by C J Timms
They were back in the game.
Sterling charged back across the water and began leaping from platform to platform, hitting the smiley faces. He was fast. No alignment but damn he was good at using raw script. Alisdair, Evan and Brock had recovered and dived at Sterling. Pancakes popped up next to Gale and rebalanced his Deep energy. Gale breathed in deep.
Then he let loose.
Gale took out Alisdair and Evan with tendrils of water. Sterling went to aim for the goal. Shiv smashed into Sterling at full speed. The frisbee soared wide, and House Laurels retook the frisbee.
Titus gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Sterling and Gale desperately defended the goal, but he could see them fatiguing. Small mistakes were creeping through. The score was breaking away from them. Now a hundred to one.
He looked up to the Lighthouse with its missing beacon. To the place he’d called home for the last year. The place where Gale had betrayed their trust, where Gale had betrayed their duty and honour. Where Gale had betrayed him.
Shackleton sat silently beside him, his weight creaking the bench underneath him. The Bookwyrm had moved onto his shoulders. Bella was on the edge of her seat having joined them, a ticket stub in her hand.
The whirling designs of Canute on his skin were dull. Not a drop of light showed beneath them. Shouldn’t they be lit up? He was taking the manly path, the righteous path, the way of honour.
‘It's a manly last stand, and I’m not there to go down with them.’ Titus said.
‘But you could be.’ The Bookwyrm laid her hand on Titus’s bicep, on the dulled tattoos. The Bookwyrm peered at him through her thick glasses from atop his shoulders. ‘Does a man not forgive, does a man not aim to teach others a higher path, to show them the error of their ways.’
Gale was clobbered from two sides by Alisdair and Brock. Pancakes was smashed into the water by Evan. Shiv outpaced Sterling.
‘He broke rule number one B. How can I fight beside him if he doesn’t have my back? I should have known he was rotten from the moment he tricked me at the exam gates.’
The Bookwyrm shook her head. ‘Titus, you know I think you’re great…but you aren’t a bureaucrat. You don’t just follow stupid rules. You’re a doer. You’re a man who gets down in the mud and gets elbows deep sorting shit out. Rules are only useful if they are right. Your list of rules is more like…guidelines.
Stop ranting about your list of rules and go punch something in the face.
Go show them how to be a better man.’
Titus watched Gale block a shot then get hit in the side by another. Sterlo got smashed backwards by two others. They had no one to guard their backs.
The markings on his hand lit up with a white light.
‘Rule number one…rule number one…ah frak it.’
Titus lit up like a Christmas tree. He grabbed a package from beside him and exploded on to the field.
Gale ducked under the water again. A locomotive blast raced overhead pushing him further under. He surfaced, and Evan was there, blocking his path. Gale hauled left, and Shiv stopped him. Sterling was blasted past by a locomotive wave. Too many to fight.
A flannelette blur flew past him and coat-hangered Evan. Titus hauled on his windsurfer and kicked out at Shiv driving him away. Titus threw a package to Sterling. ‘Team uniform, get amongst it.’
Sterling ripped open the package and suited up in a flannie.
‘I’ll deal with these two knobheads. You get that frisbee.’ Titus yelled.
Gale raced past Sterling, grabbing him and slinging up onto a platform. Titus could take Evan and Shiv, that left Alisdair and Brock. Well and Adam, Gale thought. He glanced up to see Adam high above, scanning the field of battle. Was he searching for something?
Another microfracture cracked close to the surface and Gale grit his teeth. He dived, to try to drive Ash off. If he could drive her off, he had a chance at winning the match still.
Down he dived, gathering his Deep script to wash her away. Hadn’t she done enough damage? Church was still in a coma. This bitch had played with his heart all year.
Frak driving her off. He was going to string her up for what she’d done and win this reef-edged match.
Ash looked at him, mouthing words underwater, her brow furrowed. She was looking straight past him, looking at the reality fracture?
A dark blur grabbed her and ripped her away. Ash screamed, and bubbles exploded from her mouth. What was that? Was that a fathomless…here? It couldn’t have been? Why would a fathomless attack Ash. She was on their side, wasn’t she?
Behind him the microfracture collapsed, callous forming. He shook his head. Win the game. Then he could work this out.
Gale surfaced, the battle above was not going well.
Titus held Evan and Shiv in a chokehold. His biceps were straining as he felt them slowly wriggling free. Slippery buggers. Above him, Brock blasted Sterling off a platform. Brock nodded at Titus and leapt from the stage, diving towards him.
‘Come on…’ Titus cursed.
A blur of pink and yellow lycra collided with Brock, and crash tackled him into the water. Gale knew that lycra.
Gale knew that activewear.
Bursting from the water onto a floating platform, Swan looked up at the battle, holding a stolen Hydrokite.
“Alisdair!’ yelled Swan.
Alisdair went white as a sheet. Swan looked over at Gale. ‘Do you remember when you dislocated your shoulder.’
Gale nodded, rubbing his hands together.
‘I can only do this once.’ Swan said. Gale looked at the battlefield, they were down a hundred and twenty points. The only way to win was to score a goal in the red goal. It was finally four on four. Sterling and he were battered, but Swan and Titus were fresh. This was their chance.
‘Do it.’
Swan nodded and turned. She invoked the spell she’d left on the other teams Hydrokites.
The Hydrokites went crazy.
Swan focused, and the Hydrokites went wild, shooting wildly all over the battlefield. Evan and Shiv shot out of Titus’s choked hold. Swan let loose her stolen Hydrokite, and it slammed into Brock. Alisdair was flung inches past Adam who simply raised an eyebrow. Adam hadn’t used one of Swan’s Hydrokites, relying on his own abilities. Adam still waited atop the highest platform, scanning for something. He hadn’t done anything yet. Maybe he did think this was beneath him.
Sterling leapt from his platform above, darting towards the goal. The frisbee in his hands, he raced forwards. Sterling dived for the goal line, free of all interruptions.
A golden light surrounded Sterling and held him fixed, inches from the goal. Adam landed beside him and plucked the frisbee from his hands. Adam quirked his head.
‘Interesting….’ Adam muttered.
Then Adam flicked his hand and flung Sterling away into the harbour. Adam launched from the platform like a rocket.
‘Frak,’ Gale cursed. ‘Swan slow him, Pancakes shake hands.’ Gale yelled.
Swan raced to intercept Adam, her locomotive jump catching her up. Pancakes erupted from the harbour in a spiralling column. Adam blasted the wall of water aside.
And through it came Titus Mangrove. Canuteian marks flaring, Titus grappled Adam. They crashed into an external platform. The gold of Titus’s tattoos warred with Adam’s golden script. Titus strained as he pinned Adam, he only needed to hold him until one of the others could grab the frisbee.
‘Strong,’ Adam muttered. ‘But not strong enough.’
Gritting his teeth, Adam broke Titus’s grapple and flung him away into Swan. The two of them went skipping across the harbour like a thrown stone to collide with the coliseums wall.
Adam stepped outside the perimeter then narrowed his eyes at the sphere, and Gale. Adam sped towards Gale, an avenging angel bearing down on him with the frisbee.
‘Pancakes,’ Gale yelled, playing his final card, ‘Guard.’ A roaring funnel of water erupted beneath the goal. It rose into the air, split in half, t
hen half again and again until eight columns of water lashed out at Adam like a Kraken from the deep.
Adam drew his blade.
Golden light burned through the columns of water like they were nothing and smashed Gale backwards. Adam dropped the Frisbee through the tiny red target.
Sirens sounded signalling the victory for house Laurels.
Gale rolled over on the platform. All the air knocked from him. His diaphragm struggled, winded.
Alisdair flopped up onto the platform. Like a bedraggled mutt, Alisdair shook himself out. He pushed himself to his feet and stood over Gale’s collapsed form.
‘Stay down, trenchwalker. We win. Nobility always wins.’
Gale coughed up a lungful of water, then smiled, then he chuckled. A slow laugh rasped out of him in dribs and drabs. He coughed and wheezed and laughed like he’d heard the best joke in the world.
‘Stop it.’ Alisdair said.
Gale wheezed out another round.
‘STOP LAUGHING!’ Alisdair kicked Gale with his boot. Adam grabbed Alisdair’s arm, shaking his head.
Gale held his ribs but looked up at Alisdair with a grin. ‘We knew we’d never win the match. Were we betting it all going toe to toe with you lot? Nah…we’ve been training all year to put on an incredible, fantastic, distracting show.
We’d always planned for Yip to get locked up one way or another. The brig is underneath House Laurels.’
Swan is here. So where do you think Yip is? ‘
Alisdair looked side to side, scanning the crowd. A frown creased his brow.
‘Remember the terms of the agreement Alisdair. If we didn’t end up with the Cup by the end of the term then we would quit the school. I knew winning the match was a bloody long shot, so I made it a grand show. The clash of rivals, the final last stand, the underdogs against the favourites. Pretty good show too, nearly every damn member of your house turned up to watch. Nearly…every…member…of your house.
Where is Yip?
Where.
Is.
The.
Cup?’
Alisdair glanced down at Gale, to the sun now setting on the last day of term, to House Laurels packing out the stands.
‘Fraaaaaaak.’ Alisdair yelled. He waved at the rest of House Laurels and Adam stretched his wings out. They would be too late, Gale’s plan had come together perfectly.
An explosion came from Ionhome. A great red plume rose into the air from the inner city. Someone was attacking the city? Another explosion, a rending, this time from the Membranous Cathedral. Reality fractured over the city’s cathedral. In the fracture hung half a ghostly airship, broken and weathered. The crowd turned towards the city, panic swelling through them. An attack on Ionhome through the reefwall? Unthinkable.
A song swelled from the ocean. The song was mournful, longing, of lust and tragedy. A song of a hero’s fall.
Everyone turned to face the harbour. Gale heard it only faintly, but he knew it intimately, like a lover’s whisper in his ear.
‘You called my love, we came my love, now hear the siren’s speak. We’ll guide you through the jagged rocks, down to the Devil’s Reef.’
Yip - The assuault
‘It is only during times of great stress, when terrible strain is placed upon it, that you see the true value of investing in a quality nail over a cheap one.’
Spur’s primer for fracturesmith’s 2nd edition
Yip crept through House Laurels, he’d only needed to knock out two guards so far, and he’d planned for far more. It was disappointing when others didn't plan as well as him. It was like they had no heart for the game at all. Yip slid in through the window to the Trophy Room.
Two immediate thoughts struck him.
The first was that even with the frisbee match he’d encountered very little resistance.
The second was that he was not alone.
‘What the frack….?’
Joseph stepped through the rubble of the prison wall. Fire burned around him, like the familiar heat of the forge. He knocked out a straggling guard, and the rest of the Unbroken moved past him swiftly.
He found the cell without difficulty. Admetus raised his head to stare through the clearing debris. The copper locket clicked slowly in Admetus’s hands. Admetus remained focused on the pictures.
Click.
The silhouette
Click.
The young girl
Click.
Then he stood and stepped over the bodies of his former cellmates through the hole in the prison wall.
‘Well, it's about goddamn time. We’ve got us a ship to catch.’
In a bed in the Iron Church, a pale figure woke. Red eyes snapped open, and blood-red curse marks flowing across their body. With ragdoll like movements, they lurched forwards. Liam came to the door, carrying a tray of food.
‘Ironchurch, you’re up.’ Liam said. Then he drew his blade. ‘Your eyes...’
Ironchurch howled, and rushed forward, biting for Liam’s throat.
Grace - The order
The tension was thick on the Oceanus’s command bridge. The communications officer sweated bullets, receiving a message from Charlemagne himself. Grace had heard a rumor that Charlemagne had executed someone over the phone once, for disrespect. Grace didn’t believe it, of course. She still didn’t want to be the one taking that call.
‘Yes sir I understand, a prison break. You need to know if the Titan’s are operational and ready to mobilise?’ He repeated.
The skeleton crew held its collective breath. It was well ahead of schedule, and the test runs hadn’t even been done yet. The safe, logical course was to wait and to leave the Oceanus in dock.
Tangerinous stared ahead, knuckles tightening over the command console. She stared out at the ship that had cracked into being over the Membranous Cathedral. A ship that Grace knew well. Everyone in Volkstorm knew the Arghost.
Grace was close enough to hear Tangerinous whisper under her breath. ‘This time I will answer.’ A light flickered in her eyes and a mad grin lit Tangerinous’s face.
‘Tell them we’re ready. The Titans rise now.’
Tangerinous opened a line to the skeleton crew’s manning the nine Titans. She held a microphone to her mouth, leaned back in her chair and put her feet on the desk.
‘Titan Fleet, this is Admiral Tangerinous. Gristlelock Prison has been attacked. Mobilise and support the cleanup and capture of the inmates. I am authorising immediate activation of all ships from dry dock.’
Tangerinous hung up the microphone and looked at the few crew gathered for maintenance. Most of the unit was off shift.
‘I need another officer of high enough rank to use their Script to activate the engine, does anyone here rank above sergeant.’
With a squeak of her chair, a prim faced officer named Deb stood. Deb held her nose just slightly higher than needed, her uniform so crisp it could cut, her back rigidly straight. ‘I do, but my shift ends in twenty. Are you paying overtime?’
‘Damnit Deb there are people’s lives at stake, your bureaucracy is going to get people killed.’
‘My bureaucracy saves lives. We have checklists and protocols for a reason.’ She held out a ream of paper. ‘Have you even done the start-up checklist?’
‘We need to do this now.’ Tangerinous shot back. ‘The city is burning, so get your ass over here, that's an order. I will ruin you Deb.’
Jacqui Tangerinous could have been on shift with any number of different officers that day. She could have been on shift with ambitious officers looking to make their careers, flunkies eager to please or even absolute cowboys looking for adventure. Instead, she was on shift with Deb, a unique human being. Deb had many buttons that could be pressed. People cutting in line in front of her infuriated Deb, for example. People who signed the terms and conditions without reading them were even worse. Finally, there was a special place in the lowest layer of the Trench for those who didn’t use hand sanitiser after sneezing. Yes, Deb had many butt
ons that could be pressed, but they all involved one theme.
People not following the rules.
‘That's it, I’m on tea break,’ Deb threw her hands up in the air and stormed off.
Tangerinous went red in the face and yelled at her to come back. When no one emerged from the tea room, Tangerinous instead turned to Grace.
‘Grace, go down to the engine and activate the manual override. If you can get it working, I’ll make you a lieutenant.’
Grace descended into the bowels of the ship, her stomach roiling, feeling like she was about to vomit. It must just be her nerves, getting ready for battle. Grace moved through the engine room to the core of the ship, a massive orb filled with Salt and reactant. She found the switch for manual override. Grace rested her hand on it. She stared at the Salt, and something caught her eye. Something felt wrong, scratching away at the back of her head. She shrugged it off. She had orders and a career to make. She felt something scratching at the back of her mind again, no, wait, that was Jason scratching the back of her scalp.
Jason squalled on her back, probably hungry or pooping. Or both. Grace halted, took her hand off the manual switch and laid Jason on the table, better to change him now before the battle started.
She changed Jason’s diaper and fed him. Then she popped him back in the bubble and readied herself. She stepped back up to the sphere and the manual override switch. She tensed herself, went to pull it down.
Then stopped.
She looked back at the Salt, the fuel primed to start in the sphere. Something was cut through it. Most people wouldn’t notice, but the colouring was the wrong shade. She recognised that shade, she remembered it from Volkstorm. During the attack thirty years ago, Volkstorm had been left with many remnants of the Deep. There was none so destructive as this powder. This substance which still lined many beaches on the island. A substance which blew apart anyone foolish enough to wander the uncleared zones.
‘Reefstone.’ Grace said. She sprinted back up the stairs towards the control room. If there was Reefstone on this vessel, it would be in every Titan. They were all about to activate simultaneously.