Clockworks Chronicles of Zahn

9) The Ointment and the Fly

Two weeks ago, …

Maritza Walker, or Mitzie to her friends had just arrived at the parking lot for the Brass Goggles Association of Austin Texas. She was there for the Fifth Annual Fashion and Gears Festival. This was the third time she had taken part in the competition. She was hoping she would finally win the clockworks competition instead of second place like she had the previous two years.

She also thought she finally had a shot for getting into the top ten for costume because she was wearing an outfit she had found in her grandmother’s closet, which was definitely period.

After her grandmother died last year, she had procrastinated cleaning out her house and now she was regretting the procrastination. Not only because of the treasures she found but also because of the memories they invoked. She remembered every summer she would work at grandma and grandpa’s clock shop where she not only learned the skills to fix clocks but also was entertained for many hours by the stories her grandma would tell her of the mysterious world of Zahn, she said she lived in for over five hundred years. Of course, Mitzie knew they were just stories but still grandma would tell them with such vibrancy and clarity she could almost visualized herself being there.

These stories inspired her to get a master’s degree in history. More specifically in circa Victorian era European Industrial Revolution Period. She had just graduated the week before and she was trying to decide whether to enroll for her doctorate studies or maybe try to start a career as a teacher if she wanted a break from being a student. She wasn't sure yet...

She had often told her grandma to write the stories down and get them published in a book. She remembered grandma saying, “But dear, these stories are my gift to you.”

Mitzie was thinking of these stories Grandma Marlena would tell as she was going into her trunk to pick up her box of clockworks gadgets and pieces for this year’s competition. She paused before picking up the box to look at the full-length mirror laying sideways in the trunk of her SUV. She saw herself in the brown denim dress and leather apron combination. It had several clockworks tools tucked into special pockets all around it she got from one of grandma's trunks. She looked at the dress, knowing even with the other elements and such like the brass goggles perched on her head, the feel of authenticity to the dress would outshine all the other store-bought crap everyone else was wearing. She could picture her grandmother's hands plucking and pulling things into and out of all the little leather pockets. The leather even matched the boots she had on, also from Grandma Marlena’s trunk. She was even more surprised and pleased they fit her darn near perfectly. She continued to look at herself, this time trying to be objective. She thought, “This outfit should more than make up for my skinny-ass bag of bones." Her rail thin frame was always a problem to her. The boys in school growing up were always chasing the girls with curves. The only curves she had, as was painfully pointed out, all through her teenage years, was the bridge of her long thin nose. She shrugged and looked down at the box of gadgets and thought, “Really Grandma is the real reason why I’m gonna win first today.”

She picked up the box, awkwardly tucking it under her arm as she hit the button to close the SUV’s door. She glanced back at the mirror and got a sudden moment of vertigo. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt a spinning, weightless sensation. There was a sound of wind or rushing water or both for all she could tell as she swore, she was tumbling into space.

Retired Master Sargent Michael Blake was standing out in the alley in front of his shop taking a smoke from his pipe, trying to enjoy the late summer air. Things had been very busy for him since the coup attempt, so he had to take breaks when he could. Too many people had gadgets to repair that were thrown off by the turmoil caused by the misguided and unsuccessful coup attempt.

He thought if it had only been the repair shop work which was keeping him busy, he would be doing okay. However, it wasn’t his only vocation. He also worked for Her Eminence’s Special Service as a controller for Cooper's field agents. “Well with Coop being out of town, maybe I can get ahead of things here at the shop.”

Suddenly, in the air right across from him, a swirling gray cloud formed out of nowhere and began casting off miniature lightning bolts.

Blake shielded his face with his forearm but couldn't bring himself to cover his eyes because he was fascinated by this strange phenomenon. He was watching with fascination as a woman suddenly, fell from the cloud to land flat on her back in the middle of the alley. Just as sudden as it appeared, the cloud disappeared.

Blake walked over to the woman on her back with an overturned box of clockworks gadgets lying next to her. She was just staring up into the air and she didn’t appear to be breathing. He knelt next to her and gently shook her.

“Miss, miss! Are you okay miss?"

She suddenly blinked taking in a long, loud and labored breath. Her eyes focused and then darted all around. She looked panicked.

Blake, having made this journey himself, knew what had just happened leaned forward to comfort her.

“Relax miss, you’re gonna be fine. Welcome to Zahn.”

In the present …

Charlemagne was looking at his clockworks globe with a bit of consternation. It would seem different sectors of the globe were freezing up or lagging behind. For instance, Colonel Cooper’s sector seemed to stop for ten minutes the day before.

The globe wasn’t just an abstract device to track the game. It was also linked into reality via a rather unique item at the center of it. A black crystal crown. This crown took Charlemagne a century to track down at quite a bit of expense. With the crown he was able to link the globe to reality much in the same way the Glass Darkly was. Not only could he track the timing of the pieces in his game but also their actual movement.

Of course, he understood there were many factors he couldn’t foresee because he wasn’t omniscient, but he was reasonably certain he was aware of all the salient factors with his intricate plan. He shrugged and made some adjustments to his overall plan to fit the current reality. This way the cogs and gears wouldn’t bind up.

Ouihan had been taken from the court to a holding cell to wait while the paperwork was processed in order to release him to Lady Elsinore’s custody. While he waited, he was thinking things through. He was trying to decide who else he should share his secret information with. Something about Lady Elsinore impressed him right away so he felt he would get to know her some and possibly bring her into the trusted few to know his secret.

He was so focused on thinking this through he didn’t consciously pay attention to what was going on around him. An Enforcer Sargent had escorted two new prisoners into the room where the holding cell was. He gave some paperwork to the corporal sitting at the desk and he said, “These two were caught looting empty houses.”

The corporal looked at the paperwork then motioned to another jailer who picked up a key on a large ring from the desk next to the corporal. He walked over, opening the cell Ouihan was in. The Sargent shoved the two thugs into the cell pronouncing “You two behave yourselves and you may get off with a slap on the wrist.”

Ouihan was brought to the here and now from his thoughts because his instincts got his attention. There was something familiar about the Sargent. Ouihan looked at the Sargent and realized that he was favoring his left arm but other than that his mannerisms and general dimensions were very familiar.

“Tophat”, he said to himself remembering the fight on Black Street two months ago. He ducked the intended to surprise sucker punch from one of the thugs.

Suddenly Ouihan was in melee with the two large men locked in his cell. He heard a pfft thunk, pfft thunk sound as Tophat was using a bolt gun to kill the two guards outside the cell.

Ouihan called on years of instinct and fighting experience he did and didn’t have to keep from being hurt. Part of the challenge was the 12-year old body he was working with couldn't do some of the things his reflexes tried to do. This hampered and slowed some of his responses. The two thugs had long knives and they were apparently experts in using them as well.

Ouihan maneuvered himself in between the two thugs. At just the right moment, he ducked down and rolled out, causing one of the thugs to accidently stab the other in the groin. Scarpa’s Triangle to be exact.

The wounded thug gave out a cry of pain as he doubled over onto the ground, the puddle of blood growing quickly around him. Apparently, the femoral artery was severed.

The other thug let out a cry of frustration as he turned on Ouihan.

Ouihan looked like he was off balance but it was a ruse, he waited for the thug to take a wild stab at him. This allowed him to roll out of the feint, allowing the knife to pass him. He ducked in under the thug’s guard and brought his knee up into the thugs groin with as much force as he could muster with his 12 year old body.

The thug doubled over and fell on his knife eviscerating himself and severing his descending aorta artery.

Ouihan was standing in the cell as the two thugs bled out their life’s blood on the cell floor.

Tophat said, “Bravo, bravo! Watching you kill those two men was almost worth the price of admission.” He shrugged. “However, one must do what one must do.” He shot Ouihan with every remaining bolt in his bolt gun.

Elsie was still seething from venting her spleen on the Headmaster. She almost didn’t notice the sudden excitement as guards and other court officials ran past her toward the jail room where Ouihan was supposed to be coming from.

She ran to see what all the commotion was about.

When she got to the jail room, the first thing she noticed was the blood. One of the jailers was turning the key to unlock the cell. Elsie saw Ouihan laying on his back with quite a few bolts in his chest.

She didn’t remember yelling and pushing her way to Ouihan. All she remembered was kneeling by his side and cradling his head in her lap.

The guards got a different image and experience. A redhead blazed her way into the cell, positively launching any and all in her way aside like one of the hunter-killer whales in a school of fish. None could stand against her.

She had never met Ouihan before, but she had heard the stories about what he did to save the Empress. Considering her new responsibilities, she was responsible for him, so through tear blurred eyes she looked down at him only to realize he was looking back up at her. He was still breathing despite the bolts in his chest.

Elsie commanded, “Bring a healer now!”

Cooper had started his day early, trying to look for clues or other intelligence on the missing Shadow Battalion. He had made his way over to the alley where “Igor’s” shop was.

The first thing he noticed when he entered Blake’s shop was, for the first time since he knew Blake, his shop was neat, clean and orderly. There was an amazing lack of gadgets waiting to be fixed.

The next thing he noticed was a young woman standing behind the counter working on a gadget. She looked up at Cooper and asked, “May I help you?”

“Is Igor here… I mean is Blake here?”

“Yes, he’s in back.” She turned and yelled, “Mike! There’s a customer asking for you!”

Blake came around the front, looked at Cooper then said, “He’s no customer. He’s trouble.”

“You’re gonna be in trouble if you keep this up Igor.” Cooper said

Cooper and Blake shook hands firmly then Cooper asked, “So did you go and get married without telling me?” pointing to Mitzie.

“Naw, I’m too young and pretty to marry. This is Mitzie and she’s one of us.” He pointed his finger to Cooper then back to himself.

Cooper took a moment to process this. Something about her troubled him. It’s like catching the reflection of something in a window when you pass by, but when you turn and look it’s gone, and you can’t even tell what it was. Maybe he was getting far too twitchy, but there was something strangely familiar about this woman. “And when were you gonna report to me there is a new immortal in town?”

“Well, you have been out of town and I didn’t want to send this information through normal channels, so I thought I’d wait until you came by.”

“Okay, fair enough. So, tell me all the particulars.”

“Well, it happened two weeks ago…”