The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Author:Ekaterina Sedia
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, SteamPunk, Androids, General, Fantasy, Alchemy, Fantasy Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9781607012153
Publisher: Prime Books
Published: 2008-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

The gargoyles' story stuck with Mattie, and she kept turning it over in her mind, over and over. The fact that Ilmarekh was an orphan did not particularly surprise her, but the fact that he had chosen this profession, that for him it was an act of kindness and not desperation, touched her in a way she couldn't fully explain even to Niobe.

She was also puzzled by the role Loharri played in it; especially the part about the dead boy's hair—she did not think of him as a sentimental man. Even on his frequent visits to the orphanage he seemed angry and bitter rather than pensive or distraught. She resolved to ask him at the first opportunity, but for now, there were plenty of other things to worry about, and they won over other concerns due to their urgency.

She went to the public telegraph to check on the news and to see if Bokker had replied to her missive sent a week ago, containing the list of the missing mechanic medallions. To her shock, she found only warnings to stay at home, and reports of unrest.

It seemed that the Mechanics increased the pace of building and introduction of caterpillars; their request for additional buggies for the enforcers and their work on the machine that Loharri had been so enthused about taxed the coal and metal mines to capacity. The Parliament, led by Bergen and his mechanics, drafted many peasants for mine work—it was fraught with danger and required more thinking capacity and mobility than most automatons could provide. Instead, the automatons were sent to the fields to replace the peasants whose labor was repetitive and simple, and where they were not likely to need to be replaced.

Mattie shared the news with Niobe over breakfast—that is, Niobe was eating breakfast, and Mattie was sitting at the table in solidarity.

Niobe shook her head. "They will rebel, especially with the Duke so gravely ill."

"How do you know?" Mattie asked.

Niobe shrugged. "There's only so far you can shove a person until they shove back. I've seen it happen before."

"What will happen?" Mattie whispered.

"Riots, probably. If the mechanics are smart, they'll send enforcers right away to quell them before they even start. Give people money, double the miners' wages. If not ... if the miners rebel and quit, the city will grind to a halt without coal."

Mattie was about to answer when someone knocked on the door. Only Loharri knocked with such arrogant insistence, and Mattie went to open. To her surprise, it was Sebastian.

"The gargoyles told me you were looking for me," he said.

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