Skybound - Interlude: The Horse Knight

The Horse Knight wasn’t sure exactly when it became aware of itself as more than what it had once been. It knew that it had existed for eight-hundred and twenty-three days, fifteen hours, and thirteen minutes. It knew its purpose was to be Katherine’s companion and toy and protector, and that the little girl called it the Horsey Knight and sat astride his back as they pranced elegantly around the borders of the small patch of grass behind the master’s house. This was all it had known, and all it had needed to know, for most of its existence.

It remembered everything, of course. A golem could not forget unless it was commanded to erase its own memories. It remembered that four-hundred and seven days ago, Katherine had not felt well, and they did not march around the grassy spot for several days. Nor had they played the game with the empty cups and plates under the small gazebo. Four hundred and three days ago they had resumed their standard routine, but now Katherine tired easily and the games and the marching never lasted as long. The Horse Knight spent more and more time standing quietly next to the bed, standing watch over the sleeping little girl.

Three-hundred and nineteen days ago several angry men had shouted at Katherine’s father, scaring Katherine and her mother. The one designated as Mother had held Katherine close, while the Horse Knight sat between them and the door to the next room and the girl asked questions the golem did not know the answer to.

“What do they want, Momma?”

“They think your daddy can heal them. He told them he can’t, but they don’t believe him.”

The floor shook and something crashed in the other room as the Master shouted, followed by screams and distant footfalls as the assailants fled. “Don’t worry,” said Mother. “The guardian golems your father built will always protect this house.”

The door opened and the Master entered. He stepped around the Horse Knight, hugging his wife and daughter close. “Things are getting worse in the city,” he said. 

“But we can’t leave,” said Mother. “Katherine won’t survive without the ambient mana of the city.”

“Administrator is almost complete. We’ve had a breakthrough with the new control matrix, but it means I’ll be working at the center for at least the next week…”

Ignoring her parents’ hushed argument, Katherine simply hugged the Horse Knight in silence.

Three-hundred and eleven days ago the Master had come in the night, picking up the Horse Knight without waking Katherine. He had carried the golem downstairs to the workshop where it remembered the beginning of its existence, placing it on a worktable. Also on the table was a strange object of interlocking rings set within a latticed cage of silvery metal.

“What are you doing!?” demanded Mother.

“Administrator has determined the guardian golems are all needed at the city perimeter. I’m upgrading Katherine’s toy.”

“But you are the Architect! Surely our house is important enough for a guardian?”

“Not according to the equations of the Administrator. It has deemed my own skills necessary, but it doesn’t understand humans, it thinks you and Katherine are less necessary to the city, and less vital to protect.”

“Can’t you adjust its directives?”

“Not anymore…”

The sudden silence confused the Horse Knight, as Mother backed away towards the stairs.

“What have you done?”

“What I thought was necessary to protect our daughter! I made a mistake!”

“And now you want to make another one? What are you doing to Horsey?”

The Architect had never ceased his work, and the last pieces of the matrix were slipped past the golem’s perception into the opening on its back, just in front of the padded saddle.

Adaptive Determination Matrix initialized. Integration pending…

The Horse Knight knew the words, but did not know how it knew the words.

"We made a mistake with the Administrator. In our arrogance, we tried to define every eventuality that it would have to deal with. It's clear now that this was a mistake. Such a simple mistake." The Architect carried the Horse Knight back upstairs, pushing Mother aside, gently but firmly. “We can’t cure the mana sickness. No one can. Katherine isn’t going to get better, and the people are just as sick or worse out there. We won’t survive the mutated beasts if we try to evacuate.”

“Then what are we to do?”

“I’m working with Administrator to build a shield generator, to siphon the wild mana out of the city and power a shield to keep the monsters out. But I can’t protect you and Katherine while I’m working at the Core.”

Mother wrung her hands in helplessness. “Why is this happening?” 

“The mana has been rising since Avalon fell. Nobody knows more than that,” said the Architect. “The monsters keep getting bigger, stronger. People mutate, children sicken. There have already been violent attacks within the city, and there will be riots. Katherine needs a protector that the Administrator can’t override, one with higher control access and not slaved to the same frequencies as the city’s beacon.”

“If the Elders find out they’ll have you killed! And not even you know what Administrator will do!”

“The Elders are already sick, just like everyone else. It won’t matter much longer, anyway.”

He went quiet as he opened Katherine’s door. The Architect crossed the short distance to the bed, returning the Horse Knight to his normal place, in arm’s reach of the sleeping girl. Carefully, he knelt down.

“We made a mistake with Administrator, giving it too many directives. We tried to define every eventuality, but that is impossible.” The man’s voice was a whisper, and he looked from the golem to the girl, then back. “I give you one directive, and only one.”

“Daddy?” the girl said sleepily as he kissed her hair.

“Be her friend.”

Directive Accepted. Integrating Adaptive Determination Matrix.

Two-hundred and eighty-seven days ago, Katherine had a wonderful day. Feeling better than usual, she had played with the Horse Knight for several hours. The change in the golem itself had been slow, but Horsey had began to move pre-emptively in anticipation of the girl’s requests. Squeals of happiness and proclamations of joy from the girl reinforced the golem’s urge to fulfill its directive.

Not all of the following days went as well for Katherine, but Horsey did its best to keep her entertained and to not let the little girl become sad. If she did not feel well enough to go outside, they would play in her room, and occasionally the rest of the house except for the Master’s downstairs workshop. They enjoyed much prancing, and tea parties, and mock battles with cushions purloined from furniture. The golem was still not quite certain if it was being a good friend, but a little girl had no such doubts.

Two-hundred and six days ago, the Horse Knight first sensed the Signal. The Master had been hard at work for weeks, rarely coming home for more than a single day as he and the Administrator built new towers around the outer edge of the city. The Administrator controlled all of the golems in the city by way of the Signal, but while Horsey could sense it, the little golem felt no urge to obey it.

Others did, going about their business cleaning the streets, repairing the paving stones and walkways and walls and houses. Guardian Golems patrolled, and visitors told Mother in hushed tones about dangerous attacks by monsters at the edges of some of the city’s districts. Horsey wasn’t sure what monsters were, but they sounded grim and Mother did not want Katherine to hear about them. The golem could only agree. It liked it when Katherine was happy, and did not like it when Katherine was sad or afraid. It no longer wondered how it knew the words it knew, only that it understood more as time passed. Things that made Katherine happy were good, and things that did not were bad. Such knowledge was enough for the Horse Knight.

One-hundred and three days ago, Katherine played outside for the last time. Such days had become less frequent as the little girl became more ill, more easily tired. Horsey knew Mother was sick as well, but diligently hid that fact from the little girl. The girl still smiled, and laughed as the golem danced its way around her room with the clippity clop of its metal hoves. It was not as good as the days of outside games and playing, but as long as its little girl smiled it was enough for the golem.

Thirty-two days ago, Katherine had not gotten out of bed. Mother went no further than the very next room, changing sheets when needed and bringing the little girl broth and water. The Horse Knight stood perfectly still next to the bed, while the girl stroked the woven mane down its neck. Things in the rest of the city were also grim. The golem knew from the Signal that several parts of the outer city had been overrun by monsters, the Administrator retasking many of the city golems to hold them at bay while construction and worker golems built new walls and reinforced them. 

The chimes that decorated the city’s towers now gave mournful notes in the wind. Horsey knew those words because Katherine had been saddened by the change in the sound. She no longer asked for the windows to be left open so she could hear. The golem did not like this change.

Four days ago several strangers and come to the Master’s house, frightening Katherine and also her Mother.

“Where is the key!?” demanded the obvious leader, holding a sword before Mother. “Where did he hide it?”

“There is no key!” the woman shouted back. She gave a desperate laugh. “It was his last folly, he said, and the mistake that doomed us all…”

“You lie! He would not have built it without a Key!” The man screamed and pulled Katherine away, throwing the girl into the wall where she fell to the bed below. The man’s sword protruded from Mother’s back, dripping red.

The Horse Knight did not know why the Master had not returned. The Guardians stationed at the house had been retasked by the Administrator over two-hundred days before. But one thing it did know was that it must protect Katherine. When the angry man pulled the little girl away from Mother with a snarl, a new knowledge and words filled the golem’s being.

Threat Detected. Primary Objective in danger.

Adaptive Determination Matrix active.

Safety Interlock Disengaged. Combat Authorized.

The door was no longer large enough to allow the Horse Knight to pass through. It turned to the suddenly pale men, instead of a happy clip and clop of hooves, the golem crunched plate-sized divots into the stone floor. The men turned to run, and Horsey felt a strange heat between its eyes as it charged, and then the door was big enough to allow it to pass. The golem ignored the splinters of wood and pieces of shattered stone that flew around it, skewering the one who had stabbed Mother with the burning horn that now protruded from its equine skull.

Once all the strange men had been pranced upon and no longer moved, or made any sounds, the Horse Knight returned to the doorway. It was now large again, and much larger than it was before. Katherine was no longer moving, and Mother lay halfway across the bed, blood covering the floor. Horsey nudged the little girl’s hand with its nose, unsure what to do. It stood, and waited, standing guard.

It stood guard for days, until it noticed a change in the Signal. A strange pulse shook the city, and through the window of Katherine’s room the Horse Knight saw a faint blue light rise up from the distant walls. The barrier went up, and as it formed a dome over the city, the wind stilled.

The City of Song fell silent.

Many days passed, and the Horse Knight did not leave its post. It stood guard where Mother had fallen next to its little girl. One-thousand, three-hundred and seventy days later, it reactivated combat mode once again. This time to fend off worker and construction golems sent by Administrator to reclaim the resources of the Master’s house for new projects within the city. The Horse Knight could have answered the queries within the Signal. It understood the protocols and requests for communication, but such things had no priority over its initial directive. It ignored all requests. More golems were sent every hundredth day to attempt to dismantle the small plot of land around Katherine’s resting place, and the Horse Knight repelled them every time, still without answering the queries of the Administrator.

One-hundred-thousand days later, the Administrator stopped attempting to reclaim the Master’s land. The rest of the city had been built up around the small rectangle of land with the quaint little house and patch of grass with small gazebo in the back. Golems wandered the streets, repairing empty shops and repaving roads upon which no-one travelled. Parks were maintained in immaculate form, trees and gardens tended, aqueducts fed fountains and pools and benches dotted walkways that lay forever silent under the quiet ministrations of its magically mechanical custodians.

The Horse Knight stood vigil over bones.

Three-hundred-thousand, four-hundred and seventy-three days later, something changed within the city. The factory complex at the Core in the center of the city began to rumble, and Guardian golems spewed out, followed by excavation machinery, transport golems, and other designs the Horse Knight had never seen. Horsey ignored them as well, refusing to obey the orders within the Signal that compelled all to the western gate. The Signal spread information of a threat to the city, and Administrator had weighed the options and chose to go to war.

Three-hundred-thousand, nine-hundred and six days later the war had returned to the city. People on massive flying reptiles had died by the thousands but managed to breach the dome. They died, but still they came, and finally their great beasts poured enough dread flame into the central factor at Core that the Guardian golems finally ceased to spew from the assembly lines.

The walls and the barrier were repaired, and the flying men did not return, but something had been damaged at Core in the battle. The Signal was no longer as strong from Administrator, the information chaotic and unpredictable. The city’s golems became less coordinated, less efficient. 

Three-hundred and fifty-one thousand, two hundred days later, the Signal finally faded. Golems still wandered the streets of the city, but all coordination had been lost. No more came from Core to replace those that were lost to wear and tear or, more commonly, to clashes with each other. The Horse Knight had to defend the Master’s house more frequently, guarding Katherine’s rest. Plants encroached from the wilds outside, pushing through cracks in stone and in between the enchantments around the city. Creatures followed the plants, and the golem fought living things more often than other golems as more time passed.

Four-hundred and one thousand, six-hundred and seventy-three days later, the Horse Knight sensed a new Signal. It was faint, but it stood out against the background mana of the ambient air well enough for the golem to detect it. Horsey hopped up to the remaining section of stone wall that still stood, what had once been the wall of Katherine’s bedroom, in an attempt at homing in upon this new and unfamiliar thing.

“...is Dana, do you hear me Morgan?”

An answer came, even fainter than the first. Not well enough for the Horse Knight to interpret. The first then spoke again, fading in and out.

“... had to launch in a storm, but we have zero visi-”

“... can’t go above the clouds, ice elementals attack if we go too high. Trying to head south but we don’t want to hit a mountain-”

The Horse Knight had stood watch for hundreds of thousands of days. It knew nothing of the rest of the world, but it felt its duty was not yet complete. The conundrum it faced was that it did not know how to complete that duty.

This new voice spoke as the Master had. It may know what the Horse Knight did not. 

The Horse Knight made a decision. The gem between its eyes began to glow.

With a twist of strange blue mana, it emitted a ping!