Angel of Brass (31 page)

There came the sound of shattering glass,
followed by a woman’s scream.

Jin rushed to the end of the corridor, burst
through a door—and found himself in the midst of summer.

Warm, humid air enfolded him. Exotic trees,
vines, and flowers crowded around, and a flock of brilliant parrots
took to the air, their wings beating wildly. Above his head,
through the reaching branches, he caught a glimpse of dark sky and
falling snow, which somehow didn’t reach the ground.

It’s a conservatory
, he realized after
a disorienting instant.
The ceiling is glass
.

High overhead, one of the glass panes had
been smashed out, and snow drifted past the dagger-like shards. A
woman screamed again, sending even more parrots skyward. Hoping
that he wasn’t too late, Jin battered his way through the clinging
branches and vines.

Near the center of the conservatory was a
great pile of rocks, a false waterfall tumbling over them and into
a pool. A dead guard sprawled by it, one hand trailing into the
water. Nearby, a woman crouched, her hands flung up in front of
her, her sumptuous gown wet from the spray of the waterfall. Off to
one side, observing her with an impassive face, was the man Jin had
seen at the resurrectionists’ headquarters.
Reynard
.

And facing the woman, a ray gun in her hand,
was Del.

“Stop!” Jin shouted.

Del spun to face him, and her face paled
sharply. She was stilled dressed as a Xatlian, he noted, and even
the design of her gun aped that of the prince’s bodyguards. “Jin!
Get out of here!”

“No!” He launched himself at her.

With a snarl, she shoved the gun back into
its holster—and leapt straight up, her wings buffeting the air to
get height. “I won’t let you interfere!” she shouted. “Don’t make
me hurt you!”

Jin took to the air after her. Perhaps, if he
could force her down, he could put an end to this without injuring
her...

She twisted in the air like a winged cat, her
left foot raking at him, claws extended. With a startled shout, he
tried to avoid the kick, but it caught him across the chest. Pain
flared, and he felt the wetness of blood trickling down his
belly.

She’s willing to hurt me
. The
revelation was far worse than the wound itself.

She kicked again, but this time he was ready
for her. He grabbed her foot, using his claws for purchase, and
pulled up with a hard beat of his wings. The effect was to flip her
over; he let go, and she crashed into one of the trees, her wings
tangling in the vines. As she struggled free, he banked hard, and
saw the woman who must be Queen Rowena staring up open-mouthed, her
cousin moving up behind her.

“Run!” he shouted. “Get away from
Reynard—he’s the one who set you up! I’ll hold off Del—”

Then a weight crashed into his back, sending
him tumbling to the floor.

* * *

As Molly and Dr. Aldebrand drew close to the
main doors of the palace, a slim form with vast wings sliced
through the falling snow, moving low and fast. Startled, Molly
started to call out—then realized that the figure didn’t belong to
Jin.

Delilah.

“What on earth?” murmured Dr. Aldebrand.
They’d run all the way from the battleground, and Molly noted that
the elderly doctor had begun to wheeze alarmingly.

“She’s the assassin we’re here to stop,”
Molly said. There was no longer any point in keeping secrets—if
Aldebrand was an enemy, he knew them already.

Aldebrand’s eyes widened in alarm. “Ah. I’d
wondered why they made an end of young Ellington.” His eyes, sharp
despite his age, watched carefully as Del came down amidst the
wilderness of roofs.

“Jin’s here too—he might be in the air as
well—he’ll be trying to stop her,” Molly said in a rush. “We’ve got
to help him.”

“Agreed.” Aldebrand started for the palace
doors. “It appears, unless I am much mistaken, that the assassin
landed in the area of the conservatory.”

Glad that she was with someone who knew the
layout of the palace, Molly followed him up the steps. “Shouldn’t
there be guards?” she asked when no one attempted to hail them.

“My guess is that they were all sent to fight
the shamblers,” Aldebrand said grimly. “Although whoever left the
palace so unguarded...”

“Duke Reynard is at the bottom of this.”

The doctor cast her a shocked look. “What?
No, no—that’s not possible! He adores Queen Rowena. He’s been her
companion since they were children! There was even some talk of
them being wed, before negotiations began with Prince Five
Jaguar.”

Molly swore as the final piece dropped into
place. “That was the reason for the prince’s visit? Marriage
negotiations?”

“It wasn’t public knowledge, of course—they
wanted to hold off announcing anything until the details had been
hammered out, and naturally the business with the temple delayed
things.”

Of course. If Reynard couldn’t get the power
he wanted through marriage, he’d take it outright through a coup.
Pinning the whole thing on the man who had disrupted his original
plan was probably just icing on the cake.

The main doors let them into an enormous
foyer. Aldebrand led the way through a side door, and then down a
confusing series of corridors. There came a shout and a loud crash
from nearby. Aldebrand broke into a trot, and Molly saw a pair of
wide, glass-paned doors ahead.

They passed through the doors and into what
felt like another world. The air was humid and warm, and the
ear-splitting cries of disturbed parrots rang through the dense
foliage. Above the trees, Molly caught a glimpse of gold pinions
and brass fittings, and heard a woman cry out.

“Run!” Jin shouted from somewhere ahead and
above. “Get away from Reynard—he’s the one who set you up! I’ll
hold off Del—”

Heedless of the danger, Molly broke into a
sprint. The foliage that had blocked her view fell away abruptly,
and she found herself in an open space, surrounded by tall, thick
trees. Jin sprawled facedown on the ground, near the queen and
Reynard. A tall, beautiful girl landed beside him.

“Stay out of this!” Del snarled. Jin stirred,
trying to push himself up on his hands, and she aimed a vicious
kick at his head. Although she kept her claws in, it was hard
enough to flip him onto his side, and Molly saw the lines of blood
streaking his chest.

Jin!
She wanted to run to him, but at
that moment, Reynard drew a small ray gun from his pocket and
pointed it in her direction. She froze, her hands clutching the
anti-controller to her.

“No closer, girl,” Reynard said coldly,
stepping away from Rowena and closer to Del. “Nor you, doctor. I
don’t want to muddy the inevitable inquest with bodies killed by
Eroevian weapons, but if I have to explain your corpses away as
those of traitors, then I will.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Queen Rowena
demanded. She was a slight woman, her features distinctive rather
than pretty. Her voice shook, but to her credit, she stood with her
back straight and her eyes defiant. “Reynard, explain
yourself!”

“I would think it would be obvious, even to
you, my dear,” he said. “You’re going to be tragically
assassinated, and your Xatlian prince will take the blame. Within a
year, we’ll be at war with the Empire. Consider it your legacy, if
you will.”

Rowena swallowed hard, tears in her eyes, but
her voice steadied. “And I suppose the body of my assassin will be
trotted out as proof?”

Del pulled a ray gun identical to those used
by the Xatlian guards from a holster at her hip. “I’m far too
valuable for that,” she said, and aimed the gun at Rowena.

“No!” Jin shouted, lurching to his feet. Del
jerked her gun wildly aside; her shot struck one of the stones of
the waterfall, leaving behind a molten spot.

Bloody and streaked with dirt, Jin put
himself between Del and Rowena, his wings stretched to their
fullest extent. His face was set, determined, as if only death
could move him from his place.

Del let out a hiss of rage. “Move out of the
way, damn you!”

“No.”

Reynard’s complexion shaded toward purple.
“He’s not even armed! Just shoot him, you stupid bitch!”

“Molly.” Jin swallowed hard, glancing in her
direction. “Use the device.”

Her hands trembled, and she shook her head,
unable to form the words.
No. I can’t
.

“Molly, do it, before it’s too late!” Jin
shouted. “Now!”

Everything in her rebelled.
I can’t do
this. I can’t kill Jin, not even to save Rowena, not even to keep
us from a war. I can’t
.

Reynard spun, his gun lifted, and she
realized that any opportunity she might have had to choose
otherwise was gone. There came a flash of light, and she screamed,
the device falling from her hands as heat flashed painfully through
it.

“Molly!” Jin swayed in her direction, torn
between saving Rowena and protecting her.

The device was nothing but a smoking ruin,
but it had absorbed the shot. “I’m all right,” Molly shouted. “I’m
fine; just protect the queen!”

Del took aim again. “Jin, get out of the
saints-damned way!”

“No.” Jin swallowed, his face pale under the
copper tint of his skin. “I won’t. If you want to kill Queen Rowena
and start a war, you’re going to have to kill me first.”

Saints. Oh, saints, this is it.

For what felt like an eternity, Del and Jin
stared at one another. Del’s mouth tightened, and she placed her
finger on the trigger of the gun. Jin didn’t look away from her
face, though, simply watched her with determination in every line
of his body.

Then the barrel of her ray gun dropped to
point at the floor. Tears welled in her eyes and trickled down the
sharp planes of her face. “I can’t. You know I can’t, damn
you.”

There was a flash of light and the sharp
crack of a ray gun discharging. Del’s weapon fell from nerveless
fingers, even as her body jerked. Her eyes widened in a look of
surprise as her knees hit the ground...and then she slowly toppled
forward.

“You should have done as you were told,”
Reynard said, his ray gun still pointed at her inert body.

Jin had flung himself back and down, knocking
Rowena to the ground, his wings spread protectively over her. Now
he looked up, and horror spread slowly over his face. “No,” he
whispered.

Aldebrand ran to Del and dropped down by her,
ignoring the threat of Reynard’s gun. He pressed his fingers
briefly to her throat...then sat back. “She’s dead.”

“Rowena was right,” Reynard said. “The
creature was doomed from the start, although I’d hoped she’d at
least be marginally useful before I had to kill her.” He pointed
his gun at them. “Now, the rest of you will do as you’re told.”

A shudder went through Jin, but he didn’t
move away from Rowena. Not knowing what else to do, Molly went to
him, putting her body between Reynard and Jin.

“Molly, no!” Jin said.

She didn’t look at him, only kept her gaze
locked on the gun in Reynard’s hand. She wondered if it would hurt
when he shot her. “I love you, Jin,” she said, because it seemed
terribly important that he understand.

Aldebrand stood up, so that he was between
Molly and the gun. “There are going to be an awful lot of dead
bodies to explain away,” he said. “I suggest that you stop while
you still can, Your Grace.”

Perspiration slicked Reynard’s forehead and
upper lip, and he brushed it away nervously. “It’s too late,” he
said. “Too late to stop. I’ll deal with explanations later.”

And so saying, he tightened his finger on the
trigger.

The shot went wild, striking a tree and
sending a cloud of parrots screaming for the sky. Reynard’s body
jerked, arms flailing for a moment, before he collapsed sideways
into the pool. Blood swirled around him in the water.

“What happened?” Aldebrand asked.

“Father,” Jin whispered.

Dr. Malachi stood at the edge of the
artificial clearing, a ray gun in his hand. As Molly watched, he
tore off his goggles, and she saw that tears were flooding down his
face. Moving slowly, as if something deep within him was broken, he
walked to Del’s body.

“My daughter,” he moaned, falling to his
knees by her. “Oh, my precious child!”

Uncertain what to do, Molly looked back at
Jin. Tears streamed down his face, but he made no move to either
join Malachi or to interfere. Behind him, the queen rose
unsteadily. Dr. Aldebrand rushed to her side.

Still sobbing uncontrollably, Malachi
gathered Del in his arms and staggered to his feet. Her wings
trailed on the ground, and her head fell back, limp, her dark eyes
staring into nothingness.

We should stop him. He almost got us all
killed. Almost started a war
. Del’s gun lay on the ground;
Molly took a step toward it, but stopped when Jin reached out and
grabbed her hand. He didn’t say anything, but his black eyes were
full of pleading.

Grief for his heartbreak closed her throat.
Turning her back on Malachi, she went to her knees by Jin and put
her arms around him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He didn’t say anything, only held her close.
They clung to one another tightly, weeping in silence, while
parrots flew through the falling snow.

Chapter 23

Molly stepped back and pushed up her welding
goggles, frowning critically at the seam on the octopoid’s water
tank. It had been damaged during the shambler attack on Brasstown,
and the fire company was anxious to have their equipment back in
working order.

It had been almost a month since the
assassination had been foiled. The first week had passed in a
flurry of questions from everyone from the captain of the guard on
up, including a protracted interview with Queen Rowena herself.
News of the conspiracy, including Reynard’s attempt to frame the
Xatlians for his own evil deeds, had spread like wildfire. As a
result, public sentiment toward the prince, who had fought
heroically against the shamblers, was extremely favorable. It
seemed likely that a marriage announcement would soon be made.