Unbound

I like it! Pit declared, a few minutes later. He had insisted Felix stand at the front, so he could see properly out of the large window there.

I’m afraid Beef is not a fan, Felix noted. The teen was standing in the exact center of the structure and had to bend himself almost in half to keep his tall horns from colliding with the roof. He had been right; the Chariot was not created with Minotaurs in mind. Even Felix felt his hair brushing up against the metal roof where it curved near the leading edge.

At least what the courier said had been true; the Chariot was built for hauling heavy materials. It hadn’t shaken at all when Beef entered, nor when the Claw all piled in along with their supplies. When Felix stepped inside, however, it had given a little groan, but it wasn’t too bad.

“Maybe cut back on all the eatin’, eh?” Evie had said under her breath.

Felix had given her a mock smile. “Hilarious.”

Evie chuckled. As did Vess, and Harn.

They’ve all betrayed me, Pit. What am I gonna do?

Pit scratched his ear. When I’m betrayed I like to eat a snack.

You always like a snack.

Felix fished a winter-withered fruit from his pocket he’d taken from the inn that morning. Pit took it between his puppy teeth and started munching away.

“Doors are closing, please watch your arms and legs,” the Dwarven man said, his floppy hat dangling in his eyes. He swiped it away in annoyance. “You’ll feel a bump, please brace.”

The doors closed, a seam of metal Mana slipping across the surface like a lock, and the entire cabin jolted. Felix braced himself against the front window. He could hear Beef quietly muttering to himself.

The Cloud Chariot surged forward and out into empty air.

“Whoa.”

Red Shield Hold opened up below them, and it was like looking down at a dark countryside from an airplane window. Much like from the entrance platform, they could see twinkling lights throughout the city and streets of golden bricks marking bright pathways between the dark stone buildings. Like arteries pumping vital blood, throngs of people moved across those thoroughfares, shopping, selling, and conversing. Bridges and walkways spanned a subterranean river, likely the same Swiftsteel River that flowed through Birchstone, except here it had been altered and split, terraced into waterfalls and elegant pools. Well-dressed figures walked those paths, strolling the water’s edge as if they hadn’t a care in the world. It was a far cry from those just outside the Hold’s gates.

They rose higher, until clouds interfered with the view as the rails pulled them further toward the distant ceiling.

It’s like flying again, Pit sent softly.

Felix looked at his friend, but the tenku-turned-hound had his eyes fixed on the clouds. We’re gonna fix your wings. No matter what.

I know. But… Pit huffed a doggy sigh. It’s okay if we can’t. If it comes down to it, we gotta get Archie and go—

We’ll fix them, Felix promised yet again. No matter what.

Pit only nodded and nestled into the crook of Felix’s elbow.

The sky train clicked and clacked every few seconds, but it was a remarkably smooth ride. Felix was surprised. He’d seen Manaships and many fascinating things achieved through ancient magic, but little on the Continent had ever reminded him so much of Earth tech. It was clearly fashioned by Dwarves, evident in the intricate styling of the high steel around them, but it was designed by someone with an enterprising Mind. The Hold was huge, but at their rate of speed, Felix didn’t doubt they could cross the entire thing in thirty minutes.

“Are these designed to travel between Holds as well?” Felix asked the courier.

“Ah, no. Currently these are only constructed here, in Red Shield.” She picked an imaginary piece of dust off of her shoulder and flicked it away. “Though it would make all of our lives easier, and increase the wealth of all…the other Holds have proven intractable on that front.”

Likely they don’t want to give another Hold easy access to their center of power, Pit said. Isolation as defense.

Felix blinked at his friend. Where did that come from?

Pit grinned. Books.

The clouds thinned just as they passed over a series of large copper domes. The Grand Assembly, Felix believed the woman had called it, whatever that meant. More startling was the vast figure staring up at them with wide, vacant eyes that glimmered with captured light. Felix tensed, but it was only a statue. A massive one, carved of the same midnight black stone of the mountain and flecked with pieces of diamond.

Noctis. He recognized her from the mountainside depiction they had seen previously. The others beside her, however, were unfamiliar but could be guessed through context. The two identical ones in Felling’s Blue stone must be the Twins. The pale one in the dress is Siva, and that—huh. They made Vellus quite tiny.

A gray statue half the height of the towering Goddess of Night, Vellus clung to the woman’s skirts like a wayward child. There was no sign of Yyero, Avet, or the Pathless. He said as much to Tzfell.

“Yyero is reviled, as you can imagine how fast sickness can spread within an underground society.” She shook her head. “But even he has a small temple of bronze-robed mendicants. There, by the foot of Siva. Only Avet and the Pathless have no presence there.”

“Avet has little presence anywhere,” Vess added. “Most are not keen on the prospect of change.”

The courier nodded in sharp agreement. “The fires of violent upset have no place among the Holds.”

Felix scratched the back of his neck, and the Chariot sped on.

Winds buffeted them, but never enough to do more than slightly tilt the cabin, and even some intermittent rain pattered down atop the high steel and glass. The clouds continued, thickening so much that Felix began to wonder how they had formed. He didn’t know much about meteorology—or if clouds even fell under that discipline—but he was pretty sure it had less to do with nature and more to do with magic. When they did clear, it was suddenly and dramatically, revealing a number of similar tracks converging on a single point ahead.

“What is that?” Vess asked.

“Looks like one of those stalagmites,” Beef said.

“Tites. Stalactites hang down, mites rise up,” Harn corrected. “And that ain’t no drippin’ rock.”

“Too right!” the courier said. She gestured ahead, to where the clouds framed a dark structure. “Welcome, one and all, to Nightfall Palace.”

It was built entirely upside-down, exactly like a stalactite from the roof of the cavern. Layered towers and walls and wide fortifications were all seemingly carved of a single, gargantuan piece of midnight black stone, dotted with diamonds that resembled nothing so much as a field of stars. Fluted towers, battlements, walkways, all of them built upside down so that people could walk normally among them. Hanging gardens proliferated, the greenery as vivid against the dark rock as the swirling clouds of Mana vapor. Those seemed to pulse around the palace, spreading outward only to spin inward again later, as if the whole, magnificent structure was breathing.

It’s like the Kingsrock, just…flipped, Pit noticed. And black. That’s weird.

“Holy moly,” Beef said, leaning toward a side window. They had come close enough that the palace dominated the entire right side of the Cloud Chariot. “That’s someone’s house?”

“The Hinterlord of Red Shield,” Tzfell muttered. “This was far smaller the last time I was here.”

“An addition was completed last decade, allowing for the Consort’s bountiful gardens. They are said to contain a seed from every plant in the eastern Continent, you know.”

The Cloud Chariot raced closer, not slowing down at all, but the palace’s immense size made it seem to linger always out of reach. It wasn’t until a number of metal rails converged alongside them that the Nightfall Palace loomed like the miniature mountain it was, and its upsidedown towers and bridges whipped by overhead.

“They say it was designed to mimic the Undermount,” the courier said, just as they lost sight of the fullness of the palace and entered the Cloud Chariot station. “The foundations were even laid by the Rockshaper himself!”

“Really? The guy who made the Undermount?” That was intriguing. He kept hearing about that guy, and it tickled at something in his brain. Felix set it aside, for now as the Chariot came to a stop and the doors once more hissed open.

“Oh, you know your Dwarven history! The very same.” The courier hopped out. “If you would follow me, Mr. Veil.”

“Are we to see the Hinterlord now?” he asked, stepping carefully out of the train car. The whole thing lurched a little, jostling his people. Beef looked like he was going to be sick.

“Come along!”

The Forge Knights gently prodded Felix and his people into moving. They followed, but Felix was wary. She led them down polished halls of dark blue marble and gorgeously stained wood, flanked by stout statues in the Dwarven style as well as delicate paintings of nature. The place was built on the scale of giants rather than Dwarves, all of it vast and wide with exceeding amounts of empty space.

“Damn,” Evie whispered. Even that felt loud in the quiet hallways.

“What? What happened?” Laur asked, looking around. The Elf was sweating.

“This whole place was upside down, which was very interestin’. Somethin’ I’ve never seen before. But we got in and it’s just…normal.”

“Did…did you want us to be struggling across the vaulted ceiling?”

Evie’s eyes drifted up, and she sighed. “Forget it.”

Eventually, the courier stopped at a pair of overlarge doors made entirely out of silver. Elaborate, geometric designs were etched into the metal along the edges, while the centers were embossed with three shields. “Your rooms.”

With a single finger, she pushed open the doors.

Beyond was a mansion in and of itself. The large central room was floored in polished stone and inlaid with silver and precious jewels in elaborate, knotwork patterns. Plush, Troll-fur rugs broke up the expanse into a sitting area and a sort of extended dining room while a grand fireplace decorated an entire wall, the mantle carved to depict some ancient Dwarven battle. Another wall was entirely glass and led out onto a balcony so big Felix could have fit his old studio apartment on it three times over. At the far end, a deep pool was dug into the stone. A short waterfall dropped water from above, filling the pool with a constant roiling current that smelled of sharp minerals. No less than ten doors—each half the size of the entrance—dotted the main room, no doubt leading off to other chambers.

Felix and his people walked slowly into the chambers, many of them goggling at the lush surroundings.

“Your guards and attendants are encouraged to freely explore the Hold. The Cloud Chariots are at their service. However, the feast honoring your bravery will commence shortly.”

“So early?” Felix asked, a bit surprised.

“For the Hero of Birchstone? Why, this is to be an entire day of celebration!” The Dwarven woman laughed, and if it weren’t for his Affinity, Felix honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell if she was being sincere or not. She must have had a Deception or Acting Skill at very high levels.

“How…great,” Harn said, his own cheer falling far below the mark.

The courier either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “Simply pull that cord once you are ready, and an honor guard will lead you to the Hinterlord’s presence. Ah, so exciting!”

The courier left, all but squealing.

Once the double doors shut, Felix let an appreciable amount of time pass for the Forge Knights to march away. Once he no longer heard them, Felix signaled Laur. The Elven Chanter immediately threw up a multi-layered ward to hold in all sound. Once it was in place and the Chanter confirmed it was tied down to the room, Felix wasted no time.

“Claw, this is going to be dangerous, but you’re all highly capable. You’ve proven it to me on this journey, again and again.” Felix met each of their eyes as he spoke, all fifty of them. “You need to stick together and listen to your captains, alright? Do that, and we will win this.”

“Aye, sir!”

“Laur, Tzfell. Go.” The Chanters nodded and slipped out of the chamber. “Evie, Beef, Harn. You know what to do?”

“Yup, though it cost us a lot.”

“They better be worth it,” Evie muttered.

“Stop yappin’ and start movin’. Ain’t got time.” Harn headed out, gathering a third of the Claw with him. Evie and Beef left too, each with their own third.

“That leaves us.” Felix tugged at his collar and fed his Will into his Garment. It transformed, turning from his rough blue jacket into something far darker and his tunic whitened until it shone bright beneath a bottle-green vest. Fancy clothes as best he could figure, though it was spoiled a bit by the russet puppy that jumped up into his arms.

“You can’t walk?”

“He isn’t,” Pit objected, shoving his wet nose toward Vess.

Vess had clearly changed while the others organized. Her armor had of course been polished earlier, but now her dark locks were put up in a stylish cascade of wavy curls. According to Tzfell, the Red Shields were a martial clan that encouraged appearing as if you were ready for war. All she had added was a short half-cape made of some glittery gold fabric that acted as camouflage for her own Companion. The Wyrmling was coiled around Vess’ shoulders like a stole, so still that he might have been a sculpture.

“Walking is for lesser creatures,” Yintarion agreed

Felix sighed. “Alright, alright.” He settled Pit into his left arm. He offered his right to Vess, and she looped her arm eagerly. “Ready to party?”

“Quite.”

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