Chapter 8.

Military ranks in the various armies were generally organized as follows with little variation from land to land.

Within the heavy infantry, Jotnar pilots were classified as Jotunn-Knights.

An officer in command of a platoon of twenty Jotnar was titled a Knight-Captain.

In charge of a company’s four to six platoons was a Knight-Commander.

For the cavalry division it was more or less the same. A cavalry rider was referred to as a Cavalry-Knight, though the platoon leader was known as Cavalry-Captain, and the company officer as a Cavalry-Commander.

Officers in charge of their respective divisions within an army were referred to as Major Generals. A General or Field General led an army of multiple divisions. A Field Commander led the strategic sub-division within the command echelon. Last but not least, a Field Marshal was tasked with the responsibility of leading all of the sovereign territory’s armies.

Excerpt from Giants Across The Land.

A History of the Militaries of the First Millennium.

(Falken)

The heavens held out long enough for us to complete the climb to the western end of the mountain pass that ran through the Boyden Mountains.

Fortress Belgar stood at the entrance to a cold, grey passage through a relatively narrow mountain range in comparison to the other ranges that ran up and down Caldera, some of which crossed the southern border into Orgenval.

The fortress was constructed far enough from the mountains to avoid damage from the occasional rockslide induced by weather or the exceptionally rare earth tremor. Any mountain rockslide that happened would hardly scrape its eastern walls of metal and permacrete. However, in the weakening evening light, and from our perspective as we climbed the winding the road, the enormous fortress appeared to rise majestically between two immense jagged mountains, their peaks lost in the storm clouds overhead.

I rode within the ranks of the cavalry platoon, then edged my horse forward as we drew near the barbican with its metal and wood gates some twenty feet tall. One of the cavalry riders used a box lantern to flash a message to the men watching from the battlements of the barbican. A signal was flashed back, and I read the reply.

We were instructed to wait outside the gate – far away from the gate.

That last part set off warning bells in my head.

I reined my horse to a stop beside the cavalry captain’s, coming up to him on his right, and looked up at the two Jotnar standing guard on opposite sides of the barbican that jutted out of the west wall. At a distance of roughly a hundred feet, I could clearly sense the Etherite in their metal skeletons within their oversized, armored bodies. And I could sense their Etheric drives turning over. The Jotunn were manned and they were powered up with Ether, ready to move out at the will of the Jotunn-Knight within.

I leaned sideways toward the captain. “I trust you told them we wanted to get inside before it rains?”

Captain Rohayne leaned forward in the saddle, and spoke to the man on my right who held the lantern containing a brightly glowing chunk of Etherite. “Padarson?”

“Most assuredly, your Grace,” replied the young, fair haired rider to my immediate right.

Giving the Jotnar another looked, I took a quick breath, then asked, “What exactly…did you tell them?”

“That we were escorting his Grace to Calandor and wished to enter with all due haste before the storm broke.”

Underscoring his words, a faint drizzle began to fall upon us, and somewhere over the range, the distant sound of thunder rumbled away. One by one, the men began to pull the hoods of their riding cloaks over their heads, and so did I.

“Lovely,” I muttered, then ran my gaze over the Jotnar, and then the top of the massive western wall. I shook my head faintly when I saw movement in the darkness behind the parapet. “I can’t say I like this.”

I glanced over my right shoulder and looked behind us at the black carriage with its golden dragons.

Could it be they know we have a Khan Wilder with us?

I turned back to the massive wall some two dozen yards in front of us.

I had not expected this kind of welcome. Ryland had assured me he would send word to the fortress to expect our arrival. Perhaps the flyer had suffered a mishap along the way and failed to deliver that message. I simply didn’t know. Until someone came out to face us, all I could do was anxiously speculate.

On my left, Rohayne shifted on his saddle. “We’re being watched, your Grace.”

It wasn’t a casual observation. Indeed we were being watched, but I had the distinct impression he wasn’t referring to the men on the western walls or the roofed barbican.

Rohayne exhaled heavily as his horse snorted. “What an unpleasant feeling.”

“How so?” I innocently asked while searching what I could see of the fortress’s battlements.

“I feel like the hare stalked by a hunter.” He straightened his back. “I feel unfriendly eyes on us. I feel them from on high.”

I looked up and studied what I could of the observation tower that rose high from the top of the immense Keep. The Keep itself was not one but two squarish blocks to the north and sound, facing each other while rising high enough to be visible above the tops of the western fortified wall. Arched metal and wood bridges connected them, forming an arcade that one would need pass under in order to travel between the east and west gates.

My gaze crept over the tops of both Keeps, and I noticed something odd over the roof of the northern one.

The drizzle was outlining the shape of a dome atop the platform. It was as though the rain was falling on a giant inverted glass bowl of immense proportions. I realized I was no stranger to this sight. I had seen it before when an Archon craft landed in the rain on Calandor’s landing fields cut into the mountainside.

I remembered Ryland’s note from my brother.

The Archons are here.

I swallowed hard. “Captain, it appears Fortress Belgar has guests other than ourselves.”

“Your Grace?”

“The Archons are here.”

“What?”

“On the roof of the north Keep. I presume where the scout flyers normally land.”

“I…I can’t see anything there….”

“Look at the rain, Captain. Look at the rain and watch how it falls?” I swallowed again before adding, “The Archons are watching us. I’d weather a guess it’s the reason why we’re still waiting here in the rain outside the gate.”

A heartbeat later, one of the gate’s two enormous doors opened inward, providing enough room for a handful of fortress guardsmen to venture out on horseback. That in itself made me frown, and I sensed the cavalry riders stir around me. Through the faint traces of Etherite in their armor and weapons, I could perceive the shift their formation.

“Captain, keep your men at ease,” I advised softly.

“Hold,” Rohayne commanded, his voice low yet carrying far enough to the men behind us who passed on the word.

The fortress guardsmen did not approach us. Instead, they lined up before the immense iron grey wall of metal and wood. This put them at a distance of a hundred feet or so.

I found their behavior disturbing.

Then I glanced up at the north Keep, having sworn I’d glimpsed something like a smoky shadow walk along the edge of the roof.

An Archon?

I held back the urge to look at the carriage behind us.

Could it be? Were they following us and then anticipated our destination? I clenched my teeth as worry bubbled up in my chest. Are they here because of Fallon?

The Archons had maintained a stance of non-interference with the Khans for two centuries. Even when the Khan Wilders began to stir trouble across the lands, the Archons had refrained from taking action, allowing the Khan Orden to deal with the Wilders unimpeded. But what of the Archons here?

Something was amiss, beginning with the less than warm welcome.

With mounting trepidation, I noticed one of the guardsmen was not a man, but a woman. If she was with them, it was safe to assume she was a talented Ether Empath Weaver.

Damn it, I cursed inwardly and began to edge my horse forward.

“Your Grace,” Padarson hissed loudly, “archers on the wall. Crossbows too.”

I froze for a heartbeat, and then held my horse back. The situation had turned dangerous yet I had no grasp on it beyond the obvious.

Somehow, the fortress personnel found out we have a Khan with us.

I grit my teeth together, then narrowed my eyes when one rider broke away from the handful of guardsmen and rode slowly toward us. He stopped halfway between the group of guardsmen fanning out before the wall, and the cavalry riders beside me.

“Wait here,” I told Rohayne, and with a firm yet gentle kick, I nudged my horse into motion.

I met the guardsman at the halfway point.

Studying him in the light that shone down from the fortress’s wall, I saw him to be past his middle years, with a thin moustache and stubble of beard. Sharp eyes regarded me in return, yet I sensed no antagonism from him. If anything, I felt he was expressing a little regret.

His voice was low, yet it carried well between us. In a somber tone, he introduced himself. “I am Commandant Anton Durgess.”

He bowed respectfully while seated on the saddle, but I returned it with the barest of nods.

“Do you know how I am?” I asked bluntly.

“You are his Grace, Falken Galen Claymore, Archduke of Caldera.” He smiled and seemed bitter. “I had hoped we would meet under better circumstances.”

I pursed my lips for a moment. “Why we out here, Commandant?”

He took a deep yet quiet breath. “My sincere apologies, your Grace. This is not how I wanted to greet you. However, I felt it was best that I ride out and explain the situation in person…what little I can.”

My stomach tightened anxiously. “Go on.”

“The Archons are here, and they have…commandeered the fortress.”

I almost snorted in disbelief, but held it back at the last moment. “What did you say…?”

“They have assumed authority over Fortress Belgar.”

It wasn’t just my stomach that clenched uncomfortably, but my chest too. “Explain.”

“They arrived an hour ago, and informed us that you and your party were on the road to the western pass. They assumed command of Belgar on their authority as Archons. The fortress is in lockdown. All personnel are confined to their rooms. They allowed for a number of the guards, and a handful Jotunn-Knights, to remain on duty guarding the walls.”

I glanced up and saw that the archers and crossbow men were still there, weapons trained down on us. “Commandant, do your men need to point their weapons at us?”

He swallowed visibly, yet his expression remained calm. “It’s what the Archons ordered, your Grace.”

My hands clenched around the reins I gripped. “How unpleasant of them….”

It was hard to describe the emotions washing through me. A feeling of helplessness. A feeling of slowly mounting rage. All of it directed at the Archons.

How dare they—how dare they commander a fortress of Caldera.

How dare they order my men around!

How dare they have weapons pointed at me!

I relaxed my jaw but found it somewhat difficult to swallow. Keeping my voice low and level was a struggle. “How many of them are here?”

“A handful. However, they are Archons.” He shrugged a shoulder bitterly. “How are we to say no to them?”

I held my gaze steady on him. “Why are they doing this?”

His eyes shifted and I knew he was looking behind me. “They are here for the Khan Wilder, your Grace.”

My eyes narrowed. “They told you this?”

“Aye, your Grace. They said the Wilder would be travelling in the carriage. They described her as a young girl, long dark hair, rather pretty by human standards.”

I inhaled through clenched teeth, then exhaled slowly. “What do they want with the Wilder?”

Durgess was quiet for a moment, before sidling his horse closer to mine. “That is something they would not tell me, your Grace.”

My lips twisted into a disdainful grin. “So I’ll have to ask them directly.”

He nodded just once. “Aye, your Grace. And they are expecting you.”

#

(Fallon)

#

I kept my eyes closed as I concentrated.

Gently, I spread my Awareness-field again, reaching as far as thirty five feet and holding it there for a minute as I tried to sense any trace of the breeze that had blown through me earlier.

Perhaps calling it a breeze was a little too weak.

It had felt more like a dirty wind that swept through the carriage repeatedly, brushing hard against my Awareness-field as though trying to pierce it. Then, a half minute later, it was gone.

I heard Marina’s voice clearly in my ears as the Awareness-field improved my five senses by a large amount.

“Anything?” she asked. She was seated across from me in the carriage’s passenger cabin.

I shook my head faintly. “No…nothing…but…my field doesn’t stretch very far.”

“Oh….”

I opened my eyes with a sigh. “I could do better if I summoned Andraste, but I would need to step out of the carriage. If I did it here, the carriage would be destroyed.” A look of concern shadowed Marina’s face, so I quickly added, “I promise. I won’t summon my Warlord in here. I promise.”

The shadow left Marina’s face, but then she frowned. “What did it feel like?”

I averted my eyes in thought. “A wind. Like a dirty wind. It felt like it was trying to go through me but the Seal was stopping it. But…it also felt like a cold hand. Like it was trying to feel me out.”

Marina grew quiet for a long moment. She wasn’t showing me her worry, but my Awareness-field could sense it. “Does the Seal know what it is?”

I nodded gently. “The Seal of Arcala believes it has sensed this wind before, and that it’s something like an Awareness-field. However, it’s sure that it doesn’t belong to a Khan.”

“Then to whom does it belong?”

“Um…the Archons.”

Her eyebrows rose quickly. “Does your Seal know about the Archons?”

“Yes, it does.”

“And the Seal has come across this wind before?”

I gave her another nod. “I don’t remember feeling this, but the Seal says that it has.”

The corners of Marina’s eyes wrinkled. “Fallon, maybe the Archons are you looking for you?”

I felt my face grow slack and lifeless.

Marina pressed on. “Do you know why they would be looking for you?”

I sucked in air loudly and shook my head, first slowly then quickly. “I—I don’t know.”

Silvia had been sitting quietly beside me, peeking out between the curtains covering the windows. “Did you pick a fight with the Archons?”

I shook my head very quickly. “No—no, I haven’t. I’ve never even met an Archon.”

Silvia stopped peeking outside and faced me. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m really sure.”

She sat back. “Then why are they looking for you?”

Marina shook her head, and stopped Silvia with a raised palm. “No, it’s possible the Archons weren’t looking for her, but just feeling us out. Right?”

Since the last part was directed at me, I gave her a quick nod. “Yes. The Seal says the wind is a way for them to sense what’s around them.”

Marina pushed aside the curtain beside her window and peeked toward the fortress wall. “Why are we still out here?”

I held my tongue, not wanting to say anything that sounded like a guess. Mother had always said ‘think before you talk’.

Then I felt the wind again, and I felt it push hard against my Awareness-field.

This time, I felt the Seal push back.

#

(Falken)

#

I glanced up at the dark clouds. “What about my men?”

Durgess kept his tone perfunctory. “My orders from them are to escort you and the Wilder into Belgar. They are not interested in your men, your Grace. However, if they enter Belgar they’ll be placed under confinement.”

“So they have no problem with my men camping away from the fortress?”

“I would assume not.”

I nodded stiffly, then gave the wall, the Jotnar, and the men on the parapet another look. “Very well. Commandant. Would you wait for us here? I need to discuss the situation with my men.”

“Your Grace, I do advise you don’t delay.”

After another stiff nod, I shot the tower rising from the north Keep a glare. “Just wait for me here, Commandant.”

I reined the stallion around, and rode back to Rohayne and his men at a walk.

Bringing my beast alongside Rohayne’s, I spoke to him firmly. Truthfully, I was dreading this conversation. “Captain, ride with me.”

“Your Grace?”

“Ride with me.” I steered my horse a few yards away from the platoon. Rohayne followed, but he was faintly unhappy.”

When he stopped his mount beside mine, I leaned toward him a few inches and lowered my voice. “Captain, the Archons have assumed control of the fortress. It’s in lockdown.”

His eyes widened sharply. Despite the poor light, I was certain he’d grown ashen. “That Archons? What? Why?”

“Take your men back down the road. Find a place to camp for the night. If you enter Belgar, the Archons will have you confined to quarters or a general area within the fortress. I won’t tolerate that, so you’ll need to stay clear of the fortress.”

“Your Grace, why are they here? Why do this?”

I hesitated before gracing him with a reply. “Captain, there are circumstances to the current situation that you are not aware of. I had hoped to inform you and your at a later stage, but it seems the Archons have intervened when I least expected.” I laughed curtly under my breath. “In truth, I should have expected this. It is my failing.”

“Your Grace, I don’t understand.”

“Captain, I will explain later. You have my word on that. I will tell you and your men the truth behind my return to Calandor. But for now, no questions.” I drew closer to him and hardened my stare. “Captain, trust me. Just this once. There will be time for questions, but that time is not now.”

Rohayne didn’t look happy. Conflicted was the best description I could rummage. For a long while, I thought he would argue with me, but then his lips twisted into an odd, pained shape. “I have to tell my men something.”

“Tell them what I told you. The Archons have seized Fortress Belgar. Tell them that I am going to meet with the Archons to resolve the situation.” I paused as I came to a decision. “Captain, while I’m gone, I will leave Knight-Commander Chiren Kell in command.”

He looked taken aback. “What?”

“As a Knight-Commander, she is the ranking officer here. And she is aware of the circumstances of our journey.”

He frowned at me. “She is aware?”

“Correct,” I answered, nodding once, then pulled on the reins, maneuvering my horse so that it stepped away from Rohayne’s beast. “No more delays, Captain.”

Using my legs to pressure my horse’s flanks, I snapped the reins lightly, and urged the stallion into motion.

I rode between the cavalry platoon, past the wagons, and arrived at the black carriage, reining the horse to a stop beside where Chiren and Irvin sat in the partly enclosed driver’s seat.

Looking up at them, I met Chiren’s anxious gaze.

“Falken, what’s going on?”

I told her quickly what Durgess had told me, and what I’d told Rohayne.

She straightened on the seat, her body growing visibly rigid, while Irvin did the opposite and drew back into the shadows.

For the first time in a while, I heard a tremor in Chiren’s voice.

“What will you do?”

I tried to sound casual, and indeed my shrug came out almost indifferent, but that certainly wasn’t how I was feeling. “What can I do? They’re expecting Fallon and I, so I have no choice but to go in there.”

At the sound of horses moving about, I glanced over a shoulder to see the cavalry platoon had turned around, and Rohayne was leading the way down the road. The wagon drivers were also maneuvering to get themselves turned around on the wide road. The group would be upon us shortly.

I turned back to Chiren. “Wait until they’ve gone by, then turn the carriage around, and follow them down the road.” Addressing an impromptu thought, I added, “Chiren, I give you permission to tell Rohayne the truth…if he asks it of you.”

Her brow furrowed. “Falken, are you sure?”

“I am,” I replied, adding a deep nod. “And I trust, you Sis.”

She pressed lips into a thin line, but then muttered, “Don’t call me, Sis….”

I laughed softly, and grinned up at her. “Chiren, I’m leaving you in charge. Rohayne knows this. If he doesn’t follow orders, tell him I’ll come done on him hard.”

At that moment, Rohayne’s men rode past and their captain slowed his horse to a stop a few feet away from me. “Your Grace, we’ll ride down to open ground and set up camp there…as you ordered.”

“Thank you, Captain.” I looked up at Chiren. “You’re in charge now.”

Chiren glanced at Rohayne, then gave me a quick nod. “Very well, your Grace.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking my next course of action. To Rohayne and I said, “Captain, continue with your men down the road. I won’t keep the Knight-Commander very long. She’ll join you shortly.”

He really didn’t look happy with my orders, but he didn’t argue either. “Aye, your Grace.”

Night had settled upon the land. I watched him ride with his men down the road and into darkness, though a number of the cavalry riders had uncovered their Etherite night sticks that cast a pale emerald light around them. It was barely enough to ride by, so the men were taking it slow and careful down the winding road.

“Chiren,” I said, “Fallon and I will go alone from here.”

Climbing down off the saddle, I walked up to the carriage’s door where Marina and Silvia were peeking through the windows with anxious looks.

Marina surprised me when she said, “Your Grace, Lady Fallon believes there are Archons here.”

That stopped me almost in mid-step. I stared at Marina in shock. “She knows about the Archons?”

Marina nodded nervously. “She says she can feel them looking for her.”

Hurriedly, I opened the carriage door and looked inside. However, the carriage interior was dark. The Ether was warded away by Fallon so the Etherite lamps were unable to shine their light about the interior.

“Fallon?” I called out.

I saw someone move in the gloom. “I’m here, your Grace.”

“Fallon, you’re right. The Archons are here.”

I saw her silhouette move closer to the doorway.

Fallon’s features were faintly visible. “Your Grace, I can feel them looking at me.”

I was confused and I didn’t bother hiding it. “What do you mean?”

“It’s like a wind. It blows through the carriage. It tries to blow through me like it’s trying to feel me out, but my Seal won’t let it.”

In the weak light from the fortress’s Ether powered spotlights, I saw Fallon shudder. Fear crossed her face, and I heard it in her voice.

“Are they here for me?”

I looked into her eyes…and I didn’t know what answer to give her.

Inside of me, a small fire began to burn. It started as a flickering flame, but with every breath I took, and every passing moment I looked at her, it grew stronger. It burned with contempt for the Archons, and with disdain for my helplessness.

In the end, there was only one I answer I felt I could give her.

“Fallon, I gave you my word that I would protect you. That’s all you need to know.”

I spoke it with confidence, yet in my heart I knew it was an empty promise, one that I couldn’t possibly keep. I had nothing with which to oppose the Archons and the power they wielded. Not for the first time in my life, did I wish I was more, much more, than what I was.

If I had the power of a Khan, would that make a difference?

However, having made that promise, I would be less than I am now if I did nothing to fulfill it.

I closed the door, not wanting Fallon to glimpse my true thoughts lest my face betray them, and strode to the front of the carriage where Chiren looked down at me from the drivers’ seat.

“Falken, what are you doing?”

I climbed onto my horse’s saddle, and with reins in hand, I steered the beast closer to the carriage and its anxious train of horses.

“Chiren, take Fallon with you. Join Rohayne and his men. I’ve ordered them to set up camp away from the fortress. Go. Take her and the girls. You’re in command now, Knight-Commander Kell.”

“What are you going to do?”

I gave her a hard look and for a heartbeat Chiren flinched. That made me wonder just what expression did I wear on my face. Then I pushed the thought aside, and said in commanding tone, “I’m going to get my people and my fortress back.”

With that, I kicked the beast into motion, and rode back to where Durgess waited for me.

The man regarded me with a complicated look. However, I also perceived that he thought I was insane. “Your Grace?”

“The Khan Wilder is under my protection, Commandant. That means the Archons speak to me first. Then I decide if they get to speak with her.”

“Do you really think they will accept this?”

“Possibly not. But as I’m still the ruler of this land, it’s my decision to make.” I tilted my head toward the open gate. “Shall we then? I think I’ve kept them waiting long enough.”

#

(Fallon)

#

I listened to Lady Kell as she spoke to us through the open panel at the front of the carriage.

As she drove the carriage's six horses, she explained what his Grace had said to her.

What I didn’t tell her was that I’d already heard him speak to her.

As my Awareness-field had strengthened to block the wind trying to blow through me, it had also sharpened my senses more than it normally would. So I was able to clearly hear the Archduke tell her about the Archons at the fortress.

Marina and Silvia looked afraid, and I didn’t need the Awareness-field to read their emotions. In the darkness within the cabin, they were sitting beside each other now and holding hands.

Neither of them was looking at me.

Again, I could see all this because of the Awareness-field improving my eyesight in the dark.

I bit down on the pain that sparked within me, and pushed aside a curtain to look outside the carriage.

Night had fallen on the land of Caldera.

A flash of light from behind us glinted against the glass window.

Lightning soon followed by thunder.

It was distant and faint, but I could hear it because the Awareness-field allowed me to.

But it also made the noise of the carriage wheels turning on the dirt and stone road sound louder, and I found it growing upon my like an itch that I wanted to scratch away.

I closed my eye and tried to get my thoughts in order.

His Grace had gone into the fortress to face the Archons, but they had wanted the both of us.

I was afraid he’d the wrong choice. I should have gone with him instead of remaining confused and frightened inside the carriage.

He had left orders that we were to camp at the foot of the mountain where the road levelled out. I asked the Seal if it knew how far that was from the fortress guarding the pass. A whispered reply in my mind said between three and four thousand feet. On horseback that would take under two minutes at a gallop, but I knew the horses were spent after a long day’s travel. Even now, they were being coaxed down the road at a slow pace. If I took one of the horses and tried riding it back to the fortress, I would end up breaking it.

What if I summoned Andraste?

I had used it before to travel fast when I lost my horse after crossing the border. I had used it to flee from the soldiers and hide in a nearby forest on Caldera’s side of the border.

But my time merged with Andraste was limited.

I could only use the Warlord for five to six minutes at best. Every minute after that, Andraste’s response to my will and commands grew sluggish until eventually I couldn’t move her at all. Even so, the Warlord would take me back to the fortress in under a minute. I was at least confident of that much.

Drawing my legs up, I realized I was hindered by the dress. For a heartbeat I was tempted to tear a slit into it and make it easier for my legs to move. But the dress wasn’t mine, and I didn’t have the means to buy it or pay for its damages.

Putting my legs back down, I continued thinking through my options.

If I hurried to the fortress, I would be facing the Archons. If I remained here with the riders and the girls, I would risk drawing the Archons here. I didn’t know if the Archons would harm these people, but could I take that chance.

Enough people had died around me to last me a lifetime.

I didn’t want more innocent blood on my hands.

So I came to a decision, and made my choice.

I had done what the dream had asked of me. I had saved the Archduke of Caldera as it had urged me to do. But now that was over. His Grace was safe. He would not die in that forest as the dream had predicted.

The only dream that would haunt me now was the dream of battle.

The Dream of Ragnarok.

It was the dream where I learnt to operate Andraste, and slowly gained mastery over her.

As the carriage rocked on the uneven road, I closed my eyes and reached out to the Seal within me – to the presence I could feel at the back of my mind like a faint pressure at the base of my skull.

I told it what my intentions were and after a short while I received it’s whisper of support.

But something about that whisper, the way it was expressed, made my heart beat with regret and emptiness.

I realized that while I’d travelled with these people, I’d stopped feeling hollow.

But now that I’d made my choice that emptiness began to return.

I tried swallowing it down but failed.

Little by little, I became an empty shell which is what I needed to become in order to survive on my own.

#

(Falken)

#

Durgess and his guardsmen escorted me on horseback into Fortress Belgar.

I had expected the Jotnar to follow us into the fortress but they remained outside the walls.

Passing through the double gates of the barbican, we rode together down a permacrete road that connected the east and west sides of the immense fortress.

The Keep was divided into two rectangular slabs, one to the north and one to the south of the road with enclosed bridgeways connecting them high over the roadway.

Partially enclosed courtyards occupied the space between the Keeps and the walls of the fortress.

Durgess and his men, led me into a spacious courtyard in the shadow of the northern Keep.

I guessed it to be four hundred feet across and two hundred feet wide. An awning stretched inwards along its perimeter, providing some relief from the drizzle. It was intersected by several wooden buildings constructed against the courtyard’s three walls, including two long stable houses, each large enough for several dozen stalls. The other buildings looked like storage houses, and one of them resembled an enormous barn, possibly used for putting away wagons and carriages.

Praying the drizzle would hold and not grow into a downpour, I dismounted from my horse, but was disinclined to just leave it there unattended. However, Durgess and his men dismounted too, and shortly one of the guardsmen took my horses reins and led the beast toward the stables.

The Commandant approached me.

“This way, your Grace.”

Replying with a blunt nod, I followed him into the northern Keep by way of an entrance at the base of a tower that bulged out from one corner of the rectangular building.

Once inside, I climbed a number of stairs, and walked down a handful of corridors, before arriving at a metal stairwell that wound its way up the hollow inside of a wide tower.

Durgess hesitated noticeably before climbing the metal stairs up to the landing high above our heads.

I was certain by his reaction that the Archons awaited us in the observation deck of the tower that rose from the roof of the northern Keep, and this was where the stairwell led.

Our boots on the metal stairs sounded loud in the confined space, almost matching the pounding in my chest.

At the landing, Durgess pushed open the heavy wooden door reinforced with metal bands. He held it open and I stepped after him onto the observation deck.

Before I could look around, Durgess surprised me.

“My apologies, your Grace, but I cannot accompany you.”

“And if I say otherwise?” I fixed upon him a hard stare, one that promised trouble if he didn’t choose wisely.

Durgess sighed. “I must see to my men, and to the people of Fortress Belgar.”

I turned my back on him. “Do what you must.”

The door closed behind me with a heavy thud, and shortly afterwards I heard the sound of his boots clanging on the metal stairs as he descended the tower at a fast, perhaps reckless pace.

I looked around me.

The observation deck was circular, and reminded me of a battlement except it had a round roof overhead, and the stairwell tower occupying the center of its floor space. The gap between the top of the parapet and the roof was open to the elements and I felt the drizzle laden breeze upon my face. Turning in a slow circle, I swept my gaze slowly, looking for the Archons.

However, I found them not by using my eyes, but my weak Empathic talent.

I sensed a void in the Ether, and turned toward it.

“I know you’re there. Show yourself.”

After a short while, the air where I sensed the void shimmered. Like two curtains being drawn aside, the air parted to reveal a woman clad in black from neck to toes, with long straight silver hair, and crimson eyes. It smiled and revealed two sharp canines.

I recognized what I was looking at, and faced it with forced composure, while inwardly my heart continued to pound loudly in my chest, and my gloved palms threatened to break into a sweat.

The creature standing a dozen feet away resembled a pretty, young woman, but I knew very well that it wasn’t.

She had long silver hair that hung down to her waist. Her face was oval shaped, with a petite nose over full lips. Crimson irises adorned her eyes under black eyelashes and thin silver eyebrows. Her slender body and full breasts were wrapped in a black outfit that showed no seams, no buckles, buttons, or belts. It wrapped her from neck to toes, exemplifying the contours of her body. On her feet she wore the strangest boots I’d ever seen. They had a massive heel and appeared to make her stand on her toes. As with the rest of her clothes, there was no telling where her boots merged with the black suit covering her body.

As eye catching as she was what struck me the most was her size…or rather her height.

She was tall, perhaps taller than seven feet in height, and with long legs that seemed to run forever. She was also quite pretty, but the malicious glint I glimpsed in her eyes made me shiver uneasily, as did the long canines she flashed at me when she smiled.

Like with Fallon, I sensed a void surrounding her.

Unlike with Fallon, I feared a little for my life.

“Well, well, well. To think a man possessed such an affinity with the Ether to be able sense the void around me.”

When it spoke, its voice had a melodious timbre, one that tugged at my mind and threatened to set it adrift. For a brief moment, I had to squeeze my eyes, and focus my awareness on the creature in front of me.

The Archon ran its tongue over its lips. “How troublesome….”

Keeping my arms firmly at my sides, I clenched my hands to stop them from trembling. The Archon glanced at them, then smiled again as she walked a couple of steps closer, folding her arms under an impressive pair of breasts that rivaled Chiren’s.

However, they fell well short of General Meyren Milerna’s vaunted bust.

I cleared my throat, and dragged my gaze back up to the Archon’s face.

She looked amused as she dropped her wait onto one shapely hip.

“Archduke, Falken Galen Claymore. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You have me at a disadvantage.”

“That I do. My name is Calypso. I am an Archon Sora.”

I blinked in recognition of her clan. “You’re an Archon of the skies.”

She nodded. “Correct. Unlike the Archon Artemis that roam the lands, we Soras dominate the skies.”

“Then what reason do you have for being here—on the ground?” I took a step toward her. “What gives you the right to commandeer my fortress?”

Her smile vanished in a heartbeat. “At ease there, your Grace.”

I was trembling now from both fear and anger. I so desperately wanted to land a solid hit to her jaw and send her flying. “Your arrogance is less than appreciated, Archon.”

She tipped her head back as she regarded me coldly. “And your lack of respect is unbecoming.”

“Why are you here?”

She crossed the distance to me in the blink of an eye. A heartbeat later, my feet dangled in the air as she held me up with one hand and a frigid grip on my throat.

She drew her lips back in a snarl. “You shouldn’t have tested my patience, your Grace. When I said I wanted you and the Wilder to come, I meant that. Sending her away was an insult you could ill afford.”

Grabbing onto her arm with both my hands, I used my strength to ease the strain on my neck. Then I raised my legs, and kicked at her face with both my feet and every ounce of strength I could muster.

The blow was hard enough to have sent a wooden door flying open.

Against her, it snapped her head back. However, though she rocked on her feet it was only for a moment or two.

“Insolent grub,” she hissed, then casually tossed me aside.

I flew through the air, and my back crashed into the stairwell wall. I couldn’t get my feet under me in time, so I fell hard on my backside.

My vision swam, but quickly settled.

I had the Thread to thank for that.

Without the symbiotic lifeform enhancing my body, I would have been knocked unconscious. As it was, the back of my head felt wet and sticky, and my shoulder blades ached in sharp pain.

Calypso walked up to me, and kicked my outstretched legs aside. Then she squatted on her haunches and grabbed my chin with her right hand.

“We Archons have a directive to ensure humanity survives. We can’t help it. It’s encoded into us. That doesn’t mean that we’ll tolerate your insolence. How we go about preserving humanity, protecting it, conserving it, is entirely debatable. You could say there’s a lot of gray area regarding how we ensure humanity’s continued existence.”

She jerked my chin up higher, and I reflexively grabbed her arm with both my hands, stopping her.

I didn’t know if she was simply allowing it, or if my strength was enough to stop her.

Either way, she looked unhappy.

“You have a lot to learn about showing your superiors the proper respect,” she snapped.

I tightened my grip on her forearm until certain my gloved knuckles had turned white. Though she was still holding onto my jaw, I nonetheless managed a pained smile. “Your time will come, Archon.”

I saw her wince as I put all my strength into gripping her arm.

Calypso’s voice grew mocking. “You’re strong for a human. I’ll give you that much.”

With her free hand, she grabbed my neck and hoisted me up to my feet.

Then she slammed me bodily into the wall, stunning me. Surprisingly my hands remained locked about her right arm…until she used her land to snap my right wrist at the joint.

I howled in pain and lost strength. When she released me, I fell to my knees as I cradled my broken wrist. I feared Calypso would break my other wrist, but she simply stepped back and rubbed her right forearm over the black bodysuit she wore.

Her melodious voice stung my ears. “It’s surprising how much the Thread amplifies your natural human strength. Without it, you humans would have a tough time with your environment. Your ancestors millennia ago didn’t have the benefit of that Symbiotic organism. They had to tough it out.”

I scooted backwards along the floor until my back hit the stairwell wall, still cradling my broken wrist. The pain had caused my body to break out in a sweat, and I breathed low and shallow but it was making me dizzy. I swallowed a number of times, my voice hoarse with pain. “My ancestors…didn’t need…your kind.”

“Well, your ancestor created us because they thought otherwise. And now we’re stuck with the job of babysitting your kind until the end of days.”

She paced in a circle and then walked back to me, squatting down beside me once more.

I glared at her, and repositioned my right arm against my chest. “Then my ancestors made a grave error.”

“You think?” She snorted and cocked her head. “Do you know why you’re kind are here on this planet. Because your ancestors read the writing on the wall and decided to pack up and move out of town before the wall came down. They made a mess of their home systems, so they travelled to new worlds. And this time, they decided humanity was going to have to do a better job, and so they created us to be your custodians. The instructed us to follow the Galactic Ley Lines, thinking it would lead them to habitable worlds. And guess what? They struck gold. Not just this world, but many others, all ripe for human colonization.”

She reached out and grabbed my hair, using it to jerk my head back until it hit the wall.

I winched against the impact, and sucked in a lungful of air.

My vision swam and for a moment I lost my sense of smell.

Despite this, I could feel broken wrist was beginning to mend. The agony of a minute ago was now a burning, throbbing sensation that made my entire right arm limp. In a week, maybe less, the joint will have mended. This was the power of the Thread inside me.

However, it couldn’t spare me from every new pain I received at Calypso’s hands.

Calypso drew her face close to mine. “As I said, our ingrained directive is to ensure humanity survives. But in what shape or form is entirely up to us. We can have you squabbling around in the mud, or we can allow you to develop your science and technology, build your cities, and make the same mistakes all over again. However, on this world, the Archon Regent Dhas graciously decreed that humanity will be given another chance. A chance to gain its legs, and a chance not to screw up again. If it were up to me, I’d have all of you living in caves and hunting like Neanderthals for your meat and wearing nothing but skin rags, beating each other over the head for the right to mate with the female of your choice.”

With her grip on my hair, I had no choice but to look into her eyes as she continued her diatribe.

“Would you believe that we Archons have ongoing arguments over preservation versus protection? Then again, we argue over preservation versus conservation. However, let’s start with the former. According to one ancient text, preservation is a stricter sense of protection. To be more specific, preservation implies no change to the subject, or rather the subject is preserved in a particular state of being. Protection does not. The subject is allowed change. Thus the subject is allowed to grow, to mature, and to evolve.

“This begs the question, is humanity being preserved or not? Are we allowing you to change, and if so, to what degree? Is it an evolutionary change? Is it a cultural change? For that matter, has humanity as a species taken a step forward or back under our watch?” She looked around at the interior of the observation deck. “The fact that humans are still at odds with each other would imply that your kind haven’t changed at all. Still making the same mistakes over and over again. History repeats, but no one is learning from the lessons written in history.”

I swallowed hard, and tried to ignore the pain that lanced out from my wrist with every heartbeat. “What history? You Archons have denied us our history. You took away everything we had and left us with just the clothes on our backs. Over the last five centuries we’ve had to relearn everything, and we’re still learning.”

She shrugged. “And the Regent is seeing nothing new. You’re still arguing and fighting each other. You still haven’t escaped or corrected your base failings. And do you know what that means for you?”

“Just tell me. I know you’re going to. I know you want to.”

“It means that if you don’t fix your mistakes—if you don’t learn to get along—our peace loving Regent will decide to reset humanity on this world.”

I frowned at her, which was hard since she was still pulling my head up by my hair. “Reset? What does that mean?”

“It means we wipe you out, reset the clock, and you get to start all over again—from scratch.” She smiled and bared her fangs in the process. “That means we get to redraw the map, and we get to reseed the planet with a fresh human crop.”

My eyes widened in horror. “What?”

“Oh my, does that surprise you?” She pointed up at the roof. “This lights that twinkle in the night sky. Some of those aren’t stars. They’re the galactic arks that we guided here. They’re not empty. We still have the genetic blueprints for a hundred thousand people. All we need is to drop them into a maturation tank and voila! Instead fresh batch of colonists. Maybe this time, we’ll make some tweaks in your genetic code. Maybe this time, we’ll make you stupider and less hostile to each other.”

I looked into both her crimson eyes in turn. “You really hate us, don’t you? Why? Or are you afraid of us—?”

She forcefully banged my head into the wall. “Afraid of you? Are you serious? Don’t make me laugh. You are nothing compared to us. Nothing. When we yell jump, you yell how high. Do you get me little worm?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the blow work its way across my skull then down my neck. When I could open my eyes again, I focused on her face and laughed at her.

“No, you’re not afraid of us. You’re afraid of the Khans and their Warlord—”

She banged my head again. “Afraid? No. Hardly. Curious, yes. Interested, yes. Annoyed, definitely. Most definitely. The Khans and their Warlords are pests that we tolerate. But that’s all. We tolerate them. Do you understand, primate?”

She released my head, and I breathed out heavily in relief.

Free of her, I shifted my posture on the floor, sitting myself better with my back to the curved wall. Without the wall’s support, I would have collapsed onto the cold floor. “Why are you here?”

She stood up and sneered down at me. “Very well. If you have to know, then I’ll tell you. After all, it makes no difference if you sent the Wilder away from here. We can find her whenever we want.”

I swallowed a couple of times. “Is that so?”

Calypso’s sneer turned into a scowl. “Yes, that’s the way it is, primate. Accept it.”

“I’m still waiting to hear your explanation. Why are you here?””

She waved her hand horizontally.

I was startled to see a large black, almond shaped object appear beside her. It became visible the same way she did – the air parted aside and revealed the floating device.

“You’re protecting that Wilder,” Calypso stated, “without knowing her circumstances.”

I tore my gaze away from the black floating almond and faced Calypso. “That’s my concern, not yours. She’ll tell me when she’s ready.”

A look of stark disbelief spread across her face. “Wait—you haven’t even asked her?”

Calypso started to laugh, truly laugh, and hearing her made my chest boil in helpless anger.

She wiped away very human tears, and took a couple of breaths to regain her composure.

“Very well. Have it your way.” Planting her hands on her hips, she smiled cruelly down at me. “This is going to be interesting.”

“Just tell me, Archon.”

“We’re hunting an anomaly, and your Khan Wilder is going to help us catch it.”