“These big piles of rock are from the before times,” Big Crunch said as he sat on the stone beside their fire. It was pitch dark, and the flames lit the snow yellow as it drifted down around them.

“What did they make them for?” Kalla asked. The domes of rock stood off in the darkness, each one traced with collecting snow. “They are so ugly.”

“They didn’t make them for anything. This piled rock was garbage to them.”

“Why do such a thing?”

“It’s from when they took from the earth. But the earth owned it. It belonged to the earth, and they uncovered things from the earth that poisoned them and made them sick. Killed them. The people of the before times are all gone. I think they realized their mistake and tried to put some of the poisons back into the ground, but it was too late. The water, soil, and air they lived in had already become ill.”

“What did they take?”

“They were fools. All of this mess for a single piece of tech you could hold in your hand. It’s explained in all these ‘mine books’—manuals, they called them. I’ve been reading them for years.”

Big Crunch leaned over, pulled a slab of brown paper from the pile, and threw it on the fire. Sparks flew up into the night air to dance with the snowflakes. “I can’t understand much of it, and most of the pages are damaged. It has been too long. Books are one of the things that don’t outlast time for very long. Some of the words I can read, though. About ‘the mine,’ how to make things work, stuff about the processes and machines. Most call them clockworks now because only the ones with the full automation that contained rechargeable power sources and heavy gears were able to survive for so long.”

“Punx,” the little metal lizard said from the top of a rock beside the fire.

“I’m sorry, little buddy. Nothing was in the books about you. Like me, I think you came later.”

Kalla glanced at the lizard and then looked off into the distance south. She slid the optic over her eye. It had been scratched and dented from the battle with the black droid, but it still worked. She scanned the horizon, but it only showed the usual streaks of silver-white snowflakes falling in the green hue. She pulled the clothing Big Crunch had given her tighter to her shoulders.

“You really think something is coming?” she asked Big Crunch again.

“Punx always knows when something is coming. Well, when it’s coming toward us on the ground, at least. They don’t know about airborne stuff like flying lizards and you, of course. And those flying lizards are a nasty lot, let me tell you. We have the big crackles and the little grabber swarms out here at world’s end. Punx knows about stuff on the ground. I don’t know if it’s part of being a smart lock, or part of the mine complex, or both. I think he connected to a ground sensing system the mine already had.”

A whump sound echoed in the distance. They fell silent and peered toward the sound. Punx spun one circle on the top of his rock and then stood still to stare along with them. Big Crunch stood up from the fire.

“Did you see anything through that?”

“No,” Kalla replied. “But that’s south, isn’t it?”

“Yes. And Punx is excited. Something is coming.”

“Should we put the fire out?”

“No. We’ve been waiting for whatever that is and they know where they are going. No sense hiding, and they’ve seen us long ago, the fire, at least. Best way about things is to meet them head-on.”

“What was that noise?”

“That was an explosion. Sounds like a running battle to me. A set of adversaries out there is my guess. Hopefully, the friendly ones find us first.”

“Hello there! By the fire!” a woman’s voice called to them out of the darkness. “Are you free people? Reavers? Or Army?”

Kalla hadn’t lifted her gaze, and now she whispered, “I can’t see anything.”

“Free people. A girl and a beast. You are welcome. But something pursues you,” Big Crunch called out. Kalla was on her feet. Punx had leapt onto Kalla’s arm and was clinging to her sleeve. She glanced down to see that he had wrapped himself around her arm to appear like a little metal bracelet sculpted in the shape of a lizard. He had become motionless.

“The People’s Army hunts us. Are we still welcome?” The voice was closer now.

“Not the entire army?” Big Crunch asked.

“No, just the cavalry.”

“Some cavalry, or all of it?”

“All of it, I think.”

“Ah, well, of course, they shouldn’t be much of a bother. You best come on in then, before they get here.”

The sound of feet dragging and stumbling over loose stones came into their clearing. The snow that fell swirled into a density that looked unreal. Too thick, where the snow looked unnatural, a bright ball of it floated together like a swarm of bugs, and then suddenly, in its place, stood two women. One was slender holding a long black staff of crystal. The other was stocky, heavily muscled, bleeding and wearing only portions of armour, like she had been in a battle. One arm was slung over the slender woman’s shoulder. They both looked nearly exhausted.

“Jazzy!” Big Crunch said, striding towards the woman and helping her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice. I don’t recognize you; I never knew you when you were young like this.”

He took the weight of the wounded woman and led them to the fire.

“I’m not sure if I like the name ‘Jazzy’ much better than ‘Camps.’”

“It has been so long. It sure is good to see you again! And who is this with you now?” he asked as he led them to the fire. He helped the sturdy woman sit down and immediately began inspecting her wounds. Blood was low on her side, but he could find no fresh bleeding. The woman sat slumped, nearly delirious.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Is she wounded?” he asked. “I’m just going to check your injury,” he said to the woman. “A tough fighter, this one. Scarred face, broken nose.” After a moment, he said, “It looks like you were able to heal her.”

“Yes. She was much worse. I was able, or the staff was able to help her some.”

“Good. There’s always internal damage that will take rest. You did well, Jazzy. Both of you. To get here through this storm.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you. And yes, she needs rest. We all do. It has been all we can do to stay ahead of the soldiers. The scouts are almost on us. And… how do you know me?”

Another whump sounded out behind them. Closer now. A few distant piles of slag away.

The big lizard man turned to face the sounds of the explosions.

“How many more of you are there? And don’t tell me you lost your book.”

“Ah… that’s a long story,” the stocky woman said. It was as if all she could do was lift her head to look at him. “Entirely my fault.”

“So if Brik, Long Molly, or Biter aren’t with you, who is that covering your escape?”

“Ishi is behind us. I don’t know these others you speak of.”

“ISHI!” Kalla bolted to her feet, her warm robes falling away. “My sister!”

“It’s that crystal, you see?” He pointed at the staff. Camps gave it a sideways glance. “It’s the curse you carry from all those years ago in my cantina. The staff is powerful, but you were the unlucky one chosen to carry it. You were cursed with the confused way that machine time is stored. You have never been the same since. It confuses your mind. Erases your memory. And it changes you physically. Your appearance changes. When you sleep, you could become much older, much younger, and when this change happens, others have to be there to remind you who you are. The staff gives you great power and great hardship.”

Another explosion. Closer this time.

“Well, I’m sorry, but we don’t have much time to discuss this. I hate to bring the wrath of The People’s Army down on you. And the field marshall is out there somewhere too…”

“The field marshall, you say?” Big Crunch asked thoughtfully and peered out into the darkness. “Now, there’s someone I’ve always wanted to meet. Have a bone or two to pick with him.”

Another “crump” closer still. One of the piles close to them was disturbed and rattled with a slide of stone chips.

“Who is that helping you?”

“Ishi is my sister!”

“A little girl we found. Or she found us. She’s been covering our retreat. We were able to escape when Daktor and his first scout found us. We have been running ever since. We saw your fire…”

“A little girl…” Big Crunch said. “We seem to be collecting them.”

A large dark bird glided out of the night and falling snow. With the snap of cloth, it landed effortlessly, stood, and rushed to meet Kalla’s hug. The girls clung to each other. They wore matching helmets. One slight, small and dark, the other tall and fair. They clung like that for a long time. The others around the fire watched them in silence. Then they released each other and, standing back, both wiped tears from their eyes and grinned at each other.

“We have never seen Ishi smile. You must be the great pilot Kalla we have heard so much about,” the princess said from her place slumped on the rock.

A drift lizard chortled not far off. Ishi flicked hand signals to her sister. Kalla nodded, smiling through her tears. “You did real good Ishi,” Kalla said.

Camps turned. “That’s a scout.”

Ishi turned away from her sister, and with the familiar metallic warning of the bomb, she threw it out into the night.

“Ishi!” Kalla began.

“Don’t worry,” Camps said. “She only does it to scare them. To keep them off of us, but to tell you the truth, I think if they got too close, she wouldn’t hesitate. Fearless, this little one.”

“Ishi, that was you with the explosions? I thought there was only one?”

Ishi shook her head, stepped forward and lifted the cover to the soft metal box that was still tied around her waist. Another bomblet sat nestled inside.

“After she threw the first one, they just keep reappearing in there,” the princess said. “It’s a good thing, too, or the scouts would have had us long ago.”

“I take it then, Jazzy, you don’t remember much on how to use the staff?”

“Not really. The princess knows more about it than I do.”

“You?” The big man turned to the woman at the fire. “You? You’re the princess? The ambassador’s daughter?” She nodded. “Ah. Now I see. How far is Daktor and his cavalry behind the scouts?”

Ishi flicked a few hand gestures. “She says—” Kalla began.

“A few minutes,” both the princess and Big Crunch replied at the same time.

“And why does the princess run from her own cavalry?” Big Crunch asked.

“The field marshall tried to kill her.”

A drift lizard chortled even closer, from the right side this time. The last had been from the left.

“Only two scouts here, I think,” Big Crunch said.

“Ishi agrees.”

“I will deal with them, then we’ll all hurry and get below before the main army shows up,” Big Crunch said. “Are you ok to move a little further yet, Princess?”

“Yes. But if I can talk to the army, I can tell them of the field marshall’s betrayal.”

A drift lizard with a rider materialized out of the snowy dark.

“It may be too late for that. These are his lightning corps. Sworn men,” Big Crunch replied. He turned away from them and called out loudly to the scout that had rode his drift lizard into the far edge of the firelight.

“That is close enough,” Big Crunch said, stepping forward.

“These two have kidnapped and injured the princess,” the scout said. “She will come with us now. The rest of you will answer for your actions as soon as the field marshall arrives. Princess, come.”

“It was the field marshall who ran me through with his sword. I think I’ll stay here,” the princess called back.

“My princess. We know these are lies they force you to speak. Come, Princess. Your army awaits. You are safe now,” the scout said flatly.

“Daktor is no longer field marshall. I strip his title as he murdered my father, and he tried to kill me.”

“I see the enemy has sickened your mind, Princess. Possibly poisoned you.”

“Your princess has chosen to stay and visit at our fire. No one is holding her. She is here, in a friendly visit among her people. She will return to you when she is ready,” Big Crunch said.

The soldier sat astride his mount, pondering for a moment, then drew his charge staff and walked his mount towards the fire.

“The princess will come with me. You will not interfere.” He shouldered his mount against Big Crunch, forcing him to step back a half pace. Big Crunch grabbed the lizard’s reins. The rider jerked to free them, but the big man held the reins and the mount from moving any further.

“No one will be going with you. This region is not under the influence of the army.”

The man laughed. “It is now.”

“I’ll ask you, just one more time, to leave our fire. The princess will return to you when she chooses. Go and wait.”

The rider drove the end of his charge staff into Big Crunch’s shoulder and held it there like a branding iron. The electrical charge traced down the lizard man’s arm. A normal man would have been knocked to the ground unconscious.

Big Crunch placed his free hand on the staff and crushed it. The two halves of the staff fell to the ground and lay smoking in the snow.

The scout sat in his saddle, totally surprised and unsure of what to do next. Big Crunch placed a taloned hand on the rider’s leg.

“Like I was saying, you and your partner there off to the left are free to ride on back to the army. If you don’t turn and ride away right now, I’m going to pull the bottom half of your leg off,” Big Crunch said with a smile and patted the man’s leg. The scout backed his mount from Big Crunch, turned, and whistled for his partner. He rode off into the dark, back the way he had come.

Big Crunch dusted his hands and said, “Ok, so how ’bout a nice warm meal, hot water, and some rest? Oh, and Jazzy, you probably don’t remember this either, but that crystal you’ve been carrying around for all these years is going to open up something that has been locked away since the before times. At least, from what I understand, that’s why we're all here.”