Living Antiquity

~5~

An hour later, we're standing beside the entry ti the water tank, Aloy and I verbalizing our observations.
"The pipe has to lead to the source..." Aloy frowns, taking off running.
"Right behind you." I follow, hearing Yarra yell after us, "Can't we ditch her?... I don't like listening to her bitch..."
"We have to..." Aloy says, both of us hearing her catch up.
"Where are you going?!" She yells, following us.
"Following its trail. It goes underground." Aloy says as we run.
"We already tried, its too narrow-"
"We're following it above ground," I deadpan, "We can follow it to the source and see if anything is amiss.
She followed, complaining on and off the whole way, even as Aloy found a patch of sand where flowers had grown and it was obvious the pipe underneath had burst or leaked.
"You can tell all that from a patch of wet sand?"
"Yep." Aloy deadpanned, as she kept running.
Dodging machines, I began to spot places where the sand had blown pff of the pipe, exposing it to the elements.
"That metal... It's like back at the wound, we really are following its trail..."
"Yes. She said that." I state as we keep running,
Eventually, we climb a ridge, and are faced with a clearing full of machines, with a Desert Tenakth corpse in the middle.
"One of yours?" I ask, frowning.
"Don't know. I'd have to see him up close..." Yarra frowns.
"Then we have to clear out these machines." Aloy looks around at the Spikesnouts and Widemaws.
A good half hour later, we're surrounded by dead machines, and she gets a better look.
"That... is one of Drakka's men..." she spits.
Shit. Drakka, nooo...
"I will cut off that dissident's head and feed it to the vultures if he had anything to do with-"
"We don't know what happened here yet, and we still have a trail to follow..." I say, stopping her.
She growls, glaring at me. "Lead the way."
Awww she likes me. Bitch.
I sigh, using my Focus to home back in on the pipe, running through the clearing, until...
A cliff face with water...
"Water...!" Aloy says softly.
"Barely a lick's worth... But there are no streams in this area... Here, these anchors. That soldier must have used them to get up this cliff." Yarra takes off up the cliff like a monkey, Aloy and I following suit.
"He must have been going back to Arrowhand when those machines got him." Aloy frowns.
"Maybe he found something up there worth reporting back about..."
"We'll know soon enough..." I sigh, looking around, before spotting it in my scans. A plumbing station. Had Drakka sent him out looking for it? No...
I took off, leading the way, and scanning the valve, frowning.
A spear stuck in the handle...
"Looks like Drakka's man tried to pry this open, but he didn't know what he was doing. Now the water isn't going where it is supposed to." Aloybsays as I continue examining it. The spear was stuck deep under the rust...
"Sabotage." Yarra snarls.
"Or, ignorance. Stop assuming everything is about wicked intent." I snap at her, pissed.
Aloy raises an eyebrow at me, but joins in on trying to find out what's wrong with it.
"You little-"
"Shut up, and let the thousand year old little girl do her work." I snap at her, turning to examine where the pipe goes, before climbing the wall, "Aloy, you're better at keeping up with Old World tech, let me know if anything changes," I climb up, and frown, "Oi, lend me the Pullcaster!"
She tosses it up, and I drop a beam, scrambling onto it and using the Pullcaster to open a vent into the back of the complex, poking around, before trying the valve I found.
"The water stopped!" Aloy yells, "Did you find a valve?"
"Yeah!" I yelled, "I'll look for a switcher, it looked like the water was being directed down the wrong line!" I look around, frowning.
A lever, but across the room from the valve...
"Alright, hang on!" I yell, quickly jumping down and pulling the handle.
As soon as I did, the sound around me changed to rushing water, but when I trued climbing back up, the rail collapsed, leaving me to shake it off and run to find ankther way back up.
Finally, I was able to turn the valve again, and Aloy called out.
"Hey! Its back. Sounds like its headed for Scaling Spear again!" Aloy yells, "Is there anything else back there?"
"No, not really!" I yell back, climbing back through the vent, "That should do it."
"This will return water ti Scalding Spear?..." Yarra says incredulously.
"The only way to know would be to check the Wound." Aloy sighs.
"Drakka knew what would happen if the capital was left without water. But he didn't care! All he wanted was to cause a crisis so that he could challenge my command!" She chokes out, pissed off.
"You can't know that for sure. Besides, he and his man wouldn't have known what this was for, other than by the sound if the water. The soldier may have just been doing as you and the others were- looking for alternate sources of water for his village. They had absolutely no way to know this led to Scalding Spear," I say, forcing myself to stay calm instead of bitchslapping her.
"Meet me back at the Wound when you can. Please. To make sure the water will flow," she begs us.
Surprising.
"We will..." Aloy says, watching her run off back toward Scalding Spear.
"I don't like her. She is full of herself, obsessed with her station, and paranoid." I say bluntly.
Aloy winces, "I know. There is 't much we can do now..."
"I don't think she deserves to be Commander. But I also know we can't do anything about that..." i sigh and rub my face, "Come on. Let's go check on the Wound. Before they try to kill each other."
By the time we got to Scalded Spear again, there was a crowd of both the locals, and folk from Arrowhand... And a guard stopped us on the way into the Wound.
"Your presence is required at the Commander's quarters."
"What happened?...." Aloy sighs.
"The dissident Drakka has been apprehended fir interfering with the Wound."
"How did he interfere?" I ask, folding my arms.
"He forced his way in, saw it was empty, other than the slow trickle that began when you fixed the machine in the desert. He wasn't happy..."
"Of course he isn't..." I sigh, "Come on, I guess..." I follow her as we climb back up the tower, annoyed.
"You have some nerve!!!" Yarra screams.
"You're one to talk!" Drakka yelled back, sounding pissed.
"That can't be good..." Aloy takes off, running head as I trudge along. The heat was finally getting to me.. I was so sick of the heat... How could they live out here and be okay with this?...
"Watch your tone!" Yarra warned as I walked up to see Aloy trying to keeo them apart.
"Or what? You'll let these two kill me?..." Drakka rolls his eyes, before glaring at her, "How could you let this happen?!"
"How did I let this happen? You are the one who savotaged the Wound in the cirst place!" She hisses as he scoffed and looks away.
Yeah, he didn't do it. There was an underlying look of pure confusion, and dread... He knows he could die for her paranoia.
"You're lucky we were able to fix it, or your head would already be on a spear!!"
"You call that fixed?! It's just a trickle! And I already told you, Ukktah came to me, said he found something in the desert that might get us water. I had no idea it had anything to do with the Wound!" He says, clearly desperate to actually be believed for once.
"And you expect me to believe that?!" Yarra screams.
I wince, be walk forward and shove them both in opposite directions, "If you expect to be taken seriously as a Commander? Yes. The only threat to your command is you, and your actions." I hiss, glaring down at her since, somehow, she had landed on her ass, "You have proven to me repeatedly just in the last day that you are a poor leader. Paranoid. Twitchy." I glare down at her as her eyes almost burn holes through me.
"Y/n!" Drakka laughs nervously, "I came for the water they owed us, but when I saw that there is no water, they arrested me..!"
"You little... As I already told you," she glares at Drakka, "The water is returning, but slowly... It will be weeks before it is full again! Until then, I will send Arrowhand what I can!"
"You hid what happened ti the Wound. Why should we trust you again, how should we trust you again? How can we believe you now?!" Drakka yells at her.
"Drakka!" Jetakka yelled.
"No! I'm done with this." He snarls, squaring up to Yarra as she stands back up, and spitting off to the side, "Consider that a challenge." He hisses, before stalking off.
Oh no...
Yarra spat at the same spot snarling, "Gather your squads and meet at the Gateof the Vanquished," she hisses after him, then growled at Aloy and I, "I have a challenge to prepare for. Leave me."
Shit shit shit...
"This will be the end of the clan..." Jetakka warns Yarra before pulling Aloy and I aside, "I have ti stop it, we have to stop it."
"Let me guess. A fight ti the death?..." i say weakly.
"Yes. Both sides take their most loyal squads to the Gate of the Vanquished. There, they butcher each other in ritual combat, and whoever wins... They'll try to hunt down the loser's loyalists, all over the desert. The fighting could last for months. Those two scab heads are going to doom us all!" He groans, rubbing his face in exasperation.
"Can't you stop them?" I ask, worried.
"I'm a Chaplain. I provide council. I cannot force them ti heed it. Not even Chief Hekarro can intervene..." he rubs his face, "Its a matter for the clan... and the clan alone..."
"What is the Gate of the Vanquished?" I ask, frowning.
"A dead cauldron. It represents the clan dream pf forever defeating the Deranged machines. It is what we aspire to... And it is of grave importance to the clan. Even more so now that it will mark the beginning if a massacre..." he says softly, shifting he weight, worried.
"Why would they listen to us?" Ally asks.
"You were there to fight off Regalla's forces. And you have proven an intelligence not often found here in the desert." Jetakka looks at me, "Without you two, I'm afraid we're going to run out of body bags fast. I'll go ahead, but... please don't delay."
I look at Aloy, frowning as Jetakka runs off, "... If it comes down to it and we can't stop them from fighting, I choose to support Drakka. He at least cares about his people. He was telling the truth about not knowing about the issue with the water. Yarra... only cares about staying in command." I frown.
Aloy nods, "I know. I'm with you, I just really hope this doesn't go south."
"It won't. Come on, before they kill each other and we can't save either of them." I take off after Jetakka, worried.
It takes us hours to gather resources for a possible fight, then to run and find the location of the dead Cauldron, only to see that all participants were already there.
Soldiers heckling and shouting insults from both sides while Jetakka tried his best to calm Yarra and Drakka.
"You're here..!" Jetakka said in a relieved tone as we ran up.
"... Y/n... Aloy..." Drakka said, frowning as he looks at us.
Does he think we'll choose her over him?...
"Aloy. Outlander. You're here to witness the challenge, then?" Yarra says dismissively.
"Does there have to be a challenge?..." Jetakka asks worriedly. No doubt he was concerned for the number of people they could lose to this...
"There does." Drakka growls, stepping a foot toward Yarra.
"If you persist, every squad here will join the fughts. Do you want that many to die? And what of the deaths to follow when the retaliation begins?!" Jetakka yells at them both.
Ally steps forward, worried, "There has ti be another way..."
"Listen to what they have to say! You both owe them that much...!" Jetakka says sternly, watching them.
I hate to have to step in and say this, but...
"Yarra, pointlessly throwing blame in order to shake your shady past actions off your own shoulders does not a leader make. There is no way in hell he knew that what his man did would sabotage the Wound. Wanna know how I know? He doesn't have oneof these!" I point at my head, frowning at her, "Unless you've lost your damn mind, you would be able to see the sense in that. And Drakka... I know you mean well for your people. But instigating the fight... This isn't going to end well if this goes down. You know this..." I look at him, silently begging him to back kff before he gets killed. Sure, I trust him more than her, and I stand by what I told Aloy, but choosing the fate of these people... It feels cruel. What am I thinking? Is Yarra truly just this power mad and paranoid?... I can't tell. She has spent too much of the time I'm nearby making an ass of herself... I may not even have an accurate read on her...
"This meeds to happen. She'll trick our people again, turn them against some other poor bastard." Drakka growls.
Damnit... Damnit, why did he have to be right?...
I sigh, rubbing my face as Aloy tries talking to them individually, to no avail.
"Both of you stand down!" Aloy tries to reasonz
"If it means she stays in power? Hell no!" Drakka yells.
"You see? All he wants is to be in command!" Yarra snarls, "Pick a side, you two, we are finishing this."
I glare, my eyes narrowing as I stare at her, "You know what? Fine. I'm done pretending to be nice to you to keep my bones intact," i hiss at her, stalking over and standing by Drakka, "You proved immediately upon meeting us that you were nothing but a brat obsessed with her seat of power. At least Drakka can feel something other than blind paranoia towards those around him." I hiss at her, seeing her tense and glare back as Drakka seems to almost relax for a moment before they both look at Aloy.
She shakes her head and walks to me and Drakka, "Y/n's right, and there is plenty of history to back her up. This isn't about Drakka conspiring against you... It is about your people, you lied to them about the Wound. You also said their survival is all that matters. Was that a lie, too? If not, stand down. Give him a shot at command. Let him help your people."
Yarra grits her teeth, snarling at us. "It wasn't a lis. Which is why I will never give command to someone like him."
"... Then fight us." I say, folding my arms. "Just us. If you really wanna save lives, keep the squads out of it." I watch her, wary.
She eyes us, but sighs, "These soldiers will stay with me. I have seen how you fight."
"Thwn we stand with Draka, Aloy, and Y/n. Even numbers... a fair fight." Jetakka says softly, walking ti us.
"... I take no joy in fighting you... either of you..." she looks at Aloy and Jetakka, before giving me a contemptuous snarl, and turning tk the squads, "New rules! We have chosen to keep it to just us. Winner takes command..." she says reluctantly.
The onlookers began a chant, watching us. Waiting for blood.
Finally, we walked to opposite sides of the arena, and as soon as we all turned...
The fight began.
I kneeled behind cover, and took a deep breath, losding up arrows, and beginning tk fire.
Literal fire.
I buried a flaming arrow in every one of them that mlved, watching Aloy advance with her spear as Drakka focussed his shots on Yarra, and Jetakka backed us up with support fire...
It was over so fast... They fell like flies... and Yarra was left crawling on the ground, still reaching for a weapon despite being pinned down with arrows from me and Jetakka, Aloy and Drakka advancing on her with their spears in hand.
"Its over..." Aloy said sadly, watching her as I stayed back, panting and twitching from the intense adrenaline rush mixed with the head. My fingers wouldn't stop shaking, and I was so tired...
"Well..." Yarra choked out, one of her arms completely burned from my arrows, "You gonna make me wait around?..." she glares, watching as Drakka stands in front of her and draws his bow, burying the arrow between her eyes, and making her fall.
Knew her for less than a day and a half, and I helped kill her... so this is the West...
Aloy looks away, averting her eyes as she no doubt feels the same, as Jetakka kneels and closes Yarra's eyes.
Aloy turns and looks at Drakka, "You didn't have to..."
"Hekarro didn't, and look at how that turned out." He frowns.
"So then... What next?" I ask, sitting on a rocm and flapping my hands to work off the nervous energy, "Still not enough water in the Wound for the whole tribe..."
"I'll gather the leaders from the villages. We'll figure it out," Drakka says, standing up a bit straighter.
"Wow, for a minute there you almost sounded like a real commander," Aloy teases, smirking.
".. Your confidence is inspiring." Drakka shakes his head with a chuckle, "... Here. Take this." He holds out his bow.
The one he just shot Yarra with...
"You didn't have to get involved, but you did. I won't forget what you two did for us. Desert Flame. Old Lady." He smirks, his tone switching to a teasing one as he looks at me, tossing the bow in my lap.
"Oh, ha ha..." I groan, annoyed as I shake my head, seeing soldiers carry Yarra's body away for what I could only assume to be burial.
Ally sits next to me and hangs her head, thinking, "... We've been down here for five days, and already unseated a commander... I guess the search for the sub-functions will at least be eventful..." she sughs.
"Yeah... Hey, hang on..." I perked up, thinking, "Gaia..." I tapped my focus, "With all of your functions intact, would it be possible to repurpose or build new machines like the Bellowbacks, to carry clean drinking water to the desert villages? Help make it so that their trade doesn't have to revolve around whether they live or die?..." I ask.
"An interesting idea, Y/n..." Gaia's ever-comforting voice says over the network, "Yes, that would be quite viable. The Bellowback class of machines already exists to harvest and carry liquid resources from point ti point. Repurposing them to carry and reliable, regular supply of water to the villages once I have the power to do so again would be quite easy, likely even an option worldwide," she pomders, "Query, do you feel responsible for the death if Yarra and her loyalists?..."
"... Yes, I do. But at the same time, it could not be avoided. The people here were not safe under her command. Of that much I can be certain. Can you store that idea for later so that we can revisit it?..." i ask.
"Yes. I already have, and may even be able to work on a reboot code that would allow for a small selection of Bellowbacks to be prepped for such a duty in repair bay TAU, if you so choose. I suggest discussing this idea with Drakka and his clansmen before attempting to implement this, idea, however, so's not to overstep any cultural boundaries."
"Of course.." I say, rubbing my face to try to shed sweat.
"How did you even think of that?..." Aloy asks, looking at me, "Actually, no... I'm shocked I didn't think of it."
I laugh, sitting up, but see Drakka standing a few feet away watching us with a raised eyebrow.
"Bellowbacks with water?"
Crap. He heard it.