They sped past the guards who continued to fire into the side and back of the train. Everyone except Landa hit the deck. Luckily a bullet never struck one of them. Each shot systematically tore bigger holes into the engine, which forced the whole unit into some type of overload. Landa knew it had become unstable, and they had to get off.
Gavin popped up to look out the front window. “The good news is we’re traveling too fast for them to give chase,” Gavin said. “The bad news is we are going to crash soon, flipping off this track, if we can’t slow this thing down.”
“This train is going to explode. We have to get off now,” Landa informed them. She pulled the brake.
“I was wrong,” Gavin said. “That’s the bad news.”
A horrifying screech emanated from the underside of the train. The car shook from side to side as they took a corner at breakneck speed. The wheels moaned against the rails before the cabin jolted as the braking mechanism snapped in two.
“Landa?”
She pulled the analytical device access case open, an alarm sounded, and she ignored it to tear the main logic computation card from its place. The train powered down, lights turned off, and steam escaped from every hole and crack in the engine block. Still the train careened on.
“I think you’ve made it mad,” Orion said.
“It’s not alive—”
“I am not a feckin’ eejit,” Orion cut her off.
“Brace for impact, everybody!” Gavin shouted as he ducked away from the forward window. Another blast from the Grenadiers’ weapon struck the train on the side and it tipped down sideways, a screeching sound coming from the wheels. They were on a collision course with the tube walls. Suddenly the train hit something and it popped up off the tracks at an improbable angle. It slid out of control and off the rails completely and spun in the air.
Everything went silent. Gavin pulled Lucas tight against his chest and tucked his head in, his eyes panicked pinpricks begging Orion to do something. Wish lunged across the cabin at Landa, secured her against him, and covered her against the floor with his body.
Orion closed his eyes. Gavin instantly felt magick building around him. His fingers tingled with the power Orion brought up deep from an ancient and locked-away place. Gavin somehow knew that Orion seeing him scared had opened something powerful.
Orion stood in the center of the pilot cabin, his arms outstretched, surprisingly steady in the roll of the airborne train. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. His hair turned white. Golden battle armor appeared from the aether to cover his forearms. Each gauntlet was striated with lines from the elbow to the sharp talons that covered his fingers. Wind blew back his hair as he lifted his head, his eyes shiny silver orbs glaring through Gavin, through the hull of the train, at something no one else could see.
In an instant Wish, Landa, Lucas, Gavin, and Orion were engulfed in red flames that spread across their bodies and formed over and around them. They were in the belly of a great, translucent, fiery red dragon. The chaotic sounds of the steam engine, twists of metal, detritus from destroyed wooden beams, all went silent, replaced with the pulsating thumps of an elephantine heart.
The dragon grew in size in a burst that blew out the sides, top, and bottom of the airborne train car a half a tick before it would have landed in an explosion of metal and broken glass on the walls of the train tube. Instead of dying, they found themselves saved feet from the tunnel floor, held aloft in the belly of a beast. Orion’s dragon galloped down the tunnel away from the inferno, farther from the Grenadiers.
“Oh my,” Gavin said, shocked.
Lucas lifted his head and saw Gavin’s large eyes drift toward Orion. He squeezed Gavin harder, desperate to hold on.
They all looked at the dragon around them. The translucent scales shimmered and undulated with every step. The gigantic creature took a few quickened steps before lifting its feet off the ground. They flew down the tunnel, the tile walls a gray blur.
Orion’s face contorted in pain, and he moaned, softly at first, but unbearably loud soon after. Gavin let go of Lucas and went to Orion and shook him. Nothing happened. He jostled him harder, to no avail. Gavin looked back to see Wish and Landa in a pile, her hat rolling away. Lucas held tight to the wall where he had left him.
Gavin took a deep breath, focused like Orion had taught him, and placed both hands on the center of Orion’s chest. His hands emanated a soft orange that touched Orion’s skin and spread across his chest. He worried Lucas would see, but the need to bring Orion back from whatever was causing him such pain felt imminently more important than his own safety. He pushed harder until Orion noticed.
Orion turned his head to see Gavin over him. Gavin focused on using his hands, the magick being used to calm Orion. How did he know to do such a thing? Gavin’s mouth moved up and down, his pink lips soft and inviting. Orion leaned in, his own lips curved out to reach Gavin.
“Set us down,” Gavin said. “You have to stop. You look bloody knackered.”
Orion released his hold on the magick. He let down his hands. The metal talons faded away. For a moment Orion seemed to recognize Gavin. Truly seeing him. Then he collapsed in a heap into Gavin’s outstretched arms.
The dragon landed, and the belly of the beast drifted down to the ground until the entire dragon faded into smoke. Orion was unconscious. The four of them stood still, undoubtedly in shock and terror at what had happened. Gavin kept Orion from hitting his head again as his body lay limp against him.
“FIND THEM.” Jacobson handed the photophone back to the Grenadier guardsman who wore the support apparatus on his back. He opened the curtain of the steamcab. They were racing across the streets of London at unsafe speeds to get to Parliament as soon as they could. His private tunnel would have been faster had his son not hijacked it. His son, the wielder.
“Get the agent on there now,” he shouted as the young soldier fumbled the device while he dialed the main operator who would connect them. He didn’t need to ask which agent. They all knew about the mechanical man Haveland used.
“Here you are, sir,” he said. He held up the photophone as the image cleared to show the machinery cogs twirl in the agent’s eyes, and he could hear it click.
“Masheck. You’re alive. Pull the device back away so I can see you,” Jacobson demanded.
Masheck did as instructed, revealing his gaunt face and bright-red hair, but not before pausing the camera over his eye where Jacobson had to look at his own handiwork. He looked awful to Jacobson, even more so than usual.
“A loud crash was reported under the Tower Bridge near Kath Street. The train encountered massive guard resistance and was destroyed. We think it jumped the tracks when the train was hit by a Grenadier’s steam-propelled grenade by the bridge.”
“Do you think they survived?” Jacobson asked, pausing to contemplate his son actually having died at his command. He had given the order, and would do what was needed, but at what cost would he secure the nation?
“Sir, I am not paid to speculate about something so important,” Masheck said.
“You do not think them dead?”
“If I must…. No, I do not.”
“Your faith in my son and his cronies is misplaced,” Jacobson said to chastise him. “I need the stone recovered. Did they find it?”
Masheck said, “I have dispatched a team to the crash site to investigate and recover what they can. I am heading right now to where I think the children are going.”
Jacobson’s next communication would be with each of the councilmen to report on the theft of the Knowledge Stone. That talk he desperately wanted to avoid.
Masheck winced, and Jacobson noticed. “What is wrong with you, man?”
“It’s just a little belly wound,” he said and rubbed at the small circle on his fresh shirt where blood had spotted. The wounds had not had time to heal. He really should be in hospital, in bed to recover for a few days.
“Hmmm, you do look pained,” Jacobson said, not incredibly c
oncerned for his man. “Now you were saying?”
“London Docks are only a block from there, and I am sure several fences are down after the faerie attack. Knowing your son, he will be wanting to escape, and the best way he knows how is to fly away. My coach is crossing the Tower Bridge now. Meet me there.”
“You do not give me orders!” Jacobson shouted.
Masheck witnessed Jacobson lean away from the screen and order the driver to double-time to the London Dock, so he clicked the button to end the transmission. He tossed the device to his new partner, Inspector Abberline.
“He sounds like a wonderful person and someone you should not upset too greatly,” Abberline noted.
“An astute deduction. There’s hope for you yet, Inspector.”
What Once Was Broken
ORION SLEPT soundly, dead to the world. The tunnel faintly glowed with the dancing red-and-yellow light thrown from the burning hulk of the advanced steam train far behind them. The hissing from escaping steam was replaced occasionally by violent sputtering from deep within the engines of the mysterious machine. The sound reverberated against the sleek tiled walls of the private tunnel, providing an eerie ambience. Despite all of that and the pressing need to continue on their way, Orion slept as if he had not a care in the world.
“No. We are not leaving him,” Gavin declared.
“Did you see what insanity just happened?” Lucas asked, his face gaunt and stricken. “He is dangerous, Gavin. Dangerous to us. To you.” Gavin gaped angrily at Lucas, furious he would suggest they leave Orion stranded and vulnerable.
“I say we leave him as well. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I tell ya,” Wish spat. “Bleedin’ Irish scum.”
“Since when did you get so Whitechapel, Aloysius Jeter of the Kensington Jeters,” Landa admonished.
“Come on, Landa,” Wish interrupted. “You have to be worried what that witch might do to us all?”
“I am,” Lucas agreed, which drew more ire from Gavin.
“Now who’s holding a candle to the devil, Wish?” Landa asked. “We aren’t leaving him here to be captured by the guard after he saved us.”
“Right. Out of the question. He saved our lives. Now help me pick him up, and let’s go,” Gavin said with finality.
Wish looked pleadingly to Landa as if waiting for her to help talk sense into Gavin. Instead he watched Landa struggle to lift her side of Orion as Gavin barely managed to carry the other.
“You’re all barking. Here, look out now,” Wish said and lifted Orion across his brawny shoulders. They made their way down the tunnel in silence. They looked spent, carried solely by determination.
Lucas stepped up his pace to catch up with Gavin and tried to slip their hands together. When they touched, Gavin pulled his away. Lucas had hurt him. Gavin knew Lucas only wanted to protect him, but the pain was still real. Lucas should know better. They both knew the scars of rejection.
“I see a ladder up ahead,” Gavin said. “We can’t wait for Orion to wake up from whatever is going on with him.”
“I wonder who gets to hoist his dead weight up a ladder,” Wish stated while pointing at himself.
“I’ll help,” Lucas offered, his face strained with the effort. Gavin looked to Lucas, confusion on his face. Lucas shrugged and smiled weakly.
“Why, look at those strong arms and back. My hero,” Landa said, egging Wish on.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with. I still think we should go far away from this witch.” He grunted, readjusting the weight so Lucas barely needed to help.
Once on Kath Street, they could smell the River Thames on the air. The river carried with it all the filth from factories and trash people dumped there. Giant paddle machines pushed the squalid water out to sea, their billows of noxious coal-burning engines spread across the sky. The paddles were never fast enough to keep the river clean from the amount of waste deposited.
Things were dark. The moon had set. Up ahead a break in the fence around the London Dock let them slip in easily. Gavin led them toward the edge of the water, where he tried to spy which airships might still be operational. The battle had surely ravaged the country’s fleet, and they would have had to recall some from overseas. Those could take days to arrive.
Once Orion had been set down behind barrels of coal, the group set out to find a ship to steal. Gavin and Landa boarded a small ship. Its balloon leaned against the support struts, not inflated but possibly operational. Landa reminded him that only starting the boiler would let them know for sure, but that would probably alert the navy to their presence.
“We need to wait for Orion to wake in case we need his magick to escape,” Gavin said. He had a passing thought maybe his own magick could save them if he didn’t mind them finding out.
“Gavin,” Landa said, pulling in close to him. “This is barking mad. Where are we going?”
“I’m not sure. I have to get away from my father,” Gavin replied, his face a portrait of torment. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in close.
“I know he’s an awful man, but what I don’t get—” Landa began before Wish stepped into the ship.
“Is why he tried to kill us,” Wish interjected and got up. “He tried to have us killed. Not just you. Me, Lucas, Orion, and Landa. Landa, Gavin. He tried to kill her. I’ve been trying, I really have. And I’m sorry for the way…. You know what? I’m done. Good luck running from the entire empire. Landa, are you coming?”
Landa sighed. “Wait,” she said. She reached out to grab his hand before he left the ship. He let her and his angered breathing settled. They stood like that a moment, their hands clasped together. “Stay with us.”
“Us?” he asked. “That’s all I’ve wanted.”
“Then why have you been—” Landa said, and Gavin interrupted her.
“Such a jerk.”
“I just said I’ve been trying,” Wish said.
“Ugh. You are such a pain.”
“You can’t admit that you’re crazy about me,” Wish said. Landa pulled her hand out of his.
Orion groaned as he tried to sit up. Gavin rushed to his side and helped him sit up. “Where… are we?”
“On a ship at the docks,” Gavin told him. Orion stood, a little uneasily at first until he found his strength had returned. “How are you?”
“I am fine now.”
“That…. Back in the tunnel, that was amazing,” Gavin said, beaming.
“And you.” Orion winked.
“I’m starting the boiler so we can lift off,” Landa informed them. “They will see the smoke pretty quickly and be all over us, though.”
“Are we going back to Bath, to Victoria, to give her the stone?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t think so. The Monk, he said all would be well once we stopped England from misusing it. He said I would know what to do when I had it, but I really don’t yet,” Gavin said.
“You don’t think your father is going to give up that easily, do you?” Landa asked.
“No. We have to confront him, but I… I’m not ready.”
“That leaves us where we started. What to do?” Wish said.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Gavin said, reaching into his bag to remove something. He opened his palm to reveal the velvet pouch that contained the Knowledge Stone. He heard the deep rumble.
Before anyone else could move, Gavin pushed the tip of his index finger into the bag to touch the object secreted away inside. His mind flashed with more information than he could ever understand about flying, about piloting hundreds of different types of crafts, many of which he had never seen before. Sleek metallic wings struck out the sides of fuselage and plumes of smoke pushed from the tail in swirling patterns. Large barrel shapes launched straight into the sky. His mind drifted to an image he did not want to see, something horrible. The shock of it jerked him out of the vision. He pulled his finger away and sealed the bag. Gavin swallowed hard, turning to face Orion, fully aware of the moment that woul
d unfold.
“No. Tell me it isn’t true,” he said, heartbreak stinging every word.
Orion had thrust out his hands, both aglow with an extraordinary ruby red, his eyes and hair changed to silver.
“I am sorry.”
Denouement
“OH, GAVIN, I know you don’t understand,” Orion said, approaching him. Gavin looked to his friends, whose horrified expressions mixed with their stoic response clued him in. Orion had used magick to lock them in place. But not him.
“Why?” Gavin didn’t need to say much, the pain of betrayal in his voice enough to rend Orion in two.
“Don’t make this more unbearable than it already is.”
“Tell me. Talk to me. You owe me an explanation,” Gavin implored.
“British citizens care not for Eíre, but our queen, my great-aunt, is being controlled by an evil tyrant.”
“Morgun Blaylock.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.” The gentleness in Gavin’s words struck Orion in the heart. He did not deserve compassion.
“This stone has powerful magick, and as much as you can stop the war by removing it from the playing field—”
“It won’t stop the war coming at us from Blaylock,” Gavin concluded.
“Unless I give this”—Orion slid his hand over the pouch and gently pulled it from Gavin—“to Queen Siobhán. I swore an oath.”
Outside the ship, up the dock, the sounds of soldiers amassing and steamwalkers approaching shocked Orion and Gavin into awareness of the surroundings. They both walked to a porthole to see Jacobson pointing from a steamcab at their ship. The army and their war machines headed toward them. They faced the might of the entire empire.
“Orion,” Gavin said softly. “I…. We have to finish this together. All of us. We are a team now,” he said, pointing to Wish, Lucas, and Landa immobilized before them. “One mad, disorganized, terrified band of oddities. Look at them, Orion. Lucas, who has a heart of gold and a mind to solve puzzles and open secret passages. Landa, the best artificer brain of a generation, loyal friend, and my family. Even Wish, who should be leading a group of promising leaders into doing their fathers’ bidding, here with us, shooting down faerie warriors and carrying you when you were unconscious.
Absolute Heart Page 22