Chasm Walkers

by Raquel Byrnes

  “Go,” Ashton yelled. “I’ll get them.”

  Riley gritted his teeth, but nodded and ran after Ms. Timble.

  A thunderclap roared over the port, and I flinched. “Ash, grab her and run!” I screamed.

  He scooped her up and ran with her to the capsule as I followed with Jack.

  The wire whipped along the planks, dragging and tearing as the Chasm Walker tossed in the waves below.

  A swell brought the vessel almost level and I spied Hunley’s shocked face in the porthole. She raised a hand as if to wave before plunging back down. The cable twanged, a strand of wire breaking.

  “You have to go with her to work the brakes,” Ashton said. “She cannot take a crash like we had and Jack will tumble around in there and get hurt.”

  Another swell tossed the submersible and the tether between the Chasm Walker, and the port dragged across the wood walkway. The planks tore, shearing off in pieces. I grabbed the wire, trying to hold it from going any further. The mechanica in my arms and legs fired silvery light, and I shouted with the flood of power. “Go, Ash,” I screamed, straining. “I am stronger than you. Get them safe!”

  Hesitating for a moment, Ashton relented and got in with her. “I will be back,” he shouted over the pounding rain. Nodding, I handed him Jack.

  “I’ll help Riley,” I said and closed the door. Unsure if it was secure, and with no time to waste, I shoved with all of my strength, sending the capsule sliding back down the wire to the chute in the submersible. It wobbled on the line, waves smashing into it as it went. The cable sliced at my hands, and I cried out as pain erupted from the device in my spine. The capsule disappeared back into the Chasm Walker, and I let the line go, panting with the effort.

  Riley ran over, his face bleeding from a nasty gash. His gaze went overboard. “Did they…”

  “They made it.” A blast tore over the port. Sharper than thunder, the sound made the hairs on my arms stand. Cannon fire. I searched the sky. To the east, closing fast, a lone air ship flew out of the churning black clouds. “What is that?”

  Riley turned, shielding his eyes. “Is it the Coalition?”

  Pulling down on the muscle behind my eye, the distance lens engaged. I squinted and my blood ran cold. It was a fast ship, a battle class. The distinctive marking on the ship’s hull gave it away.

  “That is Arecibo,” I said, my voice shaking.

  “How did he find us?” Riley spit rain as he spoke.

  “He has spies everywhere. I am sure Arecibo heard your whereabouts as soon as the Coalition did.” I spun, scanning for the Chasm Walker’s grappling hook. In one powerful kick, I freed the cable. It fell away from the port and sank into the sea.

  “What are you doing?” Riley ran to the edge, his hands covering his mouth.

  “Keeping them safe.” Reaching for the baton in the pouch at my side, I ratcheted its sections out, feeling the power slide from my mechanica to the shaft and back, redoubling. Another crack of cannon fire meant we were too late. The round was already on its way. It crashed into the water less than ten feet from the port. “A warning shot.”

  “Or bad aim,” Riley intoned, drawing his weapon.

  I shook my head, striding across the ruined port toward the approaching ship. “Arecibo doesn’t miss.”

  The air ship sped down, firing again.

  “I heard he blew up the Coalition of Khent meeting,” Riley panted, running next to me. The rain had slicked his hair down, and he blinked as the deluge hit us head on. “What is he doing here?”

  “He wants Jack. He won’t fire until he has him.”

  Arecibo’s ship banked, flying over the port. The sails whipped in the storm and the ballast netting twisted in the winds. And then I saw them, Trembler Knights standing on the edge of the ship’s railing. Five of them pulled their swords and leapt. My heart stuttered, but I charged, raising my baton, feeling the strength build. Jaw locking with a surge of power, I ran, closing the distance in seconds. A series of successive blasts echoed from the ship and a cluster of objects soared towards the port. I skidded to a stop, unsure of what they were. The clawed feet of the metal spheres connected with the metal cables of the pylons and walkways. They landed in a ring around me and I turned, scrambling to get out of their perimeter. Riley staggered backward, going down as the hair on his head rose with the building charge.

  Purple tracer lashes flowed from Arecibo’s ship. The energy flowed to the spheres and then leapt to the riggings and cables of the walkways and buildings, arching across the air.

  Whips of light slammed into me from every direction, a ring of white-hot pain that brought me to my knees. I screamed, the mechanica embedded in my skin smoking and misfiring with the onslaught of overwhelming power. “No!” I cried, trying to crawl. Every joint in my body froze, locked with the jolt searing through me.

  Riley lay sprawled, not stirring.

  Agony tore across my head, the lens in my eye engaging and retracting. I gasped for air, falling to the planks, twitching. A wave poured up over the side of the port, swirling around me, filling my mouth and eyes. I coughed, unable to move.

  A pair of boots came into view, and a whimper escaped my lips. Long cloak flailing in the storm, Arecibo peered down at me. He bent down, grabbed a chunk of my hair, pulling my head up to face him. Rain poured down from his nose, and he shook his head, a wry smile pulling on his tight skin. “You have been quite a bother,” he said and let go.

  My cheek banged on the planks, and I tasted blood.

  “A faulty little weapon, if I do say so.” Flipping his cloak back like a pianist, Arecibo hefted me up and over his shoulder.

  I dangled helplessly, terror crawling through my mind as he walked with me back to the air ship. Riley stirred and I tried to call to him, but I was paralyzed. My mechanica continuing to fire sporadic shocks.

  “But do not worry. We shall remedy that right away.”

  35

  Ashton

  Night fell, temperatures plunged, and the storm continued to rage.

  Ashton, Riley and some of the remaining citizens huddled in what was left of the meeting hall. The tempest outside flung debris, rain, and seawater in through the breaks in the building’s wall eliciting startled yelps from those inside. The entire port would suddenly dip or shake with the force of the waves and cries would fill the dark interior.

  The Chasm Walker was long gone with the most injured and helpless of Outer City. Those remaining sat together in clusters, whispering and comforting each other. Men and youths. Older couples...

  Ashton was aware that other such buildings all over the remaining ports housed similar collections of frightened people hoping to make it through the night.

  Riley offered Ashton a canteen.

  Taking it, Ashton drank down the cold and bitter coffee, grateful for something to remedy his dry mouth. Handing it back, he buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes.

  “You found her once,” Riley intoned. “You can do it again.”

  Ashton shot him a look. “You knew it was me giving Mara information all along?”

  “Yeah,” Riley said and shrugged. “Listen, that Arecibo didn’t go through all that trouble to collect her if he planned to kill her. He had plenty of time to do that. Instead, he came all the way out here himself and took her without even a single bullet being fired.”

  “You don’t know what he’ll do to her,” Ashton said, his voice a rasp. “I think…I think she would have preferred to perish instead of going back to that torture. I shouldn’t have left her. I should have—”

  “She wanted Jack safe,” Riley cut him off. “And there was no way of knowing what would happen.”

  “Yes. I could have.” Ashton sighed, leaning back. “I knew her rage. Her need for revenge. If I had been here. If I had seen him coming, I could have stopped her.”

  “Doubtful.” Riley said.

  “What?” Ashton glanced over at the sheriff.

  “The first time I met her, when she w
as all wide-eyed and fresh from the ballrooms of Manhattan, she caused a riot. I’ve seen her face off with armed soldiers, at a parade, no less. Heck, she even blew up a Wind Reaper in the middle of an all-out war.” Riley smiled sadly. “I have never known anyone or anything to be able to stop Blackburn.”

  Lighting flashed and thunder rolled over the building and shook the planks. Riley was right. Ashton’s chest ached as he thought of her. He had to find her as soon as humanly possible. The thought of losing her for another two years made it hard to breathe, to think. She could not suffer like that again. “I cannot remain here,” Ashton said. “I have to get to my contacts within the Order. They may be able to help. And you cannot either, Riley. This storm may hide you for a day, maybe two, but you cannot endure it for long.”

  Riley nodded silently, swirling the coffee inside the canteen. “I’ve been thinking on that. You said Hunley will be back in the morning?”

  “Yes, it took us half a day’s journey to get here from her base. She’ll drop them off, turn around and come back for more.”

  “I think we should try to transport sections of the ports via your submersible instead of just ferrying people a couple dozen at a time. There are almost a thousand left on this port and the others still attached. With our location exposed. I see no point in trying to ride out this storm. They’ll find us anyway.”

  “What are you planning?” Ashton asked. “Perhaps the governors will decide to step in. Outer City is valuable even if they do not want to admit it.”

  “Can’t wait for them.” Riley shook his head. “I’m hoping to hide parts of us all around the islands off the Carolinas. Maybe rebuild the best we can, use the waterways to keep supplies going until we figure out what to do about Europe wanting all of us dead.” Riley took a tug on the canteen. “You catch a ride out with her to the coast and you can start your search right away.”

  “I think that will work,” Ashton said. He stood, wincing as he put weight on his injured leg. The stitches were intact, but the muscles had gone stiff in the cold.

  A cannon blast pierced the storm and Ashton froze.

  Riley tossed him a nearby rifle and they ran outside flanked by a few other men.

  Lights, flickering in the clouds, looked like fireflies that grew in enormity. Halos of mist around the lanterns aboard the armada ships set off shadows as the masts whipped in the storm. The rain beat on the ballasts, adding to the deafening noise.

  “They’re here!” Riley shouted as another blast rocketed across the expanse.

  The round hit, decimating a nearby building, blowing it to splinters. Tracer fire erupted from the decks as the soldiers opened up on the port.

  “Find cover!”

  “Aim for their ballasts,” Ashton ordered to the others, taking aim. He fired and the ship exploded in mid-air, lighting up the dark sky in a furious fireball. Shocked, Ashton looked at his rifle and then over at Riley, who stared, with his mouth open.

  “How’d you do that—?”

  Another ship exploded, then another. Blast after blast like rocket fire. Breaking formation, the vessels scrambled. Lighting flashed, exposing the armada vessels. They veered off, some colliding.

  Ashton aimed again, but the explosions continued despite him.

  Seven, eight ships disintegrated in a rain of fire.

  “What is happening?” One of the men shouted.

  “Gunpowder fire?” Riley asked no one particular.

  “On every one of the ships?” Ashton asked and ducked as two more ships exploded in a hail of debris. Their fiery hulls splashed to the waters below, men spilling from the sinking vessels and disappearing under the waves. “Not likely.”

  “Then what?” Riley held his arm up against the rain, his face a mask of confusion.

  Ashton scanned the skies. The whole of the armada was gone. He looked at Riley. “Sabotage.”

  36

  Aware at first of the cold, I fought to stay in the darkness, trying to hide from the pain. The familiar pressure of a band around my head sent horror piercing through my heart. Hands and legs bound, I struggled to understand how I could hear the drone of an airship and yet be in Arecibo’s laboratory at the same time.

  Fingers forced my eyelids open and a light bored into my head.

  “Charlotte.”

  Arecibo’s silky voice brought a tightness to my throat I could barely stand.

  “Wake up.”

  A sickening drop made me gasp and my eyes shot open. We were inside his air ship, and I was strapped to a medical gurney. Arecibo’s face came into view. Peering down at me through the doctor’s mirror strapped over his eye, he adjusted the leads. The feel of their spikes against my skin caused me to jolt. I struggled with the bindings, crying out. “P-please no,” I moaned, my soul tearing as I realized what I had done. I had run straight back into my darkest nightmare.

  A woman came into view, her long gown and braided hair soft in the harsh lamp overhead. “It is done,” she cooed, gazing at Arecibo. “There is nothing but the Union’s broken and scattered army that stands in the way now. If we hit them fast, before they figure out what has happened, before more Coalition ships arrive…”

  “Then you shall have your kingdom, my love,” Arecibo said. “Nothing can stop us now.” Arecibo turned to me, his hand closing like a vise around my chin. “Where is the boy?” Arecibo asked. “Where is Jack?” He ran a finger down to my temple before yanking on my ear viciously. “Tell me where he is.”

  “Far from y-you,” I rasped. “You cannot have him.”

  Arecibo leaned over me, his hands on the gurney. “Oh, they cannot hide him for long. You can hear him. And if you can do that, you can control him.” Arecibo pulled a rolled-up piece of gum rubber from his pocket.

  The sight of its chewed surface made bile rise in my throat.

  “And I control you.” He pushed it between my teeth, holding it as he reached for the dial of the electrodes.

  I blinked against the sting of tears behind my eyes. Bracing myself, grabbing onto the material of my pants with fists, I held my breath.

  “We have much to do, Charlotte,” Arecibo said. The rise of static electricity pricked my cheeks and my hair floated up. “I need you back.”

  A sob bubbled up from my chest, and I tried to scream around the mouth guard.

  His arm moved as he turned the dial, and I squeezed my eyes shut, a desperate cry whirling through my frantic mind.

  He will wipe every tear from their eyes—

  Bright white exploded in my head and then nothing.

  37

  The New York dome sizzled in the morning dew as we flew aboard Arecibo’s air ship. Numbness permeated my mind and body. I knew only now. The approaching battle. There was nothing else. I stood aboard the packed ship next to Arecibo. Gas mask covering my mouth and nose, I peered at the shore through blue-tinted goggles. The vapors floated past us, leaving sticky residue on the long sleeves of my tunic and armor chest piece. Hand to the chainmail bandolier draped across one shoulder, I adjusted the throwing disks and shrieking violets attached. A number of other weapons tinked against the metal, and I let my fingers glide over each one, checking their positions.

  My men flanked us on either side. The morning sun glinted off their full body armor, and I searched the poles for the heralds. They fluttered, a wind blew off the water, not enough to affect our approach. The shore advanced quickly. Order novices and knights readied their gear behind us. I tracked their movements, watching their weapons.

  Engaging the distance lens, I scanned the approaching shoreline. An Aero Squad dirigible milled in the space just outside the dome. Unusual for this area and type of day, but not alarming.

  “One ship?” The woman next to him asked. She shifted in her outlander suit, pointing. “Have they nothing more?”

  “As expected.” Arecibo nodded, his voice muffled within the filter. His black cloak and battle gear clanged as he shifted to maintain his balance. “The bulk of their forces are with the Go
vernors’ Summit in Manhattan.”

  The woman smiled through the glass of her face mask. “Perfect.”

  Movement to our right in the shifting vapors pulled my gaze and I moved, ratcheting out the sections of my baton.

  The Aero Squad dirigible flew near us, its search lamps slicing the noxious mist. It blasted a warning from its horns. A few seconds passed. Arecibo shook his head at the helmsman, who maintained our course.

  An amplified voice sounded. “You are in protected territory of the Peaceful Union. Change course immediately. You have ten seconds to comply.”

  When we didn’t turn, it veered toward us at full speed. Their cannon swiveled, aiming in our direction.

  Arecibo didn’t move, and I stepped in front of him, blocking the trajectory should they fire.

  Arecibo turned to the woman in the gown. “Care to give the order, my queen?”

  She nodded with a smirk. “Attack.”

  Arecibo shouted over his shoulder at the helmsman. “Now!”

  We barreled forward, soaring for the dome at top speed. The Aero Squad’s bulky vessel gave chase but was no match for our battle class ship. I grasped hold of a rope rigging and fired the shocks in my hand mechanica to clamp on. Leaning over the railing, I peered down at the waters offshore. Soaring just above the waves, our ship led the way for an invisible battalion sliding beneath the surface of the sea.

  The woman’s submersibles in attack formation sped toward New York’s Tesla Dome. Their spy scopes rose from the waves, and a pulsing tone blared across the waters to the shore. The sound rose in strength and volume, piercing the air.

  My temple devices flared hot and I winced, activating shocks to correct the muscle tremors, giving me control over the painful spasms of my affliction. And then their anguish hit me; crushed into my chest. A blast of glacial pain. Their pull was vast, threading out from the city, slicing my mind with shrill rage and torment. My head snapped back and I brought my hands to my temples, panting. Tremblers…thousands of them.