Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett Page 0,85

the box, raised his hands, and seemed to open it by will alone. Emerging from this open box was…

Something. A person, perhaps. Perhaps a woman, or perhaps a statue, though there was something indistinct about the figure, like the artist had not been sure what they were depicting.

Sancia looked at the print at the bottom of the engraving. It read:

CRASEDES THE GREAT IN THE CHAMBER AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD: The hierophants are recorded as believing the world is a machine, wrought by God, and somewhere at its heart it is a chamber which was once His seat. Crasedes, finding the seat of God vacant, attempted to install a god of his own making in the chamber to oversee the world. This engraving, like so many sources, suggests he was successful. But if he was, it does not explain why his grand empire fell to ash and ruin.

She shivered, looking at the engraving. She remembered what Claudia and Giovanni had said the hierophants could do. Then she remembered what Clef did to the gravity rig—the vision of the man in the desert, turning out the stars.

She imagined what a man like Orso Ignacio could do with Clef, and shivered again.

Then she heard it—a chattering, a murmuring. But this one was louder than the others.

That’s…unusual.

She shut her eyes, listening to it, and walked to the back of the room. The sound was much louder here.

Just like the gravity plates, she thought. So maybe…it’s either really powerful, or made by the same person?

She realized the noise was coming from a desk at the back, some kind of drafting table where Orso scrawled out strings of sigils. She tilted her head to it, listening to the pencils, the inkpots, the blocks of stone, and then…

A small, golden statue of a bird sat on the corner of the desk. Sweating, Sancia picked it up and held it up to her ear. The sound of it was almost deafening to her.

If it’s anything in this room, she thought, it’s this. She set it back down, feeling quite pleased. She’d never used her talents like this before. As she walked back to the office, she wondered—ever so briefly—what else she could do.

* * *

Ten minutes later they all huddled around a table in Orso’s workshop, watching as he turned the golden statue over. There was a small, copper plate on the bottom with a large screw in the center. Orso glanced around at them, held a finger to his lips, picked up a screwdriver, and began to unscrew it. He gently, gently plucked the screw out, and then, with a tiny, flat tool, pried out the plate.

Orso’s mouth fell open in a silent gasp. Inside the statue was a device—but a device so tiny, so fragile, it was like it was made of spider webs and mouse bones.

He grabbed a light and a magnifying glass and peered carefully at it. His eyes shot wide, and he gestured to Berenice, who also took a look. She blinked, startled, and looked at Orso, who nodded, his face serious.

Finally the inspection was finished. Orso gingerly placed the device on the table, and they all crept back into the office.

Orso shut the door to his workshop—and then he erupted. “I’ve been a goddamn fool!” he shouted. “I’ve been a slack-jawed, crotch-pawing fool!”

“So…it seems your suspicion was correct?” asked Gregor.

“Of course!” cried Orso. “God, we’re in a state. Who knows what they’ve heard? What have I said in front of that stupid little bird? And I never, never, never would have known!”

“You’re welcome,” said Sancia.

“That statue is an exact copy of one that once sat on my desk,” he continued, ignoring her. “I suppose they must have replaced it long ago with an altered version.”

“By flying up using those rigs,” said Gregor.

“Yes,” said Berenice, shaken. “And whoever made that thing is…good.”

“Damned good,” said Orso. “Amazingly good. That’s top-rate work, there! I feel sure if someone was that good in this city, we’d all know about it. Everyone would be lining up to lick his candle, I’ve no doubt!”

Gregor pulled a face. “Thank you for that elaboration.”

“Have you ever seen anything like it, Captain?” asked Orso. “You’re more well traveled than I am, and the houses have used a lot of experimental stuff during the wars. Have you seen any military faction using rigs like this?”

He shook his head. “No. And the only thing I’ve ever seen that was similar to the gravity rigs is a lorica—and those rigs