Twig

by wildbow

  Whatever the case, that ominous rumble as the methane caught and was consumed in a rolling flame, it was soon punctuated by the crack and the blast of real explosives going off, each with their individual shockwaves and ripple effects.

  I stumbled, tripping and falling as I wrapped my head around what was happening. The nobles, their giants and their pet bird, they were closer to the street and the nearest wagon loaded with munitions. The shockwave hit them. The nobles were bowled over, the giants staggered, one of their robes setting alight. The bird went down in that same lick of flame.

  The goal had been to stir the pot, to give people reason to leave or be evacuated. It also, in the roundabout path, would mean that people who had been further away would gather here, that numbers would be more concentrated. All of that required buying time.

  It wouldn’t be a guarantee, some civilians would have been caught in the blast.

  The act of buying time had also given Jamie time to get in position, to spring the methane trap with the next of the command words.

  The nobles had been bowled over. The bird and one giant had been burned.

  I picked myself up, and climbed to my feet, still breathing hard from the running, shaking from exhaustion that was half due to exertion and half due to my not having wood on the fire, food in the belly.

  They remained on the ground for long moments.

  I waited, watching.

  August was the first to move. The Falconer stirred after that.

  Not even looking up at me or at her pet, she gestured at the bird, and she made a short whistling sound.

  The bird moved, shifting its stance. Wings stretched forward, and it crawled to its master on its bladed wing-tips and talons, much as the spike warbeasts had moved on four spikes. No longer able to fly, but entirely capable of operating as an attack beast all the same. Just as resilient as the noble it served.

  The Falconer put one hand on its back, and rose to her feet, head still hanging, hair forming a curtain in front of her face.

  I’d seen all I needed to see, gotten the measure of the damage we’d managed to inflict, by way of how slowly they moved.

  The nobles, I was sure, would chase, and they would be sure to make us answer this.

  I ran for it. I ran to Jamie, and with any luck, to where Mauer waited to capitalize on this opportunity.

  Previous Next

  Thicker than Water—14.15

  People could always be trusted to do the least sensible thing. It was the middle of the day, and in response to a rollicking explosion, the people who were still at home were departing their residences, walking out into the street to get a look.

  Many were women, homemakers, some were young children.

  On taller buildings, many of the windows opened out and upward, forming a kind of cover overhead as people leaned out, craning their heads to see what was happening.

  As I ran as fast as I was able from the source of the explosion, I drew attention.

  “Run!” I called out. Then, a few moments later, for the sake of those who hadn’t heard me “Run!”

  The sentiment caught.

  Good thing, too, because I could feel the impacts as the giants gave chase.

  Their aim wasn’t me, however. I crossed the street, and the first giant moved out into the street, raising his shield as a wall.

  The second giant followed, offering further cover. I couldn’t even see the nobles as the giants escorted them across the street.

  Goal one was to get them in position where they were close to the street and I was far enough down the alley to be in the clear. We hadn’t anticipated or accounted for the explosives in the other wagons, that had extended the damage. I wasn’t sure if it was a pro or a con, though. Hopefully there would be a point later on where I could take stock of the fallout from all of this.

  I liked the mental image of standing on one of these tall buildings and looking down at what we’d wrought, while the Infante fussed.

  But getting that far meant evading the nobles. The closer I got to Mauer, the less free they would be to give chase.

  That was goal three. Getting them closer to Mauer.

  Most of the traffic had stopped as a result of the explosions and then arrested further at the first appearance of the giants, but one carriage stood in their way. With the shield in front of it, the giant didn’t even see the horse it ran into. The carriage the horse was hitched to toppled.

  The crash and the ensuing disruption might have bought me time. The elements of the crowd that were lingering gave me some room to move. The nobles were, by dint of the bodyguards, big. I could thread the needle, weaving through the crowd, that was only just realizing they were in the way, and hope that the nobles would either show some conscience and avoid the worst of the crowd, or at least stumble on the bodies and wreckage left behind and slow down because of that.

  I preferred the former to the latter, but I preferred living above all else.

  It was telling, then, that the nobles chose to detour and slow down, and that I was able to put some distance between myself and them.

  Good thing too, because for all of their injuries, they had caught up to me fast, and they would again. I had little doubt they had more stamina than I did, too.

  I rounded a corner, then crossed the street, weaving through traffic. It wasn’t so dangerous—traffic at the end of the street close to where I had come from was stopping in reaction to the giants. One automobile was on the street, and the thin tires squeaked on the road as it came to a wobbly stop.

  I looked up and down the street, and I saw a carriage with a closed window, a cloth caught in it.

  I checked over my shoulder to see that I wasn’t being watched, glanced up at the man with the heavy mustache and long whip that sat under the covered front seat, and I slipped inside.

  “You made it,” Jamie said. “I was worried.”

  I flashed him and Shirley a grin as I closed the door and removed the cloth from the window.

  “The bird didn’t see you?” he asked.

  “No,” I said. “It got burned. But I think it could probably sniff us out, if the nobles can’t. We should leave.”

  Jamie nodded, stood, and opened his side door. He leaned out the door, and said, “Get us away from here. The faster the better. Side streets are fine if you don’t think we’ll get bogged down, just keep us moving.”

  The driver said something I couldn’t make out, and the carriage lurched. We tilted uneasily as the wheels rode up on the curb, before we started moving briskly down an alley street, the walls of the buildings on either side precariously close to the sides of the carriage.

  With nothing to look at outside the windows, Jamie focused on me. He had to squint a bit in the gloom. “That’s a lot of blood, Sy.”

  “I’ve learned I really dislike birds. I raised questions once upon a time about the Academy’s aversion to working on flying things. But now I know. Anything with wings is evil, through and through.”

  “Let me look—”

  I turned so he could see, and bowed my head so he could check my scalp. “Detestable. Probably dirty. Can you imagine the dust that collects there?”

  “They self-groom, Sy.”

  “That motherfucking avian doesn’t, I promise you that. Birds eat bugs, too, don’t they? You are what you eat, and bugs are pretty gross, y’know?”

  “You’re rambling. How much of that is you being goofy and how much is you being injured?”

  “All goofy.”

  “That’s fine, then. You got cut up pretty badly there. I’ve got some medical stuff. Turn around there so I can work on you.”

  I smiled, turning around in my seat so he could work. He pulled out a small pocket medicine kit he’d had with him.

  “I bet you brought that along in hopes of getting to put your hands on me,” I said. “Tsk tsk. Shameless fellow.”

  Jamie sighed.

  “Too far?”

  “No, no. Starting to realize why you self-ce
nsored. You’re a horrific flirt.”

  “You’re just now realizing this? You’ve only really existed for, what, two years? Two and a half? And you spent most of that time seeing how I tormented Lillian.”

  “I’m suddenly feeling a lot more sympathy for Lillian, and I had an abundance, before.”

  “You know I used Wyvern to cultivate a mindset. I cultivated a mindset where I prey on weakness. It’s a reflex now, and people’s biggest weakness is that connection between their hearts and their pants.”

  Jamie sighed, again. He daubed at my neck wound. “Put your hand there. Fingers like… so. So I can work, but so there’s some pressure.”

  “But if it’s a problem, I can adjust.”

  “I’d rather deal with you as you are, than deal with more of your adjustments,” Jamie said.

  “I meant more of a normal sort of adjustment. Learning how to keep my mouth shut and minimize the jokes.”

  He pricked me with a curved needle, and threaded the first of the sutures. “You used Wyvern to self-censor and you couldn’t stop the jokes altogether, Sy. I think that’s a hopeless task.”

  “Um,” Shirley said.

  Jamie turned his head to look at her. With my neck being worked on, I only moved my eyes.

  “Self censoring?” she asked. “That’s the second time you mentioned it.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I used that drug I take, Wyvern, and altered how my brain worked, so I wouldn’t fuss Jamie too much.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “For the sake of Jamie’s sanity, really. And for other reasons.”

  “Now, with Sy actively working on undoing that censorship, I take it…?” Jamie trailed off, eyebrow quirked to suggest it was a question.

  “Yup.”

  “…He’s borderline intolerable. There’s a balance to be struck,” Jamie said.

  “That’s horrible,” Shirley said. “The fact that the drug is a thing and that you had to do that, that you were able to do that? That you were given the ability to do something that extreme when you’re still so young. When I think about the ways I would have changed myself when I was your age… I’m… Is it wrong if I say I’m very sorry?” she asked.

  I shrugged one shoulder in a small way, so as not to disturb Jamie’s stitching. “We’re the product of horribleness. The people we’ve been closest to in our lives are the product of horribleness. The people who were chasing me are the engineers of horrible. Or the bankrollers and aristocrats enforcing it, or… something.”

  “Something,” Jamie said.

  “I’m sorry you and the people you cared about have had to deal with all of that,” Shirley said, voice quiet. “I know that sounds like very useless, petty words, compared to the magnitude of what you’re talking about.”

  I knew where her words were coming from. I knew that she’d dealt with her own, simpler sort of horrible.

  “You’re good, Shirley. Not to worry,” I said.

  “Thank you, for your feelings, Shirley,” Jamie said. “They’re appreciated.”

  “Alright. You’re welcome.”

  Jamie tied off the stitches at my throat.

  “I can do the ones on my own head,” I said.

  “You can,” Jamie said. “I don’t know if that means you should. Bend over.”

  I snorted.

  Jamie looked at Shirley. “Help me.”

  “He’s insufferable,” she said.

  “Exactly.”

  Jamie put one hand on my shoulder and had me lean forward, so he could work on the top of my head, where the talons had scratched me.

  I bit my tongue rather than make mention of the fact that I was staring into his lap, now.

  “No opportunities to use the explosion?” Jamie asked.

  “The blast set off other things,” I said. “Our guess was off. I got knocked to the ground. I felt like if I went after them while they were down, they would jolt like a new stitched, reach out, and grab me.”

  “It’s good if you go with your gut,” Jamie said.

  “Done pretty well for me so far,” I said. I sighed. “I’m so tired of running all the time.”

  “I know.”

  “What I said before, about preying on weaknesses?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m not sure the nobles here have any. The pet bird didn’t have any. The explosion roughed them up, but… they’re a step above the Baron and the Twins. A few steps above. Even with that, I wouldn’t say there’s a weak point to hit, or anything I can do or say that would affect them.”

  “I’d offer something to help,” Jamie said. “But I don’t know much. Augustus is close to the Infante, and is in the Infante’s neighborhood when it comes to the line of succession. The way things unfold, he probably won’t ever wear the crown, barring incident. Children are born, they’ll fill up the space between Augustus and the Crown, but… it’s not entirely out of the question?”

  “Yeah.”

  “From what I read in the news, he’s only just ventured out from noble holdings to take a hand in affecting the world.”

  “Reminds me of the young nobles that I met on the train. They were new to the world too.”

  “Stems from the work they have done on them, I think. They need time to recuperate, so they’re fully prepared and fully recovered by the first time they show their faces,” Jamie said.

  “Can’t show the public the wrong face.”

  “I wish I knew more about Augustus’ motivations,” Jamie said. “But I read the newspapers, I read the books that cover modern history, and I’ve heard people talk, and… I have no idea.”

  “He’s an extension of the Crown,” I said. “I wonder if, the closer you get to the top, the less they seem like people.”

  “Maybe. The one with him, you called her the Falconer?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Closer to the Duke in general rankings, but kind of a youngest-daughter of the youngest-daughter thing. Further away in the chance of getting the Crown, but maybe one day she would marry someone close to the Crown, and settle into a position of power. It says a lot that the Infante seems to like her.”

  “Where did she first appear?”

  “London, or so I heard. Her debut was here,” Jamie said. “Same as Augustus.”

  “She’s interesting,” I said.

  “Interesting?” Jamie asked.

  “I can’t put my finger on it. But she draws my eye. There was a moment, she was chasing me, and my instinct was to throw myself at her.”

  “That’s… much worse than being a hopeless flirt, Sylvester.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” I said.

  “Do tell.”

  “Either she’s Helen tier in being able to manipulate people, and she puts on a cold face while beckoning them closer, raw physical attractiveness that makes even clever enemies do dumb things or a presence gives her a kind of gravity…”

  “Science or natural ability?”

  “Both? Neither? Being compelling on Mauer’s level while being silent ninety-five percent of the time? Whatever it is, if it’s that, then it would make me personally revise her chances at getting the Crown to be much, much higher than you’re suggesting.”

  “Fair,” Jamie said.

  “The other option is… I don’t even know. That there’s chemistry, purely between her and me? One way, considering her apparent desire to murder me.”

  I felt Jamie’s hands stop working on the stitching of my scalp.

  “Not like that,” I said. “I don’t think?”

  Jamie’s hands resumed their work.

  “If we end up having to kill her, I’m going to be very annoyed at the lack of answers.”

  “Noted,” Jamie said.

  “But if you happened to catch sight of her, and if you caught any clues at all…”

  “I’ll pass them on,” Jamie said.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  It took a moment for Jamie to finish up the work. I sat up, and
gingerly touched around my scalp to see that everything was intact.

  “Well done,” I said.

  Jamie gave me a little bit of a salute.

  “Trapped some of my hair under a stitch, I feel like, or in a knot. How does it look?”

  “Wet,” Jamie said, dryly.

  “Ha ha. Shirley? Please?”

  “Your hair looks fine, Sylvester.”

  “You’ll look nice if you run into the Falconer again today,” Jamie said.

  “Ha ha,” I said, again. I mentally weighed how far I could push things in poking fun at him, but I didn’t get a chance to follow through.

  The carriage turned, and it was going at a high enough speed that one wheel lifted up off the ground.

  I looked out the window. We were on a major street.

  “We’re close to Mauer,” Jamie said, after a glance out the window, at the skyline. “Almost at the foot of the building he was supposed to be camped in.”

  “They’d have to be crazy,” I said.

  “They chased us this far?” Shirley asked.

  The guy driving the carriage banged one hand against the side, hard. The vehicle was slowing.

  “That, or it’s Mauer,” I said. “It has to be Mauer.”

  With some risk to life and limb, the mustachioed man who had been driving the carriage leaped clear of the seat, in the direction my window faced, and stumbled as he landed on the road, before scrambling to run off.

  The horse slowed further.

  “We’re stopping,” I said. “Driver made a run for it. Trouble is incoming. Shirley? Stay here until we signal you.”

  “Okay,” Shirley said.

  Jamie and I glanced at each other.

  “Weapons?” Jamie asked.

  “Scalpels, a knife, a needle of something I’m pretty sure is poison. Used my gas canisters.”

  “Trade you,” he said. He reached over to the seat and handed over a pistol.

  “I could have used this earlier.”

  “I didn’t have this earlier, you ninny,” he said. “I grabbed it while we were looking for a carriage with a driver we could bribe.”

  I sighed, took the pistol, and slid the scalpel across the seat between us.