The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom Read Online Free

He blew on his cupped hands. A gray cloud filled his
palms, wispy and light, then gained weight. He stretched the tendrils out, like
a spinner carding wool, until a fine net was strung between his fingers. With
great care he lifted it until it hung like a gossamer veil over Adele’s dark
hair. It shimmered briefly, then faded from sight.
    “Thank you, old friend,” Adele said, briefly squeezing Cornelius’
arm before slipping out. Few fairies had the power to hide from each other.
Some in the court didn’t trust Cornelius because of the strength of his magic,
but Adele knew he always had her best interests in mind.
    Adele first went to her rooms, cast off the illusion, and
then changed into working clothes: white overalls and a tight-fitting shirt.
Her maid Clarissa sniffed in disapproval, but didn’t say anything. Then Adele
went down back corridors and stairs, her bare feet moving silently over dusty
wood and brick. All the servants she passed looked down and away, maintaining
the illusion that she moved unseen, as the servant class frequently did for the
royals. Many of the back halls weren’t lit, but Adele easily called a will-o’-the-wisp
to dance beside her, bobbing and circling, lighting her way.
    Bright lights filled the machine room. Thaddeus’ greatest
creation dominated the center of it. Adele walked slowly around it, then spread
her wings and continued her circling, going higher and higher. She could
identify only the major pieces: the mainspring, the four pallet levers, the
primary motion works, and some of the balances. So much of it went beyond her,
as well as Thaddeus’ assistants. That was partly through design; no one was
supposed to know what their master created.
    The machine had been the main component in Adele’s plan to
bring her people out of the shadows and into the world again. All the resources
of the kingdom had been funneled into its creation. It had taken them decades
to get to this point. So close.
    Electronics hurt Adele’s people. One of the clockworkers had tried to explain about waves and magnets,
but Adele didn’t care. This modern world repelled her, literally. She was tired
of retreating. She and Thaddeus had finally come up with a plan for fighting
back. The smaller-scale models he’d created had been successful. Powered partly
by magic, partly by machine works and cranks, they could stop all electronics,
but only in a limited area.
    Adele wanted to kill them, all of them, for miles and miles.
Then she and her people could rise from the ground, return to being the fierce hunters
they’d once been. Not only the warrior caste would fight. All of them would
return to their former glory, be as they’d once been. It was her fondest wish. They’d
drive the humans out, then move east, send their machines ahead of them, and
take back their world.
    Of course the humans would fight. Adele was certain her
people would remember their skill at killing once they tasted human flesh
again.
    However, Thaddeus had never finished his machine. Now he was
dead.
    Adele floated to the floor, and then crumpled, finally
weeping.

Chapter Two
    Kostya woke with war cries ringing
in his ears. At first he thought he was still dreaming, but his dreams had been
bittersweet, not violent. He’d seen his wife, long dead, clearly for once. She’d
called to him from behind foreign glass, the kind that smelled of chemicals and
bitter gas. He hadn’t been able to reach her. He’d shouted and screamed, his
words blending into the noises that had awakened him. Finally he recognized the
sounds: the onset of battle by fairy warriors.
    “By the third eye of Hronthron’s pig,” Kostya swore. He stared at the rough rock
ceiling of his underground home, thinking furiously. The fairies hadn’t trapped
him—they’d been at war for too long and he’d dug escape tunnels out of
every room of his long, shambling home. He calmed himself. His defenses would
keep him safe for a while. Still, he sprang up from his