It took them until evening to make it back. Trudging across a wasteland of ankle-deep ash
beneath an amber-jade sunset was tiring, muscle-straining work and whilst the
ash smoothed out much of the Shalereef rubble, covering it up in shades of
charcoal grey, it was, nevertheless, a bleak kind of beauty.
"I can't believe there was so much ash," Ellis
said as the Colony became discernible amidst the monotonous landscape. "I mean where did it all come
from?"
"Ashvault," Annabella said, "it's a
volcano."
"Even so..."
"It's gonna be a nightmare to clean the streets,"
Gulliver said gloomily, "do we even 'ave enough brushes? And just where
are we gonna sweep all that ash to?"
"Less talking, more walking," Siren said, sounding
a little breathless just ahead of them.
"The sooner we get back to the Colony the sooner we can come up
with some sort of plan about what comes next."
"And just what does come next?" Gulliver
asked. "More ash? Rocks?
Lava!?"
"I don't know," she snapped back, "that's why
I want to get back. We need to speak to
Franck!"
She sounded testier than usual. Ellis could relate. The day had started so well. They were getting reading for their wedding,
after all and it seemed like all the hardships of the past were, at last, truly
behind them and then the ash had to come and fall on all their plans. The future suddenly seemed as bleak as the
landscape.
No one welcomed them back at the boundary of the Colony,
though there were plenty of people to be seen.
They stood in the streets, staring at the sagging tin rooftops of their
makeshift houses, or at the piles of ash in the road. Some, the more industrious kind who needed to
work through their shock, were taking brushes and shovels to the ash,
condensing the spread into larger and larger piles. It wasn't clear what they intended to do with
it after that. There was just too much of it, after all.
Siren led the way back to the Grand Chateau in silence and
none of them were in the least bit surprised to see that the entrance was block
by a large ashdrift. They worked hard to
clear it enough that the door would open, then stepped inside to the familiar
old hallway, still lined with its empty, covered picture frames.
"He'll still be in the basement," Ellis said,
knowing he was merely stating the obvious, that everyone else would already
understand that, and yet wanting to say it anyway, to make the point once again
that the old Philosopher was no longer fit to lead them.
Siren merely nodded, her expression revealing nothing of her
thoughts, other than a grim determination to see the old man and make sense of
what had just happened to them. She
pulled the door to the basement open with a single brusque motion and stormed
down into the darkness beneath, leaving the others with nothing to do but to
follow, as usual.
Down in the basement, the Former Baron was tinkering away
with some kind of clockwork device on his workbench, tightening nuts and bolts
with an oversized wrench, his face hidden beneath a pair of equally oversized
goggles which left his hat askew. He looked
up as Siren stormed down the steps towards him.
"Oh," he said, sounding mildly surprised,
"you're back early."
"Early!? It's
evening, Franck! Do you have any idea
what we've been through today? What the
Colony has been through?"
"Has it been raining?" he asked innocently.
"Yes, raining ash!"
"Apparently it came from Ashvault," Gulliver
chipped in, "covered the 'ole of the Borough and Shalereef and 'oo knows
what else!"
"Oh," the Former Baron replied, scratching his
chin. "Oh my, I was afraid of this,
but I had no idea they would move this soon."
"You were expecting this!?" Siren sounded
genuinely livid, as if she would pull out her knives and start slicing any
moment.
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Then why in all Shadow did you not tell anyone?"
"I didn't want to start a panic. I knew that would come soon enough in its own
time. In the meantime, however, I have
been preparing, or at least... trying to."
Ellis groaned and the others turned to look at him,
perplexed.
"The Slow-wyrms," he said, "they were part of
your plan, weren't they?"
"A small part, but yes.
I'll have to improvise their role."
There was a rattle as the door to the hallway opened and
Sarah made her way down the steps, looking relieved.
"Some of the others told me they'd seen you," she
said, mainly addressing Ellis, "we were getting worried when you hadn't
come back."
"Well," Siren said, "we're here now and we're
trying to work out what in Lakhma's name is going on!" She turned back to the Former Baron and gave
him a very pointed look. "I think
you have an awful lot of explaining to do, old man," she said, "and
you had better start right away."
The Former Baron took them upstairs to the living room,
stoked up the fair and encouraged everyone to seat nearby. He took a large
bat-winged armchair to himself, lay a skinny ankle on top of an equally skinny
knee and leaned forward.
"The war has been quiet for some time," he began,
"indeed, it's really more of a cold war most of the time, with the
occasional skirmish like the flood of Grinders you experienced when you first
arrived, El Paso."
"To be honest, I'd forgotten there was a war,"
Ellis replied, "I mean, there were just so many other big things going on
and the Stoneskins... well they were hardly an organised enemy most of the
time."
"And that's the way it has been for a long time, but
this war has gone on for thousands of years and there have always been
flashpoints, moments when the hatred and anger of one side or the other results
in full-scale attacks and devastation.
Since Lakhma's departure, I have been expecting just such a flashpoint
to occur."
"And that's what this is, then?" Siren asked, "A flashpoint?"
"The ash-storm was the herald, though it will not be
the last."
"But... but how?" Ellis asked, confused. "How are they able to hurl ash at us
like that?"
"Each Stoneskin tribe has long been associated with a
particular one of their ancient deities and, as such, their shamans have
control over the elements those deities represent. The shamans of Ashvault worship Ashfeather
over all others, and so they are able to turn the fury of their volcano against
their enemies.
"This is exactly what I had anticipated," he
continued, "all the flashpoints before were heralded by natural disasters
related to the Feather that particular Stoneskin clan worshipped - blizzards
from Frostfeather, ash-storms from Ashfeather, eclipses from Blackfeather -
always preceding a terrible period of war and bloodshed. It's all just happening sooner than I had
expected."
"Wait," Ellis asked, "you just mentioned
Blackfeather... that was that forest I got lost in, before we found the
Silverspire."
"And Frostfeather is where Doctor Barkham's research
station was."
"Yes. Each of
those regions is named for the Feather, the ancient Stoneskin deity, which was
thought to reside there. When the human
city overtook those sacred grounds, that was when the war with the Stoneskins
really began."
"But Blackfeather's just ruins now."
"And so was Frostfeather."
"And perhaps there's a lesson there for us, but it will
not help us now."
"So what do we do?" Annabella asked quietly from her place near
the fire. She was still holding onto
jewelled metal plate she had found in the scrapyard.
"Well, as I said, I was expecting this and I did have a
plan to help defend the Colony, but we need more time. I can put some preliminary measures in place,
like the barrier I had constructed, but the other defense mechanisms are only
half done. It'll take everyone to help
to get it ready in time."
"And if the ash keeps fallin', then things are goin' to
get pretty gloomy around here," add Gulliver.
"We need a way to keep up morale whilst we work,"
Siren said.
"Well, we were planning a wedding..." Ellis
suggested.
Siren dropped her gaze.
"I'm sorry, Ellis," she said, "but I don't think i want
to get married whilst all this is going on.
I need a break first... time to make it really special."
"Oh no, of course," Ellis replied, trying to hide
his disappointment, "you're totally right.
We should wait."
She looked up and smiled.
"Thank you," she said.
"The idea of some kind of party to keep people going
isn't a bad one, though," the Former Baron mused. "What other flimsy excuse can we cobble
together?"
"Flimsy?" Siren and Ellis asked in furious unison.
"Well, you know what I meant."
"It's nearly Christmas," Siren interjected,
"I was thinking of doing something for that?"
"Christmas?" the others, bar Ellis, asked in
confusion.
"Is it really?" Ellis asked. "You've been keeping track?"
"To the best of my ability," Sarah replied. "I mean, I'm not sure exactly when
Christmas is now, but it's close. We
could celebrate it anyway."
"What is this Christmas you two are on about?" the
Former Baron asked.
"Oh, you'd love it," Ellis said with a smile,
"there's colourful lights and decorations and lots of food and
presents."
Von Spektr looked uncertain.
"And you can wear a really silly hat made of
paper," Sarah added.
The Former Baron positively beamed.
"Silly hats," he said, "well that settles
it. Let's try it at once!"
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