J. Mitchell - The Severed Tower

“You wanna die?” Ravan seemed unimpressed. “I can accommodate that before any of your friends fire their pointy little sticks. I know a rifle when I see it, no matter how silly it looks.”

The girl smiled. “Killing us only makes the rest grow stronger. ” At her words, the other White Helix nodded silently in agreement.

Ravan’s eyes narrowed. So did Mira’s. The Helix were definitely an eccentric bunch. They revered the Strange Lands, saw it and its artifacts as holy. Some thought they even saw the Severed Tower as a manifestation of God, but no one Mira knew had ever asked one. Freebooters and White Helix didn’t exactly get along. The Helix saw them as intruders on sacred land, vultures who picked it clean of divine artifacts. It meant, if the cult came across Freebooters, things tended to get violent. There was no way to know how many had died at the hands of White Helix, but Mira guessed it was no small number.

“Why are you so far south?” Mira asked hesitantly. “I didn’t think you came farther than the second ring.”

The girl looked at Mira. When she spoke, there was a hint of frustration. “We’re tracking Assembly. Strange ones. Fast movers. Waste of time probably, but I do as I’m told.”

Ravan’s stare moved to Mira suspiciously. Mira didn’t blame her, that answer was the last thing she’d expected. The White Helix were tracking the Hunters, too? Why?

“And you?” the girl asked. “What brings Menagerie filth into the Strange Lands?”

Ravan brushed off the insult, but only because she seemed surprised. “You… don’t know?”

For the first time, the girl hesitated. “Don’t know what?”

“Your boss and mine came to an agreement,” Ravan replied. “A trade of sorts. I’m bringing our end of the bargain—then I’ll collect yours.”

The girl stared at Ravan disbelievingly. Her eyes moved to the large, wooden crate at the center of the line of pirates. “Gideon wouldn’t have anything to do with Menagerie,” the girl replied darkly.

Ravan was suddenly enjoying herself, Mira could tell. She had the upper hand again. “Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think. Or maybe he just doesn’t trust you all that much.”

The girl’s stare moved from the crate back to Ravan. “Menagerie are liars and thieves. Your words mean nothing. And my instructions don’t mention you. If Gideon did send for you, he didn’t tell me about it, so I have no reason to help you.” The girl’s voice was ragged and harsh, almost venomous. She was barely holding back some kind of anger. Mira didn’t know what was going on in the girl’s mind, but whatever it was, it felt personal.

Ravan held the girl’s stare easily. “Your name wouldn’t be… ‘Avril,’ would it?”

The girl’s eyes thinned. “If I see you again, Menagerie, I will end you.”

Ravan smiled again. “Now that sounds like all kinds of fun.”

The White Helix all stood up, ready to leap away.

“Wait!” Mira shouted. “Do you know what’s happening to the Strange Lands? Why it’s changing?” If anyone would know, they would.

The black girl turned to Mira and considered her, then pulled her goggles back over her eyes. “Yes.”

She touched two fingers together. A sphere of yellow light flashed around her and she launched into the air like a missile, flipping into the distance. The other Helix did, too, in flashes of similar color, and the Condenser Spheres flared as they danced and tumbled gracefully through them. The Menagerie stared after them in awe, watching them disappear into the darkness.

But, for Mira, the sight of the Anomalies brought everything rushing back.

“We have to move,” she yelled to Ravan. “Now.”

Ravan understood. “Everyone, double-time it through—”

“No,” Mira stopped her. She handed the pegs she’d been collecting to the nearest pirate and pushed forward down the line, dragging Max with her.

“What?” Ravan asked.

“The Condensers have drifted by now, the path isn’t safe.” Mira’s heart beat heavily in her chest. It was true. They were in a lot of trouble. Mira yelled to both ends of the line. “Everyone watch me. Follow, and step where I step exactly. People ahead of me, stay still until I get to you, then follow with the others. And do it all as fast as you can.”

Mira let go of Max and the dog stared up at her intently. She wasn’t sure if it was Holt’s training or the dog’s intuition, but he seemed to understand that the situation was serious. Hopefully, he’d follow close behind her. She wouldn’t have time to hold on to him.

Mira grabbed a handful of washers and nuts from the pouch. The pirates in front of her quickly knelt down as Mira started throwing them into the air.

The Condenser Spheres flashed to life, lighting up the night with strobic, wavering energy. Some of them were less than a foot from the pirates, and they backed away warily.

“If any of my men—” Ravan began.

“Threaten me later!” Mira snapped. Her eyes were on the spheres, studying them, committing their locations to memory. She was going to have to do this on the fly, there wasn’t time to pathfind as she’d done before, not with all of them standing in the middle of the Anomaly. She had to focus.

The spheres flashed away and disappeared, but Mira remembered their placement. Her heart pounded as she took the first step. The fear never went away, it was always there, burning at her heels, but it took a backseat to the immediacy of the situation. There just wasn’t time to focus on it.

“Now!” Mira yelled as she pushed down the line, flinging more washers and nuts into the air, forcing the hidden spheres to reveal themselves, storing their locations in her head. Or trying to, anyway. There were more Condenser Spheres in the Grindhouse than she’d ever seen. If she forgot even one of them…

She pushed the thoughts away. She had to concentrate. She could do this, she told herself. She had to. Or it wouldn’t just be her that died, it would be dozens of people.

Mira kept moving forward, one foot after the other, throwing the bits of metal and finding the Anomalies on the fly. She was dimly aware that she had moved off the path she’d marked before, but she tried not to think about it. As she went, more and more Menagerie began to follow, watching where she stepped, moving as she did.

She pulled the last handful of washers and nuts from the pouch. If she ran out, then finding the Condensers would be impossible.

But it wasn’t an issue.

She threw three washers forward, one after the other—and nothing happened. The air ahead of them was blank. She was clear.

Mira stepped forward quickly, getting out of the way of the pirates as they followed after her, one by one, quickly exiting the Grindhouse.

As they did, Mira realized, with the exception of the three that had died earlier because of the White Helix, she hadn’t lost any of them. They were all still alive.

But Mira felt a surge of frustration.

How many Freebooters could have done what she’d just done? Navigating the Grindhouse without a marked trail? Not to mention bringing almost thirty people behind her? She should be proud. She should have a feeling of confidence now, but she didn’t.

You don’t have it in you, she heard Ben’s voice say in her mind.

“Not bad,” Ravan’s voice startled Mira. The Captain studied her evenly. “You can handle yourself under pressure.”

Mira looked at her. “Is what you told the White Helix true? Are you here to meet with them?” She hadn’t had time to really process that revelation until now. It seemed incredibly unlikely. What could two such radically different groups as the Menagerie and the White Helix want with one another?