The Girl & Her Golem

'If you should ever find yourself lost and accosted by wicked ones, command me to awaken, and I shall protect you from evil.'

The young see and hear what the old cannot. The old and frail lose their sight and hearing and strength, but it begins by losing the sight of wonder, the voice of the strange, and the strength to believe.

It begins with denial. Denial that the world is a wondrous, strange, and dangerous place that cannot be explained. Denial of the creatures that owned the world before humans and denial of their power over the hidden turnings that only children can see.

The girl, lost, runs deeper into the woods. She thinks she is heading back to the road, back to her parents, but she doesn't know how to follow her own tracks back. How could she when she is too young to be taught how? And so, she runs deeper, deeper, and deeper still. She runs until her breath catches in her throat and her legs burn and ache. She runs until the sun turns orange on the distant horizon, and the light in the forest begins to fade.

Her voice is gone. Too hoarse from shouting that she can no longer speak, and her tears are gone, for she has cried too much as she ran.

They were searching for wild mushrooms when she heard a voice. She knew she wasn't supposed to go too far from the caravan, but she thought it was Hena, her friend, calling to her. Not long after, she was lost, and now she is too far from home and the safety that numbers provide.

The light of the sun was nearly gone, and the thick canopy of trees took away most of what remained. Her only solace is that she had her travel pack and a separate pouch full of mushrooms she picked. She took water out of her pack and drank and ate her fill of mushrooms as the light slowly faded, and she was left in darkness.

She felt a terrible clawing at her stomach and deep in her chest, and she felt fresh tears forming in her eyes. She wanted to be back home at the caravan, next to a warm fire, eating a hot meal and listening to her father tell her stories. Instead, she had to curl up in the crook of a large oak's roots as an icy wind whirled around her.

Despite the cold around her fingertips and the fear in her heart, exhaustion eventually let her fall asleep in those deep woods.

"It's so far from home it is," a hissing voice said, waking the girl from her slumber.

The voice sent a shiver down her spine, and her heart began to race. The voice meant danger, and her body knew it before she saw who or what it came from. She jumped to her feet and placed her back against the great wall that was the oak as she searched for the voice.

"You're far from home, aren't you, girl?" Another voice, low and resonant, rumbled like thunder as though it came from within her.

She could see a faint light of a flame dancing in the distance. The dancing flame didn't have eyes, but the girl could feel something from within that spirit fire looking at her. The feeling forced her back further against the tree to the point where she could feel every bump and notch of the living wood behind her.

Branches breaking and leaves rustling above caught her attention, and she saw the owner of the first voice, the hissing, twisted voice. A snake-like creature with a man's body stared from behind the canopy as its tail twisted and curved around the branches. It slid and slithered from one branch to the next, from one tree to the next, gliding as smoothly as water flows over rocks.

The girl knew what these two were from her father's stories. The Wisp and the Lamia. The Wisp was a creature that led travellers astray, whether by their light or other means. She knew then that it used the voice of her friend Hena to lure her away from the rest of the gatherers. The Lamia, a snake person, was said to have a taste for the young and innocent, and it was clear why they were working together and why they lured her away.

"It doesn't want to speak to us, it doesn't," the Lamia said with a hissing laugh that grated her ears.

"She's afraid," the Wisp said. A sharp crack of thunder punctuated his proclamation that hit straight to the girl's core.

"I'm not afraid," the girl yelled back, even as she crouched down and pulled her pack close to her chest.

"Oh, it speaks it does." The Lamia laughed again as it came out from above the canopy. "Your family didn't tell you of us, didn't they? Not proper to be fearless, not proper."

The Lamia let itself loose from the trees and landed in a heap on the forest floor, cracking all the small branches and crunching all the dried leaves around it. It rose to its full height, towering above the still crouching girl and bared its fangs.

The Wisp danced around the snake person, sending shafts of light and shadow around its horrible features. A man's body was at the top, but it was covered in slimy scales that gradually changed to human skin at the chest and arms. His face was dark and handsome and would be welcome among many in her tribe, save for its slits for pupils and yellow surrounding it that glowed in the moonlight. The tail began where a man's hips would be and wound down several feet to a nubby tip that swayed hypnotically behind him as though it had a mind of its own.

The Wisp was right. She was afraid. Her legs had long ago turned to jelly, and she was frozen in place as her whole body shook. Her heart thumped in her chest, and she could do nothing but stare at her doom.

"Stay back!" she shouted.

The two creatures laughed again at her and her feeble attempt to be frightening. "What will you do?" the Wisp rumbled.

The girl reached into her pack and pulled out a small iron doll her father made for her. She remembered the story she told her about the golem who protected their owner against the wicked. "Please protect me, golem," she shouted.

The Lamia and the Wisp backed away from her when she uttered her command, and the Lamia looked genuinely afraid of the iron golem. But when nothing happened, and the golem didn't come to life to protect the girl, the Lamia hissed laughter again.

"Get rid of that disgusting iron… thing, would you?" it asked the Wisp.

The Wisp danced around to the trees as swift as lightning and cut a branch that fell on the girl's arm. She dropped the golem and watched with widened eyes as it tumbled across the oak's trunk and onto some rocks with a clang.

The Lamia wrapped its tail around the girl's neck and pulled her closer, getting ready to kill her.

Why didn't it work? She thought. Her mind raced as she stared down the Lamia's yellow eyes and sharp white fangs in front of her. Then, she remembered, she needed to say the magic word. "Elo—" she croaked against the constricting scales against her neck. She pulled and clawed against the Lamia's tail to catch a breath and say the word. If she didn't, she would surely die. The scales tore against her flesh just as she clawed against them, but she caught grip and pried just enough to catch her breath. "Elo—, Elohim!" she finally shouted.

In a burst of light, an iron hand, all hard edges and smooth digits, grabbed the tail of the Lamia. The Lamia hissed as its skin burned from the golem's touch, and it let go of the girl.

She fell to the ground and looked up at the now massive iron golem next to her. As tall as the Lamia was, the golem was taller and broader. What once fit in her palm now stood as an equal among the great oaks in the forest.

With one swift crack like a whip, the golem slammed the Lamia to the forest floor, and it died instantly. The Wisp tried to flee, but the golem clapped its hands together, causing a loud clang of metal on metal to resound throughout the forest. The Wisp's flame went out, and it was gone into the ether.

Strangely, though the sound was loud enough to rattle the trees and send dead leaves fluttering to the ground, it didn't hurt her.

With the two monsters defeated, the golem turned towards the girl. At first, she was afraid and pulled away. The golem tilted its head as though the creature was confused by her shirking away from it. Its metallic face held no expression, but there was a light behind its eyes that was unmistakably one of intelligence.

The golem held out its hand to the girl with the cautious approach of one not wanting to appear threatening. Timidly, gingerly, the little one reached out and touched the golem, her golem. The metal was smooth and cold, as iron ought to be, and had all the kinks, dimples and imperfections that were on the one her father had made for her. It was without a doubt her golem, and it had saved her life just as her father said it would.

If it could do it once, perhaps it could do it again. "Could you… could you take me back to my parents?"

The golem looked away for a moment and searched the woods. The subtle grinding of its metallic body echoed off the trees in those silent woods. After looking this way and that, it soon turned to face the girl once more and nodded to her.

With a smile and a leap, the girl sat in the golem's palm. The creature pulled her close to his chest and cupped his other hand in front to protect her, then began running.

Through a small gap between the digits of the iron golem's fingers, the girl felt the rush of air from the golem's fleet pace. It cared little for the massive oaks around it and smashed its way through, causing the girl to yelp in surprise. Despite tearing through the trees, the girl felt nary a jostle in the tight grasp of the gentle yet unyielding iron golem. Travelling through the woods faster and wilder than she could ever hope to experience quickly became exciting.

However, before she could have her fill, the golem slowed to a stop and set the girl down at the edge of a clearing. She could see the caravan she and her family were a part of in the clearing. It looked like the entire caravan was gearing up to organize a search party.

The girl burst into her own lesser run as she shouted her father's name. The crowd parted, and she leapt into his arms. She explained in a jumbled haste what had happened as concern and relief washed over her father's face. Then, when she went to point to where the golem that saved her was, it had vanished.

The girl went back to the woods and looked for her golem, but she couldn't find it. There was no trace of it and no evidence of the truth behind what had happened in the woods.

The rest of those in the nomadic caravan chose to believe that the girl had simply become lost, fell asleep and imagined her encounter with the Lamia and the Wisp. But, the girl continued to believe in her golem throughout her life, for she knew the truth.

As the years went on, the story became a legend, and more began to believe in the girl's invisible guardian, for their caravan never again had a problem with beasts in the night. The caravan was free from hide and hair, whether they be wolves, bears, or the beasts only the young can see.

And, on a quiet night, free from the howling wind and noise of voices, you could swear that someone was grinding metal in the woods.