Cernunnos felt the train slow. He put his hand on the seat in front of him and scooted over. Before he rose, he stopped. Why rush to exit? Their stop wouldn’t be short. The train had nowhere else to go, no time tables to satisfy. Cernunnos chalked it up to habit.

He rode Iruedim’s trains frequently. Groaza had a single, limited line, and it ran promptly. Most of Cernunnos’ experience came from Ponk trains, of which there were many. Tagtrum had yet to invest in high speed ground travel. It would only be so useful unless they could build bridges between islands.

Cernunnos couldn’t help thinking all three countries would be jealous of Lurren’s setup. Lurren had them all beat. The defunct country still had the fastest, most extensive train system. Not to mention the extra heap of personality. They went by the names of Sleepy, Loopy, and Zigzag.

Cernunnos learned Zaggy’s real name when he served as translator. Far from fluent in Lurrien, Cernunnos had quite the experience speaking to the grating voice of Zigzag.

Zigzag pulled into station 27, stopped, and declared, “Weeeeee’re here! Everybody out. Enjoy your visit to the space museum!” His voice echoed through the cars.

The voice rang so loud that Cernunnos felt his ears vibrate.

“I wonder why Zigzag doesn’t run the pleasure line. Lurriens must have been very excited about their educations,” Cernunnos mumbled to Rooks.

She just shrugged and stepped off the train.

Everyone disembarked.

Cernunnos got a good look at Zigzag’s wild eyes and tall grin. He managed to snap a picture, and the train’s eyes rolled toward him, almost as if posing.

When everyone exited, Zigzag rolled forward and gained speed. He zoomed off, with a zany “Oh yeeeeeeeaaaaaaah!”

“I have a supposition,” Cernunnos announced to the group at large.

Alim, Inez, Eder, even Commander Rooks gave him their full attention.

“Lurriens were deaf by the age of ten,” he joked.

Eder half-smiled.

Inez rubbed her ears. “No kidding.”

Rooks just shook her head. Cernunnos thought she smiled, but it didn’t last long. Now was not the time for Cernunnos to seek Rooks’ affections, but once they sorted everything, he planned to make a go of it. Camellia’s wishes be damned. As for Rooks – well, her wishes mattered. He just needed time to give her a positive view of himself.

Rooks got to the head of her force, and the crew followed, silent and grim. They walked up the steps and headed outside. From the amount of light that filtered down, Cernunnos assumed the way was open.

Cernunnos hung back and walked beside Inez and Eder. He leaned close to the young mages. “Watch out my friends. We’ve entered a kind of doldrums, a depressing quiet before the storm. All rehearsed for the coming battle?”

Inez nodded.

Eder looked ashen. “I don’t know if we should do the illusion spell to make it look like the others are here.” His eyes darted around the station.

“Why is that?” Cernunnos took the stairs two at a time. He found them short for his long legs.

Inez sighed. “If Ah’nee’thit thought someone lied to it, it would be really pissed. Ul’thetos is going to be beyond angry.”

“That’s the point.” Cernunnos knit his brow. “We need to draw attention away from the others. We have a chance to destroy this thing, and in so doing, uncover years of archaeological treasures.”

The Ferrans gave him a dark and disappointed look.

“And, save Lurren and Iruedim from monsters. Yes, I know. I’m not a good man,” he admitted.

“You’re alright,” Inez said.

The three reached the top of the steps.

Rooks held out a hand and stopped Inez and Eder. “Illusion spell, please.”

The Ferrans exchanged a glance. They closed their eyes, and each imagined two rings of the four-ringed spell.

The magic circle appeared. It glowed, and at its center, fuzzy shapes came into focus. Their six missing fellows slowly gained clarity.

The illusions crammed together and searched the area with wide eyes. When they spotted Rooks, they began to follow her. The illusions were created to stick to the Commander. It was the easiest way to make them act realistically.

“Very good.” Rooks started her walk with all six illusions hurrying after her.

They left the station. The ground was littered with debris, and much of the station’s glass roof was gone.

Cernunnos walked to the head of the group and stayed beside Rooks. He served as navigator, holding a copy of an old attraction map. The original, a water logged pamphlet, had fallen to pieces moments after they photographed it.

The army marched in silence, following Rooks’ orders to be both simultaneously visible and sneaky.

Cernunnos spotted the museum first.

The building was wide and tall. The sturdy structure was made of steel, and the outer walls stood strong. The museum, also once in possession of a glass roof, now opened to the sky. On the street below, the fine skylight was shattered into a million pieces. Detached and necrotizing flesh spilled from one edge of the museum, but most of it was clear.

Healthy flesh lined the streets, and with his eyes, Cernunnos traced one long, fat limb. The limb snaked down the main street and ended in many branches of which Cernunnos could not see the end.

“Lucky to find it exposed.” Rooks studied the structure. “If we stay on the lower floors, we’ll be sheltered. I don’t love that some of the lowest floor is contaminated, but it’s the best building we’ve seen since the bunker.”

Cernunnos nodded. “Ul’thetos moved its limbs from here. Or, maybe, the creature never covered much of the museum. It’s quite tall. Maybe, we’ll find intact space craft inside.”

Inez and Eder shuffled – excited little rascals. Or, maybe they were nervous. More likely they were both, with poor Eder filling the role of nerves.

Cernunnos turned and put a hand on Eder’s shoulder.

“Climb up and scout,” Rooks ordered two men.

Cernunnos wondered why they couldn’t just use the front door, but he saw that flesh spilled from that entrance.

Rooks’ scouts climbed one pillar. It was avant garde architecture of looping and jutting shapes. With ease, the men worked their way up the odd column. They couldn’t enter the windows, so they went all the way to the top.

Cernunnos, and the group below, watched the men atop the wall. The men stepped with care around thick glass shards and bent ironwork. Then, they lowered themselves inside.

Long moments passed.

“They wouldn’t go in if it was covered in flesh, right?” Eder asked.

“With these two particular men, I’m not sure.” Rooks stared up, with crossed arms. “They are some of my best scouts, but they’re free-spirited. They would have come to Iruedim if the entire planet was on fire in the mouth of a great beast – just for the adventure, mind you.”

More moments passed.

“God, what are they doing in there?” Cernunnos said.

He got his answer when a man appeared atop the wall and waved for the others to join them. Eight ropes uncoiled from the top of the building, inviting the rest of the force to climb.

Rooks pushed Cernunnos ahead to a rope and Inez and Eder to another. She grabbed one herself and left the other four to her crew.

“Oh, dear Commander,” Cernunnos addressed Rooks.

She glared at him.

“What are you going to do about your tail?” he pointed at the illusion.

The mass of fake friends crowded behind the Commander with creepy intent.

Rooks sighed. “Will this break the illusion?”

“No, they’ll climb after you,” Inez said. “Maybe, two at a time. So, we might all want to kind of crowd the ropes, I guess. Just so they don’t look so weird.”

Again, Rooks sighed. In Ganden, she ordered, “Everyone, climb in groups of twos and threes, safety regulations be damned.”

The force crowded up the ropes. The strong, space age-materials could handle the weight, and they climbed inside in record time.

Cernunnos climbed fast.

“Hey, you’re shaking the rope,” Alim complained.

“I know. It’s a requirement of climbing it.” Cernunnos pulled himself to the top and perched on the wall. He checked below.

It was a long way down, and a rope on the other side waited for him. Cernunnos grabbed hold. He started down, slower than he had climbed. He wanted to study the floor.

Aside from ruin and rubble, the area looked clear, with the exception of a small sea of flesh in a far corner. To his delight and disgust, he saw old Lurrien ships, sinking into the flesh.

Cernunnos wished the sunken ships a silent goodbye. No one would want to fly in something that had been bow or stern deep in that pile.

Cernunnos turned his sharp eyes to the center of the floor. Most of the walls had collapsed, so he could see an open stairway in the middle. His feet touched the ground, and he walked to the edge of the open stair.

He glanced at the others. No one seemed ready to join him, so he headed down on his own.

Cernunnos’ eyes widened at the beautiful ships on the floor below. Within his sight, he counted fifty. Given the nature of the building, more ships likely rested just out of sight in other rooms.

“What are you doing apart from the force?” Rooks asked.

Cernunnos spun and saw Rooks atop the stairs.

He called, “We’ve found more ships than even you command. Beautiful things from many eras of space sailing. The second floor is a paradise.”

Rooks crossed her arms. “That sounds wonderful, but the ships have to get through a battle first.”

“And, if they do, we have a fleet.” Cernunnos smiled.

Rooks startled as Inez and Eder bumped around her.

“Sorry,” Eder said.

The Ferrans ran down the stairs. They joined Cernunnos.

With enthusiasm, Cernunnos urged, “Go, explore.”

“Wait! You lay your spells first,” Rooks ordered.

The Ferrans froze. They trotted back up to the upper floor, ready to give the open space some extra defense.

Rooks walked down the steps. She began the work of setting a defense, placing her crew and their weapons in the right locations.

Cernunnos explored the ships. He moved quickly between the vessels, snapping a picture of every one. He photographed one ship with a wood exterior, or at least a mock-up of that material. He moved to another and marveled at its leaflike shape. Another ship was a simple egg. Cernunnos peeked inside its open door, but saw little.

As Cernunnos snapped a picture of a crescent shaped ship, Rooks approached.

She stopped at the crescent. “I admit, I want these ships, but not while an army of infectious thralls is at our back.”

Cernunnos frowned. “Have you seen any? Thralls? Automatons? Whichever word you prefer.”

“There’s some suspicious movement outside. It’s a good sign. We’re prepared, and we need to start our distraction.”

Cernunnos nodded. “Let’s just pretend that we’re stealing one, which would you take?”

Rooks opened her mouth to answer, but a man’s shout interrupted her.

“Thralls!”

“Shit!” Cernunnos swore.

He knew they needed to be attacked. It meant Ul’thetos bought their ruse, but he didn’t have to like it.

Rooks pointed to one ship, a long needle nosed craft, large enough to take up half a wall. “That’s the one I pick. Take Alim and a couple technicians. See if you could make that thing fly.” Rooks pushed Cernunnos forward and called to a man and woman. “Go. Follow Cernunnos. Alim, you too!”

Cernunnos led the xenobiologist and engineers to the ship. They found it open and hurried inside. The open door took them in right behind the cockpit. A long hall led back, and Alim traveled that path. The technicians ignored it and went to the controls. Cernunnos looked both ways, but he followed the technicians.

Cernunnos provided a preliminary translation, but he found some time to look out the cockpit window.

The Ferrans conjured walls of light – the same walls they used to deter Ul’thetos’ ambush from getting into the pedestrian mall. Cernunnos recalled the spell as a difficult one. One that required three mages, but Inez and Eder managed it.

Then, they conjured some ice beasts, and most importantly, they conjured their special golden rings and a strong ice spell around Ul’thetos’ present tentacles. With a part of the enemy inside, they needed to make sure it stayed quiet and still.

Eder and Inez ran through their rehearsed magic quickly, and then, they found a pillar to hide behind and watch for opportunities to cast more.

The thralls attacked, and Rooks and her men defended all floors. Those on the upper floor fired projectiles over the ruined walls. Cernunnos watched as they opened select windows on his floor and did the same. He presumed that the people on the lower floors behaved in a similar manner.

The army held the thralls at bay. Even the few converters that joined the battle could not penetrate their defenses. As the ice creatures fell, Eder and Inez conjured more in their place.

Finally, Cernunnos saw Rooks. She had her com handy. She could call her troops, Camellia’s team, Faustina’s base, or even the Bardiche. At the moment, Cernunnos thought she gave orders.

With the battle seemingly under control, Cernunnos looked at the Lurrien ships. Ahead, he spotted the ship that swooped high, like a crescent moon. Nearby, another resembled a sun. The Lurriens had brought quite the caravan through the wormhole: old and new ships alike. Cernunnos hoped they would survive this.

Ul’thetos couldn’t believe it.

She said she would come! I can’t believe her insolence. No wait, I can. She’s driven by these others. These others convince her otherwise. Or, is it she who convinces them? Again, they come for ships. The old ships. That seems like her, and the other...the robot. They have always wanted ships.

Ul’thetos’ anger bubbled, unable to touch any but its thralls.

On the first visit, Ul’thetos had thought the lack of contact with Camellia’s friends peculiar. One turned out to be a synthetic, hard to contact. Still, the other friend was organic and could not be reached. Now, here were near a hundred people. None could be reached. Even Camellia dropped in and out of communication.

Ul’thetos’ anger grew, and some thralls fell under the pressure. Ul’thetos reigned in its emotions. It simulated several revenge fantasies, all centered on Camellia and that little synthetic.

Then, Ul’thetos recalled the handkerchief one of its thralls had stolen.

That was a spell.

Taken from a dead soldier mage, the complicated spell eluded Ul’thetos, but now the creature put more thought into it, supposing the handkerchief might be to blame for the silence.

In their memories, the thralls also captured the anatomy of other spells, and Ul’thetos snatched those memories. It began to weave a deeper understanding of magic, with the intent to create a spell that could connect it to these invaders, regardless of their will.

Then, I will instruct them to throw their medicine away, and they will be mine. And, she will be high priestess...and the red-haired synthetic will be gone.