by Gross, Dave
The warcaster swooped directly toward Sam, her staff already surging with energy. Sam fired as she fell back into the shelter between the wagons.
A roar of slug guns deafened the Dogs. The slugs ricocheted a few feet from the warcaster, deflected by invisible energy shielding her body. Despite the defense, her wings bent backwards from the impact, her armored body jerking out of her intended path.
Nearby, the clockwork angels unleashed metallic shrieks at the sight of their leader falling from the sky. They plunged toward her.
Before they arrived, the winged warcaster leaped back up to perch – just as Sam had done a moment earlier – on the edge of the supply wagon. She shook out her bent wings like a cloak and looked down at Sam with ice-blue eyes. Then, with an air of surprise, she touched her cheek and looked down at the blood on her fingers.
Sam stared back at her adversary, while all around her the Devil Dogs reloaded their slug guns and pistols.
The warcaster glanced up as the Cygnaran cavalry arrived. At their head was a white-haired man clad all in blue and gold armor. He too carried a staff, but instead of the angel’s strange radiance, his crackled with lightning.
The winged warcaster leaped from the wagon, taking flight even as the Devil Dogs took aim. Before anyone could draw a bead on her, the clockwork angels moved in to shield her with their wings. Together they flew south, past the lonely hill and into the darkness of the storm.
One by one the Devil Dogs stood to survey their surroundings.
“Take care of those fires,” snapped Crawley, grabbing a sand bucket and leading the way to the flaming corner of the supply wagon.
Without a word, Dawson walked in the opposite direction. Smooth pulled himself up on his crutch and began to go after him, but Harrow shook his head. Together they watched as Dawson knelt by Morris’s body. They saw that he was speaking to the dead man, but they couldn’t hear the words. When Dawson was finished, he removed three medallions from the Morris’s neck and placed them around his own.
The riders took up defensive positions around the triangle of wagons, but their leader dismounted and went straight to Sam. Without preamble, he said, “I received your message.”
“We’ve got a little more to show for our efforts since I sent that,” said Sam.
“Good timing, Old Man,” said Burns. “You showed up just in time to watch us finish the job without any help.”
The man’s white eyebrows rose, but instead of responding to Burns he turned to Sam. “Is this the one who bought half a talking horse?”
Sam smothered a laugh with one gloved hand. “Corporal ‘Bulletproof’ Burns, Artificer General Nemo.”
Nemo peered at the bullet hole in Burns’s helmet. “A hole to the skull and he’s back in the field? It’s wondrous what they can do with head injuries these days.”
“Never underestimate the determination of a Devil Dog.” Sam saw no need to clarify how Burns had earned the bullet hole. “Come see what their sacrifice bought you. Your prizes are a little worse for the wear, but we have them.”
The captain led Nemo to the wagon and showed him the dismembered warjack and its attendant constructs. Nemo lifted the spherical servitor and gazed into its dead lens. He poked a finger into the bullet hole that brought it down and shot a rueful glance at Burns.
“Well done, Sam. I’ll be more than glad to sign off on that bonus we discussed.”
“Don’t speak too soon,” she said. “I’ve something else to show you.”
She led him to the crest of the hill just as dawn broke fully through the gray clouds. Sam gestured for Nemo to join her at the edge of a prominence overlooking the river. There they looked across the Dragon’s Tongue, at the sight that had so startled her as they were preparing to move the wagons.
In the distance they could see a riverside town teeming with activity in the halo of blue-white lights. Sam watched Nemo as he surveyed the scene she had already viewed.
Clockwork figures were everywhere, but without the telltale steam exhaust produced by mechanical workmanship. The strange light emanating from their helms, and various other apertures, gave away their inhuman natures.
Those guarding the outer streets of the town bore heavy maces and shields, similarly illuminated by the strange energies common to the warjacks and “angels” the Dogs had defeated. The shields were especially curious, their crescent design suggesting some unknown purpose. Behind these defenders stood ranks of halberdiers, their figures no less feminine for their steely construction.
Other clockwork figures – men this time – patrolled the inner regions of the town of Calbeck. They carried no separate weapons, but marched with raised fists, one enhanced with a heavy punching blade, the other bristling with gun barrels. At the intersections of the larger streets, smaller three-legged and larger four-legged warjacks stood watch.
A new building towered far above it all, stretching out four vast, arched legs to touch the town’s four corners. Far larger than the recharging station, it was a rising tower of brass, steel, glass, suffused with the eerie blue-white light that powered all their machines. Four petals yawned open around a huge gray orb atop the structure. The tower’s elegant lines spoke as much of art as they did to efficiency, pointing to the sky like the cathedral of an alien god.
As Sebastian Nemo watched, the flying warcaster and her clockwork angels arrived to alight atop the unfinished tower. The warcaster turned to look back toward the Ordic bank. Her eyes turned directly toward the hill on which Sam and Nemo stood.
The Artificer General lowered the spyglass. “What have you brought me, Sam?”
“Some of the boys were worried you’d sent us on a gobber hunt.”
Nemo shot her a hard look, but his expression softened. “Well, I certainly didn’t think you’d bring me a dragon! But you, Captain Samantha MacHorne, you have brought me right to the dragon’s lair.”
“With that in mind, and considering the difficulty we faced, I’d be remiss in my duty to the boys, and the men, if I didn’t suggest an additional bonus is in order.”
With a glance across the river at occupied Calbeck, Nemo nodded slowly. “I’ll revise your letter of credit accordingly.”
“You want us to give you an escort back anywhere?”
“No,” said Nemo. “I’ll send a messenger to bring the rest of my forces here. I don’t know what this new enemy across the river intends to do there, but you can bet that I will find out.”
Dawson counted the coins before signing two copies of the receipt. The bank clerk countersigned them both and pushed one back along with a calfskin purse. “Courtesy of the establishment, Private Dawson. Always a pleasure to do business with the Devil Dogs.”
“At least when we’re flush from a new contract, right?”
“I assure you, Sir—”
Dawson tipped him a wink. “I’m kidding. When will she start receiving the money?”
“The next courier reaches Carre Dova in two days. Young Isla should receive the payment the day after.”
“And the medallion?”
“Yes, Private, and the medallion. The delivery receipt should come back in a week or so.” The clerk bobbed his head, eager to ingratiate himself with a new client. Dawson walked away, smiling as he shook his head.
As he left the bank, he saw a familiar trollkin peddling roast chickens that dangled from a stick she held across her big blue shoulders. Dawson beckoned her over and held up a finger. When he saw a legless man navigating the boardwalk by gripping a pair of blocks, he changed his order to two and delivered the second to the beggar.
“Don’t I know you?” said the beggar.
Dawson shrugged and dropped a handful of coins into the man’s pocket. “Buy yourself something to wash it down.”
As Dawson walked way, the beggar called after him. “I like your new jacket, Devil Dog,” he said. “I remember you now.”
Dawson tore off a drumstick and waved goodbye with it.
As he rounded the corner, he a
lmost collided with Bowie, who’d come pelting down the cross-street. “There you are, Dawson! Sam wants all the boys back at the warehouse for first briefing.”
“Oh, come on,” Dawson complained. “I wish she’d pick someone else to fetch the boys this time. I just grabbed dinner.”
“She isn’t sending you,” said Bowie, pushing past to head on toward the Rust Market. “She sent me.”
IRON KINGDOMS INDEX
Ancient Icthier: An ancient city in the southernmost Protectorate, deemed the source of western Immoren’s Menite civilization and the original Canon of True Law.
Armsdeep Lake: This is a massive lake and river at the heart of Rhul, and source of the Black River. The Rhulic cities of Ghord, Ulgar, and Brunder are along its shores.
Battlegroup: A warcaster and the warjacks he controls.
Berck: Ordic port city, largest city in Ord and home port of the Ordic Royal Navy.
Black River: Longest river in western Immoren, which connects Rhul, Llael, and Cygnar. Merywyn, Corvis, and Caspia-Sul rest on this river and it forms the eastern border of Cygnar, separating it from the Bloodstone Marches.
Blackclad: Term applied to enigmatic and potentially dangerous mystics who are part of an ancient secret society that draws on the destructive power of the elements and the wilderness.
Blackwater: Cryxian port city and home to its pirate raider fleet.
Bloodstone Marches: A large barren geographical region between the Bloodstone Desert and western Immoren, occupied by tribal Idrians, farrow, and the Skorne Army of the Western Reaches.
Caen: Name of the world containing the Iron Kingdoms, Immoren, Zu, etc. Sometimes contrasted as the material world as opposed to the spiritual world of Urcaen.
Carre Dova: Ordic port city, located on the northern shore of the Bay of Stone.
Caspia: Capital of Cygnar, the ‘City of Walls’ and only human city not to fall to the Orgoth.
Ceryl: Cygnaran port city, home of the Fraternal Order of Wizardry and the Cygnaran Navy’s Northern Fleet.
Chatterstones: District of Five Fingers on Hospice Island, notable for a large mass graveyard filled during a former plague on the island.
Colossal: Massive predecessors to the modern steamjacks, these great machines were originally constructed during the Rebellion against the Orgoth.
Cortex: The highly arcane mechanikal device that gives a steamjack its limited intelligence.
Corvis: Northeastern Cygnaran city occupying the conjunction of the Black River and Dragon’s Tongue River, also called the “City of Ghosts.”
Crael Valley: Farm valley in northern Cygnar, south of Bainsmarket, briefly seized and held by Madrak Ironhide and the united kriels.
Cryx: Also known as the Nightmare Empire, an island kingdom of necromancers, undead, and pirates in southwest ruled by Toruk the Dragonfather.
Cygnar: Southernmost of the Iron Kingdom, ruled by King Leto Raelthorne, bearing the Cygnus on its flag.
Deepwood Tower: Northern Cygnaran border fortress, destroyed in 608 AR.
Dragon: Immortal and unnatural creatures spawned by Lord Toruk, the first and greatest of their number. Dragons are hostile to one another, and particularly to their progenitor, and rarely notice the affairs of lesser beings.
Dragon’s Tongue River: River stretching from Corvis to the Bay of Stone which separates Cygnar from Ord and is relied upon by a number of river towns such as Point Bourne, Tarna, and Five Fingers.
Drer Drakkerung: Ruins of the former Orgoth capital city on the Garlghast Island, now claimed by Cryx and deemed a seat of Lich Lord Terminus.
Eastwall: Southeastern Cygnaran fortress along the Black River.
Fellig: Northern Cygnaran city in the Thornwood, currently partly occupied by Ordic troops and cut off from Cygnar.
Fisherbrook: Former Cygnaran town north of the Dragon’s Tongue River, razed in 607 AR by the Protectorate’s Northern Crusade.
Five Fingers: Ordic port city known for its gambling, criminal gangs, and smuggling trade, also known as ‘the Port of Deceit.’
Garlghast: Northernmost and largest of the Scharde islands, site of former Orgoth capital of Drer Drakkerung, partially occupied by Cryx.
Ghord: Capital of Rhul, on northeastern shore of Armsdeep Lake.
Gobber: A diminutive race of inquisitive, nimble, and entrepreneurial individuals that have adapted well to the cities of men. Most gobbers are around three feet tall. Gobbers are known to have undeniable aptitude for mechanikal devices and alchemy.
Gun Mage: An arcanist capable of channeling their arcane energy into rune shots fired from their magelock pistols.
Hammerfall: Western Rhulic fortress protecting the western approaches through the mountains to Ghord.
Hellspass: An ancient ogrun city once conquered by the Khardic Empire and now part of Khador.
Horgenhold: Southern Rhulic fortress protecting the southern approaches to the Rhulic interior, including the road from Leryn and the Black River.
Highgate: Cygnaran coastal city, home of the Southern Fleet of the Cygnaran Navy and headquarters of the Cygnaran Third Army.
Imer: Capital of the Protectorate of Menoth, a relatively recently expanded city near the Erud Hills.
Immoren: Continent containing the Iron Kingdoms, Ios, Rhul, the Skorne Empire, and the lands between them. Much of Immoren remains unexplored, and its inhabitants have had limited contact with other continents.
Ios: Isolationist nation east of Llael and north of the Bloodstone Marches, Ios was founded long before the nations of men by survivors of a destroyed empire called Lyoss.
Iosan: Inhabitants of Ios, a long lived elven race that has suffered a long gradual decline and faces an imminent cosmological catastrophe.
Iron Kingdoms: Initially the four nations founded after the Orgoth Rebellion: Cygnar, Khador, Llael, and Ord. The Protectorate of Menoth, founded after the Cygnaran Civil War and having recently declared its independence from Cygnar, became the fifth Iron Kingdom. With the conquest of Llael, little of that kingdom remains free.
Jack Marshal: A person who has learned how to give precise verbal orders to a steamjack to direct them in conducting labor or battle. A highly useful occupational skill, although lacking the versatility or finesse afforded by the direct mental control of steamjacks exercised by a warcaster.
Khador: Northernmost of the Iron Kingdoms, once a kingdom and now an empire. The Khadoran Empire is ruled by Empress Ayn Vanar.
Khardov: Industrial city in western Khador that is also a major hub of the Khadoran railway.
Korsk: Capital of Khador and that nation’s largest city, located on the eastern shore of Lake Great Zerutsk.
Lake Great Zerutsk: Largest of the three large lakes surrounding Korsk in central Khador.
Leryn: Former Llaelese city and birthplace of the Order of the Golden Crucible, now the seat of the Protectorate’s Northern Crusade. Occupied by Khadorans during the Llaelese war and was subsequently taken by the Protectorate.
Llael: Once the easternmost Iron Kingdom; largely conquered during the Llaelese War from 604-605 AR and presently divided between Khador, the Protectorate, and the Llaelese Resistance.
Mechanika: The fusion of mechanical engineering and arcane science.
Mercir: Southern Cygnaran coastal city, home of the Mercarian League.
Meredius, the: Western ocean, only successfully crossed by the Orgoth.
Merin: Capital city of Ord.
Merywyn: Former capital of Llael, presently the most important industrial city held in the Khadoran occupied territory.
Midfast: Northern Ordic city and fortress, along the Khadoran border.
Nightmare Empire, The: Cryx.
Northguard: Formerly a northern Cygnaran border fortress, successfully besieged and taken by Khador in 608 AR, presently serving as a resupply fortress for the Khadoran Army.
Nyss: Cousins of the Iosans, the Nyss are a race of wild hunters who wants claimed large portions of northern Khador as their territory
. Largely decimated by the emergence of the Legion of Everblight, the surviving Nyss are largely refugees dependant on Khador and Ios.
Ogrun: A large and physically powerful race renowned for their great strength and honor. Most ogrun are citizens of Rhul, though they can be found throughout the Iron Kingdoms and are also present in Cryx.
Olgunholt: Forest in southern Ord and that nation’s most important source of lumber.
Ord: Iron Kingdom on the western coast between Khador and Cygnar, largely neutral in the recent wars and seen as a haven for mercenary companies.
Orgoth: A fearsome race of men who invaded and enslaved western Immoren for centuries. The Orgoth arrived in great numbers on Immoren’s western shores and soon conquered the human kingdoms of the era, and were driven out just over four hundred years ago.
Protectorate of Menoth: Southeastern theocracy dedicated to the god Menoth. Considered the fifth Iron Kingdom, though it did not exist at the time of the Corvis Treaties.
Redwall: Llaelese fortress on the Khadoran border, destroyed 604 AR.
Rune Shot: The specially crafted rune inscribed bullets used by gun mages to channel their arcane energies into.
Rhul: Northeastern dwarven nation bordering Khador, Llael, and Ios; natives called Rhulfolk.
Rhulfolk: The dwarves of Rhul. A tenacious and skilled people who have long traded with the nations of man.
Scharde Islands: Island group southwest of Cygnar, named after the largest island that has become the heart of Cryx. The majority of the Scharde Islands are part of the Nightmare Empire while those that are contested are preyed upon by Cryx.
Sul: Western Protectorate city, formerly half of Caspia east of the Black River, ceded after the Cygnaran Civil War.
Spiritgrav: A district of Five Fingers noted for its production of alcoholic spirits, a major source of income for the city.
Steamjack: A steam powered mechanikal construct designed in a variety of configurations and sizes, used for both labor and warfare throughout the Iron Kingdoms, Cryx, and Rhul.