A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve

Author:Philip Reeve [Reeve, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: SteamPunk, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780060890568
Publisher: New York : EOS, [2007], c2006.
Published: 2007-05-16T14:00:00+00:00

"But you said--"

"I didn't say anything, Pennyroyal. You've been doing all the talking yourself, as usual. I wouldn't trust you aboard my ship, and even if I did, you wouldn't want passage to where I'm going."

Pennyroyal started to whimper. "But my money! My money!"

"You can't do this!" cried Theo, turning to Hester. Pennyroyal had kept him as a slave once, and he knew he should be glad that the gods had finally punished him for all his lies. But he didn't feel glad; he felt as if he were robbing a helpless, frightened old man. "We can't just take his money!"

"Think of it as a charity donation," said Hester, pulling the door open.

"I shall inform the authorities!" wailed Pennyroyal. "What, and give your hiding place away? I don't think so."

"It's for a good cause, Professor," promised Theo, lingering behind as Hester strode out of the room. He touched the old

man's trembling hand and said gently, "We'll pay it back. Lady Naga's a prisoner in a ship here. We're going to get her to Shan Guo. When we do, General Naga will be so grateful ... he'll pay back ten times what we took from you."

"Lady Naga?" whined Pennyroyal. "What are you talking about? She's dead!"

"Theo!" shouted Hester, halfway down the stairs.

With a last worried glance at Pennyroyal, Theo turned and followed her out of the room, out of the Empyrean Hotel, out into the chilly, starry night.

The clerk at the front desk watched them go, then wound the handle of the hotel's telephone and asked the operator to connect him to his brother, who worked in Airhaven's radiotelegraph office. "Lego?" he whispered. "It's me, Duplo. Can you send a message down to Murnau, double-quick?"

Alone in Room 128, Pennyroyal took a few deep, shivery breaths to calm himself. Curiosity was starting to get the better of his self-pity. What had young Theo meant? Could Naga's wife really still be alive? Was she really in Airhaven? And if she was, what would the Traktionstadts not give to get her for themselves? Why, the man who captured her would be a hero, no matter what alleged irregularities lay in his past....

Pennyroyal poured himself a brandy to steady his nerves, and lifted the stained curtain aside to look out at the big, sleepy shapes of the moored airships down on the docking ring. Humbug: That was the name Hester had let slip. He'd not heard of her, but it would be easy enough to find out what strut she lay at. And there were sure to be some burly

townies in the High Steet taverns who could help him out if things turned nasty.

In his mind's eye the beastly stories that The Speculum had printed about him finally began to fade, and a new, more favorable headline appeared; something along the lines of "Pennyroyal Captures Leading Mossie...."

27 Strut 13

***

LOW CLOUD, BLOWING IN from the west on the night wind, spread like a white carpet fifty feet beneath Airhaven, hiding the Earth below and all but the uppermost tiers of the largest cities there.

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