47 BY THE TEMPLE OF THE ASCENDED GODS

As expected, his question took the archigeos by surprise. He frowned, clearly hesitant. Then he asked Iasos,

"What do you think, Guardian of Mmenosyne? Is there any possibility a Kroton will be able to enter the Hall of Bones before autumn?"

'Autumn? No! That would take too long!' Glax knew he had to take advantage of the emotional moment to get what he wanted. "Why would a Kroton have to wait until autumn to access the report?"

"Not just a Kroton, but any other nobleman, including the Archigeos himself. Unless it is a matter of extreme urgency and importance to the clan... Your curiosity is not, Glax." Iasos spoke nonchalantly. He was a slender, masculine version of Chriseis, but he seemed infinitely more… 'polite'. The Hall of Bones is only open at the festival of the Goddess Mnemosyne - the Memory Goddess."

"Hey boy, don't be in a hurry, you'll have a lot of things to do by then. Now finally come and tell me how it went with the giant monster. Nikandros is smoking black steam, I'm sure," the archigeos walked ahead, waiting to be followed by everyone .

Glax hoped not, and was relieved to find it was only a metaphor for the bad mood of the half-man-half-machine.

The rest of the evening was spent with his own account of the facts. Glax left all the glory to Chriseis , with emphasis on Captain Laertes's performance.

He didn't know how the story would actually be recorded for the future. He just did his best to remember all the details that showed how everyone worked hard to destroy Sillabot.

They didn't need to know his opinion on how the monster would have been easily destroyed with gunfire. Any cannon.

They refused technology as something bad. And Glax thought they had good reason to suspect it.

"What exactly were you doing? While Chriseis was dying?" Nikandros asked point-blank, "Were you healed by an iatromancer?"

"No. A local healer found me on the beach with Chriseis after the storm, and treated me with potions. I don't know exactly who she was," he lied. Nikandros's bloodshot eyes were full of accusation, but Iasos intervened,

"Dad, he's just saying that he did what Chriseis told him to do. She was the general, and he obeyed her. He's not the only survivor and everyone witnessed Chriseis's deeds. Everyone will say the same thing..."

Glax didn't like to remember that he couldn't do anything about the contradictions and witnesses. But at least there were no videos.

The old man just raised an eyebrow in doubt, but said, after a resigned sigh,

"You brought her body to us. The gods will bless you for that."

Glax would not dispense with any kind of blessing.

And they were so focused on their glorious heroine that they were forgetting the main thing: Sillabot was not even the first metal and steam monster to plague the echelian lands.

And Glax had an intuition that he wouldn't be the last.

:::::::::::

A day later, the capital still displayed the symbols of mourning for its latest heroine.

Alexandre, his new cousin, was so excited to try Glax's quadriga that he practically begged to be able to guide the horses. Glax wanted to go to Rasmus' new home.

But the boy was also not very adept at commanding four horses by pulling a two-wheeled cart. The magnificent animals were realizing the lack of command and picking up speed through the city streets.

Echelion's Upper City, facing the Bay, was basically assembled alongside a long windy road descending to the port. It's way tangled with tunnels, squares and bridges, flanked by low walls on the steep slope.

They were using the 'expressway', which was allowed only for the military and which was wide enough for a chariot pulled by four horses side by side. Still, Glax realized it was a bad idea to give the reins in his cousin's hand.

"You don't even know what you're doing, do you, Alexandre?!"

"Is it a problem?! I'm learning! Wanna drive?" The boy asked when they saw a formation of soldiers coming towards them, in some kind of maneuver down the road. He offered the reins with an alarmed look in his face.

"Damn it, Alexandre, I also don't know how to deal with this thing! What did you want?! Do you really think I ever had four horses at once? I am a man of the mountains!" Glax grabbed the reins in despair, as the horses did not stop and did not change direction, rushing toward the unit of soldiers.

"Oh c'mon! You'll nail it! You got 26 tokens!"

"And since when does being good at Sniper Creed mean being good at Top Racer GP?!!" Glax dodged the soldiers at the last moment, who stayed behind eating dust and cursing at them.

"What?!" The boy held his helmet on his head with one hand, while the other held the loop of the chariot. His manic smile from someone who was having a great time was worrying.

"Killing and driving are different things, Alexandre!" He finally managed to understand how horses were controlled in an emergency course, and slowed down and aligned them. "Now I understand what HP is!" His eyes and mouth were full of dust and he had scratches from peebles that flew in their path. "Just guide the way and don't put your hands on those reins again."

"Cousin, I have to tell you that Cousin Chriseis promised me her best horse, Belleros, if I was approved into the Furies! It was a secret deal of mine and hers! You're not going to go back on her word, are you?"

He was suspicious of the teenager's sudden friendship.

"She said that? Did she really need to give you any encouragement?" He wouldn't be fooled by a 14-year-old kid, would he?

"I wanted to join the Megarians as my father did. But Chriseis said that Megarians are for sissies, and that they live in the past. That the Furies outrivaled the Megarians. They are the fiercest and the more feared. Are you going to join the Furies too, cousin?"

"Ah, I… I will think about it. I have to sort things out first."

"I don't know if I want to join the Furies right now. My new brother-in-law is a captain there. But if you join the Megarians, then no one will say that they only live out of past glories..."

Glax was going to ask what was wrong with being in the same company as his brother-in-law, but then he remembered they were talking about Proctius.

"There are not only these companies, are there?"

"No ... But these are the most famous." Alexandre pointed out a place to leave the chariot in the care of state grooms, and both went to the temple region. "Ascaphalus, Alectryon, Karkinos are also famous, but they are not cool."

"They are not cool… Got it. So can you apply for the company you want, before your agoge?" Agoge must be a rite of passage. Perhaps like in the Sparta he heard of. A 'from boy to man' bloody rite.

"Yea."

"And do I also have to apply, even as an adult and a Kroton?"

"No, of course not. You can join whatever you want, as the winner of the Armoric Games they will fight over you… Twenty-six tokens! Dude! You are a fighting machine! In my dorm, everyone thought that Captain Proctius had no rivals! You need to teach me tricks for my agoge too!"

"Yup. I'll teach you everything about how to make people like your brother-in-law bite the dust," Glax said absently, looking around. People passed with pitchers of water, flowers and animals for sacrifices. Glax already knew that every temple smelled of barbecue, wine and incense.

They were in the back street of the grandiose Temple of the Ascended, where he had come yesterday during the ceremony.

Lady Jolla lived somewhere over there.

He looked again at the message Lady Jolla had sent. "Visit us in the morning, even though your grief is painful, Lord Glax. Behind the temple of the Ascents, I live in a house of pink columns and a shell on the porch." There was even a tidy and delicate drawing of the house's facade.

Glax and Alexandre were looking for the house at the end of the street, when the Valosian felt his instincts tingle.

After thousands of hours spent in a virtual environment hunting and being hunted as a sniper, he always knew when he was being watched! Or at least, almost always. If it weren't for that, he would have been single, without noticing Sienna stalking on him almost like a ninja around the office.

But it was nothing like Sienna. On the roof of the temple, half hidden by a female statue holding a torch, he saw the sniper.

A man was watching the street, Glax and Alexander, and the side exit of the temple. Glax crossed the street to get closer to the temple again and under the marquee, getting out of sight of the guy hiding up there. He took his young cousin with him.

He hadn't seen what weapon the light-hooded man had, but that wasn't the most important thing now. Alexander, the son of the archigeos, was with him.

'Whatafuq!' Glax was still thinking about how to deal with this, when a black wagon totally closed like a box, and pulled by four horses, turned the corner. At least 10 warriors escorted the carriage on foot. They wore black robes and white-feathered helmets, and carried spears.

'Why, what's going on?'

Alexander expressed out loud exactly what was in Glax's mind. They stood motionless where they were, in the shadows of a colossal column, watching.

The men all entered the temple, and only the driver of the vehicle remained. Glax deduced that the sealed carriage was empty, as it did not need security.

"What's going on in that big box, good man?" A woman in a blond wig crossed the street from a door on the other side. The flashy color and tangle of hair was probably noticeable even in the dark. She had a tattoo on her face and really huge breasts. Which she emphasized with an elaborate tie on her dress.

"It must be great to lay your head on that titties and brush the other one a bit lower, isn't it, cousin? Oh, we shouldn't talk about it, we're mourning!"

"You have a problem with the Principles, Alexandre. But I understand you. Only I think our friend over there has a purpose ..."

"What can you do for a fish, friend? I have little time. Can I touch your melons?" the driver licked his lips, starting a negotiation with the prostitute.

"Ah, how impious! The gods are watching! And I like it that way!" she exclaimed.

The woman moved closer to the cart, taking the driver's attention with her large breasts.

Glax looked around. He hated to squander such a work of art as that temple, but a splinter from the column was loose and he took that piece of marble the size of a brick. And waited.

The man on the roof lowered himself gently to the top of the black wagon.

"3...2...1…" Glax prepared to hit the man with the 1kg boulder.