Chapter Sixty-One

 

Pandora led her army in pursuit of her grandfather. She'd expected resistance but none was given until they reached the Alliance caverns. The majority of the warriors stood arrayed in a semicircle blocking the path that led to the elevator, while others were on the terraces and balconies of the apartments and businesses. Even the ones that had been enjoying the local bars had come out, still holding their drinks.

Clothes were ruffled and sweat covered Dominion's forehead. She'd never seen him so disheveled. When they burst into the cavern, he'd been about to ascend to the Nest. He turned, chest heaving and hot with anger.

"Kill them. Wipe them from this fucking world," he spat.

There had to be almost two hundred Alliance waku standing between her and her grandfather. They had the numbers, but wore their doubt like a heavy cloak. The wraithhawk warriors standing with her had been their companions only a few hours before and she was known as a fierce fighter. The mask only added to her mystique.

When not a single one of them moved to attack, her grandfather grabbed one of the waku in back, a young kid who looked like he'd joined mere weeks ago, and pushed him forward. The young waku stumbled, falling to a knee and staring back in horror. The mask of the cunning businessman that Dominion had cultivated had been ripped off. Her grandfather had revealed his true, awful self.

Pandora climbed onto a rock and slipped off the mask, holding it tight in case she needed to use it again. The bonds to the modified warriors remained even as she wasn't wearing it. She checked back to her friends. Kuma was staring up at her expectantly. She took a deep breath before reaching into herself to change back from Lady Saha. After living in her skin for months, the return was difficult, but she managed to slip back into herself. The crowd gasped at the change.

"Some of you know me from before. But for those of you new to the Undercity, I am Pandora Thule, granddaughter of that wretched being who has called himself your leader for these last few years. I was sent here to infiltrate the clans and help him take control of the Undercity, but after living amongst you, I saw that he was wrong. The Drops clan, and all clans eventually, became my family.

"He doesn’t care about you. Look what he's done to your brothers and sisters. Turned them into mindless slaves. He's been using you to acquire powerful artifacts hidden in the Undercity, while profiting greatly from the faez crystal trade. How much have you benefited from the hundreds of millions of dollars he's extracted from the Undercity? I see by your faces that you've not seen a penny except for the meager salaries he offers."

"She lies!" shouted her grandfather. "She would turn the Undercity into a battleground again. Look at the stability, the safety, I've created. Me! You owe it all to me! I've poured my profits back into rebuilding this place into a second city to match the one above."

"For whose benefit?" she countered. "You made yourself rich on the backs of their labor. Their steel. Their heart." She paused. "I would know him best. He killed my mother, his daughter, when her life grew inconvenient to his power."

The warriors, who'd been listening intently, turned towards him. Dominion took a step back.

"She lies. She was a spy sent to sow discord. She has no honor. She's a wretched liar."

"And who taught me? He's right. I admitted it already. I was a spy, but I found something that he can never offer. Family. Honor. A place that treats you with respect. I turned against him when I saw how wrong he was."

"You would prefer to die in the shadows?" he shouted. "You'd prefer a return to the wars that plagued this place? I'm the only one that can save you!"

Pandora gestured towards the blank-faced warriors at her side. "Look at your friends. Look at what he's done to them. He enslaved them using eldritch magics of the Eternal City. He was planning to do the same to you. In time, you'd all be like this. Mindless warriors that he'd throw at his enemies without regard. He doesn't care about your lives. How do I know this? Because he treated me the same, even as his granddaughter. It's why I know he must be stopped."

The focus returned to Dominion. He appeared indecisive, glancing back to his bloodstone warriors and then to the entire cavern of warriors.

Pandora dropped onto the floor and strode forward right into the midst of the Alliance. They parted as she advanced and her wraithhawk warriors drew in behind. By the time she'd reached the halfway point, the Alliance warriors had rotated towards Dominion. He backed away, then ran towards the elevator.

She could have given the order to kill him. The Alliance warriors would have obeyed her command. That much she could see. But it would have been a bloodbath against his bloodstone warriors, and Pandora didn't want to be like him. Dominion had killed his father to take control of his estate and make his place in the Eternal City. It was the maetrie way. She didn't want to be like that.

"What are you going to do about him?" asked Kuma, who had returned to his original form. Seeing the real Kuma brought warmth to her chest.

"He'll flee back to his estate."

"What about the Tear?"

She exhaled slowly. "He wasn't going to use it here. I think." Doubt crept in, but she pushed it away, finding certainty amid her whirlwind thoughts. "He hadn't been living here for decades to destroy it. I know that much about him."

"He'll destroy another realm then?"

A tightness formed in her chest. "I know it was the plan, but I couldn't kill him, Kuma. Or I'd end up like him. He killed my mother. I'm sorry."

"Lady Saha...I mean Pandora," said Camina with a smirk. "What do you want to do with all of them?"

The entire Alliance group was milling about waiting for her direction. She hadn't quite thought through the repercussions of her rebellion.

"I'll place the wraithhawk warriors around the elevator to make sure that they don't come back. Send everyone else back to whatever they were doing before."

"What about the Nest?" asked Camina, nodding towards the elevator.

"I'll give him an hour to flee and then we'll confirm he's gone."

The young warriors seemed surprised and apprehensive about the change, but they were new enough not to question the reversal. Most were probably happy not to have to fight a battle against their friends.

After the hour was up, Pandora took her friends up the elevator to investigate the Nest. The maetrie guards that stood outside the marble doors were no longer present. As they moved through the passages, she was surprised how similar to his estate in the Eternal City it'd become with statues of him in various poses of conquest, or ancient weapons on the wall. Some rooms had been stripped clean. She regretted not contesting him for every resource, but hadn't wanted to sacrifice more lives. The feeling of her mother's lifeless corpse sliding out of her grip still echoed across her fingertips. She rubbed her hands against her legs as if she could remove the stain.

When they reached the obsidian wall, Pandora ordered it to be destroyed. Her grandfather could come back to the city of sorcery through other means, but she didn't want to worry about him sending assassins through her back door.

Standing on the cliff's edge, she looked over the Alliance cavern, which had returned to its previous state of normalcy. It was strange seeing it revert so quickly, but most of the new warriors had no real allegiances, having joined to escape the lesser life of a gang member in the city above. To them, the clan was a place to belong and find shelter from the horrors of the world. She hadn't known it when she'd come to the Undercity, but it's what she'd been looking for too.

"What now?" asked Camina wistfully. "We've won. What does that mean?"

Kuma stood on the other side. They'd lost the others along the way to the Alliance. She hoped nothing had gone wrong, but there would be time to fix it. The weight she'd been carrying all these years seemed a little lighter. Then Kuma fell to his knees and she spun around in confusion. A breath caught in her throat as he put two fingers to his brow.

"I renounce my oaths and former allegiances, vow to protect my clanmates, both new and old, with my life. I agree with all my heart, knowing the shadows will rise up and claim my soul should I break my oath. I pledge myself to this new clan, the one led by Pandora Thule."

Shock left her speechless. She stammered for a moment. "Are you sure?"

His lips curled slightly. "You're the only one who can lead us now. It was your victory. Your speech."

"He's right, you know," said Camina with an eyebrow raised. "None of this would have happened had you not turned against him."

"But you were being trained by your father to be a clan leader. I'm a warrior. I don't know anything about leading a clan," said Pandora.

"Sure does look like it to me. Besides, I'll be here to support and advise you." He cocked a playful grin. "Among other things."

"I don't know what to say..."

"Then finish the ceremony," he replied.

The words were hard to find at first. She'd only heard Daraja say them, but when she reached back into her memory they were right there.

"Rise and be welcome. For the shadows do not care, but we do. We are your hearth and home, the blade that will not bend, the fist that will protect you."

Kuma embraced her as the first member of the new clan. Camina joined a short time later. In time, there were many more.