The Horologist

Noah gave a small moan of discomfort as he put his shirt back on. Amaruq placed a few soiled cloths off to the side and packed the surgeon’s bag back up as she considered things. The steward was back, and that was a tremendous relief, but his expression gave the captain pause.

Clearly, he was unhappy. He said he did not find what he was searching for, and that would be a disappointment to anyone considering how he had sacrificed much to get the Empty City. And he was hurt, and very weary, but was that all?

Should she ask him about the cut on his face? Considering there should not be anyone in the City beside Noah himself, would it so strange to simply mention it? It was as likely as anything that he did something embarrassing, perhaps he stumbled while cutting some food and cut himself. Somehow.

As he stood, the man gave her a tired smile and Amaruq decided to wait.

“It is almost dawn, and we will be moving on soon. You should go to bed, clearly you are exhausted. Is there anything in the camp you need gathered?”

He shook his head, “I left the tent and most of the gear behind on purpose. Just in case. The food I brought back though, no need to let it go to waste.”

He rubbed a hand over his face, then gingerly touched the horizontal cut below his eye, now covered in a healing balm. “Thank you, Captain, for everything.” He gave a mostly convincing smile and continued, “I’ll be good after I sleep I’m sure, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the journey with everyone. At least no one will have to worry about me, right?”

“Indeed, Noah. The crew will be very relieved, and very happy. Now go rest!”

In his cabin Noah sighed and dumped his packs on the floor. He owed the crew a lot, and he intended to honour his commitment to Currielle and then back to Anglet; it was the least he could do. How had he thought he could simply disappear in Empty City and no one would be alarmed? He should have adjusted his plans once he realized how there was no regular travel to the City except by a handful of boats going past it.

The sunrise was closer now. Noah shuffled back on deck to pull up a pail of water so he could wash more dirt and dried blood off before he would finally let himself collapse in his bunk. Ipellie was still near the forward mast, along with Hannah, and both women nodded at him happily but left him alone.

Noah was glad to avoid the rest of the crew for a few hours, he was so tired and sore he just wanted to sleep until supper time. He keenly felt the exertions, both physical and mental, of the previous night and his mind felt fuzzy with fatigue. As he gathered water a splash caught his attention, and he saw a large shape in the river lazily moving upriver. The seal’s eye seemed to meet Noah’s as it broached the surface, and it paused as if returning his stare.

“Well, if you’re the same great seal or mermaid that’s been with us so far, I guess you’re not done with me yet,” he said with a wry chuckle. If the animal heard him, it gave no sign other than disappearing below the surface.

The afternoon sunlight shone through the numerous small holes in the domed roof, and through the larger partially collapsed section. The Ubyr was more visible now, and Noah noted that he was quite tall, perhaps a foot taller than he was. The other’s red eyes were of course the most unusual thing, but the blue-gray of his skin was more apparent further from the shadows.

He had seemed like an old man at first, but that may have been the silver-grey of his long hair and the rasp of his voice. Closer, he looked to be of some indeterminate middle age, but Noah had read that the Ubyr age very slowly.

The long fangs were mostly hidden when he wasn’t talking, another reason Noah had to keep the conversation going.

“Where did you hear that name?” the Ubyr asked. His manner seemed mild, but Noah suspected he would show the same distracted indifference while beheading a nuisance.

Noah had intended to be transparent, where possible, with his request and story. The Ubyr’s ability to apparently detect lies was a dangerous wrinkle but the young man decided if he told his story simply it would be best.

“I travelled to Tembina looking for a solution to a very unusual problem. I was able to find some information about the unnamed people who inhabited the northern plains for a time centuries ago, and a few scholars had remarked on the numerous structures that had survived were designed to study the skies. In a diary I found a mention to someone they called ‘the Horologist’, someone who had corresponded with the scholar in question about the Empty City. The diarist mused that the unnamed person who had written to them about the Empty City was clearly an expert, and likely a skilled mage as well, for they demonstrated with certainty that the builders of the City had not used magic as we understand it.

“Now, this diary was from over 70 years ago, long before the wars, but an academic who worked a dig for treasure hunters here years later remarked that they had found a camp with Ubyr gear, which they left alone, and later in the same report mentioned a foreign clockmaker that older scholars had spoken of. This person seemingly returned to the Empty City to pursue their own goals occasionally but avoided others.”

Pausing, Noah gauged the reaction of his audience. The other man finally spoke, “I did, in the past, communicate with humans about my research. I never gave my name, but in jest said I was interested in creating more accurate clocks. ‘Horologist’ is as good a name as any other for me. Go on.”

“One of the reports had rubbings of text carved inside the buildings. No one I am aware of can read the ancient language the builders used with any accuracy, and whoever copied the engravings did not recognize their importance. One of the panels had a column of another language that I could learn, an archaic form of the Kherban language, used by their priests. It was written by someone from what became the Kherbat Empire, who came by the City perhaps only a few years after it had been abandoned. Their writing translated a few lines, which made it clear the Kherban priest who followed knew that the builders had been obsessed with time, but the priest did not understand what they had done or why.”

Noah pushed on and said, “When I found that text, I knew that the builders of this city might have had answers for me. And, even better, I realized that someone had studied these ruins for decades, if not longer. And to top it all off, this anonymous scholar clearly had knowledge of deep magic, and was likely a practitioner, so they could perhaps be the key to what I was truly searching for.”

“To create a… map of time?” the Ubyr said, dubiously.

“Yes. I can pay, handsomely.”

The Horologist did not sneer, exactly, but he was clearly unimpressed. “I have no need for human money, and if you think to offer me a sack of emeralds you should know that the legends of Ubyr being obsessed with those stones are indeed myths. But regardless, I have no clue what you seek.”

“The builders of this City were, more than anything else, geodesists. They wanted to know exactly where they stood, in the cosmos. And when. And I think they figured it out, and I think that you are doing that as well. And I have something you can use to help.”

For the first time, the Horologist looked truly interested, so Noah licked his lips nervously and pressed on. “I read of the ability of mages in times past to create wonderous and terrible things. I would need a map that would show the person holding it how time is flowing around them. So, it would need to change, if the person holding it was in a place where time was fragile or eddied in unusual ways. Ideally, it should point to where those disruptions originated. If possible, and I have no idea if it is, but if it could show whether an instability was the result of the past or the future intermixing with the present that would be amazing. And the power of the magic needs to be entirely in the map itself, so it will work for anyone. Or anywhere.”

“How do you know that any of that is possible?” the Ubyr demanded, “Are you a - what is that dreadful human word - a sorcerer?”

“No, but I am good at languages. I have no magic, even the small magic that people describe here, the bits that remain. But you do, don’t you?”

The Horologist’s manner shifted again, and he reverted to the distant, almost bored tone he had spoken with at times. “Yes, I have carefully held on to my power. I have only used tiny scraps of it for many years now, hoarding it close, while the others of my kin with the talent have spent theirs on absurd attempts to undo the change.”

“Do you know what happened to the magic? I know that the humans of these lands think the Ubyr, uh, conflict was related to the diminished magic over the past hundred years or so. But they do not know for sure.”

The Ubyr paused, then gave a slow shrug and said, “Partly, yes. I said it was a mistake, but my people live for centuries, so the old talents had felt their power wane for years and were demanding even the most unlikely of solutions. That, combined with long growing frustration with the ceaselessly encroaching human kingdom across the sea, resulted in a disastrous folly. I served for a time, as duty demanded, and then recused myself and have been focused on my studies since.”

As he paused for a long minute, staring at nothing, Noah wondered if the Horologist’s distraction was a result of his clear isolation or if he was just lost in his memories.

Finally, looked up and said, “Very well, come with me. I have a small room hidden away here with a chair, we can talk about your absurd request, although I must tell you that you ask much of me, and I cannot imagine how you could possibly help me enough to make it worth the attempt. Hmm, I only have the one chair but at least you won’t have to sit on the stone ground.”

As he started to turn a thought occurred to him and he said, “Oh, right. I promise you this is not a ruse or trap, so I won’t kill you suddenly. I will listen to your offer and, if we cannot agree as I suspect, I will let you know and then kill you, but quickly, painlessly. Without trickery or dishonesty.”

“Uh, thanks?”

The Ubyr allowed another smile to flicker over his face and he replied, “If nothing else, I am very interested in why you think you could run from me. I truly hope you are not simply a deluded fool who thinks because he is quick for a human you could escape. But never mind that, come show me the ‘knowledge almost beyond comprehension’ that you say you have.”