Furnaces of Forge (The Land's Tale) (27 page)

When they were finally off the tram, the Beadles and Muddles huddled on the footpath to regain their composure. Around them, Myrmidots walked with stern and unhappy expressions. There was no good cheer in Forge.

‘Are they always like this?’ asked Reach. ‘They seem a bit, well, unfriendly.’

‘No,’ said Grunge. ‘And I know what’s making them like this. I only hope that it doesn’t make our job harder. We’d better go. The sooner we see Achillia, the better.’

‘Grunge,’ said Reach tentatively as they set off, ‘do you feel something odd? Like something heavy sitting on your chest?’

They all stopped and looked at Reach. From the way they looked at her, Reach knew that they felt something, too.

‘Yeah, I do,’ Grunge admitted. ‘I thought it was just me. I’ve felt it before.’

‘In Forge?’ asked Reach.

Brian answered for him. ‘No,’ he said. ‘In the High Mountains. We all felt it. I don’t think we all felt it in the same way, but it was with us all the time. I think Crimson felt it most.’

‘It’s not as strong here, but it’s the same,’ said Grunge.

‘I thought it was me being foolish,’ said Megan. ‘I thought I was just upset at how the Myrmidots have been.’

Bligh and Patch nodded. Whatever was weighing heavily on Reach’s heart, weighed on them as well.

‘The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better,’ said Bligh. ‘Let’s get on with it, then.’

In a few minutes they were walking across the tiled floor of the foyer of the grand Town Offices. The enormous marble staircase leading to Achillia’s office flowed upwards in front of them. Council officials, accountants and clerks scurried this way and that, carrying papers and wearing a suitable look of importance and impatience. Not one of them bid the strangers good day or even smiled.

They stopped at Achillia’s door. Bligh straightened his tie, pulled down his waistcoat and patted his hair. He cleared his throat and knocked. No one opened the door; no one from within called for them to enter. Bligh knocked again, a bit harder and a bit longer.

The door to their left opened and Beatrice’s head appeared. As usual, her face was expressionless. It showed neither surprise nor expectation, neither pleasure nor displeasure. But Grunge thought he saw something amiss in her eyes. They lacked their usual intense focus. And he was sure that there was the faintest glow of perspiration on her skin.

Her beautiful, creamy voice, like her face, devoid of all expression, was exactly as Grunge remembered.

‘She isn’t in at the moment. She’ll be back in a few minutes. We weren’t expecting you,’ said Beatrice. ‘And there’s quite a lot of you, aren’t there?’

Still smarting from the insults on the tram, Bligh thought Beatrice was talking directly to him. He inhaled deeply and pulled in his stomach.

‘This is my delegation. We have come on a very important matter. This is no time for appointments,’ he said, sounding very official.

‘It certainly isn’t,’ said a voice behind them. ‘They don’t start until half past two. I don’t suppose you care to wait until then?’

The delegation did an about-turn. Achillia stood behind them, her lips pressed tightly together and her forehead creased by a frown. Her brusque and impatient manner was a far cry from the smiling Lord Mayor who had welcomed them with hugs when they had previously visited Forge. Grunge noticed wispy strands sticking out from the two coils of hair on either side of her head; her jacket was slightly askew and her blouse was wrinkled.

This certainly wasn’t the reception Bligh had expected. For a moment, he was unsure how to reply. But he wasn’t Beadledom’s High Councillor for nothing. He always found something to say.

‘I’m afraid, Achillia, that it cannot wait. I am sorry we have come unannounced but this is most important,’ he said firmly.

‘Very well,’ said Achillia. ‘Perhaps if you will let me get into my office? I’d prefer not to stand in the corridor. Beatrice, you too.’

The delegation moved aside. Achillia swept past them, opened her door and went in, the delegation at her heels.

Forge’s Lord Mayor took her seat behind her desk. Beatrice stood at her side. ‘You will forgive me if I skip the courtesies,’ said Achillia. ‘There are far too many of you to hug. If you like, I can ask Beatrice to hug you for me.’

Bligh tried – not entirely successfully – to control his irritation with Achillia’s rudeness. ‘That won’t be necessary, thank you,’ he said curtly. ‘I think we can manage without the hugs.’

There were only two visitor’s chairs. Bligh and Grunge took them and the others clustered behind.

‘I won’t bother with the introductions since you’re so busy,’ Bligh said pointedly. ‘I have with me Beadledom’s delegates and specially elected, ah . . .’

‘Envoys,’ said Grunge.

‘. . . envoys from Muddlemarsh. We have come to discuss a very important matter. One that –’

Achillia cut him off mid sentence. ‘Yes, yes, Bligh, you said that. Please get to the point. What is this important matter?’

This was not going the way Bligh thought it would. He assumed they would sit and discuss the situation politely, in a civilised way, over coffee. He found his patience with Achillia was coming to an end.

‘Very well, I will be blunt. The Myrmidots have acted irresponsibly. They have disrupted the Land, frightened the animals, put both Beadledom and Muddlemarsh in danger, not to mention themselves, and have conspired with those who wish us harm!’

‘Is that so?’ said Achillia dully. She seemed to have no more interest in Bligh’s words than if he had just told her he had found a wart on his finger. ‘And what precisely have we done to have caused all this?’

Her indifference was the last straw for Bligh. ‘You have brought the blue fire into the Land!’ he thundered.

‘Oh, that,’ said Achillia. ‘I thought it would come up. Beatrice, would you ask Leonardo to join us? He should still be in his office. I’ve just been with him.’

Beatrice didn’t even blink. She just left the room.

‘Leonardo is the Chief Engineer of Forge, which is to say that he is the Chief Engineer of all of Myrmidia. I would like him to be here when we discuss your grievances, Bligh,’ Achillia said.

Not a word was spoken while they waited. Achillia picked up a pen and got on with some paperwork; Bligh arranged his face into the most disapproving expression he could; and Grunge studied the Lord Mayor.

The more Grunge studied Achillia, the more he was convinced that something was wrong. She pretended to write, but he noticed that she merely scribbled a few words and then crossed them out. She fidgeted, tapping her fingers on the desk or patting her coiled hair. She bit her bottom lip. Achillia was not the same calm, composed and courteous person she had been.

Beatrice returned. She ushered in Forge’s Chief Engineer, then disappeared into her office. Leonardo glanced around for a seat, tutting irritably. When Beatrice came back with a chair, she set it down it on Achillia’s left and then took her place on the Lord Mayor’s right.

‘Thank you, Beatrice,’ said Leonardo, taking his chair. ‘I’m very busy, Achillia. What can I do for you?’

‘We’re all busy, Leonardo,’ Achillia snapped. ‘I thought you should hear this.’

‘Hear what?’ Leonardo asked.

‘This,’ said Achillia, waving in the direction of Bligh, ‘is a delegation from Beadledom and Muddlemarsh. They have several complaints to make.’

‘Complaints?’ asked Leonardo. His eyes narrowed. ‘About what?’

‘About whom,’ Achillia corrected him. ‘About us. About Myrmidia.’

‘Well, we should hear these complaints. There must be a lot of them to require all these people to make them,’ he replied.

‘They claim that we Myrmidots have acted irresponsibly,’ said Achillia sharply. ‘They claim that we have disrupted the Land and frightened the animals. They claim that we have put both Beadledom and Muddlemarsh in danger, that we have put ourselves in danger. They claim that we have conspired with those who wish to harm us.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Leonardo. ‘That’s a great many claims – I would say allegations – and all of them serious. Serious claims must be given serious consideration.’ He looked at Bligh. ‘I rarely leave Forge these days, but when I was much younger I often visited Home or Beadleburg. I even travelled as far as Mint. And we have met before, I believe. You are Bligh, Beadleburg’s High Councillor?’

Bligh relaxed. He found Leonardo refreshing after Achillia’s rudeness. True, Leonardo spoke a little sharply, but he had excellent manners. The Beadle offered a slight nod of his head. ‘I am. I am flattered you remember.’

‘How could I not remember someone so distinguished?’ said Leonardo.

Bligh gave another nod of his head, and a satisfied smile.

‘Yes, yes, let’s get on with it,’ Achillia snapped. She looked at the delegation and said, ‘Now, do I understand it correctly that all of our misdeeds are due to one single action?’

‘Yes, Achillia,’ Bligh replied. ‘Just one thing. One terrible thing. You brought the blue fire into the Land.’

Achillia pointed to Patch. ‘I explained that to him!’ she said. ‘Perhaps if you hadn’t sent a Muddle – or at least one with an ounce of sense! – to ask important questions, you’d have had the answer you needed!’

Patch lowered his head contritely. ‘I told ’em exactly what you said, word fer word-like. I’m sorry if yer think that Japes ’n’ me didn’t say it right.’

Achillia lowered her head and rubbed her temples. When she spoke again, she had recovered her composure.

‘Bligh, I understand why bringing the blue fire to Forge would cause you concern. I can see how it looks to you, after what Beadledom suffered. We did bring the fire into the Land. But we did so only after thinking about it very carefully. I took advice from wise heads before letting it happen. And there were reasons I cannot fully explain right now. That’s why I asked Leonardo to join us. He has been one of the strongest supporters of bringing the blue fire to the Land and he can tell you himself that we did not make that decision lightly.’

Leonardo leaned forward in his chair towards Bligh. His voice was coaxing and reassuring, like a doctor trying to make a small child take its medicine.

‘When we heard of the blue fire, we were like you: afraid of it. It obviously had great power and properties which were a mystery to us. A few of us talked about it and some wondered whether we should try to understand its power and remove those mysteries. Most were against it; none more so than your friend Copper. And since he had seen it with his own eyes, and what it could do, most listened to him.

‘But many things, put to the wrong use, cause harm – things that can also produce great good. And we would never know what good the blue fire could bring.

‘Achillia was against bringing it here at first. But a Myrmidot’s quest for new and better things is never satisfied. And when two young apprentices – smart but with no commonsense at all – presented an opportunity, it was taken. Even Beatrice, who had been as opposed to the idea as Copper, did not stand in the way.

‘So far, we have not regretted that decision. It burns in our furnaces, contained and safe. And, in time, we will come to know the other uses for the blue fire.’

Leonardo leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach. He waited.

What the engineer had said made sense to the Beadles. They began to think that maybe they had been a bit hasty. Well, maybe not all of them.

‘A thing may have many uses but only one purpose,’ said Megan quietly. Beatrice looked at her sharply.

‘How can you say you don’t regret bringing it here after what it has done?’ asked Brian.

‘Let’s look at each of those things you accuse us of, shall we?’ said Achillia. ‘First, you say that we have acted irresponsibly. I think Leonardo has just explained that we did not do this lightly. We considered it very carefully. Second, you claim that we have disrupted the Land. How have we done so? Your lives haven’t changed. Our lives have only changed for the better. We produce more without having to take other things from the Land to power our factories. Far from disrupting the Land, we have stopped disrupting it.

‘Then you claim that we have frightened the animals. I admit that something has disturbed them and I admit that something has made them leave Myrmidia. They are just animals, after all. Like children, they are frightened by what they don’t understand. It is likely they are just spooked by the blue light from the factories. They will get used to it.’

Leonardo took up the argument.

‘Most serious of all,’ he said, ‘you claim that we have put Beadledom, Muddlemarsh and Myrmidia in danger. How? Bligh, what signs of danger are there in Beadledom? Is the fire in the furnaces threatening your homes? Before the Muddles came to you and alarmed you, wasn’t life normal for you? And how are we Myrmidots in danger? Nothing has changed for us. Life goes on as normal.’

‘Excuse me,’ said Brian, ‘but surely all the animals leaving isn’t normal. And, if you don’t mind me saying so, no one we have met since being in Forge seems to be their usual self.’

‘Would you care to explain that, Brian?’ said Achillia archly.

It is not easy to tell someone that they are not being very nice – at least not for a young Factotum. ‘Well, everyone seems so . . . so . . . unpleasant,’ he replied.

Achillia was about to retort when Leonardo jumped in hastily. ‘I apologise if we have seemed unpleasant. People are just worried about their pets, I imagine.’

Achillia glared at Brian, then turned her attention to Bligh.

‘There is one other allegation: that we have conspired with those who wish to harm us. I take it you are talking about Hazlitt and Edith, who helped Touch and Cres retrieve the stone?’

‘Well, we don’t mean conspire,’ Bligh said apologetically.

Achillia went on the attack. ‘Don’t you? That’s the word you used, Bligh. Do you believe that we have been plotting against the Beadles and the Muddles?’

‘Of course not, Achillia. I apologise. I was a bit upset,’ Bligh said defensively.

Grunge decided Bligh could use a little help. ‘Of course we don’t think the Myrmidots would deliberately hurt us,’ he added. ‘But after what those two did to Kevin and Crimson, it’s pretty clear that they only helped your apprentices because it suited them.’