“Indeed. If this Warsinger is capable of such power, we must have it,” Ignas said. “That is what I ask of you all now.”
“Ororgael has part of it, we think,” I said. “But...”
“Hey, before you keep going, don’t say anything more about what happened to W.R.” A text PM from Rin popped up in my HUD, narrated aloud when I noticed it. “I have an idea.”
“But?” Ignas quirked an eyebrow.
“But we can replace the part,” I said quickly. “So it shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Excellent. Know that you have our full support.” Ignas bowed from the neck. “Let me issue you some added incentive.”
[You have a new Quest: Bounty—The Warsingers]
I opened the quest and let Navigail read it aloud.
New Bounty: The Warsingers
Ignas Corvinus II, the Volod of Vlachia, is offering a substantial bounty for the safe return of the Warsingers to Vlachian soil. Complete this bounty by salvaging the Warsingers or their key components and returning them to Vlachia.
Rewards: 20,000 olbia and 5000 EXP per Warsinger.
I whistled. “Damn, man... thanks.”
“This is the maximum bounty the system allows me to offer,” Ignas said. “That alone should tell you how important I consider the retrieval of these artifacts to be. Hyland is fielding soldier-piloted versions of these machines, and it’s a matter of time before he improves this technology and normal infantry becomes obsolete. We need to outpace his advancements.”
Lanz’s eyes flicked to Ignas. “Infantry? Obsolete? With all respect, Your Majesty, that seems a bit extreme.”
Ignas shook his head. “I fear it is not.”
“There’s always a need for boots on the ground, but yeah. It’s a risk.” I cast one final look down at the map, making sure I had a copy of it in my HUD. “We’ll see what we can do. To be honest, though, we probably need a fleet ourselves. A Stranged Sandworm is guarding the Warsinger. The damn thing is Level 120.”
“You’ve pulled off two military miracles in the time I’ve known you. With Rin at your side, I believe you will find a way to defeat it and claim Lady Suri’s birthright.” Ignas watched us as Rin got to her feet. “But no matter what, the four of you must get that Warsinger and keep it out of Hyland’s hands. The Gods shudder to think what this Architect could do with such power in his possession.”
Chapter 31
Once we were outside the War Room, it felt like a dark cloud lifted from over our heads. Rin took a deep breath. Suri rubbed her face.
“I think you’re onto something,” Suri said. “What Lucien and Ororgael are doing just doesn’t sit right.”
“Yeah. My jimmies are definitely rustled,” I said. “But we either don’t have enough wealth or renown to convince Ignas’ officers more than we already have right now. I’m not sure that Lanz is really on Team Ignas.”
Suri glanced at the door and switched to our group PM. “No?”
“He was tight with Andrik,” I replied, on the same channel. “And he seemed pretty bent on trying to minimize how smart Ororgael really is.”
“I noticed that, too,” Rin said. “What can we do?”
“You can speak to Ebisa,” I replied. “Maybe see if she has time to look into Lanz’s connections, and see whether he’s connected to Ororgael in some way. I don’t want to single him out, but something was off about his attitude.”
“Okay. I’ll ask her when we have some time together.” Rin rocked between her heels and toes, looking up at the ceiling. “So anyway, the reason I stopped you from telling Ignas what happened to Withering Rose is because I think I have a solution for how to rebuild the Warsingers. We need to go and find a language tutor for the Meewfolk tongue. You know, before we go to Meewhome.”
“Wait… before we go to Meewhome?” Suri tilted her head, her hands planted on her hips. “I don’t think anyone asked me about this.”
“No, but that’s where we’re going to find Perilous Symphony,” Rin said fussily. “It’s marked as being just off the coast of Meewhome, on the Chorus Vault map we found in the Temple of the Maker. I need to see if I can study some more Old Agatic… if I could read it fluently, then I might be able to get more information out of those screenshots we took in the Rose Vault.”
“Sorry, you’ve lost me, too.” I squinted. “Roll back a bit. Why do you want to go to the Chorus Vault of Perilous Symphony?”
Rin struggled to find her words: her brain was on a fixed track, like a train, and I could almost see the gears turning as she grappled with what she was actually trying to communicate.
“Uhh.. uhh… well, sandworms are weak to sonic weapons, as far as I know. T-Though we’ll need to confirm that,” she stammered. “We should go to the Royal Library to learn more about them. But, um, anyway, we’re going to need to defeat the corrupted sandworm queen guarding Withering Rose, right? I don’t know if you remember, but when we were in the Rose Vault, there were nine Warsinger statues.”
“I remember,” I said. Suri nodded her agreement.
“Right! Well, they all had descriptions, and the description at the base of Perilous Symphony noted it had especially powerful sonic weapons,” Rin continued brightly. “If we raid that vault, we check off three problems at once. We get spare parts for Withering Rose, and maybe a new Heartstone to install in her. We might get sonic weapons we can mount on airships and use to defeat the sandworm. We also might also be able to configure sonic weapons to stun dragons instead of killing them outright. More generally, I think it’s possible the Meewfolk have records of the Warsingers we don’t. But we won’t know until we go there and actually speak to their sages.”
Suri blinked at her.
“Okay, now it makes sense.” I bit back a laugh. “You generally communicate that stuff first, then suggest we go to Meewhome.”
“Oh, sorry. I-I got carried away again.” Rin’s cheeks flushed. “It just seemed kind of obvious to me.”
“I dunno. Meewhome is a long ways away, and we don’t have much time. Baldr conquered two-thirds of Revala in a month. If we take a week to go to Meewhome and dick around without knowing what we’ll find there, we might lose the whole bloody country.” Suri wrinkled her nose. “I don’t even know if humans are able to travel to Meewhome. I’ve heard they’ve got some kind of magical protection that keeps invaders off their island.”
Rin bounced on the spot. “They are very insular, yes. Very different to the Meewfolk who live on the mainland. And humans can travel there, I’m sure of that. I don’t know a huge amount about their culture, but I believe they like to host smugglers.”
“‘Host’ smugglers?” I squinted at her.
“They consider theft and smuggling to be artforms,” Rin said briskly. “Ebisa would know more. Don’t worry about it, though—it will be tricky to find passage, but leave it to me. I can arrange a way there.”
Suri chuckled. “The Nightstalkers come to mind.”
“Yep!” Rin laced her hands behind her, rocking on her heels. “We shouldn’t talk about them in the castle, though.”
“Okay.” I heaved a sigh. “Jeez… I don’t know. I keep thinking back to what Ebisa told us, about Lucien’s fucking slaughtering families and villages in Revala. I feel like we should be back in Myszno preparing in case Ororgael or Lucien tries to raid. Their dragons can teleport, too. I don’t want to go all the way to Meewhome, then come back and find everyone slaughtered and my castle burned to the ground.”
“Ignas wouldn’t issue you this quest if there wasn’t some reason for it,” Rin urged. “This is an RPG. Coincidences like that don’t happen in Archemi. Besides, the money and EXP he’s offering us for the retrieval of just key components would be a huge benefit for us.”
“Why Meewhome, though?” Suri asked. “Why not the Chorus Vaults in Vlachia and Jeun, or the Dragon Gate in Zaunt? The Mercurions are the best Artificers in the world. Surely they’d have information on them.”
“Because I really don’t thin
k Mercurions built the Warsingers,” Rin said. “The Mercurions certainly didn’t win the war against the Drachan, because we weren’t even invented back then. We were created by the Aesari to fight in their war against the humans and dragons, based on technology from an earlier era.”
“Then why was that Mercurion-made Dark Zarya thing in the Rose Vault?” I asked.
“That’s a good question.” Rin stood up on her toes, her gaze wandering over the patterns on the ceiling. “My theory is that Mercurions and humans restored the Warsingers. Withering Rose was used by the last two Triads to re-energize the Caul of Souls and keep the Drachan sedated. Five thousand years ago, only three races lived on Archemi: The Solonkratsu, the Aesari, and the Meewfolk. Of them all, only the Meewfolk had the kind of knowledge, wealth and infrastructure to build these machines. They might have had help from the others, but the clue for me is in the materials the crafters used. Both Withering Rose and Nocturne Lament are primarily constructed of a magically augmented aurum super-alloy. The ONLY source for aurum in Archemi is the Shalid. Before the Aesari became a global empire, they lived in Daun. The cradle of Meewfolk civilization was the Shalid, which is where the Warsingers were first built and deployed.”
“Huh. I figured the Aesari built them.” I frowned, thinking. “They LOOK like Aesari magitech. They used a lot of aurum in their old cities.”
“More accurately, Aesari magitech looks like the Warsingers,” Rin replied. “Everything they built, they learned—or stole—from the Meewfolk and the dragons. We need to look up more histories to know for sure, but I’m eighty percent sure Meewhome is our best chance for finding schematics or information on the construction and magic we need. If we can pull it off, there will be a second technological revolution in Vlachia. More importantly, we’ll prevent Ororgael from enacting that revolution himself.”
Suri and I looked at each other.
“The fact he’s developed sangheti’tak himself is really worrying.” Rin worried her lip with her teeth, pacing. “He must have the help of a player crafter we don’t know about. A-A Weaponeer, or some kind of automaton specialist.”
“Nicolas,” Suri said heavily. “He’s an Artificer who specializes in machines and weaponry. And an Architect.”
“Maybe, maybe not. There’s two thousand Starborn here, and you can bet at least a hundred picked crafting Paths. It could be anyone.” I shook my head. “Look, if we can get to Meewhome within a week, I’m game. Visiting the Rose Vault opened up a huge amount of information for us. Each Chorus Vault and Dragon Gate probably contains pieces of the puzzle we need to solve—how to defend Archemi against the Drachan.”
“Yeah.” Suri still sounded uncertain. “It just feels like such a long shot.”
“It is. But it’s what we’ve got,” Rin said. “Let me go speak to Ebisa about passage to Meewhome. And then meet me in the Royal Library?”
“I’ll pass. I’ve got a side-quest to take care of,” Suri replied. “I know some people in Taltos who can teach me how to speak cat.”
Rin’s smile faded slightly. She flashed me a look of appeal.
“Sure. I’ll come. Can always stand to practice my reading.” I planted my hands on my hips and stretched my back. “I have to go check in with Karalti first, but I can meet you there.”
“Great!” Rin beamed, then abruptly turned and scuttled back off down the corridor toward the War Room.
“She’s an odd one.” Suri heaved a tired sigh. “You really think this is a good idea?”
“If an engineer spots a way to nail three problems with one solution, I believe them,” I said. “And Ignas is right. Even if we never end up using the Warsingers to stage giant kaiju fights, we need to keep them out of Ororgael’s clammy little hands. Or Lucien’s. Fuck… Imagine if Lucien fucking Hart figured out how to build Warsingers before we did?”
“Yeah. I honestly wonder why Ororgael didn’t take Withering Rose with him. Maybe it was just too big.” Suri frowned. “Like I said before, though. Something’s going on in Camp Ororgael. Something we’re not seeing. I just can’t put my finger on what.”
“Same. And it worries me.” I nodded. “We have to play defense until we spot the gap in Ororgael’s plans. But we also have to be ready to strike—and for that, we need power. Experience, weapons, resources.”
Suri was about to reply, but paused as we both got a ping in our HUDs at the same time: the KMS, sending us an alert.
[Your Steward has deposited 871,809 gold olbia into the Myszno Treasury!]
I blinked a couple of times. “Navigail, please read that number again to make sure I heard you right.”
[Sure! Your Steward has deposited 871,809 gold olbia into the Myszno Treasury. Your Kingdom has 891,941 olbia. Use the Kingdom Management System to assign money toward investments, projects, and staff.]
“So uh... guess Vash’s expedition is doing alright,” Suri croaked. “How about you and I go do some shopping later on? Get yourself some new armor.”
“Hell yeah.” I found myself grinning from ear to ear. “I’m pretty sure we can spare the change. I have to check in with Karalti first, and then I’ll meet Rin for some nerd time.”
“And after that?”
I bowed and flourished to her. “After that, I’m all yours.”
“You’re not all mine. But that’s okay.” Suri’s lips quirked, and after a moment’s hesitation, she leaned in to kiss me on the cheek before turning and sauntering off, putting a little more twitch in her step than normal. I watched her until she turned the corner, adjusted the seat of my armor, and headed for the balcony.
Outside, I leaned against the railing, closed my eyes, and felt out along the Bond until I found Karalti. When my mind brushed hers, she flinched—like I’d touched a psychic bruise.
“Hey. I know you’re not doing great, but we’re trying to work something out. We’re going to minimize casualties and find a way to deal with Solonkratsu without killing them.” I breathed deeply of the frigid mountain air. It was fresher up here, despite the hovering parade of airships. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s… it’s okay.” She replied after nearly a full minute of silence. “Really. I think that if Lahati heard that conversation, she would have agreed with you and Ignas. Besides, as long as I exist—free, alive, healthy—then my mother’s line will never be extinguished. That’s the truth.”
I nodded, mostly to myself.
“I know she’s not dead,” Karalti insisted. “Usta, I mean. I can feel her calling to me in her sleep. She wants me to find her, Hector. To save as many of them as I can. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I have to try.”
“It’s possible,” I said. “We might have to go to Meewhome to do it, but it’s possible. I’m willing to learn another language for it, too. It’s gonna hurt like a bitch. Learning Dakhari sure did.”
“Don’t do that yet. I have an idea,” Karalti replied. “You get your memories back when you touch me, right? If I learn the language, then maybe you’ll be able to get it from me.”
I tried to think of some way that wouldn’t work—but couldn’t think of one. “I’m game. Let’s try it.”
“I’ll do it later,” Karalti said. “I need some time alone. To hunt… and to take a bath. But I’ll be back. And don’t worry about me, okay? I’m not going to throw a tantrum or anything. I’m just sad, and I need to feel sad for a while. But after that, I’ll be fine.”
“I believe you.” I smiled faintly. “You don’t mind if I still call you Tidbit? It’s not patronizing?”
“I’ll always be your little Tidbit. And you’ll always be my rider. Good luck at the library.” She pressed a warm thought toward me, almost like a kiss, and withdrew.
Chapter 32
Vulkan Keep’s library was built into a large cavern, kept dry by the geothermal warmth that radiated from the belly of Mt. Racosul. What seemed like miles of shelves receded into the depths of the mountain, which was clearly lit by rows of smokeless mage lights. After all the practice
I’d been doing in Myszno, I could slowly read the sign at the front check-in desk without help: ‘NO pipes, matches, sparks, witchcraft, or loitering’.
“Oh! Hi, Kythias!” Rin called to the red-haired young man seated at the desk, reading a book with his feet up. He startled at the sound of his name and looked over, and when he saw us, he hurriedly straightened up and set his feet on the floor.
“Rin? You and Count Dragozin know one another?” Kythias glanced between us with sharp, hawkish brown eyes. He was Lysian, like Rutha, but his pointed ears had been docked and rounded to look more human. “What a surprise to see you again, my lord.”
“Believe me when I say you will never be as surprised about that as I am.” I gave him a flippant salute. “I’ve got some books to return. And we’re here to raid your Meewfolk archives again.”
“The locked shelves? Certainly.” He gave Rin a sly look. “You’ve wanted to get your shiny silver nose into that section since you arrived in Taltos. Been making friends in high places, have you?”
“I was Hector’s friend before he became a Voivode.” Rin stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s good to see you again. How’s life in Vulkan Keep?”
“Quiet. Which is exactly what I was hoping for after the howling circus that is the Royal College dormitory.” Kythias rose, dusting himself down. “I have my own room, my own bed… it’s heaven. I thank the Maker every day I no longer have to share a bath.”
“You guys know each other?” I asked them.
“Oh! Yes! Kythias used to be a librarian at the Royal College, where Kanzo took me to study,” Rin replied, breezing past me into the library. “He was always my favorite. So sassy.”
“She only likes me for my devilishly good looks. The eyes, the hair, the rippling washboard abs,” Kythias deadpanned, collecting his keys.
“The way you threw out that pair of third-years trying to smoke smashweed in Study Room G,” Rin giggled. “I thought you were going to rip those guys in half.”
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