Enter the Clockworld by Jared Mandani

Author:Jared Mandani [Mandani, Jared]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Infiltrators

Yet again I found myself swimming through a dark, cold, and all-engulfing mass of saltwater, the only source of light a blue round blotch dancing far above my head, its contours roughly circular. The Moon?

It all clicked together the next instant, and I realized I was swimming through an underwater passage straight towards Daphne’s hideout, the grotto the dim light of which I could see through the round opening above, the dancing blotch I took for the Moon at first. As I swam, this ragged Moon grew and grew until it became the ceiling, and I emerged from underwater, quite drenched and hungry for a gulp of air.

They were both waiting for me: Diego-Joanna was also there. They had a large patch of white sand in the middle of the grotto cleared of debris and all covered with crisscrossing lines now, with candles burning all around like the two of them were about to perform some kind of a black mass.

“Man, you’re trying your magic in here or something?” I asked Diego. To be honest, I wanted some time alone with Daphne, and my ex-employee’s presence wasn’t a very pleasant surprise.

“Man, please don’t call me ‘man’,” Joanna retorted in her eerily feminine voice. “I mean, gotta stay in character, right? We all gotta earn our keep.”

“Well, fine,” I said. “So what’s with the pentagram?”

Daphne walked straight towards me then, carefully stepping around the drawings in the sand. She hugged me and kissed me long and hard. Then she said: “Now, Ben, this is no pentagram. This is a floor plan.”

“Oh.”

“This is the Royal Keep,” Joanne explained. “Your local arsenal.”

“Right,” I said, still not understanding much.

“We’re breaking into it tonight,” Daphne said.

“We what?” Now I really felt lost. “People, come on! Are you insane? This is the most guarded place in the entire Queenstanding, no?”

“Yes!” Daphne said, smiling mischievously.

“Of course, man,” Joanna said. “Isn’t it like, the whole point?”

“But, what for?”

Daphne shrugged and said: “We’re going to La Republique, eh? Are you with us or…”

“Yes, yes,” I said. “So what?”

“We’re going to need weapons. And supplies. And equipment. What else?”

“And what’s the best place to find them?” Joanna added. “It’s the Royal Keep, yo!”

I simply stood there and stared at their candlelit drawing, not really believing they meant it.

“Okay, so, if you’re with us,” Daphne said, “let’s discuss how we get in.”

“The first part is gonna be easy,” Joanna picked up. “We still have us three nice redcoat uniforms, and this gets us where?”

“Past the main gate.” My girl drew a line in the sand, retracing a previous one from their time without me. “Then on through the guard barracks on the first floor. Then down this corridor and, if we’re lucky, straight into the central tower.”

“If we’re lucky?” I asked.

“You can never be too sure!” Daphne gave me another wry smile. “Don’t worry, Ben. We’re experienced kids, eh? We can handle this.”

I examined the plan.

“Guard barracks?” I asked. “What if someone amongst the guards, naturally found in those guard barracks, recognizes me, a Journeyman Mechanic? I received a medal just lately, you know.

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