The Girl and the Clockwork Crossfire

by Nikki Mccormack

  Horror dawned on her and she fired again even as Joel was starting to collapse. The second shot caught him in the side of the face, twisting him around so that he fell across her legs.

  Maeko dragged herself out from under him and lay Macak on the floor, her chest twisting into knots. His little metal leg was twisted, the front panel torn half off. There was blood in several places, his fur such a mess that she couldn’t tell how much was his.

  “No. Macak,” she almost couldn’t talk around this pain, so much worse than that in her side. “You’re not allowed to leave me.”

  Tears were already flowing when she pressed her cheek gently against his chest. Then she heard it. A quick feline heartbeat. His chest began to rise and fall slightly against her cheek and a small, querying meow emerged from him.

  Crying harder now, Maeko choked out a laugh, though it turned into a groan with the pain in her side. Joel’s punch had started the bleeding again. Someone pounded on the door.

  “Maeko!”

  She got up and flipped the lock. Ash and Chaff rushed in and slammed the door shut behind them. She reached over and locked it again. Ash’s hurried to the front, his left arm hanging at his side, the sleeve soaked with blood from his shoulder. Chaff was ineffectually trying to stop the blood flowing in a stream from a gash on his head.

  “We need to scare these blighters into submission,” Ash snarled, turning the battle coach.

  It only took him a few moments to figure the machine out, then he fired the side guns, blasting a round at the gunmen to their right. He missed, but she got the feeling he wasn’t actually trying to hit anyone. They scattered, running in panic. Someone tried to get in through the back door with little luck.

  Unlike a traditional coach, there were no seats for passengers in this monstrosity. Maeko cradled Macak gently in her arms and sank down on the floor. She leaned against the wall, breathing shallowly to limit her pain. Under different circumstances, she might have tried to help the boys with their injuries, but they were doing as well or better than she was and Macak needed her.

  Chaff grimaced at Joel, then he ripped a sleeve off of the dead man’s shirt and pressed it to his wound before going forward to offer Ash directional guidance.

  Maeko kept one hand where she could feel Macak’s heartbeat. “We’ll be all right, mate. I promise.”

  #

  Maeko woke with a start. The first thing she noticed, after the pain, was that Macak wasn’t there. Fresh pain of a different kind twisted in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain and began to sit up.

  Someone touched her shoulder.

  “You should not move yet. You will pull the stitches.”

  “Mum?” She opened her eyes.

  Tomoe’s smile was strained. She reached up a gentle hand and unnecessarily brushed Maeko’s hair from her face.

  Maeko lay back again, realizing from the pain in her side that her mother was right. She rested there and looked around. She was back in the room she and Tomoe shared at Drake’s manor.

  “Where’s—”

  “Chaff is down having some repairs done to his arm. I stitched and bandaged his head wound myself. He will be fine.”

  “That’s wonderful, but—”

  “Ash is down in the hanger studying the metalsmithing technique of Drake’s master smith. His shoulder injury will keep him from doing much work for a while, but he is well.”

  Frustration burst like a large bubble in her chest. “Macak! Where’s Macak?”

  Tomoe smiled gently and placed a hand on her arm. “I did what I could for him.”

  Panic sparked in Maeko. He’d been alive. Weak and injured, but alive. He couldn’t have…

  “They are fixing his leg downstairs now.”

  Maeko released a heavy exhale. “Mum. You scared me. I thought he was holding up a stone.”

  Tomoe looked puzzled. “Chaff?”

  “Macak. Chaff and Ash were at least still standing on their own when we got to the airship.”

  “Oh.” Tomoe lifted her shoulders in a tiny shrug.

  She didn’t appear to quite understand the bond between Maeko and Macak. There didn’t seem much point in trying to explain it now.

  “Macak will be well. Both Ash and Chaff are bruised and not quite as handsome as normal.”

  Maeko smirked. “You think they’re handsome.”

  Tomoe nodded. “In very different ways. You would have lovely children with either.”

  She flushed. “Mum!”

  Tomoe smiled to herself and stood. “You should rest more.”

  Maeko didn’t think she could rest more, but sometime later she was awoken by a knock on the door. Her side still hurt like the dickens. Despite it, she managed to prop herself upright against some pillows before calling for her visitor to enter.

  Drake stepped in through the door. He had some healing scratches on one cheek, but appeared otherwise unharmed.

  “Good to see you awake.”

  “Good to see you didn’t go down with your ship.”

  A grimace twisted his wolfish features for a few seconds. He approached the dresser near the bed and rested his hands on it, gazing out the window.

  “If you three hadn’t stopped that machine of theirs, we would have lost a lot more than my battleship. The parachutes your mother helped put together worked perfectly, even if the ship itself was short-lived.”

  Tomoe had sewn parachutes? She hid her surprise. “What happens now?”

  “We got the queen’s attention with this disaster. She’s no longer supporting the Literati as an organization. They are officially disbanded and all their activities are to be stopped by royal decree. The Pirates have also been warned against organizing in any official manner. The Bobbies are being put back in charge of law enforcement in London. Thaddeus has been imprisoned and is being investigated in the death of his brother among other things. You took care of sentencing Joel.”

  She winced inwardly at that. No matter how she hated him, she didn’t feel good about killing someone. “What about Bennett?”

  Drake shrugged. “Vanished like a ghost.”

  Not a surprise.

  “Were there any survivors found in the rubble?”

  He shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

  Her chest tightened. She had condemned Travis to death. Some wounds would never be healed and some wrongs couldn’t be righted. She would have to live with that.

  “I don’t know who’s name your guilt bears, but I can give you a long list of names of people who would probably be dead now if you hadn’t been there.”

  “Thank you.” It didn’t make her feel better right now. In time, maybe. Maeko took a careful deep breath. “What about us?”

  He looked at her now, meeting her gaze.

  “I’ve offered Ash and Chaff both work here. Honest work,” he added when she narrowed her eyes. “Ash is planning to go back to working with his father when his arm is healed, though he said he might consider later if the offer remains open. I could find work for you as well. We found the blueprints you saved in a briefcase buried under the rubble of a wall. There were also some other very incriminating documents in there that should help in the case against Thaddeus and the Lits. I think you got lucky quite a few times down there. I could use that kind of luck and skill, on my team. That said, Amos also expressed interest in offering you some kind of working arrangement. He said you would make a fine detective.”

  She smiled slightly at that. Could they do it? Could she and Amos start up where Em had left off? Maybe Chaff would be interested in working with them?

  “Did Chaff accept your offer?”

  Drake chuckled. “He said he wanted to talk to you first.”

  There was another knock on the door and Drake smiled.

  “Right on time.” He turned and started walking toward the door.

  “Dominic,” she called and he stopped in his tracks. “You helped found the Literati, didn’t you?”

  He glanced b
ack at her. “It was never meant to become the monstrosity they made it into.”

  “What will you do with the blueprints?”

  “I’ve got some contacts in Japan interested in the prosthesis work. For medical purposes,” he added when she started to frown.

  Leaving it at that, he walked over to the door and left as Chaff and Ash entered.

  Her heart soared when she saw them, both with swollen, bruised faces, Ash’s arm strapped up and Chaff bearing a large bandage around his head. In Chaff’s arms rested a cleaned up black and white cat with a gleaming new clockwork leg. He carried the cat over and set him on the bed.

  Macak walked over to her, moving a little slow, but very much alive. He climbed onto her lap and leaned against her chest, his eyes squinting closed with contentment when he looked up at her and began to purr. With one hand, she stroked the cat’s head. With the other, she took Chaff’s hand and smiled up at him and Ash. No matter what happened next, they were all alive and together right now and she couldn’t imagine asking for more.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  It was raining. A light, misting rain that could somehow make you wet faster than a heavy deluge. She could almost blame that rain for the moisture streaming down her cheeks, if not for the fancy umbrella Drake had loaned her that kept the rain away.

  Amos stepped up to the grave, his feet squishing in the saturated grass. He set Em’s hat by the gravestone then stepped back, folding his hands in front of him. The gesture was dignified. Respectful. Maeko didn’t have much to offer, other than her tears. Those were steady and sincere. Em had been a mentor and, in some peculiar way, a parental figure at times. Em deserved better than this.

  “Do you want to try it?” Amos’s voice was soft, barely breaking through the sound of the rain misting down.

  “I think I need a little more time to heal,” she answered, even now feeling the pain in her side every time she breathed too deep. Macak butted his head into her cheek, reminding her that he was there and in need of affection. She smiled and scratched his head, her tears subsiding. “I’ll contact you in a couple weeks and let you know. Drake offered to let me stay at the manor until I’m better.”

  And I can try to figure out more about what he’s going to do with those blueprints before I go.

  Amos nodded. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you. For now, I’ve another grave to visit.” He tipped his hat and walked away, going off to visit Rueben’s grave now.

  Ash and Chaff moved up alongside her. Chaff slid his hand into hers, fingers twining. Ash’s face was still a little swollen and bruised from the broken nose. Chaff’s head was also a bit bruised and swollen, but both were starting to look better.

  “She was a remarkable woman,” Maeko said.

  Chaff squeezed her hand.

  “So are you,” Ash stated.

  Maeko shifted her feet, uncomfortable with the praise.

  “I think Em saw that. That’s why she tried to apprentice you,” Chaff remarked.

  Ash gave her a sideways glance. “Are you going to try and follow in her footsteps?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, she had so much experience and she had two brilliant blokes to help her solve everything. Where would I find two good gentlemen like that?” She smirked.

  “I’d tickle you silly for that if you weren’t injured,” Chaff said.

  “Same here,” Ash agreed.

  Maeko grinned and pressed her cheek to Macak’s head. “I have a feeling my side is going to hurt for a really long time.”

  Both of them chuckled. They turned with her and flanked her back to Drake’s coach. Maybe she would try the detective thing. Maybe not. Maybe she could even talk Chaff or Ash, or perhaps both, into helping her with it. There was time to consider it while they all healed. For now, in this moment, she couldn’t imagine wanting more than the four of them together without someone trying to kill any of them. That was good enough.

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As always, there are many people in my life I’m leaving out here for brevity sake. All of you are still very important to me and I am always thankful for you.

  To my mom Linda for your loving support and for helping me work out and refine my ideas.

  To Rick and Ann for being two of the best of friends anyone could ask for and for being willing give honest feedback on my books.

  To Aradia for knowing I would succeed from the first time we met and being an inspiration in your dedication to your own art.

  To my cover artist, Mark, my editor M Evan Matyas, and my interior designer, Brian, thank you for your fantastic work and for being such amazing people to work with.

  To my fans, for being awesome people and for pushing me to finish this book.

  To my sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Johnson, for being so pleased and excited when I told you I was going to be an author and to my eighth-grade algebra teacher, Mr. Siebenlist, for almost letting me flunk because you were so delighted that I was writing books in class rather than notes.

  AUTHOR BIO

  Nikki started writing her first novel at the age of 12, which she still has tucked in a briefcase in her home office. She now lives in the magnificent Pacific Northwest tending to her sweet old horse and a wondrous cat-god. She feeds her imagination by sitting on the ocean in her kayak gazing out across the never-ending water or hanging from a rope in a cave, embraced by darkness and the sound of dripping water. She finds peace through practicing iaido or shooting her longbow.

  •

  Thank you for taking time to read this novel.

  Please leave a review if you enjoyed it.

  •

  For more about me and my work visit me at

  http://elysiumpalace.com.

  •

  OTHER BOOKS by NIKKI McCORMACK

  Forbidden Things – An Epic Fantasy Series

  Book One: Dissident

  Book Two: Exile

  Book Three: Apostate

  THE ENDLESS CHRONICLES – A Fantasy Series

  Book One: The Keeper

  CLOCKWORK ENTERPRISES – A Young Adult Steampunk Series

  Book One: The Girl and the Clockwork Cat

  Book Two: The Girl and the Clockwork Conspiracy

  Short stories by Nikki McCormack

  In Silence Waiting

  Making Monsters

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2017 Nikki McCormack

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  Published by

  Elysium Books

  Seattle, WA

  Written by Nikki McCormack (https://elysiumpalace.com/)

  Cover Design by Mark Reid (http://authorpackages.com/)

  Editing by M. Evan. Matyas (http://chimeraediting.com/)

  Interior Design and ebook formatting by Brian C. Short

  First Edition 2017

  ISBN: 978-0-9983765-3-0