Clockwork Blue
Authors: Gloria Harchar
Book 1
The Lumière Chronicles
Kindle Edition
Copyright
©
2012 by Gloria Harchar
©
Cover
by Audrey Harchar
http://moonmythos.deviantart.com
©
London Illustration| depositphotos.com
Kindle Edition License Notes
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is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used
fi
cti
ti
ously. Other names, characters, places and incidences are products of the author's imagination
, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is
entirely
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.
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.
Thank you for respectin
g the hard work of this author.
To my mother, Wilda June Adams, who always supported my writing.
To my husband who is my stalwart, my inspiration.
To my daughter, Audrey, and her keen eye for detail.
To Caron Smith
who laughed at the pixies,
cried at the big black moment, and who encouraged me every step of the way.
"
Callers, y
our
mission
is
to make the Black Fal
con fall in love with the tomboy
of Nottingham.
"
Allegro Soprano
'
s
wings drooped
as he
gaped
at
M
aestro. Nobody knew where Maestro had come from, or how old he was—but his name was mentioned several times in the histories. And he seemed to always visit when bad times
lie
ahead.
Maestro
sat on the dais made of golden pink clouds
, seemingly immune to Allegro's reaction to his announcement
.
That Maestro would allot him to such an assignment cut him to the bone.
Allegro lowered his head and stared at his feet as he trie
d to wrap his mind around this new calling
.
England lay far below, appearing as fragile as a lady
'
s stocking
.
Allegro didn
'
t believe in
romantic
love. So how
could he convince a human to fall in love
, to allow those feelings
to influence the rest of
her
life
? He glanced at the other
pixie
Maestro had summoned
, wondering how Glissando had taken the news
.
Glissando stood to the side of the cloud-studded room, flipping through the pages of a book on the
origin
of
pixies
. His
green, kinky
-spiked
hair glistened in the morning light, the sharp gleam at odds with the misty wall of clouds behind him.
Allegro wasn't well acquainted with
the agent, but rumor had it Glissando lived up to his
note-sliding
name
in that
he
slithered
between sides, whatever benefited him. Why Maestro would trust a pixie suspected of being a double
agent was a
puzzle
to Allegro, unless it was because the love mission wasn
'
t important.
"
I know what you are thinking.
"
Maestro ran a hand down the lapel of his waistcoat, straightening a wrinkle Allegro didn
'
t see.
"
That you
and Glissando
are the last pixie
s
I should approach on this matter. But you are wrong.
Both of you
are the perfect agent
s to see this mission through.
"
He paused.
"
U
nless you want to quit now, without even trying?
"
Maestro
curved his lips into a
smile of challenge.
A dozen questions popped
forward
in
Allegro's
head
. He
latched
on to
a concern
less personal, less painful
.
"
Why
meddle in
the love lives of two humans
when Great Britain is on the brink
of
another
war? Shouldn
'
t
I be on a mission to keep
another
altercation from occurring?
"
He purposely left out Glissando.
"
France and Britain's
T
reaty of Amiens isn't going to last, which is a pity. T
he people celebrated w
ith great fanfare
. Dublin even named a street after the treaty.
All for nothing.
"
"
True. Napoleon
keeps changing the terms of the treaty.
"
"
Not to mention
that
t
he
Mrasek
have him in their pocket,
"
Glissando piped in
, startling Allegro
.
The
Mrasek
.
At the name, Allegro shuddered. They were misled humans who followed
Lord
Sethos
, the lord of the Underworld
.
Although
Sethos
and his
hoard
of evildoers had been trapped in their Underworld home, there was always danger he and his
comrades
would escape, which was the
Mrasek
'
s
goal. Dissention among countries produced the dark magic
Sethos
needed to break out. Thus, the
Mrasek
whispered discontent and malice in others' ears to whip up war.
Glissando
continued to thumb through the
book. "What is your source
? Just last week I heard Napoleon
beheaded his secretary of state
, who was a Wrockle.
"I have my ways of being in the know."
Allegro drew his brows down.
Glissando had been missing the past week. In fact, Maestro had searched for the slippery pixie. Allegro
wouldn
'
t be surprised if the
Mrasek
had Glissando in their pocket, too.
"
And Glissando is right
,
"
Maestro concurred.
"
The
Mrasek
now
have the French in their stronghold, and there
is nothing we can do. The wheels are already in motion
. War is inevitable
.
A
nd Allegro.
"
"
Yes
, Maestro
?
"
"
Al
though you think this mission is miniscule, it
'
s anything but. T
his union has to do with Britain
'
s
success in winning
, and how the country will overcome the aftermath of war.
E
ver
ything hinges on
the
Clockwork
Blue
.
"