Chapter 26

"A Meeting of the Minds"

Location and Date Unknown

With slow, steady breaths, Alek opened his eyes, bracing himself for whatever horrors the Darwinist rebels had laid out for him. Instead, he saw nothing but darkness.

Voices gradually became clearer. He heard mostly masculine voices, but a few feminine ones would come into his range from time to time. He tried to move his hands, but they were bound together. Evidently, someone had tied them behind him with rope, along with his legs. He was in a chair of some kind, a rather comfy one at that.

"…Like I said, Adrian, I'm impressed," a distinct feminine voice close to him said. "This is far more civilized than what I was expecting from you."

"Thank you kindly, Lady Gottschalk," a Serbian-sounding man responded. "You know that we try to keep everything civil on the surface."

Alek squirmed around in panic. He was sitting near Gottschalk? God's wounds, those rebels weren't lying back in Salzburg. Where was he now? In some remote prison, awaiting interrogation or torture?

"'On the surface,' you say? Let me guess, all of the shadier business is conducted in the lower levels? If I were to, say, go downstairs for an unannounced inspection, I might find beaten and broken Clankers begging for me to release them?"

A pause followed her question. Gottschalk laughed, clapping as she exclaimed, "Oh, Adrian! That devilish smile betrays you again!"

A hand grabbed the bag draped over his face. "Well, no need to keep him in the dark any longer. Let's bring him up to speed."

With one motion, the cloth over his head was pulled off. Alek squinted from the brightness of the lights, then blinked rapidly until everything got into focus.

He was at a large table, occupied by over a dozen men and women. He and Gottschalk were at the center, sitting across from one another. The room was lavishly-decorated and antiquated in design, as if it was in a renovated castle. In front of everyone were plates topped with some sort of meat and various vegetables.

The ropes binding his hands and legs were cut. Alek felt the urge to run as far away from this place as possible, but the thought was dashed by once he realized he had no idea where he was. He could make a run for it, but who knew where he would end up then? Even then, he was surrounded by Austrian Darwinists, making escape a pipe dream unless he was willing to hurl himself out a window. For now, he would have to play it smart and decipher where they had taken him.

And maybe, if he got lucky, he could talk some sense into Ms. Gottschalk. Surely, the severity of her actions was exaggerated, right? She couldn't be as bad as everyone said. Maybe she had some overzealous subordinates committing crimes in her name that she didn't know about.

It was wishful thinking, yes, but it could hardly make things worse. Diplomacy was always preferable to violence.

"You know, Alek," Gottschalk began, "I have had quite the tough time tracking you down. Do you have any idea how many connections I had to use to track down where you would be sent?" She dismissed her own question with a wave of her hand. "Doesn't matter. What does matter is that I found you before you took any other suicidal chances. I mean, what were you thinking? Allying with the Clankers? The same people who, if I recall, killed your entire family and tried to hunt you down? You should be grateful I saved you when you did!"

Alek placed his hands on the table, about to begin justifying his actions, when he caught sight of his bandaged ring finger. A shock of panic surged through him. He desperately flexed the digit, attempting to feel the joints move. Only a small portion of the finger remained, just below the first joint.

"How did you get that?" Gottschalk asked, suddenly concerned.

"Someone…someone shot it off. Before I got captured." He remembered the blows his face took before he blacked out. God only knows what he looked like now. "Some girl named Moira did a number to my face before I got knocked out."

Her eyebrows narrowed, she reached for his hand and gently caressed the finger. Alek wasn't certain if he should pull away or allow her to continue.

"How…unfortunate." Gottschalk's tone took an icy turn. "Moira's gotten sloppy since Sharp arrived. Adrian, remind me to have a…talk with her on her performance."

The mere mention of Deryn made him perk up. Where had she ended up? Did she get captured, too, or did she find a way out of that fight? He was starting to get worried about her. She had been getting brasher and less cool-headed since they arrived in Austria. It was as if she lost some of her nerve whenever he was involved.

He had to wonder about Boesch, too. What had become of the unfortunate, love-struck medic that had reluctantly tagged along with him and Deryn on their failed escape?

Gottschalk pulled her hand away. Taking the champagne glass by her plate, she clinked a spoon against it to get everyone's attention.

"I would like to propose a toast!" she exclaimed. "To Aleksandar von Hohenberg, another unfortunate victim of the Clankers' brutality!"

A few of the people sitting clapped, but most did nothing. They all looked important in one way or another. Probably key leaders of the Austrian Darwinist Alliance, Alek thought.

"Lastly, to a quick and speedy end to this war! Once the Clankers are driven from this land, we may finally find peace!"

Again, a few clapped, but most shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. He wondered why no one was trying to enthusiastically agree with their leader. Wasn't Gottschalk beloved throughout the resistance movement, to the point where some circles venerated her?

A woman to his right spoke up. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that. You see…" she hesitated, as if she was choosing her words carefully. "…Some of us have been talking, and we think that, with momentum on our side, we should only take a few more key positions before demanding that the Loyalists sue for peace."

The room went silent. If a pin dropped, it would have been deafening compared to the sheer absence of noise.

Then Gottschalk laughed. "No," she said back, smiling as if a humorous joke had just been told. "No, don't be ridiculous. This ends when the Clankers leave or die off."

"But, Ms. Gottschalk, some of our brothers, sisters, and loved ones are Clankers! We are tired of war. We want peace, not more of this fighting."

"They knew what they were getting into by staying loyal to the Clankers. If they get hurt, it's their fault."

"Our original goals, the reason you met with that general, was to have our demands met and to maintain peace with the Clankers! Have you already forgotten that?"

Gottschalk glared at the woman. "Do not try to twist my past against me, Agatha. Anyhow," she clapped her hands together, suddenly cheery, "I'll hear no more of that! Back to the reason why I'm hosting this damn dinner anyway – talking to you, Alek!"

The woman stood up, ready to defy her leader, but the Serbian-sounding man beside her held his hand close to her, as if he were trying to warn her not to press any more. Her bravery fading, she sat down, hanging her head low in shame.

Regardless of how he felt, he had to speak up. If her subordinates felt strongly about peace, then maybe there was hope for the Austrian Darwinists and Clankers burying the hatchet and resolving their problems without further conflict. "Ms. Gottschalk, she has a point. If peace is a reasonable option, it should always be pursued in place of war. My father once said-"

"-Oh, yes, your father," she responded, highly amused. "I know he wanted peace. In case you have forgotten, that sort of thinking got him placed in a coffin near his wife. Or, have the Clankers already tried to convince you that they didn't do it?"

"No – well, yes, but-"

"-But what? Are you really going to sit there and defend the people who killed your family? They killed my father, too, and you know what I did? I tracked down the men responsible as soon as I had enough influence, and I made them regret their choices until their last, dying breaths. And you have the gall to defend them?"

"Not all Clankers are alike," he insisted. "Look at me, for instance! Are you going to look me in the eyes and lump me in the same category as the men who killed your father?"

A smile slowly spread along her lips. "No. Unlike you, I don't see a Clanker in you. I see a Darwinist, much like myself. I would say we have a good amount in common with each other."

That was enough to make Alek stop his pre-planned argument. "We…respectfully speaking, we are nothing alike."

"Oh, really? Nothing alike, you say?" She got out of her chair, circling around the other key Darwinist leaders until she was mere inches away from him. "We were both orphaned at adolescence by bloodthirsty Clankers. We both had to go on the run for safety. We both had to fight back against those who wished to see our worlds melt away. We both crippled the Clankers trying to kill us, driving them to kneel before us in mercy. Are we really that different?"

"Yes, because unlike you, I want to save lives, and you just want to end them!"

It was yet another outburst that Alek wished he could take back. Gottschalk's brow furrowed in anger, and he could tell that he had struck a nerve. He wouldn't apologize for it, no matter what. He told the truth, and that was all that mattered.

"You really are naïve, aren't you?" Gottschalk coldly asked him. "You think you have some moral high ground over me? What, that you're better than me because you got off easy while I starved and suffered for years? Wake up, Alek, I used to be you: a naïve idealist who thought the Clankers were still worth saving. They're not, and you should know that better than anyone else!"

"That isn't it," Alek tried to correct her, knowing full well he had shot himself in the foot with his last comment. "I fought to end a war, and you're fighting to keep a war going when everyone else wants peace."

"Because, apparently, a few dissenters means everyone wants to be friends with the Clankers again." Gottschalk chuckled, which sounded far more sinister than the noise Deryn made. "Tell me, Alek – how many Austrians have you killed so far?"

Alek was taken aback by her question. "What do you mean?" he demanded of her.

"I have personally killed only three people, Alek. How many did you kill when you were serving aboard the Leviathan? Or, during your intervention in the Ottoman coup? Or even in the past few months, when you nonchalantly cut down Austrian Darwinists because you thought it was the right thing to do?"

Alek's mind tried to dodge her question. No, he told himself, those killings were necessary. It was kill or be killed during the Great War. Although, the memory of those Austrian and German ships, unable to attack his airbeast yet destroyed by them in some way or another, came to light. He had hunted down both armed and defenseless Clankers both during and after the war, and for what? Glory? Approval?

"It's…it's different. What I had to do was different from what you have done."

His defense only made her laugh even harder. "Remember, Alek, the point of an argument is to convince me of a point, not convince yourself."

Shame washed over him like a torrent of rain. Was he truly any better than her if he left an even bigger trail of bodies in his wake? Yes, there were moments when he had no choice but to fight back, but there were even more when he could have simply walked away from the confrontations. Soft as a whisper, yet still trying to muster some force into his voice, he insisted, "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I never enjoyed killing those people."

"Yet you did it anyway. You killed dozens of people across a mere three years, which I will admit is impressive. Did you ever stop to consider whether they had families to go home to?"

She shrugged, placing her hand on his shoulder. He recoiled from the touch, a reflex that didn't escape her sight. Smirking, she commented, "Ah, what does it matter? They were only Clankers, and you already know my opinions on them." Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "I wonder, were those intimate moments with Deryn all you needed to drown out the screams of your victims?"

Every thought in Alek's desperate mind came to a grinding halt.

Gottschalk knowingly smiled at him. "Yes, I know about Agent Sharp's true identity. I know more than you could ever imagine."

Say something, he told himself. Find out how much she knows.

"What do you want with me?" he weakly asked her.

"I want you to join me, Alek. Think about the good we could do together! If the world saw us working side-by-side, it would create legitimacy for my cause! We could drive out the Clankers together, and build a newer, better Austria from the ashes of its older incarnation!"

Alek saw four lumbering figures step into the room, taking places at the corners of the room. They wore thick, leathery armor with heavy glass visors and carried jerry-rigged metallic weapons. They seemed human, but each of them easily towered over the room's occupants by at least a foot, if not more. Their presence aroused the attention of the other people at the table.

Gottschalk briefly glanced at them. "Don't mind them, they're just my elite guard. I like to have them around; they keep everything in perspective."

Alek scoffed. "You mean they intimidate your audience."

He half-expected another tirade from her. Instead, she smirked at his remark. "You're smarter than you let on, you know that?"

Gottschalk helped him stand up. She took a step back, then offered her hand to him. "We're at a breaking point, Alek. Europe is trapped between two giants that have been fighting for decades on end. It's time we shifted the balance to the right side – permanently."

He considered her offer, wondering if this fight could truly be stopped by supporting the Darwinists instead. As war-hungry as Gottschalk was, she had some good points. He had worked with Darwinists for the past few years, and the Clankers had caused him enough problems in that same period of time. Austria needed a changing of the guard.

But she would do more harm than good if allowed to seize control of the country.

Alek looked her square in the eyes and gave her one firm answer: "No. I will save Austria, but not with you."

Deryn got a view of the Black Hand operatives surrounding her airbeast's exits when it was too late to go back up. Loading up her captured Mondragon rifle and strapping on her elektrical knuckle, she kept the blast doors locked shut once the beastie was tied down. Walking past the tied-up and partially-unconscious crew, she swore under her breath. She needed an escape plan, but they probably had every possible passage covered. The ground she had chosen to land on was flat and level - perfect for a smooth exit, but terrible for defending.

"Agent Sharp!" a man shouted to her from the outside. "You are surrounded, and you have nowhere to run. Lay down your arms and step out of the airbeast, or we will take you by force!"

She kept low, edging her way to the one exit she could still use - the portholes above. If she allowed them to climb into the airbeast and search for her, there would be less of them hunting for her outside. She could slip out once enough of them boarded the airbeast and go after Alek herself.

As much as she enjoyed flying the airbeast, it was of no help to her now. Those ropes were tied down tight, and if they were smart, they would guard them carefully.

The beastie's upper membrane groaned from some sort of pressure. They had climbed on top of it, and would no doubt begin trying to flush her out soon. Deryn ran to the upper levels of the ship, slipping into one of the supply barrels to hide. She slowed her breaths, taking in every sound around the airbeast. She heard men and women walking, barking orders at each other, unrolling rope for rappelling into the airbeast, gunshots...

Her concentration broke with the arrival of gunfire. What was going on outside? Were they trying to shoot her beastie full of holes? Or, even worse, were they looking to ignite the hydrogen? They had to know the crew was still in here!

It didn't matter now. Deryn dropped down to the loading bay and began turning the crank with all of her might. This beastie was no Leviathan, and it wouldn't hold up from too many rifle bullets in the right places. As soon as there was enough clearance, she slipped out onto the ground, her boots stomping onto the fresh snow.

She was wrong. The Black Hand commandos weren't shooting at her airbeast; they were getting shot at. Every last one of them had been killed by gunfire or by beasties.

Deryn stared, awe-struck at the faint red mist left behind from the attacks.

A crowd of regular Darwinist rebels approached her. A man, looking somewhere in his thirties, stepped up onto the loading ramp of her airbeast. "Agent Sharp, we heard about what you did back in Salzburg," he said in a reserved, respectful tone. "Some of us have grown tired of Gottschalk and her fanatical followers, and are going to stage a coup any minute now. Would you be willing to assist us?"

Deryn quickly told him, "I need to get Alek out of there first. Any of you know where they are holding him?"

A girl, no older than thirteen, called out, "I hear they either took him to the interrogation rooms or the state room. You could try looking around those places."

This daft war might come to an end if Gottschalk got ousted. If someone who wasn't scrambled in the attic got placed in charge, maybe the Darwinists and Clankers would stop fighting and get to rebuilding this place. The thought did sound appealing to her.

"Before all of this," the man continued, "I was a school teacher. I only joined the fight because I thought there was no other way to get through to the Clankers. Now, there's a chance to obtain peace, and Gottschalk wants us to squander it. We need your help to stop her, or she'll get even more people killed in this godforsaken war."

Deryn gazed at the imposing sight of Ambras Castle. It was a suicide mission, that she knew, but the odds were tilted in her favor now. She stood a far better chance of rescuing Alek with this much support, even if it meant sacrificing the "quiet" part of her plan. She could find Alek quicker, take down Gottschalk, and find out what happened to Volger and the others all in one fell swoop.

Rescuing Alek was her priority, but it wouldn't hurt to take down Gottschalk around the same time. With some trickery, they could escape with every hair on their heads intact.

Sporting a cocky grin, Deryn said, "Aye, let's put her down."

A/N: Side note - chapter 1 has been updated once more, this time cutting down the exposition by a seventh, moving the author's note up to the top, and altering a few lines here and there for consistency's sake. There's not much new for older readers, but I figured I should mention it regardless.