"Hey! Wake up, soldier, no sleeping on the job." Captain Brine shook a body on the ground, further down the train car.
Vain gasped, sitting upright. "Ahh! God! It hurts!" Her arm and side were peppered with wood and glass fragments protruding like porcupine quills. She looked around dazed. "What happened?" Glancing up at Captain Brine, she asked, "What were those things? with the Oni?"
The Loyalist grimaced, "How the hell am I supposed to know?"
"Well, you know what? I am getting tired of all of these surprises," Tessa said, still giggling to herself but coming off the rush from the fight.
Miss Briggs and Lonny sat her upright, but Tessa gasped as a sharp pain shot through her torso. "It's hard to breathe," she complained as she held her side.
Miss Briggs lightly felt along her ribs. Tessa shied away from the briefest of touch.
"It looks like you may have a few fractured ribs." The formal woman sighed.
"Oh, is that all?" Tessa gave a wry smile, trying to hide the sting from her injury.
After pulling out several pieces of the shrapnel, Vain began bandaging her arm where splinters had lodged. She spat another large fragment from her mouth that she pulled from her wrist before wrapping it.
After some time, as the city and its streets gave way to the swamp, Tessa noted that they were slowing down. "Why are we stopping?"
"I'll go check," Donny said, after pulling another poor man from under several planks of shattered wood. They rattled to a stop on the rail line under an old water tower. "Engine is shot. Gray is out but still alive. Looks like he took a nasty bump to the head. The other poor sod is dead. A mortar hit the cab and destroyed the boiler controls." He set down Gray's unconscious form on the floor next to Tessa. Donny had tried to patch his head with a makeshift bandage, but it was doing little good to stop the trickle of blood down his face. A wave of pity washed over Tessa, but it was dampened by her own pain.
Looking at the others, Donny asked, "So, now what?"
Peering in the direction they had come from, Captain Brine asked, "Do we still go on, even with those things after us?"
"We lost them for now. That's what counts," Vain said, still working on her arm.
"Oh, right," the Southern Royalist man said, setting down his gun. "And how exactly does that benefit us?"
Tessa laid her head back on one of the few benches not riddled with holes, feeling outright pitiful. It helped a little, but not enough to completely ignore the pain.
Miss Briggs stood next to Tessa, watching their surroundings with a hawk-like gaze.
Tessa asked, "Miss Briggs, what do you put our chances at now that we know they have those things helping them?"
"Do you really want to know my analysis of the situation, Miss Copperfield?" she asked, raising her brow.
"I just want to know if there is even any point in continuing. Or whether we should try and run for it."
Miss Briggs looked troubled. "I must admit that things are looking bleak. If they are gathering all the Boomers for an assault, I can only guess that their target is the manor, at which point, they will have achieved their primary objective of taking the city. As for what their follow-up goals are, I can only assume, but seeing as they are working in tandem with both sky pirates, as well as whatever monstrosities those things were back there, they know that we are here, what our objective is, and if I am not mistaken, those monsters can track us by our scent, at which point it is only a matter of time before they catch up and finish us off. Never mind that our only mode of transportation is out, we have far too many dead and wounded to take the dam by force, and we are not exactly in a position to fend off any attackers."
"So, then we should just give up then? Try to run for safety?" Lonny asked.
"Run?" Vain looked up at the others still standing. "How exactly do you plan on running?"
"If there is a chance of us surviving this," Miss Briggs admitted, "it is somewhere within the realm of single digits."
Tessa looked around, but all that she could see was fog with the vague shape and shadows of willow trees amid the ever-present flood water.
"Look there," Donny said, pointing off away into the swamp at an angle. "Lights. I think they're lamps of some sort."
Tessa peered into the fog. Sure enough, a few small lamps were flickering in the distance in the depths of the trees.
"It could be Boomers," Lonny said, grabbing her gun from the debris.
"Or it could be other survivors," Donny countered.
But Captain Brine shook his head, "Not out this far."
From the darkness came three twinkling lights. A squeaking sound accompanied the lamps as they drew closer. Captain Brine and the twins raised their guns. Tessa did her best to pull out her revolver. She was not about to go down without a fight.
But as the lanterns twinkled closer in the fog, it turned out that the light source was posted to poles on a log raft. It came drifting into the open with its occupants, an old man and a young boy paddling with a long oar strapped to one side of the raft. The scrawny young man, wearing nothing but a ratty old pair of overalls and a large straw hat, looked familiar to Tessa.
The boy gazed at the train and all of the damage with a whistle between his buck teeth.
"That them there lookin' like er havin' a big old fight. Yous Boomers her fur some trouble?"
The twins looked at each other, slightly puzzled.
The tiny old man with the boy watched them with a lazy eye and a worn appearance. He seemed to be quite the character, with a peg leg, a corn pipe shoved between his pursed lips, and a blunderbuss strapped across his back. After a long moment he spat, calling out, "I told ya! I ain't helpin' yus lod cultist with your rig! Just leave an old man be and get off me property!"
"We...we're not Boomers!" Donny replied.
Lonny lowered her gun as she pulled off her mask. "We're trying to stop them, actually."
The man looked at them, crudely, "Liars! You be wearin' that crumby garb. Yous are Boomers if I ever saw 'em."
"Colonel Veers?" Captain Brine called out, standing, taking off his mask. "? Is that you?"
The old man squinted, holding up his hand. "By the Lord's beard, is that Jedidiah Brine? What the hell are you doing on a busted-up rig dressed as one of them backwater stoneheads?"
"Undercover, sir, as it were! But we are in a bit of a bind! Can you help an old war buddy out?" he said with a Loyalist salute, brimming with a smile and the most genuine look of joy that Tessa had seen on his face.
"You, sir, it's not nothing you ask lightly." He gnawed on his pipe, looking at their injured. "What have you all gotten yourself into to be so banged up?"
"We're trying to put a stop to the Boomers and their rampage, but we need to restore the power to do that...but things have not exactly been going in our favor."
"I can see that." The old man puffed on his pipe a few times before shrugging, "Well, so much for warning old piss for brains. He never was one to listen to reason." With that, he gave a sharp whistle from between his teeth.
A clamor of whoops and hollers came in response as numerous children and teens hopped from there hiding places, throwing down driftwood and oars, pulling the injured and well-off survivors on before they could say otherwise.
One boy, perhaps the oldest among the group, with a mixed complexion, saw the dead wolfmen and called out to the old man, "Pa! They got dead horn heads and dem war wolves on this thing. Lookin' like they kill dem themselves."
"War wolves? Damn! Bring 'em in boys and be quick about it!" The small old man ordered as the collective mob of children piloted their canoes and thin rafts with their cargo through the water with skillful ease, shuttling them away into the swamp.
In between the trees in an isolated alcove was a stack of shanties all clustered together on top of a low-sitting barge. The barge was tethered to the trees in multiple places, the wood shacks stacked on top each other looked half ready to collapse under their own weight. From one of the windows, a large woman with olive skin and frizzy hair pulled back into a high ponytail poked her head out and shouted with a shrill voice, "Veers! What in Sam Hill stinky do you think you are doing with those Boomers?"
"They ain't Boomers, woman! Now get that stewpot ready for our guests, and bring out the med box. They got wounded."
Tessa saw the woman roll her eyes and give an exasperated wave of her hands, "I'll go get Jeff and the others up!"
"Captain Brine," Donny asked, leaning away from the mop-headed boy who gave him a nasty grin as he helped pull the boat in. "Who is this Veers fellow? Did you serve under him?"
"He was my superior officer for most of the war. Thought he was killed at the battle of Morris Port. Went down with his ship and all."
"All exaggerations, me boy," Veers said from one of the porches that he hopped up on with a slap to his chest, "Lost me leg and nothing more...except maybe me pride, but when did any of us have any of that anyway?" The man gave a harsh laugh, a forced sound that rattled like an old stovepipe. He helped his old war buddy off of the raft. "Come on then, bring up them wounded fellers, and let's get 'em patched up."
Captain Brine looked about with some amusement. "What's with all the brats?"
"Don't mind them kids. They're me extended crew. Never a truer group to the cause if there was."
"Your crew? Where did you find them? Surely, they're not all yours?"
"Most of dem younger ones are me and Sally's. The rest are orphans from the war. We scooped 'em up and cared for those them we could." The old man opened the door and held it for the guests as the rest of the kids pulled in the wounded.
On a ring hanging from the ceiling on a moldy old rope was a parrot that chided them, disturbed by the mass of strangers in its home.
"Intruders, intruders!" it squawked.
Veers merely waved at the bird with his bony hands. "Shut your yap, you one-eyed creation!"
As Tessa stepped in, her nose was assaulted by a terrible stench. It was clear that none of them had bathed in a while and that hygiene was not high on their priority list.
From a backroom stumbled a skeleton of a man with hollow cheeks and a sunken look, a large jug in one hand and a woman holding him up with the other.
"Come on, Jeff," she snapped. "Get your poor drunk ass in there."
"I'm not going. I mean, I am going," he slurred, slopping another swig from his jug.
"Jeff! We have wounded 'ere! General quarters, sir!"
The man's slow movement stiffened as he staggered upright, throwing his jug out of a window and giving a sloppy salute. "Yess-er, here sir, Not drunk at all, sir! Wounded, you say?"
Old man Veers spat into a spittoon next to the door as he generally pointed "That there is me wife, Sally. And that sorry excuse for a sailor is my friend Jeff." He then turned back to the thin man, "Looks like they got in a tussle with the Boomers."
"Boomers, you say?" The thin skeleton named Jeff squinted. "Not with those claw marks on some 'em."
Veers shrugged. "Apparently, they gotten them Oni and war wolves to help them out."
Jeff rubbed his fingers together. "Those lab rats sided with them devils? And er helping the enemy? Knew them things were a bad idea. Didn't I tell you? 'Mark my words,' I said, 'those beasties will be trouble.' So says I when those eggheads made 'em in them labs in Ester Marsh—"
"Jeff! Wounded!" Veers ordered.
"Oh, right!" The drunk fellow raced around ordering the children, rearranging things to make it more accommodating for the guests. They all somehow took up every available inch of space, darting back and forth like rats. After a few moments of collecting them, a selection of dried herbs, bottles of foul-smelling ointments, and a series of bandages were assembled, staked on a makeshift table next to what Tessa assumed to be a bed.
Jeff shambled over to Gray, who had been put down on the ratty bed in the corner.
"Hmm, that's not bad at all! Just rub some salt on it," he said as one of the kids handed him what once must have been a medical bag, but it was so soiled that it looked as if it might be more dangerous than the wound. After cleaning out the injury, he quickly stitched it up.
As the doctor worked, Miss Briggs asked, "You mentioned war wolves. Is that what you call those things that attacked us?"
"Yes, ma'am. Nasty beasties, the lot of 'em. One of several experiments to make a better soldier out of Easter Marsh. Them eggheads stupidly combined the qualities of wolves and Oni into Loyalist volunteers to try to increase their strength and endurance. Give them that killer instinct, better sense of smell and hearing, that sort of thing," Jeff said with a labored puff. "Tried to make 'em heal faster, too. Boy, was that a bad idea!"
"I never heard of anything like that on the battlefield." Captain Brine asked, "What unit were they with?"
"They weren't. Never made it to the front lines," Veers said. "The thing was a bust. Too many mixed results. Took them half the damn war to make, the other to perfect it enough for consistency. In the end, they only managed a single measly company."
Miss Briggs frowned, "But if they were Loyalists, why are they with the Oni and the Boomers now?"
Jeff sighed. "Because what we did to 'em." He glanced sideways at Veers.
The old man puffed his pipe. "I ordered the head scientists to kill the subjects."
Tessa was surprised. "Truly? You tried to kill your own men, just like that?"
The old man shrugged. "No sense in all that work falling into the Republic's hands. Some of the scientists were against it, particularly the ones that Missidith secretly sent over to help us, but in the end, they followed through. Tried to poison their subjects and to torch the facility. But their experiments worked better than they intended. Most of the blasted things survived the poisoning, at least of the final batch. The war wolves escaped, led by a sympathetic assistant who found out what was happening and stole copies of the notes and several vials of the perfected concoction. She took the war wolves west into the wild."
Donny laughed a little. "With their comrades trying to poison them and the new Albion Republic hunting them down, they wouldn't have anywhere else to go."
Veers nodded. "Wasn't till two years later that a small group of 'em reappeared in the Oni lands. I heard from a reliable source that they secretly sought asylum in exchange for information on the others. Apparently, the assistant that helped them escape had taken her own experiment and begun leading the war wolves as a pack, kidnapping children from local tribes and outlying settlements on the frontier and injecting them with the serum to bolster their numbers. The dissenters, who wanted nothing to do with that, took what they could and sought help in reversing the process of the experiment. But, no one knew how the hell to do that." He cleaned out his pipe before turning to Miss Briggs. "To make a long story short, in the end they cut a deal. In exchange for helping hunt down the other wolves, old General Goldin gave 'em dissenters a pardon and let them stay with the Oni tribes as refugees."
Jeff finished the last stitch on the unconscious Meriwether. "There, that should hold him good. Who else? You there, coal-face. Your arm looks bad. Let me see that." he said pointing to Vain, who stood in the corner uncomfortably.
"Jeff!" Sally gave him a stink eye. "What did I say?"
The man bowed halfheartedly. "No offense, ma'am. Old habits and all." Then, he glanced at Vain. "Now, miss, let me see that arm of yours."
Vain made a gruff sound with her throat as she sneered, "I would rather slit my own throat then let you help me."
Yet Veers roughly grabbed her good arm and dragged her over. "None of that now. Let the good doctor patch you up."
Vain spoke with an almost mocking tone, "That's a laugh. When does the Butcher voluntarily help someone like me?"
Jeff took a closer look at her arm. "So, you recognize me then? Surprising seeing as you're such a young whippersnapper."
"I saw the wanted posters enough to have a good idea. I also heard the stories from my daddy. Jeff Evinrude, the Butcher of Grasswell, and Colonel Veers, the Sledgehammer of the South. Said the two of you were some of the cruelest commanders during the war he had ever faced off against."
"Your daddy, huh? What's his name?" Jeff asked, dabbing Vain's arm with a sterilizer.
"Roko Fisk," she said, glaring at the Loyalist with disdain.
"Ha! I remember him. Tough as nails that one. Smart too, for a Jotnar," he said with a wink at Sally, who only shook her head, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "That boy gave me the hardest time during the Siege of Dinnerhem. He and his regulars managed to move half a regiment right under my nose and took out my reserves in a single push. I barely got out of that one with my staff! Had to disguise ourselves as a bunch of old women and sneak out with the refugees!"
"Well, at least it makes a good story," Veers said, grinding a collection of thistles and other plants and pouring it into a mix. He stirred it up as Jeff pulled the glass and wood shards out of Vain's arm and side, noting the bite marks on her torso. "Damn you're a mess. You're lucky this wasn't any worse." Making sure that all of the splinters were out, he said, "You still might not save the arm if you don't keep it clean and change the bandages regularly."
"I can live with that," Vain said callously.
"Hmm." The Butcher mumbled something incoherently before stitching up the worst of the wounds.
One of Colonel Veers's kids, a younger girl, with red frizzy hair and light olive skin stood next to Lonny. She stared hard at her with a furrowed brow and a tilted head.
"What's the matter?" Lonny asked, looking curiously at the youngster.
After a moment more, the young girl gave an affirmative nod and declared, "You're pretty."
Surprised, Lonny said with a half-smile and a small laugh, "Thank you. I like your hair."
The girl smiled a gap-tooth grin. She asked, "You ever tasted backwaters gumbo?"
"I can't say as I have," she admitted.
"Mama makes the best! It's really good. You're in for a real treat," the young girl said as she plopped down on a crate next to Lonny, kicking her heels against the old wood. "Can I try on your hat?"
"Looks like you got a little fan, dear sister," Donny commented.
"That one is Lydia. Far too friendly for her own good," Sally said, corralling the other children and teenagers into the next room over. "Come on, Lydia. Let's give them some space."
"Yes, Mama." The girl followed the older woman. Then she asked, "Mama? Shouldn't we be making food?"
The larger lady sighed. "Go get it started, and I'll be right there. Best make it a double batch."
Colonel Veers, who had finished helping with Vain, asked Tessa as he grabbed up the medical bag and pulled out several tools, "You're favoring your left side there. Are you hurt?"
"Took a blow to the ribs," she admitted.
The old man nodded. "Who are you exactly if ya ain't Boomers?"
"Survivors from the city. We're trying to get a message out for help," Tessa explained, wincing as Veers examined her side where her ribs were fractured. He poked at them with two fingers lightly.
"Are we sure we should be trusting him with that?" Donny asked while trying to pet the parrot that had fluttered down from its ring to peer at him with its right eye.
Miss Briggs, who had been quietly watching from the corner pointed out, "We are already trusting him with our lives, are we not?" She smiled to herself as the parrot pinched Donny's thumb with its beak.
"Old man," Captain Brine asked, setting aside his rifle, "why are you out here? This is not exactly the best or safest place to live. Especially for someone like you."
"Oh, it's true." Veers glanced up at the rafters, looking at the dust-covered trimmings, "But one's home is still one's home, regardless of how unsuitable it becomes."
"Home?" the captain asked.
Veers spat as he stirred a mixture in a mortar and pestle before dabbing it with some sort of ointment from a bottle. "I've lived in this area since I was a wee lad. My pappy had a plantation not far from here. Though I'm not sure I could call it home like I used to, seeing as after the war, this prick ass of a jackrabbit came along and enamored Charles with his shiny lights and contraptions." He jabbed his thumb back at the unconscious Gray. "Things were quiet around here before he came along." He handed Tessa the ointment he had mixed. "Here, should help with the bruising."
Tucking it under her shirt she gingerly applied the foul-smelling ingredients to her ribs, and then to her shoulder, both almost immediately stopped throbbing, though a twinge of pain still persisted.
"Veers and Evinrude." Captain Brines sounded deflated. "Living passably with the Squints and the coal-faces? Don't tell me you gone soft?"
Veers spat into the spittoon, looking cross. "Boy, I was never in it for the race war. If you hadn't figured that out by now, then you did done learned nothing about me in them trenches."
"But what about the homeland? The right of the nobility? Property? The rights of the colonists? What about the cause?" Captain Brine pleaded. "When you two disappeared, you were the Loyalists last real hope. Why did you go into hiding, instead of leading the resistance?"
The two old men looked at each other. Jeff turned to Captain Brine with a spark in his eye. "Jedediah, what makes you think we ever did stop?"
Everyone jumped in surprise as Gray Meriwether sat up with a start, gripping his side. The parrot squawked and retreated back to his ring hanging from the ceiling. Donny fell out of his chair with a loud bang.
"You damn fool," Veers spat slapping the side of Gray's head, "You're going to rip open what Jeff just fixed!"
"Where am I? Who are you?" Gray sputtered at the Colonel, shrinking away from the man.
Tessa moved to his line of sight, "Calm down. You're safe. These gentlemen pulled us from the wreck of the train."
Gray still looked unbelieving. "Why? Who are they?"
"Is that any way to treat the man who saved your life? The gall, I tell you," Jeff muttered to Veers as he made sure that the stitching was still in place. "You're all good, but don't do anything too stupid until this heals properly."
Sally stepped in from the other room with a full fat pot. "Food's ready! Veers! Feed your guests!" She slapped it down in the middle of the room, handing the old man a cluster of mismatched wooden bowls.
"Ah, here we are!" He passed them around.
"What happened?" Gray asked as he accepted a cup of the slop from Jeff. "The last thing I remember was a loud bang. How did we end up here?"
Miss Briggs explained, "Like Miss Copperfield indicated these," she searched for an appropriate word, "gentlemen, pulled us out of the remains of the locomotive. After we fought off those wolf creatures, the engine gave out, and we eventually rolled to a stop. It was fortunate that it stopped when it did and drew the attention of Mr. Veers here. He and his children were kind enough to take us in." She took one of the cups offered to her. "Thank you." The woman nodded. Miss Briggs politely sipped the provided meal.
"But what about the dam?" Gray asked, looking flummoxed. "We still need to get to the dam and complete our mission." Gray tried to get up, but Jeff held him down.
"Take a breather, boy, and have some stew."
Gray pulled himself up, impatiently. "Ah, I appreciate your hospitality, but we have limited time. We must get to the dam and try to fix the generator before it is too late." He staggered to his feet. "Come on, let's get going then..." He struggled to the door and looked around.
"You know, in you and your friends' conditions, you ain't gonna get that far," Colonel Veers said, pulling out his pipe and lighting it. "But if you're that bound and disturbed enough to throw yourself at them Boomers, then you can borrow my boat if you wish. But it's going to cost you."
Gray looked back at the old man skeptically. "What kind of boat?"
"Does it matter? Cuz as far as I can tell, you stuck here unless you convince us to help you." Veers looked back at the half a dozen boys and girls watching from the other rooms, "Ain't that right, boys?" They all jeered.
"All right then, if we must deal." Gray straightened himself. "What do you want?"
The old man gnawed on his pipe. "I want my investment back, plus interest."
Gray looked put off. "Your...investment?"
"Yes, sir, my land and property. I have not been happy with how you and Higgins have invested it."
"I do not believe I know what you mean," Gray admitted.
"Belview Manor. You and your investor bought it up to slap your dam on top of it after the war. Charles was doing me a favor by keeping it out of the hands of the Republicans, but now with how things have gone, I would like my land back."
Gray shrugged. "You do realize that there is no more Belview Manor. It was destroyed when the dam was built."
"I know. I want the land back," Veers said.
"The dam is on the land."
"Then I'll take the dam with the land," he said with a laugh.
Gray grew cross. "It's not mine to give. You would need to talk to Mr. Higgins."
"He ain't here now, is he?" Jeff said, leaning against the door frame next to Gray. "And if I recall, you two are partners. You can speak on his behalf. Besides, if you want us to help you, you're going to have to make it worth our while."
Gray crossed his arms. "Fine! But we still need to operate the dam."
"Well, I am sure we can arrange a deal for you and your investors to use our power."
"I'm sure. But in the meantime, I think we need to take it back first. The Boomers and the sky pirates are sure to have it locked down."
Veers only smiled. "Fortunately for you, I have a way to fix that." The Colonel nodded to the old skeleton of a man Jeff, "Show 'em."
Jeff ambled up the steps and motioned for them to follow. He opened a hatch in the floor, revealing a second hatch made of cast iron with the Loyalist emblem on it.
Tessa looked at it, confused. "What is it?"
But Captain Brine's eyes widened. "Sir, are we on—"
"The deck of the Royal Justice," he said proudly, "the most advanced warship of the war."
"But I thought she went down?" Captain Brine said, floored.
"Nope! Faked the whole thing!" Jeff said proudly, "Me, Veers, and my few loyal men pulled her out, along with a sizable sum of Saint George's armory and treasury. Came up the river. We hid her in these backwaters helping Charles out quietly with the new resistance from the shadows, running the underground side of things smuggling weapons, money, and anything else he needed to get out to the loyalists. Unfortunately, the coot has gone and gotten himself into more trouble than he is worth, frittering all of his money and ours on this...this damn dam of his, and that godawful city rather than the cause."
Veers interjected coming up behind them, "Oh, he said it's for the greater good, that it was the best way for the return of the Empire, but now look at where he is! We tried to warn him, tried to tell the sorry sod that this was not going to work. That it was too grand, too large. But did he listen? No! And because of that, we haven't spoken in the last three years."
Tessa asked, "But how have the Boomers not tried to take this ship or the gold from you?"
"Because they don't know it's here. All them cultists think this is an old barge with a bunch of shacks on it, with a crazy old Loyalist and his family livin' near the city. Sure, they have come by from time to time trying to recruit me kids, but they all know better." He closed the hatch and made for the stairs again. "Now it's time to wake the old girl from her long rest. She's gonna be a bitch to start, I can tell you."