The Sorcerer of Wands: Azabar's Icicle Part 2

by Jem I Kelley

  “It’s a model of an Argent soldier, about one sixth actual size. The Argent machines have a caste structure. That means they have different types of machine for different purposes. There are soldier machines, worker machines, leader machines, spy machines, all sorts. The Argent artefact world is a fascinating place.”

  Bliss stood straight and rubbed a hand through her mass of curls, a frown on her face.

  “That thing looks nasty.”

  Theodore’s face clouded.

  “It could be if it wanted to be. But the soldier machines only fought in the distant past on Argent. Their society is peaceful now. No wars.”

  Aden imagined a full sized soldier creatures, with all its spikes and knives and shuddered. Even an ogre would struggle to defeat a thing like that. “Just as well they have no wars now, by the look of that.”

  Theodore Stig gave Aden a sharp look.

  “I think it might do a power of good if a hundred Argent soldier machines came through a Disc-Artefact and took control of our world. They could deal with every bugbear, Dazarian and nasty around. Within months they would have no opponents and could patrol all countries, ensuring order. We would have peace in our time.”

  Aden looked at Theodore to see if he was joking. He didn’t seem to be. “But what if they decided they wanted to rule the world. They could make slaves of us all?”

  “They wouldn’t,” said Theodore petulantly, “I think if you’d spoken to these metal creatures, you’d realise how peaceful and reasonable they are.”

  Aden grimaced at the fearsome statue and said: “How do you know they don’t have wars anymore?”

  “They told me. When I visited, they gave me a tour of an entire continent. No conflict whatsoever. They said the soldiers were redundant these days.”

  Aden exchanged a dubious glance with Bliss. He was glad Haverland conducted artefact transfer operations from sealed rooms, guards present at all times.

  “Sorry about your problems with this alcove, but we’ve got more bad news,” said Bliss. “Marti Bart’s skeletons have damaged your stall.”

  “Not badly,” said Aden, “But Mack Porter thinks you’d best have a look.”

  Theodore’s expression tightened.

  “Damn! That’s all I need. Trust that blithering idiot of a northerner.”

  Aden decided someone needed to defend Marti.

  “It’s probably Hacknor not using the skeletons properly.”

  Theodore looked at the soldier machine statue and frowned.

  “I have to go see my stall. Wait here for the curator and tell him I want a bigger alcove within a week or I’ll display the statue on my stall in the market instead.” He picked up the statue and hurried away.

  Bliss watched him leave.

  “What do you think about this ‘redundant soldier’ business?”

  Aden pictured the Argent machine soldier. To let such a thing into the world would be a huge risk.

  “They might be telling the truth about being peaceful. Then again if they wanted to invade, that’s the sort of lie they’d tell us, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. Two hundred of those nasty beggars would be hard to stop.”

  Aden pictured metal monsters battling upon the cobbled streets of Haverland, and said: “I can see the point of Disc-Man training now. Professionals will spot dangers. We’ll have to be real careful when we go across to our Disc-World again.”

  Bliss looked at the few other Argent exhibits. “Yeah, we don’t take nothing at face value. Be careful what we bring back to Haverland.”

  Paintings of life in Argent hung on the wall near the alcove. It was a strange world with seas of oil and mountains of coal. Grid-like cities teeming with movement and fogged in steam, rose like dark mountains. Aden shuddered, at the hellish image as his imagination constructed views of Haverland bowed beneath an Argent machine invasion.

  He spotted a charcoal drawing of a machine hung beside the paintings. A squat thing, the machine contained a pipe at the top and a wheel at the side. The handwriting on the manuscript below the drawing explained this was a steam engine: a non-living Argent machine that when fed with coal could turn pulleys and be used to perform the sort of work windmills and waterwheels did now in Haverland.

  Several such engines were due to be imported to Haverland from Argent so that the Kings engineers could evaluate them, according to the manuscript. There was speculation the engines might pull wagons faster than a whole team of horses, when put to use.

  “It’ll be a bit smelly,” said Bliss. “Carriages with those things belching smoke around. Think of the noise too.”

  Aden glanced through the gap of the ajar wooden shutters to his left and noticed a figure walking in the alley below, outside the museum. Aden's eyes widened as he recognised the person.

  “Hey it’s Marti down there. Probably going home to think what he can do with his skeletons. Bet he wished he’d stayed a farmer.”

  Bliss came to the unglazed portal and pulled the shutters back so she could look. “Don’t like the look of those men behind him.”

  At that moment, one of the three men Bliss alluded to called to Marti and the merchant turned. The three wore cloaks and the one who’d called, drew a sword and quickened his pace towards the Novogoradian.

  Aden and Bliss watched as the man closed with their friend and lunged.

  Marti swung to one side letting the sword pass. He grabbed the man at the wrist and twisted causing the hand to drop the sword. Another move and the man lay on his back. Marti lifted the sword and pointed it at his attacker.

  Aden held his breath.

  The man pulled back his hood and laughed. He was broad-set with plaited hair and a wild beard.

  Marti’s dropped the sword and then laughed too.

  The other strangers cast aside their hoods and approached.

  Within seconds the three clasped Marti’s hand and patted him on the back.

  “You two children, where has Theodore Stig gone?”

  Aden tore himself away from the scene below to see a cadaverous gentleman flanked by the museum assistants.

  “He had to go to the market,” said Bliss.

  “Not very good form,” said the man.

  “He told us to tell you that he’ll give you a week to make the alcove big enough for his statue, otherwise he’ll put the thing on show in his stall instead.”

  “Did he now? Thinks he’s a big time Charlie does he? We’ll he’s not the only person to donate items to the museum. I’ve got other contacts that go to Argent. I’ll have to think about the alcove.”

  The man put is nose in the air and walked away, flanked by his assistants.

  Aden turned to look down past the shutters again.

  Marti and the men had gone, and the alley now lay empty.

  Chapter 52 : Theodore Stig’s Toys

  Aden spent Sunday afternoon lounging on the Todd roof garden talking to Bliss about Gnashlok’s return, the murder of Spud, the danger of Grimus Spalding, the threat to Haverland, the new world - Blissaden, and of course – Marti Bart’s strange encounter in the alley near the museum.

  Both friends were certain that the men in the alley had been Northerners. Not necessarily Novogoradian but certainly of the North. Broad faced men with hair set into plaits were not common in Haverland.

  What scheme was Marti involved in with these men? It was obvious he knew them well, and it was clear he could defend himself as expertly as any knight.

  Had the man lied to me, wondered Aden? Marti had said he was a farmer turned merchant. He had made no mention of warrior skills. With the Dazarian 'Threat to Haverland' scheme still shrouded in mystery, and the death of Spud fresh in mind, anyone acting strange made Asen suspicious. Bliss said that perhaps all Novogoradians trained with weapons, even the farmers. After all, he said, there was the yearly threat of bugbears.

  The two talked a lot about Blissaden. The next trip was planned for Friday night, which would give them plenty of time to rest from the rigours of
the last desert walk to the strange town.

  The plan was to travel in Blissaden by night, in the hope they’d find the town’s inhabitants working, out of the heat of the blazing sun. Hopefully, night treks in Blissaden would be less exhausting than day travel too.

  Aden turned to the books from the library his granddad had brought him. Cold was the word. A desert was cold at night, according to Kurt Hardcastle. Burned you to death during the day and froze you to death when the sun went down, if you weren’t careful.

  Then there was navigation. Travelling by the stars was best when you’d spent a long time under them. ‘It isn’t suitable in alien worlds where both the world spin and be subjective galactic map can catch unwary travellers out,’ Sally had said in her book; which, didn’t mean much to Aden, but he got the underlying message: navigating by stars was out.

  Kurt had trekked hundreds of miles astray, before discovering compasses were also untrustworthy. What the famous explorer found was that on unknown worlds, magnetic poles could be all over the place, and they could shift location too.

  “We’ll take thick coats with us,” said Aden. “Dress just like it’s winter: muffins, scarves, everything. That should keep the night cold out. I'm hoping we’ll be okay for navigation too. It just occurred to me that the aliens will need lanterns if they work at night in their town. So we’ll have light to walk towards.”

  Monday morning began with the friends helping the stallholders. There were questions about the skeletons and Marti. People wanted to know whether the skeletons were still going to be used. Aden and Bliss told them that they’d heard Marti had been sacked.

  Around 9:30 am, an unusually subdued Hacknor instructed them that Theodore Stig needed their help to move items to a customer’s house. Aden and Bliss went to Stig’s toy stall to find the toymaker surrounded by several unusual toys.

  “Ah good,” said Theodore, “You’re here. I would like you to take these to Ribithick Giles house. That’s no.7 Axel Road, just off from the Wall.”

  Theodore indicated two metallic creatures. One a lizard, about two feet long, that looked lazily at the friends and flicked out a segmented forked tongue. The other was a metallic cat that wandered up towards Bliss and sidled through her legs. Both creatures pumped clouds of steam from holes on their heads.

  “From Argent,” said Theodore. “There’s this third one that Mr. Giles was supposed to have, but it’s not working, damaged by that Northern clot’s skeletons.”

  A bird, perhaps a parrot,” thought Aden looking at the thing. It was hard to tell, the creature was in a lot of pieces. There were gears and springs everywhere. “Dead?”

  “Broken,” said Theodore, trying to place a gear in a slot.

  Bliss bent and smoothed the mechanical cat’s head. It puffed and let out an artificial purr.

  Aden watched Theodore. “Are these machines or Argent machine creatures?”

  Theodore picked up a screwdriver and fiddled in the guts of the thing. “These are just machines.”

  “Most alive looking machines I’ve ever seen.”

  Theodore put down the screwdriver and faced Aden.

  “They look and puff like Argent machine creatures. But they’re definitely just machines - toys.”

  “Because they can be mended?”

  Theodore gave Aden a strange look, almost one of respect.

  “Very good. Put all the springs, coils and gears back in an Argent creature after it has been broken and it still won’t restart. The spark of life has gone you see, and you don’t find that in a toolbox.”

  Aden frowned, “Whereas machines will restart after you put them back together?”

  “Exactly.”

  Aden stared at the broken parrot, and felt uneasy.

  “It seems machines have a better deal – they can be revived.”

  “Do you want the toys in a box, or shall we just carry them as they are?” asked Bliss.

  “Better stick them in a box,” said Theodore, fetching two suitably sized ones from behind the counter at the back of the store. “The cat might squirm if carried too long and the lizard can give a nasty bite.”

  He put the creatures into the box, with plenty of straw; then, he strapped the boxes shut with ribbons.

  “I’ve given Mr. Giles instructions on how to take care of them. Just hand them over to him and get his signature,” said Theodore.

  Chapter 53: The Secret of The Wall

  The friends headed out of the market with the boxes in their arms. They entered the square which held the Wall, and headed towards Axel Road. Then Aden heard familiar voices.

  He caught Bliss’s attention; put his finger to his mouth to indicate quiet. Then he pointed towards the Wall, and tiptoed forward.

  “...Marti Bart’s skeletons trashed the place ...” said a girls voice.

  “It’s Alicia,” mouthed Bliss, “on the other side of the Wall.”

  “... speculation is that Marti Bart secretly works for Lord Kesskran and this was part of a plan to disrupt the Haverland economy ...” said another voice.

  “One of her younger sisters,” whispered Aden creeping closer, “I think she’s reading news carved into the Wall.”

  “Oh, really. Who came up with that?” said Alicia’s voice, “I mean that’s the sort of rumour they should leave to us, were so much better at it.”

  “What if it’s true?” said the sister. “Father’s been very secretive since he came back on the Grey Hind.”

  “Father’s being secretive all right. But we’d have picked up if this Novogoradian was in with him. I don’t think he is. It’s something else. Why does he keep the cellar locked nowadays? I’m sure he’s got something down there.”

  “Something he brought back from Dazarian,” agreed the sister. “But what?”

  “Gnashlok and those six soldiers that came on the ship a few days after dad came back, they know.”

  “Those six didn’t look like normal soldiers, they looked like agents.”

  “But that stupid half ogre isn’t. How is he involved in all of this?”

  “Shouldn’t we talk about this elsewhere?” said a young voice, who Aden guessed to be the third sister. “What if the Wall prints what we’re saying?”

  “I really think you’re too young to hear this, Abby.” said Alicia with a patronising edge to her voice, “but I’m going to go against my better judgement. Kesskran’s agents solved the puzzle of the Wall ages ago. It picks up its rumours from three parks.”

  “Wow! What three parks?”

  “Windor, Regal and Free.”

  “Do you know for sure?”

  “Yes! Vicky and I tested the theory months ago. It makes sense really. If the Wall picked up gossip from here, it would pick up things from people making comments from what they were reading on the Wall. What good would that be? News would be going around in circles. By giving a bit of distance between what it hears, and what it prints, it stands a better chance of getting fresh news each day. I’m surprised the Haverlanders never worked this out. They are thick aren’t they?”

  “People must say all sorts of rubbish in the parks each day, Alicia. If you were right about how the Wall works, it would be plastered with more gossip than it knew what to do with.”

  Aden heard a sigh from the other side of the Wall.

  “Really Abbey, I wonder if you’ve got Haverlander blood in you sometimes. You’re really not quite like us at all are you?”

  “Yes I am, and I’ve just asked a question that you can’t answer.”

  “Of course I can answer it little sister. The Wall works to certain rules. We probably don’t know them all, but we do know it has ways to be a bit selective.”

  “Such as?”

  “Is this really necessary?”

  “Yes.”

  Aden heard another sigh.

  “All right then. A piece of gossip must be heard by the Wall in two of the three parks within a ten minute time span. Even then the Wall is clever enough to etch the story in its
own words, so people don’t suspect.”

  “Rot, I don’t believe that’s a rule at all. If it were a rule you wouldn’t hear all the rumours from poor people because the people in the other parks wouldn’t know about them, and wouldn’t speak of them.”

  “Dear me Abbey, I hope you’re not concerning yourself with poor people now? Look, little sister. What I just told you was one rule. There are others about gossip spoken in just one park. I’m not going to tell them to you though because they can be worked by one person; and I think you’re too young to start planting rumours.”

  “You’re a rotter Alicia. Who says that you should even be making these rumours? Daddy wouldn’t like it if he knew what we were doing. He said rumours have to be laid carefully.”

  “Don’t be a prig, Abby,” said Alicia, “I’m sure dad suspects. Anyway he’s started rumours about the two market kids too, ever since they pinched those untested Disc-Artefacts.”

  Aden gave Bliss a meaningful look: Untested Disc-Artefacts.

  “I know why daddy doesn’t like those two. I don’t get why you hate them,” said Vicky.

  Aden strained to hear better, so he could learn the answer to Vicky’s question.

  “Because they have things so easy,” spat Alicia. “No one expects anything from them, there’s not the hate against them that there is against people like us. We have a far harder life than the poor. You’ll appreciate that as you get older.”

  “It’s not that hard,” said the youngest sister. “Daddy buys us nice presents.”

  “He does when he’s around. Anyway, father is easy on you at the moment, when you start studying at the artefact academy he’ll treat you like he does me. Twice I haven’t come top in an exam, and each time he’s moaned at me for days and made me study with that idiot of a private tutor. I’ve come second twice and father acts as if it’s the end of the world.”

  “Daddy says he wants the best for us.”

  “He’s too pushy. I'm often top of the class without any extra tuition. That’s not good enough for him. I have to do all that extra study with that idiot Professor Ligready. Father expects me to get the highest scores for any student ever. No ones that good. I’ve only managed it for one subject, so far. Even if I do graduate as best student ever from the artefact academy, I don’t think he’d be really proud of me. It’s not fair. I can beat all the rest of the idiots in the academy, but I can’t be perfect.”