Burn it!
THUMP
Even though its steps were slow, it devoured distance with each one. Less than a block away, it would be on them in seconds. And if it found them…
THUMP
El ducked back to her friends. “Golem. Bury yourselves in the snow. Now!” she said, then dove forward and swept the snow across on top of her. They’d have to hope the golem didn’t notice the disturbed patches where they hid.
THUMP
The other three followed her instructions without any questions and poofed down into the snow beside her.
THUMP
The ground shook with every step, vibrating through the snow and El’s chest. How close was it now?
THUMP
So. Very. Close. It had to be at the intersection.
THUMP
El’s body and the snow covering her jumped from the footstep right beside her, and she had to slam her mouth shut to keep the squeal of surprise from escaping.
Keep it together, El. Just wait for it to…where was the next footstep? Why wasn’t the golem moving?
El swallowed hard, the flame armor allowing her to breathe under the blanket of snow that suddenly seemed so much more like a coffin. Did the golem notice their tracks? Could it sense their heat? Was it aiming its massive cannons at them right now?
In El’s mind, the guns floated inches above where she lay hidden, the barrels glowing orange as they charged to release their life-ending salvo. She wouldn’t even see it coming.
The snow in front of her eyes dyed orange.
Okay, maybe she would see it coming.
El closed her eyes and braced for the impact. Would she feel it? Would it hurt? Or, would it be over so fast she would just be gone?
And, why did she have time for all these thoughts? Wasn’t it going to shoot? Hurry up and get it over with!
THUMP!
El’s heart almost exploded in her chest as the ground shook further down the street. The golem was leaving?
THUMP!
…
THUMP!
…
THUMP!
…
THUMP!
El let out the breath she was holding and carefully rolled over in the snow and peeked her head above the top layer.
THUMP!
The golem’s shadow faded into the falling snow and vanished entirely with the next step.
“It’s gone,” she said, and three heads tentatively poked out of the snow.
“That was… too close,” Laze said.
“I totally figured it found us when it stopped,” Nidina said. “Then everything went orange, I thought that was it. It was going to blow us right back to the Pyre. In little pieces.”
“You saw that too?” El asked. “Must’ve been another one of those flashes.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Why do you think it stopped?” Dayne asked.
“Who knows, but I’m not going to waste the good fortune. Let’s figure out what is making those flashes and get the Blaze out of here,” El said, standing up.
“Sounds good to me,” Laze said.
“Same direction the golem came from, you think?” Nidina asked and peeked around the corner. “Looks clear now, other than those gigantic footprints in the snow. How burning big was it?”
“Bigger than anything I’ve seen. Made the one we saw in Guld look like a children’s toy. I can’t imagine they could make anything bigger,” El said, and glanced at the huge footprint beside her. All four of them could lay down in it in a line, and they still wouldn’t be long enough to fill it.
“They must’ve kept their best stuff to protect the forge,” Dayne said.
“Yes, and enough chatter. Let’s go before it circles back,” El said, ducked around Nidina, and jogged down the street where the golem had come from.
El paused at every corner as she checked each direction, the outline of each building resolving itself in the snow making her breath catch. Who was she kidding though? The golem had dwarfed most of the buildings. And yet it had still almost snuck up on them.
Just like the one that got Nexin. No, El, not the time to think about that. She shook her head, double-checked the intersection, then dashed across. Three blocks later, she paused with her back against a dark, stone wall.
“We must be getting close,” she said to the others.
“Hasn’t been a flash in a while,” Nidina said. “Think they finished whatever they were doing?”
“Yeah, we may have missed it,” El said. “Let’s go a few more blocks though, just to be sure. If we don’t find anything, we’ll double back and check some of these buildings on the way,” she said, rapping her knuckles gently on the building at her back.
“I wonder why they aren’t using any of these now,” Nidina mused. “Other than that golem, we still haven’t seen anybody. If they really are preparing for our attack, wouldn’t you think they would have all their workshops going full speed ahead?”
“These might just be storage warehouses,” Laze suggested. “Either for the finished golems, or the parts. That’s what they remind me of.”
El looked up and down the street. If that golem found them, they wouldn’t have any option but to run. And if the flashes had actually stopped, they weren’t in the same rush to move forward. “Change of plans, sorry. Let’s check this place out now,” she told them and rapped her knuckles on the building a second time.
“I’ve seen a couple of normal-sized doors in the last few buildings we passed,” Dayne offered. “If this one is the same, there should be a… yeah, there it is,” he said and jogged twenty feet further, then stopped and pointed at the wall. Well, at the door in the wall.
“Think it’s locked?” Nidina asked as she, Laze, and El joined Dayne.
Dayne reached out and gently tried the door handle. It didn’t budge, so he tried a little harder. The knob rattled, slightly, but didn’t turn. “Seems to be. Don’t think it’s frozen.”
“Should we look for another way in?” Nidina asked.
El shook her head. “Laze, all yours.”
“Thanks,” Laze said with a smile, pulled an electrum hilt from her belt, and placed one end against the lock.
SCHWAAAAAAaaaaaaa….
The short blade of flame pierced straight through the lock, the metal melting and running on both sides in a flash. The blade vanished just as quickly as it appeared, and Laze stowed the hilt back on her belt.
“Shall we?” Laze gently pushed the door in.
It swung without a sound into the absolute darkness of the building.
“Looks inviting,” Nidina whispered. “After you.” She gestured for Dayne to take the lead.
“Oh, for Pyre’s sake,” El said, and slipped a palm-sized square of electrum from her belt. “Let’s hope this isn’t warm enough for them to notice,” she said, and ignited the metal. Unlike the electrum weapons, the sheet of metal didn’t burst into flame, and instead emitted a wide beam of warm light, like a bonfire through a window.
“What the Blaze?” El stepped inside, the smell hitting her like a slap in the face. What was that? She put her free hand over her mouth and nose to stop herself from gagging while her beam of light landed on thumb-thick metal bars. “Get in and close the door,” she told the others through her hand. The fresh air might help with the smell, but if the golem passed by again, they might as well have a sign out announcing their presence.
Three more beams of light quickly ignited as the others entered and simultaneously gagged at the horrific odor.
“That’s nasty,” Nidina said between choking coughs.
“Are those what I think they are?” Laze asked, voice muffled, and her light scrolling along more and more of the metal bars.
“Cages,” Dayne said. “Not just on the floor, either,” he added, and shifted his beam of light up. The whole building was filled with cages stacked on top of cages. Four levels, from the looks of things, in four blocks, taking up the majority of the warehouse.
“I thought this was for golem parts?” El asked Nidina.
“You and me both,” Nidina said.
“Do any of the cages have anything in them? Maybe the source of whatever the Blaze is causing that smell.” El asked, and the four of them spread out, their beams of light stretching out ahead of them.
“Smells like something died in here,” Dayne said.
“All empty,” Laze said. “Were they keeping some kind of animals in here? The cage floors are filthy.”
“Maybe they moved all their farm animals in here when they brought down the tunnel, to keep them safe when we came through?” Nidina proposed.
“If they did, where are they?” El asked. “And the people to take care of them?”
Nidina just shrugged in response.
“Uh, guys,” Laze said from one of the corners of the warehouse. “Something definitely died in here, but I don’t think it was a farm animal.”
“What’ve you got?” El jogged over to join her friend, the smell getting stronger with every step.
Oh.
Three beams of light converged on where Laze’s hovered.
On the corpse of a young woman.
