“So, that’s the Pass?” Caleb asked, peering over the tall dune, “That thing? That giant wall of bronze-colored steel with massive towers topping it and little robot men walking across the top? That’s the Pass?”
“Yep,” Helga said, “Somethin’ about Clockworks makes them good at buildin’ big.”
Mark crawled up next to them, squinting a bit as he took in the massive wall, “That’s big alright.”
“Regrettin’ not going with your girlfriend?” Helga joked, “I’ve had my share of young lovers, but I’m not… I wouldn’t be ballsy enough to let my husband run off with a cute girl. Even if she was made from some pirate’s corpse,” she said, a forced smile on her face.
Caleb had a guess as to what was making her upset, but could not make a conclusion. “I never got that. If you make an undead from a corpse, isn’t the undead just the thing controlling the corpse?”
“Well,” Mark drawled, “I was reading up on the fae and I learned they make their bodies out of mana, making it their moldable shell. In that case, are fae just mana shells?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Caleb said, “But that just-”
“Alright,” Helga said, “I know you two like bickerin’, but we still have a job to do. What else can you see?” The two men turned back to the Pass and squinted to see it closely. Really, the Pass was a narrow valley wide enough for a few skiffs to pass through at once. Instead of a clear passage, however, a massive wall stood instead. To Caleb, it almost seemed as if the wall had grown from the ground beneath it, the metal melted into the rock that made up the pass.
As they looked over the dune, another person crawled up to them, coming to rest beside Helga, “You guys see anything interesting?” she asked. Caleb turned to see Bella lying there, staring at the wall with a mix between surprise and worry.
“Other than the chunk someone took out of the great wall of china?” Caleb retorted, “No, nothing.” He turned back to the Pass, eyeing the five large towers that dotted the fifty or so feet of wall. On top of the towers were what looked like giant artillery cannons, though with an unnecessary amount of reinforcements to keep it locked to the top of the tower.
“What’s with that big tube over there?” Bella asked, pointing at a small pipe leading out from the inner parts of the wall. Caleb could already guess what its purpose was, especially when considering the fact that there were a number of steam outlet pipes running along the top of the wall, projecting a cloud of steam taller than the wall itself above them.
Helga turned to the small pipes Bella pointed at, a grim expression crossing her face, “That ain’t good,” she said, “Capt’n was goin’ on about dangerous pipes and the like. He said somethin’ about not going near them if we see them.”
“So we don’t go near the massive wall patrolled by a legion of killer robots unless we’re ready,” Bella said, “Got it. By the way, did we really need ten people here to do this? We’re just looking at a wall, and if it was that dangerous, then we’d be better off without more of us.”
“Conflicting accounts could be a problem,” Mark said, “Or maybe they’re banking on all of us having a different perspective. Or something.”
Helga shook her head, pushing the other two’s heads into the sand, “Not really, but before that, keep your heads down. I don’t want to get shot at by the big fellas up there.”
Caleb searched the wall, but he only found the tin men walking between the towers like a well-oiled machine. The largest things atop the walls were the towers and, failing that, the artillery capping them, “The biggest things I see are those massive cannons. What are you talking about?” Helga nudged her head towards the cannons, nodding her head, “Are you kidding me?” Caleb groaned.
“I wish I was,” Helga replied, “Those are what the system calls ‘Sky Guardians’ but what most who’ve dealt with them call ‘Sniper’s big brother.’”
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For a moment, they waited for her to finish, but she showed no sign of doing so. Eventually, Bella sighed and turned to Helga, “And why do they call them that?”
Helga grinned viciously, “Because when a Sniper can’t kill it, then that is what they call in. You know, I still don’t know why they haven’t put that thing on a Transport or somethin’. Luggin’ that thing around must be tough, but not so much that they would ignore how powerful it is.”
Mark turned to her, “How powerful is it?”
“Well, first,” she began, “How powerful do you think a dragon is? More than that, how strong are their scales?” They looked between each other and shrugged, turning back to Helga, “Well, someone threw a heavy clocksteel sword at a dragon’s wing, tip first, with enough speed for pretty much everyone else present to miss it happen, and it barely did anythin’ more than scratch the scale’s shine. That guy got turned into a puddle, but yeah, you get the point.
“Basically, three of those things turned a dragon into a broken mess. Granted, she was up and tearin’ shit up the next week, but my point still stands. Those things are dragon-hurters.”
“I thought the phrase was ‘dragon-slayers,’” a voice said from behind them. They turned to see Kevin and Natalia climbing up the dune and resting themselves down next to Bella, side by side, “Or are they just not good enough to kill a dragon?”
“A dragon never dies,” Helga said with complete seriousness, “They only rejoin the Creators, leavin’ their bodies behind to nourish the world, their children, or those who they find worthy.”
Natalia snorted, “That just sounds like a pretentious way of describing dying.”
The orc scowled, glaring at Natalia, “And that sounds like somethin’ someone who’s never seen a dragon would say. Wait until you see one, then tell me what you think about their mortality.”
“I hate to be that guy,” Caleb cut in, “But we still have a job to do. So, weird pipes, giant cannons that can shred a dragon, and some tin soldiers. Anything else?”
“What about those towers? They don’t look really… connected with the wall,” Kevin wondered aloud. Caleb turned his attention to the towers in question and agreed: they were not really connected to the wall in the normal sense. It looked as if they were placed atop the wall, rather than being built into it, “Does that mean anything?”
“Yeah,” Helga replied, “It means they’re Big Brothers.”
“But we already knew that,” Natalia said, “What does the fact that they’re disconnected mean?”
Caleb’s thoughts ground to a halt as a worrying, concerning possibility came to mind, “Wait… is that whole tower the Clockwork?” he asked, still unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth.
Helga nodded, “They are. Actually, their main bodies are just the upper half of the tower; the rest of it is used to keep the whole thing steady against the wall,” she explained, “They’re a bitch to fight, ‘cause you have to bust open their internals and then get to choppin’. On top of that, you have to climb up a few feet just to get there.”
They all nodded, looking at the five Guardians with wary eyes. Eventually, Helga began crawling down the dune. The rest of them followed, Caleb taking a final look at the wall before following. Once out of sight of the wall, they stood and began the trek back to the skiff.
Caleb had come to realize something, both during his stay aboard the Kharon and in the day since: he hated the desert. More specifically, the sun. It was hot and dry, making frequent drinks from his waterskin vital— though, he never did figure out where the thousands of gallons of water passed out to the soldiery every day came from. The sun beat down on him, draining his stamina. The sand, though far from as important as the massive problem that was the sun, was kicked up with every step and every gust of wind, getting all over his clothes and into his shoes. The cloudless sky left nothing but pale blue above him, reminding him of some highschool short story he had to read about yellow wallpaper. They were all small annoyances, insignificant, even, but they all combined into one of the worst experiences he had to deal with.
Luckily, skiffs existed.
At that time, they reached the small camp set up around the skiff that was loaned out to them. The skiff, along with a complement of three crew members, came from Nolus courtesy of a woman named Ajex. According to Bella, she was a cult leader who led a group in the underworld of her city. They had to be wary of her crew mates; they never knew what religious fanatics led by a cult of personality would do next.
Philip was sitting on the side of the skiff, shaped like a longboat with a sleek hull and thin armor. On the sand beside the skiff, the three crew mates were drawing in the sand, playing a game Caleb somewhat remembered being called gridlock. Helga wasted no time when they returned, telling the men to get ready to make way for the base camp. In a few short minutes they were off.
Caleb was happy for the silence between them all as they made their way back to the fortress; he needed time to remind himself why he was still willing to fight against giant cannons capable of hurting dragons.