“Here.” Soren looked up, blinking sweat out of his eyes as he stared at thepraetorialegionnaire standing on the other side of his velocycle. The soldier offered Soren his pistol in one hand, grip first, and an extra belt pouch of ammunition. “I noticed your holsters are empty. You’ll need this.”
The extra ammunition in his gear wasn’t the right gauge for Solarian pistols, but he accepted the weapon and pouch regardless. “Thanks.”
“Everyone ran for the palace when the revenants attacked.”
“Do you know if Vanya is inside?”
Thepraetorialegionnaire grimaced. “I don’t know.”
Only one way to find out. Soren picked up his sword again and turned on his heels, walking back across the garage for the side door. He looked through the nearest windows to check the area outside for any revenants before moving the barricade so he could get through.
“Good luck,” thepraetorialegionnaire said behind him before firmly closing the door and barricading it again.
Soren’s headached, but he kept moving. He was only a few yards away from the garage
when all the lights in the palace and on the grounds flickered madly before going out. The area plunged into darkness, the only light to see by the distant burn from the city beyond the palace walls. Soren tightened his grip on the poison short sword, listening as voices shouted in fear, some turning into screams.
He’d bet the vow hanging around his neck that Alida and her traitorous allies had sabotaged the steam engines that powered the gas lines. Soren swore and headed for the palace at a run. With no light to see by, he wasn’t as worried about getting shot so much as he was about getting ambushed by revenants.
That changed when the automatons on the palace roof began shooting indiscriminately.
He was yards away from the palace when the heavyrat-tat-tatof a Zip gun firing overhead ripped through the air. Soren sprinted the rest of the way, instinctively ducking his head against the rain of bullets falling somewhere behind him.
The door was broken open, glass underfoot that crunched beneath his boots as Soren threw himself inside, leading sword first. He skidded to a stop, forcing his breathing to slow as he tried to get his bearings. He put his back up against the nearest wall, fingers flexing around the sword hilt.
Soren licked sweat off his upper lip, dredging up a mental map of the palace, despite the headache that made his teeth throb in his jaw. He was in the public wing opposite the private family wing of the palace, where Raiah would’ve been during the Conclave. He could fight his way across the central wing to the other side of the palace or risk the forecourt.
Soren knew he could search for Vanya all he liked, but the one place the other man would always go—the same way a compass always pointed north—was to where his daughter was. Soren only hoped Raiah would still be there.
Decision made, Soren straightened up and steeled himself to make his way through a palace filled with the living and the dead.
Eleven
HONOVI
They were already driving when the bombs dropped on the main eastern city gate to Foxborough and some of the towers where the anti-airship guns were located. The precision strikes—calculated to occur at the same time—caused explosions to light up the sky.
The gate and sections of the wall on either side collapsed from the attack. Ksenia had been worried about debris blocking their way into the city, but Caoimhe had promised the bomb’s concussive blast would clear them a route. The bombs being used tonight were restricted for military airships. While Honovi didn’t have firsthand familiarity with their results, he trusted Caoimhe’s promises. Whatever rubble was left behind, the Ashion army had a couple of armored crawlers being hauled along on transport trucks that could take care of the rest.
“Eyes on the road,” Ksenia said, sounding far too calm beneath the thrum of the racing carriage’s engine.
The master alchemist sat in the passenger seat, holding the Foxborough city map book in her lap and clutching the clarion crystal shard in her other hand. The racing carriage they were in didn’t have any additional weaponry attached to it, but it had speed. Honovi’s goggles, with their special lenses capable of seeing in the dark, had been borrowed from wardens. They allowed him to make out the road they drove alongside as well as the automatons moving into position on the surviving section of the city’s eastern wall.
The Ashionen battalion captain had said the dark would make it difficult for the automatons to target effectively. It wouldn’t stop them completely, nor would it stop the remaining anti-airship guns from shooting into the sky. Their side only had six airships, after all, and the city had far more defensive postings than that.
But E’ridia’s air force was unmatched when it came to aerial warfare.
The deep, heavy sound of the artillery going off made Honovi wince, and he sent a silent prayer to the Dusk Star to watch over the airships in the sky. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, maneuvering up beside the modified racing carriage that Lore and another warden were in. Lore sat in the passenger seat, handling the Zip gun. Ahead of them both were several troop transport trucks positioned behind a gun truck and a transport truck carrying an armored crawler on its flatbed.
Their group was one of several racing toward the city under cover of darkness. The surprise attack would hopefully buy them time to get control of the gate while Honovi’s group went in search of Blaine. If the anti-airship guns were all taken out in time, then they could leave by way of an airship and not have to backtrack through an unfamiliar city again.
A small explosion on the top of an intact section of the wall briefly caught his eye. It wasn’t a bomb dropped from above, butsomethinghad targeted the automatons, landing a direct hit on one if the miniature bonfire burning into existence was anything to go by.
“Must be the cogs on the inside,” Honovi said.
They’d received coded confirmation back from the Clockwork Brigade in Foxborough that the cogs would be ready to assist the Ashion army’s push to take control of the city. Their aid meant less of a threat targeting those beyond the city wall, and Honovi was grateful for every second that passed without being shot at.
The gun trucks ahead of them began shooting once they were in range, attempting to take out the remaining automatons on the wall and the handful of soldiers that had belatedly taken up position there as well. The group Honovi drove with adjusted position as they ate up ground. Their speed slowed, but the gun trucks were able to provide cover fire as they approached the ruins of the gate.
