A belfry with bells and a clock face [https://i.imgur.com/cjezVbn.png]

THE BELFRY

By the time the sun was down, the group from Alaya's café had fully become a mob. Monte was sure he saw someone holding a pitchfork. Some of the detritus from last night's festival that was left in the town square had been repurposed into fuel for torches. The group was gathered outside the town hall, chanting for the mayor to emerge.

"What's going to happen now?" Monte asked. He was genuinely curious. He didn't think you could just walk into the mayor's office. The idea of an angry mob getting a meeting with the mayor, this deep into the evening, seemed even less likely.

Monte had only just finished asking when a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties emerged from the front door of the hall. Even in the torchlight Monte could see her eyes were puffy. He hadn't considered how terrifying this might be for someone just doing their job inside. Clearly, she was distressed.

"That’s the mayor's deputy. No way she would come out here tonight, even if the old rat himself ordered it. There must be something wrong." The crusty old man said.

"How could you know that?" Monte asked him.

"I had better know, I hired her as deputy myself. And she's my daughter." As he said it, he moved into the crowd. Monte shouldn't have been so shocked. It was a small town. It made sense the government was a family affair.

Kieran disappeared towards the front of the mob. Monte looked at Alaya, she dropped her chin and looked up at him like before, but this time her arms were crossed.

"Well?" She asked.

"Is something wrong?" Monte replied.

"Are you going to go find out what's going on or not? Kieran can't be the only hero. I want to see some action!" Alaya said. She uncrossed her arms and thrust them into the air with the last word. A handful of villagers turned and were immediately on her side. Monte put together that the crusty old man must be named Kieran.

"Yes. Yes of course. Action!" Monte feigned enthusiasm and made his way into the crowd after the old man.

In truth, Monte didn’t want any of this action. He wanted to know what made the mayor's deputy come out instead of the mayor. Monte hoped it was because the mayor wasn’t in town at all. As long as the mayor wasn't here right now, he couldn’t be captured by the mob. Monte didn't want to find out what this crowd would do if they learned the mayor was within reach.

Monte worked toward front of the crowd. There were several men standing around Keiran’s daughter. Keiran had made it through the crowd and was among them. Monte could hear her sobbing even from his position in the second row of onlookers.

"They took him. They took mayor Padrig. They said things weren't moving fast enough and they would keep him with them. They tied his hands and gagged him." At this the woman bowed her head. She wouldn't say anything more that Monte would hear.

"What do 'spose all that means?" Monte heard one of the people around him ask nobody in particular.

The crowd sensed that an innocent person was truly distressed, and the shouting and chanting died down to small conversations. Monte thought about going back to Alaya to let her know it was all a big misunderstanding and the mayor was indeed gone.

"You know how to use that thing huh?" Kieran had left his daughter with some of the other old timers and had found Monte. He was eyeing the sword strapped to Monte's back.

"Well…" Monte started, not sure how to answer.

"No matter, we need to rescue Padrig. You know where he is, I'm sure." Kieran cut him off.

Monte stared back at the man. So far Kieran had made no indication he had any affection at all for the mayor. To turn so quickly from ousting the mayor to rescuing him was suspicious. For all Monte knew this was a very elaborate ruse. Was he going to get set up as the mayor's killer? Maybe Kieran was just telling a convenient lie about Monte's speech animating the town. Then again, he'd told Monte some unbelievable things that ended up being true. There was one more thing that made Monte feel he could trust Kieran.

"The Clockmaker knows so much about me." Monte realized too late he was speaking his thought aloud.

"Yes Monte, she does. And she knew she could tell you the truth about what's happening here." Kieren said.

"You know my name?" Monte was trying to put all the pieces together.

"Well between the first night you were here and last night you've only introduced yourself three times. Plus, Alaya won't stop talking about you no matter how many times we ask her to." Kieran said. Monte didn't have time to think about if Alaya actually wanted him around or not.

"You sent me down to meet the Clockmaker. How do I know this isn't all just an elaborate plot to get rid of the mayor?" Monte asked.

"I don't know everything she told you." Kieran's eyes flew to Monte's sword for a moment and came back. "But if you think she made all that up to try to get you to murder the mayor, you're a fool. And so is she." He concluded.

Monte saw the sense in it immediately. For one thing, nobody knew the secret of the blade. Someone from this town could have done the research on his father, but the more Monte thought about it, the more ridiculous it was. He came too. It was time to steel himself to the reality of the situation.

"We'll go find the mayor, but I'm not bringing this crowd. Not in this state." Monte said. The arrival of the mayor's deputy had slowed progress down for a while, but soon the crowd would get rowdy again.

"The crowd needs justice, they want things the way they were. The Company owns the mayor, it's been bad for months now, but now I think Padrig's in real danger. Based on the rumors I've heard, you're the man to handle this." Kieran stared into Monte as he said it.

Monte had been drunkenly flitting around this town for over a week, assuming nobody knew who he was. Now it seemed, all of the sudden, like he was meant to come here, and these people had all been waiting for him.

Monte had heard enough. He knew something the other townsfolk didn't. 'They' were the two Company men that had been on stage with the mayor last night. And Monte knew where they would have taking the mayor. He really didn't want to handle this on his own. Monte knew the only Guard in town were in the crowd already, and not in uniform. One of the three who were assigned to this town was the man who re-tapped the cask in the square. Alaya said she wanted action, but putting anyone in danger who couldn't handle themselves was the beginning of a flawed plan.

"Stay with the crowd. I will find the mayor and bring the company men back here… I hope." Monte tried his best to sound confident.

Monte had no doubt about his skills in combat or that the mayor was being held by two Company men in the clock tower. He did doubt he would be able to use his sword without someone hearing it, he was worried the Company sent more men for this job, and he couldn't be sure the mayor would still be alive once the night was over.

He slipped off out of the group away from where Alaya was and around the square to the entrance of the clock tower. He tried the front door, without much optimism.

Locked.

Monte assumed this wouldn't be so easy. He spotted an open viewing portal about ten feet off the ground to the left of the stone arches around the door. This wasn't his first time climbing a tower. Growing up it had been the water tower in his town with his schoolmates. At the Academy it was usually the tower of the women's dormitory, which was heavily guarded at night. Most clock towers had an internal staircase with openings to the outside on the way up, and the same kind of openings around each floor. He couldn't remember if the windows in this clock tower had bars or glass. He hoped neither.

Monte was able to get a footing and climb to the top of the door frame. Once he was standing roughly level with the opening, he looked for somewhere to place a foot and reach for the sill to pull himself in. Even in the low light he could see a stone placed almost for his exact purpose, misplaced just an inch. It was enough. He carefully placed his left toe on the stone, stepped out into nothingness, brought his right toe to meet the left, and lunged to reach the sill.

His heart rate had spiked a little with the effort, but he could still pull himself up and through the window. Luckily this one was empty. Inside he landed on a utilitarian wrought iron staircase.

"This couldn't have been made by my father." He thought. For one thing it creaked badly as he ascended the tower. If the Company hadn't already heard him coming, they would have now.

Monte reached the first landing. He spied into the room that took up the center of the tower. As expected, the mechanism controlling the clock looked like nothing more than a few rods extending vertically from the floor to the ceiling in the center of the room. They were, of course, perfectly still.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As Monte came close to the second landing, he heard something. It was a tingling sound. This time it was indeed the cat. She was padding quietly up the steps behind him.

"How did you…?" Monte hissed the words into the quiet.

"OOS THA?"

A voice pierced the silence. Monte shouldn’t have said anything.

"OOS THA? ELP!" The voice came again.

Now Monte could tell it was from the second landing. The cat hopped to the top of the stairs and entered the room. Monte heard the bell almost immediately. Does she mean stay back? Or come here? Monte still wasn't at all sure what the bell was meant to convey but he decided now wasn't the time to linger.

He entered the room and in the center, he could make out the figure of a man on the ground. It was darker than the first landing had been, and the room was smaller. He checked the corners and didn't see anything else. He knelt next to the figure.

"AKE DIS OHF" The man said, no longer yelling as loud. A dark handkerchief was tied around his mouth. Monte retrieved his dirk knife and cut off the gag.

"Hello mayor. I'm here to save you." Monte said. The line sounded very appropriate given the circumstances. The cat dinged her bell. The mayor moved his jaw around in a circle and shook his head. Monte had no sense for long he’d been gagged.

Long enough to be tired of being gagged.

“Thank you. Who are you?" The mayor said. The cat dinged her bell again.

"I'm Monte sir." Monte replied. One more ding from the cat. He was surprised how quickly the mayor composed himself. Had his capture been a setup?

"Fantastic, now can you… Look out!" The mayor shouted.

Monte turned just as a man was swinging a sword down on him. He extended the dirk knife in defense and caught the blow. He used both hands on the knife’s small handle to keep the swing from making contact with his skin. His attacker didn’t say a word, but Monte recognized his dark-clothed uniform.

So those men were from the Company after all.

Monte was on the ground, below his opponent. He needed to find a way to get up. He needed to get the mayor out of here. He defended against one more blow with a forceful parry, then landed a kick against the man’s chest. His opponent staggered backward into the light and Monte recognized him. It was one of the men who had come on stage with the mayor during the festival.

Monte didn't have time to further consider if he was being set up by the mayor. He leapt up just as the man attacked one more time. Monte caught the attack with his knife and was able to get a slight grip on the end of the other man's sword edge. He had practiced the disarming move many times, but his opponent was clearly unfamiliar with it. Monte almost felt bad for the other man as he landed a kick that brought the man to the ground.

His opponent was caught so unaware he hit his head on the way down and was out cold. He dropped the sword and went back to Padrig and cut off his wrist bindings.

"That was quite impressive. Thank you Mount" The mayor said as he got to his feet.

"It's Monte… actually, never mind. You need to run. Do not go back to your office. I wouldn’t go home if I were you. But whatever you do stay away from the crowd in the square." Monte gave the mayor what he thought were clear instructions.

"Why can’t I go back to my office? What's the meaning of this?" The mayor protested. His face, what Monte could make of it in the dark, looked genuinely confused.

"For someone who's just been rescued, you ask a lot of questions. There's no time to explain. Now run!" Monte said. The mayor turned to leave and the cat followed him.

The mayor made it to the staircase and the cat's bell dinged twice. Monte looked at the entryway, expecting the second man to have turned up at just the right time, but there was no one there. Then he heard it.

Just at the last moment he ducked and felt a sword swish though the air inches above him.

Why did I let him have his sword back?

He needed a new plan. The Company man he was dueling lunged, blade first. Monte was able to turn the blade away with his knife and landed a punch on the man's jaw. The blow knocked the Company man out again.

Monte knew better than to leave this man armed, so he kicked the sword into a dark corner of the room. Then he took Padrig’s wrist bindings and tied them around the man’s wrist. At no point did the man stir. Monte hoped he could catch the other Company man unarmed. The plan was to avoid more violence.

"Keep sleeping, I'm going to find your friend." Monte said. He heard nothing in return. It was quiet in the clock tower again.

Monte ran to the doorway of the landing and looked down the wrought iron stairwell. The mayor was out of sight, and he couldn’t hear the cat’s bell. From the window he could see that the mob was still set up outside town hall. Monte assumed Kieran was keeping them occupied.

How long before they get bored?

Alaya had wanted action, and he guessed she wasn’t alone. He had no sense for how long Kieran could keep them occupied. All Monte knew was he didn't have enough time to waste it on unanswerable questions. He turned and headed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When he reached the top, it was obvious he'd made a big mistake.

Two additional Company men had arrived to join the original two. To make matters worse, Monte hadn't caught any of them unaware. Maybe it had been a setup all along. All three men had drawn their swords and were advancing.

He looked around the belfry. He saw the clock's immense face. The hour and minute hands had been removed. He saw the collection of massive bells, there were 8, the largest was nearly as tall as he was.

The belfry was cramped with bells and clock mechanisms. At first glance, the scattered tools around the floor gave the appearance that these men had been attempting to get the bells in working order again. Upon further inspection, though, it was clear they were simply attempting to steal anything valuable.

I might not get out of this alive.

Monte put his hand on his sword's hilt. These men likely would know the sword by sight, the Company has been looking for it. Monte thought of the replica. These men may not have seen it, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Besides, the noise would draw the mob like moths to the flame. It hadn't worked on the rats in the Old City, but he decided to try scaring the men out of attacking him.

"If I draw this sword, none of you will make it out of this tower alive." Monte donned the authoritative tone of the Guard he learned at the Academy.

"That's cute boy, go ahead and draw it. No matter what you do, we're taking it." The man who spoke wasn't one of the men Monte saw at the festival. He appeared to be the leader of this little band of scoundrels.

So they do know about it.

"Who knew coming here would make us rich this easy? We'll be made lieutenant-." This man Monte recognized.

"Shut your mouth fool!" The ringleader said. Monte didn't have time to think about the implications.

"Let's kill this one and get out of this rat infested dump." Said the third man.

The men were inching closer to him. Monte was about to draw, when he saw the giant hands of the clock on the ground just a step away from him. The company man who he recognized looked from Monte to the giant hands and back to Monte. Then he charged, sword first. In an elegant move, Monte leapt over a toolbox, picked up the minute hand and turned to face his attacker. Even with a makeshift weapon he could barely grasp, he easily repelled the first blows.

The other two Company men stayed put. The villain opposite him lifted his sword high into the air and brought it down with as much effort as he could manage. Monte had no problem stepping out of the way, and the sword passed harmlessly by him. The force of the swing meant the blade was now lodged in the wooden floor.

"Pathetic." Monte hissed. Then he rapped the minute hand against the Company man's wrists. Immediately he let out a shriek and let go of the pommel, which didn’t budge.

The man’s cursing was suddenly drowned out by a creaking mechanical hum. Every piece of the clock in the room was moving, some slowly, some alarmingly rapidly.

The rods in the center of the room were spinning and large releases were clicking against one another in a rhythmic way. The three Company men were visibly taken aback by the sudden awakening of the mechanism. Every man in the room was shocked into stillness for a moment.

Then, all at once, every bell in the belfry launched into motion. It was absolutely deafening to be this close to them.

"Now it's over" Monte shouted, but he couldn't hear his own voice.

He drew his blade and within the first peal of the bell he was upon the swordless Company man. He was still holding his wrists and gawking at the mechanisms. He didn't hear Monte coming for him. Before the next bell tolled, Monte sent the man's sword arm to the floor.

"That's something to shriek about." Monte said. He couldn't hear his own words, much less the screams of the Company man falling to his knees.

The next man, who saw what had happened and charged towards Monte. He was preparing a two handed swing from his hip but tripped over one of the toolboxes scattered about the room. He splayed forward and lost the grip of his sword which skidded across the wooden floor. He fell right in front of Monte. Without hesitating, Monte plunged the wailing blade, temporarily inaudible, through the man's torso.

All that remained was for Monte to defeat the Ringleader. He and Monte circled each other for about twenty seconds. They stayed a few yards away from each other. Monte knew the other man was also searching for an opening.

There was no use asking any questions, all anyone in this room could possibly hear was the great strikes of the clappers against perfectly cast metal. Monte decided to initiate the attack. He needed to get back to the man he’d tired up, and then get back to the mayor. If he could bring the Ringleader down the stairs with him alive, it would be all the better.

Monte took a few steps toward the Ringleader and pulled his sword in toward his side, ready to plunge it forward into the other man. His opponent took a defensive position, so Monte feigned an obvious attack. He saw the Ringleader leave an opening in his defensive posture.

The Company trained their people well enough. Someone who managed to stay alive long to oversee anything is often a good match for a novice Guard. Monte was Guard trained, but he had another advantage. He had been making and training with swords his entire life. His opponent’s move would have likely been successful against someone else.

Monte didn't take the bait.

Inside the room it was a chaos of movement. The duel between the two men was calm. Monte found it satisfying. As their blades made contact, one striking, the other parrying, there was no sound. It was a ballet of combat.

Monte had backed his opponent against the outer wall and hatched a plan. The other man knew the rules of sword fighting, and thus could be manipulated. Monte started breaking the rules. He moved to strike while his opponent was clearly in a defensive position and carried through when he should have pulled away. He squinted his eyes and opened his mouth as wide as he could to sell that fatigue was setting in.

Monte worked around the other man, making sure to make a few more calculated blunders, until it was his back to the wall, not the other way around. Monte failed to block a very clearly telegraphed swipe downward at him and let it cut the fabric of his tunic. His opponent’s eyes shined, and he wore a self-satisfied grin. Monte knew he had him. Slowly their fight had moved around the outside wall of the tower.

Monte was squarely in front of one of the openings on the top floor. Outside on the square, he saw that the mob had made their way towards the tower.

The bells drew them away from town hall.

Hopefully that meant they were less likely to ransack the mayor's office. But it could mean they caught the mayor trying to escape. He didn't have long to think about it, the ringleader sensed an opportunity.

With some artificially inflated confidence, the man stabbed toward Monte. It likely would have been the end of the duel for, had Monte not taken a well-timed step backwards. The Company man was left off balance, having put all his weight into his attack. The largest of the bells in the tower was returning on its slow path back and forth as it called out to the town. It didn’t slow down in the slightest as it made contact with the man now standing in the window. If he made a sound as he plummeted to the brick lined square, Monte couldn't hear it.

Hopefully he survived the fall.

He wasn't particularly worried. He sheathed his sword, hoping it wouldn't need to come out again for some time. He took a moment to investigate the belfry. He was now sure the tools he saw before were indeed not for horology or any kind of repair for that matter. The Company was attempting, as usual, to strip the clock for parts they could use. It was one more connection between the Company and the work of his father, but he was no closer to learning what really mattered.

The fourth man was late coming back up the stairs. Monte was already on the way back down when he caught him, moving slowly and staring at the steps, clearly in pain. He noticed one very puffy eye from where he'd landed his punch. When Monte's boot landed squarely in the center of his chest, his other eye seemed at least healthy enough to open wide. He tumbled down a few of the stairs and Monte dragged him down the rest.