Toymaker

Chapter 5

Alone among the golems, journal in hand as he tried to sketch down the features of the stone giants, all Lacet could think about was seeing the Paelilia doll light up with life last night. It had taken one tentative step and then another. As it had reached the end of the table, it had stopped and looked over its shoulder inquisitively at both Riveltiel and him as if awaiting orders.

Throwing him a knowing look, Riveltiel had ordered the doll to spin around on one foot. To Lacet's utter amazement, it had. Its movement smooth and humanlike.

The application of Voltan's theorem on inanimate objects had been mind-blowing.

It was clear, however, that it had taken quite a lot of magic to operate the doll. By the time the doll was once again lying inert on the desk, Riveltiel had looked incredibly pale. A sheen of sweat had adorned her brow.

"It takes some effort to keep them going," she had said. "Most of the magic expenditure, however, comes from initially waking them up. Theoretically, once awoken, it could keep going until the magic stored in a core runs out."

That had been an interesting nugget of information he had filed away at the time. Lacet glanced up at the silent guardians of the city and pulled Riveltiel's comment out for further analysis. How much magic would it take to wake up one of these behemoths?

Even if they were able to actually manage to 'reanimate' one, there was also the question of keeping it functional for an extended period. There had to be a power source. Just like the small ones he had tinkered with. How to access it, though, was another question entirely.

But the silent giants before him would not simply give him the answer.

Lacet knew he needed to find it himself.

A screech from above tore Lacet from his thoughts. He barely ducked out of the way of the eagle as it dived straight for where his head would have been. Just as he was about to unleash a wave of concussive force, he recognised the bird and its shiny harness. Marus's familiar.

What in the world was it doing here?

As it righted itself in mid-air, Lacet spotted the tightly rolled message strapped to one talon. His mind whirled at the implications. It was far too soon for Marus to be asking for an update, surely. And yet, Lacet would not put it past his old friend and the Duchess to try and keep him on a tight leash. They had made that abundantly clear during their meeting behind closed doors.

The eagle perched on a low wall and began to preen its feathers.

Lacet reached out, hoping to snag the message while the bird was distracted. But as he did so, Marus's eagle immediately went for his fingers, hungry for blood. Lacet pulled back, narrowly having his index snipped off by the sharp beak. The familiar whistled in an affronted high-pitch tone. It glared at Lacet for several moments and he felt something press up against his mind demanding entry. Lacet pushed back against it, refusing to let it in.

Satisfied, perhaps, by the show of defiance, the eagle familiar hopped towards him and stuck out one leg.

"Thank you," said Lacet. "I'll find you a treat later. Promise."

Marus's familiar did not respond. Rather, as soon as he had removed the thin strip of paper, the eagle was airborne again. And having delivered the message, it was eager to depart and return home to its master.

Lacet watched as it beat its huge wings and vanish into the distance; a small dot as it swooped through the open archway leading into the cavern proper.

Just like that, it was gone.

Taking the opportunity afforded him, Lacet unrolled the message he received and began to read.