[quote]"If I may, sir," she said in as gentle and honest a tone as she could manage, pitching her voice to be heard but not to shout. "We are but travelers—" capital T or not, "—looking for safe harbor for our wounded and somewhere to rest for a while. We mean no harm to you or any of those that you protect with such diligence."[/quote]

The robot was still and silent for awhile -- but through the radio speaker on its chest, Lily might hear the mutter of distant people discussing the predicament. The robot made a whirring and crackling noise -- like a geiger counter.

The forest behind them scrabbled and hissed; the wood demons gathered on the branches at the edge of the forest -- hundreds of them piled on each other, their eyes glowing bright white, their wooden bodies clustered and festering with dark crystal.

Above them, atop a high branch, an orange felidrake perched. It stared down at the travelers with a cold gaze, its wings flared.

The voice over the robot's speaker returned, addressing Lily, who appeared to be the leader of the group: [b]"All right."[/b] It was a different man's voice that came over the radio -- frustrated with the decision that had been reached. [b]"Bring yourself and the other two women. You'll be screened and cleared for entry before you'll be allowed through the --"[/b] someone in the distance shouted, and the speaker muttered an obscenity under his breath. [b]"Just follow the damn robot. Leave your friend where he is. It's not worth the risk. Move now or you'll be dead in a minute."[/b]

The radio clicked off. The robot whirred to life, turned around and began to wobble quickly back the way it had come, toward a small open door in the foreboding wall.

Spook had revived, and he reached up and yanked his mask off his marred face. With the other hand he reached out suddenly and grasped Meryn's wrist. Without a word, he shoved the mask into her hand, and he stared up at her with determined trust. After a moment he let go and dug in a pocket of his jacket.

[b]"Lily,"[/b] he called in a stern voice, and he unlatched his light curved sword from his belt and held it out to her, the decorative sheath gripped in a gloved hand. [b]"Your sister's in there."[/b] He gestured toward the high dark walls of the city. [b]"Hurry."[/b]

His solemn eyes found the herbalist next. "Emma." He dug in a pocket of his jacket, and he tossed a compass to her. It was very old and heavy, etched all over with strange symbols. "Through insomnia's labyrinth, the fog and stones shine with the black second sight." It was cryptic, and spoken as a recitation meant to be remembered. As he spoke, the arm of the compass swung; it pointed away from the city, toward a dusty road in the distance ahead and to their left, partially hidden in the trees. His seriousness broke, and he smiled. "Thanks, Emma. Move quickly now." He forced himself to sit up, and he turned to face the forest -- as if he could hold off the swarm of demons while Meryn, Lily and Emma made their escape.

[hr]

Inside the city, alarms howled.

The city of Cogswall was all dank copper and tarnished brass, iron vents vomiting steam, potholes filled with rancid rainwater, churning machinery, crushing gears, dark-streaked stone, labyrinths of pipes and boilers and clockwork monstrosities.

The Eminence presided over it all, assured the impoverished and desperate that hard work would bring them prosperity. Mechanical giants patrolled the streets with searchlight eyes. Dark wagons carried off the young and the accused, never to be heard from again. The only source of hope was in the markers of graves. The only source of happiness was in needles and vials.

Throughout the city, alarm bells rang and horns howled -- something rare, something that hadn't happened since the forest outside the city burned in a high inferno a decade ago.

A voice spoke over the loudspeakers throughout the city, crackling and monotonous:

[h3]ALL ARMED POLICE AND MILITARY TO THE WALL PERIMETER. ALL MECHANICALS TO BE REPROGRAMMED OFFENSIVE. ALL WEAPONRY AT THE READY. ANNIHILATION. ANNIHILATION.[/h3]
There was a mass exodus to the walls: police, machines, robots, armed citizens. Monstrous mechanical tanks were released from underground bunkers. The top of the wall crowded quickly with firepower of all hellish imagination.