The Imaia might come after us, but I think they’ll be too busy building their own new home to give us more than a passing thought. One ship full of refugees would be too insignificant for them to bother with.

C. 25 days, 19 hours since the assassination of rebel leadership

As Estingai stared down the woman who had accused her, ice needled her stomach.

She'd lost.

She'd put everything on Mahele and his daughter believing her enough to support her, on Svemakuu's sacrifice meaning something to Ironpeak and Last Shadow's people.

It hadn’t been enough.

A smile tugged at the edges of the woman's lips, and Estingai tensed. Ready for a fight. It would ruin everything, but she would find a way to recover. She couldn't let it end here.

"Estingai's right."

Estingai jumped at her brother's voice, and the woman's eyes went wide. Estingai kept the woman in her field of vision, still, but turned toward Koruuksi, tracking him as he walked onto the dais and threw off his mask. Strangely, the two guards near Mahele and his daughter moved toward him, raising their weapons, but Mahele's daughter stood in their way, a hand raised to stall them. Her gaze was fixed on Koruuksi.

Estingai tried not to think about the idea that part of this mess might have been caused by Koruuksi flirting with the wrong woman.

Movement from below caught her gaze, and she saw a man and a woman standing with their backs to the dais where Koruuksi had stepped up, stances tense. Estingai blinked when a few more joined them, and Aaden and the others took up a similar stance.

"I didn't kill Anarak," Koruuksi proclaimed, looking first to Mahele and his daughter, then turning back to the crowd. “And he wasn’t the traitor. That’s why I was here, though. To hunt down the traitor responsible for my brother's death."

The bite in Koruuksi's voice chilled Estingai. It reminded her of the few instances when Svemakuu’s voice had taken on a dangerous tone. The sound was so at odds with everything else about them that it unnerved even her.

“While I was here,” he continued, voice calm, now, casual, as though he were just telling a story to a group of friends, “I gave a few people some privileged information to see what would happen."

He paused, gaze sweeping over the crowd. "That is why everything went wrong at Memfoso. That is why so many of you had to leave the closest thing you've known to a home since before the Destruction. The only people that knew the details of that raid beside Marjatla and Estingai and the team carrying out the mission were Mahele, Paiz, Kytai, and their guards. I immediately suspected Paiz, since she'd been so hostile toward me, among other things. I was ready to kill her, if needed.”

Estingai blinked. A few gasps rose from the crowd, but Koruuksi continued as though he hadn't just admitted to attempted murder.

"The trail was so clear," he said. "I thought it had to be her. When she convinced me it wasn’t, I considered Anarak. He would have known something about Memfoso since it’s so close to Ironpeak's base. But now he's dead, and I'm apparently to blame for it." Koruuksi turned his gaze on the woman next to Estingai. "According to Kytai, at least."

Estingai turned back toward the woman, this Kytai, falling into a crouch. The woman’s eyes were hard as she looked between her and Koruuksi.

"Since I ran the investigation," the woman began, voice cool, "it is only natural that I—"

"Is it?" Koruuksi asked, closing on her. "Wouldn't accusing the head of another faction—one of the Knights Reborn—and her brother fall to Mahele? Or Anarak’s replacement? It would have been a bit more convincing if he and Paiz weren't so shocked at your revelation."

"You have no proof!" Kytai shouted, stepping back. "Someone stop them! We wouldn't submit to them, so they're taking power by force!"

Estingai brightened her ambernodes and felt a tingling behind her.

She whipped around to see a few groups of angry men and women that had leapt past her and Koruuksi's people onto the dais.

Brightening her rednodes, Estingai pushed them back with a wall of solid, shining hardlight. She didn't shove them, just held them back. A wispy darklight barrier formed beside hers. Those people bounced off of it, stumbling back off the dais.

"Do you really want to fight?" Koruuksi roared. He was beside her now.

Koruuksi’s voice echoed through the chamber, and the room went silent.

"Do you want to die facing the Last Knight? The woman who single-handedly killed a Lightforged? The last of those who gave everything to resist the Imaia so you could have a chance at something more?"

Koruuksi's words struck harder than their barriers. People stumbled or hurried back.

Estingai almost grinned, dimming her ambernodes just a bit.

This is working. We—

"No."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Estingai whipped around as Mahele rose from his seat, advancing on Estingai.

"I don't believe it!" he cried, eyes frantic. "This is just a ploy."

Estingai tensed, eyes going wide as Mahele drew a pistol from his belt, raising it toward her. Even with her ambernodes and greynodes—

Before she could form a construct, Koruuksi was before her, holding back Mahele.

"You know it's not, Mahele," Koruuksi said. Estingai barely caught it over the ringing in her ears. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Just let it go, Estingai."

Estingai grimaced, heart pounding. So many years of training and experience pushed her body to strike back at the person who had tried to shoot her, but she resisted. For Koruuksi.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded at her brother.

Then something knocked him to the ground.

Estingai tensed. It was a blur faster than she could track. Estingai brightened her greynodes and ambernodes. The speed and precognition they granted her gave her just enough time to sidestep the knife that stabbed for her liver. Estingai caught the wrist, then twisted, turning with her hips.

Kytai's cry mixed with a loud snap. The knife fell from her fingers, clattering against the stone as she hit the dais with a crack.

Estingai nearly followed up with a strike to the neck, but stopped herself.

This is Svemakuu's murderer.

The Deathknight had wielded the blade that took him from her, but this woman was the one who had directed that weapon.

Estingai realized she was shaking, body burning with anger, but she did not move.

A quick death is too good for her.

As Kytai gazed up at her, eyes wide in pain and fear. Estingai's precognition alerted her to someone rushing toward her. She rose into a crouch, ready to strike, only to step back as Mahele's daughter seized Kytai by the shoulders.

"Why?" she demanded. "She was your friend."

"Because it was pointless," Kytai snapped, voice full of venom. "All of this is. That meeting, uniting our factions—why? We can’t hope to defeat the Imaia. All a unified front would have done is dragged out our eventual defeat. It would have given us a delusion to cling to—that we wouldn't all end up dead or imprisoned by the Imaia in a few years no matter what we do."

"And killing us off one by one is better than that?" Estingai asked.

The woman spat at her.

"If you Knights and those who followed you had just given up when your goddess doomed us all, we could have had hope. We would have lived under the Imaia, but it would have been something. They would have been lenient on us if I'd managed to take control and turn us over to them."

Estingai shook her head. "What did they say to make you believe that?"

Something in Kytai broke. "It would be better than dying with this world."

Would it?

Estingai shook her head. Straightening, Estingai turned to Mahele and his daughter, then the people of the gathered factions.

"She's wrong."

Estingai's voice was quiet, but it echoed through the cavern.

"We have hope," she said, a bit louder. "Our chances are bleak, but we can't and won't give up. The Imaia has branded us everything from rebels to terrorists. They would never let us into their society. We would ruin it simply by existing." She looked around. "We have a way out," she told the crowd. "We can escape this world, but we need to be united to do it."

Estingai gestured toward the Ironpeak ships that the faction had moved here. "We need Ironpeak's fighters and Last Shadow's massive, hidden caves.”

She looked to Uuldina and Meik'ka, down below.

"We need Icevein's farms and Stormswind's engineers."

Estingai looked up over the gathered crowed. They were silent, eyes fixed on her.

"We need to become the a single Remnant of those who once fought against the Imaia,” she said, almost a plea. "United, like we once were. Kytai is right. We can't defeat them. But we can escape, start over. Cling to that hope if you can. If you can't find that within you, be stubborn and vengeful. The Imaia took everything from me. From all of us. We aren't innocent, but the Imaia started this. They brought their war to our doorstep. They created Lightforged demons to slaughter us and hunt down those of us that remained, and they're stripping Efruumani —our entire world— of everything they can before they leave this world and leave us to die with it."

Estingai paused and realized she was panting, heart hammering at her ribs.

"I don't care if you like me or even agree with me," she said. "Just join me in being too stubborn to let that happen. I want to get you off this world. I want to see every one of you able to eat real food and walk under the sun's heat without worrying about being hunted or covering your tracks. My husband, Svemakuu, had a plan to get us out of here. One Vila and Narvyk and Raima and all the others agreed could work. I intend to see it through."

Even as her words echoed off the stone walls, a radio at Mahele's hip crackled. Starting, Paiz let go of Kytai, shoving her to the ground, and went over to where Koruuksi stood over her father to grab it.

"Yes, this is Paiz," she said, then held the radio to her ear.

She frowned, then gazed up at Estingai.

"One of your pilots is hailing us, telling us to open the main hangar."

Koruuksi straightened and Estingai's heart swelled.

"Let them in."

Paiz hesitated, looking between her and Koruuksi, then took a deep breath.

"Do it."

Moments later, a loud alarm blared through the cave. Then the entire room seemed to tremble.

Light spilled into the cavern—at an angle where none of the Samjati were in danger—as a massive stone door slid open, powered by an incredible mix of georaural and mundane tech from before they'd been forced to hide in caves and still had access to modern infrastructure.

Still, the light was nearly blinding.

Seventy-six seconds later, though, an Imaia fighter flew through the opening, whirling around as it came to a halt, then started to land. Another followed. Then a transport carrying two stacks of massive shipping containers followed.

They all touched down, then one more came through. This one had two people on it. One on either wing.

"Uuchantuu," Koruuksi breathed, before Estingai could even brighten her clearnodes.

"They did it," she swore.

Koruuksi hopped off the dais, running toward the ships.

"Estingai?"

Estingai looked to Paiz. The younger woman's expression had softened a bit, now far more curious than hostile.

"What's going on?" Paiz asked.

Estingai found herself smiling. "Have your people go help Koruuksi and those on the ships. They'll need to unload what they brought, and they might have wounded. You can close the hangar. This was an attempt to make up for what happened at Memfoso. There should be more back at Wolfden and the other bases.

Paiz studied her, then frowned. "And you told them to come here?"

Estingai shook her head. "I didn't. I just told them I would be here. They trusted me to do what I said."

"And what is that, exactly?"

Estingai looked to Mahele, then shook her head. He might be Vila's husband, but her death and Kytai's betrayal had broken him. For now, at least.

She extended a hand to Paiz. "To get you to join me. Or at least give us a chance to work out our differences and come to an agreement. I want more for us than this, Paiz, and I intend to get that, no matter what it takes."

Paiz studied her, then started shaking her head. She snorted, then smiled and raised a hand to her face.

"Auroras," she breathed. "I don't know why, but somehow I believe you'll do it."

Estingai nodded. "I will. I made some mistakes these past weeks, but I’ve learned from them, and I’m careful not to make the same mistake twice.”

Paiz peered at her a moment longer, then took her hand.

"I can't speak for Ironpeak, but Last Shadow is yours. What do you need?"