Chapter 9 #3
‘These are people you’re talking about, Stu,’ Franka says. ‘Warriors, who came here looking for a better life. And now you want to forbid them to partner up with people who aren’t Warriors? You want to dictate to them who they’re allowed to have children with? This isn’t what we signed up for.’
‘Tell that to the grandchildren of our people when they won’t have enough Warriors to hold The Citadel,’ the man says.
‘When they’ll be slaughtered because the Warriors couldn’t protect them.
Or when we don’t have enough Warriors for the supply runs that we desperately need, and the people are slowly starving.
This is a matter of survival for our city. And for ourselves.’
‘These are just calculations, Stu. We don’t know if Warriors will still be hunted by the other kingdoms thirty or sixty years from now.
There is so much that not even Stella can take into account.
How can we ask our citizens to just turn away from the people they love, from the people who followed them into exile? ’
‘Is this what I think it is?’ I breathe.
This is a turning point in the history of The Citadel. This is the moment when decisions were made that altered all our lives and affected the way we live even now.
The image freezes, and Stella asks, ‘Team Gold, do you need context?’
I recoil, checking if my magic is still feeding into the sensors that keep the cameras blocked and stops the attacks of holograms. ‘How come you’re still active, Stella?’
‘This is a block of information that has been removed from the mainframe of The Citadel. The information can be accessed through the connection points in this cave, but not from The Citadel. The city’s connection points trigger the hologram defences which you are currently blocking, but not the secondary block of information, part of which you have seen. ’
I’m confused. Allen, however, catches on quicker than anyone else. ‘Do you mean to say that information has been hidden here, so that it can’t be accessed from The Citadel? That the main Stella at the Citadel can defend the cave, but doesn’t have access to the information?’
‘Precisely. Would you like to see what information is available?’ Cave-Stella asks in an even voice.
‘Yes, definitely. Give us that context you were speaking about, Stella,’ I say. ‘Please.’
‘This conversation is taking place one hundred and eighty-four years ago. Four years after The Citadel was founded by Warriors streaming from all the kingdoms of the Continent. They were running from Continent-wide persecutions, looking for a safe haven.’
‘What did the kingdoms have against them?’ Mace asks, folding his arms.
‘The Fragmenting was a consequence of a devastating war,’ Stella says.
‘Entire nations were destroyed, and dozens of city-states were created in their stead. Each was controlled by an AI. A peace treaty was signed, which forbade the crafting of long-range weapons under severe punishments, as well as of a select range of technological advancements. The AI protocols were also protected. Any tampering with them would cause self-destruction.’
This is why the AIs weren’t allowed to advance much technologically in the past two hundred years – it was a safety measure put in place with the signing of the peace treaties.
We already know most of this.
‘Go on,’ Xandra says.
‘But within the conditions created by the treaty,’ Stella says, ‘the Warriors were perceived as a threat to that peace, as the only type of magic wielders who could generate weapons. The people were afraid another war might break out, or that the Warriors might be at an advantage, so they began hunting the Warriors everywhere. A clandestine network of Warriors was created, and at the point of the Foundation, the fugitives, led by the first Central Command, found a city in a position that was easily defensible with relatively few people.’
‘The Golden Citadel,’ Allen breaths out.
‘The Golden Citadel,’ Stella confirms. ‘But the first citizens of The Citadel weren’t just Warriors.
Their families ran with them: their partners, or the parents of children who were born with Warrior powers.
Child Warriors were also sent away with the fugitives by their families.
There were also dissenters, like Franka Ursa, who didn’t have Warrior powers, but thought that what was happening to the Warriors was wrong, and that they had as much of a right to live as people who could wield other kinds of magic. ’
‘But Warriors aren’t hunted anymore by the other kingdoms,’ Mace says. ‘Every one of them has its own Warriors’ Quarter. So, what happened? When did they change their minds?’
Stella says, ‘This information isn’t included in this block.’
This is immensely frustrating. ‘Then give us what you’ve got, Stella,’ I say.
‘The Citadel was under constant attack in its first years. The other kingdoms perceived it as a threat. Many died defending The Citadel, but it held.’
‘Who was Franka, then?’ asks Xandra. ‘And how come she was a part of Central Command, if she wasn’t a Warrior?’
Stella replies evenly, ‘Franka was Paired with a Warrior.’
I gasp audibly. Furtive romances between Warriors and people from other Quarters is one thing, but actually being Paired is unheard of… A Pairing Link is the most intimate, deepest bond that can develop between two people. And only possible between Warriors. Or so I thought.
‘What happened to them?’ Mace’s voice is a low rumble. ‘To the Warrior Franka Ursa was paired with?’
‘He was killed, shortly before Commander Ursa fled with the rest of the first citizens of The Citadel,’ Stella says. ‘This is why she joined the movement.’
I need to know more.
Apparently, so does everybody else. ‘Stella, what else can you show us?’ Julian says, impatient as always.
‘This is all the information included in this block,’ Stella says.
It’s strange that a block of information has been hidden away from The Citadel.
The footage we saw was … disquieting. To know that Warriors were initially hunted and not singled out as leaders.
To realise that there were Commanders among the Founders who weren’t Warriors.
Nowadays, people from other Quarters don’t even come close to being a part of Command.
Could it be possible, then? That Stella’s protocols aren’t the ones preventing people from other Quarters from claiming a place in Command? It’s an odd thought.
We all bow to the god of war.
And to the Warriors.
Allen taps his lips. ‘Could you tell us where other blocks of information like this one are hidden?’
‘This information isn’t included in this block,’ Stella says.
‘This is frustrating,’ Mace says.
‘Information is being kept from us, hidden from us.’ Xandra blinks, as if she couldn’t quite believe it.
‘So, it seems,’ says Allen. ‘And I only have more questions now. Who hid it away, and why? Especially since the people who first founded The Citadel seemed to be pretty desperate.’
‘Guys,’ I say, my arms shaking with the effort of keeping the sensors blocked.
‘Team Gold,’ Mace says. ‘We should get moving. We completed the mission.’
Julian shakes his head, then looks around him. ‘Will we even get our points if the sensors are blocked by Ellie?’ He points up. ‘How will they know that we completed the mission?’
That’s a fair question. But Mace is in his Team Captain mode.
‘Move,’ he barks. ‘All of you. Out now, chat later.’ He bends down to pick up my backpack, shooing the others towards the door.
‘We’ll distract the holograms from the entrance’, he says, his tone softer. ‘Just teleport as quickly as you can.’
‘I can’t,’ I say.
He looks at me dubiously.
‘It doesn’t work on command,’ I admit.
‘Why not? It’s your power. You should be able to control it.’
I hum in agreement. ‘Why, yes, I should. I don’t know how I haven’t thought of that yet.’
Mace mutters something that doesn’t sound complimentary, but I ignore him. The others settle at the entrance to the tunnel, trying to distract the holograms as soon as I stop blocking the sensors.
I begin moving back towards them within my dome. I try to teleport, but maybe I’m not-desperate-enough, because it doesn’t work. So I make my way back to them painfully slowly, in a way that almost seems like a walk of shame from Ellie-who-can’t-even-control-her-own-power.
But we’re finally at the exit, half an eternity later, and my heart skips a beat when Julian places his hand to the panel, and nothing happens for an inordinate amount of time – though probably half a second – before it opens.
We stumble out into the clear air, and luckily the holograms don’t follow us.
I’ve never been as relieved in my life as when the stone wall closes in on the nightmare inside.
‘How are we doing on points?’ Mace asks, gazing at the wall of the cave as if he could annihilate it with the power of his disapproving stare. ‘Did the mission count for something?’
Of course. The charmed fucking points.
‘Let me see.’ Allen taps on his ART haltingly. His wrist must be still aching. Eventually, he says, ‘Yup, all good on the stats. We got the points, but we’re still in second place.’
‘Brilliant,’ says Xandra, though it doesn’t particularly seem like she means it.
Allen turns the ART towards us. ‘I can get a live feed from inside the cave.’ He shows us an image of a limp golden flag planted in front of the back wall. It looks so peaceful and abandoned, no sign of the battle we had to wage to get there.
‘That was weird,’ Julian says. ‘It looks so inconspicuous now.’
‘Yes,’ says Allen. ‘I think that’s the idea. The question is, why keep that kind of information walled off from The Citadel? And why go through so much trouble to protect it?’
Mace’s expression is grim. ‘Stella sent us the next location we need to reach. Let’s get moving, team.’
‘Of course,’ I say. ‘We wouldn’t want to dawdle and lose precious points.’