Keys of Candor: Trilogy

by Casey Eanes

  “Sir. We have a call from one of our insiders. They are moving.” Seam opened a map on his datalink as his driver continued. “A large convoy of Red insurgents is on the move, streaming out of Legion’s Teeth. It seems that they are making their way to Rhuddenhall.”

  Seam cursed and spun the map with his fingers as he examined his current position. “Push their coordinates to my datalink.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Seam’s map filled with red dots flowing between the green mountains. He ran his finger across the display and smiled before calling back to the driver. Why would the Reds leave their fortress in Legion’s Teeth? The question rolled in his mind, until suddenly he realized it. The mirror. The Reds were moving it to Rhuddenhall. Seam laughed at his good luck.

  “Fate smiles on me once again. They have left their mountain fortress and we are close enough to intercept them in route. Double your speed and set for mark 10-75 in grid G.” Seam smiled as he pinched his eyelids shut. He drew in a deep breath before standing and pacing over to the figure standing in the corner.

  Hosp’s body stood alert, yet lifeless. Seam smirked at the frail frame in front of him before commanding the empty body to attention with his thoughts. “You will finally be of some use to me, you wretched worm. I wish you could feel what is about to happen.”

  Seam walked to the room holding the Serubs, as Hosp trailed close behind. As the High King stepped into the room, he was greeted with sneers of disdain from the three weakened deities. Their eyes spoke for them, and they snarled at their captor.

  “It is about time we free your brother, Bastion. I need your strength. It is time for you all to prepare for this fight.” Seam stepped to the side as Hosp’s husk paced into the room and stood just a few feet from Arakiel. Seam smiled as he turned to walk away, leaving Hosp’s body behind. “Enjoy your meal.”

  ***

  Willyn felt her heart thumping in her chest as she stormed down the wide mountain pass. It had been many months since she had lost herself within the cockpit of a rook. Here she was finally back in her element; at peace, at home. When was the last time you rode? Her hand vibrated over the two steering bars, and her memory trailed back. Elum. You rode to Elum, hunting for Grift. Images flew through her mind of Filip Darian storming from his glass palace, nearly naked if not for his thin silk robe. He had been drinking, of course. When did that man not drink? Darian’s eyes were red from the booze, his face flushed in a stunning mixture of rage and brandy.

  He’s dead now. The thought fell in her mind like an anchor and brought her no glee. Under Filip’s rule, Elum had kept to its word in all treaties and deals it had with the Groganlands. Filip might have been a drunk, but he was an honest drunk. Honest and loyal.

  “More than I can say about the filth that killed him.”

  A mechanic voice came over the speakers in her helmet. “Come again, Red Command?”

  Willyn jumped, her consciousness rejoining the mission at hand. Focus Willyn. “Nothing.”

  Another voice cut in over the coms. “My Sar.” The rolling growl was easily placed. Rander. “We’ve got some disturbance on the radar. Something big is heading our way. You will have visual once you and the men are at the end of the pass.”

  Willyn looked outside the cockpit, the arid mountains flying by her. “Send me whatever you see, Rander.” Instantly, in the left corner of her helmet a small map appeared. The Grogan forces were colored in red, careening down the green topographic mountains at full speed. Ten miles ahead was an enormous amorphous smear of yellow, undulating like wasps dancing on a nest.

  Willyn felt her stomach seize. The bright streak of yellow was huge. Her headset filled with questions stemming from her soldiers.

  A nervous soldier broke through the communication feed. “What the hell is that?”

  “Command, do you have a visual?”

  “Easy, soldiers.” Willyn’s voice thundered over the coms with brute force. “Steady yourselves.” Her mind searched for the right words. “These are Dominion forces. They have brought the fight to us.”

  Silence overtook the com channel. The void of fear was palpable, and Willyn fought to find the words to say when a low melody slowly rolled over the emptiness, filling the coms. Willyn’s breath seized within her as the hair on her neck stood up.

  “To die a good death is great, my friends. All for all. For the Groganlands.” One by one, the others joined the chorus. The ancient war song rang out over the thunderous sound of the rook motors roaring as the war party barreled down the Serpent's Spine toward a fight that Willyn knew she could not win. She screamed, her voice filling the coms, pushing her thrusters forward with an explosive pride. Go down fighting. “Let’s give them hell, boys! Let’s take back what is ours!”

  The Synod let themselves into the chamber where Seam sat on his royal seat, a knowing smile etched on the High King’s face.

  “My dear friends, you look so...refreshed.”

  Arakiel, Abtren, and Nyx glided into the room, their eyes like open tombs. Arakiel did not waste his breath. “We are ready. What would you have us do, Keeper?”

  Seam stood and walked toward them, unfazed by the slaughter he witnessed over the security feeds. The Serubs fought over Hosp’s carcass like a pack of ravenous lions – there was no decency and no restraint as they gorged themselves. His mind was clear, somehow summoning an ability to filter out the horrors that the Serubs could rend, able to look past the mutilation and the reek of death that befell Hosp. He would study them meticulously, he promised himself, even if it took a thousand slaughters for one clue at how to keep them in check. Watch them, study them, find their weaknesses.

  “Well, Keeper? What is your command?” Arakiel’s crimson eyes burned with new energy, stirring Seam out of his daydream.

  He stood from his seat, self-assured, willing to step among the den of lions as if they were kittens. Seam held up the bracer that bore the Keys of Candor and spoke, his voice echoing through the chamber.

  “It is time, my Synod. We will rout the Grogans, and I will claim the Sardom.”

  The three barely showed any emotion. The Serubs did not care anymore for keeping up the charade, and would no longer play games. There was no point, for each had tried to openly strike him down and had failed. They had taken off their masks, unable or unwilling to mince the reality of what Seam had unlocked from the glass prisons.

  Abtren was the first to look at him directly, her eyes filling with unholy, purple fire. A long black tongue snaked out, licking her plump lips, and she smiled. Seam noticed that Hosp’s blood was still smeared across her white serrated teeth. “I’m starving, Seam. Is there something more to eat?” It was not so much a question as it was a demand. Abtren stood and roared at him, the purple flames within her eyes alight with new fury.

  Arakiel pulled out a broken bloody femur from his robes. He held it up toward the High King, smiling as if to offer him a bite, before siphoning out the marrow within. He turned and locked his dead eyes on Seam, his voice in agreement, “This...this...is not enough.”

  Nyx crooned, stepping from the shadows, her dead black eyes vibrating with a sick excitement. She crawled on the floor like a spider. She cocked her head up toward him and whispered, barely audible, “You’ve brought me something, haven’t you? Something sweet? Something... young?”

  Seam’s face was set like stone. He was in control. No matter what they did, he was always in control. He reminded himself of his power as he tried to chase away the doubts clawing at the back of his mind.

  “I’m glad to see you are ready for more, my Synod. Don’t worry, there will be much more for you to eat. I know what debts I must pay. The Reds are coming down from the Serpent’s Spine as we speak. We will be waiting for them there. You will have plenty to choose from. Have who you would like, my friends. But know this. You have one task and one task alone...”

  The three stared at Seam as he pointed toward the front of the titan. “You will call for Bastion. The Reds are moving, u
ndoubtedly with his mirror. We must find it!”

  The three Serubs snarled at their master and shared quick glances with one another before nodding.

  “We will find him, Keeper,” Arakiel muttered.

  A bead of sweat slipped down Willyn’s forehead and stung her eye. She blinked and focused on the mass of yellow objects that were locked on a collision course with her army. It did not take any fancy calculations to understand her faction was outmatched. Willyn coached herself as she made final approach. Wait for a visual, Willyn. We don’t know what type of firepower they are carrying.

  “Raven company, report.” Willyn flipped a switch and her visor split her companies by color, the black spot of Raven was positioned only seconds from enemy contact as they led the pack down Serpent’s Spine.

  “Visual confirmed, command. Four heavies, two dozen lights, and ah maybe a dozen, no two dozen transports.”

  “Transports?” Willyn ran a check on her weapon’s system. “Are they armed transports?”

  “Negative command. Civilian.”

  What? Civilian transports? Willyn ran scenarios through her mind before laying out commands. “Fox unit, break from rear guard and climb. Get some elevation. Red command, stay on me. Phoenix, decrease speed and make for Rhuddenhall. Be ready to reverse course on my command.” She paused, her mind weighing her options. “Raven unit...light ‘em up.”

  A chuckle came over the com as Raven leader called in. “Yes, sir!”

  Willyn’s rook sliced around a jagged red rock in time to catch Raven unit opening their firepower. Two of Seam’s own rooks at the point of their procession exploded in a fiery crash as the Reds fired hundreds of rounds through them.

  “Woo!” Raven leader’s cheer rang over the comm. “Don’t let up, boys!”

  One of the Dominion titans unleashed a cannon blast that sent several Red rooks spiraling out of control, their steel frames crumpling in a fiery explosion. The black hovercrafts smashed into the sheer red rock walls sending clouds of red dust and fire across the canyon floor.

  “Spread formation, Raven!” Willyn screamed. “Don’t cluster or those titans will take you all out at once.” Willyn scanned her visor, waiting for the brown dots of Fox unit to crest the top of the canyon. “Fox unit, pick it up!” Willyn called. “We need you to drop in and concentrate fire on the rear units.”

  “Thirty seconds ETA, Command.” Fox leader called in over the datalink as another titan thundered with life, its blast obliterating a Red rook while grazing another, forcing it to break formation.

  “Make it twenty seconds, Fox company,” Willyn barked through the microphone as she pushed her own rook forward. “Red unit on me, let’s clean this up.”

  Willyn sped through the canyon, deftly sweeping past the downed rooks and fallen stones littering her path. Ten rooks with red stripes running down their side followed closely behind. The jagged canyon walls flashed by as Willyn flipped on her heavy weaponry. “Command Three and Five. Mortars with me on the lead titan. Everyone else, spray their perimeter units.”

  “Yes, sir!” her company called in unison.

  Willyn watched as the meter ticked up as her mortar cannon heated. “How soon, Three? Five?” The two confirmed they had no more than five seconds to ready their guns. “On me, guys. Let’s blow their point wide open. Raven, cut down the middle once there is an opening.” The rook flashed an alert that her mortar was ready. “Lock and fire...now!”

  The three fired on the hulking titan leading Seam’s company. The first landed three feet wide, spraying red dust and rocks against the hovering menace. Debris rolled down the shimmering black hull of the tank, but the blast had no effect. As the smoke from the first shot began to clear, Willyn’s round smashed into the front of the titan, lifting it from the ground as the outer hull peeled back. Almost simultaneously, the third round hammered into the colossus, rolling it to its side, sliding it into several Dominion rooks flanking it.

  “Again!” screamed Willyn. The three unleashed another round of artillery fire and all three met their mark, turning the titan into a fiery cloud of shredded steel. Cheers rang out over the com as Raven company sped through the opening and fired on the surrounding rooks. Bullets and light rockets flashed across the canyon as the Reds and Dominion traded casualties.

  Seam watched from his titan as the Red forces pressed closer to his titan and the rear of his formation. “Synod. It is time to end this.”

  Seam called to the driver. “Drop the rear cargo bay doors.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.” The driver’s voice quivered as he answered.

  Seam shouted into his datalink. “Transports, stop all progress and open your doors. Now!”

  Seam closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath as he opened the thousands of eyes waiting in the dark behind him. The swarm of morel bodies spilled from the sides of the formation. They leapt from the transports and slipped up both canyon walls, scaling the rocks, using one another like a human ladder, easily reaching the ridge and running toward the Red army’s position below. Seam glanced through his hosts and observed the Serubs as they moved with the fray of puppeted flesh.

  Seam smiled, a feeling of ecstasy sweeping over him. Soon, even the Sardom would be his. His army hung on the canyon walls like vultures, waiting for the right moment to strike.

  “Sar Kara. Do you have visual? What is that?”

  Three figures had exited the transports and were strolling toward the Red forces, unaffected by the chaos around them. Two women and one man. Willyn stared at them, her heart sinking with the recall of memory. The Spire. The Fallen. The face of one of them, one of the women she undoubtedly recognized. Aleph, above. They’re here. He actually brought them. The three broke into a sprint toward Willyn’s forces with wide, insane smiles.

  One of the nearest Reds opened fire on the three, but the bullets melted into an invisible sphere that lit with fire upon impact. The Synod continued to press on until the largest figure, the man who stood a head taller than the women, thrust his hands in the direction of their attacker. The rook suddenly stopped its attack, turned, and opened fire on its nearest comrade.

  “Raven nine. What are you doing?” Raven leader’s voice cut through the airwaves, but there was no answer as the rogue unit destroyed his nearest partner and moved his guns onto the next. “Stand down, Raven nine!” Number nine continued firing only to rip down another ally before Willyn screamed over the line.

  “Take him down! Now!” Raven unit obeyed, surrounding their partner and cutting him down with their massive firepower. Willyn screamed out over the coms. “All units, concentrate all your fire on these three!” She pressed her finger on the datalink map over the three dots marked in blue. “Give them everything you got, and don’t let up! Fire at will! Now!”

  The remaining Raven and Red Command units turned in an instant, and the three were lit up like fireworks. Willyn kept her trigger finger engaged as the ripping sound of heavy machine gun fire thundered through the valley. “Keep shooting! Don’t let them move an inch! The orb of fire that surrounded them grew brighter, forcing Willyn to squint and shield her eyes. She screamed over the lines, “Don’t let up! Whatever you do, don’t let up!”

  Seam outstretched his arm, his mind extended beyond his body, deep within the hoard of morels he controlled. He was careful to focus, computing the thousands of perceptions belonging to the soulless, who clung to the walls of the canyon; silently waiting for his command. In the kaleidoscope of views within the hive mind, he could see the Serubs marching toward the line of rooks, easily deflecting the firepower focused on them. The Reds unleashed all they had, and the Serubs’ shield erupted with a blinding light.

  Nyx’s voice called out. “Unleash them now!” In seconds, the wave of morels rushed into the valley like a tsunami. The Serubs had distracted their enemies long enough. Walls of bodies swarmed into the fray, roaring with unnatural life. Two thousand mouths opened and screamed in unison with the High King’s voice.

  “F
IND THE MIRROR. KILL THE REDS! KILL THEM ALL!”

  The deafening scream of the Reds’ firepower filled the valley, and Willyn let up from the trigger. Something has shifted. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew to trust her instincts. Her heart froze in her chest as she scanned her datalink. It took only a second to read the map. Her company of fifteen rooks were positioned against the three Serubs in a firm line. The Serubs stood alone in the empty valley, while Seam’s other vehicles were marked in a line of yellow. Fox and Phoenix company continued to fill in from behind.

  Willyn tried to convince herself that the odds were in her favor. Then she heard it; a roaring scream. Her cockpit sounded with an alarm and her map projected thousands of green dots flooding into the canyon. The mass stampeded into the fray at an unnatural speed akin to a herd of wild animals, their formation a living wedge, coming down on the Reds like an axe. She realized she had seen this same manic movement before. Tunnel 1AAE.

  The memory cut her focus to shreds as images of her proud men running to their death to defend her filled her mind. She tried to scream over the com, but the words were too late.

  The wave of bodies tore through their formation, and the rooks adjacent to Willyn somersaulted into the air, flipping over the rush of enemies. The bodies clung to the vehicles like locusts, slamming their hands and heads into the machines, willfully breaking their bodies to claw out the protected pilots. Willyn’s forces desperately tried to pivot their fire to hold the surge back, but the horde was too great. The first rook in formation was covered and dismantled in seconds. The radio lines filled with screams as the pilots met their end under the swarm.

  Willyn engaged her thrusters, and pulled herself out of the fray as she barked commands. “All units, pull back. Fox and Phoenix units, deliver your full payload! Now!” A booming chorus of mortars erupted from Fox and Phoenix company, and half the valley was filled with a hellish blaze; a firewall that reached fifty feet into the air. The wall of the shambling bodies twisted like dead insects in an inferno, but for each one that fell there was another to take its place. The remaining Reds formed a phalanx of machines, lobbing explosives up and over the front guard of rooks while the units in front kept their chain-guns blazing.