“Smith! Are you okay?” Sheriff Blackwood asked as he hurried over to the pile of logs John had taken cover behind. The horse kept trying to pull away now that he wasn’t in the saddle, but he held it firmly by the reins.

“I’m fine. I need to rearm. Can you hold it down for a few minutes?”

The man reached behind John and yanked the arrow out of his armor. John was thankful it didn’t hurt. “Do we have a choice?”

Instead of answering the Sheriff’s question, he asked one of his own. “Do you know if Seline and her uncle have those new weapons ready?”

Wyatt shook his head. “I haven’t seen or heard from them in a day or so. But they can’t miss the bells.”

John nodded and jumped back into the saddle as shots started to ring out from the roofs around them. It seems the deputized men had finally gotten into position.

Knowing an attack was inevitable, John had used up pretty much all his powder and materials to craft as much ammunition as he could. Then he had stored caches of it around town for easy access. The closest such cache just so happened to be the jail.

He rushed into the building, jerked open the Sheriff’s desk drawer, and tossed as much of the ammo as he could into a sack.

As he was loading, he heard yelling from the back. “Who’s out there? What’s going on?”

He had forgotten about those claim jumpers they locked up.

“Are we under attack? Let us out, we can help!”

John paused at that. With so many Harc’otti assaulting the town, they could use every bit of help they could get. And it wasn’t like these men would be able to run. They would die in the wilderness. John rummaged through both desks to try and find a key, but he couldn’t find one. Wyatt or Seline must have it on them. Brute force it was.

He threw open the door to the cells and the six men scrambled back from the bars until they realized who it was.

“Is the town under attack?” the leader of the group asked.

John nodded. “I’m only considering letting you out because they have the town surrounded. If you try something dumb or try to run, I’m gonna shoot you myself. Are we clear?”

All six men nodded.

“Stand back.”

“Stand back for what?” the leader asked. John didn’t answer, he simply walked up to the bars and pulled out his revolver.

As soon as the men saw the weapon, they scrambled as far back as they could get. Thankfully the jail cells were only secured with padlocks instead of integrated locks. He aimed and fired. The bullet impacted the lock before ricocheting into the back wall of the holding area.

He knew that would likely happen which is why he had everyone get back. The bullet didn’t break the iron lock, but it did weaken it. John kicked it hard, and the lock gave way. He repeated this for the second lock, but the bullet ricocheted into the cell, hitting one of the men in the leg. It only resulted in a minor cut though.

John gestured with his gun toward the forest. “Find any weapon you can they’re gonna need you to hold the line. And remember what I said.”

“We’re not cowards. This is our town, and we won’t let any damn barbarians take it from us. Come on men!”

The group of six rushed out, and John followed.

As he exited the building, he could hear more fighting in the distance. John didn’t even make it halfway to the barricades before he ran into the Sheriff.

“John,” the man spoke hurriedly.

“What happened, why did you pull back so soon?”

“Had to. Those armored bastards never stopped pushing. And we don’t have anything that can penetrate their thick armor. I’m all for protecting the town, but I won’t throw my men’s lives away meaninglessly.”

“I wasn’t accusing you of that,” John replied to the man’s testy response. “I just wanted to know what I was walking into. I can hold the line for a bit but we need that cannon. Can you find Seline and Travis?”

“Fine. If they aren’t here yet, they are probably still finishing up. Let me take the horse and I’ll get there quicker.” John handed the reins off and wished the man luck.

After the Sheriff left, John found a defensible spot and dropped his bag of ammunition. He crouched down behind the cover and began to reload his bandoleer. It wasn’t long before he heard metallic clomping coming from down the street. But it was a group of unarmored screaming warriors that rounded the corner first.

John rose up from behind his cover, instantly getting the group's attention. A few had bows and they fired at him, but John dodged the incoming arrows as he returned fire. The group of eight turned to two, but the remaining fighters rushed him, victory in their eyes.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

He sidestepped the first axe chop, locking the man’s arm in his own before twisting aside to avoid the second attacker. John twisted his grip, hearing an audible snap as he broke the first attacker’s arm. In a single fluid motion, he snatched up the falling axe and spun around, slicing it into the second warrior's chest.

The man screamed and stumbled backward from the force of the impact and John released the axe, leaving it embedded in the man’s chest. He twisted underneath the first attacker's arm, which he had never released, and kicked the man in the back, nearly tearing the arm from his body.

John finally released the arm, letting the man plow face-first into the wall behind him. He checked on the other man and found him lying still in the street. The warrior had foolishly pulled the axe out of his chest and bled out. John quickly retrieved the weapons, tucking them into his belt before dumping his spent rounds and reloading just as the first automaton rounded the corner.

His round pinged off the thick helmet of the armored man, but he heard a scream. At least part of the shot had gone through the slit they used to see out of. It may not be a fatal wound, but it would slow this one down.

In a fit of rage, the armored form swung at the nearest wall. John heard cracking wood but that didn’t deter him from firing at the next three armored forms that appeared.

There were no screams of pain from these three, but one did stop before tumbling forward into the dirt.

And then the remaining three raised their steam rifles. John didn’t wait around to find out if he was outside their effective range. He snatched up his bag of ammo and scrambled into the alley.

A whistling hiss was followed by a wave of heat. He was glad he hadn’t waited around. He was nearly through the alley when another armored form blocked the other side. John skidded to a halt as the form turned his way. He could see the cruel gleam in the eyes as the form aimed its steam rifle at him. And there was no escaping this time.

John wasn’t ready to accept his fate though. He fired off the last of his loaded ammo in his first pistol. But the armored form turned its head back toward the main street, making him miss. Just when he thought his life was over, he heard a thump. The armored form disappeared from the alley entrance as something large slammed into it.

Not wanting to question his good luck, John hurried through the remainder of the alley, checking that it was clear before he exited. The first thing he noted was the suit with the crushed chest plate. When he turned in the other direction, he spotted his savior.

Just down the street was Travis’ walker. And aboard it was Sheriff Wyatt and Deputy Seline. The Deputy looked to be busy reloading the small cannon, while Wyatt readied a rotary that was also bolted to the automaton.

He whistled to get their attention. Blackwood looked at him and John held up three fingers before pointing back the way he had come. The man nodded and tapped the artificer on the shoulder.

Soon the walker turned and stomped over to the other side of the block. John took a moment to pause and reload. He was glad those two had managed to get the weapons built and attached in time. If not he would have been boiled back in that alley.

After reloading his gun, he shoved it back into the holster and drew the two axes he had taken. With the walker cleaning up the armored suits, he could clean up some of the warriors that had come into the town. It was time to go hunting.

John had learned many things back in his day as a soldier. And one of those was how to remain inconspicuous in a town under siege. He couldn’t even count how many times he had infiltrated cities to kill or cause havoc with the leadership. And now he was on the other side.

He tested the weapons, getting a measure of their balance. They were garbage, but he could still work with them. Darting between alleys, John followed the sound of battle cries. The Harc’otti made it easy to track them.

He was just entering another alley when he saw a group of five run past the far side. He gave chase, ensuring they weren’t being followed by any armored forms or more warriors. They weren't. They must hold personal glory in high esteem to charge in so recklessly. Oh well, it worked for him.

The group didn’t even have time to react as he fell upon them. In less than ten seconds, all five men lay dead on the ground. John discarded the now broken axes and picked up two more, then he raced off to find the next group.

This repeated four more times with similar-sized groups until John ran out of targets. That didn’t mean the Harc’otti had left, only that the foolish ones that had entered the city were gone. He found a horse trough and washed the blood from his face before someone mistook him for one of the barbarians.

The sounds of fighting had died down in the last few minutes, and even the screaming chant from the Harc’otti had ceased. But John could see pillars of smoke in a few places around Ember Creek, so the town hadn’t emerged unscathed either.

He hadn’t seen the walker or its passengers since their first encounter earlier in the day. So he wasn’t sure if it was still running around. He assumed it was though, otherwise, the armored automatons would have simply continued their destruction through the city.

John made his way to the edge of Ember Creek and onto the roofs of one of the buildings to get a better idea of what they faced now that the fighting had come to a bit of a lull.

What he saw didn’t please him. He had hoped that the Harc’otti would commit all of their warriors piecemeal as he had seen, but it seemed like they had barely even dented their numbers. They still had six armored forms standing near the tree line.

As he surveyed the gathered army, he could start making out differences in the way certain groups dressed. It was subtle, and most people might miss it, but he didn’t. If John was right, it looked like this ‘army’ was made up of at least ten different groups. Different tribes maybe?

It would certainly explain why some had simply rushed in while the rest waited. Even the kingdoms that arrayed themselves against the Irtishian Empire had cohesion issues and they were trained armies. The Harc’otti warriors were certainly not trained soldiers. John could use this to his advantage when they finally attacked.

Eventually, his gaze landed on a small group of men toward the back. The only difference between them and the rest of the warriors was their lack of weapons. These had to be the elders Seline had told him about.

It was too bad he didn’t have his rifle. The shot was near the maximum of his range, but he was sure he could pick off at least one of them before they ran and hid. With the enemy encircling the west side of town, there was no way he was sneaking out there to strike at the leaders without getting caught.

John didn’t want to try outflanking them either. If anyone in town saw him leaving from the far side, they would probably assume he was fleeing and morale would plummet.

So it was a waiting game. But why were the Harc’otti waiting? They had the numbers. They even had those six suits. If they rushed the walker, it wouldn’t stand a chance. It was fast, sure. But all they had to do was cut it off. It couldn’t exactly turn very quickly. That is probably why Travis and Seline had mounted the rotary to it in the first place. But even that gun had a limited amount of ammo.

If the Harc’otti wanted to sit and wait, fine. It gave the town more time to prepare. He already saw people scrambling to erect more barricades from the lumber piles, while men with guns watched over them from nearby roofs. Everything was well in hand and John decided to go find the Sheriff and see what happened on his end.