A Timely Knight

A Coronation

He had never seen Ironport.

He had traveled as far as Heliport and back, but he had never seen Ironport. And yet, here he was now. As he crossed the bridge that connected the north side of the city, with the south, Eldon wondered how this day would end. Would the people in Ivoryport be strong enough to stop the attack from happening? Or would he indeed see the bird soaring up in the grey sky above?

So distracted he was that he failed to pay attention to the large woman coming his way; he crashed against her and almost fell to the river that flowed below them.

"Watch it," she said angrily, expecting an apology from him, but Eldon barely listened.

He kept walking towards the one place he had been trying to get to ever since he set foot in this wretched city. The sound of water seemed to be calling him and as he reached the Island of Oil, he tried to listen to the squeak that had plagued his dreams, the one that came from old, rusty and enormous wings. He heard nothing. How could he above all this noise? This was reality. And here, he'd never be able to hear the squeak.

There are a lot of people at Ironport today.

Were there really a lot of people? Sure, they were far more than he had ever seen at Slatehallow, or Ravenport for that matter, but since he had never been to Ironport, he couldn't really tell if these were in fact a lot of people, or if they were just the right amount.

He finally reached the waterfall and stopped right at the edge, where Alma must've stood before she leapt to her death. He wondered how she felt, how bad things must've been for her, and he wished he could've helped her. Of course, the truth was he could help her. He could go back and stop her from jumping, or maybe, if it had indeed been an accident, prevent it from happening altogether. But, what good would come out of it?

As the water ran savagely, making the ground beneath him shake, he tried to focus on the moment. He had a duty to fulfil. A mission. He turned to the cloudy, sad sky above him and took a deep breath that did little to ease his mind.

Anxious, afraid, excited even, angry, vigilant, slightly annoyed. Overwhelmed. How, he wondered, was it possible for someone to feel so much? How could any body, or mind, withstand such torture? He knew just how much was at stake and he had been training for weeks to prepare. Yet, now that it was all so real and perhaps imminent, a voice in the back of his head told him he'd be petrified when the time came.

As he looked down to the rampaging current of water, he wondered if Alma, like him, had suffered from an overly busy mind. Suddenly, splashing against the cool water didn't seem like such a bad idea.

A bleak thought then came to his mind: Perhaps it hadn't been an accident after all.

********

Leverfort shuddered with anticipation.

As Arabella walked down the crowded halls, her heart raced at the beat of the moment. Her mission was clear enough, yet she hesitated. Worst possible moment for self-doubt, but such was life. Now, the safety of the three most important women in all of Makina rested in her hands. She was always so sure of herself, so certain in her abilities, her charms, her brains. But she made mistakes. She lowered her guard too soon and the past was now back to make everything worse.

Her hands seemed incapable of standing still and she found herself twisting her neck in every possible direction. But concentration was of the utmost importance. If the Shark failed to eliminate Buford, if Master Nilla and Alder did not find the bird, or worse, if it was not even in the city anymore... well, there were far too many ifs for her taste.