One of nine KeyForge short stories featured in Aconyte Books’ anthology Tales From the Crucible, Cath Lauria’s The Apprentice is a story of gambling goblins, risky bets and family ties. Despite technically being Grizl Crustic’s apprentice, young human Roz is in fact the main mechanic in the lazy goblin’s workshop. When her boss guiltily explains that he may have lost her robot – TRIS, the last remaining link to Roz’s family – in a sure-fire bet gone wrong, she negotiates a dangerous new deal which sends her hunting within towering scrap piles in search of valuable technology to exchange for TRIS.
It’s a bright, fun story, almost YA in feel, with Roz’s determination to retain a link to her lost family driving the narrative and allowing Lauria to explore this scrappy, cyberpunk-ish aspect of the KeyForge setting. There’s danger aplenty in Hub City’s trash piles, from bionically-enhanced rats and roaming goblin gangs to the psychic lure of lethal gurgle pools, but Roz is brave, smart and inventive, and it’s impossible not to root for her. The family connection provides the story’s heart, while the pace, excitement and enjoyable world-building all combine to keep the pages turning. All told it’s a really enjoyable story, and a great way of exploring the setting.
Check out reviews of the other stories featured in the Tales From the Crucible anthology.
