He smiled, then shifted his grip on the knife, ready to stab. With a quick twist, Alice wrapped her fingers around the salamander at his ear and
The little machine came free with a wet, tearing sound. A trail of blood arced through the air. The Dragon Man’s face went blank. He collapsed to the ground in convulsions, leaping and twitching like a landed fish. At last he gave one final spasm and went still. Alice didn’t stop to examine him. She dropped the salamander and slapped the control on the lizard. It reversed itself, drawing the large bucket up with easy strength. In moments Orchid and Cricket appeared at the top of the well, drenched but unharmed. Lady Orchid’s beautiful face was pinched with fear and pain. Cricket clung to her as they both sat in the bucket, and she held the rope with her good hand. Her stump trailed water, cleansed and strangely purified. Unfortunately, Alice could stay only long enough to make sure they were all right before she turned and ran back to the triple stairs. The staircase nearest her climbed toward the side of the big pavilion, which would send her up along Su Shun’s right and, hopefully, out of his range of vision.
“You two,” she said to the whirligigs, “go find Prince Kung and tell him to send reinforcements.”
The whirligigs zipped off into the night sky.
Gavin, meanwhile, had taken to the air again to avoid the advancing Dragon Men, half a dozen of whom had crowded around Su Shun and the Ebony Chamber. The Impossible Cube was barely glowing now, nearly out of power, and Gavin seemed reluctant to use it. Alice thought about the Dragon Man she had just killed and tasted nausea again. She understood Gavin’s disinclination to kill.
But when Alice arrived at the side steps and started to climb, she saw things were changing. Li’s men had turned the tide and had defeated or killed most of the Imperial Guards. Li and Phipps had destroyed nearly all the Chinese automatons, and even now Phipps was turning to focus her pistol on Su Shun and the Dragon Men around them. Phipps had no compunctions about killing.
Su Shun looked down at Phipps and her enormous pistol, at Li, who was finishing off the last of the automatons, at his soldiers, who were dead or defeated. His gaze lingered on Gavin, who hovered above them all with the Impossible Cube, and then he laughed again. Alice was truly beginning to hate this man and his grating laugh. Phipps aimed her pistol at him, but before she could do more, Su Shun raised the Jade Hand one more time and shouted. His voice reached Gavin, who still hovered above the carnage, and the salamander glowed in his ear.
For a wild moment, Alice thought there was no way for anything to happen because Su Shun was giving the order in Chinese, but of course Gavin understood that language now. Gavin twitched once. Phipps’s pistol whined, and the tip glowed orange.
“Susan!” Alice screamed. “Look out!”
Gavin sang. As it always did, the Impossible Cube twisted the crystalline note into something terrible, and a dreadful power thundered down. It swept Phipps and Li and the rest of the soldiers aside like rag dolls. Even off to one side as she was, Alice was crushed to the stairs, and a hot wind blasted her hair and skirts. Sand and small stones stung her skin. She tried to push herself upright, but the forces pushing her down were too strong. The noise and pain went on and on, and she huddled against the steps in a hell of Gavin’s devising.
And then it ended. Just stopped. Alice’s ears rang in the sudden silence. She sat up. Her skin was scoured and raw. With wings outstretched, Gavin touched down on the stairs before Su Shun and knelt before him with the dark Impossible Cube. Everyone else in the courtyard lay scattered in broken dollhouse piles.
“Gavin.” Alice’s throat was choked with dust, and she had to cough to get the word out. “Gavin! Fight him!”
But her words were too quiet. If Gavin or Su Shun heard her, neither paid the slightest bit of attention. Su Shun snapped a question at Gavin.
“It’s out of power,” Gavin replied in a dull voice. “The water flowed away. The Ebony Chamber can recharge it, but putting the two closer together would make a dragon weapon so powerful that mere floods and volcanoes would be like teacups and lanterns in a mourning parade.”
Su Shun backhanded Gavin with the Jade Hand and gave him another order. Gavin’s head snapped back, but he spoke again, this time in Chinese. Alice assumed he was translating what he had already said, and ice ran through her veins at the smile that crossed Su Shun’s face. Alice forced herself to her feet. Her legs were shaking.
Su Shun slapped the hollow Ebony Chamber open with the Jade Hand. Like a puppet on strings, Gavin turned on one knee and held the solid Impossible Cube over it.
“No.” Alice tried to shout, but it came out in a whisper.
Electricity spat and arced from the Chamber to the Cube. A rumble shook the earth, and air moved across Alice’s cheek. Sparks danced around the spider gauntlet on Alice’s left hand, and the metal tingled. Gavin lowered the Cube. The sharp smell of ozone permeated the air, mingling with a tight tension. Thunder rumbled overhead. Fingers of lightning crackled in all directions, and matching flickers of it danced in the clouds above. Gavin’s hair stood out, and a manic expression descended over his face. His wings quivered and glowed so brightly, they were hard to look at. The Impossible Cube was a thing of solid light, the Ebony Chamber an utter black void. Hungry cracks ran up all three staircases and the two dragon statues at the top shattered with ear-crushing explosions. Power swirled and dripped from Gavin’s hands. Su Shun spoke again, and Gavin pushed the Cube fully into the maw of the Chamber.
A whirlpool of light and dark swirled around the two objects become one. It rushed outward, engulfing everyone in the courtyard. Phipps and Li and the surviving soldiers and Dragon Men convulsed hard as the energy swept over them, and overhead a thunderbolt boomed through the sky. The whirlpool sucked itself back into the Cube and Chamber, leaving an abrupt silence. Alice staggered up to the top of the cracking threefold staircase and realized her footsteps made no sound. Her clothes didn’t rustle; her breathing was completely silent. Even her heart, frantic and fast within her chest, made no noise. Lightning tore the sky again, but no thunder came. The open box at Su Shun’s feet glowed bloodred. Alice moved around until Su Shun was below her on the staircase and picked up a rocky bit of rubble from one of the dragon statues. She crept down the steps.
Sound returned in a rush. Thunder exploded overhead and wind rustled. The semiconscious people at the bottom of the staircase groaned and tried to stand up. Gavin’s wings chimed their single soft note. And Su Shun’s voice cut through it all. At his order, Gavin pulled the Impossible Cube out of the Ebony Chamber. The red radiance came with it. He tried to back away with it, but Su Shun barked another order. The Jade Hand glowed, and Gavin froze into a statue.
Alice struck. The rock smacked Su Shun’s head. It made a sound very much like a muffled bell. Alice had hit the metal part of his skull. Su Shun turned, an expression of surprise and anger on his half-brass face. With quick reflexes he caught her wrist and wrenched the rock away before she could hit again. Pain bit her arm, and she dropped to the rock. Frantic, Alice tried to scratch his eyes with her spider gauntlet’s claws, but he was a soldier and moved easily out of the way. He was laughing again, toying with her. How was it that he always gained the upper hand? She raged and fought, but he held her wrist and moved with her. It was like dancing with a snake. He was enjoying this. Behind him, Gavin stood motionless, holding the Impossible Cube. It had shifted from red to orange, and a low thrumming pushed against the air. At once Alice knew what was happening. She had seen the Impossible Cube run through the spectrum of colors before, from red to orange to yellow on up, and when it reached violet at the top, it would do something dreadful. It had torn time itself twice before. Now it held all the power of its infinite opposite.
The clockwork plague had created the Impossible Cube and the Ebony Chamber. Together, they could warp the forces that held the world in place, crack continents, and send floods all over the world. And it would happen in a very few moments.
Su Shun twisted Alice’s wrist, forcing her to her knees. Clearly he’d had enough. His other hand locked around the back of her neck, and she didn’t doubt he had the strength to snap the bones. His grip cut off her air. She gasped, trying to breathe.
And then Alice reached up to the wire sword at Su Shun’s belt. Her fingers found the switch on the hilt and flicked it on. Before Su Shun quite knew what she was doing, she yanked. The vibrating blade slipped free, scoring Su Shun’s side. He screamed with the unexpected pain and let go. From her knees, Alice punched him in the groin with her gauntlet. Iron crunched through lacquer, and she felt the impact of metal on flesh all the way up her arm.
