The Witch's City

by M. Gregg Roe

  Petra stood up and did some stretches. The skirt of her dress could be a liability, so she used a sharp corner of the empty cube to rip it on both sides, pulling on the fabric until the front and back of her skirt were hanging loosely from just below her waist. After drinking a little more water, she curled up on the floor just behind the three cubes.

  The next time that door opens I am running out through it no matter what is waiting outside. I will not be collected.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When Petra awoke in what she thought was the morning, she didn’t feel rested. It hadn’t been particularly cold overnight, but the metal floor with its bumps was far from comfortable. Unable to postpone things any longer, she had no choice but to use the empty cube for its intended purpose. That made her cell even more unpleasant.

  To prepare for her escape attempt, she ate the remainder of her food and drank more water. The metal creatures were slow enough that she felt she had a good chance of evading them. The real question was whether or not the door to the outside would still be open. She had little chance of escape if it wasn’t.

  Petra tried to be patient as she waited. She didn’t hear anything from outside her cell, but she did occasionally hear what sounded like someone walking heavily on the metal ceiling above her.

  The waiting continued. She had assumed that they would bring her more food and water in the morning, but that didn’t seem to be happening. Or maybe it was still the middle of the night. As more time passed, she feared that at any moment the metal structure might take off again, suspecting that it had only stopped because it had run out of energy and needed to recharge.

  Finally, after yet more waiting, she heard the sounds of the metal creatures walking outside her cell followed by three loud thuds that she could feel through the floor. Three more boxes, she thought. This is it!

  Petra flattened herself against the wall to the side where the door would open. She dove through as soon as the gap was large enough, thankful for once for her small size. A quick glance showed a large open area perhaps ten yards square. Opposite her was another room like hers with its door closed. There were glowing, pyramid-shaped structures in the corner to her left and across to her right. In front of her cell were three more boxes and one of the hammer creatures. Two more were several yards behind it facing her. And to her left was an opening with a rusty metal ramp that led outside. Bright sunshine illuminated thick grass and broken trees.

  Darting left, Petra put the boxes between herself and the closest creature. By the time she reached the opening, she was yards ahead and gaining. The corrugations on the ramp nearly tripped her and the sunlight threatened to blind her, but she made it to the bottom and headed straight for the dense trees some forty yards ahead. She was forced to detour around several tree stumps and clamber over one fallen trunk, scraping her arms and legs in the process. The clearing she was in was artificial. It looked to her like the trees had simply been ripped apart or pulled out of the ground. She glanced back and saw the Collector on top of what looked more like a metal building than something that could fly.

  Entering the woods brought relief from the bright sunshine, but she soon had to contend with thick undergrowth, greatly slowing her progress. Brambles tore her dress and skin as she forced her way through. Her last glance had shown that she was heading directly for a hill, so she began to move more to the right to try to avoid it. The noises behind her indicated that she was being pursued, but she suspected that the metal creatures were having even more difficulty than she was. They were large enough that they wouldn’t be able to squeeze through some of the gaps between the trees. On the other hand, they were strong and powered by magic that might not be easily exhausted. And they didn’t have to worry about injuries or bleeding to death.

  A long thorn nearly ripped off the right sleeve of her dress as she forced herself through a dense bush. The tearing and crashing noises behind her weren’t getting any louder, but she could now hear noises from her right as well. Suddenly, she emerged into an area with sparser trees and a stream. She moved toward it but then stopped in horror as a huge biped pushed through the trees on the other side. At least four yards tall and two wide, his thick arms and legs rippled with muscle. His skin was a dull copper color, and his only clothing was a long yellow loincloth. In his right hand, he held a huge wooden club studded with vicious-looking iron spikes. Petra’s heart felt like it was going to explode as she cowered before it gasping for breath and frozen in place.

  “Here!”

  The deep voice reverberated through the woods and Petra swore she could hear birds and animals fleeing. He stepped forward and reached for her with his left hand. She heard a loud crash behind her and the giant—for that is what he certainly was—hesitated briefly. Petra saw her chance and took it. She ducked under the giant’s arm and dove between his legs. She turned and concentrated with all her might, trying to push the back of the giant’s right knee. And it worked! The giant’s right leg gave way and he began to fall backward.

  The pain in Petra’s head was blinding as she ran into the thick woods. Branches and thorns scraped her skin raw and tore her clothing as she struggled her way uphill. She came upon a low area filled with a jumble of large stones and ragged vegetation and managed to squeeze herself through a narrow gap into a hole that was barely large enough for her.

  Petra laid on her left side and tried to calm her rapid breathing and pounding heart. Her arms and legs were scraped and bloody. Her dress was in tatters. She had a deep scrape along her right side and another on her left breast. But her real concern was the blood that seemed to be pouring out of her nose and ears. Using her power like that had hurt severely. It felt like she had actually broken something inside her head. She used her left hand to clamp her nostrils shut and her right to apply pressure to her right ear. She prayed that the bleeding would stop before she bled to death. She willed it to stop, not knowing if that was even possible.

  She heard what sounded like the giant but it simply passed by. As the noise of his passage faded, she began to feel like she might actually be safe. The bleeding was slowing and the pain in her head was beginning to recede. She seemed to have found a good hiding place, but she was far from being reassured.

  What was I thinking? No one is ever going to find me here. We flew hours to get here, probably covering tens of miles. Even if they do stop searching for me, I have no idea of which way to go. Well, that’s not totally true. If I’m in either the Northern Hills or the Hills of Andoran, then south would work. I’ll bet it’s the Northern Hills. There’s actually a place there called Giantown. I should head southwest, but how am I going to survive? I have no idea of what’s edible. My clothes are a wreck and my shoes are starting to fall apart. Maybe I should just go back and surrender. At least that way I’d be alive. Unless the Collector is planning to dissect me or something. Maybe that’s not such a good idea after all.

  Petra was still trying to decide what to do when she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Petra felt insects running across her body and it reminded her of home—not Rohoville or the Witch’s City, but the cavern where she had been born and spent most of her life. Tears came to her eyes as she found herself wishing that she had never left the others. She would never see them again, or any of the people that she had gotten to know in the outside world. She was going to die alone.

  She opened her eyes and thought that the sunlight leaking into her hiding place seemed dimmer, but she didn’t know if was later the same day or the following morning. It did feel like she had slept for a long time. Beetles of a type she wasn’t familiar with—about an inch long with metallic green shells—were crawling on her and picking at the dried blood. She left them alone for the moment and simply listened. She briefly heard birdsong before a loud splintering sound told her that she was still being hunted.

  Petra decided that she would simply surrender. She was sore, stiff, and thirsty, but the pain in her head was gone. After sl
owly flexing her arms and legs to loosen them up, she focused her power on one of the beetles and was pleased when it promptly lifted into the air with its legs waving wildly. She set it off gently to the side and began to work her way back outside, trying not to crush any of the beetles. She had to go backward since there wasn’t room to turn around.

  Halfway out, what was left of her clothing snagged. She used her arms to press herself backward, wincing as the fabric tore. Several of her wounds had reopened and she could feel warm blood running down her left leg. Petra finally forced herself back out of the gap she had originally climbed through and was so exhausted that she just sat on the ground with her legs crossed in front of her. She looked around and saw that it was now overcast, but was almost certainly morning. For several minutes, she simply sat and tried to decide what to do. It was her parched throat that finally made the decision for her. She would head downhill to the stream, and if she was noticed, she would simply surrender.

  Petra made her way cautiously down the hill, noticing several trees with branches that had been damaged or ripped off. She had to be careful because the sole of her right shoe was starting to come off. There were occasional crashing noises, but they sounded distant. She reached the bottom of the hill and soon found the stream. Squatting next to it, she used both hands to scoop up water and bring it to her mouth. It tasted wonderful.

  Suddenly hearing a noise behind her, she turned around and rose to her feet. A creature made from metal was approaching, but it was different from the others both in size and shape. It stood little over a yard high, and, with one exception, it was all shiny metal spheres. The largest sphere was the body, with a smaller sphere above in imitation of a head, although it was completely featureless. The legs were a string of five small spheres ending in a half-sphere “foot”. The arms were similar, except that they were only three spheres long and the last sphere had a long blade protruding from it. It moved with an odd twisting motion but kept both blades pointed directly at her.

  “I give up,” said Petra as she spread her arms.

  It suddenly twisted and lunged. Petra gasped with pain as its right blade pierced her left thigh. She jerked backward and twisted to her right, barely avoiding the second blade. It’s trying to kill me! She scrambled wildly across the stream, desperate to escape. Surrender was now out of the question. Her only hope was to flee.

  Several yards past the stream she glanced back and was startled to see the creature just standing at the edge of the stream. It’s afraid of the water! She turned right and ran parallel to the stream. She heard splashing and looked back to see it slowly crossing the stream. She promptly splashed across to the other side and then stopped to watch the creature. It went to the edge of the stream and hesitated for a long moment before slowly and gingerly crossing it.

  Just like before. It doesn’t learn. I just have to keep crossing and it will fall farther behind. I can do this!

  It was nearly fifty yards behind when her plan began to go very wrong. The giant emerged from the trees and went straight to the stream. He strode directly toward her, walking along the stream bed and ignoring the metal creature that was once again hesitating at the edge of the water. His grin exposed crooked yellow teeth as he raised his spiked club high. With all hope gone, Petra collapsed to the ground next to the stream and waited to die.

  “Get up and run!”

  The voice came from directly above her. It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She wanted to obey, but simply couldn’t. Her body wouldn’t respond. She could barely raise her head to search for the source of the voice. I think I’m delirious. Maybe I’m already dead. The air above her was empty and the metal creature was now on her side of the stream moving rapidly toward her, actually gaining ground on the giant.

  “Flare Lance!”

  An orange flash lit the area and the giant screamed in pain and stopped. A figure clad in black suddenly appeared between her and the metal creature and engaged it with a slim sword.

  Hankin! It’s Hankin. And that last voice casting the spell was Branwyn! I’m saved! But a crashing noise to her left revealed another of the large hammer-armed creatures heading straight toward her, and she realized that she was far from saved.

  49

  ‡ Constructs ‡

  In response to Hankin’s question, Audrey looked at the tracker in her right hand and then used her quarterstaff to point the direction. After nodding his thanks, he began to drift upward. As he neared the treetops, he made a complicated gesture with his left hand, spoke a single word, and then vanished. He was going to fly ahead and scout for any sign of Petra.

  Flying sounded like a good idea to Audrey because going up the hill certainly wasn’t proving easy, especially while trying to hold both the tracker and her staff. The ground was steep in places and often uneven. Thick vegetation had to either be dealt with or detoured around. The sheer number of trees made it difficult to see very far and fallen trees provided yet another hazard. It was the direct route to Petra, but there was no knowing if she was on the hill or past it.

  Saxloc had cast Barkskin on her, a spell that made her skin more resistant to injury. He had also cast Strength spells on each of them as well as a spell known as “Blur” on himself that distorted the air around him, making it difficult to see exactly where he was. Audrey could feel her increased strength and was grateful that Saxloc hadn’t also flown off. She had expected Gabriel and Siljan to come with them, but now, with Hankin off scouting, it was just the three of them. The good news was that Branwyn looked fairly formidable, clad in chainmail and hefting a mace that looked quite heavy. The woman was obviously stronger than she appeared.

  When they finally reached the top of the hill, there was still no sign of Petra. Audrey motioned for the others to stop and checked the tracker. It showed Petra more to the right and moving even farther that way as she watched.

  “Ahem.” It was Hankin’s voice, seemingly coming from the air above them. “I spotted her. She’s following a stream at the base of this hill and she’s injured. There’s a small construct chasing her and I also spotted a hill giant. I’m going back to try to help her.”

  “Thank you, Hankin,” said Branwyn. “I will go as well.” She flashed the two of them a smile before saying, “Levitation!” and rising straight upwards.

  Audrey turned to Saxloc and said, “Don’t you dare fly off and leave me alone.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he replied seriously, “but let’s see how fast we can make it down the hill. Put the tracker away for now.”

  Audrey carefully place the tracker in her belt pouch and followed him. It seemed to be easier going downhill, or maybe Saxloc was just doing a good job of choosing their route. They were most of the way down when she heard a loud scream that didn’t sound human.

  “That was the giant, I think,” he said. “But we’ve got our own problem.”

  Audrey looked where Saxloc was now pointing and saw what looked like a large man wearing full plate armor heading their way holding both a large shield and a sword similar to Saxloc’s. She had a feeling that there was nothing inside the armor because of how it moved. It was probably another construct.

  Saxloc made for a small clearing which would give them more room for combat and Audrey swiftly followed. She took firm hold of her staff with both hands, steadied her breathing, and prepared to fight.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Hankin had been irritated when Petra simply stared upward in surprise and made no attempt to flee as he had told her, but he now realized that she was in worse shape than he thought, not just wounded, but physically exhausted. She simply wasn’t capable of moving at the moment and that meant that he had no choice but to put himself between her and the small construct that was chasing her.

  A rapier was turning out to be a terrible weapon to use against a creature made of metal. It was for stabbing, and Hankin was expert at finding gaps in an opponent’s armor and slipping his sword through. But his current opponent was just an ani
mated metal shell with nothing inside. All he had managed so far was to put some small dents in it, and his rapier would surely have broken if it hadn’t been enchanted.

  Hankin had a spell in mind that might harm the thing, but spell-casting was impossible at the moment. He had already been wounded twice by the construct’s rapid attacks. His left arm and right leg were both bleeding, and not just a little. He was rapidly getting weaker. Soon, even flying away wouldn’t be an option, because he simply wouldn’t have the strength.

  A sudden stab of the construct’s left blade cut Hankin’s right hand and now he risked blood causing him to lose his grip on his sword. He caught a glimpse of Branwyn marching straight toward the giant, clearly intending to use her mace on it. He wondered what she could possibly be thinking.

  Hankin saw an opening and stabbed the thing in what passed for its head, but all he did was dent it. And its return stroke hit him hard in his left side. His armor held, but the attack still hurt badly. He knew that he couldn’t last much longer. He stepped backward and nearly stumbled. It darted forward and stabbed him again in his right leg, causing him to fall onto his back. The pain was becoming overwhelming and everything looked blurry as he waved his rapier and struggled to get to his feet. He heard a loud scream and wondered if it was him.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Siljan groaned as her father lost his sword for the second time. The first time it had fallen right next to him and he had quickly recovered it. But this time it had flown yards away straight into a huge bush. She had no choice but to go after it and return it to him.

  Her father had a backup weapon that could also be hurled. If he had time before a melee, then he would pull it out and throw it before closing with the enemy. It was a spear, and he seemed oblivious to the fact that he had no real skill when it came to throwing it. But it was less dangerous to his companions than if he had tried to use a bow or crossbow.