I dove behind the Horsemen of Death for cover. Hendrix aimed his arm at the steed and a bolt of dark blue light surrounded by arcing electricity shot forth. The Horseman of Death exploded and I was blown back. I sprang up and ran for the still-smoldering Black Knight. Hendrix turned and aimed his arm, but I heard an explosion rip through the air and he was knocked off his feet. Smoke billowed up around him, but I heard laughing from within the cloud and saw him stand.
“I am invincible!” He threw back his head and released a wicked cackle.
“Not good,” I turned toward where the shot had come from and saw the Bronze Knight taking aim again.
Hendrix moved as another round flew in and struck the ground near his feet. The shot came from a different direction, and I spun around and saw the Iron Zulu racing this way. Hendrix roared in anger and fired, but Owethu dodged the blast.
Genevieve rolled up beside me. “Grab on and I’ll get you out of here.”
“I can’t leave. We have to stop him.”
“I’m out of shells.” She looked down at me, pleading as she reached out. “Let’s go.”
“No! Distract him. I have a plan.”
She shook her head, but then her mouth curved up in the smile that made my heart sing. “Will do.” The Bronze Knight rolled over to the Iron Lotus and Iron Templar. The three of them charged from one side as Owethu in the Iron Zulu roared in from the opposite direction.
I looked around. Desperate. My mind racing. I wished I had a plan, but the plain truth was, I didn’t. But I couldn’t fail Genevieve. Fail everyone. Then on the back of the Black Knight, I saw the two coil-spikes and remembered the Tinker’s barrier and the electromagnetism that pulled the comet down two years ago. I quickly yanked both free and slipped behind the Horsemen of Death as he taunted the Iron Armors.
Lianhua chucked the last of her knives, which Hendrix knocked away like they were annoying flies. Mr. Singh and Genevieve charged with their swords, but Hendrix dodged them easily. Owethu smacked him with his shield, but Hendrix took the hit and remained standing. As my friends circled around him, I flipped the switch to reverse the polarity of the magnet on one of the spikes. Then I ran up and impaled it in Hendrix’s back, plunging it in as far as I could.
Hendrix roared in anger, but not pain. As he turned to attack me, I turned the magnet on. He swung his lightning cannon arm around, and I ducked underneath and jumped away. Hendrix tried to push the long spike out of him, but Genevieve rolled by and hit it with her sword, bending the long bar sticking out of his chest so it couldn’t be extracted.
Hendrix roared in anger, spinning around until he saw me. He stopped and aimed his lightning cannon. “You’re a fool!” he growled and moved toward me.
I stood my ground and turned on the second coil spike. I held the electromagnet in front of me. With the coil-spike in his back pushing, and the one I held in front pulling, I only had to wait. Staring down the barrel of his lightning cannon, though I only had a moment before he killed me. The bronze plates covering his body, even in their demonic state, weren’t magnetic, but the metal permeating the shattered Jade Heart was. I felt the coil-spike tugging on that metal, and I took a step back and pulled on the electromagnet.
Now pain racked Hendrix face. He groaned and waivered as he tried to shoot me. I took another step back and pulled the coil-spike toward me again. One more step, and this time I yanked the coil-spike as if it were fishing rod and I had a whopper on the line. Hendrix’ face contorted in pain and he clutched at his chest, but the Jade Heart ripped out from behind the bronze plate. Hendrix eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed in the dirt. I dove for the Jade Heart and flopped onto the ground, clutching it to me just in case he reached for it.
But he didn’t. Hendrix was finished.
My friends rolled up in their armors and Genevieve jumped out of the Bronze Knight. I struggled to my feet as she ran up and threw her arms around me. “Are you all right?” She clutched me close, “I can’t believe you became a Horseman. What were you thinking?”
I held her tight and buried my face in her hair, ashamed at how close I’d come to betraying everything I—we— believed in. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.”
CHAPTER 54
THE PRESIDENT
I walked over and picked up the Jade Heart, I collected the Amethyst Heart from the Iron Horseman, which collapsed after I did. My father gave me the Quartz Heart he’d retrieved from Antiocus’ fallen steed, and Genevieve handed me the Hematite Heart from her mother’s Horseman.
I looked at Genevieve, “Is your mother... ?”
“She couldn’t kill me. She surrendered and handed over her heart.”
“I’m so glad.” I said softly. My chest heaved in labored breaths and my mind spun. “Thank you, my friends, I have a plan for these. I know how to finish what Armand started.”
“You’re not going to use them to conquer the world,” Genevieve nudged me but I winced and she put her hands on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Owethu nodded, “I trust you more than these supposedly wise old men.”
Lianhua nodded her head as well. “Agreed.”
Mr. Singh looked around. “We’ll make certain they never leave your side. You know the Templar will want to store them.”
“Exactly, and then they’ll just be used again. I just need the Sparrowhawk’s help. That’s all.”
Mr. Singh chuckled. “You’re a Sky Raider, part of the crew. The captain will listen to you.”
“Good.” I put all the hearts into my bag and rested against Genevieve.
Finn brought the baron over. I was loaded into the steam-carriage and taken to the White House. The President’s personal physician sutured my back and sides and poked and prodded at the rest of me until he was satisfied. I don’t remember much of it. My mind remained dazed from the battle and the fading power of the Amethyst Crusader Heart.
My friends never left my side, even when ordered to do so.
Sinclair and Eustache came into the room. I sat in a chair leaning forward. My torn and bloody shirt lay folded on a table. I was just in my dirty, ripped pants and muddy boots. Eustache nodded and said, “Excellent work, mon’ami.”
The Grand Master of the Knights Templar stood staring at me. I locked eyes with him, unafraid of anything he might say.
“Alexander, you are quite possibly the craziest and bravest man I know.” Sinclair had a slight smile as he leaned on his cane.
I chuckled remembering all the times Captain Baldarich had said the exact same thing. “I knew what had to be done, and I still do.” I twisted and pulled on the sutures causing pain to ripple through me. “Your people were glory hounds. The Templar and Golden Circle are interested in fighting each other, not saving the world.”
“I’d like to think we’d do both.”
I looked at Genevieve, then back at Sinclair. “You didn’t even know about Marbury. The Duke seeks the same glory as Hendrix. The baron cared only for his wife and daughter. Everyone had another reason, except you and I.”
He nodded. “Can’t argue with that.” He sat down beside me. “What is your plan, lad.”
“I’m going to get rid of the hearts once and for all. Finish what Armand started.”
“You scared us there for a moment. Several people on that balcony thought you were about to strike us down.”
I looked him in the eye. “The scary thing is, I almost did.” I ran my fingers through my hair, brushing it off my forehead and thinking about how it felt to be that close to giving in to all that power. “But I couldn’t fight my friends. Unlike Marbury, I couldn’t betray them. And when Hendrix asked what I wanted, I told him the sun.”
My father and the baron stood in the doorway. “Like Diogenes,” the baron said with a proud smile.
I nodded.
Genevieve rose and checked on her father, but the baron pushed away her hand as she felt his forehead. “I’m fine,” he said and bent to kiss the top of her head.
My fat
her pointed down the hallway.
“The President would like to speak with you.”
“I’d prefer to be dressed.” I looked down at my muddy boots, but before anyone could answer, the baron and my father stepped in the room and made way for a stout man in a fine suit to enter. Flanked by several other men, I started to stand, but he motioned for me to remain seated. He had a bushy gray mustache just like Captain Baldarich’s. He walked up to me and extended a hand.
“Alexander, I’m President Arthur. I believe I owe you and your friends here a great debt of gratitude.”
I shook his hand and said, “Thank you sir. It’s an honor to meet you. I just wish I was a bit more presentable.”
“Nonsense, you just saved our great nation, we should be draping you in the American flag.” He turned to one of the men with him. “See that this young man gets a suit.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You prevented a great and lasting tragedy here today. Don’t worry about what happens here next. I’ve got the army deployed, and they’re cleaning up the mess out there.” He turned to my father. “Your son has done a great service for our country, and from what these gentlemen have been telling me, the world as well. We need more civil servants like him.”
My father beamed with pride as I struggled to my feet. “I was glad to be of service,” I said.
The President turned to the baron and then to his physician. “I have a speech to give trying to explain what happened here today. You all take care of this young man. He’s a hero in my book.”
The President and his men departed, and the Duke walked in with Richard right on his heels. “I don’t know if I’d call you a hero after that little stunt on the Iron Horseman, but...” He strained and twisted his neck. “I do have to say, you won the day. The Queen will be happy to hear that this is finally over. I’ll be taking the Hearts back to London now.”
I reached down to the bag that sat between my feet. “Over my dead body, and not even then.” I stared at the Duke. “I will finish the journey my ancestor started. And you, Your Grace will have to explain to everyone how you missed that Lord Marbury was a mole for the Golden Circle. He was one of your dearest friends.”
The Duke’s eyes narrowed. Genevieve walked over and linked her arm in mine. Rodin flew up beside her and sat on the floor, his head at her side. Mr. Singh and Owethu stepped in front of me, and Kō’ilā ruffled her feathers and screeched on Lianhua’s arm, startling the Duke and Richard both.
“The Hearts will be leaving this world for good, and their power will never be used again.” I pointed at the door. “That will be all, Your Grace,” I said dismissing him from the room.
He smacked his swagger stick against his palm and said, “Come Richard, we are leaving.”
They rushed out of the room and a murmur broke out among everyone. Genevieve looked at me and smiled. I nodded and Sinclair said, “That’s a sting he’ll not soon get over. Nice, lad, but if I may ask what are your plans after you dispose of the Hearts?”
“I think I need to go back to Eton and finish my education.” My father lit up, and pushed his glasses back on his nose. “After that, I’m not certain, but I have a feeling the Sparrowhawk will play a part.”
Everyone in the room laughed. Sinclair put his hand on my shoulder, and leaned closer. “Finish your studies, and if you still want to be a Templar, there will be a place in the Order for you. Hell, I’ll knight you myself if need be.”
“Thank you,” I said, and he gave my shoulder one last squeeze and walked out of the room leaning heavily on his cane, and mumbling something about helping the president with his speech.
Eustache stepped up, “If he doesn’t, I will.” A large smile crossed his face. “It has been a great honor to stand with you. May fortune follow in your footsteps.”
“Thank you Lord de Moley.”
“No, no, my friends only use Eustache.” He patted my shoulder and followed the Grand Master out the door.
A man walked in with a tailor and said, “We’ve come to measure, Alexander.”
I waved my hand, “Over here, but I just need a shirt.”
“I think you’d look good in a proper suit,” Genevieve said as she bit her lip.
I locked eyes with her, and said. “If you say so. But I want room for my Thumpers.”
CHAPTER 55
THE QUEEN
Three days later, I knelt before a chest in the front room of the Sparrowhawk’s gun deck. I opened the lid and set my sketchbook inside, then stood and walked out of the room. I stopped before the two large holes in the floor. We were flying over the Atlantic Ocean on our way back to England. Captain Baldarich hadn’t had a chance to repair the decking yet, which provided me a view of the white tipped water below.
I stood in my new suit, looking more like a man, than when I’d snuck on this aero-dirigible three years ago.
Genevieve, with Rodin at her side, walked up slipped her arm around mine. Rodin rubbed against our legs and leaned against us. “How is your shoulder?”
“Good. Feeling stronger.”
“What’s on your mind?”
I pointed toward the water. “We’re almost there.”
She cocked her head and said, “England remains days away.”
I reached up and flipped open the copper tube. “Captain, can you gather everyone together and come down to the gun deck?”
Baldarich’s voice bellowed back, “We’ll be right down.”
A few minutes later, my father, the baron, the baroness, Owethu, Lianhua, Mr. Singh, the captain, and the rest of the crew came down and stood on the gun deck.
“Thank you all for joining me here. I want you to bear witness to what I’m about to do, but I also want to have all of you around me at this moment. I wouldn’t be here without each of you. From the whole Sparrowhawk crew to Hunter, and Ignatius who taught me how to fight. To you, Captain Baldarich, who taught me everything I needed to know about being an honorable warrior. To Baron Kensington, who taught me about seeking what is most important in life, even the baroness who taught me... about choices, and Lianhua, Owethu, and Mr. Singh who have stood by me and fought at my side. Rodin, you taught me about loyalty and mysticism. My father, who taught me... a lot, but mostly how to live life fully, be engaged, to value learning. And of course, Genevieve.” I turned to her and took her hand. “I wanted you all to be here at the end, the end of a journey that started eons ago. The Malta Hearts have been destroyed. Only the Crusader Hearts remain. Unfortunately, they cannot be destroyed. My ancestor tried to bury them, tried to hide them from the world. But still they were found, and it was only with your help that I was able to gather them together. Now, together, we will commit them to the depths of the ocean. We will bury them beneath the waves, and the ocean’s depth will ensure no man can ever gather them together again.”
I took my leather bag off my shoulder. I hadn’t let them out of my sight since Washington D.C. Opening the flap, I pulled them out one by one and dropped them through the hole. They fell thousands of feet and crashed into the ocean. I pulled the Amethyst heart last. It whispered in my ear one last time, promising me power, but it had no hold over me. I looked at all my friends around me. A power greater than anything this crystal could offer flowed through me. I released the Amethyst Heart, and it plunged down into the watery depths.
“Brilliant,” Genevieve said, and kissed my cheek.
A week later, I stood in Buckingham Palace pacing back and forth. This was it. I would finally be meeting Her Royal Highness, The Queen of England. For some reason, I was more nervous than meeting the President. Maybe then it was because of was the haze I’d been in or the fact that I was injured, but that was all past now.
Genevieve stepped into the room, and I stopped pacing. She was stunning. Dressed in a blue gown, her hair was bound up in curls with a few elegant tendrils trailing down her neck. She reached out a gloved hand and took my hand in hers. My racing heart slowed.
“Don’t be nervous. She
can be intimidating, I know, but she is very nice.”
I tried to smile, but from Genevieve’s chuckle, I knew I must look strange. “Am I that obvious? I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I think it’s because I’ve wanted to meet her since I met your father, and I don’t want to make a bad impression.”
She squeezed my hand. “Be yourself and you’ll be fine. After all, you’re the one who just saved the world.”
“Well, if you put it that way.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously. Thank you for being here with me.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
There was a soft knock, and I turned toward the door. A man in a fancy suit who looked like he stepped out of a Renaissance novel beckoned us forward. We stepped out into a grand hall, a large set of double doors at the end led to the room where Queen Victoria would be waiting. The man said I was next and that I’d be summoned when Her Majesty was ready.
My heart raced again, and I could feel my forehead getting sweaty. Genevieve reached up and pushed the hair off my forehead. This was worse than facing Hendrix. Genevieve pulled me off to a smaller hallway by a set of stairs and offered me her handkerchief.
“You’re cute when you’re nervous.”
I looked down at her. I knew what she was doing. Taking my mind off the queen and it worked. I pulled her in and wrapped my arms around her corseted waist. “Will you still want to be with me when we’re not running around the world on adventures?”
“Are you trying to say you’re going to become a boring student?”
“Maybe for a little while.”
“I don’t know,” she said with a coy smile, and a turn of her cheek. “I am a woman of adventure.”
“I know and I love that about you.” She whipped her head around and looked at me. My heart thundered in my chest, but I wasn’t nervous anymore. “I love you, Genevieve Kensington.”
She lit up and said, “I love you too, Alexander Armitage.”
I pulled her in and kissed her like I never wanted to stop.
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