Valen

Dry ground was a small mercy.

The loamy ground still shifted and sank beneath Valen's boots, plants and roots carved their straight path into a maze, and orchards in new bloom occasionally obscured their destination. But as the mud plastered on Darius' left leg could attest, their progress would be much slower if the fields had recently been flooded.

"Of the four of us," Hendricks said as they crested another furrow. He scuttered down the far side and barely managed to avoid the apple tree at the bottom of the small hill. "I thought the guy who grew up in a farming field would know better than to jump into the bottom of an irrigation trench."

"Says the High-Central brat who actually ate the mushrooms growing in the shadow of the wall," Darius retorted as he slid down the side of the hill and passed Hendricks. "How long were you bedridden from that?"

"Six days," Mildred said, as she followed Darius. "I remember, because I had to empty his-" Mildred's mocking tirade was stopped as she her foot caught on a root, and she flopped hard onto the soil, skidding to a stop.

"I hate dirt," Mildred muttered as she pushed herself to her feet. Despite the humour in her tumble, neither Hendricks nor Darius laughed.

There was only so much laughter that could be shared on a night like this. But as clumsy as they were, Valen knew they were making good time. The rumble of the Golem's march shook the earth beneath their feet, and it propelled his group forward too often for their vigour to fade.

"I see someone," Darius said, pointing up ahead. He slowed after he pointed, and tilted his head in confusion. "Three people."

"I know," Valen replied, still moving. "I saw them before we crested the last furrow. The one with the hat dropped one of the others, but they look like they're getting along now."

"One of them is pointing back at the wall," Darius added.

"Sure they're not pointing at us?" Mildred asked.

Darius turned around, and stopped abruptly, his mouth hanging open. "No. They're definitely pointing up," Darius insisted. His voice was quiet, and the finger pointing back the way they had come trembled.

Something about Darius' behaviour made Valen shiver. He slowed to a stop at the top of a furrow and turned around.

And stood beneath a Golem's gaze.

The stone head was half as thick as the watchtower, a titanic mass of black stone riddled with cracks and craters, some of it glowing with still fading heat. Its head, and shoulders were shrouded in a thin cloak of steam from the dewy night air. Fire billowed from the caverns of its eyes, and small streams of still-blazing molten metal trickled down the massive stone face.

"Burn me," Hendricks whispered. "It's at the wall."

"We expected this," Valen said, and he hoped he could convince himself as much as the others. "Don't worry. Our comrades are at the controls. They'll light the fields once the Golem starts hitting the wall. We'll have hours to make it to the Causeway."

"Right sir," Hendricks said. "Sorry."

"Let's keep going," Valen said, and he pointed towards the work camp, where two of the three figures in the distance were running towards the nearby buildings. "All that thing's doing is giving us more reason to not stand around gawking."

Another minute of running brought them close enough that the woman waved, and put a hand to her ear. Valen put his hands to his lips, and called out, "You need to evacuate!"

The woman waited until they drew a little closer before she called out in response. "Those two are waking the kids up now! They should be ready to move soon."

"Good," Valen shouted, and he put a little more effort into his run until he approached the woman in the hat.

The woman waiting for them had a mannerism that reminded Valen quite a bit of a soldier. From her stance and her careful movements she was used to running, and he didn't need to have seen her drop the young boy on his ass to know she was used to violence. She was also slightly too old to be one of the youth in the prison work camp.

She was also, mercifully, not gibbering in terror at the sight of the Golem.

"Miss," Valen said, as he approached. He slowed to a walk, and held out his hand. "Corporal Valen Redgrave. We're here to make sure your people evacuate. I'm sure you can see why."

"I caught the subtle hint," the woman in the hat replied as she shook his hand. "Gwendolyn Aranhall, I'm the overseer for this work camp."

"Are there any other overseers to alert?" Valen asked, glancing around. "Or any other workers who camp nearby?

"No. Just me the kids."

Valen turned his head to the others. "Mildered, go follow the girl that ran back to her dorm, and help hurry them along. Darius, Hendricks, same for the boy. This is our muster point. Make sure they have coats and pack some water."

"Aye, sir," all three soldiers saluted, before they ran off on their assignments.

"Do you need to pack, Miss Aranhall?" Valen asked. "If you have medical supplies or dry foods, it might make a difference."

"Medical kit, I have a field kit in the greenhouse. It's in a bag, I don't need to pack it, I'll be right back," Gwendolyn said, her hand half rising to a salute before she decided against it. She turned away and dashed off to a small shack set away from the other buildings.

As Gwendolyn Aranhall ran off, Valen found himself alone for the first time since they had first heard the Golem's march. The trembling in his legs was harder to ignore, the hand resting on his sword fidgeted incessantly, and his own thoughts were fixed on the causeway connecting their wall to the next, looking for the nearest access point.

The causeway was a raised road connecting from one wall to another, held as high as the walls by a series of arched pillars that stitched each layer of the walls together. Built overtop the pipes that fed fire and water to the fields and the walls, sturdy enough to build train tracks on, they served as a safe way to evacuate even if the Gloam claimed the fields below.

It was only because he was watching the causeway that Valen saw a troop of small shadows flit betweem the torches. The shadows started at the watchtower, drawing his eyes, and moved at a steady pace towards where the causeway connected.

Nine figures. The column of shadows were easy to count as they cast long shadows one at a time crossing over the causeway. Nine shadows, and there were only nine other people stationed at the watchtower they had just vacated.

Valen recalled Sergeant Ewanmourn's trembling hands, that seemed to yearn for the alcohol he had left a floor below. He recalled the sergeant's quiet dread, and a whispered worry that sounded like a promise.

"We're not going to save everyone," Ewanmourn had said.

Something at the edge of Valen's sight drew his eyes back to the Golem, which was raising a massive fist into the air. The Golem's arm stopped for a long, terrible moment, before its whole mass twisted, stone groaned and cracked, and the giant hurled its fist into the wall.

The force of the blow hit Valen in the chest, knocking against the air in his lungs before the noise reached his ears. He instinctively put his foot back to keep himself from stumbling. The lantern at the wall shook, its wobble amplified by the shaking of the beam of light, before it leaned forward and toppled off the wall.

And as the lanternlight vanished, Valen's sight fell on the wall, and what the Golem had done to it. The battlements were bowed-in. Cracks the length of train cars cleaved through stone blocks. The top fifth of the wall had a distinct bulge, and the entire section had developed a noticeable lean.

"Embers of the end," Valen whispered. Ewanmourn had fled, and the wall could only offer him a few more minutes.

Valen sprinted after Gwendolyn, rushing through the shed door before it had closed behind her. The woman jumped when he crashed through the doorway, and she clutched at small plant in a cloth satchel. A larger black back was open on the bench beside her, and even from here Valen could see the bandages and vials strapped to the inside walls.

Valen turned to the shelves, and asked, "Miss Aranhall, do you have any spare torches?"

"Torches," Gwendolyn repeated, turning to one of the nearby shelves. She pointed to a stack of sticks set on the top shelf. "A dozen. Each lasts half an hour. And what the hell was that last sound I heard?"

"That was the Golem hitting the wall," Valen said, as he gathered the torches up and tucked them under his arm. "We shouldn't need these, but tonight's a bad night to be unprepared."

He hoped his confidence was enough to preempt her suspicions, and pointed to another one of the shelves. "Is there anything else we can use on this march?"

"No. It's all just soil samples and seedlings. I'm ready to go," Gwendolyn said.

Valen nodded and headed back out into the night, just as the first of the youth from the dorms arrived at the muster point. The few in front were closely followed by a dozen more, none of them keen to be very far apart. Gwendolyn ran ahead, shouting, "Right there! Good, and make sure you packed some water. We might spend the entire night walking."

Valen rejoined the other soldiers, who were gathered just apart from the youth, and talking among themselves. They stopped and saluted when they saw Valen approach.

"Was everyone up and getting dressed?" Valen asked.

"Yes sir," Mildred replied. Darius and Hendricks affirmed a moment later. "We stressed the need to stay together, Darius and I both did a walk through the dorm, to make sure no one was left behind."

"Well done," Valen nodded in approval, but his praise was Something in the distance shifted, and he pointed back towards the wall, just as the Golem began to raise its arm again.

This time, Valen was prepared enough to let himself watch the Golem's titanic fist as it smashed against the wall. It's flight through the air was like standing in front of a train platform while the cars blitzed by without stopping. The wall cracked and split, cracks racing across the stone an instant before the howling crash reached his chest and his ears.

"Burn me," Mildred whispered, as the echoing wail of cracking stone subsided. "That's, just..."

"One strike. Just one strike," Hendricks said.

"The wall won't last long," Valen agreed. Using his right hand he separated the bundle of torches and handed three of them to Darius. He repeated the move for Hendricks, and then Mildred. "Save them in case we need them. Remember, just like the pilot lights, we can be a decent ways apart and still hold the Gloam back. That's an hour and a half of torch you're holding. Hopefully we don't need more."

Valen glanced back at the wall, and decided his next words didn't need to be overheard. "There's more than Golems beyond the walls," Valen said. "If you see something out there, give the torches to Miss Aranhall, or one of the kids if she's not nearby. You'll need both hands."

"Aye sir," they said quietly.

As Valen spoke, the youth began to gather behind the soldiers. They stood attentively, faces scrunched, brows furrowed, hands clasped together, casting furtive glances at the wall. There was so much fear in this group that Valen could practically see it gnaw at whatever courage they possessed.

He was just as afraid, but empathy wasn't what they needed from him. He smiled, rested his right foot on a nearby box, and tried his best to look a lot calmer than he felt. "You are all soldiers now," Valen said, slowly and loudly.

"That over there," Valen continued his speech, and he pointed to the Golem. "That's our enemy. And it doesn't care a whit if you're wearing a uniform or not. Our job right now is to evacuate, report our enemy's position, and make sure the fields are set alight. Because unless any of you can hit that thing with enough force to break one of the walls, you won't even slow it down. Now, does everyone have what they need for a trek to the Causeway? It's a little over a mile from here."

A chorus of murmurs rose from the crowd of teenagers behind Valen's group, more a nose than a response, and everything about Valen's training rose up in indignation. And he wasn't alone in his anger.

Mildred clapped her hands once, shocking the crowd into silence. "Corporal Redgrave asked you festering maggots an ash-stained question! You are soldiers, and soldiers do not simper!"

The noise that came from the crowd in front of Valen was louder, and it was accompanied by nods from some of the faces in the crowd. "Good," Valen said. "Now, until we arrive at our muster point at the next wall, no one does anything alone. You need to relieve yourself, you find a buddy. You want to scout ahead, take a friend. If someone you know is missing, you do not keep it to yourself."

"As for orders, you will obey me, Specialist Mildred Crispin, Privates Darius Tulwar and Hendricks Lamar, and your overseer Ms Gwendolyn Aranhall. Failure to obey a lawful order in the field is subject to the Military Code of Discipline. Now, does anyone know if the furrows run all the way to the Causeway?" Valen asked.

"They do, sir!" someone from the crowd of teenagers called out. "It's done that way for safety. Follow the furrows to a causeway, cross them for a wall."

"Good," Valen said, and there was a chuckle that crept into his voice. The expression was the cornerstone of basic safety training for anyone working at the last wall. "Then we are going to walk towards the next wall until we reach the furrow that lines up with the stairwell. Then we follow that furrow to the causeway. Darius, Mildred, take the lead. Hendricks, rearguard facing the City. If everyone's ready, we move out now."

"Yes, sir!" Mildred, Hendricks and Darius bellowed, and they snapped to attention and saluted, hands over their hearts, before Darius moved to the front of the group, beckoning for them to follow.

Like a train starting from a dead stop, Darius and Mildred moved first, and their march pulled the nearest group of teens into motion. The others fell into step behind, and as the last of the youth started, Valen and Hendricks fell into step just a dozen feet behind. The group set off at a steady march, and even the crackling wall in the distance did little more than make the teenagers jump and point. Valen kept a short distance back, and tucked his three torches into one of the pouches at the side of his backpack.

To his surprise, Gwendolyn fell into step beside him. When he looked to her for an explanation, she said, "No one should be alone. Your rule, sir."

"Fair enough," Valen replied, giving the wall a quick glance. As they crossed another furrow, he wondered for a moment what sounded so much like the patter of rainfall, until he saw the bits of broken stone falling from the wall.

"Listen. At some point I might need you to take the torch from me," Valen said slowly. He shifted his shoulders, careful to keep his Salamander's strap at the edge of his shoulder. "If that happens, stay between me and the kids."

"Why? Are you expecting danger?" Gwendolyn asked. She eyed him shrewdly, and asked, "Your people are going to light the fields, aren't they?"

Valen was given a reprieve from responding for moment by another thunderous blow as the Golem struck the wall again. "That is their duty," Valen said as the noise faded.

"That's an honest man's lie," Gwendolyn said. "Burn me, do the others know?"

"No. Because until I have reason to believe they abandoned their post, I am going to continue to assume the fields will be lit," Valen said, though he couldn't summon the indignation he ought to feel. He couldn't be sure that the entire squad had already run for safety, not even by counting the shadows as they passed. He didn't want to think of how cruel it would be, to have been abandoned in the field.

"How far does the Golem have to get? Before you admit out loud what you have to suspect? And can we make it without them?" Gwendolyn asked.

"Honestly? I had expected them to adjust the outflow pipes by now," Valen admitted.

"Burn me," Gwendolyn cursed, not saying more.

They marched on.

Like the bell of a clock tower, the Golem's fist droned into the night, and Valen wondered if it was him the bell tolled for. The Golem struck the wall three more times before they reached the Causeway. Each strike was followed by a series of cracks and groans, as the wall gave way and collapsed before the onslaught of the Golem's fists.

As Darius began to lead them onto furrow leading to the stairs, one last terrible blast echoed through the air, a roar followed by a long series of smaller crashes. Valen looked back to see stone being launched into the air as the Golems fist swing clean through. The wall hadn't been reduced to ground level, but it was now barely up to the Golem's knee.

And the Gloam came rushing through.