“I don't understand,” Po whispered.
“Po, he is the most powerful Keeper ever to walk this world. He has come from the stars where he lost his soul. You have helped him begin to find it again, here. You have no idea that you may be his most powerful magic.”
“I am nothing,” Po whispered.
“No. You do not know the depth of your meaning. Beside you, I am nothing. I am only stone and will.”
“I don't understand,” Po pleaded.
“Simply know this. The stronger you are, the stronger he will be. The smarter you are, the smarter he will be.”
“Why is he doing this? It feels like he is reaching into my chest and stopping me from breathing sometimes.”
“That is his greatest sorcery,” Ash said.
“He has so much more power than any Keeper I have ever met,” Po said.
“More than you may ever know,” Ash said.
There was a long pause.
“You talk a lot for a stone,” Po said.
Just then, her Plate chimed.
***
Barcus got dressed and went to find Olias. As he exited the bath chamber, Barcus took a good look at the damage directly in front of him. “Em, this definitely looks like a dropped bomb explosion to me. From this vantage point, the crater is obvious.” Barcus looked at the rafters and the open floors. It made him think of images from the war.
Barcus found Olias unloading the cases from Par, who was backed up to the outdoor kitchen area. They were almost done.
“Par asked me to help unload these. Is this all right?” He was setting down a med supply case and the gun case.
“Olias, please take those two and slide them under my bed.” Olias did without question. Next was one of the large, heavy ammo cases Barcus had prepped. That went into the gatehouse.
After everything had been offloaded, Par retreated to the garage beneath the cathedral ruin, climbing down into the shadows.
Barcus turned to Olias and spoke in common tongue. “I need you to make some salvage runs with Par. Can you do that? In fact, I need you to be in charge of all the salvage operations. You should use your own judgment to select what we need. Po and I will let you know if we need anything specific. To help with this, I want you to have this.” Barcus handed him the second Plate in its book cover.
“You will be able to talk to Par, Ash, Po or me with it. It has maps. It can also help teach you to read. You can use it to keep lists or remind you of things. Ask it anything. Just be careful with it. We only have two.”
Olias was holding it as if it was made out of the most fragile of glass.
“Open it. Touch it like this to activate it. Now you can ask it anything,” Barcus shared.
Olias looked up and said nothing.
“Plate, where are we?” Barcus asked.
“You are in the cook’s pavilion in the south end of Whitehall Abbey.”
An aerial view of the circle of The Abbey opened on the Plate. A bright green dot correctly indicated his position with “Olias” over the dot.
“Show where everyone else in Whitehall is located.”
Dots appeared for Ash, Po, Par and Barcus.
“Plate, add icons.” Faces appeared by Barcus, Po, and Olias. Full size icons of Ash and Par appeared.
“Oh! Po is there, in the tower with Ash,” Olias said.
“Plate, call Po.”
“Hello? Barcus? Is that you? Is everything all right?” Po asked, concerned.
“Yes. I am showing Olias how to use his Plate. Say hello to Po, Olias.”
“H-Hello?” Po laughed.
“What!?” Olias took umbrage.
“I can see you!” They looked to the tower where they could see Po waving a hand. They waved back.
“Do you see this little icon in the top right? That makes it a video chat. So you can see and talk.” He selected it and Po could see them. “Press yours now, Po.”
There were several icons across the top of her Plate. Barcus was watching over her shoulder in a HUD window.
“The next one over to the left. The green one.”
She touched it, and Olias could see her.
“If you hold it up like this, we can see what you see,” he informed them.
Po could see herself from below, and they could see themselves from above.
“It also holds a teacher. Her name is Em. You can ask her questions and she will answer. That's enough for now. We need to get to work. Olias is going on a salvage run and will need to pack.”
Po efficiently closed the Plate, put it back in its pouch and was headed down the spiral stairs to get food together for Olias's trip.
***
Everyone split off to perform their various tasks. Barcus went to the throne room for a detailed status.
“Stu, are you doing okay?” Barcus asked.
“Yes, boss,” came his reply.
“Em, what's next on the list?” Em strolled in and seemed to stand next to Barcus, looking at all the status windows.
“More salvage runs and repairing the wall are the next two priorities on the list. I think that if we can use Par to make a couple quarry runs before she heads out with Olias, Ash can work on the wall while they are gone,” she replied.
“Do it. It would be great to have that done before the next big snow,” Barcus said. “Once winter hits, we will likely be stuck inside. Restoring water to the south end would be great as well.”
As they discussed other priorities, Par and Ash moved out.
Two and a half hours later, Olias was ready to go.
Par had demanded that she be swept out before she left. Barcus was surprised that Po went in and did it without a word. On sweeping the last of the debris off her ramp, she said to Olias, “Get a couple more brooms and dust pans, please.”
“And you were worried that they would not handle this well,” Em said in Barcus’s head. “They are taking to the Plates better than expected, as well. I will still keep control on them,” Em added. “It's still a bit early to try to explain AIs or Augmented Reality to them.”
“Have you developed lesson plans for them yet? Plate usage and reading, for starters?” Barcus asked.
“Yes, I have lessons queued up already. Daily formal sessions as well as other times, like when Olias is en route on salvage runs,” Em said in his mind.
“Have Olias collect books and maps if he finds any. Show him how to take images of paintings and tapestries. They can contain info as well.”
“Anything specific you would like Ash to do before he starts again on the wall work?” Em asked.
“Have Ash furnish the loft in the gatehouse as a study for me. I use too much firewood in the main throne room. The loft is smaller. The cots are already gone, I noticed. Make sure it has at least one comfy chair. The rest is up to you. I can change it later if something comes up,” Barcus said. “We are working Par and Ash pretty hard. What is the power situation for both? I never worked on kinetic systems.”
“They both use synthetic kinetic fiber for locomotion,” Em began. “Fibers that work like muscles with tiny micro voltage. The battery in your multi-tool’s flashlight could power Ash for a year. Both are served by solar batteries just fine. Some systems take a lot of power, like flood lights, cooling, heavy transmissions,” Em added. “But we have not used them much.”
“Olias and I are both ready now,” Par said.
Barcus walked up the ramp with Olias and showed him where to sit. “While you are with Par, in here, you can speak to me at any time. Par knows what to do. Keep the Plate with you while you are away from Par. Good luck.” Barcus showed him the five-point harness and helped to strap him in.
“You will see things here few have seen,” Barcus said kneeling next to Olias.
“Thank you, Barcus, for trusting me.” The common words were almost difficult for Barcus. He had been practicing.
Barcus answered with a slap on Olias’s shoulder and a quick exit. He and Po watched as the ramp closed and Par began to move out and
over the wall.
***
“Do you have your Plate with you?” He knew she did. “Let me show you something.”
“Say this,” he whispered in her ear, and she repeated, “Plate, locate Olias.”
A map displayed of the region, as Olias and Par were moving fast down the south road.
“You can always find us this way.” He said.
“This is how the birds see the land? From high above?” Barcus whispered in her ear again.
“Plate, show me the route they will take to Greenwarren.” The view zoomed out and showed the path they would take to Greenwarren.
Then without prompting, she said, “Plate, show me where Langforest Manor is.” The map zoomed out a bit more and showed another point almost directly south of The Abbey, but much further than Greenwarren.
“What is that place?” Barcus had not heard of it before.
“I grew up there.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Salvage Run
“The Emergency Module did not take into account all possible potential dangers on this planet.”
--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Emergency Module Digital Forensics Report. Independent Tech Analysis Team.
<<<>>>
Par woke Olias when she reached Greenwarren. The morning sky was dark gray with the threat of snow. He and Par had spent an hour earlier, discussing the list of items they needed. Olias had described where most of the items could be found. Par told Olias that most of the bodies had been collected and consolidated inside a barn just outside of town – both soldiers and townsfolk.
Their first stop was Joseph's wood shop. Joseph crafted all kinds of trunks, chests, cabinets and even barrels. They would collect several trunks and barrels, which they would fill with the many small items on the lists for easier collection and transport. They chose eleven trunks to start with and began at the inn because it had the biggest kitchen. One entire trunk was filled with just spices. Olias learned quickly to leave the trunk where Par could pick it up when it was heavy.
The next trunk was filled with a selection of pots and pans and cooking utensils, packed tightly with towels and cloth napkins. Knives, forks, spoons, ladles, cutters, rolling pins, baking gear and more went into the next trunk, Olias listing each off as he packed it. He even topped it off with several ale mugs and wine glasses wrapped in towels.
A room-by-room search of the inn revealed seven books of topics unknown. He found four purses with a good quantity of gold, silver and copper coins. He found a beautiful sword and crossbow under the bed in one room. He took them, too.
Many staple food items were collected, like bags of beans and flour. Several barrels were filled with potatoes. Olias loved potatoes. He also saw to candles, lamps and lamp oil.
Multiple trunks were impossibly heavy, filled with tools and supplies, like nails.
Three trunks were filled with clothes, one for each of them.
Four more books were discovered, and Olias was surprised to note that two of them belonged to the blacksmith, where he had lived.
When all the priority items were loaded, Par was about half full. Olias was really good at packing. He used blankets and heavy cloaks as packing material. He filled gaps with nice rugs. He managed eight more cots and mattresses for them and still had room. He added several plain chairs.
For Barcus, he added several cases of wine and hard spirits.
Right after that was when he found the goats and chickens. Luckily, he also found four chicken baskets that allowed him to take all eight chickens. He couldn't crate the goats, so he tied them and closed them into the back of Par as the ramp was raised. Then he entered via the small, round emergency belly hatch that opened directly under the feet of the driver.
He and Par updated the lists, and he realized he was tired. He would need to make at least one more trip here. He left two of the hay barn doors open. If there were more goats or chickens about, maybe they would come back and he could collect them next time.
During his search, Olias had found only two more bodies. He covered them with blankets and dragged them only as far as necessary for Par to pick them up for removal to the barn.
As they left Greenwarren just before dusk, Olias didn't know they were being observed, but Par did. Passive infrared scans, part of the standard security sweeps, had detected a single observer.
***
He watched from a window over the inn as Olias worked. BUGs were issued to follow him and monitor the observers activity early in the day.
After Par and Olias had moved out, the man came down from the attic rooms of the inn and loaded a pack up with six bottles of Kaleyard, a strong liquor made from apples. He was thin and looked old. His skin was like wrinkled leather, brown and worn from a life spent outdoors in the weather. He had a thinning goatsbeard that looked like it was crudely trimmed with a knife and not recently. But his back was straight and his steps were sure.
Chewing a piece of dried meat, he began to walk south, the opposite direction from Whitehall Abbey, just as it began to snow. He moved at an easy pace, and in less than an hour, he reached a decrepit barn where he retrieved a horse. Like him, the horse was old. He walked next to it, holding the reins. He walked four more hours before he mounted the horse. Two more hours after that, he cautiously entered the outskirts of the ruined village of Whitlock. There was smoke coming from one of the chimneys above the inn. He dismounted and walked his horse the last quarter mile. The smell of burning still permeated this place. More than half the village was gone, and other structures in the village were heavily damaged. He could also get a whiff of the dead bodies that were buried in the ashes of that barn.
He walked his horse around back to the stable yard. There were currently only two horses stabled in the huge stable. He unloaded his horse and carefully brushed her down as she munched oats from a feeder. He also moved the other horses to fresh stalls and fed them as well. After placing horse blankets on each, he picked up his pack and moved inside.
He entered the inn through the back entrance, in the dark. A dim glow was coming from the common room at the far end of the hall. It was still a few hours before dawn. He seemed to intentionally make noise closing the door and with his footsteps as he walked down the hall to the common room. There was a man standing before the fire with one hand on the mantle. There was a large mug in his other hand. They didn't acknowledge each other for several minutes as he unloaded his backpack onto the bar, lining the large bottles up. “I was worried,” the man by the fire said without turning or even looking up from the fire.
“I am sorry, my Lord. I ran into some...trouble.”
This got him to look up. “What sort of trouble?” His eyes darted to the bottles briefly.
He gestured absently to the village about them. “This sort.”
At those words, he uncorked one of the bottles he had brought back and poured a cup full for himself without checking to see if the cup was even clean. “It was still there.” He emptied the cup in one gulp. “I saw it carrying bodies through the village by their ankles.” He poured another drink and downed it.
“I have never seen you drink, Grady, until today. I thought I was your abject lesson and a constant reminder of the folly of drinking.” The man approached the bar and lifted the bottle, sniffed it and poured himself a generous helping.
“Ulric, I think it saw me or heard me or smelled me. It was a huge black beast, like an impossible spider. It had arms that hung from below. It was so black, it was like a hole in the fabric of the world. I think it saw me.” He grabbed the bottle from him and refilled his cup. His hand was shaking, only staring into it as he remained silent.
“Those marks on the ground are in fact footprints then?” Ulric asked.
“It's piling them all in a barn, soldiers and townsfolk. Like a nest. Like food for later after it ripens. And that's not all. It has something small with it.”
“What do you mean? Young?” Ulric asked.
“I didn't see it. I hid in the eaves when I heard it. It came right into the room where I was hiding. I almost pissed myself.” He took another sip.
“Greenwarren?” Ulric asked.
“Gone. No fire, but gone. Ulric, I told you once I'd follow you anywhere, and I still hold to that. I have wanted you to get out of your chair and into the world for more than a decade. But here? By the High Keeper’s beard, what are you thinking?” His panic was barely contained.
“I'll tell you if you promise not to leave.” Ulric was serious. He was looking Grady right in the eyes, less than sober.
“Do I need to promise again? I've already said. If it makes me dead, I've already had more years than most.” Grady promised.
“It's Cassandra.” Ulric paused as the statement settled in, “It's started, just as she said.”
He emptied the cup again.
“The sky fall we saw in early autumn?” Grady asked. Realization was setting in.
“Walk toward the fire and find death's wake. Follow the demon's path to the reluctant throne.” Ulric was quoting.
“You know where this leads if it's true?” Grady asked, knowing the answer.
“Yes.” They both emptied and refilled their cups.
They left for Greenwarren the next day at dawn.
The snow had started to fall again, heavy, straight down snow with massive flakes. But they were ready. They had expensive hooded fur cloaks. Their horses had cold weather coats and even spats on their legs to keep their legs warm and dry and free of ice. They were not in a rush.
They made Greenwarren by midafternoon.
They decided to spend the night at the inn. Damaged as it was, they could still be comfortable. They selected rooms and met in the inn’s common room. Grady already had a fire going and had a pot of stew started. “We will replenish our food stores here. Normally, we would have just purchased here, but they have all gone.”
Ulric was behind the bar placing several bottles on the bar. “Yes. Replenish. Very nice.”
He was studying a label of an old bottle when he said quietly, “I still want to see the bodies.” Grady's answer was very formal in a sad way, wishing he didn't have to see it again, but knowing Ulric had to.
Solstice 31: The Solstice 31 Saga, Books 1,2,3 Page 15