“Not when I can avoid it,” Ibb replied, moving the proffered chair gently aside and standing in its place. He nodded to the mayor. “But please do, I recall it pleases you.”
“You won’t be offended?”
“No,” Ibb said, “I shall not.”
Hamo started to relax, let out a grunt of annoyance, bounced out of his seat, bustled back to the office door, closed it quickly and just as quickly resumed his seat, saying, “Sorry, I recall you said you wanted to speak in private.”
Ibb stroked one of the gleaming jewels on the bracelet encircling his left wrist, and said, “There are other ways to ensure privacy.”
“As I recall,” Hamo said, glancing wonderingly at Ibb’s bracelet, “but I wanted to ensure that no humans would think to intrude.”
“Ah,” Ibb said, “good idea.”
Hamo leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard in thought, before saying, “So, what would you like to tell me?”
“I would like to ask for your help,” Ibb said. “It would be mutually beneficial —”
“Always has been,” Hamo interjected with a pleased look and nodded for the mechanical man to continue.
“It involves some danger but less than would occur otherwise.”
“That sounds ominous,” Hamo said. He stroked his beard again. “You come from the south. What do you need?”
“I need to find a working forge, equipped with enough supplies to make about four tons of steel,” Ibb began.
“Four tons!” Hamo cried in surprise. “What in the world would you need that much for? An army?” He stopped himself, stroked his beard again and said more thoughtfully, “An army.”
“No,” Ibb replied, his mechanical neck creaking as he moved his head back and forth. “I shall also need as many apprentices or workers as you can muster to help in the construction of magnets.”
“Magnets?” Hamo said, his eyes going wide. “And what would you need with magnets?” He paused, stroking his beard once more before exclaiming, “You’re not hoping to use four tons of steel to make magnets, are you?” Before Ibb could answer, he added, “And how is it possible to make magnets from steel?”
“You beat it into shape,” Ibb said. “And, yes, we are.”
“‘We’?”
“I have some aid in this matter,” Ibb said.
“You usually do,” Hamo said, more to himself than to the mechanical man. “How many and what sort of lodgings?”
“There are three,” Ibb replied, “a man, a lad, and a girl.”
“So food and lodging for four,” Hamo said to himself. He shrugged. “That I can do.” He stroked his beard. “Near the forge, then?” Ibb nodded. “So they’re going to help you with this project.”
“We’ll also need about four tons of cable,” Ibb said.
“Rope, like for ships?” Hamo asked. When the mechanical man nodded, the mayor said, “That might be difficult. We would have to send for it.”
“We can buy it from Kingsland,” Ibb said, “the new railroad would deliver it in two days from Kingsport.”
“That fast, really?” Hamo said more in surprise than in question. He thought to himself, shifting in his chair and propping his bearded face in one hand. “We’ve done well with that railroad. There’s been talk of extending it through the pass and onward to Sarskar.”
“That might be premature,” Ibb said. “And unwise.”
“I thought so,” Hamo Beck agreed. “But King Wendel seems to have different —” he stopped, eyes going wide. “This is about the king, isn’t it?” Before Ibb could react, the mayor exclaimed, “Markel is planning an invasion!” The mayor leapt out of his chair, sending it sliding backwards, ready to charge out of his office and spread the alarm.
“Which we are going to stop,” Ibb replied spreading his metal hands out, palms down, gesturing for the mayor to return to his seat.
“I still have to warn the king,” Beck replied. He frowned. “Do you know when they’ll attack?”
“Within a fortnight,” Ibb replied. “They’re moving their troops to the border.”
“And they have those blasted locomotives and railroads,” Beck muttered sourly. He pulled on his beard fiercely. “I wish you’d never thought of them.”
“They are efficient,” Ibb said, “and they aid commerce.”
“As much as they aid war,” Beck said.
“I had not considered that,” Ibb admitted.
“It will take at least two weeks for our army to mass and move here,” Beck said. “Even the cavalry will take six days from the moment king Wendel gives his orders.”
“And there are no soldiers closer by?”
Beck shook his head. “They have a garrison at the Sea Pass but they expect the fort to stop any attacks here.”
“And it will,” Ibb said.
“So why is your king so foolish as to plan an attack here?”
“He is not my king,” Ibb said. “I place allegiance with no one.”
Beck waved the issue aside. “Again, why?”
“Because he is going to use airships to attack the fort,” Ibb said. “The airships fly in the sky and can fire their cannon down on your fort.”
“But that’s disastrous!” Beck cried, jumping from his chair. “They could take the Pass and rush their troops through to the capital before the army has even formed!”
“Just so,” Ibb agreed.
“Can we build our own airships in time to stop them?”
“No,” Ibb said. “We have a better plan.”
“Which is?”
“Which is why we need the steel, the rope, the forge, and the help of your distant kinsmen.”
“You want me to contact the Zwerg?” Hamo Beck asked, returning to his seat and stroking his beard furiously. After a moment in silence, he looked back up to Ibb and said, “They built the fort. Are you planning to get their aid to build another one?”
The mechanical man creaked as he shook his head from side to side. “We want their help to unhinge the fort.”
“Unhinge?”
“From the mountain,” Ibb said, his joints creaking differently as he nodded up and down.
Beck’s eyes bulged. “But then it would fall down into the pass!” He frowned. “Do you hope to use it to block the pass?”
“No, to guard the pass,” Ibb said. “And it won’t fall down.”
“It won’t?”
“No,” Ibb said. “With the help of the Zwerg, it will fall up.”
Chapter Five
‘No Britches’ really thought that the new necklace for the queen was much prettier than the old one. He was happy to make the switch. He knew that the queen would be pleased and surprised at how shiny the new necklace was. She would reward him — and he liked rewards.
He left her room to find the nice man who’d given her the new necklace. The necklace didn’t look nearly as nice in the light of the torches lining the hallways. ‘No Britches’ stroked the red jewel, hoping to brighten it —
— and gasped as the spell took hold.
#
Peter Hewlitt was angry. The stupid fool! Was he so lack-witted that he forgot his task?
The queen was to meet with the Madame in less than an hour and Peter wanted to be able to report that she had lost her resistance to her special ‘tea.’
He needed that necklace! At the very least, it would be worth no small amount of money to him. At best, if he could get one of the mages to recreate it, he would have a valuable weapon in his spy arsenal, something that could let his agents go undetected wherever he needed.
He was out of time. He would check on the queen — on the off chance that the lad had made the switch but had been too fuddled to remember to bring him the old necklace. He moved out of his office and toward the secret passageway he’d discovered. He had jus
t reached the location when he heard the queen call out, “Britches! Where are you, Britches?”
#
Madame Parkes was happy to follow ‘Britches’ through the hallways of the castle until the lad, giggling vacuously, led her down a corridor she hadn’t seen before.
“Where are we going?” she asked. “The queen isn’t this way.”
“She’s in here,” the boy said, giggling. “She wanted to show you something special.”
“She did?” Madame Parkes said in surprise. She wondered if Queen Arivik was sober or tea-dazed. “What is it?”
“She wants it to be a surprise,” the boy said, pushing the door open and gesturing her through.
Suzanne Parkes gathered her dress as she stepped through the narrow doorway and stopped suddenly as she peered at the interior. The boy pushed her roughly the rest of the way in. “What are you doing?”
“I’m repaying your kindness,” Alain said forcefully. Madame Parkes turned quickly but stopped as she saw the sword in his hands.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she demanded. She peered at the sword in his hand and scoffed, “You don’t know anything about swords!”
“Actually,” Alain Casman said, stepping forward a pace, placing the sword against her throat, “I do.”
Before Madame Parkes could say another word, Alain Casman, son of a knight, lunged — and repaid her cool kindness with cold steel.
#
“Guards, guards!” Peter Hewlitt shouted. He heard the thunder of feet responding to his call and stood back, away from the door where he’d found the body of the madame of the House of the Broken Sun, lying quite broken in a pool of her own blood. The sergeant of the guard saluted when he recognized the spymaster. Hewlitt gestured to the door. “There’s been a murder!”
“It’s Madame Parkes,” the sergeant said as he peered inside. “She was supposed to be taking tea with the queen.”
“The queen!” Hewlitt cried, racing out of the room and down the corridor, calling back to the sergeant, “Follow me!”
The sergeant detailed a man to stay with the corpse and hurried after Hewlitt. They tore down the corridor and into the queen’s morning chambers, Hewlitt bashing the door open and stopping only when he was beside the queen.
“Who are you?” Queen Arivik asked crossly. “And where’s my tea?” She glanced around the room. “Am I supposed to be meeting someone?”
“No, your majesty,” Peter Hewlitt said solemnly. She wore her red-jeweled necklace around her neck and Peter kept his expression unchanged as he realized that the jewel and chain were brighter than before — the lad had made the switch. “I believe you were just here for your tea.”
“And where is it?” the queen demanded.
“Here, your majesty,” he said, raising the pot to her eye level. “May I pour?”
The queen giggled. “Why, yes, please.”
#
“But I don’t want to leave,” Lisette said, struggling against her brother’s grasp as he pulled her out of the House of the Broken Sun, a sack of hastily packed clothes thrown over his shoulder.
“Lissy, you need to come with me,” Alain said to her. He held the necklace in his hand. “The queen, Queen Arivik herself, gave this to me for you.”
Lisette’s eyes grew wide as she saw the necklace. Alain turned to her, placing it easily over her head.
“Doesn’t it look good?” he asked her.
“It does! It does!” She beamed and pranced with it clung in her hands. Alain moved to stand beside her, a hand on her shoulder, urging her along.
“I’ve got us a carriage and we’re going south, back to our home,” Alain said.
“Can we really?” Lisette asked in awe. “Will we see mamma and poppa?”
“I hope so,” Alain said. “But we have to go now or there will be trouble.”
“Trouble?” Lisette’s pretty brows creased with worry.
“I’ll explain when we’re away,” Alain said. “Come along, now.”
“Okay,” Lisette said. She rushed forward eagerly. “Did the queen give you the carriage?” She asked in a rush. “And did you get to spend much time with her?”
“I did,” Alain said, hiding a grimace. “I’ll tell you all about it!”
“It must have been wonderful! I’m dying to hear it!”
#
“The queen’s carriage is missing,” Peter Hewlitt said to the king when he had managed to put most of the pieces together. “It was traced to the House of the Broken Sun and reported to have left the town heading south.”
“Indeed?” King Markel said.
“We could send troops after it, or even an airship,” first minister Mannevy suggested silkily.
“Why bother?” the king asked. “There was a murder, we know the suspect, send word with the regular couriers and we shall see what occurs.”
“Sire?”
“I have need of those troops,” the king told his first minister icily. He turned his attention back to his spymaster. “And the House of the Broken Sun?”
“Madame Parkes’ rooms and office were ransacked,” Hewlitt said. “I imagine that any wealth she had went with the murderer and his sister.”
“Was there much?”
“I would imagine that she had quite a great deal of savings, your majesty,” Hewlitt said. “She ran a profitable institution for a very long time.”
“Profitable, eh?” the king repeated. “And who will run that institution now?”
“Without any capital, it’s bankrupt,” Mannevy said.
“Then we should find someone with capital, shouldn’t we?” the king said. “Someone who has a good eye for business and won’t forget favors given.” He turned to Mannevy. “Sounds like something in your bailiwick.”
“Sire,” the first minister licked his lips, buying time to consider his words, “I —”
“Of course,” the king said, turning from his first minister to his spymaster, “if you don’t want it, I imagine that Peter here would be happy to take charge.”
Mannevy looked from his king to the spy and back again.
“I could increase our intelligence by at least half,” Hewlitt said, looking toward the king.
“Fine, then!” the king said, waving a hand toward his spymaster. “It’s settled. Peter gets the ladies and their custom.” His expression grew sly as he added, “I get ten per cent.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Hewlitt said, bowing his head in acceptance.
“What of her majesty?” the first minister said, looking at the spymaster.
“I believe —”
“Darling!” Queen Arivik’s voice came bellowing through the room. “Oh, boopsie! I’ve been looking for you!”
“She never called me boopsie,” king Markel said, glancing to Hewlitt. “What happened?”
“She got a new necklace, your majesty,” Peter Hewlitt said. “I imagine she’s grateful.”
#
The steam engine slowed as it came to the station, pulling the eight carriages behind it. They were empty. The locomotive had stopped earlier, out of sight of the village and disgorged its passengers before continuing on to its destination empty. It would refuel with water and coal and then turn back for the return journey, taking on some trade goods to bring to the capital.
From a distance, Colonel Walpish watched as the engine slowed and stopped. He waved to his troops and pointed in the direction of the mountains. The sixty-three horsemen of his special troop spurred their mounts to follow behind him.
The opening moves of the war with Soria were about to begin, and Colonel Thomas Walpish was proud to be at the forefront.
One of his ensigns pulled up next to him and nodded in salute. Walpish gestured toward a hillock and the ensign nodded, signalling for a pair of troopers to follow them. They would remain
unseen and unreported — the dead would not betray them.
#
The spy was well-armed and well-placed. His hiding place was high up in the hills just beyond the town of Korin’s Pass and his mission was easy: he was to stop any messages leaving the town to the north.
Jenthen Barros was thrilled to have received training from King Markel’s two mages. They taught him the spells for the bow to increase the range of his arrows, they taught him how to make the killing poisons that acted too quickly for words. Already a skilled archer of long standing, he reveled in the way his new arrows flew through the air.
The first he sent diving on the magical demon that had been sent northwards. It vanished in a burst of light, confirming its extinction.
The second was more satisfying — he loved the way the courier tried valiantly to spur his horse onward as the poison wrenched his body and darkened his eyes. But, Barros noted with delight, the courier was no match for his arrow. A moment of panic, a moment of death, and the courier fell from his saddle. The horse — well-trained — continued onward toward its destination, riderless.
Jenthen Barros followed the riderless horse with his eyes for a long moment before knocking another arrow to his bow. He hated to have to do it but a riderless horse was too much warning. The arrow found its mark — the horse faltered, took four steps, stumbled, its hind legs splaying out behind it, tried ardently to stand back up and fell, neck stretched outwards, legs twitching in agony as the poison killed the muscles of its brave heart, steadfast lungs, and tormented brain. With one final spasm, the horse lay motionless, barely two hundred yards from its rider.
If they were found, someone would know that something tragic and sinister had befallen horse and rider. But Jenthen Barros would be there to ensure that such discoveries also caused no alarm. He had plenty of arrows.
He scanned the snowy plain for a long moment then, satisfied, crept back into his hideout.
#
“I do not care what you say, I will take only the girl,” Hamo Beck told Ibb firmly when the mechanical man brought the issue up for the fourth time. Ibb started to reply but Hamo raised a hand to forestall him. “They are short people and shy. Your little Ellen won’t seem like a threat to them.”
Twin Soul Series Omnibus 2: Books 6-10 Page 18