Free Storms of Lazarus (Shadows of Asphodel, Book 2) by Karen Kincy Page B

“Explain.”
    “We spotted an airship off our starboard bow. It appears to be American.”
    Ardis felt a jolt of surprise. “American?”
    “Have they hailed us?” Himmel said.
    “No, sir,” the officer said. “Though I would suggest hurrying to the Control Room. The airship should still be within sight.”
    Himmel glanced over his shoulder. “Stay here.”
    Konstantin stepped forward, his eyes bright, but the captain frowned.
    “You, too,” Himmel said. “Until you aren’t so tipsy.”
    Himmel exited the cabin and shut the door behind him. Konstantin stared at the door, his hands curling into fists at his hips.
    “I want to see this airship for myself,” Konstantin said.
    “Same here,” Ardis said.
    Konstantin waved her onward. “Shall we?”
    “Shall we what?”
    “Head to the balcony at the nose of the zeppelin?”
    Ardis grinned. “After you.”
    “Wait for me.” Wendel yanked on his boots. “I’m almost decent.”
    He didn’t seem too drunk to walk, though he staggered when wind jostled the airship. Ardis caught his elbow and straightened him.
    “If anyone should stay,” she said, “it should be you.”
    Wendel tossed his hand. “I’ll live.”
    Konstantin peeked out of the cabin, then cracked open the door and slipped through. Ardis crept after him, Wendel following last. They ran to the bow of the zeppelin. Konstantin stopped outside a door labeled Navigation and Meteorological. He rubbed his beard and searched the area, then spotted a ladder.
    “This way,” Konstantin said in a stage whisper.
    Wendel snickered. “You aren’t even slightly stealthy, archmage.”
    Konstantin shushed Wendel and climbed the ladder. Ardis clambered after him. Schnapps still blurred her eyesight, so she paid careful attention to the placement of her feet. Konstantin bumped his head, rubbed the bruise, and flung open a hatch. Glacial wind gusted into the airship. The archmage scrambled up and out.
    Ardis climbed higher and clasped Konstantin’s hand. He helped her to her feet.
    “It should be off our starboard bow,” Konstantin said.
    Clouds like mountains of cream drifted through the cold morning. No airship in sight.
    “Christ almighty,” Wendel said.
    Ardis discovered Wendel sitting with his hands on the deck. He had climbed through the hatch, but hadn’t climbed to his feet. He scooted away from the railing. She wondered if he was having another spell of vertigo.
    “There!” Konstantin said.
    Ardis looked back to the sky in time to see an airship of titanic proportions plow through the clouds. It looked twice the size of their zeppelin, with a rigid skeleton and a triple-decker gondola armored in metal.
    Suddenly Ardis felt considerably more sober.
    “Good God,” Konstantin breathed. “She should be on the other side of the Atlantic.”
    “You recognize the ship?” Ardis said.
    “The USS Jupiter. ” Konstantin said the name with hushed reverence.
    As the Jupiter sailed nearer, its shadow reached out and dwarfed the Wanderfalke . Awestruck, Ardis stared at the airship. An American flag had been painted on each of its immense tail fins. On the lowest deck, a bank of portholes ran the length of the Jupiter , similar to cannons on an old galleon ship. Ardis didn’t recognize the technology, but she thought she knew something made to kill when she saw it.
    “Oh my God,” Konstantin stammered. “Tesla.”
    “Who?” Ardis said.
    “Nikola Tesla.”
    “I don’t know who that is.”
    Konstantin gawked at her with eyes like saucers.
    “How can you not know of Nikola Tesla?” he said. “He has been living in New York City for years. His work on steampowered mechanical oscillators should have made the newspapers, at the very least, and then there are his experiments with atmospheric electricity and the wireless transmission of energy.”
    “What are you babbling about?” Wendel said.
    “Tesla!” Konstantin said. “The man is an absolute genius.”
    Still sitting on the deck, Wendel