Langdon glanced back at the Bearded One beside him, clad in red. His features were very clear, unlike the last Immortal One he’d encountered. The man in red stretched out his hand with the pocket watch balanced on his palm. A brilliant light streamed forth, cutting through the fog, making the street visible once again.
“Please tell me, Immortal One, what is the source of the light that comes from your magical pocket watch?”
“It is I.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand…”
“It’s pretty simple Langdon, the light comes from within me.”
“So, are you saying that you actually are the light? That’s a bit preposterous if you ask me.”
“Langdon my simple boy, I’ve told you before, I am pure goodness.”
“I get that, but goodness isn’t light.” Langdon said matter-of-factly.
“You may be very intelligent about some things, Langdon. However, you are very closed-minded in other ways.” The jolly fellow, furrowed his brows at him, and Langdon got the feeling he was a disappointment to him.
“I’m sorry, Immortal One. I just can’t wrap my mind around it.”
“You’ve never experienced darkness like that which I work to expel. There are places where poverty dwells, and sickness prevails. Places where orphans cry for their mothers and siblings, and I am the source of the light that imbues them with enough hope to keep them pushing on. I am the source of the light of hope that streams out into the world. The light that influences the very heart of what you call Christmas. I instill the charity of giving and encourage acts of goodwill. My purpose is to spread goodness throughout the world as I told you before.”
“So, the light influences good as well, is that what you’re saying?” Langdon struggled to comprehend, scratching his head in bewilderment.
“This light, my dear boy is merely a physical representation of what I am. Something to help you understand my reach, as it were.”
“What does Christmas have to do with it?” Langdon wanted to know.
“Oh, my dear boy,” the jolly Bearded One laughed heartily, his belly quaking with each chuckle. “If there has ever been a day throughout the whole year, when mankind is at its best, is it not Christmas? Even the rich are more generous at this time; well most of them anyway.”
He gave Langdon a sympathetic glance, and Langdon knew it was because he had never been generous at Christmas. In fact, he loathed the very idea.
The Bearded One continued, “The poor are in better spirits, and families who haven’t spoken in months come together to share a meal and give each other gifts. Mankind is a little kinder, a little more generous, and a little more loving at this time of year.
It is the one day, where if there is a good deed to be done, someone will likely come forward and do it. Troubles are forgotten if only for a short time. The poor, the orphans, the widows… all find their place on Christmas day. Yes, Christmas has much to do with it. However, that’s not why you’re with me today, and that’s not what we are here to talk about. I told you that I am the one who influences people for good. The other Immortal Ones and I, have decided it would be good for you to know just what that means.
“Grab my pocket watch once more,” the Bearded One instructed him.
Langdon did as he was told, and they rose quickly into the sky, coming so close to the silvery moon that his breath caught in his throat. The sight was enough to bring tears to his eyes as he had never seen anything of its equal.
“How is it that we can fly?”
“Don’t question it, just hold tight to my pocket watch, and keep your eyes open.” At that instant, a glorious white dragon appeared before them, and the Immortal One guided them closer to its side. Langdon gasped in delight, for a moment wishing he could reach out and touch the dragon’s pearlescent scales, but then he felt sheer terror as the dragon opened its mouth in a carefree yawn, and he was dazzled by the moonlight reflecting from a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.
“Can it see us?” Langdon whispered, trembling.
“Of course not,” The celestial being answered, “but we will be a part of its every move tonight. Wherever this dragon goes, so will we.”
The Teselym dragon suddenly dipped low, shrinking in size until it was just the size of an alley cat, and able to walk almost unnoticed along the cobbled streets. Langdon thought he recognized a street name, “Are we in London?”
“Indeed, we are,” the Bearded One answered.
Langdon shut his mouth then, and watched the small dragon intently, as he and his magical guide followed a short distance behind the white dragon’s swishing tail. The dragon stopped short, in front of a clock store, pushing open the door.
Langdon’s guide stiffened, and his face grew quite serious. Light emitted from the pocket watch and followed the dragon into the shop. Sounds of a struggle came from inside, and then the white dragon reemerged, now full size, carrying a man in its mouth.
The Bearded One grabbed Langdon, and like a flash they were hurtling through the air. Their speed was most alarming, and Langdon’s stomach did flip flops with every swoop and turn. He was beginning to think he would empty the contents of his stomach on the streets of London, but they stopped abruptly again, as the dragon dropped onto the flat roof of a tall building, and set the man down. As quick as a flash the dragon was flying upwards into the night again.
“Hey. That was my shop. I was just getting some things I had left there. Hey! Hey!” The man hooted and hollered as he jumped up and down on the rooftop, but to no avail.
“What was that all about?” Langdon asked the red and black clad being.
“That was a robber, trying to steal what very little coin the clockmaker had. A clock maker who has a sick daughter, I might add. So, the Teselym, chose to apprehend that robber rather than one in Ireland. The shop being robbed in Ireland is owned by a young man, who is quite intelligent. It won’t be so hard for him to start over, but this clockmaker… he’s getting up there in years, and his adult daughter is ailing.”
“That isn’t right. Why not stop both robbers?”
“Langdon, don’t you see? There are many evil things occurring all over the world at any given moment. I am here to inject good wherever it's needed, and the Teselym is here to strike a balance between good and evil. We deal with the situations that are most dire. The situations where one simple act outweighs the rest. Do you understand?”
Langdon still looked dubious. He shrugged his shoulders, “I see what you’re getting at, but it’s still not clear why all this is necessary.
“Hmm, well then, tonight is quite important then.”
“Why is that?”
“Because all the evil you will see tonight, is typically caused by the Siapheg dragon, or at least influenced by him. However, there isn’t one in place at the moment, so it has been left up to Jacob, the Dark One.”
“You mean the one who killed Cornelius?”
“Yes, the very one.”
“How was he able to do such a thing?”
“Jacob was able to do such a thing, because he is an Immortal One as well, or rather… he is a former Immortal One. What he is now, is pure evil.” The jovial man who had been all smiles, went deadly serious. The light that flowed from his pocket watch, now seemed to flow over and around them, like a tornado wrapping them in its ever watchful eye.
“Professor Cornelius visited me tonight.” Langdon suddenly felt compelled to say.
“I know all about that. It was I and the other Immortal Ones who allowed him to approach you.”
“Is there no way to rescue him from Jacob?” Langdon questioned. The man did not answer. Instead Langdon found himself flying through the night sky again, following the white dragon who made several more stops throughout the evening.
The range of events they witnessed, included rescuing a child lost in the woods, and nearly being attacked by a wild animal. The next was rescuing someone who had been accidentally buried alive, stopping a woman from being rav
aged by a drunken man, and bringing food to a family with children on the brink of starvation. Along with a compendium of other man-made calamities. By the end of it, Langdon felt so disgusted with humankind, he was sure he didn’t want to live on the planet for another day.
“You shouldn’t feel that way,” The Bearded One said, comfortingly.
“How does the Teselym deal with this, night after night?”
“She is incredibly resilient. It’s all part of being a Teselym, and why her bloodline was chosen.”
“Her? Do you know who she is? Can you tell me?”
“No, I can’t tell you because it’s not something that mankind is supposed to know. If you were to take on the job of Siapheg and know who she is, then you could cause her human personage harm, and that wouldn’t work out well for either of you,” he said, his bearded face solemn as he studied Langdon.
“I don’t want to be the Siapheg. I want nothing to do with the evil acts Jacob is committing.
Langdon went silent, fuming inwardly. He couldn’t imagine doing any of those things on purpose whether it was his job or not. I may have been a crook in the past, and greedy, but I’m not evil!
“Indeed, you are not evil, but you are so far gone down that road, that the Immortal Ones and I have deemed you the best choice for the next Siapheg.”
“Yes, yes... I get that. I do not accept it, but I get it. Why, Bearded One… why do you keep telling me this? Why do you show me all of this tonight?”
“You do not seem to understand completely what this means. You are not the only one who will lose if the events of the future remain unchanged.”
“No, I guess I don’t understand that part?” Langdon felt as if he had stepped out of his sphere of understanding and into something entirely different.
“Let us make one last stop, shall we?” The Bearded One urged.
Langdon didn’t want to nod his head in agreement. He didn’t want to know what lay ahead; he already knew his future was a bleak one. He was beginning to understand that it was his fault it was bleak. He had made choices, and soon he would have to live with them, just as he would have to live with the fact that it had been his fault that the only woman he ever loved had walked away without so much as a backward glance.
“Odd that you think that, Langdon. As I recall… when she walked away from you that night, you had asked her to be your assistant. You had no regrets. As I recall you thought: ‘Oh well, there’s no one better than myself to work with. At least I know I’ll never steal from myself.’ Do you recall that?”
Langdon searched his memories, but he couldn’t seem to recall that one.
“I’m sorry for who I was. I want nothing more than to change my thinking. I’ll be better! I swear it!”
“You swear it now, but when you wake up, you will think this was all a dream again. You will remain unchanged, and your fate will be waiting for you. It’s the least we can do, as Professor Cornelius now stands in your stead. We didn’t give him a second chance.”
“Why, Bearded One? Cornelius was not at fault for the things I did. I pushed him to be who he was. When he came to me… he was generous and kind. It’s my fault he grew crotchety and greedy in his last days.”
“I do believe that the previous Immortal One explained to you why that doesn’t work, am I right?”
Langdon nodded his head. “Yes, I was told that Cornelius made his own choices… but shouldn’t it count for something that I know what an influence I can have on people?”
“I’m sorry… but not in this case.”
Langdon hung his head in silent remorse, he had caused a good man to fall, and now because of him that man was somewhere dark and horrible. He wasn’t sure how horrible, but he knew that it had to be bad to be locked in a place with the very being who had killed him. “I’ve lost my friend, and it’s all my fault,” Langdon said aloud, “I should have died, not Cornelius. Cornelius was a genuinely good man.”
“If you are human, with a real heart, then it’s understandable you would feel that way. But, it’s not up to you to decide who should be here, and who shouldn’t. How do you know whether in the sight of the Immortal Ones you deserve to die or live? Who do you think makes that choice? It won’t be you who decides who should live or die.
“Then who decides?”
“I do, in consultation with the other Immortal Ones, but your purpose has not been fulfilled, so your time has not yet come.”
He was not being condescending, or putting him down, but nonetheless Langdon felt an overwhelming sense of shame. His body trembled as he stared at the ground. The eastern horizon was beginning to lighten, and the moon was fading gradually. Snow began to fall gently, coating everything with a shimmering glimmer of white.
The echoes of the Bearded One’s words hung in the air between them like the snow falling on their heads. They walked the streets together as the town gradually started to come alive. Children gathered in the streets to make snowballs and play fox and geese. Through the windows, Langdon could see the flicker of flames in fireplaces, dancing like ballerinas.
Once again light flowed from the pocket watch onto the streets, and the faces of everyone they passed lit up with the hope of something unseen. It was like an invisible wave of peace and joy that flowed over them wherever they walked.
A smile of infectious joy spread across the Bearded One’s face once more, and his belly again shook with laughter. For the rest of the day, the two of them went all over the world, taking the light with them wherever they went. Silently but steadily the Bearded One continued to do what they had done through the night. Caring for sick children, bringing food to starving families, and caring for sick crewman aboard ships at sea.
By the time they left each place, everyone they met had a smile on their face, and the light in their eyes was unmistakably caused by the magical light coming from the pocket watch the Bearded One carried.
Langdon was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Just when he was beginning to feel as if he couldn’t go on another moment, the Bearded One finally announced they were finished for the night and began flying them back over the ocean to America. Why take the long way? Why not just reappear there as we have so many times tonight?
He was sure the Bearded One had listened in on his thoughts as usual, but this was clearly one of the times that he chose not to respond. Eventually, Langdon could make out the shore, and then just like that, they were back in the Octagon Inn. He never thought he would be so relieved in his entire life. It was then he heard familiar voices, deep in conversation.
Chapter Fourteen
As the familiar voices floated to his ears, Langdon could see from where he stood that it was Adrian and Wylie chatting.
“Can they see me?” he asked the Bearded One.
“You should know by now that as long as you are with me, or any of the Immortal Ones, no one can see you.”
Langdon nodded, turning his head to listen more intently to the conversation at hand.
“Langdon plans to cut everyone’s salary, including mine. On top of that he’s taking my design and naming it after himself. I just don’t know how much further he plans to go.” Adrian shook his head, disappointment written on his face.
“Adrian, I can’t believe you are just allowing this. You need to tell the staff what he’s planning. They deserve to know.” Tears streamed down her face, and Adrian reached out to wipe them away.
“No, not yet. We don’t know for sure he’s really going through with it.”
“Adrian, he told you. Plus, it’s in the paperwork he gave you. Why are you standing up for him? He’s basically decided your invention is his. He has the idea he owns it, and he isn’t going to allow you to choose the name of the transportation business. It isn’t right.”
“Yes, but if we tell the inn’s staff that he means to cut their wages, they’ll all leave.”
“Well, maybe that’s for the best. Maybe it will give them a chance to find more gainful employment elsewhere.
From everything I’ve seen, this man is a monster. Maybe they should get out while they can?”
“Wylie, you already know how I feel. We need to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“I don’t understand, Adrian. You owe him nothing. I felt differently with Cornelius, but Cornelius is dead. Why not start your own transportation company? Why partner with this greedy, hateful man?”
“It’s true, Cornelius was a much better man than Langdon ever was. However, Langdon has a prestigious name. If I play my cards right, maybe he’ll change his mind, eventually.”
“What makes you say that?” Wylie asked.
“I don’t know, I just have a feeling.”
“Well, I have a feeling too,” she said, “I have a feeling he’s up to no good, and I find it quite frustrating.”
“Wylie, my love. We don’t know for sure, but until we do, we must hold out, and not bring this up to the staff. Who knows what will happen when they find out?”
“Yeah, if I were them, I’d want to burn the place down.”
“Come, come. You mustn’t think like that, my love.”
Wylie folded her arms across her chest and gave him an obvious eye roll.
“I don’t know how to think anything but the worst,” her voice was soft and sad.
“Wylie, if it is true… and he does plan on lowering the wages of everyone who works for him, then his decision will carry its own punishment. We needn’t worry about it. Greed only begets more greed, and no one ever got ahead or kept their reputation by being greedy. Now why don’t you go up and change, and we’ll go out on the town for dinner this evening. I found a lovely little place I’d like to take you to eat, and since Langdon is out for the day, I can take a break from working on the carriage. He can yell at me tomorrow about it.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Wylie practically leaped for joy, and Langdon watched as she ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, fiery red hair flying behind her.
A Steampunk Christmas Carol: (The Dracosinum Tales) Page 7
