Agent of the Crown

by Melissa McShane

A traitor and a murderer, and vicious too, she reminded herself, following him to the dining room. The consequences of disappointing him didn’t bear thinking on.

  ***

  “You want to do what?” Josephine said. She held an underskirt in both hands and clutched it to her bosom as if it were all that stood between her and indecency.

  “I don’t think it’s all that shocking,” said Telaine. “I want to see if a Device can be made using some other case than metal or wood.

  “It sounds so odd. Like…like asking a cow to produce butter.”

  “Hardly that unnatural. Please, Josephine, help me think of something. What would be useful for fabric to do?”

  Josephine lowered the underskirt and cast her eyes around the store. “Color changing fabric…no, even I know that’s impractical. Self-buttoning shirt? Pointless. Heated—oh, Lainie, I have it!” She thrust the skirt at Telaine and disappeared into the back room. Telaine draped it over her arm and waited. Josephine emerged with a bundle of gray wool so pale it looked dingy white. She shook it out.

  “Long underwear,” she said. It was a woolen bodysuit, with buttons at the neck and a buttoned flap near the groin. “It’s perfect.”

  “Perfect for what?”

  “A self-heating Device.”

  “Isn’t long underwear supposed to keep you warm by itself?”

  “This is the usual kind. It’s heavy and bulky and it itches. But suppose you could make it out of a thinner, softer fabric and turn it into a Device whose heat you could control?”

  Telaine’s eyebrows rose. “Josephine, that’s perfect,” she said. “Can you make up a suit for me in the lighter cloth? And give me a large swatch of the fabric?”

  It took Josephine only a minute to pull a bolt of light cotton from her stores and cut a foot-wide piece for Telaine. Swatch tucked away in her trouser pocket, Telaine walked back to the forge. It was a clear, sunny day, and she pushed back the hood of her cloak and breathed in the cold air. The cloak wasn’t as practical as her coat, but it was warmer and it made her feel mysterious, like a wise woman out of a fairy tale. Would she dispense blessings, or curses? On a day like this one, it was definitely blessings.

  “I need a lot of thin wire,” she told Ben, entering the forge but staying well out of his work path.

  “What kind of wire?” he said, not looking up from what he was doing.

  “Copper.”

  “What about the wire from the tent of lights at the Bradfords’ shivaree?”

  “It’s too thick. I need something a lot finer.”

  “I’m not experienced with copper, but happen I can handle that.”

  “Good. Can you do it soon?”

  Ben shrugged. “I can draw wire as fine as you like, but unless you have copper ingots lying around, I can’t help you.”

  Telaine slumped. “If I’d gotten into Ellismere one last time, I’d have all the supplies I need.”

  Ben glanced her way. “Is it important?”

  “Could be a major invention. Not important on the level of, say, feeding Longbourne for the winter, but important to me.”

  “There’s a copper weathervane in the basement of the town hall. You might be able to buy it from the town. Fell off the roof a couple years back and they never put it back up. You’ll see why when you look at it.”

  When she got into the town hall basement, Telaine did see why. It was the ugliest thing she’d ever seen designed to grace the top of a building. In this case, “grace” wasn’t nearly as good a word as “defile.” A sort of gargoyle thing rested at the center of the spire, surrounded by letters representing the cardinal directions. A spire emerged from the base that made it look like the gargoyle had been impaled, an effect not lessened by the gargoyle’s expression of extreme pain.

  “You want it?” asked Katrin Black, Longbourne’s mayor and postmistress and holder of at least six other public offices. “I could pay you to take it away.”

  “I can afford to buy it,” Telaine said with a laugh, “but I hope we can agree on a good price. And by ‘good’ I mean ‘cheap’.”

  “If you can fix the lights in the schoolhouse, that’ll make us even.” They shook on the deal.

  The weathervane produced a lot more copper than Telaine had anticipated. She asked Ben to save half in ingot form and to turn the rest into wire. The final diameter of the wire disappointed her, as she’d wanted something finer, but Ben didn’t have the right drawing plate and she had to admit, while not ideal, it would still work.

  A few days later, she returned to Josephine with her finished product. They both looked at it critically where it swung on a hanger in Josephine’s work room.

  “It’s ugly,” Josephine said. “I didn’t think it would be ugly.” The white cotton suit hung like someone’s empty skin. Copper glinted at wrists, neck, and ankles, and wove in and out of the fabric from top to bottom like red-gold snakes.

  “It’s supposed to go under your clothes, not be visible,” Telaine reminded her. “But you’re right, it is ugly.” She began taking off her clothes. “Let’s see if it works.”

  She put the suit on over her underclothes, buttoned the neck and sleeves, and turned a disc at her waist. “Not working yet. This fabric really is thin.”

  “It’s what you asked for.”

  “I know. That wasn’t criticism.” A trickle of warmth spread out from near her navel. “I think it’s working.” More heat, this time from her wrists and ankles, and a ruby warmth circled her neck. “It’s definitely working!” She clasped Josephine’s hands and both women jumped up and down in excitement.

  “Oops,” Telaine said. Her ankle had gone cold. She bent to twist one of the wires, restoring heat. “I think I might not have secured this properly.”

  “I think the control knob ought to be at the neck,” Josephine said. “Too many ways for it to get damaged or turned off at the waist.”

  “That will make the heat spread unevenly, but I agree.” An impish smile touched Telaine’s lips. “Do you have a back door?”

  She stood behind Josephine’s shop in a snowdrift, clad only in her long underwear and a pair of castoff boots too large for her, and felt as warm as if it were a spring day. “We’re going to be famous!” she shouted, and Josephine laughed. “Famous—oh!” A snowball struck her shoulder. “You little brat!” Another snowball caught her in the chest, and she waded through the drifts back to the store.

  “Certain sure you gave those children a show,” Josephine remarked.

  “Better them than someone who’d care about how ugly it is.”

  “Some of that’s my fault. I’ll make the next one prettier.”

  “And I’ll make it more effective.” They grinned at each other.

  ***

  Thunk. “That was much better. You hit the tree.”

  “With the handle.”

  “Better than last time, when you nearly knocked that squirrel unconscious. Poor critter, never did you any harm.”

  Thunk. “Should I be happy I hit the same tree twice in a row, or disappointed that it was still with the handle?”

  “The hilt.”

  “Don’t take that tone with me. I’ve got three more knives here.”

  ***

  “I beg your pardon, milord, but I don’t see what’s wrong with the Device. It seems to be working perfectly.”

  “I believe if you take a look there, you’ll see the problem.”

  “…Indeed, milord, you’re right. You’ve developed an instinct for these things.”

  “I consider you my inspiration, my dear.”

  “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, milord.”

  ***

  “Do you think the lace is necessary, Josephine?”

  “Happen not. And it limits the appeal. But the buttons are effective, yes?”

  “I like the buttons. Would you like to try it this time?”

  “Do I have to run around in the yard like you did?”

  “Happen it’s not a real test
unless you do.”

  ***

  Thwack. “That’s three times in a row! Point first, same tree, same…well, same general area. I think it’s these new knives you made for me.”

  “Starting to worry you might pass me up.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment and a challenge.”

  ***

  “I’m so sorry, milord, I don’t know how I could have been so sloppy. I’m ashamed that I didn’t actually fix the firelighter the first time. I just don’t understand it.”

  “Don’t be so discouraged, Miss Bricker. Everyone makes mistakes. Now, it seems when I click this part of the Device, it sparks but does not ignite. Is that your assessment as well?”

  “Why, yes, milord. Once again you’ve seen to the heart of the problem. If I make this adjustment here…and that should do it!”

  “i simply don’t know how you do it, time after time.”

  “Honestly, milord? Neither do I.”

  ***

  “Now that is an attractive piece of underwear. Amazing how much difference the new color makes.”

  “Yes, the copper is striking against the charcoal gray. I believe it’s your turn to test it, Lainie.”

  “True. Let’s see—oof—I still say it needs more buttons in front. All the way down to the waist. There. This one is snugger, too.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “Good, I think. See, I can still stretch. Would you look out the back door and see if those hoodlums are watching?

  “No one’s there.”

  “Oh, it’s so warm. That was fast. All right, hold the door for me—here I go!”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Telaine woke, stretched, and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. Every morning for a month, she’d run over the telecoder message she’d composed for when the pass was clear. It had been warmer for a week, and the snow was melting, but when she’d expressed her hopefulness Aunt Weaver had warned her this mild thaw wasn’t enough to melt the snow in the pass before the next storm struck.

  Telaine had seen two storms come through, one barely more than a flurry, the other a beast with howling winds that beat new snow into the hardpack of the old. She couldn’t begin to imagine what the pass to Ellismere looked like. And Thorsten Pass had to be even worse. It was hard to worry about an invasion in the face of all this snow.

  She rolled out of her warm nest and dressed hurriedly. Her new bodysuit was a marvel. She hadn’t had to turn it on yet, thanks to the warmer weather, but it bothered her hardly at all under her other layers of clothing. In her woolen sweater, thick trousers, snow boots, and jacket, she felt like a true native of Longbourne.

  She took her time eating breakfast; she had nowhere in particular to be today, and planned to spend the morning chatting with Eleanor before going to the tavern to see who was available for some fun. But when she came around the corner of Aunt Weaver’s house, she found a soldier about to knock at the door. He made a careless attempt at a salute when he saw her. “Baron wants you up at the fort,” he said.

  “What for?” she asked.

  The soldier shrugged. “As if himself would tell me summat like that.”

  “Suppose I’m busy.”

  “Not sure you want to say no to himself, don’t know what mood he’s in.”

  The Baron wanted her at the fort. Was he lethally upset about the guns? No, if the Baron wanted her dead he’d have done it one of the many, many times she’d been to the manor recently. “Give me a moment.”

  He shrugged again. “Take all the moments you want. I’m not waiting for you. You know the way.” He slogged off up the street. Telaine ran upstairs to fetch her tools and her snowshoes, then went to the forge.

  “The Baron wants me at the fort,” she told Ben, who immediately removed his leather gloves to take her hand.

  “You’re going?” he asked.

  “I don’t see how I can say no. Morgan was dangerous just by being Morgan. The Baron gets dangerous when he doesn’t get his way.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I. That’s why I’m telling you. If I’m not back by dark, come find me.”

  “I’ll always come after you.” He kissed her, fixed her with that level gaze, and added, “Don’t make it necessary.”

  The road from Longbourne to the fort had not been broken by more than the soldier’s footprints. At the turnoff to the manor she saw those steps joined by a horse’s tracks. She tromped in her snowshoes over the combined tracks until she reached the fort’s gate. Drifts of snow piled high in the corners inside, where the soldiers had swept it rather than shoveling it out of the fort. She resolutely didn’t look at the storage tower second from the left.

  She went toward the keep only to see the Baron standing near the fort’s inner wall, next to the mysterious crates she’d asked Lieutenant Hardy about weeks before. The Baron was having a conversation with Captain Jackson, but broke it off when he saw her. “My dear Deviser! Thank you for coming. I believe I have a commission for you unlike any you’ve seen before. Captain Jackson, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  Jackson picked up a pry bar and levered the lid off the nearest crate. It was approximately six feet long and three feet deep, and if it had been narrower it would have looked uncomfortably like a coffin. It was filled with straw the Baron brushed away with a gloved hand. Steel and brass gleamed. Telaine, intrigued despite her wariness, leaned forward. “I…don’t believe I know what this is, milord,” she said.

  “And well you should not! It’s part of a larger Device. All of this is part of a single Device.” He put his hand on Telaine’s shoulder in a comradely gesture; she managed not to flinch.

  “I have long been disturbed at how shut off Steepridge is during the winter. Most disturbing is how long it takes for the passes to be free from snow. It can be a month or more after the last snow before it’s possible to go down the mountain. I think, as Baron of Steepridge, it’s my duty to make my people’s lives easier. Hence…this.” He made a sweeping gesture with his free hand. “Miss Bricker, I have acquired an earth mover. And I require you to assemble it.”

  Telaine didn’t hide her shock. Earth mover was a misnomer; the huge Devices could plow through anything, rock, earth, snow, ice, their efficiency only affected by the material they moved and the motive forces powering the Device. An earth mover was one of the biggest Devices created to date, the most powerful, and the most complex, requiring dozens of motive forces and hundreds of gears and coils all working in precise unity. She’d never seen one before and had no idea how it was constructed.

  She considered telling the Baron it was impossible, that she didn’t have the skill, that it would take a team of Devisers to assemble it, all of which might or might not be true. But she knew in her heart that the Baron had built her reputation so high in his own mind that to refuse would mean leaving this fort in no condition her friends would recognize.

  She said, “Milord, I…I hardly know what to say. This is generous of you indeed. The villages will be so happy.”

  “Oh, but Miss Bricker, it is you and your Deviser’s skill upon which their happiness depends.”

  “It’s an unlooked for honor, milord. I would never have gotten this chance anywhere else.” She was sincere about that. For a Deviser, this was a truly extraordinary opportunity.

  “We wait only on your instructions as to your needs.”

  She thought rapidly. “I’ll need a sheltered area built. It will take so much longer if I have to have your men dig it out after every storm. I’ll need to make sure it will fit through the gate after it’s assembled. It would be so terrible if I put it together and we couldn’t take it out of the fort! And I will need specialized tools. My tiny ones simply won’t work. The smith in Longbourne can make them for me.” How else could she delay them? “And it will take me a few days to familiarize myself with the Device. I’ve never seen one before.”

  “I’m putting Captain Jackson at your disposal,” the Baron said. J
ackson looked uninterested in the conversation, the Device, and Telaine herself, but he nodded at the Baron. “He will direct his men to do whatever you ask.”

  “Then…Captain Jackson, if your men could build me a sheltered area from here to here, canvas should do as long as the roof is sloped to let the snow slide off…and perhaps the sides could be portable? Milord, I won’t be able to begin work until that’s complete, so if you don’t mind, I’ll go back to Longbourne and have a word with the smith.”

  Trudging through the snow on the way back, she alternated between cursing herself for a fool and frantically trying to come up with a solution to this new problem. The Baron wanted to clear the pass, all right, but it was Thorsten Pass he cared about.

  A month for the main pass to clear? If the Baron had his own earth mover, he’d have Thorsten Pass cleared mere days after the last snow came. The Ruskalder would pour down into unsuspecting Longbourne and put it to the torch, and then drive the earth mover all the way down the mountain and into Tremontane proper with no warning to anyone. The success or failure of that plan rested on Telaine’s ability to delay, deceive, and sabotage without bringing the Baron’s attention, and vicious cruelty, down on her head.

  ***

  “Never realized how many tools a Deviser needs,” Ben said, spreading out the pages of sketches two days later. Telaine nodded, wishing she’d thought of a way to get him to measure some of the dimensions of the new tools incorrectly. The best she’d been able to do was to ask him to work slowly, which would keep her away from the fort longer.

  “Do you have everything you need?” she said.

  “Think so. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days—I mean, it’s going to take most of a week,” Ben said with a grin and a wink. “All these fiddly little things that don’t look like any tools I’ve ever seen.”

  Telaine kissed his cheek. “Then I’m going to work on my Wintersmeet gifts. I’ll be back later, if you want to have supper with me?”