Sapphire had gone for firewood for the kitchen when she had noticed Paulin standing alone in front of Yldril seemingly mid-lecture. Unable to resist, she had ventured a bit closer, arms full of wood, to hear what was being said.

  “Now in your rest you would do well to ponder your position, dragon. You may believe things are going poorly, but I assure you this is the finest fate you could wish for. Was it up to me things would be far, far less pleasant,” Paulin spoke, authority and experience to her words. Then again, her voice had an edge even if she were simply asking for a plate to be passed, let alone lecturing a dragon.

  Saph did not know if this was Maiko’s doing, but Paulin had seemingly decided to weigh in on the matter of just what was to be done with Yldril. The black dragon for her part was remaining silent and uninterested in the babbling of the archivist.

  “Now you may think these words empty, but I assure you that we hold final sway here. And if I have reason to believe your presence is an impedance to the furthering of the project, I will see that burden lifted. A suitable replacement may be found, I am sure. In fact, I spoke with young Fengi about just such an eventuality.”

  Yldril flicked her gaze towards the archivist, seemingly just as surprised as Sapphire at that twist of events. Fengi did not exactly despise Paulin, but the two were about as different as they came in terms of personality after all.

  “She has lost faith that promises of comfort will suffice, thus the stick will have to be applied and I shall wield it. You have the winter to come to terms with your lot. If things do not improve come spring, we shall ship you off. Am I clear?”

  Yldril did not reply, but now it was safe to say the archivist had her undivided attention.

  “Am. I. Clear?”

  “She would not let you,” Yldril finally replied, shaking her head gently. Saph tried very hard indeed to tell if the dragon truly did believe herself untouchable or if there was a little more beneath the facade.

  “Correction, she would not have, before. You have finally managed to convince the young woman of your true nature. I should commend you, such persistence is rare in blacks,“ Paulin said in response, voice taunting and arrogant as ever.

  “The binding was forged by a unicorn. It cannot simply be broken. If she mistakenly commands me while away, it would kill her. She would never risk it, nor would she ever come with me.”

  “Do you know this insignia, soot scale?” Paulin took out her necklace and held it out, clear for all to see. The open faced helmet with an eye at its center was known to all who fly the skies. “We are the Inquisition. If we desire such a curse to be broken, we shall see it broken. Do you understand?”

  There was once again no answer, though the dragon did not move, instead staring down the archivist indignantly.

  “Now, such a process would by no means be pleasant. Nor cheap. So unless you wish for me to move heaven and earth to see you placed somewhere far, far worse than you could ever imagine, I suggest you see to fixing your attitude. I can assure you, if you do not, it will be the last flight you ever make.”

  ‘They wanna take her wings away… One final punishment before they give you the great fall I suppose.’

  “You would take away the one who can command me, and my wings?” the dragon scoffed. “You are not that stupid. Your threats are empty, archivist. Even though you seem to think yourself an inquisitor.”

  “I am the right hand of Joelina Hashaw. And you cannot comprehend how little we care for the likes of you. You are not important, nor irreplaceable. You are an asset or an obstacle. You best choose wisely. Spring. Fail to bring an end to this and we will find someone more amenable to our cause.”

  “Reward our patience, and who knows… Maybe we will arrange for you to meet your stepdaughter. I have heard she is very sweet. She knows not what her mother has become. I am sure her father fills her ears with a great deal of lies as we speak.”

  “Do you think you can extort me with the promise of seeing a drake not of my blood? Pathetic,” Yldril scoffed dismissively.

  “You forget an important thing, old dragon. You are not the only one with ears so sharp here. You mutter in your sleep. You long for home to this day. But alas, you cannot return. They do not want you.”

  “Thus you face a choice. Change by spring, and retain the hope you may one day see them again. Time heals many wounds, as can tales of great deeds of redemption. Or stay your course, and you will never ever have the chance again.” Paulin turned away and nodded to Sapphire in recognition before starting to walk off. “’Till spring, dragon. Do not dally.”

  Sapphire had only come for firewood, but she needed a few answers, for Fengi’s sake. She did not believe for a moment that Fengi knew anything about this. Yldril looked after them as they departed, not saying a word. Paulin apparently decided on the stairs rather than flight to ascend. It was cold, and she was wearing some quite heavy looking robes, so perhaps that was the reason.

  The two walked in silence up the slowly spiraling staircase carved into the stone atop which the keep sat. The silence reigned until Paulin shut the door behind them, Saph still carrying the firewood.

  “So, what is it, huntress?”

  “Fengi doesn’t know about this, right?” Saph questioned, feeling quite sure of the response.

  “She knows I am here… She also knows I do not speak the truth. We cannot separate them, nor spare the dragon… Alas, there is no reason to lecture her on such realities,” Paulin replied in a lower, less assertive tone. She sounded almost dejected in fact. As if her great Inquisition had failed her in some sense.

  “Right.” Saph had expected as much, but still.

  “Promises have not worked, not even when held. Thus threats will be tried. It was Maiko’s idea. She is too comfortable in the idea that she is untouchable. Combined with the notion that only those who surrender are tolerated, and it leaves her near unbreakable. Even if she was to come around it would be for the scant comforts offered. He believes no progress would be made.”

  “And you believe him?”

  “He is most trusted by Victoria, thus I shall make use of her judgment. But yes. Perhaps fear will see her dedicate herself more wholeheartedly to the task at hand, and to the idealism of Fengi. Naive as she may be.”

  “Riiight…” Sapphire replied as they carried on through the keep. She was far from convinced that would work at all. She would have to tell Fengi, just to make sure Paulin wasn’t lying to her as well. It did not sound like the sort of plan Fengi would come up with. But perhaps it would work. The last one hadn’t after all.

  “You do not agree with it,” Paulin stated flatly. It wasn’t even a question, rather an observation.

  “I’m not sure… She’s a piece of shit and maybe she cannot be fixed… but perhaps this will help.”

  “She has hundreds of years left. The thought of them all being sealed away must surely be intimidating. She may be cruel and vicious, but she does not strike me as ignorant or idiotic. She calculates as well as any dragon.”

  “True… and for what it’s worth there is a spark in her. We did get to see it during our little logging excursion. Fengi thought we could kindle it. I guess not.”

  “I care not. She will do better.”

  “why does it matter what she believes in? She does the work; isn’t that fine enough?” Sapphire questioned. That was bothering her. Why did Paulin suddenly care? This didn’t seem like her at all.

  “I was instructed to ingratiate myself. I am doing so. Fengi sees far too much in that beast, and you in Fengi. Thus I shall help fix the problem.”

  ‘And for a moment I was worried you had become a people person,’ Sapphire thought to herself as she just stared at the archivist, not sure how to respond.

  “I know it is a great help, but do not mention it. We will require each other in this endeavor,” Paulin carried on as if Sapphire's understanding and approval were a forgone conclusion.

  “I think you should stop talking,” Sapphire replied, Paulin looking to her with a hint of surprise in her expression before shaking her head a bit and looking back ahead.

  “As you wish. How goes your studies? I shall have need of your assistance soon.”

  “My studies?” Sapphire questioned, not quite sure what she was referring to.

  “Your English studies? Are you not training to understand Tom’s works?”

  “I uhm… sure, yeah right. I’m the best here after all, of course. I know him better than anyone… well except Jacky,” Sapphire deflected, trying not to sound too half-hearted. She didn’t think she’d actually picked up one of Tom’s books in at least a month… She had been more busy with her own ones.

  “See to it you improve. Your skills shall be very important. And I doubt your keep would take kindly to me introducing yet more people to your ranks. You seem distrustful of outsiders.”

  “Only those who might want us dead.”

  “Don’t be silly, such notions were settled months ago.”

  _________________________________________________________________________________

  “You’re not gonna go down and say your goodbyes before Yldril turns in, Tom?” Jacky questioned jovially as she came back from her trip upstairs to fetch some of the drawings Tom had been working on. “It’s tradition, don’t you know?”

  “It is tradition to do so for a dragon you might actually want to give your best wishes for the winter,” Shiva countered as she stoked the coals, slowly heating up the next batch of iron.

  “I‘ll save the courtesy for Jarix, I think. Did you get them?” Tom chuckled. He had no need to spare any of his time for the likes of Yldril. It was precious enough at the moment.

  “Yup, the old drawings for that long ass spring. I still don’t get how you made that.”

  “We didn’t really. We made a few small ones, then your mother fused them together. I suppose it’s time to see if that worked or not.”

  “There were no mistakes in my work. I labored over that damn thing for days,” Shiva rebuffed. Tom had no doubts the work was up to snuff, but just exactly what happened when she fused two bits of metal together he didn’t really know. They had tempered the spring afterwards, but who was to say what the grain structure might look like inside?

  “I don’t doubt it. Jacky, a hand?” He gestured to the gun, still sitting on its tripod. Jacky put down the drawings, making her way over, and just as he went to grab the barrel end of the gun she just picked it up and set it down on the table. “Right, thank you.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “No problem, so…?”

  “Yes, let us see.” Tom set to work, taking off the rear spade grips and opening up the rear of the gun. With a bit of fiddling, out came the recoil spring assembly. Or rather some of it. “Right, yeah, that’s our problem.”

  “Wasn’t that supposed to be in one piece?” Jacky questioned as Tom bent down to look inside the gun, which was rather hard with the dim lighting.

  “Yeah it is, is my torch down there?”

  “I got it!” Edita helpfully called out, kneeling right next to him and looking into the receiver as well. A small tube on the side of her goggles emitted that cold, blueish light Tom remembered from having fiddled with them.

  “Thank you, Edita. Now… Yeah, there it is.” Tom could feel Jacky move to stand behind him as he reached his hand inside and came back with both the top of the spring retainer and guide rod as well as a section of spring. “So two things broke.”

  “Oh that isn’t good. C-can I see?” Edita pleaded, clearly taking the matter to heart. Tom handed over the tip of the rod. “The blessed machine… but it was so new.”

  “These things happen. We cannot make it to original spec, so we have to experiment a little. We’ll just have to work out how to make the next one stronger.” Tom stood back up, inspecting the end of the spring, Jacky helpfully having procured an oil lamp and holding it up for him to see. “Thank you, Jacky.”

  Running his fingertips over the edges, he found they were dull and there was no shine to the bare metal at all. “Either it’s already been soaked in oil, or the spring broke a while ago.”

  “But how could it operate with a broken spring? How could we miss such a fault? We had it disassembled for its modifications.” Edita sounded almost heart broken. Like a great crime had been committed by forcing the gun to run with broken parts.

  “Because John Moses Browning knew what he was doing. The spring is retained for a reason. This sort of thing happens. Though it likely didn’t help with it running poorly before if it was in fact broken. As for why you didn’t see it, the spring would still be held in place and covered in oil. It happens.”

  “And the breaking point?” Shiva questioned calmly as she stoked the coals.

  “Doesn’t seem to be where it was fused together. I would guess a small impurity is to blame, or a slight flat spot left after hammering.”

  Shiva snorted, shifting the crucible a little, evidently not convinced Tom knew what he was talking about on the subject.

  “I suppose we will try to make the next one a little bit larger in diameter. The spring, that is, not the steel in it. It should lead to less flexing and a smaller chance for cracking to start. When you have the time, try to feel if there are any more cracks in this one. You never know.”

  “Why not just fuse it back together again? It looks fine,” Jacky offered with a shrug.

  “If there is no cracking going on anywhere else I suppose we can try. But if it’s already starting to fail elsewhere there would be no point to fixing it."

  “I will see any cracks repaired, and then I shall reharden and temper it. Perhaps a spot was too cold during the process. It is a peculiar shape,” Shiva interjected, evidently having made up her own mind as to the cause. Tom knew better than to argue with her; he’d already pushed his luck.

  “That it is, well best of luck with that. Speaking of metal fusing…” Tom continued leadingly, glancing towards Shiva.

  “I am happy to be of use,” she replied sarcastically, not looking forward to yet more magical strain to be put on her.

  “If you have the time later, I wanna go over some things with you for the boiler.”

  “Oh, no bother, Tom. I have an idea,” Edita interjected happily, taking Tom by surprise.

  “You do?” He perhaps sounded more surprised than he had intended as Edita ducked her head a little, ears drooping.

  “Yes. I am sorry. I was studying your plans. I have worked on a great deal of boilers. I believe braising the tubes with silver would be smarter."

  “Yeah but, uuuuhm… How?”

  “The forge, and a flash burner of course.”

  “Explain.”

  __________________________________________________________________________________

  “So like, Edita has this thing that just breathes a flame. Like a red dragon, right? It runs off flash oil. The powder just dissolved into oil, just like the old firebombs. It just breathes a steady flame, like there is a roaring fire inside. But it doesn’t get hot, well not that hot. But the flame will melt silver,” Jackalope explained away, barely getting a breath in.

  Sapphire was so confused by all this. She had just wanted to know what Tom was up to right now. Well, in actuality, she wanted to ask if they were remembering Ray right now, but it would seem the answer was self explanatory judging by Jacky’s apparent struggle to grasp what they were doing with the boiler and little mention of anything else.

  “They are making jewelry for the engine?”

  “No, it’s something about gluing the pipes together, only using silver as glue.”

  “Silver isn’t sticky?”

  “Maybe it is when it’s melted? I’ve never touched molten silver, have you?”

  “I mean, no… but why use silver? Isn’t it expensive? It’s just some pipes. We got plenty of deer glue, you know from the bows?”

  “I uhhh. Don’t know… So anyway what are you doing reading, isn’t there something else to do?” Jacky deflected. She never liked talking about stuff she didn’t understand. It made her sound dumb. Sapphire could understand. She felt quite dumb when Tom was around a lot of the time, too. At least in the workshops. Out on the hunt he was the moron who couldn’t pass as a greenhorn. Even if he had a damn good weapon.

  “Not really, you have the hands you need down in the workshop. It’s not my turn in the kitchens or on firewatch, so I thought why not see about some of all this.” She held up the book, revealing it to be the one Tom had brought about plants and the like. Possibly the only one of his books she knew more about the contents of than Tom. More importantly, the language used was far closer to what she knew, which did make things a bit easier.

  “You’re reading in English?”

  “Trying to. Easier said than done, but I know a little. Linkosta might come by to help me later, but she’s busy working with Apuma and Jarix right now."

  “Oh yeah, I guess Fengi still hasn’t decided to let them use her for the experiments.”

  “Too late now anyway. Who knows? Maybe a winter alone with her thoughts won’t do the trick either and Fengi will have to take away more privileges. As it stands, if things don’t improve, apparently Paulin has offered to replace her. Sending Yldril away to somewhere very cold indeed, and having her wings clipped,” Sapphire lied. If Yldril was to have any chance of believing it, they couldn’t have her listening in on people discussing how it wasn’t true after all.

  “Wow… like, they are just gonna ground her forever?”

  “She’s escaped before. Can’t do that without wings.”

  “I mean fair, but still. Ouch.”

  “Yeah, but the piece of shit kinda deserves it. She’s damn lucky as it is here, and she doesn’t care at all. It’s not fair on Fengi. She’s far too nice for all of this."

  “Yeah… Well maybe this will help. Who knows? If not, we still have Jarix. Last I heard they were wanting to try to make illusions, you know like the witch did down below.”

  “If they could hide Jarix entirely that would be pretty amazing. Trick someone into thinking he wasn’t there.”

  “Yeah… quite the spell that one,” Jacky replied, suddenly growing melancholic. Saph wasn’t quite sure why though.

  “Oh it is, could you imagine, bringing the gun and Jarix’s breath to bear on someone who had no idea what’s coming? He could take on dragons far bigger than him.”

  “Yeah… I guess, actually,” Jacky seemingly wrestled free of her stupor, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes as she looked at Sapphire. “Why doesn’t every dragon just bring a mage?”

  “Well you don’t need just any mage, you need at least two, preferably more, and they need to be very good at working together. If not… Well, Linkosta put it nicely.

  “You wind up promoted to corpse.”

  “Yes that. Also I don’t think those books grow on trees.”

  “Ahr, right… blessed be the Inquisition, I guess.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far… Speaking of blessings, has Tom been talking about that idea for Ray at all? The hang glider thingy?”

  “No not really, he’s busy trying to get the place warm right now, and fixing Jarix’s gun.”

  Saph tried to hide her disappointment. It was understandable though. It would be a big project, she was sure. Maybe in spring… but then they would be working on the factory.

  “Oh yeah what was wrong with it? It just sorta stopped.”

  “A spring and some things broke,” Jacky dismissed her.

  Sapphire rolled her eyes at the half-hearted answer. Not that she really cared, she was just a bit annoyed. “How descriptive.”

  “Look, I don’t really know, okay? Like a rod thingy snapped, and the spring also broke, and the bits sorta like fell out into the inside of the gun and it got stuck,” Jacky snapped back.

  “I see… sorry. Is it fixable?”

  “Oh yeah, he didn’t sound that worried. He expected something like this would happen, apparently.”

  “Of course he did. What’s next, his fancy heating machine he expects to burn down the keep?” Sapphire questioned sarcastically.

  “No, but he did say that if that funny little valve he’s working on doesn’t work, it could blow up and take the whole room with it,” Jacky replied, sounding perfectly serious, much to Sapphire’s horror.

  “Oh… right… Naturally. Should have guessed explosions would somehow be involved.”

  “Tink is making it.”

  “May the gods help us all.”

  “Oh, Tom will check it over of course. What could possibly go wrong?”

  “Don’t say that, don’t you dare!”

  “What, do you believe in Murphy, too?”

  “No, I just believe in common sense and how to not make things go from bad to worse.”

  “I think life is pretty good right about now, don’t you?”

  “I… I suppose so, yes. One thing though. Would you please try to remind Tom about the thing for Ray? It would mean the world to her if he just tried.”

  “I get it, yeah… I’ll try.”

  _________________________________________________________________________________

  “I know, I know Jacky, but it’s gonna be easier said than done. We’ve already got so much to do.”

  “Could you not at least pretend like you are working on it? It would mean the world to her,” Jacky pressed, speaking softly into his ear as she held him close on yet another cool night.

  She had gotten out some more furs and blankets to both pad the bed and to wrap up the two of them. The envy of the other keep dwellers had been palpable each evening as she walked past the big cauldron in the kitchen, needing neither stones nor waterskins to keep warm and comfy all night long.

  Tom’s only real gripe with it all was the slight reduction in available time spent working since he could not exactly get up early when he was providing crucial hotrock services. On the upside, being able to snuggle up in a pile of soft, comfy furs and blankets all night long with anyone, let alone someone like Jacky, was not a hard sell. He wouldn’t even boil over like an old Plymouth in Nevada since she was so nice and cool. It was a worthy trade in the end.

  “I… I suppose. Never been much good at aerodynamics. Gonna be a lot to learn, a lot to read,” he tried half-heartedly. He knew she would pester him until she fell asleep, so there was not much point in overt resistance.

  “What’s aerodynamics? Sounds like some noble from the south, stupid names the lot of them.”

  “Hey now, be nice. It’s the study of airflow, you know? How wings work, how you fly? How to cut through the air as efficiently as possible.”

  “Oh well I’m great at that.”

  “I suppose so, yeah,” Tom chuckled to himself before having a bit of a brain wave. “Yeah… you would be, wouldn't you.”

  “Well duh, I’m the fastest one here, everybody knows that.”

  “Not counting Sapphire”

  “Bitch she’s a racer, she does turns and all that, flying through rings and around obstacles and all that. Give me a straight line, I’ll show her who’s boss.

  “Jarix.”

  “Fiiiine, not counting the literally fastest creature in the world, I’m the quickest.”

  “Alleged,” Tom countered with a chuckle. It was likely that he at least had a shot at it, but being busy playing soldier meant he hadn’t exactly had the chance to prove himself for some time. Tom didn’t actually know if the dragon had ever had a career in racing. It did seem like something he would do, if nothing else then at least for the prize money.

  “Don’t say that to his face.” She chuckled, shifting a little and pulling Tom in closer, wrapping a leg up around his side. “But please, it’s not just ’cause Saph told me to. Just make it look like you are working on something.”

  “I think I can do one better than that actually,” Tom replied, a plan slowly starting to come together as he ran a hand down her thigh under the blankets.

  “Oh? And how is that?”

  “I need to learn, don’t I? Why not learn from the best?”

  “You want me to teach you how to fly? Uhm, no offense but…” Jacky chuckled a little as she nuzzled the back of his head.

  “Yes, well I want you to teach me how you fly, so I can design something which can. We’ve always taken inspiration from the realms of nature for flying machines. Ain’t no human who ever got to study a dragonette before.”

  “Tom… do you remember that movie you showed us with the strange flying machines that looked a bit like birds made out of wood?”

  “Yeah…”

  “It’s not gonna be like that, is it?” Jacky questioned with a concerning lack of sarcasm for Tom’s taste. He’d done some less than smart things, but it wasn’t that bad… was it?

  “It’s certainly possible…” he yielded reluctantly before letting out a sigh and trying to push back up against her. “If I’m not thorough enough in my studies.”

  “I see... Well I suppose you best find a measuring line somewhere.”

  “I think I’ve got one or two that might work. I might even need to sketch you.”

  “How uhm… ahr shit what’s the word?” Jacky broke out in frustration as she ran out of vocabulary.

  “Well don’t ask me,” Tom countered with a chuckle.

  “Like… fancy way of saying daring.”

  “I think daring is fine.”

  “Oh fuck you,” she snickered, batting him on the head playfully.

  “I prefer it the other way around.”

  “Like you get a choice in that,” Jacky countered, laying an arm around his neck and holding just tight enough to prove a point.

  “If you stick your tail up my ass you’re gonna need to stand in line at the kitchens.”

  “Fiiiiine… but then it better be a pretty sketch.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll flatter you.”

  He didn’t get a verbal reply to that one, rather just a fairly solid punch to the shoulder which left him a bit sore as Jacky laughed behind him.

  “Aoow, that’s my writing arm.”

  “Suck it up, princess. Life has consequences. Make that glider for Ray and I might not hit you again.”

  “I feel oppressed,” he complained half-heartedly as Jacky embraced him a bit too tightly for his newly sore arm.

  “Noooo you’re not. Try losing your wings, or being told to shut up by magic.”

  “Ehrherm.”

  “What? You never had any wings? You can’t lose what you don’t have. And you definitely can’t shut up.”

  Tom grumbled a bit at that, it was a good joke but still, low blow. “You are lucky that I love your ass.”

  “But what about the rest of me?”

  “Still deciding.”

  And at that, yet another punch to the shoulder was received, which only tempered his laughter.

  “You are sleeping on the floor like Maiko.”

  “Worth it.”

  _________________________________________________________________________________