Pinnacchia - A Steampunk Fairytale (Complete)

Chapter Eleven

It had taken much longer for the second engine room group to find their way out of the underbelly of the city in the sky. These children must have been held in captive much longer than Honesty and Pin for they were slower and clumsier. Exhaustion marked their every step. It didn't help that many of the avenues they previously used were no longer safe. Their two hours were almost up when they finally arrived at the grate underneath the fair grounds. Pin lifted Coach up, the rag-tag group's leader. He had proved to be most employable at the different intersections that required lifting children places.

As Coach lifted the last child to safety, he stepped back down to Pin and Honesty.

'Where will you go now?' he asked.

'Now?' asked Pin looking at Honesty. She was exhausted and the smudges on her face made her tiredness more pronounced. 'Now we find a safe place to rest.'

'Let me help you up then,' he said. With Honesty's help, they managed to lift the very heavy mechanical boy through the tunnel opening. Pin then reached down and drew both Honesty and Coach up through the hole before closing it once again.

The metal boy and the coal-dusted gorl sat and watched the protective leader say goodbye to each child who had been in his care. There were tears of sadness and of hopeful family reunions. He watched them all go find their loved ones, then returned to find Honesty almost asleep. It had been a long night.

Pin supported Honesty as they walked to find shelter in an abandoned wastewater pipe until the following night. He watched her sleep, hidden away from the city. Coach came and went, making sure Honesty had food to eat and clean water to drink. When he passed her a bright red apple, she stared at it for a moment, stood up, and threw it as far as she could. Pin could not have done a better throw.

They found out that Coach was from a village very near their own.

'It's not far from the port. Could I join you on your trip groundside?'

Pin nodded. They had made a new friend in Coach and believed that he would be a good companion for their trip home.

Honesty rested well and by the time darkness fell, all three of them were ready when Spidie returned from his scouting about.

Their third trip into the belly of the city proved far more difficult than any of them imagined, even before they had left the streets. The alert of the first two engine room rescues had reached topside with news boys shouting about the Lazarus Children returning with stories of enslavement. Black sooty clothes was a dead giveaway, and the three of them had to keep to the shadows as they raced across the city surface.

Spidie directed them to an alleyway by the city centre's atrium. Pin watched as moonlight bounced down its spires and glass towers before he stepped through the manhole into darkness. He caught Honesty and Coach as they jumped down through, and covered the opening, shrouding them in darkness once again.

Finding the third engine room was as simple as following Spidie's directions from Pin's shoulder. They found the door locked as usual, but the guard sitting on a stool outside the door was a new addition.

'What are we going to do now?' Honesty turned from the guard below and looked at Pin. He could see the worry on her face again and wanted to soothe it away. He was about to suggest he jump down through the vent grating on to the guard and knock him out when the guard stood up abruptly, started yelling and slapping himself. Coach jumped down from the vent shaft feet first and knocked the guard unconscious while he was distracted. Spidie climbed out of his shirt neck to the amusement of the team.

Upon entering this last enslavement, they found fewer children than expected. Five boys were struggling with their load of coal when they noticed they weren't alone. Actually there were only four boys, as one was a girl with short hair, but they were all so dirty that they all looked like little boys.

'Time to go, Coalies. We don't have much time so lets be about it, then.' Coach stood by the door with his arms across his chest.

When they had all five kids up the vent and into a larger nearby tunnel, two boys burst into tears. The little girl climbed into Honesty's open arms and that was that. Spidie lead them away from their darkest moments and into a new life.

Not long into their third daring rescue, Pin noticed that Spidie was stopping more frequently and taking much longer to get topside that last night. He realised they were in grave danger. He took the small child from Honesty's arms to help speed things along and the girl strangled his neck and held on tight as they arrived at a familiar junction.

'OI, YOU! COME BACK 'ERE!' A shout erupted behind them. They had been found.

The small group ran without a care for noise now, and Spidie led them one last time to the grate below the fair grounds. Pin lifted Coach, who pushed the grating aside with ease, and they all escaped the tunnel just in time. Pin replaced the grate as guards tried to follow, banging on the underside of the hatch lid, demanding the children surrender. It was a close call, but they were still in trouble. There was nothing to stop their captors from coming topside and capturing them while they held the grate closed.

'I've got an idea,' Honesty said as she took Spidie in her hand. 'Stay here until all the children are safe.'

He watched as Honesty and Coach disappeared into the safety of darkness.