Steamforged Sorcery - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

“Not a standard latch system,” Angel muttered to himself. He traced the points on his fingers along the thin grooves in the pendant, feeling for any hidden switches. There were none. He clicked his tongue and turned the pendant over.

The back was plain and unadorned aside from a small circle in the center. Angel tapped it, but nothing happened. A flicker of excitement rose up within him. An artifact without a discernible way to open it often meant it contained Old World magic.

He suppressed his emotions. Losing his cool would only result in destroying the delicate artifact before he could pry the secrets from within it. There didn’t appear to be any physical way to open the locket without forcing it, which would surely destroy its delicate contents.

Luckily, he had more tools at his disposal. Angel drew a deep breath, reaching far within himself. An electric sensation traveled down from the base of his neck and to his feet. He set the tweezers down as the fingers on his left hand tingled faintly. Angel paused, closing his eyes to push out the rest of the world.

“It’ll work this time,” Angel promised himself. “All of it. Not just a scrap. Then it’ll all be worth it.”

He slowly lowered a single finger, too concentrated to even draw a breath. The magic bucked and heaved against his will, but he didn’t let it go. Angel tapped the circle, directing the energy to flow into the circle.

A tiny spark of blue light jumped out from his finger and entered the circle. The locket jumped and the circle lit up with a faint blue light. Angel could have jumped for joy. His heart was pumping like a steam engine in his chest.

Slowly, Angel picked his tweezers back up and held the locket steady. He raised his other arm, examining the locket for a few moments before gently touching the circle with a pointed finger. His hand remained remarkably steady as he slowly traced the length of the circle. A click rang out and one of the latches popped open.

Angel turned the locket over. Two designs had lit up on the front of the locket. They’d been hidden in the flowing lines before, but Angel recognized the Old World runes for ‘open’ and ‘break. He swallowed and traced the ‘open’ rune.

Another latch popped open. The lights changed again, this time forming into a design that Angel had never seen. He bit the inside of his cheek, sitting back in his chair and moving the magnifying glass away from his eye.

“Damn it,” he cursed. “I’m so close.”

Someone knocked on his door.

“I’m busy,” Angel yelled. “I’m good for rent, Fence. You’ll get it later.”

Nobody responded. Angel sighed and returned his attention to the pendant. He licked his lips and glanced up at a circular tablet hanging on his wall. It had a single spiral pattern on the front end. After a moment, he grabbed it and set it down on the table beside the pendant.

He pulled another spark of magic into his left hand and sent it into the disk. A puff of steam came out from it as the tablet opened like a clam, revealing a clockwork inside with half a dozen tiny, spiderlike legs.

Angel chewed his bottom lip. Then he steeled his nerves and picked the pendant up. The small mechanical legs within the other artifact reached out for it, and he obliged them, setting the still glowing pendant down within the strange contraption.

He flicked the eyepiece down again and focused all his attention on the two artifacts. The clamshell’s little legs worked at a steady pace, pressing and touching on parts of the pendant with immaculate precision that only a machine could achieve.

As the seconds ticked by, the little legs started to tug and pull on the magic lighting the pendant, tracing a new line across its surface. A droplet of sweat rolled down Angel’s forehead and fell to the ground.

The magic in the pendant blinked out. A click split the silent air and the pendant swung open. Angel pumped a hand in the air and let out a whoop. Then he gathered himself and cleared his throat, carefully taking his prize from the clamshell.

He had to pry it from the machine’s tiny little legs, but they eventually let go and the artifact closed itself with a snap. Angel was too preoccupied with his new prize to care. The inside of the pendant contained a miniature clock, but the hands weren’t moving.

“Now, what secrets do you hold?” Angel mused aloud. Predictably, the clock didn’t respond to him. Angel mentally went through the path that the artifact had taken to open the locket, embedding it into his memory.

Someone knocked on the door again. This time, it was much more insistent. Angel irritably grabbed the clamshell and hung it from its hook. He set the pendant down on the table and walked over to the door.

“I told you not to bother me when I’m working!” Angel snapped, swinging it open. “The city better be on fi–”

“Shut up,” Fence hissed. His face was pale and sweat had beaded up on his brow. “The guards are here, boy. What did you do?”

“The guards” Angel asked, baffled. “I haven’t done anything that they’d care about. Are you sure they’re here for the right person?”

A tall woman wearing a sharp blue cloak and a low brimmed conductor’s hat swept into his room from behind Fence. Her blonde hair hung low over her shoulders, and she wore state-of-the-art gauntlets on both hands.

“I’m quite certain,” the woman said, examining the room.

“What do you want with me?” Angel asked. “I’ve broken no laws.”

“You may go,” the woman said, shutting the door in Fence’s face. She snapped her fingers and a wave of shimmering gray energy swept outwards, forming a large bubble around the two of them. A cannister popped out of her gauntlet. She grabbed it out of the air and put it into a small bag hanging from her waist.

The woman took her hat off and turned back to Angel. Her eyes were a dull reddish brown that set his hair on end. “My name is Magistrate Dalliah, and I’d like to hire you for a job.”