The Dragon Machine (Magebreakers Book 3)

by Ben S. Dobson

  “…about the other locations?” That was Thorpe’s voice, cool and even, but with a mild arrogance beneath it that made Kadka’s fists clench. It had set her teeth on edge, watching Carver fawn over that machine while the woman who had built it acted as if Kadka was entirely beneath her notice.

  “Done,” answered Roark, gruff and grumbly. “Just came from the Charmby and Thul warehouse.” Kadka knew the location—a cross-street in Greenstone. That could be useful.

  “Good. And you’ve brought the leftovers to the quarry?”

  “It’s taken care of, Miss Thorpe.”

  “Very good, Cullen. Now, I’m going to need you to bring in more men. We have to step up our timeline.”

  Kadka couldn’t guess what they were talking about. Maybe just business as usual, but she didn’t like the sound of it. If Thorpe was involved in the kidnappings, or sending people after Tinga, “stepping up the timeline” couldn’t be good.

  “Won’t have time to train anybody, then,” said Roark. “For people with experience, that’ll cost.”

  “Of course. My work is crucial to the progress of magical theory. Money is no object.”

  “Right. I’ll get on it immediately.”

  “By the end of the day, if possible,” said Thorpe.

  “Then I’d better get started.”

  “Do,” Thorpe said, in a tone that clearly meant they were done. “I have more work to do here.”

  Footsteps toward the door. Kadka wasn’t going to have time to get back to the stairs ahead of Roark without sprinting, and that meant being heard. She stole across the hall and tried the nearest door on the other side.

  Locked. Deskha. People never locked things in Thaless when they could afford wards. Except when she needed a hiding place, apparently.

  But there wasn’t time to find anywhere else. She put her shoulder against the door and pushed, wrenching down on the handle. There was a muffled clank as the latch broke; not as quiet as she’d have liked, but there wasn’t much choice. She pulled it open and stepped in, hoping fervently that the lock meant this room wasn’t important enough to ward.

  Nothing stopped her. She pulled the door closed behind her.

  There was no light inside except what snuck in under the door, but her darkvision made out a small closet with a mop and bucket in one corner and rags and cleaning solutions lining the shelves. That was good—it meant the broken lock would probably go unnoticed until the cleaning staff came in that night.

  Across the hall, she heard the door to the lab open and close again, and then Roark’s heavy footsteps. She waited until the cadence changed to the rapid sound of jogging down steps, and then slipped out of the cleaning closet.

  No one in sight. She moved quietly to the stairs, giving Roark time to get ahead of her. At the second floor landing, she peeked around the corner before moving quickly by, making sure nobody was watching. From there, it was an easy stroll to the lobby—she was back where she was expected to be, so there was no point hurrying.

  Carver and Julian were waiting for her.

  “Miss Kadka.” Thorpe’s assistant gave her a cool nod as she drew near, a slight frown of distaste curling his lip. “You’re back. Very good. I must return to my desk.” Without further pleasantries, he strode past her toward the stairs.

  “Took you long enough,” Carver said. And then, when she was closer, in a lower voice, “Roark came through just ahead of you. I was getting a little bit worried.”

  “Is fine, no one saw. Will tell you more outside.” Kadka waved a goodbye to the little sprite at the reception clerk’s desk. “Is good to meet you, Jasmine.” Taking Carver by the elbow, she led him quickly toward the door.

  It opened before they reached it. On the other side was a dwarf in a wide-brimmed hat with a longcoat hanging over his left arm.

  “Oh,” said Lefty Lodestone. “It’s you.”

  Kadka clenched her fist. She really didn’t like this man, and if he was here it probably meant she’d been right about him. “Why come here?” she demanded. “Is it Thorpe who hires you?”

  “A lot of people hire me. I do good work.” Lefty smirked. “I suppose you ain’t used to having more than one client at a time, but it happens. Now let me by. I’ve got business.” He shouldered his way past, keeping his artifact arm pointedly between himself and Kadka.

  Kadka took a step after him, and then felt Carver’s hand on her arm, restraining her.

  “Let him go. He’s already given us enough, just being here.”

  Kadka ground her teeth together, but nodded and followed Carver out into the light patter of rain.

  As soon as the door was closed, she said, “If he is here—”

  “—It’s not just a coincidence,” Carver finished. “I know. Whatever he says, I’m fairly certain now that it was Thorpe who hired him to go after Tinga. And he has to know we’re going to make that leap, which is what he’ll be telling Thorpe very soon. I hope you heard something good in there, because whatever they’re up to, they’re going to be moving fast to hide their tracks.”

  Kadka nodded. “Heard some. Maybe useful, maybe not. They are already almost done when I get there.”

  “Any indication of what this is all about?” Carver asked.

  Kadka shook her head. “No. But they talk about warehouse, on Charmby and Thul. Roark comes from there, doing something for Thorpe. She tells him to bring leftovers to quarry, and get more men so she can move timeline up.”

  “Leftovers.” Tane frowned. “Could mean the missing people. But what is she doing with them? Some kind of artifice experiments, maybe?”

  “Could be,” said Kadka. “She says is about her work.” She scowled slightly. “Maybe machine you like so much.”

  Carver raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t like the way she talked to you either, Kadka, but I had to play the part to keep her talking.”

  Kadka snorted. “You say this, but you forget why we are there when you see that thing.”

  “Maybe a bit,” Tane admitted. “But it really is an amazing piece of artifice. I wasn’t lying when I said it could have incredible implications for people like you and me. Everyone the Silver Dawn stands for, too.”

  “Maybe true,” Kadka said, and crossed her arms. “Still don’t like her.”

  “Probably fair, if she’s kidnapping homeless people. But if we stop her, we don’t just save Tinga—maybe we get that machine into the right hands. And their conversation gives us some places to look.”

  Kadka let her shoulders relax. She knew Carver meant well, even if he fell into that academic trance of his sometimes. “Warehouse or quarry? They talk about both.”

  “Thorpe Manufacturies owns more than one quarry,” said Carver. “And according to Bittik, they just bought up more. Let’s have a look at this warehouse first—at least we’ve got a location for that.”

  “Come then,” said Kadka, and started south down the street, toward the intersection of Charmby and Thul. “If you are right, they know we are looking. What is there will not be there for long.”

  Chapter Eleven

  _____

  IT WAS LATE afternoon when Kadka and Carver arrived at the warehouse, and the rain had finally stopped altogether. The corner of Charmby and Thul was well into the Greenstone warehouse district, a warren of alleys and streets between long, low storage buildings.

  The warehouse they were looking for was easy enough to find—it was the only one directly on the intersection, surrounded by a high wooden fence. In another fenced off lot across the street, a number of heavy ancryst digging machines were being stored, and a small office on the last corner across from the warehouse bore a sign that read Eldook Storage Lots. There were no lights inside, and judging by the dust in the windows, the owners didn’t come by very often.

  Carver had been silent for a long moment, apparently distracted, and then finally he said, “Indree just sent me back. Thorpe Manufacturies isn’t registered anywhere as the owner of the building. It belongs to a ‘V
eil Industrial’, which isn’t on record past a few years back. If Thorpe is using the place, she’s keeping it off the books.”

  “Makes sense, if she keeps missing people here.” Kadka didn’t hear anything inside as they drew near to the fence, though. The warehouse was utterly quiet.

  The fence around the lot was closed off with a locked gate—breakable, but why bother when she could climb? It was only some eight feet high. Kadka jumped, found purchase, and pulled herself up. Lying awkwardly along the top of the fence, she reached down with one hand to help Carver scramble over, then dropped down on the other side herself.

  Inside the fence, the lot was empty, but there were recent boot prints, preserved in green-brown earth turned to mud by the rain. They led to a double door of thick metal, easily ten feet high and the same wide, positioned front and center on the street-facing side of the warehouse. It was well secured, chained and locked. Probably braced on the other side as well. Kadka doubted they’d get in that way. A smaller door sat to the right of that, also metal. She tried the handle, and it was locked, just as she’d expected. And this was no flimsy closet door handle—she wouldn’t be able to force it. There were a lot of things people in a city of magic didn’t bother locking physically, but warehouses like this one were meant to be particularly secure. It was very possible—likely, even—that there were wards over the place too.

  “Will not be easy to get in,” she said.

  “No,” Carver agreed. “I hoped there would be something to work with out here, but…” He gestured across the lot, utterly empty but for the mud and weeds.

  Kadka moved around to the alley-side of the building, away from the street, and looked high up on the wall. Like most of the warehouses in the area, there was a row of windows there, just below the edge of the roof, near twenty feet up. All of them were closed, but the locks would be easier to break than the door, and she could shatter the glass if she needed to. Ideally, they might not be locked at all—they were high enough that someone could easily have neglected to bother.

  “I will try these,” she said.

  Carver came up behind her, a doubtful twist to his mouth. “That’s high up, even for you. And we both know I’m not strong enough to boost you.”

  She grinned. “Don’t need boost.”

  The fence was close to the side of the building here; she clambered back up, got her feet under her, and stood, balancing precariously on the edge. Then, in a single motion, she crouched and leapt, hurling herself up and forward across the gap between fence and wall. Her outstretched hands just reached the bottom of the nearest window nook, and she grasped it with the tips of her fingers, clinging fast.

  “Well, be careful,” Carver called up. “I’m not catching you if you fall.”

  Kadka laughed. “Good. Would break all your bones.”

  She pulled herself up until she could wedge her elbow into the nook, and then yanked at the glass shutter with one hand. It held. Locked, again. These particular criminals were more careful than most she had dealt with, apparently. Had to move fast now; she was hidden in the alley, but if anyone walked by and saw her, it would be hard to explain. Still hanging by one arm with her feet against the brick wall, she grasped behind her back and drew her knife. Hoping there was no one inside to hear, she swung the hilt hard at the glass, and it shattered inward.

  “I will take look,” she said, glancing down at Carver. “You keep watch.” She rested her knife inside the nook, reached through to pull the latch, and yanked the window open. Bracing herself for any ward that might be in her way, she clambered inside.

  Nothing stopped her. A shelf sat just below her feet, and she dropped down onto it. It was empty.

  That was why there weren’t any wards. The whole warehouse was empty.

  Kadka reclaimed her knife, then climbed down to stalk between empty shelves. It quickly became obvious that the building had been hastily cleared out, and recently. There were bootprints in the dust, just like there had been outside, and here and there a bit of brass or copper sat on a shelf, but anything of importance had been removed. That must have been what Thorpe had sent Roark to take care of. Which meant she’d already suspected someone might come looking.

  “Deshka!” Kadka swore. She and Carver were still a step behind, and they didn’t even know what this was really about yet. She pounded her fist on a nearby shelf.

  And then she heard something.

  Maybe in response to the sound of her voice, a shuffling sound came from further back in the building. Feet against the floor, it sounded like, although not distressed or moving quickly. She crept towards the noise.

  Past another section of shelves, a closed door was set into the back wall. A separate storage room, maybe. She moved closer. Another slight shuffling came from within.

  Drawing near, she saw something lying on the ground before the door. A small round object that caught the light coming in from the high windows. She knelt to pick it up.

  It was a badge. A crowned staff in gold on a purple field.

  The sigil of the Knights of the Emperor.

  Again, that shuffling sound. There was someone in there. Maybe one of Endo Stooke’s followers, trying to hide from her. And this one wasn’t going to get away.

  Kadka leapt for the door and wrenched it open.

  The smell hit her first, like a physical force. She flinched away by instinct and covered her nose and mouth.

  No one was hiding in the dark room beyond. They stood out in the open, staring dumbly as the door opened and the light poured in. More than a dozen people, dirty and stinking, dressed in stained and tattered clothes, packed into the room with only a few inches space between them. And none of them seemed to care.

  They were beyond caring about anything. There was nothing behind their eyes at all, no spark of consciousness. Kadka had seen that vacant stare before, once. After a wraith had drained Talain Nieris of his Astral link aboard the airship Hesliar.

  These people had been Astra-riven. There was nothing left inside of them.

  And there, in the middle, was a dwarf with thinning red hair and a thick red beard. That had to be Regnar—Siska had said he was a ‘real copper-top’. Which confirmed that these were the people who’d been taken from the Nest. Or at least some of them.

  Kadka took a step back, aghast. She’d already suspected that nothing good had happened to them, but this… this was worse than death. She looked down at the badge in her hand, and clenched her fist around it.

  And then, from outside, a panicked shout, and a flurry of noise. More feet than there should have been.

  “Stay away from her!” Carver’s voice. “Kadka!”

  The people who had done this were monsters. And one of them was still here.

  Chapter Twelve

  _____

  TANE WATCHED KADKA climb through the window, and then leaned back against the fence to wait. He didn’t like being left out, but he certainly couldn’t make that leap, and someone had to keep watch. Not that anyone’s coming. By the look of it, they’ve already abandoned this place.

  At that moment, he heard something from around the front of the building. A low grunt of exertion, and a pair of feet landing on this side of the fence.

  Tane swallowed, touched his watch case, and crept toward the front of the warehouse. It better not be one of those glowing-eyed goons. I’m not in the mood to get broken in half.

  He took a deep breath, and peeked around the corner.

  A goblin girl with pale green skin was straightening from the muddy ground, brushing off her knees. He’d seen her once before.

  Tinga.

  Tane weighed his options. She wouldn’t be thrilled to see him, he was certain, but the fence meant she couldn’t flee before he had time to talk. The best thing was to be direct—she’d be even more suspicious if she caught him skulking.

  Raising his hands, he stepped into sight. “Tinga. Please, don’t run.”

  She started, whirled her head toward him, backed away a st
ep. There was a wild, trapped look in her eye. “Who are you?”

  “Tane Carver. Your parents hired me to find you.”

  “You’re the man from the window.” And then, after a moment, “Tane Carver? As in… the Magebreakers?”

  “That’s right.” For once, Tane was relieved to hear that name. “I’m on your side. I know you’re just trying to find Cestra.”

  “They caught her because of me.” Anger flashed in Tinga’s eyes, at herself or whoever ‘they’ were. Probably both. “I have to get her back.”

  “I can help,” said Tane. “If you’ll let me. I’m good at finding people.”

  “No. No.” Tinga shook her head and pressed her back against the fence. “I can’t trust you. You called the bluecaps in, didn’t you? They’re all over that man’s house now. You’ll just take me to them, and then there won’t be anybody who knows to help all those people.”

  Just what he’d been worried about when he’d called Indree to the scene. That was going to make it harder to get through to her. “I had to, Tinga. But I told them you didn’t kill him. And Lefty, the man who was after you—we kept him from getting to you.”

  “So you could get to me first.” Tinga narrowed her eyes. “How do I even know you’re who you say you are? You could be anyone. You could be from Thorpe.”

  Thorpe. That confirmed some things. “Would a half-orc convince you? If you know my name, you must know Kadka’s.” Tane pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “She’s just inside. I can call her.”

  “Kadka? I’ve seen her talk at the Silver Dawn rallies. She’s really in there?” For a moment, Tinga looked like she was thinking about it. “If she’s—”

  Before she could finish, something fell from the rooftop above, landed heavily between the two of them.

  Except it wasn’t something. It was someone.

  A heavyset dwarven man with a thick black beard and hair straightened from the ground, looked toward Tinga, and advanced a step. The girl turned and jumped for the top of the fence, but she wasn’t tall enough, and there was nothing to give her purchase. She might scramble over given time, but the dwarf would be on her before she could.