Read A Clockwork Fairytale for Free Online Page B

him to the chairs by the fireplace.
    They both sat and Maddox sipped his ale uncomfortably. His gaze darted around the room, skipping over Turk to settle on his own feet.
    “I saw a boy press-ganged by some bluejackets the other night. I’m told he belonged to you,” Turk said, watching for Maddox’s reaction.
    The old man’s eyes fixed on Turk’s face for a second then he looked down, his mouth set in a hard line.
    “You don’t seem bothered by the loss of your pledge.” Turk sipped his ale, his chest full of angry heat at Maddox’s obvious wish to disown Mel.
    Maddox’s gaze crept back to Turk’s face, a wary gleam in his eyes. “Always been trouble, that boy. Never know where he’s going or if the tyke’ll come back.”
    Turk drew in a steadying breath. “So I take it you don’t want Mel back?”
    Maddox scrunched his face and tipped his head to one side. “Can’t say’s I miss ’im, unreliable as he is an’ all.”
    Turk’s stomach rebelled at the man’s heartlessness. He placed his mug on the brick hearth with a clack. He wanted to drag Maddox down to the harbor and toss him in the sewage where he belonged. That would satisfy his own anger, but it wouldn’t get answers.
    “I gather you’ve had Mel a long time?”
    Maddox downed a swallow of ale. “Since he sucked up his grub, just about.”
    “Yet the thought of abandoning the lad to life aboard a Royal Barge doesn’t concern you?”
    Maddox scratched the stubble on his chin. “Nothing I can do now. Boy’s gone. Likes o’ me won’t get ’im back from the bluejackets.”
    “You could have petitioned my help.” Turk’s voice dropped to a lethally soft drawl.
    The old man shrugged and stared into his mug.
    Unable to contain his feelings, Turk jumped up and gripped the chair on either side of the old man’s head. Maddox recoiled, sloshing ale on his breeches. “Can you imagine what life would be like for a seventeen-year-old girl on a Royal Barge full of sailors?” Turk’s soft words vibrated with anger.
    The blood drained out of Maddox’s face, leaving him gray as sea mist. He swallowed audibly. “Don’t know what you’re—”
    “Mister Maddox, I know when people lie to me.” Turk enunciated each word carefully.
    Fear swam in the old man’s bloodshot eyes as he raised them to meet Turk’s gaze. His lips trembled and he swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “What do you want of me, sir? I’ll do anything. Great Earth Jinn, save me.”
    Turk backed off and put his chair between them lest he be tempted to send Maddox back to the Earth before his time. “You’ll answer my questions honestly.”
    “Aye, sir. Ask away. I’ll do me best, so I will.”
    “Where did you get Melba from?”
    Maddox swallowed and his mug trembled in his hand. “A bluejacket from the Royal Fleet brought her to me door in the early hours. She were a wee mite. He told me to raise her as a boy. Keep those strange feet o’ hers covered up an’ all.”
    “Did you know the man?”
    Maddox shook his head. “Never seen him afore or since.”
    “Why you?”
    The old man shrugged.
    “You didn’t think to refuse.”
    Maddox frowned. “Course I did. No one wants to be lumbered with a girl to feed and clothe. He didn’t give me no choice. Said he’d summon a Foul Jinn to send me barmy. Said he’d know if I weren’t looking after her right. Weren’t so bad raisin’ her as a boy, though. She earned her keep running and thieving like the other lads. Best I had, truth be told. Sharp as a tack.”
    “So why were you willing to let her go now? Have Foul Jinns lost their terror for you?”
    “No, sir. He said she’d be taken back before she grew to be a woman. When she didn’t come home, I figured someone had claimed her. Then you mentioned the bluejackets and I thought, you know, they must be the ones.”
    Turk relaxed a fraction. Maybe Maddox wasn’t as heartless as he’d thought. If a sailor had delivered Melba to his door, then