Chapter Fourteen

Arthur, Chauncey and the Doctor were now fumbling in the Great Maze, utterly lost and dumbfounded. The message Chauncey had sent back to Port had replied that no record had been found in the Border Sea, though a remnant, similar to the tracing they found had last been seen there, in this confounded labyrinth. Chauncey shuffled along five paces in front of Arthur and Doctor Scamandross, his nose pressed into the dirt and his tail wagging in the air as he sniffed. Arthur felt as though they had been walking for hours, and was very likely that they had, which brought as much comfort to Arthur as this whole expedition. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble to find this Mistress, and for what, an epic battle? A polite conversation? He had no idea what to expect and the more time it took the more he began to question if it was worth it. Scamandross came to an abrupt halt in front of him and Arthur stumbled into his back. "What is it?" he huffed.

Chauncey spun his head around. "Found it Arthur"

"Pick it up," he instructed.

The doctor bent down and retrieved it and then began to scrutinize it. "This can't be," he whispered. He pinched the other bit they had found in the Far Reaches and examined the two of them. "oh no, no," he clucked, looking from one to the other. "This simply cannot be"

"What?" Arthur blasted, his voice causing a few bits of greenery to jitter off the Maze walls.

Scamandross had yet to answer, in stead he was biting each bit gently between his teeth, the way one might bite a piece of gold to check if it were real. A pained expression crossed his face and his brows knit together.

"What is it?" he whined, Arthur was never one who handled suspense very well.

The doctor ticked his eye up at Arthur and then shoved the pieces at him. Arthur took each one in either hand and squinted his eyes to peer at them. "What am I looking for?"

The doctor mopped his brow the way he often did when made nervous and stammered a reply. "It-it's the- the –the pieces, Arthur, they, they don't match, see, see one's darker than the other, the-the- one from the Pit is black, and the other has a-a- t-t-tint of g-g-gold on it"

Arthur leaned back and then leaned back in. Out of a pocket in his robe he plucked out a pair of spectacles that Dame Primus had given him for reading. Close up, Arthur could see a slight different between the two. "So it's a different person, what's the big deal?"

Scamandross hung his head. "It's the same tracing Arthur,"

"Okay" Arthur started, attempting to keep the calm in his voice. "So one got a bit dirty or polished or something," he trailed off.

"No Arthur, they have the same basic properties but somewhere along the line, there's a transition. As though this person changed."

"Into what?"

"That, I cannot read"

Hourglass Manor

Artemis had gratefully accepted the tea though he sat in bewilderment as he watched Time wind and fine tune clock after clock hanging on her wall. For the past while she had been explaining why she had brought him there and her current dilemma, from what Artemis could gather, she needed to fix some huge clock that ruled over what she called Secondary Realms, or needed to find somebody who could fix it.

"I was given rule over both worlds in the aspects of time, but the Architect set a contract with the hours of the realms, at an appointed time I am to select an heir to watch over time in your world. I think you would be perfect"

"Why me?"

Time stopped tampering with a grandfather clock on the opposite of the room and glided over. "They must be either mortal or Denizen of superiority. No Denizen has proven apt for this task. And I see something special in you"

Artemis still wasn't swallowing what this woman was telling him. He was in someplace called the Hourglass Manor, on the Eternal Planes and Infinite Reservoir and this woman who claimed to have control over time in the whole universe needed him to help her take half of the load.

"You still haven't answered my question" He retorted. He had at first been intimidated by Time, but now he was reminded that this same woman was the girl he had been snapping at for the past day and the fear was very quickly dispersing.

Time giggled, a sound like wind chimes and then answered. " You are very clear headed, observant and organized, you are not easily troubled, nor quarrelsome. The Heir must be all of those qualities, and honest as you are. I have been watching you since the day you were born, Artemis; I was there throughout all of your years, watching you. From birth it can be discerned what sort of child one will be with time. I of course am able to see beyond that, and I see you, here, in the Manor, conducting hours and minutes and years and millennia, over the realm you came from."

"I'm a boy," Artemis stated in disbelief. He was only twelve; it seemed a lot of responsibility for a preteen.

"Age is immaterial, if that is what concerns you" Time moved towards him, her eyes beginning to glow. She produced an hourglass and held it in her hands, one palm on the top, the other on the bottom. Across the top his name was written on it, all the sand was settled at the bottom. "Will you, help me, Artemis?"

"What if I change my mind?" he asked.

Time replied. "I will let you go, but you must find a replacement if you wish to do so, otherwise I shall do as my sister before me, and chain you to the clock avec the Old One in the Coal Cellar"

"I want to go home and think," he said stubbornly.

"Very well" Time agreed, the hourglass vanishing. "I must receive permission at any rate. In the mean time, return to your home, Artemis" the pair of clock hands floated in the air again, extending one delicate finger she began winding the hour hand around and the room began to spin.

Artemis staggered as his stomach churned. "What-what's happening?"

"I'll see you again soon, Artemis" the voice called to him but all Artemis could hear was ticking and clockwork, chimes and gongs ricocheting off each other and clamoring in his ears. Above it all in the distance there was a soft song being sung and besides that a tinkling laughter.

Return

He was spit out on the other side, sprawled on the street, right in front of his house. He rubbed his head and told himself it had been some sort of weird dream, but as he stood up he turned to see the clocks hands still winding and gradually slowing down before fading away. He didn't care what time it was, or what day, what he wanted was to get inside before anything else strange could happen to him. Down the street his uncle Ed pulled into his driveway. He's back early Artemis thought. Ed often went on vacations to some medieval town at least once a month, he usually didn't come back until Friday.

"Hi Uncle Ed!" He called as he marched up his front steps.

Ed's head shot up, evidently caught off guard. "Hello Artemis" He grinned as he bobbed his head and quickly skipped around to the passenger's side of the car.

Artemis wondered whom Ed had brought home with him.

Ed opened the door and helped a strangely dressed woman out of the car, sweeping her up in his arms like a baby.

Medieval gypsy or witch I suppose Artemis thought before closing the door behind him. He would question it in the morning. Whenever that would be.