The search for the Key of Time was a strange one indeed, Lucy thought. For surely they must have looked foolish, dancing amidst the crowds to a tune none could hear, the attention they garnered something that made her stomach twist uncomfortably, a sour taste filling her mouth.
"They're watching us," the Baron hissed into her ear as they waltzed by a particularly large group, all eyes trained upon them. "Surely they've guessed what we're up to."
And guess they did. For after a moment in which the men and women around them witnessed their dance, there came exclamations of understanding and many scrambled to find a place upon the onyx paths, searching for the steps unseen.
Thus in this way Lucy and the Baron's dance was crowded in upon, bodies jostling against them as many shoved their way past. The silver footprints obscured at times by another pair of dancers.
Many grew violent-- going so far as to push others off the path or trip them if they danced too far ahead-- and treachery was not beneath those desperate enough to commit to it.
Once, Lucy felt the Baron pull her roughly to the side as a pair of men went tumbling to the ground, fists and teeth bared in a vicious duel, caring not if they brought others down in their way.
Indeed, one of them would have caught Lucy in the side of the head had the Baron not acted so suddenly, his arms cradling her with a gentle firmness as he guided her past, shielding her body with his own in a manner that surprised her.
In their closeness she could hear the frantic beat of his heart as she was brought so near to his chest, his quick breath hot against her ear, and when she glanced up at his expression she found it to be as nervous as her own.
Yet this moment was torn away from her as the night air chilled and the scene around them shifted; for in her distraction she had not noticed as a fog had begun to creep in upon them, obscuring their sight till only the silver steps remained.
The mist around them thickened-- a shroud that wrapped them in a pale grasp, hiding from view the tents of the innermost portion of the carnival till at last Lucy wondered if they had left it behind entirely. Entering a new world to be trapped with nothing but an eternal dance.
Yet the further on they danced, they began to see shapes looming out from the fog; tall and unmoving, round and featureless faces gazing back at them. And while sparsely placed at first, they began to grow in number, lining either side of the path closely till at last Lucy could see them for what they were.
Clocks.
Hundreds of them, scattered about like trees within a forest that had seemingly sprung up from the ground. Each one ornate and uniquely crafted till not one was the same as another-- and indeed all displayed a different time, some perhaps an hour ahead, and others showing well into the hours of the dawn.
Some had hands that merely spun round and round, whilst others remained entirely still, frozen upon an eternal hour from which it could not move.
It was here that her dance faltered along with many others, their steps forgotten in light of what lay before them.
"Do you suppose the key is inside one of them? Or around them perhaps?" he murmured, closer to her once more no doubt for fear of being overheard.
It would take them beyond a night, perhaps even beyond a thousand nights, to find if this was true should they search every clock's interior, Lucy knew. Surely there must be something different about the clock in which the key was hidden. Some superficial, yet clever clue that would give itself away.
Pulling from her pocket the watch she had acquired years prior, Lucy glanced at the time written there; two hours past midnight.
Strange. It had felt far longer.
YOU ARE READING
The Mortal And The Wicked-- ONC 2023
FantasyONC 2023 Shortlister His features had haunted her for years; a boy with silver eyes peering out from beneath a mask of bone. His body cloaked in darkness, a wicked grin upon his lips that spoke of treachery-- a smile that had broken countless hearts...
