Kin stood on the walkway above the gear train, looking down into an iron mouth full of chomping, rolling teeth. The Earthcrusher operated on a four-speed transmission, power transferred via a series of colossal cogs to the eight legs pounding the ground outside. The transmission was enclosed in an iron housing edged with safety railing, but from the top it was exposed to the open air, allowing technicians easy access to the gear train. An Artificer stood on a service ladder halfway up the housing, checking a lump of gauges.
Looking down on the poetry of gears and bearings, Kin was forced to admire Kensai’s genius. The Second Bloom might very well be his enemy, but he spoke the language of the machine better than anyone. He was glad he’d never made the mistake of underestimating his uncle, or believing for a moment Kensai put stock in his story.
Thankfully the Inquisition hadn’t shared the Second Bloom’s suspicions. It was a blessing they put so much faith in their precious “What Will Be.” In the future Kin even now fought tooth and nail to prevent.
“Call me First Bloom…”
Kin smiled grim behind his helm.
Not if I can help it.
He turned to Shinji, raising his voice over the clamor. “Tell me brother, how—”
An iron pipe crashed into his head, swung in a double-handed grip. The impact was almost deafening, head rocked sideways, helm buckling under sledgehammer force. Kin toppled forward over the walkway, pistons whining as he seized the railing with all his strength. White flowers bloomed in his eyes, blood in his mouth, pain overshadowed by terror of the gear chain churning below, waiting to chew him into mince.
He looked up at the Guildsman who’d struck him, raising his pipe for another swing.
“For the rebellion, bastard,” Shinji spat.
“No,” Kin rasped. “Wait…”
*
“Isao, you’d best explain yourself swiftly…” Kaori hissed.
“Rat’s blood.” The boy’s voice crackled in the speakers. “I had bladders of it strapped to my back. Kin used a fake knife with a retractable blade when he stabbed me. Easy enough to manage, even for a novice like him.”
“You faked your murder at Kin’s hands? You knew he’d betray us?”
“No, no Kaori. It was Kin’s plan. He knew Ayane was a plant sent by the Guild to turn him against us. Or at the very least turn us against him. He knew.”
Stomach in knots. No spit in her mouth.
“How?”
“The shuriken-throwers. Ayane sabotaged them. Well, her spider-drone did anyway, while she was locked in the cells. But she did it too well. Kin figured it out by studying the wreckage. Nobody but a Guildsman would have understood the ’throwers well enough to have them all fail simultaneously, right in the middle of an oni assault.”
“This doesn’t explain what happened to my father in Kigen!”
Static hissed down the line as Isao drew a measured breath.
“Kin spoke to Daichi alone. He knew the drone would be listening—he figured it’d be following him everywhere. So they played chess, passed notes between moves. Out loud, Kin spoke of the plot to destroy Kigen refinery—the plan Ayane was told would end with his betrayal. But in the notes, he explained to Daichi what was really happening. Ayane. The drone. The sabotage. And finally, he outlined a plan to defeat the Earthcrusher, and end the Guild once and for all.”
Kaori closed her eyes, dreading the answer.
“How?”
*
Kin hunched his shoulders as the pipe smashed onto his helm again. Another blow, Shinji now battering at the fingers gripping the walkway, lost in frenzy.
“Stop! I’m on your side!”
Kin glanced over his shoulder, down at the transmission’s rolling, cog-lined maw. Another blow landed on his head, stars bursting behind his eyes. One hand slipped and he gasped, teeth gritted, clinging on with everything he had.
When he was a boy, a fellow initiate told him in the moment before death, life was supposed to flash before your eyes. The triumphs, the mistakes, everything you’d ever been and done, rendered in white, strobing light, right before the lights went out forever.
And all he could think of was Yukiko.
That he’d never see her again.
Never make any of it right.
No.
Iron and brass sang as another blow landed, his grip failing.
No, not like this …
*
“He plans to destroy the Earthcrusher’s engines, Kaori. His father designed the combustion chambers or somesuch. Kin knew their workings, but he had to be inside to take it down. And so, he’d have to make a convincing enough show for the Guild to take him back.”
“He asked my father to—”
“No. Daichi volunteered.”
“But why would—”
“He’s dying of blacklung, Kaori. So why not make it count for something?”
Tears filled her eyes. Grief. Rage.
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
“Kagé radio doesn’t exist in Kigen city anymore. We had to make our way north to the Endless Plains, the first listening station in Hatenashi province. We took a risk even contacting you now. For all we knew, the drone was still in the village.”
“But why didn’t my father tell me before the attack?” she hissed.
“Because he knew you’d never agree to it, Kaori.”
“Isao, you hated Kin…”
“But we loved Daichi. His words made sense. Yukiko was gone. We had no other way to deal with the Earthcrusher.”