Gears of Fate, page 9
part #1 of Forgotten Gods Series
“She prefers not to be bothered when she’s steering the ship. It takes a lot of effort to control the magic that keeps our engine going.”
“The stories are true then? The Highwind’s engine is made of brass and magic?”
He nodded once then looked at her with admiring eyes.
“Mister—”
“Just call me Gharis,” he said.
“Gharis, I want to ask Alana about my mom.
The way he eyed me up and down made me believe he was trying to decide if I was worthy of an answer. Squaring my shoulders and clenching my teeth tight, I tried to make myself look important. He was about to open his mouth when a shout came down from the main mast. Gharis and I both followed the call to the crow’s nest. A man flailed his arms about and pointed off far ahead. I barely had time to question what was happening when a shadow swooshed across the lookout. He barely had time to scream before he fell toward the deck. The wet crunch his body made when he landed could only mean death.
Gharis and I ran to the man’s mangled body. Already, other crewmembers started piling in over their dead mate. Seneca grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside.
Her eyes darted back and forth. “We got problems.”
Gharis shouted over the yelling men. “Everyone, man your stations!”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Before anyone could answer, I heard a horrible sound like a swarm of insects. It started far off and approached at a speed much too fast for any bee. Everyone scanned the skies for the source. It seemed like the clouds were abuzz. Small shadows came into view, dotting the sky with fast approaching shapes that became men, practically an army. An army of Fey with wings flapping at incredible speeds, carrying their numbers straight for us. They hovered all around the ship, careful to stay out of range, but close enough to aim their wicked looking spears.
“Oh,” Seneca moaned. “I guess they found me.”
Before I could even make him out, Francis landed right in the middle of the deck. The Highwind crew armed themselves with swords and pistols, their faces fearless of the new threat. His wings had a brown shine and looked like those of a bird, except crafted of shiny bronze feathers, gears and cogs. They were attached to a pack that ticked like a clock.
“Seneca Rose.” His voice thundered over the din of noise. “You will give yourself up now, or watch your companions fall.”
Seneca stepped up beside me. “Maybe you haven’t heard, but I’m way too selfish for selfless acts. It’s kind of my thing.”
“This is my ship and I’m the only one who’ll be making demands.” Alana stood in front of the helm with two pistols aimed at Francis. “Now I will ask you only once to get off my ship.”
Francis held out his hands imploringly. “Is there really a need for violence? All we ask is for the Lady Rose. What need do you have of her?”
“As much as she annoys me,” Alana said.
Seneca shook her head in agreement. “Can’t be denied.”
“I would never bust a deal.” Alana shot a warning round. The wood near Francis’s feet erupted in a tiny explosion. He didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed.
Gharis handed me a sword and drew another from his belt. A simple cutlass, but it felt good in my hands. I took a step in front of Seneca and held the blade firm before me.
“Zak,” Seneca whispered. “What are you doing? Let the Scavengers fight while we make a hasty, ill thought-out escape.”
“If we don’t make a stand, he’ll never leave us alone.” I pointed at Francis.
“Very well.” He launched himself into the air.
The others came at the ship like a hurricane of steel and brass. I caught a glimpse of Alana firing off shot after shot into the mass of attackers. Seneca pulled me back as I swung at any Fey close enough to feel my sword. The deck erupted into complete chaos, men and Fey roared their battle cries and came together in flurry of madness. Alana’s crew fanned out and tried to push the threat back, only to find it hopeless when the enemy took to the air and moved as fast as the wind. Scavengers were plucked up from the deck and dropped off the side of the ship. Their numbers quickly dwindled, and for every Fey taken out, two took their place.
Seneca and I had our backs to the railing. She looked over the side and I could see an idea formulating in her wild eyes. “How far do you think the drop is?”
“We’d never make that!” I yelled.
Francis cut a path through the madness and came right for us.
“I got an idea,” Seneca said.
I braced myself for the coming attack. “What?”
“They only want me. If we escape, they’ll leave the Highwind alone.”
“How?”
Francis was nearly on me when Seneca rushed out in front of me, holding her arms as if she meant to shield me from certain doom.
“Stop!” she yelled. “If I give myself up, will you let everyone go?”
Francis came to a halt and let his sword fall down to his side. A smile spread slowly across his face. “I give my word.”
I grabbed Seneca’s arm and tried to keep her at my side. “What are you doing?”
“Call them off,” Seneca said.
He bent his head back and made a strange ear piercing sound that echoed far and wide. The fighting stopped and the Fey began to retreat, but stayed at a safe distance watching as the scene played out. Seneca looked at me and placed her hand on my chest. Carefully she pushed me back toward the ship railing.
“You can’t go with him,” I whispered.
She backed up until she bumped into Francis’s chest. He wrapped his arm around her neck and watched me with a primal hunger. I took a step forward, but he applied pressure and choked her, keeping me at bay. Alana ran over, joining our showdown, her pistol aimed at Francis’s head. He used Seneca as a shield, always keeping her between himself and the captain’s sight.
“I called off mine,” he said. “Now you call off yours.”
“Alana,” Seneca said. “Thanks for the ride, but I think it’s time Zak and I got going.”
The captain gripped her pistol tighter. “You always know how to ruin a perfectly good day.”
“It’s what I do.” Seneca strained a laugh. “So I’m thinking, meet on the border of the Unseelie court?”
“We’ll try our best.”
“What are you two talking about?” Francis shouted.
Seneca moved so fast it was hard to keep up. She smashed the back of her head into his nose. Her heel came down on his foot and she bent forward. Alana’s hand shot up and her pistol fired in one fluid motion. Francis jerked back and his body went limp. He fell to the floor, blood pooling under him.
Seneca pulled the pack off his shoulders as the Fey resumed their attack. A Fey came out of nowhere, grabbing me by the arms and dragging me off the ship.
I watched helplessly as we flew further away. Alana and Gharis, fighting furiously side by side, hadn’t noticed me getting snatched. Seneca still struggled with Francis’s pack. I had to take matters into my own hands. I struggled under my attacker’s iron grip. He had me in a tight bear hug rendering my arms useless. I thrashed about until I broke free. The rust bucket flew away, and for a moment, it felt like I could fly. Gravity had a different plan in mind.
I’m going to die.
Clouds swallowed the world; the white darkness devoured me, the gushing air made my ears pop. I’d never get to kiss Abby; I’d never become a man; Most importantly, I failed to keep Alice safe. Alice, I’m sorry.
I closed my eyes and prepared to die. Until I heard laughing. I’m cogged. The wild laughter of a maniac got closer, closer, and closer still. Seneca burst through the clouds head first, her body straightened with arms pressed tight at her sides. Goggles covered her eyes, and her smile seemed to go for miles. She caught up and wrapped her arms around me, locking her body against mine.
“Fancy meeting you here!” she shouted over the rush of wind.
“We’re cogged!” I managed to get out. “We’re going to fall straight to Hades.”
“Oh, that! Big deal.” She pulled a cord on the strap of her borrowed pack, and the metallic wings shot out. “These are normally only made for one person. Hopefully, I didn’t put on extra pounds with all that eating I did at your house.”
She pulled the cord again and the wings buzzed to life, a puff of steamed ambrosia shot out from behind her and our fall slowed. We continued to fall, but at a much more reasonable pace. We broke free of the clouds and came out miles above blue sea and sunshine. Earth lay before us, an endless expanse toward both horizons. Further inland, the greenery of trees, and browns and grays of mountainous ranges greeted us. I never realized how beautiful Earth could be.
“Rust!” she shouted.
“What?”
“I think this thing—”
A small popping sound came from her pack and it started to smoke. Her left wing went completely limp. Seneca pulled at the cord over and over again, trying to get the gears going. It was a mess of confusion. I fell wildly and spun through the air. The world turned into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. I wanted to throw up.
I would have too had I not hit cold water with such a staggering hard impact it knocked me out.
Chapter Eight
The singing made me realize I was alive. The soft melodic tune of a woman, like a mother singing a soothing song to her child. A magical incantation of peace and harmony. I opened my eyes and saw the cloud dotted sky as I floated on my back. The cool touch of water licked at my skin and soaked my clothes. I didn’t care how I got there, because the melody took control of my mind. I followed it and found Abby right there with me.
She floated a couple of feet away, her naked shoulders and arms dipping in and out of the water. Wet hair hung down and covered her chest. Her eyes wide with delight as she casually hummed the tune that woke me from my dreams.
“Abby?” I asked, feeling so confused. Something came over me that refused to acknowledge the logic of the situation. Seeing her was all that mattered. “Abby, what are you doing here?”
Her naturally tanned skin looked a couple of shades lighter, a ghostly complexion that made the black of her eyes stand out more, and her full lips had traces of blue; all signs that she’d been in the cold water for far too long. I wanted to swim over and take her in my arms, but her nakedness kept me put. As much as I wanted her in my arms, I cheeks burned with embarrassment.
She swayed with each passing wave, while her body moved with the rhythm of the melody.
“Abby, what’s going on?” I pleaded. “How’d you get here?”
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, lost in her music. I tried to paddle toward her, but the closer I got, the more waves would push me back. It almost felt like the ocean itself wanted to keep me away.
“Rust! I can’t get to you.” Water splashed in my mouth. I coughed and sputtered out the salty liquid. “Can you swim to me?”
She looked at me, once again with those haunting eyes. Her smile felt different than the normal smirk I was used to. She wrapped her arms around her body and tried to rub life into it. She is so beautiful. The urge to get to her and keep her warm rose up within me, as strong as the urge to breathe. Every part of me wanted only to touch and hold her.
With one last smile, she sunk into the water. I dived after her. I swam as hard as I could, desperately attempting to catch her. But the strong currents pulled me in the wrong direction. Soon, I found myself lost in the endless blue. In a flurry, I fought back the water, begging the gods to let it release me. I couldn’t swim; I was sinking, but before I could reach the peak of panic, Abby grabbed onto my arm. I looked at her expecting to be filled with hope.
Instead, I saw the face of evil.
Abby’s smile spread way too wide, her lips curled back revealing inch-long razor like teeth, her whole mouth seemed to overflow with red-stained ivory.
I tried to pull away, struggling to fight her off. Arms grabbed me from behind, locking me in a bear hug. I managed to catch a glimpse of another Abby behind me; her mouth also curled back revealing hungry shark teeth. They both pulled me down deeper into the abyss; the mischievous giggles of little girls replaced their song. I struggled all the way down, but their strength seemed inhuman. I made the mistake of screaming; oxygen fled my lungs and water rushed in. My chest felt as if it would burst. I kicked and punched, but couldn’t break free. The deeper we went, the darker it got as my life slipped away. When the Abby thing turned to me and her jaw opened wide, I found death waiting for me. I clenched my eyes shut, expecting pain.
But it never did; I opened my eyes, the water colored with a smoky red. Abby’s body floated away, leaving a trail of red haze running from her chest. The other creature continued pulling me further under. I caught a glimpse of Seneca swimming toward me with a knife in her hand. I had only seconds of fight left in me. I struggled against the other’s hold, punching and clawing at her arms. Seneca reached us as my lungs burned for air. She stabbed the monster repeatedly in the side. Her scream filled my ears; she twitched a couple of times before letting me go and sinking to the bottom. Seneca grabbed me and swam as hard as she could upward. I gasped for air as we broke the surface. Once my head stopped spinning, she helped me swim to shore.
I clawed my way onto the beach and collapsed. Hot sand on my face felt strange and alien to me. As much as I tried, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. The hungry waves tried to claim me, but they would not have my life. Olympus didn’t have anything like this. Honest to gods real sand from Earth, hot, grainy, and moist from the foaming tide. I wiped water from my face, and regretted it when the fine grains found their way into my eyes.
The shore felt small with lumbering trees standing guard over the rest of what I could see. A path of sand that led deeper into the forest caught Seneca’s attention.
“What… were those things?” I coughed and gagged, still out of breath.
She licked her finger and stuck it up in the air. “Sirens. They show you your heart’s desire, and drown you while you’re preoccupied. Ugh, we are too far south!” She sniffed at the air. “Free Fey territory. It stinks of them.”
My legs were practically numb, but I managed to get up and muster as much confidence as I could. Looking around overwhelmed me. The thick forest loomed over me like a hungry monster… endless. I was just a tiny insignificant speck. I picked up a handful of sand and let it fall between my fingers.
“How are we supposed to find her?” I spun around taking it all in. “It’ll be impossible, we’re so cogged!”
“We have to find the Lillies,” she said. “It’s our best bet. Even if they didn’t take her, they know everything that goes on. Their ears are always to the ground and their fingers are in every shadow.”
“But—”
“We’ll find her. It’s my fault they took her. I’ll make it right.”
I nodded and held out my fist. “We’re crew. You help me, I’ll help you.”
She touched her fist to mine and gave me a warm smile. “Remember this isn’t Olympus. You may have been top dog there, but here you are prey. This is Free Fey territory. They have no respect for royal blood. The good thing is they equally hate Seelie and Unseelie. Stick close to me and never wander off on your own. Don’t trust anybody that isn’t me. Don’t even trust me while you’re at it, and don’t trust yourself.”
“What?”
“Exactly! Let’s go.”
She ran into the woods without another word, and I ran after her, feeling the weight of Olympus behind me. The forest opened up into a thin path. Seneca moved like a ghost, jumping over roots and ducking branches with ease. My skills came in handy when it came to keeping up with her. The chaos reminded me of the underbelly of Olympus where wrong moves weren’t an option. I imagined the trees and their reaching branches as steel piping, keeping it as something familiar in my head made it easier to maneuver.
Soon, the warm ocean breeze of the beach gave way to an uncomfortable dampness. Sweat built up on my forehead and armpits. My feet sunk deeper into the warm dirt with each step. I don’t know how long we ran, or how far before I realized morning shifted into night, and the sounds of the forest that originally greeted us became an unsettling silence. The trees and underbrush grew thinner, further apart, and up ahead, a beam of moonlight shone into a clearing.
Seneca stopped. “We need to rest.”
“No way!” I bent over taking time to catch my breath. “We need to find these Lillies as soon as possible.”
“If you drop dead, you’ll be no use to Alice.” She pushed me. I fell back onto my butt, surprised by how weak I was. I was getting tired. But I couldn’t bear to think of Alice out there alone and scared.
“We’ll start a fire, rest a little, eat, and then keep going. Would you trust me?”
“You said not to trust you.”
She looked at me thoughtfully. “Good point.” She shrugged. “That’s awkward. Don’t trust me then, but stay here while I gather some fire wood and food.”
Before I could argue, she sprinted off into the forest. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her. She moved like a ghost in the shadows.
The night air was out to get me. It wanted nothing more than to make my life miserable. I curled up close to the fire, but it did little to warm me. Poor Alice, wherever she was, I hoped she had a blanket to keep her warm. I couldn’t fall asleep even if I tried. I couldn’t stop thinking about Alice shivering in some cold scary place. Seneca couldn’t seem to sleep either. She stared deep into the fire, casually poking at the embers with a branch. Her share of the rabbit she caught and cooked for us still sat by her side.
I leaned up on my elbows. “Tell me about the Lillies. You don’t think they’d hurt her do you?”
“Baby Bandits… worst of the worst.” She didn’t take her eyes off the fire. “The Lillies trade in secrets and promises. They have connections all across the land. What makes them most popular is their ability to snatch kids. Human children are a highly sought after commodity to the Free Fey.”
