The Mechanical Crown

Beware of old gods

She smiled and laughed. "No," she said, "alas, I'm not an ant. Being a polyant means that I have demonstrated some source affinity and am able to harness it to certain ends - such as piloting the craft which brought us up to the city."

"You are a bit big to be an ant," Tarn conceded.

"By source affinity," Hatch queried, "are you referring to combusting the processed dust for fuel?"

Akila and Eris exchanged amused glances. "That's not what source is for," Eris said. "Primitive cultures burn it, but it's real power comes from direct harnessing of its energies."

"Hey, now," Akila said, "there's no need to be rude to our guests." She held a hand to a panel set into the wall and the door opened, revealing a circular room within. "This will take us up to Aera's chamber," she said, entering.

Tranton followed her into the bright, white space, which was nearly featureless save for a panel of lights on one wall.

"Being a polyant enables me to operate this elevator," Akila continued. "It's considerably faster than taking the stairs."

Once everybody had entered, the doors slid softly shut and there was a slight sensation of movement and a subtle hum from the outside. The lights in the wall began illuminating more brightly.

Tranton pointed. "Does that indicate where we are in the spire?"

"That's right."

"So if you're controlling this contraption using this power of yours, it means that anybody who isn't a...polyant can't work it?"

Akila regarded Tranton with a curious expression. "I'm impressed," she said, "you catch on fast. It's not just polyants like me, though. Higher disciplines can also make use of our devices, of course. But it's useful having a security system built into a person's natural abilities."

"Hrmm," Tranton grunted, deciding to abandon that line of conversation before it took him to an uncomfortable place.

After a few seconds the doors slid open again, revealing them to be on an entirely different floor, much higher and without the walkways. This was a single, uninterrupted chamber, oval in shape with glass looking out on all sides to the sky beyond. Every surface was reflective to some degree, lending the chamber an incorporeal, unreal appearance which seemed to shift as they moved.

The elevator tube was positioned away from the centre of the chamber. As they emerged into the room proper, the doors slid shut and the tube lowered until it was flush with the floor and out of sight. As it did so, it revealed what stood in the centre of the chamber.

"That's different," Tranton muttered under his breath.

"Aera," Fenris said, dropping to his knees. Tranton wasn't sure if it was in deference or shock.

The smooth, reflective floor at the outer edge of the room gave way to a morass of cables and wires and pipes which grew out of the floor like weeds pushing through paving slabs in a garden. Beginning small and vein-like, the network of cables thickened as it led towards the centre of the chamber - and thus the central point of the spire - where they connected to a semi-inclined structure that may have been a table or a bed. Laying atop it was a woman, clad in simple, grey, figure-hugging material.

"Aera," Akila said, bowing her head. "I present to you Tarn, of whom you know. Also Tranton Seldon, the explorer, whom you know. Also Fenris Silt, a Watcher, and his ward Kirya Tellador, also heir to the Lagonian throne. Also Galisai Sturm, Stefan Vortal and Hatch Eyer, brave warriors of Bruckin."

The table tilted down and the women lowered herself to the floor, moving cautiously and deliberately, as if she had not moved for an extended period of time. As she moved, Tranton realised that some of the cables were directly connected to her, not simply to the table upon which she had lain. As she walked towards them, step after careful step, the wires dragged along the floor behind her.

"You are all welcome," she said, her voice slow and crystalline, like water glancing off the rim of a glass. "We have so much to talk about, and so much to explain. That you are here, against all odds, brings hope to all who dwell in this world."

The others were all staring in open-mouthed disbelief, their brains having fallen to their feet. Fenris in particular was attempting to redefine the notion of lying prostrate.

That left it up to Tranton, as usual.

"What are you?"

She turned her gaze slowly towards him, first her head and then her eyes. Now that she was this close, he sensed that she was old, and desperately tired.

"I am Aera," she said, after a moment, "one of the remaining powers. Once, there were five of us. Now there are two."

"Kraisa," Kirya said, seeming to speak for Fenris.

"Kraisa," Aera said, nodding. "They endure and reside in your valley. They are readying themselves for the final strike. That you have all arrived in such a timely manner means that we may yet be able to stop them."

Fenris looked up, and found his courage. "'Them'? Who is Kraisa? The Watchers never knew. I've searched my whole life and never found any evidence or clues."

"She has been both woman and man," Aera said. She looked down at her finger tips. "We powers can take so many forms. What she is now, we cannot say.

"You," she continued, turning back to Tranton. "I am pleased to see that my efforts to ease your path through the Barrier Mountains were not in vain. It was a risk, but I'd hoped your disruptive arrival would reveal Kraisa's hand and force them into the open. This has not yet happened."

Tranton shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then stood a little straighter. "Nobody got me here but me, lady," he said.

Aera smiled sympathetically. "Your contribution was not inconsiderable, Tranton Seldon." She turned to Tarn. "It is you I must see, young Tarn," she said, stepping towards him. She held out her arms and gripped his shoulders. "Let us see what you are made of."

As they watched, Tarn's eyes rolled back in his head, then his knees sagged and he slumped, held in place only by Aera's surprisingly sturdy grip on his shoulders.

He'd had a bad feeling about this from the start. Pushing his coat aside, Tranton pulled the hilt from his belt and clicked in the switch.

As the blade ratcheted into position, he wondered what it would be like to fight a god.