The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire Boxed Set by Rod Duncan

Author:Rod Duncan [Duncan, Rod]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gaslamp, Steampunk, Fantasy, Alternate History
ISBN: 9780857667632
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2017-08-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

If you want to be believed, tell them what they want to hear. And if you want to be safe, beware, beware the man who does the same for you.

The Bullet-Catcher’s Handbook

Having slept our second night in the cottage, we were woken by our guides moving about below. Julia called down to ask the hour. Gideon shouted back that it was past the time to be off. So we hurried to dress, splashed pump water over our faces, and rode away in the grey light of pre-dawn. As we reached the top of the ridge, I turned for a final look, knowing that every step from here on was taking me back towards the constabulary.

There was little talking as we descended. For a time we followed the mining trackway, but half way down, we stopped and dismounted.

“We’ll meet again at the bottom of the hill,” said Gideon, who then continued on with the animals and our luggage.

“It’s just us now,” said Peter, not meeting my eyes.

We set off along a side-path, which grew narrower as we progressed until it was little more than a goat track. Presently we found ourselves traversing a slope that stretched up to the skyline above and down to woods and fields far below. There was nothing horizontal on which to fix the eye. As the drop grew precipitous, I noticed Julia leaning back into the slope.

“Stand upright,” I said. “It’s easier to balance that way.”

She seemed unable to do so. Such was her vertigo that I began to think we’d need to turn back. But then we rounded a bluff and I saw our destination immediately ahead. Julia rushed the last few paces to the security of a small platform cut into the slope.

Here was a system of pulleys and ropes anchored to the platform by a stout iron post. While Julia rested, I looked up and down the slope, taking in a gully that ran past us from the top. A wagon had been tied in the gully next to us. If the rope snapped it might career all the way down to the tree line below. Looking down, I saw that our platform was merely one station in a chain of similar platforms. A wagon was tethered next to each. Julia took my hand and pulled me back from the edge.

“What happens here?” I asked.

“Wait,” said Peter. “You’ll see.”

There had been no time for breakfast and such provisions as we had were being carried down the mountain by the horses. Peter sat chewing on a strip of dried meat which he’d produced from the pocket of his trousers.

Julia believed the awkwardness of his glances at me came from romantic attraction. I feared he recognised me from the fugitive poster. There had been nothing to prove the matter one way or the other. With no constables in the high mountains, there had been no one to whom he could have turned me over. I’d felt in less danger whilst Gideon was with us. My instincts told me the old man was as straightforward and decent as he seemed.

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