*COMPLETE* Allayria promised to do what it takes to stop the Jarles, to make the ugly decision. She thinks, at last, she understands what the dynast meant. The lesson earned from the top of that lonely cliff and given the dark murky water below.
It...
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A blast of heat. Screaming.
The sky is peppered with flecks of rock and dirt, dotting it like stars, rushing through like wind. The dark shadows of the zeppelins linger behind all of it, suspended over them all, like old gods watching these mortal games.
The ground tilts and swivels as Hiran's feet rush to clutch at it, to grip with worn soles, to find standing as everything shifts and crumbles. Bodies rush and tangle, push and shove around him and his stone sword hangs in his sweat-slick hand, hovering, waiting.
One black and blue soldier turns, twitches, swings, and Hiran cuts them down.
"Hiran!" someone yells, scrabbles at his shoulder, hauling him back, up as another blast hits him and the thunder of man's creation explodes nearby. Ruben's grip on him is hard and sure, and Hiran places his own free hand on the Skill master's shoulder to steady himself.
Where am I even? he wonders.
"We have to get through," Ruben shouts. "I think Tara is on the other side."
How can we? The ground won't stay still.
"I need you to help me: we need to Skill a path through. I can hold the earth if you can spot me." Ruben's grip tightens. "Hiran, I need you with me."
"Yes," Hiran croaks back and he hauls up his sword. "Yes, of course."
He swings and slashes, around and up and down and over, hacking and heaving, until it's all nothing, and they don't even seem to be anything but demons in metal suits.
I've lost count, he thinks. I've lost count of how many people I've killed.
They had a plan when they first found their way out of the tunnels: get up high, locate Tara and the others, try to go around the perimeter.
The plan is gone. So is Lei. It's all lost, blown into dust, dirt, and everything else buffeting them as catapults swing in the distance and cold, steel contraptions crack up through the ground. The earth breaks apart not but a sprinting distance away and Hiran feels the slide, feels the crumble.
"Hiran!" Ruben shouts through everything, and the ground beneath Hiran's feet resists, holds up, if only for a second.
He scrambles, jumping quick, scrabbling up, moving blindly away, the Skill master behind him, not chasing, only running, running, running. Hiran breathes in dust, through his throat, into his lungs and it settles in there, turning into grit.
"I see them," Ruben says as Hiran coughs. "Beyond these two drills, Hiran. I see Dost and Tara."
Tara. Finn. Tara. How am I supposed to tell her? he thinks, swaying. How am I supposed to tell her I've lost Finn? We lost Lei?
"We need to get around them—Hiran, are you listening? We need to get around the drills."
A thundercrack; the ground shivers, and they shiver with it, looking around into a wall of dust. Beyond are dark outlines, things creaking, things turning up and turning down, the low whirl of spinning metal.
