Chapter 15 Colossal Considerations
Devil In The Details
Tam drummed his fingers once over the surface of the table in his and Eli’s cabin.
Hamil gulped.
Eli’s stare bored into his face.
“Look, I-I really shouldn’t be telling you anything! It’s bad enough that I’ve already shared this information!”
“You called this—” Tam held up the brass device from its chain, making it swing like a pendulum. Hamil’s eyes tracked the movement nervously. “—a watch. Why? Why a watch?”
“Because we… We watch the time. It is how we organize appointments. Our lives. Jobs. Even our doctors use it for—”
“Doctors?” Eli interrupted interestedly.
Hamil clamped his mouth shut.
Tam and Eli shared a look.
“Is this dangerous?” Tam leaned forward, holding out the device toward Hamil, who gave a subtle flinch. He didn’t respond.
Neither Tam nor Eli spoke. Merely studied him with unclear emotions.
The ship deck rocked beneath them more noticeably than it had that morning. Thus far the voyage had been filled with mostly sunny days and the occasional drizzle, but the captain had predicted that they were due for a storm or two.
“We were told this could not do anything. But given the circumstances under which we received it, it isn’t out of the question to assume that something could be done with it,” Tam said quietly. “Daxaria and Zinfera are at war with their covens and the first witch, Hamil. We need every advantage.”
“You’re a witch!” Hamil burst out before he was able to stop himself.
Tam arched an eyebrow. “I am. But I am brother to the queen of Daxaria, and the methods the covens are using to separate themselves from the Daxarian and Zinferan monarchies are not acceptable. They’ve aligned themselves with the first witch, who has cost a great many people their lives, and more.”
Hamil relaxed. “The first witch has her reasons. Your sister has killed countless people herself. Who the villain is depends on which side you stand on.” He shrugged.
Both Eli and Tam stilled. “So in the war, you would side with the first witch.”
Hamil grimaced. “I didn’t say that. I’m just saying there isn’t an easy good-versus-evil scenario in most wars.”
Tam’s lip twitched. He jerked his hand again, sending the watch swinging, making Hamil jolt backward.
“What. Does. This. Do?”
“You yourself said the first witch has one that stops time!”
“That isn’t what this one does, or she wouldn’t have had another built,” Tam argued.
“Then I don’t know!”
“Then look at it!”
Hamil cringed away.
Regardless, Tam seized Hamil’s hand and pressed the watch into his palm.
Hamil yelped an objection, but when nothing happened, he stopped. Then, carefully peeling one eye open, he looked at the watch in his hand.
When he was certain it wasn’t about to explode sometime during his next breath, he tilted his head in curiosity. Bringing it up closer to his face, he squinted at its back, then pressed the button to make the brass cover spring open.
“Hm.” He held the device up to his ear. “What’re the odds you have something that can unscrew the back?”
“There aren’t screws on the back. Only on the hinges,” Eli reminded him.
Intrigued, his former panic forgotten, Hamil started fiddling with the top button. He twisted it a few times. Paused. Then lifted the watch to his ear to try again. “Huh.”
Lowering it once again, he unscrewed the top button until he could pull the long pin out. Then he laid it delicately onto the table and removed the glass covering the numbers and notches.
He stared at the bare face of the watch thoughtfully for a moment before pinching the tiny nub that the two spindles on the watch were attached to. He twisted until that, too, popped off.
Carefully, he turned over the watch in his palm, and the face came out. Hamil set that on the table beside the pin. All that remained in his hand was the watch’s brass shell and a thin layer of gears.
And below the gears… was an empty groove. As though something was missing from that spot.
Hamil let out a large breath of relief. His free hand coming to his chest.
“Well?” Eli asked expectantly.
The Lobahlan gave a small start. He had forgotten he wasn’t alone. “This watch can’t do anything magical. It doesn’t have a crystal.”
“A crystal?” Tam straightened in his seat.
Hamil looked at him sardonically. “Yes. Please tell me the other kingdoms at the very least have crystals.”
“The mages do. I mentioned them before,” Eli supplied, narrowing her eyes at the perceived condescension.
“Aah… mages?” Hamil was unsure what she was referencing.
“Wait! No! Mages! Yes! That’s what engineers were called ages ago!
” He chuckled. “We call them engineers in Lobahl. They power the crystals to help the city run. Things like hot water, air control for the summer months, water purifying, toilets, and—” Hamil stopped himself, clearing his throat.
Tam and Eli looked at each other. Again, whatever they were thinking or trying to convey to each other was unclear to Hamil.
“If this watch had a crystal, would it stop time?”
Hamil stared at them flatly. “Weren’t you the ones who just said that if it worked that way, the first witch would’ve used it?”
“So she would’ve known it needed a crystal to work.” Tam lowered his gaze to the table.
“Why did you keep holding it up to your ear?” Eli wondered, her even stare not wandering from the Lobahlan.
“Watches tick. They make a regular, measured noise as the cogs work.”
Her eyes gleamed with interest.
Tam chuckled as he looked at Eli. “You really want to be even more organized with your time, don’t you?”
She blushed tellingly, and Hamil found he couldn’t help but smile a little at the genuine affection between the couple. Maybe they weren’t as terrifying as he thought they were. Maybe they really were just scared and had stumbled upon—
“Where did you say you got this again… ?” Hamil prodded.
Eli’s and Tam’s stony expressions returned in an instant. They didn’t reply.
Hamil leaned forward and didn’t disguise his indignation. “I’ve shared a lot with you! Why can’t you just tell me that? I’m just worried that someone is illegally making things that can stop time!”
As Tam leaned back into his seat, he moved his hands into his pockets.
“A dragon gave it to us. Along with a sword that turns the wielder younger by twenty years, and a whistle.”
“Oh.” Hamil nodded slowly, then paused. “Which dragon?”
Neither Tam nor Eli masked their surprise.
“What do you mean, which dragon?” Eli’s voice jumped an octave.
“I mean… odds are I haven’t heard of them. No one really wants to go to the mountains and count how many we have spilling out, but you never know. One with a device is probably one of the ones that—What?” Hamil balked at their gaping mouths. “What did I say?”
“There are multiple dragons in Lobahl?” Tam spluttered.
Hamil opened and closed his mouth.
Damnit.
He hated to admit that his father had been right. It really was important that people who ventured out into the world be trained on how not to share literally all of their secrets.
“W-well. I… I assume so. No one really goes near the mountains. Like I said. There’s nothing but the desert north of the city, and then the Romethio Ocean past the mountains, so it isn’t as though someone is going to get a head count.”
Neither Tam nor Eli looked like they bought that for an instant.
“Tell us about the dragons and we’ll tell you which one gave this to us.” Tam’s gaze had turned to steel again.
Hamil eyed the door. He could just try to leave.
“That won’t go well.”
His head snapped around to stare at Tam with wide eyes. A pulse of fear shot through him, prompting a fresh swath of sweat to form on his brow.
“Tell me,” Tam ordered quietly.
“O-or what?”
Tam looked over his shoulder at Eli, who appeared a little wary. Was Hamil imagining it, or had Tam just winked at her?
“Or we’ll tell Kraken to sleep in your cabin and take extra-special care of you.”
Hamil scowled. “He’s a cat. I think you just made up all those things earlier on deck to use him against me.”
An unnerving smile lifted Tam’s mouth. “Believe what you want. Just don’t make me talk to the chicken.”
Hamil stood without hiding his indignation. “Honestly. This is the thanks I get? I come in here, give you answers to your questions—”
“We had to pry them out of you. This was potentially a dangerous device, and you weren’t going to give us any kind of warning even after we saved you.” Tam rose to his feet, his towering height making Hamil take a single step toward the door.
“There are children aboard this ship,” Eli added sternly as she, too, came to her feet.
“W-we just assumed that you both knew you were tampering with things you shouldn’t! It’s bad manners to shove your nose in someone else’s business!”
The couple drew closer to Hamil as he continued taking every inch he could toward the door.
“Don’t you want to know which dragon gave this watch to us?” Tam asked while picking up the brass cover and its affixed cogs in his hand.
“Not that badly I don’t!” Hamil swung around and desperately seized the door handle, only for Tam’s large hand to appear in front of him, holding it closed.
Hamil shrank against its surface. He turned to see Tam staring down at him with an unnervingly calm expression. The Daxarian really hadn’t seemed that large before…
“Would you feel better if my wife ordered us some tea and it was just you and me having a chat?”
Hamil opened and closed his mouth. He remained pressed against the door. “I-I am the son of the Judge of Lobahl. I know you do not understand what that means, but I am—”
“Hamil…” Tam leaned down, and Hamil couldn’t help but develop a mild case of trembling in both of his knees. “I’ve pissed off an immortal daughter of the Gods. The rank of a person doesn’t scare me that much these days.”
Steeling himself, Hamil tried again. “Even if hurting me means war with Lobahl?”
“No one knows you and Bes are here, Hamil.” Tam’s voice was a whisper.
“So you’ll kill me if I don’t tell you what you need?”
“I never said that. I merely warned you not to make me tell the chicken.”
“Why do you smell so good?” Hamil uttered distractedly.
Tam’s face turned blank as he fell into what Hamil could only assume was a puzzled silence.
Hamil clamped his lips shut. He hadn’t meant for that thought to slip out. But he was alarmingly drawn to the scent of mint and frankincense. It made it difficult to focus on the ominous atmosphere the Daxarian nobleman was expertly constructing.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, the Lobahlan tried to reclaim his earlier righteous indignation. “What you’re suggesting, Lord Tam, is that I won’t be going back home to tell people what you’ve done!”
Overcoming his earlier bafflement, Tam laughed softly. “Because I’m willing to bet you’re going to get a lot more caught up in what’s happening with the two kingdoms than you realize. And as a result, a mild… warning… is most likely going to slip your mind.”
“I doubt it,” Hamil ground out.
Tam smiled, making Hamil frown. “Hamil, there are two things you should know. The first? Daxarians also share the belief that some encounters are by the hair of the Goddess.”
At the mention of his homeland’s belief that people were tied together by a hair of the Goddess herself to weave fate, Hamil’s countenance softened ever so slightly.
“And the second thing?” Hamil asked, trying to maintain the facade of confidence.
“You’re already doomed by association.”
“What? What does that mean?” Hamil demanded, his composure already destroyed.
Instead of a verbal response, Hamil watched with shock and dread as the Daxarian’s eyes filled with blackness that grew from the center of his pupils to cover even the whites of his eyes.
In the shadows of the cabin, Hamil had thought it was a trick of the light… but then he noticed the silvery dark wisps emanating from Tam. As menacing shadows wavered from his body, what little dim daylight the Daxarian nobleman hadn’t blocked out with his body winked out.
Hamil froze.
“It means—” A trickle of playfulness came through Tam’s tone that Hamil didn’t care for one bit. “—that you, Hamil, son of the Judge of Lobahl, happen to owe the devil a favor.”