Lindsay Buroker - Beneath the Surface

“ That old lady was tougher than Sicarius’s nasty meat bars, and I had trouble escaping her. Finally had to stuff her in a cabinet. But the enforcers were bursting into the factory by then and saw me run out. Figured I better jump into the river rather than leading them straight back to you.” Maldynado plucked at his sodden shirt. “My wardrobe has taken a considerable beating on this adventure. I haven’t seen my hat since my first plunge into the river. That was a fine hat too.”

As he rambled on, Evrial poked about inside the cabin. A cupboard held clothes, food, and canteens. She laid out salami, crackers, and a block of goat geese for them to share, then flopped into the seat beside Maldynado.

“ I’m trying to decide if I should be alarmed at how adept you are at stealing vehicles,” Evrial said.

“ Adept? Didn’t you see that old lady nearly take my eye out with her broom?”

“ Yes, but you thought quickly when that enforcer jumped after us. And you knew how to steer the boat away-have you been in one of these before?”

“ Not this particular model, but I’ve driven steam launches. And all sorts of steam carriages and lorries for the boss. Some of them even survived the experience.” His eyes rolled upward as he considered something. “Yes, one at least. I think.”

Evrial cut slices of salami for each of them, letting Maldynado concentrate on piloting. The scattered house lamps on the properties above the banks didn’t do much to illuminate the darkening river. “Well, you have a knack. I wouldn’t have expected a warrior-caste man who didn’t join the military to be good at anything more than ordering servants around and perhaps sports dueling.”

“ I’m skilled in at least one other area. As you now know firsthand.” Maldynado gave her a sidelong look that shouldn’t have been visible in the dark cabin, but her imagination filled it in without trouble, and she blushed.

Evrial’s first thought was to deny he had any such skill, but her own responses the night before had been too enthusiastic to make such a comment plausible now. “I’d already heard about that area. I understand that has little to do with your warrior-caste background and more to do with your previous… profession, prior to meeting Lokdon.”

“ Er, what?” His smug tone vanished. “I mean, who told you about… what were you told?”

“ Akstyr said you used to be a male prostitute.”

“ Prostitute! I was an escort. I accompanied ladies and successful businesswomen to social events. That’s all.”

“ I see,” Evrial said. “And these social events never involved after-hours entertainment?”

“ Well, naturally, I’d escort women wherever they wished to go for the evening, but I didn’t get paid for events that happened, er, off-the-clock as it were. And I have standards. It wasn’t like I’d sleep with any old crone.”

“ Hm,” Evrial said, trying to decide if she should feel honored or not that she’d met his standards.

Her laconic answer must have made him nervous, for he fiddled with the controls for a moment, then said, “Let’s worry about what we’re going to do when we catch up to the steamboat, shall we? I’m skeptical that we’ll be able to sneak up behind it, toss a rope, and climb aboard without anybody noticing.”

Evrial hesitated to voice her next suggestion, but they’d already tormented a cleaning woman and stolen a boat. Did it truly matter if they added another entry to their list of crimes? “Most of the clothes I found were uniforms.”

“ Are you suggesting we impersonate enforcers?”

“ You object?” Evrial asked.

“ No, but I want to make it clear that your seal is stamped on this so I can righteously proclaim innocence later when I get blamed.”

“ I won’t try to shift blame onto you.”

“ You say that now, but in my experience, the woman never gets blamed. It’s always the poor sap standing nearby. Usually me.”

“ You must spend time with shifty women.” Evrial smiled, knowing he was talking about Amaranthe.

“ No argument there. Is there a hat in that cabinet? I don’t think my luxurious locks are regulation.”

Evrial snorted. “No, they’re not, but your hair is going to be the least of our concerns. How are we going to keep the enforcers we tangled with yesterday from recognizing us?”

“ Maybe we can avoid them?”

“ Or maybe they’ll be the first ones on deck to greet us,” Evrial said and sank back into her chair.

Full darkness had descended on the river by the time the steamboat came into sight. Evrial closed the furnace door and leaned the coal shovel against it. They wouldn’t need more fuel. Now, they’d need some luck.

“ It’s awfully bright over there,” Maldynado said from the pilot’s seat. “Did they always have all the running lights and lanterns lit at full strength?”

“ They probably did, and we just didn’t notice it from within.” Evrial silently admitted that the boat did seem brighter-and busier-than she remembered. Numerous white-uniformed officers and security guards occupied the decks along with several men in enforcer grays. She didn’t spot a single person in civilian clothing. “There are more enforcers on there than I realized.”

“ Or they picked up some in town. There’s no way we’re going to be able to sneak aboard.” Maldynado tapped his uniformed chest. “Let’s hope our ruse works.”

Evrial searched the cupboards until she found a spyglass. She scanned the steamboat decks. “Nobody’s looking this way. That’s surprising.”

“ We don’t have any lanterns lit. Unless they spot the smoke we’re venting, we should just look like a dark smudge on the water. Besides, we’re coming in from behind. The helmsman will be facing ahead.”

“ Every body is facing ahead,” Evrial said. “Except for a knot of people around… I think that’s the dining hall entrance.”

“ Maybe the troupe is performing again, and there’s not room for everyone inside.”

“ I don’t think so. The people outside the door are enforcers and security guards. There are a lot of big, alarmed gestures, and two men just jogged up with a bunch of crossbows. Someone’s running out of the room. He’s clutching a hand to his opposite arm.”

“ A bloody arm?” Maldynado asked.

“ I can’t tell, but that’d be my guess.”

“ Sounds like the work of the team.”

“ You don’t think they’re trapped in the dining hall, do you?” Evrial asked.

“ It’s hard to believe they’d let themselves be trapped. Unless…”

“ They’re guarding magical weapons?” Evrial suggested.

“ We better hurry up.” Maldynado urged their stolen boat to greater speed. “They may need help.”

“ Wait. There are a lot of people looking out across the bow. I can’t see anything through the boat. Can you veer to the side before taking us in?”

Maldynado muttered something about “delays” and “increasing the odds of being spotted” under his breath, but he angled their craft away from the main channel. Dark trees rose ahead of the steamboat, signifying a bend in the river. Maybe she wouldn’t spot anything. Evrial surveyed the water with the spyglass anyway.

A boat came into sight. The black vessel had a similar style as that of the enforcer craft, but it was much larger with two decks instead of one and with far more guns mounted along those decks. People in uniforms, not enforcer grays but military blacks, stood ready at those weapons. Evrial did a quick head count and doubled it, figuring some of the men rode inside.

“ Forty marines heading toward the steamboat,” she said.

“ Forty?”

A second military boat appeared around the bend.