Halari was amazed.
Her home was already feeling far more purposeful than it had in her whole life. The people moved, really moved while they worked instead of acting like they were automated workers just trying to get things done. She finally saw some spirit in their steps, in the way they gathered their harvests, in how they pushed loads of ore out of the mines.
Callan moved fast getting the Quarry together. Within a couple days, there was a good group of volunteers for the militia he’d talked about. He also made good on his promise to distribute the Melokide’s stores of foam and all the major lots looked renewed. Even some of the smaller yards had a few new inches of fresh foam, bringing bigger buds to the harvest more frequently.
It wasn’t all good things though. Telero moved quickly as well, and he’d gathered about twelve people to stand on street corners and preach the words of the Visionary. Most people ignored them as they worked.
Halari walked through the streets towards the Temple; Callan had commandeered a room in the building, but she knew he wouldn’t be there. She turned a corner and spotted him standing before the gates, talking with a couple members of his infant Council.
Norio, his Administrator of Trade, a thin man with a disproportionately wide gut nodded along with Callan’s words while Old Bear, newly appointed as the Defense Chief, stood stoically at his side.
“Excuse me, miss Halari,” a soft voice called for her to her left. Halari turned, immediately flushing at the use of such a formal title. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard it in the past week, and it seemed like the more she insisted, the more people kept at it. The young woman calling to her looked mildly concerned, but not worried, which was a relief.
“What’s the matter, Elizzia?” Halari asked, trying her best at a warm smile. “And it’s really just Halari, please.”
“Uhh…” Elizia smiled awkwardly, and Halari huffed softly, seeing that her plea landed on clogged up ears. “Halari, miss, I had a question about the militia.”
“You want to join up?” Halari asked eagerly. The budding army was kind of an all-boys club at the moment, and she desperately wanted somebody to train with who didn’t treat her like a window they might break. This even after a few of them had seen her pull a Cragbeast carcass into town. “We’re looking for some more people who want to learn how to shoot once we get more guns.”
“Oh no, I can’t stand the sight of blood,” Elizzia said, shaking her head. “My brother Dalvo wants to join up. And I just…” She frowned. “Are they going to fight like… soon? He’s kinda short, not really what I think a fighter would look like, so I’m worried.”
What to tell her? Halari wondered. She drew herself up to a more confident pose, remembering something Callan said about people finding comfort in posture. It was ridiculous to her, but it hadn’t hurt to try in the last few days. We’re definitely going to fight, but do I want to freak her out? What did Callan call it… directed vagueness?
“I think…” Halari quirked her head to the side while she formed the words. “I think Callan wants to focus on training first. I don’t think we’re gonna fight so much as a dustbunny any time soon.”
Elizzia giggled, then relaxed. “That’s good to hear. Dal’s got a good heart, but I can’t imagine him throwing somebody around.”
“He’ll be in good hands,” Halari said, waving the woman farewell. Elizzia went back to work in her field, plucking an encouragingly big ashbud off the foam and tossing it into a pail.
Halari made her way to the Temple, and Norio’s high-energy voice quickly came into earshot. She knew the man to be a clever, even devious businessman that could even get some discounts out of Bear’s stubborn ass.
“My lord,” he said, gesturing grandly, “when negotiating with the people of the Scrag Fort, strength is the best commodity. I simply recommend that you reveal your holiness, and they will throw whatever you ask at your feet.”
“A world is brought together through give-take,” Callan said with a small smirk, clearly finding the merchant amusing. He grinned at Halari as she took a spot standing next to him. “I’ll not give them the fear of god and take everything in return. We’ll start with a case or two of recharged Cells. Have you made contact yet, anyways?”
“The steps have been taken,” Norio said with an enthusiastic nod. “Now all we can do is wait.”
“Very well,” Callan said. “And Bear, how are the entry road defenses coming?”
“Good enough,” Bear growled amicably. “The gate’s coming along quick, but that’s about all we can do right now without more firepower.”
“Which we’ll have soon hopefully,” Norio assured, patting his old friend on the shoulder.
“Good work both,” Callan said. A young man approached with a case of twenty cells in his hands. “You are dismissed. We’ll talk again tomorrow.” The two administrators walked off with Norio already trying to swindle something out of the larger man.
“You ready?” Callan asked her, taking the case from the courier. “I was thinking we get some lunch, then head out.”
“Works for me, I’m starving,” Halari said, watching intently as Callan opened the case up and held it up in one hand. He blasted the cells with a shower of red-amethyst lightning, leaving each of the Cells glowing with power.
“How many is that now?” Halari asked.
“Three cases,” Callan said. He handed it back to the courier for delivery to a new, organized Storage section of the town. “By next week I want to double how much I can charge in a day without straining myself.”
“We’ve already got enough to trade at least,” Halari said. “Hopefully the Fort will talk to us, maybe we could sweeten the deal somehow?”
“That’s something I hope to find today,” Callan said, “but it’s a good idea. You’re really thinking like a leader.”
“Pffft,” Halari chuckled awkwardly. “I can barely think of a way to tell a woman that her brother’s gonna be fine in the militia, even with that ‘directed vagueness’ thing you mentioned. It feels really close to lying. What do I do with that?”
“It always will feel that way when you speak,” Callan said. “What matters is your intent. If it is actually to lie, then it is one, if not, you’re just trying to help.”
Halari nodded, sort of understanding. It still felt sort of dirty, but he had a point. There hadn’t been an ounce of ill intent when she talked to Elizzia, but was that enough?
Callan took her by the shoulder and smiled lightly. “Is it my turn to snap you out of your own head?”
“Ha-ha.” Halari rolled her eyes but didn’t try to remove Callan’s hand. “It’s just a lot to think about. You were right that the people would ask me things. I’ve talked to more of them this week than I have in the last three months.”
“If you think on it too much, the doubts will eat you alive,” Callan said softly. “Heart and soul. The Great Dragon admires decision, which is how I’ve always been able to function.”
“So have faith in what I choose to do?” Halari asked.
“Doubt is the king-killer,” Callan said, eyes growing distant. “Doubt and poorly placed trust.”
Deep scars, Halari thought, frowning. The worst kind that you can’t see. “You can trust me, you know?”
Callan grinned warmly, and somewhat sadly, at her, which she returned. “Come on,” he said, “we have somewhere to be.”
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At the edge of the Ruins, Halari and Callan stood a short distance from their volunteers. There were only four of them, and, besides Viria, they all looked mortified of the very shadow of the towers. Her sister gazed up at the city with wonder, definitely happy to be away from the farm lot she worked in.
“They look nervous,” she whispered, eying her new teammates. Recruits. Callan put me in charge of this specifically.
“They’re about to commit heresy,” Callan whispered back. “Think you can show them how it’s done correctly?”
“They’ll each have their own Blessed Flame by the end of the day,” Halari said with light laugh. Callan gave her a strange, somewhat amused, look and she blanched. I DID NOT just say that. “I mean uh… not to mean that you... uh… Yeah, hey, everybody are y’all ready?” She escaped with a sudden turn to the four.
Viria beamed her answer and nodded frantically. The other three just murmured assent, still warily studying the city’s skyline of Atlanta.
“This place can be pretty dangerous,” Halari continued, “so just keep your eyes open and stay together.”
“Expedition recruits!” Callan stepped up beside her. Was he standing closer than usual? The four straightened up, “While in the city limits, you will obey Halari’s orders to the letter. Understood?”
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“Yes Great Flame!” they said as one.
“Good,” Callan said. “Where to first, Captain?”
Now that I think about it… Halari smiled as an idea popped into her head. She wanted to take them all somewhere safe enough to get familiar with the streets, but she remembered a certain building that might have good stuff locked away inside. Plus, with her trawler as the only main method of mobile storage, they couldn’t carry much.
“Come with me,” she said. Halari led them a few blocks inside the city and towards the street where she first saw the gildgrown.
“Where we going, Hala?” Viria asked from her side. “Can we see something weird?”
Halari giggled. “What do you think is out here?” She shot her sister a questioning look. “Besides mantiles, the only weird things are deep into the city.”
“Oh…” Viria’s face fell. “That’s a lot more boring than I expected. What’d you find so interesting out here all these years?”
“It just…” Halari looked around at the stout buildings that defined the architecture of this area. “It’s hard to explain. It was just sitting here, a whole world next to our little town, and I got kind of tired just staring at it.”
“Hm,” Viria chirped. “Knowing you, I guess that makes sense.”
“Why did you want to come out here?” Halari asked.
“I’ve always been curious,” Viria explained with a shrug, “but now I don’t fear the Visionary damning my soul to the Burning Abyss for eternity.”
Halari rolled her eyes and laughed. She guided the group through the streets and stopped them just past the last building she’d gotten to that night.
“Y’all get to work on these doors with your picks,” Halari commanded after showing them how to find a soft spot in the doors. “And keep one eye over your shoulder. There shouldn’t be a mantile around, but just stay aware.”
That’ll keep em busy. “I need your help with something,” she said to Callan, beckoning him to follow. He arched a brow at her but said nothing more and walked with her back down the street. “I need you to get into this building.”
The impenetrable Piarmy stood over her, its strengthened door mocking her with its black sheen.
“A pharmacy?” Callan asked. His dragon eyes, ever intense, narrowed while scrutinizing the faded letters. “I suppose they might have some preserved medicine in here.”
“What’s a ‘pharmacy?’” Halari asked, glaring at the building.
“In your language I think it’s ‘healer house,’” Callan translated. “Why can’t you get in?”
“The stupid door is reinforced.” She stepped up to the metal and rapped its surface with her knuckles. “My pick couldn’t get through, but I watched you fist fight a Cragbeast, so—”
Callan sparked his lightning around his fist, reared his arm back, and punched through the door with the sound of a thunderous explosion and rending metal. Then, he fit his fingers into the new hole and ripped the door open from its middle seam.
“Just like that,” Halari said, feeling both stunned and a little annoyed by how easy he got this stupid building to spill its guts. She clicked her shoulder light on and stepped inside, eagerly swaying it from side to side over shelves and counters.
Halari smiled.
A couple hours later, she strapped a full two rucksacks of little black bottles and bottles containing gels that even Callan didn’t know about to her trawler. They were definitely all medicine though, judging by the labels that he read off.
“This is a good haul,” Halari said to the group. Each of their much smaller ATVs were loaded up with personal bags and stocked trunks. “It won’t always be this good, but it’s a great start. We can definitely go home happy.” The recruits whooped softly, then hopped on their vehicles.
“Ready to go back?” she asked. Callan said nothing but stared at something in the distance. “What do you see?”
“I think that might be what I’m looking for,” he said. “Recruits, with us.”
The building he found was one she’d seen before a few months back and was absolutely worthless. It was shaped distinctly with a round entrance foyer and a wide, curved main body. She’d found a lot of silvery slips of paper in the containers she could infiltrate, but nothing of actual value.
And last time, it definitely hadn’t been covered in…
“Everybody down now!” she hissed, crouching behind a partly-shattered sidewalk guard. Her recruits dropped like stones onto their bellies instantly and stared at her with wide eyes. Only Callan remained standing, looking around for whatever danger she’d seen. Halari reached up and pulled him down by the forearm.
“What is it?” he asked, not even bothering to lower his voice. She urgently put a finger to her lips, then pointed to the building, particularly the dark, purple-spotted splotches on its metal surface.
“See those?” she whispered. “Mantile eggs. It’s probably nearby.”
“Hala, what’s going on?” Viria asked. “Should we run?”
“There’s a mantile nearby,” Halari whispered. “Everybody move back to the vehicles, quick and quiet.”
“I need to get into that building,” Callan said, standing. “The Quarry needs what’s inside.” He walked forward confidently and Halari cursed his surety in his body. He was invincible, fine, but she and the others not so much. This wasn’t some logical beast he probably remembered from the old world; it was a bloodthirsty demon that only thought of how much blood it could spill. If one of those creatures targeted the group of warm bodies instead of the lone figure, it would kill them all.
Halari hung back, watching the shadows around the building for signs of movement. And she kept an ear out, listening for the sound of fluttering.
Callan crossed the street quickly, just daring to be attacked or ambushed. Halari squinted, swearing that she something move in the leftward alley shadow.
Then that shadow detached itself from the wall and turned, raising its massive pincers out from under its cloak-like wings.
The mantile’s bulbous black head swiveled independently of its torso and its dark, multifaceted amethyst eyes flexed as they fixed on Callan. It stood a head taller than him, shorter than the Cragbeast by a wide margin, but no less threatening with is black, glossy carapace and scythe-shaped pincers. Halari knew that the top halves of its appendages were razor sharp and easily able to shear through most material.
Oh damnation… Halari gestured for her recruits to stay low. They looked paralyzed anyways, each shaking with terror at the sight of a living nightmare chittering excitedly just a few feet away. She rose, slowly bolting a round into her rifle and sighting her aim to its head.
Damn bug won’t stop moving. She tried to keep her scope on its eyes, but the mantile was building to its bloodlust, becoming more and more agitated with each passing second.
Callan sparked his lightning in his fingers, standing off with the monster. They stared at each other for a long moment, then the mantile chittered out a sound like a hysterical child and lunged, swinging a pincer out in a reaping motion for Callan’s neck. Halari fired at the same moment and her shot went behind it to glance off the building’s surface.
The world flashed purple and red as Callan struck with his power. His burst of electricity struck the beast on its pincer with a crackling explosion, then dissipated.
Wha— Halari gawked. The mantile stood completely unfazed after the blast. Even the Cragbeast had been stunned by the lightning, but this nightmare… Was it even more dangerous than she thought? Callan looked confused too, but only for a moment before striking with another bloody-violet arc, this time aiming for the monster’s body.
Halari watched with terror as his power dispersed on the surface of the mantile’s chest carapace and was redirected down towards its legs before scorching the stone of the road.
Now, Callan looked concerned. The mantile didn’t give him another chance to strike and attacked with a flurry of short cuts. Callan took the blows on his forearms, which remained intact against the edged onslaught, but was pressed back by the fury of his enemy.
She chambered another bullet and fired again. The shot struck true on the glossy carapace guarding its right wing, but it ricocheted off and gouged a hole in the sidewalk barrier where her sister was hiding.
Can’t risk a stray, Halari thought. She had no other options. What can I do? The mantile brought both pincers down on Callan, perhaps trying to amputate both his arms at the shoulders, all the while screeching chitters that sounded both deranged and overjoyed. He caught the appendages on their arms just under the blades and held them over his head, locking the mantile and himself together in a reverse tug of war for leverage.
Acting on total, horrified instinct, she dropped her gun and drew her hunting knife, then dove towards the back of the insect, rolling as she hit the ground to put herself under its oblong abdomen. She looked around frantically for a soft spot like the Cragbeast, but even the abdomen was armored in carapace. There had to be somewhere, anywhere…
There! Halari stabbed her knife into the slot of a wrist-thick leg joint then ripped the blade to the side. It tore the wiry tendons messily but failed to sever the leg. Its light purple blood spurted out in a gush.
The mantile screeched in pain, then spun, dragging Callan with it as it whirled to find the source of its agony. Halari rolled again, then rose to a crouch and prepared to go for another leg.
She was just in time for the beast to spin again in its panic and slam the club of its abdomen into her side. She went flying and smacked hard into the sidewalk guard before landing roughly on the street.
The world blacked away for a moment on impact before returning to focus somewhat off kilter.
“Hala!” Viria abandoned her cover and ran over to her. “You’re bleeding! Thiemo, get the bandages!”
“Hide!” Halari pushed her off, sat up and tried to stand, only to fall back into her sister’s arms with a groan. Her head hurt, but she felt the need to fight, to help Callan kill this thing that would rip her friends apart.
I have… to move… she stood shakily and looked to the battle for an opening. She’d help even if it killed her.
Callan, still holding the mantile’s pincers, glared up at the beast, draconic eyes burning with a determined anger that Halari had yet to see. He jumped and planted both feet on its carapace, then pushed off…
Still holding the pincers.
Purple blood exploded from its thorax as its arms tore free. Callan flipped backwards, landing perfectly on his feet, and crossed the arm weapons in an ‘X’ shape before springing forward.
He pulled the scythe-like blades together just as they wrapped around the mantile’s neck, sending a spray of blood out to both sides in a wide shower.
The mantile’s head toppled to the ground like a rotten fruit falling from a tree and its body dropped onto its abdomen when its legs gave out. It slowly collapsed to the side and came to a fluttering rest before going completely still.
Thank… the visionary… Halari’s legs also went weak, so she sat on the road and let a trembling Viria dab at the cut on her forehead.
Callan tossed the arms away and rushed over to kneel before her. That anger she’d seen melted into worry. “Are you alright? Halari, talk to me.”
“Hit my head a bit,” she mumbled, grinning to hopefully put him at ease. He looked so worried, was that really for her? “Just gonna sit here for a second.”
“We’ll come back for this building,” Callan said, helping her to her feet. Was he gonna carry her? Maybe she wouldn’t mind that; her legs felt like rubber. “Right now, we’re getting you back.”
“Sounds good,” Halari mumbled. “And Callan…” She looked over to the mantile’s carcass. “We’re not taking that back to eat.” She winked at him, or maybe passed out for a second; she couldn’t really tell.
In any case, Callan did grin then and shook his head, then helped her home.