Chapter 75 * Clandestine *

“How in the world did they even make something this big?” Alyson said in awe as she stared up at the giant quartz rock that was the city core.

The glowing crystal was at least fifteen stories tall and the size of a small town. There was nowhere that they could stand in the massive underground chamber that would allow them to see the whole of it, and walking around it would take at least an hour if not more.

Melody gave her same tinkling laugh. “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when different peoples come together as one using the full range of gifts granted to us by the heavens.”

Alyson didn’t know what to make of this bit of wisdom but nodded all the same.

“I wish we could take credit for this,” Christopher said from her other side, “but the core existed long before Acumen was a country. We definitely benefited from someone else’s work, and our study of the core has netted us great gains over the centuries. This was truly a marvel of mentus engineering.”

“True, but we have been able to add and enhance the core over time,” Ben said, “so Acumen can take some credit for how the core functions today. Some of what we’re doing now couldn’t have been dreamed of thousands of years ago when this was first created.”

While the others discussed the core, Becky and Bernie were off on their own talking quietly about all the recent revelations that had been thrown their way.

“I don’t know, Becky,” Bernie said with a shrug. “He’s got a wife and kid now. I get why he doesn’t want to go.”

“I wish I knew what to do,” Becky said. “I guess I never thought something like this would happen. Even when I found out you’d been here ten years, it never occurred to me that some of the others could have full lives and families. What if Jandor—”

“You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you start doing what ifs,” Bernie said quickly. “You’ve just got to keep doing what you’ve been doing this whole time: staying focused on the mission. That’s who you are, and that’s what we need, even if we don’t like it sometimes.” He grinned.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Becky punched his arm, though she grinned as well.

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” Bernie said confidently. “Even if Ben stays, it’s not all bad. We’ll still know where he is and how to get to him.”

Becky nodded at this. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not like we can’t come back here if we need to.” She sighed, relaxing a little. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

At that moment, Hamen and Leonard appeared, having circled around the entire massive core.

“I can clearly see the problem,” Hamen said as he approached the group. “You’ve added to the original core, so much so that it’s becoming unstable. The core wasn’t designed to handle all that you’ve tasked it with.”

“I don’t understand,” Christopher said. “We reinforced the core to be able to handle the additional functions and services.”

“Yes, you did; I can tell the core is about thirty to forty percent larger than its original size,” Hamen said, “and you expertly grafted on the new quartz. However, growing the size of a core requires more than making it physically bigger; special mentus is needed to rebuild the core’s central memory in order to take advantage of the additional quartz.”

Ben slapped his head. “Oh, I get it. It’s like adding more hard drives to an array but not partitioning the new space.”

“What?” Christopher turned to Maria as if hopeful for a translation.

“I have no idea,” Maria said as she linked arms with Ben.

She gave an inquisitive look to Alyson as if expecting the other off-worlders might know what Ben meant, but Alyson shrugged.

“We never know what he’s saying either.” She grinned.

“So, this is the reason why sections of the national grid keep going down,” said the man standing next to Melody.

This was her husband, Duke Theodore Westword. He was a tall man with chiseled features, curly brown hair, and a matching beard which he was currently stroking in pensive thought.

“Wait, did you make an electric grid?” Melvin gave Ben an incredulous look.

Ben shrugged. “It’s using the same mentus to electric power conversion I came up with, just on a larger scale. It could provide a lot of benefits, especially for the smaller towns.”

“I’m curious; how are you getting enough mentus energy to power this massive core?” Hamen asked. “Cores usually collect energy passively from their surroundings, the remnants of mentus being used by the people in the city, but I doubt there are enough people in Clandestine to generate the kind of passive energy you need, especially if you’re using the core to impact the entire country. That’s far too large an area. Are you using multiple cores?”

“We’ve designed passive energy collectors that are more efficient, and we have them spread around the country,” Leonard revealed, “but we don’t just use passive energy collection, we also collect it actively.”

“What!” Hamen looked aghast. “Do you mean to say you’re forcibly stealing adimus energy from your citizens?”

“No, nothing like that,” Leonard corrected quickly. “Every citizen of our nation agrees to give up a small amount of mentus energy every day. It’s about the amount it takes to keep a fist-sized mentus flame alight for ten seconds.”

“It’s the tax they pay as full citizens of Acumen who benefit from all the nation offers its people,” Westword added. “It’s a fair trade.”

Hamen nodded, seeming to agree. “But how do you collect this tax?”

Christopher pulled out a small purple card, about the size of a credit card. “Special mentus is embedded into our citizens’ identity cards. This harmlessly captures and forwards the energy each day. It’s only done for those who have come of age, and our people actually see it as a point of pride when they turn fifteen and are old enough to contribute.”

“Interesting,” Hamen looked impressed, “but that only reinforces my point; you are definitely straining the limits of this core. Fortunately, it’s a well-made core, and clearly being expertly maintained, that’s probably how it’s survived this long.”

“Is there nothing we can do to bring the core up to its full potential?” Leonard asked. “You mentioned special mentus could accomplish this, is it too late?”

Hamen pondered this. “It would take several weeks, as it must be done one layer at a time with intervals in between. If you shut down some of your ancillary functions until the work is done, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Well, this is great then,” Westword said. “Can you show our engineers what needs to be done?”

“That, unfortunately, is the problem.” Hamen said hesitantly, “I can’t teach anyone these techniques.”

“Is it something only a guardian can do?” Leonard asked.

“No, it’s not that. It’s…” Hamen tried to find the words. “I apologize, but my people have strict rules against sharing this knowledge with anyone other than fellow dwarves. I can’t in good conscious disobey the laws of Glorandor.”

“Hamen—” Bernie started.

“I know,” Hamen said, clearly frustrated. “I don’t completely agree with the practice, but it is our people’s way, and I must adhere to it regardless of the situation or how I feel.”

“I understand,” Melody said. “My people are the same way. Ellenon craftmanship and mentus techniques are highly guarded secrets, and it’s hard for other races to mimic anyway. I would imagine it’s the same in your case.”

“To a degree, yes.” Hamen nodded.

“Acumen is one of the few places in the world to have elfish engineers, trained in Ellenon, on its engineering team. It was a partnership that took nearly a thousand years to cement, and even still, my people are not particularly trusting of humans,” Melody continued.

“Then you understand,” Hamen said.

“I do.” Melody nodded. “Trust between humans, elves, and dwarves on a large scale may take many more millennia to rebuild, but here in Acumen at least, we’ve made a small start.”

“Very true, which is why I think we can be of help,” came a gruff voice from one of the tunnels that branched out from the core chamber.

Everyone turned to see several short, stocky figures heading toward them. It was a group of dwarves, five in all, each wearing tough, leather-like clothing, and wielding large weapons.

“Gideon,” Westword said in shock, “but why? You didn’t need to show yourself.”

“No, the duchess is right,” said the dwarf at the head of the party. He had reddish-brown hair and a thick beard of the same color. “Our two domains have made many strides to work together over the centuries, and Acumen has always gone above and beyond to honor our pact. If revealing ourselves to a fellow dwarf is what it takes to repair the core, then I’m happy to do so.”

“I don’t understand.” Hamen said, looking truly flummoxed.

The dwarf stepped forward. “My name is Gideon Basecliff, High Chief of Surrepitous.”

***

“I think I’ve had enough tea for one day,” Becky said, staring listlessly at the glass in front of her.

They were sitting in a small meeting room off the main core chamber where Maria served tea for everyone present as Gideon began to explain further.

“The mountain was hollowed out thousands of years ago by the dwarves of Pridor. It was a heavily fortified city, and the core helped keep them protected for centuries. In fact, Pridor was one of the few remaining dwarven settlements left when strife between the races really started to escalate. Because of the mountain and city core, they were able to rebuff all attacks. In the end though, it wasn’t war that brought the downfall of the city, but a horrible plague caused by pollution from the mining towns in the northern mountains. It affected much of Sunntondra and even poisoned the Almanian River.

“The vast majority of Pridorians died. Those that remained moved underground where they were safe from both the plague and attack. They built a new city, Surrepitous, and stayed hidden for around three thousand years. Several cities and kingdoms came and went, and the mountain was settled many times, but no one discovered the dwarves or the core. It wasn’t until the Kingdom of Acumen came into power, that the tunnels beneath the mountain were uncovered.”

Duke Westword picked up from there. “Acumen was one of the countries founded after the dissolution of the Normalia Empire. After centuries of war, the people wanted to build a nation that could exist in peace, but they knew that would be impossible if they had no way to protect themselves. So, they settled in the mountain at first.

Even in those days, our citizens consisted mostly of scholars, engineers, and creative minds, so it didn’t take long for them to discover the true secrets of the mountain, namely the vast tunnel network that existed beneath it, along with the core. It was then that they met the Surrepitons.”

“Perhaps it was just the shared desire to live in peace that allowed our two peoples to forge a pact,” Gideon said. “Surrepitous did not want to be discovered by the outside world. They were happy, for the most part, being forgotten to time. The Acumens wanted a way to live in peace, build a stable country and feed their intellectual curiosity, so the two nations forged a tentative alliance, which has only grown over the centuries.”

“We share both knowledge and resources, and our two domains have a very symbiotic relationship. Because of this, our mentus engineering has become world renowned and the Surrepitons have been able to live in relative obscurity, just as they desire.”

“But why the big secret?” Alyson asked. “Acumen is considered a major power now. It’s not like you’re in danger of being taken over.”

“It’s because we keep it a secret that we aren’t in danger of being overthrown,” Christopher corrected. “Right now, Acumen is just seen as a nation of exceptional engineers. We draw out the best talent and make some of the best goods in the world. With the exception of Marshroot constantly trying to push at our southern border, we are left alone primarily because it’s believed there’s nothing to be gained from overthrowing our kingdom. All that would do is scatter our talent and resources as people flee due to war.”

“But if people knew that taking over our country meant access to dwarven engineering secrets, that would be a different story,” Westword continued. “Others might seek to gain power by trying to get the dwarves to cooperate with them, or worse, go to war with the dwarves to force them into submission.”

“Though we have grown in size over these last few millennia, we are still a relatively small domain,” Gideon said. “We do not want to be plunged into war. Being hidden beneath Acumen suits our purposes quite well.”

“But if dwarves are helping maintain the core, then why are you having this issue?” Hamen asked.

“Much of the knowledge of how the core was built was lost during the plague,” Gideon said. “Our ancestors knew how to maintain it, and we still had a good amount of our engineering mastery, but unfortunately information was siloed even within our own people. Secrets were so carefully guarded by our quartzsmiths that it resulted in some of our knowledge never being passed down when so many people died suddenly. It was a hard but valuable lesson to learn, which is why we have generally been more open with our human allies.”

Hamen was stunned by this revelation, and it made him think about how his own people were. Currently, he was the only one with both the knowledge and ability to perform certain key tasks with the weather rod, like appointing new weather masters. What would happen if he died before he could pass this knowledge on to the next Glorandor guardian?

“I understand,” he said finally. “You’ve given me a lot to think about. “

“We revealed ourselves to you because we hoped to regain the knowledge we lost thousands of years ago. Are you willing to teach my people?” He gestured to the window of the meeting room where they could see the other dwarves examining the core and milling about.

Hamen nodded. “Yes, I will teach you everything I know. I see no issue with passing Glorandor’s knowledge to other dwarves. This is not something my people will see as a betrayal.” He turned to Chris and Leonard, giving them a knowing smile. “What they choose to do with that knowledge after they receive it is completely up to them.”

“We also ask that you please not tell anyone of this,” Westword said. “There are very few people who know the secret of Surrepitous; it is even hidden from our own citizens. Outside of those who maintain the core here in Clandestine, the only people who know are the Fantasma, the Ellenon royal family, and their epouranal.”

“You have my word as a guardian, I will not speak of this,” Hamen said.

Westword turned to the others at the table. “It goes without saying, it was never our intention for you to find out so—”

“Don’t worry, Duke,” Becky said. “We won’t tell anyone about this; if we did, I’m sure Ben would use his baron powers to throw us in jail or have us executed.”

Melody chuckled at this. “I have no reason not to trust the ones chosen by the Almighty to defeat the looming threat of the Book of War.”

Ben’s jaw dropped. “How…?” He turned to his wife, but she looked equally confused.

“You’re not the only one who received prophetic word from High Mage Elheart,” Westword said with a chuckle. “He revealed your situation to us at his last visit. Though it still boggles the mind that you’re from another world.”

“But I suppose it makes sense, given your strange origins and your vastly different knowledge set,” Christopher added.

“So, all of you know?” Ben said, still in shock.

“Yes, all of us, including the king and queen,” Leonard said. "It was quite the revelation, but High Mage Elheart said he told us these things because you would need to leave us soon, at least for a time, to fulfill the mission you started years ago.”

“But I…” Ben had to take a moment to find the words. “I didn’t plan to leave. I was going to stay. I should stay and help keep Acumen safe. If the Book of War—”

Maria placed a hand on his. “Dear, I know you said you don’t want to leave our family when the Book of War becomes a threat, and I want nothing more than for you to stay but…” tears formed in her eyes. “I have to believe that if you were destined to go fight those monsters, that you’re destined to come back home to us when it’s all over.”

“And we’re not so pathetic that we can’t protect ourselves while you’re gone,” Gideon said, his voice jovial.

“Looking back on all that you’ve accomplished over the last fifteen years, I can tell you were trying to prepare us for this,” Leonard added. “Because of all you’ve done to shore up our defenses, I’m certain we can weather another Great War.”

Ben shook his head. He too had tears in his eyes as he hugged his wife and gave her a brief kiss. “I promise you that I’ll come back.”

“And we’ll be here waiting,” she said with a teary smile.

Becky stared at the scene in awe. She could tell how much Ben’s friends and family cared for him, and yet how readily they were able to let him go because they believed he had a destiny to fulfill. It was amazing to see such deep faith in action. It made her wonder if there was anything she believed in that strongly. As she pondered this, Ben turned to her, a more serious look on his face.

“I think it’s almost time to go.”

Becky came out of her own musings. “What? Do you mean the outpost is open?” She wondered how he would even know that.

Ben shook his head. “No, I just felt a quickener connection, but it’s not one that I’m familiar with. I think it may be whoever first quickened us to Mendala.”

“Oh, is that what that little poke was?” Becky asked, rubbing the back of her head.

“That’s Henry then!” Bernie said excitedly.

“So, what does this mean?” Becky asked.

Ben smiled. “It means destiny has called, and it’s time to answer.”

Alyson rolled her eyes at this with a smirk. “Dramatic much?”

* Gilmore *

After putting a stop to the rockslide, Fantasma and the remaining guardians and soldiers carefully made their way out of the demolished city of Gilmore. The rockwalkers and pogs had all disappeared in the chaos, so they were left with no enemies to fight, but nothing to show for their efforts. Over eighty percent of the forces brought to Gilmore had died in the attempted raid, and the only reason why it wasn’t more was due to Fantasma’s timely arrival.

Isabelle had returned to the mountain to let him know that the raid had turned into an ambush, and he immediately raced to the town to try and create a way of retreat for the remaining soldiers. However, shortly after he made it to the city and blew open a path to the quickener cave, the rockslide started. He quickly used mandamus to protect the soldiers who’d come with him before running off to save the ones trapped in the middle of the city.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Rockwall said as he and Fantasma led the remainder of their forces up the northern path. “I can’t believe I fell for such an elementary trap.”

“It’s not your fault,” Fantasma said. “If anything, I should have been here from the beginning. We cannot underestimate Davron or the Book of War.”

“But sir, that’s highly unorth—”

“No,” Fantasma said sternly, “if we’re going to win this war, we’ll have to throw the standard rule book off the mountain.”

As they rounded the final bend, they saw dozens of people standing outside of the quickener cave. It looked like the entrance was partially collapsed.

“Isabelle,” Rockwall called as he rushed up. “What happened?”

“The tremors from the rockslide caused a cave-in,” said a haggard looking Isabelle. “We all made it out safe, but all our equipment was damaged, including the communication crystal. I already have mandants and quickeners working on restoring it enough so that we can use it to get back to the mountain. It will take a while though.”

Rockwall clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Good work, Isabelle; I’m glad you’re safe.”

Ace was near the back of the returning troops with Alice, Pathos, and Karmandrian. As he approached the cave, he scanned the scene frantically, looking for Tabatha. When he finally spotted her, he gave a yelp of surprise when he saw who else was with her.

“Tabatha! Mrs. Guardman!” he ran forward, leaving his exhausted comrades behind.

Mrs. Guardman was seated on a large, flat boulder looking tired but otherwise okay. Sherrilynn was lying next to her, still unconscious. Standing nearby, watching over them both, was Tabatha, with Illusion at her heels.

The mentus-based border terrier had done as Mrs. Guardman asked and ran to the cave to get help. Thinking he was a creature of the Book of War, the guardians almost attacked him, but Tabatha recognized the dog and stopped them, giving him a chance to tell her what was going on. She, and several others, immediately went to Mrs. Guardman’s aid, and they carried Sherrilynn back to the cave, intent on reviving her. However, before they could enter, the rockslide happened, causing chaos at the basecamp.

“Ace?” Mrs. Guardman looked up when he called. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Ace said with a hint of indignation. “I should’ve known you were all right though. Nothing ever phases you.”

Pathos approached the group just behind Ace. “Well, we can’t say the same about poor Sherrilynn.” He knelt down and put a hand on her head before using mandamus to revive her.

Sherrilynn’s eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was the smiling face of the guardian. “Uh…what happened?” she asked as Pathos helped her sit up.

“That’s what I want to know,” Ace said. “How did you escape?”

“We were led out during the battle,” Mrs. Guardman said, but before she could elaborate, Alice ran up and hugged the matriarch.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said tearfully. “I was so worried about both of you.”

Mrs. Guardman patted the guardian’s head gingerly. “I should say the same for you. They told us you were dead.”

“Not a chance, though it was a close one.” Alice wiped away her tears before hugging Sherrilynn next.

Tabatha had a complicated look on her face as she watched the reunion. She was glad Mrs. Guardman was safe but didn’t like the fact that the usurping guardian had gotten close to her. However, she was distracted when she saw a group of five soldiers trudging up the path with two quartz-bound captives.

“What the…” she said in shock.

“Sir, we managed to capture some of Davron’s people,” one of the soldiers called.

Fantasma and Rockwall came forward to examine the captives. “I know you; you’re Davron’s quickener.”

Mrs. Guardman gave a gasp at this. “I don’t believe it.”

Gamdon didn’t respond to Fantasma, though when he saw Mrs. Guardman, he gave her a knowing smile, his expression showing how ironic he found the entire situation.

Fantasma turned to the second prisoner. “And you…you’re Richard Foy.”

“Richard Foy, the master quartzsmith?” Rockwall repeated, stunned. “You worked in the mountain for years. What could have possessed you to be a part of this?”

Foy looked drained but there was a mutinous expression in his eyes. “That’s right, I worked in Fantasmal Mountain for decades, receiving the best of everything. Then I retired, move to a small town to be with my family, and discovered how broken things truly are. The Fantasmal Government only takes care of its own, leaving the rest of the world to struggle over the limited resources that remain after everything goes to you. It’s your fault that there’s constant war over what little is left!”

Fantasma looked taken aback at this but chose not to respond. “Take them over there for now; we’ll question them when we get to the mountain,” he said, gesturing to a spot near the cave

As two of the soldiers frog-marched Foy and Gamdon away, Rockwall turned to the ones who remained. “Where did you find them? Do you know what they were up to?”

“They were trying to escape south, and they had these supplies with them.” One of them reported as he handed a bag to Rockwall.

“Looks like they were planning to build something, maybe a translift?” Rockwall said as he sifted through what was in the bag.

This seemed to stir Alice’s memory. “Fantasma, we found this in the tower.” She handed over the map that had locations marked in red.

Fantasma’s eyes widened. “These must be the places Davron is planning to attack next.”

Rockwall examined the map. “So much for small towns; this is clearly a power grab. He’d need thousands of troops and monsters to attack any of these places though, plus the means to transport them.”

“Which he may already have.” Fantasma glanced at Foy, who still had a defiant look in his eyes.

Pathos stepped forward now. “Davron knew we were coming and set that ambush. He could be planning an attack while we’re busy dealing with this.”

Rockwall nodded. “He’s right. We need to get back to the mountain as quickly as possible and mobilize all our troops and guardians.”

Fantasma rolled up the map. “Until we know where he plans to attack first, we’re just grasping at moonlight. Send scouts into the mountains. If Davron does have a translift, we might be able to find it, or at least where he moved his troops. In the meantime, let’s get this quickener cave functioning as quickly as possible. Once we’re back at the mountain, we need to send lookouts to every location marked, but don’t notify any of the local governments. That’ll just cause a panic. As soon as we know where he’s attacking, we’ll deploy.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Rockwall said.

He handed Foy’s bag back to the soldier but before he could go, more troops started to arrive, pushing another pair of captives forward.

Gamdon, who’d been stoically quiet this whole time, suddenly became animated. “Helena!”

Mrs. Guardman jumped to her feet when she heard the name. She immediately recognized the two new captives. Helena and Jacob looked bruised and battered. They were covered in dirt, and both had dazed looks in their eyes.

At Gamdon’s shout, Helena came to herself and looked around for the source of the voice. “Grandad?” She tried to run to him but was forcibly held back by one of the soldiers.

“We found these two at the edge of town, it looks like they got caught in the landslide,” a soldier reported.

“Put them with the others,” Rockwall said. “We can question them all together.”

Mrs. Guardman stepped between Rockwall and the two new prisoners. “General Rockwall, I need you to release these two,” she said calmly.

“What? Why?”

Mrs. Guardman felt all eyes turn to her, but she remained calm and resolute. “They both helped Sherrilynn and I get out of Gilmore before harm could come to us. We owe them our lives.”

Tabatha and Ace shared a confused look.

“Be that as it may, he is clearly a member of Davron’s army,” Rockwall gestured at Jacob’s uniform, “and I can only assume she’s one of their quickeners,” he added, pointing to the quickener staff that one of the soldiers was holding. “I can’t let them go just because they helped you. They’re still guilty of high treason.”

Mrs. Guardman planted herself in front of Helena, a stern look on her face. “General, I gave my word that no harm would come to these two. I cannot let you take them.”

Rockwall was becoming flustered now. “I can’t just—”

“Let them go, General Rockwall,” Fantasma interrupted, and immediately all focus shifted from Mrs. Guardman to him.

Rockwall looked understandably confused by the order. “But sir—”

Fantasma gave Mrs. Guardman an appraising look before speaking again in an authoritative voice. “I cannot allow the oath of someone who bears my crest to return void.”

Rockwall turned back to Mrs. Guardman and comprehension dawned. The symbol on the white robe she wore marked her as a Fantasmal Advisor, which held high status. This meant that when she gave her word, it carried far more weight than he initially assessed.

“Release them immediately,” he ordered the soldiers.

They quickly unbound both Jacob and Helena, handing her back her staff in the process.

Mrs. Guardman turned to Fantasma, and even without telepathy, they seemed to communicate clearly in that moment. She was grateful that he upheld her word, but also knew that she could never put him in that position again. She gave him a nod of both gratitude and understanding.

She then turned back to Jacob and Helena, smiling. “I’m glad you two are okay.”

Helena still had a worried look on her face. “But what about my granddad?”

Mrs. Guardman frowned as she turned to Gamdon. She knew there was nothing she could do for him, but just as she wondered if he would resent her for this, the aged quickener finally spoke.

“Helena, do not worry about me. I will be fine,” he called to her. “I told you before: this is war. I accept that I was caught. There’s nothing more to it.” He then turned to Mrs. Guardman and bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for keeping your word. I will never forget this for as long as I live…even if that may be a relatively short time,” he chuckled dryly.

“Granddad!” Helena screamed, now in tears.

“Please, get them out of here,” Gamdon said before turning away.

Mrs. Guardman guided Jacob and Helena down the path, her arm wrapped around the tearful girl.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone give off the kind of aura she does,” Pathos said quietly as he watched them go.

Tabatha was actually grinning. “That’s Mrs. Guardman; she’s one of a kind.”

“All right everyone,” Rockwall said loudly to stir people back into action. “We’ve still got work to do.” He started handing out orders to the remaining guardians and soldiers.

At that moment, Ace looked up in shock and locked eyes with Fantasma, who seemed to understand immediately. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Fantasma nodded. “It seems the young quickener has had his staff restored.”