by Eric Asher
While there were remnants of the Butcher’s handiwork in the Highlands, the Lowlands were still a ruin that stretched as far as the eye could see. A few patrols were out, clearing any unwanted invaders like the Red Death and Carrion Worms, but it would take weeks to construct a new temporary city wall. And likely years to repair the stone in full.
Jacob and Alice clung to the saddle while Drakkar steered them through the ruins. They’d only rested behind the city walls of the Highlands for a day, which didn’t feel nearly long enough to Jacob. The trip into the remains of the Lowlands was made in silence.
None of them mentioned the ruined buildings and the many bodies that would need to be tended to. That was for another time, once the reconstruction began in earnest. Alice watched the landscape roll by, tucking an occasional strand of windblown hair back into her braid.
Drakkar guided them toward a steep drop that made Jacob’s back stiffen.
Once, there had been a lift on the cliffside. One Jacob could slide down with the right gloves, but the drop he remembered was far too steep for a Walker. Except now it wasn’t. Now what should have been a huge fall was cluttered with shattered stone and fallen houses.
Dust rose around the Walker’s legs, churned up by the rapid movement and weight of the beast.
Alice glanced back at Jacob, tears in her eyes. She knew where they were, too—not far from where they’d once lived. She squeezed his hand and turned back to the carnage surrounding them.
As fast as they’d plunged into the destruction, George carried them onto the outer path, over the remnants of the city wall.
Jacob felt like he could breathe again as the destruction faded behind them. He wanted to rebuild now. Start salvaging what he could. But there was more to be done before they could focus on the reconstruction.
He closed his eyes for a time, feeling the rise and fall of the Walker beneath him as Drakkar’s deft hand steered them out of the mountains and back onto the plains. He remembered walking that distance with Alice and Charles and Samuel. It had taken hours upon hours. But now, with the speed of a well-trained Walker, they were already in the grasslands, the Bull’s Horn of the Ridge Mountains looming in the distance.
* * *
It wasn’t long before they stood once more at the entrance of Cave. The first time Jacob had come to the underground city, he wouldn’t have believed there was anything hidden behind what appeared to be a solid stone mountainside.
But now the grounds leading away from the entrance were worn down, the grasses trampled by countless people fleeing Ancora and taking shelter in Cave. Jacob suspected it would be a long time before many of the citizens of Ancora returned.
He reached out to the Devil’s Hammer, a skeletal brass hand clutching a steel orb. He raised it on its hinge and let it fall against the gong hidden behind it. The familiar click and whirl inside the wall echoed up around them, and then there was only silence.
Jacob frowned as the walls started to move. He’d expected one of the Guardians to interrogate them, much the same way they had the first time they’d visited with Charles. Now, there was only a shadow near the entrance, who simply said, “Welcome to Cave.”
“Thank you, brother,” Drakkar said with a nod to the Guardian.
Jacob turned to Drakkar. “Is that why they didn’t question us? Because you’re here?”
“No, Jacob, even the Guardians can be questioned. It is not unknown for citizens of Cave to turn traitor against their own city. But in rare times, when Cave is a refuge for more than the people who live here, we are generous with granting passage. Perhaps it is because of our past.”
“What about your past?” Alice asked after a long yawn.
Drakkar grinned, showing brilliant white teeth against his dark skin. “I think you already know the answer to that. Cave was long a stronghold of pirates and thieves.”
Alice perked up. “What kind of pirates? That’s what I can never find in the history books. Did they steal precious metals? Or rare spices?”
Drakkar laughed quietly. “Some, yes. But many more stole people.”
“What?” Jacob asked.
“Perhaps I should explain better. Not all the cities of the world are as benevolent as Ancora. You had disparity between the Highlands and the Lowlands, but others, like Ballern, forced their poor into labor and jobs no one else would want. The poor are sent to the front lines of every battle, while the rich trade peacefully with the nations at war.”
“What does that have to do with stealing people?” Jacob asked.
Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. “You can be awfully dense some days. They didn’t steal people, they freed them. Took refugees across the sea.”
“That anyone had to do that is appalling.”
Drakkar nodded and steered George the Walker toward the stables, passing through another layer of stone. Here, beyond the gates, the supports for the city’s structure grew noticeable. Thick steel propped up much of the passage they started down.
“What was it Charles said last time we were here?” Jacob asked. “Something about a Scorpion’s Trial?”
“He survived it,” Alice said. “What is it, Drakkar?”
The Cave Guardian didn’t answer as he guided George into his stable. The Walker immediately stuck his face into a trough full of Sweet-Flies. Only when they’d all disembarked did Drakkar respond.
“The Scorpion’s Trial is a way to show how much of a stubborn fool you are.”
“What?” Jacob asked as a stable hand chuckled.
“A scorpion is not unlike a Tail Sword, only diminutive. Fools still follow an old pirate code, letting themselves be stung by a scorpion.”
Jacob glanced away. “And then what happens?”
“They live, or they die.”
“Idiots,” Alice muttered. “Who would ever do something like that?”
“Pirates who wished to prove themselves loyal to a guild. What most folk who visited did not realize was that the scorpions were almost always harmless. But if you happened to be someone the pirate captains disliked, well, let us say they would not be so harmless.”
“You’re talking about murder,” Alice said, following Drakkar down an adjacent hall, off to the opposite side of the stables.
“You will find a great deal of talk is about murder when it comes to pirates.”
Alice and Drakkar continued their back and forth as they made their way into a roughly hewn hallway. Jacob saw the golden glow at the end of the path and his heart rate spiked. As they drew closer to the end, Cave’s noise and general buzz grew louder than he remembered.
When they turned the corner, he understood why.
The towering streetlamps with their wide copper reflectors still lit the town, but the cobblestone streets were choked with people. Where Cave had once been bustling, it was now the equivalent of the square during Festival in Ancora.
“Well,” Drakkar said. “I must admit this is a sight I have never seen.”
He led them down the hill, from the stables where small cottages and three-story inns sat side by side, various architecture crammed into too limited a space like a book meant to document every style of building from across the world.
The last time they’d been in Cave, Jacob remembered buskers on many of the street corners. But now, with the mass of people, he couldn’t see them at first, only hear them, until they moved farther into the city. Musicians were set up close to the buildings, taking whatever coin the passersby would throw. With such limited space, the more extravagant shows were still nowhere to be seen.
“Where are we going?” Jacob asked, raising his voice to make sure Drakkar could hear him over the din.
“We make for the only place in Cave you go when you need information. The Rock Inn.” Drakkar led them past a towering building, a strange thing with a high platform that seemed to hold another house above it. It wasn’t until they reached the next street that Jacob realized where they were.
Beside them was the old church with
sweeping Gothic doors, but more important to him at the moment were the dark stairs that led to a wooden entrance. Across the doors, spelled out in smooth river stones, was “The Rock Inn.”
Inside was nothing like Jacob remembered. It was still a small bar, surrounded by booths, but now there were enough people that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to cross the room. Drakkar had no such hesitation, weaving between patrons and practically dragging Jacob and Alice with him.
“Watch your pockets,” Drakkar said. “This is ideal for a pickpocket.”
Jacob didn’t need that warning. He’d been one of the best pickpockets in Ancora before the Fall. He recognized some faces, people from the Lowlands, though many whose names he didn’t know. All the same, it was a relief to see survivors from his old life.
Drakkar pulled his hood down and sidled up to the bar. He gestured to the barkeep, who looked annoyed for a moment until recognition softened his expression. He hurried over to greet them, much to the annoyance of some of the waiting customers.
“Drakkar,” he said. “Rumor was you were dead. Sacrificed yourself for the Ancorans.”
“I plan to avoid that for a time. Preferably until I die of old age.”
The barkeep reached out and wrapped his hand around Drakkar’s forearm, and Drakkar returned the gesture. “What brings you back now?”
“The Butcher is dead, and what remains of Ancora is safe for now.”
“Doesn’t matter too much to me either way. As long as a man has coin, he’s welcome in my shop.”
Alice leaned forward, but before she could say anything, Drakkar held up a finger and gave a tiny shake of his head. She frowned at the Cave Guardian and crossed her arms, but let whatever she was about to say slide.
“We’re looking for two refugee families from Ancora. You know where we could find them?”
The barkeep cursed under his breath. “Everywhere. Can you give me more information than that?”
“One woman has hair like mine,” Alice said. “Another we’re looking for has a bad lung from being in the mines. He’d be on medicine.”
The barkeep nodded. “The sick are currently staying in the Temple of the Cave Guardians. If he needs medicine, you’ll likely find him there. As for the woman you described, I’ve seen her around. Look to the east, closer to the sea caves.”
“Thank you,” Drakkar said.
“I have a couple rooms set aside should you need a place to stay tonight. Rooms are hard to come by, so the price will not be cheap.”
Drakkar ushered Jacob and Alice toward the front door. Jacob had almost forgotten that the barkeep was the owner of The Rock Inn. And while that may have been the name of the bar, a large portion of the building served as a proper inn.
Drakkar adjusted his cloak at the bottom of the stairs, fidgeting with the dark metal clasp on his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
Drakkar’s fingers froze, and he offered a small smile. “You are too astute at times, Alice. For many years I called the Temple of the Cave Guardians my home. You may think of it as a monastery with, well, fewer rules.”
He led the way back up the street, angling to avoid the worst of the crowds along the cobblestones. “It is the home of all who would become Cave Guardians. Even the Nameless. Perhaps, especially the Nameless.”
“Isn’t your brother one of the Nameless?” Alice asked.
“Yes,” Drakkar said, weaving past a vibrantly dressed cluster of musicians who gathered between two stone staircases. “But you must understand. I reclaimed my name, Alice. I left many of the teachings behind. It was a dishonor done to my brother. Though he has always denied it, I fear it wounded him deeply.”
Jacob glanced back at the group whose music followed them down the next street. He was fairly certain two of them were from the orchestra that had performed on the day Ancora fell.
Drakkar didn’t say any more as he led the way up the stairs to the Temple of the Cave Guardians. It didn’t look much like a temple to Jacob. It was tall, three stories at least, and four if you counted the strange house perched atop it on stilts. The roof had been carved from rectangular sections of stone, giving it the appearance of the lid to a jar Charles once had on his workbench.
Jacob kept looking up until Drakkar pushed through the dark wood of the front door. The door itself was some ten feet high, nearly reaching the second story, but the cacophony of laughter and talking that greeted them didn’t fit Jacob’s expectations for a makeshift hospital or a monastery, for that matter.
Everything inside that place was sharp angles. The columns stretching from the first floor up through wide holes in the second were each square, each inlaid with an impossible mosaic so fine and detailed at first Jacob thought they were paintings.
What wasn’t stone, or part of the mosaics, looked like aged bronze and brass more fitting for the halls of Bollwerk than tucked away in a hidden city. Jacob suspected there was a great deal more to the history of Cave than pirates and honor.
“Welcome to the Temple of the Cave Guardians,” a cloaked figure said as he stepped forward in greeting. “You are welcome to explore. The gates are open to all who do not mean harm.” He focused on Drakkar. “Even those who have taken names once more.”
“You have my thanks,” Drakkar said with a small bow. “Where will we find the sick from Ancora?”
“Most shelter on the second floor. I would start your search there.” The cloaked figure took his leave, circling behind a thick column and vanishing into shadow.
“You know him?” Jacob asked.
“Yes. But when I stayed here, he was much younger. And much angrier. Time changes a great many things, Jacob. A great many.”
As they made their way through the wide expanse of the first floor, Jacob noticed discolorations on the tiles beneath their feet. Areas where the old stone was more vibrant gave away the fact more structures once filled the room.
Even as the thought crossed Jacob’s mind, Alice asked, “What used to be here? You can see signs of a lot more set up across the floors besides the cots and benches.”
“The Cloister Halls,” Drakkar said. “They were once graced with carved arches of flowers and trees, but age and traffic ruined them. Once a place to be at peace and ponder what good you could do in the world, they provided splinters more than anything else in the end. I think the only thing I miss about those walls is how they stopped the echoing in these larger rooms.”
He led them around the back of the rearmost column. It was smaller than the others, and Jacob was somewhat surprised to find a lift installed.
Drakkar smiled at the confusion on Jacob’s face. “We do not shun technology here. Come, let’s find your parents.”
It wasn’t the fastest lift Jacob had ever been on. One story took almost as long to climb as ten had in Bollwerk. But it felt stable, the gears were quiet, and as his eyes adjusted to the dim candlelight inside the lift, he was surprised to find braided cables strung over basic pulleys. It was striking in its simplicity, but obviously effective.
“I’d love to see the engine they’re using to drive this.”
“It’s an old steam engine.” Drakkar hesitated. “One of Charles’s designs.”
“What?”
Drakkar nodded. “A secondary engine for the Titan Mechs he designed during the Deadlands War. Archibald may be able to tell you more. I’m not sure how many of Charles’s notes survived from those times.”
Jacob looked up at the pulleys and cables and smiled, imagining Charles would be quite happy one of his wartime designs ended up being repurposed into something useful. Even good, he might say.
The lift came to a smooth stop and Drakkar pushed the latticework to the side, ushering Jacob and Alice out.
“Mom?” Alice said almost immediately.
And then Jacob saw her as the crowds passed and thinned. The same fiery hair as Alice, just over by the railing that surrounded the gap in the floor around the nearest column. She’d lost weight since they
’d last seen her, as many had when the supply chains were broken in the conflict with the Butcher. But as Alice’s mom turned, looking for a familiar voice, Jacob gasped at the sight behind her.
CHAPTER FOUR
Alice was already running to her mother, but Jacob couldn’t take his eyes off the woman she’d been talking to. A woman who now held both hands over her mouth and sobbed when she saw Jacob.
Drakkar glanced between the two and raised an eyebrow. “I take it that is your mother?”
Jacob nodded.
“Perhaps you should go say hello?” Drakkar laughed and clasped him on the shoulder. “It does seem likely she would like to greet you.”
Jacob blinked and slowly met Drakkar’s gaze. “We’ve been a bad influence on you. Mary would be proud.” Jacob flashed Drakkar a grin and sprinted toward his mother.
“Jacob,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him, nearly breaking his ribs. “We weren’t sure … we didn’t know if …” She didn’t say anything more, just crushed him, a tremor running through her while her curly hair tickled his nose. He could have sworn her hair looked grayer in the short time since he’d seen her last.
“I’m alive, mostly,” he said, knocking on his leg.
His mother pushed him back and glanced down. “We’d heard rumors about Charles leading the resistance. Rumors about a one-legged apprentice who helped bring down the Butcher.” She smiled at him, her eyes red.
“One and a half legged, really.”
His mother let out a small laugh.
“I guess it was him that crazy drunk was rambling about in The Rock Inn.”
Jacob turned toward the new voice, then paused, trying to understand what he was seeing. It was his dad, yes, but the man’s lips weren’t so pale and his skin was more vibrant. He was slow to stand up, but he looked stable, almost like his old self. Jacob tried to say something, but choked up as he hugged them both.