by Becca Andre
“How did it go at the toll office?” she asked.
Zach reached in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper that he passed to her.
She knew it was her wanted poster even before she had it open. “I got one, too,” she said. “It was destined for the notice board here at the store.”
“Did it have the added line at the bottom?” Grayson asked.
Briar looked closer at the flier and saw that he was right. A hand written line had been added: Or contact Dale Darby of the River Shark.
“That weasel,” she said between clenched teeth. “I knew he had a hand in this.”
“Perhaps we’ll catch up with him soon,” Zach offered.
“I wish.” She folded the paper and stuffed it in her pocket with the other one. Perhaps they should push a little harder and catch up with Darby.
Grayson glanced in the direction Jimmy and Benji had gone. “What’s with the canvas and paint?”
“Molly and I came up with an idea to disguise the boat,” she answered, lowering her voice.
“Disguise?”
“By covering the transom in canvas and painting on another name.”
He grunted. “I’m guessing you don’t want to paint over the current name?”
“My aunt and uncle originally painted it. Can you help tack down the canvas so it’s not so obvious?”
He nodded. “No problem. Then I have a crossbow to design.” He was practically rubbing his hands in anticipation. “I’d best get started.” He didn’t wait for a response before hurrying away.
She glanced over at Zach and found him watching Grayson walk off, a bemused expression on his face. “I’m guessing that you’re not mad at him anymore,” she said.
“I’m not sure mad is the right word.” He kept his attention on their surroundings as if uncomfortable with the topic.
“Then what is the right word?”
“Unnerved? Or maybe, disappointed.” He shrugged. “It surprises me that he remained silent. Worse, that he got something from me in the exchange.”
“Did it hurt or something?”
“No, nothing like that. But I feel, I don’t know, a little unconnected to the world around me.”
“Really?” How curious. She longed to ask more, but his brow was wrinkled and she suspected he still hadn’t come to terms with that.
“But I am grateful otherwise,” he continued. “I didn’t have much of a future. When you can’t speak, people tend to believe you are mentally damaged as well. If you hadn’t taken us in—”
“I needed a couple of experienced crewmen. Besides, I’m the one who should be grateful. Not many men want to work for a woman—and a young one at that.”
Zach glanced over. “I guess we needed each other.”
“As Grayson needs us now.”
Zach smiled. “Considering your tendency to help the unfortunate, I’m surprised you don’t have a whole boat full of stray animals or something.”
“I tend to adopt people rather than animals. I guess it comes from being an orphan—more or less. I make my own family.”
“Whether they’re human or not?”
“Whether they’re human or not,” she agreed.
The job of painting the boat’s new name on the fresh canvas fell to Molly. She turned out to have the most skill for such an artistic endeavor and took to the task with enthusiasm. Briar suspected she rather enjoyed this bit of unlawful behavior, thought it was perhaps more about getting the better of Andrew.
They placed the canvas across the back of the aft deck where Molly could benefit from the awning over the tiller deck, while still enjoying better light than the cargo hold.
Grayson found the lighting adequate in the tarp-covered hold. He set up his workshop on the folding table once the lunch dishes were cleared away. After creating a generous pile of soul iron tacks—chosen over common iron because they didn’t rust—he made good on his promise to Perseus and to set to work redesigning his crossbow.
Briar pulled up an empty crate. She couldn’t resist watching him work. He was already grinning, even before he pulled out a few sketches he had made at some point. He invited Perseus to study the drawings, asking him questions about his preferences and what he needed in the way of a chargeable dart.
If Grayson’s designs impressed Perseus, he didn’t let it show. He answered Grayson’s questions, and the pair decided on a design.
Grayson dug through his tool bag, laying out an assortment of tools. He started with Perseus’s original crossbow, carefully disassembling it and laying the assorted pieces on a towel he’d spread on the table. Briar suspected he did that to keep the pieces from rolling off the smooth surface.
The sun moved across the sky, shrouded by clouds, and the mules plodded along. Briar was aware of those things, but they were only background details. She leaned in close, lost to the cadence of Grayson’s voice as he explained what and why he was doing what he did.
He reshaped the stock, making it smaller and more compact, and he designed a better way to load and hold the dart. He redesigned the arms of the crossbow, allowing them to fold away for easier storage. Rather than require Perseus to manually cock the bow, Grayson designed the arms to ratchet open, cocking the bow in the process.
“I can improve on this,” Grayson said once the bow was nearly finished. He turned to Briar. “Would you bring me those pieces Farran left for us?”
“If you like,” she answered, not feeling so certain about this. He simply nodded and turned back to his work.
Kali frowned, but Perseus didn’t appear overly concerned. Briar left Grayson to field any questions they might have and fetched the cloth knapsack containing the soul iron heart and liver. When she returned, Grayson was still working while Kali and Perseus waited in silence.
Briar handed Grayson the bag and he reached inside to pull out the metal heart.
Kali sat up straight. “Where did you get that?”
“Farran left it for me. There’s also a liver. A bit of a bribe, I suspect. I thought it apt that I use it for this project.” Grayson turned to Perseus. “With this, I can automate the bow. It will ratchet open, cock, and load with the press of a button.”
A wrinkle formed on Perseus’s brow, though he didn’t immediately answer. Did he realize where the heart and liver had come from?
“You’re not seriously considering a soul-powered crossbow, are you?” Kali asked Perseus.
Briar stared at the heart Grayson still held. He could animate with it? How did that work? She had heard the stories of souls trapped in iron and used to power a ferromancer’s devices, but he had admitted that he already absorbed the bit of soul from the organs.
“Perseus?” Kali prompted. “Are you really going to let him use a trapped soul to power your crossbow?”
“If he can automate with it,” Perseus answered, “then the soul that made this metal is his own.”
Kali rose to her feet, her hands fisted at her sides. “In other words, he ripped that from his soulless.” Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Grayson. “I guess you’re not different, you sick piece of shit.”
Chapter 13
Briar sprang to her feet, afraid that Kali would attack Grayson. “Back off.”
Kali turned her glare on Briar. “You let him collect souls?”
“The heart was defective,” Grayson cut in before Briar could answer. “I repaired it, but I didn’t harvest it.”
“Grayson healed him,” Briar added.
“Isn’t he a saint?” Kali sneered.
Perseus looked up, his gaze meeting Grayson’s. “Do it.”
“Jesus,” Kali muttered. “You’re as sick as him.” She spun away and climbed the ladder to the upper deck.
“Excuse me.” Perseus got up and
went after her.
Briar watched him go before turning her attention back to Grayson. “What’s going on?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You told me that you absorbed the bit of soul contained in those organs.”
“Technically, I replaced it with some of my own. Soul iron is an alloy made from human flesh and a ferromancer’s soul.”
“Let me get this straight. After you absorb the human soul, you replace it with your own, and the organ turns to metal?”
“In essence, yes.” He glanced over. “Does that bother you?”
“It makes me uneasy,” she admitted. “But what really bothers me is that you didn’t tell me the whole truth.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to think less of me.”
That halted the sense of outrage she was feeling. He actually cared about what she thought?
“Are you disappointed in me?” he asked.
“If your intention was truly just to heal those people, then no. But I do wish you would tell me why you didn’t explain fully.”
“Because you would understand what I did to Zach.”
She hadn’t stopped to think about that. “Go on.”
He took a deep breath as if bracing himself. “A human with soul iron organs can be controlled by the ferromancer who made them. The more soul iron replacements, the easier it becomes.”
She stared at him. “You can control Zach?”
“I could, but I haven’t and I won’t. And in his case, it would be more suggestion than direct control.”
Outrage filled her despite his reassurances.
“You’re angry.”
“I am, but I’m more angry with me. He’s crew. My responsibility. I brought you on this boat.”
“Briar—”
She held up a hand, silencing him. “I understand all the circumstance. I know your temperament, but…” She stopped, not certain how to explain.
“But I should have asked his permission—and yours.”
“Yes,” she agreed, not wanting to admit what she was really thinking. What happened as he devolved? When he lost more of his humanity and his respect for the life and liberty of his fellow men? Would he command Zach then? It was just one more reason to turn Grayson over to someone who could keep him in check.
Their conversation was cut short as Perseus climbed down from the upper deck.
“Shall I continue?” Grayson asked him.
“Yes.” Perseus returned to his seat. After Kali’s reaction, Briar was surprised by Perseus’s acceptance of this. Then too, it seemed Perseus was much more knowledgeable of the ferromancer world. Perhaps this was commonplace—which was disturbing.
Grayson nodded and got back to work. He worked in silence, seeming to have lost some of his enthusiasm. Or perhaps he simply couldn’t explain what he was doing now. After all, it was ferromancy.
Grayson disassembled the ratcheting mechanism, then rebuilt it. But this time he created the components from the soul iron heart. Within a surprisingly short time, he had the bow reassembled once more.
“Since you don’t want to accidentally bump the release button and give away your position, I designed a pressure release slider. It can be operated with one hand.” Actually, the whole bow could now be operated using only one hand, unlike the larger weapon it had once been.
Grayson held the collapsed crossbow by the grip and moved his thumb to the back. He depressed a raised button and slid it forward. The arms sprang into motion, opening rapidly and without sound. The rounded barrel on the rear of the bow opened, and the dart slid forward powered by a slide that acted as a conveyor.
“The bolt is now nocked. The aim is true.” Grayson turned the bow toward the wall of the aft cabin. “Knot hole to the right of the door.”
Briar opened her mouth to protest, but he’d already fired. The bolt sank into the center of the knot hole.
“Grayson,” she complained.
“As you see, it’s more than powerful enough to penetrate.” He rotated the bow, displaying the moving slide that was already loading another bolt.
Perseus grunted, looking surprised.
“The chamber can hold three bolts. It’ll be up to you to charge them.” Grayson depressed the same button on the back of the grip and returned it to its original position. The arms collapsed and the bolt retreated into the chamber.
Grayson offered Perseus the crossbow, grip first.
Perseus accepted, and for a brief moment, he held the grip while the bow pointed at Grayson. He tipped it upward and held it closer for inspection.
“The bolts load through an opening in the back,” Grayson added.
“This is truly ingenious,” Perseus said a moment later. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and my coven had some dragon-made weapons—for display purposes only.”
Briar’s heart beat faster. Did Perseus suspect?
“They would have been centuries old,” Grayson said. “Technology has advanced a lot since that time. Our everyday steam-powered machinery would have been a wonder back then.”
“True,” Perseus agreed, setting down the bow.
“Shall I make some bolts?” Grayson offered.
“Please. I only have one left.”
Grayson nodded.
“Captain?” Jimmy called down to her. “Town coming up. I believe it’s Massillon. Shall we pull over and cover the transom?”
“Yes.” She looked over, meeting Grayson’s eyes. “Will you help us?”
“Of course.” He gathered up the tacks he had made.
Perseus looked up at that moment, meeting her gaze. He wasn’t the only one benefitting from ferromancer magic.
She got to her feet and walked away.
With their newly covered transom declaring them the Beaumont, they tied up in Massillon, taking the opportunity to visit the market and to take Big Red to the farrier. Grayson had offered to give the mule a new set of shoes, but Briar had had her fill of ferromancy today. She’d leave this task to a human farrier.
Shoeing Big Red was always an ordeal, and Briar had put it off longer than she should. But with the sloppy towpath and the dreary sky threatening more rain, it needed to be done.
Grayson tagged along to verify that the iron was of good quality, but he soon returned to the boat to begin preparations for the evening meal. By the time the shoeing was completed, it was almost time to eat that meal, but Briar insisted they press on—if just to get a few more miles before tying up.
Massillon was fading in the background when Kali approached Briar on the aft deck. Briar steeled herself, expecting some accusation about Grayson’s building materials.
“I saw your friend back there.” Kali gestured at the distant town.
“My friend?” Which of her friends could Kali possibly know?
“The guy you saw in the tavern. Darby, wasn’t it?”
Briar stared at her. How had she gotten ahead of him? Perhaps Darby had turned off on the Sandy and Beaver Canal at Bolivar. Had he been checking to see if she had taken that branch before he continued north on the Ohio and Erie?
“Are you certain it was him?” Briar asked Kali. “You only saw him the one time.”
“He had the same mole pattern on his neck, plus I followed him back to his boat to be certain. The River Shark.”
Shit. “Do you think he knew we were in town?”
“He didn’t arrive until shortly before we left.”
Briar was annoyed that she hadn’t told her, but she wasn’t certain what she would have done if she had known. Confront Darby?
“Why are you so worried about him?” Kali asked.
Briar eyed her. She had told Perseus and Kali that they were disguising the boat to throw Farran off, but it was a thin excuse. Briar wasn’t ashamed that s
he had taken this boat and that Andrew had sent the law after her, but it might reveal her non-ferra nature. After all, she couldn’t be ferra and have a human cousin.
“I’ll tell you when we reach Cleveland.” Once she’d turned Grayson over to a real ferra who could defend him against the Scourge.
Kali gave her a dark look. “Whatever. I thought you’d like to know.”
“Thank you.” Briar tried to hide her begrudging tone, but wasn’t so certain she succeeded.
Kali nodded, and with one last frown, walked away.
Briar glanced at the town in the distance. No boat followed them. Besides, Darby had just docked at this late hour. Hopefully, he would remain there. The next question was how to deal with this. Should they run longer into the night? Her drivers and mules were exhausted from the mud and the current. Big Red still hadn’t recovered from the stress of the farrier. But running wasn’t her only option. She pressed her lips together to hold in a smile as the town disappeared behind a bend in the canal.
She let another half mile pass before announcing to the crew that she was ready to tie up for the night. The clear relief on everyone’s faces made her feel better about the decision. After taking the mules aboard, they poled across to the heel side of the canal and tied up, leaving the towpath clear for any boats traveling after dark.
The evening passed quickly with the routine of the meal, clean up, and final preparations to secure the boat for the night. A light rain began to fall, and Briar suggested they turn in early with the threat of more mud and high water tomorrow. The boys grumbled, so she gave in to their request for a round of cards in the bunkhouse. Jimmy surprised her by inviting Grayson and Perseus, but both declined.
Briar retreated to her cabin, and after a brief cup of tea with Molly, she was able to escape to her alcove. As quietly as she could, Briar slid out her trunk and sorted through it by the dim light of a partially shuttered lantern.
Lock gave her a questioning whirr from the lid of the trunk where he currently perched.