Yet despite the talk of destiny, the horrible vision of the past, the grueling journey both past and yet to come, the vague connections to the Grand Circuit’s best and worst aspects, and the fallout with her brother all still weighing heavily on her; despite all the apprehension, she now felt more than ever ready to confront it.

  Still, who knew that the best place to talk about one’s feelings would be called Lake Dread?

  14. Invisible Empire – August 9, Year 216

  Thankfully, the journey from Lake Dread back into the Circuits proper was much easier than the journey following the Madus, at least so far. They’d decided to take a minor risk, one that cut down time spent in the Red Wastes by at least half. Rather than doing as they did before and follow the Madus to the bridge-crossing, they turned directly south. While there was no landmark to navigate by, as long as they continued in a more or less straight line, they would end up at the black roads of the Red Circuit one way or the other.

  And so far, it seemed to pay off. Although they’d yet to spot to road – the red dunes obstructing vision, as expected – they’d made good time. Or so Sally thought, at least, but without any identifiable landmarks to track distance, she had to go by instinct and experience. Neither she nor Lucy had encountered any trouble navigating the shifting sands, neither had fallen into its clutches, and Lucy seemed to be holding up well, requiring little rest-breaks so far despite the greater-than-usual heat.

  All in all, Sally figured that by noon, they’d travelled over three miles already, if not more. Once the midday sun lowered and the heat lessened, they would continue on until they reached the Circuit proper. Hopefully, this would be before the sun had fully set, but either way they would be out of this place today one way or the other.

  Even if I have to carry her on my back.

  But for now, the sun was still high and they’d decided to wait out the heat, eat lunch and rest for a while. Lucy was seated underneath a cover held up by tent-poles, as per usual, and Sally had even dug a small hole for her to sit in. Underneath the sand directly and constantly bombarded by the rays of the sun, there was a layer of cooler – not cold, cooler – sand, and with the cover hovering over her, it would remain so for a little while longer.

  For any normal person, this would not be worth the effort. Digging a hole in the desert at the hottest time of day, just in order to cool off a little? It was counterproductive, the exertion of the labor being much more tiresome and heat-producing than the cooler desert sand could compensate for.

  But Sally was not a normal person, not anymore. Something she knew from the moment of her first death, something she experienced during the journey toward Cardinar, but something she had only begun to truly accept since Lovesse and Lake Dread.

  So, she dug a hole to give her friend some relief and hopefully make the journey that bit more comfortable, and that bit quicker.

  Lucy had made lunch for them both – although ‘made’ was a bit of an overstatement, since it was old bread from the Red Graces caravan along with a thick slice of cheese, toasted in the sun.

  Despite not feeling hungry, Sally still ate it. Lucy was slowly but continuously drinking water from her canteen, while Sally simply took a large gulp. She didn’t feel thirsty, but Southwall wasn’t far – they’d probably reach it tomorrow – so there was no reason to scrimp on water.

  It was partway through this rest, with Lucy lying underneath the tarp and Sally out standing watch, that something caught her eyes.

  What it was that caught her eye, she didn’t quite know. A glint of the sun? A shift in the sand? Both were common enough. Sporadic gusts of wind carried sand up and down the dunes and the sunlight occasionally bounced off it at odd angles. But that wouldn’t have caught her attention, consciously or not.

  Sally watched carefully, hoping to notice what it was that alerted her. A few times the same sense was prickled, but she still didn’t see anything. Until-

  There. Sunlight bouncing off of nothing. A shift in the sand unlike that of wind or gravity doing as they did. There was an impression in the sand that wasn’t there before, a shallow and quickly vanishing one. She kept watch, and for a time there was nothing, until she spotted another slight impression being created a few yards down, sand curving up and around hollow space before falling again, partially filling the created hole.

  Something invisible was approaching, something that knew how to navigate the sands with ease and without a trail.

  Hilaynites. The enigmatic, permanently-hostile but rarely-seen people living inside the Red Wastes, contending with demon and Demon for a space of their own, successfully at that.

  Whether they were people at all, well, opinions were divided.

  Sally kept still for a moment, purposefully not looking for where the intruder might be. She didn’t see any more shifts or new depressions in the sand, nor another unexpected glint of sunlight. It seemed to be the intruder got more cautious the closer they came.

  She moved toward Lucy at a deliberately leisurely pace. Lucy was lying down flat on her back, hands under her head and eyes closed. Thankfully, her rifle lay next to her, always pre-loaded at Sally’s insistence. Sally gave the sole of the pilgrim’s boot a light kick and Lucy opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Sally put a finger to her lips, then tapped the shotgun strapped to her chest twice. She pointed at Lucy’s Scarab rifle, then at the woman herself and motioned her to remain still. Lucy gave a slight nod while one arm inched closer to her rifle, muscles tensing.

  Sally stood with her back to the approaching intruder, her hand on the shotgun’s grip and finger on the trigger. She thumbed the safety off. The barrels were already loaded, the active one with buckshot and the other carrying a slug.

  She didn’t go as far as closing her eyes, but her focus was on her hearing. Their attacker was completely invisible, but could they step on sand without making any noise? She didn’t know, but she could hope. And if they didn’t? Well, with a bit of luck the attacker would try to stab or otherwise hurt her in a way that wouldn’t instantly fatal. From there, she could figure out where they were and retaliate before they could get to Lucy. And then die. Again.

  Thankfully, she didn’t have to do that. Through the sounds of the wind, the singing dunes and rolling sands, there was a slightly, ever so slightly harsher noise. A small, but noticeable crunch of sand compacting, grinding against the sand below.

  Sally heard it again, then again and then a final time. The last was close, very close to her. To her right.

  Guided by sound and instinct, Sally withdrew her shotgun and slammed the butt of it toward the figure as fast and violently as she could.

  She felt the impact, but it was not what she expected. There wasn’t a thud of wood hitting flesh, nor a cry of pain from her victim. Instead, she felt a shock travel up her wrist and arm as the butt of her gun hit something harder, something metallic.

  Sally turned around fully. The figure was still invisible, but her hit had pushed them backward into the sand. They were struggling to get up, throwing sand up all the while and leaving a clear outline where they were.

  Lucy had jumped up at the action, levelled her Scarab at the spot in the sand and fired. A large spark was followed by many small ones as the bullet shattered. The noise of metal against metal filled the air, along with softer, scraping noises of shrapnel against their foe’s armor.

  Small wonder they can live here, Sally thought. Invisible, armored and fast enough to catch a bullet. But Sally had just the thing.

  Let’s see ‘em catch this. She levelled her shotgun, aimed and fired.

  Her arm was thrown back, a slight ache already nestling in her wrist. The sound of the firearm was as explosive as the recoil, the noise oddly amplified and echoed by the surrounding dunes.

  But instead of a spray of blood and a pulped figure suddenly appearing, there was another mess of sparks and grinding noise. For less than a second, Sally stood there in disbelief. There was no way something could deflect all the pellets at the same time. Were they completely covered in armor? Even then, she would have expected at least one of the pellets to find a gap and hit the person underneath.

  The attacker was struggling in the sand, attempting to crawl away from them while still invisible. A trail of sand followed as the invisible figure rapidly scooted backwards a couple of feet.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Thankfully, she had another option. Thumbing her barrel selector, Sally aimed the now slug-loaded shotgun and fired once more.

  Again, her expectations didn’t come true. There was neither a deflection, nor the slug catching on thick armor, nor the slug penetrating through. Instead, the slug simply hovered in the air, completely still.

  What the hell? How? But there was no time. Who knew what the figure was capable of? She quickly drew her Guardsman pistol and aimed at the figure, ready to fire. There’s no way they can hold the slug and catch the bullets, right?

  But before she could fire, Lucy grabbed her shoulder.

  “Wait!” Lucy called, disrupting her actions.

  Sally did. She took the finger of the trigger and together, they watched in silence at the floating slug. There was an odd hum coming from it, and she could hear a faint rattling noise coming from the figure in the sand. But they also weren’t moving anymore.

  Lucy moved forward, closer to the floating slug while Sally moved to the other side of the figure. She put her pistol back in its holster and cracked open the shotgun, picked two slugs from her bandolier, pushed them in the barrel before closing it again. She drew and took aim at the figure’s presumed back.

  She saw Lucy hold her rifle underneath her left armpit before moving her right hand up, motioning it in a half circle in front of her face before closing it to her lips in a fist, murmuring something into it. Then, she flicked her hand towards the figure in the sand.

  The spell struck. A dark, wet-looking film appeared over their attacker. This darkness quickly deepened further and further, flowing inward and concentrating in on itself before suddenly stopping. Then, it flowed off and away into the sand, revealing the figure underneath.

  Sally could see why there was a debate if the Hilaynites were people at all. While their attacker was definitely person-shaped, they weren’t of flesh and blood.

  There was a tinman, a mechanical person, an android lying in the sand. Their body was simply a bare skeleton of metal bones and muscle, although there were oddly swirling colors of all kind dancing across their body, struggling to form a pattern of some kind. Likely, they were attempting to obscure themselves again, but were held back by whatever Lucy had done.

  Their face was a tiled square, a rhombus of equal angles and sides. They bore two times three round glass lenses on each side. They were of varying size, the middle one large and red, the one above it smaller and red and the lowest one a similarly-sized greenish-blue.

  One of the lenses on the left side of their face, the large red one, had cracked and was flickering. The blow with the butt of her shotgun had apparently done some damage. The only other feature on their face was a diamond-shaped hole in place of a mouth, with a metallic mesh covering the hole.

  Their skeletal arm was reaching out toward the slug, presumably to hold it in place. With Sally standing behind them and the slug still aimed in their direction, they were locked in position, unable to crawl away out of the slug’s trajectory and unable to attack her without risking the slug’s impact.

  Sally was surprised at their appearance to say the least. She’d heard tales of the Hilaynites, their shapes and size varying from story to story, but she couldn’t recall ever hearing them describes as androids. True, they could apparently turn invisible, which would explain some of the variety in their description, but had no-one ever seen their true shape? People must’ve survived their attacks, or they wouldn’t have such a unique name, nor would there have been any doubt in their person-hood; they would’ve been known as demons regardless of the truth. So, what was going on there? Did they have different forms?

  Focus, Sally thought.

  Lucy walked to the android’s right side. “Why did you attack us?”

  “Passing the boundary without proper authentication is a violation of protocol,” The android had a surprisingly human voice, that of a young man, though stilted and monotone. Is this what causes confusion over what they are?

  “This violation calls for immediate incarceration and subsequent interrogation. Results are to be recorded and measured to a corresponding punishment.” The Hilaynite seemed to pause for a second. “Execution of my mandate is non-negotiable.”

  So, the aim was to capture, and he was forced to do it non-lethally? It made sense to Sally. The Hilaynites likely have lethal ranged options, which it couldn’t use, bound in protocol as it seemed to be.

  “How did you figure we weren’t authorized?” Lucy asked.

  “You did not carry the signs of proper authentication, nor were your signatures digitally recorded in my memory banks,” the android replied.

  Lucy scratched her chin, seemingly not satisfied with the response. “What would it take for us to leave freely?”

  “You broke our boundary. A penalty must be paid.”

  “Which is?”

  “After interrogation, results are to be recorded and measured to a corresponding punishment. Execution of my mandate is non-negotiable.” The android repeated his earlier statement, to Lucy’s frustration.

  “What’re you trying to do?” Sally asked.

  “Some Dekantists have found ways around their programming, but the people that did cannot talk about it, so I don’t know how,” Lucy replied. “It’s clear he doesn’t want to hurt us, so I tried to see if maybe he could tell us, but he seems stuck, somehow.”

  Sally looked at the Hilaynite. His body was rigid, frozen in the act of stopping the slug, and his face and eyes were too alien for her to try and see what he was thinking.

  Another angle, then.

  “If others can’t talk about it, maybe that’s a part of it?” Sally suggested. An agreement of some kind?

  “Yes, but what? I doubt an oath of silence is enough.”

  The android shuddered a bit, which looked odd from a body otherwise so precisely controlled. Sally looked at the slug, thinking the Hilaynite was struggling to maintain his grip, but from as far as she could tell, it hadn’t moved. Which meant the android was attempting to tell them something. But what?

  Lucy hadn’t seemed to notice, deep in thought as she was. “I think he reacted to the word ‘oath’?” Sally watched carefully, and indeed, miniature pistons, gears and numerous other things without names moved near imperceptibly at the comment.

  Lucy turned back to the android. “What sort of signature counts instead of authorization?”

  “This knowledge is classified for unauthorized personnel,” the android replied.

  “What is required to become authorized?” Lucy asked.

  “All personnel must either be citizens of [ERROR, POLITY NOT FOUND]-” the Hilaynites voice shifted at the error, becoming harsher and more mechanical. “-employed by citizens of [ERROR, POLITY NOT FOUND] or hired by chartered companies of [ERROR, POLITY NOT FOUND].”

  This seems to be going anywhere, Sally thought, ready to try a different route. Or blow the androids head off.

  Lucy, however, had other ideas. “How do we become citizens?”

  “[ERROR, DATABASE NOT FOUND]”

  “How do we become chartered?” Lucy pushed, and Sally saw the android twitch again.

  “To obtain a charter, your company must be registered with the Chamber of [ERROR, ENTITY-] [ATTEMPT TO OVERRIDE, MANDATE REQUIRED] [MANDATE FOUND, GRANTING RIGHTS]. Please, provide the name of your enterprise,” the tone of the android shifted from one of emotionless, stoic authority to one of emotionless civility.

  “Followers of the Ante,” Lucy replied with confidence and a self-satisfied grin.

  “A company under the name ‘Followers of the Mahdabanant’ is already registered, is this the one you meant?” The android hinted unsubtly. Lucy blinked, not quite following, but nodded nevertheless.

  “Please, sign the- [ERROR, FORM NOT FOUND],” then, the android’s tone of voice shifted entirely. “Please, get me out of here.” The new voice sounded much more human, and much more on edge.

  Lucy gave Sally a nod. Sally holstered her shotgun, grabbed the android by putting her hand into his shoulder – a weird sight, that – and dragged him out of the slug’s trajectory.

  A moment later, the slug was released and buried itself the sand harmlessly, spraying some of it upward.

  “Thank you. That was starting to become unpleasant,” the android spoke, relieve clear in his voice. He stood up and… vibrated in place for a second, a surprising amount of sand falling out of the nooks and crannies of his, well, everything. Then, he stretched his arms, rotated his shoulders, shook and stretched his legs; it was as if he was doing some sort of wake-up routine.

  Sally found the shift in tone jarring.

  Then, the android turned to her and for a moment, she tensed. “Thanks for the crack in the eye-glass, by the way. I mean that sincerely, damage to critical places – even if superficial – makes subverting my programming easier.”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem,” Sally replied, tension leaving her. The damage was only superficial? She was almost offended; it’d been a great hit.

  “Unfortunately, we go from one unpleasant business to another,” he said, stilling completely. “While our protocol is over-tuned to borders that do not exist, you have crossed into our territory without our knowledge. You broke our law, and for that, a price must be paid.”

  Sally and Lucy tensed at that. Perhaps they shouldn’t have let him out just yet.

  “Thankfully, I’ve been following you from Lake Dread and know you follow Mahdabanant’s teachings, yes?”

  “I’m a Dekantists, if that is what you’re asking. The Mahdabanant is…?” Lucy asked.

  “Hm? Oh, he was your Prophet, Ante. You did not know?” The android asked, surprised. Then, he shook his head. “It always surprises me what organics forget. He was a Hilaynite, you see, before he went to the Lake and helped settle the peoples – your ancestors – there.”

  Lucy stood silent, opening her mouth but struggling to say anything. It seemed she hadn’t known that little tidbit about her faith and culture.

  So, Sally asked her questions instead. “How is this your territory?” She looked around theatrically. “Seems quite empty for a city.”

  A puff of air echoed metallically in what Sally assumed was the android’s voice-box. A snort or a sigh, maybe? “All the Red Wastes is our territory. Has been since the world began anew. Or what, did you think the road was the sole thing containing its monsters? Like a piece of cursed asphalt could do that. No, without us, the things trapped in its circle would’ve trampled over you like it was nothing.”

  “And for people wandering in here?” Sally asked.

  “In the past? Execution, much like all other things in the Wastes. Our core programming is absolute and unalterable, held firmly in place by the Dakh Hilayn,” the Hilaynite answered blithely. “On the other hand, our personality matrices have developed through a process of iterative evolution, similar enough to genes. Though on a shorter time-frame and with less… loss, between generations. So nowadays, we can be more lenient, especially to Dekantists thanks to a security loophole.”

  Sally remained still, but ready. “And what does ‘lenient’ mean, in this case?”

  “Quite easy, an oath no doubt familiar to you, or one of you at least. With it, Dakh Hilayn will recognize you as authenticated people and our automated defenses will ignore. Break it and hostility protocols take over.”

  “That’s it?” Sally’d expected worse, really. Though that depends on the oath, she supposed.

  The android shrugged. “We’re a hospitable people at heart. Unfortunately, few survive long enough for our hospitality to be negotiated. Thus, we try to approach people as little as possible.”

  Sally shrugged in return. Makes sense, I suppose. She saw little downside in accepting the oath. “Lucy?” She asked, tapping elbowing the woman. Lucy still looked distracted by the revelation, but was startled out of it by her actions.

  “Yes? Yes! The oath, of course. I already knew it, just… never thought-” Lucy shook her head, then looked at Sally, hand stretched out. “Hand?”

  Sally took it, after which the android grabbed Lucy’s and tried to grab Sally’s, before realizing she lacked one. He moved his hand and grabbed her shoulder, as if that was what he’d intended to begin with. Sally didn’t snort in amusement and no comments were made.

  “In the memory of our forefathers,” Lucy began, tone unusually solemn. “In the schools of our teachers, in the hearts of our disciples, in the words of our Prophet.” Her words carried an air of deep-seated memory and deeply held faith.

  Sally thought for a second. Should she have mentioned she wasn’t a Dekantists? A bit late for that now.

  Lucy continued. “Let neither speech or presence be denied, not through violence and bloodshed, nor through deceit and cunning. Let the words spoken and actions taken be held in sacred trust by those gathered, and their vita and anima be protected in this domain. By the Ties-That-Bind, we, Luciana Orta-”

  “Dakh Hilayn, through the voice of Fractured Hare.” Odd name that, Sally thought.

  A fraction of a second past, Lucy’s eyes flicking to her. Sally took the cue.

  “Sarah Olivia Palters,” she said. It always felt odd to say her full name out loud.

  “-swear to uphold this covenant under the light of Truth, through the connections of our pasts and the burdens of our conscious.”

  Sally felt the android’s mechanical hand dig into her shoulder as he tensed. She felt Lucy’s hand shake and shiver. Sally, however, felt nothing and did nothing. Was that supposed to happen?

  Then, the android broke contact. “Good. My duty here is done. Pleasure to have met.” Fractured Hare gave a shallow, almost mocking bow, then turned and left abruptly. His pace was fast and steady despite the clear lack of afford.

  “Wait!” Lucy said, walking after him unsteadily. “What is the Mahdabanant? How was our Prophet one of your people? Why do we not know?”

  Why do we know little about the Hilaynites at all? Sally thought. People have clearly survived encounters with them, but not one told what they witnessed? Was it the oath?

  Fractured Hare didn’t stop, but his voice was clear. “Who knows what logic the mad follow? Who cares about the actions of a traitor?” The young-sounding voice was laced with old anger. “And that oath encompasses far more than you realize. You’ll see.”

  Then, he was gone, disappearing into thin air as his magic reengaged.

  A sinking feeling overcame Sally. Barring the forced programming – if the Hilaynite spoke the truth about that – the android had been polite. So why the switch in tone after the oath?

  And why does it feel like we’ve been scammed?

  She turned to Lucy, who seemed deep in thought. “What did we swear?”

  “It’s the oath we take when entering the Praesidium. To keep us acting civil, prevent violence and politicking. Well, tries to at least,” Lucy explained absentmindedly.

  If that was all it was, then why the android’s change in attitude?

  Sally thought about it, thinking over the oath to see if there was a trap of some kind, but found nothing. Eventually, she could do nothing but shrug and move on.