by S. S. Engle
Kassidy walked over to touch the guillotine but she couldn’t get herself to do it. The sound of the blade falling rang in her ears even though she wasn’t present at the event. She was solely relying on her overactive imagination to fill in the blanks of the past. It was vivid enough. But this wasn’t what she was looking for. The weapon which killed a good and honest man was not what her father would have left her. She crouched down on her heels and began looking through the cave for clues. There had to be something else. She wouldn’t accept this was the end of the line. In the faces of Luca and Harlan, she could tell she was fighting an uphill battle. They would give her all the time in the world to work through this, but they didn’t think anything else was here. She had to find some sort of convincing evidence to make them think otherwise. She hung her head, and her dark red hair fell down in isolated strands in front of her face. They were swaying back and forth in an ever so slight breeze. But as far back from the opening of the magma chamber as they were, a breeze of any sort would have been impossible. She focused on her hair for a few seconds to make sure she wasn’t just fabricating this as an elaborate trick of the mind.
“You guys, come here!”
“What is it sweetheart?”
“Come down here. Sit really still. Do you see what I see?”
“I don’t know, what are you seeing?”
“Watch my hair. It’s moving.”
“So?”
“Where is the breeze coming from Luca?”
She picked her head up with a devil may care grin and Luca matched her expression. Another clue. All three of them in the cave now were pacing the rock walls inch by inch to try and find something that didn’t belong. A stone or boulder out of place. Kassidy was pushing the walls for indication something was behind them, a hollow recess, anything. She retraced her steps from beside the guillotine where she had been crouching down, and followed the direction her hair had been blowing to locate a source for the breeze. She found it. A crack in the wall, nearly unseen if not for the absence of spider webs. With Luca and Harlan’s help the three were able to shift the slab over enough for Kassidy only to slip inside. The men were just too thick and wide to squeeze themselves in. But it was all for the better. They could see what Kassidy saw as she took the lantern in with her. Somehow, she knew this place. She’d been there before. She couldn’t quite piece everything back together, but she knew, she knew this place. She knew right where to look. The guy’s eyes in the guillotine cave wouldn’t wander form Kassidy’s every little move. They found the box together, covered in an emerald velvet blanket. Luca felt Harlan tense up beside him and looked down at the O’Brien. It was no box Kassidy uncovered, it was a casket.
With no markings or indications of who was inside, Kassidy felt a flood of tears fall from her eyes. She didn’t even try to stifle them. Searching for a way inside the casket she had to wipe her eyes just to see clearly. Her throat was completely closed up, swollen, from holding back the inevitable. She found the clamps and opened them, dust flying off in the light of the lantern. Harlan stepped back and slid against the rock wall until he was sitting on the ground, curled up with his knees in his chest. Luca knew the casket. He’d seen in it before on the Lydia, long ago when he was younger. It was for the captain, should anything ever happen to him. He knew Kassidy’s father was inside, he didn’t need visual confirmation. He turned now too, and let Kassidy have one last moment with her father. A moment she had been denied seventeen years prior. Kassidy was watching her hands tremble as she pushed the casket open, propping the lid up on her back as she sat carefully on the side. The plush velvet interior had faded in time, but her father was her father. She smiled, and tasted the salty tears as they continued to flood her face.
The notorious sky pirate, Captain Wilhelm von Detten, in his final resting place. He had not burned like the O’Brien’s had said. His ashes had not been scattered. He’d been saved, his body
mourned properly, as it should have been. He was in the last outfit she remembered him in. His oversized top hat with goggles strapped around the brim. His puffy white shirt and scarf that tucked into his long black coat. The Dreadcrank insignia pinned to his chest. His pocket watch was even tucked into the pocket of his coat, stopped at the time of the fire, 10:17 pm. She felt like she was burning up inside the cave just thinking about that fatal night, but looking down at her arms she could see goosebumps. Her father was nothing more than a pile of bones now, grinning even in death as she pulled on the handkerchief tied around his face. He had his two favorite guns with him, crossed over his chest looking ready for a fight in the afterlife. She snickered to herself. She never remembered him losing a fight until the day he died. Such a proud man, full of confidence, and rightly so. She was honored to carry such a name as von Detten, honored. A new flood of tears filled her eyes so much she had to turn away. This time, she collapsed on her knees in a fit of sobbing. The guys outside in the first cave heard this and tried frantically to push the rock slab open further so they could get to her, but it was too heavy. The best they could do was Luca propping himself in the opening, just wide enough for Harlan to slip in. He being the smaller of the two. Luca nodded she needed somebody, and condoned Harlan to rush to his friend’s aid. Harlan was crying as well, seeing what remained of his most positive father figure. He wrapped his arms around Kassidy as she shuddered in his hold.
“It’s alri-ri-right Kass. I’m here.”
“I miss him so much Harlan. It wasn’t fair. He deserved so much more than this.”
“He went ou-ou-out fighting. Just like h-h-he would h-h-have wanted to.”
“I just miss him. I don’t even remember what his voice sounds like, it’s been so long. I’m a terrible daughter!”
“Y-y-you are not! He w-w-would have been s-s-so proud of y-y-you.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because I’m s-s-so proud of y-y-you.”
“I don’t know why. I don’t deserve a friend like you. I ran for so long. Too long. I screwed up. My father never screwed up like me. I’m such a disappointment.”
“Stop th-th-that!”
“It’s true!”
“It is n-n-not! Y-y-you’re the bravest per-per-person I’ve ever kno-kno-known. Ever.”
“I’m just careless, that’s not brave. I’m a terrible person. Look what I’ve put you through over the years. Friends don’t do that. Friends do what you do. What you’re doing right now.”
“I love y-y-you for all y-y-your faults, and all y-y-your achievements. That’s what family d-d-does Kass.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“I’m far from per-per-perfect. Y-y-you are my best fr-fr-friend. Y-y-you always h-h-have been, and y-y-you always w-w-will be.”
“I don’t know where to go from here. Tell me what to do Harlan.”
“You kn-kn-know I can’t d-d-do that.”
“Yes, you can! Just tell me anything and I’ll do it! Please! Help me!”
“Go talk to Lu-Lu-Lucky. He’ll kn-kn-know what to do t-t-to fix y-y-you.”
“He shouldn’t want anything to do with me. I don’t deserve a guy like him in my life either.”
“He’s lo-l-losing his mi-mi-mind out there. He hates n-n-not being able to g-g-get to y-y-you right now. Y-y-you need him as mu-mu-much as he needs y-y-you.”
“I just don’t know anymore Harlan. I’ve put him through hell. He’d be so much more successful if it wasn’t for me.”
“Don’t say th-th-that! That man h-h-has always loved y-y-you Kass! He loved y-y-you wh-wh-when we were kids, and he’s never st-st-stopped. Not a single d-d-day has he ev-e-ever given up on y-y-you! He’s only wh-wh-where he is now becau-cau-cause of y-y-you.”
“But…”
“Go to h-h-him!”
“But…”
“Now!”
“Where will you be?”
“I’ll g-g-give y-y-you two some spa-spa-space. I’ll go sta-sta-stand guard or someth-th-thing.”
“Thank
you, Harlan.”
“Go to h-h-him.”
“I’m going.”
Harlan left the back cave first. Kassidy still had to close up her father’s casket before joining back up with Luca who was being patiently impatient on the other side of the rock slab. She floated her fingers over her father’s chest, desperately wanting to feel some sort of warmth from him, but there was nothing. And she noticed something. A shred of paper crammed in between his gloved skeleton hand and his gun. She tried to be gentle and strip the paper out but she couldn’t, and ended up cracking two of her father’s fingers to get the paper out. It was small, and she unfolded it carefully to see her father’s intricate handwriting.
My dearest Daughter,
If you are reading this then I have met my final days. I am so sorry Kassi. You have to know how badly I wanted to see the kind of woman you would grow into. I know you are doing well, wherever it is you are in your life as you read this. It’s in your blood to succeed. We von Detten’s don’t know how to fail. Hopefully you have found a man that can treat you like the princess I always knew you to be. And if you have children I hope that you will tell them about me, only the good things of course! Be kind to your sky pirate father! I know I wasn’t around as much as I should have been, but I need you to know you were always in my heart dear Kassi. Always. You never left my thoughts. I only left you in the city to keep you safe. It pained me to do so, but I was positive I left you in the most capable of hands. If ol’ Wicked Jack is still with you tell him I was never prouder of a pirate in my entire life. He was as fine a man as I could have held company with for so many years. And his boy Luca, I hope he has turned out to be a fine man. Keep in touch with him Kassi, he will do right by you. He is of the finest stock. I wish to tell you so many things my beautiful daughter, but I fear you are too smart for me, and already know what lies in my heart. It is my greatest desire to hope you will do well in life. Much better than I. By the time you read this hopefully that terrible O’Brien family is long since destroyed, and the city of Engia has striven to be the grand jewel I knew it could be. There should be no need for the Absynthe Ring and the Dreadcranks. The gangs should be gone, and humanity restored. I wish nothing more for you than a happy and carefree life, full of peace. Lord knows it may be boring, but a life of nothing but fighting is no life worth living. Take it from an old man who knows all too well. Live life my daughter, and live it well. Smile often, love deeply, and never forget me. You have always been, and will always be, my greatest treasure.
Love always,
Your most devoted Father
For the first time in seventeen years, Kassidy felt closure. She closed up her father’s casket, placing a kiss on his bony cheek before she did so. She replaced the emerald velvet blanket, smoothing it out carefully so it looked untouched. In the front cave, she rejoined with Luca, who quickly surrounded her in a hug, full of the warmth she’d been needing for so long. Luca heard the crunch of paper between their bodies and looked down at Kassidy for an answer. Instead of explaining anything she let him read the letter for himself, and watched his eyes twinkle with tears as he did so. His smile made her smile, and he tucked his arm around her waist to pull her in close. She placed her hand on his chest and curled up into him as he folded the paper back into its original position. He carefully placed it in his pocket for safe keeping and sat down on the ground, with Kassidy moving side by side with him all the way.
“The end result was worth the years of hunting, what do you say sweetheart?”
“I knew he had to leave something behind for me. It was just what I needed, to see him one last time.”
“I hoped it lived up to your expectations.”
“It surpassed them. I had no idea it bothered him so much to leave me behind. As a child, I just thought turning cold would solve what I was feeling. But I was wrong.”
“We’ve all dealt with that day in our own way. At the time, who’s to say any way was the right way. We just did what we felt we needed to do to make it through.”
“But that’s not living, that’s just surviving.”
“No, we’re living now sweetheart. We’re living.”
“Where do we go from here? There’s no money to fund your attack you’ve always been talking about.”
“I have all the treasure I need. And what I have is far more valuable than any amount of money that could have been stored in this cave.”
“You flatter me, but I fear I don’t deserve it.”
“You never think you deserve anything. That’s why it’s my job to remind you.”
“You know, my father used to tell me something when I was younger. He said, it’s more important to be concerned with your character than your reputation, because if you know you’re a good person it means far more than what others say about you. I don’t think I ever fully understood what he meant by that until I met you again. You’d become the leader of my father’s gang in my absence. I don’t know what I was ever looking for when I came back to Engia, but sitting here now, I think I’ve finally found it. I was missing you, Luca. I don’t find myself wanting anything when I’m with you. I’m complete.”
“Now you flatter me sweetheart. It’s plain as day I don’t deserve a woman like you. Though I’ll spend all my hours to prove to you I’m as worthy as your father expected me to be. I’d never want to let you down. There’s a part of you in every part of me, the best parts. I’m glad you feel that you want nothing when you’re with me, because I have the same feeling. So long as we’re together, everything else can just fall into place around us.”
“We have to finish what our father’s started Luca. It’s been going on for far too long.”
“We will finish this.”
“How?”
“The devil is in the details sweetheart. Let me worry about that. Just follow my lead, and I won’t let anything bad happen to you. And that is a promise I’ll take to my grave.”
BANG BANG BANG!!!
13
From the entrance of the cave a scuffle could be heard. Luca and Kassidy rushed to their feet and closed the rock slab behind them to keep her father’s remains safe. They had nowhere to go, no clever escape to make. Standing side by side, Luca pulled out his steam gun and Kassidy her knife. Harlan came into view first, panting and out of breath, the color gone from his face. Without saying anything they all knew what was about to happen. Kassidy reached out and pulled her friend behind her for safety because he was no armed, and already pegged as the easiest target. Luca took a defensive stance over him as well, and Harlan thanked his one-time rival with not so many words. The footsteps echoing off the rock faces in the magma chamber could be indicative of a decent force headed their way. The Ringers had found them. All they could hope for now was that the Dreadcranks up in the palace had been left alone.
As the scramble began to slow down Kassidy reached over at her side to grab onto Luca’s mechanical hand, she squeezed hard, and he squeezed back. Harlan saw this and hung his head. He knew where he stood in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a good place to be, but there he was. Blue and Silas walked into the front cave first, eyeing the guillotine as they entered. Behind them a dress was dragging the ground, hiding herself. The glare of the wine bottle alerted Kassidy’s attention to a cowering Natasha, who refused to share eye contact with her. More Ringers backed them up, a steady stream of them as far as the light of the lanterns allowed. Even on Kassidy and Luca’s best day, with all their luck, they couldn’t fight their way out of this one. They just couldn’t. Silas was in his usual all black attire, leaning up against the frame of the guillotine in the shadows, lurking like a fox ready to strike his prey. It made Kassidy uncomfortable the way his eyes lingered on her, but she couldn’t allow him to hold her focus. Blue was stepping out in his finest, his pale skin glowing in the darkness of the cave. He was twirling his giant brass ring on his finger, his steam gun engaged and propped up over his shoulder, hand on the trigger. Silas looked pleased with his partner’s co
nfidence. But as Blue stepped forward to stand in the no man’s land created, Natasha was exposed. She couldn’t avoid Kassidy this time, and for the first time, it wasn’t in either of them to fight with one another. Kassidy actually felt sorry for her. How times had changed.