Bergraz Palace

174th SUMMER – the first year of the regency

(Earth Date 22nd JANUARY 2017)

We descended a long flight of stairs, the stables being higher than the rest of the ground floor of the palace then continued along a long straight corridor. “As secret passages go, this is a bit boring, no traps, no secret spy holes cut in paintings, no skeletons with swords sticking out of them, there aren’t even any dusty footprints to follow.” Kate complained. I had to admit she was right, it felt more like a corridor that had been forgotten than a secret passage.

“I think this was once used by the guards, it probably leads to an old guard room or barracks,” Jake rumbled from behind me, prodding an ancient lantern hook as we passed. A few metres further on we came to the end of the corridor and an old, but perfectly normal door. I turned the latch and pulled, the door opened to reveal a dusty but elaborately carved shrine bathed in coloured light. There was the smell of incense and I realised we were in one of the alcoves of the Palace chapel, the place we’d watched Father get married this morning. I turned to watch the door click shut behind us, the carvings on this side of the door merging invisibly with the wall.

“I don’t think this is a guard room anymore,” Jake commented, looking around at the opulent surroundings.

“Ladies, ladies, you’ve got it all wrong, you’re not meant to bring the man back with you, you’re meant to leave him in the stables,” an elderly male voice said, I turned to see the old priest who’d officiated at the wedding regarding us with a sparkle in his eye. I clutched Jake’s arm with a proprietary air.

“But he’s so gorgeous. I want to keep him,” I exclaimed.

“And sharing him with your rainbow haired friend too, very adventurous. I have to say it’s nice to see some of the old palace secrets being handed down in the family. I remember the old days, there was always some furtive young lady hanging around that shrine, waiting to slip into the passage for a rendezvous with her beau.”

“It’s not very clean in there, hasn’t anyone used it recently?” I asked, making a show of brushing off my skirt. The priest shook his head and smiled sadly.

“Not for several years to my knowledge and I’m always here, well, except for the Equinox festivals of course. If you ever feel the need of a non-judgemental ear you can speak to me in confidence. I believe I’ve pretty much heard it all over the years.”

“Thank you Father,” I said meekly.

“Go with God,” he blessed us all.

“Why didn’t you tell him the truth, how am I going to explain that I’m not part of a throuple to Oz,” Kate hissed as we left.

“Wouldn’t that make it a fourple,” asked Jake grinning.

“I’m sure he won’t talk if he thinks we just snuck into the passage for sex.” I said, then went serious. “I want to keep our involvement in this quiet, let them think it’s the Guard who are investigating. I need to stay here and keep an eye on who’s acting out of character. Kate, can you interview Lady Thyme on your own? She hates me because of Mother,” I asked. This was an understatement, Mother was convinced she’d made a couple of attempts to poison me when I was little. I’d certainly been extremely and mysteriously unwell on a couple of occasions. After the second time Father realised Mother was incapable of keeping me safe and sent me to the Orston Sacred Pool school.

“Oh yeah, no problem. She was Madoc’s second wife wasn’t she.”

“And his mistress before that, she managed to pop out a couple of children before his first wife gave birth to Oz. She’s always been… ambitious.” I said.

“Quite a little harem your biological father had,” Kate commented. I shrugged.

“They were ambitious and he’s not exactly known for his good judgement, especially where women are concerned.”

“And yet somehow he’s Regent. Oh well, weird shit happens in politics. I suppose I better rescue Scarlett before she starts helping the Guard with their enquiries,” Kate sighed.

“And I have been ordered to show Lady Anna a good time,” Jake said, giving Kate a grin. I squeezed his arm, not having relinquished it since claiming him in the chapel.

We swept down the main stairs, through the entrance hall, up through the empty ballroom and took the back way to the stables. With hindsight, probably not the best way we could have gone. Jake had killed someone with his bare hands here, and Kate, almost completely untrained in unicorn handling, had been taken by her unicorn on an uncontrolled murderous rampage, not to mention the people her dress had killed.. Both of them were silent as we walked through the ballroom, reliving unpleasant memories.

Jake and I left Kate in the stables with Scarlett and what looked like half the Bergraz Guard milling around outside. I got in the Kangoo and Jake, after a few false starts, managed to turn the car around and drive out the courtyard.

“Are you okay?” I asked. He hadn’t said a word since we’d entered the ballroom.

“I haven’t been back there since the battle… I wasn’t prepared for the memories,” he admitted. I laid a comforting hand on his leg and the car swerved dangerously. “Maybe don’t do that while I’m driving,” he said, glancing at me, smiling, “Natalie showed me how, but I’ve only actually driven a couple of times.”

Jake drove slowly with intense concentration down the steep hills, passing through every level of the city avoiding hitting anything or anyone which was quite an achievement as it felt like every person in the city wanted to gawp at the strange Earth made motor vehicle by stepping directly into its path.

I waved graciously, a smile plastered to my face and my heart in my mouth. Eventually we came to the first level where we turned down some insalubrious back streets at the back of the docks, finally coming to a stop at the back of a massive stone-built warehouse. Jake honked the horn and a set of massive wooden doors with a freshly painted Smith’s Guild insignia on them opened.

He drove us into a large but almost empty storage bay, turned the engine off and let out a big sigh of relief. “Fuck, that was scary. Sorry, Anna, that was meant to be an experience, a pleasant one I mean.”

“I don’t think Bergraz is ready for motor vehicles that don’t have sirens.” I said as a skinny young woman with light brown skin, long black hair tied back in a ponytail and dressed in shirt and trousers opened my door. She held her hand out to help me out of the car.

“Lady Anna, welcome to the Guild’s Special Projects. I’m Sophie, the apprentice aviatrix and I will be your servitor today,” she said formally.

“A pleasure, Sophie,” I said equally formally. “What does an aviatrix do?” I asked. Sophie looked at Jake.

“Sophie is the only Apprentice in the Guild with that title, you are the first non-guild person to be allowed to see this.” Jake said, avoiding the question.

“If you allow Master Lord Jake to escort you to the dry dock all will be revealed” Sophie said, giving me a mysterious smile, opening a normal sized door into a dark echoing space. Jake offered me his arm and we stepped into the darkness. I smelt and heard water nearby and I realised we were in one of the enclosed slipways the navy built and overhauled their battleships in. Obviously Jake’s seat on the High Council opened some very big doors.

“So, what are you going to show me?” I asked, guessing whatever was housed here was something a bit more special than Jake’s favourite hammer. The lights came on and I gasped in unfeigned awe and wonder.

“What do you think,” Jake asked. I could tell he was smiling but I couldn’t look away.

“It’s beautiful,” I said. It was white and burgundy, its boat shaped, streamlined fuselage, must have been around thirty metres long and its wingspan even wider. At its highest it must have been four stories tall and four propellers jutted from jewel-like housings in the wings

“It is.”

“It’s so big. Will it fly?

“It’s not as big as Grahh and she flies.”

“She doesn’t float.”

“The design is adapted from Earth designed flying boats and we’ve done our own aerodynamic tests. There's no reason why it shouldn’t fly.”

“I’m surprised Xavier let you build it, he had his heart set on getting into the air first and the Treaty with the dragons hasn’t quite been finalised…”

“There is a feeling in the Guild that the first craft in the air should be one made here rather than on Earth and all the Treaty needs is an Emperor’s signature. The DAA is quite happy for us to do some testing. Actually, I think they’re rather keen to have something to do.”

“What’s the DAA?” I asked.

“Oh, I thought you knew? The Dragon Aviation Authority are the dragons responsible for how and where humans can fly. I think Xavier called them that as a joke and the name stuck.”

“Ohh, right, that lot. I didn’t realise they had a name.” I said. When I’d first met dragons en masse I’d thought they were universally intimidating creatures. Beings the size of a large house with a wingspan that would shade a street, do tend to have that impression on humans, but once I’d got to know them I soon realised some dragons were more intimidating than others. The group now known as the DAA were some of the more eccentric, less intimidating and human-friendly dragons.

“Yes, that lot. I strongly suspect DAA translates to something rude in Dragon,”

“My being made up to Journeyman rests on someone getting this into the air,” Sophie said. I walked up to the seaplane, close up, the attention to detail was exquisite. A piece of craftsmanship to show the world what the Smith’s guild was capable of. I wondered how much they had invested in this project.

“Open the door, go inside,” Sophie encouraged me. I went up a short step ladder just forward of the wings and turned a recessed handle, the door slid inwards on a clever hinge. Inside it was obviously nowhere near as finished as the outside, electrical wires hung from openings in the thin plywood that lined the walls and ceiling. A lacquered ply ladder led upwards, “the cockpit’s up the ladder,” Sophie said. I ascended, glad that I’d changed into a dress that allowed for this sort of adventurousness but I was definitely going to have to get some trousers if this was to become a regular thing.

I flashed my legs all the way to my knees for Jake at the top of the ladder, then went through an open bulkhead door, entering the cockpit and sittingt down in the left-hand seat. I was surprised at how much I recognised from the flight simulator Kate had introduced me to at Trafalgar. I’d lost almost a week to it before Kate managed to drag me away.

Everything was familiar, that much was true but unlike the battered workaday plastic and metal of the simulator, these controls were made of leather and wood and beautifully crafted. The dials were still black and white, they had to be for clarity, but with the exception of the screen and the communications equipment they were obviously not Earth made. I put my hands and feet on the controls, feeling the resistance. The simulator had been good, but nothing had prepared me for the feeling I was getting from sitting in the cockpit of an actual plane. It just felt so right.

“Who is going to fly this?” I asked, almost in a whisper, caressing the controls. Jake came up behind me and rested his warm hands gently on my bare shoulders, the physical contact was like being immersed in a warm bath, only better.

“You are,” he murmured in my ear. “I built this for you.” I looked at him, he looked deadly serious.

“He persuaded the entire guild to build this in less than a season, just for a chance to get into your underwear,” Sophie said with a smile.

“Well, he’s not gonna get into my underwear tonight,” I said, severely giving Jake a look, I paused for a moment, then smiled flirtatiously at him, “I didn’t actually wear any,” I whispered, taking my hand away from the controls and putting it over his rough, calloused hand, well, over about three fingers of his hand and tried to pull it downwards. I might as well have tried to move the aircraft. Sophie giggled.

“Sophie… you know I told you there are times when you need to stay quiet,” Jake said, sounding amused rather than cross.

“That was one of those times?”

“Yes. Go and serve dinner.”

“Yes Master Jake,” Sophie sighed and disappeared down the ladder.

“Sorry about that, she is a brilliant technician but has absolutely no filter.”

“Did you really build this just for me?” I asked, after taking a deep breath. Being in physical contact with Jake was doing things to me. He grinned a piratical grin..

“That’s not what I told the guild when I was trying to get this financed, but yes, I built it for you. It’s not quite ready yet, but Kate was most insistent I made my move sooner rather than later. I don’t need to tell you there are people who really don’t want us to get together, they say, oh so many things, but mostly they say I’m merely a bit of rough that’s caught your fancy,”

“You’re not just a bit of rough, you’re The bit of rough. All I am is a pretty butterfly who wants to suck your nectar. A pretty butterfly with a damaged wing.” I picked up Jake’s finger and ran it down the scar on my face, then placed it on my décolleté, hoping he’d follow the scar on my torso downwards to its obvious conclusion. He didn’t, but he didn’t move his hand either.

“We know we are so much more than that. We have something Anna, something I don’t want to lose. You told me that day in Sandbeck you wanted to fly. I thought I’d make your dream come true. I’m not good with words like the aristos you grew up with, and you’ve probably been given a shit ton of exotic gifts by your suitors. I wanted to make you something that no one had even thought of giving you and you would think of me differently… The truth is that I’ve fancied you since the moment you climbed out that window at the Sacred Pool. I just didn’t think you felt that way about me.”

“Jake I’ve been flirting with you pretty much since the moment I climbed out that window and you have been totally oblivious.”

“I thought you were just being friendly. I mean, you flirt with pretty much everyone. Are you really not wearing any underwear?” He asked, sounding almost scandalised. I smiled at him.

“Well, if you play your cards right, you’ll find out.” I murmured, it would have been a perfect moment if it hadn’t been ruined by my stomach rumbling with a sound like thunder. We looked at each other and then we both burst out laughing “You mentioned dinner?” I asked. It felt like a long time since Lord Aldred’s cream cakes and it had been a very long day.

“I did, let us adjourn to the salon, Sophie should have the first course ready by now.”

We descended to the level below, Jake still, despite my best efforts, was behaving like a complete gentleman and didn’t even try and check my underwear status. He led me into a surprisingly spacious cabin at the rear of the plane, the unfinished walls and ceiling covered with huge sheets of creamy lightweight cloth and the floor was a glistening dark wood. At the back of the cabin was a strange looking sofa bolted to the floor by a table set for a dinner for two, on the other side of the table was a delicate looking folding chair.

Jake sat me down on the sofa while he took the chair that creaked under his weight. Sophie entered and served us the starter, together with wine, then disappeared. We talked of many things, of flying, of dragons, of what the rest of the club were doing and many other things besides. We deliberately didn’t talk of family, the case, or anything to do with the perilous state of the Empire.

After dessert was consumed and the third bottle of Earth wine emptied Sophie cleared up and disappeared out the door. Seconds later the lights of the warehouse went out.

“Aha, young Lady, you are at my mercy,” Jake rumbled like the villain in a bad play. He threw off his jacket, moved the table and sat down next to me, his weight throwing me towards him then putting his arm around me

“Oh sir, I’m just a poor innocent girl, what are you going to do to me?” I asked, playing my part, as I snuggled up to him, realising I was a little drunk, despite only consuming one of the bottles of wine.

“I am going to force you… to watch the film of my choice… Behold… Porco Rosso!” He pulled out a black rectangle with buttons on. He pressed one and the lights dimmed to a soft yellow glow, he pressed another one and a bright white light shone on the white sheet directly in front of us, music started playing and the title sequence of an animated film started playing.

“Oh, a film on an aeroplane. How novel,” I applauded.

“A film about aeroplanes on an aeroplane,” he said smugly and pulled a lever next to him, the back of the sofa reclined until it was almost a bed, I squeaked in delighted surprise taking every opportunity to snuggle closer. We kicked off our shoes and wiggled about until we were both comfortable. I laid my head on Jake's chest, he put his arm around me and we watched the film. feeling, warm and relaxed in a way I hadn’t felt for a very long time

“This is nice,” I murmured after a few minutes, undoing Jake’s uncomfortable looking belt. There was no answer, just a steady breathing. I smiled. It had obviously been a long day for both of us. I lay my head on Jake’s chest and shut my eyes, just for a second.