by Dante King
Makes sense, he thought. You’d need some place to store all the raw material for the factory below.
He and the group entered the warehouse, the space still empty enough for their footsteps to echo. When they reached the center, the space opened.
“At last!” a rough, husky male voice filled the room, speaking from a place Ben couldn’t identify. “More crew! More hands!”
Ben stepped forward, his hand floating by his scimitar’s hilt. His eyes scanned the room, but he couldn’t find any trace of the person who was speaking.
“Show yourself!” he called out. “Who are you?”
“I’m the one who’s going to put you all to work! Long has this factory laid dormant—too long. The materials we have are almost gone to waste! But now that workers are finally showing up, I can get this place up and running again!”
The voice was deep, almost a growl. There was no doubt in Ben’s mind that it belonged to an orc—perhaps the same orc he’d seen in his vision.
He didn’t have much time to consider it. Compartments opened above him, four in total, small platforms extending out. Shapes emerged from the darkness—Ben recognized them as mangonels, small catapults intended for use against infantry.
More shapes emerged from the darkness behind the mangonels, but these weren’t machines—they were monsterkin. Each of the four monsterkin, one with each mangonel, seemed to be in something of a daze, their eyes staring forward at nothing in particular.
“These… these are my people!” Shrike shouted. “Hey!” she waved her arms, letting them ignite with flames in order to draw more attention. “I’m down here! It’s Shrike!”
Not one of the monsterkin seemed to notice, or even react to her movements.
“What’s going on?” she asked, the fire vanishing from her arms as she let them drop to her sides. “Why aren’t they paying attention?”
“Because they work for me, now,” the gruff voice spoke. “And soon, you all will too. When my crew is strong again, this factory will be what it once was!”
“Show yourself!” Ben shouted. “Tell me who you are!”
After Ben spoke, a large door on the far end of the factory opened. Three hulking, humanoid figures emerged from the room beyond. When they were in the light, Ben recognized them as the same figures he’d seen in the vision. They were human-shaped, but over thirty feet tall, their faces blank and their bodies smooth and shiny. Steam hissed from their joints as they moved, their feet clunking and banging on the ground with each step.
Their chests were open, revealing seating with levers for controlling the massive machine-men. Seated in the machines-men on the right and the left were two monsterkin, one who looked like Shrike.
“That’s… that’s Gaton!” she shouted, pointing toward the monsterkin. “That’s my cousin!”
These monsterkin wore the same dazed expressions as the ones working the mangonels. The machine in the center wasn’t controlled by a monsterkin. It was a hulking orc, his skin green and his eyes dark and narrowed. He wore clothes of dark leather, a cap that looked to Ben like a pilot’s, complete with goggles.
“My name is Morgon!” he growled, “but you can call me the Foreman! Now, are you ready to get to work?”
“’Get to work’?” Ben asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“This factory needs laborers. When I was given charge of this place, I was told to keep it running until the Forgotten Ruler returned, but I had no crew, no hands to run my machines. Now I have many! And you will join them!”
“But I’m the Forgotten Ruler!” Ben shouted. “Whatever commands you were given, I’m taking back!”
Morgon grinned. “You’re the Forgotten Ruler? But you’re so… shrimpy.” He snorted, shaking his head. “The Forgotten Ruler commanded legions of my artillery, entire divisions of siege soldiers. If you’re truly him, you’ll defeat me with ease. Now, get ready!”
Morgon pulled and twisted levers, stretching out the limbs of the siege soldiers. Then he pointed to the mangonel crews on the sides of the room.
“Attack them! Whoever’s still standing will work my factory floor until they drop!”
Shrike stepped forward. “Gaton! Listen to me!”
But the elementalkin said nothing, her hands wrapped around the levers of her siege soldier.
“They’re under my command,” Morgon said, “and you’re going to see what they can do!”
Morgon moved his siege soldiers forward and picked up one of the boxes, hoisting it into the air and throwing it at Ben and his group. Shrike, who still stood at the lead, gathered flames in her hands and blasted them toward the box, setting it alight in midair. Its arc cut short, and it crashed to the ground in front of them, steel ingots scattering here and there. Shrike didn’t waste a moment before picking up one in each hand and charging them with incredible heat, the steel turning a deep orange. When she was ready, she flung the ingots toward the siege soldiers, the steel burning against their hulking frames.
“You’re going to need a hell of a lot more firepower than that to take these things down!” Morgon said. “Now, come on and give me your best shot! Mangonels, fire!”
Ben watched as the mangonel crews obediently prepared their machines to fire, loading them with huge, round stones. The first two launched, the stones hurtling toward Ben and his group.
“Move!” Ben shouted. The order was unnecessary. The group was already in the process of dodging the rocks, which crashed into the ground and pounded small craters into being.
“Team two!” Morgon shouted. “Fire!”
The back two mangonels launched their payloads. Ben and his party barely had time to dodge, the heavy stones smashing into the crates nearby and sending splinters and bits of iron flying into the air. Ben had only just caught his breath when he looked up to see the three siege soldiers bearing down on them.
“We need to take out those catapults!” Zito shouted. “There’s no way we’ll be able to survive with stones raining down on us!”
“No!” Shrike cried. “We can’t just take them out!”
“What the hell are you talking about, fire girl?” Zito said.
“Those are my people! I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but you can’t just kill them!”
Ben nodded. “She’s right! We’re here to secure the ruins and to rescue the monsterkin. We can disable them, but we can’t kill them!”
Zito grumbled as he slipped his blade from its scabbard. “I swear, you all seem to take sick pleasure in making my life more difficult!”
Melody approached Ben. “Those soldiers are huge! I bet you anything they’re used to take down enemy walls—we’re going to have a difficult time bringing them down!”
Ben nodded. She was right. The siege soldiers seemed designed for slow, powerful movements—like smashing through walls or enemy emplacements. While they were huge and intimidating, Ben also figured they weren’t meant for anti-infantry tactics.
He had an idea.
“All of you!” he shouted. “Take cover from the mangonels! I want to see something!”
He rushed forward, locking eyes on Morgon in the center siege soldier.
“Ben!” Melody yelled. “What are you doing?”
Ben focused on the siege soldier. Morgon grinned as he raised the fists of the soldier over its head, then brought them down in a powerful arc. Just as Ben had expected, the machine moved slowly, slowly enough that he was easily able to dodge the fists, which smashed hard into the ground behind him and sent out vibrations of such power that Ben had to grab onto one of the nearby boxes to steady himself before moving again.
Another volley of mangonel rocks obliterated more boxes around them, the crash deafening as iron and ingots flew through the air.
“Get down!” Ben shouted, him and the rest of the group dropping to the floor, the siege soldiers still bearing down. He raised his palm and attempted to use Drain on Morgon, but the machine in which he sat was somehow preventing it. His spell
couldn’t penetrate its exterior. He quickly turned to a different machine and found the same thing—he couldn’t get to the driver inside it.
Ben turned to Melody. “Drain isn’t working. Try Lightning!”
She nodded, taking out her wand and getting into a squatting position as she waved it. A crackle of electricity arced through the air, a ba-boom sounding out as the lightning connected with a siege soldier steered by a monsterkin.
It worked—in a sense. The siege soldier stopped for a moment, electricity seizing its gears and causing smoke to puff out of the gaps between its joints. Ben was just about to call out for another blast when he saw something that gave him pause—the monsterkin was leaning forward, her hand on her head as she tried to recover.
The blast had worked, but it had risked killing the pilot. Ben turned to Shrike, the worried expression on her face making it clear she’d seen the same thing. Melody had her wand raised ready to cast another bolt of lightning.
“Melody!” Ben shouted, raising his palm and catching her attention. “Don’t do it!” He pointed to the monsterkin, and Melody quickly realized what he meant.
But there was an opportunity. Though he couldn’t risk having Melody cast another round of Lightning, the siege soldier that she’d blasted was on its last legs, smoke pouring from the joints.
“Zito!” Ben shouted, turning to the blademaster. “Want to get up there and see what kind of damage you can cause?”
Zito flashed him a devilish grin. “I’d love to! And watch this!”
He sprang up, his simple short sword in his hand as he rushed toward the siege soldiers.
“Hey!” he yelled. “Look at me! Nice big target!”
Ben watched as the four beastkin manning the mangonels dutifully turned their weapons toward Zito as he ran. Each drew a bead and fired, their payloads launching toward him. But the old man was too fast, and the ammunition sailed harmlessly into the ground, more small craters exploding into being as the stones landed.
Zito wasn’t done. His blade in hand, he closed his eyes and tapped into his sword master abilities, his figure blurring from the pure speed of his movement. Zito jumped up and grabbed onto the knee joint of the siege soldier, using the momentum from his swing to launch himself upward. He landed on the siege soldier’s shoulder and raised his sword into the air, plunging it down toward the shoulder joints of the massive, mechanical man.
Sparks and smoke spewed from the stab, the limbs of the siege soldier jerking. Zito stuck his blade into their gears a few more times, letting out a triumphant “ha!” as he did. Before long the machine hit its limit, falling to its knees. The monsterkin pilot fell forward, Ben rushing over to catch her as she dropped to the ground. He was in time, the monsterkin landing in his arms.
Ben placed the monsterkin in the corner of the room, turning just in time to watch as the soldier collapsed into a useless heap. Zito leaped off the moment of destruction, landing on the shoulder of the next soldier.
“I can bring them all down like this!” he shouted as he showed off his sword prowess with a flourish of his blade.
His cockiness didn’t last. This soldier hadn’t been crippled by Lightning, after all, and still had its motor abilities intact. Gaton, the pilot, pulled one lever and twisted another, the soldier’s body shuddering as its eyes glowed. The machine dropped to one knee and lowered its head, Zito doing his best to hang on and make his way to the shoulder joint.
The soldier’s eyes glowed until a pulse of electrical energy zapped across its body, the arcs touching Zito and making him stand straight as an arrow, his arms stuck out. His sword fell from his hand, and he soon followed it. Fortunately, the fall from the kneeling soldier was only a few feet. Zito slammed to the ground, let out a yeowch! of pain, then scrambled to his feet, grabbing his sword and rushing back to the group, a bit of a daze to his eyes.
“You’re not going to bring us down as easily as the other!” Morgon shouted, his soldier lurching toward them, a wild grin on his tusked mouth.
More ammo from the mangonels smashed into the ground around the group, the siege soldiers bearing down on them. Ben knew he had only a few moments to act before the combined weapons of Morgon did them in.
He had an idea.
“Take cover!” he shouted. “I’m going to draw their fire! Shrike, blast Morgon’s soldier’s feet with flames!”
Without waiting for a reply, Ben rushed toward the siege soldier powered by Gaton, waving his arms wildly as he burst out into the open. To his right, Shrike stepped forward and shifted into her flame form,
“Here, here!” He kept this up, the corner of his eye watching the mangonels as they slowly turned their weapons to track him. The soldier in front of him was on the move, and he knew he didn’t have much time to pull off his plan before the siege soldier got off an attack.
Gaton pulled the fist of her soldier back, bringing it down onto Ben.
Come on… he thought. Fire!
The mangonels launched their payloads right at the moment the fist came down. Ben dove out of the way, the fist slamming into the ground where he’d been standing only a moment ago. A boom sounded from the impact, followed by several more booms from the mangonel ammo smashing into the back of the soldier. The steel dented and split as the payloads landed, sparks and smoke billowing from the joints of the soldier.
“Gaton!” Shrike’s voice cut through the air, and Ben turned to see that Gaton, still in the pilot’s seat of the soldier, risked being crushed. Ben raised his hand toward Zito, finding the man’s speed reserve and using Drain to siphon some of it to Ben.
“What the fuck?!” Zito shouted.
Ben paid him no mind as he used Zito’s speed to rush toward the collapsing soldier. Ben flew in, taking out his scimitar as he hurried under the soldier. When he was under Gaton, the elementalkin bearing a striking resemblance to Shrike, he used the sword to cut through the straps of her pilot’s seat. The soldier creaked and groaned, and as Ben sliced through the last strap, he knew he was risking his life.
Finally, he cut through the last strap. Gaton fell into his arms, and he dropped his scimitar, the weapon clanging to the ground as he shifted her weight in his arms. The soldier lurched one last time, and Ben didn’t waste another second. He jumped out from under it just in time for the machine to crash to the ground.
Shrike was still blasting Morgon’s siege soldier’s feet with a deluge of flame. Relief took hold of her as she saw Gaton in Ben’s arms.
“I need your help!” she shouted. “But get her somewhere safe, first!”
Ben nodded, using Zito’s speed to run back to the group. With Drain, he transferred the speed back to Zito and handed over the unconscious monsterkin.
“Zito, Imogen—get her to safety with the other monsterkin. Melody, Lexi—distract the mangonels. Shrike and I will take down Morgon’s soldier. Got it?”
The group nodded, then split up to follow their orders. Zito, his speed restored, rushed Gaton over to the far corner where the other monsterkin laid. Brock formed a wall of stone to cover the two monsterkin, protecting them from the shrapnel caused by the explosions of the wooden crates around the room.
Lexi and Melody and Nipper made use of their speed and skill, darting around in erratic patterns that had the mangonels churning this way and that.
Ben hurried to Shrike’s side as Morgon stomped toward them. There was a touch of panic on his face as he seemed to realize his advantages were dwindling by the moment. Then he narrowed his eyes, letting out bellowing laughter as he stomped toward them.
“Is your fire hot enough to melt his armor?” Ben asked.
“Not on my own. If there were two of me, if my cousin could join the fight…”
Ben glanced over his shoulder in the direction of where Zito had taken Gaton. She was in a total daze, and it was clear that she wouldn’t be fighting anytime soon.
“If there were two flame-casters,” Ben said, his eyes on the approaching soldier, “you think that’d be enough?�
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“It’d have to be!” she shouted. “And more than that, I’m running out of mana, fast!”
“I’ve got an idea!” Ben said. “Stay there!”
“Wasn’t planning on leaving!”
“I’m going to take your spell, so you might lose some power for a second or two. But when I’ve got it, I’ll send you some of my mana.”
Shrike nodded, a bit of uncertainty in her eyes as she kept the heat on the feet of the soldier.
Ben knew he didn’t have any time to waste. He closed his eyes and activated Drain. He focused it on Shrike, sifting through her spells. All of them were fire-related, but most seemed too complicated to figure out how to learn on the spot.
There, Ben thought. Flame Cannon—I think I can manage that.
With a little more focus, he pulled the spell from Shrike. As he did, he watched as the fire she was shooting from her hands weakened and weakened until it was gone.
Morgon, seeing what was happening, let out a loud laugh.
“Your little spell run out?” he asked. “Figures—magic always lets you down when you need it. That’s why you need the power of pure steel!”
The feet of his soldier charred black, Morgon stomped toward them. It wouldn’t be long before they were within striking distance.
Ben finished pulling the spell from Shrike, and when he did words appeared in front of him.
NEW SPELL ACQUIRED!
FLAME CANNON
He grinned, ready to use his spell.
“Ben!” Shrike shouted. “Going to need some mana, and fast!”
“Here!” a familiar voice called from nearby. Ben looked up to see Melody darting around. She fiddled with the pouch at her hip and pulled out two hunks of mana crystal. “Heads up!”
She threw them both, Shrike catching one and Ben catching the other. They consumed the mana crystals. Ben still had a large supply, and the crystal would’ve pushed him over his limit had he not, right after eating, transferred mana to Shrike.