The Ruby Airship by Sharon Gosling

Author:Sharon Gosling
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: 9781630790042, Sharon Gosling, Switch Press, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Historical/Europe, Action & Adventure, Steampunk
Publisher: Switch Press
Published: 2014-11-06T05:00:00+00:00

{Chapter 24}

SOUTHWARD

Thaddeus slept little, disturbed by more than just the snatches of music and raucous laughter that drifted on the shifting breeze. In the morning, he took one of the Professor’s devices from the row of pigeon roosts, closing the door of the hutch so the bird with the corresponding stone on its collar would not immediately follow its signal. Then he went to find Dorfmann again.

The overgrown camp was all a-bustle with the business of morning, full of laughter and chatter as the circus folk prepared for another day of performance. Thaddeus tried to imagine what it would be like to have such a life — to be always moving on, always thinking ahead. He concluded that it was probably something you could not imagine unless you had lived it yourself. That was why circus folk always stuck together — only another circus performer could truly understand the nature of this life. Thaddeus stopped for a moment, thinking about Rémy. She’d abandoned all that when she chose to stay in London. At the time he’d not given it much thought. But somehow he had just assumed that it would be better than a life on the road. Now, he realized that perhaps that was not the case. He felt guilty. Had he taken her decision to stay in London for granted? Maybe he had, he realized now.

Sighing, he raised his head. Thaddeus’s eye was caught by a poster nailed to a fence post. It was so colorful that no one could miss it, the paper having been stained yellow, and printed with bright blue lettering.

REWARD

BY ORDER OF COMTE CANTAL DE SAINT-CERNIN

FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF THE “LOST COMTESSE” ARIETTE DE CANTAL.

BRING THE COMTESSE HOME!

Thaddeus moved closer, frowning as a sudden chill washed over him at the sight of the Comte de Cantal’s name. He pulled the poster from its nail and read it over again as he continued on his way.

Dorfmann looked as if he’d been up for hours. He was tying down the guide rope of a new tent that had miraculously appeared, like a mushroom, since the night before. He nodded at the policeman as he approached. “I’ve got something for you,” Thaddeus said, holding out the homing device.

“What is this?” asked the German, as he turned it over in his giant palm, the green stone glinting in the morning sun.

“Where we’re going, we may need all the friends we can get,” Thaddeus said. “At the moment, in this place, that’s you. If I ever have to send you a message, this is how it’ll reach you. Don’t lose it.”

Dorfmann nodded. “I’ll help if I can, Englishman.”

Thaddeus held up the poster. “What can you tell me about this?”

The German shrugged. “What do you want to know? The missing girl, it is an old wives’ tale, made to scare misbehaving children. The Comte . . .” Dorffman made a hawking sound in his throat, as if he was about to spit. “Whoever she is, real or not, she’d do best to stay away from him.

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