Imprudence (The Custard Protocol #2)(114)
The Spotted Custard finished the helium refuel and let the tube go. It floated back and was gathered in by the werecat crew.
While Percy checked to make certain everything was in decent working order aboard The Spotted Custard, the massive airship floated away from them. The Drifters circled in around it, looking very small next to such a great lumbering thing.
The Drifters netted out, one after another, arranging themselves so they seemed to orbit the werecat’s craft, colourful bumblebees to one tumescent muddy flower.
Together they caught a breeze and began drifting northwards towards the Sudd and the desert beyond. Homeward for all of them.
NINETEEN
Affairs and Affaires in Order
“Well, that was fun.” Miss Sekhmet broke the ensuing reverent silence by returning to her human form.
“They look good together.” Primrose sounded as if she were observing a newly married couple. She turned to Anitra. “You’re staying with us?”
Anitra turned to Rue. “You don’t mind?”
“Course not!” Rue grinned at her. “Stay as long as you like. I’m sure Formerly Floote will love that.”
“I won’t be a burden?
“Goodness no! You’re handy with your medical herbs, fluent in various languages, and accustomed to floating. We’re lucky to have you. Primrose will put you on the roster. Won’t you, Prim? Assign permanent quarters and whatnot? Oh, and we have a resident ghost now. You’ll need to decide where to install his tank so that he has the most shipboard access. Quesnel will help with that.”
Prim held up a hand. “We need food, Rue.”
“And fuel,” Percy said. For some reason he was looking particularly pleased about something. He was letting the Custard drift and not running the propeller any more.
“How long do we have before both are exhausted?” Rue snapped to business.
“Two days.” Prim knew without having to check her ledger.
“Four with minimal use. One and a half at full power.” Percy didn’t call the boiler room; no doubt he, too, had already checked.
It’s like we’re a proper dirigible crew at last! Rue was secretly delighted, but she did give their situation some thought.
She came to a decision. “We make for the aetherosphere.”
“Rue, it’s uncharted,” Percy protested, but his hand was already hovering over the puff button.
“So we chart it. Find something that takes us, what, eastwards? Where do you think the nearest major city is?”
“Zanzibar,” said Percy promptly. “But that’s the other side of Kilimanjaro.”
“Zanzibar it is.”
Naturally, he found them a current. Percy may be a pill of particularly fine vintage, but he was awfully good at navigation. He was ridiculously pleased with himself as a result, making murmurs about reporting his new current to the Royal Geologic Society and whether he could convince them to name it the Tunstell Thoroughfare.
Nearly everyone who could be spared went to bed the moment they hit the grey, leaving Percy and a skeleton crew up top in case anything more went wrong. Miss Sekhmet, of course, was dead to the world regardless. Formerly Floote stayed trapped in the ghost holder while they were in the aetherosphere. Everyone else went willingly to their respective beds.
Except Rue. Rue went to Quesnel’s bed.
They’d moved him back from engineering to his improvised sickroom, much to his disgust. Rue promised he could go back to his platform in the boiler room once he got some sleep.
They were both beyond exhausted.
Rue insisted Quesnel take a little more laudanum because he was back to looking positively awful. He agreed to a dram only after she settled on the bed next to him, trying not to jostle him.
“Where are we off to now?” He snaked his good arm around her, tugging her close against his side, and began stroking her tangled hair in a meditative way.
“Zanzibar, we hope. We’ll catch a restock and a refuel there.”
“And then?”
“Got us a stateroom full of prisoners. I’ll turn them over to the German authorities as poachers. Except my dear cousin. He’s staying with us.”
“Oh yes?”
“What, shouldn’t I get to know my family better?” Rue gave a vicious smile.
“And by get to know I’m assuming you mean with a few sharp objects? Try not to cut off anything important.”
“I don’t like being hunted. I thought I might take the time to instruct him as to how much I don’t like it.”
“That’s my sweet gentle girl. And then?”
“Exploring. If there are werelionesses and weremonkeys, what else might there be out there?”
“Other kinds of vampires, like the Rakshasa.” He wasn’t trying to put a dampener on her enthusiasm – just trying to keep her realistic.
“Eww. Yes, but also new and amazing creatures we haven’t even dreamed of! Immortals lost to myth and history and… Oh, it will be such fun.” Rue’s zeal was arrested by a sudden fear. She turned against his side and leaned up on an elbow to look into those amazing violet eyes.
“You’ll stay?”
When Rue had first pulled together a crew, she promised the officers it would only be temporary.