Still clutching her face, Zaria sank to the floor, breathingraggedly, tearing the last of their blankets into bandages.She whimpered everytime she had to move her hand.After a moment, Isaac crawled over to help,ignoring the utterly delirious pain in his chest.He wrapped a section of clotharound her eye, and she managed to loop the rest of the bandage around hisshoulder.Both times, the fabric was immediately stained with red.
“Isaac,” she said.“Your uncle’s a cunt.Have I said thatbefore?”
He tried to speak.His voice was weak and trembling.Instead, he pointed at her eye.
“Sure, love,” she replied.“I’m feelin’ grand.Right asrain.All set to join a tourney, as it happens.”
He nodded, beginning to push himself from the floor.
“We can’t do this much longer,” she said.
He gripped the seat in front of him, trying to stand.“Ihave a plan.”
“Aye.You said that.”
“If we can get close—”
“Isaac!”
The voice came from far away.It echoed across the ancientcapsule, bouncing through bone and steel and wires.He recognized it at once.Even now, after all he had learned over his journey, it still made him flinch.
“Come out!”Berith shouted.“I know you’re in there!”
Around them, the earth quivered.
Metal groaned.
Bones shattered.
There came a growl from the sky, echoing like claps ofthunder.
“The resurrection is complete!”his uncle shouted.“Thecolossus is mine!I am now a tyrant of the ancient gods!”
Outside, the wind shrieked in fury.
“There is no need for this!Only the Archons wanted youdead!And with this,” there was a pause, as if Berith were taking a moment togesture, “this creature of unimaginable strength, this titan of bones and age,they will find my position greatly enhanced!Authority is ultimately derivedfrom violence, is it not?”
A silence came through the air.It was the kind of silencethat begged for a reply.Isaac took several breaths, gathering his strength.
“I never wanted this!You know that, don’t you?You know howmuch I hated our lives!Do you understand, Isaac, that I could have been abetter person, in a better world, if only I had been allowed?”
Isaac did not answer.
“Come out!”Berith shouted.“Join me!”
Isaac gripped the armrest of a chair.
“I offer you my mercy!Protection!I will keep you safe atmy side!The gods only know I never wanted to hurt you!”
Isaac squeezed the metal until his knuckles were white.
“You can still come home, Isaac!Take revenge with me!Helpme teach those old wizardsexactlywhat their conspiracies have earned!You can show your wrath to the people who deserve it!”
Another silence came.Again, it waited for a reply.Zariawas looking at him with something close to apprehension.
He shook his head.She nodded, squeezing his shoulder.
“If you don’t show your face,” Berith yelled, his voicegrowing hoarse, “then you will be crushed!I won’t risk you rising against me!I’ll sweep this boneyard like a field of chaff!There won’t be enough of youand your pirate to fill a petri dish!”
