Commander Thorne shook his head slowly. "I hear you, and I want to believe you." Agrathor began to growl. "You're heroes! I should believe you. But it's just all so out of the ordinary." He looked closely at Pierce. "Do you have proof?"
"Show him the bone-melter," said Scythia. "Let its light shine bright."
Pierce drew the sword obediently, and its intense blue light shone starkly against all the other colors of the world. "This is what I brought back," he said. Agrathor backed away uneasily.
"It's a bone melter?" Thorne asked, bending close to study the thing, not daring to touch it.
Pierce nodded. "They call it that, but it pretty much cuts anything like butter, in my experience."
Thorne caught Pierce's eyes. "Can I see it?" he asked.
"Sure," said Pierce. "Got a bone?"
Commander Thorne called out to a guard on the other side of the courtyard, ordering him to send for a bone. The guard looked puzzled, but obeyed.
A runner returned with a hog's spine, handing it over to the Commander. Pierce looked at him in question, but Thorne just shrugged.
They lay the spine on the wooden bench, and Pierce applied his sword to it, melting the bone with the faintest bit of contact. Agrathor looked away, tapping a bony finger against his armor nervously.
"Alright, well, get the picture?" Pierce said, pulling the sword off of the bone before it had fully melted. He wanted to spare poor Agrathor the discomfort.
"You're not going to finish?" Thorne asked. It was an awesome thing to see. Clearly he wanted to witness the whole process.
Pierce didn't answer him. "Sorry about that, Agrathor. It's over."
The skeleton man turned back around, and his flame eyes rounded and dimmed. He didn't say anything, but Pierce sensed his relief.
"So," Axebourne said, addressing Thorne, "the kid shows up in Nux, kills a Monstrosity by himself, shows us the forgemaster's tool, and it's enchanted with a color hardly anyone's ever seen. You believe he was in the Underlands yet?"
"Not to mention that all of Gorgonbane vouches for his authenticity," said Agrathor.
The Commander came to a decision. "Okay then, what do you think I should do?"
"Give command of the garrison to me," Axebourne said, without hesitation.
Commander Thorne balked. "That's... That's unheard of. How can you even ask..."
"There will be something different about this attack," said Scythia. "The painreapers' words suggest as much, as does the unheard-of nature of the plan."
"We have seen, and won, battles that you and your men can only imagine, and have only heard about in tales," said Ess.
"And we do not mean to offend," said Axebourne, "nor to claim any glory for ourselves. But I assure you, this will be best for your men, and for your city. I know that it isn't easy, but think on our reputation. Rarely would I deign to invoke it, but I invoke it now. Would we do anything to harm or hinder your survival?"
Thorne searched each of their eyes in turn. Pierce didn't envy the man this decision. It was a highly irregular, perhaps even impudent request. No one, however mighty, strode into a fortified city full of thousands of people and simply requested to be given full control of its defensive forces. By all rights, the man should refuse. Thorne's eyes rested on Pierce last. He smiled as winsomely as he could, making an effort to look trustworthy. Did it work? Or did it make him look fake?
"Alright," Commander Thorne said.
It worked!
"You'll begin by advising me. We'll draw up a mock battle in the war room. Let me get the men in place, set the divisions as I see fit, then I hand over chief command to you. The men will refer to you as General. Deal?"
"Deal," Axebourne said. He looked relieved.
"How long do we have?" Thorne asked.
Pierce unfolded his fingers, one at a time.
"Ten days," said Scythia.
CHAPTER NINE
Axebourne the Cleaver
Gorgonbane waited as their places were prepared in the machine that was the garrison. Commander Thorne asked them to enjoy his courtyard garden and had food brought in.
Pierce wondered if he was the only one that was fidgety. The threat was just too close now, and he found himself anxious to just get to the fighting.
This didn't dampen his appetite in the least, and as he waited he thought back to Sugar's spicy meat pies. Alongside that thought came a parallel craving for something to do.
Axebourne and Scythia were sitting together on a stone bench, just holding each other's hands and watching time pass by. Pierce came near and squatted down, giving them a chance to acknowledge him. When they didn't, he spoke up.
"So Axebourne, sir," he said.
Axebourne turned his head, eyes cool and calm. How could he be this calm? Wasn't he itching to fight too?
"So I've always heard you called the Cleaver. Of course, everyone knows about the thousand gen you beheaded, but I don't think I've ever heard the story told right."
"I'll take this one," said Scythia with a sly grin.
"Of course, my darling," Axebourne said. "I'll keep my mouth shut. Though I'm sure you'll share my turn with me."
Scythia shrugged. "Everything one's husband shares tastes sweeter."
Axebourne scowled playfully at her. "This is why you're always eating my meals?"
"And drinking your drinks, and borrowing your thick, fluffy socks."
Axebourne made a disgusted face. "Borrowing my socks! Woman, you live on the very Chasm's edge."
"At least, I used to," she said. They laughed. "Now hush."
Axebourne clamped his mouth shut, but Pierce saw him watching for a chance to butt in.
"It was during a lull in the Alban War," Scythia said. "We'd just been hired to protect the mountain city of Ijin. Just Axie and me. The others went out on their own jobs. Scouts brought word that gen had been spotted hiding in the foothills below. Belatedly we realized they'd been massing for quite some time."
Scythia scanned Axebourne, and he lifted his chin. So
