Brass Automaton

04 - Sight of Time

John stared at the Tenyks laying flat on his back. There were at least a dozen more forever trapped in the contorted positions in which they died. The Tenyks on the Barn floor were different though, and John couldn't take his eyes away from the agonized face struggling to move despite a broken back. It wasn't just that it was the only one still alive, it was that John had sent it to its current pain. He'd managed to cast it down from the loft when it had surprised him, interrupting his flight for refuge.

"How many more? Where?" Reese was demanding of the thing. "Tell me and I will end your suffering quickly." When her answer was naught but the silent movement of its lips like a fish gaping at its own reflection in a tank, Reese deftly slid her dagger across its throat. She shook her head and sighed before looking around the area.

The freezing of its face in a mask of impotent fury roused John to speak, "I don't believe it!"

"I know. This is bad. Very bad."

John scoffed at her nonchalance. "You killed a helpless man!" He steadied his legs against the loft ledge and prepared himself against the force of Reese's glare.

"Look at them John. How much humanity is left? When you wound a stag to where it cannot walk, do you wait for it to die slowly? Or do you end its suffering?"

John used the excuse of coming down from the loft to avoid answering. He looked at the Tenyks faces again, but closer this time. He looked beyond his horror and disgust. Even in death, there was a mark of humanity that remained with people. Here there was none. Their faces bore only the marks of savagery and the grim castings of hatred. "I'm sorry Reese, this is all so-" He paused and closed his eyes. "So-"

"Yeah," Reese replied with a sigh, "I know."

* * *

It was some hours, and more miles than John thought possible, before they spoke again. "Why is it so bad, Reese?" he finally asked.

Reese sighed, and her eyes focused far away before she answered. "Time is fickle even for magick. The evil queen made a time portal to send the brass automaton back to get you." Her eyes met his. "A rip in time itself," she added when she saw that he didn't understand. "I tried to stop it, but fell through it instead, arriving years before the brass automaton did. So, the Tenyks could only have come through if it was stabilized. Which would also mean many, many more of them."

"Oh," John replied, deflated.

"Our only hope is that we found out about it, and stopped it before any more could make it through."

"How would we do that?" asked John after some quiet, confused thinking.

"Not you and me, 'We,' my Sisters, 'We.' Bugger time and talking about it!" she added, kicking a small rock.

"How many Sisters do you have?"

Reese released a full, hearty laugh, one that John couldn't remember ever having heard from her before. "I have been trapped here so long I forget how little you know and how long ago it was. It has been a long time since I've truly thought of them. Hundreds, John, I have hundreds if not thousands of sisters."

"You have..."

"Thousands of sisters yes. It's what we call ourselves. Almost every man exposed to the evil queen's spell was trapped. Forever. There was nothing that we could do, and believe me we tried everything. Her spell was so powerful, so profound, that we were helpless. The women though, and most of the younger boys, were swayed but not controlled. When the evil queen's mirrored message ended, we broke free."

"There was only one woman on the Council of Nine, and she realized what was going on immediately. She made her escape through a secret passage and then organized the resistance. She gathered the Sisters, the boys, and those few men who weren't trapped, and brought them to the shelter of the caves.

"The eastern mountains are our home now. The men toil over our flocks and the few crops we can grow. The Sisters ensure that the evil queen is reminded of her mortality and that no Tenyks who enter the foothills leave alive."

She crouched suddenly, pulling John down with her. He strained to be quiet, even holding his breath tight enough to hear his own heartbeat in his ears. It sounded far too loud and fast.

"Breathe fool!" she hissed. "Just do it quietly."

He saw now what she had seen. It was a small village, though he couldn't remember ever visiting it. He wondered if it even had a name beyond, "The Village," for the surrounding people. Something about it felt profoundly wrong, though.

He couldn't quite place his reservations when Reese whispered, "The people are gone."

* * *

Wary of traps, it took them hours to verify that the village was indeed empty. On their final pass, Reese grinned, "There!"

"People?" John asked, looking in all directions.

"Better. A blacksmith shop. Now we may just stand a chance against the brass automaton. Then we can worry about the time portal."

Any questions John had about the plan were soon lost as she directed their preparations. "Do you think this will work, Reese?" he asked while they ate dry bread with their backs against the blacksmith's cold forge.

"I hope so. We don't have many options left, but at least it's a practical plan."

"It's just nice to not be running anymore," John added some time later after they finished their meager rations in silence.

"It is." She nodded and met his silent stare. "The more so when it's harder in some ways too."

"I've been thinking about the Sisters," he added, nodding to her sagacity. "Don't you worry that one of the men will catch a reflection somewhere and be turned while he's with you in the caves?"

"No, not anymore," she replied. "We take strict measures to ensure they can never see a reflection."

"Oh-" John started. "But, how would you even manage that?"

Reese took a long swallow from a wineskin they'd found before answering. "We blind them."