Mechanical Monstrosities

We stood for a long time at the shore of the unknown lake and stared out at the two wrecks we could see. They were a strange sight, for they were obviously ocean-going vessels, yet there was no way to get to the ocean – or any ocean for that matter – from the lake.

What bothered me more than this, however, was the fact that I could still smell powder in the air. The ships had been sunk recently, but there where were the bodies? Where were the survivors?

As Isaiah and Bram spoke in low voices beside me, a terrible thought entered my mind and would not leave me in peace.

In a calm voice that belied my growing discomfort, I asked a single question that silenced both men and all those near us.

“What if they are automatons?”

Bram shook his head as Isaiah replied, “There can be no such things.”

I turned and looked at him. “Where are we, Isaiah?”

“Gods’ Hollow,” he replied at once, and his eyes widened. In a whisper, he added, “And who is to say what can and cannot be in a place such as this.”

As the words left his mouth, the earth shook and the water around the ships churned and it seemed as though they had been listening to us.

I and every man and woman of Akatuy thought as one and ran.

There was nothing else to do.

The ground trembled, and the grinding scream of metal against metal pierced my ears. A glance back showed massive beings standing tall in the water. The pair of machines advanced to the lake’s shore but did not step out onto dry land. Instead, they fired a few flares but nothing more.

In the curious stillness of the Hollow, I heard a sound I never thought I would be happy to hear: the loud, dull click of firing pins on spent brass.

End Jan. 9, 1890

Begin Jan. 10, 1890

We had suffered through several storms well before midday, and as the last finished, Isaiah and I agreed that it would be beneficial for all to rest for a short time prior to continuing.

I joined Bram, and the two of us scouted ahead, searching for a suitable, defendable position where we might eat with a limited effort regarding keeping guard. There was a slight opening in a natural rocky outcropping ahead of us, so we entered it and followed an ever-widening path that curved to the right, hugging the side of a steep wall of what looked and felt like granite.

When the path opened onto a small plain, Bram and I stopped, shocked by what we saw.

A swath of bodies spread out before us, and a pair of armed men stood near them.

The men saw us, and without readying their weapons, approached. Neither Bram nor I moved. Instead, we waited to see what it was the men wanted.

The strangers stopped a short distance away, and peered intently at me. They murmured to one another, nodded, and then the man on the right spoke.

“You’re Duncan Blood.”

“I am.”

The speaker gestured at the bodies. “She left them for you.”

A chill stabbed my spine, and hatred left a bitter taste in my mouth. “Did she way why?”

The speaker nodded. “She said she killed them because they looked like you.”

“Figures.”

The speaker motioned to his companion, who opened his mouth, revealing the still bleeding root of what had once been his tongue.

“And this one,” the speaker added, “sounded like you.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Yes.” The speaker flashed a smile of rotten teeth. “She’s going to kill you.”

As the words left the man’s mouth, he and his silent friend exploded, throwing Bram and me backward and covering us with flesh and bones and innards.

I managed to get to my feet first and then dragged Bram to his. Whether my mother was still close or if she had merely set some magic in their flesh, I didn’t know, nor did I want to find out.

She’d been angry for two hundred years and her mood showed no sign of improving.