The sun was still above the mountains, but it would touch them soon. The trackers and wranglers scrambled through the brush, following clues, looking at landmarks, arguing fiercely then picking a direction. Their frustration boiled. It had been a few hours and they’d wandered far from the city.

One tracker looked up at the sky and cursed loudly. “I was sure we’d be able to catch it before nightfall! It seems to have quickened its pace,” she said.

The other tracker shook his head, “We were so close, but now it seems we’ll have to try tomorrow.”

Omrai looked at the wranglers. “How well can you catch in the dark?”

The two looked at each other, then smiled. One spoke up. “Sounds like a challenge.”

“I brought torches,” another said, showing his shoulder bag.

Omrai looked at the trackers, “How much further can you go?”

“Without the light of day? Not much.”

Omrai looked at the sun, they still had a few moments of daylight.

“I don’t have another day to spare,” Omrai said.

“I’ve got this,” Kaiato said. Omrai turned to him. Kaiato set his gun and bags on the ground and pulled out a long telescope. He turned to the trackers. “Tell me about this thing’s behavior.”

“Well,” the woman tracker said, “it sticks to heavy foliage, but not necessarily trees. And we’ve seen it wander into rivers.”

“And which way was it headed?”

The tracker pointed northwest. “Last we could tell.”

Kaiato nodded and slung his telescope onto his belt. Without another word, he ascended the tree. Kaiato climbed the branches, twisting and turning with the expertise of someone who’d done this many, many times.

After several minutes of looking, Omrai could sense Kaiato’s frustration. The sun passed down from sight, and he instructed the men to begin lighting their torches.

Omrai heard a shout of success from above. Kaiato climbed down swifter than what Omrai would have deemed safe.

“Yes?” Omrai said.

“Well,” Kaiato said, smiling, “during the daylight, I was able to familiarize myself with the landscape. After the sun had set, I spotted two glowing blue dots. It’s staying still, just in a depression east of here.”

Omrai nodded and smiled back. “Lead the way.”

✦✦✦

Kaiato waited in the darkness of the night, feeling the cold breeze rush through the second tree he had climbed. It was harder to climb trees in the dark, but he managed. He watched the movements of Omrai, his soldiers, and the wranglers from afar. Many carried torches, which they kept away from any overhanging branches.

The scattered men surrounded a small clearing in the trees, where the metal warrior moved oddly. It twisted around, grabbing branches and leaves and shoving them into its mouthless face, as if trying to eat. It jumped down on all fours, crawled, then leaped back up to its feet.

Kaiato wondered how this clockwork construct could be an animal. According to Revin, monks could only master animals. Unless Revin was wrong, and Narazoth had somehow learned to master more. But a clock didn’t have a mind to master.

Hopefully, by catching it, they’d be able to figure it out.

Even though he knew it was ready, Kaiato double-checked his rifle. Just in case.

The thing's armor glinted faintly in the moonlight. He narrowed his eyes, increasing his view of the creature. It was strange, they’d never acted animal-like in any battle.

He heard several shouts. The wranglers and soldiers jumped into the clearing, and the metal monster thrashed about. The first wrangler approached; lasso ready. He threw it around the beast’s neck. It whipped its head back and pulled the man off his feet. He tumbled through the air with a shout.

Then the soldiers and other wranglers moved in together.

✦✦✦

Revin was being rattled. Throttled. Something was strangling him. Serpent. The titanoboa. It was going to strangle him and rip him and eat him slowly.

Revin jerked awake. Breathing hard. Sweat on his forehead. Kaiato hovered over him, his eyes baggy. He looked concerned, and he had a hand on Revin’s shoulder.

“Are you all right?” Kaiato said.

Revin took a breath “Did you get it?” He sat up from his bed.

Kaiato smiled. “Yes, come on, it’s almost morning.”

Revin got up and followed Kaiato out the door. He squinted at the pale light just emerging behind the mountains. He followed Kaiato across the camp. A group of groggy soldiers and saurians made their way out of the pen. He yawned. He knew their pain.

Omrai, Shifra, the wranglers, and several soldiers already waited inside. The metal monster was chained to a large table in the center of the room, thrashing and twitching. The wood creaked with the strain.

He froze. His heart jumping. An ice-cold rush of anxiety rolled down his back. His heart skipped a beat. This machine… could tear Revin’s arms off. Memories of swords and spears through his gut.

Kaiato frowned. “Are you sure we’re safe?”

Omrai nodded. “It doesn’t act like the others.”

“Yeah,” Revin said, watching it struggle, “No discipline.”

“Are you ready?” Omrai said.

Revin nodded and approached. It seemed to take a long time to get close, his heart strained against his chest, his lungs an inefficient mass. Omrai uttered a command to the others to back away. Revin looked to see Omrai approaching too. Omrai gave him an encouraging nod.

Revin approach from its feet and circled around the table. It glanced at him, its head moving in rapid, jerky movements.

Like a trapped animal…

Revin closed his eyes, reached out, and touched its forehead. Again, he felt nothing. He concentrated, feeling outward with his mind. Still… he felt only emptiness.

He growled in frustration.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel anything. How does he master these?”

“Revin,” Kaiato said.

“What?”

“When we’ve cut them, there was a light inside,” Kaiato said.

Revin touched the sword at his side. His father’s sword.

He drew it.

Shifra looked confused. “What are you doing? Don’t kill it!”

“He’s not going to kill it,” Omrai said, looking at Revin, “He’s going to open it.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Revin nodded.

He climbed on top of the table, standing between the metal warrior’s leg and arm. With one clumsy swing across its chest, the metal armor split open.

The metal warrior thrashed, its chains rattling. Revin dropped his sword and fell on its chest.

“Secure it!” Omrai shouted.

A blue light glowed from within and something buzzed in Revin’s mind. Soldiers approached, tightening the chains and doing their best to keep it still.

“Get me something to widen this!” Revin shouted.

A soldier responded, quickly handing a shovel to Revin. Revin put the end of it under the torn metal and pushed the handle down. The metal lifted. slowly. As it did, the buzzing in his thoughts grew stronger.

Inside was a sphere made of metal and glass. It glowed blue with an inner light. Revin dropped the shovel.

Omrai leaned over to look, approaching closely. “That’s not clockwork.”

Revin nodded. “I… I think that’s its mind .”

Revin moved closer and felt a rush of vague thoughts.

He looked at Omrai, who nodded. “Do it.”

Revin leaned forward reaching inside, past the torn metal, toward the blue sphere.

He touched it. It was surprisingly cold. But… there was a mind there...

With a triumphant smile, he entered its mind.

The automaton’s mind was of average complexity. But it felt more erratic, confused, even violent. He looked closer, finding distortions. Bruises where its mind had been pushed and stretched. It made the creature’s nature hard to pin down. It felt so… uniform.

He struggled to make his mental lassos long enough to reach around the oddly shaped mind. And after several failed attempts to circumnavigate the thing’s mind, he took a deep breath. He tried to absorb himself into its mind, like he did with Birdy. Understand it. Dig deep rather than wrap around.

He found himself within the mind now. Surrounded by strange and distorted memories. Running through a field, wandering through forests, hungry, searching… A bright red… force.

The memories moved away, and he saw the bright red in the center of its mind. Was that the key? He reached and touched it.

Who is in control now?

Narazoth’s voice thundered, and the mental assault began.

Revin screamed, the mindscape transforming into violent chaos. His thoughts battered from all angles, tossing him to and fro. But he wrestled, holding on to the connection with Narazoth. He was angry, and he wasn’t leaving this mind empty-handed.

With a sudden rush and an enveloping feeling of surprise from Narazoth, he forced himself in. A wide series of impressions and images flashed through Revin’s mind. A large ship, one of Jebuthar’s. But it didn’t fly, it walked, moving slowly across the landscape. Thousands upon thousands of metal monsters poured out of it. His mind rushed inside it, to a cell which held a prisoner. Revin couldn’t see the prisoner’s face. But he got the strong impression that this prisoner knew everything, even about the ancient north.

Narazoth retaliated, trying to constrain Revin just as he had done to the metal monster. Revin fought back, but he was surrounded. He found a crack and jumped for it, rushed past a vivid memory of a bright light that felt like the beginning of consciousness… and the end of life.

He fled and opened his eyes.

Revin lay on the metal warrior’s chest. Someone shook him. He dripped with sweat, and sucked in deep, gasping breaths. The metal warrior thrashed again.

“Revin!” Omrai said.

Kaiato was there, keeping Revin from falling, and other soldiers tried to hold the metal warrior down. Revin still gripped the core with all his might. It had grown hot and glowed red. He snatched his hand back, away from the core, but it remained stuck inside the metal monster at an awkward angle due to the metal monster’s flailing. The torn metal scraped his arm.

“Get me out!” he shouted. Kaiato tried to pull him, but Revin still couldn’t budge.

He could feel the heat increasing.

“Get everyone out!” Revin shouted.

Omrai snapped his fingers at two soldiers who dragged Shifra out. Revin didn’t have time to see her reaction.

Kaiato and Omrai stayed, pulling on Revin to get him out.

He twisted at awkward angles, pulling and scraping. The red light began to glow brilliantly, his hand screaming in pain. He felt something cut deep and his hand slipped out. He and Kaiato fell off the table.

“Go!” Revin shouted. Omrai and Kaiato grabbed Revin and dragged him, practically throwing him out the door.

Revin fell to the ground, his back hitting painfully. He looked at the pen, a red light shining brilliantly through its doors.

“Away from the barn!” Omrai shouted.

Revin rolled and Omrai jumped over him, covering Revin with his own body. The air shook with a loud explosion. The ground trembled as wood shattered and a rush of a metallic burning smell filled Revin’s nostrils.

Revin looked. Dust, hay, and smoking wood chips fell from the sky. The pen bore a huge hole in the roof, and the barn doors lay on the ground where Revin had just rolled away from, several pieces of metal shrapnel impaling the heavy doors.

Omrai got up and helped Revin to his feet. They looked at the barn, parts of it burned.

Revin's ears rang painfully.

Omrai looked through the gaping hole where the barn doors had been. Revin followed.

Half of the metal warrior lay on the ground on top of a broken and burning table. The front half of the chest, the legs, and the head were all gone, exploded out into the rest of the barn. The core was nonexistent.

Omrai looked at Revin. Concern in his eyes. He spoke, but he sounded muffled. Revin realized his hearing was having issues.

“What?” Revin said back.

“What happened?” Omrai yelled, barely intelligible enough to hear.

Revin took a few breaths, shaking his head. After a moment, his hearing returned.

“I… I saw…a walking ship… it’s where the metal monsters are made. It’s here somewhere. Narazoth still controlled it,” Revin said, a bit more clearly now, “he knew we would come for it.”

Omrai’s eyes widened. “If he still had it mastered…” Omrai ran off.

Revin shook his head, and with a great effort heaved himself up. Omrai was running toward the nearest watchtower.

A deep horn bellowed. Not a saurian horn, but an alarm.

Revin ran behind Omrai up the watchtower steps. When Revin made it to the top, Omrai was there. Staring. His face pale in terror. Revin turned to look, and his stomach flipped.

Above the mountains, rising with the morning sun, were three massive ships. They began a steady descent to the narrow valley just in front of the city.

“He’s come,” Revin said, eyes widening “And by catching that metal monster, we told him right where we were.”

Omrai nodded. “Master any saurian you can,” Omrai said “We can’t let them stampede in this evacuation. The pass south is too narrow.”

Revin nodded. But he could only stare.

“Now!” Omrai shouted.

Revin ran down the steps, taking them two or three at a time. Omrai, from right behind him, went toward the command center, and Revin ran to the saurian pens.

Now that he approached the command center, Omrai’s view was unhindered.

The memory of the last time he saw these ships burned anew in his mind. The day Jebuthar had effortlessly slaughtered half his army. This ship too would vomit metal warriors across the battlefield, overflowing and overwhelming his men until they were nothing but mulch on the hills.

The ships were still at least several hundred feet in the air, but their maws were opening. Four smaller ships flew out from the mouth, like four massive tongues. They hovered down. Each had a mouth-like entrance, and their ramps lowered. They would land soon.

General Ebavo was standing on a balcony, frozen as he stared at the massive ships.

“Sound the retreat!” Omrai shouted to him.

General Ebavo looked at Omrai and said with a trembling voice: “But, we’re Ateyans… we… must…”

“ Live! Get your men out, those willing may stay to slow them down, but the rest must fall back. I will not watch another massacre.”

The general shook off his stupor and nodded. He bellowed “Full evacuation, invasion protocol five, go!”

Several soldiers nodded and ran to spread the message, repeating the general’s orders.