Boots for the Gentleman (25 page)

“No. This is why I was made. I’m fulfilling the role I was built to do.”

“No you’re not! Thimbleroy has captured you and made you a slave!”

“I’m a machine. I’m a tool. A tool built for this purpose.”

“Frolic,” Querry hissed, as exasperated as he was when Reg planned to marry Emily Malvern, “you are not a machine. You have a heart and a mind, and as much right to be free and choose the course of your life as anyone. You are my friend and my lover. I love you. Reg loves you.”

“This is what I choose,” Frolic said numbly.

“Frolic, no!” Reg pushed Querry out of the way to look at the clockwork boy. “Thimbleroy is an evil man. He’s using you.”

“Only using me for the reason I’m meant to be used. He said only I can direct these creatures, make the clock tower work. The man who built me built me to stand right here. This is why he made me.”

“
Nein
, my young friend,” Dink said, shaking his head. “No man would make a tool with such beauty. No artist would spend the decades on something meant to stand inside that box. I have heard stories of your maker. He was forced to do this work against his will. I believe with all my heart that he fought back the only way he could: by giving you emotion, intelligence, and the free will to make your own decisions! He made you look human, so you could live among humans. If you want to do as your creator intended, you must use the gifts he gave you. You must choose the right thing.”

“This is the right thing,” Frolic said. “Thimbleroy explained everything. He said, he said Querry is a bad man. He said you tricked me, Querry.”

“Do you believe that?” Querry asked.

“I- I don’t know. Some of the things he said made sense. He said I hadn’t been awake long enough to know you were bad.”

“Did I make you feel bad, Frolic?” Querry asked.

“No. You made me happy.”

“And how will you be happy standing in that box?”

“It’s- it’s my purpose. Lord Thimbleroy says I’m special, one of a kind. Remember the other clockworks we saw in his basement? None of them could do it. The Grande Chancellor tried dozens of different models and not one of them could make the tower work. This is my duty. My ankles fit just perfectly in these holes—”

“I thought I had a duty too,” Reg said gently. “I realized that I couldn’t let someone else tell me how to live. Though I was afraid, I walked away from my old life. I gave up everything to be with Querry. And with you. I fell in love with you, Frolic. I will not walk away and leave you here.”

“If I leave here, my life will have no point,” Frolic said miserably.

“What do you say we make our own purpose?” Reg said, laying his palm and forehead against the metal, “me, you, and Querry. Won’t you come out, Frolic?”

He touched some of the gears, and a door opened in the box where Querry hadn’t even seen a seam. Frolic held out his hands pitifully. Querry quickly took out his picks and went to work. As he did, Dink knelt with his screwdriver to loosen the metal plate. The manacles fell from Frolic’s wrists and neck, leaving dirty gray stains to show where they’d been.

“Frolic, your chest,” Reg breathed, barely audible.

Wincing and chewing his lip, Frolic pulled out the metal rod. Querry realized every muscle in his body had tensed to the point of tearing, and relaxed and exhaled deeply. Then, with a shout of pure relief and happiness, he grabbed Frolic and lifted him off his feet. Frolic shrieked with innocent delight and hugged Querry back. Then he hugged Reg. Then all three of them hugged, holding each other for long moments. Querry and Reg shed tears, and Frolic made a sound between a laugh and a cry.

Afterward, Querry and Reg herded the other men who’d been forced into labor to the airship. Their questions and compliments filled the cozy, glass compartment during the flight back to Dink’s shop. When they reached it, the other men departed. Dink motioned for Querry, Reg, and Frolic to follow him.

“Where are we going?” Reg asked.

“Down,” Dink said. “I will seal off the lower levels. If Thimbleroy’s men come back, they will never know the underground chambers even exist. We will be safe. For now.”

Chapter Thirteen

T
HE
four men took the lift to the kitchen, where Lizard greeted them enthusiastically. “I knew you could do it,” the boy said, pumping Querry’s hand. Then Dink gave him instructions for locking down the underground passages, and the boy ran off to comply. Dink went to a table and dropped into a chair, looking older and more exhausted than Querry had thought him capable. He dropped his downy white head into his hands.

Looking concerned, Frolic offered to make tea. Reg offered to help, and the two of them disappeared into the kitchen.

Standing behind his old friend, Querry rubbed Dink’s shoulder. Finally he mustered the courage to say, “It’s bad.”

“My dear boy, that is an understatement. I cannot quite comprehend the purpose of that tower, but after working on it, I can only deduce that it is some sort of a weapon. A powerful one.”

“A big gun or something?” Querry asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Nor do I,” Dink admitted, shaking his head. “Your friend may be able to provide more insight, though. He was built to be part of the tower, ja?”

“Fuck. Thimbleroy will never leave us alone now. He’ll kill Reggie and me to get to Frolic.”

“I have no doubt,” the old tinkerer agreed. “His obsession is deepening into a mania. Several times he came to oversee our work and seemed quite mad.”

“How so?”

“Talking to himself. Unwashed and unshaven. Shirt untucked. Sometimes his words barely made sense at all.”

“Do you remember what he said specifically, Dink?”

“He rambled about unlimited power, power due to him. He called your Frolic his Prince of Angels.”

“Because he thought Frolic could control the clockwork angels,” Querry said. “But what did he think Frolic could make them do?”

“We will have to ask him.”

On cue, Frolic appeared with a kettle and some cups on a tray. Reg carried another tray containing bread and butter, a canned ham, cheese, hard-boiled eggs and some preserved carrots. He set them down, saying, “Hardly a four-course meal, but I thought we could all use a little something. Dink, I hope you won’t mind that we helped ourselves.”

“Not at all, my boy,” Dink said, forcing a smile. “I owe you and Querry my freedom.”

Frolic and Reg sat down, and the three of them who needed to, refreshed themselves. Afterward, Reg sat with his cup held next to his chin, staring into the steam. “One of us has to say it. What the hell are we going to do now?”

Looking around sadly, Dink said, “It has taken me almost forty years to build this place. It is my life’s work. With deep regret, I feel I can only leave it behind now, and go back to Bravelstein.”

“Dink, I am so sorry,” Querry said. “I brought this on you. And on you, Reg. God, I’m sorry.”

“No, Querry,” Reg said. “Because you found Frolic before Thimbleroy, we have a chance. You gave Frolic a chance to experience freedom before Thimbleroy could convince him he didn’t deserve it.” Reg squeezed Frolic’s hand, and Frolic held tight to his fingers.

“I never would have found him if not for my gentleman,” Querry mused.

Reg smacked the table with his other hand, startling them all. “Querry, I wish you wouldn’t call him that!”

“Sorry. I won’t. But he
knew.
Maybe I should go to him.”

“Out of the question,” Reggie snapped.

“We need answers,” Querry pleaded, frustrated and tired of being in the dark.

“Ja, and we have one among us who might provide them,” Dink gently suggested, looking at Frolic.

Querry looked at him too. Grimy bands still marred his wrists and neck where he’d been bound. His eyes looked dark beneath, if that was possible. Instead of the curious fascination and enchantment he’d shown before, Frolic now displayed confusion and sadness. Querry reached over and took Frolic’s and Reg’s hands into his. He met Frolic’s golden eyes and asked, “Do you feel ready to talk about it?”

Frowning, Frolic nodded. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said. Querry detected something in his voice he’d never heard before: shame. He’d tried to protect Frolic from learning these painful emotions, but again, he’d failed. His innocent Frolic was lost forever.

“He tricked you, Frolic,” Reg said. “He took advantage of the little knowledge you had of the world.”

“I was so sure,” Frolic said. “I’m so sure I’m doing the right thing now. What if I’m wrong again?”

“We don’t want to hurt anyone,” Querry reassured him. “We aren’t after power. We just want to live. How can that be wrong?”

Frolic nodded without looking convinced. “I felt like I belonged there. I understood instantly what every gear in that box did. My hands went to them almost on their own.”

“And what is it they do?” Dink asked.

“Talk to the other clockworks. Tell them what to do. They’ll only listen to me.”

“Why?”

“Because my fingers know where to go,” he said. “And because of my heart. It’s all very beautiful. The other clockworks… I could almost feel their hearts with mine.”

“They’re not evil?” Querry asked.

“Oh no,” Frolic said wistfully. “They aren’t like me. They can’t choose for themselves. They were almost ready to wake up.”

“Wake up and do what?”

“I’m not exactly sure. They wanted something, craved after it like all of you do after food. I felt like when they woke up and found what they needed, we would be able to do anything. Anything.”

“But even if you could,” Querry pressed, “how much can you do from the top of that tower? How far would these creatures be able to fire or whatever they’d do?”

“Oh no,” Frolic said, proudly as if he’d built the tower himself. “There are gears and propellers under the floor. When everything is fixed, the roof of the tower will transform.”

“Fly?” Querry guessed.

“It’s masterful,” Frolic whispered with awe.

“Thimbleroy will be able to take his weapon anywhere,” Querry despaired.

“No he won’t,” Frolic said. “Not without me. I’m the only one who can pilot it. I’m the only one who can talk to the other clockworks. As long as he doesn’t get me back—”

“We’ll make sure he doesn’t,” Querry swore.

“How?” Reg asked.

“Nothing for it,” Querry said. “We’ll have to do the same as Dink. Run fast and far. We’ll board a ship tomorrow. A foreign one if we can.”

“Where are Tosser and Toerag?” Frolic asked, brightening for a moment as he looked around the room. As soon as he saw Querry’s face, though, his shoulders curled forward.

“They’re in a good place,” Reg told him. “They have shelter and a beautiful forest full of rabbits and moles to hunt. I’m afraid going back for them at this point is impossible. They’ll be fine without us.”

The four of them sat a few more minutes, finishing their tea and digesting all that they’d heard.

“We could all use some rest,” Dink finally said.

“Dink,” Frolic asked, “do you think we can sleep in the menagerie? I would love to see it one more time.”

The old man laughed a genuine laugh and reached across the table to slap the shoulder of the clockwork boy. “I am too old for a campout, but if you want to spend the night there, I don’t see the harm. Come, I’ll let you in.”

S
TRINGS
of tiny gaslights mimicked stars above Dink’s mechanical jungle. Water tinkled from somewhere within, and nocturnal creatures called to one another softly. Querry made his way through the artificial foliage carrying a lantern. Reg and Frolic followed with cushions and blankets that Dink had provided for their beds. They passed several of the clockwork animals, bedded down in the grass or hanging from branches. Frolic stopped and knelt beside a tiger, petting her large, smooth head and earning a deep purr.

Querry finally located the water: a little fount that tumbled over some gray blocks and into a round pool surrounded by rushes. Metallic flowers of every color climbed up the sides of the fall. A monkey called to the trio from a nearby tree. Querry set his lamp on a large rock. The pool’s surface reflected the golden light.

“Set up here, shall we?”

“This is a lovely spot,” Frolic said, setting down his blankets.

“Are you sure Thimbleroy won’t find us here?” Reg asked.

“Absolutely,” Querry said. “We’re several stories below ground. It’s just as Dink said. If Thimbleroy’s men come ’round they’ll never know these levels exist.” He reached out and found Reggie’s hand, using it to pull Reggie to him. Querry petted his hair as he spoke. “Our lives aren’t going to be easy. But tonight we can forget about that. We can forget that there’s a world outside this forest at all.” He kissed Reg softly, cursing the armloads of pillows that separated their bodies.

Reg nodded, and he and Frolic arranged the bedding in a circle around the lantern. Querry lit some candles to better watch the other two men, who sat side by side, holding hands. Smiling, Querry got out of his gloves and armored waistcoat before joining them. Before long, a small, spotted jungle cat crept from the undergrowth and curled in Frolic’s lap. The cat lapped at his fingers with a rough little tongue. Soon a badger and a hare rested at Frolic’s side, and a family of small frogs watched the clockwork boy from a nearby branch.