Saving the Sammi by Frank Tuttle

Author:Frank Tuttle [Tuttle, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Tirlin Tower Press
Published: 2012-08-08T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

By four in the morning, the Jenny was done.

Done, and her flying coils removed, and hull and coils wrestled out of the Palace and into a small, tidy courtyard surrounded on three sides by soaring Palace walls. The remaining side of the courtyard faced the street, which was empty and dark save for a single leaning, sputtering gas-lamp.

The carpenters and Mr. Pithnotty hammered and spoke. Within moments, Meralda knew she'd be either airborne, or looking very foolish, or both.

I could be making history, she thought. If I’d only had more time.

"Still time to call this off, Mistress," said Mug, from his bird-cage. "No one would blame you, not the least tiny bit."

I wish I had a hairbrush. If I live through this, I'm going to keep a hairbrush handy, in case I need to make history unexpectedly again.

She turned and faced the workmen. The Captain helped them hammer the coils back into place, and then they stepped back, mopping sweat and whispering to each other.

A carriage clopped by on the street outside, its driver whistling tunelessly. From within the carriage came laughter. The carriage passed. The courtyard fell silent, and Meralda grew acutely aware of the many stares directed toward her.

"Thank you," said Meralda, through lips gone suddenly dry. "However this turns out, you've proved yourselves heroes. There's no finer crew of craftsmen in all the Realms."

Mr. Pithnotty mopped sweat from his red face. "You can't just climb aboard and set sail, begging your pardon. You've got to christen her first, you know. Bad luck if you don't. Bad luck indeed."

"I christen thee the Lucky Jenny," said Mug, from his cage. "May your voyages be easy and your landings soft."

"That's hardly proper!" began Mr. Pithnotty.

"It shall have to suffice. We have four hours." Meralda put Mug's cage gently on the ground. "This is just a brief test of the coils and controls," she said. "I won't take her more than a few feet off the ground. Still, it's best if you wait here, with the Captain."

"Much as I'd prefer that, Mistress, I should be aboard with you," said Mug. "I can keep watch on the coils, the regulators, the batteries, the holdstones, and the gauges at the same time. Unless you've got a set of extra eyes in your pocket, I don't think you can do all that, can you?"

"This could be dangerous, Mug."

"All the more reason I should go. Just a brief test of the controls, you said. A few feet off the ground, you said. Did I misunderstand?"

Meralda shrugged and lifted Mug's cage over the Jenny's rail, resting it behind the slanted glass wind-screen. Then she clambered aboard herself.

The Captain motioned the workmen back.

"Keep her knee high," he said. "This is no time for heroics."

Meralda pulled a pair of leather goggles out of her pocket and pulled them down over her eyes. She pushed her hat down firmly on her head, and tightened the chin-strap she'd added as the workmen struggled to get the hull through the doors.

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