Sgt. Golem: Royal Mech Hussar - Books 2 & 3

Eva leapt up from the bench when she saw them. "Hannah! Angelica! You found me!" She raced over and wrapped her hands around the bars.

Angelica looked at the lock but didn't see any kind of keyhole. Not that she had a key. Eva pointed towards the doorway to the main quarter. “There by the door. There's a button!"

Sure enough, to the left of the doorway was a row of large buttons, each numbered. When Hannah pressed button number three, a loud buzz sounded, and the door to Eva's cell sprang open.

She beamed at them. She wore a nondescript grey tunic and was in good spirits.

When the cell door opened, Eva grabbed Angelica in a fierce hug. Angelica awkwardly patted her on the back.

"You came for me?”

“Of course," Angelica said.

Eva turned to embrace Hannah, who accepted it naturally.

"We have to go," Angelica said. She brushed by the two of them and went back to the door. "It's still clear. Stay close.” She started forward.

She had taken two steps before Eva called, "Wait! We have to go the other way!"

"The exit's this way. It's where we came in."

Eva shook her head. "We have to go after the firesoul. We can't let him keep it."

"The Russians are coming, and they're going to level this place. We have to get out now before they change their mind about letting us go."

Eva shook her head more furiously this time. "We can't let them have it either. You don't understand. That thing is..."

Suddenly, the girl jerked up straight, her entire body going stiff. Her arms straightened and the fingers on her hands spread like claws. Her teeth were clenched. A moment later, she sagged, gasping for air.

"What is it?" Hannah grabbed her by the shoulders to steady her.

Eva panted as she caught her breath. "He's using it to wake golems. We can't leave it in Frankenstein's hands and we can't let the Russians get a hold of it either. Captain, please, this is important."

Angelica considered. This place was a maze, and wandering around it would be dangerous, but if Eva knew where they needed to go to find the stone, there was at least a chance. From somewhere deeper in the fortress, machinery groaned. Hannah looked up.

"What's that?"

Something clanged, and then the hallway echoed with the sound of stamping feet.

"Quick, take cover," Angelica hissed.

They fell back into the block of prison cells. The cell Eva had been in still stood open, and they ducked inside. Angelica took care to keep a hand on the door and not let it get closed. The marching feet grew louder, and then they were tramping by just outside their little hall. It seemed to stretch on and on, but probably only took a minute before the group had passed.

When the footsteps had died away, Angelica took a chance and poked her head out of the cell. She couldn't see anything through the archway to the main hall other than the stone wall on the far side. Carefully, she slipped out of the cell and the others followed her. The main corridor was clear in both directions.

"Did you feel them?" Eva asked. "Those were golems but there was something different about them. I think he put the power of the firesoul into them."

"What does that even mean?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know but it can't be good," Angelica shook her head. "Alright, let's go find it." She pointed to the right. "You said it was in this direction?"

Thirty meters down the tunnel, the corridor had a branch. Massive steel doors stood open. Angelica eased up, staying out of sight. Someone was moving inside and she hesitated.

"They're here!" an emotionless voice said. Something about it made her think it was female, though it was deep as a man’s.

"What?" another voice asked sharply.

"The Hussars are here, just outside the doorway."

Angelica froze. She heard a gasp from Hannah.

"Is it in there?" Angelica hissed to Eva.

"Yes, but that’s Frankenstein speaking.”

It felt like a trap, but what choice did she have? He could sound the alarm at any time. She drew her sidearm and held it ready. Then she prepared her magic.

"Be ready," she told Hannah, who nodded, and she stepped through the door.

The inhabitants of the room were peculiar. A man, clearly a golem, though slightly shorter than their sergeant, stood with his hands on his hips, staring at her. Next to him was a shrunken, twisted-looking form of what was clearly also a golem, but unlike any she'd ever seen. Several more of the shrunken figures, almost identical, were moving about the room. Two of them were inspecting the lone golem on a table.

"This one's a dud, master," one of them called out in a wheezing voice.

Two larger golems stood flanking what could only be Dr. Frankenstein. These had the same muscular body as their sergeant, but the proportions were slightly different. Angelica realized with a shock that they were women. A slight wideness in the hips and a little more flare to the chest, along with slightly softer facial features, was the only way she could tell.

Had they heard her in the hall, or had they sensed her? A cold dread settled in the pit of Angelica's stomach.

"Welcome to my home," Frankenstein said with an expansive wave of his hands. "Sorry I haven't extended much in the way of hospitality. Ah, I see you found your friend."

Eva took a short step forward. "Give me back the firesoul,” she demanded.

The two golems flanking them had their hands half raised. Somehow, these golems were able to access istota. She opened her senses and confirmed it. They both had the aura of a Hussar mech rider. Were they bonded to mechs? Not that it mattered in the tight quarters of this underground labyrinth. What mattered was how well they could use their power.

Frankenstein smiled indulgently but shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

There was a long moment after Frankenstein spoke while no one moved. Then a door clanked at the back of the room and a panel slid aside. A golem body slid out. The hunchback golems moved towards it. For one moment, Frankenstein glanced in their direction.

"Now!" Angelica barked. She raised her gun.

I had been shot. I felt the tightness in my chest. My limbs didn't want to respond. The floor pressed cold against the side of my face. I couldn’t feel my heart beating. My hands and feet were going numb.

I heard footsteps and forced my eyes open. The room swam. A pair of feet at the edge of my blurred vision moved across the room and through a door. Was that Frankenstein? How had he survived? I’d shot him right through the heart. No one else had been in the room.

How long had I been out? I wasn't sure how badly I was wounded. Another wave of dizziness hit me and I might have passed out. My eyes had closed again, but I heard footsteps once more. It was Frankenstein and he was talking with someone. The arrogance and commanding tone of his voice was unmistakable.

How could he speak like that? I had drilled him straight through the chest. Surely he couldn't talk, even if I had missed his heart. I had to have damaged his lungs.

I had to get up. I had to move.

The footsteps faded and the door closed. Silence.

I summoned all the energy I had and pushed myself up on shaking arms. I felt incredibly weak from blood loss and who knows what other damage. As I moved, fresh blood started pumping from my wounds in my chest. Each breath sent stabbing pains through my chest. I thought my lung was punctured. I had the incredible urge to cough but lacked the energy. Blood gurgled in my lungs.

I was a dead man. But that wasn't the first time for me.

I looked around Frankenstein's office. The two golem guards I had shot lay on the floor, dead like they should be, and I moved forward. There was another stain behind the desk where Frankenstein himself had fallen. But how had he gotten back up? And how had he sounded so healthy?

A door on the wall stood partly open, I thought for sure where I had seen the feet disappearing. The direction looked right. I inched towards it. The world swam at the effort of lifting my arm to open the door completely.

Inside was a machine that was not quite familiar. A slab to lay down on, a control panel, and a rotating frame that held several bodies.

I couldn't think. Couldn't feel past the pain and weakness. There was only action. This thing somehow had made Frankenstein whole again. Therefore it was my only chance.

I sprawled headlong on the metal slab. There was a control panel just at my elbow. It had a selector and a large knife lever. A light by the selector was red. I rotated the knob one more click. Beside me something moved and I heard motors whine. The light turned green. Glowing numbers showed the number 10, whatever that meant. I pulled down on the big switch and the world dissolved into pain.

At least this time I died head-first, not with my legs crushed under construction equipment.

For the second time in my life, I awoke from being dead. This time it was much less of a surprise. I only vaguely remembered getting up from the floor with a mortal wound and making my way to the secret chamber. Whatever machine I had activated had done its work and my body was whole.

Or – I looked to my left and shuddered. My old body lay on the slab where I’d pulled myself. Its head was – I decided not to look, like I hadn’t looked at my leg after it was blown off by the IED.

It took me a moment to pull myself from the machine and stand. My new body was fully clothed, which was convenient, but unarmed, which was not. I ignored the smell of burning flesh and took care to not look at the charred and shriveled head as I retrieved guns and knives from beneath my old uniform jacket, distributing the magazines and then checking that all my 1911s looked to be in good order. My new hands felt a little bigger on the gun frames, and I thought I’d gained a couple inches of height. Good thing I hadn’t invested in a custom wardrobe. I put on my old uniform jacket. It had been tailored in butapest for my old frame but now the arms were too tight again. I used my knife to cut them off.

Then I went to find Frankenstein.

We had a score to settle.

Half an hour ago…

A Russian enlisted man from the airship Glory of Novgorod operated the winch controls and lowered the old-fashioned mech to the ground at the bottom of the ramp. The hangar crane ran on a track all the way out of the opening to allow mechs to be hoisted completely out of the airship, even when they were inert, as this one was.

Another Russian climbed up and removed the crane hook from atop the mech as he set it down.

"What do we do with it? We have orders to fuel it up," the first Russian technician said.

"Really?" The second technician looked skeptically at the antique machine. "All right, I guess." He backed away as the first man brought out a cylinder of desh fuel.

It took the two of them a couple minutes to find the correct access hatch and open it. Inside they were surprised to find a familiar fuel fitting.

"This thing has a Russian desh engine. That's weird," the second tech said. The thing didn't look Russian, though he was hardly an expert in museum-piece mechs.

"What now?" the first technician asked as the fuel cylinder snapped into place.

"Now I suggest we get the hell away from it."

They had taken two steps when the mech started growling.

They exchanged a wordless glance, then broke out into a run. They pounded up the ramp and didn't stop until they had run the length of the Zeppelin's hangar bay. There they stopped and looked back.

The strange mech had stood to its full height. It let out what could only be described as a roar. It sounded like a wounded bear caught between rusty gears. The terrifying sound echoed down the metal hangar bay. Both men stood there, paralyzed with fright as the mech trundled away. Blessedly, it went away from them.

"What do we do now?" The second tech said.

"Not a damn thing."