Absolute Heart

by Michael Vance Gurley

  “The pressure is getting high.”

  “What do we need to do?” Gavin asked and gently turned the walker to the right and then back to the left again to dodge trees. The pattern also made them a harder target to follow.

  “We’re pushing this little engine way too hard. It can’t stand too much more,” Landa warned.

  “But we need more power to go faster.”

  “It can’t take this kind of abuse, going up and down these ravines, dodging trees, and firing. There was something wrong with this one too,” she added.

  “Well, what is it? Can’t you fix it, Landa?”

  She looked dejected. Then something seemed to dawn on her, and she again pushed Lucas out of the way to get to a wall panel. She opened it and stuck her head in. “Get me that light, Lucas,” she commanded, absently pointing to the bulb that flickered with each ebb and flow of steam pressure.

  “What’s happening, Aloysius?” Gavin asked.

  “We still have one bloody faerie getting really close. And he looks properly narky,” Wish answered. “And don’t call me that, poof.”

  “Well, blast him out of the sky like you did the last one, you wanker.”

  “I can’t get a bead on him. He’s weaving in and out of the trees.”

  The walker suddenly slowed to half its speed. They lurched forward, almost smashing into the front observation window. “How’s that on the pressure?” Landa called out. Her voice echoed back to her off the insides of the panel.

  “Bad time to slow down, Landa!” Gavin yelled. “Or is it? Hey, Wish, I’ve got an idea.”

  The faerie gained on them quickly as the steamwalker slowed its pace. He poured on extra speed to reach them.

  Gavin hoped the faerie didn’t notice, in his haste, that the cannon had swung away and pointed directly forward.

  “Okay, Gav, I can fix it. As soon as I—”

  “No, don’t do it yet. On my mark, do whatever you were about to do to restore power. Wish, prepare to fire.”

  “But you have me pointing the thing away from him.”

  “Trust me.”

  “Not bloody likely,” Wish mumbled.

  “If you want to live, you’ll listen to him,” Landa said. “Tell me when.” She stuck her hand in the panel and fiddled with something.

  “Tell me when he’s about to catch us,” Gavin commanded.

  Painful ticks passed by while nothing happened in the cabin. All that could be heard was the steady thrum of the engine and the pounding of their hearts in their ears.

  “Now!”

  “Do it, Landa!”

  She flipped a lever inside the access panel, and the steam engine instantly leveled out and the arrow on the steam meter flipped to nominal. Gavin jerked on the brake mechanism as he pulled the right and left steering levers back with his free hand on one and a leg wrapped around the other.

  The steamwalker slammed to a halt and propelled itself, one shaky leg at a time, into reverse. The faerie overshot the walker with the swing of his sword. The creature flew in front of them, directly in line with the cannon, which pointed forward.

  “Now.”

  Wish pulled the lever, and the rest covered their ears. The blast shook the walker, and smoke filled their forward view. Gavin brought them to a halt. They waited in silence until the evening breeze pushed the cloud away, revealing an awful sight.

  “Oh my God,” Lucas gasped. He instinctively covered his mouth with his hand. In front of them, dripping from the branches, were the remnants of the warrior faerie.

  “I think we got him,” Gavin said.

  “Wow. That wins understatement of the year,” Wish said.

  “My word,” Landa exclaimed. They all were relieved when Gavin gently rotated the walker to the right and drove them on again, away from the airfield.

  “We’re clear, as far as I can see,” Wish called out. He swiveled his head around the cannon window to remain vigilant.

  “You’re yelling,” Landa said.

  “What?” Wish hollered again, pulling his head out of the window. He wiped his forehead and rubbed the sweat on his blazer.

  Landa shook her head, grinning.

  “What?”

  “You look ridiculous,” she replied. “But it was a nice shot.” He beamed.

  Gavin looked over his shoulder at Lucas, who was curled up, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs.

  “Lucas? Hey.” He reached back and patted Lucas on the knee until his eyes drifted up to look at Gavin through fallen hair.

  “You all right?”

  Lucas said nothing, but he put his hand over Gavin’s and squeezed. Gavin changed directions a few times by moving his free hand between the levers until it got awkward and he pulled his other hand back. “I kinda need to drive, okay?”

  “Where are we going?” Lucas asked quietly.

  Wish looked vigilantly around them through the window. Landa busied herself in the panel, adjusting the gear repairs. Gavin focused on the path ahead and made the walker avoid trees and rocks.

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know,” Gavin said.

  A Merry Welcome

  THE DEEP green fields and dewy mists of the countryside in the morning rose above them. Sparse trees turned into dense woods sometime in the night, and Gavin found he’d had to slow down the four-legged steamwalker considerably to navigate. Landa had watched the gauges for a while, and Wish fastidiously watched out the window for evidence of any more faeries following. They trod alone through the southern woods of England, far from home. They might not have known why they ran so far away, but Gavin did.

  The steamwalker’s gait was fairly gentle, when not in a race from danger, and swayed up and down hills. It lulled the others to sleep. Gavin had nearly given in to the temptation several times himself. Lucas had crawled up close to the driver seat to sleep near him. Gavin looked down at Lucas, his sleek form and feathering brown hair, curled into a ball, asleep. His big boots were so oversized Gavin could see the stockings all the way down. He found it endearing. He also found he wanted to hold him, comfort him, make everything better somehow. He hadn’t been sure of his feelings before, so it was strange to feel so strongly.

  He glanced back to see Wish asleep, his legs having fallen across Landa’s. Of course he snored loudly. Gavin never received a proper explanation of how the boy who had made his life a living hell in classes and made him feel weak had ended up with them. Gavin shook it away as he turned to face front and noticed Landa awake, looking at him. He froze a tick before resuming his task. They did not need to end up sideways in a gully or something.

  “Get off, you sod,” Landa grumbled when she shoved Wish’s errant legs off her to get up. He murmured something before falling back to sleep.

  She checked gauges and adjusted a few knobs that apparently needed moving all of a sudden. When enough time had passed and Wish didn’t stir, she stepped to the front.

  “Doing well?” she asked. When he shook his head, she placed her hand gently on his shoulder and continued, “Where do you think we are?”

  “Not sure quite yet,” Gavin answered, a small map splayed across his lap. “I’ve been trying to figure it, but it’s been black as pitch. Bath, I think, or just east of it.”

  Landa cocked her head sideways. “How do ya’ bleeding come to that?”

  “I’m brilliant.” When she stared at the side of his head awhile, he finally added over his shoulder, “Saw a road sign for Trowbridge just a bit ago, so… Bath.”

  “Well, I’ll be. This bucket of bolts can move fairly well,” Landa praised. “And that’s cheating, by the by.”

  “I think it could do more speed, but honestly, I’m so knackered it’s—”

  “What do you reckon his deal is?” Landa asked, cocking her head toward the sleeping Lucas.

  “What ya’ mean?” He was being coy but knew full well what she meant.

  “Are you two…?”

  Before she could finish her thought, Wish yawned loudly, stretched
, and got up to look through the cannon port and spotted something. “Hey, stop, yeah?”

  “What do you see?”

  “Up ahead, deep in the woods, I think there’s some kind of tent village.”

  Gavin slowed the walker, pulled up on the leg levers and twisted knobs to decrease the steam pressure, and stopped. There was smoke from a fire, but under the canopy of trees hung several baffles made from leaves that dispersed the smoke.

  “It reminds me of something I read about hiding during wartime,” Wish said.

  “Should we go?” Wish asked. “I’m starving.”

  “Are you mad?” Gavin protested. “We can’t be seen.”

  “Why not?” Wish asked, and Landa nodded her head in agreement.

  “We should be discreet,” Gavin said.

  “We are four kids running through the forests near Bath in a stolen steamwalker. I’d say we’re pretty far from discreet,” Landa said.

  Something banged against the outside of the walker.

  “What was that?” Lucas said, jerking awake.

  The upper gun window swung open, and a bearded man stuck his steam hand cannon into the cabin and pointed it at Wish. “Please open the door and come out… kids?” the man finished in shock.

  “What the…?” Landa attempted to raise her own steam cannon in defense, but the intruder pushed his weapon closer to Wish’s nose.

  “Uh-uh, little lady. Drop it smartly, if you please, and come on out of there unless you want to see another hole in your mate’s face.”

  Lucas cocked his head sideways, as if he were contemplating what he wanted, but Landa lowered her arm. Gavin clicked open the metal door, and they made their way out to other armed men outside the walker. He cursed that he had stopped at all.

  The four of them stood next to the steamwalker, its tanks hissing and clanking as the temperature and pressure subsided.

  “You made us stop amidst a trap, you sod,” Gavin said to Wish. Wish’s upper lip turned up and his shoulders tensed. Two men had climbed onto the walker to assess it, and a third, the bearded one, addressed the kids.

  “Whatcha doin’ way out ’ere in the woods so far from home wif a war weapon, eh?” he asked. His accent was thick Cockney. He eyed them each up and down, his hulking frame a menacing sight.

  Landa’s hand cannon and steam pack had been taken. Her bag lay in the cabin with her tools and whatever weapons they had to fight off the men.

  “We’re looking for refuge,” Gavin said, trying to sound pitiful, but it came out with just a hint of defiance.

  “Refuge, ya’ say, eh? Well, we’el hafta see ’bout thah, I’mma ’fraid.” He motioned that they should walk into the woods.

  They hesitated a tick before the man gently pushed Lucas forward, and they all moved as a unit. Gavin looked behind at the steamwalker as it started to slowly move again. There go our chances of escape, he thought.

  “I’m too young to die,” Lucas whispered to Gavin.

  Gavin rolled his eyes. Although Lucas was right. They were all too young to die. “I don’t think they’d walk us all the way through the forest to slaughter us,” he said in an attempt to calm Lucas down. It didn’t work.

  “Slaughter? My God!” he exclaimed before he collected himself enough to whisper again. “Do you think that’s what they plan to do?”

  “How would I know, Lucas?” Gavin snapped before he could realize it wasn’t annoyance but his own fear that drove him. He didn’t know what to do with seeing Lucas in danger. “Look. I hope not. They’re probably taking us to see their boss.”

  “And he’ll kill us.”

  Gavin grew more nervous and afraid with each step they crunched through the undergrowth. He bumped against Lucas’s shoulder to feel him there, to reassure himself in any way he could.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “I do,” the bearded man said with a chuckle.

  THE VILLAGE seemed to be more of a shantytown, albeit one completely hidden in the forest. They sat, arms tied behind their backs, in a tent, where they awaited the leader of the village. Gavin didn’t know what was next for them, but he did know for certain he must never return to London.

  He had pondered the prophecy. As far as he could tell, he could not remember ever using magick. The faerie had shown visions of Gavin’s glowing hands saving Landa’s ship from certain crushing doom. He didn’t recall that at all. He remembered pulling up the stick and the ship righting itself enough not to explode on impact.

  The tent flap opened, and a woman ducked through. Her long brown hair spilled over her blouse and stopped before the blue pants she wore. She glided with long steps, even though her height was average, and leaned against a thick wooden table that held maps, a brass compass, and a telescope. She eyed them each for a long time before she spoke, which made Gavin hot and tingly and somewhat breathless.

  “I’m Victoria, and I guess you all had better explain yourselves. My men wonder what you are doing so far from London in such a machine.” Her tone was provincial, well balanced, and commanding.

  “We mean you no harm. Really, we just needed to get away from the faeries. I’m sure you’ve heard of the attack,” Gavin said.

  “We just need my bag, and we can go,” Landa said.

  “And our steamwalker, which your men stole,” Wish interjected.

  This made Victoria laugh. She leaned forward and placed a hand on Wish’s chin, slowly shaking him back and forth. “Aren’t you the puckish rogue my mother warned me about?” Wish blossomed red in an instant.

  “We can’t go back… ever,” Gavin whispered to Landa. She seemed to study him intently while Victoria talked to Wish. He knew she wanted an explanation he wasn’t ready to give.

  Victoria slowly turned her head toward them without stepping away from Wish. “Why can’t you go back to London, love?”

  Gavin squirmed on the floor. His long bangs drooped across his eyes, hiding him from her, which was exactly what he wanted.

  “I expect an answer from you or your band of merry men… and girl, sorry, and I expect truth.” Gavin tried to keep his head down, but Victoria waited him out until he tilted it back. She looked at him deeply and her eyes flashed recognition. “You’re not afraid of faeries, boy. You’re running from something worse…. Has to be family. Only thing that can make a person look like that, I’d say. I’m right?”

  “We are not spies, ma’am, I swear it. We need a place to hide until… until the faeries are gone. And then we’ll leave your village.” Gavin did his best to keep his tongue and negotiate without giving away his secret fear, and it seemed to work.

  “No, I don’t think you to be spies,” she said. She slipped Gavin’s goggles down to reveal a greasy dirt line around his eyes. “But it is awfully interesting that you are our second addition to our band of strange but merry folks,” she said, chuckling, “in as many days.”

  “We don’t know anything about other people, ma’am—” Gavin said.

  “Victoria, I said, if you would, please. Victoria Hanover,” she interrupted.

  “Miss Hanover—”

  “Tut tut, love. Miss Hanover was my mum, may she rest in peace. I may share her name, but I digress…. Call me Victoria.”

  “If you know we are not spies, could you be so gracious as to give us a place to wash up and perhaps rest?” Landa asked.

  “I’m afraid unless one of you knows how to fix a stubborn analytical engine, you’ll have to settle for cold water, which is a shame because I could really use a hot bath. It’s been a long time.”

  “You seem to be making due nicely,” Wish said, shaking his hair out of his eyes and flashing a smile.

  “Nice try, lad,” Victoria returned with some mirth.

  “We can fix it,” Gavin said. Victoria considered him. “Er… if we were to fix it, would that be worth something to you? Say, a place to sleep?” Landa headbutted him in the arm.

  “And our steamwalker back,” Wish interjected.

  Victoria’s face
turned into a wide smile. “Well, I am loath to point out that you trespassed on our land with a weapon of war, profess to be weary travelers who have not explained how they come to possess said weapon, and asked for sanctuary. We believe in a government by the people and for the people. And in that regard, all property is for the good of the cause. We are not thieves, however. That is not how a country should be run. We already know what happens when a government takes items that do not belong to them.”

  She squatted down in front of Gavin and studied him. She gazed squarely into his eyes. “All right, little leader. For keeping your walker, and if you can repair our damaged analytical engine, we will allow you safe passage into our village. Agreed?”

  Gavin peered over at Landa, who shook her head vigorously, but he felt he had no choice. He twisted around to awkwardly offer his bound right hand, which Victoria graciously took. After she untied them, Victoria put her hand on Landa’s back.

  “What do you need to get started? I assume your bag?” Victoria turned to give a command to one of her men to fetch Landa’s utility bag from the steamwalker. He obeyed immediately and left them.

  “How did you know…?” Landa said.

  “How did I know you were the tinkerer of the bunch?” Victoria asked. “I observe, dear. The grease under your fingernails and across your cheek,” she summarized. Landa wiped two fingers across her cheek. They came away covered in black gunk and she nervously straightened the goggles on her topper.

  “Oh,” Landa replied.

  “Oh,” Victoria said. “I have a feeling you are a grand artificer of first-class caliber. Great change is afoot.”

  Star-Crossed

  ORION SLIPPED as close as he dared to Victoria as she exited the tent. The kids her men had captured were being held in there. He wanted to find out as much as he could about them since one of them definitely had to be from the visions in his scrying bowl. He was meant to find the boy and use him to get the artifact of power Blaylock wanted so badly.

  Victoria went into a small hut. It was the only thing in the village that could have been referred to as a permanent structure. Orion slid around back until he found a crack to watch through. She talked to a monk in brown sackcloth robes with a hood pulled up over his head. Orion could see the edges of a beard, partly brown but mostly gray. He strained to listen. He used a small incantation to quiet his own heartbeat and the sounds of the forest immediately around him to hear better.