Harkerpal came around from one of the steam furnaces, covered in grease and with tools in hand. The cores of the turbines turned and creaked along with their gears around us. “Don’t shoot!” Harkerpal shouted. He dropped his tools as fast as I had dropped my sword. “That’s Baron Von Monocle!”
“What? That’s who we’re rescuing…oh!” The gunman said, lowering his rifle from my head. “The girl!”
I turned around to see that the person who had me hostage a moment prior wore the Grand Rislandian Army colors. Though my heart still raced faster than I could ever remember, I relaxed. “Yes, that’s me.” I knelt to pick up my sword.
A couple of other crewmen moved behind Harkerpal, carrying metal piping. They seemed to be in a hurry. Harkerpal ignored his task for the time being and approached me. “Sorry, Miss von Monocle. We stationed one of our gunmen here in case the Wyranth tried to break in here and do damage. Take the engine room, take the ship, hmm? We learned that lesson once when we were on an exploratory mission by the Island of Fae—”
“No problem, Harkerpal,” I said, cutting off the beginnings of his story. I glanced at the gunman, who returned a sheepish smile. We didn’t have time for Harkerpal’s babbling. “You’re right about the ship being most important, though.” At that point I noticed a large metallic crate with handles on all sides, several feet in length and tall enough to reach my chest. It hadn’t been in engineering the first time I’d been on. It looked out of place in engineering. I pointed to it. “What’s that?” I asked.
Harkerpal looked back. “Ah, some kind of weapon, I think. They didn’t tell us, just asked us to store it down here in case of future use.”
I shook my head at that. Another thing I could find time for later.
“How’s it going up there?” The gunman asked.
“They sent me away, but it appears to be a full-fledged fight on the deck. One Wyranth soldier broke through to my father’s—my— quarters. I, ahh, got to him before he could shoot me.” I motioned to my sword, noticing the blood on the blade for the first time.
“Zaira! How horrible. Should we should set guards to you? You’re as important of a resource as the ship herself,” Harkerpal said.
The gunman sized me up after my explanation and nodded. Was that approval from him? “Baron’s daughter all right. Taking out the first Wyranth soldier she sees.”
I opened my mouth to protest that it was more luck than anything else, but thought better of it, shaking my head to refocus on my purpose. “Harkerpal,” I said, “the reason I’m down here is that I think we’re making a mistake with the hand-to-hand fighting. We have an airship at our disposal, and the enemy has neatly lined up next to us to give us a clear shot.”
“They have?” Harkerpal asked.
The gunman understood my line of reasoning. “We’ll sink them.” He chuckled. “First time we’ve fought another airship before. We’re so used to thinking about air to surface tactics that it slipped by us. Always helps to have fresh eyes.”
“That’s right, and what I’m looking to be. Harkerpal, you know the ship better than anyone. Do you know where we could aim our cannons for one quick volley that would do a single burst of damage and end this?”
“The engine room, of course.”
“And where is it within the ship?” With all the corridors that wound within the hull, in somewhat of haphazard of a design, I wouldn’t be able to place a finger on an exterior schematic of the ship and show our location. Our plan assumed the design would be the same between the two ships. But what were the odds the Wyranth, having captured my father and another vessel, had gutted the original ship and created a new design?
“The center, about midway down on the hull if you’re looking at it from the outside,” Harkerpal said without missing a beat.
“Great,” I said and spun back toward the stairwell. My cape spun behind me, not-so-graciously hitting the gunman.
“Hey!” he said, batting the fabric down.
“Sorry,” I said, glancing over my shoulder.
“Where are you going now?” Harkerpal asked?
“To Captain von Cravat so I can let her know about the strategy,” I said. I didn’t like lying, but with how fast the fighting had descended into the lower decks, we needed to move more quickly than proper channels would allow. Even though they respected my name, it would make them more comfortable to think this plan would have the approval of real authority.
“By Malaky, I hope it works,” the crewman said with a nod. The look in his eyes told me I had impressed him again. If only it were that easy for everyone aboard the ship.
Harkerpal had already departed the conversation, bent over to get his tools. He rushed off in the direction his helpers had gone. They held piping for him to repair.
I didn’t waste any more time and rushed up the stairs. When I reached the top level, I ducked into the corridor that led to the cannoneers’ stations and moved through that door. For the second time, a gun to the head greeted me. This time there would be no Harkerpal to vouch for me.
I shut my eyes tight, hoping this one was equally patient with the trigger as the gunman in the engine room. “Zaira Von Monocle, don’t shoot!” Hopefully my saying it would have similar impact to those words coming from Harkerpal.
Mutters of, “The girl,” came from the cannoneers. Someone patted my arm.
“You can open your eyes,” the person said.
My eyes fluttered open.
Marina smiled at me, lowering her gun. Her uniform looked so crisp, not a wrinkle, despite all the fighting. She belonged with this crew. “I like your Baron outfit,” she said. The cannoneers had prepared to have their space invaded. Each of them held guns and had them trained at the door, where I stood. When Marina motioned to them, they lowered their weapons as well.
My luck had to be impeccable not to have any of them fire on sight. More mutters of agreement came regarding my fashion choices. The cape and had a gravitas among the crew, enough that it improved morale.
“I have orders from Captain von Cravat,” I lied again. These crewmen were just as wont to require real orders as Harkerpal and his team. “We need to point all the cannons we have toward the direct center of the hull of the other ship and fire one after another. We’re going to ram through their engine room and sink them.”
“But some of our fighters are up on the other ship!” one of the cannoneers said.
I hadn’t thought about that. Even I, who had no experience with this crew, didn’t like the prospect of sacrificing some of our own to sink these Wyranth. Though if we couldn’t do something, and the Wyranth already came below decks, there wouldn’t be much left of the crew to consider. But would my father have given the order and let some of his crew die? I didn’t think so.
“You could return and get Captain von Cravat to whistle them back. They know to respond to her calls,” Marina said.
Hopefully that would give enough time for the crew to get back aboard. “Okay, anyone have a pocket watch? We can time the shots so that I can have time to reach Captain von Cravat.”
“I do,” came a voice from the back of the room.
“Give me five minutes. I’ll get the crew back over, and then you fire. On the dot, okay? We can’t risk any Wyranth soldiers making their way to our engine room.”
“Aye, Baron!” a chorus of cannoneers said.
That sent shivers down my spine. Is that all it took to be a leader? Decisiveness. It did come easy to me. Once I thought of this idea, I made a plan and stuck to it, even if it meant fudging a few facts to do so. We’d be better off for it later.
The clock ticked, no time to think about that now. I could consider the finer points of leadership and strategy later. The cannoneers were all still looking at me. I raised my sword.
They raised their guns as well, but stared at me expectantly.
What was I supposed to do? I suppose this was the time for a rousing speech or…that’s right, the battle cry! “For steam and country!” I
shouted, echoing Captain von Cravat’s call earlier.
“For steam and country!” the cannoneers shouted. They cheered afterward with hoots and whistles. I didn’t consider myself all that inspiring, but I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the face. I spun and headed back out the door again.
I had to get to the deck for the last part of this plan. Though the whole concept was simple, and anyone could have thought about it, it felt good to contribute something to the crew. I hoped Captain von Cravat would see it that way as well. For that matter, who knew if she still lived? A Wyranth soldier had made his way to the lower quarters, after all. What if the entire outer deck had been captured?
I took a deep breath, and then lunged to push the door open and pounce outside. The deck had dozens of people, fighting and crowding the entire surface of the ship. Where did all these people come from? As I had feared, most of those fighting wore Wyranth military uniforms, complete with ugly pointy helmets. Several of our crew and Wyranth soldiers alike lay dead on the deck. Most of our crew had their hands up.
Luck remained with me. Perhaps there was some strange von Monocle magic that guided my family to survive this situation. Instead of spotting me, the Wyranth faced toward the fore of the ship, away from the cabin. I caught Captain von Cravat’s attention, who looked as if she wanted to scream at me. My being there had directly violated her orders.
I slipped away from the cabin door and ducked behind the main turbine, hoping it would be enough to conceal me from view. From there, I glanced at the deck of the enemy airship. No more fighting went on. We didn’t have crew over there after all. All my planning didn’t matter now.
“Who is the commander here?” one of the Wyranth demanded, waving a gun around as he paced in front of the line of the Liliana’s surviving crew. “You will tell your people below to stand down, or I will execute a member of the crew one by one.”
No one said anything. I watched Captain von Cravat’s eyes. They flickered to the side when he asked the question. If the Wyranth leader was observant, it would have given her away.
“So that’s it then? You’d rather all die than give away your commander? Very well then, you’ll have your wish. The rest of you might see what happens when you pay no heed to the servants of the Iron Emperor.” The leader motioned with his sword to one of the crewmen. “Bring him forth.”
Two of the Wyranth guards grabbed each arm of that member of the crew. The crewman struggled, but to no avail. The guards threw him to the deck, prostrated before the man who spoke.
The Wyranth leader brought his sword to the crewman’s throat and held it there. “I’ll give you one more chance for survival. Let it never be said that I am not merciful. Tell me who is the commander of this vessel?”
The crewman, though his body shook, stayed silent with eyes facing forward.
“You, like all Rislandians, are a piece of human garbage,” the Wyranth leader said. He raised his sword.
The deck rattled. Boom. Boom. BOOM! The sounds came from below deck. The cannoneers had done their job. My ears rang.
Six shots fired in total. I turned to see the other ship, lifting my head to look over the side rail to get the best view I could from behind the turbine.
The Wyranth leader stumbled, then turned toward his ship. He didn’t behead the helpless crewman, the blasts serving to distract him. All of the Wyranth turned that direction in shock, as had the captured crew of the Liliana. Moments passed with no one moving.
Several of the Wyranth soldiers rushed toward the rail. Only two stayed behind.
Captain von Cravat made the first move, pummeling one of the soldiers who didn’t move. She drove an elbow into his wrist, forcing him to drop the pistol that held them hostage.
Another crewman followed Captain von Cravat’s lead but didn’t manage to remove the Wyranth soldier’s weapon. They struggled, locked in each other’s grips, which forced the pistol to point up in the air. It fired.
The sound of gunfire caused the Wyranth leader to return his attention to his hostages. “Firing cannon shots at the ship to distract us? Where is your honor? Your blood will be all the sweeter,” he said.
He raised his sword once more. The prostrated crewman didn’t hold still with all the commotion going on. He rolled left.
The Wyranth leader brought his sword down, clanking against the deck below as he missed. He cursed.
I could have charged myself, but I didn’t have nearly the same training with swords that the crew of the Liliana did. Instead, I caught the attention of the crewman on the deck, and slid my own sword across to him. He deftly caught it by the hilt, swinging it around with amazing speed to meet the Wyranth leader’s next blow. Steel met steel, sparking as the blades collided. I couldn’t help but let out a small yelp to cheer. With the sound of the turbines, the cannon fire and swords clashing, no one noticed.
The Wyranth’s airship groaned, its own turbines protesting as gears ground into one another. The steam exhaust turned into a thick black smoke. The turbines had all but stopped rotating, but I knew the ship’s engineers did their best to keep the ship in the air. Their best didn’t matter. The nose dropped, and the rest of it followed. The ship slowly descended at first, its deck sinking just below the Liliana’s. A moment later, and the vessel dropped like a rock, shrieking a high-pitched noise on its way down.
A couple of the Wyranth soldiers panicked and jumped off the edge of our deck in a desperate attempt to return to their ship. I had heard that the heat of battle can make people do stupid things, but what could they be thinking? I couldn’t help but imagine them plummeting thousands of feet to their eventual demises.
At that moment, I realized I stood exposed. Two Wyranth soldiers at the rails noticed me, and one pointed in my direction. “That’s the von Monocle girl. Get her!”
While the cape had served me to surprise the soldier below decks, it made me a target in the midst of so many enemies. I lunged the away from the soldiers, and tried to get to Captain von Cravat. These Wyranth soldiers moved with inhuman speed, however. When they came close, I saw the same large pupils that had so frightened me back on the road to Loveridge. They overtook me easily. One dove for my ankles and tripped me. I hit the deck hard, too fast to break my fall with anything but my face. My jaw cracked, and pain filled my face.
My movements drew the attention of the Wyranth leader, who still parried with the man who held my sword. The brief distraction of my fall did accomplish one positive thing. The Wyranth leader turned back to his engagement to find a sword protruding from his chest. He flailed, then hit the deck in front of me.
Captain von Cravat dove across the deck for the pistol that had been freed a moment earlier. Her Wyranth assailant moved after her, though he failed to grab hold of her. Watching her in battle could be described as nothing short of amazing. Her fluid movements surpassed the lightening quick Wyranth that had knocked me down. Before I could blink, she had the pistol in hand. She spun around to fire.
Her single shot pierced her target between the eyes.
Without pausing to admire her work, she spun her arms to shoot the Wyranth who had the crew member in a tug of war for a second pistol. Only the two Wyranth soldiers attacking me remained. I squirmed, but the soldier slammed me hard back into the deck.
The other soldier pressed the barrel of his pistol against the side of my head.
“Drop your weapons, now,” the soldier said.
“Want to bet that I can shoot you before you shoot her?” Captain von Cravat asked. She sounded so sure of herself, but with my life on the line, I couldn’t say I wanted him to take her up on it.
“I doubt you’d risk the girl’s wellbeing,” the Wyranth soldier said.
“Oh? You think she’s worth anything? She’s just a girl, too young to be of any use. Go ahead, we’ll save some food rations for the rest of the journey. And I’ll shoot you dead all the same.”
Her words stung. She’d let me die? No remorse? I couldn’t have been that bad. I’d saved t
he ship! Then I recalled how Captain von Cravat had acted with the king. This was a ploy to get him to drop his weapon. At least, I hoped that turn out to be the case.
“Last chance,” the Wyranth soldier said. His gun shook against my head. He had to know that even if he managed to kill me, he wouldn’t make it off this ship alive.
I did everything I could not to move, not to breathe, lest his finger slip on the trigger and end me. Being held down by his companion made that fairly easy a task. Was this what my father’s life was like? Since leaving the farm, I’d been at gunpoint twice. At this rate, even if I survived the day, it would only be a matter of time before one of those soldiers pulled the trigger instead of using me as a hostage.
A gunshot rang out. I winced.
A moment passed, my life flashed before my eyes. I saw myself as a little girl, back in the schoolhouse. My mother picked me up and dropped me off. Another girl in class had soiled herself that day, and everyone laughed about it. I didn’t laugh. I thought about what would happen to me if I’d been in that situation. She was so scared. It wasn’t funny. I’d forgotten that incident. Funny that I should think of it as my last moment.
In the panic of the situation, I realized I had my eyes shut tight. Would I be opening my eyes to Heaven? To a new life? I saw the deck in front of me. My jaw throbbed in pain. Then, the Wyranth soldier collapsed next to me. Captain von Cravat hadn’t been bluffing. Her sheer speed, just as when she slid across the deck before, had been too much for her enemy.
The soldier who held me down to the deck scurried away from me. “I surrender!” he said.
Several crewmen hurried over to seize him and drag him away. Captain von Cravat herself grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet. She looked as if she were about to lecture me until she saw my face. I must have had a horrible bruise for her to look at me like that.
“We should get you to a medic,” Captain von Cravat said. “I’m not sure what we can do other than give you something for the pain and let it heal on its own, but it’ll at least be something.”
For Steam and Country: Book One of the Adventures of Baron Von Monocle Page 15
