by Steven Bohls
“Yes,” Jed said quickly, before they had a chance to fire again. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. We’re not humans. We’re like you.”
The gold woman squinted at Jed. “Why are you wearing that human suit?” she asked. “We thought you were one of them.”
“Human suits are terribly comfortable,” Shay said, pinching the skin on her arm. “So squishy and soft. Like a snuggly little blanket.”
“We didn’t grow up here,” Jed added. “I lived my whole life somewhere else. With humans.”
“But how?” the short one asked.
“They’re roguespawn,” the woman whispered.
Shay folded her arms angrily. “That doesn’t sound very nice.”
“Roguespawn?” Jed asked. “What’s roguespawn?”
“Who’s your tinkerer?” the middle one asked.
“I don’t know what that means,” Jed said.
“Who put you both together?”
Jed swallowed hard. Oh. That’s what they meant by roguespawn.
Lyle, the rogue gold.
“A very mean mouse,” Shay said.
“His name,” Jed began, hesitation thick in his tone, “is Lyle.” The three nodded and whispered conspiratorially to one another softly enough that Jed couldn’t hear. “But we’re nothing like him,” Jed continued. “He captured me, and I escaped from him.”
“What about her?”
Shay considered herself. “I’m questionable,” she said.
The three huddled together and chattered. After a moment, they faced him again. “We have determined,” the short one said confidently, “that we don’t know what to do with you.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Okay?” Jed said.
“You are quite possibly a danger,” the one on the left said. “So, we will take you to the queen. Immediately. She will know what to do with you.”
“After lunch,” the shortest one whispered to him.
“After lunch,” the one on the left amended. He lifted his shatterkeg up, resting its bulk on his shoulder. It fired inadvertently, blasting him forward.
“Yes!” Shay shrieked. “I do love lunch.”
Jed looked up at the artificial sky. Lunch? It was nighttime outside of the dome, but it looked like midday under the golden sky. He wondered if the golds beneath the junk ever knew when it was day or night.
He turned back to the golds. “Calliope, right?” Jed asked. “Is she still your queen?”
“How do you know Calliope?” the one on the right asked, raising her shatterkeg threateningly.
“I saw some of Lyle’s memories. I saw what the humans did to you. I’m here to help. Or, ask for your help against Lyle.”
“I’m afraid this conversation is over,” the one in the middle said. “At least until we’ve eaten lunch.”
“Shelpin’s making kebabs in the town square again,” the one on the right said.
“Ooo, I love her kebabs.”
“Best kebabs in the city,” the one on the left said.
“What do you think she uses to season her mushrooms?” the one in the middle asked, turning around and walking toward the town square.
“I bet garlic powder, onion, and black pepper,” the left one said, following him, “but you know Shelpin. She never tells.”
The three soldiers completely forgot about Jed and Shay as they walked off, shatterkegs slung casually over their shoulders. When they’d traveled a few dozen paces, the one in the middle spun around, frantic. “The prisoners!” he shouted. “They’ve escaped! Where did they—” His eyes stopped on Jed and his tense shoulders relaxed. “Tricky little roguespawn. Trying to distract us. Tempting us with delicious kebabs.”
“Seriously?” Jed said. “I’m pretty sure you tempted yourself.”
“One more word out of you,” the soldier said, “and you won’t be getting a third helping! Do I make myself clear?” The short gold put on his best stern face.
“Crystal clear,” Jed said.
The gold nodded curtly. “Then follow behind, prisoners. Or are prisoners supposed to go first?”
“How about we walk beside you?” Shay suggested.
The three soldiers considered it and then nodded.
“I’m Hift, by the way,” the shortest said.
“Taskon,” the one on the left said, waving.
“And I’m Murjen,” the tall woman said.
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Shay said. “I’m Shay. He’s Jed. Now let’s go eat!”
They followed a cobblestone road that weaved through apple orchards, small garden plots of vegetables, and two ponds bustling with orange, red, and violet fish.
The road led into a small collection of cottages. The scent of cooking wafted from everywhere. Meats, breads, and vegetables. Jed’s stomach tickled with delight, and he tried to remind himself that his mission here was critical. But the smell of food…he had never felt more gold.
“Is there a celebration going on?” he asked.
“Yep,” Taskon said. “Lunch.”
The townspeople began emerging from their cottages with carefully packaged dishes in small baskets.
“Everyone eats lunch together?” Jed asked.
Murjen nodded. “Of course. Otherwise we’d have to go door to door to sample the new recipes. That would be ridiculous.” They all chuckled.
“You mean you eat all the meals together?”
“Doesn’t everybody?” Hift said.
“I like this place,” Shay whispered to Jed.
One of the golds carrying a basket of freshly baked rolls turned and saw Jed and Shay. She shrieked, tossing the basket into the air. Rolls tumbled to the ground. “Humans!”
Hift held up his hand. “It’s all right, everyone. We’ve got things under control.” He put his fists on his hips and puffed out his chest proudly. “These prisoners won’t be any trouble.” He turned to Jed and Shay. “Will you?”
He said the last words with a bit of worry in his tone.
“We’re good mice,” Shay said.
The townspeople stared at them.
“Hi. I’m also not a human,” Jed said. “Just raised by them. Lived with them. Thought I was one until recently. You know, typical childhood stuff.”
“I’m hungry!” Shay said.
One by one, the townspeople began attending their dishes again. They continued, however, to glance at the prisoners with worried looks, as if one of them might suddenly attack.
“Don’t worry, we’re taking him to the queen,” Murjen added.
“But not until after lunch, right?” one of the townspeople spoke up. “Shelpin’s cooking kebabs again!”
“Of course, not until after lunch,” Murjen said.
Hift marched them to a woman working at a portable grill. “Shelpin,” he said, “this is Jed and Shay. Our roguespawn prisoners.” Hift stood up straighter and puffed out his chest in pride.
“Oh, how exciting,” Shelpin said, skewering some pieces of meat, peppers, and mushrooms. “How do you do, roguespawns?” she asked.
“Radiantly,” Shay said, extending her hand.
Shelpin shook it and then shook Jed’s. “I’m Shelpin. Care for a kebab?” She lifted one of the cooked skewers from the grill. Delicate black char lines streaked the meat and vegetables.
Jed took the skewer and bit off one of the mushrooms. “These are incredible,” he said to her. She smiled proudly. Jed thought for a moment. “Let’s see. I’m guessing you used thyme, lemon zest, sage, and…is that a hint of porcini sea salt?”
Shelpin’s mouth dropped open. “How did you—”
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Jed said. “Just perfect.”
Shelpin huffed, turning to Hift. “I don’t like your roguespawn anymore.”
Taskon patted Jed on the back. “Well done, roguespawn! Well done.”
A bell echoed through the town square.
“Lunchtime!” Hift said, rubbing his hands in delighted anticipat
ion.
Hundreds of golds gathered in the square, empty plates at the ready. They wandered from stove to stove, dishing up vegetables, potatoes, pastas, cheeses, breads, and meats.
Hift gave Jed and Shay each an oversize plate. “For our new guests,” he said.
“You mean prisoners?” Jed asked.
Hift’s brow scrunched together. “Oh, right.” He snatched the oversize plates from them and gave them regular plates instead. “There. Now, no escaping. Or doing other things you shouldn’t be doing.”
“Like making faces like this?” Shay asked, sticking out her tongue and squinching her face into a wrinkled knot.
Hift nodded. “Exactly.”
For the next hour, everyone in the town square stuffed themselves with jelly-covered pastries, meats with gravy, and fruits with sweet cream. Jed picked at the food anxiously, waiting for lunch to end.
Finally, he approached Hift. “Shouldn’t you be taking us to the queen?” Jed asked. “We really need to speak with her.”
“But lunch isn’t over yet,” Hift said, confused.
“How long does lunch last?”
Hift looked around in surprise. “Until all the food is gone, of course.”
The food wasn’t even close to gone.
“We really need to see the queen. Can’t you just take us there and come back?”
Hift sighed. “Prisoners are more work than I thought they’d be,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes at Jed. “Fine. Get your roguespawn accomplice and follow me.”
• • •
The “palace” turned out to be no more than another cottage with a signpost in the grass that read: PALACE.
“Why isn’t Queen Calliope with the rest of the town for lunch?” Jed asked.
“She only comes out every third lunch. Apparently, she’s too busy,” Hift said.
“Sounds like a terrible job to me,” Murjen piped up. “Remind me never to be queen.”
Hift and Takson nodded in agreement. Jed stifled the urge to push them forward.
The five of them walked to the door, and Hift knocked.
“Come in,” a gentle voice called.
The group entered the cottage. Books, papers, files, scrolls, and folders lined the walls. Floor to ceiling. Corner to corner. The home was one giant bookshelf. A woman sat in a comfortable-looking chair in the corner of the room. Jed immediately recognized her from Lyle’s memories. Seeing her through his own eyes, though, he marveled—the same way Lyle had—at her intricate gearwork. The machinery was so fine that it even dimpled as she moved, the very way skin did.
Queen Calliope set a large tome on the coffee table beside her chair and stood. Her gaze traveled from Jed over to Shay, and then to the three guards. “What are humans doing here, Sergeant Hift?”
Hift quickly pointed to Jed’s burned shoulder. “They are not humans,” he said. “They only look like them because they’re wearing their skins.”
An uncomfortable thought suddenly prickled Jed’s mind. Where had he gotten his skin?
“Who are you?” Calliope asked Jed and Shay.
“We escaped from Lyle,” Jed said.
She studied him, scanning his face. “You’re him,” she said. “The one that Lyle worked on for so many years. I can see it in your bones.”
Jed nodded uncomfortably.
“Are you really a queen?” Shay broke in excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to meet a queen.”
Calliope nodded slowly, then her eyes filled with pity. “Yes, I am. And you must be Lyle’s other. Yes?”
“Shay,” she introduced herself confidently.
Calliope assessed her. “You recovered quite nicely after Lyle’s experiments.”
Shay looked as if she didn’t quite know how to respond.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Calliope said, gliding forward and resting a hand on Shay’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean anything by that. You seem like a lovely girl. Truly.”
Shay’s face brightened again with a smile. “I’m quite lovely,” Shay agreed.
“Why have you both come?” the queen asked, directing the question at them both but glancing at Jed as she asked it.
“We need your help,” Jed said. “Lyle is destroying sky cities. He’s waging war against the humans with his dread army.”
Calliope shook her head. “We came here to escape war. We can’t help you. Our people aren’t built for conflict,” she said. She glanced at the three guards, who were surreptitiously rubbing their stomachs and whispering about the food they were upset they weren’t eating.
“Taskon, Hift, and Murjen are among the best soldiers we have,” the queen concluded. She turned to them, sudden apology in her eyes. “I mean that in the kindest way possible.
“It’s why we were slaughtered all those years ago,” she continued. “Most of these golds don’t even know of the dangers out there. I only do because I’ve lived through them. We are a peaceful people. We cook, we paint, and we invent. Others take advantage of that. They steal from us and kill what’s left. We can’t help you. We wouldn’t be of any use. Besides, even if we could help, I would still refuse. I want no part in the world above the junk. We do not belong there.”
“But he’s killing the humans. Destroying entire cities,” Jed said, trying to make her understand the urgency of the situation.
“The more humans he kills, the fewer humans there are to kill and steal from us.”
“Do you think he will really stop once he’s done with the humans? I’ve been inside his memories. He blames you for everything bad that’s happened to him. He wants revenge.”
“What are you really asking for?” Calliope asked. “You’ve clearly seen our military ineptitude.”
“Lawnmower Mountain,” Jed said. “Does it still work?”
Calliope’s face darkened. “It’s never really worked. Not for more than three hundred hours.”
“Tash,” Jed said. “Right? Lyle said that Tash’s design would only work for two to four weeks.”
Calliope nodded slowly. “Lyle was unfortunately right. Tash activated the mountain long enough to help us escape and to dig our new home here, where no one would find us again. The mountain died soon after. And it seems our goal of staying hidden has also failed. You did find us.”
“I saw Lyle’s memories. I was built to activate the mountain.”
Calliope shook her head. “That man tried to use you to make that mountain work for many years, and he never succeeded. And then…something terrible happened to Lyle. Perhaps it was his obsession, but I believe it was something more.”
“The last experiment,” Jed said. “When he plugged himself into the mountain?”
Calliope nodded. “It broke him somehow…turned him into a monster.”
“I’m not Lyle,” Jed said. “Please, let me try.”
“No,” she answered.
“What do you have to lose?”
“You mean, besides our entire civilization?”
“What about the fail-safe?” Jed begged. “It will protect you.”
“What fail-safe?”
“The fail-safe that destroys the mountain,” Jed said. “In case someone does something with the mountain and you need to stop them. You can activate the lawn mowers, and the mountain will wreck itself.”
“But you could still destroy us,” she said, shaking her head. “No. I think it is better to lock you up instead.”
“What? Are you kidding me?” Jed demanded.
“Jokes are not one of my strengths,” she said. “And don’t try to use your sparks. We have dampeners placed throughout the city to protect us against Lyle and his weapons.”
“I’m not a weapon,” Jed said. “I’m a gold. Like you. And you’re going to lock me up?”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. It is the best course of action. I must keep my people safe.”
“Taskon, Hift, and Murjen?” the queen said, turning to the three soldiers. “Please escort these two to the dungeon in Ricklebottom’s cellar.”
>
“Don’t do this,” Jed begged. “I need your help. The humans need your help. The whole world needs your help.”
“We can do nothing,” the queen said with finality. She nodded at the guards, wordlessly ordering them to take Jed away.
“You heard the queen,” Hift said, popping to attention. “Orders are orders.”
Jed looked at the three guards. He and Shay could resist them—it wouldn’t even be hard—but it didn’t matter. With the dampeners, this place was a prison. Besides, they needed Lawnmower Mountain. Bog was counting on them to get to it. Lyle’s fleet would soon be attacking more innocent townships, so Jed would just have to stay here until he had it.
Hift prodded them out of the palace. “Let’s get you both to the dungeon, yes?” he said.
“What about lunch?” Jed asked. “You don’t want to miss the end, do you? You didn’t even get to try everything, and there was so much food left.”
Murjen leaned in to her compatriots. “He’s got a solid point,” she murmured.
“What’s the harm in waiting until after lunch to imprison them?” Taskon asked.
“Very true,” Hift said. “Lunch it is!”
The three guards turned around and scrambled toward the town square, leaving Shay and Jed unguarded, forgotten, and alone. Again.
Shay turned to follow, licking her lips in anticipation. Jed grabbed her arm. She turned and frowned at him, taking a moment to catch on. “We’re not going back for food, are we?” she said with a pout.
“Nope. Sorry.”
“Not even a teensy squeak of a nibble?” she asked, hopefully.
“I can’t activate my sparks,” Jed said. “That means I can’t fly. I’m stuck here until I can find a way to get the dampeners off-line. You need to fly out of the dome and get back to the tug. Tell them I’m still working on activating the mountain.”
Shay rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “But can I at least take a kebab?”
Jed
Once Shay was gone, Jed headed back into the town square to gather his “guards.”
He tapped Hift on the shoulder. The short man had a kebab nearly to his open mouth. He paused and sighed as he noticed Jed.
“Right…” he mumbled. “Prison, yes?”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Jed said with a nod.
