by D. Dalton
Solindra ran her hands over the stone. “No, this is wrong. He was here. He was right through here…” She leaned her back against the wall and sank back down to the floor. Tears bubbled up from somewhere deep inside.
Elclei gathered up her skirt and circled the fire. “I think it was just a nightmare, dearie, especially after what you’ve been through.”
She shook her head. “No. This place is the nightmare. Everything’s wrong on this side of the steam.”
The old woman shrugged sympathetically. “Just as you say, girl. Now I think you should get more rest, because it looks like your trip down the river’s still got its grip on you. After all, you passed out here well enough in the least comfortable place I can imagine.”
“But my dad was here…”
The old woman held out her hand for the girl to stand. “Maybe, maybe.” She wheezed a little bit under Solindra’s weight. “In the lands beyond Steamscape, when I was but your age, steam was nothing special. We believed the aether bands were the chariot trails of the sun god. When I was forced to work for Steampower as a child – before I was brought here – we figured the steam was enslaved like a person to turn its metal teeth. How silly I feel about it now.”
Solindra felt out the passage with her free hand. It was still too dark to see. “I guess civilization has worn off onto you then.”
“Yes, but what I’m trying to impart is that my whole world changed. What I thought was real was only real for the time I thought it was. Everything changed when I was brought here, and now that I’m old, I’m afraid soon that everything will change for me again.”
Solindra shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Codic fashion. I bet you’ve always believed in those clothes.”
The vessel was glad for the darkness to hide her blush. “Yes, but it’s silly now after what I’ve been through.”
“Exactly.” Elclei chuckled. “But have you noticed that the wealthy have their clothes on their portraits painted over every ten years or so?”
Solindra laughed and wiped away a tear. “I’d heard that, but that’s just to keep their clothes with the current trends. I read in the fashion journals that some of them would perish of embarrassment if people saw them in outdated styles.”
“Don’t you think life is a little like clothing then, Miss Solindra?”
The girl shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Everything I’ve ever known has always changed. And it will again.” Elclei paused as they came into the part of the cave where the children had been curled up in their bedrolls. Some of the older ones were already up and watching the entrance. A blond-haired boy turned and waved at them.
He cupped his mouth. “Me and Davey and the others are just about ready. Is there anything else, Miss Elclei?”
The old woman wrinkled her nose. “Flour, my lad.” She nudged Solindra, who was wiping her tears on her sleeve. “Would you care to join them? May do you more good than to sit around here and think yourself stupid all day.”
Solindra sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, just let me grab a couple of things.” She pushed herself back toward the room with the supplies. In the sparse glow of the lamplight, she dug her hands into a bag of ammunition and checked the caliber on the bullets’ stamps.
Gold! No, this was better than gold; these were bullets.
The vessel spent the next few moments checking over the rifle. Adri had prepared it for use before she’d given it to her. At last, she loaded it and then strapped it on her back without the carrying case. She held up her chin, dried her last few tears and marched out of the cave.
***
Davey led the party. The other boy was named Teddy, and the two girls about twelve or thirteen, were Abigail and Rosalyn. They looked like twins underneath their white bonnets and matching dresses. Solindra plodded along in their footsteps, trusting them to know the way to Ronna. She wasn’t even sure where it had been on the map – somewhere downstream from Codic.
Teddy splashed down in the chuckling brook they were following upstream. The water flew up and splattered across the rest of them. Solindra gripped the sancta in her front pocket. After a moment, she pulled it out and tied it to her belt.
“Who’s got the list?” she called.
Davey waved. “Just the usual food run, and whatever valuables people want to stash with us.”
Solindra’s eyebrows shot up. “What, like their diamonds?”
Teddy laughed. “Nope, not when they can swallow those. More like the oil and whiskey, whatever barrels we can roll back.”
The vessel eyed the uneven ground. “I hope not.”
“I’m Flame!” Davey yelled from upfront. He threw a handful of dirt at Abigail. Solindra suddenly gripped the rifle’s strap at the name.
“No.” Teddy crossed his arms. “You were Flame last time. That’s not fair.”
Abigail grinned and held up some twine. “I’m the Death Spinner and I got you both!” She tagged Davey on the shoulder.
Teddy thumped his chest. “I’m Flame. You can be the Steam Slayer this time, Davey.” He pointed at Rosalyn. “She’s Ghost, and Solindra gets to be Silvermark, ‘cause she’s got the rifle.”
The vessel gripped the rifle’s strap tighter across her chest and thought, if you only knew.
“Okay.” Rosalyn grinned. “What’s the mission this time?”
“To steal and sneak supplies through the battlefield!” Teddy roared. “Only this time, the enemy is using clockwork mines. Steam Slayer, Ghost, you’re up.”
“Hold on!” Solindra barked. Then she grinned. “I’m Silvermark, so I get to give the orders.” The children fell into a line before her. She walked up and down it once, surveying her troops. “Here is our mission: to steal food to get back to our cave base. You should deny this information if captured. The adversary is using clockwork mines, so Steam Slayer, Ghost, it’s up to you to find us a safe path to the enemy fortress.”
Davey and Rosalyn saluted. They whirled around, fell into a crouch and started to waddle with their eyes on the ground, tapping the ground ahead of them with their knives.
“Watch for animal carcasses – maybe they stepped on some,” Davey whispered loudly.
“Or local trails. The locals know not to leave the trail,” Rosalyn replied.
“But we’ll be sighted on the trail!” Teddy hissed. “I say we burn the whole forest! Show them to respect us!”
“Flame!” Solindra snapped. “Not yet. Not until we have to cover our tracks.” She shivered at just how accurate that had been.
Teddy grinned and fell into step behind “Ghost” and “Steam Slayer”.
They crouched down and spent the morning squelching through the mud as silently as possible to avoid the make-believe clockwork mines. When the streets of Ronna came into view through the trees, Solindra raised her hand and gestured for everyone to lie flat on the ground.
Rosalyn pointed. “But there’s the–”
The vessel pressed her fingers to her lips. She whispered, “Do you think the Hex would walk into a town without studying it first?”
Rosalyn shook her head. “Probably not.”
Davey hurled a rock. “Boom! Pow! I got a mine! Everybody duck from the flying dirt!”
“Davey, no!” Solindra snapped. “The enemy just saw the mine explosion – they’ll come looking. Now, everybody look at the town and tell me what you see. Does it look normal? Watch for at least two minutes before you answer.”
She turned her gaze back to the town and bit her lower lip. Of course, her father, Drina and Jing had played these games with her as a child all the time. Now she was playing them with other children. But as her attention swept over the town, she realized what it was to an adult’s eye.
Ronna looked complete, not burned out like Consequences. The steam and smoke from a train rose over the town, followed by its whistle several moments later. One boiler tower dominated the center of the town, with pipes leading out of it at almost every direction and hei
ght. Billows of smoke were already cranking out of the two factories.
“You kids lived here?” Solindra asked.
Teddy nodded. “Or on some of the farms. Most of us worked in the factories or the farms until our parents said we had to leave for the caves.” He dropped his gaze. “I heard some of them got in trouble for it with the law, and well, you know they’re hurtin’ without the extra hands.”
“They did what they thought was best,” Solindra replied. “That’s what all of us always do.” She shaded her eyes and watched the distant figures. They looked to be only half an inch tall from her vantage, trudging out to the fields and their harvesters.
Her upper lip curled. Most of these poor bastards didn’t have a damn thing to do with Saturni and the Priory’s personal feud.
Large men have even larger shadows. Something else her father had once said. These poor bastards lived and died in those shadows.
Her vision blurred by an attack of tears. She knew she’d seen him last night! She knew it hadn’t been just a dream.
Abigail nudged her shoulder. “You okay, Miss Solindra? You’ve got all pale.”
Solindra forced a smile. “Yeah. Of course. Everything looks normal.”
“Can we still be the Hex?” Davey raised his hand.
“Undercover,” she replied. “The Hex used to often pretend to be normal people while sneaking around cities.” She pointed. “We’ll also walk in on the road.”
Rosalyn adjusted her bonnet. “And pretend like we’re going to work. We’ve done this before, Miss Solindra.”
The vessel cocked a grin. “Right you are. Lead on then.”
The road into the town boasted the grooves of many heavy carts. The dirt drifted up and clung to their boots.
“That’s new.” Teddy pointed at a sign.
Solindra frowned. It read, “Citizens must check weapons at constable’s office. No exceptions! By Law.” She adjusted the rifle’s strap and shook her head. “Let’s just see if they stop me.”
The kids glanced up at her nervously.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of the way while you hustle to get the supplies. You know your way around the town and I don’t. Just be sneaky, like the Hex.”
“We know,” Abigail chirped. “We’ve done this four, no five, times already. Our parents leave everything ready to go.”
Teddy scowled. “Except flour. That wasn’t on Miss Elclei’s last list. Oh well, I know where to get that.”
The steam whistle of the train rolling out drowned their conversation. Solindra closed her eyes and listened to its song. First the whistle, then the chugging of the engine, and finally the rolling of the wheels along the rails. It wasn’t a Killing Train’s call, just a normal freight.
They passed the first building and Solindra swung into the narrow space between the train’s water tower and the postal office. She sat down on a barrel and hid Silvermark’s rifle behind her. “You kids hurry now, so we can get back before dark.”
They saluted. Davey’s too-long sleeve flew up over his hand and he grinned. The younger boy turned around and trotted in Teddy’s footsteps.
The vessel leaned her shoulder against the wall as the four disappeared into the mirthless crowd. She tapped her foot on the brick street and eyed what little of the train depot she could see. Dirt and grime coated its walls, and the tiles and bricks on the floor had been worn with overuse.
She listened and felt the vibrations running through the street below as another engine rolled into the station, just like back at home. She glanced over her shoulder to see another freight train. She heard the whistles of the engineers calling for the hose to be lowered to the steam engine from the water tower. Ahead of her, Codic soldiers marched through the streets between the workers, standing out in their gray uniforms. She kept an eye on the boiler tower with its massive steam-driven clock and waited.
“Silvermark!” Abigail smiled as she and Rosalyn jogged forward, carrying a burlap bag between them that was almost as tall as they were.
Solindra smiled and pressed a finger to her lips.
“Oh, right.” The girls giggled. They turned around and scanned the avenue for the boys.
“There’s Teddy!” Rosalyn pointed. “But he’s running! Oh no, so is Davey.”
Solindra’s hand immediately swung back for the rifle. She pumped a bullet into the chamber without thinking about it.
“Stop, boy!” A stout man in an apron was chasing the boys. “You didn’t show me your papers to buy that!”
Davey wailed. She couldn’t hear it, but she could see his mouth open in terror. White flour had spilled across his face from the bag he’d been clutching so tightly to his chest.
Across the way, a Codic soldier raised his pistol at the child. He aimed.
Silvermark’s rifle snapped into place on Solindra’s shoulder. The soldier’s back was to a brick building, outlining his uniform perfectly. She fired first.
The crack of the rifle was the only sound on the street.
His body rebounded off the wall and his shot went wild.
“Run, girls! Don’t be seen with me! Tell Elclei I did what I could.” She pumped the action again, reloading the chamber.
Solindra advanced away from the children. It amazed her how easy it had been. She’d shot dozens of birds with her father on the mountain, but with a different rifle. This one was so much smoother.
The man in the apron gaped, frozen in mid-step. Davey ran right past her and buried his head into Abigail’s arms. Teddy had also stopped so quickly that he’d fallen over, still staring at her. So was everyone else. The entire street had frozen. Solindra was the only thing in motion. The train’s final departure whistle growled across the unmoving avenue.
She marched over to the body of the soldier. His head had collapsed in on itself. The bullet had gone in his cheek and out his opposite ear to bury itself in the brick behind him.
With her boot, she traced out a hexagon in the dirt of the road. The dead man’s blood smeared into half of the outline.
“Okay, Smith, you and everyone else can try to find me.” She raised the silver rifle over her head, and sprinted for the train before the spell broke. She could only hope the children could melt away into the forest. And they could, she told herself, if she kept all eyes on her.
Chapter Twenty
The train rumbled across the landscape, its engineers unaware of their extra passenger poking her head up over the roof of the car. Solindra swung Silvermark’s rifle onto her back again and turned to face the fading view of Ronna.
She’d just killed a soldier in public. The next engine to leave that train station would be after her – she’d seen all the interconnecting rails – and she was sure she could make out stacks of smoke and steam firing up from the station. She glanced off to the east and the shelter of the forest there. She could more than likely find her way back to the children’s cave.
She bowed her head. The best she could do for them now was not to lead anyone back to them.
She shaded her eyes. Yes, she could see it now. They’d hauled out in the tencar, a tiny engine that could hold a maximum of ten people. But it was faster than this lug.
She frowned and turned her back on the pursuit. She ambulated along the metal roof of the freight car, where she could barely hear her footsteps above wind and rumbling. Ahead was a bridge over a river. Ripples on its surface vibrated along with the bridge as the train started its crossing.
She untied the sancta from her waist. She could boil those soldiers alive when they caught up. Then she would draw another hexagon, and the rumors of the Hex would certainly fly further.
Coldness shook her shoulders and weighed them down. The Hex was her family, well, half of it was. She had to find them. She knew her father had asked that of her.
The tencar was gaining rapidly on the train. The water flashed beneath the train as it chugged along over the narrow, old-fashioned bridge. Soldiers took a few potshots, but all of them pinged off the meta
l, tens of feet away. But she ducked anyway, sliding down between two of the rolling cars.
Solindra held up the cipher medallion in one hand and hopped backward off the edge of the train.
Steam rose up from the river to meet her and swallowed her completely. The water splashed, but the ripples quickly washed downstream.
She hovered about a foot beneath the surface, surrounded and cushioned by a bubble of vapor. No water had even dampened her hair. It wasn’t too large, but with enough air to last a few minutes.
The water made her vision blurry, but she could see the rainbows chasing each other in the heavenly aether bands.
She scratched her ankle absently and glanced down at her boot. Blood still clung to her foot from the man she had killed. She had to laugh, and wondered if she’d had a rifle when she’d met Theo in Valhasse if she would have done the same.
Probably not, she decided. But that was then, and this was now.
Overhead, the tencar flashed by on the bridge. Soldiers standing on the engine mount, each with rifles in one hand, stretched out their other arms as far as possible toward the train.
***
Pearls of sweat shone across Theo’s forehead. His heart beat at least twice the pace of Smith’s pocket-watch as it counted off each second. He hissed and kept his face and shoulders hunched over the device. He’d had to take off his gloves and he tried to avoid staring at his scarred fingers.
Smith’s cane poked him between his shoulders blades again. His index finger shoved the switch forward, spilling quicksilver all over the table.
“Damn!” Theo smacked the small metallic cylinder over into the mercury.
Smith calmly held up the pocket watch in Theo’s direction. He waved it back and forth while raising his eyebrows.
The bricoleur closed his eyes and tried to breathe. His nostrils flared like a bull’s. He reached for the cylinder and slammed it back into place in front of him. He’d never made a switchpack before, the usual ignition device for most machinery, or with slight modification, most explosives.