Currents of Silver: Alliance of Silver and Steam Book 5 Read online

  Meeting with the King could prove fruitful for him. He’d oft heard of others called before royalty leaving with a title in hand or a position working in court. His parents had journeyed to America when he was just a growing babe in his mother’s womb. Yet, he always fantasized about seeing the great city of London. There was simply something about seeing where he truly came from that had always excited him.

  Staring at the bleak white landscape around him, he has to wonder if that wasn’t an incorrect wish. There was little less than an hour according to his pocket watch and the arrival stamp on his ticket. Nothing exciting had occurred out the window, and he was beginning to believe that when he finally saw the city of London as they entered, he would think he was hallucinating from boredom. Portsmouth had been a thriving seaport, and then they’d boarded one of the smallest vessels he’d ever seen to been driven by coach to board a train to travel by rail to London. When he’d asked Tesla why they simply hadn’t taken a boat directly to London’s port, his tutor had looked at him and scoffed. “Railway is the future. How would it look if inventors such as ourselves did not travel on it?”

  Pulling back slightly, he stopped when he saw his reflection. His traveling suit was well pressed, the green striped handkerchief seamlessly tucked into his pocket and his face didn’t betray how little sleep he’d gotten on the wretched boat. He supposed he could explain away his hair as an American fashion; it wasn’t likely that King Jacob had been to the country to say otherwise.

  Breathing out a sigh he watched as the window fogged over, a flawlessly blurry patch that blocked his vision.

  “Hugo, calm yourself. I cannot have your nerves affecting me. This is too important.” Tesla tossed him a silver flask. “Drink and sleep. It’s as if you are waiting on the birth of a babe with jittery you are.”

  Opening his mouth to comment, Hugo thought better of it and snapped it closed as he unscrewed the lid on Nikola’s flask. Liquid sloshed into his mouth as he tipped it back. The alcohol was unidentifiable to him, minus ale he didn’t touch alcohol, as he liked to be clear headed. It burned a path as fiery as flowing lava as he swallowed but morphed into a warm comfort as it settled into his stomach. Blowing out another breath, he tipped the flask back again.

  “Are you certain you can handle such an undertaking?” Tesla asked as he reached for the flask.

  Nodding, Hugo reluctantly capped and passed back the liquor. “I am not so young that I will forget myself.”

  “No, you remind me quite oft that you are just three years less than I am. When you have accomplished as much as I have, you will not need to remind me of our proximity in age. At present, you seem as if you’re ready to leap out of your skin, not focus on the most important endeavor I have ever undertaken.”

  Many thought Nikola Tesla was boastful. Hugo knew he was.

  There was no point in further defending himself. The pair had engaged in the conversation many times over the past five years, and it ended the same way, with Tesla reminding him whose name was on the building they worked.

  Yes, well if we work for The Royals he won’t be able to use that argument any longer. The embittered thought was almost spoken aloud, but he could not deny the fact that Tesla had been summoned and he had not. The only action he could take in such a situation was continuing to make himself useful.

  “Which projects have you selected to present? I would think it would look better if I did not stand looking daft as you spoke.”

  That seemed to impress his mentor. Tesla finally folded the paper and set it beside him on the plush, red velour seat. “I had been hoping you’d take enough interest to ask. Though only speak when spoken too. This is not your presentation, understood?”

  Biting the inside of his cheek, he forced himself to nod and allow himself to be belittled once more in such a short span of time.

  “I am glad we understand one another. Now, I have selected three to speak upon, those that we are closest to discovering before that fool, Edison.” Tesla patted the satchel at his side with a smirk. “Of course, we will begin with light. There is no project we are closer to attaining than luminescence. Next, I should like to focus on a controller of sorts. If we can fully mechanize procedures, Guild lives will be forever changed. America is close, but I know with The Crown backing us, we can beat Edison to it. Finally, we shall finish our bid with a machine that can look inside the human body and determine when things are awry. ”

  Two of the inventions made sense to Hugo. With Edison’s help, they had nearly harnessed an illumination of sorts that was not fueled by fire or oil. The controller was also nearly in their grasp as they had been working to control a small toy boat from a distance using radio waves—unsuccessfully, but it had been their greatest accomplishment.

  “A viewing machine, Sir?” He asked hesitantly, not wishing to set Tesla off on a possible rant.

  “You heard me correctly, Hugo. I feel the greater good could do with a tool to look inside the human body without cutting it open. Consider of the medical applications such a device could have! Doctors could watch babes as they grow in their mother’s womb, broken bones could be assessed without tugging on the affected area and or the presence of a bone splintering through skin. It will be my greatest invention.” His voice rose proudly with his final words.

  Hugo wouldn’t dare to say it aloud, but Tesla seemed to have grasped for the stars in an attempt to make himself more useable to The Royals. They had done nothing regarding pictographs or imaging, to state they had was madness. Though, not his madness to comment on. He wished to one day lend a hand to inventing something marvelous and he could not do that if Tesla sent him packing.

  “Very well. I will spend the journey thinking upon the two projects I have knowledge on. I have no way to partake in conversations on an imaging device.” And you probably want it that way to boost your importance.

  “See to it that you remember your facts correctly, now is not the time to err.”

  Refraining from commenting for what felt like the sixth time in as many minutes. Nodding, Hugo sunk back into his seat and looked out the window as the snow drifted down, doing his best to focus on the projects.

  Light filtered across the throne room in brilliant beams so bright Hugo could hardly believe it was dreary winter just beyond the walls. The King and Queen sat regally upon their thrones, listening to Tesla speak passionately about the work toward electricity they had been doing—with and without Edison. Hugo could scarcely focus as Tesla rattled off information.

  There was simply too much to look upon, too many details to take in and far too much fascination with the city just beyond the palace walls distracting him from the point of their meeting. Tesla had been offered an opportunity to earn a bid from the King and Queen to work solely for them. They would fund his efforts, and he would give his inventions to London. Some might have thought it unpatriotic, but not Hugo. Science belonged to no man, no country for that matter.

  The King and Queen looked rather taken by either Tesla or his presentation. It was hard to place his finger on which it was. King Jacob sat, leaned slightly forward in the throne, frequently nodding at Tesla’s words. Queen McKenna appeared to be enraptured. She sat at the furthest edge of the throne, her hands placed rather un-regally on her knees, and her eyes were wide as tea saucers. It was as if she clung to Tesla’s every word to supply her the will to live.

  “Whilst the other might seem more impressive, this is the one we are closest to completing successful trials on. It might appear to be merely a trinket, but I assure you, the ability to control items remotely will one day have untold benefits for society. London will want to lay claim to such a discovery.” Tesla placed his hands on his black garters and tugged at them with a smug look on his visage from his eyes to his very stance.

  The large room fell silent. Hugo looked from Tesla back to The Royals. The Queen had regained her composure, and the King was rising from his throne. His stomach churned as the most powerful man in the world stepped clos
er to where he stood. Small shakes started in his knees, and he clenched his jaw, gaining control over his nerves. His eyes were impassive pools of blue, his blond hair perfectly combed under the crown, but something was calming about him. He did not wear a stern expression, merely a small smile as he approved.

  “I should like to have a further word with you both, in private.” He added, and the four guards in the room filed out. “Lucius,” the King called through the slowly closing throne room door.

  Hugo had never heard of any in the scientific circle by that name, and he was more than curious as to why another would be brought into their private presentation. Were they to face off in a sense to see who would win the honor?

  The sound of the doors closing drew his eyes back to the entrance. A perfectly polished dark-haired man strode in. His gait was cocky, to say the least, and his attire was the height of fashion. This man could be a noble, or an investor, rather than a scientist. He didn’t bow before the King and Queen, strode next to Jacob, and stood by his side as McKenna walked over to the pair as well.

  “Have you found them then?” The man who must be Lucius asked with an arch of his right brow.

  “I believe so. They speak of things that would take London, the world, into the next generation of science. Whilst they have not truly achieved any such creations, they have come close, and they have the brains to have dreamed them up.” Jacob’s voice lacked the authority it had held a moment ago as if the newcomer somehow outranked him.

  “They have not actually created any things they spoke of?”

  “I’ll have you know we’ve come closer than almost all foes in the scientific community!” Tesla exploded, making his face red as a tomato.

  Wincing, he stepped back from his mentor, not wanting to be caught by a fist of he descended into a fit of rage, as he oft did when challenged.

  “Be still, or I will show you the reason I’ve been summoned in a manner you will not enjoy.” Lucius snarled.

  Hugo swore the man’s eyes were a solid black that looked bottomless with the threat. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at Lucius again, and they appeared to shine with ordinary emotion, still black.

  “Calm down, Lucius,” McKenna spoke, a warning in her voice. She turned to Hugo with a bright smile upon her lips. “Do you wish to learn a secret?”

  “Yes,” he spoke without thought and swore he heard Tesla speak the word as well.

  Bending forward, she slipped her hand under her skirts. Hugo’s face inflamed with embarrassment and confusion as her king did naught to stop her. She pulled her skirts above her head, nearly causing him to turn away out of respect, but fascination kept him looking at her. She pulled a small black box from under a garter. It did not appear to be anything of a special nature, yet she smiled as she showed it to them. Her finger dipped into the box, into a hole he had not noticed.

  A moment later the sound of chirping sounded in the great room. His eyes darted to the sides, trying to see where a small bird had gotten in at it. Instead, what he saw was something rise from behind the thrones. It was no larger than a sparrow, yet it was silver and almost gleamed in the sunlight as it flew straight up the windows above before dropping like a bullet to land on The Queen’s shoulder. Leaning her head to the side, she nuzzled the strange bird before holding her finger up to it and allowing it to perch.

  “Please, step closer.”

  Entranced, he felt his feet move, closing the small distance betwixt them.

  “My word,” Tesla breathed out.

  Hugo couldn’t find the words to speak. The creature on her finger was fashioned from metal, with feathers etched in like a piece of art. It was one of the most exquisitely melded pieces he had ever seen, and yet, the fact that it took flight was by far more appealing. Metal could not fly, it simply could not. Yet, the tiny bird before him most certainly had, and it was chirping happily as a lark on Queen McKenna’s forefinger.

  “That cannot fly. That cannot even exist.” Tesla said, shaking his head and taking a step backward.

  “No? Were you yourself not just speaking to me of controlling something from afar?” Jacob asked, grinning as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Hugo’s eyes swiveled to look at his mentor. Tesla stood, mouth agape, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. Best to duck out of the way, he thought. Just as he tried to step aside in hopes to break for the door, Tesla began his rant.

  “You seek to mock me, to mock one of the world’s great inventors. What trickery is this? The witchcraft from the colonies, it has crossed the ocean to return to London!” He was panting, exerting far too much of himself as he flailed his arms and reddened his face with each shouted word. “I will not stand for it. King or not, you are not my lord and leader, and I will not stand here a moment longer. Hugo!” Tesla bellowed his name much the way he did when an experiment went wrong.

  Tesla’s shoulder slammed into him, knocking him just a meter to the side, but Hugo couldn’t find the means to make himself follow his employer. The King had just implied a device had controlled a little metal bird to do the impossible. He wasn’t interested in walking away from a discovery like that, not until he knew just how it worked.

  “Hugo!” Tesla boomed again, this time from just in front of the door.

  He shifted his gaze from The Royals to the man called Lucius, to Tesla and finally back to Lucius, as if the man had some sway over his actions.

  “You may make your own decisions, Hugo.” King Jacob said. “Lucius, see to it that Tesla meets with Nathaniel on his way out. He has a mind-wipe to perform as Tesla has made it abundantly clear he is not only uninterested,” his blue eyes narrowed into slits. “But unqualified.”

  “It will be my pleasure, except for dealing with Nathaniel. I grow quite tired of interaction with his kind.” Lucius muttered as he excused himself, leaving Hugo alone with the two most powerful people in the world—next to the Pope.

  “Are you certain?” McKenna asked him, her tone deadly serious and her expression dark.

  Hugo wasn’t certain what he was getting himself into, but he knew he could not leave without the secret of the mechanical bird.

  “I am certain.”

  “Brilliant!” King Jacob retreated to the thrones and reached underneath one, pulling out two pairs of strange goggles before reaching under his Queen’s throne and removing two more. “I suppose we will not need all four,” he said with a shrug and tossed one pair onto the plush seat cushion. “Here you are, lad.” Jacob gently launched the eye covering at Hugo.

  Catching them a moment before they would have been out of his grasp, he looked questioningly at the king. “Why would I need these?”

  The Royals exchanged a look of amusement before slipping the glass goggles on. “My boy, you are about to have a whole new world opened up for you. One that you may wish you didn’t learn of.”

  “Come now, put those on so we may begin.” McKenna pushed up the sleeve of her gown and exposed a rather strange looking timepiece. “Oh, and you may wish to sit. I’ve found it will help with the shock.”

  Uncertain of what to do, Hugo dropped to the tile floor, legs sprawling out before him, as McKenna spoke into the wristwatch.

  “Layel. We have someone for you. Do come join us.” She chirped before pushing in a knob on the side of the device.

  “What in the bloody hell is that thing?” He breathed, staring in wonder as he realized how many dials and knobs the device had all around the face of it.

  “That would be a communicator.” A rich, masculine voice said from behind him. “I am Layel, and I am here to request your help.” As the man spoke, he walked to stand beside the king and queen.

  Hugo went to lift the goggles to rub his eyes and check the vision before him.

  “Ah, ah, you won’t wish to do that, Hugo,” Jacob said.

  Heading the warning, Hugo blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what he saw before him. A man worthy of being a Greek God had entered. He looked powerful and terrifying all at once. Yet,
it was the large, white, feathery wings on either side of his body that had Hugo in a tizzy. They were well and truly there, a pair of wings on a man.

  “I am what your kind calls an Angel,” Layel said, crossing his arms over his chest and allowing his wings to fold against his back, disappearing entirely.

  “You can’t be real.” The words slipped out in a state of shock.

  Trying to move, he realized something was quite wrong. He felt as if his entire body was glued to the floor, even though he wanted nothing more than to get up and examine the wings to see how they attached.

  “You’ll find you cannot move,” a sultry voice said just as a woman appeared in the room as if by magic. “Wondrous little trick I have up my sleeve. You’ll be forced to sit and listen, without speaking, until we are done.”

  He opened his mouth to contradict her, to tell her no one tells him when to speak, but found no sound came out. Frantically, he clawed at his throat and attempted for minutes to force sound out. He could not. Quickly, he changed his focus to standing and found himself weighted to the ground by an invisible force. His arms would not lift from the side, yet he didn’t feel the crushing weight of gravity. What in the bloody hell is happening? Perspiration dotted his brow from his efforts to defy the sensual female before him.

  “Really Seraphina, compulsion is not being used. Why must you use your gifts to lock the poor man in place?” McKenna asked, taking a knee beside Hugo and smiling at him. “We apologize for this. We’ve been looking for years for other inventors, and we’ve found that many tend to bolt as soon as the tale begins.”

  Three

  Tears built up in his eyes, a combination of fear and frustration at not being able to speak or move. Four people stood before him, all terrifying in their own right, and all he wished to do was flee. He was done with desiring to impress The Royals. There was something horridly not well with the situation, and Tesla had been right to dash out.