12 Miles Below

It harassed us for two entire hours before we finally walked past the ridge. Fido never relented on his mission to murder us and didn’t make a great conversational partner either. Terrible date, wouldn’t recommend him to anyone, except Ellie. Because what are old friends for, if not to piss each other off?

It was worth it in the end. We'd made it to the mite fountain with about two hours of extra energy to spare. Had we taken any other detour, I’d probably be dragging bits and parts of Journey on the ground behind me and hoping Hecate’s Deathless abilities included speed outside of her armor. She was super human after all.

 

Everyone in the clan grew up hearing all about the heroics Deathless have done and abilities they've used, but Lord Atius was the only Deathless I'd ever actually met. Most people wouldn't even get to see a Deathless in their lifetime.

  While talking, I hit on the subject of abities she might be able to use if we ran out of power, in order to plan out the worse case situation.

 

Apparently hit another nerve with that as she once more started to short circuit. Stuttering out an answer, stoping and gazing off into the distance again.

 

This was a quirk of hers I was getting the hang of. Hecate had strange habits and mannerisms. And I’m not talking about her being a feral witch out here in the middle of nowhere. More like something I’ve seen in people among the clan, especially Reachers

 

My going theory was that she’d occasionally stutter for no particular reason - either her mind went blank or she had a bunch of other thoughts at the moment - and being more attuned to her slip ups, she’d panic that more stuttering would come out. Which would make everything worse and spin her down a spiral.

  So naturally, the best way to deal with that was to stop talking and look away. She’d talk again once she was back in control. It took me a moment to pick together her strategy, but it seemed to work well for her.

 

So that’s why she’d glance over at my side anytime this happened. Occasionally, I’d see her nod or frown during those episodes, almost like she was having an internal conversation with herself. I didn’t press her on this, and left her alone to organize her thoughts. There wasn’t a rush for answers anyhow.

  Collected again, she turned back to me and explained that she didn’t have powers like these outside her armor. It was odd to hear up until I remembered she's new to being Deathless. Guess that's what the stuttering was about.

 

We went on talking about more minor things after. Much better conversation than with Fido.

  Step by step, we made it to the entrance of the underpass. And then we hit another wrench.

  The problem with smart enemies is that they’re smart. Capable of making up their own plans in the background and having the gall not to share any of it with us until the last second. Fido here knew he could get to where we’re going faster than we could.

  He put that to use.

  “Is this going to be a problem?” I asked, patting the rock in front of me, where our supposed entrance into lower ground was supposed to be. Keyword being supposed. Fido had done some remodeling while we were taking our sweet time getting here.

 

I couldn’t see where the lizard was right now. Probably scrambling all the other ways in, or waiting for us to drop our guard while we tried dealing with this.

  “It’s possible we could cut a way inside with our blades...” Hecate said, frowning. I could tell she wasn’t convinced. A moment later she confirmed it after getting a closer look. "Unfortunately, it seems even with blades, there is too much stone to properly cut away in time. Lifting will also sap away our remaining energy faster. This path is non-viable.”

  “Do we happen to have a Plan B?” My hand knocked on the solid rock, but there’s no way to tell how deep the cave in went. “I’ll settle for C even, I'm not picky.” I said, when Hecate didn’t answer.

  “This was the closest entrance to the local underpass. There are other entrances, however any that I have in memory, the drake is likely to know about it as well. We need to either repair a fountain, or find a new unexplored way in.”

  "And all that within two hours before power cells are depleted." I nodded, humming sagely. “So, by any chance, do we have a plan D? Asking for a friend.”

  “You have friends?” Hecate asked, and she sounded genuinely surprised.

  I don’t know if I should praise her for the deadpan delivery or feel insulted. I think I’ll multitask. “I do when I have the money for the payroll. Right now, I think my wallet got nicked. Remember, one in ten humans. Hope you're okay with I-owe-you's”

  Hecate shook her head, smiling softly. “Last I counted, there are only two of us here and I am not a thief. As for our situation, there is another possible method. It will force the drake to leave, or even donate its own cells to us if I have enough authority to compel the machine.”

 

“Some kind of Deathless power that lets you hypnotize machines? I thought your abilities were limited?” My dream of riding on a lizard mount was back on the menu. What a great time to be alive.

  “Something in that manner. However, the moment I play my hand, I will be revealed. To’Accar, the Feather that commands this Drake, may follow directly.”

  What a terrible time to be alive. I guess being hated by To’Aacar was something else Hecate and I had in common. “How did you piss him off, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I have… decided to follow certain paths that put me dangerously close to being declared an enemy.” She said, and I could tell this was skirting on the edge of her comfort zone.

  I wanted to ask her more about what she meant by being declared an enemy, I'm assuming it'd be like what Atius went through, where the Feather went out of his way to hunt him down again and again.

 

But I didn't want to hassle her either. My curiosity could be set aside for now.

  I gave a shrug. “Well. So long as we get out of here in one piece, I’m not going to complain. And talking about complaints, do we actually have any other option besides this machine tampering spell of yours?”

  She shook her head.

  “Damn.” Was hoping she’d have something else, given the ideas popping into my head. “Well, I’ve got an idea we can try out. Neither of us are going to like it much though, fair warning.”     Fido’s goals were pretty simple. Murder me and bring my dead body back to To’Aacar. In order to get that done, it wanted to starve us out by waiting for our power cells to run dry, after which it could stalk us and murder us easily.

  Therefore, the best way to deal with Fido, was to do exactly that - pretend we’d run out of juice.

  Even without armor, occult blades are still deadly. All we had to do was find a suitable location where we could force Fido into stabbing range. And then stab him first.

 

Easy.

  Hecate, understandably, was against the plan - but for reasons I hadn’t anticipated. “When the power cells are drained, I will not be able to move anymore.” She said, leaning back on the tree trunk where we’d setup a camp to eat and rest.

  “I know it might seem dumb to take on a drake without the speed of armor, but I’ve seen one killed up close before.” I said. “All we have to do is get it to focus on me, and while it’s distracted, you can chop its head off. Armor or no armor, you don’t need to hit like a speeder or move as fast as one to do damage. Occult blades will cut through anything no matter what kind of force is behind them.”

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand what I mean. I… I cannot remove my armor. I won’t be able to move without it.”

  My head finally read between the lines of what Hecate was trying to tell me this whole time. Her speed rivaled the Winterblossom technique for a reason.

 

“You’re paralyzed? The armor’s what’s letting you move around?”

  Hecate nodded.

  No wonder she'd been sensitive about that topic. The armor was reading her inputs the same way Journey did mine. This might be how the Imperators Cathida’s always talking about could move as fast, and why they were rare soldiers to run into. For them, wearing armor was far more permanent.

 

Leave it to Imperials to be this hardcore.

 

Assuming I was right on my guess here. But Hecate was a new Deathless now. “Can’t you use your Deathless powers to heal yourself?”

  Another shake of her head. “My power to heal will only work on others. Not myself. Not in this case.”

  Then… if she ran out of power, she’d be stranded here, limp, at the mercy of any wild animal or machine that would pass by. What a horrible way to die. Either slow death from thirst, unable to move, or getting mauled - all while not being able to move either.

  Hecate could return to life after death, but that didn’t mean her death wouldn’t be painless. And I wasn’t even sure if her return to life would fix her paralysis. Deathless were supposed to heal rapidly. If she wasn’t healing, it might be some kind of a permanent wound that would follow her, no matter what? And she’d taken the risk of that fate, just to save me, a complete stranger.

  I guess that’s why she’s returned as a Deathless. They were heros for a reason.

  “Can you use your hypnosis ability when your armor runs out of power? And how long does it take to cast?” I asked.

  She took a moment to think and then nodded. “When my armor powers down, I’ll remain active for an hour or three more before going into a long sleep. The orders can be sent instantaneously.”

  She’d go to sleep when her armor ran out of power? This was all kinds of strange. Unless… “Your armor’s working as a life support of some kind?” It would make sense with her paralysis.

  Hecate nodded quickly.

  So it’ll turn off mobility and conserve energy to keep her alive. Or the armor was a lot more morbid than I suspected and would put her under so whatever painful death she’d go through, she wouldn’t have to experience. Poor girl had it rough.

  “Right, so here’s my revised plan. We still do the decoy strategy, except once power runs out, we’ll switch places and you’ll be the decoy while I sulk around. If I’m not able to take out the drake alone, hit it with the hypnosis as the last second option. I think I’ll be able to kill it with what we’ve got to work with though.”

  “Umm, I would prefer if... if you do not kill the drake.” Hecate said. "It is only following orders.”

  “You want to leave the giant killer robot running around?”

  A nod.

  “Just to be perfectly clear, you don’t want us to kill the ten foot tall machine with claws and a giant laser? The one that’s constantly asking us to die? That machine?”

  She looked away. “I know I do not have grounds to make an argument. I understand the stakes are against us. I know it will not change its mind within the hour, such a thing would need to be a gradual change and we do not have the time.”

 

The pause at the end of her speech here was telling me more than anything else she’d said. Despite that, with all that stacked up against us, she didn’t want the drake to get killed.

  Oi, Deathless are such a pain with their morals. Atius would have had an easier time tossing the Chosen and their luggage out of the airlock the moment they’d shown up. And now I’d need to deal with Fido in a non-lethal way.

  I reached down and grabbed a few local supplies to make my point. “Look, I’ve got pretty rocks, some quality dirt and a few sticks,” I said, lifting a handful of sorry-looking twigs. One snapped and dangled from my hand. I tossed it all backwards. “What do you want me to do here? Tie him up with some imaginary rope?”

 

She sunk deeper into herself, hugging her legs to her chest. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, some personal and some by my orders. Mistakes that have cost lives. I’ve come to realize how much that loss can weigh. If I can, I want to avoid adding more destruction into the world.”

  If I had to fight Fido without armor, a single swipe of his paws would send me straight into the afterlife, first class with all amenities paid for. And without Journey’s speed, I’d be slower to dodge besides having a time limit before my body grew tired. What Hecate was asking for was outright impossible.

  I took a deep sigh and contemplated how I’d pull this one off anyhow. “I can’t make any promises. Fighting without an armor is already strapping my right hand to my back and nailing my boot to the ground. But I’ll see what I can do.”

  She turned, looking almost incredulously at me, before her features morphed into a soft smile. “That… would be nice. Thank you. I know it’s unlikely to happen. However, it means a lot to me you are considering my request.”

  “Are we good with blinding and deafening it?” Not exactly the best follow-up sentence for the mood, talking about brutal mutilation. But times were tough, and I had a murder-machine to befriend.

  “That would be preferable to destroying it.” Hecate said. “It can repair those parts in time.”

  “Right. That’s what we’ll aim for. We’ve got swords with us, we could use those to cut down branches or through rocks. That might open up some good ideas to work with. Armor parts might be useful too. Journey has a lot of fabric we can make use of.”

  “Perhaps weaknesses in the drake’s shell can help.” Hecate said, now animated and talking. “Their vision suite has highly advanced telescopic features. However, it doesn’t include a large section of the light spectrum. It can see far, but cannot see more than a human would. Only machines fitting the long range support role in the lower strata have a full field of vision, including electromagnetic. Those would be far harder to fool.”

  “You’re oddly knowledgeable about these specs.” I said. “Part of your past, or something you picked up as a Deathless?”

  She looked away, flinching again. I don’t think I’ll understand what she’s fidgeting over. Someone with this much knowledge of machines should be flaunting that knowledge, in my opinion.

  “I learned in my time among the army.” She said, still avoiding my gaze.

  I waved a hand in surrender, not wanting to make her feel more called out. “It’s okay, I’m not going to probe you about your past. I’m just asking for more details if you have them on the drake. I need everything I can get my hands on right now.”

  She nodded. “Their shells are powered by four separate power cells, one on each leg. Large wiring under their throats is where they channel power into their primary weapon. Any damage there will render their cannon too dangerous to use. Their front claws are highly mobile, but their rear claws are far more limited in range of motion. Their tail is their last weapon, capable of being swung in any direction, however it is not a critical component and can be safely cut off without damage. They have great pattern recognition to help track down targets. Any trail left behind, they will find and follow.”

  I swear, she’s like a walking encyclopedia of machine knowledge. Imperials took that saying about knowing the enemy and stepped it up to the logical conclusion here.

 

This was beyond just keeping your enemies close. Next thing, Hecate will tell me what their favorite colors are, or what food they like to eat. What a laudable work ethic those golden stiffs had.

   

Location, location, location. First thing’s first: if we wanted any shot at the drake, we had to remove the range advantage. That means either holing up in a tunnel, or finding a nook of trees that forced the critter to get closer.

  The second thing was the constant voice in the back of my head saying I was being monumentally stupid to go this far to avoid killing a machine. Just kill the drake and call it an accident. Sure, Hecate will be sad, but even she was telling me earlier how difficult of a request this would be. That voice had to be squashed by sheer willpower. Was all this beyond stupid? Yes. Unequivocally. If I could get away with it, I’d kill the drake without ever being in the same area. Leave it a mine to walk over or something civilized like that.

  But this was Hecate’s wish, and I owed that girl a life already. Not to mention she’d staked possibly dying a slow, agonizing death in exchange for powering up Journey. Worse, I'd come to enjoy my time with her, which made it even harder to say no.

  I had to set my pragmatism aside for this one.

  We found a nice campground that was well obscured by trees that would serve well for what I had in mind. Which left only the third and last objective: We had to remove or hinder the drake’s mobility. Without the range, it had to get close. And tangling up its front paws would be enough to let us take some calculated stabs in the right place.

  I wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel with the cave dweller tools I had to work with here. Instead, I banked on the more classic traps. Potholes.

  Hecate in this situation turned out to be a natural. She knew everything I could possibly ask about setting traps up. From what we could do with the tools we had here, to the best placements for them. She was like a living book, telling me all kinds of facts and tips to help the plan out. As expected of a forest hermit like herself, she knew how to survive out here.

  With swords, we could cut into the ground. And with Journey’s cape as a tarp, we could stake it into the ground with solid branches and then layer the whole thing with dirt and sticks until it looked no different from the rest of the ground, especially in the low light of a campfire nearby.

  At the bottom of that hole was occult sharpened rocks that looked more like large thin triangles. Hecate confirmed the dimensions we'd need to cut in order to have the rock be sturdy enough to resist the dake's weight, while sharp enough to puncture through the plating. We made three until we ran out of cape to work with. One less than I’d hoped for, but enough to work with.

  Now, the only thing between me and the drake would be a flimsy oversized shrub where I hid in, waiting for the right moment to leap out in surprise.

  Last part of all traps was the distraction and bait. For that part, I removed Journey plate by plate and put it back together, using cut branches and twigs as the skeleton. I had no helmet, so no way to hide that part, but I left the armor behind a tree. Journey had a lower skirt. It wasn’t difficult to cut off a section and build a makeshift white flag. A bit of artistic license, and now it looked like my twin was holding onto a white flag and lazing back against the tree. Almost as if I were sleeping. The rest of the armor’s features, including the missing head, wouldn’t be noticed from the only direction the drake could slink into here from.

  Some might call me a war criminal for abusing the white flag, to which I’d say that’s a little harsh. I’m only dabbling in light war crimes here. Besides, the drake started it.

  It certainly felt like someone was judging me. The entire time Hecate and I worked on setting up the trap, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. More to the point, ever since I’d woken up, I’d had that nagging sense. I’d mostly put it to Fido being Fido, because he really was watching us. Except right now, if it was Fido watching, he’d have already tried shooting at us or we would have seen his snout somewhere. There are not a lot of places to slink inside this little nook of the forest, which is exactly why we picked this spot. So where was this feeling coming from?

  Nerves were getting in the way. The only thing left was to wait until the guest of honor showed up and not think about my gut feelings here. That could be in the next hour or the next day, with no way to tell.

  Hecate climbed up a tree and promptly went to sleep like a cat. She told me she’d be dozing off like this to conserve energy, but she’ll wake up if the drake showed up. After which, the feral witch went to sleep on pure command. She made those branches look comfortable, given how limp she’d gone.

  I wasn’t exactly sure how reliable Hecate would be on waking up in time. It depends on how sardonic the drake was. If it showed up all high and mighty and started talking, that’ll probably wake her up. But the drake could also play the part of a stealthy hunter out to slit throats in the middle of the night, in which case I’ll be alone against it at least for the first few seconds of the fight until Hecate woke up. I couldn’t exactly shout to get her attention without also revealing where I was to the drake.

  No matter what, there was a ticking time limit in which Hecate’s power cells would run out just from idle operation. And given my luck, the drake was probably taking its time breaking down all the ways to working power fountains before it got back to tracking us down.

  I had to prepare myself for the worst-case situation, in which I’d be alone, no armor, a single occult blade to my name and a few hastily made stone age traps to annoy Fido with. And if Hecate died in the fight or her suit ran out of juice to sustain her, there’d be no healing for whatever damage I took.

  No problem at all. What’s the worst that could happen?

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