BreadCrumb Trail (The Yellow Hoods, #2): Steampunk meets Fairy Tale (25 page)

Elly pulled two older shock-sticks from her cloak. She’d charged and packed them earlier, just in case. Eyes trained on Hans, Elly said, “Franklin, go to the sail-carts—now.”

Hans smiled sinisterly. “Ooh—some spare toys? Does this get any better? Let’s dance!” he said, lunging forward. He wished Elly would put up a good fight before her defeat. His challenge would be remembering
not
to kill her. How he hated rules.

Tee felt the slingshot’s strap slip slightly, and looked down at the cobblestone landing, twenty feet below. “Guys?”

Richy finally accepted that the sail-carts weren’t going to be of any use—the sails were too wet to use in the rain. He felt guilty for abandoning his friends for a pointless endeavor.

“Richy!” yelled Bakon through the storm. The Cochon brothers, with Pierre and Egelina-Marie, exited the Red Forest, and quickly dismounted from their horses.

Richy’s blue eyes shone with hope, and he started talking a mile a minute. “
Guys!
We need help! They have soldiers, and I think Anna’s dead! And they have this Red Hood lady that we’ve never seen before—and the other Red Hoods are here, too!”

“Wow—you’ve been busy,” said Bakon, looking around.

“Okay—I think I got all that,” said Egelina-Marie. “Pierre, Bakon—you guys rush on ahead. We’re going to make some noise to draw some of their forces here.”

Richy snapped his fingers, having remembered something he left out. “Oh, and they’ve got a guy with these
huge
metal gloves, with electricity jumping around!”

“Got it!” said Bakon, getting back on his horse. Bore and Squeals quickly helped Pierre get back up onto his.

“You’re doing well for a guy who never rides,” said Egelina-Marie to Pierre.

“The pain in my backside, I can ignore for now! I’ve never felt so alive!” said Pierre, laughing.

Bakon looked at Pierre. “Like before, just a little nudge to the ribs is all she needs.” A moment later, they were bolting down the battlefield. 

Egelina-Marie turned to Bore. “Tie up our horses like the others.”

“Got it!” replied Bore, sounding almost like Bakon. Egelina-Marie smiled.

“Squeals, Richy, cover your ears,” Egelina-Marie said as she raised her rifle. “I’m going to get us some attention.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The Yellow Hood

With a series of clanks and clunks, Christina and Mounira found themselves lowering through the floor, on the rug of Nikolas’ downstairs library, and into his hidden lab.

Christina grinned and shook her head in disbelief, looking at Mounira. “You know, people
suspected
he had at least one place like this. I can’t believe you discovered this secret,” said Christina, wiping the sweat from her brow and putting down the small metal rods.

“Was getting those metal things to the middle of the rug really that tough?” asked Mounira.

“You have no idea,” said Christina.

“What were you pushing against?” asked Mounira.

“Must be some type of magnetic field. I know the theory, but I’ve never heard of anyone creating one.” Christina could see the confusion on Mounira’s face. “If I hadn’t learned about magnetic fields from Nikolas himself and discussed it with two other master inventors, I’d have no clue, either. Nikolas is way,
way
ahead of his time.”

As the platform stopped lowering, they gazed around in astonishment.

“This place is huge,” said Mounira, turning around and around in awe.

Christina stepped off the rug. “I’m—… speechless.”

They had been lowered into the middle of a grand laboratory, with artificial lighting similar to the library above. In the lab were geared machines in various states on two workbenches: one in front of them, and one behind them. Machinery and contraptions stood in chalked-out areas to their left and right. There were bookcases and wooden cabinets behind the tables, and things hanging from the ceiling in the distance.

“This lab must be at least the size of the house,” said Mounira.

“Unbelievable. How did he build this place?” said Christina. “I mean—people had to have helped him, but
who?
I can’t imagine how this was all kept a secret.”

As Christina wandered about, Mounira climbed up onto a stool at one of the long workbenches and marveled at the clockwork machinery before her. There was care and deliberateness in how everything was laid out, as if Nikolas had taken the device apart to adjust something, but hadn’t yet had the time to finish.

“What’s this supposed to be?” asked Mounira, gesturing to what lay in front of her.

Christina turned on her heels. “Hmm—let’s have a look,” she said, walking over. She pulled out a pair of spectacles from a belt pouch and started inspecting the pieces. After a minute of mumbling to herself, she removed her glasses, and then wondered aloud, “Odd.
This
is definitely a joint, but it only bends one hundred and eighty degrees. Hmm… I wonder why he limited it. Then there’s this additional joint, here, where he hadn’t finished something yet. There are these small tubes, and—” Christina scratched her head.

“I can’t read his writing,” said Mounira, inspecting the plans elsewhere on the huge worktable. “I think these are the drawings for that thing. Is this even Frelish?”

Christina moved over to have a closer look. “Those are indeed the plans. My father Christophe, Nikolas, and a couple of other master inventors developed a secret shorthand for their plans. They wanted a standard, so they could collaborate, but they only taught a few how to read it. I remember when my father got the others to agree that he could teach me—it was a great honor. I’m officially a junior master inventor.”

“
Junior
master?” asked Mounira, making a funny face. “Isn’t that like being a small giant?”

“Something like that,” chuckled Christina, still looking over the plans. “Some people would be offended at age thirty five of being called a
junior
anything, but not me. Maybe this is the year I shake off that part of the title… who knows?”

“Now, hang on a second,” said Christina, restarting her analysis of the design. “Well, it
is
. Oh my—” Her eyes welled up with tears.

“What is it?” asked Mounira, looking back and forth between Christina and the huge design diagram sheets. “What
is
it?”

Christina, a tear now running down her face, looked at Mounira and smiled. “Nikolas was—ah—trying to build you an arm.”

The young girl—who’d been fighting to make a place for herself and yet not be in anyone’s way—was stunned. “I… I don’t understand.”

Christina laughed, releasing some of her emotion. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and took a breath. “See this, on the drawing? It would have gone here, on this joint. There’s an impossibly small engine that would have gone here. This…
all
of it… it’s some kind of clockwork arm. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Mounira choked up. “He was building an
arm?
How can anyone build an
arm?
” She looked at Christina in disbelief. “For
me?
”

“Do you know another one-armed girl in his life?” asked Christina.

“But—but I’m no one! I’m just—” said Mounira, her eyes now shedding droplets of their own.

“Well—you’re
not
no one,” Christina said, rubbing Mounira’s back. “I can’t read some of the code here, but it seems like he’s been working on this for a while.”

Mounira started to wonder, but then a thought came racing, screaming, back to the front of her mind.
“The Yellow Hoods!”
she exclaimed. She and Christina had been too easily distracted by the wondrous contents of the secret lab, but her friends remained in danger.

“Oh—right!” acknowledged Christina, pulling back her blouse sleeve and glancing at a thin armband machine she wore underneath. She flipped a part of it. “We’ve only got fifty minutes until noon.”

“What’s that?” asked Mounira.

“Later! We do need to focus. Recognize anything else here?” said Christina. “Anything, on the off chance, that would be fast?”

Mounira looked around. “In the corner over there—
that
looks like a sail-cart, but it’s glowing blue, and doesn’t have a mast.”

“What’s a sail-cart?” asked Christina.

“Anciano Klaus made a few for the Yellow Hoods. It’s like a mini-horse coach, but it uses the wind, not horses.”

Christina ran to the sail-cart. “Blue… what did he say about
blue
last night?… Ah! The horseless cart! But he made it sound like he was
years
away from making anything like this…” she said, pulling off some panels to look it over.

“This is incredible! Okay, this connects to… hmm, right, and this…” Christina’s eyes sparkled with ideas. “It’s too small for
me
to fit in there. Do you think you can drive it? I know how it works.”

“To save my friends? I can do anything,” said Mounira, though unsure of what she was getting herself into.

“We’ll need to make a couple of quick changes. But first, I need to get something from the big shed outside.”

Christina soon returned with a huge, bulging bag with curved, wide blades sticking out. She found Mounira sitting in the cart, simulating what she’d seen the Yellow Hoods do.

“Figured it out yet?” asked Christina.

“There are things in here I haven’t seen before,” said Mounira. “I think
this
switch makes it go, and then this stick here maybe controls the speed?”

Christina nodded approvingly. “Sounds like a good guess.”

Mounira noticed the bag. “What’s that?”

Christina smiled. “This is my masterpiece—I call it a whirly-bird. Judging from what I saw when I looked at the panels, I should be able to rig the two together. Probably best to put this at the back.”

“Where are you going to sit?” asked Mounira.

“You’ll see. And—trust me—there’s a reason I asked if you can drive it. I’m going to be busy in the back,” she said. “Oh, one more thing—here,” said Christina, pulling something yellow from out of the bag.

Mounira shook it out. It was a yellow cloak with a hood, identical to the ones that Tee, Elly, and Richy wore! “Where did you
get
this?” Mounira asked. She was amazed with the fabric, so light, and yet incredibly strong.

Christina started unloading her bag. “I make those.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Fall of the Mountain Stone

“Guys! Don’t leave me hanging! I need help!” yelled Tee, seeing the Hound get on all fours, after his fall, and shake his head clear.

A moment later, the Hound stood, did a quick check of the control boxes on his forearms, and then turned up the dials. His shock-gloves started to crackle with electricity.

Tee shot a glance around to look for her fellow Yellow Hoods, almost losing her grip in the process. She could only see Elly, who was busy avoiding a red-hooded swordsman’s blade.

“Lights out, kid,” said the Hound. Electricity danced from finger to finger.

Tee took a deep breath. She could only think of one option, and it was risky. She freed one hand to delve into her yellow cloak’s hidden pockets. Pulling out a shock-stick, she pressed its activation button while staring into the Hound’s eyes. He hesitated.

“You’ve enjoyed this before, haven’t you?” Tee said menacingly. She wasn’t sure if she was willing to risk the fall to the cobblestone below.

Tee’s pinky finger slipped off the end of her slingshot. She could feel the other fingers slipping, too. Then, a glint of steel from an arrow aimed at her from less than twenty feet away caught her eye. “The archer!” said Tee, trying to glance around without risking the fall. “What’s that sound?” she said, noticing something cutting through the softening rain.

Gretel, her aim steady, slowly drew back her bowstring. She didn’t mind taking her time to get the shot right—she would make it count, and have her revenge for their earlier encounter.

Suddenly, Tee’s grip gave way, and she fell.

“Goodbye, little yellow birdy!” said Gretel, laughing as she adjusted and then loosed the arrow.

Tee felt herself suddenly snatched out of the air and held tight. The rider quickly brought the horse to a stop with his other hand, and loosened his grip around Tee.

Opening her clenched-shut eyes, Tee looked at who’d saved her. “Pierre!” she yelled triumphantly.

“Got you,” he said. Pierre coughed, and then slid off the horse, falling to the ground.

Tee looked down at Pierre and could see the tail of an arrow on one side of his rib cage, and the arrow head poking out the other side. 

Gretel was stunned. “Where did
he
come from?”

Tee slid off the horse and grabbed Pierre by his coat collar. “No, Pierre. No! No dying! You
can’t
die on me!” she pleaded.

Pierre blinked his eyes repeatedly, as if trying to clear a growing fog. “Saved you, like you… saved me,” he said weakly. He thought of the dire lynx, and realized that death hadn’t been coming for him then, but rather giving him a warning—a warning to make good use of the time he had left. He smiled at Tee. “
I did
,” he mouthed.