Past Honor

Too many eyes were watching. The Outsider was not the only one seeing.

The Battle was cruel

The Dead Eels had rolled a cannon into the street. The Rust Guard were holding defiantly. Vitriolic screams were cast back and forth with every bullet. The only sounds greater was the screams of fearful pain. And the silence of unburied dead.

Adelaide and the siblings slipped into the basement. It would have been a perfect place on any other day. But it had been converted into the war rom for the battle. Standing there, in his old uniform, with his rusted cutlass, was Isaac. He looked back coldly as Adelaide pushed open the sewer grate.

She stared back.

"You made it. I had been told you died."

Adelaide just nodded. She clambered out of the hole. The pinpricks of pain still burned even though she was out of the sewer now.

†

The hoard of weepers followed Effie. But their speed was picking up.Their moans growing somehow more. Effie could feel the thundering of cannon before her. She could feel the crowd pushing against her, outpacing her, rushing towards those sounds. As she was pulled along she could feel the sewers cutting her shoes, when she stumbled it slit her palms.

Wailing filled her ears.

The Weepers surged forward.

Her mother's knife bounced on her leg. 

Something brushed past her guitar. 

Its strumming sounded like crying. 

†

The siblings started to slide back down. Isaac heard them. "Did more of your crew make it?" He took a step closer.

Adelaide stepped in his way. "No." Her voice trembled.

He thought she was scared.

She was mad.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. He looked down. "Children? Come out from there! Outsider's eyes!" he knelt swiftly and reached down. "Fu-" he caught himself "n. Fun. Here – let me help you. Get out of these sewers." He hoisted the siblings, one by one out of the sewers. Adelaide could see they were scared. "Take me for a spouter's captain. Hiding in the sewers – saved them from the Deads no doubt." He nodded. "Adelaide get them somewhere safe then report back here. We'll get you in the fight."

Adelaide nodded. She remembered the bullet wound. Dead Eels don't have guns.

Then a thought came to her. "How'd the Eels get that cannon?" Maybe she was wrong. Maybe the bullet wound wasn't...

"Stole it. We were trying to put it in the courtyard. They rushed the lines and took it." Isaac slammed his hand on the table. "We have to get it back from those fuc..." he looked at the kids and cut himself off just in time. "We have to get it back. Without the advantage of range we'll be wiped out by those monsters." He nodded. "But get those kids to safety first. Then, we'll get you your pound of flesh from the Dead Eels. May the neighborhood outlive us... and your bones rest underneath it." He waited a few moments for Adelaide to finish the motto, when she did not he uneasily finished himself.

"We still control the range?" She said, her voice was lethal.

Vetiline gently tugged her sleeve, "Adelaide – please."

"Do. We. Still. Control. The. Range?"

"We did. But not at this moment."

"Winifred was shot."

Isaac looked back. His stare was cold. "I know. She's a grim scrimshawer. I cannot let the Dead Eels get a hold of real bone charms."

"You weren't there. Did you have a standing order on us?"