Song of Sundering

by A. R. Clinton

  The Xenai in the center began to chant while raising his staff and slamming it back into the ground. He repeated this several times. A spray of blood shot straight into the air from one pile of bodies. Each pile spurted blood until they all exploded in perfect circular patterns, spraying the blood straight up. As the blood fell back to the ground, smoke rose where the bodies had been. The ground was now empty except for the circular markings made of blood that looked similar to the patterns on the stones the other Xenai had brought.

  The center Xenai began another ground-thumping chant. The other four Xenai around him pulled the daggers on their hips out of their sheaths, cutting across their hands. In time with the staff being raised, the four Xenai thrust their hands into the air. As the staff slammed into the ground, each Xenai slammed their bloody hands into the stones at their feet.

  The center Xenai raised their staves again. A fresh howl burst from the Xenai army. Whatever this was, it seems like they’d completed it.

  The swarm charged toward the army of the Pact once again.

  The swarm of Xenai moved as a single, unpredictable organism. As the army of the Pact held their ground in almost straight lines, the body of the Xenai army burst forward in a series of loops. Each section of the Xenai ran forward in attack before looping back around to join the main body. The sections of the front line that they hit had no time to recover from the constant stream of Xenai attacks. There was nothing that Hafi could do as he watched the front lines crumple inward under the force of the assault.

  Hafi yelled his next order to the child next to him, “Tell the casters to fully engage. No hold–”

  He felt a hand on his shoulder. It’s squeezed him roughly and jerked him. He turned and found Shara standing next to him. She pointed out to the front lines.

  “Wait,” he told the runner.

  The attacks on the front lines stopped. The Xenai had pulled back into a solid mass, except for the carefully maintained circles around the robed Xenai. Hafi looked through the binoculars again as the grey smoke broke apart on each side of the battlefield until the horde left an open pathway extending from the original circles to two smaller circles. Inside the smaller circle, on both sides, was a single Xenai.

  The robed Xenai lifted their staves. Hafi heard shouts across the battlefield, then saw arcing streams of blood rising from all the dead, Pact and Xenai alike. The blood lines gathered to two points above the lone Xenai soldiers. At this point, the blood created a pool, floating in the air.

  “Full charge–Full charge from the casters. We need to stop that! Go!” Hafi gave the runner a push without waiting for him to repeat the command.

  Shara spoke up, “Hafi, I can—”

  “Nope, I’m not sending you into whatever the fuck that is to get you killed.”

  Tendrils of blood formed in center of the pool, twisting around themselves and extending down toward the Xenai. It reached its arm up, and the blood wrapped around its arm like tentacles that worked their way down its body like inchworms. The pool above it shrank in size as the blood crawled across the Xenai’s body. Soon the Xenai beneath was not visible under the writhing dark red mess, and the robed Xenai casters slammed their staves down.

  The Pact Source casters had gotten close enough to cast at the two Xenai soldiers. Round after round of lightning, ice and stone hit the throbbing red silhouettes. It didn’t have any visible effect. The crimson fluid rippled where the impacts hit and then reshaped itself. The waves of attacks from the casters stopped and an incredible stillness fell over both sides of the battlefield. The fluid around the Xenai bulged out and took shape, darkening. It took several seconds too long for Hafi’s mind to comprehend what was happening: it was melding into the Xenai beneath it. As the blood solidified, it looked just like the Xenai that had stood there, but over twice the height and with more bulk. The form finished coming into being, and the familiar shroud of smoke popped into existence around it as both monstrosities on the field spread their arms and roared.

  Both of the giant Xenai ran toward the front lines, the Xenai army following them. The beasts hit the front and men went flying in all directions as they cleared paths, swinging their arms back and forth.

  “What the unholy fuck is that?” Hafi said. He turned and yelled at all the runners, “Call for a retreat!”

  Shara didn’t wait for the command, she knew that was her only real job. She ran down the first hill with the runners. They continued into the battle below while she stopped on the empty Source-caster overlook to prepare to protect the men during the retreat.

  Hafi noticed the distinctive V pattern being made by the two giant Xenai through the Pact army. They were cutting through the men and heading straight towards the Source-caster perch where Shara stood. He waved at her guard and made his way down the hill with them to stand next to her. Maybe it was time to give up more ground and head for the passes; another battle like this one would destroy them.

  36

  Ayna

  The place Dom had requested to meet at was a hybrid: it sat over an entrance to the Underground and the Underground spilled into the Topside through it. The glass panel doors were propped open, welcoming Ayna inside. They spoke to a luxury known only to some Topsiders. The thick, smoky air and loud music that floated out from the doors betrayed that sense of luxury. She regretted agreeing to meet in such a place. Pulling the scratchy black wool cloak closer around her face, she walked through the entryway.

  “Welcome to The Den. How can—”

  “I’m just meeting someone.” Ayna said with enough force to discourage further interaction. Looking for Dom was the perfect excuse to keep her face turned away from the woman. She saw a slender, robed figure in the corner booth, the purple fabric and lush embroidery standing out even in the shadows. “I see her.”

  Of course she didn’t wear something discreet.

  Ayna stalked toward the corner, dodging people as needed. Even with her face hidden, her demeanor was enough for most people to move from her path.

  Dom was smirking at Ayna before Ayna made it to the table to sit across from her.

  Ayna didn’t return the smile, “I take it you have information?”

  Dom chuckled, “Upset about having to leave your castle?”

  “No, I’m more concerned with your choice of where to meet and apparent lack of concern about being recognized. “

  “If I had disguised myself—and someone recognized you—it’d be an obvious clandestine meeting. Chances are pretty slim anyone will recognize me, but the curiosity of a Guilded Illara Source caster sitting in The Den will keep eyes off of you in your sad little disguise.”

  “Fine. What do you have?”

  Dom shook her head, “Wait.”

  Ayna nearly tore into the girl when a server appeared from behind her.

  “Can I get any drinks?”

  Ayna turned her face away, “No.”

  Dom glared at her before turning to the server, “Two slammers.”

  The server walked away.

  “Get on with it, Dom.”

  “You’re terrible at this. Who comes to a bar to not drink and stare at the walls?”

  Ayna felt the impatience evolving into anger, “Yes, I hire spies for a reason, so fucking get on with it. “

  Dom smirked, “Very well. Conlan’s questionable focus of study on the Mystics doesn’t make him as much of an outlier to the Artificers as we previously thought. He is heading up their Blight crystal project, and has agreed to take on the Mars project, because of those beliefs.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure why I care about some crazy old god superstition as his motivation.”

  “It’s not just his motivation, Ayna. The Artificer Guild has been keeping some secrets from you in order to get their reinstatement as a guild in Upper Prin. Traditionally, the Guild before the Sundering, always had nine Vice Artificers. One for each Mystic, even though they had long ago stopped worshipping them. Now, they only have eight.”

  “No one worshi
ps the Mystics anymore, so no, I don’t think its odd.”

  “Traditions don’t just disappear because the origins aren’t strictly adhered to. They do have nine Vice Artificers. Conlan is the ninth. They’ve kept him a secret from you because of his area of study, his beliefs and his research. He thinks the Blight crystal, the Xenai crystal, and this new one from Mars, are the elements of the Mystics.”

  Ayna shook her head, “No way that they are letting him lead this and going along with it.”

  “They are because they agree with him, Ayna. Nine Artificers for the Nine Mystics, each Mystic with their own element. They kept him hidden because they knew you never would have reinstated them as an official crafters guild if you knew. They think we will find six more and figuring out the secrets of them will help us figure out what caused the Sundering.”

  Ayna balked at the idea of all the Artificers she knew so well, believing in some insane theory of the world and mystical god-like beings that controlled the worlds. “What does figuring out the Sundering matter to them?”

  “The Sundering changed the known worlds completely. Harnessing the power that caused that? How could that not matter?”

  Ayna looked over at Dom, taking in the way she leaned into her words. There was a touch of fervor to them. Worry clawed at Ayna’s mind. She shook her head, “So, as a Vice Artificer, Conlan has all the connections he needs to get to Bobi and get the data. Have you been able to get close to him?”

  “He requested me for the project. He also wants to meet with you to get information that wasn’t in the report.”

  “So, you did not try to hide our connection? You’re as bad at this as I am.”

  “Why would I hide something they’d probably find out about, anyway? I sold them on it so that they’d accept me, instead. It worked.”

  And what did they sell you? Ayna hated the idea of sitting in a room with this Conlan. She hated the idea of working with him, but the Artificers were the only ones capable of merging source and tech. Goddamn it, Kingston was right about them. I never should have gotten them involved.

  “Alright, but there is no reason to wait on setting up another meet. I’ll set up a partition with all the communication logs on it and give you access tonight. We need to move quickly.”

  Dom nodded and flashed a brilliant smile to Ayna’s right. The server reappeared, dropping off drinks in front of them. As she moved away, Dom downed the drink in front of her. “I am sure there won’t be any problem with that.” She grabbed her empty glass and reached across the table, placing the glass down and taking the drink in front of Ayna.

  Ayna raised an eyebrow.

  “What? Did you think I ordered a drink for you?” Dom downed the second drink.

  Ayna laughed, “Well, now, I wish you had.”

  “Too bad. Next time. Perhaps we can meet up in my favorite proper Underground bar. You’d love it.”

  Ayna groaned, “If you try that, you’ll find yourself drinking alone. Somehow, I don’t think that you’ll mind.”

  “Then I’d just have to send you updates on the Sat and who knows who might hack it?”

  “If you keep doing such a horrible job, you won’t have any updates to send me, anyway.” Or, you’ll choose not to. She stood, pulling at her hood, even though it was still as far down as it would go. “Check for the new partition access in two hours.”

  Dom nodded as she raised her hand and waved at the server.

  37

  Shara

  Ten days of retreating from the Xenai, evading and hiding in the mountains until they got to a good bottleneck point, and it had ended with a bloodbath for the Pact when the Xenai caught up to them. Shara felt her nails pressing into her skin. She was clenching her fists so fiercely as she stalked towards the command tent, seeing only her memory of the field of dead soldiers in her mind.

  She had begged her mother to let her help, to let her fight. Her mother had been firm every time she rejected the plea. The compromise made with Hafi when she had not been around to argue how useless it would make her, was that she could fight, but had to have a protective detail on her at all times, and was to use her magic far from the action. She had acquiesced to the compromise to get here, thinking Hafi would use her better than this. Now, three battles in, she had watched the girls and boys dying on fields below her, and she regretted not fighting the solution her mother had come up with. She regretted everything. She could do so much more up close. Her mother had never seen her fight with source—hell, she had never seen anyone fight with source. She lived in her little tower of a States House and read reports.

  Does she think I can kill things a mile away that I can barely see? Hafi fucking knew better.

  Her protective detail had gotten the order to protect the retreat for the wounded and the command, and anyone else that managed to get out with them. She did not know how many of the hundreds of men in the pass below would make it behind her. Shara had waited as long as she could, then started her purposeful stalk ahead to the base camp, a few miles behind her perch. The walk was quiet, even though she was surrounded by men. It gave her time to think over what she would say. Finally, the camp came in to view.

  She moved through the crowds of wounded men and frantic medics. She passed the small groups of unwounded that had arrived before her. They huddled together quietly. Some drank coffee or something to keep themselves awake. Shadow’s brewer boy had finished putting together a still after the first battle, so most of the men were drowning themselves in liquor and smoke, begging the universe to have a night of oblivion before being sent straight into battle the next morning.

  A few of the men caught her eye as she was passing. She knew the looks. Disappointment. Fear. The power she had to inspire was gone. It had deflated out of her and out of them with each hard battle that ended in defeat. She wanted to hide from them — all the men who were waiting for her to let them down, like she had hundreds already. She had let more men die than were left in the army.

  She reached the wide, tall tent that held the war table. Hafi and the commanders would all be grouped around it, plotting the next move. She could still feel stares from the men who had noticed her passing. She lifted her head, cocking it to the side slightly as she reached for the tent flap. A hand reached out and grabbed hers to stop her from entering. She looked at the man to her right. She knew those bright blue eyes framed by dark hair. Another bird under the General’s wing. James was on camp watch, specifically guarding the command tent.

  Shara felt a flash of anger and whipped her arm away from his grip, staring hard into his eyes. She let her gaze drop over his lean frame. She could see how easy it would be to break him if she wanted to. He knew. She saw a wave of anger take over his stance. His grip on her arm tightened slightly. He shifted back onto his rear leg. Then, as quickly as he had prepared for a fight, she saw him let it go. He waved to allow her passage.

  “We’re all angry, Shara... and scared,” he whispered.

  She threw open the tent flap, head up and cocked, and walked through as if she had spent every night there. This was her tent now.

  The men leaned on the table, arguing in frustrated voices as they gestured at different areas on the map that covered it. One by one, each realized someone was there, and pulled themselves up to full height to look at her. Hafi noticed last. When he saw her, his face betrayed that he recognized her purpose. He had trained her, after all, and Shara had come in here to fight.

  He did not say a word of greeting. “What do you need, Shara?”

  The undertone was clear. He was trying to put her off balance with the implication that she would only come to him if she needed something from him. She was his pupil.

  Shara didn’t hesitate. “I need you to stop letting your men die when they don’t have to.”

  She covered the distance from the mouth of the tent to the table in quick steps. She took in the map as she moved toward it. The next pass they had to defend, the pass just ahead of base camp. By morning they wou
ld break the base down and transfer it farther back toward Prin. The battle would start almost where they stood now.

  She grabbed the gray X markers used to signify squads of Xenai soldiers and funneled them all into the camp, pushing aside the blue markers for the Pact Army and haphazardly creating a reinforced line of the Pact soldiers that led back to the site of the new base camp. She left the markers for the hilltop source users on the Xenai side, where they had been placed. They were likely places. Much closer to the battle than they ever placed Shara.

  She took a single blue marker and placed it on the hilltop, directly above the first of the Pact Army line she had created. She was the blue marker.

  “You put me here. Let the Xenai come to us, reinforced here.” She moved a few extra blue markers off to the far side, off the path. “Hybrid squads hit the Xenai source users, starting at the front and moving back as they go. Always out of sight, hidden from detection by our own source. Once the first two Xenai source positions are compromised, there is nothing they can do to protect their ground troops from me as they attack our bottleneck here.”

  Hafi was shaking his head already, but she could see the layers of conflicting thoughts inside the movement. He stared at the table and would not meet her gaze because he knew she was right. It would work. It might not be enough to push the Xenai back, but they might be able to hold their ground. They could protect Prin. The promise Hafi had made to her mother was the barrier. It lay atop his face, like a thin film, tainting the logic behind her plan with emotion.

  Shara wanted to reach out and touch his hand. Using gentleness to get her way was a trick she learned from her mother. She tried not to employ it on Hafi. She hated it when her mother used it on her.