by Adam Dreece
Andre LeLoup drew his flintlock pistol and pointed it at the yellow-hooded girl as she started to moan and move. He gave Nikolas a serious look that stopped him in his tracks, six feet away.
LeLoup grinned menacingly. “It is rude to keep a man waiting when he is trying to be considerate—never mind when he has been sent by Simon St. Malo.”
Nikolas quickly scanned the cramped entranceway. While thinking about what to do next, he pinned the rod between his left arm and chest. He discreetly started cranking a small handle on the rod with his right hand.
“I’m surprised,” said Nikolas, stalling for time, “that Simon St. Malo would send you.”
LeLoup’s face lit up. “You’ve heard of me?” he asked, desiring confirmation.
Nikolas nodded. “So—what does Simon want?”
LeLoup grinned again. He enjoyed playing the game of cat and mouse. “You know, you are a hard man to find. It took me weeks to track you down. I would’ve moved on to the next town if I hadn’t encountered an extraordinary, yellow-hooded girl. I figured she might be tied to you somehow, and here we are,” he said, with a hint of evil playfulness. “It would be a shame if anything were to happen to her.” He gestured threateningly with his pistol.
“Congratulations, Monsieur LeLoup. You sniffed me out. Now ride back to wherever that rat is hiding and tell him the answer is no. Whatever his question is, the answer is no,” said Nikolas angrily. He finished cranking the rod’s handle.
LeLoup scoffed. “St. Malo knew that you wouldn’t comply willingly. He asked that I get your attention by any means necessary and return what is rightfully his—as all inventions are. What he wants is described in here.” LeLoup tossed a sealed envelope at Nikolas.
Without thinking, Nikolas skillfully caught the envelope. It was a simple envelope with St. Malo’s seal.
“Open it,” insisted LeLoup.
Nikolas opened the letter carefully. Give me the steam engine plans and notes, it read. Confused, he looked up. “I assure you I don’t have any such plans, Monsieur LeLoup.”
LeLoup rubbed his left temple. “I wasn’t planning on shooting a young girl today, but… St. Malo knows that you’ve been working on it. He wants those plans.”
For more than a year, Nikolas had been exchanging letters with his friend, Maxwell Watt, who lived in Inglea—an island kingdom to the north. It was Maxwell, and not Nikolas, who had invented the steam engine. Nikolas had only been helping Maxwell work out some of the more difficult questions that he’d been unable to solve on his own.
Simon must have a spy close to Maxwell, Nikolas thought, but not close enough to have the full story. Perhaps a person delivering letters? Or an assistant? When did Simon get such influence as to reach across kingdoms? He was alarmed by the idea of St. Malo getting his hands on such an invention.
LeLoup continued, “St. Malo is offering to send you an abundance of coins—once I have delivered the plans safely to him.”
Tee carefully managed to make eye contact with Nikolas, while keeping her face turned away from LeLoup. Nikolas gave her an imperceptible nod and then sprang at LeLoup with the metal rod.
“Simple Simon has no coins!” yelled Nikolas.
When the rod’s end touched LeLoup’s pistol arm, electrical sparks flew everywhere. LeLoup flailed madly and fell to the ground. Throwing the rod aside, Nikolas grabbed Tee by the hand, and ran out the door.
Deep within the forest, they stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Nikolas tried to judge where they were. The strong wind was blowing leaves everywhere, making it hard to see through the trees and bushes.
“I heard something that way!” yelled an unfamiliar voice, uncomfortably nearby.
Nikolas held Tee close. “LeLoup brought other men. We must be careful,” he whispered.
Tee’s eyes welled up. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I told him I was going to your house. I shouldn’t have told him. I—I—I knew he was a stranger, but he seemed nice.”
Nikolas was sharply reminded that there were many things about his life he hadn’t explained to her yet. He smiled reassuringly. “Shh, no crying, yes? It is not your fault. He is a master at what he does. We must be smart, and fast, yes? We will talk about this at dinner with your parents, and we will laugh. Everything will be okay.”
Tee wiped her tears and nodded.
Nikolas looked around. He spotted a figure nearby, but luckily it was heading away from them. He turned to Tee with an intense look in his dark brown eyes. “You are a smart girl. Promise me you will always be smart. Think. Don’t panic. Find the strength inside you. It is there.”
Tee looked at him, confused. She didn’t know what he was talking about.
He checked his pockets, confirming they were disappointingly empty. “I wish I’d grabbed my coat. I had some useful items in the pockets,” he muttered, and then looked around. “I need a moment to think.”
Suddenly, three large men appeared out of the swirling leaves and dense underbrush. They were dressed in dark red leather armor, like the mercenary horsemen of the area.
“Go!” urged Nikolas as he pushed his granddaughter away.
CHAPTER FOUR
Packed Together
Elly and Richy loved to hang out at the three-level treehouse. From the top floor, they could see their town of Minette on the mountain plateau below, and on clear days they could see all the way down to the much larger city of Mineau at the base of the mountain.
Some months before, Elly and Richy had been incredulous when Tee had come running up the road with a crazy story about a fantastic treehouse in the forest.
“Guys! You’ll never believe what I found!” Tee had blurted out to Richy and Elly. The two had been playing cards in Richy’s front yard.
Tee’s cheeks were rosy and her breath was visible in the crisp spring air. Her hair and eyes were hidden by the hood of her warm yellow cloak.
Richy looked up. His messy short black hair made him appear as if he’d just woken up. He put his cards down and examined Tee. She had twigs all over her cloak. “You know—that look of I was just running through the forest until a tree fell on me is an interesting fashion statement, Lala.”
“Yeah Lala, what’s got you so excited?” asked Elly.
Elly and Lala, as they sometimes called Tee, had been friends since they were nine months old. Their mothers had met on the way to a farmer’s house outside of Mineau. Since then, barely a day went by when Elly and Tee didn’t see each other.
While Tee would jump into a situation without fear, Elly would always dive in after, with loyalty and faith in her friend. “You look like you ran up and then back down the mountain,” Elly said.
“Well,” said Tee, still huffing, “I guess I kind of did, in a way.” She plunked herself down beside them. “I found something you’ll never believe. There’s an incredible treehouse near the top of the mountain!”
“You’re right—I don’t believe you,” said Richy, picking his cards back up.
Elly gave Tee the eyebrow treatment. “Uh-huh. You mean the top of the mountain that we’ve been to at least twice a year for the past five years?”
Tee nodded.
“So,” Richy said, looking at Elly and shaking his head in support, “a treehouse just magically appeared?”
Tee shook her head. “Magic? No. There’s no such thing. But it did seem to appear all of a sudden. Did I mention it has three floors?”
“No way!” said Elly and Richy in unison. They laughed and looked at each other.
“Jinx!” they said in unison. Then they eyeballed each other.
“Double jinx!” they said in unison, again.
Tee waved for them to stop. “Guys! Enough jinxing. Come on! You’ve got to see this.” Tee picked herself back up and started running up the mountain road.
“Wait!” said Richy. “We’re going to need ropes and gear to get to the top of the mountain. Why are you running? It’s going to take an hour or two.”
“You’ll see. We don’t need t
hat stuff anymore!” Tee yelled back.
“Richy, what are you up to?” asked Elly from the second floor, below.
“Just thinking about the treehouse, and how weird it is that, after all this time, we’re still the only ones who come here—well, other than whoever keeps adding pieces to it, and new stuff for us to find.”
“I think magic elves do all that,” said Elly cheekily.
“It’d be nice if they could leave some sandwiches next time. I forgot to bring a snack today.” Richy looked down at the system of ropes, pulleys, and weights on the mountainside that had mysteriously appeared last spring along with the treehouse.
There were five sets of ropes to help you run up the mountain, and four sets to zip you back down to the main road that led to Minette. The system had been cleverly put together so that the ropes were hard to see from the ground, but easy to spot from the treehouse.
Richy noticed some of the weights moving, indicating someone coming up. He peered into the distance and saw a flash of yellow. “Hey, Elly! It looks like Tee’s coming up. She’s running crazy fast, like a bear’s chasing her or something! I thought you said—”
“—that she’s gone to her grandfather’s house for the day, yeah.” Elly climbed up the wooden stairs to join him on the third floor. “That’s what her mom had said—‘She won’t be home until dinner. You know Tee and her Grandpapa.’” Elly tried to see what had grabbed Richy’s attention.
He pointed at the flash of yellow running from rope to rope, racing up the mountain. “If she’s supposed to be at her grandfather’s house, then why is she running like a maniac up the mountain? She only runs that fast when she’s—”
“In trouble,” finished Elly, nervously. Something caught her eye further down the mountain. “Wait! What’s that, Richy?”
Richy leaned over the railing and squinted. “I’m not sure. Oh—hang on. I’ve got an idea!” He ran down to the cabinets on the first level to get the telescope; they’d discovered it under a floorboard the week before.
Telescope in hand, Richy raced back up, oriented himself, and peered through it. After a moment, he swallowed hard.
“Elly, those are—”
Nikolas called out for his granddaughter again, but only the birds replied. He stepped out of the woods and onto the dusty road. He felt old and tired. Tears of worry streamed down his face.
He rubbed his bald head as he tried to think about how he was going to fix the situation. His normally calm, brilliant mind was overwhelmed by worry that Tee might be harmed. He struggled to come up with a plan.
He’d made a gross miscalculation. Andre LeLoup had been much better prepared than Nikolas had expected. Clearly, Simon St. Malo had gained more than just influence in recent years. Nikolas figured St. Malo must have found a powerful patron—someone rich enough to afford an expensive man like LeLoup plus his three horsemen.
Nikolas wondered if Simon suspected he didn’t actually have the plans for the steam engine. Maybe Simon was hoping Nikolas would give up whatever he did have—something that could be even more valuable? Or maybe Simon was trying to show that, after all these years, he could still terrorize Nikolas?
Nikolas’ thoughts returned to his granddaughter. When he’d urged Tee to run, he had assumed the horsemen would try to subdue him, and take him back to LeLoup. Instead, as soon as Tee had run off, two of them chased after her. The third one had roughed Nikolas up a bit before following the other two.
I should have known better, he kept thinking. LeLoup had given him the clue right there in his entranceway. LeLoup had said he’d do whatever it would take to get what he wanted—and he meant it. It was obvious now that LeLoup intended to use Tee as leverage.
Nikolas wasn’t sure what to do. This had all happened so quickly, and it had been years since he’d seen any real action. Looking back now, he felt he’d allowed himself to enjoy life too much and had grown soft and slow because of it.
For too long Nikolas had thought of the Tub’s battles as no longer his battles. He hung his head for a moment in recognition of how wrong he’d been. He couldn’t hide from the world any longer.
Nikolas hoped he knew his granddaughter as well as he believed he did. She should be heading to the top of the mountain, he thought. The ropes and pulleys should allow her to stay ahead of the horsemen.
From behind, a rough voice called, “Hey! You there!”
Nikolas’ shoulders slumped. He fought off the idea that LeLoup had already caught Tee—that LeLoup had already won. He wouldn’t accept it unless he saw it with his own eyes.
Slowly, he turned. Three large figures walked toward him. They were about forty yards away. Two were pointing flintlock rifles at him. The shortest one, still a tall man, had a pistol in each hand, also pointing at him. The Cochon brothers!
“Look!” bellowed Bore. “It’s Mister Nik. Hello Mister Nik!” Bore tossed his rifle aside carelessly, and ran to give Nikolas a huge hug.
Relief washed over Nikolas. “Boys! I’m so happy to see you.” When Bore finally let him go, Nikolas fell to his knees, where he remained for a moment to catch his breath.
Bakon put his pistols away and offered a hand to help Nikolas to his feet.
Squeals shouldered his rifle. “Sorry, Mister Klaus. We didn’t know it was you. What are you doing here?”
Nikolas felt a mix of emotions start to rise up inside him, with tears coming to his eyes. He steeled himself, trying to stay focused. “You ran into the messenger today, yes?”
Bakon’s right eyebrow shot up in surprise. “Yes… How do you know that?”
Nikolas gave a sad, knowing smile. There was much he knew about what went on, about the affairs of others—a lot of which he couldn’t share.
“I know there are few who come to this town without you finding out. You did try to stop him, yes?”
“Yes,” said Squeals, “until Bakon was hit with magic.”
“A stone! I was hit with a stone. It stunned me for a minute,” said Bakon, irritated, subconsciously rubbing the back of his head.
“Ah, Tee. Yes, that makes sense now,” muttered Nikolas to himself. Then he said aloud, “The messenger—we must find him.”
“We’ll find him eventually,” said Squeals. “We didn’t like his look anyway. He looked like trouble. We wanted to tell Archambault, but he’s out and his guys don’t listen to us.”
“This man has horsemen, and”—Nicolas’ voice broke—“and they are after my granddaughter.” Tears started to stream down his face again.
Bakon didn’t hesitate. “Which way are we going?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Went to Market
Nikolas thought back to when he had first met the Cochon brothers. It felt like a lifetime ago.
That day, he had gone to town for groceries and supplies, and noticed three very young boys waiting at the side of the road. They were just beside the wooden archway marking the southern entrance to Minette. Hours later, as he was heading home, he saw the boys were still there, still alone.
He stopped his horse and sat there on his cart, thinking. Townspeople were still milling about, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to the boys. Nikolas had seen children abandoned before, but never three at once.
Their clothes were little more than rags. Nikolas guessed they’d awoken alone at the forest’s edge, and discovered that whoever had brought them here was gone. The boys had probably followed the flow of people to the entrance of town, and then planted themselves in that spot, hoping whoever it was who’d left them would return shortly.
The two younger boys, perhaps three and five years old, had tear-streaked faces. They kept looking at the ground. The eldest, not more than seven, paced about. It was obvious he was torn up inside, angry and nervous, and trying to keep his little family together.
The boys were skinny. Nikolas could see the outline of their ribs. They probably hadn’t eaten properly in months. They were shoeless. Their clothing was dirty, and torn. From what he could inf
er from the style and fabric of their clothes, they were probably from a kingdom to the east.
Nikolas raced his horse and cart back up to the house and then started quickly unloading the supplies onto the yard. He yelled to his wife, “Isabella, I need to head back to town!”
His wife rushed out. Her husband was in a frenzy, emptying the cart so fast that he was almost throwing things out of it.
Unable to get his attention, she ran in front of him, yelling, “Wait! Wait! Nikolas! I know that look. Wait. Stop. Talk to me.”
Nikolas put down the last box, and only then realized his wife was there. “Isabella, there are three abandoned boys—and a storm is coming.” His eyes told a story she knew well. She stepped out of his way.
They’d been down this road before. She knew her husband would save all the world’s children if he could. But he often said that without her anchoring force, he’d be lost in the wind. She felt he needed her right now, whether he knew it or not.
Nikolas dashed into the large shed and brought back blankets, a box of wax powder, and some poles. Isabella was amazed at how he could always make his way in and out of that stuffed mess of a building as if it were actually organized; she was afraid to enter it for fear of causing an avalanche.
“Nikolas, wait—”
He quickly checked that his supplies were safely loaded onto the cart and then turned back to his wife. “Isabella—I can’t. A storm’s coming!” He gestured to the approaching dark gray and purple clouds. “I need to get back to those boys.”
Isabella gave a compassionate smile. “Listen to me, my love,” she said, stopping him with a soft touch to his face that briefly washed away his crazed look. “Your heart is as big as a mountain, but you can’t save them all.”
“I must save these ones. Please, Isabella.” Tears welled up in his eyes.
She could see he meant it. “Okay—but let me check things first.” She made sure the food he’d loaded into the cart was appropriate. She wouldn’t put it past him to have accidentally taken sacks of flour instead of fruit and cheese.