Read Online Dawn of Steam: Gods of the Sun by Jeffrey Cook, Sarah Symonds - Free Book Online
Authors: Jeffrey Cook, Sarah Symonds
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undependable of men, though there is no question he is deadly and capable. I have never seen Miss Bowe so challenged by an opponent, now in both the wilds and the city. I would have thought her displeased to have met such an enemy, but instead, she seems quite energized by the challenge he presents, if as determined as the rest of us to see Sir James freed.
The scarred man is a Mr. Ian Wyndham, part of a family of old money and status which has expended much of the former in order to retain the latter. He attended Oxford for a time, but his father's money ran out, as did the goodwill of the faculty in the face of frequent workroom carelessness. He disappeared after that, and it seems that he has found the resources to turn his education to bad ends, including picking up the terrible scarring we have witnessed. Perhaps he was hoping to earn enough that he might return to Oxford and gain the prestige and access to work for England's military and business that graduation offers.
The African whom Matthew saw last year seems something of a peer to our Miss Penn for this other crew. Specifically, he is apparently a Moroccan mystic, a man trained in the old superstitions of Africa, fancying himself a diviner and worker of curses. How, precisely, he came into contact with York and his crew is unclear, however. Mr. Franzini found little information suggesting that he has worked as a mercenary in the past.
Even the name obtained from Miss Larkin, Ualu, had Miss Bowe's eyes rolling. “His mother never called him that.”
Miss Penn started to mutter, “Not surprised. Do you think mine – never mind.” She and Mr. Franzini exchanged strange glances. The Europeans of our company serve you reasonably well, sir, but they have odd ways.
The older woman in fact was, in much younger days, the York family governess. Sir James was not the only one to retain familiar staff in the face of this undertaking, and Miss Gardiner seems to have willingly followed her employer into infamy. She is entrusted with handling his accounts and with enforcing what passes for respectability on the criminals’ ship. This apparently has not endeared her to at least one of her charges.
Finally, our prisoner, Miss Larkin, is not only a woman of no discernible virtue, but no character either. We have been holding her in New Orleans for questioning. She showed little loyalty to her former company before answering our questions. According to her, they had planned for this contingency. Even if our notes and revelation of their treachery cuts them off from Montague and their planned funding, York is carrying on anyway. He apparently believes that what treasures, discoveries, mapping routes and notoriety they may gain, combined with what they can learn from Sir James, will be sufficient they can find themselves back in grace either somewhere in England, or, far worse, they can combine this information and a functioning airship to gain fame and fortune in some other nation.
Neither of our less reputable sources was certain of York's current destination, but Miss Wright had apparently seen him in conference with the Spaniard and the governess over a map of South America. She was able to recite enough of this that, between our informants and Miss Bowe's expertise, we could surmise something. So when we are ready, if we are able to hurry, it seems we should be able to find them in Peru.
At a minimum, it provides us with some leads now that they have left us so far behind. We still possess the faster craft, while they are laden down with more troops and weight, so we might catch them yet, or be just on their tail. Speed is our only hope in that regard, however, for while we have had plenty of volunteers to follow them when we are able, we have so far had to turn them down and hope we will find means to make up numbers when we arrive after them. For the moment, I would gladly take every capable and armed man I can get in my company, for the Spanish will be arriving
The scarred man is a Mr. Ian Wyndham, part of a family of old money and status which has expended much of the former in order to retain the latter. He attended Oxford for a time, but his father's money ran out, as did the goodwill of the faculty in the face of frequent workroom carelessness. He disappeared after that, and it seems that he has found the resources to turn his education to bad ends, including picking up the terrible scarring we have witnessed. Perhaps he was hoping to earn enough that he might return to Oxford and gain the prestige and access to work for England's military and business that graduation offers.
The African whom Matthew saw last year seems something of a peer to our Miss Penn for this other crew. Specifically, he is apparently a Moroccan mystic, a man trained in the old superstitions of Africa, fancying himself a diviner and worker of curses. How, precisely, he came into contact with York and his crew is unclear, however. Mr. Franzini found little information suggesting that he has worked as a mercenary in the past.
Even the name obtained from Miss Larkin, Ualu, had Miss Bowe's eyes rolling. “His mother never called him that.”
Miss Penn started to mutter, “Not surprised. Do you think mine – never mind.” She and Mr. Franzini exchanged strange glances. The Europeans of our company serve you reasonably well, sir, but they have odd ways.
The older woman in fact was, in much younger days, the York family governess. Sir James was not the only one to retain familiar staff in the face of this undertaking, and Miss Gardiner seems to have willingly followed her employer into infamy. She is entrusted with handling his accounts and with enforcing what passes for respectability on the criminals’ ship. This apparently has not endeared her to at least one of her charges.
Finally, our prisoner, Miss Larkin, is not only a woman of no discernible virtue, but no character either. We have been holding her in New Orleans for questioning. She showed little loyalty to her former company before answering our questions. According to her, they had planned for this contingency. Even if our notes and revelation of their treachery cuts them off from Montague and their planned funding, York is carrying on anyway. He apparently believes that what treasures, discoveries, mapping routes and notoriety they may gain, combined with what they can learn from Sir James, will be sufficient they can find themselves back in grace either somewhere in England, or, far worse, they can combine this information and a functioning airship to gain fame and fortune in some other nation.
Neither of our less reputable sources was certain of York's current destination, but Miss Wright had apparently seen him in conference with the Spaniard and the governess over a map of South America. She was able to recite enough of this that, between our informants and Miss Bowe's expertise, we could surmise something. So when we are ready, if we are able to hurry, it seems we should be able to find them in Peru.
At a minimum, it provides us with some leads now that they have left us so far behind. We still possess the faster craft, while they are laden down with more troops and weight, so we might catch them yet, or be just on their tail. Speed is our only hope in that regard, however, for while we have had plenty of volunteers to follow them when we are able, we have so far had to turn them down and hope we will find means to make up numbers when we arrive after them. For the moment, I would gladly take every capable and armed man I can get in my company, for the Spanish will be arriving
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