The Hog groans like a choking beast. It clanked and chugged its way over dunes and sandy stretches, belching puffs of dark smoke and kicking up plumes of dust. Its hidden mechanics clunk and moan. Sudden screeches and loud cracks permeate the cabin.
Pestle curses. Often.
Lukal and Arienne, white-knuckled and panting, clutch their seats tightly.
"Did you build this… thing?" Lukal shouts across the cabin.
"I said be quiet." Pestle snaps.
"Ugh, he's grumpy 'cause you hurt it." Saia groans. "He loves The Hog more than me."
Pestle scoffs, leaning into the wheel in front of him, he ignores her. Instead, he twists knobs and flicks levers as if they had angered him.
"We found it in some ruins. Pestle fixed it up." Saia says proudly. "He's really good with metal."
Lukal nods. "Some kind of builder, then?"
"Fleshmonger!" Saia replies, eyes sparkling.
Arienne snorts. "Charming." she says as she flicks at a meat hook swinging by her head.
"We hunt beasts. Then we sell the meat… and other parts."
"Hm. I see." Arienne responds wistfully. "Are there many people in these lands?"
"No." Saia laments. "Small towns and villages. Not like the old-times. Did you know they had huge cities all over? Towers that reached the clouds!"
"You speak of the old world? Do you know much of it?" Arienne asks, intrigued.
"I've read 36,752 books." Saia squeals.
Lukal scoffs as he eyes the young girl. "That seems… highly unlikely. Are there many libraries around here?"
"Papa had a big one. Hundreds of books! But most were stored in The Terminal…"
"Saia!" Pestle growled.
Saia rolls her eyes. "He doesn't like me to talk about Papa. He doesn't like me to talk about anything!"
"Hey!" Pestle snaps.
"Leave me alone, you bully." She cries. "You never want to talk. Let me talk to them at least."
He sneers, twisting at a knob. A window beside him rolls down and he pokes out his head, letting the breeze wash over him as they move.
"What can you tell us of Blightmark?" Arienne asks.
"They're really nice. Quite friendly compared to most. They're people of the Silver-Tooth clan. I love their fluffy tales."
Lukal shifts his head. "Tails?" he whispers.
"Your brother said they're not accepting strangers…"
"Cause of the raiders." The girl groans. "The Red Lord sends them for tributes. Food, tools… people. Everything goes back to Forge Town."
Arienne's eyes shift toward Lukal, they exchange a glance. No words are needed. THey both understood clearly, The Red Lord was a problem.
"Pestle…" Arienne says softly. "Please, listen to my plea. Lukal and I form part of an expedition meant to penetrate the Stormlands and root out the Dark Lord. However, things have gone horribly wrong. Most of our comrades were killed by some giant worm, and our..."
"Lundwyrm." Pestle says, shaking his head.
"What?"
"You met a Lundwyrm." He shrugs. "Your gods must really like you to let you live."
Arienne scoffs. "We seek passage north. Through the storm. We… we only wish to go home. Is it possible?"
"All is possible." Saia smiles."That's what Papa always said. And he could do anything!"
Pestle shifts his head, trying to hide a proud smirk.
"Forge Town or the Eastern Jungles." He grunts. "The Giga-Rigs in Forge Town might get you through. Or you can try the beast-riders of the Eastern Jungles. Some say they hunt the forests north of the storm."
Arienne smiles. "Thank you, Pestle, Saia. This may be exactly the information we need. The Red Lord seems best avoided. How do we reach the Eastern Jungles?"
"You don't." Pestle grunts. "One hundred leagues of Lundwyrm territory between here and there. You're not crossing. Not without a Rig or a good mount."
"Troll's taint." Lukal squeals. "I'd rather not see one of those worms again, m'lady. Perhaps this Forge Town is not so bad?"
Arienne groans. "Seems we have little choice. How do we get to… Forge Town?"
"About 10 days' ride east of here. Triple that if you feel like walking. The place is crawling with monsters."
"We can take care of ourselves." She snaps.
"Good. We're almost at Blightmark." Pestle retorts. "I'll get you in. You can ask around, somebody might be heading east if you're lucky."
The Hog creeps up the side of a dune, as it crests, the small village of Blightmark comes into view, covered in a cloud of dust.
Roving raiders astride metal horses shrieak and holler, waving strange weapons as their roaring machines splutter black spoke amidst the dust clouds they kick up.
Pestle abruptly yanks at the wheel in front of him. The Hog swerves wildly through the sand, lifting a wheel as it slips back down the dune. Its occupants shriek as they slip from their seats amidst a clatter of falling blades and tools.
"Raiders!" Pestle shouts as he struggles to regain control of the flailing machine.
It comes to a sliding, creaking halt at the base of the dune, teetering on two wheels before slamming down onto the ground in a puff of sand and smoke.
"Damn them!" He yells, slamming at the wheel.
"We must help!" Saia cries. "Please, Pestle. The cubs!"
"My customers." He mumbles under his breath, teeth tightly clenched.
"You mean to defend the village?" Arienne asks, shifting forward in her seat.
"You want to help?" Pestle asks, eyeing her curiously.
"It is my sworn duty as a Knight of Northenia. Where evil treads, my oath compels me to act."
"Cute." Pestle snickers. "Just like the fairytales."
"So wonderful!" Saia whispers, her eyes flashing with admiration as she watches Arienne ready her weapons..
"Captain. I don't think this is a good idea. We don't know…"
"Help me." Pestle grunts. "Protect the village and I might consider getting you to Forge Town."
"Arienne stares at Lukal. She nods, he shrugs.
"We have an accord." She smirks.
Pestle kicks open a door and drops to the sand. Saia skips to the side-door, sliding it open, gesturing for the Northenians to exit.
Arienne hits the ground. Lukal moves to follow.
"Stay back, Kosak" Arienne grunts. "Let us handle this. Keep the girl safe."
"Aye, Captain." He nods.
"What buffs remain?"
Lukal ruffles through his sack. "One strength, two haste."
"Give."
She swiftly swallows the yellow-glowing vial of strength-boosting liquid as she marches around The Hog to Pestle who waits on the other side, stretching and beating at his limbs.
"You ready, Lindbergh?"
"Almost. Here." She says, tossing him a vial.
"What's this?"
"Just drink it." She orders, swallowing her own vial of speed-buffing liquid. He follows with a prompt chug.
"That's disgusting." Pestle spits. "Why would you…"
He pauses as the liquid releases its magics across his body. "Oh… that's nice." He says with a surprised smile.
"Let's go!" Arienne barks.
The pair charge up the dune. Arienne's boots barely touch the ground as she elegantly leaps towards their targets while Pestle bursts through the sand like a bloodlusted beast.
As Arienne reaches the cloud of dust ahead of the village, Pestle leaps over her. With a howl, he violently slams his fist into the ground in the center of the shrieking machines and screaming raiders.
The force of his blow cracks the ground, shifting it under foot, sending men and metal falling all around him. Arienne bursts onto the scene next, with a flick of flaming, twin swords, she sends cleaving blades of compressed air rupturing along the ground around them, blowing away the cloud of dust and flattening bodies.
"KILL THEM!" A shrill voice shrieked.
Screams of anger are followed by unsheathing blades and weapons. Arienne lowers her stance, tightens her gaze and scans the rising enemies around her.
"Spirits above! What abomination…" She whispers as her eyes meet the strangely shaped bodies and faces of the raiders.
"Focus!" Pestle grunts as he wisps by her. "Keep moving. You stand still, you're dead."
He bounds off into a group of raiders, swinging wildly in all directions, ripping limbs from bodies and tearing flesh asunder.
Overcome by his visceral display of strength, Arienne watches, frozen in awe.
A thundering boom echoes from behind, robbing her of all breath. Pain tears through her back as molten metal pellets dig through flesh and bone.
A lizard-man cackles in a cloud of black smoke, pointing a strange cylinder in her direction. Smoke curling from its end.
Struck to the ground, her body raptured by pain, she screams out in agony.
Pestle whips his head back. He tosses the remnants of a furred body aside. With a roar, he launches to the screaming Arienne. Leaping over her, he rips the Lizard-man's torso in two, tossing his upper body into the air.
He moves to Arienne, slapping her firmly on the back as she winces. Strange magics weave through her body as bits of smoldering metal are pulled from her searing flesh, clinking against the back of her armour before falling to the ground.
"I said move!" Pestle barks.
Ice-blue eyes ablaze, Arienne shoves Pestle aside. In a blur of sand and shadow, she vanishes in a flurry of footsteps. Shrieks and screams are followed shortly by solemn silence. She comes to a sliding halt, but falters, tumbling through the sand.
As she stands, fountains of blood erupt from empty necks around her. Heads tumbles to the sand as wide-eyes stare around in terror.
"Shoot her!" A voice shrills.
A clacking of metal follows as dozens of metal tubes point at Arienne. A rapid series of booms send a volley of projectiles spiralling towards her.
Her blades ignite with frozen flames. She slashes both into the ground before her, releasing towering columns of ice that streak along the sand towards the group of raiders. Hot metal cracks and splinters through the ice-wall until it suddenly shatters, launching frozen shards toward the enemies.
Screams of defeat soon follow as the remaining raiders sprint off, leaving the area in an eerie silence.
A soft, slow clap rings out as Pestle strolled, smiling, toward Arienne.
She smirks at him proudly. But her eyes soon roll back into her head as she drops to her knees, then face-first into the sand, overcome with exhaustion.
Gripping the collar of her breastplate, he lifts her head out of the sand.
"So strong, yet so fragile." He chuckles.
Spitting out sand, Arienne groans. "Food..."
He drags her limp body toward the village as its gate creaks open. They pass dismembered corpses and sleeping machines, Arienne barely conscious as her blurry visions fall on the remains of strange humanoid figures. Scales, fur, odd shapes and sizes. Ears and snouts and claws. The sight overwhelms her tired mind and her eyes fall close as her loudly growling stomach evokes snickers from Pestle.
A glimmer of reflected sunlight trickles over a dune. Pestle glimpses it, causing him to drop Arienne without warning and rush off toward The Hog that came rumbling toward them.
"Saia!" He screams, flailing his arms wildly overhead. "No driving!"