Eight 5.29: Miniatures, Models, and Observations

The deadline we gave ourselves was two weeks, which was when the body intended for Baxta’s revival was expected to be delivered. The ritual might fail—it sounded like the previous attempts had—but we couldn’t risk the chance this one would succeed.

So, Fala built a replica of the fortress’s interior with Yuki’s help. She even created stone models of the soldiers that patrolled it. I, on the other hand, was instructed to create miniature versions of us out of water. The blobs were an embarrassment when compared to Fala’s work, but practice was practice.

With these tools now available to us, we brainstormed a variety of scenarios, and it became immediately clear that infiltrating the fortress was going to be a huge pain in the ass.

The combination of locked gates and alarm stones meant that I wouldn’t be able to sneak through the entrance. And the dasekua meant the same thing for Fala. She’d ought to be fine entering through an arrowslit as water, but then the alarm would sound and all hell would break loose once she emerged from her one with water state.

That was an assumption, by the way, that she’d go unnoticed as water or stone. It was something we’d have to test in the coming days.

One thing we were already able to confirm was that I could replicate the authorization rune I studied on Melida’s spirit. The Deer God succeeded too, however neither of us could get it to appear on Fala’s spirit. Or Yuki’s for that matter.

Still, my being able to use the rune meant that I should be able to carry the others in their transformed state, acting as their arms and legs and making mischief as necessary—a walking weapons platform.

But that only worked if I personally was able to sneak into the upper levels.

The question of how the Maltrans transported heavy, bulky loads up there became more and more important as the hours passed. And yet, none of the soldiers in the lower levels had a clue about it.

Yuki had been moving from soldier to soldier to take inventory of their security procedures. The captain of the gate was silvered, so she was off limits, but everyone else was easy prey, especially once they were off shift and asleep in the barracks.

It was shocking how little they knew of the fortress above them, actually. We’d just have to keep testing their defenses.

###

I sneaked into mining compound later that afternoon—past the out buildings were the visitors stayed to a spot near the fortress’s gate. Carefully, I edged closer until the herd’s boundary intersected.

The Deer God sent his intention to proceed, so I sank even deeper into the land.

With only the mildest of curiosities, I noted how he shifted within the herd, moving toward where the soldiers stood guard. I imagined him stepping past delicately past them, his eyes looking down on the foolishness of those working with sorcerers.

A breeze kicked up the dust around me. The smell of smoke came from a nearby hearth, and a bird expressed their singsong unhappiness with the scent of a fire too close. A pair of builders with nothing better to do gambled with dice while also enjoying the sunny day.

Inside the fortress, the Deer God stood a moment to relish the lack of alarm, then he turned to rejoin me at my position in the herd.

I gently swept my attention across the land. The people all had their own matters to attend to—those that were busy, the ones idling, the bored, and the eager. The soldiers and artisans were like motes of dust on the land’s surface. Only the water stood out to me, in barrels and basins. A rivulet flowed down the cliff face above the fortress.

With Hawk’s Eyes I watched it approach an arrowslit. First test complete. The Deer God’s presence in the herd went unnoticed and unimpeded.

My beloved paused before slipping inside the fortress, and I sensed her position change as she continued down toward the crease between wall and floor. She went laterally for a time, then deeper in. All the while, the guards didn’t react, not up there nor down here.

‘The soldiers are paying attention,’ Yuki said, ‘but it’s toward their duty area, either the compound, the surrounding area, or the sky.’

I nodded and let myself drift within the land. When a patrol approached, I moved away. It was as if I was blown by the wind, just an unassuming feature of the world itself, a being without fear or trepidation—neither prey nor predator.

I turned a corner paused inside the shadow under a building’s eaves.

From my beloved came a spike of wariness. My heart stilled until I heard Yuki’s report.

‘A patrol came into the embrasure; they’re sweeping the space with alarm stones. Monitoring…’ A moment passed, then several more. The time was uncomfortable, like I was stuck in between action and nonaction, at least until Yuki continued.

‘No passwords were exchanged. The two teams have begun to chat. They know each other well. That tracks with our understanding of the soldiers in the lower fortress. They’re stuck here and only have each other for company.’

Fala?

‘Behind a bundle of arrows. The light of the alarm stone caught her, but she’s out of view.’

The land sighed, and the breeze blew once more.

###

Fala got out the same way she went in. Then it took almost an hour for her to loop around the fortress and meet me at the entrance to our stronghold. We walked inside, hand-in-hand, heading straight to bed so that we could crash for some much-needed sleep. Only to meet up again in my dreams. We took a break to enjoy the illusion of a hot meal, then the whole group reconvened.

Yuki recreated the fortress, so that we could re-trace the path the Deer God and I had taken during our spirit journey, dissecting every scene and looking for details caught in my memory that had gone unnoticed at the time.

After the second time through, we gathered on the observation deck overlooking Baxta’s egg.

Yuki’s pink fairy landed on my shoulder. Their tiny hand gripped my braid as they said, “The tests went well, but it’s still disheartening. While three is good, it’s not four; we don’t see a way for our Eight to get inside the upper fortress.”

I resisted the urge to shake my head, not wanting to dislodge them from their perch. “Even if we can all sneak inside, what will we do? Disrupting the ritual, killing the staff, and destroying the rituals—those are things that will get the Maltrans’ attention. I have confidence in our abilities, but we can’t face that many silvered at once.”

‘I can travel as a spirit to absorb the power supporting the ritual,’ the Dear God sent. ‘The effort will take days, but that will let us delay Baxta’s revival.’

“The Maltrans will know the ritual is being disrupted,” Fala said. “They may not understand why, but they’ll see the effect and repair the damage.”

“True,” I said, thinking, “but the uncertainty it’ll cause might be useful, causing another delay. I’d want every variable nailed down if it were me, not making the attempt unless I was sure of success, especially with a critical resource at stake.”

“The body,” Fala said.

I nodded, then turned to the Deer God to ask, “What happens if you’re attacked by Baxta? Can you win?”

‘That is a question whose answer…’ he started, then instead of continuing the Deer God stepped through illusory glass. He walked around the egg to inspect from all sides.

From my own examination, I knew the runes were missing from the side farthest from the observation deck, as well as on some sections of the wall. They were the spots I hadn’t been able to see during our scouting mission.

The Deer God came back and sent, ‘I don’t know.’

“You don’t?” I asked, surprised.

‘I have been a guardian for thousands of years. The foundation of my power is as solid as a mountain and as wide as a virgin forest. The challenge should be minimal, and yet…’ He swung to face Baxta. ‘I cannot account for what this man has taken from the World Spirit, what he’s stolen from other men and beasts, and what has been offered to him by the fools who wish to bring him back.’

The Deer God turned to eye me. ‘What we found at the top of the Pyramid of Despair shook my understanding of what should be possible. I am not a fool to repeat that mistake.’

Fala put her hand on the Deer God’s shoulder. “We’re assuming that I won’t be able to bend the stone to my will. That should be the simplest way to disrupt the enchantments.” With a gesture, she smoothed the chamber’s walls and erased the runes from their surfaces.

“That simplicity is why the odds of it being possible are low,” Yuki said. “The enchantments are almost certainly resistant to manipulation by the Earth-Touched.”

“We should test it,” I said, “just in case.”

“Yes,” Yuki replied, “but we’re once again talking about sneaking people inside.”

“If it works and it’s to delay the ritual, I can do that on my own,” Fala said.

“And the Maltrans will immediately know that someone is interfering in their plans,” I said.

“Better that than Baxta’s revival,” she replied.

“A last resort, then,” Yuki said.

The four of us looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“We will plan to test the stone,” Yuki said. “What else do we need to know?”

“How deliveries are made to the mess hall on the upper floors,” I replied.

“The details for the ritual,” Fala said. “What makes it possible for Baxta to incarnate into a new body?”

‘The movements of the men,’ the Deer God said. ‘When so many scurry about, there are bound to be weaknesses exposed. We must find those spots and then pounce upon them.’

I glanced askance at him. “Why is that most times you sound more like a wolf than a deer?”

He huffed in amusement. ‘The wolf is not the enemy of the deer, no matter what it may seem like. He is my brother, just as I am his. We make each other stronger.’

###

Our little family settled into a routine over the next few days. While the Deer God and I explored the fortress’s inner workings, Yuki’s extension continued moving from soldier to soldier, and Fala critically examined the fortress and the surrounding areas.

In the process, we learned that the stone comprising the ritual chamber was, in fact, resistant to manipulation by the Earth-Touched. Also, food deliveries to the upper levels were made via a courier carrying an enchanted backpack.

The artifact could apparently store enough food to feed the soldiers stationed there for a week, which was the timetable he was supposed to follow. We learned he’d be back in ten days.

In addition, none of the soldiers stationed in the lower levels knew the layout of the fortress above them. They’d only been brought in after the construction had been completed. Over time, they’d seen glimpses of some of the people, but even that was surprisingly uncommon. The upper levels were like a vault whose door rarely opened.

If I had any sympathy for the Maltrans, I’d worry about the psychological and emotional impacts of extended isolation. Then again, they were all above Level 10, so their Statuses likely kept them steady.

Most of the soldiers didn’t even know the identity of their commander. Only the team leaders did, and the information was surprisingly hard to pull out of their heads, like they didn’t want to think about it. Only through their dreams was Yuki finally able to get a hold of the details.

The commander’s name was Sotwansein. That was all they knew about him. His strengths, his background, or his exact role within the hierarchy were all a mystery. The same was true for his assistant, Kolweihalawei, shortened to Kolwei. They were told he was the commander’s eyes and hands.

Yuki and Fala separately confirmed that the soldiers were experiencing a rise in the number of attacks on the fortress. It wasn’t unusual, because of the concentration of silvered here, but there were engagements happening nearly every other day now. Most were small fry, but something more powerful occasionally slipped through the net the Maltrans created to keep more dangerous creatures outside their borders.

Four days after our arrival at the Eagle fortress, that was exactly what happened.

It was a little after two in the afternoon, and I was soaking in a tub of frigid water. The cold helped to ground me in my body, which I very much needed after a twelve-hour spirit journey. Nearby, the Deer God placidly chewed on a mixture of leafy shrubs and mushrooms that Fala had brought in for him.

She was out at the moment. When I closed my eyes, I sensed her roving the mountainside below, adding to our knowledge of the terrain.

Her interest suddenly shifted as a noise caught her attention.

That roused Yuki from their contemplation of the coded texts we’re recovered from Old Baxteiyel. ‘She heard voices yelling and a tree crashed,’ they said.

This was the soldiers’ second contact with a creature that day. “Oh?”

‘Another tree just went down,’ Yuki said. ‘Our Fala is looking for a place to spy from.’

I sat up in the tub. “She thinks it’s worth investigating?”

‘Mmm,’ Yuki said. ‘Their team leader sounded the alarm.’

All of the soldier teams—at least the ones who went on patrol—carried with them an enchanted whistle as part of their kit. When infused with a touch of mana, and it triggered a piercing noise that could be heard up and down the mountain. An alert was also sent to the signals room in the fortress.

That was our understanding based on information that Yuki had collected. This was our first time witnessing the whistle being used, though.

I got out of the tub and whisked the water away with a thought. My clothes were in a pile on the bed.

I’d just finished dressing when Yuki uploaded an image to my mind. ‘Fala has eyes on the creature. It’s a giant moose the size of a house, and a second team has joined in trying to suppress him.’

Wow, he’s huge, I thought. The moose’s antlers alone where the size of a truck, and the soldiers were clearly struggling.

A series of images followed, and the way the moose swept his antlers back and forth… that seemed like something more than a physical attack.

‘Fala confirms that the effect appears to disrupt the soldiers’ spells and abilities.’

I pounced on the idea. An anti-magic field?

‘Unknown.’

Let me see, I thought, ready to merge our consciousnesses. Yet the Deer God pulled me back. Literally. He grabbed my shirt with his teeth.

‘This is the time to see how their leaders react to danger,’ he said.

I pulled my shirt free. “But the antlers could be useful. They might be the key to breaking the Maltrans’ ritual.”

‘That may be, and we trust our Fala to watch over them. The wise herd maintains awareness in many directions, not just one.’

‘A third soldier team has joined the fight,’ Yuki said, ‘and it sounds like a fourth is on the way.’

Fala took a moment to send, ‘I hear an urgent bell in the distance.’

An alarm, I thought and rushed to throw myself onto the bed. Shaking free of my body took longer than I would’ve liked—a lot can happen in three minutes. Once I was out, though, I grabbed a hold of the Deer God, and he flew us straight to the fortress.

I heard the urgent bell that Fala had mentioned. It definitely sounded like an alarm. Down below, the soldiers scrambled to reinforce their defensive positions. None of the builders or other visitors were visible. They weren’t inside the gate or on any of the lower levels, so they must be huddling inside their buildings.

I didn’t think was at all safe, but then I wasn’t the one making those decisions.

On the upper floors, the sleeping soldiers had been woken up to man the fortress’s defenses. The researchers and the other technical staff appeared to have been herded into the mess hall with guards all around them. The Deer God didn’t linger, but it looked to me like the soldiers watched the staff more than passages leading to the hall.

The floor containing Baxta’s egg was empty except for the section nearest the external wall. Soldiers stood at the embrasures, their weapons and spells at the ready.

And finally, on the top floor, we found the commander. Sotwansein had Kolwei with him, as well as a woman I recognized from the signals office. Her name was Ilweisi, and she had her hands clasped in front of her in such a way that she could touch the bracelets on each wrist.

Those bracelets were most certainly enchanted, since she was the one voicing the reports coming from the different areas of the fortress, including the patrols currently fighting.

As for the Sotwansein himself, he stood with his eyes closed, a hand resting on the dome of the pillar adjacent to his desk.

As the fight continued, it became obvious that the Maltrans weren’t capable of holding the bull moose back. The creature shrugged off their best efforts and forced his way closer to the fortress’s outer perimeter.

Sotwansein’s brow furrowed. “Send out a strike team—the Ray of Hope.”

I could practically hear the capital letters in the team’s name.

A moment later, Ilweisi said, “Dispatched.”

“Check the failsafe,” the commander then instructed. At which point, the dome under his hand began to glow, as if a fire burned from within the stone. Then the glow spread downward into the cubes that made up the pillar, emerging on their surfaces as runes.

Kolwei left, and I was torn between following him and staying. But Sotwansein simply harumphed as he listened to the reports coming in, and nothing new happened with the pillar.

I gave it twenty seconds, then gestured to the Deer God. We chased after Kolwei and found him in the twisting corridors where patches of runes were now being illuminated. He was methodically moving from patch to patch, inspecting them.

I gestured again, and we passed through the floor. There, we saw a similar scene, though this time it was a pair of soldiers inspecting the runes. That scene was repeated throughout the fortress, even on the lower levels.

My first thought was that we’d somehow stepped into a Bond movie, and the villain had just revealed the existence of his base’s self-destruct mechanism. That surely can’t be right, I thought. Then again, the Maltrans had already expressed they were worried about Baxta not playing nice. If I were in their shoes, I’d also want a way to cut short any threat he might pose.

But why check the failsafe for a moose attack? I wondered. Unless it’s standard procedure for an existential threat to the fortress?

The runes stayed lit for about five minutes, and then the inspection was complete. We knew that from the reports the soldiers made to their team leaders. The Deer God and I lingered in the lower and mid-level floors to see what else might have changed, but we didn’t notice anything.

When we arrived at the commander’s office again, Kolwei was back, and we caught Ilweisi mid-report:

“The Ray of Hope have taken command of the battle and named the intruder Broken Tooth. They’ve tasked the other teams with supporting them, except for Spears Agile and Fierce who are retreating to the infirmary. Their team leaders are moving to witness the battle and will take over the duty of relaying reports.”

Sotwansein nodded, his expression grave. “Can Broken Tooth be captured alive?”

Kolwei’s brows rose in surprise, but he didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile Ilweisi concentrated on her bracelets, and the answer came back quickly. “Not with the defenders they have on hand. The Broken Tooth’s power to suppress magic is weakened against the Ray of Hope, but the effect persists despite them being silvered. To carry out the order, they request the addition of Light of the Moon and Hall’s Glory.”

The commander frowned.

I leaned forward, interested in his decision. Might we be able to take advantage of a willingness to stretch defenses thin?

Sotwansein gripped the dome tighter, then sighed. “No, the risk is too great. What do our scouts say?”

I leaned back in disappointment.

“The fight is drawing attention from creatures as far away as two eisqilm,” she replied. “Arrow Oak has engaged a Level 11 dark blackmark squirrel. Arrow Willow is preparing to ambush a Level 8 dawn giant brown bear.”

“This is taking too long,” Sotwansein said. “Send Light of the Moon to support Ray of Hope; tell them to finish the fight but to keep Broken Tooth’s body intact, especially the antlers. I want them for study.”

“We’ll need to clear the lower floors to bring the body in,” Kolwei said. “You’ll have to open the way yourself.”

“Make it happen,” the commander said. “Any resources that benefits our zashas, we will take them and make them their own.”