12 Miles Below

Book 4. Chapter 16: Returning home

If Wrath needed to speak to the goddess, she’d need to get to the surface. And what a coincidence, we happened to know a lot about that place.

Funny how that works.

"The lass is more than welcome among the clan." Lord Atius said, "After all, another set of keen swords would do the raiders some good. The bastards will be in for a nasty surprise."

"Heard about that buissness up there." Tamery said, sitting idly on Yrob's back spine, as if it were a discount throne. "But your clan's supposed to be a big one, lots of gear, right?"

Atius gave a slight nod. "I'm confident the people I've left behind can tackle the threat, if it arrives earlier than expected. When balanced against history, it's more important that I train Keith. And the lad won't leave here without the Feather. If To'Wrathh wants to travel to the surface now, I'm certainly not one to pass up a chance to return earlier." His eyes turned my direction. "We can always continue this training among the white wastes and mountains, little warlock."

Training the occult out in the freeze. Few months ago that would have sounded like hell, and constant gear checks to make sure the cold wasn't sneaking a knife in somewhere. "Suppose there's no helping it. Too bad, it's very comfortable down here."

Tamery looked at me like I'd pulled out fish from my pocket. "Comfortable? Out in the middle of nowhere in the wilds living like hermits?"

I raised a finger in protest. "Out in an exotic underground forest, hiding inside a massive pillar with free range on hunting meat. And free to take off our helmets whenever we want with warm air everywhere. Only thing missing down here is a full bath and you might need to bring a crowbar to pry me out of here."

The Deathless leveled his gaze, eyebrow raised.

"But.." I hastily continued, "Training's training. Home still has its charms. Safest place from machines I can think of. We could even include Wrath in the training, she's just as new to all this as I am." The girl looked and acted about the same as anyone else I'd met mentally, though physically she's only a few months old, plus however many years she's lived as a spider. Not sure those years count for much, not a lot of character growth happening there.

Also, thoughts of introducing her to my friends and home… that also seemed a lot of fun. A good way to wind down from this scrapshit. I think she'd get along with people up there.

"You surface dwellers have the strangest outlook on life," Tamery huffed, "Don't know if I should praise it or be worried about where I'll end up at. Never been to the surface yet. Make me worried I'll freeze just by looking out a window."

"You plan to follow the Feather to the surface?" Atius asked.

"Yep. You gonna stop me?" The girl shot back, arms crossed. "She'll probably eat someone's tools if I'm not there to slap it out of her hands. I'm doing you all a favor."

"She's not that bad..." I said. And then reconsidered. There might be a way to bait Wrath into eating a wrench, would be a tough sell though. She'd know general tools already, so pointing to a screwdriver and saying it's a delicacy won't work. But surface culture as a whole was a black box to her, besides whatever Father's shown her. And there are thousands of smaller traditions and superstitions, making up some Reacher scrapshit would be trivial.

Tamery stood slightly, pointing a finger at me, eyes narrowing. "See, right there! That's the look there of someone plotting something. You're a bad influence on the lady, and I'm going to stop whatever nefarious schemes you're up to. I can't follow you down the strata, but the surface safe enough. To'Wrathh needs a voice of reason."

I shrugged. "I'm always up for a challenge."

Our group was off on a standard jog through the meadows, streams and shrubbery in the jungle here. Tamery kept a good hold on Yrob’s chassis, letting the metal monster be her ride while she chatted about the current gossip in the city. We’d be back home in about two to three hours at this rate. Easy and simple.

Too simple given my luck, of course.

What I had thought was a group of four turned out to be a group of five, except our fifth was a little more subtle. Or had been up until they’d overheard our talks and wanted to join in.

“Comms request, encrypted.” Cathida hummed as our group jogged on, the HUD icon vibrating on the top left. The call had come as a complete surprise to me, given there was a distance issue out here. “Make some friends while I wasn’t looking deary? Color me curious.”

“Not that I can think of. Maybe an Undersider team is in the area, or other surface knights are trailing behind Yrob?”

“No IFF tags or any ID attached to the meta-data of the call.” Cathida said.

“Seriously? We’re getting hailed miles away from everything by a spam caller?” A part of me wished it was just a spam caller trying to fleece me of all people for something. The part of my head cursed with a brain knew it wouldn’t be that innocent.

Cathida gave her typical verbal shrug, “Given how gullible you are, maybe someone really is trying to sell you a pyrite ticket and this is their chance. They certainly came a long way to find you, not even the goddess would know where the hell we are.”

I watched the ringing icon on the HUD continue without stopping. Whoever wanted to talk to me wasn’t taking no for an answer. And clearly it was a call only for me given the rest of the group here didn’t make any comment or notice. Tamery was still chatting away with Lord Atius, asking him questions about the clans and surface culture, and otherwise seemed carefree about the whole thing.

Yrob kept on running without pause, the robotic gait calculated and flawless.

“... You can’t be compromised from a simple call right?” I asked.

Cathida scoffed. “There’s easier ways to pry into Journey than a comms call you have an option to deny - or even know about in the first place. The administrator keys are what truly protects the system. And it’s not currently overriding anything right now, no need to fidget deary.”josei

“All right. Only one way to figure out who’s the caller. Accept call.”

Static came and stayed for a good ten seconds, without a single voice or message.

“Who’s this?” I asked, wondering if maybe it was a glitch or rogue signal that Journey caught by accident.

The static faded, and a voice overtook it. A very familiar one. “Recover the mite lantern.” It said, robotic and monotone. “When you return to surface.”

“Ah, well, well well. Was wondering when you’d show your mug again.” The same voice from that mysterious comm that was left in my workshop. “Not a lot of comms units to flinch out here I take it? Shame that you had to contact me directly.”

“Discussion irrelevant.” The voice said, now annoyed. “Line is secure. Recover the mite lantern. Do not forget it.”

A quick text message scrolled over the HUD in gold. Cathida’s remarks, making it clear she just tried to figure out where the comms signal was coming from. The answer was bouncing around every few seconds. No surprise there.

“What are you talking about? Mite lantern?” I asked, genuinely confused now.

“You know. No games, human.”

“I’m not being coy about this, I have no idea what kind of lantern you think I have. We use flashlights these days like civilized people.”

“You hid lantern. Under human made caverns. You bundle lantern with metal book. I know.”

Metal book? There’s only one metal plated book I know of. Talen’s occult for dummies training manual. So by process of elimination… the mite lantern must be Tsuya’s mite seeker. Why call it a lantern? “You’ll have to try again, doesn’t ring any bell to me.” I lied, trying to get more out of him.

“In cold sections. Traps everywhere. You made those. Must remember that.”

“You’ll need to be more specific, I set enough traps I forget where I put those things. Sometimes I even sleepwalk putting down traps, swear by the gods. Got a thing about not letting other people swipe my scrapshit.” I said, hotly.

“Enough games, human. I know. I saw. Your traps, evil. Go get lantern yourself. I not take the chance.”

“And what if I say no?” I shot back. “What if the lantern’s exactly where I want it to be right now and I don’t want to move it?”

There was silence and static on the other end. “No not an option.” The voice finally spoke.

It sounded hesitant about that, so of course I pounced on that. “Well, no’s on the table now. So how about you start telling me who you are, and what you’re after, and only then I’ll consider playing a round of hangarball with you.”

There was a hiss, before the voice gave in. “Ask. In exchange, you get lantern. Bring with you.”

“What are you? A machine? You’re clearly not aligned with Relinquished given what you know about the surface.”

“Yes. Not aligned. Pale lady does not like my kind.” The voice said. “I do not serve her. Used to. Once. Long ago. Few of us left.”

Few of them left? “You’re a protofeather?”

There was a dark chuckle on the other side. “No. Not powerful at all. Was old soldier. Centuries on centuries ago. Hiding is only strength needed.”

Makes sense. If this really was a protofeather, I don’t think a few home-brewed traps defending my stash would have been much of a problem to deal with. “Who do you serve then?”

“No more answers. You agree to recover mite lantern. No more talk. Yes. No. Nothing else.” It snapped out.

Cathida cackled. “I get it. The walking stealth kernal wants you to pick up my box so it can steal it from you easier. Your traps are quite unholy, from what I remember.”

Fair point to ask. It was pretty good at swiping things, like comms units.

“I have lantern already. My own. No need yours.” It said. “Besides. I not take chance with traps. You more dangerous than traps. I not take chance with you even less.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to swipe my loot from me while I’m looking the other way.” I shot back.

It hissed again. “Lantern not mine to use. Mites. You want answers. Take lantern. No more argument.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll grab that black box once I’m back up topside and bring it with me back down.” I was already planning on doing that besides. Completing Cathida’s original objective felt like a personal goal to the old ghost, even if I questioned my resolve each time the old bat opened her trap up. I’d just need to make sure the box is chained up to my belt, make sure it isn’t loose. “Now, who do you work for?”

“Serve Sanctuary. Then myself. Then mites, in this order.”

“Who, or what, is Sanctuary?” It had mentioned that name before once. Saying that if I brought machines to the surface I would be building another sanctuary. It could mean exactly what it said on the box - a place of safety. Or it could be the name of someone, or a culture even.

“Not a question I will answer.” The voice said, making it clear that it was a hill to die on. “Ask another.”

“... I’ll let you off on that one, for now. Are you by chance related to a hoversled with writings on it?”

“Yes.” The voice said, confirming my most leading idea on who the devil was behind the curtain. Technically speaking, he’d done us a solid, but here I was holding his neck down and trying to get more out of him. In my defense, Winterscars are going to Winterscar, which is a flimsy defense but I’m more than okay with flimsy.

“What are you doing here, watching over me like this?” I asked. “You’ve got to be nearby. I know you’ve got some way to hide well, and you need to be close enough to contact the local comms. Plus the timing of your call is extremely suspicious, to put it lightly. Right when you know we’re heading to the surface next. How long have you been watching Lord Atius and I?”

The voice hissed again, but answered nonetheless. “Mites commanded I bring lantern to you. Traps made near lantern too dangerous. I come to you next. Wait for right time. Right time now.”

“So if you can’t drag that box to me, you’ll drag me to that box?”

“Yes.” The voice said, and then stayed silent.

“That’s all the mites wanted out of you? Really?”

“No. Need to guide Wrath. And you.”

“A guide? For what?”

“Do not know. Tsuya will elaborate. Mite command is vague.”

All right, so whoever this was, he wasn’t some kind of mastermind moving things in the background at least. “What did the mites tell you, exactly?”

“They spoke: ‘Thou shalt guide a betrayer to trap a goddess.’” The voice said. “I do not know how. Only that I am to assist. Tsuya will make things clear.”

I knew Wrath was working with the mites, she owed them a favor for learning how to heal people. And they clearly guessed she’d eventually have to come talk to Tsuya up on the surface. And now they’d also gotten a guide of some kind except they didn’t fill him in on what he was guiding us to.

Mites were weird little critters all right. There was a clear plan they had in mind, but all I could see were the pieces of it.

“Did you save us with the hoversled by luck or by order?”

“I watched from away. It did not seem like you would make it. I gave push. Now, you give push. Claim mite lantern. Have Feather speak to Tsuya, rekindle the old pact. Uphold old vows.”

“What happens when she does?”

“I do not know. Mites want me to guide you and her down. To where? We find out. Soon.”

Yrob paused in his run, violet eyes flashing. “Alert from the lady.” He rumbled to the side, with a tilt of… worry? Think I’ve seen it all now, a Screamer actually worrying about something. “To’Wrathh in danger.”

The comms call cut out a moment later, clearly not wanting to be part of this.

“What, did her silver majesty pound rocks or something?” Cathida grumbled out on speakers. “She’s a big girl, she can handle it. Or if she can’t, no great loss.”

“No return response.” Yrob said, skull head twisting back straight forward while his gait switched from a casual trot to a full blown sprint. Tamery, ever the smart ass, figured it was a good time to shut up and hold tight or else.

“Last message, direct S.O.S. For body retrieval. Lady To’Wrathh offline.” Yrob said while Atius and I matched the sprint without difficulty. Relic armor couldn’t outrun Drakes, but Screamers were within the odds.

“What do you mean offline?” I shouted over the sprint.

“No return response.” Yrob said again, as if that explained everything. “Signal offline. Shell too damaged to continue operation. Needs to be retrieved.”

Lord Atius followed behind, closing ranks on our little group, eyes flashing left and right as he sprinted, a hand glued on the hilt of his sword the entire time. Good idea that, if there was something out there that had iced Wrath, fifty fifty odds we’re about to run into situations that involve a lot of screaming, probably not the good kind, and the usual suspects that come paired with that.

Unexpectedly, I didn’t feel any sort of panic. Instead, I felt more… relief. As if I’d been waiting for this avalanche to trigger this whole time, and now I didn’t need to worry about what could be looming over my head like an anvil anymore. Danger was finally about to take its actual shape and whatever it’ll end up as can’t possibly be worse than the superimposed black probability void of every possible thing that could go wrong.

Wait a moment.

Come to think of it, feeling relieved that scrapshit was finally going to stop kicking the snow and actually commit was… probably not a mentally well adjusted response, if I’m being honest.

Maybe my sister was right. I might need to go to therapy at some point.

Or, and hear me out on this, or I could just swing a sword and break a few things until I feel better. It’s tough times and therapy’s expensive.

“Did the rest of Wrath’s army get the same alert?” Atius asked as our group cleared past the last meadow and dove into the foliage wall. A few more minutes of fighting against the trees and we’d be reaching the wall end of this pillar, where the bleak outside would open up.

“No. Only Yrob get message.” The machine said, crashing through the branches with little care. Tamery hunkered further down, giving a few choice curses, trying to find a spot that wouldn’t end up with her getting whipped off her ride.

“Why would Wrath send a distress signal only to Yrob and not her city?” Lord Atius muttered, contemplating. “What’s the coordinates of the signal?”

Yrob shared those, the maps showing up in two dimensions on our HUDs. The same location that To’Aacar had fought and died by.

“Makes little sense.” Atius muttered. “The army stationed in her city is far closer than we are. Even at a full sprint it would take us an hour to make it.”

“Context missing. Signal damaged. Lady may have battled sensitive target.” Yrob said, taking a particularly large leap off a boulder that saw him soar over a few dozen feet. Tamery screamed a little louder than anyone had any business being able to do, but fortunately I had a helmet. That way I could record all this and laugh at her later, assuming we all came out of it alive.

She tried to bark out a few choice words that I think might have meant ‘slow down’ or ‘stop you stupid scrap for brains moron’ but the constant buckling of her ride racing forward on all four’s made it hard for her to get anything in besides an impression of a screeching banshee. Guess what’s bothering her will remain a mystery to us all.

“She didn’t just walk around and accidentally have a rock squash her again. If her shell was destroyed, she must have fought against something and lost.” I said. Or she finally got eyes bigger than her stomach and ate something she really shouldn’t have, like picking the wrong fight.

“Another Feather.” Atius said, thinking the same as I did. “I’ve seen the combat footage between Wrath and your sister. The list of enemies that could take on Wrath is small. And we know the machines were going to discover Wrath’s betrayal sooner or later. Lad, I think we might have reached sooner.”

“So why hasn’t she mobilized the city with her distress call?” I asked. “Only reason I can think of is if she doesn’t want her army to know she’s been ice’d.”

“That points to a covert operation instead of a full scale one.” Atius said. “Wrath is out of commission, yet the city’s cover must still be intact somehow. Or she’s sent other messages to General Zaang and the rest of the city with different orders, leaving her recover to us. What if it’s not a Feather at all? What if it’s far more mundane than we think?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to think of anything else that could kill Wrath. “She didn’t just fall off a cliff, I’m willing to put down money that won’t work on her.”

Atius shook his head, “I’m not in the market to buy a box of snow, lad.”

“Shame.” I tutted, letting my mouth start running off as the nervous anxiety inside grew.. “Still a chance a cliff might have done her in, you never know.”

“What if it’s Deathless behind it all?” Atius said, going back to his point. “A group of Deathless likely heard of the machine invasion and arrived here to help liberate the city. Working together, they could take on a fully realized Feather. Against a newly made Feather who hasn’t yet locked down her kit, she’d put down a challenge, only not an invincible one.”

We cleared the forest and raced straight for one of the many cracks on the pillar wall here, outside was nothing but gray rock and cloudy storms above. Most people wouldn’t be too happy to go from a place full of life right into a hellscape like this, Tamery proved to be the exception. She seemed oddly happy now. Not a fan of trees I think.

“Make more sense to me than the machines showing up.” I said. “Zaang would be able to talk down a group of Deathless, so long as the entire city’s worth of machines aren’t clawing out of the woodworks to find their boss. And we’d go grab her body with the authority of another Deathless around.”

Atius nodded. “I hope this is the case lad. If it’s a Feather, we’ll need to change plans. Quickly.”

Next chapter - Destruction (T)