Chapter 19
“To have magic is to be wonderful and strange. Unfortunately, people don’t always respond well to those who are different.”
- Affie, High Lock Lord
Thestairs toexit out of the Lock Tower was our greatest challenge yet. Exhausted children got piggyback rides and more than one adult needed two people to help them reach the end.
No one greeted or stopped us as we went down the stairs. I would almost have felt better if we’d met resistance. The absence of anyone added a strange melancholy air to the building as if the workers who should be there had abandoned their lot. Oss swore there were people the first time he had come.
I left the mystery to him. As king, it was up to him to find his wayward administration.
“What now?” Justin asked, cradling his silent infant. I checked to make sure it was still breathing.
“You should probably find someone to ask about baby supplies. I’m going to my workshop.” I kissed him on the cheek, then walked away. Oss and Thorne would get the mechanicals set up with housing. I had other work to do.
“Marbrey!” Justin called.
I spun around. “I will come find you.” The tense line of his mouth told me he would whether I wanted him to or not.
I nodded but didn’t argue. We didn’t have time to let our personal life interfere with helping these people. I had to get to Torren’s workshop and see if my predecessor wrote about how to speed up the transformation. The best way for these people to hide was to become like everyone else. A shame if you ask me. There were enough humans that mechanical people made a nice change. Sadly, my viewpoint wasn’t shared by anyone.
I would have to find a better path between the two cities if I hoped to keep up my business. I couldn’t continue traipsing through Lock Tower. The guards were hostile and if someone took it into their heads that I was important to Justin or Oss, I could be held for ransom.
As I walked to the workshop, I breathed in air perfumed with floral notes and sparks of magic. A loud clunking pulled my attention away from a bright red flower I couldn’t identify.
“Gear Master,” Cruller growled.
I jerked around, trying to still my thumping heart. “Cruller.” I didn’t say anything else, waiting for him to speak further. He initiated the meeting. There must be something he wanted. The dragon didn’t strike me as the type for idle gossip.
“When will I change?” he asked.
It took my sluggish brain a while to figure out what he was asking about. “I don’t know if you will. I’m going to research the transformation now.” From what I could see, there were no differences in the dragon to the human-shaped mechanicals. He was still composed completely of mechanical parts. He should also transition.
“Will your presence make me change?” The odd note in the dragon’s voice caught my attention. “I’d like to be flesh again.”
I had to pull my gaze away from his dagger-like teeth before I could process what he said. “What do you mean, again?”
“I was once a real dragon. Torren pulled away my flesh and pressed me with metal until I was turned into what you see now.”
My blood ran cold. “Buster said Torren had built the people with metal and they transformed into flesh.”
Cruller laughed, a harsh, barking noise that grated against my ears. “Buster was the one who helped torture those poor souls. He wanted to be mechanical and live forever. He made a pact with Torren that he would help capture humans if Torren made him metal.”
“Why would he tell me he is transforming then? Why would he want to be fixed before transformation?” My mind whirled. Confusion my most prominent emotion. What did Buster get out of lying to me?
“And admit he tortured others. That he experimented on the ancestors of those who are now part metal and part flesh. Those people aren’t changing from metal to human. They are reverting back to what they were meant to be. Only now that you have come into your full powers is Torren’s magic being overwritten. He was many things: a sadist, a mad man, a genius, but mostly he was powerful. He tried to push his abilities to their greatest ends. Those here who are non-human were originally Torren’s creations. He added wings, or tails or whatever he wanted, and then he bred them to see what happened with their children. If there are other mechanicals up above, it is because they fled. They ran from his madness and escaped. Their children are victims of Torren’s insanity as we all are. The Key King killed Torren in the end, which is why his descendant was given the key to the city and why everyone runs when you come to visit. We don’t want to watch history repeat itself.”
Horror twisted my stomach. “I would never do what Torren did. I’m trying to help these people.”
“Maybe, maybe not. If you can help them become human, you will do them a great service. Torren always went in the other direction. If they were mechanical, then he could control them. Humans had freewill and didn’t appreciate him taking over their minds.”
“Why would Buster let Torren do that to him then?”
“He was in love,” Cruller growled. “People do stupid things for love.”
This went far past love and into obsession. As much as I loved Justin, if he so much as tried to put a gear inside of me, I would punch his lights out.
Before I could express my disbelief, Cruller spoke again. “I will tell the others what you said. Maybe you can help reverse some of the damage the last Gear Master did. If you cannot, I will eat you.”
