Chapter Thirteen

“Hang on,” Newt said.

Anne turned towards Newt, but the robotic girl grabbed her in a princess carry. “Hang on? To whaaaa--” Anne said before her voice trailed off into a high-pitched scream as they took off and flew straight up and over the wall.

“Brace,” Newt said as they hit the apex of their flight, then started to come back down.

Anne’s scream changed in pitch a moment before they landed with a hard thump atop the wall. She stood up as Newt let go of her, then, with shaky hands, she grabbed onto one of the wall’s crenellations and took a moment just to let her heart still itself.

“I’m going to retrieve Elain’e now. One moment please,” Newt said before she stepped up onto the edge of the wall, then over it.

Anne sighed, then straightened up and looked down the length of the wall. It was fairly wide at the top, at least a metre or two thick, with a tunnel that cut through the towers along its length, and staircases leading down to the bottom on the inner side.

She followed the wall with her gaze, all around the city and back around to where she was. It surrounded all of Not Evilia, an unmistakable white barrier that enclosed all of the city’s farmland and homes. It made the little city seem even smaller.

People were awake, the appearance of the wall probably serving as a pretty good sign that something was going on. Torch-light moved around inside the city, and Anne saw a few groups of what she thought might be guards running towards the wall, though few of them were heading in the right direction.

“We have returned!” Newt announced as she carried Elain’e up the wall.

The young woman landed with a huff, her dress now wet and her haid bedraggled by the short flight. She wiggled her umbrella, then moved it back over her head. Anne had to hold back a giggle. She looked like a wet cat.

“That was deeply unpleasant,” Elain’e said. But I suppose this makes us safer than remaining down there.”

“Your carriage,” Anne said.

“It's just a carriage. It is entirely replaceable. And I doubt the Dark Lord’s army will truly bother with it. They have greater concerns. This wall will likely cause them a great deal of consternation.”

“It won’t be enough to stop them though,” Anne said.

“No, of course not,” Elain’e replied. “They’re incredibly far from home, and I imagine that whatever information they had on Not Evilia, it was somewhat dated and they were aware that it might not be accurate. They will have come prepared for the unexpected. At least, if they’re not fools.”

“So what do we do?” Anne asked. She glanced back at where the lights from what she assumed were guards were poking at parts of the wall that were nearest the city. “The people in the city don’t know yet, do they?”

“They don’t,” Elain’e said. “The necromancers haven’t arrived yet. I suspect it’ll take them another little while. And the wall might stall there. There seems to be a gatehouse over there, but it’s likely unmanned.”

“I can assist,” Newt said.

Elain’e frowned, then nodded. “You can,” she said. She tugged off one of her dainty gloves, then pulled a large ring off of her middle-finger. “Here. This is my signet ring. You’ll want to give it to the captain of the guard. Explain what’s going on to him. We need that gate over there opened for the necromancer’s guild to enter, and we need this section of the wall here manned. Tell him to bring rocks.”

Newt took the ring carefully, then turned to Anne. “Oh,” Anne said. “Yes, that’s fine.”

“Wait,” Elain’e said. “Once you’ve told the guard captain what he needs to know, go find the necromancers. You should be able to see them from above with relative ease.”

Newt saluted, then with a starting jog, she took off and ran off the edge of the wall a moment before taking off with a rush of flames and smoke trailing after her.

“That just leaves the two of us to take care of all of that,” Elain’e said. She placed a hand on her hip and glared out into the darkness beyond the wall. It wasn’t entirely dark, not really. There was light around the army forming in the distance.

Anne swallowed as she took in the growing mass of soldiers, all of them running around until they were in neat rows. She imagined there were two or three hundred of them already, men in plate and mail, with square shields and short swords. Those on the back lines were making spears appear out of cards, and others were testing bowstrings against the effects of the rain.

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“That’s a lot of men,” Anne said.

“They have ladders,” Elain’e said. She pointed to a group of them who did, indeed, have ladders. They were tying the bottoms and ends of ladders together, making them into single, longer ladders. “I guess they were prepared for the smaller walls that Not Evilia has. They’ll still be able to scale this one.”

“What do we do?” Anne asked.

“We summon our own army,” Elain’e said. “You still have that one card?”

Anne swallowed. “The Army of Jake Maia?” she asked.

“It’s an army.”

“It’s an army of my little boy,” Anne said.

Elain’e worked her jaw. “I think your little boy is still back home, Anne. It won’t really be him. And besides.” She gestured to the city. “How many little boys and girls are just resting peacefully over there?”

Anne chewed on her lip. “Fine,” she said.

There wasn’t any time for moralizing, for questioning herself on what was the right thing to do.

And honestly, she wanted to see her little Jake-i-poo some more.

“We should do it on the ground, come on,” Elain’e said. She grabbed Anne by the hand, and together they climbed down the stairs at the back of the wall to the grassy hillside below.

Anne fished out the card in question, then hugged it close for a moment. “Same as the wall?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Elain’e said.

Anne stepped up, knelt down, then placed the card down a moment before summoning it.

Between one blink and the next, the field around them filled with young men. Her son, but a hundred times over.

They weren’t in the best of shape. The entire army was dirty and looked banged up. They had old armour on, metal plates over rough gambesons, and their weapons seemed dulled and often broken. They looked tired.

“Oh, no,” Anne gasped. She bolted to the nearest Jake, then hugged him close. “Oh you poor sweetie, what happened to you? Are you alright?”

“Mom?” the Jake she was hugging said. “No, mom, don’t hug me, I’m all dirty.”

“Shh, shh,” she shhed him before she started to rock him back and forth. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

“Mom, you’re embarrassing me in front of myself,” Jake whined. “A-and who’s that cute girl behind you?”

“She’s far too young for you, mister Maia. Now, if you want your mom to help you find a girl, you only need to ask. I know all the ladies in town, and quite a few of them have--”

“No, no mom. Don’t.”

“So this is your son?” Elain’e asked. She had one eyebrow perked as she looked over all the Jakes. They were mostly starting to sit down in the grass, despite the rain still falling atop them.

Anne nodded. “Yes, this is definitely my Jake-i-poo. Though, I usually insist that he dresses a little better, and that he showers more often.”

“Mom,” the Jake she was still holding onto said. There wasn’t much strength in the complaint. He was tired, bags under his eyes, and he moved as if his limbs were heavy.

“Well, get on the wall,” Elain’e said. “We have an army to defend against. I can’t imagine they’ll sit around for all that long.”

“I... I don’t think we can,” Jake said. “We’re tired. Burnt out. Our gear’s wrecked and... look, we just can’t.”

Anne bit her lip. Could she really order her son to go and fight a battle that wasn’t his? Was he even her son, really?

A flash dragged her attention down, and she only-just managed to catch a card that appeared out of nowhere before her. She stepped to the side, and ducked down to be under the cover of Elain’e’s umbrella.

“A new card?” Elain’e asked.

“Yes,” Anne said. She squinted at the card. It had a nice, clean border, and an image of Jake on it. A very handsome jake, with a bit more of a chin than he actually had and just a pinch of stubble. He was also wearing a black uniform, with a cap on that had a skull on the front. He looked like an officer out of some strange war movie.

“Commissar Jake?” Elain’e read the card’s name.

“Um,” Anne said. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. “Should we use this?”

“I suppose there’s no harm,” Elain’e said.

Anne nodded, then cast the card.

***

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