Heart of Veridon (The Burn Cycle)

by Tim Akers

  “Oh, I imagine we’ll get in. They want us to get in. It’s getting out that has me worried.”

  “That’s something that has us all worried, Jacob Burn,” a voice said behind me, from the shadows of the shattered staircase. The voice was musical, pipes and pistons in a semblance of humanity.

  Wilson didn’t move. My hands were working the action on Emily’s shotgun even as I remembered it was empty.

  A dark bulk resolved into a man of cogs and metal. Valentine. He was not alone. Others stood behind him, keeping to the shadows, weapons in their hands. I counted at least three.

  “How do people keep finding me?” I muttered. “What the hell are you doing here, boss?”

  “You are cutting a wide wake through the city, Jacob. I have had eyes on all the major players for the last couple days. Ever since the incident at the Tomb Manor. When your path crossed your father’s and the Lady Tomb, I decided it was time to step in. We have some things to discuss, I imagine.”

  He took an envelope out of his waistcoat and dropped it in my lap. It was addressed to Valentine, City of Veridon. The edges of the envelope were dirty and worn. I opened it and read the single sheet of paper inside.

  — As we agreed: GLORY OF DAY. Have your best men on board.

  — Signed, Marcus Pitts.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I imagine we do.”

  “I DO NOT think of it as dishonesty, Mr. Burn.”

  We were in a carriage, too many of us for the cabin. Wilson and I stank of ash and sewage and blood. The leather seat creaked as we tried to make enough room for all of us, and our guns and knives and mistrust.

  “I do. It’s nothing personal, Valentine. But all this, I have to call it dishonest.”

  “Good to know it’s not personal,” Cacher spat. He had been glaring at me ever since he stepped out from behind the boss back in the basement. He had a handful of dirty looks for Wilson, too. Some history there I didn’t know.

  “Quiet,” Valentine said, gave Cacher the barest nod. “Jacob, you have to understand my position. I cannot stand up against the Council and the Church. It would be open war. My organization can not have that fight.”

  “You could have warned me.”

  “I wasn’t sure I could. I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t tell Emily.”

  “You knew about her?”

  He shrugged. “I knew something wasn’t right. But I wasn’t sure.”

  “Where is she, bastard?” Cacher asked, menacing me with his black, blunt shortrifle.

  “Fuck off, Cach.”

  “Don’t tell me to—”

  “Fuck off, Cacher,” Valentine said.

  “What else did you know about?” I asked. “About the Cog, and the Council? How did you find out about all of this?”

  “Ah. Straight from Marcus, actually.” Valentine shrugged and tried to settle more comfortably into his bench. Cacher struggled further against the wall of the carriage. The other two thugs were up top, driving us somewhere. “I started getting messages from him two weeks before your spectacular accident. More and more desperate, the closer he got to Veridon.”

  “You knew what he had?”

  “Not completely. He wanted help, he was scared. Of that Angel, in retrospect, though he never specified. It was killing the expedition, one at a time. He was scared he wouldn’t make it to the city.”

  “Like she wanted,” I whispered, thinking of Camilla’s plan to lure vengeance into Veridon.

  “Who?”

  I shook my head. “So, he wanted your help. And he tried to buy it with the Cog?”

  “Yes. With knowledge of what it was, where it came from.” Valentine spread his wide, flat hands. “I couldn’t do it, obviously. Too many variables, and no idea if I could trust him.”

  “So you sent me?”

  “I knew when he was coming. Knew he was pursued. I wanted a man in place.”

  “Me?”

  He nodded.

  “I’m going to get back to this, boss, because I really feel that it’s pretty important. You could have told me.”

  “I didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea what you were going into. How could I warn you?”

  “You could have told me to be prepared.”

  “Jacob, the day I have to tell you to be prepared for trouble, that’s the day I will no longer trust you.”

  I leaned back in the chair, staring off into the distance. Veridon rumbled past us through the wire webbed protective glass of the carriage.

  “So what now?” I asked.

  “I’ve been on the sidelines long enough. Things are precarious enough, now.” He futzed with the clasp on his cuff, unbuttoning it, adjusting the shirt sleeve and reattaching the cufflink. “I think it’s time for me to help.”

  I laughed quietly, once. “You want to help? Now? All the time I spent hiding, unarmed, the Badge and Council and Church trying to kill me. You want to help now?”

  He shrugged. “Too many factors, Jacob. But I’m here now. Don’t turn down an ally. You could use a friend.”

  “Yeah,” I said, thoughtfully. “Yeah, I could. Okay. You want to help me?” I pushed the empty shotgun into his lap. “Let’s start by loading this gun.”

  Valentine smiled. “That’s my Jacob. That’s the way.” He reached behind the seat and produced a box of shells and handed them to me. Just like Valentine, to have an extra box lying around.

  I loaded the gun, one shell at a time. It held six shells, lined up down the barrel. A good gun. I couldn’t help but think of the Angel, coming down the hall as I knelt in the Manor Tomb, fumbling with the cylinder. That’s what it comes down to, sometimes. Clear action in the face of danger. Keeping your head when everyone else around you is freaking out. I loaded the gun smoothly, one shell, then the next, until the cylinder was full. I snapped the gun shut, then laid the barrel against Valentine’s chest. Cacher raised his alley piece and snarled.

  Wilson’s talon tipped arms pounced forward, a sharp edge resting on Cacher’s face, his neck, below his eye. He pushed just hard enough that Cacher had to strain backwards to keep his skin intact.

  “You’re going to put your gun down, son,” Wilson said, his voice low with menace and anger. Cacher complied.

  “This isn’t necessary, Jacob,” Valentine said. “You can just tell me to fuck off. I would understand. Probably what I would do in your shoes.”

  “You wouldn’t be in my shoes, boss. You’d hire some sucker to get the shit kicked out of him. You stopped getting your hands dirty twenty years ago.”

  “On the contrary. I keep my hands quite dirty. Part of the job. But you’re right, I wouldn’t let myself get where you are. So.” He kept his clockwork face neutral, wouldn’t look at the gun. “What now?”

  “I want to be clear about this. I appreciate what you’ve done for me. Took me in, watched out for me. Gave a fuck when no one else would. But I think this was one too far. I don’t want you as an enemy, Valentine. But I think I’m done with having you as a friend.”

  “Not the best move, Jacob. It’s a different world, without my protection. Where would you be right now, if I hadn’t put you on that zep with Marcus? You wouldn’t have known anything was up, and the Council could have plucked you off the street without a word of trouble. You’d be dead, and you wouldn’t even know why.”

  “Maybe. Would’ve saved me a hell of a lot of trouble. No, boss, this is it. Pull it over.”

  He banged on the carriage roof and we pulled over. I kept my gun on Valentine as we got out. Wilson left Cacher with a healthy set of new scars. We backed into an alley, the two thugs on top watching us go. Valentine smiled and waved.

  “Good luck, Jacob. And stay out of my sight for a little while.”

  “I’ll probably be dead, boss. But I’ll keep it in mind.”

  We slipped away. A second later the carriage started up. When it was gone we ran, keeping buildings between us and the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in, and dusk settled with the sound of distant thunder rolling dow
n the Reine, echoing off the city’s high walls.

  SOMEONE HAD BEEN in my room. No real surprise. They had torn through the rest of the city looking for me, I suppose someone along the way might have stopped in to my rented quarters up here on the Torch’, to see if I’d left anything important behind. Their mistake. I didn’t own anything important. That was the key to my life. Mobility, emotional and physical.

  The bed had been taken down and cut open, scattering little curls of excelsior across the wood floor. All my drawers had been opened, the cabinets pulled apart. I didn’t keep a lot of things, but everything I kept was in a pile on the floor.

  “You need a woman in your life,” Wilson said. “People shouldn’t live like this.”

  “Shut up, bug,” I said. I kicked a path through the room, then locked the door. The only light was the lightning flicker coming in through the massive river-side window that took up one wall.

  “You shouldn’t call me that. Bug. I thought better of you than that.”

  “It’s been a shitty day. I can be unexpectedly cruel, on days like this.”

  “Well,” Wilson collapsed onto the shredded bed, puffing up a cloud of wood shavings. “Let’s try to focus that cruelty. We have need of it.”

  “This isn’t about revenge. For me at least. If it was just revenge I’d have burned out long ago.”

  “So, what? You’re going in because you love the girl?”

  “Let’s not be stupid, Wilson.” I closed all the drawers, opened the curtains wide. The rain was really coming down. Hell of a storm. “I’m doing this because it’s what I should do. It’s what I’d want done, if I were in there.”

  “So loving the girl has nothing to do with it.”

  I sighed. I wasn’t going to tell him about Emily, about her job with the Families. It wasn’t worth the argument.

  “Fuck off, bug,” I said quietly.

  He laughed a genuine laugh, the kind of laugh I didn’t expect from him. He lay on my bed with his spider arms splayed out, his hands laced behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

  “So what are we doing, Jacob Burn? You got us up on the Torch’ well enough. How much harder is it going to be to get in the Academy?”

  “Very much harder.” I tossed a revolver and a box of shells I had picked up down on the bed, along with the box of shells Valentine had given me for Emily’s shotgun. I wanted something to eat. I started rummaging through the detritus of my house, to see if I’d left anything, anything that hadn’t spoiled. “The facility that my dad was talking about, I think I know where that might be.”

  “From your days in the Academy?”

  “The very days. Places we weren’t allowed to go, hallways that always had guards and locked doors. I didn’t think much about it at the time.”

  “How do we know your father is telling us the truth?”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Well. He’s betrayed you how many times in the last two weeks?”

  “Twice. Once to Angela. And I’m counting the original betrayal, with the PilotEngine. I think that one will always count, no matter how long ago it was.” I found some crackers. They were stale.

  “Right, so, how do we know he isn’t going for three? He told you about Emily, about where she was. How do we know he isn’t dealing you to the other faction in the Council?”

  “Oh, I’m sure he is. I’m sure he and Angela gave me that information on the off chance I slipped away. I’ve proven so elusive, you know.” I sat down on the bed and crunched my way through a messy stack of crackers. “I’m a dangerous man, Wilson.”

  “And they’re going to contact the rest of the Council, to let them know you’re coming?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s necessary. They knew we’d figure it out, eventually. Knew we’d figure out where she was. They’re waiting.”

  “So this is a trap?”

  “Oh, gods, yes.”

  “Then what the hell are we doing?”

  “What they expect. Right up to the moment we do exactly what they don’t expect,” I said.

  “Which is?”

  “Well,” I rubbed my eyes and looked down at Wilson. He looked terrible, in his burned clothes and charred skin. “I was hoping you had an idea.”

  “Oh, no. I got you out of the Dome. That was my daring rescue. This is your show, Jacob, my boy.”

  “Yeah. Well.” I stood up and crossed to the window. “It’s going to have to be a hell of a thing.”

  I watched a zepliner dashing in for the docks high above us. Lightning flashed along its sides, glimmering against the pale skin of the anti-ballast. The crew was on the main deck, hauling line and securing cargo. It looked like they were crashing, though I knew better. The docks were just above us, behind the stone walls of the Torch’.

  “I know how it’ll happen,” I said.

  “They’ll fill us with lead and burn our bodies on the signal fire?” Wilson asked.

  “You’re a good guy to have around, Wilson. A real damn pick-me-up.”

  He chuckled. “You have a plan.”

  “No, no. But I have an idea.”

  “Good enough.” He sat up and munched forlornly at a cracker I had dropped. He grimaced, set the cracker down, and looked around the room. “I’m getting tired of waiting.”

  “Yeah, me too.” I packed up the revolver, threw Emily’s shotgun over my shoulder and shoved my way through the pile of junk to my front door. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “You gonna tell me how we’re going to do this?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me,” I said. “I don’t believe me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  A Circle of Hammered Brass

  GETTING IN WAS easy. I’d been visiting the Academy since I was a starry-eyed kid, spent the best five years of my life in its walls. The Academy and the base were one structure, sealed in stone walls and guard patrols. I had snuck out a hundred times, and snuck back in, with a bottle or a girl.

  The streets were empty, but I didn’t know if Sloane and his friends had cleared the residents in anticipation of our approach, or if it was just the weather. Either way, it was creepy. Space had always been tight on the Torch’. The only way I knew this place was crowded, herds of people squeezing through the tunnel-like streets, the narrow walkways that leapt across the many cracks and crevices in the hard stone foundation of the Torchlight. It was never empty, never quiet.

  The rain made it worse. The lead skies had opened up, and it felt like the river Dunje was pouring between the buildings. The cobbles were several inches deep with cold water. Even though I walked down the middle of the street, the buildings to either side were hazy and gray.

  “You cold?” Wilson asked.

  “Nah. Just never seen this place like this.”

  “Yeah.” Wilson stretched his arms, walked nervously nearly against the wall, trying to get a little protection from the storm’s assault. “I don’t get up here much.”

  “You? Scared of heights or something?”

  “Scared of Pilots, actually,” he smiled at me apologetically. “Pilots and the Corps.”

  I didn’t ask. The Corps had done plenty in its time, during the various wars and skirmishes that kept Veridon in power. Resentment was natural.

  “So how are we getting in?”

  “I haven’t really decided yet.”

  “I thought you had an idea,” Wilson said. “A clever trick.”

  “I do. A brilliant trick,” I said. I bunched my coat up around my neck, then grudgingly moved over closer to the wall opposite Wilson. “But that’s for getting out.”

  We walked in silence for a while. I had the box of shells Valentine had given me tucked against my belly. I hoped the powder wouldn’t spoil in this deluge. I wasn’t real sure I’d get to use any of this kit, with Sloane’s crew expecting me. But if I needed it, I’d rather it work.

  “So, uh. How are we getting in?”

  “You figure it out. I don’t care. We go up
to the door and knock. They’re waiting for us, Wilson. We’re not going to be able to sneak in.”

  “So what the hell are we doing up here, Jake? I’m not in this to walk in and get shot. Hey,” he grabbed the back of my jacket and spun me around. “I’m not going to be happy just shooting a couple Badges, Jacob. I intend to get through this alive.”

  I stared at him a while. Did they have eyes on us, right now? Made sense. If they cleared the streets, if the shops were empty and the cadets tucked into their barracks, if they went to that much trouble, why not guards on the approaches? That’s what I’d do. So, yeah, they’re probably watching us right now.

  “You think too much of me, Wilson. I’m not that noble.” I pulled my jacket free and started back up the street. “We’ll get through.”

  I didn’t hear him for a dozen steps, then he sloshed through the gutter to catch up.

  “I need more than optimism,” he hissed, his face really close to my ear. “I need to know what you’re planning.”

  “You think they’re watching us, Wilson? You think they have people watching out for us?”

  He stopped again, falling behind. When he came back he was lurking, one of the Badge’s stolen shortrifles in hand.

  “Cuz I think they’re watching us,” I said, when he was behind me again. “So that’s why I haven’t told you.”

  We were getting close to the base. Its bulk loomed up against the sky, eclipsing the storm for a second. Wind whipped around the stone walls. There were lights inside, bright eyes in the night. There were a couple of guard houses and a bridge that zig-zagged from the main path, each bend passing through a tower’s watchful gate.

  I hopped up onto the railing of the first bridge. It was iron and stone, and the rain had made it slick. Wilson followed nervously. I swung my leg over the edge, then tucked the ammunition into various pockets of my coat. I got the shotgun over one shoulder then turned to Wilson.

  “Follow close.”

  I inched farther out onto the bridge’s structure, keeping three points secure all the way out. The supports blossomed out into the open air, running to the towers and the other two bridges beyond.