The Shadows of God - J. Gregory Keyes [82]
“Never fear, she is found, or she found me. Though that presents its own problems.”
Nairne nodded. “As long as it's off my shoulders.”
New Paris and Franklin had not been idle, awaiting the troops. The capital of Louisiana would not be taken from the sea, as the English colonies had—at least not without hideous cost. The harbor was mined all the way to the open ocean, and more sparsely for miles up and down the coast. The fortress had been reinforced with depneumifiers, as well, to separate any airships or underwater boats from the malakim that powered them.
On the landward side, a perimeter of towers was erected, hidden amongst the huge pines and dense cypress, depending on the terrain. These were furbished with devil guns as well, and together constituted a wall through which no ordinary malakus-driven machine should be able to pass. That left only the thousands of enemy soldiers and warriors marching their way, apparently from east and west.
The newly arrived Carolinians were put immediately to work in shifts, digging and building more mundane sorts of fortifications. Scouts went north, west, and east to gather intelligence. New Paris swarmed with men building defenses like an ant nest some child had kicked— or so Franklin thought, remembering his earlier observations of those insects.
Nairne watched all this with weary resignation.
“I fear it will not be enough,” he said. “This has never been a real battle, just rats trying to bark at the hounds.”
“Keep heart,” Franklin cautioned, “or pretend to. When Oglethorpe arrives with King Charles, things will look better.”
“Oglethorpe is his own luck charm,” Nairne replied, “but he went back toward the lion's maw. I would not count on him to return. Too much stands in his way, and too many acts of God. Consider; he must learn to sail those amphibian ships well enough to slip through the sound, beneath the nose of Fort Marlborough. Then, on the open sea, he must find Charles before the fleet dispatched to sink him does. Then he must convince Charles that he is a friend and speaks for us, though he swims with Russian fins. If it can be done, Oglethorpe will do it. But it may be that it cannot be done.”
“Then we will find victory without him,” Franklin said softly. “We must, you understand.”
“I understand. I'm just tired.”
“Rest, then. We've still got time, God willing. Something has delayed the army from the west. Each second is another bullet in our guns.”
“As you say,” Nairne told him. “I'm just tired.”
In that week and the week that followed, Lenka never once spoke to Ben, though he sought her out every day. She continued to dress as a soldier, working at the fortifications like the others. To make matters worse, he saw her often with Voltaire, who also didn't seem to be speaking to him. The whole situation was ridiculous, but if they were going to behave like spoiled children, so be it. He had too much to do.
One of those things was working on the countermeasure with Vasilisa, something that became more frustrating every day.
“There's something missing,” he told her, pacing across the laboratory, hands clasped behind his back. “Why can't you tell me what it is?”
Vasilisa stood near a window, suffused in grayish light, her eyes slits of pearl. Beyond her, treetops lashed at a sky pregnant with tempest. Thunder snarled in the distance.
“Because it isn't my formula,” she said with a trace of irritation. “As I told you, I copied it from the notes of Swedenborg. I don't understand all of it. That's why I needed you. I tried to kidnap you, remember, for that very reason.”
“How did you expect to carry me, if I may ask?”
Her lips bowed slightly. “Please, Benjamin. How difficult do you think it was to persuade a couple of musketeers to my point of view?”
“Ah. Couldn't those same musketeers have helped you escape, after we caught you?”
“They offered. I refused. This is a stupid place to make a last stand, but where else should I go, alone? The Ottoman empire? China? No woman would ever be listened to there, even if they weren't as thoroughly