The Cog Chronicles Box Set

by P M Cole

  As we continued, flashes of what I had witnessed during the previous night nudged their way into my consciousness. I had spent every waking moment, trying to make sense of what it could mean. My vision of my past showed me a different tale than the one I previously believed. One of the furies took my mother. But, even if I could find a way of asking one of them what happened that night, they were literally the last beings on this earth who would talk to me. Because of my actions in Bath, I hoped what Lucas said about furies being hard to kill was right.

  “Isle of Dogs!” shouted the captain as the boat rested up against a mud bank and the other waterman jumped out and started to tie us to the mooring.

  Green covered concrete walls rose up around us, and above that a crane loomed into the grey sky.

  “This here is Regents dock. There’s a ladder there to take you up to the road,” continued the captain. Lucas pressed a coin into his hand, and he tipped his cap.

  We made our way across the pebbles, then climbed up, and stood looking at the blackened red bricks of warehouses. Dock workers moved back and forth, some with sacks on their backs, others pulling carts with barrels, all seemingly too busy to notice us.

  Lucas looked around. “Right… I think it’s this way…”

  “You don’t know where it is?” I said.

  He set off towards an alleyway. “It’s been a while.”

  Soon we came out to rows and rows of the tightly packed two-storey homes for the men that worked nearby. The mist lingered across the cobbled roads, and the whole area seemed devoid of life, but then I noticed a child, playing with a hoop and stick. In the distance, just visible in the low cloud, sat a dark monolithic building with smoke rising from a multitude of huge chimneys. We appeared to be heading towards it.

  “We’re going to that place… it’s an actual factory?” I said.

  “Yes and no… unless I’m completely lost,” said Lucas. “Which… I might be.”

  Colin rolled his eyes.

  We walked along the narrow pavement, past shadowy small dwellings until, out of the fog, large iron gates became visible. Demonic stone statues stood on plinths either side. A black sign with silver writing informed anyone who might be paying attention that this was the ‘Claxton’s Tank and Boiler Works’.

  “If it’s some special place, why ain’t they got anyone at the gate?” said Colin.

  We crossed the road until we stood in front of the iron barriers.

  “Because it doesn’t need them,” said Lucas. “Both of you, stand back.” He closed his eyes while uttering words under his breath, and a thin coil of sparking light came from his hand, which found its way to the keyhole of the gate. There was a clunk and the gate swung back a few inches.

  “Woah…” said Colin. “That’s well clever.”

  Lucas turned to us with a smile. “Casuals can’t get in here, only magic folk can.”

  “Casuals?” I asked.

  Lucas waved his arm at the houses nearby. “People who don’t know about our world.”

  We moved inside. As soon as we were a foot away from the gates, they promptly slammed shut. We all looked up at the vision of the industrial revolution. Walls climbed forty feet before windows were allowed, and from the small panes of glass came orange glows. Higher still, a hundred feet in the air, the slated roof contained a number of chimneys, each one pushing thick black smoke into the sky.

  “And… you’re sure this isn’t a factory… I mean, not even a magical factory?” I said as we made our way to what looked like a small entrance.

  “Yes,” said Lucas. He went to place his hand on the handle of the door but instead, it flew open and a man, half my size but in perfect proportion, ran out with fear in his eyes. With him came noise. As if the whole of London was crammed into the building in front of me. Without stopping, he kept on going until he was lost in the mist.

  “Hmm…” said Lucas before reopening the door.

  We walked into a dark hallway, with a bright light at the other end. The walls vibrated with the sounds coming from ahead of us.

  After a thankfully short visit in the gloom, Lucas pushed open the final and larger door and sound, colour, and kinetic energy assailed our senses.

  People, or at least some people as others were different kinds of beings, walked around us as we tried to get our bearings. Huts, stalls, and wooden constructions vied for attention with performers next to them. To my astonishment, some of the advertising boards which were splayed across some of the stalls appeared to be moving, as if their photographic images were alive. I felt like I was in the belly of a magical carnival.

  Looking upwards, I counted six floors rising to the roof, all packed with a sea of bodies, and between the levels, bridges made from twine and steel, carrying the occupants from one side to the other.

  “Look!” said Colin as a flying creature of some kind swooped from the highest level, landing on the one below. “It’s a Fury!”

  Lucas looked up. “No, no… not one of the sisters. That’s a… nope don’t know what that is, but it’s no threat to us.”

  I looked at a large stall which had shelves twenty feet high, covered in tiny glass bottles, some illuminating the others around them.

  “In need of a potion young lady?” said an elderly man. He looked at Colin. “Perhaps a love potion?”

  “Err… no, I’m okay thank you, sir,” I said, moving along.

  I quickly came to a stall which stopped me in my tracks. Automata of all shapes and sizes performed a variety of actions. Walking, turning, clapping, or waving then repeating. Other toys fought miniature fights while dirigibles, quite without any form of support, floated through the air from one side of the enclosure to the other. I stood openmouthed.

  “What… are these?” I said to the woman behind the table.

  “Machines from around the world. No magic involved. Mostly straight up casual's ingenuity. Good ain’t they?”

  “No magic?”

  “Nope. They all made by real clever people. Look…” She picked up, what looked like on first glance, a bodyless head. It smiled, making me do the same. Most weird. But stranger still it then spoke! Or at least a noise which sounded like a garbled voice came from its mechanical mouth. “I’ll show ya the insides,” said the woman. She turned a small key in the back, and a door opened, revealing a wonder of cogs and levers, as intricate as the most complex of clocks I had worked on.

  “They… are a marvel…” I said, trying to absorb as much of the workings around me.

  “Keep up!” shouted Lucas somewhere ahead.

  “Sorry I need to go!” I said to the woman then moved off in Lucas’s and Colin's direction, walking straight into what I thought was a form of soft tree trunk. Then I heard the breathing. I looked up at a literal giant, standing even larger the Arges. The man giant frowned. “Sorry!” I said, then quickly slid past and caught up with the others.

  We appeared to be heading for a part of the market that was quieter than the other areas. The stalls here were draped in black, gold, and red. Various weapons hung from their rafters. Individuals with deathly smiles and pale skin followed us with their eyes while with others it was their heads as they were covered in hoods.

  “Where are we?” I whispered to Lucas.

  “Stay close to me. I’m trying to find an old acqu—”

  “The young warlock returns…” A ghostly voice came from all around us, but nowhere specific. “But now not so young.”

  We had reached a dead end, with only one final stall in front of us. It stood, oddly devoid of any hint of what it may have sold. It also looked older than the others, its boardings being faded and broken.

  “Is that you, Charlotte?” said Lucas, looking into the forgotten structure.

  The shadows around us drew together, as if they were alive, then solidified into a form. A woman stood where before there was only space.

  “I see the young man I once knew has been taken by the ravages of time.”

  Lucas looked s
hocked. “And yet you are not as the last time we met!”

  “Age is a curse and a release…” She was dressed in black, but her dark clothes appeared to have a life of their own as she stepped closer to us. She brushed her long black curl’s away from her symmetrical face, revealing a woman who looked barely older than myself.

  “I heard madness had taken you. That, your curiosities had borne you misery.” She walked around us like a cat circling its prey.

  “You heard correct…”

  “And what brings you to me after all these years, warlock? Is there something you require?” She swept forward without seemingly moving her feet until she was face to face with Lucas. “Do you require power, warlock?” Her voice seemed laced with other sounds, as if from within her, many souls were trying to escape.

  Lucas smiled. “What do you know of Hades?”

  Her eyes grew large, and she slid backwards.

  “Leave me. I know nothing of him.”

  Lucas stepped forward. “Now the Charlotte of old would never had been scared of just the utterance of an old god's name.”

  A creak came from somewhere around us, in the shadows.

  “As you can see. Things have changed. Lucas. The scales are no longer balanced…”

  For the first time the woman was now looking at me as if she had just noticed me. I resisted the urge to step back, and instead, I straightened my back.

  “The girl… she is…” Again, her eyes widened. “She is one of them!”

  “She’s not with him,” said Lucas. “She fights against them. That is why I am here. For your help.” He stepped closer to her, but she looked away from his gaze. “I need back in the league, Charlotte…”

  An anguished look came across her face, she looked up at him, suddenly looking older. “The league's gone. I’m sorry…” Her black clothes coiled around her face, twisting, and moving until they fragmented into threads, and then nothing.

  “Gone… it can’t be gone!” Lucas said into the air.

  “What… just happened?” I said.

  “We should leave.”

  Lucas turned and started to move off when a creature came from between two of the stalls. Lucas raised his arm, a ball of flame covering his hand.

  “I mean you no harm, sir!” said the thing, cowering. Thing was the only way to describe it, because it was not human, instead its face had rodent like features.

  “There’s a rat man…” said Colin astonished.

  “What do you want?” said Lucas to the creature.

  “I don’t mean to pry, but I think I overheard that you need help?” The man rat threw both hands out and bowed. “Bastian Fishbone at your service. I—”

  Lucas lowered his hand, distinguishing the flames and walked past him. “Not interested.”

  Me and Colin looked at each other and quickly followed.

  “So, what do we do now?” I said, trying to keep up. I looked at the various potions and artefacts proudly displayed on stalls as we moved past. “Shouldn’t we buy some of these items? Couldn’t they help?”

  Lucas stopped, shaking his head. “None of this stuff would stop a gnome let alone a Fury. We needed the league, and Charlotte was our way in… I refuse to believe they no longer exist.”

  “The league?” I said.

  People and beasts bustled past us.

  “Not here,” said Lucas. Lucas rubbed his brow as if he had a headache, then let his hand drop. “If Charlotte can’t or won’t help us, then there’s no other way. We need to visit the palace.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The news of learning we were to visit the Crystal Palace at Penge Peak would, at any other time have filled me with joy, but not knowing the fate of my mother dulled all other thoughts. Could she have survived?

  Finlay would know… he’s just a man… but to get to him I have to get past the gorgon…

  I shuddered at the thought of what happened to Kappie and Fisher.

  Steam passed by our train window as the built-up areas of London gave way to open parks and the fields of the suburbs.

  On the empty seat to my side sat a newspaper. I had avoided looking at it as each time my eyes inevitably started to read the headlines, I was reminded of the same service I provided for Mr Gladwell.

  Simpler times.

  One headline did jump out to me though.

  ‘John Hilbert, noted scientist, kidnapped from his London home.’

  I had read a number of articles covering Hilbert’s discoveries over the years. I wondered why anyone would want to do such a thing to a scientist?

  The incline of the track we were on then steadily increased until we started to pass newly built three-storey homes. Between them, I kept catching glimpses of the palace of glass bathed in the afternoon sun and perched on top of the newly founded area of Crystal Palace. I smiled. An achievement of modern engineering, no magic required.

  The train slowed as we moved into the lower station to the south of the park which surrounded the palace.

  I took one last look at the newspaper, then we made our way outside, and walked along the platform.

  “So, what’s this ‘league’ then? They like a gang?” said Colin.

  Lucas smiled. “In a way, yes. The league is… was made up of like-minded individuals who wanted to use magic for good. There have been other groups of course over the eons but, eventually, they all became corrupted… I had never imagined the same would happen to the League.”

  “I thought the witchy woman just said the League had gone?” I said.

  “I don’t see how they could have disbanded unless corruption was involved somehow. Anyway, hopefully, soon we will get some answers.”

  “People from the league will be here?” said Colin to Lucas.

  “Hopefully, yes.”

  We emerged from the station into frost-covered lawns, fountains, and at the top of a small hill about two hundred yards from us the glass cathedral that was the Crystal Palace. It covered almost the complete width of the park, from one side to the other, and it stood easily over a hundred feet high. The early morning sun lit its east-facing panes and as we moved closer to it, the entire building looked as if it had been hewn from a single gemstone.

  “Ain’t that a sight,” said Colin. He smiled and briefly squeezed my arm, knowing of my desire to see it in person.

  We walked up the grand central staircase to the arched entrance that loomed above us.

  Lucas approached the doorman and exchanged words, but I was too lost in the architectural wonder to hear what was said.

  “This way,” said Lucas, moving inside.

  I followed, my mouth agape. Due to the refraction of light, the building looked even bigger on the inside. Domed arches, a hundred feet above our heads stretched into the distance, and to both sides of us were two floors, almost at the same height, of a lattice metal construction supporting walkways and rooms.

  Lucas walked quickly along the central avenue, past a statue of a muscular man which resided on a large plinth and towards a door which if I hadn’t seen him heading towards it, I would have missed. He briefly looked back to us. “Keep up!”

  We hurried along, just getting to him as he moved inside a narrow stairwell. This one, unlike the others that were positioned at regular intervals along the main thoroughfare, was enclosed. He stood, looking at the stained walls, then ran his finger over the numerous cracks. Weeds had also made their home around the bannisters.

  He looked up, then started climbing the stairs.

  I followed his gaze, trying to ascertain where the route above us ended and got the strange sensation that it rose higher than the ceiling I had just been transfixed by. Far above our heads, a small square of light heralded the roof.

  “Where are we going?” I asked. My words echoed off the walls.

  “You’ll soon see,” said Lucas.

  As we ascended, I tried to judge how many floors we had passed, but the stairwell was devoid of windows, so it was hard to tell. Eventually, we came t
o a final landing and a set of doors below a carved iron arch. A plaque sat within ornate warped metal with some words I did not recognise etched into it.

  Lucas seemed to take a deep breath, then laid his hand on the iron door. A moment passed and we waited in silence. “There is no magic here…” he said, then with both hands, pushed the doors open.

  A huge room, which seemed to hang suspended hundreds of feet above the floor of the palace was laid out before us. The space was divided into sections with glass walls filled with empty shelves, tables, chairs, and see-through pipes which ran along the walls. Directly opposite us, some fifty feet away, was another door, similar but smaller to the one we were standing in front of.

  Lucas stepped forward slowly then increased his pace, walking quickly across the glass floor.

  I cautiously stepped onto the translucent surface, looking down, hundreds of feet at other visitors to the palace. “It’s… can’t they see us from down there?”

  I then remembered that, just a few moments before, I had been looking directly up at the very spot where I was walking now and could see nothing of this room in the sky.

  “This floor is invisible from the other floors,” shouted Lucas.

  “Magic…” said Colin, not wanting to move off the more solid-looking floor of the stairwell. He knelt and examined the glass surface in front of him, rapping it with his knuckles.

  “Not magic, just tricks of light and reflection,” continued Lucas, moving further away.

  I ran and caught up with Lucas who was now at the last door. He pushed it open and a flurry of wings took to the sky. We both quickly realised the ceiling of this circular room was open to the elements, and birds had taken up home in the recesses around its edge.

  At its centre, two large halves of a former round glass table rested, surrounded by three chairs of the same material, and two heaps of splintered fragments. No doubt the remains of another two seats. The lustre of everything was dulled by the multiple layers of cobwebs and dust.