"We're going as fast as we can," he shouted. The Tempest rocked as Imperium biplanes flew past, shooting them.
She hopped over to the broken window and looked out. The Power was coming up out of the Pacific, aimed straight at the strange carvings she'd found hidden in the Tokugawa, instead of America, or wherever the Chairman had thought he'd been shooting it at. The other Japanese battleship was coming around, burning its hydrogen to power the Peace Ray on its front end, and it was aimed right at them. She wasn't sure which Tesla thingy was gonna kill them first, but they sure as hell weren't going to make it on this slow thing.
Traveling sure does spoil you.
Sullivan had joined her at the window. The blue light reflected on his face and the wind was blowing his tattered clothing. "The Geo-Tel is locked onto the Tokugawa…"
"About time somebody got it."
"We'll die too," he said. "We're too close…" He didn't sound too broken up about that, but she figured that Mr. Sullivan had lived with death so long that he wasn't rightly ever scared of it. "Well, at least we're taking the Chairman with us."
Faye looked around at all the people on the bridge. They were her friends. She kept losing families, and then making new ones, and then losing those too. She was sick and tired of that. She was just starting to have fun. Mr. Garrett was holding Jane and telling her that everything was going to be okay. Lance, who'd taught her so much and been as patient as Grandpa, was concentrating on not getting shot down. Heinrich was there, and he'd turned out to not be near as mean as she'd figured, and Francis, she'd never kissed a boy before, so she figured that Francis was her beau now, so it didn't seem fair that they'd get exploded before they'd ever gone on a date.
There was a roar of unbelievable thunder as the sky turned to fire, rolling over the Tokugawa, searing the giant vessel into a black shadow of ash and scattering its molecules on the winds.
Her head map was all frazzled. The magic was heading their way. The ocean had boiled away in a big circle and energy was crackling up the beam. The wave would hit in just over half a second and she knew that the explosion would be really huge and they'd die, skeletons visible through their bodies before being consumed. This was way bigger than the Peace Ray and everything for hundreds of miles would just be gone.
A tenth of a second later she'd taken inventory of the entire Tempest. She'd Traveled with two people a bunch of times now. She'd figured out how to do that. It just took more Power. She'd gone further than her head map could see, and that had just taken more Power and enough luck not to get something fused into her body. So how hard could it be to fling an entire blimp and thousands of pounds of people several hundred miles away?
Another tenth of a second passed while she measured her Power. Just like always, it was all still there. It never seemed to get smaller, just bigger and bigger, unlike everybody else. It must like her best. They were in the air, so it was pretty unlikely that she'd get foreign objects stuck into anyone, but even if she did, it beat getting exploded. She wasn't sure if she should use it all up at one time, because she didn't want to go too far and end up putting them on the moon or something.
Better safe than sorry. So she decided to use it all, even though she understood that using that much magic very well might destroy her. Ahead of the expanding ball of fire, the concussion bent the air and touched the very tip of the Tempest. For the first time in her life, Sally Faye Vierra gathered up every single last bit of magic she had…
And Traveled.
One.
Last.
Time.
Chapter 27
I swear before my God and these witnesses that I will stay true to the right and good, that my magic will be used to protect, not to enslave, that all my strength and wisdom must always shield the innocent. I swear to fight for liberty though it cost my life. The Society will be my blood and its knights my brothers, and that I will always heed the wisdom of the elders' council. I willingly pledge my magic, my knowledge, my resources, and my life to uphold these things.
– Oath of the Grimnoir Society, original date unknown San Francisco, California The Pale Horse enjoyed his cigarette. It was a mild blend that soothed his nerves. He reasoned that it was more than likely his last. John Browning was watching him steadily and the.45 had not moved from his heart.
"You are a hero? For whom, the Imperium?"
"Oh, far from that, John. May I call you John?" He did not wait for a response. "I've been fighting the Imperium my entire life. I've sacrificed much to stop them and the others like them. I've stood with the Grimnoir since I was a child. My family were of the founders."
"Yet you betrayed them?"
"No. I stand by my oath to the end. Perhaps more than any other, for I was willing to go further than any knight before me."
The room shook slightly. Ripples appeared in the pitcher of water at the bedside. The glass in the window rattled. "Earthquake…" Browning said.
He could tell. It was done. "No. That was the firing of the Geo-Tel."
"Curse you," Browning said, lifting the gun.
"Save your bullet. America is safe," Harkeness said, tapping the ash from the end of his smoke. "What you just felt was the end of Okubo Tokugawa, and if Pershing's knights hadn't been so damn obstinate, then it would also have been the end of Japan as well, though with their leader vaporized, I imagine they won't be nearly the same threat anymore." He could see Browning was puzzled, but his finger was still on the trigger. "You are not convinced?"
"Please, go on." Browning was polite in his inquisition.
"I argued against Pershing in the councils. He wanted the Geo-Tel destroyed. I wanted to use it against Japan immediately. The elders were afraid to take so many lives. The Geo-Tel could have wiped the entire island from the map in one shot. As usual, the elders were cowards and took a middle way. They would not use the Geo-Tel yet, but they would hold it in reserve, entrusting it to the man who'd captured it, so that if that darkest day ever came, then we would have one final option… But even as our numbers dwindled, and we lost more brave knights every day, the elders were frightened. Pershing was calling for an all-out, open war, but even he was not willing to take the final step and use our ultimate weapon."
"Pershing was a solider. Soldiers fight against other soldiers. They do not kill an entire people."
"The Chairman would not hesitate. Why should we? Has he been right all along? Are we as weak as he says? Should we make way for the strong?" Harkeness asked. He'd had this same argument many times.
"Save your politics for the elders' council. My hand is getting tired and I intend to shoot you soon."
"Though the council was afraid, there was another one of the elders who had the will to do what needed to be done. We were tired of doing all the bleeding. It was time to end the secret war once and for all."
"So where is Isaiah?"
"On his way to Europe to face the other elders. We have some explaining to do… Our plan was simple. We could not just take the pieces of the Geo-Tel from Pershing. There were only two of us, and we'd be found and stopped. But if the Chairman were to find out where the pieces were…"
"Not shooting you down becomes more difficult by the second."
It felt good to talk about this, to get it off his chest. He'd dedicated years of his life to this mission. It was the culmination of his career. "We could not make it seem too easy. The Chairman was far too crafty for that. He'd smell the trap. We had to sell it. We had to make him believe. Isaiah is the finest wizard in the entire Society. He studied Tesla's notes until he was sure he'd mastered the targeting geometry. We just needed to make sure it would be hidden somewhere in the Imperium and the Chairman would kill himself and his entire country for us. When we found out that UBF was building a magnificent flagship for him we knew that we had been given the perfect opportunity."