CXXVIII –
Blood Dragon led them downwards. Down, down, down through tunnels and
passageways that started off grand, gradually became more like servants
corridors and were soon merely hewn from the bedrock with no ornamentation at
all. Hypostatick candelabras gave way to
intermittent gas lamps and then to the occasional torch. Eventually the light was so infrequent that
the Former Baron had to wrench one of the torches from its sconce and hand it
to Ellis to carry. Blood Dragon glanced
at them apologetically.
“I’m thowwy,” he said, “I often forget that not evewyone
theeth ath well ath a Vampire.”
“Don’t worry about it, old blood,” the Former Baron
replied, ushering the Vampire forwards with enthusiastic hand gestures, “let’s
just get to this solution of yours!”
More tunnels followed and steps and slippery slopes
navigable only through hand ropes attached to the walls. And always they went down, through ever colder
passages into ever deeper darkness. Down, down, down always down.
And then they stopped.
A doorway blocked their way. It was neither large nor grand, nor
particularly noticeable at all save for the fact that it came at the end of an
equally nondescript corridor and there was nowhere else to go. The only embellishment on the unfinished
surface of plain wood was a brass lock, larger than seemed strictly necessary
and shaped like an octagon with irregular indentations all around it.
Whilst everyone else in the party was staring at this
anticlimactic portal, wondering what could possibly be on the other side of it,
Lord Blood Dragon approached, pulled a brass shape from underneath his cape and
began the tedious process of inserting it into the lock in various different
configurations. After a minute or so of
trying, accompanied by phases such as, “No, that wathn’t it!” and, “Now I wath
thure it went thith way…” he turned around, gave what must have been the most sheepish
look a Vampire had ever given and said, “I’m thowwy. It’th been a vewy long time thinthe I latht
went thith way…”
“Do you think I might be able to help you with that?” the
Former Baron suggested, shuffling eagerly forwards to examine this new problem
before Blood Dragon could manage to utter a response past his ungainly fangs.
“Oh yes,” he said as soon as he saw the lock and the key
together, “it’s quite simple really you just put it in here like this,” click,
“and turn it three quarters of the way widdershins,” tatatatatatatata, “then
push it in, oh, say a third of an inch,” clack, “rotate it three times
clockwise like so,” ratatatatatatat, “then pull it all the way out, rotate it
again like this, lift this flap to reveal the secondary lock, which, as you can
see, has now opened – the key is made by removing these two pieces and
inserting them together like that – turn the whole thing one more time in the
direction of the hypostatick coriolis which is… let me work this out… this way!
and keep turning you hear the chime,” ding! “Voila! The door will open.”
There followed a moment of the Former Baron pushing
against the wooden door with all of his spindly might. The wood creaked, the deposed nobleman
slumped and overall progress was at a minimum.
“Yeth, thank you Fwanck,” Lord Blood Dragon continued
once the old Philosopher was out of the way, “I’m pwetty thure you loothened
it, at the vewy leatht.” He removed the
key, stared at the lock for a few moments more, then smiled. “Ah, that wath it!”
This time the key went in smoothly, the lock turned
once and the door fell open as if it had been as desperate for the whole
embarrassing business to be over as everyone else had. Blood Dragon stepped through first, followed
closely by Ellis and Miss Barkcastle.
The frustrated Former Baron came last.
They were standing at the top of a long stone
stairway which lead down into a large chamber lit from all angles by
hypostatick lighting. The lights
appeared to be at least partially powered by a water wheel, which churned away
in a pool at the bottom. The pool, in
turn, was fed by the run off from an underground canal and, in the canal, sat a
barge.
“Behold, the Thteam Barge of the Blood clan!” Blood
Dragon announced dramatically, stretching his arms out underneath his cape so
that, for just a moment, he looked like a much more impressive kind of
Vampire. “Thith vethel, and otherth like
it, therved the Vampire Lordth in the dayth of the Dhampyr dynathty when we
were forthed to hide beneath the thurfathe of the world. The canal network ith vatht and can eathily
take you to lake Nightglath – much quicker than going overland, too!”
The Former Baron let out a terrible groan. “Oh, please don’t tell me it is powered
entirely by steam. I don’t get on when
with purely mechanical conveyances.”
“It hath been modified to uthe an hypothtatick
engine, Fwanck, if that will make you feel any better.”
They descended the steps to get a better look. Ellis took them too at a time, so eager was
he to see this boat. He couldn’t help it
really, the idea of underground canals excited him and he realised he was keen
to get started on their next adventure, regardless of the circumstances. Something
has changed in me, he thought.
The steps fell away before him and soon he was
standing on the dock, staring at the barge, disappointment flooding his veins
like icewater. The boat lay before him,
impressive in its machinery, large enough to carry Siren’s whole crew, and yet
so badly corroded that Ellis wasn’t sure he could see any patches of clean
metal at all.
“How are we ever going to get anywhere in this?” he
asked, turning to the Vampire Lord.
“It’s nothing but a bucket of rust!”
“I’ll admit that it hath not been looked after ath
much ath I would have liked. I’ve been
wather thort of thervantth, you mutht underthtand.”
“It’s useless!”
“Now, now, that’th thimply not the cathe. It won’t take uth very long at all to clean
it up and then…”
“It’s perfect Blood Dragon, you fabulous cadaver,
you!” the Former Baron exclaimed with much excitement, rushing forwards to
examine every detail of the decaying vessel.
“It’s wonderful, superlative, truly marvellous! When did you fit the aetherick equaliser to
the paddle wheels? A genius idea! And the fluting on the chimney is
inspired! What does it use for
ballast? Can I see the steering
wheel? Oh, but the engine must be first,
surely!” The old Philosopher danced
around like a little boy.
“I think it’s probably best that we get it fully
checked out first,” Miss Barkcastle interrupted, making the Former Baron look at
her witih a slightly sour expression, “just to make sure it’s safe – then we
can go aboard and enjoy the tour.”
“Vewy thenthible, Felithity. Quite wight!
Thall I thend for the cwew now, then?”
“That seems like an excellent idea,” she agreed
before turning to Ellis.
“I’m going to go and cook something up to feed
everyone once the first wave of work has been completed. You can’t do this sort of thing on an empty
stomach, you know! Perhaps you should go
see how Siren is, and Ember too. I’m
sure they’ll want to be part of this.”
“Of course,” Ellis replied, feeling suddenly very
guilty. With all that he had learned in
the library and the excitement of finding out what Blood Dragon’s solution
would be, he had managed to forget about Siren, recovering from brining him
back to his senses. It was time he paid
her a visit.
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