by Jared Ravens
"Where?" He asked. "Where would I go?"
"I have a map I can give you. It would lead you to an entrance. It would not be too hard to find Waring if you follow it."
She offered the letter to him. He took it, feeling the immediate relief of hope. There was a new chance in his hand, even if he didn't understand entirely what he was holding. She moved to leave but he stopped her with a question.
“You did something to Fairfax when you did the procedure on him.”
“Genesee did the procedure,” she corrected. “I assisted.”
“But his mind his different. He can’t remember things.”
"I erased parts of his memory," she told mhime. "Out of necessity.”
"So you did do that on prupose?” He asked her.
"It wasn't meant to be mean," she sighed. "I did it to save him mental anguish. Others had the their own reasons for him to ave a blank mind.”
“It meant that I was of very little assistance to him. It meant that I was mostly useless.”
Martel sat back down.
“You think she is gone for no reason,” she said. “I assure you, this is not true. You can’t write Fairfax’s story and you can’t tell hers. That is her job.”
“I was asking because I wanted to know if you could do the same for me.”
“Erase it? To ease your mind?”
“Not the memories,” he said, closing his eyes to keep the tears from coming. “Just the emotions. Ease them somehow. I can’t bear it.” He felt her hand slide on the top of his.
“When you come back, if you feel the same I promise I will do what I can.”
“When…” he repeated. “If…”
“It is a ‘when’. You will return. I wouldn’t have suggested you do this if I didn’t think it was good for you,” she replied, standing up. “When you make it to Waring it will make more sense."
He requested an audience with Fairfax through his body guards and was sent through to him. Fairfax lay in the shade of an umbrella, his girl by his side, and he invited Bern to join him.
As he approached he saw that the girl was testing the strings on a bow, one significantly larger than the one laying beside her. Commenting on the size of the weapon Fairfax explained she was looking to upgrade.
“They’ll let her have that?”
“As long as doesn’t have arrows,” Fairfax replied. “But I think she has a plan for getting those.”
Bern told him he had to leave, explaining he would be gone by nightfall.
“I think that’s for the best,” Fairfax said. “But isn’t it dangerous to go out by yourself?”
“Its not safe here with this group.”
“Very true,” Fairfax said. “But they should provide you an escort.”
“I have to go alone. I don't think I should tell you any more than that," Bern said, seeing Sophi’s eyes move up to him. "The less you know, the better."
"I don't think you have to tell me anything," Fairfax replied.
"I wanted to tell you that it wasn't your fault, and you don't need my forgiveness."
The words shook a little as the came from his mouth. Fairfax tried to form words but failed, his face red and his eyes unable to meet Bern’s. They embraced, Fairfax’s thick, hard chest and boney shoulder making it difficult. They stood quietly there for a long time.
"We move tonight," he told Bern.
Bern looked around us at the enormous encampment surrounding him. He could see dots to the north and west, runners delivering supplies at a constant rate. It was a city they were going to move, a town on the verge of violence.
"Its going to be very trying,” Bern said.
He nodded, hesitated before asking his next question.
"Did I have a friend with me?"
"When?" Bern asked.
"When I went to have my surgery."
"Theo, I believe."
"I don't think that's the friend."
"What are you referring to?"
"Celia said I'll be caged like my friend if I go with Genesee."
“There was someone that let Bautomet out of his cage,” Bern said. “But they blamed an errant guard on that.”
“Seems very coincidental,” Fairfax muttered.
“I wouldn’t look for too much truth in what she says,” Bern said. “She’s trying to bait you.”
"That she is," Fairfax replied. Below him the girl hugged his waist. As difficult as Bern’s story had turned out, he felt he had come through the worst of it. Now he had the emotions to manage. These two had much more to go through.
He received the map and a backpack of supplies and a thoughtful goodbye form Martel. Her positive spirit temporarily buoyed Bern. That evening, as the light began to fade and the camp bustle with excitement for the coming move, he took off on my his in the opposite direction.
Carrying a lamp and walking directly south along the foothills he looked back every so often to see the camp. It became darker and more distant with each step until it faded from view entirely.
He was, at last, entirely on his own.
Into the Night
Theo's army was transferred, at least in name, to Genesee's command. The soldiers were address by Genesee himself in a brief and rather dry speech, informing them that their former mission of killing Fairfax had been changed to protecting Fairfax from everyone, including other titans.
Celia listened from afar. The transfer had been predictable. Theo had turned on her out of necessity but all knew that the loyalties of the hobbled general as well as that of his army were in question. Genesee would have preferred to dismiss the army all together but the chance that Celia and her allies might attack made that too dangerous. When he asked Celia to walk away and her response was: "Make me."
So they were prepared to walk through the desert at night as a group, part of them waiting for a chance to attack, the other part hoping reinforcements would come to balanced out the size difference. Harper said he was on his way but Staley and Ogden did not respond, presumably wanting to stay out of the way of the politics of the situation. Even Harpers arrival was in doubt, as he refused to be carried anywhere by Marcus, saying he was going to bring some troops of his own. Spaulding was the only titan Genesee felt he could count on at the time, though he was disgruntled. They knew that it was a when, not if, Celia would test them.
Fairfax was at the center of a vast circle of soldiers spiraling out in a pinwheel of torches walking in the night time desert. His immediate bodyguards, the Eae people, were obligated to come as far as Alby woods. There Fairfax hoped to unite with Harper and more troops. If no one showed he would do what he needed to do to keep those people with him. Eryck walked side by side with Fairfax in a show of supoort but he shared with his people the intense desire to venture no further from their homeland. The payoff was the potential return to their settlement with spoils: food and building materials, as well as a promise to be left alone. If Fairfax was lost then all of that went with him.
Reluctantly Eyrck went forward, keeping a smiling face up and having a one sided conversation with Fairfax. He pretended that they were walking to the black ocean, just like when they first met, and not being shadowed by giants. His stories filled the nervousness of the moment for many steps until Eryck grew tired and ran out of things to say. Then only the stomping of feet on sand filed the air until Fairfax, walking hand in hand with his girl, decided to speak.
"Do you think Genesee is trustworthy?" he asked.
"What kind of a question is that?'" Eryck said, laughing to conceal his nervousness. "Of course he has to keep his word."
"He seems... professional," Fairfax said. "But..."
"But what? He is a man of his word," Eyrck said, aware that Genesee was not really a man.
"What if he's not telling us everything?"
Eryck continued to smile but a pull of anxiety was rushing up his throat.
“Fairfax," he said through gritted teeth, “They're all around us."
The implication was:
you don't have any options. Fairfax's face soured. They remained silent for the rest of the night.
They rested as dawn broke, sleeping under tents as sentinels watched for wild things on the landscape. Fairfax didn't bother trying to shut his eyes. He looked at his enemies and looked at his allies, all laying within earshot. Celia had shrunk so she could lay under a vast white and yellow canopy, a phalanx of servants bring her foods she could not eat. Curson stood near her while Atrios refused to come down from his great height. He seemed to be watching Fairfax incessantly, though his eyes were hidden in his helmet. Fairfax realized that he could not see his eyes because they were closed and, had he been closer, he would have heard the giant snoring.
Fairfax gripped the chain and pulled himself up. Taking the pole in his hands he pulled upward until, with only a limited amount of effort, it was uprooted. He dragged the chain and pole along, clanging it on the ground past guards that looked at him with shock. He walked into the encampment of Theo's army as people around him gasped, not sure what to do. He walked past them to the tent where McKenna sat. She looked up from her lap, her face in disbelief.
"Fairfax," she said. Behind him Atrios was suddenly aware and looking panicked.
"I have to ask you something," he replied, sitting on the ground across from her. McKenna looked over towards the top of Celia's tent. Her view was blocked by legions of soldiers staring at the two of them with alarm.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I had a friend. He was with me when I went to The Hill. Was his name Dani?"
"Yes," McKenna said. “I asked him to watch you when you went up there.
"Where is he?"
"I don’t know," she said. “They said he fled. I hope he went far. Theo said he had something to do with Bautomet being let out
"You don't know where he went?"
“I didn’t look for him. I asked around but I thought it was best he stayed away. For the time at least.”
"I see," Faifax said. Sophi came up beside him, pushing her way through a group of soldiers that had inched closer to them. She threw a sack of flour on the ground and sat on it her, fingers pulling bone from the bit of meat she had in her pocket.
As McKenna watched her eat she thought about Dani, and where he had gone. She really didn't' have any idea.
"What were you implying?" she asked him.
"They have him."
"How do you know?”
Fairfax clenched his teeth, knowing the absurdity of what he was about to say.
"Celia sent me a note."
"Fairfax..."
"I know, but she's right. They're going to put me in a cage for the rest of my life, just like him."
"You'll be safe."
"If I make it. If. And then what?"
McKenna's eyes drifted back to the tent where Celia was. The soldiers had relaxed but they still stood in their way.
"Is she listening?" Fairfax asked.
"Possibly. Usually you can tell if she's taping in."
"It doesn't 't matter," Fairfax said. "She knows what we are talking about without listening."
McKenna looked back at the girl, who had stopped eating and now sat stone faced, her dark eyes floating hauntingly upwards, a glowing presence emanating from her. She saws that Fairfax was looking at her too, his hand delicately rubbing her small shoulders.
"Quite a girl you have there," McKenna said, feeling what was coming through her. She had never felt anything quite like it.
"She's much more than she looks like," Fairfax said. “Its Vivian listening, though I can’t be sure.” McKenna looked at him, her feelings welling up inside of her. She couldn't sit by and be a hand bag for these beings.
"Fairfax," she said quietly. "Run."
Fairfax nodded knowingly. Sophi smiled.
“I can’t be sure who is listening," he said. "But someone is watching."
Genesee was standing nearby, his face frowning in disbelief. Fairfax stood up and walked to the administrator. Genesee sided up to him and walked with him.
"Did you need a walk?" Gensee asked.
"Fresher air, conversation," Fairfax said.
"Any one of these people may want to kill you," Genseee said. "You turned your back to 500 of them."
“Funny, 499 of them would still be charged with protecting me."
Genesee grabbed him, stopping him, and glared into Fairfax's eyes.
"Youre in a terrible place," he said. "You're not powerful enough to stop all of the people that want you gone but you're strong enough to be useful to a lot of them. You are a piece in a machine and you need protection. And for me to provide that, you must follow my rules. You don't leave that area."
"Am I your piece in your machine?"
"For your own good, yes. You wouldn't be alive without me."
Fairfax smiled grimly, concealing the anger boiling up inside of him.
"Where is Dani?"
Genesee's face suddenly dulled and became unreadable.
"Your friend? He's still around."
"You have him in prison."
"He invaded our property and fought us."
"Am I to have a cell beside him?"
“Fairfax," Gensee said, becoming angry. "Did you hear what I said? You are a part of something much larger, much more intricate than you can ever know."
"And I should just do whatever you say? And end up like Dani?"
“Do yo know what he did?” Genesee stated. “He nearly caused the deaths of thousands. That isn’t cause for punishment? What does it have to do with anything?"
"You're right," Fairfax said, walking away. Genesee grimaced and clinched his fist, glad he could not see his wife's face.
"Get Marcus," He spit into the ear of a butler. "Tell him to bring Dani here. Have Wilcox give him a shot and rub some power on his face. Whatever needs to happen to make him presentable. I want him here fast!"
Delia stood on the back of a wagon, watching the show from a distance, a broad smile on her face. She was feeling her won feelings and those of someone else. She sat down and dropped off the wagon, nearly laughing as she walked towards the tent where Theo lay on the ground, barely mobile.
"What is it, my love?” he asked, glad for the mood she was in.
"Its about to get started," she said, gleefully. "Finally."
Underground
Bern walked until the day came and he couldn't walk any more. He laid in the shade of giant rock and ate, sleeping in fits and waking to find himself baking in the daylight. He realized he had to find the entrance to the underground fast. It was far too hot and dangerous to be out here by himself.
He had gone a long distance south, following the edge of the foothills. At some point, the map instructed instructed, two mountains would cross and look like horns on a head. But the distance was not noted, and the crossing rocks could not be seen until he was in the right place and observing the high mountains in the east.
He continued, feeling he was wandering aimlessly. His mind began to play tricks on him. From time to time he believed the horns and the head were just in front of him, the face speaking to him, telling him there was a door just a little further away. Then the face would disappear in a blink. He would ration out another dose of his meager water and continue.
Shadows of people would appear, high in the mountains. He hoped they were not real. They moved in and multiplied as the day went on and the light began to fade. He could see the outlines of their faces as they watched him, pacing with weapons in hand. He knew his time was running thin.
He moved faster, knowing that if he did not find the mountain sign and the door by midnight then he would not survive the night. He could sense something far behind him, a group stalking him. When he looked he could not see anything, unless he turned quick enough to catch them jumping out of sight. The heat was overcoming him and his mind was failing. He stumbled forward, fearful, believing he would soon meet his wife one way or the other.
As the sky became orange he saw the first horn. It
was far away on his left, deep in the mountains. It was a curved mountain that was worn away into its unusual shape. But there was no matching horn. He kept walking, limping forward. He saw what appeared to be the second horn, closer to hm but until that point hidden behind another mountain. As he walked they came into alignment. There they were, a crescent on its back, and no head to be seen. He paced frantically, looking for a door in the ground.
The figures were coming closer, the night encroaching on him. He could see no roughed hill or mountain. He scurried into the foothills, hoping to find something to hide under until morning. He crawled up the incline on his hands and knees, making his way up the gravelly hill. He could hear steps at the base of the hill, and voices that spoke clearly in a language he could not understand. He saw a large boulder and moved towards it. There was space under it where he could side on his stomach and hide. As the sky turned from grey to black he looked up and saw that the top of the large rock was quite rounded and it fit perfectly with the two mountains to form the silhouette of a head and helmet.
He moved under it, scraping my torso and shoulders. It was so tight he could not move his head without knocking it against stone. The space was frightening; it felt as if the boulder could roll forward and crush him with a strong wind from the wrong direction. Outside he heard the voices, speaking to each other in volleys. Footsteps walked just past his face. He would be crushed or killed. He decided to be smashed. As soon as they moved past him he struggled further in.
It was completely dark by then. He had only his fingers to guide him. His head was pressed into the ground and when he breathed it stirred up sand and dirt into his face. He resisted the urge to cough. As he moved further the space opened up slightly. He was past where the boulder should have ended but the gap continued into the side of the hill. The small space became a low ceilinged cave. He couldn't stand but he could crawl rather than slide. The tunnel ended in a cool, smooth wall. Still on his hands and knees he fished around . There was a worn, dry piece of wood, glossy from lashed of sand. He felt around the edges of it until he found a handle. As he pulled up on the metal ring a dim, blue light glowed and a burst of cool, dry air wrapped around him. He could only lift the door up part of the way, as it hit the ceiling of the cave, so he had to squirm into the hole. Grasping the rope ladder he let the door close above me with a muffled thump, leaving the predators on the other side.