Steamborn (12 page)

Charles raised his eyebrows slightly and pursed his lips. “Not a bad idea.”

“Oh, fine,” Jacob’s mother said. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Charles. It’s just …”

“I know,” Charles said. “We’ll be careful.”

“Just, think of him as if he were your own son, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Charles nodded and slapped Jacob’s back. “Come now, let’s get you suited up so we can show your mom how this works.”

Samuel followed Charles and Jacob into the small lab. “I didn’t realize you’d finished it.”

“I did,” Charles said. “The main problem was getting the switches to be sensitive without being overly sensitive. You don’t want the glider pulling too much in any one direction.”

“How much weight can it hold?” Samuel asked.

“I’ve tested up to two hundred pounds.” Charles tapped his chin and ran his fingers over the backpack’s shoulder straps. “I’d guess it could handle double that if it had to.”

“Four
hundred?”

“Mind you, I wouldn’t want to be the one with a payload like that. If those wings collapsed, well …”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about it for long.”

“Can we not talk about wings collapsing when I’m about to jump off a house?” Jacob said under his breath.

Samuel laughed and squeezed Jacob’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, kid. It’s only two stories up. You could survive that without a glider.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to end up next to Bobby in the hospital. He snores too much.”

Charles leaned in and checked the last switch. Jacob watched the silvery metal shift beneath the glass when the old man moved it. Charles folded the metal bracket in and tucked the leathery wings into the pack before he picked it up and held the straps up.

Jacob fed his arms through the biggest straps with the most padding.

“How is it?” Samuel asked.

“Not bad,” Jacob said, adjusting his shoulders. The backpack definitely had some weight, but not enough to complain about. “I think I could walk around with it most of the day if I had to.”

Charles blew out a breath as he pulled a leather strap tight across Jacob’s chest and fed two lengths of leather between the boy’s legs. “If you have that kind of stamina,” Charles said as he fastened all the leather straps to a starburst-like buckle on Jacob’s chest, “you should join the Spider Knights with Samuel.”

Samuel leaned against the door by the workbench. “Sure, he could double as a Walker.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” Jacob said.

Charles gave each strap a firm tug and nodded. “We’re ready.”

Jacob stood on the second-floor balcony. Bat’s house wasn’t structured like homes in the Lowlands, so the second-floor balcony was actually on the third floor, and
that
was a bit higher than Jacob expected.

He could see the edge of the courtyard from there, lined with tents near the gates. It reminded him how lucky he was to have a shelter with Bat, and his family. Many Highborn families refused to take in Lowlanders, paying massive fines levied by Parliament instead of welcoming survivors into their homes. The wealthy paid a fine, and the common people had to live in the streets.

Jacob shook his head and looked down at the cobblestone street below. His parents stood on the opposite side of the road with Samuel, Charles, and almost everyone else staying in Bat’s home.

Jacob looked toward the city gates again and the wind caught his hair.

“Now, you remember,” Charles shouted over the low noise of talking, bustling pedestrians, “pull the lever as soon as you jump. You’re not all that high up, and we want to give the wind plenty of time to catch.”

“Got it!” Jacob released the leather loop around the lever near his right shoulder. He climbed onto a chair that Bat had on the balcony and then placed one foot on the gray stone railing.

Charles glanced either way. Jacob knew he was waiting for a fairly wide break in traffic on the street. Part of their plan had been trying not to crash into people.

“Now!”

Jacob didn’t hesitate. He could have sworn he heard his mother gasp and his father cheer as he launched himself into the air and pulled the lever in one swift motion. The mechanism in the backpack clicked and whirred, and the leathery wings exploded from Jacob’s back. He felt the wind catch him and lift him slightly. The quiet click of the switches whispered behind the rush of air as his flight path leveled out.

“Yes!” Charles shouted. “Yes!”

Jacob smiled, and he didn’t think he’d ever smiled so wide. He glided through the air for only a few seconds before he gently descended to the street. Jacob ran forward a few steps, pulled along by the breeze, before he threw the lever on his left shoulder. The wings collapsed, evading the wind well enough to let him walk normally. He turned and walked as fast as he could back to the cheering mass of family and friends.

“That was incredible!” Samuel said.

“Oh, Jacob,” his mom said. “It was beautiful. You were flying.”

“Well, gliding,” Jacob said with a laugh, “but yeah. What did you think?” he asked as he turned to his dad.

“I think I’d like to know when it’s my turn.”

Charles slapped Jacob’s dad on the back. “As soon as you’re well. How’s that for incentive to heal up?”

“It’s very good. Very good.”

“Now then …” Charles rubbed his hands together. “Are you ready for the
real
test?

Jacob took a deep breath and shifted the straps of the backpack on his shoulder.

“Still feel like you could carry it all day?” Samuel asked as they climbed the gradual hill that led to the second tower on the wall.

“It’s not bad.”

“You may just be able to join the Spider Knights one day.”

Jacob smiled at Samuel. Charles stepped out in front of them. The etched iron door to the tower stood a few paces away, guarded by two knights. Jacob studied the intricate detail carved into the door. One quadrant of the door showed the rise of the railways he’d learned about in school. The tracks led up to the peak of the arched door, and he was pretty sure the other panel showed the start of the war.

Charles had told him it wasn’t long after the new trade route was established along the railways that Dauschen had attacked Ancora. Jacob hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation between Charles, Samuel, and the guards, but Charles’s grunt caught his attention.

Charles fished around in an interior pocket of his leather jerkin and pulled out a dull gray medallion on a chain.

One of the guards leaned forward to inspect it, and then snapped to attention. “Sir, I am honored. If you wish to proceed, by all means, it is your right.”

Charles nodded. The second guard opened the door and kept his head bowed. The old man gestured for Jacob to follow.

“What was that?” Jacob asked.

“It’s just an old medal from the war, Jacob. It earns some respect from the guards here.”

Jacob walked into the shadows behind Charles and stared at the spiral of stairs. He stepped farther in and looked up. The stairs vanished and reappeared above him, lit by torches in various spots and stone windows near the top. He could hear the wind whistling through the tower above.

“There’s no lift,” Jacob said, unable to keep a groan from his voice.

Samuel laughed. “How’s that pack feeling?”

Charles chuckled and started up the stairs, but Jacob didn’t think it was very funny at all. “Come on, boy. If these old bones can get me to the top of the tower, I’m sure you can make it.”

“These are narrow,” Samuel said. “Why did they build them so narrow?”

“Defense,” Charles said. Their bootsteps thudded and echoed against the stone staircase. “It’s a lot easier to keep men from breaching the tower if they can’t come up in force.”

“I wouldn’t think that would be a big concern since we’re inside the walls,” Samuel said.

“I didn’t say it was only to keep men from coming
up
the tower. Slows an army’s descent as well.”

Jacob looked up again. It seemed like they had a mile of climbing left to go. “No one could scale the outer wall. Who would be climbing down one of these things?”

“Kid’s got a point,” Samuel said. “Bessie couldn’t scale the city wall with the way the masons keep the stone smoothed. Captain says no bug larger than an apple can get a grip on that surface.”

Charles glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll show you how to scale a wall sometime. I didn’t realize they’d let the Spider Knights get so soft.”

“Funny, old man. Funny.”

Charles smiled and turned his focus back to the stairs. “See the iron there, Jacob?” he asked, pointing to a thick beam cutting across above them.

Jacob glanced at the stretch of metal. “Yeah?”

“It’s part of the iron frame for the entire wall. Most of the wall is hollow, you know. It would have been too heavy to support itself if the masons hadn’t built it like that. They used the iron to build it higher.”

“Wouldn’t that weaken it?” Samuel asked. “All the empty space between the walls?”

Charles shook his head. “The reinforcement’s as good as any stone. I’d rather have the height anyhow.” He took a deep breath between steps. “Keep the bugs out.”

Charles started to sound winded, and Jacob knew exactly how he felt. Their pace had slowed a bit, but the light grew brighter overhead. It wasn’t long before they came off the staircase and stepped into a wide stone room. The whistling sounds were louder here.

Plain, rounded walls surrounded the group. A doorway stood to either side, and the wind barreled through to greet them.

“Let’s head out a bit,” Charles said, leading them through the southern doorway.

There were heavy iron doors inside the pale stone watchtower, locked in an open position. Jacob noticed the weight of the ornate hinges on each door, and it seemed obvious they weren’t strictly for decoration. Those doors were built to keep someone, or something, out.

Jacob squinted as he joined Charles out on the wall-walk. Ramparts stood to either side, but the stonework along the outer wall was much taller.

Charles turned to Jacob. “Now then. This is where you jump from.” He made a sweeping gesture and Jacob’s eyes followed.

Samuel stuck his head over the edge and whistled.

Jacob leaned out through a dip in the ramparts, glanced at the distant ground, and took two steps backwards. “This is … umm, this is high.” He took a deep breath and looked out toward the city gates. He could see a fairly clear path that led to the courtyard by the gatehouse that wasn’t obscured by the tents.

“You ready for this?” Charles asked. “We can come back another time.”

Jacob shook his head and pulled the leather straps between his legs so he could fasten everything to the buckle on his chest. “How’s it look?”

Charles gave each strap a tug and then leaned in to inspect the buckle. “I think you’re ready to go.”

“Right then,” Jacob said as he put his left foot on top of the rampart. He unbuckled the strap that held in the lever for the wings. The wind picked up, and he leaned to the side.

“Aim for the gatehouse,” Charles shouted when a sudden gust howled through the stone ramparts. “You’ll have the widest stretch of street for landing.”

Samuel barked out a short laugh. “This is crazy.”

“You going to catch me?” Jacob asked. He pulled a pair of wide goggles over his face.

Samuel eyed him for a moment. “Tell you what. I’ll meet you by the gatehouse.”

“You’re not going to watch?”

“I’ll watch from below.” Without another word, Samuel ran back into the tower. Jacob could hear Samuel’s rapid footsteps descending the watchtower. Jacob turned back to Charles.

They waited a minute in the wind and silence at the top of the wall. Another gust of wind caught the old man’s beard, and the largest grin Jacob had ever seen on Charles’s face lifted his beard even higher.

“Ready?”

Jacob nodded. He put one foot up on the rampart and then stepped backwards, shaking his head. He took a deep breath.

“Go, go, go!” Charles said.

Jacob hopped up onto the ramparts and shouted, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” He launched himself into the air before he could decide it might not be such a good idea. Jacob tilted forward slightly as the earth fell away beneath him. The cold, solid stone no longer held his weight, and he screamed in pure joy as his heart dropped into his stomach.

“Now!” he heard Charles shout from above him.

Jacob pulled the lever. He felt the backpack shift when the leathery wings snapped out and stretched to their full span. The brackets shook as they locked into place, and a gust of wind caused Jacob to tilt to the north when he meant to go south. He slid his arms up into the loops on the wings and carefully tilted them, changing his flight path over the streets below.

Jacob turned his arms, and the next gust of wind took him higher. He heard his name, only a distant shout. Far below him someone waved, and then the faces on the street all turned up to see what Samuel was yelling at. Jacob laughed and pulled the wings in, diving closer to the astonished crowd below. He spread his arms and twisted, soaring around the chimney of one of the highest roofs in the Highlands as he angled for the gatehouse.

“Come down farther!”

Jacob barely heard the words over the howl of the wind, but he saw Samuel running along the ground beneath him, diving and weaving through the crowds. The switches in Jacob’s wings whirred and clicked as he dropped his altitude low enough that he could touch the roof of every home he soared past. Jacob streaked into the courtyard.

“Clear the way!” Samuel shouted.

Jacob twisted his arms, and his entire body swung forward when the wings caught the air. He came in at a sharp angle and ran with the inertia as it carried him forward. He pulled the lever on his left shoulder, relaxing the wings before he jumped into the air and shouted, looking around for Samuel.

The Spider Knight wasn’t far behind, and he beat most of the roaring crowd to Jacob. “You did it, kid! That was just amazing.”

The crowds closed in around them while Samuel helped tuck the wings back into the pack. “Let’s get this closed up before anything gets broken,” he said, snapping the pack closed.