“Why must you embarrass me in front of the governor?”
“What are you on about now, Loana?” asked Saba Colbshallow.
“You, discussing those horrible books.”
“Well at least I didn’t bring up Sable Agria. Why don’t you go on up to your room before you get yourself any more worked up than you are already?”
Saba’s mother had turned in an hour earlier, and the remainder of the family had sat quietly listening to the mechanical music box as DeeDee’s eyes slowly glazed over. Now she was asleep in her father’s arms.
“Aren’t you coming up?”
“Yes, I’ll be along shortly. I just want to listen to this song one more time.”
Loana gave a curt nod before turning and starting up the stairs. Saba watched her enormous bustle, sway from left to right as she negotiated the steps. As soon as she was out of eyesight, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Risty, their lizzie butler, quickly slipped a cold bottle of Billingbow’s into his hand, the cork already removed. Then he rewound the music box and placed the needle back at the start of the cylinder. Saba finished his soda water just as the music finished, and Risty was there to take the bottle away. Rising to his feet, only difficult because of the added weight of his daughter, Saba headed for the stairs. DeeDee had her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. Placing a hand under her bottom, he stepped slowly upward.
Sandy, the nurse lizzie, was there to change DeeDee into her night clothes when Saba set her on her bed. He kissed her on the forehead and rounded the corner to his own room. Slipping into his nightshirt, he slid beneath the cool sheets, not even glancing at the door to his wife’s adjoining room.
Saba left early the next morning, before anyone in his family was stirring, including his mother. Even the five-story police station was quiet. The night shift was still on duty, and it would be another hour before the morning shift arrived. The desk sergeant, Corman, leaned against the counter, half asleep. A PC, Loewy, was taking notes from two women, apparently working girls, seated on the bench in the lobby. He gave a sloppy salute as Saba passed him on the way to the elevator. Throwing the lever, Saba sent the elevator car upwards to the second floor.
The chief inspector’s office was a large, beautifully paneled room with several huge windows along the outside wall. Another wall, this one behind the desk, was covered with photographs of Saba with various city officials at groundbreaking ceremonies and the like. Walking around the large desk, he sat down on the plush leather chair. Sitting on the right corner of the otherwise mostly clear wooden surface was a stack of folders. Each held the case files for an unfinished investigation. He pulled the top one from the stack and opened it, skimming the summary.
Nothing new had been discovered about the bomb that had been set off at the shipyard. Constables had found and questioned the lizzie that had placed it. He couldn’t identify the human that had hired him. To most of the lizzies, the humans were just as hard to tell apart as the lizzies were to most humans. Pieces of the bomb had been recovered, but they had led to nothing. All they had to go on was Wizard Bell’s description of a man about forty, with dark hair, whose name began with an “s” sound.
A knock at the door was quickly followed by it opening and Wizard Bell sticking his head inside.
“Are you busy, Chief Inspector?”
“Come in,” said Saba. “Now I know you’re a wizard, Bell. I was just thinking about you and here you are.”
“Fortunate happenstance,” replied the wizard, closing the door and starting across the room.
Bell wasn’t wearing his helmet and his uniform seemed, if anything, even looser than the last time that Saba had seen him. He sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the desk.
“I was just going over the case file for the bombing,” said Saba.
“Nothing new on that front.”
“Do you think our Mr. S managed to get out of the colony? Maybe he was on his way before the blast.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Have you learned anything else with your magic?”
“I have scried several times but haven’t been able to find out anything more,” said the wizard. “It’s more of a feeling that I have. I think he’s still here in Port Dechantagne.”
“I just hope we can find him before anyone else gets killed.”
Bell nodded his agreement.
“Have you eaten?”
“This morning?”
“This year. You look thin.”
“I’ve lost a bit of weight. It’s the magic. It puts me off my meals.”
“What would you say to a bit of breakfast now.”
“I suppose that would be all right.”
Stepping around the desk and walking to the door, Saba grabbed his coat and hat from the rack where they had been hanging for several days. He usually wanted them on the way to work this time of year, but didn’t need them in the afternoon when he went home, and so often forgot to take them. Bell followed as they travelled the length of the hallway and stepped into the elevator. At the bottom of the stairs they ran into Eamon Shrubb.
“We’re going to breakfast,” said Saba. “Interested?”
“I’m just coming on. I’ve got to take the desk.”
“Get Wilkes to take it,” said Saba.
“Well, if it’s an order.”
A few minutes later, Shrubb met the other two men outside the front door of the station. They walked down the cement sidewalk to the beanery at the end of the block. There were four eating establishments in Port Dechantagne called beaneries. This one was the original. A single square building served as kitchen, diners eating out front on long wooden tables beneath a large colorful awning. As they took their seats, Bell next to him, and Eamon across, Saba held up three fingers to the lizzie who approached and set down three cups of steaming tea. With a quick nod, the reptilian headed back toward the rear of the restaurant.
“Don’t you usually have breakfast at home?” Eamon asked Saba.
“I was out the door early this morning. How about you?”
“I’ve been leaving before breakfast lately.”
“Your shift isn’t that early, is it?”
“Well, along with taking care of our three boys, Dot’s been watching her sister’s three kids. It tires her out, so she’s been sleeping in.”
“It doesn’t look like you’re going to waste away,” said Saba, looking him up and down. “Unlike our friend Bell here.”
Bell smiled weakly. Compared to Eamon, he did indeed look famished. Though not fat, the police sergeant was a very big man, with broad shoulders and a heavy chest. The wizard was not only thin; he hunkered down like a lizzie, trying to curl up for warmth in his coat. His gaze shifted from Saba to Eamon and back.
“I was just telling the chief inspector that I usually can’t eat on those days I perform my art. Perhaps I need to make more of an effort to take an early breakfast.”
“I’m sorry we haven’t had much of a chance to get to know one another,” said Saba. “I’ve had Wizard Cameron over to the house several times, but he’s been with us longer than either you or Wizard Winton.”
“Yes, I’m not much for social gatherings,” said Bell.
“It would be nice to meet a few people though, eh?” said Eamon. “It’s hard being in a new place and all.”
“I suppose.”
The lizzie returned with three large platters filled with food, setting them before each of the three men. Though not a place of fine dining, the beanery was well known as somewhere that a man could find a full fry-up—bacon, sausages, black pudding, white pudding, three fried eggs, grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, baked beans, and soldiers. This morning, the tomatoes had been replaced with fried onions, the white pudding had been replaced with potato cakes, and since this was Birmisia, the eggs were from either buitreraptor or mahakala nests. All of the portions were large. Eamon immediately tucked in. Bell picked up his fork and poked at the eggs before finally taking a few bites of potato cake.
“The bacon’s good,” said Saba, waving a piece in his direction. “It’s pork. I know the eggs take getting used to.”
The wizard tried a thick slice of bacon and nodded. “To be honest, I was never too fond of eggs in the first place. I could never eat them if they hadn’t been cooked through.”
“Put them on Eamon’s plate. You’ll never see them again.”
Eamon reached over with his fork and removed the offending ovum. “They are a bit gamey, but you get used to them. So what’s your Kafirite name, Bell, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“It’s um… Obed.”
“You haven’t been here long. I’m guessing you’re from Regencia.”
“No, I’m from Merseyshire.”
“All sort of the same though, isn’t it? Northwesterners, eh?”
“Let the man eat his breakfast,” said Saba.
Bell flashed him a thin-lipped smile, but continued to pick at his food.
“The black pudding is good,” said Saba. “Lots of iron, they say.”
“He knows that already,” said Eamon. “Merseyshire boys had to have been raised on black pudding.”
“You might as well ask me what you want to know,” said Bell, hunkering down a bit more, even though it has slightly warmer than when they had arrived.
“Don’t mind Eamon,” said Saba. “He’s just being friendly.”
“Not him. You. You brought me here to interrogate me. You just asked the sergeant along as a distraction. You knew he’d ask questions and you could gather information without seeming to try.” He looked up at Saba with weary eyes. “It’s a common technique.”
“You learned magic at Académie Argei?”
“No, I didn’t matriculate at Argei. I started my studies at Yoel, but I left after two years.”
“Yoel? That’s a Zaeri school, isn’t it?” asked Saba. “You’re not a Zaeri, are you?”
“My grandmother is, on my father’s side. That was enough to get me in. I was a poor student and lost my sponsorship, so I became an apprentice of Wizard Argol.”
“You must have done well, obviously you are accomplished.”
“Working with Wizard Argol was good for me. He was a great man.”
“You’re more accomplished than either Cameron or Winton. They’re both journeyman wizards.”
“We’re all journeymen wizards. Cameron is fourth level and Winton a third.”
“And you?”
“I’m registered as a fourth level, but I’ve improved. I think I could test out as a master.”
Saba looked over at Eamon, who had been shoveling food into his mouth during the exchange. He speared one of his own sausages on the point of his knife and took a bite. Bell was still looking across at him with hooded eyes.
“So why didn’t you go to work for the war department?” Saba asked.
“I thought there were better opportunities here.”
“What kind of opportunities?”
Bell leaned forward a bit. “What do you mean?”
“Just what kind of opportunities were you looking for?”
Bell stared at Saba, a frown forming on his face.
“Oh, that’s what this is about,” said Eamon.
“Quiet you,” said Saba.
“What is it about?” asked Bell.
“You’re here for the magical opportunities,” said Saba, leaning in to look Bell in the face. “You wouldn’t be the first wizard that thought he could leach magical energy from a powerful sorceress.”
“I… no… I…”
“You see mate,” said Eamon, between bites of toast. “The chief inspector here is the self-appointed guardian of the important women in the colony—kind of their champion you might say. He’d beat you to death and drop you in the bay for insulting the governor. I’d hate to see what he’d do if you threatened the sorceress.”
“Didn’t I say to be quiet?” Saba hissed at him.
“Steady on mate. She’s not even in the country.”
“I’m not… I don’t…” Bell started.
“You don’t what?” growled Saba.
“I wouldn’t try anything with her.”
“Like I said, you wouldn’t be the first. I’ve heard that you’ve asked about her.”
“Since the war?” Bell sat up straight. “Has she had a problem with a wizard since the war? I doubt very much if she has. Kafira. You’d have to be bloody stupid or insane to try anything with her. I certainly wouldn’t want to face her by myself—and probably not with other wizards backing me up.”
“But you have asked about her.”
“Yes, of course I have. Do you know any new arrival that hasn’t? I would love to meet her, but I… I would be nervous. I can’t imagine that kind of magical power in one person. Master Argol was powerful, a second level master, but nothing like her.”
“You know, she wasn’t the really powerful one,” said Eamon. “You know it was the other one, not her, that wiped out the Freedonians.”
“But she was the one that killed the dragon,” Bell smiled crookedly. “Do you know when the last time a human being did that? Thousands of years before Magnus the Great.”
“So you’re not here for her,” said Eamon, and looked at Saba. “You see, all’s well.”
“You know, in a way, she is the reason I came to Birmisia,” said the wizard. “I came for the business opportunities. There are a half a dozen wizards in all of Mallon. In Brech, there are a half dozen in every square mile. Most won’t come here because of her. So there should be ample opportunity for magical practitioners.”
“Then you had better keep up your strength. Eat up,” said Saba, and then waving to the lizzie waiter. “More tea over here.”
Saba’s mind returned to breakfast on his ride home. He felt slightly bothered by the way he had grilled Bell, just not bothered enough to regret it. No one could blame him really, not if they knew the situation. But there was no one who knew the situation. Pulling to a stop in front of the machine shed, he sat thinking until he heard a shout and saw DeeDee running down the steps. She skipped toward the steam carriage, laughing, and Saba allowed himself just a moment to think about his other child, somewhere far away. Then he jumped down to the ground and scooped up the little girl on the fly and tossed her up into the air. She squealed with joy.