Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables (48 page)

The white light within was freed, making everyone in the room flinch away. All except Eleanor, who watched it fill all the other gems in the cloak. They gleamed brightly, bringing power to the cloaks. She heard the creak of the gears, and the snap of the vises within as they locked tight on the structure of the swans. The machines threw their proud heads back, and great trumpeting screams broke the rest of the remaining glass in the observatory.

The machines shivered, the workings shaking themselves loose; something large and metallic ground against itself. And then the doors burst open and Eleanor’s brothers—all eleven—staggered from within them.

They were gaunt, pale, and sweaty, but Eleanor didn’t care. She rushed to them, called their names, embraced them.

After so long in silence her voice cracked and fractured on the words. Then she felt Nikolai’s hand on her shoulder, and now she found she could look up into the king’s eyes. She was free of subterfuge and the tenets of the cloak construction.

“These are my brothers.” It felt so good to say it, though it came out husky. “I am sure you are wondering. Madame Escrew has my father in thrall, and she did this to them. The machines were swallowing them, and I had to work in silence to free them.”

“That was not what I was wondering,” Nikolai replied. “Your name is what I have wanted all this time?”

She smiled as she helped Brian to his feet. “Eleanor.”

The princess and the king stared at each other while the brothers shook themselves and blinked.

The priest had turned white, while the guardsmen shifted on their feet, uncertain what to do. They could all tell that something had changed in the broken observatory.

“Now what do we do, Eleanor? What is the next move?” Alan pushed his hair out of his eyes, and she was aware that all of her brothers were once again looking to her for answers.

The king of the Eagles, too, was watching her, those green eyes expecting and welcoming. She turned and looked at the remains of the swan machines with an analytical eye.

“I say that we can learn a great deal from these machines. And then”—she smiled archly—“we turn her work on her, and take back the Swan City and my father.”

The men around her nodded.

“And you shall lead us,” Nikolai said, taking her hand. “A true Queen of the Swans.”

Contributors

Paul Di Filippo
began reading science fiction at the age of five, when he encountered his first Mighty Mouse comic. He published his first story in 1977, and has since become responsible for thirty books under his byline. He hopes to keep at this game for some time yet. His tastes in fantastika are omnivorous.

Nancy A. Collins
has authored numerous novels, short stories, and comic books, including
Swamp Thing
. She is a recipient of the HWA’s Stoker Award and the British Fantasy Society Award, and has been nominated for the Eisner, World Fantasy, and International Horror Guild Awards. Best known for her groundbreaking vampire character, Sonja Blue, which heralded the rise of the urban fantasy genre, her works include
Sunglasses After Dark
,
Knuckles and Tales,
and the
Vamps
series for Young Adults. Her most recent novel is
Magic and Loss
, the third installment in the critically acclaimed Golgotham urban fantasy series. She currently resides in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her fiancé, Tommy, their Boston terrier, Chopper, and an indeterminate number of cats.

Gregory Nicoll
has created eerie, atmospheric horror tales for such anthologies as
Confederacy of the Dead
,
Cthulhu’s Heirs
,
100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories
,
It Came from the Drive-In
,
Gahan Wilson’s The Ultimate Haunted House
,
Book of the Dead 2: Still Dead
,
Mondo Zombie
, and
Zombiesque
. Three of his works were selected for
The Year’s Best Horror Stories
and another was chosen for the 2012
edition of
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror
. Greg’s long-overdue first foray into steampunk appears here in
Clockwork Fairy Tales
. He promises it will not be his last.

Steven Harper
lives with his sons in southeast Michigan, where he teaches high school English, plays the folk harp, and spends a sadly enormous amount of time online. He recently discovered to his surprise that as of this writing, he’s written more steampunk than any other genre. He’s currently working on the Clockwork Empire series for Roc Books; the series includes
The Doomsday Vault
,
The Impossible Cube
,
The Dragon Men
, and
The Havoc Machine
. Visit his Web page and blog at http://theclockworkempire.com.

Jay Lake
lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects. His 2012/2013 books are
Kalimpura
from Tor Books, and
Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh
from Prime Books. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a past winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. Jay can be reached through his blog at jlake.com.

Kat Richardson
is the bestselling author of the Greywalker paranormal detective novels and models her stories on the work of such iconic detective writers as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, with a dash of whimsy, horror, and an occasional ferret. A former theater brat and technical editor, Kat has worked in a variety of fields from music to magazine and course writing, as well as film, games, and gemology. She lives on a boat in the Seattle area with her husband and a goofy pit bull, as well as the ghosts of ferrets. Visit her Web site at http://katrichardson.com. for more information.

Philippa Ballantine
is the author of the Books of the Order series with Ace:
Geist
,
Spectyr,
Wrayth
, and
Harbinger
, the final book out soon. She is also the coauthor of the Ministry of Peculiar
Occurrences series with Tee Morris.
Phoenix Rising
, the first book of the series, won an Airship Award in steampunk writing. In addition, she has the Shifted World series with Pyr Books, with the first book,
Hunter and Fox
, out now. Philippa loves reading, gardening, and, whenever possible, traveling. With her husband, Tee, and her daughter, she is looked after by a mighty clowder of five cats.

G. K. Hayes
has been writing award-winning fiction for more than thirty years, with recent short stories appearing in SF and Horror anthologies such as
Critical Mass
,
Zombiesque
,
Night Terrors II
, and
Dark Moon Books Presents: Zombies!
He is also the author of the six-book epic fantasy series,
Sleag’s Quest
, a fun ride through a New World. You can visit him at gkhayes.com. He has been lucky to find his muse in his beautiful wife, Linda.

After residences in Los Angeles, San Francisco, England, and Spain,
K. W. Jeter
and his wife, Geri, currently make their home in Ecuador. He still grieves for the now-vanished Los Angeles in which he was born. His latest publications include the novel
The Kingdom of Shadows
, a collaboration with Gareth Jefferson Jones titled
Death’s Apprentice
, and the first four books in a new thriller series—
Kim Oh 1: Real Dangerous Girl
,
Kim Oh 2: Real Dangerous Job
,
Kim Oh 3: Real Dangerous People
,
Kim Oh 4: Real Dangerous Place
, and
Kim Oh 5: Real Dangerous Fun
. More information on his books and stories can be found online at www.kwjeter.com.

About the Editors

Stephen L. Antczak
is the author of the short story collection
Daydreams Undertaken
and the novel
God Drug
, as well as more than fifty horror, fantasy, and science fiction short stories, the play
Romeo’s Ghost
, and the comic books
Nightwolf: the Price
and
Arkadian
. He coedited, with James C. Bassett, the horror anthology
Zombiesque
.

James C. Bassett
’s fiction has appeared worldwide in markets such as
Amazing Stories
, the Australian anthology
Shadow Box
, the German
Podgeschichten,
and the World Fantasy Award–winning anthology
Leviathan 3
. With Stephen L. Antczak he coedited the anthology
Zombiesque
. He is also an acclaimed stone and wood sculptor.

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