Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room)

by Ysabeau S. Wilce

  Idden grinned. “Got nothing to say to that, Tinks?”

  “Mamma is going to kill you!” I said, ignoring the provocative use of my despised kiddie nickname.

  “She’ll have to catch me first,” Idden said, “and I’m guessing from your reaction that she doesn’t even know.”

  “We all thought you were at Fort Jones. Poppy just got a letter from you. But, Idden, how could you desert? What were you thinking? They’ll shoot you if they catch you.”

  “Let them try,” Idden answered. “You don’t look any taller, Tinks. I think you’ve stunted.”

  Again, I ignored the slur. That’s one of Idden’s tricks, to deflect you from topics she doesn’t want to discuss—try to rile you with unflattering personal observations and stupid nicknames. I refused to be deflected.

  “You never answered me.”

  Idden gave me a superior little smile that I knew only too well. “Because I’d had it, Flora. I’ve been pushed around long enough. I’m sick of Buck, sick of the Army.”

  “Why didn’t you just resign? That would be better than running away.”

  She snorted. “Ha! Do you think for one minute that Mamma would let me resign? She’d never accept my resignation—I had to get out without her knowing. And anyway, I don’t recognize the Warlord’s authority anymore, so I consider my oath to him null. He’s a Birdie puppet, Flora. Obeying him is like obeying the Virreina of Huitzil. He has got to go, and all his lackeys, too. Collaborators all, even Buck.”

  “Mamma is not a collaborator! She’s just trying to keep Califa safe.”

  Idden looked scornful. “Safe for what? Safe for whom? Safe for the rich and the powerful? What about everyone else? Slaves—one and all. First slaves to the Warlord, who sold them to the Birdies, now slaves to them, too. Safety in slavery isn’t worth having.”

  I’d never heard Idden this worked up about anything before. She’d always been mild as milk toast and done exactly as Mamma had said. Not only done it, but acted as though Mamma’s Will was hers as well, that their desires were exactly the same. Maybe Idden had gone mad. Maybe she had Army Green Sickness—it happens to people who spend too much time in too isolated a post. They start imagining things, and become paranoid, and then nostalgic, and eventually have to be taken away to the Califa Asylum for the Unfortunate and Lost. Mamma could hardly be mad at Idden for being insane, could she?

  Idden continued, “My duty to Califa is higher than my duty to the Birdies’ puppet. I am loyal to Califa and those who died for her—like Azota Brakespeare!”

  “But she was a murderer and a war criminal,” I protested. “And she almost got Poppy killed.”

  Something flared in Idden’s eyes and she pinched me hard. “Birdie lies! They made her out to be a criminal so they could get rid of her. I knew her, Flora, and she was nothing as they say She loved Califa, and she died trying to keep Califa free. Mark me, Flora. Change is coming. The tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

  “It means, Flora, that there comes a time when we have to decide either to risk death for freedom, or to live as slaves. I have made my decision; that’s why I joined Firemonkey’s band. Califa must be free.”

  “But, Idden—”

  The shouting and screaming outside had gotten louder, and now people were pounding on the door, demanding to be let in. It did not seem a good idea to open the door, but the only other exit was a small window high on the back wall.

  Idden cut me off. “Look, I don’t have time to argue with you now. We have got to get out of here. The militia will be here any minute, and neither of us wants to end up in gaol. Come on.”

  “But we’re trapped!”

  “You’ll see—come on.” Idden unbuttoned her duster and drew her service revolver. “Fire in the hole, Tinks.”

  I covered my ears just in time; she fired twice, the shots echoing explosively. I ducked my head, barely avoiding a face full of flying debris, and when I looked back up, the small window gaped open, and my ears rang. The acrid smell of black powder was choking.

  “Ayah, Tinks, this is where you get off. But first, Flora, swear you will not tell Buck that you saw me.”

  I saw the grab coming and tried to dodge, but Idden was quick, and she’s much taller than me. Despite my kicks, Idden got me into a headlock from which I could do nothing but spit ineffectually.

  “Swear it, Flora!”

  Nini Mo says an oath sworn under duress is not binding. I couldn’t cross my toes in my boots, and Idden had my hands pinned, so I crossed my eyes and said, “Ayah, so, I promise.”

  “I think only of your best interests, Flora,” Idden said, releasing me. “You don’t want to be there when Buck finds out I’m gone. And you sure don’t want to be the messenger.”

  I glared at her. “Ayah, so you say, but you know what—you sound just like Mamma when you say that!”

  “You can’t rile me, Flora, so don’t even try Come on, boost up.”

  Idden crouched by the window, linking her hands together into a cradle. I stepped and she boosted me up to the window, grunting. “Pigface, you’ve grown.”

  “Thanks to Poppy’s food.” I puffed, grabbing at the window frame. The edge of the sill was ragged and some glass remained, but Idden’s propulsion gave me no choice but to go through. The window opened into an alley; below me was a six-foot drop, but, lucky for me, about half of that drop was taken up by a giant trash bin. Before I could protest, Idden heaved me the rest of the way through the window. I hit the closed top of the bin with a painful thump, scrabbling for a handhold, and just barely managed to keep myself from rolling off the side. A horde of hipsters were roaring down the alley, pushing, shouting, and screaming, and it would have been bad news for me if I had landed in their path.

  Idden’s head poked through the window. “I’m sorry I missed your Catorcena. If I could have gotten leave, I would have.”

  I glared at her. “You talk pretty big, Idden. But you are going to get yourself killed. You aren’t being fair to Mamma, or Poppy, either. Think of all they have gone through.”

  “My country comes first.”

  “Now you sound just like Mamma,” I jeered.

  Idden glared back at me. “You’d better get going. Toss me a kiss, Tinks.”

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “I got another way to go—better get yourself out of this alley before you are blocked in. Fine, keep your kiss. If I’m dead next time you see me, you’ll be sorry you were such a stick, Flora.”

  And then Idden pulled her head back inside and was gone.

  I jumped off the trash bin and squeezed between its side and the wall: A tiny bit of shelter but better than nothing. That window hadn’t been such a good exit after all; at the far end of the alley, the militia had already thrown up a barricade. At the other end, the rioters had pulled another bin in front of the club’s fire door, and from behind this barricade they were shouting and screaming at the militia. Me, the monkey in the middle.

  How was I going to get out of here? If you get in, said Nini Mo, you can get back out again.

  Something much larger than a brick hit the wall above me, which sent a roar of noise through my ears and practically knocked me down. Now everything sounded distant; my ears were ringing. Cautiously, I again peered around the edge of the trash bin. The militia were firmly entrenched at the far end of the alley; behind their stacked riot shields, cavalry had formed up. The riot line broke open to allow a caisson to pull forward. Behind it came another carriage, upon which sat a gleaming fieldpiece: a gas gun.

  Gas guns shoot canisters containing a burning acid smoke. One breath of that and you are coughing up the bloody shreds of your lungs. Get the stinging smoke in your eyes and you will be lucky if you ever see anything again. Despite my best efforts, panic began to bubble up my throat. I was no longer the monkey in the middle. Now I was a sitting duck.

  if you need a light,
said Nini Mo, look up for the stars.

  Above my head, a fire ladder dangled, its bottom rung just about out of reach. Jumping didn’t close the gap, and if I tried to heave the trash bin into range, I’d expose myself to the firing. The cannoneers had unlimbered the gun and swiveled it around until its barrel pointed down the alley. The barricaded hipsters began to jeer loudly The battery ignored their cries, and the gunner began to sight the gas gun.

  Not for the first time did I bemoan getting the short end of the Fyrdraaca stick, height-wise. Even with my highest hop, I could not reach the bottom rung of the ladder. I pulled off my sash and began to scrabble in my dispatch bag for something weighty to tie onto the end, with the intent of making a grapple that I could use to pull the ladder down. A brick hit the wall above me and shattered into dust.

  “Pigface Psychopomp!” Nini Mo says you should always remain graceful under pressure, but it was hard to be graceful with death whizzing over my head. My long wooden pencil case was pretty heavy; maybe that would work. I was tying the sash around it when the lid of the trash bin swung open and a tousled head grinned down at me.

  “Hey, Flora, talking to yourself?”

  “It’s about time you showed up, Udo.” The sudden relief at seeing him almost made me feel faint. “Get out here and pull that ladder down before we are snorting our lungs out our noses.”

  Udo jumped out of the trash bin and reached a hand back to haul the Chickie out after him. She was wearing his greatcoat and both of them had mussed hair and smeared lip rouge. Udo didn’t need to climb on top of the trash bin to snag the ladder down; he just reached up one long arm and pulled.

  A gas canister whizzed by us, trailing sparks and smoke. This put a hustle into our scramble; it’s amazing how fast you can move when the threat of scorched lungs is literally hot on your heels. The Chickie went up the ladder first, in a flurry of black skirts; I was next. At the top, the Chickie paused, blocking my way.

  I started to give her a good shove, and then saw, beyond her, flickering red light.

  The roof of the Poodle Dog was on fire.

  Seven

  Fire. To the Horsecar. A Shoot-out.

  THE FIRE HAD NOT YET fully engulfed the roof, so we were able to weave a path around the little licks of hot flame. But the thought of all the flammable alcohol and hair products that might still be in the club below, coupled with the wafting gas behind us, made me very eager to get off the roof as fast as possible.

  We were not the only ones who had thought of this escape route; on the far side of the roof, other clever shadows were creeping out of the stairwell and dashing past the flames to leap the gap between the Poodle Dog and the warehouse next door. We rushed to follow their example. The buildings were packed so tightly together that the distance was not too great; but still, it wasn’t a short jump. Udo went first, his half-undone braids flapping, then turned to offer a hand to the Chickie, who ignored the gallant gesture. She made a graceful ballet leap and a graceful ballet landing on the other side.

  At the edge, I hesitated. The gap was large and my legs are short. But the heat behind me was hot, and Udo was shouting, and Nini Mo once leaped fifteen feet over a chasm sixty feet deep—without a running start. But surely her legs were longer than mine, and stronger, too. And she wasn’t wearing pinchy stays that kept her from sucking in a good deep breath.

  “Come on, Flora!” Udo shouted. The Chickie was tugging on his arm impatiently. That gesture steeled my resolve; I was not going to let her leave me behind.

  Dare, win, or disappear, I thought grimly. For luck, I clutched at Poppy’s ranger badge hanging from my neck, and as a whiff of smoke wafted over me, I ran forward and hurtled myself across the gap, gasping like a teakettle. There was a dizzy roar in my ears, swooping blackness, and then I was in Udo’s arms, and Udo was staggering backward, moaning theatrically.

  “You weigh a ton, Flora.”

  “Come on,” said the Chickie impatiently. “I’m getting smoke in my hair.”

  I jerked away from Udo, annoyed. We tore across the roof, weaving past chimney pots, around piles of broken beer bottles and soiled mattresses, and then slid down the fire ladder onto Kautz Street, which was thick with people. Some of these people, like us, were trying to scarper. Others were running toward the ruckus, confusing those of us trying to advance in the opposite direction, as Nini Mo once defined retreat. Cries of “Azota and Cierra Califa!” mixed with the sound of sirens, the rhythmic rat-a-tat of the gas gun, the howls of pain. Something very fast whizzed by my head, so close that I could almost feel it parting my hair.

  We pelted around the corner onto Geary where, up ahead, the welcoming lights of the J horsecar were gliding out of the darkness toward us. Waving our arms frantically, we got to the stop just as the car pulled up.

  Udo, the Chickie, and I flashed our car passes at the driver and headed for the back. We plopped down in the last row; I peered out of the window. The sirens were getting louder and the streams of people thicker; in a minute the J horsecar was going to be stuck in the crowd. But the car didn’t leave the stop.

  “Come on!” Udo shouted. “Get going!”

  The driver was yelling at a man who was standing in the car doorway. “You gotta pay the fare!”

  The man didn’t answer, just tried to move past the driver, who threw out a barricading arm.

  “Fare!” the driver said again. He had closed the door, but through the glass, I could see several angry-looking people with large guns converging on the trolley. The stranger did not answer. “I ain’t going anywhere without your fare, bud.”

  “Pigface!” Udo was searching his pockets. “I don’t have any change. Do you have some change, Zu?”

  The Chickie ignored the request. I dug in my pocket, rushed back down the aisle, and threw a lisby in the fare basket. The driver, satisfied, dropped his arm, and the man went past me without a word of gratitude. The car clanged forward, just as large sweaty hands pounded against the door.

  “Thanks, Flora!” Udo said when I lurched back to my seat. He and the Chickie were now snuggling. Most of Udo’s lip rouge had transferred to the Chickie’s lips, which now gleamed blackly blue. The stranger plopped himself down in the second to last seat, next to me.

  I peered out the back window to see if we were still being pursued. We had already passed the last streetlight at Fluery and the Slot, and the darkness behind appeared empty of angry running guns. I breathed as much a sigh of relief as my pinchy stays would allow.

  “What the hell happened back there?” Udo asked. “The Zu-Zu and I went outside for a few minutes and the next thing we knew we were in the middle of mayhem. We had to take cover in that trash bin.” It was a testament to his bedazzlement that he didn’t complain about crawling into a trash bin; normally Udo would rather be shot than get dirty He gave the Zu-Zu—what a stupid name—a moony look.

  Udo was hardly even breathing hard. Neither was the Zu-Zu; other than the smeared lip rouge, she looked as composed as though she had just been for a stroll in the park. She snapped open a black beaded purse, removed a small black compact, and began to repair. I, on the other hand, thanks to my too tight stays, was wheezing like a hurdy-gurdy, and a bright spike of pain was trying to cleave my brain in two.

  I glared at Udo. “If you’d been in the club, where I was looking for you, you’d have known what happened. You missed the big rally,” I said, when I could do so without too much wheeze.

  Udo grinned at me, and I felt like smacking him. “I was busy”

  “Well, then, I guess you didn’t miss much.”

  “Weatherhead’s drummer exploded,” the Zu-Zu said. I’ll bet she had spent hours practicing her husky voice, so perfectly bored-yet-cool. “It’s the fourth drummer they’ve lost this year. They shouldn’t use percussive dæmons. They are too unstable.”

  “The Zu-Zu is in a band,” he said admiringly.

  “Huzzah,” I answered. “Anyway, that’s not what happened. Firemonkey got up onstage and incited t
he crowd into a mob.” I decided to wait until Udo and I were alone before telling him I had seen Idden; Fyrdraaca family business was none of the Zu-Zu’s affair. Nor was the tentacle attack, which I recalled with a shiver.

  The Zu-Zu pursed her blackened lips in a pout at my correction, then tossed back a lank black lock of hair from her paper-white forehead. Udo gave me a dirty look.

  “What time is it?” I asked him.

  He hauled his watch out of his pocket. “Eleven fortytwo.

  “Pigface, I’m going to get canned if I’m not back by midnight.”

  “Flora,” Udo told the Zu-Zu, “has a curfew.”

  “Pity.” The Zu-Zu looked unsympathetically at me. She smiled slightly. I had the sudden urge to smack her.

  Instead I said maliciously, “You have a curfew too, Udo.”

  “Oh no—I just have to make sure Flora gets home safely, and then I’m free.” Udo smiled at the Zu-Zu. “I haven’t had a curfew since I was a sprout.”

  Now, this was a big fat lie. Udo’s always had a curfew, even back in the days when I did not. The Daddies are pretty strict—with the six kids, they have to be. Otherwise the nuts would take over the nuthouse.

  Before I could point this out to him, something hit the back window, not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to make me jump. I looked back.

  “There are people with guns chasing the horsecar, Udo,” I said. “And I don’t think they are militia.”

  Udo and the Zu-Zu turned around and peered out the back window.

  “I was afraid this might happen,” Udo said. “Though I was hoping we could lose them in the mob scene.”

  “Lose who? What are you talking about?” I asked. “Why would men be chasing us?”

  “Oh, probably because of him.” Udo pointed toward the man whose fare I had paid. He had been sitting so quietly that I had forgotten all about him. The man was staring straight ahead, his hands neatly folded on his lap, his face slack and stupid. He looked asleep, almost, but his eyes were open. A thin string of drool dangled from his lips.