The Clockworks Chronicles of Zahn

19) Consternation in the Cogs

Charlemagne was hitting a new level of consternation as he now saw the area of his globe dedicated to Ouihan running backwards. As it was, he had to disengage it from the rest of the globe or risk total destruction of all the other carefully fashioned cogs and gears.

He turned to see Murielle Alexander storming into the room with an urgent look on her face. As she opened her mouth to speak, he held up his hand and said, “Let me guess, Ouihan is still alive?”

“Yes, he was sitting with Cooper at a café not half an hour ago.”

Charlemagne nodded and said, “How is it you’re just now finding out?”

She got a perturbed look on her face and said hotly, “My sources in the palace have been unable to report out now that the palace is under lockdown. Both our attack on Ouihan and something about another attack on Her Eminence.”

“Did someone attack the Empress? Oh no, that won’t do at all. For our plan to work she needs to be intact.”

“How so?”

“Once the Medusa crystal is activated and feeding from the immortals then she is going to have to lead The Civilization down another path of all the other magics. She is the only one of the Imperial family which has such a great and expansive knowledge of magery other than Clockworks. Otherwise, we will end up in anarchy. Then it will take centuries for another empire to replace The Civilization. The collateral costs in lives and time would be unacceptable for the games sake.”

“But master, if The Civilization is destroyed then my family can rise to be of the new nobility like you said.”

Charlemagne looked at Murielle for a long minute and said, “Not assuredly. More likely your family will end up on the trash heap of history. Regardless of the end results, Her Eminence’s survival leads us down the path of least surprises and potential errors.” He once again considered the ramifications of potentially choosing such a short-sighted tool for his plans.

Murielle looked at him for a long minute herself then shrugged and said, “If you say so Master. I must attend to some things, personal things in my room.” She turned and started to leave the room.

Charlemagne said after her, “Do give my regards to your brother while you’re there.”

She paused and looked at him sideways for a moment then left.

Murielle Alexander entered her spacious apartment on the second floor of the estate house with a perturbed look on her face. She took her long black coat and top hat off and hung them from the coat rack in the corner. She then went into her bedroom and changed into more comfortable clothes with a lot more colors than her usual black and white work clothes. Sitting down in the parlor she stared at a jar, pink with its own luminescence. After a moment of contemplation, she addressed the jar.

“I fear brother I have been led astray.”

The jar pulsed with light and humming sounds. If one were to put their imagination to it could be a voice. However, she appeared to understand it.

“I know. You tried to warn me. But had I not committed to this path you would have been gone forever.”

The jar pulsed and hummed again.

“Don’t say that dear brother. I would sacrifice anything to have you back. Even as is.”

The glow shifted and swirled.

“Yes, I know. I will have to carefully find a way to extricate ourselves from this situation. But in the meantime, I’ll will go forward and be very careful. I think I may have found a way to get a body for you. It would seem 350 of the shadow sentinels are missing and may be under the control of Sir Markus Adders. Perhaps he and I can come to an arrangement. But I have to move quickly because Cooper’s agent is following him now.”

The glow exploded into a violent kaleidoscope of spinning hues.

“No, I won’t make the mistake of hurting anyone he cares about. That would definitely be the wrong move.”