by Adam Dreece
“Stop!” said Mounira, awakening her mechanical arm and grabbing Angelina.
Angelina snapped out of her daze and shook off the arm. “No, she’s not okay! We just lost some good people. No, great people. There was a spy from the Fare here. He blew himself up. He’s the main one behind everything that’s been going on.”
“Were you there?” asked Mounira, her eyes wide and worried. She slowly put her mechanical arm away.
Angelina nodded, staring at the stone floor. “I don’t know how I knew, but I knew something bad was about to happen. I can’t believe it.” She gazed at Mounira. “You should go… play. Be a kid, for all of us.”
Mounira kicked Angelina in the shins.
“What the yig?” scolded Angelina.
“We took on soldiers, Richelle Pieman and countless others, and you think I’m just a kid?”
Angelina glared at her. “Let’s be real. You need to just get out of the way.”
Taking a step back, Mounira glared at the taller woman. “This is just the beginning, and when things happen, you’re going to need us.”
“This was it,” said Angelina. “They’ve just kicked us in our soul.”
“You don’t understand,” said Mounira, leaving. “The people who did this, they aren’t interested in kicking it. They’re interested in crushing it.”
“Where are you guys?” yelled Mounira, running down the stairs. “Guys?”
Tee and Elly looked at each other across the workbench. “That’s not the happy go lucky Mounira voice,” said Elly.
“No,” agreed Tee. “We’re here!”
Mounira popped through the doorway. “There was a spy, he killed a bunch of people upstairs with a bomb. Christina’s sobbing.”
Tee and Elly stood up, instinctively grabbing their new yellow hoods from the wall hooks.
“That was the rumble we heard,” said Tee, thinking.
“This isn’t good,” said Elly. “Should we find Alex?”
Tee put her grapple-armband on. “Help me with the backpack for the rope.”
“What are you doing?” asked Mounira.
“You’re going to say that you have a funny feeling, right?” asked Tee. “I can see it in your eyes.”
Mounira looked at Elly and then Tee. “Yes.”
“I’m starting to love and hate that feeling of yours,” said Elly, putting Tee’s cloak over her backpack. “Now we have two humped-back Yellow Hoods. I feel like I’m being left out.”
“So how can we help Angelina and the others?” asked Tee.
“She doesn’t want our help,” answered Mounira.
Tee sighed. “Without Christina, no one’s going to listen to us, are they?”
“No,” said Alex from the doorway. “I just heard. Remi, Canny… unbelievable. I figured you’d be down here. What do we need to do?”
Tee turned to Mounira. “How bad’s that feeling in your stomach?”
“Bad,” she replied.
“Mine, too,” said Tee. “Okay, see if you can get to Christina. We’re going to need her help if you’re right. Elly?”
“I’ll go to the forest, get our stuff ready in case we need it. We’re not really ready, but it might give us some options.”
Tee nodded, and looked at Alex. “Go with Mounira. Then come and meet us in the forest.”
Suddenly there was a loud rumble, and dust fell from the ceiling.
After the second violent rumble, Abeland glanced around, his concentration finally broken. “Looks like our information was a little off,” he said, pulling a backpack out of his long coat and stuffing his notes in it. He looked at the second guard as he stuffed the MCM engine into his backpack as well. “Mind if I borrow this?”
“What?” said the guard.
“Well, I suppose take is probably a better term. I don’t really intend to return it,” said Abeland as the room shook. “What with this place being a pile of rubble soon, and whatnot.”
As the guard went to take out his pistol, Reginald hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out.
“I was starting to wonder if you were going to let your colleague shoot me first,” said Abeland, coughing from the dust in the air. “Seems the Fare’s a little impatient to get things started today. Punctuality is a lost art, I tell you.” He smiled at Reginald. “Now, tell me the way.”
“Are you sure you want to go after the King’s-Horse? It’s guarded.”
“You’ve got a job to do, and I’ll be fine,” answered Abeland, taking off down the corridor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
On Track
As the rail-raft slowed down, Bakon and Egelina-Marie released their iron grips on their chairs. The experience of riding up and down the hills of the Belnian landscape had been much akin to being on a ship in a mild storm, for hours.
Bakon rubbed his hands and took a deep breath. He was about to remove the ropes holding him in place when he noticed no one else had moved yet.
“Wait for it,” said the soldier beside him.
Then with a massive jerk, the rail-raft came to a stop. Several of the soldiers at the long levers stumbled about.
“Dangerous job,” mused Bakon.
“You should see when they have new guys, sometimes they fall clean off these things,” added the soldier, untying himself.
Bakon turned to Egelina-Marie, who immediately burst into laughter.
“What?” asked Bakon.
She glanced at his hair, holding the laughter in. “Never mind,” she said, biting her lip.
“You’re a bad liar.”
Eg burst into laughter again.
They were quickly escorted off the rail-raft and asked to stand a dozen yards away. They watched as the soldiers and captains moved about furiously, ants attacking fallen food. A few oddly dressed people scurried about yelling wildly, Conventioneers responsible for making sure the Skyfallers were ready for operation.
As the first Skyfaller started to inflate, Egelina-Marie turned to Bakon, worried. “Why did your m— why do you think Caterina sent us here?”
Bakon shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe to get us out of the way?” He saw something in Eg’s eyes. “What do you think?”
“I think if we just sit back and wait, we’ll end up dead.”
He nodded, quickly scanning the area, looking for something in particular. “There, come on.” He jogged over and grabbed one of the ropes for the second Skyfaller as it started to lift into the air.
“Hey, thanks,” yelled the captain as he walked past. “We’re short people today, glad to have all the extra hands we can. Lots of operations going on.” He then stopped and stared at Bakon. “Wait, aren’t you the Maurice?”
Bakon couldn’t bring himself to agree, but Egelina-Marie did on his behalf.
The captain snapped his fingers and flagged another soldier to take Bakon’s place. “You shouldn’t be doing that. Grab the rope ladder, you’re flying with me.”
Egelina-Marie marveled at the behemoth. “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” she whispered to Bakon.
He patted her on the shoulder. “I don’t think we do good ideas.”
“Over there!” yelled Richy to Amami. “I saw something shining in the sunlight!”
Amami brought them alongside it and slowed the King’s-Horse down. “Finally. I am thankful that this endeavor is not fruitless.”
They’d been hunting for rails for three days, and decided to ignore Eleanor’s request for them to stay and wait for her return. Shortly after she’d headed off to meet with Sam and their potential allies, Amami and Richy had grabbed their hoods and left.
Richy smiled. “You have a funny way of speaking Frelish sometimes. But I like it.”
“I have been told some of the eight languages that I speak sound that way. Informality comes with practice,” she replied.
“Eight? I’ll shut up now,” said Richy. He dismounted and looked in both directions down the rails. “Someone went through a lot of trouble to put these here. I
can see where the trees were ripped out. See the new growth? It’s probably been three or four years.”
Amami was impressed. “How do you know that?”
“You learn a lot when you live in the mountains, surrounded by forests,” he replied. “We had a great mentor, too. He died.”
“I am sorry.” Bending down, she put her hands on a rail.
“What are you doing?”
“If they are moving anything on these, the way Madame DeBoeuf said, then the metal will tell us if it is nearby. It will vibrate, sending a feeling through it, even if we can’t hear it.” She smiled at him. “I’ve learned different things.”
Richy put his own hands on the other rail. “Is that something?”
She nodded.
“Is something going away or coming?” asked Richy.
“It is fading. It came by here recently, and it is big,” said Amami pensively. “Which direction do you think it is going?”
Glancing about, Richy pointed westward.
“I think so, too.”
They jumped back on the King’s-Horse, and within minutes found a train of rail-carts and rail-rafts coming to a stop. Hidden among the trees, they carefully watched as people poured out and started working away.
“Do we go back and tell Madame DeBoeuf what we found?” asked Richy after a while.
Amami shook her head. “Not yet. We don’t know anything.”
“We know that there’s a bunch of soldiers, and some Red Hoods and… wait, is that thing inflating? That’s a giant air balloon.”
“No, it’s two giant air balloons,” said Amami.
They were captivated as the Skyfaller started to take shape and rise up. Soldiers hung on to ropes every few feet, controlling its ascent and allowing bombs to be loaded on.
“We need to go,” said Richy. “This has to be that big thing.”
Amami’s face went red. “We are going to destroy those. They are abominations. The Fare cannot be allowed to have them.”
“Okay, what do we do?” asked Richy, grabbing a shock-stick and charging it.
They ran for the King’s-Horse. “We’re going to grab a rope and climb into one of them. We’ll figure the rest out when we are inside the ship.”
Richy smiled. “We definitely are related.”
They bolted past the first set of soldiers before anyone knew what was happening. As Amami skidded the King’s-Horse to a stop they sprang off, knocking aside soldiers holding on to ropes for the second Skyfaller. Shots started to fire as the airship lifted, but were quickly called off.
Two people looked down on them from the Skyfaller.
Amami secured her grip and took out a thin, strange looking tube.
“Watch out!” yelled Richy as a soldier fell right past them. “How did that happen?”
They both gazed up as another soldier shot passed them.
“What the heck is going on up there?” asked Richy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kar'm'ic Trappings
“Wait up!” Alex yelled as Mounira swam through the stream of people. All of a sudden, the flash of yellow that he’d been following disappeared. “Mounira? Where did you go?”
Mounira slammed into an old table. She noticed the window over head, then turned to see the man that had grabbed her. “Anciano Stein?”
The tall bald man’s glasses seem to take up half his face. He locked the door to the small room and straightened up. “Sorry, Mounira, but I do so hate that title. My name is Doctor Francis Stein, but you can call me Doctor Stein, for short,” he said, his hands clasped together. “With all the chaos, it should be obvious no one will hear you. And if we can, I’d like to make this quick and professional. Please give me that arm of yours.”
With a jerk of her head, Mounira brought her mechanical arm to life. “You’re one of them?”
“Them?” wondered the doctor, pulling a knife from underneath his jacket. “Whomever you mean, no. I know opportunity when it arises. I need the arm for my research. I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will. The difference is simply the amount that you’ll scream before giving me the arm.”
Mounira clenched her jaw. “Who said I was going to be the one screaming?” She stepped forward and hyper-extended the arm, grabbing the doctor and throwing him against a wall.
The stunned doctor got back to his feet. “Impressive, I didn’t realize it had that capability. But this only postpones the inevitable.” He lunged at her with his knife.
Mounira blocked his arm and tried to sweep his legs, but slipped.
“Sorry, truly,” he said pouncing.
She rolled out of the way, and then, with her feet firmly planted, hit him square in the jaw with her mechanical fist. Doctor Stein fell on her, knocking her back into the chunky wooden table, before he hit the ground, unconscious.
“Me, too,” she said, smiling. “Hey, I think that sounded like Elly. I’m getting good at this Frelish.”
The building rumbled again, raining a grey haze of dust down. Coughing, Mounira wiped her face and glanced up. A wooden beam had broken and was dangling precariously above her.
As she tried to head for the door, she found her mechanical arm wouldn’t move. She was pinned to the table. She tugged on it as hard as she could, but the arm was embedded into the soft wood.
After a minute of fighting with it, Mounira broke out in a cold sweat. She glanced at the unconscious Doctor Stein and then at the loose wooden beam above. “Come on!” she screamed, but the table refused to release her.
The building shook again and the wooden beam creaked even more. “Come on!” she screamed, looking around furiously. “Mama, are you there? Can you hear me?” Her hand was sweaty and shaking.
Mounira caught sight of something out the window, and watched. “What is that? An… air balloon ship?” As something fell from the airship, the beam creaked menacingly. She tugged with everything she was worth, and then she heard it. The leathery sound of freedom.
Christina sat there, staring at Remi’s face. His dead eyes gazed at the far wall. His face was covered in blood, his armored chest horribly dented. His final expression was one of determination. She thought of all the arguments they’d had over the years, how it had taken a standstill of fighting skill to make them consider being friends long, long ago. Her mind kept gravitating to lost opportunities and spoiled moments.
She coughed as the stone dust from the loosening blocks over head rained down on her. She was oblivious to the violent shaking and the screams from the corridors. She turned and looked at Canny’s body, rolled over and facing away. She hated that she hadn’t been able to figure out why he’d been so uncharacteristically angry. She’d been blinded by how happy he’d been at having a best friend.
Looking around the room, she saw regret after regret, failure after failure. Her body wouldn’t move, other than her eyes and head. The world shook, and she slumped over on to her side, bringing her face to face with a fallen stone block. As wood rained down from the ceiling, she closed her eyes. She just wanted to sleep, to quickly slip away from everything.
Her eyes opened to two familiar faces gazing down at her. The first one was young and tanned, with bright, worried eyes. The second was a man, shaking her by the lapels of her leather coat. His eyes… she hadn’t seen concern like that in them before.
“Abeland?” she muttered before passing out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Up for the Fight
“Sir, we’ve got company! Two of them hanging on the ropes below!” yelled one of the Skyfaller soldiers on the to the captain.
“I said we didn’t need those ropes! No one ever listens,” muttered the engineer to himself.
The soldiers started arguing with each other, and then with the captain, as to what they should do.
Egelina-Marie and Bakon glanced over the edge.
“Is that—?” asked Eg.
“It is. I don’t know who the other one is, but any friend of Richy’s is a friend of ours,” sai
d Bakon with a smirk. “I got a plan.”
“What is it?” she asked, his smirk catching on.
“Clumsy ruffian,” he replied as two soldiers came to join them at the edge, pistols out. He bumped into the first one and Eg following his lead. “Hey, careful!” And before the soldiers knew what was happening, Bakon grabbed the first by the belt and sent him over the edge. Egelina-Marie quickly did the same thing. He then took firm hold of one of the ropes as Eg blocked the captain’s view of him and started hauling up its passenger.
“Captain, tell your men to be careful!” said Egelina-Marie. “We have two overboard!”
“What? How did that happen?” yelled the captain. “Look, you bunch of novices, this is not like a regular ship, so be careful! The Lady in Red will have our heads if we fail! We’re already late in participating in the bombing!”
The engineer was cowering at the back of the ship where the secured bombs were stored. One look from Bakon was enough to tell him to sit and be quiet, which he quickly complied with.
“What’s he doing?” yelled one of the soldiers, finally peeking around Eg. “He’s helping them!”
From the side of the ship, a black cloaked figure sprang into the air and grabbed hold of the mast. Amami pulled out a coiled pipe and pointed it at one of the soldiers. With a high pitched sound and sudden rush of wind, he flew off the edge.
Egelina-Marie disarmed a soldier, took his pistol and shot another in the shoulder. As a fight ensued with the remaining soldiers, Bakon hauled Richy up and over.
“Great to see you,” said Richy, throwing a shock-stick over Bakon’s shoulder and dropping a soldier to the ground.
“Same here,” replied Bakon with a huge grin. “Who’s the black hood?”
Amami landed on the last soldier, knocking him out cold. “I am his sister, Amami.”
“Sister?” said Bakon and Egelina-Marie in unison.
“Yeah,” replied Richy, picking up his shock-stick off the deck. “I’ll fill you in when we’re back on the ground. What do we do know?”