Boots followed Burke’s finger to each man. “Amazing.”
“Perhaps,” Burke said, “but I more believe it be aptitude and training.” He paused, and found Jane, “And now I need you to contact your friends and direct them to begin phase 2.”
Jane nodded, and stepped into the jungle briefly. When she returned she nodded to Burke. “Alright men,” Burke said in a low tone, “time for phase 2.”
The men checked their weapons as Boots had seen them do many times already, and then divided into three groups of four. Suddenly, a Nosferatu wearing small black cravat appeared beside Sanchez, and Isadoro jumped then crossed himself when Aiyana showed up at his elbow. When the assembly had re-established control of their wits, Burke nodded and each group left in a different direction, each with a vampire leading. Jane stayed with Boots and Burke, along with two other men. Jones was a block of a man, the Chief Boilerman as Burke had said previously, and Bosko, a huge man that moved as silent as a cat.
“Bosko is one of the original escapees,” Burke shared as they walked. “He shared a cell next to me and joined us when we liberated the Swan. He doesn’t talk much but is a wizard with explosives.”
Instead of using the winding road, they cut their time by following Jane who followed trails and paths that went straight up the mountain. Boots assumed John and Aiyana were doing the same with their groups. The climb was strenuous but two hours later they stood at the edge of a clearing, strategically placed as a barrier against those attempting to sneak up to the fifteen-foot wall. Anyone wishing to attack would have to cross a thirty-foot clearing.
Directly across the clearing from their position, a narrow door, built into the wall, offered possible entrance if one could get to it safely. Burke was about to send Jones to see to the lock when Jane tensed and crouched. Before Boots could ask, he felt a heavy vibration, the spacing of which was like footsteps. In the next minute they were more distinct and caused them to draw and charge their rifles.
They didn’t have long to wait before one of the mechanical men strode past them. At the door, it paused, a glow emitted from its extended hand and a web of lightning bolts flashed out and covered the surface of the door. Several seconds later, it stopped and the mechanical man swiveled, its arm extended toward them and began to glow, but before the bolts of electricity reached out and struck them down, Jane left her position and in a blur, dashed across the distance toward the mechanical. Jumping into the air at the last second, she grabbed a handful of tubes and wires connected into the dome of the machine where a head would be. Her inertia carried her over the thing and her weight bent piping and ripped out wires. Steam erupted from the machine but did nothing to stop the bolts of electricity shooting from the hand. A large palm tree took the brunt of the charge, exploded and the pieces fell into the clearing.
Bosko was next to bolt from his position. He too ran toward the mechanical and jumped, but is jump was intended to have the opposite effect as Jane’s. He pointed his legs directly at the machine, locked his legs and arms against his side and kicked the machine in the upper chest. His size, focused at the point of impact, tipped the machine back, and assisted by Jane, who now had another handful of tubes, pulled the mechanical man to the ground.
Bosko rolled away while simultaneously shifting his slug thrower to the front. He rolled to his feet and drew down on the mechanical, which thrashed in an attempt to regain its footing. Jane held up a hand, to stop the man, then pulled open a metal chest cover and struck the exposed gears with her fist. The machine lay still.
Together, Bosko and Jane dragged the machine to the alcove door where Boots, Burke and Jones arrived shortly. “Well, now, that was quite exciting,” Boots said. The men grinned and nodded while Jane rolled her eyes and shook her head, very unsettling in her current form.
“Jones, see to the door,” Burke ordered. “Bosko, stand watch.”
Both men took their place, Jones pulling out a small tool roll and using the lantern to see the lock. Bosko, rifle still in hand, moved to the forward opening of the alcove and crouched. Boots and Jane knelt beside the mechanical, Jane trying to rip further parts from the machine. Boots understood her actions and placed a hand up, stopping further destruction. He looked over the machine and found a small panel, just beneath the head dome. He used the end of his belt knife, inserted into a locking mechanism, to unlock the panel. When the panel door sprung open, he could see two buttons, one green, one red.
Pushing the red button caused several things to happen at once. The high-pitched hum that had been annoying him, ceased. A burst of steam shot out from beneath the mechanical, surrounding them briefly with a wet warm cloud. Next, a loud click sounded as the dome separated from the body of the mechanical man.
Jane reached for the dome and removed it, letting roll from her hand onto the ground beside her. In the glow of the lantern, Boots could see the pale hairless head of a Nosferatu. The vampire’s eyes were half-open in a dreamlike stare. Jane placed one hand on its forehead and closed her eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, then the Nosferatu’s eyes shut also and a tear rolled down Jane’s cheek, the vampire was dead.
From somewhere in the jungle, a high-pitched keening floated to them, then a second lower in tone, from the jungle on the opposite side of the alcove. When Jane raised her head and opened her eyes, there was fire in them. She turned to the door behind her, at which Jones was crouched and furiously trying to gain access. She pushed him and he rolled back on his post like haunches, then she drew back and struck the door lock with her open palm, driving the locking mechanism through the thick wooden door. Before it had clattered useless on the stone floor beyond, she was through the door. Burke motioned to his men and they followed low, guns raised.
When Boots entered the small room, little more than five seconds later, four guards lay dead around them. The first, lying just inside the door, had received the full impact of her rage, his head lay near his torso with only a huge puddle of blood connecting them.
“I’m concerned at the decision to add these creatures to any nation’s defense structure,” Burke muttered, as he looked around. “A small army of them could change the course of any armed conflict.”
Boots smiled wryly, “Well currently, I’m glad they are working with us.”
Chapter 59 – Entering the Lair of the Lightning Lord
Persi’s emotions were a stormy sea. At the crest of the wave was anger. How could he just leave me! she thought, slapping the top of the navigation table and sending a pencil skittering across the chart laid atop it. In the valley of the wave was fear. She knew the odds were not in their favor.
“Persi,” Genevieve tried, “I cannot make this any better for you but I can tell you his only thought was for your safety and that of your child. He felt this Duke had to die and that your agency needed to be represented in his end.”
“But he should have talked to me. I would have listened,” Persi said, the anger part of the wave showing itself.
Genevieve smiled, “My dear, I have only known you a brief time and even I know that would not be the case. And when he had convinced you to stay onboard, you would have found a way to join them.”
Persi turned her head away from the Captain, not wanting her to read the truth of her statement in Persi’s face.
Genevieve crossed the floor and placed her hand on Persi’s shoulder. “He is well trained and experienced, and he is with my Mr. Burke, I believe they will achieve success. Perhaps not all they wish, but certainly some, and live to tell about it.
Persi hung her head, “I would like to think you are wrong, that I do have the ability to listen and judge correctly, but apparently it is not so. It is something I suspect I will find a constant challenge.”
“I suspect you are correct,” Genevieve said, releasing her shoulder. The Captain turned, grabbed a tube near the Navigation plot and spoke into it. “Engine room, all ahead one-third.” She turned to the Ships Control station. “Ships Control, maintain your altitude based on
the ADRD. Helm, steady course 0-2-0, we do not want to arrive before Commander Burke is ready, or Captain Mario is positioned.
Each station acknowledged the command.
Time to sunrise, Mister Bull?” she asked.
Bull looked at a chart that lay on his table. “One hour and fifty-nine minutes, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mister Bull,” she said. Moving to her chair, she sat in her usual if extremely unladylike position, sideways with one leg hitched up over one padded arm. “And now comes the hardest part, the wait.
“I will be in my cabin. Please send someone to get me before you begin. I will stay out of the way, but if I cannot be present in the ground fight, I would like to be present at the one in the air.”
Genevieve’s voice drifted over the back of the large chair, “As you wish.”
Alone in her cabin she sat on the bed. She had taken the leather folder of elder writings from their place in the small locked trunk they kept by the bed, now spread out next to her. With the Nightwalkers gone, I can now read these in comfort. She poured over them again, looking for something that might help, but the all she found was what she had discovered before- opening gates, closing gates, and the nightmares that can occur if the gate is not closed properly.
“Not closed properly,” Persi said to herself. “So if it is Narcissa’s plan to open a gate for the elder gods, and it is suddenly closed improperly, destruction is heaped onto the one opening it, though what that is, is not explained.” She raised her head and closed her eyes, to think. Does it matter what happens, as long as it happens to him? Probably not, unless it means the elder things kill Narcissa then move on to destroy the entire world. Persi opened her eyes, “No, they would not be so put out unless it meant they could not use the gate,” she said.
She shuffled through the pages until she found the gate designs. The text told of a horizontal as well as a vertical component of a gate. Some shapes and symbols were drawn on the floor and connected to another set that was drawn on a wall. Boots must alter either plane to get the affect needed to improperly close the gate, does he know, did we speak of it? Well he must hear of it, or rather he will, for I shall devise a way to tell him.
With that, she gathered the papers and resealed them in the locked box, then left her room to speak to a Boatswain. She had a plan.
****
“The room is secure, sir,” Jones announced, from the far corner.
Burke nodded and moved into the room. He caught Bosko’s eye, who gave him the ‘thumbs up’ signal confirming Jones’ assessment, and then strode quickly to the only other door in the room.
A glass globe-like object hung from the ceiling and emitted light. Boots decided this was more of Tesla’s design, since it reminded him of the streets of Aspen. He looked at the supplies stacked about the room, and the small fireplace with a black cast iron pot hanging over hot coals. The only furniture was a single bunk bed, both neatly made, and a table with two chairs. In a rack near the exterior door in which Jones had closed and wedged the lock back into, stood several rifles and a couple cases of ammunition.
“A guard room, from what I can see,” Boots said.
“Agreed,” said Burke. He pointed to the door, “We need to move again, Jane?”
Jane, whose eyes still had a predatory intensity that made Boots subconsciously look away, walked to the interior door and listened. Several seconds later she looked back at them, nodded and opened it.
Burke hissed and his men exited the room after her. “She will need some training in group tactics,” he mumbled.
They travelled down the stone hallway, reminding Boots of some of the basement spaces in the grand castles he had visited in Europe. The hallway was twelve feet high, and about eight-feet across. It was lit every twenty feet by another glowing globe suspended from the ceiling by a cable. Jane moved along the wall, stopping them when a doorway came into view. She listened at the door, then motioned them to follow, and continued down the hallway.
She stopped at a cross passageway and lifted her head to smell the air, then motioned them against the wall. The team unslung and charged their guns ready for a fight when several seconds later John, dressed only in his miniature black cravat stepped into view, closely followed by the team he led. While the team regrouped, Jane and John stepped into the side passage, fifteen seconds later John emerged in human form, while Jane stood next to him in her smaller Nosferatu form.
“Jane suggested I change so that I could speak to you. It is her message but she thought changing into her human form …” He looked at the room full of men. “might be too, distracting.”
“Well thought out,” Boots said. “And the message?”
“There are humans in that direction. There is life, for we can feel hearts beating, but there is also filth and decay, it will be a challenging scene I suspect. Jane suggests you do not send your whole team to investigate. We believe Aiyana has found the main assembly and she will need us to help.”
Burke looked at Jones, “Pick four men and investigate. If you find people, get them back down this hallway and into the jungle. If possible, arm them with the dead guard’s guns and ammunition before exiting.”
Jones nodded, picked four men including Bosko, and slipped quietly down the passageway.
“We will be moving ahead for a few hundred feet where we will find a stairway up. At the top of the stair, we will find Aiyana and her team. They have encountered conflict similar to yours. There are minor injuries but she assures us they are still a viable fighting force. We have one hour before we must leave you. The Nosferatu here have been modified by him to withstand the sun, and they belong to him, obey him. We tell you this to modify our arrangement concerning their lives. We may not be able to control them so do what you must to kill this Narcissa. It will be enough to remember our brothers as a sacrifice to destroy a truly evil man.”
Boots nodded, “Understood, but we shall look for other means to make our mission a success. If there is no need to end their lives, we will not.”
Both vampires nodded. “Thank you,” John said.
They re-formed their team and proceeded down the hall and their meeting with Aiyana.
Chapter 60 – Beacon and Burke Engage
Boots stepped out of the stairwell, to greet Aiyana and her team. She passed them and continued down the passageway with only a nod at him and Burke. Burke, exasperated, signaled all to follow.
She made her way along the hallway signaling them when caution was needed, for they found that area patrolled by more of the Nosferatu driven mechanical soldiers Finally, after climbing another set of stairs, they reached a landing where they heard the hum of machines. John changed and spoke. “This is where we must leave you. The sun is about to rise and we need to be hidden before that occurs.” He reached out and patted the rucksack on Jane’s back. “We will be in the jungle, straight out from the door Jane breached. Hopefully, we will awaken on the Swan, but if not, if we are still in the jungle when night falls again, we will make are way back to Pointe-noir and contact the gentleman you named.”
Boots nodded. “Good, we can arrange a pickup from there, even if it takes you months to arrive.” He extended his hand to all three. “It has been an honor, but I feel certain we will be eating together tonight.”
All three vampires nodded, then slipped silently back down the stairwell. After they were gone, Burke led the group to a large door. He motioned them all against the wall and gave the signal to ready their rifles before opening it a crack. The volume of turning machines increased as the door inched open.
Boots looked over his shoulder and past him, he saw a large open room, like that of a warehouse. Seventy-foot high ceilings made from hundreds of large glass panes covered a floor space that must have been one-hundred feet in each direction. Huge steel beams formed four towers, one in each corner of the room and rising nearly thirty-feet, each topped with a series of copper posts protruding radially from the top of the towers, like a wagon wheel without the
rim. At the end of each post, or spoke, was attached what appeared to be a ceramic ball. Boots recognized them immediately as the ceramic ball that had been stolen from the train. Men in lab coats shuffled about turning cranks and pulling levers. Some watched gauges, then signaled those with the cranks and handles. Small lightning bolts discharged randomly from metal studs on the ceramic balls. The frequency and spasmodic energy reminded Boots of a pressure valve on a steam engine.
Boots eyes found a platform against the far wall where two people stood observing the entire circus. He opened one of the pockets of his tactical waistcoat and withdrew a small spyglass. From another pocket, he pulled a small box. With a flip of his thumb, a lens clicked into position at the end of a slot. He set the spyglass into a slot opposite the lens, and pushed a button. With the spyglass now locked into the box, he lifted it to his eye. Keeping a hand on the box portion, he pushed a second button causing the oil filled lens to expand, bringing the couple on the platform closer and into focus.
The woman was no other than Lady Regina Westbury. She stood in a stylish black walking dress, a red corset accented it, as did the red-trimmed black British Army bicorn hat. She wore a wide black belt from which a sword hung and a pistol was tucked through. Her hands were folded in front of her as she stood behind the man, dressed in black robes on which various arcane symbols were embroidered in silver. He had seen many of these symbols among the vile papers of the elder gods. He knew this could only be Duke Leopold Narcissa, the self-aggrandized- Lightning Lord.
“It is him,” Boots whispered to Burke. “Far wall, up on the platform.”
Burke’s head tilted until he saw the platform and nodded.
Suddenly, their view was blocked when a mechanical soldier walked in front of the door and turned to face the activity. Burke slowly closed the door and moved away a few steps. It was hard to believe these huge metal devices were being powered by a Nosferatu, a third the Boots size. When it moved, he could see and hear little spurts of steam. Steel pistons supplied by copper tubing cycled up and down as the mechanical moved its arms and legs. Boots decided the heavy metal plates covered the areas most likely to be critical to the devices effective performance. The mechanical carried no guns, but had what appeared to be miniature versions of the Burlington repeaters mounted to each forearm.
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