And perhaps she could still save Dill.
“One more thing, Captain,” she said. “How deep is the lake?”
“About a hundred and fifty fathoms. Why?”
Deep enough. Rachel felt a surge of hope. “Not long after I first met you,” she explained, “you climbed inside Dill's skull. I mean… this all happened in the battle that's about to come. You said you wanted to look inside the arconite for yourself. I couldn't understand why at the time, but now I do. You were giving Dill a message from me.”
“What's the message?”
“In all the smoke and confusion to come, he might have a chance to escape from Menoa's giants—”
“If he submerges himself underwater and walks across the lake bed?”
Rachel's eyes narrowed. “Have I told you this part of my plan before?” Had yet another version of herself already been here?
“No, Miss Hael, it just seems obvious to me. Your giant friend doesn't need to breathe, after all.” He scratched his beard. “If Dill is going to flee under the lake, the best place for your friend Hasp is likely to be inside the air pocket in the angel's skull.”
Of course. It made perfect sense to Rachel. Hasp would be able to breathe for a short time while Dill escaped. She could save both of them.
The captain added, “I'll tell you to put Hasp there before the king's arconites arrive. Until then, we'll let your plan to foil Oran run as planned.”
A horn blared from one of the watchtowers atop the Burnt water walls. Iron Head turned to go, but then paused. “These automatons have engines, don't they?” he asked Rachel.
“The engines are just an affectation, a device used to reinforce the Mesmerist conditioning enforced on the soul. They're not functional; therefore, water won't affect them.”
“No,” Iron Head replied. “I mean they produce smoke, and a trail of smoke rising from the water will betray your friend's position to his enemies.” His brow furrowed again. “If we had more time, I'd have worked on some way to disguise that trail. Some sort of diversion, perhaps.”
The watchtower horn blared a second time. “Time for me to begin the charade, Miss Hael,” the captain said. Hurrying away, he called back, “I look forward to meeting you soon.”
Rachel felt numb. The Hericans' rafts had not been constructed to disguise the Burntwater vessels' own smokestacks. Rather, they had been designed to mask Dill's engine fumes as he fled under the lake. But now, without such decoys, her friend would be exposed. There was no way he could escape by submerging himself under the lake.
And Rachel's older self must have known that.
A voice behind her said, “I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong, sis.”
The assassin's temporal twin stepped out from under the eaves of a nearby building.
Garstone gave the older woman a smile. “There you are, Elder Miss Hael.”
“You can stop that Elder thing right now, Eli,” she replied.
“Sorry, Miss Hael.”
The older Rachel walked up to her younger self. “We could never be sure how much of an effect the Hericans' rafts might have had on the fate of this universe,” she said. “The outcome Sabor witnessed here was too… extreme for us to take any chances. Building those rafts might have altered what we had already perceived, and confused events to such an extent that we wouldn't know exactly when to step in and fix the problem.”
“So you've been keeping this world running the way you perceived it, because you've already figured out the exact moment to intervene? You know exactly what you're going to do.”
Her elder self said nothing.
“And you can't tell me?”
“Not without risking everything.”
Rachel spread her hands in exasperation. “But if it wasn't just the rafts… then what do I do to fuck up so badly?”
Her other self gazed down towards the docks. “You need to keep doing whatever you are planning to do. I'll stay close by, unless I feel that my presence will badly affect the course of events.”
“I was planning to get out of here.”
“Let's go, then.”
They had only just reached Burntwater's waterfront when Dill began his fake attack on the settlement. Rachel heard a dull crashing sound and spun around to see the giant automaton approaching the palisade wall. The plates of Maze-forged armour glowed unearthly green in the fog, and his great tattered wings encompassed the sky. In his hands he clutched the Rusty Saw tavern, much battered now and listing to the side. He hesitated, leaking black fumes from his shoulders, and surveyed the town's defenses with empty eyes.
Had Dill paused like this the last time? Rachel couldn't remember. Her mind spun with vague recollections and countless possibilities. Something was about to go very wrong, an event she herself would cause to happen. She stared up at the automaton's grinning maw, from which another Rachel now peered out, the same woman she had been so recently.
Arrows lanced upward from the town defenses as bowmen let loose. A second barrage followed a moment later. Dill raised the tavern above his head, and roared.
“Don't overdo it, Dill,” Rachel muttered.
Transfixed, she watched the pretend battle unfold. Dill crushed the palisade wall and roared and stamped craters into the ground, careful not to hurt a soul, while unbeknownst to him the Burnt water militia acted out their own charade. They fought back convincingly, loosing their arrows freely because they knew Dill could not be harmed. Events, as Rachel remembered them, unfolded precisely as they should have.
Garstone tugged at her arm. “Miss Hael, I don't think it's wise to remain here. The automaton might decide to head this way.”
“He does, Garstone. He's coming straight for us.”
“All the more reason for us to depart.”
They ran for cover in a dead-end alley round the corner of a nearby house, just as Dill came thundering down the main thoroughfare. He stopped at a wharf, scooped up a small boat from the lake, and then turned and threw it at the advancing forces.
“It's all happening the way I remember it,” Rachel said. “Nothing's different.” She glanced over at her older self, but that woman was too busy watching the lakeside to respond.
Dill roared again and retreated into the lake, his massive ironclad boots smashing boats and jetties to splinters.
And then he froze, let out a terrible groan, and slowly toppled forward to his knees. The resulting wave pitched boats up out of the harbour and slammed them onto the dry land beyond. Cold water sprayed Rachel's face, and she heard Iron Head's men cheering as they rushed forward.
And then she heard a cry for help coming from within the arconite. To Rachel's ears it didn't sound particularly convincing.
Garstone apparently agreed. “I believe that attempt at distress came from you, Miss Hael,” he said. “It is fortunate that you didn't actually need the cry to sound authentic.”
Iron Head and his men played their parts well. They gathered nervously around Dill's jaw, gaping at the fallen giant with genuine awe. A moment later Iron Head himself came forward. Rachel could not hear much of the conversation that took place between the captain and her former self, but those snippets she did manage to catch sounded more or less as she remembered them.
A runner broke through the ranks of the Burntwater militia, calling out for his captain. In the moments that followed, all hell broke loose.
“This is it,” Rachel said to her two companions. “Menoa's arconites have arrived. This is where the fake battle becomes a real one.”
Garstone snuck a glance at his watch. “Perhaps this would be a good time for us to head back to the boat,” he said. “If you are going to meet yourself on schedule, we do not have much time left.”
Rachel had to agree, and yet she was reluctant to leave. Her former self had just stepped out onto the promenade. Mina followed a moment later, cradling her dog in her arms. Basilis immediately began to bark.
“This is an evacuation,” Iron Head yelled. “Women and child
ren to the barges and skiffs. Holden, signal the pilots. Spindle, take your men—you already know what to do. I want twelve units, four to the east…”
Rachel shrank back against the side of the building. Mina's dog had spotted them. Even now he struggled against his mistress's grip, his little eyes fixed on the three intruders.
“… Bernlow, Malk, Cooper, Geary, Wigg, someone else—you, Thatcher—keep the attackers divided, and away from the wharfs. Harry them and then retreat, but don't let those bastards step on you.”
Rachel didn't know what to do. She recalled Basilis barking like that after they'd stepped outside. Still, nothing had noticeably changed. She glanced back.
Mina was staring directly at her. Their eyes met for an instant, and then the thaumaturge looked away. She said something to Rachel's other self.
Nothings wrong with him. He's obviously just barking at you.
Mina! You knew I was here all the time.
The scene continued to unfold exactly as Rachel remembered it. A series of great crashes came from the south. On the opposite side of the promenade Dill set the Rusty Saw tavern down upon the ground. Oran stormed out to argue with his brother. Soldiers were running back up towards the Burntwater defenses in response to the new threat. Three horn blasts sounded the evacuation.
And on it went. Transfixed, Rachel watched herself and Mina carry Hasp up onto Dill's open palm. She watched as Dill raised his hand up towards the heavens. When he finally lowered his hand once more, only Mina and Rachel's other self stepped down.
“We've just put him in Dill's mouth,” Rachel explained.
Garstone gave a gentle cough. “Fascinating,” he said without a mote of conviction. “Shall we retire to the rowboat now, Miss Hael?”
“I'm supposed to do whatever I feel is right,” she reminded him, “otherwise I might corrupt this timeline. Well, I want to see this.” She turned to the older version of herself. “You must have lingered here, too, because that's what I would do. Hell, it's what I'm doing now. We'll leave as soon as the explosions go off. It leaves me plenty of time to get out onto the lake and meet myself.”
“Very well, miss,” Garstone said.
A thought occurred to Rachel. “You weren't in the boat,” she said to Garstone.
“Wasn't I?”
“No. I was alone on the lake.”
Garstone made a sound of surprise. “I suppose this version of me must have died, miss. After all, this is a particularly dangerous environment.”
She looked at him. “Perhaps you just decided to stay here?”
“I don't think that's very likely, miss. I have no intention of leaving you behind. Sabor would never approve of that.”
“You might have been injured.”
“That is certainly possible, Miss Hael. Although it would have to have been a severe injury to cause me to abandon you. If one cannot walk, one crawls, and if one cannot—”
“Well, what if you were unconscious?” she said. “You couldn't follow me then. You wouldn't even have to be particularly badly injured.”
Garstone glanced at his watch. “Yes, no doubt that's it, Miss Hael,” he huffed. “It explains my absence from the boat perfectly.”
“Yes,” Rachel said, “it does.” She struck him hard on the side of the head, knocking him out cold. The small man crumpled to the ground in his faded brown suit.
Rachel grabbed him under his armpits and hoisted him up. “Help me carry him onto one of those boats,” she said to her other self.
“You know I can't interfere, sis. Not yet.”
Rachel groaned. “When I become you,” she said, “don't expect any help from me.” She thought about that for a moment, and then shook her head. “Forget I said that.”
She dragged him backwards to the opposite side of the alley, away from Dill and the Rusty Saw, and propped him up while she surveyed the promenade. All of Oran's men and their whores had by now alighted from the stricken tavern. Hundred of refugees were already converging on the harbour. She spotted Rosella and Abner Hill, and felt a pang of regret. Would she be able to grab some gold for them now, while she still had a chance?
No, she couldn't risk it. Any decisions that affected the future, as she knew it, might trigger the events that led to the end of this world.
Her older self hung back, watching carefully.
“This can't be where I fuck up,” Rachel decided. “Any version of me would have done exactly the same. None of us would have left him here to die.”
Crowds jostled along the waterfront as the town barges steamed in from deeper water to dock against the wharfs. One unit of Burntwater militia was already herding people onto smaller boats, but most of the other soldiers now raced back into the town or began to fling burning torches against the dockside buildings. Fire crackled and leapt up the walls of the nearest warehouse.
Rachel waited until a group of refugees hurried past the mouth of the alley, and then dragged Garstone's unconscious body out across the promenade after them. One of his shoes fell off. Panting heavily, she reached one of the gangplanks where a queue of refugees waited to board.
“Can you take him across for me?” she said to an old couple at the front of the queue. The husband was old enough to be her grandfather, but tall and lean, and he looked strong enough to manage. He was already carrying a huge shoulder sack.
“Excuse me?”
“Take him,” she insisted. “I need to go back and find my children.”
The lie worked as she had intended. The old man tossed his sack onto the waiting barge, then slung Garstone's arm around his shoulder. With the help of a large woman already on the barge, they managed to hand the unconscious figure across the gangplank.
Now all the nearby warehouses were ablaze. Dill backed into the water and lifted two empty barges up onto the promenade to be loaded. Overhead, the massive wings of Menoa's arconites shimmered amongst the fog and smoke. Their armoured legs stood amidst the streets like war-blasted towers of steel. Sounds of battle came from the south, and then Menoa's arconite spoke: “King Menoa wishes to negotiate a truce, Dill…” Rachel ran back to the mouth of the alley to where her older self waited.
“What the hell is this?”
The voice belonged to one of Oran's men. A bearded giant, he stood at the corner of the alley entrance between two of the Rusty Saw's whores, each of them clinging to one of his arms. They looked disheveled and drunk. The woodsman's large dark eyes stared at the two Rachels for a moment before he glanced over at the promenade, where Rachel's former self still stood beside Mina. Then he shrugged the whores aside and drew his sword.
“Sisters, eh?” he said to Rachel. “What you doing sneaking about back here?” He shoved one of the whores away. “Go tell Oran what I caught here.” The woman scowled at him, but then lifted her skirts and ran off in the direction of the Rusty Saw.
Meanwhile the voice of the arconite continued to boom: “… Have the king's warriors harmed any who tried to flee? Have they hindered this evacuation? Have we used our influence over Hasp?”
The remaining whore raised a tin flask to her lips and took a drink. “Twins, I'd say,” she said. “That one's her spitting image. Look, she's even got the same cut above her ear.”
The woodsman grunted. “What are the chances of that? Looks like mischief to me.”
“Mischief,” his companion echoed.
Rachel exchanged a glance with her older self. Is this the moment you were waiting for? Is this the moment where history goes wrong? The other Rachel must have understood the unspoken question, for she lowered her eyes.
The powder kegs exploded.
The concussion blew the roofs off the buildings on either side of the alley. Rachel dropped to a crouch as a great cloud of grit and spinning shingles rushed out over the entire promenade. Some thing struck her head, knocking her forward. A tinny whining sound expunged her thoughts.
But instinct took over.
She pushed herself up.
“Stay down,” th
e woodsman growled. A fist grabbed her hair, forcing her head into the muddy ground. Dirt filled her nostrils. She glimpsed the edge of a blade.
And then the man suddenly released her. Rachel looked up to see his body slam against the side of the alley. Her older self now stood over her, lowering her leg from the kick she had just delivered.
Rachel gasped, “You intervened.”
“Yeah.”
“What about the future?”
“I'm changing it.” She grabbed Rachel and hoisted her to her feet. “We need to run now, before…” Her voice trailed away. She was looking beyond Rachel towards the mouth of the alley.
Oran and a large gang of his woodsmen blocked their escape. There were scores of them, armed and angry and smothered in grey dust. The whore who had gone to fetch them sat on the ground nearby, blinking and staring vacantly at her hands.
The militia leader sneered at Rachel. “Sisters?” He laughed and shook his head. “But I know the truth. Your other version doesn't even know you're here, does she? She hasn't yet been to Sabor's castle to become you. What's the difference in time between you and her? A couple of days? And at least twenty years between you and her.” He jabbed his sword at Rachel's older self. Then he turned to his men and said, “Take them.”
Rachel's older self stepped back, her eyes darting between the approaching soldiers, calculating the odds. Rachel didn't even know if the older Spine assassin could still focus. A supernaturally fast attack right now might slay five or more of the enemy. Leaving fewer than forty for me.
She'd faced worse odds in her time.
But her other self made no such move. She simply lowered her head and stepped forward, allowing Oran's men to seize both women.
With all the chaos going on around them, nobody noticed Oran's men steer their captives away from the docks. They marched away from the lake and turned into an empty street running parallel to the promenade. Here the houses on the landward side had been all but obliterated by Iron Head's powder kegs. One of Menoa's arconites filled the dusty skies above, while Dill's own vast form towered behind them. Oran yelled, urging the group to hurry on between the two giants.