The Fountain Pen

In truth I started Chapter Seven last night, but as it was only a few sentences I didn’t feel like posting it then. I managed nearly 2,000 words tonight so for the time being I’m back on track. However, I’m tired and exhausted so I’ll leave you now with the beginning of Chapter Seven, in which Amanda returns to the story and The Gold Man enters the story.

Chapter Seven

“You seriously think we’ll find the binding in the Capitol building?” Joe asked, convinced Ignatius was grasping at straws.

“Not in it but on it. Come on,” Ignatius said striding out of the gazebo. “There is something I need to show you.”

Joe looked to Katarina who shrugged and followed Ignatius wordlessly, clearly willing to trust Ignatius’s judgement for the time being. Having no choice but to follow them, Joe stood up stretching his weary muscles, and shuffled his way out of the gazebo. He got no further than the fountain.

“I thought you were eager to get out of Salem,” a voice called out from behind him.

Turning around Joe stood face-to-face with either Amanda or Shelly. Joe furrowed his brow saying, “Which one are you?”

“Which one do you think I am,” came the playful reply.

“Amanda?” Joe said with uncertainty.å

“Amanda?” she said with mock horror. “And here I thought I had you all to myself.”

Joe was taken aback. He was under the impression Shelly didn’t think much of him. “Uhm,” was all he could say.

“I’m just kidding, it’s me Amanda,” she said with a big grin. “You got it right the first time. What gave me away?”

“Honestly?” Amanda nodded. “It was just a guess. 50-50 odds. You know?”

“So like I said, I thought you were eager to get out of Salem. I’m surprised to see you are still here so late in the day.”

“It seems more than just busses don’t want to accommodate me,” he said with a shrug.

“You know,” she said slowly walking toward Joe, “you were supposed to say, ‘There’s this stunning brunette who has convinced me to stay, indefinitely.’” She drew up close enough to Joe to kiss him, then turned and looked deep into the fountain. “Care to try it again?”

Joe cleared his throat. Never in his life had a woman been so forward with him, and it made him nervous. He was usually quite smooth with the ladies, portraying himself as both dangerous and a gentleman, but he was the one pursuing the women. This was the first time he was the prey and not the hunter. “What I meant to say was, there are some extenuating circumstances that require my immediate attention.”

“Hrm,” Amanda said weighing the statement. “Better, but it needs work. Listen, it’s getting to be about dinner time, why don’t you meet me somewhere, say in half and hour, and we can continue what we started,” she turned her head and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I, um, might be otherwise engaged.”

“An hour then. There’s a seafood restaurant downtown, McGrath’s. Meet me there in one hour,” she turned and walked away before Joe could respond. “Don’t keep me waiting, lover boy,” she called over her shoulder, then disappeared behind a tree.

Joe stood there nonplussed, arms hanging limply by his sides as his mind rapidly tried to understand what just happened and determine if it was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand Amanda was an attractive woman, and she was clearly interested in him. On the other she was far too forward for Joe’s comfort, and he suspected she might have an agenda. She was far too eager for him to stay in Salem, and now she had just scheduled a date with him that would no doubt take him away from the investigation. Joe was not one to stand girls up, especially pretty girls. He was torn. He was brought back to his senses when a hand settled on his shoulder and Katarina’s voice intruded on his thoughts. “Joseph? Are you alright?”

“I don’t know,” he said distractedly.

“What happened,” Katarina fired back quickly glancing over Joe looking for anything wrong.

“A girl more-or-less decided I would join her for dinner in an hour.”

“What girl?” Katarina said, scanning the park. “I didn’t see any girl.”

Joe looked at her strangely. “She caught up with me when we exited that gazebo over there.”

“Who is she, Joseph?” Katarina asked with a graveness in his voice that made him concerned.

“Amanda. Shelly’s sister,” he was quick to reply.

“I don’t know those girls. Where did you meet them?”

Joe swallowed and looked nervous. “Shelly works at the coffee shop where Mortimer took me. Amanda works at the Greyhound buss station.

Katarina eyed him suspiciously. “I see. I think I know the girl you are talking about. And you say she expects you to dine with her tonight?” she asked her eyebrows arched suggestively.

“Yeah. I’m not sure what happened. One minute we were talking about that I’m still here, and the next she tells me she will be waiting for me at this place called McGrath’s and that I shouldn’t keep her waiting. She walked off before I could tell her I was too busy.”

“If she is the same girl I am thinking of, you should go. You do not want to cross her, and she doesn’t take kindly to being stood up.”

“What about our investigation?”

“Don’t worry Joe,” Katarina assured him. “It won’t interfere. Besides, we’ll need to grab a bite to eat anyway, and I hardly doubt Ignatius will turn down a free meal, even if it is fish.”

“He doesn’t like fish?” Joe asked.

“Decidedly not,” Katarina said shaking her head.

“This should be interesting,” Joe commented.

Katarina nodded. “Come on. Let’s not keep Ignatius waiting. He has the attention span of a small monkey.”

Joe laughed. “Fitting for an old organ grinder.”

“You have no idea,” she remarked.

They quickly walked across the park, then across the street to join Ignatius who was quietly lounging on the lawn, facing the Capitol building. The scene was a bit out of joint, for here was a seeming middle-aged man, dressed as if he just came from work, lounging on a lawn as if he were some young vigorous lad awaiting his gal. The self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face made the scene even more disjointed and odd.

“You look like the cat that caught the prized parakeet,” Joe said approaching Ignatius.

“Ah my boy. So good of you to join us. Here, here, have a seat and enjoy this magnificent view,” Ignatius said with grandiloquence and motioned that Joe should join him on the lawn.

“No thanks. I’ll stand if it’s all the same to you.”

“Suit yourself my boy. Suit yourself.”

“Just what was it you wanted to find here?” Joe asked.

“What I did find,” Ignatius replied enigmatically.

“The binding is here,” Joe said excitedly.

“Sadly, no,” Ignatius admitted. “But,” Ignatius exclaimed as Joe’s face began to fall, “I was right in that the Capitol building has some answers for us regarding that question.”

“I still don’t see how,” Joe said, staring hard at the building desperately looking for anything incongruous. Before him loomed a tall, stately, white marble building, with two wings spreading out from the central room. The front door’s height was exaggerated by tall windows extending nearly the height of the building. But the thing that caught Joe’s attention was the cyclopean fluted column rising from the center of the building, toped with a smaller fluted column, topped with a shining gold man.

“Tell me what you see,” Ignatius said.

“I see a white marble building with a pillar and a statue on top,” Joe said, puzzled at what he was missing.

“Precisely so.”

Joe scratched his head. “I don’t see how any of that helps us.”

“What do you notice about that statue?” Ignatius pressed.

Joe squinted. “I can’t tell from here. It’s just a gold man.”

Ignatius nodded. “Sikander has always been fond of statuary. Once he told me about using the golden statue of a man in some preparations. It didn’t dawn on me until today that he might have meant this one”

“Why this one? Surely there are other gold statues of men somewhere.”

“Ah, but this statue is special. Isn’t that right Katarina?”

A look of understanding flooded Katarina’s face, followed by abject horror. “I hope you are wrong Ignatius.”

“Why?” Joe asked. “What’s so special about this statue?”

Katarina, still staring at the gold man, answered Joe. “Apart from be a rather large statue atop the Capitol building, and apart from being the symbol of the pioneers who settled here and made the Oregon Trail famous, the statue is what you would call ‘enchanted.’”

“Enchanted how?” Joe asked.

“He keeps watch over the city, or as much of it as he is able to see. Back when it was installed the city was much smaller, and one could see quite a bit of Salem from up there,” Katarina continued.

“But he’s only looking in one direction. It doesn’t seem all that useful of a watchman.”

“There is a local legend — which happens to be mostly true — that the gold man, at the stroke of midnight, rotates on his pedestal,” Ignatius added.

Joe paused and considered this. “Had you told me that yesterday I would have said you were pulling my leg. But now… .”

“It’s not entirely true,” Katarina said. “Otherwise many people would know about it, for all they would need to do is stand out here around midnight and observe it. The truth is the gold man is semi-sentient. It was a gift to the city from a master enchanter. Once a day, when no one is watching, he will survey the entire city.”

“If no one can be watching when he does this, how do you know if he actually does it?” Joe asked.

“I should amend that: no one outside of Second City can be watching,” Katarina replied.

“I still don’t see how watching once a day will do much good,” Joe persisted. “It would seem to me you’d need at least four of those guys looking in all directions.”

“He doesn’t so much look with his eyes, as he uses them to — how would you understand it — cast a net of awareness out over the city. What he could see with his eyes, he can see without moving, but the ability fades over time, so he recharges it — like a battery — daily,” Katarina explained.

“So if he watches over Salem, what would he have to do with Sikander’s trapping me here?”

“The gift was from an anonymous source,” Katarina said hollowly.

“I thought you said it was from a master enchanter,” Joe countered.

“It was, but he claimed he did not know who commissioned it.”

“Wait, are you suggesting… ?” Joe left off as the impact of the statement sunk in.

“Indeed I am, my boy,” Ignatius said quietly.

“But … wouldn’t that mean he could watch over Salem all the time?”

“I believe that was exactly the point. The city would accept the gift as a symbol of the state’s history. Second City would accept the gift as it would offer protection and means of detection. It was perfect for Sikander’s uses.”

“Which are?”

“To have influence over this city one way or the other. If he did commission the gold man, it’s more than likely he would be able to affect the enchanting. He would then have an important artifact under his control, and its power could be used by him. So, you see, if Sikander is connected to the statue in any way, then it is more than likely it knows something of your binding.”