Alicia crossed her arms and smiled when she saw Lily tiptoeing towards the circular stairs leading into the foyer. She stood at the top of the landing and glanced back down the hallway. “She’s saying goodbye to me,” Alicia thought. Lily crept down the stairs and strung a satchel over her shoulder – no doubt filled with her clothing and some foodstuffs from the kitchen. Alicia leaned against the double doors leading into the mansion’s courtyard and made a little cough.
Lily stopped in mid-adjustment of her satchel strap. She did a double take. “Who–” she began.
“The mechanical girl,” Alicia said still smiling. “I heard you in the kitchen earlier.”
Lily lowered her gaze. “I think it’s time I went.”
“Alright, but, could you wait one more day? I need your help. I need someone to come with me to Lebenwald and do some shopping for the mansion. Please?” She put her hands on Lily’s shoulders.
Lily pulled her satchel off and dropped it on the floor.
“Thank you,” Alicia said. “Go get some breakfast and we’ll be off. Let me fetch my keys.” She led Lily towards the dining room door and hurried up the stairs.
“How is she?” Alicia recognized the voice of the Watchmaker, Doctor Wilhelm Gottfried, as she emerged on the second floor balcony. He was already dressed in his slacks, shirt, tie, and vest ready to work in the laboratory.
“She’s still young,” Alicia said. “I remember being like that myself.”
“Thank you for making this run to town for me,” Doctor Gottfried said. In his hands he held a dancing canary. She had finished it and left it by his bedroom door in a bird cage. “I think when you return, you’ll be ready to help me fix my son.”
* * * * *
The town of Lebenwald was one of the larger cities Alicia had been too and as the name implied the taller buildings made it look like a forest of stone and steel. She circled over the city taking a good bird’s eye view of the town. Upon hearing Lily vomit, Alicia descended and made a landing outside the city walls. Once the plane slowed, Alicia cut the propeller and removed the two keys that turned on the plane’s engine. The keys were attached to a leather cord that she wore as a necklace. She tucked them under her blouse and climbed out of the cockpit. Two guards approached her with their hands on their sword hilts. She pulled off her helmet letting her hair free and waved at the guards. They relaxed.
“Traveler,” the head guard said. “What business do you have here?”
“I’m picking up supplies from the market. Something the matter?” Alicia said helping Lily out of the back and watched her head off to the woods with her pail in hand.
The guard began: “The town’s been on alert. Creatures have been spotted in the night. We ask that you be careful and report to a guard if you see or hear anything suspicious.”
“What kind of creatures?”
The guards eyed one another.
“A wolfman,” the junior guard said. His superior glared at him and grimaced.
“Thanks for the warning.” Alicia patted her holster. The guards nodded and walked off. Lily returned with a clean pail and sat down on a tree stump by the plane. Alicia pulled a list from her pocket and tore it in half. “I’ll go pick up the machinery, tools, and parts, and I’ll leave the produce for you.” She handed Lily a small pouch of money. “There’s a little extra for you as well.”
As both women walked away from the plane, a voice caught their attention. “Yes! Yes, this was what I saw flying through the sky! At first I thought it some strange demon or monstrous insect, but its nothing of the sort!” Alicia turned around and spotted a plump man shaped like the bell of a mushroom with a tuft of red hair examining her mechanical bird.
The plump man turned towards Alicia and his lips split into a wide smirk. “My dear is this your marvelous contraption?”
“Yes,” Alicia said returning to the plane. Lily bumped into her from behind.
“Brilliant craftsmanship! Who is your master? What is his name? I would like to meet him.”
“My name is Alicia, I’m my own master, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister–”
“Doctor, my dear. Doctor Bartram Kessel, a scientist of all studies.” He bowed. “A woman as her own master?” He laughed. “This flying machine. I’ll pay you a thousand gold pieces for it!”
“It’s not for sale, Doctor.”
“Ten thousand, my love,” he said taking her hand.
“Don’t touch her!” Lily shoved Kessel away. For a brief instant Alicia thought she saw Lily’s hand transform into a set of talons. Kessel’s men stepped forward – they must have seen it too.
“I’m sorry,” Alicia said pushing Lily behind her. “It’s not for sale.”
“Everything is for sale, my darling. What would you trade for it?”
“I can’t dally any longer, Doctor. Good day to you. Come, Lily.”
As they walked away, Lily asked Alicia, “What about the plane?”
“The guards will protect it just like these other carts and horses. That’s what they’re paid to do.” She fingered the key under her blouse.
Alicia and Lily split up once they entered the city. Alicia saw Lily off into the market and she entered into the industrial area of town. She covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief. The air smelled of burnt fuel and the blue sky she had seen from above was covered in a brown haze. Workmen wore sooty faces and trudged through the streets with no mind as to where they went. The only women Alicia saw worked inside of the taverns and pubs. She went about her business and purchased the parts on her list – it was a list she and Doctor Gottfried had come up with as they worked. As night fell, Alicia rode back through the streets in a mule-drawn wagon carrying all of her boxed wares, and she began to load the parts and tools into the back of her plane. How Lily would fit in there would be another problem. Maybe Lily could spend the night in the city? It might do wonders for her morale to be uncaged from the mansion for a time.
Speaking of which, where was that girl? Alicia watched bodies enter and exit the city gate but not a sign of Lily. It couldn’t have taken her that long to select fruit and vegetables, could it? Alicia finished packing everything and closed the back hatch and locked it. Nailed to the back of the hatch, which she missed, was a wax-sealed folded slip of paper. Annoyed, she pulled the nail out of her plane and examined the letter.
It said: “If you would like to see your friend again, come to Marshal Square alone. - Doctor B. Kessel.”
Alicia stuffed the sheet in her pocket and ran through the city gates. With some help she found her way to Marshal Square. It was a secluded war-memorial park far removed from the hustle-and-bustle of Lebenwald’s nightlife. Each wall surrounding the square was covered with ivy vines and at the center stood the statue of a lone soldier leaning against a pole with Lebenwald’s flag swaying in the night breeze. The moonlight painted the statue in shades of blue but the torchlight standing nearby gave it an orange glow around the edges.
“I was once friends with Professor Elana Bellafore. She wrote to me of a new student who was interested in the flight of birds and human beings alike.” Kessel emerged by the statue and stood under the flickering torchlight. “You were her student.”
“Where’s Lily?” Alicia pulled her pistol on the doctor.
A growl emerged from the shadow and a wolf standing on its hind legs stepped forward. Tucked under his arm was Lily. The wolfman was draped in the blue moonlight and outlined by the orange warmth of the torch. Another appeared behind Doctor Kessel and a third to his other side.
“After our little exchange this morning, I noticed that my arm hurt.” He showed Alicia three scratches across his traveling cloak. “I thought, the peasant girl that took a swipe at me must have done it, but these looked more like claws from a bird. A girl that is a bird. I had read stories of such a creature. So I had to track her down, and there she was in the market purchasing tomatoes as if she were a commoner. So we snatched her.”
“Give her back!”
“I’m certain you must have read The Age of the Common Man. The world of magic, witches, wizards, and creatures of impossibility is over! The age of reason and the triumph of man has come! Man will weld science, technology, and industry and create a new world not governed by metaphysical forces! Your friend is not a friend of mine, nor does she have a place in this new world.”
“Hypocrite! What are those!”
“Men who have accepted a form of evolution.”
“You want the plane. For Lily.”
“Alicia, don’t give it to him!” Lily struggled in the monster’s grip. “Maybe he’s right. I don’t belong in this world anymore. Take the plane and run!”
“The plane’s yours,” Alicia said. “It’s beyond the city gates where you saw it this morning. Here’s the key.” Alicia pulled a key from her pocket and tossed it to Kessel.
“Show me how to fly it,” Kessel said looking at the key in his hand.
“You’re a scientist! You figure it out unless you’re inferior to me.”
“Kill the witch!”
“Kessel!” Alicia shouted. “The Age of the Common Man says a superior man should use reason and be fair and just! When you took the key you implicitly agreed to our arrangement! Are you saying that you’re not a superior man? Then I should kill you!”
Kessel wrapped his gloved hand around the key and narrowed his eyes at Alicia. “Drop the witch. Disguise yourselves.” The wolfmen shrunk, their muscles deflated, and they became human and wrapped themselves in garments and cloaks. Kessel being shorter than Alicia still managed to look down his nose at her as he walked by and said, “No one is more superior than me.” He marched past Alicia with his three guards. Once they were gone, Alicia ran to Lily and hugged her.
“Why? You spent your life on that mechanical bird! You told me so! And you just–”
“I can always replace a mechanical bird, but I can’t replace you, can I?” Alicia pulled a knife from her pocket and removed Lily’s bindings. Once she was free she wiped the tears from her eyes.
Alicia touched her blouse and felt the pair of keys dangling underneath. “Lily, do you mind staying longer? I’m going to need your help to get my plane back.”
