Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Lava Plume

The three Seekers were riding the Reaper, which was sprinting across the Nora lands to reach the Sacred Mountain. 

Bast couldn't contain his amazement for the beast's speed. He insisted to sit in the front and was laughing both nervously and uncontrollably, while the girls were quietly installed behind, thinking about what was awaiting them.
They had both agreed not to mention Bast's confession unless he spoke about it again, knowing he probably just needed to distract his mind and to calm down. 

"Does travelling on this big guy's back remind you of anything ?", Kïma asked to Aloy, grinning.

Smiling, knowing she was talking about their first encounter, Aloy replied :

"You were intriguing, I'll give it to you."

"What if these bandits had never caught you ?", Kïma said, contemplating a group of machines grazing nearby.

"I'd rather not think about it", Aloy admitted, chuckling. 

"Honestly ? Same."

Aloy opened her mouth to say something but Bast was faster and asked with a sore voice :

"Hey, do you have any ideas what are these machines there ? I've never seen anything like that !"

Aloy sneaked a look over the Reaper's shoulder to admire two creatures, walking slowly, almost like wolves. They had pointed ears and an impressive mine canon on their backs, as well as sharp metal jaws and claws. 

"Yeah, they look like..."

All of a sudden, Kïma gasped and pulled Aloy and Bast as low as possible, to get them hidden behind the Reaper's spikes. The machine instantly activated its camouflage ability.

"What's going on ?", Aloy whispered, understanding stealth was required. She used her focus to record the new machine type and noted every weak component she could notice.

"These are one of the most dangerous machines I've ever encountered in the Banuk lands. They are called Scorchers and I almost died fighting one... So I would like not having to fight two today..."

"What are they doing here, then, if they are supposed to be in the Banuk lands ?", Bast questioned.

"I have no idea. Weird things are going on in the Banuk lands these days..."

The machines had stopped walking and seemed to be focusing on something, looking at the sky. The Reaper, following Kïma's commands through her focus, was moving slightly on the left, deviating the path it was initially following. 

"Thanks to  the Sun, the Moon and all the others, you noticed them on time...", sighed the collector, hitting gently Bast in the shoulder.

"Why did they stop, though ? Don't tell me they saw us...", Aloy remarked, furrowing her brows.

A little "Nah, they didn't" fell from Bast's mouth. 

A little "Well, maybe they did..." followed, as the two beasts started to growl and to adopt a defensive pose, looking right at them. The Reaper forgot instantly his camouflage and, still under the woman's control, instantly ran in the opposite direction.

"Fuck it, we're all going to burn...", Kïma hissed between her teeth. "I recommend grabbing anything you can and to stay as low as possible on the big guy !"

Doing what she said, Aloy's hands found the nearest spike and she sneaked a look towards Bast to make sure he was also safe. He had tied himself to a spike with a rope, which was a rather smart thing to do.

The huntress understood the recommandation when the Reaper jumped over the first river, almost sending her on the ground. They were rushing towards a cliff, that was soon hiding the Sun. The two Scorchers were right behind them. They were much smaller than their mount, thus being a bit faster and getting closer each second.