DAGGEIRA, SPEAR, AND Zika marched on until they came across another of Loshan Bastion's great spiral arms crossing their path. It towered as vast and wide as the arm they traversed.
A cacophonous drone had been building for a while, emanating from the depths of the new spiral. Something else was coming. Something big. And it would be here soon. Spear sent his last surviving vaidu to the far side of the archway to wait and draw away coming attacks. Then the three of them hunkered against the crystalline wall. With veils still engaged, they took defensive positions.
The din reached a deafening peak, drowning them in a tidal wave of sound. A convoy of automatons surged past. Some flew on hover pods, some rolled, some walked, and some skittered. None attacked.
“This Loshan Bastion is infested with abominations,” Zika said. “I feel unclean just looking at them. The Vleez are nothing but vermin, yes, but at least they’re living.”
“A few grank packs would do a lot of good in a place like this,” Daggeira said, grateful Warseer Zika’s displeasure remained focused on the machines and not on her boldness that, while quickly gaining them a lot of ground, had cost them most of their biomechs.
“I advise we wait until the convoy passes and then follow behind.” Spear pointed in the direction the convoy traveled. “That way should be taking us to the heart of the bastion.”
“We may not have that option, Attendant.” Daggeira indicated back the way they’d come. Three more abominations, even bigger than those they fought on the train, stalked forward in low, quick arcs on their many legs. Instead of chasing them as fast as possible straight down the tunnel, they leaped back and forth, from wall to wall. A thin blurry fog followed in their wake.
“Sweeping formation,” Spear said. “They still can’t penetrate our stealth.”
“That mist,” Zika said. “Diabolically clever. It’s spraying out of their bodies.” Though their veils were powerful concealments, they were still physically present. The mists would part around them, helping the drones know where to strike.
“One of those things hammered hell into my leg,” Daggeira said. “Cracked the plate.”
“They’re bigger now. I’d wager they can easily crush our armor. Just like they did your vaidu.” Zika brought her rifle up to her shoulder to aim. “More glory for the taking. Better to eliminate them while we have the advantage of distance and stealth.”
And I thought I was the one going to get us killed for being too eager.
“Warseer, engaging with these things isn’t our objective,” Spear said. “I advise retreat. Use the convoy as cover.”
Spear was right, but Daggeira held her tongue. The machines had attacked them because of her. Any words she had to offer would carry that shame on their backs.
“You? Scared of dying, Attendant?” Zika said. “How unexpected.”
“We’ve already passed beyond the Shattered Gates of Heaven, Warseer.”
The huge abominations bounded closer.
Zika lowered her palukai and laughed, a wet, hollow noise transmitted into Daggeira’s ears. The sound of Gohnzol-Lo laughter was rare enough to be unsettling on its own. But the warseer’s laughter stretched longer than seemed appropriate.
“Wise counsel, Attendant. Let’s go confiscate our stolen khvazol, and then we’ll see to abominations and superweapons. Take point.”
First, Spear sent his remaining vaidu into the convoy, skittering with the flow of automatons. Then his crimson silhouette led them into the rush of machines in the opposite direction, heading against the current. Heavy transports rumbled past, slow and steady, while smaller drones zipped by, weaving around the larger, slower vehicles.
“I thought we wanted to go where the machines are headed?” Daggeira asked.
“We do,” he answered. “Likely, the abominations know that, too. They should track the vaidu away from us.”
Daggeira almost suggested that she move forward with the convoy. The urge to keep advancing toward victory scoffed at the idea of moving back. Since following that urge had already come with a cost, she dutifully followed Spear’s lead while periodically glimpsing back over her shoulder.
The three abominations arrived at the intersection and paused beneath its high arch. Judging against the machines in the convoy, they stood nearly four meters tall and bristled with thick, multi-jointed limbs ready to pinch and bind and drill and smash. One by one, they headed into the convoy’s insistent flow.
“Good plan, Attendant,” she said, “those things are headed the other way.”
“You bought us some time, yes,” Zika said. “But those abominations will be waiting for us at this Hara, no doubt. They will need to be dealt with sooner or later.”
“Looks like sooner,” Daggeira said. “Two went forward. One’s coming back our way.”
The abomination soared into the air, effortlessly arcing over the smaller drones. The larger ones changed their path to flow around it so that it never had to slow, never collided or tripped against oncoming vehicles.
“I’ll drop my veil,” Spear said. “Draw it to me while you both head for the Hara.”
“No! There’s only one,” Daggeira said. “We can get around it.”
“Do not drop your veil,” Zika commanded. “Fall back, both of you, to the rear of the convoy.”
Dodging around a swarm of skull-sized crawlers, Daggeira understood the sense of Zika’s command. If the abomination could add elements of these other drones and transports to itself, it would be unstoppable with the resources of the convoy. Out in the open, it would also be easier for the three of them to maneuver without bumping into a vehicle and letting the machines know where they were. Ideally, they’d get around the abomination without discovery, but if it came to a fight, they’d have a better chance of surrounding it in the open.
Glancing over her shoulder, Daggeira spotted the abomination arcing straight at her. Nearby vehicles scattered to make space for its landing. Something primal within her reacted to the mass of angry, metal arms flying straight for her, and she ran. Guided by instinct, she slipped through tight spaces between heavy-treaded vehicles, skipped over lines of drones marching like cave ants, and ducked beneath low-skimming flyers. No thought, just pure motion.
And then there were no more machines, large or small, flying or crawling. Only the wide expanse of the floor and ever-curving walls of amethystine purple, bruised with black. Time had slipped away, leaving the present moment of one racing step after the next in its place. In the low gravity, her skidding halt felt odd, too slow to be real, like teetering on the edge of a dream. Looking back, the red outlines of Spear and Zika had just reached the convoy’s end. The huge abomination bounded after them.
A rapping echo from behind caught her attention. She turned. Again, the haunting, dream-like sensation washed over her, making everything feel too slow, too big, too unreal.
Coming from around the wide bend of the spiral arm, someone was running straight at her—graceful and strong in the unusual gravity. She knew the gait of that runner. She knew those strong legs.
Without understanding why—without even fully realizing what she was doing—Daggeira dropped her veil.