Hello, everyone! Here is the third chapter of "A5". I don't have much else to say, so here we go.
DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.
Onward!
A sharp wind stirred resting leaves. The Garden of the Stonekeepers changed from a quiet area of solitude to the birthplace of a tear in space-time. The tear winked once, twice, each wink giving off a whooshing noise of displaced air, and then something popped through it with an even louder burst of air and sound. As the expelled object began to move and shift on its own, revealing silver wings and metal talons, the tear collapsed in on itself and disseminated its energies into the surrounding air.
The object unfurled its wings, flapping them twice and straightening its visage as a metal bird. Through its clear "skin" of metal, wires mimicked bones and internal power cell replicated muscles. Red eyes glowed on the metallic bird's face, scanning its surroundings for something and not finding it. It spread its wings again and pumped them hard, lifting its body off the ground at a quick pace. It passed by stone statues without slowing down, breaking above the tree canopy seconds later as it gained momentum and speed. Soon enough, it reached a height that provided it a wider view of the floating city's entirety.
The red eyes took details of different buildings as it flew. After completing one loop around the city, the bird began to descend back down to the same garden. Two patrolling humans of the Cielis Guard marked its approach near the high point of the old Guardian Council chambers, but the bird flew by too fast for them to do anything more than stare and question its existence. The guards were able to follow it, though, which led them to the garden.
Unable to find the bird upon entering the garden, the soldiers began searching the area. They always kept at least one of their hands near their sidearm. An intruder, especially during a war like this one, was a dark sign indeed.
The guards were still searching, and grumbling to themselves, when Caleb got to the garden on his way back to finding Karen at her living quarters. He did not expect to see two members of the Cielis Guard wandering amongst the closer trees as if looking for something.
"Where did it go?" the closer soldier, an older man with a thin beard on his chin, asked to his companion.
"It's probably here, it was a bird and birds like to make nests in trees." This came from the other soldier, a younger man with a small beauty mark on his left cheek.
Caleb's curiosity peaked. "Excuse me," he called to the closer man as he stepped towards the trees, "what's this about a bird in the garden?"
Both men heard Caleb's question, but the bearded man answered him. "Some kind of silver bird came into the Garden of the Keepers a few minutes ago."
"Any idea on what kind of bird?" Caleb asked back.
"Probably a raven, or a crow. But it was silver, not black, and that's really unusual."
Caleb blinked a few times. He remembered silver birds being important, but he instantly repressed the urge to ask other questions. Instead, he stepped away from the soldiers and let them go on with their business. As they continued searching, he worked on stretching exercises, or tried to at least. He had to pause every few stretches to blink several times.
Caleb thought of several questions that he knew he would not find answers for easily. Could that bird be from the Corvid? Have they finally reached Cielis? Did Corbett tell them about this place?
The soldiers left the garden with irritated faces. It was clear that there was no sign of the bird on the ground, in the trees, or even in the sky. It had simply vanished.
Despite their failed search, the soldier with the beauty mark glared at the treetops and their many leaves. "We'll keep a watch out for that thing. It might be an elven spy."
The bearded soldier looked at his comrade while starting to raise one of his eyebrows at him. "I didn't think the elves had invented robot spies like that."
"They could have invented it recently. Elves are really committed when it comes to their passions."
The bearded soldier's eyebrow flopped back down to its original position. "Not all the elves are driven to hurt people," he stated. Caleb perked up at that, a sign the elves were not universally hated in this city.
"That's not what I meant," the younger soldier snapped back. "Don't put words in my mouth!"
"Then don't make it easy for me to do! Come on, we've got to get back to our patrol."
"I'm not going to forget this," Caleb heard the younger soldier grumble as the pair left the garden. They each separately gave a look back to Caleb, checking if he was going to follow them or not. When Caleb did not move to catch up with them, they left him alone. Caleb watched them until he could no longer see them in the garden's entryway. Then, he raised his hand to his eyes and vigorously rubbed them with his hands.
Tears ran down Caleb's face as the pressure behind them went away. His eyes had been stinging so strongly it felt like he had a large rash on his face. Scratching it in the soldiers' presence would have gotten them curious and asking questions he did not want to answer. After an intense period of scratching, Caleb felt the itch reduce to a much more comfortable level. The moment he drew his hands away, though, he felt the tension in that area start to rise again. He had to find what was causing it right away.
Luckily for his itch, Caleb had a good idea on where to look first. If the bird came from the garden, he reasoned, the use of Stonekeeper powers must be here as well. He began to feel the air around him with his hands, and then walked to a nearby area to check that space next. He felt silly doing and repeating this pattern, but he could not think of another solution to find any trace of—
Energy! Caleb felt something slick pass through his fingers. He stopped walking around and focused on the space around what he had felt. He quickly discovered that if he moved his hand slowly through the air, the slickness became a vibration that passed along his skin. The vibration did not fill much space, but he felt something was amiss. The best comparison his mind could conjure was passing his fingers along an old shirt and suddenly feeling a rip in the fabric.
Caleb blinked away fresh tears as he tried to think of something that could tear a hole in the air. He found a solid answer with the word "portal", something like the "Jump Gate" that had gotten him and his friends into Cielis to begin with. So, whatever had come into Cielis had come through some kind of Stonekeeper-related "gate", but at a smaller scale.
Who else is a Stonekeeper in Alledia that knows about Cielis? After that thought came a darker one: Will they be coming here?
"Miss Hayes?" Caleb gave a slight push on the door to the apartment Karen and her children had shared until today, and the door popped open with little resistance. "Karen?" He looked around the darker space carefully, sunlight dimmed by curtains hanging in front of several windows and turning the green wallpaper a darker shade of the same color. As Caleb stepped inside, Karen popped around a corner at a fast pace. She managed to slow down and stop when Caleb reactively jumped back to avoid a collision.
Recovering quickly, Karen gave Caleb a quick smile. "Hello, Caleb," she rapidly said, "I thought you were someone else at first."
"It's fine." Caleb tried to dismiss the problem quickly, eager to move on to the main topic of his coming here. "Did you see a bird flying in here recently?"
Karen's smile shifted to show some confusion along with her previous happiness. "A bird? Probably. What kind of bird?"
"One that looked like a raven, but it was a robot. Some soldiers of the city guard were talking about it. They think it is a spying device sent from the elves."
"A spying animal?" Karen frowned as she processed that for herself. "I haven't seen that, no. If it got in here, there are a lot of hiding places. I will look around and through this apartment later. Right now, I need to get to the viewing area near the launching bays."
"Oh, for the ships?" The ghost of a smile appeared on Caleb's lips as he remembered the big event going on today. "You're seeing Emily and Navin off?"
"Of course. It's a mother's job to see their children move between major events in their lives." A moment passed before Karen asked Caleb, "Are you coming as well?"
"Yes, if it will not slow you down." Karen rolled her eyes at that, having grown more used to Caleb's attitude and general avoidance of conflict. Nevertheless, they both felt some excitement as they left Karen's apartment for the airship docks. They managed to get a good viewing point after several minutes' fast walking, finding Leon and Miskit already standing by a pillared railing overlooking the launch bay.
Few words were spoken between the watchers. There was a large amount of noise coming from the docks; ship engines and whirring machines were only two of the contributing factors. The mood that lay over the watchers as they saw the ships pull out was tentative hope. They could not pull their gaze away from the ships as they left the docks, the procedure executed with smooth motions from the ship's pilots.
The ships moved out in a single line at first, the three largest of them each carrying one of the three "Colossus" chassis via several cables tied to different spots. Caleb spotted the Luna Moth among the smaller ships, along with some other ships escorting the larger ones but not carrying anything visibly important. Caleb figured they were carrying people at least, more soldiers for the fight ahead. He was not versed in how sea or air combat worked; he had mostly heard about it through computer games, which had never greatly interested him.
The force of the ship's departure generated a lot of noise and wind. This caused the watcher's clothes to flap around, along with Karen's hair, as they all shielded their eyes from the worst effects. No one was able to speak due to the combined roar of several engines as the ships got farther and farther away from Cielis. As they left Cielis behind, the ships repositioned themselves into a general square formation instead of a long line.
Caleb's heart went out to everyone on those ships: pilots, crew, and robots alike. Good luck, you all. You certainly need luck where you are going.
That evening, Caleb was able to prepare his own meal in the privacy of his apartment. Karen had gone back to her own apartment after the departure of the airships, promising along with Caleb to be ready in case a message was sent to Cielis. Leon and Miskit also returned to their own living quarters, both saying they had to "review the maps" now that Fronterra was destroyed, and Lucien was likely the next target. Caleb did not object to their research; given he was not born or grew up in this world, he would not be needed unless something special came up.
Utilizing a cutting board and some stored vegetables he had been given from the city guard's barracks, Caleb created a reasonably sized salad for how hungry he felt just then. Sprinkling a spice very much like pepper onto the finished salad, Caleb took the bowl that held it, along with a metal dining spoon, and went to the single round table in his tiny kitchen. Sitting on one of two chairs, Caleb looked up from his meal to check the weather outside. The sky looked clear, but he knew that even with the Sun still lighting up the city the temperature had already begun to drop.
Caleb slowly breathed in and out. Somewhere out in the sky was the Stonekeeper fleet, travelling as fast as the ship's engines could safely carry them. There had been no message from the ships yet, and he had no idea when one would come. It stressed him out to be in this waiting state; he had never liked it, like the buildup before the start of a track race. Urias had been the most relaxed out of Caleb's teammates when he was about to run, seeming to enter a calmer state of mind. Caleb knew he could not do that by himself.
Caleb's thoughts jumped to Emily and Navin specifically; they were heading out into a battle, one part of a greater war. Were they afraid of it but not showing it? Had they really grown up so quickly?
Caleb rubbed his wrists before standing up and walking to the kitchen's rectangular window. He opened it to let in some fresh air and let out some of his tensions. In the blink of an eye, something came at him from the outside, flying through the open window and into the room. Caleb gasped and slammed the window shut again before he spun around to try and see the intruder.
Caleb did not have to look far, for the intruder had already settled itself on the cutting board he had used, the board resting on top of the kitchen's countertop. It was a bird that glinted in the room's ceiling light: a raven. But its wings were metallic replicas of a raven's black wings, colored a bright silver and not having any stains on their surface.
The silver bird! Caleb looked at the raven more closely, ready to leap forward if the bird moved again. He recognized the red eyes, metal beak, and smooth wings from the previous mechanical raven that had been sent by the Corvid. The raven looked back at Caleb with slight bobs of its head, the red eyes flashing with each bobbing motion. Then, at some unseen signal, it puffed out its metal chest, took a step forward on the cutting board, and opened its beak as the eyes stopped flashing like blinking lights.
"Caleb Morris identified." A synthesized voice came out from the bird's beak, but the beak did not open or close like someone speaking would do with their lips. "Playing message from Huginn and Munnin to Caleb Morris."
Caleb tried and failed to form a coherent response. It turned out a response was not necessary because the raven was already speaking its message: "Message begins. We have acquired Agent Corbett for rehabilitation. Your services in helping them escape Cielis have forgiven your prior actions against us. Be ready for further instructions. Message ends."
The raven lowered its chest and closed its beak, having said nothing else as Caleb interpreted the message. As the bird started to scrape its beak along its wings, making sounds like a knife being sharpened against another knife, Caleb's mind stepped into its lower levels. The message was unpacked, one layer at a time.
The first thing Caleb understood from the message was Corbett's status. There was more hope in his heart than worry about this; he had been hoping for Corbett, that large raven-man from Yarboro Prison's deepest cells, to get back with the rest of the Corvid. What "rehabilitation" meant was not something he felt he should know about, but he did not feel courageous enough to ask this messenger for details.
The second thing he realized was the Corvid forgiving him for "prior actions". No doubt, he told himself, they meant when he had tossed that broken metal raven over the side of the Luna Moth and prevented them from tracking Caleb to Cielis. Now they had sent another messenger, most likely using Stonekeeper energy, to reconnect with Caleb. He had been found again, and it appeared that past errors were being waved away.
The third thing he realized was that this message was coming from "Huginn and Munnin". Corbett had called them the "leaders" of the Corvid: "Thought" and "Memory" in Earth's Norse language. Now those leaders were sending messages to him directly, not through other bird-people. They wanted him to be ready for something. Ready for what?
The fact this raven had come after the Stonekeepers had left Cielis was either bad timing or intentionally planned. In addition, Caleb, not Emily, Trellis, Vigo, Navin, or even Leon, was at the center, or close to the center, of that plan. Caleb did not like being the center of attention. He was smart enough to know he could not step away from this situation, unlike other moments of tension on Earth. What he needed to do, then, was act.
I should learn more about the Corvid. Who they are, why they act the way they do. If Silas was part of the Council, maybe the Council knows about the Corvid. I just need to get into the archives without being a Stonekeeper.
Caleb came back to the present with an irritated frown. "Well, this sounds just impossible," he grumbled. "All the Stonekeepers are gone. But maybe…" He trailed off into silence, a new idea forging itself in his head.
I need help with this. Miskit, Leon, and Karen are probably willing to help me. All he had to do was convince them. That meant he would need to speak up, take the lead. He had not done that very often in his life.
The raven had stopped preening its wings when Caleb looked at it again. He noted the talons spread against the cutting board; potentially lethal weapons polished to a stainless silver. "Okay," he said to the bird, "you gave me your message. Thank you." He paused to take a breath. "You can go back to your masters now."
The raven wiggled its wings. It did not move, but its eyes seemed to brighten outward from their center until they glowed a brighter shade of red.
"Your masters. Huginn and Munnin." Caleb's eyes narrowed, concern sprouting in his gut. "Go back to them, okay? Go to them." He didn't want to force the bird to go unless there was no other option.
The raven cocked its head to one side, looking at the closed window. Caleb got the hint and rushed over there to open the window. The evening air slowly blew into the kitchen, spreading to fill the apartment with fresh atmosphere. The raven looked at the outside world and flew off the cutting board. It landed on the dining table, close to Caleb's uneaten salad, and sat down on the wooden surface.
Caleb felt he was missing something important. "You're not going?" he asked the raven. "I think you should."
The bird did not move.
"Do the Corvid want you here?" Caleb asked next.
The raven opened and closed its beak, creating a clacking sound. Having the raven speak was some progress.
Caleb closed the window again, and again the bird did not react. "Why are you staying here?" he then asked it, wanting to get to the point.
The raven opened its beak a smaller amount and gurgled for a few seconds, creating a rhythmic noise. Lacking an actual throat and vocal cords, this "voice" sounded to Caleb like someone quickly hitting piano keys. The fact it was doing this, trying to communicate, was more progress.
"Well, if you are going to stay, don't try to hurt me," Caleb told the raven. "And don't hurt anyone I talk to unless they try to hurt me."
The raven gurgled again. It seemed to be accepting to its new task.
"Good. Thanks." Caleb kept his eyes on the raven as he moved back to the table, sat in the chair, and took the spoon. As he turned his focus to his meal, the raven sat on the table and watched him eat. It said or did nothing else, mimicking the Corvid who had made it and watched events all over Alledia even now.
All right, that's all for now. The Corvid have made a big move forward, or so Caleb thinks. What will happen next will be shown in the next chapter, though I figure readers will get an idea.
As usual, any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.
Draconos is taking off!
