Kinker didn't have the keys on hand and couldn't go to Banika to get them. He considered breaking the lock, but just the thought of the physical exertion that would require made his back tingle. That meant he would have to go back up and join the fight, even though he was fairly certain that the battle was lost.
Then an idea occurred to him. It was a crazy idea, one he wasn't so sure would work, mostly because it involved using the cannons, which were weapons that he had zero experience working with. Nonetheless, he was desperate enough to try it, because as far as he knew, the cannon room was always unlocked and there was no one else in there at the moment.
So, turning around, Kinker made his way to the ladder that would take him back to the middle deck. Guilt seemed to have shut up now or at least was a lot quieter, perhaps because, if Kinker's plan worked, he might just succeed in saving his friends and the rest of the crew.
-
The most disturbing thing about the metallic beings, in Malock's opinion, was not their silence or their glowing eyes or their apparent ability to manipulate and bend metal to their will. Nor was it their stubborn refusal to show even the slightest hint of life in their movements. It wasn't even the loud creaking sounds their joints made, like the noises made by the conveyor belts in the boot factories back on Carnag.
What disturbed Malock more than anything else was their utter indifference to his many titles. In spite of the fact that he had revealed himself to be a prince and a Captain, the metallic beings showed no sign that they thought either of those two titles to be worthy of respect or reverence. They barely even showed any interest in him, unless he slackened, in which case one of the rear guard would poke him with one of the metal spears and force him to speed up.
Not that the walk was unpleasant, mind. The cobblestone path was devoid of snow, which Malock found odd because it was currently snowing, albeit very lightly. The source of its clearness became obvious to him, however, when he saw the snow literally bounce off the cobblestone onto the ditches on either side. He figured it was probably magic at work, which meant that either a mage or a god ruled this island; he hoped it was the former.
The rest of the hunters seemed as disgruntled as he was by this whole arrangement. Jenur had even attempted to make a break for it, but the metallic beings were as quick as they were tough and caught her easily. Now she had a set of thick manacles around her wrists and ankles that she complained were too tight. None of the metallic beings seemed to care.
The path to the palace took them away from the other huts, although occasionally Malock caught a glimpse of glowing orange eyes peering at them through the windows. They passed over one of the clear streams, which Malock stole a glimpse at, but he saw nothing in the water except smooth stones and weird-looking metallic fish.
Soon, the group reached the palace's front gates. The front gates opened almost immediately, without any of the metallic beings uttering so much as a word, and the hunters were shepherded through. Half of the metallic beings stayed behind on the other side, while the other half went through the front gates with Malock and the others.
The palace's courtyard was quite different from the rest of the area behind the ice walls. There was no snow on it at all; rather, there was a bright green lawn, with rows upon rows of exotic flowers that Malock had never seen before. One in particular caught his interest, a tall blue flower with a dozen bubs that glowed slightly in the sunlight.
They weren't alone, however. Bending over one of the flowers was a young woman who couldn't have been older than Jenur. The young woman immediately noticed the group and stood up, causing Malock to look at her again just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Yes, she really was dressed in a giant flower. Or at least, her dress was designed in such a way that it looked like she was wearing a giant yellow blooming flower upside down over her body, the hem of which went to her knees. Her hair was long and green, the same shade as the grass actually. She looked almost human, but something about the way she walked and held herself told Malock otherwise.
“What's this?” said the woman as she walked over to them, speaking perfect Divina. “Did my brother invite some guests over?”
The lead metallic being, the small, childlike one from before, walked up to her and spoke in a strange language Malock couldn't understand. It also made a variety of movements with its hands and fingers, which appeared to be part of the language, though Malock couldn't be sure.
The woman seemed to understand the metallic being completely. She tapped her chin, nodding occasionally, and saying, “Interesting ... yes ... of course ... I see ...”
For the life of him, Malock just hoped that the woman was as kind as she was beautiful. If she was a goddess, though, like the Loner God ... well, he had a feeling that his hunters' luck had just run out.
The metallic being stopped speaking and then turned to its brethren and spoke again. The other metallic beings immediately lowered their spears and stepped away from the hunters, causing Malock and his men to look around in surprise.
“So sorry about that,” said the woman, gesturing at the metallic beings. “These automatons can be so reactionary sometimes. My apologies.”
Malock regained his composure quickly and said, “No offense taken, Miss ...?”
“Hanarova,” said the woman, curtsying him. “You can call me Hana for short.”
“Miss Hana,” said Malock. “I am Prince Tojas Malock, Crown Prince of Carnag, Captain of the—”
“Yes, yes, I know all of that already,” said Hana, interrupting him with a wave of her hands. “Little Jingus here already told me. That, and everyone on the southern seas already knows who you are. I did not believe I'd ever get to meet you, to be honest, but I suppose Tinkar decided it would be funny to see what would happen if we met.”
Malock immediately reached for his sword's hilt before remembering that the automatons had taken it from him earlier. “Are you a goddess, then? Like the Loner God?”
“The who?” said Jenur, but neither Malock nor Hana bothered paid her attention.
Hana chuckled. “Wouldn't that be something? No. I'm a katabans.”
“A what?” said Jenur. “Are you guys just throwing around words now to confuse us or something?”
“Ugh,” said Hana, rolling her eyes. “It's your awkward tongue. Doesn't have an exact equivalent. If I had to describe it using your mortal terms, it means I'm a minor spirit. Surely you mortals have heard of minor spirits before?”
“Vaguely,” said Malock. “In my education, I was taught about the different creatures that live in the world. I remember something about katabans. I think it was a footnote in a textbook or something that mentioned katabans sometimes working for gods.”
“Bingo,” said Hana, though there was a touch of sarcasm to her voice. “Yes, we katabans serve the gods and goddesses of Martir, both north and south. I am currently the servant of the Mechanical Goddess, who is the ruler and patroness of this island upon which you have landed.”
“Mechanical Goddess?” said Jenur. “You mean Asix, God of Mechanics, right?”
Hana laughed. “No, no, no. The Mechanical Goddess and Asix are siblings, true, like all of the gods are, but the two are as different as night is from day. Don't confuse the two when you are in her presence, please.”
Damn it, Malock thought. We just had to run into another southern deity, didn't we?
Aloud, he said, “Okay. So your mistress rules this island. I suppose we'll be on our way, then, as that's all we wanted to know.”
Hana's smiled immediately disappeared from her lips. “Sorry, but you five aren't going anywhere, I'm afraid. Not until I find out which of you killed Bet.”
“Who?” said Malock, trying not to show the fear rising in his chest. “We have no idea who you are talking about, Miss Hana.”
“Bet,” said Hana. “My brother. There's no way you could have gotten beyond the ice walls unless you killed Bet and took his entry stone. I don't know where his body is or how yo
u managed to kill a katabans, but until I do, you five are staying put here.”
The front gates slammed shut and Malock saw no other way out of the courtyard. The walls were too high to climb or jump and he doubted that he and his unarmed men could fight the automatons and Hana, whose true power was still a mystery to them all.
“Are you going to kill us?” said Jenur.
“It would only be fair,” said Hana. “As big of a lug as my brother was, he was still my brother. I honestly didn't expect him to get killed by mortals, but mortals have killed katabans before, so perhaps it's not as shocking as it could have been.”
“I don't get it,” said Malock. “If you're a spirit, how come you have a physical body? How can we kill you? Aren't you stronger than us mortals?”
“We katabans can take on physical forms in order to perform certain tasks that are beyond our spiritual forms,” said Hana. She gestured at hers and said, “This one I've had for a while, as I and my brother have been serving the Mechanical Goddess for many years. It's rather ugly in comparison to how I really look, but it gets the job done.”
“'Ugly' is a bit of an overstatement, wouldn't you say?” said Malock. “I mean, you are almost as beautiful as Kano herself.”
Hana shot him a irritated look. “Did you kill Bet? Because I'm starting to think you did.”
Malock, without thinking, immediately pointed at Jenur. “She did it.”
“Hey!” said Jenur. “What the hell, Malock? I thought you weren't going to betray me again.”
“So you didn't kill Bet, either?” said Hana.
“Well, I did,” Jenur said. “But only because he killed one of our guys first. And that's not the point, anyway. If you knew about what we've already been through—”
“I do not care,” said Hana. “I'll kill all of you equally and then dump your bodies into the sea. The cold will probably preserve you, though, so you don't need to be afraid of losing your good looks.”
Hana snapped her fingers and the automatons immediately began walking toward them. Malock and the others prepared to fight for their lives, but just then, a series of tremors shook the ground beneath their feet. The first was barely noticeable, but soon the tremors became more and more obvious, until all of the automatons stopped cold as if obeying an unheard command. Hana turned to look at the center of the courtyard, which seemed to be the source of the tremors.
“What's going on?” said Jenur. “An earthquake?”
Hana gulped. “Not an earthquake, murderer. A goddess.”
The top of the courtyard's center slid away like a panel and from within it arose a large machine that towered over everyone in the vicinity, human, automaton, and katabans alike.
When the machine rose to its full height, the ground ceased shaking. The machine looked like a shrunken lighthouse, with a small red light at the top whose rays swept across the entire courtyard in seconds. Whistles and snaps and other mechanical noises emitted from its black-armored body so loudly that Malock could barely even hear himself think.
Immediately, the automatons fell to their knees, but they weren't bowing at Malock. They were bowing at the black lighthouse, which continued to make loud noises. It sounded like a toddler that had been awakened from its nap too early or maybe that was just Malock's imagination.
Hana hadn't bowed, but the expression of reverence on her face meant she knew what it was. “Mechanical Goddess! What a surprise. I didn't know you were awake.”
“That's a goddess?” said Jenur, not even bothering to keep her voice down.
“Shh!” Malock said to her in a low voice. “Don't do, say, or even think anything that will get her on your bad side.”
“Sir, you sound like you've met her before,” said Aseth, raising his voice a little to be heard over the sounds of the Mechanical Goddess. “Have you?”
“No,” said Malock, shaking his head, all the while keeping his eyes on the Mechanical Goddess. “But I know exactly what her kind thinks of us mortals and we don't need to give her an excuse to want to eat us even more than she already does.”
“Eat us?” Kocas repeated, her face turning pale. “What does—”
The whirring and creaking noises of the Mechanical Goddess became louder, cutting off Kocas's question. Hana cringed at the noise, looking much like how disobedient servants looked whenever Malock or one of his parents yelled at them back home on Carnag.
“Yes, I'm sorry,” said Hana, looking more and more subdued the further the Goddess raged. “I was going to get around to telling you about the visitors eventually. It's just—”
Though Malock could not understand the Mechanical Goddess's language, somehow he knew that she wasn't at all pleased, especially when a burst of steam exploded from the top of her head.
“Okay, okay, I know,” said Hana, holding up her hands, like she was afraid she was going to be hit. “I won't do it again. Sorry. I'll call off the automatons.”
More whirring and creaking, this time punctuated with a rather violent-sounding beep.
“Oh, you still want the automatons around?” said Hana. “Oh. Must have misheard you. Won't happen again. I'm sorry.”
The Mechanical Goddess became quiet. Then Malock remembered where he had heard those noises before: from the automatons, who he realized must have been constructed by the Mechanical Goddess herself.
Hana sighed and turned around to face Malock and the hunters again. “You lucked out. The Mechanical Goddess doesn't want any of you dead yet. She was very angry that I didn't inform her of your arrival right away, as I should have.”
“So we gathered,” said Malock, though he didn't let his guard down one bit. “Listen, if it's going to be a problem, we'll just head back to our ship. The only reason we came here was to find out who killed one of ours and you know what? We did. We really don't have any reason to be here.”
Hana smiled. “The Mechanical Goddess doesn't want you leaving just yet. She would like to invite you to dinner in her palace. She is sure you are all very hungry. You look like little more than skin and bones.”
Malock looked at the rest of his party. Sure enough, they all looked as hungry as a baba raga. Malock's own stomach betrayed him by rumbling loudly at that exact moment.
“That's a very generous offer and I am not normally one to turn down a generous offer made by a goddess,” said Malock as he took a step back. “But we have plenty of food on our ship, you see, and we just caught some fresh pale deer. Really, we wouldn't want to intrude.”
“Oh, it's not a problem at all,” Hana said, folding her hands behind her back. “The Mechanical Goddess has not had visitors in quite some time.”
“You mean she isn't pissed that we killed one of her servants?” said Jenur.
Hana's left eye twitched at the mention of her brother, but she said in her normal voice, “Not really. She never really liked Bet all that much, mostly because he was never particularly bright or clean, unlike me. She was actually quite happy to be rid of him, if you can't tell.”
It was impossible to judge the Mechanical Goddess's mood right now, due to her complete lack of body language and facial expression, but Malock nodded anyway like he understood completely.
“Now follow me,” said Hana, turning around to face the palace. “And by the way, you have to come whether you want to or not.”
Malock balled his hands into fists, but Hana was right. The doors were shut closed, the automatons were still at the ready, and the Mechanical Goddess probably wouldn't take very kindly to having her invitation declined.
So Malock nodded his head and said, “All right. We'll come, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.”
Hana was already halfway to the front steps. “Don't worry. She doesn't expect you to.”
***
Chapter Sixteen
Miraculously, Kinker managed to climb the ladder up from the lowest deck, where the hold was located, to the middle deck, where the cannons were located. Not that it had been easy. The ship still swayed, his ba
ck was still giving him grief, and now his head was starting to hurt from the fall he'd taken earlier. Either that or he was just starting to notice the pain throbbing in the back of his head, but he figured it didn't really matter when he noticed the pain or when it started hurting because the result was the same.
But the climb had taken a lot out of him. Kinker lay sprawled on the floor near the ladder, sweating despite the coldness. He panted hard, wiping the sweat off his brow and wishing that he was younger. In his younger days, his back had been much stronger, much better able to take falls and hits. More than once he had prayed to Kano to grant him his youth again, even though she wasn't Senva, and now he found himself once again praying to Kano, this time asking her for his back to be healed.
She didn't answer. He'd noticed her silence over this voyage, which disturbed him greatly. True, Kano hadn't always answered all of his prayers even back on Destan, but he had always had the feeling she was at least listening if nothing else. Now, though, he doubted she was doing even that much.
She must think we'll get to World's End quickly, Kinker thought. Without any trouble at all. That either makes her insane or extremely optimistic. I am willing to consider the former.
Kinker rolled onto his stomach and started crawling up the hallway, as he had no way to pull himself to his feet to walk. He managed a few feet before stopping, panting and biting his lower lip and trying to ignore the pain. The sounds of battle above sounded more ferocious than ever, but he paid them little attention. His pain was the more immediate problem and if he didn't come up with a way to get rid of it soon, he was unlikely to get anywhere.
But he was no doctor or mage. He could not simply wave a magic wand and heal his back instantly. The only choice he had, as far as he could see, was to keep going, even if his back didn't want to. He'd simply have to tough it, like his father had always taught him. There was no avoiding that fact.
So Kinker pulled himself forward again and let out a loud moan of pain. Ignoring it, he kept pulling himself forward and kept moaning, but he once again only managed a few feet because the pain paralyzed him. So he just lay there, face-first, feeling his beard cling to the grime of the floor, listening to the battle above grow louder and more violent, wondering if this was the end.
The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock Page 23