New Enemies

  Chapter 41

  Smaller support villages were built at ten-mile intervals from New Call, buildings of tanned leather and waxed cloth. These villages were named for their distance from the Western Artificers' testing ground. At Tenth, by the Cruel Peaks, Element lay in the Contegons' tent and stared at its ceiling.

  Her time at the Front hadn't been what she'd hoped for. Not since she left Snow's company. Until then, she'd been delighted: joining the Contegons was a dream, a wish Sol had granted, but seeing Snow was why she'd prayed for a placement on the western Front. Seeing him had made her feel... whole. Proper. That feeling still remained, only pierced when she was informed that Disciple activity in her assigned zone had died off: for reasons unknown, the monsters only initiated skirmishes now. With the two Fronts askew, there would be no push forward, and so she was left in tedium.

  A quirk of chance, or Sol’s will, robbed Element of an opportunity for duty: the day she arrived, Contegon Fury came down with the flu. Fresh and Element had been practising north of Tenth that morning, but Element had returned for fresh robes when the Doctors came to look for Fury’s replacement.

  Annoyingly, if she did well, Fresh would receive the next available Tower or cadre. Meanwhile, Element was stuck with the lesser Contegons, training and tending the minor problems of other Stations. It was driving her mad.

  The Contegon shook her head. She needed to do something useful, something practical. There must be work for her on the Front, even if it were menial and difficult, another Station's work.

  First, she pulled a folded slice of paper from her travel gear. Contegons were allowed one travel pack for their journey to the Fronts, which was mostly taken up by spare robes, weapons, and armour. There was little room for personal items, especially as many brought a Sol Lexic, and Element was no exception. Hers, though, has a pencil drawing slipped between the pages.

  With the advent of the Acolyte Station, there was demand to see and know these beings blessed like none since the First Servant. As a result, their Identity Papers were often taken from the Bureau and their official drawings copied. Some people collected the drawings like jewels or precious art, but Element had only one: Snow's. She unfolded her copy and held it close, like she was hugging him. She imagined his arms around her, gripping her tight, and she sighed happily.

  “What's that you have there?” someone asked.

  Element turned. Fresh stood at the entrance to the Contegon tent. Rows of cots separated them, but it didn't prevent Element turning bright red.

  “Nothing,” she said, pushing the drawing under her robes. She tried not to wince at crumpling the paper.

  “It didn't look like nothing. Doesn't sound like it either,” Fresh said, stepping inside.

  “Well, it is.”

  Thankfully, Fresh just went to her cot. As the newest Contegons, she and Element had the worst cots, the ones at the furthest end of the shared tent. The imperfect walls allowed the north's cold breeze to slice through them, requiring fortitude and heavy blankets, which both had plenty of.

  As discreetly as she could, Element folded the paper inside her robes. “Why are you back so early?” she asked to cover the rustling of her drawing. “Shouldn't you be out with your new cadre?”

  “They were never my cadre,” Fresh said, sitting. “Their rightful owner is with them today.”

  Element put her hand outside her robe and smoothed the paper against her body: this time, she tried to make the movement look as though she were brushing hair from her robes. “How could Fury have already recovered from that illness?”

  “I don't understand it,” Fresh replied, stretching her arms out. “She is blessed with an amazing constitution. I'm thrilled that Sol's true choice to lead that cadre is back in her place,” Fresh replied, standing. “Just as I am to have had the opportunity to lead them for even a short time.”

  Element moved across her cot to be nearer. “How... how was it?”

  “As terrifying and fulfilling as we imagined, Element.”

  Element nodded. Fresh had kept to herself at the Academy: they had learned together, occasionally sparred, but nothing more. Element’s friends Hinge and Costume had been sent to the eastern Front, but that hadn't stopped her and Fresh fostering a friendship on the journey to the Fronts, sharing the stories, gossip, and dreams which never passed between them during their training.

  “Shall we train, then?” Element asked, standing.

  “What else is there to do?” Fresh asked with a shrug.

  “I don't know. I was thinking of seeing if the Farmers or Shields needed help, anything to be useful whilst I had no one to train with.”

  Fresh smiled. “Fancy yourself a Shield, do you?”

  “I fancy myself bored,” Element replied.

  Element collected her practice sword and shield, and they walked out into Tenth. Only a dozen tents made up the supporting village, though many were as large as the Contegons'. The only permanent building was the Farmers' warehouse, the food needing protection from the ravaging weather.

  “I hate being amongst all these new buildings,” Fresh whispered.

  Element shrugged. “Really? I don't care.”

  “No,” Fresh said, giving her a sidelong look, “I suppose you wouldn't after spending so long on a rotting ship. This must look like a paradise in comparison.”

  Element tensed, licked her lips, and then tried to laugh it off. “I keep forgetting I'm a Contegon now, that I don't need to hide my past to avoid special treatment.”

  “Well, if you really know an Acolyte, you definitely avoided special treatment by being put here.”

  “Ouch, low blow,” Element said. She tried another laugh, but it sounded false as a Disciple.

  Fresh looked her up and down. “Sorry. C'mon, kick the Lun out of me for that.”

  “I was going to anyway,” Element said. “But thanks.”

  It didn't take them long to emerge into the wilderness with its great clumps of short grasses and shrubs. Element admired the dramatic change, from flattened grass to sparse trees and then strong, thick woodland, the trees so close together they hid whatever lived within. The forest continued back until the horizon, with only the strange square edges of the Disciple Roads breaking it up.

  “I've heard that some Acolytes have seen Moenian,” Element said. “That they have flown so high above our Front that they could seen its jagged edge.”

  “Did Snow tell you that?”

  She shook her head. It had been Tenth's Farmer, a woman named Worship.

  They kept walking until they were far enough from Tenth that no one would see their mistakes. “What was it like, in the Moenian Forest?” Element asked. “That's what you did, isn't it, patrol the forest?”

  Fresh didn't answer for a few seconds. It looked as though she were debating whether to say something. As Element watched, she felt a cold grain of fear in her soul: could it be that terrifying in there?

  She felt silly when Fresh eventually said, “I hate forests. They are strangling. This place is woeful, though. None have tended to it or chopped it down. No human anyway,” she added.

  “Then what prevented you from talking about it?”

  “I had an... odd experience during my first patrol,” Fresh replied after another pause. “There were these... tracks, these prints. Like a large cat, but its feet were webbed like a duck's. And their depth was strange: it must've weighed as much as both of us, fully armed.”

  Element stopped, fancying they were in a good spot to practice. She stretched her muscles out, still gripping both sword and shield. “So the wildlife here is a little strange. Why is that concerning?”

  “I’ve never heard of a large cat like that living in a forest.” The Contegon looked south-east. “We used to hunt mountain cats in Cuff when they encroached on our village. Large cats hunt on wide plains, Element, where their speed gets them fed. What advantage does speed provide when there's a tree in your way?”

  That tickle of fear returned, but a
shameful excitement came with it. “The cadre hadn't seen anything like it before?”

  Fresh raised her sword. “They said that it was nothing to worry about, but Element, it had six feet.”

  Fresh took advantage of Element's shock to strike a sudden blow. Element raised her shield to block, just managing to deflect the sneak attack and follow up.

  Element jumped back, put distance between them. “And your cadre really didn't care about your six-footed cat?” she asked, slowly circling.

  “They are Shields, Element,” Fresh said, circling her opponent “They didn't care. Why would they? I suppose that disinterest, their lack of imagination, infected me.”

  “That or your intoxication at having a cadre,” Element said.

  Fresh attacked then, angered by the jab. Element pushed her blow aside and rolled under her guard. Spinning, she pressed her blade's dull edge against Fresh's stomach and pulled it across: she would have been gutted in a real fight.

  “Damn it,” Fresh hissed. “I'm all out of alignment now.”

  “So the Shields didn't care about this discovery, but you do?” Element asked, standing back in case this was another feint.

  “I suppose I care about what it might mean. Much more than they do.”

  Element cricked her neck, emitted a loud crack. “Why didn't you report it to a Cleric, then?”

  “Perhaps you were right about my intoxication.”

  Element grinned. “Well, we'll go back and share what you learned. You can say that you discussed it with me, and I agreed that it was worth sharing. How does that sound?”

  “Good,” Fresh said, smiling.

  Element launched herself forward and knocked the other Contegon down. Her blunt blade went to Fresh's neck. Through a grin, she said, “But first, I'm going to kick the Lun out of you.”