Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious

by Mary Wine

  That uneasy feeling crept across her thoughts again, making her hesitate. She was only an object to the man directing her. Never had she felt like her actions might matter any great amount beyond the boundaries of her own life. Now she wasn’t so sure. The crystals fascinated her, but she balked at performing obediently when she had no knowledge of why the doctor wanted her to handle the crystals. Or, more importantly, what were Dr. Nerval’s plans for them?

  “And if I do not?” She turned her back on the crystal to face the doctor. “My father wouldn’t approve of this. He sent me here to be cured of any inclinations to explore Illuminist knowledge.”

  Dr. Nerval’s lips curved up slowly, the folds of skin hanging around his mouth crinkling grotesquely. A chill went down her spine because she was quite certain she witnessed a flare of enjoyment in his eyes. A cruel sort of pleasure that promised no mercy.

  The matron’s keys jingled as she fitted one into the door and turned it. The burly attendants were still there.

  “Take her,” the doctor announced calmly.

  Janette almost lost her resolve as panic rushed in along with the men. They grabbed her arms and hauled her out of the chamber. She wanted to resist, but the only true way she might defy the doctor was to deny him seeing her reduced to a screaming lunatic.

  The matron hurried ahead of them, flipping through her keys with a skill that proved she performed this task often, then yanked a door open. The attendants pushed Janette through it, both men appearing somewhat confused as she continued to comply with them.

  “Miss Janette is suffering from delusions caused by hysteria.”

  The doctor’s voice was like an eerie chant coming from behind her as the attendants forced her into a hardwood chair with thick legs and arms. Wide straps of leather were secured to the underside of the armrests, and the men quickly lashed them around her wrists. Each one had a solid brass buckle, and the attendants knew how to use them expertly.

  “Hysteria is a very dangerous condition. You should be grateful to your father for bringing you here for treatment,” the doctor informed her gleefully.

  “Grateful is not the word I would choose to—”

  Her words were abruptly silenced when the matron slipped a thick cord of leather-wrapped rope through her open mouth. The woman yanked hard so it slid all the way between Janette’s molars. She gagged twice before mastering the reflex. Meanwhile, the attendants secured her ankles to the chair, and a final strap went around her waist.

  “The cure for hysteria is calmness. I do hope you will be more willing to participate in my prescribed treatments when you are released.”

  Enjoyment coated his words, but what sickened Janette the most was the complete indifference of the attendants and matron. They performed their duties without even a shred of pity. Once she was unable to move, they left the room. Janette heard the key turning in the lock and tried to maintain her composure.

  The silence was nearly deafening. Helplessness slammed into her so hard she fought back tears. She couldn’t escape the horrible truth. She was at the mercy of whatever Dr. Nerval wanted to do to her.

  Sweat beaded on her forehead as she battled to keep her grip on her emotions. Newspaper articles flashed through her mind with their blood-chilling accounts from those fortunate enough to escape from the care of the mental medical community. Every hour would be awful. Now she was in a chair, but there were cages and restraining jackets and…

  No. Stop it.

  She needed to focus on her resolve not to aid the doctor. Satisfaction began to burn away her panic, a true sense of pride for having questioned his motives. She wasn’t the simpleton her father had hoped she’d become. No, by God, she had a mind, and she enjoyed using it. She drew in a deep breath and began to recite favorite songs inside her head. She closed her eyes and tried to envision herself near the pump organ in Sophia’s house. She would not give in.

  At least not without a damn good fight.

  ***

  The key turned in the lock, and Janette jerked awake. A soft moan was the only sound she could make, but she was powerless to contain it.

  She ached—so badly it sent tears into her eyes. Her mouth was dry as a cotton ball. Her tongue felt swollen, and her hands were numb from how tight her bindings were.

  She wanted to believe she wasn’t willing to bend.

  She forced herself to repeat that over and over as she waited for the door to open. The room was dark now, a thin sliver of moonlight coming in through the window to illuminate the doorknob.

  She could endure if they were ready to remove her from the chair.

  She heard the key grinding, but the knob never moved.

  Tears slid down her cheeks as disappointment crashed into her so hard, she found it difficult to draw breath. She realized the matron wasn’t unlocking her door but one nearby.

  How long would they leave her? Until she soiled herself? Until she was so dehydrated she could no longer cry?

  Until you bend…

  She bit into the gag, and pain shot through her jaw. Even those muscles were strained. The foot-wide stripe of moonlight on the floor flickered. She blinked, wondering if dehydration was beginning to play tricks on her. She felt more tears slide down her cheeks.

  “I warned you there were things in my world you were better off not knowing, Janette.”

  She jumped, every muscle snapping and straining against the leather securing her to the chair.

  “Easy…” Darius said quietly.

  She tried to turn her head, but the gag held her head in place.

  Was he real or the cruel teasing of her desperation?

  She struggled against the leather, needing to see him and confirm that he was truly there. That she was truly going to be freed.

  “They’ve trussed you up well.”

  She felt his fingers seeking out the end of the leather strap on her right wrist, and she trembled. Relief flooded her as she felt him pull back on the leather to release the buckle. A tiny click announced her freedom, and she lifted her arm, impatient to move once more. But the muscles along her arm cramped, and she bit into the gag as pain slashed through her again.

  “They left you in that damned chair too long,” he said softly.

  She’d heard Darius angry, but this time his harsh tone was on her behalf. She watched him in wonder as he worked to free her from the chair.

  “You’re going to hurt, but we can’t linger here. Dr. Nerval is at supper. We have to escape before he checks in on you. I doubt the man will retire without trying to confirm if you are a Pure Spirit.”

  He pulled the gag out of her mouth.

  “Thank—” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  “No time,” he whispered.

  He lifted her up and gently placed her upright. Prickles of pain from returning circulation shot along her limbs. Her feet didn’t perform as she expected, and she stumbled. Darius saved her from tumbling to the floor. He swept her off her feet, and she rose above his shoulders, gasping when his hand cupped her bottom to push her farther up.

  “Darius…” This time her tongue worked, but his hand remained in place.

  “You can berate me later for my ungentlemanly conduct, but we need to leave immediately,” he muttered. “Grab my hands.”

  The voice came from the window. She looked up and saw another man leaning in from the outside. It suddenly made sense. The grating sound had been the iron grate being removed.

  She lifted her arms and bit her lip to suffer the pain silently. Her hands were full of tingles as blood began flowing once more, but her grasp was weak. That didn’t stop the man from dragging her up the wall and through the window. Darius aided him by pushing her up.

  The night air had never felt so wonderful on her face. For one moment she was hanging half in the building an
d half out. The windowsill bit into her midsection. Janette welcomed the pain because she was escaping, and there was nothing she wouldn’t suffer to be free of the clinic.

  “Down here. I’ll catch you,” the second man assured her from where he stood in the alleyway behind the clinic.

  In the moonlight, Darius’s accomplice was only a specter, more ghost than man. But that didn’t stop her from lowering her head so gravity would take her down to where he was. He kept his word, hooking her tumbling body with arms like steel. Her skirts flew up in a tangled mess, and dizziness assaulted her.

  “Here now, don’t faint on me.”

  “They had the straps too tight,” Darius said. “Fix the iron grate. Let them wonder how she vanished.”

  Darius appeared next to her and swept her off her feet once more. This time he cradled her like a child as he walked away from the clinic wall. The street was mostly dark because they were on the back side of the clinic. She heard a set of carriage steps let down, and another unrecognizable man appeared to open the door for Darius.

  “How…how did you know where to find me?” Her voice sounded gravelly.

  “You can thank your friend Sophia. She marched up to the front doors of the Solitary Chamber and demanded to see me. I believe the doorman let her in because he was afraid she would in fact attack the next member who tried to get past her.” Darius deposited her on a padded seat inside the vehicle. “She has your temperament. I see the reason for your friendship.”

  The carriage rocked as the second man climbed in. “They’ll have a fine time deciding how she vanished now. Everything is back in order, not even our footprints left to betray us.” He sat next to Darius, both of them only shadows in the darkness. The door closed quickly behind him, and the carriage steps were pulled up. One of them hit the wall with a fist, and the vehicle jolted forward.

  But there was no sound of horses, only a strange hiss and gurgle. Once in motion, there was a smoothness to the ride she’d only felt once before, during winter on the lake in a sled pushed from behind by a boy.

  “What…manner of…”

  “If you’re set on talking, you need something to ease your throat first.” Darius reached inside his jacket and pulled out a flask. Moonlight came through the windows and flickered off the smooth metal of it.

  “Could use a nip of that myself,” his companion announced.

  “I am…not…”

  “Accustomed to strong spirits? Few ladies are.” Darius cupped her head with a grip that reminded her too much of the way he’d held her while kissing her. Gentle, tender, but firm. Heat surfaced in her cheeks as he placed the flask against her mouth and tipped it up. She caught a whiff of the strong alcohol before it touched her tongue. It was potent enough to send tears to her eyes. It washed across her tongue and left her entire mouth on fire. Janette stiffened and tried to push him away.

  “Swallow it, Janette. Your life has changed irreversibly, so toss your rules aside. You need to adjust to the current moment instead of worrying what anyone will think of your actions.”

  “Sweet Mary and Joseph!” she exclaimed when he released her. “What a vile concoction.” But it was easing the dryness from her throat, spreading warmth through her chilled limbs and making her feel every ache.

  “See? Should have let me have it. After all, I did help rescue her,” his companion interjected.

  Darius handed the flask over. “Enjoy.”

  The second man took the flask and offered her a salute before taking a swig of it. He seemed to enjoy the burn of the beverage and winked at her after taking a second swallow.

  “This is Guardian Lykos Claxton, my counterpart from another Solitary Chamber.”

  The vehicle turned a corner, but there was still no sound of horses. “How are we moving?” She grasped the sides of the window and tried to see out.

  “There’s my thanks for risking my neck and my new waistcoat,” Lykos muttered. “She isn’t aware I’m alive.”

  “Oh.” Janette turned her attention back to her company. “I’m terribly sorry. Thank you. I am deeply indebted to you both.”

  “What you are is completely tarnished now,” Darius grumbled. “Return to your father, and he’ll sign the papers to have you lobotomized.”

  “I refuse to go back to my father.” Her hands twisted in the fabric of her skirt as the horror of the clinic replayed in her mind. “He gave me to that…fiend for treatment, and all Dr. Nerval wanted was for me to handle Deep Earth Crystals. Tell me, my ability to handle the crystals, why is it so important? Unique, perhaps, but nothing a good set of gloves cannot overcome—what is the reason behind all this?”

  Her companions suddenly became deadly serious. She looked from Darius to Lykos and back again.

  “What did I say?”

  They glanced at each other, obviously weighing whether to respond to her.

  “Are you claiming Dr. Nerval has knowledge of Deep Earth Crystals?”

  Darius asked the question, his voice low and edged with suspicion. It sounded like a challenge, and she felt her strength returning with full force to face it.

  “More than knowledge. He has a room full of them. When I refused to handle one he claimed was a level-four—like the one I caught in your Solitary Chamber—he had me strapped to that chair to teach me obedience. How did you find me anyway?”

  Lykos put the top back on the flask with a quick twist and dropped it onto the seat between them. Both men wore hard expressions.

  “Did he tell you how he knew about the one you caught inside the lecture hall?”

  “Answer my question first. I already responded to one of yours.”

  Darius frowned, but Lykos snorted with amusement. “I’m beginning to understand your irritation with her.”

  “I am not irritating, sir. How unkind of you to say so,” Janette admonished.

  Lykos grinned at her as his expression became one of contemplation. He studied her for a long moment. “Perhaps that is the wrong word, but you are certainly…an active element.”

  “Enough. We’re straying off the topic,” Darius said. “I bribed one of the bullyboys Dr. Nerval employs on his way back to the slums. The man was happy enough to spill a little information. Now answer my question.”

  She had to think for a moment to recall which question he meant. “Oh…well, Dr. Nerval claimed to know about the crystal I caught during the lecture from his sources. He pointed at one he said was similar and told me I was a…Pure Spirit. Which is the same thing the Professor giving the lecture said I was.”

  The two men glanced at each other again, confirming she was correct without a doubt.

  A tingle of apprehension went across her skin as the carriage slowed down. There was suddenly much more light surrounding the carriage. Janette peered out the window to see some sort of gate. It rose on either side of them, apparently constructed of the same material as Darius’s desk. The moment the carriage entered it, she felt the current go through her. The lapel pins on her Illuminist companions lit until they passed through the gate.

  “So…this Pure Spirit business, it makes it possible for the current from the crystals to not harm me, but your pins protect you…by completing the circuit.”

  “Clever girl.” Darius wasn’t giving her a compliment. He was back to watching her suspiciously.

  “Is it so wrong to want to understand what I seem to be? It’s rather a relief to know there is a reason behind the melody I hear when I’m near those crystals. The only other explanation is I’m going insane.”

  “You aren’t.” Darius offered the pair of words with a hint of approval in his voice. “At least our community doesn’t believe you are. I won’t offer you the same assurance beyond our gates.”

  The carriage stopped, and the driver let down the stairs. Darius left his seat first, closing the space
between them.

  “But you’re very lucky we were able to find you.”

  Tension renewed its grip on her along with the horror that had kept her company through the long hours of the day.

  She might still be there.

  “I believe Darius is offering that hand for you.”

  Janette jumped, startled by the comment. A quick glance toward the door showed Darius was waiting, his hand outstretched for her to steady her exit from the vehicle.

  “Oh…yes.” She took the offered hand, then stumbled on her way through the narrow doorway, stepping on her petticoat ruffle.

  Darius’s hand closed around hers, holding her steady when she would have lost her balance.

  “You need to recover.”

  There was a hint of disgust in his voice, or maybe it was more like he’d been proven correct because she wasn’t holding up better.

  “I am right as rain now that I’m out of that horrible chair.” She pulled her hand loose and smoothed her skirt while making sure her back was ramrod straight. For a moment she stared into Darius’s unbelieving eyes, until the carriage captured her complete attention.

  There truly were no horses.

  “How does it work?”

  Janette didn’t wait for an answer but walked all the way around the vehicle in her quest to understand it. There were four wheels and a driver’s box where she expected it to be. In the back there was a boiler with a steam pipe sticking up. When the driver released the brake, he also pulled on a second lever and steam hissed on its way up and out of the boiler.

  Beneath the carriage there were gears connected by rods that moved them and then the wheels. The driver actually steered the carriage with a wheel that Janette could only compare to a ship’s wheel, but it was much smaller and made of iron.

  “You’re in the Illuminist sector now, Janette. We don’t depend on animals as much as the world you were raised in.”