Free The August 5 by Jenna Helland

pages, which were usually vapid news for ladies about social gatherings.
    â€œNo, one of the lads told me last night. It was some clause tacked onto Hywel’s Open Education Act. No one really noticed until the girls started asking about their domiciles .”
    Bern spoke the last sentence in an annoying falsetto, batted his eyelashes, and used the newspaper as a pretend fan. Embarrassed, Tommy stood up to get away from his brother and noticed two dark shadows on the horizon.
    â€œWhat’s that?” Tommy asked, pointing in the distance.
    â€œUh, ships?” Bern said dismissively, but then the rumble of the steamer’s engines abruptly stopped beneath their feet. The steamer bobbed up and down, drifting sideways. The black-haired porter dashed around the corner and barely acknowledged them as he barreled past.
    â€œThe captain wants all passengers inside the lounge,” the cottager called over his shoulder.
    Bern made a rude gesture at the porter’s back. “Then the captain can tell me himself.”
    The two ships on the horizon sailed closer. Both were traveling at high speed. The ship in front was an expensive schooner, the kind favored by Zunftmen. Colston Shore himself had a similar model, which was the most expensive ship designed by the Bureau of Innovations. Strangely, the schooner was being tailed by a turret ship from the Zunft Navy, and only favorable winds allowed it to evade the more powerful navy ship for as long as it did. As the turret ship closed in, dozens of people gathered on the deck of the schooner. Someone began shooting at the navy ship with a single-shot rifle, which seemed insane considering the thick metal plating attached to its hull.
    â€œWhy is the schooner shooting the navy ship?” Tommy asked. “Aren’t they both Zunft? Maybe we should go inside.”
    â€œLet’s go talk to the captain,” Bern said, and they followed the railing around to the other side of the ferry and entered the lounge. Inside, the passengers were lined up at the windows, watching the strange spectacle play out a short distance away.
    â€œI’m not sure it’s much safer in here,” Tommy muttered.
    A passenger cried out as the turret ship launched a shot from the long cannon on its prow. The first cannonball missed the schooner and splashed into the waves, but the second cannonball struck the ship’s side and ripped a smoking hole in her hull. The schooner tipped dangerously, and the people on the deck began jumping into the water. The captain appeared in the doorway, and passengers turned to him for answers.
    â€œEveryone settle down,” the captain said. “The navy is handling the situation. We’ll be on our way soon.”
    â€œWhat is the situation?” Bern asked.
    â€œCottagers stole a ship,” the captain replied. “The navy is recovering it.”
    Over the captain’s shoulder, Tommy could see the schooner slipping below the water. The white prow jutted above the surface for a moment before it disappeared from sight. A whirlpool of white-capped waves churned where the ship had gone below. Numerous survivors thrashed in the water, trying to keep their heads above the rough seas.
    â€œAre we going to help rescue them?” Tommy asked. The deck below him began to vibrate as the steamer engines rumbled back to life.
    â€œWho?” the captain asked.
    â€œThe people in the water,” Tommy said.
    â€œWell, the navy is here to arrest them,” he said. “We can’t be involved in that.”
    â€œThe captain has a schedule to keep,” Bern said.
    â€œOf course we do,” the captain said. “This isn’t the first stolen ship the navy has had to deal with. Since the Ancestral Homes Act passed, cottagers without paper work are leaving the city in droves. They’d rather flee than face arrest.”
    When the captain left, Bern whispered to Tommy, “Like rats fleeing a sinking