The Copper Rose

by David Lingard

  She had a valid point and I wish I’d thought about it. I mean perhaps not fully automated turrets, they were probably way beyond my abilities – but the mining drill I’d made could’ve easily been used as a template for autoloading machine gun crossbows… It wasn’t worth thinking about though, really was it? If I’d had the idea a few days ago then perhaps it could’ve made a difference but as it was there was no way that I could build such a defensive structure in time for it to be useful.

  I scoured the information panels of Coyote Creek looking for the slightest hint of something, anything that I could do until I came across an upgrade that was within my budget. On the main settlement upgrades section, one of the options was listed as “Protective Golems”, and cost almost nothing in comparison to some of the other upgrades.

  Protective Golems - 75SP

  Level: 1

  Race: Varies

  Number:1

  Protective Golems are spirits of the past that inhabit statues, grotesques, buildings, weapons or other objects in order to lend their services to the settlement. By drawing on the unique experiences of their past, these spirits can be great warriors, magi, leaders or advisors, however you are unable to select which spirit your settlement will receive.

  This is exactly what I’d been looking for in the past – golems that would surely help defend Coyote Creek against attack. I purchased the upgrade right away, all of my SP spent but for a few measly drops but to my mild annoyance nothing happened. As much as I hated reading the instruction manual for things, I hated it even more when one wasn’t even available for whatever it was I was doing. I navigated back to the Golem upgrade and noticed that the next upgrade was five hundred SP – but that didn’t matter – what I wanted to do was simply analyse the upgrade a little deeper.

  Luckily for me, the system provided me with the information that I needed – when analysing, well anything, with an upgrade option, I could allocate the protective spirit to that object. I thought about using an inanimate object like a spear, or my armour for the vessel but I knew deep down that I couldn’t turn down the opportunity for a defensive force of statues for my settlement, it was basically my wet dream.

  I crafted a copper statue. It wasn’t a masterpiece as I wasn’t too sure what I was supposed to be doing exactly but I conjured the image of a medieval knight with a huge sword and shield as the mould for my new defender. When the copper materialised into the shape I’d envisioned I was very pleased with myself – even if the statue actually had no attributes and was labelled as nothing more than “Copper Statue”. To my delight though, it did have an ‘upgrade’ button and when I pressed it I was allowed to upgrade my copper statue to a ‘Protective Golem’.

  ***

  Interlude: The first life of Alexander the Peaceful.

  My vision faded to black and I was presented with a windowed view of a scene that I instinctively knew must have happened many years ago. It was a bizarre feeling to have an incorporeal vision of someone else’s memory, which presumably this was to be.

  A small child was standing outside of a home on sun-bleached and damaged grass. A large, muscular bearded man towered over him (presumably his father) and spoke in a booming voice.

  “Alexander these are the skills that you need to make it in this world. You must defend, fight and even kill if it is necessary in order to survive. It is not a pleasure or a delight. It is a necessity.”

  The boy had tears running down his cheeks. I could see now that he held a small rabbit in his arms tightly.

  “I…can’t…do…it!” he protested through sobs. “I…won’t…do…it!”

  “Alexander, you will do this.” His father said matter-of-factly. And held a small curved blade out towards the boy.

  Alexander turned away from the deadly weapon, placing his shoulder between it and his rabbit.

  “You always told me to stand up for myself, and I’m doing it now!” Alexander protested more clearly and louder now in an attempt to generate gravitas in his own voice.

  “This is not one of those times. This is a path that you must travel down.”

  “No!” Alexander whimpered.

  His father took a hold of his hand and placed the blade into it, curling the boy’s fingers around the hilt before taking step back.

  Alexander hugged the bunny tightly to his chest and it looked up at him with nothing but adoration and love for its master in its eyes. Its nose twitched and its whiskers moved from side to side as though it was chewing on a blade of grass. He opened his hand and dropped the blade to the ground with a low thud.

  “I won’t do it!” He repeated forcefully, and the vision faded to black.

  The next images that came to light were from some years later when the boy was a long-haired young man. His muscle tone had visibly improved and he was hiking through a sparse forest, the very same rabbit hopping dutifully by his side and taking one hop for every three or for steps of his own.

  Through a clearing in a particularly dense brush, Alexander and his rabbit were met face-to-face with a snarling wolf at least twice the size of any wolf I had ever seen before. The top of its head came up to Alexander’s chest where he stood and its foaming jaws were snapping at him frantically. Alexander was of course noticeably shocked by the sudden appearance of the aggressive beast, but he did not take any rash actions. He took a small step backwards so that he could see the wolf in its entirety, and in doing so he discovered that the animal had been snared in a particularly devious trap. One of its paws had been spiked right through by a barbed metal hook, so that any movements caused it an immense amount of pain and there was no way that it would be able to escape.

  Alexander showed both of his palms to the wolf in an obvious effort to prove to it that he was not a threat and stepped forward. I could not believe my own eyes as I watched him battle with the metal mere inches from the fatal jaws of the wolf, but eventually, he managed to bend the metal form into a straight spike so that he could lift the paw from the trap. The wolf snarled and growled loudly as it felt the friction from the metal but it did not make any moves to attack the man. Once it was free from the trap, it did something that caught me completely off guard – the wolf licked Alexander once, then ran away into the forest.

  I could see Alexander’s shoulders rising and falling as his breath was heavy and he had obviously been sweating. He waited on one knee for the wolf to disappear into the trees before standing once again. The vision faded to black.

  A battle waged. The field covered in fire and smoke, Alexander wielded a sword and shield and wore typical plate armour for a medieval soldier. He swung his weapon at the men who opposed his comrades and beat attacks away with his shield, it was obvious to anyone watching that he was a particularly gifted soldier. He cut down man after man as they threw themselves at him without him receiving so much as a scratch in return. It seemed to me like it was in stark contrast to the boy who I’d seen caring for the animals in the previous visions, but as I looked closer although his enemy were all ‘men’, his comrades were a mix of all kinds of races and sizes. There were elves, dwarves, men, women, fairies, imps, even goblins, orcs, giants, trolls and a whole host of every creature I could have ever imagined. With one last charge into hordes of oncoming enemy, the vision again faded to black and I was alone again. I was half expecting that to be the end of it, however one last vision presented itself to me.

  Alexander had been nailed to a large wooden cross, his head hung against his chest and he was almost lifeless. Around him, three men in armour carrying spears periodically cut at his stomach to keep him conscious or simply just to cause as much pain as possible.

  “Where are the captains?” One of the men asked as his spear tip penetrated the edge of Alexander’s stomach. Alexander did not answer.

  “What are their plans?” the man spoke again, to which Alexander did not respond for a second time.

  “The scum aren’t coming to save you, you aren’t one of them.” The man spat, obviously put out by A
lexander’s lack of cooperation.

  Alexander this time raised his head to reply. His words were short and strained and punctuated with internal fluids where they shouldn’t be. “They do not need to come for me. We are all of one, whatever race. We fight for good and as long as good is here to fight, evil shall never prosper.” He let his head hang again and I couldn’t be sure if he had finally let go on his grip on life, or had simply fallen unconscious. My answer came in the form of the end of this vision and the return to the conscious world.

  ***

  My eyes refocussed on my copper golem and to my astonishment, its features had morphed into those of Alexanders’ whose life I’d just been of witness to.

  “Did you see that?” I asked Rachel as I let my eyes move away from Alexander.

  “See what?” She asked. Apparently not only had no time passed while I witnessed the life of Alexander the Peaceful, but I was also the only one to witness the vision.

  “Never mind,” I replied and I turned my attention back to the copper golem.

  “Umm, we are under siege and…well can you help us?” I didn’t really know what to do with Alexander, but I suspected that asking might have been the right way to go. I was inevitably wrong though, as no response came from the stoic figure.

  “Is he supposed to do something?” Rachel asked standing by my side.

  “It’s a golem, apparently he’s here to protect the village but I don’t know how exactly he does that. I confessed.

  “Didn’t golems take written instructions on the old legends?” She asked.

  That did seem to ring a bell with me – didn’t the old golems need to have a written instruction placed in their mouth or something? Actually on closer inspection, Alexander now had a pouch around his waist and when I peered inside it I could see a copper quill and a single square of paper. I took them out and was delighted that I could write on the paper with the quill without any sort of ink or the like. I simply scratched ‘Speak’ onto the paper, balled it up and placed it in Alexander’s mouth.

  A moment passed and suddenly Alexander started to choke. He coughed and spluttered until the ball of paper shot out of his mouth and onto the floor.

  “In my bloody hand would have done!” He exclaimed with wide eyes, nothing like the strong figure who I’d seen in my vision.

  “Right” I said. “Sorry.”

  “What?” Alexander said.

  “I said sorry!” I spoke a little louder this time

  “What?” He repeated.

  “I don’t think he can hear you,” Rachel offered.

  I thought for a moment before picking up the paper from the ground – it was blank again so this time I wrote ‘Hear’ across it and placed it into Alexander’s hand.

  “Can you hear me now?” I asked.

  “That’s better!” He chirped. Now what were you saying again?

  “We are under attack, can you help us!!” I asked hurriedly, which in hindsight did seem a little rude.

  “Hmmm, that shouldn’t be…” he spoke in a lower tone now. “I’m not the one to come for fighting and the like…”

  “Oh, well that’s just perfect…” I started but Rachel put her hand on my shoulder.

  “Well, why do you usually come?” She asked.

  “I am peaceful and a friend to all!” He announced. “Defender of the good and pure.”

  I recognised that phrase – friend to all – from my own statistics page.

  “I…am also a friend to all,” I said slowly, looking for the common ground between us.

  “Ah then that is why I have been sent to you!” He announced with a smile. “Now you say you are under attack?”

  “Yes!” I said in exasperation, “right now! And if we don’t do something everyone in the village is going to either die in battle or starve to death!”

  “That isn’t good now is it?” Alexander said.

  “No it isn’t,” Rachel affirmed. “So what do you plan on doing about it?”

  “Have you tried talking to them?” Alexander offered.

  “That’s not the best idea with what’s out there,” I replied.

  “People said that about wolves and bears, and all of the other dangerous animals that walk the earth but that has never stopped me before! I will do my best to protect the village but I will need an order to do so first.”

  “You’ve got it,” I said and cracked my knuckles. Nothing happened. Alexander stretched the paper towards me, which again was blank.

  “Ohhh you mean an order order,” I clarified. “What should I write?”

  “I cannot say,” Alexander said.

  Rachel took the paper and quill from my hand and wrote “stop the siege” on the paper and handed it back to me. I agreed with her sentiment and put the paper back into Alexander’s hand. Instantly he turned and ran to the western side of the village.

  We followed just behind the golem in shock, not wanting to shout for him to stop in case we made too much noise and the creatures on the outside of the walls attacked with renewed purpose. Eventually, he came to the copper rose that I had planted in the ground, picked it up, examined it and placed it in his pouch. Then he turned again and walked slowly towards the village gates.

  My breath caught slowly as we walked through the gates and into the enemy camps. It was light now, so there was really no hiding our presence but that didn’t stop absolutely nobody taking any notice of our little group of three as we walked to a position where I supposed Alexander deemed central – my thoughts were confirmed as he took his place atop fallen tree trunk, elevating himself above the hordes surrounding our village.

  I could see now just how many creatures there were in the siege, there were hundreds of the things and all of them at level ten as a minimum. If things went south there would be no way we would be able to do anything about it, Rachel and I would be respawned less a level and the village would certainly be no more. ‘Why oh why hadn’t I invested more time and effort into adequate defences?’

  “Ahem!” Alexander cleared his throat. A few of the creatures turned their heads at the noise but they didn’t seem very interested.

  “I said, Ahem!” He repeated but louder this time. “I see you are all gathered here for the siege?” He enquired.

  The monsters started to circle around him, not caring to keep separated in their kin any more. A few of them snarled and roared in anger at Alexander’s blatant defiance of their stature.

  “There’s no need for any of that,” he said in a totally assured voice. “We can all be friends here.”

  His words didn’t seem to be having the desired effect as their roars grew steadily louder. I felt Rachel’s hand clutching my wrist and squeezing it pretty hard. I shuffled my feet a little closer to her reflexively.

  A rock hit Alexander square in his copper chest with a loud clang. He looked down at the dent it had caused and winced a little.

  “As I was saying!” He started to shout now. “We are not your enemies!”

  Clang.

  Another rock hit him in the head this time and it caused him to stumble and drop to a single knee.

  “We can help you, what do you want?” He shouted a little more angrily than I’d gotten used to hearing from the peaceful golem.

  The crowd was silent for a moment before a single snarl broke it with “Meat!” and another chimed in with “Flesh!”. Someone clearly hadn’t got the memo as another call came with “Kill!”.

  “Now we are getting somewhere,” Alexander spoke quietly so that only Rachel and I could hear. He raised himself back to his feet and spoke loudly again. “We will share what we can, where we can!” he announced, and I had to restrain myself from kicking him from the trunk. “And why don’t you have any of these things any-more, prey tell?

  “Fire!” Came a roar from an orc who I could see was really getting into the pantomime. “Home gone!” he added with wide eyes.

  “Is this the same for all of you?” Alexander posed the question and I could see h
eads nodding and a low murmuring trickle through the crowd of creatures.

  I had to admit, this back and forth that we seemed to be having was absolutely insane. Not more than a few hours ago these things wanted to kill us and eat our flesh, and here we were talking to them as though they were lost children.

  “We offer a place for you to call home, and…” I had to cut Alexander off this time with a hard grasp on his shoulder.

  “That is…” I said, “we will help you make a new home!” I wanted to keep things purposely ambiguous just in case I actually ended up having to share Coyote Creek with these things, things that would presumably eat me out of house and home, and then me for good measure.

  The crowd of creatures mumbled amongst themselves again.

  “Look, nobody wants a war here!” Alexander shouted at their general disapproval.

  “We do!” Cried the wide-eyed orc and a few of his fellows nodded along in agreement and showed their curved fangs.

  “OK, I’ll rephrase that” Alexander countered. “None of us wants to die here, and the best way to achieve that goal is to all work together, right?”

  The wide-eyed orc shrugged his shoulders, either the statement was too long for him or he wasn’t sure if he agreed with it or not. “So lets just all work together, and nobody dies, right?!”

  The orcs spoke amongst themselves for a short while, low enough for us to not be able to hear, then thy split away from each other and went to speak to each of the races in the crowd. Eventually one of the larger orcs stepped forward and cleared his throat.

  “We make alliance. We protect. You protect. We work. We share. We part of village.” He nodded towards the walls. I could tell that the initial three words he’d spoken had been difficult for him, but he managed to get his point across to us.

  “Agreed!” I said loudly before taking the time to think his proposal through – it definitely sounded better than being wiped out entirely though. “But, um… will you be living in the village?” I added as an afterthought.