Rings of Anubis Book 1: Gold and Glass by E. Catherine Tobler

Author:E. Catherine Tobler [Tobler, E. Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: fantasy, novel
ISBN: 9781607015017
Publisher: Masque Books
Published: 2013-06-24T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Port Elizabeth ~ Cape Colony, 1884

Eleanor didn’t want to be here. Rain poured from the sky in drenching sheets, and her wet fingers slipped against the doorknob of St. Augustine’s as she pushed her way inside. She closed the door, then stepped into the nearest shadows in case eyes turned toward her; the hush of the cathedral was startling in comparison to the downpour. She became aware of the steady drip, drip, drip from her jacket onto the stone floor and she slipped it off, folding it twice and tucking it into the nearest pew. She pushed her revolver farther down into the waistband of her trousers.

On the run and pursued, she was still mindful of where she was. She dipped a knee to the floor and crossed herself, eyes on the altar at the far end of the aisle. The calming scent of beeswax candles reached her; no matter what was outside, there was only this in here. Only this sense of peace.

She slipped into the pew beside her jacket and clasped her hands together, expecting Christian to enter the church behind her. He did not. Eleanor counted only five other patrons, occupied with their own prayers. Still, she listened for him, knowing he couldn’t be far. Ever since her abrupt departure from Morocco, Christian had trailed her. He turned up in the most curious places; sometimes it was as though he could read her mind. But then, if he were following the same trails she followed, it made perfect sense. Port Elizabeth wasn’t on any trail, yet here she was, stranded.

The Empress had begun experiencing difficulty over Mozambique, and Eleanor found it remarkable they hadn’t ended up in the channel. The pilots were experienced enough and welcoming to the point of over-booking their airship. While The Empress might have comfortably held twelve, she hadn’t been made for twice that number, even if most of them were children. The memory of those young, wide eyes as the ship started losing altitude hung in Eleanor’s memory and sent a chill down her spine.

She slid off the pew, onto the kneeler. “Thank you for seeing us all safely down,” she said into her hands, and then jumped when the door to the church flew open.

Only the storm, she told herself, then caught sight of the long shadow thrown down the aisle of the church. Someone too slight to be Christian. Eleanor fought to keep her eyes on her hands, but when the person stepped into the pew Eleanor occupied, she had to look.

Caroline crossed herself and then her legs, blocking Eleanor’s access to the main aisle.

“It was dreadful,” Caroline said in a voice low enough so as not to disturb the other worshippers, “watching The Empress lose altitude like that. I truly believed we would all end up in the water.”

Caroline had been on The Empress? Eleanor mentally rifled through the passengers, the suited men, the overdressed mothers, and all those children. She couldn’t pick Caroline’s face from any of them at first, then thought of the slight man who occupied a seat near a portside window.

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