Rebel Magisters (16 page)

“Should we warn them about the magisters?” I whispered to Henry.

Before he could answer, there was a sharp whistle from outside. “It’s time!” Adonis called out.

Athena got into the driver’s seat of the roadster. It moved forward silently with its magical engine. I hoped its owner wasn’t among the magisters heading toward the tea ship. With a glance at each other, Henry and I fell in with the crowd. He caught my hand and held it tightly, keeping us together in the mass of people. Most of the crowd hid in the shadows, only the roadster with its lady driver visible to anyone who wasn’t looking for us.

The crowd of Mechanics stopped and took cover behind crates and the various structures on the dock. I noticed a faint shimmer in the air, blocking the pier that led to a ship whose masts looked naked with their sails furled, like winter-bare trees. Guards stood behind that shimmer, looking alert.

A few of the Mechanics crept forward, lurking behind the roadster as Athena called out, “Excuse me! I seem to be quite lost.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here, miss,” the nearest guard told her.

“I’m not even sure where ‘here’ is,” she said with a girlish laugh. “I must have become very turned around.” She leaned over to the passenger seat. “I have a map around here somewhere.”

I knew she’d activated her device when I got that now-familiar feeling of being frozen and Henry’s hand tightened on mine. I forced myself to breathe normally so I could pay attention to what was happening.

The moment the shimmering barrier came down, the Mechanics rushed from behind the roadster and swarmed the guards, knocking them down and silencing them before they could sound an alarm. It took Henry and me a moment to recover from the jolt of the device and join the Mechanics.

Once we were all past the barrier, Athena turned a dial on her device, and I felt like I’d been freed from chains. Next to me, I heard Henry let out his breath in a long sigh. “That barrier should hold anyone from coming after us until we’re done!” Adonis called out. “Now, let’s have ourselves a tea party!”

“Not so fast!” another voice challenged, and all of us turned to see that Maude, Camilla, Theo, Brad, and about a dozen other magisters stood behind the reactivated barrier. Most of them were dressed like Mechanics, making the whole gathering seem like a world turned upside down. Camilla strode forward almost to the barrier, her eyes flashing. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“We’re stealing some tea,” Adonis said. Giving her a sweeping bow, he added a sardonic, “Milady.”

“You can’t steal it!” she protested.

“Why not? It still keeps the Empire from collecting taxes on it.”

“But you’re playing right into their hands. If you steal the tea, you’re just a bunch of thieves, and they can pretend it’s merely the action of common criminals. If we destroy the tea, it’s a statement about our refusal to pay unfair taxes.”

“Says the person who’s never had to worry about paying for anything,” Adonis shot back.

She shook her head and moved closer, keeping her eyes locked on his. “You don’t know anything about me. Why do you think I’m putting myself on the line for this cause? My family is so burdened with taxes that we’ve had to sell almost everything we own. We have a grand mansion that’s empty, and it will soon be sold, as well. I can’t remember the last time I had a cup of tea.”

The Mechanics laughed at her. “I’m so sad that you’re uncomfortable in your mansion,” Adonis said, his voice heavy with mock pity. “That must be terrible for you.”

Maude moved forward to join her, linking her arm with Camilla’s. She’d put a heavily embroidered opera cloak on over her flowing white gown, and she reminded me of a Greek goddess from a Renaissance painting. “We can help you,” she said, her voice soft and earnest, but still carrying. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if the governor learned that it was a crowd of magisters who protested his government’s policies by destroying the tea?”

He gestured at his attire. “He’s going to think that anyway, especially since we were able to get past the barrier. If you lot join us, we’ll just be blamed.”

Camilla stomped her foot. “But it was our plan! You got the idea from us.”

“What will you do if we don’t cooperate?” Adonis asked. “Put a hex on us? As you’ve seen, we have a way to stop that.”

“We have other weapons,” Camilla said, her voice dropping to a growl.

The Mechanics laughed again, and Adonis held his arms out. “Do your worst, milady.”

“We’ll—we’ll call the authorities.”

Henry and I had been lurking in the crowd of Mechanics, but Henry moved forward at that. “Don’t tell me you’d really be that petty, Camilla,” he said.

“Henry, what are you doing with them?” Brad asked.

“I was hoping to get all of you to listen to reason.” He turned to Adonis. “They can help, really.”

“Why should we trust them?” Adonis asked. “Can’t you do the same things they could?”

“I can, I suppose.” Henry worried his lower lip in his teeth for a moment, then moved toward the barrier. “Look, you haven’t given them much reason to trust you,” he told his friends. “Let them deal with the tea. You can manage a perimeter and help them escape afterward. Maybe that will help them trust you in the future. Are you after glory or results?”

The magisters all looked at each other, then Camilla said, “Very well,” to Henry before turning and walking away. The rest of the magisters joined her.

Behind us, the Mechanics had already boarded the ship and subdued the crew, who weren’t putting up much resistance. “They may be right about one thing,” Athena said. “If we steal the tea, they can say it was merely a criminal act. They won’t have to admit it was a political act of defiance. Throw the tea into the harbor.”

Adonis nodded, then shouted, “Let’s brew ourselves a giant cup of freedom tea! But damage nothing else!”

The rest of the Mechanics boarded the ship, and Henry and I joined them. A few men went below and began passing up crates. When the crates reached the deck, the rest of us went to work smashing them open and dumping them overboard. Henry and I didn’t have any tools, so we helped kick any spilled tea off the deck and into the harbor.

Although I appreciated the cause and understood what we were doing, I still couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of all that tea going to waste. I liked tea, and I was grateful that my position in Henry’s house and the need to maintain my cover as a loyal subject of the Empire required me to continue drinking it.

As we worked, some of the Mechanics began singing their version of the “Yankee Doodle” song, changing the lyrics to suit the occasion. “Yankee Doodle went to town, to have a big tea party. Beat the magpies and made some tea, enough to serve an army.” It perhaps wasn’t the most poetic turn of phrase, but it made everyone laugh, and soon the rest of the group picked up the chorus. The atmosphere became rather festive, and it was almost a disappointment when the hold was emptied.

One of the men pulled a flask out of his coat pocket and passed it around the assembled conspirators. I took a sip when it reached me and gasped as the harsh liquid burned my throat and made my eyes water so badly I could hardly see to pass it on to Henry. He gently took it out of my hand to take his own sip.

Adonis called for attention, and the crowd grew silent. “We’ve struck a major blow tonight. Now, let us disperse or hide as quietly as possible.” He turned to the crew. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”

All of us filed off, down the gangplank, and approached the barrier. Now that the deed was done and my elation was fading, I began to worry about how we’d get away and get back to the house. Surely someone would have noticed the activity at the docks, and that would mean the authorities were on their way.

The device did its work in lowering the magical barrier once more. Some of the magisters were still waiting outside the barrier, though not all who had come from the party. Once we were all through and magic was working again, Camilla approached Adonis. “Do you want us to do something about the guards?”

“Like what?”

“I can subdue them so you can untie them, and we can adjust their memories so they won’t know for certain what happened here.”

“I think we’ll leave them tied up. The shift will change soon, and that way they’ll know what happened.”

“You want the authorities to know about your device?”

“They didn’t see anything other than a bunch of people who looked like magisters rushing at them. They don’t know how we did it. See, we managed to do all this just fine without magic.”

“We can help you escape.”

“Don’t need the help. Thanks for the offer, though.” He gave her a mocking bow. “Have a good evening, milady.”

The Mechanics appeared to melt into the darkness. I didn’t even see where Athena’s roadster went. I wasn’t sure they’d gone anywhere. Were they hiding at the docks?

“I can’t believe you sided with them,” Camilla snarled at Henry.

“I didn’t side with anyone. Someday, everyone will realize that we just need one revolution, and we’ll get nowhere if we fight each other.” He turned to me. “Now, come on, Verity, we’d best be going.”

Now that our mission was accomplished, it seemed like our real danger began. There were very few legitimate reasons for people to be on the streets at this time of morning. It was too late for most honest people to be coming home, and too early for even those who worked very early in the morning to be going out. It would be another hour or so before the bakers were at their ovens, and the scullery maids were still sound asleep.

Near the docks, there were taverns open, men spilling out of them, and a few women waited under lampposts. All of that made me uncomfortable and grateful for Henry’s presence, but it became worse as we drew closer to the magister neighborhood.

There, the streets were completely deserted, other than the occasional policeman on foot patrol. I was sure that anyone out at this time would be taken as a thief. We didn’t even have the option of using Henry’s name and title because that would reveal that he was out with his governess late at night, and that would create a scandal that would jeopardize my position. I was starting to understand why he’d suggested that I go home earlier. He could have played the role of dissolute young nobleman staggering home after a night out with friends, but my presence added a complication.

Instead, we tried to avoid the patrols. We moved as quietly as we could, keeping to shadows and not moving into the light until we were sure no one was nearby. We both used our magic to blend into the shadows whenever we were near others. I had seldom used magic outside Henry’s study, and I hadn’t realized how draining it was to use this much power in a real crisis.

When we reached the governor’s house, we encountered another problem: There was a sentry at the house. Henry barely pulled me behind the front steps of the adjacent house before the guard turned toward us.

In Which

I Appear
En Dishabille

“Word must have come about what happened,” Henry whispered into my ear. His breath was warm on my neck, but it made me shiver.

“How will we get in?” I whispered in reply.

“I don’t know.”

I couldn’t help but think of another time I’d hid with a young man while patrols went past. Alec had sheltered me like this when he’d pretended we were being pursued so I would sympathize with the Mechanics. This time, though, it wasn’t a game. We really had done something illegal, and there really was a danger of being caught.

“What we need is a diversion,” I said. “If we can draw his attention elsewhere long enough for us to reach the service entrance, we might be able to sneak in.”

“Excellent idea, Verity. I’ll go around the corner and make some noise, and you rush for the door.”

He started to head out of our hiding place, but I caught him by the arm. “What about you? How will you get in?”

“Through the front door. No one will think anything of me having been out late with my friends from school. They’re all respectable people. You’re the one at risk.”

“You could get in trouble with the governor.”

“I believe I’m allowed at least one night out while the children are safely under the supervision of their grandfather. Now, wait until the guard turns away, and then rush for the door.”

The sentry approached us, then turned and walked the other direction, and Henry took that moment to dash around the corner. He must have gone around the entire block because it was several more minutes before a loud noise came from the opposite direction. The sentry ran to investigate, and I flung myself out of the hiding place and down the steps to the service entrance, where little Harry was already opening the door to see what was going on.

“Get me in, quick,” I told him.

Without hesitating, he pulled me inside and shut the door softly. He hustled me down the empty hall to the back stairs. I removed the coat and hat while I waited for him to check my hallway, then tiptoed down the hall to my room when he told me the way was clear.

Once inside my room, I tore my outer clothes off as quickly as possible and pulled my nightgown over my head. I sat down for a moment to remove my boots and stockings, grabbed a shawl to throw around my shoulders, and pulled the pins from my hair and shook it loose as I ran down the stairs.

I flung open the heavy front door and stood silhouetted in the doorway. A figure moved toward the house from the shadows nearby. Wishing that my magical powers included some sort of silent communication, I hoped Henry would hold back rather than revealing himself to the guard. I stepped farther out onto the front steps. When I was sure the sentry had seen me, I blinked as though I’d been awakened from a deep sleep and said, “Whatever is that noise? It sounds like the city is exploding.”

He came up the steps to speak to me. “Nothing to be
alarmed about, miss. There’s been some ruckus in the harbor, and it sounds like the culprits are celebrating.”