The Last Knight (An Awakening the Lightforged Novel)

Chapter 21: Memfoso

We attack the Imaia. Become enough of a nuisance that they send one of their cruisers after us, to wipe us out. We'll need a convincing target. Maybe one of the bases we can abandon. Or maybe we can use one of the old towns the Imaia used as a base while gathering resources.

C. 19 days, 23 hours since the assassination of rebel leadership

Uuchantuu tried to keep her expression neutral and not to fidget as she waited under Lightside's red, relentless sun near Memfoso's rail station. It was one of a handful of towns—outposts, really—that the Imaia maintained along the magrail lines they'd built on this continent, making it one of the only places the trains stopped before reaching the sea to the north.

She and her other teammates wore local guard uniforms—stiff, uncomfortable things of red, white, and black fabric with yellow accents meant to imitate Imaia gold. Everything was going well so far, but Uuchantuu couldn't help feeling exposed out here. Vulnerable.

She wished they could just steal the equipment the town used and be done with it, but then Memfoso's people, including their sympathizers who had provided the uniforms, would suffer. They would take some of it today, but they needed the distraction of the train for this all to work.

Taking a deep breath, Uuchantuu leaned against one of the overhangs lining the railway to provide some shade, and glanced over her shoulder at Memfoso.

Uuchantuu had only seen the town a few times, but she'd never gotten used to it.

She was surprised the Imaia hadn't lifted most of the older buildings here from the continent like they had so many other ruins and ancient structures. These were old, but had been well-maintained. Most bore the ornamentation and more severe lines of the Iron Empire, as well as some Imaia sun and axe motifs. Those structures fit.

The metal structures in the back, some tall, some squat, all painted white to reflect the sun and bearing at least one sun and axe motif, seemed to contrast everything about the ancient town and the rocky scrubland beyond. That made sense, though, as they were temporary, modern buildings. In this case, that meant a few years rather than a few weeks or months, but Uuchantuu knew that once the Imaia saw no more need for Memfoso and its mines, they would pack up as much as they could and leave this area behind to crumble like the rest of Efruumani.

Checking around to make sure none of the real guards were too close—there were a few close by, but none within earshot—Uuchantuu reached up to her ear and activated the radio hidden in her helmet.

"Naruuna, how are things going for you?"

"We're all set, and the train is on its way."

"Good. Radio once they're on."

"Yes, sir!"

Uuchantuu took a deep breath. The plan was simple enough.

The train would slow down on its way into Memfoso. Uuchantuu's people hid with Naruuna near a rocky outcrop the train would pass when it was slow enough to board. Using the cars they'd stolen from their last raid, Naruuna had trained Akseli, Kakengo, Tshala, and Joret in how to deactivate the coupling georaurals. Once on board, those four would detach the cars resulting in them being left behind a short distance outside Memfoso as the train's main body pulled into the station. That was when Uuchantuu would take over.

Just as a low hum reached Uuchantuu's ears, the ground starting to rumble, her radio sparked to life.

"They made it!"

Uuchantuu smiled at Naruuna's excitement before glancing toward a nearby guard and schooling her expression. "Good. The rest of you, stay hidden."

Movement out of corner of her eye caught her attention and Uuchantuu looked over just as the train came into view.