The Fear You Know

19. The Order of Hope

 She moved with absolute precision, every motion of her body in perfect time with the world around her. Were it not impossible he might have assumed her to be inhuman, moved on strings just as the merged themselves, though that clearly couldn't have been the case. Whatever helped to give this woman her assurance, it couldn't have been spawned by the dreads.

Following her example, they were led through the tunnels in silence walking behind the woman and keeping in time with her step. Looking at the ten links on her chain, Eli felt, for certain, that those had not been accumulated by accident .

This main tunnel seemed to be the primary thoroughfare of the city, with people passing on both the right and the left.

As they entered the main crowd, they suddenly became part of the clockwork precision of the city, walking in step with the others like soldiers in a marching army. Hats came off, gloves were put on, and the men and the women alternated one after the other in their movements.

As the woman passed through the crowd, with them at her heels, she occasionally flashed the small silver tree to others walking in the opposite direction, with them obliging with the same signal.

The presence of that silver symbol did not grant Eli any of the comfort he was sure it was originally designed for. If nothing else, the presence of that little silver symbol peaked his skepticism and anxiety.

After all, he had no doubt at this point that his father's disappearance was linked.

The woman turned sharply, cutting into a doorway just to their right giving Eli and Peter little warning, forcing them to jog to catch up to her unusually long strides.

Open doorways passed them on all sides revealing telling glimpses into the lives of the people who Lived in Kurshing. All around them metal clattered, and sparks leapt inside the archways of open caves as Kurshing citizens worked to mold the reality of their greatest export.

Metals.

Metals, and metal products.

Solid lumps of Iron and steel were formed into bars and sent on dangerous trade pathways up through the stalk. Blades shoe buckles and eyeglass components.

On many occasions, Eli's face was lit with the warm glow of molten metal and dancing flame as a cherry red blade was pulled from the forge and doused in oil summoning momentary eruptions of blazing red flame before passing out of his vision, behind thick walls of stone.

Ahead of them, the woman paused checking left, and then right at the next intersection. He inched forward and she held up a hand to stop him, leaving him to stare past her arm and into the next cavern inward.

Though his vision was partially obscured, what he saw inside was....

Disquieting.

The central axis of the room was dominated by a massive metal forge spewing fire and smoke from holes in its upper rim. Metal cluttered and clanked as a set of Merged worked the bellows that stoked the massive fire. Even from here, he could feel the roaring heat as the bellows worked whooshing in time with the lungs of Kurshing city.

Peter grabbed his arm as the two of them stared at the massive structure, watching as Merged, not only worked the bellows, but wove glowing red metal into chains and links, thousands upon thousands of links tossed into massive, rusted metal bins to be carted away into unknown depths by other merged.

They worked relentlessly, never stopping, and never falling out of time with the beat of their work, a beat that was accented by their slow and mournful humming, as mindless as the buzzing of worker bees.