Read Online Cold Copper: The Age of Steam by Devon Monk - Free Book Online

the dark of his hair curled out to the side into points, his close-set, rounded features visible between beard and hair and scrubbed red from wind and snow.
    “Perhaps your life was repaid,” Cadoc said. “Perhaps Bryn’s life. But not mine. Not all of ours. Three promises given must be kept. Madders do not break their vows.”
    Alun grunted and pointed a finger at John Kyne. “This better begood. We are doing important work, Mr. Kyne. Work that might just save this land and a fair more people than who sit in this room. Now we have to halt that important work to tend to your favor that couldn’t wait. So tell me, what is it you want? And if you say more favors, I promise you it will be the first time I’ve shot a man in a house of God.”
    “Mr. Madder,” Mae cut in. “Please, show some gratitude for our host. He brought us in, gave our animals food and shelter, and is offering the same to us. Without him we would be lost in a blizzard.”
    “We weren’t lost.”
    “Yes,” she said, “we were. And now that we are found, we will show our appreciation.”
    There was a clear threat in her tone. A threat Cedar knew she could follow through on. Mae’s magic ran toward curses and bindings. She could make a very formidable foe, though he’d never seen her raise magic in anger.
    “Widow Lindson, I do believe you are threatening me,” Alun said with just a bit of a glint in his eyes.
    “Believe what you will, Mr. Madder.” Mae took a sip of her tea.
    Father Kyne watched the exchange without much change of manner. He seemed to be a man with little expression beyond a serious, almost sad stare. Still, Cedar could tell there was something weighing on him. He certainly hadn’t brought the brothers here on a whim.
    “What is your trouble, Father?” Cedar asked. “And how can we help?”
    Kyne nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Hunt. The trouble is not mine alone. Although many of the town do not choose to worship in the church my grandfather built, our congregation was once very devout. Common people, miners, farmers, millers, and a few merchants, all gathered here.
    “Many families too. Some young and of distant homelands, pushing west, looking for a beginning. Children worshiped here until three months ago when the children began to disappear. Called into the night, and gone, never to return home.”
    “Children?” Alun asked, a little startled at the story. “How many?”
    “Dozens. Perhaps hundreds. Ever since the star fell out of the sky.”
    “Is this your favor?” Cadoc asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Then give it words that bind and speak it true,” Alun said. “Tell us exactly what you want us to do for you. And we will do that exact thing.”
    “Find the children. All the missing children and return them to their families. Do not leave this city until you have done so.”
    All the Madder brothers sat back, their chairs creaking. “That’s your favor?” Alun asked.
    “Yes.”
    “You had to say it that way, didn’t you?” Alun muttered. “You want us to find children who have been lost for months. Not just one, not just the living, but
all
the children. Did you see the blizzard beyond the doors? We promised a favor, not a miracle.”
    “We will do it,” Cadoc said, throwing a stern look at his brother. “Just as you have said. We will find all the missing children and return them to their families. We will not leave this city until we have done so.”
    Alun threw up both hands and exhaled. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Father Kyne.
    “Is there more you can tell us about their disappearances?” Bryn asked, ignoring Alun. “Has the local law been involved?”
    “Yes. Sheriff Burchell has searched the city. He has found nothing. No trace of the missing children. But the mayor has done nothing.”
    “Over a hundred children?” Alun grumped. “This could take years.”
    “Was my father wrong, then?” Kyne asked Alun.
    “Probably.”
    “When he spoke of the Madder brothers,