He disappeared through the doorway and River found herself alone, accompanied only by the sound of the rails and the vibration of the train beneath her feet. With a sigh, she turned to make the trek back to her private quarters.
Not far away, Socrates found Burk. He was standing on the platform outside the dining car, nursing the last few drops of a bottle of rum. He was accompanied by two workers, one a broad-shouldered human who had been a Blackstone guardsman, the other a Tal’mar half-elf with a reputation for thievery. They all stiffened as Socrates appeared.
“Burk, I’d like a word with you,” Socrates said.
Burk shrugged and his companions obediently vanished inside the dining car. Once they were alone, Burk gulped down the last swallow and tossed his bottle over the rail. The sound of breaking glass vanished in the distance.
“Well, what is it?” Burk demanded, leaning over Socrates as if to demonstrate his massive bulk.
Socrates looked up into Burk’s face, gauging the man’s mood. He was drunk; belligerent. He was eager to prove his superiority to this creature that was half his size. Somehow, in Burk’s mind, his domineering size and strength made him superior to the simian creation. Socrates identified this as one of several problems that needed immediate remedy.
Socrates threw out a long, sinewy arm and caught Burk by the throat. Burk’s hands instinctively went to the gorilla’s arm, trying to fend off the attack. As Burk’s hands closed around Socrates’ forearm, the ape lifted the blacksmith off the ground. Then, with all the agility and raw power of a wild untamed beast, Socrates leapt to the handrail and caught the ladder in one hand. In the other, he dragged the massive blacksmith along. Almost instantaneously, they were atop the dining car.
Socrates stretched his arm out over the edge of the train, dangling Burk over the darkness by the neck. The entire event was so fluid and fast that Burk didn’t even realize what had happened until everything stopped. Then, too late, he realized his precarious situation. All Socrates had to do was let go, and Burk would be little more than a bloody spot along the rails, thousands of miles from nowhere.
“What are you doing?” Burk said in a raspy, choking voice. He clutched desperately at Socrates’ arm, hoping at least that might save him if the ape released his grip.
“I said we’d have a talk,” Socrates growled. “What I meant was that I will talk, and you will listen.”
Burk nodded desperately, his eyes wild with terror.
“Good. We have reached a crossroads, you and I. I’m afraid that if we press on, one of us might not survive.” As if to accentuate his point, Socrates tightened his grip on Burk’s throat.
“Yes, yes,” the blacksmith coughed. “I understand.”
“Your actions over the last few days have endangered me, along with the rest of the crew. You have endangered our mission and you have endangered my train. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Burk nodded desperately.
“Excellent. Now, I understand that you’re not the sharpest sword in the armory, so let me phrase this as succinctly as possible: should you ever endanger my crew or my mission again, I will tear your arms off and feed them to the undead corpses that roam the forest outside Blackstone Castle. Then, while you’re still alive, I’ll chain you to the plow on the front of my train and use you as a battering ram for the next thousand miles. Whatever’s left of you after that, I’ll toss alongside the rails as food for the vultures, rats, and the other starving creatures of the world more deserving of a meal than you are of life. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” Burk grunted breathlessly. “Yes, sir!”
“Good.”
Socrates twisted aside, tossing Burk to the roof of the railcar. The large man tumbled a few feet and rolled to a stop, clutching wildly at the rail as he nearly rolled over the edge. Socrates took a step towards him, and Burk flinched.
“I’m glad we had this talk,” Socrates snarled. “Let’s not have another.” With that, he turned away and vanished over the edge of the car.
Burk sat alone in the darkness, rubbing his throat and listening to the sounds of laughter and music drifting up from the dining car below. At last, he pushed to his feet and drunkenly staggered toward the ladder.
“Gonna kill me an ape,” he whispered to the icy wind, and stared up at the stars spinning overhead.
THE END
Book Two of the Iron Horse series is Now Available at Amazon and other retailers!
A note from the author:
Thanks for reading “The Clockwork God.” I hope you enjoyed this book. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my work with you, and for your support, which allows me to have the best job in the world. If you wouldn’t mind taking a few extra minutes to post a review at Goodreads, Amazon, or your favorite e-book website, it would be extremely helpful and very much appreciated. Thanks again, and remember to look for the next book in this series -coming soon!- as well as my other titles listed below.
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Be sure to look for these other exciting titles:
Aboard the Great Iron Horse
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The Tinkerer’s Daughter trilogy
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Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre
mystery/fantasy series
The Shadow Born Trilogy
YA fantasy/adventure
Karma Crossed
urban fantasy
The Darkling Wind
YA fantasy
The Clockwork God copyright 2013 by Jamie Sedgwick
Cover art copyright 2013 by Timber Hill Press
ISBN-13: 978-1492800477
All Rights Reserved. Any similarity to real people or events is purely coincidental.
The Clockwork God Page 17