Strong Mystery: Murder, Mystery and Magic Books 1-3 (Steampunk Magica) (15 page)

Owen sighed, still befuddled from the events of the previous
evening.

“Yes,” he said resignedly, “Fancy a trip to the docks?”

She moved around the table, gracefully moving her skirts out of
the way.

“I am already going to change clothes for the dockyards. However,
perhaps you should stay here? You have had a difficult night.”

Owen came to his feet at what he perceived as a challenge.

“No, but give me a tot of brandy, and I’m good to go,” he
avowed.   

Chapter 15

Owen carefully counted out the gold coin that was the
agreed-upon payment to the Wizard
.

They had wanted to get to the docks as quickly as possible, and
were, therefore, obliged to take more expensive transport than usual. The large
golem stood impassively under the yoke, while his Master, clad in a long, blue
robe, threaded through with Cabbalistic runes, counted the coin with Owen.

The Wizard nodded, beard
wagging.

“That will do,” he said,
satisfied. The old Wizard sniffed the air, looking at Owen. “Sure that you
don’t want me to wait, Sir? The spirits smell very restless today.”

Owen raised his eyebrow in
skepticism.

 “Spirits,” he echoed. “Why it’s
barely past noon. You shouldn’t have to worry about spirits when there are
hours of sunlight left.”

The Wizard shook his head.

“This is the Hong Kong docks,
Sir. Lots of old Magia and death down there.” The Wizard made a warding gesture
with his left hand.  “I wouldn’t charge you more than half a royal to wait. You
could be assured, then, that your way out of the docks was safe and un-haunted.” 
He nodded towards Owen’s electrum cane. “I can see that you have some knowledge
yourself, but it never hurts to have an extra at your back.”

Owen pursed his lips in thought.

“I thank you Master, but I’m
sure we’ll be all right.” He didn’t add that he was curious if this worked on
all the tourists, which Owen was sure the old Wizard had taken them for.

The Wizard nodded agreement.

“Well, just remember that I’ll
be back down this road in an hour or so.”

Owen grinned, a little wildly,
his curiosity aroused.

“We’ll remember and we might
even be ready to engage you again, Master Wizard.”

“Well you’re a good spoken one,
I must give you that. Beware the spirits, now!” With that, he took up a staff
and directed the Golem forward. The large man-like being huffed, then the cart
began slowly moving, picking up speed as it went.

“What was that all about,”
Jinhao asked, as Owen watched the cab go up the road.

“Oh, I suspect that he was
seeking a larger fare from us,” Owen replied dryly. “Warned me about spirits on
the docks.”

“Oh is that all,” Jinhao
remarked. “But it is still daylight. It is true that there are haunts at night,
but I have never heard of one during the day.”

“Exactly,” Owen agreed. “And you
won’t either; that is because the sun’s rays destroy unbound ectoplasm.”

“That,” Jinhao pointed
disgustedly, “I presume, is the Hastings’ new construction.” Her finger pointed
out a large, tall building, with a crane hauling steel girders up into the sky.
All around the base of the building scurried people, who vanished and
re-appeared out of the fog of exhaust generated by the building.

“Yes,” Owen said. Jinhao could
hear the hint of pride in his voice. “It will be the tallest structure on the
waterfront. Able to take the cargoes from sky ships coming in from above, and
from merchant ships coming in from the water, and storing both cargoes in the
warehouses in between. McDougal has taken the principles of blending steam
powered engines with Magia to a whole new level.”  He began walking towards the
immense construction, Jinhao gliding along beside him.

 “Thus do you English spread
your smokes and stinks throughout the city.”

Owen smiled at her disapproval.

“Oh come now Jinhao, you can’t
stop progress. Between the safety wards, levitation spells, and using elemental
power, it has made building safer than ever before” he said cheerily.

Whatever else he was going to
say was cut off by the sight of the side of the crane buckling, its load of
heavy girders falling with shocking speed onto a group of workers below. It all
happened with such speed that the only thing the pair could do was throw up
their hands up to protect their sight.

As they uncovered their faces in
the aftermath, they could see workers rushing towards the crash.

“Come on,” Owen cried springing
to join them. One of the tall better dressed figures who was clearly pointing
and shouting orders saw them coming and turned to run away from the crash.

“McDougal, stop!” Owen cried
after him. The man looked over his shoulder and ran faster.

“I have him,” Jinhao cried,
running even faster. Owen already winded, let her continue the pursuit. Bending
over to catch his breath, he straightened to find himself surrounded by surly
construction workers. “Can I help you,” he gasped out.

One of the leather apron clad
ones spoke revealing a gap-toothed mouth.

“We wants to know what you wants
with Master McDougal,” he growled ominously.

“Shouldn’t we be tending to your
poor brothers instead,” Owen asked. He hefted his cane. “As you can see, I am
not without resources that could save lives.”

“We sees that fancy spell stick
of yours,” Toothless says, “And that gets us to wondering, perhaps you caused
all this.”

“Ridiculous,” snapped Owen.
“Where’s your own Magian? Surely you must have one?”

Toothless nodded towards the
tumble of steel.

“He was part of the group wot
got it,” he said menacingly. “Perhaps you should be getting’ it too.”

Owen pulled on his
Earth
rune, standing still.

“I doubt you’ll find me as easy
as your last bar brawl.”

“Oh, talk it now, will you?”
Toothless jeered at Owen. The others encircling Owen laughed with him. Toothless
suddenly sprang at Owen, swinging a metal bar at his legs.

His face grew astonished when
the bar bent, and Owen appearing to be unmoved by the blow. The others
screamed, charging in. Rather than take their blows, Owen pulled on his
Air
rune. A stiff wind fanned out from his center, blowing them all down.

Owen dramatically raised his
cane and brought it down into the ground, while calling on his
Fire
rune. A bolt of lightning sprang out of the clear blue sky to stop inches above
his head.

“Enough,” he cried. “Are you
convinced now that I could have already made life very unpleasant for you all
if I wanted?”

From where he lay on the ground,
Toothless looked up, dazed, at him.

“I reckon so,” he allowed. Owen
smiled down at him, and offered his hand.

“Good, he said, “then let’s lend
a hand to those poor brutes under the girders.” Toothless took his hand and
Owen effortlessly pulled him to his feet using the
Earth
rune to brace
himself. It jarred Owen right to his bones, but it wouldn’t do to show weakness
now.

“Right then,” Owen said. “Can we
get something to lift those steel beams out of the way?”

“We can rig somethin’,”
Toothless replied, “But it would work better if we had one o’ them liftin’
spells to aid us.”

Owen hefted his cane, “Well,
you’ve come to the right place for
lifting
spells’.” He grinned.

McDougal frantically keyed the
lift as Jinhao closed in. She leapt, grabbing onto the lift’s cage, only to
have to let go again when the lift came to a narrow passage. McDougal grinned
down at her with a hoot and a wave. 

Jinhao studied the girders and
scaffolding that interlaced the inside of the huge building. Setting her
course, she centered her energy, then began to spring upwards, leaping from
handhold to planking. There was more than one way to beat him to the top.

McDougal pulled open the cage
door, just as Jinhao sprang over the side of the building to land on the
rooftop in front of him. He snarled, and clawed free a pepper pot pistol from
his vest. The gun’s barrels flashed in the sunlight as they rotated, a small
jut
of air accompanied each round as he fired.

Jinhao ducked, weaved, and bent
to avoid the deadly bullets, until McDougal’s pistol ran empty.

“Why are you doing this,” Jinhao
asked. “We only wish to talk with you.”

“Talk, ye call it?” He spat.
“That’s not what I been told. Well you won’t do to me as you done to his
Lordship, not for a few thousand Guineas, you won’t.”

“A few thousand,” Jinhao
repeated. “What are you speaking of?”

MacDougal laughed, throwing
aside the empty gun and cocking his fists. Jinhao recognized it as that quaint
martial form called
boxing
.

“I admit I took the money, but
it would have all been repaid by the time the building was finished. I wouldna
have had to take it, if the damned smuggler hadn’t asked for more money to haul
my dear Sophie and Rowan here, so as we could build a new life.” He moved his
fists as if pumping them. “Well, come on then,” he snarled, “Come on.”

Jinhao obliged the tall
engineer, moving to put his hand and arm into a lock that still enabled him to
stand while bending him half over from the pain. He screeched as she applied
pressure.

“Now,” she said satisfied at
last, “We will get back into the lift and descend where you will tell all this
to my partner.” The big man tried to pull away and screamed as Jinhao squeezed
again.

“And should you keep trying
that, I will break your arm before you get free.” He stopped struggling.

“That’s better,” Jinhao purred.
“Now right this way” She lead him back to the lift, never letting go of his arm
or allowing him to stand up straight.

She was as surprised to see Owen
with his suit coat off, covered in grime and blood as he was to see her
gently
leading her catch.

“Well, I see that you have
caught the elusive Mr. McDougal,” Owen observed. “I’ve been lending a hand
here.”

“So I see,” Jinhao replied. She
applied pressure to McDougal’s arm, causing the man to groan and remain bent
over. “Where do you want him?”

Owen glanced around to see that
fortunately the workers were still all focused on the relief efforts, and rescuing
their injured fellows.

“We need to have a quiet talk
with him, but not here.” Owen pointed towards an abandoned wreck next to the
construction. “Let’s go there.” Owen looked over his shoulder to make sure they
still weren’t seen. “And let us go quickly.”

Once in the sheltering gloom of
the wreck, Owen turned.

“Let him up please.” Jinhao
allowed the Engineer to stand upright again.

“I tell you, I did not kill Lord
Hastings!” cried McDougal.

Owen looked at him through
hooded eyes.

“Perhaps. Then you can explain
the missing money?”

McDougal pulled at his beard.

“As I told the girl, yes, I took
the money, but only so my Sophie and our daughter could make the passage out
here as well. The money would have been returned before the job was finished, I
swear it!”

Owen raised his cane, flames
licked down its length.

“I do not have time to deal with
lies, McDougal,” Owen said sternly. McDougal paled. He tried to back up only to
find that Jinhao’s long knives blocking his way.

“No,” he said, “I swear that
it’s all true! All of it!”

Owen nodded. “I believe you.”
The flames vanished. “But you still have your Mistress to answer to. What she
will say, I do not know.”  Owen turned, clearing the way for McDougal to leave.

“You mean you’re letting me go?”
McDougal looked at Owen in astonishment.

“I am not your mistress’ agent,”
Owen explained. “Perhaps this will teach you to rely on a smuggler’s honesty.”

“Gods keep you, Milord, Gods
keep you!” With that he ran into the sunlight.

“Why did you let him go?” Jinhao
asked.

Owen shrugged.

“As I explained, I am not Lady Hastings’ agent. The man is
clearly not the killer.” He sauntered out to stare at the wreckage. He was
pleased to see that McDougal had resumed his place of command, overseeing the
rescue efforts. “Besides,” Owen said, “I believe that there has been enough
grief here today.”

“What is it you were just saying
about the warding and the power of Western Magia?”

“Well, that should have held up.
Clearly the operator lost control of the safety levitation spells at the wrong
time. The warding should have alerted…” Strong stopped in his tracks. “Good
Goddess of the Forge,” he murmured.

“Owen,” Jinhao said, “What is
it?”

“Shh,” Owen hushed her. “Give me
a moment.” His fingers traced out something that only he could see. “Of
course!” He turned to Jinhao. “I know who the assassin is!”

“What!” Jinhao exclaimed. “Who?”

Owen pulled out his watch.

“We still have time to get
dressed and meet Gregg for the festivities! Come, I’ll explain along the way.”