“To Catch the Lightning” by Royce Day (part 1 of 2)

Speaker: 00:00:02

You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.

Speaker: 00:00:04

I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

Speaker: 00:00:07

and Today’s story is the first of two parts of

Speaker: 00:00:10

"To Catch the Lightning"

Speaker: 00:00:11

by Royce Day, which will soon be available in Armoured Fox Press' upcoming

Speaker: 00:00:15

Swordmasters anthology,

Speaker: 00:00:17

edited by Tarl Hoch

Please enjoy: 00:00:19

“To Catch the Lightning”

Please enjoy: 00:00:23

by Royce Day (part 1 of 2)

Please enjoy: 00:00:28

“Don’t hold that up to your muzzle,”

Please enjoy: 00:00:30

Becca advised. “We’ll look like tourists.”

Please enjoy: 00:00:33

Feyd’s ears flicked back in embarrassment,

Please enjoy: 00:00:35

and he pulled the kerchief back down from his muzzle to rest loosely around his throat once again.

Please enjoy: 00:00:40

Not that the vixen could blame the younger foxen male. Klippenhaffen was a typical Gerwart industrial port city:

Please enjoy: 00:00:46

busy, crowded, and covered with a black cloak of coal dust from the nearby factories.

Please enjoy: 00:00:52

The ‘warties around her

Please enjoy: 00:00:53

seemed to take no notice of it, but even Becca could barely keep herself from sneezing every five paces

Please enjoy: 00:00:58

as they walked up the street

Please enjoy: 00:00:59

towards the warehouse district.

Please enjoy: 00:01:02

Feyd shook his head,

Please enjoy: 00:01:03

triangular ears flattening to his scalp.

Please enjoy: 00:01:06

“How can they stand it here?”

Please enjoy: 00:01:07

he asked. “You can’t smell anything except the dust in your snout.”

Please enjoy: 00:01:11

The sandy-furred male was eight years younger than Becca’s own thirty years,

Please enjoy: 00:01:15

but despite his youth

Please enjoy: 00:01:17

he’d proven a capable lieutenant in her command.

Please enjoy: 00:01:19

Which was why she’d brought him along on this mission for their patron,

Please enjoy: 00:01:23

Countess Longlake.

Please enjoy: 00:01:25

“It’s Gerwart,” Becca said,

Please enjoy: 00:01:27

gesturing with her sword paw towards the factories belching dark clouds from their smokestacks

Please enjoy: 00:01:31

on the edge of town.

Please enjoy: 00:01:33

“They’ll put up with anything so long as it’s declared ‘Progress’.”

Please enjoy: 00:01:37

She fought the urge to start rubbing at her own black and white fur,

Please enjoy: 00:01:40

which would be soon black and grey if they stayed out in the open for more than the afternoon.

Please enjoy: 00:01:45

“They’ll bury themselves in an early grave from breathing in this stuff,”

Please enjoy: 00:01:48

Feyd replied. After a moment he added,

Please enjoy: 00:01:51

“I wish I had my sword.”

Please enjoy: 00:01:53

“It would hardly fit with our current outfits,”

Please enjoy: 00:01:56

Becca noted. “Though I’ll admit I’m feeling pretty naked myself.”

Please enjoy: 00:02:01

They were both dressed as Mother Country sailors,

Please enjoy: 00:02:03

in tough canvas pants,

Please enjoy: 00:02:05

heavy linen shirts,

Please enjoy: 00:02:06

and kerchiefs at their necks,

Please enjoy: 00:02:08

not the bright uniforms of Countess Longlake’s personal guard.

Please enjoy: 00:02:12

Swords would definitely be out of place,

Please enjoy: 00:02:14

though Becca and Feyd

Please enjoy: 00:02:15

both wore long utilitarian knives at their belts,

Please enjoy: 00:02:18

and Becca held tight to a thick, wooden cane.

Please enjoy: 00:02:22

They dodged out of the street

Please enjoy: 00:02:24

and onto the crowded sidewalk as an overloaded steam cart

Please enjoy: 00:02:27

puffed down the road towards the docks,

Please enjoy: 00:02:29

the brakeman cursing as it went down the steep slope.

Please enjoy: 00:02:32

The crowd seemed to take little notice of it beyond stepping out of the way.

Please enjoy: 00:02:36

Becca tried to imagine the carnage that would occur if the driver and brakeman lost control of the cart

Please enjoy: 00:02:41

and it was allowed to barrel down the street unimpeded.

Please enjoy: 00:02:44

A Mother Country countess would never allow something that dangerous,

Please enjoy: 00:02:47

but would instead build a more expensive but safer funicular railway from the warehouse district

Please enjoy: 00:02:52

to the wharves jutting out into the harbor.

Please enjoy: 00:02:55

Progress. They turned at an intersection at the top of the hill,

Please enjoy: 00:03:00

following the line of bars, banks, outfitters, and other shops that catered to both the sailors that visited the city

Please enjoy: 00:03:06

and the workers who tended the warehouses in this district.

Please enjoy: 00:03:10

Becca reviewed the map of the town she’d memorized on the voyage from the Mother Country,

Please enjoy: 00:03:14

counting storefronts until they reached a small tavern

Please enjoy: 00:03:17

marked with a snarling grass chaser on its signboard.

Please enjoy: 00:03:21

Stepping inside revealed a common room that was crowded with sailors and workers from several seafaring nations,

Please enjoy: 00:03:27

the air smoky from the oil lamps on the walls.

Please enjoy: 00:03:30

Beside her Feyd sneezed,

Please enjoy: 00:03:32

and Becca felt her eyes begin to water.

Please enjoy: 00:03:34

“Where is he?” Feyd whispered desperately into her ear.

Please enjoy: 00:03:38

“Patience,” Becca whispered back.

Please enjoy: 00:03:40

She flagged down the bartender and purchased beers for them both.

Please enjoy: 00:03:44

Grabbing the tankards,

Please enjoy: 00:03:45

she guided Feyd casually toward the back of the room,

Please enjoy: 00:03:48

as if looking for an empty table.

Please enjoy: 00:03:50

Finally she found what she was looking for:

Please enjoy: 00:03:52

a small table occupied by a single foxen male,

Please enjoy: 00:03:56

with deep red fur and wearing a pince nez clipped to his muzzle,

Please enjoy: 00:03:59

sitting alone and looking nervous.

Please enjoy: 00:04:02

“Mind if we sit here?” she asked in Gerwart.

Please enjoy: 00:04:05

“I am sorry, no,

Please enjoy: 00:04:07

I am waiting for…for friends,” he replied.

Please enjoy: 00:04:10

His tail curled nervously around his knees,

Please enjoy: 00:04:13

a leather satchel stuffed with papers resting in his lap.

Please enjoy: 00:04:16

He was dressed in commoner garb, but his accent was obviously educated,

Please enjoy: 00:04:19

and there were small white spots from chemical burns dotting the fur of his arms and paws,

Please enjoy: 00:04:24

hinting at his true background.

Please enjoy: 00:04:26

“That would be us,”

Please enjoy: 00:04:27

Becca replied, sitting down and motioning for Feyd to do as well.

Please enjoy: 00:04:32

“I am Swordmaster Beccalian Blacksailor,

Please enjoy: 00:04:34

and this is my lieutenant, Feydian Cliptoe.

Please enjoy: 00:04:37

We are agents for the Countess Longlake of the Mother Country Council

Please enjoy: 00:04:40

of Countesses. You are Scholar Mond-Gaffer?”

Please enjoy: 00:04:43

“Yes,” the male replied.

Please enjoy: 00:04:45

His eyes darted up and down,

Please enjoy: 00:04:47

examining their carefully common appearance.

Please enjoy: 00:04:50

“You don’t look like a swordmaster.”

Please enjoy: 00:04:52

“If I did, I’d be standing out a lot more than you would want me to at the moment,”

Please enjoy: 00:04:56

Becca replied calmly.

Please enjoy: 00:04:57

“I’m in disguise, the same as you.

Please enjoy: 00:05:00

Were you followed at all?”

Please enjoy: 00:05:01

“I… I don’t believe so,”

Please enjoy: 00:05:03

Mond-Gaffer said. “As far as the Science Ministry knows,

Please enjoy: 00:05:07

I’m attending a conference in Eisenstadt.

Please enjoy: 00:05:09

I even had one of my students purchase the train ticket for Klippenhaffen.”

Please enjoy: 00:05:13

“So at least one person knows where you were really going?”

Please enjoy: 00:05:16

Feyd asked in concern.

Please enjoy: 00:05:18

“No, no,” Mond-Gaffer said quickly.

Please enjoy: 00:05:21

“I told them it was for my aunt.

Please enjoy: 00:05:22

I bought the ticket for Eisenstadt myself just before I got on the train to Kilppenhaffen.”

Please enjoy: 00:05:27

Becca felt some of her concern ease.

Please enjoy: 00:05:30

Despite his hesitant manner,

Please enjoy: 00:05:32

Mond-Gaffer wasn’t quite so starry-eyed as his name suggested.

Please enjoy: 00:05:36

“That was well done, Scholar.

Please enjoy: 00:05:37

Now we are all going to finish our beers,

Please enjoy: 00:05:39

and then you’re going to take a nice, relaxed walk with us

Please enjoy: 00:05:42

down the docks to start a lovely sea voyage to the MC,

Please enjoy: 00:05:46

understood?” “Oh, no. Not yet!”

Please enjoy: 00:05:49

Mond-Gaffer exclaimed.

Please enjoy: 00:05:50

“We have to get the prototype from the warehouse.

Please enjoy: 00:05:52

We absolutely cannot leave without it.”

Please enjoy: 00:05:55

“Prototype? What prototype?”

Please enjoy: 00:05:57

Becca demanded. “The prototype of the galvanic generator,”

Please enjoy: 00:06:01

he said. “I couldn’t just leave it at the university;

Please enjoy: 00:06:04

that would mean someone else could examine it and duplicate my work,

Please enjoy: 00:06:07

even without my research notes.”

Please enjoy: 00:06:09

He patted the satchel protectively.

Please enjoy: 00:06:11

“So I had it shipped here ahead for my arrival.

Please enjoy: 00:06:14

I told the university chancellor I was sending it to the conference instead.”

Please enjoy: 00:06:18

Beside her, Feyd’s jaw dropped open.

Please enjoy: 00:06:21

“So you had someone ship it all the way here,

Please enjoy: 00:06:23

when it and you are expected in Eisenstadt?”

Please enjoy: 00:06:27

He turned to Becca.

Please enjoy: 00:06:28

“Swordmaster, the scholar here going missing might just be a case of him being a bit lost.

Please enjoy: 00:06:33

Both of them being misplaced

Please enjoy: 00:06:35

is going to set off somebody’s alarm bells.”

Please enjoy: 00:06:38

And there’s going to be paperwork showing where it went.

Please enjoy: 00:06:40

Mother Goddess bless us all, Becca thought in aggravation.

Please enjoy: 00:06:44

“How large is this prototype, Scholar Mond-Gaffer?”

Please enjoy: 00:06:48

She was hoping it was something the size of a trunk.

Please enjoy: 00:06:50

Two sailors carrying a trunk down the street to the docks, with its owner following them, would hardly attract notice.

Please enjoy: 00:06:55

“Oh, not very large. Just the size of a pair of shipping flats,” he replied affably.

Please enjoy: 00:07:01

Which would mean they’d need a steam cart to haul it back to the ship, she realized.

Please enjoy: 00:07:05

“That’s too big. We’ll have to destroy it,”

Please enjoy: 00:07:07

Becca told him. “Destroy it, are you mad?

Please enjoy: 00:07:11

It is my life’s work!”

Please enjoy: 00:07:13

Mond-Gaffer exclaimed,

Please enjoy: 00:07:14

his tail lashing in fury.

Please enjoy: 00:07:16

“Oh, you are just like those idiots in the War Ministry,

Please enjoy: 00:07:19

who only care about making bigger and better explosives. I thought

Please enjoy: 00:07:23

the MC would be different!”

Please enjoy: 00:07:25

“Keep your damned voice down,”

Please enjoy: 00:07:27

Becca hissed. “All right,

Please enjoy: 00:07:28

we’ll figure something out. Just take us to it.”

Please enjoy: 00:07:31

Scholar Mond-Gaffer

Please enjoy: 00:07:33

nodded and stood up, almost losing his balance as the satchel’s weighty contents

Please enjoy: 00:07:37

made him lean to one side.

Please enjoy: 00:07:39

Feyd stood and grabbed the scholar’s arm to steady him,

Please enjoy: 00:07:41

and together the three of them headed back out into the street and toward a nearby warehouse.

Please enjoy: 00:07:46

By the time they reached it,

Please enjoy: 00:07:48

the sky was turning a burnt orange color as the lowering sun’s rays

Please enjoy: 00:07:51

hit the perpetual smoke cloud hanging over the city.

Please enjoy: 00:07:56

“What did you put on the manifest when you had it shipped here?”

Please enjoy: 00:07:58

Becca asked as they approached.

Please enjoy: 00:08:00

“Copper wiring, industrial magnets, lead plates, and sulphuric acid,” Mond-Gaffer replied.

Please enjoy: 00:08:06

“It is all correct. I just failed to mention what configuration they are in.”

Please enjoy: 00:08:10

“Cute,” Feyd muttered,

Please enjoy: 00:08:12

while Becca wondered what such a bizarre combination of items could be used for.

Please enjoy: 00:08:17

“Feyd, find a steam cart we can use to haul Herr Scholar’s prototype back to the ship,”

Please enjoy: 00:08:21

Becca ordered. “Why do you think I can just conjure up a steam cart in the middle of an enemy city this late in the afternoon?”

Please enjoy: 00:08:28

he asked. “Because you are my lieutenant, and you’d rather die than fail me,”

Please enjoy: 00:08:32

Becca answered with a smile.

Please enjoy: 00:08:34

“This is true, swordmaster,”

Please enjoy: 00:08:36

he admitted sheepishly.

Please enjoy: 00:08:37

He gave her a smart salute

Please enjoy: 00:08:39

and turned smartly on one footpad,

Please enjoy: 00:08:41

flagging down a nearby longshorefolk to get directions to the nearest livery rental.

Please enjoy: 00:08:46

After a brief negotiation with the warehouse clerk,

Please enjoy: 00:08:48

involving a maddening delay while Mond-Gaffer dug through his satchel for the right paperwork,

Please enjoy: 00:08:53

and they were brought before a large crate as tall as Becca,

Please enjoy: 00:08:56

five arms long and half as wide.

Please enjoy: 00:08:59

“How much does this thing weigh?” Becca asked the scholar. “The lead plates and the magnets are the heaviest components,” he told her. “No more than seven-hundred pounds, I think.”

Please enjoy: 00:09:01

Becca took a deep,

Please enjoy: 00:09:11

calming breath and leaned on her cane.

Please enjoy: 00:09:14

“Mother Goddess bless us all,”

Please enjoy: 00:09:15

she muttered. An hour later,

Please enjoy: 00:09:18

a deep puffing noise from outside the warehouse heralded the return of Feyd,

Please enjoy: 00:09:22

hanging on the running board of a large cargo steam cart,

Please enjoy: 00:09:25

complete with driver, brakeman, and engineer tending the puffing coal boiler

Please enjoy: 00:09:29

mounted between the driver’s cab

Please enjoy: 00:09:31

and the cargo area.

Please enjoy: 00:09:33

To Becca’s suppressed horror

Please enjoy: 00:09:35

they drove it straight inside, heedless of the burning coals being expelled towards the rafters.

Please enjoy: 00:09:39

If it’d been an alcohol-fueled engine like a Mother Country design,

Please enjoy: 00:09:43

she wouldn’t have been as worried.

Please enjoy: 00:09:44

This thing could set the whole warehouse on fire

Please enjoy: 00:09:47

if a spark landed in the right spot.

Please enjoy: 00:09:49

Progress. After that it was just a matter of getting the pallet into the cargo bed,

Please enjoy: 00:09:54

a task aided by a winch connected to the cart’s steam engine,

Please enjoy: 00:09:57

which hauled it aboard

Please enjoy: 00:09:58

in less than ten minutes.

Please enjoy: 00:10:00

Becca felt herself relax slightly.

Please enjoy: 00:10:03

If they could get this blasted cart down the hill and through the town without running over anyone, all they’d have to do

Please enjoy: 00:10:08

is load the pallet aboard the waiting ship and they could

Please enjoy: 00:10:11

be on their merry way.

Please enjoy: 00:10:13

A commotion from the direction of the warehouse manager’s office

Please enjoy: 00:10:16

made Becca take firm hold of her cane

Please enjoy: 00:10:18

and motion for Feyd to stay close to Mond-Gaffer’s side.

Please enjoy: 00:10:22

Four officers in the uniform of the local constabulary were approaching,

Please enjoy: 00:10:26

the warehouse manager trailing behind worriedly.

Please enjoy: 00:10:30

“Scholar Mond-Gaffer?”

Please enjoy: 00:10:31

the lead constable called out.

Please enjoy: 00:10:33

“You and your companions are under arrest, at the order of the Ministry of State Security.” “Wha-wha

Please enjoy: 00:10:39

-what?” Mond-Gaffer stuttered. “I

Please enjoy: 00:10:41

-I have never heard of anything so… So outrageous! I am merely retrieving my prototype after it was accidentally shipped here instead of to the conference.”

Please enjoy: 00:10:49

Becca tried not to applaud his quick thinking,

Please enjoy: 00:10:52

even as she let her expression slacken from alarm to annoyance,

Please enjoy: 00:10:55

suitable for a sailor finding herself stuck

Please enjoy: 00:10:57

in an unexpected complication.

Please enjoy: 00:10:59

“‘ere now. We not with him,”

Please enjoy: 00:11:02

she said in Gerwart, making sure her accent was broken and barely understandable.

Please enjoy: 00:11:06

“We were told to just bring his crate back to the ship.”

Please enjoy: 00:11:09

“That will be sorted out by State Sec,”

Please enjoy: 00:11:12

the constable said firmly,

Please enjoy: 00:11:13

letting his paw drop to the truncheon at his hip. “Now disarm yourselves and come with us.”

Please enjoy: 00:11:18

“Becca?” Feyd asked urgently.

Please enjoy: 00:11:21

“Follow my lead,” she advised in the Mother Tongue.

Please enjoy: 00:11:24

Becca reached over with her left paw,

Please enjoy: 00:11:26

awkwardly undoing the buckle of her knife sheath

Please enjoy: 00:11:28

and letting it drop to the ground,

Please enjoy: 00:11:30

and a moment later Feyd followed suit.

Please enjoy: 00:11:33

“Your cane as well, please,” the constable ordered. “All right, all right,” Becca groused.

Please enjoy: 00:11:38

She leaned over to set the cane on the ground,

Please enjoy: 00:11:41

her paw reaching out to the side of the steam cart as if to steady herself.

Please enjoy: 00:11:44

She felt a flash of heat on her paw pad, and she let out a loud cry as if burnt,

Please enjoy: 00:11:48

swaying dangerously on her “good” leg.

Please enjoy: 00:11:51

The second constable,

Please enjoy: 00:11:52

Mother Goddess bless him,

Please enjoy: 00:11:54

rushed forward as if to catch her.

Please enjoy: 00:11:56

Which was when Becca pressed a button on the handle of her cane,

Please enjoy: 00:11:59

sending the heavy, spring loaded sheath directly into the second constable’s leg,

Please enjoy: 00:12:03

as the sword hidden inside it was revealed.

Please enjoy: 00:12:05

She heard a sharp crack as the sheath hit,

Please enjoy: 00:12:07

breaking the poor fellow’s ankle

Please enjoy: 00:12:09

and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Please enjoy: 00:12:11

“Flats only!” Becca shouted to Feyd,

Please enjoy: 00:12:13

as he dove to the ground and rolled, coming back up to his feet with both of their knives unsheathed in his paws.

Please enjoy: 00:12:19

She rushed forward,

Please enjoy: 00:12:20

bringing up the sword toward the lead constable.

Please enjoy: 00:12:22

He waved his truncheon at her,

Please enjoy: 00:12:24

the shorter club briefly parrying Becca’s sword,

Please enjoy: 00:12:26

until she pivoted the blade in her paw and flipped the truncheon free of his grip.

Please enjoy: 00:12:30

She spun the blade,

Please enjoy: 00:12:31

slashing the blunt edge towards the constable’s head.

Please enjoy: 00:12:34

Panicking, he tried to parry it with his forearm,

Please enjoy: 00:12:36

and she heard a second nasty crack as it broke against her steel.

Please enjoy: 00:12:40

As he doubled over in pain,

Please enjoy: 00:12:42

clutching wounded arm,

Please enjoy: 00:12:43

she brought the handle of the sword cane smartly down on the back of his head,

Please enjoy: 00:12:46

knocking him to the floor unconscious.

Please enjoy: 00:12:49

She scanned the room for more opponents,

Please enjoy: 00:12:51

to find that the third constable was unconscious but breathing,

Please enjoy: 00:12:54

lying slumped against one of the wheels of the steam cart,

Please enjoy: 00:12:57

while the fourth was disarmed and pinned against a pillar,

Please enjoy: 00:12:59

with one of Feyd’s knives at his throat.

Please enjoy: 00:13:02

Becca turned her attention to the crew of the steam cart,

Please enjoy: 00:13:04

who exchanged brief looks with each other and then raised their arms in surrender.

Please enjoy: 00:13:09

Well this has gone completely to shit, she thought.

Please enjoy: 00:13:12

She waggled her sword cane at the crew.

Please enjoy: 00:13:14

“Thank you, could you all come down from the cart please? That’s very good.

Please enjoy: 00:13:18

Now if you could do me the great favor of picking up the constables and carrying them with you?

Please enjoy: 00:13:23

That’s it, excellent.”

Please enjoy: 00:13:25

With the crew’s paws occupied and out of mischief

Please enjoy: 00:13:28

carrying the unconscious constables,

Please enjoy: 00:13:30

she started herding the group toward the warehouse supervisor’s office.

Please enjoy: 00:13:33

Speaking of which…

Please enjoy: 00:13:35

“Feyd, did you see which way the warehouse supervisor went?”

Please enjoy: 00:13:38

she demanded, kneeling down to grab the cane’s sheath and cover its blade.

Please enjoy: 00:13:42

“Sorry, no. He scarpered while I was dealing with my half of the constables,”

Please enjoy: 00:13:46

Feyd admitted apologetically.

Please enjoy: 00:13:48

“Which means we have two or three minutes at best before reinforcements arrive,”

Please enjoy: 00:13:52

she replied. “Help me secure our innocent bystanders and get ready to move.”

Please enjoy: 00:13:57

Together they finished herding everyone into the supervisor’s office,

Please enjoy: 00:14:00

setting the locking bar in place.

Please enjoy: 00:14:02

It wouldn’t hold with a determined effort at ramming,

Please enjoy: 00:14:04

but by the time the steam cart’s crew got around to that, they’d be long gone.

Please enjoy: 00:14:09

Becca hopped up onto the driver’s bench.

Please enjoy: 00:14:12

“Feyd, do you know how to work the boiler?”

Please enjoy: 00:14:14

“I can,” Mond-Gaffer spoke up unexpectedly.

Please enjoy: 00:14:17

He’d been quiet ever since the fight had started,

Please enjoy: 00:14:19

standing out of the way and clutching his precious satchel of papers.

Please enjoy: 00:14:23

“I helped my father with the coal boilers at the factory he worked in.”

Please enjoy: 00:14:27

“Get us going then,”

Please enjoy: 00:14:27

Becca ordered. “Feyd, open the doors.”

Please enjoy: 00:14:30

Mond-Gaffer nodded,

Please enjoy: 00:14:31

handing over his satchel to Becca to secure beside her on the bench.

Please enjoy: 00:14:35

Feyd hurried over to the door and pushed them open,

Please enjoy: 00:14:37

hopping onto the running board again as Mond-Gaffer opened valves and the steam cart rumbled forward onto the street.

Please enjoy: 00:14:43

Becca blew the whistle to get the crowd on the street out of the way

Please enjoy: 00:14:47

as they headed toward the steep hill

Please enjoy: 00:14:48

leading to the docks.

Please enjoy: 00:14:50

She only glanced behind her once as she heard a loud whistle

Please enjoy: 00:14:52

and saw a phalanx of at least a dozen uniformed constables

Please enjoy: 00:14:56

rushing toward them from about three blocks back.

Please enjoy: 00:14:58

“More steam, Scholar!”

Please enjoy: 00:15:00

she called out. He nodded

Please enjoy: 00:15:01

and opened up a valve.

Please enjoy: 00:15:03

The boiler’s pistons chugged faster

Please enjoy: 00:15:05

and the cart picked up speed,

Please enjoy: 00:15:06

whistle blaring as they skidded around a corner

Please enjoy: 00:15:09

and onto the main boulevard.

Please enjoy: 00:15:11

It was a straight,

Please enjoy: 00:15:12

and very steep run to the docks,

Please enjoy: 00:15:14

the early evening streets filled with males, vixens, and cubs.

Please enjoy: 00:15:17

“Brakes!” Becca shouted to Feyd as the steam cart rattled down the hill,

Please enjoy: 00:15:21

the unsecured crate slamming into the front of the cargo bed.

Please enjoy: 00:15:24

Feyd pulled back hard on the brake lever,

Please enjoy: 00:15:26

and the steam cart’s wheels shrieked as it skidded across the cobblestones,

Please enjoy: 00:15:29

the crowd parting like a wave in front of them

Please enjoy: 00:15:32

as Becca repeatedly sounded the whistle.

Please enjoy: 00:15:34

The back end of the cart fishtailed

Please enjoy: 00:15:36

and bounced over the edge of the sidewalk,

Please enjoy: 00:15:38

smashing through a fruit seller’s stall before she regained control

Please enjoy: 00:15:41

and straightened out their plummet.

Please enjoy: 00:15:43

They slid another hundred arms

Please enjoy: 00:15:45

and then the street finally began to flatten out.

Please enjoy: 00:15:47

At Becca’s order,

Please enjoy: 00:15:49

Feyd managed to slow them down to a brisk walking pace,

Please enjoy: 00:15:51

the hubs of the cart’s wooden wheels smoking where the brake pads had dug in.

Please enjoy: 00:15:56

“Well, at least we left pursuit behind,” he said,

Please enjoy: 00:15:58

laughing in the same barely constrained hysterical relief

Please enjoy: 00:16:01

that Becca was feeling.

Please enjoy: 00:16:03

“I just hope no one stops us for that slide down the hill,” she replied,

Please enjoy: 00:16:07

guiding them toward the front gate of the docks.

Please enjoy: 00:16:10

“I do not believe we struck anyone on the way down, so they should not,”

Please enjoy: 00:16:13

Mond-Gaffer replied with a shrug.

Please enjoy: 00:16:16

“It is not an uncommon occurrence in this city.”

Please enjoy: 00:16:18

“I will take your word for it,” Becca replied.

Please enjoy: 00:16:22

Progress. She guided the steam cart through the dock gate, turning towards the pier where the Windskimmer was docked.

Please enjoy: 00:16:28

Windskimmer’s captain,

Please enjoy: 00:16:30

an aged vixen with gray speckles decorating her black fur,

Please enjoy: 00:16:33

came down the ship’s gangway toward them as the steam cart screeched to a halt.

Please enjoy: 00:16:37

“Swordmaster, what’s going on?”

Please enjoy: 00:16:39

she demanded. “There were complications,”

Please enjoy: 00:16:42

Becca said. “Please

Please enjoy: 00:16:43

take this crate aboard and make ready to set sail.

Please enjoy: 00:16:46

I think we have perhaps ten minutes before the local constabulary

Please enjoy: 00:16:49

catches up with us. Scholar Mond-Gaffer,

Please enjoy: 00:16:51

kindly follow the captain aboard and find a safe spot for yourself.”

Please enjoy: 00:16:55

“Cold and Dark,” the captain cursed.

Please enjoy: 00:16:58

“Mr. Hotclaw, bring up the boilers to full steam!”

Please enjoy: 00:17:01

She ran back up the gangway, continuing to shout orders.

Please enjoy: 00:17:04

With shouts and curses the ship’s crew made ready to cast off

Please enjoy: 00:17:07

as a team of sailors nimbly ran back down to the crate,

Please enjoy: 00:17:10

the ship’s cargo crane pivoting slowly to hang over it

Please enjoy: 00:17:13

and allow them to attached cables to the four corners.

Please enjoy: 00:17:16

“Feyd, grab our proper blades and bring them back here,”

Please enjoy: 00:17:18

Becca ordered. As her lieutenant ran up onto the ship, she turned to the scholar.

Please enjoy: 00:17:24

“Scholar Mond-Gaffer, you should get aboard,” Becca told him.

Please enjoy: 00:17:27

“I will in one moment,”

Please enjoy: 00:17:28

the scholar replied, looking at her closely.

Please enjoy: 00:17:31

“I first wish to ask a question of you.”

Please enjoy: 00:17:34

“Fine. Ask your question, then please get aboard,” Becca said

Please enjoy: 00:17:37

with ill-concealed impatience.

Please enjoy: 00:17:39

“The constables who tried to stop us at the warehouse.

Please enjoy: 00:17:43

When you attacked them,

Please enjoy: 00:17:44

you ordered your companion to use the flats of his blades.

Please enjoy: 00:17:47

Would it not have been more prudent to strike killing blows?

Please enjoy: 00:17:49

Otherwise they might have overwhelmed you.”

Please enjoy: 00:17:52

Becca looked back at him sharply.

Please enjoy: 00:17:54

“Would you have preferred that?”

Please enjoy: 00:17:56

He shook his head.

Please enjoy: 00:17:58

“They are my countrymen.

Please enjoy: 00:17:59

I hold my nation’s leaders in contempt

Please enjoy: 00:18:02

—its people I have no argument with.

Please enjoy: 00:18:04

Most simply wish to live their lives in peace.”

Please enjoy: 00:18:07

“Then you answer your own question,”

Please enjoy: 00:18:09

Becca said. “Those constables were males and vixens coming to arrest, and I will admit to this,

Please enjoy: 00:18:14

enemy spies acting against their nation.

Please enjoy: 00:18:17

They have families who are expecting them to come home this evening.

Please enjoy: 00:18:20

Better to use the flats of our blades than have some poor husband or wife have to answer the door

Please enjoy: 00:18:25

and receive the news their spouse has been murdered.”

Please enjoy: 00:18:28

Mond-Gaffer blinked in surprise. “Hmm.

Please enjoy: 00:18:31

I have been told that Mother Country swordmasters are fearsome warriors, who cut down their enemies without pity.”

Please enjoy: 00:18:37

“Warriors, certainly.

Please enjoy: 00:18:39

If someone comes after me with lethal intent, I’ll kill them without a qualm.

Please enjoy: 00:18:42

Police officers armed with truncheons

Please enjoy: 00:18:44

don’t qualify,” Becca replied without rancor.

Please enjoy: 00:18:48

Feyd returned, panting slightly.

Please enjoy: 00:18:50

“Your sword,” he said, bowing deeply,

Please enjoy: 00:18:53

the naked blade resting on his upturned palms.

Please enjoy: 00:18:56

“Thank you, Feyd,” she said,

Please enjoy: 00:18:57

taking it up in her own palm.

Please enjoy: 00:18:59

It was not a fancy thing.

Please enjoy: 00:19:01

The pattern upon the blade resembled that of flowing water, but she knew that was an artifact of the manufacturing process,

Please enjoy: 00:19:06

not artistic choice.

Please enjoy: 00:19:08

The hilt was especially shaped to fit her palm,

Please enjoy: 00:19:11

as with all swordmaster-quality weapons,

Please enjoy: 00:19:13

but the design upon it was a simple cross-hatch pattern,

Please enjoy: 00:19:16

just there to improve her grip.

Please enjoy: 00:19:18

She gave it an experimental twirl between her fingers,

Please enjoy: 00:19:21

the careful balance making it seem

Please enjoy: 00:19:23

as light as air. “Do you see this, Scholar?”

Please enjoy: 00:19:26

she asked. “Yes,” he replied.

Please enjoy: 00:19:29

“It seems such a simple thing.”

Please enjoy: 00:19:31

“It’s a weapon. It is only a weapon. Feyd’s

Please enjoy: 00:19:35

knife can be used to cut meat, or a male’s throat.

Please enjoy: 00:19:38

The cane I carried before could ease an old vixen’s gait, or bash someone’s temple in.

Please enjoy: 00:19:42

A sword, though…” She sheathed the blade through a ring hanging from her belt.

Please enjoy: 00:19:47

“Has only one purpose:

Please enjoy: 00:19:48

to kill. When I draw it with intent,

Please enjoy: 00:19:51

it is because I wish another person dead.

Please enjoy: 00:19:54

Someone as beloved in the eyes of the Mother Goddess as myself,

Please enjoy: 00:19:58

perhaps more so.” Mond-Gaffer cocked his ears towards her in curiosity.

Please enjoy: 00:20:03

“You sound as if you do not like your profession.”

Please enjoy: 00:20:06

“I do not pretend it is anything but what it is:

Please enjoy: 00:20:09

government-accepted murder,”

Please enjoy: 00:20:10

Becca replied. “I am Military Caste, Scholar.

Please enjoy: 00:20:13

That means I was born to serve others,

Please enjoy: 00:20:15

and that service requires that I be prepared to kill.

Please enjoy: 00:20:18

But I take no pleasure in it,

Please enjoy: 00:20:20

and will avoid it whenever possible.

Please enjoy: 00:20:22

That is the only difference between myself and an armed thug.”

Please enjoy: 00:20:26

She gestured toward the ship. “Now would you please get aboard?”

Please enjoy: 00:20:30

“Yes, swordmaster.” He turned

Please enjoy: 00:20:33

and looked up the gangplank, as if pondering the wisdom of taking this last,

Please enjoy: 00:20:36

irrevocable step,

Please enjoy: 00:20:38

crossing into Mother Country territory

Please enjoy: 00:20:40

and refuting his Gerwart citizenship.

Please enjoy: 00:20:42

Then Mond-Gaffer gave a firm nod

Please enjoy: 00:20:44

and headed up the gangway,

Please enjoy: 00:20:45

his satchel of papers held tightly under his arm.

Please enjoy: 00:20:49

“You’re in a philosophical mood,” Feyd noted

Please enjoy: 00:20:52

as the scholar was escorted into the forecastle.

Please enjoy: 00:20:54

“The last time I heard that little speech was when you were training me.”

Please enjoy: 00:20:58

“I get that way when I have to explain my job to idiots,”

Please enjoy: 00:21:01

Becca replied, grinning.

Please enjoy: 00:21:03

Feyd grinned back,

Please enjoy: 00:21:04

but then their attention was drawn to a growing commotion towards the main gate.

Please enjoy: 00:21:08

“Draw?” Feyd asked, as the Windskimmer’s crew hurried to finish securing the cables around the precious crate.

Please enjoy: 00:21:14

“Hold,” Becca ordered

Please enjoy: 00:21:16

as an omnibus steamed up,

Please enjoy: 00:21:17

screeching to a halt and disgorging a baker’s dozen soldiers armed with rifles,

Please enjoy: 00:21:21

in the black uniforms of Gerwart’s dreaded Ministry of State Security.

Please enjoy: 00:21:26

Becca and Feyd kept themselves

Please enjoy: 00:21:28

between the soldiers and the steam cart,

Please enjoy: 00:21:30

where the sailors had finally finished securing the last of the cables to the crate.

Please enjoy: 00:21:34

A black-furred vixen,

Please enjoy: 00:21:35

an officer by the gold braid hanging from her right shoulder and a pepperbox pistol at her belt,

Please enjoy: 00:21:40

shouted at them in the Mother Tongue.

Please enjoy: 00:21:43

“Halt! You vill disarm yourselves und surrender,

Please enjoy: 00:21:45

for aiding a traitor to ze Gerwart nation,

Please enjoy: 00:21:48

Scholar Mond-Gaffer!”

Please enjoy: 00:21:50

“Draw?” Feyd asked again,

Please enjoy: 00:21:52

his tone growing urgent.

Please enjoy: 00:21:53

“Hold,” Becca repeated firmly.

Please enjoy: 00:21:56

To the officer she stated,

Please enjoy: 00:21:58

“There are no citizens of Gerwart aboard this ship;

Please enjoy: 00:22:00

only beloved subjects of the Mother Country.”

Please enjoy: 00:22:03

“Who are you to say zis?”

Please enjoy: 00:22:05

the officer demanded.

Please enjoy: 00:22:07

“Swordmaster Beccalian Blacksailor,”

Please enjoy: 00:22:10

Becca answered in Gerwart.

Please enjoy: 00:22:12

“Now allow us to leave peacefully, and you will not be harmed.”

Please enjoy: 00:22:15

“I think you are overconfident.”

Please enjoy: 00:22:18

Despite the officer’s words,

Please enjoy: 00:22:19

some of her soldiers were looking at Becca and her lieutenant with a bit more respect, and perhaps a little fear.

Please enjoy: 00:22:25

There was a shout from the ship,

Please enjoy: 00:22:26

and the crane began winching Mond-Gaffer’s precious crate into the air,

Please enjoy: 00:22:30

the sailors who’d attached the cables hanging onto them as they were carried along with it.

Please enjoy: 00:22:34

Becca grinned. “I think we just won.”

Please enjoy: 00:22:38

“Stop them!” the officer shouted in Gerwart. “Take the ship!”

Please enjoy: 00:22:41

“Draw and roll!” Becca ordered.

Please enjoy: 00:22:44

As one she and Feyd leaped forward, tucking and rolling as bullets from the soldiers’ rifles

Please enjoy: 00:22:48

whizzed above them.

Please enjoy: 00:22:49

They came to their feet simultaneously and drew their swords,

Please enjoy: 00:22:52

in the middle of the pack of black clad soldiers, too close to be shot at

Please enjoy: 00:22:56

unless one of the State Security agents wanted to risk shooting their own comrades in the melee.

Please enjoy: 00:23:00

Becca’s blade plunged into the belly of a soldier,

Please enjoy: 00:23:03

then in one smooth motion she turned,

Please enjoy: 00:23:05

her left elbow smashing a second soldier in the muzzle as she withdrew her blade

Please enjoy: 00:23:08

and slashed the throat of a third.

Please enjoy: 00:23:10

A shot rang out, deafening her briefly as a bullet nicked her ear,

Please enjoy: 00:23:14

and she pivoted, striking the shooter in the face with the pommel of her blade.

Please enjoy: 00:23:18

He staggered backwards,

Please enjoy: 00:23:19

tumbling off the edge of the dock with a high-pitched scream. “Wilhelm!”

Please enjoy: 00:23:23

the officer shouted,

Please enjoy: 00:23:24

drawing her pepperbox to raise it toward Becca,

Please enjoy: 00:23:27

too far for the swordmaster to close the distance

Please enjoy: 00:23:29

before the Gerwart could fire all four barrels.

Please enjoy: 00:23:32

“Die, you murderous Mother Country lunatic!”

Please enjoy: 00:23:35

That was when Feyd’s blade emerged from the officer’s belly,

Please enjoy: 00:23:38

as he rammed its tip into her back.

Please enjoy: 00:23:41

He withdrew it, and she fell snout first to the ground.

Please enjoy: 00:23:44

“That’s skilled murderous lunatic, thank you,”

Please enjoy: 00:23:47

he said. Becca looked around.

Please enjoy: 00:23:50

Five other soldiers lay on the ground,

Please enjoy: 00:23:52

dead or sorely wounded.

Please enjoy: 00:23:53

Add her total of four and the officer, and that left three very disconcerted but armed soldiers remaining,

Please enjoy: 00:23:59

their rifles held with the muzzles pointed very carefully toward the ground.

Please enjoy: 00:24:03

“Rifles over the side of the dock please,”

Please enjoy: 00:24:05

Becca advised sweetly.

Please enjoy: 00:24:07

They complied with gratifying speed.

Please enjoy: 00:24:09

“Thank you,” she said. “Feyd,

Please enjoy: 00:24:11

off we go.” Feyd nodded and followed her up the gangway, leaving the soldiers behind.

Please enjoy: 00:24:17

The moment they were on the deck of the Windskimmer,

Please enjoy: 00:24:19

its whistle blew loudly,

Please enjoy: 00:24:21

the great paddlewheels on the either side of the hull churning the water

Please enjoy: 00:24:24

it headed out of the harbor, even as its crane finished lowering the crate into the cargo hold.

Please enjoy: 00:24:29

“Not bad,” Feyd said,

Please enjoy: 00:24:31

cleaning his sword with his neck kerchief

Please enjoy: 00:24:33

as they both stood by the railing.

Please enjoy: 00:24:35

“Poor fellows didn’t really have a chance after we closed the dis—”

Please enjoy: 00:24:38

Becca head a loud series of pops,

Please enjoy: 00:24:41

like a string of firecrackers going off.

Please enjoy: 00:24:43

Something hit with a spang of metal on metal as her head snapped in the direction of the receding dock.

Please enjoy: 00:24:48

In the last of the day’s light

Please enjoy: 00:24:49

she could see the State Security officer,

Please enjoy: 00:24:51

pepperbox pistol in paw, snarling in triumph

Please enjoy: 00:24:54

before she collapsed back into the pool of her own blood.

Please enjoy: 00:24:58

“Cold and Dark, Feyd!”

Please enjoy: 00:24:59

she cursed, turning towards her lieutenant.

Please enjoy: 00:25:02

“We should have checked to see if she was still...”

Please enjoy: 00:25:04

She shut up abruptly,

Please enjoy: 00:25:06

staring at the two bloody holes in Feyd’s chest.

Please enjoy: 00:25:09

“Yes,” Feyd answered distantly.

Please enjoy: 00:25:11

“Yes, we should…” Becca grabbed him as he collapsed,

Please enjoy: 00:25:15

laying him down gently even as she screamed for the ship’s surgeon.

Please enjoy: 00:25:19

This was part one of

Please enjoy: 00:25:22

“To Catch the Lightning”

Please enjoy: 00:25:23

by Royce Day, read for you by Khaki,

Please enjoy: 00:25:25

your faithful fireside companion.

Please enjoy: 00:25:30

You can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,

Please enjoy: 00:25:33

or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Please enjoy: 00:25:36

Thank you for listening

Please enjoy: 00:25:37

to The Voice of Dog