Magical Mechanications (20 page)

As she marked the twenty-first day off on the wall of her prison—something that made the King’s brow furrow with confusion—Eleanor sighed.

Nikolai looked up from where he sat, in the sun, his gold hair gleaming. He looked so normal and wonderful, that Eleanor risked another sigh. She slid down to the floor once more and picked up the cloak.

Despite her protestations, the cloaks were nearly done. In fact she was working on the final one, and confident that she was going to finish it well before the end of the month and the deadline that Stella had set. She only had to stay the course and finish the final loopwork, as dull and painful as that was.

All would have been well, had the bells not begun to ring. It was not in a happy way, but in a discordant chorus that spoke of imminent threat. Nikolai leapt to his feet, even as Eleanor ran to the windows.

Together they looked out into a clear blue sky, and the princess felt her chest tighten and her throat close. The machines were so much more incredible and frightening when seen in the daylight.

Great wings of brass and bronze beat the air as the eleven swans descended on the City of Eagles. Eleanor and Nikolai watched as the city’s ornithopters flitted out to meet them. Compared to the stout realism of the machines, the ‘thopters looked like a child’s set of paper planes. They lasted just about as long.

The elegant swan necks were bent towards the attackers. Above the desperate ringing of the bells, could be heard a dreadful, constant stream of explosions. “Holy steam,” he swore, thumping the back of the chair.

The delicate wings of the ornithopters caught fire and crisped. Their descent was silent and dreadful.

“Wait here!” The King grabbed her shoulders, and planted a kiss on Eleanor’s silent mouth. It was sudden, unexpected and made her blood rush to her head, but before she could react further, he darted out the door to see to his city.

The princess was left standing in the conservatory, the final cloak trailing from her fingers, and watching her brothers destroy a city she had come to see was no enemy. Eagle and Swan had been at odds for generations, but it had never broken out into real war.

Some of the smaller airships were punctured already. Their envelopes sagging and collapsing in on themselves. People on the deck below ran backwards and forwards like disturbed insects, cutting the ties between the stricken ships and those still untouched; trying to save them. It seemed like a pointless attempt to Eleanor because soon enough the whole city would be in flames.

The princess knew, despite one of the cloaks not being completely done, that this was the only chance she would have. She cast about, grasped hold of a chair, and flung it through the nearest window of the observatory. It shattered, spraying glass out into the void, and the sound joined the screaming of the citizens and the rattle of the swan machines.

“There she is!” The guardsmen had entered the workroom, and at their head was a priest of the Sky God in his bright blue vestments. He looked as though he was about to have apoplexy right there and then.

“Witch!” He howled, his pointing managing to encompass both Eleanor and the devastation beyond the window. “She has bought these demons of the air down on us.”

Eleanor knew she only had mere moments and that all of her work of the last weeks hung on this few heartbeats. The four dragonflies, quiet for so many weeks, flew once more to her defense. Eleanor flung another chair at the advancing guards and spun away.

Then as they scrambled towards her she turned to the window and screamed. “Brothers! Brothers!”

Something in her blood, something in the bond they shared must have reached them, because the machines turned. For a long second they flapped in position, outlined against the bright blue sky, with the flamelight of the airships below them reflected on their brass wings. Then, they dived.

The priest and the guards screamed behind her, leaping back almost as quickly as they had surged forward. Eleanor stood there, one cloak held in each hand and waited.

The swan machines, each about twice the size of a man, crashed through the glass of the observatory. Eleanor could see that her memory had not failed her. The details of the gears and workings of the swans were as she had seen it in the moonlight.

The swans all bent their heads to her, and she could see the weapons that Madame Escrew had fitted them with: devices to spurt flame, and repeating guns the like of which she had never seen. All of which could be turned on her in a moment.

If the remains of her brothers were truly gone then this would be her last moment. Eleanor stood poised, knowing that she didn’t have any chance should they turn on her. The articulated necks, and gleaming jeweled eyes of the birds were all directed at the princess below.

“Come away…” Nikolai’s voice came soft from behind her back. He sounded like he were calming a falcon, trying to put a hood on it.

Eleanor dare not glance back at him, one sight of his face twisted with concern and she would be quite undone. Yet she couldn’t tell him what to do, not yet…not when she was so close to the end of her task. She just had to hope he would follow her lead.

With quick strides, she walked towards the first of the swans, and flung the cloak over the metallic back. With eleven brothers she had to work fast, but then she heard the King himself step up and help her. He couldn’t have known what he was doing, but her heart swelled at his trust in her.

Finally the swans all stood, covered in their cloaks.

“See my liege,” said the temple priest, finally collecting himself, “the witch knows them.”

“I think perhaps she does,” Nikolai held up his hand, to stay the guards from making a move.

Eleanor took out of her pocket the largest starlight opal. The one worth a fortune in any kingdom. Every love meant sacrifice.

Dropping the gem to the floor, she pulled her mallet out from her other sleeve and bought the weight of it smashing down on the precious thing.

The white light within was freed, making everyone in the room flinch away. All except Eleanor, who watched it fill all the other gems in the cloaks. They gleamed brightly, bringing power to her creations. She heard the creak of the gears, and the snap of the vices within as they locked tight on the structure of the swans. The machines threw their proud heads back, and great trumpeting screams broke the rest of the remaining glass in the observatory.

The machines shivered, the workings within shaking themselves loose, something large and metallic ground against itself. And then, the doors burst open and Eleanor’s brothers—all eleven of them—staggered from within.

They were gaunt, pale and sweaty, but Eleanor didn’t care. She rushed to them, called their names, embraced them.

After so long in silence her voice cracked, and fractured on the words.  Then she felt Nikolai’s hand on her shoulder, and now she found she could look up into the King’s eyes. She was free of subterfuge and the tenets of the cloak construction.

“These are my brothers.” It felt so good to say it, though it came out husky. “I am sure you are wondering. Madame Escrew has my father in thrall, and she did this to them. The machines were swallowing them, and I had to work in silence to free them.”

“That was not what I was wondering,” Nikolai replied. “Your name is what I have wanted all this time?”

She smiled, as she helped Brian to his feet. “Eleanor.”

The princess and the King stared at each other, while the brothers shook themselves and blinked.

The priest had turned white, while the guardsmen shifted on their feet uncertain what to do. They could all tell that something had changed in the broken observatory.

“Now what do we do Eleanor? What is the next move?” Alan pushed his hair out of his eyes, and she was aware that all of her brothers were once again looking to her for answers.

The King of the Eagles too was watching her; those green eyes expecting and welcoming. She turned and looked at the remains of the swan machines with an analytical eye.

“I say that we can learn a great deal from these machines, and then,” she smiled archly, “We turn her work on her, and take back the Swan City and my father.”

The men around her nodded.

“And you shall lead us,” Nikolai said, taking her hand. “A true Queen of the Swans.”