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

by Jon Del Arroz

  “Thanks,” I slurred, only half of my jaw opening to speak. Even that one word proved excruciating.

  The door to the cabin swung open from behind me, revealing Marina and the other cannoneers. They hooted and hollered, raising their swords and guns in celebration. “We did it! We sank the first enemy airship!” Marina shouted.

  “There’ll be songs about this!” another added.

  Captain von Cravat lifted her head toward the cannoneers and smiled. “Well done, my crew. I think we may have lost the ship without your timely distraction. More than a distraction,” Captain von Cravat said, glancing over toward the rail where the Wyranth ship had been a moment ago. A large section of it had fallen into the sea, and more had splintered and broken. “You won the battle for us.”

  Marina stepped toward me and Captain von Cravat. She inspected my wound with a frown. “We wouldn’t have done it without Miss von Monocle. She’s the one who brought us the order to fire the cannons into their engine room,” she said. “Looks like she paid a bit of a price for it as well.”

  Captain von Cravat raised a brow. “Is that so? I thought I told you to stay in your father’s quarters, Zaira. You’ve been all over the ship?” Now the scolding tone came.

  I couldn’t defend myself. The pain in my face overwhelmed me. I wanted to ask how was it that the cannoneers received praised when I was told I should have stayed in my quarters? Instead of saying anything, I pointed to my jaw. Tears forming in my eyes would hopefully prove the urgency.

  “Right, the medic. We can talk about this later. Again, good work. We’ll open a few kegs of ale to celebrate in the mess!” Captain von Cravat said. “A well deserved victory.”

  The crew cheered.

  Theo kept a log of all this ship’s adventures. I know he would want me to continue here. He’s been gone for more than a week, leaving me as acting captain of this vessel. I pray that he comes back to us. I won’t give up the search.

  An excerpt from Captain von Cravat’s log

  Day 30 of the Month of Kings

  17th Year of Malaky XVI’s Reign

  Several hours later, I awoke once more in my father’s quarters, laying in the bed next to Toby. The medic had given me some sort of elixir, and that put me to sleep within minutes. I vaguely remembered being carried back to the bed. My jaw still hurt, but the swelling had come down since I’d hit the deck. “Toby, you awake?” I asked, testing my voice if anything. I could talk, though I had to be careful with my mouth’s movements.

  Toby slept on one of the decorative pillows, curled up into a little ball. He didn’t respond to my voice. When he crashed, he went down hard. A knock on the door came a moment later, though the person didn’t wait for my response. The door opened.

  Captain von Cravat stood before me. She carefully shut the door behind her. “Good, you’re awake. I wanted to see how you were doing.”

  “Much better,” I said. “I can talk again, though I feel a little woozy. What was in that concoction I drank?”

  “I don’t ask, and I’m sure you don’t really want to know,” Captain von Cravat said with a smirk. “The medic does as the medic does. One of the unwritten rules of the Liliana.”

  “Probably a good rule, as long as you can trust the medic.”

  She nodded. “I talked to the crew about what you’d done. That was very brave of you, Zaira. And you even scored one dead Wyranth solider, reports say.”

  Scored one? They kept tally of their kills like it was a sport? I wrinkled my nose, finding that distasteful. I supposed one would have to find some way to get used to the violence of war if one were to make a career in it. “That’s right,” I said.

  She considered for a moment, then sat herself on the corner of my bed. “Frankly, I’m surprised. I didn’t think you had much of a fighting spirit in you. This wouldn’t make for the first time I’d underestimated you. You have a little of Theodore in you after all. Perhaps more than that…” Captain von Cravat stopped herself and stared out the portal.

  “More than that?” I asked.

  Captain von Cravat sighed. “There’s a lot I wasn’t going to tell you, for your own sake. I didn’t think you’d want to hear it, but you’ve earned the right to know. The crew is coming to respect you, and this is your ship. When we get Theo back, I bet you’ll be joining the crew.”

  I had a feeling something like this could come. Not the talk necessarily, but something about Captain von Cravat that lingered under the surface of her hardened soldier exterior. Something about being around me made her uncomfortable. I’d seen enough of her that I could read her in that regard, but I stayed quiet. She would tell me what she thought I needed to know.

  “I joined the crew a long time ago. It’s been at least a decade, maybe more. Funny enough, I was about your age when I made it. And no, I wasn’t the first officer when I joined then,” Captain von Cravat said.

  “What were you?”

  “I was the chef’s assistant. I spent most of my time peeling potatoes.” She smirked and leaned back against the bed post.

  “You? That’s hard to imagine.” I tried not to laugh. She had nobility to her, her name stated as much. I couldn’t believe that she had been in such a low position.

  “It’s true. Even in that, I trained with a number of the crew. They were almost exclusively men so it was difficult on a few levels. Theo looked after me, kept the crew respectful. I won’t say there weren’t instances…but I digress.”

  “There weren’t women in the crew?” From what I’d seen so far, the crew had very few women.

  “It’s dangerous for women to be on the front lines of battle, especially with the Wyranth as an enemy. I still am not comfortable with the idea of putting women in harm’s way, even in my position.” She shook her head. “I was the first, and because of my ability to prep cook. That’s the term for the position where the chef makes you do all the work he doesn’t want to.”

  I nodded. It sounded like a fancy city title for the way I’d helped my mother or Mrs. Gentry cook back on the farm.

  “After my hard work, everything changed. Your father first took notice of my skill with a pistol about a year into my tenure here. I was practicing marksmanship with the commandos one day, using moving targets on the turbines. He came out to scold me. If I caused damage to the turbines, they were worth more than my life. He didn’t want some assistant chef destroying the ship. Though, after he saw how well I’d shot, he decided against chastising me. I didn’t miss a single time.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone shoot like you,” I said.

  Captain von Cravat ignored the compliment. “One mission, your father found the crew shorthanded. The Wyranth had taken a toll on us more than once. He asked me if I’d want to go on a mission, and I accepted. Long story short, I became his closest confidant over time. I was there when he met your mother.” Captain von Cravat dropped her eyes to the floor. She fidgeted with the frill at the end of the blanket “But that’d be another diversion. You don’t need two Harkerpals telling you stories.”

  “But he’s so sweet.” I said. I meant to sound playful, but with an inability to move my face, I couldn’t be anything but deadpan.

  “He is, he is. You know what I mean though.” Captain von Cravat smirked.

  I wanted to laugh again. Ow, but it hurt!

  “Well, after your mother passed, Theo became much more solitary. Some would say he lost the will to fight. His heart certainly wasn’t in commanding an airship. And the fact that this ship bore the name Liliana, that made it even harder on him. Imagine hearing the name of your beloved day after day. We should have rechristened the ship.” Captain von Cravat shook her head.

  “That’s when he stopped coming home as often,” I said, in some realization as to my father’s motives. I’d been bitter, thinking he’d abandoned me, but his pain must have been far worse than what I endured now.

  Captain von Cravat, in almost a motherly fashion, placed her hand on mine. “Zaira, I’m sorry.
I know how it is to lose a parent and be alone. This is where it gets hard for me. I’ve been struggling with how to tell you this.”

  “What?” I asked. I could almost feel her pain in the way she spoke.

  “As I said, Theo came to depend on me. Not just the day to day operations of the ship. I handled most of those already. But his personal things. We became…close.” Captain von Cravat blushed and turned her head . She kept her hand on mine, but her palm became sweaty. Did I make her that nervous?

  As much as she was nervous, it didn’t bother me that she had a relationship with my father. A lot of the way she treated me made sense. My being here had to be a painful reminder for her, as painful as my father having a ship named Liliana to command after my mother had passed. When the news came that my father might live, I stopped being a symbol of pain to her, and that’s why she started being kinder to me.

  “That’s why you act so strange when my father’s mentioned?” I asked.

  The room quieted save for the soft whir of the turbines outside.

  “Oh, uhh…” She wanted something from me. I couldn’t tell what. I tried my best. “Well, my father has good taste in women, that’s for sure.”

  The tension broke. Captain von Cravat burst out laughing. “Thanks, Zaira. You have an innocence to you that’s precious. Don’t lose that.”

  “Innocence? I killed a man earlier today,” I said. Hearing those words from my own lips sobered me.

  The moment of levity disappeared, and Captain von Cravat’s face returned to dead seriousness. “Zaira, I’m sorry about that. If I could have done anything to avoid that happening, I would have. And if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here. Okay? We have to get on with the mission. I know you care about it as much as I do. Just be strong for now. It’ll be okay.”

  I pulled back my hand. “Does it ever get easier? Do you ever not think about it?”

  Captain von Cravat slipped off the bed and moved toward the door. She’d said what she needed to, and she didn’t ever linger when there was work to be done. She looked at me over her shoulder. “It never gets easier, but you learn to trick your mind into not thinking about it. I need to go check on the rest of the crew and figure out our estimated time of arrival outside the Wyranth capital.”

  “Thanks, Captain,” I said.

  “You’re not military, you’re nobility. Call me Talyen.”

  I could hear in her tone how much those words meant to her, allowing me to call her by her given name. It was a permission that signaled that I was at least a friend, perhaps even family. “Talyen,” I said to myself as she departed.

  After Captain von—Talyen— left, the elixir the medic gave me swirled through my head again. I wanted to be able to think clearly, but at least I couldn’t feel anything from my jaw. I tried to stay awake and think about the conversation I had with Talyen, but my eyes became so heavy. I closed them for what felt like just a couple of minutes. Eyes need rest. In no time, I’d be going over plans of attack and…

  Another banging on the door. This time, I nearly jumped out of my bed. I’d drifted off to sleep. Toby scampered onto my chest, sniffing and rubbing his wet nose against my face. “Toby,” I said, pushing him off me. I would have been nicer to my ferret with all he’s been through, but he knew better than to pester me when I’d just woken. How long had I been asleep?

  The person at the door knocked again.

  “Yes, yes, come in,” I said. It couldn’t be Talyen because she would have let herself in.

  The door opened, and Marina slipped her head through the door. “The others were getting worried about you, wanted to send someone to check on you,” she said, her tone apologetic. She gave me a soft smile.

  “It’s not a problem,” I said, still orienting myself. I looked out the portal. It was bright outside. “I must have slept a long time?”

  “Most of the evening and through dawn today. I thought you might want to get to the mess before the chef stops serving breakfast,” Marina said.

  “The whole day?” I scrambled out of bed. By Malaky, how did that happen? We would be almost to the Wyranth capital by now! I rubbed my jaw. It was sore but not crippling as it had been the day before.

  Marina smirked. “Medic’s got some nasty potions, don’t she?”

  “I guess so,” I said. I stood in a nightgown, though I didn’t remember dressing in one. That didn’t bother me. I was safe aboard this airship. My Baron Von Monocle ensemble hung from a hook across from the bed. I glanced at it. Those clothes caused a lot of trouble when the Wyranth attacked. Should I wear something that made me blend with the crew more? No, the crew would want to see me in it, as a mascot if anything. It would bring them joy and hope. They were dying to see my father. And they very well could literally die for that privilege.

  I slipped out of the night gown and put the clothes on. They were a little more wrinkled than the day before, despite my best efforts to smooth them out. Oddly, the costume held its impact on me. I felt more confident than before.

  Marina looked on with approval. “You’re just like him, you know.”

  “People keep saying that,” I said, stepping over to the door. “But don’t I look a bit ridiculous?” She was one of the first people to listen to me, to support me. I figured I owed her at least getting to know her.

  “Maybe. But are you so sure he didn’t look ridiculous, too?” She gave me a good-natured smile. “Come on, Miss von Monocle.”

  “You can call me Zaira,” I said, hoping that would convey the same friendship that Talyen had granted me.

  She giggled, and motioned toward the hallway. “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll ever think of you as simply Zaira. Come on, let’s get you some food.”

  When I arrived at the mess, a large number of the crew adorned the wooden benches, finishing their meals. Marina went over to the counter to pick up food for both of us, and I sat at the corner of a table alone. All eyes moved to me while I waited. I felt so small. Did I choose wrong? Did they not want me to sully the image of my father, their hero? I felt like an imposter.

  “Baron Von Monocle lives!” one of the crew shouted. Shouts of agreement came from each of the mess tables, followed by whistles and cheers. It resulted in everyone clapping.

  I turned as red as a ripe tomato at harvest time. My face might have gotten lost in the crimson cape I was wearing. I froze worse than any of the times I’d dealt with the Wyranth. That answered my prior question, but I didn’t deserve this kind of praise.

  Harkerpal rescued me, plopping his own tray down across from me. “They love you, Zaira,” he said with his overly eager Harkerpal smile.

  “But why?” I whispered.

  “You saved the ship with your plan,” Harkerpal said.

  “It wasn’t that big of a deal. Anyone could have figured that out given time. I just happened to be looking out a portal. It wasn’t anything special.”

  He wagged a finger at me and made a tsk sound. “That’s exactly what’s special about you, and about your father, too. You both give credit to the crew, don’t take it upon yourselves. It keeps your head from getting big, and people like that. But don’t forget, as simple as the plan may be, you were the one to solve the problem, to take that initiative. You gambled when you were told specifically to do something else, and you won. That’s what makes Baron von Monocle special.”

  “You can say that again,” Marina said. She returned with our food trays.

  “I will,” Harkerpal said, his head bobbing with excitement like that first time I’d met him. He stabbed at his food and raised it to his mouth, barely taking time to chew in between talking. “It reminds me of the time your father took us on a mission to the Twin Tops Mountains. There was a small village there, and it was the dead of winter, right after a blizzard. The people there starved, all skin and bones. Do you know what your father did? Well he—”

  “Zaira should focus on eating now, Harkerpal. The medic gave her a potion that took her out for a day and a half,” Marin
a said.

  Harkerpal stopped, gave a thumb’s up, and returned to his food.

  I would have to thank Marina later. If anything, she made for an invaluable ally to stop Harkerpal in the tracks of his never-ending stories.

  I wolfed down my food. It was like I’d never seen eggs or bread before. And they even gave me a cup of juice. The meal was heavenly, and my stomach let me know it with a satisfied grumble.

  “You want seconds?” Marina asked. She may have been the most observant person I’d ever met.

  “I would, but I should find Talyen, I mean, Captain von Cravat. I don’t know where we’re at, and I want to discuss what our plans will be for the descent,” I said.

  “Captain von Cravat should be in her quarters. She’s usually writing around this time of day,” Marina said.

  I stood, smiling to both Marina and Harkerpal. “Thank you, both.”

  “For what?” Harkerpal asked.

  “For being here for me,” I said and left to go find Talyen.

  Since Talyen didn’t bother to wait until I responded to allow her to come in, I figured I should give her the same courtesy. Her door hung cracked open. All it required was a little push.

  There she was, diligently pressing pen to paper beneath a brass lamp with an outstretched arm to shine the light directly down on her desk. Talyen looked up, unsurprised to see me. “Zaira, good to see you’re up and about.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “What are you writing?” I stepped into Talyen’s quarters, which were a good deal smaller than my own. It didn’t have its own walk-in closet. It felt odd that I’d be given such grand accommodations compared to her when she did all the work for this ship.

  Talyen set her pen down on her desk, giving a quick glance toward her paper before she turned. “I write an account of everything that happens on this ship. All of the great battles, our deeds we do when not in combat. Someone needs to keep an accurate record for posterity.”

  “And you have time to do that?”

  “I did before, when Theo was in charge.” Talyen said. It was clear from her tone that she missed those days.