The Time Mechanic Page 19

  Just like that the vision released him and Jeremy breathed deep and lifted his head. Three faces were staring at him. Two girls had their hands on him, one knelt down at his side and one leaned forward from her seat at the table.

  “Jeremy!” Ffip exclaimed. “I thought you were better!”

  “I, uh…” he said. He wondered what the vision meant.

  “Maybe he should go lay back down,” said Kannikey.

  Jeremy pulled himself together. “No,” he stressed. “I’m all right!” He got up and free from their hands. He adjusted his coat and ran his fingers through his hair. He wondered where his boots were. Mars spoke up from his spot at the table.

  “What are you up to, Jeremy?” he said.

  “I’m just wondering where my boots are.”

  “And why are you wondering that?”

  “I’ve got… things to go do.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” said Mars.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Every time you go into Tonturin disaster strikes,” Mars growled. “It’s my day off, I tell you!”

  “Well, I can’t take any more days off,” Jeremy replied. “Time is running out.”

  “Jeremy really,” put in Ffip. “I think Mars has a point. Maybe you should lie low for a while.”

  He felt alone again. These people had their lives going on, while they tried to navigate around the wreckage of his. He wondered if the noble thing to do would be to release them from any further obligation.

  “I’ll try to avoid the market square as much as possible,” he promised. “I just need to check on a few things.”

  “What things?”

  He shook his head. He needed to get away from this situation here so he could pull the elements together and ponder what to do next. He sighed.

  “Listen… uh, Mars,” he said, deciding to go for the sternest target.

  “What?”

  “I’m not apologizing when I say this but I see you’ve been put through a lot during the past ten days.”

  “And so?”

  “So I’m thinking since it’s obvious you’re finished with our past friendship, that I should leave you be to go on with your life as before. You’ve got a shop to run, and this house to tend, and it’s your day off.”

  Mars crossed his arms over his chest. Jeremy turned before he could reply.

  “Kannikey,” he said, “please be careful at your house. You said your stepfather is involved with that new booth that’s being built— for a product called ‘Surebelow’?”

  “Yes, it’s all he talks about at the dinner table,” she confirmed. “How did you know?”

  “What’s your stepfather’s name, if I may ask?”

  “Stedland,” answered Kannikey.

  Jeremy nodded. He was relieved her stepfather wasn’t that elegant stranger he’d just seen in the vision. QuRellon was still a mystery he had to solve, it seemed. But first he had to be by himself so he could think.

  “Jeremy,” Kannikey repeated. “How did you know there was a product about to be sold at that new booth named ‘Surebelow’?

  “I saw it. Like I said, be careful. Don’t tell your stepfather anything about me, or these situations I’ve brought to you. Don’t oppose ‘Surebelow’ to his face.”

  “Obviously I haven’t told him anything about us four,” she said.

  “Good,” said Jeremy. “And… Ffip,” he said at last.

  She raised her lovely eyes up to his.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I’m going to do all I can to discover how to free you from this trouble you’re in,” he promised. “It’s connected to my mission.”

  She surprised him by slamming down her cup and rattling the table.

  “You mean, ‘our’ mission, don’t you Jeremy?” she demanded.

  “I’m not so sure anymore.”

  “Well I am. I told you last night, you need our help!”

  “Perhaps,” he conceded, “but not today. Right now I need time by myself. I’ve got some pondering to do— I have to figure this out!”

  Three faces stared at him, and they all looked stubborn.

  “You’re not just going off on your mission without us!” said Kannikey.

  “I don’t have any mission in mind right now, all right? If you’re set on it I promise to include you. I have to understand and I need to be alone.”

  “We’ll worry about you,” Ffip said at last.

  “I’ve got no choice in this,” he said. “I’ll get my horse ready, and thanks to Mars for taking care of it.”

  He went to the back of the house and stopped to use the bath room, and then back into the guest room where he found his boots in the closet and took a few other items he needed out of his pack. He came out after getting ready and the three were sitting in their same spots. He nodded at them and went to the door.

  “Jeremy,” said Mars, just as his hand was on the doorknob. He turned.

  “What?”

  “I’ll do it, blast you!”

  “Do what?”

  “I’ll help you burn down those fields. Those strange berries, like Halbernon said, need to be eradicated. I don’t intend to ever witness someone infected by that poison again!”

  Jeremy stared at him in amazement, and he realized that both the girls were nodding agreement as well. He supposed he had to let them, as per rule number two— if assistants arose he had to allow them to help.

  “All right,” he agreed. “I won’t try to burn the fields without you three by my side.”

  With that he opened the door and slipped out, free from all entanglements. He straightened his shoulders and hurried up to the barn so he could saddle his horse. He needed to get to work. So much time had gotten by him and he knew instinctively that danger was pulling up close like the shadows of night falling. He only hoped it wasn’t too late to complete his mission as Time Mechanic.

  In moments his horse was ready and he climbed into the saddle. He seemed to have been given some impressive riding skills as part of his Time Mechanic abilities. He turned the horse in a circle and his seat and bearing had the animal obeying instantly. It felt good. Yes his brain had been altered, but there were some benefits. He’d take a meandering route around Tonturin and keep his promise to Ffip not to search out trouble. After all it was important that he wasn’t captured again. There might not be time for a new Time Mechanic to arise if he were disposed of now. As he rode he thought of all that he’d seen of the villains he was facing, both when he’d seen them in visions and when he’d been their prisoner and being questioned. He felt as if he were so close to understanding what they were up to! It was hard to be patient. As he circumvented Tonturin’s main streets and came to the road that led out of town towards the farmland he growled in frustration. His horse reared a bit in response to his tension and he tried to relax his fingers while he patted the animal’s neck.

  “Whoa, steady now,” he murmured.

  He’d just have to tackle the problem one step at a time. First and foremost he had to visit those fields again. He’d need to measure the parameters so he could get his head around the difficult task involved in burning them— only the two fields of poisonous plants and nothing else. He’d have to be thorough and make certain there was no bit of plant life left, while also being careful he didn’t damage any other field near Tonturin.

  At last he approached the place where the hidden passageway leading to the fields was. Looking around he saw a stand of bushy trees across the other side of the road. He took his horse there and tied the reins to a low hanging branch. There was a patch of rough grasses and the horse lowered its head to investigate. Jeremy removed his coat and rolled it up into a bundle which he placed behind the saddle.

  Jeremy took care as he snuck up to the two fields. He wouldn’t use the hidden passageway again. He’d been immediately spotted last time. Instead he fought through a thin place of wild brush a few hundred feet down. He was sweaty by the time be broke through the thick wall of bramble
s and met the river bank. He got even lower as he realized he was near to the place where the land widened away and the river angled up to give the hidden fields’ room. He was very wet and tired by the time he could lift his head and give the two fields a first look. His eyes got big and he stared in dismay. He rose to his feet and walked closer to see it better.

  He didn’t need to fear any guards. There wasn’t anyone nearby to hear him. There were no sounds other than those he was making. Dripping he approached the edge of the first field and clenched his fists. He didn’t need to bother burning these fields down. There was nothing left to burn. Straight rows of scraped earth stretched away to the horizon. Straggling bits of barren greenery dropped here and there on the destitute dirt. The poisoned berries were all gone. The horrific crop had been completely harvested.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven (In Which Jeremy Transforms Further)

  Jeremy rode slowly back to town. What he’d just seen filled him with a hollow fear that overtook his mind with numbness. All those poisoned berries— two large fields full of them! Somewhere he assumed that gloved workers had picked them into rows of baskets full to the brim now stored in some hidden warehouse or basement. His enemies had been working on this devastation for a long time. They’d put in months of preparation. In secret they’d come so far to produce this deadly crop, and he was the only one aware of all the implications of it. Were they planning on distilling the juice into barrels of a poison so strong that just receiving it onto the skin was enough to cause terrible suffering and then death? Such a vast amount of poison must mean they intended to dispose of many people. To what end? Why would anyone desire such a result or think there was a profit to be made from the venture, as Serrin had said?

  But it must be true that his enemies had a disastrous plan. He’d arisen as the Time Mechanic for a good reason. The threat was real. He shook his head in amazement at himself. What had he been thinking; quarreling with Mars and falling in near-love with Ffip as if he had all the time in the world? At last he realized the depth of the sinkhole he was in.

  In the last few hundred years, only four other Time Mechanics had arisen before him, two men and two women. Of course the threat now had to be this terrifying— the possibility of the massive loss of human life. The threat wasn’t vague— to be sprinkled like a dusting all around the ten cities like he’d supposed. It was local— incredibly close to all he cared about— and centered right here. It began here and would spread out towards the other cities like a fungus.

  He entered the outskirts of Tonturin. He’d lived in this city his entire life. Days ago he’d desired to journey away from it and see the other great cities of the world. He’d imagined Tonturin would remain here safe behind him— flourishing with the sound of commerce, steam contraptions, young people getting know each other, older people clarifying life into perspective, and children laughing.

  He shuddered at the thought of any one of these people lost while he traipsed to some other city seeking adventure. He pictured his Uncle Tov innocently coming into the marketplace to barter with his favorite booth sellers; yet, while there poison was splashed in his face. Urgency made Jeremy’s heart pound. A far worse image came to his mind of Tov suffering alone in his farmhouse, thrashing to death with no nephew at his side to ease his last moments. Jeremy slid from his horse and buried his head into the creature’s mane. He held in a roar of rage. At that moment if either Serrin or QuRellon had ridden by he would’ve attacked them. According to the rules he was given he wasn’t supposed to murder even the villains responsible, but these men had to be stopped.

  “No,” he whispered, tightening his fists so hard that his fingertips dug into the skin of his palms. He had to do something. He had to find out what his enemies were planning to do next. Shaking; he stood there, staring without focusing on anything, willing his mind to work. He was standing at the edge of the marketplace. He saw the colorful painted sides of a new booth. A freshly attached advertisement drew the eye. He blinked the painted words into focus.

  ‘Surebelow,’ the sign above the booth said. Feverishly he went on reading the advertisement. Herbs and healthy ingredients, combined with a secret formula tested by doctors and prepared into an elixir, steam treated for maximum effect. The elixir promised to be good for everything: for healing wounds and diminishing pain, for loosing stiff joints, and bringing ease to heavy breathing. He realized that subconsciously he’d led his horse to this corner of the marketplace on purpose. He hadn’t concluded his opinions about Surebelow but in this moment he understood it was of critical importance. This knowledge had been dropped into his mind sometime over the past week and he accepted it. He had to investigate this new elixir more deeply. His eyes narrowed at a small flyer attached to a pole near the booth.

  An exclusive party held at Tonturin’s finest Inn was being put on that evening to celebrate the new product and introduce its wonders to Tonturin’s elite. Then, in a few days, the booth itself would open to the general populace during the upcoming Loop Festival.

  No one noticed as he walked up to the pole and ripped the flyer down. He folded the paper and put it into his pocket. Then he swung up into his horse’s saddle and made certain not to ride through the center of town. He had to be more careful now than before. He no longer had a residence to hide away in while he came up with some way to mount a defense.

  There really was no other choice. Mars may no longer consider him a friend, but Jeremy knew he hadn’t shut him out yet. He nodded and urged his horse to trot down a deserted alleyway. In moments he rode into Mar’s yard. He stabled his horse and poured some of the feed Mars had bought into the animal’s bin. There was enough water already in the trough. He hurried out of the barn.

  * * *

  Mars emptied the laundry bucket into the outside drain and then looked over at Kannikey. The line for hanging clothes was a reach for her and she attached the sheet she was holding over her head. Ffip had disappeared completely behind the sheet she was wrestling to hang and he smiled a bit. Ffip was surely about to… he moved to hurry forward as the smaller girl tripped over the shrouding sheet and fell over into the laundry pile, adding to the bundle already there. But Kannikey was there to help her, holding back her mirth until Ffip’s face unearthed from the pile, with the corner of the sheet on her head. He shook his head as both girls grew helpless with laughter.

  He thought it was good to have them here; his two new friends. He wished this in-between time— for so he’d decided to think of it— could go on a little longer. His education about women had faltered when he was a boy. Back then he’d decided he just didn’t understand them. Although he’d asked some of them out a few times he’d focused on his shop and had never made time to really look at any. But feeling such a kinship with these two women staying in his house had melted all of his awkwardness away. Never again would he judge all woman-kind because of the flaws he’d seen in a few unpleasant females. He’d gotten to know these two women instead, and seen them both in a time of vulnerability and when they’d revealed great courage. They were more than just women that he knew; they were comrades. For now this little group staying in his house was in a waiting pattern, brought together through no choice of their own and yet happy to be there together. All the usual stages of propriety had been set aside. No distinctions of income level or what anyone else thought of them intruded. They were just young people in an unusual situation— of the same general age and dealing with life as best as they could. Mistakes could be made, he thought, and among friends forgiven.

  He frowned. He knew he had to admit the truth to himself one more time. None of them would be here right now if it weren’t for Jeremy. Mars realized he’d have been giving up his day off to work extra hours in his shop; because that’s the purpose he’d dedicated his life to. Ffip would be… he grimaced at the thought. If not for Jeremy stealing the bag from the roof of that building and discovering the threat against her Ffip would’ve been taken days ago. She’d have disappeared from her family’s k
nowledge and help for she was far from home. And Kannikey…

  His gaze wandered over to the girl again. The damp sheets fluttered in the wind around her like a dance as she attached them to the line. That vision he’d seen about her; it came back to his mind. Her mother was a dancer, perfect in form, and from the view he had right now Kannikey had taken after her and possessed the same figure. She bent one ankle and leaned up on tiptoe and he swallowed. Several seconds dragged by as he stared.

  Suddenly he wondered what Kannikey would be doing today if she hadn’t been dragged into this mess of a situation by Jeremy. Would she be visiting her stepfather’s shops right now, stealing that which she didn’t need into her big purse? Would this mistake she kept making have lost her, one by one, her friends; her place in the community, and the respect she was due? And what did she gain from it anyhow? The stepfather must get frustrated to hear the reports of her activities. What did the man do when she embarrassed him over and again? Come home enraged? Yell at her? Why did she want to live life ducking for cover all the time?

  His fevered thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of a lone horse riding into his front yard. He knew who it was likely to be.

  Jeremy. Frowning again he replaced the big laundry bucket- hanging it against the wall from the hook. He passed through the yard and was standing there when Jeremy exited the barn after caring for his horse.

  He looked at his one-time best friend with impersonal eyes. Jeremy was a shadow of his normal self. He’d never been fat but he’d been a bit stocky when they were in their early twenties. Now his face was white and strained. It wasn’t because he was thinner that his appearance had changed. His hawk nose was a bit shiny from the ride, the smile that should’ve been ready to come forth at any second but now was gone; and the green eyes, which burned with a strange passion; all of these things were different. For a startled moment Mars wondered if the real Jeremy; the one that he’d known since they were boys had been burned up into this quest that’d consumed him. He wondered if Jeremy had somehow gone mad; if losing Fiasca, and then Mars, and living in that dark little room for almost two years had caused him to court insanity.