Chapter 25. UOF APPEARS

  “Uof is going to appear! They’re putting the word out?—?he’s coming into the city," she said. I had to blink to take in her words again. So soon after our attack on The Factory? This could easily be a trap, or worse.

  “He hasn't been seen in a decade!” Dirk replied. “Where will he appear?”

  “The central market square," she said. "He's going to give a speech, apparently. His soldiers are setting up the area now. We must go watch what he says!”

  "Couldn't this be a trap?" I said.

  "It could be, but it's not likely to be effective in such a public place," Dirk said. "I doubt he's going to set a trap for thousands who will come to watch him speak. If we find a removed location to watch from, stay back as far as we can, we should be okay."

  I nodded, drinking down the rest of my coffee. I had a feeling I would need it.

  We reached the town’s central market after taking a circuitous route, careful that we wouldn’t be followed or recognized. After stepping through a door inside an alleyway, and winding through nondescript apartment stairwells and hallways, I stepped out onto the rooftop of a stone tenement building with a small crowd of citizens, a few of whom were other rebels, including Dirk.

  Before me, the central market square opened up a wide space surrounded by buildings two- and three- stories high, almost giving the space the feeling of an amphitheater. This square was the site of the largest market in Vale, usually a bustling hive of activity featuring booths and tables too numerous to count, with everyone shouting and selling wares of various kinds. Today the entire square was empty of market stalls except for a single, large staging platform on the western side of the square, built solidly of wood and usually used for the auctioning off of livestock.

  Today, the stage presented only a single chair. At the back of the stage, someone had erected a large black curtain, behind which we could not see. An army of well-armed guards four-deep surrounded the staging area and the entire central square itself was lined with well-armed motorized thugs, making the place seem almost prison-like, enclosed and hemmed in on every side.

  The gathered crowd was enormous, filling every other space in the square, people crushing together to see their leader for the first time in over a decade, a buzz of voices talking excitedly. Every citizen of Vale seemed to be crammed into this small square. Every rooftop surrounding the market square was crowded with people, with hundreds more gathered at every window and balcony. Magic beacons stood tall like street lamps all around the square almost a warning in and of themselves.

  Our perch gave us a clear view directly across from the staging area where it seemed that Uof would appear. Other resistance fighters of ours were spread around the square, but most of the other mages stood in the crowd on the roof with me. We did leave all of the freed mages back at our desert outpost and they still had much recovery left to do.

  I wore a simple brown shirt, similar to those of the order of monks in Vale who served the Creator, instead of my usual black-hooded cloak, and my many-pocketed under vests, both of which would have drawn far too much attention. I had stashed some rare matter on me, and thankfully, I still had a single diamond piece ready for use. Today, I just looked like another old man, my long gray hair and beard similar to some of the other monks in Vale.

  As we watched, Dirk and I exchanged fearful looks. What was Uof planning?

  The crowd hushed suddenly as three soldiers of Vale stepped out onto the platform from behind the curtain, their red leather uniforms pristine. Their boots thudded onto the platform, the sound echoing loud in the sudden hush of the square.

  CLUNK! Clunk. Clunk.

  I could see something large behind the curtain, and people whispered, snatching glances. The silence in the square suddenly felt weighty, dangerous, and tension filled.

  Moments later, two more guards wearing red mounted the steps to the stage and stood next to the chair at the center of the platform. Guards who wore red, everyone knew, were part of the infamous Valeguard, known as both the fiercest fighters in Vale and Uof’s personal soldiers. I'd heard others tell stories about seeing the Valeguard in action, fearsome fighters to a man.

  I watched them carefully, knowing we would likely have to face them at some point.

  Another man stepped out from behind the curtain, standing tall with a hawkish nose, fierce eyes, and an air of authority. He wore a red leather shirt, several stars sparkled on the chest of the shirt as if he were a general of some kind. He also wore a long, black hooded cape, which partially hid his face—this man was clearly in charge of whatever room he walked into.

  Was this Uof? I wondered.

  However, once he stepped out, he stood to the side, watching the crowd as if a bird of prey seeking a mouse. His head bobbed up and down as he studied the people watching, his eyes roving over each part of the square. I would have to watch this one. The crowd stood silent, though a few whispers could be heard, anticipating Uof’s appearance.

  A moment later, two more Valeguard appeared bearing a single prisoner between them. They brought the prisoner to the middle of the stage and sat him down roughly. The crowd gasped.

  It was Ehren.

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  He wore a long, black hooded cloak like the one I usually wore as well as black hat, but his face bore bruises and cuts from obvious beatings. The cloak and hat stood out to me though—they'd dressed him to look like me.

  A booming voice out of nowhere rang out in the square.

  “People of Vale,” a deep voice came from all directions, amplified though no one appeared. “My men caught the mage attacking our beloved city last night, and today he will pay for his crimes in front of all of you. You may have heard about an evil mage ravaging our streets. Well, we apprehended him. I want you all to know that in Vale we fear no mages.”

  A hushed chatter spread around the square.

  Then something or someone stepped out from behind the large curtain and onto the platform, taller than any man I'd ever seen or met. This something took on the vague shape of a human, but I gasped, seeing only saw a monster.

  Here’s what I knew about him before that moment:

  Uof had not been seen in public for many years, reportedly over a decade. Citizens revered and feared Uof with equal measure. He was the son of Weer, the previous leader of Vale and the original pioneer who had created the very first Motorized tools and weapons. In two generations, Weer and his son had eradicated the mages following The Way and permeated the world with their strange new weapons and machines. Uof now led the movement that many had called The Motorized.

  When Uof stepped out onto the platform that day, the entire crowd gasped audibly. Some even physically recoiled, falling back in fear and terror. My stomach lurched as I stared at Uof and tried to process the thing I saw standing before me.

  Uof walked to the front of the stage, but “walked” wasn't an accurate description. His limbs were comprised of mechanized parts, his body covered in a metallic frame, wires running this way and that.

  His right arm was a weapon by itself, a metallic arm that ended in a blunt-nosed crossbow loaded with an array, perhaps a dozen openly visible snub-nosed arrowheads, while his left arm bore the look of an over-large metallic hand, each individual finger a metallic contraption. His legs were pistons, each pumping and cranking as he walked across the stage, built from large metallic tubes with steel clawed feet that clanked on the wooden platform with every step. His head and his torso were clearly human, but a metallic helmet wrapped around his head and a series of lenses covered one of his eyes, presumably giving him the ability to see far distances.

  Uof's torso was an amalgam of wires and gears and interlocking mechanical parts, and it was difficult to see where his body ended and the mechanized man began. The most imposing part was Uof’s sheer size. However tall he stood before, Uof now stood well over ten feet tall.

  As he stepped into the sunlight at the front of the stage my heart started beating faster. What was he? What exactly were we dealing with now? How would we fight such a monster? I even felt a little nauseous.

  “Do you like my new body?” Uof called out in the same booming voice, a large grin on his face.

  He stared out at the crowd with hungry, intense human eyes. As he turned and looked at the crowd with his very human head, gears whirred, and pistons pumped, small burps of steam erupted into the air here and there and an oily substance was left behind wherever he stepped on the wooden stage. The crowd stared back at him, mouths agape, everyone in shock.

  “Year ago, we started this transition and I was reborn with a shred of immortality,” Uof said, his voice echoing throughout the square. “I will live at least another hundred years longer, because of this body. And I want all of you to know: if you continue to follow me, each of you will have the opportunity to be reborn in this way as well.”

  The crowd reacted audibly, some gasping, others responding with surprise and delight. Uof turned to Ehren, the pistons in his legs pumping as he stepped toward the young man. Every step across the wooden stage THUNKED, as though his body weighed a ton.

  “But we have some business to attend to first, " Uof said, his voice tinny, with a mechanized hum. "How do we punish mages for following this twisted Way of theirs?”

  “Death,” the crowd whispered softly.

  “Death,” Uof said, his voice low and serious, his metallic head nodding and glinting in the sunlight.

  Uof stepped up to Ehren, who looked up at the mechanized monster with obvious fear in his eyes.

  After a moment, Uof hauled back and swung his metal fist at Ehren’s face. The crack on the young man’s jaw echoed throughout the square, blood spraying across the stage.

  I flinched and immediately brought several gemstones into my hands—no matter what he was or how strong he looked, I couldn’t let Uof kill Ehren right in front of me. I’d seen some version of this drama play out in other smaller towns before, and even if it meant my death, I couldn’t hold back in this moment. Of course, this was Uof's plan—draw me out, draw us all out.

  The crowd cried out in awe and fear.

  Ehren squirmed in the chair, his face anguished, but the guards on either side of him kept their hands on his shoulders. Uof backhanded him once more to the face, blood spraying across the stage again, and Ehren’s head lolled back—knocked unconscious—a small mercy I supposed.

  “We will mete out a sentence worthy of this man’s crimes soon enough,” Uof said, turning back to the crowd.

  “First, I want to tell you about a reward. You see, we know this mage isn’t the only rebel in our fair city. There are others here in our midst. They hide from us, cowering in the shadows, and we believe there may be other mages acting in concert with this one. They may be standing in this very square with us today.”

  The crowd looked around suspiciously, commenting, whispering, shaking their heads. Uof stepped to the edge of the platform, lowering his voice and peering around carefully. The crowd seemed to lean in.

  “In exchange for information that leads to the capture of these angry rebels of the twisted Way, I am prepared to offer you property, including an estate on the mountain with your very own water well. I offer freedom for you and your family and riches beyond your wildest imagining. And if you so choose, I can offer you bodily modifications that will extend your life, like I have extended mine.”

  It was instantaneous. In that moment, we all felt the crowd turn.

  Whereas before, many in the city seemed skeptical and fearful of Uof, even embracing the rebellion and our mission, in this moment I sensed a shifting of the tide of emotions. The crowd erupted with cheers, shouts, and people looking at one another almost as if they would discover traitors standing next to them. An entire city of thirsty people turned against The Way.

  That’s when someone on our rooftop called out.

  “They’re up here! Uof! The Mage is up here!” Everyone in the square looked up toward the source of the voice. He stood there in front of us—a man stood on our rooftop—pointing his arm directly at me.

  Uof looked up and pointed at me too, crying out in a voice that boomed around the square.

  "Is that you, Mage?"

  Someone fired a some kind of exploding weapon aimed at our cluster of mages. Before we could blink there was an explosion in the air above us. Willow fell to the ground, taking the bulk of the explosion. Bend cried out and went to her, kneeling and checking her wounds. It all happened in an instant and it was then that I knew.

  It was time to run.