Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Epilogue

Engineer Drasneval stepped through into Chief Engineer Garenshik's office and closed the door behind her, cutting off the busy noises of the core-room, and the deeper rumblings from Klinberg's engine-hall beyond. Garenshik sat behind his simple desk of carved beam tree, in his equally simple chair. The shelves behind him were neat with books, and the surface of his desk equally well ordered.

Engineer Drasneval took a book from her coat pocket and placed it in the centre of the desk. The book's cover was new, freshly sewn and double wrapped about the pages it protected, which were tattered, soiled, uneven and ill-fitting, as though they had at some time been doused in filthy water and then dried out.

Engineer Drasneval took her seat opposite Klinberg's Chief Engineer.

"Are you still having any doubts in Engineer Anyadda's work?"

Garenshik scratched at his neck beneath his beard.

"I am thinking that doubting is no longer being an option. The events of the past days have gone a way to supporting her findings."

Engineer Drasneval merely nodded her agreement.

"Still, it is a shame that we have salvaged little enlightenment in the events."

"Yes." Engineer Drasneval leant forward in her chair and tapped the cover of the book. "But we were knowing that we would not. At least we are now being aware of Vlambra's identity. The nadidge left us that much of him. I am beginning my investigations into his escape from Stacow Halt."

"Vlamreddik Bradderspeis. He was a pupil of yours?"

"An inconceivably inept one. He was not even mastering the basics of the cypher, let alone being able to implement its use to open a moon lock. Have you spoken to the Grand-commander?"

"Yes. His conviction, and indeed the entirety of belief throughout the Order, is that the actions of Merchant Dres and his associates was nothing but a ruse to lure him to his death. The purpose of his death being to ensure that war with the north resumes, though I am thinking that he still has doubts and queries."

Chief Engineer Garenshik looked concerned. Engineer Drasneval did not.

"It is a good thing that we have sent Anyadda's daughter away," she said.

"Yes."

"Dakskansia has always had her mother's inquisitiveness about things, but up to this date her curiosity has not ventured beyond the workings of our craft. Now, though she has begun to ask questions."

"Concerning?"

"The functioning condition of the escape passage between the fortress and the Workshops for the first thing. Time only gave her chance to make a rudimentary inspection of the mechanism, but it was enough for her to be surmising that it had been deliberately maintained. She is being clever enough to understand that such a thing could not have been done by Vlambra. We are fortunate that she did not reveal this information to the Commander's daughter before her removal."

Chief-engineer Garenshik shifted his bulk to rest his elbows on the table. He clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his entwined fists.

"But we must share the truth of things with the Order at some juncture."

"Yes, but only at the time dictated. This event has disturbed the relationship between the Order and the Guild. We must repair it before we reveal our flaws. I have convinced Grand-commander Kralaford that Vlambra was a disgraced Engineer working independently, and if we are wishing to maintain that belief then further contact between Dakskansia and Tahlia Layne at this moment is not being desired. Besides, the friendship between them has served its first purpose."

Garenshik dropped his entwined hands to the desk and shrugged his wide shoulders.

"I was having little choice in my ruling anyway, after Dakskansia had breached Guild security in such a manner. Her father has accepted the judgement quite readily. He was even seeming quite relieved by it."

"Yes. His wife's requirements of him were proving a burden. Besides, it will be benefitting him to be getting away from his old home and the memories it contains. I am still feeling it a shame though. I would have liked to continue Dakskansia's education myself. I have scarce encountered a mind such as hers before."

Chief Engineer Garenshik shrugged.

"We are Engineers. She will never be far from us, but it is still seeming a shame to split these children apart after you and Anyadda took such pains to bring them together."

"They will be reunited when the next need arises, and to that end I have fulfilled the necessity of sending one of my own people along with Dakskansia. Someone she is knowing."

"Harev?"

"Yes. He has served our cause well, and I can be trusting no one else's discretion more. I would entrust the safety of Anyadda's daughter to no one else."

"Of course."

Chief Engineer Garenshik sat frowning at the book that lay on the table between himself and Engineer Drasneval, his heavy fingers tapping on the edge of his desk.

"I know that you are understanding Anyadda's work better than myself, but I am still troubled by our endeavours. Are you certain that we could not have intervened?"

"Positively sure."

"Vlambra could have been apprehended. The Order could have been warned. Events could have been changed."

"That is what our enemies are believing, which is why they were trying to take the Commander's son. They are wrong. The present, and beyond that, the future, cannot be changed. Only facilitated."

"Still, it was a great risk that we were taking purely for the intention of verifying a theory. You have admitted yourself that there is still much we do not understand. You could have been mistaken about how things would turn out."

"I could. I was not."

Chief Engineer Garenshik nodded his head in acceptance.

"And what about the source point for all of this intelligence of our future? Is it secured?"

Engineer Drasneval took the book from the desk and replaced it in her pocket.

"The door to the temple has closed, and will only be opening again at the designated time. The children of the farm of Dredar will have to be finding somewhere else to play their games." Engineer Drasneval stood, and inclined her hear to the Chief Engineer. "Now if you will be forgiving me, I have lessons to attend to."

She turned to the door, and had her hand on its handle when Garenshik spoke.

"Despite all of this proof you have provided to me, Engineer Drasneval, a part of myself is still not fully understanding the mechanics of all this. This binding of lives and the nature of the future, to me still has all the characteristics of the workings of fate."

Engineer Drasneval tapped her coat where the tattered journal lay, then she opened the door, filling the Chief Engineer's office with the noises of the room beyond.

"That is one thing you must be remembering," she said. "There is no such thing as fate."

Then she left, closing the door behind her.