“Can we adjust the angle of approach?”
“Rudder’s no good,” Dautry reported, straightening. “I can control our roll with the demiwings, but if we overshoot the Tower, we’ll be flattened on the outcrops behind it.”
“Slow us down and release the steam pressure before the engine blows!”
“Aye, sir!” The professor reached for the throttle.
“Icarus, grab the exalted and abandon ship.”
“What?”
“Now!” His bark was accompanied by a fierce glare. Taya scrambled up and forward. Cristof had already sat up and was giving his friend a disbelieving look.
If Dautry was doing anything at the helm, it wasn’t helping— they were still heading toward the tower at high speed. Taya grabbed her husband and dragged him to his feet.
“Time to go!”
“Janos— you can’t—” Cristof was sputtering as she pulled him to the rail.
“And you,” Amcathra ordered, reaching for the helm. Dautry slapped his hands away.
“You do your job and I’ll do mine,” she snapped.
The captain hesitated a second before turning to Colonel Agosti and Liliana. “You two, off the ship!”
“I can’t!” Liliana wailed. “Pietra!”
“Come on!” her older sister shouted in Alzanan, grabbing her hand.
Taya climbed up to the rail, tugging her husband after her and snapping a line from his harness to her armature.
“He’s going to kill himself,” Cris muttered.
“We can’t stop him.”
“I hate this.”
She pushed her arms into her wings. The Firebrand passed over the cliffs. Rocks and small buildings flashed beneath them.
“Jump!” Amcathra shouted as the Firebrand passed over the Tower’s outer walls.
“Hold tight!” Taya shoved herself off and at an angle, hearing Cristof’s panicked gasp. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Colonel Agosti hurl Liliana over the rail and follow after her.
Cristof’s light, counterweighted body caught the wind and twisted Taya around in midair. She threw out her wings and tried to steer them toward the center of the courtyard, away from the walls. Then Cristof’s feet hit the ground and Taya tumbled into him and the Firebrand slammed into the base of Oporphyr Tower with a splintering crash, a great bellow of steam, and a chorus of very human screams.
Chapter Nineteen
Ondium wreckage tore loose and flew up into the air as Taya ran to what was left of the Firebrand, her heart in her mouth.
“Captain! Captain!”
The ship had hit the Tower at a scraping angle that had torn off a wing and crumpled one side of the hull, leaving the vessel tilted up against the fortress wall, its pointed prow just yards away from the Formidable. Flames licked up the hull from the broken boiler inside.
Taya found Amcathra sprawled amidst a pile of broken wood, blood covering his face and one leg twisted around at an unnatural angle. Dautry lay several feet away, untangling herself from the ropes that had tied her to the shattered helm.
Taya dropped to the lictor’s side.
“Oh, Lady, please….” She pressed a hand against his chest, panicked. A few seconds later Cristof dropped to his knees next to her.
“Taya—”
“His heart’s beating.” She dropped her head against the lictor’s chest, listening for the steady sound. “Thank the Lady. He’s alive.”
Cristof wiped blood from his friend’s face, revealing a broken nose and a wide, bloody gash on his forehead.
“He hit the helm when we crashed,” Dautry said tersely, joining them. She was in better shape than the captain, her mass counterweighted by her rescue harness.
“He may have broken some ribs, too,” Taya added, running her hands over Amcathra’s body. “And his leg….”
Dautry knelt by the lictor as Cristof gently untangled the rifle strap from Amcathra’s shoulder. “I’ll guard him,” she said as she unslung her rifle. “You look for the others.”
“We need to get him away from the ship,” Taya warned. “If that fire reaches the Formidable, it’ll blow up.”
Cristof pointed to a broken plank of wood.
“Use that.”
They eased their friend on the makeshift stretcher and dragged him away. Liliana and Colonel Agosti joined them as they pulled the captain around a corner of the building. Liliana was supporting her sister, whose right arm was in a sling and whose side was crudely bandaged. She sank next to the captain when Liliana released her.
“Piece of metal went through my side,” Agosti said tightly at Cristof’s silent query. She looked at Amcathra. “How is your captain?”
“Alive.”
“He must have the Father’s own luck.”
“Dautry, guard Janos and the Agostis. I’m going in.”
“The bomb….” All five of them looked at Amcathra, whose face was whiter than normal. He tried to sit up, then fell back, coughing.
“I know,” Cristof assured him. “We’ll find it.”
“Warn the city.”
“We don’t have time,” Taya protested.
“I can do it. From the Tower. Help me up.”
“Be careful— you may be bleeding inside,” Cristof warned.
Amcathra growled and tried to sit up again. Dautry slid an arm around his back, supporting him. He hissed with pain.
“Your stubborn sense of duty is going to get you killed,” the professor said, scowling at him. He didn’t say anything, his teeth clenched as he leaned on her shoulder.
“I will help you carry him inside,” Colonel Agosti said, tightly. “But only if you let me signal my ships, too.”
“Why?” Cristof sounded suspicious.
“I know our military codes. I’ll order the army to fall back and await further orders.” Agosti met and held his gaze. “Go stop Lady Mazzoletti, Exalted. Bring her back to me alive, if you can. I swear to call a truce until I can question her about the invasion and the attack on my family. I swear it by the Divine Mother and the Celestial Father.”
“Pietra!” Liliana hugged her sister, who winced and clutched her side.
“Then we’ll go in together.” Dautry slowly began working her way out of the ondium rescue harness, trying not to jostle Amcathra too much. “Put this on, Captain. Liliana and Colonel Agosti will support you, and I’ll take point.”
Amcathra’s jaw twitched, but he nodded and let her slide the harness over his arms.
“All right,” Cristof said, turning. “Taya— we have to go.”
Taya crouched and poked a finger into Amcathra’s sternum.
“You’d better stay alive for us— Janos,” she hissed.
He gave her a strained look as Dautry buckled the straps around his chest.
“Keep the exalted safe, Taya Icarus.”
“Hmph. Well, I guess it’s a start.” Taya stood and ran after her husband.
* * *
The Alzanans had broken down the Tower’s doors next to the Formidable. Taya and Cristof advanced with one eye on the fire that was consuming the shattered remnants of the Firebrand and one eye on the Formidable.
“There’s someone inside,” Cristof said. An Alzanan soldier was looking out the window at the burning Firebrand with an expression of concern.
Taya scanned the dead bodies around the ship. Most were lictors, but she saw a few men and women wearing a dedicate’s clothing, too, and a single icarus hanging in midair, suspended by his silver wings. Only two of the dead were Alzanan.
“We could wait for the colonel to catch up,” she suggested. “She could order him away.”
“No— I don’t trust her with that ship.” Cristof scowled, indicating the ornately etched, snake-mouthed barrel of what could only be a Cabisi serpentfire cannon jutting out from on
e window. “In fact, the sooner we get rid of it, the better.”
“What—”
He slung his rifle back over his shoulder and plunged his free hand into his pocket. It emerged with a bomb.
Taya took a deep breath. “Do you want me to do it?”
“No. Never again.” He touched her face with affection. “Go warn the others.”
“All right.” She grabbed his coat front and kissed him. “Be careful!”
He smiled, straightening his glasses, and began easing toward the Formidable. Taya ran back to the small group and ushered them into the shadow of the tower. The colonel arched an eyebrow but Taya held her tongue; there was no time for an argument.
When she returned, she saw that Cristof had reached the ship without being noticed, ducking under the engine gondola. No engineers inside, Taya thought, which explained why the Alzanans weren’t moving the dirigible away from the fire. The soldier up front must be getting nervous, if he was the only one left aboard.
Cristof crouched, angling his shoulders to protect his matches from the breeze. Then, with a surge, he stood and raised his rifle one-handed, jamming its butt against his shoulder as he fired at a gondola window. Glass shattered as he staggered backward, having forgotten the effect of recoil on a nearly weightless man. He regained his footing and lobbed the bomb inside. The Alzanan soldier up front was looking backward, startled. When he saw Taya and Cristof, he reached for his pistol.
“It’s a bomb!” Taya shouted in Alzanan as she raced toward him and the blown-out Tower door beyond. “Get out— it’s a bomb!”
The soldier vanished back inside the window. Taya was almost beside the command gondola’s door when it swung open. The Alzanan stepped out, holding his gun. Taya put on a burst of speed and threw herself past him and through the Tower’s broken door. Her boots skidded on a polished tile floor as she spun to look for her husband.
Cristof swung his rifle around as he ran, but the Alzanan fired first. Dirt plumed up next to the exalted, who veered away and took a wild shot. The Alzanan flinched, then lifted his pistol again.
“Stop!” Taya screamed. “Don’t shoot!”
Then the bomb exploded, bursting out the glass windows in the engine gondola. The Alzanan soldier ducked and Cristof vaulted over him, half-propelled by the explosion. He staggered inside the Tower, sparks smoldering on his coat. Taya pounded on his back to put them out.
“Just a minute.” He turned and raised his rifle, bracing one foot behind him. Outside, the Alzanan soldier was desperately beating out the flames in his hair and uniform.
“Don’t kill him!” Taya begged. Her husband grimaced, then shifted his aim and shot. The soldier yelped, grabbing his shoulder.
“He can still shoot off-handed,” Cristof complained, lowering the rifle.
“He won’t.” Taya tugged on his sleeve and they turned, surveying the damage.
The Tower hadn’t been taken by surprise. Armed lictors and dedicates lay sprawled around them, along with a number of Alzanan soldiers. An icarus had been killed halfway down the stairs, her back arched over her floating armature. Taya whispered a prayer, recognizing a member of her eyrie.
“Dammit….” Cristof’s expression darkened and his hands tightened on the rifle. He started to turn back to the door and the wounded Alzanan.
“Do you think Lady Mazzoletti went through the Council chamber?” Taya asked, hoping to distract him. It worked.
“She must have,” he said, spinning around again. “Let’s go.”
They were stepping into the chamber when a thunderous boom shook the entire Tower. Cristof gave Taya a humorless smile.
“One serpentfire cannon down,” he said.
“Thank the Lady.” Taya reached out to touch his arm. No matter what else happened, they’d accomplished that much.
She felt a dizzying sense of deja vu as they descended the stairs past the Council’s secret door. The Great Engine’s mechanical rumble grew louder as they moved deeper into the heart of the mountain.
Cristof motioned for caution as he pushed the last door open and peered inside.
A tall woman whirled, pointing a pistol at Cristof’s face. Cristof knocked the gun aside with the barrel of his rifle and the pistol went off, a bullet pinging off the stone wall over the door.
“Shit!” The woman recoiled, her blue eyes wide.
“Isobel!” Taya blocked Cristof’s arm before he could bring his rifle back down. “What are you doing?”
“Taya? Exalted!” Isobel looked incredulous as she sketched a belated bow. “I thought you were dead!”
“Where are the Alzanans? How many are down here?” Cristof pushed past the programmer and looked over the metal railing, then blanched and took a hasty step backward.
Beyond the railing lay the vast hollow chamber that was the core of Ondinium Mountain. Floating in its center was the Great Engine, an analytical machine constructed of house-sized ondium gears and springs, pistons and cylinders, cables and engines, each shifting and rotating in a haze of steam and grease.
“Six or seven, maybe? They rappelled down about an hour ago,” Isobel said, joining him at the rail. “I think they killed all the lictors — nobody’s come down to help — it’s just been us engineers and programmers trying to pick them all off.”
“Where did you get a gun?” Cristof demanded.
“The Council issued weapons to everyone in the Tower two days ago, when we spotted the armies. We’ve been living down here for weeks— nobody’s been allowed in or out. Has the city been taken?”
“No,” Taya said. “Not yet. Where’s the rest of your team?”
“Lars and Kyle are protecting the card vaults and Victor’s down there with some of the engineers, trying to pick off the soldiers. Taya, they brought something big down with them— Victor thinks it’s a bomb.”
“He’s right. They call it a holocaust bomb.”
“That sounds bad.”
“Why aren’t you down there fighting the Alzanans, too?” Cristof asked, a note of suspicion in his voice. Isobel bridled.
“I’m not sheytatangri, Exalted! I’m fourth-generation Ondinium, and I’ve aced every loyalty test I’ve ever taken, including the extra one they issued for everyone of Demican descent.”
“I’m sorry.” He held up a hand. “I’m sorry— I had to ask.”
“No, you didn’t.” Isobel wasn’t appeased. “I was going up to the main Tower to see if anyone was still alive.”
“Nobody that we saw,” Taya said. “Look, Captain Amcathra went up there to send a warning signal out to the city. Will you go help him? He’s with a Mareaux and two Alzanans, but they’re allies.”
“If I don’t find them, I’ll send the signal myself.”
“Thank you,” Taya said, gratefully. Isobel nodded, hesitated, sketched a bow to Cristof, and then headed out the door.
“I had to ask,” Cristof repeated stubbornly, as Taya shot him a reproving look. “After Rikard….”
“You hurt her feelings.” She turned to the catwalk’s metal rail. “We’ve got to go down.”
“I know.” He set the safety on his air rifle and slung the strap across his chest. “If you can land us on a gear or a catwalk above the Alzanans, it’ll be easier for me to shoot them.”
“Do you have enough ammunition?”
“Yes. I put a handful of cartridges in my pocket.” He cast her a look. “Although that’s not the comment I expected to hear from you.”
Taya stared down into the rumbling, hazy abyss and heard a distant gunshot.
“I don’t like it when you kill people,” she said unhappily, “but right now I don’t think we have a choice.”
“No, I don’t think we do.” He took off his silver-rimmed glasses and tucked them into his pocket. “All right. I’m ready.”
She patted the railing.
“Stand up here so I can secure your harness.”
“I’m going to close my eyes,” he warned, edging toward her with his gaze averted. She smiled, despite herself, and took his hand. He instantly squeezed his eyes shut.
“All right. I’ve got you,” she said. “You know, you were doing so well on the ship….”
“It’s better when I don’t have any time to think about what I’m doing.” His hand tightened on hers as she helped him swing his legs around to dangle over the void. She knelt behind him on the rail, straddling his back.
“Okay, hold on to my armature,” she directed. “I need both hands to do this.”
“Are you tired of carrying me around yet?”
“Life would be easier if you had your own set of wings. Do you remember the last time we were here?”
“Only every fifth or sixth nightmare.”
“I don’t think you’re nearly as afraid of heights as you pretend to be,” she scolded. “You only do this to amuse me, don’t you?”
“Taya, I love amusing you, but not enough to throw myself off ships, cliffs, and catwalks unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.”
She finished buckling him close, then gave him a quick hug from behind.
“You’ll be fine. Keep your eyes closed if you want. I’ll warn you when it’s time to pull your knees up for the landing.”
Another quick staccato of gunshots echoed up from below, and someone yelled.
“Taya, if this doesn’t—” he sounded serious.
“Sshh.” She wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her forehead on the back of his neck, feeling the tension in his shoulders. She didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say. “It’s my turn to tell you that I love you.”
He hesitated, then relaxed, covering her hands where they clasped over his heart.
“Is it? I lose track.”
“I don’t say it often enough. After this, let’s stay home for a while.”
“I agree.”
She straightened, looking over his shoulder and down at the giant Engine.
“Ready?”
His shoulders tightened again. “No.”
“On the count of three, pull up your knees and hold them to your chest.” She slid her arms into her wings.
Clockwork Secrets Page 33