EX CINERIBUS RESURGE
by
Caitlin McColl
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PUBLISHED BY:
Ex Cineribus Resurge
Copyright © 2011 by Caitlin McColl
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EX CINERIBUS RESURGE
The tall stone building stained dark with age stood out like a beacon among the squat white buildings of the surrounding city. Rue shivered as she walked past it and pulled the thin, long sleeved workman's shirt tightly around her. She glanced up at the gargoyle perched on a column on one side of the church's large wrought iron gate. Wings splayed, one clawed arm reached down towards the pavement where she stood, as if the creature meant to take a step off its resting spot and pounce on anyone unlucky enough to be underneath it. Its mate, on the other large column on the other side of the entrance gate had long since disappeared, destroyed either by age, or the war. All that remained of it was a segment of the arm that rested on its platform, and its two stubby clawed feet.
'Don't dawdle,' said Kieran from behind, pushing Rue slightly and urging her past the church.
'I hate that place,' she mumbled, casting another quick glance at the building and the large cross roughly hewn into the face of the building.
'Hurry!' hissed Kieran into Rue's ear, 'the light is going quickly, and we do not want to be seen outside of here. People know that we aren't believers. And we don't want to get stopped by the watchmen.
'I'm not a believer,' said Rue in a whisper, barely turning her head to speak to Kieran who was still behind her. 'But you used to be, so I don't know what the problem is,' she said.
'That's even more a problem!' said Kieran as they walked past an abandoned shop. It was dark inside, and the large front window of the store was missing, large jagged pieces of glass still clinging to parts of the frame. From deep inside the darkness of the room, there was a flickering orange glow.
Before Kieran could open his mouth to say anything, Rue jumped lightly through the open display window, her feet crunching loudly on the broken glass that still lay on the sill. 'What's that?' she said loudly.
Kieran reached through the window but Rue was already beyond his reach, moving quickly further into the darkness. 'Rue!' he said as loudly as he dared. 'You shouldn't just go wandering into abandoned places!'. He sighed and moved around to the shop door that stood ajar. He was getting too old to be climbing through windows.
Kieran moved as quickly as he dared through the velvety dark, tripping slightly on an overturned chair and bumping heavily into what he thought might be a counter. As he got closer to the source of the light, he could see bright orange sparks flying into the air and quickly fizzling to nothing. He reached Rue, who had sensibly hidden behind a narrow wall and was peering into the open doorway.
Kieran cautiously looked around the door, above Rue's head. He saw a man wearing thick goggles over his eyes and holding a welding torch which flared nearly bright white with heat. Rue simply stood with wide eyes. 'What is that?' she whispered in awe to Kieran.
Standing in the middle of the small back room was a large man shaped figure, black against the brightness of the torch. The man with the goggles directed his torch at the torso of large looming figure and sparks flew high into the air. A second man, also wearing goggles and thick gloves stood on the other side of the dark man-shape. 'Okay, that's good!' shouted the second man. The man with the torch stopped, and the room suddenly went dim, save for a small gas-lamp on top of a wooden crate in the corner of the room. The second man, who stood with his back to Rue and Kieran took a large pair of pliers and put it at the figures' throat.
'What are they doing?' asked Rue again, softly.
'That must be a golem,' whispered Kieran. 'I've heard of them, I've just never seen one.'
'What's a golem?' asked Rue, looking up at Kieran and the strange shadows flickering over his face cast by the glow of the torch that had started up again, making him look haggard and even older than he was.
'It's a man made of metal – steel and iron mostly, I think,' said Kieran watching as the man with his back to them tightened more rivets and bolts on the massive metal body. 'They're used in the war. The soldiers use them.' Kieran pointed. 'Look at the hands. See there? Those are guns fused into the hands.'
'How does it work?' asked Rue, even more quietly. She tried to keep her voice from wavering.
'The soldier climbs inside. From the back, you can't see it here. They move the golem with levers and dials. The legs are pistons, powered by steam. The fingers as well, pistons that fire the guns.' He shook his head. 'Dangerous things I've heard. To be the drivers of, I mean,' he said speaking to the top of Rue's head, not wanting to take his eyes from the men in front of them. 'The drivers can get steam burns. And burns getting out of it after. The metal of the body heats up with the steam power. So the drivers have to jump clear. And they can get trapped.'
'Trapped?' said Rue, unable to keep the fear from her voice.
'They have to get locked in. Someone on the outside has to use latches down the back. And the driver can lock himself in on the inside. For protection. But I've heard of ones getting lost. And if they have no-one to open it from the outside...' Kieran trailed off.
'Oh,' Rue said simply.
Suddenly there was silence. 'What's that?' said man with the torch peering around the side of the golem.
'Oi!' yelled the man with the pliers. 'What're you doing?' he said, moving swiftly towards them.
'Run!' yelled Rue grabbing Kieran's arm. And they ran.