Брайан Макклеллан - Sins of Empire

“Any Privileged?” Michel asked, fearing the answer.

“None,” Taniel said. “We actually passed one on our ride down here, beelining for the city. Probably recalled because of the attack.”

Michel let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, so nothing down there but laborers, soldiers, and normal Blackhats. Right. This should be fine. Easy. No problem. We’ve got this. Can’t think of a single thing that will go wrong. Just the easiest thing we’ve ever…” He trailed off when he noticed that both Ka-poel and Taniel were staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“You all right?” Taniel responded.

“I’m nervous.”

“You’ll do fine.”

Ka-poel reached over and patted Michel on the shoulder, and he tried not to imagine that he was nothing more than a pet to these two. “Look,” Michel said, “you two can fight your way out if this goes poorly. Me? I’m stuck.”

Taniel reached over and slapped Michel on the back, almost knocking him out of his saddle. “We won’t leave you behind.”

“Thanks,” he said, feeling less than reassured. He knew how this needed to go, and realized that he wasn’t going to be able to cede control – and responsibility – over to Taniel. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Ride behind me, and pretend I’m in charge.”

“You’re the boss,” Taniel said.

“That’s the worst thing you could say right now.” Taking a deep breath, Michel headed toward the dig site.

Michel was met by the soldiers guarding the dig site about a hundred feet from the palisade. They looked tired and more than a little harried, casting glances toward the smoke rising above both the eastern and western ends of the Landfall Plateau. Michel didn’t give them a chance to speak, drawing himself up in his saddle and pulling the Gold Rose out of his shirt, dangling it haughtily. “I’m looking for Major Cole,” he said.

There were six of the guards, led by a sergeant, who immediately touched her cap at the sight of the Gold Rose. “Sir,” she said, “Major Cole is overseeing the move, sir.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Take me to him!”

The sergeant glanced hesitantly at Taniel and Ka-poel before nodding. “Right this way, sir.”

The dig site seemed to have transformed overnight. The wooden buildings had been ripped down, half of the tents were gone, and, with the exception of Professor Cressel, whom Michel immediately spotted scurrying around the lip of the excavation site, Michel didn’t see anyone else who looked like they were from the college. This was no longer a dig, it seemed, but a military matter.

Soldiers and laborers swarmed the area, and several immense cranes had been erected to the north of the monolith, which itself was freestanding, the scaffolding removed, but now looped with hundreds of thick ropes of the kind they used to moor the biggest ships in port. To the north, positioned just beyond the two cranes, was the biggest wagon Michel had ever seen.

Calling it a wagon might have been an understatement. It was at least eighty feet long, with more sets of thick, wooden wheels than Michel could count, and hundreds of horses being led into position beyond it. The word “land-barge” immediately came to mind, and Michel had never seen anything like it.

“It sure is something, isn’t it?”

The voice brought Michel out of his sense of wonder, and he looked down to see Major Cole standing beside his horse. “Back already, sir?” the major asked pleasantly.

The knot of stress between Michel’s shoulders loosened ever so slightly. Apparently word of his treachery, or his attack on Fidelis Jes this morning, had yet to spread this far out. “It’s quite the operation,” he admitted, climbing down from his horse with less grace than he would have liked. He was quickly joined by Taniel and Ka-poel, the latter of whom Cole looked at with curious suspicion.

Michel pretended like they didn’t exist and took on his most authoritative air. “You’re really able to move this?”

“Professor Cressel has actually moved several monoliths this size or bigger,” Cole said, pointing to the balding professor as he ran between cranes, pit, and labor foremen shouting for everyone to be careful. “He claims it’s really quite simple – just a matter of levers and manpower. We have orders to get it moving by this afternoon, so only speed is going to be an issue now.”

“But you can do it?” Michel asked.

“Landfall sent us four hundred more men, and Cressel says that’ll do the trick.”

“Good, good,” Michel said. As he watched, there was a sudden shout, and the top of the monolith wobbled. Michel’s heart leapt into his throat at the sight of something so solid and immense moving , and then it tipped without warning, falling several feet and causing him to gasp, before it came to a sudden stop at a sharp angle. Michel squeezed his eyes closed against a sharp pain, like nails on a chalkboard inside his head . “Kresimir,” he swore, “that’s insane.”

Cole seemed less impressed. “I thought so, too. Are you all right?”

The pain was gone as suddenly as it arrived, and Michel couldn’t help but stare at the monolith. “No, no. I’m fine,” Michel said, noting that dozens of soldiers and laborers had touched their ears in pain. He glanced over his shoulder at Taniel and Ka-poel, who stood side by side stoically. Taniel’s jaw was clenched, the veins on his face bulging, and Ka-poel seemed to tremble slightly.

With the monolith now at an angle, the workers swarmed down into the pit, tightening ropes, while others dug feverishly at the side of the excavation, causing the immense stone pylon to settle further onto its side. Michel could see their plan now with the mention of levers and manpower – they were going to get it at the proper angle and then pull it out of the pit.

“Major, who is in charge of the transportation?” Michel said, trying to sound casual.

“I am, sir.”

“To Dalinport?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Not anymore,” Michel said. “We’ve got a change of orders.”

“Sir?” Cole said, turning his attention from the ongoing move entirely over to Michel. “We have everything lined up already. The road is clear, we have checkpoints in place. Our engineers have even smoothed out hills in the road to get this damn contraption along without a hitch.”

“I know. I’m sorry, but things change. We found out just a few hours ago that the Dynize have designs on this very monolith.”

“Why?” Cole asked, clearly surprised. “It’s just an old rock.”

Tell that to everyone who’s been going mad from exposure to it. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to get it as far from the coast as possible. The new plans are to take it across the plain to Herrenglade, where it’ll be loaded onto a barge and pulled upriver.” Michel glanced at Taniel. “I’ve not been told where it’s going from there.”

Cole looked suspiciously from Michel to Taniel to Ka-poel. “Are you sure, sir?”

“Quite.” Michel tried not to hold his breath. His whole plan hinged on someone of Cole’s rank not bothering to question the authority of a Gold Rose. Major Cole hadn’t struck him as someone who asked questions, but he’d been wrong about people before.

“My apologies, sir,” Cole said, “but do you have those orders in writing?”

Michel removed the Gold Rose from his shirt. “I have those orders in me . You think the grand master would send me down here on such short notice if it wasn’t so damned important?”

Cole seemed uncertain. He backed away a couple of steps, glancing toward the excavation, and Michel tensed. Cole hadn’t bought it. He’d summon his soldiers, and Michel, Taniel, and Ka-poel would be in a tight spot in moments. One he doubted he would be getting out of, even if the other two did.