Wyvern's Trim and other stories (3 page)

At the moment
she was in the oldest part of the whole city and the streets were
narrow. The castle had been the seat of the La Brede family for
generations. There were even scorch marks on one of the towers from
a distant dragon attack to prove they had earned their place as
humanities’ protectors.

Dragons hadn’t
attacked humans in over eight hundred years but no one could forget
that at one time humans hadn’t been at the top of the food
chain.

Callisto was
nervous as she followed the solider to the main audience hall at
the La Brede castle. She was lugging her work case with
her.

The soldier when
he had greeted her at the servant’s gate had glanced at the large
bag but he hadn’t offered to carry it or to check it. She didn’t
have much of a good opinion about the soldier but that wasn’t
entirely this man’s fault.

Her father had
been a soldier and he had been a ripe bastard. The best thing
Callisto had ever done was to take her mother to her uncle when she
was twelve. As she realised her father was never going to change.
Her mother’s uncle had looked after them and when her father had
tried to take them back he had beaten the crap out of him. She
still remembered that day with glee and fear, seeing her father
beaten to a bloody mess by her great uncle.

Her father was
still alive and out there but her mother was safe in another
province and Callisto had a few surprises for her father if he ever
tried to find either of them.

Her mother’s
uncle had passed on last year. A sudden illness Callisto had
thought until they had read his will. Apparently he had been living
on borrowed time. She had been grateful that he had spent that time
with her teaching her his trade.

He didn’t have
any children so all his knowledge had gone to her though his things
had been sold to pay off the last of his debts his long illness had
incurred.

Callisto had
been surprised by the summons to the castle. The Baron of La Brede
was an interesting man, but not one who had ever called on her
skills before.

His father had
been a lawyer and had taught his son fairness which was unique
amongst the noblemen. Some were only concerned about their
luxuries. La Brede had made improvements to the farming and there
was enough food to export to other districts making this city very
prosperous. He was not well liked at the court that flocked around
the Emperor in Versailles. So mostly he hid out here in what most
considered the provinces and that had suited Callisto as well.
Noblemen meant soldiers. And she didn’t want anything to do with
soldiers.

When the Baron
had summoned her she had come with the soldiers without any
protest. He might be a well-liked man but that didn’t mean he
wouldn’t throw her into a dungeon if she went against him. Besides
she could do with the work. Not many people liked to hire a female
tinker.

The soldier
pushed open the door and motioned for her to enter. She stepped
into the room and went still.

The Baron was
walking slowly as he paced his hall. He was speaking with a man
that stood much taller than the Baron. He was very broad of
shoulder. His skin was a golden brown that wasn’t seen very often
in this district. He stood at attention with his hands clasped
behind his back and his legs set apart in a very familiar stance.
But what drew her attention was the clockwork arm of the large
man.

His left arm was
made up of cogs and rods of bronze. He shifted and he flexed the
fingers of the clockwork hand. She took a few steps before she
realised that she might be interrupting. Before she could take the
steps back to hide amongst the columns by the door the Baron
noticed her and motioned her forward.

Callisto was
shaking as she came to stand near the very tall man. He turned to
look at her and she was shocked to see that he was actually a
dragon. Those golden eyes were unmistakeable. The Baron had warm
whiskey eyes that told everyone that he had a dragon ancestor. Most
of the nobility were related to dragons in one way or another. It
was not unusual to see dragons at court. There hadn’t been a dragon
in La Brede in years. This one looked ready to eat
someone.

The Baron said,
“I had heard of your injury and thought you would like to avail
yourself of the services of our clockwork maker but I see you had
already managed to get a new arm.”

The dragon
brought his arm forward and flexed his fingers and said in a deep
slumberous voice, “It is sufficient.”

She knew the
tone and asked, “May I?”

He offered his
arm and she put her bag down to take a closer look. The joints were
just superb. She couldn’t have done a better job. She pulled a
piece of cloth that had jammed into one of the cogs and one of his
fingers jerked. She apologised absently as she continued to study
the workmanship.

She clicked her
tongue in appreciation, “Whoever did the work was very talented.
But I have a covering for this that will protect the gears. It is
lightweight and acts like skin in many ways. I might even be able
to work it into the matrices that are already in place so you can
gain some sensation.”

The Baron
clapped his hands in excitement. “Excellent. I knew it wouldn’t be
a waste of time to call on you Miss Monroe. You can give an upgrade
to his arm and send me the bill. It is the least gift I can give to
my cousin.”

She glanced up
from the arm and noticed that the dragon was watching her closely.
She doubted that he was a real cousin to the Baron but the title
might mean they considered themselves family despite any distance
in the family tree.

The Baron said,
“Tinker, you can use the engineer’s workshop if you
wish.”

She shook her
head. “I’m sorry my lord but it will be by far more efficient
if…”

The dragon said,
“Faisal.”

She continued.
“It is will be more efficient if Lord Faisal came to my workshop in
the city.”

The Baron looked
past her to the dragon. He must have given some signal that he
wouldn’t mind working in the city.

The Baron
shrugged. “Well, thank you cousin for bringing your news, even if
it is disturbing. You may rest now or you might want to go with the
tinker to add to your arm. You can’t be sure when you will be
called back.”

Faisal bowed his
head slightly. He leant down and picked up her bag. She jerked with
surprise and went to reach for it but was forced to follow the
dragon as he spun on his heels and left the hall.

He asked, “Where
is your workshop?”

He had really
long legs so her pace was a little awkward as she kept up with
him.

A little
breathless she answered, “It is in the city. I take it you want a
consultation now. It will take a while to make the modifications to
your arm. Are you sure you want to start now. You can come whenever
it is convenient for you.”

His voice was a
low rumble. “Now is convenient.”

She realised she
wasn’t going to be able to put him off so she led the way when they
left the castle. By the time they reached her workshop in the city
she was a little puffed as she had almost had to run to keep up
with the dragon.

After her uncle
had died she had come to this small city because of the signs of
prosperity. As well as the fact it didn’t have many soldiers. She
had rented a barn and had turned it into a comprehensive workshop.
She hadn’t realised she had made that much of an impact until the
Baron had summoned her.

Callisto
motioned for him to put her bag down by the door but he came in and
studied the large room. He placed the bag in a clear space by the
door on the table. It was where she usually put it. She had to
remember that he was a dragon and appearances were
misleading.

She motioned him
to a stool and asked, “Do you want something to drink? It will take
me awhile to set up the machines that I need to get accurate
measurements.”

He shook his
head and continued to study the room. He moved around and poked
things. She hoped he didn’t break anything but the fastest way to
get him out of her workshop was to do the work.

She pulled out
her light machine that could tell her measurements to pin point
accuracy. She would need that if she was to make the casing. It was
a little flexible but for best effect it would need to fit like a
glove.

Callisto was
almost finished setting up when he disappeared behind some shelves
and she rushed after him. He had come to a standstill and was
looking at the glass boxes that held the spiders.

He asked, “Are
they poisonous?”

She shook her
head. “I harvest their webs for my work. Here.”

She passed him a
sample of the woven web material.

She explained in
a conversational tone. “It is stronger than it looks. I also mix it
with things like resin and laminate it for best effect.”

She passed him
one of the finished ones and said, “This is what I’m going to use
as your new skin.”

He tugged on it
and said, “It is light.”

She smiled at
the comment. “Yes. Weight becomes important when you start to put
it onto a frame. For instance if I had to use a metal composite for
your arm it would weigh a few kilograms. This will be milligrams
instead.”

He held it up to
the light to have a closer look. “Could you make something
bigger?”

She shrugged.
Though she was already using everything she produced from the
spiders that she had now. “Sure. It would take time as it takes a
long time to harvest the spider silk.”

He turned his
gaze to her and she was jolted by the intensity. “Start. I will
have a large commission for you if you do well with this
arm.”

She wasn’t sure
she wanted to do more business with the dragon. It wasn’t so far in
human history that the dragons had been human’s main predator. She
shivered and turned to hide her reaction from him.

She said, “Come
to the seat. I want to have a closer look at that arm of yours. Can
you tell me anything about it?”

He sat down and
offered his arm. “A friend’s wife made it for me. She has made
others like it that are sentient.”

She twisted it
slightly to have a better look. “Sentient? How so?”

She didn’t look
up as he answered, “She makes dragons.”

Callisto gasped
and looked up from his arm. She had heard of the dragons made out
of clockwork. They acted mostly like birds or pets but they were
self-aware and that was something no one else had come close to
achieving.

She really did
need to have a closer look at his arm. She went back to fiddling
with the light device and asked, “How long have you had
it?”

He gave a small
shrug. “Two weeks.”

So the shininess
was more an indication of newness rather than his dedication to up
keep.

She would have
to keep that in mind. “Ah, so very new. Anything you have noticed
that you want fixed.”

He wrinkled his
nose a little as he answered, “It catches on things. Like
clothes.”

She smiled to
herself. “I gathered that. The skin will help with
that.”

He flexed his
fingers to demonstrate the next thing. “Also it is sometimes hard
to control how much pressure I use.”

She patted his
hand and got up to finish with the machine.

Callisto asked,
“Have you had much trouble with that?”

Faisal’s voice
when he spoke was mixed with amusement. “A little.”

She glanced up
at him to ask for clarification but the thought disappeared out of
her head. Faisal had taken off his shirt. He was folding it and
laying it over a tall stool tucked in by the worktable. He had more
scars on his body than she had ever seen on any body.

She coughed to
cover her lapse into stupefied silence and when he looked up she
motioned him to put his shirt on a table and retake his
seat.

She indicated
the machine she had been working on and said, “This will help me
figure out the dimensions of your arm. It needs to be very
accurate. Once I have fabricated the skin I can’t make any
adjustments to it.”

She flicked on
the machine and lights flashed then a series of beams spread out to
cover him and moved down slowly. She made some adjustments but it
seemed they were going to get a clean image.

She had him move
around so they could make a three dimensional model of his arm. The
light machine whirred as it worked to make a marquet for her to
work with.

She moved over
to Faisal and looked at the join to his skin. It had left a red
mark where the clockwork joined his arm. She unclipped the braces
and slid the arm off.

He had obviously
been without the arm for a significant time as it was well healed.
Like most of the scars on his body.

There were
little wires coming out of the brace that was attached to his arm.
She thought this was how the limb knew what to do. There were
crystals in the joints that relayed the information from the wires
to where it was needed. If she put the skin into the same network
he might even have some residual sensation.