by P M Cole
The echoes of what had been shown to me were still in my mind, if not as clear as they were when I first saw them. Some I was curious about, being so exotic in nature, while others had an unimaginable destructive power. I shivered despite the heat from the nearby fire.
Colin stood a few feet away. He appeared to not want to venture too far.
“I expect when you learned of your origin god, it unleashed something inside you…” said Lucas.
“You said you saw machines?” continued Bernard.
“Some, yes. Contraptions of all sizes and designs. Umm, things you would think were not possible.”
“Can you construct them?” said Lucas.
“I have no idea… maybe, why?”
“We will need to use as many of your talents as possible to defeat Finlay and his cohorts.”
Some of what I witnessed, I wasn’t sure I wanted to bring into the world.
“What about Hades?” ventured Bernard.
“I suggest we tackle one matter at a time, old friend.”
As the hour grew late, it was decided we would stay the night and the Captain, waiting at the mud bank, was told to go back to London and return first thing the next morning. Colin and Lucas then travelled on to the nearby farm and collected some pieces of meat and vegetables, which formed a hearty meal which we all enjoyed with an old bottle of wine Lucas found in one of his cellars.
Being physically content we all retired to one of the many bedrooms on the second floor, with a view of rising early to get back to London in good time.
I laid in the large four poster bed, beneath silk sheets and tried not to be distracted from my drowsiness by the shadows which frequently moved across one of the four-panel windows.
Trees…
Although I was sure I couldn’t remember any close to the house, but then my room was situated to the rear of the property, so…
I turned away from my view of the night sky and pulled the sheet up around my neck and plunged into the day’s strange events. I tried not to recall the visions I had of the machines, but instead allowed the knowledge I had gained over the last few days to give me some sort of comfort. Magic was real. I was born with talents that most others were not, and these came from a god, whose purpose was to build and innovate. The missing part of the puzzle, though, was still Finlay’s intentions. Why would he have need of someone with my abilities? Did he want me to build something for him? Or perhaps this ‘Hades’ character required—
A knock came on the window behind me, followed by a continuous scratching noise.
I froze, then looked at the shadow cast by the moon on the wall in front of me… a dark shape moved before my eyes. There was a popping noise, followed by the sounds of night, and something fell onto the rug near the window.
I watched the beastly silhouette, arms, legs, wings, grow bigger.
Not real… I’m dreaming… has to be a dream…
Slowly, I summoned the courage to turn in the bed. First, the ceiling came into view, then the top of the window, then—
The door to the room burst open and through the gap flew blue fire. But this was not of the variety that was warming us earlier, for this was spherical and flew across the room smashing into a creature that was looming above me.
It screamed as I scrambled from the bed to the opposite side. I grabbed my suit from the chair and started to step into it.
“Begone, creature! Leave this place!” shouted Lucas as he stormed forward, the glint of a long blade just being visible amongst the shadows.
The unholy thing took up most of the space on the far side of the room, as its wings spread out and expanded, then in one blur of a movement, swung through the air, catching Lucas and sending him barrelling into the wall near the door. It was then I realised Bernard and Colin were in the doorway, and a boom rang out as Bernard fired a pistol.
The flash briefly illuminated what had intruded upon us. It appeared female in form, but with a hellish face, and serpent-like features and wings. Its hands were completed with inch-long claws, which it was swiping the air with as it moved towards the others. This was my chance.
I stood and let forth a volley of bolts from my crossbows. One missed but two struck their target and the creature cried out in anguish, its head whipping towards me. It lunged forward, its clawed hand slicing at me, but I dived across the bed and fired again, hitting the creature across its back causing it to fall against the wardrobe.
By now, Lucas was back on his feet and together with Colin, who was brandishing an iron implement of some kind, attacked the thing, pushing it back towards the window.
Remembering my own blades, I released the mechanism and the foot-long dagger extended from my right arm. I surged forward, plunging it into the creature, which screamed again. Its wing extended knocking me backwards and, with one continuous movement, turned, and dived through the open window, instantly taking flight.
We all ran to the window and watched as the bat-like being flew upwards, being swallowed by the mist.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I held my hot cup of chicken broth, with a blanket around my shoulders and looked out from the kitchen to the fog covered grounds to the rear of the house. The curls of white mist, which clung to the trees and far off walls, appeared to be waiting.
After the incident, it was decided that we all sleep in Lucas’s basement study, which he said was the most secure room in the house for many reasons. Most of us only managed a few hours’ sleep, although I think for Lucas it was less. I too would have also stayed awake the entire rest of the night if it wasn’t for sheer exhaustion. Sleep came to me whether I wanted it or not.
It was now 7 a.m., and we were seated and standing while Lucas handed out the beverage which he said was his wife’s recipe.
“I still do not understand how it knew we were here?” said Bernard. “This house has stood empty for almost twenty years!”
Lucas rubbed his chin. “It must have been Cog’s… awakening? Or whatever happened last night. Maybe it sent out a kind of magical signal which was picked up by our enemies. They then could track it back to us here.”
“Does that mean they can always know where I am?” I asked. The thought of always running nudged into my consciousness but I wouldn’t let it take root.
He shook his head. “Just where you were when you had your moment last night. To track you they would need a hair or some blood from you. Something from your physical being. Which while you were wearing the strange, but very interesting, suit of armour, I doubt they were able to obtain.”
“We should leave soon,” said Bernard.
I noticed that Colin had been oddly quiet since he awoke as if what he had seen the night before had stayed with him. If it weren’t for my encounter with Athena, I’m sure I would have had the same reaction. For Bernard and Lucas, though, it seemed as if this was the newest of many such events.
“What was it?” I asked.
“Hard to say,” said Lucas. “Definitely female. Some form of demon—” I heard an intake of air from the young man seated in front of me. “— But there are many that reside in this realm and even more that can be conjured. All we know for sure is that it came for you.”
I went to reply but Colin sprang to his feet.
“Cog, come with me. I will protect you from demons and gods and everything else!” He frowned at the two older men.
“And where would you go?” said Bernard.
“You’ve seen my abode. We can protect her down there. The Ratters won’t let anything happen to her.”
“You mean the same abode where I summoned a god?” said Lucas. “And where most of its residents were shaking in fear of things they don’t understand? You mean that place?”
Colin looked with disdain at the older man, then looked back at me, holding my hand. “I don’t know about this magic stuff, but I know you’re special, and I want to look after you…”
As his hand squeezed mine my heart beat, but despite his noble intentions my
gut was telling me he was wrong. At least for now. I pulled my hand away. “I did not choose any of this. I was born to it. But now I have some understanding at least of who I am, and what I am, I can’t run from it, Colin. Finlay has to be stopped, and whoever may be his master.”
He stepped back, angry. “The four of us? Going to stop the most murderous gang in the whole of London? Those that know the bankers and others even higher? And this Hades fella? An ancient god? Why don’t we just find out what they want from you, and you give it to them, and then maybe they leave you alone?”
I went to speak, but Lucas beat me to it. “The young whippersnapper is wrong about trying to appease who’s after you, but he’s right about two other things… we can use his dwelling as a secure location, and… we need allies.”
*****
The boat ride back to London was spent under a canvas to hide us from prying eyes on the passing docks. The fog had lifted slightly but still held its form in every nook and cranny. Lucas had brought with him a selection of what he called ‘important volumes’ and had convinced Colin that it was in the best of all of our interests for him to be allowed to live amongst the Ratters.
After a nod from me, Colin begrudgingly agreed.
By early afternoon we were back in the tunnels under London. Bernard had returned to his house in Pimlico and we made our way to Holborn. As we approached the outside wall of my basement home, I grew excited with the prospect of Mr Gladwell having returned. I had decided to tell him all that had transpired over the previous week. I ran to the door with a lantern in my hand, pulled the weight, and moved inside to a scene of devastation.
At first, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, such was the degree of destruction. I stepped forward, walking across parts of clocks and watches. Splinters of wood and broken springs covered the floor under fallen shelves. My worktop, now in multiple parts, sat on top of everything else, and my bed was upside down.
“My word,” said Lucas, stepping inside.
I ran up the stairs.
“Wait, they might still be here!” shouted Colin, trying to catch up with me.
Pushing the top door open, I fell into the back room. Shelves were on the floor, with broken bottles and pieces of chairs and table.
“Mr Gladwell!” I cried out, rushing through the sheet between the two rooms, then fell to my knees. All the clocks, which once proudly hung from the walls, were smashed into a hundred pieces and scattered amongst panes of glass from the display cabinets.
The tears running down my face felt cooler from the breeze blowing from the jagged hole in the glass of the door.
“I’ll check the other floors,” said Lucas, taking the stairs.
Colin went to put his arms around me, but I brushed them off.
“Don’t touch me!” I screamed. “How…” I shook my head in anguish. “How could they even know to come here?”
Colin shook his head without an answer.
Lucas reappeared. “It’s the same upstairs, but there’s no one up there.”
“How could they have found this place?” I enquired again to Lucas. Before anyone could answer, I held my stomach as the pain of emotion ate into me.
Then I remembered the posters. Could someone have recognised me? The idea seemed preposterous. I could think of hardly anyone that knew of me living here, and those that did were not connected to Finlay.
“You can’t stay here, Cog,” said Colin.
“He’s right. They might come back at any moment,” said Lucas.
I looked up at them, my eyes a blur due to the tears. “Could this just have been a burglary?”
Colin and Lucas looked at each other, then back to me.
“It’s possible,” said Lucas.
I looked around at the sea of fractured timepieces, most of which I had repaired. My hands fell upon what remained of an 1812 German clock. I scooped up the parts and stood.
“Let’s leave,” I said.
I went to turn, but then stopped, looked behind the counter and pulled a piece of blank paper from one of the ledgers there. I then picked up Mr Gladwell’s inkwell and pen and started to write.
‘To Mr Gladwell. Words cannot describe what has befallen your lifelong work. I am so sorry for what I fear I have brought upon you. Please know that I am safe, and we will meet again soon. Love Cog.’
The word ‘love’ I had never uttered to the man who was the only Father I had known, but it seemed an appropriate time to use it.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave any kind of description that you are alive and have been here?” said Lucas.
“I don’t care.”
I placed the note under the inkwell and left.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sitting in Olivia’s canvas-covered home, I felt as if my life had been torn into shreds like the contents of Mr Gladwell’s shop. And where was he? He was meant to have returned days ago. Tears started to well in my eyes once more.
What have I done to him?
The shop which his father begun, and he inherited, was now gone, its contents just memories. Colin informed me soon after we left that he would post one of the Ratters outside the shop night and day, and as soon as Mr Gladwell returned, I would know.
I was at a loss to what I would say to him, but the most important thing was that he be brought safely back here. I had no doubt that Finlay would use our connection against me.
The curtain lifted and Lucas appeared. “How you feeling?”
“As can be expected.”
“It is a shame what happened at the shop, but unfortunately we are dealing with individuals who do not care for life or limb, and certainly not the contents of a clock shop. But tonight, now, in fact, we begin your first lesson!”
I was in no mood for school. “I don’t need schooling, but thank you.”
He sat in the chair opposite mine, both being close to the fire.
“Don’t you want a chance to stop what’s coming?” he said.
“You think we can do that?” Athena’s words came back to me.
“It will not be easy, but what I do know is that Finlay and Hades want your powers for some reason that will not do well for us, the people of London, or perhaps the world. Hades does not deal with small schemes, only grand plans. You and your powers might be the chance we have to maybe not stop them, but slow them down at least. But to do that, you need to be able to control your talents. Melting—” He looked down at the clump of pennies. “— metal is not that useful unless you can reshape it to form something else.”
“I… don’t know…”
He picked the penny lump of copper and silver up. “Let’s start with this.” He offered it to me. Reluctantly I took it. “Make me a sword.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on the cold metal. Instantly it started to droop, then in a flash stretched out, further and further, knocking a cup from a table. Lucas’s eyes grew wide and he rocked back in the chair.
“A sword not a spear!”
I dropped the five-foot-long pole on the ground, as my anger reverted to sadness. “It is useless, what control I had has gone.”
He got to his feet, stepping over the metal lance, and picked up my suit of armour. He held it towards me. “You made this, correct?”
I nodded.
“Put it on.” He handed it to me.
“I don’t see what use this will be.”
He turned to the wall. “Go on.”
I stood, letting my dress fall then stepped into the suit, tightening the grasps and straps. I suddenly realised the meaning of Lucas’s suggestion. I felt different. Powerful, no longer a victim. I picked up the lance and concentrated once again. It shortened and widened.
“Now the blade,” said Lucas, turning back to me.
I pictured the sword from the museum, the metal thinned at the edges, coming to a triangular point. I looked up and smiled.
He walked close to me and gently touched the end. “At least we know we can make swords.”
I went to reply, to suggest we should try another shape when the curtain opened once again. Colin stood there, in his hand was a folded piece of paper.
“This was left by a young man, I think it was the man that I saw at the shop when I visited that morning. One of the Ratters saw him enter, then leave a few moments later. This note was left next to the one you wrote.”
“OK?” I could tell he was reluctant to hand it to me. “What does it say?”
“I haven’t read it.” He handed it to me then turned and left.
“Ah, to be young and in—”
I was too intrigued by Mr Ashmore’s note to hear the rest of Lucas’s words. I unfolded the paper.
‘Dear Cog, I hope this note finds you in good health. This is the second time I have come by the shop, and you have not been there on both occasions, but it was my great pleasure to read your note left for Mr Gladwell, that you are still alive and well, although I am sure afflicted with much sadness due to the state of the shop. Thuggery roams the streets of the capital these days, and I suspect someone seeing that your shop has been closed for a number of days, took the opportunity to make the content their own. Although why they would cause such destruction is beyond me. I would very much like to make your acquaintance once again, so please feel free to drop by my home on 29 Felmore Avenue, Westminster, after the hours of 6 p.m. on most weekdays and you will find me. Until we meet again. Byron Ashmore.’
“An admirer?” said Lucas.
I looked up, lost in a daze. “Sorry?”
“This Mr Ashmore?”
“Oh… umm… I’m not sure.” Part of me wanted to drop the note into the flames. What time did I have for such dalliances? My hand hovered near the fire. But there was something about him, about his confidence, his smile…
“Perhaps I will visit him tomorrow evening.”
Lucas frowned. “You would risk being seen, because of the attention of a young suitor?”