The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4

by Spencer Pierson

  “Where’d the dagger go?” Aiden said, unable to take his eyes off of the kissing couple. “I didn’t hear it hit the shield.”

  “Ah, Aiden? That’s because it didn’t.” Markam said, gesturing at the thing laying on the sand close to where Aiden had fallen. “You missed blocking it with the shield. I think it hit your tunic when you threw your shield out too far. I promise I won’t tell Oya Dihya.”

  Romald began directing the collection of the weapons and disbursement of the Brunish soldiers. More Riften troops had begun to file into the square by this time, and it was becoming easier to manage. It looked like two of the Brunish cruisers had also surrendered, though there was a third making its way deeper into the cove and away from the docks, obviously trying to make a run for it.

  Duke Valeran, Captain Stelios and several of their men were already moving up the gang plank and onto the Gerevat. Even from here, Aiden could see him hug his son. The younger man looked like he had a bandage wrapped around his head but otherwise was okay. The crew had given a good account of itself but there were obviously some injuries, and even a few men wearing the colors of Terek laying still on the deck.

  Aiden smiled, happy they’d managed to save the ship and Gavin’s brother. He was just about to walk towards the ship when he saw a massive shadow suddenly fall over him and stretch forward impossibly far over the bay. A cloud? Suddenly he was patted on the back and when he turned, Ashrak and Chari were right behind him, but they weren’t looking at him. They were looking up into the sky.

  With a sinking feeling, he turned and looked up. Intellectually he knew it would be some sort of skimmer and that it would be big, but there was no way he could have been prepared for the reality. It was indeed a skimmer, more blocky than the Duke’s skimmers and glinting white with red trim. There were strange words and numbers written on parts of it, and he was particularly terrified of the fact he could make them out even through the clouds that were still passing in front of the massive thing. In truth, he thought it might be larger than the city of Terek itself.

  There were cries of terror and surprise from everyone, and he could clearly hear the start of panic rising throughout almost everyone within hearing distance. Romald had grabbed several of his men, slapping some of them to get their attention, but once he had it he started giving out orders in a rushed manner. Men began running off, heading to parts within the city as the small man began to try to get a handle on the chaos they knew would happen.

  Duke Valeran was suddenly there, Stelios close behind him. “Okay, you lot. Mouths closed. Now is not the time to freeze. We need to get back inside the Bastion and out of the way. If we’re out here, it will just give Oya Dihya and the Riften Generals a headache they don’t need.”

  He quickly led them all back inside but before he could head down towards the portal room, Romald stopped him. “I’ve had my own observation room set up at the top of the tower. The generals and other command personnel have moved to their own posts . Once these bulldog things land, we’ll have an overview of things below. The castle would be better, but I imagine everyone will think we are there so being in one of the towers will actually be safer. No sense in giving them an easy target, eh?”

  They followed the man to one of the huge counter-weight elevators situated on the inside of the tower and quickly moved up several floors closer to, but not at, the roof. A large room had been set-up with a copy of the model of the city. Duchess Emraldi and Carol Reid were already there with several advisors, but once they got situated, there was a steady stream of men in Romald’s colors who moved in and out of the room.

  Aiden was fascinated to see whenever one of the men would give Romald information, he would move several brightly colored pieces on the board. After a few minutes, Carol Reid stood next to the diminutive man and gave him corrections, and in many cases accurate information long before his men did. Aiden almost laughed, watching the man’s nose twitch as he mulled over that mystery.

  Finally, they began to take out a number of small, metal cubes which they began placing at various places around the city. Most of them landed near the twelve towers and Romald, with Carol Reid’s input, placed four of the blocks near each tower. Twelve more headed to the castle directly, and Romald grinned. There would be no one there. The royal spouses and family had all been moved to Reid, along with other non-combatants who were not needed for defense of the city.

  Aiden knew the overall plan had been to move the Naiaden squads into position at the projected landing points as soon as the ship made an appearance. There would be crowds, and the sight of the four-meter Exemplars would be alarming, but it would be far too late for anyone to warn the attacking force by that time. Despite this, most of the forces had taken back roads obscured by tall buildings as much as possible so as not to tip off whoever was in the bulldogs, in case there was anyone who could notice the much-oversized warriors.

  A larger force was on standby in the tunnels but when it was confirmed twelve of the landing craft were headed for the castle, they moved easily up the Golden Hand tunnel towards the throne room. They would provide a warm welcome for the attackers when they tried to breach the castle doors.

  Still, it looked like several of the Naiaden squads had not yet reached the four outer bastions when Carol Reid frowned, turning to Romald and the Duchess.

  “They have landed. As per your orders, your soldiers are mostly trying to clear out the civilians from the area and not trying to engage the Bulldogs. However, they are firing anyway. Apparently, they are being rather indiscriminate with who they fire upon. There are already significant casualties in your population that are not under cover or out of the considerable range of their guns.”

  “They are just killing people?” Emraldi said, her cool exterior slightly melting at the news. She turned, striding to the window despite Romald’s protests. Distantly, Aiden could hear a strange, angry buzzing noise and the faint sounds of screaming coming from below. For some reason, he felt the need to follow and stand next to the Duchess.

  It was terrible. Four of the stout, blocky skimmers had landed and each of their weapon turrets was firing. There were not many civilians there, as the fight with the Brunish soldiers had cleared out most of them, but anyone who stuck their noses out from anywhere was brutally targeted and fired upon. The strange, red-beamed weapons didn’t just kill people, they destroyed buildings and caused fires to immediately erupt wherever they struck far below.

  “You must think me a monster,” the Duchess whispered to him softly as they both stood there. Aiden was frozen at the horror of it, but he couldn’t tell how the Duchess was feeling. Not really.

  He looked at her, ready to refute her statement, but before he could, he shut his mouth. In truth, he was afraid of her and the decisions she made. He did think she was a monster, in some ways. He could completely see this cold woman letting it continue until the Naiadens all got into position. Most likely, it was far worse at the other towers where people hadn’t already taken cover. Below was only the very faintest tip of the iceberg of what was going on around the crowded city.

  At his silence, she nodded. “You would be right, Aiden. Sometimes I need to be, in order to keep my people safe.” She paused, then breathed in once before turning back to Carol Reid. “But not today,” she finished quietly before raising her voice. “If we fired now? Would any of them escape? You said your missiles had range?”

  Carol nodded, a sense of relief coming over her. “Yes. Truthfully, it is only the two outermost towers where one or two may escape. And only if they immediately go low, rather than head straight back to the ship. Do I have your permission to fire?”

  Duchess Emraldi looked once more at Aiden before nodding, the faintest hint of relief on her own features before she left the window. Carol immediately got a faraway look, and suddenly there were massive, rolling sounds echoing throughout the city. Startled, Aiden looked out, and three of the four bulldogs were piles of burning metal with pillars of smoke rising above them.
Even as he watched, something he couldn’t identify streaked out from an alley and struck the last one, sending it up in a massive fireball. Distantly, he could even see men spinning like ragdolls away from the explosion.

  The various troops had begun to file out of the craft and line up near them. An unfortunate place to be, as the explosions enveloped a wide area, ensnaring the soldiers, shattering many of the buildings that were too close, and shaking even the Bastion itself.

  “Fire, indeed,” Professor Reivus said, a hint of dark sadness in his voice as he put his hand on Aiden’s shoulder and looked down on the frightening devastation. They stood at the window and watched as more explosions blossomed in other areas of the city. Thick, black smoke began to rise and follow the ocean breeze, becoming an ill-smelling blanket that lay over them.

  Aiden looked back down, seeing a few of the scattered men moving, but so many more of them just lay there like matchsticks tossed by an angry toddler. Yet more death. True, these men would have sent them into their own darkness if given half the chance, and seeing the crumpled forms of some of Riften’s citizens proved how casually they would have done so, but it still saddened Aiden.

  “Professor?” Aiden said softly. “Is this what it was like before the Cataclysm? People dying so easily and in such great numbers?”

  Professor Reivus sighed softly and didn’t answer right away, but finally, the old man spoke, equally as softly. “Yes, and no, Aiden. The tools of war can change, but the tools of defense can also change. If the Naiadens hadn’t been here, this would have been far worse with far more dead. There will always be those who wish to take what is not given and sometimes it is necessary to strike back at them harder than they can strike you. A last resort, yes, but in this case it was necessary.”

  Aiden looked sadly at the Professor before nodding and turning away. He didn’t want to see the piles of bodies anymore, or smell the death even from as high as they were. He knew the Mourning Lords had just begun their attack, and they clearly knew his answer about him killing himself now.

  “The ship is leaving,” Carol said into the quiet and shock, her voice the only spot of warmth in the room after the series of terrifying explosions that had rocked the city. “And,” she continued, “only one of the bulldogs got away. Only one. Clearly, they were all under some auto-pilot that didn’t even try to evade.”

  “Why is it leaving, though?” Gavin said. “It's huge? Certainly it could just pulverize us, right?”

  The leader of the Naiadens shook her head. “No, in this case, it might not have been able to. I had some of my people studying it from the moment it showed itself. It's clearly been damaged. In some cases badly, which I would bet were from the Cataclysm. There are already holes in the side of it that are open to the air, and one of the docking bays is completely missing. Even if it had been able to attack us, I suspect our friendly Mourning Lords didn’t want to risk the chance we had other surprises, which we did.”

  It was good news, and the sense of relief rose dramatically from the people around the table. They waited in the command center for several more hours as the Naiadens assisted the Riften guards in getting the city back in order and cleaning up the dead. The reports coming into Romald were difficult to listen to, and even though they were whispered, Aiden watched the usually energetic man’s face fall into despair even as he did his job. Though the bulldogs hadn’t been active long, they had killed a lot of people before the Naiadens had destroyed them.

  A few groups of soldiers had managed to escape the destruction of their transports, for whatever reason having been far enough away from the bulldogs to not be caught in the immediate blast. However, having the explosions near and then having large groups of stoic, amazonian warriors suddenly standing there made most of them surrender almost immediately.

  Finally, Carol Reid turned to them all and nodded solemnly. “The battle is over. I ask that you join me in touring the dead. You do not have to, but my people agreed long ago that no matter what the reason, we would always look at the day’s toll from both sides to understand the cost. Will you join me?”

  They did. Valeran had looked at the young people as if to excuse them, but all of them had met his gaze and nodded that they wanted to attend. Aiden knew he needed to see it, and not turn away. If he was going to be capable of making things that could wreak this level of destruction, then he needed to always be aware of why he made them and make sure he didn’t lose control of it. He just hoped there wouldn’t be more days like this, but suspected there would be many.

  Chapter 28

  The Alliance Accords took several weeks to hammer out between those Duchies who chose to join. Not all of the remaining leaders were, at first, interested. Most had been huddled in the basements and safe rooms of their compounds, safe not only from the initial attack but the horror of it as well. However, it didn’t take much convincing after they were shown the destroyed landing skimmers and told what they’d learned from the enemy troops. After they had been questioned, the few remaining troops admitted they had been ordered to raze the city and kill everyone within it.

  In the end, all nine remaining Dukes agreed they had to band together. They all had their own stories of the Mourning Lords, and for better or for worse, they all wanted the protection of the Naiadens.

  “Truthfully, Duke Hamel from Caiterel was the quickest to sign followed by Kiera from Banum,” Valeran told Aiden and his friends as they relaxed around a fire on the beach at Jiada’s Turning. “Their forces are being brutalized by Duke Noropol. It doesn’t help their people are being killed by that damn plague either. They’ve already been asking for help, so this was a lucky turn for them. Honestly, I’m happy for it myself. It’s been a difficult business listening to the reports of the atrocities that have been happening.”

  “That is good news, Father,” Gavin said, staring into the fire. “But too late for some. The man who kidnapped us was from Reyvek. I think he said he was traveling to Banum to see if he could help fight. You think we’ll see him again, Aiden?” Gavin asked, looking up at his friends and trying to avoid Markam’s disgruntled look. Gavin’s Vectar still had not forgiven the Stitch for kidnapping his charge.

  “I don’t know,” Aiden said slowly. “Some parts of me dread that, but I would like to know how he is doing. Maybe we can give him his land back?”

  Duke Valeran scowled before answering. “Well, it wouldn’t be his land, it would belong to the Reyveks if they can ever be found. Word is, they were killed in several accidents once Noropon conquered them, but I think Duke Hamel might have some idea if any of them escaped. He’s being cagey right now to see what this alliance is going to do for him, but I think he knows where some of the Reyveks might be.”

  “If we can even do it,” Ashrak said glumly. “Duke Noropon has an impressive army.”

  “He does.” Duke Valeran nodded, taking a long sip from his cup but they could tell he hadn’t finished talking so waited patiently. “They’re going to be a difficult proposition. That blowhard inherited an already-large army from his father, and he’s expanded it considerably during his campaign to become some sort of emperor.”

  “How are we going to fight them?” Gavin asked. “Didn’t we stay out of it before because we couldn’t support our soldiers that far away?”

  The Duke gave them all a feral grin. “That was true before, but now,“ he paused, looking at Aiden and wiggling his eyebrows. “we have Aidengates.”

  Aiden spluttered, choking on the juice he had just taken into his mouth. Gavin and Chari looked equally as surprised, but Ashrak laughed long and loudly, clapping him on the back.

  “Aidengates?” Ashrak grinned, “Orphan Boy, you are so going to be famous!”

  It took a few moments to catch his breath, but Aiden finally managed to collect himself and looked incredulously at the Duke. “Why are you calling them that? That’s a terrible name.”

  “Oh, pish posh, Aiden, it’s a fine name.” Duchess Ahnarad said as she came up to sit by her
husband. She’d flown in a week ago on the Skywitch and had been happy to see her sister and other family members. She was also an excellent negotiator and Valeran was very happy she was here. Between her and her sister, they had the other nobles more-or-less in line.

  “Actually, it was Romald’s idea,” Valeran grinned. “Emraldi thought the other’s needed something to remind them of why we had all been saved. I suspect anything else you make will have a similar moniker.”

  Aiden looked so horrified that everyone couldn’t help but laugh. It took a minute or so for them to quiet down, and for Aiden to even begin to wrap his mind around it. “Okay, here is something that bothers me. If you all have these huge plans, you do remember there is only one of me?”

  Duchess Ahnarad patted Aiden’s hand. “Yes, dear. We do. In fact, my sister and I will be making sure to keep everyone else from coming to you with crazy requests. Carol Reid is also advocating a considerable amount of restraint. There is still a lot of unknowns about your abilities, and while the things you have created are miraculous, none of us wants to see you…how did the Professor put it?” Ahnarad looked over at her husband for a moment before remembering. “Oh, yes. Melt your brains out, I think is what he said.”