God of Clocks

“Nothing.”

“You called it a labyrinth in Time, which means that there are hundreds of doors back into the past. If one plan fails, can't we simply try another?”

“Do not deviate from the current plan,” Sabor said. “It is the best way to limit the damage already done. Every single time we step outside the Obscura Redunda there are consequences, unforeseen paradoxes, and further stresses on the whole continuum.” He consulted his timepiece yet again, and frowned. “You must understand: The Obscura itself is eternal and indestructible-it cannot exist solely in one point of Time. At any given moment, large numbers of its rooms are in the past. So if the castle exists at time X, other parts of it also exist at time X minus an hour, or X minus ten years. And because those rooms lead back into this very chamber, the whole fortress carries the entire history of its own existence wherever it goes.”

“He just means,” Iron Head added, “that it's older than it looks.”

“Older?” Sabor grunted. He had reached the third staircase, and now raced ahead up it. “There are paths in here leading back through the vast emptiness of the cosmos,” he said over his shoulder, “to times long before the birth of this galaxy. These are routes impassable to humans, which are traveled solely by the gods. Several copies of myself are currently attempting to map them. Other gods, too, no doubt, from aeons past. Countless billions of explorers! And because the castle existed at the birth of the multiverse, then one must be able to move it, eventually, to every point in space. My observations lead me to believe that space is collapsing in upon itself, and the multiverse is shrinking. At one point it may indeed have been no larger than this fortress itself, which begs the question: Were all possible universes created inside this castle?”

He reached the top step and glanced around him. “This way!”

“But if that's true, then who created the castle?” Rachel asked.

“Ayen did.”

“After the… multiverse was already created!”

Sabor looked at her with an expression of faint distaste. “The lower orders have trouble wrapping their heads around that paradox. Ayen is, as you say, part of the universe, and yet by creating the castle she may well have created the very reality she now occupies. This castle is a singularity. Unfortunately it is this truth that will make it so difficult to reach Heaven.”

“You know why we're here?” Rachel asked.

“Of course I do. You told me earlier, or later.” He waved a hand in frustration. “It hardly matters now. Here is the timelock we seek, the entrance to the Greengage Suite!”

He strode over to a nearby door and examined the dial below the porthole. “Less than a minute left,” he said. “We made it with scant time to spare.” He pulled down a huge brass lever and swung the timelock door open. “This will take you back ten hours before now.”

Rachel just shook her head in confusion. “I still don't understand,” she said. “You said the universe around us is failing, but the castle is eternal and indestructible. Why can't you use it to reach a time before Ayen sealed the gates of Heaven?”

“ Thirty-two seconds,” Sabor said. “I don't have time to explain. You need to go now.”

Rachel's thoughts were still spinning. She looked from Iron Head to Mina, and then at her future self. She felt suddenly afraid. “What happens to me?” she said.

“You end up standing on this very spot trying to persuade your past self”-she pushed a finger into Rachel's chest-“to step through a sodding door.”

Sabor glanced at his watch again. “Twenty seconds.”

Rachel peered inside the timelock. It was a small cylindrical chamber with an identical door and porthole on the opposite side. Through this she could see a library with its own extension of Sabor's pipe-work obscura and a window overlooking a dull, misty landscape. By the texture of the light, she judged it to be early morning outside, rather than late afternoon as it should have been.

Just as Rachel was about to step inside, her future self said, “No offense, sis, but one of me is quite enough.”

She shoved Rachel roughly into the timelock, and then slammed the door shut behind them both. Air hissed. Immediately, her twin threw open the other door and pushed Rachel through.

The assassin landed on her backside on the library floor. She scrambled to her feet, and spun round.

The twin had already closed the library door behind her. She waved once through the porthole, and stepped back out of the timelock.

And then she vanished.

The outer timelock porthole was empty. Mina, Sabor, and Rachel's future self had disappeared. Nothing but an empty landing. A version of Garstone strode past, carrying his book, and gave her a polite nod.

Rachel went over to the window and pressed her hands against the chill glass. Fog blanketed the mountain outside, forming a bleak tapestry of black and grey that reminded her of a coal quarry. She could not even see the lake from here. Low in the east, the sun glimmered as faintly as a brass penny.

She turned away from the window, angry that her other self had denied her the right to make her own decision, and resolved to find Sabor. She stormed across the library and threw open both timelock doors.

Garstone stood on the landing. “Good morning, Miss Hael,” he said. “I am so sorry I missed you later this afternoon. Sabor required a younger me than those older replicas of myself that were available at the time.”

And indeed this version of Sabor's assistant was younger, though not nearly as youthful as the figure who had peered over the banister a few moments ago. This Garstone looked middle-aged. A creased brown suit hung about his shapeless shoulders. The chain of a pocket watch dangled from his breast pocket. From his hand-wringing posture to his watery blue eyes, everything about him exuded meekness. He stood there on the gallery surrounded by the tick, clatter, burr, and chime of countless clocks.

“How did you get here?” Rachel asked. “You weren't in the room.”

“No, miss. I missed your departure by just moments, so I was forced to travel here by an alternative route.”

“An alternative route?” Rachel's anger rose. There had been another way to get back here after all. All that rushing around had been merely to get her out of the way quickly, to consign her to a menial task that Sabor had deemed to be a necessary part of whatever grand scheme he'd concocted.

“An initial leap of ninety-four days through the Lavender Suite,” Garstone said, “after which I stepped back four more days, and then six months more before I rediscovered the correct timeline. Then all I had to do was wait-a refreshing sojourn in the main Obscura Hall. Thereafter I picked up the path again via the Farthing Suite.” He bowed his head. “The entire journey took me no more than fourteen years.”

“Fourteen years?”

He looked peevish. “I did miss one connection, which cost me eleven days. I'm afraid I'm no longer the youthful version of myself that Sabor had enlisted for the task.”

Rachel studied him. “How many different timelines are there now?”

“It's hard to say, miss. There are two main lines, as it were, but changes made recently in each of those have created many smaller branches. Temporal corruption is rife throughout the whole continuum. Excuse me, but you are Miss Rachel Hael, are you not?”

She nodded. “And you're really Iron Head's brother?”

“His given name is Reed, miss. Reed Garstone. I disapprove of that vulgar moniker used by his men. But, yes, as you say, he is my brother. Older by one year, three months, nine-”

“Okay,” she said impatiently. “How do I get back to Burntwater? I'm going to need a boat to take me across the Flower Lake.”

“Burntwater, miss? But we are to proceed no further than Kevin's Jetty. I was led to believe that that was all explained to you. Upon our arrival I shall endeavour to negotiate a contract with the Hericans for the construction of a flotilla of small craft. After which-”

“Yes,” she said through her teeth. “I know all that, but I'm not doing it. Building those rafts was a waste of time.”

“If you deviate from the plan, you will change history,” Garstone said. “Sabor's calculations have been quite meticulous. We need to build-”