The Two Dragons by Wesley Allison

Author:Wesley Allison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, magic, steampunk, sorcery, lizardmen, rifles, bustles
Publisher: Wesley Allison

* * * * *

The next morning, Iolanthe was back at the office. She had Mrs. Wardlaw find a throw rug from somewhere in the building and place it over the bloody spot in the carpeting. Then she busied herself with paperwork until just past nine, when her secretary poked inside to announce Wizard Bassington.

Bassington swept into the room, once Mrs. Wardlaw had allowed him past, his long black rifle frock coat trailing behind him like a dark banner. His wide mouth split into a semblance of a smile that made his beady eyes squint. His new beard, though about half grey, made his lantern jaw a bit less noticeable. Iolanthe had noted upon seeing him before how ugly he was, yet there was something in his self-assured swagger that was, well… attractive.

“Good morning, Governor.”

“Good morning, Wizard Bassington. To what do I owe this visit?”

“I wanted to give you an update on things.” He sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs without being invited. “I am in His Majesty’s service, but you are the royal governor.”

“Yes.”

“Well, everything is going just fine.” He leaned back and crossed his legs.

“I take it the Result Mechanism is working and you’ve used it for… whatever it is you wizards do?”

“Yes indeed. The engineer that I borrowed from Lenahan Norich was able to repair the small part that wasn’t working and your Mrs. Korlann helped with the actual… what is the word? Oh, yes—programming. This will be a great benefit to our king and country.”

“Good.”

“Professor Calliere did us a good turn in the long run. If he hadn’t given us this possibility, we might never have figured it out. He may have sold some of the product to the enemy, but we still have the machine. It could conceivably work for us for years to come.”

“Can you explain what it is you are doing with it, in a way that someone like me could understand?”

“Come now Mrs. Staff.” Bassington gave her one of his oilier smiles. “Though we wizards like to pretend our art is oh so mysterious, it isn’t really beyond the realm of understanding. For ages wizards have stored their spells on paper in the form of higher-level mathematics, to be used as needed. The Result Mechanism is doing the same thing that the ancient scribes did—it just does it very, very fast.”

“I’m glad that you are finding it useful,” said Iolanthe. “Just remember that it belongs to me.”

Bassington frowned. “A machine like that is…”

“Patent pending,” she completed.

“Hmm… well. That’s all for now then.”

“What about the ships?” asked Iolanthe. “Was Zurfina able to do something to protect them?”

“She created a series of obfuscation artifacts, which have been placed on most of our ships coming here or going to Mallontah. Either they’re working or the Freedonians haven’t attempted to sink any others. I’m inclined to believe the former.”

“Yes, so am I.”

“That’s all I have then.” He stood up and turned to leave.

“Wizard Bassington?”

“Are you going to remind me that Zurfina is yours too?” he asked, turning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.