Sophie gasped softly and started to step back. As she did, Neil’s wings flapped out and struck her. She lost her balance, rolling across the floor of the cab and towards the open door. I could hear Strom shouting, “Damn you, boy!”
My heart seemed to pause, on the verge of breaking. “Sophie!” I screamed, running at her with all the speed and strength I could muster. I reached out just as she started to slide through the door and grabbed her forearm. “Hold on!” I cried. “I have you!”
Sophie wrapped her hand around my wrist as she dangled from the train. Her eyes widened as her hat flew off towards the Crescent Sea below. She tried to push her way back through the door, but her beautiful dress worked against her; her movements were restricted by her bustle. I started to pull her up, but I stopped when I saw her eyes widen. I turned my head and gasped.
Strom had one hand on the brake and the other raised to fend off Neil, who had extended his talons. “Back off!” Strom said as he pulled the handle down slowly. “We’ll save this for another day.”
“No. Today.” Neil raised his hand, and the lights in the cab gleamed off his talons as he slashed.
Strom shrieked and released the brake as Neil’s talons dug into his side. Blood dripped on the immaculate floor of the cab. Neil grabbed Strom and yanked the tube that fed dwimm into his wings from its socket. “No!” Strom said. “Don’t do this, boy!”
“I’m not a boy, Strom,” Neil said. “And you were never my friend.” He slashed Strom again, across the stomach, and kicked him hard.
Strom tumbled across the floor, just missing me and Sophie as he fell through the opened door. For a moment, I saw him flailing, trying to grab Sophie’s leg, anything to break his fall, but then he plummeted towards the Crescent Sea.
Every now and then, Strom’s final scream wakes me up from my nightmares.
It must have affected Neil in much the same way, for a moment. He stared out the door, his eyes wide and full of disbelief. “Gods,” he said, half to himself. “What...what have...”
I braced myself and pulled as hard as I could. Sophie grabbed the door frame with her free hand. “Tabitha…” She nodded towards Neil, who still seemed to be in shock, and the controls.
“I can’t leave you!” I said.
Sophie swallowed. “I’ll be all right,” she said shakily. “Go. Save the train.”
I guided Sophie’s hand to the railing by the door and pressed it down, ensuring that she had hold of the rail before I let go. I smiled nervously at Sophie in what I’m sure was a failed attempt to reassure her before I stood and turned towards Neil.
He still seemed to be in shock, staring at his talons as Strom’s blood dripped from them. “I was right,” he said as I approached him. “You do fancy her.”
“Neil,” I said, “step aside.” I was putting all my effort into keeping my arms and voice from trembling, and as a result my legs were about to give way.
“It was three lives.” Neil spoke almost absently, staring through the door into the distance, flexing his talons. “They had worked with Stanbury before. She turned them down this time. We made it look like an accident.”
“Please, Neil. Not all these people—”
Neil’s head snapped up. “They’re not innocent! Dalrymple and Overton knew what happened! They tried to bury it!”
“Neil—”
“Those bastards killed my mother!” Neil screamed. “She was crushed in that accident on the tracks!”
I stepped back. “Oh, Gods,” I said softly.
“And at the funeral, they told me to keep quiet. They said if I didn’t, I’d lose my job and go to jail.”
“Oh, Neil.” Even with all he had done, I still couldn’t help but sympathize with him. “I’m so sorry.”
Neil stood up straight, flexing his wings. “You did marvelous work on these, Tabitha,” he said. “Mama knew Strom, and that’s why he came to me directly when he needed another set of wings built for Whitlock; I brought in Rostall as a go-between. They were going to destroy the Express to cover up Whitlock’s part in the accident. He was ready to confess, so Strom killed him, and I took his place.”
He stared out the open door. “He wanted everyone involved dead. I tried to warn you away in the alley the other day. And I used your knife to attack Rostall and give him a chance to survive.”
I thought there still might be hope for him. I truly did. “Pull the brake, Neil,” I said. “You’re not a killer.”
Neil looked at me sadly. “I can’t. The guilds did this. They are going to pay.”
“And do I pay as well?” I locked eyes with him. “Will my blood be shed with theirs?”
Neil turned aside. “Not—not you, Tabitha. I can carry—I can get you somewhere safe.”
“What about the others? The engineers? The chefs and bartenders? The lottery winners? They’re all innocent. Will you save them as well?”
“Only you.” Neil seemed to be wavering.
“Not even Sophie?” I snuck a glance at her; she was still holding on, but I could tell her strength was waning.
“No. Only one.”
“I won’t leave without her,” I said quietly. “I can’t let you do this.” I studied his wings, his harness. I knew how to stop him, but I had just one chance. If I failed, we’d all die. Sophie would die.
“Try to stop me, then,” Neil said. “But I won’t let anyone stand in my way any more. No guilders, no ministers, no elites, not even you.”
As he spat out the last few words, I glanced past his shoulder. We were pulling ever closer to the smoking gap in the tracks where the generator had exploded. “One last chance, Neil,” I said. “Back away. Let me stop this train.”
“No!” Neil said. He extended his talons. “I don’t want to hurt you—”
I dropped to the ground and rolled past him, reaching for my tool belt and the Verne’s Drainer. The dwimm it had stored would had to be discharged sooner or later, and I knew where.
“Damn it, Tabitha!” Neil swung his talons at me, gouging the floor as I spun aside just in time. I leapt to my feet behind him and thrust the drainer towards him. His eyes widened as he realized what I held.
I discharged the drainer as it touched the harness that held Neil’s wings in place. The dwimm coursed through the apparatus, wrapping Neil in a frightening blue glow, shocking him. The overload of magical energy caused his wings to spark briefly and go limp. “No,” he whimpered.
He slumped as the dwimm faded, but I still needed him out of the way. I tossed the drainer aside and grabbed my wrench. “Forgive me,” I said softly as I reared back and hit my former friend on the head as hard as I could.
Neil fell to his knees, murmuring inaudibly. I ignored him as I glanced over at Sophie, dropping my wrench. Her grip was weakening, her hands starting to shake. “Tabitha,” she gasped. “The train. Don’t worry about me.”
I risked a look out the window, took the brake handle and pulled it down partway. As the train started to slow slightly, I ran to the door and grabbed Sophie. “I’ll damn well worry about you all I want!” I said as I pulled her in.
Given the chance, I would have kissed her, but there was no time. I dropped Sophie as soon as she was inside the door and ran back to the brake. With my very last bit of strength, I pulled it all the way down.
I watched through the windshield as the train drew ever closer to the gap. I could see the hole the explosion had made, the shattered stone, the scattered parts of the generator, the tracks bent by the blast’s force. I wanted to grab Sophie and get her out of the cab, but I had no energy left. I somehow cursed and prayed at the same time.
The train slowed, then shuddered to a stop. Its front wheels were less than a yard from the gap.
I collapsed to the floor in front of the controls. Sophie staggered over and dropped down next to me. “My heavens,” she said. “That was close.”
“It was.” I took her hand in mine. “But are you all right?”
“I am.” Sophie smiled.
“Thank you, my dearest.”
I nodded as I glanced at Neil. He was still on his hands and knees, his eyes closed, his mouth open but unspeaking. I found myself holding in tears, wondering what Strom could have said or done to change him, how deeply his mother’s death had scarred him.
The sound of flapping wings filled the cab. I looked over to the door. My eyes widened as Sophie gasped.
I could see the wings were not constructs of brass and aluminum. They were real, covered in black and white feathers, and they twitched ever so faintly as their bearer stared at me. She was tall, and looked thin to the point of being fragile. Her skin was as white as a pearl, and her eyes were solid black. She was not as much beautiful as she was stunning.
She blinked as I got to my feet and stood in front of Sophie. I reached for another wrench on my tool belt, more as a precaution than anything else.
Our eyes met. She nodded very slightly, knelt, and picked up Neil as if he were nothing. Crouching, she backed out of the door. I hurried over and watched as the valcyr spread her wings and flew off, carrying Neil away.
“My heavens,” Sophie said softly. “I almost can’t believe what I saw.”
I walked over to Sophie and helped her up. “That does raise a disturbing number of questions, doesn’t it?”
“It does. Is she the only one of her kind? How did she make Strom’s acquaintance? What would her goals be?”
“All I know is that some historians are going to be settling bar bets soon.” I grinned.
Sophie laughed. “There will be glasses raised, won’t there?”
Before I could respond, I heard a door open. A crowd swarmed in, so many people that I feared that there might not be enough room for them all. Dalrymple and Overton were there, along with Mayor Padua, several city officials, and half a dozen constables. Lady Sylvetta brought up the rear; she cast a quick glance at Lord Oceanio, who hurried over with an intern to help free the engineers from the storage room.
“What the devil is going on here?” the Mayor said, gaping at us.
“It’s obvious to me,” Overton said. “That—” He pointed at me. “Is a renegade crafter.”
“Look in the corner,” Dalrymple said. “You’ll find her Verne’s Drainer there.”
“She was out to sabotage the train.” Overton folded his arms.
“I beg your pardon!” I shouted. “I did no such thing!”
“She didn’t,” Sophie added. “I was a witness.”
“More likely an accomplice,” Dalrymple said with a sneer.
I balled up my fists. “She had nothing to do with it!” Sophie laid a hand on my arm.
“Those winged creatures we saw probably saved us all.” Overton smiled smugly. “I think that it’s time for—”
“Will you shut up for once, Overton!”
The guild president turned towards the storage room as one of the engineers walked out. “What was that…?” he said.
“Franklin Ford,” the engineer said. “I’ve listen to you spout off steam for twenty years, but this takes the bloody cake!”
“How dare—”
“I’m done with you.” Ford turned to face the crowd. “I saw everything from in there. Those winged monsters shut us in and blew up the track. They were out to do us all in. As the gods are my witness, we’d all be at the bottom of the Crescent Sea if it weren’t for her.” He pointed at me. “That girl there in the flat cap fought them off and stopped the train. She saved every last one of us. She’s a bloody hero.”
The cab was silent for a moment. I’m sure that Sophie was the one who started the applause, but she denied it later. Ford joined in, then Lady Sylvetta and Lord Oceanio, then everyone else in the cab, though in some cases with a bit of reluctance.
Several reporters pushed their way through the crowd, notebooks and pens at the ready. “Your name is?” one said to me.
“Tabitha Miles,” Lady Sylvetta said helpfully before I could speak. I was gripped by unease; I really didn’t want to be famous, and now all these reporters would want to know everything about me. What to do?
“Your pardon.” Sophie stepped in front of me. “Sophronia Haverford, Copper Cove Courant. Madame Miles has agreed to give me an exclusive interview about today’s events after she’s spoken to the authorities.” As the other reporters groaned and complained, Sophie looked back me and winked. Somehow, I managed not to giggle.
Sophie and I were interviewed by police and city officials as we sat at a table in a corner of Lady Sylvetta’s coach. The questioning was polite, but it was intense, so we were grateful that we were plied with food and tea.
After that was done, Sophie began her interview. It mostly consisted of us chatting idly as we ate, though Sophie did laugh as I recounted how I managed to board the Express without a ticket. We were shielded by a row of Lady Sylvetta’s sprite interns, most of whom had succumbed to temptation and petted Darjeeling. Lady Sylvetta had taken pity on the other reporters; she had herded them to the far side of the car and was recounting, with Lord Oceanio’s help, her most recent encounter with the dreaded Arnold bandit clan.
From where we sat, we could see into the engine, as the train’s crew labored to switch it into reverse so it could push us back to Copper Cove. “Are they serious about running the Express tomorrow?” I said.
“Apparently so.” Sophie stirred her tea idly. “The explosion only damaged one track, so they can use the other to run trains in both directions until the damage is repaired.”
“It also saves them the trouble of refunding all the tickets they’ve already sold.”
“There is that.” Sophie lifted her tea cup.
I sat back in my chair and saw Darjeeling staring at me. “You little moocher,” I said as I broke off a corner of my biscuit and handed it to her. “Sophie?”
“Yes?”
I fixed my stare on her. “Are all our dates going to be as eventful as this one was?”
Sophie laughed so hard, it’s a wonder she didn’t drop her teacup. “I’ll say this...” she said as she set it down.
“Yes?”
She leaned across the table and took my shoulder. “It won’t be for lack of trying.” Sophie smiled and winked, and I smiled in turn as I drew close and kissed her.
It was another hour before the Express made it back to Copper Cove. I’m not sure how word of what happened had reached the city, but it had, and the platform was filled with people, from concerned relatives of the passengers to curious onlookers and guild engineers. Sophie and I took advantage of the chaos to slip off the train through the caboose. We were two blocks away from the station before anyone there realized we’d disembarked.
We stopped and faced each other. “What’s next?” I asked.
“I head back to the Courant,” Sophie said. “If I know Alcroft, he’ll want to get a special edition on the streets tonight, and an expanded one for Sunday.”
“My face will be all over town.” I pouted.
“No, it won’t. Remember? I made sure to shoo all the photographers away.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. “I’m going to head to my flat and sleep.”
“You could sleep in the newsroom,” Sophie said teasingly.
“No, I can’t. I’ve seen the chairs there. Old sugar is less lumpy.”
Sophie laughed again. “You keep making all these valid points!”
“I have my uses.” I smiled. “Listen...I don’t know when you’ll be free again—”
“Sunday morning. I’ll meet you at your flat.”
I took a deep breath. “I suppose this is goodbye for now, then.”
Sophie waved a hand towards a passing cab. “It will be shortly. But we’ll have a few minutes left.”
It takes no great detective work to conclude how Sophie and I spent our cab ride.
As much as I hated parting with Sophie, I knew she had work to do, and I might be in the way. We finished our goodbyes with one last kiss, and I watched and waved as the cab carried her away.
&
nbsp; It was about then that every last thing that had fueled me for the previous two days—the adrenaline, the determination, my feelings for Sophie, even the tea—finally ran dry. I barely managed to stagger up the stairs to my flat, lock the door and get my boots off before I fell into bed.
I only woke up once, and that was mostly because I needed to use the privy. When I was done, I realized that trying to get back to sleep on an empty stomach was not going to be successful, so I popped out for takeaway fish and chips. By the time I was done eating, exhaustion had caught up with me again, and I headed back to bed.
I might have slept through Sunday had it not been for Darjeeling. She started chirping and butting my forehead with hers, and that roused me just enough to hear the knocking on the door of my flat.
I was out of bed like a shot, pausing just long enough to glance through the peephole and confirm it wasn't Elgin with a surprise for breakfast. I flung the door open, swept Sophie in, closed the door, and kissed her between “good” and “morning”.
When we were done, she pulled back and smiled as she glanced at me with my pyjamas and bare feet and tousled hair. “Were you waiting for me, Tabitha?” she asked mischievously.
“Yes.” I grabbed her arm and tried to tug her towards my bed. “Don't just stand there!” I said with a wink.
Sophie looked away. “I wish I could,” she said wistfully.
I released her arm. “What's wrong?”
“My cab is waiting outside.”
“What?”
“I'm being sent away on assignment.” Sophie sighed. “It was rather abrupt.”
“I'll say. What happened?”
“This.” Sophie handed me the envelope she carried.
I opened it and pulled out a copy of that morning’s Courant. On the front page was the headline “HERO OF THE DAY!” and a blurry drawing of someone in a flat cap. “Is that supposed to be me?” I said.
“Hypothetically. It was the first copy off the press. I saved it for you.” Sophie smiled shyly.
“Thank you!” I was positively beaming. “But what does this have to do with you being sent away?”
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