12. Dead Train

Sonnia rode hard, lashing her horse’s flanks with her crop. Though Rasputina was her charge, and she was finally a step ahead of her, she was eager for a report from Leveticus on the status of the Masamune. Ahead of her, Ridley Station rose into view.

Pulling on the reigns, Sonnia’s steed slowed, and she lifted her hand to her mouth, calling out with a loud, shrill bird call. Beside the trail brush parted silently as her lieutenant, Samael, emerged. She swung down from the saddle. “Samael, report.”

“The witch, Rasputina, is riding out from Hollow Marsh. Without a doubt, she has met with Ramos there. She is accompanied by two Union men.”

“That’s all we need, to have Ramos get his hands on this woman. If our research is correct and this woman is in league with some old power, this could get out of hand with Arcanists supporting her.”

“It is likely that she also acquired a Soulstone at Hollow Marsh.”

“Then this is where we get her. We can’t let her become proficient in its use,” Sonnia said as she tied her horse to a nearby tree. She climbed quickly atop a large rock to look down at the station below. “How far out are they?”

“I expect we have twenty minutes or so.”

Sonnia squinted as she surveyed the distant platform. “Oh hell, are those Death Marshals down there? What are they doing here? Raise Justice on your Aethervox. Those ghouls will spook our quarry.”

Down on the platform, the Marshals were readying a trap of their own, the Judge outlining a plan to capture Seamus in a crossfire.

“Civilian casualties are to be expected,” he told them. "After his declaration of war downtown, we know he’s capable of anything. The Governor wants him captured or killed, by any means.”

One of the Marshals, a towering figure with only one good eye, spoke up. “Is it just us, or is Justice coming for him?”

The Judge nodded. “The Jury and the Executioner are on the other side of the city, but Justice will be here soon. We're supposed to pin him down until she gets here, but I reckon we can take him.”

As the Judge spoke, the platform became crowded with miners and other laborers returning to the City and their families. They kept a wide berth from the Death Marshals.

Arriving with the miners, Rasputina and two Union organizers mounted the platform. Their goal was a small waystation to purchase supplies for a journey into the swamp. Before long the train appeared around a hill and slowed into the station, hissing and steaming. Rasputina, looking over her shoulder at the sound of the engine's whistle, caught sight of the Marshals.

“Guild...” Reaching into her coat, she drew out the milky white Soulstone which Ramos had given her. She lifted her eyes to the sky. “December!”

The storm that was her only trustworthy companion since coming to Malifaux had always needed time to build, to summon winds and snow that she might wield against her enemies. Not today. The Soulstone in her grip flared with light as a spark of lightning tore open the sky. Instantly, an angry vortex churned above, and a peal of thunder rocked the station.

Frigid winds blew alarm through the crowd. Men pouring out of the cars to seek shelter in the station only added to the chaos, and Rasputina was content to hide in the morass of miners and keep an eye on whatever the Guild were up to. All the cars emptied, save for one. Their coats whirling about their legs, wide-brimmed hats held tight to their heads, the Death Marshals gathered along the length of this car, guns drawn. The Judge stepped forward.

“Seamus! We know you're in there. Come out with your hands up, and you can seek clemency from the Governor,” the Judge shouted.

There was no response. The wind grew and a heavy snow fell from the sky. “At my signal, turn that carriage into kindling.” The Judge raised an arm.

A bright green flash blew the windows out of the car, showering the Marshals with a rain of broken glass.

That green flash heralded a wave of energy that washed over the platform, sending the Marshals reeling. The stone of the platform smoked in its wake, but the Guild's protective wards kept the Judge and his men safe.

The wave of energy was not the only thing loosed by the green flash. The moment the windows had blown out, the miners who had been traveling in the carriage climbed out the shattered frames and lurched at the Death Marshals. Every one of the men bore a mortal wound, their fresh corpses reanimated by Seamus' forbidden lore.

The Marshals downed several of them with pinpoint head-shots, but there were too many, and they were too close, and in moments every Death Marshal was fighting for his life. First into the thick of things was the Judge, leaping forward to the take the fight to his Undead assailants. His aim was unerring as he alternated between gun and blade, his long sabre splitting a skull from crown to collarbone moments before a point-blank shot took the face off another. Above the din of battle, a single shot sounded out with an ear-splitting bang. It struck the Judge in the chest, throwing him several meters through the air. When he landed, his body lay still on the scorched platform.

Seamus descended the steps of the train car, skipping down and back up the steps like a ringmaster, while doffing his enormous hat to an imaginary crowd. “Thank you! Thank you!” he crowed. Smoke from the barrel of his over-sized pistol wrapped him in a demonic haze.

“Molly-girl!” he yelled over his shoulder, “come along. Bring Phillip with you, but watch he doesn't sneak a look up your dress. He's quite the cad, that one!”

There was a wet, sickly cough in response, and Molly stuck her head out of the doorway, looking up into the sky. “He’s here, Seamus. He’s here!”

Seamus rolled his eyes, completely misunderstanding her, and clamped his hat to his head as he looked up into the stormy sky. “I know, pudding. I just told you to bring him. No need to get so excited.”

The platform was empty of passengers. Those who had not been driven away by the sudden storm had turned and ran when the zombies had poured out the train car. The Marshals remained, struggling against the resilient zombie miners. Beyond them Seamus saw Rasputina. She took a step toward him and raised a hand. “You!”

“Why, yes! It's me! Liked what you saw last time, did you?” Seamus winked. “You look like you could use a little warming up, sure, and I can always spare the time for the ladies. I've got all the hot Seamus here you can handle, Frosty.”

Rasputina scowled in disgust and grabbed hold of the wind with her outstretched hand. Lashing out, she directed a white cannon blast toward Seamus. The solid lump of ice and snow was almost on him when he reached beneath his coat and whipped out a long, arcane device.

It looked like an industrial welding torch, connected to a tank of compressed gas on Seamus' hip. Mounted in front of the nozzle, however, was the Gorgon’s Tear. Seamus covered his face with one arm and squeezed the device’s trigger. A billowing green flame engulfed the frozen meteor and filled the air with rapidly-cooling steam.

“Did you see that, Molly-girl?” Seamus whooped, and then waved the torch at Rasputina. “Oh no, I’m ready for you this time!”

Again Seamus pulled the trigger, sending a billowing surge of flame roaring toward Rasputina. A blast of wind caught hold of the flame and sent it curving off to the side, where it burst against the walls of the station, setting them instantly alight.

A short distance away, Sonnia and Samael watched the chaos playing out on the platform below. Sonnia watched in awe as a giant ice golem lifted a train car and threw it at Seamus. A concentrated spray from his flame-thrower cut the airborne car in half in a shower of molten iron, and both sizzling halves landed on either side of a hopping, hollering Seamus. Sonnia shook her head. “Maybe there's something to be said for forbidden lore if it can make wonderful toys like that. Where does he get them?”

Beside her, Samael held a small box with a wire grille on one side against his ear. Amidst its buzzing, Lady Justice’s voice could be heard.

Samael ahem'd twice, and then tapped a rapt Sonnia Criid on the shoulder. “Justice says to engage.”

Sonnia frowned and reached out to take the Aethervox device. “Is she crazy? Give me that.” Sonnia spoke into the Aethervox. “Are you crazy? They're knocking lumps off each other down there. Pull the Judge and his Marshals back, let the dust settle, and we pick off whoever's still standing.”

Lady Justice’s voice crackled from the device, her anger palpable. “The Judge is down, the Marshals are overwhelmed. Those two criminals will beat on each other until one of them gets hurt. They are in it for themselves and they have no reason to fight to the end. They’ll disengage, and then they’ll both escape. Seamus murdered that whole train car full of laborers!”

“Dammit! Samael and I are riding down, now,” Sonnia spit into the Aethervox. Tossing the electric device to Samael she mounted up. As Samael mounted his own ride, she drew the enormous blade she wore on her back.

Samael checked his pistol, tapping a round on his hat for good luck before chambering it. “What’s the plan?”

“Hellifiknow.” She shrugged before goading her horse on its flank with the flat of her blade. They thundered down the hill toward Ridley Station.

From the burning wreckage of the station, a lone figure strode boldly through the flames. Her shape was cast in silhouette by the inferno behind her, long-legged and lithe, with a great wave of hair streaming behind her in the draught from the fires and a sword clasped behind her back in both hands. Approaching the remnants of her Marshals and the Undead they struggled with, she whispered a soft, “Peace,” and the unnatural creatures fell lifeless to the ground.

Lady Justice rallied her Death Marshals to her side. Pointing her blade across the platform, she gestured toward Seamus. “Leave the witch to Sonnia, but Seamus is mine.”

Seamus was in a bind. His device had been disabled in the struggle and would no longer conjure the green flame that had given him the advantage. He had been forced to take cover behind the wreck of one of the train cars. Wrenching the green gem from the gadget, he handed it off to Molly. "Here, girl, hold this.”

Molly stood with Phillip’s head cradled in her arms. “Seamus! She’s there!” she croaked, with a gurgle of blood.

Rasputina stood only a few yards away through a tangle of twisted metal. Her hand held a miniature cyclone of whirling snow at her side, ready to be loosed on her enemy. Seamus knelt and rummaged through his bag. With a cry, he jerked what looked like a tin can from his bag of tools. He bit a pin in the top and tugged it loose, the grenade instantly issuing a burst of smoke to conceal him from his enemy. "Here! Have a bit of your own medicine!”

Rasputina loosed her swirl of wind, and with a quick gust, she swept away the concealing smoke to reveal a dumbfounded Seamus looking up at her with wide eyes. "Oh right, the wind…”

Rasputina sneered, opened her hand. Another swirl of wind answered her summons, and she grabbed hold of it, ready to let fly at Seamus. Then the wind cleared the last of the smoke and she noticed Sonnia.

Sonnia's sword swept through the air above her head and, with a ferocious cry, she brought it down upon the platform with a mighty stroke. The sword bit deep, and a pillar of fire shot up like a geyser. The fiery column shot forward, blasting the train wreckage aside, engulfing Rasputina in a sudden inferno. “Burn!”

On the opposite platform, Lady Justice seized her moment. Her Death Marshals were in place and, for once, the confounded snow had cleared long enough to let them see Seamus and his Undead companion. As she gave the order to fire, Seamus grabbed onto Molly’s sleeve and dove with her off the platform to avoid Sonnia's pillar of flame - and also just in time to avoid the gunfire. Peeking over the edge of the platform, Seamus saw his nemesis pacing forward and squeezed off a snapshot from his flintlock pistol. Without breaking her stride, Justice swatted the round from the air like nothing more than a pesky insect.

Seamus ducked back into cover, and looking at Molly in alarm. “Might be in a pickle here, old girl. Just might.”

The pillar of fire that consumed Rasputina shredded away to sparks before a snap of frigid wind. Emerging from the inferno with her clothes smoldering but otherwise unharmed, Rasputina turned to run. She had made it as far as the blood-soaked scene of the fight with the zombies when one of the bodies staggered unsteadily to its feet, clutching its shoulder. It was the Judge, rapidly losing blood from the wound Seamus had given him. He had not lost his wits, however, and as Rasputina tried to run past he barged into her. He fell and she stumbled, slipped and nearly went down.

The Judge's efforts gave Samael the time he needed. He had raced forward as soon as the flame pillar blew apart, and now threw something metallic at Rasputina, a long chain rattling behind it. With a sound that made even Seamus wince the thrown bear-trap snapped shut on her leg, and Rasputina fell to the blood-slicked platform, gasping in pain.

She tried to rise, but Samael looped the chain around one arm and hauled her off balance. With another sharp cry of pain, she fell heavily, cursing. Samael began reeling her in, arm-length by arm-length, while she gritted her teeth, face whiter than ever, hatred for him and all the Guild burning from her eyes.

Samael hauled in the final length of chain, and unclipped a set of handcuffs. “Consider yourself under arrest.”

“Justice! The witch is down!” Sonnia called out.

“Cover me,” Justice snapped, and her Marshals answered her order with another volley of fire. Seamus ducked behind the platform again, and rifled through his bag for another item that might save him. He grabbed the first thing that came to hand just as Lady Justice’s booted feet touched down in front of him. With a sinking heart, he realized he was holding Molly's eyeliner.

“It's kind of endearing, Molly, but I don't think you need this anymore,” he said. With a manic grin he quickly drew a curly moustache on himself and pointed towards the burning station building. “He went that way!”

Lady Justice's face was without emotion. With her eyes bound she seemed like an automaton as she thrust out her sword and pierced him through the shoulder, pinning him to the platform.

Seamus gasped wordlessly in shock. He grabbed the blade, but only succeeded in slicing his fingers to the bone. While he struggled, Sonnia and Samael joined Justice. Samael produced Phillip Tombers’ journal, which he had recovered from Rasputina.

“Her destination was the ruins.” Samael said as he crouched beside Seamus. “Was that where you were headed, Seamus?”

Seamus' laugh was choked off as he grimaced at the pain, but he forced out a reply through gritted teeth. “I have a summer home there, my boy.”

“We go now," Sonnia said, lighting a cigarette from a burning scrap of train wreckage. "We cannot afford to assume that only these two are interested in Kythera. Others might be headed there now. We must secure the place before anyone else can unearth whatever lies there.”

“Ridiculous," said Justice with a wave of her hand. "Incarcerating these two safely is our primary goal, and you would risk undoing that. Your interest in these ruins lies beyond your duties as an officer of the Guild, Sonnia.”

"Who'd have thought it?" rasped Seamus. "Lady Justice, blindly following orders. There's a headline for you, Molly."

The former reporter stumbled forward, lifting her hollow, haunting eyes to Sonnia and Lady Justice. “The power Seamus sought at Kythera can serve you as well. It is a vault of dark power, but it has the power to banish undeath from this world forever.” She coughed and spat up a mouthful of blood. “Mistresses… I plead. Let me die. You can end this plague forever at Kythera.”

"Charming creature," said Sonnia icily. She frowned. "Why are you not destroying the zombie, Justice?" A look of amazement crossed her face as she looked from Lady Justice to Molly and back again. "Talk about ridiculous. Me you ignore, but you're seriously listening to her? She wrote a society column. She called you the least popular party guest since typhoid. Or words to that effect. And now she's suddenly an authority on Undeath?"

Justice put her boot on Seamus' chest and hauled out her sword, oblivious to his howl of pain. "Manacles for the three of them. A gag for this worm unless he holds his tongue. We ride for Kythera."

Sonnia shook her head as Justice walked away, and ground her cigarette out on the cold dirt. "I'm so glad we decided that." Holding his wounded shoulder, Seamus slowly toppled over and rolled onto his back with a grunt, looking up at Molly. "Girl's a wonder."

Ramos peered through a looking glass of his own design, watching the events that consumed Ridley Station. He lifted the Aethervox unit. “Prime the Leviathan, Joss.”