Fairgate reached the dais and greeted the priest. The wizard’s head tipped to the side as though he was confused by something the man said as well as his appearance. Sev tensed. It appeared as though the priest and the wizard were involved in some kind of heated discussion. Sev loaded a bolt into his wrist-bow, worried that things were going irrevocably wrong. Sev’s heart felt like it would burst when both shared a laugh and turned at the sound of trumpets announcing the queen’s arrival. Sev sighed with relief. The crowd applauded the queen as she walked down the carpet preceded by two young girls riding clockwork ponies. They tossed white petals as they rode. Sev tried to get a look at the queen’s eyes through the field glasses, but she wore a white veil that matched her magnificent dress. Sev had never seen anything quite so fine in all his life. He thought there might be more lace on that single dress than on all the clothes of the guests combined. The wedding procession followed the queen, each person holding one side of her train.
The queen finally reached the dais, but the end of her train was still out of sight in the palace. The members of the ceremony dropped the train in pairs, moving to the left to stand with the groom or to the right for the bride. Sev watched through the field glasses as Fairgate greeted his bride, smiling at her veiled face. Sev glanced at the priest and gasped. “Bloody hell,” Sev said. “Be ready. This wedding is about t’get interestin’.”
“What’s goin’ on? What d’ye see?” Billings asked, pulling his sword and pistol out.
“That’s no priest, it’s Kildeggan,” Sev answered.
“Bloody hell,” Billings echoed Sev’s sentiment. Sev’s team readied themselves as a hush fell over the crowd. Heph raised his hands. Billings and the others slipped out of the guard station, positioning themselves behind the floral arrangements. Sev swept the field glasses across the garden for a moment to check for Kettlebent’s team. Timson and the other four crept down the stairs, followed by Silas. Satisfied, Sev looked back to the dais.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dearly beloved,” Heph addressed the guests through the loudspeaker mounted on the podium, his voice issuing from speakers hidden around the garden. When he paused in the hush of the tent, Sev could hear the faint sound of screams and gunfire, of metal ringing against metal.
“What in all that’s holy is going on out there?” Fairgate demanded, his voice picked up by the mouthpiece as well.
“Change,” Heph’s amplified voice answered.
“Pardon me, My Lord?” Fairgate asked.
“I’m sure whatever little problem has occurred out there, the Steamies can handle it. We should focus on what’s going on right here.”
Fairgate looked over his shoulder again. A steady rhythmic thumping sounded from the other side of the tent, and it grew closer. Sev knew the sound was Prometheus walking. “Fine. Yes. Continue.” Fairgate waggled his fingers at the “priest.”
“Where was I? Ah. Yes. Ladies and gentleman, dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the liberation of our queen and country from the tyranny of this man!” Heph pointed at Fairgate.
“What? What’s the meaning—” Fairgate started to ask, but Kildeggan punched him in the mouth. Heph’s gray wig and mitre flopped off.
“Too long have we suffered under this man’s influence over our matriarch. Today, we take it back!” He threw open the giant bible and pulled out the black box with the Tear of Purity inside. Sev glanced at Midnight and the Duke of Sutherland, glad to see Jack’s knives had made it to the wedding. Silas and his team were almost at the dais. Sev’s team no longer crept, they marched toward the scene. Sev decided he should be with them and ran full speed out of the guard station. He spared a glance at the other guards, who rushed forward.
Sev joined his team as Fairgate recovered from the punch. He wiped at his mouth as he looked at Heph.
“You? I thought I recognized you! You son of a bitch, you’re supposed to be dead!” Fairgate roared. “What have you done with the Archbishop? Ill indeed!”
“Surprise,” Heph sneered. Sev heard a great tearing of fabric as the wall nearest the palace ripped apart. The guests turned to see the Prometheus construct step through the gaping hole.
“What have you done?” Fairgate barked.
“Nothing yet,” Heph answered, flipping open the top of the box. He pulled the Tear from within and held it out to the queen. She hadn’t reacted to any of the excitement surrounding her, but when the Tear of Purity neared her, she recoiled. The Tear looked like a smooth, white stone, vaguely teardrop shaped, and when it was brought closer to the queen, it glowed with an inner light. The queen grabbed the sides of her head. She opened her mouth and what issued forth sounded like nothing human. A screech like a thousand babies screaming at one time burst forth. Sev and everyone else in the tent doubled over, the scream slicing to their core.
“You fool! Stop!” Fairgate demanded. “If Th’ragnarthall isn’t bound to a human soul, I can’t control it. You’ll doom us all. The Mother of Death cannot be sated!” Fairgate dove at Heph while the queen writhed on the dais. Fairgate managed to knock the Tear from Kildeggan’s grip, and then the wizard pressed his palm to his opponent’s chest, and a burst of light erupted, throwing Heph into the rear wall of the tent. The Tear landed and bounced once before it hit the queen. The screech intensified for a moment, blowing out the loudspeakers, and Sev felt rather than heard the horrible retching emitting from the queen’s throat. Fairgate tried to stop it, kicking the Tear across the garden, but it was too late.
Liquid, thick, black and viscous, poured from the queen’s mouth and nose, splattering on the dais and soiling her snow-white wedding dress. Something solid belched from her mouth and bounced down the steps of the dais. Fairgate held up a hand, his lips moving soundlessly, no doubt trying to cast some type of spell. He flew forward as Heph tackled him. They rolled off the platform. The guards reached Silas and his crew, and they fought to stop the men from advancing any farther. Sev’s team ran to meet their guards and stop them.
The thing at the bottom of the steps unfolded, and Sutherland jumped over it to get to the queen. Sev ran to help Heph. Fairgate managed to get the upper hand and punched at Kildeggan repeatedly. Sev raised his gun and fired at the wizard. The bullet should have hit the bastard in the temple, but it simply arced away harmlessly. “Is everyone coming back from the dead today?” Fairgate snapped. He raised his hand, flipped his fingers, and Sev suddenly found himself sailing through the air.
He landed next to the quivering black mass. He was shocked to see it sprout arms with long fingers tipped with sharp talons. Tentacles unrolled from its back as it stood on crab-like legs. Sev scrabbled backward, away from the awful thing but couldn’t take his eyes off the monstrosity. It stretched and opened what had to be twenty eyes, ranging in color from milky-white to yellow to blood-red. It looked at Sev, and he screamed even before the maddening thing opened its mouth. It hissed, baring row upon row of crooked, awful fangs. Midnight appeared near the creature with the Tear. It screeched and hissed, recoiling from the stone.
The Duke of Sutherland carried the queen down and stood behind Jack. “All right, darling?” the villain asked.
“She’s breathing. We need to get her away from that thing to somewhere safe,” Sutherland answered.
“My pleasure.” Midnight lunged toward the creature with the Tear thrust in front of him, and the vile thing darted away. Midnight and Sutherland dashed through the crowd toward the palace. They disappeared within as Heph’s child army arrived, pouring in beneath Prometheus. Sev caught a glimpse of the creature as he turned. It leapt at one of the finely dressed guests with its mouth wide, landing on the woman’s chest and grabbing hold with its taloned hands. It latched onto the woman’s face and bit down, coming away with bulging cheeks. It swallowed the woman’s face and continued to eat her. Sev shot the creature, but it wouldn’t be deterred.
“Seven,” Silas called out. Sev turned to see Silas and Heph battling Fairgate. Damn, he thought. When he looked back
at the creature, it had doubled in size after devouring the woman completely. “Sev! We need help!”
Damn.
Sev scanned the crowd and found Billings. “Billings! Get over here and get this thing! Hurry!” Billings nodded and ran, calling the rest of the team with him. The monster’s tentacles snapped out and grabbed more guests, dragging them toward its gaping maw. The crowd had been frozen with fear or curiosity—it didn’t matter which—but they were running now. Sev leapt to the battle in three steps thanks to the over-skeleton. He threw his shoulder into Fairgate, knocking the man over.
“You don’t understand!” the wizard screamed from the ground. “I can still stop this! I can draw it into someone and control it!”
“We’re going to stop this,” Heph told him. “Once and for all.”
“No!” Fairgate screamed, and Heph flew into the air once more. Silas and Sev converged on the wizard, their swords drawn. They slashed at the man, but he deflected their blows without weapons. He shouted a word Sev couldn’t understand, and a jet of fire erupted from his hand. Sev dove to avoid being singed. Silas used the distraction to thrust his sword at Fairgate. The wizard saw the attack just in time and spun. Silas’s sword sliced Fairgate but did no real damage. Silas received Fairgate’s invisible push and flew off into the crowd. “Damn it!” Fairgate swore.
Sev followed the man’s gaze and saw Billings disappear into the beast’s crunching jaws. The creature was enormous, towering over the guests now. Its black skin sprouted orange boils similar to the ones he’d seen on the creatures in the ruins. The children from Undertown tried to get the guests out of the garden and away from the monster’s blighted grasp.
Heph reappeared. His gloves were off and his metal hands crackled with electricity. Sev assumed that had been the secret project. Fairgate hadn’t seen Heph yet, and Sev drew the wizard’s attention by firing on him. “Nuisance!” Fairgate pointed at Sev’s gun, opened his hand, and then closed his fist. The firearm crumpled in Sev’s hand, and he dropped the useless thing. Fairgate glared at Sev and curled his fingers. Instantly Sev felt pressure around his ribs, and then his feet left the ground. He tried to breathe but couldn’t and swore he felt one of his ribs crack.
Kildeggan punched Fairgate, electricity exploding on contact, knocking Fairgate back. Sev dropped to the ground with the wizard’s concentration broken. While Heph shocked Fairgate, Silas turned his attention on the growing beast, firing his turret pistol. One of the creature’s eyes exploded, and it roared angrily. The eye grew back almost instantly. Silas fired again, bursting one of the disturbing boils on the creature’s skin. Black ichor rained down on the wedding guests and the children battling the beast. The instant the gore touched them, they screamed, dropping to their hands and knees as the foul liquid burned them. In seconds, their skin turned black as the creature’s, tainting them. They’d become just like the abominations from the sealed tunnels. Frantic, hungry corpses rose where people had fallen, and they scattered, chasing after the living.
The monster that came from inside the queen was now almost as tall as Prometheus. Sev signaled to Silas with a slashing motion across the throat, then pointed to the scrambling creatures. Silas nodded and ran for the nearest one, lopping its head off. Sev ran for the bulk of the army where he knew the Fire Squad would be with the flame-projectors. He reached them and directed them to fire on the new creatures. “Fire’s the only thing that kills ’em!” he shouted as they ran off.
“Sev, what the hell?” Rat called from the shoulder of the construct.
“This is bad, Rat. We’ve got t’get all the guests out o’here,” he told the kids standing around Prometheus’s feet. “If that shite touches them, they’re dead. If they bite ye or anyone else, ye’ll turn into one o’them. Get the people out. Go!” The children ran off to carry out Sev’s orders. “We can’t let that thing get into th’city. You got t’take Prometheus and fight it.”
“Got it.” Rat said.
“Rat, don’t shoot those sores. If they pop, we’ll be up to our arses in those things.”
Rat nodded as Prometheus clanked off.
Sev smelled the creatures burning and heard their strange, screeching cries.
He looked back at the dais where Heph floated suspended in the air. Fairgate held his right hand toward Kildeggan, and the other wound around Silas’s throat. Sev ran as fast as he could toward his friends, sliding his sleeve up and freeing his wrist-bow. He loaded the iron bolt and fired it at Fairgate. The man turned, his eyes flaring blue, and Sev could see the shield of magical energy he’d placed between himself and the bolt. The iron projectile sailed right through the energy unhindered and sank deep into the flesh of Fairgate’s shoulder. Heph dropped, and Fairgate released Silas to grab the protruding end of the bolt.
Heph grabbed Fairgate by the throat with his right hand, hoisting him into the air. With his other hand, he grabbed the iron bolt, gritting his teeth as he released electricity into the wizard. Fairgate shook and convulsed in Heph’s hands. Kildeggan dropped the steaming, limp body of the wizard, then stumbled to his knees.
With Fairgate out of the fight, Sev focused on the giant monster and Prometheus. The clockwork man had its hand around the lower half of the beast’s face, preventing the monster from shoving anyone else in. Rat and the other gunner unleashed a constant barrage of fire into the creature’s midsection. The tentacles twined around Prometheus’s arm, head and torso. The metal hand crashed again and again into the monster’s head. Rat was trying to be careful not to shoot the boils, but a few burst despite his attempts and the children below changed.
No guests were left in the tent; now, only the revolutionaries remained to battle the monster. Sev wondered why no Steamcoats had arrived. Probably because Prometheus did its job on the trip to the palace, he thought. One of the tainted children lunged at him, gnashing its teeth, and he chopped its head off.
“Fire. I need fire over here!” Members of the Fire Squad were finishing off a pile of the black corpses, but a few broke off and ran toward him.
The sound of rending metal drew his attention. The great black monster tore the gun turret with Rat still on it from Prometheus’s shoulder and tossed it away. Sev gasped as Rat’s limp body flew through the air. The creature managed to free its mouth and bit the second gun turret and its gunman, removing Prometheus’s final weapon. The creature shifted its weight, and it toppled with Prometheus to the ground. With the two giants wrestling on the garden floor, Sev didn’t have to worry about the ichor pouring from above.
He grabbed two discarded swords from the ground and ran into the swarm of ichor creatures, slashing their heads off as he did. He was surprised to see Midnight had returned as well. He had the Tear in one hand and a knife in the other, dispatching creatures with ease. “I thought you might need this,” he called to Sev, holding up the Tear. The giant beast screeched when Midnight got too close, lashing out with a tentacle. Jack deftly sliced the appendage in two. The Fire Squad followed them, torching the headless corpses before they could regenerate.
“Burn that too,” Sev pointed to the severed tentacle. One of the boys turned the flame on it, and it crackled and burned. Jack tossed Sev the Tear and ran off to finish the rest of the corpses. Sev watched as Prometheus tossed the many-eyed creature. It landed on its back but quickly scrambled to its feet. Prometheus stood and swung at the beast. The monster caught Prometheus’s fist and wrenched the arm, tearing the metal appendage off its hinges. Prometheus reeled off balance and almost fell before the pilots compensated.
The creature leapt on Prometheus, clawing and biting at the metal shell. It managed to tear a sheet of metal from the torso near the missing arm, reach in the hole, and grab one of the pilots. It opened its mouth and dropped Mickey in. Prometheus couldn’t move any longer, and Sal jumped out just before the many-eyed beast tore the head from the clockwork’s shoulders. Terpin continued to beat at the monstrosity with Prometheus’s remaining arm, but it wasn’t affecting the creature. The monster
shoved Prometheus, and the construct toppled over. The beast roared triumphantly, and Sev instinctively threw the Tear of Purity into its open mouth. The creature’s maw reflexively snapped shut, and Sev was sure it had swallowed the stone.
“It’s clear of Prometheus!” Sev told the Fire Squad. “Get those flame-tossers on it now!” The creature bellowed in pain and clawed at its throat and then at its stomach. Jack and his torcher, having finished with the other creatures, rejoined Sev and the rest of the squad. Six flame-tossers poured fire on the wailing beast. It backed up toward the south side of the tent as the children advanced on it. “Get those grenade-pipes armed. Aim for its mouth,” Sev instructed.
The creature flailed about blindly with its flaming tentacles. It got lucky, smacking four of the Fire Squad members off their feet. With fewer flames assailing the beast’s skin, it began to repair. Sev started to doubt if they’d be able to destroy the thing. One of the boys yelled “Fire,” and four grenades launched at the beast. The first grenade exploded near the monster’s head, knocking it into the side of the tent. The canvas caught fire. The beast caught the second grenade, and it exploded, decimating the creature’s hand. The third and fourth grenades exploded near the creature’s feet, doing no damage to the beast but knocking it to the ground.
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