It was well past dawn. Light blossomed in the clearing as Angelica had a moment to reflect. The Widow sat on a crate in the middle of the trashed Polish camp, her hands bound behind her back. That shouldn’t have been enough to restrain a mech rider, whose machine lay only twenty feet away. But Angelica was pretty certain at this point that the Widow had lost her bond. Why else would her mech have collapsed like that? Even being out of istota would not have such a dramatic effect.

Soldiers were trickling into camp now, in one and twos, telling of avoiding Russian mechs and disturbing encounters with still more golems. The golems had largely left them alone, confirming Angelica's fear. The golems had been sent for her and her riders. But why? And who?

Sergeant Wysocki had survived the battle without injury. He began rounding up the men and clearing the wreckage of their camp, classifying their gear into salvageable and destroyed, while Angelica tried to decide what to do with her prisoner. The Russians knew they were here. They couldn't stay long. Tamara and Eva, Hannah and Veronica were all still out there. The longer she delayed, the higher the chance that someone would come looking for them.

"Where is your camp?" Angelica asked the Widow.

She shook her head “I don't have to tell you that. I am a lawful prisoner. You won’t harm me."

Just then, Tamara came crashing back through the woods. Her machine skidded into the clearing and she leapt down from the shoulder of her mech. "Eva is gone!”

Angelica's heart froze. Even in her fear, she noticed how the Widow's expression changed. Her mouth opened a little, then the Widow closed up again.

"She's gone?" Angelica demanded. "Dead?"

Tamara shook her head. "No, no, at least I don't think so. They took her. I found her mech. The golems cracked it open and took the engine.”

The Widow swore in Russian. Angelica turned on her. "What?"

"He has the stone. He has the girl and the stone both. This is bad."

"Who does?"

"Frankenstein, of course. These are his golems. Who did you think? I thought he was merely looking for the stone. But if they took Eva rather than just killing her, then –" There was something in her face.

Angelica stood over her prisoner, arms folded. "Why does everyone want this stone?"

The Widow scowled but answered. "It is a source of Baba Yaga's power. Not the whole power, but part of it. With the right technology, it would allow wicked men to do terrible things."

"So why were you after it?" Tamara demanded.

"I had a deal to bring it to Frankenstein. In exchange,” She hesitated but only a moment. “He would help me with my bond."

"You think there's a way to fix a mech-bond?” Angelica asked skeptically. "We've been using bonds for over a hundred years. You think someone would have figured it out by now."

"Frankenstein told me he had, and you know his reputation. Would you bet that he couldn’t do it?"

"You have a point," Angelica admitted. She had read plenty of stories about Dr. Frankenstein, a mad Prussian nobleman who had learned to make golems that would loyally serve their masters. He learned to imprint the golems with skills and then flooded all of Europe with his machines. She had also thought he was dead. Apparently, here he wasn’t.

If Frankenstein had both the stone and Eva, that was bad. But Angelica could not afford to worry about the single riders when the entire unit was in danger.

"Any sign of Hannah?" she began, just as her ears caught the sound of mechs moving closer, rampaging through the woods. It was Hannah and Veronica arriving at last. Hannah was slumped over against the shoulder of her mech, clinging on, as Veronica led the way. As soon as they reached the clearing, Hannah slumped forward and fell off of her mech.

Angelica raced to her side. Hannah was unconscious, but breathing. A Polish soldier ran over, tending to Hannah, and treating her wounds.

Angelica looked up as Veronica dismounted from her mech with a graceful leap. "Report!"

Veronica gave an accounting of their battle. “Then the golems just left. I don't know why. They were like the waves of the sea, coming and coming, and then they were gone.”

"Because they got what they needed," the Widow said. “Eva and the stone too.”

Veronica looked the prisoner over. "Is this the Widow? Is it safe to have her here?"

"She's lost her link," Angelica said.

Veronica's eyes narrowed. She reached her hand out for the Widow, as if thinking of touching her. Letting it fall back, she nodded. "You're right, she has."

She said it as if she really knew it was true, as if she could see it was true. Angelica put that in the mental bucket of things to follow up with when she had time. She looked around the camp. By now, most of the Polish troops had returned. Two were still missing. Whether they were dead, wounded, lost, or deserted, she had no way of knowing.

"All right," Angelica said. "Gather up as much as we can. We need to move out. We'll head back down the mountain and try to regroup with the Hungarians."

"You cannot," the Widow said abruptly.

Angelica turned on her. "I do not take orders from Russians or prisoners."

"You can't just leave," the Widow said stubbornly. "Frankenstein has what he wants, and he has your rider."

Angelica hated the thought of young Eva in the grip of a Prussian madman, but she shook her head. "I have three other riders here as well as a whole unit of soldiers." Where was Sergeant Golem? She could use him right now, shouting out orders and helping get them moving. Sergeant Wysocki hung around looking like a dog missing its master.

"Do you not understand the threat Frankenstein poses?” the Widow asked. "The stone’s power will let him raise a golem army, invading and conquering all of Europe."

"It isn’t my problem," Angelica said. "That's for generals and politicians, not captains. There's nothing that we can do. We wouldn’t even know where to find them.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"You have the girl's mech, do you not?" The Widow looked at Angelica, "The bond between Eva and her mech is unusual. It will lead us to her."

“Us?”

She shrugged. “There is nothing for me back in Mother Russia except a life of a brood mare, producing more mech-bonded girls. I do not wish for that.”

Angelica’s thoughts were interrupted by a shout as the last pair of Polish stragglers came into the camp, escorting a man between them. He was short and slight, wearing a Russian uniform. His weaselly face was bruised and bloody, and he walked with a limp. The Widow rose in astonishment.

"Mikhail!"

"Keep them apart," Angelica cautioned. "Keep guns on him." She turned to the Widow. "Who is this?"

"He is the leader of our Wraith soldiers."

"Do not give away information," Mikhail snapped. "Natasha, even for you, this is too much."

"What happened?" the Widow asked, ignoring Mikhail's outburst. "Why are you here? Where are your other soldiers? Where is your cloak?"

The Polish privates with him laughed. "Sergeant Golem took it. Our sergeant beat up an invisible man and stole his cloak!"

That's who had come to her rescue then. Sergeant Golem. A warm rush filled Angelica as she imagined the sergeant taking on an invisible, untouchable soldier. She'd have to ask how he did it when he returned.

"All right," she said, turning back to the Widow. "Even if I wanted to go after Eva, we don't have an airship."

"You do not," Natasha said quietly, "but I know where you can find some."

It took Angelica a moment to realize what she was saying. "You mean your camp?"

The Widow shrugged. "We have an airship. More than one. Perhaps you could steal…"

"Natasha!" Mikhail said. "You traitor!"

"But that is unlikely.” She finished. “Or you can come with us," Natasha continued. "General Morozov is not an unreasonable man. He will be willing to negotiate."

Angelica looked at Mikhail. His eyes were wide. She turned back to the Russian woman.

"And what would we negotiate with? A Russian general will just loan us a few airships? And maybe a division or two?"

"You don’t understand. With the defeat you’ve handed him in the pass he will be hard pressed to continue the assault." the Widow said frankly. "I don’t think he would want to go directly against Frankenstein. He would only lose more men. But if we go to him with a plan, he may change his mind.” The Widow looked at Mikhail as if for support but the man stayed silent.

Horns sounded down on the road below the camp. Her heart leapt as Frank Lewis pulled the jeep to a stop and then leapt out, rejoining the party. The wild-eyed American looked like he'd just had a hard night of drinking and dancing. His eyes swept over the camp.

"Where's Sergeant Golem and Eva? Who are these?"

"Eva's been captured," Angelica said. "Sergeant Golem is doing Sergeant Golem things." She indicated Mikhail. "Meet the Wraith soldier that Sergeant Golem beat up and stole a cloak from."

Frank looked at Mikhail and guffawed. He slapped his thigh before turning to the Red Widow.

"Natasha Popova, I presume?" He made a courtly bow. "Pleased to finally make your acquaintance. Captain Frank Lewis, Polish Air Force."

He turned back to Angelica. "There's a lot of radio chatter. It's hard for me to make out the Hungarian, but I get the gist of it. Golem attacks all over the region. The Hungarians are on the retreat. The Russians seem to have stopped pressuring the passes but it is hard to tell. We're on our own up here. It sounds like whoever's in charge of these golems is making a move to take all of Transylvania. I didn't realize there were this many golems in the world. What kind of machine do you think he's got?"

"It is Dr. Frankenstein himself behind it," Angelica said.

Frank's eyes went wide. He whistled. "Well, if that just ain't the bee's knees. So what are we going to do about it? He's the one who's got Eva?"

Angelica nodded. "Yes."

"Then we'll have to go after him," Frank said.

"We can't leave Eva with Dr. Frankenstein," Veronica agreed. "Who knows what he wants her for? It’s intolerable."

Angelica was torn. This was her decision, and she needed to make the right one. Going after Eva could very well cost them all their lives. A soldier's duty was to survive and return to where she could be an effective fighter once more. Yet the chance of them cutting through the lines seemed almost as preposterous as the idea of asking the Russians for a resupply and an airship.

The Widow stirred. “Look at your position. You are cut off from reinforcements. The Russian army will not be able to come up over the pass with the Golems here. You did your duty here but now you are trapped. Even if you could take my airship intact, you can’t ignore the threat posed by Frankenstein. Look what he has been able to do so far? The firestone will only make Frankenstein stronger. He has your rider. Understrength, with no supplies, do you really think you can cut through the lines and get back to safety?"

Angelica hesitated. She wanted to say that they had escaped a Russian trap once before, but the Widow had a point. They’d had the crawler then. More men. Alexander. Supplies. Right now she had four mechs, all running low on fuel, ten tired, wounded men, one sergeant.

"Listen," the Widow continued, "Since Tzar Nicolas abdicated, the real power in Russia lies with the nobility. The army is controlled by several warlords. On the surface they all serve Russia, but the truth is they serve their own power.”

“Natasha…” The captured Wraith trooper started to interrupt.

“Shut up Mikhail.” She turned back to Angelica. “General Viktor Morozov is one of those warlords. He has extended himself here into Transylvania to claim territory and a victory that will raise him in the Tsar's eyes and give him leverage over the others. General Dmitri Petrov is the mastermind behind the war in Poland. General Morozov was under pressure to support him there. Instead he launched this plan to knock Hungary out and keep them from supporting Poland.”

“That seems like an over extension.” Angelica commented.

Natasha shook her head. “You’re thinking like a unified army would. Think like a self-serving warlord. If he supported General Petrov the victory in Poland won’t be his anyway. Instead If he took Hungary then that conquest would be his even if the war with Poland failed. In fact he wouldn’t mind if it did fail because the blame would fall on Petrov. That is, if General Morozov had succeeded here with his invasion. Instead, his lightning raid on Budapest was defeated.”

Veronica laughed. Angelica looked are her questioningly. The Hungarian girl shrugged. “She’s right. If that raid had wiped out our mech force the Russian army would’ve rolled right through here, especially in the south passes. They would already be in the capitol dictating terms.”

Natasha was nodding. “But now General Morozov finds himself facing an army of golems. He will be like a starving dog drooling for meat if we so much as suggest he could get his hands on Frankenstein's secrets. He will try to betray you," Natasha added. "He will let you be the bait which Frankenstein swallows and then follow up with his own attack. But does that matter? Your goal is not Frankenstein's armory, merely the girl and the stone. I shall help you to take both. We can get in and out before General Morozov’s ambition gets the better of us."

"We can't trust her," Hannah said weakly from where she sat up against a pile of crates. "She's been trying to get her hands on the stone all along. This is just another ploy."

Angelica considered. Hanna wasn’t wrong, but their options were limited.

She turned back to Natasha. "You are certain General Morozov help us?"

"He will understand the threat that Frankenstein poses. I will persuade him that, while our chances our slim, they are real. He will pretend to believe while planning for us to fail and his own force to pick up the pieces.”

“She just wants the stone,” Hannah interjected.

"It is not just the stone," the Widow said. "I do not wish to see this girl in the hands of a madman."

"But why should you care?" Hannah asked.

But Angelica held up her hand. She heard the ring of truth in the Widow's words, and she didn't need to press for an answer just yet.

"Let me think," she said. "Either way, we leave this camp in five minutes. Hannah, are you able to ride?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

"Let's get her into the back seat of the jeep," Frank said. He helped one of the Polish privates to lift Hannah, who winced in pain. Angelica watched them settle the injured rider into her place.

The math didn't work out. But this wasn't about math, was it? She didn't want to lose another friend. She'd lost Alexander already. Her heart still ached at that wound. Sergeant Golem was nowhere to be found. She hoped he would turn up. What would he do here?

She shook her head, smiling to herself. Sergeant Golem would do whatever he had decided with overwhelming power and unmistakable flair. Not her style.

She turned back to the camp. Everyone was waiting, even the prisoner, Mikhail.

"We will go after Eva," she said.

Tamara gave a whoop. "Yes!"

Veronica smiled, too. "I want a rematch against those golems.”

The Widow sighed with relief. "Thank you. I swear on—on—" she shook her head. "There is nothing I could swear on that you will trust, is there? Still, I swear on the life of my daughter, I shall not betray you."