Varian had expected to be at least a little relieved to leave the castle for the first time in over a month. This hope withered as soon as he realized that the guards were leading him down the steps and into the lively streets of Corona.
He wasn't prepared to bathe in hate.
There were people everywhere. They cluttered the pavements, whispering and pointing at him, seemingly not caring that it was torture. He couldn't stand it, their accusing eyes, their lips crooked—the same eyes that looked up at the palace balcony, the lips that smiled at the royal family.
They all hated him, they all knew what he'd done. Most of them had seen, and remained blind to the faults of the rulers they praised.
The alchemist didn't want to face them. He entered the prison cart almost gratefully, after making sure that Ruddiger got on board before him. There was a third guard present inside.
„Hey," the man said as soon as the carriage started moving. „I don't know if you remember… I'm Pete."
Varian nodded, eyes fixed on his slightly shaking hands. He still felt the weight of the short walk among the crowd. His face and ears felt hot.
It was stupid to feel so shamed. He swore that Corona's resentment wouldn't hurt him anymore, and there he was, his confidence shattered by the mere sight of the people he had harmed having no other choice left.
„I remember," he cracked, just to say something. How could he forget?
Taking it for an invitation to talk, the guard moved a bit closer to him. „So, one of the machines survived the battle," he informed nonchalantly. „I think it wandered into the forest. We actually only found it two weeks ago, when it appeared in the middle of a village."
Varian cringed at the sound of Pete's laugh.
„We took care of it, well, sorta," the soldier babbled. „But we can't safely finish the job, or even move the thing without risking a complete mess. I have to admit the situation is a bit funny to me."
The alchemist didn't understand what could be so amusing about it. Maybe the man wasn't aware of how dangerous automatons could be. „Weird that it wandered off on its own," he thought aloud.
Once again, Varian found himself sinking into his work to calm down, almost enjoying this casual conversation. The idleness of the past weeks had been surprisingly difficult to bear. Sometimes it felt like he wouldn't breathe easy until he could lift a wrench or hammer a nail.
„Is it?" Pete seemed curious. „I thought they were meant to do that. You know, escape if needed."
The boy finally looked at his company. „No, no, it must've been an error. It's probably one of my earlier versions."
„Ah."
„Do you know what exactly is the problem?" he asked, feeling more and more at ease.
After the storm, left behind by everyone in Corona, Varian had had no one to talk to, no one to tear him away from the amber or tell him what to do now. But he couldn't wail at his father's feet forever, so he had done what he knew best—alchemy and engineering. For days and days, he'd tried to defeat the indestructible crystal with compounds, explosives and mechanical instruments. Every spark of hope, every failure and disappointment when another solution had proved to be useless, it had all fed into his rage and feeling of betrayal, when he had already been swimming in grief and loneliness.
„Nah, sorry."
When he hadn't been sitting curled up under the monolith, he'd at least had to push those feelings away to focus on the work. His back had hurt, his hands had been going numb and the house had been a mess—but his head had been clear.
Now that he didn't have anything to investigate, nail down, and modify, he didn't know what to do with himself. Without a heavy hammer or a precise pipette in hand, he saw no way to escape the ideas he desperately tried to avoid.
There's work now. Focus on the work.
Varian put his hand on Ruddiger's back, the raccoon's presence comforting as ever.
„Why do they want to destroy it? Wouldn't it be smarter to keep it?"
The answer was careful, as though Pete was scared of offending the boy. „Oh, the Captain said that His Majesty doesn't want to— to use anything of, um— your creation."
Varian didn't care.
„Fair", he said shrugging. Machines were a comfortable subject.
The carriage came to an abrupt stop, so Ruddiger protectively climbed onto his friend's shoulders. When the wooden door opened, another familiar face appeared.
Pete's smile immediately returned to his face and he jumped out of the cart. „How's it going, Stan?" He patted his fellow on the back in greeting.
The alchemist followed him without being urged, his confidence restored by their short talk about automatons.
It turned out, Pete was right – the scene in front of him did seem a bit ridiculous. Under a large canopy tent, protecting the strange sight from the sun and some of the concerned looks of the village, his automaton stood strong with its head hanging low and its lights off. Something long and shiny, a rod or a sword, was sticking out of its back. There was a ladder set up way too far to actually reach the machine.
Chatting with each other, Stan and Pete handed him back over to the guards who watched him today.
„Bye," said the latter.
„Bye, it was nice— uh," Varian caught himself answering out of habit. „To meet you," he finished slowly, causing two silly grins to appear.
After the other guards led him closer to the tent, a man he knew emerged from the crowd of guards and servants tip-toeing around. It was a local blacksmith, who was knowledgeable in many fields beyond metalwork. Varian had spoken with him a couple of times before. Once, he had made his dad borrow an alchemy textbook from him because he had been too shy to ask the man himself.
„Xavier," he said out loud.
„Hello, Varian", a deep voice answered. „Gentlemen."
One of the guards sighed. „Any progress?"
„I'm afraid not. The Captain says it's completely secure for now, but they're still afraid to touch the cylinder. They won't attempt to move the machine, let alone remove the sword, without ensuring safety," Xavier explained. „From what I've gathered, it's difficult to inspect it without risking disturbing the timer. All in all, only I am thriving so far, seeing an ancient automaton with my own eyes," he laughed.
Varian remembered madly respecting the blacksmith, despite his devotion to folklore and what he called magic. Now, the collected, friendly tone felt like condescending, cheap politeness.
He scoffed, and the three men turned his attention to him.
„Right, someone should fill you in," said the bearded guard, ignoring Varian's rude behavior. „They managed to take the lid off… of the timing thingy, and a sword got stuck in it, so it blocks it from moving. But when we tried to even shift the sword a little, the damned thing plays like, one note, and turns on for a second. And we don't wanna fight it here," he gestured toward the houses nearby. „The Captain won't take the risk of moving it or using weapons, so we're… a bit stuck here."
Oh, you poor idiots. Varian internally rolled his eyes, enjoying his advantage.
„How about a controlled explosion?" he suggested. When he was met with four pairs of questioning eyes, he added, „I mean, you could get ardent spirits, I have some black powder in my lab in Old Corona, and if you have bats in the dungeons I can isolate some saltpetre from..."
„No, we can't do that," Xavier spoke over the alchemist, who already started explaining a quite disgusting procedure involving bat guano.
„What? It's an easy solution, we'll just add some phosphor—"
„You are not getting anywhere near alchemy." The guard lost patience. „Do you think the King is stupid?"
The boy smiled. „Why yes, I thought I'd stressed that enough."
His smirk turned into a wince when the man grabbed his arm with surprising force. „Watch your filthy mouth!" He pulled Varian a bit closer.
Ruddiger's claws dug into his skin as the animal tried to keep balance.
„Oi, easy now!" Xavier soothed.
The guard released him. „We're not blowing it up, period," he told them. „Better start thinking of a mechanical solution."
Varian swallowed his boiling anger. „As you wish." He turned to the blacksmith, deeming him skilful enough to perform the necessary tasks. „See that gear on the side of the cylinder?"
Doubting that the guards would let him even approach the table scattered with many precise instruments, he instructed Xavier on how to take out the parts without triggering the clock.
A little crowd, consisting mostly of royal guards, gathered around as the blacksmith carefully worked with Varian's assistance.
The teenager felt an old satisfying rush, even despite Xavier's unsure, shaky hands. He gently set Ruddiger down, eyeing the open compartment on the automaton's back. After a minute or two, he decided that he couldn't watch Xavier coddle it any longer.
„Oh, for the love of Corona, move over."
The blacksmith turned around to look at the guards. After a moment of hesitation, one of them said with a voice of authority, „Yeah, let him. Watch him closely."
Varian took the tools he needed from Xavier's hands and climbed up the ladder. It was definitely too far from the automaton, making it quite uncomfortable to work on it, but he could manage.
He caught a glimpse of himself in the blade stuck under the cylinder. His face froze in a harsh, angry grimace. Despite the bangs hanging over his eyes, they were focused and strong, locked on the machinery in front of him as his hands began effortlessly moving the fragile instruments.
The alchemist winced at the damage done to the cylinder, which seemed to have become very unstable. He briefly wondered if he had a spare one left at home.
„You're quite rude," Xavier pointed out matter-of-factly.
Focused on his work, Varian just answered „Yeah."
„Why?" came the nonchalant question. „Have I done something to you?" The man's voice expressed no offense, just playful curiosity.
The boy sent him an unsure glance, deciding to ignore him.
The machine occasionally lit up and moved a bit when the music box rotated an inch. Every time, numerous sharp inhales could be heard, but Varian would just calmly withdraw for a second.
Stretching to reach the automaton and hunched over the timing cylinder, he let old habits take hold of him. The movements of his hands, handling the parts both with confidence and caution, felt like a dance he has mastered. It was a moment of clarity – working on automatons, no matter the cause, gave Varian a sense of sanity, a purpose, a task to lose himself in. There were no spectators, no Xavier trying to challenge him, no unstable ladder under his feet.
There was only Varian and an automaton, another one, and the vivid memory of pouring the chaos from his chest into the metal compartment.
His rage raising its head, he hypothetically pondered if he could try to use the machine to escape, but it was clearly far too damaged and unpredictable. He doubted he would get far with one broken automaton bent on attacking every moving object in close proximity. If anything, it would get him sent back to the dungeons.
Besides, what could he achieve? Returning home didn't make any sense right then—after all, Varian was still out of ideas on breaking the amber. He had tried everything his lab supply had to offer.
All he would get was a few more minutes with his dad's unmoving figure.
He blinked hard, annoyed at himself for getting excited to work, for being stupidly hopeful that it would soothe his pain, for thinking about this pain at all, and for being too nice to Pete. He had gotten too happy too quickly. And he was getting too sad too quickly—no sensation felt right. All of a sudden, he didn't want to do this anymore, he felt sick of the sight of another useless automaton, another thing he had foolishly placed his hope in, just like alchemy, the kingdom, the flower, the hair…
His hand trembled from anger when he reached out to the open compartment.
Suddenly, the ladder wobbled dangerously under his feet and he instinctively supported himself on the handle of the sword.
And then, all hell broke loose.
XAVES IS HERE! SCIENCE AND SMUGNESS ARE ALSO HERE!
I hope I managed to capture Varian's mood being all over the place. Also, hehe, cliffhanger. The third and last part of "Automaton" will be up in a couple of days.
Thank you for reading! Consider leaving a comment, I'd love to know your thoughts :)