Tim Akers - Heart of Veridon

Wilson caught up with me and pulled me into an alley. I looked at him once, the grit on his burned face sticky with blood. I put a hand on his shoulder, then leaned over and retched onto the cobbles.

We ended up in the basement of a burned out house on the Canal Blanche. My hands were still shaking as I set down Emily’s shotgun and collapsed against the mossy brick wall of the cellar. Wilson looked nervous.

“You look like hell, boy,” he said. “What was that all about?”

“How did you get there?” I asked, ignoring his concern. “And what happened to the Cog?”

He grimaced, then squatted on his heels across from me. His many arms folded out, hanging in a rough circle around him like the spokes of a wheel.

“They came for us again. Quieter his time, more serious. Some of them were in the water, using some kind of breathing mask. There was no way out.”

“There must have been,” I said. I lay the Cog beside the shotgun, then struggled out of my coat. “You’re here.”

“They didn’t care about me. They came for that trinket.” He watched me carefully, relaxed but ready. “Showed up right after you left, actually. I put up a fight, but they had the numbers.”

“So how’d you get out?”

“I ended up on the ceiling. After the collapse, I crawled up into some of the new cracks.” He shifted awkwardly, his hand running nervously over his scalded pate. “They tried to burn me out.”

“And the Cog? Where was it, while you were hiding away?”

“Long gone, Jacob. The ones in the water, they got it before I even knew they were there. They took it down through the channels, then blew it up behind them. That’s what took the roof.”

“I left it with you, Wilson.” I lay my hands palm up on my knees. “I trusted you.”

“We trusted each other, Jacob. Funny timing.”

“What?”

“I said, funny timing. You left with Emily, and they came in on your heels.” He flexed his extra arms nervously, his prime arms folded loosely in his lap, hand near the open fold of his scorched coat. I remembered that he had two knives, and I had only seen one broken in the cistern. “You see anything on your way out? Talk to anyone, maybe?”

“You have to be kidding,” I said. “All that’s happened, all that we’ve seen… you’re accusing me of selling you and Emily out to the Badge?”

“You show up, take the girl, and rush right out again. Tell us some kind of story about hitting the Church of the Algorithm,” he said evenly, the anger I expected paved under a layer of fatigue. “Badge walks in, and you’re heading out the door.”

“So you think I told them where the Cog was and cut my losses? That I made a deal?”

“Makes some sense. You had Emily with you, knew she wouldn’t get hurt. Probably couldn’t just hand the Cog over, cuz they’d put you down rather than pay you. Me, they weren’t so careful about.”

“Why in the hell would I do that, Wilson? Why would I sell you out?”

“Things are bad, Jacob. Complicated bad. Maybe you found yourself a way out, and knew I wouldn’t take the deal. And you didn’t want to give Emily a chance to turn it down, either.”

“Seriously, fuck you.”

He shrugged. “My loyalty is to her, Jacob. Not you. If you sold us out, I’ll learn of it. If you let them hurt her-”

“Let them hurt her? Let them? Do you have any idea what she and I went through after we left you? As long as they didn’t have the Cog, it didn’t matter what they did to me. Soon as you let them get it-”

The knife was against my throat before I could move. It was plenty sharp.

“Say that again,” Wilson said, quiet. “Tell me it was my fault one more fucking time.”

I swallowed and tried to back into the wall. His hand followed me the whole way, steady as stone.

“Two ways we can go from here, Wilson. One of them gets Em killed. The other one, we talk this out, come up with a plan, and break her out.”

“And kill the people who have her.”

“Of course.”

“You’re assuming that I can’t get her free myself, Jacob. That I need your help.”

“You do. And I sure as hell can’t do it without your help.”

He stared at me for a while, his dark eyes reflected in the barbs and arcs of his blade. Finally he put it down.

“This is true. So tell me, Jacob Burn. Where have you been? And what shall we do about our girl?”

“You won’t believe me. I don’t believe me. But I learned that the thing in my chest is a very old artifact, hidden there with my father’s blessing. And the Cog is the heart of a dead god.”

“We already knew that,” he said.

“Now we know it for sure. I’ve seen another one, in the Church of the Algorithm. And I’ve met the girl.”

“Girl?”

“Camilla. Martyred goddess of Veridon.”

I told him loosely where I’d been, what I’d seen. He looked at me without expression. When I was done he nodded once.

“These things are connected?” he asked. I nodded. “So, the Council found something and they’re trying to keep it from the Church.”

“Better. The Council is trying to keep it for themselves. There’s a split, the old Families and the Young Seats. Like you said, things are bad complicated.”

“And they’ve taken Emily-”

“To get to me. To lure me in. Also, they’re planning on offering her to the Angel. They’re making her the ideal host.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Your father?”

“Ambushed me twice, betrayed the Council to deal me to the Church, then tried to get me to surrender to the Tombs. You saw that part.”

“Yes. I followed you from the Manor Burn. That servant, what’s his name? William. He left right after you.”

“Probably to warn my father. I had to move slow, avoid the patrols. That’s how Tomb had those guards waiting for me.” I crossed my arms and gave Wilson a curious look. “Why were you watching my house?”

“I had my suspicions. If you dealt us to the Council, it was only a matter of time before you showed up at home.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

“So. What do we do?”

I sighed and folded my hands.

“We need to decide who we trust. Tomb told me that Emily is with Sloane. It was the Badge that attacked you? You’re sure?”

He nodded.

“So that makes sense. She said they had her on the Torchlight.”

“The Torch’?”

I nodded. “In the base.”

“That’s a fortified compound. We’ll never get in there.”

“Oh, I imagine we’ll get in. They want us to get in. It’s getting out that has me worried.”

“That’s something that has us all worried, Jacob Burn,” a voice said behind me, from the shadows of the shattered staircase. The voice was musical, pipes and pistons in a semblance of humanity.

Wilson didn’t move. My hands were working the action on Emily’s shotgun even as I remembered it was empty.

A dark bulk resolved into a man of cogs and metal. Valentine. He was not alone. Others stood behind him, keeping to the shadows, weapons in their hands. I counted at least three.

“How do people keep finding me?” I muttered. “What the hell are you doing here, boss?”

“You are cutting a wide wake through the city, Jacob. I have had eyes on all the major players for the last couple days. Ever since the incident at the Tomb Manor. When your path crossed your father’s and the Lady Tomb, I decided it was time to step in. We have some things to discuss, I imagine.”

He took an envelope out of his waistcoat and dropped it in my lap. It was addressed to Valentine, City of Veridon. The edges of the envelope were dirty and worn. I opened it and read the single sheet of paper inside.

– As we agreed: GLORY OF DAY. Have your best men on board.