What the Blaze?

  El squinted, the electrum walls of the spherical room still glowed, but yes, there, the metal wrist manacles were visible. The people hadn’t rotated out. So, what the Blaze actually happened to them?

  WHIIIIIR.

  El froze as the cannon slowly swiveled in her direction, stopping and lowering the three barrels like the weapon itself was looking right at her.

  She stared into the darkness of those barrels, waiting for the telltale orange glow that would signal the end of her life. But instead of delivering a fiery death, the cannon turned back the to the front while the wall of the electrum room opened. A stocky golem stepped to the door, latched a series of metal cables to the trailer the cannon sat on, then dragged it out of the spherical room.

  The ground rumbled as El watched the cannon go on tracks built into the floor to help guide the trailers. Metal wheels on the metal tracks would explain the grinding sound they’d heard. The tracks probably led all the way from the room to the fortress. They could sabotage the tracks and… El shook her head. No, the fortress was almost finished already, and after they had the Ember, they wouldn’t need to come back.

  But the people, what happened to them? And that cannon, why did it seem like it knew she was there? A shiver ran down El’s spine as the pieces clicked.

  The new golems in Aldrana and the lack of controllers.

  The missing people in the city.

  The question of how they were fueling the massive fortress.

  And the electrum room.

  They were all connected. Worse, they were connected to Felps’s work.

  El looked again at the electrum room, picturing the double-forged electrum skeleton hanging there, and shivered a second time. Just how far was Pycrin willing to go to win the war?

  She needed to tell the others, and then they needed to get the Ember before Felps activated his room back in the capital.

  El shimmied the way she’d come to crouch beside Nidina. “Time to go,” she whispered, and signaled others to head for the exit.

  CLUNK. CLUNK. CLUNK. CLUNK.

  They waited for the footsteps to pass, then scurried over to the door. El cracked it open and peered outside, scanning the falling snow for any sign of golems. Clear for now, she opened the door, snow falling in on the floor, and waved for the others to go first. “Across to the same alley,” she whispered, and they ducked out ahead of her.

  Ignoring the small pile of snow on the floor, she couldn’t take the time to clean it up, El stepped out and closed the door behind her.

  Three black Firestorm uniforms vanished into the falling snow ahead of her, and she gave the street a quick look in both directions before crossing as quickly as she could. The snow just wasn’t letting up.

  “What did you see in there? What are they doing?” Nidina asked when El joined them in the alley.

  “Let’s get a little further away first,” El said, and led them deeper into the maze of alleys between warehouses. “This should be good,” she said when there was nothing but falling snow in either direction. A golem would have to drop directly on their heads to find them there.

  “So, what was it?” Nidina prodded.

  “I think… I think they’re somehow putting people’s Sparks into the cannons. Using them as the power source. I also think it’s why those new golems we fought in Aldrana were so strong, and why we couldn’t find any controllers,” El explained. “They actually had minds of their own, and who knows how many Sparks fueling them.”

  “Those new golems are alive?” Dayne asked.

  “That’s crazy,” Nidina said. “How could they be doing that?”

  “I know how it sounds,” El said and took a breath. “It gets worse.”

  “Do we even want to know?” Laze asked.

  “Probably not, but you need to, in case something happens to me,” El said.

  “Nothing is going to happen to you, El,” Laze said.

  “But just in case,” Nidina added. “Let’s hear how this gets even crazier.”

  “They stole the technology, the process of putting the Sparks into the golems, from us. I saw a room just like that in the catacombs under Balacin,” El said. “I think it might be the Church’s ultimate weapon against Guld. And, after seeing what happened in there,” El nodded the direction they’d come, “I think I understand why it might work.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Her three friends shared a look, the timing of it so perfect it was like they’d practiced. Just how insane did they think she was?

  “Why’d you stop?” Laze asked her. “Sounds like there’s more to this.”

  El looked up and down the alley again. “Thanks,” she said to Laze. “Quick version. I watched easily a hundred people vanish with that flash. One minute they were in that electrum room, flash, they were gone. Then the cannon moved. Looked right at me.”

  “Now, if what I’m saying is what is actually happening, well you do the math. Nidina talked about how weak the Sparks are here in Guld. Their strongest are practically our weakest. And you all saw how powerful those new golems are. Now, imagine that power multiplied by the Firestorm factor. If our Sparks were used to fuel a weapon like that…” she couldn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t need to. The wide eyes and open mouths on her friends’ faces showed they understood.

  “If they have that, why are we even here?” Dayne asked.

  “The golem I saw in the capital, it wasn’t finished,” El said.

  “Before that,” Laze said. “The people you saw in there,” Laze pointed back the way they’d come. “Were they… volunteers?”

  El shook her head. “They were chained to the walls before the flash. I hate to say it, but I think it also explains what we found in the warehouses. And what we didn’t find.”

  “The empty cages,” Laze said in understanding.

  “The empty city,” Nidina whispered. “You saw a hundred people?”

  El nodded.

  “A hundred people for each of the cannons on the fortress? And how many more for one of those monstrous golems? They… sacrificed their population…” Nidina said.

  “And they got the idea from us,” El said. “Which means we have people thinking of doing the same thing. We need to get the Ember back to the capital before they do that.”

  “Would our generals sacrifice Firestorm for that?” Nidina asked.

  “I don’t know about the generals,” El said. “But I’m sure the Church would.”

  “But they sent us all up here for this battle,” Laze said. “Who’s left?”

  “The cadets,” El said grimly.

  “They wouldn’t,” Laze hissed.

  “Maybe… it would be better if they did,” Nidina said slowly.

  “How can you even suggest that?” Laze snapped.

  Nidina held out her arms. “Look around, Laze. How many other Firestorm do you see right now? How many others made it over the mountains? Even before that, how many died in Aldrana? Sacrifice a few hundred cadets to save the rest? To save the city? That might be good math.”

  “There’s no guarantee it will work,” Laze said.

  “It’s not like we’re doing a whole lot better,” Nidina said. “That’s not on you, El,” she added quickly.

  “Maybe,” El said. “But it is why we need to get the Ember. We can’t wait for the others to get here. Nidina is right. We don’t know if anybody else even made it over the mountains like we did. We need a plan to get into that temple and get the Ember out, so, I’m open to suggestions.”

  “If the fortress is self-sufficient, we can’t cut off its power, which means we need to deal with those cannons,” Dayne said.

  “The cannons!” Nidina slapped her fist into her palm. “What if we snuck in with one of the cannons from back there? Hid under the trailer or something,” she suggested and thumbed back the way they’d come.

  “It might work, but we’d have do it after the cannon came out of the electrum room. I wouldn’t want to be in with it during the flash,” El said. “And it would be risky to try with the other golems nearby. Not to mention, the cannon itself might see us. Let’s keep the plan in mind, but… any other ideas?”

  “Could we create a distraction of some kind?” Laze asked.

  “Would have to be really close to the fortress, or they wouldn’t be able to see it through the snow,” Dayne said.

  “And even if we did something big enough to get their attention, it’s not like the cannons would move to check it out,” El said. “Worst case, it would put them on high alert and make it even harder for us to get in.

  “We have to assume the cannons and golems don’t sleep. There aren’t going to be shift changes. We…” El cut off as a pair of flaming wings scorched through the air just above the buildings.

  “Firestorm!” Laze said.

  Flashes through the snow suggested he or she wasn’t alone.

  “They’re heading for the fortress,” Dayne said. “They’re going for it.”

  “Then we have to, too.” El ignited her wings.

  “Finally.” Nidina ignited her wings as well.

  “Plan?” Laze asked, wings coming out.

  “Follow me. Stay low. We’re going through the alleys” El said, and lifted into the air. As soon as the other three joined her, she turned and took off down the alley back the way they’d come. She slowed only enough to take her first right, then raced along just above the snow, her wingtips sparking along the black warehouse walls on either side of her.

  How long would it take for the fortress to notice…

  THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM.

  The cannon fire came so fast it was like a single drawn-out blast, and suddenly the sky stained orange overhead. The snow stopped falling, evaporated by the barrage in a heartbeat and replaced by a fine mist that hung in a fog.

  Then the blood, and the body parts, started falling like rain.

  THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM.

  Man-sized spears of flame tore through the building on El’s left, shredding the thick black stone like paper and ejecting shards of shrapnel to bounce off her flame armor before she was past. Explosions echoed all around, and a concussive wave washed over her from behind, propelling her forward.

  “Faster!” El shouted, despite the fact the others wouldn’t be able to hear her over the chaos, and gestured for them to keep up. Then she poured on the speed. There was only one direction they could go. Forward. Turning would only slow them down, and as flaming projectiles tore the buildings apart around them, slowing down meant dying.

  THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM.

  The cannons continued their ceaseless chorus, explosions adding percussion as the city shook and smoke streamed skyward to join the clouds. The Guldish were willing to destroy their own capital to protect the Ember. But, if they’d really sacrificed their entire population already, was that a surprise?

  El swerved left, her wings vertical and back to a warehouse wall, as a spear of flame rocketed past. She glanced behind her, the others had managed to avoid it too, then looked ahead just in time for another spear to hit the ground right in front of her.

  The explosion engulfed her before she even had a chance to blink.