WHEN THEY drew near, Querry could see artificial light burning just below them. Gradually he took the airship down, past the sharp peak of the massive roof that sheltered the mechanical creatures. Its copper shingles had long ago gone green. Clearly the work was being done on the fabled floor that housed the clockwork mermaids and dragons. As they passed only a few feet from it, obscured by the mist, Querry heard the ping of hammers against metal. Lights flickered and equipment hummed. Slowly he dropped lower, steering the ship toward a wide ledge just above the huge clock face.
“I’m going to drop anchor here,” he told Reg, pointing. “And grapple up to the next level. I’ll try to get to Dink without being spotted, and hopefully sneak him away without anyone being the wiser.”
Reg’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he looked up at the distant lights. “Grapple,” he said hoarsely, “all the way up there?”
“Don’t worry, love,” Querry said, giving Reg’s wrist a squeeze. “I do this sort of thing all the time.”
“Dink doesn’t,” Reg reminded him. “How on earth will he get down?”
“That’s where I’ll need you. Reg, do you think you could bring her up?”
“I don’t know—”
“It’ll be simple. Leave the anchor down, and just pull up on this lever here. Pull nice and slow, though. She’s touchy.”
“Querry, how will I know when? You’ll give me some sort of signal?”
Querry shook his head. “Can’t risk drawing the attention. Wait a half an hour, then bring her up. I’ll be ready.”
“Querry, I don’t know. We’re so high up—”
Giving Reg a hard peck, Querry stroked his cheek and said, “This is just an average bit of work for me.”
It was a complete lie. Sure, Querry was accustomed to moving along rooftops, swinging from balcony to balcony and climbing up walls, but he’d never been so far from the ground that he couldn’t see it. Up here, with a sharp wind whistling eerily and assailing him with cold, he could hardly convince himself that earth waited somewhere below the mist at all. A fall from this height didn’t mean risking a broken collarbone or ankle; it would reduce him to a smear. Stamping down his fear, thinking of his old friend Dink and his dear Frolic, Querry pulled his goggles down in an attempt to keep his eyeballs from freezing. He switched to the telescopic lens and looked up. Directly above stood a massive archway supported by columns. A low stone wall stretched between them. Feeling like he’d be blown off his feet by the powerful gale any time, Querry braced the barrel of The Gripper against his shoulder and touched the trigger.
He hadn’t been expecting the kick. The bolt shot up, driving the thief six feet back, almost over the edge. Querry teetered on the balls of his feet for a few seconds that felt like a nightmarish lifetime, then flung himself forward on his hands and knees. He crawled as quickly as possible to the stone wall and huddled against it, his whole body convulsing with fear. Trying to breathe in a slow, even way, Querry hoped Reg hadn’t seen him almost fall.
I won’t abandon you the way your parents did, he pledged. Then, conviction renewed, he stood, found the end of the rope, and gave it a tug.
The ten minutes it took to reach the next level were the longest and most terrifying of Querry’s life. Even years later, he would wake now and then in a cold sweat, sure he’d been plummeting through a dark void. The wind battered his body so mercilessly that he swung back and forth like a pendulum. It threatened to tear the rope from his freezing hands. Finally, though, he reached the ledge and rolled his body over it. He spared a few minutes to will himself to stop trembling. Then, well hidden in a shaft of shadow cast by the great column, he looked around.
Not even the most poetic descriptions Querry had read prepared him for the reality of bestiary atop the tower. Off to his left stood one of the angels Reg had mentioned: a ten-foot creature in a scarlet robe, holding an elaborate two-handed sword. It displayed some of Frolic’s sort of beauty in its smooth face, but the face was clearly metal and shone subtly in the low light. The copper hair, while detailed, had been cast all in one piece, and the seams at the joints showed clearly. At its feet waited a red-scaled dragon and a phoenix, or at least Querry assumed. Scanning around, Querry saw a similar display at each corner. The angels and their mythical companions seemed to represent the directions and the elemental attributes associated with each. The fiery deity, Querry decided, likely stood at the south corner of the tower. To the east was a blue-robed angel, surrounded by a sapphire wyrm and gryphon. An angel in ochre vestments, between a unicorn and stag, and one in emerald with a mermaid and fantastic sea serpent, stood at the north and west, respectively. Between them, vines made of metal tubing, complete with individual leaves and a dozen kinds of flowers, formed arches beyond the stone arches of the structure. These also meandered toward the center, where they tangled together in a way too orderly and regular for nature, around a raised dais. Atop it sat a coffin-like object. The only thing Querry could compare it to were the ancient cases found in the desert recently by adventurers, which housed the remains of long-dead emperors and queens. It looked to be gold-plated and encrusted with clear jewels. Querry couldn’t begin to guess its purpose, but for some unknown reason he didn’t care for it.
All around, in little pools of light from hanging lanterns, craftsmen worked hunched over. Their hammers pinged musically as they adjusted intricate gears, some through huge lenses that clearly magnified the miniscule mechanisms. Armed guards stood at their backs. On silent feet and keeping to the shadows, Querry crept around until he located Dink, lying on his side and working with a wrench on the leg of the great stag. His overseer waited about six feet away, and didn’t strike the thief as particularly attentive. Even so, he’d certainly notice if his charge disappeared completely. Querry considered. The best chance would probably be to wait until Reg had the airship ready, about another ten minutes in his estimation. Then he’d get Dink’s attention, and do his best to make it to the ledge before the guard caught on. He realized they might well have to run for it. He’d get Dink in front of him and just hope his armored vest would slow, if not stop, a bullet.
Querry waited behind the robes of the angel until he heard the whir and patter of the airship ascending. Then, on his hands and knees, he crawled as close to Dink as he dared.
“Dink!” Querry hissed.
The old man sat and pretended to retrieve something from his tool box. He scanned the shadows and located Querry. A look of terror crossed Dink’s face, followed by a look of confusion. He mouthed the words, “What are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you,” Querry whispered with a grin. “We took your ship. She flies like a dream, Dink!” He stopped talking and waited for the guard to wander away from them again. “Reg will be bringing her up in a minute. We’ll have to run.”
“We can’t do that, Querry.”
“I’m sorry, Dink. I don’t have a better plan. I think we can make it.”
“You don’t understand! It’s Frolic. He’s here.”
“Where? Querry looked around, hope and desire welling up only to whither when he couldn’t locate the clockwork boy.
“Oh, Querry,” Dink said, shaking his head.
Scared by Dink’s tragic tone, Querry grabbed his sleeve and shrugged his shoulders dramatically. “Where?”
Finger shaking, Dink pointed to the center of the dais, to the golden coffin. He had to grab Querry’s elbow to keep the thief from leaping up and sprinting toward it.
“All right then,” Querry said to himself. Four men guarded the tower. He was hidden; he could shoot at least two before being discovered. It didn’t sit well with him, shooting men in their backs, but he couldn’t see an alternative. Slowly, soundlessly, he freed his pistol from its holster. He got the guard closest to them in his sights, winced and looked away. He tried again, but he didn’t think he could do it. Querry had never denied being a thief. He’d never hesitated to defend himself, but to murder a man in cold blood…?
But Frolic was here! Inside that—that thing. Querry lifted the pistol again. He pulled the trigger, and the guard fell. Standing, Querry aimed and shot the guard reclining next to the red dragon. Staggering back, the man toppled off the side of the tower. Querry ducked for cover behind the angel. Bullets pinged and ricocheted off of it as the other two guards retaliated.
“Who is it?” one of them yelled, reloading his rifle.
“How the hell did he get up here?”
Querry and Dink crouched with their backs to their angelic protector. Querry strained his ears, but heard only the wind whipping around the tower. The other workers had stopped their tinkering. No sound or speech came from the two guards, worrying Querry. He held his pistol parallel to his forehead and glanced around the angel’s leg. He scanned about for the boots of the guards but couldn’t find them. Just as Querry prepared to lean across Dink’s chest and check around the other side, a guard stepped around each side of the metal statue, their rifles trained on Querry and Dink.
“Thimbleroy wants the old man,” one said to the other. “Shoot the other one and throw his body over the edge.
The other guard nodded once and moved the barrel of his gun only a few inches from Querry’s temple. A shot rang loud through the quiet night.
Almost to his surprise, Querry wasn’t dead. He opened eyes he hadn’t known he’d scrunched shut and felt his head. No blood. No hole. By the time Querry located the source of the sound, Reg had leapt from the airship to the stone floor of the tower, pulled his other pistol, and shot the remaining guard in the chest three times. He strode toward Querry and Dink, a gun in each hand. Querry exhaled with surprise and couldn’t help smiling at how heroic Reg looked. Reg was a hero. He’d saved Querry’s life yet again. The man who’d planned to shoot him lay crumpled on his side, a dark spot spreading across his middle.
“Dear God, Querry,” Reg shouted over the wind. “What’s keeping you? Let’s go!”
Stumbling to his feet, Querry grabbed Reg’s biceps and looked at him seriously. “Frolic is here. He’s here.”
“Where?”
With a jerk of his head, Querry indicated the sarcophagus. “In there.”
“Well, get him out,” Reg said, his voice rising with excitement and joy. “Get him!”
Querry nodded, released Reg’s arms, and started toward the dais. This time, Dink stopped him. “They’ve done things to him, Querry. He’s different.”
“Everything will be fine now, Dink. I’m going to get Frolic out of that thing, and we’ll be off.” He picked up a crowbar from a pile of tools and closed the space between himself and the dais. Stepping onto the stone lip, he looked through a rectangular slit and into the enclosure.
What he saw made the crowbar fall from his hand and cold sweat burst from his pores. Frolic stood within, his feet hidden beneath a piece of sheet metal. His clothes were ripped and dirty. Querry could see where each of the four sets of vines culminated in a column of gears, smaller than cufflinks and thousands thick. Frolic’s fingers flitted among them with impossible speed, going from one set to another faster than Querry’s eyes could follow. Heavy manacles made his wrists look even frailer. They clinked as he worked among the gears with his tiny fingers. His eyes looked glazed, the lids low over the golden irises. He didn’t seem to need to look at what he was doing. An iron collar encircled his neck, and a metal rod poked from his sternum, shoved under the skin. Querry tried to follow the gears connected to this, but the darkness inside the container obscured them.
“Frolic!” Querry cried, pounding his fists against the metal. “I’ll get you out of there!”
Frolic turned his head slowly and found Querry’s face. He looked lethargic: drunk or drugged. “Querry,” he said with a scratchy voice.
“Don’t worry, beauty,” Querry said, trying to quell the horror in his voice as he picked up the crowbar and searched for a seam in the gold casing. “I’ll have you out of there in a moment.”
Frolic interrupted him, saying, “Out? No, Querry. I can’t come out.”
“I’ll break you out with my own hands if I need to!”
“But, I don’t want to come out.”
“What?” Querry gasped. Reg and Dink had come to stand behind him.
“I’ve finally found my purpose, Querry. Lord Thimbleroy explained everything. I was made to direct this tower. These creatures at the corners. I can feel them, just about ready to wake up. It will be my job to help them do as Lord Thimbleroy wants.”
“Is this a joke?” Querry whimpered. “Frolic—”
“No. This is why I was made. I’m fulfilling the role I was built to do.”
“No you’re not! Thimbleroy has captured you and made you a slave!”
“I’m a machine. I’m a tool. A tool built for this purpose.”
“Frolic,” Querry hissed, as exasperated as he was when Reg planned to marry Emily Malvern, “you are not a machine. You have a heart and a mind, and as much right to be free and choose the course of your life as anyone. You are my friend and my lover. I love you. Reg loves you.”
“This is what I choose,” Frolic said numbly.
“Frolic, no!” Reg pushed Querry out of the way to look at the clockwork boy. “Thimbleroy is an evil man. He’s using you.”
“Only using me for the reason I’m meant to be used. He said only I can direct these creatures, make the clock tower work. The man who built me built me to stand right here. This is why he made me.”
“Nein, my young friend,” Dink said, shaking his head. “No man would make a tool with such beauty. No artist would spend the decades on something meant to stand inside that box. I have heard stories of your maker. He was forced to do this work against his will. I believe with all my heart that he fought back the only way he could: by giving you emotion, intelligence, and the free will to make your own decisions! He made you look human, so you could live among humans. If you want to do as your creator intended, you must use the gifts he gave you. You must choose the right thing.”
“This is the right thing,” Frolic said. “Thimbleroy explained everything. He said, he said Querry is a bad man. He said you tricked me, Querry.”
“Do you believe that?” Querry asked.
“I- I don’t know. Some of the things he said made sense. He said I hadn’t been awake long enough to know you were bad.”
“Did I make you feel bad, Frolic?” Querry asked.
“No. You made me happy.”
“And how will you be happy standing in that box?”
“It’s- it’s my purpose. Lord Thimbleroy says I’m special, one of a kind. Remember the other clockworks we saw in his basement? None of them could do it. The Grande Chancellor tried dozens of different models and not one of them could make the tower work. This is my duty. My ankles fit just perfectly in these holes—”
“I thought I had a duty too,” Reg said gently. “I realized that I couldn’t let someone else tell me how to live. Though I was afraid, I walked away from my old life. I gave up everything to be with Querry. And with you. I fell in love with you, Frolic. I will not walk away and leave you here.”
“If I leave here, my life will have no point,” Frolic said miserably.
“What do you say we make our own purpose?” Reg said, laying his palm and forehead against the metal, “me, you, and Querry. Won’t you come out, Frolic?”
He touched some of the gears, and a door opened in the box where Querry hadn’t even seen a seam. Frolic held out his hands pitifully. Querry quickly took out his picks and went to work. As he did, Dink knelt with his screwdriver to loosen the metal plate. The manacles fell from Frolic’s wrists and neck, leaving dirty gray stains to show where they’d been.
“Frolic, your chest,” Reg breathed, barely audible.
Wincing and chewing his lip, Frolic pulled out the metal rod. Querry realized every muscle in his body had tensed to the point of tearing, and relaxed and exhaled deeply. Then, with a shout of pure relief and happiness, he grabbed Frolic and lifted him off his feet. Frolic shrieked with innocent delight and hugged Querry back. Then he hugged Reg. Then all three of them hugged, holding each other for long moments. Querry and Reg shed tears, and Frolic made a sound between a laugh and a cry.
Afterward, Querry and Reg herded the other men who’d been forced into labor to the airship. Their questions and compliments filled the cozy, glass compartment during the flight back to Dink’s shop. When they reached it, the other men departed. Dink motioned for Querry, Reg, and Frolic to follow him.
“Where are we going?” Reg asked.
“Down,” Dink said. “I will seal off the lower levels. If Thimbleroy’s men come back, they will never know the underground chambers even exist. We will be safe. For now.”