Jonathon Worthington: Strangelight Investigator

Case #18: The Mystery of the Purloined Past (Chapter 14)

"Lil," I greeted the bogrin woman in welcome relief. "I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you."

"Then prove it, lover-boy," she replied, hopping off the smoke mirror's frame and making kissing sounds with her fanged mouth. I retreated hurriedly, regretting the promise I made to the air before.

"And just who are you to him?" Aria asked, her tone icy enough to make the crew shiver in dread anticipation. The Satyxis woman had murder boiling within her eyes, and when I looked back Lil had struck an arrogant pose and matched her rival's gaze.

"I'm what he needs, toots. You got a problem with that?"

Aria's sword was out and leveled at Lil's head before I could blink. In response Lil smiled wider, gritting her teeth around the hooaga she was smoking and puffing harder. I had little doubt that the blue-black cloud gathering around the bogrin woman's head would prove far deadlier than any steel.

"Ladies, please!" I interrupted. "We don't have time for this."

As if agreeing with me, the colossal gave a massive screech of breaking rust and grinding gears. Dawn was peeking over the horizon, the first light of day revealing Titan's terrible creature as it struggled to move. Clouds of choking green and black smoke belched out of its awakened furnace, rolling up the side of the cliff as the colossal was brought to full power. From the tint of the smoke it was fairly obvious that Titan had managed to get his hands on smuggled necrotite for the monster's furnace, turning an already fearsome foe into something impossibly strong and efficient.

As bad as its fuel source was, what was revealed between the steel plates of the colossal's armor was much, much worse. Red, glistening flesh peeked out from the spaces like lava through a cooling crust. With Titan's modifications the giant had gained far more flexibility, and the tissue served much as chainmail does to protect the joints of a suit of full plate armor. The blood-wet muscle made my skin crawl, naked and seemingly vulnerable under the armored plates of the colossal. Every movement showed more of the flesh, holding the scarred metal giant together with impossible strength and resiliency.

Sounds like grating bellows echoed across the water, adding to the din of its struggles to move against centuries of corrosion. Yet for all the noise the colossal made, the alarms at the warehouse we'd set on fire, along with the early morning hour, assured that the giant abomination would take the town by relative surprise. There were relatively few ships active in the harbor, and it was unlikely that once they noticed the giant moving they'd be able to inform anyone relevant in time. Even if those closest in the city heard the strange sounds, waking startled in their beds, it was improbable that they'd recognize the danger in time. After all, who would even believe that the centuries-old relic could move at all, let alone threaten Five Fingers?

"So it wasn't just an idle boast," Lil muttered, her gold-green eyes wide.

I stepped up to the smoldress, all thoughts of her disturbing advances forgotten for the moment. "You spoke to him last night, after I'd gone. What did he say?"

Lil shrugged uncomfortably. "He made a play for me; don't worry, sweet-cheeks, I like my mates tall and charming, not short, scaled, and crazy. Titan wasn't exactly pleased, but I am twice his size, which of course is why he's so smitten. It's always larger is better with that one; too bad most other gobbers and bogrin don't agree, or I'd be more popular in my side business. He ranted about being bigger than I could imagine before the night was out. I'd thought he meant in power or prestige; I didn't realize he meant it literally."

"The last abomination Titan created was meant to serve as a new body," I explained. "I wonder if he has the same insane plan for this one?"

"I don't know. But it sounds like you need to find out."