text: I recently had to write a short story for school and I decided to base it in the world of Mortal Engines. I’m not a very good writer and I have only read the first book so somethings might be wrong and I decided to make somethings up but here you go. “As you all know, thousands of years ago, the ancients destroyed themselves during the Sixty Minute War,” explained Mr. Ahmed in his booming voice that woke Lute from his sleep. “The fear of this war is what forced the cities of the world to mobilize, be put on wheels and eat each other”. “Why isn’t Petra on wheels?” enquired one of Lute’s classmates. Lute never had many friends and as such, he had a lot of free time to read the history books, so, he already knew the answer to this question. “Because we’re built into the side of a moun...” mumbled Lute, still half asleep. “As you all know, the hunters exam is coming up and you only have one chance; if you fail, you’ll have to try to be a warrior or historian instead,” continued Mr. Ahmed. The hunters exam, the test ever boy in Petra waited for since they started school. If you passed the exam it showed that you were becoming a man, and it allowed you to be a hunter (the most respected job in Petra), aside from being chief of course. This meant that everyone in Lute’s class was excited, everyone except Lute. He never really cared for anything, he just drifted back in forth through life without a direction. Of course he would do the exam, he needed something to do with his life after all, but, if he had to be a historian, so be it. Class finally ended and as he was about to leave the dark, sandstone room when he bumped into Michael, the chief’s son. Michael hit him as hard as he could, right in the stomach. “Maybe you should run home to your parents, oh wait...” said Michael tauntingly. The problem with this is that Lute never had parents or a home; he was left behind by a small traction city that drove past Petra. Because of this, no one liked him very much and he never made any friends. Lute started to run away and all he could hear is Michael yelling, “You’re a scaredy cat”. The next morning, all the boys met at the hunting grounds for the exam. The Chief was there; he always watched the exam, he did pick out the new hunters after all. “For the exam you’ll all have to go into the wilds and bring back any animal you can find,” explained the Chief, “the first ten boys to bring back an animal, pass”. The Chief started counting down and as soon as he got to one, everyone ran of into the harsh sand dunes and small forests outside Petra. All they were given was a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a knife. Lute was one of the first to find a deer, but Michael was following him, still holding a grudge. Michael knocked his arrow before Lute had a chance and took out the deer. Michael shouted back to Lute as he ran back to the Chief, “Too slow, Lute, maybe you’ll find another one”. He wandered and wandered the dunes with no direction and every once in awhile he sat and rested. Finally, after what felt like hours, Lute finally found another animal; it was another deer. He knocked his arrow as quickly as a cheetah, and let it fly. He hit the deer and dragged it away. When he got back to the Chief, he could see Michael scowling at him, visibly angry that Lute made it through the exam. “Good job to those of you who made it,” said the Chief in his regal voice, “and I’m truly sorry to those of you who didn’t, but, you can still be a warrior and protect the ancient walls of Petra”. Of course when Lute went to leave, Michael followed, mocking him. This happened almost everyday but recently it’s been worse and Lute just ignored it until he made it to his single room in the dark, dry, sandy walls of Petra. Due to Petra being built into the side of a cliff, when the traction era started, they were stuck where they were. Most cities gained any new technological advancements from cities they ate, but Petra couldn’t eat other cities and as such, their society was very primitive. Aside from that, Petra was a fairly nice place, other than the sandy walls and constant darkness. The next day, all of the new hunters had to gather in the main hall of Petra for a feast. The main hall was darker than any other part of Petra because it was built the deepest in its walls and it was the most covered part of the whole city. It was also the nicest part of Petra, with real wooden furniture and some things that the ancients called televisions, although they didn’t work, they made surprisingly nice decorations. “After all of your hard work to get to where you are, we decided to let you enjoy your first day before starting your new duty,” announced the Chief. He was right, everyone did have fun, everyone except Lute. It was a fine party, but Lute didn’t care for socializing, mostly because no one talked to him, partly because he was naturally shy. The other reason that he didn’t have fun is that Michael was constantly watching his every movement. Michael’s eyes stayed focused on him, immovable, until finally Lute started to leave. “Where are you going Lute?” mocked Michael. “H...home,” responded Lute. “But, didn’t your home drive away a long time ago?” taunted Michael. Finally Lute had enough and ran up and hit Michael. He stared in horror as he watched him fall, then, he stared at his now open hands and back at Michael. Next thing he knew, the Chief was beside him. “I-I-I didn't mean to do it, he was maki-” started Lute with tears welling up in his eyes. “I know, I’ve seen what he does Lute, I’ll make sure to scold him later,” interrupted the Chief. Lute fell to the ground, sobbing. He could feel all the action of the last few days catching up on him and he fell asleep. Eventually he woke up in is small, dark room all alone. He got up and walked out to the dorm where all the other boys stayed. They were running out to the hunting grounds. They must be sending us on our first expedition thought Lute. Lute started following them. He wasn’t very excited to go out into the wild, then again he wasn’t excited by much. Even though this was true, there was a silver lining to being alone; he wouldn’t have to put up with Michael. He walked out into the light and saw the chief standing at the front of the crowd of hunters. “We have been running out of food recently and for your next expedition, we will need you to stay in the wild for one month,” started the Chief. The new hunters cheered at the idea of going out for the first time, while the older hunters stayed quiet because they knew what to expect. “Now everyone, we need you all to go and collect your gear and leave as soon as possible,” finished the Chief. Lute went back to his room and found that there was a brand new bow and arrow, made out of steel, waiting for him. Alongside the bow, there was a note that read, Dear Lute, I know you haven’t had a good upbringing in our little town and I’ve seen what my son does to you. I know this can’t make up for everything, but, I would like you to have a brand new bow, straight from our engineers. From, The Chief With newfound encouragement, Lute grabbed the bow and some hunting powder (a tool developed by the ancients to keep meat fresh and now hunters used it so that all their meat stays fresh until they return to Petra) and he ran off to the hunting grounds. He was happy to finally be free of the constant mocking of Michael and everyone else. Almost as soon as he stepped outside of the dark walls of Petra, he saw a massive deer. He followed the deer into the woods, for days. When he finally caught the deer he was extremely tired since he hadn’t slept for a couple of days. He knocked his arrow and felled the deer. Lute went over to the deer and praised the god of the hunt, as was customary. Afterwords, he paced some hunting powder onto the body, keeping it edible for the month to come. He built up a small tent and a fire and hid the deer under some leaves. As he was doing there was loud rumble. He didn’t know what was happening when the colourful birds flew into the air, screaming. He wandered alone (nothing he wasn’t used to), unable to find a single animal in the wood, all he could find were their tracks. Eventually, almost two weeks later, the forest opened up into the dunes of Jordan. Once again, there wasn’t a single animal in sight, and he still heard the rumbling from earlier. The deeper Lute made it into the dunes, he started to find deep tracks in the dunes. They were fresh tracks and they were definitely from a traction city. Lute knew he had to warn Petra, he finally felt like he had a purpose. He started off towards his home, completely forgetting about his earlier catch. He ran as fast as he could but the constant rumbling was catching up to him, getting louder and louder until it was unbearable. He turned around and in his last second of consciousness, he saw the massive name on the front of the traction city, Mining City Zarqa. Then the city hit him, sending him into the air. Michael was just about to return home when he found one of the other hunters camps. He hadn’t had much luck finding food, so, when he saw the deer handing under the leaves, in perfect condition, of course he took it. It was the biggest animal he had ever seen, it was almost as big as him. He knew that he would be celebrated if he went home with such a big catch, so, he started off running as soon as he picked it up. It was a peaceful day in Petra, much like any other, only the Chief was starting to worry. He was worrying so because all of the hunters had returned on the deadline, all except one. The other reason he was worried is that the hunters had only brought back enough food to last a week. Aside from that, Michael had just arrived with the largest catch anyone had ever seen. Another feast was starting in the main hall, to celebrate the hunters’ return. This celebration was even more exciting than the last because of all the adrenaline running through the hunters after their exhilarating expeditions. At the end of the feast, the hunters were given rewards for their catches. Most of them were given some new clothes and other things like that, but, Michael who had stolen the biggest catch was given the newest set of hunting gear from the engineers. Then there was a boom, the sound of falling rock, as the front wall of Petra fell. It was almost a week later when Lute woke up; it was a miracle he survived. His mind was foggy after the incident but one word stayed in his mind, Zarqa. He didn’t know why he remembered this word but he knew it must be important. He began to wander the dunes aimlessly, once again. Eventually he began to go back towards Petra. Soon Petra came into sight and Lute saw the devastation that had come to his home. He dropped to the ground, tears falling from his eyes. “Noooo!” he shouted into the empty space around him. The realization came to him, I had to warn them, I saw the tracks, I could have saved them. He walked closer to Petra, realizing how small and helpless he truly is. He didn’t move for hours, yelling and crying into the nothingness. He’d didn’t bother to go back to Petra because he knew he’d find nothing. Finally he made up his mind; he would hunt down the city that did this. Zarqa he kept saying in his mind, over and over. He walked for hours on end, through the empty dunes. Eventually he tripped over something in the sand. He turned around to look at it and started to dig out whatever it was. First he saw what looked like a tiger head made of steel. He continued to dig and there was a metal skeleton connected to the head and tubes going back forth through the sinewy body. After it was completely dug up, Lute knew exactly what it was. It was a stalker; resurrected creatures, made of metal, that were used for war. It’s small green eyes lit up and stared straight at Lute. He jumped back instantly, ready to run but it followed him. It started to rub up against him. It seemed as though it liked him. Zarqa wandered throughout the land. It’s mayor was standing on a balcony above the gut (the place where cities went when they were eaten). He watched their newest slaves as they were walked to their new place of work. Zarqa was a mining town (they get their materials by digging into mountains), so, they only devoured cities for new slaves. Because of this, they didn’t mind that there was nothing else to be obtained from Petra. Lute’s new pet (he named it Leer) followed him obediently, no matter where he went. Sometimes he sent Leer out to find food and it always returned with fresh food. This newfound companion managed to keep Lute’s spirits high, even though Leer was a soulless robot. After a while, they heard the now familiar rumble of a traction city. It was coming right for them! They tried to run but the city was too fast. They were sucked straight into the gut. “Welcome to Al Karak!” boomed the speakers above them. Slowly he walked in a line with other people captured from the dunes of Jordan, while Leer followed in the shadows. He had to give his name to a guard before he was allowed into the main part of the city. The city was bright and colourful, unlike Petra. It was inviting him in. He was almost tempted to stay here forever, but, he had to save his people and he might be able to take advantage of his current detour. Almost every city had an airship dock and he might be able to find someone to take him to Zarqa. After asking for directions, he found his way to the dock where he met a young pilot named Edward. He informed Edward on his situation and Edward agreed to let Lute fly in his ship. “There’s a group of trading cities to the east, we could probably find out where Zarqa is heading if we head out there,” Edward explained. “Sounds like a good id-“ “W-w-what is that!!” shouted Edward, pointing at Leer as it crept out of the shadows. “Well, I guess it’s kind of my pet,” started Lute “I named it Leer and it’s a stalker.” “Weren’t stalkers only made from humans?” asked Edward. “I guess some nation decided to make them out of animals, who knows?” replied Lute. After getting to know each other, Lute, Leer and Edward headed off to the trading cities. Soon they could see their destination below. The cluster of cities just looked like a mangle of grey steel. When they landed, they found out that it smelt even worse. As they walked the streets, an old man heard them talking about Zarqa. “So you’re looking for Zarqa, are you?” asked the slouched over, old man. “I can tell you exactly where their going, for a price of course,” he continued. Lute and Edward looked at each other, nodded and handed over what little money they had. “Their on their way towards mountain to the north; I hear they’ve run out of mountains to dig up here and they need a new mining site,” quickly explained the old man. “Thank you!” the boys said as they started running of towards the airship. The airship started to circle Zarqa, trying to find an entrance. It turns out that the mining city saw them as soon as they flew over top of it. After a couple minutes, Zarqa shot a net out at the airship and tried to pull it in. Edward’s airship turned out to be stronger than it looked; it started to fly away from the city, breaking the net. They flew out of sight before returning to sneak into a lower level of the city. They stole some guard outfits and snuck into the city, with Leer following from the shadows. They asked around and found out where the people of Petra were sent and Edward had bought some tech from some shops. One of the people they asked was suspicious and called some guards on the boys. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before,” Said one of guards. “W-w-we’re new!” quickly replied Edward. “I didn’t know we were hiring new guards, not as young as you atleast,” impatiently said the guard. Lute started to reply, then, Leer stepped out of the shadows and lunged at the guards. They stumbled away and ran. The boys also started to run in the other direction. At Least now they knew where they were going, but the whole city would know about them now; now they had to stick to the shadows. Lute had adrenaline pumping all throughout his body and he felt like he was invincible. He finally felt like he had a purpose, like he knew what he had to do in life. They crept in the shadows for hours until they finally made it to the pits the people of Petra were being held in. They looked starved and tired and they probably haven’t eaten for days. Leer jumped down into pit, head first, and scared all of the guards away. The boys followed and jumped down. Lute searched for the Chief and told him about his plan. “We brought an airship, we have to sneak you all out into it,” explained Lute. “How are we supposed to sneak out of here without being noticed?” “If someone sees us, Leer can can scare them off”. “Who is this Leer?” enquired the Chief. “He’s my pet, he’s a stalker”. “A-a-a stal...” “It’s fine, he’s really taken to being around humans,” interrupted Lute. “That settles it, we will leave know,” finished the Chief. The Chief turned to address all of his citizens, “Lute and his new friends have brought an airship to take us home”. Everyone started to cheer and the Chief moved his hands in a motion, intending to calm them down. Lute and Edward lead the way, everyone crept through the dark path. They did indeed run into some guards, but, Leer did his job and scared them away. They managed to all fit into Edward’s airship and start their new journey home. After a weeks journey, the people of Petra made it home. As soon as they landed, they made a makeshift stage, so that they could hold a ceremony to praise their saviours. “I have have to go home, I can’t stay here but I do have some tools I bought for you all,” said Edward walking to his airship, handing over the tools. “Thank you!” everyone yelled to Edward as he flew away. The ceremony continued. Lute was given some food and money; they didn’t have anything else to give him. The biggest announcement didn’t come until the very end. “Lute, I have decided to make you my heir, you have done more than enough to deserve this,” said the Chief. “I can’t accept this, I just did what I had to,” replied Lute. “I have already made up my mind”. “Thank you so much,” said Lute, tearing up. Michael stormed off, mad that his father chose Lute rather than him. The people of Petra started repairing the town, using Edwards tools. From this day on, the people of Petra lived in happy seclusion.