'You're too high,' I said. 'The water's coming in over here.'
'I'm trying to loosen the iron bands. If we can slip one of those off, the whole thing will splinter open.'
'You're talking about kicking iron bands,' I said, then remembered how hard she had hit me earlier. 'Nevermind. You do what you're doing.'
And she did, and we were both remarkably successful at getting water to flood the barrel at a tremendous rate. Which meant that we sank, and fast.
'One more breath,' I gasped. 'One more breath. One more.'
'Shut up,' she hissed. And with that we were underwater. It felt like we were sinking a lot faster than we should have been, but I didn't have a lot of experience in drowning. When I fell, it was usually out of the sky. But I was pressed hard against Veronica, and she was flat against the barrel, and we were both thrashing madly against the boards. There was some slippage between the boards, but it wasn't going to be enough, considering how fast we were sinking.
And then, suddenly, we were moving sideways and up, fast. We broke the surface with a smack. Water rushed from the split boards of the barrel. I craned my neck to get my mouth into the air as soon as it was clear, breathing in deep, clean breaths. Veronica, shorter than me, hitched herself up on my shoulders to get to the new pocket of air.
We weren't out of the water yet. There were maybe six inches of clearance at the top of the barrel, and the rest was still flooded. I noticed an iron barb that had pierced the end of the barrel, and that I had in fact cut myself on when I was struggling for air. Veronica was looking at it, too. It could easily have pegged one of our skulls.
'Hey, hello!' I yelled, when my lungs were done spasming. 'There are people in here!'
'Quiet down there,' a voice said. Dangerously familiar. Iron springs and tuning forks, struck to mimic a human voice. An artificial voice. 'We know you're in there. Play it cool.'
'I'll play it cool when I'm out of this river,' Veronica snapped. There was silence above us, then a low, trilling laughter.
'You always travel with women, don't you, Jacob?'
'They know you,' she said.
'Yeah. And I hope it's not who I think it is.'
Seconds later a rough, noisy machine fired up and the barrel rose out of the water. Wood and steel groaned at the weight of the barrel, full of us and the river. The engine changed gears, and we swung in to the deck. It was a full minute before we were on solid ground, and by then only half of the barrel had drained.
'Stand away from here,' a regular human voice said, tapping on the wall of the barrel. We hunched over. The staves on that side splintered, and then the shiny head of an ax protruded into our compartment. Soon the whole barrel cracked open like an egg, and we tumbled to the deck of a tiny fishing boat. Rough hands pulled us over, cutting ropes with the efficiency of men accustomed to cleaning fish.
'A pretty one, too. What do you think, Cacher? Would she be a good replacement for Emily?'
I rolled onto my butt and looked up. Valentine stood over me, Cacher at his side. Both of them were armed with skinning knives. Cacher had an ax looped over his shoulder. We were not on land, but on Valentine's boat.
'Hey, boss,' I said.
'There are two things you will never call me again, Jacob. 'Boss,' and 'friend.'' He leaned down and slapped me casually across the cheek, his heavy metal hand spinning me over and cutting my cheek against my teeth. My mouth filled with blood. 'In case you are unclear on our arrangement.'
Metal hand, because Valentine was a metal man. I don't know at what point in the modification process Valentine stopped being meat, but it was a long time ago. His memories were engrams, stored on metal coils. His voice was a trick of springs, the kind of voice a harp might have. And his face was a work of art. Carved darkwood sketched the merest hint of cheekbones, chin, jawline, eyebrows. These pieces moved on hidden tracks, shifting as he talked, or scowled, or laughed. Everything behind the sculptured mask was shadow, his head an orrery of memories and thought.
He was also my former boss, and someone I had pissed off mightily. Right before I got Emily killed, in fact. Oh, and Cacher, standing there next to Valentine? He was Emily's boyfriend, technically. So we were all old friends, and none of us had to go looking for reasons to hate each other.
Veronica stood up and stepped between us. Noble of her, but she wasn't a noble girl. Probably just counting her allies and trying to keep things even. I turned over and spat blood onto the deck.
'I'll have you know that I'm the Lady Bright, Councilor of Veridon. And that man is also a member of the Council, although you already seem to know his name. To whom am I addressing myself?'
'Hanging out with Councilors now, is it?' Valentine asked.
'S'alright,' Cacher said. 'Councilors can be whores, too. And this one's got the tits for it.'
Cacher was on his back, the knife cartwheeling across the deck and splashing into the river. The ax was in Veronica's hand, resting lightly against Cacher's knee. Valentine roared with laughter.
'Well, it's clear what kind of rough Jacob likes in his women. So.' He clapped his hands together. 'How shall we proceed?'
'Boss,' a man said from the back of the boat. 'Not my place, but maybe could you keep them down. We've been spotted.'
We all looked upriver. The boat that I assumed dumped us was just visible through the coils of fog that walked across the surface of the Reine. They were turning slowly around, to come our way.
'Inevitable that this would happen. Jacob, Lady Bright. If you would be so kind as to get into the forecabin. There are clothes, although we were only expecting one, and not a lady. My apologies for your sensibilities.' Valentine held up a hand. 'And before we go, please apologize to Mr. Cacher. He's a rough man, but that's no way to thank someone for saving your life.'
'You have to be kidding,' Veronica said.
'It is not in my nature to kid. Your brief demonstration was impressive, and I'm sure you're more than capable of handling yourself. However, I promise you, I can have you over the side of this boat in half a breath. Now. Please apologize.'
'I'm sorry I don't like being talked about like a piece of meat, and won't tolerate your bullshit. Thanks for saving my life.'
Cacher pulled himself to his feet and, mumbling, sketched a short bow to the Lady Bright. Valentine smiled.
'Sufficient. Now, let's be about our business, shall we?'
'Valentine, what the hell are you doing out here? Did you follow us?'
'All shall be answered. Let's leave it at saying that I offered you help once before, and you declined it. And that cost Emily her life, and nearly cost the city its god. I will not take that risk again.'
'If you're offering me assistance again, I'm going to go ahead and decline. Thanks for saving our lives and all, but we'd rather you set us in a lifeboat and let us go on our way.'
'You misunderstand. This time I am not giving you the opportunity to decline. You will help me address the current crisis, or I will put you away and deal with it myself.'
We stared at each other for a second, his empty eyes churning darkly in that beautiful face. Veronica grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me into the forecabin. She was stripping off before I had a chance to turn around.
'It's not a horrible thing to see,' she muttered. 'You're going to make a girl feel bad.'
'It's not that. It's complicated. Never mind.' I started fumbling with my shirt. The clothes available were simple fisherman's garb, but there were several mismatched shirts and pants in a pile. We would both be able to find something that fit.
'And who are these strange friends of yours?' she asked, her voice muffled as she pulled a shirt over her head.
I told her; explained how Valentine was my boss when the famous events of two years ago went down, how he had my back until things got too complicated, then shoved me to the dogs. And when it became advantageous for him again, came back and offered to help. How I took that offer poorly, and held a gun to his head. Told him we were done being friends.
