The Clockwork Empress – Part 2: Winding

Her private chambers lay at the top of the tallest tower, a round room of dark wood and brass, lit by a hundred small lamps, ringed with clocks of every size, all ticking, all slightly out of step. A great window looked out over the city's sea of smoking rooftops. A low chair stood in the centre, and beside it, on the thick carpet, a folded grey blanket and a small cushion.

"Kneel," said the Empress.

He knelt on the cushion. The ticking filled the room like rain. She walked slowly round him with her hands behind her back, her long coat whispering, and said nothing for a very long time.

It was the most patient thing he had ever experienced. She set him tasks. To hold a tray of tiny brass screws without spilling one. To recite, in order, the parts of an escapement. To wait, in perfect silence, for a full quarter hour, while she wrote at her desk. She corrected him as she had promised, with a touch of a gloved finger under his chin and a quiet word. Straighter. Slower. Again. There was no anger in her, and no hurry. She was an engineer of attention, setting and resetting the springs of him until the whole mechanism of his thoughts ran smooth and quiet.

"Does the clockmaker wish to continue?" she asked, at every chime of the hour.

"I do, Majesty."

"Say it plainly."

"I do. Thank you."

"The Empress does not require thanks." But the lamplight caught a smile.

At midnight, a hundred clocks struck together, a great, rolling, overlapping chorus of chimes. When it faded, she stood still for a long moment, her head bowed, listening to the silence.

"Winding," said Verity, softly.

It was the word, and she spoke it for them both. The long brass coat slid from her shoulders and lay across the chair. The gloves came off, one finger at a time. In her shirtsleeves, with her silver-streaked hair coming loose, she was suddenly only a woman, tired and warm. She sat on the carpet beside him and drew the grey blanket round them both.

"How are you?"

"Set to time," said Silas, with a laugh that shook. "Perfectly."

"You were a splendid servant." She kissed his forehead. "The finest the Empire has had."

"May I serve again?"

"The bond is open." She smiled. "And I find that the clocks in my tower require a great deal of regular attention."

"I'll bring my tools," said Silas.

"You will bring yourself," said the Empress, and the clocks ticked softly on.

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