Vickers, it turned out, actually knew his stuff. He approved of our soaking idea, adding some herbs he said would help reduce the bruising as we slowly, painstakingly removed Gabe’s clothes. Blood began to leak into the bathwater as we went. “Don’t worry about that,” the vet said as we worked, “Bleeding is good, it’s when the infection starts you know you have a problem.”
He shook his head once we had most of the clothes off, standing back to take in the sum of his injuries. “Bloody waste that is,” he said, “this one’s strong, well-made. Good for breeding stock if he couldn’t have been brought into line.” He glanced up at us and then said, “Sorry, keep forgetting you are the sentient ones. We have so many pinkies here that ain’t. It looks like he’s been given the hiding of his life. Let’s empty the bath and start again, try and wash him clean. Avoid any scabs if you can, they dislodge easily in water.” It took quite some time, but finally, after filling and refilling that bath, the water finally stayed clear. “Better put him in his bed,” Vickers said, “keep him dry and warm. I’ve got some medication to give to him and we’ll need to straighten his fingers. Not sure if they’re broken or dislocated, but letting ‘em stay the way they are won’t help.” The guys got him upright and dried him off carefully, his body limp in their arms. I wrapped him up tight in the blankets on the bed but had to look away when the doctor set his fingers. I looked back when a rusty moan came from Gabe’s lips, but while his eyes fluttered, he didn’t regain consciousness. Probably a better thing at the moment. “I’ll give him this with a drench, he can’t swallow nuthin’ right now,” the vet said. “Got some stuff that’ll help with the healing and the pain. Can’t tell for sure, but don’t think there’s anything else broken. You can ask for me if he wakes up and complains of something else.”
I sank down beside the bed, fighting the urge to run my hands through the ragged scruff on his chin. Just watching the small hairs there shift as he breathed in and out was strangely soothing, for a moment at least. Now, all we could do was watch him sleep, the guilt shouldered itself into the forefront of my mind. His body was a kaleidoscopic mass of bruises, from darkest black to scarlet, yellow, green and blue. Every part of him, down to his feet showed evidence of the canids’ violence. When I looked up finally, Flea was there, meeting my eyes with an equally flat gaze. “We’ve got to find a way to kill these fuckers, every last one of those soldiers.”
“Now you’re starting to talk my language,” he replied.
We talked in circles for a while, the moon streaming in through the window, but didn’t get very far. We had no weapons; we were outnumbered and Tess’s isolation from us made her vulnerable. On top of that, the only thing stopping the rest of us ending up just like Gabe, or being served for dinner was the deal I’d struck with the prince.
“We have no way out of here,” Natty said. “I understand, really, but what are we going to do?”
“Only asset we’ve got is knowledge,” Flea said. I frowned at this, confused. “The library upstairs has all the knowledge in the world, in all of the worlds. Got to be something there we MacGyver our way out with. I’m heading up, going to try my luck, you guys get some sleep.”
I just nodded, crawling onto the bed, trying to curl my body around Gabe’s without actually touching him and hurting him. In the cold, hard light of the moon, I had all the time in the world to ponder my folly. I had been upset that Tess had gone through the door, seeing all sorts of possible danger in my head and had blundered on after her. The guys with their bikes, their guns and their competence had lulled me into a false sense of security. A bag full of guns wasn’t going to do much against an entire pre-industrial autocracy. I might have studied the Industrial and French Revolutions, but that didn’t give me a whole lot of skills to survive in it.
I looked at Gabe in the moonlight, feeling my breath catch in my chest as I tried to study the impact my decisions had, had on him. I brought him here; I got him hurt. He could have a bleed on the brain or a concussion and there’d be nothing I could do about it except for a little trepanning. I had made a devil’s bargain, keeping the prince from my door with promises of help to woo my sister, while trying to get her to get a fucking clue and get out of here. And how would we get out of here? I looked up when the door to our room opened, stiffening until I saw it was Flea, toting a pile of books. He met the question in my eyes with a flat gaze, then croaked out, “I think I’ve got a plan.”
34
I may have made a devil’s bargain, but now I’m in hell, I thought as the carriage rocked to-and-fro. Mellors, the furry little cunt, had turned up at my door at some stupid hour and delivered his instructions, I was to be ready for an outing in fifteen minutes. I met his flat yellow gaze, his weird animal eyes staring right back and then simply nodded. I went like a robot to the bathroom, stripped off and stood on the silvery dirt trail that was all that was left in the bath of Gabe’s soaking. I washed myself in brisk and economical motions, barely drying when I stepped out before pulling on some clothes. I didn’t look at what; I think they were clean, but what if they weren’t? I was a coach, not a prospective mate; I was merely attending to help and hinder as much as I could.
“I have a dress . . .,” Mellors said, looking me up and down.
“Fuck the dress. I’m ready, let’s go.”
Mellors’ eyes had narrowed for a moment, but even he seemed to realise that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with me today and led me down to the main foyer where my sister and the prince stood, elegantly dressed. “Good morning, you look. . . .” the prince said, taking in my, what was now apparently, dirty jeans and creased top.
“Clean. I washed and everything,” I said, my voice the sound of broken bottles against gravel.
“I was going to say serviceable, nevertheless, I believe we have quite the outing planned.”
“Oh?” Tess asked, “What are we doing?”
“An aerowhale ride,” the prince says with a smile, holding out his arm to Tess. “Our aeronaut will take us up into the sky, giving you an unparalleled look at our humble estate and the land around it. The view is quite spectacular, I’m told.”
They twittered some nonsense as they walked out of the building into the courtyard; me trailing behind, my eyes boring into the gilt brocade of the prince’s frock coat. I told him historical was more romantic than business chic, so he’d no doubt kept hundreds of the servant women up last night, mocking up this Louis XIV shit right here, in time to please my sister. “You’d best remember our bargain,” Mellors growled as he kept pace with me. “I can have you installed in His Highness’ bedchamber before you can–”
“Shut up, you dumb fuck,” I said flatly. “If all of you are stupid enough to piss away your opportunity to get free of this place for a little non-consensual fun, then I can see why the government cursed your liege the way they did. It’s so simple what he has to do, people fall in love all over the world, billions of them at a time, and your lord can’t even do what a two-bit player in a seedy club back home can do. You brutalised Gabe,” I said, my voice beginning to break, but I fought to keep it steady. “You didn’t send a message; you severed all good will. Of course, I’ll follow t
he letter of our agreement, but no more; and no rape, real or implied, is going to change that. You took away my motivation, Mellors. Keeping my friends safe is all important to me, I’d do almost anything to make that happen, but when you hurt them?” I stared into his eyes, not wavering for a second, “If there’s any way I can take you down, painfully preferably, I fucking will.”
“Come along, you stragglers!” the prince ordered, turning around to look us over with a frown. I snapped my attention away from Mellors and strode on up to the awaiting carriage.
I had no idea what an aerowhale was, but we heard it before we saw it. “What’s that sound?” Tess asked, trying to peer past the sumptuous curtains His Highness pulled when we got inside. I thought it counterproductive, but the prince insisted it would help preserve the surprise. The prince’s smile broadened and if you didn’t know him, you’d think that gleam in his eye was something other than maniacal zeal. Tess frowned as an eerie, hollow, almost wailing sound periodically filled the air. Her eyes began to dart and even met mine. “Do you know what it is?” she asked.
“Haven’t the faintest,” I said.
“Ladies, do not be concerned,” he said, and pulled the right side curtains up, using the golden pull, “for here we are.”
Well, he had ticked the epic grandeur box alright. An aerowhale looked nothing like a blue whale, it was some kind of weird combination of a sunfish and a basking shark, but instead of swimming the ocean, it hovered in the air. It had a similar mouth to the shark, open and toothless, great ribs apparent when you looked into its massive mouth. Which was, apparently, where the sound was coming from. The carriage pulled up to a stop and we saw numerous wolf people scurrying around, securing the massive beast to the ground, struggling to hold on as it shifted and bucked. It was hard to tell if the beast was trying to fight free or if it was being pushed and pulled by the wind. In a lot of ways, it was like a huge windsock. Which had a basket tacked on to its underside that we were going to ride in, just like a living, breathing balloon. “I’m never going to see home again,” I whispered to myself. My paranoid fantasies had come up way short when it came to this foray through the portal.
“Come, come,” the prince said, striding over to the . . . airfield? “Mellors, give the ladies their goggles.”
“Of course, Your Highness. You’ll forgive the fit, my ladies, we have had few humans go up with the aerowhale, so these have had to be crudely converted.” Tess barely noticed the leather and glass contraption being passed to her, only glancing down when they were pressed to her palms and then staring back at the immense beast. I sighed, looking through the thick glass for a moment and then back. The prince had taken my advice too well; she didn’t seem to see the big hooks embedded in the animal’s side, the faint stream of blood that began to leak from one site, then two as the wolf attendants wrenched on the cables to settle the beast. She didn’t seem to smell the subtle stench of decay that came from some of the red and inflamed hook sites. I don’t want to do this, I thought. Going up into the air with two raving psychopaths to watch one of them take advantage of my sister’s lifelong desire to experience something from a fantasy novel. My eyes flicked around, looking for some kind of plausible excuse.
“Your Highness, by your leave, might I stay behind?” I asked. “I’ve no head for heights.”
“You went parachuting with your class when you finished your degree,” Tess scoffed. I looked at her, willing her to read between the lines for a minute, but she turned to the prince with a smile. “You have safety precautions, surely?”