“What I see,” she said, “is what you'd have me believe. What I'm thinking, is that while I am truly invaluable and superior to fleshly creatures in every way, Letitia is intelligent, resourceful, and completely capable of taking care of herself. You have left her alone before, and never mentioned any great concern. What greater threat do you feel is lurking about Ulster-East now?”
“You weren't there, or you wouldn't ask.”
“Wouldn't ask what?”
“The Prince. Aghen Aghenfleck. His eyes drank her in, Julia. Tasted her with his filthy gaze, as if she were some fine exotic wine brought to court for his pleasure. ‘I will speak to you more, my dear, at a later time,’ he tells her. ‘You could help me learn much of the Mycer folk,’ he said.”
“Surely a creature like the Prince befouls every female he looks upon,” Julia said.
In spite of a warming breeze, Finn felt a sudden chill. “Surely indeed. And many get more than a glance, and have no wits about them when the Prince has filled his needs. That will not happen to Letitia Louise. And, if I'm not thinking better on this on the morrow, I'll not take this damned mission at all. I will take you and Letitia and leave behind everything I've worked for here, and flee to some other land.”
“And where would that be?” asked Julia Jessica Slagg. “Where are the kings and princes wise? Where are the nobles truly noble, Finn?”
Finn, gazing off into the darkness of the night, had no ready answer for that…
NINE
Indeed, as Julia had said, Letitia was deep in peaceful sleep when Finn finally cast his thoughts aside and quietly joined her in the small bedchamber above The Lizard Shoppe.
Slipping out of his clothes, he snuffed the single candle and slipped in beside her in the dark.
As ever, Finn was awed by the touch, by the presence, by the magic of this lovely creature who shared his bed and brought joy to his life. Fate, he thought, not for the first time, bestows its wonders in ways no mortal can comprehend. Less than a year had passed since Letitia had come into his home as housekeeper and cook, someone to do those tasks that needed doing while he spent long hours pursuing his craft.
It was clear, when he hired her, that she was a most attractive Newlie, a charming Mycer girl with dark, iridescent eyes, small, but pouty lips, and a rather pointy nose that turned up nicely at the tip. Her ears rose to delicate points beneath her ashen hair, and her skin had the soft, downy texture of her kind.
All these qualities he noticed, but cast them in a corner of his mind for the time, most of his head being crammed, jammed with thoughts of silver wheels that whined and hummed, golden wires thin as gnat whiskers, tiny cogs and gears, and gems no bigger than poppy seeds.
Then, on a day much like the one before that, when a lizard that peeled potatoes didn't seem to work at all, he suddenly looked up and saw her standing there, holding a cup of clover tea.
Finn was struck dumb at the sight, dazzled by her opalescent eyes, eyes that seemed immersed in dark and fragrant oil. Stunned by the way every beam of sunlight shimmered in her hair.
That moment of wonder passed; nothing was said or done, nothing for a time. Letitia, though, felt a flush at Finn's glance that began at her toes and nearly exploded through the top of her head. For she had fallen for him the instant she walked into his house-and, until that moment, was sure he'd seldom looked at her twice.
Misadventure and dread, fearsome times kept further declarations at bay. But, as fortune would have it, these dire events seemed to bring them closer still, and, finally, toss them into one another's arms, and they had seldom been far from one another since
"How could I have been so blind?” Finn had asked her a hundred times since. “I should have known at first sight you were the love of my life.”
“The important thing is, you did come around, my dear,” she told him. “And, often, love takes its time to strike.”
Especially for the male, who has to be struck in the head before he can open his eyes…
"They would ever pay a price for their devotion, and both knew it well. They might be husband and wife to one another, but never in the public eye. Any sort of intimate relations between a human and a Newlie was forbidden by the law. While many folk no longer cared just who did what with whom, others were filled with righteous gall, wouldn't stand for habits different from their own, and handed out dread judgment in the dark of night.
Would it ever be different, Finn often wondered, or would the world always be the same?
The “Change” had turned the world upside down, and many Newlies-as well as humankind- thought turning beasts into something similar to Man had brought great sorrow to everyone.
Shar and Dankermain, the seers who'd done this deed three hundred years before, had paid for their crime with their lives. The spawn of their sin, though, were left behind to breed in a world where they didn't belong.
Now, as well as Mycers, there were Bowsers, Snouters, Foxers, Yowlies and Grizz. Vampies, Bullies, Dobbins and Badgie kind, strewn all about the known world.
And, if the Mycer folk were one of the Chosen Nine, and if a man named Finn fell in love with a being who was, truly, not solely a person at all, what was he to do- shut out his feelings, or sleep with one eye open, in case some loony decided to “purify” them both some dark and sorry night?
And you, Finn thought to himself, not for the first time or the last, why did you do the same, and break such laws as well?
For, much like the two mad sorcerers themselves, he had flouted nature himself, giving life to Julia Jessica Slagg, a creature not of flesh, but brass and copper, gold and iron and tin. More that that, he had given his creation the brain of a ferret, a poor creature caught in a trap and nearly dead.
And why? He had answered that question long ago. Though his was no act of magic, he had done this deed for much the same reason as the seers: Because he had the talent, the flair. He had dared the act of creation because he could.
Unable to put such thouchts aside, Finn sat up, eased himself out of bed, and walked to the window to peer out into the dark. The sky was clear and a million stars blazed with a cold and fearsome light.
To the west was the river, dark except for a few dim lanterns on the masts of fishing boats. Finn could imagine the men and Newlies there preparing their nets for the day, and wondered what life was like for those who plied their trade on the twisting waterways.
Not far from the river, up the rise upon the hill, were the heights of the royal palace. Bright lights always burned there. Sometimes one could hear their reveling far into the night. Princes and their toadies didn't have to work the next day; there were lesser fools hired to do that.
Finally, Finn forced himself to look to the east. There was the glow of the Royal Balloon Yards, a pale, threatening cloud of dirty orange, and below, an eerie yellow light.
The light, and the pall of dirty smoke, meant the Grounder Crews were stoking the coals in the great hot furnaces there, pits of fire that never went out through the rains of summer or the howl of winter storms. The work went on under the high, timbered roofs, work that never ceased because the war never stopped, and the great balloons must rise every day. Rise, and float out across the river, past the swampy land where the enemy's balloons waited to meet their foes.
There, men would fight and men would die. Men would come back bloody and maimed, missing an arm or a leg. Some, who clearly had no luck at all, would live to fight another day.
And what will I lose, if indeed I do not lose it all? An eye, a toe? An arm or maybe two? A fine lizard-maker that'd be
“Scones and Stones,” he said softly, gripping the sill and staring into the night, “if I'm not whole, I'll not come back at all. I will never burden dear Letitia with some gross and mutilated creature, some piece of a man who drags his poor shell about the streets, begging for a pence or two. By damn, I will not. And if I've not the limbs to do myself in, I'll hire some fellow for the job. I'll do that before I'll “Huh? What's that?” His wretched thoughts slipped away, and he quickly found his wits, instantly aware of the hulking figure looming against the night down below. And, with a chill, he knew at once it was a Bullie peering up at him in the dark, for nothing in Ulster East could match the creature's size. “You, what do you want?”