The Clockwork Tower

Chapter One 

It’s got to be here, Reagan thought as she knelt down and brushed away some dirt in the small clearing. It was a ridiculous notion, she realized. If there was a building here, brushing away the dirt where it’s foundation and walls should have been was not going to reveal it. She stood up and looked again at the map in the light of the full moon. To the west, the ocean; the coastline matched. To the north, the mountains. Here, the base of the forest and next to the umbrella shaped oak tree and the twin boulders, the tower. There were no other oaks nearby. Not for a dozen miles. The twin boulders were unmistakable. Was the map a fake? The breeze stopped and the rustling of the leaves abated. It was eerily silent.

“What now, madam?” Goliath said in his slow, deep voice. He scratched his massive head with a massive index finger and looked around. He stood right at seven feet tall, a foot and a half taller than Reagan and was three times her width. He could crush her without trying but she was in charge and so the thought never crossed his simple mind. Not that it would otherwise. He was fiercely loyal to her.

“We either wait, which could take who knows how long, or we figure out a way to make it come.” Figuring things out was not Goliaths strong point so he simply nodded and waited for Reagan to execute the plan.

She opened her canvas satchel and pulled out a large brass object with a hinge on one side and a clasp on the other. On the lid were intricate engravings that shimmered silver when they caught the light.  She flipped the clasp and it opened. Gently she set it on the ground. Slowly, delicately it unfolded itself. Tiny brass rods and gears worked together in a miniscule but complex dance with silver springs and golden pulleys in a growing maze work of machinery. It whirred and clicked as it grew and sourceless beams of lights emanated from the center. It grew no larger than a watermelon and tick-tocked patiently when its dance was finished. Goliath smiled in mute pleasure as the rhythmic metronome tones entranced him.

Reagan knelt before the device and adjusted the single dial. Very slowly the ticking increased: tick… tock… tick… tock… tick-tock tick-tock ticktock ticktock. Goliath smiled broader and bounced ever so slightly on his heels. The whirring noise grew higher in pitch and the gears and rods moved quicker. The small beams of light grew more intense and the colors were vibrant. Red, blue, green, orange. Goliath stopped bouncing and his eyes grew large. It was beautiful! Slowly the air around the brass chest vibrated and shimmied like heat off of desert sand. Reagan stepped back. At the base, the dirt scattered and the dead oak leaves regained their color and leapt off the ground only to disappear into nothing almost as soon as they were airborne. Tall, dead grass replaced the dirt and quickly turned green then shrunk and slithered down into the forest floor. The process repeated itself faster and faster as the tick-tocking became a solid tone and the whirring became a screech. In the small area surrounding the chest, time was spinning backwards! A wicked howling noise emanated from somewhere within the forest. Reagan tensed and peered after it.

“Goliath, they’re coming. We need to hurry.” Goliath moved protectively next to her and scanned the darkness, the hypnotic lightshow of the chest forgotten. Within the lights, the reanimated grass continued but then was suddenly replaced by crumbled brick.

“Here it comes,” Reagan whispered. With a sudden screech, an apparition burst from the darkness and shot towards Reagan. She had brought Goliath for a reason and Goliath was not going to disappoint. With lightning fast reflexes that belied his size, he placed himself between the apparition and Reagan and took the entire force of the assault. As they collided, he flew back towards her but leapt at the last moment so as to launch himself and the apparition over her head. They landed with a thud and the apparition spun to face Reagan. It was a ghostly figure, pale and ancient. Long wispy hair flowed like spider webs from beneath the tattered hood. The face was little more than wrinkled and blotched skin stretched over skull. When it sneered, its teeth were gnarled and decayed. It raised its spindly arms and tensed as if ready to attack. Fear overtook her and Reagan waited no longer, she turned and ran as the apparition screamed horribly and lurched towards her. Goliath had recovered and just as the apparition grasped at her shoulder, he leapt and tackled the specter. They tumbled to the ground and rolled into the light that emanated from the chest smashing it in the process. Both of them were gone.

Reagan finally stopped at the edge of the cliff watching the full moon reflect off the sea below. She had run out of land; there was nowhere else to run. She turned her back to the hundred foot drop and faced the pursuer who never came.

“Goliath?” She Shouted. There was no response. She waited a long time before making her way back to the clearing. When she got there, the brass chest was smashed and Goliath, the apparition, and the time portal were gone.

~~~

Goliath tumbled along the ground and came to rest at the base of a tall stone tower. With quick glances, he cast about for the apparition but his assailant was nowhere to be seen. This, he thought¸ isn’t like any ghost I’ve heard of. The ghosts he expected to encounter weren’t corporeal. This one was solid enough, however it did disappear very much like one.

“Reagan, where are you? Are you okay?” He searched around in the new light of morning. All he found was a tall, black tower made of large stones. He craned his neck up to see its pinnacle which contained a large clock face. Its hands were slowly spinning backwards. As he watched, they came to a complete stop and if he were to continue to watch, he would see that they began their normal forward movement, marking normal time.

“Where did this come from?” he whispered but no one was there to answer.