Lady Sarah Browett cricked her neck, and rolled her shoulders, as she walked through the entrance of the house she shared with her brother. Her muscles ached, and what had already been a long night was promising to become all the longer.

  The loud chatter of voices came from the dining room, and she closed her eyes, breathing a soft sigh of resignation. It would, judging by those raised voices, be longer than she’d anticipated. Still, knowing her brother, she also knew he would not be in that room until absolutely necessary, so she went instead to find him in his small study.

  As expected, he sat in his highbacked leather chair beside the fireplace, sword propped against the arm, and pistol on the table beside him. His face was bathed in the soft, flickering, orange light of the fire and he held a crystal glass of brandy.

  Which was a bad sign indeed.

  He looked up when she coughed politely to catch his attention, the weariness he wore falling away as the corner of his mouth lifted in half a smile.

  “A welcome sight,” he said, raising his glass in mock toast. “Can I offer you one?”

  “I thought you were saving that bottle until the Aetherchain Engine was built?”

  It was the last bottle remaining of the supply he had brought with him from home, and very likely the last he would have for a very long time. He had declared, one night, many months before, that it would be saved for only the very best celebration, or the worst tragedy.

  Bracing herself, Lady Sarah crossed the room on silent feet. Removing her sword and pistol from her belt, she placed them on the table beside the chair, the duplicate of his, on the opposite side of the fire.

  Sinking into it, she exhaled a breath at the comfort of the chair after long hours in the saddle and clasped her hands together in her lap as she leaned back. Waiting.

  It was not a long wait.

  “Five,” he said and tasted the brandy.

  Worse than she had expected, more so since she had only seen the one body taken away.

  “How many dead.”

  “Thirteen.” He downed the last of the glass and sat a moment staring at it. “Mostly the common folk, though two sailors died on the wall.”

  “What happened?” she breathed. “They have never done this before.”

  “Not now, sister,” he said waving away her question. “That will be addressed soon enough.” His eyes flicked up to meet hers, full of hurt. “You disobeyed me.”

  Sarah stiffened, joints of her fingers whitening where she gripped her hands together.

  “I did as I thought was best.”

  “You allowed one to escape with a body!” His voice was low, utterly controlled, which was a sign that he was dangerously close to losing all reason. “You know the cost that will bring!”

  “I do.”

  “Then why!”

  “Because we need to know where they are coming from,” she said, lifting her chin defiantly. In this, she was speaking as his trusted advisor, his subordinate, not his sister, and she knew the consequences she may well face. “I needed to see which way it ran.”

  Moving slowly, and very carefully, as though afraid of what he might do, Elias set the glass down and placed his arms on the chair’s armrests, his hands gripping the edge.

  “And sister. Was it worth the price we shall all pay?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I followed it to the treeline, and I know the direction it ran.”

  “Tomorrow you will search.” His grip tightened on the armrests. “You have four days to find the lair. After that, it may not matter.”

  She shivered at the hopelessness in his voice. That was something she had never heard. Always he had had a plan, a belief that they would prevail.

  It seemed that was lost to him.

  “Come,” he said. “We have a meeting to attend.”

  They left their weapons where they lay, and Sarah followed Elias through the sliding wood panel doors and along the corridor lined with ornaments and personal treasures brought from home. At the end of the hall, Elias paused for a moment, his hand on the door handle, taking stock.

  He pushed open the door, allowing the noise from within to wash over them, and stepped inside. Lady Sarah followed, heart sinking at the idea of the arguments to come.

  Soft bread and cheese sat on a plate in the centre of the table, with sliced meats and sunberries resting in a dish. A silver coffee pot sat at one end of the table, and a large porcelain teapot at the other.

  Sybil was bustling around serving and pouring drinks, though she stopped and looked up as the door opened. The noise died down as all eyes turned to Elias as he strode to the head of the table and stood, resting his hands on the back of the chair as he looked around the room.

  Sergeant Hayes rose and stood to attention, waiting until he received a nod from Elias before he lowered his hand and re-took his seat. To his right was Walter Oken, the Overseer for all construction work at the colony.

  On the other side of the table were Officer Letterford, and beside him, Rose Sayer, the healer. Each of them wore clothing stained by the nights bloody work, and boots caked in mud. Rose’s white pinny was splashed with the blood of those she had tried to save, with more work yet to be done, Sarah was sure.

  “Thank you for taking the time to join us,” Elias said to the healer. “I appreciate your time is valuable, but what we need to discuss is of too much import to not have you present.”

  Rose inclined her head, spreading her hands. They trembled as she held them out, and her shoulders were slumped, as weariness dragged at her, but she managed a steady smile.

  “I have done all I can for the moment, my lord. I am at your disposal.”

  “Very well.” Elias took a breath and looked back over his shoulder at his sister, a slight marring of his forehead the only indication that she was where she should not be.

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  Another sign of how close he was to losing his control, and Lady Sara’s stomach churned as she walked to her chair on the opposite side of the table and took a seat.

  “Report,” Elias said, nodding to Sergeant Hayes to begin.

  “Two dead, a handful of minor injuries. One twisted ankle from a fool trying to run after the beasts in the mud.”

  A twist of Elias’s lips at that and he brought his attention to Walter who looked uncomfortable, twirling his pipe in his hands as though too nervous to light it.

  “Ah, my lord,” he stammered. “The wall and gate held. There’s damage to a dozen houses that will need to be fixed. The engine workings were ignored by them.”

  “Rose?”

  “All who reached me will live,” she said. “Though there will be extended recovery for some. Of greater concern is the morale of the survivors. One woman has injuries that will limit her ability to function, but her healing will be inhibited by the loss of her entire family.”

  Elias grimaced at that. “And the wizard?”

  “He will live,” Rose said. “Though, he will need time to heal fully. I have done what I can, but the wounds were great.”

  The nobleman ran a hand through his hair, hand moving down to rub the back of his neck. He shook his head and turned towards the sailor.

  “Our ship was not breached, though the loss of two more of our sailors is a matter of some import, my lord.”

  “I am sure it is.” Elias pulled out the chair and settled into it before leaning forward, his elbows on the table. “The Shadowbeasts were different tonight. I wish to know your thoughts.”

  “Always they attacked seeking to kill as many as they could,” Sergeant Hayes said. “This is the first time we’ve seen them ignore those defending, to go after the common folk.”

  “Not the first time,” Lady Sarah said. “If I recall there was one occasion…”

  “Wizard Higate,” Elias agreed. “Several of them ignored closer targets and surged through the defenders to strike directly at him.”

  “You think they entered the settlement in search of the wizard?” Officer Letterford asked, frowning. “Why now?”

  “During the last attack he used magic to kill one,” Lady Sarah said quietly. “Much as Wizard Higate had before they turned their attentions on him.”

  “Magic then?” Rose asked. “You believe that to be the cause?”

  “Why was the wizard fighting?” Letterford asked, Elias. “You impressed upon me your need for his services to build your machine. Not to fight.”

  “A good question,” Elias agreed, lips pressing firm. “Why was he out on the streets fighting?”

  He looked around the table for answers, but none spoke until Rose raised her hand. “Forgive me, lord. I cannot speak to why, but he was brought to the House by her ladyships, apprentice.”

  “Erin?” Lady Sarah said, surprised. “Why?”

  “I know not. Just that she was most distraught and had carried him on the back of her gryphon.”

  It was Lady Sarah’s turn to mask her anger, though her eyes glittered. There would be questions in need of answers once she returned to the roost. She met her brother’s gaze with her own and set her jaw.

  “I shall find out the why of it,” she said.

  “Twice he has put himself in peril, and twice your apprentice was involved,” Elias snapped. “Is there something between them?”

  “Not that I am aware of, my lord,” Sarah said, struggling to maintain her equilibrium. Her cheeks heated at being seen to take her brothers wrath. “I shall deal with my apprentice.”

  “See that you do.” His fist banged down onto the table. “That damned fool does not seem to grasp how important he is to our survival.”

  “He knows, my lord,” Walter said. “At least, I suspect he does.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Aye, he impresses upon me the need for speed in the building as though he understands the why of it.”

  “Which brings me to the next matter,” Elias said. “Five bodies were taken tonight.”

  There were gasps around the table and Lady Sarah made sure to duck her head, eyes on the polished grain of the table. She had no need to see the rebuke in their eyes. If they had not seen her fly off after the one beast, she was sure they would hear of it.

  A mistake, perhaps, and if she could have caught it at the treeline she would have, but the knowledge gained was needed.

  “The island will fall further,” Officer Letterford said, lifting his chin and looking definitely at Elias. “I must ask again, my lord, that you allocate men and materials to the repair of my ship.”

  “We have not the men to spare,” Walter insisted. “The great machine…”

  “Is nothing if it cannot be built in time,” Letterford snapped back. “Which looks to be the case.”

  “I can build it,” Walter implored, Elias. “My lord, please, I know I can build it in time.”

  “The wizard asked for my help,” Lady Sarah said, interrupting, and all eyes turned to her. “He wanted to know if I could transport him and a handful of workers to where he needs to build… anchors?”

  “Yes,” Walter said. “Anchors, three of them.”

  “To what purpose?” Rose asked.

  “Without them, the machine might not work.” Walter tapped his pipe on the table, forgetting himself for a moment, and froze as though he had committed some cardinal sin. Only when no one commented, did he continue. “Three anchor points, built at specific places on the island.”

  “What will that entail in terms of men and supplies?” Elias asked.

  “Three men, a modest amount of materials and perhaps a day’s labour for each.”

  “And you, sister,” Elias said. “Can you transport them?

  Lady Sarah was silent for a moment as she considered. There was a reason that gryphon riders were mostly female, because their smaller size allowed the gryphon to carry them without impacting too much upon their speed and manoeuvrability.

  However, the gryphons could lift and carry quite a heavy burden at the cost of speed and height. It would be tiring work, but it could be done.

  “I believe so,” she said, tapping her lip as she thought, heedless of the dirt and grime on her hands. “It would require both gryphons, one to carry and the other to stay near for protection.”

  She held up a finger as Elias was about to speak.

  “It would require a day of rest after each flight.”

  Elias stewed on that for a moment and glanced across at Walter.

  “You know where these locations are?”

  “Ah, yes, milord.”

  “Too far to walk?”

  Walter hemmed and hawed for a moment, eyes rolling up as he calculated in his head. He scratched at his cheek and absently put the pipe stem into his mouth and began to chew the end thoughtfully.

  “Three days to the furthest, if they find a trail. Two to the nearest.”

  “So, seven to eight days perhaps in total just to get to each in turn. A day apiece at each site, and then another seven to eight days to return.” He sighed. “That is a lot of time to lose men who could be put to work on the tower. Not to mention the need for protection.”

  “Yes, milord.”

  “Again,” Letterford said. “Abandon this folly and put all men and materiel into repairing the ship. With our losses to date, and if we removed all but the essentials from the ship, we could take some three hundred people.”

  He looked around the table, finger jabbing the tabletop to emphasise his words.

  “It would not be comfortable,” he stressed. “People would be pressed in close, and sanitation aboard ship would be grim, but it could be done.”

  “And it would doom those remaining,” Elias said, shaking his head. “I cannot allow that.”

  “Then you doom us all, sir!”

  “You forget yourself, Third Mate.”

  “Forgive me, my lord.” Officer Letterford seethed, his jaw clenched and his hand dropping to his belt where he hooked his thumb behind the leather. “I intended no disrespect, but your actions here have already cost the lives of several of my crew but also seeks to doom the rest of us along with them.”

  Elias leaned back, weary beyond words. Every scenario he concocted led to the same place, the island dropping so low it sank beneath the Black below, and every man, woman and child under his care was lost.

  The likelihood of the Aetherchain Engine being completed before that happened was looking less likely with every fresh attack, which left them with finding the beast’s lair.

  But even that might not be enough.

  By his calculations, rough as they were, they were close, or perhaps even had reached, the point where even should no more bodies be taken by the Shadowbeasts, they would still touch the Black before the machine was built.

  “So be it,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Our path is set, and we shall walk it. We continue to build the machine.”

  He ignored the angry mutters from those around him.

  It didn’t matter.

  They wouldn’t build the machine in time, but they had to try. They had to have hope, else what was the point?

  As for the ship, it was folly. Three hundred or more crammed in together with the crew for three months would end in death and failure anyway. Sanitation would be a problem, and the supplies would be rationed to begin with.

  Disease would run rampant, and one storm along the way or attack by any of the creatures that hunted through the void, and people would die.

  Though, a voice in his mind whispered cruelly, some might make it.

  Would the saving of even just one of his people be enough?

  A part of him said it would.

  But another part of him, a part that held to the ways of duty and honour, said that if there was even a chance of saving more, he had to try.

  And that is what he intended to do.