The hike up was much harder on my legs than it had been the previous day. The volcano got steeper at the top, to such a point we had to scramble up the sharp volcanic rockface in places, and the scratchy surface made it hard to do this without drawing blood.
Still, these three old men seemed remarkably adept at getting up there, without seeming even to break a sweat. Maybe this was part of the male dragonseer blood in them. Although, admittedly, Faso didn’t seem to share the same traits and had resumed his usual grumbling ways.
The air got thinner and colder as we got higher. Soon enough, the tribespeople saw me shivering, and one offered me the robe I’d been wearing previously, which I put on gratefully.
Eventually, myself much out of breath through the vigorous climb, we reached the rim of the volcano. Oddly, I couldn’t see what lay inside the crater, as it had this massive green bladder stretched across it, almost like a drum. The wind whisked against this making an unsettling beating sound.
We could also see the hut there, the one that we were meant to meet Colas at. It looked just as insignificant as it had when we’d seen it on Velos. It was hard to believe anything other than that old man lived inside the thing.
Just shortly after that, I caught sight of something glinting in the sunlight, with a faint green glow, and a yellow tint. It didn’t take long until I realised what it was.
“Dragonheats, not another panther. How many of those things has Colas got?”
It was the biologist who stepped forward to explain. “That one guards the entrance to Colas’ base. As long as we don’t all approach at once, it won’t cause any danger. But here, I’m afraid we must leave you behind.”
“What about our weaponry?” I asked. “I don’t think it would let us go in fully armed. Why did you give us all this equipment if we’d have to give it back away again?”
The old man sighed. “I did it because I thought you should go inside guns blazing and teach the old man a lesson that you’re not to be messed with. The tribespeople won’t follow you past this point, though. They’re still terrified of those panthers, and rightfully so.”
I nodded. “Have any of you ever been in yourself?”
The three old men looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. “We tried to keep away from Colas’ operations as much as possible,” the biologist said.
I clenched my teeth and looked up at the thing. “But how do we defeat it?”
“How did you defeat the other one?” the linguist replied. “We heard from our friends here that you’re quite accomplished at wrestling these beasts.”
“Only because the earthquake helped me. And Wiggea… He shot it down, so it tumbled off the cliff.”
“Then why not try taking a shot at this one and see what happens?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Faso said. “It will eat us for breakfast. No, it’s time to devise a plan. I’m not sure if you noticed, but I was observing as you fought the other panther, Pontopa. It has a battery hatch on its rear, just where, well you know what should normally be there.”
“I noticed,” I said, my arms folded. “Problem is that whenever we get close, it makes sure we stay in front of it.”
“Which is exactly why one of us should distract it while another sneaks around the back.”
“But as soon as a second person gets anywhere near its rear, it will turn on them and rip them to shreds,”
“I didn’t say someone.” Faso smirked and looked at the automaton sitting on his shoulder. “I made some modifications to Ratter overnight, and I changed his programming a little bit. He now knows how to disable these things.”
Well, it seemed a good idea, I have to admit. Those panthers were probably much less likely to worry about a rat approaching them from behind than a human. “So who’s going to fight it?” I said. And I looked at Faso, then Wiggea.
“I’ll do it Maam,” Wiggea said. Trust him to volunteer first.
“Not a chance,” Faso said. “Lieutenant Wiggea, you are by far the best shot here, and we’ll need that in case anything goes wrong. Pontopa already has the experience. Plus, I think it’s a given that you need me back here to operate the automaton.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Faso, who put you in charge all of a sudden?”
“I’m not giving orders. I’m just merely stating what would be good for everyone involved.”
“Well, let me make the calls,” I said. And I looked over at the panther. It had turned its head in our direction and glared at us with its red crystalline eyes. Probably, it would let us in without harm, and in one way we didn’t need to fight it. But to go into the fray unarmed seemed as crazy as trying to bring down a Mammoth automaton with my bare hands. Especially given we didn’t know what Colas would throw at us next.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll distract the automaton, while Wiggea, you keep an eye on it through your sights and fire on it if you see a clear shot. And Faso, you stand back twiddling your thumbs while you watch Ratter doing his stuff.”
“Glad to you’re seeing sense, Pontopa,” Faso said and gave a cocky grin.
I huffed and turned away from him. “Is Ratter ready? Because the sooner the better.”
“Ready as can be,” Faso said. “So let’s get on with it then.”
I swallowed hard and then drew the knives from my garters. I think I had better chance of beating it with blades than I had with my pistol. Bullets would probably just glance of the thing, and at least I could do things like jam a knife in its jaw to stop it tearing me to pieces with its teeth.
“On three,” Faso said.
I glared daggers at Faso, lifted the robe off me and dropped it on the floor. I took a swig from my hip flask causing the world to glow in speckled green, and then I charged forwards. As I said, I didn’t want Faso to start thinking he was in control all of a sudden.
The panther raised itself on its haunches and it turned its slender body to face me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Wiggea already had his rifle prepared and was watching the panther down the sights. Faso was crouched down on the floor, setting Ratter in place.
Meanwhile, the big cat automaton stalked forward and bared its sharp teeth, pulling back its mechanical mouth in a hauntingly realistic sneer. Its eyes glowed green in my augmented vision, and more green light emanated from its neck, head and legs as its internal mechanism pumped secicao to the essential parts.
“Come and get me, you bastard,” I said. “I killed your brother.”
And I sprinted forwards and then lunged in with one my knives. I hit the automaton on the head with the haft, a heavy blow that glanced off the creature, causing a pain to lance in my arm, all the way from my elbow to my hand. It growled and then raised its claws at me, and I rolled out of the way. This automaton didn’t seem to have any qualms against taking my life.
I broke out of the roll early and pivoted around on my heel to face the beast. It had already entered into a crouch, ready to pounce upon its prey. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something small approaching fast, but I didn’t turn to look at it. If anything, I didn’t want to alert the cat that it had another adversary to deal with. But at the same time, Ratter wouldn’t be able to work on a moving target. I had to somehow hold the panther still.
So, I let the mechanical cat leap forward, and this time I didn’t try to pivot out of the way. Instead, I watched its front legs, so I could catch them with ease. Meanwhile, I braced myself, ready to take the impact, and I fell back under the panther’s weight and let it flatten me to the floor.
Its legs felt cold and I pulled my head out of the way as its jaws snapped in towards me. “Hurry up, Ratter,” I thought. Then I watched in horror, as a spire came out of the automaton’s mouth like a drill through a wall. From it, a small glowing ball started to grow, with lightning flashing out towards the circumference.
“Dragonheats,” I said, and I flattened my head sideways on the ground. On one cheek I felt the hairs on my face getting pulled towards the static, w
hile on the other the rock scraped sharply at my skin. I had no idea what the sphere would do to me. Maybe it would knock me unconscious. Or maybe it would melt my face or tear off my skin.
I turned my head to try and see where Ratter was, but I couldn’t see anything behind the glowing blue light, which was getting intensely hot. I heard a bang then, and my mind automatically caused time to constrict. A bullet buried itself into the cheek of the automaton in slow motion, and I saw a green spark at the impact point. But it then squashed into a lead ball and bounced off onto the floor.
Dragonheats, these things were bulletproof. The previous panther had been knocked off the cliff due to the earthquake and the bullet’s momentum. But there was no chance of that happening here.
The ball of energy had reached my eyebrows now, resulting in a burning sensation that made me want to open my mouth and scream. I struggled to push the thing off me. Ratter wouldn’t get here in time and this whole plan had been a massively stupid idea. I shouldn’t have listened to Faso.
And so I closed my eyes and prepared myself to enter the next world.
But all of a sudden, the crackling static sound died down, and I found myself a little lightheaded. The mechanical grasp that the automaton had on my shoulder went limp, and I dared to open my eyes.
The glowing ball had faded. And I saw spots in my eyes where I’d just been gazing into the intense light. I pushed the automaton off me, and I lifted myself up into a sitting position. My head started spinning and I leaned over toward the ground to retch. It took me a while to come to my senses, and then I glanced up to see Ratter sitting there like an obedient puppy. A long oblong battery rested just next to him. Next, I heard Faso’s laughter from above me, where he stood pointing down at my face.
“Faso, you buffoon! That thing almost killed me.”
“Oh, Pontopa. I had it under control. I’d made the calculations, and everything worked exactly as planned.”
“And if you’d have made an error in your calculations, what then?”
Faso scoffed. “I never make mistakes. You should know that by now. It’s other people’s imbecilic nature that tends to get in my way.”
“You know, why don’t you get off your high horse and treat people like human beings once in a while.”
“I treat people like they’ve always treated me,” Faso said and he gazed off into space a moment.
Wiggea had just come over to join us. He looked down at me. “Are you okay, Maam? I let off a shot, but it didn’t do any good.”
I nodded. “You did well, Wiggea.”
“Thank you,” he looked over at the hut. “Well I guess now the coast is clear. We should probably get going before we have any more holdups.”
I nodded. Behind me, the tribespeople and tribal chief stood back, gazing at us in awe as if we’d just performed some divine magic by disabling a panther automaton for the second time. The three elders stood with them, their foreheads wrinkled and their expressions calm.
I walked over to them, and I addressed the tribal chief first. “Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”
“Hoooiiieee,” the tribal chief said. And he performed a backflip, almost kicking me in the chin. I took a step backwards.
“It okay,” the chief said. “You strong woman. We respect.”
He looked at the guides who all murmured their agreements. They then stepped back to make way for the three elders who fanned out in a line, their heads bowed as if in deference. “Dragonseer,” the anthropologist said. “You serve Gerhaun and you embody everything that’s good about this world. Don’t let Finesia or secicao corrupt you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You believe in those things?”
“Of course,” the biologist replied. “Just because we don’t understand something yet, doesn’t mean we can’t make guesses based on the knowledge we have.”
And I turned to Faso, expecting him to object to this in his usual characteristic way. But this time he simply nodded along. He looked as though he had something to add, so I let him speak.
“I’ll think about what you said. You’re right, there are things we don’t understand, and I know nothing of my ancestry. But you have to understand, I’ll need to verify the facts myself.”
“When we meet again,” the biologist said. “I can give you access to the data. And the sources, of course.”
“Very well,” Faso said. “I’ll look forward to it.”
The sun had now started to rise behind the cliff, and so Wiggea motioned us towards the hut. “Maam, we should really get in there.”
“Yes, yes,” I said. And I bowed again to the three elders, then to the tribal chief. I turned on my heel, walked over to pick up my knives off the floor where I’d dropped them by the panther, dusted off the dirt I’d gained on my clothes during the little tousle, and led the way towards the small hut at the top of the volcano.
18
There was no way you’d even suspect that the hut concealed a hidden base. It looked rickety up close – made of rotten wood, giving it the appearance that it was falling apart. Still, there were no gaps between the wooden beams, and closer inspection revealed them to be sealed by a black resinous substance.
A single wooden door led inside the hut, with a brass padlock over a bolt. Another grey cloud had now passed over us, covering the land in a fog so thick that we couldn’t see the tribespeople and academics we’d left standing only several hundred yards away.
The padlock clicked open suprisingly as I touched it without the need for a key. Once again, a voice crackled from the air. Colas’ voice came from no determinate location. “Now, now, Dragonseer. That’s two of my glorious automatons you’ve taken down. Have you any idea how expensive those things are? I’m afraid you shall have to pay for them, but don’t worry, I have a perfect way for you to cover the costs.”
I wasn’t sure if Colas would be able to hear me, but I figured now being so close to his base, he’d have something set up to listen to us. “We’re coming for you, Colas,” I said. “You will hand over the boy, and then you will answer for your crimes.”
“Oh, and I’ve been looking forward to this moment so much. I even considered baking a cake, but then I realised I hadn’t asked you about your dietary preferences.”
“This is no time for joking.”
“Indeed it isn’t, Dragonseer Wells, come on in. And, you can leave your weapons on the floor outside.”
Hah, there was fat chance of that. I pushed the door. It was heavier than it looked and creaked loudly as it opened to reveal a darkened room. On the wall opposite, a brass door stood closed, with cogs arranged around it in an intricate pattern. On the ceiling, a row of fluorescent lights kept turning on and then sputtering out again. But they remained lit long enough to reveal the way.
“Wait here, Maam,” Wiggea said. And he stepped inside first.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Lieutenant Wiggea.” This time the voice came from a loudspeaker hanging above the brass door at the opposite end of the room. The voice had lost its robotic quality and now sounded like a frail old man. I guessed that Colas had no gullible tribespeople in here that he wanted to convert to his cause, and so he had no reason to masquerade as a god. “I won’t open the door until the three of you have entered. You need to go through some vetting.”
I turned to Faso. “Do you think we can trust him?”
“Does it look like we have a choice,” Faso replied. And he tapped Ratter on the back several times. Apparently, there was a pattern to the way he tapped the automaton that told the mechanical ferret exactly what he wanted it to do.
Faso stepped inside. I shrugged then followed him, crossed my arms, and waited. For some reason, it felt incredibly hot in here, and I noticed a faint pattern of red light playing on the ceiling just above the side walls.
The cogs in front of us whirred into action, startling me, and the door opened just a crack. I half expected to see another panther automaton waiting for us on the other side with a great white b
all of bolt-lightning growing out of its mouth. But instead, I saw only darkness.
From either side of us came a high-pitched whirring sound. I felt a tug on my garters, my hip and my back. Before I could even react, the weapons flew off me. The pistol and the knives left their holster and sheaths and stuck to the side walls. Faso’s and Wiggea’s pistols did the same thing. Meanwhile, my rifle pulled me towards the wall for a moment and I stumbled sideways. Ratter also seemed affected, but instead of being drawn to the wall, he started moving forwards incredibly slowly.
“Magnets,” Faso said. “Colas, you…”
The pull stopped, and the weapons dropped into a hole in the floor just below the side walls. I ran to the edge of the room and saw that the gaps dropped down into a pool of lava. So that was where the heat was coming from.
“I guess you can keep your rifles,” Colas said through the loudspeaker. “You won’t be able to use them anyway. Oh, and Faso, I see that your automaton is non-magnetic. Very clever, I must say.”
“I’m not stupid enough to fall for your traps, old man,” Faso replied.
“Of course not. But let’s see how you fare against everything else I’ve built in this base. One measly mechanical ferret can’t defeat the world’s greatest technology.”
“Ratter is the world’s greatest technology. There’s never been an automaton like him.”
A chuckle came from the speakers. “Haven’t you seen my panthers, Mr Gordoni? I have you know that when you start to combine technology with Finesia’s magic, you can create powerful things, indeed. You should try opening your mind sometimes. You’d achieve far much more that way.”
The speakers cut out and the door in front opened. A line of floor lights turned on, displaying a short straight corridor leading ahead. At the back of this was a similar brass door. I looked behind me considering turning around, but I doubted we’d find another way in.
Dragonseers and Airships Page 49
