The 7th of Victorica

by Beau Schemery

  Silas nodded but said nothing, just picked up the remainder of his scotch and swallowed it in one gulp.

  13

  SEV, SILAS, Rat, and Teddy spent the next few days languishing, waiting to hear word from Bates. Silas paced about their suites, inconsolable. Rat, Sev, and Teddy played cards to pass the time. Teddy took them to meet his siblings, who they instantly hired to join them on their quest to free Victorica. Philson and Nicholas, the other agents, returned periodically with bits and pieces of news. They’d met with a few of the abolitionist sympathizers and negotiated alliances. They were not on the scale of agreements that they needed, but every little bit helped.

  “This is maddening!” Silas exclaimed, causing the rest of his companions to jump with surprise.

  Sev lay his cards down and rose too. “Maybe we ought t’figure somethin’ else out,” Sev offered. “Maybe there’s some other way we can get their attention.”

  “Perhaps,” Silas agreed with obvious reluctance. “I’ve contacted various law firms throughout the city, and no one seems to have any direct dealings with the abolitionists.”

  “Or possibly they don’t want t’say so,” Rat stated. “I’ve spoken t’some o’the street kids, and it appears as if no one wishes t’speak out against the South.”

  Teddy nodded. “People what disagree with the Southern Congressional Federation have a habit o’disappearin’.”

  “This bloody country is a mess,” Sev stated. He opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a knock at their door.

  They traded glances before Silas finally stood and answered the summons. He spoke for a moment with the man in the hall, then turned around, unfolding a note. “Bloody hell,” he mumbled loud enough for all to hear.

  “What?” Sev asked. “What is it?”

  “Bates has been attacked.” Silas looked up from the note.

  “Bloody hell. Someone ratted him out.” Sev’s thoughts drifted back to the two frightened men in the social club.

  “It’s no wonder none of the abolitionists will speak with us if they’ve heard this news.” Silas crumpled the paper violently in his fist and tossed it aside. “What do we do now?”

  Sev walked over and picked up the crumpled note. “He’s in hospital. Perhaps we ought t’visit him?”

  “And what good will that do?” Silas asked. “Presumably, it’s our contact with him that has placed him in this situation.”

  “Still,” Sev said. “I think we should check in on him. What if the bastards that attacked him try t’finish the job?” Sev walked into his bedroom and fetched his over-skeleton, stripping to his underclothes and strapping the contraption to his body before putting his clothes on once more. A series of resounding knocks reached his ears from the front room. Sev rejoined his friends, who all looked expectantly at the door to the suite.

  “What now?” Silas asked. His hand almost gripped the doorknob before the door burst inward. Several burly men wearing immense metal gloves invaded the hotel room. Sev and Silas attacked them first while Rat and Teddy scrambled about, trying to avoid the invaders. Silas luckily always wore the over-skeleton that gave him an advantage in battle, so he grabbed the man nearest to him and tossed him into the sitting area, smashing the fine furniture to splinters. Sev ducked a blow from an intruder, catching his arm and snapping it across his knee. One of the men managed to snatch the back of Rat’s shirt and was about to land a crushing blow, when Silas leapt forth and caught the man’s hand. The attacker dropped Rat and swung a metal-sheathed fist at Silas. He easily dodged the blow and used the bastard’s momentum against him, flipping him over and sending him sprawling. Teddy found a knife and jumped onto the back of one of their attackers, jabbing it where his neck met his shoulder. The man cried out and collapsed.

  The companions stood heaving breath among their defeated foes. “We’ve been betrayed,” Sev growled.

  “We can’t stay here.” Silas dropped his unconscious foe. “We’re compromised. We have to leave.”

  “My family’ll hide us,” Teddy offered. “They won’t think t’look for a bunch of white foreigners in our neighborhood.”

  “Aye. That sounds like a plan.” Sev patted Teddy’s shoulder. “Let’s gather our things. We’ll have to send word to Philson and Nicholas.” His companions agreed silently and packed up their essentials.

  Finally ready to depart, Rat asked, “How will we escape? Is it wise t’hire a cab?”

  “No. We’ll take the gearcycles,” Sev answered.

  “Won’t they be bloody conspicuous?”

  “Aye, they will, but they’ll be even bloody quicker.” Sev slipped into his coat, feeling the now familiar weight of Fairgate’s Grimoire. Their possessions gathered, Silas and Teddy were already in the hall. Sev grabbed his pack to follow, but Rat stopped him.

  “They’ve seen us.” Rat threw his head back in the direction of their attackers.

  Sev looked over Rat’s shoulder at the already stirring men. “Aye.”

  “Shouldn’t we do somethin’ about that?”

  Sev closed his eyes. He didn’t want to admit it, but Rat had a point. Sev simply nodded in response and walked out of the room as Rat saw to the mens’ silence.

  This is how it starts, Sev thought as he walked down the hallway. Not with cannons and trumpets. War begins with words spoken in whispers and deeds silently done. He shook his head, knowing that this might be the first of their battles, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Silas stood in the lift, holding the door for Sev.

  When Rat caught up with the others, they rode the lift to the basement storage to retrieve their cycles. Rat and Teddy rode together as they sped from the Fifth Avenue, leading Sev and Silas to Teddy’s family’s home.

  Once near, they stowed and covered the cycles from prying eyes and walked the rest of the way as not to draw attention to Teddy’s family and put them in danger as well. Teddy led them into the building his siblings called home. His sisters and brother bid them welcome, taking their traveling cases and offering them dinner. Sev, Rat, and Silas accepted graciously. They discussed their plans over the evening meal.

  “I think Jameson has been compromised,” Silas observed of his alias as they sat down.

  Sev and Rat exchanged a heavy glance. “Maybe it’s time for Kettlebent to reemerge,” Sev suggested.

  “Yes. I think you’re right.” Silas nodded. “Let’s hope Stephens isn’t a loss.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that,” Rat said. Silas looked puzzled for a moment before he shrugged the feeling off. Sev found a seat and relaxed. Teddy’s siblings fixed them a proper meal, and they ate and conversed happily. The conversation turned to tactics and possible courses of action. “Someone should visit Bates,” Sev stated.

  “Kettlebent,” Silas said. “Very well. I will go speak with him in disguise.”

  “Rat and I will secure us new rooms,” Sev said.

  “Why?” Teddy asked. “You all can stay here as long as you need to. I know ye’re worried about puttin’ my family in danger, but they’ve already agreed t’help. They know what they’re in for.”

  “Aye. But if our aliases are still viable, we’ll have t’keep up appearances. I’m thinkin’ of rentin’ some warehouse space, somethin’ we can use as a workshop. It makes sense fer a tinkerer t’set up shop.”

  “That’s good,” Teddy said with a big smile. “I think I might know a place.”

  “We ought t’report the attack,” Rat suggested. “To the authorities. It was self-defense after all.”

  “Self-defense?” Silas asked. “What does that matter?”

  Sev and Rat again traded a dark look.

  “What?” Silas barked, standing. “That’s the second bloody time you two have exchanged those ominous glances. What am I missing?”

  Sev sighed, resigning himself to the truth. He shouldn’t have kept the information from Silas to begin with. “Rat took care o’those fellas back at the hotel.”

  “Took care?”

/>   “D’ye need me t’spell it out for ye?” Sev asked.

  “He killed them?” Silas took a step toward Sev, then rounded on Rat. “You killed them?”

  “I had t’,” he responded. “They would’ve gone back t’their masters and compromised everythin’ we did t’get here.”

  Silas bellowed. “Damn it all. We are not the villains! We shouldn’t behave this way!”

  Rat seemed to collapse in on himself with shame.

  “Rat did what he had t’do.” Sev stood. “That attack was nothin’ less than a declaration o’war. There are casualties in war. We know that all too well.”

  Silas dropped into a chair. “How has everything gone wrong this soon?” He rested his forehead in his palm.

  “It ain’t an ideal situation, Silas. But it’s all we’ve got. We do what we have to.” Sev wanted to touch Silas, to offer him some measure of solace, but Sev knew Silas wouldn’t want attention right now. He’d only want to be left alone with his thoughts, and Sev had to respect that. Sev thought about the other thing he’d been keeping from Silas and felt doubly bad, but now was certainly not the time to broach that subject.

  No one spoke for what seemed like a very long time. Teddy’s siblings watched them from the stairs, peering out through the rungs on the railing like prisoners regarding their jailors. Sev stood where he was, unwilling to make a move to sit or disturb the eerie, uncomfortable silence that enveloped the household.

  “Damn.” Silas slammed his clockwork fist on the arm of the chair he’d slumped into with a resounding cracking of wood. His eyes flew wide with surprise, and he begged the pardon of Teddy and his siblings. “I’m sorry, so sorry. Sometimes I forget the power in this cursed limb.”

  Sev rankled silently at the slight against the arm he’d helped to build. He knew Silas was just frustrated and upset, but it still stung.

  “Don’t worry yourself, Mistuh Silas. It’s an old, threadbare thing. Some cracked wood beneath the upholstery won’t affect it much,” Teddy said with a nervous smile.

  “Still it was a thoughtless and childish thing to do.” Silas sat up a bit straighter. “I must apologize to you as well, Rat. I know you were only acting in what you thought were our best interests and you may be right, but I don’t want us to resort to such behavior unless absolutely necessary. Agreed?” He looked around the parlor. Rat, Sev, Teddy, and even Teddy’s siblings nodded. “We musn’t stoop to the tactics of our enemies.”

  “We ought t’do somethin’ with the bodies,” Rat suggested.

  “No. I’ll pop round the police station and play the good lawyer, see if our cover truly has been compromised. I’ll report the attack and that we defended ourselves only.” He stood. “In fact, I shall go presently, before anyone else can report it. It will look worse for us if we’ve run.”

  “Alone?” Sev asked.

  “No,” Silas answered. “I’ll take Teddy with me. I assume you know the way?”

  “Yessuh.”

  “Let’s be off, then.” Silas slipped into his jacket, and Teddy grabbed his hat. They left the house without another word.

  “Bloody hell,” Sev groaned.

  “I’m sorry, Sev.” Rat puffed forlornly on his pipe.

  “It ain’t yer fault, Ratty. Silas wants t’forever occupy the high road, and while I understand his wish, I can’t share it. Life ain’t so simple as that. Good men need t’do bad things, and bad men aren’t always without good intentions. Ye did what ye had to. Silas will get over it.”

  “Aye, sure ye’re right.” Rat leaned back, crossing his arms. Sev only stared toward the door Silas had just exited. After a few moments, he shook off his worried thoughts and waved Teddy’s siblings over.

  “Tabitha, Walt, Tanya, Michelle, come join us.” Sev sat at the table as they tentatively approached him. “Ye didn’t come with us when Teddy introduced us,” Sev said to Rat. “Teddy’s the baby of the family.”

  “That’s right,” Tanya confirmed. She was beautiful with prominent cheekbones and skin like warm mahogany. “Michelle and I are the oldest.”

  “Twins,” Sev added, though it was obvious to any who looked upon them, even their hair, not wiry like most of the black women he’d seen since arriving in Victorica, but if one looked them in the eyes, a slight difference in the color of their irises clearly told the sisters apart.

  “Walt is the next oldest,” Michelle said in a musical voice. Sev could easily imagine that voice raised in song. Michelle sat next to Tanya, Walt taking the seat opposite Sev.

  “Pleased t’meet ye,” Rat said, standing as the twins sat. He shook Walt’s hand. Sev smirked at his friend’s newfound sense of propriety. He looked at the last of the siblings, Tabitha. She stood defiantly, staring at him with her light brown eyes. While her sisters were the very picture of feminine grace, Tabitha wore trousers, and her hair was closely cropped. “Ye must be Tabitha,” Rat stated.

  She didn’t respond, only stared intently at him. “Tabitha, sit down. You’re bein’ very rude,” Walt whispered. She shot him a dark look. Rat regarded her with wide eyes and a slight blush on his cheeks. Sev had seen this reaction from Rat in the past. It was the same way he looked at Annie when he’d first seen her. He fought back a smile.

  “Have I done somethin’ to offend?” Rat asked.

  Tabitha marched up to him, standing a full head taller. “Did you really kill those men in the hotel?”

  Rat frowned but didn’t flinch from the question like Sev and her siblings.

  “Tab!” Michelle and Tanya snapped as one.

  Rat raised a hand to silence them, never taking his eyes off her. “Aye,” he stated. “And I make no apologies.”

  Tabitha licked her full lips before she spoke. “Will you teach me?”

  “Tabitha,” her siblings cried in unison.

  “What?” She rounded on them with fire in her eyes. “I don’t mean t’be a victim. There ain’t nothin’ wrong with knowin’ how t’protect myself!”

  “You already know how t’protect yerself!” Walt barked. “You’re always startin’ fights with the neighborhood boys and givin’ ’em sound thrashins.”

  “Is that right?” Sev asked.

  Tabitha nodded sharply.

  “I’d be happy t’teach ye,” Rat offered. “But not against the wishes o’yer family.”

  “I don’t need their blessin’. I’m my own woman,” Tabitha stated.

  Rat almost suppressed a smirk. “I respect that. But it’d make me feel better if I had their consent.” He shot them all a sidelong glance that Tabitha echoed.

  They didn’t speak, trading glances between one another until Michelle finally gave a dismissive shrug by way of answer. Rat and Tabitha both seemed to swell with her siblings’ permission, and it made Sev happy as well, though he worried for Rat. The last time he’d allowed himself to feel this way, it ended poorly. Sev wouldn’t stand in Rat’s way, though, even if he thought he’d be saving him from pain. To Sev, it was worth the risk.

  Sev thought Rat might offer Tabitha a seat, but instead he dropped into a chair. Not surprisingly, she took the seat beside him. With the moments of awkwardness behind them, the group fell into easy conversation.

  14

  SILAS AND Teddy returned a few hours later in a horse-drawn hansom driven by Teddy. Rat and Tabitha were sparring near the front steps of the building when they pulled alongside the curb. Sev looked up from Fairgate’s Grimoire at the sound of Rat’s call. Normally Sev would snap books closed if he needed to stop reading them quickly, but it resonated a strange energy that caused Sev to handle the book gingerly like it might be made of gunpowder. Sev closed it gently, slipping it back inside his coat, and walked over to the window. “What’s this all about?” Sev spoke the question aloud, though he hadn’t expected an answer.

  “I couldn’t tell ya, Mistuh Sev,” Walt said over his shoulder. “But I ain’t seen nuthin’ like that in this neighborhood, I can tell you.”

  Teddy hopped down and tied off the reins whi
le Silas greeted Rat and Tabitha. The four of them entered the building, disappearing from sight. Sev, Walt, and the twins turned, watching the apartment door. When Teddy came in, he was wearing a brand-new set of fancy clothes. Tabitha whistled with admiration. “Darn, Teddy, you sure do look sharp.”

  “There’s new clothes for all of us!” he exclaimed breathlessly. “Mr. Silas bought ’em so we’d fit in with all their fancy-pants friends.”

  “We hope they’ll be our friends at any rate,” Silas added. Sev saw now that he carried a number of packages, and he distributed them among the siblings. He removed his gloves and continued speaking. “The mess at the hotel has been dealt with and the hotel compensated for the damages. The police were aware of that little group of miscreants and didn’t seem very upset when they heard of their unfortunate accident. There may be further inquiry, but I doubt it.

  “Also Teddy showed me the premises he spoke of earlier to house our ‘genius inventor’s’ laboratory, and it was spacious, affordable, and in an advantageous location, so I went ahead and rented it for our needs. There is a basement in case we need to hide anything and ample space for living quarters. With very little work, we can make it more habitable than this ramshackle structure.” He must have noticed the expressions of surprise on the siblings’ faces because he hastened to add, “Oh, I mean no offense. This is a very cozy, little suite.”

  “Don’t worry, Mistuh Silas,” Walt said with a pat on Silas’s shoulder and a warm smile. “We know it ain’t much. But we’re lucky to have it, even if the building is like as not to fall in on us. We’re a fair amount better off than a lot of other colored folk.”

  “It really is lovely, Walt. And we appreciate your hospitality.” Silas squeezed Walt’s arm. “I’ve already had our belongings moved to the new location,” Silas addressed Rat and Sev. “Philson and Nichols are going to remain mobile. I hope it isn’t too presumptuous of me to suggest you all move along with us. It will help cement our cover identities.”