Boots for the Gentleman

by Augusta Li

  “Rescuing you,” Querry whispered with a grin. “We took your ship. She flies like a dream, Dink!” He stopped talking and waited for the guard to wander away from them again. “Reg will be bringing her up in a minute. We’ll have to run.”

  “We can’t do that, Querry.”

  “I’m sorry, Dink. I don’t have a better plan. I think we can make it.”

  “You don’t understand! It’s Frolic. He’s here.”

  “Where? Querry looked around, hope and desire welling up only to whither when he couldn’t locate the clockwork boy.

  “Oh, Querry,” Dink said, shaking his head.

  Scared by Dink’s tragic tone, Querry grabbed his sleeve and shrugged his shoulders dramatically. “Where?”

  Finger shaking, Dink pointed to the center of the dais, to the golden coffin. He had to grab Querry’s elbow to keep the thief from leaping up and sprinting toward it.

  “All right then,” Querry said to himself. Four men guarded the tower. He was hidden; he could shoot at least two before being discovered. It didn’t sit well with him, shooting men in their backs, but he couldn’t see an alternative. Slowly, soundlessly, he freed his pistol from its holster. He got the guard closest to them in his sights, winced and looked away. He tried again, but he didn’t think he could do it. Querry had never denied being a thief. He’d never hesitated to defend himself, but to murder a man in cold blood…?

  But Frolic was here! Inside that—that thing. Querry lifted the pistol again. He pulled the trigger, and the guard fell. Standing, Querry aimed and shot the guard reclining next to the red dragon. Staggering back, the man toppled off the side of the tower. Querry ducked for cover behind the angel. Bullets pinged and ricocheted off of it as the other two guards retaliated.

  “Who is it?” one of them yelled, reloading his rifle.

  “How the hell did he get up here?”

  Querry and Dink crouched with their backs to their angelic protector. Querry strained his ears, but heard only the wind whipping around the tower. The other workers had stopped their tinkering. No sound or speech came from the two guards, worrying Querry. He held his pistol parallel to his forehead and glanced around the angel’s leg. He scanned about for the boots of the guards but couldn’t find them. Just as Querry prepared to lean across Dink’s chest and check around the other side, a guard stepped around each side of the metal statue, their rifles trained on Querry and Dink.

  “Thimbleroy wants the old man,” one said to the other. “Shoot the other one and throw his body over the edge.

  The other guard nodded once and moved the barrel of his gun only a few inches from Querry’s temple. A shot rang loud through the quiet night.

  Almost to his surprise, Querry wasn’t dead. He opened eyes he hadn’t known he’d scrunched shut and felt his head. No blood. No hole. By the time Querry located the source of the sound, Reg had leapt from the airship to the stone floor of the tower, pulled his other pistol, and shot the remaining guard in the chest three times. He strode toward Querry and Dink, a gun in each hand. Querry exhaled with surprise and couldn’t help smiling at how heroic Reg looked. Reg was a hero. He’d saved Querry’s life yet again. The man who’d planned to shoot him lay crumpled on his side, a dark spot spreading across his middle.

  “Dear God, Querry,” Reg shouted over the wind. “What’s keeping you? Let’s go!”

  Stumbling to his feet, Querry grabbed Reg’s biceps and looked at him seriously. “Frolic is here. He’s here.”

  “Where?”

  With a jerk of his head, Querry indicated the sarcophagus. “In there.”

  “Well, get him out,” Reg said, his voice rising with excitement and joy. “Get him!”

  Querry nodded, released Reg’s arms, and started toward the dais. This time, Dink stopped him. “They’ve done things to him, Querry. He’s different.”

  “Everything will be fine now, Dink. I’m going to get Frolic out of that thing, and we’ll be off.” He picked up a crowbar from a pile of tools and closed the space between himself and the dais. Stepping onto the stone lip, he looked through a rectangular slit and into the enclosure.

  What he saw made the crowbar fall from his hand and cold sweat burst from his pores. Frolic stood within, his feet hidden beneath a piece of sheet metal. His clothes were ripped and dirty. Querry could see where each of the four sets of vines culminated in a column of gears, smaller than cufflinks and thousands thick. Frolic’s fingers flitted among them with impossible speed, going from one set to another faster than Querry’s eyes could follow. Heavy manacles made his wrists look even frailer. They clinked as he worked among the gears with his tiny fingers. His eyes looked glazed, the lids low over the golden irises. He didn’t seem to need to look at what he was doing. An iron collar encircled his neck, and a metal rod poked from his sternum, shoved under the skin. Querry tried to follow the gears connected to this, but the darkness inside the container obscured them.

  “Frolic!” Querry cried, pounding his fists against the metal. “I’ll get you out of there!”

  Frolic turned his head slowly and found Querry’s face. He looked lethargic: drunk or drugged. “Querry,” he said with a scratchy voice.

  “Don’t worry, beauty,” Querry said, trying to quell the horror in his voice as he picked up the crowbar and searched for a seam in the gold casing. “I’ll have you out of there in a moment.”

  Frolic interrupted him, saying, “Out? No, Querry. I can’t come out.”

  “I’ll break you out with my own hands if I need to!”

  “But, I don’t want to come out.”

  “What?” Querry gasped. Reg and Dink had come to stand behind him.

  “I’ve finally found my purpose, Querry. Lord Thimbleroy explained everything. I was made to direct this tower. These creatures at the corners. I can feel them, just about ready to wake up. It will be my job to help them do as Lord Thimbleroy wants.”

  “Is this a joke?” Querry whimpered. “Frolic—”

  “No. This is why I was made. I’m fulfilling the role I was built to do.”

  “No you’re not! Thimbleroy has captured you and made you a slave!”

  “I’m a machine. I’m a tool. A tool built for this purpose.”

  “Frolic,” Querry hissed, as exasperated as he was when Reg planned to marry Emily Malvern, “you are not a machine. You have a heart and a mind, and as much right to be free and choose the course of your life as anyone. You are my friend and my lover. I love you. Reg loves you.”

  “This is what I choose,” Frolic said numbly.

  “Frolic, no!” Reg pushed Querry out of the way to look at the clockwork boy. “Thimbleroy is an evil man. He’s using you.”

  “Only using me for the reason I’m meant to be used. He said only I can direct these creatures, make the clock tower work. The man who built me built me to stand right here. This is why he made me.”

  “Nein, my young friend,” Dink said, shaking his head. “No man would make a tool with such beauty. No artist would spend the decades on something meant to stand inside that box. I have heard stories of your maker. He was forced to do this work against his will. I believe with all my heart that he fought back the only way he could: by giving you emotion, intelligence, and the free will to make your own decisions! He made you look human, so you could live among humans. If you want to do as your creator intended, you must use the gifts he gave you. You must choose the right thing.”

  “This is the right thing,” Frolic said. “Thimbleroy explained everything. He said, he said Querry is a bad man. He said you tricked me, Querry.”

  “Do you believe that?” Querry asked.

  “I- I don’t know. Some of the things he said made sense. He said I hadn’t been awake long enough to know you were bad.”

  “Did I make you feel bad, Frolic?” Querry asked.

  “No. You made me happy.”

  “And how will you be happy standing in that box?”

  “It’s- it’s my purpose. Lord Thimbleroy says I�
��m special, one of a kind. Remember the other clockworks we saw in his basement? None of them could do it. The Grande Chancellor tried dozens of different models and not one of them could make the tower work. This is my duty. My ankles fit just perfectly in these holes—”

  “I thought I had a duty too,” Reg said gently. “I realized that I couldn’t let someone else tell me how to live. Though I was afraid, I walked away from my old life. I gave up everything to be with Querry. And with you. I fell in love with you, Frolic. I will not walk away and leave you here.”

  “If I leave here, my life will have no point,” Frolic said miserably.

  “What do you say we make our own purpose?” Reg said, laying his palm and forehead against the metal, “me, you, and Querry. Won’t you come out, Frolic?”

  He touched some of the gears, and a door opened in the box where Querry hadn’t even seen a seam. Frolic held out his hands pitifully. Querry quickly took out his picks and went to work. As he did, Dink knelt with his screwdriver to loosen the metal plate. The manacles fell from Frolic’s wrists and neck, leaving dirty gray stains to show where they’d been.

  “Frolic, your chest,” Reg breathed, barely audible.

  Wincing and chewing his lip, Frolic pulled out the metal rod. Querry realized every muscle in his body had tensed to the point of tearing, and relaxed and exhaled deeply. Then, with a shout of pure relief and happiness, he grabbed Frolic and lifted him off his feet. Frolic shrieked with innocent delight and hugged Querry back. Then he hugged Reg. Then all three of them hugged, holding each other for long moments. Querry and Reg shed tears, and Frolic made a sound between a laugh and a cry.

  Afterward, Querry and Reg herded the other men who’d been forced into labor to the airship. Their questions and compliments filled the cozy, glass compartment during the flight back to Dink’s shop. When they reached it, the other men departed. Dink motioned for Querry, Reg, and Frolic to follow him.

  “Where are we going?” Reg asked.

  “Down,” Dink said. “I will seal off the lower levels. If Thimbleroy’s men come back, they will never know the underground chambers even exist. We will be safe. For now.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  THE four men took the lift to the kitchen, where Lizard greeted them enthusiastically. “I knew you could do it,” the boy said, pumping Querry’s hand. Then Dink gave him instructions for locking down the underground passages, and the boy ran off to comply. Dink went to a table and dropped into a chair, looking older and more exhausted than Querry had thought him capable. He dropped his downy white head into his hands.

  Looking concerned, Frolic offered to make tea. Reg offered to help, and the two of them disappeared into the kitchen.

  Standing behind his old friend, Querry rubbed Dink’s shoulder. Finally he mustered the courage to say, “It’s bad.”

  “My dear boy, that is an understatement. I cannot quite comprehend the purpose of that tower, but after working on it, I can only deduce that it is some sort of a weapon. A powerful one.”

  “A big gun or something?” Querry asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “Nor do I,” Dink admitted, shaking his head. “Your friend may be able to provide more insight, though. He was built to be part of the tower, ja?”

  “Fuck. Thimbleroy will never leave us alone now. He’ll kill Reggie and me to get to Frolic.”

  “I have no doubt,” the old tinkerer agreed. “His obsession is deepening into a mania. Several times he came to oversee our work and seemed quite mad.”

  “How so?”

  “Talking to himself. Unwashed and unshaven. Shirt untucked. Sometimes his words barely made sense at all.”

  “Do you remember what he said specifically, Dink?”

  “He rambled about unlimited power, power due to him. He called your Frolic his Prince of Angels.”

  “Because he thought Frolic could control the clockwork angels,” Querry said. “But what did he think Frolic could make them do?”

  “We will have to ask him.”

  On cue, Frolic appeared with a kettle and some cups on a tray. Reg carried another tray containing bread and butter, a canned ham, cheese, hard-boiled eggs and some preserved carrots. He set them down, saying, “Hardly a four-course meal, but I thought we could all use a little something. Dink, I hope you won’t mind that we helped ourselves.”

  “Not at all, my boy,” Dink said, forcing a smile. “I owe you and Querry my freedom.”

  Frolic and Reg sat down, and the three of them who needed to, refreshed themselves. Afterward, Reg sat with his cup held next to his chin, staring into the steam. “One of us has to say it. What the hell are we going to do now?”

  Looking around sadly, Dink said, “It has taken me almost forty years to build this place. It is my life’s work. With deep regret, I feel I can only leave it behind now, and go back to Bravelstein.”

  “Dink, I am so sorry,” Querry said. “I brought this on you. And on you, Reg. God, I’m sorry.”

  “No, Querry,” Reg said. “Because you found Frolic before Thimbleroy, we have a chance. You gave Frolic a chance to experience freedom before Thimbleroy could convince him he didn’t deserve it.” Reg squeezed Frolic’s hand, and Frolic held tight to his fingers.

  “I never would have found him if not for my gentleman,” Querry mused.

  Reg smacked the table with his other hand, startling them all. “Querry, I wish you wouldn’t call him that!”

  “Sorry. I won’t. But he knew. Maybe I should go to him.”

  “Out of the question,” Reggie snapped.

  “We need answers,” Querry pleaded, frustrated and tired of being in the dark.

  “Ja, and we have one among us who might provide them,” Dink gently suggested, looking at Frolic.

  Querry looked at him too. Grimy bands still marred his wrists and neck where he’d been bound. His eyes looked dark beneath, if that was possible. Instead of the curious fascination and enchantment he’d shown before, Frolic now displayed confusion and sadness. Querry reached over and took Frolic’s and Reg’s hands into his. He met Frolic’s golden eyes and asked, “Do you feel ready to talk about it?”

  Frowning, Frolic nodded. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said. Querry detected something in his voice he’d never heard before: shame. He’d tried to protect Frolic from learning these painful emotions, but again, he’d failed. His innocent Frolic was lost forever.

  “He tricked you, Frolic,” Reg said. “He took advantage of the little knowledge you had of the world.”

  “I was so sure,” Frolic said. “I’m so sure I’m doing the right thing now. What if I’m wrong again?”

  “We don’t want to hurt anyone,” Querry reassured him. “We aren’t after power. We just want to live. How can that be wrong?”

  Frolic nodded without looking convinced. “I felt like I belonged there. I understood instantly what every gear in that box did. My hands went to them almost on their own.”

  “And what is it they do?” Dink asked.

  “Talk to the other clockworks. Tell them what to do. They’ll only listen to me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because my fingers know where to go,” he said. “And because of my heart. It’s all very beautiful. The other clockworks… I could almost feel their hearts with mine.”

  “They’re not evil?” Querry asked.

  “Oh no,” Frolic said wistfully. “They aren’t like me. They can’t choose for themselves. They were almost ready to wake up.”

  “Wake up and do what?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. They wanted something, craved after it like all of you do after food. I felt like when they woke up and found what they needed, we would be able to do anything. Anything.”

  “But even if you could,” Querry pressed, “how much can you do from the top of that tower? How far would these creatures be able to fire or whatever they’d do?”

  “Oh no,” Frolic said, proudly as if he’d built the tower himself. “There are ge
ars and propellers under the floor. When everything is fixed, the roof of the tower will transform.”

  “Fly?” Querry guessed.

  “It’s masterful,” Frolic whispered with awe.

  “Thimbleroy will be able to take his weapon anywhere,” Querry despaired.

  “No he won’t,” Frolic said. “Not without me. I’m the only one who can pilot it. I’m the only one who can talk to the other clockworks. As long as he doesn’t get me back—”

  “We’ll make sure he doesn’t,” Querry swore.

  “How?” Reg asked.

  “Nothing for it,” Querry said. “We’ll have to do the same as Dink. Run fast and far. We’ll board a ship tomorrow. A foreign one if we can.”

  “Where are Tosser and Toerag?” Frolic asked, brightening for a moment as he looked around the room. As soon as he saw Querry’s face, though, his shoulders curled forward.

  “They’re in a good place,” Reg told him. “They have shelter and a beautiful forest full of rabbits and moles to hunt. I’m afraid going back for them at this point is impossible. They’ll be fine without us.”

  The four of them sat a few more minutes, finishing their tea and digesting all that they’d heard.

  “We could all use some rest,” Dink finally said.

  “Dink,” Frolic asked, “do you think we can sleep in the menagerie? I would love to see it one more time.”

  The old man laughed a genuine laugh and reached across the table to slap the shoulder of the clockwork boy. “I am too old for a campout, but if you want to spend the night there, I don’t see the harm. Come, I’ll let you in.”

  STRINGS of tiny gaslights mimicked stars above Dink’s mechanical jungle. Water tinkled from somewhere within, and nocturnal creatures called to one another softly. Querry made his way through the artificial foliage carrying a lantern. Reg and Frolic followed with cushions and blankets that Dink had provided for their beds. They passed several of the clockwork animals, bedded down in the grass or hanging from branches. Frolic stopped and knelt beside a tiger, petting her large, smooth head and earning a deep purr.