The Machines of Theda, page 18
part #3 of The Monster Of Selkirk Series
Still….
“We may need his help eventually, Tomas, but I’ll have no more dealings with him unless it’s absolutely necessary. He knows this city better than us, and that certainly came in handy when tracking me down. All right?” Tallis said as she splashed cold water on her face, hoping it would soothe her aching head.
Tallis imagined she could hear Tomas grinding his teeth in irritation, but the rationale behind Tallis’s words eventually won over the logical side of his mind, and he began to relax. Letting his ire fizzle out, Tomas’s voice took a softer tone. “I have every confidence we will not require anything from Rodrigo ever again.”
Changing the subject, he cleared his throat and continued, “How are you feeling?”
“Wretched. I feel like I just spent a long night with Rosslyn drinking Selene’s special brew,” Tallis groaned. “What did those tremps give me?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it was left neither residue nor any discernible smell. It seems harmless enough, just unpleasant. Do you recall what happened in Mazara?”
Sitting down and cradling her aching head in her hands, Tallis carefully retold the tale as best she could. Most of it still made Tallis’s mind twist in confusion like a knotted fisherman’s net. She had hoped taking Tomas through what the high priestess said would help make sense of it but was hardly surprised when it did not.
“There’s a prophecy about you? Even if I were to believe that, it doesn’t make sense why no one would have a record or a copy of this text. Especially if it tells of a half-elf, or elandili, I guess, that will be the end of the world as we know it,” Tomas said crossing his arms over his chest, deep in thought.
“I’m not ready to believe it is specifically about me just yet, but that doesn’t matter. I know it all sounds absurd, but it explains why half-elves are outlawed both here and in Selkirk.
“How else would you explain that two countries, which have had no contact with one another for the past three hundred years, would share the same opinion about these elandilis? Still, I think if there was a prophecy, and that’s a big if because I don’t trust these tremps, maybe it’s already come to pass.
“You’d think the prophecy, or whatever it was, would have been centered on what the demon was plotting in Selkirk, but I…I don’t know,” Tallis said with a heavy sigh.
Tomas scratched the back of his head, his eyes dark in concentration. “I don’t like this. Perhaps we should see what other ships are in the harbor and investigate securing passage out of Theda,” Tomas said in soft seriousness.
“We can’t just leave. Besides, where would we go? Andor? I don’t want to run away forever. One day I’d like to be able to stop and just be normal with you. With a normal house and doing the things normal people do. If speaking more with Ballinel helps me get to the bottom of this so we can make that a reality one day, then I think it’s worth a try. Don’t you?”
Tomas was momentarily taken aback. A soft blush colored his cheeks as he said, “Tallis I…I want that, too, obviously. I desire nothing more than to have a true home with you. I’d like it infinitely more if it was a home back in Selkirk, but….” Stopping from going on a tangent, he said, “But I don’t understand why you need to speak with her again. Haven’t you learned enough? You know why you were created and why half-elves are outlawed. What more can you possibly glean from going back to the very people who assaulted you not even a day ago?”
“I already told you, there’s more to the story and Ballinel is holding it like a hostage. She’s given me just this little part, but not the context. She hasn’t even really told me if this prophecy has already come to pass or if it’s still looming in the future. If I don’t go and speak with her how can I protect anyone, most of all you, from danger…especially if I am that danger?”
“But don’t you see how absurd that is? How foolhardy going back to those tremps is? They haven’t even made a good faith effort to gain your trust. This Ballinel woman is…coercing and manipulating you into going back to them, and alone no less. How do you know they aren’t going to just toss you into a cage and keep you there until they need you?”
“Because they could have done that already and they didn’t. Instead, they let me go. If they wanted me dead or enslaved they had their opportunity and they chose to free me.”
“After drugging you,” Tomas said with a sneer.
“They didn’t want me leading anyone back to them if I chose not to return,” Tallis said, losing her patience.
“Then choose not to go back, Tallis. These tremps cannot be trusted. You know that, and yet you’re preparing to march right back into their grasp in hopes they will be upstanding individuals who will give you answers to all these supposed secrets.” His words reminded Tallis of what Rosslyn would have said had she been there. Clearly the Sipsi had rubbed off on Tomas to some capacity.
“I really don’t want to fight you on this anymore. I don’t have much of a choice here. No one else seems to know anything, and if they did you could bet I wouldn’t be going back to the tremps! I don’t like them. I certainly don’t trust them. And I don’t want to learn to be like them. But I need answers so we can go home and I can fix the mess I left behind in Selkirk,” Tallis said, her body slumping against the wall, suddenly exhausted.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“No, Tomas, you can’t. They would kill you on sight.”
“You say that and you’re still willing to go there yourself? You know I can’t…I can’t let you go back to them alone without any protection. What if something were to happen to you and I wasn’t there to…to help?” Tomas said, the memory of her almost dying in Selkirk flooding into their minds once again.
“Your concern is touching, but I’ll be fine. I promise,” Tallis said, trying to sound reassuring.
Tomas was not convinced. He frowned at her, and shook his head, mumbling to himself as he furiously tried to think of a way to protect her, or keep her from going back to Ballinel.
Tallis crossed the short distance to him and slipped her hands into his. Looking up into his eyes, she whispered, “Let me do this. I need answers so we can go home. I want to go home, Tomas. How else will I ever be able to protect anyone from whatever may lurk within me and right the chaos I left in Selkirk? I’ll be careful, I promise.”
Tallis watched him wrestle within his own mind for a moment before his shoulders slumped. Glumly, he asked, “There is no way for me to convince you not to do this, to leave this matter well enough alone?”
“I’m afraid not,” Tallis said with a sad smile.
“Very well then, give me a moment I just need to…I need to finish something.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll see. Please, just give me some time, and then you can go about your business and I guess I’ll just…I’ll be in Cato with Fabiana until you return.”
Tallis tried not to protest, knowing she had no reason to stop him. Tallis trusted Tomas with her entire being; she just couldn’t say the same for Fabiana. Forcing a smile, she nodded and said as she turned to leave, “Meet me downstairs when you’re done with your mystery project.”
Tomas found Tallis a little while later daydreaming at a corner table with her chin propped in her hand, watching the innkeepers as they went about their morning rituals. He effortlessly slid into the seat across from Tallis and took her hands, a serious glint in his eyes. She tilted her head, and silently waited for him to speak.
Instead, Tomas gently pried open her hands and pressed something cold and metallic into her palm. Tallis arched an eyebrow at him as he took his hand away and revealed what he had been working on in secret.
Glancing down at the object in her hand, Tallis saw a necklace Tomas had fashioned from the several fob-watches they didn’t use, as well as various decorative cogs, copper wires, and the redundant brass metal workings from their clothes. Tomas had managed to assemble all the pieces in secret and fashioned a heart-shaped pendent that glowed with a faint orange light, capturing just enough of the electrical current emanating from the coiled towers throughout Theda.
Gently, she ran her finger over the front of the pendent and the inscription chiseled to the front in Tomas’s familiar looping hand. A promise, it read.
Tallis blinked down at the engraving, unsure as to its meaning. As if sensing her confusion, Tomas said, “Turn it over.”
Doing as Tomas instructed, she found another carving that read, That means forever.
Tallis still didn’t know what all the cogs and gears were supposed to do, but the inscription made Tomas’s intention clear. No one had ever given her a gift like this before. While she knew the mechanisms within the necklace would do little to alleviate the constant thrumming she felt in her bones, she also knew she would be loath to take off the token as soon as she put it on. This was a gift from the man whom she had slowly grown to love throughout the course of her life without even realizing it until now, and while she had just received the gift, it was already starting to hold as much significance to her as her mother’s wedding ring.
“I have been struggling to come to terms with how willingly you throw yourself into the path of danger,” Tomas began slowly. “But I also realize it isn’t my place to tell you, of all people, what you should or shouldn’t do. I know I am…well, I’m not as well trained in the art of combat as either you or Donovan were. But that doesn’t keep me from wanting to be by your side in case—” Tomas cut himself off and shook his head. After a moment he continued, “My lack of a traditional knight’s training doesn’t mean I don’t wish to join you as you face whatever danger you deem unavoidable.
“Despite my outburst earlier, I trust you. I trust you to be able to handle and take care of whatever problem you face. It is a…a hard thing for me to do, especially when I cannot accompany you, and I apologize for that. Tallis, I would…no, I want to follow your lead, wherever that path may take you, but I’m starting to see that I cannot always physically be there to assist you in any way possible.”
“Tomas, I don’t want you to needlessly risk your life—” Tallis began before Tomas shook his head once again and interrupted.
“If you believe risking your life is necessary for whatever situation we find ourselves in, then I will join you. Not because you can’t handle it, or because you need protecting. But I have skills as well that may come in handy. I hope I proved that to you when you punctured your lung after your last and final encounter with the monster in Selkirk. But that’s not the point.”
Tomas sighed and then met her eyes. His gaze was steady as he continued, “I will always have your best interests in mind, Tallis. Regardless of if I can bodily join you on your crusades or not. That’s what this pendant is…or is supposed to be. Do you know what it is?”
Slipping the necklace on and fastening it behind her neck, Tallis smiled at Tomas. “I know it is a lovely and heartfelt gift. Thank you, Tomas, really. No one has ever given me anything like this before.”
Tomas returned her smile crookedly but shook his head. “It’s more than that. This is a promise that I will always come if you need me. If you press the top of the heart right there where that gear is, it sends a kind of pulse to these,” he said, raising his hand and showing Tallis a pair of cufflinks that matched her heart-shaped pendant.
“If you press that, these cufflinks will begin vibrating at regular intervals and will increase in intensity the closer I get to you. It will help me find you, no matter where you may be in Theda.
“If you ever feel like you are in danger, or the tremps drug you again, just press that, and I will find you. That’s my promise to you, Tallis, that I will always and eternally be there for you,” Tomas said with a quiver to his voice that belayed his solemnity. Clearing his throat, he continued, “When we leave Theda, I’ll have to modify it again. I had to rush a little to have this ready, so I tapped into the electrical currents here. When we leave, the pendant will cease working, but I think, given more time, I could find a way to rectify that.”
Tears began to well in Tallis’s eyes. She had never expected anyone to ever feel for her the way Tomas did. It made her ashamed that she had even momentarily been distracted by Rodrigo and all his flirtations.
Swallowing the lump in her throat that she swore was her own beating heart, she whispered, “Tomas, I don’t really know how to say this, but I love…it. Thank you, really, I mean it. I never expected anything from anyone, and already you have given me more than I rightfully deserve. I promise to one day prove worthy of your devotion.”
Tallis had wanted to confess her own love for Tomas, but she was still—unlike Tomas—unable to say the words.
“That’s not necessary, Tallis. Just…just promise you will press that button if you have need of me, and trust that I will come for you no matter how far away you are. Will you trust me to protect you?” Tomas said, wiping away the tear that managed to escape and roll down her cheek.
Tallis chuckled and nodded. “I trust you, and yes, I promise to press the button if I require assistance. But let’s hope I never need to press it, shall we? How does it even work, anyway?”
Tomas shrugged and tucked his chin into his shoulder in the bashful manner Tallis knew and loved so well. “It’s a little complicated, but to put it simply it’s two parts of a whole. These sets of parts want to be reunited, so essentially you turn on two devices that were once joined by pressing that button. Once the device is on, it sort of searches for its other half, and it won’t stop until it’s reconnected.”
“A little like us, unless I am mistaken,” Tallis mused.
“Well, that was the idea, but I wasn’t going to bring it up if it wasn’t obvious, or if it seemed a little too saccharine,” Tomas said, the familiar shyness returning to his voice.
“Well, it might be, but I don’t mind. I like it when you get sentimental. You should do it more often and not worry about what may come of it. But I really should be heading to the bluffs if I want to find this tree and get to Ballinel before it gets too late. As it is, I may need to spend the night in Mazara.”
“Will you be all right should that be the case?”
“I will with your necklace. Just do me a favor and come back here tonight? Even if I shouldn’t return because of how late I am with Ballinel. Don’t spend the night in Cato with Fabiana. Promise?”
Tomas raised an eyebrow at Tallis. He seemed as if he were about to press the matter but thought better of it as he nodded. “Of course. Do you want me to escort you to this tree you are supposedly going to be meeting with?”
Tallis rolled her eyes. “It sounds so ludicrous when you say it like that. But it’s fine, I can make my way there by myself. Don’t worry about me. You just go and meet up with Fabiana and satiate that keen mind of yours. I will see you soon, all right?” She leaned over and gave him a light peck on the lips.
Tomas gave her a dreamy look before nodding and kissing the back of her hand like a proper courtier. “I will wait for your return then. And Tallis? Please be careful…I don’t trust this Ballinel.”
“Neither do I,” Tallis said as she left the inn behind.
Tallis didn’t immediately head for the bluffs, however. As she left Tomas and her temporary home in Aelius behind, a familiar sight caught her eye. Out in the distance, she saw the sails of Captain Pol’s ship as it once again made port in the harbor. The sight of the ship that had brought her and Tomas to Theda made her gait falter as she hesitated in the middle of the road.
She knew it would be better if she didn’t go to the docks. That it would be wiser for her to turn on her heel and take care of her business before checking to see if Rosslyn had responded to any of the letters she’d sent. She knew if she wished to avoid any awkward meeting with Rodrigo she should wait until the evening before scouring the ship for the post.
But Tallis was so starved for news of her homeland, and any word from her friend, that she could not wait. Slinking through the crowd while trying to avoid the marcato and staying out of sight as much as she could, Tallis made her way to the pier and to Captain Pol’s ship.
A kindly sailor who had not been on her initial voyage with the sour captain took pity on Tallis and tracked down the post the ship was carrying. Before long, Tallis held in her hand a parcel of mail addressed to “Tally” scrawled in Rosslyn’s childlike handwriting.
Clutching the letter to her chest, Tallis nearly skipped out of the docks only to be stopped by the disarming smile of Rodrigo.
Tallis wavered in her step as the pirate headed her way, the confidence in his stride even more profound than usual. She knew it was the result of her drugged confession, and a cold dread began to spiral over her body. She had meant what she said to Tomas about swearing off the pirate’s company unless she absolutely required him, but actually saying that to Rodrigo was much easier said than done.
“Ah, my charming Tallis, I was wondering when you would find your way to me once more. I take it you have recovered from your incident the other day? I don’t suppose you remember the silly declarations you made?” Rodrigo said, mirth ringing in his deep voice.
Averting her gaze, Tallis said sheepishly, “Ah, no, I don’t remember much from the other day. Tomas has been filling in the blanks. Rodrigo I—”
“No need to apologize,” Rodrigo cut her off. “You have known that boy a long time. I am not surprised you said the things you did. But I’m quite confident you realize just how foolish being besotted with a man like that is. Especially when there are others, not unlike myself, who could offer you infinitely more than the simpering Tomas can.”
“Well it’s funny you should mention that, actually. Rodrigo, I—”
“Say no more, my lady, I’m sure this has been a trying day for you. Come, I have just the thing that will make everything all better. We can speak of all the things you have been too bashful to ask thus far in private.”
