Angel of Brass (18 page)

“If we stay here, we might be able to catch a
glimpse of the prince,” Molly said. “We can get some hot chocolate
to keep us warm while we wait.”

A vendor had set up a chocolate cart nearby,
and was doing a brisk business thanks to the cold night air. As
they waited in line, Jin noted with alarm that the drink came in
mild, medium, and hot.

“What do you want?” Molly asked, digging
through her purse.

“I’m not sure,” Jin confessed. “Dr. Malachi
always took his with sugar, so we did, too.”

Molly gave him an incredulous look. “I’m
associating with a barbarian,” she muttered, with a shake of her
head. “We’d better get you a mild, then.”

The drink was bitter, and spiked with enough
cayenne and chili peppers to make Jin’s eyes water. Molly, who had
ordered hers hot, burst out laughing at the expression on his face.
“Poor Jin. I’m going to guess that you don’t want to try a sip of
mine.”

“I can’t believe yours hasn’t melted through
the bottom of the cup yet,” he said, which made her laugh even
harder.

They settled in to wait for the procession.
Molly hunched deep into her coat and cradled her chocolate in her
hands for warmth. Their conversation drifted from one topic to the
next, none of them of any importance. It was nice to just talk,
without worrying about conspiracies, or shamblers, or anything
else.

This is what normal people do
, he
thought, taking a tiny sip of his chocolate. It seemed more
bearable this time, so either he was growing accustomed to the
flavor, or it had burned off his taste buds.
The latter, most
likely
.

A faint pang of guilt touched him. Here he
was, enjoying himself, while Del was still at their father’s mercy.
I wonder if she knows I’m coming back for her? What if she
thinks I just saved my own skin? That I abandoned her?

The thought made his chest ache, as if his
heart were winding down. Then Molly turned to him, the torchlight
flashing off the lenses of her spectacles, and her smile drove
everything else from his mind. Saints, he was lucky, to be able to
enjoy this moment with a girl he liked.

I do like Molly. A lot.

I think...I think I love her.

It was stupid; he knew that. Impossible. She
had accepted him as a friend, treated him as a real person, but
that certainly didn’t mean she would be interested in anything
more.

No girl would want a boy who is half machine.
I know that. But at least we can do this. Go places together. Talk.
It’s so much better than nothing, and I’m grateful to just have
this much. I am.

But it doesn’t make the wanting go away.

“Oh!” Molly exclaimed, standing on her
tiptoes and craning her head. “I think they’re coming!”

By this time, the crowd lining the street had
grown, so that people were packed from the edge of the sidewalk to
the walls of the surrounding buildings. Police on foot and mounted
on walkers advanced down the center of the street, shouting for
everyone to make way. Most people cleared out quickly enough,
although a few of the slowest were snatched up by the front legs of
mechapedes and bodily moved to the sidewalk.

After the police came musicians, playing
brass trumpets cast to resemble conch shells. Behind them were
drummers, followed by dancers far more graceful and acrobatic than
any others Jin had seen, with the exception of the hoop dancer.
Parrot feathers decorated their elaborate headdresses and fringed
the loincloths around their waists. Some of them had anklets
covered with tiny bells, which rang sweetly when they moved. Among
them came a great mechanical dragon of some sort, its feline head
crowned with thousands of feathers as it slithered snake-like on
its belly, scales of brass and copper and gold glinting in the
torchlight. Then there came more people, these walking stately and
slow, and Jin guessed that they must be important in some way. Not
all of them were Xatlian, and he wondered if the ones who looked to
be Eroevian were from noble families who had special ties to the
Empire.

The parade kept on going with a second set of
dancers, followed by more stately people walking. These had jaguar
skins tied around their shoulders, and a incense burner scuttled in
front of them on elaborately-decorated legs, trailing copal smoke
as it went. In their midst was a man with a truly impressive
headdress of gold, jade, and feathers. In his hands, he proudly
bore a jeweled bit of clockwork. All of the gears seemed to be made
from gold, and the whole thing was encrusted with jade and
turquoise.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Jin asked
curiously.

Molly gave him an uncertain look. “It’s a
heart.”

“It doesn’t look like a heart.”

“It’s very stylized. They...they have their
finest artisans build one at each temple, sparing no expense. When
there’s an important holiday, or a state occasion like this,
they’ll take it up on the temple and destroy it as an offering to
the gods.”

“Oh.” Jin put his hand to his chest, feeling
a little queasy. Of course, the temple heart hadn’t been built to
actually function as such—it was just a showpiece—but the idea
still made him feel odd.

Molly hooked her arm through his again,
distracting him. Once the priest passed by, there came a retinue of
solemn-faced men and women. All wore jaguar hides around their
shoulders, and highly ornate helmets that Jin suspected weren’t
just for show. All held very large and frightening-looking
guns—probably death rays, he guessed. Although the guns, like the
helmets, were works of art, he didn’t doubt they could blow a hole
in someone very quickly.

In the midst of the guards came the man who
must be the visiting prince. He had a big nose and a weak chin, but
he carried himself regally, and had the look of someone accustomed
to instant obedience. His headdress was even more elaborate than
the priest’s, and he carried a club in one hand, festooned with
parrot feathers and glittering with gold.

As the crowd watched, the procession split
around the base of the temple, winding sinuously to either side.
The priest kept going in a straight line, however, climbing the
stair while holding the mechanical heart. Given how steep the steps
were, Jin was rather impressed that he was able to climb and hold
what had to be a very heavy object in front of him at the same
time. The guards and the prince followed him, some of the guards
stopping on lower steps and taking up position, while the rest
accompanied their charge to the flat platform at the very top.

“A shame we can’t see what’s going on up
there,” Jin said.
If I had my rig, I’d...

Get shot by the guards, no doubt. Maybe
that wouldn’t be such a good idea
.

Mysterious lights flickered at the top of the
temple, each one drawing an “ooh” from the crowd. As Jin watched,
the priest laid the mechanical heart on an altar, then retreated
from the platform. The guards also moved back, some seeming a bit
nervous. The prince stood in front of the altar, arms upraised to
the sky, calling out in the Xatlian language.

A bolt of lightning split the sky with a
cataclysmic boom that left Jin’s ears ringing and his eyes blinded
from the flash. Blinking rapidly from the afterimage, he heard
Molly let out a squeal of delight. “Oh, they must have a lightning
generator concealed in the altar!”

Not everyone shared her enthusiasm. Several
people had screamed in fright, and there were crying children
everywhere. The prince turned to the crowd and lifted his arms
again, and Jin wondered if they were about to be treated to another
lightning show.

But no, it looked like the mechanical animals
on the temple were coming to life and slipping out of their places
amidst their stone compatriots. Three clockwork jaguars sprang from
their perches, and some of the serpents slithered toward the
stairs. It was a nice effect, he thought with admiration. The
flickering torches made it hard to tell what was real and what
wasn’t, and lent the automata a sinister air.

The priest let out a cry of alarm, and
suddenly some of the guards rushed toward the prince at the top of
the stairs, while others hefted their ray guns. It took Jin an
instant to realize what was happening; then, he closed his hand
around Molly’s arm nervously.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to go like
this,” he said.

One of the mechanical jaguars sprang lithely
through the air, over the heads of the stunned guards and police,
and straight into the crowd at the base of the temple. Its heavy
body smashed a woman to the ground when it landed, crushing her
beneath its weight. One clawed forepaw lashed out, sweeping a burly
man from his feet and hurling him through the air.

Jin yelped as the body came flying toward
them. The crowd behind them cut off retreat, so he instinctively
pushed Molly down, shielding her as best he could. The body crashed
heavily into the older couple standing directly beside them. Jin
heard snapping bone, accompanied a wet scream.

Bile rose in his throat, but he forced it
down as pandemonium erupted all around them. More mechanical
monsters were bursting free from the temple façade, laying waste to
the helpless festival-goers, all the while ignoring the priest, the
prince, and his guards. The crowd began to stampede, knocking even
more people off their feet.

Molly clung to Jin’s hand as the press of
bodies pushed them along. “What’s happening?” she shouted.

Jin didn’t know, and didn’t particularly care
at the moment. From the clanging metal and screams behind them,
they were still too close to the murderous automata for his
comfort.
If the crowd doesn’t trample us, the mechanical
creatures will gut us
.

He scanned the nearby building façades,
searching for escape.
If we can get close to a building, maybe I
can climb up to the roof with Molly on my back
.

He yanked off his gloves and stuffed them in
his belt, beyond caring who saw his mechanical hands. A glint of
light on metal caught the corner of his eye, and he swerved
automatically, pulling Molly with him. A serpent-shaped automaton
snapped shut jaws large enough to devour a draft horse, missing
them and plowing into the ground instead.

The crowd was finally beginning to thin as
people scattered, and in the absence of any easier targets, the
serpent’s wide, brass head turned in their direction again. Huge
eyes of ruby glass glowed in a face that seemed as much feline as
serpentine. Its immense scales scraped the road, striking up sparks
as it turned and began to build up speed.

Oh, hell.

“Run!” Jin shouted. “I’ll try and hold it
off!” How he was to stop a twenty-foot long mechanical serpent, he
hadn’t the slightest idea, but they had run out of options.

“No!” Molly’s hand fastened on his. “I have
an idea. This way!”

The wide steps of city hall were in front of
them. Molly sprinted up the marble stair, her hat gone and her hair
flying loose behind her. Heart pounding overtime, Jin followed her,
expecting to feel the serpent’s jaws close around him at any
moment. Behind him, he heard a clang and the scrape of metal on
stone, and risked a look over his shoulder. The serpent was still
closing, but it slithered up the stairs more slowly than it had
moved on the level ground.

Molly burst through the swinging doors
leading into the building and kept going. As soon as he was through
behind her, Jin skidded to a stop and slammed them shut. There was
a simple locking wheel; he spun the handle, and heavy bolts thudded
into place. An instant later, the serpent crashed heavily into the
door.

“I think we’re safe,” Jin said, turning to
look for her. Molly had run to a discreet side door and pulled it
open. The sign beside it read “BOILER ROOM.”

“What are you doing?” he called—then ducked
as one of the high glass windows exploded inward. The serpent’s
head thrust through, its red eyes locked on Jin.

“Come on!” Molly yelled impatiently, as he
sprinted across the foyer to the door she held open. Jin pulled the
door shut behind them, even as he heard the marble tiles of the
entrance hall crack beneath the serpent’s weight. This door had a
key lock, but fortunately opened outwards, which meant the serpent
would have to batter its way through. Less fortunately, the door
was flimsy enough that it shouldn’t have any trouble doing so.

A steep stair led down, the way lit by dim
electrical lights. Molly took the steps at a full run, and Jin
scrambled after her. “That door isn’t going to hold!” he
yelled.

“It doesn’t have to!” she called back without
pausing.

The stair ended in a tunnel; Molly turned
right, her boots slipping in the slick film of moisture that clung
to everything. Pipes lined the walls, and the air was thick and
humid.

The tunnel widened sharply into a large room.
Dozens of pipes formed a network of light and shadow, all leading
to an enormous boiler hulking in the corner. Molly didn’t hesitate,
but dashed to what appeared to be some sort of shut-off valve.
“Help me!” she called as she grabbed the enormous wheel and began
to turn it.

Jin lent his strength to the effort, and it
spun more quickly. The faint sound of the door breaking echoed from
above. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

“Agreed,” Molly gasped, wiping sweat from her
forehead. “Especially as we’ve just closed the boiler’s main
pressure relief valve. This way!”

They darted into another tunnel, running full
out, despite the fact that they were both gasping for breath by
now. Jin could hear the serpent thrashing behind them, the clang of
metal echoing and re-echoing.

There came an ear-splitting explosion, and
the entire building shuddered around them. Molly was thrown to the
floor, and as the sound of falling masonry filled the air, Jin
hurled himself on top of her, hoping that he could at least shield
her with his body. A pipe above their heads cracked, steam jetting
out with a high-pitched shriek, like an enormous tea kettle. The
dim electric lights flickered and went out, plunging them into
darkness.