The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 31

VINDOBONA

10.01.8462 - 8:50 PM

Night had already fallen in Vindobona; despite the intense cold, that was a day without snow, the streets were all humid. After a walk of almost a kilometer and a half, a tall lady, covered with a brown hood that hid her face completely, calmly walked down the Kaunitzgasse. That was a customary path for the old lady, who in all her visits to Vindobona left Heldenplatz towards Magdalenenstraße.

She usually enjoyed the walk, especially at night, when the old buildings no higher than seven floors were all lit by white and gold lights. It was usually a quiet walk, just routine, but she did not appreciate the buildings that specific night. Although her steps were calm, the worry in the old lady's head was great. She continued down Kaunitzgasse to the junction with Magdalenenstraße, where she walked a few more meters to number six.

Compared to the other buildings in the surrounding streets, 17 Magdalenenstraße was a simple five-story building without any outstanding architectural features and windows ranging from vaulted to square windows from one floor to another. On the ground floor, vaulted doors made of wood and glass gave access to a small shop with a wooden sign reading Hephaestus Bilderrahmen. The old lady walked into the store a few minutes before it closed. As she opened the only glass door not blocked by trestles, a small bell rang over it, announcing the entry of a new visitor.

The shop was filled with oil paintings with large gilt frames, several lamps, and statues. Behind an all-wood counter, a short, fat man in suspenders looked up from the book he was reading as the old lady entered the shop. He raised his left eyebrow, which stood out above his square glasses.

"Guten Abend," he said seriously. "You've never been here so late. It's only ten minutes before the store closes," he announced with a strong accent.

The old woman unpleasantly looked at him.

"Forgive me. I'm not rushing you; I'm just surprised by the unusual time of your visit. Take as much time as you need."

"Danke, Maximilian," said the old lady moving through the crowded art shop. "I hope you are well."

"The winter is being severe in Vindobona this year, and I hate the cold. But I'm fine," Maximillian replied.

"I'm glad you're well. Do you mind?" She asked, walking around the counter.

"Not at all. As I told you, Lassen Sie sich Zeit," said the gentleman indicating a small trapdoor behind the counter.

"Vielen Dank!" Said the woman covered by the hood while Maximillian opened the trapdoor.

The old woman quickly descended the stairs and, with a wave, made some candles light up in a long tunnel made of stones. The space between one candle and another was reasonably long, which made the lighting poor. As soon as the candles lit, Maximillian closed the trapdoor behind the woman.

She walked for a little more than a hundred meters through the underground tunnel, passing under other buildings on the Magdalenenstraße until finally reaching a spiral staircase, very steep with walls covered with the same stones as the tunnel.

The lady began to quickly climb up the steps but soon slowed down as she began to get dizzy. 'I'm losing my vitality, indeed,' she thought. After climbing seven floors, she reached the top floor of the building and the spiral staircase, which ended in a narrow door. The old lady placed her hand on the doorknob, which immediately got warmer and, with a click, unlocked the door, allowing her to enter the room on the top floor of number 1 Magdalenenstraße. The room had a wooden floor and ceiling and a large window divided into three panes of glass; through the window, it was possible to see a series of stalls that formed a tangle of Delikatessen and restaurants, some tables arranged between the gas heaters. Entering the room, the old woman removed her brown cloak and placed it on a rack to the right of the door. She threw back her long golden braid and walked around the room, looking up at the ceiling. Watching the height of several pans hanging from the ceiling, Charlotte's jaw dropped.

The Queen of Queens began pacing the room, checking the machine with several copper pans that hung just inches from the wooden ceiling. Except for one, all the pans were the same diameter, with little words carved into them, hanging from little golden chains. The chains entered through pulleys, all connected to a final chain, a thicker chain attached to the only clashing pan in the room, a much larger pan, in front of the room's main window.

Charlotte looked to the side of the window where a small wooden sign was nailed, the letters with her name in gold beginning to fade. She turned away from the windows and noted that the pans that usually hung just five centimeters from the wooden ceiling were now at varying distances, farther away from the roof, some consuming up to fifty centimeters of the chain. Her eyes filled with tears, and she ran her hand around the larger pan, the lowest one.

She knew very well that the biggest pan used to be in a much lower position, pulling all other smaller pans up. Ever since the placement of that balance on the top floor of 1 Magdalenenstraß, that larger plate had always remained below Charlotte's knees, but that night, the pan reached her waist. One of Charlotte's tears fell onto the empty surface of the copper bowl, and as soon as her tear hit the bottom of the bowl, the entire room began to vibrate.

Charlotte looked at the chains and pulleys on the ceiling as they all began to turn at the same time. The biggest pan rose a few centimeters while some smaller pans came down, pulling on the golden chains. Charlotte stared in horror, wondering if there was a way to reverse that. She had one certainty at that moment: her weakness and fear were tipping the balance against her. She sniffed, pulling all her secretions back into her body and glaring at the scale.

For a moment, Charlotte let out a shriek of rage and sadness and clenched her fists tightly, causing all the hanging pans to shake and crash into each other. She lifted her head to stare at the huge glass window and, with a movement more conspicuous than necessary, caused them to burst open with a bang as tears ran down her face. The cold of the night suddenly filled the room, and Charlotte's knees gave out. She remained on the floor, on all fours, facing the biggest pan of the balance:

"Let me, let me, let me freeze again to death," Charlotte spoke with her hoarse voice.

MOTTAMOTOR

11.01.8462 - 03:55 AM

Lélia remained disconnected from the news all day and asked none of her friends to inform her about the probable crisis that arose after the disclosure of Felício's murder; she was determined to deal with it only the following day. At that hour, there was no one but her in the Mottamotors building. Not even in the woods that surrounded the facilities and development area. Even so, Lélia slipped in through the front door of the building and climbed the stairs to her office. She was so preoccupied with her mission that she wasn't even afraid of being alone in a vast isolated place.

Entering her office, she went to a closet and unlocked it with the touch of her fingers. She pulled out a kind of MC from inside the closet, but much bigger and a little more archaic. As soon as the device read Lélia's face, the screen showed a different logo. It wasn't Mottamotors but the CriSPe logo. Lélia left the room carrying the machine with her; when she reached the outside area of ​​the ground floor, she got into the car and drove to the Mottamotors airstrip. Lélia stopped right at the head of the track and left the car's headlights on to illuminate the night. She got out of the car and went towards the headlights. At the head of the road, there was a discreet circle about fifteen meters in diameter.

Lélia stood outside, right on the edge of the circle while accessing the device in her hands. After a few commands, the circle on the ground began to rotate, rising over the track, revealing a large hole in the ground. A few seconds later, a second disc parallel to the first, which was already seven meters high, reached the surface, fitting perfectly into the position in which the upper circle was. On the lower base of the circle was a small plane, completely black. Lélia continued to input some data into the device. The plane's engines then began to make a noise when Lélia finished entering all the information. She selected a one-minute timer and then climbed back into the car, backing up and away from the jet blast of the small aircraft.

She remained inside the car, watching the plane pick up speed down the runway and take off into the dark sky. She took a deep breath and then returned to the device in her hands. With just two clicks, the discs began to spin again, returning to the original position camouflaged at the runway threshold. Lélia took her MC and sent a voice message to Fernand.

"That's it. I've programmed it to perform a route following the night after leaving you and return to the original base. Kisses."