HAWTHORNE: Chronicles of the Brass Hand: Mystirio Astronomiki

by Christopher C. Meeker

  In any case it mattered not, for each procedure and activity described was without fail accompanied by some figure or illustration which allowed one to translate, even if somewhat in error from time to time, the general notion of each process and its desired outcome, and by means of repeated figures, illustrations, and writings whether or not the attempt was successful or had failed and missed the mark altogether.

  Of particular interest were the pages depicting the casket-like containers and the accompanying drawings of these marking out, in my mind, a most hideous procedure whereby, it appeared, that through some iniquitous process children, females in particular, were being “grown,” as it were, inside the containers, filled with the substance I had encountered in the temple, which acted as a form of incubative liquid of sorts, until they reached, as close as we were able to determine, child bearing age. This was the condition in which I discovered Ophelia and therefore guessed that it was from this very laboratory she had originated. I therefore assumed she had been created for the same purpose as the unfortunate souls who, like her, once inhabited these containers. What their fate would be now I could not say; however, the pit of my stomach, which I had grown to trust, informed me that it was for reasons which I am sure any person of good conscience would find heretical.

  Along with the journal, I was quite astonished to find what appeared to be heliographic images depicting scenes not at all unlike the sketches I had been shown by Herschel, including depictions of the ”bat-men,” which I had found so fantastic. I was now quite resolute in my mind that it was indeed the Egyptian who was the perpetrator, or at the least the author, of every incident that transpired beginning with our encounter of the marauders and culminating with my capture within these mines below the mountains of West Africa.

  Our inspection of the laboratory now complete, Coleman deposited the journal into his bag and secured the flap; however, as we prepared to depart, we were set upon by two of the men in black whom I supposed I had overheard earlier in the chamber. I could not be certain of this for I was unable to get anything more than a glimpse of their faces before I had entered the laboratory and was thus unable to discern whether it was the pair who had been in conversation at the start or two new fellows for, as well as I could tell, the tunnels and chambers of the mine could well be rife with the Egyptian’s subordinates. Nonetheless, we now abandoned any hope of escaping the mine undetected, for we had been discovered and it was quite clear from the looks of the two brutes who had rushed upon us that we would not be able to escape without confrontation, if at all. This was soon proven as the two leapt at us, and we became engaged in a conflict that I was certain would be nothing less than a struggle for our very lives.

  Chapter X

  IN WHICH EDGAR FINDS HIMSELF IN STRUGGLE WITH MAN AND ELEMENT AND IN WHICH HE LEARNS OF A MOST TROUBLING EVENT

  Standing before our assailants, locked in a state of surprise, we were charged with a ferocity such as I had never been witness to; neither I nor Coleman were able to defend ourselves in any adequate manner and were therefore driven back from the first, assuming a defensive position during the initial encounter. It was without doubt a most difficult situation considering the confining nature of the laboratory, as there was but one egress from which we were cut off by our ever advancing aggressors.

  The first of the black-coats flew at once across the room at us, his loose fitting, long, hooded black coat gathered at the neck by a single button, spread out behind him, as the glow of the torch lit cavern cast upon the figure the appearance of some great bird of prey, its huge wings spread out as if to envelop its hapless victim.

  Never before had I been witness to such feats of speed and agility as was demonstrated by our attackers at that moment, for in an instant the two assailants had hurled themselves at us with such expedition as to afford us little time for reaction. Leaping to one side, I was scarce able to avoid being struck by my attacker’s flying fists, Coleman as well.

  Dodging his blows, with little time to regain my footing or offer any kind of reasonable defence, I threw myself aside once again, crashing to the ground in a most tumultuous manner, bringing a medical cart filled with scores of rather dangerous-looking instruments down upon myself which, by chance of good fortune alone, left me as yet unharmed. Due to what I attribute to instinct alone, I rolled then to one side, managing to evade a second charge by my adversary and, without hesitation, leapt to my feet and established good fighting posture, setting firm my stance, and readying myself for my oncoming opponent, prepared for a solid defence and intent upon returning his attack likewise.

  I had not long to wait, for as soon as I had righted myself the fiend was upon me once more, swinging his fist in a furious arc and, had it found its mark, would have no doubt done me such harm that I fear I would not be here now to tell you of the tale for, in my opinion, it was the black-coat’s intent to beat the very life from me if given any chance to do so.

  However, as stated, his fist did not meet its mark, for whether it was the experience of the ring or once again sheer instinct, I side-stepped his attack with a single motion and, as quick as I was able and with as much force as I could muster, struck him with closed fist straight into his midsection with a tremendous blow, the likes of which should have sufficed to lay low even the roughest of rogues, gasping for breath as the very air would have been knocked clean from him. This, however, was not the case for my blow had little effect on him, if any at all, and there I stood in wonderment that the chap had not been sent to the floor. It was in that moment that, as I stood there in disbelief, I received the heartiest blow I ever did encounter and was sent reeling backward across the laboratory table, my senses knocked from my head.

  Coleman fared no better, for he had been relegated to dodging the blows of his attacker, as his strikes were even less effective than those of my own. A fact which I must admit was nothing less than astonishing to me, for Coleman stood a full ten inches taller and was, in my opinion, a good deal more muscular than myself. Taking this to account I felt as though he should have done far better in the conflict than I had managed to do.

  I had nary attempted to get back to my feet when my companion caught a clenched fist to the side of his jaw and was laid out upon the cold stone floor of the laboratory beside me. It was at that moment I realized the bare-knuckled fighting style which I had thus far relied upon would no longer be of any use to me; therefore, I decided an unrelenting counter attack of my own would, in my mind, be the most effective solution to our predicament. Thus it was with this thought that I once again sprang to my feet and, sprinting as quick as I was able, made straight for my opponent.

  He readied himself for the attack, but it was to no avail for I vaulted over the top of the table and, swinging both feet round, landed them with all the strength and force which remained in me, and struck the lout square in the breast with a most satisfying thump. The blow sent the fellow flying backward, striking his head against the wall and relieving him of his senses, presenting me with an advantage which I did not intend to squander.

  Before my opponent was able to shake the cobwebs from his addled brain, I was upon him once again. Springing forward, my head held low, I caught the fiend beneath the chin and driving forward once again forced his skull to meet, with unyielding resistance, the solid stone wall of the laboratory chamber, the result of which was a rather sedate black-coat whose efforts to regain his composure were met with the total and sudden black of unconsciousness.

  My victory was not long celebrated, for Coleman, still flat on his back, was having the very life choked from him by the second of the two men. Without pause I sprang to my companion’s aid, and with a single movement snatched up a nearby paraffin lamp and brained the oaf, shattering the globe and base to pieces, splashing its contents about the place, which resulted in setting the poor soul ablaze.

  It was not my intent to inflict such harm as to murder the fellow; nevertheless, I had, it seemed, doomed him to a most dreadful death, the sight
of which cannot, with any amount of proper accuracy, be described through words alone for my experience of it has left me with a memory that, should I live a thousand years and a score, I shall never be able to cast aside.

  The action, however reckless, served its purpose and preserved the life of Coleman, who without intervention I am sure, would have in all certainty, left this world for the next. We now found ourselves, however, in an equal amount of jeopardy, for now our adversary, alight from the burning of the paraffin upon his coat and his efforts to escape his fiery predicament, served as a human torch, of sorts, and in his efforts to extinguish himself by thrashing about in wild abandon managed to set much of the more flammable items within the laboratory afire, most notable being the flasks and jars of combustible liquids, igniting as they crashed to the ground.

  As the fire raged, smoke and flames rose about us, making our escape all the more treacherous. Rousing Coleman from his near-unconscious stupor and taking him under the arm I led him, with great labour, toward the single available exit, now quite obstructed by a wall of flame. With a surge of great vigour I rushed cross the threshold of the chamber and deposited the now waking Coleman in the tunnel just beyond, away from the dangers of the blaze.

  Perhaps it was guilt for the life of the fellow whom I had by no intention set alight, compassion alone, or a combination thereof, but I felt with overwhelming conviction that regardless of my current fatigue and the danger of the fire, now raging at its utmost, I could not leave the unconscious man still within to suffer the same fate I had condemned his companion to. I returned therefore to the laboratory in order that I should save the poor soul from a most horrific death.

  With great haste I returned to the room, now almost impassable with flame, and made my way over fallen timbers and other debris to the benumbed form of the remaining black-coat. Taking him under the arms I dragged the half-dazed fellow through the dangers I had just traversed. It was then that, before I was able to make good our escape from the growing flames, I caught sight of something that is yet a mystery to me, for upon a table setting upright still, was a single scientific journal, typical of those we had discovered just prior with the single name “Hawthorne” written across its cover. To my dismay, however, before I was able to reach the tome it had been quite consumed by flame. I speculated over the book and its contents for many months before the true nature of this incident would be made known to me.

  I returned to the task of our escape, struggling with each footstep as I made for the exit. The blaze, however, had increased in its ferocity until at the very last I became quite overcome with exhaustion and, unable to breath for the smoke so filled the room, collapsed before reaching the tunnels beyond where I would be safe from the all-consuming conflagration within the laboratory.

  It is certain I should have met my end that very day, but providence favoured my mortal being, for as I collapsed Coleman, now recovered from his near strangulation, plucked me from perdition, snatching me from the very grasp of the angel of death. You may think this aggrandizement, but I tell you the truth, for moments later the outermost support, a large oaken beam, full ablaze, dropped from its station atop its supporting structures and would have crushed my skull with ease were it not for the rescuing hand of Coleman, a premonition of the many times I would come to call him my rescuer.

  Our attacker, the black-coat, was in much the same manner as fortunate as I, perhaps more so, for the heavy beam which had fallen but moments after my rescue missed the fellow by the smallest amount and he, like myself, was rescued by the daring actions of my resolute companion. Coleman’s courage in the matter, which was to be exhibited on a number of subsequent occasions, was but one of his many virtues for which I aspired to imitate in every fashion.

  I regained my faculties in short order, and with Coleman’s assistance, we made our way through the mine, carrying the black-coat, one arm slung across each of our shoulders, toward the exit by means of small marks scratched upon the wall's surface with a bit of loose limestone by Coleman himself, a rather clever act, as he had ventured into the passageways earlier. We traversed the tunnels with as much haste as possible, fearing we would be discovered and captured by any black-coats that remained within – or perhaps worse.

  Our fears were realized, for at the instant we exited the mouth of the mine an explosion, the likes of which I had not experienced before, rattled us to our bones and sent us into the air soaring some twenty feet and landing with little grace upon the ground, where we lay for some moments, our groans breaking the silence of the coming dawn, all but unable to move for lack of strength brought on by supreme exhaustion.

  Mustering what little strength remained in us, Coleman retrieved two horses and the cart in which I had just the night before been carried quite against my will to the mines, and we made ready for the Cape of Good Hope. It was fortunate that both horses had been tethered and left disregarded, for had they not I am sure they would have charged off in fright at the immensity of the blast, and we would doubtless be left with no means by which to make our escape. Having bound the black-coat with as much security and comfort as we dared afford, we deposited him into the back of the cart and set out.

  Travelling with urgency, in an attempt to reach the airbase before our captive perished, a very real concern as I had given him such a rap that he was still without his senses, rather delirious, and with a good amount of blood issuing yet from his skull, we stopped but three times throughout our journey and on the second day arrived mid-morning at the airbase just north of the observatory, the horses well-worn and we in dire need of proper rest and nourishment.

  It may seem that the well-being of our charge was due in its entirety to our compassionate natures or perhaps a more benevolent reason altogether, and though this was in part the truth of the matter, our concern over the health and preservation was motivated by a far more pragmatic reason, for it was our hope that the black-coat would be able to provide answers which we sought over the matter of what we had discovered in the laboratory deep within the earth and perhaps the full intentions and plans of the Egyptian, for his hand was in all that had befallen us and was, without doubt, the orchestrator of the whole affair.

  Upon arriving at the base we gave over our prisoner to the capable hands of the resident surgeon, without a moment to spare, for the black-coat’s condition had worsened in the extreme, and were it not for the immediate surgical attention he received upon our arrival, the poor soul would have perished in short order I am sure.

  Several hours passed before treatment had taken effect and what good was accomplished I cannot say, for upon awaking the extent of what the poor wretch was able to communicate to us was nothing more than simple gibberish, an effect of the strong medication I surmised, and in this manner our captor-turned-captive prattled on without relent. It was later to be learned the gibberish he was spouting was indeed not gibberish at all but the fellow’s native tongue. Why we were not able to discern from what country or dialect the language originated at the start will be understood once my tale has been told in its fullness.

  Nevertheless, unknown to us then, there were far more pressing matters at hand that, had I been aware of, would have caused me, without delay, to eschew any care and treatment of our guest and concentrate my efforts upon this new, most paramount of calamities. For after we had entrusted our prisoner to the surgeon, awaited the outcome of his procedures, and reported to the commander all we had experienced and discovered in the mines concerning the laboratory and the journal, we were without ceremony informed that the chaplain, Moreton, had managed to purloin one of the smaller airships, a quick-flying frigate, the “Arkeo” to be precise, and fled at morning’s first light with Ophelia as his captive!

  I was quite distraught over this news and thus determined I would do nothing less than journey to the ends of the earth if need be to liberate Ophelia. Though no mention had been made of Moreton’s destination, it was quite clear to me the fiend intended to return the girl to the Egyptian,
the thought of which filled me with rage for I knew now, in part, the plans, gleaned from the images of the journal discovered in the mine, that foul devil had for her. From that moment hence, nothing short of the surrendering of my spirit would prevent me from keeping the vile rogue from carrying out his devilish scheme.

  With the greatest of urgency I petitioned the commander that I be given an airship of adequate speed and armament in order that I should give chase to, apprehend, and detain Moreton, and moreover rescue the girl and return her to the safety of the airbase. To my great dismay, however, the commander refused my request; therefore, I argued my position with all the more vigour. After some time the commander, though he believed the exercise to be of no gain, as it would be impossible to catch Moreton, who possessed a substantial lead since he had been under way for some time, nonetheless relented and granted my request, provided I remain behind and allow the brigade to carry out the commission in their own manner. He wished not to place me in any further danger or be responsible for any ill that might befall me.

  This offer I of course refused, reminding the commander that the mental connexion I shared with Ophelia would prove an invaluable advantage in the carrying out of her rescue, for we could communicate without words, and thus our every action would be in concert and confound her captor, a point he could scarce deny; nevertheless, the commander held fast his position on the subject and would in no manner acquiesce to my original proposition of accompanying the brigade.

  It was clear to me that our discussion was at an end, and finding no satisfaction, I thanked the commander and made as if his offer was of an acceptable nature, but I was already formulating a plan in which I would by some contrivance seize a vessel by my own hand and venture to apprehend Moreton and to that end rescue Ophelia. This notion I pondered at great length, and though I believed such a plan could be accomplished with proper forethought, I was also aware that I was rather lacking in experience in regard to the competent piloting of an airship. I would therefore require the assistance of another far more capable than I if my scheme were to have any chance for success, so it was quite fortunate I was in friendship with such a person.