His Ancient Heart (34 page)

Still he held on, his hands running along the creature's back, his eyes closed, his breath stolen by the blows. He expected the other to run him through at any moment, but the final thrust never came. His memories began to focus and resolve. He knew it now. The four zero. When had he made it? Was it the last?
 

He wasn't sure.
 

It didn't matter.
 

He knew how to stop it.

He cried out as the juggernaut changed tactics, wrapping him up in a bear hug and squeezing him tighter to it. He could feel his ribs bending below the pressure, ready to crack at any moment. He brought his hand up to the Carrier's mouth and shoved his middle finger into it, reaching all the way to the back. There was a small switch there, attached to a rod that bridged the connection between the core in the head and the ebocite in the chest. He hooked the tip of his finger under it and pulled.

The reaction was instant. The juggernaut's hands dropped limp to its sides, the sword falling to the grass, its body shifting to stand completely upright. Talon let go of it and turned, seeing the other frozen in uncertainty until the moment he cleared the first's grip. Then it stepped towards him, ready to begin the fight again.

Talon faked a thrust with his blade, came in low, parried its counterstrike, and moved easily into its guard. He jumped forward, jamming his finger into its mouth and pulling the connector. It too came to an immediate stop.

He didn't waste any time in circling around the disabled creatures and locating Delia. The remaining Carrier had caught up to her, and was attacking with long, heavy blows that would have been effective against armored soldiers and Shifters, but were just a little too slow to land on the agile girl.
 

Talon ran towards them, growling as he added speed. Delia was quick enough to dodge the attacks, but she would run out of strength long before the Carrier. He needed to stop it now, and put an end to the fight.
 

He took one more step and pushed himself into the air, leaping at the back of the Carrier from a dozen feet away. He caught the moment that Delia saw him, her eyes brightening with hope and relief. She backed just out of the range of one more thrust, and then he was on it, wrapping one arm around its neck and using the other to shut it down. His finger probed into its mouth, and he pulled the connector from it. It came to a stop, and he hopped off its back.

"I... uh... what?" Delia stood in front of the juggernaut, staring at it in amazement. "How?"

"I made it," Talon said, his heart thumping in his chest. "Of course I know how to stop it." He smiled, the memories surrounding the Carriers coming into acute clarity. There was a reason
he
was keeping them from away from Edgewater, away from him. "I know more than that. Go and check on Wilem, while I ensure that everyone else is dead. Then we head to the Refinery."

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Eryn

"Where in Heden are we?" Gesper said. He put his hands to his mouth, breathing into them to try to restore some of the warmth.

"It is this way," Oz said for what seemed to be the millionth time in the last two weeks. It motioned ahead. "It is close."

"Close to what?" Gesper asked. "Not anything approaching civilization."

They had been riding for close to two weeks, taking a near constant eastern heading, turning north occasionally as Oz insisted. They had passed out of Varrow and back into Portnis, and from Portnis began a trek into the foothills of the Killorn Mountains.
His
soldiers had been strangely scarce since the battle at Rubio's Bridge, and they had made the bulk of the journey uncontested. It certainly helped that they strayed far from the Empire's roads and were now firmly in the middle of nowhere, forging ahead in half a foot of snow.

"It is close," Oz said again. "It remembers."

Eryn shifted in her saddle, looking behind them. She had done it almost as many times as Oz had said 'it is this way', certain that General Spyne would appear at their backs at any moment. Each time, she had seen only Loshe riding behind her, and again, like all the other times, he smiled as her eyes crossed over him.

"I promise there's nothing back there, Eryn," Frieda said, bringing her horse up next to her. The time together had made the girl much more comfortable, and they had gotten along so well that Eryn felt like she almost had a sister in the young rebel.
 

Almost.
 

She looked over at Frieda. She was afraid to let herself think that she might have a friend. The actors in Elling had been her friends, and they were dead. Fehri had been her friend, and he was dead. Robar and Sena... dead. Even the Overlord.
 

"I ranged back four miles. Not even a hint of a soldier," Frieda continued. "It's just us and nature out here."

"And the bears," Wallace said, shivering in his saddle from the cold of the mountain.
 

How far had they travelled? How high had they climbed? Three days ago Oz brought them to a small ravine in the mountains that appeared to be wholly natural, and yet wholly unnatural. The path split the center of the mountain's slope, rising just a little too smoothly, a little too easily. It must have been created by magic, but when? How long ago?

"It is close," Oz said again. "It is close."

"I knew a boy, the son of one of my father's servants," Frieda said. "He repeated the same word, over and over and over again. It was the only word he knew. I don't think he could help himself."

"What was the word?" Eryn asked.

"Hodor."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. It was the only noise he could make, I suppose."

"Did I ever tell you about the time I rode up the Empire Mountain with the daughter of the Constable of Inglot?" Trock asked.
 

"Yesterday," Gesper said.

"Three times," Wallace added.

"No one believes it, anyhow," Loshe shouted from the back of the line. They all laughed, trying to find some warmth in the humor.
 

If only we had time to stop. I could take more of the cure and keep us all warm.

Eryn patted the satchel that she kept over her shoulder. She had used one of the six vials when they had entered the mountains, after a lot of reassurance from Frieda that they weren't being followed. It had helped diminish more of the scaling on her skin and left her feeling stronger, but it had also brought her to unconsciousness for half the day. She had woken on Frieda's horse, the girl riding behind her and helping her stay mounted.

"It is there," Oz said, pointing ahead of them. Eryn didn't see anything new or different. Another sheer face of rock, when they were surrounded by sheer faces of rock.

"I don't see anything," Trock said.
 

"It is there." Oz started moving faster, running towards the wall. His heavy feet launched snow into the air, soon surrounding him in a haze of white powder.

"Oz," Eryn shouted. The juggernaut didn't respond. It kept running, moving further ahead of them. Eryn snapped the reins, and her horse moved from a trot to a cautious gallop, eager to follow the command, nervous about slipping on the snow. The others followed suit, and they all charged behind the metal man, the pounding of the hoofs dulled by the snow, but still echoing around them.

It was further away than it had looked, leaving them dashing wildly through the rock and snow for twenty minutes or more. As they got closer, Eryn could see that this particular cliff face was much taller than the others and much more jagged.
 

As they reached it, she realized that it was familiar to her.
 

The ruins of Genesia hadn't looked much different. Newer and warmer, perhaps, but beneath the ice and snow she could see the slagged ircidium of a reactor's outer shell.

"A reactor?" she said to Oz.

"It is here."

"Talon isn't in there," Trock said.

"First of Nine. It is here. It is here. It remembers." Oz stepped up to the stone and put its hand to it. "It must open."

"That's solid rock," Wallace said. "We can't get through that."

"It must open," Oz said again. It brought back its fist and threw it forward, smashing it against the stone in an echo of heavy metal. It repeated the process again, and again, and by the fourth time a small crack appeared in the rock.
 

Eryn watched the juggernaut. She had put her faith in Oz, let it lead them. It hadn't brought her to Talon, but to a buried reactor. Why?
 

She could tell by the expressions of the jailers, of Frieda and Loshe that their hope was breaking. They looked at one another, at Oz, and then at her. The juggernaut's pounding filled the air around them, drowning out most other sound.

"Going to cause an avalanche like that," Gesper said, glancing nervously up to the taller parts of the mountain. "Going to kill us all."

"Oz, stop," Eryn said.
 

"It must open."
 

It didn't stop.

"Oz, that's an order."

It still didn't stop.

"Oz!" Eryn slid off her horse, trudged over to the juggernaut and put her hand on its arm as it drew it back.
 

It was the only thing that stopped it, but its head turned and looked down at her, and she was sure there was anger and accusation in its eyes.

"Oz, there's too much stone. You can't get through it."

Oz's shoulders slumped, and a soft puff of steam escaped its grated mouth. "It must open," it said softly.

Everything was silent. Eryn stared at Oz. How could it be sad?

"It must open it," Oz said, still looking back at her. Its hand came up, and it used a finger to tap the satchel. "It must open it."

"Oz-" Eryn started to argue. It might take days, and most if not all of her cure to move enough of the stone to get into the reactor. Then what? It wouldn't bring them any closer to Talon. And what if there were Shifters inside, like in Genesia?

"Please."

Eryn felt her heart hammer at the word. The juggernaut had never spoken like that before. It was desperate, emotional. She took another step towards Oz, standing with her head tilted up, her face only a foot from its own. The juggernaut shifted its eyes so it could look at her.
 

"Who are you?" she asked.

It put its hand on her shoulder, gripping her so gently. "Please," it said again. The steam condensed on its mouth plate, running off its chin like a tear.

Eryn reached up and wiped it away, feeling her own eyes beginning to water. She had trusted the juggernaut this far.

She nodded, and then motioned for Oz to move back. It stepped away and turned to the others.

"It must move away. It will open it."

"You heard it, get back," Trock said, waving his arms. They wheeled their horses and began to back away from the cliff.

"I don't know if I can do this," Eryn said, looking back at Oz.

"It can do it."

Eryn pulled in a long, slow breath. She closed her eyes. She brought the Curse to her, feeling the power of it growing, the tingle running down her back. She had no crystal to help her with this, no resonances to amplify the effect. It was her power, her strength, her force of will against countless tons of stone.
 

She raised her arms up and out towards the cliff face.

Amman, give me strength.

"Leva," she shouted, feeling the magic respond to the force of her voice. It continued to grow inside of her, tickling every part of her being. She concentrated on the stone, on lifting it up and away. On breaking and smashing and shaking it apart.
 

It began to rattle.

"Avalanche," Gesper cried.
 

Eryn lifted her head slowly. She saw it, the tons of snow that were being dislodged by the shaking. It rushed down the side of the mountain towards them. There was no way they could get out of its path.

She left one hand pointed towards the rock, and aimed the other into the sky.
 

"Obex," she said. She had never split the magic before, never asked it to do two different things at the same time. She felt the pressure of the effort, the tickling turning into hot pain.
 

The stone continued to shake ahead of her, the snow tumbling towards them from above.

Still the power came, wrapping itself around her, holding her tightly. Energy arced from her body, pooled into her eyes, and she began to rise into the air.

The stone started to break free with a sharp crack that was loud enough to overcome the deafening roar of the oncoming avalanche. It started to spread, tearing apart like a knife through flesh.
 

She heard the screams and shouts behind her as the falling mountain of snow finally reached them. Her hand still raised, the debris hit an invisible barrier above their heads, flowing onto and over it, past the ravine they were standing in and over to the other side.
 

The pain in her body subsided. It was replaced again with warmth and pleasure, a lightheadedness and feeling in her gut that she had never experienced before. She turned in the air, looking down at her companions, a smile growing on her face.
 

"Eryn," she heard Frieda shout. "Eryn, stop. Come down. It's over."

No. Not yet. She didn't want it to end. She closed her eyes again and threw her head back, the magic causing her body to convulse in ripples of thrilling heat. She had never felt so alive.

She didn't know how long it continued. Seconds, minutes, hours? The power began to wane, to fade. Her body lowered to the ground, and she found herself standing on snow stained red from her blood. She looked at Oz, at Frieda, at Trock and the others. She didn't recognize them. She wasn't sure she recognized herself. What had she just done? How could she have that much power? How could anyone?

"Oz," she said. The magic was fleeing quickly, and she was growing cold, so cold. "Help me." She started shaking again, and she fell to her knees and vomited. She tried to stand, but the effort made her head spin. "Oz."