A Study In Ashes Part 51

"My pleasure." Nick reached for his spygla.s.s and Evelina handed it over.

"What can I do?" she asked.

"Come with me," Nick said.

They left Striker on the bridge, discussing something with the Schoolmaster. Nick led her through the hatch that opened between the gondola and the main body of the s.h.i.+p. She could hear the engines churning, the minty smell of the aether cloying and thick. She'd been on the Athena long enough to know that meant they were filling their fuel reserves. Nick finally stopped when they got to the sheltered roost they'd built for the rooks, but he didn't open the door to it quite yet. He stood with his head bowed, dark brows drawn together.

"What is it?" Evelina asked, touching his sleeve. She could feel his muscles beneath it, tight as a drawn bow.

"I lost my s.h.i.+p and half my crew the last time we fought," he said quietly. "This s.h.i.+p and you on it is everything I want. All I could think of before was revenge for Manufactory Three, but suddenly that seems less important."

"You always were practical." Evelina ran her hand down his sleeve until she found his hand. The moment she touched his fingers, he gripped her hard, turning her until she faced him.

"You're d.a.m.ned right I am," he murmured, brus.h.i.+ng a loose strand of hair from her face. "I don't deal in thrones and ancestors. I deal in weapons and wind, and if I'm very lucky I get to hold the woman I love when I fall into bed at night. And I don't ask for more."

Evelina's heart ached and she leaned in to him, needing to feel the rea.s.surance of his body against hers. "Nick ..."

He put a finger over her lips to silence her. His gaze roved over her face as if to fix her features in his mind. "There will be h.e.l.l to pay if they try to take what's mine."

She pulled his finger from her lips. "No one can take me from you."

"But they've tried."

She couldn't argue with that.

"Men fight for different reasons. I believe in all the fine talk of secret heirs and the right of the common man to thrive, but in the end I fight for us, Evelina."

He kissed her then, his mouth hot and possessive. His hands slid down her back, his touch both gentle and hard as he traced the curves of waist and hip. Evelina reveled in his strength, rocking her hips forward and raking her fingers through his thick dark hair. She felt the surge of power between them, but they held it back. This stolen sc.r.a.p of time was just for them.

They broke the kiss but stayed just like that, nose to nose, warm breath mixing between them. She tingled from head to foot, as if she might ignite from sheer, giddy desire.

"When we get through this," he said softly, "you and I are going to go someplace quiet, where there is nothing but sun and sand and warm night breezes. We are going to sleep in each other's arms until we're thoroughly bored with doing nothing."

That sounded like heaven, but right then it also sounded as impossible as a flight to the stars. Evelina didn't say any of that, but kissed him again instead, letting her lips linger against his. He was about to gather up his courage, ignore what happened to the Red Jack, and fight for their future. This was a battle, and there was no telling if they would ever touch again.

"I love you," she said. "What do you need me to do?"

And suddenly the moment was over. "I need you to help with the rooks."

AFTER A FAR less pleasant, but very immediate, conversation, Nick left Evelina and ran back to the bridge. He could feel Athena turning north, preparing to face London and the threat ahead. It was time to shut down all the parts of himself extraneous to battle, to summon his magic, and to think only of victory.

But as he raced to make up the time he'd spent on that last kiss, it was impossible to shut down his joy. She said she loved me. The first time she'd ever said it was wonderful, but this was better. It had sounded so natural, so easy, so part of who they were. After so many years, he truly knew he'd won his heart's desire. What more could a man possibly want?

With a whoop, he leapt into the air, spinning with his old acrobatic flair, and fairly bounced through the hatch to the gondola. Digby was in the corridor between the cabins, and gave him a curious look. Nick forced himself to slow to a brisk walk.

You had best keep your mind on the task at hand, Athena chided, but he could feel her pleasure, too. Beneath all those knives, you are a romantic fool.

"Only about some things."

Indeed, you do well to let her know you love her, especially when the girl is filled with doubt about so much. You are overdue for a longer conversation about your future.

His mood darkened. He'd never been as good with words as with more immediate means of communication-such as a bullet, or his lips. "We've always done better grabbing the moment."

I'm sure that's not all you wish to grab.

"What would you know? You're not even flesh and blood."

I'm not that ethereal. You simply know too little of our kind.

That caused a hitch in Nick's step, and he was about to start in with some probing questions when he felt something s.h.i.+ft in Athena's mind. If she had been human, it would have been a gasp. Heart leaping, he broke into a run, pus.h.i.+ng his way through to the bridge.

The very edge of the horizon was dotted with s.h.i.+ps, but even as he watched, they were growing bigger. Memories of the Red Jack thrust up, spearing him with white-hot panic. Suddenly, Nick couldn't move. His face went numb, as if he'd drunk far too much. I can't do this again.

But the spell was broken as Striker turned from where he was watching at the window. "Roberts is there." He stabbed a finger toward the east. "Lucas, Pinkwell, Laforge." He poked the air three more times. "Five of us, and a million of them."

With another inward curse, Nick counted. There weren't a million enemy s.h.i.+ps, but there were more than a dozen. He refused to despair. Any pirate s.h.i.+p was worth at least two. Plus they had the ash rooks, cl.u.s.tered close to the Athena in a thick cloud. He felt the Schoolmaster hovering, waiting for a verdict. "Three to one," Nick said, forcing himself to sound careless. "Not good, but we've come through worse."

"Roberts's s.h.i.+p is signaling," Striker said. "I'm no good at reading it."

Striker had never learned to read at all, which made piecing together the letters of the message a meaningless task. Nick crossed the rest of the way to the tall gla.s.s panels and leaned to get a better view of the Dawn Star.

It was an old-style s.h.i.+p, the buxom figure of Aurora riding proudly at the prow. A young lad raised his signal flags and began his message once more. Nick nodded to himself. Reading the signals was one of the first skills he'd picked up when he'd taken to the air. "He keeps repeating Morrigan Bay over and over."

"Morrigan Bay is in the Caribbean," the Schoolmaster offered. He was clearly curious but trying to stay out of the way. Nick approved.

"Ah," Striker said. "Then I know what Roberts wants."

So did Nick. The raid on Morrigan Bay was one of those tavern favorites that pirates loved to tell when the rum ran freely and the candles guttered. "Then you'd best get to the engines."

"Aye, Captain," Striker said with a feral grin as he swept from the deck, his coat furling behind him.

"What's going on?" asked the Schoolmaster. "What does Morrigan Bay mean?"

"It's a tactic. You can only do it when the clouds are right and you have the proper s.h.i.+p. One that can fly like a feather." Nick turned to the bosun. "Poole, signal acknowledgment to the Dawn Star. Digby," he said, glancing at the tall, red-haired airman, "take us up."

"Aye, sir."

Digby saluted, but Athena was already lifting the s.h.i.+p high into the clouds. Through the window, Nick could see the ash rooks fall away like drifting petals, not able to follow the sudden vertical lift. The motion of the s.h.i.+p beneath their feet made the Schoolmaster grab for the wall. Suddenly, the windows were blocked with white mist, and then just as quickly the bridge flooded with brilliant sun. Below, a cus.h.i.+on of cloud swirled like a bowl of whipped cream.

"How can you see the enemy?" the Schoolmaster asked, both hands against the gla.s.s as he peered down.

"We will, when it's time." Anxiety chewed Nick like a rat caught in his gut. He paced the bridge, pa.s.sing his chair three times but never sitting down. In fact, the captain's job seemed to involve very little relaxation. He returned to the window, looked out, and tried to estimate where they were. He was lost until he saw a break in the clouds and caught a glimpse of the s.h.i.+ps ahead, bright red balloons like cherries ripe for picking.

The Athena's engines slowed. What now?

Nick was already in motion, glad of something to do. A table sat to one side of the bridge, and on it sat a large polished basin half filled with water, a green gla.s.s bottle next to it, sealed with a cork. Nick pulled the cork and poured out a generous measure of rum, carefully floating it on the water. Then with a word, he set it alight. Flames rose, blue and wild, but he gentled them, letting the devas of the high winds soak into the fire. It would burn as long as he needed it. Show me, he commanded, flexing his will.

The fire s.h.i.+mmered, and all the s.h.i.+ps came into view, tiny miniatures in three dimensions suspended over the silver basin. At the very top, a tiny replica of the Athena bobbled in the waves of heat. I'm getting good at this, Nick thought.

"Blood and thunder," the Schoolmaster said, circling around the table to see the display on all sides. "How does that work?"

"With a great deal of concentration," Nick said.

"More magic."

"Yes."

"I'm not complaining."

In the moments since he'd brought them into view, the pirate s.h.i.+ps had spread out. Laforge's s.h.i.+p, the Belle, was light and quick. She was running out a long steel rod that Captain Laforge called the aiguille, or needle, designed for midair skirmishes. The other two were opening their cannon bays and holding position.

Then he heard the prince and Digby curse under their breath and he was forced to agree. The enemy, which had been flying a wedge, was breaking apart. If they kept coming, the pirate s.h.i.+ps would be swarmed in a matter of minutes.

"Why don't they move?" the Schoolmaster demanded, looking as if he wanted to poke the tiny s.h.i.+ps with his finger to get them going.

"Scarlet's s.h.i.+ps don't even know we're here, even though we're sitting above their heads," Nick replied.

"And the other pirates?"

"They're waiting for us," Nick replied.

"To do what?"

"This."

Almost silently, Athena released the first shower of explosives. The miniature s.h.i.+p in the fire did the same, and after a long, agonizing count, three red dirigibles directly below them burst into flame. It would have been better if there had been more, but three was still good.

They saw the explosion in the fire a moment before the roar of the bombs shook the s.h.i.+p, making the fiery water in the bowl lap the sides. "Almost two to one now," the Schoolmaster said. "That was a brilliant move!"

"We grab the chances when they come along." It was almost the same thing Nick had said about Evelina, but it was just as true. He knew they'd gone about as far as any plan would go before it came apart at the seams.

He was right.

I LOVE HIM.

Evelina had gone over the fact a dozen times before she opened the hatch that led to the rooks' perch, but she didn't deny herself the pleasure of one more repet.i.tion. He'd known just when to kiss her. Whatever came next, he'd given her the courage to face it, because he'd held her in his arms.

Even better, he'd given her a problem to solve. A black ma.s.s of feathers lay on the deck of the roost, as if the rook had crawled into the corner to die. It was panting, beak open, wings sprawled to the sides. Pity pulled a noise from deep inside her. She couldn't speak to the creatures the way Nick could, so she crooned gently as she stroked the bird's feathers, trying to a.s.sess its injuries.

The rook wore a helmet and breastplate, and that might have been what had kept it from being killed outright. Nevertheless, the breastplate was still b.l.o.o.d.y, as if punched through with steel claws. But what on earth was big enough to fight a rook? They weren't small birds, more the size of a small goose than a crow. But that was precisely the task Nick had set her: to find out what new enemy was silently stalking the s.h.i.+p and attacking their allies. The rooks had often made a difference between victory and defeat, and the loss of any one of their flock was a blow to the crew.

She gathered the bird into her lap, letting it absorb her warmth as she released a thread of healing magic. What came back to her was a flood of images, but little she could interpret. The birds saw differently, and her brain couldn't sort through the information the way Nick's could. But she did learn that this was Saria, Gwilliam's mate.

"I'll have you back to him as soon as I can," she murmured, and Saria opened one shrewd black eye.

Healing magic had been one of the first lessons Magnus had taught Evelina and it came to her easily. When Saria was strong enough, Evelina turned the bird over and removed her armor. The rooks hunted their own meat, but Nick kept water in their roost. Using her handkerchief, Evelina dribbled some into Saria's beak. The bird drank it down greedily and soon hunched in her lap, allowing Evelina to wash her wounds.

As she worked, a number of the smaller, younger birds crowded into the roost. These were the ones with no armor, too inexperienced to fight, and Evelina guessed the battle must be near. She crouched in the corner of the roost, bracing herself and cradling Saria, so when the Athena suddenly rocketed into the sky, her ears popped but both of them were entirely safe.

The battle has started. If there was an enemy, they would show themselves now. Wanting both hands free, she wrapped Saria in her shawl and tucked her in a safe corner. Then Evelina crawled to the opening the rooks used to fly free, keeping low to avoid the pull of the wind. She heard the rattle of the bay doors open and the bullet-shaped bombs drop like scat. She scuttled away from the opening, gripping the heavy poles the rooks used to roost. Light flared from beneath, and a cascade of guttural roars shook the s.h.i.+p. The rooks croaked, flapping and rustling. Heavy wings smacked her arms and she ducked her head, waiting until the birds calmed. The stink of rook and aether was joined by a choking stench of smoke.

Slowly, she raised her head, only to be met with a row of beaked faces. "I think that's done."

One of the youngsters squawked. It sounded like good sense, so she nodded, allowing her shoulders to come down from around her ears. But no sooner had she relaxed than the Athena went into a dive. The clouds rushed up toward them, filling the tiny roost with an icy, damp mist. The s.h.i.+p angled slightly, and her feet began to slide. She heard the cannons fire on the far side of the s.h.i.+p, the sound weirdly m.u.f.fled where she clung.

By the Dark Mother! she thought desperately, but the s.h.i.+p leveled out and the clear skies were back. The first thing she saw was the Belle ramming the long swordfish needle on its prow into the red balloon of an enemy s.h.i.+p. It didn't just puncture, it sheared through the dirigible's balloon. The vessel collapsed, seeming to fold toward its damaged side as the prow tilted upward at a sickening angle. This wasn't a case where a good crew could still land a deflating s.h.i.+p. This was a wreck, the wounded craft already circling, ready to spiral and drop like a stone.

Sickened, Evelina looked away. The smoke in the air was burning her nose and throat, but she felt secure enough to loose her death grip on the perches and inch toward the opening to the sky. She dropped to her stomach, peering around the corner of the door into nothingness. Wind whipped the strands of her hair back, clawing her nose and eyes like a living hand.

Oh, G.o.d. The enemy s.h.i.+p was falling now, the balloon no more than a lopsided blob of red. She thought she might hear screams from the enemy vessel-or maybe that was just the wind. But she knew it would haunt her nightmares.

As Evelina looked down, she saw the Dawn Star and four more of the red dirigibles. More rooks flew beneath them, harrying some airmen who had crawled onto one of the red s.h.i.+ps to repair a serious gash. Beneath them was London.

The falling s.h.i.+p crashed. She closed her eyes, but she'd already seen too much to forget the spray of splinters flying into the air. When she opened them, the Belle was already searching out its next victim.

Athena banked the s.h.i.+p, but gently this time, and Evelina s.h.i.+fted her weight to compensate. They were circling around the battle zone, and she saw the Dawn Star fire on another red s.h.i.+p. The volley was answered with a sound like the pop of a paper sack. Before she could determine whether the blow landed, her sight was blanked by a rush of black wings. A rook dived over her head, clearly ducking to safety. What came after it blinded her in a flash of sunlight on metal.

She reared back, raising her arms to ward off the thing. It was a s.h.i.+ning metal bird, flame licking from its beak. Blood stained its talons. It hovered outside the doorway for three wing beats, and the rooks sent up a frantic ruckus of rage and dismay. Then the bra.s.s creature fell away, swooping down on a new victim.

With an outraged scramble, Evelina took up her position again, stomach pressed to the deck and her head all but hanging over the edge as she scanned the skies. Down here the sun was filtered through the clouds, but it was still bright enough to flash on several pairs of metal wings. They seemed to circle around one of the s.h.i.+ps that had belonged to the Scarlet King. A new weapon, designed especially to counter the rooks.

Dark magic unfurled inside Evelina, waiting as if in question. There was a flurry of black feathers as the metal raptor tore a rook asunder. The other birds screamed, flapping around the attacker, but there was nothing they could do against bra.s.s and steel. With a terrible shriek of its own, the metal bird shot out of the flock and toward the open sky, its wings opened wide as if in triumph. Then it breathed a tongue of flame, catching its pursuers as they reeled around it. Evelina unleashed her anger, throwing up a barrier right in the thing's path. The bird shattered, bright shards fountaining skyward like a roman candle.

"Got you!" Evelina slammed the deck with her palm as the rooks croaked their jubilation. The bra.s.s bird hadn't been a living thing, but it still felt like victory. Someone on the enemy s.h.i.+ps had to be sending and controlling the killing machines, and she'd just destroyed their weapon. Triumph sweet on her tongue, she started hunting around for others. The sky was chaos, filling with flame and ash to the point where it was impossible to see the earth below. And the noise was constant now, as if a dozen giants were hammering at the heavens. She caught a sudden flash of light in her peripheral vision. There was a resounding boom as an aether cannon discharged nearby, and with cold horror she realized it was aimed at the belly of the Athena.

Inside her mind, Evelina heard a cry of terror from the s.h.i.+p's deva, who suddenly understood the threat. The vessel lurched, struggling to shrink away, and Evelina reacted without thinking. Pulling all of her power, she thrust against the spinning ball of blue-green fire, trying to contain it just as she had the explosion in the laboratory. She felt the s.h.i.+eld form, s.h.i.+mmering and bright, and leaned in with all her strength to brace it.

It might have worked had it been an ordinary explosive, but magnetized aether was concentrated energy. Her magic slammed against it with all the effectiveness of a damp towel trying to stop a bullet. Evelina screamed with the shock of impact and the dizzying lurch as her barricade was swept aside.

But Magnus's dark power had its own cunning, and it had fused to her need to protect. It couldn't block a ball of pure energy, but it could absorb it. Time stopped as Evelina felt the rush of sparking blue fire like tendrils snaking through her veins, a million pinp.r.i.c.ks firing within her in places that she couldn't even name. It was as if every fiber, every nerve was suddenly glutted with energy and still swelling. She scrambled to the back of the roost, some primal impulse willing her away from the a.s.sault. She grabbed the rail the rooks perched on, muscles needing to strain against something in response to the sensation. Sight and sound deserted her. All that was left was painful blue fire, boring into her as if it meant to wear her skin.

And then her magic ran out of time. The blast hit the belly of the steamspinner's rigid balloon. She had absorbed the deadly magnetic power, but the concussive force of the blast was still effective. Some part of Evelina was aware of the jolt and clung on to the rail. There was a crack and a tearing that she felt more than heard. All around her the rooks exploded into frantic flapping as the s.h.i.+p shuddered and lurched. Evelina struggled to breathe, as if some of the energy that her magic had absorbed was detonating, too.

She snapped awake at the sound of a rook croaking in her ear. The s.h.i.+p was listing and she was sliding toward the sky, her limbs like soggy bread. Waving the bird aside, Evelina scrambled to her knees, grabbing for a handhold. She could only have been unconscious for a moment, but the loss made her frantic. The fact that the constant din of battle had stopped clawed into her mind. Scrambling until she could look out, she clung to the sides of the opening to the empty air and peered below.

What she saw stunned her. She gave an odd little hiccup of dismay as sheer terror stiffened her limbs. There were only four of the red s.h.i.+ps left, but she saw none of the other pirates. And all four of the Scarlet King's s.h.i.+ps were right there, a ways off but in a narrow arc, clearly focused on the wounded Athena. Seconds ticked by like an ominous drum-roll as Evelina groped for her magic and couldn't find it. It had swooned right along with her, gorged on magnetized aether.

Ash fell, coating her hands and tangling in her dark hair. Tears started down Evelina's cheeks, the salt stinging a sc.r.a.pe she hadn't noticed. The only thing she could think of was that she wished she were near Nick, but she was too horror-stricken to move. It was as if her engines had died right along with the s.h.i.+p's.

And then the enemy vessel farthest to her left fired a hot harpoon right at the Athena's side. It rose, flame furling around it like some exotic bird. Then each s.h.i.+p followed, launching its long iron weapon in sequence until the sky was bright with a flaming arch of death. They were far enough away that it would take the harpoons an endless, painful minute to find their mark. Enough time for a nimble s.h.i.+p to escape, but the Athena was all but dead in the sky. Swearing, Evelina strained, flailing for some sc.r.a.p of power to throw up a s.h.i.+eld-but there was nothing. They were going to die-Nick, Striker, the prince-and the steam barons would win.

The guns of the Athena boomed, and she felt the recoil ripple through the drifting s.h.i.+p. The blast caught the foremost harpoon, knocking it from the sky, but the other three kept coming. Evelina closed her eyes, helplessly willing the flames away.

And yet as she forced herself to open them again, the Dawn Star appeared, dropping out of the sky with a falcon's grace. Evelina gasped, her throat aching with a rush of grat.i.tude. Captain Roberts must have been hiding somewhere in the clouds, waiting for the right moment to ambush the remaining s.h.i.+ps. He couldn't save them, but he could still turn the tide of the fight.

The Dawn Star's guns boomed, and one of the red s.h.i.+ps shuddered, the prow of the gondola seeming to inhale a moment and then burst apart in a shower of wood and metal. Evelina felt the pulse of the lives aboard as they flared out, a faint warmth fluttering against her power.