Ninth City Burning (52 page)

F
or a while, I don't know what to think; I just float around in my own head, my brain numb, like,
What just happened?
Naomi seemed like the most careful, most serious person I'd ever met, adults included. How could she just fly away like that?

That last thing she said, about the keep of a castle, runs circles through my brain. I didn't think much about it at first, but now it seems important. A keep is something from a time called the medieval period, before things like electricity and automobiles were invented, when people would fight with swords and arrows and horses and metal armor and stuff like that. We learned about it at the Academy, in History of the Common Era. Back then, they had castles, huge stone fortresses for defense, and the keep was the strongest part of all, usually behind the innermost wall. It was where everyone would go when the rest of the castle had been taken over by enemies. The place to make your last stand. What Naomi was saying, I guess, is that she can't retreat anymore. For her the keep isn't a place, but the people she cares about. If this is going to be her last fight, that's where she wants to be. I'm not sure I totally get it, but I'm starting to see she had her reasons.

I must be totally distracted trying to figure all of that out, because someone walks up behind me, and I don't even notice until he says, “Fontanus Jaxten, sir. It's time to go.”

It's Legatus Cressock. Behind him are two rows of men and women, younger than he is but still pretty old, also in black. It makes me think of the Academy, the way they're standing there, like a rhetor with a bunch of cadets.

Legatus Cressock salutes. “I'm here to escort you to your evacuation
transport,” he says. He glances around, eyebrows lowering. “Where is Fontana Naomi?”

“She, um,” I say, clearing my throat, “she's not here.”

“Not here? Where is she?”

I feel weirdly embarrassed, like I haven't done my homework. I point toward Lunar Veil. “There, I guess. In Dis.”

Maybe Legatus Cressock is surprised, but he only hesitates half a second. “I'm not sure I understand you, sir.”

“She went to fight. To join the battle.”

I notice the people standing behind Cressock looking sideways at each other, but I don't feel embarrassed anymore. I'm not even thinking of them, or my orders, or even the Legion. I'm thinking about Lunar Veil, and everyone out there—Naomi and her sister, Rae, and everyone from Ninth City. My hands have clenched into fists.

“And I'm going, too.” The words just come out; I hear them from far away, like I'm not even the one talking.

Now Cressock really does look surprised. “Sir,” he says, “our orders are to evacuate to Jovian Veil. The transports are waiting.”

“I know.” Usually it would make me totally nervous, telling an officer I wasn't going to follow orders, but right now it feels good, like it's what I should have been doing all along. “But I'm not going with them.”

No one says anything to that. They all just look at me. I try to explain. “Look, it's like, if we go now, and leave everyone on Earth behind, and everyone in Dis, too, it's like we've already lost.”

They only keep staring, like I'm speaking total gibberish, or that's what I think until I notice a few are nodding, almost as if they're waiting for me to say more. The problem is, that was about the only answer I could think of.

“It's like the keep,” I say hurriedly, remembering how Naomi put it. Only when I try to explain it, the whole thing comes out all jumbled. “Like a castle. And the keep is where you stand and fight when there's nothing else left.”

What's so crazy, though, is that they actually seem to get it. Most of them are nodding to themselves now, like I've just said the profoundest thing in the history of profound things. No one tries to argue with me, or tell me I'm in trouble for disobeying orders.

I take a deep breath. “All right, I guess I'm going,” I say. “I'm sorry you
won't get to evacuate. But don't worry—you won't be missing much. We're going to win. I promise.”

I've already turned to go, and I'm about to shade into my mijmere, when Legatus Cressock says, “Sir?”

I look back; no one has moved. “Yes?”

“We'd like permission to come with you.”

I feel my determination tangling up, like I've started running, then tripped. “You do?”

“The Legion left behind a good-sized complement of fighters to escort the evacuation, sir. Since there will be no evacuation, I hope you will allow us to accompany you into battle.”

“You want to go with me?” I stare at Cressock and the lines of legionaries. “All of you?”

“I think I speak for everyone assigned to the evacuation when I say those orders never sat right with any of us,” Cressock says. “The Legion's mission is to protect the people of Earth, and the people of Earth are here. We'd much rather be out there with you, sir.” From behind him come murmurs of “Yes, sir” and “Absolutely, sir,” even a few outright cheers.

I know I should try to look tough and brave, but I can't stop myself from grinning. They're all total strangers, but knowing they're with me makes me absurdly happy. “Then let's go!”

For the first time since we met, Cressock smiles for real. In a deep, sharp voice, he shouts, “Move, legionaries! I want every fighter we have in the air in five minutes!”

Five minutes later, we're speeding toward Lunar Veil, Earth down below, totally dark at first, then warming up with pinks and oranges as we rise through the atmosphere, and the sun peeks over the horizon. Legatus Cressock and his fighters surround me like a cloud. They're a mini-Legion, everything from gunships to tetra fortresses to equi. I have to fly slower than I'd like to so I don't leave them all behind, but that shouldn't matter much, since time here moves so much faster than in Dis. I'll be coming in almost right behind Naomi, and even Charles and Malandeera will have been there only a few minutes at most.

I've never been to any of the Realms besides Hestia. I don't even think about it until Lunar Veil is already so close it takes up almost the entire sky, and then I'm like,
Oh crap!
But going through doesn't feel weird at all. You could totally not even notice you'd gone to a whole other world,
except Dis is so much emptier and colder than Hestia. It's the way I always imagined outer space: no moon or planets, only random hunks of rock floating around and one small, lonely star for a sun. Also, in Hestia there wasn't a huge battle going on everywhere you look.

Everything is tangled and confusing. It's like there are a hundred different fights happening all at once, most of them way far apart from one another. Each one is like its own separate galaxy of color and motion, swirling and flashing with blasts of light. The only place I don't see some little pocket of fighting is behind me, in the direction of Lunar Veil.

This definitely isn't how I thought the battle would look. Before the Legion launched into Dis, I went to a briefing with Charles, and the commanders there told us to expect a concentrated fight centralized mostly around IMEC-1, since that's where we'd have our heavy artillery. The City Guns were going to be key to this battle. But what's happening now looks like the opposite. The
exact
opposite, even: I don't see IMEC-1 anywhere.

What I do see are Charles and Malandeera, and Naomi, too. They're way ahead of me, flying like they've got someplace urgent to go, with fighters from the reserve close behind them. I feel a little nervous, like they'll be angry when they find out I didn't evacuate, but I'm not going back, so I'd better just let them know I'm here.

Ever since I launched off from Earth, I've been surrounded by my mijmere, but I've focused almost all of my attention on the real world. I needed to see where I was going, and I didn't want to accidentally swerve off somewhere and leave Legatus Cressock and his fighters in the dark. Usually, I have a lot of trouble paying attention to two worlds at once, but right now it feels totally natural. I let myself submerge into the world of my mijmere, hoping I'll be able to talk to Charles and Malandeera and Naomi there.

I'm in the stands of a huge baseball stadium, sitting in a hard plastic chair. It's nighttime, and the only light is coming from a mostly full Moon. All the lights in the stadium are out, including the great big tall ones above the field. Still, I can tell practically every seat around me is filled. People are murmuring and talking in the dark, and every so often I hear someone scream or cry out. “Charles?” I say. “Naomi? Are you there?”

Someone next to me nudges my elbow, and I hear the voice of the Kid. “Tough break. Everyone all set for the big game, then this happens.”

“Why is it so dark?” I ask.

“No power,” says the Kid. “Must be a busted fuse. If someone doesn't get the lights back on, it's Game Over.”

“Did you see any of my friends?”

“Yeah, I think so. That prissy girl and the hobo-looking guy. Some lady with them, too. I think they went to see if they could get the lights working.”

“Show me the way they went.”

Out in Dis, I can already see what they're trying to do. Charles and Malandeera and Naomi are headed for IMEC-1. It's still far away, but I've spotted it now. The reason I didn't notice it before is that it almost looks like just another rock floating through space. But my friends are aiming straight for this particular rock, and when I look closely, I can see the buildings and City Guns and the ring of defenders floating around it. The one thing I don't see is a single spark of thelemity. That's when I know for sure: IMEC-1 has gone dark.

Now it makes sense why everyone seems to be fighting in little pockets all spread out away from each other. The reason the battle looks like it's broken into a million tiny pieces is because that's exactly what's happened. Our fontani must be trying to get to IMEC-1, to bring back thelemity and get the City Guns going, and the Valentines are doing everything they can to keep them away. And that means IMEC-1 is where I need to be.

Legatus Cressock and everyone from the evacuation force has already figured all of this out. As soon as I start toward IMEC-1, they accelerate right along with me. Charles and Malandeera have a good head start, and for a while it looks like they won't have any trouble getting there, but then, out of nowhere, two Zeros come streaking through the sky like meteors. Even though I've never seen a Zero before, I know that's what these are. Friendly fontani wouldn't attack Charles and Malandeera, of course, but I think I'd be able to tell these were Valentines anyway. They just
feel
like strangers.

Instantly, Charles and Malandeera are swept up in a big, roaring fight. They're some of the toughest fontani the Legion has, but even if they weren't, they'd have the advantage. The Zeros came alone, and Charles and Malandeera have their reserve fighters. A few equi or gunships wouldn't stand much chance against a Zero all by themselves, but in a battle between sources, they can be enough to tip the balance.

I know Charles and Malandeera will be fine, but I'm still nervous for them. The Zeros out there are probably trained fighters, picked specially
to come to Earth and finish us off. Romeo wouldn't have sent just anyone. Like some kid who wasn't even supposed to be part of the battle to begin with. Who was supposed to run away. Those Zeros would probably laugh if they knew I was out here trying to stop them. If Valentines
can
laugh.

In my mijmere, I'm climbing over people in the dark, trying to get to the end of my aisle. Everyone's grumbling at me to get moving, and when I try moving faster, I stumble and step on an empty seat where someone's spilled a drink, and my foot slips on the wet plastic. I'm about to go headfirst onto the concrete underneath when the Kid grabs hold of my arm.

“OK?” he says, pulling me the last few steps to the aisle. He hands me something small and heavy: a flashlight. He's got one, too, and he shines a bright yellow beam toward a tunnel leading beneath the rows of seats. “Over here.”

We've barely got inside when we hear the sound of fighting somewhere nearby. It's hard to say exactly what's happening, but there are crashing noises and scary, popping sounds and voices.

“That's Charles and Malandeera!” I tell the Kid.

“We should go around,” he says.

“Don't they need our help?”

“We have to get the lights working first. Once they're back on, there'll be plenty of people to help.”

He's right. I don't like the idea of leaving Charles and Malandeera behind, but I make up my mind quickly enough when I hear other footsteps running toward us.

Somewhere in the darkness ahead, I hear Naomi call out, “Come on, Jax! They're on their way!”

Out in Dis, another Zero has appeared, heading right at us. Naomi is already closing in on IMEC-1. Her mijmere is easy to spot, with its spiraling, twirling edges. It looks the way I bet music would if you could see it.