Prudence and the Leeds Devil IV

	“So,” the young man started, taking point on his horse. “What were things like back then?” The robot mumbled blankly, fiddling with the key in her hand. The printmaster was kind enough to return the brassy box she’d been given over with, the machine still swinging and clicking after all these years.
	“Better.”
	“Oh?”
	“I… would rather go in quiet.”
	“Right, sorry,” he sniffed, turning forward again. “But, uh- you mentioned fighting?” She ignored the question. The gravelly trot of their horses filled the silence, dense summery air swallowing them on the trip through western New Jersey. The odd breeze stirred the sticky, humid air around them, a far cry from the chillier climes she was used to, even just a short trip north. Breathing deeply, her bellow flexing at the patches, she steadied herself in this new time. If that gentleman back home had taken care enough of her in the years since *then* then he could be trusted- he would be a good place to rebuild from. Looking ahead down the meandering road before her was just miles of woodland and wilderness, the same path ahead mirrored in her head. She figured she’d take up keeping whatever rotten ruin was left of her home together, living day by day at best.
	“We’re, uh, almost there.”
	“Thank you.”
	“Yup. Jersey’s a nice place, and Master Leeds is a big name here.”
	“Oh?”
	“Yep,” he beamed, thankful for the conversation. “Master Franklin and him used to be old buddies before they moved apart. Then when they both started up almanacs they were at each other’s throats.”
	“Heavens, I hope-”
	“But that’s not all! They did it on,” he shifted around to eye for peeping eyes or ears. “They did it on *purpose*.”
	“Really,” she yawned.
	“Yes ma’am, on purpose! Drums up sales real nice. So now we gotta go see what’s taking his version so long.”
	“I see.”
	“Yes, I know it’s long but at least it’s nice out!” He gestured around the verdantly green wilderness, blue, cloudy skies watching them from above. “See?”
	“Yeah,” she smiled. “I suppose it is.” She inhaled the warm air again, cushiony breaths in and out warming her core. Much *warmer* than home, easily, but she wasn’t used to it. The humidity didn’t agree with her one bit, slippery bits of condensation forming here and there on her gears, subtly warping her wood plates here and there. An hour or so’s more and they’d arrived, a broad glen cleared around a humble home built deep in the sweltering pine barrens.
	“Here!”
	“Huh- oh!” Head perking up she looked over the splendorous property, the dense woodland around them an impenetrably green reminder of home.
	“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” he added, dismounting. “Should be nice and quick.”
	“...No, I can come.”
	“Hey, I appreciate the company!” The young man strolled to the still home, a heavy breeze rustling the grassy surroundings gently. Hopping up the front step he knocked once, waited, then knocked again. Prudence idled in the little dirt path around the home, watching the treeline nervously. She’s taken the compass for luck and kept it close, a small warm lump of comfort sitting in her apron pocket.
	“Are they absent?”
	“No, they shouldn’t be at least. Franklin and Leeds made it a habit to keep tabs on the other… Might just be asleep!”
	“Certainly a fine day for an evening nap, yes.”
	“Darn right,” he laughed, trying the knob. “I’ll let myself in, Leeds knows me. Oh, hey! Maybe he’d like to see a machine too! A thinking one, I mean.”
	“I’m sorry,” she blushed, the paint at her cheeks stiff in her embarrassment.
	“Yeah Franklin sent him all sorts’a contraptions. But, well, never one like *you*.”
	“O-Oh… I’m flattered! But, well,” she paused, wringing her hands. “Well… okay.” Hopping up the porch with Thomas she waited at the door, the young apprentice twisting the knob and strolling in. The humble foyer was narrow, small, but immensely warm. A wood-wrought smell filled the home, followed by notes of a dying fire and rotting logs.
	“Say- Heavens!”
	“Sir,” she shot, instinctively.
	“Look!” The sitting room gathered around the dead, just-hot ashes was ravaged beyond belief, the plush armchair and sofa torn apart and dismembered. Prudence's eyes narrowed, the metallic pulse of her machinery quickening in fear. A hand shot for the compass inside, pulse steadied by the disinterested sway of the needle- nothing here. “Sheesh, I- I hope nothing’s amiss.”
	Stepping ahead the young man and the machine panned through the kitchen and first floor, nerves growing tighter in the silent home. Stooping around, careful to keep quiet, they ascended the second floor steps. The boy yelped before slamming a hand to his mouth, a grisly, ichorous puddle sticking at his shoe and pulling. Prudence sniffed at the air again, the stench of burnt fur and iron overtaking the wet wood-rot of the first floor.
	“Here, move.” She plucked the needle from its home in the compass-box, swiping it in the sickly blue-black ooze dripping from his shoe. Placed back home in the box it swung hard right and affixed itself up the stairs and down the hall. “We need to go, *now*,” she spat.
	“But-”
	“Now!”
	Yanking him down the stairs a hoarse laughter whistled behind them, a pair of stilted, hooved legs pounding on the hardwood behind them. A meters-long tailed whipped past them, it’s barbed end cutting the boy’s cheek. Dashing down the stair the laughter continued, the stench of iron overwhelming the faint boy. On the ground floor again a cloud of debris and plaster clouded the air in the sitting room, the floor above caving in from the repeated stomps of the creatures hooves. Tail retracted, it jabbed now at Prudence’s chest, the creature’s eyes flaring red like hot coals. Dodging the jab the tail planted itself hard in the pasted wall, jammed there as they made their escape. Ripped free it coiled around the boy and pulled him away, Prudence turning to see him yanked into the room and at the emaciated limbs of the monster.
	It chortled, watching her, slinking the boy beneath its sickeningly bent, hooved legs. Braying its goathead at her, ears flapping against thick horns, it kicked him hard in the temple and knocked him out. Diving for him she stooped to take a shard of the furniture in hand, twisting about to plunge at the creature’s heart in a swift blow. It laughed harder, front hooves morphed to hands to grab it and yank it away, the wings folded on its back flapping to life.
	“No!” Screaming she dove after her weapon, the tail extending to slap her away into the wall. Giddy with laughter it’s wings beat hard in the air, the miasma of pulverized plaster and wood fragments thrown into the air and at Prudence. Groaning, she turned over, just barely catching the glimpse of it flying into the fireplace and out the chimney, Thomas dragged unconscious in tow.