The Pyrette Queen and the Guillotined Gearmaster Read online

  “I thought I told you two to leave the city?! Lucky, you promised me you’d keep my fiancé safe.”

  “Easy on the fiancé bit. That’s going nowhere fast.”

  “Until death parts us.”

  “Take a look outside Blue. That day is fast approaching.”

  “How do you know you’ll be alive to see that day?”

  “I’ll go until I have nothing left to protect her.”

  “A worthy opponent.”

  “How’d you even find us down here?”

  “Seems the girls had a little chat in the treasury. And I needed to speak to you.”

  “Let me guess, you want me to spare you.”

  “Spare the city Lucky! Hate Asa and the Ringers all you want, hate me, but don’t take it out on the city! You have to stop the attacks before there isn’t anything left of Engia.”

  “What’s so special about this place? Tell me what’s worth saving.”

  “We grew up here. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “You grew up here. I grew up on the Lydia. I grew up in the skies. I’m not bound by my past.”

  “No, you’re controlled by it.”

  “Says the man who’s leeching off of a past that can no longer feed his future.”

  “I gave you a chance to leave the city already. Asa knows she’s here. I went back empty handed once, full well knowing the consequences. He nearly killed me. I won’t go back to him like that again.”

  “You’ll have to kill me before you take her to Asa.”

  “You honestly think I want to give her to him?! I don’t have a choice Lucky!”

  “You promised me Kassidy wasn’t going to get hurt in this Blue!”

  “Stay out of this Natasha!”

  “Let her talk Blue!”

  “Kassi you don’t understand.”

  “No, you don’t understand! Natasha and I had an understanding. We have nothing against each other anymore. It’s you I could never trust!”

  “Look alive Kassi! Can’t you see what they’re doing to us? They’re trying to turn us against each other!”

  “You did that all by yourself a long time ago. Be a man for once and take the damn blame. What was your grand plan for coming down here today? What was your deal with Asa all about?”

  “What deal?”

  “You’ve been his pawn for years. Don’t play dumb with me Blue.”

  “I can’t go back without you Kassi. I just can’t.”

  “Don’t call me Kassi. You lost that privilege a long time ago too. For a man that claims he loves me, you have a terrible way of showing it. You’d turn me over to your boss, knowing what he’s capable of, just to save your own skin? I’m embarrassed for you.”

  “I hear you, but…”

  “No. You’ve always heard me Blue. I need you to listen to me for once in your life. I’m not going anywhere with you. Not today, not ever. And I don’t care what Asa does to you. As far as I’m concerned, you deserve everything you get.”

  “Everybody owes, everybody pays. Why should the Pyrette Queen be an exception?”

  “That’s not who I am anymore!”

  “It is who you are!”

  “Those aren’t even your own words! That’s Asa talking! You don’t even know who you are anymore! What happened to you Blue?!”

  “You happened to me!”

  “Don’t blame your failures on me! Don’t you dare do that!”

  “Look at her face Blue!”

  “Stay out of this Lucky!”

  “Haven’t you made her pay enough?”

  “I told you to stay out of this Lucky!”

  “Put your gun down Blue or I’ll stab you right in that hole in your chest where your heart should be.”

  “You wouldn’t kill me Kassidy. I know you couldn’t do that to me.”

  “You really want to bet on that right now? Go ahead.”

  “You really want to know what happened to me? Alright, I’ll tell you. When you left Engia it took me years to try and find a way to live without you. But guess what? There isn’t one. I spent every waking hour trying to track you down, and every time I got close, it just led me to another dead end. You were always two steps ahead of me. Absences may make the heart grow fonder, but it makes a man bitter too. And when you miraculously decided to come back after all that time, whose arms did I find you in? My best friend’s!”

  “Please, we haven’t been friends since we were kids! It’s not my fault she wanted a real man to take care of her for a change! You never were able to put anyone else’s needs ahead of your own Blue. Not once.”

  “Kassidy step back, I don’t want to burn you.”

  “Blue if you pull that trigger you’re an even bigger coward then I thought!”

  “What do you expect me to do?!”

  “Killing Luca won’t get you into Asa’s good graces, or mine. I know you’ve got this slime Silas watching you, and your men back in the cave there, but this isn’t the answer you’re looking for. This isn’t what you should be doing right now, and you know it! Why are you fighting this?!”

  “You don’t know what it’s like! You don’t know what Asa’s put me through over the years! You have no idea!”

  “What do I have to do to get you to leave Blue?”

  “Give me love Kassidy, not suicide.”

  “I wish to give you neither.”

  Kassidy reached out and pushed down on the barrel of Blue’s steam gun. It’d been pressed up in front of Luca’s chest for five minutes now. She couldn’t take the standoff anymore. Blue was trembling in his large black coat, and doing a very poor job of keeping his composure. Luca was as steady as a rock beside her, and kept his mechanical arm outstretched in her direction, keeping Harlan protected behind him. Natasha was drinking again, nearing the bottom of another bottle. Something had to be done. As she took another step forward to offer herself up she felt a tug on the back of her skirt. She looked down on the ground expecting to be caught up on something, but saw Harlan’s fancy wing tipped shoe standing on the back of her skirt. Kassidy looked up at her friend puzzled, but she also knew exactly what was happening. She didn’t know why, she just couldn’t figure out what she’d done to deserve his sacrifice. She stepped back to join him behind Luca, still keeping guard on the Ringers slowly filling the cave as the encounter took longer and longer. She hugged him tight, burying her face in his chest as he tried to push her away. She entwined her fingers together, strengthening her grip, but after whispering in her ear she had to let him go.

  “It’s y-y-you two. Y-y-you and Lucky. You’re the o-o-ones that have to m-m-make it. You’re meant t-t-to be. Let me g-g-go Kass. L-l-let me do th-th-this. Let me h-h-help you.”

  Kassidy stayed back for a few seconds, utterly defeated. Harlan pushed his way past Luca’s arm, who also fought against the O’Brien’s sacrifice. Kassidy stepped up to Luca’s back slowly, grabbing two fistfuls of his striped shirt to stifle her crying she felt coming on. Blue was unimpressed with Harlan’s display of bravery, and quickly shoved him aside with the long barrel of his gun swinging down from his shoulder. Harlan lost his balance, catching himself on the guillotine, his head awkwardly close to the blade. Silas, who’d been lurking in that corner the entire time, and having been fairly quiet in the exchange up to this point, took this as his opportunity to make himself known. Revealing a stone from his back he pounded it into Harlan’s temple, and the young O’Brien folded to the floor like a sack of potatoes. At the violent undertaking, Kassidy and Luca lunged forward, but with a snap of his fingers the Ringers charged the cave. Luca was unarmed and restrained by six burly men all over a foot taller than he was, with arms as big as Kassidy’s legs. She fared better in being evasive, and came up within inches of Blue’s chest with her knife before she was yanked back when a man got a hold of her hair. He had her restrained, and twisted her wrist backwards so far, she dropped the knife on the ground. Now without weapon she was much easier to approach. Blue stepped forward, so close Ka
ssidy could feel the rush of breath across her neck. He was nervous. Behind her she could hear Luca struggling against his captivity as Blue leaned into her neck. But she got the first word out, whispering in his ear through clenched teeth, still desperately trying to turn this situation around in her favor.

  “When did you stop loving me Tommy?”

  “Haven’t you been listening Kassi? I never have.”

  When he pulled back Kassidy had never been more confused. She wrenched her head around to break eye contact with Blue staring holes into her face. Harlan was out cold on the ground, blood trickling down his face and into a soaking wet patch of dirt. After another snap of his fingers Silas put his arms around Harlan’s chest and began dragging his limp body out of the cave. Kassidy tugged hard against her captor but it was all in vain. Luca was violently struggling behind her now, but she couldn’t get around far enough to see him. It sounded as if he’d bene gagged as well. Despite how strong she was trying to be to spite Blue she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. They began flowing, and to her advantage it manage to pull out the last shred of human decency Blue had left in him. He ordered the man holding her to let her go, and she stumbled out of his hold and right into Blue’s arms. She didn’t want to be there, but froze for lack of a better idea. There was no ill will or malice in his bright blue eyes as he gazed down at her. They were all glassed off from tears of his own, though his face was dry as the stone walls around them. They were both breathing hard, frustrated by the situation they found themselves in. Her face was screwed up in a scowl when in an instant Blue got the bright idea to force a kiss upon her. He bit her lip as he did so to keep her from pulling away too fast, simultaneously shoving a wad of paper into her clenched fist beating on his chest to get him off of her. When he finally did pull away she had blood running down her chin. Behind her Blue made eye contact with Luca, fully enraged. Blue gave a panicked series of hand signals to the Ringers in the cave before fleeing, and after a few minutes they ran after their leader, throwing Luca on the ground for a head start. Blue left one last parting gift for the couple as he ran for safety while they were deciding whether or not to destroy the wad of paper shoved into Kassidy’s hand.

  “Be careful!”