CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
MAELUN REFUGEE EVACUATION: Hours after the arrival of Earth forces
A tall, hooded figure appeared at the back of the room to gasps and alarm. While others panicked, Erica and Tony walked up to the figure and knelt.
“Ward, we’re glad to see you made it. Do you have any news?” Tony asked.
ARi pulled her hood back and looked around at the frightened faces. “It’s good to see you’re okay, Tony, and you, Erica. I wish I could understand what all these people are saying.”
Erica smiled. “Right now, Ward, it’s mostly along the lines of, ‘Holy shit, who is that? How’d she get in here?’”
Tony cut in with a smile “That one there thinks you are a ghost, and that you’re pretty.”
Tony and Erica began calming the kobolds in the room, assuring them ARi was a friend and that it was good she was there. An older kobold made her way to the center of the room and looked up at ARi, not in fear but in wonder. ARi knelt in front of her and bowed her head in respect.
“Matriarch, may I present our Ward. This is ARi of Earth.”
“Please tell your people Tony, that it is my pleasure to meet a guide and that their arrival is most fortuitous,” The Matriarch said.
Tony translated.
“We have removed many of the siege constructs, but it won’t take long for the enemy to replace the ones we destroyed. They will focus their attention on the city. We would like to invite you and all survivors of this city to join Gavin and I in the newly constructed bunker facility on the hill.”
A commotion rose through the room, and ARi could see many were beginning to panic.
“Ward, this would be difficult for us,” the Matriarch said. “To evacuate the last kobold city would bring great distress. Many would refuse to go. Some may even see this as an attempt to take what is left of our people.”
“I thought this might be a problem,” ARi said, smiling at the Matriarch. “Please remind the Matriarch that this city once spanned many miles in every direction. I do not ask her people to surrender Maelun or abandon it. I am merely inviting the Matriarch and the surviving kobolds of Maelun to visit an area outside the walls where I have created an Earth embassy. There they will find shelter, protection, food, water, and dignity. Those who wish to continue to fight will find provisions, armor, and weapons. Not only will we help remove the Reapers from your streets, but once the enemy is defeated I will personally help rebuild your homes. Together we will start to retake and rebuild this world.”
Tony stared at ARi for a moment. “Well, are you going to tell her?” ARi said, smiling.
Snapping out of it, Tony quickly apologized and translated to the Matriarch. Erica smiled at ARi. “In our native tongue your speech sounded inspiring, Ward.”
ARi laughed, and said with a wry edge, “Okay, so real quick, this is all formal and official and so on, but honestly, this ‘Ward’ stuff is getting old fast.”
The rogues just looked at her.
“You’re not going to stop calling me Ward, are you?”
“Erica grinned at ARi. Friend Tanya said that if you did not like us calling you ward that we could call you one of many other titles perhaps you would prefer one of these?”
ARi sighed in exasperation. “Ward will be fine.”
ARi and Tony continued to explain the plan to the Matriarch, and the Matriarch agreed to bring her people and join ARi and Gavin in the bunker. “Once we’ve secured as many of you as we can, our forces will sweep the city for survivors and bring everyone we can find to safety,” ARi said.
ARi instructed the rogues to help bring survivors to Kyle’s temporary gate in the wall. When the Matriarch came up from underground she was surprised to find another human and shield-bearing kobolds waiting to greet her. The rogues introduced the Matriarch and the people emerging from the cellar to Charlie and Tim, and dispersed into the smoke and shadows of the city to scout and clear the path.
“Matriarch,” Charlie said, bowing his head. “It is my pleasure to meet you.” He reached for her hand and helped her out from the rubble.
“I was told you have children and other elderly and sick who can’t move on their own.”
“Yes, we do. There are many,” the Matriarch said.
Charlie smiled at the Matriarch. “We will leave none behind.” He turned and shouted an order, as more than thirty kobolds raced past the still-emerging refugees and into the cellar moments later they reemerged carrying the injured, and the sick, on their shields using them like stretchers. Others were holding children in their arms or helping others get over the rubble.
Charlie escorted her down the street toward Kyle’s gate. The Matriarch’s eyes grew huge startled by the sound of Big Gus’s gun echoing through the city as it hurled screaming bolts at distant targets. The native kobolds crouched and flinched in fear.
ARi’s projection formed beside the Matriarch and walked with the city’s leader. “Please inform the Matriarch there is nothing to fear,” ARi said. “Those are simply her city’s new guns laying down cover fire while we move to the bunker.”
The Matriarch looked up at ARi, eyes still wide. Everything seemed unreal to her.
As they approached the wall they were surprised to find a clean, cut archway — a literal opening carved into the city wall. ARi leaned down and apologized. “Please tell the Matriarch I apologize for cutting a hole in her wall. I will repair it once her people are safely through. Or Kyle will, anyway. “she said, smiling at Charlie.
I watched from the observation deck as hundreds of kobold civilians began to flood through the opening in the wall. Bishop walked the perimeter off to the side, keeping a distance but staying in range so ARi’s projection could remain close to Charlie and an elderly kobold as they made their way up the hill.
I made my way back down to the assembly hall, knowing the civilians would move through this level before moving down into the newly carved infrastructure ARi had put in place for them. I gave a heads up to the Praetorians that civilians were arriving and needed to be let in. The Praetorians weren’t happy with so many new faces being this close to me; instead of staying at their posts on either side of the door they encircled me. Irritated, I ordered them to stay five or six feet away. I was starting to understand how ARi felt — a little like a fragile princess myself.
ARi, the Matriarch, and Charlie, made their way into the bunker and up to the front of the hall. Charlie ordered the shield bearers to create a path, lining them up on either side to funnel refugees into the new facilities.
“Gav, I don’t have much time before my Territorial Simulacrum ends, but I have recovered enough energy to add a few amenities,” ARi said. She waved her hand and a long, familiar table formed across the front of the hall, along with a hearth surrounded by benches. The Matriarch’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.
As ARi waved her hand again we could hear excitement ripple up the stairs from the new rooms below: rows of cots, tables full of food and water, clean clothes and provisions filling the space.
“I’m afraid the bathroom facilities are still crude for the moment, and I apologize for that. When I can cast again in six hours I’ll make sure they have facilities that rival our own,” ARi said. She waved one last time and benches formed down either side of the long table; she filled it with food and refreshments and invited the Matriarch and some of her people to sit.
“By the gods, you are a guide,” The Matriarch whispered. “I’ve heard of their abilities, but to see it is like magic.”
Charlie smiled and helped the Matriarch to her seat.
There was a sudden commotion in the middle of the room as a kobold, screaming in rage, pushed past two shield bearers with a device that ARi instantly recognized as a Reaper explosive. Before the device could go off or the man could get any closer, a force field formed around him, lifting him from the ground as three drones orbited the orb.
Yumi stepped into the room. “Hey, is this asshole with you guys?” she asked with a predatory grin.
The Matriarch slowly shook her head.
One of the kobolds sitting at the table glared at the man. “Kobolkai,” he spat.
Recognizing the word, Yumi grinned. “Well, hell — if that’s the case, I think we’ll send this one back.” She stepped forward. “Excuse me, everyone, make room.”
The kobold stuck in the orb, still clutching the explosive, was carried through the door and back outside. A couple minutes later Yumi returned and sat at the table. The civilian kobolds looked on in shock and horror.
One of the kobolds asked Charlie something in their language. Charlie smiled and asked Yumi. “They want to know what you did with the Kobolkai. They’re afraid you let him go.”
Yumi laughed. “Please tell them I gave the Reapers their Kobolkai back. I returned him with his explosive device.”
A loud, distant explosion rolled across the city and was felt in the ground under their feet.
“Damn,” Yumi said, looking instantly annoyed. “I couldn’t get my drones far enough away before the bomb went off.”
“ARi, how long do I have before I can’t spawn anymore?” Yumi asked.
“You have about three minutes,” ARi said.
“Cool, I’ve got time. I’m gonna go check on Kyle,” Yumi said, and she left. The Matriarch watched as a young human girl skipped across the room and left.
I stood and bowed. “Anithea of Aedaea, I am Gavin Daniels. This is ARi, and that young woman who left is Yumi Takahashi. I will introduce you to the rest of the Earth representatives as soon as they are available. Tim, Kyle, and Tanya are still escorting your people to the bunker.”
Charlie quickly translated. The Matriarch asked a question, “She is asking if you are the Architect?”
“Yes, I am. But you can call me Gavin.”
The Matriarch struggled with my name but repeated Gavin without the need for translation, though it was rough, and smiled.
“Excellent. See. We’ll be chatting without an interpreter in no time. Your people pick up language astonishingly fast,” I said.
The Matriarch smiled in response.
Again, the Matriarch spoke without the need for a translator, catching ARi and I off guard.
Her words were staggered and broken but we recognized one clearly. “Cradle.”
The Matriarch started talking a million miles an hour, and I could tell Charlie was trying to keep up.
“Yes, we came here via cradles. Everybody except for ARi and the kobolds,” I said.
“She keeps referring to me as an ancestor,” Charlie said, putting his hands up, trying to slow her down.
Charlie looked up at me with a straight face, “Architect, she is old. I’m hoping she still has all of her senses.”
A familiar voice cut through the room as Jack and the other rogues walked into the assembly hall and joined us at the table. Before Jack sat down he reached for the Matriarch’s hand and bowed his head in respect, and sat next to her.
“It’s okay, Charlie. I got it from here,” Jack said.
“If it’s okay, Architect,” Charlie said, “I want to go check on my squad leaders and make sure everybody’s getting reprovisioned as they come back.”
“Please, Charlie, and thank you,” I said, dismissing the captain.
“Architect, Ward,” Jack said. “I had a chance to speak at great length with the Matriarch, and I learned many things. She is wise and has knowledge I think you will find useful.”
“Jack,” ARi asked, “why does she refer to all of you as ancestors?”
Jack smiled at ARi. “Because it would appear that we are. We are of Earth, but we are of the Earth colony of kobolds, established long before your kind even roamed your world. I don’t understand everything, but from what the Matriarch told me: to summon a living cohort as Gavin is able, requires willing souls to agree to be reborn in this place. To force a soul or spirit from its given realm to another is strictly forbidden in the eyes of the Ascended.”
“So you did volunteer for this fight?” I asked.
“Yes,” Jack said, “although I have no memory of it. I agreed to be reborn, and so this life is mine and mine alone. The Matriarch tells me spirit-born do not age, a gift from the Ascended in exchange for our sacrifice.”
I thought about what Jack said about sacrifice for a moment. “You can’t ever go back, can you?” I asked.
“It is physically possible for me to travel back to Earth,”Jack said. “But I think the sacrifice of being reborn means that I will never be again who I was. This is more of a feeling than actual knowledge, Architect.”
“Okay, so that’s a conversation we can have another time. We should probably get back to the moment at hand.”
“Jack, ask her how she knows so much about the Ascendancy.” I asked.
“Gavin, all kobolds of this world are told stories,” the Matriarch started. “Stories that I once thought were myth or legend–about our great civilization. How we fell from the ranks of a greater order, and how our enemies moved in to ravage our world and pick at the bones of our people. There are written accounts, but I don’t know if they survived the siege. Our history is precious to us, because there’s so little of it left. There was a great culling we call the Fall. Our enemies fought a war over this world and what was left of my people. They ravaged the surface of Aedaea. They took the metals, the buildings, our tools, everything, including the people. A massive fight took place above our world and in our skies. I don’t understand why our city, or its people were spared. But without our machines, our society devolved into simpler ways. Our populations shrank until all that we had left is what you see at the bottom of this hill.”
I looked over to ARi’s projection and could see that she was red with anger, squeezing her fists so tight they paled. Unable to contain her thoughts any longer, ARi stood up, angrily cursing the Ascendancy and its cruelty.
“This is bullshit, Gavin. These Ascended saved these cities so they could be used as pawns for this stupid game. They left these people to suffer.”
“ARi, please,” I pleaded. “Sit back down.”
The Matriarch looked up to ARi with sad eyes at her outburst as Jack continued to translate for her.
“Guide, what you see is cruelty. Whether it was intended to be cruel or not, it saved what was left of my people. And even if that wasn’t their intention, this is what happened.”
It was at this point that I noticed that Tim and Kyle had joined us at the table.
“Matriarch,” Tim asked. “In all this time did your people ever reach out to see if they could find any other survivors?”
“It has been more than a thousand years,” she said. Of course we have. We have had a chance to explore what was left of this region. Sadly, I don’t think there are any other cities left on this continent. The kobolds of Aedaea shared this world with another race called the Kappa. Their civilization mainly resided on a number of smaller landmasses and islands in the Great Sea. I don’t know their fate. But if what you say is true, there could be other cities out there like ours that need help.”
“Matriarch,” I interrupted, “I can tell you that the System AI, which is what we call the entity running the Ascendancy on this world, told us that Earth was one of four competing civilizations. If this is the case, and this city is the only city on this continent that wasn’t erased or phased out of existence, It makes sense to me that there may be other cities out there.
ARi had sat down but was still fuming. “I’m sorry for my outburst,” she said softly as she took a deep breath. “I don’t understand. If these Ascended have such power, how can they not understand the value of life?”
“If I ever get a chance to ask them ARi, I will,” I said.
“If that’s the case, Gavin, you can ask them while my boot is on their neck,” ARi snapped. “They have a lot to answer for. To hear that this has been happening for an untold amount of time breaks my heart.”
The Matriarch looked shocked as the words were translated for her.