“Come,” he said, stepping out of the elevator. He proceeded to walk directly towards them.
I caught my breath. “What are you doing?” I said in a whisper. It occurred to me that he had betrayed me, but I instantly dismissed the thought. I was already their prisoner. But what did Tam hope to prove by leading me out in front of them? It was insane.
“Come,” he repeated impatiently, and continued walking. Reluctantly, I followed him. As we appeared in front of the glass, they all turned to look at us and their voices fell silent. Tam opened the door.
“Brothers and sisters,” Tam said as we entered. He turned toward my grandmother, bowing his head. “My queen.”
“What is the meaning of this?” said an older gentleman in fine clothing near the head of the table. I recognized him as Lydian, my grandmother’s most trusted advisor.
“I have come to tell you that Breeze is now mine.”
My mouth fell open. I was about to refute his statement, but he shot me a glare that said, Keep quiet! The Tal’mar started muttering amongst themselves and Tam turned his attention back to them.
“Breeze is mine and I accept full responsibility for her. If anyone wishes to challenge me, they may do so now, but be warned: I will allow no harm to come to her.” The tone of his voice was cold, threatening. I suddenly understood that he was tactfully telling them that if anyone tried to harm me, he would kill them. The room was quiet as he met their gazes. Lydian spoke:
“This is not for you to decide, Tam.”
“And yet I have,” he said flatly. “Are you challenging me, Lydian?”
Lydian held his hands out in a gesture of peace, indicating that he was not prepared to fight. A wise move. The older man knew better than to tangle with a fierce young warrior like Tam, but the look on his face told me this wasn’t over. Lydian would be plotting my murder the moment we turned our backs.
I reached out, putting my hand on Tam’s arm, urging him to leave. He cast one more defiant glance around the room and then turned to open the door. No one said a word as he escorted me out of the building. Only when the three of us got outside did I find myself able to breathe.
Tam started walking down the street and I fell in next to him. Socrates lumbered along behind us like a pet. “Why did you do that?” I said.
“I did what was necessary.” He cast a sideways glance at me. “Do not think I meant anything by claiming you. You will remain free, of course. I have merely sworn to protect you.”
“But why?” I said. “They will all turn against you now. Why have you done this?”
“Because I love you,” he said. “How could you not know this?”
I faltered in my step. “Tam-”
“I understand,” he said, cutting me off. “You have a family. A husband and child. I can’t return you to them, but I swear to keep you safe. Perhaps someday, we will find a way…”
As his voice trailed off, I realized that Tam didn’t know about Robie yet. He didn’t know my mate had died. I opened my mouth to tell him and then clamped it shut. Somehow, it didn’t seem like the right time.
7
Tam took me to a distant part of the city that the Tal’mar had designated the “Old Quarter.” It was a strange place, quaint and antiquated, a far cry from the high rise buildings and broad streets of downtown. Architecturally, the buildings were more like Riverfork or Anora. They were constructed of heavy timbers and stone masonry. The sidewalk was a true boardwalk, with wrought iron lamps lining the narrow cobbled streets. The place felt oddly familiar.
“This is all so strange,” I said, staring at the buildings around us. “These buildings, the whole city. It’s nothing like Silverspire.”
Silverspire had been the capital city of the Tal’mar, a city of shining towers and a sprawling palace. For centuries, it had been the home of the Tal’mar and their queen. The Vangars had all but destroyed Silverspire when they invaded the kingdom.
“The people who built this city weren’t Tal’mar,” Socrates said.
I frowned, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “Tam, you said this city was the origin of the Tal’mar.”
“This city is the origin of everything,” Tam said. “Everyone came from here, not just the Tal’mar. Humans, elves, even Kanters all share a common ancestor.”
I laughed at first, thinking it was a joke. I glanced back and forth between the two of them, but they weren’t smiling.
“The Old Quarter is where the founders first lived, before they built the city,” Tam explained.
“Indeed,” Socrates chimed in. “The first settlers numbered twelve hundred and twenty-seven. They came to Sanctuary with little more than crude hand tools. They quickly mastered their new environment and built this town. Over the next decade, their elected leaders proposed a plan to build Sanctuary, a city greater than any built before it. The construction of Sanctuary took nearly a century.”
“But how?” I said. “How did they plan and build all of this? How did they go from hand tools and carpentry to street sweepers and machines like… well, like you?”
“Knowledge grows exponentially,” Socrates said. “It is difficult to process ore into steel and to process steel into tools, but once you have the tools, the task becomes simplified. Once you have tools, you may process ore and steel faster, and then create even more tools. One cannot build without tools, but as a civilization masters new technologies, that civilization can grow and expand rapidly. This city grew from the wilderness in less than a century.”
“But the city is empty now,” I said. “Where did everyone go? Tam, you said that the Tal’mar came from here. You said: ‘Sanctuary is the source of everything.’ What does that mean?”
“Ah,” Socrates said with a strange grin. “Now you must learn the history.”
They took turns explaining everything. Tam patiently revealed to me that our civilization was but the most recent of many, and that we had very little knowledge of what had come before. He taught me about the cataclysm, about the great stone that had fallen from the heavens, and the way it changed the world and its peoples forever. I learned about the rise of the Tal’mar and all of the other races in the wake of Sanctuary’s massive ecological disaster. I asked questions here and there, but for the most part I was enrapt in their tale.
It all seemed so improbable, this idea that the giants of Kantraya might be distant cousins of the Tal’mar or that humans and Vangars were simply different branches on the same family tree.
“What about the animals?” I said at last, staring at Socrates. “The creatures in the forest.”
“Like me?” he said slyly. “The forests under the ice are filled with creatures from the ancient past. They have been protected here, somewhat changed perhaps, but still thriving. As you can see, I was designed to look like the creatures near Lakewood. Upon his death, the creator left these creatures in my charge.”
“Lakewood? That’s the place where I fell through the ice?”
“Yes, that is the name of the forest. You will find many more like it, interspersed throughout the city and in the lands beyond.”
“All under the ice?” I said. “How is that possible?”
“The lake that once filled this area has drained into the earth, creating this massive cavern. As you have observed it is warm here, but the heat escapes through holes in the ice like the one you fell through. Obviously, there is no ice over Sanctuary itself. You can see the sky.”
“So the ice holds just enough heat in, but it doesn’t melt?”
“Exactly. Or to be more accurate, the ice continually melts and then reforms. You will find the city grows quite cold at night, or so I’m told. I have no sense of such things.”
“We have so much more to learn,” Tam said. “The city has libraries, tens of thousands of volumes of history and knowledge. But it will take time.”
“Time,” I mumbled. “The only thing I have and yet can’t bear to waste. How will I get back to her, Tam? How will I get back to m
y daughter?”
He fell silent.
A few minutes later, an old tavern rose up on our right with a wooden sign hanging from the rafters over the front steps, displaying the name The Black Rose. “This should do,” Tam said. “We’ll find adequate accommodations inside, and the location is reasonably defensible.”
I sighed, wondering what I’d gotten myself into.
We moved into the Black Rose and took up residence as if it had always been our home. I chose a room at the front of the building with a view of the street and the glistening towers in the distance. I didn’t care much for the towers, but I wanted to see them every day to remind me where I was. I wanted to look out that window every morning and know that someday soon I would escape. I didn’t care about the Vangars anymore. I didn’t care about the war. I just wanted to be home with my little girl.
Tam took the room next to me. Socrates didn’t choose a room, but seemed to wander from one to another as if his home was wherever he settled for the time. He didn’t actually sleep, though, but he did disappear from time to time for maintenance. I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that special machines and robots in the city were designed specifically for that purpose. The machines actually repaired each other!
When Socrates was around, he made excellent company. He was a brilliant conversationalist with a compendium of knowledge that I couldn’t begin to fathom. He loved to read and philosophize, and was always eager to fill the gaps in my understanding of the world. Not that I understood everything he said, but Socrates was patient and scholarly… and unlike certain humans I had known, he never demonstrated his knowledge simply for the pleasure of showing me how smart he was. Socrates never spoke just to hear himself speak.
Naturally, I spent every waking moment plotting my escape. I went for long walks with Tam (he was never far from my side) searching the city for things I might use to build a new airplane. I soon learned that hand-tools were nearly impossible to find. The machines that ran the city were so effective at their jobs that the humans living there had long since abandoned manual labor. Instead, they had devoted their lives to learning, to study and philosophy much like Socrates.
I did eventually find some scrap lumber and some steel, and I gathered them together on the broad lawn behind the tavern. I began working on plans to build a new flying machine, something like a plane but smaller; something that would be able to navigate the city and land on the broad paved streets. This wasn’t easy for me, as I didn’t have Tinker’s knowledge of physics and mathematics. What I did have was an intuitive and intimate knowledge of flight, and I was fairly certain I could make something that would fly.
Tam warned me that the others would learn of this, and that they would not allow it, but I didn’t listen. I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit around philosophizing with Socrates for the rest of my life. I at least had to try. I think Tam understood this, though he offered no help whatsoever.
Ironically, Socrates proved to be a storehouse of useful information on the subject. It was he who helped me with design concepts, and it was Socrates’ vast knowledge of physics and mathematics that might eventually have helped me to succeed. But in truth, I was wasting my time. Things existed in the city far greater than anything I could ever build. I simply didn’t know where to find them. And if I had it wouldn’t have mattered, because the Tal’mar were plotting to kill me the first chance they got. It was just a matter of time until they acted.
In retrospect, they must have been spying on us all along. I shouldn’t have expected any less, though in truth I had become quite complacent with my life. I filled my head with dreams of my flying machine, dreams of soaring out over the Wastelands and returning to my daughter in the Blackrock Mountains. I allowed these dreams to consume me, as is my nature, and I thought of little else.
Then, one night while I was sleeping, a strange noise in my room wakened me. I sat upright just in time to see a flash of steel. A dark shadow passed by my bed and I heard a grunting noise as two bodies crashed to the floor. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw Tam rising to his feet, wiping blood from the blade of his short sword. I opened my mouth to speak but he put a finger to his lips to silence me.
I quietly slipped out of bed and drew my dagger from the belt hanging across the back of the chair. Tam motioned for me to follow him and we crossed to the door. Just as I reached for the handle, Tam swung around. His arm swept out, producing a dagger from under his cloak. With a flick of his wrist it shot across the room. There was a crash as it shattered the glass window and the blade impaled the chest of another attacker on the roof outside.
I heard the sound of movement out in the hall. Tam slid the deadbolt into place. He sheathed his sword and quickly strung his bow. He rushed back to the window, pushing the dead Tal’mar’s body aside, and climbed out. He beckoned for me to follow out onto the roof. I hesitated for a moment, reluctant to crawl out the window in my nightgown. Then I saw the door handle quietly turning and forgot my modesty. I leapt after him.
We crept across the narrow ledge in front of my window, making our way to the catwalk at the far end of the building. I heard the twang of a bowstring and instinctively dropped to my knees. The arrow thudded into the roof, just inches over my head. Tam stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body, motioning for me to climb over the peak of the roof. Another arrow whizzed out of the darkness, but Tam was ready for this one. I heard a whooshing sound and his hand shot out, catching the arrow in midflight.
Tam locked his eyes on the target, raised his bow, and fired. I twisted around to see a Tal’mar drop to his knees on the adjacent roof. He dropped his bow and it skidded down the roof with a clattering sound. The attacker fell forward, clutching his gut as he rolled down the roof. I flinched as I heard him land heavily on the ground.
A primal scream erupted in the room below us and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I had never heard such a noise before. I shot Tam a terrified look and a smile turned up the corners of his mouth. I heard a crash and the sounds of fighting, followed by another scream. Then I realized what had happened. The attackers had found Socrates. A discovery they would quickly learn to regret.
Tam led me across the roof and down the backside. We dropped to the lawn and made our way back into the tavern through the back door. A Tal’mar came running down the stairs just as we entered. The warrior leapt at us waving his sword. In one fluid motion, Tam stepped inside the attack and drew his short sword. I saw a flash of steel as he beheaded the attacker. The body thumped to the ground. Tam stepped over, motioning for me to follow.
Upstairs, we found Socrates gloating over two more corpses. That made six in all. “Is that all of them?” I said under my breath.
“If not, the rest are gone,” Tam said. “They won’t be back tonight.” He turned to face Socrates. “Stay with her. Protect her.” Socrates nodded slightly.
“Where are you going?” I said.
“To pay a visit to Lydian. I knew these men. They were his closest followers. This is his doing.”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
“It is not wise, it is necessary,” he said. “Lydian has exposed himself. Tonight I will see to it that no one else gets a similar idea.”
He turned and vanished down the hall, and I stood staring at Socrates. “You knew this would happen,” I said. “The two of you.”
“Of course,” the gorilla said matter-of-factly.
“Why didn’t you do something to stop it?”
“Because this is how it is done,” he said. “This is how it has always been done. Tonight your enemy has a face. He is exposed. Now Tam will make an example of him, and you will be safe.”
“You say that like you’ve done this before,” I said.
He bent over and lifted one of the dead Tal’mar, throwing the body over his shoulder. “It has always been so.”
Socrates disposed of the bodies while I cleaned the mess. Two hours later, Tam returned. He entered through the front door and
went directly to the wash basin to clean the blood from his hands and face. I could tell by looking at him that Lydian hadn’t been alone.
I didn’t need to ask Tam if his mission had been successful, I could tell that much from his return. There were other questions that bothered me, other concerns. Consequences.
“What will the queen say?” I said quietly as I watched him wash.
“She will say nothing.”
“But Lydian was her most trusted advisor. She has known him forever.”
“He was,” Tam admitted, carefully phrasing the past-tense. “And you are her granddaughter.”
“Do you think that will save me? I don’t think it means that much to her.”
“It means more to her than you know. More than she can say. You think too much like a human.” He reached for the towel and I saw impatience written on his face. “You have been too long away from your own kind.”
“I don’t have a kind,” I said. “The more I learn about people, the more I don’t want anything to do with any of them.”
He tossed the towel aside and caught me by the shoulders, staring into my eyes. “You don’t get to choose such things. What is it that humans say? You can choose your friends, but not your relatives? You may be human Breeze, but you’re also Tal’mar. It is time now for you to learn what that means.”
I frowned. “What are you saying?”
“Tomorrow we will go to them. While they are still contemplating the meaning of all that happened tonight, we will show them that you are Tal’mar. You will take your place next to the queen. You will demand it. And you will make it clear that anyone who challenges you will end up like Lydian.”
Blood and Steam (The Tinkerer's Daughter) Page 19