Clown Wyrm - 11. Chapter 11 - The Mechanic

Glimdrim and Krizibop had stayed with the group for a meal, but afterward, the two woodland jesters hugged and kissed their new friends, and they headed off to find the rest of their troupe. Silverwinter had said her goodbyes and embraced everyone, and she returned to her tavern as Tulip and Gorji led Mercury and Periwinkle to the Grunnel.

“Oh, I get it,” Mercury declared when they arrived. “It’s a subway!” The two clowns turned to each other. “You were right; it’s a train.”

Unlike the trains and subways that the two clowns were used to seeing in their own world, the elongated vehicle in front of them was sleek and precise. It reminded them of pictures they had seen of the high-speed trains in Europe and Asia, the likes of which do not exist in the Americas. However, unlike a train made of metal and plastics, the closer the two clowns got to the Grunnel itself, the more it looked like it was made of light. It was not emanating its own illumination, but parts of it appeared to the clowns like the beams of neon signs. They could see that it was solid, like glass, but they could not see through it. The whole thing was nestled in a mechanically designed fissure constructed into the earth.

A door opened, revealing the Grunnel’s interior, and Tulip and Gorji escorted Mercury and Periwinkle onboard. Inside was much more like a train, with a few rows of chairs that were all facing the same direction. The quartet took their seats in a passenger compartment with only a few other travelers.

“Not many people heading from Tingedale to Lithia,” Periwinkle commented.

“There are only three trips between the cities each day,” Tulip replied, “and this mid-day trip is always the least busy.”

The early afternoon ride consisted of more conversation, and the journey between the two towns was uneventful. Two hours after the train left the station, it arrived at Lithia. They disembarked to the platform, and they ventured into a town that was very similar to Tingedale. The sun was high in the sky with a thin layer of grey clouds, but it was warm and a pleasant afternoon.

“The Mechanic’s shop is this way,” Tulip informed the others, and she led them away from the Grunnel station.

Lithia was made up of houses, shops, and cafés. Mercury and Periwinkle spotted a trio of musicians down one side street. They were playing lively music in front of a pub, and the clowns hesitated a moment to listen.

After another few blocks, Tulip informed them, “We’re almost there.”

They walked by a small library and a school, and around the next corner, Mercury spotted the sign for Mechanic’s Pet Supply Shop.

“Pet store?” she asked in surprise.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t we tell you that the Mechanic owns a pet shop?” Tulip replied as she stepped up and opened the front door.

A cacophony broke out as the hinges creaked, and four dogs greeted the guests. One was small and scruffy, with a yipping bark. Two were medium-sized, both with floppy ears and long snouts. The fourth dog was much larger. It looked menacing, with pointy ears like a pair of horns, and large sharp teeth in its wide mouth, but the thing was gangly and clumsy, and it bounced up and down behind the other three with its feet sliding on the floor and its tail wagging like mad. Multiple birds were also screeching and squawking.

“Okay!” a voice called out over the ruckus. “I said, o-kay!”

The dogs quieted a little, but they kept whining and panting, and the little one let out a few more yips.

“Enough,” the voice added as its owner appeared from the back room. A woman stepped into view. She was tall and attractive, with soft brown skin and freckles. Her eyes were bright, and her smile was wide. “Hello, Tulip and Gorji and other friends.”

“Good afternoon, Mechanic,” Tulip replied, and she strode up to the woman, planting a kiss on her cheek and leaving a lipstick mark. “Where’s Norjy? Any chance your wife is around this afternoon?”

“Sorry, luv,” the Mechanic replied, “she ain’t here, and I’m not sure where she’s at. We’re supposed to meet up for dinner this evening after I close up shop, but I don’t know what she’s got planned for the rest of her day.”

“No worries at all,” Tulip said with a beaming smile. “We’ll pop out into town and see if we can’t track her down. These two,” Tulip added, indicating Mercury and Periwinkle, “have never been to Lithia, so we’ll show them around.”

The Mechanic chuckled. “This is a nice place. Oh, and you four might try the blacksmith; Norjy likes to go there most days.”

“That was going to be our next stop,” Tulip replied, and she blew the Mechanic a kiss. “Thanks!”

Out in the street, Tulip continued to lead the group onward, but Mercury stopped and said, “Hang on a second, aren’t we gonna talk to the Mechanic? Isn’t she a rebel? She’s the one I want to talk to.”

Gorji took Mercury’s hand. “Right, sorry, we should have discussed our plan.” She looked over at her wife. “Tulip and I aren’t really that close with the Mechanic, but we’re very close with Norjy. We’ll bring you to meet her, and once she knows a little about you, she’ll probably insist on bringing you back to the shop to talk to her wife. Sorry,” Gorji repeated, “we were hoping Norjy was just going to be there, but we’ll find her. The smithy isn’t far.”

When they arrived, four blacksmiths were working in the forge, and Norjy was among them. She was the only woman present. Mercury and Periwinkle were both very startled by her. Norjy was wearing a full-body jumpsuit and a protective leather apron, but she had removed the top half of the suit from her torso and tied its sleeves around her waist. Her apron only partially covered her breasts, and the sight of the woman, hammering away on a piece of glowing red steel was very distracting to the two clowns. Norjy’s skin was dark, and streaks of soot were smeared across her muscly arms and torso. She turned, dunked the blazing steel into an oil bath, and raised it again with a glorious fireball. The flames vanished, and Norjy set the metal on her anvil, releasing her tongs’ grip on it. She turned to face the new arrivals with a beaming grin and released the apron’s strap behind her neck. It dropped away from her torso and hung at her waist.

“Tulip, Gorji! Good day, ladies! To what do I owe…” Norjy paused as she focused on the pair of smiling clowns beside her friends. “You!” she suddenly raged, and the bare-breasted woman rushed forward, snatching Mercury and Periwinkle by their collars. “My escaped prisoners!”

Norjy was dirty and sweaty, and she was not in her full armor with its purple accents, but the two clowns realized too late that there could be no doubt, Norjy was their captor.

“You’re the two prisoners who jumped into the river! I am Norjia Tiligron, Knight of the Thirteenth Degree, Order of the Althraxion, and you both again are my prisoners.” She was in a fury.

Tulip and Gorji immediately intervened, and each grabbed one of Norjia’s arms.

“Norjy! Stop this at once!” Gorji insisted.

“Mercury and Periwinkle are our friends!” Tulip added. “What happened? Why are you attacking them?” She tried to insinuate herself between the clowns and the topless knight. “Norjy, Mercury wants to be a rebel too,” she stated, and her words caused the warrior woman’s grip to slacken.

Norjia focused on the clowns. “You’re not servants of R’Kathlug?”

“No!” Mercury cried. Now that the clowns knew what that word meant, she added, “I’m going to kill the old god!”

Norjia released them both and stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

“Like we tried to explain before,” Periwinkle reiterated in a gentle tone, “we aren’t from here. We didn’t know what R’Kathlug meant, but we have since learned, and Mercury and I are on a mission to slay the dragon.”

Norjia gave them an incredulous look, and she crossed her arms over her bare chest. “You can’t kill it.”

“People keep telling me that,” Mercury mumbled to Periwinkle. She then spoke up to Norjia. “You’re really one of the rebels? I spent last night with a bunch of them at Whisper Falls. None of them were willing to join Periwinkle and me in this endeavor, but they recommended that your wife might be keen to take part in our assault.”

Norjia now just looked doubtful. “Alright, I guess. I’ll take you to talk to her, but I bet she’ll tell you the same thing. There’s no way your plan can work.”

An hour later, after Norjia had cleaned herself, she brought the other four back to the Mechanic’s pet shop.

“There’s no way your plan can fail!” the Mechanic declared after Mercury had a chance to properly introduce herself and explain her goal.

Norjia rolled her eyes. “My wife, the eternal optimist.”

The Mechanic smirked at her. “That’s one of the things you love so much about me!”

“Ugh,” Norjia groaned, “so what are we getting ourselves into?”

Periwinkle was surprised by her words. “You’re joining us too?”

“Turns out we’re all on the same side,” Norjia replied, “and maybe the rebellion needs some fresh creativity from outsiders.” She eyed the two clowns.

“Outsiders are my favorite kind of people!” the Mechanic declared.

“Well,” Periwinkle added, “we are very much outsiders, and we haven’t even told you where we’re from.”

The group stayed together through dinner, discussing the differences of the two Earths. Tulip and Gorji said their goodbyes, and Mercury and Periwinkle thanked them for all their help, then the wives headed to the Grunnel station to catch the evening ride back to Tingedale.

Norjia and the Mechanic arranged for the two clowns to stay the night with them in Lithia, and in the morning, the four of them were going to begin the journey to the capital, but in the glow of the lamplight, Norjia scrutinized Mercury and Periwinkle.

“You two are bolder than I first thought. You were both so weak and afraid when I captured you, but you have courage that I didn’t see to begin with, and your goal is grander than any rebel attack that I’ve been part of in the past. I think killing the king or slaying R’Kathlug is beyond the ambitions of the rebels here in Armonia.” Norjia looked at her wife. “When Mercury and Periwinkle were my prisoners, I was going to bring them to the High Regent of Mysticism.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” the Mechanic replied, “but we’ll bring them as friends.” She turned to the two clowns. “The regent is another rebel. He probably won’t join us, but he’ll likely have helpful information.”

Mercury liked hearing the Mechanic refer to the four who were now part of her crew as us.

“He grew up in the capital,” the Mechanic continued, “and he used to be part of the royal court. He was a low member with very little power or connection, but he’ll know at least a little more than we do.”

“Why isn’t he part of the court anymore?” Periwinkle asked.

The two wives snickered, and Norjia stated, “He got caught sleeping with one of the husbands of the princess. She found them together, and the king banished him from the capital.”

Mercury was confused. “And how did he go from being part of the king’s court, to being a rebel? That seems like a significant flip in his loyalties.”

“Maybe he can explain it to you himself,” the Mechanic commented. “We’ll take you to him, and you can ask anything you want when we get there.”

“How are we getting to him?” Mercury asked. “Is there another rail line?”

Norjia and the Mechanic glanced at each other, and both of them grinned.

“We’ll be taking Candi,” the Mechanic stated.

“Candy?” Periwinkle repeated. “As in, sweets?”

The wives laughed, and Norjia waved the two clowns toward a side door. “Candi’s out this way.”

Across a sunny yard stood a horse barn with a single old nag in it.

“This is Candi!” the Mechanic declared with a grin.

Norjia stepped up beside her wife. “We’ve got a cart that she pulls for us. She takes us between towns when we’re transporting more stuff than is easy to move on the Grunnel. And,” she added, “we’ll be journeying along the fancy new King’s Road. It’s a project that was started over eleven years ago, and they’ve only had them accessible to the public for about a month.”

“The King’s Road is a pair of newly cleared paths that run north to south, and east to west,” the Mechanic explained. “The two roads cross at the capital, and they are each the fastest way there with the current ban on traveling by ghlistick.”

The two clowns looked at each other, and then back at the wives.

“Someone mentioned that thing to us,” Mercury replied, “but we don’t know what it is.”

“They’re a form of travel for a single person,” the Mechanic stated. “Ghlisticks have been burned en masse all over Armonia. It’s heartbreaking.”

“But what are they?” Mercury reiterated.

Norjia and the Mechanic turned to each other, and Norjia replied, “They’re flying trees.”

Mercury and Periwinkle did not know what to think about that answer.

“Flying trees can’t possibly be a thing,” Periwinkle said to the world at large.

“No, you’re right,” Norjia confirmed. “They’re not actually flying trees, and there aren’t any left around here, so we can’t show you what we mean.”

“But Candi’ll get the job done,” the Mechanic added. “Ghlisticks don’t go much faster than a brisk jog, so the trip will take about as long with Candi on the new direct route to the capital.” The Mechanic looked at her wife and then at the two clowns. “I don’t know if what you have planned will work, but I’m in. I’ll help you get to the capital, get inside the palace, and I’ll get you to the dragon and the king.” The Mechanic looked back at her wife. “I love you, Norjia. I also realize you have a lot more to lose by taking part in what may end up being a suicide mission.” She eyed the clowns to emphasize the gravity of her words before looking back at Norjia. “Your place and station here are important. Your work with the High Regent of Mysticism has been instrumental in helping the poor in this part of Armonia. So if you need to stay here, I understand.”

Norjia frowned. “Dizriolith, of course I’m coming with you! I’ve spent my entire life dedicated to upholding justice, and to the art of training my body as a warrior. This mission is my destiny.”

The Mechanic let out a laugh. “You know, my love, I think you might be right.”