Chapter One

Wednesday

August 4^th, 1880

Secundus, England

10:36am

Victor Van Dort sighed happily as his riding butterfly, Ferdinand, glided gently over Secundus. They weren’t really going anywhere in particular; he just needed to leave the lab for a while and have a change of scenery. He looked down at the hustle and bustle of the people, Automatons and Inventions below and smiled. He really did love this city. It had done so much for him in these past months. He had a wonderful home, many great friends and a beautiful wife.

He glanced down at the ring adorning the third finger of his left hand; it caught the sunlight just right and glittered brightly. It still amazed him that he was married now. He and Alice had come home from their honeymoon in Brighton just a couple of weeks ago and they were settling nicely into their house that had been a wedding gift from Alice’s aunt and uncle. Yes, life was certainly good.

His mount’s clicking brought him out of his thoughts. Leaning over, he asked, “What is it, Ferdinand?”

Ferdy clicked again and wiggled his antennae. Victor looked down and noticed they’d flown over Dr. Lisa’s place. Curious, he peered closer and noticed that Lisa seemed to be surrounded by animals. She also had a bucket at her side.

“Well, let’s see what she’s up to, shall we?” Victor asked Ferdinand, who responded with happy clicks and began to descend.

They kicked up a breeze as they landed, even rustling the bushes several feet away, and he could now see that Lisa was surrounded by three small sheep and three horses, one of which she was currently scrubbing with a brush full of soapy suds. Looking around, Victor noticed the unicorn, Golden Mun, was standing beside the water pump a few feet away. There seemed to be something attached to the spigot; a long tube drooped down and onto the ground and he followed it to find the other end resting near the bucket at Lisa’s feet. Lisa herself looked to be wearing some old, currently damp clothing and had her goggles on over her glasses. Her wings were transparent, indicating to Victor that they were invisible to everyone else.

“Hi, Ferdy. Hi, Victor,” she said without looking at them. “Great timing…could you get the knots out of Dragonfire’s mane?”

A metal comb was abruptly thrust into his hands and he looked towards the only mare Lisa owned. She was a beautiful red color with a white stripe down her nose, white stockings on three of her feet and a strawberry blonde mane and tail, the last of which were tangled in many knots. The mare gave him a little nod and allowed him to approach with the comb. He ran his fingers through her mane, finding it soft and silky even with the tangles, and gently began working the knots out. Ferdinand, meanwhile, took it upon himself to feed on the nectar of some flowers Lisa had growing in her field.

“Thanks,” said Lisa as she scrubbed at a particularly stubborn spot on the horse’s side. “There’s some detangler in that bottle there if you need it.” She nodded towards a bottle of greenish-blue liquid sitting by that strange tube. “Just put some in your hands and work it into the hair as you comb.”

Victor nodded and took the bottle, eyeing the tube. “What is that, exactly?”

She grinned. “Oh, this is great. It’s called a ‘hose’. Watch this.” She bent to pick it up and turned towards Golden Mun. “Okay, Goldy. Go ahead.”

The unicorn nodded. His horn glowed, then the pump handle also glowed and began to move. Victor could hear the water flowing from the pump into the tube and it started squirting out of the open end in Lisa’s hand. She placed her thumb over the opening so that the water became a spray, which she used to rinse the suds off the horse she was bathing. Victor could now see why she had her goggles on; the water would have gotten onto her glasses otherwise.

“My goodness!” he exclaimed. “That’s a wonderful Invention!”

She chuckled and called to Golden Mun to stop pumping. The water trickled to a stop and she let the hose fall to the ground. “I know, right? This makes washing animals and watering the plants so much faster and easier. I’ve been swamped lately and, with the fair coming up, I don’t have a lot of time to get ready.”

“Yes, that certainly must be a help,” said Victor as he worked on the tangles in Dragonfire’s mane. Then he blinked as his brain registered what she’d said. “I’m sorry…‘the fair’?”

The animals all vocalized excitedly and Lisa nodded. “Yeah, it starts Friday…oh, that’s right. This is your first year here. Well, every year on the first weekend of August we have the Secundus County Fair. It runs for ten days and there’s food and rides and all sorts of stuff.” She spread her arms to encompass her small menagerie. “I have a petting zoo with tiny ewes!”

Was it his imagination or did she sing that?

Smiling, she pointed to the sheep. “That’s Wilson, Ashley and Stella.” Each of them bleated with what he assumed was a greeting. “People can pet and feed them. The horses give rides but I keep some carrot sticks on hand in case anyone wants to feed them, too.”

Victor nodded. “I see. Do you bring any animals other than the sheep and the horses?”

“Yeah, I also bring a selection of birds; I sell bags full of crumbs so people can feed the birds for tuppence a bag. They’re not here yet.”

“It sounds wonderful,” said Victor. "Why hasn’t anyone mentioned the fair to me?”

Lisa shrugged as she used a curved brush to remove the water from the horse’s hair. “Maybe because with all that stuff with the Queen and then your wedding and all it slipped peoples’ minds. Normally, lots of the people in Secundus take up a tent to get in a little extra business and drum up new customers. Adam gives a self-defense demonstration and then a free lesson. Whomever signs up for regular classes gets a discount. There’s live music…and, actually, I think Marty is supposed to be performing a set or two this year. Oh, and the food! There’s Frozen in Tyme who sells homemade ice cream and Butcher Boys that makes the most delicious steak sandwiches you’ve ever tasted. And more…it’d be impossible to name it all.”

Victor’s mouth started to water just from her talking about it, but then he realized something. “Wait, you still…even though you can…?” He trailed off, thinking that he was being rude but, of course, Lisa could read his mind and knew what it was he was trying to ask.

Rather than be offended, however, she just smiled. “Hey, I like a good steak as much as you do. We make sure to buy from butchers that don’t get their product from anywhere I may have visited.”

“I see. So, you said the fair starts on Friday?”

“Yep. Day after tomorrow. They’re setting up for it now. If you look at that clearing between my place and the town as you fly back, you’ll see the crew working.”

After finishing the detangling of Dragonfire’s mane, Victor bade Lisa and the animals goodbye and mounted Ferdinand so they could go home. The bushes in the distance rustled as the giant butterfly beat his wings to ascend. Victor made it a point to look down at the fair’s set-up crew preparing for opening day and, indeed, there were already a good number of tents already pitched and some very large machines that he couldn’t figure out what they were for from up here.

“How exciting!” he said to his mount. “I’ll have to talk to Alice and see if she’d like to go. Let’s get home quick, Ferdy.”

The giant butterfly clicked and beat his wings so as to take his master home as swiftly as possible.

End chapter one.

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