Shadows of Asphodel (27 page)

“Who is it?” called a muffled voice.

“Ardis,” she said.

The door swung open, and Konstantin stood there, blinking like someone who had spent too much time alone in the dark. His curly hair had been mussed to a spectacular degree, a pair of aviator goggles pushed up over his head.

“I see you found your sword,” he said, and he smiled.

“I did,” she said flatly.

His smile faded. “Is something the matter?”

Ardis bit her lip. She didn’t know Konstantin well enough to want to tell him the whole story about her father.

“I’m a little tired,” she said.

He cocked his head, took a breath, and then shook his head.

“Better come inside,” he said. “I have something to tell you.”

Ardis crossed the room, sat on the couch, and hunched with her elbows on her knees. Konstantin shut the door.

“Wendel is still in Vienna,” he said, “and I know how to find him.”

His voice was muffled by the shadowy stillness of the office.

Ardis almost agreed with him, then realized she wouldn’t have known about Wendel without meeting Thorsten Magnusson first.

“How?” she said, keeping her face blank.

“The automatons,” he said simply.

“The automatons in Project Lazarus?”

He glanced at the door, then dragged a chair closer to her and sat.

“It’s brilliant!” he murmured, his eyes bright. “The technomancy involved in the automatons’ control systems was inspired by Wendel’s own necromancy. Specifically, his ability to control the dead remotely.”

“Wendel told me,” she said. “Called it really clever magic.”

Konstantin blushed. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. Still getting problems with interference. The technomancy is, at best, only a crude approximation of Wendel’s magic. A necromancer can control an army of the dead as a legion, or command each man independently. We still don’t have the level of precision required to pilot more than one automaton. Commands sent to one interfere with the others.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I don’t see how this helps us find Wendel.”

“Ardis, the interference. Each of the automatons responds to Wendel’s necromancy. We can rewire the control systems to find him.”

“Like a compass?” she said.

He broke into a smile. “Exactly.”

It
was
brilliant. Ardis felt herself floating from a dark place.

“How long will it take?” she said.

“I already started,” he said, and he grinned. “There’s only one problem.”

She dug her nails into her palms. “What?”

“I need a pilot.”

The way he was looking at her, with that glint in his eyes, made her mouth go dry.

“Me?” she said. “But Margareta will murder me.”

“Please.” Konstantin sniffed. “I’m the technomancer who’s loaning out a top secret automaton to go rescue a necromancer.”

Ardis laughed. “Good point.”

“Can I take that as a yes?”

She tugged her jacket straight. “I can’t say no.”

The archmage sprang to his feet, and she hoped she wouldn’t regret this. But at the same time, she was glad to have any hope at all.

~

The Academy of Technomancy resided in a monumental brick building that looked as if it might house something as mundane as a bank or government office, if the place didn’t always smell peculiarly like a thunderstorm. And in the evening, Ardis saw the windows flicker with tiny wisps of escaped magic.

The archmages weren’t officially part of the University of Vienna, but they had the political clout to treat the campus like a playground. It wasn’t so shocking, then, that the Academy of Technomancy had burned to the ground after a magical containment issue a few years back. The laboratories had just been rebuilt.

“This is it?” Ardis said.

Konstantin nodded and held a finger to his lips. He veered from the main entrance to the Academy and walked down an alleyway. The archmage stopped outside an unmarked door and fumbled in his pocket before finding a key ring.

“A key?” Ardis said.

Konstantin glanced at her with wide eyes.

“Seems a little simple,” she said, “for security purposes.”

“Oh,” he said, and he shrugged.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside. She followed him into a dimly lit concrete stairwell that spiraled down. The rapping of their shoes echoed. It smelled like mildew and stale air, the concrete walls slicked with damp.

At the bottom of the stairwell, Konstantin unlocked another door and held it open.

“Ladies first,” he said, with a quick smile.

With a nod, Ardis walked through the door and into the underground laboratory.

She was struck by the length of the room, which stretched out of sight, and the height of the ceiling, which was at least ten feet. Rows upon rows of stark electric lights stretched overhead. Around a dozen men and women in white coats bustled around the laboratory, tinkering with a menagerie of technomancy gadgets.

She lingered by the door, afraid to blunder too far into the busy room.

“Damn!” she muttered to herself. “This is Project Lazarus?”

“Impressed?” Konstantin said, startling her with how close he stood.

Ardis pretended like she wasn’t on edge. She paced along the wall, trying to orient herself in the laboratory.

“Careful!” the archmage called out. “There’s a lot of voltage over there.”

Her hand clamped on Chun Yi, though she was pretty sure a sword wouldn’t be any good against high-voltage electricity. She felt completely out of her element around so much mysterious technology and magic. They walked deeper into the laboratory at a brisk pace. Then she saw the reason for the high ceiling.

The automaton.

It stood against the wall, seven feet tall, its steel carapace gleaming like a suit of plate armor for a giant. The automaton had no face, and she could see inside its hollow head. There was what could only be a cockpit inside.

Her stomach tightened with equal parts unease and excitement.

“Ardis!”

She knew that voice. She spun around and looked straight at Diesel. He stood there, quietly, and wore a white coat like everyone else in the laboratory. He dabbed the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

“Dr. Rudolf Diesel.” She shook her head. “I thought I would never see you again.”

His mustache twitched with a smile.

“We parted under unusual circumstances,” he said.

“Circumstances I regret.”

That night on the
Dresden
wasn’t her fault, but she still didn’t imagine being drugged, dumped overboard, and abducted had been pleasant.

Diesel licked his lips, then sidestepped nearer. “Ardis,” he muttered. “I’m worried.”

She stared at him. “About?”

“Project Lazarus is powerful. I shudder to think of that power in the wrong hands.”

A shiver crawled down her spine. She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t even seen these automatons in action yet.

Konstantin stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Diesel,” he said, “but we are rather pressed for time. Do you know who has the second prototype?”

Diesel glanced between them. His eyes glinted with curiosity.

“Archmage Carol,” he said. “Yet another flaw in the leg pneumatics, though she should be finishing the repairs as we speak.”

Konstantin winced. “I had hoped we might borrow both of them.”

“Borrow?” Diesel said.

“Both?” Ardis added. “Don’t we only need one automaton?”

“True.” Konstantin cocked his head. “We can’t operate more than one at a time, not with the interference, but we can power up two to triangulate his position. Otherwise we will be working with much less accuracy.”

Diesel clucked his tongue, then met the archmage’s eyes.

“May I ask who you want to find?” he said. “And why you rewired the control systems for both of the automatons?”

“Ah,” Konstantin said. “Well.”

Ardis cleared her throat. “Unusual circumstances.”

Diesel stepped back and held up his hands.

“Then I will stay out of your way,” he said.

“Thank you.” Konstantin blew out his breath, and smiled tentatively. “If you wouldn’t mind finding Archmage Carol…?”

Diesel nodded. “Might as well stretch my legs.”

He tucked his handkerchief in his pocket and trudged down the length of the laboratory.

Konstantin glanced back at Ardis.

“Good,” he said, nodding. “Ready?”

“Ready to what?”

He smiled like she might be joking. “Pilot the automaton, of course.”

Ardis froze, staring into the automaton’s hollow metal head. Konstantin clapped her on the shoulder and steered her closer.

She stiffened her legs. “Why can’t you pilot the automaton?”

“Because I need your help,” he said. “And I’m a bit too tall for the prototype. My legs cramp if I stay in there for too long. Uncomfortable and unproductive. Though the final automatons will be much bigger.”

Much bigger? Ardis arched her eyebrows. Clearly seven feet tall wasn’t tall enough.

She sighed. “Technically, I have to take orders from you.”

“Excellent!”

Konstantin rubbed his hands together. Humming, he hurried to the automaton and unlatched a metal door in the chest, revealing the pilot’s chair inside the cockpit. Ardis unbuckled Chun Yi’s scabbard from her belt, and when she touched the sword, she felt a boost of courage. She stared up into the automaton.

Konstantin hovered by her side. “Here, let me give you a hand.”

“Thanks,” she said.

The archmage grasped Ardis at the waist and boosted her into the cockpit. She twisted around and lowered herself into the seat. She found boots to slide her feet into, and articulated metal gloves for her hands.

“Now for power,” Konstantin said. “The ignition should be near your left shoulder.”

“Inside the automaton?”

“Yes. Twist the key.”

Ardis pressed her chin to her chest to peer inside the cockpit. Right over her heart, she found a slot with a key. She slipped her right hand from the metal glove. The key turned with a click, and the automaton shuddered to life. A deep rumbling vibrated through the steel and reverberated through her chest.

Konstantin danced back and raised his hand. “Carefully, now!”

Ardis flexed her fingers, and the automaton’s metal fingers clinked together. When she raised her arm, the automaton’s arm swung upward. Power hummed through the giant metal body, and she was its puppeteer.

She waved at him. “How is this?”

“I’m impressed.” Konstantin laughed. “You have a real knack for that.”

Another archmage came running down the laboratory, her white coat billowing behind her in the wind of her speed. She had the lean look of someone who never stopped moving for long, and she glanced between them with a grin.

Konstantin waved at her. “Archmage Carol!”

“Found a better test pilot?” Carol said.

Better? Ardis hoped the last one hadn’t met a sticky end.

Konstantin nodded. “She will be helping us today. Is the other prototype ready?”

Carol waved them onward. “Come and see for yourself.”

Archmage Carol jogged down the laboratory, and Konstantin hurried to follow. She easily outpaced even his long strides.

“What about me?” Ardis called.

Konstantin glanced back. “Walk!”

Oh. Of course.

Clenching her jaw, Ardis took a tentative step forward. The automaton’s massive metal foot swung forward and clunked on the floor. She worried it might be unsteady, but it seemed to borrow her sense of balance. Another step. Then another. After only three lumbering strides, she had already caught up with Archmage Carol.

“That’s it,” Carol said. “Nice and slow.”

“Slow?” Ardis laughed. “How fast is this thing when it runs?”

“The prototype is twice as fast as your average soldier.”

“Wow.”

“The technomancy in our automatons,” Carol said, “combines the speed and strength of the machine with the skill of the pilot. The pneumatics aren’t always flawless, though. That’s what happened to the next prototype.”

They reached the far end of the laboratory. The second automaton lay on its back on a massive flatbed trolley. The metal plate on its shin had been removed, revealing the gleaming oiled innards of the automaton’s leg.

“Konstantin?” Carol said. “When do you need this up and running?”

Out of breath, Konstantin caught up with them. He shook his head, then tugged his goggles down over his eyes.

“Not literally up and running,” he said. “Powered should be sufficient.”

Carol leaned over the trolley. She turned the key in the ignition, and the automaton rumbled to life. Lying flat on its back, it purred with a low hum that echoed inside Ardis’s automaton and sent a thrill down her spine.

Maybe, after this was over, she should spend more time down in the secret laboratory.

“Wait!” Konstantin said. “Did you disconnect the control systems from the pneumatics?”

“Obviously.” Shaking her head, Carol looked sideways at him. “Otherwise I would never run both prototypes at once.”

Ardis raised her hand. “I’m guessing the interference is bad? Very bad?”