Sgt. Golem: Royal Mech Hussar - Books 2 & 3

Veronica and the other Hungarian prisoners were brought out of the factory in groups of two and three, ushered down a narrow road between industrial buildings by heavily armed troops. A dozen guns were on them at any time, and there was no real chance to make a break for it. Veronica tried to be in the lead of the group, but she had been the last out of the room thanks to how late she’d bonded her mech, so she had to wait as the others were led out. At last it was her turn. Their destination was a big brick building, probably another old factory. It must have once been massive, but now little survived except for fragments of the outer wall, which still loomed high in places, and twisted metal girders.

The Hungarians were led into a large room that had probably once been a shipping area. A crumbling wall still blocked off their view of the rest of the building. High above, though, on the outer walls of the factory, Veronica could see newly-constructed platforms full of crowds of people, watching and cheering. Two of the other prisoners still waited, but two were missing.

"It's a damn Coliseum!" Veronica muttered under her breath. Those crazy Russians had turned a ruined building into an arena for mech combat. There was a clash of metal, and the crowd roared. Veronica felt a stab of panic.

"Where is Lieutenant Erzsébet?"

Most of the girls shook their heads, but one on the far side of the room near the heavy makeshift doors called that she had seen Erzsébet go in a little while before.

Damn. Veronica had wanted to go first. She stood more chance than the others of making it out of this alive. And if she went first, perhaps she could find a way to help the others.

Veronica quickly scrambled up onto her mech's shoulder and maneuvered it forward through the crowd of mechs and girls. "I'm going in!"

Machine gun emplacements and cannons ringed their holding area. Troops manned them all, but they looked more bored than trigger-happy, as if they had little expectation of trouble.

"Remember what I told you, and remember where we are to meet once we are free of this place." She didn't want to stay more where the Russians were listening, but the other girls were nodding. She had done all she could for them.

Veronica turned, and as the cheering died away and the wooden doors creaked open, she stomped her mech forward.

The crowd overhead roared.

The inside of the arena was the wide-open interior of a ruined factory floor. Chunks of roof girders lay strewn about on the broken slab of concrete. Support beams jetted up out of piles of rubble. The rubble had been bulldozed into piles, leaving meandering clear paths all through the open area. Veronica moved her mech forward at a trot, scanning for threats. Ahead, she heard the clang of metal on metal, and the crowd's roar changed. She quickened her pace. The sound was coming from ahead and to her left, so she veered that way. As she rounded a big pile of bricks and beams, the battle unfolded before her eyes.

The German prototype mech was massive, half again as tall as a Hungarian Type 5. This one was red, with blue and white stripes across its torso. The sword it wielded had a straight edge that came to a point in the sax pattern. One Hungarian mech was already down, cleaved in half. The crumpled form of its pilot lay sprawled to one side in a puddle of blood. Lieutenant, Erzsébet was still on her mech fending off the German's attacks with a length of I-beam. She blocked a sword strike, sending showers of sparks raining all around. The German's blade bit deep into the I-beam, and gouged out hunk of iron.

Veronica urged her mech faster, charging forward to be there in time as the German lifted its blade high.

"Get back!" she shouted.

She needn't have bothered. Lieutenant Erzsébet threw her mech desperately backward. She came up against a pile of rubble and her mech lost its footing. They went down, mech sprawling and the lieutenant tumbling away into the rubble, but the German's blow missed.

The large mech raised its blade for a killing strike, just as Veronica arrived.

She swung her sword in an upward slash. The German met her strike with blinding speed. When their blades met, the impact sent shivers through Veronica's mech and into her feet. The German machine’s power was incredible. She threw her mech immediately to the side and swung again, hoping to gain an advantage with a furious assault.

It was no use. The German matched her blow for blow with deliberate ease. It blocked two strikes, then before she could swing again it went on the offensive. Veronica scrambled desperately away, trying to gain space as she circled to get the other mech away from her fallen ally.

This wasn't going to work. The other mech was just too fast. It was time for her to stop messing around. The river was there, and she reached for it.

The world slowed as the flow of magic swirled around her. Veronica could see the power coursing through the conduits of her opponent's arms and limbs. Desh flowed from its engine out through its limbs and actuators and back to its core. Its movement slowed, and hers seemed to quicken. Her sword came up and blocked its next attack, but the quiver through her mech's arms told her something was wrong. Her blade had cracked. Even as she came around to swing it again, she could feel the crack propagating. The subtle magics flowing through the blade itself, faint, almost invisible, revealed the weakness.

As their blades clashed again, her sword shattered. The severed end tumbled away. Veronica desperately stepped in closer, trying to get inside the other mech's reach. Her stump of a sword was smaller and lighter now, but the power of her mech was already flagging. The meager desh reserves she'd be able to steal from the other wrecks wouldn't last much longer. But there was more desh, flowing right in front of her, inside the German mech.

With their mechs grappling close, Veronica leaned forward and reached out a hand. She lay her palm on the hot metal armor of the German prototype. The roar of the river threatened to wash her soul away, but Veronica reached out with her spirit and grabbed hold of the power in front of her.

It wasn't easy. The desh inside her foe was locked within its veins. This was no shattered wreck with its power leaking out for her to steal, its bond severed leaving it open to her. This was an intact machine with its power firmly contained inside its engine and conduits, with a rider’s will defying hers. But Veronica would not be denied.

She was dimly aware of the other mech trying to push hers away. Her istota got a hold on the German's energy and she pulled. The larger mech's desh core resisted, strained, and then broke. Power flooded out of the German machine and into her own, washing through Veronica as a burning tide as she desperately tried to direct it into the core of her own machine. Most of the power escaped her and flowed away, lost. That was just as well.

The core of her mech, badly in need of maintenance, could not hold the full power from the German machine. It didn't need to. It just needed enough for a few minutes of combat.

The German machine got a purchase on hers and pushed back. It raised its sword for one final strike.

Veronica commanded her mech to reach up. The height of the taller mech almost put its pilot out of her reach, but not quite. The Russian pilot tried desperately to raise a shield, but the swirling desh that filled the air around them made focusing istota all but impossible. The shield popped and Veronica's metal fist closed. There was a short, sharp scream and it was over.

Veronica's mech opened its damp fist then reached out to catch the German's sword as the pilotless mech toppled over. She caught it and held it aloft. Over the roar of the river, Veronica could hear the cheers of the crowd die away into a shocked silence.

General Petrov leaned back. The first demonstration had been something of a disappointment. The Hungarian mechs were too damaged to give these German machines much challenge. Both of them had been cut down by the sword-wielding German before there had been much of a fight. It was impressive, of course, but he was hoping for a longer technical display that would show off a wider range of these mechs' capabilities.

"That was too easy. Why don't you send one of the cannon-armed ones in there?"

"Of course, of course it was easy." The German scientist rubbed his hands together. The man's enthusiasm would have been amusing if it wasn't for the sycophantic way he gushed over his machines. "See how the sword-wielding mech moves more smoothly than older designs? Greater size means greater reach, and because of this, obsolete machines have no chance."

Petrov waved a hand. "But that means it's over so quickly." Which would be desired in battle, but for a demonstration, one needed to put on a show.

General Petrov watched impassively as the wooden gate creaked open, and another Hungarian mech stomped out of the holding area and into the factory proper. His train of thought derailed as the German mech's sword slash missed. The two machines exchanged a dazzling serious of blows. When the Hungarian’s sword broke, Petrov thought it was all over. The German mech moved in for the kill, grappling with the crippled Hungarian mech.

The suddenly the German mech was down, and the Hungarian mech had its sword held high in its hand. Its rider stood defiant, her hair streaming out behind her as she shouted.

The German mech fell. Its back and shoulder were splattered with blood, but there was no other sign of its rider.

"Impossible!" the German engineer cried. "I don't understand! It's impossible!"

Petrov didn’t look his way. "Your point mech is down. I suggest you send in the flankers. While there's still a chance to salvage this embarrassment."

"Yes, yes, of course. Send in two of the flankers."

"Three," Petrov interjected.

"Three is too many. I thought you wanted to see a more drawn-out battle?"

Petrov ground out through clenched teeth. "Not anymore. Send in three."

Hannah was ordered forward with the other prototype flanker mechs, but she wasn't yet sure if she should make her move. She had no idea how she was going to sabotage this demonstration and get away with her new mech. She would go along with it until an opportunity presented itself.

As they moved into the arena, she caught sight of a Hungarian mech with a sword and a tall, long-haired girl standing atop it.

Veronica.

She was a good ways away across the ruin, and the mech did not look like her old one. But it was Veronica, all right. What was she doing here?

The flanker on Hannah's right opened fire immediately, but Veronica's mech had already ducked away behind some rubble. The cannon rounds sent fountains of bricks and scrap metal into the air. Hannah resisted the urge to turn her gun on the Russian mech immediately. She would only have the element of surprise once.

Both of the other flankers moved forward, and she moved with them for a few steps before dropping back and shifting to her right. She needed to get them close together in her sights before she made her move.

The trigger-happy flanker, true to her name, raced around the far side of the ruin to flank Veronica’s last-known position. As soon as she disappeared, Hannah raised her cannon and blasted the other flanker right off her mech. The shell obliterated the head of the mech and turned the rider into a fine mist.

Hannah knew she'd only have a moment before the Russians retaliated. She scooped up the fallen mech's cannon and ripped the ammunition bandolier from around its torso. The heavy-duty canvas straps tore easily under her mech's armored fist.

Far in the distance, she heard booms. Hannah dashed around the side of the ruin opposite where the other flanker had gone. She hoped Veronica would catch sight of her before taking off Hannah's head.

Right around the ruins, Hannah skidded to a halt as a steel blade came down to stop only inches from her head. The blow would have cleaved through her and split her mech from shoulder to hip had Veronica not checked her swing. Hannah grinned weakly at her sometimes ally.

"Fancy meeting you here.”

“Nice mech,” Veronica said. “Come on, we’ve got prisoners to save.”