The Cog Chronicles Box Set

by P M Cole

  “Look, it’s working!” shouted Colin.

  I stepped backwards, trying to see over the top of the barn, when I too saw the mass of leather moving, lifting, expanding.

  “Yes!” shouted Lucas, lifting his fist, while Colin cheered.

  Within a few moments the entire envelope was filled with gas, the hides stretched. I held my breath, anxious the seals I had created would hold. The craft lifted a few inches from the top of the barn, then a few feet, straining against the gas pipe and the ropes holding it to the ground. It jolted to a halt and wavered slightly due to a light wind.

  I turned to Charlotte whose face displayed a smile.

  “I give you, your new dirigible!”

  She turned to me. “It needs a name. I want you to name it.”

  “Oh…” I was so busy constructing it, I hadn’t thought about what it would be called, but then a name came to me. “The Chronus…”

  She smiled.

  “So, when do we get to have a go in it!” said Colin.

  “I have to do some checks first, but—”

  Chirps rang out from above our heads. I hadn’t realised Auto was up there.

  “What?” I shouted up at the small metal bird.

  As he swooped down and landed on my arm, a ring on Lucas’s hand started to glow strong, then dim, then strong again.

  “There’s someone at the main gate,” he said.

  “M…a…n,” chirped Auto.

  We all made haste along the path, then down the side of the large house to the front. In the gloom, a man could be seen standing behind the iron bars, with a horse behind him.

  “I think it’s the farmer from the cottage. I’ll see what he wants,” said Lucas.

  We all watched him walk down the path and greet the man from the day before. There was a brief conversation, then the man climbed back on his horse while Lucas jogged back up to the house.

  “There’s police in the local village. He said there were just a few at first, but then wagons started showing up. Said there’s also some fancy-looking carriages, with a lot of guards.”

  “Why did he think to tell you this?” said Charlotte.

  Lucas started to make his way up the stone steps to the entrance. “Because I paid him to keep watch for anything unusual. We have to get ready. They will be here soon.”

  *****

  The chill wind blew strands of my hair across my face, as I looked out from the roof of the manor.

  “More coming to the east,” said Daniel, looking through a small pair of binoculars to my side.

  Points of flickering yellow light moved around the woods which bordered the Wraith manor grounds. But I was looking mainly towards the north where the main gate was located. A parade of similar lanterns were also there, but these were illuminating horses, carts, wagons, and a number of policemen standing guard, which I could just make out with my own eyeglasses.

  It was now 7 p.m. Almost three hours since we had our warning of what was coming, and Lucas and Charlotte had spent that time frantically preparing. Rehearsing the words and actions they would need to break the magic of a Titan. I hoped they were ready, because one of the more luxurious carriages was now pulling up alongside some of the others. And I knew who was inside it.

  I took my eye away from my scope and looked at Daniel. He was looking at the gate as well and as our eyes met, we could feel who was just outside the grounds. A gnawing sensation was starting to claw its way up our insides.

  “So, this is it then. I’ll go tell them he’s here,” I said. Daniel nodded and I walked towards the roof exit.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll do what needs to be done,” he volunteered.

  “I know.”

  I moved swiftly through the attic room then descended the numerous staircases until I got to the main entrance hall. “He’s at the gate,” I said to Lucas, who was moving pieces of furniture out of the way. “You’re ready?”

  “As much as I will ever be.”

  “Where’s Charlotte?”

  “In the basement, going over the final incantations.” He turned and made a faltering smile. “We do not want her to misspeak.”

  “Will he know the wards are in place?”

  “Oh, he will know.” He turned and stood in front of me. I noticed he was looking smarter than usual. “How do I look?”

  I stepped forward and straightened his collar. “Like the Lord of Wraith manor.”

  He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Everything is in place and we have what we need. This will work.”

  “I’m concerned about Colin.”

  “He’s out of this for now.”

  “Yes, he wasn’t too happy about that.”

  “If anything goes wrong, he will become the most important cog in this particular machine.”

  I nodded. He smiled and turned away, taking a deep breath. He then put on his long black coat, and his high hat, while I placed my arms into my own winter clothing and wrapped my scarf around my neck, leaving my face uncovered.

  We walked to the door and he looked at me. “It ends tonight.”

  “I know.” I didn’t know. But it had to.

  He pulled the heavy door open, and we walked out into the night, down the stone steps and then onto the gravel of the path which led to the gate. Even from the distance of a few hundred feet, we could hear the excited voices, and see lanterns jostling around.

  We straightened our backs as we neared the iron gate. A silhouette, barely lit by the nearby officer's lantern was the closest to the gate. Hades stood with a walking stick, I presumed different to his original cane, and wore his usual derby hat.

  “Lord Cannington!” said Lucas, standing a few feet from the gate. A column of police wagons at least ten deep faded into the light snow that was falling, each one accompanied by a group of police standing nearby. Two more policemen standing either side of Hades looked upon us with fierce eyes. There was something about their expressions which disturbed me, for they looked as if they couldn’t wait to be on the other side of the gate. To get at us. To get at me. “What brings you and these fine officers of the law all the way out here on this cold night?”

  Hades smiled, looked at me then back to Lucas. “We are here to arrest Corine Arturo for the murder of William E Gladstone. And I see she is standing right next to you. I presume you had no idea that she was guilty of this crime so I shall—”

  “Let’s stop playing games,” said Lucas. “These gates and the boundary of the grounds are warded. I suspect even you would find it difficult to come inside.”

  The iron gate rattled as one of the policemen shook it. “This ain’t nothing but an old gate. You think that’s gonna stop fifty men from getting in there?”

  Lucas smiled and looked back at Hades.

  “You cannot stay inside there forever—” said Hades. The policemen went to talk again but Hades raised his hand. “— You will run out of food and water eventually. I see the wards are saving you from the conditions out here, but that of course means you cannot use snow to drink either. So, I will wait if that is what needs to be done.”

  I cleared my throat. “Actually—” Lucas looked at me. “I want to surrender.”

  “What?” said Lucas, turning to me.

  “I know we had other plans, but I cannot put you all through this. Too many have already died.”

  Lucas grabbed my shoulder. “No! I forbid it!”

  I turned to Hades and the others. “Not here. Not in front of all these people. I will return to the manor, and you and some of your officers will be allowed inside, once we lower the wards. Then you can arrest me. Do we have a deal?”

  “We ain’t gotta do nothing, little—”

  Again, Hades raised his hand, making the officer think twice before continuing. “How do I know you will keep your word? You are quite adept at hiding how you really feel from me, daughter.”

  I heard an intake of air from Lucas, but I kept my eyes on Hades. “You have my word we will lower the wards. Th
en, even if I am lying it won’t make any difference as I’m sure your little lapdogs are hiding in the woods and will find their way into the house and take me regardless.” I asked again. “So, do we have a deal?”

  “We do.”

  Lucas and I turned and started our way back up the path. I felt Lucas’s eyes on me but refused to acknowledge them.

  We silently walked up the steps and he opened the door for me. I walked in and he did the same, closing it behind me.

  “Why did you not tell me!” he shouted.

  Daniel appeared from the nearby room. “Is he coming?” He then looked at Lucas’s demeanour. “Has something gone—”

  Lucas held his hand up to him. “You did not deem being Hades daughter important enough to tell us?”

  I wanted to explain that the only way I had any peace of mind, to be able to function, to be able to help in the endeavour to bring all of this to an end was to forget what my mother said to me in the attic room. But instead I said nothing for my brain was too much in chaos and I needed to focus.

  “Is it true!” Lucas shouted again, my silence being insufficient recompense.

  Charlotte appeared from the basement entrance. “What is happening? What is true?”

  “Tell her!”

  I looked at Charlotte. “I am… I think… I am Hades daughter.”

  She visibly shook. “What?”

  Lucas looked at Daniel. “Did you know?”

  “Only Ophelia and Hades knew, none of the foster children knew. And I only learned when Corine did.”

  Lucas strode forward to the centre of the room, shaking his head.

  “This doesn’t change—”

  Lucas stood upright as if just realising something. “Is this why you couldn’t kill him? I saw the state he was in. I wondered why you did not end him and that explains why, even though he had numerous opportunities to kill you, he never did…”

  I turned away from Lucas. “I don’t know…” My emotions felt as if they were tethered to me by the thinnest of threads.

  Charlotte stepped forward slowly. “Lucas, there’s no time to argue about this now. They are waiting outside. Everything is ready. We keep to the plan.”

  “Is there anything else we need to know before we all risk our lives for you?” said Lucas.

  I shook my head. My body felt heavy, but I was ready to do what needed to be done. “Drop the wards. I need this to be over.”

  Charlotte turned and moved back downstairs.

  Lucas looked at Daniel and I. “Stand back.” He then moved to the centre of the hallway, his hands already aflame with blue fire. He closed his eyes and uttered arcane terms and words, gradually getting louder, then slapped his hands together. A wave of air washed over me, but he kept on talking, the flame now covering his arms, but the fire did not appear to burn him. He was now shouting, and brought his hands together again, and again, each time the flame grew in intensity until his whole person was alight with blue fire. The lanterns around us flickered, then they too turned blue. I backed up against the wall behind me. Suddenly with a final clap the flame was gone from Lucas. He stood, covered in sweat.

  “The wards are gone. Now there’s nothing to protect us.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  I stood in the doorway, my destiny slowly walking up the path in the distance towards me. The images from my dreams flickered before my eyes, doing their best to make my nerves even more frayed.

  We can’t fail… this will work… You’re sending your father away…

  I gently shook my head, trying to rid my mind of the last thought. This man, this god was going to bring death and destruction to us, my friends and everyone else beyond. And anyway, he wasn’t my father, at least not in any meaningful way. He was evil.

  I’m evil…

  Another shake of the head. Hades and the two policemen were now at the bottom of the stone steps, both officers holding lanterns.

  I stepped backwards and took up my place against the wall, near one of the paintings and Daniel. Lucas stood resolutely at the bottom of the staircase.

  Boots were heard just outside, and the orange glow of the policeman’s flames briefly reflected off the stone floor until they walked across the threshold, standing a few feet inside.

  Now I could see Hades in the full light of the hallway, he looked older than before. The lines on his face more pronounced. The effects of Daniel's power had stained him.

  One of the policemen went to walk towards me but Hades started to speak, halting him in his tracks. “Whatever plan you have to kill or capture me, please get on with it, so I can take young Corine there, back with me.”

  The two policemen looked confused.

  “We’re here to arrest her Lord Cannington, she killed—”

  Hades clicked his finger; the cracking bones of the policemen filled the hall and they slumped to the floor.

  “I can’t have any witnesses for this. With my new role, keeping my true identity from the casuals is proving most taxing. Anyway, two more bodies to lay at the feet of…” He sighed. “Corine Arturo.” He looked around the hallway. “Proceed then! What are you waiting for!”

  “Where… are the others?” I said.

  “Others? Oh, you mean my children who did not try to kill me? I told them to stay back. I felt it was important that you saw for yourself the true power of a—” His eyes turned red. “God…” His changed appearance jolted a dream or memory, I wasn’t sure which into my mind. The beast at the window, when my mother was reading to me… it was him.

  Lucas and Daniel were looking at me. It was time for me to play my part in our plan, but instead I walked forward until I was just a few feet from the god of the underworld.

  “What are you doing!” said Lucas.

  I ignored his comment. Instead I stared into Hades' glowing red eyes. “Do you not feel anything for me? Are you even capable of human emotion?”

  “Corine…” said Daniel.

  Lucas was also talking but their words were just a distant crashing of waves. I needed to know why the man who called himself my father, could treat me the way he had done.

  “You were meant to be my greatest achievement. The child I had the most hope for, and even though you kept on disappointing me, over and over, I still held out the hope that any progeny of mine would eventually know who she was, and how powerful she could be.” He took a step forward and placed his hand on my cheek. It was burning, but no pain entered my mind. “But… for too long have I been in the human realm. My feelings for your mother had blinded me to how weak you all are. To think humans would be worthy of the powers I gifted them, and use them as they should be used, to rule! Was a mistake…”

  I looked into the eyes of my father and the god that hated me.

  I stepped back as metal shards burst from the floor beneath our feet and the ceiling and walls, all of it wrapping itself around the legs, arms, and neck of Hades. But he did not flinch, instead he stood with his arms out as if to embrace what was happening and smiled.

  Something was wrong, but we had to push on. Lucas had already started his own magic, and blue fire roared from his hands, enrapturing Hades, igniting the god and the metal alike, at the same time Daniel's eyes burned fiercely, but Hades' expression remained the same, a smile.

  Charlotte appeared from somewhere behind me, she and Lucas both speaking in an ancient tongue, and the pillars of stones and rafters supporting the floors around us started to shake and creak. I tried to ignore my father’s eyes that were fixed on me and concentrated on keeping the cage he was in secure, not allowing him any recourse to escape.

  “Is this your best effort?” he shouted through the chaos, but then, for the first time I saw his confidence waver.

  The room lit with an intense white light. I knew it had to be the fragment of the lightning bolt, but rather than being inside the small glass vial, Zeus’s power was now part of the iron poker, and the ancient necklace that was twisted around it, that also had Hades' blood covering it.

/>   Charlotte walked forward, barely managing to hold the white-hot poker, bursting with energy. I could feel Hades struggling to break free, his strength was immense, but I held him fast, drawing even more metal from where I could around us. As parts of the man shaped cage cracked, I would slam more metal into it, covering the fissures.

  As Lucas’s and Charlotte's words reached a crescendo, she walked to just a few feet in front of Hades and slammed the poker into the wooden floorboards and a sphere of light suddenly burst forth surrounding Hades. For the first time excitement started to form within me, for at the back of this strange illuminated bubble could I see a barren land, of flame and agony. Bodies writhing which I thought were human, but then I could see were demons, thousands of them. The underworld.

  It’s going to work. We’re sending him back!

  But then I felt my father’s true strength. The cage I was trying to hold him in, shattered, an explosion of metal shards flew in all directions. Most I managed to deflect from myself, and the others, but pieces still tore the flesh of all of us, knocking us backwards. Even before I fully hit the wall behind me, I was trying to pull the metal back from where it was lodged, but then I realised the man that I had tried to control, had been replaced with something else. I looked back to where the middle-aged Lord should had been, but instead a demonic creature, standing seven feet tall stood. It was mostly without clothes apart from a tunic, the type I had seen in ancient drawings, and its eyes were ablaze with flame. It looked back at the gateway to another world and smirked, for the portal was shrinking.

  The creatures gaze fell upon me, as everyone else was getting back to their feet. “You want to see the underworld so much, young human?” Its voice was no longer that of Cannington, but coarse and raw. It thundered towards me, I went to scramble away, when a torrent of red magic streamed from Charlotte's hands, hitting Hades in the chest. He roared in pain, staggering backwards. I felt arms pull me upright.

  “We have to go!” shouted Lucas.

  Charlotte stepped forward, her magic striking the demonic god once more. I tried to take a step towards her, but arms pulled me towards the stairs. “We have to help her!” I shouted at Lucas and Daniel.