Carmine

We walked around the tall column; broken off at the top. On the outskirts of this place rested the well-fortified city of Ersury. It resided near Quemen where we got the thread and spark triggers.

Those two things were for the bomb we would create later. We stole clothes, for walking around naked in the middle of the night echoed madness. Sandream would not have complained, for she was a carefree soldier.

I was a Princess, I had to have some modesty in case necessity cried for it.

On the donkey’s back laid Excular’s corpse, It looked so pristine even now. Sandream considered it smart to take the body. It had value even if the reaper took its vitality.

Laid before us was a temple devoid of its glory. The walls were cracked with traversing vines searching for God within its confines.

I looked up at its dull dirty stone structure as it popped out from beside the deepening lagoon nearby. The ground soft as sand pulled me in with each step.

The path once well-traveled was rife with long bushes, stems, and large shrubs of white flowers. Funny, a Sage found it fitting to hide here.

We walked in and saw someone sitting on a rock. Before I could get near enough, Janilla bashed into me and squeezed me to death. “I am so glad you are alive!” she said.

A hoarse whisper escaped my air-deprived lips. “Then do not kill me now.”

She released me from that prison and started sneezing as I saw a slimmer of dust accent the air around us.

Janilla straightened up and prostrated her hands behind her back. “It is good to see you again my Lady.”

I smiled. “Likewise.”

Janilla led us down a passage.

The trip down the stairs was weary, and if we followed it further than our destination, we would have reached out into an inlet of the underground lake.

They called it Olad. It was an important source of clean water in Tiam and protected by its crown, but we branched off into another hidden passageway. Cast in complete darkness, Valor led us through it, and confusion set in with each turn down a new corridor.

The dim flames of the lit stick guided us, but If I came alone, I was sure to die finding no exit in this dark maze.

He moved forward, and the light filled the exiting passageway from a high fire that burned in glass tubes above us.

We came back onto the surface, for through the window, I saw the enclosed forest. The stone echoed soft thuds from our shoes as we reached out of this narrow ruined corridor. It came out onto the cracked floor.

Broken-down walls, chipped columns, and weeds sprung up from potted holes around us. It gave us a brutal image of the past. That memory held beautiful ornate cold colored drawings on those walls and columns.

Sharp paintings of people and animals accented the higher section of the wall which blended into a white backdrop.

The clean square tiles reflected the brilliance of the light and resonated with a powerful aura. I saw a few columns, large, and imposing with shaped sculpts of protruding jaws with elongated fangs on either side.

In the center of this once large imposing room stood a man. He had a sword drawn, and he asked, “State your business.”

Valor stepped forward and brought down his robe hood. “Valor, that is my business.”

“State your business.”

Valor shrugged.

The man lowered himself as if preparing to rush Valor. Sandream came in front of me. I hissed, “Valor, do something.”

Valor groaned and projected his voice. “Oy! Maju! Come get your defective shell off the floor!”

Nothing, the man rushed forward disappearing. Valor sidestepped and punched the man with a sweeping uppercut that sent him flying to my right.

He slammed into the ground with a crunching thud and rolled into an ungraceful heap. I asked, “Is he dead?”

Valor shrugged. “No, I just knocked him out.”

“You have a nettlesome propensity to knocking people out,” I said.

“I'll kill anyone. I just don't like killing N.C. shells, because they are someone's property.” Valor moved forward to an advancing woman.

She had ponytails and wore a long skinny thin gray robe.

Her skin was darker than mine, and those high cheekbones made her beautiful. She looked down at the downed man and shot an irritated stare at Valor.

She stepped up to him, and I could not help laughing at this short woman verbally ripping into Valor as he stood smiling down at her.

This woman flashed her hair and turned towards me. I let down my hood. Her face softened. “It cannot be. Me Amor, the fated one. Carmine,” she said.

I gave a facial shrug. “I seem to be famous.”

Valor smiled. “I think you mean infamous.” He turned on his toes. “Maju, I am in haste.”

She turned and we followed. Maju jogged ahead of Valor. I stepped up behind him and poked his arm. “How the hell do your bodies move so fast? I barely saw him, it was like he just appeared in front of you. Even when Five explained it to me. I think he called it warping. I still barely understand it.”

“Elam makes its shells with the task they will be used for in mind. That type of shell, the shell that uses warping will not last long. He will die in under a year I reckon.”

Sandream said, “Like this shell, I am wearing now.”

Valor frowned at Sandream.

“What about yours?” I asked.

“My body, my original one is human. Just modified.” He pointed at Sandream. “That shell, that Sandream has, deteriorates faster. It was not made for combat, only espionage.”

I stopped as soon as I saw the monstrosity. That monstrosity was a man whose four arms slumped when Valor waved at him.

The man had defined muscles on his dark-toned skin with beady eyes that spun into a red swirl as they burned in between Janilla's face, and mine.

He wore an apron with no sleeves over his robe, yet those four arms unsettled me.

He must have gotten a lot done for the upper left hand held a metal strip, the one below it grasped a cloth, the opposing hand wrapped around a tall pen-like instrument, and the other was free to do whichever task he deemed necessary.

His tall uncombed hair bloomed as his eyes narrowed. “I do not know these people Valor.”

“Of course you do. I thought Maju came around to you though.”

The man made a gesture with his hand displaying what I perceived as an annoyance.

Valor continued, “Wale, my friend, who does not know Carmine?”

His eyes widened. The man said, “I thought she was dead.”

“Who is spreading that?” I asked.

Valor waved me off with his hand. “How is Five doing?”

Wale looked at me then at Valor. “You are walking with a death sentence.”

I was about to retort to that insolent reference to me when Valor spoke up. “That's my life and besides I will be fine.”

“Oh? You think you are back in Elam, and the commander of Casnick's army.”

“You have an army?” I asked turning to him.

He waved me off again. “Had.”

“Can you get it back?”

Valor forced a smile as he turned to me. His eyes were angry though. “You know, you ask for way too much. I must say.”

“Valor, I am a Princess. Nothing I ask for is too much. I could use an army since I am being chased to the ends of the Udon by her Holy Erot’s enemies!”

Wale wagged his head. “That will not help you—much.”

“See.” Valor crossed his arms.

“Where is Five?” I asked him to end this foolishness.

Wale left and reached around the corner to a stone platform. The tiles were not neatly laid but assembled against each other well enough.

It led down a passageway with stumped trees grown into the wall and fenced with a half-circular metal.

A stale burning scent hits me, and following their trail led us to tall cylinders that looked like coffins; lined up in rows.

We stepped through the tall gate, and into the large open roof room with blue stone walls where the chilly air reminded me of my mother's mishappened hug. My limbs tightened as if they threatened to fall apart.

Maju came from the side, and Wale made a gesture. She nodded and ran around the cylinders to the other side.

In the center rested this tall black column with the cylinders sitting on those metal boxes surrounding it in a choir ensemble. The cylinders were marked with symbols I could not recognize.

I looked at Janilla. She sighed. “Sir Fitzpatrick, Longdawn, Vaiolin—Names—these belong to other—” She swallowed. “Witches.”

Wale's face flexed when he turned towards Valor. Valor smirked. “Sorry, they have just been introduced to the whole of this.” He grabbed both of us and pushed us near the walls. “Lassies stop using that word. Elamnites do not like being called witches. Call him by his name or his profession. He is—”

“A Biomath,” Wale said, without looking in our direction.

Valor turned and gestured nervously to him as he gave me a forced smile.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Janilla's hand leading her from the corner.

“Can you repair Sandream’s shell?” I asked.

A hiss emanated as I approached Wale. He folded his four arms as the cylinders spun.

At that point, a few of the cylinders sunk into the ground leaving a vague white mist in its wake.

Valor carried Excular’s body over. Wale's face twisted into an ugly mask. “You killed Excular?”

Valor shrugged. “It was a group effort.”

I smirked when Wale nodded his head with approval. He said, “The materials from this shell should be able to help repair Sandream’s shell.” Wale lifted it onto a slim bed with wheeled legs.

Metal clanked as cylinders raised from the mist, and against the black column.

Wale turned and patted a cylinder. Jamilla planted her palms together and spoke, “Five. That must be it. I hoped it worked.”

I grabbed my sector bloom as I stared at the cylinder with Five's body, but by the Gods, this place was horrid, for Janilla, and I quivered.

Maju motioned for us to follow her out of the room.

We warmed up. As soon as my hand passed the point of the entrance it chilled to ice, for the cold air did not pass it.

Maju said it was due to a sub-terminal space barrier, so it separated air between the rooms.

It also separated most of the cold air from penetrating our bodies, otherwise, we would have died.

Maju took us to an area with some chairs, and tables lined up across from tall flora. She clapped, and the male servants came with haste to her aid.

They were handsome in the face, but they looked like muscular beasts that could tear me limb to limb.

She sent them on their duties, and they brought back cups of tea and bottles of liquor ready to consecrate this evening. Janilla and I happily sat down.

When they returned, Janilla partook of a glass of wine, while I drank water, good, pristine water. I closed my eyes in bliss at the missed tastelessness.

While I watched Wale at work from outside the gate, Maju told us about how she was the Lord of Ersury's wife. It worked well to protect Wale's work.

It was normal for Elamnites to put themselves in seats of power, and influence to protect themselves, and others in this world. If need be, they would kill the person and make a shell that was a replica of the person in question.

Power and influence, power I lacked, but I had something to offer in other ways.

The cylinders were called shell pads and were taken off the column with the help of the black metal arm holding it from the back. It was laid out horizontally.

Wale used his fingers on a raised device that popped out of the ground like a sundial, but it had many projected stone parts on its surface.

I expected a spectacular event, but a lot of waiting led to the occasional soft whirring sound and the mist's hiss.

Five stepped out, and his arm was perfectly healed.

“Welcome back Five.” Janilla hopped and clapped in joy. Valor and Five gave each other nods of acknowledgments.

He smiled and shook his head as if trying to shake off the spell. “Good to be back,” Five said.