“They’re riding inside now,” said Ajay. “Hobbes, Brooke, and their escort…and now the smaller doors are closing behind them.”
“So she’s inside,” said Will.
“So how do we get inside?” asked Elise.
Will looked from her to Ajay. Then everyone else slowly turned and looked at Ajay, who finally noticed the attention. He stood up and slowly backed away from the cliff.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not, Will. I’m putting my foot down this time—”
“Come on, buddy,” said Nick.
“No! It was one thing to employ me as the basis for a cover story while passing through relatively unoccupied enemy territory, but to ask me to sit on the back of a horse, unprotected, and ride through an assembled host comprising the entire history of human nightmares into God knows whatever worse assembly of creatures might be waiting for us on the other side of those doors, provided we even make it that far? It’s not fair no matter how you look at it, and I simply won’t stand for it.”
Will listened carefully. Heard the tremor in Ajay’s voice and registered the terror in his eyes. He glanced over at Elise and first saw and then heard that she was thinking the same thing.
Maybe it’s too much to ask.
No maybe about it, she answered.
“I heard that,” said Ajay.
Will and Elise glanced at each other, concerned.
Can he bust into our channel already?
“No, you didn’t,” said Will, calling his bluff.
“Heard what?” asked Nick.
“And if you did, you’d know that I happen to agree with you, Ajay,” said Will. “It is too much to ask. We’re going to look for another way inside.”
“Thank you,” said Ajay, taking Will’s hand and trying to kiss it. “Thank you thank you thank you.”
“But if we can’t find one,” said Elise, “you’re Plan B.”
“Then I’ll find us another way in even if it kills me,” said Ajay.
“Dude, what did you hear?” Nick asked Ajay.
“It’s not important.”
“Leave it alone, kid,” Jericho said to Nick.
They all backed away from the cliff and then quietly walked their horses far enough from the edge to feel they could mount up safely again.
As they started riding, Will stared up at the Citadel, hoping for some kind of inspiration to strike. He felt as close to total exhaustion as he thought he could get. The sight of that army down there coupled with the dread gravity of the wall bearing down on them left him feeling hopeless and afraid. The task ahead seemed more than impossible, more than he could even begin to surmount. He hardly possessed the energy to lift his head and look up at the Citadel. The faint thought that everything in the zone, on some level, might not be real offered the only comfort he could find.
They were much closer to the wall here, and the line continued on past where it bumped up against the bluff for a considerable distance to their right, for at least another mile or more. Will briefly considered trying to send a mental probe out along the wall, to see if he could locate a weakness or opening in the fortress’s implacable shell, but the risk of having it run into some force or creature along the way that could sense it and trace it back to him outweighed the benefit. Once an alarm was sounded, they wouldn’t be going up against the kind of weak-minded minions they’d dealt with up to this point. They were standing on the doorstep of the darkness itself, and the Makers—or the Other Team, or whatever they called themselves—were just on the other side of that wall. The slightest misstep now would have the deadliest consequences, for all of them.
Will led them along at a walk, trying to keep as quiet as possible. He attempted for what seemed like the thousandth time to reach out mentally toward Dave, hoping they might be close enough to him now to get through, feeling more in need of his guidance than ever. Will summoned up the image of that large dome from the photograph, the place where he’d intuited that Dave might be, and zeroed in on it.
Nothing.
What are you thinking, Will?
Will turned his head to look at Elise but she was looking up at the wall, preoccupied; she hadn’t sent the message. Then he realized…that was Ajay’s voice.
I don’t know yet, Will answered.
Before offering any advice of my own—and I do have a suggestion that might be helpful—may I first express my deepest gratitude to you for sparing me from the dim-witted scenario that would have offered me up as bait in order to gain entry to this wretched fortress.
Ajay sounded as clear as a bell now and as crisp as the voice of a postgraduate student, or maybe a professor; the two-year-old had grown up fast.
You already thanked me, Ajay.
But not properly.
Will finally glanced over at him, riding along behind Jericho, smiling beatifically, his bright luminous eyes shining and opened wider than ever. A radically different quality emanated from Ajay now; he was calmer and centered. He looked much older and wiser than his years, a lot more than he had even ten minutes earlier. The word that came to Will’s mind to best describe this new quality was saintly.
You’ve been the truest friend I’ve ever known, or will ever hope to know. Since the day we met you’ve helped me in every possible way, far from the least of which was showing me how to find the strength to endure this terrifying transformation we’re all undergoing. You’ve done this more by way of doing than in anything you’ve said, although your words are always welcome, and I am eternally grateful to you in ways I can’t even express, although I remain willing to try—
You’re doing a fine job, Will sent back, if for no other reason than to slow down the torrent of words flowing into his head. I really appreciate what you’re saying.
I just thought that, since I seem to suddenly possess the means to do so in a conveniently private way, I had better seize the moment to say it now. Who knows if or when we’ll have another opportunity? The changes are occurring so rapidly now, certainly within me, that I’ve lost sight of any logical end point, not to mention that after a dispassionate analysis of our circumstances, I can’t help concluding that we’re nearing some sort of resolution, one way or another.
Let’s hope you’re right.
The wall looked as if it ran on forever, but the distance between it and the bluff gradually narrowed. Will tapped his mount into a trot and they all picked up their pace. Jericho kept even with Will, so Ajay remained directly across from him, and once they’d made eye contact again, Ajay continued.
I also want you to know that I’ll be perfectly at peace with whatever happens to me from this point forward. I’m not afraid anymore. Of this place, or whatever’s in there or even of dying. Dying painfully over a protracted period of time I’m not so sure about, but if it was to happen suddenly, I’m more or less sure I can handle it.
I guess I’m glad to hear that, Ajay, but I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Ajay gave him an O-K sign.
Now, with regard to our aforementioned powers, one of the most recent that’s developed for me—one that I actually just added to the repertoire within the last few minutes—is that I appear to have acquired the ability to project my mind into places that are far beyond my physical location. I haven’t had time to fully test the limits of it yet, of course, but I believe this is traditionally referred to as—
Omniscience.
Ajay smiled at him. Exactly so. Le mot juste. Have you experienced this one as well yet?
A little. You’re a bit ahead of me on that one, Ajay.
Well, in addition to our own individual abilities, I believe that some of our secondary powers will inevitably begin to overlap. This telepathy, for instance, although I don’t imagine that Nick has picked that up yet—
He can receive, but he doesn’t know where it’s coming from.
I will now politely endeavor to avoid making fun of our muscle-bound friend and change the subject.
Very decent of you.
/> Anyway, I just sent my mind…which is interesting, because since I’m also able to simultaneously still be present here while conversing with you, I believe this puts me well on the way to another arcane ability often referred to as “bilocation.” More on that later.
Will glanced back and noticed that Elise was staring at the two of them. She appeared to be sensing their conversation, if not actually able to hear it.
As I was saying, I just sent my mind’s eye ahead along the wall and unless I’m very much mistaken—unlikely—there is a second entrance less than half a mile ahead on our left. It’s nowhere near as grand as the one we just saw out front, which I think we can safely characterize as largely for show, but it is almost as tall and wide as the other and it appears to be fully functional.
Why didn’t you say so in the first place?
Forgive me, you’re absolutely right. I should have mentioned that straightaway.
Show me where, Will said.
He kicked up into a canter and Jericho kept pace right beside him, with Nick and Elise right behind. Thinking he’d see it when they arrived, Will was surprised when a series of images appeared in his mind as they rode.
He realized that Ajay was “uploading” a mind’s-eye survey of what he’d seen.
And when, five minutes later, they arrived at a particular spot along the bluff where Will knew to stop, having seen the images already, he looked down at exactly the location Ajay had just shown him.
The drop from the bluff to the wall was much shorter here because the ground had risen gradually as they traveled along the wall toward the mountains. No more than thirty feet down, while the wall here was no more than fifty yards from the base of the bluff, where a well-traveled road paralleled the wall.
The passageway, double hinged gates, was neither as tall nor as wide as the one they’d seen in the front, and the road led straight inside.
It was also wide open.
WILL’S RULES FOR LIVING #15:
AN OPEN DOOR IS EITHER A GREETING OR A TRAP. BEST TO DECIDE WHICH BEFORE YOU ENTER.
Elise ordered the horses to stand back in a group and keep quiet. The five of them crept forward on foot to the edge of the bluff and looked down at the gates. The road that entered between them immediately reached an intersection where it branched off to the left. It also continued straight up the rise, where they were stationed, and branched off to the north along the wall, toward the mountains. As they watched, a small train of wagons rolled into view from the north side and passed between the gates into the Citadel. They appeared to be fully loaded with black rocks or coal.
“Raw materials,” whispered Jericho. “From the mountains.”
“They must have some mines up there,” said Will.
“So this must be the service entrance,” said Ajay. “I would hazard a guess that the construction project we saw in the photos must be nearby.”
The wagons were driven by beaten-down-looking subhuman figures in ragged clothes, and they were waved inside by a platoon of guards at the gates geared up in the same black armor they’d taken off the soldiers at the bridge garrison.
“Dudes, this is like a gift,” said Nick, cracking his knuckles.
“Let’s do this,” said Will.
“Time to bang some heads,” said Nick, and then turned a somersault toward his horse, where he pulled out a spiked mace from his saddlebag.
“Or if you’d prefer to take a more rational approach and put Plan B into action,” said Ajay, “under these more manageable circumstances I’m quite willing to volunteer my services.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Jericho, patting him on the back.
“On foot or horseback?” asked Elise.
“Horseback,” said Will.
Elise turned to the horses, and they immediately trotted forward. Moments later they were mounted up and slowly making their way down the hill to the gates. Looking ahead, Will saw the first two guards outside notice their approach and call to their superior, a larger grunt who came out of a kiosk on the inside of the wall.
“How would you say the dudes in the armor are different from the freaks camped out back there in front of the gates?” asked Nick.
“They’re probably bred for more intelligence and discipline,” said Ajay. “Military prototypes.”
“Then I say we ride in hard like we belong there and ignore these bozos,” said Nick.
“No, they might outrank us,” said Will. “We need to talk to them.”
“But we don’t talk monster,” said Nick.
“We’ll handle it,” said Will; then he turned to Elise and Ajay. “I’ll take the big one; you distract the others.”
Once they reached level ground, Will led them forward at a trot over the final stretch to the Citadel. By then the sergeant had closed ranks with four other grunts, barring their passage, and he raised a hand to stop them before the gates.
Will raised his hand in greeting and sent words right into the sergeant’s mind:
There’s no need to stop this party. They’re the ones we’ve been waiting for, the important ones we’re supposed to let right through.
The sergeant’s eye had immediately gone to Ajay on the back of Jericho’s horse, but when Will’s message hit him, his brain locked up before he could even ask his first question.
Ajay and Elise looked at each other, nodded, then looked at the guards. Two of the grunts behind the sergeant turned immediately and went for each other’s throats. The other two grunts jumped into the fight, while the sergeant tried to break it up. Will was about to ride past, when a crowd of soldiers ran out from a barracks toward the melee.
I’ll handle them, Ajay sent to Will.
Ajay pointed a finger at the leader of the second group; he stopped immediately and broke into a strange dance; then the one next to him started dancing along right next to him.
Do you recognize it? Ajay asked Will.
Three other guards started performing exactly the same strange, convoluted, synchronized dance steps, and it spread until twenty of them were moving along, when Will realized:
Thriller?
Correct!
“Welcome to Soul Train,” said Jericho.
Suppressing a laugh, Will snapped the reins and calmly led their party through the gates. Between the free-for-all and the bizarre dance number taking place around him, the sergeant never even gave them a second glance.
They turned a corner past the cluster of soldiers into the Citadel. The grounds were muddy and cluttered here, piled high with stacks of supplies, barrels, crates, and various building materials on pallets.
Workers from the wagons they’d seen enter minutes earlier were unloading their cargo of rocks into the maw of a gigantic iron-plated machine that vibrated violently, some kind of pulverizer by the look and sound of it. A steady stream of coal and dust passed out the other end of the machine on a rickety conveyor belt, depositing the end product onto a mountainous pile. From there, a crowd of minions, dusted almost a solid black, shoveled the coal into smaller carts on tracks that then rolled off somewhere deeper inside the complex.
Like the soldiers they’d seen, these workers appeared to be subhuman hybrids, some kind of rudimentary humanoid stock crossed with various beasts of burden and possessing qualities of both. They were apparently bred for strength and stamina, for their misshapen faces looked blank and their eyes cold and vacant. Whatever intelligence they might have once possessed had been bred out of them. As he watched them scurrying fearfully around, Will felt a surge of horror and pity—a slave labor force, in seemingly endless supply, created in some foul factory, treated like animals. There was no reason to treat them in any decent or humane way. If one broke down, you just made another one.
He glanced over at Elise and Ajay. When they looked back, he knew they were thinking the same thing:
They’re not all that different from us, she sent.
No, sent Ajay. They were just designed for more menial work.
What were w
e made for, then? asked Elise.
As they moved along, sounds of heavy construction filtered toward them: the bang of hammers, rhythmic earth-shaking stomps, and the screech of grinding gears. Will signaled the others forward and they followed the tracks of the coal carts deeper into the Citadel, past storage yards and huge stone, glass, and ironworks. Through the partially open doors of a tall building they saw the red-hot glow of a foundry. Inside it was an immense cauldron filled with molten iron that ran out of a chute. Will looked up and saw choking black smoke billow out of one of those mammoth chimneys they’d seen in the photos. It burned his eyes, and gritty particulate matter cascading through the air choked his lungs.
No one else wearing the black armor seemed to be in this area, and not one of the legions of workers paid them the slightest attention. They rode past the foundry, around the corner of a line of huge sheds, and as the clouds of smoke thinned out, the area opened up in front of them, a vast stretch of empty, desolate space that Will also recognized from one of the photos. They dismounted, Elise instructed the horses to wait for them, and they crept around the corner, hiding behind a pile of supplies to take a closer look.
This was the active construction site they’d spotted, large patches of dirt around it tainted by the black smoking soil that Will had reacted to in the photograph. In the center of that spread of despoiled ground, about a half mile in the distance, hundreds of workers swarmed around a gigantic slab of rock or concrete that appeared to be roughly the size of a football field. Rising from the slab was the central object they’d seen in the photo, which had been impossible to identify from the overhead angle of the drone. But they could see it now.
Two huge and graceful arcs, like crescent moons, rose from two solid, rectangular chunks of hard metal to which they were attached or embedded. Will guessed that the arcs stood at least as tall as a ten-story building. They appeared to be fashioned from the same smooth black adamantine material as the Citadel walls. The arcs were facing each other. Their bases were already connected together, forming the bottom of a circle, and the tops of the arcs were within a few feet of touching each other.