Chapter 56 The Iron Captain

Chapter 56 The Iron Captain

The iron walls of the warehouse felt thin as the Goliath got closer. Every time that ship hit a wave, the floor under my feet groaned. "He's going to ram us," Cedric said. He was holding onto the edge of the desk so hard his knuckles were purple. "He isn't even slowing down!"

"He's not going to ram us," I said. "He wants the office. You don't destroy the prize before you claim it."

"Tell that to the prow!" Oswin shouted. He was leaning out the window with his rifle. "That thing is a block of solid iron. It's coming right for the main supports!"

"He's coming for me," I said. I looked at the system map. The Goliath wasn't,a dot anymore. It was a massive red rectangle that filled the screen.

"Cedric, check the power readings on that hull," I said. "Now."

"It's off the charts," Cedric muttered. He tapped his tablet fast. "It's a Soul-Vessel, Cyprian. That's not coal in the engines. It's people. I'm counting ten thousand trapped spirits in the boiler room alone."

"Ten thousand?" Jarek’s voice came through the comms. "Boss, that's a lot of ghosts. Even for us."

"It's a slave ship," I said. I felt a cold heat rising in my chest. "Oswin, get the grappling lines. We’re going for a boarding party."

"Are you crazy?" Oswin asked. "We should be running! We don't have the muscle for this!"

"Run where?" I asked. "The Syndicate owns the harbor. This ship is the harbor. If we take the ship, we take the city. It's the only move we have left."

"I like the way you think," Oswin said. He grinned, even though his hands were shaking. "But how do we get up there? The deck is twenty feet high."

"The crane," I said. "Swing us over. Jarek, meet us on the starboard side."

We went over in a cloud of sea-mist. The crane hook caught the Goliath’s railing with a heavy clang. I jumped first. My boots hit the iron deck like a hammer.

"Who is there?" A voice boomed through the fog. The mist on the deck parted. A man stood by the wheel. He was tall, wearing a coat that looked like it had been buried in the mud for a century.

"Cyprian Fenwick," I said. "CEO of the Fenwick Group. I’m here to talk about your contract."

The man laughed. It sounded like stones rolling in a metal bucket. "I’m Captain Malone. And I don't sign contracts with dead men walking. I collect them."

"You're already dead, Malone," I said. "The only difference is, I'm the one holding the pen now."

"The Syndicate told me about you," Malone said. He stepped closer. He held a sword that looked like it was made of frozen blood. "They said you were a thief. A little man playing at being a king."

"Is that what they told you?" I asked. "What did they promise you in return for my head?"

"Life," Malone said. His eyes flared with a sick yellow light. "A real body. A heart that actually beats. They have the bio-vats ready and waiting for me."

"They're lying to you," I said. "You know how the Syndicate works. They don't give gifts. They just move debt around until you're too broke to complain."

"And what do you offer?" Malone asked. He pointed his sword at my throat. "More blue light? More empty promises of a union for the dead?"

"I offer you a choice," I said. "Help me take down the Gilt tower, and I'll give those ten thousand souls in your engine a way out. I'll let them rest."

"They are my fuel!" Malone roared. "Without them, this ship is just a grave!"

"It's already a grave," I said. I stepped forward, the tip of his sword pressing into my shirt. "You're just the janitor watching the tombs."

"I am the Captain!" Malone swung the blade. I didn't move. I didn't have to.

\[Directive: Security Audit\]

\[Target: Malone’s Will\]

The sword stopped an inch from my neck. Malone’s arm was shaking. He tried to push, but the system held him frozen.

"What is this?" Malone hissed. "What did you do to me? My arm... I can't feel my arm!"

"You're a registered asset in this harbor," I said. "And I just bought the mortgage on your ship. You can't strike your owner, Malone. It's in the fine print."

"I’ll burn you!" Malone screamed. "I’ll vent the boilers and melt this whole dock!"

"Try it," I said. "See who the engine listens to now."

Malone reached for a lever on the bridge. He pulled it hard. The ship groaned, and a deep sound started to come from below the decks. It wasn't an engine. It was a rhythm.

"Something's wrong," Cedric’s voice came through my earpiece. "Cyprian, get out of there! The readings are spiking!"

"What's happening down there?" I asked. "The engine," Cedric said. He sounded like he was about to vomit. "It's not a machine. I just got a deep scan. It’s a living organ, Cyprian. A massive one."

"A what?" I asked. I looked at the floor. I looked at Malone. He was grinning now. He didn't look scared anymore.

"You think you're so smart," Malone laughed. "You think you can audit a god?"

The deck beneath us started to glow a deep, angry red. The metal turned soft, like it was turning into skin. I looked down through a grating on the floor.

Deep in the center of the ship, I saw it. It was huge, covered in thick iron chains and pumping with a slow, heavy beat. Each pulse sent a wave of heat through my boots.

"Boss," Jarek whispered. "That's not an engine. Look at the size of it."

I stared at the massive, glowing thing in the dark. It was a heart. It was five stories tall, and it was covered in ancient runes that the Syndicate had used to bind it to the iron.

\[System Warning: Divine Signature Detected\]

\[Classification: Heart of a Minor Deity\]

\[Status: Waking Up\]

"You didn't buy a ship, Fenwick," Malone laughed as the whole harbor began to shake. "You just walked into a ribcage."