City of Shadows: Part One: A Post-Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure: From the World of the Atomic Sea (A Steampunk Series) by Jack Conner

Author:Jack Conner [Conner, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Urban Fantasy and Steampunk Ebooks
Published: 2012-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

Night enfolded Stevrin, black and cold. He pedaled harder. Wind whipped his hair, stung his eyes. Behind him Harry and Jack rode as fast as they could. They couldn’t be late.

The Archminister and his colleagues were just emerging from the Guild building when Stevrin and the others pulled to a stop at the corner. Stevrin breathed a sigh of relief, and he and Jack exchanged nervous smiles. Harry just looked nervous. Stevrin was uncomfortably aware of being very close to the Guild building, and a glance upward showed gargoyles leering down at him. He tried to spot a moving eye, but couldn’t. The last few days had been wet, though, and the gargoyles glistened with moisture. It dripped off their knotted horns, their bulging eyes, and their long, pointed teeth.

The click of doors opening. Stevrin looked up to see the chauffeurs of the long black limousines hold the rear cabin doors open. The three Ministers slipped smoothly inside. Stevrin caught a look at Archminister Barnes, tall and immaculately dressed in a black suit, complete with hat and cane; he had white hair, a white mustache, and cold gray eyes. He was not unhandsome for a gentleman in his mid-sixties, and there were even smile lines spreading out from the corners of his eyes. Stevrin wondered if he’d been smiling as he watched his goons kill Sasha and Balard. Perhaps he’d slit their throats himself.

Their passengers safely ensconced, the chauffeurs retook their seats, and the convoy rumbled off through the streets. It was late, about three o’clock, and the sound of the autos echoed off the sides of nearby buildings.

Jack and Harry started to follow, but Stevrin stopped them. The autos turned a corner. Still he did not follow.

“Come on!” Jack said. “We’ll lose ‘em.”

“We don’t need to worry about losing them,” Stevrin said. “Not right now. Let’s just not get caught. We can follow the sound of their engines.”

Shortly enough Stevrin started pedaling, following the direction of the engines’ purring, and water on the street squelched off his tires. He found himself pedaling faster and faster as the convoy built up speed. Without much traffic on the roads, the Archminister was making good time. Too good. Maybe Jack had been right. Stevrin’s legs burned, and pinpricks filled his chest. White steam issued from his mouth, and he could hear the panting of the other boys just behind him.

The convoy’s engines receded at times, then returned. Every time they faded Stevrin grew frantic. At last he was taking turns so fast he wasn’t sure where he was any more. He didn’t know the Lowers well. He wasn’t even sure he could find his way back to the park.

The sounds of the convoy escalated. It sounded as though they’d turned to the right, somewhere up ahead. Stevrin tried to look for a turn-off, couldn’t see one ...

Jack shouted.

Stevrin wheeled. A dark shape rushed in out of the blackness to the rear. An auto engine, suddenly gunned, roared in his ears.

“Fuck!” he said, even as the auto rushed at them.

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