Chapter 15: Buried in the Rubble

“Research Log, Year 4, Month 6, Day 5 (Day 1,625) Cont.

“I reassured him that I was safe because of that difference, and explained that he wasn't born how I was. One of us is flesh and bone like animals and the other is metal. One of us was born through technological means, the other through sexual reproduction. Animals are not machines, even if sometimes the two can look similar. I explained that the main difference between him and I is in our basic building blocks. That part honestly went over his little head, but I showed him the difference in our skin and he seemed to start understanding. I told him that others like me wouldn’t understand him, and that they would take him from me and kill him like they did his siblings.

“That made him cry again.

“When he calmed down he then asked me if there were any others like him that weren’t dead and I had to tell him no. He’s been in his room, crying, ever since. I can’t say I blame him, in his place I’d feel the same way. And I do to some extent feel that pain, knowing he’ll be alone for most of his life, knowing that there’s nothing I can do right now to help that pain.

I intend to change that someday, though he’ll far older before I can even try to make him a family of his own.”

Yelis, The craftsman thought to herself, and the name sent a pleasant shiver through her.

Yelis walked through the street, combing the area with her eyes, searching for any scraps she could use. Most of her tools were taken by Iakedrom when he raided her apartment so she’d have to rebuild. That Iakedrom had done that to her was beyond frustrating. She felt like she was finally making some progress. She felt like she was on the edge of remembering something from before she lost her name.

But she supposed she also had to thank him for that.

Yelis, she repeated in her mind again with a grin.

She couldn’t get over how good it felt to remember her real name. If Iakedrom hadn’t caught her and she hadn’t encountered Ekivia she may have never remembered it.

Yelis, she thought as she stooped, sighing as she tossed aside a hand and dug a little into the rubble of a building. That hand was the biggest piece she’d found so far, but she needed a full body to make the tools she needed.

She rose, still considering the events of the last several days. What was it about Ekivia that helped her remember her name? Something she’d said sparked that part of her brain, the one that told her there was a memory nearby. It was the feeling she got when she directed diordna and then built them into something new. She’d felt that way a lot since she started doing that, the feeling that something was moving just under the surface of ice on top of the lake of her mind. Sometimes she chipped away at that ice enough to fish the memory out, and her name was one of those. She hadn’t felt a memory so important since she remembered that she had a message in her body that she needed to spread. She’d known she had it in her, but she’d never seen it until recently so she didn’t actually know what it said.

It was the message written on Iakedrom and Mada.

That memory had come to her in her first lifetime after losing her name, and nothing so important had come up since. At least not until now. And she needed something to stimulate that part of her mind again. She already had an idea what she wanted to make, now she just needed materials and a safe place to work. The safe place would come later.

But what better place to find materials than on a battlefield after a battle.

She paused in the street and looked around briefly. She couldn’t be sure but she felt like this was where she’d run into Mada the night before. Most of the buildings were collapsed, their blackened corpses crumpled in heaps to either side of the central passageway cleared by the Redaeli army.

A foot peaked up from the rubble of one of the buildings. Yelis hadn’t seen it at first because it was black with ash and she’d dismissed it for part of the building. But upon second glance she was certain. Judging by how much was protruding from the pile and the angle at which it stuck out, she thought there might be at least part of a body attached to it.

She walked over to investigate. It was at the periphery of the rubble from one of the buildings, likely someone who’d been outside the building when it collapsed and was then swept up by the crumbling debris as it expanded outward. Either that or it was inside and got pushed out by that same flow of crumbling bamboo and ash.

Yelis stumbled only a little as she climbed over the rubble to reach the leg then began pulling ashen bamboo away from it. As she cleared some of the smaller bits away she noticed that there was a thick wall caught on other debris, making a sort of lean to inside the rubble. It created a pocket, though a small one, just big enough that most of a body would fit. And as she peaked in she grinned. The body was almost entirely intact, except for one missing arm. It was facing down, and she could see that its shirtless back was completely burned stiff. That would make molding the material difficult, but not impossible.

She cleared a little more of the debris, but didn’t want to destabilize the pocket so she didn’t clear it entirely around the body. Then she braced herself against some bamboo she’d tested earlier and pulled the body from the hole onto the slope of the pile.

Yes, this one would do nicely despite the missing arm. In order to lift the corpse onto her shoulder she’d have to turn it over so it would bend the right way, so she stooped and rolled it face up. Yelis gasped.

The shirtless corpse was Ekivia, unmoving eyelids barely open looking at the sky.

Yelis knew this was a possibility, but she’d hoped… Well if she was honest part of the reason she’d come looking in this particular area was just in case Ekivia or that marvelous creature of hers was left behind.

Creature is the wrong term, Yelis thought regarding Mada. He tickled at her memory, as though there were an ancient term for his kind that she couldn’t remember. But it had been too many years and she’d taken too many blows to the head for it to surface just yet. She’d need to find him again some day so he could help her remember.

Yelis considered for a moment. Would it really be that horrible to use Ekivia’s body? It wasn’t really her anymore, and Yelis hadn’t been the one to kill her after all. And she’d been so helpful to Yelis, for that she’d be ever grateful. Maybe Ekivia could continue her service to Yelis, continue to help her remember. Her body wasn’t too burned. Though she had quite a few hard spots across her torso and in places along her remaining limbs from the heat it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, and even the skin still looked flexible enough to remove easily. She’d learned a long time ago that it was harder when the skin had already hardened from…

Ekivia’s eyes shifted and met Yelis’s.

“Dytie,” Yelis cursed. “You’re alive!”

Ekivia wheezed a long breath out and Yelis stood staring dumbly.

Then she lept into action. Ekivia was alive, her helper, her friend. And she needed help. Yelis stooped and grabbed Ekivia’s arm, pulling her up and onto her shoulder. Ekivia made the barest of a pained whine, but obviously didn’t have the strength to do anything more.

“I got you,” Yelis said as she stepped carefully down the rubble slope. “You’ll be ok.”

She ran as quickly as she could with Ekivia over her shoulder, trying not to bounce too much so she wouldn’t accidentally drop her. The surviving officers throughout the city had begun setting up stations all over where they could collect corpses for the priests, but there were also machinologists at these stations that would see to survivors. If Yelis remembered correctly there would be one just around…

As she turned the corner she spotted it. They were set up in a watering station. Those were one of the few buildings on the eastern side of the city left untouched by the Redaeli army. There was good reason not to destroy them, as the army would need water for their mounts as much or more than the regular citizens. There were officers running water from the large cement troughs dug into the ground, others bringing bodies back and laying them out along one side of the street, but Yelis didn’t see anyone else bringing survivors.

Yelis slowed her approach, praying that none of the officers would recognize her. Not praying to Dytie of course, but praying to… someone. She couldn’t remember. But even if she was recognized it was more important that Ekivia get the help she needed. And besides, she could always escape again if she needed to.

No one stopped her as she approached, and upon seeing her a discouraged looking machinologist perked up and rushed over, waving Yelis to a spot cleared near the trough that had blankets spread out in the dirt like beds. The machinologist waved toward the well and someone came over with a pail of water. The water carrier drenched the blanket on the ground as Yelis crouched, and with the help of the machinologist she lowered Ekivia from her shoulder onto the now wet blanket.

As Ekivia’s bare back met the wet blanket it sizzled slightly.

Ekivia began to yell in pain, arms and legs pressing against the ground as though to try and arch her back, but the burns made that impossible. She tried rolling but the machinologist pressed her shoulders down, keeping her back against the blanket.

“I’m sorry,” the machinologist said gently. “But we have to do this.”

Yelis knew what was happening to Ekivia’s back though she couldn’t see it because she’d used fire in some of her creations. The metal would be flexing slightly as the temperature changed rapidly, and there could be permanent wrinkles if you didn’t put pressure against it to keep it flat. Which was impossible to do right now. The skin would be numb, but the muscle and tissue beneath would still be attached and the rippling would pull and tear against that. She could only imagine how painful that would be for a living diordna to experience.

“I can’t believe she’s alive,” the machinologist said as the sizzling stopped and he began wrapping the stump of Ekivia’s arm.

“Will she stay that way?” Yelis asked

“I can’t be certain yet,” the na said. “But the fact that she didn’t already die means she’ll probably make it.”

Yelis breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground nearby while the na worked, trying to relax a little, but she couldn’t stop bouncing her leg nervously.

An officer approached the three of them. “Have you gotten her name yet?”

The machinologist shook his head, then he paused the work of carefully bandaging Ekivia’s worst wounds and leaned forward so she could meet the scientists eyes. “Are you able to speak?”

“Yes,” Ekivia whispered. Even as close to her as she was, Yelis almost didn’t hear it.

“What is your name?” The machinologist asked.

“Ekivia.” The officer wrote it down.

“Last name?”

“Neitkarf.”

The machinologist nodded, and shared a significant look with the officer before getting back to his work.

“Don’t worry Ekivia Neitkarf,” the machinologist said. “I will take care of you. We’ll have you at a hospital in a safe part of the city in no time.”

“Thank you,” Ekivia whispered.

The machinologist picked up the iron pod and held it up to Ekivia’s lips again.

“Why was that officer asking for her name?” Yelis asked, a worry growing in the back other mind.

“An investigator asked us to check all the survivors,” the machinologist said. “He thought there were some diordna that might have answers about how the army reached here without being caught by our patrolling armies closer to the border. I never expected we’d actually find one of them though.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Yelis tried to suppress the fear as it rose in her chest and eyes. She stood slowly. She needed to be anywhere but here. The only diordna that would be looking for Ekivia was Iakedrom, and she didn’t what to be around when her arrived.

But she hesitated, meeting Ekivia’s eyes. She couldn’t leave her here, but in her condition taking her could mean her death.

“Thank you,” Ekivia said, holding Yelis’s gaze as she spoke. “But if you have somewhere to go I think this na has everything under control here.”

There was no fear or anger in Ekivia’s eyes. She was giving Yelis permission to protect herself. Never before had she needed that kind of permission from someone. Despite receiving it she still hesitated.

“I’ll… come check on you when I can,” Yelis said, hoping Ekivia would understand what she really meant. She’d be there to help her if she could. She had a debt to this nawo, one that she couldn’t repay. She had no name until Ekivia returned it to her. Maybe some day she’d explain that to her newfound friend.

“Thank you,” Yelis said, then took a long breath in, nodded to Ekivia, and walked away.

**********

The machinologist walked around Ekivia, checking bandages. Ekivia resisted the desire to turn her head and watch. She could do it if she needed, but it hurt, and on top of that her entire body was wrapped in bandages, making it difficult to move anything. The bandages were soaked in water for now, to help draw out the heat from the burns and make sure her body temperature was well regulated. Once she spent a day or two in water bandages they’d switch to bandages soaked in metal pod oil. They could trap heat, but they also helped accelerate healing. The skin would feed on the oil and she would recover far faster.

But her burns weren’t the worst of her injuries.

The stump of her arm was wrapped tightly, and needed to be changed regularly. She’d tied off the limb just above her bicep. Were it not for Iakedrom she might not have thought to do that, but it saved her life. Of course he’d also been a huge part of what put her in danger originally too. She knew Nagemai was at least as responsible, but she resented Iaekdrom more. At least Nagemai had treated her well. The one that should have been her friend treated her as an enemy. The one that should have been her enemy treated her as a friend. And her friend…

She’d tried to reach him so she could smother the fire somehow, ignoring the danger to herself, but she’d been too slow. She’d watched him explode. She didn’t know if it was just his leg or if it had been his entire body, but she suspected the latter. Sure she’d tightened the bandage around his leg, which might have prevented the fire from reaching his chest cavity through the wound, but she’d seen his burns. Even if he survived the initial explosion he was probably dead.

She closed her eyes against the sorrow as she thought about it.

The machinologist cleared her throat, and Ekivia opened her eyes, her sight darkly tinted by the sorrow. She tried to turn and look at the machinologist, but stopped immediately because of the pain. The machinologist moved toward Ekivia’s feet a little and leaned in so they could speak facing each other.

“You seem to be doing well,” The machinologist said, giving Ekivia a smile. “The burns don’t seem to be oozing, and the radiant temperature isn’t as bad as I feared it might be. We should be able to switch you to oil bandages soon. Once that happens your recovery will really start. You shouldn’t have too many long term effects from this, though the burn to your back run too deeply into the skin and cover too much area to heal, so it will be permanently hard. The other burns, however, are shallow enough that they should slough off once the skin beneath begins to heal.”

Ekivia gave the barest of nods. At least her neck hadn’t been burned stiff. “Thank you.”

“These days we can even replace your arm,” the nawo continued.

“No,” Ekivia said as forcefully as she could muster.

“What?” The machinologist said, scrunching her face in confusion.

“I don’t want it replaced,” Ekivia said.

“I suppose we won’t force you,” The machinologist said. “But I would recommend it. Prosthetics really are quite good these days.”

“I understand that,” Ekivia said, tone bitter. “I don’t want one.”

The machinologist nodded, still visibly confused. “Well, if you change your mind we can do the procedure whenever.”

Ekivia stared at the nawo, and she met her eyes, waiting briefly as though she expected Ekivia to change her mind. She wouldn’t. She knew it was impractical but she refused to do something that would make her look like Iakedrom, not after all he’d done.

The machinologist sighed, and walked from the room. After she was gone, Ekivia heard footsteps approach her.

And almost as though conjured from her thoughts, Iakedrom moved into view.

“Hello Ekivia,” Iakedrom said.

She felt a chill run through her body at the sight of him, and her darkened sight swirled with a small stream of pale fear. Despite it’s lighter color, fear obscured vision as much as sorrow did. The other emotion sights were more transparent, though they did alter their perception of the world around them, no other emotion could truly blind a diordna except these two.

Ekivia blinked, trying to clear her vision with only marginal success. “Iakedrom.”

“I’m glad to see you’re alive,” Iakedrom said, though as far as Ekivia could tell through the emotion sight he didn’t seem all that concerned or pleased. “There are some things I would like to discuss.”

Ekivia clenched her jaw involuntarily. She wasn’t going to tell this na anything. Even as she thought it more fear pulsed through her. Would he resort to torture again?

Dytie help me.

“The verd army is traveling north instead of east,” Iakedrom said. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Ekivia said through clenched teeth. But she had her suspicions. Nagemai had told them that some of the marks on Mada indicated a place in the Mahkram region a couple days to the north. Ekivia suspected Nagemai wanted to go see where the marks would lead.

“I find that hard to believe,” Iakedrom said. “You and Mada seemed to be on pretty good terms with that verd soldier that came to rescue you from me.”

“I swear to you in Dytie’s name that I never met them before in my life,” Ekivia said. “And that I have never worked with them before their arrival here.”

“Now that is hard for me to believe,” Iakedrom said, pacing around the foot of her bed. “Especially considering all that’s happened.”

“It’s true wether or not you believe it,” Ekivia said bitterly. “And no amount of interrogation or torture will change that.”

Iakedom sighed. “Alright then. How about we move to something a little different. What is the message left on my prosthetic? What information did you and Esile pass to the verds?”

“I don’t know,” Ekivia lied. “Why don’t you ask Esile?”

“I haven’t found her yet,” Iakedrom said, glaring. “She’s either dead or in hiding somewhere.”

“What a shame,” Ekivia said sarcastically. Strange that she should feel more disgust for this na than she did for an insane nawo. But after her experiences with Yelis she struggled to believe all the stories about the Craftsman. There’s no way they were true. Sure she was strange, but that didn’t make someone a horrible diordna.

“Do you know where she might be?” Iakedrom asked.

Ekivia sighed. “You’re wasting your time with me, and I think you know it.”

Iakedrom glared again, eyes turning red this time. “I could resort to more aggressive interrogation tactics, but I would rather we avoid that if we can. However, I also need answers, so I will allow you to make the decision. How will this proceed?”

Ekivia glared at him, her own eyes turning red, though a paler shade than his because of the fear mixed in.

Iakedrom waited a long moment before he spoke again. “Very well. I’ll take that as your decision then. I really wish you would choose otherwise.”

He stepped forward, but hesitated. In that instant Ekivia saw something she didn’t expect. He was angry, eyes red, but there was something else mixed in she hadn’t noticed. The red was darker than just anger. There was sorrow in his eyes too. He was being honest when he said he didn’t want to do this.

“If you really don’t want to do this then don’t,” Ekivia said, allowing pleading into her voice. “You are a good na, or at least I thought you were. You can choose not to do this. You can choose to believe me.”

“I… don’t think I can,” Iakedrom said. “Everything I’ve seen and heard since bringing you in has led me to believe that you have deceived me for two decades. I cannot be deceived any longer.” He lifted his hand and began unwrapping the stump of her right arm. “It’s always the dominant arm that gets hurt.”

“Not anymore,” Ekivia said, her voice shaking slightly.

“Please,” Iakedrom whispered. “Neither of us—“

“Iak,” Someone said from the doorway. Ekivia thought she recognized the voice as Iaekdrom’s partner, Fosia, but she didn’t turn her head to see. “You’ve got a call.”

Iakedrom didn’t look away from Ekivia’s eyes, and she saw the relief in them. “Who is it?”

“The Drol,” Fosia said.

Ekivia and Iakedrom both let out a held breath together. Hers was in relief, but looking at Iakedrom she thought his was not. Something worried him bout speaking with the Drol, though she couldn’t guess what.

He turned away and stepped out of Ekivia’s line of sight. She heard him speaking in the hallway, but it was too muffled by the walls and the bandages around her ears that she couldn’t understand any of the conversation. It was short though.

Iakedrom returned and leaned over her again. “The Drol received a report from some spies that managed to insert themselves into the army while it was here. They say the army has turned east at the Tears of Dytie river half a day north of us. But he also says that two or three of their number broke off and continued north. The spies didn’t see who it was, but I have my suspicions. Care to tell me where they might be headed?”

“I told you I don’t know,” Ekivia lied again.

“That’s alright,” Iakedrom said. “The Drol knows where they’re headed. He managed to interpret the markings by the gift of Dytie. He tells me they’re headed to Mahkram.”

Ekivia took in a breath at hearing the name. It was short, and she hoped Iakedrom hadn’t…

“I see you already knew,” Iakedrom said, and Ekivia closed her eyes. Of course he’d noticed. “Once I finish dealing with them I’ll be back to continue our conversation. I don’t know if you remember your promise to show me everything that’s kept on that bird of yours, but I’m going to hold you to that. Oh, and the Drol wanted me to tell you. Once you recover you’re going to be sent to the front in white to be killed at the hands of your allies. So as you consider what not to tell me just remember that when I come back will be your last opportunity to say anything about what you’ve been doing.”

The fear drained from her, leaving only sorrow, as she listened to his footsteps retreat, her hand shaking in her bandages. Could she allow her research to be silenced? Could she allow the truth about Mada to remain hidden? Absolutely not. But the real question was if she could trust Iakedrom to publish it on her behalf. She didn’t know. She’d have to wait and see what happened with Mada when Iakedrom returned.

She felt certain that Mada was one of the three that left Nagemai’s the army to continue north, and she suspected Treblig was the second. Sorrow fell from her eyes, darkening the bandages on her face as with oil. Iakedrom would move faster than an army could, and if the secrets they were searching for were hidden well enough then Iakedrom would catch them.

There was nothing she could do to protect her son.

Dytie, please. Be with Mada, and guard him as I have been unable to do.

**********

Drol Maharba rode at full speed toward Mahkram. He was nearly certain that Ekivia had made a human, and he wanted to be nearby in case Iakedrom encountered the thing. Iakedrom’s records of their interrogation and the cryptic way in which she referred to her “son” worried him more and more. He thought they’d ended her dangerous dive into creating an AI but it appeared one of her creations had slipped past him.

Ekivia wasn't the first to create an AI, but none before were allowed to see what they'd accomplished. Maharba and Selraef were the only two diordna who knew exactly when the discovery was made each time, and in the past they’d acted quickly enough to stop it from getting out. This time they were too slow. Somehow, he still didn’t know how, she’d gotten past their checks despite the close eye they’d kept on her.

Worse yet, Iakedrom suspected the Redaeli were involved with Ekivia and her work. Selraef knew better. She'd seen firsthand the devastation caused by competing high intelligences. The wars. The loss. Intelligent life would be hard-pressed to survive that again.

He slowed his mount and raised his hand to the calling bird on his shoulder, speaking the number only he knew.

"Maharba," The Redaeli ruler said. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“Selraef,” He said, more anger coloring his voice than he would have liked.

"Have you dealt with that general I sent you yet?"

“Not quite,” Maharba said. “There were… complications. But I'm not calling about that. I'm calling about your involvement with Ekivia Neitkarf. Apparently, she’s been working on a project without our knowledge. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

“I thought she was retired,” Selraef said.

“She was,” Maharba said. “But it seems that she may have made a human. Are you saying you had no knowledge of this?”

“You know it’s impossible to stop every request from my end,” Selraef said. “Ardnax hasn’t reported anything suspicious recently though.”

“It’s already grown for as many as twenty years,” Maharba said. “And my investigator says she had Redaeli help.”

"I did my part," Selraef said, obviously angry at the accusation. "If this human has been alive that long then the fault is yours for not catching it sooner. Don’t accuse me for your failure. Have you forgotten what happened with Sesom?"

Maharba sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Of course not. But a Redaeli could be involved. My investigator suspects a specific connection with your white general. Apparently, a highly trained team of her soldiers came to wrest Ekivia away."

"That’s troubling," Selraef said. "I’ll have my spies look into Nagemai’s connections. Did she get her hands on Ekivia or this human? Are you taking care of things on your end?”

“Only briefly,” Maharba said. “And I have my best investigator on the case right now. I expect the human problem will be taken care of by tomorrow. I’m going to meet him near Mahkram in a day or two to be sure.”

“I’m glad you’re on top of at least one of our problems,” Selraef said. “What will you do when your investigator sees this human?”

“I’ll have a discussion with him,” Maharba said. “And if I don’t like his attitude about it then I’ll send him to the front in white.”