“I think there’s a building or something ahead of us,” Shara said as she looked past where the trees abruptly ended in the early dawn light. “Big one. Stone walls. If we can find a door to close, it might slow them down.”

“Good… cause I’d sure like to slow down too,” Tel said from the ground below her, his extended left arm – and the absurd silver weapon on it – tracking to the left, before discharging one of those crazy balls of chaos energy. Another line of trees fell victims to the blast, but the ensuing shriek confirmed a hit.

The monsters, at least three of them, had been chasing them on and off all night. And with her magic-enhanced mobility and Tel’s weapon, they’d managed to hold the creatures off. Seriously though, just what kind of clockwork nonsense turned a reclusive Clocksmith into a killing machine. Every shot, ever single one, had hit one of the monsters. It didn’t matter if they’d been moving, standing still, or hiding behind trees, every time Tel fired off one of those blasts, one of the creatures had screamed in pain.

But…none of them had died. Despite the power of the weapon and the multiple hits, or Shara pulling every trick her aunt had taught her, they simply hadn’t been able to finish one of the beasts off. Not even one. What were they made of?

“I think we should…” Shara started.

“Stop talking,” Tel snapped, his weapon motionless and aimed back the way they’d come. “Respectfully, it sounds like you were going to tell me a plan.”

“I wasn’t… exactly planning,” she muttered, eyes back on the forest for any movement. “Did you get it that time?”

“Slowed it down, I think,” Tel said. “You said something about a building?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said, turning and jogging ten feet above the forest floor. It really was easier since he’d fixed her watch. Each step was intuitive instead of having to force the chaos energy where she needed it with every motion. It was almost like the energy knew where she wanted it to go now.

Which made no sense at all. Chaos energy wasn’t alive. It couldn’t think.

…right?

“…idea what this place is?” Tel’s voice interrupted her thoughts and got her looking at the building in front of her. Slightly domed and easily as big as one of the major warehouses back in Bastion, the forest all around had been clear-cut. The far side had what looked to be old gardens, then there was what could’ve been a livestock paddock off to their right. The burned-out ruins of a few other small buildings – houses? – stood in a cluster to her left, and thick vines crept up the side of the main stone structure.

“Whatever it is, it hasn’t been used in a long time,” Shara said. “I could get a better look from up higher, but let’s get inside and find a safe place to hole up for a bit. We can figure out what this place is after.”

“Good. I’m about to fall over here,” Tel said, a slight lisp to his words. “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m not already on the ground. Maybe it’s because of… hey… do you… feel that? Hear it? That’s… strange. What is it?”

Shara cocked her head to the side, purposely looking away from the building so her curiosity didn’t interfere with her other senses, and focused on her hearing. What was he…? There… like a tone? But, a tone wasn’t the right way to describe it. Was she actually hearing it?

“It’s the same as those monsters’ shrieks,” Tel said. “Sound and chaos energy mixed together. Fascinating.”

“The same as…” Shara started, spotting what could be a door into the main building not far from where they were. “You saying there could be more of those things in there?”

“No, I don’t think so. This sound is… it’s different. Almost opposite? I don’t even know what I’m saying but…”

Another shriek from the woods, then a second and a third. And none of them were far away.

“Good enough for me. There’s a door there,” Shara said, pointing, then jogged down the air like she was on a gentle incline towards where she’d indicated. Tel joined her a few seconds later, and he wasn’t lying about how he should’ve been on the ground.

Flushed, sweaty skin, scratches criss-crossing his face, blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth, hair plastered to his head, breathing coming in deep gasps, and was he… shaking? How was he even still on his feet?

“You doing okay?” she asked him, even though he looked anything but.

“Surviving,” Tel said, his weapon aimed back towards the woods and once again tracking something Shara couldn’t see. The pink ball at the end of the tube pulsed before shooting off with enough force Tel actually stumbled back, and probably would’ve fallen, but Shara caught him under the arms. “Maybe you should go in first though?” he said, tilting his head to the side to look at her.

More trees ahead splintered and fell over, the forest kind of looking like a boar the size of a house had charged through, then one of the creatures shrieked as the ball of energy hit it.

“You trying to be a gentleman?” Shara asked, one eye on the woods as she propped Tel back up. “Ladies first and all that?”

“No, I just don’t think I could react fast enough if we met something… unpleasant… in there,” Tel said.

“Unpleasant? Like, rotten eggs? I hate rotten eggs. Hate not-rotten eggs too,” Shara said, her last two short knives dropping into her hands as she entered the building.

“How can you not like eggs?” Tel asked, steady on his feet again – for the moment – and following behind.

“They’re creepy. Little white ball-things full of… yuck. And the taste? Vomit mixed with a side of more vomit,” Shara said peering into the darkness of the hall. It went both left and right, though the left had a pile of… stuff… like a barricade blocking progress in that direction. They’d have to go right, pretty dark that way, but first, Shara turned and… yes, there was a door. A big, heavy-looking, stone door. Really heavy. Wonderful.

“Did you find something?” Tel asked, moving into the building to join her, and his head turned to follow her line of sight. “Oh, that’s lucky.”

“How is that lucky?” Shara asked, pointing with one of her knives at the stone door that looked more like an immovable block of solid granite. It’d take ten people to move it an inch.

“Watch, oh, and take this,” Tel said, fishing his artificial torch out of his pocket and handing it to her. “Just flick the switch on the top here,” he added, and Shara stowed one of her knives before taking it.

Cool in her hand, the device was another tube about a foot long, and Shara made sure both ends were pointed away from her body before she flicked the switch – just in case it decided to spit out any pink blasts of death.

No death came, but a beam of light did illuminate the hall to her right as the device gently vibrated. More debris lined the hall, though not enough to block their progress, and she turned her attention back to Tel. “Well? I’m waiting.”

“So impatient,” Tel said as another pair of shrieks echoed from outside. “With good reason I guess,” he added, moving next to the huge stone, then put one hand on the side of it.

“I don’t know how you’re expecting to…” Shara started, then her jaw dropped as the scrawny Clocksmith effortlessly pushed the stone door across the floor with barely a grind, and then slid it into place in the door frame.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“There we go,” Tel said, moving something on the wall with a clunk, then turned and looked down the hall like he hadn’t just done something impossible.

“How did you…? When did you… get… strong?” Shara asked. “Did you become a Tailcoat when I wasn’t looking?”

“What? Oh, no, no,” Tel said, pointing at something on the wall. “Shine the torch here.”

Shara eyed him, then pointed the light where he directed. There was metal embedded in the wall, kind of like…

“The door was on rails. It had little wheels you couldn’t see. We had these back in the enclave to move the biggest doors,” he said. “They use a metal that doesn’t rust, but it was still pretty lucky how well this one worked.”

Shara shone the light along the wall, there were two more of those rail things, then back on Tel. He blinked and brought his arm up to shield his eyes before she moved it away again. “This is an enclave then?” she asked.

“Maybe? But I’ve never heard of one here, and it wouldn’t make sense. The mountain wasn’t far. Enclaves are usually hundreds of miles from each other. Too much risk if one attracts Tailcoats,” Tel said.

“This place looks old,” Shara replied, shining the light around. Besides the debris, it did look a lot like there’d been some kind of fight. The walls were scarred and scorched, among other things. “Could this place have been around before the mountain enclave was founded. These gouges in the wall look an awful lot like what a Tailcoat sword would do to stone.”

“But this,” Tel said, tapping one of the scorch marks on the wall, “was definitely made by sorcery. Powerful sorcery. No, this couldn’t have been an enclave.”

“Why not?”

“Despite what people might think,” Tel said. “We try to keep sorcerers out of enclaves. We just want to study the old technology and keep a record of it, in case our knowledge is ever needed. Sorcerers tend to want more chaos energy, which can lead Tailcoats to us. It’s a risk that just isn’t worth taking.”

“You were in an enclave, and you’re a sorcerer,” Shara pointed out.

“Only one of the Clocksmiths knew, and I never used my magic,” Tel explained. “I understood the risk, and my power isn’t very useful. Or efficient.”

“It’s seemed pretty useful to me so far,” Shara said.

“You’re only saying that because I had those meat pies.”

“Yeah. You don’t happen to have any more, do you? I’m getting hungry.”

“I’ve got a few, but maybe we should see about getting a bit deeper in first?” Tel asked, pointing towards the dark hallway.

“Deal,” Shara said, aiming the light down the hall to her right, then heading in that direction. More damage, a lot more – closing the door wouldn’t matter much if they found a hole in the wall – but when her light stopped again, it wasn’t an opening to the outside. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing her light at some kind of shallow alcove along the wall, then scanning further down the curving wall to find another. Back the way they’d come…yup, there was one there too.

“Shine your light on the floor,” Tel asked, and she did as instructed. “There was a clock here. A grandfather clock. The indentation in the wall was so that it didn’t block the hallway.”

“There’s another of these spaces back where we came, and one ahead,” Shara said. “That’s a lot of clocks for a place that wasn’t an enclave.”

“It is,” Tel agreed. “Let’s keep going.”

“Sure,” Shara said, though she shone her light back to where they’d come in. “You think that door will slow those things down.”

Tel ran his free hand across his head before he answered. “At least for a while. Look at the mark from the Tailcoat sword – if that’s actually what did it – it’s shallow. Their swords cut through almost anything, which means these stones have been reinforced with order. These walls, and that door, are strong. It’ll buy us some time, if nothing else.”

“I hope so,” Shara said, moving forward again, but it wasn’t long before her light landed on another barricade, this one carved straight through. “Though it doesn’t look like the stone did these people, whoever they were, much good.”

“Not much good at all,” Tel agreed, the pink ball at the end of his weapon throwing off enough light to glow like a torch of his own.

“Is that safe,” she asked, nodding towards the ball of death.

“Perfectly, unless I pull the trigger,” he said.

“A trigger, like on a crossbow?” Shara asked, shuffling through the opening in the barricade, but stopped when her light glinted off something shiny under the wood. If there were clocks in this place, there could be other treasures worth selling too.

“Basically, though it’s a bit more complicated,” Tel said.

“Why am I not surprised?” she asked, sheathing her knife, and crouched down. It didn’t take long to move aside a few pieces of the wood – like they’d used parts of a wagon to make the barricade – and she shone her light into the opening. There it was… whatever it was.

“Find something?” Tel asked, moving around behind her.

“Think so,” she said, shifting around and reaching her arm into the opening she’d created. Now… where… was… her fingers grazed the metal, and she stretched a little further. “Got it,” she said, and pulled her arm back out of the barricade.

In her hand was… some kind of cudgel? A metal hilt, a foot long, with a head the size and shape of a closed fist, though a bit bigger than her own. Pretty solid from the looks of things. But… not a clock.

“Amazing…” Tel said, awe bleeding through his voice, and he crouched down beside her. Leaning in close, his eyes were wide, and his free hand hovered a few inches away from the weapon, but he very obviously didn’t touch it. “Amazing.”

“Uh, mind sharing?” Shara asked, but slowly moved the thing to arm’s length. If there was a reason he wasn’t touching it… well, she probably didn’t want it close to her face.

“It’s from the wars,” Tel said. “The Escalations Wars. Four hundred years ago.”

“It doesn’t look like what I’d expect it to,” she said slowly, comparing it to the artificial torch in her other hand. Even she could tell the craftmanship was nothing alike.

“It’s not one of the State’s weapons,” Tel explained. “It’s a sorcerer’s weapon. We’ve found so few of them. This is…”

“Amazing, yes, you’ve said that a few times. So, why do you seem like you’re afraid of it?” she asked, keeping it far away from her face.

“Not afraid of it at all. But, the sorcerous weapons bond to their owners when chaos energy is run through them. You found it. I didn’t want to interfere with the process,” he said.

“Bond? So if I…” she trailed off as she pushed chaos energy to her hand. The butterflies immediately responded, circling then landing on the strange piece of metal. Wow, the butterflies hardly ever landed on anything. And these ones had gone deathly still. Not even a twitch from their tiny wings. “What kind of bond are we talking about anyway?”

“There aren’t a lot of records, maybe only ten – uh, the same number of fingers you have – but it varies. Most of the ones I read about actually became part of the body…”

“Whaaaaaaaat?” Shara asked, trying to force her fingers open to drop the weapon, but apparently her hand had other ideas. Her fist stayed firmly clenched around the hilt of the weapon, and was that her imagination – no, no it wasn’t – the fist on the end was changing shape. “I don’t want a metal hand. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t!”

“Calm down,” Tel said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Shara shouted.

“Sorry, breathe then. It’s not replacing your hand. Look, it’s copying your hand. That’s all. You’re fine. All your skin is staying skin,” Tel said, though his eyes never left the weapon in her hand.

“You’re sure?” she asked, still keeping the weapon away in case it decided to copy her face too.

“Not like I’ve seen this before,” Tel said flatly, absently reaching up to wipe blood from his mouth. “But I’m pretty sure. I think it’s done.”

As he said it, the butterflies lifted off the weapon and went back to fluttering around her hand.

Shara immediately snapped her hand open, the weapon clanking to the floor while she leapt back.

“I feel I should point out you are the one who decided to feed it chaos energy before you asked what the consequences could be,” Tel said.

“Add that sentence to the other one you should never say to a woman if you expect to keep all your limbs attached, okay?” Shara said, sparing just enough time to make sure he saw her glare before looking back at the weapon. Flexing her fingers – they still all worked like they should, and were definitely not metal – she walked closer to the weapon again.

“I don’t think I’ll ever have the opportunity to use that particular combination of words again,” Tel said, also looking at the cudgel on the ground. “But, sure.”

So strange. One second, he’s apologizing for everything, and the next he’s got enough snark to make her aunt proud.

“I think it’s safe to pick up again,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “The other really interesting thing all of the reports said was that the weapons had… instruction manuals. They would tell you how to use them.”

“Can’t read, remember?” she said.

“Right. Well, maybe I’ll be able to see it too?” he asked, pointing at the cudgel with his empty hand, the pink-death-weapon still glowing in his other.

She crouched down again, hand opening and closing while she slowly reached out. The fist on the end of the cudgel was definitely different than it had been, smaller and more…feminine. Gone were the thick, sausage like fingers – mmm, sausages, yup, she was hungry again – and replaced with thin but calloused fingers.

Shara looked at the back of her right hand, and, yes, she did have the same callouses on her knuckles. Thanks auntie.

“Here goes nothing,” she said and wrapped her fingers around the hilt. The butterflies circling her hand didn’t do anything strange, and she lifted the weapon up to inspect it more closely. Nope, no doubting that was an exact copy of her hand. Tel had said something about instructions, but there didn’t appear to be any writing anywhere on the metal. Other than the fist at the end, it was completely smooth. Didn’t feel slippery at all though. Kind of like a leather in her palm… odd.

“Feed it some chaos,” Tel suggested.

“Feed it? It’s alive?” she asked.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe.”

Shara resisted hitting him with the cudgel, though her fingers tightened around the hilt, but she let out her breath to calm down and trickled chaos back to her hand.

Almost instantly, the butterflies circled above her hand, flattening out and changing shape until there was a sheet of glowing pink paper hanging in the air.

“Hrmmm,” Tel said, leaning closer again and peering at the paper. “I’m afraid I don’t know what language that is. I can’t read it.”

“But…” Shara said, her eyes glued to the magic sheet. “I can. I know what it says.”