Sgt. Golem: Royal Mech Hussar - Stubs Soon!

Angelica woke with a start. Something had exploded nearby. In the distance, she heard a dull rumble. She rolled out of the bunk, narrowly avoiding braining herself on the bunk above, and dropped into the only chair in the tiny room. She pulled on her pants and stamped into her boots as quickly as she could. Snatching up her jacket, she tugged it on as she left the room.

She hurried down the passageways, which were much less crowded now, with most people either asleep or out on patrol, and clanged up the stairs to the bridge. Alexander was there as she poked her head in.

"Angelica! You're awake?”

“What's going on? I hear explosions."

"I don't know.” He gestured towards the intercom. "The picket reported gunfire toward the village.”

"Alright, I'm going up." She stepped straight to the ladder and climbed up to the hatch in the ceiling. It squealed open, and she climbed up onto the upper deck.

With her magic sense, she reached out for her charger. It was still back in the hangar, but she could reach it. She felt it stirring. It didn't have a real mind, just a presence. When she brushed it with hers, it began to awake, responding to her command to get up and come to her.

She scanned the horizon, looking south towards the town. There was flickering light through the trees. Was it a fire?

Another explosion rocked the night, almost deafeningly loud even at this distance. A ball of burning gas rolled into the air, dissipating into the black. Angelica swore. “By the Virgin, we’re in for it!”

From the end of the train, her mech came clomping. It climbed up onto the roof and began stomping down towards her, carrying its cannon in both big metal hands. She pulled her jacket closed against the cool of the night and buttoned it. She quickly tied her hair back and climbed up out of the crow's nest onto the smooth hull.

Alexander poked his head out of the hole behind her. She called back to him, "Recall the pickets and make ready to move. Man the gun turrets and get a screening force on the road. Somebody's coming."

"Yes, Lieutenant." He dropped back down the hatch, closing it behind him. Good man.

Someone was coming. And what’s more, someone else was fighting them. And where was the golem?

Angelica leapt for the shoulder of her mech. With a slight burst of magic, she flew the 12 feet up and over and landed lightly on the shoulder pad, even in the dark. At her unspoken command, the charger turned and leapt from the roof of the hauler. It slammed down with an earth-shaking thud. With a flex of its big metal knees and her long practice, Angelica absorbed the impact.

Her charger sprang up and loped down the road. She reached down for the hilt sticking up between its shoulder blades and slid her sword out of the sheath. Another flare of istota strengthened her arm and let her swing it smoothly up to her shoulder. The weight rode uncomfortably as her charger ran, but it was good to be prepared.

Blood geysered as the girl’s swords flashed in spinning arcs. The officer crumpled. She slipped between leveled bayonets and stepped forward into the men.

I didn’t stick around to watch but darted back toward the barn door. Tamara’s massive rifle was leaning against it, and I snatched it up on the way past.

The barn was pitch black after the glare of the headlights, but I remembered the open space and crossed to the far door. I shoved it open, straight into a squad of surprised Russian soldiers.

My fist took the first one in the face. I felt nose and bone crunch. He tumbled back away from me. The others were too close for me to bring up the rifle, or even swing it so I bodychecked the next man. He flew back into several others, and they went down in a heap.

Ok, this body was fucking amazing.

A man behind me jabbed with a bayonet but I turned in time and caught it coming in, grabbing the rifle barrel and deflecting it. I yanked hard and pulled man, rifle, and bayonet right past me, and used them to stab another soldier.

For a moment the two men stood staring at each other in surprise, stabber and stabbee. I let go of the Russian’s rifle and punched him in the face.

The fallen pile of soldiers struggled up, so I grabbed Tamara’s rifle in both hands and waded in. I punched down with the butt as each head presented itself. In a few seconds they all lay still.

I didn’t take the time to search them. With any luck the noise would alert my people at the hauler. I slipped around the end of the barn. Sprinting through the headlights of the nearest truck, I got around to the far side of the convoy. Most of the men were on the other side of the line of trucks.

I leveled the massive rifle across the hood of the truck and lined it up on a vehicle farther down the line.

BOOM! This thing had more of a hair trigger than I expected, with almost no slack take up.

I ducked my head low and worked the bolt. Snick, snick.

I swung the rifle to line up again. The sights on the weapon were unfamiliar, but at this range it hardly mattered. I aimed between the headlights and squeezed the trigger.

BOOM!

The monster rifle would have smashed my shoulder to dust when I had been a normal man. As it was, it rocked my bulky form back on my heels. The lights bobbed and swerved to one side and then vanished as the vehicle plunged over the lip of the road and down into the creek bed below with a trailing crash and screams.

I hefted the weapon and ducked back behind the truck as bullets slammed into it, pinging and clanging on the sheet metal and engine block.

As I crouched behind the big wheel, I noticed something glowing nearby in the grass. Bottles of glowing liquid lay in the grass. The bottles had clearly fallen from the truck itself. There was a large puddle by the rear tire where one of them had cracked open. Strange. I had never seen anything like it.

I needed to move, so I scooped up one of the bottles and stuffed it on a pocket.

I was contemplating my next move when I suddenly had that ‘hairs on the back of your neck’ sensation and jerked my head to one side. A line of fire burned along my neck, and I threw myself over, rolling and coming up in a crouch.

I reached a hand for my sidearm. The holster flap was closed, and I fumbled at it. In front of me was a shadow, only this one was the shape of a man and flowed like black smoke.

The shadow spoke with an amused and heavily Russian-accented voice. "What are you?"

I saw something like a white stiletto blade vanish inside the smoky folds. It was like the man was wearing a cloak of shadow—not the metaphoric kind, but a literal cloak made of literal shadows.

I had my pistol out now and fired three shots into his center of mass. I couldn’t have missed, not at that distance.

"A golem carrying guns and shooting at soldiers. Most peculiar," the shadowy figure said, unfazed.

“What the hell? Why aren’t you bleeding out?” I fired again, emptying the rest of my chambers. For all the effect it seemed to have.

"Oh, and it's got a mouth to it too. Interesting."

The cut along my neck burned like the dickens, but I didn't want to raise a hand to check. I didn't feel dampness on my shirt, and if he had cut something important, I would be soaked with blood by now. So it wasn't that deep, but it sure did sting.

I felt with my foot to see where the rifle had fallen. Could I scoop it up and get it up in time? Maybe.

"And you're still on your feet. Interesting. I knew golems were resistant to magic, but I've never tried my poisons on one before. Fascinating. I will have to correct that oversight."

I lowered my empty gun and reached around for my knife. I took a step back as I brought the knife up.

“Nice try. We will almost certainly be seeing each other again."

And then, in a swirl of black, he was gone.

I blinked my eyes. Had I even seen that? How had I shot at him six times without hitting? Whatever he was wearing was mind-bending. We had another dangerous foe out there, and the gear he wore was beyond me. I didn't have time to worry about that now. I would just have to keep a sharper eye on shadows.

I scooped up my rifle and headed back in the direction of the barn. The bulk of Russian troops were either down or had moved off toward the woods. I made it halfway to the barn before a light caught me and shouts and gunfire followed. The mud kicked up all around me. I ducked through the barn door, throwing myself behind some rusty machinery and laying flat on the ground.

I rolled over and considered my options, eyeing how far away the back door was. Even as I looked at it though, it smashed inward and a half a dozen Russian troops tumbled through, bumping into each other before spreading out. One of them spotted me and shouted, raising his rifle.

A moment later he was missing his head. The body went one way and the head went the other as Tamara stepped out from behind him. Swords flashed. The next man went down in a scream.

What happened next, I couldn't really follow. Her blades were weaving up and down and spinning in circles. The Russians were screaming and running in all directions.

One ran past me, headed for the door I had come in, and another followed him, but I stuck out the stock of the rifle and tripped him. He fell with a cry and then she was there on him, swords flashing. The headless body fell limp.

"Get up, we're going to have to get—"

Her words were drowned out by the roar of gunfire. A dozen rifles firing repeatedly. A moment later a machine gun joined in. Tamara threw herself flat as the barn ripped to pieces, splinters flying everywhere, holes appearing in the walls. A hail of bullets swept the interior of the barn. We lay side by side, clutching the earth like we were going to fall off, pressing our faces against the mud. I looked right into her eyes from a foot away and for the first time saw her fear.

A final deafening roar ended the fusillade. The barn exploded into flying beams and burning splinters.

I looked up, saw the roof coming down on us. Without a second thought I rolled and threw my bulk over her, bracing my arms and legs. I knew this would be the end.

She looked up at me with wide eyes, and then the beams came crashing down. Tamara covered her face as burning sparks and splinters rained down on us.

Heavy beams slammed into me, first one and then another. The second impact wasn't as hard as the first and when a third hit it wasn't even all that bad. They were tumbling on top of each other and the debris itself formed a protective pocket.

That hadn’t been so bad. Except for that first one. That one had really hurt.

The roar faded into crashes and cracks, then stillness. I pushed myself up. The beam on top of me shifted and moved and then rolled away. I was astounded at first, then I saw the first beam had landed half on her mech. That must’ve taken most of the blow.

The girl sat up, coughing and brushing dirt from her face.

"We're in trouble," she said. "Those are mech cannons. The Russian reinforcements have arrived.”

Getting to my knees, I looked over the scattered beams and out into the clearing. In the headlights and the flickering fires, I could see four giant machines with figures standing on their shoulders. Russian mechs, Russian girls riding their shoulders, bringing death to us.

She was right, we were in trouble. I slowly lowered my head back down. Maybe they hadn't seen me in all those jumbled up beams. Maybe they would think we were dead.

"What about your robot?"

"My what?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Your charger."

“You really are Polish, aren't you? I can't use it. It's out of desh.”

I stared at her, and she must’ve seen my lack of understanding. “Fuel.”

“Ah.” I reached into the pocket of my overalls and pulled out the glowing cylinder I had scooped up earlier. “This stuff?”

The look of utter shock her face was priceless. “Where did you get that? I don't believe it!”

“They had them in the trucks.”

“Of course! They had to bring their own fuel for their own mechs.”

Tamara knelt beside the mech and did something I couldn’t see with the bottle of fuel.

The voices outside the shattered barns were yelling and coming closer. Coming to finish the job.

I hefted the big rifle. If I could just buy the girl some time, maybe she could get some of that fuel into her robot.

I was just lifting my head above the debris when one of the Russian mechs exploded.

A charger stomped into the clearing. I recognized Angelica on its shoulder.

Relief flooded me. I looked back at Tamara. She had a hand on her mech's chest. A faint glow of blue lit up the charger's chest and flowed up her arm, into her. She lowered her hand and took a deep breath. Then she stood, grinning.

"I'll take my gun back now."

Behind her the massive mech stood up.

Angelica’s Charger lowered its cannon, working the action and loading another round. She lifted her sword up into guard position and drew on her magic to summon a shield.

While she wasn't a shield caster like Hannah, all mech riders could summon some level of personal protection. It was critical to be able to deflect small arms fire, rifles and pistols, even shrapnel. Otherwise, riding exposed on the top of a charger would be suicide.

The Russian mech staggered backwards then toppled over. Its rider leapt clear, and Angelica lost sight of her in the shadows immediately.

The other three mechs and riders had scattered. The ordinary soldiers opened fire on Angelica, filling the air with angry hornets, many of them bouncing off her personal shield. She could feel each hit draining the magic away bit by bit, but it would hold for long enough.

Her charger dashed across the clearing and ducked around a building at the edge of the village. They dropped into a ravine almost deep enough to conceal them. Angelica crouched low. They sprinted along parallel to the Russian convoy. They dodged around the wreck of a car, smashed in the bottom of the ravine. Her charger leapt up, catching the edge of the road with its hands and pulling them out.

They were past the line of trucks now, and Angelica willed her mount to bring its cannon to bear, aiming at the last truck in the line.

Boom! The explosion was spectacular, but the soldiers had already taken off running, ducking into the trees on the upslope side of the road.

Angelic followed, weaving between trees. She crouched low on her mech’s shoulder to avoid whipping branches.

The first mech girl that Angelica came on was a Shieldmaiden. Angelica charged, sword swinging, but this girl knew her business. She managed to block Angelica’s swing with her big mech shield. The impact reverberated through the woods.

A vague sense of danger made Angelica's hair stand on end and she immediately threw herself to the side, leaping off the shoulder of her mech as the mech dodged the other way. Something massive passed through the space where they had just been.

Angelica flipped in the air and landed briefly atop a boulder. She pushed off again and soared through the air to land back on the shoulder of her mech.

Together they sprang away, dodging behind a tree. The trunk exploded as a massive sword cut through it. It just missed Angelica and her charger. They shifted back sideways and then spun, putting two more trees between them and the other attacker.

It was the Russian swordswoman. As she dodged through the trees, Angelica's charger turned and shot behind them once, twice. Each time in the distance Angelica heard the solid clang of the shield maiden blocking the shots. They made a good team, and Angelica wasn’t likely to beat them on her own.

The trees ran out and she was back out into the field again, barreling through a squad of Russian soldiers. Halfway across the field Angelica's charger spun, slid on the slick grass, and then caught itself. It crouched ready, cannon raising, as the three Russian mechs and riders emerged from the woods.

They were spread out in a line, the cannon on the end, the swordswoman on the side and the shield maiden in the middle. Angelica raised her sword and readied for the fight.

The cannon girl raised her weapon and exploded.

The mech staggered as her rider was ripped to pieces and flung off her. It lowered its cannon and slumped over. The shield maiden turned, raising her shield far too late. That was all the opening Angelica needed. She leapt from the shoulder of her charger, summoning a burst of magic that carried her completely across the clearing. She raised her sword high and brought it down, even as her mech began to charge.

The huge blade sliced down through the shoulder of the sword girl's mech, catching it where a human would have a collar bone and slicing deep into its torso.

The girl cried out and staggered, almost falling off her mech as the feedback pain washed over her. Then Angelica's charger was there. The giant metal fist caught the girl in the torso and threw her broken body back into the trees, where somewhere in the dark she hit with a sickening crack.

The Russian mech slumped and Angelica had to burn a considerable burst of istota to yank her sword free. She turned just as the screaming, crying shield maiden charged, her giant metal slab swinging like a weapon. Angelica didn’t have time to react. The shield maiden was almost on her.

Three strides short, a barrage of fire cut her down in her tracks.

The mech pitched forward. The shield slid in the dirt as the girl's bullet-riddled body fell. Angelica looked up, breathing hard, not quite believing her good luck.

Across the clearing stood a strange charger. No, it was a Cossack mech. The girl standing on it had a long-barreled anti-armor rifle.

Standing a few yards away was Sergeant Golem, even now lowering a rifle from his shoulder.

I stood there trying not to shake. Something nagged at me. I reached down and worked the action on my rifle. I had no idea what model rifle this was, but the action was the same as a Mauser.

My hands were shaking. Had I just killed someone? I'd had a good aim at her when I squeezed the trigger. But Tamara had certainly sent enough lead into the girl to have done the job by herself. Had my bullet even hit? Had I been the one to kill her?

My hands still shook. This wasn't right. I was a soldier. I had been to war. I'd never looked a girl right in the eye and then shot her.

I was exaggerating. No reason to be melodramatic at a time like this. I hadn't seen her face at all. She was an enemy and she'd been trying to kill us. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my hands.

"Who are you?" Angelica challenged Tamara.

"Hey Lieutenant, good to see you too,” I interjected, but Angelica would not be distracted.

"Identify yourself."

"I could say the same to you." Tamara had that playful challenge in her voice again, which was not what Angelica needed right now.

"Lieutenant, this is Tamara. She's a scout for the Russians."

"I can see what she is," Angelica said. "Why were you helping us? Why were you shooting your own people?"

The playfulness was gone from Tamara. "They are not my own people." She turned and spit on the ground. "I'm a Cossack. The Russians have been using us and throwing us away for centuries. If you’ll take me, I’m changing sides.”