Chapter 3: Whispers of War
The Zaibach fortress was not what Eries had been expecting. For starters it floated. Eries had never seen something that big resting in the air before. It must have taken an enormous levistone to keep such a thing afloat and several energists to keep what seemed like a small cities worth of people in full power. A bland and faceless guard had led her and the other ambassadors on a short tour of the fortress. They couldn't have seen an eighth of it, though. Every corridor branched off into several others. Every wall contained several doors.
A natural curiosity led Eries to try and open one by falling behind the rest of the group. But much to her surprise she couldn't find a doorknob. Before she had a chance to figure it out the guard yelled at her to rejoin the group.
"It's pretty easy to get lost in a place like this." And Eries nodded sporting her best submissive face. The guard continued on walking quickly along, his metal boots banging loudly against a metal floor and his voice droning on in a boring speech saying nothing of any importance. They ended up in front of a large door and Eries watched him intently wanting to know how he would open it. He finger pressed a small protrusion in the wall beside the door and it slid back smoothly and silently.
All the ambassadors made small sounds of being quite impressed. Inside it looked like a small theater with stadium seating and a curtain in the front.
"Are we going to be seeing a show?" Eries asked.
"In a way," the guard said. "Zaibach wants to show her neighbors the new technology it has acquired."
"Technology?" Eries asked unfamiliar with the word.
"You'll see. Zaibach's technology is vastly improving the quality of her people's lives. It will be what brings peace and prosperity to the new future."
Eries scanned the faces of the other men already seated. Down below there was a line of dark cloaked men of Zaibach. And all around there were men from well over half the kingdoms on Gaea. And as far as she could tell she was the only woman present. She took special note of those from Daedalus and prayed they wouldn't take note of her. She settled herself between two Council members and tried her best to remain hidden in the shadows.
The next few hours were filled with the most amazing things Eries had ever seen as Zaibach showed off its technology. There were little boxes that when you spoke into them your voice emerged from another little box. And strange glass tubes that lit up brighter than torches. Screens that glowed and words and pictures would emerge on them. And one of the black-cloaked men took off his cloak and revealed a metal prosthetic arm that worked like a real one.
Eries wasn't sure how much she liked the look of that. His fingers had been fashioned like claws and it only furthered the worried thoughts that begun to emerge ever since she'd first seen the fortress. But she kept silent for now. She could see Basram's officials becoming especially exited about everything they were seeing.
The most amazing thing came at the end when the strange curtain lifted to reveal an enormous black mirror. A dim glow flickered on the screen and it suddenly burst to life revealing an enormous face on it. An old man with long white hair and dead purple eyes. Below the black cloaked men rose to their feet, except for the one with the prosthetic arm who was already standing. He didn't even turn to look at the enormous face, but scanned the crowd watching their reaction.
"Welcome, friends of Zaibach," the face said. "I am the emperor of Zaibach, Dornkirk."
Eries stared in amazement as Emperor Dornkirk continued to speak, but she noticed the man with the arm of metal was looking up at her with a dark expression and she found it quite distracting.
One of the Council members beside her leaned across her head and whispered to the other. "This is incredible. We must enter into trade negotiations."
"I bet this would cost us a pretty penny," the other whispered back. "Does Asturia really need this technology?"
"Of course! The question is can we afford it?"
"No, the question is do we really want to see King Aston's face made that large?" The men chuckled to themselves ignoring the fact that Eries was standing right in between them. She didn't care if they talked about Aston that way, but she wished they would shut up so she could hear what the giant head was saying.
The mirror turned black again and the face of Zaibach's emperor disappeared. Eries shook her head. It was certainly incredible, but something told her Zaibach was holding back on them. Only letting them see what they wanted them to see. This fortress was huge and there could only be one reason for making a mobile fortress this big. And it wasn't peace.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Eries had gone to look for a bathroom. At least, that's what she told the Asturian ambassadors. It was quite likely there was one in the rooms provided but its' location was a mystery. The men were running their hands along the walls looking for a protrusion to press, but not having much luck. So Eries said she was going to look for one or somebody who could help find it since the men were too proud to admit their natural body functions.
Only Eries wasn't interested in finding bathrooms. She was out to find what was going on in the other seven-eighths of the fortress they had passed by in their whirlwind tour. There were guards everywhere, so her exploration was somewhat limited to where she could sneak without being caught. Luckily, Eries was light on her feet, making no sound as she padded along the metal hallways. And the guards didn't seem overly vigilant, probably used to being able to hear everyone who was approaching.
With no clue of exactly where to go, Eries wondered the hallways. The further she got the fewer guards she saw. Apparently there were more worried about keeping the ambassadors in the sleeping quarters than what would happen should one of them make it out.
There really wasn't much of interest she came across in her small spying session, but upon wanting to return back to her quarters she discovered she didn't know how to get back. Everything looked the same.
"Now I know I didn't go up any stairs," Eries muttered finding herself at a stairway that descended down into darkness.
Eries shrugged and went down the steps anyway. She could always say she was going back to the leviship to get her bags should she get caught.
The stairway was dark and didn't seem to have a bottom as Eries descended further and further. With a whir and click a door opened spilling light into the stairwell. Eries jumped back in surprise expecting to be caught. She pressed herself against the side of the stairway expecting to see someone on the other side since she had pressed no button, but there was no one. And the door whirred shut again.
For a full ten minutes she stood there in the dark. Someone must have decided they didn't want to go up. Now near positive they would be gone she slipped down to the next step and the doors opened again. Eries backed up once again and the doors shut. An idea formed in her head. The doors were opening because of her foot on the step. She tested the theory. One step closer - open. One step back - closed.
She finally stopped playing with the doors and walked through them. A new corridor came into sight. Metal like all the others, but only one door at the other end. This one too opened as she approached it making Eries wonder briefly if it was her very presence that was opening the doors. The theory was quickly forgotten by what she saw next. Inside was a large hanger holding at least two dozen guymelefs and twice as many soldiers standing around working and operating them.
"My gosh, so many guymelefs," Eries murmured to herself. "I knew this was a fortress of war."
One of the melefs was moving across the hanger floor.
"Try it now!" a burly voice yelled.
Out of the arm of the melef three strands of long metal emerged, moving forcefully at first but falling limp to the floor after forty or fifty feet.
"Shit!" the pilot exclaimed. "There's not enough pressure!"
Those near to him laughed. "Excuses, excuses. You just don't have enough talent to make a sword. Don't let so much out."
The pilot tried again, not having much more success than the time before. "Shit, no one can do this!" That prompted more laughter from the other men. Across the hanger floor Eries could see other melefs and their pilots mimicking the actions of the first. None of guymelefs seemed to be doing what their pilots wanted them to. Though Eries wasn't quite sure what 'making a sword' meant since swords were made for guymelefs not by them.
"What are you doing?" an innocent voice asked behind her. Eries spun around clutching her hands to her chest to keep from jumping out of her skin. A small ghost of a boy stood behind her. A gangly and pale little thing, probably the same age as Millerna. He had silver hair and his eyes were red as blood. Though his voice had sounded innocent enough those eyes told another story. There was nothing innocent about this little boy.
Eries's silence as she studied the little boy brought a glimmer to his eyes and wicked smile crept across his lips. The boy sucked in a deep breath and let out an ear-shattering scream.
Eries tried to grab him and clamp her hand over his mouth but the boy squirmed from her grasp and kept on screaming. "Shut up!" Eries screamed back at him panicking at the sound of dozen's of footsteps approaching quickly from the hanger.
A strong hand pulled her away from the boy who shut his mouth and grinned as soon as Eries was apprehended.
"What are you doing here, girl?" someone yelled right into her ear.
"I was..." Eries began, but was cut off by the pale little boy.
"Spying," he said. The glee was very evident in his voice. "And she tried to attack me."
"I did not!" Eries protested. "I just got lost."
The soldiers didn't listen and forced her hands behind her back locking them together in irons.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Eries had barely sat down on the cot in her jail cell when the door opened again. Word seemed to get around quickly in this place. But it was, after all, a misunderstanding, and Zaibach probably wanted to clear things up as fast as possible and avoid a messy confrontation. Eries felt pretty confident about the whole thing. They'd believe her story; after all she was just a girl. What harm could she do? Eries laughed to herself.
The man who entered didn't seem the reasonable type, though. He was a pillar of a man wrapped in a black cloak. She recognized him as being the one with the cruel looking prosthetic arm. He had steel blue hair that was spiked straight up and he had a long, very grave face. His eyes were marred by purple tattoos and a teardrop upon his right cheek. He was tall. He was very tall and Eries felt very small sitting on the cot under the cold and piercing eyes. But she didn't let her shaken confidence show.
Neither of them spoke, each waiting for the other. Eries sat silently and waited it out. It would be foolish to say anything if nothing had been asked. There were no questions to answer, yet.
"What were you doing in down in that hanger?" he asked in a very deep voice.
"I got lost," Eries said.
"Lost? Where were you going unescorted?"
"To the leviship," Eries said.
"Why?" he pressed.
"To get my bags," Eries said.
"And what was so important that you couldn't wait for the porters to bring them to you? That you would wander through our fortress unescorted?"
"My books," she said simply.
"Why didn't you have an escort? This is a big place, you don't know your way around."
"I realize that now."
Pale lips curved into a smirk. "Either you're a very brave little girl or a very foolish one. I think this isn't the first time you've been questioned."
Eries didn't say anything. He hadn't asked her anything.
The man chuckled. "You never say anything unless I directly ask you. So that makes you clever little girl who's both brave and foolish. I'd guess you must then be the princess Eries Aston of Asturia. Am I correct?"
Eries nodded.
"You're reputation proceeds you, princess. It's an honor to finally meet the one who directly assaults kings to their faces." His eyes glimmered as Eries glared at him from beneath her bangs. "Don't think that Zaibach doesn't know what you're all about. How you try to manipulate and intimidate every kingdom into submission. And it works most of the time. But Zaibach will not be pushed around nor intimidated by a girl," he said. "You've been going about all this rather foolishly. Your tongue and lack of discretion have put you in a heap of trouble. Asturia's intentions by sending you here are far too obvious."
"How dare you insult me like that?" Eries barked. "As for the rest, it is no secret that I am my father's ambassador, but I am not his spy."
He chuckled again. "Perhaps you see it that way."
"What do you mean by that?" Eries shook her head of his words. "I got lost, that's all. I didn't see anything or hear anything that could possibly be of any consequence. Now I'd like to return to my corridors."
"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, princess," he said. "You don't understand the magnitude of what you have gotten yourself into. I think you'll be here for quite sometime."
He turned and left he room the door sliding shut behind him and locking with a small click. Eries flopped sideways on her cot letting out a sob. Her nerves were thoroughly rattled by the dark man and she was finally able to let them shake her for a moment. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. That man was certainly scary. But not nearly as scary as Aston was. And he would not be happy when she returned home.
The Zaibach fortress was not what Eries had been expecting. For starters it floated. Eries had never seen something that big resting in the air before. It must have taken an enormous levistone to keep such a thing afloat and several energists to keep what seemed like a small cities worth of people in full power. A bland and faceless guard had led her and the other ambassadors on a short tour of the fortress. They couldn't have seen an eighth of it, though. Every corridor branched off into several others. Every wall contained several doors.
A natural curiosity led Eries to try and open one by falling behind the rest of the group. But much to her surprise she couldn't find a doorknob. Before she had a chance to figure it out the guard yelled at her to rejoin the group.
"It's pretty easy to get lost in a place like this." And Eries nodded sporting her best submissive face. The guard continued on walking quickly along, his metal boots banging loudly against a metal floor and his voice droning on in a boring speech saying nothing of any importance. They ended up in front of a large door and Eries watched him intently wanting to know how he would open it. He finger pressed a small protrusion in the wall beside the door and it slid back smoothly and silently.
All the ambassadors made small sounds of being quite impressed. Inside it looked like a small theater with stadium seating and a curtain in the front.
"Are we going to be seeing a show?" Eries asked.
"In a way," the guard said. "Zaibach wants to show her neighbors the new technology it has acquired."
"Technology?" Eries asked unfamiliar with the word.
"You'll see. Zaibach's technology is vastly improving the quality of her people's lives. It will be what brings peace and prosperity to the new future."
Eries scanned the faces of the other men already seated. Down below there was a line of dark cloaked men of Zaibach. And all around there were men from well over half the kingdoms on Gaea. And as far as she could tell she was the only woman present. She took special note of those from Daedalus and prayed they wouldn't take note of her. She settled herself between two Council members and tried her best to remain hidden in the shadows.
The next few hours were filled with the most amazing things Eries had ever seen as Zaibach showed off its technology. There were little boxes that when you spoke into them your voice emerged from another little box. And strange glass tubes that lit up brighter than torches. Screens that glowed and words and pictures would emerge on them. And one of the black-cloaked men took off his cloak and revealed a metal prosthetic arm that worked like a real one.
Eries wasn't sure how much she liked the look of that. His fingers had been fashioned like claws and it only furthered the worried thoughts that begun to emerge ever since she'd first seen the fortress. But she kept silent for now. She could see Basram's officials becoming especially exited about everything they were seeing.
The most amazing thing came at the end when the strange curtain lifted to reveal an enormous black mirror. A dim glow flickered on the screen and it suddenly burst to life revealing an enormous face on it. An old man with long white hair and dead purple eyes. Below the black cloaked men rose to their feet, except for the one with the prosthetic arm who was already standing. He didn't even turn to look at the enormous face, but scanned the crowd watching their reaction.
"Welcome, friends of Zaibach," the face said. "I am the emperor of Zaibach, Dornkirk."
Eries stared in amazement as Emperor Dornkirk continued to speak, but she noticed the man with the arm of metal was looking up at her with a dark expression and she found it quite distracting.
One of the Council members beside her leaned across her head and whispered to the other. "This is incredible. We must enter into trade negotiations."
"I bet this would cost us a pretty penny," the other whispered back. "Does Asturia really need this technology?"
"Of course! The question is can we afford it?"
"No, the question is do we really want to see King Aston's face made that large?" The men chuckled to themselves ignoring the fact that Eries was standing right in between them. She didn't care if they talked about Aston that way, but she wished they would shut up so she could hear what the giant head was saying.
The mirror turned black again and the face of Zaibach's emperor disappeared. Eries shook her head. It was certainly incredible, but something told her Zaibach was holding back on them. Only letting them see what they wanted them to see. This fortress was huge and there could only be one reason for making a mobile fortress this big. And it wasn't peace.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Eries had gone to look for a bathroom. At least, that's what she told the Asturian ambassadors. It was quite likely there was one in the rooms provided but its' location was a mystery. The men were running their hands along the walls looking for a protrusion to press, but not having much luck. So Eries said she was going to look for one or somebody who could help find it since the men were too proud to admit their natural body functions.
Only Eries wasn't interested in finding bathrooms. She was out to find what was going on in the other seven-eighths of the fortress they had passed by in their whirlwind tour. There were guards everywhere, so her exploration was somewhat limited to where she could sneak without being caught. Luckily, Eries was light on her feet, making no sound as she padded along the metal hallways. And the guards didn't seem overly vigilant, probably used to being able to hear everyone who was approaching.
With no clue of exactly where to go, Eries wondered the hallways. The further she got the fewer guards she saw. Apparently there were more worried about keeping the ambassadors in the sleeping quarters than what would happen should one of them make it out.
There really wasn't much of interest she came across in her small spying session, but upon wanting to return back to her quarters she discovered she didn't know how to get back. Everything looked the same.
"Now I know I didn't go up any stairs," Eries muttered finding herself at a stairway that descended down into darkness.
Eries shrugged and went down the steps anyway. She could always say she was going back to the leviship to get her bags should she get caught.
The stairway was dark and didn't seem to have a bottom as Eries descended further and further. With a whir and click a door opened spilling light into the stairwell. Eries jumped back in surprise expecting to be caught. She pressed herself against the side of the stairway expecting to see someone on the other side since she had pressed no button, but there was no one. And the door whirred shut again.
For a full ten minutes she stood there in the dark. Someone must have decided they didn't want to go up. Now near positive they would be gone she slipped down to the next step and the doors opened again. Eries backed up once again and the doors shut. An idea formed in her head. The doors were opening because of her foot on the step. She tested the theory. One step closer - open. One step back - closed.
She finally stopped playing with the doors and walked through them. A new corridor came into sight. Metal like all the others, but only one door at the other end. This one too opened as she approached it making Eries wonder briefly if it was her very presence that was opening the doors. The theory was quickly forgotten by what she saw next. Inside was a large hanger holding at least two dozen guymelefs and twice as many soldiers standing around working and operating them.
"My gosh, so many guymelefs," Eries murmured to herself. "I knew this was a fortress of war."
One of the melefs was moving across the hanger floor.
"Try it now!" a burly voice yelled.
Out of the arm of the melef three strands of long metal emerged, moving forcefully at first but falling limp to the floor after forty or fifty feet.
"Shit!" the pilot exclaimed. "There's not enough pressure!"
Those near to him laughed. "Excuses, excuses. You just don't have enough talent to make a sword. Don't let so much out."
The pilot tried again, not having much more success than the time before. "Shit, no one can do this!" That prompted more laughter from the other men. Across the hanger floor Eries could see other melefs and their pilots mimicking the actions of the first. None of guymelefs seemed to be doing what their pilots wanted them to. Though Eries wasn't quite sure what 'making a sword' meant since swords were made for guymelefs not by them.
"What are you doing?" an innocent voice asked behind her. Eries spun around clutching her hands to her chest to keep from jumping out of her skin. A small ghost of a boy stood behind her. A gangly and pale little thing, probably the same age as Millerna. He had silver hair and his eyes were red as blood. Though his voice had sounded innocent enough those eyes told another story. There was nothing innocent about this little boy.
Eries's silence as she studied the little boy brought a glimmer to his eyes and wicked smile crept across his lips. The boy sucked in a deep breath and let out an ear-shattering scream.
Eries tried to grab him and clamp her hand over his mouth but the boy squirmed from her grasp and kept on screaming. "Shut up!" Eries screamed back at him panicking at the sound of dozen's of footsteps approaching quickly from the hanger.
A strong hand pulled her away from the boy who shut his mouth and grinned as soon as Eries was apprehended.
"What are you doing here, girl?" someone yelled right into her ear.
"I was..." Eries began, but was cut off by the pale little boy.
"Spying," he said. The glee was very evident in his voice. "And she tried to attack me."
"I did not!" Eries protested. "I just got lost."
The soldiers didn't listen and forced her hands behind her back locking them together in irons.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Eries had barely sat down on the cot in her jail cell when the door opened again. Word seemed to get around quickly in this place. But it was, after all, a misunderstanding, and Zaibach probably wanted to clear things up as fast as possible and avoid a messy confrontation. Eries felt pretty confident about the whole thing. They'd believe her story; after all she was just a girl. What harm could she do? Eries laughed to herself.
The man who entered didn't seem the reasonable type, though. He was a pillar of a man wrapped in a black cloak. She recognized him as being the one with the cruel looking prosthetic arm. He had steel blue hair that was spiked straight up and he had a long, very grave face. His eyes were marred by purple tattoos and a teardrop upon his right cheek. He was tall. He was very tall and Eries felt very small sitting on the cot under the cold and piercing eyes. But she didn't let her shaken confidence show.
Neither of them spoke, each waiting for the other. Eries sat silently and waited it out. It would be foolish to say anything if nothing had been asked. There were no questions to answer, yet.
"What were you doing in down in that hanger?" he asked in a very deep voice.
"I got lost," Eries said.
"Lost? Where were you going unescorted?"
"To the leviship," Eries said.
"Why?" he pressed.
"To get my bags," Eries said.
"And what was so important that you couldn't wait for the porters to bring them to you? That you would wander through our fortress unescorted?"
"My books," she said simply.
"Why didn't you have an escort? This is a big place, you don't know your way around."
"I realize that now."
Pale lips curved into a smirk. "Either you're a very brave little girl or a very foolish one. I think this isn't the first time you've been questioned."
Eries didn't say anything. He hadn't asked her anything.
The man chuckled. "You never say anything unless I directly ask you. So that makes you clever little girl who's both brave and foolish. I'd guess you must then be the princess Eries Aston of Asturia. Am I correct?"
Eries nodded.
"You're reputation proceeds you, princess. It's an honor to finally meet the one who directly assaults kings to their faces." His eyes glimmered as Eries glared at him from beneath her bangs. "Don't think that Zaibach doesn't know what you're all about. How you try to manipulate and intimidate every kingdom into submission. And it works most of the time. But Zaibach will not be pushed around nor intimidated by a girl," he said. "You've been going about all this rather foolishly. Your tongue and lack of discretion have put you in a heap of trouble. Asturia's intentions by sending you here are far too obvious."
"How dare you insult me like that?" Eries barked. "As for the rest, it is no secret that I am my father's ambassador, but I am not his spy."
He chuckled again. "Perhaps you see it that way."
"What do you mean by that?" Eries shook her head of his words. "I got lost, that's all. I didn't see anything or hear anything that could possibly be of any consequence. Now I'd like to return to my corridors."
"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, princess," he said. "You don't understand the magnitude of what you have gotten yourself into. I think you'll be here for quite sometime."
He turned and left he room the door sliding shut behind him and locking with a small click. Eries flopped sideways on her cot letting out a sob. Her nerves were thoroughly rattled by the dark man and she was finally able to let them shake her for a moment. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. That man was certainly scary. But not nearly as scary as Aston was. And he would not be happy when she returned home.
