Industry & Intrigue (52 page)

Then there were soldiers and
workers, they were in many ways similar to ants
and termites, so much that
biologists had thought them divergently related to insects. But
they had internal bones, red blood and other characteristics of
mammals, so they remained within that classification.

T
he kings were often challenged by other
strong males and if defeated, they were killed. But the occasional
king had been known to escape death and leave the hive. They were
known as exiled kings and would live closer to the surface. They
experienced madness in exile and attacked everything they came
across. Reese had never heard of any coming this far east, Jaefia
was thousands of leagues to the west.

Xerin continued,
“An exiled king
deepone will see anything as prey. It will kill far more than it
needs to, out of sheer rage. The one out there is larger than I
have ever seen before. We need to prepare to defend ourselves
before it gets in.”

The
small window near the ceiling of the
room smashed in and a few of the students gave out screams of
shock. A large black claw burst in and moved around, trying to find
something to grab. Not having any success, it withdrew and moments
later, the deepone’s howling could be heard.

Re
ese had fallen back in fright when
the window had smashed in, but he picked himself back up. He wasn’t
sure what they could do. If their captors couldn’t defeat it, they
wouldn’t have much chance. There was the sound of another window
smashing elsewhere in the building and gunshots went off, followed
by blood-curdling screams. The deepone had found a way
inside.

T
he students were starting to panic and
wail. Xerin waved her hand in front of them. “Quiet, all of you.
Noise will only attract it. Deepones hunt using sound waves, so we
have to be as silent as possible.”

She looked
ov
er Hilda,
who was the next most senior excavator after Professor MacShim. “Is
there nothing in here we can use to get out?” asked Xerin. “The
guards will be too distracted to stop us while dealing with that
beast. We may be able to make a run for the carriage.” The drakon
turned her head as more shots could be heard, this time from the
right.

Hilda
shook her head, “I don’t know, it’s a
kitchen not a thieves’ warehouse. Why don’t you ask your student
over there?” She gestured at Reese. “He was rummaging around
before.”

Xerin approached him. “Reese. Did you
find anything useful? Something we could at least pick the lock
with?”

“
A few basic food supplies in
the pantry
,
a flare-rock igniter under the stove. Not much else.”

His professor
ti
lted her
head in thought. “Bring me the igniter,” she said. He nodded and
ran over to grab it. He placed it in her scaled hand.

“
Thank you.” She then put her
other hand into her robe and produced a small bottle of clear
liquid.

“
Dragonwater
,” she said. “Only enough for a
small flame but it should be sufficient.” She emptied the bottle
into the lock and smeared the liquid around the outside. “Stand
back,” she said and Reese did as she asked. She clicked the igniter
and a small blue flame appeared. She turned her face away and
slowly lifted it to the lock.

There
was a loud popping and fizzing,
followed by a cloud of black smoke. Reese could see that the metal
of the lock had turned an ugly black. Xerin put her hand in the
handle and pulled hard. The lock came off with a snap and fell to
the ground. The drakon poked her head out briefly and then turned
to the others.

“
It’s clear, our captors are
occupied
.
Make straight for the front exit,” she said.

Xerin led the way
ou
t,
followed closely by Hilda and the other dozen excavators, then the
students.

Chapter
51

Her soldiers were dropping
l
ike flies
and there was nothing Atira could do about it. The deepone was too
fast and powerful. They may as well have been throwing water at the
beast for all the good bullets did.

She had hit it several times
and
seen
blood streaking its hide, but that didn’t slow it down. Falco had
managed to slice one of its wings with his scythe, but he had lost
his left arm in the process. He still had his mechanical arm
however and held his scythe strongly I the one hand. They couldn’t
kill it so they had to get away somehow. She was smart enough to
retreat when a situation called for it.

I need to distract
it
,
so we have a chance
at making it outside.

The prisoners.
S
he would
let them run free and while it was busy chasing them, she and her
father’s faithful could escape. Atira fired off another shot as the
deepone grabbed two more men. They went down screaming, like the
others. She said a quick pray to the Endless for their souls as
they died.

“
Falco, this
way
,” she
said and exited the room. He followed her, along with the surviving
men. She sprinted down the corridor and reached the kitchen where
they were locked up only to find that the door was already
open.

She stepped in and cursed.
They
prisoners were gone. She hit the door with an orange and
black clenched fist. Then she noticed a book lying open on the
ground. Curious, she examined it. The page lying open had detailed
notes, regarding possible colossi fossil locations. She thumbed
through and then stopped suddenly when she saw a page detailing
exactly what she had been looking for.

“
Fuck
,” she swore quietly. She was angry
at herself for missing this. One of the prisoners had this the
whole time and she had been wasting time on the site for days. She
didn’t have time read any further. The howls of the deepone were
getting closer and she didn’t want to be cornered here.

“
Go
,” she yelled at the others. “Get to
the exit.” They ran and she followed. There was a howl and the man
at the front fired his gun, before screaming and being dragged down
the corridor to the left. Atira, Falco and the remaining three
turned right. They passed through several more open doors. The
prisoners had already come this way.

T
he main exit doors were ahead and the
sight gave her a burst of adrenaline. Then from the corridor on her
left there was howl and the deepone rushed at her, knocking her
back into the wall.

The blow left her breathless
and she struggled to her feet.
The remaining guards stopped. The enraged
deepone was blocking their path. Falco charged in before it could
strike her again and his scythe slashed down at its armored head.
The sound of meal scraping along the bone rang in her ears. The
beast screeched and reared back.

Atira looked up, Falco had
managed to
take out one its eyes. The deepone howled again and jumped
at Falco, its jaws trying to close around his head. He placed his
metallic fingers at its throat, keeping the sharp teeth away from
enclosing on him.

Its
jaws rapidly snapped several times,
trying to make a killing blow. Two of the men fired at its flank,
but the deepone paid no attention to the shots.

Atira heard the
so
und of
straining metal as Falco put all his unnatural strength into his
arm and pushed. He managed to push it back down the corridor,
clearing a path for Atira and the others to get out.

The others ran for the exit and
opened the doors. Atria had recovered and gained back her
wind.
She
took careful aim with her shotgun and aimed for the beast’s neck.
Falco still had his metal-fingers there but shotgun pellets
wouldn’t damage them.

She fired quickly,
emptying
the
last remaining rounds. All of them hit the creature’s throat and
red blood quickly poured over Falco’s hand. The deepone tried to
howl, but the damage to its throat prevented it. What came out
sounded like a cat with a giant spitball, blood poured from its
mouth and over Falco.

Even as mortally wounded as it
was, i
t
continued trying to attack him. Its jaws still snapped as if it did
not feel pain. There was little more she could do. She could try
and attack it with her own claws, but that would be as useful as
scratching a rock.

T
he deepone swiped one of its front claws
and caught in Falco’s internal mechanics. It tried to
unsuccessfully howl again, clearly it had no idea its throat was so
injured. It pulled back with its claw and there was straining
sound, then a sudden snap and Atira saw pieces of metal fly out of
Falco’s chest.

His flare-rock powered heart
fell out and he slumped forward
, pushing the deepone back further. The
beast tried to back away but it now appeared to be caught under the
weight of Falco. Both he and the beast toppled over. It was caught
under his arm and furiously struggled to get out.

Now was her chance. She leapt
forward with her agorid speed and unsheathed her own small claws.
The beasts head was protruding from und
er Falco’s arm. She drew her arm back
and slashed down. Her claws raked into its damaged throat,
finishing the job her bullets had begun. It was still alive, so she
pulled her arm back and slashed again. Then again and again, until
her hand was coated in gore from its throat. The deepone finally
stopped moving, its head still, blood leaking over the
floor.

The energy of the fight and the smell
of the blood had excited her senses. She had heard tales of her
species undergoing bloodlust in battle. She resisted the urge to
lick the blood on her hand, her father had raised her to be better
than that.

She walked outside. The three
survivors were still waiting. The carriage was gone, but there were
st
ill horses
in the nearby stable. If they hadn’t trampled each other to death
in fear already.

Atir
a was unsure if Falco was dead or
not. She hadn’t exactly been sure if he had even been alive in the
first place. She didn’t know how her father had saved him last
time, but Varko Kulthon was not a man who appreciated waste. He
would not want his most loyal fighter left here.

“
One of you fetch the horses,
you other two come with me.”
She saw their hesitation. “The beast is dead,
relax. But we have to bring Falco with us.” They nodded and did as
she commanded.

It took every ounce of strength
all three of them had to drag his body outside. Atira also made
sure to gather whatever pieces had fallen out of his chest.
They then arranged
a large piece of wood, to function as a sleigh that the horses
could drag behind them and pulled Falco’s body onto it. They only
had to reach the outskirts of Crean and from there they could rent
a carriage for the rest of the journey to Alkos City.

Many faithful
follower
s
had died tonight and she had not obtained the device her father had
been seeking. They could have stayed and tried to find it, but
without the site experts and their reduced numbers it could take
them days. More than enough time for the custodians to send a force
to investigate.

S
he fingered the book that she had found.
It had not been a total loss. Based on what little she had read,
her father would be eager to read the book. He would also want to
know who it had belonged to. Like her, the staff and students would
be making their way back to Alkos City. She would determine the
book’s owner when they returned.

Chapter 52

Victor Shepard respected
Patrick Culvern
a great deal, but that respect was drying up in the face of
Patrick’s inability to speak to the crowd of angry workers. Victor
stood at the edge of the stage, waiting for the Alkos City
councilor to finish. The crowd was full of working men and women,
many of whom were members of the LRC or other unions. With the
slaughter at the house, Victor was now their main representative.
This meeting at a hall in Locluth district had been called in the
aftermath of what many were calling the Labor Massacre.

The unions represented here
ranged from the dockworkers to
farmhands and they had all looked up to
the LRC leadership. The watch had been of little help. They sent
men to the house, but could not determine a suspect. With war
beckoning, the case had been sidelined.

Patrick Culvern was the
so
le voice
these workers had on the Imperial Council. He had become known as
an aggressive reformist in his first political term and for the
last ten years had been working as hard as he could to improve the
rights of unions and laborers. Everyone here voted for him in the
Alkos County council seat race each year.

He had made small
progress
, it
was a difficult fight. The Imperial Ministers were concerned with
preserving the status quo and were financially invested in looking
out for the interests of the business elite.