Beside the perplexed androids, Eva stood watch. She crossed her arms, stared at the horizon, and remembered her most recent conversation with Sten.

Apparently, Sten admitted the other synthetics had simpler thoughts and motivations, and yet, Sten would not admit they lacked souls. He told her to be kind to them but not because he considered them inferior.

Over one hundred years ago, Chrysanthos gave her the same suggestion: be kind. Yet, he had tried to convince her that their compatriots, himself included, didn’t have souls. He succeeded. Eva adopted the belief that her fellow synthetics were soulless, and she felt all the lonelier for it.

Now, Sten wanted to change Eva’s mind back! Since Eva had hibernated most of the last century, the two events seemed closer together than they actually were. It made Eva feel dizzy, having her worldview questioned every few years.

Still, both androids suggested she be kind. On that, they agreed, so Eva would find the best way to do that, starting with a rescue from Ul’thetos.

“They’re bound to be coming,” Leonidus warned her.

“I know. That’s why I’m watching.”

The androids resumed their silent watch, and behind them, Rooks’ force finished their work and prepared to rest. Eva heard their happy calls.

“These organics don’t know what they’ve gotten into,” Leonidus said.

“I think...” Eva paused, uncertain whether or not she would agree. “I think that it’s less they don’t know and more that they aren’t hopeless.”

Leonidus made a small sound. Eva never bothered to look at him. His body language would tell her nothing. So, she remained in the dark, concerning his opinion and mood.

Behind them, Rooks approached, and Eva and Leonidus both turned to greet the Commander.

Before a sound could pass anyone’s lips, an android shouted, “Automatons!”

Eva’s attention snapped back to the horizon. She saw nothing.

“There’s no one there,” Rooks said what Eva thought. “I don’t see any of the creature’s thralls...automatons...whatever we call them.”

Leonidus pointed at the android who spoke. “Hilarion has enhanced vision. He can see what we don’t.”

“Alright, so he bought us a little time. How much?” Rooks looked between the androids.

“A few minutes. Hilarion doesn’t see that well.” Eva pulled her staff from her back and checked both her guns.

Nearby, men watched Eva’s actions and looked to their Commander.

“Form a line,” Rooks ordered. She pointed where she wanted it, urging her men to fill in the empty spaces between the androids. “Will you help?” Rooks asked Leonidus.

To Eva’s surprise, Leonidus gave a curt nod.

Rooks wore her relief. “Alright. Then, you can stay where you are.”

Around Eva, Rooks’ force raced into a line, facing off against the flesh and the far-off automatons. The Iruedian men and Girandolans stood ready, growing antsy, until the first of Ul’thetos’ thralls staggered into view. On the horizon, thralls approached, twitching and jerking forward. They outmatched Rooks’ defense ten times over.

“Eva…” Rooks whispered at her ear.

“We have mages,” Eva said. “They make up for the numbers we lack.”

Ul’thetos’ tentacles started to wave. The large one dipped, reaching its way to the bunker, but the thing froze mid-stretch, covered by a shot from Sten’s ice gun. Eva admired his improved version of the weapon and hefted her own.

While the large tentacle hovered immobile, hundreds of small tendrils stretched and reached for the force, but they were too short to reach the men, let alone the bunker. Still, Rooks’ tiny army stepped back, away from the suddenly reaching tentacles.

“Keep it straight,” Rooks ordered. “Sten, shouldn’t this monster be tired and sick?”

“Even a sick human can wiggle a toe,” Sten said. “Not very useful but intimidating certainly.”

Eva nodded along and prayed that Ul’thetos wouldn’t find the energy to move its bulk. She looked at the entrance of the bunker. Their small force could just protect the entrance and stay out of the creature’s reach, but they had little room to retreat before losing the bunker itself.

Rooks must have noted the same. “Close up the bunker. If you won’t or can’t fight, get inside.” She gestured for noncombatants to leave the area.

Hundreds of little robots streamed by.

Rooks said, “Get me Inez and Eder. We need more mages, and we don’t have Meladee.”

Camellia scurried to comply.

“Meladee should return soon,” Eva said.

“Right, till then, we’re outnumbered ten to one.” Rooks called down the line, “Use the freeze weapons. When they get within three-hundred feet, fire.”

Camellia returned with the two young mages and brought them to a point just behind the line, preparing to defend them herself. Eva noted that Cernunnos and Adalhard hung back as well, prepared to help defend their mages.

Rooks resumed her orders, “If you’re a mage, then use some ice magic.”

Eva watched their Groazan, Tagtrumian, and Ponk soldiers. A handful of them began spells, and several magic circles settled in place ahead of their defense – traps, most likely.

Eva couldn’t understand it. With this large force at her side, she felt more wary than when she was alone, stalking across the Lurrien wasteland.

Camellia looked between the Ferrans and the distant enemy. A few feet ahead, Cernunnos and Adalhard waited, ready to help her keep their mages safe. Camellia felt less naked with them nearby, especially with a force of over fifty men and women even further ahead.

Two little robots fled, carrying the unused bombs in lightweight crates. Camellia watched the machines whiz away, headed seaward. She wondered if everyone taking shelter inside the bunker should do the same, but Rooks didn’t give the order.

“What do we cast?” Eder asked his sister.

Inez stared at the army, unable to answer.

Camellia turned around. “Summon something to fight for us. Like Meladee’s dragon.”

“That’s not easy to do.” Inez bowed her head. “You do know that summoned creatures have personalities, right? The first time you summon one is a risk. You have to get to know it before you can manipulate it.” Inez pointed to Eder and, then, herself. “We don’t summon a lot. Whatever we get will be new and might attack us.”

Camellia frowned. “Then, summon it as far from us as you can.”

Inez nodded. “What should we summon?”

“Something big,” Camellia said. “So, it lasts long, and you don’t have to do it again.” Camellia glanced at the battlefield and saw the automatons enter the first wave of trap spells. She remembered how the cultists paused for Corentin’s sea monster. Maybe, the thralls would have a similar reaction. “How about a kraken with legs?”

“Land kraken?” Eder repeated. “Okay. Uh, should I do the friendship runes? It’ll be nicer if I do.”

Inez scoffed. “No. It’ll be a pushover. I’ll do the friendship runes.”

Eder spoke low. “Oh God.”

Eder and Inez began their kraken summoning spell. Green-blue rings formed on the ground, seven in all. Camellia thought this would be some kraken. Meladee’s dragon only took three rings to summon.

Camellia watched the spell order itself. She leaned close and whispered, “Ice kraken.”

They didn’t acknowledge her words, but the spell’s color changed from deep to light blue.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Camellia put a hand to her head. “The ice egg. We should open it.”

Eva heard and looked back. “No, the Ferrans won’t be able to keep up with our personal warmth spells to counter the effects. We’ll freeze our own force if we do that.”

Camellia nodded once. “Right. Of course.”

With a sound like shattering ice and crashing waves, the kraken spell sped across the battlefield to find its place amid Ul’thetos’ thralls.

Camellia jumped.

Rising from the ground, came the ice kraken. It turned large, angry eyes to its surroundings and immediately scooped up clumps of automatons in five of its tentacles. Its legs were like an elephant’s. It stomped and crushed a few thralls under its feet.

“That thing is really something.” Rooks watched the line. She stood a bit back and a bit higher to a get a good view of the enemy force. “Seems…annoyed.”

Camellia saw it too, in the kraken’s eyes.

“Oh, it is,” Adalhard said. “As I understand it, it has a temperament similar to Inez’s.”

Cernunnos crossed his arms. “Just a few years shy of surly teen. Summons are like imaginary friends, based off the person who imagined them.”

Rooks narrowed her eyes. She still watched the horde. “I hope it doesn’t come our way. Inez is big enough. Fire!”

Her men shot the first thralls to come within their range. Many froze to the spot, but most staggered on.

“More magic,” Rooks urged the Ferrans.

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“We’re not battle mages,” Eder complained, too quiet for Rooks to hear. “We can’t spell fast enough for this.”

Camellia readied her sword. “I’m just a pathetic anthropologist, and I made it through this place. Now’s a good time to practice your spellwork while you have everyone to hide behind. You can do it.”

Inez and Eder exchanged a look.

“More ice?” Inez said.

Eder shook his head. “How about snow?”

Both Ferrans began separate but similar spells. Two circles glittered white, with dual rings, and puffy runes.

Several feet ahead, Rooks’ men began to hack thralls with their electric swords. Some still fired ice guns at the approaching horde.

The Ferrans’ spells went off and dumped tons of snow on the kraken, and the thralls. As the thralls caved under the weight, the kraken shook itself free and roared its displeasure.

The snow tumbled to the feet of Rooks’ defense, tripping some thralls just ahead of the small avalanche. None of Rooks’ people ended up under the snow, and as the automatons struggled to free themselves, the defense cut them down.

Inez laughed, and Eder smiled.

Camellia smiled too. “That was a good one.” She pointed at the large tentacle by the side of the bunker. “You may need to refreeze that.”

The tentacle strained under its ice.

Inez and Eder nodded. Together, they built a seven-ringed spell, designed to keep the tentacle out of trouble for what should be the rest of the battle.

Camellia wondered if the spell might freeze the entire front of flesh. The Ferrans seemed to have a habit of making things bigger and longer lasting than even they realized. It didn’t matter. In this case, it helped. Camellia turned back to the battle and jumped as a single automaton staggered quickly through the front line. Adalhard cut it down, and Camellia sighed her relief.

Beside Eva, Sten fired his ice gun, and Eva snapped her staff through frozen, brittle limbs. Sten cut down the nearest automaton, and more took its place. Eva smashed others to pieces, and Ul’thetos’ thralls barely noticed. The only way to stop them was to destroy them.

As Sten froze more, Eva used her respite to check their surroundings. She glanced back. Atop the bunker, she saw Tiny Tin and Ferrou at work on a canon.

“A canon,” Eva called. “Where did you find that?”

Tiny Tin narrowed his digital eyes. “Commander Rooks. We’ve been trying to convert it into an ice laser for an hour. We would have been done sooner – if not for Leonidus.”

Eva seethed. She whacked frozen automatons and didn’t bother to look down the line at Leonidus. She knew he fought, protecting the organics, but she wondered if he would feel shame at his initial denial to help. He should

“Wonderful.” Sten straightened and glanced at the canon.

Eva smashed the automatons. Sten helped.

Though he was occupied, he still had more to say about their new weaponry, and he sounded happy. “We could use something with more fire...I mean icepower.”

Sten wielded an electric short sword and cut into one of their opponents.

The flesh fell in ribbons, and they glimpsed the steel skeleton underneath. Eva also saw round eyes, common to so many of the repair bots.

“Oh no,” Sten whispered.

“They all used to be people,” Eva warned him. “Don’t let that stop you.”

Rooks strode to their part of the line. “If we don’t get that ice laser operational, we may find the battle over before we can test it.” Rooks spared Tiny Tin and Ferrou a final look and continued down the line. She found a weak point and shot the automatons harassing her people.

“How many people did Ul’thetos take?” Sten asked.

“Everyone.” Eva kicked a thrall and shot it, point blank, through the face. “More are on their way. Probably some converters.”

“What about the second one?” Sten thrust his chin towards the roof.

“The second one?” Eva caught frozen tentacles around her staff. She twisted the length of crystal to hold them in place. While she held the thrall at bay, she looked up to the roof and spotted a second canon. “I don’t know what they’re doing with that. It’s Lurrien make. One we can’t convert.”

Eva’s thrall gurgled and reached for her abdomen.

She pushed the thrall back and freed her staff, spinning and snapping the crystal over the thrall’s head. “It’s a missile launcher.”

Sten cut Eva’s thrall and allowed her to retreat.

“A missile launcher is far from useless,” he said.

“Yes, but it’s good not to disperse the flesh particles through the air. Remember, people have been infected by that. Will you be alright here? I want to ask them about it.” Eva walked to the bunker and prepared to climb up.

“By all means.” Sten gestured for her to go, even though she was already gone.

Eva pulled herself to the top of the bunker and glanced at the looming frozen branch, the only one long enough to scrape the bunker’s edge.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as she gained her feet. Eva walked up the curved roof to join them at the bunker’s gentle apex.

“We want to use the projectiles to smash frozen thralls,” Tiny Tin said. “Ice canon is ready by the way.” With a single, spindly arm, Tiny Tin waved at the large gun.

Ferrou molded his body over the canon’s trigger and wrapped himself around its handles. He positioned the canon, turning it and angling it high to reach out into the horde. Ferrou squeezed the trigger, and ice fired into the center of the thralls, missing the kraken.

The kraken roared and stomped on the frozen bunch.

“Looks like you might not need the missile launcher after all.” Eva shot into the nearby horde, breaking some frozen thralls, just beyond the main fight.

“Get Sten. He can fire the missiles,” Tiny Tin said.

“Excuse me?” Eva glared at the repair bot. She was already present. Why couldn’t she fire the missiles?

Tiny Tin pulled his arms tight to his box and tapped his appendages together. His eye stalks retreated as far as they could go. He feigned fear and spoke with sarcasm, “I meant you’re the much better melee fighter.”

Eva’s glare softened, and Tiny Tin came out of his shell, literally.

Eva continued to fire beyond the fight. “Once we fire off the missiles, how do you propose to deal with flesh particles in the air?” She needed to ask. After all, she probably contributed to the problem, with her recent attacks. Eva had to admit, it was too tempting to shoot the thralls, like fish in a barrel.

“If we don’t put a few particles in the air, organics will surely die.” Tiny Tin pointed one arm at the horde below.

Eva observed Ul’thetos’ army. The automatons stretched over the landscape. Eva nodded. She could see their numbers just fine.

“Sten,” She called.

Sten pulled himself over the side of the bunker and walked up the roof. “Eva, you’d better get back down there.”

Eva spotted her old place in line. Automatons threatened to overrun the soldiers. Eva slid down the bunker’s side and ran to their aid. She whacked a thrall about to break through. Her running start coupled with her anger sent the thrall sailing back.

Shots from Ferrou’s ice canon punctured the air, creating a wall of ice some feet ahead. Thralls struggled over the top and around the sides, giving the team time to clear their current opponents.

More of Ferrou’s shots aimed over the wall, deep into the battlefield. Sten’s shots followed. Missiles crashed into frozen thralls, or, so Eva assumed. She could see nothing above the wall of ice.

Eva lacked true breath. She couldn’t inhale particles and was glad of it. Still, she worried about the organics.

As Eva fought, she imagined Ferrou’s ferocious attack. When the liquid repair bot used armaments, she couldn’t help but feel he resembled a melting gangster. She found it hard to imagine gentle Sten working the missile launcher, but each time Ferrou froze a cluster of thralls, Sten fired at Ferrou’s former targets.

Rooks ran behind Eva. “Ferrou, Sten. I would have liked that wall a little further back. They can practically slide into battle. It’s not going to melt soon, so I need you to keep thralls from climbing it.”

“Yes, Commander,” Sten answered.

So far, few automatons slid over the wall, and when they did, Rooks’ people were ready for them. Sten and Ferrou just needed to keep the pace steady, and Rooks’ force would be a factory of death.

Eva began to think they would find victory not long ahead.

A handful of thralls broke through the line, but Camellia’s blade touched none. Adalhard and Cernunnos destroyed every one before they reached her. Camellia wanted to help, but if her blade could not aid the battle, her mind could. She helped Inez and Eder think of spells to cast, lending more thoughts to the creative process.

“I’m getting tired.” Eder slumped. “What should we do next?”

“I’m not sure.” Inez gazed at Camellia. “Any ideas?”

Camellia thought hard. They’d summoned many beasts and created ice traps. She struggled for something new, another surprise for their enemy. Camellia shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m drawing a blank.”

Camellia looked up and saw that the sun sat high in the sky. She heard heavy, squelching footsteps and whirled just in time to impale a thrall. The thrall didn’t surprise her, but seeing Adalhard so close did.

Adalhard had chased the thrall to their group. “Face forward or get in the bunker.”

Adalhard’s sword sailed beneath hers, and he cut the thrall in two. On the end of her sword, half a thrall squirmed. Camellia angled her weapon and let the thing slide free.

With gloved hands, Adalhard picked up both halves of the creature and tossed them back over the line. Camellia thought he might rejoin Cernunnos, but instead, he returned to her, likely to enforce his suggestion that she enter the bunker.

Camellia blurted, “Do you have any spell ideas?”

“Ice crabs,” Adalhard said. “They can scurry under our feet to attack the automatons.”

“Good one.” Eder nodded.

He and Inez conjured a five-ringed circle, with a clear crab shape at its center.

Spells with such clear pictures were weaker than their counterparts that relied on magic runes and symbols. Pictures were like shorthand. They allowed mages to get a job done fast and easy, not necessarily well.

Camellia would never describe Inez and Eder as sloppy. The crab picture signified they needed rest.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the bunker?” Adalhard put a hand on Camellia’s shoulder.

She nodded. “I’m sure.” She gestured to the bunker door. “I mean just look. The bunker will probably be overrun in twenty minutes. It’d be better for me to just run away.”

“You’re right.” Adalhard gave Camellia a gentle shove. “Get started.”

Crabs scurried over their feet and headed for the front line.

“I’m not going,” Camellia objected. She walked back to her position.

She planted her feet and waited for Adalhard to nudge her again. Instead, he looked over her shoulder. Camellia turned around to see Meladee jump off Benham’s bike and run towards the battle.

“Save some for me!” Meladee shouted. She ran to the Ferrans and clapped each on the shoulder. “Love the kraken. Hey, listen, I’ve got a spell that will end this fight. I just need you guys to help refine it. It’s got nine rings. Used to do it with my sailing buddies.”

Inez and Eder nodded. Meladee huddled with them and, in whispers, explained her idea.

Camellia turned to Adalhard and gave him a half-smile. The sight of Meladee renewed her spirits.

“Converter!” Eva shouted.

She aimed a freeze gun the converter, but the thing ducked, making itself small. The ice laser blew over it.

“That one is designed to infect us!” Sten called to the people on the ground.

Everyone aimed at the one converter, and it fell under their collective attack.

Eva watched it fall, but more converters crested the ice wall and popped out of the hills of flesh. More than she had ever seen.

Several she identified as synthetics, but some were aged organics, smelling of new blood. They loped towards the defenders. They didn’t slide. They controlled their descent and waited for their numbers to grow.

“I’ve never seen so many,” Eva said as Rooks joined her.

Lesser thralls fell back, hiding behind the tree-like converters.

“Commander Wren!” Sten called. “This group may be trouble.”

“Fire on them,” Rooks ordered. “Make a new ice wall, further back. We’ll deal with these, but I don’t want more to reach us. I don’t want them close.”

In the midst of the converters, Meladee’s dragon shot up from the ground. It chomped one converter and knocked another with its tail. The dragon’s front claws caught two more.

Rooks smiled. “Meladee! Just in time.”

Eva would have exclaimed the same, but she left the outburst to Rooks and her men.

Meladee’s basan joined the dragon, and the two beasts caught a converter between them. They pulled the thing apart, flesh and metal skeleton both.

Rooks called, “Meladee, conjure anything you like. Fulfill your wildest dreams.”

“Got a good one. Just waiting for the Ferrans to fix it,” Meladee shouted back.

Eva listened to Meladee’s words, but she kept her eyes ahead and her staff in the fight. She pushed one converter on to Rooks’ electrified sword. Both women paused, hearing inhuman cries.

“What was…?” Rooks searched the battle.

Eva looked ahead. Six converters converged on Meladee’s dragon and stabbed it to the ground. The basan suffered the same fate, and its piercing cry layered over the dragon’s final roar. Rooks and her people fired on the converters, and several fell to the ground, frozen over.

Meladee’s creatures had been lost so soon, but the original wall of ice remained. Despite its proximity, it served as their greatest defense.

Sten aimed just short of the wall, probably trying to break up the frozen converters. “We’ve lost the kraken by the way.”

Eva frowned. With the kraken finally gone and no summoned beasts to replace it, the automatons would come straight for Rooks’ force.

To the rear, Meladee and the Ferrans gathered in a circle. Each mage pictured three rings of Meladee’s nine-ringed spell. Meladee took the outermost rings and center as they were the largest and most detailed. Her rings appeared first, followed by Inez and Eder’s.

Meladee peeked at her fellow mages, finding them a bit slow, but she reminded herself to give them the time. After all, they had finished re-writing her ambitious spell.

“A few more hits, and we’ll retreat.” Commander Rooks’ voice sounded distant. “We might need to carry some…” Rooks voice faded to the background.

Meladee planned against retreat, hoping this spell would end the fight in the defender’s favor.

Once Inez and Eder found their focus, the three mages cast the spell.

A blue circle dissipated from their workspace and reappeared in a massive pattern. It reached all the way from just ahead of Rook’s line to the back of Ul’thetos’ horde.

The spell went off.

A great wave of ice traveled from the spell’s edge. The wave wound around, catching every thrall on its route and sending smaller waves out for stragglers. The waves spiraled upwards, holding every remaining thrall in their grasp. Soon, Ul’thetos’ army wriggled and shrieked, all part of a tower of ice.

Rook’s entire force stopped to stare.

“Retreat cancelled,” Rooks said softly.

Meladee stared in awe at their handiwork, her mouth slightly agape. Her mouth fell open as she watched Lurrien synthetics climb the tower to kill each thrall trapped inside.

“Damn, and I thought Eva was cold.”