Raini awoke to singing and bright light streaming through the window. Her hands still hurt, as did her back but she still felt a thousand times better than she had before. The song drifted through her room, a low mournful sound that was quite familiar. Sighing she pulled herself out of her cramped bed and staggered onto the floor. Not really paying any attention she checked herself in the mirror, forced her hair into something more dignified and headed outside.
Her crew were standing attention on deck, formed up in lines singing. She finally recognized the words as Jackal’s Song, supposedly what he sung before his final battle, although it had only appeared four hundred years after it. It was not an angry song, nor was it particularly sad, rather it was full of hope for the future, safe in the knowledge that whether they lived or died the day was coming when life would be better.
The Scatha called Hider had said as much to her the night before, but even knowing that and hearing the song being sung now was small comfort.
“Morning Captain.” She looked up and saw Tain standing over her on the aft castle. Not wanting to disturb the singers she rushed up to him. “Did you sleep well?”
“You don't look like you slept at all.” She faced the singers and only spoke just loud enough for Tain to hear. The singers deserved as much attention as she could give them.
“Didn't feel like it. We should be at Vlatch in a couple of hours.” He had one hand lazily on the wheel, the wind was good and coming in from the right direction, so he didn't have to pay much attention to it. The singing began to rise as they reached the last few verses, all about Jackal having said his last goodbyes was preparing himself for the fight. It was said that only Jackal had not been swept away in the first few minutes of the attack and that only his determination had kept him alive. Too stubborn to die, too ferocious to pause even for breath, as the story had said. Raini hoped that somehow the same would be true for her crew.
“Good, where's Mercy?”
“Right there,” Tain said pointing down to the far end of the ship. Between the lines of crew and the masts she could just about make the Scatha out, standing like some sort of ships figure head. Raini nodded and waited for the song to finish, when the last lyric had been uttered, she walked back down to the deck and up to Lilis. She gave her a salute while her crew watched expectedly.
“Good morning, Captain. I hope you don't mind the impromptu concert. I thought it was appropriate.” From what she could tell Lilis hadn't had that much sleep either.
“Not at all. They sang very well.”
“Thank you, captain.” She grinned.
“We have several weeks’ worth of food and drink in the hold. I don't think we will need it for long. Let everyone have whatever they want as long as they don't make themselves drunk.” Lilis’ grin widened.
“With pleasure captain.” To Raini’s embarrassment Lilis turned to the crew. “Three cheers for Captain Raini Kasom!” Raini winced as they complied enthusiastically. She pushed her way through the crowed, shaking hands with several sailors, being patted on the back by many others, until she reached the other end of the ship and waiting for her, Mercy.
“Captain Raini Kasom, I am glad that you are rested.”
“Have you just been stuck here the entire night?” Raini said with a laugh.
“No, I have been doing odd things and having odd thoughts, I have some questions for you.” Raini raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
“Really? Yet again you run into the problem of not being able to offer us anything we want.” She gazed out at the ocean, and the land mass in the distance. It was late morning and there was a chill wind in the air, but it felt more like home than anything else in the whole world.
“Yes. Everything I have tried to do to end this invasion has failed. The Kings are arguing and the Scatha wait without leadership to see which one will be guilty.”
“So?”
“There is still a chance that it is Judgment, if that is the case, I may be able to make us withdraw.”
“If's and may's,” Raini said with a sigh and shook her head. “You've already killed so many. Besides how can you prove it either way. We tried with motivation and opportunity, what else is there?”
“You would give up so easily on the only chance to save what remains of your people?” Raini didn't respond but just stared out at the sea. Only chance, that was what Mercy had said, but Hider had told her there was no chance at all. The only thing she could was to make those cracks, make them as deep as she could and hope for the best.
“Very well, I'll help you this one last time.” And do whatever I can to plant a thought inside your head, she added to herself.
“Thank you. First of all, do you know anything about the creatures you call Dragons?” It was the last thing she had expected to be asked.
“Erm, no one knows much about them. We were still cave dwellers in that time. They came here and wiped out the Illifran then left, that's about it.”
“Do you have any writings on them?” Raini shook her head. They were only just regarded as a myth, even actual evidence of the Illifran's existence was scarce.
“It was a good two and a half thousand years ago, and they didn't stick around afterwards. There may be more information on them when we get to the fortress of the Dead, you never know what they might be hiding.” Mercy nodded and Raini waited impatiently, talking about mythical creatures from millennia ago was pointless when her entire species was close to extinction. “How do we prove that Judgment's guilty then?”
“I do not know. There is nothing to distinguish between him and Compassion in terms of motive and opportunity.” Raini took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Ok,” Raini said. “What else don't we know.”
“A great deal,” Mercy offered without any hint of sarcasm.
“No, what can we find out that we haven’t already done so. We know that Free Thinker went to see the Kings, do we know why?”
“No, we know what he might have been thinking of, but we cannot prove it. He had a list of all the creatures we have encountered-”
“And killed,” Raini said.
“-that we have encountered and the recording off the time when the Kings rose up and killed Hatred. There were also many damaged memory modules that we were unable to scan.”
“Let’s focus on those two things then. What if he'd discovered something about this business with the Kings and went to confront them? Maybe they all killed him to hide the truth.”
Slowly, mechanically Mercy turned to face her fully. “No, all knowledge is shared,” she said.
“But what if it isn't? If this Knowledge is in charge of all, well, knowledge, then what's to stop her from keeping something back?”
“It is not possible.” Raini punched the railing, forgetting that her hand already hurt and then winced.
“Prove it,” Raini said out of desperation. “Are you sure that there is nothing that you don't know about?” Mercy was silent then for so long that Raini wondered if she was still there at all.
“It is possible that Hatred's death revealed something about his origins, but if a clue is there than neither I nor anyone else can see it. It may well have taken Free Thinking Warrior thousands of years to spot it.”
Try to remain calm Raini told herself, getting frustrated won't help anyone. “Fine, lets come at this from a whole different angle. Were there any signs of a fight?”
“What does that have to do with it.”
“Just answer Mercy, was there a fight?”
“No. Judging from the footprints in the sand and the damage on the body the attack was a single blow to the head.” Mercy said and Raini felt her lip twitch into a smile.
“So then, why wouldn't there be a fight? Could the murderer have snuck up on the Warrior?” Then she remembered what the four Kings had looked like, how they had towered over all of them.
“No. Any Scatha, especially a Warrior would have noticed them.”
“So, what could stop a Warrior from fighting back?” She took a step closer of Mercy.
“They have very strong self-preservation instincts, there is only one thing that could override them.” She took another step and was almost face to face with Mercy.
“And?” Raini said, her voice loud enough to attract the attention of some of her crew.
“If he was ordered to by Judgment. As a Warrior he falls under Judgments remit so he can command Free Thinking Warrior to do anything.”
“Including just standing still while Judgment lined up a punch.” Raini grinned and then felt the excitement and the grin fade. “It's still not that much is it?”
Mercy didn't respond. Raini turned back to her crew, a worried expression on her face. They stood silently watching her and Mercy. In the back she could see Tain and Avon pushing their way through. She turned back to Mercy. “I said it's not that much is it?” Again, no response.
“You haven’t broken her, have you?” Avon said half-jokingly.
“I don't know,” Raini said. Mercy was as still as a statue; she felt a shiver run down her back.
“Mind telling us what you just did Captain?” Tain asked. It took a couple of minutes to give them the basic story, and then another ten to give them the more in-depth version. By the time she'd finished none of them were any wiser and Mercy still hadn't moved.
“This could be a good sign,” Avon said cautiously.
“I'll only see it as good once the last Scatha leaves this world,” Raini said. “Until then I'm not going to relax at all.” They waited in awkward silence for another ten minutes.
“Look at them,” Avon said, pointing at the shore. At first Raini wondered what the hell the strange grey lines could be. They ran all over the shore and as far as she could see until they blurred together in a mass a grey.
“Are those...” Tain said.
“Scatha, waiting for us,” Avon said. They stood as still as Mercy was, each one no different from the last. “There must be several hundred thousand of them.” Raini squinted and let her eyes follow the lines into the distance.
“No, there not waiting for us. It's a curve, there all surrounding something.” Tain said.
“The fortress,” Avon said. She glanced back to see him visibly sag. “They already know it's there.”
“How many men will be there?” she asked. Avon shrugged.
“A few thousand perhaps, and with better weapons than anything you've ever seen.” His eyes flicked to Mercy. “But I'd rather not tell all here.”
“Well, I guess this fortress won't be hard to find,” Raini said. “I suppose all we can do is get there and hope Mercy comes back to us with good news before they attack.”
She ordered the Sea Dancer to hug the coast, and those crew who weren't busy stood on the deck and watched the Scatha go past. Raini couldn't count them all and didn't feel like trying. It was more people than she'd ever seen, more figures than she'd ever thought possible to get into one place. So far, she hadn't seen evidence of a single Scatha being killed by any clan warrior and she knew that any battle was a foregone conclusion.
Mercy stayed where she was and showed no indication that she was even inside that body. No one was going to bother her. After a few more minutes Avon appeared to get his old energy back. He pulled a tight grin and slapped Raini on the back.
“You just wait till we get to the fortress,” he said as he paced back and forth. “Then you'll see some very special weapons. You think these mag cannons of yours are impressive, wait to you see some of the stuff we have. Tracker-Cannons, now they'll make the Scatha think twice!”
“I don't see how they can be much better than what the clans have come up with,” she responded.
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“Oh you silly girl,” he said, and she winced. “You think I was the only one to think of faking my own death. All the great minds have done it, and once they've retired, they come to this place and work on whatever they want. You'll see soon enough.”
“You have made a mistake,” Mercy suddenly said. Avon jumped so much he almost ended up in the ocean.
“What?” Raini spluttered.
“There is another reason why Free Thinking Warrior would not fight back.”
“And that is?” Avon said, struggling to regain his composure.
“If Free Thinking Warrior wanted it to happen.”
Raini sighed and shook her head. “That's not much help either. Unless...” her voice trailed off as her mind raced to catch up. She thought back to Compassion and her brief interrogation. Then Raini swore loudly. “It fits, Dead damn it all, it fits.”
“What does?” Avon said.
“Compassion said she'd kill a Scatha if it asked them to, and if it wanted to then it wouldn't fight back would it?”
“No,” Avon said with a snarl. Raini saw the surprise on his face as she smiled.
“But it doesn't answer everything. Why kill Free Thinking Warrior on the planet’s surface? Why delete the information and keep on deleting clues? Why not just have it all out in the open and on record?” Raini turned to Mercy, waiting for an answer.
“Please hold, the Kings are having another argument.”
“Fantastic,” Raini said. “But I don't think it's enough to start the revolution we need.”
“On the contrary,” began Avon. “We've shifted the focus now. We have circumstantial evidence of who committed the murder, or suicide, or whatever it was, and we've isolated that from all the really important questions. In this society, one that supposedly doesn't hide any knowledge, who's the person who figured out how to do just that, and why did they do it? A single murder doesn't bring revolution but pointing out to a society that one of its foundations is a lie, that could do it. Now we've taken the murder out of the lie it won't distract any one from it.” Raini shook her head and gazed out across the ocean. She was a naval captain, not a politician and it felt like Avon was grasping for straws.
“A judgement has been reached,” Mercy said. Her eyes dimmed as she paused. She looked down at the deck and then back up to Raini. “I do not understand. Judgement admits that we are correct and has stated that since we do not have enough information to prove that Compassion is guilty the investigation can end.”
Raini felt sick, she took a deep breath. That wasn't enough evidence, it could still be Judgement. Evidently Avon was thinking along the same lines.
“Is that enough to undermine Judgement or the Kings and make you withdraw from this world?” he asked.
“No. The question they now want me to investigate is who deleted the information, unfortunately the Kings have decreed that you cannot help in that regard.”
“Yes, we can,” Raini shouted before even thinking what Mercy said through. “We can remember things that keep on vanishing from your mind.”
“Whoever did that is no longer doing so,” Mercy said, but the words were spoken slowly. “The Kings believe the danger has passed.”
“Captain,” Tain shouted from behind her. Raini turned to see him pointing at the sky a terrified look on his face. She looked upwards to see thousands of small dots in the sky, falling towards her.
“What the-” Avon slammed into her in that moment, knocking her to the ground as the creatures whipped through the Sea Dancer’s sails and across the deck. He screamed as she pushed him off of her and dragged herself to her feat. The skull like Scatha were swarming around the deck of the ship like bees. Their whines mixed together with screams and the sound of steel on Scatha flesh. Mag pistol in one hand Raini ran towards Tain and the aftcastle. One of the Scatha buzzed around her head and she found herself uselessly ducking left and right trying to get away from it. The creatures were so thick in front of her that she couldn't even see the aftcastle. Don't ask questions, she told herself, just fight. Something slammed into her head and knocked her down to one knee. Raini realized that she had to get below deck to nullify the Scatha's advantage of being able to fly, but the creatures were so thick she there was no way to reach the hatch.
Raini took a deep breath, drew her sword and was about to try one last death or glory charge when the cannon fired. It had been the one that Lilis had run backwards and turned to face inwards when Mercy had first come onboard. It had been double loaded with two shells and another pack of case-shot turning it into a giant shotgun. Those shots crashed into the swarm in front of her sending Scatha flying in all direction. Seeing the opportunity Raini leapt into the momentary gap. She took another step forward, felt her foot get caught on a body and was suddenly falling forward. She landed next to the just fired cannon, narrowly missing bashing her head against it and looked up to find Lilis crouched next to it, the lanyard in her hand.
“Captain,” she shouted. Her face was a picture of terror painted with tears. Raini forced herself to her feet, she still had the mag pistol but she'd dropped her sword. A shadow crossed over her and Raini saw Mercy bounding towards her, Avon's body held in one hand.
“We are leaving,” Mercy declared as she approached. For a moment Raini didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Then she noticed that Avon was still alive and trying to free himself from Mercy's grasp. Mercy didn’t even notice his struggles.
With her free hand Raini grabbed hold of Lilis by her jacket and them screamed at her to hold on. The body of Mercy slammed into her and for half a heartbeat all four of them were airborne.
They hit the water hard. Mercy was holding Raini under one shoulder and was dragging her, Avon and Lilis towards the shore. From appearances she was swimming as fast as her legs could manage. Lilis clung onto Raini tightly and just screamed as they raced through the water, Raini had no breath left to even do that.
When Mercy reached the shore she dragged them up the beach a good ten meters before dropping them without ceremony in the sand. Avon was coughing, Lilis was crying and Raini just stared out as the bow of the Sea Dancer broke apart from the hull. Small black dots hung around and occasionally darted into the water like some sort of hunting bird. It took her a moment before she realized that they were finishing off the survivors. One solitary dot broke away from the cloud and began moving towards the shoreline.
“What-,” Avon spluttered.
“What the hell was that?” Raini said in between desperately deep breaths.
“The Kings said you were no longer needed,” Mercy explained.
“We had a deal!” Raini pulled herself to her feet, sea water ruined mag pistol in hand. She was tired, physically and emotionally, but she couldn't stop fighting now.
“The deal was to protect you and Avon, which is why I saved you,” Mercy said. Avon sat upright, although Raini could see that that was clearly the extent of his strength. “Like hell it was-”
“We said we would not obstruct or fight either Raini, Avon or Luit for another two hours. That is still in effect, no others were mentioned.” Mercy said. The small black dot was just seconds away, it's significance lost on Raini until Lilis gasped.
“That's, that's not how it works and you know it,” Raini said. She looked down at her Magpistol, there was no chance it would fire now, the water would have wreaked the powercell, but could the Scatha spot that?
“But it is Raini. We specified who was protected very clearly. I am sorry however, I received no warning.”
Raini wanted to ask more questions, but the other Scatha was almost on top of them. She had to think fast. “Everyone on your feet.” She ordered. Avon looked aghast. “Now.” Lilis lifted an arm and Raini pulled her up.
“You cannot fight it. If you do so the agreement will be annulled,” Mercy cautioned. Avon, with a heroic effort forced himself to stand.
“Get behind me,” Raini shouted to Lilis. Avon picked up the idea quickly and rushed behind Lilis and stood back to back with her. Raini spun around and took a step back until she was almost treading on Lilis's shoes. “But you can't fight us either, that's the agreement.”
If her words had any effect then the attacking Scatha didn't show it. It took a steep climb and then fell rapidly towards them, aiming for the top of Lilis' head. Raini managed to get a hand to cover it before it could arrive. Without even pausing it turned and tried to rush between them but Avon was watching and managed to get a leg in the way. The creatures pincers glistened in the light and Raini could hear Lilis’ hysterical gasps down her neck.
“Not this one,” Raini said. “Do you understand me? You’re not getting her.”
“You know this plan is great and all,” Avon gasped. “But it's going to fall apart quickly if I have a heart attack.”
Raini could hear the stress and exhaustion in his voice. She turned her head to face Mercy. “Call it off. If you value the agreement.”
“We do,” Mercy said. Then with a low whine the smaller Scatha peeled off from its attack and began to float away. For a moment none of them moved, then with a great cough and a gasp Avon fell to his knees. He swore loudly.
“I was too old for this twenty years ago,” he said, one hand clasped to his chest. Raini and Lilis rushed round to him but he waved them off with his free hand. “I'll be fine, just give me a minute or ten.”
Lilis staggered away and collapsed on the sand, she'd stopped crying. She began to ring out the sea water from her uniform. Raini walked slowly over to her.
“Thanks-” Lilis began and trailed off. She looked up and smiled, but there was no joy there. Raini knelt down next to her and put a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “I'm sorry, I tried. I tried to fight but once I fired that cannon I just didn't know what to do so I just hid behind it.”
“Don't apologise-”
“But I should have been better. I've been in fight before, I've fought before but that time, I don't know what went wrong I just couldn't-,” the words were a stream and the tears we threatening again. “You deserved better Captain.”
Raini swallowed, her actions hadn't exactly been the heroic struggle she'd hoped they'd be, but she couldn't think of anything she should have done differently. Most of the crew had been on deck, weapons had been loaded and there just hadn't been enough time.
“Don't question yourself like that. There's no need.”
“But I should have been better,” Lilis's hands were shaking, “you deserve better.”
“Would you stop saying that.” To her surprise Lilis burst into tears again, she tried to cover her face but Raini pulled her hands away and then hugged the poor girl.
“But your Raini Kasom,” Lilis whispered. “You saved me from burning to death at Tilis.” And there it was, Raini thought, another mystery solved. It had been eight years ago when she, following Younies order, had taken the Deathknell into the burning docks of Tilis and saved four hundred civilians. Most had returned to their clan afterwards, but she knew that some hadn't. Lilis pulled away, she'd stopped crying again and brushed the tears from her eyes with one hand. “You’re the reason why I wanted to join the navy in the first place. I saw that play you’re in and I remembered you, I was only eight but I remembered you standing on the deck of that ship. You looked so brave, undefeatable and you barely looked any older than me. I wanted to be just like you.”
Raini knelt there for a moment, watching as Lilis pulled herself together. She didn't know what to say, but as Younie had told her, saying something was always better than nothing. She placed her hand on Lilis's shoulder.
“Lieutenant, when you first came aboard my ship it was someone who was already a hero. I expected something great from you, and you have exceeded that expectation.”
“That sounded like a speech,” Lilis said with a slight laugh. Raini smiled and glanced back at the ocean. There was no sign of the Sea Dancer and she really didn't want to be here when the bodies started washing ashore. She was only just able to keep on going as it was. Lilis got to her feet and Raini turned back to Avon.
“So how do we get to this fortress of yours?” Raini asked him as she helped him up.
“Over that hill, we find a big crater, we,” he struggled for breath, “we just follow that around the edge, can't miss it.” The hill wasn't steep, but Avon was struggling. Raini and Lillis gave him some support, she didn't even remember Mercy until the Scatha joined them by her side.
“You do know what they’re doing right don't you?” Raini asked her once they were half way up the hill.
“No. I told them I wanted to continue the investigation. This is a distraction.”
“That's just it! They attacked us because we were close to the truth. We figured out who the victim was, we figured out who the killer was-”
“Might be,” Avon corrected her.
“Who the killer is most likely to be and we know half of why, apart from that the only other bit to figure out is which one of just five people deleted everything.” She looked to Mercy, wondering if there would be a flicker of realization on her face, but of course she couldn't tell. “It's fairly self-evident who that is.”
“How?” Mercy came to a halt when she said that. Raini and Lilis carried on walking.
“Captain, shouldn't we...?”
“Give her a moment Lilis.” Mercy fell back into step with her.
“I do not see how,” Mercy said without any hint of excitement.
“Oh come on Mercy, think about it for a second.”
“I assure you I already have,” She said.
“By the Dead, Raini just tell us all,” Avon hissed.
“Well, who ordered the attack on the Sea Dancer? We were close, one of them panicked and knowing that he was running out of time. decided to do whatever it took to stop us from figuring it out until this agreement runs out and they can get rid of the rest of us.”
“Well?” Avon said after Mercy did not respond. “Who ordered it?”
“Raini's logic is correct, but that is the problem. It was Curiosity who gave the order.”
“Well isn't that just utterly...” Raini felt her excitement drain out of her.
“Utterly broken,” Avon finished her sentence. “So Curiosity deleted the information?”
“That does not make sense,” Mercy said. “Why would he give me his own processes only to sabotage the investigation at a later date?”
“One step forward, two steps back.” Avon sighed. His voice was regaining some of its old strength now.
“Or rather two steps sideways,” Raini said. They fell silent then and Raini ran through the scenario again and again. What information would cause something called Curiosity to do so much? They came to the crest of the hill and halted again. Lilis gasped and Avon gave a low whistle.
“That's not something you see every day is it?” he said.
Below them, stretching out to cover the area of a large city was a crater. It was overgrown with sick looking weeds but it was unmistakable. A thousand giants would have taken a thousand days to dig something half as impressive.
“I've been told about this,” Raini said to no one in particular. “Didn't the Dragons do this?”
“Yeah. Most of the Illifran were meeting here when it happened. Only those who were miles away survived. Well, survived that attack,” Avon said grimly.
“If only we had such a weapon.” Lilis's voice was distant. She shook her head.
“I don't suppose you could tell us how to make them?” Raini asked Mercy.
“I could tell you. However it would take months to teach you how they work, and you do not possess the technology to build them,” She said.
Avon turned to face Mercy, a terrified look on his face. “Do you have them yourself?”
“Yes. They are kept as weapon of last resort.”
Raini muttered a curse. Even if they won a battle, they could never win a war.
“Come on, we'd better go find this fortress.” Raini said. They began to walk along the edge of the crater. A faint wind was blowing across from there left and the sun was rising from there right. If they had been here under different circumstances Raini would have described it as serine, even perhaps enjoyable. In Raini's mind the wind this day carried a mournful edge. This place was to see the death of a second people and it was not happy.
It took perhaps an hour of walking until they reached roughly a quarter of the way round the crater to where another hull jutted upwards. They clambered up it with difficulty. The path was old and in many places almost gone. Several sickly looking weeds allowed them to pull themselves up the worst bits, but by the time they reaches the top Raini had little breath to be taken away. Which was just as well as the Fortress of the Dead was severely underwhelming.
“Where is it?” Lilis said.
Avon blanched. “On the hill in front of us,” he said, sounding hurt.
Raini squinted a little, the hill, with a small and pleasant looking valley between them, was only a little shorter than the one they were on now. There was nothing on it except for a-
“You don't mean that old hill fort do you?” Sitting on top of the hill, like a child that had been abandoned by his friends, was a small wooden palisade wall and a behind it was a tiny stone tower.
“Yeah, quite impressive isn't it.” Avon sounded genuine. Lilis was shaking her head in disbelief.
“I'm missing something.” Raini said.
“Of course you are, but as much as I'd like to point it out to you we are traveling with an enemy combatant who is in communication with her superiors, so I can hardly just tell you everything now can I?”
Raini couldn’t fault his logic. She gazed at the hill trying to find some clue. It had been built by the Dead and they were all devious bastards who’d lie if you asked them the time of day, so the fort she could see was probably a relic, and not the one she was really looking for. Then she saw it, a tiny dot of dark green that didn’t quite look like it belonged. It was either a small hole or tiny building, perhaps embedded in the hillside. Raini began to notice more and more of them and other things that were just odd. A tree that didn’t move in the wind or looked just a little too thin, a pathway that followed the route of greatest resistance and a low wall that circled the hill about half way up that kept on disappearing whenever she blinked. She didn’t say anything but had to wonder how effectively everything was hidden from Mercy. Raini motioned the others to follow and made her way down the hill.