The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION

*61

Each night it became a little easier to control my stilt strider. I began asserting my influence on the machine in imperceptible ways. Shutting out the computer was harder, but I soon learned how to keep its commands at bay. After a week, I was pantomiming my duties with ease.

With my conscience restored, collections were incredibly difficult to perform, but I couldn't blow my cover. Thankfully, those I abducted became prisoners in the tower—I hadn't been forced to kill anyone in weeks. I began to fantasize about escape. About freeing my family. About liberating Daun from The Walled City.

Kooper's clandestine visits to my cell were rare. The night he walked into my black room with wild eyes, I knew the time for our mutiny was at hand.

"We're doing this?" I asked.

Kooper seemed tense as he nodded. "Do you feel confident piloting the stilstry? You're not going to be strolling around leisurely...I need you to fight."

I swallowed. "I'm ready."

"Tonight then...be ready. Follow my lead in the citadel's chamber. Do you remember the easiest way to take out the other machines?"

"Yes, tear out the power regulator beneath the foreclaws."

"Right. Don't be shy about firing your rods if you need to close some distance. You have six to spare."

I remembered the dreadful night outside the factory when a man was impaled beside me. "Right."

Kooper put his hands on my shoulders. "We can't leave the Obsidian Tower until every other stilt strider is destroyed. If we don't move fast, they'll call in armed airdrones. We won't survive an airstrike."

"What about the other pilots? I don't want to hurt them."

"Ripping out the power regulators won't hurt the men in the machines, but it may eject them onto the floor in the heat of battle. Remember, we have no way to help those poor souls...at least right now. They'll be lifeless on their feet, maybe even hostile."

I gritted my teeth. "What about the tower commander?"

"I'll take him out myself as soon as we tear through the stilstries. I'm sorry, but it's going to be 2 against 30...not great odds."

I didn't care. "When do we begin?"

"That's the Danth I remember!" Kooper slapped my shoulder. "We'll make our move when the silt striders line up for assignments."