Chapter 28

Newkirk brought the boat's engine down to an idle. The boat shook with the hum of its powerful engine and eventually it came to a halt. She had to hand it to him, Deryn thought. Newkirk certainly did have a powerful enough boat for the occasion. Apparently his family would rig boats with powerful engines and have races with other residents of Dover. It was only natural that anything remotely Clanker that happened in England happened there; it was the closest place to the Clanker nations in the UK.

They had made tremendous time, but the sun was already setting behind them and Newkirk needed to start back for London. There would certainly be questions asked if he didn't show. The best thing he could do at this point was to head back and try to keep the Admiralty's eyes off of them. This meant that they had to say goodbye here.

They floated about 500 meters away from what looked like a small fortress on the waterfront. The docks were within eyesight, but the building was mounted atop jagged rocks. The waves were smooth and broke quietly on the rocks in front of them. From what little light there was, Deryn could make out that the building was at least as big as the Castle she left behind in the Alps.

"There," Shauder pointed with his good hand. "That dock has a fuel tank you can use to refill the vessel," he said in German. "There should be enough left over. That is, if the militants didn't steal it after we left." She nodded and stepped back to the steering wheel towards Newkirk. Bovril was still standing atop the steering column, enjoying a slight ocean breeze in his face.
"Clankerhands says that the last dock on the left should have some gas. If you run out, I'm sure the Naval blockade would love to give you a ride. Just tell them you've got a medal to receive," she said and pointed towards the docks. He put the engines back in gear and it sputtered forward again.

"So tell me this, Sharp. What exactly is your plan after you find this declaration? You won't make it far swimming. Is there another boat this bloke's got or something?" Newkirk asked.

"Another boat?" Bovril chirped excitedly.

"Not likely. Chances are they were all stolen when the 'militants' raided the place," she said making quotation marks with her fingers. "We're gonna get home the old fashion way; like civilians. Neither of us know any Dutch. But he knows enough French to get us into France. From there, I just tell them that I represent the Zoological society and the boffins take care of the rest."

"Why can't you just go in and grab it? Besides, who's to say there aren't Clankers in there now?" He asked back.

"Would you quit worrying already? The place has likely been ransacked and deserted by now. Shauder doesn't know the exact location of the blasted thing anyway. We might be looking all night. Just get your bum back to London and keep the Admiralty off of us until we get back."

"I just don't think that Jaspert would be too happy about leaving his cousin alone in a different country with a Clanker who is half-man half-machine." Newkirk finished and eyed Shauder suspiciously.

"Clankerhands," Bovril said and eyed Shauder closely.

"He wants to help that Prince, and I'm the best connection he's got with him right now. Don't worry about me. Jaspert knows that if anyone should be worried, its that sticky-boots there," she said and nodded in Shauder's direction. At that moment, for no real reason, she put her hand on her hip to make sure that her sidearm was still in its holster.

Newkirk pushed the boat forwards slowly until it finally made contact with the dock. Deryn jumped off the boat with a line in her hands and her boots met the wood with a thud. She quickly tied Newkirk off and found a rubber hose with a metallic spout on one end. She grabbed it and threw it to Newkirk.

"See if that pumps anything out. If so, fill yourself up and get going. At this point, you'd be lucky to make your ceremony at all. No reason to wait for us while we're dilly-dallying." Shauder stepped off the boat and hobbled towards the estate without a word to Newkirk or Deryn.

"Well," Newkirk sighed. "It was nice to meet you too."

"Don't take it personally. He's a Clanker, and an odd one at that. Get going as soon as you can, clear?" Deryn asked.

"Clear Sharp," he said and smartly saluted. "And watch yourself ok? I'll see you in a day or two."

She gave him a short smile and turned on her heels towards the estate.

"Watch yourself," Bovril echoed from atop her shoulder.


As expected, the place was both enormous and empty. The hallways were decorated with dark red paint and the floors were made of diamond-shaped tiles made of marble. Seeing all of the grandeur reminded Deryn of how old the castle in the Alps really was. That castle was big sure enough, but the décor was old and the whole place was dusty. This was royalty properly maintained. There wasn't much gold on the walls but Deryn suspected the place had been ransacked.

She walked down another hallway after Shauder made sure they were alone. Her footsteps echoed in the corridor with loud clicks and she scanned the floor with her torch. She followed Bovril down one side of the hallway and eyed out one of the windows that overlooked the rear grounds. She could see well enough in the moonlight that the grounds were empty and covered in dirt. Odd, she thought. She'd expect a royal sticky-beak like Prince Karl to have a nicely trimmed lawn if the boffins back home could manage it. She was about to turn away when she noticed something odd. There were tire tracks in the dirt that were very wide apart. She looked down in one direction and saw that the dirt lawn continued for perhaps 600 meters in straight line!

"You have your own barking airfield?" she shouted down the corridor.

"But of course," Shauder's voice echoed back. "That is how Prince Karl prefers to travel. It's many times faster by aeroplane than by any other means."

"But it seems a bit dangerous for a royal."

"Indeed, which is why he flies escorted by 3 of the Kaiser's war planes when he crosses Germany." Shauder continued down the next hall and his voice trailed off when he entered the room at the end. Deryn followed him down and stopped short upon reaching the door. There were bullet holes all around where the doorknob used to be, which looked like it had been torn off.

"This is Karl's room?" she deduced.

"It is his serene highness's royal chamber," he corrected her, "and where I think his personal safe is."

"How do you know the combination to the safe and not know where it is?"

"Location and information are both different kinds of security. Prince Karl always favored one over the other. He made sure I knew the combination, but if I was ever tortured, I couldn't tell anyone the location. Compartmentalization, see?"

"Compartmentalization" Bovril echoed from the floor and began rolling the wonderful new word around in its mouth.

"Alright," Deryn said as she followed him in. She stopped short again and let out a sharp gasp. Blood stained the wall across from her in two spots. The windows were shattered completely and every last bit of furniture was turned over. Shauder was by one of the windows looking out at the docks outside.

"They shot at us from here as we started our boat's engine," he said and pointed out the window with his mechanical arm, holding it with his other hand like a rifle. "If the safe was hidden somewhere around here, they would have found it by now."

"Aye. So does that mean it's somewhere else or that they have it?" she asked.

"If they had it, they'd be ruling Austria by now," Shauder said and began circling the room with his eyes planted on the ceiling. " . . . and I don't think Prince Karl would likely keep it anywhere else." He continued to pace the room looking at upwards. Deryn saw that the ceiling had 4 golden sun mosaics decorating the room. The rest of it was plain white paint.

"What are you—" she began.

"Ah, this looks promising," he said in German and stood underneath the mosaic farthest from her. She followed his gaze to the spot he was fixed on and looked closely. She didn't see anything strange or different about it. Shauder raised his mechanical arm and pointed it directly upwards. His sleeve fell to his shoulder, exposing his entire arm. Down to the elbow it was a heavy dark metal contraption complete with a palm and fingers on the end. He reached up slowly with his good hand and fidgeted with his false one.

A loud crack pierced the air and Deryn saw the hand shoot from the rest of his arm, leaving behind a trail of thin metal wire behind. The hand landed firmly on the mosaic sun he was standing underneath and gripped it tightly. He gave out a grunt and heaved with his metal arm downwards.

"Blisters!" Deryn cried and ran beside him. "That thing is a grappling hook?"

"It's more than that. But I'm not heavy enough to pull this down. Would you mind assisting me if you please?" he said.

She hesitated for a moment, then took Shauder by the shoulders and heaved with him simultaneously. Bovril scuttled up to her shoulder and began mimicking their grunting sounds, which was being less than helpful. They pulled as hard as they could and after a moment of struggle, Deryn felt something give. The entire mosaic unlatched itself from the ceiling and was guided downward by spring-loaded beams.

"Ah, very good" Shauder said and reached up to his mechanical arm again. He found a small lever and pulled it towards him. It clicked, and the wire began spooling back into his arm, pulling the hand and the mosaic down with it.

"Barking handy that thing is," Deryn exclaimed.

"And none too common. It is difficult to find someone as wealthy as royalty to keep a servant who only has half of his limbs. But Prince Karl insisted I stay under his service, so the military designed these for me."

The mosaic was now within arms reach and Deryn reached up and pulled it down the rest of the way to the floor. Sitting on top of the golden sun was a black safe that Deryn suspected was small enough to carry. It would not be able to hold anything of material value, but it was certainly big enough to contain a letter.

"Well done Shauder. And I was beginning to—"

Her voice was cut off by a faint familiar sound. A distant hum shook the air and began to grow louder by the second. Bovril was already imitating it loudly and had his eyes fixed on the door leading out into the corridor they came from.

"Get that thing open!" she cursed and ran towards the corridor window again. She peered outside at the landing strip and searched widely. The hum grew louder but still she saw nothing. After another second, she saw bright lights fill the far side of the landing strip. The sound of aeroplane engines now roared in the corridor. The lights blinded her for a moment and she covered her face, stepping away from the window.

"Were you expecting company Mr. Shauder?" she hailed.

"Not from the Kaiser's Hellfire pilots!" He shouted back. At the mention of the Kaiser, she darted back to the window. The plane had landed and was now rolling to a stop just in front of her. Sure enough, the left flank had the German Air Force cross on it. It was amazing that Shauder could tell not only what model the plane was but also that it was hostile just by listening to it. She'd be impressed if she weren't in danger. She left the window and joined Shauder in the master's chamber.

"If they're here, then they must know that the declaration exists." She said.

"You are most likely correct, Mr. Sharp," he said calmly as he continued to fiddle with the safe's lock. The engines outside began to die down. "And if they come in here and find an empty safe, they'll know that Prince Karl is on his way to Vienna."

"Could you forge a different letter in its place?" Deryn asked. As soon as she finished speaking, a loud crack echoed from the corridor. Soon the sounds of voices filled the room as well. "Guess we're out of time for that," she whispered and drew her pistol.

"I've got it!" Shauder hissed and the small box clicked open. Deryn kept her eyes glued to the corridor and aimed her pistol at the door across from her. "The declaration's in here too. We should close the safe to keep the—"

"No time," Deryn said and closed the chamber doors. "We need a way out of here besides out that door. They'll be in here in a minute."

"This way," Shauder whispered harshly and led her to the farthest wall. A desk was overturned which they both stepped over. Shauder pulled hard on the nearest light-switch with his good hand and the entire contraption came out of the wall. The wall next to him folded inwards and revealed a downward staircase.

"Will this close up behind us?" she asked as she stepped forward.

"Yes but that will not solve our problem," he answered. They both stepped downwards and the door swung closed behind them, locking with an audible click. Deryn lowered herself to peer through the hole the light-switch had left and held very still. For a moment, nothing happened. She could feel her heart racing as if she had fought someone already, and she became very aware of how loud her breathing was. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and continued to peer through the hole. The Loris seemed to calm down as well. Perhaps Bovril was beginning to understand when to keep his mouth shut without being told to.

A moment later, the doors to the master chamber opened and three armed men strode in, pointing their weapons in all directions. Their attention was immediately drawn to the safe that was drawn from the ceiling and they began to inspect it closely. Something was odd though. The men weren't wearing flight suits. Considering they flew here from Germany to land in the dark, they had to at least be experienced pilots. She heard Shauder draw a sharp breath, and she wheeled around to find him staring out the same hole in the wall. She glared at him, and motioned for him to continue down the stairs. He blinked, and pulled at her arm beckoning her to follow.

The tunnel led downwards before leveling out into a dark passage where men could only walk single-file. She noticed his limp now and she could hear the occasional squeak from his mechanical leg that reverberated in the hallway around them. When they reached the end, a ladder led upwards to where Deryn guessed was the outside world. As it turned out, she was right, for the ladder emptied out into a tree trunk that lay on the other side of the airfield. She carefully poked her head out and took shelter behind the tree. The plane was in full view but was many meters away. Deryn could see one man refueling it. She guessed the rest were inside looking for the declaration.

"Those men were wearing uniforms from the Austrian Royal Guard!" Shauder hissed from below her.

"Hang on. Does that mean they're friendly?" she asked back.

"Friendly Clankers?" Bovril asked as well.

"Certainly not. They are definitively German soldiers. Their carbines were infantry standard and their plane is a Hellfire class fighter. They fly over the homeland securing the airspace. I've never seen one in Austria before, and certainly not here." Shauder pulled himself out of the passage and took shelter next to her.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"It means," he huffed, "that the Germans have infiltrated the Austrian Palace."

"I thought we knew that already," Deryn said. "Isn't that how they're keeping the death of that Emperor of yours a secret?"

"The Emperor died while attending a war conference in Berlin. As far as any Austrian Generals are concerned, he is still there speaking with the Kaiser."

"So they've got agents disguised as well? They basically run Austria already! This whole Prince business is just turning out to be a waste of time."

"Do you not understand?" he spat in a hissing whisper. "They know that the Prince is at large and that the declaration is now missing. Even if they haven't been spotted prancing through Austria on that beast of yours, they will be expecting the prince to reveal himself in Vienna any day!"

" . . . which means that they're heading into a trap," Deryn finished for him. Her eyes grew wide and she wheeled around looking at the estate. "Alek," she breathed. She needed to stop him from showing his face in Vienna. In the time it would take them to go from the palace gates to the council room, the German agents would riddle them with bullet holes. She stood up sharply and holstered her weapon, gazing down at Shauder.

"Can you fly an aeroplane?" she whispered sharply. He chuckled slightly and gave her a slight smirk.

"That is the reason Prince Karl kept me as a servant after my accident; because I'm the best pilot that Clankers have ever known."

"Good, cause we're stealing that aeroplane." She said and began creeping towards the airfield, taking the trees closest to her as cover. As she got closer, she could see the aeroplane better. It was longer than the smaller fighters that the Machiavellicruiser launched at them before. Its wings were suspended upward and it's engines were mounted underneath them on either side of the fuselage. There was still one man who seemed to be finished refueling the craft. He was simply waiting for the others to return, which could be at any second.

"Shauder, get in the plane and get it started," she said after a short breath. "Bovril, go with him. I'll meet you inside." The Loris nodded and scampered off.

She waited for the right moment, and then shot forward. She sprinted at the soldier as fast as she could and was upon him in moments. He noticed her coming and wheeled his rifle around at her, but was too late. She caught the rifle with her right hand, holding it away from her. She then grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the fuselage beside him with a loud clang. The man gave out a sharp moan and Deryn seized the opportunity to twist the rifle out of his hands and push him forward, taking him off his feet. She brought the butt of the rifle down on the man's head and he grunted before becoming completely silent.

The engines began to slowly roar to life and the propellers began gaining speed. She stepped forward and looked for the gunner's box that was mounted in the front. As the plane began to inch forward, she jumped into the gunner's box feet first and wheeled the main cannon around towards the main door of the estate. The plane began to turn to face the runway strip when sparks started lighting up in the windows around them. Bright flashes of fire started illuminating up the dark house and the familiar zipping sound of bullet's whizzing by filled her ears. She opened fire at the entire wall, filling the air with louder and quicker bursts of energy. The heavy gun kicked back at her like an upset equinesque and jolted her backward madly. The estate began ricocheting bullets in all directions and the men inside took cover.

"Get us in the air!" she shouted back to Shauder, who seemed to get the message. The roar of the engines got louder, deafening her ears. She saw the Loris scuttle up from the pilot's chamber towards Deryn and found a new seat in her lap, propping his head up beside her. The house began to slowly move backwards and she felt the plane bounce from the landing strip. Shots continued to ring out from the house, some catching the plane with loud clangs. The sound of the shots eventually died out as the plane picked up speed. The wind in her face was encompassing all of her senses and she sheltered her face. Then, the bumpy ground beneath her faded away. The world became smooth but the wind was still harsh. She whipped her head backwards and saw the ocean lit up by moonlight behind them. She couldn't even see the estate anymore in the darkness. She breathed a slight sigh of relief before strapping herself in and taking a firm hold of Bovril.

A thought then occurred to her.

"Shauder?" she nearly screamed back at him over the wind, "Did you loose your arm and leg in a plane crash?" Shauder began belting out laughter in response.

"Perhaps," was all the man screamed back.


A/N: Welcome to the long-waited continuation of Capitoline. More chapters will be up now that I'm on break from school. Hope this long chapter helps fill the void you've known since the last chapter. Review's always help with these longer chapters!