Dominion Rising: 23 Brand New Novels from Top Fantasy and Science Fiction Authors

by Gwynn White

  Briar took a breath. “If you’re staying, give me the pistol. Otherwise, I must ask you to leave.” She held out her hand.

  Liam glanced at Agatha, and at her nod, pulled the pistol from beneath his coat. But he didn’t immediately hand it to her. Instead, he turned the small gun on its side. “See this switch?” He pointed to the tiny lever just above the trigger.

  “Yes?”

  “When it’s pushed forward, as it is now, the gun cannot fire.”

  “All right.”

  “Always keep it in this position when it’s in your pocket.”

  It was almost funny that he was instructing her about the weapon he intended to use to shoot her friend. God, she was so tired. “I understand.” She accepted the weapon from him.

  Flicking the switch he’d shown her, she turned and held the weapon on him.

  “Briar?” Liam’s eyes widened.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know you’re just sticking around to see if Grayson survives, but I’m not going to let you kill him. He deserves a chance at life, just like any man.”

  “He’s not a man.”

  “Please. Just go.”

  “You don’t understand,” Liam continued.

  “Probably not, but is that my fault or yours?”

  Liam sighed. “If you’re doing this because you’re angry at me—”

  “I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do.”

  “You haven’t seen what I’ve seen, Briar. You have no idea what a fully cast ferromancer is capable of doing.”

  She shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out.”

  “Briar—”

  “Let her be, Liam.” Agatha laid a hand on his arm. “We’ll go, Briar, but know that we’re only trying to protect you. This never ends well, my child.”

  “I have to try,” she whispered.

  “I know.” Agatha slipped her arm in Liam’s.

  “Use the gun if you have to,” Liam said. With those chilling words, they left the boat.

  They made it out of Columbus without incident. Just another boat among many, making their way along the canal.

  Briar trusted her crew to get them out of town and traverse the dark waterway. She remained in her over-warm cabin, trying to help Grayson.

  Retrieving a bowl of water and a cloth, she sat down on the edge of the bed and began to carefully clean the wounds around the metal fins protruding from his upper back. One finger brushed the inner curve of one, and she gasped as it sliced her knuckle with ease. Grayson groaned.

  “Grayson?” She gripped his cold shoulder.

  “Scourge,” he breathed, a note of alarm in his soft voice.

  “He’s gone,” she said. “I didn’t know. He never told me.”

  Grayson didn’t respond.

  “Hey, you still with me?” She gave his shoulder a small shake, but it seemed he’d slipped into unconsciousness once more.

  She took a moment to dab her bleeding knuckle with her rag, then went back to trying to help him. He was going to survive this; there wasn’t any other option.

  Exhausted, Briar collapsed on her own bunk some time in the early morning hours, but remained dressed with her curtain open should he wake and call out during the night.

  The light was just brightening the curtains on the cabin windows when she woke. A brief moment of confusion, and she remembered the events of the day before with painful clarity.

  Hurrying back into the main part of the cabin, she stumbled to a stop. Zach sat on the side of Grayson’s bed, blotting his forehead with a cloth. But Zach sprang to his feet when he saw her.

  “You’re fine.” She walked to the bunk. “How is he? Did he wake any?”

  Zach shook his head.

  She sighed and touched Grayson’s forehead. His skin was still ice cold, but the edges of his dark hair were wet with sweat.

  Grayson groaned, and his hand fisted against the sheets.

  “He acts like he’s in pain.” She looked up at Zach and he nodded.

  She turned back to Grayson, feeling worthless with her inability to help him.

  A knock at the door made her look up to see Jimmy standing on the threshold.

  “How’s the human pin cushion?” Jimmy asked.

  She smiled at his attempt at humor, but her smile didn’t last. “Not good.” She walked over to him. “Are you upset that I didn’t mention that he was a ferromancer? I only found out myself after Solon took him, but I wanted Grayson to be the one to tell.”

  “It’s all right, Captain. It’s good of you to keep a man’s secret like that. None of the crew blames you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Jimmy cleared his throat. “I thought I’d give breakfast a go. I watched Grayson make the last couple of meals.”

  “Until he recovers, you’re the best we got,” she said, trying for an encouraging tone. If Grayson did recover, she doubted a ferromancer would want to remain cook on a canal boat.

  Breakfast turned out better than she expected—which meant it was edible. Jimmy’s cooking talent exceeded hers, but he was still a long way from matching Grayson’s skills at the stove.

  They took breakfast on the deck as usual, calling Benji in from the towpath for the meal. Zach had remained at Grayson’s side, seeming to have appointed himself his nursemaid. And judging by the silence at the breakfast table, the rest of the crew was equally concerned. Even Eli was subdued.

  “Do you think we should seek out a doctor?” she asked, breaking the silence.

  “Can a doctor help him?” Jimmy asked. “His ain’t a common ailment. At least, not in these parts.”

  She returned her fork to her plate, her appetite gone. She pressed a hand to her pocket where Lock hid. With the constant company in her cabin, she hadn’t been able to comfort him.

  A thump came from below them in her cabin.

  “What was—” Jimmy didn’t get to finish as the lower door into the cargo hold banged open.

  They all sprang to their feet, hurrying to the edge to look down into the cargo hold.

  Zach emerged from the cabin, helping an apparently conscious Grayson. Zach had pulled Grayson’s arm around his shoulders, while wrapping his other arm around Grayson’s back. A bloodstain marred Zach’s sleeve where a metal fin had gotten him, but he didn’t move his arm.

  The two men stumbled to the side of the boat, and Briar’s joy of seeing Grayson up was dashed when he fell to his knees and vomited over the side. Zach gripped his shoulder, perhaps in comfort or simply to keep him from falling overboard.

  Briar jumped down into the cargo hold, aware of the rest of the crew following, and hurried to where Grayson hung over the side of the boat.

  No longer beneath a blanket in a dimly lit room, she got her first good look at him. His skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and the fins protruding from the vertebrae of his upper back were no longer the only metal visible. The skin had split over his shoulder blades, revealing blood streaked metal instead of bone beneath.

  The vomiting subsided to dry heaves, and Grayson collapsed against the deck, pulling up his knees as if in pain.

  She knelt beside him, noting the blood on his lips. “Grayson?” She gripped his shoulder. His skin was still ice cold.

  He didn’t respond, but the hand gripping the edge of the deck tightened. A glitter drew her eye, and she watched as the dark veins in the wood turned silver. The board was turning to metal.

  “Grayson, don’t,” she said, alarmed. She started to reach out and grip his wrist, but hesitated.

  His eye lids fluttered as if he tried to respond, then he pulled his knees tighter to his stomach, whimpering in pain.

  “Miss Briar?” Eli’s voice was soft and uncertain.

  Grayson cried out and a stream of blood ran from one nostril.

  “Whatever’s happening,” Jimmy said, softly, “I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

  With nowhere else to turn, Briar pulled the silver pocket watch from her pocket. “Lock?”
She waited, but nothing happened.

  “These people are my friends, Lock. We can trust them. Please, can you help me save Grayson?”

  “Miss Briar, what are you—” Jimmy gasped as the watch transformed into the little dragon.

  “Sweet Jesus,” Benji muttered.

  Lock looked up at her, his gem-like eyes full of sadness.

  “He’s dying, isn’t he?” she whispered.

  Lock moaned.

  “Is there anything you can do? Anything we can do?”

  He studied her a moment, then leapt into the air. In a flurry of silver wings, he flew back to her cabin.

  “Captain, what’s going on?” Jimmy asked.

  She gripped Grayson’s shoulder as he continued to writhe in pain, oblivious to his surroundings. “Solon, the other ferromancer, forced this on him. He’s going through something called a final casting.”

  “Like when metal is poured into a mold at a foundry?” Jimmy asked.

  “I suspect it’s very much like that.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I think it’s killing him.”

  A glint of metal drew her attention. Lock was flying back, holding her fiddle case in his talons. He dropped it in her hands, then landed on her shoulder.

  “Is that an automaton?” Benji asked, his tone more awed than alarmed.

  “Yes.” She turned to see Lock. “You think I should play for him like I did before?”

  Lock cooed and rubbed his cheek against hers.

  “That’ll help?” Eli sounded skeptical.

  “It helped after Grayson stopped that soulless man in Chillicothe.” She opened the case and took out her fiddle and bow.

  “Is that where you learned he was a ferromancer?” Benji asked, he looked more intrigued than upset with her secret.

  “No, I didn’t find out until Solon did this to him.” She got to her feet.

  Grayson cried out again, drawing his legs tighter to his chest.

  She tucked the fiddle under her chin and took a deep breath. She didn’t see how this would help, but she was willing to try anything.

  A hand touched her leg, and she looked down to find Zach looking up at her. He placed his hand over his heart, then pointed at her.

  “Play from the heart,” she whispered. “Or as Grayson told me, from the soul.”

  Zach nodded.

  She wondered at this connection Zach seemed to have with Grayson. She remembered seeing them together on the towpath. Had Grayson opened up to him? Certainly, he wouldn’t have told Zach the truth.

  Zach gave her leg a squeeze of encouragement, then withdrew his hand.

  “Here goes,” she whispered.

  Lock snuggled closer to the side of her neck opposite the fiddle.

  She took another breath and drew the bow across the stings. She ran through a couple of scales, thinking about how badly she wanted to help Grayson, to encourage his body to accept this new form and heal. Certainly, others of his race had done it and survived. Solon had wanted this too much to lose him to death.

  Briar didn’t know when she stopped playing scales and launched into a heartfelt tune of hope and healing. She played until her fingers were raw, then played past it. A little discomfort wouldn’t distract her. She poured her determination into her music, willing Grayson to beat this thing with the same stubborn fortitude.

  “It’s working, Captain,” Jimmy said, his voice little more than a whisper.

  She opened her eyes and looked down. To her shock, Grayson’s skin was no longer pale and translucent, but regaining a healthy ruddy glow in the warm morning sun. His tight ball of pain had relaxed, and though he seemed to be looking at nothing in particular, his eyes were open.

  She continued to play, encouraging him and sending him strength. The tune grew more lively and upbeat as her hope welled.

  With Zach’s help, Grayson sat up. He fisted his hands against his thighs, and one by one, the metal fins began to retreat into his body. Oval-shaped, silver orifices remained over each vertebra like a line of oblong silver rivets down his back.

  As her song continued, the exposed metal to either side of his spine morphed and grew until a series of overlapping silver plates was molded over his shoulder blades.

  Finally, his hands relaxed against his thighs, and he bowed his head, allowing his damp hair to fall across his forehead.

  She pulled the bow from the strings, and the last note echoed across the calm waters of the canal.

  Lock gave a little squeal of delight and leapt from her shoulder to his.

  “Grayson?” she prompted in the silence.

  He got up on one knee, but hesitated before pushing himself to his feet.

  Zach offered him a hand.

  Grayson looked up, and after holding Zach’s gaze for a moment, allowed him to pull him to his feet.

  She expected Grayson to be weak, but he seemed steady on his feet.

  He looked down, then ran a hand over his chest as if noticing for the first time that he was shirtless.

  Zach pulled off his own shirt and offered it to him.

  Briar stood rooted to the spot, feeling like a voyeur in this incredibly private moment, but unable to look away. She’d never seen Zach without a shirt—which was unusual on a cramped boat in the middle of summer. But seeing him now, she understood why.

  She’d noticed the scars on his neck, but she now saw that they covered his right shoulder, chest, and stomach before disappearing beneath his waistband. How he had survived burns like that was a wonder.

  Grayson studied Zach and his offered shirt, then, without a word, reached out and gripped his scarred shoulder.

  A shimmer of light danced across Zach’s skin as if he’d been dusted with a fine layer of glittering sand.

  Briar’s mouth dropped open as Zach’s scars gradually faded, though his skin retained that faintly glittery property.

  Grayson’s hand slid over from Zach’s shoulder. With his palm resting against the side of Zach’s neck, he pressed his thumb to the front of Zach’s throat.

  Briar frowned, watching the silent exchange. She could tell by the way the rest of the crew had begun to shift their weight that they were also growing uncomfortable, wondering what Grayson was doing to Zach.

  Grayson finally took his hand from Zach’s neck. But with the support gone, Grayson swayed on his feet.

  Zach caught his shoulder steadying him. Zach’s Adam’s apple bobbed with an exaggerated swallow. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have done that,” Zach whispered.

  Briar pressed a hand to her mouth, shocked to hear Zach speak for the first time.

  “Perhaps,” Grayson agreed with him, his tone cool and devoid of emotion. “You will find that your new voice will give you a new ability, but I believe you possess the temperament to use it wisely.” Grayson gripped Zach’s shoulder, and without another word to anyone, walked off toward the bow of the ship, Lock still perched on his shoulder. The metal in Grayson’s back glinted in the sun.

  With a sob, Benji came forward and wrapped his brother in hug.

  “It’s all right, Ben,” Zach whispered, hugging Benji in turn and rubbing a hand over his blond hair.

  “Dear Lord,” Jimmy found his own voice. “He healed you?” he asked Zach, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I didn’t know ferromancers could heal.”

  “Was it healing?” Eli asked. “His skin glitters.”

  Benji pulled back, scrubbing a hand across his eyes. “Eli’s right. It’s like that board Grayson touched.” He gestured at the board on the edge of the boat. The metal in it glinted in the sun.

  “I don’t think Zach is complaining,” Jimmy said.

  “It’s like he infused metal in his skin,” Eli said, eyeing Zach’s scarless skin. “Did he do the same for his throat?”

  “That’s what ferromancers do,” Jimmy said. “They work with metal, right?”

  “They can also make a man soulless,” Eli said.

  Briar sighed. “He wouldn’t do that, and besides, this is between him a
nd Zach.” She returned the fiddle to its case. “Zach can give him a good cussing later.”

  Zach smiled. “I’ll refrain.” His voice was still little more than a whisper, but perhaps it would get stronger with use. Even if it didn’t, it was still amazing.

  She smiled in turn, and patting Zach on his faintly glittering shoulder, turned and carried her fiddle back to her cabin.

  Setting the instrument on the table, she eyed the rumpled cook’s bunk with its bloodstained and ripped blankets. She knelt and pulled out Martel’s trunk—no, Grayson’s trunk. The clothes inside were his. But she only glanced at them. Her eyes were drawn to the leather tube. Someone had returned the plans to Grayson’s trunk. Zach?

  Picking up the tube and a white shirt, she took a deep breath and left the cabin.

  Grayson still sat on the rail at the bow, not paying much attention to them. Fortunately, there were no other boats nearby at the moment.

  She walked to the bow and stopped beside him. “We’re not the only boat out here.” She offered him his shirt.

  He eyed it a moment, then took it from her. “Thank you.” Lock hopped down while Grayson pulled the shirt over his head and let it drop into place, then he turned his attention back to the canal. Lock returned to his shoulder and rubbed his cheek against Grayson’s.

  She sat down beside them, setting the leather tube at her feet. “Are you all right?”

  “I am well.” He fell silent once more.

  “I’m going to take that to mean that you are physically past the point of danger. How are you otherwise?”

  He turned his face away. “You shouldn’t have come for me.”

  “You were just going to let him kill you? That seems cowardly.”

  He finally faced her, a frown shadowing his eyes. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”

  “And I never will if you don’t explain.”

  He took a deep breath and slowly released it.

  When he didn’t speak, she ventured on. “Solon was trying to force a change on you that you didn’t want. Why didn’t you want it?”

  “Why?” he demanded. “Can’t you guess? I wanted to remain human—or something like.”