The Withered Land, THE EMPIRE FALLS: HELL'S AVATAR

HELL'S AVATAR -- PART NINETEEN

6. ETHERFROST STORMFALLEN

Tanzamia Cleriq watched the arid landscape stream by as she peered through the panoramic Forward Command Center window atop the Central Bridge's pilothouse. The colossal Kolyoptux scarab housing the city of Bur'heddam was traveling smoothly across the towering dunes rolling into the scorched and dreary expanse bordering The Wastes, the city having left the low-lying vale at the foot of the Wytthrim Peaks far behind. The scarab-city's thick, four story-tall, coil-segmented legs churned through the thin layers of desiccated soil topping the granite bedrock at a speed three times that of the fastest Ket'Horreau cavalry mount. Multiple gyroscopic levelers and a system of complex, independent drive-hydraulics kept the denizens of the city from feeling the potentially turbulent effects of the six-legged beetle-cyborg scurrying across the uneven terrain. They moved through the winding path of the Magarlaguad Wadi, where once, in heliars long past, the mighty Magarlaev River had flowed. Its dark, muddy waters had rushed down past the equator to the coastal territories of the Pang Xa'Omathra region, far beyond the furthest borders of the Forever Plain. In the past, many a fleet of merchant water-caravans had carried spices, rare woven textiles, raw mined jewels and manufactured goods to port-cities along the way. Now, only a dry riverbed remained, cutting a gritty, stony passage through volcanic desolation. She concentrated on the view, allowing the changing visuals from the passing scenery occupy her fevered mind, keeping crippling worry at bay.

She shared the trapezoidal Command Center chamber with Ambassador Czuek and The Magistrate, Primehunde Storm-Captain Qeskan Wa'entrud, and Aff'Zeqabbah and his entourage of Synthabot Guildsmen, Kos'viggat-Ordinous, Chyremdi-Ordinous and Lal'Pleing-Numinous.

The tension in the conference room was palpable, it manifested like a thrumming electric vibration that teased at nerves already stretched taught.

"Have we heard anything back from the mounted-paralegion Incursion-Ops group we sent out earlier?" Tanzamia demanded. "We need to tell them to stand down or recall them. We cannot afford to lose any more soldiers in fruitless skirmishes with an unidentified enemy."

"No. Nothing from either Cavalry-Captain Haskverii nor from Field Intelligence-Commander Pagudorak. The paralegion Ops group have not responded to any of our wireless SitRep communicaes, either, despite trying to reach them through multiband scan transmission," Qeskan said. "We've theorized that perhaps the continued wireless silence is due to unexpected solar or magnetic interference shutting down frequency band communications in the region, but we don't have any hard evidence to support that."

"Can the Operations Tekk team determine whether or not the transmissions are being intentionally blocked?" she asked, lightly rubbing a hand across her forehead in an expression of exasperation.

Qeskan made a face as he shook his head in the negative. "Not so far."

"Stop wasting your resources. Those men are as good as gone," Aff'Zeqabbah said bluntly. "If they're not already dead, they soon will be. They will be seen as a combative invasion force. The sentries of the Duskhelm Priory will not treat them gently --- if they actually made it that far."

"But we ARE part of the Duskhelm Priory, we ARE members of the Ashen Brood," Qeskan hissed angrily. "They'd be firing upon their brethren."

Aff'Zeqabbah raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips. "Brethren? Once upon a time you were. Not so now. Now you are rebels and turncoats. Your bonds of brotherhood to the Brood have been severed."

Tanzamia Cleriq shot the Messenger a hate-filled glare and turned her back to him, momentarily not trusting herself to speak.

"Look at it out there," Ambassador Czuek said, interrupting, "Hard to believe that a mere millenia ago, this tract of land was a lush rain forest, humid and damp and filled with dense jungle vegetation and wildlife. The volcano Taemtuus had not erupted for over thirteen thousand heliars before blowing itself into two distinct halves across this territory. Now Marhassag and Aspsilli mark the place where the divergent tectonic rift contained the massive magma chamber powering the mountain. Once the eruption occurred, a subsequent series of quakes collapsed the caldera, which fell in on itself, leaving only the volcanic lava fields in the caldera's place. The jungle burned away in a fiercely raging inferno that lasted many solar orbits, during which time the very soil of the land became poisoned and the dry dunes moved in from the vast desert like an ocean of sand and ash."