The Swords of August

I'd since learned the voice we'd been speaking to was the Clan Matriarch of the Khazdori with all the lofty responsibilities that entailed.

"Great battles were once fought beneath the earth, in the homes of the Children of Stone."

We'd spent a bit of time talking with the Matriarch and I'd since learned that she was a bit like a priestess for the dwarves, communicating with higher powers on their behalf. What these higher powers actually were, I had no idea. I didn't much care to be honest. I was only interested in the shortest path to Carver's safe return.

The important bit that I'd wrestled from the Matriarch as soon as I could was that these 'Children of Stone' had made deals with Sefira to transfer Carver to her. It boiled my blood to hear confirmation firsthand that they'd been responsible. If not for the fact that I truly believed they were as angry as I was and had been mislead, well, I might have done something rash.

"We taught her to listen to the stones and she used it for dishonour and disgrace."

"What aren't you telling us? I can tell you're holding something back." Chen demanded.

Even though I was feeling similar emotions over Carver's disappearance, I shot Chen a look of warning.

The Matriarch, though she was a disembodied voice, seemed not quite sure what to make of Chen's outburst, but she did answer the question.

"I cannot help you find your friend, but I do know how you might find the weapon. There are three ancient temples scattered across the world. We did not win the old war. We merely postponed it."

"What are you talking about? This would go much faster if I didn't have to drag out every bit of information." I fumed. "I don't have time for a game of twenty questions."

An aggrieved sigh from the Matriarch had me questioning my own outburst, if only for a moment. I was feeling too short on time to care much about social niceties and I was rapidly working my way up to anger—and that rash thing I hadn't done yet.

"We did not win the war because we did not destroy them. We grievously wounded the enemy leadership and imprisoned him. His armies withered and died, but it was a victory in name only. We do not have the same strength we did then. The weapon we used to strike at our enemy was locked away."

"Why would you lock it away?"

"We didn't lock it away. They did. To achieve victory once more we will need the weapon."

"What kind of weapon is it? A sword? I'm still not clear on that." I admitted.

"Few mortals are, your memories are short. It is a sword with the soul of a powerful mage inside. Once, there were many hundreds of these weapons, now it seems this is the only one left. It fell into their hands during the chaos of our victory and it was only later we discovered that they had locked it away in three sealed temples while their leader recovered. Why he has not attacked since, I do not know. Perhaps he is not yet healed, perhaps he waits for something."

"So they're playing the long game." I surmised. "When you say locked away in three temples… does that mean they cut it into pieces?"

"Nothing of the sort. The weapon itself is intact, though where it is and how to access it are things that can only be discovered by completing trials in each of the three temples. We have, or had," she corrected herself "no interest in unearthing the weapon and breaking each of the seals at the end of the three trials. With the return of this scourge however, we will need the weapon if we are to stop them before they begin spreading."

"Two questions, then. How do you know all these specifics and how long has it been since all this happened?"

"Since the end of the conflict? Four, perhaps five-hundred winters. We know all that we know from others who have gone looking for the weapon over the years."

That equated to a similar number of Terran years, far longer than any human had ever lived, at least to my knowledge.

"Of those who have returned, most were grievously injured or did not get very far. It seems those who went in search of the sword after completing the trials never returned. The closer they got, the more danger they were in."

"So you can tell us what the trials are?"

"Unfortunately no. There is powerful and old magic at work, preventing anyone from speaking of the temples to others. We had no interest in tampering with old magic or potentially being the cause of another war, so we left it all alone.

"It's been five-hundred years and no one has figured this all out yet?"

"Most did not feel the risk was worth it," she repeated, "and those that did were not successful."

"Why hasn't he come to finish the job then? It's been long enough, surely. With five-hundred years worth of people trying to complete these trials and find these temples, he must have noticed them."

"We don't know, but I suspect that the witch does." The word 'witch' came out like a vile epithet, unsurprisingly. "She has seen this weapon according to her own testimony. She is the only person known to us that has done so and lived."

"And you believe her?"

The Matriarch growled. "I believe nothing that rashak has said any longer. All her statements are called into question, all facts espoused are in doubt."

I considered that, barely stopping to ponder just what a 'rashak' was. I couldn't see the Matriarch, but the unregulated rage tinging her words gave me enough of an idea of her emotional state. There was definitely bad blood between this witch and a hell of a lot of people.

I supposed If we couldn't confront the woman herself, then finding her pissed-off enemies and having them help us with our mission was a nice second best. For someone with so many enemies, it spoke to Sefira's competence, or perhaps importance that she was still breathing, and by all accounts, prospering.

The Matriarch continued after a moment, much calmer this time. "I am sorry about your friend but all I can offer you is the location of the temples that hold the seals locking the weapon away. I went there myself in my younger days, and that knowledge is not guarded by the magic there. I do not know where the witch took your Carver. However, it is my opinion that he is with her, or with the sword."

It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but we could at least finish the mission and hope to find Carver along the way. If we didn't find him, then we'd track him down afterwards. I'd decked Master Sergeants before for insulting my choice of beverage, a witch kidnapping one of my men didn't stand a chance. We just needed to make sure civilisation was still standing when we got him back.

It felt like we were abandoning Carver, in choosing to prioritise the mission we'd been given, but I knew better. I knew that there was no point in rescuing Carver if these things gained a solid foothold and began waging a war before we were ready to fight. It still felt wrong though.

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"Alright, let me show you a map."

One of the features of our armour was the ability to project basic images via a modulated light on our armour. It was basically just a compact projector given colour and linked to our armour. It was a backup for if our suit network was down and we needed to plan and share visual intel, so it was perfect for the current circumstance.

I projected the map of the world, thankful that we'd had time to update it from local sources. The local maps weren't made from high-resolution images taken from orbit, but we at least verified that what we had on the area was correct. If not for the fact we'd not been in a geostationary orbit and for a significant amount of time, we'd only have seen a very specific area of the planet's surface and nothing more. As our luck would have it, we'd pieced together an almost complete map, even if parts of it were a little dated.

The regal dwarf hopped up and pointed at several locations on the map. One in the far east and one near the south of what I could easily recognise as Graywatch.

"These are the only two?"

"That I know of, yes. There may be more, but I have only heard of two.'

I nodded, updating the map data in my armour before sharing it with Chen. "Thank you for that. You said they're sealed. What kind of seal? Is it magical or physical?"

"They are defensive in nature, designed to keep thieves and attackers out. The temple in the Eastern Kingdoms is a gauntlet of flesh and claws, but the one to our north is less direct."

"Less direct?"

"Yes. Illusions, magic that misleads, delays, whispers dark things. It will test you, as it did me. If you do not trust in those you bring with you, you will need great strength to slay them. Especially if they are your friends."

"And these seals secure this weapon?" Chen asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yes. Each temple contains some key or key-fragment that we assume unlocks the sword from wherever it's resting place is. I do not know if the soul inside is still dormant or if it is has succumbed to madness, but it remains hidden and the way is laden with trials."

"Wait a minute. The soul inside?" I asked. "There's a person inside the sword?"

"Yes. That is what I was told. It is old magic, human sorcery unlike what we would use. We would never force a soul into such a crude thing." She said this with distaste, and who could blame her? I wouldn't want to be stuck in an inanimate hunk of metal for any stretch of time, let alone a potential eternity.

It wasn't as though Matriarch had given me exact pinpoint coordinates, but she'd narrowed it down to a few square kilometres for each temple. That was a starting point and instead of melting the needle and burning the haystack to ash while asking which bit of ash was the needle, we actually had a starting point.

"You wouldn't happen to have anyone you could send with us, would you?"

"I do not. The stone-children are unaccustomed to living on the surface. I could not send anyone with you."

"What about you?" Chen asked.

A moment of contemplation. "Possible, but I do not think it wise. I have responsibilities here, oaths that must be kept. I am sorry, young knights, but you must make your own way."

"Fair enough." I shrugged, not bothering to correct anyone on our titles.

We weren't knights, but we were close enough in some ways and it didn't really matter that much. No one really wanted to give them a fifteen minute lecture on what a Marine actually was and why it mattered.

She didn't clear her throat or make any sound, but I could tell she was waiting, expecting me to say something.

"Was there something else?" I asked.

"There was. Our help does not come for free. We have no desire to see the world above ravaged, for we would be next. I insist that you kill the witch. She has committed crimes against our kind, and we know what kinds of crimes she inflicts on yours."

"I wasn't a big fan of her to begin with, but we can work on tracking her down. I doubt anyone will complain. Was that it?"

"No. When the scourge above has been vanquished, I wish to have a serious discussion with your master of armour. You are… delicious. Everyone here can smell it. We are a well-mannered race, but I must insist on this condition as payment for my information."

I couldn't decide whether to be taken aback, or flustered by the primal hunger in her voice. It wasn't lust, or at least I hoped not, but she sounded like a starving women with a three-hundred dollar steak dangling in front of her.

"Excuse me?" Chen snickered.

"Your armour smells like a feast. Many strange scents, but the metal… I wish to know how you acquired it."

I nodded slowly. "We can certainly talk about that, and more. For now I have other priorities."

"Do you promise?"

"I… yes, I promise."

"Thank you, honourable knight. I hope you and yours prosper."

Chen snickered over a private channel. "Looks like you got upgraded from young to honourable. I didn't know you were into dwarves."

I scowled. "Shut it, Chen, or I'll bring up your last shore leave."

Amusingly, that did shut him up, enough for me to hear the Khazdori leader's last few words.

"And I hope you find your brother safe and sound. May the stones watch over you."

It was some time later when we'd surfaced and started walking towards the city when the subject of Carver came up again. We had what we needed to move forward, but one of our pieces had been taken off the board, to to speak.

"So Carver, what do we about him?" Chen asked, checking his railgun's magazine.

"Nothing much we can do. If this mission is as important as everyone thinks, then finding him won't make a difference if these things start waking up and invading in force."

I could practically hear the words in Chen's head through his silence. He was as unhappy with that idea as I was.

"I know it feels wrong. It doesn't sit right with me either, but if these things wipe us out or kill all the people whose help we need, rescuing Carver will have been for nothing."

Chen grumbled at that. "Yeah, I know. But what are we going to do?"

I sighed. "Tell you what, we'll see if anyone knows anything, but I'm almost positive Sefira took him for information, not to kill him. Right now we need to focus on the job."

"What about ransom?"

I shook my head, watching as the city drew closer as we walked towards its distant visage. "I doubt she wants him for ransom. She's not a petty thief, she's on top of the food chain here. Ransoming him will just create a committed enemy out of us."

"But maybe she doesn't know that, maybe she's treating us like the native monarchies."

I shrugged. "Could be. The point still stands though. I don't trust anyone else to rescue Carver and even though it may not feel like it, we're in the middle of a crisis. It's just not out of control yet. Bottom line is, we're invested in the Kingdom's interests, because we're in the middle of things whether we like it or not."

It was a lesson I was trying to get into everyone's heads. I had the benefit of having been here before. Not literally, but I'd been the one stuck in enemy territory with nothing but locals for support. Suddenly, their problems had become my problems, and their help had become a lifeline. When events got this big, it didn't matter how self-sufficient or well-trained you were. You were beholden to the larger game at play, whether you agreed with the rules or not.

Whether it was getting the bread on time, or waging a war, everything needed proper mental preparation. Without that preparation, you'd crumble when push came to shove, unable to adapt or push on.

The city wasn't far away and as I chatted with Chen I began planning in my head, intent on putting together a strike force drawn from locals and whoever showed up with Larsen. I was sure she was already doing the same mental exercises, figuring out ways to tackle the problem. She'd have heard by now one of us had gone missing.

Trying to be discreet and keep our capabilities a secret was also out the window. Bringing in outside help, not part of any official organisation or government wasn't the most discreet option, but it was the best one. We couldn't trust them not to turn around and sell information on us, but we couldn't exactly buy their silence either. In any case, we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

With tournaments being a regular fixture nearby I was sure there would be plenty of swords for hire, though payment might be an issue. Our funds certainly weren't limitless and they were all borrowed so I got the feeling we wouldn't exactly be fielding an army, but with luck we wouldn't need one.

If these bugs could afford to attack a capital city they could certainly afford to protect a key objective vital to defeating them, so taking it wouldn't be cheap, either in blood or gold. That was only one part of why I wanted hired help. The other part was that we really needed more numbers. I wondered at the recruits we'd been training. It hadn't been that long. I didn't think pressing them into service was a good idea. They weren't even close to graduating yet. In fact, they'd barely started.

We had more intel now—actual leads, not just half-baked rumors and gut feelings—and a plan was forming in my mind that though simple, was doable. That should've made things easier. It didn't. My brain was running a four-lane highway of what-ifs, worst-cases, and contingency plans dressed up as optimism. Sometimes I cursed my training, pragmatic and life-saving though it was.

Knowing where to go? That was the easy part. Getting there without catching the proverbial bullet or stepping in something truly foul? That was what worried me. With one of our own, the odds weren't exactly great. Still, if I was waiting on good odds to do the job, I'd still be sitting in a shitty bar on Cerberus Station arguing over beer better poured back into the horse.