by D. Dalton
“Who would believe it?” Drina rolled her eyes. “We don’t have any contacts in Codic’s civic government anymore.”
“But… we’re the Hex.”
“Anyone could claim to be the Hex on telegraph. Many used to, actually. That’s why we used code.”
Jing’s brow narrowed. “Would anyone still have that code?”
“Doubtful.”
Solindra slouched down into the saddle. “But we could try?”
Drina and Jing exchanged a glance. He said, “We’ll try if we find a telegraph. Hope someone can get the word out. But we can’t risk telephone or radio.”
“Rather worry about this aether bomb,” Drina muttered, “because I’ve never heard of such a device before.” She cast a look over to the mechanic.
“It was an idea.” Jing shrugged. “But the theory always failed in trial. It would take a crypter to get it to work.”
The only sound was the drumbeat of the hooves.
“Or a supposedly ancient order of crypters?” Theo suggested.
“I know, kid,” Jing replied.
Solindra scowled. “No, because crypters direct the aether. The aether then moves the steam. At least I think. I’m certainly no expert.”
“Transfer of energy,” Jing said. “Aether moves energy through it, so in theory, with enough aether…” He swallowed. “This will be bad.”
“That’s what Smith said.” Theo leaned back in his saddle to look at the mechanic.
“But it only works with steam!” Solindra protested. “I’ve seen that.”
“To start, but with an enormous supply of aether and a chain reaction–” Jing broke off. “Such an amount of aether shouldn’t even be possible to get. You’d have to have ships harvesting it for years from the bands, at altitudes where your hands turn black from the cold and you can’t even breathe. Not even the crypters can do that, not that I know of.” He looked back at the bricoleur.
Theo shook his head. “Don’t ask me. I didn’t get to see any of it. But I remember that pure aether.” He shivered, thinking back to that moment where he’d thought he’d followed Merlina into the alley. Then he slouched forward. She couldn’t have been there. Smith had seen to that.
His grip tightened on his reins. At least Flame had never pretended to be on his side.
“Redjakel should be in sight by dawn.” Drina leaned forward and tapped her horse’s flanks with her heels. They charged onward through the glowing silvery light of the diamond moon.
“If it’s still there,” Theo muttered as he dug his own heels down. “Hyah!”
***
The city stood. Golden sunlight reflected off the brass of Steam Central’s skyscraper. Solindra patted her mount’s neck as the animal grazed on the grass at their feet.
“It looks so peaceful from here,” the vessel said.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been in so much danger,” Jing murmured.
Drina shrugged. “We can ride away. We don’t have to do this.”
Solindra set her jaw. “No. We left the soldiers and we left the people of Codic. We’re all Eliponesians. We’re not leaving the people of Redjakel. Not unless they have their hands stained by their own actions.”
Jing leaned away from her. “Meaning?”
“If you see Saturni or Adri, shoot them.”
Drina nudged the vessel. “Of course, by saving everyone – on the off chance we succeed anyway – we save those two too.”
“A bullet is more personal anyway.”
The Death Spinner blinked. “That sounded like Silvermark.”
Jing patted the assassin’s shoulder. “Alas, Solindra’s no longer our little Cylinder.”
Solindra ignored them. “Theo, your turn. Where is Smith?”
The bricoleur frowned. “I can show you where he last was.”
“You’d best do better than that.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He almost saluted sarcastically, but held himself steady. The others were right. This was a new person, not the girl he’d met before. He lifted his foot into the stirrup and hesitated to swing his other leg over. Was this new person worth endangering his life for?
He slid into the saddle and gathered up the reins. Why not? He’d killed Flame and now had no idea what to do with the life he still had. “What’s our plan, Sol?”
“Stop this aether bomb.”
Jing grunted. “I don’t want to mess around with it while the Reaper’s there. I’d rather just break his fingers so they can’t work the bomb’s triggers.”
“I vote we avoid Smith,” Drina said. “Or I can deal with him while you three blow yourselves up trying to be noble.”
“Right, Death.” Jing rolled his dark eyes.
“We might not run into him at all.” Solindra stared ahead at the city in the growing dawn. She could see differences now. Refugee tents dotted the plain in front of the city. All the roads were now blocked with wooden barricades. As they trotted nearer, she could see that not all of them were manned. She guessed it was because most of their army had gone off to war, and then wondered if they had beaten the news of the battle here.
They unsaddled the horses and turned them loose as they neared the city. They slinked wide around in the shadows and approached a barricaded avenue. The hasty construction had led to an uneven wall.
Solindra slung the rifle over her back and started to climb without a word. Drina followed her up like a spider, quickly overtaking the younger woman. Theo came after. Jing’s metal prosthesis forced him to climb slowly, using his muscled arms and one leg. The steampowered leg hung like a dead weight.
Warning bells started screaming as they descended to the street. They froze, watching and listening. But no one seemed to converge on them. In fact, they didn’t see anyone at all.
“What’s going on?” Theo cocked his head into the wind. “That’s code! They’re signaling in telegraph code.”
Both Solindra and Jing held up their hands for silence.
The bell tolled: - .... --- ..- ... .- -. -.. ... -.. . .- -.. -.-. --- -.. .. -.-. .--. .-. . ... .. -.. . -. - .. .- .-.. ... --.- ..- .- .-. . .-.-.- ... - -- .--. .--. .-.. .- -. . ... --. .- ... .-.. .- -... .. . .-. ... .--. . . -.-. .... .-.-.- -.-. --- -. -.. - --- .-. .-- .... . .-. . -... - --- ..-. .--. .-. . ... ..- -. -.- -. --- .-- -. .-.-.- ... - -- .--. .--. .-.. .- -. . ... -... -- -... -.-. .. - -.-- .- ..-. - . .-. --. ... .- - - -.- .-.-.-
They waited in stillness and darkness for the bell to sing its verses. Tears started to slide down Solindra’s cheeks.
Drina shrugged. “I got Codic.”
“Shh!” Jing shook his head stiffly for silence. Even his lips were tight.
Solindra pressed her hands to her ears. “That’s it. It looks like Steampower won.”
“No.” Theo mashed his fist into his other open palm. “They don’t have an army left. What happened? I couldn’t pick that up.”
Jing dropped his chest. “Steampower gassed President LaBier’s speech, where apparently most of the city had gathered. Thousands are dead, maybe even half the population of the city is at least wounded. LaBier’s condition or whereabouts remain unknown.”
“We knew this would happen,” Drina whispered.
Solindra gasped. “We’re all from the same country. The people haven’t forgotten that. How? How could they?”
Theo took her hand. “Then let’s do what we can here.”
Solindra nodded.
He dropped her hand and led them through alleys. They remained in the shadows. Away from the open areas and the glow of the Light District, the winds stole the warmth from the city. Their boots crunched over discarded gears and other trash.
“This one.” Theo rapped his knuckles softly on metal side of the warehouse and listened. Nothing moved from inside. “They pumped the aether into the underground here. I saw Smith fiddling with it when we dropped off the switchpacks.”
“Switchpacks?” Solindra whispered.
“Shh!” Theo waved his hand behind his head, press
ing his ear up against the door.
“Over at least a year,” Jing mused. “Nobody would notice dirigible balloons coming in for repairs in this district, I bet. Maybe they–”
“Shh!” Theo hissed again.
Drina raised an eyebrow and a knife behind the boy’s head.
Jing and Solindra shook their heads.
Theo turned around to a sweetly smiling assassin with her hands behind her back. He shook off whatever thought he had at her expression. “It’s quiet. Probably the best we’re going to get.”
“I don’t like it,” Solindra whispered. “Too quiet, you know?”
“This is where the aether is. They can’t possibly have moved it.”
Drina purred, “And you said that this was the only supply they had left?”
Theo nodded. “But I think it’s the bigger one.”
“Then that’s more than enough to cripple Redjakel permanently,” Jing murmured.
Solindra swallowed. “All those people.” She shook herself free from her horrifying daydreams and pulled on the sliding door. “Let’s do this.”
Jing pushed open the door just enough for them to slip inside. “This would be a good time to spring the trap.” Beside him, Drina nodded.
“Trap, Mr. Li?”
A match flared in the gloom of the warehouse as Smith lit a lantern. He smirked in the growing light. “There is no trap. Traps require illusion or misdirection. This is only reality.”
Solindra froze, trembling. Smith was here! She tried to flex her hands, but they were suddenly numb.
Theo stumbled back toward the door. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know! You said you would leave it empty.”
“Yes, but I was lying, Mr. Meilleur. In fact, I even told you that you were bait and still you didn’t puzzle this together.”
Drina whirled on Theo, slamming him against the wall. He started to gasp, but felt a prick against his skin. A single drop of blood stained her stiletto.
“Ms. Death, please. He’s nothing but my unwitting errand boy. You wouldn’t kill the bootblack, would you?”
Drina never looked away from Theo’s terrified eyes. “I have before.”
“I am not surprised, or frightened, by that admission.” He twiddled his mustache. “Now I can destroy the vessel and Redjakel together.”
“I’m innocent.” Theo closed his eyes and then an icy sensation chilled his spine and blood. He couldn’t pray to the Hex. He had no one left. He didn’t know any other patron saints.
“He is.” Smith’s glass cane echoed as he tapped it against the concrete floor while he stood. “Remember, innocence is synonymous with ignorance.” He snapped his gaze over to Solindra. “And you, thing, don’t you dare point that shiny toy at me.”
Her fingers fumbled her grip on her father’s rifle. She had it halfway up to her shoulder. She knew he wasn’t armed; she knew she could shoot him. But she just couldn’t make herself stop being numb long enough to just do it. It was like touching a stove when she knew it was cold, but she’d felt that heat before and couldn’t bring herself to risk the burn.
A few feet away, Drina winked at Theo. She spun and launched the stiletto at Smith.
He parried with his cane, but the knife still managed to graze his forearm, opening a small slice. The Death Spinner shot off two more knives. The Reaper charged Solindra, bringing his cane up like a sword.
Jing held up his fists and stood in Smith’s path. He caught the cane in both hands, and he and Smith grappled for a moment. The blue sancta swung in between the two men, suspended on a chain around the Reaper’s neck.
Smith grinned and gritted his teeth at the same time. “It seems I have the advantage.”
Jing jerked up his metal knee into Smith’s thigh. The Reaper hardly flinched. Then Jing smirked.
The gunshot echoed like thunder inside the metal walls of the warehouse. Jing’s knee smoked as the barrel retracted back inside its casing.
Smith’s face contorted. Jing breathed out and started to relax his grip.
The Reaper’s face twisted into a grin. Jing looked down. The bullet was rapidly spinning in place, trapped in a cloud of steam in front of Smith’s stomach. Steam pulled from the moisture of the blood across Smith’s arm.
Smith’s pupils suddenly dilated and the bullet shot back at Jing. The prosthetic kneecap sparked and exploded into scrap metal. The mechanic stumbled back with the force of the shot, a surprised expression widening across his face.
The Reaper spun and put his foot down in front of Solindra.
She tried to straighten and swing the rifle between herself and Smith. He raised the cane over her chest, pointed end aimed at her heart.
Solindra thrust out with the rifle butt, the fastest move possible from her lopsided position. It slammed into Smith’s thigh.
He staggered back half a step. She spun the rifle around so that the barrel pointed toward his head. It wasn’t aimed, not with the fight. The barrel’s end bobbed and swayed, but couldn’t find its target.
Theo bowled himself shoulder first into the Reaper and knocked both of them back. Drina had circled around and dropped a thick silken cord around Smith’s neck.
Where Smith no longer was. The silk hissed through the empty air.
The Reaper whirled the cane around in front of him like a stave.
On the table behind him, a telephone bell started to ring.
Smith scowled. “Excuse me, the Gentlemen require my services.”
He slammed the point of his cane into Drina’s side, spun around behind Theo and, in the second of chaos, retreated from the fight.
He trotted over to the table and ignored the ringing telephone. He lowered his hands to the typewriter, wired into the floor, and his fingers tapped out, “Truth.”
Drina hesitated and glanced back at Jing. She stepped between Solindra and Smith.
Gears started to click and whirl along the wall. The structure rumbled and fissures crackled into existence along the wall. Sections of metal sheeting fell away to reveal that an entire wall of the warehouse was clockwork.
Theo held his hands over his head as chunks of twisted metal rained down. Jing tried to limp away from the wall, but his broken prosthesis held him in place.
Drina and Solindra lunged forward. The vessel aimed the rifle, but the Death Spinner was two steps ahead and in her line of sight.
“Truth will win.” Smith raised his hand to the wall.
Drina thrust with two knives. One swept wide across the top of Smith’s chest, drawing his gaze while the other plunged straight toward his gut.
The Reaper batted away the first knife with the cane.
He grabbed her wrist with his other hand. His thumb dug into a pressure point and her hand slackened involuntarily. With his thumb, he flipped the thin stiletto back toward her.
Drina’s face pinched with anguish as the knife pushed into her chest against her ribs. She gasped.
Smith shoved her away and whirled to face the others.
And he stopped. Solindra was only three feet away with her rifle barrel at his chest.
Smith held the glass cane crosswise across his chest.
Her last bullet boomed as it spiraled out of the barrel. The glass cane shattered underneath the bullet, and the round bit deep into Smith’s heart. His cipher medallion swung over the bullet hole, but it was too late.
Smith’s eyes widened. He slumped forward and his knees buckled. Then he collapsed face-first onto the concrete floor.
Solindra exhaled and lowered her rifle. It felt ten times heavier now.
Jing wheezed and pointed. The clockwork wall was spinning faster. Several of Theo’s large switchpacks fired into life with pillars of flame along the wall.
Aether bands creeped up the wall as slivers of the element started to escape the underground storage. Automatic pulleys retracted well covers and crackling glass bulbs rose up from the floor. Pumps were pushing the aether into the glass.
“Chain reaction,” Theo gasped. “Wh
at can we do? Is there anything we can do?”
Jing shook his head. “Aether itself can’t explode.” He tried to lift his metal leg, but the joints wouldn’t move inside of it.
Solindra dropped the rifle and landed in front of him. She turned to Drina, who was pressing a hand against her bleeding breast.
The assassin heaved for breath. “I’m okay enough for now. We have to run.”
Jing shook his head again. “Can’t outrun this.”
“Then stop it before the aether ignites!” Theo screamed. “You’re Ghost! You’re the Hex! You can do anything.”
“Never went up against the Priory,” Drina gasped.
“Aether can’t ignite,” Solindra said, staring into the middle distance. “It’s not energy. It’s the medium through which energy is transferred. It reacts with everything else.”
A gear snapped and wheeled off the wall, twisted and smoking. The entire wall seemed to bulge and waver like a mirage.
“Too late.” Theo smeared the sweat across his face. “Too late.”
Aether bands spiraled up in the air and curled their tendrils toward them. Solindra tried to walk toward the wall, but the bulge no longer seemed to be in the same world.
“Can’t stop it!” Jing cupped his hands to be heard above the sounds of machinery.
The entire wall twisted and rose away from the floor. Chunks of concrete rumbled to the base. Rebar and steampipes hung uselessly into the empty air. Switchpack fires burned.
“It’s the fuel!” Solindra screamed. “The aether is just converting everything to energy, and that’s what will destroy Redjakel! Everything in Redjakel will be converted into pure energy.”
Another automated switchpack flared into life.
“Can’t stop it, the fire’s already burning.” Solindra started to hammer the rifle butt against the concrete floor. “Release the aether! Get the fuel away from the fire.”
More aether spiraled into the machine hovering over the ground, feeding the frenzy.
“Make holes! It can’t destroy the city if there’s no aether to make the transformation from matter to pure energy, so make holes!”
“What with?” Theo spun around, looking for anything. His hands fumbled for the thermite bombs he had grabbed from Flame’s bandolier.