The brushing of tall grass in the wind hissed a calming white noise. The clearest blue day beside the grey wall of the ironheart mountains was at peace but for the bleat of a goat. And then the sound of swift footsteps. And then a peal of childish laughter.
A single goat leapt across the uneven ground, leading five more behind him. Ran as they might, the iridescent bronze girl chasing behind them had not tired for the several minutes that she had remained running. She simply kept giggling as if catching her breath was something to be left for tomorrow.
“Conata!” A kind voice bellowed. “Conata! Leave the poor goats alone! They will be exhausted if you keep running them around.”
The bronze child jumped. Her legs threw her further than their short stature suggested possible. With her arms outstretched, she flopped onto half of one of the goats’ backs, dragging it to the dirt. It bleated in surprise and struggled in her grip. “Got you, big billy,” Conata said with a grin.
Conata stood up and dusted off her rawhide smock while the beleaguered goat carefully clambered back onto its hooves. A few crunching, grassy footsteps cast two large shadows over the two of them, causing Conata to look up and smile. A long, thin crook reached out and caught the goat by the neck before it could run off again. Even if it could have, it was too tired to try.
“Conata, my little gem, I would thank you for catching the goat that I was to trade to Rokyut here, but you do not have to chase every one of them throughout the day.” Choukkud chuckled and leant down to ruffle Conata’s copper hair with his thumb. Conata giggled and cringed, turning slightly silver. Another Tedar with a large leather hood tightly covering his head and keeping his ears free looked on with a smile and crossed arms.
“But daddy, it’s fun to chase them,” Conata said in her defence.
“Right, but you’ve been running for hours, haven’t you?” Choukkud’s sharp-toothed grin gleamed against the afternoon. “Have you put your mind to something again, little gem? You never do stop once that happens, we all know it. How full of energy you are!”
Conata knew she wasn’t in trouble, but averted her eyes coyly anyway. “I just wanted to catch all of the goats. I did it, though! The big billy was the last one!”
The hooded Tedar chose to speak up at this point. “This is your blessed daughter, Choukkud?” He said with the corner of his mouth. “She’s a cute little lump, aren’t ya?”
Choukkud turned his head to the hooded figure. “The most blessed gift we could ever have, Rokyut. Conata, say hello.”
With a routine childish droll, Conata recited. “Hello mister Rokyut.”
“Hello Conata,” Rokyut said endearingly, bowing his head.
“Rokyut is from a clan further south.” Choukkud continued. “He has come to trade a couple of fine breeding nannies for our big billy here. Come here you…” Choukkud pulled the still trapped goat towards the two Tedar before he outright reached out with his other hand and scooped the goat off the ground. The goat bleated and struggled, but Choukkud didn’t react with anything more than to put the beast under one arm and turn to leave. Rokyut was not far behind. “Come along, Conata. You will be taking your oath tonight with the prophet. You will have to get ready soon.”
Conata followed along, but let out a whine. “Aw! Do I have to? I don’t want a red mark on my wrist! And Sularn’s grumpy and clean…”
“It’s very important, little gem. Everyone must do it.” Choukkud turned his head such that his eye glinted. “You can still play with the goblins afterwards.”
The excitement that Conata held for that was hidden behind a silent pout, but she was still bronze enough that Choukkud could tell otherwise.
“So, Choukkud,” Rokyut began a conversation as they walked with Conata in tow. “Your daughter. Is she human or rovaick? She looks human.”
Choukkud answered without giving Conata so much as a glance. “She may look human, but she is not either. She still my daughter. Wutni and I are raising her as one of us.”
Conata peered her eyes up with a frown at the backs of the two Tedar.
“But…she’s human? She’s not rovaick.”
“It does not matter, Rokyut. We accept her.”
Three crunching paces passed.
“Do the others accept her? I have heard of her powers.”
Conata looked on blankly at the nearby flying ants.
Four crunching steps brought Choukkud’s head low. He sighed. “Yes,” he said firmly.
The conversation was culled by awkwardness all the way back to the edge of the field.
Splat! Conata scooped up another lump of clay from the large puddle and dunked it onto the circle of clay behind her, another goblin squat down to do the same. The clay made everyone filthy, not least of which the normally lustrous metal girl among the gaggle of goblins that was helping her. The amount on one of her hands alone almost covered up the bright red symbols on the back of it. It nevertheless was fun for everyone involved.
Conata giggled at the sound the clay made, as well as the eventual mud fight that broke out between her easily distracted helpers. No matter, she could build it herself. The others tended to get tired faster anyway.
“Iz you sure da mud’ll help make da fire hotta, forgefingaz?” Fradk asked. She was one of the goblins with more self-control, and hadn’t joined the mud-slinging contest so quickly.
Not pausing her efforts, Conata grinned. “Maybe. The clay doesn’t burn and it stays hot, so maybe it will keep the heat in.” Splat went another lump of clay. Conata pat it down securely with her small hands.
Up the clay dome rose, taking another hour or so to complete without it falling apart. Their determination was rewarded with success before the end of the day. Even though she was still small, Conata had to be the one to reach up and close the ceiling of the little clay oven. She had grown taller than all of the goblins over the years. She laid her entire front up against the dome and reached with one arm, whining in a struggle. Splat! “Done!” She exclaimed. Another couple of secure pats sealed the dome but for the small port at its base.
Before climbing down, Conata waved with her other arm, prompting a little copper disc to slide out from the front of her smock. It hovered around in the air like it had a mind of its own before settling down on the freshly placed clay. Conata then closed her fingers in the air and the clay underneath the disc hissed and bubbled. By the time the disk started smoking red hot, Conata willed it up again and cooled it, revealing dry clay underneath, just as dry as the rest of the surface. The disk slipped back under Conata’s smock where it belonged as she put her hands to the dome to push herself straight. Whatever details of her front that had not been rendered filthy were now so thoroughly covered that it almost looked like she was made from muddy clay.
“Wot now?” One of the goblins asked.
Some of the goblins were distracted again, this time by the passing patrol of troll guards. The trolls wore white pelts with red symbols on them, as was becoming a custom for good luck amongst the warriors.
Conata smiled and threw up her arms in excitement that had not faded at all through the day. “Now we light wood in the opening in the base with some of the sleeping metal rocks and see if we can wake the metal up!”
The trolls, overhearing this, stopped and began to chuckle to themselves. The fear that the rovaick had of Conata initially had turned on her after about a month after she first woke up in the clan. Her gentle impression as a little girl made her projects the butt of a few jokes.
Turning to a copper complexion and letting her arms lower, Conata’s smile faded. She lowered her brow in defiance at the trolls. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.
One of the trolls raised a fist holding his stone club and pointed to Sularn’s oath written upon the back of his hand. “Little forgefingers, this symbol is for improving yourself, remember?” He put a fist on his hip and pointed to Conata’s little oven project. “If you keep doing silly things like this, your oath might fade. You’re wasting time! Clay? You’ll just stifle the flames!”
With that, both of the trolls began to bellow out in louder laughter.
Conata’s face twisted in anger and her hair began to bristle. Her previously copper skin turned into dull iron. The nearer goblins stepped back. Conata clenched her fists, hunched her shoulders and began steaming as the clay stuck to her skin hissed, dried, and flaked. “Shut up! You’re stupid!” she shouted in her high, girlish peal. “It’ll work! Just you wait, poo heads!”
The trolls only laughed more, but one nudged the other and nodded his head towards their destination. “Come on, Youkus, let the metal human waste her time with the goblins. It’s not like she’s got much else.”
At that last comment, the rust on Conata’s skin began to spread and her wire hair smoothed out. As the trolls walked off, Rubok, one of the goblins who had known Conata the longest, put a hand on her arm.
“Hey, uh, forgefingaz?” Rubok asked, internally thankful that he had not burnt his hand by touching her, looked up with some hope. “Dey’re dumb trollz. Letz dem go and we’z can try ligh’in’ da fire now.” The other goblins offered encouraging smiles to Conata as well. They may not have been the brightest creatures, but they had experience with trolls picking on them.
Conata’s rust and iron soon gave way to bright bronze again. She sniffed and smiled. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
The next morning had the offending troll Youkus wake up to see a pair of small bronze hands above his head holding up a dirty, charred, fist-sized lump of shiny…clunk! “Ow!”
A familiar voice sounded out, albeit croaky enough to suggest a full night of work. “Good morning, poo head.”
The bead of tin hovered in front of Conata’s red eyes. With a pair of fingers, she waved and the bead glowed orange and split into two equal drops. From where she was, laying prone on her bed with her heels kicking the air behind her, Conata was relaxed enough to do this with little concentration at all. She had found such fine manipulation tricky before, but that was before she even had her ninth birthday. She was twelve now. Things had changed.
“Conata!” Mother’s voice echoed off the stone. “Your friends are here!”
Conata’s eyes lit up, as did the reflections on her bronze skin. Without so much as a gesture, the beads of tin fused and flew up onto a fine wooden shelf built into the stone. The beads, in turn, fused with a cylinder of tin that stood upright on the wood. The tin was lined up between the copper and the zinc cylinders, amongst about seven others in the row. Conata was sitting up by the time her guests arrived.
“Forgefingaz!” “Hoy!” A pair of grinning goblins walked into view with a peculiar object carried between them. Conata craned her head down and raised an eyebrow. It was a long tusk-like shape, but despite its dull grey appearance and dirty patches, Conata could feel from where she sat that it was pure metal. This was strange for a number of reasons; normally the goblins would bring new kinds of rocks to see what metal was inside them and normally they weren’t too different from the ingots already on Conata’s shelf. This was neither an ore nor anything she had felt before.
“What is that?” Conata asked.
The goblins dropped the tusk onto the floor. “Iz giantb-argh!” The first goblin was knocked with a haymaker by the other. “Shuddup! You givez away da story!” The first rubbed the back of his head, though the strike did not seriously damage anything, such were goblin skulls.
“Did you say giants, Bogg? You mean like white giants? What’s the story, Olub?”
“Wull…yeah…” The second goblin, Olub, seemed slightly disappointed that the big discovery was ruined, but he continued anyway. “We’z foundz it cheap from da hainy-bone traderz. Say dey can’t use it for much.” Olub raised one hand, then the other. “Bendz outta shape too eazy, meltz ‘fore y’can ‘ammer it, doezn’t stay sharp like bronze. Dey waz tryin’a get rid’v it. So we’z traded one brick o’ coppa for dis much!”
“Pick it up! Look!” Bogg got too excited to stay silent for too long. He got another smack over the head for his troubles.
Conata had known these two for long enough to be used to their behaviour. She slid down from her bedding and scooped up the tusk in both hands. She overcompensated lifting it up and almost hit herself with it. Her eyes were wide. “It’s so light! I have never seen anything like it.”
“You’z never would guess where dey foundz it, dough.” Olub grinned from ear to ear.
With a stifled laugh, Conata replied. “I’m guessing something to do with giants?”
“Bah…” Olub waved a hand and looked away. “Roight, iz no fun now.” His pout looked like it was holding back a swarm of bees. “Dey foundz it in a hole in da dirt. Lotz’a bitz of porcelain. Lotz’a dis stuff. Lotz’a ro’en meat. Waz a dead…white…giant…” Olub enunciated better than he had in his entire life. He pointed to the tusk. “Iz a rib, forgefingaz.”
Conata swallowed. “So this is…a giant bone? Their bones are made of metal?”
“Giant bone!” Bogg shouted out. “Is wot dey callz it! Iz wot I sayz before!”
This time, the goblin grin crept onto Conata’s lips. Her hair began to bristle. “Amazing! We’ll have to try it with the other metals!”
A chunk of the rib was immediately sheared off and shaped into another cylinder for the shelf. Conata was amazed at the ease she had in shaping the giant bone. It was as if it wanted to be shaped and moved.
Thereon, the experiments went on for the entire afternoon. With the amount of metals Conata already had, she could investigate how this ‘giant bone’ mixed and matched with the rest of them for months, perhaps even a year. That day was merely scratching the surface. Normally, the most they could agree on as a team was naming new metals and alloys, but this one did not get much time. Mostly because it was already known as giant bone. However, Conata liked how it sounded in the hain traders’ language; the translation of ‘Giant’s bone’ came out to be alyum nayam. The goblins could never get such pronunciations correct.
Conata bid farewell to Olub and Bogg with enough ideas in her head to keep her up all night. Her parent’s had taught her a sleeping discipline that was normally tested by events such as today. She should have been excited. She was normally happier than anything.
Although, when she was left alone this time, Conata’s lustre was dulled to the point of roughness. She sat upon her bed and she held her head forward. The bronze of her skin fell into copper, and then slowly faded into a dull grey lead.
She sighed to herself.
“Oh, gemstone…” a gentle voice murmured.
Conata didn’t look up, but she felt her mother Wutni’s body heat radiate as the Tedar woman settled herself seated beside Conata.
“They are the last ones who come to visit, aren’t they?” Wutni asked. She put a large, oath-inscribed hand around Conata’s entire side and gently held her in a sideways embrace.
Conata reflected more light upon being touched, but was still leaden. She nodded after hesitation.
“You know, any other goblins would be willing to be your friends as well, I am sure,” Wutni offered. “You worked out how to make and forge metal. They respect you to the point of worship.”
“They’re not…” Conata sighed again. “They’re not like the others. The other goblins all just want to know things and leave. My friends…they wanted to discover things like I do. Then they…” There was a sniff from Conata and she moved her head to lean against Wutni as well. Her voice started lashing quietly. “They either stopped to raise children, went travelling, or died. Olub and Bogg are the only ones left. The new goblins know nothing. They’re all babies, like I was.”
Wutni ran a thumb over Conata’s hair. “Now-now, there’s no need to be angry at them. I understand. I am sorry that you’re beginning to outlive your friends. It’s not been getting easier, I know.” Wutni tilted her head, making her bone jewellery clackle for a moment. “You have been growing up a lot, haven’t you little gemstone? Perhaps it’s time you started looking for some new friends anyway? Some tedar children, or trolls. Closer to your age.”
Conata was silent. She looked to the opposite wall with her red eyes gleaming against the grey lead around them. She drew in a breath to speak and let it out through her nose. She tried again. “I…” She sniffed and held her breath, but try as she might to hold back, she let out a muffled sob against Wutni.
“Oh, Conata, what’s wrong?”
“I’m not like them!” She whined. Her voice became louder as she continued. “I’m just a silly, weak little human! I’m not goblin, or troll, or azibo, or even a tedar! I’m not rovaick! They all hate me!”
Wutni was silent for a moment. She let Conata cry against her for a short while longer.
“Even so, I’m not human! I’m different! I’ll never fit anywhere now!” The escalation only made Conata’s sobbing more profuse. “They all hate me!”
“Conata, dearest…” Wutni whispered, “That’s not true.” Wutni continued to stroke Conata’s hair. “Some people might have picked on you when you were younger, but you’re growing up strong. People respect you now, don’t you know it? You have been raised with us, know our ways. You are hardly as different as you think.”
Though Conata’s sobbing slowed, she shook her head against Wutni. “I’m in a human shape, made of metal, with ugly greyish and red eyes, and everyone is afraid. I don’t believe you.”
Wutni gave a nod and looked away to think. Her answer came more easily than Conata had predicted. “Well, Conata, if you don’t believe me, you should probably look for yourself. I know you never give up on something you set your mind to, so why not try with meeting people? Be sure of yourself. I know you can do it.”
Conata didn’t have an answer for that.
A precarious tower of bronze ingots looked over the heads of the clan’s sparsely crowded main cave. An older Conata walked beneath them. Her body had grown taller over the past two years and she was well into an adolescent form. However, she was not an adult yet.
She was in high spirits, polished and smiling. Trying to balance the stack of yellow metal in one hand was a new little challenge. A bag over her shoulder tinkled softly with its weight of yet more metal as she made her way to her personal forge.
There were always things to repair and make. Though few wanted to stay for long, everyone was willing to give food, ore, or any appropriate payment for her services. Sometimes her goblin ‘followers’ just came to watch. While she still had a soft spot for goblins, she ignored them. Their nattering tended to grate on her these days.
The stack in her hand was seven ingots high so far. Close to a record. Without taking her eyes off the wobbling tower, Conata willed another ingot to slide out of her bag and slowly ascend up to the top. It slid into place with a soft scrape and Conata grinned in triumph. Her slow walk went on. The footsteps coming towards her were not thought of as a hazard until the feeling of a wool-dressed body shoved her backwards.
“Oof!”
Conata’s mass was always more than people expected, so whoever it was that shoved her only succeeded in making her stumble back slightly. The stack in her hand did not fare so well. Four of the ingots clanged out a cacophony as they bounced on the stone. Conata went wide-eyed and her hair sprang up in shock. She spread her hands either side and four of the ingots froze in the air. The remaining four were heavy enough to settle to a stop on the ground. “Ah! Sorry! Sorry!” Conata willed the ingots she had caught back into her bag and outstretched her hands to will the others back to her. She held those floor ingots in her arms against her chest by the time she even thought to focus on the one that had collided with her. Her hair settled.
“…Ow” A realtively smooth-skinned green azibo was on his back on the ground in front of Conata. In fact, it was the first young azibo she had ever seen. His hand nursed a blow on his head, while his face clenched in pain. A few inscribed clay tablets were scattered over the ground around him. Thankfully, the only damage they had sustained was a chip from a corner here and there.
Conata leaned forward with magnesium pitting her skin, as equally worried as she was curious. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I should have been looking where I was going.”
The azibo used his other hand to wave dismissively. “No, it was I that should have been paying attention.” He tried to get up and paused to wince. “I think one of those metal lumps hit me in the head.”
Another azibo voice rang out a short distance away. This one was higher pitched – clearly a female – though just as young. “Damn it, brother! You see what happens when you run around in a rush? There’s no point running here!” Conata looked up to see that the female had enough facial similarities to back up her claim to being a sibling of the one on the ground. There was also a third young azibo behind her, chuckling to himself, though he did not appear to be part of the family.
“Shut your maw, Polia,” the brother said, opening his eyes and getting up to his feet. He faced his sister first and foremost. The tiny cut on his head was already forming a painful lump underneath. “We’re already late for our teachings. We should not be tarrying!”
Conata looked down at the neglected tablets again. They were covered with simplified Tounic calligraphy. She gently let her arms open and let the ingots float down. They assumed the shapes of small clamps, before they closed carefully around each tablet and brought them up individually.
Polia had not noticed Conata’s movements. Her response to her brother was amused, more than anything. “What? So you can break the clay that the master lent us? Don’t be an idiot, Ruvac.”
The siblings continued arguing in oblivion as Conata made her clamps arrange the tablets in a neat pile.
“Idiot? You were the one who suggested breakfast in the first place! We did not have time!”
“You know I can’t concentrate on an empty stomach. Why do you have to be so uptight?”
“Um…” the third azibo had a face as if he was hallucinating at Conata’s powers.
“Maybe if you spent less time sleeping in and more time studying, you would think more as I do!”
The third azibo raised a finger. “My friends…” He cut off again.
“Come now, Ruvac. The main reason we slept in was because we were up too late studying in the first place.”
“Hey!” The third azibo clenched his fists. His shout had silenced the siblings.
Polia blinked and tilted her head. “Hm? What is it, Gio?”
Rather than show anger, the third young azibo, Gio, merely gestured to Conata with a flat hand and flicked his eyes between the two. In a synchronised movement, the siblings turned their heads towards Conata. They were struck still. Their confused frowns exacerbated their eyes darting between the tablets floating in front of them and Conata giving a tense look back at them.
Conata raised a hand and a small smile. “Good morning,” she said. “Um, your tablets are fine.”
Ruvac cautiously extended his arms and took the tablets, upon which time the bronze clamps released and flew back into Conata’s bag in the shape of ingots again. Ruvac held the tablets closely to his chest. “Um, you have my thanks. I apologise for running into you.”
Conata shook her head. “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She clasped her hands together and shot the trio curious red eyes. “Where were you three headed? You looked like you were in a hurry?”
Ruvac brought one hand up to the back of his neck, but quickly snapped it back around the tablets before one of the smoother ones could slide onto to the floor again. “Uh, we were attempting to locate the ritual chamber. The one with the Perfect One’s statue and the calligraphy? Our teacher was going to give us a lesson there.” Ruvac looked down the hall. “But, by now, we are so late it shan’t matter whether we arrive sooner or later,” he huffed cynically.
The uncertainty Ruvac displayed was put in contrast with Polia’s reaction. She had one eye squinted as if sizing Conata up. “Say, you’re Conata, aren’t you? The metal human they call forgefingers? I’ve heard about you.”
Conata’s smile faded and she feigned fanfare in her voice. “Well…that’s me.” Conata looked down and let out a small sigh. “What did you hear?”
“Not much, really.” Polia shrugged and shifted her weight, putting a hand on her hip. “Well, to be fair, saying that you can shape any metal and you invented almost all the techniques used for working metal is a bit much to call ‘not much.’ I’ve been interested to see how you work ever since I heard.”
Conata tilted her head and gave a small, sceptical grin. “Really? Wow, uh, most people are too scared. I have a hard enough time making friends that aren’t peaceful old folks. Well, them and a couple of cranky goblins.” Conata’s eyes wandered to one side and she tightened her lips. “Even if people always have metalwork for me to do.”
Polia blew a raspberry. “Ungrateful idiots. Well, we may be new here, but we’re azibo. We’re meant to be the smart ones. Let the other rovaick be scared.”
It was at this point that Gio stepped in again. “Hey, I am sorry to interrupt, but we should talk while moving. You would not mind directing us to the ritual chamber, would you Conata? I’m Gio, by the way. These are the twins, Polia and Ruvac.”
“I figured as much,” Conata laughed. She released her hands and half-turned. These were strange people. She normally suffered about five different insults by this point. “Come with me, it’s not too far away.”
The three began to walk. Smalltalk passed between them, revealing the three azibo to be magical scholars of sorts. Beginners at best. Astartian magic was stronger in other clans, but they had come to learn of Tounic calligraphy. They were barely older than Conata in years. Conata was inwardly amazed that these individuals did not seem to judge her like others did. She reciprocated with a description her own work and sharing a few of the more amusing anecdotes of goblin behaviour.
As they were nearing the ritual chamber, Conata immediately realised that she might not run into the three if she didn’t take a risk. Her mother Wutni’s advice repeated in her mind to steel her resolve. Only a few pits of magnesium showed on her skin.
“Look, seeing as you three are new, maybe after your lesson I could show you around?” Conata had her back to the three. As least she could hide her nerves from her voice. She did so better than with her face.
“That would be most appreciated, Conata,” Ruvac responded.
Polia laughed. “For once, I can agree with Ruvac there. That’s really kind of you, Connie.”
Gio hummed in agreement.
“Maybe you could show us your forge later,” Polia said. “I would love to see your magic at work.”
“…Sure! Sure.” Conata kept looking ahead as a giddy grin had crept up to her face. Her persistence may have been met with blind luck in the end, but she could accept friends if it only took her two years to find them.
It was hard enough to tell the time of day within the dark confines of Conata’s forge. Her current – and not particularly effective – system was to go to bed when she was tired. She often took one project or another all the way to the morning.
“Just a little while longer,” She mumbled to herself. Hunched over her anvil, she hovered her hands over a large bronze spearhead. The traces of giantbone might have been one of the easiest things to shape, but spreading them evenly through the metal was a far greater challenge than stacking ingots. She tried to ignore that many little whiles had already passed since she was meant to be heading to bed.
The soft sweeping of large footsteps brushed on behind Conata. She didn’t turn around, but she had come to recognise her father’s stride. He was always considerate not to break her concentration when she was busy. “You always did have a hard time leaving things unfinished, didn’t you, child?”
Whatever colours could be discerned in the dim light showed Conata’s skin brightening a little.
Choukkud stepped closer. He hummed curiously when he got near enough. “You don’t normally spend this much time on a simple spear.”
Conata stopped for a moment to give Choukkud a fleeting look. “I just thought I might try making it a little lighter.”
After pacing around the iron block that served as Conata’s anvil, Choukkud squat down until his hands reached the floor. It was a slow process to lower his wide buttocks onto the stone, but now he was facing Conata comfortably. “The last time you spent this long on something simple, it was because a group of young trolls called you a freak when you tried to make friends with them.” Choukkud’s humorous look gave way to a sympathetic smile. “Is something troubling you, gemstone?”
Conata picked up the spearhead in both her hands and inspected it. It was sized for a tedar, so it was more like a short sword to her size. Sighing, she tossed it lazily over her shoulder. The spearhead flipped in the air and landed perfectly on an upright pole with a clunk. Conata, still not turning around, flicked up a hand up. A straight rivet of bronze flew up and through a hole on the base of the spearhead. It hissed and glowed with red heat as it flattened shut in a second. The spear was reassembled in its rack, probably as well as it could have been hours ago.
“…Father, where did I come from?” Conata looked up at Choukkud’s eyes.
Choukkud put a hand on his knee and held his other hand out to one side. “Well, as myself and your mother have said, you were not a natural birth. You were dug out of the stone, sleeping like a baby in the womb. Sularn knew that we…”
“No, father…” Conata leaned both her hands upon her anvil and took on a tin complexion. She looked pleadingly. “I mean…where did I come from? I have asked every different trader that comes to visit us. They have never seen any other metal humans like me.” Conata held a hand out flat to one side. “I thought I felt out of place because I didn’t have many friends, but even after knowing Gio, Polia, and Ruvac for months, I…” Conata trailed off, lifting her eyes to the ceiling and letting her hand lower to her side.
Choukkud shifted to sit with one leg flat and one knee raised. His smile had lowered. “You have always been one of us.”
Running a hand over her wiry hair, Conata sighed through her nose in mild frustration. “That’s just it. I’ve always been here, but I never felt as though I belonged. There’s…” Conata bowed her head and closed her eyes. She leaned her fists on her anvil as she looked up again. She was frowning. “I’ve been having these dreams lately. They’re weird. They feel so real, but I don’t know where they’ve come from.”
“Dreams?” Choukkud craned his head forward. “What sorts of dreams?”
“I’m always small, younger, in a white dress, and I’m flying. Flying above the clouds. I can see further than I’ve ever seen.”
Choukkud asked slowly. “Are you alone in these dreams?”
Conata lowered her eyes to the iron beneath her. “Well…I never feel alone in my dreams. There’s always this…I feel like I’m being watched by this woman that I never see but…” Conata shook her head once and waved a hand dismissively. “That’s not it for these ones. There are always two people flying with me. A goblin and a…human with four arms.” Conata’s complexion flashed silver through the tin for a silent instant when she paused. She did not look up from her anvil. “They look at me and…I feel close to them for some reason. They make me feel like I belong. Like…like I’m at home. It’s the only time I’ve ever felt so sure of it. But when I wake up…” Conata looked sideways to the floor. “I can never remember their faces.”
A long breath outward from Choukkud laced the air with the smell of his roasted goat dinner. He bowed his head. “I see.”
Conata raised her brow and looked up again, surprised. “You know what it means?”
Choukkud lifted his eyes from his bowed head to look sadly at Conata. “My child, do make sure to keep your mother and me informed about these dreams.” He slowly started to stand up.
“Wait.” Conata stood up straight and gave her father a stern look. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
They caught each other in a staring contest. Choukkud was not afraid of Conata, but he knew her to be stubborn. After a few seconds half-standing still, Choukkud stood up completely and looked over at the spearhead behind Conata. “Tell me first, Conata. What did you get in return for working on that spear over there?”
Conata’s look softened and she turned her head to glance at it. “I did not ask for anything in return,” she explained. “It belongs to Dawu, the huntress. Some of her hounds have been sick and she’s not been able to get a good catch in the lower mountains for a while. She hasn’t got anything to pay me, so I just decided to help her.” Conata’s head turned back to Choukkud and she squinted in curiosity at what she saw.
The dim light made Choukkud’s smile hard enough to see as he stared at the spear. Conata could just make out a wet glaze around his eyes. “That is well,” he said. “You are growing the heart of a tedar, Conata.”
Conata blinked. “Well, thanks…” She turned her head slightly while looking at Choukkud. “but you still owe me an explanation.”
Choukkud broke out in a tight chuckle and wiped his eyes with his huge thumb and forefinger. “Oh, gemstone. There will be a day when things become clearer for you. Know now that we made a promise to someone very special. When that promise is fulfilled, Wutni and I will tell you everything. The full truth.” He began to walk to the door. “Do keep us informed about your dreams.”
“That’s it? You’re not going to tell me?” Conata stomped her foot. “Father!?” she shouted in a mix of anger and sadness.
Once again, Choukkud stopped. “Your seventeenth birthday.” He did not turn around. “That’s a promise to you, my daughter.”
Conata’s mouth hung open and her brow knitted. “But…”
Choukkud had already walked out. “Goodnight, Conata. Try to get to sleep soon.” He would not argue.
“Ugh!” Conata spun and sat abruptly on the floor against her anvil, arms wrapped around her raised knees. She was outwardly angry, but it was not hot iron covering her skin. It was a creeping brown rust. It wasn’t fair.
She hung her head and a short, constricted breath sucked into her lungs. She went leaden. It wasn’t fair.
The sight before Conata and Polia was one they had seen plenty of times before. The sun setting into the distant shine of the ocean made for a beautiful sight on clear evenings like this. Especially while perched high on the large rock that overlooked much of the terraced rice fields. The friends sat side by side, basking in the last warmth of the day. They had it to themselves with Gio and Ruvac off on some short journey to a rovaick clan in the north with Gio’s father.
“…So anyway, when I told them, my parents said that I am not allowed to go out travelling until I finish my studies.” Polia recounted. “That won’t be any less than a decade, really. I might end up getting stuck here, being roped into an arranged marriage with some crocodoggle mage from down south.” She lifted her upper lip in disgust. “I pity whomever that should be. I’ll drag him along with me if he tries to stop me seeing the world.”
“I don’t doubt it.” A bronze Conata was leaned back on her hands, sitting cross-legged. “You’ve had plenty of practice with your twin brother.”
Polia glanced to Conata and flashed her teeth. “Oh, come now. Ruvac and I bicker for fun, you know that. It’s a far more even competition.”
Letting out an amused hiss, Conata returned the glance. The twins certainly made it look like there was animosity between them.
Polia shifted her weight to one side. “What about you? Do you ever want to go travelling? Leave this peaceful, boring place?”
Conata leaned her head back and looked to the rings in the sky. “I don’t know…I guess I’d like to keep helping out father with his herds for a while. And I’ve always got new things to do with the metal the goblins find. I still don’t know how to smelt or work most of the things in my collection without using my powers. And…” Conata slowly breathed in while she decided whether to continue. “I’m going to stay until I’m seventeen, in any case.”
“Why seventeen?” Polia tilted her large head.
Conata pulled her head up straight. She leaned her elbows forward onto her spread knees and continued looking at the horizon. “It’s going to sound strange.”
Polia snorted and guffawed. “Try me, metal girl.”
“Point taken.” Conata wished that made it easier to admit. She picked up a twig and began snapping it in her fingers. “All my life, I’ve been told that I was just found in the mountain rock. No one knows who or what I am. Hardly anyone even remembers about the day I was found except mother and father. I don’t remember anything about before I woke up.” Conata’s copper faded to patches of lead. “For as long as I’ve been here, I thought mother and father didn’t know anything else about me, but…about a year ago, father told me that he did.”
Polia frowned and listened intently.
“He promised he would tell me when I was seventeen. I was angry for about a week, angry that they had lied. But…I had doubts.” Conata sent her eyes down to the trolls working the fields below. “I mean, I loved them still. And they love me. They wouldn’t have kept that information from me if they didn’t have a good reason. It makes me a little scared to even know what it is.”
“Wow…if it’s got you scared, it must be daunting,” Polia said. “So, do you even want to know?”
Conata looked at Polia and nodded firmly. “Yeah, definitely.” She looked ahead again and lifted up her knees. “It’s all I’ve got of myself. I like it here, I like the rovaick…the ones that don’t treat me badly…but still. I want to know where I came from and what I am.”
“That’s fair. I couldn’t imagine…” The darkening sky was lit up from their right. Polia stopped to look.
“What is it?”
Both the girls looked on for a moment. “Might be the Muse making a show in the sky again,” Polia guessed. “This could be a special night. The story of Phantasmagoria is always fascinating when I hear it.”
Conata’s eyes were drawn to white streaks in the growing night sky. “Um…”
“Oh, look, shooting stars.”
“Polia? I don’t think those are shooting stars.” Conata kept her eyes fixed on the streaks and stood to her feet.
Polia stood up too. They didn’t disappear in an instant. They were curling off. They were growing. “What are they? Some kind of djinn?”
A warm breeze blew by. One of the glowing shapes grew so bright that it lit what the sun was receding from like a new day. It was flying in their direction. The pair were dumbstruck. It had to be some sort of creature. It was banking to something on the coast. It slowed as it began to circle like a vulture.
“There are hain down there! That’s their village!”
Dots of light sharded from the shape towards the ground. They hit the ground in huge blasting fires. They could feel the heat from where they stood. Smoke billowed in a great black column.
Polia threw her hands over her mouth and looked on with shock. “By the gods…”
And there was more than one. They were no mere djinn, they were sure. The others were streaking through the sky still, but another broke off. It turned in a wide arc until it aligned with both the girls.
“We have to get inside! Quick!”
The two jumped from the large rock. Their feet landed with thuds. They immediately made for the nearest cave entrance. “Run! Run! Get inside!” Polia shouted to the trolls. Most had seen the light in the distance themselves and were more than willing to obey.
Panic spread across the mountainside. Shouts and screams rang out. Conata ran behind Polia on the trail to the main cave entrance. It was mostly downhill, so she couldn’t run much faster than Polia if she wanted to without stumbling and falling. “The godz is ending da world!” Goblins ran in confusion. “Yilu! Child! Where are you!?” A troll called out. Conata turned her head and took on all of their panic.
“Keep running, Conata!” Polia shouted.
Conata wanted to help. She had to keep running.
More shouts. “Get out there. Stand, you dogs! Stand and fight!” The guards started to form up ahead to respond to the threat. Conata saw her hands take on a pure magnesium finish. She had to keep running.
“We’re almost there!” Polia was losing her breath.
“Gods, no…” Conata’s voice quavered. She was watching her shadow sharpen and shrink along the ground. Everything else was being bathed in a hot white light. It was all behind her. The back of Conata’s smock was singed by the radiant heat alone.
There was a gaseous roar. A chorus of primal screams rang out. Another roar. This was closer. More screaming. Conata felt like she had left reality a long time ago.
Conata was about to pass the final guard to make it out. It was a massive tedar with a huge bronze mace. He slowed to a stand before he was passed, looking up at the bright light. His eyes were nearly popping out and his mouth was slightly open. Conata reached him in time to hear his mace fall from his fingers. She ran past. It made a ping on the rocky ground. Conata did not want to know what the tedar had seen. Another roar. The tedar screamed.
A white powder began blowing forth with the hot wind, propelling Conata and Polia on. It was ash and smoking cinders.
Polia and Conata were almost the last to get to the cave mouth. There was a crush to get inside. Conata pat Polia on the back and stepped back. “Get inside with everyone! I can seal the entrance behind us!”
“Conata! Don’t stay here!” Polia cried.
“GO!” Conata turned around as Polia’s weeping faded in to the rest of the screams.
The fields were gone. So were the sparse trees. Fires burned into the air from small, still-flammable spots. Everything dry had disintegrated. Everything else was smoke. Most flames were on bodies, Conata could smell them as well as she saw them. They were people of the clan. Sularn’s Oath was meant to protect them.
She took a step back, and another. The few survivors of the original barrage, many still steaming and wailing from horrid burns, had finished filing into the cave. Conata turned to check on them. There was space. She ran in and slid to a stop by the wall a short distance in.
She turned around again, breathing quickly. Her hand slapped onto the wall. Her eyes were fixed on the mouth of the cave. The walls began to heat and glow. She just needed a little longer.
A sharp light was cast onto one of the walls at the cave mouth.
Don’t you dare. Conata slowly shook her head.
The light grew. It crept up the wall at the speed of a small wave.
Conata could feel its heat. The walls needed to be a little hotter.
The light reached Conata. Black flecks of a human figure stepped out in front of the cave. A severe stone face fixed the expression of the bright entity. Shining wings flanked its shoulders. Conata’s smock began to smoke. It was too bright. Conata’s knees began to quiver.
There was something else about it.
It raised one arm.
It was going to kill her. Nothing had successfully burned her before, but nothing burned like this creature. She might just melt.
The wings.
They were metal.
“Stop!” Conata shrieked and threw her free hand forward. The sound of metal taking a screaming bend suppressed the creature’s light, casting the cave into darkness but for the soft red of the heating walls. Conata had bent the creature’s wings around itself, trapping it.
Just a little longer.
The tears were drying before they could fall down Conata’s cheeks. Her smock was leaping with flames now. Conata clawed her hand and the metal Closed tighter. The metal that Conata tried to contain the creature with shrieked and began to glow itself. It wasn’t strong enough. Jets of fire shot from any gap in the makeshift cocoon.
A fist punched through the glowing metal as if it was made from ice. Blackened shards broke onto the ground. The creature angrily thrashed and tore the metal apart.
Just a little longer.
The creature fixed its eyeless gaze upon Conata and raised its hand again.
She closed her eyes.
“These are not yours to slay, servant of order!” A deep voice made Conata open her eyes just in time.
The light of the creature was shadowed by the shaft of a long hammer. It crashed into the creature’s side, pinning it against the cave wall. An armoured figure holding the hammer, more than twice as tall as Conata herself, cast a shadow into the cave. It did not so much as give a puff of vapour to the heat.
“Fade!” The deep voiced giant shouted. The sound resonated throughout the cave in spite of the roaring flames. There was a snap and a crack. With a jolt, the hammer crunched through the creature’s chest, collapsing it. The hammer went deeper, as if into the wall. Glossy spikes erupted from the bright creature’s figure in places around its body, cracking and ruining more of its patchy shell. The light faded as the flames inside the creature petered out. The pieces of shell remaining crumbled to the ground in pieces. Everything seemed so dark now.
The giant warrior retracted its hammer, made a quarter turn and slammed the haft of its hammer into the floor. Its all-covering plates of armour were a complete glossy white, if with a slight flickering yellow tinge from the fires outside. It had no face, merely a helmet that twisted to look at Conata.
She realised that she was paralysed with shock.
The giant turned its body and started to stride toward Conata with large, dry clay strides.
Conata tried to step back while looking up at the giant. She almost began running backwards until her back found a wall.
The giant stopped, planted the haft of its hammer in the ground again, and knelt face Conata directly. “Demigoddess.”
The fear on Conata’s face was disturbed by a sudden, shaky inward breath.
“Are you hurt?” The giant was still as a statue.
Conata slowly began shaking her head. “What…what did you call me?”
“I must speak with the azibo Sularn. Where is he?”
“He is inside, but I have to seal the cave! There are more of them out there!” Conata shouted in the giant’s face. It had saved her life, it had to understand.
“The realta here have been destroyed. By your father and me.” The giant stood to its feet. “I am here to protect against any more that might arrive.” It began walking further into the cave.
“My father!?” Conata ran after it. “Wait! What even are you!?”
“I am Majus. The greater hand of the porcelain sire.”
“Toun!?” So many questions flew through Conata’s mind. “Well…what are those fiery things? Those…realta, you called them?”
“They are servants of Logos. The god-king of order has returned to punish Galbar in a blinding purge.”
Logos. Why did that name sound familiar? Why is he punishing us? That answer just brought up more questions. What had they done wrong? Conata stammered and waved her hands for a moment before settling on the most close issue to herself. “Why did you call me ‘demigoddess’?!”
“I do not know your given name, though I can detect your divine soul. You are a demigoddess. You should not hide it when you do not know how to.”
Conata took in another breath, but she didn’t speak. They had just stepped into the first main chamber of the cave.
There were survivors here. It made Conata feel nauseous.
She walked behind Majus’ large strides and tried not to look at those around her. Rovaick left and right looked up at the walking porcelain figure with unblinking eyes. Some were hopeful, others were crying out in lamentation or pain. Water was being rushed to deal with the multitude injuries. Flesh was burnt to the bone. Some limbs had sloughed off. Skin melted into grotesque forms. Many clutched loved ones. Some simply dragged themselves along the ground, wailing.
Conata knew a few of them. She had spoken with many. She averted her eyes entirely and tried to focus on Majus’ back. Too late.
It reeked of cooked meat. The echoing cries and shrieks were overwhelming. Conata couldn’t look to any direction from Majus’ back or else see melted flesh and agonised faces.
She could feel the iron in the blood streaking the floor.
She could escape if only she just kept walking. If she kept walking, she wouldn’t see anyone else she knew.
Too late. She stopped. Majus walked on, with his heavy footfalls clinking deeper into the cave.
Conata stared on at the scene in front of her. Bogg was sitting against a wall with a blank face, staring into space. He didn’t even notice her. He had Olub in his arms, cradling the goblin like a child. He was limp and lifeless. Bogg shifted slightly and Olub’s head lolled to reveal the other half of his face. The skin had been burnt to the skull.
“Conata!”
Conata did not move. A pair of huge arms wrapped around her. The smell of charred meat gave way to the familiar smell of Wutni’s embrace. Conata felt her legs and abdomen give out. Choukkud scooped her up and began to take her somewhere deeper in the caves, away from the casualties. She held her eyes shut. She could still hear everyone.
A memory flashed in her head. Gio and Ruvac were meant to head to that hain village as a rest stop.
Olub was going to bring her a new kind of rock today.
She broke down. If it weren’t for her sobs holding her back, she was screaming into Choukkud’s chest. Choukkud held her tighter.
For a demigoddess, she had never felt more powerless in her entire life.
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