Steamscape Read online

  Solindra swallowed a laugh. She punched herself in the gut and doubled forward. She didn’t know why she was laughing! She pointed. “Look, she’s human. She finally looks human.”

  She surveyed the damage again. Somewhere down the street she saw blurry blobs of people running in their direction. “We didn’t... Steampower didn’t do this, did we?”

  Adri slid her wig back into place. It looked ragged and parts of the hair were singed. “Glad to know you’ve chosen a side.” She shook her head. “I want to end this, Solindra. Please believe me.”

  “Where are our soldiers?”

  “This was not done by soldiers, little bird.” Adri lifted up the hem of her skirt, now stained and torn. “Saboteurs and spies. Just enough to show them that we can strike at their heart, you know? This is just a message. There’s nothing here worth guarding or attacking.”

  “But they’re people.” Just like on the Killing Train. Steampower was as awful as Codic.

  Solindra hesitated over the perished doll-child. “Where is your mother, little girl? Why is there no one here to cry for you?”

  “What was that?” Adri stepped off some of the broken boards and picked at her dress. “Oh damn. I needed to make a good impression too. Our lives depend on that impression. But it does appear that Steampower missed the fact that I am here. At least that part of my plan is working.”

  Solindra didn’t hear any of it. She had her ear turned to the chocolate shop. The front wall was going up in flames and an upright horse trough had blocked the door. Someone was screaming inside.

  Through the fire-framed window she saw a very heavy man on the floor. A petite woman in a purple dress and ruffled collar was trying to shake him awake. She tugged on his arms, but he was too heavy for her.

  Solindra dropped the haversacks and rifle. She ran toward the flames. “Help! Help! There are people trapped in there.”

  No one was able to answer her call.

  The horse trough was blazing, its flames riding right up against the door, spreading its claws into the structure itself. The remaining water was bubbling and the steam was hissing.

  Steam.

  “Solindra, no!” Adri shouted from behind. “I said no!”

  The younger woman fumbled for her sancta. She held it out at the horse trough. “Come on, blast you! Come on!”

  The steam began to rise faster and swirled like a dust devil. She formed the vapor into a ball, squeezing it together tighter and tighter until almost no more water remained in the trough.

  The ball was already leaking like drops of sweat – the water too dense to stay together so tightly. Solindra swept the cipher medallion across the store’s façade. Water splashed all over the flames, dampening the majority of them immediately. The embers hissed against the water.

  Solindra rushed forward and stamped out what was left of the fires. She dug her shoulder into the horse trough and heaved it over. Panting, she pushed open the store’s door.

  The woman in the purple dress stared at her. “You’re a crypter. Crypter!”

  The vessel stumbled back a step. “What?”

  “Crypter!” But Solindra could see she was just terrified, almost as rabid as those on the Killing Train.

  She ran over to the fallen man. “But is he okay?”

  The woman fell over his body, protecting him. “Crypter!”

  “I said no.” Adri pulled on Solindra’s shoulder from behind. She snatched the red sancta from the teenager’s hand and pocketed it. “Get our bags and let’s depart!”

  “But I was helping...” Solindra let herself be dragged back out into the street. Now the vessel could see the oncoming soldiers clearly and her hands itched for her father’s gun. She picked up their haversacks and the rifle’s case.

  Adri pulled her back inside the chocolate shop, snorting at the woman in the purple dress as she glided toward the back door. Solindra stumbled along in her wake.

  The steam princess slammed the back door closed after them and started to march down the alley. “If this presentation doesn’t go right, we’ll both be doomed like my mother.”

  Solindra gasped for air. “I thought we were here to rescue her.”

  “Maybe. If it suits us.”

  “Suits us?” The vessel froze. “If it suits us,” she repeated incredulously.

  Adri snapped her fingers. “Yes.” She whirled around and leaned into Solindra’s face. “This is war, child. What did you expect?”

  “Not to be willfully sacrificing somebody else. Sacrificing your own self, that I can understand, but–”

  Adri cut her off with just a glare.

  Solindra felt her feet melting in the alley below her. She stuck out her trembling chin. “Or like the Hex.”

  “The Hex? We made the Hex into heroes and villains at the same time because it brought us victories. Because they brought both fear and hope in one easy envelope. They were never as real as they seemed to be.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. This is why we are here. We are to negotiate with men of true power.”

  Solindra gulped. “Who in the Codic government knows about you? Or me?”

  “No one but me knows about you presently. “The steam princess shook her head. “Child, it’s the Priory with whom we’ll meet.”

  As they strode through the far end of the alley, a man dressed exactly like Smith stepped out of the shadows behind them. He gestured with his hand to an old-fashioned carriage, just now pulling into the alley’s mouth. Horses’ hooves neatly clipped against the pavement. Adri stepped forward. “See, the Reapers can be as courteous as they are unrelenting.”

  ***

  “Anyone looking?”

  Theo leaned his head around the corner of the intersection. He flashed an up sign with his hand.

  Flame bounced on the thick metal of the trap door. It locked away a maintenance shaft that connected to Redjakel’s underworld.

  “Start of a long road to Steam Central though. Probably guarded, possibly trapped.” The arsonist nudged some of his metallic powder back into a perfect circle and then hopped over the line. He rubbed his hands together and grinned. “Do you know how many rusty items are around? Thermite is so easy to make!” Then he frowned. “But a pain in my heel to light. Do you know how hot of a fire is needed?”

  “Where do you get the aluminum to make thermite?” Drina asked, ignoring his inquiry. “Stuff’s not cheap anymore.”

  “Theft,” Flame replied.

  “What’s taking so long?” Theo called.

  Flame sneered. “This is art, my boy. Now where the hell is my blasted lighter?” He pulled a switchpack out, his version of a lighter, but it was really the standard ignition trigger for most machines. This one was affixed with magnesium at the top, something that could burn hot enough to bring thermite to life.

  “You know, I think I’ll build a couple of these things with thermite in them already. Just flip the switch and go.” He grinned.

  Fire flared between his fingers and he struck it to the magnesium. In obedience to its master, the thermite exploded in fury inside its fiery fountain. Metal melted.

  A perfect circle opened wide into the trapdoor as the center collapsed down into the shaft.

  “We can’t hide this,” Drina murmured.

  Flame shrugged. “So? They’ll blame it on Codic. We’re fine.”

  Jing also shrugged at Drina. “Deed’s done, Death.”

  She flipped her hair and grinned. “I thought that’s what I’m supposed to say to you.”

  They hopped down the hole in the trapdoor and into Redjakel’s muggy, smelly underworld. Drina paused to slide a plywood plank over their new entryway.

  Flame yanked out an electric torch from one of his bandoliers. He flicked it on and the light bulb inside hummed into life.

  Theo trailed his fingers along the slick lead pipes. Steam was escaping somewhere, but it was long condensed and chilly down here. There were dozens, no hundreds of pipes all linked together. He squin
ted ahead. “Hey. I think I’ve got something.” He reached forward and pulled back a large cloth, soggy in the underground dampness. Paper would’ve disintegrated already.

  “It’s a map.” He turned it around. “Ha! Steam Central is that way.”

  Jing snatched the cloth map from his hands just as he took his first step. “Flame.” He held out his hand and the pyromaniac tossed him the electric torch. Then the mechanic flipped the map upside down and shone the light through from underneath. “Actually, Steampower is the other way. See?”

  “What?”

  “Old soldier trick, boy. Don’t worry, you’re just too young to know. It’s meant to be read upside down. You can tell by how the Steampower logo is at a ninety degree angle.”

  “What?” Theo crossed his arms and frowned.

  “Anyone following us?” Drina called.

  They listened. There was no clink of glass on the street above. No shuffling footsteps.

  “No,” Jing said, “but if we don’t know what we’re going to do, then I highly doubt Smith does either. He probably isn’t far behind.”

  “Wonder if we’ll find another aether containment field around here.” Flame’s heavy boots echoed like thunder in the metal cavern.

  “Likely not,” Jing murmured. “They seemed to know exactly where in this maze to hide one though.”

  The others fell into step alongside him, with Jing shining the light through the map to illuminate the pipe-filled, dripping world.

  “Close enough to the old days, eh?” Flame chuckled.

  “Just about,” Drina replied.

  Flame suddenly snarled, “But rescuing the girl, that girl, is what made the Hex fall apart. I wish I knew the first time she and me met. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my fun since, but you just can’t get into as much trouble by yourself, know what I’m sayin’?”

  Drina shrugged. A small, double-edged knife had appeared in her hand.

  “So what’s bricoleur boy still doing here?” The pyromaniac jerked his thumb. “Does he really think he can kill me?” He batted his eyes. “Or is it love?”

  “It’s you,” Theo spat. “I’m only here to be the retribution for your crimes.”

  And that vicious voice caressed Theo’s shoulder like a lover. So why are you waiting? What’s your excuse this time? Is it the girl? No. You’re still afraid you’d freeze up again, little child, so afraid of getting burned again–

  Theo grabbed his ears. “Shut up!”

  The Hex members stared at him, eyebrows rising.

  “I think he may have spent a little too much time at high altitude.” Flame rolled his eyes skyward suggestively. Then he toddled on down the hall, humming to himself.

  Theo’s ears were so warm he thought could singe his hands through his gloves if he touched them. He lowered his arms and trod mutely in the Hex’s footsteps.

  Jing and Flame murmured over the map. Drina kept checking around corners, throwing knives at the ready. She seemed to be more and more frustrated that she didn’t find anyone as the hours marched on.

  Flame clapped his hands. “Here it is! The door to Steam Central. It’s probably rigged.” He immediately dug his shoulder into the large gear wheel to open the portal.

  “You just said it was rigged,” Drina said.

  “Only probably.” Flame heaved and the wheel came loose, spinning around several times on its own.

  Jing yanked Flame back by his shoulder. Several darts shot out across the entryway from compressed steam coils along its vertical sides.

  “You were right,” the mechanic said.

  Jing held up his metal foot and kicked the door in. Nothing else happened.

  Drina picked up one of the darts and sniffed it. “Flyweed Toad. That’ll stop your heart.”

  Two Steampower soldiers peered into the doorframe.

  “Hello.” Flame smiled and held up a clockwork grenade.

  “Put your hands–”

  Drina had thrown two knives at their throats before Flame could strike the grenade’s fuse. “That will be too loud.”

  “Too late.” With a shrug, Flame tossed it down the metal cave. Whistling, he leaned against the wall.

  “Run!” Jing bellowed.

  They dived through the open door. Theo heaved it shut and leaned against the thick metal.

  The door coughed at the grenade’s eruption, but it muted the thunder and barred the shrapnel.

  Through the portal, Theo could hear the escaping steam hissing like a bag of serpents. “You broke something.”

  “It’s what I do.” Flame grinned.

  “Why didn’t you mention guards?” Drina waved another knife in the arsonist’s face.

  “It’s new. They are in a war, you know.”

  “They don’t seem to notice,” Jing mused. “Hardly any city defenses. Sneaking in here was too easy, even for us. Here, let’s get these bodies into the pipes.”

  After they had dragged out the corpses and retrieved the Death Spinner’s knives, they stepped inside Steam Central proper.

  Theo’s jaw dropped upon seeing the domed ceilings. He spun around, becoming dizzy as if high up in a balloon, gaping at the opulence around him.

  Ahead, a stained glass picture of Steam Princess Adri as a praying angel glowed in the sunlight.

  “Ah!” Flame snapped his fingers at the stained glass. “It’s this way.” Humming to himself and clicking his heels, he trotted down another palatial corridor.

  Theo watched Flame’s back. He knew he would just stand there and stare at Steampower’s glory otherwise. But the gilt still reflected in his eyes. This was like the illusions they’d sold as kids, tinfoil mirrors and glass gems, but this wasn’t an illusion. This was real.

  Drina and Jing silently kept pace behind him.

  “Adri’s place ain’t none too far now,” Flame commented.

  Ahead of them, a dumpy servant rounded the corner. She gasped at the sight of Flame and his cohorts and dropped the empty bucket she’d been toting. Then she frowned. “Oh. It’s you.”

  Flame grinned and waggled his fingers.

  She bent down to pick up the bucket. “You know there’s a kill order on you now. We have to be quiet, but we hear things, you know.”

  “Which is why I didn’t tell them I was coming.”

  “Where’s Ms. Saturni?” Jing asked from the back of the group.

  The servant threw up her free hand. “She and the new girl left days ago.”

  “Where did they go?” Drina demanded without missing a beat.

  “Like I would know.”

  The assassin slid closer. “When are they returning?”

  The servant rolled her eyes and pushed past the party without another word. Her footsteps echoed down the hall.

  Jing rubbed his chin. “So Cylinder isn’t here.”

  “Good.” Flame rubbed his hands together. “Forget the girl and let’s get to work.” His eyes glimmered with inner fires.

  Drina held up an index finger. “Cylinder first.”

  Flame sagged. “But, Drina...”

  Theo tugged Jing to the side. “We’re not really going to burn Steam Central, are we?”

  The large man sighed. “Someone probably will. I think the average person would be better off if we could aim Flame at Redjakel’s board.”

  Flame nodded encouragingly. Jing said, “He’s actually useful if you send him off in the right direction.”

  Theo scowled.

  Jing raised his eyebrows. “Let me riddle you this. Why did you explode that boiler tower in Valhasse if you’re so opposed to violence?”

  “Because… because I wanted to help.”

  “No.” The mechanic shook his head. “You wanted revenge. You wanted to hurt the people who hurt you. But you know that’s not the general worker. You could’ve been that poor bastard on the assembly line if things had been different.”

  “No, but–”

  “Or those guards in the hall not ten minutes ago.”

  “It was
us or them,” Theo protested. “I understand that.”

  Jing’s voice darkened, “They work for the enemy, but does that make them the enemy?”

  “I think so. But I am–”

  “From what I see, the only difference here is a scared kid who doesn’t mind playing in the ponds, but the ocean is just too big for him.”

  In that moment, Theo’s face matched Flame’s in burning intensity. That vicious voice shouted at him to go ahead and burn down Steam Central. They deserve it. You might even be doing those poor factory workers a damn favor again.

  He swallowed the metallic tingle on his tongue and straightened his shoulders. “I am not scared, Ghost.”

  “I hope not.”

  Flame whistled. “Adri’s office is this way. It’s a dollhouse, but life-sized.” He trotted down the maze of identical hallways, leading the others. They passed no other guards, not this far inside where the gentlemen of the company preferred quiet. At a huge, polished door with carved angels on it, he stopped and waved his hand. “Ghost, if you would be so kind.”

  Jing knelt down and swung open the hatch on his mechanized limb. From inside the door panel, he eased out a set of slender lock picks.

  “Always prepared, huh?” Theo rolled his eyes.

  Jing didn’t glance away from the doorknob. “You’d be surprised at how many locks suspicious people leave between them and us.” He chuckled and slipped the hook and the rake into the keyhole. “But this deep into Steam Central, this isn’t much of one.”

  After a moment, the handle turned. Drina pushed open the door so wide that it bounced off the wall. Nothing stirred inside. “Now look for anything. Like a telegram or–”

  “Don’t bother, Ms. Death Spinner. Adri’s smarter than that.”

  Smith lounged at the steam princess’s desk in the sunlight. He held his glass cane in both hands and frowned. “You could have used the front door if you’d dressed well enough.” He pointed the cane at Flame and his bandoliers. “But not when they’ve a bounty on your head, I suppose.”

  Flame shrugged. He leaned toward Drina. “This is Smith, right?”

  She nodded, eyeing the Reaper’s jugular.

  Smith sighed loudly. “You and Adri have cost me much time. I should get word to the Gentlemen about this vexing process, but I do hate to make incomplete reports. So, Mr. Meilleur or Mr. Flame, as you have no attachment to this vessel abomination, may I pay you in gold? None of this current debacle need be mentioned.”