Casting Souls

by Becca Andre

  It isn’t safe. If a ferromancer did what I just saw, he’s completely unhinged.

  Then hurry and catch up with us. We’re heading south, cutting across the tracks.

  He didn’t argue further, perhaps understanding that it was futile. Besides, he and Perseus were probably just a matter of yards behind them. And would a ferromancer sic its construct on them? Kali was Scourge. She could dissolve the thing and end the ferromancer in the process. Briar suddenly wished she’d brought her fiddle. After all, she now knew she could dissolve a construct. But maybe she wouldn’t need it. Judging by the way Kali kept increasing her pace, it seemed the ferromancer was fleeing from them.

  Abruptly, Kali stopped and pressed her back to the wall of a warehouse along the edge of the train yard.

  “What is it?” Briar whispered. It would certainly be handy to nonverbally communicate with her right now.

  “He’s inside,” she whispered.

  “Grayson and Perseus are coming. If he’s not moving, perhaps we should wait.”

  “He’s still moving away from us, slowly cutting through the warehouse,” Kali added.

  “You think he sensed you?”

  “I don’t think we’ve been close enough yet for him to detect our presence, or what I am.”

  Briar frowned. So if this ferromancer wasn’t running from them, what was he doing? She didn’t get to ask as Kali slipped through the partially open door. Briar looked back they way they had come, but saw no sign of Grayson or Perseus. Given no alternative, she followed Kali through the dark doorway.

  They quickly moved into the shadows so as not to silhouette themselves against the light from the door. Hopefully, the ferromancer hadn’t been looking in their direction and hadn’t seen them enter.

  Kali took Briar’s hand and, without a word, pulled her off to the right. They moved slowly through the stacked crates and piles of what felt like crossties and stacks of iron rail. But even moving slowly didn’t prevent the occasional banged shin or splinter from dragging a hand along the crates or rough cut lumber.

  Briar ground out another curse under her breath as a new splinter jabbed beneath the nail of her right index finger. Damn, that hurt.

  A soft thump came from the far end of the warehouse, and Kali pulled her along a little faster. They were getting close. Briar fancied that she could almost sense him herself. It was a shame she didn’t have her fiddle. Then she could— Wait. She had Lock.

  She gripped Kali’s hand and pulled her to a stop.

  “What?” Kali whispered, the word so soft it was barely audible.

  “Lock. I could play—”

  An unearthly metallic snarl filled the quiet, the sound almost on top of them.

  A thump was followed by a male shout, “Get back!” The accent was British, but it wasn’t Grayson or Solon.

  Another snarl was followed by a loud clank of metal hitting metal, then a splintering crash. Faint light filtered in from somewhere to their right. Was that a hole in the wall?

  To Briar’s dark-adapted eyes, the influx of low light made their surroundings visible and enabled her to see the man standing before them. He had his back to them, facing the hole in the wall.

  He glanced back at that moment, and Briar saw a glint of metal in the dim light, but couldn’t tell if it was something he wore or—

  “Run!” he shouted, facing the hole once more. A metal beam lying half-in and half-out of the hole rose in the air. Was he threatening them with it?

  A glow lit the darkness beyond the wall. No, two glows. Eyes?

  Briar frowned at the glowing red orbs. What the hell was that?

  It stepped forward into the light, and she got her first good look at the shiny silver skin that covered the four-legged thing. This was the construct Jimmy had seen, and he was right. It wasn’t a lion. She had no idea what it was.

  The man shoved his arms forward, and the hovering beam shot toward the creature. At the last moment, it dove out of the projectile’s path, narrowly avoiding the collision.

  Regaining its feet, it faced them once more and opened its mouth, revealing a red glow in the back of its throat.

  “It’s about to shoot.” The man backed toward them, holding his arms out to either side as if to shield them.

  “Shoot what?” Briar asked.

  “Soul fire.”

  “How does that work?” Kali asked.

  A bolt of light shot from the thing’s throat, and Briar reacted on instinct. She shoved the man aside and took the bolt of light in the hip. A tingle of cold chilled the area instantly, but faded long before reaching much further.

  “It’s not very powerful,” Briar commented.

  The man’s wide eyes focused on her. He didn’t look much older than Benji. “You’re ferra?” He sounded more frightened of her than the thing that was creeping toward them.

  “Not exactly,” she answered him.

  Briar! Grayson’s alarm surged through her.

  Running feet came up behind them, and the young man looked over his shoulder with a gasp.

  “Kali?” Perseus prompted as he and Grayson stopped beside them.

  “We found the construct.” Kali pointed at the silver creature that stopped to study the new arrivals. Was it just Briar’s imagination, or was it staring at Grayson?

  “That’s not a construct.” Perseus drew his short sword.

  “If it’s not a construct, then what is it?” Kali asked.

  “It’s a chimera.”

  “What’s a chimera?” Briar asked.

  “A construct made from the soul of something other than a ferromancer,” Grayson said softly.

  The chimera watched them with its glowing red eyes, but made no move to attack.

  “Ferra,” Briar concluded.

  “No, one of her guardsmen,” Perseus answered.

  “But it shoots soul fire,” Briar pointed out.

  “Everyone has a soul. The ferra can channel theirs, and when they create a chimera, it inherits that ability.”

  “Huh.”

  “Fascinating.” Kali didn’t sound all that impressed. “How do we kill it?”

  “The usual way.” Violet lightning abruptly ignited around Perseus’s blade.

  “Oh shite!” the young man whispered. “You’re Scourge.”

  “What did you think I was?” Kali looked surprised that he hadn’t noticed.

  “Easy.” Grayson gripped the man’s shoulder. “They’re with me.” He released him and stepped up beside Perseus. “Shall I give you a hand?”

  “I was hoping you’d offer.”

  Grayson nodded. “What do—”

  The chimera abruptly whirled away and took off across the train yard.

  “Grayson, come on.” Perseus sprinted after the creature, and Grayson followed.

  Briar wasn’t so certain about this development and was about to say as much to Kali when the young man took off after the others. Or that’s what she thought he was doing until he cleared the warehouse and turned in the opposite direction.

  “Wait!” Briar called after him.

  Kali took a more active approach. She pulled one of those bolas, like the one she’d once used on Farran, from her belt. A rapid whirl over her head, then she released it. She was accurate as ever, and it looped around his lower legs. Unable to move, he fell to the ground with a grunt.

  Briar cringed, but hurried after Kali, who rushed over to the fallen youth.

  He pushed himself up and reached for the bola, frantically tugging at the twisted leather cord.

  “Take it easy,” Briar said. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

  He lifted his head, and for the first time, she got a good look at his face in the moonlight. Silver metal glinted at his left temple, running down to his jaw. She struggled not to react to the chilling sight, bu
t if she’d had any doubt about him being a ferromancer, it was gone.

  “But you’re ferra,” he insisted.

  “I’m really not.”

  “You have a construct in your pocket. You have guardsmen, and you survived soul fire.”

  “I’m telling you the truth. My Scourge companions are my friends, I took the construct by accident, and the soul fire immunity is a product of my unusual ancestry.”

  “Right, because you’re ferra.”

  “Because one of my grandmothers was ferra. My mother was Scourge.”

  “What? That’s not possible.”

  “So everyone thought.” She squatted beside him and began to unwind the bola. “I’m one of a kind.”

  “Why are you in town?” he asked. “And if you took a construct by accident, why do you still have it? I assume it belongs to that ferromancer who was just here.”

  “It’s a long, complicated story, but I still have the construct because he wants me to have it.” That was close to the truth. “As for us being in town, this is my hometown, and he’s here for this gathering of ferromancers, which I’m sure you know about.”

  He didn’t admit to that, but sat quietly, watching her work. She half expected him to spring to his feet and take off again, but he remained where he was when she pulled the bola from his legs and passed it back to Kali.

  “Who is he?” the young man asked.

  “His name is Grayson.” She hesitated. “Grayson Martel Drake.”

  The young man’s mouth dropped open. Yes, he’d heard of Grayson.

  Briar smiled. “By the way, I’m Briar and this is Kali.”

  “Nice to meet you.” The young man returned an uncertain smile. “I’m Tristan.”

  Chapter 6

  Briar got to her feet, taking the moment to collect herself. This was Tristan? Esme and Solon’s son? The boy she’d come all this way to save?

  Tristan didn’t seem to notice her shock as he was still distracted by his own. “That was Drake?” he asked, standing beside her.

  “Yes, we just arrived in town.”

  Tristan was looking around them, perhaps looking for Grayson.

  “What are you doing out here alone?” Briar asked.

  “I wasn’t alone. Not initially.” Tristan’s attention returned to her. “Ivar was with me. But that chimera found us and…” Tristan hesitated. “Is he…”

  “No, I’m sorry. He didn’t make it.”

  Tristan sighed.

  “Why were you in the train yard before dawn?” Briar asked.

  “I heard a couple of men talking about the locomotive Drake built. It was supposed to have been created by purely mundane means. I wanted to see it.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t taken a look before now,” Briar said. “Haven’t you been in town a while?”

  “No. I only got in a few days ago.”

  “That recently?” Had he been in Cleveland with Solon? “Did you have to travel far?”

  “Not too far. I was in Columbus.”

  “Huh.” Had he been in Columbus when she was there? When Solon forced Grayson’s final casting on him? That seemed ages ago.

  The crunch of gravel drew Briar’s attention, and she glanced over, expecting Perseus and Grayson. She glimpsed two men in the moonlight, but before she could make them out, Tristan shouldered her aside. That’s when she noticed the iron rail rising from the ground a few feet away.

  “No, wait!” Tristan lifted his hands.

  The iron rail shot forward, heading straight for Kali.

  Tristan threw his hands to the side, grunting as if he shoved something heavy. The rail changed course even as Kali tried to dive out of its path. It missed her by a matter of inches before veering off into the night, landing with a heavy thump a moment later.

  One of the men spoke. “Unshutter the lantern, Mr. Rose.”

  Briar curled her hands into fists as she recognized that familiar voice with its British accent. She stepped up beside Tristan as Andrew unshuttered the lantern he held, illuminating both him and Solon.

  Before anyone could speak, a new light crackled to life a short distance away. Violet lightning bolts illuminated a short sword and the figure holding it.

  “Perseus, don’t!” she shouted.

  He skipped to a stop a few feet away, Grayson right behind him. Perseus’s short sword continued to blaze. “Kali, my lady, are you all right?”

  “Yeah, fine,” Kali muttered, brushing the dust off her waistcoat.

  “Explain,” Solon cut in. Briar wasn’t sure who he was speaking to, but it was Tristan who answered.

  “I wanted to see the locomotive,” Tristan said, his tone soft and uncertain. “Ivar was with me, but a chimera got him.” The last was spoken in little more than a whisper.

  “A what?” Solon demanded, his dark eyebrows lifting almost to his hairline.

  “A chimera,” Tristan repeated.

  “I know what you said. How do you know?”

  “Me,” Perseus answered for him.

  Solon’s slate-gray eyes shifted to him and narrowed.

  “One of my crew members saw it on his way home and returned to the boat to tell us about it,” Briar spoke up. “We came to investigate and found it chasing after Tristan.” She turned to Perseus. “Did you find it?”

  “Alas, no, my lady. Four legs are faster than two.”

  “You’re certain it was a chimera?” Solon sounded like he was barely holding his anger in check.

  “Yes.” Perseus elaborated no further.

  “It shot soul fire at us,” Tristan offered.

  “How would you know what soul fire looks like?” Solon demanded. “Never mind,” he added before Tristan could speak. “Return to the carriage. I’ll be along shortly.”

  “The carriage?” Tristan looked puzzled.

  “Mr. Rose can show you.” Solon turned to Andrew. “And should this chimera appear, please feed yourself to it.”

  Andrew paled. “You’re displeased with me, Master?”

  “You’ll be protecting my son.”

  Andrew brightened. “Of course, Master.” He lifted his lantern and turned to Tristan. “If you’ll follow me, Master Tristan.” He didn’t wait for a response before walking back the way he and Solon had come.

  Tristan gave his father an uncertain look. He might have spoken, but a frown from Solon sent him on his way.

  Briar grunted. “If Andrew’s to be the main course, I’m hoping the chimera returns.”

  “You and me both,” Kali answered in the same undertone.

  Solon frowned at them before turning to Grayson. “I see you made it, Drake, and right on time.”

  “I did.” Grayson crossed the space between them.

  Briar expected him to stop before Solon, so when Grayson sprang forward and landed a punch to Solon’s jaw, it took both of them by surprise.

  Solon stumbled back from the force of the blow, but didn’t get a chance to recover as Grayson seized him by his coat collar and shoved him against the wall of the warehouse.

  Briar gasped. “Grayson, what are you doing?” She was all for punching Solon—and would love to do so herself—but he currently held all the cards.

  Grayson didn’t answer her. His attention was fully focused on Solon. “I should kill you for enabling that monster to exist,” he whispered.

  “Monster?” Solon demanded. “I am not responsible for the chimera.”

  “Not that monster. Owens.”

  “Grayson, don’t.” Briar stepped forward, hoping that all she’d need was the voice of reason. She didn’t have her fiddle bow, even if she asked Lock to be the fiddle.

  Solon gripped Grayson’s wrist, but he didn’t struggle. “That’s a bit hypocritical. I hear you’ve made one of your own.”

  It seemed that A
ndrew had given his master a full report of what had happened in Newark.

  “It was a moment of high emotion, not a calculated action.” Grayson released Solon with a shove.

  “Which is far more troubling.” Solon pushed off the wall and pulled his coat straight. “If you have so little control, then perhaps you should be careful who you call a monster.”

  Grayson lifted his chin, defying Solon’s accusation, but Briar knew that barb had landed, sharply.

  “You knew nothing of this chimera?” Briar asked Solon, trying to change the topic to something more pressing—and less likely to escalate the conflict between Grayson and him.

  “The body of a ferromancer was found yesterday, stripped of all soul iron. I figured the Scourge must have found him.” Solon turned a pointed look at Kali and Perseus.

  Kali crossed her arms, but Perseus merely returned Solon’s cool stare.

  “There’s a body in the shed with my locomotive,” Grayson said. “It was torn to pieces, but the soul iron remains.”

  “Perhaps whoever cleans up after the thing hasn’t arrived.” Solon didn’t seem upset over the death of a fellow ferromancer.

  “Does it mean what I think it does?” Grayson asked.

  “That the ferra have located us?” Solon asked. “Yes, I believe it does.”

  “Perhaps we should leave town,” Grayson suggested.

  “No. We do not have that kind of time. You do not, and neither does Tristan. This is the end game, Drake.”

  Grayson frowned, but didn’t deny Solon’s statement.

  Solon waved a hand, dismissing the topic, then turned to Briar. “What of you? Have you solved the problem that plagues my race?”

  “Don’t pressure her,” Grayson spoke through gritted teeth.

  Easy. She placed a hand on his arm. This is what we came here to do, remember?

  “I’m getting close,” she said to Solon.

  “This isn’t a game of horseshoes.” Solon looked just as angry as Grayson. “Do you have the answer or not?”

  Grayson spoke before she could. “The legend about the drake is true,” he said softly.

  “What legend?” Solon asked, his words softer as well.

  “Reversed devolvement. When I created my first soulless, visible metal I had acquired since my final casting reverted.”