The New Star: Interlude 10

“Cruithne, the Fortress of Infinite Earth, Last Anchor of the Sky!”
We stood, stunned, at this announcement. Could it be that Yy’s father had known all along what the mysterious Star was, and had told no-one? We were about to find out much about this enigmatic character, as he continued his speech. My late father-in-law told us of a time, about 200 years ago, when he was still known as Sesus Tarkin, sorcerer and teacher at the Heptagram, a loyal servant of the Realm. One of his students, by the name of Ragara Maliceä, discovered some lost cellars, full of forgotten lore. From that lore the science of Astronomy was born. But there was no place for this ‘new idea’ within the Perfected Hierarchy of the Realm, so Sesus Tarkin ceased to exist and the outcaste Yy appeared from nowhere and developed the discipline, seemingly from nothing.
Of particular note to the early astronomers was the phenomenon of the ‘Dark Star’ – familiar to astrologers but accepted as ‘just one of those things,’ that gave you an odd horoscope, nothing more…
But the purpose of Astronomy was to not accept these things; to ask “why?” of the unexplained.
Over the next century, ‘Yy’ travelled Creation learning all he could about the Dark Star, and eventually he came up with a hypothesis – one that had only been confirmed here, tonight: the Dark Star is none other than Cruithne, the lost and forgotten Last Anchor of the Sky.
Tarkin, as I suppose we must now call him, then told us the story of Cruithne, from its creation unto the present. It began with the first war, when the Exalted overthrew the Titans, also called the Primordials, the creators of the universe.
These creatures were so alien that one of their number formed the wall around Creation, that separated our world from the infinite Wyld beyond. The dilemma the Exalted faced was how to kill such a creature without letting the Wyld in, destroying the world in the process? The first and greatest of all sorcerers, Brigid, devised the solution. She designed five Anchors, one for each direction of Creation, to be housed in mighty, flying fortresses, that would take over the role of the Wall when It was killed.
And this was done.
The war was won by the Exalted and the Gods, who took the place of the vanquished Titans. But after thousands more years, the decadent and degenerate Solar Exalted, who had proved to be no better masters than those they usurped, were in turn usurped by the Dragon-Blooded. During this time, four of the five Anchors were destroyed, and much of Creation was overwhelmed by the Wyld as a result. The fifth, Cruithne, Anchor of Earth, disappeared.
If star maps and records are to be believed, the Dark Star has been in a stable orbit since the Usurpation of the Solars, when it was first seen. But now its orbit is unstable, it is glowing and travelling nearer to the earth. Tarkin gave us a dire warning: this must surely mean Cruithne is going to crash. It must be reached before this happens and repaired. The fate of the whole world depends on this.
Tarkin, his son and the senior officers of the Terracotta Legion were clearly well prepared for this moment, as Yy and Colonel Arech announced their audacious plan to save the flying island. To reach it, they must have flying machines. One of the largest sources of the great flying machines of old is the ruined city of Rathess. They therefore plan to take the Terracotta Legion there and recapture the city from the barbarians that occupy it at present.
This was greeted by the audience in the observatory with disbelief, and I saw a look of scorn on many faces. I myself thought Yy’s ambition unrealistic – at best. But with a conviction I had not seen in my betrothed before, he explained why he was the man to accomplish the impossible.
Every previous excursion by the Dragon-Blooded to Rathess has met with failure, but never before has there been such a chance for success, as the Terracotta Legion has a number of factors in its favour that have not been present before. Colonel Cathak Arech’s family has been scouting and mounting excursions to Rathess for generations, they know more about the city than any, save its denizens. The Legion is better equipped and larger than any that has ever been sent to Rathess before, and as for its leaders, Colonel Arech is regarded as the greatest strategic genius of his generation, and General Yy can accomplish anything he sets his mind to.
This outrageously boastful claim had scarcely left the lips of Yy when he approached my father, and presented proof of his claim. He pulled out and opened a small box, and offered, as a gift, one of the legendary Peaches of Immortality, which Yy had arranged to be delivered to him from Heaven itself. My father reached out his hand to take the kingly gift…

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