Time's Deformèd Hand

By Steven R. Southard

It’s 1600 in an alternate Switzerland, a world where Da Vinci’s mechanical automatons and human-powered flight almost work, thanks to magic trees. Long-separated twins, Georg the reluctant groom and Georg the clock thief, roam the clocklike village of Spätbourg, beset by more time and date errors than you can shake an hour hand

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619505896

Steven R. Southard

Growing up in the Midwest, Steven R. Southard always found the distant oceans exotic and tantalizing. He served aboard submarines and now works as a civilian naval engineer. In his stories, he takes readers on journeys of discovery in many seas and various vessels. Steve has written in the historical, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and steampunk genres. Come aboard at http://sites.google.com/site/stevenrsouthard/ and voyage with his intriguing characters in tales of aquatic adventure.

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Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

About the Author

Time’s Deformèd Hand

by

Steven R. Southard

All rights reserved

Copyright © October 13, 2014, Steven R. Southard

Cover Art Copyright © 2014, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-589-6

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: November 15, 2014

Dedication

To all my English teachers from elementary school through high school and college. I may have forgotten your names, but not the love of language and story you conveyed. Believe it or not, some lessons got through and stuck with me. If I obeyed the rules while writing this tale, the credit goes to you. For any rules I broke, I’ll take the blame, and I’m sorry.

Chapter 1

The clock in the tower overlooking the town of Spätbourg struck five, though several minutes late. On this sixteenth day of June in 1600, Heinrich Jäger descended toward the center of town, having flown over the Alps using a set of rented daVinci wings. Twelve narrow streets radiated out from the circular courtyard, and a curved outer street circumscribed the whole town. Soaked in sweat from flapping the aerial contraption, he turned it in to the daVinci Wing Exchange office. From there he walked straight to the local municipal building. Hoping he wasn’t already too late, he’d come to warn yet another village about his son.

Five minutes later, Heinrich had introduced himself to the Wachmeister—the local constable—and sat across from him at a desk in the police office.

My son is a thief. He may already be in your town, or will arrive shortly. It’s my sad duty as a loyal citizen of the Swiss Confederacy to warn you about him.

Wachmeister Baumann looked up, nodded, and then twisted his moustache, which jutted out to both sides in large waxed spirals, ending in tapered points. The moustache made his face look like a clock stopped at nine-fifteen. He dipped his quill in ink and let it hover over the paper on which he’d begun taking notes. "To open this case, I shall require all the partic . . . particles. Why do you think your son is a thief?"

Heinrich sighed. It’s a long story. I’m partly to blame, I’m afraid. It was difficult to raise a child all by myself, especially when my job as a clock merchant took me to so many places. Not a proper upbringing for a boy.

What happened to the child’s mother?

Heinrich shut his eyes and hung his head in