We pulled back in a hurry, heading back the way we’d come, still not running into anyone else, at all, until we started getting closer back to the servants area specifically.
The first few people who saw us just stared in slack-jawed shock.
Though the first female servant we came across screamed in terror before she got herself under control. That alerted everyone else that something was going on, and the cooks, ushers, and the few guards that were milling around all turned, stopped and stared as we strode past them. We were walking with a purpose, and that prevents lots of people from getting in your face while grabbing everyone’s attention.
But personally, I was pretty sure the fact we were covered in blood that clearly wasn’t ours had something to do with all the fuss.
That’s the thing about knife fights: they’re often bloody as hell.
Especially with Maggie and her tendency to slash throats. The carotid artery tends to spray everywhere when it gets severed. Though all of us except Lilly had gotten more than a little blood splashed all over us.
Still, we strode past everyone back to the private room of the rich and exclusive with such grim purpose that everyone else just moved out of our way. I grabbed a nearby usher as I waved everyone to a stop outside the hallway that would lead us back to the little party.
“Tell Mr. Carnegie and General Grant that there is a serious problem, and we need the room cleared out so we can inform them of what’s going on.” I told him. “And make sure you tell them how we look. We’ll inform them of why, just as soon as the room is cleared of the easily panic prone. Understand?”
He nodded in a hurry before he turned, took a deep breath, and strode off into the room of the rich and famous.
“I need to step away myself for a moment.” Princess Ella remarked after a moment, making the rest of us turn to look at her. “If I don’t clean up a little, I’ll never hear the end of it from my minders.”
I chuckled before I nodded, while the others snickered.
“Glad to have had you with us princess. You handled yourself well.” I told her sincerely.
“Thank you, Mr. Wild Ranger.” She replied with a grin, which only got bigger when she me twitch at the name. “May I hold onto your sword a little longer?”
I looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and undid the belt with the sheath on it from my waist, and handed it over to her.
“Take good care of it.” I told her, smiling.
“I shall.” She nodded, taking the belt and sheath before she turned on her heel and began striding away. “Thank you!”
“The hell was that about?” Wyatt asked, watching her leave with a confused look.
“If I had to guess, I’d say she was running away and hiding from her so-called minders.” Lilly shrugged with a smile. “Part of being royalty is being partially treated like an exotic animal in a zoo. I’m guessing she just doesn’t want the hassle of fussing staff lecturing her at the moment.”
“Whatever the reason, it seems we have other things to focus on.” Maggie pointed out, as the usher I’d sent came striding back to us, a quietly terrified look on his face.
“They’re ready for you, sirs and madams.” He said formally, gesturing for us to head.
“Well, let’s go and break the bad news to ‘em.” Wyatt chuckled, and we all headed down the hall back to the room we’d left not so long ago.
What a different world we were returning to.
The majority of people had been cleared out, but there were several more than just the two men we’d asked for. Both Grant and Carnegie were there, as were their wives, which was good. It was the others that were concerning.
Such as Rockefeller, Morgan, Tweed, Gould, Vanderbilt, and even that arrogant old Albion Baron Revelstoke, though the latter seemed to be sweating a bit.
Oh just great. I thought sardonically as they all gaped at us as we walked inside. A full house for this little debrief.
Oh well, it was what it was.
“The hell happened to you boys and girls in the last fifteen minutes in this place?” Grant asked, eyeing us up and down. “You decide to play tag in a butchers shop?”
“Wyatt, honey are you okay?” Sadie asked, struggling to remain calm as she marched over to her somewhat blood covered husband. For his part, he just gave her a sheepish grin.
“I’m fine dear. It’s not mine.” He quickly told her. She sighed and then quickly enveloped him in a hug, heedless of his bloody clothes. He didn’t seem to mind as he hugged her back, making me smile.
They haven’t changed. I thought, before turning to the rest of the assembled room.
“General, Mr. Carnegie, everyone else, we’ve got a major problem.” I started bluntly, and from there our whole group quickly launched into a recounting of what had happened after we left.
When we finished, everyone looked like they’d been gut shot or poleaxed.
Though most of them took it surprisingly well.
“Bloody hell and damnation!” Baron Revelstoke all but shouted. “The hell kind of barbaric country have you Iggle rebels built here?!”
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He looked around the room. “We’ve got to get the hell out of here!”
Most everybody else in the room glared at him and started arguing with each other, before a loud voice suddenly rang out.
“Enough!” Grant called out, not really shouting, but speaking with a loud authority. “Leaving may not be a real option for us at the moment regardless.”
“What do you mean?” Carnegie asked, eyeing him with a worried, but shrewd look. “You think they have people waiting for us? Or that we’re going to be attacked?”
“The guy who babbled to you before he died,” Grant asked with a glance to us. “Did he seem confident that his group was still going to win, even though you killed them all?”
“He did indeed sir,” I replied, frowning at that. “Crazier than a drunken loon under the moon, but confident about how they’d already won.”
“Those damn cultists are all crazy!” Grant spat darkly, causing everyone to eye him with confusion or suspicion. “What I don’t understand is the gangster they killed. How does he fit into this mess?”
“What’s to understand?” Revelstoke asked dismissively. “He was obviously a local man they used, and then threw away. Or he was there to extort them. Either way, he doesn’t matter.”
“It’s the way they left him in the open like that,” Grant muttered darkly. “These cultists are good at hiding. Leaving a fresh, blood covered corpse out in the open like that is, unusual, with them.”
I frowned at that, because it had been bothering me as well. I noticed several of the other rich men were frowning at that as well.
“Know a lot about these cultists, General?” Carnegie asked, eyeing Grant.
“One of the many gifts of the Shattering that I had to deal with when I was imprisoned in Office out in DC.” Grant replied. “They started cropping up in some of the towns near lakes or coasts that had been devastated by the war, and causing all kinds of horrible, twisted havoc.”
“But relatively good at covering their tracks?” Rockefeller asked, frowning.
“Very good.” Grant nodded. “It’s not just one group either. It’s like a whole collection of secret societies worshiping a dark pantheon of foul deities. Said groups don’t always get along. But they’re usually pretty good at hiding, until the taint they bring, or the, things, they worship bring on becomes too widespread to not notice.”
We were all silent at that bit of information.
Well, all of us except one.
“But here they left a corpse of a known criminal lying around, practically begging for him to be found.” Gould muttered to himself with a frown, before something seemed to click behind his eyes, and looked up in sudden fear. “Oh no!”
“What?” Morgan demanded, turning and instantly focusing on Gould. “What did you figure out?”
The whole room seemed to focus on Gould, but he instead turned and looked over at Tweed.
“William,” he all but groaned. “When do you make sure a fall guy takes his fall?”
Tweed glared back at him. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re insinuating, Mr. Gould!”
“What’s the matter Boss Tweed, afraid of another juicy article in the paper exposing more of your corruption?” Lilly asked with an irritated look on her face. “Accompanied by more artwork from your favorite cartoonist? I’m sure we’ll all love reading it, after we have survived tonight!”
“Cartoonist?” I whispered to Wyatt. He just shrugged in response.
“I don’t care a straw for newspaper articles. My constitutes don’t know how to read.” Tweed replied smugly to Lilly, before he frowned darkly. “But they can’t help seeing those damn pictures.”
“William!” Gould snapped, dragging everyone back to the point.
“I suppose, if I had to guess,” Tweed replied with an annoyed look at everyone, as if we were all suddenly accusing him of being the corrupt politician we all knew he already was. “It’s usually when some event or action has taken place or been done, or is being done, so that he’s ready and waiting for the authorities to find and blame.”
“Oh hell.” Rockefeller whispered, comprehension dawning on his face. His sentiments were largely echoed around the room as the meaning became clear. The gangster was the fall guy, meant to be blamed for whatever was about to happen, or at least take the majority of some part of the blame.
Combined with Grant’s question about how confident the cultists we beat were, and it suddenly added up to an unpleasant conclusion: their plan, whatever it was, was still on track.
And we were running out of time.
“Gentlemen,” Grant said, taking immediate charge of the situation. “If you have any personal security here that’s worth a fight, call them up, quietly. We’ll need to put together a fighting force. We should also send a messenger to the police, and get them marshaling their forces too, but also quietly. A panic will give away the game to our enemy, and get an awful lot of people killed.”
“I have a few Pinkertons.” Carnegie nodded, before he headed off to get them.
“What about the show?” Sadie asked suddenly. “Could we keep it going, as though nothing has happened? That would keep the massive crowd calm, and our enemies, whoever they are, none the wiser.”
“Excellent suggestion.” Grant nodded. “In the meantime, we need to get two groups together for a strike. We’ll need a scouting team and a proper strike team.”
“Wanna take a bet on who’ll get picked to be the scouts?” Wyatt whispered to me with a grim smile.
“No.” I grunted quietly as Carnegie came back with several men, presumably his heavily armed Pinkerton guards. “I don’t like throwing my money away.”
Grant looked over at us, his eyes the cold eyes of a true general.
“Sorry boys, but I’m gonna have to ask you to be our scouts.”
“Yes general.” We both replied, nodding.
“Why them?” Sadie groaned, her voice carrying more than I think she intended. Grant looked at her and sighed sadly.
“The Art of War is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, as often as you can. And keep moving on.” He explained simply, even as the rest of us stared at him. “These two have precious experience in finding enemies, no matter where they’re hiding, and in finding ways of getting to them. We need that, now, desperately, if we are to survive the night.”
Sadie sagged a little before stood tall, nodded to Grant, and then turned to us.
“You find these bastards, and you lead those men to where they can cut them down. And then you come back home, alive!” She said with quite intensity to us.
“Yes ma’am.” We replied solemnly.
“Well, this should be fun.” Maggie laughed, coming to stand next to us.
“Once more unto the breach.” Lilly sighed as she to walked over to us.
“You two will be going as well?” Grant asked, eyeing them with interest.
“Don’t let the dress fool you, my dear General.” Maggie laughed. “I know how to find rats that like to hide in the shadows and plot murders. Been doing it most of my life. It’s how I got my infamous nickname.”
“I’ve been looking for things the powerful and the dangerous want to hide for years, and it’s never stopped me. I’m not about to let tonight be the night it does.” Lilly shrugged, her hand resting on the butt of her large coppersmith pistol.
“Understood.” He chuckled before he turned to the Pinkertons. “You men will follow behind them at a decent distance. Be ready to strike as soon as they call for you! But otherwise keep yourselves out of the way. They do the seeking, and you’ll do the hammering.”
“Yes sir!” The half dozen or so professional fighters all nodded.
“Well then, get to it!” Grant ordered as he looked over to us. “They’ve set up their fall guy, they know something’s gone wrong with one of their little groups, and every second now is worth as much as our hosts combined fortunes. Good hunting, legends.”
We nodded, Wyatt kissed Sadie deeply, and then we all turned and headed out.
Just as we were leaving, I heard Baron Revelstoke speak up. “Hey, where’s Princess Elisabeth gotten off to?”
We all glanced at one another, grinned and kept right on walking.
It was time for round two with our erstwhile enemies, and the clock was ticking. Good hunting indeed. I thought as we headed out of the room.
It was time to begin our hunt