Grudgebearer (64 page)

A confused bay crab scuttled past Wylant's boot. Bass and a few minnows flopped breathlessly in the mud closer to the pier. Spurning assistance, kholster Rae'en pushed herself to her feet.

All know
, Rae'en thought,
I am kholster Rae'en, First of One Hundred. I do not know what happened to my father, but one thing I assure you. His scars are on my back.

“I see that you did,” Wylant said with a smirk, adding in a whisper, “don't feel bad, kholster Rae'en. A few hundred years ago, I would have done the same thing. He's a hard Aern to lose.”

Wylant summoned the wind, pulling herself up and kholster Rae'en out of the wedge to land safely on the pier above. The Aeromancer let the water flow back into place, the level of the bay returning slowly to normal.

Tyree, looking particularly dashing in clothes provided by the Eldrennai, leaned over the edge of the pier to offer his hand. The frilly lace at the cuffs of his sleeves took confidence to pull off successfully, but Tyree was one human with confidence in full supply. She accepted his proffered assistance, measuring his strength as he struggled to pull her out.

Grivek had retreated, fretting back and forth at the head of the pier, and the maddening swish of his fine silk robes made it hard to concentrate. Wylant laid a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped with a self-conscious apology. Roc was the only other Eldrennai present now. Hira had left to take news to Port Ammond and establish a perimeter around Oot, leaving the other two Eldrennai serving purportedly as added security, but the underlying assertion that they were really Grivek's bodyguards rang through loud and clear.

Kholster Rae'en
, Bloodmane thought at her,
I need a decision.

“Fine,” she said aloud. “Tell Vander . . .” Letting out a long breath, Rae'en pushed back the anger which had begun to reassert itself; a familiar headache took its place. She was kholster. She would tell Vander.

Unc . . . Vander
, she thought,
let the blasted warsuits borrow Coal if he's amenable and only if
, she continued internally,
Coal will still consent to provide air cover to us in our upcoming fight against the Eldrennai.

I'll tell them
, Vander answered,
of course, but you could always tell Bloodmane yourself.

I don't think Bloodmane would like to hear the things I'd like to say right now. Do you?

Vander didn't answer that one.

Any word from Kazan, M'jynn, Joose, and Arbokk?

Malmung says they've stopped in Castleguard to view the Changing of the Gods, before they head back home.

Back home?

Well . . . given your new status—

Have them watch the Changing of the Gods and then get their butts up here
, Rae'en sent.
I may be First, but they're still my Overwatches.

Vander didn't reply to that one either. Rae'en wondered if he thought she was making mistakes or just knew it wasn't the time to argue with her. Either way, she was glad for the silence.

CHAPTER 61

HONOR THY MAKER

“Are . . . are you all right, kholster?”

Bloodmane started when he realized the young Elementalist meant to address him. He remained where he was, gazing into the maw-like opening in the ground that had once been North Watch. So much death. Not more than he'd seen, but he found it disconcerting to enjoy watching the waves crashing below the cliffs. He felt the tragedy of those lost lives should have spoiled it, but the waves didn't care. Queelay's water ignored the destruction wrought by the Zaur. The unpleasant business at hand was beyond their notice. A Vael would have been able to see the elemental spirits at play in the water.

Emotions he hadn't been created to feel weighed heavily on the mighty warsuit's mind.

I was forged to fight and crush the Zaur. I want to do so, but when the Zaur are destroyed. . . . 
He glanced over his shoulder, eyeing the Eldrennai lieutenant. What was his name?

The lieutenant, the youngest of six Eldrennai Geomancers, stood at the edge of the White Road shifting nervously from foot to foot. Still loathe to come any closer to the warsuits than necessary, all of the six save this one kept to themselves, a huddle of idly whispering children, more suited to playing with stickswords than going to war.

Kholster, how do you keep track
, he began mentally, but Kholster was not there. It didn't matter anyway; he remembered the Eldrennai's name now.

“I am well-maintained and in good repair, Lieutenant Hiln. Just communing with the . . . just communing.”

“Did you get permission to use the dragon?” Hiln asked eagerly. They all wanted to know about the dragon. Bloodmane shivered, the vibration rattling through his plates. The Eldrennai would see more of the dragon than they wanted with kholster Rae'en in command.

He could feel her hate, for him and for the Eldrennai. One of those two hatreds he shared. How odd that self-loathing could allow him to do for Rae'en what he had failed to do for his maker. She had never tried to don him, but he felt that she could, sensed it.

United in disgust
, he thought at Eyes of Vengeance.

We are imperfect
, Eyes of Vengeance replied.
All of us.

“Kholster . . . Rae'en granted me permission to enlist Coal's aid.” Bloodmane nearly stumbled over the word “Kholster.” “He should be here in a matter of hours.”

“And then we fight?” Hiln asked eagerly.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” Raising a gauntlet, the animated armor gestured to his fellow warsuits, one thousand of them, each standing empty and motionless in predetermined ranks, waiting for battle. “My brothers and I will attack. You and your fellow Geomancers will stand guard here.”

“Why? Sir, we could fight too. I've practiced all my life for . . .”

“Because those are your orders,” Bloodmane interrupted. “Give us two hours and then begin collapsing the tunnels behind us. Death Knell will stay with you to maintain communications throughout the battle.”

“But what if you need to get out?”

Bloodmane hefted Hunger, his master's . . . his maker's . . . no, the warpick was now his own, the bright sun glinting off cold metal. The weapon unleashed a primordial screech. “We do not breathe, Lieutenant. If we need to get out, we will dig.”

Laughter from the other warsuits echoed in Bloodmane's mind, unheard by the Eldrennai. They were one, each suit linked to the others and to their makers, their Incarna, or in Bloodmane's case, to his maker's daughter.

He still did not fully understand how it had worked. Kholster had been torn free of his body, his soul rocketing toward Bloodmane like a tripped snare. He'd felt Kholster's presence, felt the pain, the conflict.

I'm killing him
, he'd thought.
How do I stop? How do I help him? If I die will that . . . ?

And then . . .

Something had moved between them like a shadow, and for a stretch of time, Bloodmane had been alone. No maker at the edge of his thoughts, just a sensation of impending . . . what? Doom? Despair? Hope? He still couldn't define it. His connection to the other warsuits had grown dim, fading, and then . . .

“Will you protect my daughter?”

Of course.
He'd answered, hearing Kholster's voice but not feeling him.

“I will not bind you against your will. I can free you completely, let you live connected only to the other warsuits . . . if you wish it.”

Please don't leave me maker-less.

“I want Rae'en to be First.”

I know. I know and agree. Where are you?

“Bloodmane, you are the most that I can leave her.”

Then . . . then you are dead.
Bloodmane had been silent for a while.
I should be with you in death!

“No, you should not.”

How are you talking to me?

“Look through the eyes of kholster Rae'en at midnight and you will understand. I am repaying a debt owed by all Aern. Rae'en must kholster . . . lead the army. If she is one with you, if you say she is First, there will be no question. Vander will ask Eyes of Vengeance, and Eyes of Vengeance will defer to you.”

Of course, Kholster, but debt—what debt?

“A matter of the soul. Protect my daughter, old friend. Defeat the Zaur.”

And the Eldrennai?

“That is up to Rae'en,” Kholster had whispered. “I am no longer First. I put down my Grudge at the edge of the Bay of Balsiph. Whether or not Rae'en takes it up again is her decision.”

Bloodmane?
Eyes of Vengeance thought at him.
They are staring at you.

Mindful of the eyes now upon him, Bloodmane lowered Hunger. “You know your places,” he shouted to the assembled armor and Eldren­­nai. “You know your tasks.” He pointed to the Eldrennai. “Your king has bid you follow my commands.” His gauntlet moved to indicate the warsuits. “You were forged by Aern! By true warriors. Honor your makers! Make them proud.” Bloodmane raised Hunger once again, high into the air, bringing it back down upon the stone with a loud clang. “Charge!”

Feeling too light, like empty shells without their rightful occupants, Bloodmane's army ran toward battle for the first time in centuries. Instinctively falling into an old rhythm, their metal boots stomped out the one phrase in Zaurtol known by every Aernese warrior: <>

This was not to be a surprise attack; Bloodmane's strategy relied on the Zaur having time to gather in the central corridor. Small stones and earth fell from the ceiling, shaken loose by the vibration of their charge. Bloodmane suspected that it would be an hour or more before they hit significant resistance.

Eyes of Vengeance, report
, he transmitted along the link that bound all the armor together.

The Port Gates are still secure. I recommend maintaining a crew of two warsuits per Port Gate in case the Ghaiattri try to break through again.

Good plan. Execute it.

And . . . Kholster?
Bloodmane was used to the other armors being candid with him, especially Eyes of Vengeance. Vander was Kholster's War Master, had been for millennia. The two warsuits were fast friends, just as their makers were.

What is it, Eyes?

Commander Jolsit says that when he went through the portal, to tackle the Ghaiattri back through, he saw statues.

What sort of statues?

He said they looked like Aern, Bloodmane. Statues of Aern, wrought in some kind of metal. He thought perhaps . . . bone-steel.

Did any of the orphaned warsuits feel their makers?
Bloodmane asked, assuming Eyes of Vengeance would have already made a few quiet inquiries.

Soultaker says he felt something, but he couldn't be certain. I didn't ask anyone else.

The news shocked Bloodmane so strongly that he almost came to a stop.
But Soultaker is Vodayr's armor! He is of the Lost Command!

I have asked Soultaker to keep it to himself for now, but I promised him we would look into it.

We will. Have you told Vander?

Not yet
, Eyes of Vengeance admitted guiltily.

Let us keep this a matter of metal for a bit then
, Bloodmane requested.
There is nothing they can do about it right now. Have the Watches reported in?

Our Geomancers have located a tunnel near West Watch, ten jun southeast of Rin'Saen Gorge. They say Zaur are still working inside it.

Bloodmane could picture them in his mind's eye, lizards digging in the dark. The reports sent in by Wylant and the others warned of new foes: giant serpents called Zaurruks, half-blind stone mounts called Hratta . . . the armor could not wait to kill a Zaurruk.

Fortune of Battle reports
, Eyes of Vengeance continued,
that there is no sign of Zaur incursion at Stone Watch. His team has scouted the mountainside and is going to head south across country past Fort Sunder, Fair Hollow, and Saerhi Village to see if it can find any sign of them. They left the soldiers at Stone Watch on high alert.

Good.
Bloodmane signaled a halt as they approached what he assumed was the aftermath of Wylant's underground battle. The dead lay where they had fallen.

Remove the Eldrennai remains that they may be properly interred
, Bloodmane ordered. He stepped out of the way, picking up a discarded helmet, turning it over in his gauntlets.

South Watch and Forest Watch have both reported in as well, sir
, Eyes of Vengeance droned on.
No sign of tunneling in or around either Watch. Blue Tongue will take his group along the White Road toward Waeren, joining the Geomancers with Backbreaker at West Watch.