NOVEL NEXT Chapter Seven Hundred Ten
“Everyone is in position, right?” I asked my friends carefully as we stood out among the tundra. “Because we need Bethy and Gabe’s formation in place to blunt any attempts to fuck with the formation. I’m talking sight range of Wintervale. Bethy is more than capable of detecting anyone trying to slip by, I’m sure.”
Callie nodded confidently. “On top of that, those portable bulwark things Celine wished for should be enough to slow down any assaults. Benny really came through with that design. Seven of them should hold for long enough to get this running. Moravian says the actual formation will activate over the span of a few minutes. Setup is where most of the time needs to be spent.”
“No shit.” I said with a laugh. “Exhibit A.” I gestured around us, specifically to the teams of Ascendants digging in the snow and planting bushes, flowers, herbs, and trees. Several were building small structures, and Moravian was guiding another team in stringing brightly colored silk ribbons between the various objects, along the same lines as the carved trails on the model.
I glanced across the field of snow at our work crews. “So…any of this mean anything to you? Because it seems basically random to me at first glance. The plants are all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Those buildings don’t appear to be a cohesive style of architecture, and I think I saw someone drop an old toilet into a hole in the dirt over there.”
“That’s how it is with formations.” She shrugged. “Different compositions of stats have different effects on ambient energy. So you set them up in patterns and as the energy passes through the formation it changes and reroutes in the way you want it to.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “You realize you didn’t actually just say anything, right?”
“My mistake.” She said sweetly. “I meant ‘shut up honey and do what I tell you’ does that explain everything?”
“Perfectly.” I said with a snicker. “It’s nice to know that neither of us has any idea what’s going on. Wait, hold on-” I checked the notebook in my hands. “Ephram!” I bellowed to a yellow clad man with a heavy handlebar mustache who was carrying a shed over one shoulder. “That shed is supposed to have ram’s horns on the door, not deer antlers. And Rico, if you hammer in those tent stakes with a fur coat on you’re going to catch fire.” I stopped, rechecking the notebook. “Wait, no, you’re going to BE fired. Still, no coat Rico.”
Callie frowned at me, taking the notebook. “Why is that even in the notes? That’s so specific. Most of these are pretty open ended, he just assigned specific people to do the tasks, but some of it. The person who handles the fifth ginseng from the leftmost hemisphere of the Zangada constellationary strata must be pure of the ingestion of spiced meats and fermented cheeses and…lefted of hand? Is that even a real phrase?’
“Who knows. But Drevorn the Bloodless is a left handed vegan, so we gave the job to him. Believe it or not, the Moravian had to make a bunch of adjustments based on our roster.” I said with a sigh. “Apparently his original calculations called for a red haired school teacher with one green eye and one blue born on the third wednesday of the ninth month. Since we were short one of those he had to extend the formation a quarter mile and add a water slide.”
Her head snapped up. “Wait, what? You’re kidding me. Where?”
I pointed off to the left. “Over there. It hasn’t gone up yet. It’s supposed to be erected after the pinwheels but before the tent made of bearskin rugs.”
“You ever get the feeling he’s just fucking with us to see what he can talk us into doing?” She asked with narrowed eyes. “I swear that half of this is just bullshit pranks he’s pulling because he knows we’re desperate.”
“I honestly don’t care anymore.” I said with a shrug. “If he can really seal them up for a month he can paint my face like a baboon and wrap me in flypaper. We have so much to do. I mean, downtime is important, but once we’ve got them contained we need to help do repairs on the various cities, let the E-rankers go home to check in, get a tally of the dead. So much depressing shit.”
She took my hand. “And we’re having our reception.” She said firmly. “I know that things have been bad, but that’s exactly why we need to do this. People need to feel something besides exhaustion, fear, and anger.”
I smiled, pulling her close to me, inhaling deeply and enjoying the sensation of being back with the person I loved most. “You’re right." I said softly. "Being with people you care about and having a moment of joy makes a big difference. Plus you can’t promise people cake and then back out. There’s some things too evil to be allowed to stand.”
She giggled at that, then glanced down at the notebook. “Strega!’ She called over my shoulder. “You have to stand on one leg when you hammer in the giant pinwheel. And make sure you spin it counter clockwise the first time!”
“Thanks.” I said with a laugh as I pulled away. “And thanks for your badass entrance. That was looking like a rough fight.”
“Please.” She snorted. “Like I was going to let some giant winter beast beat up my man. To have and to hold remember. I don’t remember agreeing to anything about ‘to allow to be cannibalized’.”
I just laughed. “I love you too, honey. Now I think this section is done. We move in to the next area.” I check the notebook. “Southwest point four miles and then due west for another five.”
That got a grin, and she went up on her tip toes to kiss my cheek before she took off over the snow. “Bet I can get there first!”
I triggered Double Trouble, appearing behind her, then tripped her with my staff and took off past her. “You’re on!” I shouted back without looking.
I laughed as I sprinted over the ice, my feet finding easy purchase atop the snow as I used Ripple Running to maximize traction without sinking in. It was a pointless gesture, Callie and I weren’t running full bore, we’d have damaged the environment with our passage. But it was still fun to run together, even keeping our speeds to manageable levels, and the sure footedness gave me that tiny bit of an edge.
My grin was triumphant as I threw back my head to whoop in victory…and promptly took a tumble as my wife tackled my legs out from under me, scrambling over top of my rolling body to bolt the extra fifty feet and then jumping up in the air triumphantly, pumping her fists in victorious excitement.
“You TACKLED me?” I squealed indignantly. “Who TACKLES a person during a race? I demand a recount, a do-over, I want a formal inquisition!”
She giggled musically, and I felt warmth flood me as I watched her face light up. This wasn’t from the bond, just my own happiness at seeing her so upbeat. “Sorry honey, looks like I’m the winner. Get used to eating my dust-” She squawked and dropped into the Pit of Despair I opened right under her.
“Sorry?” I said smugly. “What was that? I can’t hear you through all that dust. You know you’re not supposed to get that in your mouth, right?” I was cracking up still when the shadows grabbed my feet and yanked me off them, my back slamming into the snow as she dragged me into the pit after her.
I grabbed her around the waist and catapulted us both out, letting the ground resume its former solidity as we collapsed in the snow, cackling with laughter as we curled against each other.
“Okay.” She said breathlessly. “That was kind of funny. I set you up for that I guess.”
Laughing, I pulled her against me. “I missed you.” I said breathlessly. “So much. I know we were still talking, but it wasn’t the same.”
“It wasn’t.” She agreed sadly. “And I missed you too. Sitting up there watching you do dangerous things while I couldn’t help was a fun and exciting new form of torture. I’m glad you’re ok. And thank you for getting Annie and Eric to safety. I suppose she’s been avoiding my mother?”
“I’ve had Gabe keeping them out of the way.” I assured her. “I don’t want her, or gods forbid your dad, running into Amelia. Plus I think Alexander might kill him if he upset her, and I figure if anyone deserves to kill your dad it’s probably you.”
She snickered at that. “Don’t tempt me. But he’s not worth it. I’m already stronger than he is. I honestly wouldn’t mind if I never see him again. With time, a lot of the anger faded, and now…he’s just a disappointment.”
“You sure you don’t want to punch him in the throat. Punching deadbeat dads in the throat is the best therapy for abandonment issues. Ten out of ten Solomons recommend it.” I winked at her, though she couldn’t see it through the mask. She sensed it through the bond though, I could tell because I could see her dimple when she smirked.
“Didn’t you break your hand punching your dad in the throat?” She asked wryly.
I shrugged. “No pain no gain. It was worth it. Plus your dad is way weaker than mine. If anything his throat would break. Though I guess that’s really just murder.”
She was giggling up a storm as I casually played out the scenario. She rolled out of my arms and up to her feet, brushing herself off. “I think its safer if I just keep my hands to myself. I appreciate the thought, but my anger tends to involve far less fantasies about throat punching. I think I’m good with the cold shoulder.”
“We could have one of the bunnies curse him.” I said helpfully. “Was it Sydney or Megan who has the bad luck power?”
“Sydney I think.” She said with a frown. “But it’s hard to keep track. And no thanks. Though…I did have an idea. What do you think about having Camden escort my mom and Alex back to Stratholme? To live in the village with Nat and Valk. They’ll be safe in our territory, and if we get them citizenship in the empire they’ll improve faster.”
For people who didn’t get up to all of our shenanigans, the imperial tithe system might actually be a benefit. “I mean…could they even handle it? It’s a C-ranked planet. It might be safer to try to set them up on the Necromedes. Slower growth, but less strain.”
I stood up, and we continued our discussion as we walked the last couple of feet to where we could best stage this stretch of the formation.
Having Callie back was…freeing. I’d been worried sick about her, even if that made no sense since she’d been safe in orbit while I was in danger. It just felt right being with her, especially just after our wedding.
Despite that, I felt a cold sense of foreboding. Not about Travis or any of his ilk, but something…hazier. Something big and scary had its eye on me, and it was waiting to make its move. I didn’t think it would interfere in the final raid, or elevating the planet. But something deep in my gut told me that once we’d passed this hurdle, I’d have another coming my way.
I forced the feeling down, ignoring it for now as we got to work on the rest of the formation prep. We were so close to done, and I couldn’t wait to see the results of all this work. A giant spatio-temporal snowglobe sounded pretty fucking cool.