by P M Cole
“Maybe as a lesson to me, to others...” I shook my head. “I don’t know, but he will do it.”
“How long do we have?”
“I think he means to do it by nightfall.”
“Nightfall!” Lucas stood. “But without the dirigible how will we make it back in time to stop him?”
“Is there not some magical way to get us there?”
Lucas looked pensive. “There are ways... maybe we could open a portal, but the magic required would be immense, more than—”
Auto clacked his wings.
“You can speak, what is it?”
’Y…o…u…M…a…k…e…T…r…a…i…n.’
“Yes! A train!”
Lucas looked confused. “Even if we left straight away, it would be an hour back to the mainland, and then if we caught a train straight away that could run through the icy conditions, we would still arrive after nightfall.”
While he was talking, my earlier thoughts returned, and designs were taking shape in my mind. “You are right, for a normal train, but there are designs, things I can do to improve its mechanisms. To make it faster, so much so that we would arrive well before nightfall. But we have to leave soon.”
Lucas went to get to his feet to leave, when Gloria and Daniel appeared in the doorway.
“So, when are we leaving to get my sister?” she said.
“Right now, get your things,” said Lucas. He patted my knee, then stood and left with the others.
I looked around the room that Hades had invaded just a few hours before, then reached over and pulled the map out, unravelling it. I smiled on seeing the dark red line no longer was traced to a point in Wales but had changed to Manchester. The closest main line train station to us that connected to London.
*****
The wind was so strong on the beach that it almost knocked me from my feet. Worse, it was also moving in a westerly direction, completely against the direction we needed to head in.
The Duke shook his head, the ocean spray making his hair stick to his cheek. “You can’t get across the firth in this weather!”
“He’s right, miss,” said the head housekeeper, doing his best to hold on to his cap. “I go across when it’s good weather, but not like this! You can’t put the sail up, and even with six men rowing you wouldn’t be able to go against the currents! You won’t make it out of the bay!”
“You’ll capsize!”
I smiled, trying to reassure them both. “I won’t be using a sail or oars, gentlemen!” They looked at each other confused. “But I thank you for the use of your boat, Mr Hamilton! As soon as I can I will return it to you, with interest!”
Lucas brought the horse and cart as close as he could down the beach. The back contained all of the metal we could salvage from the dirigible. I had told the Duke he was welcome to keep the rest of it if he could find a use for it.
He looked at me. “There is no way—”
I did not want to demonstrate my gifts to the Duke and his housekeeper but there was no time to do anything else. The iron struts, beams, and copper dials floated up from the wooden cart and moved through the air then crashed down on the wet pebbles.
Both men from the castle staggered backward. The housekeeper said something which the wind immediately took from his lips and did a cross gesture across his chest. “She’s a witch!” he then shouted.
I had no time to dissuade him from his opinion and waved to Lucas to get into the boat. The two sisters with Daniel and Colin, walked unsteadily over the rocks then sand, and finally climbed into the large wooden vessel.
I walked within shouting distance to the duke, who took a step backwards. “I’m not a witch! But if I don’t get to London, something terrible will happen!”
He nodded.
I turned back into the wind. The boat, still half on the beach, rocked and swayed such was the force of the gale. I ran forward, then with Daniel’s help, climbed aboard.
“Are you sure this is going to work!” shouted Lucas.
“It has to!” I shouted back.
I looked out to the sea and the waves which were clearly many feet high and gulped. I then looked back at the pile of metal behind us and started to see in my mind what I needed to construct. Immediately some of the beams sprung to life. It was a struggle to manoeuvre them in the wind, but I focused my mind, tensing my muscles and they started to come together, melting with the rest of them to form a new shape. It floated through the air to the back of the boat where it clamped onto the wood.
The two men were still on the shore, mouths agape. I gave a brief wave then looked back at the rolling waves. “Everyone hold on!” I shouted.
With the large propeller attached to the back of the boat, I pushed us forward into the water, catching a wave which made us rise ten feet into the air, before crashing back down. Now for the hard part. Using all of my might I made the two-foot-long curved piece of metal spin as fast as I could, and we shot forward. I had seen such designs at the bottom of ships years before, in many of the newspapers I would read, but had no idea if it would actually work.
“It’s working!” shouted Colin, holding onto the side of the twelve-foot-long vessel.
We quickly made our way out of the bay, where thankfully the waves were less violent, and into the main channel. The wind there was also a good few knots less. The skies above though were darkening, and snow began to fall around us.
“Can you keep this up?” shouted Gloria.
I nodded in reply, not being sure if I could, but we tore through the water, the ice flakes hitting our faces.
“I think I can see the shore of the mainland!” shouted Daniel.
That was good because my energy was draining with each passing minute. Keeping the propeller turning against the wind and current was harder than any other use of my gifts had been, and I could feel it and the boat slowing as I began to tire.
Suddenly the vessel gained a new lease of life and we surged through the water once again.
The sisters were holding hands, a yellow sparking light coming from them, which also lit the boards around us.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to them.
A Scottish beachside town was now visible through the mist.
“You will need to secure us horses and a carriage,” I said to Lucas.
“We don’t have any money.”
Gloria opened the bag which hung across her shoulder and held up a gold coin. “I’ve been keeping this for just such an occasion!” She passed it to Lucas.
The water became choppy again as we neared the shore. The sister's effort had been just in time as the propeller behind us was hardly turning at all. As we slammed up against the beach, I fell to the side of the boat, exhausted. Daniel went to lend me his hand, but I waved it away. “I’m fine. Go with the others and make sure we get transport south.”
He nodded and with Lucas, Gloria, and Melanie, hopped out onto the beach. Colin went to follow but winced on moving. I placed my hand on his leg. “I think we’re going to need each other to get out of this boat!”
He smiled, while nodding.
My legs felt heavy walking up the sandy beach past fishermen’s nets, but I was glad to leave the sea behind.
We found a small path which wound between dunes, then onto a small cliff. By the time we got to the top and looked at the collection of cottages, a small crowd had gathered, along with a cart pulled by two horses. Not exactly what I was hoping for, considering the weather, but good enough.
We moved quickly down into the village. The fishermen with their wives and children parted as we walked to the cart, revealing the others.
“This is the best I could do!” said Lucas.
I noticed the closest standing villager had a pocket watch chain hanging from his coat.
“Can I trouble you for the time, sir?”
The grey-bearded man pulled the watch from his pocket and handed it to me. “For what he paid me, you can have it!”
I smiled. “Thank you
.”
I looked at the time. 9:25 a.m.
“Let’s go,” I said to Lucas.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By time we neared Manchester every part of me ached from the constant bumping and grating against the hard wood of the cart’s bench. Lucas and Gloria had taken turns on the reins and had kept up a good pace, but it was still late afternoon when we neared the city, and the sun was not too far from bowing out for the day.
The noise and constant movement had made any meaningful conversations impossible, but now the smoke-bellowing chimneys and grey slate rooftops of the city were getting closer, I needed to relay my plans to the others.
I tugged on Lucas’s arm, making him open his eyes. “We need to discuss what happens next!” I shouted, as we moved from country lane to a cobbled road.
“I thought we were going to the station!” he said back.
“We are and we will need to find a train on the right southerly track. Then I will do what I need to, but I’m more concerned about what happens when we get to London.”
He and the others nodded.
“Are you able to do the spell to send Hades back to the underworld?”
“Yes, but we need a lot of power. Last time we had a piece of a thunderbolt. Right now, we have nothing!”
“I’ve been thinking about that. Does it have to be magical power?”
“I don’t understand?”
“The bomb that he means to detonate, will unleash an unimaginable amount of energy. Could we use that for the spell?”
“I thought we wanted to stop him from setting the bomb off!” shouted Gloria.
“I think if I can cover the explosion with enough metal and design it in such a way that the explosion is targeted, then we can control what happens and maybe use it to open the portal.”
Lucas blew out his cheeks. “That’s one hell of a risk.”
“Is there any other way to send him back, or stop him?” I asked.
He shook his head. “But we don’t know where the bomb is!”
I sighed. “I think I do. In one of my dreams or visions, whatever it was, I saw a large crowd trying to run from a place in London…”
“Where was it?” said Daniel.
“The cathedral of St Paul.”
We moved into narrow streets with omnibuses and hordes of soot-covered men trekking through a scattering of snow, making their way home to the identical rows of two-storey houses, each one with its own version of the much larger chimneys of the factories.
Melanie looked at the sky. “Darkness will be upon us within the hour. We won’t make it there in time!”
I looked away to the larger buildings and wider streets ahead. “We’ll make it.”
As we moved into the heart of the city and passed three- and four-storey buildings hosting shops on their ground floors, I saw a bridge up ahead. One which I hoped moved over railway lines rather than water.
I pointed at it and Lucas climbed up and told Gloria to stop on the grand iron bridge. Carriages flew past us as I jumped down and ran to the small staircase which allowed for a view to what was below, and to my relief a multitude of snow-covered tracks moved into the station which was just a few hundred yards away.
“This will do!” I shouted to the others and soon we were rushing down the iron steps onto a path which wound alongside the tracks. Three locomotives sat not far ahead, housed in a three-storey-high iron train shed, which fed into the station at the back, bordered by four platforms. One of the trains already had steam coming from its funnel, but that was not the one I wanted, for any modification would likely result in blowing the whole train apart. I needed one that had been sitting for a while. The furthest train from us was without any operators and looked as if it had not seen use for some time, and even more heartening it only had one carriage attached to it. It also had ‘London’ on a small wooden board attached to its front. Perfect.
I pointed to it and we all looked to the platform to see where the inspectors were. Most were preoccupied with passengers. This was our chance.
We jumped over the small fence and made our way across the tracks, until we jumped back up onto the platform that ran parallel with the locomotive I indicated. It was a fine piece of engineering and I almost did not want to implement my design. But I knew if I did not, there would be no way we would make it to London before night came.
I went to close my mind off to outside influence when screams echoed off the iron beams around me, causing a flock of birds to take to the darkening sky.
“Look!” shouted Colin pointing to the other platforms to our right.
People were running, panic in their eyes. An elderly woman fell, others ignoring her plight, desperate to get away from whatever was beyond our view, due to the train in front of us.
Lucas and Gloria were already moving up the platform so they could see across the tracks and soon stopped in their tracks. I went to ask what they were witnessing, but the words never left my mouth as flame enveloped Lucas’s hand, and a blue fireball flew through the air.
“Do your modifications!” he shouted over his shoulder to me, then promptly threw another magical projectile. Melanie too had joined her sister, one hand locked to Gloria’s while their other was emanating light, which then suddenly burst forth in a stream of magical energy.
I looked at Daniel and Colin, the latter still having trouble walking; both nodded to me then walked away. It was then I saw what they and the casuals had seen, for at the far end of the concrete platform where it became the station, Furies staggered into view, but they were not alone. Running towards us with them were other winged creatures, smaller but just as demonic in nature. Their black eyes and expressions of hate were visible even from a hundred yards away.
“Gargoyles!” shouted Gloria.
I turned back to the train, more determined than ever to accomplish my task quickly. I pushed my senses out to absorb the layout and structure of the transport machinery in front of me. Every piston, valve, and chamber which contained the power of the furnace became illuminated in my mind, and in turn I set about changing what I could, intuitively feeling what would make the engine go faster. More screams rang out, but I closed my mind from them as the train started to change and morph into something the world had not seen before.
I heard a clump a yard from me, a sound that I could not ignore. I turned then ducked just as a claw at the end of a wing slashed across the space where my nose had just been. Instinctively one of the iron cylinders that was about to fit into its new position flew across the track and hit the lizard-like creature in its chest, sending it barrelling across the platform. I looked back to the others; each were now fighting to keep the horde from engulfing us.
“Get in the carriage!” I screamed at them, hoping they would hear. Daniel, his eyes aflame, pulled away and jumped up the few steps, imploring the others to join him.
I looked back at the engine, placing the iron piece I had just used as a weapon back in its proper spot.
I was done.
The locomotive was sleek, with a sharp trough at its front to remove any obstructions, and its internals carefully crafted to extract maximum power from the heat from the furnace.
The furnace…
It had completely slipped my mind; we would need to get the fire up to heat. Lucas was the last to leave the platform, and with Gloria, was hanging off the side of the train, sending magic against the demons that were almost upon us.
There was no time to get the furnace heated. I jumped up into the driver's cab, just as a demon lunged at my foot. I turned and with an instant thought, brought an iron shovel through the air, smacking it smartly in the centre of its head and knocking it off the train back to the platform.
We needed to go.
I closed my eyes, then felt the large iron wheels beneath me. The weight of the train was immense, but I just needed to get us moving. A sound came from my right and I was just about to repeat the same manoeuvre with the shovel when Lucas appeared, briefly
pausing before entering the cab to let go another ball of flame back down the platform.
“What’s the hold up?” he said.
“We don’t have any fire!” I nodded to the heap of coal behind us. “Start shovelling that into the furnace. While I try another method to get us out of here!”
He nodded and started on my order.
I returned to straining every part of my mind. We jolted, then a piston started to move.
“It's working!” said Lucas.
The breaking of glass heralded Hades' creatures tearing into the carriage behind me. We needed to go faster, but the weight was too great for me. We were hardly moving. I needed another plan. I looked around the cab.
“What are you doing! Don’t stop!” shouted Lucas, out of breath.
“Stand aside!” I said to him. Despite his expression of confusion, he stepped back. I looked up at the iron roof, immediately a strip peeled from it, exposing the glass panels and iron beams of the shed high above. The metal I had excavated stretched and warped, until it became a simple chute, which coal quickly started to roll along straight into the furnace.
Lucas helped even more coal into its required place.
I then made the chute drop to the floor. “Ignite the coal! Quickly!”
Without hesitation his hand became enflamed, which he flicked towards the opening, sending a bolt of flame, and causing an explosion of light amongst the black rocks. I slammed the furnace door shot and steam escaped from all round us. The pistons shot back and forward, the wheels spun, and we surged forward as if shot from a gun.
From the hole in the roof, I saw the shed quickly pass from view, being replaced by a dark grey sky, and snowflakes falling through the gap.
We both hung out the side looking back at the creatures who were running and taking to the air, but we were increasing in speed, so much so that even they were having trouble keeping up.
More magic flew in the attacker's direction from Lucas and from someone leaning out of the end of the train who I presumed was Gloria.
A screech came from above, as the factories and workhouses of Manchester flashed by. One of the Furies was hovering above, almost lost in the steam now coming from the train's chimney. It flapped its immense wings, threatening to pull Lucas up into the air. Flame shot from his hand into the sky, but I noticed each ball of fire was diminishing in size, and the Fury was deftly avoiding being hit.
