Ali Gamal's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

The dragon pendant sat on Ali's workbench, too big for the device meant to hold it. He had spent three nights fitting his sun-walking mesh around it. Every time, the raw power blew the wiring apart. The pendant held five centuries of moonlight. His device could not drink from it without a channel to slow the flow. He needed a valve for magic itself, and no metal he owned could do the work. A cold weight filled the room. The Mother entered, her veil sweeping through the doorway and out of sight. She was Dracula's chief wife, the witch who hid Walachia from human eyes, and Ali's partner in this work. She had given him the pendant. Now she came to see if he had wasted it. "It fights the wire," Ali said. "The power leaves the gold too fast. I cannot slow it." The Mother lifted the pendant. Blue light traced her fingers. "You built a cup with no rim," she said. "The moonlight needs a gate. I can weave one into the gold. It will let out only what you ask, no more." She pressed her palm to the dragon and whispered. The metal glowed, then cooled. A faint rune now sat coiled inside it, thin as a hair. Ali fitted the pendant into the mesh. This time the wiring held. A steady thread of power ran through it, controlled, patient. He nearly laughed. The device would work now. Then a low voice spoke from the doorway. "Such clever hands." Carmilla stood there in her black lace gown, silver thread catching the lamplight. She was the Styrian countess who had shared Ali's bed for weeks, the one who promised him an audience with Dracula. She crossed the floor slowly, her red eyes on the glowing pendant. "You've been hiding a treasure, my love. What is that old thing?" Ali's hand closed over the dragon. "A power source. Nothing more." The Mother turned. Her blue eyes fixed on Carmilla and did not move. "You walk into my inventor's workshop unasked," she said. "You look at what is not yours. Whose errand brings you here, Countess?" Carmilla smiled and dipped her head. "Only love, my Queen. I worry for him." "You worry for what he holds." The Mother stepped between them. A vampire bat swept through the open window and circled the rafters, stirred by the tension. "Go. Ali has work." Carmilla left without argument. Her eyes lingered on the pendant until the door closed. The Mother watched the shut door. "She knows the shape of that gold now," she said. "My husband gave its twin to my daughter. If your mistress speaks of it, Dracula will ask how you came to hold his." She looked at Ali. "Guard her tongue, or guard yours." Ali held the finished device. It worked at last. But Carmilla had seen the dragon, and now his secret walked out the door on her.