Metal and Magic

by Chris Paton

  “I need that.” Hari took a step forward. The circle of men tightened as they linked arms and bunched their shoulders. “Gentlemen,” Hari sighed. “It has been a very long night.”

  “And it may turn out to be the longest night of your life.” Bremen slipped his cane under his arm and parted the men closest to him with a tap on their shoulders. “Perhaps even your last. Unless...”

  “Unless?” Hari’s shoulders sagged as he turned to address Bremen. “Unless what?”

  Bremen nodded in the direction of the device. “It seems we are missing a part.” He pulled the cane from beneath his arm, pressed the tip upon the stone floor and rested his hands upon the pommel. “You seem to be acquainted with it. Perhaps you can help?”

  “I have a sick friend,” Hari gestured to the road behind him. “She will be here momentarily.”

  “She?”

  “Yes,” Hari nodded. “Miss Luise Hanover.”

  “Really?” Bremen raised his eyebrows. “And she needs the machine for what, exactly?”

  “I am not sure,” Hari frowned. “But she designed it, she has requested it, and I aim to give it to her.”

  “Is that her now?” Bremen peered around Hari’s haggard body.

  “Yes.”

  “She has some friends with her.” Bremen pointed at the men in tartan flanking Egmont’s steam carriage as it rolled toward the mill doors. “Are they here to help you retrieve Miss Hanover’s machine?”

  “If necessary,” Hari straightened.

  “I see.” Bremen raised his right hand and clicked his fingers. Dark shapes stirred from the hammocks slung between the wooden pillars of the third floor. Peeling out of the shadows, the men slipped their grey caps upon their heads and tramped down the staircase to the mill floor. Bremen’s mechanics abandoned the steamracers and strode toward the doors, wrenches and spanners grasped within their fists.

  “It will be a costly affair to take the machine by force, Mr.?”

  “Singh.” Hari pressed his palms together in a weak Namaste.

  “Mr. Singh,” Bremen smiled and briefly dipped his head. “I represent Wallendorf Industries. My name is Bremen. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?”

  The carriage rolled to a stop behind Hari. Egmont shuffled the Polyphase rifle into a casual grip. Sullivan arranged his men in two lines, one to each side of the carriage.

  “Mr. Bremen,” Hari stepped to one side and gestured at the carriage. “If my friend could be permitted to use the machine, then perhaps we can come to an agreement?”

  “She wants to use it?” Bremen nodded. “I too would like to see it in action.” Lifting his cane, Bremen pointed the pommel toward Hari. “If I were to allow this demonstration, I can trust that you will cease any further interference in my affairs?”

  “Yes.” Hari flicked his eyes to the carriage as Jenkins opened the door and helped Smith and Luise onto the road. “Truly, you can.”

  “Very well, Mr. Singh. You and your friend can enter the premises and we will arrange a suitable space for the demonstration.” Bremen looked up as Shahin flitted between the rafters with frenetic flaps of her wings. “Is the bird also with you?”

  “Yes.” Hari took a step to the door and held out his hand to steady Luise as she stepped inside. “Miss Luise,” Hari bowed his head.

  “Hari,” Luise breathed. “You look awful.”

  “Yes, Miss Luise.”

  “A fine pair we are.” Luise leaned against Hari as Smith stepped through the doorway.

  “Fräulein Hanover?” Bremen walked forward and held out his hand. “My name is Bremen.”

  “Hello,” Luise shook Bremen’s hand and gazed slowly around the interior of the mill. “Do you have my impediment machine?”

  “Yes, I do.” Bremen led Luise carefully through the circle of men. He paused at the scraping of iron shod feet across the stone floor. Pushing a chaise longue into position in front of Luise, two of Bremen’s mechanics stopped and waited for further instructions. “You may rest here, Miss Hanover.”

  “Thank you.” Luise let Hari and Bremen lower her onto the cushions of the chaise longue.

  “Hot water and bandages,” Bremen instructed the mechanics. “Quickly.” He beckoned to Hannah. “Bring the machine.”

  “Hari,” Luise whispered.

  “Yes, Miss Luise?” Hari winced as he knelt by Luise’s side.

  “In my jacket pocket...”

  “Yes?”

  “There is a small crank handle. You will need it to spin the vortex.” Luise fumbled at the flap of her jacket pocket.

  “Let me help you, Miss Luise.” Hari’s fingers brushed Luise’s as he reached inside the slim pocket and retrieved a thin metal handle. Brushing fluff from the handle, Hari held it up for Luise to see.

  “Yes. That’s it.” Luise watched as Bremen’s assistant walked past Smith and placed the impediment machine at the foot of the chaise longue. Hannah stepped back as Luise beckoned Smith closer.

  “What can I do for you, Miss Hanover?” Smith held Luise’s hand.

  “Do you remember what I told you in the Admiral’s office?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right,” Luise took a breath. “The circumference of the circle around which the shadow vortex spins is small, Mr. Smith. I think it best if everyone else moves further away.”

  “Yes, but you need help, Miss Hanover.” Smith squeezed Luise’s fingers.

  “I have Hari,” Luise smiled. “Don’t I?” She turned her head slowly toward Hari.

  “Truly, Miss Luise.” Hari pushed himself onto his feet. “I made a promise to your brother.”

  “Yes,” Luise closed her eyes. “You helped Jamie.” She laid her head against the back of the chaise longue. “You helped...”

  “Miss Luise?” Hari stepped forward.

  Smith laid a hand on Hari’s shoulder. “Start the machine.” He pointed at the handle in Hari’s hand.

  Letting go of Luise, Hari picked up the rusty cylinder and set it in his lap as he sat down beside her. He watched as Smith directed Bremen to move his men back.

  “I expect you to honour our agreement, Mr. Singh,” Bremen warned as he stepped into the circle of spectators. Egmont and the Tartan Lads watched from the doorway.

  “Now, Hari,” Smith nodded at the device.

  Hari pushed the right-angled handle inside the vertebral-shaft of interlacing cogs. The device shuddered in Hari’s grasp as the handle clicked into position.

  “Don’t be afraid, Hari Singh.” Luise laid her hands flat by her sides.

  “I have seen many things, Miss Luise.”

  “I am sure you have, Hari,” Luise breathed. She opened her eyes. “But there are still things, beings, in this world that have yet to amaze you.”

  “Let us find out,” Hari nodded.

  Shahin’s shadow flitted across Hari’s bloodied brow as he gripped the handle and began turning it with his left hand.

  Hari cranked the handle three full revolutions before the vertebrae of cogs gained momentum. He gazed at the larger cogs at the top of the column. Letters in a strange script engraved on the surface of the cogs began to glow, feint at first they became stronger with each revolution. As the top of the column began to spin faster, the interlacing cogs below began to spin, a gentle swaying and twisting of the column pushed air from within the device out of the chamber and into the space around Hari and Luise. Hari sniffed and opened his mouth to speak.

  “What did he say?” Breaking the circle of men, Bremen took a step forward.

  “Herr Bremen,” Hannah curled her fingers in the crook of Bremen’s arm. “I think you should remain here.”

  “Yes,” Bremen nodded. “Only I cannot hear what they are saying.”

  “I think we can hear them.” Smith clasped his hands. “But they are speaking too slowly for us to understand them.”

  “What’s that?” Bremen turned to look at Smith standing beside him.

  “Patience, Herr Bremen.” Smith pointed at
the machine in Hari’s hands. “Wait and see.”

  The column of cogs spinning and swaying within the interior chamber increased speed. Hari let go of the crank handle. He gripped the device between his knees, supporting the sides with his hands. Hari began to sway in a circular motion as a smoke-like column divorced itself from the vertebrae inside the chamber and twisted out of the device and began spinning on the mill floor as it grew. Hari’s body slowed as he lifted his head, one tenth of an inch at a time, to follow the shadow vortex spinning and growing before him.

  The vortex chipped at the stone floor as it twisted at its base, a point half the size of a halfpenny, swaying at the top as the collar of the vortex collapsed upon itself to form a funnel.

  “Look,” Hannah pointed at the funnel. “Something is crawling out of the vortex.”

  The column of smoke twisted around the chaise longue, Hari and Luise motionless inside it. Vibrant blue luminescent hands with spindle fingers and clawed nails smoothed the lip of the funnel like a ghost throwing clay pots upon the wheel. Two pairs of hands gripped the lip of the shadow vortex. The spindle fingers flexed, the claws disappearing into the outside surface of the funnel.

  Hannah and the men standing in a ring to each side of her clasped the palms of their hands to their ears. The hands grasping the lip of the spinning funnel stretched. Claws digging into the smoke, first one and then the second of two beings crawled out of the funnel and into the space inside the perimeter of the spinning vortex. Hannah and the men around her sank to their knees.

  The female being slipped down the funnel, riding the vortex like a helter-skelter, tricking sparks of magnetic light where her skin scratched the surface. She slid to a stop and tugged her incorporeal legs into a tail and drifted within the circular perimeter chiselled into the stone floor. The second being, clean-shaven, his hair billowing in the updraft of the vortex, sat on the lip of the funnel and glared at the ring of humans surrounding the vortex as he spun around the perimeter.

  Drifting to Hari’s side, the female, her small breasts almost flat against her emaciated body, tugged at his blood-soaked shirt. Licking her lips with a thin tongue, she flicked her claws inside the ragged holes cut by Blaidd’s butterfly knife. Angling her head, she reached around the device and picked at the front of Hari’s shirt to expose his brown chest. Hari followed her movements with a sluggish drooping of his eyes. The being sneered and hissed as she spied the azure blue anti-djinn mark tattooed on Hari’s chest. She recoiled and shook her head at her partner.

  The male being slipped over the edge of the funnel and floated down to hover beside the female. Baring his teeth at Hari’s tattoo he slipped through the air to inspect Luise’s prone form lying still on the chaise longue. Hovering over her body, the being paused at the wound in Luise’s side. Elongated lozenges of blood stiffened in the air beyond the wound. The damp swathe of blood congealed with ever-thickening layers with each revolution of the shadow vortex prowling the perimeter. The male being curled his lean lips, pushed off from the chaise longue with his feet, and spread his arms and palms upon the invisible surface trapping him. Sliding up and down the restraining wall, the being flicked onto the surface of the vortex and hung there, spinning in defeat, his vehement stare the only thing to penetrate his prison.

  The female pushed at the device locked in Hari’s stationary grip, her fingers sliding through the vertebrae of cogs, the glow of each letter fading at the touch of her spindle fingers. Throwing her head back she screeched, the sound piercing the transparent capsule of slowed time, staggering Hannah and the men from their knees and onto the floor.

  Luise’s eyelids stretched open a crack, her eyes drifting behind the web of tiny lashes. She watched as the female being thrust her hands inside the chamber of the device and extinguished the letters on the surfaces of the larger cogs with the tips of her fingers. She used the points of her claws to tap the engravings on the tiny cogs at the base. One by one, each letter and symbol blinked into darkness and the shadow vortex spinning the perimeter slowed and shrank.

  ҉

  Bremen paced around the perimeter mark scored into the stone floor. Beyond the perimeter, Hari and Luise lay on the chaise longue. Bremen noted the wound in Luise’s side had stopped bleeding. The facial punctures and slashes upon Hari’s body were covered in fresh scabs. As Hari stirred, Bremen stared at the azure spiral tattooed on the Indian’s chest. He beckoned Hannah to his side.

  “What is that? Have you seen anything like it on your travels in the east?” Bremen rested upon his cane.

  “Nein, Herr Bremen,” the loose bangs of Hannah’s hair tickled her cheeks as she shook her head.

  “I have.” Bremen turned as Smith joined him at the perimeter line. “It is an anti djinn mark that Hari is wearing upon his chest. They can be found on most tribesmen in Central Asia.” Smith gestured at the circle scored in the floor. “May I?”

  “Yes, of course.” Bremen waved Smith forward. He watched as the tiny, old man placed an affectionate hand on Hari’s head before attending to the bandages wrapped around Luise Hanover’s abdomen.

  “How are you feeling, Miss Hanover?” Smith began unpeeling the top layer of bandages. Luise opened her eyes. Her lips cracked with the dry stickiness of a long slumber. She blinked in the sunlight, the pale blue hue of her skin mirroring the colour of her eyes.

  “What time is it?”

  “It is half past noon.” Smith let the bandage fall. Reaching into his pocket he withdrew a small ivory-handled knife. “I am going to have to cut the layers away, if you will permit me.” Smith unfolded the blade of the knife and waited.

  “Yes,” Luise nodded. She waved at Hari as he stirred at the foot of the chaise longue. “Hello, Hari Singh.”

  “Miss Luise,” Hari bowed his head.

  “You look different with your hair hanging loose.” Luise peeked around Smith’s shoulder as Hari unwrapped the bloody turban from his waist. “I like it.”

  “Truly?” Hari blushed. Turning the cloth in his hands, Hari straightened the turban on the cleanest side and tucked an end into his mouth. Luise watched as Hari organised his hair on top of his head. Hari wound and pressed the turban around his head until, removing the end piece from his mouth, he tied the turban at the base of his neck. Hari lifted his head and grinned. “Better.”

  “I’m not so sure,” the corner of Luise’s mouth wrinkled into a coy smile.

  “You are feeling better, Miss Hanover,” Smith observed.

  “Yes.” Luise smoothed the layers of bandage away from her side. She picked at the blood staining the hem of her jacket. “This will never come out.”

  “But the flechette dart,” Smith put away the knife and scratched his forehead, “it has been pushed out of your body and the wound has sealed.” He picked up the dart and looked at Luise. “Did you know that would happen?”

  “I hoped.” Luise pushed herself up against the back of the chaise longue. “I remember our guests. Did they stay long?”

  “Guests?” Tapping his cane twice on the floor, Bremen stepped over the perimeter line and approached Luise. Hari slid his kukri from its scabbard and slowed Bremen’s advance by pointing the tip of the blade at the German’s sternum.

  “Hari,” Smith cautioned as Bremen’s men twitched forward, hands reaching for the long pockets sewn into each of the men’s trousers.

  “It’s all right,” Bremen waved his men back. With the pommel of his cane, he tapped Hari’s blade and waited for him to withdraw it. “I admire your loyalty. Will you respect our agreement?”

  “What agreement?” Luise sat up and swung her legs over the side of the chaise longue.

  “Your friend agreed to let me keep your incredible machine if I were to let you use it.” Bremen glanced at Hari before addressing Luise once more. “I am rather pleased I did. I had no idea what wonders it would release. I certainly did not expect spectres from another plane. Can you tell me who they are?”

  “I am afraid I do not know.” Luise shuf
fled her feet together to stand.

  “Wait a moment longer, Miss Hanover,” Smith placed his hand upon her shoulder. “It wouldn’t do to rush things. You and Hari were with the demons for several hours.” Smith dipped his head briefly at the sun streaming through the windows. “A few more minutes will not hurt.”

  “You’re right, of course.” Luise thanked Smith with a pat of her hand upon his arm. She looked around the mill floor. “So many people. Where is the Admiral?”

  “Admiral Egmont,” Bremen pointed the tip of his cane toward the loading doors, “retired to the carriage sometime in the early hours of the morning. He is just outside the door. Together with his friends.”

  “Friends?”

  “Yes,” Bremen straightened his back and tapped his cane on the floor. “But you were telling me about the,” he glanced at Smith, “demons, I think you said?”

  “Miss Luise is tired.” Hari folded his hands upon his chest. In the rafters of the mill roof, Shahin cried out and flitted from one perch to the next.

  “It’s all right, Hari. There is actually not much to tell.” Luise took a breath and smiled at Bremen. “After all, this is only the second time I have seen them.”

  “And how many times have you activated the device?” Bremen flexed his fingers upon the pommel of his cane.

  “Twice only.”

  “So they come every time? Interesting.”

  “Yes. I am not sure yet as to what they want. We seem to have difficulty communicating,” Luise mused. “I don’t think they want anything from me, per se.”

  “Or perhaps, Fräulein, it is not you they want.” Bremen turned to his assistant. “Hannah, would you tell Fräulein Hanover what you told me. What it was that you saw.”

  “Ja, mein Herr.” Hannah clasped her hands behind her back. “When I recovered from the shock of the demon noise, I saw the female recoil from his chest,” Hannah pointed at Hari, “and I watched the male as he inspected your wound. He seemed disgusted.”

  “Hannah,” Bremen made a slowing motion with his hand.

  “It is all right, Herr Bremen,” Luise straightened the hem of her jacket with her fingers. “I know why the demon was disgusted. It is the reason I am so interested in the passage of time, and why I built the device.” Luise waited until she had the German’s attention. “You see, time is not on my side. I have a rare condition, for a woman. I am a haemophiliac and I chose this field of study for purely selfish reasons.” Luise paused. “I need to control time. I must if I am to overcome my condition.” She shrugged. “It seems to work.”