by Eric Asher
Alice glanced back. “Do you think it’s Ambrose working on the walls? It always did seem to be one of his priorities.”
Jacob nodded. “It could be. We’ll have to ask Baddawick. Or we can ask Ambrose, if we run into him.”
Drakkar adjusted the reins and guided George to the west, where a central street had been better cleared than the one they were on. Jacob’s grip tightened as they crossed rubble pushed to the edge of the road, and then they were on the relatively clean cobblestones closer to the Highlands.
The gates stood open, flanked by a handful of guards. Drakkar raised a hand in greeting, and two of the men motioned them in.
Jacob could see minor progress in the cleanup of the Highlands, but it was clear most of the efforts had gone into rebuilding the wall. Drakkar steered the Walker toward the stables just inside and to the left of the city gates.
“Is that Samuel?” Jacob asked, watching a Spider Knight take off down one of the streets.
“No way,” Alice said. “That wasn’t a Jumper, and I don’t think Samuel would be riding around without a helmet.”
George made a straight line for the same stable they’d left a couple days before. The Walker was almost as much a creature of habit as his keepers. They disembarked, checking the saddlebags with a stable hand as Drakkar explained that the dried Sweet-Flies should only be used as a treat.
While Drakkar was engaged, Alice started walking down the row of stalls. Jacob followed, peering in on the various mounts currently staying in the city. Several of the stables were empty, but others held Jumpers and their slower-moving cousins, giant black and tan Stalkers, spiders that dwarfed the Jumpers.
Jacob paused by a stall with a mantis. They were a favored mount of the wealthier families in the Highlands. This one was a brilliant emerald green and its eyes shifted, staring at Jacob with an unnerving gaze.
Alice’s squeak caught Jacob’s attention. She threw open one of the solid gates and hurried inside. Jacob jogged over and found her nestled against a furry gray Jumper. The spider chittered and bounced on its legs, smacking Alice repeatedly with its pedipalps.
“Bessie!” Jacob followed Alice into the stall to scratch the spider between its many eyes. “It’s good to see you.”
The Jumper still had a few bald spots on her legs where her injuries from the previous week’s battle were healing. Other spots were still bandaged, salve soaking them through.
Alice grinned at the spider. “Have you seen Samuel? I bet you miss him, don’t you?”
“There you are,” Drakkar said. “Come, let us make for the Wildhorse. Then we can rest at Samuel’s.”
Alice and Jacob gave the spider one more scratching and then made their way out of the stables.
“She looks good,” Alice said.
Jacob nodded in agreement as he followed her back into the streets of Ancora.
* * *
The Wild Horse Inn was crowded, but not nearly so raucous as it had been before the attacks on Ancora. Now tables were packed with a mixture of people from the Highlands and Lowlands, and Jacob was somewhat surprised to hear Baddawick wouldn’t let anyone pay for their meals.
“Not to worry,” Drakkar said. “I am sure he will still profit from the drink and the spectacle.”
“Incoming!” a bartender shouted. One of the tables launched its tray across the room, where it was neatly caught by a server and added back to a stack.
It still brought a smile to Jacob, but the room was far more somber without the jangling crescendos of a piano. The only sounds were clinking glasses and shouted orders, and tables kept mostly to their own hushed conversations.
Two armored forms flanked the bar, and Jacob had a sudden flashback to running away from city guards not so long ago. Now they only nodded in greeting as he joined Drakkar and Alice on a trio of barstools.
“Baddawick!” Drakkar shouted, startling the nearest guard. “I can see your hair from here. Come, speak with us.”
A wild tangle of white hair appeared at the kitchen window, barely restrained by a pair of goggles with more lenses attached to them than Jacob could count. Baddawick grinned and disappeared for a moment before throwing open a door beside the closest guard.
“Drakkar! Jacob, Alice, it’s good to see you all. A Dragon’s Bane for the Cave Guardian.”
A bartender nodded and started fixing a drink.
“Sweetwing Tea?”
Alice nodded. Jacob shrugged, but gave in after Alice glared at him.
“Just because it has wings does not mean it’s nasty.”
Drakkar looked like he too was about to protest the drink when the bartender delivered it, but Baddawick raised an eyebrow and waited for the Cave Guardian to take the first sip.
“The drink is excellent, Baddawick. You have my thanks.”
Baddawick dried his hands on a towel. “What do you need today?”
“Can you tell us who is directing the construction of the temporary walls?”
Baddawick stroked his beard. “Can’t say I remember the chap’s name. But Ambrose would know. He’s already starting a new stone wall in the northwest corner of the Lowlands.”
“Stone?” Alice asked, taking the two Sweetwing Teas from the bartender and handing one to Jacob.
“Yes, indeed. Says he’s tired of the Lowlands not being just as safe as the Highlands. Has a good size crew of volunteers hauling stone from some of the ruined houses.” Baddawick paused. “I reckon it’ll cause some supply issues when we start rebuilding those homes, but the old lift should be repaired by then. Bring some new stone into the city that way.”
“Maybe Archibald would help. If he’s leaving one of the warships stationed here, they can haul more than anything Ancora has.”
“Archibald has enough problems to deal with,” Baddawick said. “If we get desperate, we can reach out to Bollwerk. But Ancorans are a hearty bunch. We look out for each other.”
Drakkar looked up from his drink. “Do not flaunt your independence to the point of folly.”
“Ack,” Baddawick said with a grin. “Using my own words against me? I thought better of you, Drakkar.”
Drakkar matched Baddawick’s grin. “I do appreciate the drink.”
“On the house, and I’ll hear no more about it. You mean to help Ambrose with the wall?”
“I do now,” Jacob said, drawing Baddawick’s eye.
“The last apprentice of Atlier. The smiths around this city will expect much of you, Jacob. Except the city smith. Reckon he got a bit more than he expected.”
Jacob felt a small embarrassment flushing his cheeks at that. He sipped at the Sweetwing Tea. It was a concoction he’d never been fond of with the strange pearls at the bottom that popped in his mouth. But this was the best he’d had; sweet, yes, but a hint of herbs balanced out the musty flavor of the flies.
Drakkar threw back the last of his drink. “Thank you for the drinks, Baddawick. We will be staying with Samuel for a time should you need to contact us.”
Baddawick turned his collar down, showing the bright copper of a transmitter. “Reckon I can reach you anytime.”
Drakkar inclined his head. They said their goodbyes to Baddawick while Jacob and Alice finished their teas. It would be good to rest. Jacob expected tomorrow to be exhausting.
CHAPTER SEVEN
They stopped intermittently on the walk to Samuel’s house. An older woman wanted to speak with Drakkar, telling him how a Cave Guardian once saved her husband on the road to the Ridge Mountains. Jacob ducked into the candy shop as they passed the old hospital. Both buildings had been damaged in the attack on Ancora, but were already under repair.
Cocoa Crunch in hand, they made their way up the street until Samuel’s towering home came into view. It was hard not to think of it as Bat’s home, but Jacob knew it wasn’t anymore. Bat had sacrificed himself in the battle of Ancora against the Butcher.
They entered Samuel’s house through the open workshop, and Jacob ran his fingers along the workbench. H
e remembered working on the nail gloves and bolt gloves there with Charles. Jacob also remembered when the city guard had come for him, and Charles stopped them dead.
He followed Alice into the house, rubbing his fingers together to brush off the dust. The old couch and chairs where he’d once stayed with his parents were still in the entry room. A low chatter whispered through the halls, at least a dozen people in that room alone, and Drakkar nodded to those who paid attention to them.
“Is Samuel home?” Drakkar asked.
The older man he questioned only responded with a blank stare.
“You won’t get answers out of that one,” a familiar voice said.
Even as Jacob turned around, he heard Alice say, “Samuel! Trying to give us a heart attack?”
The Spider Knight grinned. He wasn’t much older than Jacob and Alice, only recently crossing twenty years of age. Jacob had never seen him look so old in all the time he’d known him. The conflict with Fel had taken a toll, and it was one Jacob saw in himself in the mirror.
Drakkar traded grips with the Spider Knight.
Samuel gestured to the spiral stairs in the corner. “I kept your rooms empty upstairs, though you’ll find the house is a bit more crowded than last time you were here. There’s food in the kitchen if you need it. My home is yours.”
“We saw Bessie at the stables,” Alice said. “Is she healing well?”
Samuel nodded. “They’re taking good care of her. I think she’ll make a full recovery.”
“That’s great to hear,” Jacob said.
Samuel held up a finger. “I went by Charles’s old place yesterday. I found something for you.”
Jacob exchanged a glance with Alice as the Spider Knight disappeared down the hallway. Samuel returned shortly after, a brown and tan booklet in his hand. Not a booklet, Jacob realized with a start. But a journal.
“I think it’s one of Charles’s old workbooks. Quite a few sketches in there, and I thought you’d like to have it.”
Jacob started thumbing through the pages as soon as Samuel handed it over. Not only was it filled with illustrations Jacob had never seen before, but Charles’s handwriting revealed gear ratios and tensioner settings for half a dozen different designs.
Alice elbowed him in the stomach. “And what do we say?”
Jacob smiled and closed the book. “Thank you. I’ve been wanting to go back to Charles’s lab. Where did you find this?”
“We were looking for more bolts for Ambrose. We moved a barrel, and that was underneath it. Well, it was actually underneath a cracked floor tile. Strange hiding place for a journal.”
Jacob nodded. “That’s why I want to go. There’s no way we got everything out of that lab. And I know the Butcher raided it, but his soldiers might not have found everything.”
“Do you know where we can locate Ambrose?” Drakkar asked.
“Of course. He’s always working on the northwest wall. Well, the southwest wall of the Highlands, which is …” He stopped and shook his head. “You know what I mean. Tell you what, meet me at Charles’s old lab in the morning. We can search the place, and then I’ll take you straight to Ambrose. Why don’t you get some food and rest tonight?”
“That sounds great to me,” Jacob said through a yawn. It was ridiculous to be tired already. But he found that lately it was hard to get enough rest, and they needed to take it when they could.
They hauled their bags up the spiral stairs to the topmost floor. Jacob wasn’t sure if Samuel’s house was three or four stories, considering part of it was underground, but it was a lot of stairs either way.
Drakkar continued to the end of the hall while Jacob and Alice ducked into their shared room. Alice dropped her pack on the corner cedar chest with a thud. Jacob was a bit slower, carefully sliding Charles’s journal into the back pocket.
Alice flopped onto the edge of the bed. “I could go to sleep right now.”
“Me too.” Jacob checked underneath the bed, where he’d once stashed some glowworms. The portable cot was gone, likely being used by one of the families downstairs. “Cot’s gone. I’ll take the floor.”
Alice dismissed the thought with a wave. “The bed’s big enough for two. It’s fine. Besides, I’ll feel bad if you die because you got a kink in your back. Just no knives under the pillow this time, yes?”
Jacob blinked at Alice. “That’s not fair. I just … I didn’t mean …”
Alice grinned at Jacob, her laughter ringing through the room. “Come on, let’s get a snack. Then we can get some sleep.”
* * *
Jacob found a bottle of mineral oil in Charles’s old workshop after they ate. He took it back to the small room that he shared with Alice, needing to address an annoying squeak in one of the plates on his leg.
“And you’re sure you’re not going to poison yourself with that?” Alice asked.
“No, no. It’s safe for food. Charles told me Baddawick used it on all of his cutting boards, not to mention any of the machines that process the restaurant’s food.”
It still felt strange having the leg of a Biomech. He wondered how much maintenance Smith had to do with the many pistons and gears embedded in his chest. Jacob pushed some of the tubing aside that flowed with his blood, finding a joint closer to his ankle that was the source of the squeak.
He put only a drop of oil on it and worked it in with his thumb. When it was silent, he closed the oil and wiped off the excess with a rag.
Jacob paused when he saw Alice studying the complex inner workings of his leg.
“It’s quite a marvel, really. How the retractable anchors in your foot fit inside that thing. Not to mention the tubing.”
Jacob smiled and snapped his leg closed. “I have to admit it’s not all bad.”
Alice yawned and crawled under the covers.
As tired as Jacob was, he couldn’t resist thumbing through Charles’s journal. The fact Samuel had found it, so intact, gave him a small hope they’d find more of the old tinker’s writings.
“Going to read a little?” Alice asked.
Jacob nodded and glanced back at her, a wide smile lifting his lips when he saw The Dead Scourge propped up in front of her. Archibald’s book had given them insights into the Deadlands War. And, in turn, Jacob felt that had given him some insight into the things Charles had experienced. The things that had shaped the man he knew.
But the journal was different. It showed Jacob the meanderings of a tinker. He followed the designs on the first few pages, each one marked with a small X in the top center of the page. Page after page was lettered the same way until he came to something that looked like a rudimentary air cannon. Those illustrations had a checkmark on top.
Jacob read deeper into the journal, which showed the evolution of the weapon Charles had invented. He could see it from the earliest incarnation, when he used a Burner with an attached boiler, to a hybrid with both the Burner and a pump, and six pages later, the design he knew so well. The angles of the barrel were exact, the slide for the pump, details of the ammunition, everything.
The schematics were comprehensive enough Jacob was sure he could build another air cannon. But those thoughts trailed off as he reached the second half of the journal. The aged paper had schematics for what appeared to be a mechanical hand. At first, Jacob thought that was what it was, but the measurements made little sense. What would the point be of a six-foot-wide hand?
But as the following pages detailed enormous joints, and how to attach the hand to a similarly oversized arm, Jacob’s heart skipped a beat. The journal ended with the details of a lever system to control both the grip and angle, and Jacob realized he was looking at the schematics for part of a Titan Mech.
Daylight vanished from the window as Jacob read. The more he studied the schematics, the more an idea took shape in his head.
“Alice, I think I could use these designs to replace the pulley system they use on the walls.” Even as he said it, he thought about how efficient the construction
crews were at raising the walls. But this could help with the stone. He would have to consider it further. Maybe in the morning Ambrose could give them a better idea of what Jacob would be getting himself into.
“Alice?”
Alice was deep into sleep, The Dead Scourge tucked under one arm, and a blanket wrapped around the other. Jacob knew from experience he wouldn’t be getting much of the blanket that night.
He smiled and set the journal down, climbing into bed next to Alice as his imagination cycled through Charles’s writings. The last page kept rising to the surface of his thoughts. It was clear a few pages had been torn out of the journal, but not the pages between the Titan Mech schematics and the final drawings. A simple child’s toy, not so unlike the one Alice had gotten Jacob at Festival: an automaton that performed a simple task when a coin was placed on top of it.
Even as Charles had designed tools of war, his mind had been elsewhere. Jacob wished the old man was still around so he could ask him about that. But for now, the journal would have to be enough. Maybe this was something else Jacob could help repurpose to be beneficial.
Sleep did not come quickly, but exhaustion won out in time.
* * *
The next morning, Jacob felt better rested than any time since the battle of Ancora had ended. Samuel’s house bustled with activity, and he and Alice were two of a dozen people passing through the kitchen for breakfast.
Jacob eyed Samuel with some suspicion. He was used to the Spider Knight complaining about most everything, but now he looked happy cooking on the old stove for his many guests.
“You’re up,” Samuel said when he caught Jacob’s eye. “Marjorie, take over for me, would you?”
An older woman took the spatula from Samuel as he untied his apron. Beneath, he was already wearing the armor of the Spider Knights.
“Where are we going first?” Alice asked.
“Ambrose.” Samuel glanced at a clock on the wall. “His crew should already be outside the gates. You two slept a bit longer than I expected, so we should be able to find him now.”
“Have you seen Drakkar yet?” Jacob asked.