For Steam and Country: Book One of the Adventures of Baron Von Monocle

by Jon Del Arroz

  “Well, hopefully we’ll be able to get him back,” Marina said.

  “We’re going to rescue him?”

  “We discussed a lot without you, Zaira. I apologize. The Wyranth soldier told us the baron is being held in a prison in the Wyranth capital, in the Iron Emperor’s castle dungeon. Captain von Cravat is already working on a rescue plan, granting that King Malaky signs off on it.”

  “Iron Emperor’s castle dungeon? That doesn’t sound safe at all,” I said. My hopes and happiness dwindled. From earlier, I’d thought my father had been found somewhere where I could reach him. Deep in the heart of the Wyranth Empire though? Our airship couldn’t even cross the Border River without being shot at.

  “No, he’s most definitely not,” Marina said. She moved back over to my bed. “But it’s better than dead, right?” She offered a hand. “Come now. I came to get you so you can be on deck for the landing. The others will be wondering what took us so long.”

  I took her hand and she pulled me to my feet with ease. There were so many questions I had about my mother, father, this ship, and so many other things. I followed Marina out into the hallways and back up through to the mess cabin.

  It struck me that I’d be meeting King Malaky himself soon. That excitement dwindled some as I my feet dragged. My body had such intense weariness I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my eyes open. Yes, Captain von Cravat had made it clear I was supposed to have been napping. With having almost been killed, flying again on the airship, all this talk about my father, I’d hardly been able to sleep. I’d been awake for far too long. I wanted to cry, to take a moment and forget the whirlwind I’d been spun into and feel, maybe sleep for a couple of days. I kept my chin up though, forcing myself to feign some energy. At least I’d been able to lay down for a while.

  When we reached the mess cabin, the chef lingered behind the buffet, cleaning the remains of lunch. James sat alone at one of the long benches, the same place he was when I left him. He looked up at us, hair a disaster, face gaunt. His eyes cracked a bloodshot red, cheeks flush. Tears had definitely drained down his face while we were gone. A lot of them.

  I tried to smile at him. “Hi, James. Did you sleep too?”

  He shook his head. “Can’t. My parents… ” His voice cracked, soft as it was.

  I walked over and wrapped my arms around him. “Marina says we’ll be in the capital soon. We’re going to meet King Malaky,” I said, as if that could be any consolation for what he’d been through. When his dog had died when he was little, I stirred James from his melancholy by promising to play as if he were one of the Knights of the Crystal Spire.

  His eyes did have a twinkle in them at the mention of the king, but it didn’t seem to lift his spirits completely. “I know,” he said.

  “Do you want to stay back in the airship?” Marina asked. “That can be arranged.”

  “No.” James scrambled to his feet. “I’m fine. I’ll just need a moment to get myself together, okay?”

  “Of course, I think we have a little bit yet, right, Marina?”

  “Correct. We have to land, be taken to the castle, and then the king will have to be roused. I gather he won’t be in tip top shape himself,” she said.

  “Isn’t Rislandia City pretty large? Where will we land?” James asked.

  “The Crystal Spire has a landing pad beside it for airships. It was cleared when the ships were originally built.”

  “The Crystal Spire?” James’s eyes returned to life from their stupor. That did it. He was nearly his old self, remembering his dreams. “Can we see it?”

  “We should be coming up on it soon, would you like to go look? We can head out to the main deck.”

  “That’d be a lovely idea,” I said, encouraging.

  James rubbed his face on his sleeve. “Let’s go.”

  Captain von Cravat met us and led the way, one of her men opening the door from the mess cabin out onto the deck. The door swung ajar, the wind slamming it back against the cabin. Turbines whirred so loudly we would have to shout to speak. I wrapped my coat more tightly around myself, but even so the wind and cold pierced right through me.

  But before we could step outside, a silhouette buzzed in from the deck. I suspected who it was by the peppy step, even before the cabin’s lamps illuminated his face. Only one person could be that excited to be working at this hour, someone who loved his craft more than anything else.

  “Harkerpal!” I said. I ran to him and gave him a hug.

  “Zaira! I heard we picked you up. I would have come and seen you earlier but I had to man the engine room, make sure the Liliana was working properly. After the crash a couple of the turbine gears… Well, I won’t bore you with that. It’s a long story,” Harkerpal said. He returned my hug with a squeeze.

  “Friend of yours?” James asked.

  I pulled back from the embrace. “Yes, this is the chief engineer, one of my father’s most trusted men. Harkerpal, meet James. He’s my neighbor, and my most trusted friend.”

  “A friend of Zaira’s is a friend of mine. Well met,” Harkerpal said, bobbing his head as he had the habit of doing.

  Those words struck me. I’d done nothing to inspire the loyalty of Harkerpal, quite the opposite. I crashed the ship and abandoned him. He had told me he owed his life to my family. Heaviness gripped me like I was skirting some obligation.

  Still, his loyalty was sweet. I would have to make it up to him somehow, if I could find a way.

  “We were just heading to the deck,” Captain von Cravat said. “I realize you’re going the opposite direction, but would you care to join us?” “

  “The lower gear assembly needs a thorough greasing,” Harkerpal said, then glanced back toward the deck. “But I suppose that can wait.” He held the door for us.

  We stepped out onto the deck. Outside the cabin, the wind was strong enough that it was difficult to stand. I had to hold my hair back so it wouldn’t repeatedly slap my face. I longed for what I had thought was the cold before. This was torture.

  A few of the crew manned the deck, keeping watch, not seeming to notice the breeze or the chill at all.

  James rushed ahead of us to the railing on the port side of the ship. Though Captain von Cravat hadn’t told us the direction of the Crystal Spire, it was easy to see. It shone like a beacon, lights bursting out into the night in all directions. Long cables wrapped around the outside. Guards kept posts at various balconies. The building stood tall, not quite to the clouds itself, but much higher than any James or I had ever seen.

  “Magnificent,” James said.

  The rest of Malaky City looked dull in comparison, especially in the evening. A blanket of lights covered the city, very different from Plainsroad Village, which shut down at night. The ship banked, giving us a view of a smaller, though more elegant, bulbous building that sparkled silver in the late night. That had to be King Malaky’s Palace.

  James remained fixated on the spire. “It really does tower over everything.”

  “And inside are some of the greatest military minds in the world. Without the knights, and this crew, Rislandia may have fallen like so many others,” Captain von Cravat said. She leaned on the rail alongside James.

  I thought both of them were crazy. No way was I getting so close to the edge. If a wind picked up, or the ship banked wrong, it would be so easy to fall over. I shivered, both from the cold and the memory of looking down from the rope ladder.

  The Liliana banked again, but slowly, not enough to cause a stir in any of us standing on the deck.

  “We’re about to land,” Harkerpal said. “It must be so exciting to see this city for the first time, and meet the king. Oh, how I envy the young.”

  His words made me think of all James and I had lost in the last few days. We didn’t deserve envy. Quite the opposite. I had no farm anymore, no Toby. This airship was more of a curse than a blessing. Ever since Mr. du Gearsmith showed up in my life, delivering the letter of my father’s will, one thing after anot
her had gone sour.

  We hovered in place, and then began a slow descent. Whoever was at the controls of the ship worked with a precision from years of experience. Reminded of how I had blundered when I took the controls, I blushed. Harkerpal placed his hand on my shoulder, as if he fully understood what I was thinking.

  It served as another reminder that I didn’t belong here. What good was I to this crew? I had no place aboard this ship, no place left anywhere. It wasn’t as if I had some dream of becoming a Knight of the Crystal Spire. I overheard James and Captain von Cravat talking about that very subject.

  “Now that I’m at the capital, I’m going to work extra hard on my swordsmanship. Maybe I can garner one of the knights’ attention,” James said. In a lot of ways, this city was just what he needed. He could put his parents out of his mind.

  “I’m sure you will,” Captain von Cravat said. She nodded to him approvingly.

  One of the deck watchers approached. “We’ll need everyone except for the landing crew back inside and braced for our final descent,” she said to Captain von Cravat.

  Captain von Cravat took the lead and ushered us inside as the ship touched down.

  “We’re almost at the border. King Malaky gave me medals of his crest to pin on the entire crew’s lapels in our honor. Though such a commendation is quite prestigious and carries many benefits in normal times, I don’t expect many of us will live to reap the benefits of it.”

  An excerpt from Baron von Monocle’s log

  Day 14 of the Month of Kings

  16th Year of Malaky XVI’s Reign

  When we arrived, a guard in ornamental silver armor over a Grand Rislandian Army uniform ushered us into the royal apartments by the palace. The place was as gaudy as I expected, with expensive art, vases, statues, and furniture adorning every corner. If it weren’t for guards guiding our every step, I’d have become lost in the immense space. Ceilings towered higher than anything in Plainsroad Village, where we had nothing of the lavish decorations covering every wall and every table. Our guide escorted us to the ambassadorial quarters as they were called, where servants took us into their stead, offering a light snack and some water. After we accepted the late night snacks, the servants took our measurements, sizing us for appropriate clothing to meet with the king.

  I complied with each of their requests, so tired I could barely stand, let alone cause a fuss. One of the servants touched my hair, sniffed at me, and offered a bath. I jumped at the opportunity. James and I were separated then, sent into separate male and female rooms. A servant started to undress me, but I batted her hands away and told her I could handle that much on my own. Perhaps that’s not how people took baths in the city, but in farm country we retained some modesty.

  I stripped inside a changing room and tiptoed over marble flooring toward a steaming tub the size of my former kitchen back home. In the time it took for me to undress, the servants had left the room, giving me the privacy I wanted. I sank into the bath proper, the warm liquid soothing my legs and body as I descended. I couldn’t remember a bath with a more perfect temperature. This was certainly the difference between what I could do on my own and what a king’s servants could prepare.

  A bar of soap rested on a ledge by the bath, set for me along with a towel just beyond that. I scrubbed myself, wetting my hair, which was dry, oily, and tangled after the day’s work and evening’s escapades. The warmth of the bath made my eyes heavy. My body relaxed, and I slid down until I was nearly on my back. It wouldn’t hurt to close my eyes for a moment…

  I awoke to servants rushing to help me out of the tub. My privacy apparently evaporated sure as the steam from the bath. “You were in here for such a long time, and feel your hands! They’ve become prunes!” said one of the servants.

  The second servant wrapped the towel around me and grabbed a brush. She rapidly stroked my hair, forcing the tangles undone and pulling out several strands in the process. Her companion powdered my face and helped me into my smallclothes. I tried to bat her away again, but she persisted, and before I could fully regain my consciousness, I found myself dressed in a bizarre outfit.

  I looked in the mirror. “Is this some sort of joke?” I asked.

  “This is proper royal meeting attire,” the servant said flatly.

  The ensemble was no more than a giant poof. A poof around the neck, a poof around the shoulders, and even a poof at the waist, which did not flatter my muscular, skinny figure. Every aspect of the dress had ruffles, nothing about the attire functional in the least. I’d barely be able to walk straight. Who, by Malaky, came up with this as proper? I opened my mouth to protest, turning to the lead servant who had gone to answer a knock at the door.

  It opened to reveal James standing in the doorway.

  If I had been thrown into a forest of various poofs, then the servants had erected a poof mountain atop poor James. The garment layered up from an elongated base into a peak with his bulbous head, and if I didn’t know his head was attached, I would have thought it would roll off like a big boulder. His neck had all but disappeared in ruffled, white fabric. The rest of the outfit was an equally unflattering hunter green color. “What’s so funny?” he asked, his face red hot.

  “Nothing,” I said, stifling a snicker. If James had to wear that atrocious thing, I supposed my dress didn’t look so bad after all. I turned to the servant. “What now? Do we see the king?”

  “Not yet,” a voice came from the corridor, shoes tapping one after another and echoing across the expansive floor.

  That deep voice had familiarity. I turned. “Mr. du Gearsmith!” I said. “I didn’t expect to see you again.” Though we hadn’t parted on the best of terms, I ran over and hugged him.

  Mr. du Gearsmith hugged me in return, still wearing one of his dark suits. He held a firm and tall posture, as one would expect from a lawyer of his stature. “Zaira, my dear, I’m happy to see you’re well.” He glanced over at James. “And you’ve brought company.”

  “Mr. du Gearsmith, you remember Mr. Gentry, my neighbor?”

  “Mm,” Mr. du Gearsmith said, face stoic.

  “This is his son, James. I… I’m afraid the Wyranth overran his farm.” I bit my lip, hoping that wouldn’t throw James into another emotional spiral. The memory and wounds were still fresh. I could still feel the house shake as it was pounded by those mobile artillery machines and could only imagine what ran through his head.

  “James, well met,” Mr. du Gearsmith said. “My condolences regarding your parents. The Wyranth are not known for their civility.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” James said, offering a small smile. “I’ve reason to believe they made it out.”

  “What?” My jaw dropped. No one had told me anything of the sort. Was James in denial?

  “Why do we have to wear these ridiculous clothing if you can wear your suit?” James asked, flicking one of the larger ruffles that circled his wrist.

  “It’s tradition for non-nobility greeting the king,” Mr. du Gearsmith said.

  “But I’m technically nobility,” I said.

  Before Mr. du Gearsmith could reply, Captain von Cravat entered the room, circling around and finding an unobtrusive place to stand. She remained in her Grand Rislandian Army uniform. I would have killed to wear one of those right now, instead of this nightmare of a dress.

  “Yeah,” James said. “Since, you know, your father’s still alive, and we didn’t see anything happen to my parents, it’s just as likely that they escaped, or are captured somewhere. If we find where your father’s being held, they might even be in the same place.”

  “Oh, James,” I said softly. Denial. He sounded as if he wanted to convince himself as much as us. Arguing wouldn’t help him, however. I had to let this drop, for now.

  “Ah yes, your father,” Mr. du Gearsmith said as if it were a perfect segue. “Zaira, I’m sure you know that the king has invited you here to discuss your father, and I have been invited as well. I apologize I couldn’t join you earlier o
n the airship to prepare you, but Talyen and I thought it would be better to split our efforts to bring the king this valuable information in case of capture. The news of your father still being among the living is fresh for me as well. Much remains uncertain in these matters, but know I am still in your family’s employ, and it is my duty to advise should you need any assistance or have any questions as to the legal ramifications of your father’s reemergence.”

  “Wouldn’t the king’s word be all that matters?” I asked. If Mr. du Gearsmith hinted regarding the airship, I didn’t expect to be keeping possession of it. What good would it do me?

  “The Malaky line upholds the rule of law, which is what makes them great, and has preserved their line through all these generations. It is what makes the name worthy of recognition in our daily speech through moments that bring us to awe,” Mr. du Gearsmith said, as if reciting a poem. I’d heard that mantra before in school.

  “Then, by Malaky, I’ll plead with the king to rescue him. Even if there’s just a small chance of him being alive, we should do something!” I said.

  “We’ll see.” Mr. du Gearsmith turned his attention to Captain von Cravat and bowed toward her. “Talyen. A pleasure to see you again. I trust all is well?” His tone sounded as if he were asking after my behavior.

  I clenched my teeth. Captain von Cravat was not my mother and had no say over me. I remained quiet, however.

  Captain von Cravat shifted her eyes to me and back to Mr. du Gearsmith, bowing in return soon after. If she took the cue from him, she didn’t show it. “The pleasure is mine, Mathias. And yes, all has been well as can be, considering that the Wyranth have pushed across the borders into Rislandian territory. Though I’m certain that takes precedence in terms of King Malaky’s considerations, I have to agree with Miss von Monocle that rescuing her father would be my priority as well.”

  Mr. du Gearsmith paused, studying Captain von Cravat. “I see,” he said and turned to me. “Zaira, are you familiar with the customs on how to present yourself to the king?”