Cultwick: The Wretched Dead

by J. Stone

  Crowley was the first to arrive in the council’s chambers, so he took his seat and spread out the folder’s contents on the metallic, semi-circular table. The area was dimly lit by a series of illuminated bulbs mounted on the walls of the round room. The tile floor of the room was a deep crimson red, while the walls were painted glossy black. Two alabaster pillars sat in the middle of the room, at each end of the semi-circle table.

  Among the folders contents that Crowley splayed onto the table were pictures and biographies of all the major players that Edwin and Alice had encountered - Erynn Clover, Maxwell Rowland, Germ, Tern, Vincent Rourke, Pearl Hicks, and Hirim Burgan. He was already familiar with the heretic and her accomplices from Alice’s briefing when Erynn escaped the Center for Empirical Research more than a month prior.

  Vincent Rourke’s file was the lightest. All they had been able to discern was that Vincent worked as a bounty hunter, and that he was married to another mercenary, Lucy Rourke. In Willow Switch, Lucy was reported to be one of the bounty hunters responsible for the capture of Erynn Clover, so Vincent’s involvement was something of a mystery.

  Then there was Pearl Hicks, the woman Erynn Clover had brought into the rebellion in Dust Grove. As it turned out, her name was an alias. The director of the Reclamation Bureau had been attempting to track her down for some time, and her information had been handed over to their people.

  Finally, they had discovered the identity to a leading member of the Chromework Confederacy, Hirim Burgan. It was believed that he worked directly under the leader of the rebellion, though it was still unclear who exactly that was.

  This information, however, didn’t make up for the failing of Alice and Edwin in retrieving the heretic. Also on their list of failures was Fiona Newton, an escaped psychopath that Alice believed would lead her to Erynn Clover. The woman had been experimented on extensively over the years, and she escaped the Center for Empirical Research days after Erynn did. Luckily, a means to track her was placed inside the woman. Less fortunate was the fact that the biotracker had burned out before anyone could locate and eliminate the woman.

  The other members of the council soon began to enter the room, with Sophia Rhinehart being the first among them. Rhinehart was a military hero that Crowley had brought onboard the council personally. He found her bloodlust admirable and knew that it could be easily channeled to his benefit.

  Next was Martin Lynch, a young and highly religious man that Crowley knew he could rely on for any church related business. Grace Murphy arrived following Lynch, and she shared a similar background to Crowley. She spent many years working in secret on the lottery winners at the Center for Empirical Research. Last was Spencer Price, a career politician, who only ever acted out of his own self-interest.

  Since they had all arrived, the meeting was brought to order by Crowley. The first item on the agenda was to meet with Daniel Hutton. He was shown into the council’s chambers by one of their attendants, and he took his place at the center of their room.

  “Operative Hutton,” Crowley began. “What have you learned from your time in Pendulum Falls?”

  “I met with the new mayor, Harlan McKay Jr.,” Hutton answered. “He did not appear to be malleable like Bowden was. I attempted to persuade him to put our concerns at heart, but my request fell on deaf ears.

  “I did, however, plant a listening device in his office during my meeting. Immediately after I left, McKay met with three individuals – the heretic, Erynn Clover, the rebel, Hirim Burgan, and a new man named Reginald Maynard.”

  “Reginald Maynard?” Crowley mused to himself. “Who is he?”

  “I’m not sure, sir,” Hutton replied. “I believe that name could be only an alias, because we have been unable to find a single piece of information on him. It seems, however, that he is the Chromework Confederacy’s leader.”

  Councilor Sophia Rhinehart asked, “How can you be certain?”

  “The man claimed as much in the meeting,” the operative answered. “Burgan and Clover treated him as such as well.”

  Rhinehart continued, “So we’ve put a name on the rebellion, but we still know nothing about the man?”

  “I have had another operative begin to follow his movements,” Hutton interjected. “We’ll be apprised of all his activities going forward.”

  “What about the heretic?” Councilor Lynch inquired. “How is she involved in this?”

  “It seems the confederacy intends to leverage Erynn Clover’s fame to gather a larger following,” he answered. “They have already begun spreading details regarding the truth about the cure of the S.B.P. through Pendulum Falls and how she was instrumental in the dispersion.”

  “The truth is what we say it is,” Rhinehart interrupted.

  “Of course, councilor,” Hutton replied. “Though it does seem the confederacy intends to use her as a means to rouse the general population to their cause.”

  “What of Pendulum Falls and the mayor?” Crowley asked.

  “Unfortunate news, sir,” Hutton replied. “The town intends to secede from the empire, and Maynard intends for that to be only the first of many.”

  “They incite war,” Rhinehart said.

  “Yes,” the operative began. “And they realize the implications of such an action. They now prepare for war with Cultwick.”

  “What kind of forces do they have?” Councilor Grace Murphy asked.

  “It seems all of the rebels from Chrome City and the rest of the western frontier have relocated to Pendulum Falls,” he answered. “I expect their numbers could now be nearing the thousands.”

  “Do you have anything else to report, Operative?” Crowley asked.

  “Indeed, Councilor,” Hutton replied. “The Dreadnought Prime that was stolen for use in the dispersion of the S.B.P. cure currently resides in Pendulum Falls. The rebellion is using the skyship factory as a headquarters, and the vessel is still housed inside.”

  “I see,” Crowley said. “If that is all, Operative Hutton, you are excused.”

  Hutton bowed slightly and took his leave of the council chambers.

  “Councilors,” Crowley began. “It seems we must decide on a course of action. Pendulum Falls is a threat and we must quash it, before it grows out of control.”

  “We send in a regiment of corpsman to deal with the situation,” Rhinehart simply stated. “Then it will be over.”

  The other councilors nodded and Price added, “We should send in a small team to retrieve the Dreadnought as well. The empress will want her flagship returned safely, besides the rebels will be unable to claim they dispersed the cure if they do not have the skyship in their factory.”

  “Agreed,” Crowley said. “Shall we move on to the next item, Edwin Hollow?”

  When there was no disagreement, the council leader pressed a small, red button under the table. Another attendant showed Edwin into the middle of the chamber room and exited the way they had come.

  Edwin was covered in a myriad of bandages ranging from head to toe, and he walked into the room aided by a metal cane with a severe limp. After being thrown from the train, Edwin walked the long distance along the tracks back to Cultwick. Upon arriving in the city, he was admitted into Bedlam Asylum, where he received treatment for his injuries. In the time since, he wrote and submitted his report on the incidents that led up to the train hijacking.

  “Mr. Hollow,” Crowley began, looking down at the papers splayed out in front of him. “We’ve read through your report, but I felt it best we discussed something of this nature in person. So, let’s start at the beginning. Recount to us your time with Operative Page.”

  “Of course, sir… councilors,” Edwin stated. “We took the first train to Willow Switch after Operative Page recruited me to help her find the heretic, Erynn Clover. From there we went south to Ash Cloud. Immediately upon arriving there, we were met by a corpsman who told us about the bank robbery. Operative Page and I investigated, finding out that the heretic and the rebels were both involved.
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br />   “We were able to get photographs of all the robbers, and I have subsequently identified them all and presented with you all the information I could find. Operative Page also discerned the contents of three safe deposit boxes that were stolen in the robbery. Chief among them was the cure to the S.B.P., the schematics to a new weapon design, and the ledger for shipments in Willow Switch.”

  “And the cure was in Dr. Webber’s safe, correct?” Murphy inquired.

  “That’s correct, councilor,” Edwin answered. “In addition, we interrogated a local family, the Callahans. They confirmed what we were able to uncover on our own, but they offered no new information. Operative Page gave the order to eliminate them once we had finished.”

  “How did the rebels access the bank vault to begin with?” Price asked.

  “The bank manager, Benedict Boothe, went missing,” Edwin explained. “We believe he was implicit in the heist, whether it was under duress or not, we cannot say. Alternately, however, Operative Page found a chromesmith device in a safe deposit box that was opened by Erynn Clover earlier that same day. We determined that it was a tracking device allowing them to find their way to the bank vault.

  “Since it had been abandoned there, we believed that we could use the device to track the heretic’s current whereabouts. Initially, we were led to Chrome City, but she must have moved before we arrived. We ultimately were led back to Willow Switch, where we set up a temporary base of operations in a house there and alerted the local sheriff.

  “The next day, however, a bounty hunter named Lucy Rourke captured the heretic and turned her into the sheriff. We assumed control of her and took her back to the house. Operative Page and I interrogated her most of the night, but she revealed little about their plans that we hadn’t already been able to guess. During the interrogation, Alice instructed me to administer the genotoxin to the heretic, so she is not long for this world.

  “We also raided the hotel room that the heretic had been staying in, but we found nothing of interest. Their plan had been to rob the train in Willow Switch that would be carrying a shipment of medical supplies. Using them, they intended to manufacturer the cure to the S.B.P. We believed that with her capture we had prevented that plan.”

  “It seems you were wrong,” Crowley pointed out.

  “Yes, sir,” Edwin replied. “The next day, Operative Page, a team of corpsmen, and I took the heretic to the train. Erynn Clover was restrained in one of the prison cells, and the train departed for Cultwick.

  “Somehow, she was freed from her cell. When I went to the prison railcar to check on her, I was ambushed and thrown from the train. What exactly happened on the train after that, I cannot say for certain.

  “When I regained consciousness, I walked back toward Cultwick, following the train’s path, until I found a bloody mess splattered along the tracks. I identified the remains as that of Operative Page and marked the location.”

  “Yes,” Crowley interrupted. “We have since sent a team to reacquire Operative Page’s remains and give her a proper burial.”

  “Not far ahead I found the medical railcar, emptied of all supplies,” Edwin continued. “When I finally arrived back here in the city, the cure had already been dispersed, and I reported to Bedlam Asylum for my injuries.”

  “I see,” Crowley eventually said. “And you’ve no idea what happened to Operative Page to knock her from that train?”

  “No, sir,” Edwin answered. “She was still on board when I was thrown off, but I suspect the heretic was complicit in her death.”

  “Since your return have you investigated what happened to the train?” Rhinehart inquired.

  “I have, councilor,” he replied. “It seems there were no bodies found aboard any of the railcars, just pools of blood. Related to that, I also looked into the tracking device placed in Fiona Newton. I found that its last beacon was on the train when it arrived in Cultwick.”

  “Does this mean that the heretic and Newton are working together?” Murphy asked.

  “We’ve no reason to believe that,” Edwin answered. “During our interrogation, the heretic did not seem to even realize that Newton had escaped from the center.”

  Crowley slowly stood from his seat, walking around the crescent shaped table and joined Edwin on the other side. He eventually said, “Not only did you not accomplish your primary goal of reclaiming the heretic, Erynn Clover, you also failed to recapture Fiona Newton. You had the opportunity to prevent the truth behind the S.B.P. from leaking and being cured. Is it safe to say that you could not have failed more completely, Mr. Hollow?”

  Edwin said, “Well, I--”

  Crowley reached up, grabbing Edwin’s head in both hands and twisted violently, breaking the man’s neck. His body fell limply to the floor, and the council leader calmly returned to his seat. Once there, he again hit the red button beneath the table. An attendant entered the room and dragged the body from their chambers.

  “It seems we have a number of issues to deal with,” Crowley stated. “First, we still need to handle the heretic, Erynn Clover. Suggestions?”

  “She has already evaded capture multiple times,” Councilor Murphy began. “Perhaps we finish her quietly. No trial, just execute her.”

  “I haven’t had much opportunity to use my Ankalaran assassins,” Councilor Rhinehart said. “I’d love to send one to eliminate the heretic.”

  “Very well,” Crowley confirmed. “Next, the S.B.P. cure cannot be ignored.”

  “We just need to shift the blame,” Councilor Price suggested. “Dr. Webber was the man caught with the cure. He will need to fall on his sword, and the sooner we distance ourselves from him, the easier it will be to claim we had no knowledge of his actions.”

  “The empress plans to make a speech later today regarding recent events,” Murphy began. “If it comes from her that the rest of the government had no knowledge of the cure, the people will believe it.”

  “Very well,” Crowley replied. “And Fiona Newton?”

  “She’s just one woman,” Rhinehart stated. “She can wait until the rebellion is crushed.”

  “Fine,” Crowley said. “Though I want to see this woman’s file again. There was something intriguing about her.”

  Chapter 4. Germ and the Smuggler

  Under the cover of darkness, Germ sat fighting off a splitting headache inside the shaky cockpit of the canary-yellow Halcyon, as they made their way to the northern town of Tybury. The Halcyon was Olivia Nightingale’s smuggling skyship, and he had already joined her on several jobs for the Chromework Confederacy. From either side of the ship were two sets of parallel wings, each with a circular hole containing a spinning propeller that kept the Halcyon afloat. Under its nose were two additional vertical propellers that very nearly touched as they spun.

  The interior of the skyship wasn’t overly spacious, but what it lacked in size, it made up for in hidden compartments. In the cockpit, there were two seats just behind a console of a plethora of circular gauges jutting up from a set of controls. Behind the cockpit, there was a large cargo area, which they used to hold their smuggled goods, much of the space being beneath hidden floors and beyond false wall panels. There was also one small room for other passengers that had a small table bolted to the floor between two facing cushioned benches.

  Olivia, herself, was a bit of an enigma to Germ. She appeared to have an extensive history, but she had shared almost none of it with the rat or anyone else inside the confederacy. All Germ knew about her was that she had agreed to join the rebellion to smuggle goods, weapons, or people out of Cultwick hands and into the confederacy’s. He had also learned that Olivia swore a vow of non-violence. This was among the reasons he decided to help her, for Germ abhorred violence, and he had on multiple occasions proven himself completely incapable of it.

  She piloted the Halcyon expertly, as it prepared for a landing just outside the city limits of Tybury. The town was far to the north of Cultwick and housed the largest military fort in the empire, but
it additionally served the empire as a major source of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural crops. The brand of wine known as Tybury Cardinal was also produced there from the special grapes grown in their fields. The fort had a warehouse that held shipments of weapons, armor, rations, and various other goods intended for the corpsmen stationed there.

  “Hang on,” Olivia said, as the rickety ship neared the earth below them.

  Germ tightly clutched the arms of his chair, as the Halcyon’s tires touched down and bounced back up from the ground. The entire ship shook and trembled, when they once again hit the earth. One more bounce and the Halcyon steadied its grip on the snowy ground outside Tybury.

  Olivia cut the engines, causing them to die to a whisper, as the skyship sped forward. The tires sliced through the fresh layer of snow, exposing the wet blades of grass underneath, and they began to quietly approach the warehouse. The Halcyon, however, was continuing to move quite quickly toward the building, causing Germ to squirm noticeably in his seat.

  “Calm down, Germ,” Olivia said looking over to him. “Fear has no place in your mind. If you focus on fear, you cannot focus on your objective.”

  “Maybe I’ll focus on that after we don’t crash, Madam Nightingale,” Germ replied wincing away from the front of the ship.

  The Halcyon stopped its advance several feet away from the warehouse, causing Olivia to look over and smile to Germ. She patted him lightly on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”

  She took off her aviator’s cap and goggles, tossing them onto the dashboard of the cockpit, and she unbuckled her seatbelt. Germ followed suit, and they both exited from the cabin of the skyship onto the thin layer of fresh, crunchy snow.

  Olivia’s blonde hair, now free from the confines of her cap, was a wavy, frazzled mess. She wore a dark brown jacket that was zipped up, pressing tightly against her body. Wrapped around her neck was a long, green scarf that had frayed at the edges. Her tan pants were also quite tight against her skin and her brown boots went up nearly to her knees.