Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

“You’ve made a monster of me!”

“Then that is who you are. There is nothing I can make you into that does not already dwell in your soul.” He raised a finger, pointing it into her face. “This is your lesson in truth, kitten. You are my thrall .”

Evelina drew up short. It had been a long time since she’d felt his wrath, but it made her own feel stronger. She narrowed her eyes, no longer caring what he did. He’d already destroyed her. “Be careful what you make of me, Doctor.”

She turned and walked back to her bedroom, then sat un-moving at the edge of the bed. It was still strewn with the contents of her trunks, but she ignored that entirely. A minute or two later, she heard the key fasten the lock.

The sound made her feel better. If Magnus was turning her into an implement of his will, there was no way she could ever let herself go home.

Over Somerset, October 12, 1889

ABOARD THE ATHENA

3:12 p.m. Saturday

“DARK MOTHER OF BASILISKS, WHAT IS THAT?” NICK GROWLED. He shoved the tankard back toward his helmsman, rising from the scrubbed wooden table in the mess area of the ship.

“Scrumpy,” Digby replied, his wide smile showing crooked teeth. He was tall, red-haired, and perpetually good-natured, even toward vile substances masquerading as drinkable liquids. “Striker brought a fair supply on board.”

“As an incendiary weapon?”

“No, he said it was a right proper drink for pirates. And I rather like it.”

“You can have my share.” Nick gave up and started toward the fore of the steamspinner.

“Right you are, sir,” Digby said cheerfully, draining Nick’s mug in a single draft.

As he walked away, Nick waited for the sound of his body falling in a toxic heap, but apparently airmen were manly men well able to survive the rigors of scrumpy.

From the mess, he walked forward to the bridge, still amazed by the view from the arc of huge windows. With deep satisfaction, Nick regarded the brilliant greens and golds of Somerset unrolling below. He had survived the Scarlet King’s hell. Now Scarlet was dead, and Nick had this amazing ship, his crew, and Athena. The only other thing he wanted for himself was Evelina.

He had been on the Athena when Her Majesty’s Laboratories had been destroyed, or he would have whisked her away then. As it was, she had escaped with Madam Thalassa’s crew. Holmes was learning her exact location now, then Nick would pick her up, and all would be right in his world. If His Princeliness the Schoolmaster came out on top, there was even a chance of a pardon.

You are whistling, Niccolo , said Athena.

“I’m happy.”

But you are not musical. And there is a rook awaiting you below .

The mention of the birds sobered him. Gwilliam had reported disappearances from his flock—scouts who went out and did not return. Then they had found the savaged body of a rook dropped in pieces against the starboard portholes. The birds had little idea what was stalking them, but it always seemed to happen when there were enemy airships nearby. Evidently, the steam barons had a new weapon.

Nick retraced his steps through the mess, the crew quarters, and out the door that took him from the gondola to the main workings of the ship. This was Striker’s kingdom. He could hear the crash-banging of crates being moved in the storerooms as his second in command tidied away the bolts, grease, and other parts necessary to keep the ship running in top form. It was a bit like witnessing a clockwork badger stocking his burrow for the winter.

Nick’s destination was a small doorway on the port side of the ship. It led into a small, narrow chamber with no furnishings other than roosts. There were three round portholes as well as a narrow hatch that opened straight into the clouds. Here was where the ash rooks could come and go at will.

He put his head inside the roosting area. “Do you have a message for me?”

A young rook with a simple chain around his neck flew down from his perch and dropped a note at Nick’s feet. Fair winds, Captain, I come from the place of brick and water below .

“Greetings, Talfryn.” As they had nearly reached Bath, Nick assumed the message must be from the Schoolmaster’s headquarters just outside the city. He bent to retrieve the message.

Will there be battle soon?

Without answering, Nick unfolded the paper, which had been somewhat mashed by its trip in the rook’s strong beak.

Captain ,

I beg your indulgence, but I trust you will understand the contents of this message better than most. I received a telegram from the younger Miss Roth this morning with a very strange piece of information. She woke up with a firm conviction that her elder sister, who has been ill and insensible for months, visited her in a dream and gave her instructions to advise me that Evelina Cooper is being held captive by the sorcerer Magnus at Castle Siabartha. As you can well imagine, this is not within my usual area of expertise .

However, I extend these three facts for your consideration. First, it has come to my attention that there were indeed several sightings of an unmarked black air vessel between Dartmoor and the coast north of Tintagel immediately following the destruction of Her Majesty’s Laboratories .

Second, there is indeed a Castle Siabartha on that coast .

Third, my initial assumption was that Evelina left the moor on the night of the laboratories’ destruction with Madam Thalassa. There was another set of footprints near the location where I last saw her, but it had rained so heavily before dawn that any information they might have provided was badly obscured. And, to be frank, I thought I knew the reason for her silent departure. She was visibly upset at the time, and until now I believed she left quietly in an effort to keep her troubled state of mind to herself. This delicacy of feeling is, as I’m sure you know, part of her nature. Nevertheless, I have since confirmed to my great consternation that I was in error, and there is a strong probability that she was coerced and kidnapped .

In brief, I believe Miss Roth’s information should not be discounted, however irregularly she has obtained it .

Captain, I am well aware that in this time of conflict, you and your ship will be pushed to the limit. However, I beg you to investigate. The coordinates for the castle are listed below .

—S. Holmes

Nick read the message, and then read it again. Evelina is gone . It was like being thrown in Manufactory Three all over again, with the rage and helplessness that dragged with it.

A remote castle on the coast? Magnus? Nick’s mind veered sharply away. I saw Magnus fall. He has to be dead . But he’d thought that before and been wrong.

He looked down at Talfryn. “Tell Gwilliam to prepare for a siege.”

Southwest Coast, October 12, 1889

SIABARTHA CASTLE

4:10 p.m. Saturday

THRALL? IN YOUR fantasies, you moth-eaten charlatan .

When she’d left Whitechapel, Evelina had been horrified by the price Magnus’s lessons had made her pay. And yet, there’d been a lingering corner of regret for all she would never learn.

After last night, any lingering disappointment had just gone up in a ball of flame. She wanted out before he did something else to her. Where am I going to go?

Part of her wanted to be locked away somewhere, back at the college or maybe in a dungeon where she couldn’t hurt a soul—at least until she knew she could control this new curse. And part of her was terrified of confinement. In a way she didn’t quite understand, she wasn’t entirely civilized anymore.