Free Steamscape by D. Dalton

others blinked in the brighter light as they walked into the chamber behind her.
    Solindra glanced back at Merlina. Her jewelry was just the same shiny stones over painted tin. The woman’s hair was a mess, but it was hard to notice behind all the feathers. A few wrinkles lined her eyes that Solindra hadn’t seen at first, and now she couldn’t tell if this was a younger or older woman. She’d been swallowed by her pageantry. Solindra glanced back at the tree, it was the same.
    Merlina followed Solindra’s line of sight. “This tree connects this world to the underworld below and heaven on high.”
    Behind the girl, Theo groaned deep in his throat.
    Solindra licked her lips. “But, but what about the ghosts in the steam? Aren’t they here?”
    “Yes and no,” Merlina replied evenly. “Oh, did you want to talk to someone who has passed? I can ask the other ghosts if they can find him.”
    “Knock it off.” Theo crashed down on the couch opposite of the smuggler. “We’re not here for your show.”
    The bricoleur crypter leveled her gaze at him. “I’m for real, my boy.” She rolled off the couch and swiped a candle holder off a table in one smooth motion, and then fitted a new, tall candle into it. She struck a match. The wax on the wick sizzled and spat as it caught fire and started to turn black.
    Merlina smiled and returned to the couches, setting the candle between them. She stared at them over the top of the flame. “Now, what services of mine do you need? Palm reading?” She passed her gaze onto Drina and Jing. “Love advice?” She turned to Solindra. “Talk to the ghost of a loved one perhaps? Your father?”
    Solindra gasped. “How did you know that? How did she know that?”
    Jing grunted. “She didn’t, Cylinder. She guessed and you confirmed it.”
    Drina sighed. “I wish we could’ve taken you off the mountain before now. You should have learned.”
    “I’m learning now.” Solindra leveled her gaze at Merlina. “We want passage out of Eliponesia. Quietly.”
    Merlina raised her glittery eyebrows and leaned away from the party. “It will be expensive.”
    Jing tossed down a small leather bag. Several gold nuggets spilled out of it onto the card table.
    The fortune teller held out her hand. “And I want to see it.”
    Theo shook his head. “No, you don’t.”
    She ignored him and beckoned at Solindra with her fingers.
    Jing nodded. The young woman retrieved the glowing sancta from her pocket. She said, “But you don’t want to touch, or stare too hard at it.”
    As fast as a serpent, Merlina plucked the item from her fingers. She grinned as she rolled it onto the palm of her own hand.
    Everyone else gasped, but the crypter only chuckled and stared deeply at the cipher medallion. “Do you know how much these things are worth? The Priory doesn’t bother us bricoleurs much, you know, doesn’t consider us a threat. And why should they? Not when they use these things.”
    Theo rolled his eyes. “The Priory is as scary as your so-called abilities.”
    Merlina chuckled again.
    “Okay, there might be a bunch of crusty old geezers, but their power isn’t real.”
    The fortune teller shrugged and dropped the sancta casually back into Solindra’s grasp. “You’re probably right. But the stories say that Steampower stole their most ancient, sacred texts about how to control the ghosts. Tried to use them as a weapon, even.”
    “And it’s a great fireside story, Merlina.” Theo exhaled and glared harder.
    Her gaze passed onto the older pair. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that?”
    Jing remained totally motionless. Drina locked her eyes with Merlina’s. “No, we would not.”
    “Of course not,” the crypter purred. She rolled off the couch and retrieved a pen and some paper. She started to scribble. “Be on the river. Flatboat leaves at midnight. You’ll have to work as part of the crew and pay them for passage too, but the River Eld–”
    Solindra chimed in,