The order to deploy came at 08:00 hours.
By 08:30, Squad 7-2 was packed.
They did not have personal items. They had gear. Redcliff-manufactured combat plate. Thermal under-suits. Magnetic-lock boots for fighting on the roof of a moving train.
Kael stood by his locker. He checked his sword.
It was a standard-issue mono-filament blade. He ran a diagnostic cloth over the edge. It came away clean. The blood of the old priest was gone. The memory was not.
"Load up," Kael said.
His voice sounded hollow in the small room.
He could feel Tav's hunger in the back of his mind. He could feel Lin's adrenaline, a sharp metallic taste. He could feel Morse's resentment.
Morse had not looked at Kael since the pit. Morse had been ready to kill the old man. But he hadn't liked watching Kael do it. It made Kael look like Hark.
They walked out of the barracks. They climbed the steel stairs to the surface.
The wind had died down, but the cold was absolute. Northgate sat on the edge of the habitable world. Beyond the wall, the ice went on forever.
A transport truck waited for them. It was armored. No windows. Veiled soldiers were not supposed to see the city they protected.
They climbed in. The doors slammed shut.
"Where are we going, Cap?" Lin asked. She sat across from him, sharpening a knife that was already sharp.
"Train detail," Kael said. "Northern Line. Transport run to Fenricia."
Tav grunted. "Baby run?"
The truck lurched forward.
"Cargo is classified," Kael said.
"It's always classified," Morse muttered. "Until you hear the crying."
Kael closed his eyes.
The headache from the sensor reset was a dull throb now. He tried not to think about the future. He tried to stay in the dark of the truck.
The Northgate Rail Depot was a fortress within a fortress. It was located at the base of the mountain, under the shadow of the Iron Citadel.
The truck stopped. The doors opened. The noise hit them first. A low, constant hum that vibrated in the chest.
They stepped out onto the platform.
The Iron Artery was waiting.
It was massive. The locomotive was three stories tall, encased in black steel armor three meters thick. There were no windows on the front, only sensor slits glowing red.
It sat on triple rails, elevated twenty meters above the ground on concrete pillars.
It looked like a beast that ate distance. The veins of a dead god, the Rust Gospel called it.
Kael looked down the line of cars. There were fifty of them. Some were flatbeds covered in tarps, strapped down with kinetic chains. Some were armored boxcars. The kinetic shields on the sides were retracted, exposing the heavy rivets.
"Squad 7-2," a voice boomed. "Platform 4."
A Pure officer stood by the boarding ramp. He held a datapad. He did not look at them. He wore a mask over his mouth, even though the air in the depot was clean. Pure citizens hated breathing the same air as Veiled.
Kael handed over his identification chip.
"Boarding authorized," the officer said. "You are assigned to Car 4. Rear guard."
"Car 4?" Kael asked. "That's near the engine. Rear guard is usually the caboose."
The officer looked up. His eyes were cold above the mask.
"Car 4 is high-value cargo," he said. "High Marshall's orders. You guard the door. You do not enter the car. You do not speak to the crew. You shoot anything that tries to get in. You shoot anything that tries to get out."
Kael paused. Anything that tries to get out.
"Understood," Kael said.
He signaled his squad. They walked up the metal ramp. The boots clanged on the grate. They passed the engine.
A man was leaning out of the maintenance hatch. He was wiping grease from his hands with a rag. He was Pure, but he didn't look like the officer. He looked tired. He wore oil-stained coveralls.
He stopped wiping his hands when he saw Kael. He looked at Kael's face. Then he looked at Kael's sword.
"You're the new detail?" the man asked.
Kael stopped. Veiled were not supposed to talk to civilians. But on the train, the rules were different. The train was a world of its own.
"Squad 7-2," Kael said. "Lieutenant Vance."
The man nodded. "Marcus Sol. Senior Engineer."
Marcus Sol. Kael knew the name. This man had driven the Northern Line for thirty years. He was a legend among the rail crews. They said he counted every Discordi he killed.
"We are assigned to Car 4," Kael said.
Marcus's face hardened. He looked away, down the track.
"Car 4," Marcus said. He spat on the concrete. "Right. Don't ask what's inside, Lieutenant. You sleep better if you don't know."
"I don't sleep well anyway," Kael said.
Marcus looked back at him. He studied Kael's eyes. He saw the red stain in the corner of the left pupil.
"You're the one," Marcus said softly. "The one Hark is watching."
Kael stiffened. "I follow orders."
"Sure you do," Marcus said. He tossed the rag back into the hatch. "We leave in ten minutes. Strap in. I don't slow down for weather."
Marcus disappeared inside the engine. Kael walked to Car 4.
Car 4 was different from the others. It had no external markings. The steel was newer. There were extra locks on the sliding door.
There was a small guard antechamber at the front of the car. It was two meters by three meters. Just enough room for four soldiers to sit.
They entered. The door sealed behind them with a hiss of pressurized air.
"Tight fit," Tav grunted. He sat on a fold-down bench. His knees almost touched the opposite wall.
Lin sat on the floor. She checked the seals on her suit.
Morse stood by the viewport. It was a narrow slit of reinforced glass, ten centimeters tall. He looked out at the depot.
"We're moving," Morse said.
A shudder went through the floor. The wheels screamed.
The train did not start slow. The electric engines engaged with a snap that threw them back against the wall. Within seconds, they were moving at 100 kilometers per hour. Within a minute, 200.
They burst out of the depot and into the light.
The world turned white. The Northgate plateau rushed by. Snow, rock, ice.
Kael sat by the inner door. The door that led to the cargo hold.
It was locked from the outside. There was a keypad, but he didn't have the code. He put his hand on the metal. It was cold.
Sorrow.
The feeling hit him so hard he gasped. It wasn't his sorrow. It wasn't Tav's hunger or Lin's focus. It was coming from the other side of the door.
"Cap?" Tav asked. "You okay?"
Kael pulled his hand back. "Fine."
"You spiked again," Lin said. She was looking at him with wide eyes. "Like yesterday. But... louder."
"It's the sensor reset," Kael lied. "My neural pathways are raw."
"That didn't feel like a reset," Morse said from the window. "That felt like screaming."
Kael stood up. He paced the small room. Three steps turn. Three steps turn.
"We have a job," Kael said. "Tav, monitor the comms. Lin, check the weapon ports. Morse, eyes on the Veil."
They moved to their stations. They were professionals. They were bred for this. But the silence in the room was heavy.
Two hours out of Northgate. Speed: 400 km/h.
They were in the Northern Veil. The terrain was frozen tundra. Glaciers cut through the rock like scars.
Kael stood at the viewport. He didn't use his power. He didn't need to. His regular eyes were engineered to see heat signatures.
He saw them in the distance.
Discordi. The Frost-Bone Clan.
They were running parallel to the tracks, far out on the ice. They were fast. They moved on all fours, wearing white furs. They couldn't catch the train. Nothing could catch the train.
"Hostiles at three o'clock," Kael said. "Range two kilometers. No threat."
"They're watching us," Lin said. She was looking through a scope. "Counting the cars."
"Let them count," Tav said. "They can't touch us."
Thump.
A sound came from the cargo hold. It was soft. Like a small body hitting the wall.
Kael froze.
Thump. Thump.
"Did you hear that?" Kael asked.
"Hear what?" Morse asked. "Engine noise?"
"Inside," Kael said. He pointed to the sealed door.
Tav stopped checking the comms. He tilted his massive head. "I hear... movement," Tav said. "Shuffling."
Kael stepped closer to the door. He put his ear against the cold steel.
He heard it.
Breathing. Not one person. Many. Short, shallow breaths.
And then, a sound that cut through the engine roar.
A whimper.
"Open the door," Kael said.
"Cap," Morse warned. "Orders. We do not enter."
"I said open the door," Kael said. "Tav, rip the panel."
Tav looked at Kael. He looked at the keypad. Tav was strong enough to lift a small vehicle.
"This is a court-martial," Tav said.
"I don't care," Kael said. "Do it."
Tav stood up. He jammed his fingers into the gap between the keypad and the wall. Metal groaned. With a grunt of effort, he ripped the electronic lock off the frame. Sparks showered the floor.
The door mechanism clicked. The seal broke.
Kael grabbed the handle and slid the heavy door open.
The smell hit them first. Unwashed bodies. Fear. Waste.
The cargo hold was dark. Kael's eyes adjusted instantly. He saw cages.
They were stacked floor to ceiling. Chicken wire and steel frames. Inside the cages were children. There were dozens of them. Maybe fifty. They were small. Toddlers. Babies.
Some were crying silently. Some were asleep. Some were staring at the light from the door.
They were Discordi.
Kael saw the deformities. A child with three eyes. A child with skin like bark. A child with no legs. They were huddled together for warmth.
Kael stopped breathing.
This is the cargo, he thought. This is the high-value cargo.
"Rust and Iron," Tav whispered behind him.
Lin made a sound like she was going to be sick.
Kael walked into the car. The floor vibrated under his boots. He stopped at a cage near the bottom.
Inside, a girl was holding a baby. She looked about five years old. She had scales on her cheeks. She looked at Kael. She looked at his uniform. She shrank back, pulling the baby closer.
She was terrified of him.
You are the monster, the voice in his dream had said.
Kael reached out. He took off his glove. He put his hand on the wire mesh.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said.
The girl didn't move.
"Cap," Morse said from the doorway. His voice was shaking. "We have to close this. If Solara finds out..."
"Solara knows," Kael said. The realization hit him like a physical blow.
She assigned me here. She knew.
Did she send him here to guard them? Or did she send him here so he would see? The war is not about land, he realized. It's about this.
Suddenly, the train lurched. The brakes screamed.
Kael was thrown against the cages. The children screamed.
"Report!" Kael shouted.
"Emergency braking!" Tav yelled. "Inertial dampeners are failing!"
The train was slowing down. Fast. From 400 to 300 to 200.
"We're under attack," Lin said. She pulled her knives.
"No," Kael said. "Discordi can't stop the train."
He ran back to the antechamber. He looked out the viewport.
The train was entering a canyon. The walls were high and red. They were entering the Western Veil. Redcliff territory. But they weren't stopping because of an attack.
Kael saw the track ahead. The rails were glowing.
"Plasma," Kael said.
A figure was standing on the tracks, five hundred meters ahead. It was a woman. She wore the black stealth armor of a Fenricia Asset. She had her hand raised. A ball of white fire, bright as a sun, hovered above her palm.
"It's a Veiled," Morse said. "One of ours."
"Why is she stopping us?" Tav asked.
Kael watched the figure.
The train screeched to a halt fifty meters from the woman. The kinetic shields deployed with a clang.
The intercom crackled.
"This is Asset 7-2," Kael spoke into the comms. "Identify."
The voice that came back was cold. Sharp.
"Asset 9-1," the woman said. "Lysistrata Corvo. Boarding for inspection."
Kael knew the name. The Judge of Fenricia.
"Inspection?" Kael asked. "This is a sealed transport."
"I am aware," Lyss said. "I am tracking a fugitive. My sensors indicate he is on your train."
"We have no fugitives," Kael said. "Only cargo."
"Then you have nothing to fear," Lyss said. "Open the door, or I will melt it."
Kael looked at his squad. He looked at the open door to the cargo hold. He looked at the cages. If she saw the children...
Wait. She was Veiled. She was Fenricia. Fenricia was where the children were going.
She knew. She had to know.
"Let her in," Kael said.
"Cap?" Tav asked.
"Let her in," Kael repeated. He put his hand on his sword hilt. "But keep your safeties off."
The outer door hissed open.
Lyss jumped up. She landed lightly in the antechamber.
She was shorter than Kael, but she moved with a grace that made her seem dangerous. Her red hair was in a tight braid. She looked at the squad. Her green eyes scanned them. She wasn't looking at their faces. She was looking at their intent.
She looked at Kael.
Her eyes widened slightly. She saw it. The Gen-12 marker. The instability. Then she looked past him. At the open door. At the cages.
She walked to the door. She looked inside. She stood there for a long time. The only sound was the crying of the children.
Kael watched her hand. Small sparks of plasma danced between her fingers.
"You knew," Kael said softly.
Lyss turned around. Her face was a mask. Cold. Calculating.
"Of course I knew," she said. "I was processed at Fenricia. Where do you think we come from, Vance?"
She gestured to the cages.
"That's you," she said. "Twenty years ago. That's me."
"Why are you here?" Kael asked.
"I told you," Lyss said. "I'm hunting a fugitive."
She walked past Kael, into the cargo car. She walked down the aisle of cages.
"Who?" Kael asked.
"A scientist," Lyss said. "Dr. Aris. He defected from Fenricia two days ago. He stole a vial of Gen-13 baseline serum."
She stopped at the back of the car. There was a storage locker.
"He's hiding," Lyss said. "He thinks he's clever."
She raised her hand. A sphere of plasma formed. It hummed with power.
"Come out, Doctor," she said. "I can smell your cruelty."
The locker door burst open.
A man in a white coat fell out. He was scrambling, trying to run. He held a silver briefcase.
"Please!" the man screamed. "I was trying to save them! The serum... it can cure them without the surgery!"
Lyss looked at him. Her plasma swirled. It turned from white to gold.
"Liar," Lyss said. "You were going to sell it to Redcliff. You don't care about the children. You care about the patent."
"No!" the doctor yelled. He pulled a pistol from his coat. He aimed at Lyss.
Kael's power flared.
Future 1:
The doctor fires. Lyss dodges. The bullet hits a cage. A child dies.
Lyss burns the doctor alive.
She kills Kael for letting the child die.
Future 2:
Kael throws his knife. It hits the doctor's hand.
The doctor drops the gun.
Lyss takes him into custody.
Future 3:
Kael steps in front of the bullet.
It hits his armor.
He takes the doctor down non-lethally.
Kael moved. Future 3.
He stepped between Lyss and the doctor.
Bang.
The bullet struck Kael's chest plate. It shattered on the Redcliff ceramic. It felt like a punch, but it didn't penetrate.
Kael lunged. He grabbed the doctor's wrist. He twisted. The bone snapped. Discordi strength. The doctor screamed and dropped the gun. Kael swept his leg. The doctor hit the floor hard.
Kael put his boot on the doctor's neck.
"Threat neutralized," Kael said.
He looked at Lyss. She was staring at him. Her plasma sphere faded.
"You blocked the shot," she said.
"There were children behind you," Kael said.
Lyss looked at the cages. She looked at the bullet mark on Kael's chest. Her eyes softened, just a fraction.
"You're an idiot, Vance," she said.
She walked over to the doctor. She grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up.
"He's mine," she said. "I'm taking him back to Fenricia."
"On this train?" Kael asked.
"Yes," Lyss said. "I'm commandeering a cabin. And Vance?"
"What?"
"Close the cargo door," she said quietly. "Looking at them won't save them."
She dragged the doctor out of the car.
Kael stood alone in the aisle. The girl in the cage was still watching him. She reached out a small, scaled hand. She touched the wire where Kael's hand had been.
Kael felt his heart breaking. It was a slow, grinding break.
He walked back to the antechamber. Tav was waiting. He looked shaken.
"Cap," Tav said. "What do we do?"
Kael looked at the keypad Tav had ripped off the wall. He couldn't lock the door again.
"We guard them," Kael said.
"Guard them from who?" Lin asked. "The Discordi?"
"No," Kael said. He looked out the window at the passing cliffs.
"From everyone," Kael said.
The train picked up speed. It roared into the dark of the canyon. And in the noise of the wheels, Kael heard the song again.
Run, the woman sang. Run.
But there was nowhere to run. They were on the rails. And the rails only went one way.