Into Richard.
He grinned at Kane, his long black hair covering most of his gaunt face as he hissed at him.
“Piggies…”
“Fall back!” Cliff’s shout rang out over the turbines and gunfire. “Get the hell outta here! Move!”
Richard glanced in Cliff’s direction, looked up at the airship, then back at Kane and Tabitha. He snarled at them, his eyes black with hatred. He started at them, then stopped. He looked over his shoulder at Cliff again, seemed to force himself into a decision.
“Another time, piggies.”
Kane glared hard at him as the man vanished into a cloud of shadow.
The gunfire halted, the only sound now the airship above. Kane moved off Tabitha, helped her sit up onto her knees. A group of the crewmen moved in on the cart, surrounded it, their backs to it as they aimed outwards with their blunderbusses, rifles, and handguns. One turned to Kane and Tabitha and nodded. His voice was muffled by his breathing gear as he spoke.
“Kane Shepherd and Tabitha Drake?”
“Who wants to know?” Kane asked.
The man grunted as he pulled his mask off. His skin was almost completely black. Likely from a lifetime of being a black man in the sun. He was young, strong-looking, his cheekbones high and his eyes wide and friendly, his mouth drawn into a grin as if he’d just been told a funny joke.
“Tony,” he said, holding a hand out to Kane. “I’m with the Revolution. General Anderson wants to see you right away.”
* * *
“You two are more trouble than you’re worth.” Anderson sat back in her chair and kicked her boots up on her desk. The floor thrummed under Kane’s feet, the low hum of the turbines constant as the ship sailed toward Charleston. A voice squawked over the com in the room.
“We’re only a few clicks out from Charleston, General,” Farnsworth said.
Anderson pulled the horn above her down and spoke into it.
“Very good, Captain. Proceed on our route.”
“Aye, General. All crew report to stations! Let’s get her home at a decent hour, boys!”
Tabitha crossed her arms in front of her and huffed as Anderson put the horn back.
“Well, maybe if I’d at least known where we were going I could’ve gotten us there. You told us we were headed to Charleston. It’s not like I’ve ever been down to this sweatshop.”
Anderson nodded. “Noted.”
“How the hell did you survive that crash?” Kane asked. “How many made it?”
“Enough,” said Anderson. “Plenty enough to get to Charleston and rally a recon team to come find you two.”
“We could’ve made it,” Tabitha said, sitting up straight. “Kane and I make a great team.” She grimaced. “At least until we got caught. Yeah, thanks for the rescue. Oops.”
Kane rolled his eyes.
“Jones was insistent that you two be made part of the Revolution,” Anderson said, moving forward as if Tabitha had never spoken. “As Magicians, your powers will be useful against the Northern Union Army and Special Forces.”
“We never signed up for a fight,” Kane said. “We just needed a ride out of New Chicago.”
Anderson sat forward.
“You signed up the minute you went against the Oligarchy and blew up one of the largest shipyards in the city. You’re a hunted man, Kane Shepherd. You can’t go back. Might as well join the party we’ve started down here.”
Tabitha clapped her hands.
“I love parties!”
Kane groaned. Anderson looked at Tabitha as if she’d grown a second head, then sat back in her chair again.
“Who were those men who had you?”
“Hunters,” Kane said. “They said they worked for some guy who calls himself ‘The Master.’ Ever heard of him?”
“Could be Thaddeus Douglas,” said Anderson. “The man runs one of the last plantations here in South Carolina that still uses slaves. Bastard.”
“Why not free them? Didn’t they take part in the Slave Rebellion?”
Anderson shrugged.
“We sent word through the Underground Railroad. Gave them the choice. They chose not to get involved. I can’t blame them. It didn’t take long for slaves to start families and accept their lives the way they were. Putting children at risk is hard, and the slaves on Harbor Plantation didn’t want to chance it, I guess.”
Kane raised an eyebrow. “You guess?”
“We never heard back from them. Nothing. We assumed the answer was no, and a scout flight over the plantation proved our assumption correct. We moved on. It’s happened before. The Middleton Plantation took months to respond. They used the Underground Railroad to ship the children and women out before they turned on the plantation master and overthrew him. That one actually caught us by surprise. We’d figured they were out of the conflict.”
“The Slave Rebellion was years ago,” said Kane.
“Yes, it was,” Anderson replied. “But it doesn’t mean that it was entirely successful. A few plantations remained operational, even after. The Revolution has been working for two years now to shut them down and cut off the Union resources.”
Two years? Kane rubbed his face, shook his head a little. To his knowledge, the Revolution was new, maybe a rumbling of agitation against the state of the country by those who suffered under the oppression of the Oligarchy. Two years was more jarring. And organized, no less. These weren’t just pissed off former slave families or poor people who’d had enough. They were calculating, strategic.
“Well, he may have a leg up on you,” Kane said. “One of his Hunters is a magic user, and he’s got a Seeker.”
“Seeker?” Anderson put her feet down and sat up.
Kane nodded.
“Yeah. It’s a relic that can track magic spells. I’ve never seen someone with his power, before. He can do things in the shadows. With the shadows. It’s like he’s a shadow, himself. On top of that, there’s a witch out there, and I’m not a hundred percent sure who she’s working for, or if she’s working for anyone. Seems more like she’s got her own agenda.”
“I thought she was nice,” Tabitha said, looking at him. “She warned us about the Hunters, that one time.”
Kane looked back at her.
“Then she let them catch us the second time they came around.”
“Maybe she was asleep,” Tabitha said. “It was late when she came to see us. But she did get the fire going again-“
“Okay,” Anderson said, cutting her off. “Who the hell are you talking about?”
“Wilhelmina,” Kane said, turning back to her.
“But you can call her Wil,” Tabitha chimed in, smiling. “We’re friends!”
Anderson sat upright, her eyes wide. She stared at Kane as she spoke.
“Wilhelmina? You’re sure?”
“Yeah,” Kane said. “Why?”
“Christ.” Anderson sat back, rubbed her eyes with one hand. “Wilhelmina is a rogue slave who went off on her own years ago. My mother knew her.”
“Antonia Boudreaux,” Tabitha said. “I figured from your full name. She’s sweet!”
Anderson shot her a look.
“She’s a battle axe. We haven’t spoken in years. Not since I joined up with the Revolution.”
“Oh…” Tabitha slumped back in her chair, her enthusiasm gone as if she’d been deflated. Anderson gave a “humph,” which forced a smirk on Kane’s lips. He dared not to tell Anderson that her mother did the same thing, and often. He’d already gotten his ass kicked once today.
“We’ve been searching for Wilhelmina for a while now,” Anderson continued. “We believe she’s the reason for the disappearances around Charleston.”
Kane’s ears perked up.
“People are missing?”
“No, I said they’re disappearing. Literally. Someone will turn down an alley, go through a door, down a street, and then they’re gone the moment they’re out of sight. No trace, not even footprints in the mud other than the
ir own. It’s been happening for a few months. Mostly at night. Even more bizarre is when people vanish from their own homes.”
Tabitha sat up.
“I can’t see Wil doing that,” she said. “She seems like she’s more interested in us.”
“Which puts you both in danger,” Anderson snapped. “It’s not enough that I have to babysit two Magicians now, thanks to the final wishes of Union General Alastair Jones. No, now I get to worry about some hag stealing people right out from under me.”
But Wil had answers. She knew all about them. Kane kept that one to himself. Wil had been right. Ever since their amulets had been destroyed, their magic was unreliable. Kane was still more curious as to how they were able to cast at all.
“We need to get back to the Middleton wreckage,” he said. “Tabitha and I need our Grimoires.”
“The Middleton was destroyed,” Anderson said. “There’s nothing left.”
“The books are intact,” said Tabitha. “Otherwise we’d be completely powerless.”
“We have to be the ones to go,” Kane said. “They won’t come to anyone but us.”
Anderson looked back and forth between the two of them, her lips pursed. It was a long moment before she spoke again.
“Fine,” she said. “But you go with a team. In and out. No bullshit. Get your books, get back here. And all of you will stay in sight of each other at all times. This woman is dangerous. The last thing I need is her getting her hands on two Magicians. God knows what she’d be capable of.”
* * *
Kane laid back on the bed, his eyes open and staring up at the ceiling.
What a mess.
Wilson had come by and shown them to a small cabin that barely had enough room for the two people it was intended to sleep. Kane gave Tabitha the bottom bunk, and hoisted himself into the top. It was an hour before they would land in Charleston.
Then back out into the woods to find the Middleton.
Kane tried to sleep, but his mind was roaring, the thoughts spinning and loud enough to drown out any possibility of a nap before they landed. He rolled over and looked down at the lower bunk.
Tabitha grinned up at him and waved cheerily.
“Hi!”
“Hey,” he said. “Can’t sleep.”
She snickered.
“It’s daytime, stupid. Just supposed to relax. Can I come up?”
Kane looked around at the bed. There was barely enough room for him. He looked back down at her.
“I don’t thin—” He didn’t have time to finish before Tabitha hoisted herself up and shoved him over, poking at his ribs playfully with her finger as she told him to “scootch.” He flattened himself against the wall in surprise, then found himself being pulled down and crawled over as she giggled at him. Her elbow caught him in the ribs, and her chest pressed into his face as she climbed over him.
“Gods, Kane, move!” She settled on her side, facing the wall and out the port window. The sun was high in the sky, the daylight bright. She spooned against him, the small bed not giving them much choice in the matter. She reached back, grabbed his wrist, and pulled his arm over her. “You know, it’s okay to act like you actually want to cuddle with me.”
In truth, he didn’t. Not because he didn’t care about her. His mind flashed back to Daniel. The kid floating in the air. The Mors Rebrum cracking his neck with a flick of the wrist.
Tabitha’s brother.
And she had no idea.
It ate away at him to keep it from her. But he didn’t want to cause her any more pain.
Her remark from the other night also came back to haunt him.
“Ever lose a child?”
He’d seen the picture in her Grimoire. A child. Tabitha had lost a child. Who had been the father? Was he dead, too?
More pain for her to endure? Christ.
Kane pulled her closer to him, slid his bottom arm out and let her rest her head in his elbow as he used his free hand to gently move her hair back behind her ear and out of his face before moving his arm back around her. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest.
Or was it his heart?
“You’re doing it again,” she said. “Thinking too loud.”
“Yeah,” said Kane. “Got a lot on my mind.”
Tabitha sighed, taking in a long deep breath and letting out slowly. Kane waited for her to say something, but she just lay there in his arms. It seemed like an eternity before she spoke again.
“Kane? Can I ask you something?”
A familiar voice spoke out behind Kane. He tried to turn and look, to make sure he wasn’t just hearing things. It was impossible. It couldn’t be him.
William Gentry had no way of tracking them.
“Ask him, my dear. Go ahead.”
Tabitha turned, her eyes opening, and looked up at him. Her eyes were white, wide and wild as she stared blindly at him. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she snarled at him.
“Why did you let my brother die?”
Kane jerked upright, smacked his head on the low ceiling, and fell back down on the bed. He groaned, his forehead aching from the blow. He held his hands to the spot where he’d likely have a goose egg later.
Hell of a way to wake up from a nap, he thought to himself.
He heard Tabitha move on the bunk below.
“Kane? Are you okay? What happened?”
He sat up on his elbow, slower in case the ceiling was closer than he thought, and saw Tabitha stand up from below.
Her eyes were normal.
“Nothing,” Kane said, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “Stupid dream.”
“Didn’t sound stupid,” said Tabitha as she crossed her arms in front of her. She glared hard at him. “Unless you really do think I’m stupid. If that’s the case, I’d be happy to correct you, Mr. Shepherd.”
“You?”
“You were mumbling my name over and over.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
Great, Kane thought. Exactly what I need.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it that way. It was just…I got startled and hit my head. No big deal.”
A horn sounded from outside the door, followed by a crewman’s shout. Kane silently thanked him for interrupting the awkward moment.
“All hands on deck! All passengers get secure! Landing in Charleston!”
Chapter Five
Kane looked out through the large window on the observation deck as the ship made its way over the streets and buildings below. He saw a few large, gothic-looking stone churches here and there. They were mixed in with buildings that looked to be living quarters for the wealthy that’d once owned and operated Charleston and her plantations before the Civil War had invited destruction and chaos. Many of the buildings had never been repaired, the structures still broken and shattered from cannon fire and mortars that’d been a favorite of the Northern armies.
The Southern Confederate Government wasn’t without Oligarchs of their own, though the Oligarchy in the South hadn’t quite amassed the sheer power of the Northern Union’s. The wealth of Charleston had fallen under the hellish firepower of the North, the Union Navy destroying much of the Battery, the defensive sea wall at the edge of the city, and the large mansions that once sat proud and dominant. Only a few remained, including John C. Calhoun’s estate. The ground troops had wiped out most of the plantations, though the slaves that remained had rebuilt much of them to live on after the Slave Uprising.
“Seems like the wealth in Charleston was fairly substantial,” Kane said.
“The slavers have no power here anymore,” Anderson explained as she strolled up and stood beside Kane at the window. “The wealthy moved to the Northern Confederate boarder, mostly in the upper Texas and Oklahoma areas after we took our freedom from them.”
“Doesn’t look like much rebuilding happened here,” Kane said, nodding toward an old building with four charred and broken concrete walls remaining. The ship passed over, and Kane looked down
to see a few homeless tucked away inside the rubble.
“It’s better than it was twenty years ago,” Anderson said. “We don’t have much down here. The Union armies took what they needed, and more of what they wanted. What’s left isn’t enough to thrive on, but we manage.”
The Middleton flew past the rest of the city and toward the coast. Kane saw bunkers ahead, airships floating overhead as if on guard duty. Watch towers stood in each corner of a fort shielded by a giant wall and guarded by large cannons that were up on oversized wheels in order to fire at higher targets.
“We’ll land there, then take carriages into the city,” Anderson said. “Farnsworth, begin landing protocol.”
“Aye, General.” Farnsworth pulled his horn down and barked into it. “Look alive, you dogs! Man the landing gear. Back off the steam, Mr. Benson! We begin our descent!”
* * *
Kane tried to brush off the dream as the carriage made its way into downtown Charleston.
Two. Two dreams of him harming Tabitha in some way, shape, or form. Seeing her harmed, bleeding, distraught. It hurt his chest, jumbled his thoughts as he tried to wrap his head around it. He could never harm her. Not on purpose. Granted, he was notorious for saying things the wrong way and upsetting her, but Tabitha wasn’t exactly hard to upset. The woman could be an emotional tornado, so even trying to guess what reaction he’d get from her in any situation or circumstance was futile on a good day.
And what the hell had Gentry been doing there?
“Oh, Kane, this place is beautiful!” Tabitha gazed out the windows of the coach as it made its way through the city streets. Kane looked out the other side, noting the people coming and going, some of the stopping to stare as the coach rolled slowly over the brick road.
Beautiful wasn’t the word he would’ve used. Dirty. Run-down. Yeah, that seemed more accurate.
The streets were old and worn as the buildings that lined them, the brick road stained with mud and horseshit. The buildings were in disrepair, the walls pocked with cannonball holes and peppered with rounds from the muskets, blunderbusses, and new rifles that’d been used during the Northern occupation of the city. The slaves drove the North out during the Uprising, but only after the fall of the Southern plantations. It’d been a hellish fight. The Union tried to empower the slavers to keep the plantations going, but the Slave Uprising went in a direction none of them suspected. The slaves destroyed their own homes, burned the very crops they’d labored over, slaughtered the livestock they’d worked to maintain. Even with support from the Northern Union, the Southern Oligarchs fell hard, their resources damaged or depleted. The slaves had been organized, using the Underground Railroad to systematically take down plantation after plantation.
Gaslit Armageddon (Clockworks of War Book 2) Page 5