Chapter 2

"Lore?" Caris shouted as she slammed her way into the small inn, leaving Blaine and Honovi behind on the street in her rush. The building had once been a bustling business in a midsized plains town south of Amari before the Daijalan army had rolled through and claimed it late last year. "Nathaniel?"

"Upstairs!" came Nathaniel's muffled shout.

Caris ignored the Royal Guard who had entered first for her safety, hurrying toward the stairs with Blaine and Honovi on her heels. She'd cried the other night when she received news of Lore's and Alasandair's survival. Nathaniel's return to the continent was unexpected but not unwelcome. Fontaine had been the ideal place to rendezvous now that it was under Ashion control once more, and she'd been counting the hours to their reunion.

The Ashion army had wrestled back control through vicious fighting over the last few weeks, driving the Daijal army out of Fontaine with the aid of wardens, the Legion, and the E'ridian air force. The push might have been for naught if the Tovan Isles hadn't begun their naval assault to break the blockade in the Gulf of Helia. Reclaiming Fontaine had come at a cost, with the allied command attacking the town in order to keep it. When the Daijal army had abandoned it to shift troops back west to protect New Haven, they'd left destruction in their wake.

Portions of the town had been set aflame during their retreat, the damage contained only through the efforts of the remaining fire brigade and cogs that doubled as magicians who hadn't fled with other refugees. Some areas had been reduced to rubble from E'ridian airship bombing runs, and areas of the outer wall had been utterly destroyed by the Daijal army before they relinquished the town.

That damage meant the civilians who remained, along with the allied soldiers, were at risk of revenant attacks from both within and without. The wardens had organized round-the-clock patrols guarding the broken section of the outer wall with the help of soldiers and magicians. Many areas of Fontaine couldn't be cleared—it would take weeks to root out the walking dead, Ksenia had said—so everyone was restricted to certain areas that could be defended, billeting Ashion soldiers and Solarian legionnaires in abandoned homes and shops. The E'ridians remained on their airships, anchored in the remnants of the airfield or flying patrols.

Caris had made it to Fontaine only after General Votil had reluctantly confirmed that the Daijal army was in retreat and had no plans to try to retake the ruined town. She'd left a small town in the southeast where a bloodline had taken in refugees, the baron in charge there having been skeptical of who she was prior to the visit. He'd changed his opinion, for which Caris was grateful, but she'd left when it became clear that the push to retake Amari would soon begin.

She reached the top of the stairs and darted into the first open door with gas lamp light spilling out of it. Lore smiled wanly from her spot on the bed, wrapped in a thick blanket and looking far too thin and pale for Caris' liking. Nathaniel crouched beside her, holding her hand in a comforting manner, and he turned his head to give Caris a relieved smile.

"She's all right" was the first thing Nathaniel said.

"I can speak for myself," Lore rasped.

"Yes, but you also need to rest."

Caris smiled, lips quivering. She ignored the wetness in her eyes that blurred her vision as she hurried to Lore's side. She bent to embrace the other woman with careful arms.

"Lore," Caris choked out, the rest of what she wanted to say stuck in her throat.

"I'll be all right," Lore promised softly. "Nothing a bit of rest won't cure."

"More than that, if the healer has their way," Nathaniel said.

Caris sniffled a little as she pulled back, shifting so she could kneel beside Nathaniel on the floor so Lore wouldn't have to move her head too much and risk dizziness. She rested her hand on his thigh, the touch outside the bounds of propriety, but she figured she could be forgiven for the breach after everything that had occurred. "If it's rest you need, we can send you to Cosian. Your mother and brother are still back there."

Lore frowned fretfully at her, too-thin fingers clutching at the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "I should stay. I can help."

"You were hurt. No one will think less of you if you need some time to heal. And I would like to know that you are safe."

"You aren't safe out here. Not with rionetkas being activated throughout the continent."

"We're aware of the threat and have taken precautions," Blaine said from the doorway as he and Honovi entered the room.

Lore made a face but couldn't hide the exhaustion in her eyes. Still, she argued, because she was forever her mother's daughter and a lady in her own right. "If our army and allies are pushing toward Amari, you'll need what I know from all my years as a cog."

Which was almost her entire life, Caris knew. Dureau had stayed with Meleri in Cosian, and while they had cogs working with the army, none would be more knowledgeable than Lore in her role as Mainspring within the Clockwork Brigade.

"If you're determined to stay, then I won't order you back to Cosian," Caris said after a moment. "Do you think you could join us at the command meeting for a bit?"

Lore nodded. "I'm tired, but I feel as if all I've done is sleep. I need to stay awake. Listening to everyone argue will help with that."

"The command meetings haven't been that bad," Honovi said mildly.

"No, sometimes they're worse, especially when the Imperial generals want their way," Blaine retorted.

"Their way has gained us much ground, even with only half the promised ranks from the emperor."

"Just keep hot tea coming, and I'll stay awake," Lore said.

"Tea won't help you coming off a forced sleep. You'd need stims for that, and I wouldn't recommend those in your current state," Ksenia said from the hallway. Caris glanced over her shoulder and watched as Blaine and Honovi stepped aside so the warden could enter the small room. "Forced sleep is used during medical operations, but keeping someone under for such a long period of time takes alchemist interference, and it isn't without consequences."

"The Imperial healer who saw to her cleared her," Nathaniel said.

Ksenia snorted. "I'll be the judge of Lore's current state."

Lore caught Caris' eye, grimacing slightly. "You should go on ahead to the command meeting. I'll meet you there. I'm sure Ksenia will need to be present as well, and she can escort me."

"I'm not carrying you," Ksenia warned, most of her attention on the field kit she placed on the bed beside Lore. "And you, Nathaniel, are in need of a checkup as well."

Nathaniel sighed before standing and offering his hand to Caris. She took it and stood, stepping closer so he could wrap her up in his arms. Caris closed her eyes and leaned into his embrace, listening to the song from the clarion crystals that powered his clockwork metal heart. The tone and rhythm hadn't changed, still a distant, comforting set of notes at the very edge of her awareness.

"Nathaniel's heart sounds like it always has," Caris said, opening her eyes.

Ksenia shot her an unimpressed look. "You know the protocols we have in place to guard against rionetkas. You signed off on them."

"With my full agreement," Nathaniel murmured in Caris' ear.

"I'll stay and bring Lore over once Ksenia has finished examining her. You two should get going," Honovi said, nodding at Caris and Blaine.

Caris reluctantly pulled away. She gave Lore one last hug before leaving with Blaine by her side. The Royal Guard waited for them outside, coming to attention at her arrival. She and Blaine settled into the back seat of a motor carriage whose engine was still running, and their driver pulled into the cobblestone street. Caris stared out the window at the damage done to some of the buildings they passed from bombs dropped by both sides in the fight over the town.

Legion sentinel-class automatons stood guard within and without the outer wall, their massive forms impossible to miss. One was positioned at the building command had chosen to work out of. Its Zip gun was held at a forty-five-degree angle, the legionnaire at the controls in its torso keeping an eye on the near horizon for any threats. The automatons were directed by their pilots, and Caris never ceased to be fascinated by the possibility of the design when used for civilian needs. But her desire to pursue that would have to wait until the war was over.

They were ushered inside the command building by a warden and directed to a room that had originally been several different offices before an engineer tore down the interior walls for more space. Everyone gathered around the table stood at her arrival. Caris nodded gravely at the salutes given to her by her own officers and those from foreign countries.

"I understand there's a plan of attack for Amari being discussed?" Caris said as Blaine pulled out one of the last few empty chairs for her.

"Our forces are in position for the push to break through the Daijalan line, but it's going to take time. High General Kote has reconfigured much of his forces that remain in Ashion around Amari and in the trenches there. Revenants will be a problem as well. Our spies have confirmed a death-defying machine is in use. We've requested more wardens from the governor," Imperial General Chu Hua, of no House, said. Beside her sat General Yiannis Diomandis, a familiar face from Cosian.

"Warden ranks are running thin," General Clarence Votil said from down the table.

"They are still worth an entire squad of legionnaires when it comes to traversing the poison fields and dispatching revenants."

Caris listened as the officers went over the strategy to retake Amari, a battle which would see the Ashion army and Solarian Legion pressing forward with weapons and war machines into the Daijalan defensive line while E'ridian war airships ran bombing runs over the enemy. They would target the capital's outer wall if they could get close enough amidst the staggering number of anti-airship guns in Daijal's use.

Caris wanted to protest that action but held her tongue. Somewhere in Amari were her parents, though she didn't know if they were alive or dead. There'd been no news since the last broadsheet weeks and weeks ago about their transfer to Amari for a trial. If there had been a trial, it hadn't been reported on. She held out hope they were still alive, that they could be saved. If her parents had been executed, Caris knew Eimarille wouldn't pass up announcing such news.

"What it sounds like is the fighting both on the ground and in the air is going to be something no one can pass through until one side wins," Blaine said after an hour of discussion that sometimes segued into arguing. "My goal is to get Caris inside the capital to claim the starfire throne. The E'ridian air force can't be bombing the city when we're inside it."

"And how do you suggest we get you past the fighting? An aerial drop? You'd be lucky if you weren't shot out of the sky," Admiral Eirik said.

"The Clockwork Brigade moved in and out of Amari through the catacombs that exist beneath the capital. There are entrances that open up in the plains well beyond the city walls. If we can access one, we could bring Caris into the city."

"The Duchess Auclair informed me of the catacombs' existence before I left Cosian. She provided a map to traverse the few safe routes, all of which we must assume have been compromised and are in Daijalan control. Too many cogs were turned into rionetkas, and too many chains were broken because of it," General Votil said.

Caris leaned forward, an idea unfurling in her mind, one she knew Blaine wouldn't like. "Eimarille activated every rionetka in the field recently. All our countries have been dealing with assassination attempts of high-ranking officials, despite our best efforts to check for the hidden threat. Nathaniel never succumbed to the Klovod's control this time around, and his order has always been to kill me."

"Caris," Blaine said, sounding pained. "He still can't be trusted."

"By the Tovanians' own report, Nathaniel never succumbed to the orders to destroy the ship-city. He went to find the Uri'ka and warn her."

"Our spies presently place the Klovod in Amari, along with Eimarille. Can you be certain that by putting Nathaniel in such close proximity, he won't be activated again?" Imperial General Chu Hua asked.

Caris swallowed back the answer her heart wanted to give, knowing it wouldn't be appreciated and only mark her as incredibly na?ve. "No, but I trust the work the wardens have done to give him back his mind and free will. Nathaniel carries the vivisection scars of a rionetka on his chest. If there are any Daijalans controlling the catacomb tunnels, Nathaniel can pass for what they think him to be, and if his orders were to bring me to Eimarille, who are they to deny him?"

Blaine stiffened beside her. The fact none of the officers at the table immediately denied her idea just proved it could be a way into Amari that wouldn't sacrifice more lives than they were already anticipating losing.

"You would be putting yourself in grave danger, and I don't know if I could condone such an endeavor," General Votil reluctantly said.

"I'm in danger no matter where I stand. I need to get inside Amari, and this is the best way."

"If we could identify one of the outside catacomb entrances and determine whether or not it is within our control or the other side's, we could access it with a small team of fighters," Imperial General Chu Hua finally said, sounding thoughtful.

"If it's on the Daijalan side, we'd need to send people in under cover of night, which would put them more at risk of revenants and an attack once they were spotted," Admiral Eirik pointed out. "If we coordinate a bombing run at that time, we could perhaps carve out a period where it would be safer. I would recommend a warden or two assist in leading your chosen group to the entrance."

"So we do the same thing we did with New Haven and create a distraction by increasing the attack on a different side of the city. Get them to focus elsewhere." The Imperial general looked at Caris. "I assume Nathaniel is accepting of the risk?"

Speaking for him would take away his choice, something Caris hated to do, for she knew how deeply Nathaniel abhorred any action where he could possibly hurt her. "He will be."

Beside her, Blaine held his tongue, but when Caris sneaked a glance his way, she saw him staring back at her, expression impossible to read. After a moment, he inclined his head in her direction. "I will stand witness."

It wasn't agreement, not by a long shot, but she knew Blaine would not hold her back from this course of action if it would see an end to the war. Caris only hoped it wouldn't end with everyone she cared about dancing amongst the stars.