Page 132 of The Garnet Daughter
“I don’t think we should wait for an answer,” August says, positioning himself in front of me so we can fold the distance.
“Do you know where we are going?”
He nods and closes his eyes, picturing it in his mind, and the moment I place my hands on him, I witness it too.
The very thing he pictured is made reality as I open my tightly shut lids: a stone masoned tower, another after it lining the city. Linked by walls exceeding most of the buildings inside it. We stand atop a walkway, nestled between two protecting boundaries on either side, the one facing the rest of Cosima much taller than the one revealing the dark city behind us. Estate guards mix with Viathan commanders, bordering the perimeter and peek out of the exposed sections of the outer wall.
99 steps out of the castle-like tower, striding toward us to deliver the rest of the message he started in person.
“Omnesis is circling the valley below,” he tells me and directs us to the nearest open wall space.
The vast landscape beyond the wall is shrouded in darkness, hued in the strange eclipse light as it clings to its last few hours. The only true light is from the massive torches below, illuminating what looks like towers with Viathan guns on the peaks. The turrets August has been helping 99’s commanders with line the front perimeter in a deadly formation.
I search the skies. “She will not help defend the city, only intervene if the scales tip beyond repair. I don’t see her.”
“Circled the battlefield below and then those cliffs.” He points with a gloved finger.
“Have they landed?” August asks in a low tone.
“They have. Exactly where we thought,” 99 confirms. “They will arrive very soon. August, you should depart. Calliape, you can stay close to me.”
“No,” August says without hesitation. “Not yet.”
I turn around to face him, giving up my search for Omnesis, but then I hear the sound of pounding drums.
Others hear it too, some shoving into the other lookout portions of the wall to view what is causing the noise in thedistance. The rhythmic beat grows in intensity in the dark valley below. Soon, it becomes clear the noise produced is coming from the footfalls of a marching army.
An Estate guard next to me shakes so violently, his armor rattles, exposing his palpable fear.
99 yells commands to the others, positions and formations I do not understand, before entering the tower again, where I can catch just a glimpse of Lord General doing the same.
A long pillar-like ship reaching up into the sky with glowing lights glides across the terrain below, torches made of electricity paving the way to the enemy slowly becoming visible and tangible before us.
First Son’s legion materializes more clearly with each collective step they pound into the sandy ground.
“August . . .” I whisper, hoping he also sees the figures dressed in white robes and unarmed. “The ones with eclipse delirium.”
A blaring line marching in front of a sea of dark-armored soldiers who hold weapons I can’t even imagine. Some even group together to pull massive weapons atop towers, just like ours.
“I thought she said they were trying to see First Mother in the lights?” August says.
“She said First MotherorFirst Son.”
Their weapon towers blaze to life, pale blue lighting dancing from the tops in short, crackly streaks. The pillar-like ship stops, halting the entire army stretching farther back than we can perceive in the darkness.
My ears pop with the absence of the drumming march, replacing the echo with eerie silence.
“That is First Son’s ship. I recognize it from the military records,” August says.
“Is he in there?”
“Most likely. Coward.”
I pull in close to August, seeking comfort. He needs to leave, but I can’t let go of his hand. “They have stopped.”
“Just out of our range.” He points to our smaller turrets.
“We have to find Selene before you go.” I look out to the battlefield at the army I must draw in closer so ours can engage. A panic I am powerless to control floods my system, making my hands tremble with a sense of dread.
