Bitter Cold: A Steampunk Snow Queen (The Clockwork Republic Series Book 4) (18 page)

~*~

Greta looked doubtfully at Kit. He was a mindless machine just a moment ago, and now he was giving orders? On second thought, if she'd listened to him two days ago, maybe none of this would have happened.

She hid behind the crates, waiting.

She was about to call out to Kit and ask him what he had planned, when she heard the clicking of high heels. A woman who could only be the Snow Queen entered, splendidly arrayed in a beautiful bustled gown and dripping with diamonds.

"So we're finally ready to test the machine, my dear?" she purred.

Kit covered a puzzled frown, "Yes of course. You may use it whenever you're ready." He opened the door at the front of the Engine, with a gallant gesture.

He stepped away from the machine and the Snow Queen smiled in satisfaction, running a hand across his face. "Perfect! In just a moment, I'll be as young as you are."

As the woman's hand caressed Kit's face, Greta nearly leapt over the crates. With extreme difficulty, she settled back down.

The heiress glided over to the large cabinet, made of polished brass and glass. Greta shivered as she remembered the similar cabinets in the woman's laboratory, filled with the frozen forms of her victims. She wondered if the Halfacres had managed to reach Mr. Simms, and if the Guild would be able to help them.

The Snow Queen swept her shimmering skirts into the cabinet. From the safety of the shadows, Greta could see the woman's face framed in the round window of the cabinet door as she called to Kit to activate the engine.

He turned and grabbed a wrench from his toolbox, and bashed the door handle of the cabinet so it wouldn't open.

"What are you doing, you fool!" Greta could hear the outraged woman yell, despite the heavy wood and thick glass surrounding her.

As soon as the door latched, a switch had silently fallen at the side of the machine. A moment later the engine fired up, but it made a terrible groaning sound. Cogs and gears clattered in protest as the machine was clearly not operating as intended.

A look of alarm crossed Kit's face. "What happened? It wasn't designed to do this! The machine wasn't finished." Moving quickly, he tried to throw the switch back, but it refused to move. He grabbed his wrench and bashed it against the switch, but it still refused to budge

Greta watched in mute horror as the glass of the cabinet fogged with frost.

The Snow Queen beat against the glass, her face contorted with rage. She continued to scream at Kit from within the cabinet, but her words were lost to the shrieking of the engine.

He smashed the wrench against the door handle, but it was no use. A layer of ice swiftly glazed the cabinet door, and began coating the wrench. Kit dropped it before the ice reached his hands.

Inside the porthole window, Evelyn's face became whiter. Frost decorated her eyelashes and her lips turned blue. In less time than it takes to draw a breath, she stilled, frozen solid.

Just as she'd wanted, the Snow Queen would never grow old.

Kit ran to Greta, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards the door.

"What's the hurry? She's dead! She can't hurt us." She huffed, out of breath.

"I didn't have time to finish the machine, and I didn't turn it on. Someone else must have sabotaged it while I was out of the room, just before you got here. Judging by the sound, we may have just a few minutes before it blows this entire airship to Kingdom Come. There's no time for me to figure out how to fix it. So I really hope you have a means of escape handy?"

"Wouldn't that have been a better question to ask before you rigged an airship hundreds of feet in the air to explode?"

"I'm telling you, I didn't do this!"

"I know. It's just nice to not be the one responsible for an explosion for once."

"That's hilarious. But could we joke about it some other time? For example, once we're off this flying time bomb?I assume you got here somehow."

"This way!" Greta bolted into the lead, her boots thudding against the floor as she steered them towards the docking bay. She hoped the reindeer would carry them both. She hadn't really thought that far ahead.

Perhaps Kit had a point. Maybe planning did have some advantages.

"By the way, I know this is hardly the time, but can I assume you wearing the ring means you've accepted my proposal?" He shouted as a series of troubling loud pops and crackles echoed down the empty corridor. "The proposal you interrupted? In the event we die in a fiery explosion, I'd just like to know before I go."

"Yes, Kit, of course I'll marry you! Assuming we don't both die horribly in the next ten minutes!" They swept past one still, silent 'gen after another, each one a sentinel paying mute tribute to their mistress' passing.

They raced around the corner into the docking bay. The battered reindeer was right where she'd left it, floating nearly a foot off the floor.

"Hey, isn't that from my workshop? You got the featherfall to work?"

She righted it and straddled it. "Yes. I'm sorry about the sleigh."

"What happened to the sleigh?" He climbed aboard behind her, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"Um, we can talk about it later. Flying time bomb and all that. Hang on!"

She pulled her goggles down, and yanked the ripcord. The second batch of rockets fired to life, and the reindeer shot forward out the docking bay. Greta clutched the neck of the reindeer, leaning as far forward as she could manage. Kit pressed up against her back, and reached up to grip one of the machine's antlers.

A terrible explosion rocked the ship as they cleared the docking bay doors, bathing them in heat. They were only a hundred yards away when they looked back to see the gondola engulfed in flames. It would reach the balloon soon. Like the destruction of Greta's laboratory, there would likely be little debris left when all was said and done.

They had traveled a surprising distance by the time the balloon caught fire. Kit shouted over the wind and the muffled sounds of destruction.

"I must say, I do like this new mode of attire you've taken up. Although I doubt your parents would approve. It's quite flattering, and eminently practical." He pulled her close, as if determined to never let go.

Greta would have flushed even if she was not flying at tremendous speed with no wind protection. "Thank you," she shouted back. "That reminds me, we have to make a detour through Tennessee. I'll explain when we land. I have some friends who promised to provide us with transportation back home."

"Will those friends know where we might find a parson?"

"Hard to say. They live somewhat at odds with convention."

"There are sure to be questions once we return. If we arrive as man and wife, we can tell everyone our absence was because we eloped."

Greta twisted around as best she could, and kissed Kit soundly. The reindeer dipped precipitously towards the ground and she reluctantly pulled away. After they'd righted the reindeer, she shouted back again, troubled by another thought.

"What about the Snow Queen? What will we tell people?"

"Nothing! The press will assume her latest experiment took a poor turn."

"Why, Kit!" declared Greta. "I could learn to like this planning of yours, after all.

Books and stories by Katina French

The Clockwork Republic Series

Blowhard

Big Teeth

Mirrors & Magic

The Belle Starr Series

Belle Starr: Whiskey on the Rocks

Belle Starr: The Skull Game

Belle Starr: A Pair of Aces *

The Exodus of Jerry B. Johnson

Flashes of Wonder (Collection)

Bitter Cold

(Bitter Cold is also a novella in the Once Upon a Clockwork Tale Anthology)

* coming soon