The Unseen Tempest (Lords of Arcadia) Read Online Free Page B

refreshment?”
    “It just tried to communicate with the workshop and didn’t get a response,” Molly explained, moving to another chair. “That doesn’t mean anything, though. I have no way of knowing if the couch’s communication device is even functioning.” She stood up and wiped the oil on her hands on the seat of the chair. “The chairs are rusted solid; they are going to be no help.”
    “Rusted solid?” Ferra asked. “What does that mean?”
    Before Molly could answer, the couch replied. “Clockwork beings whose inner gears are rusted solid are normally beyond function, except in the rare cases they receive care by a skilled tinker. Do you have a damaged clockwork being in need of assistance?”
    Ferra glanced toward Molly for a translation. “It means they are dead.” That Ferra understood all too well.
    “So all we have is a talking couch for our efforts?” Caerus asked.
    “The couch can be of some help,” Molly answered. “Ferra, ask the couch for something to eat.”
    The barbarian looked shocked at the request. “Why don’t you just ask it?”
    Turning to the couch, Molly said, “Couch, we are hungry. Please provide us with some food.”
    The couch stood mute, its Ready light blinking.
    “It is designed not to respond to my commands. Most clockwork beings have a failsafe in them that makes it impossible to give each other orders.”
    “Why in the world would they make it like that?” Ferra asked in a disgusted tone.
    “So we can’t order each other to rebel or to incite a rebellion against our owners,” Molly answered, her voice emotionless.
    Ferra paused, not sure how to respond to that information. As happened every once in a while, she felt very much like a barbarian wandering in a strange land. Machines like Molly were unknown to her people, and though she could understand how Molly was alive, the thought of the clockwork girl inciting a rebellion was too much for her to imagine.
    Caerus floated near the couch. “We are hungry. Can you bring us some food?”
    “Of course! Where are my manners?” the couch responded, its voice sympathetic. The Ready light on its console changed from red to green as the couch communicated with a location somewhere in the structure around them.
    Ferra jumped and formed an ice spear when the sound of grinding gears suddenly echoed throughout the room. The noise seemed to have no single source. It sounded as if it was coming from the other side of each wall. “What is that?”
    Molly, who seemed unmoved by the commotion, looked from wall to wall in anticipation. Ferra’s hand began to glow with ice as Caerus watched in fascination. The noise grew louder before the sound of something breaking reverberated throughout the room.
    Moving faster than they had ever seen before, Molly raced forward and began pushing on one of the walls. “Here!” she called to Ferra. “I need your ice, quickly!” Not sure what was going on but trusting Molly, Ferra strode over to the wall and placed her hands next to Molly’s. “Start freezing this area. Make it as cold as you can.”
    Ferra nodded, focused, and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees instantly.
    This close, Ferra could see that Molly was actually straining against the wall, pushing it as hard as she could. Generating more and more cold, Ferra could see a latticework of ice begin to build outward from her hands. The ice crept over Molly’s hands, encasing the polished brass surface and burying it under an ever deeper layer as the seconds went on. When the ice reached a radius of about two feet, two vertical straight lines were revealed, their width less than a hair. Two horizontal lines then appeared, creating the outline of a wide rectangle in the wall.
    Molly pulled her hands back, easily cracking the ice that had sealed them to the wall. “That’s good enough,” she said, giving Ferra a nod to stop the cold.
    Caerus floated right up the wall and examined the seals. In a tone of