Devon Monk - Cold Copper

“Go,” Father Kyne said. “I will invite them in.”

Cedar left the kitchen and met Wil in the hallway.

He heard the kitchen door open, and Kyne’s greeting. He couldn’t catch any of their words before he was in the bedroom.

Everyone was already awake. Mae and Miss Dupuis were dressed, coifed, and folding blankets into neat squares atop the chest of drawers. The Madders were awake too, caught up in some kind of dice game where the stakes appeared to be who would go outside in the cold to take inventory of the supplies in the wagon.

“We have company,” Cedar said.

They all looked up sharply, and Cedar was reminded how quietly he often walked. “The sheriff, his men, and a carriage are here. Kyne says they do the mayor’s bidding. He thinks they want to see us.”

“Mayor?” Alun said. “Isn’t that an interesting turn? He’s getting slow. Thought he’d be by last night.”

“Wonder what that devil wants.” Bryn pocketed the dice and pushed up from a crouch.

“We don’t have to wonder,” Cadoc said. “Killian Vosbrough wants what he has always wanted.”

“So you do know him?” Mae asked.

“There’s a reason we should have avoided this city.” Alun settled his coat around his shoulders with a dramatic flair. “It wasn’t just because of our promise owed to the Kyne family. But you wouldn’t stand for it, would you, Mr. Hunt? Insisted we stop at this town. And now, see where you’ve landed us? Summons. From that snake of a man.”

“Why are you worried,” Cedar asked. “Do you owe him a favor too?”

“No,” Alun said. “Quite the opposite. We’ve been asking him for a favor for years.” Alun ambled out of the room.

“What favor?” Cedar asked the other two brothers.

“To lay down and die,” Bryn said. “He seems reluctant to grant our request, but I am looking forward to the day we collect on that.”

“As am I,” Cadoc said with a sharp grin.

Cadoc and Bryn sauntered out of the room after their brother.

Mae raised her eyebrows and Cedar shook his head. He had no idea what their issue with the mayor might be. The Madders were given to moments of drama and foolery, and moments of sobering truth. He didn’t know which of those this was.

“Do you know anything about the mayor?” Cedar asked Miss Dupuis.

She finished placing the last blanket on the dresser and smoothed it while she considered her answer. “I know the Madders have made a great many friends in their efforts to keep this land safe. I know they have made a great many more enemies. Vosbrough is an old family, rooted in the beginnings of the country, in the money and influence that holds it together.”

“Are they famous?” Mae asked.

“Powerful, which buys them fame if they so wish. Some even say it will buy them the country.”

“The New York Vosbrough?” Cedar knew he’d heard that name before.

He’d guess there almost wasn’t a man in these United States who hadn’t heard of them. They were millionaires, thriving on glim trade between the states and into England, France, and Spain. The elder patriarch Vosbrough had died more than thirty years ago, leaving the running of his thriving glim empire to his three children.

“Are there any others?” Miss Dupuis asked with a faint smile. She adjusted the pearl hatpin in her hat, then walked across the room, smoothing her skirt. She had chosen to put on her coat and kidskin gloves, ready to face the storm.

“I’ll see what, exactly, the sheriff wants,” she said.

Cedar turned to Mae. “You could stay here.”

Mae shrugged into her coat and shook her head. “I have nothing to fear from a rich man, mayor or not. It is possible he wants to have words with the Madder brothers and we will be left behind. Or perhaps Mayor Vosbrough doesn’t want to speak to any of us. Perhaps he wants to talk to Father Kyne.”

“And so he sends the sheriff to fetch him?” Cedar asked. “And four other men?”

She gave him a quick smile. “Well, whatever the case, I can’t imagine it would be a bad idea to have a witch at hand, do you?”

“No,” Cedar said, catching her hand and walking with her, “I don’t.”

The kitchen was empty. Father Kyne leaned in the open door looking outside, and glanced back at them. “The mayor has asked for your company,” he said. “Breakfast at the manor.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Mae asked.

“He asked for the company of the Madders and their traveling companions. He did not ask for me.”

Cedar looked out past the minister.

Alun, Bryn, and Cadoc were standing in the snow near the tall carriage that hissed and steamed up the air. Their hands were in their pockets and they stared at the sky like they were expecting an airship to cross it any minute now. From the buzz in the distance, Cedar could tell there were airships out today, though he had always thought snow made for bad flying.

Miss Dupuis was at the back of the carriage, stepping up a ladder to the back door of the coach.

“Coming, Mr. Hunt?” Alun shouted.

Instinct said, trap . If it were, then Miss Dupuis and the Madder brothers, who were all within easy range of the mounted men’s firearms, were already in danger.

“I’ll look after your brother,” Father Kyne said as he moved aside so Cedar and Mae could step past him. “Be careful.”

Cedar walked onto the porch.

“Are you Mr. Hunt?” the sheriff asked from atop his horse.

“I am.”

“Pleased to make your meet. I am Sheriff Burchell, and this is my deputy, Greeley.” He nodded toward a clean-cut man, built stocky with slicked-back black hair and an old scar running from the edge of his mouth to his temple.

Greeley tipped his fingers to the brim of his hat.

“You and your lady friend are invited to breakfast with the mayor,” Sheriff Burchell said. “He sent you a carriage. We’ll see you returned here or to other more suitable lodgings after your meal.”

“Seems an awful lot of guns for a stroll to the mayor’s place,” Cedar said as the Madders all clambered up into the tall carriage.

“Father Kyne there doesn’t care to have the telegraph lines hooked up to his church, so there was no faster way to send an invite,” the sheriff said. “Besides, there are plenty of people passing through town out to make trouble. We get our share of tramps and rowdies. Wouldn’t stand for you to be delayed.”

“Delayed?” Cedar said as he walked down the porch with Mae. “I’m surprised the mayor knew we had arrived.”

The sheriff’s mouth curved up for the briefest of moments, but no humor took hold in those dark eyes. “We hear all sorts of things from both sides of the Mississippi here in this town. Every corner has a wire, and every house a telegraph key. Isn’t a thing that happens in this town the mayor doesn’t know about.”

“That’s thorough of him.” Cedar and Mae walked to the tall coach.

“He’s a very caring man,” the sheriff agreed. “Always has the good of this city on his mind.”

“Hurry up, now, Mr. Hunt,” Alun called. “We wouldn’t want to keep the mayor waiting.”

Cedar had followed Alun Madder and his brothers into danger before. He didn’t enjoy making a habit of it. But Mae was right. If there was trouble, it would be good to have a witch at the table. And it might not be bad to have a bounty hunter either.

They climbed the ladder and Cedar ducked his head through the coach door and settled onto the plush green velvet of the seats arranged on either side of the carriage.

The coach was roomy, luxurious. The three Madder brothers sat on the bench opposite him, Mae, and Miss Dupuis.

The footman shut tight the door, and then the driver let loose the brake. The carriage pulled forward rather smoothly through the snow and chugged along at a smart pace.