Page 121 of Xerxes Ascendant
“So clever, little cousin,” Indira teased, reaching up to ruffle Kyle’s hair. He threw her a fake scowl.
“So that was what Benedict was trying to do,” mused Sigma. “It wasn’t about resources; it was about runes. He thought if he cast off the lower levels, the runes on Upper Xerxes would regain strength and reliability.”
“He would have been right,” Indira said. “Unfortunately, it came at the cost of mass murder.”
“What if it didn’t have to?” That was from Kyle, of course.
Akira and the other Masters shared a significant look. What did one do when one had too many plants in a pot?
Spread them out and let them breathe.
“We’ve been trying all this time to bring them back together, But if the two halves of the city could be separated from each other entirely,” Nu ventured, staring shrewdly at Indira, “would that buy the runes on Lower Xerxes sufficient space to reset the degradation?”
She thought for a moment, and then shrugged. “You might get a few more years out of it, yeah.”
“A few years is an eternity,” said Tau, “when that’s more than we have left to us now.”
“Each city half would have to be supported by its own engine to keep it in the air, of course,” Indira continued, “but the runic proximity interference should be significantly reduced if more distance could be established.”
“Andyou,” Kyle said to his cousin, glancing around to ensure everyone was listening to his proud declaration, “ensured that each city half did indeed have its own engine.”
“Yeah well, Mackenroth’s explosives would have kept both engines for Upper Xerxes,” said Indira. “I merely…redirected the blast a little. Made it fairer.”
“That was you?” Master Rho gaped at her. “But you’re…you’re just…”
“A Randall isn’tjustanything,” Akira commented idly. “You’ll find they have the frequent habit of surprising you.”
Kyle looked at him with heat in his eyes. Akira would enjoy being proved right on that one later.
“So even though two engines were struggling to power one city,” Misha said slowly, “one engine can powerhalfa city, because the engine’s runic oomph will be stronger?”
“Exactly.” Indira looked around the room with her eyebrows rising higher and higher with each curious, shocked expression she encountered. “Don’t tell me none of you noticed that the other cities fell at the pinnacle of their growth? Apart from the ones that failed upon launch or the gamma ray burst, each one went down when it got too big. Too many people using too many runes in close proximity equals mass runic crashes equals engine failure.” They blinked at her. “You didn’t? Are youserious?”
“We told you before,” Mish said, sticking his tongue out at her. “We’re not sexy engineers.”
“Yeah, but it’s basic…” Indira sighed. “Okay, they didn’t exactly teach proximity interference in runic studies class at school, but-”
“But you’re just cleverer than the rest of us put together, Indy,” declared Kyle, steadfastly ignoring the unhappy looks that comment earned him from several of the Masters. “It’s kind of weird to think that Xerxes survived the longest because it was the runt of the litter.”
Akira – and Kyle – had spent their lives being underestimated. It seemed fitting that they should have beenborn here, on the smallest yet luckiest of all the cities that had once roamed the skies of Earth.
“Master Omicron! Master Nu!”
The security guard from before burst abruptly into the room, blood splattered down one side of his face.
Akira’s heart fluttered and he pulled Kyle close, knowing what was coming. But it didn’t make it any easier to hear.
“The prisoner escaped!”
“What?” Omicron frowned, as if the events of the last hour had completely slipped his mind. “Are you talking about Theta?”
“Yes, sir. It was the outage. He must have gotten hold of something when the lights went out, and we didn’t see...” The guard stared blankly past them all. “My supervisor’s dead.”
Akira wanted to chide the man for misjudging someone as dangerous as Theta, but he’d been guilty of the same. Had it not been Akira himself who had welcomed Theta into House Epsilon the night of the Fall, not realising that his old Master had turned on them? Time and time again, Akira had seen what Theta was capable of...and still he’d confided in him, leaned on him, and overlooked how utterly ruthless he was in the belief that Akira could claim to be no better.
The insistent vibration of his runepad against his hip, as quiet as it was, disturbed the tense, uneasy silence that had fallen over the room.
He pulled it free from his pocket.
