Smoke and Steam: A Steampunk Anthology

by Karen Garvin

  "What is the hold-up?" Mr. Dane asked. "I have work to do. If we could just dispense with these proceedings and be done with it."

  The guild master stood again, silencing the man with a glance. Even a Dane would not go against the guild master, that much Mary had learned. The guild master looked at each junior member of the board and each nodded in turn. "It has been decided. Several petitions have been made to the guild for assignment of the wings, and an interesting proposal has hit the table from Roland himself. For now, our decision has been made. At least for the next few months, the wings will remain in the care of Roland Sallish."

  A murmur ran throughout the room along with several protests as well, with Mr. Dane's being the loudest.

  "This is outrageous!" he bellowed. "It is obvious to all that Roland will never fly again. So, I don't really see the need to allow him to hang on to the wings any longer. What do you hope to gain by this?"

  "Our decision is final," the guild master said. "I do not have to explain myself to you or anyone else, for that matter. If you or anyone else has a complaint, you need to file it through official channels. Good day."

  Mr. Dane grew red in the face, obviously not used to being dismissed in such a manner. Before he could say anything though, the guild master and other members of the board filed out of the room, the door clicking behind the last member.

  "What's the meaning of this," Mr. Dane turned his ire onto Roland, who was just turning to walk from the building.

  Roland ignored him, hobbling along, and pushing Mary in front of him. "Just ignore him," Roland whispered. "He is upset. People say bad things when they are upset."

  To make his point, Mr. Dane threw a pile of obscenities toward them.

  Outside in the fresh air, Roland paused and took a deep breath.

  "Are you OK? Want to rest?" Mary put a hand on Roland's arm.

  "I'm fine, a bit tired perhaps. Let's make our way back home."

  "Let me rent one of the carriages, at least."

  Roland shook his head. "It's only a mile, my dear. I can walk that far. No need spending such money when we don't need to."

  Mary started to protest, but thought better of it. She knew that now, with Roland not working, that things were going to be a bit tougher. She knew that they were going to depend on the small pay she got from the tinker’s shop.

  They made their way back home, only pausing once or twice for Roland to catch his breath and drink some water from a small skin he carried around his neck. Mary could feel the eyes of everyone they passed on her.

  Alice greeted them at the door, along with the smell of roast potatoes and vegetables.

  "Dinner is nearly ready. Go wash up now."

  Roland leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek and whispered something in her ear.

  Alice glanced over at Mary, a smile on her face. Whatever the two of them were up to, Mary had no idea what it was. She didn't like secrets, but understood that sometimes they were necessary, and could even be fun.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Mary's birthday came. She was finally a teenager. It had been four months since she came to the island. Alice said she was going to have a party for her later in the day, and had even invited some of her friends to come for a sleep-over. She didn't really expect anything big as far as presents go, she knew money was tight. Mary did have her eye on a nice sweater though, hand-made from nearby Eavin Island where they had lots of sheep.

  Alice woke her early.Mary stretched in front of the mirror. She didn't feel any different than she did the day before, but she wasn't sure how a 13-year-old girl was supposed to feel in the first place. Maybe she already felt like one and didn't know it. Mary's mother had always told her she was mature for her age, whatever that meant.

  At breakfast, Mary kept looking at Roland, who couldn't seem to keep from smiling. He was acting very strange; Mary had to know why.

  "What's going on?" Mary asked.

  Roland almost giggled, then went back to eating his eggs and ham.

  Mary scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at Alice.

  "He's dying to tell you about your present," Alice said. "I told him to at least wait until you were done with breakfast. I swear, he is just like a kid sometimes. You'd think he was the one turning thirteen."

  Mary rushed through her breakfast, excited just by Roland's demeanor. She hadn't seen him like this in a while. Since his accident, he had been mostly a sullen so-and-so. This morning though, he was just brimming over with happiness.

  Once Mary finished and dropped her dishes into the sink, Roland jumped up, wincing once from the pain in his leg. The big man grabbed his walking stick and headed to the door. As they were leaving, Mary noticed the wings were gone from their mounting bracket by the door. She asked him about it and he just shook his head quickly.

  Mary followed Roland up the long path to a nearby launch-pad perched over one of the islands thermal vents. She'd been up there a hundred times before, but it never stopped amazing her at its beauty.

  At 100 feet above sea level, it was one of the lower launch-pads, but also one of the most powerful. A platform had been built out of wood and metal over a natural indentation in the hillside. Sulfurous smoke drifted up and when Mary walked to the edge to peer over, the fart-smelling wind that rushed up ruffled her hair. It was from this point that glider pilots could easily launch their wings into the air and begin riding the thermals up and up until they could glide down over a long distance.

  Hubert was there, and the guild master himself, along with a few of Mary's other friends. She also noticed Roland's wings propped against a carrier.

  "What's going on?" Mary asked again.

  Alice stepped forward, a tear threatening to fall from the corner of her eye. "If you want... I mean, Roland and I..." Alice couldn't get the words out.

  "Oh, for God’s sake woman," Roland started. "Such a sniffy woman. Mary, if you want, Alice and I would very much like to formally adopt you and make you our own daughter." Roland barely got the words out before his own voice cracked.

  Mary was stunned. She didn't quite know what to say. "I..." She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Roland, practically knocking him down from the effort. Alice added her own arms to the hug.

  "Does this mean you accept, girl?"

  "Of course! I would be honored to be your daughter!"

  "Good," Roland said, pushing her back. "Then I have a present for you. Since you are thirteen and all. A person’s thirteenth birthday is when these traditionally get passed down."

  Roland pointed to the wings in their carrier. He reached into a sack and pulled out a brand-new harness and held it out for her.

  Mary didn't know what to say. Was Roland really offering her his wings? Roland held out the harness for her and she slipped it on. She knew how to do it, had seen it a hundred times before when she watched Roland and the others do it.

  "Is this why the guild allowed you to keep the wings?"

  Roland smiled big then. "Of course. Even then I knew I wanted you to have the wings." Roland adjusted the harness, testing the fit. He smiled when he was happy, then slipped one of the brass altimeters on her wrist and gave it a tap. "So, are you ready to give them a go?"

  Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Now? I've never flown before, you know that."

  "Have to start someplace." Roland pulled out a long cable from a receptacle mounted on the side-railing of the launch pad and attached it to the harness with a hook. The other end of the cable fed into a system of pulleys mounted on the side of the platform. "Now, these are gonna be a bit heavy at first, until you get used to them."

  Roland hefted the wings from the carrier and slid them into place on the harness. Mary struggled to keep her balance, and, after a few tense moments, finally found the sweet spot to keep herself upright.

  "Now," Roland said. "We are going to slip you out into the thermals. Just relax and feel what the wings want you to do. Don't worry, the cable will keep you from flying away.
And if you lose control and fall, it will catch you easy. I can feed out or bring in cable as needed. Just try to keep the wings level for now. Ready?"

  Mary nodded, suddenly terrified of the prospect, but she couldn't let Roland see she was scared. For the last few months, this was all she had wanted to do.

  Roland and the guild master grabbed either side of the wings and extended them. "Now normally these would extend on your command with a flinch of your back muscles, but you aren't strong enough yet. It will happen quick though. You will see."

  Once the wings were extended, the pair of men moved Mary backward toward the edge until her feet were right on the edge. Roland caught her eye, questioning her readiness. She nodded.

  Mary tried to push herself off, but something stopped her. She was scared. She wanted to do it, but there was that little piece in the back of her brain that kept her from taking that last step. She looked up at Roland and he smiled, then reached out and pushed her off the platform. For a moment Mary was in free-fall, but then the warm air caught her and she squealed. She had imagined what it would be like to fly, and now she realized that her imagination had failed miserably in this one respect. She knew in that instant that this was what she wanted to do, always. It was what she was made to do. It took a few seconds for her to find the balance point, but once she did she found it was an easy thing to float on the current. Roland allowed slack in the line as Mary drifted higher and higher. She could see the people below her, clapping and yelling out, but the wind rushed by her ears so fast she couldn't hear them.

  Mary tested subtle moves that Roland had told her about all those times he spoke to her about flying. She found she could float around in circles or hover in place, or swoop down momentarily before she caught herself. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she wasn't sure if it was from the air rushing up over her, or pure joy. She realized it didn't really matter. She was flying.

  Mary wasn't sure how long she drifted in place, but suddenly she was reeled in and she felt terra firma under her feet once again. It took a moment for her to find her legs. She looked up at Roland; he had the biggest smile on his face that she had ever seen. Even Alice was smiling, though with a touch of terror in her eyes.

  "Oh lass, you did great. Like a duck to water. You were born for the sky." Roland unhitched her from the cable and slid the wings off her back, placing them back in the carrier.

  Mary stood there on the ground, but barely felt it. "When can I go again?" The words rushed out in a blur.

  "Every day, Mary. You are going to get tired of practicing."

  "Never!"

  Roland laughed and patted her back, pushing her down the path as everyone else followed behind. "Come on girl, you have a party to get to."

  Mary took a moment to look back over the platform out at the sea. Somewhere across the water her sister was there. She wondered if her sister thought about her today?

  CHAPTER SIX

  In short order, Mary was finally allowed to do solo flights, though Alice voiced her opposition quite vocally indeed. In the end however, Roland and Mary won out. Alice was always so forgiving.

  Mary floated on a thermal, hovering almost in place, watching the land hundreds of feet below her. She saw something that caught her eye on the horizon. A ship. She followed the thermals until she could see the ship very clearly. However, she couldn't find another thermal to get any closer. Once away from land, the thermal currents were harder and harder to find, and Mary was inexperienced. She once got almost out of sight of the island before she was forced to return.

  Mary was ready though. She drifted quickly down to the beach, landing lightly. She shrugged the wings from her back and rushed over to a giant pile of brush she had assembled just last week as part of a plan to attract any passing ships.

  Mary pulled out a small flint lighter and clicked the button. Flame came to life and she touched it to the bits of fluff placed at the base of the bonfire. It flared to life, quickly spreading to the whole pile. She couldn't launch again to see if it was doing any good as there was no pad there. Mary would have to carry the wings at least a mile from where she stood to launch.

  Once Mary was sure the fire burned bright, she hitched the wings up under her arm and started up the path that would take her to a launch pad. She very nearly ran to the launch spot, fixing the wings in position on her back. This was still the hardest part for her, but she was getting better. Her back grew stronger each day.

  Mary stepped to the edge and reached out a hand, feeling the strength of the thermal, then stepped out into the open air.

  The metal wings caught the rising air immediately and launched Mary up. Within seconds she was several hundred feet up before the thermal released her. She started a slow glide down, catching the smaller thermals she knew of along the way as she headed back to the beach. Mary saw a patrol circling the beach over the fire she had set, then quickly scanned the horizon. She could still see the ship, though it didn't look any closer than it had before.

  They just have to see it.

  Mary flew over the beach, gasping at what she saw. The signal fire had toppled over, lighting surrounding brush on fire, and it was spreading fast. The patrol of four swooped down and landed, each pulling the canisters lose from their belts.

  Mary landed quickly as well. She didn't have any canisters but, perhaps, there was still something she could do. She watched as one of the men aimed his canister at the fire. When he released the tab, the great gush of liquid pushed him tumbling backward, end over end. She'd never seen that happen before and was amazed at the power the canisters had.

  It took several minutes for the fire to be contained. The whole time Mary stood by, feeling guilty. There were homes just through a small patch of trees. If the fire spread to them then all could be lost.

  One of the patrolmen turned and glared at her. "Did you set this?"

  Mary nodded. No sense lying to them. "There was a ship on the horizon, I was trying to draw its attention."

  "Whatever for, girl?"

  "To get home. My sister still needs me. I'm the only family she has." Mary tried to hide the tears but it was no use, they streamed down her face, leaving damp trails in the soot.

  "Look, I can appreciate you have a need to get home; we all understand that. But you have to be very careful with fire this time of year. As dry as everything is, it could spread very quickly to other parts of the island and wipe us out. It's happened before."

  Mary nodded again. She had tried and failed.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Mary stood on the launch pad, the brown leather messenger bag around her neck and strapped down around her waist. She took to delivering messages to the other islands six months ago, ever since Melvin's passing. She still missed him, and his tinker shop. His brother had no interest in keeping the shop open, forcing Mary to find other work. Fortunately, she scored a position with the messengers, although there were those that opposed her appointment.

  Mary stepped out into the thermal, thrilling at the way it felt to fly. No matter how many times she did it, each time was like that very first.

  Mary was in for a long haul today. She had to go to Pulltree Island. It could be a difficult journey because of the distance, but she had become adept at reading the thermals. She even held the record for flight time, much to Eric Dane's dismay.

  The flight there was uneventful, but enjoyable just the same. Mary looked forward to seeing her friend, Hubert, so they could talk. She hadn't seen him for a week or more and really wanted to get his input on a plan she had.

  After all of her messages were delivered, Mary hung her wings in a carrier and walked down the path toward Hubert's house. She hugged him as he invited her in.

  "What's up?" Hubert asked.

  "I have an idea about making long journeys with the wings. I'm just not sure how to put it into action."

  Mary grabbed a piece of paper from Hubert's desk and started drawing out her plan. "Now, what I'm thinking about, is using the fire canisters t
he patrols use, and modifying them somehow. I need to increase the pressure that is released to give me extra lift."

  "You know that sounds crazy, right?"

  Mary shrugged. She had to try something. Each day that passed was another day away from her sister. Despite how much she loved the islands, and flying, she’d started to get antsy to get back to Beatrice. "I have to try something. Are you in or out?"

  "What do you need me to do?"

  "Your father is on the patrols, yes?"

  Hubert scrunched his eyebrows together suspiciously. "Yes."

  "I need you to find a way to get your hands on some of the canisters for testing. I've worked out a nozzle that should fit on the canisters, but I need to make some test flights to get it right."

  "I think I can do that; or, at least, I know where they are stored. We will have to sneak in. Show me what you are going to do."

  Mary drew a set of wings on the paper. "Now see right here? This area of the wings is always immobile, so I should be able to mount some canisters there, on each side. I will need some kind of trigger to open them." She drew the canisters mounted under the wings, and a line running up around the harness.

  "I'm thinking I can release the canisters for added lift if I can't find a thermal, and then just fly up as high as I can go, so I can drift further. I should be able to make it to the mainland that way." Mary put the pencil down. "If I'm lucky."

  "And if you're not?"

  Mary shrugged. "Let's not think about that part yet, OK?"

  Mary folded up the piece of paper and slid it into a pocket. "So, again I ask: are you in or out? You could get into trouble if we get caught stealing the canisters."

  "If you can risk your life on this foolhardy scheme, I can risk a bit of time in jail."

  "We are kids, what is the worst they can do?"

  Hubert answered for her. "They can take your wings."

  Mary shrugged the thought of losing her wings aside; she had to try, for Beatrice.