Chapter Text
Tierce thought she could get used to this ‘being safe’ lark. It had been almost a year and a half since the days Sixte had taken to half-jokingly calling ‘the War of the Wolves’, and after seventeen months of nothing more dangerous than a heavy snowfall, the ragdolls were coming around to the idea that there really wasn’t anything else skulking out there that desperately wanted to kill them.
The snowfall was not the only thing that had happened during those seventeen months. Tierce rolled onto her back and listened to her family breathing.
Sixte sat bolt upright and swiped violently at the air in front of him. Tierce propped herself up on her elbows and watched in concerned silence as he slowly stood up and walked around to the cradle at the foot of the bed. He laid a hand on its slumbering occupant’s chest and gave a small sigh of relief.
“Just a bad dream,” he muttered to himself. “That’s all it was. Just a bad dream.” He glanced back at Tierce and saw that she was awake. “I never used to have so many nightmares.”
Tierce joined Sixte next to the cradle and wrapped her arms around his waist. “You never used to have a daughter.”
“Sometimes I worry that we did something totally irresponsible when we brought her into the world.”
“Do you regret it?” asked Tierce quietly.
“Never. But…” He sat down on the edge of the old book that formed the base of their bed. “Our lives haven’t exactly been full of peace and quiet. If anything happened… I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself.”
“Do you really think you’ll ever let anything happen to her?” asked Tierce with a small smile. “You nearly punched Freyja just for frowning at her.”
Neuvieme wriggled in her sleep and managed to haul the blanket uncomfortably around herself, waking herself up in the process. Tierce scooped her up in her arms and disentangled her before she could start to cry. Neuvy frowned up at her mother with a certain degree of infant disapproval for a few seconds, then closed her optics and went back to sleep.
“For what it’s worth,” whispered Tierce once Neuvy was back in her cradle, “I think you’ve taken to fatherhood quite well. Now come back to bed, or you’ll be useless tomorrow.”
The following morning, Sixte stood in the Library doorway and looked out at the city ruins with a sense of dismay. Neuvy peeked curiously over his shoulder from her place in a sling on his back.
“Is it winter again already?” he wondered aloud.
“Close enough,” said Freyja brightly. She walked right past without stopping, rolling a large wooden wheel ahead of her. Crystals of ice from the frost covering the ground melted off her feet as she walked. Sixte bit back a retort and twisted his head around to check that Neuvy was still wrapped up warmly.
“Maybe I should make you a hat,” he said thoughtfully. Neuvy blinked at him. “Keep your head warm when the ice comes in, eh?”
“Couldn’t hurt,” said Freyja, walking back in the other direction. She picked up a coil of tough cord and shook the frost off it.
“What are you doing?” asked Sixte.
“Helping with the winch.” Freyja slung the cord around one shoulder and headed back inside the Library. She met 9 and Tierce coming out and had to duck swiftly to the side to avoid a collision.
“We need wire,” Tierce was telling 9. “Copper’s best – it’s a good conductor, and we’ll need plenty of it if that wind turbine on the roof’s going to do anything. I’d like to try and get it working before the winter really sets in – it’d be good to have heating this year, now we’ve got Neuvy to look after.”
“Steel or aluminium would work too,” said Sixte, “but they don’t conduct as well. Speaking of Neuvy,” he added to Tierce in an undertone, “are you sure you’re all right with her coming scavenging with us?”
“I wouldn’t have allowed it if I wasn’t.” She smiled. “I think you can be trusted to keep an eye on her; she’s as safe with you as she would be here.”
“D’you need anything specific apart from wire?”
“Nah – just take what looks useful. Freyja, is the pulley working yet?”
“Ja. I mean, yes. The twins were making a start on taking the turbine blades up to the roof.”
“Good, I’ll come in and help with the rest in a minute. Shuck’s still being a counterweight?”
“Last time I checked. Don’t take too long.” Freyja glanced over her shoulder and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I think 7’s losing patience with the winch. I should go and intervene.” She tapped the rim of one optic in a sort of vague farewell salute and disappeared into the Library.
Sixte turned his head to look at Neuvy again. “Going to say ‘bye’ to your mum?” Neuvy just gurgled happily when Tierce patted her head. “Close enough.”
Tierce stood up on her toes to rest her optics against Sixte’s. “Be back by nightfall, all right?”
“I think we can manage that.” 9 coughed loudly over by the Library gate. He had found an old rollerskate somewhere and was towing it behind him as a cart. Sixte scowled over at him. “Be patient – we’re trying to have a moment here! Nightfall it is, then. Good luck with the turbine.”
The ruins seemed even quieter than usual as they walked. It was as if the frost had stuck everything together, preventing any rubble collapses and minimising the creaking of timber. Despite that, the cold, clear air meant that any sounds they did hear seemed somehow magnified, from the squeaking of the rollerskate’s wheels to the steady crunch of frost beneath their feet.
“The Old Town’s probably our best bet for copper wire,” said Sixte after an awkward silence.
9 nodded. “If it turns out we can’t find any unused wire – which I doubt – we can always take some from what’s left of those beasts.”
Sixte shuddered and almost unconsciously checked that Neuvy’s sling was still tied securely to his back. “I don’t- I know they’re dead and all, but I don’t want to take Neuvy anywhere near those things. Not after what they did to – after what happened.” He gave his head a firm shake. “It won’t come to that. That whole district’s full of mechanics’ workshops. We’ll be able to find wire without going back to that square.”
He was right, as it turned out. Three hours after they had started looking, when the rollerskate was laden with tiny bolts, scraps of cloth and an old monkey wrench, they found a neat spool of tarnished copper in a broken toolbox. 9 unwound it a little and looked pensively at his own hand, comparing his copper fingers to the green patina on the wire.
“Just keep them clean and that won’t happen to your hands,” said Sixte. “Look, the wire’s still brown once you take the outer layers off.”
They loaded the wire onto the rollerskate and set off again. Neuvy rested her head against her father’s back and fell contentedly asleep.
“So, why are you out here helping me?”
“Because I’m the only one who wasn’t busy, and you can’t carry all this stuff on your own. Besides, Cam told me to.”
“…Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason. Ain’t like she can’t turn on the scary when she needs to. Shh!”
“Do you hear something?”
“I said Shh! Follow me – get up on that roof.”
“Have you seen something?”
“Not seen – heard. Get down!”
“I’ve got the spyglass if you need it.”
“Yeah, give it here. See, there’s something moving out there. No, wait – two somethings.”
“Monsters?”
“No, they’re like us. Guess Cam was right when she set a course out here…”
“Do you think they’re what we’re looking for?”
“Hmm… Yeah, definitely. Here, have a look through the spyglass. See how that tall guy’s dressed? The needles and thread on his belt? He’s just what we’re looking for.”
“You said two people.”
“The other one’s a bit to the right of where you’re looking. He’s brown – kinda blends in with the background. Burlap.”
“Ooh, he’s kinda cute.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s a regular dreamboat. Help me unpack the sparknet.”
“…You’re seriously going to use that thing? Can’t we just ask them?”
“Naw, we can’t take the chance they’d say no. Cam’s orders.”
“But the sparknet…”
“Works.”
“But it seems so dangerous!”
“Worked just fine when I tested it out. Come on – it’s not like us two alone’ll be able to get them back to the ship if they’re struggling all the way. If it goes wrong, you can get Cam to beat me up for it when we get back. Now, let’s go!”
9 studied a small gear for a few seconds and tossed it onto the rollerskate. “How far have we come from the Library now?”
Sixte loaded a length of aluminium pipe onto the skate and tied it in place with a piece of string. “A couple of kilometres, I think. Not far from the edge of the ruins. Oof, I need to sit down for a second.” He leant against the rollerskate and lifted his right foot to take the weight off it. Neuvy was still asleep. Sixte pointed over his shoulder at her, smiling. “It’s incredible – she’ll nap all day if she feels like it, but she never wants to go to sleep when I’m trying to.”
“Is that normal?”
“I dunno. Never had anything to compare it to.” He shifted his weight onto the other foot. “It doesn’t seem to do her any harm. So, have you and 7 got any… plans?”
9 would have blushed if he could. As it was, he pretended to be very busy retying one of the strings on the rollerskate. “I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.”
“Have you even told her how you feel?” 9 gave him an unreadable look. “It’s not exactly like you’ve been making an effort to hide it, and she’s pretty perceptive so I think she’s probably worked it out already, but I don’t think it could hurt to be sure about where you both stand.”
“How did you tell Tierce?”
“Well, I didn’t tell her so much as… suddenly kiss her in the middle of a fencing match and get shouted at by Seconde, but the intent was quite clear. I think I was as surprised as she was.”
“I think 7 might hit me on reflex if I did that.”
“Aye, probably. Warrior instincts and all that. Still, let me know if you think of… Did you hear that?”
9 stood up and took his lightstaff off the rollerskate. “That clicking sound?”
“Aye.” Sixte turned his back to 9 so that Neuvy was between them and drew his sword from his belt. “Sounded like… footsteps…”
There was a tense silence for a few minutes. Nobody moved as they listened intently to see if they could hear the sound again.
“Maybe it was just rubble collapsing,” said 9, his voice hopeful but unconvinced.
“Nothing’s ever just rubble collapsing in this place,” muttered Sixte. He backed slowly towards the rollerskate and took hold of the string tied to it. “Let’s keep moving. We should start to head back if we want to make it to the Library by nightfall.”
They had barely gone a couple of metres when 9 paused again and turned around to say something, and Sixte spotted a flicker of movement in the reflection on his optics. Before either of them could react, a net woven out of flexible wires and fine chains crashed down over them both. Sixte heard himself cry out as electricity screamed through his body, then everything went black.
Tierce tied the third and final turbine blade into place and glanced up at the sky. The sun was below the horizon: only the lingering twilight provided any illumination for them to see by. She nodded decisively and told the twins to start packing up.
Freyja and 7 were both in the doorway: Freyja just relaxing against the doorframe playing cat’s cradle with a piece of thread, and 7 doing some exercises. Without her helmet’s feathers to hide them, the row of stitches that ran all the way up her spine was painfully obvious.
“Any sign of the boys yet?” asked Tierce, trying to keep her voice light and casual.
Freyja took the thread off her hands and wound it around her wrist, shaking her head. 7 let her arms drop to her sides and bent to pick up her helmet.
“They should be back by now,” said Tierce, a definite note of worry creeping into her voice. “I know Sixte can be easily distracted sometimes, but… When he says he’ll be back by nightfall, he means it.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” said Freyja, “but we can go and look for them if it bothers you that much.”
“I’d… It might set my mind at ease.”
7 wordlessly retrieved her new spear from where she had propped it against the doorframe and went to tell the twins where they were going. Freyja stood up and tucked her axe into her belt.
Tracking them down was not as easy as Tierce had hoped. The frost had mostly melted away, leaving no sign of the trail left by the ragdolls’ feet or the skate’s wheels. Only tiny changes in the patterns of dust, so slight that only 7’s experienced eye could make them out, gave them any clue as to where their friends had gone. The trail led them around in a huge semi-circle, ending up not far from the edge of the wasteland. The pile of supplies tangled up with string was lying on the ground. 9, Sixte, Neuvieme and the rollerskate were nowhere to be seen.
7 crouched down to study the ground, pulling her visor down to hide her worried expression. “It doesn’t look like there was a struggle,” she said quietly. “It looks like they just collapsed, then…” She stood up and walked forwards, still looking at the ground. “The wheels left a trail going this way. And look here – footprints.” She looked back at Tierce and Freyja for a moment and ran off, following the faint trail in the dust.
They found the rollerskate abandoned on the edge of the wasteland, lying on its side in the middle of one of the few relatively intact roads. Clear in the dust on either side were the treads of three huge wheels.
Tierce’s bad leg gave way beneath her, forcing her to sit down with a bump. Freyja heaved the rollerskate back up onto its wheels. All three of them gazed down the road after the wheel marks. There was no sign of whatever had made them.
“Well,” said Freyja slowly. “This was unexpected.”