Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series) (46 page)

“Highways…” Major said, looking at them.

Dresden shook his head. “Highways are crammed with cars, there’s no way—”

“Clear now … All the roads are. No cars, no obstructions. Assembly … got it all.”

“The Collectors,” Mira said. She’d only seen a Collector once. They were giant machines the Assembly deployed in ruins to collect all the scrap that was there for recycling. In a way, she supposed it made sense they would have cleaned the streets. They used the raw material to build the Citadel, and the Citadel was beyond massive.

Mira looked up at Dresden and Conner. “If that’s the case, then the Landships can operate
inside
the city. We can use them in the fight.”

“Maybe,” Conner answered. “Even just one car in the middle of a road makes it unusable, but, yeah, I don’t see why we can’t try.”

“You hear that, Major?” Mira said, looking back at the kid. “We’re going to go get—”

Major hadn’t heard. He’d gone limp, his eyes closed. He was with the rest of his men now. He’d come here to save one group of people. The information he’d provided might save more, but he would never know. Mira sighed. As much as he deserved to be mourned and honored, the realization of just what was happening in San Francisco didn’t allow for it. If what remained of the Phantom Regiment were fighting for their lives, then that meant Mira might lose them and their knowledge of the ruins. It might mean the difference between reaching Zoey and not.

Mira turned and looked at Conner and Dresden. “I hate to ask this, but—”

“We have to save them, I get it,” Conner stated without irony or hesitation. “Without them, it’s going to be a hell of a lot tougher.”

Mira was surprised by his acceptance. They had come a long way, Conner and his people. They had all cast their fate to the same wind.

Mira looked at Dasha. Dasha nodded back, and Mira could see the eagerness in her eyes.

“Let’s move,” Mira said, and then they were all up, Max tearing back the way they’d come, blazing a path through the rubble.

“When we get back to the train,” she told Dresden, “find Smitty, tell him to bring a welding kit.”

Dresden studied her curiously. “You have a plan.”

Mira did, in fact. One as dangerous as it was improbable, but all her plans seemed to be of that kind lately. But if there were as many Assembly where they were heading as it seemed, it might be their only shot.

“Do I want to know?” Dresden asked further.

“Definitely not.”

38.
WHERE THE WINDS TAKE YOU

THE DARK RUMBLED
around Mira as she finished the Mercurian artifact, watching as the Interfuse took hold and the combination hummed to life. Sparks lit up the darkness as Smitty finished welding the last of the column in place. It was made out of bits and pieces he’d taken off the remaining Landships. It wasn’t pretty, but it should work just like any other Landship Grounder. Mira handed Smitty the Mercurian and he started attaching it under the top edge.

Her artifact, the horrible one that manipulated the Tone, was wired into the Grounder, ready to be activated, and the idea gave her pause. She just hoped the Grounder worked, redirecting the effect of the combination into the superstructure of the train, instead of just amplifying it even further. If it didn’t work, when it was switched on … she might Succumb the entire army all at once.

Never again, you said,
Ambassador projected, and it carried a tangible feeling of betrayal. She understood the alien’s reservations, and it was right, she
had
promised, but, as usual, things had gotten complicated.

I know,
she projected back,
but you see the advantage it gives us, right?

It is abomination.

Mira sighed.
Yes, I agree, but you
see
the advantage?

There was no response from the alien.

Ambassador,
she projected again,
I
need
to know you understand.

Yes,
it finally answered.
We understand.

Just factor it into your strategy. It should push them toward you. When it does …

Rock. Paper. Scissors.

Mira smiled as her radio headset crackled, Dresden’s voice echoed in her ear. “Mira, you almost ready?”

Smitty looked up at her and nodded.

“I think we’re done, yeah,” she answered. “Why?”

“Take a look.”

Mira moved for a ladder inside the compartment and scaled it, popping open a hatch in the ceiling. It was night now. Outside, the wind blew her hair wildly and she felt the rumbling of
Sorcerer
’s locomotives vibrating through her. All that power, from diesel and fire, made for a much different ride than the
Wind Shear.

She could see the Helix deployed on top of the train, crouched and ready. Osprey dropships roared along above, carrying silver Spiders and Mantises. Landships, shadows on either side, their sails plumed outward, rolled over the smooth cement of a highway, wide enough for them to run in pairs. It was like Major had said, the roads
had
been cleared, there were no obstructions, which meant they could use ships in the city. If only they had the full fleet, she thought.

Mira pushed the thoughts away. They
didn’t
have the full fleet, she reminded herself, and there was no point thinking about it.

She looked ahead, down the line of train cars to where the tracks were taking them.

There were lights in the distance, coming closer. Tracer fire flared into the sky. Plasma bolts and missiles streaked through the air. Explosions blossomed up and, for brief moments, illuminated the large buildings that surrounded the old manufacturing facility that was their goal.

The scale of the battle, even from this far away, was striking. She’d never seen anything like it, and they were heading right for it. Looking at it all, it was hard to imagine they weren’t already too late.

“Valley of Fires, huh?” Mira said into the radio.

“Yeah,” Dresden replied after a moment. “Good luck, friend.”

“You too, Dresden.”

The ruins of San Francisco grew on the horizon. She could see the flickering lights of the Citadel stretching into the sky. It was all just miles away. She shook her head as the first of the projections reached her. Thousands of them, all in the ruins. She would have to fight them, push them away, and she hoped she was up for it. Mira had never had this many in her head at once.

Dasha crouched next to her, and Mira looked up at her. It was time.

“Seek,” Mira said.

Dasha smiled. “And find.”

She moved off and Mira hit the button on her radio. “Do it.”

She felt the train rumble harder as it picked up speed, thundering forward and leaving the Landships behind. Above, Osprey engines roared as they accelerated, and she could sense the feelings of anticipation from the silvers. There was no doubt conflict would find them this time.

Mira slid back down the ladder and moved for the Grounder. Smitty was holding a rifle now, ready to fight with everyone else. The sight made her hesitate. He wasn’t a fighter, none of the Wind Traders were, but here he was.

He stared at her and shrugged. “You go where the winds take you, not the other way around.”

Mira nodded, gripped his shoulder.

The train shook hard, she heard the hum of a Barrier combination activate as plasma bolts sparked into it. They were in range, both to fire and be fired upon. It was now or never.

She moved for her artifact. Her hands shook. Other than the quick use of it with Ambassador, the last time she’d used the thing was in Midnight City, and she’d watched someone she’d once considered a close friend twisted and destroyed by it. If the Grounder didn’t work right …

More explosions flared outside. The train shook.

Mira flipped open the pocket watch and stepped back. So did Smitty. “What exactly does this thing do?”

The black, squirming light, like a mass of worms, slowly fizzled into the air.

“Never mind, don’t tell me.” He backed up farther.

Mira tensed, watching the black light grow, a sign the Grounder wasn’t working, and that—

The blackness was sucked back down into the combination, and she felt the floor under her vibrate strangely.

A mass of projections assaulted her mind from outside like an explosion. Her knees buckled, she went limp, and if it hadn’t been for Smitty catching her, she would have hit the floor.

The sensations were all the same. Revulsion. Shock. Fear.

She could feel the Assembly recoil as one, pulling back in a wave as the train and the effect from her artifact rumbled toward them.

The loud harmonic pings of Antimatter cannons filled the air. She heard Ospreys move into a hover, heard the loud thuds as the silver walkers cut loose and hit the ground.

Sorcerer
shuddered violently as it slowed, and Mira and Smitty moved for the side door. When they reached it, he stared at her with emotion.

“Crazy to say it, I know,” Smitty said, “but this is the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done.”

Mira felt emotion swell in her, and she looked back at him. “Thank you for coming, Smitty.”

Then they yanked open the door and stumbled out into chaos, planting themselves against the back of a rusted water tower.

Explosions blossomed everywhere in the night, colored crystals shot through the air, plasma bolts singed past. Distorted bursts of sound punctuated flashes of light as Brutes teleported in with reinforcements. Spiders, Mantises, Hunters, all adding firepower to the rest.

In the distance, she saw blue and white walkers explode, saw a flight of Raptors crash into an old warehouse and, all the while, the Assembly were moving back and away, trying to get as far from
Sorcerer
and the horrible perverted signal it was broadcasting as they could. It was
working.

Mira could feel the same revulsion from the silvers, the same anxiety, but they held their ground.

“Move as one!” Dasha yelled as she leapt into the air, followed by a thousand White Helix, their Lancets firing as they darted through the old train yard.

Mira looked around quickly, trying to find any sign of—

She saw it, about a hundred yards away. The distinctive, strobic flashing of gunfire. Someone had taken up a defensive position in front of the biggest building she could see, with three huge smokestacks stretching into the air. It had to be the Regiment.

Mira started to move … then saw a small, gray shape bound out of the train. Its eyes found her almost immediately. Its tail wagged in spite of the destruction going on around it.

“Coming, mutt?” she yelled as she ran. Max raced after her.

They both dodged through explosions and plasma bolts. Blue and white gunships streaked over the battle, strafing the factory and
Sorcerer
and everything in between.

She saw new crystals streak through the air and connect, big ones, blowing the Raptors to pieces. Mira looked behind her and saw what she’d hoped.

The Landships had caught up, they were adding their firepower to the rest.

Her radio crackled. “Mira, you out there?”

“Go, Dresden.”

“Gonna try and pull the Raptors off you, circle them back into the landscape, catch ’em in a crossfire.”

“Be careful,” she said with hesitation.

The Landships banked hard, their Antimatter crystals streaking back to their cannons. The Raptors took the bait, engines roaring as they raced after the ships, freeing up the skies.

Mira and Max ran, made it to the building, and prayed whoever was outside didn’t blow them away as they approached. They didn’t. Instead, they motioned her closer, and she and Max leapt over a ring of old cars that had been piled together to make fortifications.

There were about forty fighters there, some shooting through gun ports, others reloading … and many more lying in the middle, wounded, moaning. It was a testament to what they’d been through. The fact they were still alive showed just how tough they were.

“It’s my sincere hope,” a tall, muscular kid behind a rusted van yelled, “you’re gonna tell me how in hell you pushed ’em back like that. Not that I’m complaining.”

“You in charge here?” Mira shot back, moving for him.

The kid studied her skeptically. He was past twenty, his eyes almost as black as Major’s, and he would have been good-looking if not for the shrapnel scars on his face.

“If you wanna call it that, sure,” he finally said. “I don’t think anyone could be in charge of this mess. Call me Shue.”

“You got radios, Shue?” Mira asked.

“No, we use smoke signals. Of course we got radios.”

“Tell your men not to shoot the
silver
Assembly,” Mira said pointedly. “They’re on your side.”

Shue seemed beyond skeptical. “On
our
side?”

“It’s a long story.”

All around them White Helix flipped into the air in bursts of yellow and purple, their Lancets spinning blurs of color. Bigger versions of the crystals shot out from the sides of the huge, armored train that had pulled into the yard, exploding through blue and white walkers.

“Who the hell are you people?” Shue asked, studying it all.

“We were supposed to meet in Burleson, your leader set it up. We’re here to help. What’s your status?”

“Holding on, but without Isaac, things are going bad. He always pulls us out of scraps like this.”

Isaac must have been the leader. “Where is he?”

Shue nodded up and behind them, to where the factory yard ended in a street lined with old office buildings. One was burning, flames licking the side, and it looked like something had crashed into it.

“Bastards brought in Vultures right at the beginning, when we were still bunched up. One of the claws got him, but I took the thing down with a SAM. At close range, those things go down pretty easy. Crashed right there, had Isaac and a few other kids in its grip. I sent a small team … but I don’t think they made it. I’ve never seen anything like this, this many Assembly all in one place. It’s hell. Even for Sisco.”