Graham sighed. “But I mean for real.”
“I understand,” said Staff. “You know, it seems as though the men who don’t know any better are happier than we are. Maybe we should just pretend we’re just as ignorant as they are.”
“That won’t work,” said the boy. “Everybody knows how smart I am.”
“I guess there’s nothing to be done then.”
“Oh, I’m going to do something. I’m going to be great. Then, no matter how great she is, I’ll be just as great.”
“Out of the mouths of babes come great truths.”
“Watch who you’re calling a babe.”
“What I mean, is that if there is anyone who can accomplish such a plan, I suspect it’s you, Graham.”
“Well, it’s the same thing you’re trying isn’t it?”
“How so?”
“If this coal expedition pans out, you’re going to be rich and powerful—maybe right up there with the Dechantagnes and the Callieres.”
“Maybe,” agreed Staff. “But it was just luck.”
“I guess luck never hurts.”
The engineers were back at camp within an hour and the entire group enjoyed their rather meager tea. There was however an upbeat mood among them. Not only had they reached their destination, but already there were signs that this would be a fine base for mining operations.
“We’re not even going to have to dig for it,” said Ivo Kane. “There are layers of coal exposed to the air along a ridge right over there. We can get several hundred lizardmen with picks and shovels and fill dozens of coal cars.”
“Excellent,” said Staff. “Though I plan on hiring thousands of lizardmen, and if possible we may have a steam shovel brought in from Greater Brechalon.”
A loud moaning noise heralded the arrival of a particularly large ankylosaurus, making its way through the trees less than fifty feet away. In the way of these animals, it paid little heed to the human presence, but continued on its way, possibly to new grazing grounds. The brush around the thirty-foot long creature, evidently not the type of fodder it was interested in, was squashed flat as it meandered along. Most of the group had not been so close to such a large animal and stared with fascination. The ankylosaurus had no such reciprocal feelings and was soon gone from sight. Once more the camp was quiet.
The four engineers immediately set out again to look around the area. Staff, Graham, Miss Jindra, and the lizardmen did what they could to make their small clearing more of a home. The wandering dinosaur had reinforced the fact that there was no real way such a small group could create a fortress to keep the monstrous beasts out. But they tried to make what impediment they could by piling brush and rocks around the perimeter, trusting that a roaring fire might make up the difference.
This done, Staff took his rifle and set off down the path of crumpled vegetation created by the ankylosaurus. Just as he had suspected, the trail was filled with local creatures taking advantage of the insects stirred up by the passing dinosaur. Whether these particular beasts were bird-like dinosaurs or dinosaur-like birds, Staff didn’t know. He didn’t pretend to be a zoologist. The creatures were about the size of turkeys, covered with black and rust-colored feathers, with small heads and toothed beaks. Sneaking up as close as he could without startling the animals, he readied his rifle and shot two of them in quick succession. He managed to shoot a third as the flock scurried into the forest at the sound of the gun. Gathering up his kills, he pulled out his hunting knife and began plucking and cleaning them, preferring to leave any bloody remains as far away from camp as possible. The shy winter sun had already made its exit as he finished with the animals and returned to camp.
“Three shots, three kills. Very nice,” said Graham with admiration.
He and the lizardmen were sitting together in a group. Miss Jindra was once again asleep, with her head propped up on one of the packs and her hands folded across her waist.
“Let’s get these fellows over the fire and we’ll have a feast tonight,” said Staff. “Do you suppose our lizzies would like one of them raw?”
Graham turned to one of the lizardmen standing close by and inquired. The reply was longer than expected.
“We can go ahead and cook them all,” said the boy. “Cheebie at least says cooked food is easier on his stomach, even though he still likes the taste of raw meat better.”
As the meat turned golden brown over the fire, the Kanes returned from their survey looking exhausted. They sat down together, like a pair of bookends. A few moments later, Glieberman stepped into the firelight, looking troubled.
“Mouliets isn’t back here is he?”
“He was with you,” said Ivo Kane.
“I know he was. We were walking up the north side of the ridge with the exposed stratum. I turned around and he was gone. I thought he must have come back here without me.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Should we go look for him?” wondered Femke Kane.
“He’s probably just wandering around,” replied her husband, his teeth whistling on the word “just”. “You know how he is.”
“Let’s go ahead and wait,” said Staff. “Dinner is ready. Maybe he’ll see the fire and find his way back on his own. If not, we’ll go search for him.”
The mood was only slightly subdued by the absence of the Mirsannan, at least at first. Miss Jindra woke up and ate with everyone else. The birds that Staff had shot, or whatever they were, turned out to be delicious, and they went very well with the single tin of Major Frisbie’s green tomato chutney that they had brought along with them. However as the party ate, and the night grew darker, and Mouliets still didn’t appear, expressions turned more and more anxious. At last it seemed certain that he would not find his way back to camp alone.
“Glieberman, Graham, and I will go out looking for him,” said Staff. “We’ll take one of the lizzies too.”
“Sanjo probably knows his way around the woods best,” said Graham.
The three humans and one lizardman set out into the darkness. Glieberman did his best to lead them in the direction of the ridge that he and Mouliets had been examining earlier, but Staff had his doubts as to the accuracy of his tracking abilities. They hunted through the woods and across several open spaces, zigzagging to cover as much area as possible. There seemed to be no sign of the man. After more than three hours, Staff called a halt to the search for the night, and the four returned to the others around the campfire.
“I can tell he’s nearby,” said Miss Jindra, when Staff sat down beside her.
“Can you tell if he’s alive?” asked Staff, in a low voice.
“I don’t think so,” she whispered back.
The next morning, the same group that had gone out the previous night, with the addition of the sorceress, retraced their steps through the forest. They took no time for breakfast, but ate a little bit of meat left over from the night before as they walked. In the daylight, Glieberman was able to discover the area of the ridge that he and Mouliets had been exploring. At its base a small stream wound its way along, collecting in a small pond. Beside this small pool of water, was the Mirsannan’s hat. Sanjo spat out a series of hisses in the reptilian tongue.
“He says there’s one of those salamanders in there,” translated Graham.
“Like the ones we saw in the river?”
Graham and Sanjo both nodded.
“All right.”
Staff handed his pistol to Graham. Glieberman carried Kane’s rifle, and Staff had his own. He walked thirty feet away and picked up a three-foot long stick and then returned, handing it to Sanjo.
“Tell him to splash around the edge of the water and see if he can draw it out,” he told Graham. “When it comes up, we’ll shoot it.”
The lizardman’s eyes rolled around apprehensively, but he did as he was told, slapping the surface of the still little pond with the stick. For almost five minutes nothing happened. Then a sleek black shape shot out of the water, knocking Sanjo b
ack onto the ground. Staff, Glieberman and Graham all fired into the massive head. Though the creature was probably dead by the tenth or twelfth shot, all twenty-six bullets were fired at it. Staff knew that all of his shots hit their mark, and he suspected the same was true for the boy. The engineer was not nearly so skilled, and for a moment Staff feared that he might have hit their lizzie, but Sanjo jumped back to his feet, unharmed by lead or salamander.
The head of the monster that had emerged from the little pond was more than five feet across with a frog-like mouth. Its fifteen-foot long body seemed comparatively tiny. Still, it took the efforts of both men, the lizardman, and the boy to drag it completely from the water. Once they had done so, Staff pulled out his knife and cut a deep gash down the length of the beast’s abdomen. Out onto the mud slid the slimy, partially digested body of Aakesh Mouliets.
Beeman Glieberman immediately dropped to his hands and knees and vomited on the ground. A second later both Graham and Miss Jindra turned and retched.
“Bloody hell,” said Staff.
Chapter Fourteen: Yuah’s Trials
Had her lavender top hat not been tied onto her head with a thick strand of lace, Yuah was sure that it would have been blown away and lost. The wind whipped around her face and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Scenery was flying past her on both sides at an alarming pace—trees, houses, lizardmen, a group of playing boys. Suddenly something appeared at her left elbow. She carefully turned her eyes left without looking away from the road. One of the boys that she had passed was running beside the carriage. A second later, the others had caught up and were running along beside her as well.
“Hey lady!” yelled one boy. “Why don’t you open her up?”
“Yeah!” called another. “We want to see this thing go!”
Yuah turned her attention back to her driving. She was sure that the steam carriage would outpace the children shortly, but they stayed right at her side, encouraging her to increase her speed. When she finally pulled up to the front of Mrs. Bratihn’s, the boys gathered beside the vehicle, scarcely breathing hard.
“Why didn’t you go faster?”
“Yeah, how come?”
Tears welled up in Yuah’s eyes.
“I was going as fast as I could!” She let out a sob.
“Don’t cry, lady,” said the oldest boy, apparently the one who had called out first on the road. “Here. Let me open the relief cock for you.”
Yuah pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and pressed it to her face, as the boy moved around to the back of the vehicle and turned the lever.
“Be sure and don’t –sob– burn your fingers on the steam.”
“What are you boys doing here!” yelled Mrs. Bratihn, shooting out from the door of her shop with her own head of steam. “Get out of here and leave Mrs. Dechantagne alone!”
“We didn’t do nothing!” yelled back one small boy, but they nevertheless went running.
“What did they do to you, dear?” asked the older woman, placing her arm around Yuah’s shoulder, once she had climbed down.
“They didn’t do anything. It’s this damned steam carriage. I hate it, but Terrence wants me to drive it.”
“Did he tell you that you have to drive it?”
“No, but he brought it all the way here from Brech.”
“Come inside and have some tea.”
Yuah followed Mrs. Bratihn into her shop where they both sat down on the couch. Mrs. Luebking, who was already in the process of pouring tea, added another cup and handed one to each of the other women, then took the last for herself and sat down in a chair. Yuah sipped the tea and took a deep breath.
“Now tell me all about it,” said Mrs. Bratihn.
“You know I used to watch the steam carriages zipping around Brech every day and I always thought it would be just ace to have one of my own. But it’s just so bleeding complicated. You have to push in the clutch to shift gears and you have to press down on the forward accelerator just the right amount when you let the clutch out. And you always have to watch the steam gauge or the whole thing might explode. It’s just too much pressure.”
“You should just tell your husband that it’s too much for you,” said Mrs. Bratihn. “Men love it when you act helpless anyway.”
“That may be fine for most,” replied Yuah, putting away the handkerchief, “but I’m a Dechantagne. At least I am now. There are different expectations for me than there are for most women.”
“Maybe you could tell him that you want a driver,” suggested Mrs. Luebking. “Back in Brech, most of the ladies have drivers. After all, driving is a lot of manual labor.”
Yuah was thoughtful for a moment.
“That might work,” she said. “Mrs. Calliere is always saying that women of our station should do less.”
“Mrs. Calliere, your sister-in-law?”
“Oh no, the professor’s mother.”
“Ah,” said Mrs. Bratihn. “There you go. Tell him you need a driver and Bob’s your uncle. Now what else can we do for you today?”
“I need another new dress.”
“My dear, do you even have room in your closets?”
Yuah smiled slightly. “I have spent rather a lot on fashion in the past few months. But this one needs to be different. I need a dress for shrine. It needs to be a little more subdued.”
Mrs. Bratihn and Mrs. Luebking looked at one another.
“I’ll be quite frank, dear,” said Mrs. Bratihn. “I don’t know anything about the requirements of your religion and what might be appropriate for your shrine.”
“Oh, there’s nothing special really. I just need something nice, but simple, without a lot of extras—you know, no feathers or flowers, and not too much brocade.”
“I don’t know…”
“Here. Just a moment.”
Yuah sat down her teacup, got up, and stepping out the door. She was back a moment later, having retrieved a periodical from the steam carriage. It was the Brysin’s Weekly Ladies’ Journal from Magnius of last year, the newest issue likely to be found in Birmisia. Flipping it open, she showed the dressmaker a photograph of a woman wearing a new creation from Freedonia. The dress was black and simple, featuring black lace around the waist and in a square collar around the neckline. Though it was swept up in back and emphasized with a massive bow, the bow too was black and didn’t stand out from the rest of the dress.
“I think we may be able to do that,” said Mrs. Bratihn. “Yes, yes, I quite like that. It’s simple but elegant. You may become a real trendsetter. I imagine with you wearing that, many women here will want to copy it. Of course you are always good for business, dear.”
“I’m going to need a new hip-bag,” said Yuah, pointing to the enormous backside of the dress.
“Please,” said Mrs. Bratihn. “Call it a bustle if you must, but here in the store we like to call them dress improvers. We certainly do not call them hip-bags.”
“Well, I’m going to need quite an improvement to my ass, if this picture is any indication.”
Yuah left the shop and was confronted again by the steam carriage, hissing at her. She turned away so that she wouldn’t have to look at it. She now faced the large gate in the emergency wall. Recalling that there was a Colonial Council meeting that morning, she decided that she would go and observe. Perhaps she could arrange a luncheon date with her father or Honor Hertling afterwards. She walked across the square and through the gate. The militia base was north on the right hand side, and that was where the temporary city hall was located.
The back half of the two hundred foot long, twenty-five foot wide building had been made into a meeting hall and one hundred chairs had been set up for citizens who might have an issue to bring up before the council. Across the far end of the room, a long table had been arranged with nine chairs for the members of the council. Today only five of the nine council members were seated and only eight of the chairs for the audience were filled, before Yuah set down in the chair nearest t
he door. Her father, seated at the center of the council, winked at her. To his right sat Egeria Lusk, Padgett Kelloran, and Honor Hertling, to his left sat the new priest, Mother Linton.
“All right,” said Zeah Korlann. “Let the record show that the twenty-first of this month marks the twentieth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Dokkins and the council wish them well. Now if there is no further new business, the chair will entertain a motion to adjourn.”
“I have one additional item of new business,” said Mother Linton. “I hereby move that council recognize the Holy Church of Kafira as the official religion of the Birmisia colony.”
Yuah, who had not really been paying attention, started. She looked at each member of the council. Honor Hertling looked shocked. She seemed to be the only one however. It seemed as though Miss Lusk, Dr. Kelloran, and her father had all been expecting it.
“I second the motion,” said Miss Lusk.
“What?” shouted Yuah, jumping to her feet.
Her father raised an eyebrow, but continued as though she hadn’t spoken.
“I don’t believe we have the necessary quorum for this item, but we will put it on the schedule for the next meeting.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” said Yuah, still shouting. All eight people seated in the audience area turned around to look at her. The only face she recognized was Lon Fonstan.
“You’re out of order, Mrs. Dechantagne,” said her father.
“Out of order? This is exactly what happened in Freedonia! First they forced the Zaeri to convert, and now they are forcing out or killing any who wouldn’t!”
“This isn’t anything like that,” said Mother Linton.
“Yes it is,” said Honor Hertling. “It’s exactly like that.”
“Again, you are out of order Mrs. Dechantagne,” said Zeah Korlann. “Miss Hertling, we have the item set for discussion at the next meeting.”
The Drache Girl Page 21