Brass Automaton

05 - Metal Cocoon

Escaping steam whistled, and the sound of breaking foliage echoed across the valley. John looked over his shoulder as the brass automaton crashed through the tree line. Light reflected from the monster's remaining eye blinded him. He raised his hand to block the light while staring down at it. Smiling, he turned to Reese, who didn't join him in his exuberance. John's eyes scanned her body. Like his, she was covered with bruises, cuts, and scrapes. Some were deep, and the tinge of scarlet on her tattered shirt told him how close to death they'd come since learning the secrets she had kept from him for so many years.

"You know what to do," Reese whispered.

John nodded stoically as the behemoth launched into the air. The arc was known; they'd battled it enough to know its limitations. Brass against stone, the noise was deafening. The duo watched as the automaton gathered steam pressure for another jump.

Reese allowed a smirk as she counted out the number of jumps. "One."

John turned and started to look further up the mountain.

"Don't look at it. The Queen's Assassin can still see you with its good eye."

John spun around, and although from his height he couldn't make out the mechanical face, he saw in his mind's eye the mount where the magic mirror fragment was attached. Reese seemed to know exactly where to set up their trap, and when the chopped log struck the monstrosity in the head, he thought his ordeal was through.

Another high pitched release and another crash into the rocky terrain. "Two," Reese whispered, the brass automation got closer.

John could feel emotion radiate from Reese. Our trap will work, he thought, but he perceived an almost depressed feeling from Reese. He stared at her, but she turned away. Something's not right, he thought.

Reese met his gaze long enough to count out the next leap. "Three," she said.

The steam-powered whine reached a crescendo as Reese yelled out, "Now!"

John skittered behind a boulder, and Reese kicked away a wooden stump.

"Push, damn you!" The shout from his protector spurred him to action. John planted his feet against the earthen wall and pushed against the boulder with everything he had.

The impact from the brass man caused the ground to shudder and loose the boulder from its stony slumber. The hiss-click was heard over the rumbling of the boulder as the evil queen's construct attempted to leap from the path of the boulder, but there wasn't enough time for it to build up enough pressure. Tendrils of compressed gas leaked from its shattered arm.

The boulder struck the mechanical man in a glancing blow, but it was enough to throw the beast back. Once, twice, thrice the automaton tumbled end over end until it landed upside-down in a sturdy tree that had sprouted from the cliff face. When the boulder impacted the cliff with the automaton's head pinned between, a cacophony of sound erupted. Steam, brass, and rock fragments rained down on the mountainside, showering John and Reese with debris.

* * *

"Ceridwen, my queen."

Ceridwen ignored the man who knelt before her brass throne. Instead, she kept her eyes affixed to the mirrored fragment as the events on the mountainside unfolded. She flinched as the boulder crushed the head of the clockwork automaton she had had painstakingly constructed by her loyal Tenyks.

She watched the eye of the automaton sail in a steep arc, propelled by a column of steam. From her bird's eye view, she saw a stone fragment strike Reese White in the chest before it tumbled out of view.

* * *

"Reese!"

John leaped over debris and ducked under falling ejecta. His eyes focused on the singular goal of reaching his fallen friend. He skidded to a stop on his knees and picked up Reese's broken body.

"Reese!" he yelled again, his vision blurred with tears. "Don't you die on me!"

Reese laid in his arms, and her chest shuddered, trying to take in air. She forced a smile between ragged breaths. "Tell mother I love her," she rasped as her entire body shook violently with the effort of speech.

John squeezed Reese's lifeless body to his chest, unashamed of his tears.

* * *

Sarah wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked to the defunct brass automation standing silently on the pedestal.

"What a sad story," she whispered.

"It gets worse," Jarvis replied. He handed her a goblet to drink.

"How?" she asked, as she drank the wine to steady her shaking fingers.

Jarvis picked up his staff in reply and wedged it in a deep crease where the shoulder blades would have been if the abomination were made of flesh and bone. He turned to Sarah and pointed to a dusty chest behind the platform. "Open the chest, and bring me the sack inside."

Sarah complied and lifted the burlap sack from the wooden chest. Metal clanked from within, and it caused her heart to race. Jarvis leaned against the staff and balanced his weight on one end. Sarah stared wide-eyed as the staff slowly lowered and an audible click echoed off the stone ceiling.

Sarah backed away as the dented chest plate split open and revealed a hollow space inside. Telltale remnants of steam escaped as the arms and legs also opened revealing that they too were hollow.

Jarvis walked around the front of the machine, and Sarah followed.

"Ceridwen couldn't make this thing think."

Sarah nodded.

"She is the queen of dark magick."

"'Is'?" Sarah responded, her speech starting to slur.

Jarvis nodded, picked up the sack, and emptied its contents onto the stone floor. Brass shards tumbled and scattered. Sarah muttered, her lips failing to create the words. Jarvis lifted the young girl and placed her into the brass automaton. The openings closed on the artist, with only her neck, head, and left arm protruding from the metal sarcophagus.

Jarvis wrapped the burlap bag around a jagged brass piece and sliced Sarah's cheek. Blood dribbled, and as it coated the mangled brass, the pieces that were strewn on the floor began to rattle. They chased each other around the pedestal, the brass fragments rose until an unseen force placed each twisted metal piece over Sarah's exposed flesh.

Jarvis looked away and covered his ears to the shrieks of anguish from inside the metal cocoon.