Emma Holloway - A Study in Ashes

“A good portion of the Blue Boys owe their allegiance directly to me. Let me go and I will turn the tide of battle for you.”

“To you, eh?” Nick returned. “And what did they do to find themselves in that position?”

Evelina remembered Moriarty’s description of his network—the favors owed and debts gathered. “I think the battle is already turning. Perhaps the prince doesn’t need your help.”

“Brave words, but not well founded. We’ve kept the bulk of our forces under the earth. There’s another third of our force the rebels haven’t even seen.”

“The Blue King kept his army in the Black Kingdom?” Nick asked.

“The army rented space under the streets, no more than that.”

“And you would turn your coat for queen and country?” asked Nick.

“I value my life.”

“What’s to keep you from turning it again?”

“The prince needs my loyalty for today. By midnight this war will be decided. And to be honest, I tire of serving King Coal. This is my chance to escape from his service once and for all.”

Nick looked to Evelina. “You know this man. What do you think?”

Evelina considered. The dark power was tasting Moriarty’s promises, rolling them around like candy on its tongue. They tasted like truth, but in a dangerous way. “I owe him a service, so I am discharging that service by speaking on his behalf. I believe what he has just said is completely true. He will fight for Edmond.”

“But?”

“Just that. By destroying King Coal, he serves himself. He does not do this for the Crown.”

“What a charming ally.” Nick paused, eyes narrowed. “What surety can you offer?”

One of the Gold King’s rolling cannons boomed close enough to hurt Evelina’s ears.

“Only my own character,” Moriarty returned. “As Miss Cooper so delicately puts it, our interests coincide. This is a three-way battle. I can give the rebels an edge.”

“I believe in you about as far as I could hurl my airship. But I do believe in Miss Cooper’s instincts.” Nick gave a curt nod and turned to the guards. “Get him ready to present to the prince.”

They looked doubtful, but they cut his bonds while Nick went to make his report to Edmond. Moriarty rose stiffly and made a bow. “You will not regret this choice. All obligations between us are fulfilled, Miss Cooper. But no doubt we will do business again.”

Evelina sincerely hoped not.

And then Moriarty pointed toward the top of one of the rolling spheres. It was just visible from where they stood, the muzzles of its twin cannons pointing above the battle. It was turning back toward Waterloo Bridge.

“Do you want extra surety of my good faith?” asked the professor. “Then there you are. That machine holds King Coal, and he’s abandoning his Blue Boys to the tender mercies of Gold’s army. He thought he had the stomach for battle, but it appears he has lost his appetite for once. Fancy that.”

Evelina gave him a sharp look. “Are you telling the truth?”

He looked mildly offended. “Absolutely.”

She set off at a run to find Nick and Prince Edmond. The chance to capture one of the steam barons was too tempting an opportunity to pass up. She didn’t have to go far, because the two men were already headed her way.

“Where is Moriarty?” Prince Edmond demanded. “He killed Sir Charles Baskerville!”

Evelina recoiled in shock. “He just pointed out the war machine the Blue King is riding in.”

Prince Edmond’s eyes widened as if he’d just stepped into a magnetic coil. “King Coal?”

They broke into a run, but when they reached the spot where Moriarty was being held prisoner, the two guards were lifeless on the ground and the professor had vanished. Nick bent over the guards. “Their necks are broken.”

“I have to catch him,” Edmond said at once. “If there’s a search party, I have to be the one to lead it.”

“And who will chase the Blue King?” Evelina asked. “Moriarty will be impossible to find. The Blue King isn’t.”

Nick looked up. “You don’t have infinite resources to waste seeking individuals in the middle of a battle. At least none who aren’t steam barons.”

“And he knows that,” Edmond said bitterly. “Moriarty knows I can’t afford a personal vendetta when he’s thrown a bigger prize my way.”

Nick and Evelina waited while Edmond cursed under his breath.

“Fine. King Coal it is.” Then the prince was suddenly in motion, striding into the surrounding throng. “Get me some men! Get me weapons and a horse!”

Nick gave her a worried look. “I should go with him. Striker can stay with the Athena .”

Evelina grabbed his arm. The Blue King’s forces were using weapons Magnus designed and no one understood that magic better than she did. “I’m going, too.”

Meeting her eyes, Nick gave a slow nod. She could see he wanted to protect her, but he also relied on her strength. “Bring a pistol,” was all he said.

THEY WERE ON a battlefield crammed with machines, but the cavalry unit led the charge toward the Blue King. Nick, Evelina, and the prince were mounted in their midst. She had no difficulty riding astride, and the horse was better trained for war than she was. The hardest part was getting to the bridge through the crush.

She was taking part in a land battle, yet it was hard to say exactly what it was like. The airship had given her a good view of everything, but here she was but one ant in a swarm. There was too much noise and smoke to pick out much detail. In fact, Evelina couldn’t see farther ahead than the horse and rider in front, and often they were slowed to a walk until finally the group cut south to circle the worst of the crush.

Adding to the chaos was a furor about mechanical snakes escaping from Covent Garden. According to a rebel messenger, the fires breaking out all around the area were driving them into the open, but not before the creatures cut a swath through the Gold King’s retreating forces. It took the large-wheeled war machines to crush the seemingly indestructible serpents, because even aether weapons had little effect. The only advantage they had was that rooks could find the snakes no matter where they hid.

At one point, the prince’s party passed close to the caterpillar, which had finally reached the edge of the gardens where the steamspinner had landed. With a thrill of excitement, Evelina thought she caught a glimpse of Tobias and possibly Alice over to her left, but they were too far away to hail.

The prince’s party reached the Savoy Chapel at the north end of the bridge where dozens more of the Gold King’s machines must have fallen under the control of the rebels. There was an eerie lurch in the battle as one by one they stopped cold, releasing a puff of steam, limbs and cannons drooping. That means Lord Bancroft and Bucky made it safely through to the prince’s main army!

Evelina laughed at the sagging machines, but then one of the smaller units whirled like a dervish, flailing dangerously through its own troops before it finally toppled over. “Look out!” someone cried as its casing burst in a blast of steam, and a scream of pain split the air and made Evelina’s horse flatten its ears. Her first instinct was to leap off the horse and help the wounded, but then the prince broke into a gallop. At long last the crowd gave way, and the pursuit was on.

In no time at all, the prince was in the lead, Nick and Evelina hard on his heels. A thrill built inside her, and she leaned forward over her horse’s neck, the wind in her teeth as she grinned. The bridge had finally cleared, and the Blue King’s sphere was rolling madly ahead, far faster than Evelina would have expected.

Her first response would have been to use magic, but her power was too exhausted after calling the devas to trust in its accuracy. In turn, she’d wondered why he didn’t just turn and blast them to pieces, but now she saw a deep fissure had opened in the housing of the engine inside the machine. The recoil of another volley would probably crack it in two. No wonder the king was holding fire. As to why he had turned tail and run rather than surround himself with his Blue Boys—she could only guess that somehow he’d learned of Moriarty’s deception.