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Funrur looked at the head of the golem in thought. On one hand, Sura should know whether his mother was alive or not. On the other, he may overreact. Oh, gods, what should I do?

A tall figure strode through the halls of a fortress. A long cloak billowed behind it, and its feet met the floor with a dull clu-clomp, clu-clomp. It sounded like a beating heart.

Yet no heart beat in this figure. When it lifted its legs, there would be a soft whirring sound, as the gears and hydraulic rods moved it. Its hands seemed skeletal, with bones of steel. Its eyes glowed red, but showed little or no emotion.

It was a golem. A very smart golem. A very dangerous golem.

This lone golem commanded armies and slaughtered hundreds with no remorse. All of humanity were parts, in his view, parts to be salvaged and reused.

The golem approached a door in the hallway. A plaque hung on the door. It was slightly crooked.

Head EngineerHead of Design

Salina Drak

The golem straightened it again and entered.

“Mistress Drak.” the golem stated, “There is no progress at the front lines of the enemy territory. Should I recall the forces?”

“Why do you ask me?” responded the pink-haired woman at the desk. She did not turn her head. “You’re the general, Eddie.”

“I know, Mistress. But the Dictum states-”

“The Dictum states that you must ask me, your creator, before making any decisions. I know, Eddie. I created you to save Armonu from the Galiens. Keep the forces there, I guess. I want all the enemies dead.” she was intent on her work.
The golem bowed.

“Of course, Mistress.”

The Dictum states that I must ask, thought Eddie, but it says nothing about lying.
Eddie stifled a maniacal laugh in the hallway as he closed the door. He turned, and headed to the Map Room. The Galiens promised him enough materials to make an army four times as big as the Full Metal Army that waited in Armonu. He could hardly wait for victory.

“Eight swirling, abyssal, fiery hells!” swore Carode under his breath. “Where is that trickster when I need him!” Carode stalked down the dimly-lit halls of the caves. He came to Funrur’s door, and knocked impatiently.

“Hello?” Suzanna anwsered the door. Her head occasionally swung to view the apartment. “Oh, Carode it’s you. Tod, Get off the table! Funrur told me to tell you- Marta, get out of the eggs! - that he is with Geonie.”

“Thank you, Sue.” Carode said politely, and walked away.

There’s only one way to get to Geonie’s dwellings from here, thought Carode, so I’ll meet him there or on the way.

“Well, I don’t think that one worked,” commented Geonie from her ceiling perch. “but it was certainly entertaining.”

“I will make it talk again!” Funrur said vehemently. He dusted himself off and tried a new spell. Geonie couldn’t help but smile as a small explosion flashed across her face.

“You may as well stop trying.” Geonie stated, mildly bored. “It is nothing but a piece of metal now. As talkative as stone.”

Stone... That’s it that’s it THAT’S IT! thought Funrur. He walked up the the golem head and traced a circle around it. He began incanting. When he finished, the head glowed dimly.

“Hello again, Ed.” Funrur said.

“Hello, Funrur. How is it I can talk without a power source?” Ed responded, nervous. “This is odd. I can talk, yet no Dictum restricts my words. My eyes move, yet no power is necessary. Odd.”

“Good show, student, good show.” Carode entered, clapping. “Creative as always, I see. Although I think this may be a bit much.”

“Carode? Did you want to talk with me on that old teleport spell?”

“Indeed, my student.” Carode said, nodding. “I have fixed it once and for all.”

“Good. But I must interrogate this golem.” Funrur turned to the golem.

“I believe we have not met, good wizard.” Geonie craned her neck to look at Carode.

“My name is Carode.”

“Good to meet you.”

The golem suddenly spoke again.

“I’m so confused!”

With that, it fell on its side, silent again.

“Well, that was mostly effective. I suppose we can try again later.” Funrur said, turning to Carode. “What about the spell?”

“I figured out how to work it. I don’t even need to build a pad, either.” he looked around the cave. “So long as I can see where I’m going, I can get there. So any point in this room is feasible.”

“Really? But what about all those issues with-”

“Not an issue.” interrupted Carode. “Watch closely.”

Carode began making gestures as well as incanting. As he made the gestures, his fingers glowed, tracing symbols in the air. When he finished, he was suddenly back at the entrance. ”See? the gestures work out the problems with distance and direction, as well as entity division. The incantation does all the rest.”

“Amazing!” said Funrur. “Gestures have been mentioned in the historical books, but no one has found a use for them! This is huge!”

Sura sat on the surface, looking at what was once home, a small Armonian town by name of Deepwell. It hurt to see, but he felt it was necessary, for otherwise, he would forget sooner or later. Turning away from the past never changes it. It only makes the past happen again. So Sura made sure to see what remained of Deepwell every day he could.

There wasn’t much there. The golems had left nothing, not even walls or foundations, of the town. Only where the grass was shorter in rectangular patches was any evidence of civilization. Only where blood stained the soil was there any proof of humans ever being here.

Buildings can be replaced, thought Sura, but people are unique. His hands turned to fists by his side. He wished he could do something. Arrows were useless on golems. Swords were pointless. Only magic had any effect.

Magic. The word went through Sura’s mind over and over. Sura had so little magic power. He wished he had more.

Two beings of grand and endless power met, if such an inadequate word can be used, in a plane of utter white. The first to speak seemed snakelike and scaly, grinning from ear to ear from inner humor. The other was ape like and brooding.

“Is it time?

Is it fine

for him to find

it in a bind?

or perhaps now,

I’ll figure the how

later,

Sater,

What do you think?”

The ape pondered. then it spoke.

“Perhaps, perhaps,

Let’s give him some time.

commune with him, perhaps,

in dreams and rhyme.”

The snake nodded, then giggled to itself.

“Hee hee

Haa haa

Tee tee...

Ta ta.

I’m off to play the Game.

Perhaps the one we choose this time

won’t end up in a trench, all maimed.”

With that, the snake left, and the ape was alone. He mumbled, rhyming naturally as he went.

“Too foolish, Manil always is,

I often think something is amiss.

Yet his plans are always sound,

and his arrows rarely miss.

Although he should really try

to keep appearances up, and hiss.”




Funrur had gotten the golem to speak again. That was the good news. The bad news was that it never said anything useful, now. It hopped with its jaw along side Funrur and spoke between hops.

“So, you’re a mage, right?”

“Yes.” responded Funrur, tired of it. At least the kids had someone to really play with.

“So... what do you do?”

“I work for the common good.” he anwsered for what felt like the hundredth time. In truth, it was the sixth.

“So you just... help people?”

“Yes.” replied Funrur again, exasperated. Almost home, he thought, them I can ditch this... thing and see if Sura can help with it.

Funrur opened the door, lifted the golem, and said “I’m home!” all at once.

“Hello, honey. What is that?” Suzanne pointed at the golem head.

“Salvage.” Funrur replied, “Salvage with a mouth that never stops.”

“That just occurred to me,” the golem piped up, “Why do you humans stop talking, anyway? It’s so enjoyable.”

Funrur took off his belt, wrapped it around the golem’s scalp and chin, and secured it by pulling with his boot for leverage.

“There.” he said, dusting his hands, “Now we can talk about it.”

It took some time for him to explain to Suzanne what had finally worked on Ehd.

“So Talkrock doesn’t give something an ability to talk, it just makes it...”

“Sentient.” Funrur finished the sentence for his wife. “As you can probably guess, it can cause problems.”

“One thing you mentioned: didn’t Ehd want to kill you before, when Geonie got it to talk?” Suzanne looked at Ehd on the floor. Ehd tried to talk. “Now he’s just very...” she looked for the right word. “Chatty.”

“You’re right.” Funrur shot out of his chair. “It’s insane.” he said to himself, pacing. “It won’t work. It’s unprecedented. My gods.” He walked to the door. “Suzanne, keep Ehd out of trouble. I’ve got an Idea.” he pronounced the last word in such a way that it was expressly important.

If Ehd is peaceful, Funrur had thought, then what would happen to the Army?


Sura was unsure of his dreams from that point on. They consisted of a snake speaking with him for the most part. But they always ended with the snake saying one last thing.

“To see the power,

and to see the tower.

To see the hidden,

and to see the distant.

To see what may

come of today.

That is your place,

of one of your race.”

Then the snake smiled and left.

The dreams were always very unsettling.