The Longhouse
HE STOOD NAKED in the middle of the smoky longhouse, arms spread. The Birth Group called him 12 Moon. The Shaman and her two apprentices were busy painting mystical symbols on his body with brushes made from reeds. He knew that each symbol meant something.
The symbol ceremony seemed to last forever. The two apprentices began painting 12 Moon’s face into the shape of a black and white skull with cracked lips and an empty nose socket. He closed his eyelids while they spattered red and green around his eyes. There were other symbols: spirals, stars, leaves, shells. The bands of red around his upper arms and thighs gave his muscles strength. A nest of crude vipers trailed up from between his shoulder blades and around his neck. A panther’s paws on his bare feet. The array of signs and symbols all had a meaning. They made 12 Moon feel invincible.
The most important was what was on his chest; a giant golden eagle, wings spread. It was there to give his spirit power. The Shaman herself had painstakingly painted the bird’s glaring eyes, the individual feathers, and jagged claws, all in shades of gold. To finish the magical eagle off, she sprinkled it with sparkling powder from crushed mollusc shells. As she finished, the Shaman whispered, ‘I have given you something special.’
Finally, the Shaman poured red dye out of a clay pot into her palm and streaked a jagged handprint across 12 Moon’s forehead.
Now, as the symbol ceremony came to its conclusion, 12 Moon lowered his arms and opened his eyes. He could see the children of the Group above him, hanging on the rough-cut timbers that supported the arched roof of the longhouse. He could see his friends standing to one side, watching. Raven Boy, smaller than most. Quiet. Smart. Still, he was strong enough to work in the fields. Silk, her soft hands cracked and scarred from the most recent harvest. 12 Moon figured she would end up with the tall and skinny Long Strider, a loud, boisterous troublemaker.
12 Moon could also see his mother, O-Mah. Standing. Alone. Crying quietly. Her hands worrying her Twist Root until the ends had split. Her friends and two sisters had deserted her in this time of strife. 12 Moon would not forget that.
He could see the rest of the villagers, all crowded into the longhouse. All there for him. Along one side of the longhouse was an enormous fireplace built from rounded river rocks. Flames were roasting a pair of sheep that had been slaughtered that day, and mead was being prepared. On the walls hung animal skulls, evidence of victories past, along with decorative shields that had never been used in battle. Faded strands of the last of the fall flowers had been gathered and hung. Once he was gone, an all-night celebration would ensue, lasting until the early hours of the morning. Along with the feasting, enormous amounts of mead would flow. He would not be allowed to join the feast; he had something more important to do.
Finally, 12 Moon turned around. At the end of the longhouse, he could see the Group’s leader, Master Canis, sitting on his enormous and ornate wooden throne. The throne had been carved into elaborate mythical creature shapes; giant snakes with wings, snarling wolf heads along with their victims. Clad in white bear skins, the sixty-year-old Master Canis was heavy but strong. He had fought many young warriors in his day, always managing to best them. The scars across his face and bared arms spoke of these battles for the spot to be leader of the Group. Around his neck, Master Canis wore a thong with a metal symbol on it. There were three stripes that rose to create the peak of a triangle. Beneath these three stripes, three more lines hung in a curved shape. The leader of the Group never spoke of where he got the emblem that represented his leadership. Around him, he had many slaves—male, female, eunuch—there to satisfy his wants. The Fire Sword, given to him by the Ancient Mountain Gods, rested next to the ornate throne; a short black metal staff, squared off at one end, a hollow tube at the other, a pitted blade beneath the tube. The weapon was always at his side.
The reason for the village gathering and the ceremony this night was that the Chosen Warrior for the year had been picked to fight the Creature of the Mountain. It was 12 Moon’s turn. His turn to fight the monster. Not just the symbols, but the onlookers seemed to fill him with power. For a split second, 12 Moon thought, he might try to dethrone Canis. And immediately with that thought came the memory of the conversation he had with his friends the month previous.
12 Moon and his friends had often discussed, in whispers, what became of the Chosen Warriors and why none had ever returned. How the old Shaman always seemed to select the young villager who might be ready to challenge Master Canis’ leadership. Male, female, it didn’t matter. In fact, Silk’s older sister, Vision, had once been the Chosen Warrior. She may have had only one eye, wearing a leather patch over the empty socket, but she could see. Obviously more than 12 Moon could.
12 Moon remembered those discussions well. His closest friend, Raven Boy, was the one who realised that the warrior was chosen every year, a week after the first snowfall; ironically making it so there would be one less mouth to feed over the long winter months. ‘Think about it,’ Raven Boy said. He nodded at Canis, that night a month ago, sitting on his ornate throne, eating, laughing, at the far end of the longhouse. The first chill of winter had come that day. ‘Look at Fat Leader. He seems to be getting enough to eat.’
‘Ssshhh!’ whispered Long Strider.
‘So?’ 12 Moon asked, not really paying attention.
‘Quiet!’ Silk gripped 12 Moon’s hand.
‘Maybe you should be quiet,’ 12 Moon echoed Silk’s warning to Raven Boy.
‘Why? Look at him. How much has your mother had to eat this fall?’ Raven asked.
Raven Boy was right, 12 Moon thought. The summer and fall months had been difficult for 12 Moon and his mother. He had even slipped some of his meagre food portions to her. 12 Moon studied Master Canis. Raven Boy continued, ‘And who gets picked to be the Warrior each year?’ Raven Boy paused. ‘It’s always someone who seems like they may soon threaten Canis’ power.’
12 Moon’s eyes narrowed as his brain processed this new information.
‘Isn’t it?’
From the throne, Canis noticed 12 Moon’s look. Two days later, 12 Moon was selected by the Shaman as the latest choice of the Gods to be their Warrior against the Creature of the Mountain.
Now, as the symbol ceremony came to its conclusion, 12 Moon stood facing Canis. Canis rose from his throne. The Chosen Warrior was supposed to approach the leader. But 12 Moon did not immediately do so. He was weighing his options. The older man must have seen the young warrior’s hesitation to come forward and accept Canis’ blessing for the journey and battle ahead. Canis lifted his Fire Sword and struck the black metal weapon against the platform the throne sat upon. His voice was a low rumble, ‘12 Moon.’
12 Moon knew what happened if he chose not to follow the quest. When he was young, the entire village had been forced to watch from the walkways that lined the top of the kraal what befell a dissenter. The young man had been hamstrung, a fifteen-foot rope tied to his neck, and then he was staked to the ground. He was left there as Canis ordered the twisted ram horn trumpets to call for the Snow Beasts. The screaming didn’t last very long.
12 Moon stepped forward and stopped before Canis. It was time for the warrior to receive his weapons. Canis stood from his throne and raised his own special weapon, the Fire Sword, above his head for all to see. Crafted of a metal that did not rust, the black weapon was still dirty and pitted, showing its age. Here and there it glittered with some kind of oily sheen. It had a handle for easy carrying, was textured so that it would not easily slip from a combatant’s hands, and one of the sharpest blades on its end that 12 Moon had ever seen. Rumour was that it had been forged in some place called the Great Mountain Gods’ Weapon Storage and that it was imbued with some kind of Mountain Gods’ magic. Many had seen its ability to shoot fire and reach out and kill Master Canis’ enemies from a distance.
12 Moon knelt before the Group’s leader and lowered his head. Canis started his speech, ‘History tells us that the Birth Group…’
12 Moon had heard Master Canis’ Creature of the Mountain speech all his life. Most of it was about how mighty Canis was. 12 Moon drifted off in thought, wondering if Canis had ever fought the… Canis finished his dramatic presentation by touching 12 Moon on the shoulder with the pointed end of the God’s Weapon. ‘The spirit and power of the Birth Group goes with you!’
12 Moon kept his head down. When Canis withdrew the sharp end of the Mountain God’s weapon from 12 Moon’s shoulder, the leader let the blade end create a small nick on the Chosen Warrior’s ear that drew blood. Canis smiled. 12 Moon flinched, but did not say anything.
‘Stand.’
12 Moon stood. Canis held out the prized black weapon before him. The crowd gathered in the longhouse gasped. This had never happened before. Canis had never given his weapon to one of the warriors. 12 Moon hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to reach out for the Fire Sword or…
Canis only now noticed the golden eagle that the Shaman had painted across 12 Moon’s chest, its bold wings spread, sharp claws open. The leader threw a quick glare at the old woman. The Shaman bowed her head.
The Fire Sword was still held out in front of 12 Moon. He began to reach for it. Canis laughed. He sat back on his throne without handing over the black weapon, placing it across his heavily muscled thighs. ‘Give the hero his weapons.’
There was mumbling in the longhouse. There were norms that the Birth Group respected, and withdrawing an offered weapon was not one of them. The whispers were of promises made and then not kept. The seeming offer to pass the magical weapon to the Chosen Warrior and then to withdraw it was seen as…
‘Silence!’ Canis boomed.
Canis motioned for two armourers to hand 12 Moon his actual weapons. As the armourers came to 12 Moon, Canis did not put his own weapon back by his side but kept it ready with one scarred fist on the handle.
The first armourer handed 12 Moon a fine bow made from a twisted yew tree branch and strung with sinew. Then a quiver of arrows. He nodded his thanks to the armourer and slung the quiver over his shoulder. The second armourer gave the young warrior a straight spruce spear with a fire-hardened tip. 12 Moon looked at his weapons and then at the one resting across Canis’ lap. 12 Moon said nothing.
Canis said, ‘With these weapons, you will once and for all destroy the Creature of the Mountain.’
12 Moon bowed and thanked Canis for the weapons. ‘They will be useful in my battle ahead.’
Canis chuckled. ‘Then go.’ When 12 Moon didn’t immediately move, Canis repeated, ‘Go.’
12 Moon started to turn, thinking to himself, ‘What? You couldn’t spare your weapon? To fight the Creature of the Mountain?’
Canis must have caught a hint of 12 Moon’s disdain for the weapons he had been given. ‘12 Moon,’ the leader of the group commanded.
12 Moon stopped, turned back, and bowed again. He tried to keep his voice level. ‘Yes, Master?’
But Canis had played this game for far too long to fall for the young man’s insincere fealty. ‘Such a powerful warrior as yourself…’ Canis let the sentence trail off. The Group leader nodded at the armourers who had given 12 Moon his weapons. One haltingly moved forward, taking the bow and quiver filled with arrows. Several villagers in the crowd began to whisper, ‘…no…no…’
Behind the taller Long Strider, Raven Boy yelled out, ‘Give the Chosen Warrior his weapons!’
The whispers of ‘no, no’ began to rise to a chant bouncing off the longhouse ceiling, ‘No! No!’
The second armourer began to move. Canis, quietly said, ‘No. Leave him the spear.’
The crowd’s chants fell back to only whispers against their leader. Before anything else could happen, Canis motioned at the far end of the hall with the Fire Sword. ‘Open the doors!’
The wooden doors at the other end of the longhouse were pulled aside. Cold winter wind carrying a few flakes of snow whipped into the grand hall. The villagers formed a line on each side of 12 Moon.
12 Moon slowly turned and began to walk down the aisle created by the villagers, heading toward the open doors. Many of the villagers wished him well. Both Raven Boy and Long Strider clapped him on the painted shoulders, wishing him luck.
Silk gave him a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘Strength.’
12 Moon knew that her older sister, Vision, had been chosen as Warrior the year before. Silk quickly slipped something into 12 Moon’s hand. He didn’t need to look at it to realise it was the obsidian blade she had crafted herself and always wore about her neck in a sheath on a leather thong. She kissed him again, longer this time. ‘Please come back.’
She could be tortured for attempting to aid him, so he quickly palmed the knife. He gave her a slight smile and kept moving.
And that was it. 12 Moon stepped out of the longhouse into the night. The wooden doors were pushed closed behind him, and the villagers and the warm light were gone, leaving 12 Moon in the cold. It had been snowing for the last week. 12 Moon kept moving away from the longhouse. Past the small huts, tents, and kivas that made up most of the village.
He continued to the open front gate set in the kraal. The half-dozen guards at the main gate nodded as he passed. He noticed that they did not wish him well. 12 Moon was beginning to understand that they knew the real reason he had been selected.
The naked Chosen Warrior moved past the outer berms that surrounded the village; the earthworks there were constructed from wicker mats intermingled with piles of rocks and dirt. Spiked palisades twelve feet long had been set at an angle to resist any attack from other tribes. The berms were a constant work project for the villagers. As far as 12 Moon knew, none of the rampaging hordes promised by Master Canis had ever come.
Until now, it had been snowing constantly for almost a month. Winter was harsh in the valley of the Birth Group but the snow had stopped early this afternoon, almost as if it was honouring the ceremony and 12 Moon’s mission.
After fifty yards, 12 Moon stopped. He looked back at the village where several of the guards were forcing the thick front gate doors closed. Before they did, he saw that no candle burned in his mother’s hut. 12 Moon moved forward. He did not look back again at the village where he had spent his entire life.
Ahead of him, miles away, 12 Moon could barely see the jagged Triple Peaks where he would find the Creature of the Mountain’s lair. A cloud-like tendril of mist hung partway up the trident of stone, and moonlight shimmered on the ice-covered peaks. Forgetting the village, 12 Moon slipped Silk’s obsidian blade around his neck and began to hike toward the mountains.
But now, as 12 Moon hiked, heavy clouds returned, starting to move over the moon. The sky began to dump a fresh load of snow. Covered only in symbols against the cold, 12 Moon could really feel the elements. He would have to be cautious on his journey. There were things out here that were more dangerous than the elements. There was the real possibility that he would be killed and eaten before he even had the chance to face the Creature of the Mountain. Winter Bears, Ice Lizards, and Flame Eagles. The Rock Wolves that lived in the bubbling volcanic craters to the south. All could tear him apart before he reached his goal. The monster’s lair.
But the worst threat was the Creature of the Mountain itself. Once he found its lair… He had heard tales of its viciousness since childhood. Many parents used it as a threat to their misbehaving children, saying it would leave your entrails steaming in the snow if you did not do as you were told.
12 Moon began to run.
As 12 Moon ran, he began to plan his return. His return to the village and how he would unseat Master Canis as leader of the Birth Group. There would be no more hamstringing or choosing of warriors. No more mothers crying in the corner. He would see to that. That was what he decided to do.
For the first half mile, his bare feet burned from the snow, ice, and cold. After that, they were numb. As he ran, his hot breath puffed clouds into the air. He didn’t notice the red splotches from his cracked feet in his footprints that he left behind. The blood froze quickly.
After several hours, 12 Moon reached the base of the mountains. He’d passed through the foothills without being attacked by Winter Bears or Ice Lizards. Now the real challenge began. He would start up the cliff face that led to the forbidden pass and make his way between the triple peaks that led to the Creature’s cave.
It would be a treacherous climb.
12 Moon used the thong from Silk’s obsidian blade to string the spear over his shoulder and he began to climb. At first, the climb wasn’t difficult. There wasn’t an actual path, just a cliff face. No one from the Group came up here, summer or winter. It was Group Law and had been as far back as Memory Stories went. Only the Chosen Warrior dared to climb the Triple Peaks.
12 Moon’s fingers dug deep into the ice and snow that covered the vertical ascent. During the spring and summer months, runoff would cascade around the rocks and boulders of the cliff, rounding their edges, now making it difficult to find finger and toeholds. Like his feet, his fingers began to bleed.
The spear hanging from his shoulder caught on a ledge, throwing him off balance. As he tried to free it, his bare, frozen feet slipped. 12 Moon managed to catch himself with one scraped knee and his numb fingers. Rocks and ice fell from beneath his feet as he tried to find purchase. He struggled to hold his place on the wall. Finally, his bloody toes found their grip. ‘Would he fall?’ 12 Moon grinned to himself. ‘Not yet.’ After taking a minute to catch his breath, he began to climb again, making sure each foot was firmly braced, still grinning.
While the climb was difficult, 12 Moon had been raised working in the Western Fields. He was in good condition. As he climbed, he kept thinking about how he would overthrow Canis. He could…
Disturbed by his climb, several jagged icicles fell from above, hitting him and almost knocking him off the side of the cliff. One cut the back of his scalp; another sliced across his shoulder blade. He cursed and hugged the cliff face. More sharp ice spears fell. 12 Moon pressed his face tighter against the cliff and held on. He waited. Once the ice quit falling, he forced his shaking fingers and toes to continue up.
Finally, as 12 Moon pulled himself to the top of the cliff, he lay there in the snow. His entire body felt frozen. Not just felt frozen, was frozen. 12 Moon sat up. He blew into his hands and rubbed his shoulders. Snot ran freely from his nose. Patches of snow and dirt from the cliff were caked on his skin. He could not stop shivering.
12 Moon struggled to stand and tried to look back from his vantage point to see his home village in the valley far below. The falling snow was too thick. He turned away from the cliff edge and looked forward to see the mouth of the pass that began to curve itself around the bases of the three jutting peaks. He started forward.
What 12 Moon didn’t know as he crossed into the opening of the mountain pass was that he had triggered sensors that awakened something.
The Cave
In its cave, the Creature of the Mountain stirred. It was picking up signals from the remote sensors it had placed at the mouth of the mountain pass. The human was coming.
The cave around the Creature had been blasted from the solid rock centuries ago. At one point, a sliding metal door had blocked the entrance from the weather, but that had rusted away long ago. The Creature had since constructed a door from logs and drawn it across the opening. There was a deep orange glow in the cave. Cables ran from a weakening power unit to a heat processor. Like the mountain creature, the heater was old. It flickered. In this weak, flickering light, the Creature could be seen.
The Creature of the Mountain stood on a mono-tread, a single hinged track driven by a toothed drive sprocket that looped around support wheels and return rollers. The tracks sported extendable cleats for use in snow and mud. A dented debris shield helped keep junk out of the rollers. Above the single set of tracks was a torso-like cylinder set atop a hardened support base. This battle torso had once sported four hardened mechanical arms with protective shields over hydraulic- and wire-controlled joints. At some point, one of the arms had been lost, and another damaged far beyond repair. It just hung there, limp. Of the two remaining arms, one ended with a titanium claw that could rotate around its central axis. The last arm acted as a weapons pylon that had interchangeable systems. Currently, it supported a triple-barrelled rocket launcher. On the creature’s back was a trio of power packs and hardened communications equipment. On top of all of this was an angular turret set on a bevelled turret race that had been up-armoured with bolt-on applique shields put there to protect sensitive systems. Behind one armoured bubble rested an old, dented loudspeaker. A crumpled communications antenna and cracked optical sensors completed the Creature of the Mountain.
Even though it looked squat, it still stood nine feet tall. A jagged camouflage paint job was long gone, worn away through the centuries. The metal skin that was revealed was now darkened with age and combat; rust, oil, and bubbling battery acid ran from its various ports and panel lines in streaks. A few access covers had fallen off. Dents, bullet holes, star-shaped spalling scars, and other battle damage created a pock-marked effect on its skin.
Just like 12 Moon, the Creature of the Mountain had its own powerful magical symbols painted on its body: The ones that were still visible read things like: No Step, Power Coupling, Emergency Release, Remove Before Firing, and 25mm. If anyone cared to look, the manufacturer, weapons system type, product number, and construction date on its data plate were long gone.
To top all of this off, someone, far in the past, had once crudely painted a red shark mouth on the front of its upper turret. Now the bloody mouth was barely visible. One side was completely gone, and what was left of the white teeth made a ghastly sneer.
The Creature of the Mountain was actually a battle robot, built centuries ago for now-forgotten wars. At one point, waves of thousands of them had rolled across the battlefields. But now?
But now the human was coming.
It was time. Each season, the human came. Soon after the first snowfall. The Creature tried to leave before they came but they always found it. They would track it down. They would attack it. It did not like the tearing of their soft human flesh and the snapping of their weak, brittle bones against its battle armour. It did not like to hurt them. It did not like their screams. Its sensors would overload with their screams.
The Creature had survived for centuries. It could have been longer; the robot wasn’t sure. Its systems had been failing for almost as long. It wasn’t programmed to think that way. Just to follow orders.
The Creature of the Mountain wanted to leave before the human came. It had prepared an offering to the descendants of its builders. Things it hoped would appeal to the flesh and bone maker. In front of the makeshift door, near the opening of the cave, it had placed these things. It hoped the human that came for it would take the offer to their human gods instead and return home.
The Creature started to roll forward in the cave toward the door. It had trouble moving, jerking left and right as it compensated for a port-side gyro-controller that had failed. This gave it an almost comic list as the left side of the track dug in. It would have to repair that. It was also having trouble with several of its other gears and servos. Debris had got into at least one sealed bearing. Another repair.
The Creature of the Mountain moved the log door aside and ventured out into the snow.
12 Moon rounded the base of the first spire and stopped. He saw a line of prints in the snow. A pair of Rock Wolves had passed by within the last hour or two! Vicious beasts! They were a long way from their hunting grounds to the south. He would have to keep an eye out.
The Rock Wolf prints continued along the path that 12 Moon was following. Here and there, yellow snow showed where they had marked. The path and the prints lead to a stone arch that crossed a deep gorge. The snow-covered arch stretched across the gorge to the far side where it was anchored between the bases of the other two mountain spires.
12 Moon stepped out onto the stone arch…and started to slip! He pulled back. There was ice underneath the snow! Not a problem for Rock Wolves’ claws, but for his cracked and bloody feet…
On the far side of the gorge, 12 Moon thought he could see a flicker or two, a glimmer of orange light. Firelight! in the distance through the snowfall. He would have to cross the snow and ice-covered bridge.
Go fast or go slow? 12 Moon decided to go fast. He backed up so he could get a run at the bridge and then let loose. And he almost made it. Almost. This time, the spear getting caught on a ledge saved him. Saved him from falling to the bottom of the gorge.
Three feet from the end of the bridge and the top of the cliff, 12 Moon’s feet slipped. As he slid off the icy bridge, over the drop, the spear swung off his shoulder. One end jammed into a ledge on the cliff, the other end slid a foot on the bridge until it caught a bare patch of stone that the Rock Wolves’ claws had exposed.
12 Moon clung to the spear. The wood was strong. It held. Long enough for 12 Moon to scramble back up to the top of the bridge and crawl the rest of the way across.
Once across, 12 Moon rolled onto his back, clutching the spear and catching his breath. He laughed a little. A scared laugh. Then he rose up and started again to follow the pass.
In the mountain pass that twisted around the triple peaks like a serpent, 12 Moon kept slipping and falling, just as he had on the stone bridge. He quietly cursed to himself. His feet were numb, and it was not a smooth pass. Here and there, ledges and rifts hidden by their covering of snow and ice tripped him. Up ahead, 12 Moon could still see the faint orange glow.
12 Moon slipped again. This time, it was farther than a simple trip. The covering of white snow that camouflaged the drop and his focus on the flickering light had made him miss the edge of a drop-off. He fell five feet off a rocky cliff and landed on a series of ice-encrusted rocks below, his right leg twisted beneath him. He screamed. And then saw what was right in front of his face. A human skull!
One of the previous Chosen Warriors! From under its icy cap, the skull stared at him. Sharp icicles hung across one empty eye socket. The other socket was covered with a leather patch. Silk’s sister, Vision! The Creature had killed her!
12 Moon tried to spin in the snow, bringing up his spear, sure that the Creature had heard him scream and was about to attack! But there was nothing there. Just the flickering light coming from around the next turn in the pass. Now that he was close, it looked less like it might be from a fire, but from something more mysterious. He freed his jammed leg and crawled forward until he could see where the light was coming from.
12 Moon lay there in the snow, behind the cover of some ice-covered rocks. Watching the warm, flickering glow coming from the Creature of the Mountain’s cave. It was too easy to find. The Creature did not try to conceal itself or its lair. It had only placed some kind of log-constructed door across the cave entrance.
From his vantage point, 12 Moon discovered what had become of the Rock Wolves. Their two bodies lay near the entrance to the Creature’s cave. They were a large pair. Alive, they had stood at least four feet at the shoulder. They had both been torn in two.
Beyond the dead bodies of the Rock Wolves, 12 Moon watched the log door, the strange orange light flickering through the cracks between the logs. He saw nothing move. What should he do?
The human warrior stood and began to limp on his twisted leg toward the glowing cave entrance. As he neared it, he held his obsidian blade in one shivering, shaking hand and his fire-sharpened spear in the other. His feet were still bleeding, leaving red clumps in the snow. He saw different tracks in the snow in front of the cave. Strange, rectangular-shaped things. He didn’t know what they were.
Making sure that a trap had not been set, 12 Moon slid along the cliff wall toward the cave opening. He did not sense danger. He peered through the cracks between the logs, but could still see nothing moving. Weapons at the ready, screaming his best battle cry, 12 Moon ripped the door aside and leapt into the cave. As he did, he practically tripped over a pile of things just inside the cave entrance.
12 Moon caught himself and looked around. Nothing. He tried his battle cry again, this one even louder. His yell echoed back at him from the throat of the mostly empty cave, but still the Creature did not respond. ‘Come out!’ Still nothing. ‘Come out and fight me!’
‘…me…me…me…’
12 Moon’s yells echoed far back into the cave and then back at him and out into the pass. There was no creature in this lair. But it was warm after the hours he had spent running and climbing in the ice and snow. The heat felt… God! It hurt! It hurt so bad that he dropped the obsidian dagger and wooden spear from his shaking hands. He quickly grabbed up his weapons again and yelled, ‘Fight me!’ Still to an empty cave.
And then he started to laugh. He had been so scared! All of his life! So afraid of coming up here, facing the Creature of the Mountain… And yet, the evil thing wasn’t even here!
As the heat in the cave sank into his shaking body, 12 Moon saw that the warmth and orange light were both coming from some kind of humming cylindrical thing set against the wall. It had a rope or something leading to a box. The cylinder glowed like flickering fire and produced heat but was barely warm to the touch.
Still confused, he kept looking around. Where was the Creature?
The cave was nothing he thought it would be. He had imagined a bloody abattoir. Hanging skeletons. Torture implements. Stacks of stolen jewels, gold, and other priceless metals. None of that was here. There were some kind of metal pieces lying around, scraps really. That was all, except for the pile of items in front of the cave entrance that he had tripped over during his courageous advance into the cave.
12 Moon went back to the opening of the cave and looked out, making sure the Creature wasn’t sneaking up on him, ready to trap him. It wasn’t out there. Again, just the strange tracks and the mutilated bodies of the Rock Wolves. 12 Moon wasn’t stupid. The Creature was gone.
He turned back into the warm cave and looked around again. Besides the heating device and pieces of metal, there was just the pile of things he’d tripped over.
It was a simple pile that 12 Moon might have seen in the longhouse back in the village next to Canis’s throne, offerings from the villagers. The top of the pile was made up of several wild animal pelts. He pulled them back to see… 12 Moon gasped!
Underneath the pelts, there was… food! Real, honest to goodness food, the likes and amounts that no one in 12 Moon’s village had seen in, well, forever. There were several different types of salted meat wrapped in leaves, a selection of roots, tubers, and berries covered in a rough fabric.
And then, there were the weird things, foodstuffs that 12 Moon had never seen before. Closed metal tubes with faded images of colourful fruits and vegetables on them. And the tubes had the Old Words on them. 12 Moon could barely make out the Old Words that his mother taught him when he was young. It was their secret. He knew if Canis ever learned of his ability to read, he would kill both of them. One of the tubes had already been opened with some kind of key or rod, almost left as an example of how to open the…
Maybe it was some kind of offering? To him?
Offering or not, 12 Moon could smell the fruit! The fruit inside the metal tube that matched the image on the outside! He put a finger in and tasted…juice! The sweetest juice he had ever…!!! 12 Moon lifted up the metal tube and dumped it directly into his mouth, swallowing most of it without chewing. He began to choke and cough. He laughed. It was so…
Fresh! Sweet!
12 Moon immediately grabbed two of the pelts and wrapped them around his shivering shoulders. He shoved the salted meat into his mouth. While chewing, he tried to figure out how to use the strange piece that looked like it would open the tubes of fruit and vegetables. As he did this, 12 Moon noticed that his sweat and the snow had begun to remove the power symbols painted on his body. His chewing slowed as he once again checked over his shoulder and only saw the empty entrance to the cave.
Where had the Creature of the Mountain gone? Had the Creature left him these things as an offering? Had it intended for him to…?
12 Moon began to think. He might stay here for a while. In this warm cave. Getting fat and happy on this offered food. Then he’d go back and say he’d won. Beaten the Creature! Who would know? Show them the small pieces of metal? But first, he’d need some scars. Battle wounds! To prove…12 Moon held up Silk’s obsidian dagger. Just one or two. Ooh! Maybe, a cut across his face…? A duelling scar!
But the warmth of the cave had made 12 Moon brave. His cuts from travelling were clotting. His belly filled with food. While he chewed, he looked at the strange tracks near the cave’s entrance. He thought of his friends, Silk, Raven Boy, Long Strider. He thought of his mother, Oh-Mah.
What would happen to them? What would happen to his mother? He thought of the dissenter who had been staked out for the beasts. He thought of the man’s screams.
What would Canis do to them if he ever found out that 12 Moon had…?
12 Moon used the blade Silk had slipped him to cut two small sections out of one of the pelts and wrapped them around his cracked and bleeding feet. Then, he cut a hole in the centre of another pelt and draped it over his head and shoulders like a poncho.
12 Moon stepped out of the cave and looked at the rectangular tracks in the snow. He didn’t know what the Creature might be, but what he did know was that it had already been injured somehow. The way its spoor dragged in the snow here and there was not the sign of a healthy animal. And now that 12 Moon had warmed, fed, and clothed himself? With the creature’s stuff? He could easily best it!
The Creature of the Mountain rolled up a trail that led higher into the pass beyond the triple peaks. Away from its cave, away from the valley of 12 Moon’s village. Its single track tore up divots in the snow and earth as it was forced to jink slightly from side to side to stay on course because of its damaged track. The path led farther and farther up into what the villagers called the Forbidden Mountains. As the Creature went, the trail became lined with rocky cliffs, old tree trunks, and their stumps sticking out of the cracks in the walls.
As it went, it used its rear sensor array to search for the human that must be behind it. The array had been designed for battles in centuries long gone. Not just visual but night vision, infra-red, and movement sensors similar to the ones it had placed at the mouth of the pass that warned of the coming human.
12 Moon followed the rectangular tracks of the Creature as it continued through the narrowing pass behind the triple peaks. Once 12 Moon saw that the creature had entered the narrow trail sided by sheer twenty-foot cliffs, he knew what he was going to do.
Instead of following the Creature itself,12 Moon ran along the top of the cliffs. He had not yet seen the Creature but he could hear it. It was making a whirring, clanking sound.
The Creature of the Mountain continued down the backside of the forbidden mountains. Here, the trail wound and twisted between the rising cliffs. Its faulty rear sensors briefly showed that the human was not following it. There was no visible movement, no heat signature showing on its infrared. That was good. Maybe this season it would not have to…
As the machine reached a narrow point between the cliffs, from above, there was the crack of a tree trunk breaking, ice falling, and rocks tumbling.
On the cliff top, 12 Moon had managed to get ahead of the clanking Creature until he found the choke point in the trail…and exactly what he was looking for at the top of the cliff. He heard the clanking tread of the thing coming closer. Quickly, 12 Moon used his sharpened spear to loosen the rocks at the base of an old ice-covered tree trunk. He put his shoulder to it and pushed as hard as he could, just as the Creature moved below…
The Creature of the Mountain was fast. But not that fast. When it was originally built, it could really move, yes. But now, with weakened power packs and all the other damage it had sustained over the centuries…
The old tree trunk fell, bringing a cloud of snow, heavy boulders, and dirt with it. The impact knocked the Creature half on its side, pinning it with the trunk, roots, and rubble against the cliffside. The force of the heavy tree and boulders smashed its weapons arm, damaging the three rocket tubes. Its single track whirred as it tried to drive itself out from the trap, fans of dirt and snow spraying in the air behind it.
From above, 12 Moon leapt onto the Creature’s back, this time using his greatest war cry ever! He jammed his obsidian blade into what he believed were the beast’s eyes. The tip of the knife managed to find a rusted area along the sensor ring, a spot that would never have been weak a century ago. Silk’s gift snapped in two. Sparks flew as the broken knife shorted out the Creature’s vision grid. If the Creature could feel pain, it would have felt it then. Most of its sensor abilities winked out in a bright flash, partially blinding it. Confused by the damaged sensors, it tried to fire its rocket launcher, but the bent tubes kept the missile from launching. Flames shot out the back of the tri-barrel launcher, scaring the young warrior on top of the battle machine.
12 Moon slid down the front of the thing away from the screeching tube that shot fire out the back. He gripped his spear in both hands and attacked! The spear’s fire-hardened wood tip splintered off the armoured plate of the Creature with a clang. The weapon slid down the armour, went down between the track and one of its rollers, and was ripped from 12 Moon’s hands. A cloud of wooden shards flew everywhere.
Once fired, the fuse on the rocket became active. Trapped in the bent launch tube, the warhead exploded, creating a haze of smoke and ice. The force of the blast threw 12 Moon off the Creature and he landed in front of the monster’s spinning treads. The warrior frantically kicked at the snow and rocks to keep his feet from getting pulled underneath the Creature’s metal tread. 12 Moon’s pelt-covered feet refused to find grip on the ice. The whirring tread jerked closer and closer; 12 Moon kept kicking. One improvised pelt shoe was ripped off by the whirring tread. At the last second,12 Moon managed to grab one of the tree’s blasted roots and pulled himself away. But not quick enough. 12 Moon screamed as his calf was swiped by the metal tread of the beast.
The rocket explosion had not harmed the Creature of the Mountain other than flowering the end of the bent launcher tube. It used its one working arm to push away the frozen tree trunk and rocks pinning it and managed, through a combination of track spin and leverage, to push-pull itself back to an upright position. In a rain of debris, the old trunk fell between the Creature and the warrior, trapping 12 Moon’s legs.
Half-buried beneath the tree and rubble, 12 Moon heard the Creature moving on the other side of the trunk and tried to free himself. 12 Moon wasn’t ready for the Creature to rush him yet. Not until he could get out from under the damn trunk. …but the monster did not come. He could hear its clanking and squealing gears but still, it did not come.
12 Moon managed to pull himself free of the fallen log. Once loose, he managed to pick himself up out of the blood-soaked snow. His left arm didn’t seem to want to work right, his right eye was swollen. His calf bleeding. He winced as pain shot across his ribs from lacerations caused by the rocket exploding.
12 Moon peered over the remains of the tree trunk roots and rock fall that had pinned the creature. The Creature was gone. It had continued down the trail. Away from 12 Moon. Even in his injured state, he knew what he must do. The strange tracks led down the snow-covered path.
12 Moon began to follow.
The Valley
12 Moon followed the Creature of the Mountain’s tracks down the trail between the cliffs. He was being careful not to walk into a trap like the one he had set earlier for the monster.
Echoes of its movement came back up through the narrow trail. 12 Moon could sometimes hear it, wheezing and clanking. At other times, he couldn’t hear it at all with the winter wind blowing. Little specks of ice caught in his eyes. Now he had only what the creature had given him, all of his weapons were gone, destroyed, broken. He wasn’t running now. His body hurt too much. He pulled the pelts the beast had left for him tighter around his shoulders and continued on. He kicked off the pelt from his foot; it had become soaked with blood. He kept following.
The trail rose up again and then began to wind down into another valley beyond the cold, icy Forbidden Mountains. The snow that had been 12 Moon’s constant companion since he left his village stopped suddenly and turned to sleet. He could now see ahead of him. Twisted frozen trees with skeletal branches crossed over the trail as it emerged from between the cliffs.
As 12 Moon continued, he could see that there was something different ahead of him. Through an opening in the arch of dead tree branches, he saw a variety of colours. Bright colours. Visible even at night.
12 Moon stopped. Ahead of him was another valley smaller than his own. While it narrowed across the way, it widened to each side. The trail widened and led down a slope from the mountains to a grass-covered meadow that surrounded a small lake. On each side of the lake was a wood with wild fruit trees, conifers, and deciduous trees. Trees that in this warm valley, even in winter, had green leaves growing on them. Here and there were patches of vegetables that someone had planted long ago and that had overgrown their plots and gone crazy. On the South side of the valley, waterfalls cascaded down the cliffs there, feeding the lake.
On the far side of the valley from 12 Moon’s vantage, there was a cliff face, covered in twisting vines and clumps of clinging bushes. The cliff was topped by bunches of other green trees that held the promise of even further bounty beyond.
At the base of the cliff was an entrance of some kind, covered with what looked like large ancient heavy doors. Even from the other side of the valley, 12 Moon could see where the Creature’s track had torn up the grass in front of the doors. That was where the Creature was.
12 Moon emerged from beneath the arc of tree branches into the drizzly mist to start out into the valley and stopped! The tracks were a trick!
He saw the Creature waiting for him!
It stood there, perched on top of a rocky outcropping next to the trail, looming over him. 12 Moon crouched and backed up, ready to run or fight. But it did not attack. Its arms hung loose against its sides. It did not move.
12 Moon studied it. There was something different about it. It was a different colour than the one he’d fought. Different arms. This was not the Creature of the Mountain that 12 Moon had fought earlier on the trail. It was another of the same kind. Only…
Only this creature was not moving. And it was clear that it had not moved in a very long time. The links of its tread had fallen apart. They were bent and twisted and had half-sunk into the ground.
But where was the Creature that he had been tracking and fighting? 12 Moon’s eyes again followed the trail that the Creature had left in the soil that led to the cliff face on the far side of the valley. Where they skirted the northern shore of the lake and continued on to the cliff face with the large doors set in it.
And 12 Moon could see that two other creatures stood on the other side of the lake in the idyllic valley. Both were immobile and appeared like the one on the outcropping above him. One was surrounded by grassweeds and had a tree growing alongside it. The tree roots and branches were intertwined with the beast’s arms. The third creature in the valley was tilted to one side with multiple pieces fallen off. All the creatures stood there, almost as if they were sentries to the doors at the base of the cliff.
12 Moon stepped past the motionless creature into the grass at the foot of the mountains and stopped. He thought to himself, what would the people from his village think if they could see this wonderful valley? Would they believe that on the far side of the mountain pass, there was another valley, one that was kept free from the winter winds and snows by the surrounding volcanic peaks. While it was not warm, to say the least, the valley felt like heaven, a warming balm to 12 Moon’s frozen body. Plants and trees with broad green leaves the likes 12 Moon had never seen before. Waterfalls bringing fresh water to a river and lake. Flowering fruit trees with fruits larger than he had ever imagined. To think that such a paradise was literally within a day or two of walking time from their frozen village. His mother. His friends. All of them could be… He paused. They all could be happy. All he had to do was finish off the Creature. Return and finish off Master Canis. Then he could…
A distant hissing noise caught his attention. 12 Moon looked again across the valley to where the Creature’s tracks led. To the giant doors.
The Creature of the Mountain, for all intents and purposes, with its surveillance grid gone, was blind now. It had used a homing beacon to find its way back to the depot set in the cliff. The depot that it came to every year to replenish itself and try to hide from the warrior human that would be sent.
Far in the past, the word ‘Depot’ and various other words, numbers, and symbols had been stencilled across the doors. Now only the faint ‘Depot’ remained. The Creature had broadcast a radio command and the creaking and bent blast doors opened before it. As it rolled inside the dark depot, it did not notice that the ancient doors, once upon a time built to withstand a nuclear blast, could no longer close completely. The Creature moved toward the back of the cavernous depot as, here and there, dim work lights began to flicker on.
12 Moon followed the tracks of the Creature around the lake. Along the way, he plucked a piece of fruit off a tree and bit into it. It was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, sweeter even than the fruit in the strange juice in the metal tube inside of the Creature’s cave. After a few bites, 12 Moon dropped his piece of half-eaten fruit and carefully moved past the two seemingly dead creatures. If one of them moved, he would…
He could see clearly now that the Creature’s tracks led to a pair of giant rusted doors set in the cliff face. And that the doors had failed to close completely. He saw the word ‘Depot’ painted on them. He recognised the letters as belonging to the Old Words but didn’t understand their meaning. That’s where the Creature had gone. 12 Moon followed.
The blast doors were cracked open just enough at the bottom that 12 Moon could squeeze himself through. He hissed as his various wounds scraped against the doors. Inside, 12 Moon stood, cautious, his eyes adjusting to the dark. He was afraid that the Creature might be waiting there for him. It was not.
He looked around what appeared to be a gigantic cavern. This was a larger interior space than 12 Moon had ever seen, larger than even a dozen longhouses. It was dim and the smell inside the ‘Depot’ was of oil, old wood, and canvas.
Just like in the longhouse back in 12 Moon’s village, there were overhead beams that supported the vaulted ceiling. Here and there, devices were mounted along the beams. They were some kind of dim cool lights that flickered with age. 12 Moon didn’t know the name for these illuminating devices. He had never seen ‘emergency lights’ before. The emergency lights revealed a long high cavern made from the same material that the doors had been constructed from. Again, all of this was new to 12 Moon.
And the great cavern was not empty. Many of the lighting devices were not working, but enough were active to let 12 Moon see the shapes around him. There were multiple stacks of things here and there, set up in rows. Each row contained a variety of objects of different shapes and sizes. Some of the rows were made up of rectangular shaped things made of wood slats. Others, thin metal boxes. There were larger round metal tubes that were half his height. Some things covered in tent-like enclosures that had rotted into falling strips. More of the short tubes with colourful fruit and vegetable pictures. Some had rusted and exploded long ago. Most had not. Many of these things had symbols on them. Some of them were symbols that 12 Moon recognised. Again, the Old Words.
These Old Words read things like: Caution. Ammo. Fuel. No Smoke. 5.56mm. 120mm Mortar Round. Etc. Most of these, he could sound out in his head, but he wasn’t sure what they meant. On the sides of several crates, closed with some kind of latches, was the name Carbine, Calibre 5.56mm, M4A1. He didn’t know what that meant. Neither did he understand M-7 Bayonet. Or the number and letter combination on the smaller metal boxes, a repeat of the 5.56mm.
Caution. That was one of the Old Words he knew and understood. It was true. He would have to use caution in this place.
Scrapes on the flat stone-like floor showed where the Creature’s damaged track had dragged, leading far off into the darkness between the stacks toward the back of the Depot Longhouse.
The snake-like hissing sound 12 Moon had earlier heard echoing across the valley came again, louder this time. It came from deep within the giant Depot Longhouse. A bright flickering of white light reflected off the metal timber uprights along whenever the hiss was made. 12 Moon began to move deeper into the Depot Longhouse looking for the source of the hissing sound, which he knew must lead him to the Creature from the Mountain.
In the repair area, the creature was struggling to fix itself in time for the battle ahead. If a machine could be confused, that would be the state it was in. None of the humans had ever made it this far. It never wanted to harm or kill them, the human descendants of those that had made the Creature. Its orders were that they were not ever meant to leave their valley. That is what the Master Sargeant said.
So far, it had managed to replace two of its power packs and was now re-energised. It had adapted a new sensor grid from stores to replace its ruined one. In preparation for the battle, it had torch-cut off the side of a 55-gallon drum and spot-welded it to its arm to use as a shield against the human. Somehow, this warrior’s weak flesh seemed stronger than the past ones. Maybe it was the symbols the man was covered with.
The bent, twisted, and scorched tri-barrel rocket launcher sat on the cement floor where it had been dropped. The Creature considered what to replace the weapon with. A rotary grenade launcher? No. The 75mm howitzer? Maybe too much. It needed something…
The Creature saw what it wanted, a dusty thing with hoses sitting off to the side on a workbench.
As 12 Moon crept closer to the flickering light and the hissing sound, he noticed several crates that had spilled out from underneath a rotting tarp. Some of these crates’ latches had snapped. Long black objects that had been stored inside were scattered on the floor. They looked familiar. Very familiar. The boxes had the faded Old Words on their sides: Carbine, Calibre 5.56mm, M4A1. 12 Moon still did not know what that meant. But he knew what the objects were.
In fact, he had last seen something similar in Master Canis’s hands. His Fire Sword. The one he kept with him night and day. The one with a blade on the end that he used to nick 12 Moon’s ear back in the longhouse. The one Canis had used to send the magic fire at his enemies.
Looking at the scattered weapons, 12 Moon did not notice that the hissing coming from the rear of the depot had stopped. He was too focused on the weapons. These were clean and oily, not rusted and dirty like… It wasn’t hard to make the connection. Master Canis had been here!
Not recently but… He had been here. At some time. In the past. The leader had seen all of this! Had seen the food, the clear water of the lake, the warm valley outside. And who knows what else was on this side of the forbidden mountains. That meant Canis knew about the valley filled with supplies and goods. Things that could help them all!
12 Moon carefully picked up one of the weapons called Carbine, Calibre 5.56mm, M4A1. The Fire Sword. He held it in his hands, remembering how Canis had held his version. He could feel the power it gave him. He didn’t know how to make it work, but if he could…
12 Moon looked at the number of them spilled out on the floor of the Depot Longhouse. And all the other similar crates nearby. He began to think. With all of these, he could defeat Canis and lead the village back to this utopia. He would only have to fight the…
Behind 12 Moon, the Creature of the Mountain burst through a stack of wooden crates, its twin searchlights blazing, a cloud of splinters flying everywhere. Before 12 Moon could respond, the creature hit him with its improvised shield. The warrior was smashed backwards into another stack of crates before he could even try to figure out how to use his new weapon.
The rough heavy boxes fell on him. 12 Moon managed to keep hold of his weapon of the Gods and aimed it at the Creature. But the weapon did nothing. He tried again. Still noth… The Creature grabbed the black weapon with its titanium claw from 12 Moon’s human hands, crushed it, and threw it aside.
12 Moon tripped over the cases and Fire Swords and scrambled for the blast doors. The creature’s tread ripped through the scattered crates as it tried to get at him. As 12 Moon tried to squeeze through the opening between the blast doors, the Creature released the newest weapon mounted on its weapon pylon. A WHOOSH of flame shot out from a cylindrical device mounted beneath the pylon. The creature had added the flamethrower option.
Three cylinders were mounted to the debris shield above the Creature’s tread. One held nitrogen propellant and the other two a petrochemical mix with an added gelling agent. A hose ran from the containers to a barrel with a nozzle and igniter mounted to the weapon pylon. There was a click as the igniter activated.
Woosh! The Creature fired again.
12 Moon managed to squeeze between the blast doors just as the second burst from the flamethrower erupted. The doors caught most of the fiery blast but enough caught him that he could hear his skin sizzle.
Outside of the Depot Longhouse, 12 Moon picked himself up and began to run. The smoking blast doors opened, and the Creature of the Mountain rolled out. It fired another burst from its flamethrower. 12 Moon blindly scrambled away from the horizontal pillar of flame. He had never seen anything like the fire-breathing creature before!
He did the only thing that he could; he threw rocks at it. If a machine could laugh, the Creature would have. It easily batted the stones away with its shield.
12 Moon ran.
A fourth blast from the flamethrower caught 12 Moon’s pelts on fire. He rolled on the ground, trying to strip them off. At the edge of the lake, he slipped in the mud and crashed headfirst into the water.
The Creature clanked after him, its track loop kicking up sprays of mud and water, intent on finishing the human.
12 Moon rolled underwater, tearing off the flaming pelts that had covered his body. With the burning pelts off, 12 Moon tried to break the surface for air…but the Creature slammed its shield down on top of him, holding him under the water. He tried to fight against it, but it was no use. He was choking, gagging, water filling his lungs.
With its titanium claw, the Creature of the Mountain pulled the struggling 12 Moon out of the water and held him high. He beat at the arm and shield uselessly. It aimed the flamethrower nozzle right into the human’s face and…
12 Moon screamed with rage and closed his eyes for the inevitable blast of flame.
The Creature of the Mountain did not fire.
In the battle between human and machine, the water had washed off the last of 12 Moon’s power symbols that the Shaman and her apprentices had painted on him in the smoky longhouse. Except for one. The giant golden eagle spread across his chest. With the pelts gone, it was clearly visible.
The Creature released 12 Moon and rolled back three feet. It lowered its flamethrower. Sat there. Still.
12 Moon tried to stand in the water but struggled. He was weak, burnt, injured from battle. Coughing water out of his lungs. The best he could do was prop himself up on his knees.
The Creature quickly rolled forward. Before 12 Moon could react, ‘No!’
…the monster grabbed him by the shoulder and drug him from the water. It released him on the shore and rolled back again. And that’s where the two faced each other. One lying naked on the muddy shore, the other sitting silent. The Creature did not attack him. Its bright searchlights dimmed.
The Creature of the Mountain focused its grid viewer on the golden eagle that the Shaman had painted across 12 Moon’s chest. The crushed powder from the mollusc shells had made the gold dye last longer than the ones used for the other symbols. From the loudspeaker set next to the Creature’s vision grid came a tinny metallic voice. ‘Colonel.’
12 Moon did not understand what the Creature was saying. It spoke again, ‘Awaiting your orders, sir.’
When 12 Moon still did not reply, the military rank was repeated, ‘Colonel.’
12 Moon started to move to one side The Creature’s turret head made a whirring sound and turned to follow him. 12 Moon stopped. The head stopped. 12 Moon began to move again. The Creature moved its head again. But still only the head. 12 Moon circled around the Creature, making his way further up the shore. The beast followed him with its viewgrid until it was forced to rotate on its tread to keep the warrior in sight.
12 Moon paused. The Creature paused, sitting there. 12 Moon did not know why the Creature stopped attacking him. He didn’t understand what it was doing now. Why it was calling him…
‘Awaiting your orders, Colonel.’
The speaker had not been used in a long time and the audio suffered here and there from breakup. 12 Moon asked the Creature, ‘My orders?’
‘Yes, sir. Your orders.’
12 Moon was trying to think fast. He asked the creature, ‘What are your orders?’
The Creature responded, ‘I have been following my previous orders. I now await new orders. Your orders. Colonel.’ When 12 moon didn’t answer right away, the Creature asked, ‘Did you appreciate the items I left you?’
12 Moon thought he was beginning to understand. ‘Your previous orders were from?’
‘The Master.’ The Creature’s answer trailed off in a burst of static.
‘The Master…?’
‘The Master Sargeant.’
‘And what are your orders? From the Master…Sargeant?’
The Creature of the Mountain did not move. But 12 Moon could hear some kind of motor inside of it whirring. Then it answered, ‘To stop the humans.’ More static.
‘To stop the humans?’
‘To stop the humans. From leaving their valley. From finding the Depot.’
‘The Depot Longhouse?’
‘The Depot. Sir.’
12 Moon stood there, thinking.
‘And Colonel is?’
And then the Creature of the Mountain did move. Its arm. Pointing its titanium claw at the golden eagle symbol on 12 Moon’s chest.
‘You are Colonel.’
The Creature lowered its arm. 12 Moon thought he was beginning to see what was… ‘You obey Colonel over… Master… Sargeant?’
‘I obey you. Colonel.’
On the shore of the lake in the idyllic valley, 12 Moon was sure he didn’t fully understand what was going on. But what he did understand was things were going to change.
The Longhouse
As the sun rose, the smell of the morning cooking fires drifted through the village, seeping into the longhouse. Inside the longhouse, here and there, many of the previous evening’s revellers were huddled together in different piles, sleeping off their intoxication. Empty flagons were still gripped in some hands. Some still lay face down in their own vomit where they fell.
Canis, the leader of the Group, had fallen asleep on his throne as he often did after the Chosen Warrior had been sent to their doom. He snored loudly, secure in the fact that he would rule for at least another season.
To one side of the throne, the Shaman and her apprentices slept in their robes, all holding beloved talismans. Raven Boy and Long Strider had fallen asleep holding one another. Some of the children had even fallen asleep in the rafters.
In a corner at the end of the longhouse farthest away from Canis’ throne, Silk held Oh-Mah. 12 Moon’s mother had cried most of the night. They had both heard the distant thunder echo down from the mountains. They both knew. Silk had not slept. Finally, with the smell of the cookfires in her nostrils, her eyes were starting to close when she heard…
The clanking.
It was distant. The sound came and went, depending on the light wind.
Clank-clank-clank.
Canis had reached for his magical weapon even before his eyes were open. He knew what that sound was. He knew what it meant. Canis shoved the sleeping concubine off of his lap. The day had come. The leader checked his Fire Sword that had been given to him by the Creature of the Mountain. The Creature that recognised the strange triangular metal emblem Canis had found in the pass. The emblem that made the Creature call him Master. Master Sargeant.
Confused, the rest of the villagers started to wake and move. Raven Boy shoved Long Strider away. ‘Get off.’
There was a crash. The guards at the front gate began yelling. Canis stood, nervous. ‘What’s going on out there!’
There was an explosion along with sharp cracking sounds. A strange whooshing sound. Men screaming. Another explosion.
Before Canis could take more than a step or two forward, his Fire Sword at the ready, the Creature of the Mountain crashed through the longhouse doors at the far end of the building. Its lights were blazing like twin evil eyes. Canis, Silk and Oh-Mah saw that 12 Moon was riding on the back of the Creature. In his hands, he held his own Fire Sword.
As the Creature tore through the carved throne and Canis ran for his life, 12 Moon promised he would see to it that there would be no more choosing.
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