The three of them were walking in thoughtful silence through hallways that had quickly become familiar. These days, unless they were going somewhere new, they didn’t even ask Cloudhaven to give them directions. They didn’tneed a glowing path to lead them to and from the firewood room.
It was Ellukka who suddenly stopped short and lifted one hand, causing Anders and Sam to halt as well. She had her head cocked to one side, as though she was listening for something, and Anders strained his ears but could hear nothing.
“Do you hear that?” Ellukka whispered, almost inaudible. “It sounded like a rock clacking against something.”
Sam and Anders shook their heads, but then Anders suddenly remembered the sound that he had heard but never been able to explain. He pointed ahead of them and raised his eyebrows—Was it that way?—and she nodded.
The three of them began to creep carefully along the hallway, making as little sound as possible. The firewood cart had been as well-oiled as all the doors of Cloudhaven, and was silent as it trundled along behind Sam.
Last time Anders had heard the unexplained noise, he had called out. This time, they reached the corner in silence and carefully peeked around it all at once, Ellukka’s head on top, Sam’s at the bottom, and Anders’s in the middle.
They stared for a long moment, then withdrew back around the corner to stare at each other with huge eyes.
They had all seen the same thing, but Anders couldtell from his friends’ faces that they could barely believe it any more than he could.
What Anders had seen was... well, it looked like a huge person, at least seven feet tall, but it was made of clay, as best he could tell from this distance. It was obviously an artifact, not only because it was walking on its own, but also because it had a skeleton on the outside made from metal and teeming with runes.
They conducted a quick, completely silent conversation, raising their brows, widening their eyes, and gesturing wildly.
The language of wolves involved mostly body language—a tilt of the head or a flick of an ear was as good as a whole sentence. So even in human form, Anders suspected he understood the other two a little better than they understood him or each other. Ellukka wanted to go around the corner and confront the thing. Sam wanted to hide somewhere.
Anders, if he was completely honest with himself, wanted to hide somewhere as well. But he knew they couldn’t. This place was so full of mysteries, they couldn’t give up the chance to solve one. So he nodded to Ellukka, straightened his shoulders, and with Sam reluctantly behind them, they walked around the corner.
The giant artifact was walking slowly toward them,and stopped in place as they came into sight. Well, possibly into sight. It didn’t have eyes, so Anders had no idea if it could see them.
“What is it?” Sam whispered.
“Are you from Cloudhaven?” Anders asked it, raising his voice. “Are you what we’ve been hearing?”
It didn’t answer, and it didn’t move, simply gazing toward them.
Half a minute passed, and it was clear that nothing would happen unless the children made it. So Anders slowly walked up to the huge figure, tilting his head back to stare at it.
It responded then, bowing a little at the waist and tipping its head down to stare at him in return. Anders heard a series of clicks inside it, as though some cogs or gears were moving. Then it grabbed him tightly around the waist, lifting him clean off his feet. It tucked him under its arm and turned away from Ellukka and Sam, striding quickly down the hallway.
“Put me down!” Anders yelled, trying to push his way free, but the thing was made of rock, and he couldn’t budge it an inch—it only tightened its grip uncomfortably around him and kept moving.
“Stop!” Ellukka screamed behind him. “Cloudhaven, stop it!”
But nothing happened.
Anders couldn’t see behind the artifact, but he could hear Sam and Ellukka following, both shouting for it to stop as Anders continued the fight to kick and wriggle his way free. The artifact responded by picking up its pace until it was jogging, shaking Anders up and down in the process until he could barely keep his eyes open. His heart was racing now, the artifact’s arm around him forcing him to take quick, shallow breaths.
His legs were sticking out behind it, and that was how he knew Ellukka—who so often used her strength to solve problems—had thrown herself at the creature. She wrapped her arms around the arm that held Anders, digging her heels into the ground, trying desperately to drag it to a stop, or at least slow it down.
Its step caught and it nearly stumbled, and for a moment it seemed as though she might succeed.
Then it shook itself impatiently, throwing her aside so she crashed into the rock wall.
“Now, Sam,” she screamed from somewhere behind Anders. “Do it! Do it now!”
Anders wriggled and twisted again, and he caught a glimpse of Ellukka dragging herself to her feet, still dazed from the impact with the wall. With a few quick, stumbling steps, she ran ahead of the artifact warrior, butbefore Anders had time to understand or even really wonder what she was doing, something crashed into it from behind.
Sam had driven the firewood cart into the warrior’s legs with all his strength, and it toppled backward, still holding tight to Anders, firewood scattering everywhere as they came to rest atop the cart.
Sam, his face grim with determination, kept pushing the cart as hard as he could, and his momentum carried him a little way despite its weight. Ahead, Ellukka had yanked open a door, and with one final shove, Sam pushed the cart, the artifact warrior, and Anders straight through the doorway, making a grab for Anders’s hand as he did.
Anders locked one hand onto Sam’s and grabbed at the doorframe with the other, trying desperately to free himself from the warrior so the others could slam the door. He could hear its internal gears clanking and grinding as it tried to climb out of the cart and back to its feet.
