by S. S. Engle
“I never got the chance. The airfield was pretty packed when I got there with the women. Was it bad?”
“It’s horrific. O’Brien, over half of the women Kassidy took with her this morning are dead. They were burned alive, drowned, or shot on the beach. The sand is covered in blood. She’s been through hell today and its barely noon.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.”
“I feel terrible for yelling at her.”
“Don’t worry about it. What you had on your mind was valid too. But we better go catch up with her now.”
Luca and Harlan broke into a run to find Kassidy already in the cemetery. A bomb from earlier in the morning had landed at the front gates, creating a large gap in the rod iron that Kassidy could crawl through to gain entry. It was a good piece of luck considering the entrance was under lock and key. On passing the corner street post Luca glanced up at the signs, Barrow Street and Parker Avenue. He was a fool for thinking he could abandon this treasure hunt after all the work he’d put into getting this far. But if it wasn’t for Kassidy,
he wouldn’t even be there right now. Luca and Harlan quickly scrambled into the hole in the gates and followed Kassidy back to where she was counting the lot numbers. She was in the older section where the headstones were heavily weather worn, and almost impossible to read. Large stones were crowded in among smaller stones. There were regular slabs mixed with more intricately designed memorials. Some towered over ten feet tall. Luca had to tug on Harlan’s suspenders to keep him from reading all of the engraved inscriptions left behind by loved ones. For the most part, where Kassidy had wandered off to had been abandon for some time. Weeds were overgrown, and wispy remains of flowers and grave gifts were scattered along the outer perimeter of the rod iron gates. A threadbare piece of faded blue ribbon was tangled on a patch of weeds, and holding Luca’s attention longer than necessary. It reminded him of something he’d long since forgotten. Harlan tugged on Luca’s sleeve and pointed over to Kassidy. She’d found lot seventeen now and was tracing her finger along the inscription. Under Ulysses Bataille, Gearmaster to Engia, who came into and out of this world on October 17th, was a word written in Latin.
“What’s it say sweetheart?”
“Fortissimi.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t brushed up on my Latin since I was a young boy. What does that mean?”
“It translates into several words. Strong, powerful, brave, valiant…”
“Val-Val-Valiant?”
“Does that ring a bell O’Brien?”
“Valiant was the na-na-name of the only airship the gear-gear-gearmaster ever built.”
“I know the ship. But it was destroyed long before any of us were ever born. Where would that lead us?”
“Not all o-o-of the ship was destroy-oy-oyed.”
“Explain.”
“My bro-o-other had a desk ma-ma-made from the wood. It’s ba-ba-back at the mansion.”
“Where in the mansion?”
“He p-p-put it in the treasury. He u-u-used it for record kee-kee-keeping and things l-l-like that.”
“You expect us to get into the mansion Harlan?”
“No! But I d-d-do expect y-y-you to thank me f-f-for helping.”
“Thank you.”
8
By dusk the city was secured. The Dreadcranks and their supporters had swept from one side of Engia to the next, picking up numbers as they went. Any resistance was escorted to the beaches and given the choice to convert or swim for a city that would take them in. Luca was pleased he could negotiate with most of the people he came across, but there were seven people that just wouldn’t give in. Even after Kassidy and Harlan tried to reason with them, they were a lost cause. All things considered, things were looking up for the Dreadcranks. Luca sent the rest of the sweeping force back to the airfields while he stayed back with Kassidy and Harlan to regroup. With the next clue waiting at the mansion, to destroy the Ringer headquarters now would be counterproductive. After the clue was retrieved then there was nothing holding him back. He just couldn’t give up on the treasure hunt just yet. But to try and justify mercy for the Ringers after the losses already sustained, it’d be like talking in circles. Luca knew he needed to buy himself some time.
Being on the eastern side of the city the only safe place out of the smoke and steam was the abandoned royal palace. Kassidy insisted on holding their meeting in the library, and closed off the doors to every other room. Out of sight out of mind. The doors didn’t close nicely, broken off of their hinges and kicked in the center. But Kassidy managed to close them enough to make her point. There wasn’t a piece of furniture in the room that had been left upright and intact. Harlan was sitting on one of the lower steps of the spiral staircase, watching Kassidy and Luca awkwardly bump into each other as they tried to pull enough together to try and make a seat, or a crude bench at this point. They ended up settling for a couch with two legs. Under each corner lacking a support there was a stack of books in its place. Harlan sat across from the happy couple as they cuddled down into the couch, Luca’s arm up around the tops of Kassidy’s shoulders, and her hand on his knee. Harlan could never achieve that, nor would he want to now because it would mean ruining all of this. He wanted to be selfish, and he wanted Kassidy, but it just wasn’t in the cards for him. And as much as he wanted to be the bigger person and accept that, he wasn’t there right now. As they began talking Harlan sunk into the background, no different than another book on the floor.
“So, what are we going to do now Luca?”
“We have to get to that desk before we strike the mansion.”
“And what was your plan for getting in and out?”
“I was going to use the chaos to my advantage. I’ve been in the treasury once before.”
“But wat about getting out? It’s no use knowing how to get in if you can’t make it back out.”
“I’ve still got time to work on that.”
“You’ve got no time. You have to let me do this.”
“I can’t. It’s too dangerous. If you walk in there you’ll never be let out.”
“You have no faith in me?”
“There’s too many Ringers there. Blue, Asa, the sheer numbers they have, I couldn’t compete with that. You’re absolutely not going. I can do this.”
“Luca?”
“What?”
“You know I have to do this. I can get in and out of there in no time. As long as I know I’ve got you outside as a backup, I’m golden.”
“You’re overly confident. You’ve got a nasty scar on you already, I don’t want to see anymore.”
“Nobody will be in their right mind in the mansion. They won’t be guarding the treasury like usual. They’ll be planning, locked up in rooms and offices. I can get in the back alley, hold out in the basement until I know things are safe and make my move.”
“I’d feel better if I went in with you.”
“It wouldn’t be right. The whole gang is here in Engia now, and all the supporters from Rusten Island, and the streets. I won’t be responsible for holding everything back. If something happens I can get myself out better if I’m alone. Besides, a woman is the most lethal weapon that can pass through a man’s defenses.”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“I hate it when you smile like that!”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“I feel like you can get me to agree to anything when you smile like that.”
“Anything?”
“Almost anything. You’re not going alone. If you insist I can’t go with you then you at least have to compromise with me.”
“Compromise how?”
“Take Harlan with you. He knows those halls better than anybody. He’s lived there for years. And I know he’d never let anything happen to you without putting up a fight. Take him with you or I go at it alone.”
“I’ll take him with me.”
“Tha
t was easy.”
“On one condition.”
“There it is.”
“If I’ve got Harlan with me you can’t be waiting around outside. They can’t get all three of us in one place. Go back to the gang. Make sure they’re safe. It’ll be dark soon. They’ll need to go back home.”
“If we got back to Rusten Island you’d be left behind. It takes the better part of an hour to get there. I’ll move them to the outside of the city. We can use the hillsides and lava fields to house the balloons. I’ll tie the Lydia up to the roof. We’ll wait for you here before we leave. I’ve still got the remainder of the bombs for the mansion in the airship. After taking the city I couldn’t leave without turning that mansion into a crater. I promised too many people I could do this.”
“Then promise me now you’ll stay safe.”
“I promise. I’ll see you tonight. Just don’t take your sweet time. I’ll be going nuts until you come back, you do realize that don’t you?”
“I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
Luca pulled Kassidy in for a hug beside him and laid his cheek down on the top of her head. He was reluctant to let go at all, but knew the longer he held her the longer it would take her to come back. Knowing she had to leave soon he kissed her forehead and playfully shoved her off of the rickety couch. She lingered for a while in the doorway, looking back at Luca as he smiled at her. She had to let go of the anxiety that something was going to go wrong. She had a terrible record for getting out of that mansion, but she did believe that Harlan coming with her was going to alleviate their trouble. While the two friends weren’t exactly on the best of speaking terms right now, their care for one another had never been greater. It was because they cared so much that they argued. Harlan took his assignment for the night without question or comment. He too was sluggish about getting on with things, and lagged behind Kassidy as she left the palace. When he finally reached the doorway, he looked back to Luca to see if he wanted the door closed to the library. But Luca wasn’t paying attention to Harlan. He’d pulled the love letter from Kassidy out of his pocket again, and was just staring at it blankly in the envelope. Harlan knew Luca had still yet to discuss that with her. But that was their own problem.
Kassidy and Harlan snuck along the southern end of the city, through the railroad depot and the vacant harbor. It was the first time since the attack that Kassidy had been by there, and was a little annoyed it was left in perfect condition. All the submersibles neatly docked in a row along the water’s edge. It was as if they’d been politely invited this morning. And she was still gritting sand in her teeth every few minutes. With the help of nightfall and a lack of activity on the streets Kassidy and Harlan made record time to the Steele River. This was the first sign of damage from the morning. Kassidy recognized the bloody body of one of her runners. Harlan made the connection too. While Kassidy was caught up staring at the blood trail Harlan gripped her hand and pulled along over the bridge. They couldn’t stop now. Kassidy thought when they reached the back alley behind the mansion they’d made impeccably good time. Such good time in fact she was sure something was about to go wrong right then and there. Harlan had never seen her so unnerved before.
“Y-y-you ready Kass?”
“What?”
“Are y-y-you ready to do th-th-this?”
“I can’t back out of it now. I volunteered.”
The lack of guards or Ringers took both Harlan and Kassidy by surprise. All the lights were on in the mansion, which was a stark contrast to anything else in the city except for a few scattered fires which hadn’t burned themselves out of fuel just yet. The smoke was settling down into the streets for the night, a soft layer of muffling ash fell onto everything. Kassidy’s nose was so used to the char smell that when she broke into the back of the mansion and got hold of clean air she hacked. Harlan was quick to wrap his hand over her mouth, and they avoided detection, for now. The treasury was on the other side of the mansion from where they were at, which left a lot of unknowns Kassidy was uncomfortable with. Upstairs there seemed to be a lot of activity, lots of mixed voices could be heard. Not much moving around though. As they set off for their destination Kassidy picked her knife out of her sheath and gripped it tight between her fingers. It was a confidence booster to say the least. Slinking through one hallway to the next Kassidy wasn’t sure she’d ever had so much riding on one task. Harlan kept his back to her so they had eyes out no matter what way they were facing. Until they got to the treasury, there were no slip ups.
Silas was walking the halls. Whether for surveillance, or boredom, he was in the way again. He was alone, which was unusual. Kassidy turned around and tapped Harlan’s shoulder with a twist of her head. But he didn’t understand why Silas and Blue were split up either. It wasn’t that either of them feared Silas, but they were worried where Blue was. As a means of distraction Harlan broke off from Kassidy’s protection detail and knocked a vase over in a far-off room. While Silas ran to inspect the sound, Harlan ran back to Kassidy’s side and they both threw themselves into the unguarded treasury. Just as promised the wooden desk was hidden in plain sight. Kassidy had seen the desk before on her last visit there, but never paid it much attention. Now knowing its origin, she couldn’t look away. Harlan and Kassidy were fast to investigate the drawer’s and their contents, but after a few minutes of dead ends it was clear their work was cut out for them. There was nothing but debt collection notices, loan agreements, contracts, and random paperwork. Nothing indicated a treasure, a tie to the Dreadcranks, or the gearmaster had ever been there.
Feeling defeated Kassidy walked away from the desk and slid her body down the wall until she hit the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and dropped her arms up on them, letting her hands dangle down. Harlan didn’t want to admit defeat yet seeing as how it was his brilliant idea to make the connection from the cemetery to here, but it wasn’t looking too good at this point. Kassidy was repeatedly mouthing the word fortissimi now, trying to draw some other clue out of it. But she was coming up with nothing but dead end after dead end. Then out of the corner of her eye, she found
something she had missed. Not that she had overlooked it before, but she couldn’t see it unless she was down low. Underneath the desk the drawers were hooked to a railing, that was notched. The feature wasn’t unusual, but the number of notches was. There should not have been that many. Most of them were never even used. If they served no function for the desk, why were they there? She left the wall now and crawled over to the desk on her hands and knees, ducking to lay on the ground under the desk. On each side, there were thirty-one notches. Like days in a month. She remembered the oddity of the gearmaster dying on the same day he was born. October 17th. 10, 17. She pushed the drawers out to hit the respective numbered notches, ten on the left and seventeen on the right. When she did this a compartment snapped open in the middle, dropping a little golden gear into the center of her chest. It was immaculately configured with gears within gears. Only a true craftsman like Bataille could have been responsible for such a piece of work. Glowing with pride she leaned up now and showed off her latest find to Harlan.
“What’s th-th-this?”
“Our next clue.”
“But it’s j-j-just a gear.”
“It’s not just a gear. Look at it again.”
“Wh-wh-what am I loo-loo-looking for?”
“It’s got a library code on it. AA666.”
“Like the page in the Codex?”
“There’s a theme I’m catching onto. I’ve got shelves back at the palace with codes like that.”
“But y-y-your library’s been de-de-destroyed. All the boo-oo-ooks are on the fl-fl-floor.”
“With enough hands, I’m sure we could find the book we need.”
“When y-y-you get back to the pa-pa-palace you might be bu-bu-busy with something else.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lucky’s been me-me-meaning to talk to y-y-you about something.”
> “About what?”
“Do you, do y-y-you love him Kass?”
“I don’t think right now is the time to discuss that.”
“Do y-y-you?”
“I love it when I know I’m the reason he’s smiling. And I love it when he’s so confident that something will work out that none of the doubts I may have are enough to slow him down. He just reassures me everything’s going to be alright, and I believe him. I don’t know why, but I do. I love it when he grabs my hand and squeezes it to make sure I’m good to go. And when he doesn’t say anything at all, but he just understands me, and lets me do my own thing. I love how worried he is about how I’m going to react to things. And when he calls me on my bullshit. I love the sound of his laugh, even though he rarely does it. I love that he knows my limits, and doesn’t let me be constricted by them. I love that he finds me when I’m lost. And when I’m anxious or losing my mind he knows just what to do to calm me down. I love how he fills in the gaps to my thoughts throughout the day. And how he’s such a good leader, how he has so much respect for his men. I love how far he’s come since we were kids. He’s accomplished so many things, and done so much good without ever expecting a damn thing in return. I love how hard he works, and how relentless he is. He never gives up without a fight, and he’s a great fighter. I love, I love all that about him.”
