The Temple seemed slow. The building's cylindrical top was a semi-translucent gray that shifted between stone, marble, and a thick pane of glass. Cutlery realized it wasn't slow, it was huge. The roof itself was as wide as a city block! Small dots on the surface weren't actually imperfections. The dots were thousands of windows and balconies.
The festival quieted as people realized the Temple had arrived. Children began to point and yell as the bottom edge of the roof came into view. Everyone watched the structure continue to rise above the peak of the mountain.
The yellow beam that spun upward from the Temple's roof spread into many tendrils. The beam was miles long and stretched into the night clouds. Huge arcs formed from the tendrils bending back down through the mist. Cutlery heard only a few cries of fear. Most people stood still and watched. They had seen it dozen times before.
The Temple's width began to vaguely taper as it rose. The mid structure was three-quarters the size of the roof. Then it tapered back outwards till it formed a sort of hourglass-like shape.
A woosh rushed up behind Cutlery. The Temples's awesome approach slowly faded to the back of her mind. Cutlery looked back. Clothes and napkins rustled as another woosh rushed over them. No one was behind her. A paper sat on the table.
Cutlery picked it up and opened it. Written on it were simple commands.
Attack the gold's when the Temple booms.
That was all. Cutlery looked up at the others. She elbowed Savannah and handed her the note. Once everyone had seen the note, Tall ate it. Very secure.
They turned back to watch the Temple. It continued to grow over the mountain. Based on its shape it was about to crest over the mountain's peak. Unless it was a very long snake-like structure. That could be creepy, Cutlery thought.
The square was lined with the twisted braids Cutlery had seen on her street. Watching them carefully Cutlery saw a slight tremble to them. No, not tremble, vibration. The steady blur and shake of something inside.
The Temple crested over the mountain. The bottom was a huge dipping disk. A beam of yellow light shot out from the bottom of the Temple as well. The two beams mirrored each other. The one that shot at the ground faded before it hit the mountain some quarter mile below it. A wave of debris rolled over the mountain with the Temple.
Rocks, whole islands, wagons, ships, boulders, dust, foliage, and trees rushed over the peak. As they ramped off the top they didn't fall back down, they rose up and around the structure. Clouds poured outward from the Temple's yellow beams and rushed around it. The winds stirred the debris and a wall of chaos formed around the structure. The clear view of its approach was gone. The storm of debris that surrounded it grew till it was a rolling hurricane.
A rush of wind moved over the square and away from the Temple. Was that the boom? Cutlery wasn't sure
-
The braids around the square shake with large undulations. They're shaking was much stronger than the Temple's winds.
The Temple began to descend along the mountain. Cutlery saw the crowd shift as people moved to get better views. Some prayed, kissed, watched, or cowered. Savannah motioned for them all to get moving.
They stepped out of the tables and began to check their equipment. All of them had hidden supplies under their clothing. Except for Tall. Tall just had a leather belt that held a hide skirt in place. A huge axe sat on their back with two smaller axes under it.
Holly tuned her instrument. Savannah nervously pulled her blade in and out of her sheath. Sparks came out sometimes, the sheath must sharpen her blade. The blade seemed thicker than before.
The crowd's movements hastened. Shoving and yelling were added to the mix. Cutlery looked around to see if there was a source. The Temple was still big and scary but it hadn't done anything except move a few hundred feet down the mountain.
Scanning the crowd no fights had broken out either. A sound slowly made itself apparent to her senses. Authoritative, confident, and familiar yelling.
"Clear the square! Clear the square!" Haze yelled from the other side. Over hundreds of people, a street end cleared. A large parade float rolled into space. The crowd pushed away from it in waves. The float was more than a decorative vehicle.
It looked sturdy. Huge wheels the height of a man rolled in a line of four on each side. They bumped up and down with the ground and over unfortunate vendors' stations that were caught by the edges of the wide wagon. The vendors simply fled.
On top a hundred guards lined the edge's behind a short set of wood creations. Haze stood atop a long oval stage in the center and yelled down at the crowd. Cutlery saw the other three golds on the float nearby.
Low slivers were mixed into the guards. Mid-slivers stood closer to the stage on a short circling platform. Cutlery looked around and saw a nearby table with an ale-stained cloth.
She ducked under it and looked out at the stage.
The others paused, then stepped in front of the table to block the gold's view of Cutlery peaking out.
She had been standing there dumbstruck for some time. Luckily one person in hundreds would take even a gold a minute to spot. That could have been the start of another life-or-death chase. She realized a second thing.
Everyone was in one place, even the Temple would be near soon. Would this fight be an all-out war!?
The float fort came to a stop in the middle of the square. The crowd rolled back towards the float like a tide pulled by two moons. Cutlery saw other slivers coming into the space as well. Even the first slivers were around. It looked like they were bodyguards for low nobles and merchants.
The second slivers walked around the parade float keeping the crowd back. The third slivers were the lowest slivers on the float itself. They stood near its edge wearing shiny armor and signets of the Tower. The few-fourths Cutlery recognized surrounded the central platform of the float. A whole crowd stood on the long central platform.
The golds stood out up there. They were surrounded by a dozen guards. Each individual up there looked like a veteran of battle. They must be the fifth through eighth level slivers, those in line to become golds. Cutlery knew from a rumor that one of the two eights was on their side. They were planning on betraying their counterpart. The sevenths were the ones making the plans and handing them down the line. The sixths and fifths were a shitshow of loyalists and rebels mixed together.
All this wasn't very helpful without knowing what anyone looked like. Jake had explained to her,
-
"It's common for fifth slivers and above to be able to perfectly mimic others. So we erred to the side of caution. Even if they us spells that can read thoughts we will be safe." Jake said. He smiled and shrugged. "Whatever is less risk for me!"
-
The Temple seemed to slow down as it neared the bottom of the mountainside. The golden tendrils of light above had descended halfway to the city. A huge shimmering umbrella of light was beginning to move over the city. The light made the night turn to day. Nothing would hide from the Temple's power, the reaching beams seemed to say.
"We can't stay here. Put the tablecloth on and trail behind us." Savannah said. Very smart. She was smart. Cutlery had been planning on staying under the table.
The other three girls slipped away while Cutlery made her disguise. Once she was deep in the crowd she dropped the tablecloth, it attracted a lot of attention.
On her way, she saw Jake. He was standing in the crowd next to a large merchant's stand that was covered in mechanical parts and decorative silky banners and tarps. She should join up with the other assassin. the others were lower slivers with different orders.
She stepped up into the raised stall. Jake looked at her through a gap in the many silky awning things.
"Oddly on time," Jake mumbled. He motioned for her to look at something further in the almost tentlike stall.
Cutlery pushed aside the many multicolored awnings to see Tool's head sticking out of the floor of the stall. Tool had a mess of equipment in the small space.
Cutlery's attention was drawn to a huge crossbow bolt. the sharpened end was the size of her head. Its shaft lead to a huge metal string hooked into it. The metal string bent till taut taunt. The tension made Cutlery nervous. If it fired now it would simply smash through the floor and send splinters everywhere.
"Behold!" Tool yelled. Jake shushed her. Tool held a wrench to her lips and then said, "The great tool of the assassin. A huge fucking bow. That explodes." Tool happily patted the bolt.
