by Perrin Briar
“Extremely,” Bryan said. “But we’re watered and fed now and ready for action.”
“Glad to hear it,” Lord Maltese said.
He turned to the stableman holding his horse’s reins.
“Bring the others around,” Lord Maltese said. “We’ll begin our search for the Passage.”
The stablemaster left with the horse and returned ten minutes later with a stable boy and three more horses.
“I thought we could split up,” Lord Maltese said. “We’ll cover more ground that way.”
“Any sign of the monster?” Bryan said.
He still couldn’t bring himself to call it a dragon.
“None,” Lord Maltese said. “I have men stationed to inform us of the dragon’s appearance, should he come from his cave again. On horseback, that should give us more than enough time to return to town.”
“Excellent,” Bryan said.
“I’d like for the kids to stay inside the town walls for now,” Zoe said. “Just until we know it’s safe outside.”
“Certainly,” Lord Maltese said. “There are many places to search within town. My son and daughter will escort your children. My wife and I shall escort you.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Zoe said. “But you don’t need to put yourselves to any trouble for our benefit.”
“It’s no trouble,” Lady Maltese said, descending down the steps. “It’s been awhile since I was outside the town walls in any case. It’ll be good to get some fresh air.”
“You be careful,” Lord Maltese said, putting a hand to his wife’s cheek.
Lady Maltese closed her eyes and pressed her hand to his, looking back into his eyes. It was an intimate moment, at odds with the social situation. The others felt mildly embarrassed at the public display of affection. The staff appeared to feel the same, and turned to look away, waiting until it had passed. Abigail and Roland paused as they descended the steps and curled up their faces, disgusted as all kids were.
The lord planted a small kiss on Lady Maltese’s lips. They stayed like that for several seconds before the lord pulled away. Lady Maltese had a look on her face like someone in total bliss. Once they parted, they smiled at one another for a little while before turning away and mounting their horses.
Zoe supposed that was what real love was, or at least the Hollywood version of it. But she knew there were many different types of love, as many as there were people. Some were overt in their affections, others less so. But it was still the same love, an intense tightening in the chest that swelled and made the partners look crazy.
Bryan turned to Zoe.
“If you’re expecting the same from me…” he said.
Zoe grinned.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said.
It was too soppy for her liking. She liked romance, but this to her was shameless showing off. They were kind hosts, and that was all that really mattered.
Bryan climbed onto his horse. He wasn’t a bad rider, but he lacked the effortlessness of the lord and lady. Zoe was a better rider than him too. He had no idea.
Bryan turned to the kids, who were still on foot.
“Will you kids be all right?” he said.
Cassie turned to look at her host—the young and incredibly handsome young lord Roland.
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
Bryan pursed his lips.
“Make sure that you are,” he said.
“I’ll be fine too,” Aaron said, beaming a smile at the young lady Abigail.
The two were off, heading in the same direction together with a small retinue of guards at their heels. They were talking and laughing before they even turned a corner and disappeared. It was so easy for some people to get along with others. Easier the younger you were, Bryan supposed. He waved to Zoe as he was led one way, Zoe in another.
The lord took Bryan, flanked on either side by half a dozen armored guards, through the castle’s main entrance and out into the street.
“I thought we would begin today with the farms,” Lord Maltese said. “There’s a lot of land there, and the farmers will show us every inch of their farmland. How big are these Passages you spoke of?”
“Usually quite large,” Bryan said. “About the size of a doorway, but they can vary in shape and size and color. We found one that was a quicksand pit, another that was a whirlpool.”
The lord looked at Bryan askance. Clearly he had no idea what those things were. It was strange, but to be expected, Bryan thought. Each world would only know about those things that directly affected them and their own worlds. If an alien came down to Earth and tried to describe some hitherto unknown object, Bryan was certain he would have reacted the same way.
“I must apologize for the peasants last night,” Lord Maltese said. “I try my best to educate them, but there is only so much a mind dependent on superstition and religion can take in. It’s hard for them to realize the importance of science and development, of the beauty and significance of rational explanations.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” Bryan said. “We have plenty of people like your peasants on the surface. Forgive me for saying this, but you don’t speak like them. Like the other townspeople.”
“That’s because I’m not one,” Lord Maltese said. “Not any longer, in any case.”
“You don’t think like them either,” Bryan said.
“That’s thanks to my wonderful wife,” Lord Maltese said. “She reads a lot, and opened my eyes to the world of literature and philosophy. She’s a remarkable woman, my wife.”
“How did you meet?” Bryan said.
“She is a lady of one of the most respected families in Silene,” Lord Maltese said with more than a hint of pride. “It’s amazing the heights one can climb if they but have the determination and resources. I feel sorry for the former lords who didn’t have a good wife waiting for him at home.
“My lady is my guiding star, my rock. I can understand why men stray, women too. Or why they drink or gamble, or partake in a million other distractions. They needed support, an anchor, at home. But they didn’t have it. I’m not condoning what they did, but I do understand it.”
The road opened up as they approached the main gate—the entrance the family had passed through the day before. The guards on duty saluted the lord as his retinue passed. The land beyond the town was not flat, but rolled over voluptuous dunes, the landscape breathtaking and beautiful.
“May I ask you a personal question?” Lord Maltese said.
“Sure,” Bryan said.
“Aaron, he doesn’t have your look about him,” Lord Maltese said. “And Zoe doesn’t seem the type to play around…”
“You’re asking if he’s mine?” Bryan said.
“Yes,” Lord Maltese said. “Sorry. That sounds very rude, doesn’t it? Cassie has your look. She could even pass for Zoe’s child too. I don’t know.”
“No,” Bryan said. “Aaron isn’t mine. Not biologically. Maybe he will be mine one day. He’s from Zoe’s previous marriage. Cassie is from my own prior relationship.”
“I see,” Lord Maltese said. “And you have come together to make one new family?”
“We’re trying to,” Bryan said. “But the kids have been putting up some resistance to it.”
“It must be difficult,” Lord Maltese said. “Are such couplings common on the surface?”
“Fairly common,” Bryan said.
The lord nodded.
“It will be the same here too in years to come, I suspect,” he said. “Women already demand divorces from their husbands, because their husbands do not treat them with the respect they deserve.”
“The world is always full of change,” Bryan said.
“Much of this town was brought down here with us when we first came down here,” Lord Maltese said. “We’ve added to it over the years, but the original town is very much in evidence.”
“It must have been a large sinkhole to bring the whole town down here,” Zoe said.
“Probably,” Bryan said.
“You don’t know?” Lord Maltese said with a frown. “I would have thought it would have been commonplace.”
“No,” Bryan said. “But then, I don’t live in the old country.”
“The old country?” Lord Maltese said. “Britain is no longer the leader of the world?”
“I’m afraid not,” Bryan said. “America is the leader of the world now. It has been for the past hundred years or so.”
“America?” Lord Maltese said, frown deepening. “But it’s hardly any age.”
“It developed very quickly,” Bryan said. “At first borrowing from the old world, and then forging its own way.”
“I see there’s a great deal of change on the surface,” Lord Maltese said.
“There is less change down here in comparison simply because the population isn’t as large,” Bryan said. “There will be fewer instigators and motivators, fewer people to force change. It’s actually a small number of people who contribute to developing the world and making it a better place to live in.”
“What about the rest?” Lord Maltese said. “They’re mindless drones?”
“No,” Bryan said. “They provide services we need every day. Most people do. There are very few innovators in the world. They might make the world a better place to live in, but the rest of us make the world a place worth living in in the first place. Everyone is important. We all play a vital role wherever we are.”
“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” Lord Maltese said.
Bryan was beginning to like this lord. Perhaps with a little help from Bryan and his engineering background, he might make a real change to this world. A change, finally, for the better.
25.
“I THOUGHT we could take a trip out to the mill today,” Lady Maltese said. “As you plan on searching everywhere, you might as well begin there.”
“Has the mill been there long?” Zoe said.
“As long as the town has been,” Lady Maltese said. “We’ve had to repair and rebuild it more times than we care to count. It requires uninterrupted wind, and the walls around our town are too high. The dragon seems to like using the mill as a chew toy. But we need our flour, so we keep on rebuilding it. That’s one of the things our inventor is working on, a kind of security device that will keep the dragon away if he gets too close.”
“He’s an extraordinary man,” Zoe said.
“The finest man,” Lady Maltese said. “There’s nothing he can’t come up with when he puts his mind to it.”
“A man like him doesn’t come along often,” Zoe said. “You should make sure to utilize him as much as possible—without wearing him out, of course. He could make a real difference here.”
“He already has made a difference,” Lady Maltese said. “He’s increased food production by thirty percent, and we’re looking at making even more next year. He’s also come up with a water filtration system, which will cut down on the number of illnesses the townspeople catch. And those are just two of his inventions. Every week he comes up with more.”
“Has he always been able to come up with inventions like that?” Zoe said.
“He has, but he’s producing them at a more prodigious rate now,” Lady Maltese said.
“Is there a reason for that?” Zoe said.
“He said he just woke up one day and could do these amazing things,” Lady Maltese said. “I don’t understand half of what he talks about, but whatever he touches, turns to gold.”
The mill was a large construction, its giant sails moving in lazy circles in the breeze. It was a gorgeous sight. Zoe dismounted from her horse and could smell the gritty flour being ground up. All thought of the Passage went out the window, disappearing with that smell.
“Wonderful, isn’t it?” Lady Maltese said. “It’s one of my all-time favorite places.”
They entered through a short door that Zoe had to duck her head down to fit through. A large woman with flabby chins greeted them.
“Hello,” she said with an unpractised bow. “My ladies. I’ve been expecting you. Where would you like to start?”
“Where would you suggest?” Zoe said.
They were taken on a tour of the building, starting from the bottom, and then working their way to the top. The large woman was very hospitable, giving Zoe items to taste test, and really knew her profession. Zoe could see there were no secret doors, no hidden passageways. No way the Passage was there.
They moved to the top of the building, where there was a narrow balcony for them to take in the view. The mill’s sails creaked as they moved round, the arms making rustling noises like a ship’s cracking sails in a strong wind.
Zoe breathed in the fresh air—cleaner, she thought, than any she had ever experienced. Cassie was right. This was the best world for them to live in that they had come across so far. If they couldn’t find the Passage, would it be such a bad thing? They could aid the inventor and make a real difference here.
Lady Maltese pulled on a woolly hat. It was of a simple design, red like wine. Zoe shivered, suddenly aware of the stiffness of the breeze.
“That’s nice,” Zoe said, nodding to Lady Maltese’s hat. “Did you make it?”
“I did,” Lady Maltese said, beaming happily.
“My great aunt used to do a lot of knitting,” Zoe said. “She would make things and then sell them to make a little extra money.”
“She must have been good, for others to pay for them,” Lady Maltese said. “I doubt anyone would want to buy mine.”
Zoe peered closer at the garment and frowned.
“That’s remarkable,” she said.
“What is?” Lady Maltese said.
“Your knitting ability,” Zoe said. “You haven’t dropped one stitch.”
“I’m sure there are some,” Lady Maltese said.
“No,” Zoe said. “I can spot them a mile away. It’s perfect. You must have taken a very long time to make it, to have to keep going back and fixing the dropped stitches.”
“I am very slow,” Lady Maltese said with a grin.
“My great aunt was good,” Zoe said. “She always complained when she dropped a stitch and it was too far back to do anything about it. She always showed me where she’d done it. She never could figure out why it happened, why then of all places. Often she had been running on autopilot, hadn’t been interrupted, her mind taken off what she was doing. But there it was, the dropped stitch.
“She would still send it to her customers anyway, of course. They wouldn’t ever notice it. But my great aunt always did. Despite all her years of knitting she never made a garment that didn’t have a dropped stitch, she said.
“But now that I look at yours, I can see that you don’t have any dropped stitches. You must be something of a perfectionist! Or a prodigy. Remarkable. You would have expected at least one.”
“It comes with practice,” Lady Maltese said. “And I’m sure there are many mistakes if you look close enough. We all have our skills, do we not?”
Lady Maltese was looking off into the distance, toward the town. She seemed preoccupied by something.
“I was thinking about Jeffrey, the inventor,” Zoe said. “I’m interested in how he comes up with such ingenious ideas.”
“It’s in his blood,” Lady Maltese said. “His father was an inventor, and his father, and so on, right back through the ages. But every so often, once in every great while really, there comes along a man—or woman—with a unique ability. He could be the joiner of men, or born with the skill to invest, turning five galleons from a single one in no time. Every so often there is a leap forward in ability, in strength, in creativity. And that is the inventor.
“Jeffrey’s ancestors were all unusual. Some were insane, pushing the limits of what
we might consider normal behavior, others were equally deranged, but of a helpful bent. The good they did greatly outweighed the bad their relations performed. They served their terms and did good work, each slightly pushing the envelope forward in our society. But Jeffrey is entirely unique.”
“Can I see his workshop?” Zoe said.
“His workshop?” Lady Maltese said.
“Yes,” Zoe said. “The place he develops his inventions. To see how he works. I won’t understand most of what he does, but as your husband said, we might be working with the inventor until we leave. Probably best to introduce ourselves and show him we’re not complete idiots.”
“Yes, of course,” Lady Maltese said. “I’m glad you have an interest in such things. I myself have no such skill. It’s hard for me to understand how a woman could be interested in science.”
“There are many women scientists and engineers on the surface,” Zoe said.
“Extraordinary,” Lady Maltese said.
“The advancement of three hundred years of society,” Zoe said.
“It’s breathtaking,” Lady Maltese said. “But is it always for the best, do you think?”
“No,” Zoe said. “Certainly not. But in many cases, yes.”
A distracted smile alighted Lady Maltese’s face. Then she turned to look back out in the direction of the town.
“I hope we will also make such advances,” she said. “Without leaving anyone behind.”
It sounded like a pipedream to Zoe. Advances for some invariably resulted in decline for others. It was a nice dream to have, so long as the dreamer knew that was what it was: a dream.
26.
THE ORCHARD was large, signs of it beginning long before they reached the farm. Fruit trees grew in the streets leading up to the farm on all sides.
It was one of the few farms located within the town walls, Roland told Cassie. When she asked him why, he asked her to give herself the answer.
Cassie shrugged.
“Think,” Roland said. “You’re smart enough to figure it out.”
Cassie took a moment before shrugging her shoulders again.
