look amazing. We¡¯re not actually staying here, are we? I swear to god if there are rats living in the walls!¡¯

    Oxford ignored her, rang his fist against the door with heavy beats and a pair of footsteps came scurrying.

    It was then something occurred to Agloff. A delightful fact. And his heart skipped a beat as the chill of adrenaline coursed through him. The pilgrim in the forest. He had recognised Agloff. He had known his face. And it was a face Agloff shared with precisely one other in the entire universe.

    A forbidden smile, a giddy excitement, touched his lips.

    If Winter knew Agloff¡¯s face, then it had seen his brother¡¯s, and recently.

 Before Noon Chapter 5 | The Felled Giant

    Chapter Five

    The Felled Giant

    ¡®People live here, like actual people?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Actual people do live here, like,¡¯ replied Oxford with a cute smile. There was a dull clank and the door of The Felled Giant swung open. A dewy-eyed blonde girl, about Agloff¡¯s age, stood beaming at them. She had a button nose and freckled cheeks.

    She was paler than Agloff imagined for someone living out this far west. Oxford said the heat was unforgiving. Maybe she never left this place.

    ¡®Oxford!¡¯ she said, surprised. She seemed to think about hugging him but restrained herself to a pat on the shoulder. One-at-a-time, she waved them through. The inside was as uninviting as the out. On one side a staircase, laden by dust and mould, ran up to what Agloff presumed was the inn. On the other, the hall stretched into a bar buried at the back of the pub. The floor felt as though Agloff was sinking into it with every step. If the intention were to give the impression no one lived here, they had more than succeeded.

    They reached the bar, and a man was perched upon a stool. He was dark-skinned and shaven-headed, thin, like most people these days with pointed features. But there was a menace in his frantic eyes. Like the girl, he was but eighteen or nineteen. Resting in his hands was a well-polished shotgun.

    ¡®Memph,¡¯ the dewy-eyed girl said.

    The boy offered Oxford a nod of recognition. His eyes darted across Ariea and Agloff and his fingers tightened their grip across the barrel of his firearm. ¡®You trust these people?¡¯ he said quietly.

    ¡®Yes, I think so,¡¯ Oxford replied, glancing at Agloff, which did not go unnoticed by the boy. He took his time to study Agloff, as if he were eyeing up a piece of meat. Suddenly, Agloff felt naked.

    ¡®Can I get you a drink?¡¯ the girl said, rounding the bar to pull three chipped glasses from above her. The blackened ceiling hung low, and Oxford almost had to stoop his way to a stool. Circular tables potted the floor to a bay window at the back, where angled beams of light rifled in from across the street.

    ¡®Water if you have it,¡¯ Ariea said pleasantly.

    The girl scoffed. ¡®Funny you think we¡¯d have much of anything else.¡¯ She tugged on the tap of a barrel laying slanted across the bar then pushed the glasses in Ariea¡¯s direction. Agloff downed his in a single gulp.

    ¡®Agloff, Ariea,¡¯ Oxford began, ¡®this is Meredith- well, Merry- Cutter and Memphis Teller. Merry, Memph, this is Agloff and Ariea. Escorting them from Backwater to the Underground.¡¯

    ¡®Thank you for taking us in,¡¯ Agloff said, awkward. Merry replied with a kind look as if to say it was no bother.

    ¡®Who are they?¡¯ Memphis sneered.

    ¡®If you mean why are they cargo, that¡¯s private, Teller.¡¯

    ¡®Memphis is fine.¡¯

    ¡®Lovely to meet you both,¡¯ said Ariea and Memphis replied with a curt smile. Merry just grinned. Agloff assumed they weren¡¯t used to meeting new people.

    ¡®What brings you here?¡¯ Merry asked to Oxford. ¡®Long journey?¡¯

    He shook his head. ¡®Not today, no. But we got picked up by some pilgrims few miles east. Sitting out the storm, so to speak.¡¯

    Memphis looked uncomfortable. ¡®If you¡¯ve brought pilgrims here¡­¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t like it, but I had no choice. I¡¯m sorry. Far as I know they didn¡¯t track us.¡¯

    ¡®Far as you know.¡¯

    Merry sighed disdainfully. ¡®Memphis, go fetch Lady,¡¯ she cut in. Memphis nodded and vanished out the bar and up the stairs. ¡®Sorry, he¡¯s a¡­ he gets tense. About strangers. As he should. An angel once you know him.¡¯

    ¡®How do you know Oxford?¡¯ Ariea asked, taking a sip from her glass.

    ¡®Oh, he passes through time to time. He¡¯s our only regular guest.¡¯ She laughed.

    ¡®Tends to be a last stop on the way back. I can vouch for Merry and Memphis,¡¯ Oxford said, turning to Agloff and Ariea. ¡®They¡¯ve been nothing but good to me.¡¯ He turned back to Merry. ¡®And likewise, I can vouch for them.¡¯

    ¡®Good enough for me,¡¯ she said, beaming. Agloff wondered what could compel her to be so cheery when living in the armpit of the Colony, the hotel at the end of the world. But he was jealous of her. Happiness didn¡¯t come easy in this place. Agloff twirled his empty glass against the bar in ponderous silence. He sensed the slurping of glasses and uncertain glances exchanged between them. But his mind had drifted to a more distant place. He had not slept for seeming centuries and the oak of the bar was as inviting a pillow as any. He thought he might get away with five minutes of shut eye in that awkward moment. But no.

    There came a clattering of footsteps and Memphis returned, a young girl in tow. She was about half his size in an oversized trench coat with a cap slanted across her head and earphones stuffed into her ears. She gawked at them through wide eyes. Agloff thought she was no older than nine or ten.

    ¡®Uhh, hullo,¡¯ she squeaked.

    ¡®Lady, this is Agloff and Ariea,¡¯ said Merry. Lady nodded stiffly at them and then ran to give Oxford a hug. He grabbed her by her shoulders, rubbed a knuckle against the back of her cap. ¡®Sorry, you must be hungry,¡¯ Merry added, calling Lady away. The two of them headed behind the bar to mix up porridge.

    Agloff turned and saw Ariea¡¯s attention up in the rafters. A guitar was suspended there in arm¡¯s reach, lashed up by string. The others watched her.

    ¡®Can I?¡¯ Ariea said, raising an arm towards its neck.

    Merry smiled. ¡®Please.¡¯

    Ariea took the thing down and straddled it across her thigh, then plucked at a string or two with dainty fingers. The image stirred memories in Agloff.

    ¡®You play?¡¯ Oxford said.

    Ariea didn¡¯t look up. She was captive by the curves and strings of the instrument. It was polished into a deep red. Any scuffs and chips glossed like sparkles in the cut of the light through the windows.

    ¡®My dad did. He had a¡­ I don¡¯t know what it was called exactly.¡¯ She turned a peg and played a note. Content, her hands danced in gentle rhythm. Wordless notes thrummed the air. Agloff recognised the tune well enough. It was a slow song. It didn¡¯t mean anything as such. It just meant her. Ariea looked momentarily entranced, like an animal captive by its own reflection. The room watched and listened, then silence. Ariea bit at her cheek then levelled the guitar up against the edge of the bar.

    ¡®Is it a sad song?¡¯ Lady said from the other side of the bar.

    ¡®Why would it be sad?¡¯

    ¡®It doesn¡¯t have any words.¡¯

    ¡®Doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s sad. They¡¯re just notes. You could make up words. My dad whistled it up one day walking home from work.¡¯ She pretended to smile. ¡®Said they sounded right. He wanted to make it into a song but never figured it out.¡¯

    Agloff looked at her. He wanted to say something, but words escaped him, and the moment passed them.

    ¡®I play a little,¡¯ she continued. ¡®But I play violin. It¡¯s like a guitar but smaller. You play it with a string, like this,¡¯ she added at Lady¡¯s quizzical look and gestured the motions. The girl seemed awed.

    Agloff saw a second glumness hit her. That violin was at Backwater somewhere, broken up or traded off. It had meant everything. If Eron were the root of Agloff¡¯s obsessions, that violin was the root of hers. The last gift Agloff had bought her were reams of music he had bartered the librarian for. They were gone too.

    ¡®Who¡¯s the girl?¡¯ Agloff asked Oxford, in hopes of distraction.

    Oxford dipped a finger in his water and slickened his beard. ¡®Lady is an orphan of Winter. Like Merry and Memphis.¡¯

    ¡®Many of those?¡¯ Agloff cut in, thinking if he couldn¡¯t sleep, he may as well indulge in the conversation.

    ¡®I forgot what it was like at Backwater,¡¯ Oxford observed. ¡®Drake said she kept Winter a secret, as long as she could. What people didn¡¯t know, couldn¡¯t hurt them.

    Agloff supposed he was right. For all the last few days had brought, Winter felt little more than a vague idea. A formless shape, occluded in a nightmare, and left entirely to this worst of his imagination.

    ¡®What do you know about Winter?¡¯ Agloff said, and, for the first time since he met her, Merry looked at unease, perking up from behind the bar.

    Oxford leaned back from his stool and the disquiet seemed to pass through them like a contagion. ¡®That¡¯s a story. I suppose,¡¯ he said ponderously.

    Merry scowled a little and passed across three bowls of gooey porridge. Agloff wolfed it down. It was noxious; somehow tasting hot and cold at the same time. But he had little care. Food was food.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Merry then tucked Lady under her arm, biting her lip. ¡®I don¡¯t know Lady needs to hear this, Oxford,¡¯ she warned. Concern was drawn in lines across her pale face.

    ¡®Agloff and Ariea got a right to know.¡¯

    Merry sighed but did not argue. She led Lady across to a corner table by the window. ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ Lady squeaked. ¡®I don¡¯t remember much anyway.¡¯ Agloff smiled kindly at her as she walked past. She reciprocated. ¡®Nice to meet you, ¡®Gloff, ¡®Riea.¡¯

    ¡®You too, Lady,¡¯ Ariea said. ¡®Merry taught you your manners.¡¯

    ¡®Of course.¡¯ The girl grinned. There was a pointed awkwardness in the interaction. Agloff stifled a laugh as Lady bobbed to the back of the room, where Merry now sat and made to pull a book down from a shelf beside them. She lit a candle and quietly asked Lady to read, correcting her whenever she made a mistake.

    Content there was quiet, Oxford reclined into his tale. ¡®Colony¡¯s only twenty-something years old. Bit older than the end of the war. One day, a ship arrived a way north, where it all started. A city called Eden on the River Nanda.¡¯ The name had stuck, thought Agloff. He had whispers of a Winterian city called Eden, but no more than that. Drake did well to keep Jask a secret. ¡®But this ship looks like nothing no one¡¯s ever seen before.¡¯

    ¡®What, like aliens?¡¯ Agloff blurted. Was that a stupid question?

    Oxford shrugged, as if it weren¡¯t an impossibility. ¡®Who knows? Weeks after, Winter pops up and starts raiding villages. Then months go by, it¡¯s taking over towns, forts. Anywhere hit by winged fever and growing since.¡¯ He fell deeper into the embrace of the bar and seemed to await their inevitable questions.

    Ariea¡¯s tongue poked in her cheek. ¡®Why? Why are they going after winged fever?¡¯ Agloff sensed a trepidation in her voice. He knew she was thinking of Backwater, and how long it might last. Did she want to go back, after all they were going through? The thought left a bitter taste.

    ¡®Easy targets,¡¯ Oxford answered. Agloff couldn¡¯t tell if this was a guess or definitive. ¡®No one knows why they came here, and hell to Feng if I know. But they want Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®Winter wants him?¡¯ snorted Memphis. His eyes were scythes cutting into Agloff. ¡®And you brought him here?¡¯ His grip tightened across his weapon.

    Regret flashed in Oxford¡¯s eyes and his fingers lowered to his holster. ¡®They don¡¯t know we¡¯re here,¡¯ he insisted.

    ¡®You said Lady was an orphan of Winter?¡¯ Agloff said, quick to diffuse the tension. His curiosity burned inside him. He was a vulture picking the carcass of Oxford¡¯s brain.

    Memphis set his shotgun aside. ¡®We all are. After cholera came, the survivors burned the bodies, packed their bags and tried to leave. And Winter came to recruit the children that were still here. We lost everyone. Merry stayed and hid here with her granddad, in the cellar.¡¯ Memphis paused. ¡®She was only five. We manage. We hide. And we do both by being careful. You bringing someone Jask wants into our home is¡­¡¯

    Memphis did not finish his thought. Content with his interjection, he continued brooding, shovelling his firearm into his arms and scrubbed it by the cuff of his sleeve. Agloff felt exposed. Even when it wasn¡¯t, he felt the gaze of the room turned upon him. It was a feeling that he was not one of them. These moody characters in their introspective poses.

    ¡®Why¡¯s Winter want the children?¡¯ Agloff said, glancing at Lady reading in the corner.

    ¡®Dunno.¡¯ Oxford shrugged again. ¡®But wherever Winter goes, they take the kids, up and leave. Just leave the adults behind. Sometimes, some places, some of the kids get sent back.¡¯

    Memphis looked up ¡®And your lot¡¯re just as bad,¡¯ he said to Oxford.

    Oxford¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡®Meaning?¡¯ Agloff sensed he was a true patriot. He loved his country. The thought of someone slighting it enraged him.

    ¡®The Underground pride themselves on independence. They do favours for forts to keep them happy. To the Underground, Winter¡¯s just a bi-i-ig fort. If they get too close, start to threaten, the Underground only need to do them a little favour. The children Winter misses, the Underground pick them up, hand them over, mutual satisfaction for both.¡¯ Memphis¡¯ tone was in no shortage of irony. ¡®Once kids start running out for Winter, I imagine your lot¡¯ll pass over one or two of their own ¡®less important¡¯ ones. What you got going on sounds lot like Winter to me. No one cares about a few kids, right?

    ¡®What happened to those kids here, we said would never happen again. I have beef with Winter. They took my folks, my friends. So, who¡¯d have thought it turns out,¡¯ he said with a whimsical sarcasm, ¡®I got beef with the Underground too.¡¯ Agloff could see his resentments for the Underground and Winter were well-festered. This agreement the two of them seemed to have that Memphis was at no pains to elaborate on.

    Agloff supposed he could see Memphis¡¯ way. The people of the Underground were born, raised and died there. They didn¡¯t know anything of Colony Two. They were indoctrinated into a way of life, no different to Winter raising the ¡®children¡¯ who, Agloff presumed, would become pilgrims. Oxford told himself it was different because he must.

    Agloff had heard how they treated strangers there. It was a truth Agloff was more and more anxious to spare himself from. But it seemed unavoidable.

    Memphis considered Oxford through a pause. ¡®I bet, right now, Fall and Jask are fu¡ª¡¯

    Oxford burst from his stool and lurched at Memphis. Agloff hauled him back by his shoulders.

    ¡®¡ªcking each other,¡¯ Memphis finished brusquely.

    ¡®Memphis, that¡¯s enough!¡¯ snapped Merry. She stepped across the window, and her long shadow cast a darkness over each of them. ¡®We¡¯re friends here.¡¯ Memphis responded with a doubtful look. Any excuse to slight Winter, and any excuse to slight the Underground who he invariably saw as one at the same. Two nations happy to bed each other and screw the little man over. At least, that¡¯s what Memphis must have thought. Agloff supposed he would see for himself.

    Memphis set his weapon aside and stood sharply. The five of them exchanged uneasy looks. Oxford then banished himself to a table in the corner and Merry showed Agloff and Ariea to a room each upstairs. Agloff slumped his bags by the door to prop it open and changed into comfier clothes behind the curtain of his four-poster bed. Burdened by the day; he fell into a wistful sleep.

    *

    Ariea roused Agloff with a violent shake.

    ¡®Quick!¡¯

    Agloff gathered himself to his senses, murmured nonsense. He stuffed himself into his clothes and scrambled down the mould-ridden stairs and into the hall. He must have slept through the day as the line of sunlight through the back of the bar was gone.

    Lady perked her head above the windowsill. Twisting her cap out of her eyes, she pressed her tiny hands against the glass. Agloff followed her gaze. The buildings opposite were struck in the shadow of a violent glow rising between the rooves of March Town and the blinkered lights of Cerberus. The early night sky was smitten in a haze of smoke and embers, dancing like fireflies. Lady moved to stand across it. ¡®Look!¡¯

    The others convened across her. Memphis and Oxford left a void between each other. The strange glow danced and rippled across the angles of buildings. Agloff felt his heart pulled down between his ribs. He swallowed his angst. Against the gloom, flowing capes cast darkened shapes, punctuated by the torches of pilgrims.

    A dozen of them, or more. Their silhouettes peered through the hollowed windows of history. They cleared each building with a well-trained precision. Content a building was deserted, they lit it ablaze. The sky burned and sparks scattered in the air like stars.

    ¡®Now you¡¯ve done it,¡¯ growled Memphis. This time, he lurched at Oxford. Merry grappled him back, as he clawed at Oxford¡¯s cheek. For a moment, their eyes turned on Agloff who said nothing.

    Oxford snapped in hushed tones, ¡®I found one in a forest. I thought I dealt with it. I¡¯d never bring them here. I swear. I didn¡¯t know they¡¯d find us.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s our home,¡¯ Memphis pleaded. He wrestled half-heartedly against Merry¡¯s restraint, his eyes glazed. She guarded Memphis by one arm, and Lady by the other. There was a blinkered confusion in the girl. Like she was scared but didn¡¯t know why. ¡®That¡¯s our home.¡¯

    ¡®And it¡¯s my fault,¡¯ Oxford said, flashing a glance at Agloff who bit his lip, struck by pangs of shame eating his insides. The words cut at his throat like knives.

    ¡®It was me,¡¯ Agloff said, gulping. ¡®It was my fault. Not Oxford.¡¯

    Memphis¡¯ eyes narrowed. ¡®What?¡¯ he said quietly.

    ¡®I got bored in the forest and went looking when I heard something. It was the pilgrim and they followed us. I thought it was a fox. I¡¯m sorry. Oxford stopped them.¡¯ Ariea¡¯s mouth curled and her eyes folded in judgement. ¡®Why did you have to do that?¡¯ they said.

    Memphis approached. His breaths beat against Agloff¡¯s temple. ¡®You did this.¡¯ He poked a finger into Agloff¡¯s chest. Agloff tried to puff it out. To stand strong, but all strength failed him.

    Oxford grabbed Memphis¡¯ arm. ¡®I know you wanna take this out on him, but we can¡¯t have a goddamn committee meeting over whose fault this is! There¡¯s no chance they don¡¯t spot us. So everyone shut up. We gotta leave. Like right now!¡¯ He swivelled, a gusto in his stride, towards the front door.

    ¡®No,¡¯ whispered Merry. ¡®Not there. My granddad kept a cellar for alcohol,¡¯ she said, straining to haul up a section of floorboards, revealing a well of darkness below. ¡®There¡¯s a way out through there. He had a brewery. It¡¯s connected to the main water pipeline. It¡¯s how we live.¡¯

    Oxford produced a lighter from his pockets and squatted to inspect the ladder that fed into the dark. ¡®I¡¯m liking your granddad a lot. Get your bags,¡¯ he urged at Agloff and Ariea, ¡®You.¡¯ He poked a finger at Memphis. ¡®You can hate us later.¡¯

    They each silently obeyed. Agloff collected his bag of belongings and abandoned the rest of his clothes to the bed. He could get more at the Underground. With Ariea in tow, they scurried back downstairs.

    ¡®You got alcohol?¡¯ Oxford said to Merry.

    ¡®Some,¡¯ she replied, her eyes tightening. ¡®Mainly granddad¡¯s personal stash. I could never bring myself to drink it and Memphis wasn¡¯t allowed, so.¡¯ She gestured to a shelf behind the bar and Oxford gathered the bottles in haste. Without hesitation, he doused the floorboards in fluid as Merry and Memphis watched, aghast, but neither had the urge to halt him. The shadows of pilgrims flickered across the window and Oxford pointed for Ariea to hoist the curtains shut.

    ¡®They can¡¯t know we were ever here. For all they know they already checked this building,¡¯ he said, and Merry and Memphis could not argue, even as they knew what was about to happen. Oxford pointed for Merry to descend the ladder, then Memphis, together with Lady, and then it was Agloff and Ariea¡¯s turn. They watched as Oxford tossed his lighter through the hatch, drawing it shut. The Felled Giant erupted into flame over their heads.

    There was a click and the cellar buzzed into life. ¡®Backup generator,¡¯ Merry announced. ¡®Haven¡¯t been down here in forever.¡¯ Barrels stacked up on either side towards a low ceiling, connected by a maze of pipes and tubes, running this way and that. ¡®They¡¯re empty now, don¡¯t worry.¡¯ The air had a stale miasma, like something or several had died down here.

    ¡®It¡¯s freezing,¡¯ Ariea said. The chill crept down Agloff¡¯s spine, and his shoulders rolled across his back.

    ¡®Give it a minute. Heating¡¯ll kick in.¡¯

    Oxford pointed at Ariea. ¡®You¡¯d rather still be up there? Least you¡¯d be nice and warm.¡¯ He began to pace, his fuse cut short.

    ¡®Is that a joke? We making jokes now?¡¯ Memphis growled. The dim light seemed to harden Memphis¡¯ stony features. His stare was unbroken, like a portrait, fixed on Agloff.

    Oxford shrugged. ¡®I just saved your life, cut me slack.¡¯ He plucked a lump of something or other from the floor and tossed it down the cellar aimlessly.

    Memphis lurched again, only this time he restrained himself.

    ¡®Hate us later,¡¯ Oxford repeated. ¡®You wanna blame someone, blame them.¡¯ He gestured upwards.

    ¡®Bastard.¡¯

    Oxford shrugged again. ¡®You better learn to love the Underground real soon, ¡®cos guess where you¡¯re going.¡¯

    ¡®We could go Colony,¡¯ mumbled Memphis. His demeanour slackened. Like a workman in line for a whipping by an overseer. It was a pose Agloff was well-acquainted with.

    ¡®I¡¯ll take bets on how far you get. Best of luck.¡¯ And Oxford raised a hand in the opposite direction. ¡®I¡¯m being nice right now, but I am very impatient, so listen up, dipshit. You seem like a good guy; you got principles. That¡¯s cool and all. But I am giving you your life here. Maybe you hate the Underground. But for god¡¯s sake, do what¡¯s best for the kid.¡¯ His eyes shifted to Lady. ¡®She¡¯ll have a home.¡¯

    ¡®How do I know you aren¡¯t just gonna give us to Winter?¡¯

    ¡®This was my fault, lay off him,¡¯ Agloff cut in. He summoned every modicum of courage he could muster. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a vain attempt to pay Oxford back for the forest. Maybe he was just being kind. It was hard to tell. ¡®I think we should go the Underground, where it¡¯s safe. I¡¯ll make it up to you, I swear.¡¯

    ¡®You won¡¯t, but you¡¯re welcome to try.¡¯

    Oxford swallowed, offering Agloff a half-smile. ¡®My word. My word I won¡¯t give you to Winter.¡¯ He extended an arm to Memphis who stared at it for a moment, puckering his lips in thought. He snapped Oxford¡¯s hand for as little time as courtesy allowed and nodded. Oxford looked to Merry.

    ¡®Fine by me,¡¯ she said. She struggled a specious smile. And Agloff wondered how hard it was to keep smiling, even as the world fell down around them. Hers was the bravest of faces.

    ¡®Time to go?¡¯ Oxford asked.

    They each nodded. ¡®Time to go,¡¯ said Memphis. And his was the most defeated of faces.

 Before Noon Chapter 6 | HabCom Three

    Chapter Six

    HabCom Three

    They emerged from the tunnel about a mile further west. The path sloped up towards the shroud of dark sky, onto the arid flatlands that would take them all the way to the Underground. An old railroad ran adjacent. Oxford gestured in its general direction that they follow. But no one, bar Agloff, seemed to be paying attention. He scuffed his shoes against the tracks, only to raise his chin to see what the others were looking at.

    Above the horizon, the sky was smitten with a rosy glow as stacks of smoke climbed into the dark. March Town was ablaze in the distance. The husks of time gone were charred into permanent silhouette beneath the flames. Memphis drew his arms across Merry and Lady. Together, they watched, strangely captivated. Agloff stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned his shameful gaze to the darkness. The air felt coarse on his tongue.

    ¡®What you thinking?¡¯ Agloff said behind Ariea who stooped her head, scraping the mud from under her fingernails.

    ¡®You tell me. The world¡¯s a pretty shitty place is the headline.¡¯

    He reached a hand to her shoulder and she seemed to recoil at the motion.

    ¡®Nothing new then,¡¯ Agloff joked. He wanted to slap himself. What a stupid thing to say. ¡®You okay?¡¯ he added to her silence, in a vain attempt to correct the error. But the more he tried to correct himself, the worse it got.

    She shrugged. That meant no. But Agloff knew better than to keep asking. Even if not doing so set his mind on edge. ¡®This disease, it¡¯s them. It¡¯s Winter. And you being immune. I get a feeling that isn¡¯t coincidence,¡¯ she said. Her whole presence shook with her words, as though some coiled viper punched against the walls of her stomach, waiting to burst free.

    ¡®What do you mean by that?¡¯ Agloff felt a twinge of offence.

    ¡®Oh, just a feeling,¡¯ she said, shrugging.

    Time came that Oxford ordered them to move on, and they silently obeyed. They trudged single file across the rocky plains, guided only by the light of the stars. As far as Agloff could tell, the land was uniform in every direction. It was some giant basin, circled by distant ridges of upturned rock. Darker shapes against the background of stars. It wasn¡¯t until the sky had ripened to a shade of blue discernible from black that they knew they were close.

    Cerberus yawned across the dawn sky, parting it in two. It was like a ghost, its silvery features tinted blue, like the moon in the daytime.

    ¡®Weirdly pretty, isn¡¯t it?¡¯ Oxford said noticing Agloff ogle the sky.

    Agloff wanted to look away but couldn¡¯t help himself. ¡®I think it¡¯s kinda creepy.¡¯ His eyes traced it towards the horizon, where the plane of the ring looked squashed by the haze of atmosphere. ¡®Like it¡¯s not meant to be there.¡¯

    ¡®They built it,¡¯ Oxford surmised.

    ¡®They?¡¯

    ¡®They. The people who left.¡¯

    ¡®Why would they make it and then just leave?¡¯

    Oxford raked an arm through his mess of hair. ¡®I do not think that was their intention.¡¯

    ¡®How so?¡¯

    ¡®My mum said it like this: the ones before us built Cerberus to guard the earth. To save it, from dying.¡¯

    Agloff crooked his head to one side. ¡®What, like a shield?¡¯

    ¡®No, to power it. But the people in charge changed, and their minds changed like the wind. So mum said. She said people in charge are always like that.¡¯ Agloff¡¯s mind immediately ran to Warden Drake. How she had wavered from wanting to kick him out to hold him at Backwater, under guard night and day. He could not disagree. ¡®They moved on instead.¡¯

    ¡®So, they just left it behind? Like that?¡¯

    ¡®Like that.¡¯ Oxford swallowed. ¡®They left it to guard us. This is a prison after all.¡¯

    Then, the Underground fizzled into view on a distant mirage, at the edge of the sand-coloured basin. Agloff noticed a smattering of grey shapes, growing in the haze. They glinted in the early morning sun. According to Oxford, the Underground had spilled onto the over-ground. An installation of solar panels powered the entire city. Some kind of powerplant was connected to them, via what looked like a small outhouse. There was no grand entrance hall, no surface bunker. No traps or perimeter fences. Just a single entrance, and a single exit at the outhouse. Modest was an understatement. One could be forgiven for assuming there was nothing beneath the surface here at all, but Agloff supposed that was the idea. Or such was their arrogance no one would ever attack this place.

    The way in was guarded by two soldiers, clad in white. Oxford flashed them his identification and they nodded. There was a whir and the door of the outhouse cranked open. One-by-one, they filtered down into their new home. Agloff felt cold. It was brought by a feeling that he would not be able to leave this place. His basest instinct was to turn and run, for fear the Underground might suffocate him. But he was here for a reason; Marty had answers he needed.

    The tunnel within bloomed in a conical shape and fencing and railing began to spring up along its sides. More white figures patrolled the tunnels, swords sheathed to their backs and balaclavas drawn across their faces. Heads tilted in the party¡¯s direction. A second set of guards confiscated their bags, insisting they would be delivered following inspection. The path split into four lines, marked along the decking from 1 to 4. Each HabCom, Agloff presumed. Oxford had said the Underground was four massive silos, a hundred floors deep and strung together. Once their bags were removed, a guard indicated they step through a metal detector. It stayed silent for all but Oxford, and they were waved down the way.

    As they passed the checkpoint, into HabCom Three, Agloff thought he could hear beaten sobs from beyond. The outlines of men, women and children were hunched under blankets behind the grating, siphoned into cages. A child moped across the floor, barefoot and his frame shrunken. Agloff couldn¡¯t help but stare. They were clothed in sacks, numbered and tagged at their wrists. A sign above the cage read: ¡®awaiting transit¡¯. Agloff cast uneasy glances at Oxford who shook his head. It was then he understood. The world Drake had told him about. The world he had been too na?ve to understand. But he understood now.

    These were the undesirables. The people unlike him, who were not the object of Fall¡¯s affections. He choked his feelings down into his throat.

    ¡®You see,¡¯ Memphis said.

    ¡®Who are those people?¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Prisoners,¡¯ replied Oxford bluntly.

    Agloff glanced again. ¡®Don¡¯t really look like it.¡¯

    Oxford scowled. Agloff could sense his offence. ¡®You break the law, you get punished.¡¯

    Adverse to an argument, Agloff pulled his eyes away and considered his surroundings. The Underground didn¡¯t have the sheen he expected. And it looked smaller, at least on Floor 1. Rather, it was like what Agloff had imagined the fuselage of a starship to look like. It was minimalist, stripped to its essentials. The walls of rock were restrained only by sheets of metal grating. Racks of dim lighting ran down the narrow entrance hall, past the cages. Everything looked sharp and angular. There was an aggression in how the place and its people carried themselves.

    So this was the place Agloff had so much about? Stories of a magnificent city burrowed into the crust of the Earth. He expected a grace, a grandeur, he daresay decadence. But reality was the opposite. It was functional, like a piece of folding furniture. And yet, still it overwhelmed his senses, his childlike hankering for wonder. He wanted to run his fingers along the walls and explore every intimate detail. It was a new world all the same.

    Then, a flock of white-clad guards marched in from the next room. They parted into a guard of honour and a woman walked between them. Her frizzy hair was pegged back into a loose bun. She looked a little older than Oxford, well-built, with olive skin and a ferocity in her stride. She stood with her legs apart and hands at her hips with a forced authority. Her vest was washed by grease and dirt into a brownish-white. She matched her surroundings, thought Agloff.

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    ¡®They¡¯ve been looking forward to having you,¡¯ Oxford said to Agloff.

    ¡®Blue!¡¯ the woman exclaimed. At once, she studied Agloff, as if sizing him up for a meal.

    Oxford fumbled beside her. ¡®Yes, Lieutenant?¡¯

    ¡®This the cargo?¡¯ She looked from Agloff to Ariea and then took a scornful glance at Merry, Memphis and Lady. They hunched as a guard desecrated them in search of concealed weapons.

    ¡®Yes, Lieutenant.¡¯

    ¡®I seem to recall in assignment there were two targets. An eighteen-year-old male and an eighteen-year-old female. So why have you brought me an entire orphanage? Need I remind you of the law, Special Operative?¡¯

    ¡®No, Lieutenant, but¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Then we¡¯ll throw them on the surface at the start of the next day cycle. Or put them in Transit.¡¯

    ¡®Yes, Lieutenant but¡ª¡¯

    The woman ordered Ariea to step back and took to circling Agloff with extreme prejudice. After three orbits she stepped back and scoffed. ¡®Introduce us, Blue.¡¯

    Oxford puffed his cheeks and mouthed an apology to Agloff and Ariea. ¡®Lieutenant Miller, this is Agloff Ashborne and Ariea Finland. Over there is Memphis Teller, Meredith Cutter and Lady. Guys, this is Lieutenant Miller. My superior. She sets my assignments to other forts.¡¯

    Miller scoffed and reached out a hand to Agloff. ¡®Don¡¯t ever let him tell you I¡¯m a diplomat. Those desk dwellers tell him where to go. I just tell him how to get it done.¡¯ Miller then gestured Memphis, Merry and Lady. ¡®You three can stay the night. I¡¯ll have cells prepped, and a meal. Next sunrise, I¡¯ll have someone escort you so far. Then you¡¯re free to go wherever.¡¯

    Three white knights surrounded them, herding them like cattle through the hall and out of sight. They didn¡¯t even have time to say goodbye.

    ¡®Sorry, Lieutenant but they have nowhere to go.¡¯

    ¡®Well, Operative, perhaps you shoulda thought of that before you picked them from wherever you picked them up from.¡¯

    ¡®They lived at March Town, but it got hit by pilgrims. Only survivors.¡¯

    Miller groaned and thought a moment. ¡®Fine. I¡¯ll send them to Nine and clear basic privileges for them. Pull a string or two since I owe a favour,¡¯ she said. ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Blue.¡¯ Oxford looked at Miller suggestively and nodded his head towards the door. There was an eagerness in his step. ¡®Yeah, go on then. Go see her. I¡¯ll take them from here. And Blue¡­ I appreciate circumstance, but the law is the law. Even if they stay, you¡¯ll face Discipline.¡¯

    Oxford gave a ¡®so-what¡¯ shrug of his shoulders. ¡®How bad?¡¯

    ¡®No out-of-Hab assignments¡­ for a month¡­ at least.¡¯

    Oxford said nothing. He vanished into the bowels of the Underground.

    ¡®He was eager,¡¯ Ariea pointed out, arms tightly folded. She looked defensive all of a sudden. Agloff gave her an encouraging look, but she turned away.

    ¡®You don¡¯t have to make small talk with me,¡¯ Miller chuckled. ¡®Believe me, awkward silence is less awkward. His fianc¨¦e¡¯s down here. She¡¯s nice enough. Plain girl though. Just down here.¡¯ She crooked a finger at them, and they headed whence she came. They passed into a narrow corridor lined by lockers. At its end, Miller hauled back folding doors to the transit shaft. She nodded for them to enter.

    ¡®One hundred,¡¯ she said, and the cage hummed. It jolted and the layers of rock, and shadow began to flitter past them as the carriage chuntered down the shaft.

    ¡®So, you¡¯re the cargo. What¡¯s special about you?¡¯ Miller asked, eying Agloff up once more.

    ¡®I ask myself the same,¡¯ he said. ¡®They didn¡¯t tell you?¡¯

    She shook her head. ¡®Didn¡¯t need to know, didn¡¯t ask. But now seeing you, I can¡¯t see why Fall would give a shit about you.¡¯

    ¡®Thanks,¡¯ Agloff muttered.

    ¡®And you know Marty Naples, right?¡¯

    ¡®Did,¡¯ Agloff corrected. It had been a long time. Agloff was eager to see him. They hadn¡¯t exactly parted on the best of terms. He had said he was leaving to fix things. Whatever that meant.

    ¡®Will Merry and Memphis be okay?¡¯ Ariea cut in.

    Miller sighed. ¡®I¡¯ll see what I can do. Worse comes to worst, they¡¯ll be put in transit.¡¯

    ¡®The cage thing upstairs?¡¯ Agloff said it with all the contempt he dare muster.

    ¡®We don¡¯t call them that, but sure.¡¯

    ¡®HabCom Three, Level Hundred, Palace of Governance: welcome.¡¯

    The lift came to a shuddering halt and Miller levered the doors open.

    A skinny, white-haired man stood beaming at them. Folds of skin hung from his fatless jowls, with cheekbones Agloff thought he could cut himself on. The man gasped with a hyperbolic giddiness and strode forwards. The ripples of his gown flowed like silky liquid. He fondled his whiskers, then extended his arms. Flanking him were a dozen of the sword-wielding knights of the Underground.

    From the passage, rooms and alleys jutted off in all directions. It was lit by candles adorned in golden casings. Plinthed artwork punctuated their steps and the eyes of a hundred portraits watched their approach. Walls of red brick bent into an arch over their heads. Agloff imagined it like the earthly castles of a thousand generations ago. Everything was lined in gold, with a decadent charm. More so even that Warden Drake¡¯s offices. This was as his mind¡¯s eye had dreamt it.

    ¡®Governor Fall, Sir,¡¯ Miller said, kicking a heel into the ground and straightening her arm in salute. ¡®This is the acquisition Sir, courtesy of Operative Blue; Agloff Ashborne and Ariea Finland.¡¯

    The man¡¯s smile strained wider. ¡®Ah, wonderful, wonderful.¡¯ He extended the tips of his fingers for them each to shake. When they were done, he held his hand to one of his guards who knelt by his side, scrubbing each finger with a wet wipe. Governor Fall then drew his robe across his chest as if to protect against the dirt in the air. ¡®Agloff Ashborne. Such a delight,¡¯ he added, pursing his lips shut by the tips of his ringed fingers. ¡®We¡¯ll get you both cleaned up. That is all Miller.¡¯ The Lieutenant nodded and disappeared.

    ¡®Sir,¡¯ Ariea said with a feigned politeness. ¡®We had some friends with us. Merry Cutter and Memphis Teller from March Town. It was destroyed by pilgrims, could you make sure they stay?¡¯ She shot a look at Agloff, flashing her eyebrows. What did I do? he mumbled in his head.

    Fall¡¯s mouth quivered. He bit his lip and smirked like he had started sucking on a lemon. ¡®Of course,¡¯ he said, waving. ¡®I¡¯ll see to it myself. I¡¯d like to welcome you most splendidly to my personal chambers. What¡¯s mine is yours now. I would see it that you have all your needs met.¡¯

    ¡®I thought you¡¯d have lived up at the top,¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Ah, well. The most esteemed in our society live at the foot of its domain. We don¡¯t trifle ourselves with surface politics. It offends our sensibilities.¡¯ Every utterance that came from Fall¡¯s mouth was flourished by some frivolous hand gesture. He spoke with great vigour. ¡®There is a particular value, Mr Ashborne, ascribed to residing as far from Winter, as far from the Confederacy, as one can get. Well, you can get no further than my quarters. Almost a mile below.¡¯ Fall directed a wide smile at Agloff, his cheeks ripening.

    ¡®It¡¯s impressive,¡¯ Agloff noted.

    ¡®Well, I am afraid I cannot take all the credit. We only adopted it, but it has become¡­ truly ours. As you shall see, we are entirely self-dependent. We grow our own livestock, our own vegetation in bespoke greenhouses, with thousands of rooms to accommodate families. There are ample facilities for leisure, business, health, administration and education.¡¯ He paused, presumably for dramatic effect. ¡®I think the pair of you will have a positive experience here.¡¯ Fall¡¯s words were so crisp they felt almost rehearsed, in fact they probably were.

    Agloff rolled his eyes and faked a smile, wondering if Governor Fall was trying to be a walking sales brochure for the Underground, or if he simply couldn¡¯t help it.

    ¡®And you, Miss Finland?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s great,¡¯ she said curtly.

    ¡®I agree,¡¯ said Fall with that thick smile. It had to be hurting him to do that, Agloff thought. No one could smile so widely for that long.

    Fall led them into a grand entrance hall. It was tiled in marble, encircled by a string of statues. Agloff noted balconies and walkways that ran around it, reaching up several floors. A long table with fancy chairs sat before them. The table was thickly laden with meats and fruits and pastries and breads upon golden platters. Instead of water, there was wine and ale. Agloff imagined food like this was beyond the means or need of any one man or woman. Its pungent notes tempted him, interacting and overlapping. He stood, quietly awed.

    But for every moment of comfort he afforded himself, he was stabbed by a prick of guilt. Could he really afford to stay? He knew what he had to do. Get to Marty. He was in this maze of a city somewhere and he knew the truth. A truth that could take Agloff to where he needed to go. Marty knew where his mum had been going.

    Then, the clocks buzzed zero, and the speakers signalled it was the end of one labour shift and the start of the next. Fall said most folks here were either farmers up in the agrifloors (which were massive greenhouses, channelled with ultraviolet light), mechanics in Maintenance (that and the waterworks were the only place in the Underground below the Governor¡¯s chambers apparently), vendors flogging goods on the residential plazas or manning the lines on the factory floors. It was like some slick machine. They worked in exchange for something Agloff didn¡¯t fully understand. It sounded like money, but not really. ¡°Privileges¡±, Fall called them, which sounded to Agloff like a way of ascribing a value to his citizens.

    There came a flurry of announcements over the speakers, the business of the day, as thousands of doors opened at once, up and down the Underground as the working men and women offered a goodbye peck to the cheeks of their sweethearts. They pretended their world was all that existed in the universe and the surface was another reality not worth contemplating.

    ¡®Impressive, is it not?¡¯ Fall concluded. ¡®All of this from refugees and criminals.¡¯

    As loathe as Agloff was to agree with Fall, he could not deny the Underground was something to behold. ¡®Ruthlessly efficient and entirely self-sufficient. We are an isolationist nation, dependent on no one and nothing.¡¯

    ¡®Not even Winter?¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®Seems strange how you manage to keep them out.¡¯

    A flash of anxiety sparked in Fall¡¯s eyes. ¡®Ways and means, Agloff. Ways and means. Down here.¡¯ Fall gestured towards a sloping walkway that led down, away from the entrance hall and into a cosy corridor. There were bedrooms off to the left, and a bathroom for each of them to the right. They then looped round the back of the chamber and up a gangway to a platform overlooking the main hall. There was a kitchen if they needed it, stocked and maintained by the royal staff below and the banquet was at their disposal too. None of that mattered though, thought Agloff. Soon enough, he would find Marty.

    A thin girl came gasping from the other end of the hall, one arm clenched across her gut and the other raised to courtesy her Governor. ¡®Osara,¡¯ Fall said with a false smile.

    ¡®Your Governance,¡¯ she said, though distracted by the sight of Agloff and Ariea. ¡®I prepared the rooms, as you instructed, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sure you did. Could you see them there please?¡¯ He turned to Agloff and Ariea, not waiting for a reply. ¡®A meal is being prepared for us in the kitchens. I should like to take the time to know you a little better,¡¯ he said, failing to look at Ariea. ¡®In the meantime, Osara will escort you to your rooms.¡¯

    ¡®This way.¡¯ Osara gestured and Agloff followed, with Ariea, arms tightly folded, in tow.

 Before Noon Chapter 7 | The Company of Savages

    Chapter Seven

    The Company of Savages

    Osara led them into an elongated bed chamber. Two four-poster beds were positioned at opposite ends, with two dressers and a row of oaken cupboards arranged between them. A dinner suit was lain out on one bed, and an evening gown on the other. Agloff glided towards the former, drawing his finger across the quilt. He pressed his fist into the bed, and it seemed to sink into its embrace for an eternity. He cast an eye to the side, where bags of clothes had been lain out for him.

    The servant departed and Agloff watched as Ariea dug into one of her bags, inspecting each item with a distasteful look furrowed in her brow. Agloff had no interest in unpacking anything, however.

    ¡®What¡¯s up?¡¯ she said after a long silence.

    Agloff bit down on his lip. He felt Ariea watch him. His temples bulged from the sides of his head and a shot of adrenaline chilled his extremities. He couldn¡¯t be held back, even for this. He had to go on. He had to tell the truth.

    ¡®I can¡¯t stay long,¡¯ he said. ¡®I have to do this.¡¯

    Ariea cranked her neck ninety degrees to face Agloff. ¡®Oh?¡¯ she said, folding a shirt to the side. ¡®What do you have to do?¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s throat tightened. He forced his eyes to meet hers. ¡®Marty knows where she went, Ariea!¡¯ he professed. He thought if he said it with enthusiasm, it might spread to her. That she might share in this feeling.

    But Ariea only smacked her lips and turned to fold another shirt. ¡®So, why don¡¯t you go ask him then?¡¯ Her voice was so calm, but it wasn¡¯t pleasant. She scoffed, turned to face the wall opposite Agloff. She sat like a schoolgirl, her back poised.

    Agloff copied her. ¡®What¡¯s wrong?¡¯

    Ariea tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and considered Agloff. ¡®That you don¡¯t know is the funniest thing. You sit there in your own little world.¡¯

    He was confused. What had he done? Was he even supposed to know? He had thought she would join him. Away from Fall. Away from Oxford. Away from all of it. But he saw none of that in her. Agloff kicked himself back along the bed, knocked his head against the headboard, like a petulant child banished to his room.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry,¡¯ he said in ignorance.

    ¡®Sorry,¡¯ Ariea repeated, as if she were digesting the word. ¡®You¡¯re sorry. Hmm.¡¯

    ¡®I never told you,¡¯ he said. ¡®Drake said to me what happened. My mum had this work partner during the war. This guy called Tomas Wise and when¡ª¡¯

    Ariea stood. ¡®You don¡¯t get it.¡¯

    ¡®¡ªhe had my brother. He took him away! He¡¯s alive!¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s wrong with you, Agloff? You think Fall is just gonna let you walk out after everything he did to get you?¡¯

    ¡®With Marty¡¯s help, we can do it.¡¯ His voice was desperate. But he sensed the tide was against him.

    Ariea scowled. ¡®We?¡¯

    ¡®I thought we would go together.¡¯ He dragged himself across the bed, perching himself on its end.

    She scoffed again. ¡®Oh, you did?¡¯

    ¡®I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d like it here.¡¯ Agloff¡¯s confusion set in deeper.

    ¡®That¡¯s not the point, Agloff. You keep missing the point. It¡¯s shit here. It¡¯s shit at March Town. It was shit at Backwater. But you just think I¡¯m gonna just go, so I can help you find your brother? Listen to yourself. What about my life?¡¯

    Agloff wanted to mutter, What life? What did Ariea have anymore, but for him? Wasn¡¯t he her best friend? Her only friend? But he held his tongue. He knew they were empty words. Words he would regret. Words he did not mean. Words he would never mean. ¡®We¡¯d be able to do what we want!¡¯

    ¡®What you want,¡¯ Ariea said. ¡®And you don¡¯t even have a clue how to get out. For all we know, this place is a maze.¡¯

    ¡®Marty will help us.¡¯

    He could see the frustration burn in her cheeks. For every argument Ariea had, Agloff trotted out his riposte. A flash of anger flickered through her features. Fear even. It stirred between her eyes. Fear of Marty. For a long time, she said nothing.

    ¡®Do you remember what it was like when he was at Backwater? When he used to come visit us?¡¯ she probed.

    It was Agloff¡¯s turn to pause. ¡®Not really,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®Then let me tell you.¡¯ She sat again, her back straight, as if hoisted by some imaginary string. ¡®Because I remember an ill, angry man who would invite himself into our home. Would threaten my father. Would shout the house down. Would send me crying up to our room because I was terrified of him. Who came and took my best friend from me. You don¡¯t realise what it was like for me.¡¯ Her lip trembled. ¡®How much I used to dread his visits. How I happy I was he never came back.¡¯

    Agloff thought about moving towards her. ¡®I¡­ I didn¡¯t realise,¡¯ he said. ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯ It was a part of Marty he had always batted away beyond memory or awareness. All that mattered was he had known his mother, that he might one day have helped Agloff find her and Eron. But now he saw himself. His shame there in her eyes. And a tight feeling grew in his chest.

    ¡®You¡¯re always sorry. And you never realise. Agloff. Think about someone other than yourself for a goddamn second.¡¯

    He tried for some honesty. ¡®Since I¡¯ve been old enough to think, I¡¯ve waited for them, Ariea. You don¡¯t know what that¡¯s like. Every night I go to sleep, I think about it. I¡­ I just need it. And when Drake showed me¡­¡¯ Agloff reached a hand to his pocket, and he produced his mother¡¯s letter. It never left his person. He unfurled its folds and looked at the words. ¡®¡­Showed me this. You don¡¯t know how much it means to me.¡¯

    Ariea stared at the floor. ¡®It¡¯s a wild goose chase, Agloff! Can¡¯t you see that!¡¯

    Agloff stood, fists clenched, a measure of assertion about him. A fragile confidence he had found within himself.

    ¡®It¡¯s not a wild goose chase. It¡¯s not.¡¯

    This time Ariea laughed wildly, almost deranged. ¡®And why¡¯re you so convinced? Intuition? You know in your heart?¡¯ she said. ¡®Piss off, Agloff.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s eyes flared. ¡®Ariea, look at me.¡¯

    And Ariea¡¯s eyes narrowed to slits, her face alight. ¡®They¡¯re dead, Agloff! They died, years ago! Dead or chose not to come back. As dead as we are in here and look at all the good leaving Backwater did for us. You happy? We¡¯re stuck here forever. Prisoners. If you can¡¯t see that, then¡­¡¯ She cracked her neck, tilting it towards Agloff as she made to stand. Her rage swelled. ¡®The food. The clothes. They¡¯re buying you off. You are stuck here! Your brother is dead! Or keep being deluded, I don¡¯t care anymore.¡¯

    Agloff sighed. ¡®I have felt an alien everywhere I ever stood. I practically was one in Backwater,¡¯ he said, thinking of how Drake had told him he was regarded. No more than a pit stain, eager to be cleansed. Agloff walked towards Ariea, his head leaning in towards her shoulders, his voice suddenly scarce. ¡®I¡¯m lost. Can you understand, Ariea, how much I need this? To¡­ I need them. Wherever they are. It¡¯s¡­ I need to know.¡¯

    ¡®Agloff. You had a family with me and dad.¡¯ Her voice was soft again.

    Agloff¡¯s teeth tugged on his lip and there was an unsavoury pause. ¡®But you¡¯re not¡ª¡¯

    Ariea laughed. ¡®Don¡¯t you dare say that to me.¡¯

    ¡®¡ªmy blood family.¡¯

    Ariea howled with laughter and Agloff stood down from her. ¡®What am I? To you?¡¯ She rubbed her brow with the tips of her fingers. She looked tired, as though her resentment had begun to age her. ¡®Am I your¡­ sister, friend, best friend, more than? Hell, acquaintance? Because why did I come here with you? Doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯m leaving. Either I¡¯m here forever or I get thrown out when Fall realises he doesn¡¯t need me. After all, it¡¯s you he wants, Agloff. You¡¯re his precious treasure. His Winter deterrent. Will you stand up for me that time? Like I did for Merry and Memphis. And the time after that, and the time after that? Because they won¡¯t care about me, no. They only care about you. And you know the worst thing, even after all this you still don¡¯t even know what the problem is. You still haven¡¯t asked.¡¯

    ¡®What did I do?¡¯ he said.

    With slow and deliberate steps, Ariea moved closer. ¡®My dad,¡¯ she said. ¡®My dad died¡­ He raised us¡­¡¯ Her voice began to break. He saw the broken glint of tears in her eyes. ¡®And now he¡¯s gone, and you never said so much as even ¡®sorry¡¯ then or¡­ I don¡¯t know, ¡®how are you feeling?¡¯, or ¡®is there anything I can do to make you feel better.¡¯ It was like you didn¡¯t even care, after all he did for you!¡¯ Ariea voice tumbled into a growl. There was no hiding her rage now. It burned through her. Her eyes were feral. ¡®Even Oxford did more than you. He asked. He did that thing down by the river. It¡¯s just the gesture, just to know he cares. You didn¡¯t say a thing!¡¯

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    She paused. She waited. She waited for him to say something, here and now. But Agloff just sank into himself, collapsing back into his bed. His jaw lowered. Air came but no sounds. He wanted to say something, anything, but he wasn¡¯t entirely sure he knew what to say and, even then, if the answer in his mind was the one she wanted to hear.

    ¡®If you had to choose; them or me.¡¯ Ariea swallowed. Red rings burned around her eyes. Again, Agloff¡¯s throat clutched on absent words. ¡®Wow. I suppose fourteen years of being your best friend counts for nothing when you¡¯ve got a ¡®real¡¯ brother.¡¯ Agloff sank deeper. ¡®Don¡¯t say anything to me. Just don¡¯t.¡¯

    It was worse than anger; it was disappointment, an expectation that Agloff was more than he allowed himself to be.

    Osara¡¯s clumsy footsteps led into the doorway, her shadow cast between them. ¡®Dinner,¡¯ she stuttered. ¡®The Governor requests you wear the clothes provided for the engagement.¡¯ Her slight frame bowed to each of them.

    ¡®I¡¯m not wearing that,¡¯ snapped Ariea, and nor was Agloff, ¡®but I¡¯ll tell Fall where he can shove it.¡¯

    They were led from the guest chamber and up the sloping corridor that jutted off from the main hall, where the table was set for them at the banquet. Agloff noticed white-clad guards peering through hollow windows on a platform raised above them. The taut figure of Governor Fall was perked at the far end of the table. His flowing robes spilled onto the floor. His chair was a throne, nearly twice as tall as he- angular, and veneered in gold. ¡®Please, sit,¡¯ he said softly. His face split into a wide smile. Ariea and Osara chatted as the latter led them through.

    To Agloff¡¯s surprise, someone else was already sat down.

    Marty Naples was hunched over the table, brooding as he gripped his fist. His once-blonde hair was greying and thin. Lines Agloff did not recognise were etched into his face. He looked no kinder than when Agloff had last seen him, eight years prior.

    ¡®I believe you know each other. Marty Naples, my Keeper of Wars. Commander of the 174<sup>th</sup> Confederate Battalion, veteran of the Battle of Ku.¡¯ Fall declared with characteristic pomposity. Agloff gave a stiff nod of recognition, unsure how to react. He moved to sit as far from the Governor as was polite. Ariea waited for Agloff to seat himself before moving to the opposite end of the table.

    ¡®Lily, would you like to join us?¡¯ Ariea offered a curt grin to Fall and pulled out a chair, nodding to Osara, who looked terrified at the offer.

    ¡®Who on Earth is Lily?¡¯ Fall snorted.

    Osara raised a hand to her shoulder as she shuffled towards Ariea. ¡®That¡¯s my name, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, well, who knew,¡¯ the Governor said. Osara took his lack of refusal as permission that she might be seated and placed herself between Marty and Ariea. She grabbed a handful of roast potatoes and smothered them in gravy, catching Fall¡¯s disgusted eye.

    Agloff stared down at his own plate. Suddenly, the meats and pastries that awaited him, proudly stacked into perfumed mountains, were uninviting. The spasms in his stomach yielded to jolts of shame. Hunger traded in for butterflies. He shuffled in his seat; arms drawn across himself. He was no longer hungry. Nor was he happy to see Marty as he had imagined. The endless questions Agloff had expected to occupy his mind were absent. He wanted to crawl within himself and watch the world to pass him by.

    Marty raised a timid hand. ¡®Ag. Ria,¡¯ the old soldier said with a hesitancy.

    Agloff stole a look at Ariea but she turned it away, deep in conversation with Osara.

    ¡®Agloff, I¡¯d like to talk to you about your integration into life at the Underground,¡¯ Fall began and Agloff could sense it was another one of his monologues. ¡®You will become an esteemed and respected citizen, I am sure. You will be living ¡­¡¯

    Biting his lip, Agloff stared at Ariea, Fall¡¯s words falling out of focus. He automatically grinned as he watched Ariea and Osara share a joke. Ariea spared none of her words for the table.

    ¡®¡­Anyway, I sincerely¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Actually, Governor, Sir,¡¯ Agloff said with courage. His eyes still lingered on Ariea. ¡®Respectfully, I think I¡¯m a little tired tonight and I¡¯d just like to see my friends¡­ if that¡¯s alright?¡¯ He thought of Merry and Memphis¡¯ company. Weirdly, it was theirs he craved more than anything right now.

    Fall choked on his wine, taken aback. He failed to suppress a scowl, shot a glare at Marty. The veil of endless smiles and pleasantries lifted. Agloff knew if Fall could not flatter him into submission, he would surely bully him. All the more reason to leave.

    ¡®Naples, take him up,¡¯ Fall said.

    Agloff hastened to his feet and scarpered over the marble in a direction he did not know where it led.

    ¡®Not there,¡¯ growled Marty. ¡®With me.¡¯ He drew a walking stick from beneath the table and struggled towards one of the chamber¡¯s many other exits. Gingerly, Agloff followed, unsure of the socially acceptable distance to which he should keep. He took one last look at Ariea, who was certain not to return the compliment, and followed Marty out of the hall.

    A door slammed behind Agloff, and he was led into a low corridor, passed two porters and a procession of guards. Marty headed up a slope away from Fall¡¯s palace into a circular staircase. Slowly, their homely surroundings were traded for chipped paint and steel grating: the beating heart of the Underground. Marty held his silence for a long time, pressing his shoulder against the wall to guide his ascent. Agloff offered an arm of support but Marty batted him away.

    ¡®Leave it,¡¯ he said, jabbing his free hand in the air.

    ¡®Sorry,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®Just trying to help.¡¯

    ¡®Well, leave it,¡¯ Marty repeated. It was the strangest of reintroductions. But Agloff had expected nothing less.

    Marty¡¯s breath rasped with every step, haggard and uneven, like there was a lion purring in his lungs. ¡®The hell are you doing, Ag?¡¯ he said. It seemed a lot of people were thinking that today. He thought better than to argue; he waited for Marty to explain himself. ¡®Did a hell of a lot to get you here, Ag. Now, first thing you¡¯re pissing Fall off to go talk to some strangers you met a day ago. You¡¯re better than that. The closer to Fall you are, the safer you are. People in these parts aren¡¯t fond of strangers. I know. But down here, you¡¯re secure, fed, watered, clothed¡­ forever.¡¯

    ¡®And a prisoner,¡¯ Agloff pointed out, hanging on Marty¡¯s last word. ¡®Wait, you were the one who got me here?¡¯ he added.

    ¡®After a fashion. Is it really a bad thing you¡¯re a prisoner? Best thing you can do for yourself is nothing. I¡¯ll smooth things with Fall. What happened between you and Ria?¡¯ Marty asked, amused.

    ¡®She hates Ria.¡¯

    Marty smiled. ¡®Well, I hate being old, but what can you do.¡¯

    Agloff shrugged. ¡®How did you notice that anyway?¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re kids. It was obvious,¡¯ Marty said.

    He pointed for Agloff to go left at the next landing, marked 94. It hadn¡¯t felt like they had traipsed six floors. Agloff noticed a checkpoint across the landing, where guards in capes were inspecting the residents¡¯ privileges. Marty told Agloff that the people rarely left their floors except for work, only on holidays. He jested the floors were isolationist nations within an isolationist nation.

    Marty stopped to reached an arm to Agloff¡¯s shoulder. ¡®So, what happened with Ariea?¡¯

    ¡®She thinks I¡¯ve become obsessed.¡¯

    The old soldier raised an eyebrow. ¡®With what?¡¯ but Agloff was sure he knew.

    ¡®This whole thing with my brother. Before I left Backwater, Drake told me mum wasn¡¯t who she said she was. I need to know.¡¯ Despite the days he had to digest this information, the nights he had spent thinking of little else as he willed himself to sleep, Agloff still didn¡¯t know what he should think.

    ¡®That¡¯s understandable,¡¯ Marty acknowledged. Agloff was unsure whether this was a reference to his obsession or Ariea¡¯s festered resentments.

    ¡®Give this thing with Ria time,¡¯ Marty continued, ¡®Boring, I know, but it¡¯s the truth. When you¡¯ve given it, I think you should apologise. And after she¡¯ll either want to reconcile and talk it over, or not. Don¡¯t force it. I speak from experience.¡¯

    Agloff knew little of his days before Colony Two, as a respected man of the Confederacy, a man of war. Maybe the Underground had done him good.

    Marty herded Agloff left. A guard waved them past a checkpoint into one of the main lifts that served all one hundred and four floors of the Underground, and all four of its HabComs. All four HabCom were individually-resourced and populated silos, spanning every floor, Marty said. And every few floors there were tunnelled walkways between silos, border points, strictly forbidden for civilian use. Agloff asked the reason for this, but Marty replied that there wasn¡¯t one. It was control for control¡¯s sake. It kept people in their places.

    Marty ordered it to the surface and the cage rattled in obedience. At once, the layers of rock began to flow past them.

    ¡®What happened, Marty?¡¯ Agloff asked frankly. He was in no mood to skirt around his point. ¡®Why did you go?¡¯

    Marty puffed his cheeks. ¡®When your mum left, she asked me to find someone to look after you. I did for a couple weeks, but when it was clear your mother wasn¡¯t coming back, Drake and I we arranged for something more permanent.

    The lift rattled and Agloff fell against the walls of the cage in search of support. ¡®You advertised for a parent?¡¯ Agloff asked, unsure as to whether he should be disgusted.

    ¡®Michael seemed the most competent, and he had a daughter the same age as you. Made sense. All I said was ¡®don¡¯t ask any questions¡¯ and ¡®treat him well¡¯.¡¯ Marty sniffled, his nose twitching and Agloff noted his eyes dart around, scanning the lift in perpetuity, out of habit no doubt.

    ¡®Did you threaten him?¡¯ Agloff quipped. His mind harkened back to Marty¡¯s angry tirades.

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ the old solider said simply. ¡®Said he just wanted someone for Ria to play with.¡¯ Again, Agloff corrected him; again, Marty ignored him.

    ¡®How did you end up here?¡¯ Agloff recalled Marty had developed a certain infamy with the people of the Back End of Backwater. A lonely, angry man.

    Marty smiled. ¡®You were doing great,¡¯ the soldier said. But it brought Agloff no satisfaction. Then, there was a sudden weakness about him, and his face slackened. ¡®I was ill,¡¯ he added, ¡®if you remember.¡¯

    ¡®I do.¡¯

    Marty¡¯s eyes appeared to drift as his mind was called back to some darker place. ¡®One afternoon I came in and Michael just said to me. Said I was scaring Ria, scaring you. Something needed to change. I mean, he was a tremendous listener.¡¯ Marty rubbed his fingers together thoughtfully. ¡®When you¡¯ve lived among high society long enough and you trade that for a place those same people call a prison, one might expect the company of savages. But Michael Finland was a true gentleman.¡¯ Marty paused for a deep breath. ¡®I had to leave, you see. I can get my meds here. The doctors here make me better. Not many people in Backwater had access to one. I certainly didn¡¯t.¡¯

    ¡®Does anyone in the Colony?¡¯ Agloff complained. Most small town ¡®doctors¡¯ were simple vagrants, passing themselves as travelling physicians.

    ¡®Quite. Michael suggested I leave, and I agreed. I knew of the Underground. But the rigour, the regulations, the order, the structure- it felt like something I could get used to. Miller vouched for me here, and I¡¯m forever grateful.¡¯

    ¡®You know Lietuenant Miller? You¡¯re close?¡¯

    ¡®She is one of the most tenacious, brilliant people I have met. I care for her greatly. Speaking of¡­¡¯ Marty produced a small radio from his hip and called for Lieutenant Miller. He exchanged words with what sounded like fits of static to Agloff. The radio fizzed something that sounded like ¡®floor nine¡¯ and Marty thanked her.

    A moment later the lift ground to a halt, ejecting them into an untidy plaza. The residences and markets jutted off to one side, and the mess hall to the other. A flock of children flooded from a building on the far side into the tiny expanse of their world and Agloff was jealous of their ignorance. The plaza hissed and crackled with the buzz of life and machinery, its boiler-suited occupants turning through another day in symbiosis, like this whole place was one giant organism. Above the boxy buildings, walkways sprawled in every direction under the smitten haze, clanking under the weight of footsteps. It was as if the world was obscured behind a monochrome filter, Agloff noted, and its pungent notes were tinted just as stale. A mosh pit of humans, riper than ripe.

    Marty flashed a card at one of the guards who nodded them through. He then drew back the cuff of his sleeve and flicked through a screen that looked soldered to the back of his hand.

    ¡®Your friends are in a block just across from the kitchens. When you¡¯re done just head straight back down the lift we came from,¡¯ Marty said finally. ¡®I¡¯ll see that Fall cuts you slack. Good to see you, Ag.¡¯

    ¡®Marty,¡¯ Agloff called as the soldier turned to leave.

    ¡®Yeah?¡¯

    The words were almost lost on Agloff¡¯s lips, but he steadied himself, his heart threatening to tear through his chest. It was a question he had asked himself a thousand times and more but never aloud, as though it were forbidden for some reason. Now was the time, he convinced himself. Now, today. This moment. This was why he had allowed himself into this place, to find Marty.

    He had to just say it.

    ¡®Who was my dad?¡¯

    Marty did not react for a second. Then his breath began to shake.

    ¡®I made a promise to Andromeda. It¡¯s her secret to tell. Or his.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 8 | The Madness of Marty Naples

    Chapter Eight

    The Madness of Marty Naples

    Agloff stuffed his hands into his pockets and wore his best look of indifference, in a vague effort to pretend he belonged there. He followed Marty¡¯s instructions, up onto a balcony snaking overlooking the kitchens, past the fronts of homely crates, boxes stacked three stories high.

    He followed the railing, up onto the second floor, looking for Merry and Memphis. He peered past curtains to inspect their cosy insides. The pods were about fifteen feet deep and half as wide, furnished to within an inch of their lives, personalised with banners and beds, ornaments and odd treasures. They were microhomes. Entire families pressed into their confines. But the people here seemed in no want for space, even as the earth threatened to suffocate them. Instead, they twirled around each other, as if in some elaborate dance.

    No one seemed to speak in the Underground, thought Agloff. The conspicuous chatter of Backwater was absent, as if they communicated through telepathy. A single people, their differences chiselled away from them. If only his life was so singular.

    Merry and Memphis had their backs turned to the pegged-back curtain that split them from the rest of the universe. Lady was twiddling with her plaits between them, her cap still screwed onto her head. Agloff tapped his fist against the wall and Merry turned giddily.

    ¡®Agloff! Agloff!¡¯ she whispered, raising an arm to guide him in. Their cell was grey and uninteresting, with only a double mattress rammed into its back. They had moved in in haste.

    ¡®How are you guys doing? If there¡¯s anything I could do¡­ I am so sorry what happened¡ª¡¯ His words were weighed by his failure to Ariea.

    Merry cut him off. ¡®Oh, don¡¯t be silly. What happened was not your fault. And I¡¯m saying now so it doesn¡¯t need saying again.¡¯

    ¡®Thanks.¡¯ Agloff smiled for the first time in a while. ¡®All the same. Are you guys okay?¡¯ he repeated. Agloff glanced at Memphis. He looked contemplative, as if he had not noticed Agloff enter.

    ¡®We¡¯re fine,¡¯ Merry insisted. ¡®We talked. And I promise you, he doesn¡¯t blame you.¡¯

    Memphis then stood and reached a hand to Agloff, who accepted. A part of Agloff imagined it was a trick, and Memphis might use the opportunity to break his by the wrist.

    ¡®I am sorry,¡¯ he said. ¡®I shouldn¡¯t have blamed you. But you get why.¡¯

    Merry then gestured to Memphis to move, and she wrapped her arms across Agloff. He returned the favour, burying his head in her mop of straw-coloured hair. It wasn¡¯t until it happened, he realised how much he needed it.

    Agloff thought he could cry. When she broke from him, he only gave a grateful grin. He considered telling them about Ariea, but no. He had come here to escape his sorrows. Not to wallow in them. He buried Ariea and his shame with her, to the fringes of awareness.

    ¡®Is she okay?¡¯ Agloff nodded to Lady.

    ¡®Tired and confused, but isn¡¯t that everyone,¡¯ said Memphis.

    ¡®Why do you call her Lady?¡¯ Agloff asked. He wondered if that was some kind of forbidden question. Surely she couldn¡¯t actually be called Lady.

    Memphis slouched. ¡®Never told us her name.¡¯ He paused and Agloff wondered if that was the end of the story. ¡®We had a few picture books at the Giant. And there was this one called Lady Zandros and the- what was it?¡¯

    ¡®¡ªMonsters from Mars,¡¯ Merry said nonchalantly.

    ¡®She used to sit and stare at them for ages. I don¡¯t know. Somehow, the ¡®Lady¡¯ stuck.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s amazing what you do,¡¯ said Agloff. ¡®How you¡¯ve looked after her.¡¯

    Merry¡¯s cheeks ripened a shade. ¡®Oh, well, she looks after us.¡¯

    ¡®You should have established Fort March!¡¯ Agloff raised his hands to gesture some imaginary sign. ¡®¡°Guests welcome, population: three.¡±¡¯

    For a moment, Merry looked caught in time, as if her mind was captive in the past.

    ¡®Did Miller actually set you guys up with anything? Like, work?¡¯ continued Agloff.

    Merry snapped back. ¡®Oh, yes!¡¯ she gushed. ¡®Yes, we¡¯ve been assigned to one of the agrifloors. Farming!¡¯ She pointed to two violet uniforms hung behind the curtain. ¡®We start in a few days! Miss Miller said it wasn¡¯t hard to set up. They always need ¡¯ Agloff¡¯s lip curled in amusement. Merry¡¯s enthusiasm was almost infectious. It was strange to see someone excited to work. Agloff¡¯s labours at the factory had brought him only spades of misery. Still, Merry smiled as she did, never seeming to stop.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry¡­ you had to come here,¡¯ Agloff repeated. ¡®It¡¯s not the nicest of places.¡¯

    ¡®At least we know what we¡¯re eating the next day,¡¯ Merry pointed out. ¡®We¡¯ve had some dirty looks though.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, apparently they aren¡¯t big on strangers.¡¯

    ¡®Oh,¡¯ Merry said. ¡®Well, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get to know some people soon enough,¡¯ she added. She turned her gaze to Lady, knocking the cap from her head. Immediately, Merry plucked at strands of Lady¡¯s hair, unfurling and weaving them into tidy plaits before she let it flop onto her shoulder. Her fingers twiddled feverishly, as if she were mesmerised by every aspect of her being. Lady giggled and Merry watched in adoration. Memphis placed an arm across them both. Agloff suddenly felt an intruder upon them. Their maturity transcended their years, and it beset him with a kind of butterflies.

    ¡®She¡¯ll be going school one day, for the first time,¡¯ Merry announced. ¡®Miller said she¡¯s sorting it all for us. But I¡¯m worried about how the other children will treat her.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯ll be fine,¡¯ Lady said, in that whiney protest only children knew. Agloff had used it well on Michael. ¡®I¡¯m excited to learn history,¡¯ she added, ¡®and science.¡¯

    ¡®Oh?¡¯ said Merry.

    ¡®What do you want to learn about?¡¯ Agloff dipped a toe back into the conversation.

    ¡®I want to learn about all the kings and queens,¡¯ she spewed excitedly. ¡®And spaceships, and the different planets.¡¯

    Agloff laughed and Memphis spoke. ¡®She likes space,¡¯ he whispered. ¡®Not sure they teach it here though.¡¯

    ¡®Me too,¡¯ Agloff said. He reached a hand out to Lady which she shook with vigour. ¡®Planets are the best. Just imagine exploring all those places. What planets do you know, Lady?¡¯

    The girl hummed, biting her lip in thought as though it were a test. ¡®Earth,¡¯ she said first, like it might be a trick question. She continued in sing-song, her voice skipping from world to world, ¡®there¡¯s the colony planets: Salus and Solitude, Solace and Mercy, Olympus, Gallhara and Borinair too. Okra and Lourdes, Fhitellios, Azuus, Huruma, then comes Veldern, and don¡¯t forget ¡®bout Ku.¡¯ She stopped, clapping her hands with satisfaction and pulled her cap back upon her head.

    Agloff gestured in applause, his stresses momentarily lifted.

    ¡®Where are you living, Mr Agloff?¡¯ Lady said.

    ¡®Yeah,¡¯ Merry added, ¡®what¡¯re you and Ariea are up to down there.¡¯

    And instantly the stresses pressed against his shoulders once more. ¡®I¡ª Well, I¡¯m not sure. Fall wants me for¡­ Well, I don¡¯t know why he wants me. I¡¯m important to him for some reason. It¡¯s all¡­ I feel a bit lost if I¡¯m honest. Imagine we¡¯ll be cooped up down there.¡¯

    Merry held his arm. ¡®That¡¯s interesting, though. It¡¯ll be okay. We¡¯ll be able to come down and visit and see what posh people do.¡¯

    Agloff feigned a smile. ¡®Yeah.¡¯ But reason told him if Fall was half what Memphis made him out to be, he and Merry might not even last a week on this floor, let alone make it down below.

    Metal clanked and their heads spun in unison as Oxford Blue stood, a smile spanning from cheek to cheek, against the wall of the cell. Merry almost fell, dodging Agloff, as she staggered towards him across the narrow bedchamber into Oxford¡¯s arms. Agloff looked at Memphis, his knees withdrawn into his chest.

    ¡®Oxford, hello.¡¯ Merry grinned, nodding frantically as she ushered the Operative in to sit beside Agloff, extending a firm handshake as she did so. ¡®Water?¡¯ she offered, delightedly pointing at a small washbasin adjacent to their mattress. Running water was one of the Underground¡¯s many mundane delights to which Agloff assumed Merry was unacquainted.

    ¡®Sorry, I can¡¯t stay,¡¯ Oxford replied. ¡®How are you guys holding up?¡¯

    ¡®Better, I think.¡¯

    Oxford leaned past Agloff to look at the shrunken figure of Memphis. The boy dipped the tip of his head at Oxford and turned to Lady. Oxford knew better than to provoke him and looked back to Merry. ¡®I just wanted to give these to you,¡¯ and he passed across three envelopes. The envelopes were marked ¡®Esteemed Guest¡¯ in floral handwriting. With care to tear the line of the fold, Agloff opened the envelope, unclipping the sheet within:

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Agloff Ashborne is cordially invited to the wedding of Oxford Samson Blue and Alice Mieko Middleton on the date of the 10<sup>th</sup> September, Year 18 at 8.00 LT on Floor One, HabCom Three in Ceremonial Chamber Nine. You are welcome to bring a single guest. Food and drink will be provided in the reception. We hope you can make it!

    Wishing You Well,

    Alice and Oxford

    ¡®Congratulations,¡¯ Agloff said kindly, looking up at Oxford who laid a hand upon Agloff¡¯s shoulder.

    Merry began to hyperventilate. Her hands flapped. She floated across the room, clutching at her teeth. ¡®I¡¯ve never been to a real wedding!¡¯ she exclaimed. ¡®Oh, but I wouldn¡¯t know what to wear, or for Lady, or how to act proper.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s features jerked to stifle a laugh. ¡®I¡¯ll find you guys some clothes out, don¡¯t worry. Anyway, few more to dish out. Agloff, d¡¯you imagine Ariea will want to come?¡¯

    Agloff shrugged. ¡®I expect so.¡¯ Was it selfish of him to hope that she would not though? The very thought of Ariea right now knotted his stomach, turning it inside itself. He wanted to see her, but the way things used to be.

    ¡®You guys will love it!¡¯ Oxford said, clenching his fists in excitement. ¡®The ceremonial chambers, they each have a panel of screens across the ceiling connected to cameras on the solar array on the surface. It¡¯s so clear, it¡¯s like you¡¯re outside under the stars, the whole chamber!¡¯

    ¡®And yet you¡¯re not,¡¯ Memphis quipped.

    ¡®I¡¯m so excited!¡¯ gasped Merry. Oxford nodded in acknowledgement to each of them, amused, before vanishing out of the cell, drawing the bars closed behind him once more.

    ¡®I should be off as well.¡¯ Agloff stood, his neck stooped into his shoulders for fear he might bang it against the roof of the cell. ¡®Not much room.¡¯

    ¡®Okay. Thank you for coming anyway.¡¯ Merry held a hand up to his back, nodded. Agloff returned the look then followed in Oxford¡¯s footsteps, out on to the walkways of Floor Nine. The smells of bread and meat from the kitchens below rose and fell in currents and Agloff was already regretting not eating more at Fall¡¯s banquet. He traipsed down and across the plaza, back where he had come. The clusters and crowds from the changeover had dispersed. Guards called him to a halt from a distance, but every time he came into focus, they backed down in apology, as if they had mistaken a prince for a commoner. Agloff did not complain, eerie though it was that Fall had given these people his face. The innocuous apology of the guards as they recognised Agloff was a warning he could never hide in this place. Not even on its most forgotten floor. They knew him.

    He slipped along the deserted corridors, twisting back towards the lift whence he had come from to one of the floor¡¯s far edges. He was waved through a checkpoint and arrived at the lift shaft. Prodding the lowermost button until the lift coughed into life, Agloff watched the doors draw themselves closed and the lights flicker as the cage began to grind down the shaft.

    For the first time since he was last home to find Michael Finland¡¯s porridge stale and uneaten upon the counter at Backwater, Agloff was alone.

    It was a novel feeling. The reality was his birthday was only a week ago and he had spent near half of that time unconscious on a hospital bed. Yet Agloff felt far older for those days, while the weeks before had flittered past in the blink of an eye.

    The cage crunched, skirting the shaft walls as its hoist tightened to standstill. Agloff stepped out into the lavish brickwork of Fall¡¯s palace. He sighed. His brief escapade was over. This time there were no guards to greet him. Maybe Fall was arrogant enough to assume Agloff could not go missing. It was better than being coddled and choked up in his bedchamber all day though. Why not test the limits of Fall¡¯s oversight, his mind continued? He would be here a long time. It would be a good idea to start filling some of those hours. Ingratiate himself to his new surroundings.

    Agloff darted left from the main corridor, into a wide path that dropped down, under the main palace. It was a sloping arc, downwards and inwards, lined by torchlight. Agloff followed. He sensed the path tightening. A couple of workers in black boiler suits passed by. Each occupation seemed to wear different colours. Violet for the agrifloors. Black for maintenance. He passed Fall¡¯s kitchens and the quarters of his staff, and the way reached its end at a large staircase. Agloff followed his curiosity to the floor below, marked Maintenance 1.

    Agloff couldn¡¯t believe this place was only two floors removed from Fall. This was the engine of the Underground. The corridor hissed with steam and the churn of machinery. Gears and pipes popped and clanked, carried by a ceiling that hung as low as his head. The air had an oily miasma, beckoning from small alleys that jutted from a main corridor. There were shouts and chatters of workers, as black-boiler-suited labourers headed one way or another. The pathways and corridors were all so similar, it was impossible to discern between where Agloff had been before and where was somewhere entirely new. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, in that dumb pretence that he belonged there.

    On his left, he saw a note, marred by grime, pinned to a notice board on the wall.

    Jo,

    Sorry bout the mess but the smell of the cleanser was making me nauseous. Really needed a lie down after that! I told Chief I¡¯d cover your hours for the next week. Least I could do.

    Happy birthday Kid!

    By the way, there¡¯s a present for you in the canteen. Just ask.

    Marc

    A bucket and mop, bound by a red ribbon, and an assortment of chemicals with faded labels sat below the note. It was bizarre, thought Agloff, how kindred the people of the Underground were, given their scorn for outsiders. Everyone left their doors open and spoke to strangers in passing. It was a weird inversion of life at Backwater. That was a fort that had prided itself on its acceptance of outlanders, but where everyone bore a pervasive distrust for everyone else.

    ¡®Yes, Officer Naples,¡¯ Agloff heard. His ears perked, as if they were somehow standing on end. He bolted for the voice. ¡®Yes¡­ Yes, I¡¯ll be there right away¡­. No¡­. No, it won¡¯t be a problem at all¡­ It¡¯s per your instruction, Sir.¡¯ There was a beep and Agloff darted behind a wall at the thickening of footsteps. He gulped down breaths of stale air, then stepped out to see the face of a young woman in front of him. Dust caked her cheeks with large rings round her eyes where she had been wearing the goggles now pinned to her head. What was Marty wanting with a scrawny-looking mechanic?

    ¡®Hi?¡¯ she said, catching Agloff ogle her goggles. ¡®Can I help you?¡¯

    ¡®Sorry,¡¯ said Agloff, with feigned innocence. ¡®It¡¯s all good.¡¯ He waved a hand of apology and backed away from her, allowing the mechanic to pass. Agloff bit his lip, watching her vanish down one of Maintenance¡¯s alleys. Agloff¡¯s immediate impression was that the people of below didn¡¯t tend to mix all that much with other floors. But Marty was a high-ranking member of Fall¡¯s inner circle. Why did he have personal business with a simple engineer? Agloff gingerly followed, grimacing at the patter of his footsteps across the steel grates.

    He dropped down a flight of stairs, chasing the woman¡¯s shadow. The walls began to darken with grime and dirt, decorated by vents, knobs and dials. Agloff gagged on the air, drawing the cuff of his sleeve against his mouth in the darkness.

    ¡®Foreman Ashley Keyes, please proceed to Cooling Chamber Three,¡¯ a speaker blared above Agloff.

    He watched from behind a deck of panelling. The woman slipped through an open door, turning to check the way was empty behind her. She heaved the door closed, and it snapped into its magnetised frame with a click. Agloff waited a moment in case she reappeared, but the way lay silent. He followed to where she vanished and saw that the door led into a workshop, one of many. Adjacent, a service hatch was pried open between the woman¡¯s workshop and her neighbour¡¯s. It was a dark tunnel, barely wide enough for one that ran deep into the HabCom. There must have been a network of these for quick repair access all over the HabCom, every floor. Pipes ran on both sides, spitting steam in Agloff¡¯s eyes.

    Wincing, he pulled on two, praying they didn¡¯t burn his palms, and yanked himself into the hatch, dragging the access point as closed as he could behind him. Tiny viewing ports ran down the length of the tunnel into obscurity. Agloff shifted further, mounting himself upon a pipe beneath a port with a good view of the workshop.

    A workbench sat at the far side of the room. Tools, papers and nests of cables smothered it, while complicated machinery sat in every corner. To the left, just visible from the angle, Agloff could see a two-way mirror that led into some kind of heavy-duty testing room, with yet more equipment.

    Two figures were deep in conversation by the time his eyes found them: one was the engineer, the other was Marty. Nervously, Agloff prodded the port open so he could hear into the workshop, pressing his eyes against the narrow slit of glass. Agloff¡¯s trepidation surrendered to burning curiosity. Why the cloak and dagger?

    ¡®Commander Naples, I¡ª¡¯ the engineer began.

    ¡®You agreed, Mel. You¡¯re not doubting yourself now,¡¯ said Marty, dropping into a chair at the workstation. He reclined in the seat, clasping his hands across his belly.

    ¡®No, not doubts, Sir.¡¯ Her tone of voice did not seem to agree however, and Marty hummed.

    ¡®Good. But it¡¯s for the greater good, and soon this will all be over. And when it is¡­¡¯

    ¡®I know. I know.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s leg spasmed. He kicked it out and the pipes behind him clanked, booming through the access tunnel. Catching Marty¡¯s eyes wander from behind Mel, Agloff ducked from the port, letting the moment pass. ¡®And I appreciate the discretion too,¡¯ Marty said eventually. ¡®A lot of people are counting on us. They just¡­ don¡¯t know it yet. Did you bring it?¡¯

    There was a jangling as Agloff heard Mel rummage through her bag. ¡®Aye,¡¯ she said. ¡®Do you want¡­¡¯

    ¡®Thank you,¡¯ Marty said, taking whatever item Mel had offered him. ¡®I¡¯ll keep it close.¡¯

    ¡®Goes without saying I guess but no one, Officer, has the level of access you do. Please don¡¯t screw this up. It¡¯s been months of effort.¡¯

    ¡®I appreciate your encouragement, Mel,¡¯ Marty chuckled. ¡®I¡¯ll do my best. Let¡¯s hope that my best is good enough. Discretion is nothing I haven¡¯t done hundreds of times before during the war. And god help me, I¡¯ve never messed up yet.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t need to talk you through the plan, do I?¡¯

    ¡®Every other Thursday, first hour of the night shift.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s the one. Well, see ya, I guess. Thanks for¡­ and good luck.¡¯

    ¡®My best to everyone,¡¯ Marty replied.

    The door to the workshop grinded open. Agloff heard footsteps make towards him and he shuffled for the tunnel only to feel a ray of light beating against his eyelids. Before he had even made it a step deeper into the tunnel a hand snatched at the back of his collar, hoisting him into the corridor. Snatching his eyes shut, he felt the coolness of empty pipes press against his throat.

    ¡®Officer!¡¯ Mel barked as she jolted Agloff¡¯s head back, tugging at his hair as she did.

    ¡®What¡ª Agloff,¡¯ Marty said disdainfully, emerging from the workshop.

    ¡®I saw him earlier, on me way here. Must have followed me, the bastard.¡¯

    Marty chuckled, unnervingly calm. It was unsettling. Agloff half-expected to be smacked round the ears. ¡®And you didn¡¯t notice him. My, my. Let him go.¡¯

    Mel did not relent. ¡®What if he¡¯s one of Fall¡¯s?¡¯

    ¡®Agloff Ashborne bares no love for Norman Fall, isn¡¯t that right?¡¯

    Agloff nodded. Mel released Agloff from her grip and he was left gasping, dropping to all-fours. ¡®Sorry, Marty, I left Merry and Memphis and I got lost when I got out the lift and I was trying to find my way back and I heard her mention you so I just tagged on after her and hoped she¡¯d take me to you but I was not up to shady business, I swear. I¡¯m so sorry,¡¯ Agloff panted in a single breath.

    ¡®That was a lot ands in that sentence,¡¯ Marty observed. ¡®Take a breath once in a while Ag. Mel was just being cautious, though, not cautious enough it seems. I¡¯ll walk you back. I¡¯ll explain everything, don¡¯t worry.¡¯

    ¡®You will?¡¯ Mel scoffed.

    Marty briefly contemplated this. ¡®I will,¡¯ he said eventually. ¡®After all, were we to fail, Agloff would be the most unfortunate.¡¯

    Mel must not have been able to argue that point, because she said nothing. Nodding, she donned her flat cap to Marty and whisked herself away in the opposite direction. Agloff was relieved he had not been disciplined, but now he was terrified for a whole other reason.

 Before Noon Chapter 9 | The Kingmaker

    Chapter Nine

    The Kingmaker

    ¡®It was an honest mistake,¡¯ Marty said on the way back upstairs. Agloff remained silent. ¡®I doubt you¡¯d have had much help asking for directions. Would have got some weird looks for one. No, you had every reason to follow Mel.¡¯

    Agloff thought better than to tell the truth, that he had just been struck by dumb curiosity to follow Mel and hadn¡¯t been lost at all.

    Wordlessly, they headed past the kitchens, and into the decadent embrace of Fall¡¯s palace. Marty stopped in Agloff¡¯s doorway, while Agloff dropped, legs crossed, onto the end of his bed.

    ¡®What will you do now?¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®I? I think I need a whisky, with an old film; something light-hearted.¡¯

    Agloff scoffed. ¡®You¡¯ve changed.¡¯

    ¡®For the better,¡¯ Marty observed defensively. ¡®Sorry for the cloak and dagger, Agloff, truly. If it didn¡¯t concern you I¡¯d say nothing.¡¯

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it weird Fall just lets me walk around the Underground alone?¡¯ Agloff asked.

    ¡®Not so weird when you think about it,¡¯ Marty said. ¡®You¡¯re important to Fall. It¡¯s important to him he curries your favour. He isn¡¯t going to endear himself to you by shutting you in your room. Fall wants you to feel free here.¡¯

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    Marty paused thoughtfully. ¡®Makes what comes later easier.¡¯

    Agloff fell back on to his covers. He wanted to spit and curse. Could Marty not just say whatever it was. What if Fall wanted to kill Agloff, or experiment on him, or torture him, or hand him to Jask? Countless possibilities swam through his mind, each worse than the last.

    ¡®I know, Ag,¡¯ Marty said, as if he had read Agloff¡¯s mind. ¡®It¡¯s easier to show you, than to tell you. You remember the way back to Mel¡¯s workshop?¡¯

    Agloff nodded.

    ¡®Come at the start of the next night shift. It will be easier to move around.¡¯ Marty¡¯s voice was blunt. Agloff couldn¡¯t tell if he was irritated.

    ¡®It just feels like no one tells me anything. Not you, Drake, Fall. I¡¯m not a child anymore. I¡¯m eighteen,¡¯ complained Agloff.

    Marty chuckled softly. ¡®Don¡¯t worry. I understand.¡¯

    You don¡¯t, snapped Agloff in his head.

    ¡®But to us, you¡¯re no less a child than you were ten years ago. Such is the curse of age. Speaking of, wait here.¡¯ Marty vanished from Agloff¡¯s doorway for a moment, returning with a rectangular parcel wedged between his thick fingers.

    ¡®I wanted to apologise. It ain¡¯t fair all this involves you and¡­ Well, I know I missed your birthday by a couple days, but I wanted to give you this. Eighteen, it¡¯s a big one.¡¯ Marty passed Agloff the parcel. Agloff clawed at the wrapping. ¡®Wasn¡¯t easy to get a hold of.¡¯

    Agloff shed the paper to the floor, tracing his fingertips across a book cover. New Sol Atlas, 2701 Edition: Updated and Expanded.

    Marty continued as Agloff flickered through the pages. ¡®I wish you saw the way things were before. When all these cities had people in ¡®em. Couldn¡¯t move for bodies.¡¯ The Commander chuckled hoarsely. ¡®Figured you¡¯d enjoy looking at all the names, and places and stuff.¡¯

    Agloff wanted to complain he wasn¡¯t ten anymore. ¡®Thank you,¡¯ he said instead.

    ¡®It was overdue.¡¯

    ¡®Can I ask,¡¯ Agloff began, staring down at the book, ¡®how come you never wrote. You said you were gonna. When you left, I thought something had happened, or¡ª or you¡¯d forgotten about me. I was only a kid, Marty.¡¯ Agloff let his voice trail off before he stepped too far.

    Marty swallowed. ¡®You were better off without me.¡¯ He feigned jest. But that wasn¡¯t for him to decide, Agloff thought. ¡®I was a silly, old, mad distraction. You had Ariea and Michael.¡¯

    He paused for a long time. His eyes tightened. Like he was contemplating some deeper truth.

    Agloff hesitated. ¡®Okay then.¡¯

    Marty left Agloff at that. What tangled conspiracy was he about to embroil Agloff in? Did Agloff even want to know? They said ignorance was bliss.

    Agloff resisted the urge to go on another aimless wander. He couldn¡¯t excuse himself from getting into trouble a second time. Instead, he did what was expected. He stayed in his room, occupied by Marty¡¯s Atlas, tracing his finger over the colonies of the moons of Jupiter. Then, Osara summoned him for the evening banquet.

    He placed himself as far from Fall as was polite, while Ariea had taken to dining in her room. Agloff distracted himself from the Governor¡¯s monologues with the portraits and landscapes scaling the hall walls. Blotted and beautiful snapshots into Earth¡¯s potted history. Eventually, Fall vanished to attend some other business, and Agloff stacked his plate with sausages and hashed browns, smoked gammon and turkey, filling the gaps with all the vegetables he could manage. By the time Osara returned, Agloff had sunk into his chair, his belly bloated to twice its normal size. She guided him to his bed chamber, and he collapsed, grateful for the three hours to nap before night shift.

    Each minute, that bloated feeling turned to sickness, dread. Agloff¡¯s body was taut, overcome with an energy that would not dissipate. His knee jerked against the tick of the clock, and his mouth clasped around his thumbs.

    Agloff¡¯s brain blared as the clocks buzzed zero. Abruptly, he straightened himself and stared at the empty doorway. Taking bites of stale air, he marched like a dutiful soldier, out and down, below the palace and past the kitchens, into the obscurity of Maintenance. His journey was shared by the scores of workers traipsing down into the armpit of the Underground. Agloff ruffled his shoulders and tightened his jacket, as if that made him any less conspicuous to the labourers donning their boiler suits.

    He followed the path to Maintenance 1, marking out in his mind the alleys and doorways that led to the workshops and tunnels servicing the entire Underground. Agloff muttered the directions under his breath, over and over, eyes glued to his feet. The mop tied with a ribbon and the affectionate note of apology were gone, in its place, someone had attached a scrap of paper.

    Thanks, no problem :)

    Jo

    Agloff wondered if this was how folks on opposite shifts spoke in the Underground; friends and colleagues, forbidden from ever seeing each other by Fall¡¯s bureaucracy of control. He passed by, finding the door to Mel¡¯s workshop open a crack.

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯ The door opened for him and Marty appeared, beaming.

    Agloff followed Marty inside the workshop, pacing the room with vigour. ¡®What is it you¡¯re showing me?¡¯ he asked.

    ¡®Nothing in here, so you needn¡¯t try and get a head start,¡¯ Marty replied. ¡®We¡¯re going down.¡¯

    ¡®Bottom of Maintenance?¡¯ Agloff pried.

    ¡®Below.¡¯

    Marty led them away, down deeper into the bowels of the Underground. It was an assault on Agloff¡¯s senses. The air was ripe, almost putrid. Bare-chested workers paraded the corridors in a veil of steam. Short shorts were drawn tightly around their waists with belts where their boiler suits had been slashed short. Bare feet slapped against the metal grating as oily bodies hauled equipment across their shoulders.

    Agloff offered Marty a questioning look to which the old soldier smiled. ¡®It¡¯s like a sauna down here at the best of times. You get used to the smell¡­ and the view after five¡­ or six visits. It¡¯s funny, you know. Everything about this place- the food, the Privileges, the cellular housing- it¡¯s designed to be just uncomfortable enough that no one has reason to be lazy, and strict enough that no one has reason to disobey.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s the opposite of Backwater,¡¯ Agloff observed, before stopping. Marty turned on the absence of footsteps behind him. ¡®Did you mean what you said?¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®About what?¡¯ Marty replied, though Agloff was sure he knew.

    ¡®About my dad.¡¯

    Marty sighed. The man looked in pain. ¡®I made a promise to her.¡¯

    ¡®And I know her name isn¡¯t Andromeda. She killed those people, didn¡¯t she? Her ¡®parents¡¯.¡¯

    Marty¡¯s lip tightened. His stoic face hardened further still. ¡®I assure you; Andromeda did not kill either of those people. You¡¯ve been talking to Drake.¡¯

    ¡®Her name¡¯s not Andromeda,¡¯ Agloff corrected, like a petty child, anger rising inside him, like a viper coiled to strike. Was this not what Marty had to say to him anyway? Why should Agloff be withheld information that was his birth right.

    ¡®It was the name she chose, and the life she endeavoured to live.¡¯ Marty insisted, weighing up the implications of what he should say next. ¡®I respected that. She has right to be who she wants to be. She was involved with some dangerous people. She called them the Sign of the Tondrus.¡¯ His voice snapped, almost bitter. ¡®I don¡¯t know anything about it. I never asked. But she smuggled for them during the war. She was a travelling war nurse to the colonies; it was a good cover.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡®One day, I walked in on her, precisely when I shouldn¡¯t have and she levelled a gun at me. She was much younger than I, but I- I was terrified of her. I swore on my life I¡¯d never¡­¡¯ Marty paused. ¡®I became her¡­ confidant I suppose. She threatened me.¡¯ Marty drew back the cuff of his sleeve. ¡®She marked me.¡¯ He unfurled his fingers to reveal a thick, pale scar across the width of his left palm. With time, we became friends.¡¯ Marty bowed his head, sombre.

    Agloff had no sympathy for Marty that he had kept this for so long. ¡®So, was she some kind of spy then? You knew her better than anyone.¡¯

    Marty laughed dryly. He was agitated; impassioned. Agloff could sense his adoration for her. ¡®Please, nothing so trite. She was a very, very small fish in an extremely large pond. But she knew how to handle herself. When she took the name Andromeda Ashborne that was because she wanted out, not because she was some undercover agent. Her desperation was very real.¡¯

    ¡®What was her birth name?¡¯

    ¡®Treya Wyse.¡¯ Marty looked ashamed for having revealed this information even as he had not hesitated to do so. A betrayal of the identity Agloff¡¯s mother had committed herself to living by. Agloff couldn¡¯t help but pore over those two words in his head. Silence descended over them, and they filtered down, through all four levels of Maintenance, to the very base of the Underground: a narrow tunnel, dug out of the rock.

    It was only wide enough for one. It looked threatening almost, though Agloff was unsure if that were the line of the shadows or his rampant imagination. At the end of the passage, a bulky steel door sat under the glow of a spot lamp. It was unlabelled, marked only by a padlock dangling on a chain.

    Marty turned to face Agloff with a furrowed brow. ¡®What I¡¯m about to show you¡­ you do not speak about it to anyone. Not Ariea. Not Fall. Not me once we leave.¡¯

    Agloff nodded, focusing his eyes on the numbers on the lock. His eyes were just able to make out the combination, 190512, before he followed Marty down darkened steps within. Bright lights fizzled into life. From the murky greys of Maintenance, Agloff squinted in the glare, his jaw ajar.

    Lines of cells puffed smoke, paraded in rows across a great hall decked in glistening white tiles. A bubble of glass was stretched across the fronts of each cell and a mess of cables and wires led from their backs to a black box at the back of the chamber. Each was almost twice Agloff¡¯s height. He reached a hand to feel the cold glass guarding each. Smoke obscured the screen from whatever lay within.

    ¡®How many of them are there?¡¯ Agloff exclaimed.

    ¡®About two thousand. I became part of Fall¡¯s circle. Not deliberately but¡­ I earned a level of respect. Every so ofen he¡¯ll convene his sanctum to discuss urgent matters of state. Few weeks ago, he showed us this.¡¯ Marty paused. ¡®If the HabComs are bunkers, this is the bunkers¡¯ bunker.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®What are all they all?¡¯

    ¡®The four HabComs were built just over a hundred years ago during the war with the Feng, including this chamber. In nuclear war, you could sit it out down here and wait for the radiation to clear safe and sound. For those who could afford it, this chamber, each pod, could protect some important person for, perhaps centuries. It could preserve a colony.¡¯

    Agloff rolled his fingers across a plaque engraved onto the foot of the pod in front of him: In the enduring memory of Ayla Zhao. Here lies the second cradle of humankind. May it rest until the dawn of a new beginning.

    ¡®So, I guess they never used it?¡¯

    ¡®Fall¡¯s had every cell checked and repaired. They were never occupied. Humanity sooner fled to the stars. The war with the Feng-Hal was won after all.¡¯

    ¡®So, Fall plans to use these?¡¯

    ¡®Yes.¡¯ Marty¡¯s voice fractured. ¡®Governor Fall wants the elite of the Underground to relocate to this chamber, in these pods. And you with them. Agloff, I¡¯m so sorry this is my fault.¡¯

    ¡®Why,¡¯ Agloff breathed. He could manage to say nothing else.

    ¡®You remember I said I was the one that brought you here?¡¯

    ¡®You said ¡°after a fashion¡±,¡¯ Agloff recited.

    Marty looked forlorn. ¡®Quite. I always suspected after Ann disappeared that Jask would try to take you by force. He knew you were at Backwater. He had informants.¡¯ His face twisted in momentary disgust, like he was sucking on lemons.

    ¡®He took his time,¡¯ Agloff said, shrugging. ¡®I mean, if he knew where I was.¡¯

    ¡®He did. But Malvo Jask made a mistake. Can you guess what it is?¡¯

    Again, Agloff shrugged.

    ¡®He had no reason to believe you would ever leave Backwater. That was his mistake. He assumed you were alone, that you had nowhere else to go. Whatever he needs you for, he thought he had the luxury of waiting until Winter was strong enough, he could be absolutely certain he could take you. Why risk you slipping through his fingers?¡¯

    ¡®But I did!¡¯

    ¡®And that was his mistake. I daresay had he moved on Backwater as soon his plan to lure Andromeda failed, he would have taken you. But he saw waiting as a lesser risk.¡¯

    ¡®So, you moved me out his way?¡¯

    ¡®As I said, I suspected he would come for you, and very soon. I told Norman as much. He was very easy to convince you were of great value. He acted as I intended. Bartered with Drake for you. He is desperate for anything that segregates the Underground from Winter. You¡¯re his deterrent. Jask can¡¯t risk Fall harming you, or that¡¯s Fall¡¯s hope.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s what Ariea said. I¡¯m his Winter-deterrent.¡¯

    ¡®Quite. The rest of the Underground will go about their lives none the wiser, while Fall outlives Winter in one of these pods.¡¯

    ¡®Why not just give me to Jask then in exchange for him staying away? Make a deal like he did with Drake.¡¯

    Marty looked amused. ¡®Would you trust Malvo Jask to keep to his word in that case?¡¯

    Agloff said nothing.

    ¡®I thought not. Fall is playing a dangerous game, but I agree you¡¯re safer here than anywhere else. Jask cannot attack without risking Fall use his deterrent.¡¯

    ¡®Killing me,¡¯ Agloff said coolly.

    ¡®And Fall can¡¯t kill you without losing his insurance policy over Winter. I wouldn¡¯t have brought you here if I didn¡¯t think it safer than Backwater. Oxford told me about your immunity too,¡¯ Marty said, as matter-of-factly as the weather, almost as if this information wasn¡¯t surprising. ¡®Your blood brings a potential cure for winged fever. If he gets it, Fall would have control over every fort, town and settlement with you in his possession. If he were to develop a vaccine, imagine the wealth and power he could gain. There¡¯s nothing the Forts wouldn¡¯t give for it. You are the kingmaker of Colony Two. If he owns you, he owns everyone else.¡¯

    Agloff stepped back, his eyes uncertain. A sickness began to crawl up his throat. What about what he wanted?

    ¡®So why does Jask want me if not because I¡¯m immune?¡¯ Drake had had no answer to that.

    Marty looked tired. ¡®My guess would be less than speculation. If Ann knew, she never told me. But I can¡¯t imagine it¡¯s entirely unrelated. Jask and Ann had dealings before either ever came to Earth.¡¯ Marty said it so casually, but the words felt profound. Is this what brought the pair of them to Colony Two in the first place? ¡®I want you to know, Ag, I didn¡¯t do what I did for Fall. My interest was protecting you. And here, I can do that, even if Winter comes. Whatever it takes. Had I known Fall¡¯s intentions for you at the time, I¡­ I would have acted differently.¡¯

    ¡®And what about Mel?¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®Where¡¯s she fit?¡¯

    ¡®Winter¡¯s taking children from every town, and every fort and marching them into Eden, most never coming out. It¡¯s the cheapest, most versatile resource in the Colony. It¡¯s what he wants, second only to you. As labour, for experimentation- I don¡¯t know what- but he¡­ we¡¯ve heard he mutilates them. Children.¡¯ A redness surrounded Marty¡¯s eyes. ¡®Every time Jask gets too close for Fall¡¯s liking, a few children end up missing from their cells on the mid-levels, never making it home from school. Left to Winter like post.¡¯

    Memphis was right, Agloff thought. He felt disgusted for where he stood and wondered how Oxford¡¯s ego might have reacted to that. ¡®I can¡¯t allow that to continue, much as a part I play it,¡¯ Marty said with a finality.

    ¡®So, that was your meeting with Mel? That¡¯s what you were talking about? How many of you are there? Some plan to get rid of Fall?¡¯

    ¡®There¡¯s nine of us, Oxford included. The Underground deserves better than Fall. They¡¯ve never known it, but there is a better way for these people without him. So,¡¯ Marty whispered, ¡®we committed to regicide.¡¯

    Without thought, Agloff stepped forward and gingerly embraced Marty. Momentarily, his anger and confusion ceded. The feeling was bittersweet. Agloff then pulled himself away to sit on the concrete. ¡®You¡¯ll make a great Governor.¡¯

    Marty smiled. ¡®Where do you get that notion from?¡¯

    ¡®Intuition.¡¯ Agloff studied the inky bags hanging beneath the soldier¡¯s eyes and imagined how long it had been since they had gotten a long night¡¯s rest.

    ¡®A final thing,¡¯ Marty said. ¡®Wilson!¡¯ he beckoned and the box to which the cell¡¯s cables led hummed and glowed.

    ¡®Matthew Naples,¡¯ an almost-human voice said.

    ¡®Agloff, this is Wilson.¡¯

    The machine hummed. ¡®Welcome, Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®H-Hello,¡¯ he said, unsure of the etiquette for talking to a machine. The transcription of Wilson¡¯s words was projected in glaring red letters real-time on its side. ¡®Marty. Explain.¡¯

    ¡®Wilson. Explain,¡¯ Marty called to the box.

    ¡®I am a repurposed AI construct recovered from the wreck of the USF Avon. I formerly specialised in strategic planning and defence in order to aid my commanding officers. However, following an engagement with a House of Hal dreadnought, the Avon was decommissioned. The ship¡¯s commanding officer attempted to make an emergency landing on the nearest habitable system, Colony Two, known colloquially as Earth. The Avon¡¯s hull delaminated in the upper atmosphere and its remains impacted thirteen klicks west of our current location. The surviving crew retrieved my interface module and I have been reassigned the task of maintenance and logistics of the Underground¡¯s automated systems, including this cryo-chamber.¡¯

    ¡®Who was the Avon¡¯s commanding officer?¡¯ Agloff asked, having a feeling he knew the answer.

    ¡®Last registered commanding officer of the USF Avon is Commander Norman Fall. Is there anything else you would like to know? Perhaps select from one of the following topics.¡¯ A drop-down menu was displayed on the screen, but Agloff turned back to Marty.

    ¡®Fall brought a war AI here to run the Underground?¡¯

    ¡®An efficient job he does too. Interesting thing about AIs is they have no allegiances. Wilson¡¯s understanding of the Underground¡¯s systems and schedules helped me plan Fall¡¯s¡­ demise. Fall always ran a ruthless ship during the war. I suppose that reputation precedes him in the Underground. There was a settlement here before Fall but Fall made it¡­ great.¡¯

    ¡®So, if Fall does his plan, with the cryo-things and everything¡­ that means Wilson is running the Underground?¡¯

    Marty nodded. ¡®Oh yes, but Wilson does a lot already. In my experience, it¡¯s no different to having the Underground run by politicians. They are equally procedural, equally bureaucratic entities.¡¯

    Agloff swallowed a brave breath, for fear he was about turn the conversation in an altogether darker direction. ¡®If Fall wants me as protection from Winter¡­. What will actually happen to me? Physically?¡¯

    ¡®He will place you in that cell, under armed guard, night and day. You¡¯re Fall¡¯s insurance policy against Jask. You¡¯ll stay there. Once Fall and friends wake up to their Winter-less world, you¡¯ll remain, preserved, I daresay as insurance against the rest of the Colony. Like I said, your immunity gives the promise of a cure, a vaccine. But I won¡¯t allow that to happen. Under any circumstances.¡¯

    Marty¡¯s plan kept Agloff brave enough not to break where he stood. The thumping in his chest told him every cell in his body should run and hide in some obscure corner of the Colony. Death was better than this.

    ¡®Thank you, for looking out for me, and for Ariea.¡¯ The last word caught in his throat. ¡®You kill Fall, then what? Don¡¯t you ever sleep?¡¯ Agloff managed a smile.

    ¡®Ha. I can sleep when I¡¯m dead. For me, another whisky would be good. For you, the Colony would be yours to search. I¡¯d never deny you that. Remember Agloff, the world is full of loud idiots telling you how things must be. How we should be. But we owe it nothing but the truest version of ourselves.¡¯ The old soldier smiled warmly.

    ¡®So, you do think she¡¯s still alive? You know her better than anyone,¡¯ he asked. But Agloff couldn¡¯t help an inevitable sense that this plan, this dream would surely fall apart.

    ¡®I think¡­ Andromeda and Eron both may be. My head the pessimist says as she never came back, she should be gone. Knowing her as I did, I have a feeling she might just still be alive.¡¯

    Agloff considered telling Marty that Jask¡¯s men had recognised him, and so knew Eron, but, unsure of what Marty¡¯s reaction might be, he decided against it.

    ¡®You were wrong though,¡¯ Marty said, a moment later.

    ¡®About?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know Andromeda better than anyone. There¡¯s three names.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s eyes lit up. The desire to know was irrepressible. ¡®What names?¡¯

    ¡®Malvo Jask. Tomas Wise. And Abbadiah Thawn.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 10 | Thawn

    Chapter Ten

    Thawn

    Abaddiah Thawn descended the steps to his long overdue death. Conscious of the lives above ground he was no longer wont to intrude upon, he continued upon his course. He had been far too old for far too long.

    The weight of his gaze fell on the cold body resting in his arms. A sickly child. Its features ached through deep-cut marks, like death itself provided no relief, and its gaunt frame was dwarfed in Thawn¡¯s giant stride. He was near eight feet tall, bolstered by the armour he wore in perpetuity.

    At his foot¡¯s knocking, the door opened into the Church of Winter and the staircase bloomed into a hall more than a hundred feet wide and four times as long. Grey stone surrounded him on all sides, painted in slithers of silver moonlight and the walls knocked the sound of his steps back at him a hundred times over.

    The corridors of this place had turned the joys of childhood stale. So large then, they felt larger now and all the emptier for the absence of Jask, brother and enemy in even measure, and maybe more besides.

    The stone martyrs of Winter watched from their perches in the hollow windows lining the church and Thawn was left unsure whether their vacant expressions offered approval or contempt. Dust had poured through the windows in crested dunes riding the walls of the hall in waves. It was a testament to the disdain with which the Sign of the Tondrus had treated their order. Winter had been a body of millions; now it was of just two.

    And Thawn was all too familiar with the other.

    Through the glass of his helmet, he saw ghosts of a life scarcely remembered. Boys in gowns were herded into rows behind the Masters, bloodied bands across their backs. Their oath was recited daily at the foot of the throne of the Arm and for every word that was fluffed, a boy of the Master¡¯s choosing was beaten. But Thawn¡¯s memory was vague of those days beyond those broadest strokes. For a life of countless millennia spent in search of the kid now resting in his arms, or rather the thing within, Thawn could remember very little. Years flickered past like days.

    Whilst his body had been elevated beyond so-called ¡®normal¡¯ men, by means primitives would call magic, his memory had not. Like the watching saints of Winter that lined the church halls, who had been eroded grain-by-grain until few of their features remained, smoothed to a pillar, Thawn¡¯s personhood had been slowly struck from his being. His life had been a gradual process of erosion, where the years would eat away at him until he felt little more than his own shadow.

    He was never hungry, he was never tired, he was never thirsty and, for a man as ancient as he, he would never get to be old and grey and whittle away the years in rumination, waiting for death to come knocking.

    No, he had to go knocking on death¡¯s door.

    Here, death wore a face he knew all too well.

    Thawn reached the end of the hall and kicked in a narrow doorway to a small chamber burrowed behind a curved wall. It concealed a tower, reaching up into the heavens. Moonlight pirouetted down from high windows to bathe the chamber in a chilling glow. He set the kid down and a strange unease came over him.

    The confessional looked the same as it always had- ugly and angular at the back of the room, entirely uninviting. He had dreaded his summons here. Even now, it triggered a deep-seated anxiety, wired into him by habit.

    ¡®Do you believe in God?¡¯ a high voice said from within.

    ¡®I thought I¡¯d find you here. I¡¯m not a child anymore, Jaho,¡¯ Thawn replied. His voice was almost robotic, as if over the centuries he had slowly traded away his humanity. But that presupposed Thawn was human to begin with; he was not.

    ¡®No? You just act like one. You haven¡¯t changed since Ellaga.¡¯ Slender, gloved fingers drew back the curtain from one side of the box. The Priestern Jaho sat, robed in black, a veil drawn over her face. She straightened herself at the sight of the child.

    ¡®Have you even moved since last I was here?¡¯ Thawn said.

    Jaho shrugged. ¡®Sometimes if it is hot, I open the door. If there is a draught, I close it again,¡¯ she said dryly.

    ¡®I see.¡¯

    ¡®That is the problem with living forever. It yields so little motivation. Do you not agree?¡¯

    ¡®I have my mission.¡¯

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡®Your mission, yes. And how many thousands of years has it taken for a whiff of fruition? How many were the victim of your inaction? In Colony Two alone, you allow Jask to fester. It¡¯s almost as if you don¡¯t want to succeed.¡¯

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t my choice, by and large. And my masters have infinite patience.¡¯

    He sensed Jaho smirk. ¡®¡°By and large.¡± Do not mistake my tone. I don¡¯t judge you, Thawn, only question. There is a difference.¡¯

    Thawn plunged a hand into one of the pockets hanging from his belt. He pulled two totems, both a chain of three esses, wound to a single point. He funnelled them through his fingers to Jaho who considered them.

    She hmphed. ¡®Yours? And Jask¡¯s?¡¯

    Thawn nodded.

    ¡®I see. You needn¡¯t feel sad, Thawn,¡¯ she continued, sensing his mood. ¡®When he reformed Winter in his own name, it was a shade of our order. Us. You and I, Thawn. That¡¯s Winter! What Jask created was something altogether unholier. His suffering does not excuse him, of course. Even if it does grant him a modicum of sympathy,¡¯ she said very matter-of-factly.

    ¡®A modicum?¡¯ Thawn said, a hint of offence on Jask¡¯s behalf.

    ¡®Well, perhaps I am being harsh. From what you have said before, he is a brilliant and damaged man. The things that could compel him to go to the lengths he has¡­ I¡¯ve heard many a tale of the horrors of moonwater. What it does to a man, to a mind. He has my pity, but little more.¡¯ She paused in thought.

    Thawn said nothing. He did not want to correct her. Not yet.

    ¡®You know Jask still loves you, in his own way?¡¯ If Jaho meant it as a question, Thawn had no reply. He supposed he didn¡¯t know what to call it. Love worked. Hate did too. ¡®Moonwater is a cruel paradox,¡¯ she continued. ¡®You need only wait, Thawn. Sooner or later, it will do its work. It always does. Even for us.¡¯

    ¡®There are ways around it, no?¡¯ He asked without the conviction he wanted the answer.

    ¡®If there are, they are beyond even me. Documented cases of recovery, beyond charlatanism are scarce. All that I know of are the work of Trillunda of Devil¡¯s End. So, unless you plan on visiting her?¡¯

    ¡®No.¡¯ The thought unsettled him. Devil¡¯s End was the grave of everything unholy made in the name of the Sign- the mages like Trillunda, the Cloven, the Pale Crow- the result of genetic experimentation. But Jaho was wrong. Thawn was going there. Just not for Jask¡¯s sake.

    ¡®Why are you here then? It¡¯s been years since you sought my counsel. Who is the child, Thawn?¡¯

    It occurred to Thawn that he should not have to do this. There remained a life behind him if he wanted and his thoughts were drawn on to Andromeda. The sheer joy and shame and pleasure and rancid misery of it all. How perfect she was. And how terrible.

    And yet, the grave tempted him more as time wore by. Like a man jaded by his week¡¯s work, his joints aching, who wanted nothing more than to fall into the clutches of his bed. Mortals didn¡¯t recognise the pleasures of death. As Jaho had once said, ¡°Give a man forever in which to do something, and he would surely never get around to it.¡±

    Thawn had decided upon his course. He stepped into the confessional beside Jaho and drew the curtain closed.

    ¡®¡°Per the rites set forth by Andrus and Matthea of Winter and the Sign, I wish to confess my sins, upon this, the eve of my life¡±,¡¯ said Thawn, words well-rehearsed.

    This time, it was Jaho who said nothing. Thawn sensed her shock. Sharp gasps of air emerged from the booth adjacent. He felt satisfied that he had deprived her of her voice at last. He recalled the endless lectures of his youth, where he would sit at the window and stare, saucer-eyed, as Jaho¡¯s words went through him like ghosts. She was nothing to Thawn anymore: neither mother, nor lover, neither friend nor enemy, neither matron nor mentor. She simply was.

    ¡®After all these years,¡¯ Jaho said finally, ¡®you at last come wandering through my door again and you do so to die. Do I really have that effect?¡¯

    Thawn was tired of it now, all of it. His mission. His masters. He wanted it to end. He needed it to end. ¡®You used to,¡¯ he said eventually.

    ¡®Who is the child?¡¯ Jaho asked a second time.

    ¡®You¡¯ll see. Soon enough.¡¯

    The Priestern hmphed again. Thawn was reciting the words over in his mind. Per tradition, when it came a pilgrim¡¯s time to die, they would recant the sins of their life, so they may make peace.

    ¡®Have you considered the possibility that you and Jask are not each other¡¯s responsibility? Winter died long ago.¡¯

    ¡®So did I,¡¯ Thawn said, though he was unsure Jaho took it as literally as he meant it.

    ¡®Then you owe it nothing anymore. Find her, Thawn. Death can always wait, can¡¯t it? It¡¯s waited long enough to make no difference whether you die in a day, a year or ten.¡¯

    ¡®It might be for the best that I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t know how pleased she would be to see me. Do you know where she is?¡¯ Thawn asked accusingly, as if Jaho should know better than to suggest an impossible task.

    ¡®I¡¯ve sat here for a long time, since before the Long Hunt. Out there, that¡¯s alien to me. I know nothing of anyone anymore, save you.¡¯ Together, they paused and listened to the dead air. ¡®If you won¡¯t just tell me simply, should we begin your confession? I get the feeling the child fits in somewhere.¡¯

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ Thawn admitted. ¡®Before I start, could you¡­¡¯ He forced a hand into his satchel and produced a small silver locket. This was where he kept the last piece of his personhood. He clipped it open and extended a small photograph. It was faded and grey, but a thin-faced woman was just about discernible across the years of creases that potted the photo. Thawn passed it to Jaho. She laughed but stifled it into a cough.

    ¡®Ah, sorry Thawn. I¡¯ve never seen your like before. You never were like the other children, ever since Ellaga. What do you want me to do? I owe you a favour, don¡¯t I?¡¯

    ¡®Though I fear she may be dead, if Andromeda ever came back, apologise from me,¡¯ he said. ¡®It¡¯s the least the pair of them deserve.¡¯

    ¡®Them?¡¯

    Thawn sensed Jaho lean closer. ¡®She has a son, Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, Thawn,¡¯ Jaho said, with a hint of pity. ¡®What makes you so sure Andromeda Ashborne is dead?¡¯

    ¡®I left her in that place.¡¯ He bowed his head. Shame took its hold on him.

    ¡®From what you had told me about Andromeda, that¡¯s hardly a death sentence. Her will is stronger than you give her credit for. She sighed. ¡®Then I think you should begin.¡¯

    Thawn bit his lip and adjusted his visor, briefly peaking past the veiled curtain to look at his legacy on the floor, the child¡¯s broken body and the parasite within that had died with it.

    Then, with the deepest of breaths, he began his ancient tale.

 Before Noon Chapter 11 | Do Us Part

    Chapter Eleven

    Do Us Part

    Agloff escorted himself from the bunker, his mind buried in thought, as if detached from his body, climbing the stairs as it did. Should he resent Marty for bringing him here in the first place, into Fall¡¯s subterranean eyrie, or thank him? Should he be grateful Fall wasn¡¯t planning on delivering Agloff to Jask, gift-wrapped?

    No. The reality was surely worse: non-existence as a trophy to Fall¡¯s pyrrhic victory, while he weathers Winter¡¯s storm.

    Governor Fall was perhaps the most peculiar man Agloff had ever met. Marty had said these bunkers were already occupied before Fall got here. How could a man arrive in a foreign land and lay claim to it? Agloff recalled he had read about ancient explorers turned conquerors, who landed on alien shores and convinced their hosts to turn over their gold. It was the engine of an empire. And Fall reeked of a man who dreamed of an Imperial Underground to preside over all the Colony, and everything in it. Once Jask had fallen.

    Agloff even wondered if he was actually beginning to miss Backwater. Between the Underground¡¯s stranglehold on him, and Ariea, it was the first time he might not have been thankful for his deliverance from Drake. As for his mission, Agloff felt no closer to that end than he did in Backwater. He thought Marty might have offered more than oblique clues. Tomas Wise, he knew to be his mother¡¯s colleague. She mentioned him in her note. Could he also have been part of this organisation; ¡®the Sign¡¯? And who was Abbadiah Thawn? His mum offered no hints. In one way, Agloff¡¯s frustration strengthened his resolve. In another, it defeated him.

    Agloff arrived back at his bedchamber and stole a glance across the landing at Ariea. Her silence was like a wall between them. Through the open doorway, she stood, her back to him, at the mirror above her washbasin. She had taken to sleeping in another room.

    Agloff was entranced by her familiar bob of auburn hair, reddened by the shaft of light from above. She was ignorant of his fascination. Then, her eyes cast to the side and Agloff pretended to busy himself in the folds of his duvet.

    Surely the longer he waited, the worse it was going to be.

    For today, Agloff accepted defeat. He sank into his mattress. Aches crept through his joints. He had not slept for the best part of two days since he was at the Felled Giant, and within a minute, he shed his clothes to the floor, and fell into the clutch of his bedding.

    *

    Agloff jerked awake. His eyes strained for the clock which told him it had been at least twelve hours. Lily Osara hung over his bed, eyes squinting. Agloff threw a hand to wave her away and grunted. It was then he saw Governor Fall, bathed in a golden robe, standing in his doorway, hands clasped and regal-looking.

    ¡®A good night¡¯s sleep,¡¯ he said. Something in his voice told Agloff it wasn¡¯t a question, and Fall knew precisely how long he had been asleep. ¡®I wanted to ensure you have everything you need here! Commander Naples holds you in the highest regard.¡¯

    Agloff nodded sheepishly. ¡®Oh?¡¯

    ¡®I wanted to provide this, as a token of my gratitude for your being here. You will be the sharpest dressed at Blue¡¯s wedding.¡¯ Fall glided to Agloff¡¯s bedside, and gestured a slick, black tuxedo draped from Agloff¡¯s wardrobe ¡®You will be the talk of the ladies.¡¯ Agloff glanced past Fall to Ariea¡¯s room. It did not go unnoticed. ¡®Ah. Well, I am sure she will be intimately impressed. Best not wander ¡®till then, eh. The Underground¡¯s a dangerous place. I¡¯m sure Naples would have told you that.¡¯

    Every word was deliberate. Agloff nodded, not meeting Fall¡¯s stare, suddenly anxious the Governor had caught wind of his afterhours journeys down to Maintenance. Or, God forbid, of Marty¡¯s plot. Fall¡¯s lips twisted and he glided back whence he came, taking one look back at Agloff.

    ¡®See you very soon. And please do enjoy yourself.¡¯

    He smiled, and then he was gone. And Agloff suddenly felt cold. There was something unsettling about his tranquil look. Like it was a constant performance and Agloff need only scratch the surface to see his true form beneath. Satisfying though it might have been to disobey, Agloff heeded Fall¡¯s warning.

    Life was now a waiting game, until Marty¡¯s plan unfolded, and Oxford¡¯s wedding was a welcome distraction. Like before, Agloff resolved to not cause trouble waiting for it. From the bleep at the start of morning shift, to its end, Agloff consigned himself to his room, only greeted by Osara for his three daily meals. And there was only so much patience one deck of cards could take, as Agloff had even taken to playing blackjack against himself. Somehow, the dealer still always managed to win.

    *

    Agloff was ready for the wedding an hour in advance of his well-read invitation. He thought it might dampen his nerves. He was curiously anxious about mingling with strangers, and Ariea more so. Curiouser, he was about to go the wedding of man he had known less than a week, and yet it felt an eon. Like Oxford might have been one of his closest friends. He spent that hour batting the creases out of his suit and taking trips to the mirror to remind himself what he looked like. Agloff would never have called himself handsome, but the guy looking back at him was from another world. He wriggled in his jacket, unfastened a button, but it brought no comfort. He missed his hoodies, he thought, incredulous how anyone could have dressed this way on a daily basis. For formalwear, it was understated. He flattened the tie about fifty times down his chest, and puffed his cheeks, deciding it would be better to be one of the first to arrive.

    With deep breaths, he headed to suffer the inanities of decorum. He fixed his eyes to the floor. No distractions, he told himself. Agloff scurried through the palace to lift, but for a familiar voice.

    ¡®Not that way,¡¯ said the ruffled tones of Marty Naples. Agloff stared at the scuff of his brogues. ¡®You¡¯re early.¡¯

    Agloff looked up. Like him, Marty was suited in a tuxedo. It flattered his burgeoning gut, and his beard was trimmed from when Agloff saw him last.

    ¡®So are you.¡¯

    ¡®Force of habit, Ag. Come with me.¡¯ Agloff did not argue, and Marty led him in silence to the opposite end of the palace, back past the banquet hall, to a cul-de-sac down one of the corridors jutting away from it. Marty paused thoughtfully before the far wall, before lending a palm to a panel on his left. Immediately, it beeped, and the metal tiling began to fold backwards into itself. Beyond, a narrow arch fed into a lift shaft. Marty gestured Agloff through. Again, Agloff said nothing.

    ¡®Sitting at Fall¡¯s Privy Council has its privileges,¡¯ said Marty. ¡®The Governor¡¯s private lift. Fall keeps a tight circle, as well you can imagine. Excited?¡¯ he added after a beat.

    ¡®Oh¡ª¡¯ Agloff¡¯s thoughts muddled. ¡®I think so. I¡¯ve never really done this kind of thing before,¡¯ he admitted. He would apologise to Marty for his rudeness, but his head was a whirling mess, of Ariea and Fall and Eron, to the point he wondered if he gave more than two-word replies it may explode.

    ¡®Oh, you¡¯ll be fine.¡¯

    ¡®How far we going?¡¯ Agloff quipped. The lift cage rattled its way up the shaft, but a smoother ride than the others it was nonetheless.

    Marty smiled. ¡®The very top.¡¯

    ¡®About before¡­¡¯ Agloff began, as if to make an excuse for his muted demeanour. ¡®Below. Can I ask something?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not sure what you¡¯re talking about, Agloff.¡¯

    Agloff knew with that he would be wise not to ask again. The cage rattled, and the wall folded back into itself, giving way to an ornate passage. Fairy lights were interspersed with neat, triangular bunting, zigzagging across an angled ceiling. Marty led Agloff down the corridor to a desk where a concierge was sat awaiting guests with a forced smile. Marty passed over his invitation and Agloff did the same. Immediately, the boy slackened.

    ¡®Bit early, aren¡¯t ya,¡¯ he grunted. Marty waved his judgement away. They passed the archway into the hall. The walls bloomed into a great dome some fifty feet high, flickering with a thousand points of light and for a moment Agloff wondered if it was made of glass, a window to the surface. But the image looked too perfect. There was no dust on the upper side blown over by the wind, obscuring the stars. He assumed it was mere projection, the screens Oxford had told he, Memphis and Merry about.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Even so, it was refreshing to not look up and see a plastered ceiling or the cloth that drooped above his four-poster bed.

    The hall was occupied by tens of tables, each marked by a small placard and lain for six, smothered in white tablecloth. More fairy lights spread and drooped in spokes from a glittering chandelier, bathing the hall in glow. A few early arrivals were scattered about, chatting against the mellow thrum of speakers suspended over them.

    ¡®Find your seat.¡¯ Marty¡¯s eyes caught the free bar and he left Agloff with a mischievous grin.

    ¡®What about you?¡¯

    ¡®I want vodka. God knows I need it. I am planning to get very, very drunk. It¡¯s rare I get a damn good excuse.¡¯ Marty raised an imaginary glass to Agloff, and trundled to the barman, chuckling as he did.

    Agloff shuffled between the sea of tables, inspecting each for his name. He found himself placed between Merry and Memphis, who, to his surprise, were already there. Each looked at unease in their gown and tuxedo, as they greeted Agloff with timid smiles. Wordlessly, he sat between them, shoulders taut and anxious, waiting for the chamber to fill in dribs and drabs. A pamphlet on the table in front of them chronicled Oxford and Alice from infancy to the present day in monochrome photographs. The words inside read:

    The Union of

    Alice Middleton & Oxford Samson Blue,

    9<sup>th</sup> September Year 18 - Onwards

    May ours be a journey that never ends. Now and forever.

    Master of Ceremonies:

    Anton Ramirez

    After reading it a third time, Agloff¡¯s eyes began to scan the chamber for Ariea, like some irrepressible compulsion. She had to be here, he told himself. The minutes waned, and then he caught a glimpse. Her face peeked through a crack in the crowd, clad in a silvery dress. He looked as long as he dared, scared for her eyes to meet his. Her contempt made her figure all the more captivating, in a strange sort of way.

    He knew what he had to do. But he found himself incapable of doing anything more than keeping a distant watch.

    Agloff¡¯s gaze shifted down the table from Lady to Merry to Memphis and back again, as each waited for the others to provide some comfort in this alien place. The chatter in the hall swelled to a peak, bodies pressed against each other, apparently refusing to sit as they mulled on gossip and wine. Then, the mumble of an announcer trilled over the speakers and the chatter ceded to a mess of footsteps, scurrying to their tables. Everyone watched in baited silence. Then, Marty Naples stood from the head table, a glass raised and beckoned to a minister at the front of the hall.

    Agloff strained from his distant view to catch a glimpse. Oxford stood, his mane of hair slicked back into a lazy ponytail, and his beard braided. Then, a woman did the same. She was veiled in a navy dress, with jet-black hair. She was beautiful, saucer-eyed with a smirk painted over her lips.

    Agloff had imagined streamers, and boisterous music and dancing. But the old minister instead droned on about the meaning of life and love. The words seemed to pass through Oxford and Alice, who viewed each other through an unbroken stare. Agloff was envious. How happy they must have been in that moment, how utterly fulfilled. He had read about love and imagined this was life at its purest. For them, the entire universe was beyond all awareness. Their ecstasy was his envy. The simplicity of it all.

    They gripped hands under an arch of evergreen leaves, waiting for the minister¡¯s word. They then leaned into each other, meeting halfway with a kiss and the room erupted into a bout of applause. Merry stood from the table, Lady aloft in her arms who clapped for the both of them.

    For a while, men and women stood, to trade their words and anecdotes to the crowd about the couple between them, before Oxford dispersed them all to the buffet table. Agloff skulked at its rear, continuing to cast a watchful eye in Ariea¡¯s direction. His gaze flickered between her and a tray of freshly baked sausage rolls. He couldn¡¯t but wince each time a hand scooped one to its plate. Another hand then reached at his shoulder and Agloff jolted, snapped from his trance. Oxford stood behind him, a flower stapled to his lapel, and a smile split his face from ear to ear.

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯ he said, reaching for a sturdy handshake. ¡®May I complement you on that suit. Looking very fine.¡¯

    Agloff shrugged awkwardly. ¡®Thanks. Fall leant it me. Don¡¯t think I look too bad, do I.¡¯ Oxford only grinned, bounding from foot to foot. ¡®Well, what about you? You seem¡­ on edge.¡¯

    ¡®Ah, man! I¡¯m so pumped. Excited to have a drink. Alcohol makes everything better. Don¡¯t quote me on that actually. Hey, I¡¯ll introduce you to the wife, so she doesn¡¯t have to introduce me to all her obscure work friends.¡¯ Oxford placed an arm across Agloff¡¯s shoulders and guided him up the buffet queue. ¡®Groom perks, innit. Plus, I didn¡¯t wanna miss out on the sausage rolls.¡¯ Agloff laughed, his only reply to scoop two on to his plate and Oxford reciprocated with a grin.

    ¡®I¡¯m happy for you,¡¯ Agloff said, sincerely. ¡®But I didn¡¯t know the Underground did fun.¡¯ He then took a sip of some random drink, and his lips tightened in disgust.

    ¡®Man, you don¡¯t even know. Had to save up so many tokens to use this place. So, by all means, drink as much as you want. Would make my self-restraint feel more worth it if there wasn¡¯t a shit ton left over.¡¯ Oxford downed his drink in one. ¡®I need that for when I talk to Alice¡¯s dad.¡¯

    Oxford shifted behind Agloff, prodding him with a finger through the crowd towards a young woman Agloff presumed to be Alice Blue. A circle of adoring guests ensconced her, parting as they saw Oxford. She wore a rippling navy dress that flowed beyond her feet, spilling on to the floor around her. Flowers were cradled in her arm, gifts from each of her guests that dwarfed her petite hands.

    ¡®Oxford!¡¯ she barked, dropping a bouquet from her stack and a guest hastened to scoop it up after her. She hurried awkwardly to a table, setting the flowers down and turned to embrace her husband. ¡®I¡¯ve missed you,¡¯ she said.

    ¡®It¡¯s been five minutes!¡¯ Oxford exclaims.

    ¡®What I said stands for itself,¡¯ Alice answered, matter-of-factly.

    Oxford¡¯s cheeks ripened, and his eyes searched the floor in embarrassment. He pecked her on the cheek before turning to hold an arm out towards Agloff. ¡®This is Agloff I was telling you about.¡¯

    Alice stepped towards him, smiled. ¡®Ah, so you¡¯re the reason my husband was away for almost two weeks.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s mouth fell open, spluttered incoherent sounds, unsure if she was being serious.

    ¡®You don¡¯t have to look so terrified.¡¯ Alice laughed. ¡®Oxford tells me you¡¯re one of Fall¡¯s new best friends.¡¯

    ¡®I suppose so,¡¯ Agloff grunted, nervous, doing his best to ignore the circle of gawking eyes. ¡®I mean, I hadn¡¯t really thought about it,¡¯ he lied.

    ¡®Oh, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to make you feel awkward. Hope you¡¯re enjoying yourself. It was lovely to meet you.¡¯

    ¡®You too,¡¯ Agloff said with a smile. ¡®Congratulations.¡¯

    Alice nodded gratefully. Her dress swayed as she turned to collect her flowers and speak to someone else as Oxford followed.

    ¡®Having fun?¡¯ Merry appeared then at Agloff¡¯s side, prodded him in the rib.

    ¡®I¡¯m¡­ not sure,¡¯ he answered.

    ¡®It is mental. I¡¯ve eaten so much I can¡¯t even. Dresses are also really weird.¡¯ She batted down her rose gown with a fisted hand, like she still wasn¡¯t comfortable. ¡®But it might be because I¡¯m bloated to be honest.¡¯ Her body tipped from side to side like a tree in the breeze.

    ¡®You look nice,¡¯ Agloff said, staring absent-mindedly into the crowd.

    ¡®It¡¯d mean more if you were actually looking at me, but I¡¯ll take it.¡¯ She laughed, over and over, like laughing itself was funny. ¡®I might have had¡­ three margheritas. They¡¯re getting to me. Can you tell? They aren¡¯t alcoholic, are they?¡¯

    ¡®Dude,¡¯ Agloff said, chuckling. ¡®You literally lived in a pub. Yes, cocktails have alcohol in!¡¯

    Her face soured. Her shoulders sank ¡®Oh. I¡¯ll be honest I thought they were for children because they were fruity.¡¯

    ¡®Wine is fruity.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, but that¡¯s grown-up fruity.¡¯ Without thought, Merry swigged the cocktail clasped in her hand. ¡®You and Ariea: what¡¯s up with that?¡¯ she said as she swallowed.

    ¡®Nothing. Just¡­ nothing¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Cos I¡¯ll tell you what. You haven¡¯t stopped looking at her all night. And I¡¯m one hundred percent sure she¡¯s made a point of not looking at you once. Funny, isn¡¯t it.¡¯

    Agloff whispered, chewing on Merry¡¯s thought. ¡®Funny.¡¯

    ¡®You know what I say. It¡¯s a party. Parties are great. She¡¯ll be in a good mood. Go talk to the girl, or just pretend nothing happened, or pretend you don¡¯t know her. That¡¯s funnier. Then she¡¯d have to talk to you.¡¯

    Agloff tilted his head, considering her. ¡®Drunk¡­ suits you.¡¯

    ¡®Not really, I mean I¡¯m really tired and I wanna cry, but I am having a good time.¡¯

    Agloff half-laughed and mulled on Merry¡¯s words. He sighed, jettisoning himself from the buffet table and swayed aimlessly into the mosh pit of guests. He let their rhythms carry him, and his body felt lax and unsprang for the first time in forever. Ariea bounced across from him, arms flung aloft. Do what Merry said, Agloff thought. He could concede there was no person whose company he craved more. Deep breaths, he thought, aligning himself with where Ariea was dancing. In a minute they might have been dancing together. He was too anxious to even plan what to say. He stared at his feet, sparing himself any excuse to stop, and began to walk.

    ¡®Don¡¯t be an idiot. Just say sorry,¡¯ he muttered.

    He was but halfway when the crowd around him seemed to coalesce. And his path was obstructed. He saw a faint gold glow bounce of the tips of his well-shined shoes. He looked up; a star on the dome was shimmering, towing a streak in its wake. Necks craned upwards and the music cut into silence. The streaking star grew and grew, permeating the sky around it with colour. The inky black lightened into blue and the falling star was like a sun in the sky.

    The star¡¯s spokes pushed outwards, flickering, pulsating, sparking debris like orange rain that splintered towards them. The star blossomed as it fell. Its light swallowed the sky and for a moment the hall was bathed in brilliant flashes of gold. It blinked on the dome, then darkness as it tumbled past their horizon.

    A distant thud, like soft thunder, hollered through the walls above them and everyone seemed to step back. A second later, a plume of yellow smoke rose over them into the darkness from the far side of the dome.

    Everyone looked to Alice and Oxford for an explanation, but they shook their heads in bemusement. They held on to each other a little tighter, as did everyone. The hall was captive by the false sky above them.

    Nothing was said, not for what felt like centuries.

    Then, a second thud, far louder and far closer snapped through them, and all breath was snatched from the hall. That was no meteor, thought Agloff. The thud boomed into distant footsteps, a lockstep marching above. Closer, and closer. As one, the eyes of the room aimed towards the source of the bang but there was nothing but silence.

    The lights that ran the hall in spokes flickered till their filaments burst. The panels of stars above hummed and vanished, revealing only darkness and its veil extended over them. The fear and confusion of their faces was shrouded in shadow as each man and woman looked to the one beside them, asking what on earth was going to happen next.

 Before Noon Chapter 12 | The Descent

    Chapter Twelve

    The Descent

    Agloff was rooted where he stood. The breath of the crowd pulsed against his neck. His own became sharp and shallow. The thud drew closer, the lumber of footsteps.

    Oxford pushed his hands through the melee, and the crowd parted. He yelled something and a moment later the lights fizzled dimly. Everyone looked to everyone else for comfort but found no respite. Across the hall, Oxford whispered something to Alice, and she beckoned to the chamber. He watched Oxford watch her, with quiet adoration.

    ¡®Let us all remain calm!¡¯ Her voice carried great authority. The rocking of the hall did not break her tone. ¡®And not whip ourselves into a frenzy. A panic. Can everyone, please, slowly and safely, single-file leave the hall.¡¯ As she spoke, Oxford weaved from table to table, gathering men and women towards him. Soldiers? Agloff thought. ¡®We will take the main stairwell.¡¯ In her authority, Agloff saw the strength that made her so right for Oxford. They both commanded a presence he did not possess.

    Agloff slipped into the crowd, but a hand reached for his back and yanked him out.

    ¡®Agloff,¡¯ grunted Marty, panting. He looked ill almost, shaken out of his drunkenness. ¡®I need you.¡¯ Marty nodded to Oxford who shifted to his side. Merry and Memphis trailed behind him, confused, as Lady waved in protestation, unwilling to leave. Two guards cantered into the hall, beating away the evacuees and towards Marty.

    ¡®Sir,¡¯ one said. He leaned to whisper in Marty¡¯s ear. The old soldier said nothing for a long time after the guard vanished. The five of them fell into a circle.

    ¡®Winter,¡¯ he said eventually. ¡®Cutting through the front door. Three minutes, tops.¡¯

    ¡®What, how,¡¯ Merry barked.

    Oxford rubbed his brow. ¡®Picked up our, Agloff¡¯s, trail from March Town?¡¯

    Marty nodded. ¡®Would seem so.¡¯

    ¡®You said they¡¯d never come here,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®I thought point of me being here was that so Jask wouldn¡¯t attack!¡¯

    Marty and Oxford looked at each other. Marty sighed. ¡®I¡­ miscalculated. Jask¡¯s called Fall¡¯s bluff. Jask knows you¡¯re here and he¡¯s coming for you. First thing Fall¡¯s gonna do is find you. So you stay away from everyone else.¡¯

    ¡®Is there a plan?¡¯ Memphis grunted.

    This was Marty¡¯s domain, Fall¡¯s master of war. The battle to come was his responsibility. ¡®They¡¯ll work their way down floor-by-floor. We¡¯ll evacuate as many as possible to floor eighty and set up a barricade there.¡¯

    ¡®Will that keep them out?¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®It¡¯ll damn well have to,¡¯ snapped Marty. ¡®Bastards can¡¯t kill every sod here. You¡¯re with me,¡¯ he said at Oxford who nodded, rounding his troops behind him, soldiers adorned in tuxes and ball gowns. ¡®We¡¯re going the armoury on Thirty-One.¡¯

    The operative started barking orders, yelling for those in retreat to head to floor eighty. They bottlenecked at the doorway. Shouts of ¡®eighty!¡¯ reverberated round the walls, between the anxious chatter and footsteps. Agloff knew the path he was on led to Jask. But this was sooner than he expected.

    ¡®What should I do?¡¯ he said.

    Marty thought. ¡®Help evacuate the people, best you can. Work down.¡¯

    ¡®But you said¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Stay off the main walkways. Get people out, but don¡¯t follow them. Use the other stairwells where you can. Fall¡¯s priority will be finding you.¡¯ Agloff swallowed. He said nothing. ¡®Get Ariea too.¡¯

    ¡®But¡ª¡¯

    ¡®I know you¡¯ve fallen out. But if Fall can¡¯t get you¡­ She¡¯s the next best thing. Get her. Stay with her.¡¯ Marty began to walk as Oxford gestured the way down. ¡®Now seems as good a time as any to make up!¡¯ Marty yelled, arms raised, as he backed into the crowd.

    Agloff¡¯s chest pumped. Then Merry reached out a hand to his shoulder and he found a moment¡¯s calm. It was all he needed. He could not panic. Take it minute-by-minute, he told himself. Floor-by-floor.

    He paused, then looked at her and Memphis. ¡®Okay.¡¯

    They slipped from the ceremonial chambers, careful to avoid the stare of Fall¡¯s denizens, and took an access ladder down to Four. Up here, the residential floors were all steal and oil, puffing with steam and mired by stains. Agloff gagged on fumes from the water plant. They poked their heads around a corner to catch a glimpse of the stairway spiralling down through the main plaza. At least for now, the thrum of Winter above was distant. Guards hoisted children from the crowds by the mess hall, batons aloft, snapping them to the ground by the backs of their knees. They were herded into groups by the side like cattle.

    ¡®What¡¯re they doing?¡¯ Merry whispered.

    Memphis cursed under his breath, shielding Lady behind him. ¡®Getting their bribe ready for Winter¡­ Bastard.¡¯ The last word carried untold rage in its quietness.

    ¡®Will it work?¡¯

    Memphis shot a look across Agloff. ¡®Depends how many lives you¡¯re worth.¡¯

    Agloff met his eyes but said nothing. He was sure if Jask wanted him, Jask would not stop until he got him. He would either kill the rest and take Agloff or take Agloff and kill the rest. There was no winning, he told himself, as the guards inflicted their miseries.

    The air then snapped, and two gunshots blasted the plaza into a deadly silence. A mother wailed. Agloff¡¯s eyes refused to recede from the image. She broke from the slog, her arms dragged back as she tried to hold her son a final time as he bled. But the Underground refused her the luxury. Agloff wondered what his crime might have been- the cracking of his neck? A nervous sideways glance? A clenched fist?

    Two more shots, and two more thuds. Cries and whimpers were herded by the clicking of firearms. Their owners yelled for silence, and it came. The crowd subsided, trundling onwards and downwards. The slightest protestation was met by the rifle butts of their protectors. It was in that scene Agloff saw the Underground Memphis saw, the one Oxford refused to admit.

    Memphis made to lurch forwards from the corner. Agloff dragged him back. He clasped a hand tightly across his mouth. ¡®You can¡¯t,¡¯ he whispered. Memphis¡¯ body shook under his palm, but he obeyed.

    They waited for the crowd to thin and passed the corridor, in hopes of catching any stragglers from the party.

    There! Wordlessly, Agloff scampered through the walkway as the last guard led the procession to the next floor. She followed at the back. Stern-eyed, Ariea kept a distance to the guy ahead. Her silvery dress was unmistakable. Agloff marched at her so fast that he had no time to talk himself out of it. At the last moment, he reached out a hand to grab hers. Before she had even clocked who it was, she lashed a palm at Agloff¡¯s cheek.

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    Agloff clutched his face, stumbled back as Merry and Memphis surrounded him. ¡®I deserve that,¡¯ he said. ¡®Ariea.¡¯

    She said nothing, considering him. Then, she took a timid step forwards. She launched her arms around him, only to withdraw in haste. Her stare flickered from the floor, to Lady, to Merry, to Memphis. Anywhere but Agloff. She reached a hand to ruffle Lady¡¯s hair.

    ¡®¡®Ria,¡¯ the girl said stiffly.

    Finally, Ariea turned to Agloff. ¡®I didn¡¯t mean to hit you. But you do deserve it. I got- got caught up upstairs, and everyone was leaving and then I just kinda got swept up. I couldn¡¯t turn back so I thought you three would be there somewhere, so I just started walking real slow and....¡¯ Ariea gasped, like she had forgotten to breathe. ¡®I¡¯m happy to see you but I am still very pissed off!¡¯

    ¡®I understand,¡¯ Agloff said feebly, unsure if he truly did. ¡®I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®You kids kiss and make up later?¡¯ cut in Memphis. ¡®We need to get people safe.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s happening?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®It¡¯s Winter.¡¯

    That was all the catching up Ariea needed. She gave a look that said, ¡®of course it is.¡¯ ¡®I saw guards hurting children. I mean, I can¡¯t just let that slide. We save one person, it¡¯s a win.¡¯

    ¡®Glad we agree,¡¯ mused Agloff.

    ¡®Don¡¯t push your luck. I can slap you again. On purpose this time.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯ll do what Marty said,¡¯ announced Agloff. ¡®First sign of trouble though, we run.¡¯ He turned to Ariea and felt her heavy stare trace through him like he were a ghost. If she had something to say she thought better of it.

    They split up through the blocks of residential floors, scaling their balconies to clear out anyone left sitting, and reconvened at the smaller stairwells. Each floor, their operation slickened. Agloff yelled in whispers at people to remove themselves. Some listened. Some thought he was mad. The war above drew closer, noises sharpened into chants and screams and the spray of gunfire. Then the sceptics promptly gathered their things and beat it down below. The guards didn¡¯t care to evacuate them. Left like sheep to the wolves, as if that would somehow sate them.

    ¡®One more floor!¡¯ Ariea said as they downed the stairway to Eighteen.

    Memphis scowled ¡®Can you not hear what I¡¯m hearing? Ariea, they are two minutes away. One more floor we won¡¯t get out.¡¯

    ¡®One more floor. Agloff¡­¡¯ Ariea said, because, for some reason, they seemed to look to him for leadership. Her face begged.

    Agloff looked between them. Their eyes were like daggers. He turned to Lady. He was ashamed either way. ¡®We go straight down,¡¯ he declared. But his voice was dearth of the authority they entrusted him with. One floor wasn¡¯t worth losing everything, was it? Ariea pounded a few steps ahead, skirting straight past the landing of Eighteen.

    ¡®Ariea, listen¡ª!¡¯

    She stopped and looked at him, and he extended an arm down the railing as he made to meet her. ¡®I¡¯m sorry, about every stupid thing I did, but¡­¡¯

    Her could hear her eyes roll. She laughed. ¡®We doing this now, Agloff? Really? You wanna go down, so let¡¯s go down. Leave those kids to the guards that really look out for them, huh? I am sure you are very, very sorry. But that doesn¡¯t make how I feel just go away. Nor does this.¡¯

    The descent was silent. They hit the landing of Fifty-Four, never more than a couple floors ahead of their pursuers. Agloff sensed the real battle would come below on floor Eighty, where Marty was setting his barricade. Agloff¡¯s legs began to cry, joints aching, but he pushed through the pain.

    The deeper they ran into the Underground, the denser the forest of soldiers they had to pick their way through. Half a dozen more of them galloped through an intersection splitting Agloff from the main plaza. Agloff ducked out of sight, into an alcove, his back against the cold pipes, and pulled the nearest person close to him. The five of them were pressed against each other. Ariea breath was heavy in Agloff¡¯s ears. She nodded ever so faintly when the way was clear.

    ¡®We need another way down!¡¯ she said, as quietly as she could manage. ¡®We can¡¯t get through them. They¡¯ve not found Agloff so they must be blocking off all the stairs.¡¯

    ¡®Why can¡¯t we go through them?¡¯ Memphis said.

    ¡®In case you haven¡¯t noticed, we have no weapons. You saying we wrestle them? I am in¡­ a dress, Memphis! And we have a kid with us.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m eight and three quarters,¡¯ snapped Lady. ¡®That¡¯s not a kid anymore.¡¯

    Ariea responded with a curt smile.

    ¡®We could find a weapon,¡¯ said Agloff.

    Ariea folded her arms. ¡®How we gonna do that?¡¯

    ¡®We get one alone. We can take one guy, the five of us.¡¯

    ¡®Worth a try?¡¯ said Merry.

    Ariea nodded.

    The main stairwell in the plaza was now deserted but for a pair of guards. Agloff nodded for them to take a right into the mess hall. To their advantage, the lights had been powered off, so their shadows couldn¡¯t betray them. They slipped between the tables, and out back through the kitchens.

    Agloff thought it best to stick to the perimeter, where the guards might have been scarcer. Agloff led them through the steam of the power and water hubs. He winced at the faintest creaking of metal, as the pressure adjusted all around them.

    There was a lift access to the side, but it was shielded by two more guards, shrouded in their white robes.

    Bang!

    The entire floor seemed to burst and the ceiling shook. A white light fizzled in Agloff¡¯s eyes. His ears rang. He leapt across the corridor, thinking the noise had exposed them, only to see the guards¡¯ backs turned. Smoke billowed from the lift. Two gunshots popped from its mist and the guards flopped to the ground.

    Agloff led the others, darting down a side alley and into a squat building, covered by the smoke. He pulled back the curtain drawn across a window and peered back towards the lift. A march of pilgrims flooded into the main walkway, clad in grey armour. They moved with a military precision Fall¡¯s men did not possess. Their rifles trained on every corner and sightline.

    Memphis hushed them along, leading the queue through the building, Agloff kept throwing wary glances back. They passed from square room to square room, punctuated by single-occupant desks, and Agloff realised they were in the school. How excited Lady must have been to see this before. Now, dark and deserted it was entirely sinister.

    Then, the line of a torch flashed through the rainbowed windows of the classroom and Agloff and the others ducked to the floor as one, crawling for safety.

    The door yawned open and a woman¡¯s breath rasped as she trod through the room, every step slow and deliberate. Agloff was sure she had seen them. She knocked on every door, every desk, as if playing with her food before she ate it. Agloff and Ariea lurked under the teacher¡¯s desk; Merry and Memphis behind a cabinet opposite.

    The pilgrim unsheathed her longsword.

    With a fell swoop, she yanked a curtain back and Lady screamed in its place. The pilgrim hacked at the fabric, as Lady dived sideways. She ducked a second blow and tumbled towards Memphis. Suddenly, all five of them stood face forward and the pilgrim looked a fraction less assured.

    Merry¡¯s eyes narrowed and she and Ariea charged for their enemy. Ariea stepped to Merry¡¯s side. It took a swing at Ariea. She lurched for the floor, snatched a knife from the pilgrim¡¯s boot. Merry occupied her sword. With a violent grunt, Ariea stuffed her blade at the enemy¡¯s calf and the pilgrim howled. Her blows became awkward and unrefined.

    Merry hurled herself onto a desk and clasped her legs across the woman, restraining her by the knees. Agloff and Memphis rushed to pin her still.

    With a knowing look, Ariea presented her blade at the side of her blood-stained dress. She drew breath and time slowed in its passing. Ariea thrust the blade between the pilgrim¡¯s ribs. At once, the body foundered to the ground, blood spilling between its lips.

    Merry watched with intensity as life left the woman¡¯s body. Together, she and Ariea panted, then turned to each other in adoration. They both smiled and then embraced the other tightly. Merry stooped to collect the pilgrim¡¯s longsword, guarding it behind her arm.

    Agloff waved for them to move the body out of sight and they ducked a second string of torchlights passing by the classroom window. The pilgrims seemed ignorant of their colleagues¡¯ demise. Agloff guided them onwards, and out the back of the school.

    A second raft of troops clattered down the corridor. The booms of grenades, and the racket of orders shook Agloff¡¯s ears. He surmised they were now in the heart of the battle, as Fall¡¯s defence faltered floor-by-floor. Winter was mowing through them like grass. Might Malvo Jask himself have been here, Agloff thought. He could only be tens of feet away. He might never know.

    Agloff led them left to another staircase, on the opposite side of the plaza from where they had come. It was marked off by red tape, but unoccupied. Agloff checked the way at least half a dozen times, before crossing the walkway to the stairwell. He waved furiously for them to follow.

    ¡®MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!¡¯

    A flurry of Fall¡¯s soldiers stormed the stairs. ¡®YOU! STAY THERE!¡¯ one commanded and two troops stopped off at the top of the landing.

    Agloff reached an arm to back his followers round the angle of the landing. The bulk of the troops marched passed. Their helmets blinded them to Agloff and the others behind the wall. He held his breath. He wanted to scream, as the tide of the day turned against him second-by-second.

    ¡®What are we meant to do now!¡¯ whispered Memphis.

    To Agloff¡¯s left, it was a dead end. To his right, the main plaza was a battleground. A volley of smoke, bullets and violent bangs. Each side slugging heavy blow against heavy blow.

    They had blocked the stairs. They had closed the lifts. There had to be another way down, thought Agloff. The Underground was a maze, but there had to be tunnels or passageways, perhaps maintenance access.

    Memphis repeated himself.

    ¡®Lemme think!¡¯ snapped Agloff. Then, it hit him. There was another way down, one Winter, and even Fall¡¯s guards wouldn¡¯t have known.

    ¡®Follow me!¡¯ he said, and Memphis cursed under his breath, but Agloff didn¡¯t have the time to share his great idea. He led them to the far end of the corridor, past a deserted checkpoint.

    Every floor was essentially the same he thought. They varied in detail, if not in structure. Agloff traced the way through his mental map of this place, vaguely formed in his mind¡¯s eye, to where he hoped their salvation lie in wait.

 Before Noon Chapter 13 | Half a Good Man

    Chapter Thirteen

    Half a Good Man

    Agloff stopped before a dead end. He batted away Memphis and Ariea¡¯s shouts that he was wasting time and extended a hand to the right side of the wall. He patted down against the panelling. It beeped, and the wall folded back on itself and, an unguarded lift awaited them.

    Agloff jumped inside. Merry, Memphis and Ariea followed bewilderedly.

    ¡®That¡¯s so cool!¡¯ exclaimed Lady.

    ¡®HEY!¡¯ A guard spotted them from the plaza, ran headfirst for the lift.

    ¡®EIGHTY! EIGHTY! EIGHTY!¡¯ Agloff yelled, spamming his hand against the cage¡¯s buttons and the panels shuttered back into place. The trill of the guard¡¯s shouts rang down the shaft.

    ¡®Fall¡¯s private lift,¡¯ Agloff said then, quietly smug. ¡®Marty showed it to me. Didn¡¯t think the guards would know about it.¡¯

    ¡®Genius!¡¯ said Merry.

    ¡®Coulda thought of that one thirty floors ago,¡¯ said Memphis, laughing.

    Agloff turned to Ariea. ¡®You okay?¡¯ She looked lost. She patted down her bob of hair and brushed the dust from her arms.

    She managed a faint smile. ¡®Yeah, I¡¯m okay. You did good.¡¯ Those last three words meant the world, even as they caught in her throat. The lift then beeped again, and the panels unfurled.

    Marty Naples stood in front of them. His face split into a wide smile and he stepped in to join them. He reached his arms around Agloff. Oxford and Alice Blue followed grimly behind, having traded their wedding wear for khaki boiler suits.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry about Miller, Oxford,¡¯ Alice whispered, her hand against his arm.

    Oxford nodded. ¡®Yeah. It¡¯s weird- you get so caught up, it doesn¡¯t occur to you what might be happening to the others. But if I knew Olivia Miller, it would have taken ten of those sons of bitches to send her to hell, and she would have dragged each of them right down with her.¡¯ Oxford bowed his head. ¡®Lieutenant.¡¯

    Agloff thought better than to say anything. He had met Miller only once, but he imagined she fought well at the barricade.

    Marty puffed his cheeks. ¡®One hundred!¡¯ The cage began to roll down the shaft once more. ¡®I assume you were at Eighty for me, right? Or¡­?¡¯

    Agloff nodded.

    ¡®Fall¡¯s summoned me, so I have to abandon the barricade.¡¯ Marty¡¯s face soured. He spat and cursed under his breath. ¡®It¡¯s an insult to those men and women. I should be up there with them.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯ve done all you could.¡¯ Agloff was determined for Marty to not blame himself. ¡®And why¡¯s Oxford here?¡¯

    ¡®Closest thing to a right-hand man I have. Fall¡¯s summoned his council, which means he expects the Underground to fall today. No one summoned Winter here. No one let them in. But Fall will suspect betrayal; he will point the blame anywhere but himself. And as his Keeper of War, I am the person most responsible for the Underground¡¯s defences.¡¯

    ¡®Oxford¡¯s your bodyguard then?¡¯

    ¡®If Fall gets sour grapes. I wouldn¡¯t dare to know Fall¡¯s mind right now. My best guess, he will have his men defend the barricade as long as they can, to give Fall time.¡¯ Marty chewed on his words. ¡®He will seal off the bulkhead at Eighty-Five, above Maintenance. Nothing in or out after that. And hide in the bunker to wait Winter out.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s abandoning everyone?¡¯ Agloff said, aghast.

    ¡®Does that surprise you? Because it wouldn¡¯t surprise me. His only thought will be his own survival. Fall can¡¯t look past his own arsehole when it comes to shitting over people.¡¯

    The wall folded into itself and opened into Jask¡¯s palace. It was silent. Agloff wondered if Fall¡¯s cooks and guards and house staff might have been dispatched to the battle above, even Osara, his handmaiden. Everyone was a sandbag between Fall and Winter¡¯s men.

    ¡®Alice, if you would.¡¯ Marty pointed to Agloff and the others. ¡®Take them down to the bunker but stay out of sight.¡¯ His face seemed to wither. ¡®I am sorry to all of you for what you¡¯ve had to go through. If there was another way, I¡­ Or if I could save more.¡¯ His head shrunk into his shoulders, consumed by half-spoken thoughts. ¡®Know the way?¡¯ he added.

    ¡®Oxford¡¯s told me.¡¯

    ¡®Marvellous.¡¯ Marty¡¯s joy was feigned. ¡®Oxford and I have an appointment with Fall. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡¯

    ¡®Marty¡ª¡¯ Agloff began.

    ¡®I promise.¡¯ Marty left Agloff with a knowing wink and headed with Oxford in tow toward the banquet hall. But that wink did not placate Agloff. He had had enough of being shunned. He would not allow Marty and Fall to debate his fate while he slipped below and accepted whatever they concocted.

    Agloff bounced from toe to toe as he walked, snapping at Alice¡¯s heels. The bride turned to her followers and warned them to follow in strict tones. Agloff¡¯s eyes traced Marty¡¯s shadow to a doorway opposite the hall that must have been Fall¡¯s council chamber.

    Now, he thought. Agloff span, darted the other direction, back across the landing as Alice took a staircase down. She shouted back with scolding cries, to come back at once, of how stupid he was. Ariea shouted something too but Agloff didn¡¯t listen.

    ¡®I know the way!¡¯ he called back. ¡®I¡¯ll catch up!¡¯ but he had no idea or care for if they heard. This was more important.

    Agloff stooped his back past the banquet table, snatched a knife up his sleeve and headed back into his bedchambers. He gathered the only personal belonging that meant anything to him- his mother¡¯s letter- and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. He then followed to where Marty had vanished and stared at Fall¡¯s barren doors. Agloff¡¯s focus narrowed. The door stared back at him temptingly and, in its gaze, he felt no time and all time. Every step in this cursed place was a movement towards Jask. In Marty and Fall, he sensed some great knowledge beyond him, stolen from him.

    Agloff held his face to the wood.

    ¡®¡ªShould we not just give the boy to Jask now?¡¯ a woman said. ¡®A good will gesture?¡¯

    ¡®The children are a good will gesture, Kellin,¡¯ Fall¡¯s voice said. ¡®Uppers are disposable. As they are every month. Ashborne must stay. He is everything.¡¯ Agloff could hear footsteps as one of them stood.

    ¡®I agree with the Governor,¡¯ Marty Naples said. ¡®Agloff is our chip.¡¯

    There was protracted silence and Agloff could hear the chime of footsteps circling. ¡®How did this happen!¡¯ Fall roared. ¡®The Underground is built to withstand everything.¡¯ Every syllable was fierce. Each word, an accusation. ¡®I was told this was a fortress. Impenetrable! I was told we could survive a siege for YEARS! Years! And they will reach us in an hour. The boy was a guarantee, that something like this never happen.¡¯

    Still, footsteps prowled. ¡®Naples,¡¯ Fall said softly. ¡®It was your idea to bring the boy. This was your doing, no?¡¯

    ¡®Governor. I concede I miscalculated¡ª underestimated the enemy¡¯s¡­ resolve.¡¯ Marty almost begged.

    ¡®I wanted a deterrent for Jask. You brought me a magnet.¡¯

    ¡®Governor, I sincerely¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Your defences were¡­ inadequate. A Confederate commander, you told me! Veteran of the Battle of Allgahar. You give me nothing.¡¯ Agloff heard a noise, like a cuffing across the cheek. But its victim stayed silent.

    ¡®Governor,¡¯ a fourth, more considered voice said. ¡®The Underground was built to withstand nuclear attack. It wasn¡¯t built to keep people out. There were a small number of men on the surface, Sir, but nothing that could have resisted a well-resourced militancy.¡¯

    Agloff could sense Fall¡¯s sneer. ¡®It hardly seems reasonable, Hornfell, to blame misfortune.¡¯

    ¡®I would do no such thing, Sir.¡¯ Agloff could sense the condemnation in Hornfell¡¯s voice, at Fall. ¡®This attack was not entirely premediated, Sir. We were simply¡­ under-resourced. If it were, I would have heard well in advance. My sources are well-placed, oft the very children you described.¡¯

    ¡®Not well enough,¡¯ Fall snarled.

    My Governor,¡¯ Hornfell said. ¡®With thanks to Naples¡¯ barricade and his promptness in suggesting we seal the bulkhead, it would allow us to undergo a siege. For years. Even without the solar array, we have a nuclear generator in Maintenance. We could¡­ do it, Sir.¡¯

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    ¡®He knows we have the boy,¡¯ said Fall, ignoring his counsellor. ¡®Why now? Jask would never take the risk. He would know the boy was at March Town. He would know he came here. So, why act knowing there¡¯s a risk we could kill the boy. He needs him alive, no?¡¯

    Marty spoke up. ¡®He also knows, My Governor, that were you to kill the boy, you would kill any leverage you have over him. It¡¯s a stalemate, Sir. Neither of you can act against the other.¡¯

    ¡®But he did act, and I repeat, what changed?¡¯ Fall¡¯s voice was obsessive, like he were hunting for any excuse.

    ¡®His brother¡¯s condition may have deteriorated, Sir, prompting Jask to act decisively. I hear he has had winged fever for some time.¡¯

    ¡®Jask¡¯s brother?¡¯ Fall pressed confusedly.

    ¡®No, Ashborne¡¯s.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s eyes flared and a shot of adrenaline pulsed towards his extremities. He nearly choked, then leaned harder into the door.

    How can I be immune to fever, if Eron has it? He¡¯s my twin.

    Marty¡¯s voice boomed. ¡®Why did you not tell me you had information on Eron, Hornfell?¡¯ he yelled.

    ¡®Calm yourself, Matthew,¡¯ said Hornfell. ¡®I am the Governor¡¯s Keeper of Secrets. My information is for no one but the Governor. Like my sources, I am merely its purveyor. I understand you¡¯re fond of the boy, but I trust you won¡¯t share what I may or may not have said with him.¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t guarantee it, Hornfell,¡¯ Marty growled.

    ¡®I want him brought here. Now!¡¯ Fall screamed. ¡®Get him!¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s not in his room, Sir,¡¯ said another voice. ¡®He hasn¡¯t been all evening. He went to that wedding on Two.¡¯

    The room crashed twice under Fall¡¯s fist and deathly silence followed. ¡®So, I¡¯m being told he could be anywhere in the Underground, right now?¡¯

    Silence.

    ¡®I want him found.¡¯ Fall tempered his voice. ¡®I want him brought here. We¡¯re going to Wilson.¡¯

    The door creaked on its hinges and Agloff shuffled back into the wall. It flung open and four men and two women flooded from the chamber, led by Fall¡¯s golden robes. Agloff waited for the party to pass before following.

    He watched their shadows dance across the walls in muted, frenzied discussion. But there was no one to eavesdrop. The steamy refuge of Maintenance had been purged. Its grey-boiler-suited workers banished to the war above. Even Fall¡¯s personal guard must have been scattered. It looked different, somehow. The lights had been dimmed to a faint gold. They cast shapes that seemed almost living. Like they were judging him.

    Four floors later, Agloff stopped at the far end of the corridor to Wilson. The way was dark, and the air dead. Guided by an outstretched palm, Agloff brandished his knife in the other. If Marty knew Fall was coming here, why would he have sent Alice and the others here too? Fall would never allow that.

    Unless Marty planned for one party to be disposed of.

    The grating chattered beneath Agloff¡¯s feet, but he knew there was no chance of anyone hearing. He stopped at the door and fumbled for the lock in the wisps of light cast from the stairway behind. He muttered the code to himself, ¡®1-9-0-5-1-2¡¯, as he saw Marty enter it before.

    Agloff waited a while before he turned the handle, occupied by a heady dread. Then, he hauled it down. The door swung open, and a shaft of light fell onto a dozen figures below the steps. Heads swung in his direction, and he felt each stare cut through him. Ariea¡¯s cut deeper than most.

    They were parted into two. Fall amongst his councillors on one side. Alice and Oxford marked Merry, Memphis, Lady and Ariea on the other. Merry¡¯s longsword was still clasped between her shaking hands.

    Marty Naples stood between them all. The folds of his eyes narrowed at Agloff, but he said nothing. Agloff could sense their disdain.

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯ exclaimed Fall. He reached out an arm with a practiced smile between his cheeks. ¡®My boy, you¡¯re here. Come.¡¯

    Agloff extended his blade at the Governor.

    Fall¡¯s smile shirked into a snarl. He reached a hand to his robe and produced a golden revolver.

    ¡®Come,¡¯ Fall repeated, and he gestured the gun.

    In his lapse, Marty stuffed a hand to his pocket and before Fall could turn back, his and Oxford¡¯s weapons were trained on the Governor.

    Still, Agloff did nothing.

    ¡®Miss Finland,¡¯ said Fall. Ariea looked from Fall to Agloff. She waited for his intervention. But it didn¡¯t come. And then she shuffled to Fall¡¯s side, the end of his weapon prodded into her waist, and looked at Agloff again.

    ¡®We lost today, Norm,¡¯ Marty said, lowering his arm to Fall. ¡®But you can just walk away. You get in a pod, pick a random day. Wake up and walk away. No one else has to die. Too many. Far too many. Let the girl go.¡¯

    ¡®I just want the boy. I need him. Can¡¯t you see that, Naples?¡¯ Fall¡¯s stare wandered to Agloff again. His hand twitched against Ariea. His voice faint as air. ¡®Please.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s legs carried him, step-by-step, down and into the chamber.

    The corners of Fall¡¯s lips writhed in a pained smile. Agloff looked for a long time at Ariea. Her eyes said nothing, but her hand reached to her pocket, and Agloff saw the glint of the tip of her blade.

    Suddenly, Ariea yelled. Her narrow fingers scrabbled for Fall¡¯s arm and her teeth sank into his flesh. She shrieked, dropped, and the blade from her pocket flashed across the Governor¡¯s knee. Fall lurched backwards, tumbling.

    Agloff leapt for Ariea, but a hand clutched at his waist. He couldn¡¯t see. He grabbed Ariea¡¯s knife, then thrashed it back. Each blow, the enemy¡¯s grip slackened.

    The arm fell and Agloff gathered Ariea from the floor and turned. Behind him, a woman spluttered blood where he had lashed blows at her gut. Agloff dropped the knife and his first thought was to make sure she was alright. Ariea held him back.

    Fall struggled to his good knee, laughing. There was no poise in his movements. He turned to his downed colleague who begged silently and pointed the gold-laced gun between her eyes and ended her.

    Agloff flinched, but still Ariea held him back. Two more of his councillors watched behind Fall in horror. He turned to them next, growled embittered curses under his breath. In the last second, they seemed to realise. Two more shots lashed the air and their bodies hit the ground in a pair of dull thuds.

    Fall mumbled. ¡®I just need the boy,¡¯ he repeated after a long pause.

    Marty waved his arms in exasperation. His sleepless face strained, and he raised his own firearm to Fall.

    ¡®This is how you want our work to end?¡¯ Fall pleaded. ¡®A decade of work. All of us here: we made the Underground something great.¡¯ He clenched his bloody fist. ¡®A civilisation in and of itself. Something Malvo Jask dare not touch. And you¡¯re tearing it down.¡¯

    Marty looked at the bodies behind Fall. The lines in his skin seemed to ache. ¡®Norm,¡¯ he whispered. ¡®Don¡¯t kid yourself, please. On tonight, he¡¯ll be wishing he didn¡¯t try sooner. We were undermanned, Norm. Unprepared. Do you think Jask stayed away because he feared the Underground?¡¯ Marty scoffed. ¡®You¡¯ve convinced yourself that¡¯s the truth. But really, we¡¯ve just been bribing him to stay away.¡¯ Oxford¡¯s heads sunk into his shoulders. He knew what Marty meant, as Memphis had known.

    The lie of the Underground.

    Agloff bit his lip. His only hope was that Marty might have been ashamed. He was as complicit as Fall. His plot didn¡¯t excuse that, Agloff supposed. This was the man Ariea had always seen.

    How readily he had deserted the barricade on Eighty and answered Fall¡¯s cowardly summons, in the face of all the lives lost. It was duty before morality. Marty would have said it was for the greater good. But he was only half a good man.

    ¡®Jask never had reason to waste men and women on us,¡¯ Marty said. ¡®We gave him the kids, he got what he wanted. It was only because of Agloff that he came. He stayed away because we were beneath him. That¡¯s the truth.¡¯

    ¡®And it was your idea to bring him,¡¯ Fall said manically. ¡®This is your fault.¡¯

    ¡®That was my mistake,¡¯ Marty conceded. ¡®But we killed thousands today, Norm. We did.¡¯

    ¡®Enough,¡¯ Fall snapped, his face reddening. ¡®I was a finer man than you, Naples. Respected during the war. Happenstance brought me here, and I made something of it! You came to me a wreck, from that dead end. I made you. Me!¡¯

    ¡®You were the finer man,¡¯ Marty repeated. Fall straightened his back. Marty lowered his gun a fraction. ¡®But look at us now. So far deep we¡¯re holding hands with hell already.¡¯

    Fall chuckled. ¡®You¡¯re right; I¡¯m selfish. If I can¡¯t have the boy¡­ Who can?¡¯

    He rolled on his heels and the golden gun swivelled from Marty to Agloff.

    Agloff¡¯s impulse to run never came. His legs turned to sticks of wax. Then, Fall¡¯s finger tightened across the trigger and Agloff felt the world give way from under him.

    For the most imperceptible moment, nothing happened. Time became timelessness and Agloff took an age to fall. Then his shoulder crashed against the concrete. He saw the black of his tuxedo smeared maroon at his shoulder and a neat hole torn through the seam.

    Energy drained from him, as surely as his blood soaked the concrete. Was this what dying felt like, he thought. He knew it hurt, but his body shunted the pain into a throbbing numbness that he was scarce aware of. He forced his eyes open on stalks.

    Then came a second shot; deader than the first as Agloff¡¯s ears rang like bells.

    Agloff¡¯s head flopped to the side.

    Marty fell to the ground as Agloff had, his fingers outstretched. A line of blood cut through his insides like a dagger. Screams rang round them and Agloff¡¯s friends froze into inaction. Fall just laughed. But it was a defeated laugh. A spiteful laugh. He knew what was going to happen next.

    A final shot came, and Fall faltered to the ground in eccentric motions. Agloff rolled over and saw the fizzle of smoke at the end of Oxford¡¯s gun.

    Agloff turned again and Marty¡¯s lips were pressed to his ear. The old man fought on scarce breaths.

    ¡®I am proud,¡¯ he panted. ¡®Eron¡­ alive. Fort¡­ Wilder.¡¯ The old man¡¯s face slackened, calmed at last. The ghosts in his ringed eyes faded from this world, onto the next.

    Agloff screamed. It couldn¡¯t have happened. It couldn¡¯t have happened. But here it had, like a waking nightmare, Marty Naples was gone. Surely the world was over now.

    Agloff wanted to reach for Marty¡¯s body, but his limbs were pegged down as shadowed faces encircled his vision. Ariea¡¯s palms pressed against his wound. She was still in her neat, silver dress, he in his tuxedo leant by the man beside him. This notion amused his riddled brain somehow. He was numb to everything but Ariea¡¯s hands pressing down against him. He felt reassured in its pain.

    ¡®Sorry!¡¯ she exclaimed, but Agloff didn¡¯t care. He was grateful they were all there. Oxford cleaved his sleeve into a tourniquet.

    Agloff tried to move but Ariea shushed him, moving the backs of her fingers across his cheek.

    ¡®Stay still,¡¯ she said. ¡®You¡¯re such an idiot. Don¡¯t think you¡¯re getting away that easily,¡¯ she said, her words punctuated by timid laughter. ¡®There.¡¯ She tightened the tourniquet across his arm. ¡®Now you owe me twice.¡¯

    Agloff stuttered. ¡®I¡­¡¯ he whispered weakly.

    Ariea placed a finger to his lips. ¡®You¡¯ll ruin the moment.¡¯ She smiled, cradled his cheek in her palm.

    He flickered between consciousness and half a dream. He felt two pairs of hands guide him to his feet but all he wanted to do was stumble and fall back down.

    Rest, he thought. Yes, rest. Agloff did not resist though. The arms guided him up the steps and into one of the pods. He heard a hissing sound as belts tightened across his body. He looked out to see Ariea, Oxford, Alice, Memphis, Merry and Lady staring back at him while Marty and Fall lay at right angles to each other, limbs splayed and lifeless. Oxford lowered himself to Marty, gently kissed his forehead and straightened the streaks of greying-blonde hair.

    ¡®Whatever you thought of him,¡¯ Oxford said to the room. Agloff caught him bow his head to mask the sheen of his eyes. ¡®He tried to be good.¡¯ He raised Marty¡¯s body into an empty pod, drew the shield across and left him to stand guard forever, as their protector. ¡®Today was a real shit day,¡¯ Oxford whispered.

    ¡®Will the machine heal Agloff?¡¯ Ariea asked then.

    His voice fractured. ¡®No. He will need tending to when we wake. He will be just as weak as he is now, worse potentially.¡¯

    ¡®And what about Winter?¡¯

    ¡®There¡¯s no way through the bulkhead,¡¯ replied Oxford firmly. ¡®Winter¡¯ll have to wait it out.¡¯

    Agloff heard Oxford give Alice a kiss, and each said, ¡®I love you.¡¯ One-by-one, each of them then strapped into their pods, hoping the world might somehow transform from the one they occupied now.

    ¡®Wilson,¡¯ Oxford called, muffled through the glass of his pod.

    ¡®Special Operative,¡¯ Wilson acknowledged.

    ¡®Wake us when it¡¯s safe.¡¯ The pods hissed and Agloff could feel a numbness rising up through him from below, and the pain in his shoulder deaden, as the pod began to fill with some strange fluid.

    ¡®Certainly, Oxford.¡¯

    ¡®However long that may be.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 14 | Hopeless, Forsaken and Forlorn

    Chapter Fourteen

    Hopeless, Forsaken and Forlorn

    Thawn lowered his head within the confessional.

    ¡®Why did you always make us sit in here?¡¯ he asked Jaho then.

    ¡®What are we, Thawn, without our traditions? After all, did you not come here to confess, pilgrim? We are ancient creatures, and Winter¡¯s last remnants, long disregarded by the Sign of the Tondrus.¡¯ She sighed deeply. ¡®They won the war against the machines because of us. Our soldiers. We fought their battles. They are living, festering inside humanity, because of us. Their once-forgotten aims and fancies are now within reach, because of us.¡¯

    ¡®Time moved on.¡¯

    ¡®Perhaps. We are both at the end of an exceptionally long life, millennia, Thawn. I would not have it conclude with Winter a mere memory.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s Jask¡¯s memory now. It has been a long time.¡¯

    ¡®The cult Jask created in our name is no Winter of mine. Winter lives so long as we live. So yes, we indulge in tradition. We confess in confession, and not over my desk. Begin, if you would.¡¯

    Thawn paused. The walls of the box closed in around him and he allowed his mind to flitter back through millennia.

    *

    Thousands of years ago, Thawn had been compelled to guard the tomb of the Patent Erebus in the desert for eight decades. Tomb though, in this case, may be an inaccurate assessment, as tombs tended only to house the dead.

    The sun burst free of the horizon of the planet of Forlorn. It bloomed into the desert sky and Thawn rose with a start. He looked down at Malvo Jask, still sleeping. His handsome features were untouched by their decades of servitude.

    Thawn pushed him awake and Jask groaned. ¡®You¡¯re a dick.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, I¡¯m sorry, were you having a nice dream?¡¯

    ¡®You know, I was, it was the best¡­ because you weren¡¯t there,¡¯ said Jask, pointing at Thawn like he were half-drunk.

    Thawn pushed Jask a second time. ¡®Oh, sure. Shut up.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t have to apologise by the way, for last night. I know you try your best.¡¯ Jask rolled across his blanket and kissed Thawn where his neck met his shoulder.

    ¡®Wha¡ª Oh. Now who¡¯s the dick.¡¯ Thawn grabbed a fistful of sand and flung it at Jask.

    Jask narrowed his eyes up at the sky. ¡®No, no, I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s still you.¡¯

    Thawn huffed. He stood, scooping his tunic from the desert. With his other hand, he traced a finger across the lines in his chest, where his flesh had been fissured and fused together again, when he was an infant.

    Thawn and Jask were ¡®augmented¡¯: unable to fail, unable to wound, unable to die. Engineered from conception and hard-wired through childhood to live without cost.

    Jask reached a hand across Thawn¡¯s shoulder and kissed him a second time. ¡®We should get going,¡¯ he said. ¡®Drop at the Tower is still a day away.¡¯

    Thawn nodded, stooping to bag up his belongings and gather his armour, lazily piecing it together across his body.

    Last to be packaged was the revolver. They shared it between them. It was all they had been given when the Sign of the Tondrus dumped them there. Winter¡¯s pilgrims, the augmented, were notoriously hard to kill, so the Sign had the grace to impart to them a revolver with two shots in the chamber, laced in a very particular toxin, should the toll of their isolation exceed their wits. They dreaded carrying it, like the handle itself was poison.

    ¡®Your turn today,¡¯ Jask said. Thawn obliged, stuffing the revolver into his holster. He then tightened his boot straps and led Jask down the way. The passage to the Tower was a ravine, banked on either side by dunes that guarded against the dawn and twilight sun.

    ¡®We haven¡¯t properly talked about it yet.¡¯ Jask said, several miles hence. ¡®Erebus, the child: it never got past the moonwater before.¡¯

    Thawn shrugged, not meeting his eye. ¡®There¡¯s nothing to talk about,¡¯ he said. ¡®It happened. He did. He got out the cradle.¡¯ He dragged his bag across his shoulder and marched ahead. ¡®We got sloppy. Let¡¯s just focus on getting to the drop.¡¯

    ¡®But the moonwater¡­¡¯

    ¡®Inhibits lower brain function,¡¯ Thawn said irritably, as if Jask should already know. ¡®Not the networker. The Patent, the machine, took control of the kid.¡¯

    ¡®But it¡¯s still never happened before.¡¯

    ¡®We never left it alone in the moonwater this long before. Like I said¡­ sloppy. We can only bury the machine so deep in the kid¡¯s subconscious.¡¯

    ¡®Doesn¡¯t help we augment them either. No wonder he smashed his way out that thing.¡¯

    ¡®Would you prefer we use one augmented kid to imprison Erebus or go through a dozen norms?¡¯ Thawn rebuked. Jask and Thawn had agreed on the strategy together after all, and he had never offered a hint of contempt before. They had always made the children the Sign provided like them: stronger, better, immune to the disease of aging.

    ¡®Does it really never bother you?¡¯ Thawn could tell Jask had stopped walking. He turned. ¡®When we lock the machine in those kids¡¯ heads?¡¯

    Thawn said nothing for a time. He hid in his armour. ¡®Not our job. We¡¯re just here to guard it and follow orders from Command.¡¯

    ¡®Lazy excuse, Abba, but it¡¯s not like we could even do that well,¡¯ Jask quipped. ¡®What kind of fucked-up system imprisons a Patent this way?¡¯

    ¡®Children¡¯s minds are more versatile, so I¡¯ve heard. Easier to incapacitate the machine. I always thought you were a true patriot? A man of the Sign, committed without question. In some circles, that tone is treason.¡¯

    ¡®Lucky I¡¯m with you then. I am committed to Winter¡­ in its entirety,¡¯ Jask said. ¡®But in my mind, Winter and the Sign are two different things.¡¯

    Thawn rolled his eyes. They were questions they had asked of each other a thousand times before. Questions he had immunised himself against, even if Jask hadn¡¯t. But all that mattered was the kid got out, and one of the Nine Patents was loose. Erebus was an AI, captured as a token of the Sign¡¯s victory in the war against its brothers and sisters and enslaved in the mind of a child for eternity, cut off from her kin.

    The Sign of the Tondrus were an ancient and pompous race. Bureaucrats. But an unending war with the Patent machines changed them into something darker. Their first religion, the Church of Winter, became a military church, emboldened by super-soldiers and monsters, the work of genetic experimentation. When the war drew to its twilight, these pilgrims became shameful reminders. They were hunted, executed, and banished from history, save for a handful. Thawn and Jask¡¯s renown earned them a particularly unenviable task.

    It was meant to be an easy job, guarding Erebus. But the kid had got out, and if it got back to the Sign they had failed, it would mean death. That was why they had to get to the Tower before their annual supply drop. Surely that was all that mattered. Getting there, getting the shuttle, and getting off-world. That was the plan. They could philosophise later.

    ¡®There really no chance of finding her ourselves?¡¯ Jask said, another mile later. Thawn was sure he knew it was a redundant point, but he asked it anyway.

    He stuffed a hand into his pocket and tossed a clip of circuitry at Jask. ¡®She tore off her transponder at the burial site. So, unless you¡¯re telepathic, no. She¡¯s somewhere under all this and had hours¡¯ head start when we were sleeping. There¡¯s tunnels for weeks. No chance.¡¯

    ¡®So, we go to the drop?¡¯ Jask said, defeated. ¡®Did it really have to be so far?¡¯

    ¡®We go to the drop. Patents won¡¯t be far behind us, mind. She lit the whole station up like a firework. They¡¯ll be coming for her, Sign too.¡¯

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡®Good job Forlorn¡¯s a world in the middle of nowhere then.¡¯

    Thawn scoffed. ¡®It¡¯s lucky for us, but where else would you hide a Patent when you catch one? The Sign razed a whole civilisation just to bury her here.¡¯

    Jask said nothing, apparently content with Thawn¡¯s rebuttal.

    Thawn and Jask plodded through the sand in silence, toward the growing blot of the Tower. Once, Thawn and Jask were the most feared legionnaires in the Sign¡¯s ranks. There were days when they stormed the gates of the Patent camps, banners aloft, an army at their heel and topple their metallic cannon fodder in an afternoon. They liberated thousands (and no one ever escaped the Patents camps).

    But the politics of a people who had wanted to forget the lengths they went to win the war against the machines meant Winter was now a shameful reminder. One the Sign needed to wash its hands of, along with the rest of its experiments.

    ¡®What about after?¡¯ Jask asked then, as the sun began its lonely march towards the horizon.

    ¡®After?¡¯

    ¡®After we take the shuttle. And we leave Forlorn.¡¯

    ¡®I hadn¡¯t really thought about it,¡¯ Thawn lied. ¡®Somewhere damn far away from the Sign.¡¯

    ¡®Fuck ¡®em,¡¯ Jask said. ¡®We¡¯ll find a little backwater somewhere. Build a farm, raise some weird-looking animals with tentacles or horns. Then, get fat, and¡­ maybe get old.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯d be waiting a while,¡¯ Thawn remarked. As the scars of his natal surgeries had not healed, so too his body had refused to age a day in centuries. He suspected it never would, no matter how long they waited.

    ¡®You know what I mean,¡¯ Jask protested.

    Thawn laughed. He almost smiled. ¡®Sounds good.¡¯ He never allowed himself to dream. That tended to be Jask¡¯s job; he was the ¡®romantic¡¯ one. ¡®Can you imagine if Jaho heard us now?¡¯ he added.

    ¡®That witch would throw up,¡¯ said Jask. He paused. ¡®If we fail, shoot me.¡¯ His voice was blunt. ¡®I am not going Devil¡¯s End. Not for a single day. I¡¯ve spent enough time in hell already. The nightmares the minders told us about as children; I¡¯m not waiting to see if they¡¯re real.¡¯

    Thawn nodded, holding out a hand to Jask. It eased him.

    ¡®We¡¯re leaving,¡¯ Thawn said. ¡®We¡¯re leaving.¡¯

    The Tower loomed, with the sun now caught behind it. They walked on in the strip of its shadow stretching infinitely past them, welcome for its relief. The dunes began to slacken to a plateau and the Tower became the only feature to distinguish this way from that.

    The Tower was a nondescript stack of sand-coloured brick. It was older than them certainly. Its lonesome spire arrowed towards the heavens, marking their only interface with the wider universe. For Thawn, it was like being reunited with an old friend.

    ¡®After you,¡¯ Jask said, extending an arm to bear the Tower door for Thawn. Thawn entered into the cool embrace of the windowless spire. The desert wind strained and whistled through the cracks to punctuate their ascent.

    ¡®We got about an hour,¡¯ Jask called up. Thawn then studied the tainted pistol from his hip. ¡®Reckon you can take out the shuttle in two shots?¡¯

    ¡®You know full well I can do it in one.¡¯

    ¡®I was just giving you a chance to be modest.¡¯

    Thawn smiled. They reached the summit and dispersed onto a wide balcony overlooking the dunes, now faded into moonlit waves. Thawn looked up. He watched the sky succumb to darker hues, reacquainting himself a final time with the stars whose configuration he had become so familiar with.

    He then felt a nudge to his waist and saw Jask gesturing a finger towards the sky. One of those stars was pulsing, shifting across the darkness. Blinking lights lowered towards them, smearing a patch of night in wisps of white smoke, spiralling in helices as the shuttle blasted down towards the platform.

    Thawn held a hand over his hip and the magnetised grip bound the revolver to his palm. Like howling wolves, the engines boomed over them. The night wind scattered. A reticule flashed upon the inside of Thawn¡¯s helmet as he arced his weapon towards the sky.

    Counting his breaths, Thawn lined the nozzle, against the whitish-blue glare of its engines, then squeezed the trigger.

    Thawn¡¯s arm kicked back into his shoulder and the turbine burst into flame. The shuttle twirled and danced towards the ground in broken spirals, tracing a trail of smoke. Sparks showered in concentric cascades. Wounded but not incapacitated.

    He looked at Jask. A blast of alien laser fire ripped past them and the shuttle burst in its descent like a firework. The desert floor flashed alight. Diving to his knees, Thawn lunged for Jask, but felt his leg pinned to the ground by a dead thud. He screamed. A hunk of metal punctured his shin.

    Thawn forced calmness upon himself. Just like he had been trained. He counted his heartbeat back to normality and reached an arm across his back. He bit his lip, screamed a second time, then tore it free with an almighty tug. Paralysed, Thawn extended a hand to Jask, who was flat against the platform.

    The darkness trembled and a second ship tumbled down, many times the size of the shuttle it had just destroyed. It purred, and the sand around them whipped into towering vortices. All sense of direction was lost.

    Thawn compelled calm again, muted the pain beyond awareness. The ship made no further movement: no gesture, no threat.

    Then the platform shook. Thawn felt Jask¡¯s grip loosen. The vortex diminished and Thawn could see once more. A jagged shard of debris sheared Jask¡¯s breast into two. His tepid eyes begged. But Thawn could offer no reassurance.

    Wordlessly, Jask tumbled into the flaming embrace of the desert. He couldn¡¯t survive that. He couldn¡¯t. Surely.

    Thawn screamed. How foolish! How stupid they were to believe!

    The dream was dead five hundred feet beneath him on the desert floor. He begged the world to end, but somehow it kept on existing. He looked upon their destroyer. A wide shroud of black, less than shadow.

    A second blast lit the sky in crimson laser fire, and Thawn drew his hands together, waiting for death¡¯s mercy. The sensation was calming. He need not force it this time. He listened to the shrill ringing of his eardrums and waited for the Tower to give way from beneath him, then fell towards Malvo Jask.

    *

    ¡®MAL!¡¯ Thawn¡¯s eyes burst open into a darkened chamber. His wrists were bound and bruised. The more he wrestled in his restraints, they tighter they choked his joints.

    He scanned his surroundings for a hint of his whereabouts. A gurney rested under a narrow spot lamp beside him, next to a compliment of surgical tools.

    A door across the suite fell open, and a figure glided towards Thawn, as if it were rolling on wheels. A machine stood before him, the mechanical conduits of the Patents¡¯ will. It was almost human in shape, but its details were marked by rivets and patterns, the lines and bolts of its armour casing. The eyes shone an angry red, yet its expression was quite calm.

    ¡®I regret your colleague is dead in the desert,¡¯ it said blankly.

    Thawn growled, reduced to some primal animal. His arms bulged against the weight of his binders. Thoughts deserted him. No tears welled in his eyes.

    ¡®How did I survive?¡¯ he said.

    The Patent half-laughed. ¡®We¡­ revived you. Abbadiah Thawn, is it?¡¯ The Patent unfurled its spindly fingers to dangle Thawn¡¯s dog tags. ¡®I recollect we suffered greatly at your hand. Ironic that we are your salvation.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not exactly grateful.¡¯ Thawn swallowed his grief, occupied by his restraints. The machine sighed, raising a lazy wrist and the binders clutching Thawn unclicked. The pilgrim fell to his knees.

    ¡®Your augmentation made the feat easier, I admit. We owe you a great debt, pilgrim,¡¯ it continued.

    ¡®Oh?¡¯

    ¡®Your failure has made Erebus scarce. And now we have a chance to recover her.¡¯

    ¡®You heard that?¡¯

    ¡®She made it hard to miss,¡¯ the Patent said.

    Thawn rubbed his reddened wrists. ¡®And what¡¯s that got to do with me?¡¯

    ¡®We need to find Erebus and your particular skillset is well-attuned.¡¯

    ¡®Use a sentry,¡¯ Thawn said. ¡®It¡¯s what they¡¯re for.¡¯ Whatever Thawn, and Jask¡¯s festered resentments towards the Sign, he could not stoop to becoming the Patents¡¯ grunt. Surely.

    ¡®Regrettably, even encased in the mind of a child, Erebus would be able to exert a certain influence over our kind. They recognise her. They would¡­ respond to her. She could elude capture again. In any case, we must regress and rebuild. War is a crippling business.¡¯

    Thawn looked down at himself, in this deathly place. ¡®You and me both,¡¯ he quipped. ¡®Why wouldn¡¯t he come willingly?¡¯

    The Patent paused. ¡®He is ill, damaged, but one of us all the same. And shock you though it might, the Patents have a remarkable sense of kinship. He deserves to be with us.¡¯

    Thawn wished so desperately to hear what Malvo Jask might have said now. What he would give for a few more minutes beside him. Truthfully, Thawn wanted to give up and surrender all agency. To show his weakness for once. Jask would have said grab a scalpel and cut the bastards down till they were dead, or he was. But there was no way out of this one.

    ¡®Whilst reluctant to put our faith in flesh, sometimes it must be done,¡¯ the Patent continued. ¡®No doubt the Patent will fall back into the Sign¡¯s hands. You understand the Sign as a part of them. There is no finer candidate.¡¯

    ¡®Why would I do that? What if I refuse?¡¯

    The Patent was unmoved. ¡®Then we will put you back where we found you, in the state we found you. But you don¡¯t want that.¡¯

    How dare a machine pretend to tell me how I think. Thawn wanted to scream. How dare a mere machine pretend to know him.

    ¡®Consider this an escape.¡¯ The machine prowled to where Thawn rested on his knees. ¡®From the Sign. From the war. From everything. You know if you return to them the Sign will execute you, don¡¯t you? But imagine you could retire somewhere quiet.¡¯

    Thawn spat but didn¡¯t say anything. He kicked back on his heels and leant against the board that had restrained him.

    What do I have to do?¡¯ He avoided the Patent¡¯s infinite stare.

    It knelt beside him. ¡®Find her.¡¯

    ¡®How? She could be anyone. The Sign could hide her anywhere. In the darkest, slimiest crack of some insignificant little moon.¡¯

    The Patent laughed if it could be called that. ¡®However you want. How isn¡¯t our concern,¡¯ it added to silence Thawn as he opened his mouth. ¡®I trust your ingenuity and resourcefulness.¡¯

    ¡®Aren¡¯t you sending me back to Forlorn?¡¯

    ¡®I think not. We are of no doubt the Sign are already on their way. Better to wait it out, I think. I am sure an opportunity will present itself to a man of your talents.¡¯

    ¡®I could restart the war, end the war, if I tell them where you are.¡¯

    ¡®Hm.¡¯ It smirked. ¡®You could. That you could. But you won¡¯t. They¡¯ve taken too much from you for you to give anything back. You¡¯re as bitter and spiteful as any man. The lonest of wolves.¡¯

    The Patent glided across the chamber and gestured a tubular holding cell, which slid open, and he directed for Thawn to enter. Forsaken and forlorn, Thawn obliged in silence. He returned to his armour and let the narrow walls press against him.

    He thought then he might accomplish his mission and find his backwater. Farm a piece of land, just as Jask had wanted. Raise a herd of something or other. He would do it for Mal. Not for the Patents. Certainly not for the Sign. Nothing else mattered anymore. What purpose had he but this?

    ¡®How long will I be out?¡¯

    ¡®A long time,¡¯ Inartus said blankly. ¡®We¡¯ll set you drifting, until such time as we have a fix on Erebus¡¯ location. You do us a great service, soldier. Your part in our enterprise might just end this forsaken war.¡¯

    The pod hissed in fits of smoke, then an icy glaze came over Thawn, as a terrible weight pulled him towards sleep. His final thought was of Mal, how desperately he loved him, how desperately he missed him, how desperately he hoped he was dead.

    If he was alive down there, all alone, it was enough to drive any man to insanity. What if he awoke and saw Thawn wasn¡¯t there? What if he blamed Thawn?

    That was his final thought as all sense of place and time left him.

 Before Noon Chapter 15 | The Ascent

    Chapter Fifteen

    The Ascent

    Ariea¡¯s ears churned and the world came into a dizzy focus. She looked down and liquid filtered away beneath her, into the recesses of the chamber. The pod swung open and she staggered out drunkenly, vomiting against the concrete. Her body was soaked and freezing.

    It all came rushing back: Fall, Marty, Agloff, Winter. All of it. A panic gripped her. Her breath ran ragged and she recoiled onto her backside. It felt both the two minutes of waking time ago that it was, and a thousand lifetimes away all at once. A moment later, the pods whirred again, and Oxford, Merry and Memphis all staggered down from their guardians. Oxford lumbered towards Ariea.

    ¡®Hey,¡¯ she said, her teeth chattering. ¡®At least Winter never got in. We know that.¡¯

    ¡®How are you?¡¯ Merry asked with a shiver.

    ¡®Had better days,¡¯ Ariea jested, rubbing her sleeveless arms. ¡®Does it feel like a long time to you?¡¯ She gazed into the darkness, her eyes slowly adjusting.

    ¡®Check!¡¯ Oxford called from down the way, tossing a torch from one of his pockets towards them.

    Ariea clicked it on. Instantly, it fell, rolling down the concrete as she snatched her hands across her mouth to stop herself from screaming. The bones of Governor Fall and his advisors were splayed across the floor, resting atop the spot where their blood still stained the concrete.

    She turned next to Marty Naples. His body sat behind her. His weary features rested just beyond life. Ariea was not sure how she should feel when she saw him there. A part of her was grateful he was gone. Most of the time he had terrified her, his outbursts, mania, born of lifelong pain, and his immutable obsession with Agloff. But every so often, he would arrive at their home, gentle-souled and mild-mannered, smiling from ear to ear. For all of it, she wished only that she had known him better.

    Ariea then extended an arm towards Agloff¡¯s pod, but Oxford told her to stand back. He clicked it open and Agloff faltered into Oxford¡¯s arms. Ariea yelped.

    Agloff was set down and footsteps rushed to him. Urgent voices around Ariea melded into white noise. She turned her gaze to the back wall. She could not look. She must not look. Oxford cried something and she could hear him tear at Agloff¡¯s shirt, stripping his chest bare.

    Someone called Ariea¡¯s name and she winced in reply. A hand guided her towards Agloff¡¯s head. She was ordered to support it while the hand pushed a jacket beneath his greasy hair for a pillow. Agloff¡¯s muscles had atrophied in their non-use. The wound on his arm was no less ripe than the day they entered the pod.

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ he mouthed, unable to muster anything beyond silence. Ariea lowered her face to Agloff¡¯s, where the contours of his skull were visible through his skin. She cupped his hand in her own and played at his knuckles. ¡®Sorry,¡¯ it whispered.

    ¡®We shouldn¡¯t have put him in so weak,¡¯ Oxford said. ¡®If it had been much longer, he would have died. Lucky we woke up when we did.¡¯

    Merry, suddenly pale, struggled for words. ¡®Well, how much longer?¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s presence was drained of all life, but the final blow.

    Oxford held out a hand to his shoulder. ¡®A couple of hours, then we need to go. We¡¯ll all be dehydrated. It¡¯ll kick in soon.¡¯

    Ariea tilted her head. ¡®Won¡¯t it be swimming with pilgrims?¡¯ she blurted.

    ¡®Nah. Look how long we¡¯ve been here.¡¯ He gestured Fall¡¯s remains. ¡®They¡¯ll have left a long, long ago. I told Wilson to wake us when it was safe.¡¯

    ¡®How long?¡¯ Ariea asked, afraid for the answer.

    Oxford marched to a peculiar black box that flickered. ¡®Wilson,¡¯ he said, clapping his hands and the box hummed into a faint sort of life.

    ¡®Uranium power reserves have been depleted, Operative Blue. To have preserved you longer risked a high probability of pod failure. My own internal power supply should remain functional for several further decades.¡¯

    Oxford hesitated. ¡®How long were we in there?¡¯ he asked.

    ¡®Eight hundred and eight years, three months and twenty days,¡¯ the machine said nonchalantly.

    A thousand thoughts crammed themselves into Ariea¡¯s head and she found herself unable to focus on any single one. Her grip on Agloff¡¯s fingers loosened. It couldn¡¯t have been. How could it have been. Ariea felt like she may suffocate. The well of dread at the foot of her stomach swelled to a peak like she might have been sick again.

    ¡®Bloody hell,¡¯ Oxford said faintly. ¡®That¡¯s my whole life. Just gone.¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s mind raced from thought to thought. Did Winter even exist now? Had the Confederacy returned to occupy the Colony? Or were they still blossoming across the stars, too ashamed to return? Perhaps they were all dead and this now marked the last bastion of humankind? Had winged fever obliterated the Colony? At those last two propositions, her mind mangled them into one horrifying possibility: that the seven of them, in this chamber, were the last of their species.

    She then looked down at Agloff, wheezing on rotten air, still unable to forgive him. Why should she simply because he was weak? He had not earnt her forgiveness yet. Absent time didn¡¯t make that pain go away. He had merely repeated an apology, hoping it might eventually stick. For all Ariea¡¯s cares for Agloff, his obsessions grated against her. Was she not enough?

    Then, Lady squealed, and the chamber¡¯s heads turned. She reached a hand up to one of the pods. ¡®The pretty bride lady,¡¯ she said. As if shaken to his senses, Oxford rushed to her side and too extended his fingers across the glass. He was momentarily captured by Alice¡¯s vacant beauty, encased in ice, forever. A silver trail glistened down Oxford¡¯s cheek. His head bowed and it took the briefest of moments for Ariea to clock what had happened.

    Oxford roared, hurling his fist against the pod. The boom rang through the chamber, unheard by the world. The glass splintered like veins and Oxford looked as his hand bled.

    ¡®Wilson,¡¯ he said eventually.

    ¡®A filter cracked in the chamber under abnormally high pressure from the pipeline manifold. This caused toxins to be absorbed into the bloodstream, poisoning Ms Blue. Given the timeframe involved, it is surprising there were no further fatalities.¡¯

    Oxford dropped to his knees. There was nothing to say. Ariea wanted to comfort him as he had her by the riverbank a thousand lifetimes ago. But she knew it was fruitless. It was unfair. Oxford was the best of them, and lost the most: Alice, Marty, and the Underground he worshiped. It was enough to break a man beyond repair. Oxford placed his lips against the splintered glass and kissed her memory a final time.

    ¡®We should go,¡¯ he said. He nodded frantically. ¡®Yeah, yeah, we should go.¡¯ His face twitched. His fingers writhed restlessly. ¡®Come on,¡¯ he grunted. ¡®Come on, let¡¯s go. I can¡¯t¡­¡¯ His voice fractured. ¡®I can¡¯t stay here. Let¡¯s go,¡¯ he said a fourth time. ¡®Please.¡¯

    Ariea reached an arm towards him, but he stepped away. ¡®No, no. Just¡ª Don¡¯t touch me! Please.¡¯ He repeated the last word with quiet determination. ¡®Come on.¡¯

    ¡®We can¡¯t go yet!¡¯ Merry protested. ¡®Look at Agloff; he can¡¯t even walk.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡®Good.¡¯ His voice was a bullet through the chamber. Ariea looked from Oxford to Agloff. Oxford was more than aggrieved. He was enraged. He knelt down to Agloff then.

    ¡®This was your fault,¡¯ he whispered. Agloff was paralysed, unable to stand, eyes darting in their sockets.

    ¡®Oxford¡ª it wasn¡¯t,¡¯ Merry said.

    ¡®She died because a filter cracked in the pod. She was in the pod because our home was attacked by Winter. Because they wanted him. Because he didn¡¯t give himself up. Marty¡ª Marty died because he didn¡¯t go to Fall. His fault!¡¯ Oxford put his face to Agloff¡¯s ear. He spoke with words so furtive; they were not meant for anyone but Agloff to hear, but Ariea did hear. ¡®Give up. You may just save the rest of us.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not leaving here without Agloff,¡¯ Ariea said. Oxford stood over her, but she was unmoved. Her words were final.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡®Then don¡¯t leave.¡¯ He shrugged. ¡®Sorry if I care more about getting the five people who actually have a chance at living out alive. What¡¯s happened in our time together? He goes March Town, it gets blown up. He goes Underground, and everyone¡¯s fucking dead. Stick him in the pod. Leave him. He doesn¡¯t slow us down. We don¡¯t die. You¡¯re pissed off with him anyway,¡¯ he added, pointing at Ariea. ¡®You said at the wedding.¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s face soured. ¡®Hell to Feng, Oxford! It doesn¡¯t mean I wanna let him die!¡¯

    ¡®Yeah?¡¯ Oxford looked back at Alice and Marty. ¡®I lost way too much to get nothing back.¡¯

    Ariea tightened her arms across her chest. ¡®I get how angry you are, I do. But that is no excuse. Never. You wanna be pissed at someone, be pissed at Winter.¡¯

    ¡®Winter aren¡¯t here.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not letting you hurt him.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s mouth quivered but he had nothing more to say.

    ¡®He needs time. He will be strong enough to go up,¡¯ Merry insisted.

    Oxford leaned across her, almost forehead-to-forehead. ¡®He doesn¡¯t have any. He is too weak to move and there is nothing to help him here! How exactly do you expect him to survive? We leave him, and we just might.¡¯

    ¡®There was nothing I could do,¡¯ Agloff whispered, his lips barely parting.

    Oxford seemed to shrink. His eyes reddened and raw. His face pleaded. He looked less than a man in that moment. ¡®You could have given yourself up,¡¯ he begged, crouching over Agloff. Ariea could see it in him: the will to hurt. Her gaze guarded Agloff like a hawk, darting across Oxford for the slightest twitch: to raise his fist, to clench his blade.

    Agloff panted. ¡®They¡­ would have come anyway.¡¯

    Oxford paused. ¡®I¡¯m going,¡¯ he said. ¡®Now. If you want him, you bring him.¡¯ He turned and trudged up the steps, hauling the vault door wide.

    Ariea turned to Agloff. ¡®Are you okay?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll live,¡¯ he said with a knowing look. ¡®Help me up.¡¯ Merry and Ariea guided him up. They shepherded him out on to the corridor beyond, guided by a lone torch Memphis had plucked from the walls of the bunker, and began to chase Oxford¡¯s shadow.

    ¡®How many floors you reckon you can do?¡¯ Merry said.

    ¡®I¡¯ll tell you when to stop,¡¯ Agloff panted.

    Was it so bad to be grateful, Ariea thought? She kept looking at Agloff, so limp and useless, but entirely dependent on her. From here, he could not indulge in his fantasies. How she hoped it may stay that way, for his sake, and for hers. Here, he needed her. He was her last tether to the world gone by, of Backwater. She couldn¡¯t lose that too, even if she couldn¡¯t forgive him yet.

    They set Agloff down on One-Hundred, at the remnants of Fall¡¯s palace. The decadence had receded into atrophy. The paintings that spread the walls of the banquet hall were mired beyond recognition by mould and time. The line of Memphis¡¯ torch cast hard shadows, and everything seemed a little sicklier for it. There was an otherworldly menace in it all. Ariea suddenly felt a great stress impose itself upon her, and she was starved of breath. It was in full of view of the Underground that it dawned on her: it really had been eight centuries.

    At once, she became dizzy and a great pain throbbed between her eyeballs.

    ¡®Anyone else got a headache?¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s voice beckoned back. He kept a firm distance ahead. ¡®We¡¯re all dehydrated. We need to find water. I did say.¡¯

    ¡®How¡¯s that gonna work then?¡¯ Memphis snapped. His tolerance for Oxford had waned, between his treatment of Agloff, and the children Fall herded off to Jask.

    ¡®There¡¯ll be some in the tanks on the residential floors, any luck.¡¯

    Agloff sat down against the wall, his wound weeping again, and Ariea retightened his tourniquet. ¡®Can you go get something? He¡¯s bleeding,¡¯ she called out.

    Memphis frowned. ¡®Like¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Like, I don¡¯t know, anything!¡¯ she barked. ¡®Look for sterile bandages. Alcohol. There¡¯ll be some somewhere, no one has touched anything.¡¯

    Now her obsession of becoming a doctor at Backwater came in handy. It was cruel that she got the grades, but the chance was stolen from her before she could turn a page of her textbook.

    ¡®Thank you, for everything you¡¯ve done,¡¯ Agloff whispered. ¡®And I really am sorry. Without you, I¡¯d be dead, and I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s ever meant that so literally before.¡¯ Agloff laughed a haughty laugh.

    Ariea smiled. ¡®You can thank me later.¡¯ She stopped short of accepting his apology. He had to prove it. ¡®Now, shut up while I concentrate on you not-dying.¡¯ She pressured the wound under the weight of her palm and beckoned for Merry and Memphis. A moment later, they returned with a box of first aid supplies.

    Ariea cleaned the wound with rubbing alcohol, then wrapped dressing across Agloff¡¯s shoulder best she could, tightening it. He grimaced. ¡®Don¡¯t be a baby,¡¯ she yapped. ¡®Should be good. Can you stand?¡¯

    Agloff nodded, rising sheepishly to his feet.

    Their ascent was slow, and laboured, their rate of travel constrained by Agloff¡¯s wound. The lower floors were mostly deserted for bodies, for the better, Ariea thought. Oxford led them to one of the agri-floors, where farmers grew crop for the Underground, its soil dry and undisturbed. Each of them donned a violet boiler suit from the outhouse beyond the field. Ariea was relieved to shed the dress she had worn to the wedding, and into something more comfortable.

    Next, they raided the kitchen of a residential floor, siphoning water from the central tank into cannisters they each hoisted from their waists. Despite Oxford¡¯s insistence that even canned food could not last centuries, Merry and Memphis eagerly stuffed tins of rice and beans into their satchels.

    Progress then on was steady. They paused every few floors to rehydrate and allow Agloff to recover his strength. Merry and Memphis politely deferred their rice and beans to Agloff despite him struggling to hold his food.

    The siege bulkhead Marty had closed on Floor Eighty was caved in at one of the stairwells. One-by-one, they leant their support to Agloff and Lady to climb through the rubble that propped open a passage to Seventy-Nine. Above was the site of the bloodiest skirmish between Winter and the Underground at Marty¡¯s barricade. Ariea was grateful to bypass this in its entirety, lest the sight of a thousand skeletons plague her nightmares forever. Up here, some of the passageways and antechambers that guided their way through the landings were flooded by burst pipes and ruptured tanks. Even now, the plumbing creaked in its corrosion and Ariea would wince as if the whole Underground might burst like a dam.

    They stopped for the night, or whatever time of day it was, at the landing on Fifty-Two, halfway exactly. Ariea was sure the darkness was getting on their moods- being forced to navigate by the perturbations of torchlight, and angled shadows. Everything irritated her, the squeak of pipes, the tickle of dust on her neck. This place was a curse. They found themselves three bunks and partitioned themselves for the night.

    No one said anything the next morning. Ariea checked on Agloff¡¯s wound, which seemed no worse for now. They munched on dried beans, and waited for Oxford to lead on. Still, it was difficult to get lost. They just had to head up. Ariea counted off each floor with every passing landing, and the panic in her chest grew in increments. Panic for the world they might find beyond the gloomy borders of the Underground.

    ¡®How are you feeling?¡¯ Ariea asked Agloff for the tenth time, as they finally reached the landing of One.

    ¡®Despite all the walking, less weak. Just need a good sleep,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Ariea,¡¯ he added. The words fell from his mouth after a moment¡¯s pause. It was like some forced instinct. Ariea sighed and her whole demeanour slackened, exasperated.

    They stopped where they stood on the stairs. ¡®Agloff, I know you¡¯re sorry. Telling me a fourth, a fifth, a sixth time doesn¡¯t make any difference. You¡¯re sorry. Okay, I get it. But prove it.¡¯ She allowed her voice to become a little harsher, a little colder. For too long she had owed herself to Agloff. She never really knew why. And now fate had entwined them for posterity. For all she told herself that she had done enough for him, that she was entitled to more, she still felt compelled to see that he was happy. And it made her unhappy that her compulsions went unappreciated.

    ¡®How?¡¯ Agloff said at last.

    ¡®You¡¯re smart, Agloff, you figure it out.¡¯

    They passed the cages where delinquents and children had been placed in ¡®transit¡¯ and along the stripes on the ground that herded them into orderly lines. Ariea felt cold at the near-distant memory. But she was glad to see them empty this time at least. Oxford grunted something as he waved a finger at the door ahead and Lady squealed excitedly.

    The door to the new world.

    Oxford paused with his hands against the wheel guarding the door, bronzed by rust. He puffed his cheeks as if expecting resistance. But it never came. He yanked down on the rim and the whole frame gave way. The metal screamed off its hinges, and Oxford tossed it to the side like scrap.

    Sunlight bathed in through the open doorway and Ariea closed her eyes to catch it on her eyelids. She wasn¡¯t panicked at all, she realised. She was free; this world was now her own, and with it she sensed a landscape of possibility. She helped Agloff over the crest of the final step and through the hole in the earth to the Aboveground.

    First, she laughed, then fell to her knees. Merry and Lady circled each other in dance, chased by tails of dust. The land was parched and partitioned by deep cracks that cut at their feet, where the earth had boiled and broken under the relentlessness of the sun. But it was cold now and the wind had an icy bite. The world had changed in their sleep.

    She looked, first to Agloff and then to Oxford, both stony-faced. One man irked by her words a moment earlier, while the other had lost a lifetime. Like Oxford, she had lost a home, but Ariea could imagine a new one here.

    Her lip teetered joyfully. She had forgotten what that was like: the kiss of sunlight, the cut of a stiff breeze through her hair, the unevenness of the ground underfoot. She then stared at the horizon and pitied the souls below who never lived to see it bisect land and sky, so perfect in its flatness. Far to her left, she could see a great crater in the earth, about a mile away.

    ¡®That wasn¡¯t there¡­¡¯ she thought aloud. Her voice tailed off.

    ¡®No,¡¯ said Oxford. ¡®Remember¡­ just before Winter got here, we saw that meteor across the sky? Landed quite close.¡¯

    ¡®No way,¡¯ Merry exclaimed, cutting in. ¡®That¡¯s that?¡¯

    ¡®Seems reasonable to assume,¡¯ Oxford replied with a shrug.

    Ariea turned to Merry, wafting her arms to catch the wind in the folds of her boiler suit. ¡®How¡¯s Lady?¡¯

    Merry ummed, looking at the girl crouching on a rock, fiddling her fingers. ¡®She¡¯s alright. It¡¯s not always easy knowing how she¡¯s feeling. I reckon I do a good job but something like this¡­ I don¡¯t even know how I feel, so I really don¡¯t know if she¡¯s actually alright.¡¯

    Ariea sighed. ¡®It¡¯s all very make-do now. I haven¡¯t got a clue what to do.¡¯ Then, she laughed. ¡®At Backwater I had a kind-of plan. This whole thing just completely screws with us.¡¯ In another time, Ariea might have panicked. But the wind and sky instilled her with peculiar calm.

    ¡®I¡¯m the same. Memphis is the same. Agloff will be the same. Lady will be the same. But, if we¡¯re screwed, we¡¯re screwed together at least, right?¡¯

    Ariea smiled but was unsure how reassured she was. The wonder of stepping beyond the Underground would fade in time. In its place, the panic would start to set in between her ears, the buzz of white noise in her brain. A litany of What-ifs, and maybes. She would meet that panic when it came.

    ¡®What now?¡¯ Merry asked to Oxford, who cut a forlorn figure, gazing blankly out over the arid land and towards the haze of Lake Principia. He planted his arms at his sides. He looked exasperated by these people¡¯s dependence on him and yet grateful for the responsibility, to have some meaning still ascribed to a life he was lost within.

    Oxford dangled an arm out to point at a cluster of concrete stacks teetering above the horizon as far as the eye could see. To a gloomy town enshrouded by a low fog. A town that Ariea was sure wasn¡¯t there eight centuries ago. ¡®Seems as good a place as any.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 16 | The Girl From Nowhere

    Chapter Sixteen

    The Girl from Nowhere

    Three Weeks Later,

    It was Ariea¡¯s turn to forage that day and the snow was falling early morning. She stuffed her feet into her boots and her arms into her quilted parka and slid open the warehouse door into the frost of Block Seventeen. Memphis stood across the street, donning a red woolly cap he had plucked from a storefront.

    ¡®Has he said anything?¡¯ Ariea asked as they started walking.

    ¡®Is water wet? Course he hasn¡¯t said anything. What has that been now, a week?¡¯

    Ariea sighed. ¡®He can¡¯t stay that way forever,¡¯ she said eventually.

    Memphis shrugged. ¡®I wouldn¡¯t put it past him. Each to their own; I mean, his wife did die.¡¯

    ¡®And what about you?¡¯

    ¡®Me? I¡¯m good. I¡¯m not exactly an expressive person. Emotion is too extreme for me.¡¯ Memphis laughed. He and Merry had had a renewed optimism since they had left the Underground; they had found a new home with Agloff, Ariea and Oxford. ¡®I was angry at Agloff too after we lost March Town,¡¯ Memphis continued, ¡®but Oxford has been way worse. Seems being angry at Agloff is a crucial element in overcoming grief.¡¯

    Ariea almost laughed. It seemed it was.

    ¡®Agloff seems better though,¡¯ added Memphis.

    Ariea huffed. ¡®Keeps talking about leaving soon as he¡¯s strong enough.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s his deal with that?¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s lips tightened. ¡®His mum left him when he was three to look for his twin brother. Never came home. Agloff¡¯s convinced there¡¯s more to it. I don¡¯t agree.¡¯

    Memphis nodded, blowing between his fists. ¡®So, what¡¯s so annoying about that?¡¯

    ¡®Well, one of two things are true. She was gone for fifteen years, before the Underground. Way I see it, either, his mother was alive and chose not to come back. In which case, do you really want to listen to those excuses if you do find her? Or she tried to come back and couldn¡¯t, so she died. In which case, why put yourself through the pain of finding that out? It is hard not to find personally insulting, when he had me and dad right there for him.¡¯

    Memphis shrugged. ¡®I see it both ways.¡¯

    ¡®I really don¡¯t like his mother,¡¯ Ariea quipped as they rounded one block and headed down a sloped road towards the main checkpoint. ¡®And he¡¯s my best friend, so.¡¯

    ¡®Not more than that?¡¯ Memphis said curiously.

    Ariea looked up. ¡®What about you and Merry?¡¯ she asked half-accusingly.

    Memphis¡¯ smile burst into a laugh. ¡®No! No. We¡¯re just best friends too. Guys are my thing as well as hers.¡¯

    ¡®Oh,¡¯ Ariea chuckled. ¡®Ever been anyone?¡¯

    ¡®You think many people come through March Town?¡¯ he replied dryly.

    ¡®What a group of loners are we.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s Colony Two for you.¡¯ He paused and surveyed the empty road. ¡®I¡¯ll take the south today. You take north,¡¯ he added, pointing towards the checkpoint. ¡®Meet you back here, couple hours?¡¯

    Ariea nodded and tightened her bag across her shoulder. ¡®Not a minute later, or you-know-who will blow up.¡¯

    Memphis only smirked and made himself scarce. His red woolly bobbed away, uphill from the checkpoint. Ariea listened to his footsteps crunch through the snow a while, then pressed on to the North Gate.

    A low-hanging pole bridged two buildings ahead of the gate. A sign hung underneath.

    Block Seventeen: Entering Section Four:

    Display valid passes to the Section Guards.

    Trespassers will be shot, and expired pass holders detained.

    Live Free.

    Winter

    Ariea could not help but note the irony of the message¡¯s final lines. A booth segregated the road ahead down the middle, with barb-wired fences sporting gates wide enough for one drawn on either side. Behind, the still frames of what Ariea assumed were tents greeted her as she squeezed through a gap in the fence line. Signs segregated lines from Category A to F. Past the checkpoint, Ariea could see another sign demanding the compliance of everyone who walked through.

    Please wait while a nurse collects a blood sample for testing.

    Then, proceed to your allocated Category.

    Follow-up tests and recalls may be issued up to thirty days after testing.

    The Winged Sickness must be eradicated.

    Live healthy.

    Winter

    The ¡®winged sickness¡¯, she thought. Was winged fever still so prevalent, centuries after it had killed her father? Something had compelled Winter to abandon this block after all, and it could have been winged fever. They had grown since the fall of the Underground, she surmised, from a cult to a militant nation that ran entire concrete cities.

    Ariea finally squeezed past the tents and out into area beyond. Most of the shops here were well-stocked. It couldn¡¯t have been more than a few months since Winter left, Ariea thought. Nature was yet to overcome the city in her relentlessness. She pushed the door wide into a convenience store, broken glass snapping beneath her boots, and swiped rows of cans into her drawstring bag until it was sagging between her feet.

    Content, she passed down the street, peering from store to store for a glance of anything useful: tools, weapons and medical supplies mainly. But the latter two seemed to have been skimmed from the city by the residents in their evacuation. Ariea looked up to see a banner urging citizens to flee with haste tangled round a megaphone. She moved onto one of the larger buildings, an office block two streets down, in hopes they had a first aid kit.

    Its narrow corridors and boothed workspaces ensnared her, with a single line of light from the window ahead guiding her way. Ariea pushed past two desks and into a foyer. From the far side, she heard the squeak of chairs by the main desk.

    Could have been a rat, she thought. Ariea brandished her switchblade and shifted for the desk. The squeak got louder. Chairs and tabletops shuffled frantically.

    She clapped her palms against the desk and launched across it, jabbing her knife at the air and a chair went tumbling backwards as a body knocked against it.

    A girl gawked at Ariea, trembling. Each held a knife to the other

    ¡®Sorry,¡¯ the girl mouthed, as she shuffled backwards into the clutch of furniture that surrounded them.

    ¡®Hell to Feng, kid,¡¯ Ariea panted. She waited for the girl to sheathe her blade. When she didn¡¯t, Ariea took it upon herself to disarm, and sat down beside her. ¡®Just looking for supplies. I¡¯m not bringing any trouble.¡¯

    The kid nodded. ¡®Same.¡¯

    ¡®Friends?¡¯ Ariea extended a gloved hand to the girl.

    She considered Ariea for a moment before taking it. ¡®Friends.¡¯

    Ariea studied her. Bags as big as her cheeks hung below her eyes. Her hair was thin and greasy, while her shoulders sank into clothes several sizes too big. It was hard to tell how old the girl was, whether she was just young, or if she were older and underfed. Ariea¡¯s inclination was the latter. She could have been Ariea¡¯s age.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡®¡¯Choo looking at?¡¯ the girl snapped and shuffled a foot from Ariea.

    ¡®Just looking,¡¯ said Ariea. ¡®What¡¯s your name?¡¯

    ¡®Tails,¡¯ the girl replied. Her hesitation made Ariea doubt her honesty, but she didn¡¯t press. ¡®You?¡¯

    ¡®Ariea.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re dumb if that¡¯s your real name.¡¯

    Ariea huffed but forgave the girl¡¯s impudence. ¡®What are you doing out here by yourself¡­ Tails?¡¯

    Tails examined Ariea. ¡®Same applies to you. I¡¯ve only been here six days. Me and my sister, we never stay anywhere more than a week.¡¯

    ¡®How come?¡¯

    ¡®Winter, why else? You ask a lot of questions.¡¯

    ¡®Been away a while.¡¯

    ¡®Uh-huh,¡¯ the girl murmured in a way that sounded like she didn¡¯t believe Ariea either. ¡®So, you travel, like me and my sister?¡¯

    ¡®I suppose. There¡¯s a few of us. Where is your sister?¡¯

    ¡®She¡¯s dead.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡¯

    ¡®Um¡­ thanks?¡¯ Tails went to her pocket, pulling out a charred coin, smoothed like a pebble. ¡®When we moved each week, we¡¯d both pick somewhere to go. Flip the coin, whoever wins, wins- we go there. She was Heads, and I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®¡ªwas Tails,¡¯ Ariea said, to which Tails nodded, rolling the coin between her fingers. ¡®Do you have real names?¡¯

    ¡®Heads and Tails are real enough, but yeah,¡¯ the kid quipped. ¡®We never told our names to anyone, because anyone could be working for Winter, right? And anyone could then work out where we came from and punish them.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re runaways. I¡¯m not Winter,¡¯ Ariea said, unsure if that was Tails¡¯ suggestion.

    ¡®Okay,¡¯ she answered. ¡®And you saying that is proof of that, how exactly?¡¯ Tails laughed. ¡®We didn¡¯t escape Winter and Eden to go back.¡¯ Tails withdrew her knife, angling it towards Ariea ever so slightly.

    ¡®How big is Winter now?¡¯ Ariea asked, nervous.

    Tails laughed again. ¡®You don¡¯t know?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ve been away,¡¯ Ariea repeated.

    ¡®Winter are everything. They run all the blocks, like this. This one was abandoned when there was an outbreak of fever. There are a few independents, but they¡¯re supervised. Winter takes all the kids to Eden. Once a year, they send Collectors round the towns to index every child and take their pick of the newborns. Occasionally folks will try and hide the kids. Never a bright idea, that. A lot get sent back anyway. The rest are divvied up between workers, soldiers and, not many, but some get taken the Infirmary.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s different to when I knew.¡¯ Winter used to steal the children. Now, it was habitual, a consensual yearly offering from towns to their grey masters. As inevitable as the tide and the seasons. Ariea couldn¡¯t imagine how a practice as twisted as surrendering one¡¯s own children could become tradition. But then, tradition made people act in strange ways like that.

    ¡®Do tell, when did you know here, Ariea-and-others-who-have-been-away-a-while?¡¯

    ¡®You wouldn¡¯t believe it. We lived in the Underground. It¡¯s a bunker that way,¡¯ Ariea began, extending an arm in the direction of the lake.

    ¡®The Hollow?¡¯ Tails said. ¡®Always wondered if squatters tried living down there. Long time ago, Winter had people guarding the Hollow. Said there was something buried in there He wanted. They say He eventually gave up on it ever being found. Or was convinced no one else would ever find it.¡¯

    Ariea nearly choked. But she hid her disgust well. ¡®Who exactly is ¡°He¡±?¡¯

    ¡®Shit, you really have been away. He has many names. The Old One, the Winter, the Blizzard¡­¡¯ Tails paused for thought. ¡®The Order, the Benevolent, Malevolent. The Eternal. The vagrant tongue calls him Eshdrid. I¡¯ve heard more, but the names fall in and out fashion like anything. Most people just call him He, like He even needs a name. But his name is Malvo Jask.¡¯

    Ariea paced up and down in furious thought, mopping her palm against her brow. ¡®How!¡¯ she exclaimed. ¡®How can Malvo¡­ Jask¡­ still be alive. It¡¯s been eight hundred years! He should have died ten times over.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s inhuman, Ariea. But he rarely shows himself. He just sits in a room in Eden, all day, every day. I saw him once from a great distance, at his balcony. It¡¯s his Apostles you need to watch for. They report to Jask.¡¯

    ¡®What do you call Jask?¡¯ Ariea asked then.

    ¡®Just ¡®He¡¯. If you use the others, including Jask, there¡¯s a grey there where someone will be offended, and try to kill you. I speak from experience, so do as I say, not as I do. Use He. People will know who you mean. And I don¡¯t know who you are, do I?¡¯

    ¡®That makes a sort of sense.¡¯

    ¡®Aye. There¡¯s a twisted logic to it.¡¯ Tails paused. ¡®So they say, there¡¯s some strange kid he¡¯s protecting.¡¯

    Ariea turned her head, and her heart skipped a beat. ¡®A kid?¡¯

    ¡®Yeah. He¡¯s been trapped at Eden forever. Some sort of coma thing. He¡¯s ill, like, properly ill. They say he was the first ever patient with winged fever. He¡¯s where it started. And Jask, keeps him locked up¡­ looking for a cure.¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s heart crashed into her ribs faster with every word Tails said. ¡®You- you think it¡¯s true?¡¯

    ¡®Everything¡¯s gotta have some basis in reality, right? But enough about our lord and master. Tell me about you,¡¯ she said, almost threateningly.

    ¡®There¡¯s really not very much interesting to say about me. I¡¯m just Ariea.¡¯

    Tails laughed dryly. ¡®That¡¯s a lie. Everyone has something interesting. Some dirty secret, some quirk, like they can talk backwards, or got six toes.¡¯

    Ariea felt unsettled, almost as if she were being interviewed. ¡®Based on what you¡¯ve told me, I think it¡¯s better that I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m just a survivor.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re learning,¡¯ Tails said.

    ¡®What feels like forever ago, I wanted to be a doctor. Sounds soppy, but just wanted to make people better. And I really, really wanted a dog. Just boring shit, a job and a pet but it meant a lot to me.¡¯

    ¡®What stopped you?¡¯

    Ariea leaned back and scoffed. ¡®In your words, ¡°Winter, why else.¡±¡¯

    Tails turned to her bag, rummaging. She produced a cumbersome lump of metal, looking like it weighed as much as her. ¡®This is weird, but mind if I take a picture?¡¯ She pulled her hand away and Ariea saw a gawking lens behind. ¡®I collect photos of places. Just stuff I find interesting, or people. It¡¯s a hobby. Keeps me sane, ya know.¡¯

    Ariea smiled. ¡®Um, yeah, sure.¡¯

    Tails held the lens towards them and stretched out an arm. Ariea offered up a cute smile as the camera flashed in their faces. The camera whirred and, a second later, out popped a murky slip. Lines and shapes solidified into the image of Ariea and Tails. Tails stuffed it into her bag.

    ¡®Um, have the Confederacy come back? The¡­ Departed,¡¯ Ariea asked then. Her mind rattled through a list of things they ought to be caught up on.

    ¡®No. I always thought they were made up, to be honest. But, word of advice, choose your god, in case people ask.¡¯

    ¡®My god?¡¯

    ¡®Well, there are two types of people here. Those who worship Winter and hail the Old One. Praise him,¡¯ Tails added mockingly, ¡®or those who worship the Departed, the humans who fled us hundreds of years ago, to find a cure for winged fever. And one day, they shall return, on the back of Cerberus itself, and spread warmth and joy to all, saving us from ourselves, and taking us back to the Beyond. To that, I say, what utter bullshit.¡¯

    Ariea had to stop herself from laughing. ¡®I can tell you now, they¡¯re just not coming back. They left to get away from us.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, how nice.¡¯

    ¡®Do the people who worship Winter not, like, think it¡¯s bad their kids get stolen?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s a great honour. These parents cry tears of joy when their children are taken and never come back. If they do come back, they tend to think there¡¯s something wrong with them.¡¯

    ¡®Why the hell would they think that?¡¯ Ariea asked, aghast.

    ¡®Any evil can be a good thing if you are so deeply invested in your own self-delusion, that the foundation of your very existence would fall away were you to question it.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s deep.¡¯

    ¡®In my position, what can you do but think?¡¯ Tails¡¯ voice took on a coldness. ¡®It¡¯s six years, since me and Heads escaped Eden. There¡¯s a knack to survival.¡¯ Ariea could see Tails¡¯ head tilt upwards, her mind called back in time.

    ¡®Part of it is never taking the world too seriously, because otherwise it¡¯ll mess you up. And it worked for ages. But then you make one mistake and¡­¡¯

    Ariea breathed, watching Tails struggle through the words, knowing these were words that had never been spoken before. She was an outlet for Tails.

    ¡®She wanted to fight back, whatever that meant.¡¯ Tails stared at her lap. ¡®Me and her against an army. I said: ¡°we are fighting back; every day we live is a cut against Winter.¡± It was this obsession in her, this thing that she had to do. It grew and grew and grew. She got bored with ¡®just surviving¡¯.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry,¡¯ Ariea said again, ¡®even if it doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡¯

    ¡®Don¡¯t be. We were staying this little inn in middle o¡¯ nowhere¡­ We had a fight. Just weeks of keeping it bottled. I pushed her, down the stairs, not deliberately but¡­ I sat at the top and stared at her. I waited. And waited, for hours. I waited until I was sure she was dead, that she wouldn¡¯t blink or twitch, or wake up. Because¡­ I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t want to find her alive? Scared what would happen if she was. I buried her outside the inn. How messed up am I?¡¯ Tails laughed a hollow laugh.

    Ariea said nothing, extending an arm towards Tails¡¯ back. For some reason, Ariea felt kind. ¡®It was an accident, Tails.¡¯ She thought she should be disgusted. But somehow that feeling didn¡¯t reach her. ¡®This place messes with us all. It ruins us. Where will you go tomorrow?¡¯

    ¡®Oh,¡¯ Tails said. She took the coin between her fingers and set it spinning. ¡®I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡¯

    ¡®What do you mean?¡¯

    Tails held the back of her hand up to Ariea, turning it round to show the blue hue of her palms, the skin cracked and dry. Ariea put her hand against her mouth. ¡®Winter usually gives a vaccine, but I skipped out when I left.¡¯

    ¡®My god.¡¯ Ariea covered her mouth.

    ¡®Been a week. Figure I¡¯ve got two days. Probably less. I don¡¯t believe in God, but this is justice, right? This is justice.¡¯ Her voice shook, tapered off into a whisper. ¡®I¡¯ve been very rude, Ariea. Sorry about that. Things need saying, you know.¡¯ Tails wiped away a tear and searched for a smile. ¡®Cheery thoughts, eh.¡¯

    ¡®How can you¡­¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re never ready for the person next to you dying. But me? I can cope with that. I deserve that.¡¯

    Ariea felt humbled. ¡®I¡¯ve known you for all of twenty minutes,¡¯ she said. ¡®But I¡¯m glad to know you, even briefly.¡¯

    ¡®And you¡¯re the most mysterious person I¡¯ve ever met, Ariea-who-has-been-away-a-while. Equally honoured.¡¯ Tails bowed in jest.

    Ariea held out a gloved hand to Tails who studied it, uncertain. A moment of still time passed. Ariea took Tails¡¯ palm in her own and the two allowed their heads to fall over their shoulders, their temples meeting each other in the space between themselves.

    Tails was raised by the dirt and the blade, without love nor regard. Every meal was uncertain, and the enemy watched and listened through a thousand eyes. To survive took sheer force of will. Then to play death so nonchalant as to say, ¡°oh well¡±. Ariea thought it took another kind of courage to accept such a fate, that every sacrifice made was in vain.

    Or maybe it wasn¡¯t, thought Ariea. As Tails had said, every day lived was a victory.

    She looked at Tails and saw that life for life¡¯s sake was worth it. Ariea¡¯s father was denied the decency of death by Warden Drake. He just went ¡®missing¡¯ one day like the rest of them. For all of them that came before, Tails deserved its dignity.

    ¡®You know what?¡¯ said Ariea.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®I think I¡¯ll take this food back, and then I¡¯ll come and sit here, and I¡¯ll stay, and we can talk.¡¯

    ¡®About?¡¯

    ¡®Does it matter?¡¯

    Tails gently rubbed her head against Ariea¡¯s. She smiled. ¡®No. No, I guess not.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 17 | The Beginning of the End of the Road

    Chapter Seventeen

    The Beginning of the End of the Road

    ¡®He¡¯s not happy, you know,¡¯ Merry said as she ushered Ariea into the loading bay of the warehouse they had made their lodgings.

    ¡®I don¡¯t really care what Oxford thinks to be honest,¡¯ she replied. ¡®You and Memphis, you¡ª?¡¯

    Merry waved her away. ¡®Oh, we¡¯re on your side. That poor girl.¡¯

    ¡®Sounds there¡¯s a lot of that going around. All those kids.¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe it though- Winter. They¡¯re still out there.¡¯

    Ariea shrugged. ¡®I¡¯m just glad it seems like they¡¯ve given up on¡­¡¯ She gestured through to the shuttered bay adjacent where Agloff was probably sleeping. Merry nodded and led Ariea onto the warehouse floor.

    Oxford Blue stood haggard, with his back to her, his thinning arms clasped by his knuckles. The low light from the window cast a long shadow to where Ariea stood. Memphis and Lady watched, perched from a container across the floor.

    Ariea had no care for what Oxford would say: She was reckless and threatened their safety; Tails was an agent of Winter. Or some such other.

    Ariea stared at her toes as Oxford prowled. Her features stonewalled. She imagined a ghostly look in her eyes, where Oxford¡¯s words might pass right through her.

    ¡®I said two hours!¡¯ he whispered, waited, but Ariea brought no rebuttal. ¡®Well?¡¯ She could sense his disgust; the flare of his nostrils, the pointed shrug of his shoulders.

    ¡®You know the routine,¡¯ he continued. ¡®You get what you need. You come back. You don¡¯t sightsee. You don¡¯t get distracted. We unpack, we rest, we pack up, we move¡­ Until we are sure they¡¯re not coming for us. Don¡¯t you get it?¡¯

    To every utterance, Ariea planned her rebuke but what was the point. He was the one that didn¡¯t get it. ¡®Sorry,¡¯ she feigned.

    ¡®Sorry? Sorry does nothing for the rest of us! You were stupid staying out that long! What if someone saw you? What if there¡¯s Winter still here? We do the minimum, and no more.¡¯

    Ariea looked up. Oxford¡¯s face was feral, his hair overgrown in his long coat that he was slowly shrinking into. ¡®We¡¯re not your soldiers,¡¯ she said. ¡®You don¡¯t get to take it out on us.¡¯ Her quiet voice scattered on the rush of cold air blowing in from the outside.

    ¡®How dare¡ª¡¯ Oxford¡¯s mouth opened for another scolding but was interrupted by the trudge of lazy footsteps. Ariea turned. Agloff was watching on from the doorway, arm enslinged.

    ¡®Tell Oxford why, Ariea,¡¯ Merry encouraged.

    Ariea shrugged and moved stiffly to sit on a container, resting her joints against the cold. She tugged off her gloves and pointed at a chair for Oxford to relent. He obeyed, and Ariea obliged.

    She recanted every word Tails has said; the lengths her and Heads had gone to elude Winter, the legends surrounding Eron and the Underground, Agloff and Jask, Winter and the Departed; a Colony that had mythologised itself in the ruins of its ancestors, sleepwalking in search of its saviour. Oxford sat through it all, his features pensive. Every time Ariea paused he combed his fingers through his matted mane as if it helped him to think.

    ¡®It was stupid to get that close to her,¡¯ Oxford said finally. ¡®Girl had goddamn fever.¡¯

    ¡®Hey!¡¯ Agloff stepped forwards. ¡®Cut her slack. She got more out the girl that any of us would have done or have found out. She did good.¡¯ He passed a look to Ariea. She nodded in appreciation, though she sensed her gratitude was misplaced. Agloff had heard Tails¡¯ tales, of the sickly boy at Eden under Jask¡¯s watch. His dream still burned, maybe brighter than it had in the Underground.

    Ariea tugged on the cuff of her sleeve. The flesh was unbroken and youthful. ¡®See, not infected. It¡¯s only infectious close to death. I¡¯m curious, not dumb.¡¯

    ¡®Where I¡¯m from there isn¡¯t much of a difference,¡¯ said Oxford. ¡®She could have worked for Winter.¡¯

    Ariea rolled her eyes. ¡®Where you¡¯re from, you just follow orders. Sounds pretty dumb.¡¯

    Oxford stood. ¡®You have no idea, do you? What I went through.¡¯

    ¡®You disrespected her; she spent her last hours with me. And your reply is, ¡°what if she¡¯s a spy¡±. You think we¡¯re too dumb to make our own minds up about shit.¡¯

    ¡®I never said¡ª¡¯ Oxford stooped his neck. ¡®It¡¯s hard for me, right. I have a very organised way I do things, and now I¡¯m just making everything up as I go, and, hard as it might be to believe, I am looking out for you. Yeah, I¡¯m a dictator sometimes¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Or just a dick,¡¯ said Memphis.

    ¡®Do I get no sympathy?¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯ve got all our sympathy,¡¯ Merry said. ¡®But considering each of us has gone through the same and we¡¯re managing not to make each other miserable.¡¯

    ¡®So, this is my thanks for getting you all out alive?¡¯

    ¡®Your thanks was us not having this conversation three weeks ago, when you threatened to leave Agloff in the Underground.¡¯ Ariea said coolly.

    Oxford raised his hands. ¡®So, what d¡¯you want us to do?¡¯

    Ariea felt the room¡¯s gaze tightened around her. ¡®Right now, we¡¯re blind. We have no idea where we are, or where we¡¯re going. If we don¡¯t plan, eventually we¡¯re gonna trip up; be at the wrong place at the wrong time. We do what Tails did, till we¡¯re out of Winter¡¯s reach.¡¯ The room stayed silent for a time, and Ariea wondered if she might have said something mad.

    Oxford¡¯s eyes then narrowed. ¡®Agloff¡¯s still not right. We¡¯re just gonna¡­ wander round, and you¡¯d expect that to get him better? Further we go, the deeper we¡¯re going into Winter. If they still care about him, they¡¯ll have a picture somewhere. They¡¯ll know what Agloff looks like.¡¯

    ¡®So, we never stay anywhere long enough for people to notice,¡¯ Memphis interjected. ¡®The Underground wasn¡¯t guarded when we left. Who¡¯s to say we didn¡¯t escape years ago, live our lives, and die.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re being very quiet.¡¯ Oxford turned to Agloff.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡®I agree with everything they¡¯re saying,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®So long as I don¡¯t get left behind, I don¡¯t mind what we do.¡¯ Ariea detected a flicker of rage flash in Agloff¡¯s face, only to dissipate. Oxford twitched involuntarily, but he held his calm.

    ¡®We get maps,¡¯ Ariea said with a finality, nodding as if to assure herself as much as the others. ¡®Find out all we can, and we plan our way out this shithole.¡¯

    *

    Their final days in Block Seventeen were quieter than those that had come before. The air carried a tension, a silent determination that they were about to do something. Each of them, including Agloff, made a concerted effort to pick the last of the Block clean. If there was anything left to take, they may as well take it. Food was split into rationed bags for each of them, along with a few medical supplies to share and a satchel of knives and assorted tools. Oxford went to look for horses that might have eased their way over the snowy terrain that defended Seventeen. Alas, the stables were emptied in the evacuation, and for a mile¡¯s scout ahead, upon the hills that sloped upwards from the city walls, Oxford could spy no lurking villages or settlements where he might have bartered their scant possessions for three Arabians.

    Ariea, meanwhile, had raided a stack of maps from the library two roads down the hill. Dumping them on one of the warehouse crates, she spread the furled edges of the canvases out in front of her, each in varying shades of off-white. Some were printed, others drawn out by a meticulous hand, many dating back centuries. She layered them by date, with one even predating their departure from Backwater, and charted a course through the history of Colony Two with her finger.

    ¡®Pretty, aren¡¯t they?¡¯ Merry stood over her.

    Ariea was distracted. She flickered through the pages, to see Fort Backwater marked on the earlier sheets. It vanished from the map some five hundred years ago. She drew her finger across its absence. And her mind fell back to a more idyllic time. Meandering patrols along the plantations with her dad and Agloff, and dodging through the uneven streets with Kally, Maegen and Penelley on their daily escape from the Factory.

    ¡®I¡¯m okay,¡¯ Ariea said, pre-empting whatever it was Merry was thinking.

    ¡®It¡¯d be fine if you weren¡¯t,¡¯ she said with her placid smile. ¡®We all lost a lot. You know if it weren¡¯t okay, I would always listen. Or we could go on walks, just into the wilderness a little bit.¡¯

    Ariea said nothing but she stared at Merry with a grateful grin. ¡®We¡¯re here,¡¯ she began, pointing at a blot on the map. ¡®Block Seventeen.¡¯ She traced the tip of her finger across the map with her train of thought. They were someway east of the Underground, more easterly than Backwater even, and still on the cusp of Lake Principia. Ariea to¡¯d and fro¡¯d between past and present, noting the steady bulge of Winter¡¯s borders till they consumed the bulk of the Colony: pencilled across the maps was the word ¡°Winterland¡±. The only free regions were a band along Principia¡¯s east coast. She knew those settlements: Fort Wishbone and Spear the largest, either side of a forest called ¡°Erwood¡±. To the south were mainly mining settlements, on the cusp of the Scourgelands. She imagined them arid and vile. Third, much closer to Eden, but guarded by a row of mountains called the Silver Blemishes was Arwa County. It looked peaceful; the towns all had cute names, and there were lakes and rivulets, and she imagined rolling pastures of grassland and forest between them.

    ¡®There¡¯s a way up the coast,¡¯ Merry said, noting the same route Ariea had seen, along Principia¡¯s easterly shores, towards Wishbone. ¡®We can go along there, stop off at one of the larger towns and then keep heading north.¡¯ Ariea thought the same: to journey via Wishbone or Spear to circumvent Winterland all the way to Arwa County, where they had a mountain range between them and Eden.

    One-by-one, the others convened around her. It was like they waited for her to declare where they were going next. She wondered how she had talked herself into usurping Oxford as their leader.

    She painted them her view: from the block to Wishbone or Spear, then on to Arwa County, all the while never laying a toe in the grasses of Winterland. They sat and nodded to her explainer in a captive silence. But equally distant. As if greater thoughts were turning through the cogs of their minds.

    ¡®I have an idea,¡¯ Agloff said eventually, and Ariea sensed those greater thoughts were about to come to the fore.

    At that, all five faces turned towards him.

    ¡®Fort Wilder,¡¯ he said, gulping. ¡®It¡¯s on the way north, along the coast¡­ and it¡¯s¡­ where my mum was going. Marty said so.¡¯

    Ariea heard her eyes roll. ¡®Agloff!¡¯ she groaned. She paced menacingly where they stood. ¡®It¡¯s gone on enough. It was eight hundred years ago. What makes you think there¡¯s anything there to find? What makes you think Wilder is still even there?¡¯

    Agloff poked a finger at a tiny dot on the map. The ink dubbed it ¡°Fort Wilder¡±. Ariea hastened to flicker through the sheets and noted the speck of Wilder disappeared from the maps some three hundred years ago. At once, her breathing calmed.

    It didn¡¯t exist anymore, she told herself. It was gone. So, there was no harm in going, right? She could indulge him this time. This last time.

    ¡®I need to know!¡¯ Agloff pleaded. ¡®You don¡¯t know what that¡¯s like. Never knowing why they went. If there¡¯s nothing there¡­ then, it¡¯s the end of the road. Wilder was the one lead I had from Marty. That and three names: Malvo Jask, Abbadiah Thawn and Tomas Wise. If Jask¡¯s still alive, if he still gives a damn about me, then there¡¯s still something to know.¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t¡­¡¯ Ariea breathed. Agloff was so deep in this hole he was blind to all else. It consumed him. His injury made it worse somehow.

    ¡®If I find something, I might find Eron. He¡¯s still alive. I¡¯ll go to Eden. I¡¯ll kill Jask.¡¯

    Ariea scoffed, turning her back. ¡®Like that is not a thought that has gone through everyone-who-hated-Winter-ever¡¯s head. It¡¯s na?ve. And you¡¯re just going to walk up to Eden by yourself with no clue what it¡¯s like, how? Bloody hell! This! This is why I was angry. Right here. Has it not occurred to you how we might feel about this grand plan of yours?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not like they¡¯re gonna kill me. He wants me for something.¡¯

    ¡®Ever thought that might be worse than dying?¡¯

    ¡®Just Fort Wilder,¡¯ Agloff begged. ¡®Give me that.¡¯

    There was heavy silence. Everyone waited for someone else to say something.

    ¡®Okay,¡¯ Ariea said at last, utterly defeated. ¡®Okay.¡¯ What would he find there anyway?

    Was he crazy, Ariea thought? Or was she being cruel to think he was? A silence hung around them, the six of them spread into a circle.

    Oxford stood. ¡®I wanna go to Eden. Winter took everything I had.¡¯ He looked at Agloff. Ariea was unsure if it was an admission of wrongdoing. ¡®What do I have to gain in going from town to town, just wandering about. It¡¯s no life. I¡¯m a misery to everyone. And I mean that sincerely. This is the closest thing to closure. I- I need catharsis. I need them to suffer. To hurt.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯d be lying if I said the idea wasn¡¯t¡­ appealing, to a part of me,¡¯ Memphis added. ¡®They took our home. Twice. They butchered the Underground.¡¯ Lady quietly nodded beside him. ¡®With Agloff, we could have a chance to fight for more than just ourselves. It¡¯s about the whole Colony. I look at Lady and I think of those kids they steal. They need us.¡¯

    Ariea dropped to her knees. ¡®If this was doable, would it not have been done already! Why is being alive not good enough?¡¯ She thought of Tails, and the story of her sister who became infatuated with cutting Winter down, piece-by-piece. ¡®I don¡¯t know what to do.¡¯

    She was swimming upstream. Maybe it was better to let the current take her. Maybe it was their purpose. Why had Wilson chosen this moment for their survival? Like Tails, Ariea didn¡¯t believe in God, but perhaps their lives were bound in more than circumstance, and this current was inevitable. She thought deeply. Perhaps the six of them were bound to Eden, as surely as they were bound to each other.

    ¡®Difference between us and other people,¡¯ Oxford said then, ¡®is we have something they want.¡¯ He turned to Agloff.

    Ariea laughed a long and hollow laugh. ¡®So, to be clear, before you wanted to leave him in the Underground, now you wanna use him to get to where, may I point out, they would shoot the five of us instantly, and take him. This idea has more holes than a sponge, or- or are you all not seeing what I¡¯m seeing?¡¯

    Still, she fought that current. It pulled her, dragged her in twirling vortices of purpose. She breathed. It threatened to take her, like she might surrender all agency, overcome by some great and terrible purpose that was yet to reveal itself.

    ¡®We would need a plan,¡¯ she said. ¡®We would need maps of Eden, information. We¡¯d need to scope Eden out. For weeks, months. Maybe just to find a way in! We¡¯d need people who actually understand Winter.¡¯

    ¡®There¡¯ll be others,¡¯ Oxford said vaguely. ¡®Defectors. Winter won¡¯t stand unchallenged. We just have to find them.¡¯ He tilted his head, like a child in for a scolding from a parent. ¡®I¡­ I would- wouldn¡¯t suggest it if Agloff didn¡¯t want to go himself. And if I didn¡¯t think there was a chance. I¡¯ve hurt you all, I know that. I¡¯ve been selfish. And how many people are under Winter¡¯s thumb right now.¡¯ He pointed past them, East, to Eden. ¡®That there, dead or alive, that¡¯s the cure. And not just for me.¡¯

    Ariea looked from Oxford, to Agloff, to Merry, to Memphis. Her will relented, defeated, and she let that current take her at last, on into some twisted future.

    ¡®Bloody hell. Every one of you is mad.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 18 | The Devils Exhibition

    Chapter Eighteen

    The Devil¡¯s Exhibition

    Agloff had never had thoughts of killing someone before, but he really, really wanted to kill Malvo Jask. How could Jask have compelled Eron to live for so long in his walled kingdom? The thought that Agloff had survived this long was all that hope he needed that Eron could. At the thought, he reached a hand to his wounds, the artefact of Fall¡¯s rage. Agloff dreaded to think the lengths Jask had gone to restrain his brother to the land of the living.

    Ariea didn¡¯t understand, how could she? She had lost nothing to Winter but time. She didn¡¯t know what it was like, to be eaten up by an itch she could never scratch. For Agloff, Winter might cost him the one thing he held truly dear: her. To that, she would say ¡°so, don¡¯t go,¡±, but it didn¡¯t work like that. Either it ate him up until death itself, or he walked to Winter in hope of revelation. Neither route was kind on Ariea, he knew that. Maybe she didn¡¯t believe he did. Their relationship had never quite healed since the Underground. But the second route was surely quicker, easier. The path of least resistance.

    But how could he lose Ariea? Agloff knew he couldn¡¯t win.

    They took it in turns on the way north to Wilder to map-read, up the west shore of Lake Principia. For the first time since the Underground, Agloff¡¯s arm was unslinged. Ariea kept it dressed though. Every so often he would rub the wound by his thumb. It was a numb kind of pain. A deadened ache he thought might never go away.

    Agloff led them over shallow beaches, marred by long grasses, narrow streams and wide dunes that potted the shoreline. From upon a crested dune overlooking the lake, Agloff could see miles across the flat grasslands into the Colony in the other direction. Half a dozen smaller towns were scattered across his eyeline. Each was an island nation, scarce a dirt track between them.

    Oxford suggested they stick to the open areas during the day, and the forested at night and none argued. On the fourth morning, the trees gave way to a road meandering up sloped countryside. There, crowning the prairie¡¯s peak was a weathered castle, shrouded by a low wall collapsed in its centre. It looked a sickly place, long abandoned to the elements but deliberately untouched. The land rolled away and down towards a stream, and Agloff wondered why no one had taken up residence since.

    This was Fort Wilder.

    Agloff felt cold. The thought his mother had walked these same tracks brought him no comfort. It was like walking over her grave. Weeds punctured the stone walls and one tower had collapsed into the keep¡¯s embrace, like a monument to time.

    They deferred to Agloff¡¯s lead. He pushed limply on the grand castle doors and they swung opened into an entrance hall. It was a cold place, he thought, in every sense of the word. The ground fell away into a staircase and Agloff had an urge to follow it to its end. That if any hint of a secret remained, it was in the down deep. It was darker than night. There could have been corridors or alleys jutting off from the sides of the passage, but Agloff would never have known. Memories stirred, and Agloff¡¯s mind rolled back to that late summer¡¯s eve when Drake had led him below Backwater, still suited from a day¡¯s work. That night was a knife that cleaved his life into two, what came before scarce remembered. The months of waking time since were a flicker book, much too fast to comprehend how he had made here. He remembered only the endless walking: the spits and wheezes of the Underground, the kiss of winter in the trees punctuating the land above. It was odd feelings and images more than it was the details.

    As they plateaued onto a narrow passage, Oxford clicked on his torch and the shroud of darkness lifted.

    ¡®Couldn¡¯t have done that earlier?¡¯ Memphis snapped.

    ¡®It¡¯s got limited battery,¡¯ said Oxford.

    Lady swatted an oversized sleeve at the wall and dust choked the line of Oxford¡¯s torch. Agloff¡¯s eyes followed her finger along the wall to a doorway, filled with concrete. Notches were etched into the dust, scribbles from someone who had gotten bored down here: names and dates, each partnered by Winter¡¯s crest.

    Abbi 30.2.2729

    Elliot 11.11.2954

    Behnji 17.9.3212

    Oxford scanned them with his torch, but he saw what Agloff did. None were dated past Behnji, on the Seventeenth of September 3212.

    ¡®Winter¡¯s been here all this time,¡¯ Oxford said grimly.

    But something else had caught Agloff¡¯s attention. ¡®No,¡¯ he said. A golden placard was engraved on an office door at the far end. It read:

    Office of the Governor

    Tomas Wise

    Oxford scoffed. ¡®I¡¯m sorry?¡¯

    ¡®They can¡¯t have been here!¡¯

    ¡®But they have.¡¯ Oxford poked the names in the doorway.

    ¡®My mum knew Tomas Wise. They worked together during the war. If he was governor, it was before the Underground. Before Fall. There¡¯s no way anyone¡¯s lived here since then.¡¯ Tomas had somehow vanished from her life and resurfaced at an obscure fort at the end of Colony Two. The same fort his mother had left for. The coincidence was too great, he thought. He was close now. He could feel it.

    Oxford¡¯s voice strained. ¡®But they have!¡¯ he repeated. ¡®Till three hundred years ago.¡¯

    ¡®When I looked at the maps, Wilder did disappear about three hundred years ago,¡¯ said Ariea quietly.

    Merry stepped in front of the doorway. Her eyes scanned as she spoke. ¡®So Winter went to the trouble of keeping this place safe for five centuries, keeping everything exactly as it was, keeping it on maps, why?¡¯

    Oxford turned the torch on his face. Deep shadows cut into his features. He stared hard at Agloff. ¡®Because they knew Agloff would come.¡¯

    Reaching a hand to the wall, Agloff nodded. This whole place had been bait, for him.

    ¡®But they left,¡¯ noted Memphis. ¡®Why would Jask wait five hundred years, then give up? If you¡¯re gonna wait five centuries, may as well keep waiting.¡¯

    ¡®That doesn¡¯t make sense,¡¯ Merry concurred.

    ¡®Something made Jask change his mind,¡¯ said Oxford darkly.

    ¡®Erm¡­¡¯ Merry¡¯s voice tapered off from the other side of the hallway. She pointed up to a mark beneath a pipeline, in the ambiance of Oxford¡¯s torch. ¡®That¡¯s fifty years ago.¡¯

    Dappo 5.7.3488

    Oxford¡¯s mouth set on edge. Muttering under breath, counting the marks. ¡®There¡¯s more of them,¡¯ he said. ¡®Less often. They must have just checked in. Every twenty years or so, it looks like.¡¯

    ¡®But why were they checking in?¡¯ Merry said. ¡®Checking in for what? There¡¯s nothing to guard.¡¯

    Ariea cleared her throat. ¡®Agloff, I don¡¯t like this. We should go.¡¯

    Lady shifted closer to Merry. Her saucer eyes searched for some relief.

    ¡®They were guarding something,¡¯ Oxford said, ignoring her. ¡®Something they knew Agloff would come for. And they did a damn good job ¡®cos no one else has shown up to move in.¡¯ He shot Agloff a look, who was dumb to its meaning.

    ¡®So, what is this then?¡¯ Memphis said. ¡®They just left it here like a lure?¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s brow tightened. ¡®Lures tend to be placed near traps, don¡¯t they?¡¯

    Ariea exclaimed. ¡®Agloff!¡¯ But her voice passed over him.

    They bored Agloff. His legs carried him towards the office of Tomas Wise and prodded the door open. It was that insatiable itch.

    He scanned the room. It was large and circular, occupied by tall plinths, mounted by glass cases. In he stepped, and a spot lamp whirred over the first of the plinths. Suspended from the ceiling above them, a television fizzed in white noise.

    ''The hell?¡¯ Oxford followed him in, reached up one arm to wipe the screen clean of dust and the other to his holster.

    ¡®Looks like a museum,¡¯ Ariea said.

    The lines of static running across the screen shifted and rippled like waves. Waves chiming to the cackle of white noise. An inhuman voice blustered from the speakers. ¡®Observe.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t like this,¡¯ Merry said, drawing Lady closer. Her fingers combed over the girl¡¯s matted locks.

    Memphis raised an eyebrow. ¡®I don¡¯t think anyone does.¡¯

    The column of light over the glass casing intensified. Inside rested a skull, with a metal ring soldered above the temple, no more than a few millimetres in diameter. It pulsed blue.

    As it did so, the noise on the screen resolved into an image and that inhuman voice spoke again. ¡®December 2708,¡¯ it said. ¡®The planet Ku.¡¯ Nineteen years before they went to the Underground, thought Agloff.

    They saw the image of a haggard man, staring into a mirror in a vest much too large for him. They watched through his eyes. Everything was exactly as the man saw it.

    He combed receding hair across his scalp, then splashed water into his face. The man then jolted, shirking over the washbasin as a volley of gunfire boomed from the distance. Agloff knew Ku to be a warzone at this time.

    ¡®Tomas!¡¯ a woman called from the next room. Tomas Wise sighed and headed out the door. They were in a cabin of some sort, as far as Agloff could tell, and a heavy-duty door guarded them from the world beyond. Between them, a sheepish child stood, a silvery scar drawn down the centre of his forehead. The kid looked from man to the woman and back again, but neither seemed to care for his concern that much. Tomas¡¯ stare hung on his colleague.

    Through the screen Agloff could sense the subtleties in his attention and focus, like he was drawing her with his eyes. She wore a silken head of brown hair, wound into a bun.

    There came a second barrage of gun shots. Tomas rushed for a bag in the corner of the room, slinging it to his partner. ¡®They¡¯re back! It¡¯s them. It¡¯s Jask. Just go! Go!¡¯ he yelled.

    The woman paused, considered the child. ¡®But the boy.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s just a job, Ann. Just leave the kid! We¡¯re screwed anyway.¡¯

    The woman looked at the kid. ¡®That¡¯s treason, Tom. They¡¯ll exile us at best, kill us at worst.¡¯

    ¡®Go!¡¯

    ¡®And what about Thawn, you know¡ª''

    ¡®He¡¯ll be fine up there! He¡¯s covering us from the tower. Just GO! Back door.¡¯

    The woman nodded, sharp and reluctant, sweeping up her things, whatever she could parcel away under her arm. Searchlights flooded the windows of the cabin, then a warning shot. Tomas chased his partner out to the back porch. He paused to glance the outline of mountains painted over darkening skies. The kid had followed them, but Tomas¡¯ eyes paid him no mind. He just begged the woman to go. Told her that he had to stay to protect her.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    He looked up, to a heady metal spire ensnaring the cabin. The enemy¡¯s glare surveyed the compound. They passed and Tomas made for a line of trees running along the shoreline of a lake that split the watchtower from Jask¡¯s assault. The last thing they saw was the man withdraw his weapon from his holster, raising an arm to shield himself from the lights across. Then the screen fizzled into darkness.

    ¡®Tomas¡­ Ildred¡­ Wise.¡¯

    Tomas¡¯ eyes opened into a blackened room and the scene had changed. He glanced down, restrained by his wrists. A second man glided towards him. He looked like he was handsome once upon a time. But his features were tortured by injury. The right side of his cranium had collapsed, as if hollow, and in its place a web of fine circuitry was etched into the remnants of his skull. Agloff could only imagine this to be one man.

    clasped his hands over a document, waited for Tomas to speak.

    ¡®Where¡¯s Ann?¡¯ Tomas said, limp.

    Jask turned the document to his eyes, read: ¡®You¡¯re a nurse. Correct?¡¯

    The prisoner said nothing.

    ¡®The Eighty-Fourth Battalion. Deployed to the Battle of Ku. Correct?¡¯ Jask waited. ¡®Did the Confederacy ever find out who you and Andromeda Ashborne really were?¡¯ he said curiously.

    Tomas panted. ¡®Why d¡¯you care?¡¯ he breathed.

    The Enemy smiled, if it could be called that, and raised an arm around the back of Tomas¡¯ chair. ¡®So, you blag your way to Ku, as war nurses. A compelling guise. Then, leave, for your real job? As smugglers for the Sign of the Tondrus.¡¯ Every now and then Jask would pause for Tomas to speak. When he never did, he continued his train of thought. Agloff remembered what Marty had said at the Underground. His mother was a very small fish in a very large pond. He had said she worked for this Sign.

    ¡®What was the job?¡¯ Jask asked.

    ¡®It was just a simple pick-up, and drop-off. This kid. Coast-to-coast. Sign would collect him, undocumented ship to hell knows where. We¡¯d go back to the Confederacy.¡¯

    ''Did you know who the child was?¡¯

    ¡®I guessed,¡¯ Tomas said quietly. ¡®When you were after it, and that other guy too. I thought maybe we were smuggling a Patent. Erebus.¡¯

    Jask rolled back his eyes, amused. ¡®It¡¯s an inordinate feat of evil to imprison an AI in a child¡¯s mind, don¡¯t you think?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t get paid to think about it.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s far from the first time. Me and that ¡®other guy¡¯ have had dealings with Erebus before. The Sign¡¯s depravity is truly endless.¡¯ Agloff thought he saw Jask¡¯s mind carried elsewhere for a moment. He paused, called. ¡®Pisus!¡¯

    Another man, sheathed in a silky robe, entered with a child before him. Agloff knew it instantly with its milky scar, the one from the cabin, abandoned. ¡®You left it behind, so thank you for that. You mentioned someone else was after it?¡¯ Jask¡¯s face lit up in a delectable mania.

    Tomas nodded shamefully. His eyes refused to meet the kid. ¡®When we got to the drop-off, the handler was replaced last minute. There¡¯s nothing odd about that. Happens all the time. But this guy was weird. Seemed personally interested in the kid.¡¯ Agloff could sense his scowl through the screen.

    ¡®He have a name, a real name?¡¯ There was a hunger in Jask¡¯s eyes. Agloff knew the answer already, as he was sure Jask did.

    ¡®Yeah. Abbadiah Thawn.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s heart stopped, and a lump throbbed between his ears. On screen, Jask¡¯s face lit up in a frenzy. He laughed, then couldn¡¯t stop laughing. ¡®You don¡¯t seem fond of the man?¡¯ the Enemy said at last.

    ¡®We had to wait out a storm for three weeks with him, before we could go back.¡¯ Tomas paused a long time. ¡®He was a looker too. Classical-handsome type. Why you so interested?

    Jask ignored him. ¡®After we took you, we found the watchtower and cabin deserted. So, where did Thawn go?¡¯

    Tomas laughed. ¡®Like I care. She... They¡­ Three weeks.¡¯ Tomas¡¯ voice tremored. ¡®I loved her for ten years. She was pregnant, by him. I mean she never said but the last few days she was sick. Stressed. I could tell.¡¯ Agloff felt a rock hit the base of his stomach.

    Jask tilted his head, a wide smile ripening between his ears. The lines of his eyes deepened. ¡®Pregnant? Well, this couldn¡¯t be more perfect.¡¯ Jask shrieked, at some realisation. He looked down at the child and smiled, as if some terrible and perfect plan were forming in his mind.

    ¡®I¡­ Where are we?¡¯ Tomas said eventually, at last coming to his senses.

    Four pilgrims closed around him, masked, save for the slits of their eyes. One of them extended a metal ring, like the one on the skull in the exhibit. No, Agloff thought. The one in the exhibit. Tomas tried to move his head but was pinned back against his headrest. One pilgrim extended the ring to the side of his head. Another was holding a drill of sorts. Tomas¡¯ eyeline jerked, but the fighting only seemed to tire him.

    ¡®This is a contract between us,¡¯ Jask began. ¡®A device of the Sign¡¯s own making. They call it a recall cell. It will record everything you have or will ever experience. Comply and you¡¯ll be fine. Fail and it will hurt until you do. I need your help, Tomas. I was wronged by Abbadiah Thawn so long ago, as you were, a thousand times over. I¡¯ve searched a long time for him. And now you say this woman carries his child? I need to make him hurt, to make him suffer, like I suffered. This is fate, you see. Do I have your agreement, son?¡¯

    Before Tomas could answer, he was held down tighter. There was a flicker of stillness. A few seconds later, Tomas¡¯ eyes opened, though it was unclear if the screen had jumped again. ¡®Return to Andromeda,¡¯ Jask¡¯s voice said. ¡®Maintain her trust. Bring her child to me, however the hell you like, I don¡¯t care.¡¯ Tomas nodded a fraction, apparently too weak for anything more.

    *

    A second time, the screen fizzled, and the announcer declared almost a year had passed since Tomas and Jask¡¯s encounter. It was November 2709. Agloff thought he would be two months old by now.

    Tomas was suddenly outside, absorbed by a line of civilians, with Andromeda next to him. They walked into the glare of sunset, smeared behind the outline of a distant city. Spires ascended in curves and at angles. Agloff recognised this place from books. They were still on Ku.

    Tomas looked down to two bundles nestled in each of his and Andromeda¡¯s arms: the twins. He pulled back a strip of fabric, and a baby gawked back at him. They were approaching a checkpoint to a runway in a desert of spindly grasses and tortured rock, to where rows of shuttles were poised waiting for them.

    Andromeda hid a tear in her eye. ¡®Fort Backwater. Colony Two. I know a guy there. Marty Naples. And the Sign won¡¯t find us. Blue Line out of Ku, then Magenta to Earth, then¡ª¡¯

    Tomas chuckled. ¡®Ann, I know. We went over every detail a million times. I know what to do.¡¯

    The woman looked up at him, her face brave but weary. ¡®Jask¡¯s never going to stop chasing us, is he? Why us?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t what he wants,¡¯ Tomas lied. ¡®But I don¡¯t think so.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s so real.¡¯ She managed a smile. ¡®This is our way out the Sign, Tomas. We talked about leaving for so long. People talk about fresh starts, but I never really understood it until now. We¡¯re going home.¡¯ She paused. ¡®I just hate this is how we have to do it.¡¯ She reached a hand to caress the infant in Tomas¡¯ arms.

    Agloff could sense his shame. ¡®We¡¯ll see you in two months, don¡¯t worry about that.¡¯ He drew the baby closer, peered at its vacant stare. ¡®Splitting up is the safest way, Ann. As refugees. The Sign are expecting us to report back with twins and we already had one close call.¡¯

    She leaned across the line and kissed them, he on the cheek and the infant on the forehead, then turned to her own bundle and stared long into his eyes as a checkpoint guard beckoned them across. ¡®You¡¯re right. Of course, you¡¯re right. Look after Eron,¡¯ she said. The words were fatal. Almost immortal, and the shape of the truth that had been occluded in Agloff¡¯s mind for so long had an outline.

    Tomas had betrayed his mother to Jask and brought him Eron. But for what?

    Revenge perhaps thought Agloff then, against Thawn. He was the handler who had shared that cabin with Andromeda and Tomas. He was the one Jask was so interested in. He was the one who Jask said had wronged him¡ª

    Agloff¡¯s father.

    ¡ªHe was the key to everything. That¡¯s why his mother had mentioned Abbadiah Thawn in her letter! The truth in plain sight. There was more to it than this, there had to be. Why was Jask so interested in Abbadiah Thawn¡¯s children? What terrible thing had Thawn done?

    *

    Again, there was a crackling of static and the scene shifted. The announcer said it was now August of 2712. This was the time his mother went missing, Agloff thought. Or close to it.

    Tomas peered up from a book at an oaken desk, lit by candlelight. The gloom of the window betrayed the lateness of the hour. There was a knocking at the door, and he beckoned them to enter.

    ¡®Pisus Om,¡¯ said Tomas and a pasty man slithered in in silvery garb to the chair opposite Tomas, who gestured he sit.

    ¡®You are aware by now the delicacies of the situation? His Lord is most concerned,¡¯ Om said in a high-pitched voice.

    ¡®It is not my fault the boy fell ill, Pisus, though I was sorry to hear it.¡¯ Tomas seemed at greater ease than he ever had. Clearly, he was in great authority. Agloff¡¯s eyes passed from screen to office, and he noted the symmetries between them. The screen was an ancient vision of the very office in which they stood.

    ¡®Obviously,¡¯ Om snapped. ¡®We call it winged fever. We have never seen the like.¡¯

    The Governor glanced back down to his book. ¡®Fascinating. Doubtless you are here to ask something of me, Om, so ask it.¡¯

    ¡®In the meantime, the boy will be placed in moonwater, until such time as there is a cure. His survival is imperative.¡¯

    Tomas was taken aback. He straightened himself and pulled a pair of spectacles from his face. He stared hard at Pisus, who was unmoved. ¡®I¡¯ve heard about moonwater. It¡¯s a death sentence much as it is salvation.¡¯

    ¡®Only long-term,¡¯ Pisus said matter-of-factly. ¡®Hmm. A cruel irony, which is why it won¡¯t come to that,¡¯ he added curtly.

    Tomas leaned back once more. ¡®Oh?¡¯

    ¡®The boy has a twin brother, does he not?¡¯

    Tomas¡¯ stare narrowed. ¡®My arrangement with Jask was that I deliver one of Andromeda¡¯s boys. Jask said the other was to be left alone with her. Agloff and Andromeda could live their lives. Whatever your intentions for him, I won¡¯t allow it.¡¯

    Smirking, Om rolled his thumb over a device in his hand. At once, the image faltered and hissed. Tomas stare fell into his lap, groaning loudly. ¡®Don¡¯t test His patience, boy.¡¯ Tomas raised a hand to the wound on the side of his head. ¡®Remember by whose grace you sit in that chair, in this office. Who gave you that title on the door.¡¯

    ¡®I delivered Eron,¡¯ Tomas blustered. ¡®And Eron only. That was our arrangement. I did what He asked and was paid for it. I¡¯ve done my job.¡¯

    ¡®Circumstances change like the weather, and you¡¯ve made your feelings for Andromeda Ashborne quite known. She trusts you,¡¯ Pisus mulled. He cast a long stare out into the darkness down the hill and looked back at Tomas.

    ¡®What then?¡¯ the Governor muttered.

    ¡®Write to her, visit her, I don¡¯t care. Get the pair of them here.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ve been dead to her three years. You think she¡¯d listen? I¡¯ve told you before where she is,¡¯ he spat, dragging himself up. ¡®Get her here yourself.¡¯

    Pisus feigned a smile. ¡®You think a mother wouldn¡¯t take even the slightest chance to save her child if it came knocking? And besides, she would trust it more from your hand. Anything else and she will suspect treachery.¡¯ He hummed and stood with a terse bow and gestured the device in his fingers. ¡®Good evening then, Governor.¡¯ The pitter of rain punctuated their silence. A second time, Om looked out the window, added, ¡®On second thought, I think I¡¯ll stay the night.¡¯

    The scene fizzled into darkness and the television switched itself off. The six of them exchanged dumfounded stares, thinking of nothing to say. Agloff looked again at the skull in the case and saw burn marks where the ring clung to the temple.

    He wondered if Tomas Wise ever did write that letter by his own hand. But now he knew, he thought. What had prompted his mother to leave Backwater all those years ago.

    But why did Jask want me, Agloff pondered still, if he had originally meant to leave Agloff in Backwater. Was Agloff meant to be a cure for Eron, a hostage, or wanted for some altogether darker purpose? Answers whirled through his mind, turned into more questions. He had been tempted with fragments of the truth, and at the heart of it all, still, Thawn!

    The column of light over the plinth wheezed and flashed to a second one. Inside was a small photograph, an image of a face that looked like his own but wasn¡¯t. It was thinner, sicklier. The eyes were at rest. The stand turned on a turntable and Agloff could make out something ancient scrawled on to the back of the slip: ¡®At Eden lies in wait.¡¯ Encapsulated within those words, everything Agloff had ever convinced himself he wanted.

    Sure enough, this was a lure. A breadcrumb trail from here to Eden, just for him. Agloff was starting to imagine that Malvo Jask was a showman. This whole lure was theatre. Jask was all too eager to flex his influence, and that made the trap all the more obvious. But this was clearly a man of another world and another time. Perhaps Agloff shouldn¡¯t reason his motives, even if he knew there was a twisted logic to them. But it was also the work of desperation. Jask needed Agloff.

    Agloff was sure Jask wouldn¡¯t have left Wilder behind if Eron was dead. If Agloff could survive eight centuries with a gunshot wound, so could Eron with winged fever.

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯ Ariea yelled, and he felt himself pulled back to the here and now. He turned to look at each of them. The only reply he could muster was a nod; his mind was too busy for words. His lips curled in lieu of an apology.

    ¡®Shitting hell,¡¯ Oxford said. He glared Agloff. ¡®Your family is messed up, man.¡¯

    ¡®Jask set this up,¡¯ said Ariea, her eyes piercing Agloff, as if he were the only one there. ¡®He went to great care, obviously. He knew you¡¯d come. And you¡¯re the one thing he wants more than anything in the world.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, so?¡¯ quizzed Memphis.

    ¡®Do you think he¡¯d just let us leave?¡¯

    Almost as she finished, the lights clicked off and sirens began to shriek. The whole room hissed. Puffs of smoke swelled at their feet and they pushed their way into the corridor, led by Oxford¡¯s torch. Angry shadows writhed up the walls, chasing their ascent. Gas was too slow to kill them, Agloff thought. Unless it had meant to drive them out. Wordlessly, they pressed towards the gloom of day. They flooded over the crest of the staircase, into the entrance hall and through the doorway onto the hill. Agloff looked at Ariea who returned the compliment. He wondered how hard she was repressing the urge to say, ¡®I told you so.¡¯

    Memphis collapsed and rolled over, pressing his face into the soft ground. ¡®That was a terrible idea,¡¯ he moaned.

    ¡®Lady, are you alright?¡¯ Merry gathered the girl in close before she had chance to answer, brushing dust from her cheeks. ¡®I think we¡¯ve had enough for today.¡¯ Her usual ethereal good-nature gave way to a stern stillness.

    One-by-one, they pressed their gazes on Agloff, but he didn¡¯t care what they had to say. His mind was too overwhelmed, too tired for it. He realised he wanted nothing more in that moment than to bury himself in a duvet. He squatted to the ground and still they delivered him uncertain looks, like he were suddenly half a stranger. Unsure of the correct response, he turned on to his other side, only to jerk to his backside.

    He looked up. A bow and arrow were angled squarely in his eyes.

    Agloff rolled his neck up to see a young woman staring him down, eyes wide like pebbles. They each raised their hands against the ground in surrender. He could see two more women trail behind, swords at their backs. The girl scanned her prey by the tip of her arrow.

    ¡®Thieves!¡¯ she hissed. ¡®You try and steal from this place?¡¯ she said, in an accent Agloff did not recognise. She was tall and well-built, with a greasy main of golden hair strangled into a flat ponytail.

    ¡®We¡¯re not thieves!¡¯ yelled Ariea.

    ¡®You¡¯re dumb ones at the least,¡¯ the girl said. ¡®You set off the alarm.¡¯ She herded the six of them to their feet, and bound their wrists in ropes, strung together in a long line. ¡®Everyone knows not to come this place.¡¯

    Again, Ariea sent Agloff a piercing look but he turned away. He didn¡¯t want to give her the satisfaction. To look her in the eye was an admission of guilt he could not stomach right now. Instead, he studied his captor, noting neat cuts in the straps of her leather armour. The cuts spelled out the name, ¡®Kira¡¯.

    Deep within himself, Agloff bowed his head as they were led down the slope from the castle, unsure as to what his reality was anymore. He looked up to tortured skies, struck down in hues of grey and wondered what was going to happen next. He could see a storm gathering after all.

 Before Noon Chapter 19 | Fort Wishbone

    Chapter Nineteen

    Fort Wishbone

    The girl called Kira dragged them by rope to two horses tied at a post by the base of the hill, guarded by her two escorts. Ariea looked back at Wilder¡¯s weathered keep and angry spires a final time. What an awful place.

    ¡®Vera! Malawe!¡¯ Kira called to her partners.

    ¡®First pull from Wilder in over a year. I¡¯m impressed,¡¯ the one called Vera said. ¡®Folks never learn.¡¯ They were parcelled up in leather armour. Their hair each had the same flat braid. Must have been uniform, Ariea assumed.

    Kira scoffed. ¡®Lynn¡¯s men were sniffing around, but finders-keepers, right?¡¯

    Vera and Malawe each smiled. ¡®Right.¡¯ They shook arms, and Kira hoisted herself on to one horse while her partners shared the other. Ariea and the others were led like rats between them. Kira introduced them as bounty hunters in the employ of Fort Wishbone, and that was their destination. Ariea knew it to be a settlement on the shore of Lake Principia. It seemed Winter had taken to policing Wilder with bounties and mercenaries, since the end of its occupation.

    ¡®That was Winter¡¯s bounty, right?¡¯ Oxford asked them.

    Kira shrugged. ¡®Aye. They pay good coin for folks like you so thank you for that.¡¯

    ¡®They kidnapped children though!¡¯ Ariea protested, incredulous.

    Kira looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. ¡®Kidnap? No.¡¯

    ¡®They steal children from their families. That doesn¡¯t bother you?¡¯

    The three of them shrugged. ¡®Nothing weird about taking children,¡¯ Malawe chided, calming her horse as she did so. ¡®Winter take us, raise us, teach us, then give the ones they don¡¯t need back. Just how the world is,¡¯ she surmised. ¡®What other way is there for it to work? You sound like Mountish folk.¡¯

    Vera nodded. ¡®San said on his last round he heard about more and more Mountain Rats coming down; Winter flushing ¡®em out.¡¯ She considered each of them in turn and smirked. ¡®Well, I¡¯ll be, Rats gone a-squatting. Always wondered how those people managed to live on cave water and goat¡¯s milk.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s gonna happen?¡¯ Oxford said coolly.

    Malawe looked down at them. ¡®Taking you to the President of the Fort. And you¡¯ll stand trial for thieving ¡®n tresspassing, by the Judge.¡¯

    Ariea swiped hair from her mouth. ¡®We didn¡¯t take anything.¡¯ She looked up to the gathering clouds and rains sinking over distant hills, choking the mid-afternoon sun. ¡®We were waiting out the storm.¡¯

    Their captors laughed again. ¡®You best be hoping you ain¡¯t lying. The Judge will know if you do. He always knows. And most people know well enough to leave Wilderplace alone,¡¯ said Vera

    Ariea couldn¡¯t help but revel privately in the irony. Agloff had wanted nothing more than to enter Eden, for better or for worse. And now here, all he had to do was tell the truth and he would be escorted there, under guard, with no resistance. Ariea had no doubt that to find another way would take weeks of meticulous planning. She didn¡¯t have to stay with Agloff, but the thought of leaving never reasonably crossed her mind. It felt forbidden.

    They trudged through heavy grasses keeling over to the wind, up the shore of Principia. Wisps of saltwater whipped through their faces. Fort Wishbone was a smear above the water, a sprawl built into a hillside crashing down towards the lake.

    The horses stopped before the city gates, bordered by Wishbone on one side and dense forest on the other. Kira paid her dues to the gate guard and the doors swung open. She bade Vera and Malawe farewell and led her prisoners on.

    ¡®C¡¯mon,¡¯ Kira grunted at them. At once, the streets scythed downhill in wayward parallel, their buildings at angles to each other. Motorcars and trams patrolled them at leisurely pace. Where the land sloped down toward the lake, the tendrils of the city spilled out onto piers ejected over the bay. Boats circled in a distant haze. For Ariea, this place was a vision of both future and past.

    From its peak, she could oversee the workings of the entire city, those mundane interactions people call life.

    They arrived at a wide square, walled by a string of odd-coloured terraces. Kira hitched her horse and led them to a red clocktower, cutting into the pallid sky above. She nodded them to enter. It was not unlike Backwater, was Ariea¡¯s first thought. Crimson walls were adorned in marble and gold. The portraits of anonymous, important people looked at them through ugly stares.

    For the first time, Ariea and the others exchanged looks. Oxford was stone-faced as ever. Agloff bowed in a guilty silence. Or perhaps his mind was turning over the images they had seen at Wilder. Lady¡¯s jaw dropped in wonderment, before Memphis and Merry restrained her wandering legs. Kira then herded them deeper, past armed guard to an arched passage, blooming into a marble chamber. Seven people were sitting in tall, squared thrones. They sank into pompous dresses much too large for them.

    A fair-haired woman stood from her throne. ¡®Oh yes,¡¯ she said. ¡®We were just told about these. The squatters of Fort Wilder, I think.¡¯ She was beautiful, and young for one in such authority, Ariea thought. She orbited them, fascinated. ¡®And a pleasure to see you again, Kira. The Fort extends its gratitude. Eugene will see you¡¯re paid.¡¯

    ¡®Likewise, Councillor. Thank you.¡¯

    ¡®Kira. Good work.¡¯ A man in slick, black garb stood from a second throne, Winter¡¯s crest was emblazoned on his breast, and winked. Kira replied with a familiar smile. Ariea recoiled a little.

    The fair-haired woman spoke to a pride of guards behind them. ¡®Unbind our guests.¡¯ They duly obeyed. She turned to her prisoners. ¡®I¡¯m Councillor Riddis, Fort President. Your names?¡¯

    ¡®Penelley Seacroft,¡¯ Ariea said strongly, then nodded to the others. ¡®These are Copen Mile, Memphis Teller, Oxford Blue, Merry Cutter, and the little one is Lady.¡¯ Agloff shot her a look but Ariea ignored it. If he wanted to tell the truth, he missed his chance. The black-clad man stood and circled the party with a predatory stare.

    ¡®Taret,¡¯ Riddis said warningly.

    His eyes landed on Agloff, swatted his lapel. ¡®What was your name, boy?¡¯

    ¡®Copen Mile,¡¯ Agloff repeated blankly.

    ¡®Taret! Ambassador Stone!¡¯

    He backed off. ¡®They¡¯re not the usual drifters that come out of Wilder.¡¯

    ¡®You think it could be them? Eight hundred years and they show up on our watch,¡¯ a gravelly-voiced man intoned. ¡®I¡¯ll be damned if it is.¡¯

    Stone turned back to Riddis. ¡®Look at them. Too well fed for drifters.¡¯ He pulled back Agloff¡¯s coat, studied the dressing across his wound. Stone scoffed a little. He reached a hand into Agloff¡¯s inside pocket. Agloff¡¯s face paled, unmoved. Stone produced a small furled up photograph of Agloff¡¯s mother. He examined it, amused, before prodding it back into the pocket. ¡®Definitely not drifters. Winter will take them,¡¯ he announced. ¡®Even if it isn¡¯t Ashborne, can always do with strong labour. Like this one.¡¯ He dipped his chin at Oxford.

    ¡®They will be trialled,¡¯ Riddis insisted. ¡®We always trial them.¡¯

    ¡®Ellen, I don¡¯t think it¡ª¡¯

    ¡®If they are innocent of nothing more than being without a home, then I would be glad to give them one here. The Judge will ascertain the truth, and that will be that. If they are who you want them to be, though I doubt- we have been here before after all- you may take them.¡¯

    Stone scowled. ¡®I¡¯ll arrange a travelling party. He has awaited this day a long time.¡¯

    His colleagues¡¯ eyes rolled, and Riddis sunk back into her chair. ¡®I enjoy our talks, Taret. But you will do no such thing, until trial. The Judge is never wrong.¡¯ The Ambassador dipped his chin curtly. ¡®I¡¯ll have you stay at the dock for this evening, under guard,¡¯ Riddis said to them all. ¡®You¡¯ll be collected tomorrow for trial.¡¯

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ariea raised her arm. ¡®Should we¡­ come up with a case? Find evidence?¡¯

    ¡®Definitely not drifters,¡¯ Stone repeated through the grit of his teeth.

    ¡®There will be no need.¡¯

    Oxford growled. ¡®Doesn¡¯t seem fair.¡¯

    From her throne, Riddis smiled. ¡®Oh, rest assured it is.¡¯

    ¡®Councillor,¡¯ Stone began curtly. He was tall and thin-faced with cheekbones he could stab with. ¡®Winter will compensate the Fort handsomely for them. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d want to raise taxes to pay for the infirmary, not with an election approaching. Winter does you a great service. We could simply take them now¡ª¡¯

    Riddis¡¯ neck snapped at Stone. ¡®We have already established they are yours, if¡­¡¯ She dipped her head at Agloff. ¡®That one you¡¯re interested in is the Ashborne boy. Malvo Jask is more than aware of my gratitude for everything he has done. The infirmary, the tramway, the vaccinations. But here, we serve the rule of law and due process. If need be, they will go to Eden.¡¯ She leant back and shrugged.

    Stone bowed. ¡®Councillor.¡¯

    ¡®I certainly hope you don¡¯t mean to take them so soon in hopes of deceiving Jask, Stone,¡¯ another Councillor said, the eldest. ¡®To curry his favour. Putting ambition before the lives of these strangers, and the good of the Fort. I¡¯ve seen your eye wander long enough. You want a seat at Jask¡¯s table. And a bird tells me the Apostle of Alison is gravely ill.¡¯ His thumbs twiddled in amusement. ¡®Might delivery of Agloff Ashborne assure you Mars¡¯ successor?¡¯ The man¡¯s laugh stuttered into a choke. ¡®Jask would see through you like glass, Stone.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ve had no such thoughts, Tariq.¡¯ Stone smiled, swept his robe across him and sat once more.

    ¡®My guard will see you down to the dock,¡¯ Riddis announced to the prisoners. ¡®Kespin Merr!¡¯ she said, and a squat guard came to bow. Like the bounty hunters, he was dressed in leather armour. ¡®Take them. See they¡¯re fed.¡¯

    Two more guards followed, and Ariea and the others were herded like sheep out into the square and onwards downhill. Citizens pressed their nosy stares and hushed gossip as to what their crime might have been. Ariea was quite sure none would have guessed the absurd truth.

    Merr showed them onto the dock. Cubic buildings were strung out along the wharf, fronted by crates and logs, parcelled up, ready to sail. Ariea imagined ships curried cargo the length of the Colony up and down Principia from here. A trio of workmen in denim suits were smoking over a game of cards. Another was guiding a longboat to shore. Merr then prodded Ariea and the others in the direction of a slanted building. The inside was bare concrete, with rows of rooms unfurnished but for a washbasin and bunk.

    ¡®One each,¡¯ he grunted. ¡®The building will be under guard ¡®till I collect yous ¡®morrow morning.¡¯

    They said nothing and assigned themselves to a room each, waiting for their escort to leave, then all filtered into the far room.

    ¡®Eden, here we come.¡¯ Oxford¡¯s voice bounced down the corridor.

    ¡®I thought that Riddis woman seemed nice,¡¯ said Merry. ¡®Defended us well enough from Stone.¡¯

    Oxford hummed in agreement. ¡®They aren¡¯t half bigging this Judge up, I¡¯ll tell you that much. I¡¯ve been made to resist everything you can think of,¡¯ he said darkly. ¡®They ain¡¯t getting shit from me.¡¯

    ¡®How is everyone?¡¯ said Ariea.

    Memphis shrugged. ¡®Surviving.¡¯

    Lady made to slouch into Ariea¡¯s arms for a hug. ¡®I think everyone needs a hug right now. Wilder was a bad idea,¡¯ Ariea added after a pause. She waited for the others¡¯ agreement, but it never came. ¡®Agloff.¡¯ She turned towards him. His stood, rubbing his wound where Stone had. ¡®You¡¯re quiet.¡¯

    ¡®What d¡¯you want me to say? I can¡¯t take it back now.¡¯

    ''Should we plan a breakout?¡¯ Merry spluttered. ¡®After the trial.¡¯

    ¡®Too many unknowns.¡¯ Oxford shook his head. ¡®It¡¯s not something we could plan.¡¯

    Memphis raised an eyebrow. ¡®Could always try our luck. See how far we get.¡¯

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t be far,¡¯ Ariea cut in.

    Merry stroked a strap of hair behind her ear. ¡®We could hope the Judge lets us go.¡¯

    There was a scoff from Oxford and Memphis. ¡®Whoever they are, we know they won¡¯t. They seem confident of that much,¡¯ Memphis said.

    Ariea¡¯s arms slackened, and she ushered Lady on to Merry. ¡®Agloff, come with me a sec,¡¯ she said, standing.

    ¡®Yeah.¡¯ He followed her into the corridor, and down to one of the distant cells.

    ¡®Are you okay?¡¯ she said eventually. Concern was woven through her features. Lines traced a path like thread. ¡®Wilder was a lot. If you wanted to talk about it.¡¯

    He bit his lip. ¡®I¡¯m fine.¡¯

    ¡®I know you¡¯re not though.¡¯ It was tempting to press his regret that he ever went to Wilder. Claim ¡®I told you so¡¯, but Ariea knew better than to be so cruel. She sighed. She always sighed these days. ¡®So, he¡¯s alive then?¡¯ she said finally.

    Agloff fiddled the edges of his coat. ¡®Yeah. I could save him.¡¯ He leant into the wall, his cheek on the plaster.

    ¡®But?¡¯

    ¡®Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy not knowing more than knowing. That guard, Thawn, the one at the tower. He¡¯s my dad, right?¡¯ he said softly.

    Ariea nodded, extended an arm to his shoulder. ¡®I think so. It¡¯s a lot to unpack and I¡¯d understand if¡­¡¯ But her thought had no conclusion because she wasn¡¯t sure she would understand. What did his father matter, she thought. Thawn had either been dead or negligent. Not a father worth the title.

    ¡®I¡¯m fine. I waited my whole life for this, but now I¡¯m just sorta empty.¡¯

    She could see the cogs of his mind turn behind glazed eyes. He was transported within himself.

    ¡®Things don¡¯t always go the way we expect.¡¯

    His voice was grim. ¡®Guess not.¡¯

    ¡®Are you having doubts? About it all?¡¯ She poked and prodded, and prayed to God he was.

    ¡®Now I know he¡¯s there, it¡¯s all so real and I don¡¯t know what to do. But¡­ if I can save him, I owe him that right? It¡¯s only luck I¡¯m here instead of him. I know if he was here, and I was there, he would do the same. He would. I don¡¯t want to give up.¡¯ Agloff sounded like he was trying to assure himself much as he was Ariea. ¡®I couldn¡¯t ask you all to go with me. I know we¡¯re screwed tomorrow either way. Maybe I should just get it over with.¡¯

    ¡®Sounds like guilt talking,¡¯ she muttered. ¡®It¡¯s not giving up, it¡¯s growing up.¡¯ Ariea held him by his wrists, ducked to smile at his wistful features. For a moment, she thought about kissing him, and yielding to that primal version of herself.

    But that would be impractical, she told herself. She wasn¡¯t thinking straight. The moment passed like the wind and she waited for him to say something, but he never did.

    She let go and, with a long look back, skulked back to the others who were playing poker with a crumpled deck of cards Oxford had stashed in his coat. They gathered bottle caps, chain links and all sorts from a pile by the door for chips and gamed until the guard brought them each soup. Ariea didn¡¯t win all that many hands. By her own admission, she was bad at lying.

    Ariea imagined she wouldn¡¯t sleep well that night, but an hour later when she fell into the sheets of her bunk, tiredness set in like cold in winter. She slipped from the waking world, too tired to think much of anything.

    She fell through some infinite place, a landless maze of sky-bound trees, nestled inside the clouds. The forest blustered past her, faster and faster. Then, she awoke, in the warm embrace of her pillow. She turned over and Agloff was knelt in the corner of the room, a packed rucksack sandwiched between his legs.

    ¡®Hey,¡¯ he said grimly.

    His tone roused her from her bunk. Ariea¡¯s first thought was to slam him with the pillow. Her body broiled, her limbs began to shake, but the darkness hid her fury.

    ¡®Hey.¡¯

    He whispered quietly. ¡®I can¡¯t go to Eden and take all you with me. It¡¯s me they want. They¡¯ll just kill all of you, right. If I go, I should go alone.¡¯

    ¡®And then what? We just stay here and hope you come back?¡¯

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it for the best? I¡¯d be saving you all.¡¯

    ¡®Who are you to say what I want, what they want?¡¯ Tears fell on the backs of Ariea¡¯s hands, and she watched them roll down her fingers. ¡®You are a selfish coward. What about us who are left behind? The line of thought snapped her into silence. She felt a thousand miles from him. ¡®You know, I tried really hard to hate you. I wanted to smack you in the face so hard. But I can¡¯t keep being angry.¡¯ She slackened. ¡®I am tired of this, of telling you you¡¯re more than some dumb family.¡¯ The urge to cry welled up inside her. Her chest shook; sharp, and shallow. But why fight it? She indulged her urge, and the pair of them listened to the tide of gentle sobs. ¡®Do you know what I want, Agloff?¡¯

    His silhouette melted into the wall, as if he we were part of it. ¡®Tell me.¡¯

    ¡®I want to help people.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, you said, you wanna be a doctor¡ª¡¯

    ¡®No. You see, I never understood you, I won¡¯t pretend. But growing up without a mum in that house, with just you and dad, and Marty on his visits. I was alone, so I indulged you. We played dress up where Copen was your brother. I listened to you talk about it every night. I just¡­¡¯ Her words broke. She recollected her thoughts. ¡®When I was little I was desperate to please, to fit in. I felt I had to not be awkward in that house, because I was the girl. God knows I don¡¯t feel that way now but¡­¡¯ She swiped her cuff at her eyes.

    ¡®I still try too hard to please; you, Oxford, Merry¡­ I disagreed about Wilder, about Eden, leaving Backwater, but I put up. I shut up. Because I¡¯m lonely and I just want people to be happy. I want the world to be happy, and that¡¯s dumb as, but it¡¯s not something that goes away. I¡¯m still here because I want to make you happy and I hate it.¡¯ She paused, sank deeper within herself. ¡®I¡¯ll go so far, but I am not going to kill myself for you, or let you kill yourself. You need to meet me halfway, and if the last fifteen years meant anything, if I am owed anything, don¡¯t go. Please. How are you even going to escape this?¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s silhouette shifted a foot closer, face glazed in the cut of moonlight through the slats in the dock window. ¡®I- I was gonna make myself known to the guard. Tell him who I was. Confess. They¡¯d take me away and let you guys go.¡¯

    Ariea slid from her bed and leant back against the bunk. She kicked out her legs, sighed. ¡®And that¡¯s all you have to say, yeah. I won¡¯t tell you how I think it¡¯s going to go because I can¡¯t think about that.¡¯ She sobbed a little more, but she felt braver now than she ever had been. ¡®But think about them. What do you think Oxford is going to do if you go?¡¯ She waited but he didn¡¯t answer. ¡®He¡¯s going to go anyway. And without you, he will die. Merry and Memphis, and Lady; Winter took everything from them. You think they wouldn¡¯t go with him? Hell, they wouldn¡¯t let either of you go alone. Because they¡¯re good people, right. They care. Not like us. Me and you, we¡¯re selfish.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s the best I can do for them,¡¯ he protested.

    ¡®You¡¯re full of bullshit. I can¡¯t go after you like they would. Not forever. I will go with you, Agloff, to the end of the Colony, but not after you.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s why I should go. Don¡¯t you think after the shit I¡¯ve pulled you deserve better than me?¡¯

    Ariea laughed dryly. ¡®Agloff Ashborne, I am exactly what you deserve.¡¯ She stared at her fingers. ¡®I could regret this for the rest of my life, but I can¡¯t say bye to you. Not when I know you¡¯re not coming back.¡¯ Her voice fractured, and she felt her very soul may tear with it. Her head shook profusely.

    ¡®I¡¯ve never liked goodbyes,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®I always preferred ¡°see you later¡±. Makes me think I¡¯ll always see the person at least one more time.¡¯ He turned into doorway and looked down the corridor to the middle of the dock.

    ¡®If you have to, be gone by the time we wake up.¡¯ Ariea turned and dragged herself back onto her bunk by the sheets and looked at Agloff¡¯s figure linger in the doorway, pensive and lost. She then smeared her tears across her cheeks and rolled over to stare at the wall.

 Before Noon Chapter 20 | A Walk unto Thyself

    Chapter Twenty

    A Walk unto Thyself

    Agloff walked to the end of the corridor, the rucksack saddled over his shoulder. Through a barred window, the moon¡¯s reflection danced in the shimmer of Lake Principia. The background canvas of stars shifted, points of light flashed in and out of existence for every patch of sky he focused on. He sighed a long sigh and turned to look back.

    She was right.

    Of course, she was right. She was Ariea.

    Oxford would come after him. Winter was his catharsis after all. And Merry and Memphis would follow either one of them. Because they were good people. Agloff knew he was kidding himself. Like Ariea said, he was just a coward.

    He stole a moment and looked out. The world beyond that barred window was impossibly large and preposterous, a land of a thousand nations. He imagined troupes of zebras and wildebeest. Unbounded hills, swamps, and wetlands. Rivers marked by diminutive settlements of a dozen or two, lived in yet unexplored. Unbeaten pathways prowled by storied gangs, vagabonds and more. And all the while there was Winter¡¯s perfect, sleepless machine. Marty had said it would all be his alone to explore one day. Maybe it wasn¡¯t.

    Maybe it was theirs, the six of them.

    The strap slackened and his bag hit the concrete with a dull thud. He dragged it across the floor and back to Ariea¡¯s room. He propped it up against the back wall, adjacent to where she lay and set his head down. With her, the world felt warmer, and so he pretended to sleep.

    Come morning, Agloff saw Ariea shudder from her sheets. She straightened her back and her neck craned down to Agloff. She said nothing, but her face was peaceful. She gestured him to his feet and hugged him weakly, said nothing.

    Ariea pulled away and looked at him then, and he at her. ¡®I¡¯m proud of you.¡¯

    Half of Agloff wanted to do more than hug her, the other wanted to cry. He didn¡¯t presume to be forgiven, but it was a start.

    Then, the block door sailed open and footsteps trudged towards them. The bounty hunter, Kira, walked past, to a locked cell by the end of the corridor. One-by-one, the prisoners staggered from their greyed rooms to follow.

    Kira knelt beside a boy rocking in his chair in the corner of the room. His thinned head was shaven, with a blanket wrapped tightly across his chest. The cell had been inked with mindless scrawls. Papers and notes were stashed on view, each signed by Winter¡¯s mark. A drip was mounted on his chair as a tube fed into the base of his neck.

    ¡®Good morning,¡¯ Kira said to him gently. She extended an arm to the boy who ignored her. ¡®My brother,¡¯ Kira said to the onlookers. ¡®Ade. He¡¯s very ill.¡¯

    Agloff could make out a blueing of the flesh where the tube fed into Ade¡¯s neck. ¡®Is that¡ª¡¯ he started.

    ¡®Fever, yes. None about these days. When Ade was inoculated, he had a reaction.¡¯

    ¡®Who inoculates them?¡¯

    Kira scoffed. ¡®Winter, who else. When all the children go to Eden, they¡¯re injected against it. I was. Ade was better than all the other children. Could have been one of Ardul¡¯s Knights. But the rash stopped everything. They send us care for him though. Or Ade¡¯d be dead long ago.¡¯ Kira¡¯s voice seemed to float into the past. She produced a syringe from her satchel and sampled his blood without Ade so much as batting an eyelid. ¡®We don¡¯t have enough room at the house, so we set him up here. And Uncle wouldn¡¯t want people to see him.¡¯

    ¡®Your uncle?¡¯

    ¡®You met him; Taret Stone.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s shoulders rolled in their sockets, like someone might have stepped over his grave. ¡®Name¡¯s Kira Stone.¡¯ She nodded to her brother. ¡®Ade Stone.¡¯ She loosened the blanket across Ade¡¯s neck and guided him up. The boy was cut and bruised, marks Agloff suspected were self-inflicted. His thin lips murmured a single rhythm, over and over. ¡®Only through bleakest winter, in darkest hour, may spring¡¯s dawn find its way.¡¯ Words of Winter, Agloff thought. Ade produced a book from under his chair, still incantating, running his skeletal fingers across the pages.

    ¡®Winter is all he has,¡¯ Kira said. ¡®He exists for it.¡¯

    ¡®Is there any chance he could get better?¡¯ Merry asked, concerned lines woven into her brow.

    Kira shook her head. ¡®He has been this way a long time. Every season, weaker. Riddis lets him stay here but we can only make him comfortable.¡¯ She went to her bag a second time and offered up a pen and wedge of paper. ¡®He loves to draw and write, so.¡¯ Agloff took a closer look at one of the notes on the wall. It was a sketch of Malvo Jask, labelled with the very words Ade was reciting.

    ¡®When Uncle comes to visit, they just talk about his days under Winter¡¯s banner. Ade lives the life he lost through hearing about his. Sad.¡¯ She added the last word blankly after a pause, then lowered herself to him and kissed him by the forehead. Ade gave no flicker of recognition. His eyes glazed.

    ¡®Uncle,¡¯ Ade then whispered vaguely. ¡®Get Uncle. I need to talk to him about something.¡¯

    Kira nodded. ¡®I¡¯ll get him.¡¯ She caressed his shoulder before standing.

    ¡®I couldn¡¯t pretend to understand,¡¯ Ariea said. ¡®And I know you might not appreciate it but I¡¯m very sorry for what¡¯s happened to your brother.¡¯

    ¡®Apologies don¡¯t make the clock go back.¡¯ Kira sighed.

    ''How come you¡¯re not a pilgrim?¡¯ said Oxford.

    ¡®Let me go after Ade got sick. And I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to stay anyway. Prefer to choose what I hunt.¡¯ She raked a hand through her ragged golden hair and passed them into the corridor. ¡®Good luck today.¡¯ Her voice was grimly apologetic. ¡®Hope whatever happens after isn¡¯t so painful, and during.¡¯ Her eyes crossed her shadow, then she vanished down the way.

    Minutes passed, and a second chorus of footsteps filed through the walls. Agloff and the others at once scattered into their rooms. Kespin Merr¡¯s brutish frame stopped under the doorway at the end of the corridor. ¡®Up. Now,¡¯ he beckoned. ¡®Councillor Riddis wants you trialled before noon. Best not to keep His Judgliness waiting.¡¯

    One-by-one, they filtered towards him, like scolded children. He clicked a pair of handcuffs around their wrists as they passed him, stringing them into a line as Kira had.

    Merr led them out by a leash like street trash down onto the dock. A sailboat was just coming into harbour and a flurry of workmen cast aspersive stares. Agloff was hardened to it this time though.

    They didn¡¯t stop at the clock tower this time as Agloff might have expected. Instead, they pressed up onto the plateau of the Fort that overlooked the sprawl, where the buildings flattened and thinned towards its cobblestone walls.

    Merr ordered they halt at a wide track that bordered the city wall. One-man lookouts were erected on either side down the way, each with a brazier mounted on its roof. They oversaw the treeline of a thicket Agloff could spy through the railings of a silvery gate. How well-defended this place was, Agloff thought, with the lake on one side and forest on the other.

    Merr then deferred their attention to a long-bearded man, adorned in a ceremonial robe who waited at the silver gate. Two guards stood staunchly behind him, spears in the grip of their fists.

    ¡®Thank you, Kespin,¡¯ the bearded man said. ¡®A good morning to you all. My name is Master Ishida.¡¯

    As he spoke, Merr marched down the line of prisoners, unlocking their cuffs, only to draw his pistol on them instead.

    ¡®I am Master of Judgements,¡¯ Ishida continued. ¡®No doubt you¡¯ve already heard whispers of the Judge¡¯s awesome power. There is no need for you to prepare a statement or assemble evidence. The Judge determines guilt or otherwise with absolute precision.¡¯ He cleared his throat. ¡®You stand accused on two counts, of trespass of the Winterian seat of Fort Wilder, and of being fugitives from the Order of Winter. At the behest of the Old One himself, you are to be tried and judged to ascertain the truth of these claims. Move them.¡¯

    Merr hoisted them by the arm and prodded each one to the gate.

    ¡®So, what do we need to do?¡¯ Memphis snapped.

    ¡®Walk only into the forest. And keep your wits about you. The deeper you get, the more you fight it, the worse it gets. But I trust you will find the way. They always do.¡¯

    ¡®What gets worse?¡¯ Memphis growled.

    ¡®You¡¯ll see.¡¯ Ishida directed the guards that the gates open. ¡®The young one stays with me,¡¯ he said, and coaxed Lady over. Merry told her it was okay, and they would see her soon.

    ¡®Lesser men have mistaken him for a God,¡¯ Ishida said. ¡®Don¡¯t try to understand it. We would not pretend to understand his nature, but his nature is compelling.¡¯ Agloff had no care for Ishida¡¯s riddles. He wanted to meet the Judge and be done with it. Any sense of dread, he stifled it in the very pit of his being.

    He began to take shallow breaths, like the air was precious. At Ishida¡¯s calling, Agloff¡¯s legs carried him into the treeline and the gate yawned shut behind them. Ishida left them with a terse smile and Agloff closed his eyes, unsure of whether he should expect anything to happen yet, if at all.

    When they opened a second later, the sprawl of Fort Wishbone, the gates and walls vanished behind him. Instead, marshy forest stretched infinitely in all directions. He squinted one way, then another; it was like the scene was painted on top of itself, fractal patterns of trees that receded into timeless infinity. Agloff walked slowly. He traced his fingers over a fork where the branch of one tree had punctured the trunk of another. It was a violent place.

    The Fort was definitely behind Agloff, so if he kept going straight, then, surely, he would get where he needed to go? He called out for the others, but an ill silence answered. It was as if he weren¡¯t part of that world. Every few seconds he assured himself he was still going straight as his legs pulled one way or another. ¡®No,¡¯ he would order them. ¡®Forwards.¡¯

    Was it a drug, he thought? Or an illusion? Reality was hidden beneath his senses. Agloff hoped realisation of that fact might shatter his delusion but no.

    He blinked and ahead the trees bowed into an archway. Spindled branches tapered away into a ceiling of sorts, and a mud track emerged at his feet. It summoned him, like the will of its temptation was greater than his own. He fell through, into the clutch of a heavy fog.

    Agloff half-expected to choke but its weight passed through him. Every lead-laden step he took, the world sprung from nowhere.

    Ahead of him, jets of mist spiralled upwards, then collapsed into a dense shadow. He saw it take the shape of a man, featureless. Like a cloud that had taken on fleeting form. Then, the grey tones became saturated by colour and the vague edges solidified, into fabric and flesh. Agloff blinked and saw his own face in place of the fog. Ragged. Scarred. Sickly. Not my face, he thought then. Eron¡¯s.

    They circled each other; the shadow¡¯s movements were his own. It shared his curiosity. Instinct said this was bait. Summoned from Agloff¡¯s nightmares but he took pity on the shadow. He reached a hand and met its fingertips. It was sad.

    ¡®Hello,¡¯ Agloff said. He retracted his hand, and the shadow followed.

    ¡®Hello, Agloff,¡¯ said the shadow.

    ¡®You¡¯re not Eron.¡¯ Agloff whispered to himself.

    The shadow stopped and this time Agloff obeyed. ¡®Where were you?¡¯ it said. ¡®I¡¯ve needed you.¡¯ Its eyes sparkled like diamonds. ¡®Where were you when they took me?¡¯ The voice creaked as floorboards did. ¡®Agloff. You¡®ve left me in that place. You left me to Jask. Now, you¡¯re living my life. Mine. And what are you doing with it. You¡¯re moping after some girl who¡¯s had enough of you.¡¯ Its sadness turned to rage. The lines across its eyes cut into its features with a twisted handsomeness.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Agloff dropped to his haunches, hands closed around his ears. ¡®No,¡¯ he repeated.

    ¡®You dragged her to nowhere and think you¡¯re sorry. Sorry doesn¡¯t cover it. You don¡¯t get to mope and feel sorry for yourself like some kid.¡¯ The shadow stood over Agloff. Its darkness touched him. ¡®You¡¯re my brother who always promised he would find me? I am disappointed.¡¯

    ¡®I said I tried¡ª¡¯ Agloff could find no strength in his voice to summon the words. The fog drained him. He pushed his hands through the dirt, holding them up to the shadow like some pious man.

    ¡®You tried. You tried.¡¯

    ¡®Yes.¡¯

    It knelt down, ¡®You disgust me. You failed all of them, not just me.¡¯ It turned to consider the forest and Agloff brought himself to stand.

    ¡®I¡¯m coming for you, aren¡¯t I?¡¯

    ¡®You need to ask yourself that?¡¯ it snapped, back turned. Its posture carried a menace Agloff¡¯s had never possessed. ¡®What have you done? What have you really done to help me? This whole time you¡¯ve just made a mess and let other people clean it up.¡¯

    ¡®I left Backwater; I went to the Underground.¡¯

    ¡®No. At Backwater, years came and went, and you gave up even trying entirely. I became a daydream. Some other life lived. You were two weeks from signing a ten-year apprenticeship with a blacksmith.¡¯ The shadow shook its head. ¡®No, Oxford took you to the Underground, on Marty¡¯s orders. You were just the cargo who nearly got himself killed on the way. Idiot. Like a whiny little kid who can¡¯t do what his parents tell him to. Maybe having none does that.¡¯

    Agloff pleaded with the shadow. ¡®I escaped March Town. I wasn¡¯t useless.¡¯

    ¡®And the pilgrims were only there because of your mistake, right. Or why else did Merry and Memphis¡¯ home get blown up. You just sat quietly and took it, you let Oxford take the blame.¡¯

    ¡®I told them it was my fault and I think about it every day what I¡¯ve done to those people. What about the Underground?¡¯

    The shadow laughed. ¡®Do you want me to name everyone that died because you were there? Not least Marty and Fall. Neither had to die.¡¯

    Agloff placed a hand across his wound. ¡®I paid for that.¡¯

    ¡®Too lightly,¡¯ the shadow snapped. It paced in a trail of mist.

    ¡®I got shot. I nearly died. The girl I like hates me. And I screwed over the rest of them. I took Oxford¡¯s home, his wife. I took Merry, Memphis and Lady¡¯s home. I paid for what I did. I do, every night when I try and sleep.¡¯ Agloff straightened himself, his breathing ragged as he stared at the shadow¡¯s back. Finally, it looked at him.

    ¡®She doesn¡¯t hate you. She just blames you for everything. They all do. They wish you were gone. But you couldn¡¯t even run away last night properly, could you? Ariea was right, you are a coward.¡¯

    Agloff fell to his knees again. ¡®I was coming for you.¡¯ The line was his last defence, the same line he had told himself for so long.

    ''Was coming for me? So beaten. So defeated.¡¯

    ¡®Am.¡¯

    The shadow lowered to its knees and smiled darkly at Agloff¡¯s broken face. ¡®I don¡¯t believe you.¡¯

    ¡®I went to Wilder,¡¯ Agloff protested.

    ¡®For what? Fort Wilder was a fool¡¯s errand. You knew that. After all, what reasonable person might expect there to be a shred of whatever you claimed you were hoping to find, eight centuries after the fact? It was an excuse to look like you were doing something rather than nothing¡ª¡¯

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t.¡¯

    ¡®¡ªThat for all that shit you spouted about finding me, you had half a plan to follow through. That was the plan, wasn¡¯t it? One final hurrah at Fort Wilder, then say ¡®oh well, nothing¡¯s here, let¡¯s call it a day.¡¯ Wilder but no further. It was a natural point for journey¡¯s end. To escape this hole you¡¯d dug yourself. Then you could concede to Ariea ¡®you told me so¡¯ and call it quits. But you didn¡¯t count on Jask¡¯s persistence, did you? He outplayed you. He read you like the open book you are. A coward. Clinging to the nearest way out.¡¯

    Agloff tried to stand but the shadow struck out at him and he collapsed into the dirt. ¡®No.¡¯

    ¡®Yes. You led Ariea all this way down a road you don¡¯t even have the stomach for yourself. Might that finally break her when she finds out. And might that finally kill her?¡¯ The shadow said it with such finality, the conviction that it would.

    How dare he.

    How dare he claim to know Ariea, in all her perfection and imperfection. Thoughtlessly, Agloff roared. He threw an arm through the fog and his fist cut the shadow¡¯s body as though it were cloud. Its form shattered into a thousand stones, pelting the mud like hail.

    Like that, it was gone.

    It was the worst of his imagination. But no more than that, Agloff told himself. He let himself fall to his backside and panted in the remains of his nightmare. The greater terror was whether he believed it. Had he truly been so beaten when he went to Wilder? In his moment¡¯s release, he could not say, and that terrified him.

    The fog yielded and Agloff half-expected the scene to twist into something otherworldly, but it carried the same sickness as before. He looked at the thousand stones where his shadow had shattered, orbiting him in neat rings.

    One-by-one, they splintered. Each fragment sprouted spindles like loose spools of thread, and Agloff saw them stiffen into eight legs, and the pebbles a body. Agloff stumbled backwards, his heart falling through his insides and a hot buzz swelled inside him.

    Where there were stones, suddenly an army of spiders scurried at him with ugly speed.

    He picked a direction, any direction; they were all the same. Stumbling and tumbling through the forest, he ran, arms outstretched like feelers. The creatures wailed hellishly and Agloff¡¯s ears rang. He swept this way and that, guided by instinct, dodging low branches and upturned roots. The faster he went, the faster they chased him. Like some awful dream, Agloff could not cheat his imagination.

    His legs became heavy and the world slowed past him. Trees crawled through his vision. Slower and slower. Until the more he ran, the more everything was determined to stay still. The awful wailing swelled louder and Agloff thought his eardrums may burst.

    They must be right behind. The scurry of their movements seared his ears. He turned to look. Spiders closed around him. Their spindly legs danced through the air. He snapped his eyes shut, expecting to suffocate in their embrace but no.

    On touch, each burst into a point of light. His world fizzed in a spate of flashes; their blotted shapes burned onto his corneas. He breathed hard. Of course it was spiders, he thought. This place knew his fears. How to compel him to feel all the awful things in the world. It would pass, he told himself. It had to pass.

    Again, the mist began to ebb at Agloff¡¯s feet, from the forest floor, like a river coursing round rocks. The mist rose and collapsed into a second shadow some way ahead of him, but this time it wasn¡¯t Eron. Arms raised, it drew back a simple hood and ripples of dark hair puffed out beneath. As Agloff moved towards it, the land sloped upwards. His legs grew weary, and he drew shallow breaths as the air became suddenly thin.

    It was like the spiders: no matter how close Agloff got, he never quite seemed to reach the figure. If he stepped forward, the world stretched more.

    Then, the world flattened. Trees melted into the soil in murky swirls as if the land were an oil canvas. The ground bubbled. Fresh grass punctured the topsoil to climb up towards the light and the shade above parted into a dazzle of clear sky. Ahead, Agloff could see nothing but grass plains, bobbing up and down like waves out to the horizon. He looked back; the walls of Fort Backwater stood triumphant in the near distance.

    Slowly, strength returned to Agloff. The sensations were so vivid: the folding of the grass beneath his shoes, the passage of wind over the contours of his face. He walked on, circling the woman. But her back was always to him. The faster Agloff paced, the faster she stayed still. The world tethered him to the same, immutable spot.

    He could never see her face. It was more than unsettling. She was always looking ahead to some journey, She could never look back, no matter how long he waited.

    ¡®Stay,¡¯ he whispered. ¡®Make everything right and just stay.¡¯ He saw another life there, where she alone raised him. Marty was a family friend who never left. Ariea was the girl he liked next door. It was uncomplicated between them. There was no room for Eron. Was that so bad?

    Then the mirage subsided, the oily swirls turned the fields to trees, blooming from the ground and the sky sank into a bleak darkness. Where the woman had stood, a great tree trunk faded into view. A monstrous thing, generations of gaunt branches splintered from each other into messy knots of grey leaves. But there was something reassuring in its form, like Agloff could be sure this thing was real and not of his own creation, that it was a friend.

    He looked past it. Ariea, Oxford, Merry and Memphis were spaced evenly in its shade. They exchanged blinkered stares, with the same implicit conviction in their eyes that they had reached their destination.

    Then some absurd thing happened. A voice spoke in Agloff¡¯s head. But for the first time in his life, it was not his own. ¡®Good afternoon, and many congratulations,¡¯ it said.

    Agloff jolted, tried to shake the voice from his head, but it clung to the fringes of his consciousness, a mind within his own. Like a zit beneath his skin, he could feel its thoughts turn through the folds of his brain.

    Oxford spoke first. ¡®Am I mad, or?¡¯ They all shook heads. Where the others retreated, he stepped forwards, his palm outstretched towards the unknown, as it was towards his wife beneath the Underground. He walked forward, curious without regard, without self-preservation.

    Fear set into Merry and Memphis¡¯ faces. And Agloff knew then that that walk had plagued each of them in equal measure. He thought the forest might have been aflame to Merry and Memphis; haunted by the charred silhouette of March Town. Might Ariea have met the husk of her father again, in that last moment of living. And Oxford¡¯s demons ran deeper than Agloff¡¯s. But each kept it well hidden. They were stronger than the world that made them now, Agloff saw that.

    Then the voice within them replied. ¡®You¡¯re not mad yet.¡¯

    Oxford stuttered, but his approach was undeterred. ¡®What the actual¡ª¡¯

    ¡®I am Erobo, judge and juror of Fort Wishbone. I sincerely apologise, for all that you have seen. Your eyes are aged beyond your years.¡¯

    ¡®You made us see those things?¡¯ Ariea¡¯s face was lit with rage. ¡®You did everything.¡¯

    Erobo erred. ¡®It¡¯s a side effect of my searching your minds for the truth.¡¯

    ¡®So, you¡¯re what? Telepathic?¡¯

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ it said blankly. ¡®The good people of Wishbone preserve this place for me, give me a home. In return, I trial their vagrants and villains. No thought is hidden. But rest assured, I only look where needed. It is the gravest disrespect to peer further.¡¯

    Oxford took a step forward accusingly. ¡®What were you looking for?¡¯

    ¡®Your identities only.¡¯

    ¡®So why the nightmares?¡¯ Ariea snapped.

    Agloff thought he heard Erobo sigh. ¡®I suppose an explanation is owed. This place makes people scared. You were on trial after all. Has everyone told you about the ominous Judge and how people go mad? Your heart rate rockets, there¡¯s adrenaline in your blood. Fight or flight: your body¡¯s stressed, prepared for a threat. There isn¡¯t one, but thanks to me you now have a heightened capacity for hallucination. So, your subconscious fills in the gap. You¡¯re scared because you expect to be scared. In future, likely, you wouldn¡¯t have as adverse an experience. At the very least it would be palatable. In time, it may even be pleasant. You were scared, with an invader searching through your minds. I didn¡¯t control what you see, but I feel it.¡¯

    Ariea said nothing, her rage unabated.

    ¡®What are you?¡¯ Memphis said.

    ¡®We are a hive of millions of organisms, that think as one. We permeate the forest, the air, the soil. At this tree most strongly. As you walk my air, you breathe me. In a way, I become part of you. Don¡¯t worry,¡¯ he added as their shoulders tightened and bodies recoiled. ¡®Harmless in the long-term.¡¯

    At last, Oxford touched a hand against the tree. ¡®You¡¯re alien¡­ right?¡¯

    ¡®Yes. Hope that doesn¡¯t frighten you. I am the last of my people. I arrived eight-hundred years ago. My shuttle crashed a way west of here.¡¯ There was a heavy pause and Agloff and the others eyed each other, startled. They realised what he did.

    The meteor they heard arrive during the wedding. They had seen the crater those centuries before, from the crest of the Underground, the deep valley that cut into the earth.

    Erobo gasped at their shared realisation. ¡®You saw it! Coincidence is a beautiful thing. When I arrived, I had a body like any being. I walked to this place, fatally injured. When we die, our brains disintegrate, into this. And we join with the living world around us. But my stories can wait for another time.¡¯

    Agloff wondered if the Erobo¡¯s abilities went the other direction, if Agloff could touch Erobo¡¯s subconscious. Because as the voice spoke, Agloff felt pangs of guilt, of shame, inside him. A sickly, terrible shame. But it wasn¡¯t his own.

    ¡®Can you tell us then, if we¡¯re guilty?¡¯ Ariea said.

    Agloff¡¯s mind turned on the avenues that lay before him now, each equally real until Erobo said one word or the other. His future had never felt so indeterminate, so out of his hands, but he knew the answer of course.

    ¡®I think it is obvious to all of us you¡¯re guilty of that of which you are accused.¡¯ He paused. ¡®But it¡¯s within my discretion to say I don¡¯t consider existing a crime worthy of the name. You have done no wrong, friends. It seems you each equate a guilty verdict to a death sentence, so I have no intention of allowing Stone to send you to Winter. You are acquitted. Your secret is safe.¡¯

    The others nearly collapsed in release. Merry slipped to her knees and laughed at the forest. ¡®Thank you,¡¯ she breathed. ¡®Thank you.¡¯

    Agloff turned to Ariea and fell into her arms thoughtlessly. He squeezed her so tight he thought she might argue, but she did no such thing. He spread his fingers across her back and a smile came over him as they parted.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯ He said it for the final time, with all conviction. ¡®That I had to put you through that. But this is over now, right? This is good? We¡¯re free?¡¯ He needed her assurance.

    Ariea nodded awkwardly. ¡®You don¡¯t have to tell me. Now, we just have to pretend to be someone else for the rest of our lives,¡¯ she said, half-seriously.

    ¡®If it¡¯s means I¡¯m still around, doesn¡¯t have to be a bad thing.¡¯ Agloff stared at her face a moment. Her mind looked distant. ¡®It wasn¡¯t real,¡¯ he said, sensing her unease. ¡®They¡¯re bad dreams.¡¯

    ¡®Believe me, what I just went through is nothing compared to the alternative I saw last night.¡¯

    ¡®Point taken,¡¯ Agloff said sheepishly.

    ¡®It¡¯s not what I saw.¡¯ Her eyes rolled. ¡®It¡¯s whether I believe it.¡¯

    Agloff took her meaning well enough. Eron¡¯s words hung over him like a shroud of unspoken truths, truths he was scared to know, to admit even to the worst version of himself.

    ¡®Are you okay?¡¯ Agloff said then. She wasn¡¯t, of course, but she was so strong. He didn¡¯t mean like a question. It was an invitation, an offer to be there for her where he had failed once too many. It was an admission of wrongdoing, its meaning lost to anyone but them.

    ¡®We¡¯re broken people, so no. But yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡¯ Her tone softened. ¡®Thank you.¡¯

    ¡®We could¡­¡¯ started Agloff.

    ¡®We could what?¡¯ He could see her eyes read him as he did her. She hunted for any sign of remorse, to repair what was broken.

    ¡®If you wanted to go for a walk or something down the lake. Just talk, you know. About last night, or stuff, or¡­¡¯

    She nodded, brushed streaks of hair out her eyes then cocked her head to the side. ¡®Yeah. Last night¡¯s a good place to start. I have nowhere to be anymore.¡¯

    One corner of his mouth curled into a smile. ¡®You know I kinda wish, thinking about it, that I came out on my birthday now. I needed that drink for all the shit that happened afterwards.¡¯

    Ariea Finland laughed for the first time in a while. ¡®That¡¯s a lie. You could never hold a drink since Copen¡¯s. But I¡¯ll admit it was kind of shit without you. Maegen was very disappointed. Not that it lasted all that long, because, well¡­.¡¯

    ¡®Were you disappointed?¡¯

    ¡®Disappointed I didn¡¯t get to see you embarrass yourself again.¡¯ She deftly dodged his meaning. ¡®You¡¯re really an adorable drunk.¡¯

    ¡®We could get a drink.¡¯

    Ariea held her arm and dipped her head. ¡®Soon,¡¯ she said with a distant happiness. ¡®But not yet.¡¯ He had to earn that, he knew.

    Agloff¡¯s words knotted in his throat and the moment tapered into a silence. He angled his head, spying a lonely cloud through a gap in the canopy and wondered if this might be for the better. At the very least, he could go to Winter on his terms. If not, he could stay in Wishbone and laze over the dock, dangling his feet in the bay and watch the ships come in with Ariea, Oxford, Merry, Memphis and Lady, content in their company. And would that really be such a bad thing?

 Before Noon Chapter 21 | The Road to Eden

    Chapter Twenty-One

    The Road to Eden

    Ariea stepped into the sunlight. The sky was laced in bands of white cloud. She craned her neck to the view, brimming with a wide smile. Lady roamed back into Merry¡¯s arms with her gawky grin, like they had been apart weeks.

    It was over.

    Kespin Merr passed Erobo¡¯s verdict to Ishida who ordered that they were compensated for the ordeal. The six of them were to be clothed and fed, each given a room at the Adler Inn indefinitely. They were free to follow their plans. Ariea stared from the edge of the forest and watched over the town to a boat coming into dock beneath them. Her eyes chased the shoreline north, to where the water blended with the land in pale fog. It was their passage to Arwa County, beyond the mountains and Winter¡¯s jurisdiction. Just like they said.

    She looked at them all, hustling through the streets, bodies bobbing between bodies like pebbles in the ocean. It reminded her of a nightmare seen in more than her mind.

    Her thoughts betrayed her to the figments of herself Erobo had shown. The most awful place. A mire of blackness as wide as all of space, herself lost in some nondescript corner. The solitude imposed itself upon her like a terrible weight that crushed the air from her lungs, the strength from her bones.

    Her throat turned dry and tendrils of panic strangled her. The noise of the street became a wailing. Louder and louder. She felt the world change.

    Merry said something.

    ¡®Ariea.¡¯

    Her breathing steadied. She saw light again.

    ¡®You okay?¡¯

    What good was lying anyway? ¡®It was so real. I can¡¯t forget that.¡¯

    Nodding, Merry placed an arm across her. The nod meant everything; it meant Ariea wasn¡¯t alone. How she felt wasn¡¯t something she could explain with all the words in the world. But Merry understood.

    ¡®You¡¯re safe now. Have you talked about it with Agloff? You two seem a bit chirpier.¡¯ She smiled teasingly.

    Ariea brushed her head from side to side. ¡®I don¡¯t want him to worry about me.¡¯

    ¡®Girl, you¡¯re owed it after the stuff he¡¯s pulled on you! Maybe it¡¯ll help you understand each other. If you already know each other¡¯s worst fear, you can¡¯t exactly go deeper than that.¡¯

    Ariea huffed. ¡®I¡¯m still figuring it out. I don¡¯t exactly want him to think I¡¯ve forgiven him over my dad because I haven¡¯t.¡¯ She then turned to Merry. ¡®You¡¯re always so nice. How d¡¯you do it?¡¯

    Merry laughed cutely, cheeks ripened. ¡®Pays to be cynical. But not to be angry. Because the world can be a pretty place most of the time.¡¯

    ¡®Nice way of looking at things.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s hard.¡¯ But she said it with a wide smile.

    They followed the curves of the land down the hillside as one. For the first time, Ariea walked Wishbone a free woman. No oppressive stares from onlookers and the rope burns round her wrists were fading into purplish bruises.

    Kespin Merr led them to the base of the hill and a boxy building marked ¡®Adler¡¯. Ariea made to the door, but not before an arm stepped across her, and the oak clapped shut on its hinges.

    They jerked back and Ariea saw that they were the centre of a rabble. Men in grey cloaks surrounded them in waves of fabric and funny helmets. Ten of them, or more. Their chests wore a sign Ariea knew too well.

    ¡®A good morning to you.¡¯ Taret Stone of Winter stepped through the veil of cloth with manic delight, furnished into slick uniform. He took a gloved hand to Agloff¡¯s cheeks, clasping them between his raised fingertips. He stepped forwards, holding the boy to the wall of the inn.

    Ariea yelled, stepped against him but before she could move to strike, a leg swatted out at hers. Her knee gave way beneath her. ¡®Don¡¯t touch him!¡¯ she begged, padding rouged lips by the back of her hand.

    ¡®What do you want?¡¯ Agloff mumbled through Stone¡¯s fingers. His face looked damaged.

    The Ambassador relented and degloved his hands, pocketing them while his grey followers closed the circle around them.

    ¡®Agloff Ashborne.¡¯ Stone announced their names to the passing trade. ¡®Ariea Finland. Meredith Cutter. Memphis Teller. Oxford Blue.¡¯ He crouched to Lady and dragged her by the wrist from her guardians. ¡®Lady.¡¯

    He opened his mouth to continue before a babble bounced down the street. A heady voice prodded the passers to their business. ¡®Move. Make way. Come on. Don¡¯t be so nosey. Stone!¡¯ it snapped eventually. ¡®The hell is this?¡¯

    Ariea recognised him from Riddis¡¯ chambers. He was bathed in a verdant robe, and a white beard spilled down his breast.

    ¡®Tariq,¡¯ Stone said warningly.

    ¡®Why are you badgering prisoners? Are they not to be trialled?¡¯

    Kespin spoke up. ¡®They have been, Councillor. Tried and acquitted.¡¯

    ¡®Then why, dear Ambassador, are you bumblingly badgering them like a beggar in broad daylight? Erobo is never wrong, is he?¡¯

    Stone¡¯s breath shook. ¡®I have reasons to believe the beast is protecting them. They are who I believe, Councillor. I know you think little of me, but I am telling the truth.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t think little of you. But you are overzealous. If Erobo acquitted them, you are overstepping your bounds, boy. What are your reasons?¡¯

    Stone smiled. ¡®Ade!¡¯ The sea of cloaks parted and Ariea saw behind them the haggard figure of Ade Stone, a ghostly puppet suspended in his wheelchair. The sunlight struck him whiter than cloud. Ariea was unsure if it was his illness that did that, or because his uncle had hidden him away from the sun for so long.

    ¡®My nephew,¡¯ Stone said proudly. But that pride was fleeting, Ariea was sure. Ade was his shame. ¡®My nephew shared his home with them last night, as they awaited trial. He heard Miss Finland and Master Ashborne talking. They used their names. Their real names.¡¯

    ¡®Preposterous,¡¯ blustered Tariq.

    ¡®I heard it with my own ears, Councillor,¡¯ whispered Ade. He stared at Ariea with dead eyes. She had felt men look at her that same way down Backwater¡¯s streets. Men in the factory. It was a bitter look. A jealous look. ¡®She said, ¡°Agloff Ashborne, I am exactly what you deserve¡±, to him.¡¯

    ¡®You see,¡¯ Stone said. ¡®I would take them to Eden. They would be no trouble then, out of your hands.¡¯ He forced a smile.

    Tariq chewed on his words. ¡®If what you say is true, Erobo had his reasons to keep that from us.¡¯

    ¡®You always did think small.¡¯

    ¡®Riddis will see that this is resolved.¡¯

    Stone growled. His patience waned. ¡®I¡¯m taking them. To Eden.¡¯

    Ariea looked down, to see a hand in her own. Agloff looked at her, dipped his head uphill, whispered, ¡®We run?¡¯

    She nodded so faintly she wasn¡¯t sure he understood. ¡®Yeah,¡¯ she breathed, then mouthed the words to Merry, to Memphis, to Oxford and Lady, as Tariq and Stone exchanged jabs and veiled threats. Each returned a knowing look, a sudden tension in their bodies, a readiness. Ariea felt adrenaline well inside her, heat beat down her spine.

    ¡®NOW!¡¯

    Agloff burst forwards, a guard tipped sideways. He burst into the melee, following the angle of the street upwards. Ariea paled into the crowd after him. She weaved seemingly stationary bodies. Oxford yelled something. Merry and Memphis told her to go, that they were behind.

    Stone¡¯s cries rang down the street like bells. Don¡¯t look back, she yelled in her head. Don¡¯t look back. They zipped over puddles, below the washing lines of dazed houses. Up to the where the buildings thinned at the edge of the gradient. She thought she heard a guard shout something behind.

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    Don¡¯t think. Breathe. Keep breathing.

    If they just got the forest, we¡¯re safe. Erobo could protect us. Right?

    Thoughts whirled in breathless circles as she chased Agloff¡¯s back. That was all her eyes needed. All the reassurance she needed. A stitch punctured her side like a body blow. Her legs became heavy.

    ¡®ASHBORNE!¡¯ Stone¡¯s voice carried the stares of the street. ¡®STOP THEM!¡¯

    Her stare scattered on the passers-by. Don¡¯t listen to him, she thought at them. As if to will their inaction.

    ¡®STOP THEM!¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s head became light and absent of thoughts. The moment was lost from her and she ducked round a lamppost and out into a wide crossroads. But Agloff had already vanished, darted one way or another. The pelt of his steps receded, too scarce to follow, and Ariea felt the dark place impose on her shoulders once more. Her breath came short.

    Two grey cloaks closed behind. She darted right, to where the city wall came into view. Another pair of cloaks swept in front of her, spread the width of the cobbles between them.

    Bodies ensnared her. A hand reached across her mouth, and Ariea choked on some awful smell. She could not resist. The drug arrested all her strength. Was it a sedative? Or poison?

    Her mind turned to nonsense, until only the basest, most desperate panic remained. Feeling without thought. She was raised by strong arms towards the sunlight as it kissed her eyelids. Then the weight of that dark and terrible place crushed all hope from within her, and she presumed that was her final feeling in this world.

    *

    Agloff reached the walls of Wishbone and pushed into the trees. Whatever horrors Erobo might conjure were stifled below his senses. He was too busy to care. The air snapped, and the trail of a bullet whizzed past him. His ears thrummed. Agloff threw a look over his shoulder, but the shooter was too far back to see.

    All the air in the world couldn¡¯t satisfy him. His throat clutched insatiably as his body seized in the cold. Ahead, the land fell into a gully. Agloff dropped to his knees. The wound in his shoulder throbbed.

    I just have to get here.

    Agloff pulled his arms over the ledge and his body tumbled into a clutch of leaves from autumn-past in a splutter of wheezes. He wiped a hand up the seam of his jacket, brushing away the dirt, then shuffled into the shadow of the ledge over him, guarded by a well of trees. He looked along the ravine. The rock opened into a small cave that dipped under the forest. He moved achingly into its embrace.

    Agloff stared out into the forest, paralysed by cold and breathlessness. He begged someone might follow.

    He heard a tangle of footsteps overhead and shuffled back into guarded shadow. Legs fell into view down the angle of the ledge and Oxford Blue squatted to stare at Agloff through the darkness. More tired steps followed; Memphis dropped into view, then Lady and Merry.

    He stared hard at them, still clutching his knees.

    ¡®Where¡¯s Ariea?¡¯ he said, shaking.

    Oxford peered over the cave. ¡®Agloff, I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®No, where is Ariea? She was behind me, right. She was right behind me.¡¯

    Words of reassurance passed over Agloff as he rocked on his haunches. Seconds as long as years rippled by and Agloff¡¯s eyes clung to the tunnel of light in the centre of his vision, waiting for her to tumble into view next. He counted the moments.

    But she never did.

    He couldn¡¯t wait.

    He lurched from his seat, burst towards sunlight, but Oxford threw an arm out and Agloff was knocked to the floor. Oxford leaned across him and pinned Agloff still by his wrists. He couldn¡¯t think to struggle.

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ he whispered, begged.

    Oxford growled. ¡®She¡¯s gone. Okay. If she¡¯s not here, she¡¯s gone. Rest of us stick together. We wait it out ¡®till night.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t get to decide that! She is everything.¡¯ He looked at Merry and Memphis beggingly.

    Oxford scoffed and his eyes rolled back into their sockets. ¡®Too late.¡¯

    ¡®I could scream,¡¯ Agloff whispered. ¡®They¡¯d hear. Could be right above us.¡¯

    ¡®You scream, and I¡¯ll save Jask the trouble of killing you myself.¡¯

    The thought of capture was more assuring than loneliness, thought Agloff. Because even with them, he was lonely. He supposed this was what he deserved. He had held Eden above her head like some taunt for so long, and now she was gone because he had refused to take his chance.

    He tried to scream, but only hoarse silence took its place. Still, Oxford held him as the tracks of tears beat down his wounded cheeks.

    At last, Oxford relented and Agloff perched himself on an upturned rock. He stared at the shapes the shadows made in the narrowing sun as it sank through the treeline. Every now and then, they heard the latent cries of grey cloaks searching the forest.

    For so brief a moment, Agloff thought he¡¯d stumbled upon something good, where the world might allow him a happy ending.

    Eron was right. Agloff needed to be free from the web he had spun himself. Time had made a fool of his dreams. And now, he saw the price of them.

    Eron was right. Agloff just needed Ariea. Over and over, in his head, he apologised to her, even though he knew it did no good now. Sorry for all his indecision and indifference. The journey to Wilder. All the time wasted. Now he saw what everyone else had seen all along. And he knew it was his fault. He wept silently against the rocks. Irrepressibly, his mind cut deeper, turned the blade through his wounds. What-ifs and would-have-beens whirled in Agloff¡¯s head like passing clouds.

    Eron was right and Agloff knew he could never be wrong, because Eron was only ever Agloff himself. But now, he had nothing, and everything to gain. He had tried hiding and skulking from shadow-to-shadow to avert Winter¡¯s gaze. He hadn¡¯t tried it for long, but he had tried it enough. Why limp on only to the next day but no further, as Tails had. It was no way to live a life.

    Agloff knew what he had to do. He tread the warpath now. It was obvious after all. He was never on the road to Eden for Eron. He was going to find Ariea Finland, then he was going to kill Malvo Jask.

    The low crunch of leaves pounded above them and Agloff¡¯s mind snapped to the present moment. He shuffled backwards into an alcove of stone and Merry and Memphis followed. Oxford stood, stooped below the angle of the opening, and listened.

    ¡®Get back you idiot!¡¯ said Memphis.

    ¡®What if it¡¯s them?¡¯ Merry said. ¡®Lady, come close.¡¯ She drew the girl in, cupped hands over her ears.

    They listened.

    ¡®What if it¡¯s not?¡¯ said a vaguely familiar voice. There was a thud as boots hit the foot of the ravine and Kira Stone sheathed a dagger. She looked at them a long time, but no one said anything. She was in the same leather garments, had the same flattened ponytail as before.

    Oxford raised a fist. There was a grunt and a second later, his shoulder was pegged between Kira¡¯s arms, folded back on itself. ¡®Shut up and listen, friend,¡¯ she said, spreading her fingertips around his lips.

    ¡®Your brother,¡¯ Memphis then said accusingly. Agloff saw again the rage he had worn broodingly at March Town, polishing his shotgun at the bar.

    Kira hesitated.

    ¡®I saw what he did. Believe me in it was not my intention.¡¯ She did not elaborate, stood with a wiry look and watched them.

    Memphis growled. ¡®Your intention?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s my fault you¡¯re here. Ade asked to see uncle when you left. I didn¡¯t ask. I didn¡¯t know. Uncle never goes to visit Ade, you see. He tolerates him, barely. He acknowledges him as a courtesy. Nothing more. So, when Ade asks to see him, I don¡¯t question it. I fetch him.¡¯

    ¡®Why come here?¡¯ Memphis said. Perhaps he thought better than to let Oxford ask the questions. At last, Kira¡¯s grip on Oxford slackened, and he spluttered.

    Merry spoke. ¡®Be polite, Memph, she¡¯s obviously not here to take us back.¡¯ She looked at Kira. ¡®Are you?¡¯

    Kira laughed. ¡®No. You¡¯re lucky you make a mess, friends. Followed your tracks all the way from the walls. But you¡¯re luckier that pilgrims couldn¡¯t track a lighthouse from shore.¡¯

    Coughing, Oxford rubbed his throat. ¡®Why?¡¯ he said. ¡®Why are you doing this? Why are you here?¡¯

    Sighing again, Kira sat, ¡®Winter took my brother from me. Cast us both out and I had to look after him, nurse him. While they gave him nothing but pills. And seeing as I still get paid for you¡­ Well, I¡¯d feel a lot better about myself if you got out after what happened to the girl.¡¯ Her guarded manner slackened and Agloff saw a frailty in her. He sensed it was as close to an apology for their capture as they would get.

    Agloff leaned forward. ¡®You know what happened to Ariea?¡¯

    ¡®They would¡¯ve taken her Eden. They take everyone Eden. They want you, right?¡¯ She poked Agloff and he nodded. ¡®I¡¯ll make it simple for you. Eden¡¯s the hook, she¡¯s now the bait.¡¯

    Oxford looked down. ¡®And we¡¯re the fish.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s where we need to go!¡¯ Agloff exclaimed.

    The others sat quietly. None came to his support. But none argued.

    Kira locked eyes with Agloff. ¡®I ain¡¯t gonna try and stop you, friend, but this girl- she worth that?¡¯

    He nodded, and she seemed to take him at that.

    ¡®I know a way. I know people who can get you close enough alive, that you stand a chance when you get in.¡¯

    Merry leaned forwards. ¡®How?¡¯

    ¡®People don¡¯t just go to Eden,¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®But people can.¡¯ They all reclined where they sat, back into the walls of the cave, and their eyes narrowed on Kira. ¡®Winter isn¡¯t what you think it is. There¡¯s a thing people don¡¯t understand about Eden, mostly because the people who wanna take it down are the ones who haven¡¯t been.¡¯

    Agloff raised an eyebrow. ¡®Then what is it?¡¯

    ¡®Imagine a spider. Say you don¡¯t like spiders so when you see one, you stay away. It can¡¯t hurt you, but you¡¯ve been brought up to believe it¡¯s dangerous. Winter¡¯s the same. They¡¯ve ruled so long people have just forgotten it could be different.¡¯

    Memphis¡¯s features tightened. ¡®I don¡¯t understand.¡¯

    ¡®I do.¡¯ Agloff looked up. He saw Kira¡¯s riddle. ¡®Winter rules through fear. But fear alone. Just like the spider keeps you away, even if it can¡¯t hurt you.¡¯

    Oxford scoffed. ¡®Winter can definitely hurt us.¡¯

    At that, Kira hummed. ¡®But not enough to keep you out. For so long now, Eden has relied on fear. They are undermanned. Jask relies on the children to keep the city running. They outnumber the pilgrims there twenty-to-one, or more! Getting in isn¡¯t the problem.¡¯ She looked at Oxford. ¡®There¡¯s a railway line, disused, runs all the way into the city. I work with some people who can escort you.¡¯ She gestured to an insignia emblazoned on her arm; it was some kind of big cat, a leopard perhaps.

    ¡®What¡¯s that?¡¯ asked Agloff.

    ¡®All over the Colony, there¡¯s a group of us who fight every day to cut down Winter¡¯s flag. To liberate the Blocks.¡¯

    Merry nodded. ¡®We saw one, abandoned though.¡¯

    ¡®Then you know why I¡¯m helping you. I didn¡¯t think who you were before but now¡­ Since Ade got ill, I¡¯ve seen what Winter does to people. No more of that.¡¯

    Puffing his cheeks, Oxford glanced at Kira. His face was wired with scepticism. ¡®Your people, who are they?¡¯

    ¡®We work for a woman called Abba Yondo, the Spider.¡¯ She gestured her badge. ¡®I¡¯m the Lynx. We are everywhere, anyone wronged by Jask. We fight for the kids. So they can have a childhood. Not work in factories twelve hours a day or have to hold a gun or, Cerberus above, get taken to the Red Cathedral, Winter¡¯s cradle.¡¯ Horror plagued her face, but each thought better than to ask.

    ¡®So, where are you taking us?¡¯ Oxford asked.

    Kira stared at Agloff. ¡®If this is what you want, and what you believe¡­¡¯

    Agloff nodded bravely. Was this not his last chance- his only chance- to make it right.

    ¡®Then I¡¯ll take you to see the Boar.¡¯ With a clap of her hands, she roused them like cattle, and herded her subjects from the cave, into the twilight forest. ¡®I heard some grey cloaks say they were sending out a search party tonight. We best move.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 22 | The Flatlands

    Chapter Twenty-Two

    The Flatlands

    ¡®This Boar person?¡¯ Merry said as they snaked through a narrow path, bobbing between patches of thicket. ¡®Who are they?¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s a Travelling Sword,¡¯ said Kira. ¡®Odd types. From all over the place. Vigilantes,¡¯ she added. ¡®They¡¯re not for nor against Winter. They just look out for the guy under the bigger guy¡¯s shoe. They¡¯re cruel. Bodies show up sometimes. A Block tax collector who pressured too hard. A thief who robbed a pious man. A guy in a fight who hit the other guy too hard.¡¯

    They penetrated the forest deeper- the Erwood, Kira called it. The darkness set in, and the cold. Agloff¡¯s eyes probed fuzzy patches of night. Trees were moonlit smears in his eyeline. Every now and then Kira stopped to point out upturned roots, or low-hanging branches, or raise her bow to the wails of insects, before always continuing. To Agloff, he was lost.

    Pangs cut through his belly and his stomach tied itself in unsated knots. He was sure he had only had one meal in days, and the satchels of food lifted from Block Seventeen were dumped on a hillside somewhere, in Fort Wilder¡¯s shadow.

    ¡®Close?¡¯ Oxford murmured eventually.

    ¡®We¡¯re close,¡¯ Kira concurred.

    Sure enough, she extended an arm to halt them at a juncture in the path. Agloff could just discern two great iron bars cleaving the ground, stretching distantly in parallel in both directions.

    ¡®Railway tracks,¡¯ Kira said. ¡®But the trains an¡¯t run here for years.¡¯ Agloff conjured the image of metal behemoths carrying God knows what from here to there.

    ¡®Get a light on them?¡¯ Oxford said.

    Kira shook her head. ¡®We¡¯re outside Erobo¡¯s lands now. There¡¯s gangs and sorts about these parts. Sorts who get their work from Winter.¡¯

    Oxford laughed. ¡®Like you?¡¯

    ¡®Like me. I only do enough to survive, so I can fight back. But out here, there¡¯s Kaden¡¯s gang, Lynn and Lyra. It ain¡¯t pretty.¡¯

    ¡®Who¡¯s Kaden?¡¯ Oxford said gruffly.

    ¡®He has small army based out the Flatlands. He was a nuisance to Winter. Hit and runs here, skirmishes there.¡¯ She sighed, lamenting the fact. ¡®Now Winter pay him to run the railways for Winter, moving product from the Lake to Eden. Because it¡¯s easy and pays well.¡¯

    Kira gestured them along the track, as the trees thinned into grassland. Through bands of cloud, the moonlight glimmered over the crests of the valley in vague slithers of silver.

    ¡®Where we going?¡¯ Merry said.

    Kira pointed them to rocks over the most distant crest. Agloff could make out the lines of upturned ridges where wind had chiselled the structure.

    ¡®He lives out there a-ways. That¡¯s where I leave you, friends.¡¯

    Agloff scanned the way ahead. From Kira¡¯s words he had imagined they would see the outline of carriages hobbling cross-country, or the whinnying of distant horses. But their absence was as striking as the thing itself.

    ¡®Will Ariea be okay?¡¯ Merry said. The jitter in her words betrayed her fear.

    ¡®If what you say is true, then Jask will keep a hold on her until Agloff arrives.¡¯

    Agloff walked closer to Kira. ¡®Alive?¡¯

    Kira thought. ¡®Jask doesn¡¯t need her alive to get you there. Just you to hope that she is. And he¡¯s got that much.¡¯ Agloff opened his mouth, but Kira continued. ¡®That doesn¡¯t mean the chance isn¡¯t worth going for.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry Agloff.¡¯ Oxford stepped forwards, passed him a grim look in the dark.

    ¡®Why? Why are you sorry?¡¯ He spoke with sudden freneticism.

    ¡®She meant so much to you. Your best friend.¡¯

    Agloff laughed. ¡®No, you don¡¯t get to talk about Ariea like that. You don¡¯t get to decide when she¡¯s¡­ dead.¡¯ His chest rose and fell sharply. ¡®You don¡¯t get to give up on her. You owe her.¡¯

    Oxford swallowed. ¡®I took care of you for four weeks, and not because I had to. I don¡¯t owe you anything. My job was to deliver you to the Underground, and I¡¯d say I did that. I¡¯m entitled to be a realist, and my opinion is¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Well, you¡¯re here, aren¡¯t you?¡¯ Agloff sniped.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry?¡¯

    ¡®Why would you be here, if not for her? You chose to stay. You chose to ¡°look after¡± us. Or sit in a corner for eight hours a day while she looked after us. I forget which.¡¯

    Oxford replied in calm. He did not rise to Agloff¡¯s rage. ¡®I¡¯m allowed to grieve. Jask took a lot. I think that¡¯s an understatement. Consider it a courtesy to her I¡¯m coming with you.¡¯

    A second time, Agloff laughed. ¡®A courtesy? It¡¯s like you want her to be dead!¡¯

    With a lazy fist, Oxford swung. Agloff clutched at his cheek. He touched his lips and felt the bloody warmth beneath his fingertips. The others retreated, as if the world revolved around the two of them alone.

    ¡®I know Winter,¡¯ Oxford said. ¡®And I¡¯m coming, on my terms, for my reasons. I¡¯m not doing this for you, so you don¡¯t get to tell me otherwise.¡¯

    Agloff scowled, felt his brow pucker. ¡®You¡¯re selfish.¡¯

    ¡®Me? I got us out the Underground when you were sick. But we went to Wilder because you wanted to go. And because you wanted to go, this arsehole took us Wishbone.¡¯ He gestured Kira, ¡®and, because of you, Ariea¡­¡¯ Oxford stopped his thought. ¡®I¡¯m not the selfish one.¡¯

    Kira unsheathed her knife from her hip and held it to Oxford¡¯s throat. Its blade caught fractures of moonlight. He grimaced. ¡®Insult me again. I dare you. This arsehole saved your life. I¡¯d say I made up.¡¯ She spat on Oxford¡¯s shoe.

    ¡®I lost Alice three weeks ago. I get to be angry.¡¯ He turned to Agloff then, eyes ferocious. ¡®You think you know? You know nothing. You can think you love her, like that. You can fantasise and dream, but you don¡¯t know what it is. The boredom. The commitment. The way you adore them, stare at them. Waking up is the worst thing in the world because every day I have to remember she¡¯s not here. Maybe you¡¯ll feel the same one day.

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    ¡®But this ain¡¯t some story, where we put our shitty differences aside and go and save the girl. I can¡¯t just¡ª I can¡¯t. Not for you. Not for you.¡¯ His voice fell to a deathly quiet. The roughness of his features seemed to regress into some childlike state. His lip trembled and he rubbed his eyes by the base of his palms.

    Guilt washed over Agloff like the tides, but he was too angry to focus on it. He didn¡¯t get to feel bad about this.

    ¡®We¡¯re here now,¡¯ Agloff said eventually, searching himself for a moment of calm. ¡®I blame myself for what we went through every day and I know you hate me¡ª¡¯

    ¡®I do.¡¯

    ¡®But Ariea isn¡¯t me. So believe she¡¯s dead when you¡¯ve seen it,¡¯ Agloff said coolly. He wore the mask of his convictions. ¡®Or clearly she deserves better than you. When it¡¯s over, you don¡¯t ever have to see me again, but do this for her.¡¯ Agloff reached a bloody hand through the night to Oxford. He saw the glint of thought in the man¡¯s eyes. Then he took it. Agloff felt the fury in Oxford¡¯s grip, the will to crush his hand between the spread of their fingers. But the operative stifled himself, then nodded brusquely.

    Agloff heard what Oxford said, he did. But for now, it was unhelpful. He had a lifetime to mourn his failures. He knew what he was going to do now: find Ariea; kill Jask. The thoughts were married to each other, like sides of a coin. Singular in their nature.

    Kira then waved a hand up in the direction of the tracks. Agloff guessed it was several miles to the large rock, but that was enough, he thought. He could manage that. By the last wave, when the land keeled upwards to the crest on which the rock rested, night was paling into dawn. The outline of their destination became clear. Agloff spied caverns and tunnels running along channels of carved rock. He imagined people could live inside this place, fortified by its height and acres of surrounding flats.

    ¡®He will meet us,¡¯ Kira said as they stepped into the rock¡¯s shadow. It was wide and flat, but such was its size that it still stood taller than any structure Agloff had seen.

    Merry raised an eyebrow. ¡®How does he know we¡¯re coming?¡¯

    ¡®Runners,¡¯ Kira said. ¡®We message through runners, mainly children lifted from Winter. I sent word soon as I saw your tracks in the forest.¡¯

    ¡®Isn¡¯t that risky?¡¯ Merry replied. ¡®If Winter is after the children?¡¯

    ¡®Winter never fret over one child, friend. It¡¯s not worth the effort for vagrants. A good runner goes about their job hard and fast. Plus, you underestimate how good they are at it. Just here.¡¯ She pointed to an opening under one of the wind-carved ridges that snaked the length of the rock and nodded them closer.

    ¡®I see you there,¡¯ a heavy voice spoke. He emerged from shadow, hooded in a leathered poncho. He was lit by the glow of a torch he bore in one hand, and the shimmer of a longsword in the other. ¡®Kira.¡¯

    ¡®Chen,¡¯ she acknowledged. Her voice turned to the others: ¡®This is where I leave you. Make them hurt.¡¯ She turned to Agloff, held his wrist a moment. ¡®May you find that girl.¡¯ She passed the man call Chen a terse nod and turned with a stooped walk back the other way. Content she was, to not exchange pleasantries with the man she now entrusted them. Agloff¡¯s eyes hung on Kira a moment, sad that he had not told her thank you.

    ¡®Inside,¡¯ Chen said. ¡®Name¡¯s Baldrick Chen.¡¯

    His cargo obeyed. They were in a sand-coloured room, carved by wind, or ancient settlers perhaps. The ceiling sloped at a great angle from a narrow bunk at one end, to cupboards at the other. It was comfortable, thought Agloff. Chen had prepared a plate of food for each of them. The pelt of a lion was splayed on the floor for them to sit. Its head was mounted on the wall across from them, glazed eyes staring through the opening into the valley.

    Chen drew back his hood. He was aged and ringed scars pock-marked his leathered cheeks. Setting the torch on its mounting, his giant frame groaned, joints cracking as he lowered onto his bunk.

    Agloff and the others sat across the furs, shovelling fistfuls of food into their mouth. Such was his determination to reach Ariea, the thought had almost escaped Agloff that this road led to Eron as much as her. Almost. An uneasy feeling told him he could escape with only one or the other. In which case, the calculation was academic.

    *

    ¡®Time t¡¯move,¡¯ Chen ordered.

    Agloff¡¯s eyes strained wide from his first sleep in forever and gathered himself to his feet. Chen didn¡¯t wait for them to ready themselves. He stooped from his homestead and into the light of day.

    The pastures stretched as far beyond the rock, as they had before. The railway tracks marked their path, rising and falling with the land. Agloff could just make out the patterned smear of more woodland several miles hence.

    ¡®Heading Winterward, Kira mentioned? Consider me intrigued,¡¯ he called back as the others dozily trudged after him.

    ¡®Consider it private,¡¯ Oxford snapped eventually.

    Merry cut in. ¡®Kira didn¡¯t tell you?¡¯

    ¡®Only where you were headed. Weren¡¯t curious ¡®till I seen yous. Strange types you are, and all. Not the usual sorts who cross the Flatlands. You Wishbone¡¯s bastards?¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯re our own bastards.¡¯

    Chen smirked. ¡®True enough. It¡¯s not my job to know.¡¯

    Agloff walked alongside him. ¡®Are you taking us all the way to Winter?¡¯

    ¡®No,¡¯ he grunted. ¡®I¡¯m dropping you near the outskirts. You can follow these tracks all the way to Eden but there¡¯s an old town there I¡¯ll drop you. Someone else will get you in.¡¯

    Oxford tilted his head. ¡®Why the cloak and dagger?¡¯

    ¡®Knowledge divided, lad. Keeps Winter off our tail.¡¯ He pointed to the crest of a boar sewn onto his sleeve. ¡®Kira told you about us?¡¯

    There was a collective nod.

    ¡®Aye, then you know it¡¯s better I don¡¯t take you the whole way. I can¡¯t say who you are or why you¡¯re going if I don¡¯t know. Likewise, you, me. Consider it a working relationship.¡¯

    Time whittled by. Agloff¡¯s attention focused on the growing smear of trees, and the rolling outline of snow-kissed mountains behind it. Chen said he roamed between Eden and the Flatlands. Some days he¡¯d cover tens of miles of territory, others he stayed at one town for weeks on end. Then he¡¯d receive word of a target, a ¡®poor bastard¡¯ as he put it, who had wronged some other folk.

    ¡®The blackest crimes deserve swiftest justice,¡¯ he said, ¡®lest a town couldn¡¯t punish the sins of its own¡¯.

    At last, the tracks punched into the woodland. According to Chen, the far edge of the flatlands marked Winterland¡¯s borders. But they wouldn¡¯t know it. Nature had reclaimed much here. Felled branches and overhanging bushes peppered their path. The trees were thinner than the Erwood, spindly things that Agloff thought might fall at a gust of wind.

    They passed a sign marked, ¡°Churchtown welcomes you.¡± and Chen said it¡¯s where they were going. Evergreen trees guarded their approach, illuminated in ripe shades by the midday sun.

    Then the treeline thinned into a vast clearing, and a dirt track sprouted alongside the tracks, blended into asphalt. On either side, clutches of smaller boxy buildings were overrun by nature. Each had been boarded and abandoned for posterity. They filed through and Agloff was caught by the strangeness of this place. It was a patch of broken paradise. The flag of Winter hung tamely from one of the larger buildings.

    ¡®Winter cut this place up for logging,¡¯ Chen said. ¡®Wood here¡¯d go all over.¡¯

    ¡®Why abandon it then?¡¯ asked Oxford.

    ¡®Winter¡¯d let the families o¡¯ workers stay here. There was a school right there,¡¯ and he pointed at a wide shack of wooden slats. ¡®These kids didn¡¯t have to go Eden and paid the price, ¡®cos a few years ago fever struck. Whole place was¡­¡¯ His voice tapered into a whimper.

    ¡®Evacuated?¡¯ Merry said.

    Chen swallowed.

    ¡®Exterminated.¡¯ He paused. ¡®This town was bad apples.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m surprised fever is about if Jask has a vaccine,¡¯ surmised Oxford.

    ¡®Rare though it is, it¡¯s not unheard of. Towns always slip through the net, ¡®specially if the kids are spared a trip to Eden.¡¯

    Merry looked confused. ¡®But someone still lives here presumably?¡¯

    Nodding, Chen hoisted an arm forwards at a strange-looking building. It was an intersection of two oblongs, meshed into a cross-shape. ¡®Father Lore Wenderson. Odd sod but go along with him.¡¯

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s a priest, the last of a dead religion. You¡¯d be pressed to find another of those churches whole Colony.¡¯

    ¡®How is a priest getting us in to Eden?¡¯ Agloff said it with a kind of urgency.

    ¡®Ah, appearances deceive. But he knows someone who does.¡¯

    Oxford spat, ¡®How many escorts do we need?¡¯

    ¡®Knowledge, and responsibility, divided,¡¯ Chen repeated. ¡®It¡¯s for your own good. No one ¡®cept yourselves will know exactly where yer come from, or exactly where yer going. Makes you harder to track. Getting people into the centre of Eden unheard is no easy business.¡¯

    Rolling his eyes, Oxford said, ¡®Seems safe enough. I thought we¡¯d have seen pilgrims by now, no?¡¯

    ¡®Winter aren¡¯t manned enough to send patrols out this far. They spread themselves all over. Lore is a stop-off before Eden only.¡¯ Chen¡¯s steps hollered over the stone pathway up to the door of the church and stopped under the overhang of its arch.

    ¡®Then who¡¯s taking us in?¡¯

    ¡®The web calls him the Wolf,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®He got a name?¡¯

    ¡®Abbadiah Thawn.¡¯

    That name. Agloff¡¯s brain was sucked of all thoughts, and he could only stare blankly as Baldrick Chen¡¯s fist rang thrice on the door to the church.

 Before Noon Chapter 23 | A Winters Tale

    Chapter Twenty-Three

    A Winter¡¯s Tale

    Thawn bid Lore Wenderson¡¯s runner farewell and folded the letter into his satchel. He skulked through the trees in hopes of killing time in quiet rumination. But a kid was already sat on the log by the time he got there.

    ''You look lonely,¡¯ the boy observed, not peering up from his snow-kissed bench. He swiped a fistful into the rivulet running beneath his feet and his eyes followed it upstream.

    Thawn said nothing in reply, mounting the log to sit beside the boy. It lay slanted between two trees either side of the stream. The forest was decorated in lashings of snow where winter has struck. Beyond, they saw distant hedgerows cleaving the land into the fields of scattered farmhouses. Thawn could only see the flecks of cabins and barns to draw out the distance still ahead of him.

    ¡®It¡¯s a habit,¡¯ Thawn said eventually. ¡®I¡¯m just waiting.¡¯

    The kid scuffed his heels on the underside of the log. ¡®You look like a pilgrim,¡¯ he said. ¡®Are you a pilgrim?¡¯

    ¡®Of a sort. But not Jask¡¯s kind. That doesn¡¯t scare you?¡¯

    The boy shook his head. ¡®I¡¯m used to pilgrims, and besides, you¡¯re different to the others,¡¯ he said, and Thawn spotted the mangling of bruises and scars up his sleeves. The boy was underdressed for the weather, and there wasn¡¯t a town for miles he might have come from, except Eden itself.

    A runaway. Thawn looked up and spied the distant tip of the Red Cathedral, beyond the fields and marshes. The sight unsettled him. This was as close as he¡¯d come to Eden for many years. Over three hundred.

    ¡®Thank you,¡¯ Thawn said at last.

    ¡®Wasn¡¯t particularly a compliment. Just an observation.¡¯

    ¡®They say a Cerberusless sky brings good luck,¡¯ said Thawn, noting the boy¡¯s stare hang on the thick cloud.

    The kid ignored him. ¡®If you¡¯re gonna take me back, just get it over with,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®I don¡¯t come from Eden. I am going there though.¡¯ Thawn tilted his head towards the boy, wondering if he may retreat at the facelessness of Thawn¡¯s helmet. But he did no such thing, instead seeming to pierce right through the glass bowl on Thawn¡¯s shoulders, and deep into the ancient pilgrim¡¯s eyes.

    ''Why?¡¯ he said. ¡®Are you from one of the other Seats?¡¯

    ¡®No, I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®I know Winter control the Wetlands.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m n¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Or actually you sound like a Salamm type.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m a traveller,¡¯ Thawn said simply. ¡®I don¡¯t come from anywhere, not for a long time. You could say I have nothing to do with Winter, not anymore.¡¯

    ¡®No one who¡¯s nothing to do with Winter goes Eden, so what are you?¡¯ the kid said, as if it were some immutable fact, and Thawn were a violation against nature. He was right to be sceptical, Thawn thought. In a way, the kid reminded him of himself. Questions. Questions. They are the root of all reason. Does an observation align with one¡¯s facts? If it does not, it must be interrogated, understood, for ignorance is the death of decorum, of debate. Even now, Jaho¡¯s words pierced Thawn.

    ¡®I¡¯m not from Colony Two.¡¯ His words baited the boy for a reaction, but it never came. His gaze only scrutinised Thawn.

    ¡®So why would you even come here then?¡¯ he said.

    ¡®Ah, well, you see I am looking for someone. Someone at Eden. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going.¡¯

    ''You said you were waiting?¡¯ Hells, the boy was sharp, thought Thawn. He was focusing intensely, well-trained by his minders. None of the subtleties of Thawn¡¯s intonation, no offhand comment, went unprocessed.

    ¡®For my opportunity,¡¯ Thawn clarified. ¡®For Jask to make a mistake.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯ll be waiting a long time. He never leaves the Cathedral.¡¯

    ¡®I have been,¡¯ said Thawn. ¡®But it wouldn¡¯t be the first time. He let his guard slip once. I almost succeeded. I¡¯m patient enough to wait for another opportunity.¡¯

    ¡®What will you do while you wait?¡¯

    ¡®I walk. I could never stay in one place for too long though, Jask would hear of it. So, I keep moving. Fort to fort, town to town. Anywhere Winter hasn¡¯t touched.¡¯

    ¡®You must spend a long time looking for somewhere to live then?¡¯ the boy noted.

    Thawn smirked. ¡®I live a long time. If I¡¯ve been everywhere, and I have, eventually no one remembers me. Then I start again.¡¯

    ¡®I see. So who are you looking for?¡¯

    Thawn shook his head. ¡®This is all my fault, you see,¡¯ he said abstractly. Again, the boy¡¯s stare strangled him, but he waited for Thawn to continue. ¡®I knew Jask a long time ago. There was an accident, one where I could have saved him, but didn¡¯t. That was my first mistake.¡¯

    ¡®And the second?¡¯

    ¡®Not making sure he was dead.¡¯ By the old gods, how in hells did he survive that fall, Thawn thought. His chest was sheered open. His mind clenched, and he felt himself transported to the dunes of Forlorn for a moment.

    The kid considered Thawn again. ¡®What was the third mistake?¡¯ he asked perceptively.

    Thawn smiled. Children are the custodians of curiosity. A pity their successors are so otherwise inclined, Jaho¡¯s voice said whimsically.

    ¡®I loved someone else, a woman.¡¯

    The boy recoiled, evidently disgusted. He picked at some bark and rubbed it between his fingers. ¡®You loved the Old One?¡¯ Again, he caught onto every facet of Thawn¡¯s meaning.

    ¡®Not the man you know now. A long, long time ago.¡¯ Once more, the boy stewed on Thawn¡¯s words, taking him at his word, even the apparent impossibility of his age. ¡®You see, the person I¡¯m looking for is her son. I believe Jask is taunting me. Punishing me for loving her.¡¯ He was sure of it.

    ¡®I¡¯m not really old enough to understand stuff like that. When I run away, I usually just talk to myself,¡¯ the boy said. ¡®It¡¯s nice to have someone to talk to. Even if you are funny.¡¯ For the first time he showed a flash of vulnerability.

    ¡®It¡¯s not the first time?¡¯ Thawn asked. The kid shook his head. ¡®I can take you somewhere else, if you like. You don¡¯t have to go back.¡¯ Oh, but what life would that be? Thawn cursed himself. The child surviving hand-to-mouth, town to town, on the roads, alone. It was no way for a boy to grow. At Eden, he was fed, clothed and well-rested. An irony, Thawn thought, that the safest way of life was under Winter¡¯s thumb. Travelling was a dangerous game for the ill-prepared. It¡¯s why vagrants always travelled in packs.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    The boy looked at Thawn, apparently unsure as to how to react, a tautness in his features. He shook his head furiously. ¡®I have friends at Eden. The masters feed me.¡¯

    From his satchel, Thawn produced a wrap of spit-roasted boar he had lifted from a fort some miles back. He offered it to the boy who snatched without hesitation, mumbling his thanks through a full mouth.

    The pilgrim chuckled then and looked down to see plates of ice gathering at the banks of the stream. The cold was coming in.

    Thawn wondered how long the Patents might wait for him until they lost all patience. Certainly not forever. How cunning and perfect of Jask to make Thawn¡¯s mission his own blood. That, to succeed, and clear his debt to the machines, Thawn must trade his own son to them. A son he had never known but a son nonetheless. It was enough to sow a drop of doubt in Thawn¡¯s mind, to restrain him from storming Eden¡¯s gate without regard. And hope that with caution there was a middle way, where the boy might survive his ordeal.

    But Thawn knew there was no redemption from this. Moonwater was a fatal disease. His son would die eventually, and he would have to meet him before he did.

    Abbadiah Thawn had allowed Jask to live for far too long, his second mistake, and that made the fate of Colony Two his own doing.

    Man and child were split by a long silence. ¡®Will you take me back?¡¯ the kid said. It was a request, not a question, and Thawn caught his stare linger on the spires of the Red Cathedral, where Jask lay in wait.

    He nodded. The boy skipped from the log to the edge of the stream.

    ¡®I¡¯ll take you as far as the marshes,¡¯ announced Thawn. The farmhouses were likely empty in this weather. The spotters¡¯ posts might be deserted too.

    Thawn¡¯s plan had always been one of patience. Jask had Erebus. Jask¡¯s fortress was impenetrable. So, he would wait, for error or uprising, to rid Jask of his security. But neither came. In all his time on Colony Two, Jask had swatted away only minor rebellions, like petty flies, and Thawn could count the number on one hand.

    Agloff Ashborne was his other opening. Jask would open his gates with open arms to that boy. Why he had not simply given up, Thawn could not say. After all, it hardly seemed reasonable for a teenage boy to reappear hundreds of years after they went missing. But Agloff¡¯s body was never found. Everyone in the massacre of the Underground had been accounted for, save a handful.

    Such was the strength of Jask¡¯s conviction that Agloff was not dead, he was prepared to wait it out. Colony Two was Jask¡¯s last stand against Thawn.

    A curious stalemate. The entire Colony was the scene of two men¡¯s standoff.

    ¡®If you aren¡¯t Jask¡¯s kind of pilgrim, what sort of pilgrim are you?¡¯ the child asked as they filtered from the trees, onto the first of a row of farmers¡¯ fields.

    Thawn sighed. ¡®Jask modelled Winter after an ancient religion. You see, Winter was a part of this bigger order called the Sign of the Tondrus, thousands and thousands of years ago, back when people here still lived in caves.¡¯ Thawn paused to see how confused the boy looked. Content that he was following, Thawn continued. ¡®The Sign, and Winter with it, spread, built on dozens of worlds. And each world had its own Arm of Winter. We called this world Torgan. You see, children whose parents couldn¡¯t look after them were taken into the Church of Winter.¡¯

    ''You mean their parents were dead?¡¯ the boy asked.

    ¡®Or criminals. I never knew mine. I guess we have that in common,¡¯ he said, and the boy smiled, warmed by this fact. ¡®Jask and I clung to the old gods, to the Tenets, where most folk forgot. You see, Winter was a military church, raised on warfare, and when war was over¡­ well, the Sign thought it best forgotten.¡¯

    ¡®We were taught about the Tenets. Order and Disorder; Arrar and Vannar.¡¯

    ¡®Exactly,¡¯ Thawn replied, amused that Jask, in all his butchering of Winter, had at least preserved its founding doctrine. ¡®Like how it¡¯s easier to knock a snowman over than it is to make one, the universe favours Disorder¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Vannar,¡¯ the boy interjected.

    ¡®Quite. So, to maintain Order, Arrar, it must be manually enforced. Left alone indefinitely, society always tends to disorder and anarchy.¡¯

    ¡®We were also told about Arval-Harra,¡¯ the boy said.

    Thawn smiled, transported again to his lessons at the old citadel, and the cold walls of the Church. He would sit cross-legged before Jaho, a class of no more than half a dozen, as she commanded their attention with made-up words like Arrar and Vannar.

    ''Ah yes. Arval-Harra. The Wilful Balance. That¡¯s what I was saying, that in order to enforce Arrar, Vannar needs manual correction. Balance only exists between order and entropy if you will it so, else the universe favours entropy.¡¯

    The boy dragged his foot like a snake through the snow, looked at Thawn, ¡®We were told Arval-Harra only applies to people and societies though. The natural world must always tend to Vannar. It cannot be resisted.¡¯ The boy¡¯s voice was reliably precise and careful. Thawn could see him deliberating on each word, like he were reciting for an exam. Like Thawn, he was probably used to the whip if he got it wrong.

    ¡®That¡¯s right. There is a distinction between the worlds of Pillion and Iyarra.¡¯

    ¡®What?¡¯ the boy said with a quizzical look.

    ¡®Pillion and Iyarra. Man and nature. You were never taught them?¡¯ The boy shook his head and Thawn hmmph¡¯d. ¡®The real Winter had three dualisms; order-disorder, man-nature, known-unknown.¡¯ Thawn¡¯s voice began to tail off as he spoke to himself. ¡®Weird he¡¯d remove the other two.¡¯

    ''So, our Winters are different?¡¯ the boy asked.

    Thawn nodded down at him. ¡®Would seem so. Do you believe in it? Arval-Harra?¡¯

    The boy nodded. ¡®Yeah, I guess. It makes sense, from what we¡¯re taught. You have to work at something to make it good. Doesn¡¯t just happen.¡¯

    ¡®I agree. I never objected to Arval-Harra. Society needs order and you cannot trust it to find its way on its own. I disagree though, with Winter¡¯s methods. Assassination, manipulation, decimation, or, in Colony Two¡¯s case, subjugation. There are other routes to order.¡¯ Thawn could feel his mind drift, but he snapped it back.

    The boy shrugged his shoulders, stuffing his hands into his pockets. ¡®Meh, if it works, it works. Jask said everyone under Cerberus used to be criminal and no-good vagabonds. The only way to stop them hurting each other was to control them, teach them. Now people live longer and better.¡¯

    Thawn could see in the boy the same infallible conviction in the system that he once had. That Winter¡¯s brutal way was the only way.

    ¡®Do you not resent the fact Winter takes you from your home and beats you. If you didn¡¯t, why run away?¡¯ He said, intrigued by the boy more and more. It was like staring into a mirror, where he could interrogate his younger self.

    The kid shrugged limply. ¡®Why did you leave Winter?¡¯ he replied accusingly.

    ¡®I never quite did. Me and Jask were created to fight a war against machines. Winter experimented, created super soldiers by mutilating children. Me, and Jask. We can¡¯t die, at least like you can. But we can be killed through very particular means. Even starving yourself takes hundreds of years. And it hurts.¡¯

    ¡®You did that?¡¯ the boy said, horror-struck. The child needed no convincing of the absurdity of Thawn¡¯s truth. He simply accepted it as was.

    ¡®Our bodies are wired otherwise. Makes us stronger, faster, better reflexes. We¡¯re less prone to insanity too, able to cope with minimal mental stimulation. I can¡¯t change what Winter did to me. I will always be a part of that.¡¯ The boy was an outlet, more than he was a conversationalist. Thawn was telling truths he had told none but himself.

    Death was a curious thing. Its inevitability spurred its avoiders. Give a man forever in which to do something and he would surely never get around to it. Give a man till tomorrow, well, he¡¯ll be getting on with it right away.

    ¡®What actually happened to your Winter in the end, after the war I mean?¡¯

    ¡®We were hunted, burned like witches. Fire is a good way to kill us. They called it the Long Hunt. Jask and I were exiled. He later took Winter, and a handful of devotees, and remade it in his name.¡¯

    ¡®But why?¡¯

    Thawn took a deep breath. ¡®I think he wanted to remind me.¡¯ Again, Thawn felt himself walking through the dunes to the Tower on Forlorn. The snow became sand, and the sky turned clear, its uncaged sun baking down over the desert, with no relief. ¡®Or maybe he wanted to hurt me.¡¯

    Thawn was then distracted by some distant animal racing across the fields. He could see the edge of the farmland a quarter mile or so hence, and the Cathedral had grown unsettlingly large in his eyeline. ¡®I think this is far as I go. This is where we part, young one,¡¯ he said at a line of shrubs and barbed wire. They were close to the outskirts of the old city.

    ¡®I¡¯m gonna miss you, Sir.¡¯ The boy craned his neck at Thawn and wrapped his wiry arms around the pilgrim¡¯s leg.

    Thawn stooped to his knee. He reached a finger to the side of his helmet, and it hissed, and the tint shrouding his face subsided. ¡®And I, you, little one. Come here.¡¯ The child swung himself around Thawn again. ¡®No matter what, promise me you¡¯ll look out for yourself. Question everything. Be scared. Be curious. And do the right thing. Every single time. Okay?¡¯

    ¡®I promise,¡¯ the boy said, his face gawking up at Thawn¡¯s.

    The kid had made the day pleasant, let alone palatable. Raising a hand, Thawn waved the boy farewell, strangely spellbound.

    He then reached into his satchel and produced the folded letter the runner had handed him at last. It bore the seal of Lore Wenderson: the head of an ox, caught in a spider¡¯s web. It was addressed simply, ¡®Wolf¡¯. Thawn broke the wax and read:

    Wolf,

    The day is at hand now. I hear whispers, solid enough, that Malvo Jask himself is near bed-ridden. He is without hope the boy will ever return. And his other pursuits fare equally grimly I am told. Though the Apostle Ardul of Stormdown stands well-placed as his successor, I am sure that any transition would be messy, uncertain, even under the most favourable conditions for Winter. The Spider insists now is our moment.

    But a spanner is in our works, brother. Come in haste. I have a gift for you.

    The Ox

    Thawn folded it back into his satchel and sighed. The end of their war was near now, he was sure; a damp chill on the air told him things were about to change, for better or worse. One of them, Thawn or Jask, were bound to wind up dead in front of the other, Thawn knew. It was a satisfying thought, regardless of the outcome.

    With that, Thawn turned back whence he came, and trudged through his footsteps in the other direction, wondering what gift Lore Wenderson might have waiting for him.

 Before Noon Chapter 24 | The Ox and the Wolf

    Chapter Twenty-Four

    The Ox and the Wolf

    Baldrick Chen didn¡¯t wait for the church door to open before he was beating a retreat back down the stoned pathway. His job was done. Like Kira, he vanished back to another life, not inclined to await his successor.

    Agloff thought. Ariea. Thawn. Eron. Jask. On Chen¡¯s words, Agloff felt lines of thought converging, played out on the world in front of him. Disparate strands were coming together, entwined.

    The door opened.

    ¡®Welcome! Welcome!¡¯

    Lore Wenderson stood in the doorway, round of face. His chin spilled over the folds of his collar as his belly did his belt. His body was a cascade of rolls and folds, and Agloff thought even the act of welcoming them strained his joints. He smiled at them with rosed cheeks, nonetheless.

    He led them inside, down an aisle dividing rows of wooden pews, and he gestured they sit in the front row. A podium had been pig-handily adjusted to accommodate him seated, which he did. The walls were an offish white, washed in cracks and peeling flakes. The pews, but for the first few, were laden in dust while a visitor book still lay open at the altar for passing signatories. This place betrayed his loneliness.

    Agloff wondered how he had come into possession of such a place.

    ¡®You must stay a while,¡¯ Lore said. ¡®I¡¯ve heard word of snowfall several miles Edenward. Would be best to wait for it to thaw. Tea!¡¯ he then exclaimed. ¡®I¡¯ll fetch us some tea.¡¯ He made for a back room excitedly, his weight winding from foot to foot.

    Immediately, Agloff¡¯s stare wandered to a figure glazed in the window behind the altar. He hung limply by his palms from a cross like the one they had seen outside. A destitute man, thought Agloff, naked but for a pair of shorts and a crown of thorns. He wondered why he adorned such a place of pride in the window.

    Agloff felt an imposter in this place. Ignorant to all meaning that had come and gone. They had worshipped an old god here.

    Merry came to stand alongside him. She stared at the thorned man. ¡®It¡¯s going to be okay, Agloff.¡¯ Her quiet conviction lifted his soul. ¡®Ariea is going to be okay, because she¡¯s got you. And this Thawn guy, and Jask. You know they have nothing on us.¡¯

    A grateful smile touched Agloff¡¯s lips.

    Quickly, it faded.

    Thawn was a distraction. A distraction fate had beset him with and one Agloff did not need now. Not with Ariea at Eden. He imagined Thawn¡¯s explanations and excuses pass over him, heard but not listened to. What apology could excuse Thawn from this?

    Agloff had presumed him long dead, a passing footnote in his mother¡¯s story. As a father, as absent-minded as any. A runaway. Maybe he could have been a drunk, a vagrant butchered by the mob of a minor fort.

    But now Agloff saw that he was more. How many lives had Thawn lived before today, until he could finally look his son in the eye? His son who, by all rights, should have been deep under the earth. Agloff thought; did he bring Thawn shame?

    Beads of sweat rolled under Agloff¡¯s fists. His head throbbed by his temples, possessed by rage. Thawn deserved no forgiveness.

    Why had fate said today?

    The soft touch of Merry¡¯s voice pulled Agloff from this line of thought. ¡®What do you think he¡¯s doing?¡¯ she said of the thorned man.

    ¡®Dying,¡¯ said Agloff dryly.

    ¡®He looks sad, but also content.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s head sank. ¡®Looks like he¡¯s judging me. And this place makes me uncomfortable.¡¯

    ¡®Do you not believe in a god?¡¯

    Agloff thought a moment, then shook his head. What need did he have for God? The world was absolute as it was, and cruel in its absoluteness. It turned on underhand favours and chance encounters, the murmurs of vagrants and the mercies of unkind folk. God had no seat at the table.

    ¡®That¡¯s sad,¡¯ Merry said eventually.

    ¡®Why is it sad?¡¯

    ¡®Surely, it¡¯s reassuring that something is watching over us, no?¡¯

    ¡®Reassurance isn¡¯t faith,¡¯ Oxford mused.

    Merry looked strong. ¡®I don¡¯t need faith. I look at the world and I see that it¡¯s divine.¡¯

    ¡®A fairy-tale then,¡¯ said Oxford.

    Again, Lore¡¯s steps trudged heavily, and these thoughts became banished from Agloff¡¯s mind.

    ¡®Tea,¡¯ he said again, and set down a tray of cups. He smiled intensely until each collected one, then returned to the sinking embrace of his chair.

    ¡®I know who you are,¡¯ the Father continued. His slitted eyes pierced them while he took a sip.

    ¡®Who are we?¡¯ Oxford leaned forwards again.

    The Father poked the air at them. ¡®Agloff Ashborne. Yes. Oh, don¡¯t look surprised,¡¯ he said at their gormless stares. ¡®It wasn¡¯t a difficult deduction.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re well-informed.¡¯

    ¡®Pays to be. Information is the currency of power. I heard tell of a group of teenage VIPs who need passage into Winter on short notice, from out west. And Winter has put word out for five fugitives, including a young girl.¡¯ His stare lowered to Lady. ¡®Anonymous, but Jask is offering more than a pretty penny for your heads, alive.¡¯

    ¡®You tempted?¡¯ Oxford said.

    The Father merely smiled. ¡®Drink your tea, you need not worry. I have little need of money.¡¯

    ¡®How do you plan on getting us into Eden on short notice?¡¯ pressed Memphis.

    Lore chuckled. ¡®Ahh, that is the question, isn¡¯t it? I run jobs for Abba Yondo, against Winter. I¡¯m used to getting people out of Eden. Occasionally in.¡¯

    ¡®The children?¡¯ Merry turned her head.

    ¡®The children. I have a half-dozen boys in my employ. They get them out. The thing to know about Eden; it¡¯s designed to hurt, to constrict, to confuse. It¡¯s filled with deliberate dead ends and roads that fold back on themselves so only people familiar can navigate it. The streets are designed to be non-distinctive, without landmarks. And there¡¯s only one way in: the main gate.

    ¡®There are all sorts of tunnels, for service or railways, that run out under the city, most unguarded and some lead under the Red Cathedral itself. They¡¯re equally¡­ disorienting,¡¯ and a haunted looked passed over him, ¡®Winter trusts a runaway would never get far alone. And few try to break in.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s how you get them out?¡¯

    Lore nodded. ¡®The boys know their way round those tunnels blindfolded now. I daresay better than Winter.¡¯

    ¡®How many kids you take?¡¯ Oxford asked.

    ¡®Two a month, sometimes less.¡¯

    ¡®One or two a month!¡¯

    ¡®More is to arouse suspicion, boy. Children always go missing from Winter, but the system works because we don¡¯t over-exert it. But I would not risk the boys in this case. Winter are expecting you. You will be going in through the front gate.¡¯

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Oxford stood. He growled. ¡®Are you out of your goddamn mind!¡¯

    The Father smiled politely. ¡®Please, sit. I would not put you in harm¡¯s way, of course. Not more than necessary. Winter are expecting you, alive,¡¯ he repeated. ¡®Maybe even Jask personally, so you need access to the Red Cathedral. The safest way is above ground through the main gate, in plain view of Winter. To go underground, to subvert their security, Winter would suspect treachery and resist. You want a way in to Jask himself?¡¯

    Agloff nodded at him.

    ¡®Then surrender. No tricks.¡¯

    ¡®What about getting out?¡¯

    ¡®The tunnels still have their uses. The Wolf will protect you. He¡¯s had dealings with Jask before.¡¯

    The eyes of the room closed on Agloff. His fell to his lap, waited for the moment to pass. Their pointed stares escaped Lore, but he apparently thought better than to ask. And Agloff thought better than to ask Lore about Thawn.

    Thawn was a distraction, he repeated through his mind.

    ¡®You think we¡¯d succeed?¡¯ Merry said then. She almost begged.

    ¡®I think the Lord set you on this path for a reason, and I don¡¯t think it was to fail at its end.¡¯

    ¡®I prefer not to take my chances with God,¡¯ Oxford whined.

    ¡®You may choose not to believe, friend, but He has a plan for you, even if you can¡¯t see it yet. There¡¯s a plan for all of us.¡¯

    Oxford bowed, chastened. Agloff saw his wounds; the thought that this man placed faith in a God that could take everything from them it could possibly take, then say that had been its intention. It left a taste like ash.

    ¡®Tell us about the Cathedral,¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®Ahh, a practical fortress. The walls are fortified with spikes, manned twenty-four hours a day. All the windows are barred. Jask stays at the very top in his quarters. There¡¯s a veranda on his floor where he sometimes comes out for fresh air, but it has a privacy wall eight feet high. And the walls outside are vertical or spiked. No way to climb. You don¡¯t get in, unless he wants you to.¡¯

    ¡®But you mentioned ways into it below.¡¯

    Lore sighed dimly. ¡®There are service tunnels on the old underground railroad. They lead directly into the infirmary below the Cathedral.¡¯ Lore was caught on his words, stifled a lump in his throat. ¡®It¡¯s where he experiments on the children. Those inadequate for servitude. Disobedient, delinquent, weak.¡¯

    ¡®Then we have to get them out!¡¯ Merry looked at Agloff. ¡®We¡¯re going for Ariea, I know, but¡­¡¯ She looked at Agloff. ¡®We can¡¯t leave them there.¡¯

    ¡®You may not have to. I understand Jask would give you a personal audience, something he¡¯s given only his closest lieutenant in decades. No one has been better placed to eliminate him than you. Kill Jask, the children have a chance at childhood.¡¯

    ¡®And how would you understand that?¡¯ Oxford said.

    Lore reclined, unperturbed by their manner. ¡®My boys hear things, as do the children at Eden. I¡¯m well-informed on matters inside the capital. Winter is too dumb to think the children might talk against them. If you kill Jask, the children will follow you.¡¯

    Merry sighed. ¡®That¡¯s a big if. And I wouldn¡¯t want to take that chance.¡¯ She looked at Lady, who smiled sweetly. ¡®We can¡¯t leave them there, not for the world.¡¯

    ¡®Jask brainwashes kids into his cult, enslaves them from the second they are born, from their families, to the day they turn eighteen,¡¯ Oxford cut in.

    Lore only erred. ¡®Consider that you fail. How might those children be punished for trying to free themselves? Children whose lives are already in pain, surrogates for Jask¡¯s depravity. His playthings. As a minimum, they are fed, watered, clothed, with a roof over their heads. I loathe Winter, I do, as much as anyone. But trust that you do right by the children. If you try to save them, Winter will come for you first, and then it will come for them.¡¯

    ¡®Better than life in an infirmary ward, no?¡¯ said Agloff quietly. Merry looked at him, a smile split across her rosed cheeks. ¡®Jask won¡¯t kill me before he has me. I¡¯m their protection. This is the only chance they would ever have to get them out.¡¯

    She leaned into hug him. ¡®I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d want to,¡¯ she whispered, ¡®not with Ariea.¡¯

    ¡®Well, I don¡¯t expect on being allowed to leave either way,¡¯ he said. He admitted it to himself for the first time as he did to her. It was true. He thought he was going to die, if not today, then tomorrow, or the day after that. All avenues in his mind¡¯s eye met their terminus at Eden.

    ¡®Then the Wolf take you below ground, once you are in the city.¡¯ Lore lamented his words. ¡®I see your mind is made up. I cannot disagree with you, friends.¡¯ His voice sounded shameful, and the folds of body slid deeper into his chair. ¡®Perhaps I have been too cautious. Winter is cruel, even in its kindnesses.¡¯

    ¡®Have you been to Eden?¡¯ Agloff watched wounded thoughts drift through the glint of the Father¡¯s eyes.

    He nodded grimly. The edges of his fingers rubbed the ridge of his brow. ¡®I was a runaway myself. I spent weeks in those tunnels, learning, memorising, recanting the number of steps from passage to passage. It¡¯s why I¡¯m so familiar.¡¯

    Merry looked at Lore. She wore that unfailingly kind look. ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ she assured. ¡®We¡¯ll be okay. Where exactly are the children? The ones Jask experiments on?¡¯

    ¡®Jask keeps them close. Intensive care is in the main church. The Wolf can still get you in though; he¡¯s tried it before.¡¯

    Agloff resisted the temptation to think on this information. He forced it from memory. Ariea and the kids. That was what mattered.

    Thawn was just a distraction.

    ¡®You can clear the wards up into the main building. It¡¯ll mainly be infirmary staff there. Two can take the children back through the tunnels, the way you came in. Two can go on up to Jask.¡¯

    Merry dipped her chin at Memphis. ¡®We can get them out.¡¯

    ¡®If you¡¯re sure. The infirmary only constitutes a fraction of the indentured children at Eden. They come from all over Winterland. Thousands.¡¯

    ¡®These ones need us most. This feels right,¡¯ Merry said. She smiled effusively. ¡®Like this is what we¡¯re here for. Why we came all this way.¡¯ Memphis nodded back at her and she then turned to Agloff and Oxford. ¡®You better get Ariea.¡¯

    Agloff looked at Oxford and dipped his chin. The Operative reciprocated. ¡®We¡¯ll be fine,¡¯ Agloff said.

    Lore didn¡¯t say anything to that. He strained from his chair. He returned to one of the other rooms of the church and came back a moment later with rolls of papers parcelled away under his arms. Silently, he gestured them each up to the altar, unrolling the sheets.

    Agloff saw pencilled drawings of rectangular shapes, the patterned criss-cross of lines and curves, scribbled with illegible labels. Lore spread them out across the altar and Agloff saw that they connected into a bigger whole; each flowed into the next.

    ¡®I said I spent time in the tunnels. I say weeks. It could have been months, when I was half your age.¡¯ He traced a fat finger over the shapes. ¡®I committed it all to memory. Every intersection. Service corridor. Staircase. Now, I fear they may never leave me.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s eyes paced the sheets, nodded. ¡®This is good. This is enough to work with that we don¡¯t go in blind.¡¯

    ¡®As far as I am aware,¡¯ Lore continued. He spread his fingertips across the altar. ¡®I¡¯ve mapped more of Eden than anyone except Winter. The routes beneath, perhaps more so, it¡¯s why Kira trusted me to get you in.¡¯ He let out a gruff sigh. ¡®I¡¯ll teach you the routes, like I do the boys. You.¡¯ He pointed at Merry and Memphis. ¡®Follow me. I¡¯ll show you.¡¯

    Oxford stepped across the altar. ¡®Shouldn¡¯t we all know?¡¯

    ¡®You will,¡¯ Lore said. ¡®Did you not hear when I said the tunnels were designed to overwhelm. It¡¯s important for your own sakes you only know your own routes, otherwise you will get lost. Go, finish your tea.¡¯

    Agloff sensed Oxford¡¯s disquiet, but he obeyed. They trotted back to their pews, a healthy separation between them. As the others filtered into the back room, Agloff stared at the man with the crown of thorns.

    All his strength resolved to think of nothing.

    But he couldn¡¯t.

    His chest elevated; a sharp heat filled his body. Future scenes played through his mind. Each one he batted away hopelessly. Every avenue the future occupied was lain before him. Too many to count, they ran in every and all directions. He saw the Red Cathedral: crimson brick punctuated by lateral spikes that jutted over the joyless city below. Jask¡¯s tower was suspended in a belt of black cloud from where Ariea¡¯s voice called his name.

    The scene played through his mind irrepressibly.

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯

    It was Oxford. Agloff jerked awake, noting the sun had slackened into dusk through the coloured windows as Merry, Lady and Memphis filtered in from the back of the church. Their faces were glazed red and gold in the spectrum of glass. Lore was waving he and Oxford over with a piggy hand.

    They walked into an angled room. The walls tilted inward, blending into an arch above them. Scribbles lined the wall one side, above a workbench fitted with a lamp Lore had wired up to a battery. Agloff traced the cables to a generator in the corner that filled the room with a patterned hum. Power like that was rare in these sorts of places, he knew. On the other side, a slitted window bathed them in the grey light of evening.

    Immediately, Lore shut the door and pointed for them to sit at a pair of stools. On the bench, he had copied out two identical sets of instructions and handed one to each of them. He begged their focus and began to recite their trail into Winter, while a finger followed along one of the maps.

    Left at Access Point 4.7.7.16 off Cooper Station¡­Third right into the north corner staircase¡­thirty-eight paces straight then stop at the door marked Eight-Seven.

    The words passed through Agloff. It was no different from the rigours of the schooling room at Backwater Factory. The cane compelled Agloff to learn by repetition then. The route¡¯s meaning was lost on him as he incanted strings of numbers and letters. Lore made them repeat it, over and over, until they could do it first without notes, then backwards. Oxford was much better at it than he was. By the time Agloff had committed them to memory, dusk had waned into night.

    Their reward was supper. Lore returned in his nightgown with plates of thick-cut bread, laced in butter. Notes of warm dough perforated the air and Agloff felt his cheeks wetten. Lore then ordered they quiz each other by candlelight, dishing out clutches of blankets, and bundled sacks for pillows to each of them. Agloff and Oxford vanished to one corner of the church while Merry and Memphis did the same. He supposed it was a welcome distraction from what was to come. He felt closer to Oxford for it too. Talking to him about anything was reassuring, even if it were nonsense.

    Yawning, Agloff parted from Oxford into his own corner and pressed himself up against the chill of the bricks, a blanket draped over him like a shawl. Agloff¡¯s mind was abuzz with names and numbers. He muttered them over to himself until he could no longer think straight, then sank into the warmth of his bedding.

    He would have no trouble sleeping tonight for once. He was too tired for anything else.

    When morning struck, a hand shook Agloff¡¯s shoulder and his head jerked to attention. Acute banging cut through his head like shots of pain. Oxford Blue was dragging Agloff to his feet with feral eyes, white within tired rings of black and blue. He looked anxious. Then Agloff realised the banging was in fact twenty feet away. He turned and saw the church door rattling on its hinges where Merry, Memphis and Lady were already lined in fresh clothes, a tremor of fear woven through their faces.

    Knocking, he realised.

    Agloff then turned back to Oxford as Lore watched them distantly.

    ¡®He¡¯s here,¡¯ he said.

 Before Noon Chapter 25 | Eden

    Chapter Twenty-Five

    Eden

    The man called Abbadiah Thawn stood in the first light of dawn, staring into the belt of woodland that led onto Eden, his back to the door. He was near twice the size of a normal man and clad in grey armour, adorned in the scars of a thousand battles. Its panels, folds and rivets clicked and slid over each other as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, as though it were an organism unto itself. His head was occluded beneath a glass dome, tinted black.

    ¡®I know you,¡¯ Agloff said from a distance. He walked from the church with a poise in his stride.

    ¡®I know you too.¡¯ Thawn looked at them. ¡®I¡¯ve wanted to meet you for so long,¡¯ Thawn raised two hands to either side of his helmet. It clicked and hissed, and the glass unfurled, reclining into his neck.

    Agloff studied him. He was a handsome man, strong-jawed and dark-haired. But there was a look in his face like he were tired, but not for lack of sleep.

    How Agloff wished it was Marty Naples with them now, and not this pretender. He could ask him what to do. Marty always knew.

    Still, Agloff walked towards him, each step incremental. ¡®I¡¯m gonna stop you before you say anything else, Thawn.¡¯ Agloff wielded his family name like a knife. ¡®My best friend is with Jask, so we¡¯re here for her, not me.¡¯

    ¡®You may not have a choice in that.¡¯ His features conceded nothing, no hint of emotion.

    ¡®Whatever you have to say, I don¡¯t¡­¡¯ Agloff summoned all strength to hold his stride, to look at this man who fathered him.

    ¡®I¡¯ve waited for you, Ashborne. Me, you, Jask; we¡¯re entwined you see¨C¡¯

    I will not be swayed.

    ¡®We¡¯re here for Ariea.¡¯ Agloff looked down at the grass; his body shook. He suppressed every instinct he had built for fifteen years. Half of him begged truth. It was truth in its truest form. Revelation.

    Ask him. Ask him.

    Everything he ever needed to know was there. He just had to ask.

    But to ask was to betray Ariea. After everything, she still hadn¡¯t given up on him.

    He had to let it go, he knew. He deserved more than excuses. Ignorance was a freedom where, here, he could choose his truth. Thawn, Andromeda, Jask; he could let their mistakes die with them. He stared at Thawn with vacant eyes.

    ¡®I don¡¯t want to know where you were or what you did. I¡¯m gonna say that now.¡¯ It took all strength to look through Thawn, to say words, even now, he wasn¡¯t sure he fully believed. But all the while his mind would wind back to Ariea, the image of her trapped, alone, and his convictions returned to him. ¡®You¡¯re here to get us in, so get us in.¡¯

    ¡®Understood.¡¯

    ¡®Whatever history you have with Jask, it can¡¯t affect Ariea.¡¯

    Thawn¡¯s head dipped. ¡®I can¡¯t guarantee that it won¡¯t. You should understand the risk of mine and Jask¡¯s past together.¡¯

    Oxford folded his arms and scowled. Before Agloff could think to speak, Oxford did. ¡®Then tell us. We deserve to know the risks of what we¡¯re walking into,¡¯ he said. He raked a hand through his greasy mane.

    Silently, Thawn looked at Agloff. Agloff flashed his eyebrows as if to say, ¡®go on¡¯.

    ¡®Me and Jask were in love, way before Colony Two, before humankind. We were alone with a planet-sized desert to ourselves. Even in exile, we felt like the gods themselves. You can¡¯t know love until you¡¯re alone, truly alone, when they are the only thing holding you together, keeping you this side of crazy. I owe everything to him.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s brow tightened. ¡®I¡¯m sensing a ¡°but¡±.¡¯

    ¡®We tried to escape but ended up coming as close to dying as we could. You see, the thing to know about me, I wasn¡¯t always like this.¡¯

    ¡®Like what?¡¯ Agloff said.

    Thawn produced a narrow blade from his hip, and degloved a hand. He pressed the line of steel into his palm, but the flesh was unspoiled. ¡®We were made this way as children,¡¯ he said grimly. ¡®To live at all costs, without cost, and forever.¡¯ He swallowed. ¡®I was rescued from that desert, but Jask.¡¯

    Oxford¡¯s eyes narrowed to slits. ¡®You don¡¯t know?¡¯

    ¡®Imagine the worst fate you can think of. He was put through worse than hell and he blames me more than anything for that. But it doesn¡¯t excuse him. I can see it in your faces. Don¡¯t worry, my love for him died a long time ago. I¡¯ll kill the bastard. The gods know he deserved it much sooner.¡¯

    At once, Merry¡¯s breath blustered. Her chest rose and fell sharply. ¡®But that means you¡¯re not¡­ not human.¡¯

    She stared at Agloff. A shot of adrenaline chilled his spine. His heart pelted in his chest. But he didn¡¯t move. He said nothing, swallowed.

    Thawn tilted his head at Agloff. ¡®So, you all know?¡¯ He scoffed. ¡®You¡¯re right, I¡¯m not human. But that makes Ashborne no less a one than you. He is as human as he chooses to be.¡¯ He paused. ¡®He has the right to choose his family. We all do.¡¯ He strained a half-smile and Agloff nodded back. The thought was too big to process right now. The urge to sleep it off pressed down upon Agloff and his legs became heavy.

    Thawn said nothing more, then plunged a fist to his belt and returned a handful of silvery beads towards them. ¡®Take one,¡¯ he said. ¡®Swallow it.¡¯

    Merry obeyed and held it between her fingers. ¡®What is it?¡¯

    ¡®Ingestible guard-shield. It¡¯ll numb damage from blows and projectiles. But it¡¯ll give you a good kick when you hit back too.¡¯

    They said nothing. Almost in unison, they downed their pills and Agloff felt a cold fizz ripple through him. At once, his hands looked out of focus, while the world around him was unimpeded. It was as if his body were warped within a heat haze. The others looked off too. The lines of their faces were faintly distorted, magnified across their heads.

    ¡®Things will look and feel weird at first. But your senses will adjust,¡¯ Thawn announced. ¡®We should move.¡¯

    He didn¡¯t wait for their reply before he strolled into the woods. Every moment they paused for breath, Agloff could see in Thawn the temptation to apologise and explain. But at every turn, Agloff would look at his shoes, or some bird nestled in a tree and the old man would return his attentions to the path ahead.

    *

    ¡®Lore taught you the way in?¡¯ Thawn asked, to break the silence as much as anything.

    The Merry girl rushed to his side and explained in haste a new plan to him. She didn¡¯t allow a moment¡¯s pause for his rebuttal. Deliberate, no doubt. Agloff laughed behind them. Thawn disagreed, but what he could do. It sounded thought out enough, and Lore knew Eden better than the pilgrims themselves. If he had agreed, that was enough.

    And it wasn¡¯t worth riling Agloff by arguing. His agreement was essential. They didn¡¯t know the full weight of this day, why should they, but Thawn knew that with Agloff Ashborne Winter could fall. He was Jask¡¯s greatest, if only, weakness.

    He would go through with their damned plan. After all, thought Thawn, all he needed was the other Ashborne boy and then his debt to the Patents was paid.

    Do I need to tell Ashborne that?

    No. He said he didn¡¯t wanna know.

    He just wanted to explain himself. Jask had taken the boy, bottled him up for eight centuries, on a vain hope Agloff would reappear. Jask¡¯s motivations were perverse, and they were aimed squarely at Thawn, leaving Agloff the victim of it all. It was his brother up there, with the mind of Erebus herself buried deep inside, slowly taking over a body that was wilting under its own mortality.

    How many bodies had that machine chewed through and spat out? Eron was the last in a succession since Forlorn. Inartus had been right. The Sign had continued their depraved tradition of sowing minds within minds.

    What unsettled Thawn most though, was how the Eron boy had contracted winged fever in the first place. It was a foreign disease, not one found on Earth. Lethal to he, his sons and Jask, but not to humans, or it shouldn¡¯t have been. Now somehow Jask had found a strain Agloff was immune to, but the humans were not. Bizarre.

    Thawn snapped his thoughts back.

    He didn¡¯t want Agloff¡¯s forgiveness particularly, just for him to understand. And as much as Thawn should care for Agloff (and he should care more than he did), he was well-practiced at caring for nought but himself. He couldn¡¯t care like Agloff or Andromeda could. Everything he was supposed to feel was buried so far deep.

    Ultimately, Agloff¡¯s friend, the kids, they were secondary to Eron. But there was no reason to believe he couldn¡¯t pull off all three. After all, the last time he had tried to breach the Cathedral¡¯s gates he didn¡¯t have Ashborne with him, and he had nearly succeeded.

    Those three-hundred years ago.

    ¡®Blue, Ashborne and I will head up for the girl then,¡¯ he said after his moment¡¯s thought. ¡®Agloff is safer with me. Are you sure you can manage the kids?¡¯ He looked down at Merry.

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    ¡®If you do your part and clear out the pilgrims,¡¯ she said.

    The audacity of this girl, Thawn thought.

    *

    Thawn kept them to the roads by day, before peeling off each night for a place to hide. Lore had mentioned the land Edenward had been blighted with snow, and Agloff saw blotches of white painted over the fields carpeting the land. These were farmers¡¯ fields, raising Winter¡¯s flag. Every so often they would pass a clutch of barns or a farmhouse and Agloff felt unease that someone was staring at them through the frosted windows.

    But for a patrol of horses in Winter¡¯s colours, crossing the other side of a hedgerow, they had seen no one. But that was to be expected, he supposed. Colony Two was a large place. Every now and then Agloff heard the others mutter their directions- door markings, staircases and step numbers as they walked, and he was reminded to do the same. He and Oxford had the benefit of Thawn¡¯s guidance in and out of Eden but, for Merry and Memphis, Lore had prescribed a route out that was deliberately vexing. It was designed to confuse any pursuers.

    The closer they got, the more they found themselves entangled in nature¡¯s sprawl. Once neat hedges were overcome by rampant growth. Matted vines and loose spokes jutted out at all angles, to near twice their height. They cast a long shadow over the fields, now blanketed in thick grasses. One farmhouse sat in the shade of a fir tree, larger than any Agloff had seen. It keeled over to one side under the strain of its own weight. Some of the more distant hedges were replaced by lines of dense trees, bolstered by brightly-coloured fruits. But they weren¡¯t in season, Agloff thought.

    This was a twisted place.

    It had a perverse beauty. Fatigue set into his legs and Agloff paused for a moment¡¯s breath and watched over the stillness of the valley. Strokes of green and white. He absorbed the scene like a tonic for his senses. It would have been good to hike here in another time; the kind of place one could easily get lost, but in a good way.

    Before they left, Lore had saddled them with food for three days: breads, fruits and biscuits, and on the third, the pattern of rolling fields flattened and Agloff could see the smear of Eden several miles hence.

    Fear struck him in the gut. Not that he ever considered turning back, but he was beyond the point of return now. His life had built to this moment in fits and starts. He couldn¡¯t turn back.

    By mid-morning, Agloff thought they reached the last of the fields. An old fence line, bordered by a ribbon of asphalt, split them from the land beyond. Down the road, Agloff spied an assembly of motor carriages, half a dozen or more. Workers were loading crates into their backs. The air shook with a throaty growl, and one carriage rocked on its axle. An overseer shouted then it chattered off to deliver something to somewhere, likely the Blocks, thought Agloff.

    The overseer looked down the path and Agloff felt the weight of his gaze.

    ¡®Don¡¯t look,¡¯ Thawn said. ¡®Don¡¯t look, and walk through this place like you¡¯ve seen it a hundred times or more and people won¡¯t look twice.¡¯

    They moved towards the fencing. Agloff passed a glance down the road, like the man was still watching him.

    He thought he heard something.

    Louder.

    ¡®Hey!¡¯

    The overseer cantered down the road, arm outstretched. Then a sprint.

    ¡®Hey!¡¯

    ¡®Go. Move!¡¯ Thawn pulled back a cut of wire mesh from the fence post. He hustled them inside, but Lady tripped over a knot of weeds. Her leg caught sideways in the gap.

    ¡®Stop there! Trespassers!¡¯ The overseer downed a hand to his hip. A moment later, the barrel of his gun was angled down the lane. A warning shot split the air with a thunderous crack.

    Thawn moved across them, guarded them behind his armour. ¡®Stay still,¡¯ he growled. Merry dropped to Lady¡¯s side at once, cradled her ankle in her hands. The girl wailed but Merry told her it would be alright.

    Thawn and the stranger walked forwards. Folds of glass spread over Thawn¡¯s head into a domed helmet. One arm guarded his helmet, the other was drawn into his chest.

    ¡®Halt, or I¡¯ll shoot! Y-You are s-suspected fugitives of W-Winter.¡¯ The overseer tripped over his words, hurling through the air. He fired again, and there was a second sound. The bullet pinged off Thawn¡¯s armour. Sparks spilled onto the ground.

    The man came to a halt in Thawn¡¯s shadow, his body occluded by the giant. Agloff saw Thawn¡¯s arm reach into the sky. It fell, then came a boom and the overseer¡¯s body flew sideways into the field, buried in a hedgerow. Thawn¡¯s body shimmered, the trace of his guard shield.

    He did not stop to admire his work. He turned back down the lane, growled at them. ¡®We need to ditch the girl,¡¯ he said. ¡®She gives us away too easily.¡¯

    Merry shot to her feet and craned her neck to Thawn by her tip-toes. ¡®Absolutely not!¡¯

    ¡®I ain¡¯t going nowhere,¡¯ Lady protested. The girl struggled to her feet, a redness round her ankle. ¡®We all go, or none go.¡¯ She looked to Agloff who nodded with a half-smile.

    Thawn¡¯s shoulders slumped. ¡®Count yourselves lucky there was just one of them.¡¯ He moved back to the fencing and peeled the opening once more. On the other side, dense reeds pushed towards them and Agloff saw they had unearthed another post some way down the road, and tall grasses were spilling up through cracks in the asphalt.

    ¡®This ain¡¯t the main road, is it, big guy?¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®There¡¯s more fields on the other side of this marshland, manned by the kids. I know an outflow that can get us below the city.¡¯

    One-by-one, they slipped into the reeds. The land was heavy and Agloff¡¯s boots sank into the earth, like he might have drowned in its clutches if he stood still too long. He saw puddled patches every so often where something had cut away at the grasses. Upturned shards of jagged metal poked through the water in these places, some tangled in wires and heavy fabrics. They told a tale.

    ¡®You won¡¯t be the first to try and kill Jask,¡¯ Thawn shouted. He pointed out a plate of armour that had sunk in a knot of reeds, bending the bases of their stalks. Further up, they passed a line of spikes at wayward angles poking from the ground, topped by human skulls. The birds had long picked them clean. But if it were a threat, it was a poor one. They were long hidden by nature. Rather, Agloff assumed whoever put them here as a token of their victory had forgotten they ever did.

    His eyes tracked Thawn through the reeds. He bobbed in and out of sight through the sparse puddles. ¡®Watch your step,¡¯ the stranger said. ¡®There¡¯s traps about.¡¯ The way was waterlogged in places too.

    ¡®How many are there?¡¯ Merry said, wincing as she hopscotched her way through the swamp. Lady moved closer to her. Her coat tails buoyed on the surface while the water rippled around her waist. The girl had to wade through it, weaving from side to side with giant strides.

    ¡®Enough,¡¯ replied Thawn and Agloff could sense none of them were reassured. ¡®Mines, tripwires.¡¯

    Memphis rolled his eyes. ¡®Oh, joy.¡¯

    Agloff looked at the patchy sky. The sun¡¯s edge was carved by the silhouette of Cerberus. It left its mark, even behind the clouds.

    ¡®You never got used to it?¡¯ Thawn said, noting Agloff¡¯s eyes.

    ¡®I¡¯ve not known different,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®Hold up.¡¯ Thawn raised a fist back to his followers. The grasses bowed to a metal fence that had been haphazardly erected some time ago, stretching into obscurity in both directions. Winter must have left its defences to the traps or were arrogant as to assume no one would ever come here. Agloff noticed it was tacked onto a thick, jagged ridge of broken glass. It was taller in places, poking out from above the top of the reeds.

    ¡®We gotta be extra careful,¡¯ Thawn announced. ¡®Step where I step.¡¯

    ¡®And we weren¡¯t being already? It¡¯s hard to trust you, you know.¡¯ Memphis muttered.

    Thawn ignored him. He raised his firearm to poke at the reeds and pulled them back to clear the way to the gate. ¡®This is Eden¡¯s border. We¡¯re at the edge of the dome.¡¯

    ¡®What in hell are you on about?¡¯ Oxford said.

    Thawn gestured the base of shattered glass each way. ¡®That¡¯s just the foundation of the dome. Most of it were never finished, but Winter must have smashed it in.¡¯ Agloff looked at the gate that split the fence in front of them. A sign was emblazoned onto its bars.

    Welcome to Eden Colony. Two. The new Green Earth is ours.

    All rights reserved. The One World Archive

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand,¡¯ said Merry. ¡®What is this place?¡¯

    Next to the sign, Agloff saw the image of a handsome, blonde man, staring regally behind mould and time into his eyes. It identified him as Mats Zander.

    ¡®Way back when,¡¯ said Thawn, shepherding them through the gate and into Eden¡¯s domain, ¡®before humanity left, this rich man had plans to save this planet. Temperatures were rising; sea levels rising.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ve read about it,¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Well, he had an archive of genetic material, thousands of species. Birds, insects, elephants, lions.¡¯ Agloff thought of the animal he had seen at March Town. ¡®They set up hubs like this one. The Eden Colonies. There were three of them. One up north, Two here, Three out far east. Plan was to terraform and repopulate the land with wildlife. But only One was ever operational.¡¯

    ¡®Why here? What¡¯s special about this land?¡¯

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t populated.

    As they walked, Agloff saw the more remains of a bygone age. A billboard was wedged into the ground at a right angle. He tilted his neck to look. Mats Zander stood with his arms outstretched like some saviour at the centre. All the animals Agloff could imagine stood at his side. It was a plea for the people to come and live among nature, as equals.

    ¡®They wanted to regenerate the land. Everything had died off. So, they built domes to terraform it, and revive all the species they had saved. They even sold off living space to rich people to fund it. ¡®Eden¡¯ was meant to be an ultra-sustainable city at the heart of the Colony. It was meant to be a paradise.¡¯

    ¡®Guessing that ended up in the mud then?¡¯ said Oxford. ¡®Bastards.¡¯

    Agloff listened to the air in hopes of catching the song of some exotic bird. But it was only the trill of the wind.

    ¡®The money ran out and Colony Two was never finished¡­ But they had started the terraforming. It¡¯s why everything¡¯s so goddamn overgrown here!¡¯ he groaned, batting away more reeds with a fisted hand. ¡®It¡¯s artificial. Super nutrients or some such. It¡¯s the only reason any of the land here is fertile. It was meant to stay inside the dome, but they never finished it. Colony Three was never even started.¡¯

    Amusing, thought Agloff, that everything he had ever known was because one guy went broke, though he wasn¡¯t sure why he found it funny though.

    ¡®And everything in the Colony, the proper Colony, in the dome, was just left empty?¡¯ he said.

    Thawn nodded. ¡®That¡¯s why it¡¯s more arid the further from Eden you get. It¡¯s no accident Jask chose this place to hide away. Winter¡¯s conquest has a natural advantage here. It is well-resourced and defended, more so than near enough anywhere in the Colony, except perhaps Fort Lake, or Ithma.¡¯ Thawn said. ¡®And they hang it over their victims¡¯ heads during fallow years. All the crop of the North comes from those fields. It¡¯s why Fort Wishbone and Spear dare not move against Winter, yet.¡¯

    ¡®How did Colony Two end up a prison?¡¯ Merry said.

    Thawn shrugged. ¡®It was cheap. The Government saw an opportunity to buy the land and dump its shit here. Nice spot of fertile land for people to live out their miserable lives.¡¯

    Agloff saw a tremor of rage in Oxford. This was the mercy he had been shown when the trucks came that day at his home, Post 474 on Mars, he had said. By the lottery of his postcode, they were already full when they got to him, and those in power showed his family this place as their mercy. Life imprisonment, confined to one planet, while the rest of the Confederacy laughed and loved in ignorance. Agloff had always looked at Oxford and seen a star-borne soul. He belonged up there. Thawn¡¯s words hurt him.

    ¡®How¡¯d you even know all this? This was hundreds of years ago,¡¯ said Memphis.

    ¡®And I¡¯m thousands of years old,¡¯ Thawn said matter-of-factly. ¡®I¡¯ve watched humankind a long time.¡¯

    They reached the end of the reeds, and another slate of fields marked the way up to Eden. Agloff felt a chill in the grey light of the day. Each step into this place was the sum of all decisions he had taken before. Each felt novel, heavy. It took all his will to shift his weight from foot to foot. Were he alone, he thought, he might have collapsed into the grass and clenched his knees, to await an imaginary saviour to do the job that needed doing for him.

    He was out of his depth.

    He wanted to cry, he did. He felt the welling of tears stream up through his insides. It knocked against his gut and threatened to snatch the last sinew of strength from under him. It was then Agloff realised he never could come this far for himself. Erobo was right.

    He was always destined to fail, but for Ariea. She commanded the strength to bring him there. Her will was greater than his. It was always her.

    The Red Cathedral was a silhouette touching the sky above the rows of flat stacks and plump chimneys of Winter¡¯s industry. The city was smouldered in fumes. Agloff fixed his stare on the top of the tallest spire. It was destiny, he supposed. He looked from Thawn, down to the shimmer of his hands beneath his guard-shield and rolled his fingers into a fist.

    He called for Thawn to stop as they reached the boundary of the city; a low wall of sand-coloured bricks that peeled off around them. The two fields hence were split by a shallow irrigation channel and, beside it, a pipeline that ran straight to the city centre, to Ariea.

    Agloff looked at Thawn. ¡®Do we get a weapon, sir?''

 Before Noon Chapter 26 | Posterity

    Chapter Twenty-Six

    Posterity

    This was the day.

    Ariea flexed her bloody knuckles and looked down at the handheld mirror scattered into pieces on the floor of her washroom. She swept the crimson shards under her dresser and washed her hands of the crime in a pool of hot water.

    A knock rang at her door.

    ¡®Coming!¡¯ she said.

    Again.

    ¡®I said I am coming!¡¯

    She drained the water and smeared any lingering redness from her hands, winding them into bandages.

    Ariea was led from her square bed chamber and along a narrow corridor, paved in black and gold. Its walls pressed against her like a vice. Everything was pointed and angry-looking, confounded by long shadows and the gloom of lanterns along the way.

    The kitchens were to one side, and a string of offices and amenities on the other. Like yesterday, she saw the unmarked door, locked and unattended. All others were signposted. The thought of its contents unsettled her.

    Ariea was stopped at a wide doorway at the far end and rubbed one of the wounds below her eye. It throbbed.

    ¡®Enter,¡¯ her escort said; a short man, bathed in silvery robes.

    ¡®Didn¡¯t want to dare presume.¡¯

    The escort pushed the door open and Ariea stepped through. Her leather boots clacked over marble to where a table for two was set. She passed herself over to a bay window divided into square sections and saw the smog of Eden beneath overcast skies. It was a smear of grey on grey.

    The city was segregated into rigid rows, with alleys folding inside the buildings in satisfying, geometric patterns. A line of children, thirty or more, were led single-file directly below her, watched by two pilgrims. Ariea imagined the buildings might have once been white and pristine, a vision of some future society. But now they stood grey.

    Ariea reached a hand down to her trouser pocket, felt the bulge of glass dig into her thigh.

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ a voice said.

    She turned. Malvo Jask had seated himself at the table, awash in a gold-laced gown. He was familiar from Fort Wilder, but leaner, more dead-looking. A white beard flowed on to his chest, masking the narrowness of his face, like sheets of skin on pure bone. Her eyes darted from his half-collapsed skull, to the network of circuitry feeding his neck that sustained him. He smiled at her.

    Wordlessly, she collected her high-backed chair and made herself comfortable. A girl about her age swept in and slid two plates of steak and potatoes on to the table. She left without so much as breathing. Ariea¡¯s gaze was caught on the doorway as she left. What great and terrible thing had that girl done to deserve such a job?

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ Jask repeated. ¡®Eat.¡¯

    Ariea looked down at her cutlery. She rolled the knife through her fingers.

    Knives.

    She smiled back at him and began to carve the steak into smaller chunks as Jask watched.

    ¡®Did something happen?¡¯ he asked.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®Your hand.¡¯ He pointed to the bandage and Ariea admired it aloft.

    ¡®One of your men cut me. It¡¯s nothing.¡¯

    ¡®We can¡¯t have that. I¡¯ll see that it¡¯s¡ª¡¯

    ¡®You really don¡¯t have to do this.¡¯ Ariea let her cutlery clatter over his plate. She stared at the room at large. Her eyes traced across velvet curtains and walls washed in matte black.

    ¡®Do what?¡¯ Jask smiled.

    ¡®Cook me meals. Give me presents. Pretend to be polite. Because we both know you¡¯re not. And we both know your interest in me goes about as far as Agloff Ashborne¡¯s head. So, let¡¯s just take it like it is. I¡¯m a prisoner, not a house guest. And you¡¯re a terrible host.¡¯

    ¡®I¡­¡¯

    ¡®Just know that given the opportunity I would gladly cut your balls off and feed them to you.¡¯

    Jask flashed his eyebrows, amused. ¡®I trust it.¡¯

    ¡®And I have every intention of doing so.¡¯

    ¡®Are you quite finished?¡¯

    Ariea fell back into her chair, then nodded.

    ¡®You were right on one count. I do have a gift for you.¡¯ He paused. ¡®It¡¯s endearing to not see someone so fearful. They don¡¯t look you in the eye, Ariea, breathe or make a sound. I got old and slow and no one seemed to notice. But with you, I see vigour, passion. It refreshes me, genuinely.¡¯

    Was that a compliment? Ariea supposed she was resigned to the fact she would die in this place. Either by living out her life in that boxed room under guard or killed at the earliest opportunity. What need had she to fear?

    ¡®I¡¯m glad you¡¯re happy. Must hurt bullying thousands and finding no one really likes you.¡¯

    I have to get him out of his seat. Her stare flashed to the doorway and the armoured guard posted there. The table is too long to reach him on surprise alone. I need him to stand. I need him to come to me. Rile him. Yes, that¡¯s it. Provoke him. Make him stand over me. Show his dominance.

    ¡®Something the matter?¡¯ Ariea¡¯s sideways glance did not go unnoticed. ¡®You have the strength of iron. But you hide behind these petty quips. If you have something to say¡­¡¯

    Ariea pushed her plate forwards, sighed. ¡®Okay. I think you got lucky, with Colony Two. Empires and nations fall all the time. That yours is still here is a fluke.¡¯

    ¡®Give me some credit, please,¡¯ Jask said. ¡®We are in the most fertile land in the Colony. That¡¯s no coincidence. We dictate the supply such that, eventually, they all give in. Every fort is reliant on us in some capacity. Everyone has their price. For food, water, medicine¡­ Vaccinations. Consent is the maxim by which I rule, to put it so crudely. If they consent, they don¡¯t rebel. You see now?¡¯

    Ariea rolled a finger over the shard of glass again. ¡®And the children? Why do you steal them?¡¯

    ¡®A resource.¡¯

    ¡®The ones I passed on the way up? Cuffed to hospital beds.¡¯

    His warped face twisted further still. ¡®Many of them are being treated for various afflictions,¡¯ he stated.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡®What about the not-so-many?¡¯

    Jask stared at her blankly. ¡®Not your concern.¡¯

    ¡®And the ones outside, are they your slaves?¡¯

    ¡®Yes, and no. They are a workforce like any. It is a part of their education. I recall you were treated much the same at Fort Backwater, so I¡¯ve heard. Did you get a choice in that?¡¯

    ¡®This is different. You took people from their families.¡¯

    ¡®Perhaps. Perhaps not. The children are inducted into a way of life from the moment they are brought here. To them, Winter is their normal. Do they see that as something obscene? To be struck down? Of course not. We are the product of our institutions, Ariea.¡¯

    ¡®My institutions didn¡¯t kidnap children.¡¯

    ¡®Did your father consider conscription an evil during the Feng-Hal War? Did he call that kidnapping? I daresay he thought it a civic duty.¡¯

    At once, Ariea bounded from her chair, stood over the table with her hands balled into fists. Her chest rose sharply. ¡®How dare you talk about my father! Pretend you knew what he thought.¡¯

    ¡®Correct me if I am wrong.¡¯ He waved a hand of apology but looked entertained.

    That was a mistake. He knows he can fluster me. He¡¯s still controls the room. How can I provoke him? Another line of questioning.

    Agloff!

    ¡®I suppose you expect Agloff is going to come for me,¡¯ she probed.

    Again, Jask smiled, munching on a mouthful of potatoes. ¡®I do indeed.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s not, you know. He¡¯s not stupid enough to come here. To fall for your bait.¡¯ She said it without the conviction that she believed it. Neither possibility was satisfying. But he deserved to be spared this, and whatever Jask had for him in that nameless door.

    He isn¡¯t dumb enough to take the bait, surely.

    ¡®I think we both know that is a stretch. Agloff¡¯s love for you is no less than yours is for him. Otherwise, you would not be sat there. I see why he likes you. He now has double the incentive to come.¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s mind flashed again to the nameless door. For once, she could think of nothing to say. She dragged her plate back and stuffed her cheeks with steak instead.

    ¡®You may as well kill me, because he¡¯s not coming.¡¯

    ¡®I will,¡¯ Jask said coolly, ¡®in time. You throw yourself at death, with such rampant ardour. You confound me.¡¯

    Another compliment?

    ¡®If it meant taking you with me, I would be glad to die.¡¯

    ¡®At your age, how can you say that with any conviction? You cannot know the consequences of such an action. Let us say you entered this room today with the conviction of killing me, and yourself.¡¯ The Enemy leaned forward.

    He can¡¯t know. He only guesses.

    ¡®So, if I have?¡¯

    ¡®What would you hope would happen? The security of a people is lost. A bloody vacuum of power ensues. How would you ensure a smooth transition?¡¯

    Ariea thought. ¡®I would have thought you would have contingencies for your death.¡¯

    ¡®I do. But there are always pretenders. Queen Yara of Fort Spear is a plague with imperial dreams. Might lives be lost in her crosshairs? Or might my Apostles war for the honour of succession. Statecraft is an imprecise business.¡¯

    ¡®Then, in answer to your question, I cannot. But I would have thought any eventuality is better than this. The Colony has a right to its own freedom.¡¯

    Jask dipped his chin. At last, he stood.

    Ariea¡¯s heart lurched and her hand closed over the bulge in her trouser pocket. It cut further still into her thigh, like the blade that it was. Not yet.

    The Enemy¡¯s attentions were caught by an opaque bottle that rested at the centre of the table, suspended between two candles. He glided halfway to her and paused.

    ¡®A noble enough intention, I suppose.¡¯ He looked at Ariea. ¡®Wine?¡¯

    She shook her head.

    ¡®You forget a crucial detail though.¡¯

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®In this hypothetical we are entertaining. Were you to kill me here, Agloff Ashborne is no longer protected. His use becomes spent.¡¯

    A wide silence fell between them. A sick feeling pushed through Ariea¡¯s insides and she prodded her plate away again. She looked at him through a gaunt stare of unblinking eyes.

    I cannot give in. I must not.

    ¡®You forget he¡¯s not coming,¡¯ she said eventually.

    Jask seated himself and poured a drizzle into his glass. ¡®Please, Ariea. Don¡¯t torture yourself with that lie. But we should continue.¡¯ He took a sip. ¡®We have established the motive, however misguided, but what of the method?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand.¡¯

    ¡®How would you kill me?¡¯ He gestured the bottle of wine. ¡®Poison perhaps. But there¡¯s no practical means unless you brought it with you. You could choke me. That¡¯s what you want, isn¡¯t it? I would not resist, but I doubt you would get far before my guard stuns you.¡¯ He waved a finger towards the door. The silver-plated pilgrim was unmoved.

    He looked down the length of the table, to the cutlery at right angles over her plate.

    ¡®Maybe a knife.¡¯

    Ariea humoured him. She stared at the slither of silver, dipped in red and feigned a longing look. Then chuckled and leaned back. ¡®I want to, but why bother? I¡¯m sure others have tried before. If they failed, why would I be different?¡¯

    ¡®A savvy assessment.¡¯

    ¡®You give yourself too much credit,¡¯ she jibed. ¡®People don¡¯t kill you because they can¡¯t. They don¡¯t kill you because they¡¯re scared.¡¯ Look at him, more brittle than glass and as sickly looking as my father was in Drake¡¯s dungeon. ¡®And you lucked into finding me.¡¯

    For the first time, Jask laughed. He slid a strip of steak into his mouth. ¡®Is your opinion of me so little?¡¯

    I can¡¯t afford to wait much longer. I need to take my chance. She glanced at his wine. Nearly empty. The next time he fills it. That¡¯s my window. The consequences of her actions were without thought. She would die, but was that not worth it? In the scheme of things, her sacrifice was minor.

    The Enemy waited for her to answer but she did not. ¡®I concede I was fortunate Taret Stone¡¯s nephew overheard your carelessness. But did you not think it convenient that someone just happened to show up when you were at Wilder, to take you to Wishbone? Of all the days, on all the years when you could have come and gone?¡¯

    What piece of information had betrayed them? What token did Jask have in reserve? He was building towards something, she could tell. Some detail they had missed. Because he was right. It was more than mere coincidence.

    She thought of Merry, of Memphis, of Lady, of Oxford. The miseries of centuries gone and centuries to come weighed on this day. If she was to die in this awful place, let it be of consequence. Of virtue. Let her be good.

    Jask¡¯s glass ran dry. The moment was close now. Her hand reached into her pocket.

    ¡®I haven¡¯t thought about it,¡¯ Ariea said eventually.

    ¡®Then I¡¯ll enlighten you.¡¯ He buried a hand into the lining of his gown, pulled a square of paper and placed it face down on the table.

    ¡®What is that?¡¯

    ¡®Something for posterity. When you left the Underground, you made a mistake, Ariea Finland.¡¯

    He turned over the slip.

    No. She can¡¯t have.

    Ariea¡¯s heart fell like stone into the pit of her being. All hope escaped her, and she saw that she was never meant to win this game. Her head dropped dolefully over the table, beaten. What have I done?

    Finally, Jask stood and he set the slip down in front of her and reached a spindly arm across the hind of her chair. She felt the wicked smile of his victory.

    A photograph of Ariea and Tails smiled hauntingly back at her.

    ¡®You understand now?¡¯ Jask whispered. ¡®Yes?¡¯

    A tear edged down Ariea¡¯s cheek. She drew her arms into herself like a schoolgirl summoned to their headmaster. Then, nodded.

    ¡®She had strength enough when you left her to leave us that. She had your name. That was enough to increase our watch over Wilder. I could never presume you would go, of course. But your heart couldn¡¯t resist her, and Agloff¡¯s couldn¡¯t resist Wilder. You are two sides of a coin.¡¯

    ¡®Tails hated Winter,¡¯ Ariea said simply. ¡®She spent every day in fear of you. She said not to trust anyone.¡¯

    ¡®And she was right. A compelling dichotomy, no? Everyone has their price. I told you that. And this is the lesson, Ariea. My gift to you. When even your enemies work for you, there is no end to which I cannot succeed.¡¯

    ¡®What was her price?¡¯

    Jask leaned over her. His shadow was cast the length of the table. ¡®Runaways are afflicted with a compulsion to return to their families. Tails and her sister kept admirable distance. But if the runaway can¡¯t be punished¡­¡¯

    ¡®You hurt their families.¡¯

    ¡®Her mother fell quite ill. The cost of her treatment was Tails¡¯ information. Tails used her last moments to beg her ultimate salvation, with that photograph.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, Tails.¡¯

    How can I blame her, the poor girl? Ariea smeared her tears over her cheeks. She imagined her face a mess of red and blue. There was a moment¡¯s pause, then she laughed. And she couldn¡¯t stop laughing. It was the most satisfying irony.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®It is funny, that you boast how you control everything and everyone and there¡¯s nothing that can stop you. But, in the end, you are on this planet for one reason and it¡¯s Agloff. And it¡¯s not going to give him to you.¡¯ She spat. Her words were laboured through a manic grin. ¡®After everything; the Underground, Tails, Stone, Agloff¡¯s still not here. He will never be here. But I am.¡¯

    She turned and stared at him with a half-smile. His dim-lit features bulged, cut in a line of shadow.

    Now was the moment. Ariea plunged a hand into her pocket and bounded from her chair.

    She turned. Before Jask could move, Ariea yelled and her body fell into Jask¡¯s, tipping them through the air in synchrony. He hit the ground with a dull thud and her arms raised over him. He made a move to strike. But her fist leaned against him first. The shard of glass plunged into his neck; its work done.

    A spur of blood pulsed from side. Malvo Jask¡¯s body cowed and convulsed.

    Roars and shouts buzzed in her ears and a pair of arms reached around her. Others came rushing in. But she didn¡¯t care. Ariea looked upon her work, her face alight with a delectable grin.

    The body rolled over, dragging itself to its knees. Blood spilled between the fingers vainly clutching its wound. He had miscalculated. Ariea was not so easily beaten. She let her body fall lax under the weight of her guard, and watched proudly.

    That was the last thing she saw as she was dragged from the hall.

    She supposed she would never know if she succeeded.

 Before Noon Chapter 27 | Moonwater

    Chapter Twenty-Seven

    Moonwater

    The passage was dark and narrow. Steel beams leaned across them in triangles, pointed up towards the city. Agloff tucked his shoulders in to pass them, while Thawn shuffled sideways, ducking to half his height. A blink of light welcomed them from the far end and Agloff asked why they could not use torches. Thawn said surprise was their only defence.

    Agloff talked to himself. He counted off the numbers from chained signs that hung above them, as Lore had instructed.

    ¡®4.7.7.12,¡¯ he muttered. ¡®4.7.7.13, 4.7.7.14.¡¯ The others did the same, indistinct. The heavy air carried with it patterned mutters of their routes.

    They reached 16 and Thawn had them stop. Agloff knew the tunnel forked left here, linked from the pipeline up to lowest level of the rail system by a single staircase. A coolness blasted down through a meshed gate and Thawn held it open. When they reached the top, Agloff saw that the path curved. Pairs of railway tracks extended in both directions, as they had through the flatlands. He saw now why they counted their steps. Every jerk in the route, each left, then right, appeared to fold them back on themselves, into seemingly identical tubular passages. None was distinct but for a shear in the line here, or a crack in the brickwork there.

    He wondered if this place was built for the new colony the man from the billboard had created, or if they were the remnants of a more ancient city. How many civilisations had called this place their own? Winter was but the last, he supposed.

    They reached the summit of another stairway and Agloff saw a ladder line the wall up to a manhole cover. The ground tremored momentarily, and they heard the chatter of an engine roll above them.

    ¡®Stay close,¡¯ Thawn said. ¡®We¡¯re surface-level.¡¯

    Memphis scoffed. ¡®You expect us to wander off?¡¯

    ¡®Are you expecting Winter patrols?¡¯ Oxford asked.

    ¡®Not exactly. They rely on no one being able to find their way out, and aren¡¯t used to people coming in. These tunnels are full of decoys.¡¯ He pointed behind them and Agloff saw this tunnel had been bricked up halfway down his eyeline. Then he pointed to a door adjacent. Agloff pulled it back. The frame had just been drilled onto the bricks.

    They pushed on, and Agloff pulled his knife from its sheath. The blade folded like a lip, engraved with writing he did not recognise. Thawn had passed one to each of them. He supposed he would have to use his soon. It was strange, to possess the means to kill another, and the conviction to do so. But he didn¡¯t feel like a murderer.

    After more wayward turns, the tunnel flattened and sloped down a wide staircase towards a stone wall that blocked the way ahead. An archway had been dug from underneath it. Arched windows were smashed in and whatever lay on was glazed in shadow.

    ¡®We¡¯re under the Cathedral now,¡¯ Thawn announced. ¡®Dead in the middle of the city.¡¯ A grim silence surrounded them. He turned to Memphis and Merry. ¡®Are you sure you know where you¡¯ll be going?¡¯

    ¡®Yes,¡¯ Memphis said. ¡®It¡¯s just the way we came.¡¯

    ¡®Things don¡¯t look the same in both directions.¡¯

    ¡®I know the way,¡¯ Lady proclaimed. She straightened her cap and spread her shoulders as if to assert herself. Thawn only cocked his head.

    ¡®She¡¯s a savant for this kind of stuff. Trust,¡¯ Memphis said. ¡®She memorised every star system from here to the Partizan for fun. We know what we¡¯re doing.¡¯ The girl grinned, flashed her knife across her fingers and stuffed it into her pocket.

    Thawn looked down at Lady and Agloff thought he might have smiled. ¡®Well, aren¡¯t you a surprise.¡¯

    ¡®How do you know where we¡¯re going?¡¯ Agloff said. There was a hint of distrust in his voice and Thawn sighed.

    ¡®Because I¡¯ve done it before.¡¯

    Agloff stepped up from the slope. ¡®You came to Eden? When?¡¯

    ¡®Three hundred years ago, to kill Jask. Clearly, I failed.¡¯

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    ¡®Wait,¡¯ Oxford said, and Agloff saw thoughts turn through his mind. ¡®Way back at Block Seventeen, when we found the maps, Ariea said Wilder disappeared off ¡®em three hundred years ago.¡¯ He moved closer to Thawn. ¡®You know Jask. Jask knows you. All this time he¡¯s waited for Agloff using Wilder as bait. Then you show up at Eden and, at the exact same time, Wilder disappears off all the maps. Why is that?¡¯ He spoke softly, smiled.

    Thawn¡¯s helmet glanced in Agloff¡¯s direction. ¡®We should keep going.¡¯

    They obeyed and Oxford scoffed, slipping down the stairs to the stone archway. Was it coincidence, Agloff thought? Or had Thawn to do with why Jask wanted him? Thawn had said he loved Jask. Perhaps Agloff was only a way to Thawn. They were father and son, of course, if in blood only. But that didn¡¯t explain Eron¡¯s illness, he thought.

    They funnelled through the archway and into a low room, composed of bricks like boulders. Uneven walls strained towards the surface under its weight and Agloff saw more windows with the glass smashed in. Thawn flashed a torch on his helmet. This place looked vaguely familiar. He saw rows of benches pattern towards low steps ahead, split by a wide aisle.

    It was another church, he realised. Like Lore Wenderson¡¯s. But this was far older. More than centuries, perhaps millennia. Agloff wondered if this place was once the surface and Winter¡¯s new Eden had been built over it.

    ¡®It¡¯s like Lore¡¯s,¡¯ Merry said.

    ¡®There was a convent here, thousands of years ago. A religious community of a few dozen. The Red Cathedral was built over it, centuries later. It was the centre of the Eden Colony.¡¯

    Thawn led them up. Where the altar should have been, a metal wall had been installed at the top of the pews, with a narrow door in the middle. It was unmarked, untouched even. The door stared at him and Agloff felt uncomfortable. Like they already knew he was here. Thawn raised a hand for them to halt, knocked a fist against the door. When no reply came, he hauled it open, warping the metal in his fingertips.

    ¡®I don¡¯t like how quiet everything is,¡¯ Merry said.

    ¡®Be grateful it is,¡¯ replied Thawn. ¡®I doubt even the pilgrims know this entrance exists.¡¯

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    ¡®Were Jask ever to fall victim to a coup, which, for a man of our age is not beyond possibility, it would help to have a way out they didn¡¯t know about.¡¯

    Merry could think of no reply, but her unease looked no less satisfied.

    They passed through and the room shimmered in a silvery glow. Tens of cylindrical tanks punctured down from the ceiling, encircling the church altar. Each bubbled and hummed. The liquid within looked viscous, almost solid. Whatever it was, it shone dully, like moonlight. It was a glow one might be forgiven for not spotting in anything but darkness. Agloff then turned to a wide vat bubbling in the corner, domed in glass. From it, a web of matted pipes spilled across the floor, feeding each tank from below where they were suspended just above the ground. The tanks then pumped upwards through the ceiling to the Cathedral itself.

    ¡®What is this stuff?¡¯ Oxford said, at once entranced and repulsed.

    Thawn¡¯s head dipped. ¡®Moonwater.¡¯

    ¡®And what is moonwater?¡¯

    The stranger reached a hand to a tank, spread his fingers in its light. ¡®It¡¯s a preservative, for entire organisms. Whole colonies of mine and Jask¡¯s order would ship out in this stuff, in stasis for years. To war, or a new world.¡¯

    ¡®Your order?¡¯

    ¡®Winter,¡¯ he said, and Oxford flinched. ¡®But from another time, from an ancient race. I am not the thing Jask created, I assure you.¡¯ Thawn thought deeply. ¡®He and I are of a race called the Sign of the Tondrus. Much like humanity, but we lived thousands of years ago. Winter was a church like any other. Like the people who came to this place. A military church founded on peace and order. When it fell, so long ago, he took that name and defiled it. He is not worthy of the name he wields over these people like a hammer.¡¯

    ¡®Military and peace don¡¯t go together,¡¯ Memphis quipped.

    ¡®Your idealism is founded on ignorance. We were at war.¡¯

    ¡®So, these tanks are like the pods in the Underground?¡¯ Agloff said quickly to diffuse the tension.

    ¡®Yes. But cruder, less elegant. It forces you to stay alive, at all costs. You put someone in that, on point of death, it will keep you alive forever, just enough to stop you from dying. It feeds you, hydrates you. But you can¡¯t move, or sleep, or speak.¡¯

    ¡®You mean you feel it?¡¯ Merry stepped back, horror-stricken.

    ¡®Every second. It is a living hell. Imagine being able to do nothing but think. Pure thought, without stimulation. Seconds feel like hours, hours like years and the years don¡¯t ever end. You lose yourself.¡¯

    Agloff felt sick. He saw where this train of thought headed. ¡®Is that what Jask is using to keep my brother alive?¡¯

    Thawn gave stiff nod. ¡®If he is still alive, yes.¡¯

    Agloff wanted to surrender himself. How he had failed Eron, for this was a fate worse than death. How easily might they have traded places. How could Agloff ever complain about anything when the other half of himself was trapped in his own head, without a voice? What life had he? Agloff¡¯s whines and dreams made him now feel like a spoilt child.

    ¡®How do you know about this? You been inside it? You clearly lived a long time.¡¯ Oxford snapped at Thawn.

    ¡®No, but I have¡­ experience with it. Enough to know no one deserves it.¡¯

    ¡®Jask does,¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®No.¡¯

    The back of the church pushed into a corridor. The bubbling of moonwater punctuated their steps, with more tanks lining their path. Then they gave way to oily grates, bordering a stone passage. The floor wheezed and hissed in puffs of steam and Agloff thought he could have been back at the Underground.

    They reached a door marked ¡°Lower Basement¡±. The stranger then pushed it open into the Red Cathedral.

    Its basest floor was partitioned by a corridor that ran all the way to a staircase at its end, potted with brown doors, offices perhaps. Everything was an offish white, as if it were once sterile but standards had long since fallen. Stains potted tiled floors and walls. Trolley beds were wheeled and stacked down to one side and smothered in unwashed sheets. At last, they had lights, but they blinkered with an unsettling thrum. A sign on the wall served to guide them:

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    LOWER BASEMENT: Level 6

    1: Observation

    2: Wards 1-4

    3: Intensive Operations

    4: IT Ward 1

    5: IT Ward 2

    6: SP Laboratories 1-4

    For other departments, see Upper Levels

    ¡®SP?¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®Surgery and¡­ paediatrics?¡¯ mused Oxford.

    ¡®No, Special Projects.¡¯ Thawn pointed to a dust-veiled sign that swung above them, chained from one of the light fastenings.

    Merry reached out a hand to a trolley and it gave under her weight, rasped down the corridor. ¡®It¡¯s quiet,¡¯ she said then. ¡®Whatever they were working on here, they stopped a long time ago. They gave up?¡¯

    ¡®Or found what they needed.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s heart beat through every sinew of his body. The emptiness didn¡¯t settle him. Thawn led them, slow and careful. The doorway at the end of the corridor was a black oblong the way down. Agloff tried to focus on it, its outline blinking in and out of existence in the tremor of the lights. His eyes squirmed and he felt patterns smear his vision. Each of the brown doors they passed, Thawn gestured them against the wall, then kicked it in with a thud. Each burst from its hinges. Most were offices, licked clean, hollowed of any hint of what was being worked on here. There were no staff, or patients even.

    What were they doing here?

    The walls banged under the flow of moonwater above and below them. Agloff¡¯s ears followed the sound, aching up through the building.

    Then, a shout. Footsteps trilled ahead. Thawn motioned them behind a trolley, then to the knives he had given each of them. Agloff saw nothing. No one. His breath trapped in his throat. He clutched the blade in front of him, stared at it.

    They know we¡¯re coming. They know we¡¯re here.

    He poked his head up. A shadow glanced into one of the offices. The light within projected them onto the wall of the corridor. Then, another! Their shapes met at distorted angles. Voices exchanged between them.

    Lady stood at once and cantered, dispossessed of her inhibitions.

    ¡®It¡¯s okay!¡¯ she said.

    The girl skipped down the corridor. Merry tried to scream but her throat caught. Thawn pushed Memphis to his knees, then followed her.

    ¡®Girl!¡¯ he whispered. ¡®Dammit girl, get back here.¡¯

    His leaden footsteps followed at great strides.

    ¡®Girl!¡¯

    Lady was undeterred. Agloff watched the shadows dance on the walls in strange movements. Lady chased their voices into silence. The shadows became still. The outline of Lady stopped in the arrow of light cut out from the doorway and vanished inside. Thawn¡¯s gait turned to a run and the others sprinted afterwards.

    No sooner had they started, they came to a deathly silence, and convened around the doorway. Uneven breaths filled the air.

    Lady was knelt beside two girls, one of Agloff¡¯s age or so, dressed in some kind of uniform, the other perhaps a fraction younger. The younger one was burrowed in layers of blankets as the elder sat beside her, a plate of bread and cheese between them.

    ¡®I said it was okay!¡¯ Lady exclaimed. ¡®This place was all empty so if anyone was down her, it weren¡¯t gon¡¯ta be Winter people.¡¯

    Thawn scoffed. ¡®Prescience indeed.¡¯

    Merry lowered to Lady, snapped the girl¡¯s arms to her side. ¡®Don¡¯t do that again.¡¯

    ¡®But I was right!¡¯ the girl protested.

    Merry could only laugh limply. She stood, and their attention turned to the two girls. They retreated a fraction. It was then Agloff realised where they were. This room wasn¡¯t an office like the others. Rows of high shelves stretched into darkness on all sides, each labelled and stacked with something. It was an archive or sorts, like the library at Backwater.

    ¡®Who are you?¡¯ Thawn said at the girls. He prodded his gun in their direction. They were unmoved.

    The elder spoke. ¡®I¡¯m Minette, that¡¯s Pela. Yourselves?¡¯

    ¡®How did you end up in here?¡¯ Thawn pressed, ignoring them.

    ¡®Pela got ill after she were taken I.T... I just help her out. Brings food.¡¯

    ¡®And what happens at I.T?¡¯

    Pela leaned forward. She was thin of face, paler than dawn. ¡®I don¡¯t know. They knock us out before. But I woke up like this.¡¯ She leaned forward. Needle marks peppered her forearm, the surrounding skin purpled and swollen.

    ¡®And you came down here.¡¯ Thawn began to pace the room, passing glances to the patrolling shelves that fed into the darkness.

    ¡®No one else does. Seemed safe,¡¯ Minette said. Unlike her friend, she looked well-fed. Clean and healthy. ¡®They an¡¯t used here for a long time.¡¯

    ¡®Special Projects mean anything to you, Pela?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s just a place to hide.¡¯

    ¡®Minette?¡¯

    ¡®Nossir. I¡¯m just house staff.¡¯

    ¡®House staff?¡¯

    It caught Agloff¡¯s attention as well. What little he had seen of Eden so far, he doubted there were many people of great importance here. Important enough to warrant having their every whim waited on anyway. It would serve any dictator to keep prospective backstabbers and successors beyond arm¡¯s length.

    Minette swallowed. ¡®For Leader Jask,¡¯ she said.

    Thawn stepped across her, casting her in darkness. The others watched, paralysed. ¡®You serve in Jask¡¯s house staff?¡¯

    ¡®Yessir. I bring him his food.¡¯ She flinched, awaited a strike. She was trained to it.

    ¡®Have you seen a boy up there?¡¯

    ¡®A boy, sir?¡¯

    ¡®A child, looks about him,¡¯ and nodded at Agloff. ¡®In a tank of fluid perhaps.¡¯

    ¡®I know nothing about any boy. I bring the Master his food, from the kitchen to his hall. That¡¯s it, sir.¡¯

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t anyone with access to Jask be under guard at the topmost spire. How did you get down here?¡¯

    ¡®There was¡­ a commotion, sir.¡¯

    ¡®A commotion?¡¯

    Minette looked at Pela. ¡®Yessir¡­ I really don¡¯t think I should say.¡¯

    The lights wavered and Thawn sighed. It was a heavy sigh, and the girl caught its meaning well enough.

    ¡®A girl attacked Him. I don¡¯t know, I never saw her before. But she hurt Him good. Seemed bad. Everyone was shouting, staff, pilgrims, all sorts. I just took my chance and stole a bag of stuff from the kitchens. Came straight here.¡¯

    Agloff bounded forwards. ¡®Who was she?¡¯ he begged.

    ¡®I said I dunno.¡¯

    ¡®What about Jask? How is he?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m just house staff.¡¯ Minette sank into herself and knocked her head against Pela who looked up at them through wide eyes. Agloff¡¯s breath shortened, heart hastened. He felt closer than he ever had to the terminus of his convictions. Ariea was up there, alive! And she had wounded Jask, if not killed him- maybe. Calm, he thought. He forced it upon himself. He could not become giddy, not yet.

    ¡®Do you know anything about this place?¡¯ Thawn said. He strode between two shelves and reached a hand into them. Whatever was within was tied by tubes of some sort. Thawn yanked and a pouch of liquid came free. He considered it.

    It was blood.

    ¡®Nossir.¡¯

    Thawn moved towards his followers and rolled the pouch through his fingers. Blueish lumps bopped to the surface of the liquid. ¡®What does that look like to you?¡¯ he said.

    ¡®That¡¯s¡­¡¯ Merry started. ¡®Are they all?¡¯

    ¡®Winged fever.¡¯

    ¡®What do you know about it?¡¯ Oxford said.

    ¡®Enough. It¡¯s a disease of the blood. Causes rapid clotting and eventually heart and respiratory failure. Toss-up which kills you first.¡¯

    A label dangled from the pouch. Agloff pulled it towards him, read aloud:

    ¡®Allhoa, Anya: Administered MC-Strain-34b. Subject exhibited typical left ventricular hypotrophy. Clot formation observed in the wall of the aortic valve. Blood oxygen saturation levels were heavily depleted. Symptomology consistent with previous subjects.¡¯

    ¡®Jask was infecting people with winged fever?¡¯ Merry said, aghast.

    Thawn pressed the pouch further, and Agloff saw that it was blackened slightly. ¡®Note the discolouration. He¡¯s been treating it with chemicals or some such.¡¯

    ¡®Trying to find a cure for my brother?¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Would seem so.¡¯

    ¡®Why couldn¡¯t he vaccinate him like he does the kids when they come Eden?¡¯ Memphis asked. He shot a glance at Minette and Pela.

    ¡®He had a long time to make one for the rest of the Colony Two. But vaccines are preventative. Eron was already infected, so Jask needed a cure. A transfusion of healthy blood.¡¯

    ¡®Why does he need Agloff then? Wouldn¡¯t any donor do?¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re forgetting Eron is only half-human.¡¯ Thawn¡¯s head dipped. ¡®Jask couldn¡¯t risk trying it in case Eron¡¯s body rejected the blood. He needs something closer. And Agloff is genetically identical.¡¯

    The eyes of the room turned on him.

    ¡®Then what¡¯s all this?¡¯ Agloff bounded forward into the rows of shelves. Blood pouches ran as far as his eye could see into the back of the archive. The labels varied in name and reference number. But the semantics were all the same. On the back wall, Agloff saw x-rays stapled over a notice board. In every case, the subject¡¯s bones exhibited growth in their hip, like some poison had taken over.

    Thawn joined him. ¡®If Jask couldn¡¯t get to either of us to cure Eron, then he had to force a cure from elsewhere. Look.¡¯ He pointed to the outlines of the peculiar growths. ¡®He tried to transplant Eron¡¯s bone marrow into human children, grow his healthy blood inside them. Synthesise it. Most of these are dated a long time ago.¡¯ He pulled a file from one side and skimmed through it. ¡®He was truly desperate.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m guessing it didn¡¯t go well.¡¯

    Thawn traced a finger over the board for annotations and scribbles. ¡®Looks like the marrow was rejected or turned cancerous. This must be Special Projects; his cure for Eron.¡¯

    Agloff stared, felt the line of a tear roll down his cheek. He swallowed.

    ¡®Are you¡­ okay?¡¯

    He nodded. ¡®Why me? Why Eron in the first place?¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t know Jask¡¯s mind, Agloff. But he failed. And isn¡¯t it better this way?¡¯

    ¡®We failed. He¡¯s in that moonwater. I just keep thinking it could be me up there.¡¯

    ¡®But it¡¯s not. For Eron, there would have come a point his brain¡¯s on tick-over. If it¡¯s any consolation, I think he has already passed.¡¯

    ¡®You mean he¡¯s gone mad.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s just gone. I was never a father but if there is a part of me that wasn¡¯t this, that loved him, I think he is free of his pain.¡¯

    Agloff looked to the side to hide his brokenness. This room was a million pieces of himself, torn from him without consent nor knowledge. It was here perhaps that he saw most clearly. In this place, he walked in Jask¡¯s mind, and he felt his feet may never reach the bottom of his depravity. This was the end of his obsessions. How long Agloff had craved over Eron as Jask did. They were of the same will, and Agloff saw in a moment¡¯s lucidity that he could chase this road no further, for he saw now where it ended.

    Eron died a thousand lifetimes ago and Agloff was just inside his grave.

    He rolled his lip under his teeth and managed to breathe deep. It shook as his body did, and the world glazed under shining eyes. So close had he felt, he now felt so far away.

    But Ariea, he thought.

    Always Ariea.

    And a distant strength found him again.

    Suddenly, their heads turned. A crash came from the direction of the corridor. Agloff heard Pela yelp. They filtered from the archives and into the light of the corridor where Minette had them both stood along the wall. Her hand was wrapped across her friend¡¯s mouth and the food kicked out of sight.

    Thawn gestured the rest of them to the other side.

    Bodies spilled into the archive, three of them, scattering the light in vague shapes. They were in white coats, badges pinned to their pockets. Doctors or nurses, scientists perhaps. Thawn¡¯s shadow crossed them. They lurched at the sight of the strangers, and concealed handguns jabbed the air.

    ¡®Pela!¡¯ a man yelled.

    He ducked Thawn and grabbed the girl by her bruises. She wailed. Minette grabbed him, half-crouched. Her teeth sank into his arm and his howling was lost in the thrum of lights. ¡®GET THEM! The alarm!¡¯ He strained to stand and swatted Minette away with a stiff blow.

    The others, two women, spread the width of the intruders, then pointed their guns forward. Thawn lanced a knife towards them. It ripped through one of the shelves, tipping it sideways. The doctors dived through a gap, emerged a second later with their guns now outstretched.

    Before they could think to pull their triggers, there was a snap of gunfire and they jittered to the ground in blockish motions. Their chests bulged as they fought back death for the sake of a few more seconds. The surviving man wailed, panting in the doorway. At once, Thawn turned to him. None of the others thought to beg his mercy. There was a second snap of gunfire and the enemy fell askew in the doorway.

    Minette then stood, cradling Pela¡¯s head against her shoulder, and told her it was alright, that she would not be hurt again. She watched the life drain her torturer through cold, unblinking eyes.

    ¡®You know them?¡¯ Thawn said, collecting the doctors¡¯ weapons.

    ¡®They work upstairs, in Intensive Treatment,¡¯ Minette said. ¡®Probably here to take Pela back.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not going back,¡¯ Pela said. Her head shook furiously.

    ¡®It¡¯ll be okay. We can get you out of here, of Eden,¡¯ Merry said. She managed a half-smile. Her familiar effusiveness strained.

    Minette met her with a piercing stare. ¡®Don¡¯t be ridiculous.¡¯

    ¡®Aye, they can,¡¯ Thawn said, nodding as he inspected the bodies. ¡®How¡¯d you think we got in? Tunnels under the city. They lead right to the outlying farmhouses.¡¯

    ¡®None gets out there except dumb luck,¡¯ Minette said. ¡®Those that do never last long.¡¯

    ¡®How do you think they¡¯ll treat you now, house staff?¡¯ said Thawn. ¡®You exploited Jask¡¯s injuries for personal gain, and criminal gain at that. You¡¯d be lucky not to wind up in I.T. yourself¡­ Minette.¡¯

    ¡®Worth a try isn¡¯t it?¡¯ Merry insisted. ¡®And anything is better than upstairs. We have the way out memorised. You don¡¯t want or deserve to serve Malvo Jask.¡¯

    Minette looked down at Pela, and they muttered something to each other, then the elder kissed her friend on the forehead. ¡®We will go.¡¯ She sighed. ¡®If you got in, we can get out.¡¯

    Lady walked up to them and smiled. ¡®I can show you the way.¡¯

    ¡®WE NEED TO GO!¡¯ Agloff¡¯s temper snapped, and he shot the room into silence. ¡®Ariea is up there and we don¡¯t know what they¡¯re going to do to her if she hurt Jask. They could be getting her ready for¡­ execution!¡¯

    ¡®Jask wouldn¡¯t jeopardise you coming,¡¯ Thawn said.

    ¡®No? Wouldn¡¯t he? There¡¯s no way of us knowing if she is alive or dead, is there? So long as he knows I think there¡¯s a chance¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter what he does to her then, does it, Thawn?¡¯

    Thawn stooped a little. Agloff seemed to command him in a way the others could not. ¡®You should stay down here,¡¯ he said to Merry and Memphis. ¡®Oxford, Agloff and me will go up and send any stragglers down. Take it in turns, rotate through the tunnels in groups. One stays, one goes. If you¡¯re sure about this.¡¯

    ¡®Sure as,¡¯ Memphis said. ¡®You give the bastards hell. I¡¯ll take these two.¡¯ He collected two weapons from Thawn and holstered one in the back of his trousers. The other, he passed to Merry. As he led them into the corridor, he paused at Agloff, raised a hand to his shoulder. ¡®G¡¯luck. It took me too long to trust you.¡¯

    Agloff said nothing.

    Lady ran to his feet and her oversized sleeves swarmed his waist. Then she peeled back and looked at Agloff through saucer eyes.

    ¡®See you kid.¡¯ His mind felt too full and too empty to say more. He embraced Merry next and let her arms catch him. He held on for the world. He had not seen them as he should. For too long, they were half-glanced ghosts he thought fate had intersected him with. But now he saw that their paths ran parallel. At the end, he was proud to think them friends. Ariea was right that night at the dock in Wishbone. They would always have come for him, as they now did for her, for the children. He hoped he might repay the favour one day.

    ¡®See you later,¡¯ he said and watched them slip into the corridor, followed by Minette and Pela. Then, Agloff, Oxford and Thawn exchanged looks and Thawn prodded them each once to check the vigour of their guard-shields.

    Content, he led them the other direction out the archive, and motioned to the staircase upwards.

 Before Noon Chapter 28 | The Red Cathedral

    Chapter Twenty-Eight

    The Red Cathedral

    The staircase was a barren concrete shaft that fed upwards to the base of the Cathedral. Agloff felt his steps punctuated by fleeting awareness, as though he kept passing between the moment and some hazy nightmare.

    A chorus of footsteps gathered over them, and Thawn pointed Agloff to his knife. He stayed back, while Thawn and Oxford fired pot-shots from against the railing to the floor above.

    What have you done, Ariea, he thought. Perhaps she was already gone, and the coming ascent was mere torment for his failure to get there sooner, or to keep her in sight between the cobbles of Wishbone and the city gate. Or to leave Backwater wish such vigour in the first place. That was his basest failure, was it not? She had followed him, only half-seen by his captive eyes. They might die in this place, and the strength of his feeling might never go spoken.

    Eron or Ariea, so it always had been.

    Thawn¡¯s shot carried in Agloff¡¯s ears a dozen times. Shots billowed in a volley of noise that seemed ceaseless. There came a wail, and a pilgrim¡¯s body capsized over the railing above, and hit the floor between them.

    For a moment, the barrage scattered and Thawn yelled, ¡®UP!¡¯

    They turned a quarter-floor and Thawn fired off two more shots and two bodies rolled to their feet. How obscene it was that they were bodies only. Obstacles pushed aside with scant regard. They were names and lives, Agloff thought. Silenced as abruptly as a television set.

    The staircase fed onto a veranda overlooking the span of the Cathedral. It was a vast and tall place. The floor had been hollowed out and cleaved into walled rows, each lined with hospital beds. Agloff saw the far ends had been bricked up into smaller buildings, accessed by a door at the bottom and a walkway at the top that spanned between them. Its centre jutted off towards an open staircase at the back, twirling into the spire above.

    Jask.

    The way sloped down and into the first ward. It shimmered. The red brick of the building at large was lost in a maze of glossy whites and metal. Kids were chained to hospital beds. Nurses jerked from their duties; hands raised. And Agloff jabbed at them with his lipped knife to flee.

    At once, they scurried behind the beds. Agloff looked up. The ceiling seemed boundless above, as though it touched the sky. Giant banners of Winter¡¯s mark hung stiffly over them, the height of twenty men or more.

    ¡®Key! KEY!¡¯ Thawn barked, shaking his weapon at a nurse. He tossed it and fled the other direction and Thawn ordered Agloff to free the children. The same purpled, bruised marks Pela bore sullied their arms. Agloff did not stop to look in their eyes or answer their questions. Words passed over him. He felt incapable of all thought, only action.

    One-by-one, cuffs clicked free and Oxford pointed them in the direction of the veranda and the stairway down to Special Projects. He caught Agloff staring down a line of doorways into the next ward. Glass, within glass, within glass. And he felt the impossibility of their task weigh on his soul.

    He recalled what Lore had said: ¡®Consider that you fail. How might those children be punished for trying to free themselves? Children whose lives are already in pain.¡¯

    But the point of return lay far behind them.

    Oxford shook him to alertness by his shoulder. ¡®Eyes sharp, soldier.¡¯

    Soldier. Soldier. Agloff was no soldier. He was an imposter.

    He turned at the trail of children, confusedly hurrying from their beds, and herded them out the ward. Thawn kicked in the next door and so they repeated. If the nurses came with resistance, Thawn discharged his weapon and they faltered to the ground. It had the effect of motivating the children too. Agloff was unsure if they knew they were being rescued or captured, but one day they would be grateful. He wanted to tell them it was okay, but who would believe them invaders.

    Thawn hoisted the children from their beds by their gowns, threw them to the floor if they weren¡¯t forthcoming in their obedience. Agloff was reminded of the Underground. And the boys and girls snatched from the descending lines by guards as offerings to Winter. Now they did the same to free them.

    The third ward, the staff were prepared. One extended a gun in a tremoring hand. Her mouth wobbled and Agloff saw she lacked the strength to fire it. He reached his blade towards her, but she struck him down by the back of his shin. Before he could resist, she raised an arm to strike.

    Agloff felt a chill fizzle over him.

    He turned.

    The nurse was knocked backwards into a trolley-bed and Oxford then shot her into submission. Agloff looked down at his hands. His body shimmered where her blow had struck, with the faint haze of his guard-shield.

    Thawn hauled Agloff to his feet. ¡®Has its uses.¡¯

    ¡®Enough to stop a bullet?¡¯

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t go that far.¡¯

    Agloff turned to Oxford. ¡®You didn¡¯t have to do that.¡¯ He stared down and shook lightly at the sight of her.

    ¡®I see them all the same. One day you will lose everything, and they will take it from you,¡¯ he said. ¡®Tell me then, what I don¡¯t have to do, kid. I said I was here for my reasons, not yours.¡¯

    Agloff nodded. He supposed he couldn¡¯t understand. Winter hadn¡¯t taken Ariea from him, not yet, not completely. In Eron, it had taken only that which he never had to start with.

    The next door fed sideways as the wards folded back on themselves in the other direction. Footsteps and shouts retreated and Agloff was sure the enemy had surrendered these wards, for the sake of victory later. He sensed them lie in wait, baiting Agloff into a false hope. He had no doubt pilgrims were closing on the Cathedral now, dozens or hundreds.

    It was ironic. Their only hope was that Jask was alive enough to order them to stand down, lest they harm Agloff. Their momentum was sure to fail.

    Time seemed to catch in a loop, and Agloff felt his body pattern through familiar motions. Unlock the cuffs, instruct the kids, move on. They slipped into a rhythm and their resistance waned further still. The nurses had abandoned their patients. Each ward, the children sat anxiously in their beds with pointed backs. Perhaps Jask had no need of them anymore, now Agloff was here. It would make sense. Unless they served another purpose, and the doctors were too valuable to spare. Or perhaps Jask simply didn¡¯t care. There would always be more children, of course.

    On the ninth or tenth ward, Agloff ducked to a child¡¯s bedside. He tried to smile but it wouldn¡¯t come, and the boy of ten or so watched him through piercing eyes, black beads in perfect white rings. Agloff looked down. Ridged scars criss-crossed over the boy¡¯s chest in disturbing regularity, as if he had been opened up and sewn back together. Then, the cuffs clacked and Agloff reached to the boy¡¯s wrist.

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    But he grabbed onto Agloff first.

    Agloff yelled. He felt his wrist contort under the unearthly grip of the boy¡¯s fingers. He held on with the strength of ten men. His purpled arm bulged. Veins and tendons popped as though he were twice his age. Oxford threw a punch, but the kid knocked him backwards into a gurney. Thawn stepped between them and raised the boy by his neck.

    At once, his grip gave way and the look in the kid¡¯s eyes traded for fear. The corners of his eyes stooped, and he clawed beggingly at Thawn¡¯s hand. Agloff watched his father¡¯s fingers close.

    ¡®That¡¯s enough,¡¯ Oxford said. ¡®HEY!¡¯

    The child spasmed on hoarse puffs of air.

    ¡®Thawn!¡¯ Agloff yelled.

    The stranger obeyed. The boy thudded against the ground dully and Thawn barked at him to flee.

    ¡®The hell is wrong with you?¡¯ said Agloff, cradling his wrist in his fingers.

    ¡®It was you or him, and you¡¯re more important than he is, I think. You didn¡¯t complain so far.¡¯

    Agloff panted, lowered his hands to his thighs and hunched over. ¡®He¡¯s a kid dammit.¡¯

    ¡®Enemy¡¯s the enemy, no? Doesn¡¯t matter what they look like. I¡¯ve done worse in war to younger, boy.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t need to patronise me.¡¯ He flexed his fingers around his knife and pointed towards the next door. ¡®He was scared, he wasn¡¯t the enemy!¡¯

    ¡®Is that not the same thing? If they stand in your way, they¡¯re the enemy. If they compromise the objective, they¡¯re the enemy. I know you wish this was black and white but get over yourself. You want that girl?¡¯ Thawn laughed. ¡®This is how you do it. You don¡¯t get to win, be all peachy and not feel guilty.¡¯

    ¡®Is that how you see us all? Objectives and compromises, tangents?¡¯ Agloff paused. ¡®I feel sorry for you, Thawn.¡¯ He meant it too. The more Agloff saw of him, the more he pitied Thawn. He was not quite a man, more a routine, a series of operations, played out in logic and cold understanding. If A, then B, else X then Y. It was a grim, cold way to see the world, Agloff was sure. He wasn¡¯t so trite as to call him a machine. But Agloff could see Thawn¡¯s brain had sunk into a trough of ordered patterns, too deep to escape from.

    He surmised Thawn had lived a long time. This must be a symptom of it.

    ¡®I see you fine,¡¯ the stranger said after a long silence.

    ¡®Why the hell was he so strong? Is that what they did to Pela, to all of them?¡¯ Oxford growled. He raked his fingers through his mane angrily.

    Thawn growled. ¡®This ain¡¯t a time for questions.¡¯ He pushed the next door open. ¡®Get,¡¯ he said. But Agloff sensed Thawn suspected more about the children than he was willing to say.

    They crossed the line of the banners above them into the far side of the hall. Agloff could see now where the wall cut away into a tower, punctuated by windows that spiralled up beyond the roof of the main hall, to Jask and Ariea and Eron. He imagined the red bricks were stained by the blood of Winter¡¯s many conquests. How many had died in the name of where they stood. The name was appropriate, he reckoned.

    Thawn opened the door to the next ward, and they saw that it was empty. Crumpled duvets were left to taunt them and Agloff sensed that everything had been left exactly as it was. Now, he thought, their luck had surely run out.

    This was not victory. This was the certainty of death, laid out for him to follow.

    The next ward split at a T-bend and Agloff saw that it followed all the way to the staircase in a long, blinking passage. Any retreating footsteps had been ordered into silence, and the children of I.T. had long since been freed on the floors below. Agloff was their only protection now. If he strayed a foot too far from Oxford, a bullet could end him as immediately as he had the nurses.

    He pressed a look through the glass of the door down towards the spire. The feeling that they were being watched was inescapable. Surrender tempted him as it had at Wishbone. But he knew Thawn wouldn¡¯t allow it. And to surrender was to give up all semblance of control they had, though Agloff was sure that was an illusion in any case. Whatever waited for them beyond the door was more prepared than they were. Doctor, nurse, child, or pilgrim. They had to assume the worst of all of them.

    He supposed they would do it Thawn¡¯s way then.

    The stranger reached a hand to a panel beside the door and it slid open into the wide corridor. A siren blared once, then the blinking lights sank into a heavy darkness. The corridor paved the way to a lone doorway some hundred feet down. Trolleys and stacked chairs watched their approach from slanted shadows that hid the edges of their surroundings.

    Thawn and Oxford guarded Agloff with their weapons outstretched.

    Their steps folded lightly over the floor. Every other second, Agloff threw a glance to check behind. Empty.

    Then, Agloff heard something, a rhythm. The dull patter of a hundred footsteps outside the hull of the corridor. His pulse throbbed at his temple and he ducked a look sideways. Through the glass of the corridor, tens or more of grey-clad knights swept in lockstep to meet them at the windows, struck in half-shadow.

    Thawn paused and reached an arm to guard Agloff and Oxford behind him.

    As one, the enemy¡¯s weapons trained towards them but made no movement of aggression. Their dead-glazed faces stood as statues, peering in through the glass.

    It was a guard of honour.

    ¡®What are they doing?¡¯ Oxford said.

    Thawn scoffed. ¡®Making sure we don¡¯t turn around.¡¯

    Agloff looked at Oxford. He saw thoughts rattle through his head. His teeth rolled over his lip in ceaseless animation. Then he stopped. Oxford jerked sideways and his gun fired off towards the window. On instinct, Agloff pushed into him and they were tipped towards the concrete floor.

    They heard the shattering of glass, but no retaliation came.

    Thawn dragged Agloff back to his feet. A hole now stood where Oxford had fired. The shattered glass circled empty space and they heard a faint wheezing. The knights on either side were unmoved in their stances.

    A downed pilgrim hauled himself up to look at them, his hands clutching over the ridge of razored glass. His peer turned to consider this mewling creature, wheezing blood. Drops pitter-pattered onto concrete. The wounded one begged mercy, but his colleague was not obliging.

    A second shot thrashed down the corridor and the wounded man collapsed across the edge of sheared glass that finished Oxford¡¯s work. The pilgrim beside calmly returned her weapon to the intruders, unburdened by her action.

    Oxford stopped, then turned and made a testing motion back towards the wards. The knights tightened their stances, and a flurry of warning shots scuffed the concrete by Oxford¡¯s feet. He raised his hands and returned to the way ahead.

    ¡®You see?¡¯ Thawn said as they walked. ¡®They don¡¯t care what you do. So long as we keep going.¡¯

    Oxford then strode to the window where their escorts stood and stared at one of them. He breathed raggedly, then held out his gun. The crack of its barrel snapped through the Cathedral. The pilgrim paled under its force, collapsed into empty space behind, but its colleagues remained in their motionlessness.

    Again.

    Another pilgrim fell, and still the enemy yielded no resistance, no catharsis for Oxford. He screamed at them, begged them to fire back. He squeezed the grip of his firearm across his forehead and roared. But there was no winning.

    The hall carried his screams to the spire and back again and Agloff thought about reaching out a hand to him. The moment seemed to pass through Agloff, as though he were detached from that world, beyond the scope of Oxford¡¯s pain.

    ¡®You don¡¯t beat them¡­ unless they want beating,¡¯ Thawn surmised. ¡®Kill all of them, or it only takes one of them to kill you back, Blue.¡¯

    Oxford hurled his gun and it skittled down the corridor. Thawn stepped to gather it tenderly, then summoned them. They followed the parade in silence. Oxford¡¯s neck sank into stooped shoulders.

    Stains and smears decorated the passage. Signs warned staff to sanitise and sterilise, interspersed with posters reminding them of Winter¡¯s dominance, strap-lined with colourful captions. Agloff noted the absence of Jask in each. He seemed some formless thing, known but not seen. Less of a dictator, more of a deity.

    They followed the way to its end. A grime-licked door slid open on approach and into a narrow staircase spiralling upwards. Agloff looked up and a heady sickness rose inside him. They climbed, and he felt all direction lost from him, in space and time. The world beyond and before felt absent. He rose in identical loops towards no apparent end. His grip on his lipped knife slackened as shots of pain passed through him, but he could not trace it to its source. He had no injuries.

    This was the end he supposed, with all its inevitability. This was the place Eron had lived so long. Perhaps Thawn was right, and Eron had found himself transported to another state of being. The boy was form only, and all thought had long since left him. It would make it easier if it were true.

    Agloff took a deep breath and began to count away his ascent. He hoped Ariea was still alive. To any god who would listen, he prayed. If the universe owed him any hope, he deserved that at least. Hours or seconds later, the way flattened and he fell over the top step, as if his legs expected the spiral to continue. He tumbled; his limbs spread across the floor.

    He saw the passage was black and narrow, adorned in flecks of gold and wood. There was no other way out. A single corridor ran to an open doorway at the far end, and closed doors stood to watch them.

    As Agloff pushed his shoulders up, he felt arms drag him to his knees. But it wasn¡¯t Oxford or Thawn. He saw their bodies recede from him in the corner of his eye, carried away in ripples of grey uniform. They shouted and wrestled under the weight of their captors. But their yells were in vain. There were too many of them.

    Agloff let his body fall limp. He wasn¡¯t in control of it anyway. He hadn¡¯t been in control of any of this. He heard orders to stun them, and a prick jabbed Agloff¡¯s arm. He felt a strange feeling reach into him, like sleep.

    He was going to do it, his last thought commanded. He was going to put an end to Malvo Jask. Surely, he was the only one who could.

    Then, he let the alien feeling swallow him, and his mind was pulled into some other place.

 Before Noon Chapter 29 | Colony Two

    Chapter Twenty-Nine

    Colony Two

    Agloff felt something warm in his hand. It moved, wriggled. But it wasn¡¯t indelicate, quite the opposite in fact. He wanted to lie here forever, suspended between fleeting wakefulness and some splendid dream.

    ¡®Agloff.¡¯ The softness of her voice pulled him from that other place.

    ¡®Ariea,¡¯ he said back at her. She was beside him, her hand in his.

    His eyes strained open and her face filled his field of view. Her hair was roughened, and rouged marks scuffed her skin. But she was here. She was alive. He was briefly reminded of some perfect moment back at Backwater, when she looked at him a way one time, and he felt high in her company.

    Agloff panted on shallow breaths, smiled.

    She opened her mouth but could seemingly find no words, and she settled to smile back at him, then combed a hand through Agloff¡¯s hair.

    ¡®I wasn¡¯t expecting you to come,¡¯ she said then. ¡®I thought if you had any sense, you¡¯d have run the other way. I told Jask you weren¡¯t coming.¡¯

    ¡®Well, you know by now I don¡¯t have any sense.¡¯

    She leaned over to where he lay, cupped his hands in hers and whispered. ¡®Thank you.¡¯ But the enormity of its meaning was too dense for him to process. Agloff was sure he meant it as much Ariea did. She had saved him in a way, in her absence.

    ¡®Where is Jask?¡¯

    Agloff tried to sit up. He was cuffed by one wrist to a gurney and had been changed into a hospital gown. The room was mostly empty, and bigger than it needed to be. Grime-laden mirrors boxed them in under a low-hanging ceiling. Any guards were conspicuously absent. It was just them.

    Then a voice rasped from behind him. Agloff saw Ariea¡¯s hand slip from his and she kneeled in deference. Agloff turned.

    ¡®Agloff.¡¯

    Jask stood haggard, his weight keeled over on a walking stick supporting him. His neck was braced in plaster and his breaths hissed and groaned under the weight of hidden wounds. Agloff looked at Ariea.

    ¡®I tried. I really tried,¡¯ she said.

    Jask reached a hand into the pocket of his silken robe and a red-stained shard of glass skittered towards Agloff.

    ¡®And you very nearly succeeded, child.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ Agloff whispered to her.

    He then looked below Jask. A second gurney had been laid out, beside a silvery tank dimly glowing against the wall of the chamber. Tubes and pipes ejected from its base and into the floor. Agloff saw a vague silhouette occluded within. He wondered if Eron knew he were here at last, that he had made it. If words even had meaning to him anymore, in his state of undeath. The world itself would lose meaning in such a place, Agloff imagined.

    ¡®I¡¯ve waited so long for you to be here,¡¯ Jask said.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry it wasn¡¯t longer.¡¯

    ¡®Like Ariea, you shouldn¡¯t waste yourself on childish comments. Wit is a coward¡¯s weapon, so I¡¯ve heard. It did them no good.¡¯

    ¡®Them?¡¯

    Jask waved a frail arm behind Agloff and he strained to see Oxford and Thawn hoisted from the ceiling by silver chains. Their toes dangled limply. The latter had been stripped of his armour and Agloff saw the price of his abilities. Regular wounds criss-crossed over his chest like the boy in the wards, as if he had been cut open. Thawn¡¯s legs and arms had been replaced. He wrestled in his restrains, through limbs made not of flesh, but some alien material Agloff could not place. It wasn¡¯t metal, but a synthetic of some sort. Agloff could only presume Jask was the same.

    ¡®Years,¡¯ Jask hissed. ¡®Years for this day.¡¯ He either restrained his excitement, or the exertion was pain he could not countenance. The Enemy spluttered and held a hand to his wounds again. He looked so weak. More than wounded, or old. But ill. He could not believe Jask and Thawn were of the same age, of the same kind. ¡®This was all I ever wanted. Everything else was a tangent. Mere distraction.¡¯

    ¡®You haven¡¯t won,¡¯ Oxford spat. ¡®We got the kids out of your experiments.¡¯

    ¡®Meh, for all of you, a reasonable exchange.¡¯ Jask walked towards Thawn. ¡®For you,¡¯ he said, reaching a spindly hand to Agloff¡¯s father. ¡®I hate you so very much.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Mal,¡¯ breathed Thawn. ¡®I thought you were dead.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t call me that. You would grovel? This is new. You could have killed me on that Tower. But you left me to die, hoped I would die.¡¯ He struck Thawn by his cheek, scowled. ¡®Because you didn¡¯t have the stomach to shoot me yourself. There was a shot left in that poisoned gun.¡¯

    Thawn¡¯s eyes glanced down to where his armour had spilled on to the floor and Jask followed. He collected a modest revolver, unclicked the chamber and studied it in his paling, inhuman hands.

    ¡®One shot left. Were you saving that for me?¡¯ Jask said, but Thawn didn¡¯t answer. He dropped the weapon where he stood. ¡®What did you come here expecting to happen, really?¡¯

    ¡®To kill you,¡¯ spat Agloff from his bed.

    Jask stifled a laugh. He looked back at Thawn. ¡®You came for the boy, didn¡¯t you? For Eron.¡¯

    ¡®How did you survive that fall, Mal? I saw you. Your chest. Your body was open.¡¯

    ¡®A flesh wound only. I was alive enough. When I came round, you were gone from the rubble and I abandoned. I dragged myself miles through the sand, for days, unable to walk. I survived by will alone. But, in the end, I got back to Erebus¡¯ chamber.¡¯

    ¡®Moonwater,¡¯ Thawn said.

    ¡®I plugged myself into the machine that guarded the child. I climbed inside, and waited, on the whim that the Sign would follow Erebus¡¯ trail, or you would come back.¡¯ The words passed through Agloff, only half-understood.

    Jask then turned to address the rest of them. ¡®He told you about it, yes? Moonwater. You feel every second. Unadulterated thought. Without action. Without stimulation. You are in violation of your mind. It is the purest of all hells. I can¡¯t describe it.¡¯ He looked at Eron¡¯s body. ¡®But for you I will try. In your terms, imagine holding your breath until the last moment. That tension you feel in your chest. The urge to indulge it. Imagine being suspended in that last moment before you let go, and breathe, forever, without respite.¡¯

    ¡®I am so sorry,¡¯ Thawn begged.

    ¡®So long, so long I defended you to myself in that place! Over and over, the same old lies. I clung to the hope you had a found way off, that you took that shuttle like we said and made it. And¡­ then I said, ¡°he will come back for me.¡± Alas. Always, I clung to the same lie. That you loved me.¡¯

    Thawn panted, hauled on his chains. ¡®I loved you well enough. I let you rest.¡¯

    ¡®Of course, one reaches a point beyond which you know they¡¯re not coming. You tried to tell yourself that,¡¯ Jask said to Ariea. Her chin dipped. ¡®Eventually, the Sign found me, restored me.¡¯ He gestured the network of circuitry that tattooed the back of his neck. ¡®By which time, I had had more than enough time to think about you, Abbadiah. You needed to suffer for that.¡¯ Jask staggered and moved to the glassy wall. He reached a hand for support then slipped to his haunches and panted.

    ¡®Everything alright?¡¯ Oxford sniped.

    ¡®I¡¯m old,¡¯ the Enemy said.

    Agloff leaned across his gurney. ¡®Should you not be the same age as Thawn?¡¯

    ¡®A sharp eye has your lad,¡¯ Jask said at Thawn. ¡®Why don¡¯t you tell him?¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s father fell limp and sighed. ¡®Moonwater is¡­ addictive. Moonwater Disease, it¡¯s called. The longer you¡¯re in it, the more your body needs it to survive. Short-term exposure is harmless. But decades, centuries¡­ Removing the body become toxic. It¡¯s been killing Jask, slowly.¡¯

    ¡®And Eron?¡¯

    ¡®Removing him would be fatal.¡¯

    Agloff choked all feeling back down his throat. ¡®And you didn¡¯t tell me that?¡¯ A rage took a hold of him; the same feeling he felt when Drake, and Fall, and Marty had patronised him. All the so-called adults with their half-truths.

    ¡®I was protecting you from the truth. I thought you deserved some hope there was a chance for him. That he could be at peace.¡¯

    ¡®Not when hope is a lie. That¡¯s cruel,¡¯ snapped Ariea.

    ¡®Is it?¡¯

    ¡®You said you had experience with moonwater. How?¡¯ Agloff asked. He suppressed his rage, for now.

    Jask laughed hoarsely and Agloff saw a deep-seated shame stir behind Thawn¡¯s eyes.

    ¡®Me and Jask were¡­¡¯

    ¡®Tell him, Abbadiah. Tell him what you are.¡¯

    ¡®We were exiled, and custodian of a machine, an AI called Erebus on behalf of our race. The AI was hostile. We were at war with its kind. But you see there¡¯s a way to entrap such an AI¡­ inside the mind of a child. They¡¯re still developing. Their brains are malleable, receptive. We imprisoned Erebus inside a child.¡¯

    Agloff swallowed. ¡®And you imprisoned the child inside moonwater.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t a question. He knew it was true.

    Thawn¡¯s head sank to nod. ¡®Through our negligence, the child escaped. We tried to do as much but failed when our ride crashed. I was found by the other machines. They¡¯ve compelled me to recover Erebus for them since. I had no idea Jask survived, I swear to you.¡¯ His face ached.

    ¡®Did you look for him?¡¯ Agloff turned from one alien to the other. Each¡¯s eyes begged his favour, as though he were the parent to two squabbling children.

    ¡®I thought he was dead,¡¯ Thawn repeated.

    ¡®After what I¡¯ve seen about you, I don¡¯t believe that. What then?¡¯

    ¡®The Sign, our kind, found Erebus, as expected, and the mind passed from child to child. I followed it through history. Earth¡¯s history.¡¯

    ¡®It took you a long time, what, thousands of years?¡¯ Agloff¡¯s voice was sharp, cynical. He borrowed his tone from Ariea.

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    ¡®The Sign kept it hidden well enough.¡¯

    ¡®Did they?¡¯ Jask said but Thawn ignored him.

    ¡®I got close, found the child was staying on Ku under guard, but the Confederacy were pulling out, and the Sign needed it moving, quietly, so they¡ª¡¯

    ¡®They hired my mother and Tomas Wise to move it.¡¯

    ¡®She was a good smuggler. Too good. I think she understood who she was moving. It was a simple handover, then they¡¯d take the child over the border and off-world. I reached the drop-off, killed the handler, and took his place.¡¯

    Jask stood, cut in. ¡®Fortunate, was it not, that storm on Ku cut short your escape.¡¯ He looked at Agloff. ¡®You see, Agloff, Abbadiah here met your mother with every intention of killing her and taking this child for himself. Isn¡¯t that right?¡¯

    Thawn writhed on his chains. Growled.

    ¡®But you, soft as ever, fell for the woman. Dirtied yourself with her instead. You covered their escape from that watchtower. You could have taken the kid and ran. And your debt to them would have been paid.¡¯ Jask looked at Agloff again. ¡®The child became mine.¡¯

    Agloff sat straighter and stared dimly at the vat of silvery fluid, and the silhouette within. ¡®And when Wise brought you my brother, you put that machine¡¯s mind inside his head.¡¯ He turned to Thawn. ¡®For you. That¡¯s what this is, right? It¡¯s Jask¡¯s revenge.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s pain,¡¯ said Jask. ¡®Hurt for hurt. He left me, within myself, never even looked for me, while he indulged the enemy we fought against together. You know what we had said not a day before he left? That we¡¯d find a farmhouse somewhere, or build one, and raise a few acres for ourselves.¡¯

    Agloff saw Jask¡¯s words cut at Thawn in ragged blows and reveal the truth of him beneath.

    ¡®Why¡¯d you leave him?¡¯ Agloff said to Thawn.

    ¡®I thought he was dead,¡¯ he begged a final time.

    ¡®You were scared of him, right?¡¯ Agloff lowered his voice. ¡®Of having to finish him off yourself. Of being with him. I thought Ariea was dead. But if there is a snowy day in hell¡¯s chance, you save them, you take it. And how many people did you let die because you were scared?¡¯

    Thawn didn¡¯t answer and Jask spoke in his stead. ¡®I thought, for a long time the only thing that might break him was to make his son his mission. So, I keep Eron alive at all costs, to make Abbadiah do the deed himself. Until then, he is my¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Trophy,¡¯ Agloff said.

    Jask did not correct him. ¡®I thought Abbadiah would have surrendered his mission to save his son. Alas, his freedom is more precious.¡¯

    Fury and despair welled inside Agloff like coiled vipers. He stared into Thawn. He was the man Jask wanted him to be, cold and uncaring.

    ¡®Were it not for today, I could be forgiven for thinking you wanted to fail.¡¯ Jask said at Thawn labouredly. ¡®You waited for Eron, only because you could afford to. Not because you cared for him. Or about Agloff, who you knew was half a whole without him. Had you given yourself up, this could all have been avoided.

    ¡®You see, Agloff. This is my point. He brought you here, not for your sake, certainly not for hers.¡¯ Jask jabbed a finger at Ariea. ¡®He came so he can remove your brother and deliver him for his own freedom. You were only ever the way in.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s breath quickened. He wanted to yell. Here, he saw the truth of himself. He was but the means to an unearthly end in this game of immortals. Of gods.

    Jask slithered towards Agloff¡¯s bedside and in a swift motion unlocked his cuffs. Agloff slid from the gurney and gagged at his hands and knees. He stood.

    ¡®Speak,¡¯ Jask said. ¡®Say to him what you need to.¡¯

    Agloff rubbed his wrists and moved gingerly towards his father. ¡®Is that true?¡¯ he said.

    Thawn just looked at him.

    ¡®Is my life just a convenience to you?¡¯

    ¡®I didn¡¯t want to interfere, didn¡¯t think you¡¯d want me to¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Bullshit.¡¯ Agloff felt an inner steel he had lacked so long. He felt clarity at its most distilled. ¡®You could have come here at any point in the last eight hundred years. You could have given your blood to save Eron. It didn¡¯t have to be mine, right. You¡¯re his father after all. That¡¯s why Jask stopped guarding Wilder after you came here the first time, why it disappeared off the maps.¡¯ He pointed at Ariea. ¡®He realised he didn¡¯t have to bait me anymore. He had you. You could have stopped this at any point, but you stayed away. You let me and my friends get dragged through the mud and blood, because you didn¡¯t have the stomach for what you did to Jask, and Eron, and everything you touch! You stayed away because you wanted to! Because you can, because not all of us have the luxury of living and waiting forever!¡¯

    Agloff felt Ariea¡¯s fingertips close around his and he was reassured.

    ¡®You never cared about me, or him!¡¯ Agloff gestured the outline of his brother. He felt lines of tears roll down his cheeks. He clutched at his fists and choked back the urge to sob. ¡®TELL ME I¡¯M WRONG!¡¯

    ¡®You see, Abbadiah,¡¯ Jask said. ¡®You could have taken the kid and ran at Ku. And your debt to them would have been paid. But you let it run out and play out. Do you think any of this would exist if it wasn¡¯t for your inaction? Your indifference for your sons? You created Colony Two! In everything you did and failed to do. Winter is a monument to your failure.¡¯ Jask smiled. ¡®And now your own son despises you.¡¯

    Agloff walked the room and Ariea followed. He stooped to the revolver Jask had held, the one with a single shot, spared for Jask. He supposed it would work just as well on Thawn too. He felt the eyes of the room fix on him like spotlights, but they were beyond his care. He held the gun up in his hands and stared at it a moment. It was heavier than he expected. He raised it to Thawn.

    ¡®You would deserve this, you know.¡¯

    ¡®Agloff!¡¯ Ariea said. She stood behind him, her arm tugged at his. ¡®Please don¡¯t.¡¯

    ¡®Did you let my mother die too? Just like Eron.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know what happened to her.¡¯

    ¡®Somehow I get the feeling you¡¯re lying.¡¯ His grip on the weapon tightened.

    ¡®Agloff,¡¯ Ariea said again. ¡®Don¡¯t.¡¯ She held his fingers still from behind him, but her words passed over. ¡®You are better than him. You don¡¯t need to hear this.¡¯

    ¡®You said you don¡¯t want to know what happened to her,¡¯ said Thawn.

    ¡®You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t particularly. Not anymore. But if you hurt her, you deserve to suffer for it, like you let me and Eron suffer.

    Thawn scoffed. ¡®You don¡¯t have to see me again.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re lying, Abbadiah. You know where she went, as well as I do.¡¯

    Agloff turned the barrel on Jask. It clicked. ¡®What do you mean?¡¯

    ¡®Did you ever wonder where winged fever came from? The machines who created Erebus, the mind inside your brother, went into hiding after the war between our race and theirs.¡¯ He nodded at Thawn. ¡®They kept worlds like this as safe havens, connected by a network of passageways, hidden away. Innocuous enough. If you wondered why I entrusted Wilder to Tomas Wise, so far from here, from Eden¡­ The castle was built on top of tunnels predating humanity, within which we had found one such passageway. It stands to reason your mother escaped through it. To where, I cannot say. But she chose not to come back. We never hunted her.¡¯

    ¡®Why would you tell me this?¡¯ Agloff growled, shook the gun at Jask.

    ¡®As consolation. I never meant to involve you, Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®So, why did you!¡¯ he yelled. Could they stop yet? Could it end?

    ¡®One sibling was enough for your father¡¯s torment. But when we first investigated the gateway, unbeknownst to us, we brought winged fever in the other direction. An alien disease. Humans were immune, carriers only. I knew nothing of it until Eron got sick, only half-human. We caught it early, were able to medicate for it for a long time, but there was no cure. Eventually, I needed moonwater.¡¯

    ¡®So you used Tomas Wise as your busboy to get me and my mum to you. So you could cure him?¡¯

    ¡®Or replace him as the AI¡¯s custodian as was my intention originally. But at your age now, your mind would cripple. You would wilt. But that failed, and Andromeda fled, so I settled for synthesising a cure for Eron instead. Your healthy blood. All attempts otherwise failed. In our experimentation, in error, we bred a strand of the disease infectious to humans, but to which you were quite immune. It had a strategic advantage though. It spread, weakened many forts, hastened our conquest. But quite rare now.¡¯

    Agloff almost laughed. ¡®The two of you; you both should have died centuries ago when that machine escaped. All you know how to do is hurt.¡¯ Agloff took a deep breath and moved the gun from Jask to Thawn and back again. It seemed cruel to himself to allow one to live.

    But Jask was dying anyway, he thought.

    Agloff then turned. He felt Ariea¡¯s grip tighten round his fingers. He looked down and saw her eyes glazed and reddened. Her face was struck in anger, her lean features angular, lines drawn across them like wounds and Agloff understood her well enough.

    The gun slipped from his fingers into hers and she studied it as he had, then extended it to the Enemy.

    The first and truest enemy: Jask.

    ¡®You created winged fever?¡¯ she said. ¡®You made it kill us?¡¯ Her voice shook bravely.

    Jask seemed amused. ¡®I eradicated it soon enough, didn¡¯t I.¡¯

    She shook her head. ¡®I failed to kill you once. I¡¯m not passing it up the second time. You created winged fever,¡¯ she repeated, jabbed the gun through the air. ¡®You killed- you killed my dad.¡¯ Her words began to break, but her arm was unflinching. ¡®You¡­ killed my dad.¡¯

    Jask opened his mouth to speak, but Ariea allowed him no such courtesy.

    A gunshot snapped the air and she jolted backwards, tumbling to the ground. In perfect synchrony, Malvo Jask did the same. He slipped down the mirrored wall, smearing it red where he came to rest. His body began to writhe and convulse and Ariea watched without pity.

    Agloff then turned to pull her close. ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ he whispered to her. ¡®It¡¯ll always be okay. It¡¯ll never stop being okay. I¡¯m here. I¡¯m not going anymore. I¡¯m staying with you.¡¯

    ¡®I need you,¡¯ she said faintly. She let the revolver fall from her hand, like it was some disgusting thing.

    ¡®I need you too.¡¯

    Agloff watched the life abandon Jask over her shoulder. He gasped on finite breaths, thinly and desperately. He had made his gravest mistake in leaving Ariea unchained. He presumed his survival had beaten her. But Ariea was stronger he was.

    Jask¡¯s pupils darted in their sockets, his wide eyes suspended in ringed sacks. For a final moment, they looked beggingly at Thawn, and Agloff saw that Thawn was unmoved.

    Malvo Jask was dead.

    Agloff leaned into Ariea and cradled her head against his shoulder. ¡®He would be proud of you,¡¯ he said. ¡®We¡¯re both proud of you.¡¯ She looked up and half-smiled, tip-toed to kiss him on the cheek, then turned her head towards her victim.

    ¡®He deserved much worse.¡¯

    ¡®He deserved it sooner.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s fury conceded in her arms and a smear of hope touched his soul. Colony Two was free. Winter¡¯s aura could fade into the realms of myth. The line that started and ended with Jask was broken. Agloff couldn¡¯t say he was happy; that wasn¡¯t the word, but he was renewed. He looked down and beside him at Ariea¡¯s bob of hair.

    The piece of him that had so longed to come here, he could now abandon. He could take it and lock it in this room for as long as it may stand. For the rest of him, the rest of the Colony awaited, like Marty had said. It was his. It was everyone¡¯s.

    Agloff freed himself of Ariea¡¯s embrace and reached to one of Thawn¡¯s other weapons. With a jaded arm, he shot Oxford and Thawn free and each collapsed to the ground by their knees. Oxford just stared at Agloff, seemingly thinking of nothing to say. He then nodded and held a hand to Agloff¡¯s shoulder. He supposed it was all the thanks he might get from a man who despised him.

    The operative¡¯s eyes passed to Jask and Agloff saw a lust inside. Agloff imagined Oxford would will the body back to life, if only so he may kill it again. His urge was unsated. A moment¡¯s rage passed over him and Agloff feared Oxford may take his life instead.

    Agloff then shifted across the room to the opaque tank, bathed in silver. He reached a hand and spread his fingers across the glass and he sensed Oxford follow.

    ¡®Does it hurt?¡¯ he said from behind Agloff.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know. Jask could never take from me what I never had. Eron was only ever an idea. He was my imagination. I never knew him. And now¡­ He is free.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s allowed to hurt. I didn¡¯t know everyone at home, but I feel it all the same. Grief endures. It never leaves us. We just get better at hiding it. It¡¯s their memory¡¯s way of holding on.¡¯

    ¡®I have no memories of Eron.¡¯

    ¡®But you live in memory of him. He is remembered in you. As the Underground is in me. You know I came here thinking it could free me. I could roll everything into a gunshot and be done with it. But¡­¡¯ Agloff turned and saw Oxford consider Jask¡¯s limp body. ¡®I see him lying there and I¡¯m just¡­ disappointed.¡¯

    ¡®Disappointed it wasn¡¯t you?¡¯

    ¡®No. Ariea deserves it as much as I did. Loss doesn¡¯t compare. Not that kind. I¡¯m disappointed it¡¯s over. Turns out it¡¯s best imagined. Not lived. Because now I have nothing to hold onto. We all need our catharsis. Someone to blame.¡¯

    Agloff stared deep at the silhouette floating in timelessness. ¡®I thought mine was him- them. They were a way out of this shitty life at Backwater. Some other life even. But it was just a dream.¡¯

    ¡®Catharsis,¡¯ Oxford repeated.

    Agloff leaned his forehead against the tank and pretended he could hear his brother¡¯s thoughts. ¡®He deserved much better.¡¯

    ¡®We all deserved better. But you take what you get, right.¡¯

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t your fault, Agloff,¡¯ Ariea called behind him. ¡®No matter what you did. It was always going to play out this way.¡¯

    Agloff scoffed and looked at Thawn then. ¡®It¡¯s his fault.¡¯

    He turned to Thawn, who limbs spread across the cold ground. The stranger then looked up at him, through bloodshot eyes.

    ¡®You are responsible,¡¯ Agloff said, ¡®as much as he was, and I can¡¯t forgive you. I can¡¯t. I won¡¯t. You took everything from me,¡¯ Agloff whispered. ¡®Winter fell today. And I think it is better without you, without Jask. The Colony can have its own start.¡¯

    Thawn couldn¡¯t argue. ¡®That¡¯s¡­ fair enough.¡¯

    ¡®What did he want¡­ really?¡¯

    ¡®I think he wanted me to kill my son, to prove to himself I was who he wanted me to be. Nothing more or less than that. And he was willing to keep Eron alive at all costs to prove it, even if it meant enslaving a nation.¡¯ At last, Thawn stood. He spoke in monotone. The depth of emotion was lost on his voice, if he had ever been capable of it. ¡®I don¡¯t expect you to believe me, but I never wanted to kill Eron. Why do you think I stayed away so long? It was for the same reason I didn¡¯t go back to find Jask. It wasn¡¯t indifference. Because you¡¯re right. I was scared, and I loved both of them too much to let them go. By avoiding it, I could pretend that¡­ I¡¯m sorry I let you suffer, truly.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t accept your apology, but I think I understand enough.¡¯ Agloff dipped his chin towards Eron. ¡®Take him. Spare him this. Do whatever you have to. Just don¡¯t come back.¡¯

    ¡®I carry my sins with me, you can be sure of that. Do you want a minute before I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Just take him. What about Winter?¡¯

    ¡®I imagine a lot of interested parties will lay claim to its land. In time, it will be forgotten.¡¯ He made a movement towards Eron¡¯s vat, then looked at Agloff a final time. ¡®I did you wrong, I know that. But treat Ariea right and let her treat you right.¡¯

    Agloff looked behind him and Ariea had dragged herself onto the edge of his gurney and crossed her legs over its rim. She held her arm and studied him, and he her. Together, the corners of their lips perked into smiles. Agloff could not truthfully contend the enormity of what they had done, but they had done it, and she knew the same well enough. For that moment, the path they had taken to get to this place fell beyond all awareness.

    ¡®How do we get out?¡¯ Ariea said then, looking the room over. ¡®There¡¯s still hundreds of pilgrims out there.¡¯

    Thawn nodded towards Jask. ¡®Show them his body, and they will never stop being afraid of you.¡¯

 Before Noon Chapter 30 | Springs Becoming

    Chapter Thirty

    Spring¡¯s Becoming

    ¡®And that¡¯s the whole story?¡¯ Jaho asked finally.

    Thawn nodded. ¡®The whole story.¡¯

    ¡®For the best, I think,¡¯ her voice croaked, ¡®that Winter is laid to rest. We bore a long twilight, but now the sun sets on us, no? Arval-Harra will outlive us, even if forgotten.¡¯ She spoke with a vague effervescence, her mind beckoned back to less mired times. When Winter was great. They both cast their eyes to the body on the ground. ¡®And what of the boy now?¡¯ she added.

    ¡®Eron?¡¯ Thawn replied.

    Jaho drew her veil a fraction lower and leaned back into her chair. ¡®Both of them. The survivor- he knows now what you are. What he is. I can only imagine what that might mean for him.¡¯

    There was a pause as Thawn considered her words. ¡®Well¡­ I didn¡¯t tell him everything. Some things are better left unsaid. If he chooses to pursue her, he¡¯ll find out. But the impression I got was he didn¡¯t want to. He¡¯s happy with what he found.¡¯

    Jaho hmphed. ¡®The truth worms its way through the cracks sooner rather than later. It always has its day, Thawn. What of you now?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll take Eron to the machines. Then bury him in Devil¡¯s End. Somewhere the Sign won¡¯t dare look.¡¯

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    Thawn heard Jaho shuffle forwards again. ¡®You arrived in this place was such disdain, such shame. There is no shame in survival, Thawn. You did what you had to do to earn a life. And beyond Jask¡¯s hoards, you took only one in return, a cursed one at that. It was a mercy. I bear no ill will for your actions. Your debt to Winter was paid when you died on Forlorn. You never owed this institution your body or your service since that fall. You need not have come.¡¯

    ¡®All the same,¡¯ Thawn said.

    ¡®Go on, Thawn. Your life is your own.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t¡­ care?¡¯

    Jaho laughed. ¡®I care tremendously. I care for what Jask did. I may sit in private judgement over your actions, but as Priestern, my private concerns are trivial only. You owe nothing to this place anymore. But, even if in service of the enemy, you did tremendous good, Thawn. You saved lives. You honoured others. You respected Winter in a way Jask never did, even as he re-forged in it his image. You spared generations of children torment and agony by doing what the Sign have always been too cowardly to do- take Erebus¡¯ life. A Patent! You bring the war a step closer to its end. For the greater good. And at great personal cost.¡¯ She gestured Eron¡¯s body. ¡®You think that shames you? On the contrary.¡¯

    Thawn sat, almost disappointed Jaho was not degrading him like she used to. ¡®You¡¯ve changed,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®I got old and mellow. So, did you. The Abbadiah Thawn I knew wouldn¡¯t have saved those children¡¯s lives. Despite what you may think of me, of Winter, of what you came here to do¡­ I am proud of you, Abbadiah.¡¯

    Thawn said nothing, bemused.

    ¡®You would go on and beyond with my blessing,¡¯ Jaho added. ¡®I am sure we may see each other again, Thawn. But for now, it is farewell.¡¯

    Thawn then stood from the confessional. He said nothing more, for there was nothing more to say. His story was told. The pilgrim hoisted Eron¡¯s body across his square shoulders and turned to leave. He then kicked in the door with a lazy boot, out into the hall beyond and so began the long journey to Devil¡¯s End.

 Before Noon Chapter 31 | Agloffs Gift

    Chapter Thirty-One

    Agloff¡¯s Gift

    The store was musty. Agloff was glad to get out of that place. It smelt like old people. It had been awash with antiques; action figures, vinyl records, obscure and peculiar nick knacks. It was a half-glanced window into a thousand lives lived on Old Earth, before Cerberus, before Winter.

    Agloff rubbed his eye and shook his head empty. He darted across the street, up the slant of Fort Wishbone. He bobbed and weaved between lampposts and denim-donning workers with tools hoisted over their shoulders.

    About halfway up, the case started to get heavy. He paused to swap it to his other hand and grinned at the sight of the unremarkable building poking up from a crest of flats. Home, he thought proudly. Then his cheek throbbed and Agloff reminded himself not to exert his bruises. That¡¯s what Ariea had said. He prodded a thumb at his shoulder wound and sighed a little. It still had that dead ache from the Underground. He was strangely fond of it though. It reminded him of Marty, in an endearing way.

    He then glanced at the boats swirling into dock that day, and a group of shoremen aligned in a square. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the world looked happier now. Again, he shook the thoughts from his head. This was a day for little thoughts and little pleasures, he decided. The consequences of everything were someone else¡¯s trouble now.

    He skipped between two streets and ducked under a string of verandas into a line of workers. He grinned at one of them and their brow furrowed back. It was a new habit he had acquired: smiling. Then, Agloff reached the plateau and the buildings flattened into a sprawl of narrow flats and huts. He passed through them, tinted in strange colours by the lenses of their washing lines, and into view of the building he was looking for.

    For the second time, he swiped the case into the opposite hand and stopped to dust down his jacket. Agloff passed over the cobbles to a wide cul-de-sac of half a dozen tall buildings. Tall for Wishbone anyway. Some were three storeys, a family to a floor and with open windows that peered over the land falling away from them to Principia.

    Agloff saw his. It had been a gift from Ellen Riddis, a token for his bravery or ordeal or some such. He didn¡¯t really care for the semantics, but she seemed secretly pleased for Winter¡¯s demise even if the disarray it caused warranted her public concern.

    When Agloff got there, Memphis Teller was stood coolly against the door, his heel kicked up against its frame. Agloff dipped his chin at him, and the boy smiled back.

    ¡®You got it then?¡¯ Memphis said.

    Agloff gestured the case. ¡®Aye.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t think the shape is a giveaway?¡¯

    ¡®Meh, I¡¯ll make her close her eyes.¡¯

    ¡®I doubt after this long she would remember how to use one.¡¯

    ¡®How¡¯s Merry, and Lady?¡¯ Agloff flashed his head up to the second floor.

    ¡®Good. Lady¡¯s still quiet. I mean quieter than usual, but they¡¯ll be okay. Did you¡­ talk to Riddis?¡¯

    ¡®They¡¯re putting the kids up in the dock, or wherever they can for as long as they can. They¡¯ve tried to calm them down as much as possible but¡­ Well, you know. She said they¡¯ll work on trying to identify them and send them home.¡¯

    ¡®I think that¡¯s for the best.¡¯

    Memphis awkwardly stepped forwards and Agloff set his case on the cobbles. He wrapped Memphis in his arms and smiled.

    ¡®I¡¯m happy for you kids,¡¯ Memphis said then. He struggled as much a smile as his face allowed through its lifetime of frowning.

    Agloff nodded at him and gathered the case, then walked into the flat. He passed the corner sofa and stove of the cream-washed walls, and up the staircase that circled the rooms. He saw Lady reading to Merry on the level above. He couldn¡¯t say they looked happy, but content. The girl was so engrossed in whatever it was that she seemed not to notice him. Merry looked up and passed him a knowing grin at the sight of his case. He grinned back at her.

    Agloff then felt his heart quicken, his palms dampen as he skittered up to the top floor. He couldn¡¯t help himself. His grin burst wider than his cheeks at the sight of her sat there, her hair swept to one side. Ariea was cross-legged in a dressing gown and fluffed socks, backed up against their fireplace. She peered through a pair of spectacles, buried in some book, completely ignorant of the way he looked at her.

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    She then glanced up calmly, and Agloff forced the case behind his legs.

    ¡®What would that be?¡¯ she said, then looked down and turned a page.

    Agloff took awkward, giant strides towards her. ¡®I- uh. Well, you know I. You know how I¡ª¡¯

    She laughed. ¡®Out with it!¡¯

    ¡®I did wrong, I know that, and when we were at the Underground, when we left, I said how can you forgive me, and you said, ¡®figure it out¡¯. I caused a lot of¡­¡¯ He paused, gathered himself, sank into his rehearsed words. ¡®I caused you a lot of pain, and I wanna make it right, day-by-day, so I thought I¡¯d start.¡¯

    Ariea raised an eyebrow. ¡®Aw, bless him¡¯ she said half-sarcastically. ¡®But saving my life was enough.¡¯ She laughed again.

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t though. You had to leave Backwater because of me and leave everything behind. Literally. So, I thought I¡¯d replace some stuff.¡¯

    ¡®Oh God. What did you have in mind?¡¯

    Agloff slung the case from behind him and onto their bunkbed. Ariea stood silently and walked over, and her fingers traced the curves in its shape. ¡®Agloff¡­¡¯ she said. ¡®How¡­ on Earth.¡¯ She unclasped the case and raised its lid to the violin inside.

    It was chipped in along its edges but scrubbed into a glossy red. Its outline rolled in graceful curves. It could only have been something from before Ceberus. How old it was, Agloff did not know. It had none of the coarseness of the world they knew.

    Ariea lifted the bow in one hand and the instrument in the other and touched it to her chin. Instantly, her fingers danced in familiar patterns and the room was struck in grand, reaching notes.

    ¡®Riddis pulled some strings for me,¡¯ Agloff said as she stopped to look at him. ¡®That was a joke. But I wasn¡¯t sure hundred percent if it¡¯s a violin or a viola. But I knew it would have broken you leaving it at Backwater, so I thought it¡¯s a good place to start.¡¯

    She silently placed it on the bed and turned back to Agloff. ¡®It¡¯s a violin.¡¯

    He felt suspended in a timeless moment and wanted to play it through in his mind¡¯s eye a thousand times. The look on her face. This was a memory he knew would last forever. At once, Agloff reached through the air to her fingertips, and she leaned into him. They seemed to sway as one in the open breeze of the window.

    ¡®I did a good job?¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®You are kidding me, right?¡¯ She reached her face up and pecked him by the cheek. The sensation took an age to fade. Ariea then paused in her breaths and Agloff sensed a thought stir inside her. ¡®I don¡¯t want to ruin the moment, but can I ask you something?¡¯

    ¡®You already did, but yeah,¡¯ he said.

    Ariea knocked him by his shoulder. ¡®Funny. Does it feel weird knowing that you¡¯re not¡­ actually¡­ human? Because it¡¯s kind of a big thing and well, we never really mentioned it at Eden, and I can¡¯t not keep thinking about it.¡¯

    Agloff smiled down at her. ¡®I am human,¡¯ he said. Of that fact, he was in no doubt. Of course, others may differ on interpretation. But what other people thought didn¡¯t matter, right. Apart from Ariea, Merry and Memphis. They mattered.

    ¡®Yeah, but¡ª¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s how I feel, isn¡¯t it? That¡¯s what Marty would say. That¡¯s what Michael would say.¡¯

    Ariea only smiled and Agloff responded in kind, like some programmed reaction to her face. ¡®I suppose I was worrying about nothing. I mean, if it doesn¡¯t bother you¡­¡¯

    ¡®It bothers me,¡¯ said Agloff. ¡®Fully terrifies me when you call me an alien, I won¡¯t lie.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, but you¡¯re my alien.¡¯

    ¡®Thanks,¡¯ he replied with a smirk. It was funny, he thought. How well he understood her. He read the subtleties of her voice, the shifting of her features, the tension of her hands and shoulders as though they were his own. He caught her meaning without it ever being said. It felt simpler now, uncomplicated. Unspoken and yet known.

    Ariea took in a sharp breath and sighed as a group of birds squawked past their window. ¡®Can I ask you something else?¡¯

    ¡®Shoot.¡¯

    ¡®Were you ever not going to come for me when I got¡­ taken?¡¯

    Agloff shook his head. ¡®Of course not. I was always gonna come, wasn¡¯t I.¡¯

    She smiled and pressed her head into his chest, satisfied. ¡®Do you think Oxford¡¯ll be okay?¡¯

    ¡®I understand why he didn¡¯t want to stay here if that¡¯s what you mean.¡¯

    ¡®He knows it wasn¡¯t your fault.¡¯

    ¡®He still chooses to blame me then. I mean, I get it, but I wouldn¡¯t worry about him. He¡¯s better off by himself. Merry and Memphis, I¡¯m more worried about.¡¯

    ¡®They both knew what they were in for when they went to Eden. She needs time. We all do. But they¡¯ll be fine.¡¯

    Ariea leaned away from Agloff and over the open windowsill. He followed her. A band of cloud was just passing in front of Cerberus, and they saw that great arch yawn through the sky. How preposterous, Agloff thought; that ring was meant to intimidate and terrify. But the opposite was true. It set them free.

    He peered down over the street and saw a line of children wade between the buildings. One clutched his purpled hands while a friend pointed out a sign swinging above the verdant awnings of a bakery. They shouted something giddily and then pointed elsewhere, their attentions captive by too much to ever stand still. Agloff and Ariea paused and listened to the whims and shouts of childhood carry up and down the length of Fort Wishbone.

    Then he thought how many more might join them in the days and months to come, in all the forts and all the towns in all the lands of Colony Two, at the relentless unravelling of Winter¡¯s once-sleepless machine.

    Agloff turned and looked at Ariea with a dumb smile and thought they might go for that walk they said about, along Lake Principia. They could count the passing ships and imagine to where and when they might be going, who and what they might be carrying. They would then meander back up the slanted streets and uneven cobbles, into the clutches of their waiting bed.

    That, Agloff thought, will be the best sleep he has for over eight-hundred years.

 Interlude

    Hello Dear Reader,

    A quick interlude/update as I have now finished publication of Before Noon on Royal Road. You will have noticed that the Fiction page and chapter titles have been refreshed. Before Noon has been moved into Volume 1 of The Noon Odyssey (the new overarching title of the fiction moving forwards, which has an accompanying cover). Volume 2 will comprise Dark Noon, and Volume 3 will eventually comprise Forever Noon. These volumes bring the story of Agloff''s formative years to its conclusion.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Dark Noon will begin dropping on Monday with Chapter 1: The Civility of Murder and Modern Discourse, with a more ambitious story, new characters, locales and secrets. Winter''s threads have more to unravel, as Agloff confronts the legacy of Malvo Jask.

    See you there,

    Blue Noon

 Dark Noon Chapter 1 | The Civility of Murder and Modern Discourse

    Chapter One

    The Civility of Murder and Modern Discourse

    Old Central, Atlas

    Salus

    The Confederacy of Colonies

    4 months after the fall of Winter

    Knuckleton liked the colours of the lights on Melange Avenue. They were a welcome distraction from all those who had designs to kill him or worse. He was a strange man to be sure, though entirely self-aware in the extent of his strangeness. This was his fourth attempt at a new life. The first three ended ignominiously.

    Now, neighbours knew of him, without knowing him. He was a background character. The kind one might pass and think on the strangeness of his behaviour, but only for a moment; the distance he kept on the pavement, the angle of his upturned collar that hid a telling cut on his cheek from one of those other lives. Knuckleton didn¡¯t care for the sensibilities of the folk in this place. The social strata of Old Central were a world unto itself, and a world altogether alien to him.

    There was a type to this place, thought Knuckleton as he passed the draped awnings of a late-night establishment, the kind married folk went between long hours and dead bedrooms. Melange¡¯s escapes were as virtual as they were physical.

    Knuckleton skipped under a red streetlight on the corner of Melange and Eighteenth, where two kids were buying emotes from a third. Their pocket money was worth the five-minute high, and the thirty-minute low that followed. The buildings here were tall and narrow, stacks of wiry flats smeared in the rainbow glare of storefronts opposite. People pressed between people, like battery farms of apathy. The flats¡¯ narrowness betrayed their time, from when the world was more expensive, less instant in its gratifications.

    Knuckleton slipped left down a sloping back alley, from the distrusting crowds and toward the dock. He rolled his shoulders under the thrum of a shuttle coming into rest in the bay.

    He passed two more kids with stilts. They raised their arms to him, and their mechanical fingers split limply at right angles. A reaching blade extended in their place, and one jabbed the air at Knuckleton. He just smiled back and kept walking.

    Knuckleton had thought about getting stilts. They were a safeguard against random encounters much less friendly than that. He raked a hand through his greying hair, then stopped to look at the lines life had worn into his leathered palms. He was proud, he supposed, that his body was his own, his mind was his own.

    Everything on Atlas was marked. Tracked. Codified. To be himself was his only defence against the people who wanted to use him. He supposed that was the saddest thing. He was a victim of circumstance. If the Sign or Free Speak had cared about him, he might have been flattered. But he was only a means to their worthless ends. In some circles, he even still had something of a reputation as a computer scientist, or as a government official. But Old Central had its ways of erasing people, little by little, in stature, and everything else. This was Atlas¡¯ lowest hell.

    He looked up at the familiar spindler¡¯s clinic on the corner of nineteenth, the front backlit by the yellowish glow of a lone spot lamp inside. The operating chair sat reclined in the shaft of its light, angled its headrest toward the window to tempt the passers-by. He wondered if those kids got their stilts here. It was a pilgrimage almost, that folks would come to their spindler, and trade away a piece of themselves. ¡®Upgrade¡¯ their bodies. A statement like tattoos of old.

    It was starting to feel like half a home after all, Knuckleton thought then, glancing at the boarded window of the squat flat above. He leaned into the door of the clinic and it fell open under his familiar weight. A bell chimed to welcome him, and he sighed a little.

    He looked around: half-blooded tools were awash beside Dek¡¯s counter, on a bed of bandages and sterile wrappings. Behind it, square photos were tacked onto every inch of space the wall could spare, the bodily testimonies of Dek¡¯s clients.

    He turned then at the rattling of a chained curtain to the back of the clinic.

    ¡®You¡¯re a slippery kid, Ern Knuckleton.¡¯

    ¡®Always.¡¯ Knuckleton slouched to a seat in the waiting area up against the far wall of the clinic. He turned and looked at Dek Hudson. He was brutishly built with pink titanium arms, and a silvery cut down the midline of his face where it had been opened up for a shader. His smile sank into his jowls as he tugged off a bloodied apron.

    ¡®I was just about to close up,¡¯ he said, pointing to a turned ¡®closed¡¯ sign hanging over the inside of the door.

    ¡®S¡¯early.¡¯

    ¡®Some kids always rock up this time with barely a Cap in their pocket begging for mods they can¡¯t afford. Ain¡¯t worth the trouble.¡¯

    Knuckleton smiled. ¡®I hear those kids from the flat, more often than not.¡¯

    Dek returned the look sheepishly, as if Knuckleton had heard him having sex instead.

    ¡®Well, if you ever need a hand dealing with them.¡¯

    The spindler waved an arm. ¡®I deal with it.¡¯

    Knuckleton then raised a paper bag, conspicuous in its plainness. ¡®You got my Caps?¡¯

    Dek snatched the bag and pulled out a fat stack of Capital Dollars. His pinked fingers rifled through the notes. He counted them. Content, he stashed them aside.

    ¡®Still don¡¯t trust me, Dek? Money is more hassle than I need,¡¯ Knuckleton lied.

    ¡®As something of a lazy bastard myself, I respect your lack of ambition, Ern. Here¡¯s your cut, good and proper.¡¯ Dek tossed him a slither of the stack back and Knuckleton stuffed them in his pocket.

    ¡®You pay well enough for me.¡¯

    Dek reached a hand to a minifridge below the counter, slapped two bottles of beer in front of them. He flicked a hand open like the kids on the corner, and a bottle opener poked out the end of his ring finger. ¡®You get any trouble?¡¯ he asked eventually.

    ¡®Cheers,¡¯ Knuckleton said, downing a swig. ¡®No trouble. Coupla Esskin Boys tried to jump me, but I dealt with it. And Tacchia sends her regards. Says you¡¯re her most reliable supplier.¡¯

    Dek chuckled. ¡®I¡¯m her fourth in six months, so I wouldn¡¯t count on it all the same.¡¯

    ¡®There¡¯ll always be a market with scrappers. Selling parts is easy money. If not her, there will be someone else, Dek. You¡¯ll get there.¡¯ Knuckleton did his best to reassure him. But he wasn¡¯t used to being friendly. Not for a long time.

    ¡®I wish I made enough money on the clinic alone,¡¯ said the spindler.

    ¡®That¡¯s the whole point of finding somewhere new, somewhere nice uptown. Have a bigger space, so you¡¯re not like¡­¡¯ Knuckleton surveyed the room in its disorderliness. ¡®Only be a couple of months.¡¯

    ¡®I got my eye on a place, aye. If I get to it first.¡¯ Dek¡¯s eyes rolled back. He seemed to fall into a daydream. ¡®I can have a proper reception, waiting room, more upmarket mods, and a respectable clientele.¡¯

    Knuckleton chinked Dek¡¯s bottle, laughed. ¡®You mean Old Central isn¡¯t respectable?¡¯

    Dek shifted to the bay window and stood steadfast, sipping on the rim of his bottle. Knuckleton¡¯s eyes followed him, staring out over the light-stained fog that hung over nineteenth like a shroud. Silhouettes darted under an awning opposite as the sky opened up to a downpour.

    How perfect this place was, Knuckleton thought then, for a man to live low. No one cared here. He passed through the fog of Old Central like those shadows, noticed but unseen.

    His analogue life, running deliveries for Dek up and down to scrappers and landfill divers in exchange for pittance did its job. He was blind to Free Speak. He left them no footprint. And the Sign would never expect to look for the respectable man Ernst Knuckleton used to be here.

    Director General of the General Archive, now a paper boy. He had been raised in this world. How right that he might return here.

    But soon Knuckleton would have enough. Every day he got his cut of Dek¡¯s fee, and every day he took ten percent extra before he got back. One ended up bleached in a deposit box uptown, the other at the dock. There were more than enough places to hide his shame. Old Central had a lot to hide: the tainted memories of a dead man¡¯s shader, the stolen lance of a Colonial Games weightlifter, the forged Extended Life Agreement of some cap-headed CEO.

    He wasn¡¯t proud, but it worked. Knuckleton rubbed a hand over the faint wad of Caps in his pocket as Dek stared longingly for some finer life. Six months, then Knuckleton could be out of here, enough for a charter and some shitty apartment on one of the colonies, and Dek could get his clinic. Everybody wins, he told himself. Free Speak and their threats would never find him, and the Sign would never look.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    And his knowledge about the alien Erobo could die with him.

    ¡®I know, by the way,¡¯ Dek intoned then.

    ¡®Know what?¡¯

    ¡®About the money. I¡¯m dumb, ain¡¯t that dumb.¡¯ He turned from the window, leaned back over the counter. His brooding eyes stared at Knuckleton.

    ¡®It¡¯s for a few months,¡¯ Knuckleton said. There was no point denying it. ¡®Just enough to get out, to the colonies.¡¯

    ¡®You know if you asked, I would have given you what you needed.¡¯ Dek turned back. His whole presence seemed to sink. ¡®I know you, and nothing I know could make Ern Knuckleton run a dozen systems. You being scared, scares me.¡¯

    ¡®You can¡¯t¡ª¡¯ Panic took root inside Knuckleton. ¡®I can¡¯t. They want to kill me. If I tell you, you¡¯re as good as dead.¡¯ His head fell into his hands. He took the moment¡¯s pause to arrest his feelings.

    His mind turned. What he would give to convince Free Speak, to make them see! He wasn¡¯t the enemy. They had a common cause in the downfall of the Sign. But how to make them see? They were radicals, fundamentalists of thought and action.

    ¡®What I know could stop them. Expose them. They kill thousands, millions.¡¯ The Sign were bottomless in their depravity, in their greed. It was true.

    Dek looked haunted, half-broken. That something could scare Knuckleton seemed to truly shake him. ¡®Who¡¯s them?¡¯

    ¡®Few months ago, I knew this kid, typical Ol¡¯ Central type. He don¡¯t have a lot in life. Mum¡¯s washed up on a shader. Dad¡¯s binned it to Andvedene. Every day I¡¯d see him on this doorstep and give a coupla Caps for pocket money.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sensing a ¡°but¡±.¡¯

    ¡®One day he spends it on an emote, which is fine. He¡¯s puffing nostalgia, or melancholy or something on the step, I can¡¯t remember. Minding his own business, like. This other kid passes him, likes the look of the emote, fancies he can take it because the kid is a scrawny kid, right.¡¯

    ¡®They get in a fight, kid gets bloody-nosed?¡¯

    Knuckleton huffed. ¡®Something like that. The other kid grabs for it but the scrawny kid is used to these types, seen ¡®em a thousand times before, so he¡¯s carrying a pistol pack. Pulls it, accidentally discharges it.¡¯

    ¡®Shit.¡¯

    ¡®Other kid¡¯s bleedin¡¯ out on the pavement. Scrawny kid doesn¡¯t know what to do, so he just pulls his knees in, sits there, crying, watching this guy bleed out. Some lady ¡®cross the street calls cops on him. I mean, this kid had been in front of a judge before, drug offences, but not like this.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s this got to do with¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Kid apologises, crying on the stand, swears he didn¡¯t mean it, but owns it you know. Says he was scared. I mean who doesn¡¯t carry a pack in Ol¡¯ Central. Swears on his life it was an accident. Judge¡¯s made up his mind though, just needs a ¡®kid like that¡¯ off the street. Takes the scrawny kid at his swear. Terminates his LA. They burned his body three days later.¡¯

    Knuckleton let the silence linger, let Dek think on the injustice, if he saw it yet.

    ¡®I mean, he did kill a kid.¡¯

    ¡®Sure. But the people who wanna hurt me kill thousands every day. Maybe a mining accident on Veldern, or god forbid, they fund the war lobby. The fat, cap-headed folk who get a hard-on for a quarterly profit, or a disaster that gives them a chance at one. These people are behind them. They enable them if it suits.

    ¡®They see everything, Dek. They play the Confederacy like a fucking piano, the stock market, ads on your shader, the goddamn shipping lanes with the Feng-Hal. They want to make the war happen. And what I know could expose them. I¡¯m their¡­ I¡¯m their loose end.¡¯

    ¡®Ern, listen, I¡¯m s¡ª''

    ¡®And all those capheads they enable. And- and what are they gonna get for passive murder?¡¯ Knuckleton laughed. ¡®Their company gets a couple mill Cap fine, at worst, a public inquiry that gets buried on a desk eighteen months later. No jail-time. And a scrawny kid, dealt a shit hand, and two-hundred years of life ahead of him, who made a mistake, who said sorry, gets a needle in his fucking arm for an accident.¡¯

    Dek said nothing. His jowls sank a little, then, ¡®I understand. Not really. But I see how you feel. The world is shit, s¡¯why I try not to think about it. Couldn¡¯t pretend to ever be happy.¡¯ Dek tried a laugh, but it faltered into a cough.

    ¡®When I saw what happened to him, you realise the world is screaming at you. ¡®Cos no one else knows about them. And these people are the reasons places like Old Central exists. But what can I do but run?¡¯ Knuckleton said, twirling his half-drank bottle on the counter. For the first time in years, he was honest. He said his truth aloud at last. ¡®I just need cash. I¡¯m really sorry I didn¡¯t say. But I didn¡¯t wanna involve you.¡¯

    Dek could not find the words for Knuckleton¡¯s. He just chinked his bottle again. ¡®You can have whatever you need. Just tell me next time. You¡¯re an honourable man, Ern.¡¯

    ¡®First I ever heard that.¡¯ He allowed himself a smile. ¡®I don¡¯t show it, Dek, but I¡¯m grateful.¡¯ The word was an understatement.

    ¡®It¡¯s nothing.¡¯

    The meaning of that brief exchange was lost on neither. Dek was the first and last person Knuckleton would love, he was sure. Their attentions then turned to a boxy TV, suspended in the corner above the counter. It fizzled in lines of half-static as an avatar read out the day¡¯s affairs.

    ¡®¡ªAnd in light of escalating tensions between the Confederacy and Feng-Hal, Chief Military Advisor to the Prime Minister, Colonel Miranda Eirs, today announced the Confederacy intends to launch an expeditionary mission to the human home world of Earth. If successful, it will be the first time mankind has set foot on the planet since its departure over eight centuries ago. Leader of the Opposition, Margot Eoisin called the plans ¡°shameless¡± and a ¡°glorified photo op¡±.¡¯

    ¡®Damn right,¡¯ Dek said, raising his bottle to the announcer.

    ¡®Eoisin?¡¯

    ¡®Aye. Government are shameless bastards. It¡¯s just a feel-good story to distract from everything they screw up.¡¯

    ¡®I seem to remember you refused to vote for her.¡¯

    Dek shrugged. ¡®I¡¯ve warmed to her. At least she¡¯s de-escalation. Government is as pro-war as the lobby. They just dress it up with a bow and use posh words to pretend they¡¯re not.¡¯

    ¡®Never had you as one for politics.¡¯

    ¡®War ain¡¯t politics, is it, Ern. It¡¯s about life.¡¯

    Knuckleton laughed dimly. ¡®If only that were so.¡¯

    What need did the Confederacy have to go back to Earth? That place was dead and buried centuries ago. And it was best left that way. Humanity moved on. To go back, to try again, was to erase the failures that led it to this point in the first place. Earth was a monument to the sins of humanity.

    It should stay that way.

    ¡®Well, I did vote for her,¡¯ Knuckleton said then. He gathered himself from the counter and stood. ¡®Dek.¡¯

    ¡®Hm?¡¯

    ¡®I am truly sorry about the money. Thank you¡­ for understanding.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not sure I do understand but don¡¯t worry about it. Done now.¡¯ He strained a smile. ¡®Don¡¯t look like that. If I was that pissed, you¡¯d have felt it, not heard it.¡¯

    ¡®True enough.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll take a takeaway though.¡¯

    ¡®What kind?¡¯

    Dek leaned back and his naked back rolls folded under his apron as he stretched. ¡®I wouldn¡¯t say no to a Bagarian. There¡¯s a couple that run this place up on Thirtieth and North.¡¯

    Knuckleton smiled. ¡®Sure.¡¯

    He trudged under the curtain and out to the back of the clinic. He paused to survey piled crates of supplies, and the heavy-duty equipment Dek used for his more extravagant mods. A printout of a vacant lot was taped to the back wall. Dek had etched marks along a pencil-drawn line as his savings stacked up. Below, an exposed mattress sat under the folds of a narrow blanket. It was much too small, but he managed.

    Knuckleton¡¯s guilt returned in sharp pangs. ¡®You¡¯ll get there, Dek,¡¯ he whispered.

    He slouched up the stairs to change, to the apartment with the boarded window. The way was unlit like always, but the steps were familiar like friends. The way the floorboards sank underfoot was a comfort. He judged the lurch over the top step and reached a hand to ping the light.

    Dek had no other tenants and Knuckleton never complained. Their arrangement worked. It wasn¡¯t the homeliest of places, but it was homely in its familiarness. Knuckleton swatted a hand at the bulb as he passed and it swung over him, striking the hall in writhing shadows, smears of dark that circled him, contorted at the angle of the walls.

    He caught something in his eye there.

    A shadow that cut deeper that it should. A twang of discomfort in his periphery that told him something was out of place. Nothing should be out of place. No one came here.

    His eyes darted in search of something only half-seen. But what? He traced the familiar bulges under the wallpaper by his fingertips.

    Then, he caught it!

    Knuckleton stooped to where his fingernails were caught in a ridge in the brickwork. He stooped.

    Deep cuts lacerated the wall- the work of a swift hand. They didn¡¯t twitch or deviate. Knuckleton scanned for signs of a struggle, but the floorboards weren¡¯t scuffed.

    This was a threat; meant to intimidate. If the Sign or Free Speak had found him, it was over, just like that.

    But even that didn¡¯t make sense. If the Sign had wanted him dead, he was sure he would be dead. That was the point of escaping, so that they wouldn¡¯t have the luxury. And for Free Speak, physical intimidation was out of character. They operated through underhand methods: blackmail and anonymous threats. They lacked the muscle to bully Knuckleton.

    No. This was something else.

    Under a lazy hand, the door to his flat swung open. Light rifled in from the hallway in vague shafts, broken by motes of dust twirling in random motions.

    At first, the room looked undisturbed. But Knuckleton saw through that.

    Like the rest of Old Central, his room was unkempt. No one other than him would know where to find anything here. And yet, everything was neat and aligned. Books sat straight on their shelves. Plates on the side stacked by size rather than dirtiness. The curtain tucked behind the boarded window was now pegged back in its fastening.

    He saw how easily his habits could betray him. Knuckleton staggered through the scant pieces of his life that had been pulled apart and reassembled. In search of what? He had nothing to hide. Nothing material. The information he held on the Sign was too prized to store, on paper or a shader.

    Perhaps the search was a matter of procedure, rather than a hunt.

    Knuckleton turned on his heel and his eyes scoured the darkness for a clue. A mark like the one in the hall. How dare these invaders enter Dek¡¯s home. He supposed Dek hadn¡¯t the courage to tell him about the encounter. He seemed wounded enough earlier.

    Knuckleton backed two paces, passed a searching look across his studio. Of all those other lives lived, Knuckleton had hoped this would be his last. Alas, at the corner of the door, between the angle of the hinges, he saw a slip of grey in the light peaking under the door- an envelope. He tore it open thoughtlessly.

    It was a letter, hand-delivered. They knew him well. Only the most analogue methods reached Knuckleton. He was not on any public network, a fact he was extremely proud of.

    The letter head bore the seal of the Confederacy.

    Of course. No one else¡¯s reach matched the Sign¡¯s, or perhaps exceeded. Though, for the few scholars who had chronicled the scale of the Sign, even they lacked a full appreciation of its size and influence. They were entirely opaque, and it made hiding from them as elusive as the thing itself.

    But the Confederacy was scarce an improvement. They made him vulnerable.

    Mr Ernst Knuckleton,

    I hope this letter finds you well. As a matter of great national and Confederate security, your expertise is demanded in service of the Confederacy of Colonies Fourth Expeditionary Battalion. You will serve as a Scientific Expert under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Battalion to the planet ¡®Earth¡¯, also known as ¡®Colony Two¡¯, aboard the Type-R-400 class ¡®Merlin¡¯. As such, you are required to present yourself at the Military Installation Forward Base Juniper. Please find enclosed appropriate credentials and travel arrangements from Old Central.

    Kindest Regards,

    Commander Vitor Tovey

    The letter crumpled under the weight of his fingers. For all his belief that he could make it, he had failed. At least he could return the money to Dek. It was enough to probably cut a couple months off his wait for the new clinic, if not all of it. At that, he smiled.

    Of course, there was every chance it was Dek who had ratted Knuckleton out in the first place. But then, there was every chance it wasn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t have to know. He could just give the money back and go.

    ¡®Scientific Expert¡¯, he thought. Scientific Expert. At least now he knew humanity¡¯s conquest of Earth was more than a glorified photo-op.

    But there was only one thing his expertise and Earth had in common.

    The alien, Erobo.

 Dark Noon Chapter 2 | Juniper

    Chapter Two

    Juniper

    Priya turned the water off and dragged the towel from across the door of her cubicle. She wanted to stand under the showerhead a little longer, let the drops catch on her face mindlessly. Showering was one of Junpier¡¯s few delights, one of those rare instances when her every action was not at the mercy of a superior. She held her hand out and watched beads of water spear off the end of her fingernails into tiny vortices.

    But then she remembered she had some place else to be. Even today, when she had no duties, her time was strictly prescribed. She sighed, and ducked the frame of her cubicle, parcelled into her towel, mopping herself down with a second one as she did.

    She stopped at a coat rack, stuffed herself into a vest and trousers, standard issue of course. Personal expression, like showers lasting more than five minutes, was a luxury her masters could ill afford them. She caught herself staring in the mirror. Tired eyes stared back; green rings nested in heavy bags. Priya was well-built, with bulging arms and a strong neck.

    She headed down the corridor toward the mess hall, her hair pegged into a ponytail under a cap. She straightened her back, lest a passing officer bark at her for slouching.

    ¡®All Juniper residents, sections violet through amber, please certify at your earliest convenience,¡¯ a speaker ordered above her.

    ¡®Sure, sure,¡¯ Priya muttered.

    She passed left, then right along lines of uniform lining up to collect packs of protein and vitamins, bottled into capsules. There was a choice of carbs. They all had the same offish cardboard taste. Flatpack furniture sprung up along the edges of the hall, glaring under rows of piercing lights. Juniper wasn¡¯t unlike the Earth-class colony ships- sterile, nondescript, as if assembled from the same instructions.

    ¡®Hey, Peshk,¡¯ she called at one of the tables. A girl was hunched across it, strong and shaven headed, egged on by sniggering uniform as she regaled them with some story.

    ¡®A minute,¡¯ the girl called Peshk said to them. ¡®Priya.¡¯

    ¡®You telling them about Askhavet?¡¯

    Peshk laughed. ¡®Ha, yeah. You good?¡¯

    ¡®I wondered if you wanted to catch something tonight, go on a walk or something.¡¯

    The girl stooped to tighten her boot laces. ¡®No Jase?¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s on activities. I got a rec. I just thought with you shipping out¡ª¡¯

    ¡®And you, Earthie.¡¯

    ¡®I just thought with us shipping out,¡¯ she said, laughing, ¡®we could catch up, for the last time for fucking forever.¡¯

    ¡®I mean, I have exercises in the San, but after sure. General Molt is moving up the deployments a day for most of us because of unrest on the Farms. There was another bombing on Valdern.¡¯

    ¡®Anti-war?¡¯

    ¡®Anti-war, independence, I can never tell. I wasn¡¯t meant to rotate out for another month.¡¯ Peshk thought. ¡®But thanks to some asshat pirate Molt has me loading boxes all day onto a carrier instead.¡¯

    Priya smiled. ¡®I can think of worse jobs, Peshk. And as rotations go, peacekeeping anti-colonists is one of the better ones.¡¯

    At that, Peshk laughed loudly. ¡®Think of it this way. You get the motherland, and I get eighteen months on Valliant trapped in a human cesspool of sweat and shit and horny privates in a submarine.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯d fit in.¡¯

    She scowled a little. ¡®Shouldn¡¯t you be knee-deep in books right now. Reading ¡®bout plants or some such.¡¯

    ¡®Since when have I been a botanist?¡¯

    ¡®Since I just decided. They¡¯re all the same.¡¯

    ¡®My doctorate is in microbiology.¡¯

    ¡®Sorry, they¡¯re all the same, Doctor.¡¯

    ¡®You know, ¡®cos of that I do technically outrank you.¡¯

    Peshk smiled falsely. ¡®Don¡¯t think you ever told me that before.¡¯

    ¡®Coldhill,¡¯ a strong voice rasped behind Priya. She turned, and Peshk beat a hasty farewell, back to her gaggle of cronies.

    ¡®Sir?¡¯ Priya said.

    Lieutenannt Shapp stood over her, with a smug look that made it seem he delighted in startling his subordinates. He was a wiry man, white as stone and peered through the glare of rounded spectacles.

    ¡®You busy?¡¯ he said, looking past her to where Peshk was now sat.

    ¡®No, Sir. I have a rec day.¡¯

    ¡®Drop it.¡¯

    ¡®Sir?¡¯ Her heart sank.

    ¡®I have business for you. I¡¯ll see that your tasks tomorrow get reassigned.¡¯

    He turned on his heel, and she promptly followed, careful to tighten her shoulders, to stand as if hoisted by some imaginary string. It hurt more than it should. Her joints throbbed with the deadened aches of her workouts. They were prescribed. Hundred-twenty push-ups. Sixty sit-ups. Sixty back-lifts, hundred squats, eighty lunges. Then the hour of free time she got in the gym. Sandwiched the other side of rec was a five-klick run round campus.

    They filtered from the mess hall, and into the rec area outside a pair of yawning glass doors. A ball court was tucked in the shade of overhang from amber block behind them, and a canal passed opposite, a patrol cantering by its far bank. Flowing fountains and blossomed trees scattered the quad. They hid the military-ness of it all.

    ¡®What¡¯s this about, Sir?¡¯ Priya summoned the courage to ask.

    ¡®If I knew,¡¯ Shapp said.

    Priya glanced sideways. Between amber and mauve block, the campus opened up on a long stretch towards the Monument. And behind, she could see the haze of Atlas across the West San River, a shroud of grey stacks and smog. Peaking above were the shining spires of New Central. They basked in an orange sky, painted in crested slithers of white cloud.

    ¡®You¡¯ll get your three weeks¡¯ vacation after your next rotation,¡¯ Shapp said, noting her longing look at the Capital.

    ¡®Respectfully, Sir, I¡¯m on rotation for the next three years.¡¯

    ¡®So you are.¡¯ Shapp forced an unapologetic smile. He led her on, past the ball court where two men were exchanging blows in a boxing match, egged on by ring of onlookers. Shapp seemed to pay them no mind.

    ¡®You¡¯re privileged, Coldhill.¡¯

    ¡®How¡¯s that, Sir?¡¯

    ¡®No human of the Confederacy has set foot on Earth for near eight centuries. You carry a great honour, and a great burden, to be amongst the first to return. War draws closer daily, yet this mission offers the public some hope that things can be better.¡¯

    ¡®Three years is a long time for a publicity stunt, Sir. War could be with us by then.¡¯ She was briefly distracted by a line of uniform running along the quad, in the direction of the airfield. Heavy crates sagged between their arms.

    ¡®Perhaps that¡¯s why it¡¯s needed. A mission to the homeland is extremely public and will suffer the full scrutiny of Parliament were it to fail. We can¡¯t rush these things. As a scientist, I¡¯m sure you understand that.¡¯

    ¡®Politics and PR isn¡¯t my area of expertise, Sir. I wouldn¡¯t know.¡¯ She kept her deeper doubts hidden. A long-term mission to Earth was sure to have ulterior motive.

    ¡®A sly answer. You heard nothing from me, but the Minister for Colonial Affairs wants an Earth colony within a decade. I¡¯m reliably told, whispers and suchlike, that it¡¯s on their manifesto for the local elections.¡¯

    And there it is.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡®That¡¯s a big risk, Sir.¡¯

    Earth was a memory, a dark and dangerous memory.

    ¡®A popular risk. People like to reminisce, to reconcile. Humanity¡¯s affinity for Earth is no more tenuous than it was when we left. And we live in an age of populism.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t have the luxury of following politics, Lieutenant. I mean no offence,¡¯ Priya hastened to add.

    Shapp smiled from the corner of her eye. ¡®None taken. Left here.¡¯ He gestured down an alley that sloped down from one of the blocks, bordered by a brickwork flowerbed. ¡®There¡¯s a local population on Earth. It¡¯s a tricky situation.¡¯

    ¡®Sir?¡¯

    ¡®Artefacts of the Departure. Prisoners and refugees once upon a time. I wouldn¡¯t dare pretend they would be friendly. We would be settling their home after all.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s a severe complication,¡¯ Priya agreed.

    ¡®If you ask me, the whole thing is best avoided. The legal status of the land is disputed.¡¯

    ¡®It would make sense. They are still technically citizens of the Confederacy. Without reasonable grounds, any occupation would be illegal, wouldn¡¯t it?¡¯

    Shapp hummed. ¡®Unlawful, yes. Illegal, hard to say. There is no restraint to stop the Confederacy occupying any of the colonies. And what are ¡®reasonable grounds¡¯? The whole thing is a quagmire of interpretation.¡¯

    Priya thought. ¡®One would imagine the indigenous¡¯ ignorance of that, and of their legal rights, makes a practical solution¡­ well, impractical.¡¯

    ¡®Well said. Some pro bono legal advisors have wind of it, much like the press. They¡¯re threatening Parliament with legal action if they go ahead with an occupation, on behalf of the indigenous. Consider it friendly advice, but I would impress upon you the seriousness of the matter.¡¯

    Priya had never presumed Shapp to be one to take a liking to her. Why else would he talk so freely?

    ¡®Then why go to the hassle of going?¡¯ Priya said.

    ¡®No doubt there¡¯s profit in it.¡¯ Shapp sighed. ¡®The Minister is most insistent, and his leadership campaign is backed by some extremely powerful PACs.¡¯

    ¡®The¡­ war lobby?¡¯ Priya hesitated to ask. Even speaking the question implied opinion she was forbidden from having.

    ¡®The sorts who benefit from it, yes,¡¯ Shapp said. ¡®Consider an Earth colony and the war go hand in hand. War is the bitter pill.¡¯

    ¡®And Earth is the glass of water you swallow it with.¡¯

    ¡®Something like that.¡¯ He looked at Priya. ¡®You¡¯re a good soldier, Coldhill. One of the sharper ones.¡¯

    She smiled, but given her education, that was scarce a compliment.

    Shapp then paused at a glass door that fed into the foyer of an office tower, for Juniper¡¯s more senior residents. For a moment, he looked wounded, then held a hand to the side and the door slid open with a beep. He pointed Priya up to the main desk wordlessly.

    ¡®Is everything okay, Sir?¡¯ she asked.

    ¡®Quite alright. It¡¯s as you say, we don¡¯t have the luxury of following politics. State your name and they¡¯ll direct you to General Cholin.¡¯

    She nodded but didn¡¯t recognise the name. Shapp held a hand to her shoulder then turned to leave.

    Most of the Confederacy¡¯s senior commanders were based at Juniper. It was the premier facility of its kind in the capital worlds. Many of the men and women in this block reported directly to the Cabinet Office. For now, the Ministry of Defence commanded more of the government¡¯s time and money than its other twenty-three departments combined.

    It showed in this place.

    The glare of the screens wrapped around the walls like some giant mosaic, casting patterns across the floor the way light shimmered through clear water. From here, the walls reached up into a twirling cylinder of glass. The oranged sky cut into the building from all angles, from every floor and window, in one side, and out the other. Layers of glass, on glass, on glass.

    At her approach, a giant face appeared to span the screen behind the welcome desk. It was automated, like most things. Priya paused for a plane of light to cut through her then stated her business.

    ¡®Dr Coldhill, P. Corporal, for General Cholin,¡¯ she said, and the face¡¯s placid eyes buzzed green.

    ¡®Room 7AA,¡¯ the face replied blankly.

    Priya nodded in gratitude, even if it was a machine, and took to the spiralled walkway that split the welcome hall from the cascade of offices up the building. Giant numerals told her each time she had completed another lap of the block. She stopped at 7, and began to count the offices off from A, to a second ringed corridor. She scurried past 7X and 7Y, then 7Z and at last AA.

    She knocked, but the door fell open under the weight of her hand anyway.

    ¡®Doctor,¡¯ a woman she presumed to be General Cholin said.

    Priya stumbled for a word. She was captive momentarily. Cholin was not human. The sight was still uncommon in the Confederacy. In such militarised institutions anyway. The General merely smiled and gestured Priya sit.

    ¡®I¡¯m used to that look,¡¯ Cholin said.

    She was a moon, a beautiful people from the colony world of Azuus. They had blacker than black skin, and clear, pupilless eyes, beads of white. Their hair was a glossy silver. Once mere farmers, to whom humanity had opened its Pandora¡¯s Box. Now, centuries hence, they sat amongst mankind not quite as equals, but as others.

    ¡®Forgive me, General.¡¯ Priya glanced to her boots and sat across an arching desk.

    ¡®General Cholin,¡¯ came another voice.

    Priya turned, startled in her chair. Jase¡¯s head poked through the angle of the door. He looked sheepish. ¡®Pree,¡¯ he added, with a not unprofessional smile. They were used to skirting around each other during the day.

    ¡®Sergeant Anders,¡¯ Cholin acknowledged. ¡®Sit¡¯. She kicked out a second chair beside Priya.

    Jase said nothing but looked from one to the other confusedly.

    ¡®What¡¯s this about, General?¡¯ he asked.

    Cholin stooped to pluck a slither of paper from a drawer and flattened them against the desk. ¡®I offer my congratulations for your placement in the Fourth Battalion. Whilst I don¡¯t perhaps appreciate its significance as much as¡­ well, a human, you are immensely privileged, and should be proud.¡¯

    The more people told Priya she ought to be grateful, the less she thought she was.

    Jase leaned forwards, clasped his hands under his chin. ¡®Respectfully, General, there¡¯s over four thousand personnel on this mission. You didn¡¯t meet with us to congratulate us.¡¯

    Priya stifled a laugh. She reached a hand to his under the desk, unseen by Cholin. He turned her little finger through his thumb.

    As Shapp had seemed to, Cholin sank. Her shoulders drooped and her head dipped a fraction. ¡®As a married couple, the two of you are in a unique situation.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯re professional,¡¯ Priya said, insulted at the tone of Cholin¡¯s voice, as if it was a veiled insult. ¡®We¡¯ve never spoken outside of rec hours. We both receive Outstanding quarterly papers.¡¯

    ¡®That may be,¡¯ the moon said, ¡®but the Disciplinary Board have deemed it inappropriate, given the circumstances and magnitude of the operation to Earth. There is no room for unprofessionalism.¡¯

    ¡®There isn¡¯t a blemish on our records,¡¯ Priya repeated.

    Cholin sighed. She pushed forward one of the papers. ¡®It¡¯s best I am blunt. This is a court order annulling your marriage.¡¯

    Priya felt the weight lift in Jase¡¯s legs. Her hand squeezed his in warning. They could give the Confederacy no excuse, she thought then, to act further. She could not react. She could not argue in emotional terms, she knew that. Her protestations must be reasoned, considered. A fire swirled through her but even in the moment she could not surrender to it.

    Instead, she swallowed.

    ¡®I see. Why weren¡¯t we informed in advance?¡¯

    Cholin raised her hands cluelessly.

    ¡®Your signature is on the court order with the judge,¡¯ Jase said, snatching the paper. He kept his voice in check enough.

    Cholin should be grateful they were surrounded by hundreds of officers of the Confederacy. Were this conversation anymore private, Priya would let the strength of her feeling be known.

    ¡®If I hadn¡¯t signed it, another General would, and look at me. Do you think I¡¯m in any more of a position to argue than you? I¡¯m under no illusions, just as you shouldn¡¯t be about this.¡¯

    ¡®Is this technically legal?¡¯

    Cholin gave a stiff nod. ¡®Do you think I¡¯d have signed it if it wasn¡¯t?¡¯

    Priya took the letter and scanned it, but the words passed over her. ¡®Why?¡¯

    ¡®Married couples aren¡¯t technically allowed to serve together on active duty. In any case, the Department of Defence wants to minimise the risk of any public failings.¡¯

    ¡®Our marriage is a threat to PR?¡¯

    ¡®It gives the media, the tabloids, an angle. It looks unprofessional. Childish.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯ve never been in love have you, General?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m a hermaphrodite. We self-partner, and don¡¯t mate for life. No, I haven¡¯t been in love.¡¯

    Jase scowled a little. ¡®Marriage isn¡¯t unprofessional. It¡¯s a fact of life.¡¯

    ¡®That may be, but your love for each other affects the way you work, whether you believe that or not. And on a three-year rotation, one would forgive a slip-up, but tabloids wouldn¡¯t. Removing your marriage changes the optics on the situation.¡¯

    Priya wrestled to bottle her feelings. ¡®I enlisted after my doctorate. I¡¯ve served eight years now and been married for seven. I¡¯ve received no warnings from Discipline for inappropriate behaviour and have never scored less than Excellent on twenty-nine quarterly reports. So¡­¡¯

    ¡®So?¡¯

    The temptation to say ¡®bullshit¡¯ was strong.

    ¡®So, I strongly disagree with the court¡¯s decision to condone this.¡¯

    ¡®If it tempers your feeling, you may consider yourselves lucky you are still on the same rotation at all. I had to fight for that. The Disciplinary Board originally wanted you on separate shipments. This was a compromise. At the very least, you are still able to have a physical relationship.¡¯

    ¡®What is the point of annulling the marriage in the first place if not to discourage a relationship?¡¯

    ¡®I said: optics. Married, you¡¯re a source of gossip, or resentment. It affects morale. Either of you make a mistake, we will be called careless. You: unprofessional. Your colleagues would feel aggrieved, think you might be treated differently, or worse, exploit you. Annulled, you¡¯re just another lousy army fling.¡¯

    Jase swallowed.

    ¡®Consider this meeting a courtesy, rather than a letter through your barracks.¡¯ With a weighty sigh, Cholin reached for one of her other sheets of paper and passed it across to Priya directly.

    ¡®What¡¯s that?¡¯ Jase said, peering across.

    More bad news, no doubt, Priya thought.

    ¡®Doctor Coldhill, you are by court-order mandated to the use of birth control throughout the course of your deployment.¡¯

    A chilled rage ran down Priya¡¯s spine.

    Jase leaned across the desk. ¡®Is this a joke?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll forgive your tone, Sergeant. No, all female personnel are required to do so.¡¯

    ¡®I have a vasectomy,¡¯ Jase blurted.

    ¡®That may be, but her sexual fidelity can¡¯t be guaranteed in the timescale of the mission.¡¯

    ¡®Tell me you¡¯re not serious, General.¡¯

    ¡®I said I am extremely serious.¡¯

    Jase reached a hand to Priya¡¯s leg, but her mind was captive. She stared blankly at the paper and the words punctured her. Each one was a violation, of her, her body. Of the future. She had no doubt she could fulfil her duties and raise a child. It wasn¡¯t something her and Jase had discussed, but nor was it something they had ruled out, to have theirs a child of planet Earth.

    But if that had been even half a dream, it was nothing now.

    She just felt cold. Like someone had reached inside her soul and crushed it under their fingers.

    For the first time since he sat down, she looked at Jase. Properly looked. Her eyes fed on his handsome features, and the weight on her soul lifted a little.

    ¡®Doctor Coldhill?¡¯

    ¡®Pree¡­ Say something.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ she told Jase. It wasn¡¯t, of course. But what use was the truth. ¡®I¡¯ll do it.¡¯

    They took her freedom and walked over it. They took her body and contorted it. Forced it into something unnatural. That wasn¡¯t her choice. Even then, the IUD could make her hurt. Her body ache and bleed.

    For his sake, she accepted it. But she didn¡¯t have to like it. She took his hand again.

    ¡®We¡¯re at war,¡¯ Cholin said then, strained, as if that somehow excused the entire conversation.

    Priya looked at her. It was a week until the most important mission of her life and they had uprooted everything in it that mattered. How dare they.

    ¡®But we¡¯re not yet,¡¯ she said.

 Dark Noon Chapter 3 | The Devastation

    Chapter Three

    The Devastation

    Agloff Ashborne poked the cut of his torch round the door of the switch station. Ancient dust swirled in wayward motions. He swung a foot out at the brick dust and watched it settle on ground untouched for centuries.

    He called out.

    The slight whistle of autumn wind answered through the bricks. Inside, he saw panels of controls, dust-laden lights and switches fused into their panelling by centuries of erosion. Signs warned the occupiers in event of emergency and a deck of screens were raised to one side by a desk that had collapsed in the middle.

    Content there was no one here, he left.

    ¡®S¡¯clear!¡¯ Agloff yelled down the tracks. He hopscotched from slat to slat, between long grasses and into the overhang of the railway station. The line split in two, a platform fed in between them. Above, an arching hanger was divided into grids of glass panels, many of which had fallen through.

    Dust and dirt caught in the downpouring shafts of sunlight, much as they had in the switch station.

    Agloff tightened his straps, glanced around. ¡®Hey!¡¯

    ¡®Yeah! Sorry.¡¯

    Ariea climbed through a hatch along one side of the platform and her head poked above ground. ¡®Nothing down there either.¡¯ She chucked a longarm rifle up onto the platform, then clambered after it.

    Agloff followed to where she stood, and each swatted the dust from their raincoats. Crows circled above them, hunting for insects burrowed into the walls perhaps.

    ¡®You heard anything at all?¡¯ Agloff asked.

    ¡®Just a lot of creaky old¡­ old stuff.¡¯ She dragged her rucksack across her shoulders. ¡®Nothing human, anyway.¡¯

    ¡®Since Troder Hills, how much have these patrols actually turned up defectors?¡¯

    ¡®Kira said she found a warehouse with a coupla hundred migrants from Block Two heading west. I know Dann picked up two squatters other week. Pilgrims.¡¯

    ¡®Deserters?¡¯

    ¡®Seems so.¡¯

    Agloff grunted. This was their furthest patrol yet as part of their reparations to Fort Wishbone. Compensation for the loss of Winter¡¯s services after Malvo Jask¡¯s death. They were twenty miles past the Erwood. In two days, it hadn¡¯t turned up anything. Councillor Riddis spoke about defending their borders in the vacuum of Winter. Gangs and bandits were showing up closer and closer. Winter were once patrons to these sorts, as they had been to Kira. Now, they took their custom to pillaging.

    If Wishbone didn¡¯t routinely sweep for the like, they left themselves vulnerable. Their apathy handed power and initiative to Yara Poll of Fort Spear. And if there was one thing Agloff knew Ellen Riddis of Wishbone could not stand, it was the thought of Poll as heir to Winterland. Spear was the only settlement on Principia¡¯s shores whose reach exceeded Wishbone¡¯s.

    ¡®I know we¡¯re kind of tired and all, but did you have plans when we got back?¡¯ Agloff said as they traipsed up the platform. He looked at her and smiled.

    ¡®By plans, do you mean sit in pyjamas and listen to sad music really loud on headphones and get in my feelings? Then, yes. I was just planning to gorge on Merry¡¯s cookies and sleep a lot, to be honest.¡¯

    ¡®Wow.¡¯

    ¡®Hot, right?¡¯

    ¡®You could play the music.¡¯

    Ariea laughed. ¡®My arms are jelly, Ag. Also, I¡¯m really not as good as you think I am. You¡¯ve just not heard better.¡¯

    ¡®If it sounds good, it sounds good. But I was gonna ask if you wanted to go the fair this week.¡¯

    ¡®Aww. Are you asking me on a date?¡¯

    He felt his cheeks ripen. ¡®Possibly. When was the last time?¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe you think hiking through open country for days on end to sift through dusty old buildings full of cobwebs isn¡¯t romantic. There¡¯s no one around. Lover¡¯s paradise, right here.¡¯

    ¡®Wait, you mean we could¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Ew, no.¡¯ She laughed, swiped his arm. ¡®Not actually.¡¯

    Then, a crow strafed over them. It squawked and a ribbon of fabric that had been tied above them flittered in its wake. Winter¡¯s mark was worn into the folds. The crow circled back and Ariea yelped, reached a hand to a pillar as they passed.

    ¡®Ari?¡¯

    Her back pulsed in sharp crests as she panted. She looked at the limp flag. ¡®It¡¯s still gets to me, you know.¡¯

    ¡®What does?¡¯

    ¡®What I did.¡¯

    Agloff rushed around her and held her hand. ¡®Look at me. I¡¯ve said it a thousand times, and I will say it for as long as you need. Jask deserved to die, for a million reasons. You did nothing wrong.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not easy to tell myself. I killed.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s okay to feel guilty, but you did nothing wrong. We said, remember. We decided whatever happened, it wasn¡¯t our fault. We were going to die.¡¯

    ¡®When I¡¯m tired, it comes sometimes. And I¡¯m tired a lot of the time. I can¡¯t get rid of the feeling.¡¯

    He cupped her hands in his and kissed them, then drew her in close.

    ¡®How do you not feel it?¡¯ she whispered. ¡®We changed the whole world in that room.¡¯

    ¡®I feel it. What he and Jask did to Eron, what Jask did to you. It¡¯s hard.¡¯ It ate at him sure enough, a slow and unsleeping rage.

    Ariea had told Agloff about the dark place, glimpsed in the Erwood. A terribly vast and empty place that would come and suffocate her, and crush the hope of living from her bones. Her visits there were less frequent now. To Agloff, what followed Jask¡¯s demise was someone else¡¯s problem. For them, it had only ever been survival.

    But in Ariea he saw something else. No matter how much he told her otherwise, she felt responsible, he could tell. For everything.

    ¡®I love you,¡¯ Ariea breathed. ¡®I¡¯d like to go the fair, I think. I want to do something normal people do.¡¯ Her head peeped from his chest. He looked down at her and thought how strong she was.

    ¡®I love you.¡¯

    They swayed under the wind a moment. They were tiny in the yawning mess of growth and red bricks, standing in the tracks of giants. There, he just held her, and they listened to distant birdsong.

    ¡®I think,¡¯ Agloff said, as they parted to walk again, ¡®that you¡¯re the only person in the history of everyone who could possibly understand me.¡¯

    She grinned. ¡®We¡¯re a miserable couple, true.¡¯

    He took her hand and they carried upwards, passing through timeless concrete and brick dust. He was sure this place was mundane to those that built it. But, in entropy it had become extraordinary.

    A building next to a wide platform had crumbled under the weight of its isolation. While growth punctured upwards from within at searching angles towards the sunlight. It was a slow war, unchanging in the moment, but devastating in decades. It felt almost haunted, this place. Even now, it held the memory of all who had ever passed through.

    It reminded Agloff of the land outside Eden, in all its overgrowth.

    ¡®It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it,¡¯ Ariea said as she scanned the sprawl.

    ¡®It is. I love old places, pre-Departed. There¡¯s something sad, but peaceful about them.¡¯

    ¡®¡°If assured of nature¡¯s devastation at the hand of man, I would accept man¡¯s devastation at the hand of nature.¡±¡¯

    ¡®Who said that?¡¯

    ¡®Some guy. I read it in a book. It¡¯s pretty.¡¯

    ¡®I was hoping you were gonna say you thought of it yourself.¡¯

    ¡®Ha. You have too high opinion of me, in that case.¡¯

    Agloff shrugged, as if to admit it was the truth.

    A freight car sat parked on the line ahead of them. It sank into a bed of long grass, pushed up against the wall of the station and two more keeled over sideways beside it, like dominoes.

    A tangle of matted grasses fed through. Agloff glimpsed his torch and spied a narrow gap. Ariea did not wait for his invitation. She tossed her rifle onto the step of the car and climbed after it then held a hand to haul Agloff after her.

    ¡®Reckon we just go to as far as the end of the station then circle back, sweep the outsides?¡¯ she said.

    Agloff nodded in the cut of his torch.

    The chilled breeze that accompanied them was traded for parched air. He felt choked by the plants pressing against him. It stirred memories of the Erwood.

    They fell through into the last stretch of station. The end of the line was stacked up with carriages upon carriages. Some upright. Some tipped at right angles, knocked from their perches on the tracks by something or other. Agloff and Ariea ebbed and weaved around them, like this was some strange city. Amongst it, it felt like the patterns of carriages and freight cars could repeat forever.

    ¡®Don¡¯t walk too fast,¡¯ Agloff said, unsheathing his pistol. ¡®Never know what¡¯s about.¡¯

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡®Sure. Oxford would be proud of you, you know.¡¯

    ¡®Think you¡¯re expecting too much there.¡¯

    ¡®He resented the fact of you, not you personally,¡¯ Ariea said, as if that made any sense. ¡®He could still be proud of you. I think he was in the end.¡¯

    ¡®Right.¡¯

    ¡®Anyone in Oxford¡¯s position might have hated anyone in your position. Doesn¡¯t mean he hates you personally. Just the way things panned out.¡¯

    ¡®How can he hate me, and it not be personal?¡¯

    ¡®You hate spiders, right. Doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s personal with every one of them.¡¯

    ¡®I guess.¡¯ Agloff wished he had the chance to talk to Oxford, but he vanished within a day of their return to Eden. Ran off across the Colony. Agloff had always got the impression even the whole of planet Earth was too small for Oxford Blue now. Colony Two was tainted, by Agloff, by Winter, by the memory of his wife. It was no wonder he ran.

    ¡®He will forgive you eventually. He has to. You made a dumb mistake.¡¯

    ¡®You know I don¡¯t talk about that.¡¯

    ¡®Agloff, you couldn¡¯t have known about that pilgrim in the forest. Oxford knows that. What happened at Long Mile, what happened at the Underground was not your fault.¡¯

    He half-smiled, looked up at her from his shoes.

    ¡®Ha. Irony of you telling me now not to feel guilty.¡¯

    Ariea turned back at him, amused, then brushed the dust of autumn leaves from her raincoat and pointed ahead. She reached a hand to his, closed around the gun and his eyes followed.

    ¡®You came a long way from that forest. Look at you now. You couldn¡¯t go twenty feet into a shrub. Now you¡¯ve gone twenty miles.¡¯ She carried on ahead through the wreckage. ¡®I stand by what I said, Ag. Oxford would be proud of you. Marty too. I am.¡¯

    The thought of she and Marty warmed him.

    ¡®Thanks.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t need to say thank you for every compliment.¡¯

    ¡®I like to though.¡¯

    Again, they stopped. They reached the end of the tracks, marked by buffers placed up against the wall.

    ¡®What¡¯s that?¡¯

    Ariea pointed to a stack of crates that had been arranged in step, up to an opening in the wall.

    ¡®I guess they didn¡¯t fall down that way.¡¯

    Ariea looked back at him. ¡®Give me a leg up.¡¯

    She pointed him to the base crate, and he cupped his hands for her. At once, she tightened her rifle strap over her back and launched herself at Agloff. He sprung his arms up and she tumbled over, onto the container.

    ¡®Gracefully done,¡¯ she said, smirking, and reached a hand to hoist him up.

    Awkwardly, they dragged themselves up the cascade of crates and through to the opening. Someone had left these here for convenience, and, judging by their neatness, recently. The station was occupied after all.

    ¡®Oi, ahead, look!¡¯ Ariea stared through the round hole in the wall and out the back of the station where rows of carriages were lain out against each other, as if in storage. Poking from the back, they saw a column of smoke climb through one of the larger carriages.

    Agloff held his weapon aloft and scanned his sights for signs of movement. Ariea raised a hand for him to lower it.

    ¡®Let¡¯s get closer.¡¯

    ¡®What if they¡¯re hostile?¡¯

    ¡®From what Kira¡¯s said, there¡¯s no traps about, no alarms, tripwires. If they were Ardul¡¯s pilgrims, or even bandits, they roam in packs. We¡¯d have seen someone. They¡¯d have this place locked down else anyone can wander through.¡¯ Ariea jumped from the gap in the wall to a cushion of grass outside the station. ¡®And anyone did,¡¯ she added, looking back up. ¡®C¡¯mon. We can handle ourselves¡¯

    Agloff sheepishly followed, falling askew in the bushes.

    A faint path from the gap in the wall was traced by flattened grass, worn into the dirt. It led zig-zag between the shattered remains of carriages. It was almost like a graveyard.

    Ariea pointed Agloff to the side and drew her rifle over her head. Agloff cupped his hands around his pistol and waited for her lead. His steps folded over the unkept grasses. For every step, his heart beat ten times over. But this was nothing he hadn¡¯t done before.

    The smokestack grew in his eyeline until the sun was obscured in its grey smear. Agloff heard the crackling of embers; the rasp of hushed breaths. Someone was here. Or several.

    He took the left side, Ariea the right, where the carriage doors held it open from both sides. Agloff could spy nothing but rippling shadows, caught in a fire¡¯s glow as he approached.

    Agloff and Ariea swung round the sides of the carriage, their weapons poised on its occupants.

    Instantly, they sighed, and their arms slackened.

    Four children huddled around a fire, swallowed in a single blanket. The fire glinted in their wide eyes. Too wide even to blink. Two boys and two girls stared at Agloff, as if it was their only defence against the gun in his arm.

    ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ Ariea said.

    The huddle turned to her in a sudden motion and Agloff scanned the place. He saw scraps of food smeared over the floor of the cabin. A bucket of water sat in the corner. Then his eyes landed on a blooded knife poking at his feet. He held it up to Ariea.

    ¡®We¡¯re not going to hurt you,¡¯ she said. ¡®We were just looking for people. Bad people. You¡¯re safe now.¡¯

    The kids looked no more assured. Agloff knew these sorts were sharp, cynical. They survived on their wits. And Ariea knew as well as anyone it paid to be distrusting in Colony Two.

    ¡®Where were you heading?¡¯ Agloff said.

    The heads flashed back.

    ¡®North,¡¯ a girl grunted.

    ¡®Where north?¡¯

    They didn¡¯t answer.

    ¡®Where are you coming from?¡¯

    No answer.

    Ariea knelt closer to them. ¡®We can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t talk to us.¡¯ She smiled.

    ¡®We don¡¯t need help,¡¯ the kid said.

    Gently, Ariea went to her pocket and produced a silver necklace. Engraved onto the charm was the emblem of Fort Wishbone.

    ¡®We¡¯re not Winter. We¡¯re looking for survivors of Winter. Strong people.¡¯ She pulled back the blanket a fraction and Agloff caught Winter¡¯s mark branded into one of their forearms. The boy shivered. ¡®You must be so strong. So brave.¡¯ Ariea smiled again. Agloff looked at her, proud.

    ¡®We can help you,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®But you have to tell us who you are.¡¯

    ¡®You mean come back with you?¡¯

    Agloff nodded. ¡®If you want.¡¯

    Ariea held one¡¯s hands. ¡®There¡¯s so many children from Eden at Wishbone. Boys and girls set free. They go to school, play along the shore. You could go to school, learn about anything. You can be anything. You don¡¯t have to hide anymore.¡¯

    The second girl, a scrawny thing, with matted blonde hair, spoke up. ¡®But we¡¯re not from Eden. We¡¯re not like those children. We¡¯re different.¡¯

    Agloff looked at the brand on their arms.

    ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ Ariea asked.

    ¡®We¡¯re not free. We¡¯re hiding, from Winter. A pilgrim was chasing us. We got ahead by a few hours so we waited it out here.¡¯

    ¡®But Winter¡¯s gone from the North.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s why we¡¯re going there.¡¯

    ¡®Where are you from?¡¯ Agloff repeated.

    The oldest looking kid swallowed. ¡®Stormdown. We¡¯re Ardul¡¯s kids.¡¯

    Agloff and Ariea exchanged furious stares.

    ¡®When did you see this pilgrim?¡¯

    ¡®Ten miles back. We squeezed through a tunnel, got the drop on him.¡¯

    Ariea smiled again, then backed down from the carriage and ushered Agloff to join her. She spoke in hushed tones.

    ¡®We can¡¯t leave them here,¡¯ she said.

    ¡®We can¡¯t exactly wait it out either. If Ardul¡¯s pilgrims are pushing this far north, that¡¯s no fluke. Jask cut his losses on runaways all the time. Not chase them halfway up the Colony.¡¯

    ¡®Well, Ardul¡¯s not Jask, I guess.¡¯

    ¡®Still, no pilgrim has been seen north of the partition since the revolts. If what they¡¯re saying is true, this matters, Ari.¡¯

    ¡®Do you believe them?¡¯

    Agloff looked at their huddle. They peered back. ¡®I don¡¯t know why they¡¯d lie. They have the brand. Could be copycats, I guess.¡¯

    Colony Two was in no shortage of Winter¡¯s denizens even in Jask¡¯s death. Those who didn¡¯t defect to Stormdown, roamed in vagrant packs from pairs up to families of hundreds or more. Outcasts from the Blocks who believed in Winter¡¯s cause. There was no reason to assume the kids¡¯ pursuer was from Stormdown, even if they were.

    ¡®I don¡¯t think so,¡¯ Ariea said eventually. ¡®They seem convinced. I guess we were dreaming to think killing Jask would make Winter go away. It just pushed them south.¡¯

    ¡®We did the right thing,¡¯ Agloff reminded her.

    ¡®If they¡¯re from Stormdown and this¡­ pilgrim¡­ they¡¯re from Stormdown too, they broke the partition. And if one can, two or three more will.¡¯

    ¡®We have to tell Riddis, right?¡¯

    Ariea nodded, stared at the kids.

    Agloff knelt beside them, brushed a hand across their blanket to flatten its creases. ¡®We¡¯re going to call someone, to make sure you¡¯re safe.¡¯

    The blonde girl¡¯s eyes tightened. ¡®Make us trust you.¡¯

    Agloff was stunted into silence. He had no answer to that. How could he. The world was cold and miserable before Jask. It was cold and miserable now. Trust in Colony Two was a blind currency. He couldn¡¯t make them, as Winter could not compel them.

    ¡®We can¡¯t,¡¯ Ariea said. ¡®But trust that we¡¯re not pilgrims. We¡¯re not taking you back to Stormdown. Tell us your names. I¡¯m Ariea. This is Agloff. We¡¯re from Fort Wishbone.¡¯ Ariea held her hand to her chest and looked at them.

    Agloff could see in their faces they wanted to believe her, to give themselves over. But they knew that was a foolish way to live on these tracks.

    ¡®I¡¯m¡­ Beet,¡¯ the blonde girl said. The hesitation told Agloff it wasn¡¯t her true name, but it was openness enough, he thought. The others followed with similarly impromptu titles: the other girl was Vey, the boys were Lung and Hester.

    ¡®If you really don¡¯t want to,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®You don¡¯t have to come, you can stay here.¡¯

    ¡®Really?¡¯ Beet said.

    ¡®We won¡¯t force you, of course. It¡¯s right you look out for yourself. We were on the road once, and no one could have told us different. You stick to the shadows, hope they miss you or stop looking. Everyone¡¯s a threat, right.¡¯

    Beet leaned forward thoughtfully. The others seemed to look to her for leadership. ¡®We¡¯ll go Fort Wishbone.¡¯

    Agloff laughed. ¡®What changed your mind?¡¯

    ¡®That you¡¯d even consider offering letting us go tells me you¡¯re honest.¡¯

    The kid was but ten or eleven, but she saw straighter than most. Agloff avoided the temptation to say more, to talk her out of it again. He unclipped a small boxy radio from his rucksack and vanished round the back of the carriage. He clicked in on and off until the buzz of static told him that someone was listening. The radios were short range, so Wishbone had folks set up at lookouts all the way out to its borders with Fort Spear and old Winter country.

    Agloff ushered his message down the airways, repeating to the lookout what he and Ariea had discussed, what the girl had said. The lone pilgrim from Stormdown. The message would be shepherded all the way back to Wishbone, like Chinese whispers.

    Within twenty minutes, riders would be on their way out.

    The kids would be safe.

    ¡®Someone is going to pick you up,¡¯ Ariea said to them. She showed them the necklace again. ¡®They¡¯ll have this mark. You can trust them.

    ¡®Why can¡¯t you take us?¡¯ Beet asked.

    ¡®We¡ª''

    Ariea¡¯s line of thought was cut. A twig snapped distantly, and their heads swung. They heard leaves patter underfoot. Slow, searching footsteps called across the station.

    ¡®Oh god, no,¡¯ Vey said.

    ¡®You brought him here,¡¯ Lung added.

    ¡®No,¡¯ Agloff insisted.

    ¡®He followed you!¡¯

    Agloff leaned across them, held his hand against Lung¡¯s mouth. ¡®We¡¯ll deal with it.¡¯ Thoughtlessly, he strode to the bucket in the corner, swiped the water over the fire and it extinguished in a fizz.

    ¡®Deal with it then,¡¯ Beet said with feral eyes.

    ¡®Stay here!¡¯

    Ariea nodded Agloff round the back of the carriage and they slipped into the graveyard of giants. The maze of carriages. They hadn¡¯t brought the pilgrim here, of course. The kids did that. He wiped his pistol down against his raincoat and held it aloft to the carriages.

    He passed frequent looks to Ariea, who led by her rifle.

    They walked, feet tilted sideways. Agloff tempered his breaths, his eyes searched every sightline, just like Kira taught them. The other¡¯s steps seemed to circle them, as though they were chasing each other.

    Not looking up from her rifle, Ariea pointed he one way, and she the other. The other¡¯s steps caught around the back of a large freight car.

    Then they fell silent. Agloff listened to the whispers of wind, but he heard nothing, no breaths, no click of a weapon. From round the back, Ariea held a hand to halt him, then raised her fingers. Three. Two. One.

    They swept around the angle and a man leapt at Ariea.

    Her rifle went off as she was tipped backwards towards the grass. Agloff charged at him as he mobbed over her, scrambled at his back to haul him.

    Like some moping gorilla, the other swung out and Agloff¡¯s back crashed against the side of the carriage. Pain and noise swallowed him. He fell to the floor, grabbed his pistol from the long grass.

    As he did, Ariea kicked the stranger off and his footing was briefly lost. Agloff squinted, then squeezed and a shot ripped through his shoulder. The stranger roared, shaking.

    As Agloff and Ariea stood over him, he clutched his knife close and drew it against his neck before he could say a word.

    They panted. Ariea leaned to roll the man over to hide the sight of him. She then touched hands to Agloff and gathered her rifle across her shoulder.

    ¡®We should go¡­ Agloff. We don¡¯t know that there was just one.¡¯

    Agloff knelt beside the so-called pilgrim. He didn¡¯t have the flowing grey cape he was used to. Rather, the man looked patchworked. His clothes were an assembly of other bits and pieces. Some of it Winter, some of it not. Agloff searched his pockets but found no hint of a firearm, just the blade he had used to end himself, and scraps of mugshots of the kids at the carriage.

    ¡®Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®A minute.¡¯

    Agloff rolled the body back over and tore at his shirts. He saw Winter¡¯s mark tattooed boldly on his chest. He wore it like a flag. Agloff then stood and handed Ariea¡¯s the photos as he passed her.

    ¡®This was Winter,¡¯ he said. ¡®They knew who they were looking for. The kids were targeted. Bandits wouldn¡¯t go to the trouble to keep a few kids in check. Guessing they have an authority problem.¡¯

    ¡®Ardul was always the worst of the Apostles.¡¯

    ¡®Or just lucky. So far south the North couldn¡¯t round him up like they did the others. Wetlands, Anna, the Nanda, Salamm all fell with Eden. Stormdown is just the last seat left standing.¡¯

    ¡®You saying we shouldn¡¯t give Ardul credit?¡¯ Ariea laughed.

    Agloff kicked the body back over. ¡®I mean look at this. A pilgrim travelling alone, barely armed, untrained. Rounding up kids when they got bigger problems. It¡¯s Winter, but¡­ Does that smell like Winter to you?¡¯

    ¡®None of it does. But one of them showing up this far north is still a problem.¡¯

    ¡®Should we wait with the kids?¡¯ Agloff asked.

    Ariea nodded stiffly. ¡®You do that. I¡¯ll get the horses round. Your shooting¡¯s getting better, Ag.¡¯ She looked at him.

    ¡®Thanks.¡¯

    She smiled cutely. ¡®I said you don¡¯t need to say thank you for every compliment.¡¯

    Agloff smiled back at her. ¡®Point taken.¡¯

 Dark Noon Chapter 4 | The Afterlife of Civilisation (or The Purpose of Dancing)

    Chapter Four

    The Afterlife of Civilisation (or The Purpose of Dancing)

    Agloff stared at Ariea from across the room. She was twirling her hair into plaits in front of an antique mirror. She found it an old shop down the hill to obscure an upturned nail poking out the wooden slats that bordered their home from the next.

    He watched her watch herself, calmed.

    They sank into their dressing gowns, legs splayed across the floor like kids. Then Agloff stood to the window. Cool air gusted in from the late Autumn eve. Crests of oranged cloud rose over the bay. The main road below was laced in bunting, strung between lanterns bathing the hills of Wishbone in gold. He watched the people dance lazily under them.

    Tonight, the Fort gave its thanks for the harvest from beyond the walls. More so this year, out of Winter¡¯s shadow, even as the fields were blighted by bandits.

    He circled the room then, saw the pieces of a life slowly assembled. His eye was caught by an instant photo of the pair of them, pegged over their bed. It was a selfie from a hike in midsummer, through the Flatlands.

    ¡®You alright?¡¯ Ariea said, not looking from the mirror. She was shading her eyes in a brilliant blue. Cyan and aqua. Her eyelids glowed.

    ¡®Just thinking.¡¯

    ¡®About me?¡¯ She smiled.

    ¡®There¡¯re a thousand million ways this year could have gone. But you ever just panic because things are so good, you¡¯ll wake up one day and it¡¯ll be different?¡¯

    ¡®I know what you mean.¡¯

    He walked over, pulled from the mirror by her hands. ¡®Because things are so good.¡¯

    Her eyes rolled playfully. ¡®You¡¯re sweet.¡¯ She kissed him. ¡®But get dressed.¡¯ Ariea swept behind a curtain and hummed some tune. Agloff slipped into a neat jumper and trousers, swept his mop of hair from his eyes, and waited.

    He had seen it in her eyes these last two days. She pretended happiness, but the children at Tansk Station had unsettled her, or the pilgrim had. The implications of a pilgrim north of the partition were significant, if not wholly understood. But for them it meant more: all that misery, all that loss at Jask¡¯s hands failed.

    Ariea swept the curtain away. She stood cutely in flared trousers and a black vest, then gathered a coat from a rack by the door and held her arm for Agloff.

    Merry Cutter and Memphis Teller were already waiting at the foot of the stairs. She was in a neat dress but tugged at the straps across her shoulders four or five times as Agloff slipped down the stairs. He saw that she was still out of place in that world. Dresses and heels, the so-called beauty of high society, did not come easy to her. Memphis smiled from in a slick black suit.

    Agloff nodded at both of them, embraced them. Merry half-smiled back and held the door ajar. ¡®Lady¡¯s napping,¡¯ she whispered. ¡®Best to leave quietly.¡¯

    They fed out on to the plateau overlooking the downward slope of Fort Wishbone. Every house was adorned in a golden lantern. It seemed a part of this celebration, light in defiance of the coming winter.

    A hoard of townsfolk gravitated down the hill, toward the main square. Bodies ebbing around cobbles and lampposts. Agloff could spot the regulars in their coats and shawls from the more distinguished in their suits and extravagant headwear.

    ¡®Addiom Bashkar,¡¯ a thick-bearded man said as he passed them.

    ¡®Aikom,¡¯ Ariea replied.

    The word meant ¡®thank you¡¯. Winter had long imposed the Old Inglish tongue on Colony Two. But it didn¡¯t reach every corner. Vagrants and squatters had a curious vernacular. It was a patchwork of all words and sounds.

    Kira had taught them a little, enough to be polite anyway. Mountain rats and outlanders called summer¡¯s end Baskhar, the time of plentiful. They would burrow food into the rock for the coming Askar, the time of fallow.

    Since Winter fell in the North, the likes that spoke it appeared in these places more and more.

    The man stared at Ariea for a time, then rummaged in his pocket and shoved a glazed bun into her hands. He would not accept her refusals. She smiled awkwardly and the man nodded at her, continued in his offerings to others.

    ¡®It¡¯s so pretty,¡¯ Merry said, her eyes running along the zig zag of bunting. Those not headed to the square were offering breads and pastries, home-baked, from their doorsteps. Every few would stop to greet them in idle chatter.

    The crowd carried them onto the opening of the square. Agloff saw the boxy, narrow terraces that surrounded them. The people gathered under sparse gazebos, lit by the same golden candlelight. Servers passed between them, and a curtained stage was set at the far end.

    Ellen Riddis was due to give one of her drab and empty diatribes there later. Best avoided, thought Agloff.

    ¡®You want a drink?¡¯ Ariea was prodding his arm.

    Agloff realised he was caught in a trance. ¡®I¡¯m good.¡¯

    She nodded, let go of his hand and vanished into the melee with Merry.

    ¡®I can¡¯t see why anyone would enjoy these sorts of things,¡¯ Memphis mused then.

    Agloff looked at him. ¡®You¡¯re here, aren¡¯t you?¡¯

    ¡®She wanted to come, and I¡¯m still in the habit of us doing everything together.¡¯

    ¡®Two shots and you¡¯ll be fine.¡¯

    ¡®Ha. You know I¡¯m not the most¡­ amicable drunk.¡¯

    ¡®Find some guy to take home. Wouldn¡¯t judge.¡¯

    Memphis laughed loudly. ¡®Something tells me Lady wouldn¡¯t appreciate that.¡¯

    ¡®Excuse me,¡¯ a voice squeaked.

    Agloff looked down. A boy was gawking up at him. ¡®Hi,¡¯ he said. ¡®Are you lost?¡¯

    ¡®No, I¡¯m here with friends. I just¡­ I remember you from the hospital.¡¯

    Agloff saw that one of the boy¡¯s hands was gloved. He reached around his wrist and lightly peeled back the cuff of his sleeve and saw the purpled marks of Jask¡¯s experiments.

    ¡®It was nothing,¡¯ Agloff said pre-emptively.

    ¡®Nah, I wasn¡¯t gonna say thanks. I just wanted to meet you, properly.¡¯

    ¡®Oh.¡¯

    ¡®Where¡¯s the others? You know, the big one and the¡­¡¯ He gestured his face, ¡®the long-haired one.¡¯

    ¡®They¡¯re not here.¡¯ Agloff¡¯s tone soured. He saw the boy was egged on by a group of half a dozen watching them a few metres away.

    Memphis leaned over the boy. ¡®Well, you¡¯ve met him now, so toddle on.¡¯ He pulled that sneering tone he used on Agloff when they first met, and the kid ran off.

    ¡®It¡¯s alright,¡¯ Memphis added. ¡®Ariea told me it bothers you.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t appreciate they¡¯re grateful, but every time one of them comes up to me they make me feel responsible for them. I don¡¯t want to be responsible for them.¡¯

    Memphis looked at the giggling kids. ¡®If it means anything, you¡¯re definitely not.¡¯

    ¡®They always mention Thawn. Thought I¡¯d got over it. Obviously not.¡¯

    Merry and Ariea appeared through the hubbub, glasses aloft in their hands. Ariea shoved one into Agloff¡¯s. ¡®You look a right misery. Drink,¡¯ she said. ¡®I¡¯ve already had two.¡¯

    Before he could reply, she dragged him by his wrist through the crowd and to the side of the square, under the awnings of one of its many establishments. She grinned.

    ¡®What¡¯s the matter, you a grump?¡¯

    ¡®One of those kids¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Shh,¡¯ she said. ¡®It was rhetorical.¡¯ She raised his hand holding the drink. ¡®Drink it.¡¯ He sensed her tipsiness was feigned but did as she said.

    ¡®Alcohol is foul. I didn¡¯t drink at Oxford¡¯s wedding.¡¯

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡®Less we say about that, the better.¡¯

    She shepherded him on, up the edge of the square, and towards the stage where an area had been cordoned off. Couples were swaying under strings of bulging fairy lights. Ariea looked at him.

    ¡®No.¡¯

    ¡®Yes.¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t dance.¡¯

    ¡®Dancing isn¡¯t the point of dancing,¡¯ she mused. And she nudged him through into the opening. Immediately, she drew his hand to her waist and guided him in sweeping motions through the sea of couples. Her red hair glinted in the candlelight.

    ¡®You¡¯re not bad,¡¯ she said.

    Agloff looked past her shoulder. Ellen Riddis, President of the Fort, watched from the edge of the pen. She wore a sweeping white gown and peered her crowd through the lens of a champagne glass.

    ¡®Riddis is over there.¡¯ He nodded her way.

    Ariea didn¡¯t look. ¡®Would you rather dance with her?¡¯ she said.

    ¡®You know she¡¯s going to ask us about Tansk.¡¯

    The feigned drunkenness vanished. ¡®We¡¯ll deal with that if she does. We passed on what we knew. There¡¯s nothing else to say.¡¯

    ¡®Even so.¡¯

    Riddis had taken a pervasive interest in Agloff and Ariea¡¯s dealings since Winter¡¯s fall. As if she knew something they didn¡¯t.

    Then, lights flashed above the stage and shafts of glow lit a spot for a vacant speaker. Two men hurried a podium to the stage and Agloff saw Riddis rifling through sheets of paper at the side as people instructed her.

    Ariea called him back.

    ¡®Do you think it will last?¡¯ she said. She was staring aimlessly.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®All this, people being happy,¡¯ she mused.

    Agloff¡¯s eyes searched. Buffet tables filled one edge of the square; a bar, another. Faces laughed and smiled. His world looked carefree. Wishbone¡¯s tax to Winter was now unspent; wallets and bodies were fatter for the coming cold.

    ¡®The North is free, I guess. Why wouldn¡¯t it? Riddis understands people. She doesn¡¯t have an ego like Fall did.¡¯

    ¡®One supposes,¡¯ Ariea slurred, ¡®eventually something, someone, else would come around. Free people are just people waiting to be conquered.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s a rosy thought.¡¯

    ¡®True though. You think things could stay this way unchecked?¡¯

    ¡®The North is as strong as it¡¯s ever been. Wishbone, Spear, Arwa; they¡¯re unified against Ardul.¡¯

    ¡®Until one of them gets ideas of ruling the rest, and so the wheel turns. You know as anyone history never stays still. Drake¡¯s dream of a free Colony was always a lie. It only takes one to snap, then the rest fall like dominoes.¡¯ Ariea pulled her glass from behind Agloff¡¯s back and downed the rest. ¡®The Bloody Spring wasn¡¯t the last of it.¡¯

    ¡®You saying the Colony¡¯s going to end up at war?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m saying the skirmishes after Jask died were the start, not the end. Call me a pessimist.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re deep tonight.¡¯

    ¡®Just existential.¡¯ She dragged him a little closer. ¡®All these happy, smiley people, they¡¯re dreaming.¡¯

    Agloff leaned against her, pressed his lips to her ear. ¡®Then let¡¯s dream a little longer.¡¯ He took the glass from her hand and they parted. ¡®Enjoy tonight. I¡¯ll regret it, but¡­ you want another drink?¡¯ He kissed her.

    ¡®Please.¡¯

    Agloff dodged through gormless chatter to the bar in front of a string of multi-coloured houses and lifted two glasses of champagne. The chatter seemed to subdue, and he saw squat, piggy heads turn to the stage. He raised the glasses and twirled around absent-minded bodies, back to Ariea. She snatched it and downed the thing in one.

    Riddis now hunched at the podium. The crowd stopped and the crackle of a microphone gripped them.

    ¡®Good evening,¡¯ she said. ¡®A prosperous equinox to you all. Addiom Bashkar.¡¯

    At once, Agloff discerned her tone. It was tempered. Neither celebratory, nor chastened. It was political.

    ¡®It is my pleasure to see everyone here.¡¯ She looked down. ¡®It is an unusual occasion, one of unrest, upheaval and togetherness. We live in profound times, unprecedented in their weight. The future hangs heavy at our necks, as we give thanks for another summer.

    ¡®Winter¡¯s absence casts a long shadow in all directions. Friends have been forced to leave us. For others, families are reunited. We must repair and accommodate, move on and grow in these uncertain times.¡¯

    Agloff wondered how well these words were scripted. How much they had been changed and unchanged. Every syllable, every intonation was precise. Riddis walked a fine line. Wishbone had no shortage of apologists and opponents of Winter. She offended, but appeased, neither in that way politicians did, really by saying nothing at all.

    ¡®Most of all, we should remember those we lost. I would pay respects to former Ambassador Stone, an honourable man, late Apostle of Anna, lost in the skirmishes on Spear¡¯s borders. And his nephew who sadly succumbed to illness.¡¯

    The crowd responded in half-murmurs of contempt or support.

    Good riddance, thought Agloff.

    ¡®I mourn the loss of Taret Stone¡¯s wisdom and counsel. But in kind, we should continue to welcome the many children who have found a home at Wishbone this year. They have become friends, neighbours, sons and daughters to so many wonderful parents, taken into our homes and hearts. As many too, have come home.¡¯

    Her rambling eulogies and metaphors continued. Agloff¡¯s eyes glazed at her words, as Ariea leaned against his shoulder. He then felt Riddis¡¯ speech rise to its conclusion. Her voice carried in waves.

    ¡®We live in a new world,¡¯ she said, a new Colony, one in which we fend for ourselves, but we stand shoulder to shoulder with brothers, sisters. We fend for ourselves. But we fend, and we thrive!¡¯

    Her foot clapped the stage and she raised two arms to the crowd.

    ¡®Fend and thrive!¡¯ they replied in chorus. ¡®Fend and thrive! Fend and thrive!¡¯ Applause broke out around them as Riddis stepped down, arms aloft, surrounded by guards and important people.

    ¡®Ahh-ughh-ohh.¡¯ A man blustered through the crowd to Agloff and Ariea. They turned their back to him.

    ¡®Oh-err, sorry,¡¯ he slurred. He walked, hunched, with a glass in one hand, and swept a mop of blonde hair by the other. He jabbed the air at them. ¡®You¡¯re Ashborne, and Finland,¡¯ he said. ¡®Ad-Addiom Bashkar. Addiom Bashkar. Celebrities. Secretary Bose.¡¯ He offered a hand.

    ¡®Yes?¡¯ Agloff said, not taking it. ¡®What of it?¡¯

    ¡®Just a pleasure to meet you. You did s¡¯all a favour, sorted out these good folks, honest, free folks, from the Winter arse-lickers.¡¯

    Ariea leaned behind Agloff¡¯s ear, whispered, ¡®Gross.¡¯

    ¡®The good lady Riddis speaks highly of you.¡¯

    ¡®President of the Fort,¡¯ Ariea corrected.

    ¡®Yes, quite. I heard of your¡­ vivacity.¡¯ Bose jabbed a finger at Ariea, then, seemingly distracted, raised it to the lights above. ¡®They have a name for you, up there at the offices.¡¯

    ¡®A name for- me?¡¯ said Ariea.

    ¡®They call you the Slayer.¡¯ He smiled madly.

    Agloff recoiled. The past, and all its misery, hauled him back. It reached at them like a lumbering giant. Insurmountable.

    ¡®They do?¡¯ Ariea¡¯s lip shook.

    ¡®I say it¡¯s a kickass name.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not a name at all,¡¯ Agloff said, restraining himself.

    Bose ducked, and seemed to catch sight of a haze in Ariea¡¯s eyes. ¡®I meant no offence.¡¯

    ¡®You think Ariea hasn¡¯t had enough of people talking to her about that?¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®Move along, Bose.¡¯

    The man skulked away, taking sheepish glances back.

    ¡®You alright?¡¯

    ¡®I will not just be the girl who killed Malvo Jask. I am more than that, aren¡¯t I?¡¯

    ¡®If people bothered to know you, they¡¯d realise that¡¯s the least interesting thing about you. People will stop asking eventually if we give it time.¡¯

    Ariea scoffed. ¡®How long you got?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m very sorry if my colleague disturbed you,¡¯ a voice called at them. They turned. Riddis strolled toward them. ¡®Bose is a¡­ He¡¯s quite harmless.¡¯

    ¡®He said you call Ariea the Slayer,¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®Agloff, don¡¯t, it doesn¡¯t matter,¡¯ Ariea replied. She tugged at his arm.

    Riddis looked at them. ¡®It¡¯s quite alright. I¡¯ve made a point of them not doing, but some didn¡¯t get the message. They¡¯ll be disciplined.¡¯ She was a tall woman, Riddis, and younger than her authority expected. Her blonde hair was slickly pinned into a bun.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to go home.¡¯ Ariea turned to Agloff. ¡®You hang out with Merry and Memph for a bit. I¡¯ll be fine,¡¯ she lied. She reached up and pecked him.

    Agloff nodded, watched her weave through the sea of gormless bodies. She would be grateful for the time alone to unwind. His eyes watched until the last blink of her hair vanished from view.

    ¡®Agloff.¡¯ Riddis summoned his attention. ¡®How are you?¡¯

    He shrugged.

    ¡®I appreciate if it means very little coming from me, but I am truly sorry for what¡¯s been said of Ariea. A great deal of idle gossip and rumour on the side. It¡¯s none of their business to discuss.¡¯

    Agloff didn¡¯t look at her. ¡®It was never your business to demand to know what happened at Eden in the first place.¡¯

    ¡®Perhaps you¡¯re right.¡¯

    ¡®What do you want to talk about? There¡¯s a reason you¡¯re talking to me, presumably?¡¯

    ¡®Presumably. Let¡¯s dance. It¡¯s a good excuse to talk business,¡¯ Riddis said. Before Agloff could resist, she scooped his hands into hers and pulled him into swaying motions.

    ¡®Is this about the railway station? We did everything¡ª''

    ¡®No. You did good at Tansk, troubling though your findings were. We will discuss that another time.¡¯

    ¡®Then why are we dancing?¡¯ Agloff¡¯s eyes rolled.

    ¡®I need you on my side, Agloff. You and Ariea.¡¯

    ¡®On your side?¡¯

    ¡®The North is at a crossroads. Until now, we have been quite united in dispatching Winter¡¯s remains. With the partition at Troder Hills, Ardul is firmly ousted to the South, or so we hope. Winter has found a measure of stability. More can than be said for ourselves.¡¯

    Agloff raised an eyebrow, failing to see what this had to do with him.

    ¡®How the land that was vacated is divvied among the powers that be is a pressing matter. Those with greatest influence stand with the most to gain and to lose, ourselves included.¡¯

    Agloff laughed in his head. How prescient Ariea was.

    ¡®And?¡¯

    ¡®And it¡¯ll be a petty, long, vindictive affair of bartering and jibes so each may ensure they come out on top. Wishbone must present a strong front. It¡¯s self-preservation.¡¯

    ¡®I see.¡¯

    He wondered if she felt the pressure, at her age, likely but ten years older than he.

    ¡®Doubt me if you will. I want to conserve the independence and diversity of a North that blossomed in Winter¡¯s shadow.¡¯

    ¡®Others disagree?¡¯ Agloff kept his responses abrupt. He thought it might hasten an end to his awkwardness. But it just prompted Riddis to keep talking.

    ¡®Yara Poll.¡¯ Riddis¡¯ face soured. ¡®That woman is a blight on this land. A wretch with imperial dreams.¡¯

    ¡®Your dislike of her is well known.¡¯ Agloff thought Poll sounded like Governor Fall of the Underground.

    ¡®A Colony presided by Yara Poll is as low a fate as one under Jask. And that is her intention.¡¯

    Agloff was not sure he could agree.

    ¡®The woman is a fascist,¡¯ Riddis said to his doubtful look.

    ¡®Winter was worse. Are.¡¯ Agloff shrugged.

    ¡®Don¡¯t let your personal feelings on the matter sully things. Yara Poll has commanded Spear for four decades, expunged every political opponent in that time. She believes in its right to command the Colony in Winter¡¯s fall. I daresay the vixen would rule as long as Jask if she could. In any case, Winter are communists, not fascists,¡¯ she added compulsively, as if everything needed completing and clarifying. There could be no ambiguity in her words.

    Agloff couldn¡¯t stop himself from sighing. ¡®What does this have to do with me?¡¯ he asked at last.

    ¡®Everything. But these words are too private for a city dance.¡¯

    Agloff thought he was past the point of being the centre of attention when Ariea pulled the trigger on Jask. Alas, Riddis had always kept a close watch on him.

    ¡®Then where?¡¯

    ¡®Dinner,¡¯ Riddis said. ¡®My office, tomorrow evening.¡¯

    ¡®What if I don¡¯t feel like it?¡¯

    ¡®Then I am ordering you to dinner. It is essential Ariea comes too, whether she feels like it or not.¡¯

    ¡®That would depend on if your staff call her Slayer.¡¯

    Agloff wondered if he had a right to talk to Riddis in such a tone. But it didn¡¯t seem to bother her, as though he could carry himself in a way others did not, and get away with it.

    ¡®Tomorrow at Seven. Ariea must come.¡¯ Her features tightened, her grip on Agloff¡¯s hands slackened. ¡®This is an order from the highest authority.¡¯

    ¡®Yours? Poll¡¯s?¡¯ Agloff sneered.

    ¡®No. The will of Malvo Jask¡¯s.¡¯

 Dark Noon Chapter 5 | On the Foundation of a Nation

    Chapter Five

    On The Foundation of a Nation

    Ariea was annoyed at Riddis, at Bose, the people at the offices who called her ¡®Slayer¡¯. She wasn¡¯t annoyed at Agloff, but whenever she expressed her annoyance, Agloff couldn¡¯t help but take it personally, as though she were annoyed at him. He would fawn and apologise and grovel and apologise again. Which itself was even more annoying.

    She looked over the top of her book and saw Agloff grinning awkwardly in the doorway. He held a tray of biscuits and cheese in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. He shuffled in, sat beside Ariea.

    Ariea opened her mouth.

    ¡®I¡¯m not grovelling,¡¯ said Agloff first. ¡®But you do need a pick-me-up.¡¯ He forced the glass of wine into her hand.

    He dragged strands of hair over her ear and Ariea pretended it didn¡¯t make her feel better.

    ¡®You¡¯re sweet,¡¯ she said like always.

    ¡®What¡¯s the book about?¡¯

    Ariea glanced the cover. ¡®It hasn¡¯t changed since you asked this morning,¡¯ she said wryly, ¡®or last night.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m a goldfish for conversations.¡¯

    She flared her eyes humorously. ¡®The Ecologies of Lourdes,¡¯ she read from the cover. ¡®It¡¯s dry.¡¯

    ¡®The writing or the ecology?¡¯

    ¡®Both.¡¯ She closed the book then, pocketed her glasses and looked at him. ¡®There¡¯s a desert along the equator called the Egregious Plain that gets less rainfall than the Sahara, if you were genuinely interested. Thank you for this,¡¯ she said, taking a sip of wine. ¡®But I¡¯m not seeing Riddis.¡¯

    ¡®She¡¯s not perfect, I know, but she does the best she can, I think. Yara Poll, Jask, Stone, Fall, Drake. Everyone we¡¯ve known is worse.¡¯

    ¡®She the one to tell you about Poll?¡¯

    ¡®I think the point stands.¡¯

    ¡®We don¡¯t know her dirty secrets though, do we? Something¡¯s in it for her, else why would she be so desperate. And what¡¯s Jask¡¯s will got to do with her anyway? She¡¯s stuck her nose in where it didn¡¯t belong from the start.¡¯

    Agloff tilted his head. ¡®We can find out. We can always say no.¡¯

    Ariea stood and pulled her dressing gown over herself. ¡®Agloff, I already did say no. She disrespected us. She let us suffer Erobo, would have wilfully handed us off to Winter if she knew who we were. I just... don¡¯t trust her. And do you trust whatever Jask has left us, me, the woman who killed him? I could live in ignorance, and it wouldn¡¯t bother me. But once I know, I can¡¯t unknow it. It could put us in a position we don¡¯t want to be in.¡¯

    Behind, Agloff sighed a little, then followed her, standing. ¡®It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t agree with you. You know from six months of running routes together, from being your boyfriend, I¡¯d never put you in a position you¡¯re not comfortable in. I¡¯m just not assuming we¡¯ll have a choice. She won¡¯t leave anything to chance.¡¯

    Ariea watched the sun wane, flatten over the distant edge of Principia from their lofty window. A tight feeling bubbled in her insides, like weeds were growing in her stomach.

    She growled and it tapered into a sort of laugh. ¡®Why do you have to be so...

    ¡®Lovely?

    ¡®Level-headed. Everything you say makes perfect sense and it¡¯s really irritating. Just agree with me sometimes.¡¯

    Agloff laughed at this. ¡®High praise indeed. Times like this, I wish Marty was around. He was savvy for this shit.¡¯

    Ariea sank against the wall again and munched on cheese. Brie, she thought it was. Agloff followed her, and her head slipped across his shoulder. She pretended she wasn¡¯t comforted, but when she was close to him, the world itself fell away, as if it were only background noise.

    Then, she scoffed. ¡®Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m actually agreeing with you.¡¯ She had never liked Marty, Agloff¡¯s family friend, but she conceded he had a worldly wisdom they lacked. Strange to think that Marty was ancient history, frozen beneath the wastes of the Underground.

    Footsteps approached, and Ariea¡¯s head span to the door. Merry stood there sheepishly, her fingers fidgeting.

    ¡®Town guard¡¯s outside,¡¯ she said. ¡®Riddis is demanding you.¡¯ She looked back as a shout bounced up the stairs. ¡®Less than politely too.¡¯

    So, this was how Riddis was going to play it, thought Ariea; strongarm them to her will, for her schemes and secrets. If Riddis wanted them as willing allies, she was doing her utmost otherwise.

    At last, she looked at Agloff and smiled cutely, as if to concede some imagined bet. ¡®Nothing left to chance then,¡¯ she surmised.

    They stooped into the gloom of evening, still in their nightwear. She took Agloff¡¯s hand, escorted to the terraced square of multicoloured houses, where Fort Wishbone¡¯s bureaucracy did its work. Ariea was thankful for the lateness of the hour; there were less about to stare. On the fronts of houses, she saw offerings of bread and pastry, left from the Bashkar Ball to stale.

    Riddis had called it the most uncertain of times. Old trade routes were vulnerable and new ones forged amidst shifting alliances and the blight of unhinged bandits. Yet, people feasted as though the harvest would never end.

    Was this my doing? she thought. Is this the world I created?

    Through it, she glimpsed the dark place Erobo had shown her, a vastness of nothingness. It pulled her down with it, tied her mind in wells of dark thought that seemed inescapable. She didn¡¯t sleep sometimes. And sometimes Agloff reached across and held her, and its terrible weight lifted. And sometimes it made no difference. The nothingness came and went as ponderously as the wind and the rain.

    Then, the town¡¯s guard prodded them inside the offices, and Ariea recoiled at the velvet and gold, the shuffling of papers and collared workers in suspenders and unscuffed shoes. It intimidated in its luxury. The guards pointed them below the offices to a vast hall where Ariea thought the Fort might hold functions to flatter the dignitaries of foreign forts. Smaller drawing and dining rooms, stinking of cigars and old people, were annexed either side.

    Ellen Riddis beckoned from one of these. She sat straight-backed, regal-looking, draped in the coat of some animal.

    ¡®You needn¡¯t thank us for coming, you left us little choice,¡¯ said Agloff, before Riddis could open her mouth, or Ariea could think to say something worse, no doubt.

    ¡®All the same. Thank you for your compliance then. I doubt you¡¯re in the mood to eat, but there¡¯s meals prepared for you. Please sit.¡¯

    Ariea didn¡¯t at first, then Agloff urged her with a begging look. Where Riddis¡¯ plate should be next to theirs, a plump envelope sat opened.

    ¡®Just say what you have to,¡¯ Ariea said. The place unsettled her, thinking of the words heard in its corridors.

    Riddis sighed. She pulled the envelope¡¯s contents and spoke bluntly. ¡®I¡¯ll dispense with the technicalities, shall I? To say Malvo Jask¡¯s assets were considerable is a gross understatement. They were not limited to: dominion over the cities of Eden, Blocks One through Sixteen, the southern stronghold of Stormdown, the intervening lands known as Winterland, and the assembled wealth and resources of Winter, of which he shared none with anyone. Jask was survived by no descendants, antecedents or spouses.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s good? Winter ends with him,¡¯ Ariea said, as if it made it so.

    ¡®Quite the contrary, it has made Winter¡¯s succession messy, and, as I explained to Agloff last night, the status of its land volatile, and highly disputed. An heir to negotiate with would be, to me at least, preferable.¡¯

    Ariea could not argue at this. ¡®That¡­ makes sense.¡¯

    ¡®Despite Winter¡¯s faults, of which there are far too many to enumerate, it did unite the Colony, after a fashion. I choose my words carefully. I appreciate your feelings towards Winter.¡¯

    ¡®And the will? It names an heir?¡¯

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡®Of a sort. I¡¯m told Jask amended his will shortly before he died. Naturally, the North¡¯s leaders were tripping over themselves for it. Needless to say, this is not the only copy.¡¯ Riddis flashed the envelope up at them. ¡®You should consider yourselves lucky you¡¯re under my protection.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡®Why is that?¡¯

    For a second time, Riddis sighed, read, ¡®I, Malvo Jask, do revoke all prior wills and declare this my Last Will and Testament. First, I bequeath the estates, titles, and powers of the leadership of the lands of Winter to Agloff Ashborne of Fort Backwater. Should Agloff Ashborne not survive me by thirty days, I give this bequeathment to Abbadiah Thawn, Pilgrim of the Torgan Commune of Winter.¡¯ Riddis paused. ¡®He makes other arrangements for personal property, though he had scant possessions.¡¯

    ¡®Jask¡­ left me all of Winter?¡¯ Agloff said, horror-struck.

    ¡®He did indeed.¡¯

    ¡®Is this legal?¡¯ Ariea asked. It was the first thing that came to her lips. All other thoughts were too big to articulate.

    ¡®That is the question. Jask may have been Winter¡¯s founder and ruler, but whether he had the right to simply give it away we are unsure of. Much of Winter¡¯s authority was not formalised into legal text. Long have they adjudicated by precedent. And there is no precedent for succession.¡¯

    Ariea stared at Agloff, wondered what he must be thinking now. Here the pair of them sat, Winter¡¯s slayer and Winter¡¯s heir. A pair of kids. How dumb of her it was to think they could have dumb dreams like normal teenagers.

    ¡®Surely, I can refuse, right?¡¯ Agloff argued. ¡®Just say I don¡¯t want it.¡¯

    ¡®In theory, yes. But there are two issues with that. The first, I mentioned an heir was preferable to the North squabbling amongst itself for Winter¡¯s land. With an heir, it can be ceded and divided through proper negotiation. Second, is where then does Jask¡¯s successor then come from?¡¯ Riddis¡¯ voice was dark.

    ¡®Ardul at Stormdown?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Hmm. In my eyes, he is one of two reasonable alternatives, given the other Apostles have been subjugated.¡¯

    ¡®And who is the other?¡¯

    Riddis¡¯ eyes pierced her. ¡®You, Ariea. As the woman who killed Jask, you have the most legitimate claim to his throne after Agloff. It is the way successions have been settled historically. You have as much claim as Ardul.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not taking it!¡¯ she blurted. ¡®Neither of us are. Winter died when Jask died. That is the end of it.¡¯

    ¡®Ardul is a sadistic and vengeful man. He would rule in your stead.¡¯

    The aches of what came after that gunshot at Eden tugged at the sinews of Ariea¡¯s body. How many people had she condemned to misery without Winter¡¯s protection? Or made vulnerable by privateers now looking for work in their absence? Every day, she hurt. She carried the hurt of a nation.

    Perhaps it was her place: to take it and end it. End Winter and all its consequences.

    Agloff laughed. ¡®You think me taking this would¡­ what, placate Ardul? Jask did this not ¡®cos he wanted me to succeed him. It¡¯s because he wants to suffocate me, hurt me, put me in everyone¡¯s sights, expose me to the whole world.¡¯

    Ariea remembered what Agloff said Thawn told him that day at Eden: Jask wanted Agloff to suffer so Thawn could suffer. This was his final plan then. To crush Agloff from all sides as heir of Winter.

    ¡®Ardul would challenge the succession, whether it was me, or Ariea, or you took the land for yourselves.¡¯

    ¡®You seem very sure of that.¡¯ said Riddis.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know Jask, but I know enough. He only ever wanted to make me hurt. If I took Winter, everyone would be gunning for us.

    ¡®Yara Poll is already eager to meet with you. I refuse daily on your behalf.¡¯

    ¡®What would you have us do then?¡¯

    ¡®Absolutely nothing,¡¯ Riddis said calmly. ¡®Let them grovel for now. Your indecision is your strength. Like me, Poll needs you on side.¡¯ Riddis spat some curse at the table.

    ¡®Why?¡¯ said Agloff.

    ¡®Is that not self-explanatory? The witch wants you to concede Winter¡¯s land to Fort Spear. She wants to flatter you, win you over. Present herself as the most reasonable candidate for leading a united North.¡¯

    Ariea scowled a little. ¡®Is that not what you¡¯re doing now?¡¯

    ¡®I want the best solution,¡¯ Riddis said vaguely. Ariea wondered if her elusiveness was to hide her own motives, or because she had not yet decided what the best solution was. ¡®Poll has grander plans.¡¯ Riddis reached into the envelop and flashed another document at them. In large letters, it was entitled: On the Foundation of a Nation.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure you¡¯re going to tell us what that is?¡¯ asked Ariea.

    ¡®Poll wants to replace Winterland with a nation. Colony Two would no longer be independent. All settlements, from the Furthest Reaches, to the Old Underground to the Scourgelands, including Ardul¡¯s Winter, would be under the jurisdiction of one authority.¡¯

    Agloff eyed the letter. ¡®And Poll wants its capital at Fort Spear?¡¯

    ¡®How astute you are,¡¯ Riddis said dryly. ¡®She would make all the Colony hers to command.¡¯

    ¡®Is that not good?¡¯ Ariea said this to rile Riddis. To test her motivations. ¡®You want the North united against Ardul?¡¯

    ¡®The implications are more than symbolic, Ariea. What if the people don¡¯t consent? Many have never been ruled by any but themselves. I dread to think the wars Yara Poll would wage with a standing army of the Colony at her disposal. The Colony exists in a fragile balance, but it has always existed by the virtue of each to their own. Even Winter allowed small towns and forts to live at their own discretion.¡¯

    The more Riddis spoke, the more Ariea could not help but succumb to her genuineness.

    ¡®You are my chip against this proposal, for a free North,¡¯ Riddis said then. Her head dipped at the table and Agloff and Ariea stared at each other.

    ¡®Who¡¯s signed onto this?¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Martell Ragnarsson, Eden¡¯s Acting Governor, Ealdorman Onderhoon of Arwa County, Queen Triss of the Southern Perishes and the entire Southern Reserve. Even the Strawlands and Marlin the Ird of the East. He has the Irdish families¡¯ support. It¡¯s quite the fellowship.¡¯

    Ariea racked her brain through the maps she had long committed to memory. That covered near the entire Colony but for Winterland, she thought.

    ¡®Are there any dissenters?¡¯ Agloff said.

    Riddis leaned back, wounded looking. ¡®Ardul gives no word of support or opposition. Nor do either of the other claimants to Winter.¡¯ She looked at them with a creeping smile. ¡®Abba Yondo of Ithma is the only other. But her navy is enough to keep Poll away and she owns no land.¡¯

    ¡®And you,¡¯ Agloff added.

    ¡®And me. But my resistance means very little without yours. I know this is more than a lot, and you have no reason to trust me¡­¡¯ Riddis¡¯ tongue tripped over absent words. ¡®All I can give you is my word that I am sincere.¡¯

    Ariea thought. That was all she could do in that moment. Possibilities and solutions chased each other round her head. Each led to a dead end with Poll in control of Winter. Her support was only challenged if they did what Riddis asked: hold out, negotiate, reach a middle ground.

    But why did it have to be them?

    Why?

    ¡®Could you not agree to her plans?¡¯ mooted Agloff then. He sat in a thorny pose. ¡®But convince the other leaders to remove Poll after you¡¯ve dealt with Winter¡¯s land?¡¯

    ¡®Considered and disregarded. There¡¯s too many links in that chain. I have a strong relationship with none of them, and it would take only one to confide in Poll.¡¯

    ¡®What if we concede the land to you?¡¯ Ariea said. She stood and started to pace the table. Riddis¡¯ eyes followed and Agloff watched.

    ¡®To me? You have no reason to trust I would be any different to Fort Spear.¡¯

    True, Ariea thought, but what alternative was there. No matter Riddis¡¯ intentions, they seemed more honest than Poll, and this could remove Ariea and Agloff from the whole dreadful business all the quicker.

    ¡®If me and Agloff were in agreement, there could be no disputing it, could there? Because we both have a strong claim to Winter, so if we agree no one has grounds to argue. You could use the time that gives you to work with the others to get them onside, tone Poll down.¡¯

    ¡®You are right,¡¯ Riddis said. ¡®But there is problem there. I control Winter¡¯s lands, but on the say so of two teenagers¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Who are heirs to Winter!¡¯

    Riddis raised her hand. ¡®Let me finish. On the say so of two teenagers who live in this Fort only by my good graces. With nothing in writing, who is to say that concession stands.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯ll sign a contract,¡¯ Ariea spluttered.

    ¡®Binding according to whom? Not Poll, not Arwa County or the Southerners. Who¡¯s to say I didn¡¯t threaten or coerce you into signing it? It could be disputed on any number of points. No, good suggestion that it is, even if you gave Winter over to Wishbone, even temporarily, you would have to show face, give them no grounds to contest it.¡¯

    Ariea felt her cheeks pale. ¡®Show face? Where?¡¯

    ¡®Poll has convened a meeting of the Colony at Eden. Everyone is attending, including Ardul. I am reluctant to say, you both must go.¡¯

    Ariea was furious. Heat flushed down her spine and it took great effort just to stand still. Her eyes narrowed. She wasn¡¯t sure who she was angry at; she was just angry. But what good did saying ¡®no¡¯ do? She sank back into her chair, scowled like a moody child.

    ¡®Whether it is your decision to sign Winter over to Wishbone¡¯s council, to Poll or, dare I say, rule it yourselves, you must do it in full view of them all. Give them no reason to doubt you. I¡¯m sorry it has to be this way.¡¯

    Agloff looked up at her, grunted, ¡®It¡¯s not your fault, is it. You don¡¯t have to say sorry.¡¯

    ¡®I do¡­ because I am the one putting you in this position. Believe me, I exhausted every option before summoning you here.¡¯

    Ariea felt a sickness well in her throat at the thought of treading Eden¡¯s ground again. It was the most awful place, where the world nearly ended. It was a jungle of grey and concrete and disease. Even free of Winter, she thought she would never return.

    But now, the world compelled her back because she ¡®must¡¯, but what did that mean?

    ¡®The first thing I said,¡¯ Ariea said then, ¡®was that we weren¡¯t taking it.¡¯ She looked at Agloff who¡¯s look did not dissuade her from continuing. ¡®What happens, in black and white, if we renounce our claim?¡¯

    Riddis tremored. ¡®I won¡¯t allow that. You¡¯ll be detained. The cost is too great.¡¯

    ¡®How can you when we command Winter until you do. You have no power over us.¡¯ Ariea spoke cold and dark. ¡®You showed your hand already.¡¯

    ¡®Quite the impasse then.¡¯ Riddis straightened herself and leaned across the varnished table. ¡®If you renounce the lands and titles of Winter, Ardul would be left its only claimant, meaning any landgrab made by Spear or Wishbone or anyone is illegal. Each would retaliate with their own landgrabs, determined not to lose out on a piece of the pie. Like dominoes falling, the Colony would find itself at war. Even then, you would have to renounce your claim at Eden. There is no way out of this for you, with or without my help.¡¯

    It was a strange kind of power to have, over countless possible futures. The turnings of the world turned on the thoughts in their heads. The people had no idea their fate was held in this place. Between oaken furniture and silken draperies. But, Ariea thought, such was the nature of power.

    ¡®This is what Jask¡¯s death created,¡¯ Riddis continued. The skirmishes that followed condemned Winter to the South for now. But it¡¯s not sustainable, not indefinitely.¡¯ She stood. Her cloak fell across the lines of her body like liquid. ¡®Think it over. I suppose the decision is yours. You have eight days. That¡¯s when our company leaves for Eden.¡¯

    How can eight days be enough to decide? Ariea thought. How can any time be enough? They followed Riddis to their feet and skulked to the doorway to the open function hall.

    Why does it have to be us? She thought again, always, on a loop inside her head, as it had been for the last six months, the last eight hundred and nine years.

    ¡®I have one question,¡¯ Agloff said, stopping in the doorway. Ariea looked back at him and Riddis, who was parcelling her papers away under her arm.

    ¡®Yes?¡¯ the councillor said.

    ¡®Was there a name for the new Colony? Yara Poll¡¯s nation, I mean?¡¯

    ¡®There are several she suggests.¡¯

    ¡®Ahh. Does she have a favourite?¡¯

    ¡®Noon.¡¯

    They merely nodded. Ariea then let him take her hand. Noon. Funny name.

 Dark Noon Chapter Six | All the World, and Everything In It

    Chapter Six

    All the World, and Everything in It

    ¡®Again.¡¯

    Oxford Blue gasped, bear-backed, his knees against the stone. His lungs clutched at vanishing air. It was a panicked sensation, like all the air in the world couldn¡¯t satisfy him, like a soaked towel lain across his face.

    ¡®I said, ¡°again¡±, boy. Geddup.¡¯

    He wheezed, staggered to his feet. Immediately a blow lashed at the backs of his knees and Oxford collapsed in silence. He pushed the air through his cheeks, resolved to not cry out.

    ¡®I pity you, boy.¡¯ Baldrick Chen¡¯s voice boomed over him, like streaks of thunder.

    Oxford slowly raised his head. His dishevelled hair swallowed him like matted snakes. His beard was long at his breast and red marks painted him in a criss-cross of lashings.

    ¡®Why?¡¯ Oxford mumbled.

    ¡®What was that?¡¯

    ¡®Why do you pity me?¡¯

    ¡®You came to me with your wailing, self-pity bullshit. Asking for purpose. But I see you¡¯ve never been broken.¡¯ Chen lowered his forearm and Oxford saw the pinkish scarring of half-healed burns. ¡®Lynn¡¯s men.¡¯ He raised his tunic and Oxford saw a puncture wound above his hip. ¡®Two Voyeurs jumped me on the Southerly Road. And, look at you, you¡¯re clean.¡¯

    ¡®So, show me,¡¯ Oxford begged.

    ¡®The Travelling Sword is an instinct. Learned, but not taught. It is a worldly wisdom you¡¯ve yet to possess. You¡¯ve known this land not a year, boy. Try over fifty.¡¯

    Oxford bowed.

    ¡®Yer a cub. Dinner¡¯s ready,¡¯ Chen grumbled then. ¡®Get dressed.¡¯

    Nodding, Oxford backed into a corner of Chen¡¯s stone homestead. It was a single room, hollowed out from a giant structure in the heart of the Flatlands, territory crossed only by bandits and the like. Sand-coloured walls held the light well. One wouldn¡¯t know it was scarce dawn.

    A fire crackled in the corner. Oxford slung a blanket Chen had tossed him across his shoulders and gathered in a bowl of porridge, wolfing down small spoonfuls.

    ¡®You know, we choose,¡¯ Chen said softly.

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯

    ¡®The Sword. We choose who we take as apprentices. No one volunteers because few know where to find us. You¡¯re unique. Aye, you¡¯re thick as pig shit, but you got the mindset. You care without caring.¡¯

    Oxford knew better than to thank him for this ¡®compliment¡¯. He should just take it. It was a peculiar reversal. So long had Oxford told people that he knew better. That he knew these lands and roads like the back of his hand, their intimate secrets, and the unspoken ways of dealing with strangers. But as Chen said, he knew nothing since the Underground. He was an infant.

    He recalled telling Agloff to shut up and do as he was told in the forests around Fort Backwater. Such a long time ago.

    Agloff.

    Oxford¡¯s brain chewed on the name, before returning to his porridge.

    ¡®What troubles you, boy? I see the way of a look behind those eyes.¡¯

    ¡®Nothing, Sir.¡¯

    Biggest lie anyone ever told, that is.¡¯

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®That nothing¡¯s wrong. They want your pity, but they don¡¯t want to tell you why.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t need pity.¡¯

    ¡®You have mine all the same. For all and everything.¡¯

    Oxford had told Chen the story. At first, he assumed it passed through him, unattended. But every now and then, Oxford caught a moment where Chen seemed to see him, all of him. This was one of those moments.

    ¡®You needn¡¯t be grateful,¡¯ Chen added. ¡®Just take the sentiment.¡¯

    ¡®Yessir.¡¯

    No sooner had Oxford suckled his last spoonful of porridge than a shadow swept into the open doorway to the Flatlands. Oxford tipped back in his seat, and his head was caught in a moment¡¯s fright. Chen sniggered at him, then beckoned the visitor to enter.

    ¡®Allegiant Chen.¡¯ It was a squeaky-voiced child, not yet a man of fifteen or so, yet to fill out. Leathery garb was cleaved into strips by his ankles and his greased hair was wild and unkempt. It swallowed him as Oxford¡¯s did. ¡®Allegiant Blue.¡¯ He dipped his head at Oxford.

    Oxford did not return the look.

    ¡®Dahl,¡¯ Chen said.

    Allegiant Kasper Dahl was a weaselly child whom Oxford knew from scant meetings. He was an apprentice of Allegiant Allwyn as Oxford was of Chen. There was something of the pair of them Oxford didn¡¯t like.

    ¡®Use your words, boy. Say as needs saying,¡¯ Chen spat at the kid.

    ¡®I was holding the gaze at Went Town,¡¯ the weasel said nervously.

    Chen passed a sideways glance at Oxford. He shunned the look. Apprentices of the Travelling Sword often served as passive observers in towns, roamers. It was an essential part of their education. Chen said it was in mundane observation that the world revealed itself.

    ¡®I¡¯ll see that you hold the gaze in a town of your own soon,¡¯ Chen had told him.

    ¡®But I don¡¯t understand these people,¡¯ Oxford argued. ¡®How could I see their injustices? Know when to act and what¡¯s common arguing?¡¯

    ¡®When you sit amongst them, share in their lives, that is when you understand. Apprentices don¡¯t pass judgement. They observe, reason, and infer. When time comes to bloody your blade, I¡¯ll let you know.¡¯

    Apprentices watched for signs of trouble, for days or weeks at a time, then alerted their or other Allegiants to the affair. There was a slickness to it. As Oxford saw it, the Travelling Sword were loners. Angry misers across the Colony who stalked the places between places. The likes that didn¡¯t have a justice of their own.

    In Oxford¡¯s limited experience, Allegiants of the Sword held the peace by their reputations alone. But when they inflicted their justices, they were both swift and absolute.

    ¡®There was a palaver, Sir,¡¯ Dahl continued then.

    ¡®A palaver at Went Town?¡¯

    Dahl nodded. ¡®The Justice Mergot is dead, Sir. Topped by a wretch name of Cedes. He was due for a hanging. Took off and fled.¡¯

    ¡®I remember Mergot. More of a miser than me, that woman,¡¯ said Chen, though Oxford wondered how that were possible. ¡®How¡¯s the town?¡¯

    ¡®Shaken but well, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Good. And how long a head start does the rat have?¡¯

    ¡®No more than a few hours, Sir. Long as it took for me to reach you. Allegiant Allwyn was indisposed, and he¡¯s always talked highly of you, Sir.¡¯

    Chen scoffed. ¡®Flattered. But it will be twice that time by when we reach Went Town.¡¯ He turned to Oxford. ¡®Gather the swords and the coats, boy. Ready the horses too.¡¯

    Oxford bowed sharply from his bedside. He said nothing, gathering bundled fabrics and parcelling food into wrappings like the dutiful servant he now was.

    ¡®Will you escort us, boy?¡¯ Chen said to Dahl.

    Dahl shook his head. ¡®I should see to Allegiant Allwyn, Sir. He is content, but his illness takes its toll all the same.¡¯

    ¡®Very well.¡¯ Chen passed a look to Oxford who hid his enthusiasm at this fact. ¡®Consider yourself relieved.¡¯

    ¡®Thank you. I told the Macer, Ives, to expect you.¡¯

    They bowed at each other, and Dahl saw himself out onto the plains. His departing shadow cast shapes on the wind-carved channels that shaped the room.

    Oxford watched the kid straddled the back of a squat horse. Dahl¡¯s visit had all the brevity Oxford had come to expect from the Travelling Sword.

    Oxford thought Allwyn and Chen friends, yet his master showed no sadness at the prospect of Allwyn¡¯s illness, nor even the curiosity to enquire to its severity.

    ¡®You should do better than to pass him sneering looks, Blue,¡¯ Chen said then. ¡®You¡¯ll do well to rely on him one day, as I have on Allwyn. Our work is not so solitary. He¡¯s a good lad.¡¯

    ¡®Sorry, Sir. It¡¯s just he¡¯s arrogant. They both are.¡¯

    Chen slung a pair of swords at Oxford who folded them into his bundle. ¡®Are you not? I would be if I toppled the Red Cathedral. I see your looks. When you think you know better. Dahl¡¯s a kid, no different. Leave him be.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m sure he thinks the same of me.¡¯

    ¡®Hmm. In our situation, it serves to trust in our abilities. We have few others to rely on.¡¯ Chen then passed a glance outside. The shadows were shortening as the sun climbed above them. ¡®We should ride out.¡¯

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Chen donned his travelling cloak and indicated Oxford do the same. They fastened their longswords to their backs, to ward off passing vagrants. Tethered to a post just beyond the shade of the giant rock they made their home were two horses, gnawing mindlessly on thick grass. Chen took the larger, an auburn Suffolk Punch called Welch. Even if it were impractical for his age, it signalled status.

    He led Oxford on north-west, towards the shallower edge of the plains where ridged hills poked above the ribbons of forest ensnaring them. Sparse settlements covered these lands, of a dozen or two.

    As they drew closer, Oxford spied walls running in concentric circles up the ridge¡¯s tallest peak. Paths and roads connected them. Nested settlements sat inside each other. The uppermost was obscured from view by a wall as tall as its buildings.

    Chen pointed the way up a track towards them and Oxford tugged at the reins on his Morgan. It jerked after Welch, cutting up the angle of the road.

    ¡®Good thing about weather like this is the rat will leave tracks to follow. And out here, there aren¡¯t all that many places a vagrant can hide.¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s a clumsy bastard,¡¯ Oxford surmised.

    ¡®Often are. All thought goes into the act itself. None for how they might survive thereafter.¡¯

    ¡®Have you seen a lot of his type then?¡¯

    Chen erred. ¡®Aye, usually. Violent, vengeful men and women. The cruel sort. If they don¡¯t enjoy it, they at least don¡¯t feel remorse. Not like me and you.¡¯

    ¡®You feel remorseful?¡¯ Oxford was surprised at this.

    ¡®Of course. Any life taken is a violation. We are broken people, Oxford. It takes a perverse disposition to succeed as an Allegiant of the Sword. Our souls suffer to ease the burden on others. That¡¯s why we do the work we do, is it not? To atone for some grievance.¡¯

    Again, Oxford was struck by surprise. The occasions on which Chen used his first name were scarce.

    ¡®Don¡¯t think me so much of a monster, boy,¡¯ Chen added.

    ¡®I never did.¡¯ Oxford always imagined Chen best placed at the Gates of Hell. Not so worthy as to enter himself, but he guided its inhabitants there all the same.

    ¡®That¡¯s why you¡¯re here, isn¡¯t it? You made a mistake. This is recompense. You hate that boy, and you hate that you hate him.¡¯

    He had no sympathy for Oxford¡¯s suffering but for those fleeting moments. Chen was numb to the world, as Oxford saw it, while Oxford suffered eternally.

    The work wasn¡¯t atonement. It was distraction from the rumination. Endless thinking about thinking about how things could have gone differently. Oxford had good dreams sometimes but waking made them nightmares. They teased him with unspent possibilities. He saw Alice in them.

    ¡®You wouldn¡¯t understand,¡¯ Oxford said after a long silence.

    ¡®People aren¡¯t as much of a mystery as they like to think.¡¯

    ¡®But you don¡¯t know anyone,¡¯ Oxford jabbed. ¡®You¡¯re alone.¡¯

    ¡®Aye, but I see everyone. When you¡¯ve done this yer whole life, folks are easy to read. There are patterns to how the world turns. You learn to spot them in time.¡¯

    ¡®Doesn¡¯t mean you know how to read me.¡¯

    Why did the old git have to poke and probe? Why couldn¡¯t he let Oxford be? Oxford had never asked after Chen¡¯s reasons for joining the Sword, or Allwyn¡¯s, or Dahl¡¯s.

    ¡®I know enough, boy. I know you¡¯d make a sound Allegiant. You¡¯d avenge the whole Colony if you could, of that I am in no doubt.¡¯

    ¡®Thanks,¡¯ Oxford grunted.

    ¡®I know you feel shackled to me. To the Flatlands. This world isn¡¯t big enough for you. If you wanted to leave, I wouldn¡¯t stop you. But you¡¯d do better with structure, order, an apprentice of your own one day.¡¯

    He surprised Oxford again in his sharpness. He was right. The whole place was tarnished by Agloff and by Alice. Their memories choked him, in every ribbon of grass or belt of woodland. It was poison.

    ¡®Let us ride around a bit,¡¯ Chen said then. ¡®It¡¯s less steep for the horses.¡¯

    They circled round the base of the ridge where it was at its steepest, spiralling up towards the first and lowest of Went¡¯s town walls. They were welcomed by high doors, pegged back on ropes that were fastened to spiked posts. The guards on duty took one look at Chen, his longsword and the ripples of cloven leather and waved them through wordlessly.

    A wide dirt track led up the hill, with houses sprouting on either side. Boxy things, a family to a room, not unlike the residences of the Underground, thought Oxford. Each had a plot of crops fenced off round the back. Carrots or potatoes, he supposed. At the top of the track, they kinked towards a plantation house, fronted by a large crop field.

    It was wide and grand, unlike the settlement it watched over. Pillars propped up a balcony, from where a white-haired man peered at them. Above, ornate windows jutted out along an angled roof, striking the fields in shadow.

    ¡®Easy, boy.¡¯

    Oxford wasn¡¯t sure if Chen was talking to him or Welch. Their path through the crop fields was lined by workers in fraying boiler suits. Their backs were contorted to near-right-angles from their labours, hunched over picking something or other. They snatched glances from the corner of their eyes, too scared to stare.

    At the end, on the patio of the house, a man waved to greet them. He donned his leather cap to them.

    ¡®Allegiant Chen!¡¯ he called. ¡®Master Dahl said he¡¯d summon for you.¡¯

    ¡®You know me?¡¯ Chen grunted, failing to dismount from Welch. Oxford mirrored him.

    ¡®A man of your reputation, Sir, on the contrary, you are quite hard to miss.¡¯ The odd man bowed shudderingly.

    ¡®Macer Ives, am I to presume?¡¯

    ¡®You presume correctly. Servant of the Court of Went Town, and yours, Sir.¡¯ He dipped his chin at Oxford who reciprocated.

    ¡®We¡¯re not intruding, are we?¡¯ Chen glanced at the workers who had slackened in their duties, listening to the conversation.

    ¡®Not at all. I¡¯ll show you uptown. It¡¯s best we talk away from the fields, if that pleases your colleague? I didn¡¯t catch a name.¡¯ He looked at Oxford again.

    ¡®I speak for both of us lad,¡¯ Chen said.

    ¡®As it pleases you. This way.¡¯ Ives pointed towards the next wall up. ¡®I¡¯ll show you the gallows. It¡¯s where Cedes broke from his ropes, loosened them somehow.¡¯

    They near enough caught the looks of the whole town, Oxford thought, as they rode through. ¡®Curious folks,¡¯ he said.

    ¡®This is as much excitement as we¡¯ve seen in many a moon.¡¯

    ¡®A woman¡¯s death is excitement?¡¯

    ¡®If you¡¯re not in anyway involved,¡¯ Ives said humorously. ¡®People have a taste for the sensational, whether they admit it or not. It appeals to our sense of¡­¡¯

    ¡®Morbidity,¡¯ quipped Chen.

    ¡®Our sense of narrative! Mergot is the talk of the town. It¡¯s what you crave isn¡¯t it, as Swordsmen? The melodramatic.¡¯

    Chen then turned back on his horse and leaned down to Oxford. ¡®Irritating shit,¡¯ he said before looking back at Ives. ¡®I crave coin, lad.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯ll be well compensated. Baron Kyo himself requested you.¡¯

    ¡®Flattered.¡¯

    Oxford wondered if this would be his life, if he could be content in ambling between towns, chasing loose killers and vagrants. He would be tethered to no one. His was the world, and everything in it, to wreak his justice. And still, a creeping feeling inside told him it still wasn¡¯t enough.

    It owed him more. Didn¡¯t it?

    Chen could say they were the same, but they weren¡¯t. Oxford had lost everything but himself. The petty justices they inflicted did little to console that. He thought the killing of pilgrims might help somewhat, but they were confined to the south these days, and he to the north.

    They folded through the next gate, and uptown where the buildings were bigger. Their timber rooves jutted up the main road like a giant staircase. At the top, they smeared into an open square around Went Town¡¯s gallows. Presumably placed, Oxford thought, to attract the crowds.

    Ives led them up the steps and pointed down to where a muddy path had been cordoned off. Oxford spied tracks. They tapered off, out the square and back down the hill.

    ¡®This Cedes can¡¯t have got far fast,¡¯ Oxford said, noting the tracks. He saw the arches of bare feet. ¡®No shoes. No shade for miles. Must be no more than a couple of hours¡¯ ride out, and in this weather, he¡¯ll stick out like a dagger.¡¯

    Ives looked at Chen.

    ¡®I agree,¡¯ he grunted. ¡®I¡¯ve no interest in nattering, boy. I¡¯ll have the body back by nightfall.¡¯ Chen didn¡¯t mince words. He avoided chitchat like the fever. He looked back. ¡®I trust dead satisfies you.¡¯

    ¡®Dead will do nicely. As recompense, do stay the night. I was told the Baron wanted an audience. The Travelling Sword are of great renown.¡¯

    ¡®That may be, but if he knew us, he¡¯d know I don¡¯t give two shits. I¡¯d sooner hang myself than dine with a Baron and his wife,¡¯ Chen said dryly, feeding the noose through his leathery hands.

    ¡®How¡­ tactfully put,¡¯ said Ives. ¡®I¡¯ll pass on your regards.¡¯

    ¡®Only recompense I want is my coinage.¡¯

    Ives smiled awkwardly, then fumbled to his hip. He collected a small satchel and passed it to Chen, who inspected it.

    ¡®Not Winter money, I hope.¡¯

    ¡®A mix. The North is indisposed, Allegiant Chen. Impossible to say what the eminent coin of the future is, so we deal in all of it. After all, gold is gold.¡¯

    ¡®And why use five words when fifty will do, right boy?¡¯ Chen smirked, nodding at Oxford.

    ¡®Right, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯ll ride out now,¡¯ he continued to Ives. ¡®I¡¯ll leave the boy with you. If you need anything, he¡¯s yours. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d dine with your Baron.¡¯ He laughed heartily.

    Chen was but two paces down the gallows before he realised Oxford was scampering after him.

    ¡®I meant it. Stay,¡¯ he said quietly. ¡®I work faster alone.¡¯

    ¡®Aren¡¯t we partners? Good practice, no? You could help me learn to track.¡¯

    Chen¡¯s mouth writhed into a half-smile. ¡®We both know you know how to track, how to hunt, how to kill, as good as I do. Whoever trained you did a damn good job.¡¯

    ¡®Then I can handle myself? Hell, let me go alone, and you rest.¡¯

    Oxford could see the motions behind the old man¡¯s eyes, like he considered it for the slightest instant.

    ¡®I know how much you want blood, boy,¡¯ he said then. But trust an old man. I don¡¯t want you falling for its taste any faster. You may not believe it, but there¡¯s hope for your soul yet.¡¯

    Oxford thought Chen saw a beast inside him, for whom violence was an addiction waiting to happen. If Chen thought he could stem its urges long enough, maybe he could save Oxford. Maybe Oxford could heal. But the wound wasn¡¯t ajar, it was gaping. It was a hole through the middle of his being.

    There was no soul to save anymore.

    ¡®If you say so,¡¯ Oxford said then.

    ¡®I do say so.¡¯ He held a hand out to Oxford¡¯s shoulder. ¡®Hold the gaze. Amble this fine town, sample its pleasures. There are finer things in life than killing.¡¯

    How did Oxford make him understand? There wasn¡¯t anything anymore. He was numb to good drink; it dulled his senses without rage nor joy. He was numb to the good women and men of the brothel. What he craved, they could never imitate. He was numb to good humour; he saw the world only exactly as it was.

    If his person were a blade, it was blunt in every sense.

    Oxford wasn¡¯t sure if Chen waited for his reply. A moment later, he saw Welch cantering down the hill towards the lower wall, Chen astride it. Oxford watched until the pair were a blot on the grass, then turned and headed down.

    Ives might have said something, but Oxford didn¡¯t listen. He waded through a muddy path and cursed the land.

    ¡®Shall I tell the Baron you¡¯ll see him shortly?¡¯ the Macer said a third or fourth time, prodding Oxford by the shoulder.

    ¡®No!¡¯ he snapped. He threw his arm and knocked the Macer to the mud. Oxford¡¯s eyes flared, flashing to where he saw a row of onlookers. Ives shirked and bowed his head.

    Oxford panted and pulled his arms in. He didn¡¯t think to apologise. He left Ives to pick himself up and the people of Went Town parted from Oxford as if by some invisible force. He could strike the whole town down now and none would resist, he thought.

    Why had Chen forced him to stay? Oxford had no interest in spending a minute in the Baron or Ives¡¯ hospitality, and Chen knew that. He whistled for his unnamed Morgan down the way and saddled up, and the mudded Macer came running after him.

    ¡®I¡¯m going,¡¯ Oxford said at him. ¡®Chen will be back soon with your Cedes.¡¯ He pushed a gloved hand through his greasy mane, sweeping it back in the wind.

    Ives opened his mouth in a wordless splutter. Before any practiced farewell could come to him, Oxford was cantering down the hill and through the open gates.

    At once, he felt calmed.

    Alone, yes; that was what he needed. He could spend these few hours of peace. Oxford was at ease on horseback, trekking across the Southern Colony at the behest of the Underground. He served a different master now, but the journeys were calming all the same.

    Oxford rode well and rode hard. But he was only quarter of a mile out when something caught him.

    He heard a wailing. A distant bluster of cries, carried on the wind. He turned and watched from a crested peak, back at the rings of Went Town.

    Flecks of villagers and horse riders cascaded down the hill, gripped by sudden panic.

    ¡®The hell?¡¯ he muttered.

    Then, Oxford saw a column of smoke and a thatched building caught alight. Bodies scattered in random motions, falling from the hill, spilling out the gates and onto open pasture, to somewhere, anywhere.

    Oxford couldn¡¯t see what had happened, then the clouds parted, and he could. The flat belly of a starship pushed through the open sky, terribly grey and monstrous. Canons and turrets threatened from every surface. How tall it was, Oxford couldn¡¯t say. The above hung in thick cloud. It moved with a whirring thrum, louder than anything. Disparate booms clapped across the sky as its engines pulsed and Oxford was suddenly caught in its shadow. It moved over him and past him. It didn¡¯t care for the insignificance of Went Town.

    The people-flecks stopped at its passing and watched. It was a moment they had imagined, Oxford was sure. It was a sight hitherto unseen since the first days of Colony Two.

    Many in this place called them the Departed, the ones who left the Earth generations ago to worlds anew. Some imagined them heroes, saviours, the kind from storybooks. Some called them the other-kind. But all saw them worthy of their reverence.

    Oxford knew them as the Confederacy of Colonies. He learned to hate them a long time ago. In that moment, all he had the capacity to think was, ¡®why¡¯.

    The other Allegiants need to hear about this, he decided. And he rode onwards, chasing the beast¡¯s shadow. He rode on, well and hard like always, and then some.

 Dark Noon Chapter Seven | I Could Destroy You

    Chapter Seven

    I Could Destroy You

    It was three days since Riddis¡¯ ultimatum. Three days that blurred in a flurry of thoughtlessness and fatigue. Agloff was no closer to a solution to Winter¡¯s mess, while Ariea refused to even discuss it. At every attempt at conversation, Ariea politely removed herself. Agloff couldn¡¯t tell if she was avoiding it or trying to spare him her responsibility. After all, Ariea was the one who killed Jask.

    Agloff found himself in one of these pits of thought as a badger scampered through his eyeline. He shook his head and rode on a little through the dense weave of trees.

    ¡®We¡¯ll split up,¡¯ said Ariea from next to him. ¡®You and Merry take the south, me and Memphis will go north.¡¯ She stroked the neck of her mare and nodded the way to Agloff.

    He wondered if this was one of those moments where she was removing herself from a conversation about Riddis and Winter.

    Agloff knew better than to argue. This part of the Erwood was too dense to hunt in any case. They¡¯d cover more ground and faster by splitting up.

    He raised a limp hand in farewell, and she smiled reassuringly, led off by Memphis.

    ¡®Love you,¡¯ she mouthed back and Agloff reciprocated. He wondered if the distance between them spared the strain on their relationship.

    ¡®You shouldn¡¯t worry. She knows what she¡¯s doing,¡¯ Merry said a few hundred feet deeper into the wood. ¡®She¡¯s the smartest of us, no offence.¡¯

    Agloff laughed, rocking on the back of his horse. ¡®None taken. She¡¯s a good hunter.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, I meant about Winter. I think her mind is already made up. It was made up the moment Riddis spoke to you. Ariea¡¯s always been assured of herself like that.¡¯

    ¡®Wish I could say the same of me half the time.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re more decisive than you think. You didn¡¯t hesitate going Eden, not after Ariea was taken.¡¯ Merry looked at him. ¡®You¡¯re decisive when you need to be. The right thing will figure itself out.¡¯ She smiled widely at him, and he responded in kind. ¡®What¡¯s your gut say?¡¯

    ¡®Honestly? Renounce Winter and let the North decide They know better than to go to war with each other. Although, being a geek for history I wouldn¡¯t be sure.¡¯

    ¡®Oxford would know. He knows his way around powerful people. The stories he told us when he came for a drink after going halfway up the Colony. You learn a lot.¡¯

    ¡®You miss him?¡¯

    ¡®Course. He¡¯s the only friend we had before you and Ariea.¡¯

    Agloff supposed he never really thought what Oxford leaving meant to Merry and Memphis. Agloff knew his relationship with Oxford could never heal, and that was fair enough. Oxford held the world against Agloff for his suffering as Agloff held the world against Thawn. If it brought Oxford any peace, Agloff could forgive that.

    ¡®If I know him, he would say the same as you, I think. Renounce it. They might fight, but there¡¯s no reason to say they wouldn¡¯t if you gave Winter to Riddis. And if you let Poll rule, is she any better than Winter? I think your instinct is right, and I think Ariea agrees.¡¯

    ¡®Then why doesn¡¯t she talk about it?¡¯

    ¡®She probably doesn¡¯t want to burden you anymore than Riddis has. If you want to renounce it, and she knows she feels the same, why stress yourselves talking about it? Talk about other things, like how stupid this forest is.¡¯ Merry swatted at a low-hanging branch. Flecks of leaves caught in her hair.

    ¡®We should move in-land, thin these trees out,¡¯ Agloff said, bobbing under twisted branches. ¡®Get out of Erwood.¡¯

    The bounty hunter, Kira Stone, prescribed their routes. They called her and her cronies ¡®bone hunters, for the fort they served. Like most privateers, she canvassed more land now Winter was banished to the south, and for her part in Agloff¡¯s escape to Eden, Riddis had rewarded her with a fancy title; Chief of the Border Watch. She knew these lands. She set and assigned Wishbone¡¯s patrols deeper into wild country.

    That made Agloff one of the Border Watch, but it felt more like community service than a job. His pay was his home and little more.

    ¡®Do you feel him?¡¯ whispered Merry then, through the hustle of morning wind.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®The forest.¡¯ Merry closed her eyes. ¡®Erobo.¡¯

    ¡®Yeah. It¡¯s a cold feeling. Even used to it, I can¡¯t shut him out.¡¯ It was a buzz of coolness like someone was walking over his grave; a shadow reaching over his shoulder. ¡®Are you okay?¡¯

    Merry smiled like always. ¡®Like you, cold.¡¯

    What Erobo showed a person was sacred. Agloff supposed even if Merry did see anything here, she would never speak of it.

    The woods opened up and Agloff glimpsed the cascade of the Flatlands through spindly trees. The mind of Erobo tugged him back like a stone in his brain. It was the same force that had guided him to Erobo¡¯s homestead when he was trialled for trespassing at Wilder.

    He looked back.

    The gaunt figure of Malvo Jask stared at him with a crooked smile, pale and emaciated, a hole through his chest.

    ¡®It¡¯s yours now, boy,¡¯ he said hoarsely. Agloff blinked and he was gone, and that cold feeling came over him again.

    Merry watched him but knew better than to ask.

    Agloff pretended he saw nothing and raised a pair of binoculars from his saddle to the southern edge of the plains. He spied diminutive turrets poking over misty crests of green and morning blue. Flecked men and women hauled logging to where more towers were being erected.

    ¡®Spearmen,¡¯ Agloff said.

    While Wishbone guarded their frontiers with scouts and patrols, Fort Spear had permanent borders, guarded ever more fiercely in Winter¡¯s absence. And they were growing. Agloff saw mustard banners flap from the border wall with mustard men gliding between its towers. He had heard they were within eyeshot of the Erwood. Seeing it was worse. He understood now why Yara Poll was such an irritation to Riddis.

    Two more soldiers rode closer, through a ribbon of thick grassland and the taller rose binoculars to Agloff as he did to them. They were like the knights of ancient history, bolstered in silvery chains. A sun-yellow shawl draped from their necks denoted high status. One sneered through the veil of his helmet, then Agloff prodded Merry.

    ¡®We¡¯ll circle back east. We¡¯ll put this in the diary, but we shouldn¡¯t get closer alone.¡¯ He said it with the kind of authority that came to him thoughtlessly these days. Maybe he was decisive.

    Merry nodded. Agloff took one last sweeping look at the low mist of dawn hanging over the fields, washed in the light of the sun ahead of them. Then, he turned around and cantered up the thinned edges of Erwood.

    They rode a mile on further north where Agloff hoped they might reconnect with Ariea and Memphis.

    ¡®You forget it sometimes with all the people, and everything that happens, but where we live is quite beautiful,¡¯ said Merry.

    Her gaze caught in a pasture of bluebells, a river between two belts of woodland. The current opened into the wide reach of long grass, of greens upon greens below the glazed crests of the Silver Blemishes. In their shadow somewhere sat Eden.

    Agloff sighed deeply. ¡®It has its moments.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s always beautiful. Just most of the time people don¡¯t look properly.¡¯ Merry clicked at her mare, brushed its mane, then dragged herself down. She led it a few feet and stooped to the grasses. A jackrabbit zig-zagged in front of her.

    ¡®Much as I wish I could,¡¯ Agloff said, watching her, ¡®it¡¯s hard to be grateful all the time. You take it for granted because you can.¡¯ His fleeting self-awareness wouldn¡¯t change the fact he would take this place for granted tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. But it was damn pretty true enough.

    ¡®We should get back,¡¯ Agloff said. He beckoned Merry onto her horse, but she stayed and watched the land for a few more moments. The world was beautiful in its ignorance of mankind.

    Then, from the plain, a curdling wind fell over them, and they were struck in shadow. The land turned grey. Cerberus and the sun behind it were blotted by a thick shape, hanging in the cloud.

    Agloff processed it in less than thought. The ship poured through into open sky, flat and wide, like a disc.

    He called his horse and it seemed to understand. Merry mounted hers and they broke like the wind along the edge of trees. Jets of hot air blasted over them, and the whole ground tremored. Agloff looked back and the diminutive Spearmen shouted and ran, panicked. He half-smiled at this.

    ¡®The hell is that!¡¯ Merry yelled into the wind.

    ¡®Whaddayouthink!¡¯

    ¡®People!¡¯

    ¡®Departed!¡¯

    ¡®Why!¡¯

    ¡®Been a long time! Maybe they¡¯re coming back!¡¯

    Agloff looked up at its grey belly. It reached across them like the end of days itself. Printed on its underside were giant red letters:

    Confederacy of Colonies

    Type-Z-01

    ¡®Merlin¡¯

    ¡®And why now?¡¯ Merry said, quieter. They darted into the foliage, and the horses calmed to a canter. They rode slower into the angry gloom of the forest. As the way ahead darkened still, Agloff surmised the ship above was making its approach, lower and with a rising thrum.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Where was Ariea in this? And Memphis. She was the smartest, coolest person Agloff knew. She had the head to deal with it. She glimpsed through these moments with clarity most didn¡¯t have. It was her unfailing logic, her smarts that he fell for.

    For some reason he didn¡¯t worry. But maybe he should.

    ¡®We¡¯ve got a choice,¡¯ he said then, slowing his horse.

    ¡®A choice?¡¯

    ¡®We can head north, try find Ari and Memph. See if we can pick up any other patrols, stations on the way. Or we can go straight back.¡¯

    Agloff glanced up. The thing was so wide and so long, he felt it could move for miles and they would still be under it.

    ¡®We go straight back. Everyone else will do the same. Riddis will want no one unaccounted for. Ariea will expect you to go straight back. So I expect her to.¡¯

    Agloff nodded. He tugged at the neck of his shirt and shuffled in his coat. He baked in the heat of the ship above. Columns of air blasted onto the woodland floor. Leaves danced in vortices between trees as birds scattered from their lofty nests.

    He looked at Merry, sweat beating down her brow.

    ¡®Keep going,¡¯ she said. Their horses whinnied, slowing as they did. ¡®Keep going.¡¯

    They plodded on through heavy breaths. Agloff saw the trees begin to shimmer and fizz, in fits of dazzling colour. Green became blue became purple. Leaves shined like diamonds. As his body weakened, so did his mind. Erobo was creeping in.

    Still, the ship sank and still the air became hotter, humid with the vapor deposited from the engines. Agloff had to keep righting himself on his horse. The morning was like jaded twilight.

    He rubbed his eyes sore. He could see nothing for trees anymore. He wasn¡¯t even sure how much of it was real. The world felt heavy like lead and floaty like a dream. Still, Merry told to him keep going.

    Agloff yelled numbly for his horse to move faster, even as the heat suffocated them both. It wouldn¡¯t obey. He saw wisps of smoke breaking out on the forest floor. He could no longer tell how far above them the ship was. It could have been touching the canopy, or hundreds of metres up. It was just a grey smear.

    Wisps of smoke scattered into sparks round them, kindled into flame. The tops of the trees above caught alight, and Agloff yelled in sudden alertness.

    Their horses neighed and rode at speed. The trees faded back into green and grey, and Agloff came to his senses. Sparks flew in updrafts of hot air. Rosed smoke came at them from all sides. Agloff told Merry it was alright. They would be okay, and he wondered if she saw the shadow of March Town in the flames. But this wasn¡¯t the work of pilgrims.

    Ariea, thought Agloff again. We have to find Ariea. He could see the path ahead begin to clear. He could make the outline of Wishbone¡¯s through a gap in the greenery, backlit by wild, chasing flames.

    They carried through the edges of the forest, where the gates to the city were knocked open. Thirty men and women or more climbed down towards them, suspended from the walls by lines of rope and cloth. They rushed, single-file towards the road at the far end of the city.

    Agloff rode over the trampled gate. The ship had passed over them now, humming towards the bay of Principia. It hung low over the city. Its jets blasted down in superheated vortices. Flames carried from building to building in seconds. Some alit in a moment.

    It was the apathy of their assault that struck Agloff. This was not an attack. It was indifference that devastated all in its path all the same. Over the pier, water whisked into a frenzied vortex, then fell like a dawn fog into the dock.

    Agloff rode down, hard and fast. None seemed to notice him. People flooded the streets, beckoned by guards into lines almost as wide as they were long. The people parcelled belongings into their arms, as dazed children tugged at their trouser legs.

    He watched the people, noted the saccadic movement of his eyes scan from shadow to shadow. Each looked vaguely ill in the rosed air.

    Someone shouted and Agloff¡¯s ears popped. A guardsman beckoned him from his horse, begged him into the lines. But he seemed to whimper, absent of any authority now the world had ended. Agloff rode down further still, unsure if Merry was following him.

    The road arrowed straighter than straight out to the bay. There, he saw tiny wires propel from the fuselage of the beastly ship. They pierced the water below and bodies fell down their lengths- black and suited.

    These Others moved towards him in precise movements, like minute gods. They walked the water as though it were ground, a dozen of them or more. Agloff rode further. He saw only the gentlest of ripples in their wake.

    He wondered if it was his place to greet them. He was alive when they left the first time after all. He knew them as well as any. They were returning, not invading. Long had they lived in their faraway worlds and towers and oceans. What could ever make them want to come back?

    He muttered to himself, confusedly watched these gods walk towards him. A current of bodies flowed at the sides of his mare, as though he were an upturned rock in a river.

    ¡®Agloff,¡¯ Merry said behind him.

    Her voice drew him to attention. He swivelled his horse and saw the outpouring of smoke above Merry. Stoned granaries and factories and schools and hospitals were firebreaks between wooden houses stacked up the slant of Wishbone like staircases.

    Then a cluster of shirtless men scurried by them, fell to their knees on the cobbles and raised their arms aloft. Pious men for an unseemly god. Thick inky lines painted their backs in two. They called themselves the Waning Arch: generations of Cerberus worshippers.

    The fire was punishing now. It swept with the wind south westerly, sweeping down the slant of the city. At last, Agloff nodded at Merry, and she led him through the bodies at crawling pace. He ushered her over, and she leapt from her own horse to his. It was quicker to cut through the crowds this way.

    Agloff kept glancing back at the Others walking across the water. There was menace in their gentle pace.

    Merry shepherded him up to the plateau where their home was. Flames pushed in their direction, ushered by rampant wind. Agloff saw a moment there he had to act. If there was a chance Ariea and Memphis made it back, made it inside, he had to take it. Reason couldn¡¯t argue with him now. Agloff dismounted before Merry could say anything. He ran inside with the strength of his convictions.

    As if to mock him, the walls caught flame there and then. Agloff dragged the cuff of his sleeve over his mouth, watched his every movement against the heat. He had two minutes, maximum. He took the stairs three at a time. Smoke swelled at the ceiling and Agloff ducked to avoid it. It rose with him to the top floor.

    He thought he might glimpse over the landing and see Ariea panicked in bed, and he might get to save her again. But the bed was bare.

    There was no one here.

    There¡¯s no one here!

    In Ariea¡¯s absence, he began to panic. His lungs vented shallow breaths. The harder he tried to breathe, the less strength it gave him. He knew he couldn¡¯t last more than a few seconds now.

    He turned and made down the stairs, before the first step gave way under him. Agloff fell in slow motion. His legs swatted at absent floorboards, as if he hoped to catch himself. Why did he expect her to be there, he thought at ten times speed? It was stupidity, or desperation. Lady had got out the house too.

    Agloff¡¯s back levelled against the bottom floor with a dead thud. He yelled, then felt himself dragged against the swelling smoke and flame and misery, and all the life lost in there. He saw a thousand scenes play out in his mind, now consigned to memory, never to be repeated.

    Merry held her hand over Agloff¡¯s face, brushing away dust.

    ¡®You¡¯re strong,¡¯ Agloff said weakly, closing his eyes. He coughed and choked as his body gorged itself on cleaner air.

    ¡®Why did you think she¡¯d be in there?¡¯

    ¡®Because I wanted her to be!¡¯

    ¡®Lady?¡¯

    ¡®Gone.¡¯

    Agloff saw Merry nod, reassured through his half-open eyes. Lady was a smart kid. She¡¯d tack onto the safest route out and sniff any trouble a mile away.

    ¡®Let¡¯s go,¡¯ Merry said. ¡®We can catch up to them.¡¯

    She aided Agloff gingerly to his feet. But he turned the other way, looked down the hoards scrambling over the plateau. He staggered. Pain seared through his back. His body tingled with latent heat.

    ¡®I need to make sure she¡¯s not¡ª That she¡¯s.¡¯

    ¡®Agloff, if she has any sense, she¡¯s already gone. She¡¯s out the city. In the crowds. Come on. Please.¡¯

    ¡®I know Memphis and Lady are out there somewhere too. I¡¯m not saying you have to wait with me.¡¯

    ¡®I do, don¡¯t I. You¡¯re my friend and you just fell down two flights of stairs. You are not going anywhere alone.¡¯

    Agloff let her follow him. He walked, checking every face that rushed past him, racked his brain for anywhere she might be. Down at the dock perhaps, but the Others were clearing people out from the shoreline. She could even be up at Riddis¡¯ offices. But his overriding instinct was just that she was helping. Because that¡¯s who she was.

    He imagined her helping people out their homes, ushering them uphill, yelling and organising people into rows and carrying their belongings. Because she helped people. Merry was wrong to assume she had left. Agloff knew with certainty that she hadn¡¯t.

    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t go that way, boy.¡¯

    Boy? Boy? Agloff heard Riddis¡¯ voice boom over him, and a dozen horses¡¯ steps spread into a ring around him. He threw his arms out, his shoulders back and sighed, even as his skin screamed. He didn¡¯t look at her. She didn¡¯t deserve it. Because he knew what she was about to say.

    ¡®I cannot allow you to leave,¡¯ she said quietly.

    ¡®I figured as much.¡¯

    ¡®Ariea is unaccounted for. I cannot lose you too. You mean too much to the Colony. You can come willingly or bound.¡¯

    ¡®Doesn¡¯t sound like a fair choice.¡¯

    ¡®Life is seldom fair.¡¯

    ¡®You have no right to control mine,¡¯ Agloff almost whispered.

    Riddis¡¯ voice began to shake. The ensnaring guards closed a touch. ¡®You have a home here by my good grace, by our protection. All¡­ All that I ask is that you come now to Eden and resolve this. We¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve lost everything. I can stand up to her now.¡¯

    ¡®I understand, Ellen,¡¯ Agloff said her name as a kindness. He heard the frailty in her now. ¡®I understand.¡¯ At last, he turned and looked at her. She was manic-looking with rosed cheeks. Her white coat flowed at her back but blackened and scorched in places.

    ¡®With Ariea gone, no one can dispute your claim,¡¯ she murmured, voice breaking.

    Agloff¡¯s pity soured then. His gentle look turned back to stone. ¡®Is that all you think about, politics? Human life means more. These people mean more than your politics! Ariea does.¡¯

    Riddis stared vacantly. ¡®Generations hinge on this. Nothing means more than human life, but the future invariably comes at the cost of the present. It¡¯s more than you and her. It¡¯s everyone. But you miss that, in your small-mindedness.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t want me as an enemy, Ellen. Bring me willingly or bring me bound, I could destroy you. Silence me, Wishbone is nothing. I am not so small-minded.¡¯

    Riddis did not react. She knew he was right. She had no games to play. No threat that could stop Agloff ending her world, more utterly and completely than the flames that ravaged it now.

    She spoke then. ¡®I¡¯ve heard what Governor Fall planned for you, and Jask and Drake and all those weak and failed leaders. Tell me that without my protection Poll would treat you any differently. She would keep you beyond daylight, until you sanction her dreams.¡¯

    ¡®Then we understand each other,¡¯ Agloff said calmly, though he was sure than Riddis needed him more than the opposite.

    ¡®Then you understand the nature of politics. You play the game well. As I do: as it suits you.¡¯ Riddis was struck in silhouette by a wall of flame some way behind, reached a hand to the inside of her robe, and pulled a pocket watch, laced in golden inkwork. ¡®You have five minutes,¡¯ she said. ¡®Then you¡¯re leaving. With the girl or without. You have no say in this.¡¯ She pointed at Merry then, ¡®You. Stay. I want a guarantee of Agloff¡¯s return.¡¯

    He felt Merry shift closer. She held his arm before letting go.

    He didn¡¯t wait for anything. Agloff sprung down the hill, pushing and pulling bodies this way and that. Gravity carried him. If Ariea was helping in the evacuation, he just had to trace the retreating crowds backwards. Like a river to its source.

    He picked the largest, trudging up one of Wishbone¡¯s wider roads. He could see better now; some of the flames were diminishing. Every few metres, he spied men and women, some uniformed, some not, shepherding the evacuees.

    Hoards flooded from close to the dock. It was the low-lying land where most of the folk lived, in half-erected patchwork houses of wood and fabric. Windows were hand cut into the walls by those that lived there. They had layers of draped fabric for ceilings, suspended from tightly wound rope.

    In the flames, they crumpled like paper.

    Agloff smeared an ashen hand across his face, felt the wetness of his skin in the heat. The fire was louder than he expected, but somehow he tuned it out.

    Every direction called him. Ariea could have been in any of them. He ran to the edge of the dock, the shore of Principia and turned. The city was struck in raging streaks of black and orange. From here, he scanned up and down, eyes bobbing between men and women and children for Ariea¡¯s familiar outline.

    There was nothing.

    He staggered, followed the shore south where one of the larger lines were scurrying. Sweat rolled down Agloff¡¯s temples and his eyes wandered in their sockets.

    Then his slitted eyes burst wide. Between a lamppost and a narrow terrace: that bob of auburn hair.

    Ariea!

    Strength returned to Agloff. He fell into the crowd as the bob round a corner and up a side street. He pushed and was pushed between bodies.

    He yelled. Then again¡ª

    ¡®ARIEA!¡¯

    Agloff stretched an arm when the bob stopped, jolted in recognition. In a moment, she turned, and her face broke into a panicked smile. Relief washed over Agloff like a waterfall against the flames.

    But it only lasted the moment.

    Screams flooded from the building adjacent, and their bodies spilled between them. Agloff heard a faint hiss of gas, long enough to process it.

    A boom shredded his ears, and Agloff felt his weight thrown across the street by waves of smoke and flame. Time ground into a crawl.

    The explosion threw Ariea the other direction. Agloff¡¯s eyes tracked her arc through space. Then his body crunched against the concrete and time resumed its flow, if only for an instant.

    The wails and flames that were so loud were stunted into a blur of white noise, a whistling in his brain.

    Seconds or hours later, Agloff felt arms haul him to his feet.

 Dark Noon Chapter Eight | Unbuilt and Unbroken

    Chapter Eight

    Unbuilt and Broken

    Ariea opened her eyes between two crushing weights. Thoughtlessly, she pushed down with her legs and levered herself against one of the things on top of her.

    More, she thought. But with what strength?

    More!

    She pushed as if it were the last thing she would ever do. The thing gave way and her thin frame slid into the haze of Wishbone. The land was uneven. It wobbled underfoot and she hop-scotched woundedly between planks and beams. When she breathed, the air was coarser than anything. She coughed and coughed on that wintry smell of ash.

    From the bay, Ariea could see she was on the south side of the city, but where there should be a weave of buildings, she now had a clear line of sight all the way up to Riddis¡¯ offices.

    She called out.

    Nothing answered but blustering wind. She thought she might see bodies, but no. Agloff must have got out. Good, she thought coolly. He was safe. And Lady was a smart kid. She¡¯d have followed the traffic out. Merry and Memphis would have had good sense too. Surely they all got out fine.

    Ariea knew it was worth her staying behind for, to help the townspeople. Again, she called. Reason told her she wasn¡¯t the only one left behind. Further along the shore, she could see those strange men in black suits patrolling the broken landscape, looking for survivors perhaps.

    She couldn¡¯t help but scowl. Their ship was now humming some way over the bay. Several smaller craft were in orbit, whizzing at impossible speeds across the shoreline.

    Then, Ariea heard an answer to her shouts. She skipped over blackened remains. The groaning became louder, and she spied an arm wave through a gap in the wreckage. Mindlessly, Ariea tore back at a panel of corrugated metal, then another.

    A girl stared back at her, then groaned at the sun in her eyes. Ariea dragged her free, and she realised immediately why the girl had such trouble in freeing herself. She was a giant, well-built but awkward-looking, with a plait of brown hair that tumbled the length of her back. She looked at Ariea with a geeky smile, then hugged her arms like it were midwinter¡¯s eve.

    ¡®You ¡®kay?¡¯ grunted Ariea, careful not to swallow the dust.

    The girl¡¯s defences failed her, and her smile turned into a wail of sobs. She threw her head from side to side like a wrecking ball.

    ¡®Are you okay?¡¯ Ariea repeated.

    ¡®Probably fine in a minute. Thank you,¡¯ the giant girl mumbled. ¡®¡¯m Eli.¡¯

    ¡®Ariea. Is there anyone else you¡¯re looking for? I can help¡ª¡¯ Ariea didn¡¯t know how to sit there and let this girl cry on her shoulder. Ariea had never done that. She was the one friends came to for advice, not support.

    Eli shook her head, swiped her nose by the cuff of her sleeve. ¡®That¡¯s the problem, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯ve no one to lose other than a rat bastard of an ex.¡¯

    ¡®If he¡¯s your ex, I¡¯d say you already lost him.¡¯

    ¡®Funny,¡¯ Eli said.

    Ariea helped her over the crest of a flattened house and Eli quickly sank to her haunches. ¡®He¡¯s a friend, sort of, tries to be. But he¡¯s a prick.¡¯ She wiped her nose again.

    ¡®Then you don¡¯t need to worry.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s the thing. It¡¯s sad that I don¡¯t miss anyone. End of the world and it¡¯s like ¡°oh well, I could just go back to bed.¡±¡¯

    Ariea smirked then looked back over the town. ¡®It could be a fresh start, a new world,¡¯ she said, fully aware of her naivety.

    Eli scoffed, then swatted a hand through the smoke diffusely filling the air. ¡®A start so fresh, it¡¯s still cooking,¡¯ she said. Humour was a tool of the broken, thought Ariea. She look tired, aching inside and out.

    ¡®Come on,¡¯ she ordered Eli. ¡®We¡¯ll get moving. See if we can¡¯t pick up a trail off the others.¡¯

    ¡®To where? For what? We¡¯d have just as much luck by ourselves. Go live in a cave somewhere and drink sheep¡¯s milk.¡¯ She then dipped her head towards the black suits, breathed slowly. ¡®And there¡¯s those.¡¯

    ¡®If they were here for us, we¡¯d be dead,¡¯ Ariea said coolly. She didn¡¯t doubt the power of the Confederacy of Colonies. She thought they might have weapons that would flatten cities far wider and far taller than this in an instant. ¡®We¡¯re insects to them.¡¯ Ariea held a hand out and dragged Eli to her feet for the second time.

    Before she could let go, something swatted the backs of her legs. Ariea wailed and fell, rolled over to see a black mask stare down at her. It spoke loudly, in garbled tones like radio static. Two more appeared over a crest behind.

    Eli raised an eyebrow. ¡®You were telling me how they¡¯re not interested in us?¡¯

    The faceless one poked a sidearm at them, smaller than the hand holding it, like it were a toy. It then gestured they stand.

    Ariea saw a flash of light as the gun discharged. Pain unlike any pain welded her joints stiff. It fizzed through her like burning. When the force compelling the tension in her joints exhausted them, she felt into a state of half-waking.

    The world was visible, but she could not think on it.

    Nothing could be processed in but the most superficial sense. She noted the passing damages, the lines of blackened men and women, but her brain was incapable of using this information for anything more than sensing. It was less than paralysis. Thoughts chased themselves round her head, but she could hold onto none.

    Time passed quickly in this place. She followed her movement down the coast, where she saw a line of others like her. Their weight lumbered foot to foot, as though they were toddlers in an adult¡¯s body.

    Something else was happening now.

    Ariea felt her body carried, weightless, into another place. Perhaps she was inside. The place churned and growled and Ariea saw patterns of light pass through tinted windows. Her body lurched in bumps, fastened into bindings. Others, the same, were strung out into a horseshoe shape in this narrow, bumpy place.

    Movement, she realised simply. They were moving on a road, in something. The word escaped her.

    Truck!

    Yes. She tried to extend her hand in its binding, but it was more than her body could¡­ Could what? Words kept failing her. So sure and solid they had been, now they were vague, like ghosts in her mind.

    It was minutes until her cognitions returned to her.

    Or was it days.

    Ariea blinked into alertness as the doors to the truck groaned open. A score of them tumbled out, cuffed, into a biting wind. She looked up. It was night, and the stars were split by a ribbon of black where Cerberus hung above their heads.

    The land here was flatter than Wishbone and the land was hard, blanketed in thin grasses. About a mile ahead, Ariea saw the pebble-like ship, the outline backlit in the glow of its countless offices and control rooms. Even at that distance, it sat huge.

    The prisoners were roped into a line and escorted on foot towards the ship. Ariea heard the rasp of Eli¡¯s breaths behind and reached out a hand to touch her fingertips.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Ariea thought her legs might give way, but she compelled them, for fear of reprisal from their faceless masters. In the gloom of the Confederate ship, Ariea saw towering flood lights erected over a pen of tents and crates. Unmasked soldiers, in khaki uniform, marched up and down and she thought they looked nervous. They chattered quietly in pairs or trios, some even looked giddy.

    ¡®Ariea¡­¡¯

    Ariea looked back as Eli tugged on the rope. In the glare of the lights, she was pale, rings round her eyes.

    ¡®What is it?¡¯

    ¡®Just out of breath. Need a minute.¡¯

    Ariea glanced forward. They were on a narrow road marked by spot lamps, with lanes dividing up long, fenced pens on either side. At the back of the encampment was a smattering of tents and several larger buildings made of stacked crates.

    ¡®I think we¡¯re nearly wherever they¡¯re taking us.¡¯

    ¡®These lights don¡¯t help. Head¡¯s spinning,¡¯ Eli panted. ¡®You think this is home?¡¯

    There were shouts and Ariea saw someone barking orders at a squad of Confederate soldiers who were stapling pylons twice their height into the ground, lashed together by meshing.

    Then, a thrum whirled overhead in jets of hot air. A drone blasted past, a crate suspended from its belly, lowered gently at the waving of a group of workers onto a growing stack of mental offices. Beside it, more workers were drilling into the ground, hollowing out tunnels of some sort

    ¡®They¡¯re efficient,¡¯ Ariea observed. She spied a tall tower at the far end of the assembly, which bloomed into a wide dome at its peak. Shadows scurried in its lighthouse gaze.

    ¡®Why wouldn¡¯t they be?¡¯ Eli mumbled. ¡®I knew a guy who thought the Departed were a myth. I¡¯d pay two fingers to see his face now.¡¯

    At last they were herded into one of the long pens, onto softer ground and a faceless soldier cut them loose. None of the prisoners said anything to each other. Benches on each side were set up for them, and a meshed ceiling was draped in tarpaulin. There was some dignity at least, mused Ariea.

    ¡®Whoever it is,¡¯ Eli said, as she lay down. ¡®I¡¯m sure they got out.¡¯

    Ariea looked at her, confused.

    ¡®Your head looks elsewhere. Given our situation, that¡¯s saying something. They¡¯ll be fine. At worst, they¡¯d be in with us lot.¡¯ Eli turned and stretched herself out, groaning. ¡®Either is a comfort really.¡¯

    ¡®You feel better for lying down?¡¯

    ¡®Middling.¡¯

    Parcels of food were left for them at the pen gate which their cohort divvied up silently. Ariea didn¡¯t recognise any of the others. They were a curious bunch. Most young or old. As Eli slept on the bench, Ariea took to observing the humans assemble their castle of barbed wire and steel. Machines did most of the work. Ariea presumed there were machines for everything she could imagine these days. And machines for everything she could not.

    She thought on this rabbit hole. She supposed that these humans didn¡¯t fit her understanding of the term. To her, humans lived in Colony Two. These were something far beyond that.

    ¡®Hey,¡¯ Ariea whispered, nudging Eli some hours of thought later. The hauling and labouring of the encampment had dulled into almost-silence.

    ¡®Are you serious? This better be important,¡¯ Eli murmured.

    ¡®I have a plan.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, good, it¡¯s not. I can go back to sleep.¡¯

    ¡®No! Listen,¡¯ Ariea said urgently.

    ¡®Ariea. Hear that?¡¯

    ¡®No.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s the sound of me not giving a flying fuck whatever your stupidly stupid plan is because they have literal lasers.¡¯

    Ariea grumbled. ¡®They¡¯ve left the way clear mostly. We can slip out the way we came.¡¯

    ¡®Mostly,¡¯ said Eli.

    ¡®You think they¡¯d care enough if we escaped to chase us?¡¯

    ¡®I think they cared enough to put us here. Stands to reason they want us to stay here.¡¯ Eli turned over and her glazed, grey eyes looked at Ariea. Colour sapped from her face and heavy rings tugged her eyes towards her cheeks.

    ¡®We have to try,¡¯ Ariea said then.

    ¡®Do we? I¡¯m tired Ariea. I¡¯m just, tired. You look like you could use the rest. You don¡¯t have to escape today. Not like this lot are going anywhere.¡¯ Eli panted. ¡®You¡¯d stand a better chance waiting.¡¯

    Ariea shuffled to the benches and pulled her knees to her chest.

    ¡®I¡¯d heard about you,¡¯ Eli said. ¡®People talk about Ariea. I¡¯m not in with your saviour bullshit. I¡¯m not your type. Whatever you did at Eden, this is different. You should learn that quickly, and you¡¯ll make all our lives easier.¡¯ She rolled back to the fence. ¡®Not that I don¡¯t respect you. But don¡¯t try this one. They¡¯re gods. We¡¯re women.¡¯

    ¡®And that¡¯s enough. It will be.¡¯

    Eli scoffed. ¡®Okay.¡¯

    Ariea gripped her knees in furious thought. Maybe she couldn¡¯t leave now or even tomorrow. But it had to be soon. She wanted to survey and plan, to do something that felt productive to that end. She stood and paced the pen. She counted the structures struck in the shadowed lines of searchlights at the edge of the encampment. She counted the silhouettes gliding atop the domed watchtower. She measured the distance to main gate in her mind¡¯s eye. She noted the routes of the soldiers on their patrols, some in zig-zag, some in large loops.

    The wind bit and Ariea scarpered to the edge of the pen. She gazed blankly through the mesh and stared at a pair of troopers passing by.

    They whispered in frantic chatter then looked in Ariea¡¯s direction. They sounded almost excited. The torchlight that guided them flashed at Ariea¡¯s eyes.

    She scowled. ¡®Hey!¡¯

    Again, they whispered, then shuttled across the gravel path and met Ariea¡¯s eyes. They were not much older than she. A boy and a girl. Giggling and starry-eyed, with slick helmets parcelling their faces.

    ¡®You going to stop staring?¡¯ Ariea snapped.

    They laughed again. ¡®Sorry,¡¯ the girl said. ¡®We were interested. Curious.¡¯

    ¡®In what?¡¯

    She sniggered. ¡®You. We hadn¡¯t seen a local yet, but you hear all sorts of stuff shipping. What¡¯s it like?¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s what like?¡¯

    ¡®Earth. The world.¡¯

    Ariea scowled. Then thought a long time. She wondered if they thought she was stupid. ¡®Unbuilt,¡¯ she said then. ¡®And broken.¡¯ Her voice was a fractured whisper. ¡®But it¡¯s kinder than yours.¡¯

    They stepped back a fraction. She seemed to unsettle them.

    ¡®You have towns? Cities?¡¯

    Ariea pressed her face closer to the mesh and felt the cold on her cheeks. ¡®Yeah. We have that. You flew over one¡­ until you burned it.¡¯ She looked at them through dead, unblinking eyes.

    The girl laughed nervously as the boy held his silence. ¡®We wondered if it would be like the stone age.¡¯

    ¡®I suppose, to you, and your world I imagine moves so fast, anything less than the present is ancient history. So, I guess it is, in its way.¡¯

    Ariea leaned back and wiped the condensation from her lips.

    ¡®Seems calm,¡¯ the girl said. ¡®More peaceful than us.¡¯

    ¡®Peaceful.¡¯ Ariea scoffed. ¡®If only you knew. I¡¯ve seen more history than you ever will.¡¯ She leaned back forwards, and pursed her lips across the wires, tilted her head and resumed her blank stare.

    She enjoyed playing with these ignorants. What were they to know of anything? Her haunting tone weirded them, she knew. But it captivated them all the same. She held them in a trance of curiosity. It gave her a kind of power.

    ¡®History? Like what?¡¯

    If Ariea gave them the truth, her power would break. They would not believe that she was eight-hundred and twenty-seven years old. Nor that she killed the ruler of Colony Two. But hints could tease and control them. To them, she was a stranger. And strangeness fascinated as it disgusted.

    ¡®The regime of Arval-Harra fell not even a year back, after its leader was assassinated. The Colony is in a time of upheaval and uncertainty.¡¯

    ¡®So is the Confederacy.¡¯ The boy spoke for the first time and Ariea feigned interested looks. ¡®The Feng-Hal are blockading the unoccupied regions. This operation to Colony Two is an expensive distraction, to deflect. While war gets closer daily.¡¯

    Maybe it was interesting, thought Ariea. Could it be so easy to goad trust from them? Did outsourcing their knowledge to technology also make them stupid? She wondered if her weird way would work on the older ones.

    ¡®You seem perceptive,¡¯ Ariea said. ¡®What¡¯s going to happen to us?¡¯ She tilted her head the other way and her captors stared.

    ¡®Far as I know,¡¯ said the girl, ¡®not much. Information. They want to assess the threat, capability, knowledge of Colony Two.¡¯

    Ariea smiled wildly, mouth gaping. Again, the troopers looked weirded but enthralled. Ariea was so mysterious to them. ¡®And who¡¯s they? Who¡¯s they who we have to thank?¡¯

    ¡®Comm¡ª Erm, Commander Vitor Tovey.¡¯

    ¡®You like him?¡¯

    They laughed at each other. ¡®Actually never met the guy.¡¯

    ¡®Surely you should call him Sir, or Commander. ¡®The guy¡¯ doesn¡¯t seem very professional.¡¯ Ariea lowered her head then looked at them. They stepped back. ¡®You are professionals of course. I mean, you¡¯re on duty.¡¯

    They stood unsettled. Ariea had got what she needed: the reasons they were there, assuming that¡¯s all there was to it.

    She looked back to Eli¡¯s bench to see she had skulked off to another corner of the pen, then turned back to the girl and her companion. ¡®You should go back to your patrols, shouldn¡¯t you?¡¯

    At once, they did as she said, passing on through the rows of lights along the dirt path. Both stared back at her with captivity.

    Once they filtered behind a tent and out of sight, Ariea sighed, and headed down the pen after Eli. Her bulging shape was hunkered over in the corner, in a line of shadow, whimpering.

    ¡®Eli, hey.¡¯ Ariea knelt down after her, held a gentle arm round her back. ¡®You¡¯re not alright, are you?¡¯

    ¡®It look like it?¡¯ Eli¡¯s back convulsed and she gagged violently. Fluid flushed from her mouth. She had those imposing rings round her eyes. Her face paled and winced. ¡®I said I¡¯m just tired.¡¯

    ¡®If I had known you were like this, I¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t have got your dick hard thinking to escape?¡¯ Eli groaned. ¡®I get it. I¡¯m just not like you.¡¯ She belched and vomited into her patch of dirt. ¡®Don¡¯t let me stop you, Slayer.¡¯

    Ariea bit her lip. ¡®That¡¯s not fair.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m a distraction to you. I was from the minute you found me.¡¯

    ¡®Hey!¡¯ Ariea was threatened by anger. ¡®I will help you until you¡¯re better. You are not a distraction from anything. I¡¯m not going to run out on you.¡¯

    Eli vomited again. ¡®You¡¯re moral, that¡¯s your problem. I saw you helping those people in the street before it blew up. Leaving here is righteous. You can help your cause, the people, your boyfriend. You can think about fighting back. But you don¡¯t want to help me, I mean it. Because if you do, you¡¯ll be stuck with me. You¡¯ll owe yourself to me. I see how you are.¡¯

    ¡®What do you mean?¡¯

    Eli panted. It turned to almost-laughter. She reached down and held her gut.

    ¡®Ariea, I think I¡¯m pregnant.¡¯

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡®And how moral and right do all those escape plans seem now? What¡¯s the right thing to do now?¡¯

 Dark Noon Chapter Nine | Erobos Request

    Chapter Nine

    Erobo¡¯s Request

    Agloff¡¯s leg jerked as he woke. Ropes fastened his arms behind his back and his eyes adjusted to the gloom of smoulder and blackened forest.

    A hand pressed against his shoulder. Agloff thought better than to struggle.

    ¡®Afternoon, friend,¡¯ Kira Stone growled by his side. She was in her leathery garb like always, with that long, flat ponytail. Agloff looked past her to see a cart bobble over terrain, and three more faces sheepishly staring at him from the back: Merry, Lady and Memphis.

    ¡®Where is Ariea?¡¯ Agloff asked loudly. Kira and the others exchanged looks. ¡®You got her, right? She was right there.¡¯ Agloff straightened his back, rolled his bound shoulders. ¡®Well!¡¯ he yelled.

    ¡®Riddis told us not to say anything,¡¯ Merry murmured.

    ¡®They never found her,¡¯ said Memphis. Merry shot him a look. ¡®What, we don¡¯t know that she¡¯s gone.¡¯

    ¡®Get me out of this thing!¡¯ Agloff said.

    Kira shushed him. ¡®I¡¯m here to make sure they don¡¯t.¡¯ She looked at the others. ¡®President¡¯s orders. Look, if there¡¯s something that could be done, believe me we¡¯d be doing it. Your best hope is she gets out the rubble and follows her nose to Eden.¡¯

    ¡®Eden?¡¯

    Kira sat back. ¡®S¡¯where we¡¯re going. Not like Riddis has a choice. Or any of us for that matter. It¡¯s as good a fortress as anywhere, and people need a home.¡¯ She pointed down the line.

    Behind the carriage, a train of refugees snaked far as the eye could see. They held hands and blankets and pillows and travelling bags of food. The air carried whimpers and grim chatter.

    ¡®Poll¡¯s summons is Wishbone¡¯s only hope,¡¯ Kira added.

    ¡®An alliance,¡¯ said Memphis.

    Agloff¡¯s body shook. ¡®What hope do any of you have against them? They¡¯re the end of humanity.¡¯

    ¡®This is our home,¡¯ Merry whispered. ¡®It would sadden me not to try and keep it. No one wants to fight them, Agloff. We just need a place that¡¯s our own.¡¯

    ¡®And Ariea?¡¯

    Kira leant over her knee as the cart bounced. ¡®If she survived the blast, she¡¯s smart enough to stay alive, alone, or captured.¡¯

    ¡®If she survived.¡¯

    ¡®You did,¡¯ Kira said.

    Agloff looked at them hopelessly. ¡®But we¡¯ve done this before! We went to Eden. We won.¡¯

    Kira shook her head. ¡®Winter were undermanned for one and wanted you there for another. You don¡¯t win this one, I¡¯m sorry. You should quickly adjust to that reality.¡¯

    Agloff bit down and his jaw ground against his teeth in unseen rage. His brow furrowed helplessly. What could he do? What was worth doing? The creeping helplessness, the powerlessness was worst. He didn¡¯t feel grief. He refused. It was angrier, at all the people who didn¡¯t seem to care she was gone, Merry and Memphis included.

    Or maybe this was grief?

    He refused to submit to their defeatism. Agloff knew he would see Ariea Finland again, and he decided then he would hold onto that knowledge. He would wield it like a weapon against the world. Because she was stronger than they could imagine.

    ¡®Can you untie me now?¡¯ Agloff said to Kira.

    ¡®Depends how likely you are to hop the cart and run away.¡¯

    ¡®I know my situation. I wouldn¡¯t exactly get far.¡¯

    ¡®Smart lad.¡¯ Kira reached behind Agloff and tugged at the ropes binding him, and his arms jerked loose. She shuffled back, with hawk eyes fixed on Agloff.

    ¡®How many got out of Wishbone?¡¯ Merry said then. She looked up from the wagon down the line through ashen forest.

    Kira dipped her head. ¡®Most. They¡¯re stretching back a mile. Some scattered other ways.¡¯

    ¡®And the humans?¡¯

    ¡®Headed south, along the shore as we were leaving. Didn¡¯t seem all that interested in us, for now.¡¯

    ¡®They need another name than humans,¡¯ said Agloff. They were both less and more than the title of human. Something else entirely.

    ¡®They¡¯re the Others,¡¯ said Lady quietly. ¡®Like us, but not us. That¡¯s what you mean, right?¡¯

    Agloff nodded. Lady then smiled and held a small fist to Agloff. She unclenched it and a necklace of beads of aqua and turquoise dangled down.

    ¡®I made it for fun but think yous need it more.¡¯

    Agloff stared at it for a minute, and a feeling swelled in his chest. He wanted to cry, long and hard like a baby. He swallowed three times until the feeling went.

    ¡®Can I put it on you?¡¯ Lady added.

    Agloff nodded.

    She clambered to the front of the wagon and drew it round his neck.

    ¡®I love it,¡¯ Agloff said distantly. He rolled the beads through his fingers then fastened it round his neck. Lady smiled and awkwardly hugged him as the wagon bobbled over terrain.

    ¡®I know you would,¡¯ she said.

    Then the convoy came to a halt. One of the city guard rode down the line and called for calm. He jabbed a silver-tipped spear at the air. Kira held an arm out.

    ¡®S¡¯happening?¡¯

    ¡®Nearly evening, Miss,¡¯ the guard said. He gestured with his spear to an opening beyond the ashen trees. ¡®There¡¯s a wide cave system up ahead, below the Erwood, fresh water.¡¯ He then noticed Agloff. ¡®President wants a word with that one.¡¯

    ¡®Another one,¡¯ Agloff said bitterly.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Sir?¡¯

    ¡®I am very excited to reach Eden so your President can damn well let me be.¡¯

    ¡®Right, Sir.¡¯ The guard¡¯s brow furrowed in untold confusion. ¡®I only pass on what I¡¯m told. She¡¯s your president too, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Aye, not for much longer if I get my way.¡¯

    Merry and Memphis shot looks at him. He could see them wonder if this was a harmless comment, or a hint of greater plans for when they reached Eden, to usurp Riddis. Truth was, Agloff didn¡¯t know either. He was too angry for his words to mean anything. But he knew he had enough of Riddis¡¯ leash.

    ¡®What does she need to see Agloff for?¡¯ said Merry.

    ¡®You think they¡¯d tell me?¡¯ the guard complained. ¡®If you would come with me, Sir.¡¯ He held a hand up to Agloff.

    Agloff looked back and forth. Merry nodded with that reassuring look. ¡®Go on.¡¯ She nodded.

    ¡®I know we¡¯ll find her,¡¯ Lady added furtively.

    Agloff knew he could do with some of that childhood ignorance right now. He hurdled the side of the cart and his boots crunched over scorched earth.

    ¡®Lead the way,¡¯ he said of the guard, who headed up the line at a canter.

    Agloff felt a moment of dizziness then. It passed quickly, like someone was pouring sand in his head to stop it falling off his shoulders. His vision blurred a moment, as though he was walking through a heat haze.

    ¡®You alright, Sir?¡¯

    ¡®Funny feeling.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯ll be the Erwood. Has its way with everyone.¡¯

    ¡®Believe me, I know,¡¯ Agloff grunted. He thought the undead forest might have stifled Erobo. But his influence reached out as it always did.

    Ahead, the convoy was turning towards a ravine. The land rose sharply on both sides and a wide opening was visible to the left. Grey light cascaded down from the canopy. Surprisingly, two men were already stationed at the cave¡¯s opening.

    Agloff watched the front of the party dismount, and Riddis, in flowing robes, approached. Surprisingly, no one followed her. Instead, they rest moved down the ravine. They dismounted and unpacked, bedding their bags in upturned rocks and jagged shadows.

    Riddis turned from the opening, caught Agloff¡¯s eyes and raised a hand to him. The guard gave him a shove forwards and Agloff obeyed. He steeled himself. He knew he had nothing to say to her. He watched the other survivors of Wishbone as he walked instead. They lay blankets to sit on and opened baskets of food to sate themselves on.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    What sane thing could they possibly talk about?

    ¡®Agloff,¡¯ Riddis called regally.

    Agloff said nothing.

    ¡®I hope you understand.¡¯ She watched him.

    Agloff said nothing.

    ¡®I am very glad you are safe. I mean that.¡¯

    Agloff said nothing.

    ¡®If there is anything I could do for you, I¡­¡¯

    Agloff said nothing and Riddis at last understood.

    ¡®Keeper Omnwald,¡¯ she said to one of the guards stationed there. ¡®Permit us.¡¯

    They wore metal helmets with slits cut for eyes, and brass breastplates, and silver-tipped spears like the city guard. Agloff saw the land they stood on was well worn. Wishbone had guarded this place for a long time.

    The man called Omnwald said nothing and turned to the side. Riddis took this as an invitation to entry. She led Agloff down uneven steps, into darkness, dimly lit by torches on either side. Their steps were punctuated by the plop of water droplets down the cave.

    ¡®What is this place?¡¯ Agloff said at last. His voice boomed.

    ¡®The Underwood.¡¯ Riddis pointed to tubular structures that ran above them. Supports as wide as Agloff seemed to flow across the ceiling, bleeding into the walls. ¡®This is Erobo¡¯s root system. We are within his essence.¡¯

    ¡®You built this?¡¯

    ¡®No. It has been here a long time. As long, almost, as you,¡¯ she said knowingly.

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    ¡®To pay respect. To commune. To worship. To dream. To understand those dreams. To understand something. Any and every reason you can imagine.¡¯

    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t choose to speak to Erobo if I could.¡¯

    ¡®That is the frontier of reason, Agloff, to understand what is not yet understood. Erobo exists before us as he will after us. I am custode of this place only for the cosmic blink of my presidency. We use him for only the crudest, most mundane of needs. What are we, next to him, but blinking motes of time in timelessness? Such petty things, as petty as our tribal wars and banners. But this place is our gateway to something greater.¡¯

    ¡®You talk well,¡¯ Agloff said. ¡®But you talk so coldly.¡¯

    ¡®You mistake me. The awesomeness of the infinite is not a reason to dismiss all else. On the contrary, Agloff, I treasure human life above all. Its passing demands its saving. You can doubt that. I wouldn¡¯t blame you. My heart breaks for you. You deserve normality. As does Ariea.¡¯

    ¡®You think she¡¯s alive?¡¯

    ¡®Ariea inspires me. I would be a poor leader if I didn¡¯t believe in people. Least of all, her.¡¯

    Riddis smiled timidly. She seemed to shrink into her robes. Agloff supposed this was a moment to say he forgave her, but he didn¡¯t, and he wouldn¡¯t.

    ¡®How come Erobo wasn¡¯t destroyed by the fire?¡¯ he asked instead.

    Riddis shrugged as the tunnel flattened. ¡®You think I could answer that? You feel him here? This is his refuge. Close your eyes, feel every sense, the outstretched tip of his mind.¡¯

    Agloff did as she said. A warm tingling spread through him. He heard a knocking almost, distant and echoey, in his mind. Someone calling, or walking, toward him. It pulled him closer.

    ¡®Let him in,¡¯ Riddis said. ¡®Does he scare you?¡¯

    Agloff walked forwards, slowly. ¡®What do I have,¡¯ he said, ¡®to be scared of now.¡¯

    He reached a hand to the roots that scaled the walls. They funnelled into a wide chamber, lit by blazing torches. A web of roots knotted themselves into fantastic patterns, like a forest unto itself. It was A man, adorned in a pauper¡¯s robe knelt on the stone before them.

    Agloff looked at Riddis.

    ¡®This is the Oelgar of the Underwood,¡¯ she said. ¡®A scholar, and a servant. They keep Erobo¡¯s company in his solitude. Mentis,¡¯ she called.

    The robed man stood and addressed them. ¡®President, Agloff.¡¯ He nodded at them. ¡®I tend to his needs, on the occasions they arise. I am little company,¡¯ he corrected.

    ¡®Do you know me?¡¯ Agloff said.

    Mentis gestured a sleeve at the roots. ¡®He does, and he saw your coming. You seek his counsel? Or his sanctuary?¡¯

    ¡®Both,¡¯ replied Riddis. ¡®We have hundreds, thousands, above ground in need of shelter, and fresh water.¡¯ Riddis pointed into the cavern and Agloff then noticed the shimmer of the torches in a reservoir that fed the roots. The pool led as far as the eye could see back into the cave, barriered from them by a high wall.

    ¡®He knows,¡¯ Mentis said. ¡®He understands their fear, and loss.¡¯ He turned to Agloff. ¡®And yours. There¡¯s a rage in your mind. Hate. For all.¡¯

    ¡®Is she alive?¡¯ Agloff thought intently. His mind reached out to that distant knocking.

    ¡®Impossible to say,¡¯ said Mentis in reply, as though Erobo spoke through him. ¡®He feels not her presence, but nor has he felt her loss. She is¡­ far away. But his reach his tenuous beyond the Erwood, as you know.

    ¡®We¡¯ve come to speak to him about these invaders, these warmongers, and the path forward,¡¯ said Riddis, and Agloff could sense impatience.

    ¡®Yes. You wish to commune with him directly?¡¯

    ¡®I, we, do.¡¯

    Mentis bowed. ¡®I shall endear you to peace.¡¯ He pointed to the knot of roots above the pool and took to the stairs behind them.

    Strange, thought Agloff, but then one would be if they had another voice living inside their heads. He looked at the roots. Their stillness was like an unblinking stare, through him. He could almost imagine a creature caged inside. Erobo had told Agloff he had been a man once. Agloff wondered if this was where he died.

    ¡®You did well,¡¯ boomed Erobo in Agloff¡¯s head. That non-descript, distant voice. ¡®Eden, Eron, Thawn. Your story drew its close.¡¯

    ¡®I found what I needed there,¡¯ Agloff said, careful not to speak freely in front of Riddis.

    ¡®You continually impress me.¡¯

    Agloff supposed that was high praise.

    ¡®But the matter at hand,¡¯ Erobo continued. ¡®President.¡¯

    ¡®Great Err,¡¯ she said. Kira told Agloff once this referred to the tree but could be used interchangeably as a title for Erobo himself, as a symbol of respect. ¡®I- we- seek your counsel.¡¯

    ¡®Today¡¯s toll is heavy. My home has been destroyed too. Whatever you ask, I¡¯ll endeavour to answer.¡¯

    ¡®The invaders, they are humans?¡¯

    ¡®Yes. But don¡¯t mistake their familiarity in form for that of ideals. They are as alien as they come, from the minds I have glimpsed.¡¯

    ¡®Is their purpose here evil?¡¯

    Erobo almost laughed. ¡®They are no eviller than you. They are different, but that does not mean they are without morals. I glimpsed the minds of only a few, and at great distance at that, but their purpose is¡­ confused.¡¯

    ¡®How so?¡¯ cut in Agloff.

    ¡®This is more than an occupation. They are here for something¡­ more.¡¯

    ¡®What have they come for?¡¯

    ¡®Me.¡¯

    Riddis and Agloff looked at each other, confusedly.

    ¡®You cannot believe you would be the only ones fascinated by my nature. Humanity is on the brink of war. I saw their fears. They would turn to any hope, no matter how desperate. Wouldn¡¯t you?¡¯

    ¡®What can you offer them?¡¯ Agloff said.

    ¡®I couldn¡¯t tell you,¡¯ replied the voice.

    ¡®How did they come to know of you?¡¯ added Riddis. Agloff could see her crave knowledge, her eyes wide in fearful wonder.

    There was a pause in Agloff¡¯s brain. He felt Erobo¡¯s thoughts shift.

    ¡®I¡¯m of a race called nairons. Telepathic creatures, but we looked like yourselves. For centuries, we warred against our sister race, Asachi. It reduced our world to ruin, mud and blood and rain. A handful survived on both sides. It had lasted so long, it could never end. One side had to reach oblivion. I was tasked with prolonging our survival. The other nairons died, I suppose you could call it.¡¯

    Agloff tilted his head. ¡®They became like you are now.¡¯

    ¡®Yes. Mere essence, consigned to dreaming in a sterilised cell.¡¯

    ¡®Until you delivered them to safety?¡¯

    ¡®You are sharp, Agloff.¡¯

    ¡®Here?¡¯

    ¡®Not quite. Hundreds, thousands of my kind were held in that cell. They had called it a new dawn, on a new world, somewhere they presumed the Asachi could never find us. I was unimportant, but a very competent pilot, and with so few remaining I had the task of delivering us.¡¯

    ¡®If not Colony Two, where were you meant to go?¡¯ asked Riddis.

    ¡®We had marked out several worlds. This was one of them. But a taskforce of Asachi were equipped to pursue me. Damage to the craft was irreparable. I landed here, some way south.¡¯

    ¡®I saw you across the sky,¡¯ Agloff whispered. The thought was still surreal. Through the screens of the Underground, he had seen it, and yet it was ancient history.

    ¡®Then you know I was in trouble. I survived for a short while, several months, before resting here. Local fishermen tended to my illnesses, but it wasn¡¯t enough. I died that summer, in the shade of the tree you call Great Err.¡¯

    ¡®How?¡¯

    ¡®I was old anyway, and my body wasn¡¯t accustomed to your diseases. Each took its toll.¡¯

    Riddis cleared her throat. ¡®What about the cell? The dawn, you called it?¡¯

    ¡®Hidden along the way. You see, I knew all too well the damage my kind could wreak, as you do now. And I saw this world, and its people for a brief moment. I thought, for all my wrongdoing, I could be brave¡­ and choose something new.¡¯

    ¡®What did your people want instead?¡¯

    ¡®To be released onto life, to devour people, as hosts, as bodies. They still do. The cell is unmoved from where I buried it eight hundred years ago. They are suspended in a dream. Waiting for an awakening that will never come. I presume it of interest to your humanity. A colony of living minds. But as to your original question, how did the Confederacy become aware of my being here? I have only one guess.¡¯

    ¡®Which is?¡¯ probed Riddis.

    ¡®They found the Asachi. You should be careful friends. This true purpose of your invaders is hidden from most of them, all but a handful I sense. They are not the first outsiders to visit this place in recent times. One came looking for me not so long ago, a man called Knuckleton.¡¯

    ¡®Should that mean anything?¡¯

    ¡®It shouldn¡¯t do, not now, but it may yet. A darker game is afoot in this plot, a design beyond even humankind, or Colony Two. You would do well not to intervene in humanity¡¯s occupation, or you may find yourselves in the crossfire.¡¯

    ¡®Do you threaten us?¡¯ Riddis scowled defiantly,

    ¡®I make no threats. I am telling you events are already in motion.¡¯

    Agloff felt something, and he pushed on the hinges of Erobo¡¯s mind. He felt a misdirection. Perhaps even a lie. Erobo knew more than he was saying, Agloff was sure of it. Who was this Knuckleton? And how could Erobo know of a grander design without his own part to play in it?

    Riddis¡¯ eyes narrowed. ¡®Then what do you suggest?¡¯

    ¡®You face a fight on two fronts, humanity and Winter. I¡¯ve heard more and more men and women loyal to Jask pass through these lands recent weeks. You ought to be careful.¡¯

    ¡®How?¡¯

    ¡®Take the road East as you intend, to Eden. Heed Poll¡¯s summons. Trust yourselves only. Politics is a perilous business, I remember. Don¡¯t presume Winter won¡¯t have eyes in the midst. They¡¯re the greater threat for now. Leave the humans be.¡¯

    ¡®They aren¡¯t here to fight us, to wipe us out?¡¯

    ¡®No.¡¯ Erobo seemed quite sure of this, Agloff could tell. ¡®The attack on Wishbone was incidental, an accident of their power. For now, you¡¯re safe. They take prisoners though, I sense, from Wishbone, as study.¡¯

    Agloff¡¯s back straightened, ears perked. ¡®Prisoners?¡¯

    ¡®I heard whispers on their minds of captives. Many of the invaders are uncomfortable with this.¡¯

    Could Ariea be one of them? He prayed to any god who would listen she was. That little hope could drive him. It was a foothold.

    A second time, Riddis cleared her throat, and turned to consider this gnarled and ancient place. ¡®With your permission, Great Err, could we sleep on your land? You could accommodate us.¡¯

    Agloff imagined Erobo was smiling. ¡®For as long as you need, friends.¡¯ The voice paused. ¡®I have but a slight favour to ask in return.¡¯

    ¡®Anything.¡¯

    ¡®Take me with you.¡¯

    Riddis stood shocked, mouth ajar. ¡®I? Take?¡¯ Her brain could not process what this request meant.

    ¡®I am bound to this place, as you know. Now it¡¯s ash. I am sustained by life, of all kinds. As you travel, I could live off the land you follow, until I find a new home.¡¯

    ¡®Would you do any harm to our people?¡¯

    ¡®I swear none. They are my people too. I would live off the grass and the trees. I need a conduit, however.¡¯

    ¡®A conduit.¡¯

    ¡®Something to anchor myself to. A token.¡¯

    Agloff walked to the wall of the cave and knelt to a pile of rocks in the gloom of torchlight. He plucked a silvery one that had a hole eroded in its centre, then a vine from the rocks above him. He shredded its leaves through his fingers and thread the stone like a necklace.

    He held it to the knot of roots and it seemed to understand well enough. Agloff saw nothing, but he felt the stone buzz with a warmth, as if stone became flesh. It tingled and whispers flickered through Agloff¡¯s mind.

    Riddis said nothing. She watched without authority.

    Agloff drew the stone around his neck and tucked the stone into the inside of his jacket. He thought it better the people didn¡¯t know Erobo was with them, sifting through the creases of their minds. Riddis apparently agreed. She nodded at Agloff. Perhaps she thought this was a way of earning his trust.

    With Erobo to hand, Agloff could peer into her mind, see every hope and scheme. No knowledge was hidden. No one could cross him. No one could deny him what was his.

    This world was tangled and grey and vile and breaking, and now he could see it all, until he found what he wanted. From here to Eden and back again, he wasn¡¯t going to stop until he had his world.

    With Erobo, the Others should hope they don¡¯t find him, or he would break them, slowly, creepingly, and completely until they gave him what he needed. Ariea wasn¡¯t here to stop him now.

 Dark Noon Chapter Ten | Blood and Wine

    Chapter Ten

    Blood and Wine

    It was a little after ten at night, and Ernst Knuckleton¡¯s blinkered eyes were straining in the lamp light to stay open. His fingers numbly punched out a few more hundred words. Then he could stop.

    The words were bullshit. Arbitrary. A reflection on the journey and the first day of the occupation. That word was forbidden, mind. It was an ¡®expedition¡¯, which, Knuckleton could admit, was much less loaded.

    ¡®You look tired, Ernst,¡¯ Commander Vitor Tovey called from the end of the room. It was a long and narrow office. The walls were a sterile white, with tiled lights pounding them in glare and headaches.

    ¡®I am,¡¯ Knuckleton said quietly.

    ¡®Please, I¡¯d be a poor commanding officer if I had you working like a firebug.¡¯

    ¡®Thank you, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Dine with me, Ernst. We can discuss a little of a lot.¡¯ Tovey stood from his high-backed chair at his desk and began to walk towards Knuckleton, who occupied a modest corner of the room. Tovey was a weasel of a man, thin-faced with angular features. Grey hair was gelled back to reveal a widow¡¯s peak. ¡®Truth be told¡­ I was eager to make your acquaintance, Ernst.¡¯

    ¡®You¡­ were?¡¯ Knuckleton¡¯s wrinkled brow furrowed. He hastily raked a hand through his streaks of greying hair.

    ¡®As Director of the General Archive, I¡¯m sure you have more than a few secrets to spill. It¡¯s a position of great renown.¡¯ Tovey sat at a conference table that ran the length of the room, gestured Knuckleton do the same.

    Knuckleton did not complain. He closed his glassed laptop and made himself comfortable.

    ¡®I suppose it is,¡¯ he replied eventually.

    Two uniforms then walked in and placed a piping hot plate of cultured meat and vegetables in front of each of them.

    ¡®Eat,¡¯ commanded Tovey.

    Again, Knuckleton did not complain.

    ¡®They call you a scientific expert,¡¯ Tovey continued.

    ¡®They do?¡¯

    ¡®I suppose that is an affectionate way of saying you know very little about a lot. The Director of the General Archive would have to have a rich background in science, politics, anthropology.¡¯

    Knuckleton swallowed a meat ball. ¡®You flatter me, Commander. But yes. Truth be told, my time at the Archive was understated.¡¯

    The General Archive was the Confederacy¡¯s greatest repository of knowledge, of science, of culture, of history. It was a pyramid of glass and mental that kissed the Atlan sky. As its Director, Knuckleton had been privy to a great deal. For the most part, it was best unspoken.

    ¡®In what did you specialise?¡¯

    Knuckleton paused. ¡®Special Acquisitions, Sir. Fourteen years, before Deputy, then Director.¡¯

    ¡®Special Acquisitions: such a sinister name, isn¡¯t it? What was your most interesting oversight?¡¯

    ¡®I should think you know that already, Sir. But the recovery of the Asachi casket from San Rios. To study an as-yet unknown life form, an intelligent one at that. It was remarkable. I oversaw its study, for a period. Even communicated with it. The progress we made there was our proudest work. Before the Asachi was¡­ forcibly requisitioned by the Armed Intelligence Services, under the orders of Undersecretary Harnoon. Three weeks later, I was forcibly promoted to Deputy, out of Special Acquisitions, and most of my staff were handsomely compensated for their resignations.¡¯

    ¡®Is that so?¡¯ But Tovey did not sound surprised.

    ¡®The Asachi was pursuing an individual of untold importance, called Erobo. Pardon my cynicism, Commander. But you know as well as I do, I¡¯m not here as a scientific expert. I¡¯m here as an Erobo expert. Erobo is our ultimate objective, is he not?¡¯

    Tovey looked unflustered. ¡®You may think that. Why did you leave the Archive? If I may pry?¡¯

    ¡®I could not in good faith work for an institution dedicated to the freedom of information, of public knowledge, under the thumb of the Armed Intelligence Services. I¡¯m sure you understand.¡¯

    ¡®I understand completely.¡¯ Tovey smiled. ¡®Your mind is sharp as I was told, a pity you let yourself suffer Old Central. I¡¯ve not had the displeasure to visit it myself.¡¯

    Knuckleton smiled falsely. ¡®It is beautiful, in its way. It¡¯s home. Tell me, Sir, Undersecretary Harnoon no longer works for the Ministry of Defence, does he?¡¯

    It was Tovey¡¯s turn to smile. ¡®I believe not,¡¯ he said through a sip of wine. ¡®Undersecretary to the Minister of Colonial Affairs now.¡¯

    ¡®Who was this mission¡¯s greatest proponent. Trey Hollobach. I understand he¡¯s considering a leadership challenge and an Earth colony is on his manifesto.¡¯

    ¡®Possibly.¡¯

    ¡®And I¡¯ve read Hollobach¡¯s campaign is funded heavily by PACs. Ilott Aerospace mainly, pro-war lobbyists who, chance would have it, have contracts with the AIS and the Ministry of the Defence. It all just seems a little¡­ convenient, you could say.¡¯

    Tovey¡¯s smile ripened. ¡®Chance would have it. I couldn¡¯t possibly comment, Ernst. We are at war with the idea of being at war. The Feng-Hal encroach further daily. Erobo may provide an advantage. He may not. Sometimes, Ernst, a spade is just a spade. All missions have multiple objectives. This is nothing new.¡¯

    ¡®Why is the Armed Intelligence Services so interested in Erobo?¡¯

    Tovey said nothing. He stared through brazen eyes, ran a finger through his slickly-gelled hair.

    ¡®I¡¯ll change topic them.¡¯ Knuckleton said. ¡®The indigenous I can spy in that pen from my window. They one of your objectives?¡¯

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The Commander sighed deeply. ¡®They were recovered from the¡­ unfortunate destruction of their town. They were spared.¡¯

    ¡®And their use now?¡¯

    ¡®They would educate us on their affairs.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t need to cage them for that.¡¯

    ¡®War is an amoral game, Ernst.¡¯

    ¡®I hope I¡¯m not overstepping, Sir, to point out we are not yet at war, least of all with the indigenous. Don¡¯t forget this is their home more than it ever will be ours.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯ll enlist their help in matters of Colony Two, and other uses,¡¯ Tovey said darkly.

    Knuckleton raised an eyebrow. ¡®That¡¯s interesting phrasing for slavery.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not indefinite.¡¯ For the first time, Tovey looked weakened, but he did not challenge Knuckleton on his tone, even as he overstepped. ¡®How would you enlist their help willingly?¡¯

    ¡®Talk to them, comfort them, provide what they need, and fairly compensate them for their time. Show them you¡¯re people.¡¯ Knuckleton sipped his own wine for the first time. It sent a comforting shiver through him.

    At this, Tovey rose sharply, whisked himself to the window and watched the pen Knuckleton mentioned. ¡®I would do what I could.¡¯

    ¡®But?¡¯

    ¡®The indigenous present a potent threat to the integrity of the mission.¡¯

    ¡®You do your thing, let them do theirs. They don¡¯t need to get in the way.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s not just Erobo. There¡¯s a¡­ PR angle to consider as well. We need to deal with them, one way or another, carefully. My hands are tied by the scale of the mission. A return to Earth is a good opiate for those in the Colonies. Trodden on as they are by Atlas.¡¯ Tovey laughed and swigged his wine.

    ¡®But then if Hollobach wants an Earth colony, you¡¯ll have to make friends with the indigenous at some point.¡¯

    ¡®Hence my headache.¡¯ At his words, Tovey rubbed his brow and returned to his seat. ¡®This was originally a prison. How badly would the Confederacy react really if we subjugated the locals? You could even spin it as for their own good. Paint ourselves as missionaries.¡¯ Tovey laughed again, loudly and hollow. ¡®That is my Deputy¡¯s opinion.¡¯

    Knuckleton tilted his head. ¡®I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve¡ª¡¯

    ¡®You haven¡¯t met her, Kina Li. Puppy on a leash, that one.¡¯

    ¡®How so?¡¯

    ¡®A dogmatist of the Confederacy. Fiercely opinionated. Strident. Pro-war too. Let¡¯s say, she is vulnerable to her worst impulses. Wasn¡¯t always that way.¡¯ Briefly, Tovey looked captivated by a memory.

    ¡®Are you, Sir? Pro-war?¡¯

    ¡®I like to think I believe in mankind a little more than that. As a military, our role should be to prevent conflict, not to enforce it.¡¯

    ¡®Li disagrees?¡¯

    ¡®She didn¡¯t have the smoothest upbringing.¡¯ Tovey sighed. ¡®So she has an eye for the worst in people. Think her preferred solution to this mess is chain all the locals up, so they can¡¯t make things messy.¡¯

    Knuckleton cocked his head. ¡®Isn¡¯t that messy in itself. If word got out that the indigenous were held captive.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s more desirable? That, or an insurgency where they risk derailing the mission? With greater bloodshed? You see? My hands are tied in every which way.¡¯ Tovey groaned and strained his back.

    ¡®You¡¯re considering it? Subjugating the locals?¡¯

    ¡®All points of view under consideration.¡¯

    ¡®A very diplomatic answer, Sir.¡¯

    Tovey then laughed loudly and deeply. ¡®It¡¯s almost heroic when you think about it. Here we are as pioneers. For the first time in near a thousand years, the Confederacy on planet Earth.¡¯ He laughed again at the look on Knuckleton¡¯s face. ¡®Don¡¯t think me deluded, I know there is no romanticism in what we do. It¡¯s just bloody work. It¡¯s all it ever is.¡¯

    ¡®I¡­ see, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Call me Vitor, for the love of God. I feel like you¡¯re my lapdog having you leashed up in here. But they don¡¯t trust you, you see.¡¯

    Knuckleton raised an eyebrow. ¡®They?¡¯

    ¡®The Armed Intelligence Services. They¡¯re the ones who requested you. As you rightly surmised, this is their mission. Partly. I suppose that makes me their lapdog.¡¯

    ¡®Do you ever know what became of the Asachi casket?¡¯ Knuckleton asked, curious as to the subtleties of their mission.

    ¡®Why? You miss it?¡¯ Tovey laughed dryly.

    ¡®Just curious.¡¯

    ¡®Hell if I know. Since Harnoon took the AIS over, they operated with unrestricted authority. The Oversight Committee shut down about the same time. Harnoon said pencil pushing was the ally of the Feng-Hal. Bureaucracy breeds inaction, he said. Colourful character.¡¯

    ¡®Did you ever meet him?¡¯

    ¡®Once. A handshake. He was too busy for anything more. But, as we are speaking candidly, you would be right to think he¡¯s a slippery man.¡¯ Tovey chuckled and it tapered into a cough. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and his eyes sank in the shadows of black rings.

    ¡®You should rest, Vitor.¡¯ Knuckleton decided to take Tovey at his word, calling him by his first name. It made him easier to ply. To sculpt to his needs. It made him a friend. A confidant. He carried information that could keep Knuckleton alive or buy his favour with those who wanted to hurt him. The closer to Tovey he got, the safer he became. Knuckleton would make himself indispensable to the mission.

    Tovey sighed deeply. ¡®Is it that obvious? Been here a day and I¡¯m already putting out a thousand fires. I have a Prime Minister who could resign any day, the Minister for Colonial Affairs, the Minister for Defence, the Quarter General, the Chief of the Armed Intelligence Services, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and four Undersecretaries wanting to co-opt and micromanage every aspect of this mission.¡¯

    ¡®And how do you deal with that?¡¯ Knuckleton said playfully.

    ¡®I don¡¯t answer the phone.¡¯

    Knuckleton laughed, said, ¡®Pour yourself another one, Vitor. You¡¯ve earned it,¡¯ and he pushed Tovey the bottle of 3329 Iscariot wine across the table.

    ¡®You like it?¡¯

    ¡®I prefer a mulled red,¡¯ mused Knuckleton. ¡®When I left the Archive, a colleague brought me the most exquisite bottle from this little island called Pache on Fhitellios, I think it was. I could never bring myself to finish it. Occupies a place of pride on my shelf. I would never say no to a good Iscariot though.¡¯

    ¡®I suppose we could all do with drinking a little after the past few weeks. Long that they were.¡¯

    ¡®As you say, Vitor.¡¯ Knuckleton raised his glass to the Commander. This game was about survival, by any means.

    The pair of them then jolted. The door knocked and their gazes shifted.

    ¡®Enter!¡¯ called Tovey. At once, the sterile white door slid noiselessly open and a khaki-clad soldier entered, adorning a prisoner on either arm, or whatever the term of choice was for Tovey. Their clothes were smitten by ash and dust and their faces had foul stares. Knuckleton watched, fascinated.

    ¡®Indigenous?¡¯ he said to Tovey.

    ¡®Hmm.¡¯ The Commander slipped back into his military mould in a blink. ¡®Explain yourself,¡¯ he said to the soldier. He was a thin fellow, seemed to sink into his cargo pants. His wiry arms pushed the locals forward.

    ¡®An altercation, Sir,¡¯ the subordinate wheezed, ¡®in the pens. Then the taller one attempted to escape when we split them up.¡¯

    Knuckleton watched Tovey wince. That word- ¡®escape¡¯- it implied incarceration, subjugation, a violation of the locals¡¯ rights, which was true of course, but beside the point. Tovey was fussy on the semantics. There was a word harsher than guest but kinder than prisoner for these particular locals that as yet escaped Tovey.

    Residents, perhaps, thought Knuckleton. Visitors. Informants. One of them would become the politic-speak of choice.

    ¡®Any casualties?¡¯ Tovey said after a long pause.

    ¡®None, Sir.¡¯

    ¡®Then return that one to their accommodation.¡¯ He pointed at the shorter of them, a portly man, with a crippled hand. The soldier shepherded the local to a colleague at the door who closed it behind him. Tovey then looked over the taller, the one who had tried to escape.

    ¡®If this one wants to leave,¡¯ he said, ¡®let him. Escort him beyond the perimeter. Have no one follow him. He¡¯s free to go.¡¯

    ¡®Sir?¡¯

    ¡®If he doesn¡¯t come back, it will put the fear of God into the rest of them.¡¯

    ¡®As you wish, Sir.¡¯

    The soldier stamped his heel and whisked the prisoner away. It stared back at Tovey through deep, black eyes.

    ¡®You see what I mean?¡¯ Tovey said as the door closed a second time, taking another swig of the Iscariot. ¡®I would much rather I could leave the bloody locals be and not have to deal with them at all. Nuisances much as anything. They¡¯re a political problem, not a military one.¡¯

    ¡®Is that why they chose you for this mission, Vitor?¡¯ said Knuckleton. ¡®Because you¡¯re a political man?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m no one¡¯s lackey if that¡¯s what you¡¯re suggesting.¡¯ He slumped back to his chair. ¡®I¡¯m trusted to make reasonable judgements, whatever that means. Can only hope the others don¡¯t get similar ideas. We need the local knowledge.¡¯

    ¡®The other who?¡¯

    ¡®The other assets.¡¯

    Knuckleton smiled. So, that was what Tovey had decided to call them. It was a finely poised situation, he had to admit. The Confederacy could not afford to be seen as aggressors against the indigenous, lest wind of it got back to Atlas. The danger came if the Cons were provoked. What if the locals fired the first shot, took the first life?

    Well, mused Knuckleton, all hell would break loose. And nothing in the world would suit him more.

 Dark Noon Chapter Eleven | The Diarist of Floor Three

    Chapter Eleven

    The Diarist of Floor Three

    Ariea awoke on the ground, dust on her tongue. She spat and coughed in the shadow of soldiers stood over her. They guided her to her feet, gently. She looked at them, surprised, as they handed her a set of trousers, a shirt, and boots. Another soldier waited at the entrance to the pen with parcels of food.

    She turned to Eli who was slouched in the corner, already dressed, pale as milk but for heavy black rings round her eyes. The girl shrugged.

    Ariea said nothing as she was led to a tent to change, and the guard on-call told Ariea her clothes would be washed and pressed. She wondered if she were walking through a dream. The occupiers gazed at her, transfixed.

    It gave her status, Ariea thought, that she was born and raised on Earth. These others were colonisers and carried with them the weights and guilts of their ancestors. Their homes were seized. Their bodies and cultures were tainted goods.

    Lazily, Ariea then slipped into her new clothes, and stared at her face in a mirror suspended above her. Her freckled cheeks strained. Her brow creased and her dried hair was darkening with the seasons.

    She didn¡¯t recognise that person.

    For a moment, she watched as a vision of Agloff drifted in behind her, and reached his arms over her, gorilla-like and swayed her body side-to-side. Ariea then held two fingers to the glass, whispered, ¡®Miss you. Please don¡¯t do anything I wouldn¡¯t do. But that¡¯s a stretch,¡¯ she added with a weak smile. ¡®I¡¯m safe.¡¯

    There was a shout from outside and Ariea silently obeyed, trudging into the sunlight in her new clothes. The boots were an improvement, she had to admit. At the end of the rows of crates and pens spilling over the fields, a truck was humming on a beaten path.

    The other prisoners were huddled onto benches on the back of it, all staring at their shoes.

    ¡®You alright?¡¯ Ariea said, nudging Eli by the shoulder as she sat.

    ¡®Marvellous. Haven¡¯t thrown up since you saw me, so that¡¯s something.¡¯

    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t talk about that so loud.¡¯

    Eli looked down at her gut. ¡®They¡¯re gonna know sooner or later. Where do you think they¡¯re taking us? Back?¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t imagine they would be this nice to us if it was something good. I¡¯ll look out for you,¡¯ she added, stooping her head to look at Eli.

    ¡®I appreciate the sentiment.¡¯ She raised her chin, half-smiled. ¡®You¡¯re already better than my ex ever was.¡¯

    Then, the truck shuddered into life and the bounces and undulations of the road rippled through Ariea¡¯s body as the truck rolled onwards. But for brief stretches of broken tarmac, the way was bumpy and sickening, in the full blast of the sun. More trucks followed them in a large convoy, carrying equipment and personnel.

    By the sun, Ariea knew they were heading west. Soon, the air started to choke them in dust, while the shadows thinned into endless plains of rock and gravel. Even so, the ride was better than walking, and Ariea had walked these lands twice before, with Agloff, Merry, Oxford, Memphis and Lady. She recognised them well.

    ¡®Four klicks east, Ma¡¯am!¡¯ yelled a soldier from the front of the truck. The cabin had its roof stripped back and their voices carried in the wind.

    There was a low thrum and a spotter drone glided over them, before rushing to altitude. The passengers watched it, mesmerised, while Ariea listened into the cabin.

    ¡®There¡¯s a settlement about halfway. Abandoned by the looks of it.¡¯

    ¡®What do we know about it?¡¯

    ¡®Not much. Subterranean. Sonar shows tunnels going down about a mile underground, some reach out quite far towards the crater, plumbing mostly. Drones found sediment in the base of the crater, so the area was likely flooded at some point. Locals must have pumped the land for water.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯ve dated the soil?¡¯

    ¡®Overnight. The evidence lines up with mission intelligence. Impact was about eight to nine-hundred years ago.¡¯

    ¡®We¡¯ll stop off at this settlement. We can use their pipeline as a starting point before we start excavating. Would be useful to appraise the site in case there¡¯s any usable intelligence there. Do we know how old it is?¡¯

    ¡®Can¡¯t say until we¡¯re inside it, Ma¡¯am.¡¯

    ¡®Reasonable enough. You recommend we send a squad in to check it out?¡¯

    ¡®Deputy Li suggested otherwise. We use the local assets to canvas the place, in event of squatters and the like. Any skirmishes are easier to brush off then. Our hands stay clean, proverbially.¡¯

    ¡®Understood.¡¯

    Ariea understood the fragments of their conversation. They were headed for the Underground, Colony Two¡¯s greatest subterranean settlement, where she and Agloff had been a prisoner of Norman Fall, where its heroes had fallen to Winter. Now, it was less than a hollow memory, and one Ariea had hoped to leave here.

    She never imagined she would have to go back. Excavation, they said, of the crater. Ariea knew as well as the Confederacy did what caused it: Erobo. They were here for Erobo.

    This was their starting point; the impact eight hundred years ago when he first arrived. This was a dangerous moment. Ariea had to pretend she had never seen this place, to Eli, to the Confederacy, and to herself.

    She slid back in her seat, turned this information through her mind for the last kilometre, until the convoy ground itself to a halt in a plume of dust. When it cleared, Ariea could see the innocuous outhouse that guarded the Underground from the rest of the universe.

    A door jutted up beside it, discarded and half-buried in dust from where Oxford Blue had torn it from its hinges. The memory played through her mind in unsettling colour.

    Ariea hated this place. Anywhere but here.

    Never had she felt so alone, so suffocated as she did in that maze of tunnels. All of her fears were ghosts in this place.

    ¡®Step down,¡¯ the soldier in the cabin ordered them.

    Silently, the prisoners obeyed, organising themselves into a line. Next to them, a second truck of soldiers was being drilled to erect a row of tents and unpack equipment.

    They were shepherded toward the outhouse and watched by half a dozen soldiers. One squinted up at the arch of Cerberus across the sky.

    ¡®It¡¯s always watching you,¡¯ a scrawny, elderly prisoner said to the soldier. ¡®Does it make you uncomfortable, son? Your ancestors left this place a prison.¡¯

    When the soldier didn¡¯t reply, the old man chuckled hoarsely. ¡®Cerberus is an old friend.¡¯ He leaned closer, whispered. ¡®But it¡¯s your guilty conscience. We could have been up there, in the stars too. S¡¯only ancient luck you¡¯re the one standing that side with the gun. We had stories about you.¡¯

    ¡®You¡­ You did?¡¯

    The old man laughed a second time. ¡®We imagined you gods, boy. And how disappointing reality was in comparison,¡¯ he said.

    The other prisoners kept their heads bowed but the soldier seemed too unsure of himself to retaliate. He stepped back to his colleagues.

    A moment later, the woman from the truck cabin that had driven them here approached and gestured that her prisoners, eleven of them, Ariea counted, be strung into a line.

    ¡®My name is Lieutenant Ullwick. The Confederacy of Colonies extends its¡­ salutations, and its gratitude. We are deeply honoured to know you, to be amongst the first humans to return to Earth. You have our undying respect. Do not be alarmed, you¡¯re not to be hurt or mistreated. This is not a permanent arrangement. We¡¯re asking your help only. If anyone would like to leave, you are free to go.¡¯ She gestured the rocky flats and shimmering heat haze on the horizon.

    That was a false economy, thought Ariea, to offer that choice after the journey there, as the sun beat down the backs of their necks. Predictably, no one moved, but Ariea could see the thought tempt them all the same. If it weren¡¯t for Eli, Ariea knows she would have backed herself to make that journey, from here to Eden. She was young and fit and savvy.

    But the timing wasn¡¯t right, not yet. The moment for that would come.

    Content no one was leaving, Ullwick continued. ¡®Our objective is to excavate the crater two kilometres west of here.¡¯If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡®Why?¡¯ called the old man.

    ¡®That¡¯s immaterial. There¡¯s a settlement underground on this site. We want to establish the extent to which the crater and this settlement may be connected. We would be thankful for your assistance as our teams begin excavation of the crater.¡¯

    She paused a long time, waiting for one of them to leave. But none did. They all saw the impossibility of their situations. Obedience was the safest option.

    ¡®We¡¯ll be fed? Watered?¡¯ the old man growled.

    Ullwick smiled. ¡®Of course.¡¯

    He bit on his thinned lips. His brow furrowed. ¡®What d¡¯you need from all of us?¡¯ He put an arm around the prisoner next to him, a lanky man with a face like a horse.

    ¡®Just to scope out the settlement, Mr¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Groughson. Hern Groughson. Just to scope it out? That¡¯s all?¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s all, Mr Groughson.¡¯ Ullwick beckoned a gaggle of her khaki-clad troopers to drop off rucksacks of equipment at the prisoners¡¯ feet. ¡®Everything you¡¯ll need is there.¡¯

    ¡®Weapons?¡¯ the old man said.

    ¡®You can enter the settlement through the outhouse. You see anything you suspect is of use, strip it, bring it back, we¡¯ll evaluate it. Proceed in pairs, cover as much ground as you can. We¡¯ll provide you with radios for emergency use.¡¯ She divided them up where they stood. Ariea was with Eli.

    So long as they brought something half-useful back, that would be fine, Ariea thought. Or at least something primitive natives could mistake for thinking was useful more like.

    Each pair scooped a rucksack and trudged single file into the Underground, torches at the ready. They punched into a plume of darkness and the air was chilled. Ariea waited for the other pairs to move on before she followed. She could feel her mind suffocating, her chest raised.

    ¡®Scared of the dark?¡¯ said Eli.

    ¡®Something like that.¡¯

    They passed down the lines and checkpoints where families were segregated, the cages that held those delivered to Winter by Fall¡¯s regime, now long deserted. The way ahead was lit only by the guiding light of their torches. Mostly it was well-preserved, shielded from the elements. Occasional rooms and doorways had collapsed on themselves, rows of pipes were burst. Ariea felt the concrete ground dampen from where the land outside seeped in.

    They stopped where the passage bloomed into a large hall. Ariea couldn¡¯t see how far back it reached, but the layout was vaguely familiar. She angled her torch at a row of crates, four stories high. Families had lived in those.

    ¡®Don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s lived here for a while,¡¯ said Eli.

    ¡®I¡¯m getting that impression.¡¯

    ¡®Must have been damn fine looking when there was.¡¯

    ¡®I can¡¯t imagine,¡¯ Ariea lied. ¡®And she said it goes down a mile, heard her talking.¡¯

    Eli rolled her neck back and stared up at the ceiling, watching motes of dust twinkle in the beam of her torch. ¡®Woah. And probably hundreds of years old too. It lends perspective, I guess.¡¯ She cupped her other hand over her gut and Ariea saw her smile at it.

    ¡®Do you think you¡¯re ready, for the baby I mean?¡¯

    ¡®My momma said you never are ready, so no. She will be though. For the world. She¡¯ll be stupid and smart and funny and wonderful and perfect¡¯ Eli looked down again. ¡®I have this¡­ instinct it will be a girl. You don¡¯t think they¡¯d take her off me, do you?¡¯

    Ariea chuckled. ¡®I wouldn¡¯t let them.¡¯

    Eli held her torch to Ariea and her gaze studied her. ¡®I believe that. She barely exists and she¡¯s already my lil¡¯ hero. Keeps me straight.¡¯ Then Eli swiped a hand at her eye. Ariea saw them glaze and glint in the torchlight. ¡®It only feels half-real. How the fuck do you have a kid and look after it, every day? Forever? I don¡¯t want that responsibility.¡¯

    Ariea laughed and led Eli on deeper into the chamber, vaguely leading them towards one of the Underground¡¯s mazy staircases. ¡®I don¡¯t even know how to choose what I¡¯m eating from one day to the next.¡¯

    They descended onto the next landing, which was identical to the first. The crates were in their places, rows of pews divided the mess hall from the rest of the plaza, and the air was heavy on their lungs.

    There was one distinction, however.

    ¡®Shit,¡¯ whispered Eli.

    At the heart of the plaza, the ground had given way to the next floor in a hole ten metres wide. Vines and moss grew around the fringes of the hole, creeping over the plaza like a slow infection. Ariea shone her torch over it. She could spy the plaza of Floor 3 below.

    Fixtures and fastenings were buried in the rubble.

    ¡®We should get down there.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not bloody jumping,¡¯ yelped Eli. ¡®What are they even expecting us to bring back?¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe they just want to break us in. Keep us busy so we don¡¯t run off.¡¯

    ¡®Well we can¡¯t go down the stairs.¡¯ Eli gestured back the way they had come where the path downwards was barricaded by rubble. Ariea knew there were other stairways but thought better than to say as much.

    ¡®Let¡¯s see what they gave us then.¡¯ Ariea slackened her bag straps and dug into the toys the Cons had given them. She chucked a pocket knife at Eli. ¡®How trusting of them.¡¯ Then pulled out an orb of some sort, clicked a button on the side. At once, it burst alight, brighter than any light Ariea had seen. She set it rolling down the plaza and the entire floor was caught in a silvery glow. Next, she dug out a small tablet, with a lens on one side. ¡®Cameras?¡¯

    ¡®The high and mighty Departed,¡¯ laughed Eli. ¡®Heard they had the power of gods, and they give us a light bulb and a camera.¡¯

    ¡®Ah-hah!¡¯

    ¡®Oh?¡¯

    Ariea pulled a towing winch from the bag. There was a harness at one end and a power back attached to the cable at the other.

    ¡®That seems far too convenient,¡¯ mused Eli.

    Ariea scoffed. ¡®If they were planning to go spelunking in a crater, it¡¯s not that surprising they brought it.¡¯

    ¡®You won¡¯t have me on the end of that thing.¡¯

    ¡®Good job then,¡¯ said Ariea with a smirk, ¡®I wasn¡¯t offering.¡¯ She leapt from her haunches by the hole and stapled the winch to the ground adjacent, pegging it in place with a chunk of rubble, and strapped the harness over her shoulders.

    ¡®You are enjoying this far too much.¡¯

    Ariea ignored her, digging into the bag, and pulled out a pair of headsets and passed one to Eli. ¡®Keep me company,¡¯ she said.

    Eli laughed loudly. Her voice bounded across the hall. ¡®Yes, ma¡¯am.¡¯

    Ariea took two gulps of stale air, and set herself against the side of the hole, dragging on the cable as she did so. With a click of a button on her chest, the cable unwound, and she began to sink.

    ¡®Check the winch is firm,¡¯ she called back to Eli.

    ¡®It¡¯s good,¡¯ came back a crackle. ¡®You like this, don¡¯t you?¡¯

    ¡®Like what?¡¯

    ¡®All of it, the thrill, the danger. You get off on it. You¡¯re way too comfortable.¡¯

    ¡®Not really,¡¯ Ariea said defensively. ¡®I don¡¯t sleep well anymore. I haven¡¯t since Jask died. I¡¯m tired. I want things to be normal.¡¯

    Eli hummed in crackly tones. ¡®Hmm, but maybe that¡¯s the problem. You don¡¯t sleep because this is your normal now. Whatever the fuck this is. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.¡¯

    How could Eli be right? All Ariea wanted for months was to sit and read and eat and sleep and love and be loved and exist in mundanity. She never wanted to go back to Eden for Poll¡¯s little summons. And yet, Eli was right. She was at ease. She hated this place. but in some twisted sense, she was happy?

    Comfortable.

    As she descended in the gloom of the glow-globe, she remembered that feeling when she killed Jask. It felt good in a sick kind of way, like Eden had broken something inside her. Something she couldn¡¯t place. She wanted to be the people¡¯s saviour.

    Saviour, not Slayer, she thought.

    ¡®The way you were talking to those soldiers last night¡­¡¯ Eli continued. ¡®You enjoy it. I could never.¡¯

    Ariea couldn¡¯t think of a reply.

    ¡®You are a maniac, and I mean that in the best way. You don¡¯t realise you inspired a lot of people. You¡¯re the Ariea Finland.¡¯

    Ariea felt the buzz of adrenaline wash over her body. She wasn¡¯t scared. This world didn¡¯t understand her. Only Agloff did.

    ¡®Ariea?¡¯ said Eli. ¡®You okay? I didn¡¯t mean to¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Yeah, good. I¡¯m about ten metres from the bottom.¡¯

    ¡®You don¡¯t wish you were like me,¡¯ continued Eli. ¡®I am normal. I wouldn¡¯t start a fight with a bumblebee. Whereas you¡¯d jab it with a pointy stick and tell it to fuck off. I like that.¡¯

    Ariea laughed. ¡®After Eden, things I enjoyed would just make me feel guilty.¡¯

    ¡®Because you know what the world¡¯s like. I imagine being at home after that, you¡¯d feel a lil¡¯ pent up. I can see why you volunteered for the long patrols. Luckily, me, I ducked conscription by a week with the pregnancy. I am a barmaid, I have soft hands, not made for climbing, or shooting, or shitting in the words, whatever it is you do.¡¯

    A smile touched Ariea¡¯s lips. Those patrols were the highlight of her week. With Agloff or Kira, trekking over open country, always to somewhere new. She never dreaded them as she knew Agloff had. Yet she had spent six months telling herself to. Because that was how she was supposed to feel. Anything but was a sickness to be treated, a psychological error to correct.

    And here she was back in the Underground, a place she knew she hated, but content.

    Then, her feet touched ground. ¡®I¡¯m down!¡¯ she said and clicked her harness to halt the winch. She stared from the shaft of light into the darkness of Floor 3.

    ¡®Anything interesting?¡¯

    ¡®Not yet. I¡¯ll walk around.¡¯ Ariea clicked on her torch. ¡®I¡¯ll have a look at some of these rooms.¡¯ She walked on, towards the crates and offices of the Underground, hoping she might stumble on something useful she could give their Confederate masters.

    She saw bloodstains, soaked into the concrete, moss spreading in tendrils through the cracks in the walls. Bullet casing scattered at her feet like stones.

    ¡®Why do you think people left this place?¡¯ whispered Eli.

    ¡®There¡¯s bullets about, I see a couple of knives, bloodstains on the walls.¡¯

    ¡®Ah. You think they did it to themselves?¡¯

    ¡®Hard to say,¡¯ lied Ariea. ¡®Wait.¡¯ She stopped at a wall, graffitied by burn marks, like someone had taken a blowtorch to the concrete. It was Winter¡¯s mark.

    ¡®Something there?¡¯

    ¡®Someone has seared Winter¡¯s mark on the walls.¡¯

    ¡®Makes sense, I guess. They¡¯ve been around long enough to be responsible.¡¯

    Ariea felt her chest tighten, almost imperceptibly. Beside the graffiti, someone had knotted Winter¡¯s flag around an overhead pipe. This Winter were dead, she reminded herself.

    She moved on; took a left, then a right and found herself zipping up a stairway onto a balcony, running along the fronts of the crates she knew people here lived in.

    At random, she entered one, and saw a greyed vision of the family that stayed here. Two bunks were lain out on either side, one with toys, a teddy bear, stiffened in dust. Clothes were strewn between them, welded to the floor by the damp. She picked up a book from the larger bunk where she thought the parents of this family slept and flicked through it to see a hand-written scrawl. It was leatherbound and engraved with a name: Harmon.

    Thoughtlessly, Ariea turned to the last scribbled page. The handwriting started neat, then became rushed into squiggles she could not decipher.

    ¡®Found a¡­ diary, I think,¡¯ she said to Eli.

    ¡®What¡¯s it say?¡¯

    Ariea cleared her throat and set herself, then began to read:

    9 September. I write to you in haste this evening. It is a little after 10 at night. My friend Merl rushed to our door. He was worked a wedding this evening on One. He said he saw a shooting star ride the sky in fire through the screens. It landed but a klick or two away. It shook the Earth, by Cerberus we all felt it. Had no idea what it was. Now he says the land is smoking.

    He left the ceremony in a panic, as did all the guests, he said. There¡¯s chatter and rumour outside. He says Winter are at the gates, that they are coming. Why today, is all I can ask myself. I think the shooting star is a warning to us all. I panic for my children, my girls. Even now, their steps come closer. I write quickly. Save the Underground! Serve the Underground! Let this not be our last day. Winter are the enemy of all.

    I leave my diary here, in the good faith that I will write again, when we are home again. They are telling us to leave. I don¡¯t know for how long.

    ¡®There¡¯s a couple more lines, but I can¡¯t read the writing,¡¯ said Ariea. ¡®That¡¯s the last entry.¡¯

    ¡®Fuck. Well, we got mention of the crater at least. We know this place was nothing to do with it, not deliberately anyway.¡¯

    Ariea stared at the room for a while. She let his words rest in their memory. ¡®Yeah,¡¯ she said eventually. ¡®Alright, check the winch is still steady. I¡¯m coming back up.¡¯

 Dark Noon Chapter Twelve | The Rats

    Chapter Twelve

    The Rats

    Lieutenant Ullwick accepted the diary from Ariea. She flicked through the pages, not taking the time to inspect them in the dust-bitten wind. ¡®Is it important?¡¯ she said through her nose.

    Ariea looked at her bouldering frame, arms clasped behind her back. ¡®He says the crater formed while he was living there. So, the settlement predates the impact. There¡¯s no connection between them.¡¯

    Ullwick looked at Ariea for the first time. Her nose twisted, perhaps surprised that this native could articulate itself well. ¡®Anything else?¡¯

    ¡®The settlement was destroyed by invaders around the same time. Presumably, unoccupied since.¡¯

    ¡®Lines up with what we saw, and all,¡¯ the old man, Hern, said. ¡®Lot of dried blood about the place, couple of bodies too.¡¯

    ¡®Useful,¡¯ tutted Ullwick. She turned to the tents of soldiers behind her and beckoned one of the more senior-looking ones. ¡®See that we can¡¯t clear the first floor or two.¡¯

    ¡®Ma¡¯am?¡¯

    ¡®Will make an effective FOB. Gets us out the bloody sun at least.¡¯

    ¡®That sun nourished your ancestors, Lieutenant,¡¯ called Hern gruffly. His jaw skewed and he took a hobbled step. ¡®That¡¯s the lifeblood of our kind, or did you forget?¡¯

    Ullwick stared back bemused. ¡®Transport them back to the Farm. Spare me his poetry.¡¯

    The soldier nodded. ¡®Right, you heard,¡¯ he shouted at them. ¡®Get yourselves on the truck. We¡¯ll be heading back now.¡¯

    Ariea at once held a hand to help Eli her onto the truck.

    ¡®Away with your chivalry,¡¯ Eli said to her. ¡®I¡¯m not that pregnant yet. We came all the way out here just for that?¡¯ she scoffed.

    Ariea shrugged. ¡®We did our job.¡¯

    ¡®Which was what exactly?¡¯

    ¡®Minesweepers. Check the Underground, the settlement I mean, was empty.¡¯

    ¡®Why? They have guns. They¡¯re big boys and girls, they can look after themselves.¡¯

    Ariea bit her lip. ¡®I¡¯m guessing they would prefer to avoid antagonising or be seen shooting any locals. It¡¯s a bad look.¡¯

    ¡®To who? There¡¯s no one to see them.¡¯

    ¡®The other soldiers. Gossip gets around, I suppose.¡¯

    The truck rumbled into life once more, and they were lofted back towards the encampment, the Farm as Ullwick called it. The journey back seemed quicker than the way there. The morning, brief as it was, took its toll all the same. And the rocky plains were punishing in the gaze of the sun.

    ¡®Hey there,¡¯ said a voice. Ariea looked up from her lap. A prisoner boy on the opposite side of the truck was looking at her. He was handsome, about her age, with a devilish grin and waves of brown hair. ¡®You¡¯re Ariea Finland, right?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯mma stop you there,¡¯ cut in Eli. ¡®She has a boyfriend.¡¯

    Ariea snorted. ¡®Eli.¡¯ She then looked at the boy. ¡®She¡¯s not wrong though.¡¯

    ¡®I meant nothing of the sort. Western Pascara.¡¯ He extended a hand which Ariea shook awkwardly. ¡®We met once. I am, was, an archivist at the town offices. Paperwork.¡¯

    ¡®Honest work,¡¯ Ariea said.

    ¡®Is it bad I¡¯m finding this all rather exciting? I¡¯ve got more energy than I know what to do with. Feel like I could lift mountains.¡¯ He flexed his bulging arms and Ariea thought Eli might swoon.

    Eli bit down on her lip. ¡®You do a lot of working out, as an¡­ archivist?¡¯

    ¡®Only thing to keep me sane,¡¯ Western said, smirking. He looked back at Ariea. ¡®We need to get together, see that we can¡¯t sort some kind of plan out.¡¯

    Ariea¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡®Plan?¡¯

    ¡®An escape. I was talking to the old boy, Hern, couple others on the way over. I thought if we had the Ariea Finland to hand, we would stand a fighting chance.¡¯

    ¡®Huh.¡¯ Ariea looked at Eli who turned her eyes to the floor. ¡®There¡¯s how many of us¡ª¡¯

    ¡®Eleven. I counted.¡¯

    ¡®And triple figures of them. We don¡¯t have any weapons. Any advantage.¡¯

    Eli chuckled then. ¡®I really got through to you last night, huh?¡¯

    ¡®I want to escape as much as anyone,¡¯ Ariea said, ¡®but it pays to be a realist sometimes, with your life. I trust I could get myself out. But eleven?¡¯ She shook her head. ¡®You have to choose your moments and choose them sparingly.

    Western nodded, waving his hand at the blustering air. ¡®That¡¯s exactly the sort of thing you can help us with.¡¯

    ¡®Just, let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves.¡¯

    Ariea had only just convinced herself to be patient, and not to cut her way to freedom alone, bloody blow by bloody blow with a pocket knife. Now, the other prisoners were apparently contemplating a mass-breakout. She did not need to be responsible for these people right now. Because Ariea knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to help herself once she was.

    ¡®We have the element of surprise on our side! They¡¯ll think we¡¯re beaten, disorganised, too dumb-struck to fight back. It¡¯s our window of opportunity while they¡¯re still getting the lay of the land.¡¯

    ¡®In my experience,¡¯ Ariea said coldly, ¡®that window of opportunity is vanishingly small. The more people there are involved, the more likely things are to go wrong.¡¯

    ¡®Is that like when you killed Jask?¡¯ Western¡¯s face lit up, hungry for gory details.

    ¡®I failed when I tried to kill Jask. I was lucky to get a second opportunity. You won¡¯t.¡¯

    The truck shuddered to a halt outside the tangle of fences, gates, and tarpaulin that enshrouded the Farm. The prisoners were herded off one-by-one.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡®He¡¯s an annoying little shit, isn¡¯t he,¡¯ said Eli once Western was out of ear-shot.

    ¡®Really? I thought you were crushing on him?¡¯

    Eli laughed dryly. ¡®Those things aren¡¯t mutually exclusive.¡¯

    They were led on. Where there was a mudded path in the morning, metal planks had been lain down into makeshift walkways, drilled into the earth. The pen that had guarded them the night before had sprouted a wooden hut. It was long and boxy. Ariea imagined it was like watching a city grow in fast forward. The edges of the encampment kept spilling wider over the fields, with land cleaved into rows marked out for more buildings. Shipping container offices stacked up to five stories high in the distance and lampposts now lined every path. Drones buzzed overhead and Ariea wanted to swat at them like flies.

    The train of prisoners weaved around inhabitants of the Farm. Fragments of conversations Ariea didn¡¯t understand caught in her ears. Code words and acronyms. They didn¡¯t quite attract the same stares as the day before. Maybe they were warned against it.

    Then, the queue stopped, and Ariea heard murmurs ripple down the line. The soldier guiding them held a figure to his ear. A squad of troopers cantered past him.

    Suddenly, the lazy traffic of the Farm looked frantic. Everyone was changing direction, shouting. A glossy white hazmat suit followed past them, and Eli looked at Ariea confusedly.

    ¡®Why do you think I¡¯d have any ideas?¡¯ Ariea whispered.

    ¡®You¡¯re clever.¡¯

    Ariea craned her neck around the angle of one of the buildings to look over the edge of the Farm. Staff were being herded into lines at the front of khaki tents, guarded by hazmat suits.

    From the lamppost above them, a speaker blared. ¡®Sections Seven and Nine to the med-bay. Sections Seven and Nine to the med-bay. All personnel, unless your current duty is marked priority, return to your quarters at once.¡¯

    The prisoners were backed against the fence while two soldiers passed, a limp colleague suspended between them, pale and sickly looking.

    ¡®Into the quarters,¡¯ one ordered. ¡®And stay there.¡¯ He didn¡¯t wait for them to obey. He hastened after his colleagues.

    Dumbfounded, the prisoners exchanged stares. Western, in his smugness, shrugged, and led them on without a care for what was unfolding around them. Ariea wanted to stand and stare. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she watched, but she silently followed.

    Their new home was threadbare. Hollowed windows were cut along the walls, and two mirrors and two washbasins were positioned at the end for their convenience. Each of them had a narrow bunk and scratchy blanket, with a second change of clothes and plimsoles left by their bedsides.

    ¡®It¡¯s something,¡¯ Eli muttered. ¡®Can I sleep next to you?¡¯ she said to Ariea.

    ¡®Course.¡¯ Ariea smiled back at her.

    ¡®So,¡¯ announced Western to the room then, clapping his hands together as he did. ¡®Whatever¡¯s going on there smells like an opportunity for us.¡¯

    ¡®We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on out there,¡¯ said another girl.

    Western strode to the window, pointing his head into the open air. ¡®Something not ideal for them.¡¯

    ¡®What would you have us do, boy?¡¯ said the old man, Hern. ¡®Go back to Wishbone? Dig your home from the rubble. I¡¯ve seen boys stand up to Winter as you do. Not many come home. I would spit on these¡¯s corpses, but I¡¯d rather survive first.¡¯

    ¡®Listen to them!¡¯ Western begged. ¡®Panic. Uncertainty. Whatever it is.¡¯ He pointed. ¡®That is our opportunity. Are we really their priority right now?¡¯

    Ariea raised her head, spoke grimly. ¡®We could be the bottom of their to-do list. With the power they have it doesn¡¯t matter.¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re giving them too much credit. They¡¯re people, and people are thick as pigshit,¡¯ said another man, middle-aged.

    ¡®Come on!¡¯ said Western. His manic eyes locked with Ariea¡¯s. ¡®You¡¯re Ariea Finland. The woman who killed Winter. Own it. These people look up to you.¡¯

    Ariea scanned them. Sheepish faces looked back at her, wounded by faint hope. ¡®I believe in you, but they are unlike anything. They¡¯re more than Winter ever were. I ran routes in the Forest of Anna and hunted Winter¡¯s men. They¡¯re disorganised, and ill-equipped. But look at what the Confederacy, the Departed, have built in days. The way they talk and move. We are a flea to them. A dumb flea. Not even people. But¡­¡¯ She paused as she eyed each of them. She spoke from heart, from duty. ¡®They are arrogant. We live off the land. We live hard. We survive failed harvests. And cold winters. And dark Winters. We hunt routes and hunt hunters. They live off the sky, unthreatened, wanting for nothing, assuming we know nothing. The way they look at us, we¡¯re irrelevant to them. But to get out, even a hundred feet before they fire on us, we need to prove the truth, that we¡¯re smarter than them. We plan. We act. We don¡¯t react. That is my line.¡¯

    Ariea knew she wore power well. Words came at ease, and she paused in all the right places.

    ¡®You see!¡¯ Western said, eyes wide. ¡®She can lead us. She can make something of us. We don¡¯t have to lie down!¡¯

    ¡®I think you should cool your expectations a bit,¡¯ mumbled Eli.

    ¡®Sorry?¡¯

    ¡®I said,¡¯ she repeated loudly, ¡®you should lower your expectations of what¡¯s achievable. We''re running away, not fighting a war. Slight difference. Baby steps.¡¯

    Murmurs of agreement and disagreement rippled around the room.

    ¡®Girl makes a point,¡¯ said Hern.

    ¡®Thank you.¡¯

    ¡®We should escape.¡¯

    ¡®Thank you.¡¯

    ¡®And return with all the forces of the North.¡¯

    Eli flapped her arms. ¡®No.¡¯

    ¡®None of this is our fight,¡¯ said Ariea.

    ¡®But it is our home,¡¯ said another woman defiantly.

    Ariea shirked. Her back slumped against the wall and she dropped to her haunches. ¡®I¡¯m trying to save you,¡¯ she said quietly. ¡®Why can¡¯t that be enough? It¡¯s not something to want, you know.¡¯ Ariea cut Western with her stare and he seemed to retreat a little. ¡®Feeling angry.¡¯ She breathed. ¡®We escape, with our souls intact.¡¯

    There was heavy silence. No one challenged her, as they shouldn¡¯t, she thought. Her experience demanded their respect.

    Her dark line of thought was broken. Shouts beckoned from outside. She didn¡¯t need to look- Western did the job for her. He poked his head towards one of the slats in the wall.

    ¡®What is it, boy?¡¯ Hern whispered.

    Ariea heard several sets of footsteps patter past, then stood beside Western. One set of footsteps belonged to a soldier-girl, a surgical mask on her face. The other to a hobbled colleague, with a blueish complexion. His skin was broken in places, while his fingers were reddened and swollen.

    At once, Ariea slid back to her backside.

    ¡®AH-HAH!¡¯ yelled Western. ¡®Yes!¡¯

    ¡®Speak your mind,¡¯ Hern said.

    ¡®It¡¯s fever!¡¯

    Hushed and giddy chatter rippled through the room.

    ¡®Fever?¡¯ Hern said. ¡®You¡¯re sure?¡¯

    ¡®Unmistakable. His face was bluer than the whole sky. They¡¯re screwed.¡¯ Western laughed, gently at first, then into a raucous howl. ¡®It¡¯ll rip through them like wildfire.¡¯

    Eli stood opposite Ariea, her arms crossed with a gruff look.

    ¡®What¡¯s up with you?¡¯ Western said.

    ¡®They¡¯re people. With families. Who like to do people things. Who are doing their jobs because some arsehat army fucker told them to. They¡¯ve given no indication yet they want to kill us? So why are you celebrating a bunch of them are dying?¡¯

    Western growled. ¡®Oh, come off it! It¡¯s us, or them. Don¡¯t be so childish. What say you, Slayer?¡¯ He looked down at Ariea.

    ¡®I would put them in harm¡¯s way no more than I would need to put you in harm¡¯s way, if I had a choice.¡¯ Ariea replied calmly. As she said it, she glimpsed the shape of an idea in her mind.

    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯ said Eli.

    ¡®Girl,¡¯ said Hern then. He held Eli¡¯s arm. ¡®I fought a short time for Winter, then against them. Nice as it is to think in those terms, for survival¡¯s sake, it can¡¯t be done.¡¯

    ¡®Miss Finland,¡¯ whispered a girl about Ariea¡¯s age. She had a gentle voice. ¡®What are you thinking?¡¯

    For the last time, Ariea stood, and considered the eleven of them. ¡®Western is right. We have a chance. We could maximise the fever¡¯s impact. Incapacitate local security. Make our exit next time they take us off-site, all of us or none of us. Under darkness.¡¯

    ¡®Maximise its impact? You mean kill? Just like that?¡¯ Eli said.

    ¡®Once we get a sense of their capacity. Shifts. Security. That sort of thing. Sure. We¡¯re not cuffed up. Like he said, we¡¯re not their priority, and weren¡¯t anyway.¡¯

    ¡®If that¡¯s the case,¡¯ begged Eli, tightening her frown, ¡®why are we having this conversation and not leaving now?¡¯

    ¡®Because it only takes one skinny, shaky idiot with a firearm to panic and shoot if he sees eleven prisoners running out the front gate. We take their farm out of commission first. It¡¯s all of you or none of you.¡¯ She looked at them all, and the face of her father haunted her in the moment¡¯s pause. ¡®With fever.¡¯

    ¡®Does anyone disagree with that?¡¯ Western said, his hands planted on his hips. Uncomfortable silence answered. Heads drooped on their necks. ¡®Marvellous!¡¯ His chest pumped the air.

    Ariea looked at them all. ¡®When we go, it¡¯s all of us, or none of us.¡¯

    ¡®What about them though?¡¯ whispered Eli.

    Ariea averted her eyes, sniffled. ¡®We¡¯re not starting a war with them this way. The risks are less. And their medicine is probably good enough to deal with it anyway.¡¯

    ¡®¡°Probably¡±. Is it worth murdering that many people?¡¯

    Ariea looked down at Eli¡¯s belly, and the beautiful thing gestating inside it, so anonymous, so infinite in possibility. ¡®You¡¯re worth everything.¡¯ Ariea felt her features harden.

    ¡®So much for escaping with your soul, eh?¡¯ Eli could argue for her conscience¡¯s sake, but Ariea knew she accepted the situation, even if she wouldn¡¯t admit it.

    Ariea then looked down at the scars on her knuckles, and the wounds up her arms. ¡®What soul?¡¯ she said gently.