Angel of Brass (30 page)

“Yes.” Molly climbed to her feet. The distant
echo of shouts, screams, and gunfire came from the south. “It
sounds like the battle is in that direction.”

Jin nodded. “You take the anti-controller
there, then. I’ll head into the palace and try to stop Del.”

Although he spoke in a level voice, the grief
in his eyes tore at her soul. Very gently, she laid one hand on his
bare chest, so that she could feel the steady pulse of his
mechanical heart. “I wish, for your sake, that there was some other
way,” she whispered.

“So do I.”

“Be careful, Jin. Don’t let her hurt
you.”

“It’s too late for that.” He put his hand to
her face, cupping her cheek. “I love you.”

They shared a lingering kiss. Then he leapt
into the air, wings shredding the wind and sending snow swirling
madly before being swallowed up by the night.

* * *

Jin approached the palace with a rising sense
of dread. He concentrated on keeping his wings moving, worried
about ice accumulating on the pinions; already, he could feel more
drag than he should.
At least Del will be dealing with the same
problem
.

He had no idea what he would say to his
sister, or how he might possibly convince her that she was in the
wrong. The memory of her words in the factory raked him, sharper
than her claws. As far as Del was concerned, he had betrayed her.
Betrayed their family. Why would she listen to him after that?

She has to. I’ll
make
her listen.
Somehow
.

First things first, though. As he circled the
sprawling bulk of the palace, he realized that he had no idea where
to even start looking for her. She would make her way to the queen,
but where would the queen be found?
And if I get there first,
what’s to keep the queen’s guards from shooting me as an
intruder?

There didn’t seem to be much movement within
the palace itself, and he didn’t see any posted guards at the doors
or windows, which worried him. The fighting would have pulled a
great many away—that no doubt was part of the plan.
But all of
them? Someone would stay behind and keep the palace secure,
wouldn’t they?

Unless Duke Reynard made sure Del had an
easy way in
. Could he have ordered the guards away? Jin had no
idea how the power structure worked in practice, but it seemed
likely that the duke would have that sort of authority, especially
if he was a known favorite of the queen.

As he banked to circle back toward the front
of the palace, Jin spotted a lone figure standing on a balcony,
looking out over a wide view of the grounds. The lenses of his
goggles flashed as he turned his head, and his iron-gray hair and
suit were horribly familiar. Almost without thought, Jin changed
the angle of his flight and arrowed at the balcony.

He pulled up at the very last second, the
claws of his feet gripping the banister for balance, slipping in
the snow that had piled there. Startled by his sudden appearance,
Dr. Malachi stumbled back.

“Hello, Father,” Jin said. “Imagine running
into you here.”

Malachi held a device in his hands that Jin
recognized as the main control box for the shamblers. A secondary
antenna had been set up on the roof to boost its signal.

“Jin?” Malachi said. “You were supposed to
stay at the meat-packing plant! This is not a way to get back into
my good graces.”

“I’m not interested in your graces.” Jin
leaned forward, spreading his wings for balance. “The smiling men
are all destroyed, by the way.”

A look of grudging respect crossed Malachi’s
face. “An impressive feat, although I do wish you hadn’t performed
it at my expense.”

This is getting us nowhere
. “Where is
Del?” Jin demanded. He unsheathed the claws on his fingers to their
fullest extent, but Malachi barely deigned to glance at them.

“Performing the mission that you should have
been assisting her with,” Malachi snapped. “I love you, son, but I
will
not
tolerate your interference in this!”

Jin lunged for the control box, intending to
tear it from Malachi’s grasp and smash it. Malachi had anticipated
the move, however, and twisted away. In the blink of an eye, he had
slipped through the balcony doors and into the palace.

Swearing, Jin tucked his wings close to his
body and jerked both doors wide. The room attached to the balcony
was opulent, with sumptuous hangings surrounding an enormous bed
and a deep carpet on the floor. The door to the hall outside swung
on its hinges, not quite closing in Malachi’s wake. Jin had to turn
sideways and bend over to fit the rig through the doorway, which
cost him precious seconds.

The hall was deserted, except for a trail of
melting snow. Determined that his father wouldn’t get away, Jin
broke into a run.

* * *

Clutching the satchel with the
anti-controller with one hand and her electric torch with the
other, Molly ran through the gardens. The hedges and ornamental
grottos turned the place into a maze, and she cursed as she
backtracked yet again.

The wind swung about and brought the stench
of death with it, so strong that she almost gagged. A bright flash
turned the world momentarily white, and she saw the outline of the
high wall surrounding the garden. Another flash revealed an iron
gate set into the brick. Molly ran to it and pushed, then cursed
again when it proved to be locked.

I don’t have time for this!

Awkwardly tucking her electric torch beneath
one arm, she took out her lock picks. Her fingers were numb from
the cold, and it seemed to take forever until the lock finally
yielded. Wrenching open the gate, she bolted through—then stopped,
staring at the scene in front of her with mounting horror.

A long stretch of open lawn sloped down from
the rise on which the palace loomed. In the distance stood the
houses and manors of parliament members and of various lords and
ladies of the high aristocracy. Many of the mansions seemed to be
under attack, and at least one was on fire. Directly ahead of her,
a knot of men and women formed a defensive line, and even from a
distance she could make out the feathered helmets and golden
jewelry of Xatlian soldiers.

Ahead of them, an army of the dead shambled
inexorably up the rise toward the palace.

The Xatlian weapons pounded them. A few lucky
shots must have taken out the controllers, because some of the
shamblers fell to the snow and ceased to move. For the most part,
however, the blasts made no difference; the shamblers came on, as
if nothing had happened.

One of the Xatlian soldiers flung aside her
weapon with a curse, its charge drained. Pulling a heavy club from
her belt, the solider prepared to rush the foremost shamblers.

“No!” Molly shouted, and ran down the slope,
her boots sliding in the icy slush. “Don’t!”

Several of the soldiers, including the one
with the club, spun to face her. She saw a small group of people
huddled behind their line, several of them Eroevian. All seemed to
be wounded, and none other than Dr. Aldebrand tended to them.
Hearing Molly’s voice, he looked up.

“Miss Feldman? Whatever are you doing here?
Get away, for your own sake!”

“I have a way to stop them!”

This got the attention of even more of the
soldiers. A figure detached himself from the line and strode toward
her. To her shock, she recognized Prince Five Jaguar.

“Is this true?” he asked in flawless, though
accented, Eroevian.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Molly put down the
satchel and pulled out the anti-controller. Several of the prince’s
bodyguards looked nervous at that, but he waved them away
irritably. “The shamblers are animated through an electrical
controlling device that is guided by aetherwave.”

Hope flickered through the prince’s eyes.
“These abominations haven’t been vomited up from the depths of
Xibalba? They’re products of science?”

Molly nodded. “Yes. This device should block
the signal and immobilize them.”

“Should?”

“It hasn’t been tested yet.”

“My prince,” one of the guards protested, but
the prince cut him off.

“We won’t be in any worse a situation if it
doesn’t work,” he said. “What must be done?”

“Just hold them off for a few more seconds
while it charges,” she told him.

The anti-controller began to hum contentedly
as it came to life. Lights flashed across its surface, and a spark
jumped like miniature lightning.
Saints, don’t let anything blow
up now!

One of the soldiers let out a horrible,
gurgling scream. The stench of the shamblers washed over Molly in a
wave, and she swallowed back a surge of bile that left her eyes
watering.
Come on; come on!

“If you’re going to do something, now would
be an excellent time!” the prince called, and Molly had to admire
his steadiness under pressure.

The final light blinked to life. “Ready!” she
shouted.
Saints, let this work!

Holding her breath, she flicked the last
switch.

There came a strange, echoing thump, as the
shamblers all collapsed as one. The silence that followed was
stunned; although the sounds of battle still echoed in the
distance, the nearby shamblers had uniformly been deactivated.

“It worked!” Molly shouted, unable to contain
her excitement. When the prince gave her a disbelieving look, she
shrugged. “Not that I didn’t think it would. But you know how these
things are.”

Two of the soldiers grabbed an inert shambler
and dragged it into the open. “Look!” one called, pointing at the
controller on its back. “This is how they are animated, as the girl
said.”

Molly scowled, but couldn’t really blame them
for wanting to see it with their own eyes. Standing up, she said to
Dr. Aldebrand, “Doctor, I know you have patients here, but if they
aren’t critical, I need your help. I’ve got to get into the
palace.”

He gave her a long, steady look, as if
weighing whatever he saw in her eyes. Then he nodded. “I can take
you there.”

Molly turned to the prince. Now that the
danger wasn’t quite so immediate, she found herself a bit appalled
by how casually she’d spoken to him earlier. Sketching a quick
curtsey, she said, “The anti-controller is yours, sir. There are
still a lot of shamblers on the grounds.”

He glanced thoughtfully at the sieges going
on at the mansions below. “There is only one device?”

“Yes.”

“Then take it to the palace with you. Queen
Rowena must be protected.”

“But—”

“Now that we know what to aim for, we can
destroy these spawn of the underworld,” he interrupted. “Your
soldiers aren’t as well-armed, and the queen may be in danger.
Go.”

Molly knew a royal order when she heard it.
Curtseying again, she shut off the device and stuffed it back in
the satchel. It wouldn’t take as long to warm up a second time.

But I can’t use it in the palace. Jin will be
there, too. This would kill him.

It might be the only thing that can stop Del,
if Jin fails.

Saints. If Del kills him...

Swallowing hard, Molly turned to Dr.
Aldebrand. She knew that she was taking a chance trusting him,
especially after Crowley’s betrayal. But at this point, she had no
other options. Jin might be able to sneak into the palace, but she
certainly couldn’t, and Aldebrand’s presence would lend her an
authority she wouldn’t have otherwise.

And if he’s innocent...he’s taking a chance
by trusting me, isn’t he?

“Ready when you are, Doctor,” she said
grimly.

Chapter 22

Jin’s claws dug divots out of the parquet
floor, seeking traction as he raced around a corner. Despite his
age, Malachi was fast and, more importantly, wily. He ducked
through narrow doors, slipped down staircases, and chose halls that
doubled back. The rig slowed Jin’s progress, but he didn’t dare
take it off and leave it behind.

The palace shouldn’t be this empty
,
Jin thought as he squeezed through yet another narrow door. He’d
caught glimpses of the clockwork servants, scrubbing floors and
polishing furniture without regard to intruders or emergency, but
he’d yet to see anyone of flesh-and-blood.
Perhaps they all
evacuated? Went to some secure place in the basement? Or maybe
they’re crouching behind their doors, afraid to come out,
especially when they hear us tearing through the halls like a pair
of maniacs?

The corridor abruptly let out onto an
enormous room with a grand staircase. Jin took the short way down,
dropping over the side of the banister with wings half-spread to
slow his fall. When his feet hit the marble floor, he froze,
listening and looking intently.

There was no sign of Malachi.

Curse it!
No telling where exactly
he’d lost his father; the man could have taken refuge in a room, or
even slipped through a concealed entrance to a servants’ stair
without Jin noticing.
Saints’ blood, I don’t even know where I
am
. Although this was obviously an important entrance of some
sort, he had no idea where it fit in the general layout of the
palace, having lost all sense of his position while he chased
Malachi.

Something large and dark flashed past the
high windows, sending a swirl of snow against the panes. Even
though he glimpsed nothing but shadow, Jin knew in his hollow bones
what he’d seen.
Del
.

Father was trying to distract me. And it
worked.

She’d been heading deeper into the palace,
and as low as she was, she had to be closing in on her target.
Hoping desperately that he’d be able to intercept her, he ran
through the doors at the end of the room. The hall beyond, although
still deserted, was larger than most, and he wondered if that meant
it led somewhere important.