1????????Soul Bound


    1.3??????Making a Splash


    1.3.2????An Allotropic Realignment


    1.3.2.8? Sabot-age?


    Kafana looked more closely at the console, while waiting for the smith to appear. It did indeed have similarities to the type organ console that used oval perforations of varying lengths on a continuously moving roll of paper to record which stops and keys were pressed at any one time, so a performance could be recorded and then later played back so precisely that the styles of individual musicians could be recognised. Except that instead of a continuous roll, he was using a deck of stiff laths, joined into a concertina shape with flexible tape.


    Antegnati finished talking to the secretary who nodded and went over to the only furnace inside the ring before waving her hand in Ermo’s direction. Her small precise steps had let her move surprisingly quickly and now Kafana spent more time looking, she realised the woman was also wearing a leather smock that matched the others.


    Ermo read from a new checklist on his clipboard: “Sample 17. 1 part orichalcum to 4 parts hepatizon to 40 parts copper. Pleening stage. Report by stations.”


    Antegnati: “Strike Master station reports ferrous clear. Pleen variant kb3b cued. Ready.”


    Giare: “Support stations report ferrous clear. Isolation screen raised. Ready.”


    Had he done something to the circle of runestones? If so, Kafana hadn’t noticed, and now wasn’t the time to check.


    Maci: “Switching station reports ferrous clear. Furnace five to temperature and holding steady on the bellows. Ready.”


    A voice from above called down: “Hammer station reports type 3 planishing heads loaded and wound for pleen variant kb3b. Track is checked and clear. Ready.”


    Kafana looked up. Beyond the gear box connected to the juggernaut, a train of gears stretched upwards to a circular track. One side of the track was filled with a series of drop hammers suspended upon cables, while the other side contained a complex mechanism designed (presumably) to raise spent hammers back to the height specified in the strike master’s deck of punched laths. Apprentices sat exhausted on the overhead walkways, dangling their feet over the edge by cabinets full of differently shaped hammer heads, or vying for a position giving them the clearest view down upon the action below.


    Ermo ticked off each report on his list as it came in, then turned towards the woman by the furnace.


    Ermo: “High Mistress Mazoni, all stations ready to proceed upon your signal.”


    Mazoni used a pair of padded tongs to withdraw a piece of metal glowing cherry red. The light of the forge brought out the chiselled planes of her face, revealing something inhuman about it, and the eyes behind her glasses looked closer to scarlet than to hazel. How had Kafana not noticed her presence before? Was it a skill? In the blink of an eye, Mazoni moved over to a crystal anvil that stood isolated in the precise center of the runic circle and placed the heated metal down carefully, not a wasted movement, before firmly clamping it in place over a convex form. Standing back she raised a hand, waited for a heartbeat, then brought it sharply down.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    A beat later, Maci operated one of the levers, resulting in a gear in the gear box being tugged sideways along its axis by a taut wire, until it locked teeth with two other gears, connecting power to the selected gear train. There was a slight crunching sound, as slack was taken in along its length. The belt high above started moving and, down the prepared track, came the hammers.


    To Kafana’s surprise, the first two hammers missed. But once the belt achieved a constant operating speed the hammers fell like rain, tapping with a steady cadence that was almost musical. It carried on for minute after minute, the colour of the sample never changing, even though no longer inside the furnace’s fierce fire. Was there an enchantment upon the anvil? Or had Mazoni managed to perfectly balance the rate at which heat escaped from it, with the rate at which it gained energy from the blows, like the warming of a repeatedly bent spoon?


    *clatter*


    Her musings were cut short by a yelp from above as a solid wooden shoe slipped off somebody’s foot and fell, with the unerring precision of the perennially unfortunate, directly into the gap between two of the man-tall cast iron gears in the gear train, jamming the cogs and bringing the belt to a shuddering halt. The juggernaut kept spinning, indifferent to mere human-scale calamities and, before Maci could react, the strain became too great.


    *CRACK*


    One of the gears in the train split in two, sending everyone diving for cover as both halves clattered down, bouncing off stanchions and ore silos as they fell. The masters and journeyman crouched behind their benches, the Wombles hid behind Bungo’s shield and even Ermo raised his clipboard to cringe behind. Only Mazoni stood motionless, watching the pieces without expression, daring them to inconvenience her into taking so much as a single unnecessary step of avoidance.


    Heads poked out as the final piece came to rest, to see Mazoni had already moved to inspect the metal where the fracture had occurred.


    Mazoni spoke for the first time, to give her verdict: “Replace it.”


    Kafana shuddered. The words themselves weren''t ominous, but Kafana got the impression that if the accident had resulted in the decapitation of one of her team, Mazoni would have inspected the body then said, in the same tone of voice, “Replace them.”


    Ermo scurried over and spoke with her, pointing at the Wombles a couple of times. Finally she gave a nod and walked off, gliding towards a small door on the same wall as the juggernaut. He returned to them, straightening his tunic and adjusting his hair before drawing himself up to his full height.


    Ermo: “Journeyman Alderney, the smith confirms she received a letter vouching for you, from High Master Priest-Smith Rudolfo. If you change into the approved uniform that I shall provide you with, you shall be permitted to enter and stay the morning. No food, no drink, no items of any kind that contain iron or magnets. And, above all, no magic! We’re not set up for gnam, but manaccium is very sensitive, and even fulgrum can overload. Is that acceptable?”


    Alderney straightened herself, and made a show of picking off the last few bits of wood shavings still clinging to her before replying.


    Alderney: “Beadle Ermo, that is reasonable, generous and entirely acceptable.”


    She paused to give Bulgaria a haughty glance and held out her hand to Wellington, “You have proven yourself most knowledgeable.”. Wellington formally handed her all four coins of the bet, and she promptly handed one of them to Ermo, who treated it as his natural due and pocketed it without comment.


    Alderney: “Come, tell me more about the smith’s procedures. Do you have a booklet?”


    The two of them walked towards the door the smith had left through, leaving the rest of the Wombles standing there.