City of Steel (Chaos Awakens Book 3) (16 page)

"You believe that you can kill this god, then?"  Surprisingly, it was Milt who spoke up first.  He'd been quiet through the entire recounting. 

Xandrith shrugged. "I have to try. I've seen too much, and I know too much not to do anything. Just because I was a killer, doesn't mean I want to see the world die."

"We can send help with you, armed men.  We also have equipment that might help you find what you're looking for.  Magic gives off a certain radiation that we can detect and track.  It might take a day or so to get things organized, but - and I believe I speak for all of us here - we are ready to aid this cause."  Milt said and the others nodded their agreement.  Xandrith was shocked to be taken at his word so readily. 

"You believe me?"  He asked incredulously. 

Milt nodded, tapping the glasses he'd been wearing through the story. "Deception causes certain changes in the anatomy, and we've been watching you closely through your retelling. I haven't detected any attempt at deceit, and your story fits very well with the events that have been occurring recently. Besides, the risk of spending some of our resources to aid you is negligible when compared to the risk of ignoring your warning."

Xandrith wasn't quite sure what to say. "Thanks, I guess." He said with a half grin. "I'm not sure we can afford to wait a full day for things to be sorted, though. The sooner we get moving, the better the chances that we will find the god-thing before it ascends. Also, you should be concerned with getting your people out of Forge Haven. The trolls will get in. It's only a matter of time."

Harkavol spoke, his words hesitant. "I don't want to admit, I don't think any of us do, but I believe your concerns are justified."

Ulina's voice broke in.  "We have prepared for such an eventuality, but we'd hoped never to have need of the escape routes.  Beyond these mountains there is a great sea.  We have built ships that can be launched through tunnels out into the ocean, but beyond that we don’t know where to go. We have never found the time to properly explore beyond the mountains. It was our belief that this fortress would stand forever."

"This has been a wondrous home for us, Xandrith.  The mechanna have always had great difficulty finding places where we can be accepted.  It will be hard to leave this haven behind."  Harkavol's voice was low and heavy with notes of regret. 

"I will find someone who can accompany you."  Milt spoke again.  "Even if we don't have the time to organize an entire expedition we can send someone with you who will know how to use our equipment.  You will be better served if you have some idea about which direction you should be traveling in." 

A knock sounded on the door. 

"Enter."  Ulina called, and a moment a later a guardsmen entered.  

"Ma'am, we have been unable to locate Rand, but he apparently went to his home and gathered belongings in a pack. Since then he was spotted headed in the direction of the air exchange system." The guard reported.

Xandrith's entire body twitched.  He'd gathered his belongings?  What was he doing?  Why had he taken Xan's knife?  Something wasn't right.  The Captain's actions didn't make any sense, and that was worrisome. 

"Is he trying to leave the Forge?" Harkavol asked. "Why would he do that?"

"There are escape tunnels out into the mountains in the air exchange system." Milt explained. "I don't understand why Rand would be trying to get out of the Forge with that knife. That doesn't sound like something he would do. Rand is known to be hot headed, but this is above and beyond anything he's done before."

He wasn't sure how he knew, but Xandrith was suddenly positive that Rand's behavior had something to do with the trolls and the bonesteel wielders.  He had no way of knowing exactly what powers each of the cursed men and women possessed, but it wasn't a stretch to imagine that one of them might be able to distort the reasoning of other people.  It was quite possible that Rand wasn't in his right mind.  That would explain the strange outbursts in the prison, and Rand's inability to even attempt to see Xandrith's side of events. 

"Was he traveling alone?"  Xan asked. 

"We didn't specifically ask, but one of our witnesses, a worker who replaces air filters, did say he thought he'd seen a woman arrive with Rand. When he went to investigate further, the woman was gone and Rand quickly chased him away and left." The guard looked embarrassed. "We didn't pursue that line of questioning any further because we thought it was likely just another worker."

"What is it, Xandrith?"  Ulina asked.  "What do you suspect?" 

"The trolls might already be inside your city."  Xandrith said quietly.  "That woman might be another bonesteel wielder using her powers to manipulate Rand.  If Rand can get out through those passage ways, couldn't others be led back through them?"  

Looks of worry turned to looks of shock and horror.  If Xandrith's guess was right, the trolls could be upon them at any moment. 

"How long ago did he leave?" Ulina asked.

"About five hours ago." The guard answered. 

Xandrith could see the three mechanna running numbers in their minds, calculating how long it would take for someone to get out through the secret paths and then bring others in. 

"Sound the evacuation alarms!"  Milt was to his feet.  "I have to see to the ships.  We need to move the families and Planners immediately!"  An alarm sounded as he finished his words, and another look of terror swept through the room. 

"We're too late."  Harkavol muttered the words with a sick expression on his face.  Xandrith didn't need to be told that the alarm was one to be used in the event of a breach of security.  Someone had already spotted trolls in the Forge. 

Ulina stood from the table, pushing her chair back to clatter over. "We must save the families! Sound the evacuation now, and order the guardsmen to the top levels. We need to seal the working levels before the trolls get further down through the structure." She turned to Xandrith with a look of sorrow on her face. "I'm sorry but we won't be able to send help with you after all. We must do what we can for our own."

Xandrith just nodded numbly.  He needed to find out where Rand had gone.  If he didn't get that knife back all hope was lost. 

Harkavol turned to the guard who'd come to inform them of Rand's disappearance.  "Yivlin, take Xandrith to any of the exits he'd like.  See that he has a few emergency supplies, and then report to the evacuation deck." 

The guard nodded his compliance and then turned to Xandrith. "Where would you like to exit?"

"I need to be as close to where Rand would have exited as I can be without wading through trolls."  Xandrith answered quickly. 

Yivlin gave a sharp nod of his head.  "Follow me, sir."  He began to jog at a quick pace, and Xandrith fell in behind him.  The sense of impending doom was still building up inside of him.  Forge Haven was lost and many, many people were going to die.  Xandrith felt a surge of guilt well up within him.  It wasn't his fault, the trolls had already found the Forge. Still Xan felt somehow responsible.  He should have been able to do something to help all these people. In the end, even his warning had been too little, too late. 

Also of concern, the trolls were now aware that he was alive again.  The advantage he'd won by being dead was gone, and Xandrith had told the Captain all of his plans.  They knew what he intended to do, and they had the knife.  He needed to get the knife back, and now it’d probably be well guarded. He quietly cursed himself for his lose tongue.  He'd been a fool, even more so than usual. 

A disembodied voice boomed through the air, startling Xandrith from his thoughts.  "Sections one through five of the Elite Guard are ordered to Level 10.  Trolls have breached the upper levels.  This is not a drill, trolls have breached the upper levels."   The message repeated once more, seeming to radiate from the walls of the structure.  "Full evacuation has been initiated.  Everyone report to your designated evacuation ports immediately.  Guardsmen, and Elite Guard section six report to the evacuation ports.  This is not a drill."  That message repeated again, and then both messages started to repeat from the beginning. 

Xandrith was far too concerned with his own escape to question how that voice had been projected.  His instinct told him magic, but he knew that the mechanna had their own methods.  It didn't really matter either way.  He had his own tasks to be concerned with.  He followed close behind Yivlin as they wound their way through an increasing flow of foot traffic. Mostly they had to dodge people running in panic to get to the evacuation ports. 

Even as rushed as he was, Xandrith couldn’t help but take in the magnificent splendor of the mechanna city. The buildings rose up from the ground as though the entire place had been one solid piece of steel and the buildings had been shaped from the block by some magical means. All made of the same base metal, the buildings could have been repetitive and dull, but the designs had clearly been seen to by someone with an artistic flare. Each building was organic to the environment, and though they all fit into the greater scheme of the city, each was unique in its own way. They rose up into the great darkness of the cave above, pillars in the darkness, their tops lit by the strange white glow of the lights that had been built into the stone ceiling to hang over the entirety of the city. The lights looked like stars, each surrounded with a halo of jagged stone.

The scope of the city, and the amount of work that must have been put into just clearing the space to start building was difficult to imagine.  Forge Haven might have been constructed in secret, but it was quite probably one of the most impressive things built by men.  It even rivaled the Reach and it’s magically built wall. 

It wasn't long before Yivlin and Xandrith were the only people still traveling upwards.  The winding staircase they took was woven into a massive steel wall, the entire surface of which was etched with strange diagrams and detailed schematic drawings that Xandrith couldn’t read, but that clearly meant something to the mechanna.  It might have looked chaotic to some, but Xan could see a strange order amidst the chaos.  These weren’t just random designs etched into the wall, they were important plans and concepts, piece of mechanna knowledge. In the right hands, these etchings would unlock magnificent secrets.  Unlike the mages, the mechanna didn’t hide this information.  They placed it where anyone who was willing to take the time could look at it and discover the truth. 

Xan and his guide briefly stopped in a few places to gather supplies.  The guardsmen dutifully filled a pack with food and traveling items at stations that looked as though they'd been specifically set up to provide people traveling top side with gear to survive.  By the time they were done supplying, Xandrith had a new pack with a week's worth of food and water, some medical supplies, and some gear that would make climbing the mountains easier.  

Yivlin barely paused as he gathered gear. He didn’t even seem to notice the wonder of the world he lived in on a daily basis. The spectacle of the steel city was lost to him. He led their two man caravan to what appeared to be a blank wall before he finally slowed his pace and came to a halt. He pulled what looked like a strange key from around his neck and inserted it into a small hole in the wall that Xan hadn't even noticed. There was a click and then a piece of the wall popped forward and slid to one side revealing a small empty room with no windows or doors. Yivlin gestured for Xandrith to step inside.

"This carrier will take you to an exit tunnel.  The tunnel will run up hill for about a mile. Take the right hand path twice, and the left hand path the next three times.  You'll reach a door with a wheel on it.  Turn the wheel all the way to the right.  That will disengage the locks and let you outside.  Normally someone would go with you to seal the door behind you, but that hardly matters anymore.  Repeat the directions back to me."  Yivlin spoke quickly.  It was obvious to Xandrith that he just wanted to be gone. 

Xandrith quickly restated the directions he'd been given, locking them into his memory.  Yivlin nodded and Xandrith stepped into the chamber.  The guard reached into the chamber and did something with a panel along one side of the wall.  He stepped back, and Xandrith had just enough time to see him turning his back to flee before the metal door of the wall swung closed in front of him, trapping him in the small metal box. 

A moment of fear pulsed through Xandrith as he realized he had no apparent way to get out. He didn’t have time to fully react to this first wave of fear however, his stomach lurched suddenly. It was as though he’d begun to fall.  Was the metal box falling?  He couldn't tell for sure, but he was certain that he was moving.  Xandrith pressed himself into a corner, one hand on the knife at his hip.  This wasn’t how Xandrith had imagined he’d die, killed by a strange mechanna contraption.

As quickly as it had begun, the box stopped moving.  A nearly silent hiss of air sounded behind Xan, and a moment later the wall he'd been pressing himself against slid away and opened up like a door. It nearly caused the half-panicked assassin to fall over backwards. He gathered his footing and what little bit of his dignity he could retain and stepped out of the strange metal box with haste. He wanted nothing more than to be under the power of his own mode of conveyance again.  Legs were reliable, or at least more familiar. 

Now all he had to do was survive getting free of the Forge.  That seemed easy enough. 

Chapter 5

Lofty Heights, Lofty Goals

Xandrith found himself in a small tunnel that was just tall enough for him to stand in without needing to hunch over to avoid scraping his horns on the meal ceiling.  The tunnel was the same width the box had been, wide enough for two or maybe three people to walk abreast.  He began walking down the corridor, moving as quickly as he could without making too much noise on the metal floor.  Even while attempting to move quietly his every footfall seemed to echo off down the corridor before him.  The mechanna may have designed for security and structural stability, but they hadn't taken into account the fact that someone may want to travel unheard down their halls.