He felt a hand on his leg and jumped. “Sorry,” Silas croaked sleepily. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Sev leaned down and kissed Silas’s temple. “Bad dream. Sorry I woke ye.”
Silas rubbed his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Eh. It’s nothin’ ye haven’t heard before. Old demons, is all.”
Silas reached up and pushed Sev’s burgundy locks from his forehead and tucked them behind his ear. “You’re too young to have experienced such darkness, Sev. It’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair, Silas, me love. Ye’ve had yer share o’darkness as well. It’s just the times we live in.”
“I suppose you’re right. But I don’t have to like it.” Silas pulled Sev back down to the mattress and wrapped his arms around him. “I want to protect you from all that.”
“Ye do, Silas. Ye do.” Sev settled into Silas’s arms and patted him reassuringly. It wasn’t long before Silas’s breathing evened out and he dropped back off to sleep. Sev’s mind wouldn’t allow him that luxury, and while he lay comfortable and content there in that bunk with Silas, his heart and thoughts were not so comfortable and content in the slowly brightening cabin.
WHEN RAT came to wake them, Sev placed his finger to his lips and nodded. Rat nodded back once. Sev slipped from Silas’s arms, then tucked the covers around his slumbering form. Silas stirred slightly but didn’t wake. Before Sev climbed out of the bunk, Rat had already exited the room to wait for Sev to dress.
A moment later he joined Rat in the hall. “All right, Sev?” Rat asked.
“Aye,” Sev answered. He didn’t want to rehash the night’s events with Rat, and he didn’t feel like he was lying. He was feeling better than he had lying there dwelling on memories good and bad. “I just want t’try t’get a bit more rest before breakfast.”
Rat scratched at his bed-messy hair and nodded. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his nightgown to fetch Sev, and when they were back in the cabin they shared, he climbed right into his bunk. Sev stripped off to his trousers and collapsed onto his own bed. He worried about the bright light of morning for only a few moments before he drifted off.
THEY AWOKE late in the morning to a note from Silas, requesting their presence at breakfast. He’d be taking tea on the deck while he waited. Sev and Rat showered, dressed, and set off to find him. They discovered him reclining in a lounge chair on the deck, having a leisurely conversation with the colonel’s whist partners. “Mr. Jameson,” Sev called as they approached the small group.
“Ah, Mr. Stephens,” Silas said as he rose. “Had a bit of a lie in?”
“Rough night,” Sev said with a smirk. “Y’know how it is. Sometimes the muse just takes me.”
“Indeed,” Silas replied. “Fancy a bite to eat?”
“I’d fancy nothin’ more.”
“And how about you, Mr. Rat?” Silas asked.
“Famished, I am. What’re we waitin’ fer?”
“Well said, Mr. Rat. Shall we?” Silas bowed and offered to allow his companions to lead the way to the dining cabin. He politely bid farewell to the little group of passengers before catching up with Rat and Sev.
THEY TUCKED into their morning meal with vigor. It was evident that Sev and Silas were in need of nourishment after the previous evening’s exertions, and Rat ate with his signature voracity. Rat excused himself almost immediately when he’d finished eating. He’d found a group of the passengers’ children that he’d been slowly corrupting during the voyage. He taught them three-card monte, dice, and a game that had developed in Blackside called Bottles that was very similar to bowling but played with empty bottles rather than pins. Sev envied him a little and had joined him only once or twice.
Today he remained at the table with Silas, who had been brooding all through the meal. Sev could tell by the expression on Silas’s face that something was bothering him. Their late meal afforded them a mostly deserted dining room. Sev reached across the table but stopped short of actually touching Silas’s gloved clockwork hand. “Somethin’ wrong?”
Silas spared a quick glance around the small café-style dining area. He shrugged. “We’ve almost reached Victorica. Late this evening or early tomorrow morning they’re saying.”
“Amazin’.” Sev couldn’t believe how quickly the Arrow had made the voyage across the Atlantic.
“Isn’t it?” Silas asked. “The miracles of modern invention.” His tone was unusually melancholy. Silas wasn’t a joker. He tended to be serious but retained a brightness and positivity that Sev had always found reassuring. This new Silas was unsettling.
“What’s the matter, Si—Brandon?” Sev’s gaze darted around, hoping no one had heard his mistake.
“I don’t think that’s necessary, Sev.” Silas motioned to the dining room, indicating the mostly empty round tables with their crisp, white tablecloths. “We’re almost alone in here.”
Sev snatched Silas’s hand. “What’s wrong, Silas? And don’t tell me nothin’, ’cause I can see it written all over yer face. Somethin’s troublin’ ye.”
Silas slipped his hand from Sev’s grip and laced his fingers together in front of his lips. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “It’s this mission. This whole bloody situation.”
“What about it?”
“I don’t think we can do it.” Silas rested his forehead on his knuckles.
“What?”
“It’s too big, Sev. How are we supposed to solve the problems of an entire country?”
“It’s not really a country,” Sev responded, rather lamely.
“Only technically,” Silas snapped. “It should be. We never should have gone back in there. They’d probably have worked all this out on their own if we hadn’t interfered, if Fairgate hadn’t forced Her Majesty to interfere.”
“I don’t disagree with that, Si. I’m all about freedom, but that isn’t the way it played out. That’s why it’s up t’us t’go in there and get it sorted.”
“Sev.” Silas fixed him with a desperate gaze. “We’re not much more than children. I’m barely eighteen years and you don’t even know how old you are; sixteen at best?”
Sev shrugged.
“What the hell was Wrathsbury thinking?” Silas almost shouted it. He noticed the glances of the waitstaff and lowered his voice to continue. “For that matter, what was Kildeggan thinking—forming an army, a city of children, and sending them into battle to die? Midnight has an excuse: he’s completely insane, but who in their right mind would do this?” Silas’s eyes were manic, wide, and wild.
Sev could sense Silas coming apart at the seams, and it scared him. Silas was a little older, a little wiser, and much more practical than Sev. He’d been the rock to which Sev had anchored himself. Now it seemed like he was crumbling. How could Sev repair him? He took both of Silas’s hands and fixed him with a severe gaze. “Silas.” Sev poured all his effort into making his tone even and confident. “We’ve been given this task, you have been given this task because no one else can accomplish it. We have done things, incredible things, things that everyone else thought were impossible. But we bloody well did them. No matter what anyone thought, no matter how they questioned us.”
A waiter approached, and Sev threw him a warning glance that turned him instantly around. He couldn’t be interrupted now or he might lose Silas. And if he lost Silas, all was lost. Sev noticed Silas’s focus wandering. He squeezed Silas’s flesh hand and continued. “Silas. You and I? There isn’t nothin’ we can’t do together.” Sev pulled the sleeve up on Silas’s clockwork arm, exposing the mechanics beneath. “Ye lost this arm in the last battle, and it didn’t stop us from winnin’. And when that battle was over, we built ye a better arm. Better than yer flesh arm and better than Heph’s clockwork limbs.”
Silas nodded but didn’t speak.
“We flew a goddamned cobbled-together, patchwork airship t’Austria and convinced Nikola Bloody Tesla, boy genius, t’help us build a giant clockwork man t’batt
le an elder god that was trapped in our queen!” Sev realized his volume had risen and forced himself to calm down. “We’ve done things that Conan Doyle, Verne, and Carroll couldn’t even imagine. Our story is the stuff o’legend. I don’t like it, but that’s the way it is. And our legend isn’t over yet.”
“You speak true. It’s all true but that was for our home, for Great Britain. How do we accomplish the same for a country that’s not a country? A colony that rebelled against the crown? How do we summon the same conviction?”
“Silas,” Sev said it like an admonition. “We’re not doin’ it fer a country, a colony, or a government. We’re doin’ it fer people.” He released Silas’s hands finally. “They’re people with skin that’s browner than ours, but they’re people, dammit. They don’t deserve the shite that’s been shoveled ont’them, just like the Blacksiders didn’t deserve the shite that Fairgate used the queen t’shovel ont’us. It’s basic human decency, Silas. Nothin’ more, nothin’ less. It’s our duty as fellow humans.”
Silas sighed and dropped his head.
Sev waited for him to respond. When he didn’t, Sev asked, “What?”
“You’re bloody amazing, Sev.” Silas chuckled weakly. “Everything you’ve been through, everything you’ve sacrificed, and you’re still willing to fight to make the world better for someone else. How? How do you do it?”
“I can’t stomach bullies,” he answered. “And you. I want t’make a world that’s worthy of you, that ye deserve t’live in.”
“Christ, Sev. You’re a greater man than I can ever hope to be.”
“I don’t believe that fer a second. Ye’re just havin’ a little crisis o’ confidence.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because I wouldn’t want t’be with someone who wasn’t great. I wouldn’t waste my time.”
Silas grinned. “How can I argue with logic like that?”
“Ye can’t. So ye better just get it through yer thick skull that ye’re bloody brilliant and we’re goin’ t’succeed, and that’s all there is to it. There isn’t no other option.”
“Thank you, Sev. And also I’m sorry. I’m not often so insecure.”
“Ye don’t have t’apologize, Silas. This is goin’ t’be the most difficult challenge we’ve faced. A little bit o’doubt is totally understandable.”
“I wish we were in our cabin right now, because I want to kiss you so badly,” Silas whispered.
“There’ll be plenty o’time fer that, hopefully. Right now, I want t’have a chat with the colonel.” Sev wiped his mouth with his napkin, dropped it on the table, and stood to leave. Silas left a tip and joined him.
“What do you want to talk to the colonel about?”
“He’s a decorated military strategist, isn’t he? We might be able t’use his experience fer what we’re plannin’. At the very least maybe he has some useful advice.”
“Oh, that’s a good point.”
Sev smiled, glad Silas agreed. They split up as soon as they left the dining cabin.
AN HOUR later Sev emerged from the colonel’s suite. His conversation with the old military man had gone better than he had hoped. His next thought was cut off when he noticed the crew rushing about. Sev strode out onto the deck, looking around. He spotted Ensign Carter and motioned to him.
“Mr. Stephens,” Carter said as he walked over. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Sev shook his head. “Just wonderin’ what the commotion is.”
“We’re about to make port, sir. The crew is preparing the Arrow for docking.”
“Already?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll make New York within the hour.”
“Bloody hell.” Sev squinted out toward the bow. He could just make out a dark line on the horizon that had to be the coast.
“Yes, sir,” Carter responded. “If there’s nothing else, Mr. Stephens, I need to attend to my duties.”
“Oh, aye. O’course, Carter. I’m sorry t’keep ye. Off wi’ ye.”
“Thank you, sir. Please enjoy the rest of the voyage.” Carter tipped him a salute and hurried away.
“Sev!” Rat called, running toward him. “We’re there! We’re there!”
“Not quite, but it won’t be long, Ratty.”
“Where’s Silas? Does he know?”
“I’m sure he does. It’s a bit hard t’miss.” Sev smiled at Rat’s uncharacteristic, childlike glee. The smile faded quickly when he recalled the conversation he’d had with Silas after breakfast. Rat’s youth had never been quite so obvious as it was right now. Sev wondered if they really were doing the right thing.
“What?” Rat asked. “What’re ye thinkin’? Yer face is all frowny.”
“Hm?” Sev shook off his ruminations. “It’s nothin’, Ratty. Nothin’. Just thinkin’ about what we’ll do after we dock,” he lied.
“Ye think we ought t’find Silas?”
“Aye. That sounds like a fine idea.” Sev led Rat along the deck past a large group of passengers gathering at the rails, attempting to get a first glimpse of the New World. It really was very exciting. Sev wanted to share this rare moment with Silas more than anything. It might be silly, but that’s what he felt. Sev and Rat found him before too long, and they took places at the railing near the bow as Victorica crept ever closer.
11
THE STREETS of New York were like nothing Sev had ever seen, and yet some things reminded him so much of Blackside. The cobblestones, the filth, the people milling about. They’d disembarked the Arrow not long after the vessel had docked. Their luggage and their special cargo would be sent along to the hotel. Silas had left them to find the nearest telegraph office to relay news of their arrival. This gave Sev and Rat some time to wander about the city.
Sev couldn’t help but stare; the diversity of the people filling the streets enthralled him. So many different skin colors all sharing the same streets. The citizens of New York looked generally shabby and melancholy. It was not the picture Sev had in his mind of the wild frontier of the New World the newspapers and dime novels painted.
The diversity of foods available from pushcarts and covered wagons almost interested Sev more. By the way Rat stuck his nose in the air, scenting like a hound, Sev wagered his young friend might be more interested than himself. The fresh fruits and vegetables were breathtaking in a wide spectrum of colors, echoing the people selling them.
Gray clouds drifted in the sky above the city, and that more than anything gave Sev a sense of familiarity. They weren’t quite as dark as the blanket that lay constantly above Blackside, but they were reassuring nonetheless. The one stark contrast, the thing that unnerved Sev despite that, was the almost complete lack of clockworks and steamcraft. Horses hauled the carriages and hansoms. He saw very few automatic conveyances. Some of what he assumed were factories spewed smoke and steam. Sev could see a few pistons along their rooftops, but the rest of the buildings were surprisingly bare of any such mechanics.
Rat interrupted Sev’s thoughts with a whistle. “Crikey, would ye look at all o’this food,” he added. “Where do we start?”
“I’ve never seen so many Chinamen in one place. Some o’these carts smell like Xiang’s cooking.”
“This must be what heaven is like,” Rat said, still trying to look at everything at once.
Sev laughed. He pictured Rat dressed in white with wings and stuffing himself with food from carts parked in clouds. Distracted, he almost walked right into a small dark-skinned boy holding a large wooden box with a handle. The box was almost as large as the child. When Sev noticed him, he stopped in his tracks.
“Shoe shine, suh?” he asked with an accent Sev didn’t recognize. “You okay, mistuh?”
Sev realized he was staring down at the boy with his mouth hanging embarrassingly open. He snapped it shut and tried to put on a friendly smile. “I’m not accustomed t’havin’ me boots shined, lad.”
The boy was just about Rat’s height, and his eyes grew incredibly wide. He wh
istled sharply. “That sure is a funny accent you got there, mistuh. Where you from anyways, if you don’t mind my askin’?”
“Ask away, mate,” Rat answered, sitting on a bench and wiggling his feet around. “I’m not accustomed to a shinin’, but I’m willin’ t’give it a try.”
“You got it, suh!” The boy wore plain shabby clothes similar to the urchins of Blackside. He knelt by his box, opened it, and took out his tools. Then he unfolded the box to create a rest for Rat’s feet.
“We’re from London,” Sev answered as the shoeshine boy expertly applied polish to Rat’s new boots, the pair Silas had gotten for their little masquerade.
“Your accents ain’t as snooty as some of t’others who are over from there,” the boy responded as he buffed Rat’s boots. “No offense to your countrymen, o’course.”
“O’course,” Sev said. He sat next to Rat. “I reckon I will have that shine after all.”
“You got it, mistuh. I’ll be done with your friend in a jiffy.”
An idea surfaced in Sev’s mind. “My name is Sev, and this is Rat.”
“Pleased t’meet ya, suhs. My name’s Teddy.”
“Good t’meet ye, Teddy,” Sev said and held out his hand for a shake.
Teddy stared at it for a moment, glanced around while wiping his hands on a rag, and then tentatively shook it. “You fellas ain’t the high-society types, I take it.”
“That we certainly are not, Teddy,” Sev said with a chuckle. “We both spent our fair share o’time on the streets.” Sev remembered their cover story a little late, then added, “But now I’m a bit of a tinkerer, and Rat here’s my assistant.”
The 7th of Victorica Page 10