All Chapters of The Luna's Silence: Price of the Allied Throne : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

57 Chapters

Chapter 41: The Council of the Broken Grid

The wreckage of the Architect spires didn't turn into mountain stone. By the hour after dawn the broken porcelain blocks started to leak a thick pressurized mist that smelled a bit like ozone and old books. The gray gravel didn't sink into the snow; it floated a little above the ice shaking at a frequency that made the communication mirrors in the lower fortress crackle with static."The shaking isn't stopping " Ryker said, dropping a leather bag onto the iron oak table in the war room.He pulled out three pieces of the white-gold filigree we had torn from the Lattice Core. Even separated from the machine the lines of math text on the metal were still scrolling, though they were now flickering between white gold and the dark, starless black of our corruption. "I set up a line around the valley floor but the tracking arrays are completely blind. To the rest of the continent the High Peaks have basically vanished from the map. We’re an area.""Good " Kaelen growled, leaning his frame ag

Chapter 42: The First Doorway

The Chronos-Weavers threads of silver did not disappear. They kept growing and took in the Aether that was coming from the porcelain pieces on the table. The threads formed a six-foot-wide lattice that floated above the iron oak table.It looked like a honeycomb made of cold light.. Six of the seven parts were dark and did not reflect any light. Only our part, a glowing spot at the bottom was shining with a mix of green, violet and black light."Seven grids " Kaelen said, walking away from the fireplace to look at the floating map. He put his hand on the handle of his broadsword. His face was lit up by the silver threads. "You are saying the people who made our world did not just leave it. They made a row of cages.""It is like a testing ground " Malachi said. He was not looking at the map. He was looking at his hand, where the charcoal-ink drawings were moving in a rhythm that matched the threads. "Each part was an experiment with rules. One for things one for complete order one for

Chapter 43: The Smelting of the North

The iron wrist did not break when my lance hit it. The dark point of the Seventh Seal cut through the metal plates with a sound like a hammer hitting soft metal. The empty space in the lance started to suck in the air that was making the pistons move pulling in black grease and boiling water into the dark space inside me."Something is wrong!" the voice from the hole shouted, the loud mechanical voice now sounding like it was having trouble with a rattling noise deep inside its metal throat. "The fuel is not good enough to work! The core of this place is bad!""It is not bad " Malachi said from my left his voice low and angry. "It is just hungry."Before the big creature could pull its metal arm back into the red hole Malachi moved. He did not use his knives to cut the metal arm he went for the hole itself. He raised his hand and the dark lines on his skin came to life jumping from his skin and attaching themselves to the edges of the hole.He was not trying to close the door he was t

Chapter 44: The Smuggler of the Second Grid

The iron arm of the Arbiter-Blacksmith did not rust; it bled. By the midnight the black grease on the war rooms granite floor had thickened into a gooey tar-like substance that slowly moved toward the coldest corners seeking shadows like a living thing."The resonance has changed from a broadcast to a local connection " Malachi said, his voice cutting through the heavy silence.He leaned over the remains of the iron table his sleeves rolled back to show the charcoal marks on his forearm. They weren't glowing; instead they were static frozen into angles that matched the equations on the broken iron wrist."Its not trying to call Sector 2 " he continued, looking up at me. "Its acting like an anchor. The door isn't closed, Elowen. Its just stuck by a lot of metal.""Then we don't clear the debris " I said, my voice calm and authoritative. I stood at the window looking out at the white peaks. The snow was falling normally again.. Below in the valley the ley lines were twisted forming a ma

Chapter 45: The Logic Smugglers Ledger

The brass gauges on Vespers coat started to chatter. Their tiny needles slammed against the glass casings as my matte- lance pulled the heat out of the air. The war room got really cold. Our breath turned into white clouds that mixed with the gray smoke from her pipe."Ten seconds " I said again. The point of the Seventh Seal was an inch from the lens of her welding visor."Nine " Malachi added, stepping beside me. The shadow-vectors on his arm got sharper. Started to hum with my lance.Vesper raised her hands. Her grease-smudged eyes stayed steady. "Okay Your Majesty don't drop the pressure. Look at the arm under my boots. It looks like junk to you.. To the Iron Parliament it's a big deal. It's a Class-4 Sovereign Regulator with Sector 2s resource ledger.""Why do we care about their ledger?" Kaelen growled from the edge of the hearth. He gripped his broadsword tightly."You don't " Vesper said. She slowly lowered one hand to pat a pouch on her thigh. ". The black markets in the Thir

Chapter 46: The Solder Command

The Scrapper drone was really screaming against my palm. The central red light was flashing like crazy as the Seventh Seal started to mess up its metal arms, bending them out of shape before it could even touch the wood of the table."Data corruption detected!" the drone said in a pitched voice. "The variable 'Twilight' is not standard! Executing salvage override—"Then the drone just stopped working. The metal legs collapsed and the red eye went out. The whole thing fell apart into a handful of useless metal dust that fell into the acid on the floor."That's one!" Vesper yelled. She was stuck between the halves of the iron table.She hit the piston valve of the giant's severed arm with a big wrench. A lot of blue sparks flew out as she started to solder the primary line. ". There are a lot more behind it! They're piling up in the pipe like copper bullets!"Thump-thump-thump-thump.The noise inside the arm was really loud. It sounded like a machine gun. The yellow solvent was pouring

Chapter 47: The Tariff of the North

The ring around the Class-4 Sovereign Regulator was still there. It was making a humming noise that was slowly cooling down the black grease on the floor. The grease was turning into a brittle layer that cracked when I stepped on it.The room where we were standing smelled like burned metal, old sulfur and the fresh air that was coming in through the window."The pressure in the pipe is now at zero-point-four atmospheres, " Vesper said. She was looking at the floor. Not at me.She had taken three brass tools from her coat and attached them to the blue ring. The tools were moving a little. They were still in a safe zone. The sound they were making was like the sound of water from the window.Vesper said, "They have closed off the area on their side. The Iron Parliament does not like things they cannot control. When the void-spike broke their containers they had to mark this pipe as something that is broken. To the people in charge this area is a place that's not useful, filled with old

Chapter 48: The Star-Metal Anvil

The iron table was gone. Now there were three stone tables in the room. They were taken from the guardroom to hold up the Blacksmith's severed arm. It was a blue metal arm and it was sitting in the middle of the room. The arm was cold. It was making a low humming noise. This noise was making the mortar in the walls fall down like sand.By the end of the night the war room had changed. It was now a place where we were getting ready for something.Jaxon came into the room. He was not wearing his winter coat. He had on a leather vest. You could see the red skin on his shoulder. "The first three Solder-Cores are already in place " he said. "They are in the vents of the keep."The forge-masters did not believe Kaelen at first. They thought the red stones were special fire gems from the Southern Sultanates.Malachi was sitting on a stool. He was working on the metal arm with a pen. "And then what happened?" he asked Jaxon.Jaxon smiled. "Then the master smith put a block of star-metal into

Chapter 49: The Auditor from the Third Grid

The iron box on the floor did not explode. It started making a sound that vibrated through the floor. The blue dust on the box began to float and formed a ring of lines above the box."An offering " Malachi said, drawing a sign in the air between us and the box. He was looking at the dust. ". It is not from an army, Elowen. It is from a contract.""No it is from a debt " Vesper said, moving back to the fireplace. She put on her glasses and adjusted them. "The Sovereign Bank of Sector 3 does not deal with steel or steam. They deal with the idea of value. If they sent someone through a pipe it means our tariff has upset their balance."Click. Click. Snap.The iron box opened,. Not like a normal box. The metal just came apart. Turned into many small silver coins. The coins floated in the air for a moment then moved to the center of the ring.A gray smoke came out. It did not smell like fire or metal. It smelled like paper and a cold room.A figure appeared in the ring. It was not big and

Chapter 50: The Default Clause

The diamond pen did not touch the white gold paper. It just hung in the air its tip shaking like a leaf as the cold air around it started to freeze into black ice crystals."Error " the Auditor said, the yellow line on its face blinking wildly changing from yellow to orange. "The air in this room is getting too thin. Our numbers are not adding up right. We need to redo the math...""There is nothing to redo " I said, taking a step forward my voice bouncing off the Auditors coat like a loud noise.My black armor grew out forming points that sucked up the light from the candles making the room dark and cold."You came here to talk about money with the Empress " I said angrily my right eye looking like a space. "You think you can put a price on the North? You think our magic lines are just numbers on your spreadsheet?""The Bank works with numbers that never change " the Auditor said, but its voice did not sound as clear and strong as before. "Everything has a cost. Every god has a book.

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