Chapter 69 - Sunset Over Boston

  At the end of the day, it turned out that after all the fighting and destruction, most people didn’t want to return to downtown Boston anyway.

  The Karabos withdrew altogether. With the death of their leaders and the defeat of the titanic crab, the remaining forces beat feet for the ocean as fast as their legs could carry them. Alex and the other troops harried them all the way to the waterfront, but personally I didn’t think they’d needed to. The enemy had decided they’d had enough of fighting, at least for the time being.

  MacGregor asked me to check the coastline for more underwater camps like the one I’d destroyed the night before. I did as he asked, using Flight to zip along through the bay. While I found signs of two similar sites, the enemy had already torn the buildings down and withdrawn from them. At each site, I’d found the remains of a few human prisoners, but there were no signs they’d brought any with them when they retreated. No tracks, no indications they’d kept captives for the march back wherever they came from.

  Sooner or later, I figured I’d need to find their true base. Somewhere out there in the deeper waters, the Karabos had to have a home, and I doubted they were gone forever.

  By the time I got back, it was heading toward evening. I landed at the camp MacGregor had established near the battleground and found him in the middle of everything, as usual.

  “Castle! Any news?” MacGregor asked as I approached.

  I shook my head. “Found two more camps, but they’re both abandoned. The Karabos have retreated from the bay. No sign that they brought more prisoners with them, either.”

  He nodded and didn’t ask more. We both knew that there had to have been prisoners in those camps. If they weren’t hauled away with the retreating enemy, then they were probably killed and eaten at the sites themselves. It was a grim truth, and there was no point belaboring it.

  “How are things going here?” I asked.

  “We’re getting ready to withdraw,” MacGregor replied. “Packing up what we can of the camp. Figure we’ll remain here for the night, give people a chance to rest up a bit, but come dawn we’ll tear the rest of it down and move out.”

  That surprised me. “Why pull out? We won!”

  MacGregor shrugged. “People don’t really want to stay, and I can’t blame them. We sent a runner across the river to see if those who fled the other day want to try returning to their homes. A few expressed an interest in visiting to pick up some more stuff, and we’re working to arrange for that. But very few wanted to return to stay. Too many bad memories here, I guess? Too much fear, as well.”

  I swung my head, taking in the scene around me, and understood. While downtown Boston didn’t have the same level of destruction I’d seen over in East Boston, there were already a few fires starting in the distance. Those would inevitably spread. Buildings were shattered and broken where the Karabos invasion or those fighting to repel them had done structural damage.

  And of course, the monsters were settling in. As I’d flown over the city, I’d seen a flock of rocs gathered by the bridges to the north again, while others flew above the harbor. The goblins were digging in at Boston Common, their fortifications looking stronger by the day. Some sort of plant-creatures were taking over Chinatown, too.

  That was just what I’d seen on a quick fly-by, too. I felt sure there was more. With each passing day, more monsters were appearing. Or maybe it was just that more regular animals and plants were being transformed by the presence of magic into more dangerous versions of themselves? It was hard to say for sure.

  “I get it,” I replied. “So, what’s next, then?”

  “I’ve had runners out to visit a few people,” MacGregor said. “Harvard is one spot where people are doing their best to keep things organized. MIT is much the same. There’s a third stronghold over at Fenway, too. Whole lot of refugees from downtown ended up there. I think that’s where I’ll head next, and bring as many of my people as I can.”

  I shrugged and shook my head. “It feels like a shame to lose control over downtown, after all the work we did to defend it!”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Alex said, walking over toward us.

  He’d changed his appearance a lot while I’d been gone. Alex carried one of the Karabos spears in his hand, using it like it was a walking stick. His body was covered with bits of armor laced together with straps. It only took me a moment to recognize the plates. They were all pieces of Karabos carapace.

  Alex saw me looking and rapped his knuckles against the chest plate. “Good armor. This is from one of the tier fives we took down together. Turns out, the folks who picked up Armor Making crystals can use bits of monster to make new armor. I figure I’ll upgrade to something else, sooner or later, but for the time being? I’ll take whatever I can get!”

  “It looks good on you,” I told him, flashing him a grin and shaking his hand. “Can’t believe we pulled all that off. There’s no way I could’ve done it without you, though.”

  “Likewise,” Alex replied, shaking my hand in return. “Anyway, don’t worry about downtown. I’m staying. I want to turn City Hall into a base of operations and see how much of Boston we can reclaim from the monsters.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “By yourself?” MacGregor asked. “Seems unwise. Or are you joining him, Castle?”

  “Cameron can join if he wants,” Alex replied, before I could say anything. “But I’ve been speaking to the other people who fought here today. A good number have agreed to remain with me. Together, we’ll fight to reclaim the downtown area.”

  MacGregor stiffened at his words, and I understood why. Some of those people Alex was talking about were probably the refugees I’d pulled out of the Karabos camp. But I’d been watching him cozy up to a lot of the police, as well. MacGregor had certainly seen the same thing. How many of his police was the man losing to Alex? That had to sting.

  I couldn’t blame Alex for wanting to do more, though. He’d been in the thick of things through all of this, helping others by giving them crystals, leading people in charges, and helping defend critical points. He’d saved lives, and lots of them. That sort of thing won folks’ loyalty faster than just about anything else.

  “I’ll be glad to help where I can, Alex. You know I’ve got your back if you need it,” I replied.

  I thought about the control stone in my pocket. It would allow someone to create their own ‘domain,’ whatever that meant. I gathered from the information it was conveying that it would let the user create a little kingdom, with some sort of magical locus of control. While I had no interest in ruling anyone, that was clearly Alex’s gig. He could probably use this thing a lot more than I could.

  “I’ll wish you both the best, then. If you need me, I’ll be over near the command post tent until we pack up tomorrow. After that, look for me near Fenway, eh?” MacGregor said.

  We shook hands, and he turned to leave. That gave me the opening to speak with Alex alone.

  “I’ve got something I want to show you,” I told him. “But in private, okay?”

  “Sure, no worries. Follow me!” Alex said. Then he shot skyward, using his Flight to soar across the sky toward City Hall.

  I followed close behind him, landing on the roof only a few seconds after he did. “So this is gonna be your new home, huh?”

  “That’s the plan, yeah.”

  “You figure out how you’re going to grow food yet?” I asked. That was my biggest worry, now that the Karabos invasion was over. It was September. There wasn’t time to plant crops before winter set in, and there definitely wasn’t enough food in the city to keep too many people alive all winter long.

  “That’s a work in progress. For now, I’m going to have my people raid every apartment in range, and all the shops, too,” Alex said. “Most people fled, so the apartments will be abandoned. If we find people, we’ll take them in, I figure. Come spring, we’ll get to planting.”

  “Well, this might help you,” I said, slipping the control stone from my pocket and holding it out to him.

  Alex reached out to touch it and gasped, drawing his fingers away quickly. “Holy crap! That’s got a lot of magic loaded into it. Soon as I touched it, the thing flooded my mind with data.”

  I nodded. “I know. Same thing happened to me. It seems like it’s designed to give you control of a ‘domain,’ whatever that means. Some sort of leadership role, magically enhanced? When you told MacGregor what you had in mind, I thought this would help you out.”

  “You want to give it to me?” Alex asked, blinking. The astonishment was all over his face. “Cameron, this stone is beyond valuable. We’ve seen one of these things drop, ever. It’s rare as hell. You sure you want to give it up?”

  “I don’t want to lead an army of people,” I said, shrugging. “You do. I figure it ought to go to someone who wants to use it. I am perfectly happy helping people out wherever I can, but I don’t need to control a domain to do that. This might help you save a lot of lives, though.”

  “I’ll take it,” Alex replied without hesitation. “But as a trade, okay? Here.”

  He reached into his pockets and pulled out a stack of tier four and five stones. “We killed a bunch of the tank crabs as they withdrew to the ocean. I got a bunch of the stones, and figured I’d save them to swap with you for or whoever. Most of these are stones you’re more apt to need than me, anyway. I’ve got two tier four Natural Armor crystals, a tier four Strength, a tier five Stamina, tier five Natural Armor, and a tier five Agility here.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot. You sure you want to trade all of that for this control stone?” I asked.

  Alex laughed. “Dude, I’m pretty sure I’m getting the better end of this deal. Take it. If I find a few more, I’ll toss them your way, too.”

  We made the exchange. Alex picked up the control stone and his face went slack. I knew he was being deluged with new information, but when he didn’t speak for a full minute, I got worried.

  “You okay?”

  He blinked. “Sorry, yeah. It’s a lot of data. I’m going to need time and meditation to parse all of this.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, then.” I smiled. “But if you need me, holler, eh? I’ll be here. Got your back anytime you need it.”

  “Likewise, brother,” Alex said, clasping my hand in his. “Together, no matter what.”

  I flew clear, gliding through the air toward MacGregor’s camp and wondering what my next moves were going to look like. The people here were splitting up. MacGregor would take some off to the west, while others remained with Alex. Some folks would head north into Cambridge, moving toward the new strongholds at MIT and Harvard.

  A familiar face waved to me from the ground and I streaked down to land next to Emmy, who jumped into my arms as soon as I was on the ground.

  “Superhero!” Emmy cried out.

  I laughed. “You know, you’ve almost got me believing that, too.”

  “You should,” Maggie said from where she stood nearby. She came over to join us, a broad smile on her face. “You fit the role pretty well.”

  “Thanks, I think,” I replied. “What are you planning to do next?”

  “Well, we haven’t found our parents yet,” Maggie said, a warning look in her eyes. We both knew they’d likely died during the chaos of the early post-Event days, but Emmy didn’t need to hear that. Not yet, anyway. “Mostly, I want to get Emmy somewhere safe. I was thinking we’d maybe walk up to Harvard and see what’s happening out there. I heard there’s people gathering and organizing?”

  I nodded. “That’s true. I’ve even met some of them. Want me to introduce you?”

  “That would be amazing,” Maggie replied. “You sure you can spare the time?”

  I shrugged. “Plenty of time now that things are calm. Can’t promise everything will stay that way, but for now? Why don’t I bring you two over this evening? I can fly us there in a couple of minutes.”

  “Fly us! Fly us!” Emmy cried. She turned to her sister. “Pleeeeeease?”

  Maggie laughed, then ruffled her sister’s hair. “Sure. Why not? If you’re certain you have the time to spare, Cameron.”

  “Sure do!” I said. I already had Emmy tucked on one hip with my arm around her. I reached out the other arm to Maggie. “If you’re ready to go?”

  Maggie nodded. She stepped closer to me, looking a little nervous, but also excited. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  Her green eyes sparkled in the fading sunlight. I wrapped an arm tight around her waist. “Let’s do this, then.”

  Emmy’s shriek of joy when we shot skyward made Maggie and I both laugh loud enough to echo from the buildings around us.