Free The Lady Astronomer by Katy O'Dowd Page B

to her, chattering
wildly.
    She soothed him and clucked to him,
wondering what on earth he was trying to tell her.
    “Freddie! Lucretia! And the mirror!
Welcome home.” Al strode toward them. Leibniz increased his volume and
pointed accusingly at him.
    “What on earth has possessed him, Al?”
    “Ah. He was, how can I put this,
rather bad tempered after you had gone. We discovered his tooth was so bad it
had to come out. I should think he’s been sneaking sugar for longer than any of
us realised.”
    “Leibniz, that was naughty of you. And
silly.”
    The lemur hid his face in her shoulder and
she laughed over his head. He jumped out of her arms, cross with her lack of
understanding.
    At Freddie’s urging, the horses stopped in
the middle of the garden.
    “Is this going to be the best place
for it?”
    “There’s nowhere else really big
enough, and we need to leave it in place if possible. Could we build an awning
to keep it dry? And let’s get Mr. O. We could use his strength to get this on
to the ground.”
    “I’ll get him,” offered Lucretia.
She walked away and had just reached the house when a shout made her turn
around.
    “Freddie! The mirror! It’s slipping! I
had it but the rose bush stabbed me!”
    “Hang on! Rose bushes don’t just stab
people, but it will have to go if costs us another mirror!” Freddie rushed
to his side, and both of them struggled to hold the precious disk in place.
    “Lucretia, hurry!” Freddie’s face
was turning purple with the exertion of pushing the mirror, while Al looked
like he was about to pass out.
    She was turning away from the scene when
she caught a glimpse of a black and white tail. Leibniz had chosen the very
worst moment to seek his revenge, pushing the thorns on the rosebush toward Al.
He aimed so well that her brother lost his concentration and bent down to see
where he was hurt.
    Oh, Leibniz. If the mirror was lost, it wouldn’t be the rosebush
that would be facing Freddie’s wrath. She hurried inside, shouting as she went.

Chapter 5
    In Which The Work Starts In Earnest And Is Then
Delayed Moonlight Becomes Her The Chemist Pays A Visit A Letter
     
    The huge man crossed the yard in what
seemed like no more than a few steps.
    He pushed Freddie and Al aside, bent under
the mirror and hefted it on to his impossibly wide shoulders, not even exerting
himself as he stood to his full height and pushed it back on to the cart.
    “Ah, thank you, Mr.?”
    “Rammstein. Just Rammstein. I am come
from the king,” the man answered in German.
    “Battering ram?” Al was awestruck.
    “That is so.” The man flexed his
biceps and towered over the inventor. Al took a step back.
    “We prefer to speak English here,”
remarked Freddie.
    “Is that so?” Rammstein turned
his full glare on the astronomer.
    “Yes.” Freddie gulped and then
said it again, more strongly this time. “Yes, we do.”
    Rammstein looked him up and down and nodded
his head, switching to perfect English. “We have no time for squabbles. His
Majesty expects this work to be finished on time. Or there will be
consequences.”
    There would be no arguing with this man,
dressed head to foot in black, from his boots to his belt and arm straps.
    On closer inspection, Al saw that he had a
black metal arm which ended in a very realistic hand and looked down at his own
meshed glove before hiding it behind his back. He had a serious case of want.
Maybe he could befriend the man mountain and ask him where he got his arm from.
    He looked Rammstein up and down again, and
on doing so saw that he also had a bronze eye behind his ocular device, which looked
like a half-set of goggles.
    Rammstein saw him looking. “You like
my demigoggs? I lost an eye in a fight with a black bear. He lost his life.”
    Al shivered.
    “But what’s that wriggling in your
pocket?” Freddie was intrigued, imagining all sorts of exotic pets that
such a man would have.
    “Ah, yes.” Rammstein put a meaty
fist into his pocket