The Pyrette Queen and the Patina Parlour Read online

  THE

  PYRETTE QUEEN

  AND THE

  PATINA

  PARLOUR

  “I MISSED MY CHANCE,

  DON’T BE LIKE ME.”

  - HARLAN

  1

  Dreadcrank headquarters had been restationed in the abandoned royal palace for a week and a half. Fifty-one members of the gang had bene killed when the Lydia crashed into the side of Mt. Engia. Seventeen more were wounded and receiving what medical care Kassidy could smuggle in. Every night a group of men went out to try and salvage what they could from the airship, but once again it was in terrible need of repairs. The envelope was brought back first. Kassidy worked on it personally, sewing up the bullet holes from Natasha. She stitched them extra tight and reinforced any other weak spots she could find. As a result of her long overnight hours spent awake the envelope was already near flying condition. While being the effective leader of the Dreadcranks she had a lot of new responsibilities she’d never been used to before. The men were constantly coming up to her for orders and assignments. But it was the frequent check on Luca’s condition that hurt her the most.

  Luca had cheated death in the crash. Logistically it made no sense how he managed to survive. His body had been thrown on impact from the helm on the upper decks to some forty feet away into the stairwell. Jasper found his body mangled and crammed into the opening to go below deck. His arm was dislocated, he’d pulled all the muscles in his back, and a part of the mast had broken off, splintering itself into his side. The source of the massive amounts of blood that the gang found him in were from the gut wound. It was tricky getting a doctor in from the city to perform the necessary surgery Luca needed to survive, but Kassidy paid handsomely for the service from her private stash of stolen money from the O’Brien treasury. And nearly every hour since then she’d spent by his bed side waiting for him to wake up. He was under a heavy dosage of pain medication. Every morning and every evening Kassidy and Jasper changed the bandages around his side to keep the wound from getting infected. But Kassidy was on pins and needles recently. The doctor had given her a timeline of a week before Luca was supposed to be able to feel well enough to walk again. And that had passed three days ago. She was growing impatient, and with each new day that passed without improvement she worried of the permanent ramifications that her rescue would cause Luca, and even the gang as a whole. Kassidy’s only temporary relief came once a day when Harlan came to visit the palace. He was able to pull her away long enough to get her out of her head and thinking clearly. Today they went to speak in her library. One of the only rooms left unoccupied in the steady hum of Dreadcrank activity.

  “How are y-y-you doing today Kass?”

  “No better than the last time you asked me.”

  “I thought maybe some-some-something had changed o-o-overnight.”

  “No. Nothing.”

  “It’s been over a w-w-week now, I’m sure Lu-Lu-Lucky will wake up soo-soo-soon.”

  “I know he’ll wake up soon. I’m just worried about what condition he’ll be in when he does wake up. The longer it takes, the worse it looks.”

  “At least the ga-ga-gang seems to be treating y-y-you well.”

  “Respect isn’t our problem right now. There’s hardly a man alive that didn’t lose somebody. They need to see Luca alive and well to boost morale if nothing else. I was talking to Jasper the other day, and you know what he told me? Thirteen of the men he was recruited with died. They were the ones who refused to take a parachute. Jasper’s been in the gang for seven years. There’s hardly a man left now that’s served that long.”

  “Well I came w-w-with news today. But now I’m no-no-not sure if you want to he-he-hear it.”

  “I have to stay informed. If it wasn’t for you I’d be completely shut off from Engia.”

  “The Absynthe Ring is thro-ro-rowing a huge ma-ma-masquerade party for m-m-my brother and I this Sa-Sa-Saturday.”

  “Why?”

  “The s-se-seventeen year ann-ann-anniversary of the shootout in the Pa-Pa-Patina Parlour.”

  “It will be seventeen years to the day this Saturday, won’t it?”

  “It’s all any of th-th-the Ringers can ta-ta-talk about. They’ll all b-b-be there.”

  “Of course they will. I thought the party they threw when I first came back to the city was celebration enough. But no, they need to forcefully bring the whole damn day back from the dead!”

  “I’m so-so-sorry.”

  “I’m not mad at you.”

  “I wasn’t go-go-going to go.”

  “You have to go!”

  “It’d be in po-po-poor taste. I couldn’t d-d-do that to y-y-you.”

  “If you didn’t go it would rise suspicion. Your brother and the gang still think we’re all dead, right?”

  “As far as I kn-kn-know.”

  “Good. I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can.”

  “You kn-kn-know they don’t tell m-m-me everything though. They co-co-could know you’re ali-li-live.”

  “If they think I’m alive they’ve done nothing to investigate it. So, I’ll take what I can get for now.”

  “How long d-d-do you think that’ll la-la-last?”

  “I don’t know. I feel like there’s more I don’t know than what I do know anymore. It’s a terribly crushing feeling to have when I know I have so many men still counting on me every day.”

  “It’ll get ea-ea-easier.”

  “No it won’t. But that was a very sweet lie Harlan. I thank you for coming by every day to try and pull me out of the stupor I’ve been living in. What does Asa think you’re doing while you’re away?”

  “He kn-kn-knows I’m coming here. But he thinks the pa-pa-palace is empty. I tell him I co-co-come here to read.”

  “And he believes you?”

  “So f-f-far.”

  “I guess it isn’t too far from the truth. You’ve kept that Codex safe. Found anything promising I might have missed?”

  “No.”

  “Well so long as Asa doesn’t get his hands on it we’ve won that much. And I’ll take that victory as small as it may be. How has your bother been treating you at home? I hope it hasn’t been too unbearable.”

  “He doesn’t re-re-really care if I live or d-d-die at this point.”

  “I must say I’m surprised he lets you stay at the mansion at all. If it wasn’t for you denouncing your friendship with me I don’t think he would have given you a fighting chance.”

  “That was a goo-goo-good idea you had.”

  “I have them every so often.”

  “Y-y-you have them mo-mo-more than you gi-gi-give yourself credit f-f-for.”

  “You’ve always been too nice to me. But I’ve taken up enough of your time for the day. I better get back and check on Luca.”

  “Do y-y-you mind if I come w-w-with you?”

  “You want to see Luca?”

  “I’d like to ta-ta-talk to him.”

  “Sure. Follow me.”

  Kassidy was confused why Harlan would willingly want to talk to Luca, but tried to get too hung up on it. There was so many things right now that she didn’t understand, she felt like one more thing thrown her way would just topple her. On the way up to Luca’s room Kassidy was sidelined with an issue with the gang. She gave directions to Harlan on how to get to Luca’s room down the hallway and excused herself. Jasper had some urgent new information on the airship. Apparently, the steam system that had exploded hadn’t entirely rendered itself as useless as they first thought. The repairs were in reach, and the prospect of positive news had Kassidy genuinely smiling. It made Harlan feel much better seeing his old friend pick up her
step and rush off to attend her gang. He always thought she would be a good person to be left in charge of things. She just had a way about her that made you feel confident everything was going to work out, because she’d personally made sure of it. Harlan knew from talking to her she had next to no confidence in herself sometimes, but she hid it well for the guy’s benefit.

  Harlan knocked on Luca’s door before opening it. He realized after the fact that it was probably a stupid thing to do. Force of habit he supposed. When he came inside he shocked to see Luca awake, sitting up in his bed with his legs thrown over to one side. He was trying to button up his shirt, but his fingers were giving him trouble. He took little notice he had been visited, and Harlan stood there a while reveling in the fact that he wasn’t being immediately yelled at. It was when Luca attempted to stand up that Harlan had to rush to his rescue. Harlan didn’t reach Luca in time. Luca came crashing down to the ground, and gripped th blankets off the bed to steady himself up on his feet again. He refused Harlan’s helping hand, not out of anger with Harlan, but anger at his own predicament. Harlan could discern that much without words. Judging by Luca’s labored breathing Harlan was poising himself to leave the room, feeling fairly sure Luca didn’t want to speak to anyone right about now. But as he turned to walk away Luca called him back.

  “Just where do you think you’re going O’Brien?”

  “I wasn’t sure if you wanted any visitors right now.”

  “Well you’re already here. You must have had something on your mind.”

  “I just wanted to see how you were doing. Kass said you’ve been out of it since the crash.”

  “Is that why I’ve got stitches all up my side?”

  “She told me the mast impaled you.”

  “The mast!”

  “Not the whole mast, just a chunk of it. I guess it broke in half when you made impact.”

  “How bad is she?”

  “The airship? Well I haven’t seen her yet but…”

  “Not the airship! Kassidy.”

  “Oh! I guess that would make more sense.”

  “Is she still mad at me for leaving her behind?”

  “I think the thought of you almost dying has kind of erased all of that.”

  “Only temporarily. Where is she?”

  “She went downstairs. Jasper rushed her off to show her something the guys brought back. It sounded promising.”

  “So she’s staying busy then. That’s good. I’m glad she hasn’t been here moping around me at all hours of the day.”

  “Oh she has. She was actually on her way back when Jasper got a hold of her. She’s barely been sleeping.”

  “Damn her!”

  “You’re mad?”

  “She should be making Dreadcrank her top priority, not me!”

  “Dreadcrank is her top priority. These men have been treating her like a god since the crash. I’ve come by every day, and she’s been in total control. She’s just exhausted. And she won’t take any time off for herself. At night, she’s been dragging the envelope in here and sewing it.”

  “Why didn’t she just assign one of the guys to do that? She’s in charge, she doesn’t have to work herself to the point of exhaustion.”

  “You try telling her to take a step back. Maybe she won’t bite your head off. I think she still feels personally responsible for all of this. There’s a heavy guilt weighing her down. I can see it just by talking to her. Nothing I say makes it better. But seeing you awake should cheer her up.”

  “I can’t believe she’s been working so hard. Nothing slows her down.”

  “She’s got a lot to be motivated for.”

  “She’s brought us all back to the palace, hasn’t she?”

  “Yes. And she’s been successfully holding it down for over a week and a half now.”

  “The Ringers haven’t attacked?”

  “Not once. She had me tell them you all died in the crash. We even went out to the wreckage to see for ourselves. Kassidy’s had the men work only at night, and they’re rebuilding what they can down in the caves and the basement.”

  “It’s like they don’t even need me anymore.”

  “Don’t say that. They all want you back. Hell Lucky, even I want you back.”

  “I have to say; I was surprised to see you in here.”

  “Kassidy won’t be herself again until she knows you’re alright.”

  “I’m working on it. I’m definitely not ready to run through the streets or fight anybody, but I’m getting there. This thing on my side though, I can feel every stitch. Kassidy has a very heavy hand.”

  “She didn’t do that. The wound was too bad for her to try and mend on her own.”

  “Is this your handiwork then? I know none of my men could have pulled something like this off.”

  “Kassidy paid a doctor off to come take care of you.”

  “How’d she do that?”

  “Money talks.”

  “She doesn’t have that kind of money.”

  “She stole that kind of money.”

  “Damn her!”

  “She only did it to keep you alive. You can’t be mad at her for that.”

  “She shouldn’t have gone to such great lengths for me.”

  “Would you not have gone so far to save her?”

  “Of course I would have! That’s the problem.”

  “I don’t understand what could be a problem about any of this.”

  “I went too far to save her from your brother. And in return she went too far to save me from death. Harlan, I’m scared to death of losing her and she isn’t even mine to lose.”

  “And why is that a problem? Sounds to me like you’ve got it made.”

  “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

  “Talk to her.”

  “And tell her what?”

  “What you just told me.”

  “I can’t tell her that! Are you insane?”

  “What’s so bad about her finding out that you love her?”

  “I never said those words.”

  “No, you just described what it’s like to love her. And if anybody would understand where you’re coming from, it’d be me.”

  “I’m sorry O’Brien. I didn’t realize that I’d…”

  “You apologized to me.”

  “Have I never done that before?”

  “No.”

  “Well don’t get all sappy about it or I’ll never do it again!”

  “I’m going to go get her. She’ll be so happy to know you’re up.”

  “Don’t you dare tell her what I told you!”

  “I wouldn’t want to steal your moment.”

  Harlan left the room and Luca dreaded what was to follow. He didn’t trust the O’Brien as far as he could throw him right now. Luca felt dizzy, and blamed the pain medication for his lack of balance and ability to keep his mouth shut about private matters. It wasn’t two minutes until he heard footsteps running towards him room from down the hallway. Kassidy burst through the door quickly with a worried smile on her face. But the worry disappeared as soon as Luca flashed a smile back at her. She slammed the door shut and ran over to the side of the bed where she’d been sitting for the past week and a half. Luca insisted she could sit beside him on the bed as he sat up and pretended he couldn’t feel any of the searing pain that rushed through his body when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He wasn’t as convincing as he wanted to be, and as she pulled away she could see a tear falling down his cheek. She wiped it off with her thumb and made Luca look at it.

  “You stubborn ass! Why didn’t you tell me how bad you were hurting?! I wouldn’t have hugged you if I had known.”

  “That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

  “Tell me what you need. Anything at all and I’ll go get it for you. There’s more pain medication downstairs. I had to hide it from the guys because they were popping it like candy.”

  “Save it. I don’t want you running off right away. You just got here.�
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  “I feel so bad I wasn’t here when you woke up.”

  “That’s fine. I got to see O’Brien’s bright and shiny face.”

  “He said your talk went well actually. Was he lying?”

  “No. Surprisingly, it went very well.”

  “Maybe you bumped your head harder than I thought.”

  “I’m being serious!”