His Ancient Heart (2 page)

"Which will make them difficult to find with any certainty. Who else?"

"Of course, the Carriers are likely to be transporting it between the Refinery and the palaces." He paused. "I've also heard that the Overlords have their own supply."

Silas looked over at him. "The Overlords?"
 

"Yes."

"We're going back to Varrow."

"Varrow? Why?" Wilem stopped talking when he realized what Silas was suggesting. "Silas, you can't. The Varrow City garrison is one of the largest in the Empire, and after what you did at the mines...
His
soldiers are marching around it like ants."

"Look at her, Wilem. It doesn't matter. Either I get into Varrow or she is going to change. Not die, change. She's too strong, too powerful for the Curse to kill her. She's going to become one of them, and when she does, she won't remember who she was, or who we are."

"You'll be sending yourself to your death. I know what you are. I also know that you can't be fixed again. If you are wounded..."

"I won't be. Eryn needs us. All of us.
He
knows we're here.
He'll
be sending the rest of the Nine after us. We have to get her out of this valley, and into hiding."

"It is damaged. It requires attention." Oz lifted its bent foot, balancing on one leg. "It is slow."

"Wilem, where did you leave the juggernaut that killed Davin and Saretta?"

He looked around, trying to find anything in the trees that might be familiar. "I'm not sure. Everything happened so fast."

"Please try, my boy. We need to make every effort to repair Oz so that it can carry Eryn."

"It is pleased to carry its wizard. It is pleased to receive maintenance."
 

Wilem shook his head. "It all looks the same to me, and yet so different. It was all shrouded in darkness and mist before." He took a few steps away, towards one tree, and then walked over to another. How could he forget where they had buried Davin and Saretta? The juggernaut wasn't far from there.

"It is this way," Oz said, raising his single rusted arm and pointing behind them. "It smells it."

Silas got to his feet, lifting Eryn with him. He balanced her on his shoulder, even though the weight caused his leg to throb. "Oz, can you use its parts to repair yourself?"

"It does not know if it is compatible. It is not a one zero."

"Let's go. You'll have to try."

"It is pleased to try."

They made their way through the trees, following the metal man through the brush to a small clearing. Wilem would have recognized it even without the makeshift headstone they had placed for Davin and his wife.

The dead juggernaut was still laying in the grass nearby, its center cut open and its fluid staining the ground around it.

Oz approached it and knelt down while Silas lowered Eryn to the ground and then went over to the headstone. He dropped to his knees and put his hand on it, his eyes closed.
 

Wilem stood behind Oz. "Can you use it?"

The juggernaut reached out and pulled at the exposed tubing. It took some of the fluid on its finger. "It is compatible. It requires its foot. The wizard must help it."

"What do you need me to do?"

"It must remove its foot. It must be careful."

Wilem looked down at the juggernaut's black, angled foot. He had been so terrified of the creature during their first encounter. Now all he saw was a broken weapon, like a twisted arrow.

"Your foot is much bigger than that one."

"It is smaller. It is compatible."

"What about the arm?"

"It is compatible."

Wilem looked back at Silas. He was still on his knees, staying close to Eryn and watching them.

"How do I remove the foot?"

Oz put his finger on the foot. "It is attached. It must be cut." The finger moved in a jagged, semi-circular pattern along the ankle. "It is a wizard. It must use magic."

"Cut it with magic?"

"Yes."

Wilem hesitated. Without any more of the cure, he could suffer the same fate as Eryn.
 

Without Eryn, he would suffer a worse fate than that.
 

He calmed himself, willing the magic to him, feeling the tingle of it run down his spine. "Lychnus," he said. A ball of light began to form in his hand. He pushed it out away from him, to where Oz's finger was resting. Then he concentrated on making it smaller, pushing the light in on itself. It grew brighter and smaller as he did, until it was barely the size of an insect and illuminated the entire clearing in its warm glow.

He urged it downward until it burned away the layers of rust on the ircidium shell, and began reflecting from the metal.
 

"I can't go through ircidium."

"It must. It must. It must."

Wilem pushed the light against the metal. The reflection grew brighter and began to pour from the metal as heat. Wilem felt it washing against his face, stinging his eyes and making him sweat. Still he forced the light downward, until it finally passed into the creature.

"It must be cut." Oz moved his finger in a line again, showing Wilem the path. The light moved slowly along it, burning from both sides of the creature and casting enough heat that he was worried he would burn the forest down around them.
 

After what seemed like an eternity, the foot fell away.

Wilem dropped the light and stumbled to the ground, his body shaking, hot, and tired.
 

"It must be cut," Oz repeated, pointing to its foot. "It must not wait."

Wilem took a deep breath. He was getting tired, but he had to do this. He stood up and summoned the light again. "Lychnus."

Once more he compressed it. Once more he dug it into Oz. The ircidium on the older juggernaut was only a thin plate on top of a separate alloy that supported the creature's mass. It was much easier to cut through, and he removed the foot without difficulty.

"It must give it the foot." Oz put his hand out, and Wilem retrieved the juggernaut's foot. Despite being made of ircidium, it was heavier than he was expecting, forcing him to use both arms to shift it over. Oz took it and showed it to Wilem. The inside was filled with a number of tubes and both solid and flexible metal poles. "It must connect it." It lifted its stump and pointed at the similar tubes and poles inside.

Wilem examined it. He could see some of the metal inside had been fused together, and after cutting the leg off with his magic, he understood what he needed to do.
 

Oz pushed its bent foot away and put the new foot directly in front of the stump. It picked at the larger tubes and poles, putting them together so that Wilem could fuse it.

It was delicate, detailed work. There were dozens of connections, and putting the whole thing back together was exhausting. He could barely keep his eyes open by the time he had secured the foot to Oz's ankle, and the juggernaut had declared itself repaired.

"It must cut," Oz said, pointing at its missing arm.

"I can't. I'm too tired." Wilem looked away from the metal man, to where Silas and Eryn were resting. Silas had moved them to the base of a tree and was sitting against it with Eryn's head in his lap. He was still awake. Wilem stood and walked over to him.

"How is she?"

"It is hard to tell. She hasn't woken, and I don't think she will. She was calling for you."

Wilem put his hand on her cheek. It was rougher than he remembered, and cold. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"Six hours, at least. My ancient heart... I believe it has healed the wound to my leg." Silas' voice was both grateful and sad. "I watched you the entire time. Well done."

Wilem followed his gaze to Oz, who was standing on the new foot. It was half the size of the old one and looked strange beneath the creature. It was hopping from one foot to the other, testing it.

"It is repaired," Oz said. "It requires attention." It pointed to the missing arm.

"Forget about the arm. You need to rest," Silas said. "Oz, keep watch. Wake us if anything approaches."

"It is pleased to follow First of Nine."

CHAPTER FOUR

Silas

Silas allowed Wilem to sleep for a few hours before waking him. It was important that the Mediator had time to regain some of his strength. It was also important they get out of the valley before any of
his
other generals could arrive.

Silas knew they would come.
He
would send whoever was closest, with all of the soldiers and Mediators he could gather. They would do their best to keep Silas from getting out of Genesia, and back into the Empire to resume his search for
him
.
 

He wondered if they were prepared to handle a dragon.

He wasn't sure where the beast would go or what it would do now that it had fled the valley. His only experience with dragons had come during the war, and they were always under the command of a Shifter General. This one was alone in the world, the only one of its kind, and it would need to feed.
 

Under the watch of the Shifters, that task fell to the Generals, who would channel the power of the ebocite to them. Without them, could it survive at all?

It was the least of his worries at the moment. Eryn needed a place to rest, and there was only one that Silas could think of in all the Empire that might be safe.
 

He needed to bring her back to Varrow City.

He needed to bring her to Overlord Prezi.

They had been close once. He remembered that the first time his eyes had touched the city. More accurately, she had been close to General Talon Rast. It was merely a hope that he could find some level of understanding in her as Silas Morningstar. She was a wise woman, intelligent and thoughtful. She would hear him out if he presented himself to her. He would tell her the truth of things and allow her to decide their fates.

There was no other choice.

They made the trip from Genesia. Oz was upset that they didn't spare time to repair his lost arm, and the creature displayed an almost human personality in lamenting the decision. It was only once Silas promised they would repair it with the next juggernaut arm they found that was compatible that it quieted and focused on the journey.

The end of the first day found them scaling the slope of the valley. The mist hadn't completely dissipated yet, but it had succumbed enough that they could see the vast field of the dead and decayed. The inhabitants of a once great reactor who had been struck down by the juggernauts when they attempted to flee. Silas knew
he
was responsible for that massacre as well. Once the Nine had succeeded in defeating the Shifters at Ares'Nor,
he
had done
his
best to keep the secrets,
all
of the secrets, from getting out.

Jeremiah.
 

He could find him in his memories as little more than shadows and echoes. One of the scientists who had come to Genesia to study the ebocite and tune the resonances. He remembered they had been friends as well as comrades, spending late evenings drinking and plotting the next day's work.
 

Where did we go so wrong?

They spent that night camped at the top of the valley, where Wilem had left their bundle of things. They loaded everything back into the pack with the metal canisters for Oz and slept while the juggernaut stood watch.
 

At least, Wilem and Eryn slept.

Eryn didn't wake. She shivered and burned, tossed and mumbled. Her skin grew more sickly and ashen with each hour that passed.
 

Wilem stayed by her side, sleeping so lightly that every motion she made woke him and caused him to stare at her with a look of concern. It was clear to Silas that the boy loved her, or at least believed he did. Young love could be such a fickle thing, and yet he hoped for the best for both of them.

Since they had escaped the reactor, since he discovered that his true heart was made of black crystal, Silas had felt no compulsion to sleep. Though his body tired, his mind remained sharp, his eyes alert.
 

Then there was his leg...

It had healed in hours. He knew it was sprained at the least, an injury that should have taken a week or more to resolve. He could almost feel the cold magic of his ebocite core flowing through his veins to the area, and working to repair it.
 

He spent the night questioning whether he was human, juggernaut, or something else.
 

The night passed slowly.

The following morning had them moving back east, skirting the roads and towns and stopping often to avoid the eyes of random patrols. Most were single riders, scouts on fast Portnis stallions, their bows held in their grips, ready to defend themselves should the fugitives appear. One had been headed by a Mediator, and Silas had spent an hour crouched on a low branch of a tree, sword in hand, ready to ambush the entire retinue had he somehow sensed Eryn during her restless sleep.
 

He didn't.
 

Wilem led them back to the hole where they had stayed with Davin and Saretta. He helped Silas carry Eryn inside while Oz waited under the night sky, too large to enter. It was tempting for him to leave her there, to use this place as their hideout while he found more of the cure. It was tempting for him to forget about speaking to Overlord Prezi because he knew it was a risk.

In the end, he decided that wasn't possible. Jeremiah would step up the patrols. He would send the remaining warriors of the Nine, and sooner or later the hole would be discovered.
 

He knew the only safe place was under
his
nose.

"Wilem, you need to stay here and take care of Eryn. Oz and I will sneak into Varrow City and retrieve more of the cure."

"How are you going to sneak into the city, never mind the palace, and with a juggernaut?"

"The same way I snuck out. That will bring us within a few blocks of the palace. From there, I can disguise Oz well enough as a farmer, or a woodcutter, or a smith. They tend to be quite large."