Winter of the Passion Flower (The de Vargas Family) (12 page)

Holding the airship steady until the rope
detached, Mr. Grimoult then steered it to the far side of the castle. Within
seconds, Indigo heard a loud crash followed by the ominous braying of the fog
horn on the air capsule as it sent a continuous beam of sound down into the
castle. She smiled grimly, pulling herself through a narrow opening in the
castle wall.

They had always worked well together.
She would trust Mr. Grimoult with her life.

Removing the ray gun from her belt, she
moved silently through the maze of corridors winding down to the dungeon.
Footsteps pounded above her, confirming the majority of the inhabitants of the
castle were making their way to the eastern parapet to find the source of the
commotion Mr. Grimoult was creating with the air horn. Indigo flattened herself
against the wall and peered around the corner as the duke stepped onto the
parapet. Creeping along, she quietly closed the door behind him and drew the
bolt.

Making her way down to the lower level, she
paused and listened at each closed door. The captain’s voice came from behind
the second last door. She listened, smiling as the comptroller said angrily, “I
don’t care about a fucking tattoo, man. Now tell me, what is she producing? We
know she has a laboratory in her manor. Why did you lie?”

She grinned as Zane muttered sleepily. “The
tattoo, I get the tattoo.”

A sharp slapping sound of skin on skin
hastened her entry. Opening the door, Indigo held the ray gun in front of her,
entering the room silently. Zane and the comptroller were alone. She flinched
as he slapped Zane across the face once more, calling over his shoulder.
“Leopold, where are your instruments of torture?”

Indigo slipped up behind him, placed the
gun at the side of his neck, speaking quietly. “Will this do, sir?”

His knees buckled and the comptroller put
up no resistance, he was a man of words and administration, not of action and
obviously a coward as well.

 “Untie him.” She pushed the gun onto
his neck. “Now.”

With shaking hands, the comptroller undid
the shackles holding Zane to the chair.

“Now lift him out.” Indigo pushed the gun
harder into the soft skin, beneath his ear. A slight hesitation and she touched
the trigger lightly. As the smell of his burning flesh wafted across the room,
the comptroller cooperated instantly. After a moment, Zane stood beside her,
looking at her with a silly grin on his face. In a low voice, she continued and
pointed to the chair. “Now, sit yourself down, and bind your feet and one
hand.”

Finally satisfied the comptroller was
secure, Indigo put the gun in her belt, quickly binding his other hand. A loud
banging and cries of rage filtered through the narrow window from the parapet
above and Indigo turned to Zane.

“They have discovered they are trapped outside.”

The captain looked at her, his eyes
unfocused “The tattoo.”

Realizing the mesmerizer still had the
captain enthralled, Indigo looked around for the magnet. Finding it on the
table, she smiled at Zane, and passed it quickly from side to side in front of
his eyes. He woke instantly, looking at her, the confusion fading almost
immediately. Reaching across to him, Indigo kissed him swiftly on the mouth.

“The tattoo, Captain?” Laughing, she
grabbed his hand. “Come quickly, follow me.”

Winding their way down to the water level
via a circular staircase, they discovered the exit door at the base was locked.
Footsteps clattered down the stairs behind them and Zane gently pushed Indigo
to the side of the stairway. Before she could blast the door open with her ray
gun, he flicked open the chronometer, twirling the large cog in the centre.
There was a loud click and it swung open.

“I want one of those.” Indigo grinned up at
him.

“I want an air suit like yours,” Zane
replied with a smile.

The comptroller’s submersible floated in
the entry bay. The door to the ocean was open, ready for the boat to depart.
They jumped on board and Leopold appeared on the dock just as the craft roared
through the opening out into the rough water. Indigo took great pleasure in
taking shots at the duke with her ray gun before pulling the cover closed prior
to submersing in the comptroller’s ship.

“One for each hour I lay in on that hard
branch, Leopold.” She laughed with delight as the duke jumped and danced to
avoid the rays zinging around his short legs. Zane hit the cog on the
chronometer once more and the steam powered door slammed closed. Indigo watched
the duke disappear from sight, his little legs still jumping and twitching.

The efforts of the duke and his henchman to
end Indigo’s preparation for the Great Exhibition failed and they did not
attempt to interfere with her enterprise again. A very satisfactory debrief
after Indigo rescued the captain from Castle Lorcathian set the scene for a
most productive relationship between Indigo and the captain, much to the
delight of her manservant and housekeeper.

 In the months leading up to the Great
Exhibition of 1851, Mr. Grimoult designed and constructed an innovative
contraption to float behind the dirigible. It consisted of a series of trays
that transformed into a display case. Zane assisted the little man in loading
the products, before they finally sealed the container ready for flight as they
prepared for their departure to London.

“Are you sure you have packed all of the
pharmacologicals?” Indigo paced up and down beside the dirigible, her long
skirts swishing.

“Yes, Madame.”

“The cosmecuticals?”

“Yes, Madame.”

“The hallucinogenics?”

“Yes, Madame.”

“What about—”

Zane interrupted her. “Indigo, for pity’s
sake, we have checked the cargo for you constantly for the past two days. Leave
it to Mr. Grimoult and myself. It is all there. I will stake my life on it.” He
grinned as she stormed off.

By God, she was a feisty woman.

However it had not all been preparation
over the past few months. They had shared many, many hours of mutual pleasure.

Finally they were ready to depart the manor
for their journey to Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition. Nations from across
the world prepared to display their works of all industry in the mammoth glass
construction in Hyde Park. For Indigo, a culmination of many years of
innovation and rebellion were about to be realized and her excitement was
palpable. Cheeks flushed, temper short, she displayed as many nerves as a
dollymop in a church.

The combined efforts of the comptroller
general and the duke had failed to deter Indigo from her goal. The government
sent a member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures
and Commerce to visit the manor in one last attempt to convince Indigo that her
display should not go ahead. The member received neither audience nor
cooperation from the lady of the house, protesting as she showed him the door,
most impolitely.

“The folly and absurdity of the Queen in
allowing this trumpery must strike every sensible and well-thinking mind. Trust
me, it will lead to rebellion of the masses,” he spluttered, making a hasty
exit. Indigo threw his hat and cane after him, slamming the door behind him
with a satisfying crash.

The new dirigible, custom-built for the
journey was transporting them to London. Mr. and Mrs. Grimoult and the captain
were dressed in regulation air suits with brass goggles but Indigo stood apart
as usual, refusing to conform.

Her signature red bustier topped an emerald
green skirt embossed with the symbols of industry flowed around her ankles,
neither garment satisfying air safety dress regulation for dirigible travel. In
honor of the occasion her hair was wound high around her head in an elaborate
confection, ruby studded ribbons threading through the high loops of curls. The
captain handed her a set of goggles as she climbed the short ladder to the
dirigible. Shaking her head, Indigo refused to take them.

“I prefer a clear view.”

“Madame, you will need the goggles when we
enter the air space of London,” Mrs. Grimoult said.

Indigo ignored her faithful housekeeper and
Mrs. Grimoult took a deep breath as she laboriously pulled her stout little body
up the ladder. “Breathe the clean country air while you can, my dears, as we
will be a long time in the grime of the city.”

As the ship ascended, the entire staff of
the enterprise lined the dirigible pad to bid them luck. The submariners and
the scientists stood together and gave a rousing cheer as the dirigible
ascended slowly in a smooth and fluid motion. Mr. Grimoult turned it toward
London. As they passed over Castle Lorcathian, they looked down on the duke who
stood on the parapet, gazing out over the ocean, decidedly miserable. Leopold
ignored their passing, as did the small mouse sitting on his shoulder.

Mr. Grimoult turned from the rudder, his
ruddy face alight with mischief. “I heard down at The Rattling Cat that the
duke has refused to let Mr. Brixton morph back to his human body. Did you see
him sitting on Leopold’s shoulder?”

The captain stood behind Indigo, both arms
wrapped loosely around her waist. He laughed. “What upset him the most was his
failure to properly mesmerize me. But it did retrieve my memory of my tattoo
and the pretty young lady I proposed to at the time.” The captain patted
Indigo’s swelling stomach possessively.

“Little did I know that the woman who
declined my proposal in Juan’s tattoo parlor would one day be my wife.”

Indigo turned, pushing him away crossly. “I
have not agreed to be your wife, Captain.”

As Zane had come out of his mesmeric trance
in the castle, he had recalled a voyage to the Amazon as a youth in the
merchant navy. A visit to the harborside parlor for a nautical tattoo befitting
a sailor had gone awry, with much rum consumed at various waterfront
establishments along the way. The following morning, Zane awoke with a pounding
headache, a rum-soaked shirt and a flower on his forearm, to the great mirth of
the sailors in his cabin. The most vivid memory of a young woman with lustrous
black curls beside him, her head turned to the wall, having a delicate blue
flower inked onto her beautiful back, stayed with him. His friends ordered one
the same for him, much to their drunken delight and his sober dismay the
following morning. The passionflower had remained a permanent souvenir of that
trip and, Zane now realized, had been a portent of things to come.

As the dirigible neared the great
metropolis, the air turned foggy and the atmosphere became dreary. A myriad of
air ships of all shapes, sizes and color dotted the sky and Mr. Grimoult
employed precise navigation skills to avoid collision

“Madame, here are your goggles,” insisted
Mrs. Grimoult, holding them out to Indigo as she peered down through the
transparent floor of the dirigible. Indigo glared at her as she observed Mrs.
Grimoult roll her eyes at her husband.

“Madame, the putrid air will not be good
for the baby’s health,” coaxed Mr. Grimoult sweetly. Indigo reached over and
donned the goggles without a further word, taking great care not to disturb her
magnificent hairstyle. As the airship drifted over the Crystal Palace, Zane
grabbed the controls to avoid a collision with a smaller dirigible, and Mr.
Grimoult gazed down at the amazing building. Architecturally adventurous, it
was almost two thousand feet long, constructed entirely of glass on a cast iron
frame. The myriad of fountains and cascades within, were visible from the air.

“It makes our biomes look Lilliputian,
Madame,” said Mr. Grimoult, his voice hushed.

“It gives me great inspiration for our next
enterprise, Mr. Grimoult,” replied Indigo.

Mr. Grimoult gently brought the dirigible
to ground on the landing bay in Hyde Park. They disembarked and Indigo and Zane
strolled through the park to the Exhibition Hall while the Grimoults sought
assistance to unload their products.

On entering the Exhibition Hall, the
displays already in place dazzled them. A rich variety of hues appealed to
Indigo’s love of bright colors.

“Magnificent.” She breathed in the
atmosphere. Forming the center to the building was a gigantic fountain in a
forest of trees with lofty and overshadowing branches which provided a restful
haven in the busy atmosphere. Delighted to find her allotted display space was
on the edge of the forest, Indigo grabbed Zane’s hand and dragged him around
the other displays already in place.

“Oh, look at the colors,” she exclaimed.

Opulent fabrics from every corner of the
world, flax, silks and linens surrounded them. General hardware, brass and
ironwork of many types, locks, grates. Innovative machines and implements,
marine engines, hydraulic presses, steam machinery in motion—the array of
products was amazing, even to Zane who had travelled to many exotic locations
when he was in the navy.

Indigo paused in front of an Astrolaberors,
a device for navigation through time. “It is a different mechanism to the one
we use,” Indigo explained. “It relies on star combinations and arrangements.”