The Clockwork Wizard

Gear up for a long post guys, this is the story that I wrote for the creative writing unit I took this semester!

The unit was ENGL2260, aka Myself and the Aliens. We had a choice of writing autobiographical fiction or speculative fiction. Naturally I chose speculative fiction, although I'm starting to think that it would be great to do the unit again and try to write the other sort! I don't think I'm allowed to do that though. =(

We had a word limit of 5000 and that was including a commentary on our story so rest assured that this story is less than 5000 words, but it took a lot of work to get it that short!

Anyway, you guys don't really need to know the commentary or the trials and tribulations of writing a story that's good enough to submit as a uni assignment. Just go ahead and read it.

As always, I appreciate any and all comments and/or constructive criticism. =)

♥Nancy♬

Mary sat alone on a wooden bench, playing with her dolls as if she were much younger than her ten years. On the bench to her left was a plastic toy: a sorcerer with a long, grey beard that moved in the breeze. His black robes were stationary, made of plastic like his withered face and long staff. If Mary pressed the button on his left shoulder, the purple crystal on the end of his staff would light up, flashing. When she pressed the button on his other shoulder, an evil cackle would boom out from his mouth. The switch in his back was clearly in the “on” position. The toy to Mary’s right was the Clockwork Princess, wearing a golden tiara. This little crown matched the golden key in her back, which, when turned, made her come to life and dance a pretty ballet: arabesque, pirouette, until her wind-up ran out. The third toy was also clockwork; his name was Wizard and he was just running out of energy. He gave one last wave of his wand before Mary set him down on the bench next to the Clockwork Princess.

“I like you, Wizard,” she said, wiggling the Clockwork Princess. Her silky dress swished.

  “I like you too, Clockwork Princess,” she said, with her voice deepened. 

Picking up the other toy again, Mary said, “I’ll dance for you now!”

Holding her toy in one hand, she twisted the key in its back with the other. Carefully, she lowered the toy down to the bench and let her go. Arabesque, pirouette, arabesque: the Clockwork Princess danced for Wizard. Mary smiled and began to hum to cover up the faint clicking noise that accompanied the Clockwork Princess’ dance. As the clicking noise began to slow, her movements became sluggish. When her wind-up key stopped turning, she stood frozen still once again. As her dance ended, so did Mary’s peaceful play. Footsteps crunched across the pavement until three pairs of shoes appeared before her eyes.
“Whatcha doin’ baby?” sneered one of the pairs of shoes. “Playin’ with dolls?” He laughed.
“They’re not just dolls,” Mary replied, obstinately, “it’s Wizard and the Clockwork Princess.”
“And what about this dolly?” another boy asked, grabbing Evil Sorcerer.

“He’s not a dolly, give him back, he’s my brother’s!” she yelled, standing up from the bench.

“I heard your parents are getting divorced.”

“No! They’re not!” Tears came to her eyes. The boys laughed, the sound perfectly timed to blend horribly with Evil Sorcerer’s maniacal cackle as they bumped the button on his shoulder. The boy holding Evil Sorcerer threw him, not gently, at Mary. As the boys walked away, she scooped her toys up into her arms and ran, crying, to the girls’ bathroom.

“They’re not getting divorced,” she said to her reflection in the mirror. But she didn’t sound quite so sure of herself now.

Mum had yelled at Dad across the dinner table that night. Mitchell, who was already fourteen and much braver than his little sister, had stormed away from the table. Mary had stayed and tried to finish her dinner without crying. Alone now, Mary sat on her bedroom floor failing to lose herself in a fantasy world.

“Clockwork Princess,” she said, “you are in a castle in a pretty room with...” she looked over at her bed, “pink sheets, like mine. Your name can be Mary too, if you like.”

“Clockwork Princess Mary,” she said, picking up Wizard and putting on a male voice, “I am not Wizard today, I am your family and I love you very much.”

“I love you too, family,” Mary once again played the part of the Clockwork Princess. “We will be a family forever!”

Evil Sorcerer cackled at the touch of a button. “Haha no you won’t!” Mary made his magical staff flash white light. “I am Divorce monster and I am coming to get you! I will lock you away, Clockwork Princess, so that you and Wizard will never be happy again.”

As if on cue, a shadow fell across Mary’s play area. Mitchell was leaning against the doorframe, looking in on her. From the look on his face, Mary knew that he wasn’t going to be very nice. Dad must have kicked him off the playstation.

“You know divorce isn’t a monster, right?” he said.

“Umm...” Mary was uncertain. She made Evil Sorcerer’s staff flash.

Mitchell laughed meanly, like the bullies that day at school. “It’s not an animal, Mary. Not like a lion or whatever. It’s just a thing that’s going to happen.”

“Go away!” Mary grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it at Mitchell.

Dad, inconveniently walking past, snapped, “Mary, you know better than that. Stop throwing things and go to bed.”

Mitchell went away and Mary went to bed. Neither parent came to kiss her good night.

***

Click. Click-click. The silence was broken as a gentle ticking sound slowly began. It was soon joined by an identical sound, click-click-clicking in perfect unison with the first. Wizard opened his eyes. The key in his back was turning once again. Fully awake, the Clockwork Princess ran to him.

“You’re awake!” she cried, “I was so afraid that you’d run out of wind-up!”

“I’ll always try to wake up for you, Clockwork Princess.”

She sighed. “If only we had the strength to wind our own keys, we could stay awake forever.”

“We shouldn’t waste time on impossible dreams; we never have much time left.” Wizard drew Clockwork Princess close to him and kissed her flaxen hair. She sighed into his purple starred robe.

“We should leave,” Wizard said, “run away together, away from Evil Sorcerer where he can’t reach us with his magic.”

“But Wizard, can’t you defeat him?”

Wizard waved his wooden wand in the air. Golden sparkles shot out from the end, and with those sparkles he drew, in the air, a love heart. Clockwork Princess smiled, but Wizard looked sad.

“My powers are limited, Clockwork Princess, and not nearly enough to stand up to the electric powers that Evil Sorcerer commands.”

The Clockwork Princess sighed again and returned to Wizard’s arms.

Elsewhere, Evil Sorcerer twitched awake, silently, and made the crystal top of his staff flash. He cackled, the sound ringing out around him and he cried out, “I will take the Clockwork Princess! I will steal away Wizard’s love! I will tear his heart apart!”

He raised his staff. Lightning streaked out from the crystal and began to form a box.

Quietly now, Evil Sorcerer chuckled and said, “she will never escape from this electric cage.”

Wizard kissed the Clockwork Princess.

“Oh, I hope we get away. I want us to be together forever.”

The clicking sound that had provided background music to their brief meeting began to slow down.

“We will, don’t worry. I love you, Clockwork Princess,” said Wizard, his movements slowing.

“I love you too, Wizard,” the Clockwork Princess said, rushing to get it out before she was forced back into sleep.

The clicking stopped altogether; the turning of their keys came to a halt; out of wind-up, they were asleep once more.

***

Before school, Mum told Mary that they had something important to talk about. Dad called for Mitchell; he came out of his room but left his earphones in. Dad pulled them out and told him to “listen up.”

“I’m moving out,” said Dad.

“You’re what?” said Mitchell.

“I’ll be living close by. You’ll be able to come and visit me all the time, maybe stay over sometimes.”

“Are we coming too?” asked Mary.

“No, you and Mitchell will be staying here at home with Mum. It’ll be all right. We’ll make this work, don’t worry.”

Mitchell said, “well this sucks.” He put his earphones back in and stormed off to his bedroom.

“Mitch,” Dad called, as the bedroom door slammed.

“Dad’ll give you a lift to school, okay Mary? Go get ready.” Mum had started to cry so Mary did as she was told.

“Mary! This is writing time, not play time. Put those toys away.”

Ms. Smythe, the fifth grade teacher, glared at Mary. She put the Clockwork Princess down onto the floor where she continued to dance: arabesque, pirouette, arabesque, pirouette, until she ran out of wind-up.

“Thank you Mary,” Ms. Smythe said, “now focus.”
When the teacher walked by her desk again, Mary still hadn’t written anything.

“Come on Mary, just write something down.” It sounded like Ms. Smythe was trying to be encouraging. “Have some ideas written by the time I come back around please.”

Mary picked up the Clockwork Princess again and wound her key. She stood the toy on her desk and watched her dance, ignoring the blank piece of paper on her desk. When Ms. Smythe came around again, Mary was once again winding up the Clockwork Princess.
“This is unacceptable, Mary. Give me that toy, you can get her back at the end of the day.”

“No!” Mary clutched the Clockwork Princess to her chest. “You can’t have her!”
Ms. Smythe’s face grew dark and the noisy classroom fell silent. She was an extremely scary teacher when she was angry.
“Hand over that toy right now, Mary. I will not tolerate this behaviour in my classroom.”
Terrified, Mary surrendered the Clockwork Princess to Ms. Smythe. As the teacher walked away, Mary’s eyes filled with tears.

***

Click-click. The Clockwork Princess opened her eyes to the light. A smile lit up her face as she stretched daintily. She looked around and her smile suddenly dropped. Wizard stood nearby, but he was still as a statue.

“Oh no!” cried Clockwork Princess, “this isn’t fair! How can I be awake when Wizard is asleep?” She sighed. “I suppose I ought to enjoy myself anyway,” she said, a little sadly. She gave Wizard a kiss on his frozen cheek.

Living on saved wind-up, she was free to break out of her usual routine. She turned pretty fouetté turns and leapt into the air in a grand jeté. She was an excellent dancer, every difficult step perfect and beautiful. Pas de chat, rond de jambe, she turned and jumped and danced.

Suddenly, her dance stopped and she dropped from en pointe to stand flat on the floor.

“What are you doing here?” she cried, breathless from her dance.

Evil Sorcerer cackled. “I’m here for you, Clockwork Princess.” He smirked. “Don’t run, it’s too late for that.”

She turned and tried to flee. Evil Sorcerer raised his staff into the air. The crystal on the end flashed bright white and a stream of lightning flowed from it, entrapping her in a cage.

“Let me go!” she yelled, grabbing at the cage. She leapt back, yelping in pain.

“Don’t try to escape, Clockwork Princess,” Evil Sorcerer said, his tone ice cold. He heard the Clockwork Princess’ key begin to slow. “Just go to sleep.”

“No!” she cried, again.

The clicking stopped altogether; the turning of her key came to a halt; out of wind-up, she was asleep once more.

***

Mum and Mary had eaten dinner by themselves because Dad and Mitchell were out.

“Go play in your room,” said Mum, afterwards.  Mary remembered the times they had made dessert or watched a girly movie together. She wondered if she’d done something wrong to make Mum not want to play with her. Maybe it was the same thing that was making Dad move away.

“I just want Mum and Dad to love me and for Dad to stay at home with us,” she told her wind-up toys.

She wound up the key in the Clockwork Princess’ back and set her down on the bedside table to perform her ballet: arabesque, pirouette, arabesque, pirouette.

Mary watched the Clockwork Princess until she finished her dance. She tapped on the side of the princess’ golden key, making her dance a few more steps until she was truly out of wind-up. She wound up Wizard and imagined golden sparkles coming out of his magic wand.

“What would make Mum and Dad love me again?” she asked the toys. She frowned. “I wish you could talk, I bet you’d think of a real good plan.”

Mary got a piece of paper out of her schoolbag. She wound up Wizard and watched him until he finished waving his wand again.

She wrote a note: We have kidnapped Mary because of Divorce. Come and rescue her together.

She decided to carry out her plan when the time was right.

***

Wizard began to wake and heard the gentle clicking sound, slow at first and then reaching full speed as he awoke. He noticed that Evil Sorcerer was “off,” for once, and fast asleep. He revelled in that knowledge for a brief moment before realising that the Clockwork Princess was also fast asleep, trapped inside an electric cage. Immediately, he understood what had happened.

“I’ll save you, Clockwork Princess,” he said quietly, to himself, “I just need a plan.”

Using the golden sparkles from his wand, he drew pictures in the air: the lightning cage and the cackling sorcerer holding his staff.

“I could use my magic to unlock the cage.” He drew a picture of a golden key unlocking a padlock.

“But Evil Sorcerer might see me coming if he were awake,” he sighed, and drew Evil Sorcerer glaring down at him.

“This is tearing me apart! Poor Clockwork Princess has been trapped by that... that monster. Being without her forever would simply be unbearable.”

Wizard remembered their plan to sneak away together.

“I know what to do!” He smiled as he felt his movements begin to slow.

The clicking stopped altogether; the turning of his key came to a halt; out of wind-up, he was asleep once more.

***

Mum and Mary ate at the dining table, Dad at the kitchen bench and Mitchell standing up. He was hardly home anymore and Mary missed him even though he was mean to her these days.

“Go play in your room, Mary,” Mum said. Mary was getting used to being sent to her room now.  From there she could hear everything happening out in the rest of the house.

Mum, on the phone to Granny, said, “we’re going to have a trial separation, but this divorce is going to happen, I’m sure of it.”

Mary made Evil Sorcerer cackle and then wound up the Clockwork Princess to watch her dance. “Stupid divorce,” she said out loud, wiggling Evil Sorcerer. She used him to knock Wizard to the ground.

From her drawer, Mary retrieved the ransom note. She put Wizard into her empty schoolbag.

Unnoticed, Mary left the house and tiptoed down the front path. She put the ransom note into the mailbox. At the end of the path she stopped and took a big breath.

“They will love me again,” she whispered. Then she began to walk.

The night was starting to get darker and Mary guessed it had been a whole hour since she was “kidnapped.” She imagined walking with her parents and holding their hands, maybe stopping at the service station to buy an ice cream.

She kept walking. And walking. And walking.

She must have been going for hours, how else would she feel so tired? Taking Wizard out of her backpack, she cuddled him for comfort.

“Maybe I should go closer to home?” She knew she’d taken a wrong turn when she found herself on a footpath next to an unfamiliar busy street.

“Which way, Wizard?” she whispered. “I bet it’s been ten whole hours and Mum and Dad have gone to bed already and they won’t know I’m missing because they never come to kiss me goodnight anymore.”
Lost and scared, Mary began to hurry along the footpath, not caring which direction her feet took her and not watching where she stepped. She tripped over a crack in the pavement and sprawled onto the ground. As she fell she lost her grip on Wizard and watched him fly out of her reach. She felt the scrape of her knees and hands against cement.

Crying on the pavement, Mary felt like a hopeless baby. She wished and wished for Mum and Dad to come to rescue her. All she wanted was for her family to love her again.

When she heard a familiar voice cry out, she felt joy for one bright, brilliant moment. Mum and Dad did love her, they had come to rescue her! And then she realised who the voice belonged to.

“Guys, that’s my sister!” the voice sounded shocked. Mary stopped sobbing when she recognised the voice and heard the sound of Mitchell’s sneakers on the footpath.

“What’s she doing there?” asked one boy.

Mitchell ignored his friends. Mary jumped when he put his hand on her shoulder. “Shhh,” he comforted, “hey, what’s wrong?” With a long arm he reached out and picked up Wizard, bringing him close for Mary to hold.

“I fell down,” she said between sniffles.

Mitchell turned away from her and for a moment Mary felt terrified that her brother was going to leave her. A horrible thought flashed into her mind: what if the Divorce monster took away Mitchell?

“I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow, yeah?”

“Sure Mitch,” his friends said, “hope your sis is okay.”

Mitchell helped Mary to her feet.

“Wow Mary, you’re pretty scratched up. What are you doing out here, anyway?”
“I was being kidnapped. I left a note in the mailbox and everything. I was trying to make Mum and Dad love me again.”

Mitchell faltered, “you what?” he said. Then he added, “Mum and Dad love you, Mary. I mean... this all sucks, but you don’t have to get kidnapped or anything.”

He felt uncomfortable. He knew that their parents still loved both of them but it hadn’t even occurred that Mary might not understand exactly what was going on, and now she’d done something silly and gotten hurt.
“Let’s get going.” He gave her a piggyback the whole way home, pausing only to collect the ransom note before they went inside.

***

Wizard heard the clicking begin as his key started to turn. He could hear, in the distance, the sound of the Clockwork Princess’ key turning too. He listened very carefully. There was no sound of Evil Sorcerer.

“Better to play it safe,” he said, quietly, and decided to carry out his plan.

It was deviously simple. He would sneak up behind Evil Sorcerer and unlock the cage with his magic. He would steal his princess back and be happy forever.

Silently, he hurried around, weaving a path up to the cage.

“It would be so easy,” he murmured, “to cast a spell of death on Evil Sorcerer.” But Wizard was good: he didn’t want to kill anyone.

Trying to stay quiet as he approached the cage, he could see the Clockwork Princess weeping. Evil Sorcerer stood next to the cage twirling his staff, but his back was turned so Wizard felt safe for the time being.

The clicking sound coming from the turning key in Clockwork Princess’ back began to slow.

“No!” breathed Wizard.

“Slowing down already?” asked Evil Sorcerer, turning towards the cage, “and no sign of your Wizard, either,” he taunted.

Wizard continued to creep closer; he was almost at the cage; Evil Sorcerer hadn’t even seen him! All he had to do was use his magic to unlock the cage and then the Clockwork Princess could use the last little clicks of wind-up in her springs to escape. She had almost stopped moving now, her key was barely turning. Wizard lifted his wand and sent golden magic shooting towards the lock.

Simultaneously, Wizard heard his own clicking begin to slow: clickclickclick then click-click-click, and Evil Sorcerer turned around.

“Well look who we have here,” Evil Sorcerer cackled.

“Clockwork Princess, run!” Wizard yelled, and frantically cast his golden magic towards the lock.

“I can’t...” the Clockwork Princess spoke haltingly, willing her key to keep turning for just a moment, “it’s not... working... the lock... won’t... un... lock...”

Evil Sorcerer just cackled.

“Go!” yelled Wizard, as a final burst of golden sparkles caused the lock to open. He ran, as fast as he could, towards the cage to try to help Clockwork Princess open it.

But one of the clicking sounds had stopped altogether; the turning of Clockwork Princess’ key came to a halt; out of wind-up, she was asleep once more.

“No!” Wizard yelled, trying to fight the slowing of his own key.

“Enough of this,” Evil Sorcerer said, as Wizard slowly got closer and closer to the cage. “Really, Wizard, you know I’ve won. I’m just a thing that’s happened, not a monster you can defeat.”

Wizard continued to struggle forward, one step at a time, even though his key had all but stopped. “I... love... you...” he called, to the frozen Clockwork Princess.

Evil Sorcerer laughed once more, a maniacal sound that hurt Wizard’s head. He pointed his staff at Wizard.

“Time to die, Wizard,” he said.

A bolt of lightning, thicker and more powerful than anything Wizard had ever seen or imagined, flew out of the end of Evil Sorcerer’s staff. Even if Wizard had had wind-up energy left over to move, he wouldn’t have had the time to dodge or flee. The lightning hit him square in the chest.

As he fell, he looked towards Clockwork Princess, still frozen in her cage. He had used up his last chance this time. He would never be with her again. He would never be happy again.

It was only when he hit the ground that Wizard broke. But it had been on the way down that his heart had broken.

***

Mary looked at her bedroom clock. It was only eight thirty, one whole hour after she had run away. She let Mitchell hold Wizard while she picked up the Clockwork Princess.

Mitchell looked at the toy. There was something different about it, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. “I think maybe Wizard is sick,” he said.

Mary sat down next to him on the bed, worried. Mitchell turned the little gold key in Wizard’s back. There was no resistance when he turned it and Wizard didn’t wave his wand when Mitchell let go. He didn’t move at all.

“What’s wrong with him?” Mary asked. Her eyes grew very big. “Is he okay?”

“I think he’s broken, Mary. Maybe when you fell something broke inside him?”

Mitchell watched his sister as her eyes filled with tears. She looked so confused, like she didn’t know what to do or what to say.

“We can fix him,” he said, quickly. “He’s made of metal inside, maybe something just came disconnected.”

“Hey Mitchell,” she said, after a long pause, “if we can fix Wizard, does that mean we can fix Mum and Dad, too? Can we make them stay together?”

“Mary... Mum and Dad aren’t broken, you know? I know they’re pretty busy at the moment, but...”

“But what?” Mary persisted.

“There’s nothing to fix, Mary. There’s nothing we can do. They’re going to get divorced. They’re not staying together.”

“That’s not true!” Mary yelled, “don’t say that!”

“Hey, shush. Mary, listen, they both love you heaps, but they’re just... they’re not going to be together anymore, okay?”

Mary found herself crying again, “get out!” she yelled at Mitchell, “I hate them, I hate them! And I hate divorce and I hate you and I don’t even want to fix Wizard!”

Mitchell jumped up and walked to the door, “okay, fine, sorry Mary, I was just trying to tell you the truth.”

Mary picked up Wizard and threw him, as hard as she could, towards Mitchell. She missed him, luckily, but Wizard hit the wall outside her room and slid down to the floor in a pathetic heap.

The next morning, Wizard was sitting on her bedside table in the box that Mitchell’s favourite shoes had come in. With him was his little golden key and a few other metal parts that Mary didn’t recognise. She hid the box at the bottom of her drawer.

***

Mitchell was in the lounge-room playing on the playstation. His games were limited now because he’d taken some to Dad’s house for on the weekends. He didn’t think that the separation was that bad, really. Mum and Dad didn’t have yelling matches anymore, which was good, and Dad was finally making some time to help him practise for cricket tryouts. He’d even walked in on Mum and Mary watching a girly movie. Mary hadn’t been watching it really, just cuddling up to Mum, so he figured she was thinking the same thing that he was: this divorce thing wasn’t as bad as they’d thought it would be.

“Mitch?” Mary said, and he looked up to see her standing in his doorway.

“What’s up?”

Mary walked into the room and stood next to his bed. He noticed that she was holding a shoebox in her arms and balancing Evil Sorcerer and the Clockwork Princess on top. She put the toys down on the bed, took the lid off the box and then tipped it forward so that he could see what was inside.

“Will you help me fix Wizard?” she asked.

Mitchell looked at the broken pieces of his sister’s favourite toy.

Smiling, he said, “yeah, of course. Do you want to put him down and we’ll have a look at what’s wrong? We might have to take him to Dad’s for help.”

Mitchell picked up Evil Sorcerer and pushed his switch to the “on” position. He tried to make the toy cackle. It didn’t. He pressed the button on its other shoulder but that had no effect either. “I think my Evil Sorcerer’s out of batteries, Mary. Want me to grab some new ones?”

Mary thought about this for a while. “No thanks,” she said.

She picked Wizard up out of the shoebox. He looked a bit lonely, but also happy to see her. She turned to Mitchell and said, “will he work properly again, after?”

Mitchell frowned. “He might never be exactly the same,” he said, thinking about the parts that had fallen out of the toy. He gave his little sister a hug. “But maybe he’ll be even better.”