Chapter 15 #4
It took close to ten minutes to reach the storeroom a few blocks over.
A single guard was posted at the entrance, likely following procedure for if Demon Row was ever under attack.
She raised her weapon as they approached, but Kieran moved faster, the jagged remains of his sword held at the woman’s chin.
“We are not your enemy today,” Kieran said, motioning toward the commotion of the battle with Cole that could be heard even at this distance.
“Is there powder in there?” Sera asked.
The woman pursed her lips, like she intended to hold her ground, but Kieran drove the blade into her neck a little harder, a single dot of blood welling from one of the jagged points.
“Kindly answer the lady. Time is of the essence,” Kieran said in his politician’s voice, the tone equally flat and polite. Sera bit her lip.
The guard looked toward the sound of fighting, the thick column of black smoke rising into the sky, then back at them as if she was undecided about cooperating.
“I can help,” Sera said, earning a quick dart of the woman’s eyes. “I can stop Cole.”
The woman gave a single nod and Sera pushed through to enter the storeroom. She didn’t know what Kieran did or said after she left, but the woman was gone when she checked the door. The barrel of gunpowder was marked very clearly with skulls and flames.
“We’ll never lift this out of here,” Kieran observed.
“We don’t need all of it, just enough.” She started throwing things around, searching for something she could use to create an airtight container, preferably metal. She’d watched arrows catching on the flames. That fire was hot enough to lite anything that passed through it.
Kieran held up a bag. “Would this suffice?”
Sera shook her head, sparing a passing glance to confirm that it wasn’t what she needed.
“We need to build pressure, something sturdy that can…” She found a forge mold near the ground, its shape designed to create some sort of larger circular item like a cannonball.
She checked the heavy bolt clamps that screwed in place to seal it while the metal cooled.
It was thick iron, the perfect vessel to hold the powder until the heat could build enough pressure to cause an explosion.
Similar to firearms, with enough heat one could theoretically create the same process that fired bullets but on a larger scale.
“This will work.” Sera hefted the mold, rolling it until it was beneath the barrel of gunpowder.
She located a funnel near the gunpowder and set it in the same hole blacksmith’s used to fill the mold with liquid metal.
“Quick, fill it as much as you can.” She passed over a cooking ladle she’d unearthed with some kitchen supplies.
Kieran didn’t take the offered ladle, his eyes fixed on the mold. It was the first time Sera had truly stopped to look at him since leaving her apartment.
The warmer tones in his skin had completely drained of color. Long slow blinks. Noticeable effort in each hard rise and fall of his breathing.
“How much?” Kieran asked, still eyeing her choice of container. His voice wavered, nothing of the smooth cadence it usually held.
The iron.
The heat.
“Kieran, are you alright?” She forgot her plans and stepped closer. Dread crawled up her spine. How had she not noticed? He looked seconds from collapsing and now she’d just pushed an iron object directly next to him.
There was a calm certainty in his gaze, though it couldn’t hide the pain and fatigue. “As well as can be expected.”
“I’m so sorry. The mold is made of iron… but it’s the only thing in here that will work…”
He held up a hand, his arm falling to land gently against her, his fingertips brushing her cheek.
He took a deep breath, like just lifting his arm had cost him dearly.
“While I would rather not touch it directly, I can handle a headache. The nausea is rather unpleasant, but nothing debilitating.” He gave her a weak smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“Do you have any glacite or—”
“Sera.”
She stopped panicking to meet his stare.
“Let’s finish this. And then I can sleep for a few years.
Preferably, in a snowdrift. But for now, we should focus on the task at hand.
I have no hope of following your thought process, which is clearly superior in this area.
You and only you, are capable of stopping him. Now. How much do I need to fill this?”
Sera’s heart squeezed with worry, her fingers itching to twitch.
She answered, “I don’t know. I’ve never tested the explosive force of it before.
Three grams is enough to fire a bullet so…
” she started ticking through equations then stopped.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter, we need pressure. All the way.”
They scooped powder until the mold was filled, then Sera stuffed a scrap of cloth in the hole to act as a fuse before twisting the cap in place.
When she struggled to secure the clamps tight enough Kieran wrapped his hands in a spare rag from the ground and took over.
It wouldn’t work if too much air escaped, she needed to make sure everything was fastened as tightly as possible.
Once Kieran finished, he fell backward, staggering on his feet. His body hit the wall and he bent forward, hands on his knees.
“I’m alright. I’m fine.” He held a hand over his mouth like he might be sick.
Sera ran to his side, helpless and unsure what she could do for him.
She couldn’t make the air colder or remove the iron when they still needed to move her contraption into place.
Black powder marred Kieran’s hands and the ends of his snowy hair were stained in soot.
He had never looked more ragged, and yet, she had also never found him more attractive.
His faith in her, his easy acceptance of her every suggestion, was filling her with a confidence in herself she’d never experienced before.
It was exhilarating. It made her stomach clench with giddy butterflies.
Traces of adrenaline still pumped through her system, adding a frantic, tingling sort of excitement to the moment.
His condition threatened to unnerve her. But he’d never stay behind, and she had to keep going.
She helped him back to his feet.
His eyes dropped, lids half closed. “Apologies. Touching it directly and the heat… I’ll be fine. I haven’t eaten since yesterday, so I doubt heaving will yield much more than air.”
Sera let him lean on her. “I’m going to help you out of here then figure out a way to move the container on my own.” There was no way to lift the container without his help. She had to find another option.
She helped him brace against the outer wall of the supply shed and then did a quick survey of the street. This was the craftsman district, which meant there were… her eyes scanned until they landed on the Blacksmith forge.
She could do this.
Sera raced to the shop outside the forge, thankful that the commotion had called everyone to either flee or help, so there was no one around to stop her from taking what she needed.
First, she located one of the carts they used to haul heavy materials and equipment.
Then she searched the forge for glacite.
Occasionally, people here got their hands on a fae element that would make their work easier.
There was a strong chance she could find…
Yes! A single, small crystal had been placed near the cooling barrels, likely to keep the water from getting too hot with repeated use. She grabbed a set of gloves to pick it up and set it on the cart before returning.
“Here, I found this in the smith shop. It’s really small… will it be enough?”
Kieran took the offered crystal and shoved it against his forehead. He closed his eyes, breathing out with obvious relief. “Thank you.”
Sera quickly adjusted the cart, aligning it so she merely had to push the container onto it. The wood groaned and she heard the crunch of slivers forming, but it only needed to hold for a few more minutes.
Kieran was still ashen, his body moving with less fluid ease than normal, but his eyes were brighter. Alert. It took several minutes to return to her old street where Cole was still entrenched in his fire shield.
“How do you propose we get this near him?” Kieran’s tone was once again clear and even. He had settled the glacite into a pocket.
“Well, first, we’re not aiming for Cole.
” Sera began to position the cart, aiming for an adjacent building.
If she knocked out the support on that side, the entire structure should fall just where she wanted it.
There were no more evacuations in process, which meant all the buildings on this block were clear.
“The building?” Kieran asked. “You’re going to bring the whole thing down on top of him?”
She shrugged as she continued her adjustments and studied the cart for a way to create acceleration. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on her target. “Any shadows?”
Kieran didn’t move. “He’s too far and there’s too much fire to see, but I can assure you without looking that Death has marked his end.”
Sera looked at him, the flicker of flames dancing over his profile. “You sound very sure.”
His eyes turned to her, fingers reaching out to feather along her jaw. “He sealed his fate, Sera.”
“No. I know how you feel about death, how significant it is for you. I don’t want you to change because of me.”
“I’m afraid it is far too late for that, Seraphina.” The air whooshed from her lungs. “I continue to take my responsibility seriously, but Cole’s violence is inexcusable. I don’t like it, but I also would not have hesitated to take his life if the opportunity arose.”
His words were more romantic than any ‘I love you’ or sappy confession. She would have swooned on the spot if there wasn’t fire warming her cheeks.
“But you are the architect of this contraption, and so I defer to you. I have every confidence it will hit its mark. So. What do we do next?” He waited for her direction.