by Becca Andre
Grayson continued to urge the mules forward. Between the movement of the mules and the slowing of the boat, the towline rose, lifting Benji with it. Briar released a breath as Benji came into view.
“Wait!” Zach shouted.
Briar frowned. What was— Then she saw the reason for his concern. Benji was only chest high in the hole, and with the mules moving on down the towpath, Ben was rapidly closing with the torn boards along the edge.
Benji began to swing on the towline, in an attempt to throw a leg up over the rope. His foot caught, then slipped off.
Briar pressed a hand to her mouth as his grip on the rope faltered. Somehow, he managed to hang on, but he was only waist high when he reached the edge of the hole.
“Stop the mules!” Jimmy shouted.
Grayson glanced back and immediately saw the problem. He pulled on Big Red’s bridle trying to stop him, but the obstinate mule refused to obey.
Benji collided with the jagged boards bordering the hole and cried out.
Chapter 11
“Whoa!” Grayson shouted, throwing his weight against Big Red’s bridle in an effort to stop the headstrong mule.
Big Red brayed and tossed his head, but he stopped. Both mules were clearly agitated, swishing their tails and stomping their hooves against the deck boards.
Slipping past them, Grayson made his way back toward the hole. He was almost to Benji when the mules started forward once more.
Benji cried out again and Grayson broke into a run.
“Don’t let go!” Grayson shouted. A glint of silver drew Briar’s attention to the knife Grayson must have pulled from his pocket. He sliced through the towline, cutting it loose from the mules. Benji dropped from view a split second before Grayson dove through after him.
“Dear God,” Eli gasped.
The towline, still attached to the boat, had disappeared through the hole, but Briar couldn’t tell if Benji—or Grayson—still clung to it.
Zach dropped to his knees and leaned out over the edge of the hole.
Briar held her breath, afraid the broken boards might give out on him.
“Zach?” Jimmy called from behind him.
Zach got to his feet and waved Jimmy forward. The pair gripped the towline and began to pull up the rope. Benji must not have lost his grip, though she wasn’t so certain about Grayson.
“Mind the tiller, Captain?” Eli asked. He didn’t wait for an answer before jumping to the towpath himself and running out to help Jimmy and Zach haul up the rope. Between the three of them, they pulled Benji and, to her relief, Grayson onto the towpath deck. She couldn’t help but notice that Benji was clinging to Grayson rather than the rope.
Leaving the tiller—the boat wasn’t going anywhere with a severed towline—she descended into the aft cabin to fetch her bow, then hurried to the cargo hold where Perseus and Kali were already rolling up the side of the tarp to make it easier to step from the towpath to the deck. A moment later, Eli carried Benji onto the boat while Zach and Grayson followed. Jimmy went off to collect the mules.
“Here,” Kali said, shaking out a blanket.
Eli dropped to a knee and carefully lowered Benji to the deck. The young man whimpered with the movement.
“Why didn’t you fly down and get him to begin with?” Zach demanded of Grayson. He didn’t wait for a reply before kneeling beside Benji. “Hey, Ben.” He brushed his brother’s blond hair from his forehead. “Let me see.”
Benji moaned as Zach helped him onto his back. The front of his white shirt was soaked in blood. Then Zach lifted it to reveal his stomach.
Eli quickly got to his feet and stepped away. The sight of the deep, heavily bleeding gash was too much for him.
“Well?” Zach asked, his attention on Grayson. “Aren’t you going to heal him?”
“I’ll do it,” Briar said, holding up her bow. Zach must not have noticed it.
Zach frowned and she hurried on. “If I do it, there won’t be any, um, ferromancy side effects.”
“Oh. Right.” He nodded and turned to Benji. “Hang on, Ben. The captain is going to play for you.”
Benji rolled onto his side, drawing up his knees against the pain.
“Lock?” Briar prompted. He became the fiddle without her needing to explain. She wasted no time launching into a song of strength and healing. It had become so easy to do this that she didn’t have to think about it. The notes rang out in that strange ethereal tone, both beautiful and other worldly.
After a few moments of concentration on her purpose, Briar opened her eyes and glanced down. Benji still lay on his side, but he was no longer curled in a tight ball of pain. As she watched, the tension seemed to leave him, and he closed his eyes with a sigh.
“Ben?” Zach prompted.
Benji opened his eyes and looked up at Zach. With a grin, he abruptly sat up. “I’m fine.”
Zach pulled him into a fierce hug.
Her song finished, Briar took the fiddle from her chin. A tingle made her release the instrument, and it morphed into the little metal dragon in midair. A flap of his silver wings, and Lock returned to his usual place on her shoulder.
“Nice work,” Briar told him, rubbing him beneath the chin. Lock cooed, and she got the impression that he was pleased. He liked being the fiddle for her.
Benji climbed to his feet with ease, and Zach rose beside him.
“Let me see,” Zach insisted.
Benji obediently lifted his shirt to show his unblemished, though blood smeared stomach. There didn’t appear to be any sparkle.
Zach released a breath, then pulled him into a hug.
“I’m fine, Zach. Really.” Benji blushed, perhaps embarrassed by his brother’s affection in front of everyone, though he did return the hug. “You need to heal Mr. Martel, Captain,” Benji said when Zach released him.
Briar glanced over and found the space beside her empty. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked Benji.
“He burned his hands on the rope when he caught me.”
She turned and walked to her cabin. Grayson stood near the stove, sorting through the nearby cabinet that served as the boat’s pantry. She didn’t know if he was planning dinner, or looking to mix up something to treat his rope burns.
“Let me see your hands,” she said.
“There’s no need.”
She frowned at his back. “Why won’t you show me? I thought we were past your reluctance to let me heal you.” When she’d confronted him with it before, he had admitted that he found the experience a bit too enjoyable to be comfortable. But they had since expressed their mutual attraction for each other, so why was he refusing now?
“Grayson, I’m sorry,” Zach said from the doorway.
“There’s no need to apologize,” Grayson answered without looking up. “I know you were just upset over your brother’s injury.”
Zach eyed him a moment, then wordlessly crossed the room to stop behind him. “Show me your hands.”
Grayson actually started a little at the sound of Zach’s voice, then took a step away from him. “I’ll be fine.”
Lock moaned and rubbed his cheek against Briar’s. There was clearly something else going on here.
Zach frowned, though in concern rather than anger, his eyes meeting hers. He knew something wasn’t right.
Briar turned to Grayson. “Show us your hands. If it’s minor, we’ll leave you alone.”
His brow wrinkled, but he didn’t raise his hands.
“Grayson?” she prompted.
He took a breath and lifted his hands. Both palms were horribly rope burned, but where the skin was torn away, she could see silver peeking through.
“Jesus,” Zach whispered.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Grayson said softly. “Much.”
Even as they watched, the visible silver was sprea
ding across his palms, the metal replacing the torn flesh.
“Lock?” Briar prompted the little dragon. He leapt into the air, morphing into the fiddle as he fell. She caught the silver instrument and brought it to her shoulder.
“I don’t think that’ll help,” Grayson whispered.
“Please let me try.”
He dropped his hands, but nodded.
She brought the fiddle to her chin and began to play. Normally, she would focus on healing, as she had with Benji, but that wasn’t truly Grayson’s problem. She wanted to stop his flesh from turning to metal. Perhaps if she healed the wounds, the process would stop.
The song rolled out as her bow danced along the soul iron strings and she turned Grayson’s healing ability back on him. It was so unfair that he had such a gift, but couldn’t use it on himself. Although, it seemed to have fewer side effects when she wielded it. Perhaps something about going through the filter of her humanity.
“That’s not why,” Grayson replied.
She ended her song and took the bow from the strings. “What do you mean?”
Zach frowned at them, but didn’t interrupt.
Grayson held her gaze. “There are no ferromancy side effects in those you heal with my gift because you don’t take a sip of their humanity while you’re healing. Zach can give you a firsthand account of that.”
She frowned. “Zach, would you give us a moment?”
Zach glanced between them, then wordlessly turned and left the cabin.
Grayson didn’t watch him go. His attention remained on her. “That’s why Esme’s skin didn’t sparkle when I healed her. She wasn’t human.”
“What about me?” Briar demanded.
“I told you. Your power is your humanity, and I believe you’re more powerful than me. Or you’re more ferra than you seem. Or…”
“Or what?”
“Or you’re more Scourge than you appear to be.”
“Why would that matter?”
“The Scourge can’t be made soulless.”
“Really?” She hadn’t known that. “So their skin doesn’t sparkle when you heal them?”
“I’ve never healed anyone who is Scourge.”
“Not counting me.”
“You don’t count.” He offered a slight smile, but there was no humor in it.
“Huh.” She returned to the topic that had started this discussion. “Yet I can heal with your magic and not take from anyone’s humanity.” She felt that surge of excitement again, as if she was about to understand something. Then it faded away.
“Damn it,” she muttered.
Grayson raised his brows.
“I feel like I’m so close, but I just can’t grasp it.”
He looked up, his smile more pronounced. “Still picking at that knot?”
“I refuse to let it win.” Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rolled up on her toes to kiss him.
He cupped her face in his hands and returned the kiss, the warm metal in his palms smooth against her cheeks.
Gripping his wrists, she stepped back, then looked down at his hands. The palm of each had an irregular patch of silver, the left more extensive, especially around the base of his fingers.
“This is one tangled knot,” he whispered.
She cupped the back of his left hand, then brought it to her mouth and kissed his palm.
He sucked in a breath. “Careful or I might share something I shouldn’t.”
A laugh bubbled up. “That wouldn’t bother you one bit.”
“I didn’t say it would bother me.”
She swatted his shoulder. “Mr. Martel.”
He chuckled and stepped back. “I’m going to walk ahead and see what I can find.”
She frowned, not following the change in topic. “What are you looking for?”
“Evidence of who loosened those boards on the towpath.”
She stilled. “That was intentional?”
“Yes. I didn’t get a chance to examine the specifics, but the boards had been pried up and the nails removed. I suspect whoever did this damaged the underlying support before replacing the boards to mask the trap.”
“A trap?” Briar stared at him. “That could have killed someone—or the mules.” She hurried to the table to return her bow to its case. “I’m coming with you.”
She expected him to protest, but he remained silent.
“We’ll take Perseus and Kali as well,” she said as she faced him.
“Are you expecting something ferromantic?”
“Not necessarily, but Kali is good at finding things, and if it comes to a fight, Perseus is damned near invincible. Not that you’re aren’t,” she quickly added. “But I’d rather you not take any more damage.”
He glanced at his palms with a sigh. “Point taken.”
After a brief examination of the hole to verify Grayson’s suspicions, Briar and Grayson, along with their Scourge companions, hurried along the towpath toward the double locks at the far end. Perseus and Kali seemed eager for the potential chase. Canal boat travel was no doubt too leisurely for them.
They found the locks set as if a southern-heading boat had recently used them.
Briar stepped up to the edge of the upper lock’s wall and looked out over the scene before them. The double locks emptied into a wide basin with the towpath running along one side. She could see for a good distance, and there wasn’t a boat in sight.
“There’s no one on the towpath,” she told the others. “It makes me think our villain isn’t traveling by boat.” She crossed her arms and glared at the town in the distance.
“How will we find him?” Kali asked.
“Let’s fit the lock, then we’ll go talk to the lock tender.” She nodded toward the house a short distance away. “Maybe he saw something. We need to let him know about the hole in the aqueduct towpath anyway.”
“We’ll walk on down the hill and take a look around,” Kali said, gesturing at the slope that ran down to the basin.
Briar didn’t know what she expected to find, but she agreed. It gave Kali a purpose and kept her out of Briar’s hair.
She and Grayson turned their attention to closing the miter gates on the south end of the lock, then opened the paddles on the north gates to allow the water to begin to fill the chamber. She left Grayson to open the gates once the lock was filled and walked over to the lock tender’s house.
Her knock brought no one to the door, so she circled around the back of the house, following the sound of what might be a hammer. She had her suspicions confirmed when she found an old man repairing a fence. Judging by the two cows grazing in his back yard, they must have broken through.
“Hello,” Briar greeted the man. “Might you be the lock tender?”
“I am.” He eyed her, his brows lifting as he took in her attire.
“I’m captain of the Briar Rose, which is approaching now.” She waved a hand toward the aqueduct. Fortunately, they’d had a spare towline to replace the one Grayson had cut. “I wanted to let you know about a hole in the towpath. Almost lost a man and a mule.”
“What?” The man straightened.
“It looked tampered with, like someone had loosened the boards.”
“Who would do such a thing?” He didn’t look like he believed her.
“That’s what I’d like to know. Have you seen anyone pass through? A boat or someone on foot?”
“I’ve been back here, trying to get this fence repaired.”
Briar eyed the wooden fence, an idea forming. “You don’t suppose the same culprits did that so you’d be busy and not notice them tampering with the towpath?”
“You have quite the imagination, young lady.”
She could tell she wouldn’t be convincing him. “Just thought you’d li
ke to know about the hole.”
He glanced at his cows and sighed. “You’d better not be pulling my leg.” He set aside his hammer and headed for the aqueduct.
Briar rolled her eyes and walked back the way she had come. She reached the lock as Grayson was opening the final gate. Stepping up atop the stone wall, she waved to Eli, letting him know the lock was ready.
“Hey, Briar,” Kali called to her from below the locks.
Briar glanced at Grayson, and as one, they hurried down the towpath to the place where Kali and Perseus stood with a boy holding a fishing pole.
“This kid says a boat just came through the locks,” Kali said when Briar and Grayson joined them. “And that’s not all.” She turned to the kid. “Tell her.”
“I was fishing under the railroad truss”—he gestured at the railroad bridge that crossed the basin a little further down—“and I saw a boat come out of the locks, but it was the weirdest thing.”
“How’s that?” Briar asked.
“It didn’t have any tow animals.” He seemed to consider that. “Well, it did, but they were standing in the hold.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The boat moved on its own with nothing pulling it,” the kid clarified. “I thought it might be one of them steamboats you hear about.”
Grayson’s eyes met Briar’s.
“Where’d the boat go?” she asked the boy.
“I didn’t really watch it after that. I’d just got a bite”—he lifted his fishing pole—“but I’d guess it went on down the canal, toward town.”
“Roscoe?”
“Yeah.” The boy hooked a thumb beneath the strap of his bibs. “You ever hear of a steam powered boat on the canal?”
“I have, though they’re quite unusual,” Briar answered. “Might you have gotten the name of this boat?”
“I did,” the boy said. “That’s what made me think it might be one of those river steamboats.”
“Why’s that?”
“It was the River Shark.”
Chapter 12
Briar clenched her hands, somehow managing to keep her temper under control until the boy walked away. Grayson had tossed the kid a quarter, and he had rushed off, no doubt to blow his newfound wealth on a trip to the candy counter.