A Clockwork Fairytale

by Helen Scott Taylor

  After unlocking the door to his laboratory, he stood aside and the guards hauled the two prisoners in. The Borrelli woman whimpered as the stink hit them. “The smell is disgusting, Vitto,” Dante said. “What in the name of the Great Earth Jinn have you been doing down here?”

  “You have the gall to call the smell in my lab disgusting after having lived in the stinking trash for four years?”

  He put down his lantern and lit a second. He carried it to the far end of the room where four cages were set against the wall, and beckoned the guards to bring the prisoners over. The cages contained dogs he’d experimented on. Two of the dogs lay dead and stiff with gray goo oozing out of their skin, their swollen tongues protruding. He had extracted the Stars from the dogs and then animated their bodies with Foul Jinns. The animals had gone rabid and eventually died. But he was sure he was on to something. He had started to extract the Stars from the prisoners who were condemned to die in The Well and was having more success animating their bodies with Jinns. A third dog had been animated with a Foul Jinn more recently and was still alive. It hurled itself at the bars, growling, saliva dripping from its canines.

  In the final cage was a small stray he had picked up in Sugar Street Market, as yet untouched. The creature whined and pushed its nose between the bars as they approached. “Put the woman in the last cage,” he said, pointing at the one containing the uninfected dog.

  “No, please,” she whimpered.

  “The dog’s healthy,” Dante reassured her, as the guards forced her to bend down and pushed her into the small cage with the creature.

  Vittorio laughed. “So what do you fancy as a cellmate, little brother, an infected corpse or a mad beast?”

  “I shall likely become contaminated if you put me in with those corpses.” Dante leveled his gaze on Vittorio calmly.

  “Never mind, your good friend Turk can cleanse you.” Vittorio signaled the guards to push Dante down on his knees in front of the cages. “I can understand Gregorio plotting against me, but I never thought you would take his side.”

  “This is nothing to do with the old man,” Dante said. “I’m only concerned for Melba’s safety.”

  Vittorio crouched, taking him down to Dante’s level. “What do the monks have planned?”

  “Nothing…I don’t know.” Dante frowned at him. “I told you, my only concern is for Melba.”

  Vittorio vaulted to his feet and grabbed a handful of Dante’s hair. Resentment filled him as he shoved his brother’s face toward the rabid dog’s cage. The beast went mad, snapping its jaws between the bars, saliva flying from its teeth.

  “Vitto, stop!”

  “Are they planning to hide the princess, is that it?”

  “Stop. Stop. Please do not hurt him,” Madam Borrelli sobbed. “Her Royal Highness is returning tonight so her father doesn’t worry about her.”

  Vittorio released his brother and straightened, staring into the shadows in thought. It didn’t matter if the Brotherhood had cleansed Melba. As long as she returned to the Palace, his plan should still work. All he had to do was lock her up until the wedding and keep the king isolated.

  He grabbed a meat hook, wrenched open the door of a cage containing a dead dog, and dragged out the carcass. “In there,” he pointed. The guards pushed Dante inside the cage and locked the door.

  “Vitto, stop and think. This cannot end well for you,” Dante shouted after him as Vittorio strode toward the door with the guards at his back. But his brother had it the wrong way round. Dante was the one who would come to a sticky end.

  ***

  As Turk crouched in front of Melba and took her hands, he was uncomfortably aware of Gregorio watching him. But he was no longer a monk, and comforting and reassuring Melba was more important than the Primate’s good opinion.

  A knock at the door made him glance over his shoulder. “Enter,” Gregorio said.

  The door cracked open and Steptoe put his head through the gap. “I need to see you and Turk for a moment, Your Eminence,” he said to Gregorio.

  Turk squeezed Melba’s hands and smiled to reassure her. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  As he stood, she pulled up her legs and hugged her knees. He didn’t want to leave her alone, but Steptoe had been checking her clothes for the Foul Jinn contamination and Turk needed to know the results. He hurried after Gregorio, closing the door softly behind him.

  Steptoe had taken Melba’s clothes into a treatment room just down the hall. Her dress and underclothes lay in a heap on a chair while Steptoe stared down at something small on the bed. “This is the culprit,” he said as Turk followed his master into the room.

  His heart pounded when he saw that the thing on the bed was his gold Earth Blessing. Gregorio’s gaze shot to Turk. “You gave her my gift to you,” he said in an accusing whisper.

  “I wanted to give her my most precious possession,” Turk returned defensively. Gregorio’s glare scoured him as if he had just admitted to raising Foul Jinns. Turk scrubbed a hand across his face in frustration. Why did his feelings for Melba seem to be a personal affront to Gregorio?

  Steptoe cleared his throat as the atmosphere in the room prickled with tension. “The Earth Blessing contains a small Foul Jinn,” he said. “From an apple, I’m guessing.”

  Gregorio stepped forward and held the flat of his palm a few inches above the gold pendant. He sighed. “I never thought to see the day when an Earth Blessing would be used for such a despicable purpose.”

  “I’m sorry, master,” Turk said, hating the bad feeling between them.

  “What’s done cannot be undone,” Gregorio said flatly. “At least we discovered the contamination before its effects became serious. If we bury the Earth Blessing under an altar for a few weeks the contamination will dissipate.” He glanced at Melba’s clothes on the chair and clenched his jaw.

  Turk waited for Gregorio to send him back to Melba. Instead, the Primate turned to Steptoe. “Go and fetch a cleansing team. We need to get the girl treated quickly so we can get her out of here.” Instead of obeying, Steptoe’s gaze shot to Turk.

  “That will not be necessary,” Turk said curtly, his temper flaring nearly out of control. Why was Gregorio so insensitive to Melba’s feelings? It was as if he wanted to make this experience as unpleasant as possible for her. “I shall cleanse her myself.”

  “You are not fully trained in the removal of Foul Jinns. I will not allow you to contaminate yourself.”

  “Melba’s already frightened. She needs someone she knows and trusts to cleanse her. Anyway, I’m trained well enough to cleanse the minor emanations that have poisoned her.”

  Gregorio held his gaze. “You really are devoted to this girl, aren’t you?” he said in a bewildered tone.

  “Yes,” Turk said firmly, his heart suddenly thumping. “I love her.”

  Gregorio and Steptoe stared at him as if he had suddenly grown horns. His cheeks burned at admitting such a personal thing but he did not look away from their quizzical expressions. He was not ashamed of his feelings.

  “So be it,” Gregorio said on a sigh. “Remember that your Silver Serpent is capable of protecting you from a Foul Jinn if necessary.” Turk’s hand went to his chest to cover his medallion.

  “Where did you get a Silver Serpent?” Steptoe asked, wide eyed.

  Gregorio put his hand on Steptoe’s arm. “I will explain later. Let Turk go and deal with the girl.”

  Turk slipped out of the door and collected the small portable decontaminator from the storeroom at the end of the corridor. He paused outside Melba’s room and gripped the silver medallion through his shirt. His heart pumped as though he had been running the skyways. Years ago, he had performed minor cleansings on his classmates, but this was a different matter. This time it was Melba.

  He opened the door slowly so as not to startle her. She was still sitting on the chair where he had left her, hugging her knees. She was white-faced and glassy-eyed with tiredness and shock. “What have you been doi
ng that took so long?” she asked.

  Turk left the decontaminator by the door and sat on the chair at her side. He leaned toward her, elbows on his knees. “We had to find out how Vittorio was poisoning you.”

  “So how’d he do it?”

  “He used the gold Earth Blessing I gave you.”

  Melba’s hands covered her mouth and her eyes rounded in horror. “How?”

  “He trapped a tiny Foul Jinn in the gold.”

  She whimpered in distress and squeezed her eyes closed for a few seconds. “He must have taken it from me room. I lost it for a while, then he found it and brought it back to me. How could he do something like this? I thought he liked me.”

  “Vittorio’s determined to become king. He’ll probably do whatever it takes to succeed.”

  “He must be poisoning me pa with a Foul Jinn as well. We must help him, quick.”

  “We will. But let’s cleanse you first.” Turk felt hot, his clothes suddenly clingy and uncomfortable as he imagined what would happen next. “I need you to slip the golden robe down to your waist and lie on your front on the bed. I shall draw the poison out of your back.”

  “Won’t it infect you?”

  “No. I have help.” Glad to focus his thoughts on something other than Melba undressing, he called Gül out of the medallion. Her breath hissed in as the Silver Serpent unfolded from the medallion and slid up his arm to rest its head on his shoulder.

  “That’s a Silver Jinn like I seen in your books.”

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Turk smiled at her rapt expression.

  “Aye.”

  “Where did you get it?”

  “Let me explain while I cleanse you.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “All right. Turn your back.”

  He stared at his lap and stroked his fingers along Gül’s scales, acutely aware of Melba as she partially disrobed a few yards away from him.

  “I’m on the bed,” she said.

  Turk clenched and released his fingers a few times, then dragged in a breath and let it go slowly before standing up.

  He paused at the sight of her naked back. Her ribs and the bumps of her spine showed clearly beneath her pale skin. She looked so easily breakable. It tormented him to think of Vittorio hurting her on purpose.

  He collected his gear, set the brass-studded leather bellows on the floor by his foot, and sat on the edge of the bed. “It shouldn’t take long, Melba.” He held up the small brass sucker attached to the bellows by a tube so she could see it. “All I do is run this over your skin to remove the poison.”

  “I seen monks using a big version of that on poor old Maddox,” she said.

  No wonder she had been spooked and run away that night. Gregorio hadn’t told him that Melba had seen anything frightening. While he pumped with his foot, he recited the cleansing prayer under his breath and stroked the flat brass head of the decontaminator down her back, drawing out smoky wisps of poison.

  Melba cushioned her head on her folded arms and glanced back at him. “Tell me about your Silver Jinn.”

  As he repeatedly trailed the decontaminator down her back, he told her what he remembered of his childhood with Gül. Most of his memories were fragments of events without context, just the highlights and lowlights of a young boy’s existence. Then he explained why Gregorio had recently given the medallion back to him.

  Melba gave a little squeal. “You ain’t a monk no more.”

  “No. I’m just a man now.” A confused man who loves a young woman he can never have.

  She fell silent and he repeated the cleansing prayer in his head and noticed he was finding no contamination now. He longed for this time alone with her to continue. Too soon he would have to part from her and he might never be alone with her again. He bit the inside of his cheek. Enough now. He stood and set the equipment a safe distance away. “The poison is all gone. A good night’s sleep and you should be back to normal.”

  She released a long satisfied sigh. “I know that was a medical treatment but I liked just being here alone with you, talking.”

  Turk cleared his throat, sharply aware that he had been wishing the same thing and they were on sanctified ground where no woman should even tread. “When you’re ready I’ll call the others back.” He returned to the chairs but just stood and stared at the wall, his thoughts and emotions tangled into knots. If Vittorio were discredited and Santo regained his strength, Turk could stay on Royal Malverne Isle and be near Melba. But how would he bear seeing her married to another man?

  Melba came up behind him and touched the hair against his neck. He felt it all the way to his toes. He turned and they sat down again. Her cheeks had already regained a healthy pink glow and her eyes some of their normal sparkle. She wrinkled her nose and scratched her ear in a gesture he knew so well it made him want to hug her. “How can I get a Silver Serpent?” she asked.

  He fought a grin and failed. “If I find a piece of silver that still contains its Star I’ll give it to you. In the meantime, you can hold Gül.” At his bidding, the Silver Serpent slithered onto her outstretched hand and curled its way up her arm. When it reached her shoulder and the fine silver rope tongue flicked out and licked her cheek, she giggled. “He likes you,” Turk said. No surprise there since Gül sensed Turk’s emotions and mirrored them. “I wish I could lend him to you to protect you from Vittorio. Unfortunately, he’ll only rise from his medallion at my touch. But I do have something you can use as protection.”

  Turk went to the door and called Steptoe to bring in the roses he had asked him to pick from the garden earlier. The bouquet of mixed colors scented the room. Gregorio stood in the doorway with his arms folded as Melba effortlessly raised the Flower Jinns until she had a swarm of colorful butterflies fluttering around her head.

  “The Flower Jinns will warn you of anything contaminated by a Foul Jinn, and a swarm of Flower Jinns might even protect you from a Foul Jinn itself, providing it’s small.”

  “Very clever of you, Turk,” Gregorio said with genuine approval. “Now you must return the princess to the Palace.”

  The Primate came into the room and approached Melba. She looked up at him warily and Turk sensed tension between them. “First thing in the morning you will speak with your father, young lady. He must dispatch to me a formal invitation to attend him or I will not be admitted to the Palace. As soon as I have access to the king, we will set straight the trouble the Royal Victualler has caused. In the meantime, be very wary of Vittorio.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Don’t look back when you scarper or you’ll get caught.

  —Master Maddox

  Melba and Turk stood hidden in the shadows by the canal. Although it was late, the sound of music, singing, and laughter from the Great Earth Day celebrations still came from Sugar Street Market on the other side of the waterway.

  They had decided the simplest way for her to reenter the Palace was the way she had left, via the lift from the private dock on the canal. The two men who turned the lift crank should be safe as they were the king’s servants, not members of Vittorio’s guard. If Dante had done his job and distracted Vittorio, he would not think anything was suspicious until the following day. By that time, she should have spoken with her father, so it seemed pointless for her to go to the trouble of sneaking back inside.

  She still felt weary from the aftereffects of the poisoning, but already her head was clearer. Turk had carried her some of the way back to the Palace, but she had walked the last part. She leaned against him, clutching the lapels of his jacket, her body humming with expectation at the thought he was no longer a monk. She had already noticed he touched her casually far more than he used to and he’d kissed her hair a few times.

  “You should go inside,” Turk said stroking her hair back from her face. “I want you to get a good night’s sleep. It’ll help you regain your strength.”

  “Mmm.” Melba pressed her cheek to his chest and listened to the steady thump of his hea
rt as she slipped her arms around his waist. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  His thumb brushed along her cheekbone and ear, leaving a tingly trail on her skin. “Nor I you,” he whispered against her temple. Melba fiddled with the two gold buttons above the flap on the back of his jacket, unsure how nobs went about courting. She’d seen dollymops grab sailors and do lewd things to them in the street, but she knew Turk wouldn’t behave like that.

  “You should go back inside, my little Star. It wouldn’t do for Vittorio to discover you’re missing. I suggest you meet with the king as soon as you wake. Tell him about the poisoning and suggest he enlists help from Gregorio.”

  He’d already told her that about five times. Was he repeating himself because he didn’t know how to go about courting either? Melba looked up at him, his handsome profile limned by the light from a punt passing on the canal. She went up on tiptoes but she could not reach to kiss him. “Turk,” she whispered.

  “Yes.”

  “Stop talking and kiss me.”

  His body tensed within her arms so she hugged him tighter in case he tried to get away. He stared down at her, his eyes mysterious pools of shadow. Her lips parted in instinctive invitation, her heart resounding through her whole body.

  The sound of drunken laughter and clinking glasses came from one of the balconies above them. Turk slid his arms around her and leaned down. She sucked in a breath loaded with the heady fragrance of lemon spice and his warm lips pressed against hers. Melba’s eyelids fell. A delicious tingle started in her belly and crept along her arms and legs. Her skin was hot and sensitive everywhere her body pressed against him. She had been waiting to kiss him all her life and she hadn’t known.

  When he raised his head, she was nowhere near ready to stop. She linked her hands behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. “Melba, you’re the heir to the throne, love. We shouldn’t be doing this.” He laughed but when she pulled his mouth to hers, he held the back of her head and kissed her again for a long time. Finally, he gave a little sigh and pulled away. “Your father would have me tossed down The Well if he saw us like this.”