Then I handed one of the choristers Cassius’s sword, told him to use it well and that I’d be back for it, then quickly led my friends across the nave and down into the crypt. Fresh footsteps on the soft loam formed a beaten path to the Abyssal Steps on the other side.
Halfway across, Darnell lay on the ground, his face bashed in, blood streaming from his ear. His eyes were dimming, and his blue semblance had torn free of his body. Without thinking, I began to sing, stoking his remembrance of his pa’s military funeral, weaving notes into a song to let him know he’d done his father proud.
He nodded weakly, and his semblance faded.
My friends and I raced across the crypt and down the dark steps to the Saxon Stratum. The pressure erupted in my head, but I pushed through it. At least I knew which memories mightreturn. We climbed through an open stratum door into the luthier’s stone workshop.
No ward protection here, either. Shiguan preparing for battle and readying iron nets filled the room and stretched out past the fallen wall and down the road.
There were scorch marks on the floor here, too. I didn’t see the luthier or his son.
“Brach’s been convicted,” I called. “Boxed by the chancery. It’s over.
Go home.”
I was feeling dizzy, but pushed back to the Steps and started down again.
Ella’s body lay on the stairs between strata. Lady hunkered down. “It’s too late.”
So again, I sang. Just a few lines, doing my best to give her the chance to move on. Then she was gone, too.
We continued down toward the Roman Stratum. On the stairs this time we found Sherzer and Delain, barely hanging on. I sang for them, as well. Just a few notes, hoping they’d be able to find the mountain of fire—more people to mourn if we made it through this crazy thing.
The ward still held a few yards of ground near the amphitheater’s orchestra entrance. Loch and a dozen topsiders hunkered inside the shrinking protection, clutching weapons low at their sides.
I pulled Loch around. “Where are the others?”
Loch shook his head. “We retreated down the Steps to stay inside the ward. The Shiguan chased us . . . spared no one . . .”
Just a few feet away, outside the barrier, milled a hundred Shiguan or more, including a good many legionnaires, holding their blades and glowing lanterns against the darkness. At the front stood Henry Purcell.
My vision blurred, and my legs nearly buckled. Kincaid put an arm around my waist until I got my footing.
Purcell spotted me and sauntered close. “You don’t look well,” he said, but it was Brach’s voice.
I drew a revelatory stroke on my lantern and looked into Purcell’s shadow. Brach’s gleamingCarmina Buranaleapt in my vision around a scar of supplicating hands and tobacco leaf.
“That’s right, Jack,” said Brach, raising his hands like a man showing off a new coat. “A new gudgeon for my old soul.”
“My friends are dead,” I said. “Thatyourdoing?” “Such is war,” said Brach.
I imagined Westy and the others, just metal fans, Iron Horse mates, dying confused and afraid. The senselessness burned inside me.
I stepped toward the Shiguan mob. “It’s over. Emaline’s in charge now. You’re all to stand down. No revolution. No invasion.”
Brach laughed. “No, sir, I can assure you that Emaline is most definitely not ‘in charge now.’ ” His voice coming out of Purcell’s face made me double-take again.
“The chancery recognized her—” Brach shook his head.
I stowed my bow and gripped my knife. “What have you done to her?” “I’ve found an appropriate place for her failed potential,” said Brach. “I
have to say, though, that your little demonstration at tonight’s trial was most impressive. It’s no wonder Henry keptyourpotential such a secret.” Lakshmi stepped up beside me. “You’re still Mr. Wilkinson’s murderer, regardless of which vessel you occupy. So, I’m placing you under arrest.” Brach just smiled. “No, dear. We’re going to take the song any moment now. And once we have it . . . well, somehow I think things will be different.”
“Even if you get the song,” I said, “we’ll stop you from taking the Steps. It’s easy to defend a pinch point like a set of stairs.”
“The Abyssal Steps are the most direct,” said Brach, “but my Shiguan are staged at nearly every stair to the topside world. Once we have the song, the revolution will be swift and efficient.”
It was worse than I’d thought. I’d only used a couple of the stairways, but I knew there were Strata steps all across London. Even with my field map, there was no way we could cover them all.
