Chapter 36
That was the first time that Deryn had a proper night's sleep since London. She underestimated just how sleep-deprived she was. She had found the nearest stateroom in the house and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out. Bovril woke her up well after sunrise and she set to getting herself and the Capitoline something to eat. At least today she didn't have to wear that silly guard's uniform.
Alek was a step ahead of her. He got up early and made arrangements for a butcher delivery later that day. He told them that he wanted the entire house re-stocked with food since he planned on staying for a while. Deryn wondered whether or not that would be true, but in either case, Alek was growing into an experienced liar. Deryn didn't know whether to be proud or be concerned but either way he was getting things done so she didn't dwell on it.
She quickly became bored with waiting to hear from Shauder. Alek had buried himself into the library pulling out maps and engraving them into his memory. She guessed that he was trying to find his own way of getting the neutral talks to happen, but the truth was there was little he could do about it then. Deryn decided instead to take stock of all the things in the Hellfire plane that was still sitting on the runway behind the estate house.
In the light of day, the plane looked a little less menacing. It had two wings above and below the fuselage and two seats where the pilot was placed. Blisters, I could have sat here out of the wind, Deryn thought. The flight had been long and painful because the wind was so much bitterer in a violent Clanker plane compared to a Darwinist air-beast. But the sight and feeling of flying faster than a strafing hawk was unbelievable. The experience was fascinating enough to merit a closer look at the plane.
She hopped up on the starboard wing and began pulling things out of the pilot's compartment, making mental notes on where everything came from so she could put it all back. Many things ordinary: a headset, pilot's goggles, and a canteen that was completely empty. One or two things were a little odd. There was a small square of tinted glass that Deryn guessed was for seeing things through harsh sunlight. There was a copy of what she guessed was a flight manual, but all the words were in German and she could still only speak the language. She also found a flask and an odd looking backpack. A sniff of the flask proved that it was filled with liquor of some sort. Deryn hoped that it didn't belong to Shauder and that he was not drunk for their flight home, but if he landed the plane, that's all that mattered.
She turned to the odd-looking backpack and sat down on the wing to inspect it closer. It had no zippers or compartments of any kind, yet it still felt full. It was a few kilograms heavy but nothing felt loose on the inside when she shook it. She decided to strap it on to see if that made things clearer. It harnessed her tightly and even had leg braces as well.
"What are you toying with?" Jaspert shouted from the main door. He was walking towards her with an odd expression.
"I'm just trying to understand what exactly this thing is," she responded and continued fiddling.
"The backpack or the plane? They both seem simple enough for me," Jasper said sarcastically.
"Well if this is so simple, then why don't you tell me what's inside this thing?"
"Alright, toss it here," Jaspert said confidently. Deryn unstrapped herself and swung it over to him.
"Yes well," he said struggling to get it on. "It might be a water pack for long distant flights," he suggested.
"I found a canteen in there so probably not. Do you think it might be a . . ." she began and was cut off when he touched something on the right strap. Two large wings unfolded with a snap around Jaspert's back. They created a 'whoosh' as they opened up and Jaspert had to find his balance again.
"Ah! So it's a set of folding wings! That's pretty smart. If a pilot has to bail out, he could use this to get to land safely and a fair distance away from his enemies," Deryn concluded.
"Yea, but they're nothing like the wings we use in the service. These are as rigid as a Mammothine tusk. Ours feel so much more natural," Jaspert said unstrapping himself.
"Aye, I know it. A few months ago, I had a hard landing with a set of those and completely blew out my knee. It was a month before I could climb any ratlines afterward. It's got better since then of course, it only twinges if I break out into a run or jump really high," Deryn explained, recalling her horrible accident that almost gave her secret away to the entire world. That bum rag Malone was the source of so many of her problems then. If Alek hadn't sacrificed his last family secret, she would have been incarcerated and never would have flown again. But Alek did save her and so much more.
"Your prince could probably use some company, little sis. He's been in the study all day. I think he'll go mad if he lingers on what'll happen for much longer," Jaspert said shrugging the wings off of himself.
"Aye, I suppose your right. Has the Capitoline gotten any breakfast yet?" She asked.
"You worry about your Prince Charming, I'll worry about the beastie," he said with a devilish grin. Deryn looked at him with a twist of anger and confusion.
"Did he tell you?" she asked quietly.
"Of course not, I figured it out you silly girl. Who would have thought my sister the soldier smitten by the same lad that all the Austrian ladies would probably fawn over," he said and made a fake swoon to toy with her.
"Get stuffed," she said with a hint of a blush on her face. With that she turned on her heel, and left. The bum rag was obviously playing with her, but he was right, Alek shouldn't dwell on the news all day. A mad prince is of no use to anyone. On second thought, madder then he is already she supposed.
"But why on earth do you want to learn how to operate a walker?" Alek asked as she literally dragged him by the shoulder to the garage. She had managed to get him outside at this point but was still reluctant. She gave an exasperated sigh and took a firmer grip of him.
"Plenty of reasons. One, because I think it might come in handy if we're gonna stick around Clankerland any longer. Two, because you need to get your head out of maps for a moment and do something. And three, I'm barking bored, and crashing something might help pass the time," she said.
"Yes, but royal runabouts are hardly training machines," he said.
"Relax, your princeliness. I still remember plenty from those drills we use to run in Istanbul before the revolution. And, I've been a crack hand on the saunters of the Capitoline's saddle, if I do say so myself," she said and rounded the entrance to the garage where the runabout was parked. The palace had provided them with an alternative smaller walker after the one Alek used to get into the palace 'mysteriously' vanished along with 6 personnel.
"The Captioline is not a walker, Deryn. But I guess you might be right. A little familiarity with a walker might prove useful. I just hope we never need you to drive anywhere soon," he said walking around to the entrance ladder.
"With our luck, it'll happen," She said and followed him up.
The inside of this cabin was so much smaller than the one she had grown accustomed to in Istanbul. The saunters were taller too, probably because the pilot may have to stand and poke his head out of the porthole in the top to shout at people in the streets. There was another seat immediately behind the pilot's, but there was no room for anything else. Alek took the rear seat and motioned for Deryn to have a seat and strap in, which she did easily. It was not all that different from the Minotaur walkers they practiced with in Istanbul. There were a number dials that made no sense to her, a viewport out front, and a few pedals below the saunters, which also made no sense to her.
She strapped herself in and took the saunters in her hands. Alek apparently flicked a switch somewhere because the engine sputtered to life, giving the entire cockpit a shudder. The engine was smaller than before as well, she noticed.
"So, this runabout has four legs instead of the usual two. Those pedals act as saunters for the back two legs so strap your feet into those as well," Alek pointed out. As she strapped herself in, the cabin swayed backward with the slight movement of the back legs. "The action you want to think of is crawling like a child. Or like a hydrogen sniffer, if you'd like. Move your left hand with your right foot, and vice versa. But move your hands before your legs," he explained. It all seemed a little odd to her. She assumed that there would be more pressures and oil temperatures to worry about. This was more like teaching a child to walk.
"Ok," she said and ventured her left saunter forward. The whole cabin dipped one side as she brought it up. To compensate, she instinctively brought her left foot down and pressed hard. The whole walker moved forward ever so slightly. She brought down her left hand, simultaneously bringing her right foot up. The cabin then swayed in the other direction, balancing out. By the time she got through the first cycle of steps, they were already out of the garage.
"Very good. Watch the road and focus less on the saunters. You'll develop a rhythm eventually," Alek said from behind her. Sure enough, the movements of her left and right limbs started to feel more natural. The mechanics felt much softer than she imagined. Each stride she made was accompanied with a hiss of pressurized air and a gentle push against the saunters. She started picking up the pace until the path before her emptied out into the estate lawn.
"Try to stay on the path. To turn, just reach farther forward with your right side," Alek suggested.
"I'm trying," she said and reached with her right arm. The whole walker listed to the right and the world tilted sideways in the viewport.
"Careful!" Alek shouted. His worried tone was not helping Deryn calm down. She tried to bring the right hand back down to stabilize the walker, but instead she dragged the mechanical limb on the ground towards them. Gravel and pebbles shot in all directions and the cabin began listing more. She Deryn's eyes opened wide and her hands started shaking nervously.
"I can't . . ." she tried to explain how her right arm was stuck. The walker started tipping, past the point of balance and was lurching over. Deryn felt Alek's foot on her own out of nowhere. He had unbuckled himself and dove forward, mashing his foot on top of hers. The right leg saunter pushed downwards and the walker stopped listing. After a dizzying moment of balancing, the right leg pushed upwards and the whole walker came down with a crash on two its left side. The cabin shook with the impact and then everything became silent again. The engines sputtered to a halt and more hissing sounds filled the cabin. The right arm was still splayed outward and the walker looked terribly odd, as if it was offering something in its right hand.
Alek took his foot off of Deryn's, which twinged after being mashed so hard. His arm was wrapped around her pilot's chair to support himself. Deryn suddenly realized how close he was to her.
"Well done!" he said with a grin.
"What do you mean 'well done'?" she asked a little out of breath, "I almost crashed it!"
"Yes, Almost. Everyone crashes their first time. Usually it's in a smaller training runabout but you managed to get us a good 300 yards in a royal carriage walker without an ounce of training! Very good, for a Darwinist I should say," Alek said clapping her on the shoulder.
"I'm told I'm adaptable," She added and bubbled into a laugh. "You could have told me people usually crash!" she said with a scowl.
"Its tradition not to tell them until after they crash. In my first run with the Cyclop Stormwalker, I nearly went head first into a field of barley," he said and started laughing as well. The cabin started echoing with the sound of their laughter instead of the humming of engines.
"See?" Deryn said catching her breath. "Isn't this better than staring at maps all day?"
"Yes it is. Either way it's helping pass the time," he said with a shrug.
"What do you mean? All you could do before is focus on finding a solution to the whole 'co-existence' problem. How is that passing time?" She asked.
"Co-existence problem?" he responded a little confused. "I wasn't looking for neutral territory to hold peace talks."
"What? Then why were you tearing through maps of Europe?" she asked and sat up to face him. Alek looked away and stuttered for a moment, and Deryn caught the faintest glimpse of blush in his cheeks.
"I was, hum . . . I was actually looking for a spot in either England or Austria that makes sense," he said hesitantly.
"Makes sense for what?" she asked, still unclear of what this was about. He hesitated again and then slowly met her gaze.
"Makes sense for us," he said with a slight smile on his face. "This war is almost over, Deryn. When it finally ends, there is a chance that Austria will be at peace with the Darwinists. If that is the case, that means that we could find a place to live in either country. We could pool our savings together working for Barlow to get a place in the countryside of England big enough for an airfield!"
Deryn's eyes fixed on his gaze in a shock as she began to understand what he was saying.
"Alek," she began, "you were looking for a place to live with me?"
"Remember that gold bar you fell on in the Alps?" he continued. "We could use that to commission a small airship from the Zoological Society. It would be small enough for us to run on ourselves but it could get us anywhere! We could travel to my old home near Prague and then visit Lillit in Istanbul or . . ."
Deryn cut him off by throwing her lips at his. She unstrapped herself from her seat and began kissing him feverishly. He seemed surprised at first, and then he settled into the seat with her and began kissing her back with the same vigor. He held the back of her head as she began running her fingers through his hair. Her heart began pounding and her legs started melting from underneath her. The nerves she experienced from nearly tipping the walker over suddenly started firing again. Her breath was shaky and her head began to get dizzy, but she didn't care. This silly prince was all that mattered to her at the moment. They continued for a few long moments before she had to break away to breath.
"You daft prince," she said catching her breath. He looked at her with another smile on his face. He reached up and grazed her face with his hand gently. She leaned into it and closed her eyes, wishing that he'd continue talking about life after the war. At that moment, Bovril decided to speak up.
"Niklaus Shauder is coming," he peeped. Deryn jumped and spun around to face him. The Loris had climbed up the walker and was sitting in the viewport, eyeing them closely. There was no telling how long he had been there. He then started to make a low growling noise, imitating engines from far away.
"Shauder!" Alek said and scooted Deryn off of the seat. She climbed backward and took the seat behind Alek. In a moment, the engines were up and running again and the walker was balanced again, headed back for the garage. Deryn's head was still spinning and her arms and legs still felt lighter than air, but the interruption made one thing clear. While the war is still raging, it deserves the most attention. Looking forward was too much of a fantasy to dwell on, at least for now.
Bovril scampered out of the viewport and took a seat in her lap. He looked up at her with a quizzical look and said softly, "you daft prince." Deryn rubbed the Loris between his ears and sighed.
"We'll never get a moment's peace with you, will we?" she asked softly.
"Not while the war is on," Bovril responded easily.
Shauder came in through the main doors in a hurry and limped his way over to the library, where Alek and Jaspert were waiting. His mechanical foot made a loud thud every time he took a step. Deryn came in with the Loris on her shoulder from the Garage.
"Is there any news?" Bovril said in Alek's voice from her shoulder. Clearly the Loris was as eager as the rest of them. He didn't even sit down before he started speaking.
"All forces from the French front have been ordered to retreat and head back to the north. The bullets stopped flying around eleven this morning," he said. Jaspert gave a victorious 'hurrah' and Alek grew a large smile on his face.
"The French started moving forward and are now approaching our original boarders," Shauder continued. "They won't find any resistance for now. The Darwinists have agreed to hold a summit meeting in Austrian territory on the condition that the front line forces retreat. Prince Karl agreed and will be meeting with them tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Deryn asked quite surprised. "That's so soon! How did the French prepare negotiators so quickly? I know that they've got people, but how will they be getting all the way to Austria by tomorrow?"
"That Doctor you suggested," Shauder continued. "She already had a ship in place. She'll be joining the ambassadors and negotiators on board. They're both meeting in the city of Innsbruck. His highness Prince Karl is leaving in the morning on a zeppelin and they will meet the Darwinist ship there to hold talks."
"What will they hope to accomplish with talks?" Jaspert said. "They can say that the French are friends and the Germans are enemies if they want, but it will take more than orders to convince the soldiers to turn on their allies and partner with their enemies."
Deryn was about to shout something at Jaspert for being so ridiculous, but he had a point. It'll take more than a new emperor to get soldiers to turn on each other. She guessed that many soldiers would have friends or even family in Germany. Getting the support from the military will be harder than she expected. Not to mention the complete disgust most people in Innsbruck would show at the sight of a Darwinist ship in Austrian air space. It was an extremely risky maneuver. The German's had spies in America that almost killed Alek with a single rocket. There's no telling how many more German's would be in Innsbruck.
"If we can get the French to believe that we're turning against the Germans, then they can divert their forces from the Austrian front to Germany. Then they will have enemies at every border. They will have to surrender then. If everything goes well, Austria will not have to fire a single shot at Germany," Alek told Jaspert. That made sense to her. It didn't make the mission any less dangerous, but it certainly made it worth the risk.
Another problem bugged her. There is no ship the French had that could get Barlow and her negotiators all the way to Austria in a day's time.
"Shauder," she began, "How exactly are they getting to Innsbruck? The Darwinists I mean."
"On a Darwinist airship, the Leviathan," Shauder said, and then he looked rather surprised when everyone else became speechless.
A/N: Spring break is ending and it's back to the grindstone with me, but I'll make more of an effort to get the rest of this out before summer at least. I know thats a long time but I'm not gonna make any more promises I can't keep. Review! Tell me what you think.