I’d been wrong on my assumption - our destination had been a derelict site. An old one. Which meant our competition with Ankah was a go.

The airspeeders banked into a clearing, snow flying off, revealing the bumpy metal ground underneath. In a moment, our expedition had touched down after a long three hour trip. The frantic movement of industry exploded out from all sides of the landed ships. Crates were hauled out by the dozen. Portable habitats deployed and tied down. Scavengers were already grouping up, plotting how to excavate this site.

Through it all, one man stood silently watching the site. A good stretch away from the industry behind him. Unmoving like a statue, a massive fur coat over his relic armor. His helmet cradled in his arm. The utterly lethal air blowing mildly across his cheeks and through his hair.

Relic gear was fueled by ratshit magic that regularly gave physics the middle finger - but at least you had to wear the blasted thing before you get to bend the rules.

“How do you think he does that?” I pointed to where the man stood.

“Do what?” Kidra was still busy unloading her gear from the airspeeder, not looking at my prompting.

“That!” I said, pointing again. Maybe she hadn’t noticed how our clan leader was walking around without a gods damned helmet equipped.

“He’s Deathless, I believe that’s one thing they’re known for, brother.” Kidra shrugged, turning back to continue accounting for all the gear.

“I know that!” I hissed back. “I mean, how do you think it’s possible?”

Lord Atius was more plain than the reputation painted. He looked like a worn-out military officer, at the career point where coffee had started to lose its power. A short black haircut, with sharp blue eyes and a slightly unkempt grey beard. Gods, it was downright creepy to see a face with only the blue sky above.

That man stood fully exposed in the sunlight, quietly pondering the ancient derelict ruins ahead. Hand resting on the pommel of his occult long-sword, a blade with a more extensive chronicle behind it than multiple Houses put together.

Kidra helped another scavenger lift a crate out of the airship, before regrouping behind me. “Perhaps the Deathless are part machine?”

“Machines attack anyone on sight,” I said. “All the imperial pilgrims and our traders say the same thing. So either it's a massive conspiracy, or it’s the truth. And if I had to bet, it probably isn’t the fun one.”

Kidra didn’t look like she was paying full attention to this. Maybe she wasn’t as rattled or curious as I was, but I had to gossip about it. We swapped more theories until Kidra cheated the question. “It may be some form of lost tech? Do you suppose they feed off power cells?”

Lost tech was a lazy catch-all term to anything that made little sense. Sort of like saying a warlock did it.But it couldn’t be power cells. “Too many holes in that theory.” I told her.

She chuckled, motioning me to turn around to inspect my suit’s backpack. “I’d wager you spent a few hours actually considering that silly idea and calculating the numbers, haven’t you?”

I tutted, offended at the implications. “I’ll never disregard an idea just because it sounds improbable. I’ll disregard it only when it’s proven wrong, or too much work.”

And in this case it wasn’t a lot of work; More holes in that theory than the last wall I’d used for cover.

Only a handful of Deathless lived on the surface like Atius did. If they ate glorified battery acid, we’d see them coming up here regularly with the pilgrims. Tagging along with expeditions to charge up their favorite snack. Instead, they’re all underground, locked in an eternal tug-of-war with the machines.

“Well, if you ever find out where they come from, I’ll trade you a ration bar for it.”

“A random ration bar for the secret to becoming an all-powerful demi-god?” Kidra scoffed. “Please. I’ll only accept if it’s strawberry flavored.”

There was a slap on my back, signalling that she’d finished the checkup on the suit’s systems. It was my turn to check her gear as she turned her back to me.

This part shouldn’t be done haphazardly. It would be the only time either of us could fix issues without pressure. Once on site we’d have significantly fewer tools to work with, and a lot more stress given the situation. With each click of my sister’s gear, the reports flashed by on the green screen, showing nominal across the board. Satisfied with the system’s integrity after a good moment of fussing over, I slapped her back, letting her know she was good to go. We both turned together to view our objective in the far distance. This site would be a full scavenging one. I was off the hook for the three baskets of frostbloom, at least until the next grove was spotted.

“What do you think it is?” I asked her.

“Why ask me? Last I checked, you would fare better at guessing that.”

Fine. I brought out the binoculars and got to work. The site in question was about a mile away. The buildings were squat and rectangular, with broken walls on all the floors. Thin spire-like buildings dotted the site, encased by ice and catwalks. A few massive broken down satellite dishes dotted the sides, so large they had entire buildings dedicated to them. Which made this ruin at least a third era site. Second era didn’t have radio.

So this place could be really old, or just a replica made by a building printer with this architecture in memory.

But given that the whole thing tilted just slightly on the side and the entire structure seemed like it had sprouted from the ground... There might be a chance this was at least a genuine ancient site. Cocooned underground for centuries until the shifting ground spat it back out. Thought that was admittedly a long shot and I might just be getting excited at the idea of it being something more.

Lord Atius had commanded all of us scavengers to tear up the surface floors of the building. He’d be personally leading a team to dive into the lower levels. Given that order, he probably expected nothing outlandish on the upper levels of the site.

Technically, this was the time we'd meet up with our House groups to plan how to scavenge the ruins. But for the past eight years now, house Winterscar’s entire scavenger team amounted to my sister and I.

Despite the stakes for my sister’s occult knife, our plan was pretty much unchanged: Go forward and wing it. Other families had to split the work and make sure they weren’t covering the same ground, which took a few hours because of internal politicking. On that front, a team of two was very easy to organize, and we didn’t have egos to feed. That meant we’d get first dibs for a few hours before the rest of the expedition filed in.

This would not give us an edge over Ankah, however. She’d specified that the terms had to be fair, so we’d both be starting at the same time.

I don’t know what strings Ankah had pulled, but she and her minion filed out of the tents with gear ready. She hadn’t grouped up with the rest of House Shadowsong, so she’s likely gotten an expensive exception for today, likely paying both in political power and material bribes.

Only one other group was already assembled and ready to head out. Lord Atius and his hand-picked relic knights, five of them including Father.

The four other relic knights belonged to powerful Houses with multiple relic armors in their family lineages. Three, including Father, were Primes - wielders of the first armors discovered by each House. And usually only the greatest warriors, or outright leaders of that House wore the prime armor.

Father stood apart from them, at the clan lord’s right-hand side.

Even with our house being down to a puny three members, results were results. Father had never known defeat and no other relic knight in the entire clan could match him. A prodigy in combat, like Kidra. So long as he was sober, and he hadn't touched a bottle since House Winterscar was cut down to just us. Atius didn’t care about someone’s political status, or history. When he organized a mission, he chose the best to come with him. Despite Father’s infamous past, the rest of the knights remained at parade rest behind him.

We gave that group a wide berth.

“I suppose we should settle the rules for this now.” Ankah said over comms. “Specifically at what time the hunt ends.”

I shrugged. “When the navigators call for the expedition to return?”

Kidra nodded and then added her own conditions. “No direct physical violence, no sabotaging, and no stealing already claimed power cells. This shall be a competition of scavenging techniques, not thievery.”

The princess gave an insulted scoff. “Please, this isn’t a bar fight. I accept your terms as you state them, both in spirit and wording. I will earn my blade in the name of House Shadowsong.”

Kidra flashed the challenge hand sign, “You mean you will try to earn the blade. I doubt you will succeed. The terms are finalized. Let’s begin.”

This didn’t signal some mad sprint or dash to the site. Ankah and Calem both turned and began a measured leisure walk. Kidra and I did the same. This would not be a competition about speed, even with a time limit. Rather, this would be a marathon, taking up at least eight to nine hours. The real winner would be whoever could adapt to the structure first, determine the fastest path to the most likely locations, and extract the power cells.

“Oi winterscar pup,” Roach’s voice suddenly cut into my comms. “Yer lookin’ fer me power cell first, right?”

Ah ratshit. “Uh, yeah, there’s a… situation that’s popped up since.”

“Ho, don’t like the sound of that. Smells like someone thinkin’ of renegatin’ on the deal?”

“Relax, I’m planning on getting you a power cell. Just... it might not be from this site.”

“Why? You plannin’ on runnin’ with the goods?”

I denied that quickly, “We had a run in with the devil and she’s talked us into a competition.”

Was it fair to relate Ankah to a devil? Unequivocally yes, minus trying to make us sign a contract for our souls.

“Read some more stories pup, deals with the devil are as rare as ice in those. Ye’d have learned a hundred times by now - nobody ever deals with the devil and comes out of it hale. What stupidity did ye get yourself into? An’ which devil?”

Kidra cut in, “We have to collect more power cells than Ankah Shadowsong from this site. If we succeed, we win all the power cells she’s collected and a book. If we fail, then I lose my occult knife and we surrender our own captures for the day.”

“An’ what does that mean for me loot? Far as I see it, ye be gambling with my power cell here. Where’s me interest?”

“Fine, you cranky old gremlin,” I said. “How about this, if we win, we’ll give you two power cells? If we lose, then we’ll just give you the next power cell we come by.” That way he’ll still get his goods, just a site or two delayed down the road. Let’s see him complain about that.

“Well then. I be expectin’ some extra shiny with my name scribbled on it when ye win.”

“Scribbling on the power cell wasn’t part of the contract, I’ll be charging extra for that.”

“Hah! Ye certainly be learnin’ from this devil right quick. Tell ye what, write something good down and I’ll buy the first round o’ drinks if it makes me laugh.”

“Deal. I look forward to the most expensive drink I can find.”

The comms promptly clicked shut.

“I suspect you’ve spooked him. He might be allergic to paying for anything.” Kidra said.

“Naw, he’s just being dramatic. I can recognize my kind. Wait, where’s Ankah heading?”

Shadowsong and her single lackey had changed course. This wasn’t much of a surprise, we weren’t planning on going into the site from the same angle. But changing up not even a few minutes into the hike? Kidra figured it out before I did. “Their target is Lord Atius’s group.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m not positive, and that’s exactly what has me troubled. We need to follow, at least to find out what she’s up to.”

Our little duo also changed directions, following behind the Shadowsong team, towards the group of relic knights. These were the leaders of the clan itself, not people I’d want to ask about the weather. You could tell when two armors belonged to the same House as they shared their theme, though each still unique. Two of the armors in the group had togas wrapped around, embroidered with writings. Detailing the past exploits of House Shadowsong’s long lineage. The other three including Father were all different.

Shadowsong had made it to parade rest by their side. As we closed our own distance, the clan lord turned and motioned us to join comms with his right hand. Gulping, I did as ordered. The comms request was accepted and soon their voices patched into my headset.

Atius’s voice was like gravel, as if smoke had ruined his throat. “Are these your whelps, Tenisent?”

“Yes, my lord. They are.” Father replied.

“Excellent.” He turned to Ankah, a bemused expression on his face. “In the spirit of fairness, we will offer assistance to your rivals as well. Objections?”

She shook her head. “No, my lord. This was as expected. Either the Winterscar prime would make the argument, or Kidra herself would come when she noticed my change of plans.”

Atius nodded, then turned to Kidra. “I wonder, little Winterscar, can you make an educated guess on what your cheeky rival’s been up to?”

“My lord, I suspect she’s called upon the tradition and requested for the Shadowsong prime to escort her group.”

I whistled, only for a half second before shutting up. If Kidra was right, Ankah was really stretching the rules here. There was a standing tradition of scavengers asking for their family’s knights to protect the first scavengers into the ruins. The knights would take out the possible problems, and then the rest of the expedition had a safer time inside.

Thing is, knights always went in first. Nobody needed to request anything. The tradition was purely used in ceremonial moments.

“Correct!” Atius laughed, a full bodied thing that sounded like it came from deep within his stomach. “The little Shadowsong whelp did just that. What an audacious generation you lot will grow to be. Exciting years ahead for me.” He seemed so much like a jovial grandfather, I’d almost forgotten exactly what he was. Until he peered again into the distance.

In that frozen moment of time, he seemed as ancient as ice. As if the weight of centuries hung from his shoulders, his gaze far away and worn out. The Deathless turned back to his handpicked guards, taking a casual breath of the lethal sub-zero air. “It’s been long since I’ve found the time to simply walk, years perhaps. I suppose I can indulge myself now and then.”

He nodded, almost as if trying to convince himself, then turned to Ankah. “Normally I’d deny this kind of request for obvious reasons, but the current mission isn’t urgent." He pointed one armored hand at the site, his greatcloak slipping to the side with the motion. "That's been there for centuries by now, an hour or two more isn’t going to change anything. We can spare it.”

If any of the relic knights felt insulted at the thought of babysitting scavengers, they were far too professional to show it.

“After we’ve located a way down into the superstructure, we’ll split ways with the scavenger whelps and continue to the primary objective.” He pointed over to my father, “Winterscar, Shadowsong. Keep track of the little ones and make sure they’re safe. Objections?”

“No, my lord, I thank you for the opportunity.” The Shadowsong Prime said.

“As he said.” Father added, nodding to his fellow Prime.

“Good. The rest of us will fan out into the site and continue with the normal first phase of the operation. Clear dangers for the main expedition to scavenge safely. I don’t want casualty reports when we return.”

I fixed my eye on the horizon line as we began the march towards our destination. The site stood tall in the distance, harrowed out by the ceaseless high winds. The superstructure stripped down to its bones. Trails of ice growing on the skeletal remains like mold.

Dead. And waiting.

Next chapter - The Tomb of the Stars