by Jamie Davis
Winnie turned and smiled back at Danny. “Your sarcasm isn’t appreciated.”
Danny came forward and slipped an arm about her waist, pulling her close. “I, for one, am happy to follow you anywhere, Winnie Durham.”
She brushed his arm away, feeling awkward at the public display of affection. Everyone knew that they were an item but too many of them had lost a loved one and she didn’t feel right flaunting it.
Danny’s hurt expression bothered her. They’d discussed this plenty but he didn’t seem to take her feelings seriously. They’d have to talk again. In private.
Winnie changed the subject. “How’s the training going?”
Danny was in charge of getting the newly arrived recruits from the rebel cities up to speed with their combined magical and conventional arms approach to combat. That started back at Fort Brick, but Maria had delegated all of the training to him. Danny appreciated the new authority, even if it meant less time with Winnie. Some days, the only time she saw him was when he checked in via a comm window from a training field in one of the remote mountain valleys adjacent to the base.
“The latest group is being brought up to speed on how to find their way around the maze of caverns here in the mountain,” Danny said. “Morgan’s idea of using colored paint stripes on the walls to help people navigate to different areas was helpful. We’ve cut the number of search parties to round up lost people down to one or two a week.”
Early on, they’d a persistent issue with people getting turned around in the warrens. It had improved as their forces grew and they began to fill more of the caverns. Still it was hard to find your way sometimes, especially if you were new.
Morgan’s idea was brilliant, adapted from something similar she’d seen in a hospital. They used color coded stripes on the floor to identify paths to the emergency room, operating theaters, and different units housing patient’s rooms.
It was easy to adopt a similar system here in Promise Point, as many were now calling their base. Recruits were cautioned to stay in passages with the painted stripes on the walls until they were more familiar with the general layout. Most complied. Those who didn’t and got lost were disciplined with extra duties until they could remember to follow the rules.
“Will you be going out again on the next training expedition in the field?” Winnie asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Danny replied. “The officers we raised from the hundred or so surviving Dusters from Fort Brick are all still pretty green. They need oversight almost as much as the troops.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tonight. I’ll only be away for three days. This is the biggest training op we’ve tried so far. We’re bringing a full contingent of chanter troops to try and implement the new combined-arms tactics developed by Maria and Garraldi.”
“We tried to keep them simple enough,” Garraldi said. “Do you want one or both of us to come with you?”
“Bullock is coming,” Danny said. “He’s up to date on everything and he’s so powerful, both physically and magically, no one dares to argue with him. We should be good.”
Winnie smiled. The powerful chanter elite’s quiet, gentle demeanor was misinterpreted as gruff by most who didn’t know him—an advantage when it came to instilling discipline in his troops. Winnie was disappointed Danny was leaving again so soon. They hadn’t had many nights alone lately. She missed him, and was thinking about ways to make it up to him when a voice distracted Winnie from her thoughts.
Seelie had flown up behind her. Winnie could hear the faint whirring of the fairy’s wings as she hovered behind her.
“Victor needs to see you, Winnie.”
Though only six inches tall, the small figure always made her smile. It should have made her sad to be reminded of the unborn child she and Danny lost in their first encounter with Kane’s original Harvester. Seelie was the reincarnated spirit of that child’s soul, brought to life by the Fae during the explosion.
Brigid, the Lady of the Lake, had sent Seelie and other fairies from the magical crater in Baltimore to join Winnie in Promise Point, to help facilitate communication with the dragons. Winnie was the only person who could communicate directly with the dragons. Others needed a fairy intermediary.
The giant creatures were intelligent, if alien in their patterns of thought. The small group of fairies helped the others communicate with them when help was needed with things like scouting or hunting for game, which the dragons loved.
Danny’s reaction to Seelie was different. He backed away a step, knowing who she was and resenting the connection to what they’d lost. In him, it brought discomfort, not joy. Winnie had tried to get him to open up about it, but Danny always changed the subject or simply refused to discuss it.
“Tell Victor I’ll be right there,” Winnie said shrugging off her annoyance at Danny’s reaction.
Victor was handling the collection, cataloging the hundreds of charmed items donated by citizens in rebel cities across the country. A call had gone up for people to donate to the cause in order to give the troops a possible advantage.
“I’ll check back in her later,” Winnie said to Garraldi and Maria. “You know where I’ll be if you need me.” She turned to Danny. “Want to come with us?”
“No. I’ll try and catch up with you later before I leave.”
“That would be nice,” Winnie said, trying to repair the earlier damage.
She wasn’t sure it worked. Danny gave a half-smile then walked away towards the training caverns below.
Winnie watched him go before turning to Seelie. “Take me to Victor. Let’s see what he needs.”
The fairy turned in midair then started off down another passage out from the command center. Winnie picked up her pace and followed.
There was so much to be done and little time to do it all. And for some inexplicable reason, Winnie felt a sudden urgency she’d never felt before.
CHAPTER 3
General Philip Couch struggled not to recoil from Director Kane when he limped into the conference room. His hunched back was more pronounced than when they’d met two days before and his facial features had pronounced ridges above his eyes. The eyes themselves were sunken and, in a certain light, seemed to glow a sickly crimson. The changes were accelerating.
“Good morning, Director.” The General gestured to a seat at the conference table. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Director Kane shuffled to the chair and slid into it with a rattling sigh. He settled into the seat then fixed Couch with a red-tinged glare.
“I’m trying to decide if I’ve made a mistake putting all my faith in you to do a job for which you claim to be qualified. Remind me, General, how you were so certain that Durham died back at the hospital?”
A strange question and completely out of the blue. Couch considered his words, then said, “My men and I searched the entire valley floor after the final bombardment subsided. We found no trace of anything. No buildings, no bodies, nothing inside the one-mile radius around the rebel base. It was hard for us to even locate the former foundations. Everyone in that valley died, sir.”
“No, General, they did not.”
“What do you mean, sir?” Couch tried to hide the nerves in his voice.
“What I mean,” Kane continued, his voice rising in pitch and volume. “Is that it has come to my attention that Winnie Durham is alive and well. Not only that, she has apparently created a new magical weapon of some sort, something that can counter my creatures. Did you think I wouldn’t discover your incompetence?”
“No, sir. How do you know this? We have no indication of her survival. I’m telling you, there was nothing left in that valley. Nothing could have—”
“And yet she did.”
“Where is she, sir? Tell me and I’ll have my staff assemble a task force immediately. If this is true then we’ll fix it, take her into custody. She can’t have too many people left after what we did to her army.”
“If I knew where she was
, I’d send the creatures of the Fell,” Kane yelled, flecks of spittle flying from his lips. “This is your fault, General.”
“Sir, your Garbarians can sniff her out.”
“NO, they cannot.” Kane raged. “Don’t you think I’ve tried that? She’s eluded me again and I cannot locate her with any of the magic at my command. This is your fault, Couch. You were supposed to kill her. You were supposed to finish this. Instead, I find out that you didn’t do your job.”
Kane rampaged around the conference room, flipping chairs, ripping the phone from its cord and flinging it against the wall.
Couch had seen Kane angry but never so out of control. His tantrum, and that’s what it was, a temper tantrum, showed Couch a new and alarming side of his leader.
For the first time, General Couch feared for his own safety in the Director’s presence; feared what Kane could do to those who didn’t side with him. Hell, he’d seen what happened to the ordinary citizens of the capital.
Philip, you’d better tread carefully.
“Director Kane, while I have no direct intelligence that the girl is alive, I have heard rumors of a rebel stronghold somewhere in the west. I thought this was likely wishful thinking on the behalf of the enemy now that their leader was dead, but now I’m not so sure. If Winnie is alive, she could have gone to ground somewhere far enough that she’s lost contact with anyone here on the East Coast. That would explain why we haven’t heard anything about her.”
“Why haven’t I heard these rumors, General?”
“Because, sir, they were just that. Rumors. Not worth your time. I didn’t want to bother you with uncorroborated intelligence. But if what you say is true … ”
“IF?” Kane said, his voice rising again. “There is no if, General. Winnie Durham is alive. Do not doubt me.”
“Yes, sir. I don’t. That was a poor choice of words,” Couch said, attempting to soothe the director. “I meant to say that based on this new information, I can allocate additional resources to tracking this rumor down and attempting to determine its truth.”
Couch hoped that would at least temporarily assuage the Director’s anger. He had no idea where to start looking for Winnie. How the hell was he supposed to find the girl if Kane couldn’t? She’d used magic to mask her presence from his forces before. If she’d somehow discovered a way to mask herself from even Kane’s powers, then there was no way Couch could find a way past that barrier.
“Very well, General. I will take you at your word. Investigate this rumor. Follow up on any leads you’ve kept from me. I’ll expect a report in three days. No more.”
“Sir, we’ll be starting cold on this. I might need more time.”
“You don’t have it, General. She’s had months to prepare her next attack on me. There’s no telling what she’s up to now.”
Kane spun and limped from the conference room as quickly as his twisted form would allow.
Couch watched him go. His hand had dropped to rest on the butt of his sidearm. His fear that Kane might attack had overridden his loyalty. Couch wasn’t afraid of dying, or at least not any more than any soldier was. But he didn’t want to be turned into a Garbarian. Death was definitely better.
Winnie Durham was, in all likelihood, a ghost. But if she wasn’t dead, then Kane was right. She was up to something and they’d given her months to consolidate her power and gather troops and resources.
A corner of his mind still didn’t believe the director’s claim. He didn’t want to believe it but the Director’s belief was so strong and sudden, Couch’s own thoughts on the matter were now riddled with doubt. He reached for the phone to call his intelligence officer, but then stopped.
It was better to walk. To gather his thoughts.
Couch stood and left the conference room, returning to the less shocking reality of a capital populated by monsters and demons.
CHAPTER 4
Danny rolled over, his hand searching the empty bed for Winnie.
He sighed. Gone again. He still wasn’t used to her leaving so early.
She liked the highest cave in the complex, and loved going there first thing in the morning, spending her dawn watching the dragons launch themselves from their perches around Promise Point to greet the rising sun.
He’d gone with her a few times. In the beginning. But it was too cold up there, and Danny didn’t have Winnie’s ability to resist the chill. In the end, he’d stopped getting up with her. Now he barely noticed her getting out of bed.
Danny checked his watch—time to be up and moving. There was a ton to get done today and they had an operation into occupied Atlanta to prepare for.
He crossed to the bathroom alcove carved out from the wall. It was one of the amazing innovations Tris and her techs had devised. They’d developed a charmed tool that could burrow piping through the solid rock. It created a network of pipes running through the walls of Promise Point, carrying both fresh water from cisterns above and waste water to some point below.
Tris had come over a month before to demonstrate the way the two tools worked. She pulled out an ordinary looking steel ball and held it over the pedestal of stone that was to become their sink. She set the golf ball-sized sphere atop the waist high stone pillar. Then it moved in a spiral, carving the stone into a shallow bowl. The ball disappeared in the center, tunneling down and out of sight.
“It will connect automatically with one of the larger waste water returns running through the walls,” Tris explained.
Danny started to ask about water supply but Tris forestalled him, holding up an ordinary looking faucet. It looked like something you’d see coming out of the vanity in any home. She pressed the base into the surface of the pedestal beside the bowl. The base glowed then pressed down into the surface, melding to the stone.
Tris turned the knob and smiled. “Wait for it. The base of the faucet is connecting the pipes to the cisterns above us.”
Sure enough, cold, clear water was flowing in a minute or so. Tris repeated the process with another identical faucet—this one enchanted to heat the water as it flowed through it, allowing them to have both hot and cold running water in their cave.
Tris repeated the process on a shorter block of stone using common toilet hardware, creating a simple flush commode with a drain that disappeared inside the mountain.
Danny picked up the electric razor and began to shave. It charged whenever he set it on the metal shelf extending from the wall. That was new. The shelf charged anything battery operated in about an hour. She was using chanters to install them in every room so that all of their devices could be kept fully charged at all times.
Danny left the bedroom then got dressed, dropping his dirty shorts and tee in the bin beside the door. The lid shut and he heard a whirring. The box blended magic and sound waves to clean the clothes inside. When he returned later, his laundry would be inside, folded and fresh, ready to wear again.
There was so much magic that even the least talented chanters among them could do things in Promise Point that had never even been thought of before. There seemed to be a new charmed creation presented to the leadership on a daily basis as a potential way to improve their lives.
Danny headed down to one of the lower levels to check on one such device before breakfast. One of the Duster recruits had developed a charmed auto loader that took loose ammunition and automatically loaded it into clips for their rifles and pistols. Danny had given the soldier the opportunity to prove the worth of his invention by letting it run overnight inside the armory with a full hopper of rifle ammo on one side and a stack of empty clips on the other.
He arrived at the armory where the pair of guards stationed outside offered a familiar salute. He returned the gesture, still feeling awkward at the discipline even a small army required.
“Has anyone been inside the armory since you came on duty last night?”
“No, sir,” said the senior guard. “We haven’t seen anyone since you left us last night.”
“Good.
Let’s see how this new loader worked last night, shall we?”
Danny set a hand over the locking mechanism. The door opened and the lights came on as he entered. The armory walls were lined with shelves and racks full of weapons and ammo. In the center of the large room was a series of tables used to repair and stage equipment for operations.
One of the tables held the loader. The hopper had been full to the brim with cartridges in need of loading. But it was empty now. The stack of clips on the other side was still in place, now fully loaded and ready for deployment.
“Did it work?”
Danny turned around. “Yes, Private Jenkins, it worked.”
The private had created the device. He’d come to check on his creation, too.
“Your talents are wasted in a line unit, Jenkins. Report to Wellings and tell her I’d like you to join her military charms unit. Tell me you’re on it.”
“I’m on it,” Jenkins replied.
“Do it as soon as you set this thing up for another round of loading. We can use that ammo for upcoming ops.”
“Yes, sir.” The private saluted and started opening boxes of rifle cartridges and dumping them into the hopper.
Danny smiled as the private set to work. He nodded at the guards and left to grab some breakfast.
Upstairs, in what had come to be known as the officers’ dining hall, Danny arrived to the scent of bacon and baking bread. Morgan sat at the end of one table alone, tapping out something on a tablet between bites.
“Hi, Morgan, where’s Victor?”
She smiled at Danny as he approached. “Probably the same place as my sister. You’ve got that mission tonight, right?”
Danny nodded.
“Pull up a chair, I’m not working on anything important.”
“Let me grab some food and I’ll be right back,” he said.
Danny went to the short line in front of the buffet. Things were so much more civilized now than when they first arrived. They’d started out eating dehydrated military rations and huddling for warmth against the mountain chill. Now it was home.