Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

El stood outside the walls of the fort—the last of the civvies picking their way across the broken battlefield—and turned back to look at the walls. From atop them, she hadn't been able to see the damage. Long, narrow scars dug deep into the rock in streaks everywhere she looked. Whole chunks had been carved away, and only the absurd thickness of the walls had managed to keep the attackers out.

Even if the seawyrms hadn't gotten in through the tunnel, they would've gotten through the walls eventually.

Putting the wall behind her, she ignited her wings and glided after the group, inspecting the ground as she went. The cannons had done a real number on the terrain, leaving some craters big enough she could stand in and not see over the lip. It was almost exactly like the results of Pycrin's groundie artillery, but concentrated just in the half-mile around the fort town.

Is that the range of the cannons? Or did all the seawyrms just come that close?

It didn't take her long to catch up to the stragglers of the group, one of Tas's soldiers even giving her a friendly wave as the man helped a pair of civvies out of the last major crater.

"That's everybody?" she asked him.

"Yes, ma'am," the man said. "Knowing the boat's there gave us all our second wind."

"More like fifteenth," one of the civvies said. "I swear I'm going to sleep the entire time we're on the ship and still be tired when we get to Wirock."

"But at least you'll get there," the soldier said, his eyes going to El in obvious reference to her contribution. Or maybe he was annoyed she could fly while they were slogging along on the ground. One or the other, really. Still, he gave her a salute when his hands were free again, and El continued up the line.

Injured soldiers and civvies alike supported each other as they moved. Nobody would be breaking any speed records getting to the shore, but they were moving, and that was the important part. More soldiers—and even some of the civvies—saluted her as they passed before she eventually caught up to Laze and Tas near what had to be the midpoint of the group.

"All secure in the back?" Laze asked, looking up from where she had been speaking with Tas.

"All secure, sir, yes sir," El said formally with a sharp Pycrin salute of her own.

Laze just rolled her eyes.

"Kidding," El said. "Though, really, it's secure. No sign of anything wanting to eat us for once."

"The monkeys probably didn't want to eat us," Tas said. "More about a territory thing. They would've just defiled us to prove their dominance, and then hung our bodies at their border to warn away other intruders."

"Not sure that makes me feel better," Laze said. "And 'defiled' us how?"

Tas put a hand on her shoulder. "Since we kind of look like them—but are prettier—you really don't want to know."

"Ugh," Laze said. "I kind of do, now, just so I hope my imagination is worse."

"It's not," Tas said simply.

"Moving past that graphic topic, are Nidina and Macer at the ship yet?" El asked, landing beside the two and walking with them.

"If not yet, should be soon," Tas said. "All depends how fast Niddy can fly while carrying Macer."

"Niddy?" El asked.

"What, doesn't everybody call her that?" Tas asked.

"No, everybody calls her Nidina," El deadpanned.

"Well, you should try calling her Niddy. I think she liked it," Tas said. "She made this little smile with the corner of her lip right here," he added, pointing at the right side of his mouth. "Then brushed back her hair like she was a shy young maiden. I think she was even blushing."

"Shy? Maiden? Nidina?" Laze asked, but El just shook her head.

"That was her resting-I'm-going-to-kill-you-later-face," El said. "Sleep light tonight."

Tas stumbled but caught himself quickly. "Wonderful. Why her 'resting-face,' though?"

"If it was her active one, you'd already be dead," El pointed out.

"It's very obvious," Laze added quietly.

"Got it. Niddy is Nidina. Maybe Sir-Nidina," Tas mumbled.

"Smart man," Laze said.

"That's why I'm in command," Tas said.

"Thought it was because you took all Macer's credit," El joked.

"I picked her! Anyway, they should be at the ship soon. Hopefully, they can convince them to wait for us," Tas changed back to the important topic.

"Nidina can be pretty persuasive," Laze said.

"I'd rather she didn't burn the ship down," Tas sighed.

"No, really," El said. "Her parents were the closest thing Pycrin had to diplomats. She learned a lot from them."

"They were spies," Laze whispered. "We didn't have diplomats because we didn't negotiate."

"And that's supposed to reassure me?" Tas asked.

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"Yes. We're a changed nation," El said. "Or, at least an in-progress nation. Regardless, Nidina was the right choice for this. She won't make a bad impression or let them leave, assuming it's the trade ship from Wirock you were expecting to find there."

"It matched the description, and Macer can confirm when she gets there," Tas said, nodding.

"Good. The group seems to be moving at a decent pace too. Shouldn't take us long to catch up, assuming there aren't any surprises," El said.

"Unfortunately, the only surprise we would get around here would be seawyrms," Tas said. "Everything else is moving away from the coasts and getting as far inland as possible. It's why we're having more run-ins with bears and monkeys."

"Is that why I saw that other ship out in the water?" El asked.

"Other ship?" Tas asked right back. "What other ship?"

"Like a long, metal fort on water. Honestly not even sure how it was floating," El described.

"A warship?" Tas asked, then visibly groaned. "That's a surprise even I didn't expect."

"Pretty sure that's how surprises are actually defined," Laze pointed out. "What's the big deal, though? Shouldn't that help protect us from the seawyrms?"

"Oh, it'll definitely engage any seawyrms it spots, but if it realizes we're on the Wirock ship, it'll give chase," Tas said.

"It wasn't moving very fast. And it didn't have sails. How could it catch us?" El asked.

"It's like the Screamers. It uses a chain of people and their Sparks to power engines underwater. The ship doesn't need sails—or even the wind—to move. It can go against tides and waves, and just as fast as the Wirock ship under the best wind conditions. No, if it wants to catch us, it will.

"Assuming it doesn't just decide to blow us out of the water instead. Which it could also do."

"Why would it do that? And wouldn't that cause issues with Wirock?" Laze rapid-fired her questions.

"How would they ever know?" Tas replied. "It's not like they've got a lot of ships trading with us, it's still only a few. And the distance between Pili and Wirock isn't a small one. The nobles could claim the ship was lost at sea, and there'd be no way to disprove it."

"So, they could get away with it pretty easily," El said, and Tas nodded. "Okay, but still, why would they do that?"

"If for some reason they can't catch us, they'd probably think it was better to silence us before we can get to Wirock and explain what's happening here," Tas said. "They don't know we've been fleeing there."

"Burn it," El said. "That last part complicates things. If they spot you, even if we get away, we're putting any future refugees at risk as well."

"You're right. They'll search every ship—or sink it—to make sure our people aren't getting away," Tas said.

"Guess we need to make sure they don't know we're on there, then," El said. "Is there any reason they would normally stop us?"

"Not that I can think of. The Wirock ship is here on official trade business. Unless they have a serious reason for it—like us being on board—I don't think they'd want to risk the relationship. We don't have a lot of allies right now, and a lot of enemies," Tas said.

"What kind of magic do the Wirockers… Wirockians… Wirockish? Whatever, what kind of magic do they get from their Spark?" El asked.

"You… don't know?" Tas asked in return.

El shook her head. "We weren't planning on going there, and we didn't have a lot of intel. Is there any way they could hide us?"

Tas actually chuckled. "Not in any way not permanent, and probably not what you had in mind."

"Care to elaborate?"

"The Wirockians' magic allows them a kind of transference," Tas said. "Their Spark moves their mind—and, according to them, their souls—into a new body. One made of stone or metal. They're basically golems."

El and Laze both missed a step at the comment, then looked at each other, wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again? I must've misheard you," El said.

Tas looked between the two women, obviously confused about the reaction, but spoke again. "Okay… their Sparks move them into stone or metal golem bodies. Allows them to basically live forever, as long as they keep moving to new bodies. I don't think there are even any flesh Wirockians left anymore…"

"There are going to be golems on the boat?" Laze asked, her hand unconsciously inching towards one of her electrum hilts. Even though the war with Guld was over—or at least put on hold—old habits died hard.

"No," Tas said. "I guess you could say there are some immigrants who live on the island as well. They handle most of the offshore trade. They don't have the Wirockian Spark, so they can't move into golems themselves. But, what's the big deal?"

"That's where we got it," El whispered, brain whirling a mile a minute. "Wirock is where we must've stolen the technology to build the golem. And then Guld stole it from us…"

Tas looked from woman to woman and then back again. "I'm obviously missing something here, cause you're saying words—and individually, I know what they mean—but you're not making a lot of sense."

"We had a golem in Pycrin," El said, mind whirling. "I didn't know where we got the technology to build it. It… basically almost ended the world."

This time, Tas looked up at the sky, then all around them. "World looks like it's still here."

"El stopped it," Laze said.

"Waaaaait. Is this what Nidina was talking about? That God-golem?" Tas asked. "And did you really dramatically defeat it with nothing more than a stick, a roll of tape, and a few sharp words?"

"There wasn't anything dramatic about it…" El started.

"There really was," Laze corrected. "Possibly the most dramatic thing you've done, and that's saying something."

"Whatever. There wasn't a roll of tape involved," El grumbled.

"But the stick?" Tas asked.

"There was totally a stick," Laze filled in.

"Back to the golems!" El said, snapping her fingers to bring the other two on point. They were far too much like each other sometimes.

"You said the golem technology got stolen?" Tas asked like he hadn't just been gossiping.

"The nation of Guld got their hands on it somehow," El said. "Turned their entire civilization into war machines. Basically… the same thing you're trying to stop from happening here…"

"And they succeeded at it?"

"As far as we know. When we got there, the city was empty except for the golems. And the corpses," El finished quietly, memories of the cages filled with the dead in the warehouses flashing in front of her eyes.

"Seven Cinders, how could they do that?" Tas asked nobody in particular.

"Apparently, it was a better alternative than losing the war to us," Laze said. "They held out for… more than twenty years with their normal golems…"

"The Guldish Spark let them remotely control the golems," El filled in.

"… and these new people-infused golems were even stronger. I don't know if we would've been able to beat them if circumstances didn't play out the way they did," Laze finished.

"The Wirockians aren't that powerful," Tas said. "Long-lived and generally pretty durable. Don't get sick or anything. But, I can't imagine them holding their own against you Firestorm."

"The Guldish put more than a hundred people into each golem," El said. "That probably had something to do with it. And, as horrible as it is to say, that's not our problem at the moment. Do you think the Wirockians are going to hold that theft against us? Are they going to deny you refuge if we're there?"

"Maybe we shouldn't get on the ship with them," Laze said.

"Nidina is there with Macer right now," El pointed out. "We can't hide our presence at this point. When we get there, we'll make the call whether or not we get on the ship or stay here. We still have things to accomplish."

"The Ember…?" Tas asked, a small tremor entering his voice.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to be delivering it like originally planned. We need to look into what's going on here before we make any decisions," El said. "Just like we agreed before. Nothing's changed there. But, we need intel to take back to our brass. If Firestorm assistance can make the difference against the seawyrms and balance things out, we'll need to be able to explain that."

"Do you think that could happen? Pycrin and its Firestorm coming to help us?" Tas asked.

El shrugged. "I'd like to think so. We'll see. First things first, though. Let's get your people safely to the ship and then out of sight before that warship comes prowling around again. I really don't want to see what those cannons can do."

Tas looked at her, then in the direction of the sea. "No. No, you really don't."