'It's a mechanical lift,' Nate informed him. 'It will take us to the top floor. Cables… ropes attached to a winch and counter-weights pull this… this room up through the floors. It's very clever. You'll see.'
He gently guided the old man inside and nodded to the boy at the lever. When the floor lifted under their feet, Hugo gave a start and stared down fearfully. He was uncomfortable for the ride up and obviously uneasy about being in a confined space. Considering the man's history, Nate thought that was entirely understandable.
When the doors opened, Hugo gasped in shock at finding himself in a different corridor to the one they had just left. He lunged out of the lift to look around and then stepped back in again, gazing warily at his new surroundings.
'What magic is this?!' he exclaimed.
'It's-' Nate began, then stopped himself 'Hugo, there's a lot about our world you're going to find… different. We'll try and explain things as we go. But Father is waiting and he's not the most patient of men.'
Leading the old man down to his father's study, he knocked on the door and they were summoned inside. Edgar was waiting in front of his desk. For the first time in Nate's memory, neither his father's servants nor his dogs were present. Hugo eyed the Duke with interest and then looked around at the huge room.
'This is Edgar Wildenstern, Duke of Leinster and our Patriarch,' Nate said to him. 'Father, I give you Lord Hugo Wildenstern.'
'Welcome to my home, sir,' Edgar told the man. 'Nathaniel, if you will excuse us. I will have someone escort our esteemed relative down when we are finished.'
Nate nodded and stepped back through the door, closing it behind him. He was desperately disappointed at having to leave. That was going to be one hell of a conversation.
Instead, he had another session with Silas to look forward to, learning how the accounts worked. The elevator's doors opened on the accounting floor and, with a sigh of resignation, he walked out and down to Silas's office. He was surprised to find Roberto there, talking to their cousin. Berto looked up and a look of relief came over him.
'There you are, thank God,' he said. 'I need your help.'
'And I need you here to go through some business,' Silas reminded Nate in an irritated voice. 'You go to America in a matter of weeks and we have too much to do as it is. Your father expects you to co-operate.'
Nate gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to plant his fist in Silas's peevish face. He did not need reminding about his father's wishes.
'I have to
'What do you need me for?'
'You're meaner than I am. You can offer moral support while I drive people out of their homes.'
Nate took one look at Silas and then slapped his brother on the shoulder.
'Anything for my brother! Of course I'll come. I'm sure the books can wait for another day,' he said, smiling.
XX
It was the size of a large locomotive; a broad, squat shape with a hide of grey, banded in places with zigzagging yellow and black stripes. Its skin was marked all over with scars, including the near-indestructible shovel that jutted out in front of its head like a massive metal jawbone. Like many engimals, it had wheels for feet, but Trom was one of a breed known as bull-razers; creatures that could use their shovel to ram through anything in their path. Bull-razers had thick, hinged belts that rotated round their wheels like a caterpillar, which gave them incredible traction. There was little that could stand in their path once they went on the rampage.
'I don't know about you,' Roberto muttered beside her, 'but that thing gives me the willies.'
The Wildensterns used Trom for evictions, and Daisy was accompanying her husband to oversee the first one under his stewardship. As she rode with Roberto in an open-topped coach behind the bull-razer, Daisy felt a sick fear at what they were about to do. It wasn't a very cold day, but there was a chill in the wind and the sun was hidden behind a ceiling of pale cloud.
The engimal rolled ahead of them, its dull brain following commands from Slattery, who stood with a couple of his men in a sunken area on its back, holding its reins. Even sitting up in the coach, she could feel the vibrations from the ground caused by the movement of the engimal's huge mass. Berto sat beside her, gripping her hand and looking very queasy, his free hand playing with the buttons of his waistcoat. Nathaniel rode alongside them on his own beast. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking; his face was a careful mask of indifference. It was a mask that many gentlemen wore when they ventured out into the less fortunate world. Behind them came a wagon filled with Slattery's men, in case extra muscle should be needed.
Daisy smoothed out the folds of her peacock-blue dress as she wrestled with the conflicting emotions over what was about to happen. The tenants of three of these cottages had not paid their rent for months and so they had to be evicted. She had run a business and knew that there were times when you had to make hard decisions in order to maintain your profits. When her father had run his factories into the ground, she had been the one who had made the decision to shut some of the factories so that the rest could be spared. She had laid off loyal workers – many with families – to save a business that might still provide for many others.
If someone was not paying their rent, then they had to make way for someone who would. You couldn't have something for nothing – not in this life. But Daisy knew it wasn't that simple. Most of the Wildensterns' tenants did not pay their rent with money; they paid with labour. These people were allowed to live on the land as long as they used it to produce enough crops or livestock for their landlords every year to cover the cost of their rent. In return, they could build a stone or turf cabin and keep a small patch of the land for themselves, on which they grew the nutritious potatoes that formed the main part of their meagre diet. If they could manage to grow enough to sell on the side, they were lucky. Then, along with the potatoes they might enjoy some milk, cabbage and sometimes butter or even a bit of bacon.
Trom rumbled and clanked along the road, crushing the verge on either side under its rolling feet. There were few roads in the country that could accommodate its tremendous size. It snorted steam, grunting and growling with each pull on its reins. The sound of it brought people out of their houses to watch it pass. Everyone knew what it meant and everyone hoped the engimal wasn't coming for them. Slattery snapped the reins to lift the creature's head and gave the onlookers a gracious wave. Daisy looked away in distaste.
All the food the peasants grew for their masters on the fertile land – the corn, wheat, beef, poultry and any number of other things – was sold in the cities or exported. As people grew more discontented and rebel raids on farm stores increased, armed soldiers were being used to guard goods being transported to the docks.
The Wildensterns had been demanding more and more from their tenants, leaving them with less land and less time to grow their own food. Hungry people did not work well and many were failing to meet their landlords' demands. Evictions were increasing. People were getting angry. Daisy shook her head as she gazed out on the countryside. It was bad business – you couldn't keep squeezing your workers dry. Sooner or later, something would have to give.
And using creatures like Trom and men like Slattery could only make things worse. The strange caravan of vehicles had travelled a few miles west from Wildenstern Hall and came to a stop near a clachan of five thatched cabins huddled together off a narrow road on a low hillside. Slattery handed the reins to McHugh and climbed down from the engimals back. Striding over to the carriage, he took off his hat and bowed his head to Roberto.
