13

I huddled next to the sleeping woman near the slip harboring Berkley’s air ship. She snored while propped against a crate, her ratty wool cape snug about her frail frame as a hand hewn pipe dangled from weathered lips. She whistled through missing front teeth with each exhale and it was driving me mad, but my position at her side, with my face hidden beneath a blanket I’d found in her basket, gave me an undisturbed vantage point of Berkley’s ship.

Matte black, the vessel’s hull, the dirigible balloons with their rope netting, all reminded me of the flat coloring on a beetle’s carapace. The air ship seemed to deflect the angled rays of the sun long past its zenith. I wondered at the purpose of the obvious work it took to coat the entire vessel as such. One could surely spot an all-black ship amid the blue and white of the open sky.

Speculating what Berkley used to coat the ropes, I nearly boarded the ship out of curiosity, but my fear of betrayal kept me rooted. Though I endeavored to trust him, I did not know why he offered assistance, and I fully expected him to stride down the gangway with lawmen in tow to turn me in. And yet he did know Collodin, at least, he knew of him, which was significantly more information than I had this morning.

He’d called Collodin mad, and the idea sent uneasiness flaring through me. Still, I needed to find this tinkerer and until I felt satisfied of my safety, I opted to watch from a distance far enough for a running start.

Now, almost an hour of waiting, the cooling wind pushed the assurance from me and replaced it with shivering doubt. Did Berkley intend to show up at all? I looked up toward the deck of the ship, spotted the flapping corner of my father’s cloak, and smiled to myself. Hoping to give the impression I had already boarded, the pleasure at my own cleverness faded when a familiar sight sent my heart vaulting.

Three lawmen strode down the pathway, their heads turned up toward the black vessel.

I had no doubt they searched for me. Betrayal burned in my gut and I stilled, my hand to my mouth as they stopped in front of Berkley’s ship.

People watched them warily, muttering and crowding around.

Several men pushed their cloaks back behind their hip holsters, their tense posture worrying me.

“Captain of the vessel,” a lawman called up. “Berkley!”

Something seemed off and I stood slowly, letting the blanket drop.

When no answer came, they pulled on the rope ladder and climbed aboard.

Where was the tinkerer?

I backed away from the scene, scanning for the older man, apprehensive. An arm snaked around my waist and pulled me against a muscled body so swiftly I did not have time to cry out with surprise.

“Do not move, Charlie,” Ashton hissed in my ear. “Do you understand? Not even a whimper.”

My breath caught with both relief and fear, and I nodded, my heart ramming.

He eased back until we were behind a make-shift stall. The repurposed carriage felt rough against my back when Ashton turned, pinning me in place with a frustrated look on his face. I’d never seen anything more wonderful in my life. Relief flooded through me. “How did you find me?”

“The same way they did,” he said and nodded toward the lawmen. “The bounty on your head is enormous and rumors of a lady tinkerer run amok up here. It’s a wonder you weren’t captured already. Did you really flash your altered opera glasses in the middle of a crowd?”

“I’m so glad to see you!” I truly was. As determined as I was to get to my father, I realized how relieved I felt just to be near him.

“I…” he began, his voice stern before he paused, blinking. “What?”

“Mr. Berkley is in trouble. We must find him.” I scanned the crowd, uncertain of where he could be hiding.

“Charlie…” Ashton put a palm to my cheek and gently turned me to face the black ship. “They are tearing that vessel apart looking for you, and when they don’t find you there they will start with the stalls and air-ships of everyone here.”

“But Berkley said…” I put my hand over Ashton’s. “Please help me find him. He warned me. He gave me a place to hide.”

Seemingly startled, he pulled his hand from under mine, his face set with a grim expression. “He gave you up. For all we know he’s off counting his money for turning you in. We have to leave here. Now give me your father’s book and let us be on our way.”

“He did not. If Berkley turned me in, then how could they think he was on the vessel?”

“Charlotte,” Ashton warned, his voice vibrating through me. “The journal.”

Crossing my arms, I jutted my chin up. “If you want it, then you will have to retrieve it yourself, sir.”

His lips pressed into a thin line. “We’ve no time for this. The hours I wasted looking for you could have been better spent delivering the journal to The Order for de-coding.”

“Berkley did not turn me in. Someone else must have or the lawmen would not be calling for him at his ship. What if others are looking for him? What if he is captured for helping me?”

“Then they are busy with him and we can escape unscathed.” He reached for me and I yanked my arm from him.

“What did The Order do to you?” Disappointment squeezed my insides as I glared at him. I pushed on his chest and he stepped back, startled. “How are you so cold inside? Have you no compassion? No love of any kind save for what your precious Order decrees?”

“Charlie—”

“Mr. Wells,” I countered. “I am going to find Berkley. He not only helped me, he somehow knows Collodin. Perhaps he can lead—”

“You will do no such thing,” he said and the anger in his words set my teeth on edge.

“Or what?” I snapped back, aware that others were beginning to take notice of our argument.

“I’m sorry?” He paused, his brows furrowed.

“I simply want to make sure Mr. Berkley is not in danger. Perhaps ask him a few questions…that is all.”

“No.” He shook his head, resolute. “Enough of this.”

“Do you intend to strip me of my clothes for my father’s book right here?” I moved to step around him but he caged me against the airship with his arms.

“You cannot outrun me, Miss Blackburn, and if I have to carry you, so be it. As for your bodice,” he cocked an eyebrow speculatively, but showed no hint of humor, “how it is relieved of the journal is entirely up to you, but I will have it.” He leaned in as he spoke, and heat rolled off him.

So affected by his aggression, I struggled just to take a breath.

His dark gaze looked positively riled. Once again, Ashton changed his tactic and treatment of me to get what he wanted. From formal to familiar. Gentleman to scoundrel.

My temper flared and I bit my lip to stop trembling. Angry and frustrated, I hated my very feminine reaction to this helpless feeling. What would my father say to more sniveling?

Ashton’s expression softened, but he stood his ground.

“I will speak to Berkley,” I said evenly, gathering my courage. “And you cannot stop me.”

“Oh?” A surprised smile pulled at his lips. “And why is that?”

“Because,” I said and slowly raised the pistol he’d given me. “You’ll be too busy running.”

“What—”

I fired into the air, yelping as the earsplitting blast tore from the weapon. The flash rendered me nearly blind, but I took off as the port crumbled into a horde of scurrying and panicked people. Ashton reached for me, and I shrugged out of his grasp as a jumble of merchants pushed him along to the side. Over my shoulder, I spied the lawmen.

They scanned the crowd from Berkley’s ship, their weapons drawn.

I ran, shocked at my own actions. Heading for the south tower, to the tinkerer’s stall, I wove through the crowd of the curious that swarmed toward the commotion at the port.

Berkley’s stall was empty, and all I could do was to stand and stare at the weathered counter. To my right, I spied Ashton breaking from the crowd. I braced myself, ready for his wrath when he slowed, his face going slack as he reached for his sidearm.

Behind me, the familiar click of a weapon sounded a moment before the barrel of a pistol pressed against my back.

I froze.

“Now how can someone so small be the cause of all the trouble here in my city?” A lazy drawl sounded behind me.

Hands going up in surrender, I tried to turn, only to have a hand at my shoulder stop me.

“Ah-ah, darlin’…let’s keep you between us. We’ll have less bullets flyin’ that way.”

“What’s happening?” I managed.

“Don’t worry, Charlie,” Ashton said as he approached. He removed his hand from his weapon, his gaze on the man behind me. “Riley, leave her out of this.”

“Sheriff Riley,” the man said, and I felt the gun move from my back. He leveled it at Ashton. “On your knees, Lancelot.”

“Ash?” My voice broke.

His face registered just the slightest hint of fear before a mask of calm dropped over his features.

“Ash?” Riley’s amused mimic of my voice sent a flare of anger through me. “Not just an assignment, then?”

Ashton didn’t answer, but raised his hands as he took another step. “Let her go, Sheriff.”

“Not another move,” Riley said and nodded to the lawmen moving toward us from the crowd. “Take him.”

They leapt on Ashton, pulling his hands behind him with shackles. He didn’t struggle but kept his eyes on me as they searched his clothes and removed his weapon.

Tears streaming, I felt helpless.

Riley embraced me with one arm and slipped the gun from the holster at my waist.

“Everything will be OK, Charlie,” Ashton said softly.

“Perhaps for you…Charlie, is it?” Riley said, his drawl edged with steel. “But not so for our errant knight.”

“She has nothing to do with our quarrel,” Ashton said evenly. “Let her go.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Riley stepped to the side, his weapon still trained on him. He caught a lock of my hair in his glove and brought it to his nose, breathing in.

Ashton’s face tightened. “Don’t touch her.” He struggled with the lawmen only to freeze when Riley shoved the gun into my side.

“Another move and I end her,” Riley snarled. “The reward was for ‘dead or alive’. I get paid either way.”

“What?” Panic ripped through me and I shook in disbelief and horror. Surely not— “Dead?”

Riley hooked his finger under my chin, and forced me to face him. “Where did you discover such a beauty, Lancelot?” He leaned in, smiling. “She is positively delicious.”

“Stop—” Ashton lunged for us, but Riley’s man moved faster. He wielded a lightning stick, shocking him with an electric flare that sent him to the planks.

I screamed as his body jolted on the floor, his eyes rolling back before he went still.

“Now,” Riley leveled the gun at my chest. “Talk me out of turning you in.”

“What?” I took in the jagged scar that snaked from his temple up into his hairline. I struggled to snag a coherent thought. Glancing down at Ashton’s still form, I felt the floor tilt beneath my feet.

Around us, people stared as they passed, but did not stop. They gave us a wide berth.

“What do you mean?”

“The Order of the Sword and Scroll do not send their finest knights after fugitives. They meddle in the affairs of kings, not runaway daughters.” He pulled the lorgnette I’d given Berkley from his long coat’s pocket. “What do you have to do with all of this?”

“I was trying to make a trade,” I said, watching for the rise and fall of Ashton’s chest. A wave of relief flooded when I saw his eyelids flutter.

“For what?”

“What are you going to do with him?” The shakiness of my voice did little to sell my façade of calm.

“It depends on what you tell me about the Tremblers.” Riley’s gaze bore into mine.

“The what?”

His eyes searched my face as if seeking a lie.

“I—I don’t know what you mean.”

“I have it on good authority that your father did. A child of The Order would know her father’s business.”

“But I…”

He grabbed my chin. “Don’t lie to me, Miss Blackburn,” he hissed and nodded at the lawmen, who all leveled their lightning sticks at Ashton’s stirring form. “I will not tolerate it.”

“Please don’t hurt him,” I begged. “P—please, don’t.”

He let go, stepped back and assessed me with a shrewd gaze. “I think I can work with that.”

“Work with what?” Rubbing the ache in my jaw, I blinked back tears. “I don’t understand.”

Riley motioned to his men and they hefted Ashton by both arms.

His head lolled forward and a wave of worry washed over me.

“Your considerable weakness for our good knight,” Riley sneered and took me by the arm.

I stumbled with him, my thoughts firing with fear as the two lawmen dragged Ashton ahead of us. What had I done?