A/N: This is the first time I've posted a real, serious story, with a plot, for the Icemark Chronicles. I don't know if this will fly, or not, but here's the basic summary. No wait! You'll have to read it! I'll tell you one thing though; it's a crossover between the Icemark Chronicles and the Uglies Trilogy. I would really appreciate it if you reviewed. The little dashed lines mean a change of POV and/or scene. Cressida's POV is in first person, and anyone else's POV is in third. About the weird title...Specials are basically human weapons...if I told you more I'd spoil the story for you.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Uglies Trilogy (property of Scott Westerfeld) or the Icemark Chronicles (property of Stuart Hill). However, I do own the plot of this story and any OCs I might put in. Not planning on many, though.
Human Weapon
By Boomerang Fish
Chapter One - Invasion
The citizens of Old Haven, or those who weren't leaving for the Southern Continent, had lined the main street down to the harbor. They were there to watch as Prince Charlemagne and the first group of refugees set off for their new home. My brother was supposed to be the king of the refugees when they were in exile. I had to admit, he didn't look the part. No armor or huge warhorse for Sharley. He was dressed in black like Dad and riding a quiet little horse that nodded its head when it walked. Kind of like a chicken, I guess.
My parents were riding together, my mother on Havoc, her charger, and my father on his mule Jenny. Eodred and Cerdic were talking excitedly about the coming war as they had been for days. Yes, excitedly. They wanted to fight. I wanted to defend our land from the Empire too, but in no way did I look forward to the battle. You had to be stark raving mad to want to go to war with the Empire's unstoppable army. Maybe they were just acting like this to cover up the fact that they were scared too.
I was talking as well, but about defenses with a smelly, grumpy little engineer named Archimedo Archimedes. Which I found odd, since my little brother was about to leave for a faraway land and I might never see him again. I felt detached from the events.
Sharley and my dad said their goodbyes to each other and then Sharley rode to the other side of the square to wait.
"People of the Icemark, behold my son, Charlemagne Aethelstan Redrought Strong-in-the-Arm Lindenshield, Prince Regent to the Exiles, and my beloved child" that was my mother "In this time of grave crisis I send him this day to be your leader in the Southern Continent until such time as our enemies are defeated and you can return to your homes…" she paused. I glanced at the horizon, and saw a small black dot speeding closer to the town. I couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it sure wasn't a bird. It paused, then turned and flew off. I was positive that I'd seen a person…but that was impossible.
My mother continued, "Know you all that in exile Prince Charlemagne is entrusted with the full power of the Lindenshield monarchy. His word is law. His thought is your action. His anger brings death. Look upon him now and tremble!" But I wasn't listening anymore. I was straining to hear an almost inaudible buzzing noise that was getting louder. Was I going mad?
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Tally Youngblood listened to the happenings in Old Haven's square through her skintenna. The night before, Specials had placed bugs in the square, citadel, and the planning room of the barracks, and the smart software was translating every word into Polypontian as it was said and broadcasting it to the Cutters' skintennas.
She listened as the Queen of the Icemark made a speech about her son. Every word said sounded in Tally's head closer than being there. The element of surprise was definitely on their side.
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I sat on my horse in Old Haven's square listening to the buzzing get louder. What was it? I kept my eyes glued to the horizon hoping whatever made the noise would appear. Hoping it would appear? I should have been hoping they wouldn't.
As I watched, several craft appeared. They were round-ish and had a large propeller on top; that was all I could see from this distance. The propellers were the ones making the noise. Flying along with the propeller machines were other craft. These craft were black and bristling with guns. They were held aloft by a propeller on each of four corners.
As they got closer, I could see details. The propeller machines were mottled green and brown and had machine guns on both sides. The people were all too focused on my mother to notice until the machines were flying over the town.
Someone noticed and screamed. My mother spun around just as the leading machine's guns fired into a building at the edge of the square. Townsfolk dove for cover as the building shuddered and collapsed. The fleet of machines broke apart and flew over all corners of the town, firing at the buildings and the ships floating in the harbor. One of the cannonballs landed just in front of me, creating an explosion that tore up the street. My horse reared and threw me off and I whacked my head on the cobblestones. Dazed, I lay there as people rushed past me. Dimly I heard explosions and the sounds of collapsing buildings. Were my parents all right? My brothers? Sharley?
Then somebody kicked me in the head and I blacked out.
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I came to a little bit later. There was no noise.
The square was silent. I smelled the acrid scent of smoke. And my head hurt.
The Empire had invaded! They were here! I had to fight! I tried to raise my head and the view of the world spun. I looked to either side…and froze. I dropped my head to the ground and lay still. Not stiff still, relaxed still. Dead still. Coming towards me were four figures, two boys and two girls. Three of them were dressed in uniforms of gray silk, and the fourth was in the uniform of a Polypontian officer. What struck me as odd was that the figures in gray were unarmed as far as I could tell.
I held my breath.
They reached me and stopped. One prodded me with the toe of their boot. "Dead" the boot's owner pronounced, and the soldiers continued on. Only when I thought they were far enough away did I breathe again.
I tried to get up, but froze again when I heard sounds coming from near the bay. I looked. The ships were nothing more than piles of smoldering wood floating on the water. By the shore the four soldiers had surrounded a person…when I looked closer it was Charlemagne! I forced myself up and hesitated a moment to let my spinning head clear, then darted behind a pile of rubble. I worked my way closer to the group until I could hear what they were saying.
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Fausto was holding the Prince of the Icemark in an iron grip as he tried to fight them. Tally knew that he had absolutely no experience whatsoever.
"You're sure this is the Prince of the Icemark? Aren't they supposed to be warriors OW!!" The boy had spun around and chomped down hard on Fausto's hand.
"Careful, you might get rabies." Shay joked.
"Fausto, I'm positive this is Prince Charlemagne. I've been listening to the feeds from the bugs all morning-"
"Tallyhasnolife." Sulla coughed. It was a rare moment of humor.
"-and how many kids have limps and wear the Great Ring of State?"
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Crouching behind a wall and the surrounding rubble, I'd heard enough. I couldn't understand a word they said, but I'd caught Icemark and Charlemagne and some other stuff that sounded like names. I was done listening, I had to act! Sharley might be the last member of my family alive after the attack and I wasn't about to let him get captured. I could probably distract them long enough for him to get away and hide, and then I could lose the soldiers in the warren of streets.
I hefted a brick from the rubble next to me, and hurled it at the girl soldier, who had her back turned. Faster than I could react the girl (Tally, perhaps?) spun around and broke the brick in two. Sharley twisted free of his captor's grasp and set off at a limping run across the square.
I would have been happy my plan worked, but I had bigger problems. Tally had sprinted across the square toward me and gotten here faster than any normal soldier. There she was, right in front of me! I caught a glimpse of sharp cheekbones and black wolfish eyes. She bared her teeth. They were pointed.
That did it. I turned and ran at full speed for an alley. This was not normal.
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Tally decided to let her run, at least for a little while. Her display had worked, the Icemark Princess was terrified. As anyone in their right mind should be; Special faces were designed to inspire fear. She was struck by how coordinated the girl was. Not perfect like a Special, but not clumsy and slow like average people. And before she'd seen Tally face-to-face, she'd been so sure too. Like the Smokies. Like David.
She made a few interface gestures with her fingers and an infrared overlay dropped over her vision. She saw the girl's glowing form disappear behind another building and took off in pursuit.
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I heard the footsteps of the soldier behind me as I sprinted from hiding place to hiding place. There was no shaking this girl!
I was getting tired when I came upon a wide avenue with one of the propeller machines parked in the middle. Ducking behind some rubble, I waited holding my breath while Tally walked past. Her movements were fast and jerky, like a bug's. I stood…
…and Tally appeared again. Before she could attack, I grabbed a metal rod from the pile and struck her across the face. She stumbled back slightly dazed and I dove under the machine. Lying in the one place Tally couldn't reach me, I caught my breath. The unnatural soldier was walking back to rejoin her companions, and I hoped she'd given up the chase for good.
Peering out from under the belly of the machine, I saw the same group of soldiers joined by some others carrying an unconscious Sharley. No way…
They climbed into the machine and the rotor began to spin, kicking up a huge choking cloud of dust. As the machine rose off the ground I grabbed hold of the cargo rack underneath and pulled myself up between several flat, thin craft with rotors at the front and back.
I was going to rescue Sharley and not even Tally was going to stop me.
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Thirrin, Oskan and several others sheltered in the cellar of an Old Haven warehouse. It had been too sudden to mount any real resistance, so the housecarls and leaders of the city were waiting until they could get more organized. A special pattern of knocks announced that the latest scout was returning.
A housecarl guard climbed the steps and let the scout in. Accompanying him were a few townsfolk, Cerdic, and Eodred. Thirrin leapt up and hugged her sons and the scout began to give his report.
"The flying craft are leaving. I don't think the point of this was to occupy Old Haven; they were probably just trying to catch us by surprise and weaken us. s far as I know, they haven't taken any prisoners."
"Did you hear anything of Princess Cressida or Prince Charlemagne?" Thirrin asked anxiously.
"No, your majesty."
"They're probably just hiding out somewhere, and as soon as they know the Polypontians are gone they'll come looking for us." Cerdic put in.
"I hope…" Thirrin said softly to herself. If they had been taken she didn't know what she'd do.
"And we found this," The scout said, holding out a small piece of machinery. It looked like a cube with sides about two inches square. One side was of a shiny material, and another looked like a speaker. Thirrin took the cube and held it. The Polypontians wouldn't just leave it lying around for no reason, they must have meant for someone to find it. And that meant nothing good. A tinny crackling noise emanated from the speaker on the cube. Thirrin flung it across the room and it came to rest with the shiny side facing up.
The cube began to glow and a beam of light grew out of the shiny side that formed itself into a three-dimensional projection. Thirrin could only stare as her old enemy materialized in the corner of the room.
"Hello, Lindenshield. Are you wondering what happened to your son?"
A/N: Reviews are accepted and appreciated. If you were confused, the Icemark is basically the same as canon, but the Empire is way different because of the Uglies Trilogy crossover. If you've read it you know the technology from Uglies is really advanced, so that's how the Polypontians got helicopters, hovercraft, Specials and those little projection cube thingimajiggers. (Which aren't even from Uglies, they are like the voice-cubes from Pendragon:Black Water but they do projections too.) If I ever do a non-crossover Icemark story then the Empire will be a lot more like it is in the books.
-Boomerang Fish