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The summer house boiled with activity, servants went about the business of setting the gardens in preparation for the summer ball with a quiet efficiency, doing their best not to disturb the lives of the houses family members. Marquees were being erected behind the hedges that formed the border of the formal gardens, while the guests wouldn’t enter these they would provide space for the waiters and chefs to prepare the meals and drinks that would be served constantly to the guests.
Tomorrow the trees and hedgerows would be decorated with lanterns and garlands. Elegant shades would be set up and furnished with lounges and pillows for guests that required some respite from the promised entertainment, already the gardeners were at work amongst the green promenades and further reaches to ensure that those who chose to take moments together away from the main party did so without the risk of snagging themselves on loose branches or twigs.
A team worked at the large gilt birdcage, ensuring it’s gold leaf coat had an appropriate lustre, several crates of evening and night songbirds would be arriving the next day to provide guests who walked the garden with entertainment other than the array of musicians, dancers, acrobats, jugglers and fire breathers booked to perform.
The ball would, as it always was, be a spectacle, each guest vying to outdo the others with the most lavish costume, every face masked with a different visage, some would be playful, others fierce, but all would be beautiful. This year there would be an extra reason to celebrate, another reason for each guest to spend extra coin on his or her outfits and embellishments. At the height of the ball, in two nights time, Alexander would formally announce his engagement to Emily, and so begin a grand union of the Families Dias and Mondrate.
While the servants worked above, Alexander worked below.
In the centre of the summer house’s great basement sat the Families oldest construct, by modern standards it could have been considered bulky and overly ornate but it was these qualities that had first drawn Alexander into the world of constructs and the mixtures of the magic and mundane that powered them.
The construct sat like some great gilded insect, the huge curved armour plates that covered the inner workings of the thing richly decorated with a sky blue enamel, detailed with ridges, curves and spirals gilded in gold and set with semiprecious stones. Its domed head covered with lenses and polished stones that in Alexander’s mind gave it the look of some great compound eye. For the moment a section of its chest laid splayed open while Alexander worked under the watchful eye of the house artificer, trying to locate the source of an unwanted whine from the machines inner workings.
“Lunch?”
A soft feminine voice snapped Alexander from his work, he smiled and pushed himself out and away from the machine, the artificer muttered darkly about dedication and moved to take Alexander’s place he walked away, wiping his hands clean as best he could on the greasy overalls that covered him.
“Emily”
Alexander smiled as he walked to the lady, the playful smile that had first attracted him to her at the last summer ball, framed as it was at the time by a black-feathered mask that rendered her some seductive nighthawk.
She walked around the construct, running her fingers over the lines of gilt, waving a small package of food with her free hand.
“Thought you might like a break, give you something other than your constructs to think about.”
Alexander chuckled, ushering his raven-haired fiancé to an uncluttered workbench. They talked and ate together for a while, sharing the excitement of the upcoming ball, hinting at the costumes they would wear without revealing the surprise. Without the chaperones that had dogged the formal months of courtship they flirted happily, the love they had for each other shown with teasing jibes.
“I think you should wear pink this year” Alexander grinned “Pink and brown”
“Oh?” Emily set aside the sandwich her grin spreading slyly “And why would that be?”
“Stands to reason” his face was took on a look of mock seriousness, given away completely by the smile on his face “Anyone that’s seen you eat knows you’re a pig.”
“Hah!” Emilys face was the picture of scandalised outrage, she laughed warmly and gave Alexander a shove, sending him off the workbench to land sprawled on the floor, from her vantage point above him she waved a spanner with mock threat.
“Okay” He chuckled as he began to push himself up “I deserve…”
His sentence was curt short by a pained screech, glancing up he saw the artificer stumbling away from the construct, clutching at his shattered hand, the constructs armoured chest now slammed shut and splattered with red, charging towards them with a speed that defied it’s bulk.
Alexander regained his feet and began to yell the command words for the construct, but it was on him to soon, it’s forearms opened in a flurry of blades, it scooped him easily aside, programmed as it was to protect all members of the Family Dias against threat and attack.
Her screams lasted for just a second as the world Alex knew was torn apart.
Tomorrow the trees and hedgerows would be decorated with lanterns and garlands. Elegant shades would be set up and furnished with lounges and pillows for guests that required some respite from the promised entertainment, already the gardeners were at work amongst the green promenades and further reaches to ensure that those who chose to take moments together away from the main party did so without the risk of snagging themselves on loose branches or twigs.
A team worked at the large gilt birdcage, ensuring it’s gold leaf coat had an appropriate lustre, several crates of evening and night songbirds would be arriving the next day to provide guests who walked the garden with entertainment other than the array of musicians, dancers, acrobats, jugglers and fire breathers booked to perform.
The ball would, as it always was, be a spectacle, each guest vying to outdo the others with the most lavish costume, every face masked with a different visage, some would be playful, others fierce, but all would be beautiful. This year there would be an extra reason to celebrate, another reason for each guest to spend extra coin on his or her outfits and embellishments. At the height of the ball, in two nights time, Alexander would formally announce his engagement to Emily, and so begin a grand union of the Families Dias and Mondrate.
While the servants worked above, Alexander worked below.
In the centre of the summer house’s great basement sat the Families oldest construct, by modern standards it could have been considered bulky and overly ornate but it was these qualities that had first drawn Alexander into the world of constructs and the mixtures of the magic and mundane that powered them.
The construct sat like some great gilded insect, the huge curved armour plates that covered the inner workings of the thing richly decorated with a sky blue enamel, detailed with ridges, curves and spirals gilded in gold and set with semiprecious stones. Its domed head covered with lenses and polished stones that in Alexander’s mind gave it the look of some great compound eye. For the moment a section of its chest laid splayed open while Alexander worked under the watchful eye of the house artificer, trying to locate the source of an unwanted whine from the machines inner workings.
“Lunch?”
A soft feminine voice snapped Alexander from his work, he smiled and pushed himself out and away from the machine, the artificer muttered darkly about dedication and moved to take Alexander’s place he walked away, wiping his hands clean as best he could on the greasy overalls that covered him.
“Emily”
Alexander smiled as he walked to the lady, the playful smile that had first attracted him to her at the last summer ball, framed as it was at the time by a black-feathered mask that rendered her some seductive nighthawk.
She walked around the construct, running her fingers over the lines of gilt, waving a small package of food with her free hand.
“Thought you might like a break, give you something other than your constructs to think about.”
Alexander chuckled, ushering his raven-haired fiancé to an uncluttered workbench. They talked and ate together for a while, sharing the excitement of the upcoming ball, hinting at the costumes they would wear without revealing the surprise. Without the chaperones that had dogged the formal months of courtship they flirted happily, the love they had for each other shown with teasing jibes.
“I think you should wear pink this year” Alexander grinned “Pink and brown”
“Oh?” Emily set aside the sandwich her grin spreading slyly “And why would that be?”
“Stands to reason” his face was took on a look of mock seriousness, given away completely by the smile on his face “Anyone that’s seen you eat knows you’re a pig.”
“Hah!” Emilys face was the picture of scandalised outrage, she laughed warmly and gave Alexander a shove, sending him off the workbench to land sprawled on the floor, from her vantage point above him she waved a spanner with mock threat.
“Okay” He chuckled as he began to push himself up “I deserve…”
His sentence was curt short by a pained screech, glancing up he saw the artificer stumbling away from the construct, clutching at his shattered hand, the constructs armoured chest now slammed shut and splattered with red, charging towards them with a speed that defied it’s bulk.
Alexander regained his feet and began to yell the command words for the construct, but it was on him to soon, it’s forearms opened in a flurry of blades, it scooped him easily aside, programmed as it was to protect all members of the Family Dias against threat and attack.
Her screams lasted for just a second as the world Alex knew was torn apart.