Ghosts of the Steel Road is less than a week out from publication, which means it's time for a little sneak peek! Remember that pre-orders are available for the ebook, while the paperback is available on September 26th.
Without further ado, here's the first part of Chapter One, with the best formatting I could manage on this website. Enjoy!
Life had its rules. Its boundaries. They made things neat, made things easy. Anyone with the right amount of sense learned those rules automatically, and wordlessly breathed them in like the stench that always surrounded the city I grew up in.
Never mix water and hot oil. Protect the time you have away from your workplace, guard it with your life. Know when you plow through a crowd and know when to let the crowd pass you without a fight.
And, most of all, there are two kinds of people in life: somebodies and nobodies.
Know exactly which one you are.
When I worked at the nice but small tavern on the Docks, I was always reminded of exactly which one I was, especially on days like the slow, humid afternoon that I found myself in. Bored, I had positioned myself near the window of the tavern and pulled at the hooded, dragon-like mask I wore in a futile attempt to cool myself.
Through the old window, the balcony of one of the many towering buildings that were crammed into the city loomed above me. I craned my neck up to watch the people in grandiose dress mingle and look down upon the docks.
Without a single care in the world, the women in pastel and jewel-toned dresses of the latest fashions (involving an uncomfortable number of petticoats for the summer heat) spoke together while the men in shining suits stood to the side.
As hot as they must have all been, I was jealous of the fine fabrics of their clothing and the exposed shoulders and arms of the women. The fashion was high-class for a reason; it made people both intimidating and beautiful, especially compared to the rough canvas of my uniform.
I tried to tear my gaze away from the group on the balcony, but I wasn’t strong enough to do so. In return, they would look down upon people like me, the people that preferred the shadows.
“Valgesmok,” someone said the name that had been given to me the moment I began to work in the small dockside tavern.
Valgesmok was an old goddess, one few people actively still worshipped but everyone told stories about. She was a goddess of the mountains and was represented by the White Dragon, one of the most ferocious and mysterious dragon species in the world. Valgesmok was everything: vengeance, pestilence, and most of all, power.
For me, though, Valgesmok was mainly an identity, a mask, much like the literal mask that trapped the afternoon heat against my skin and hair, that protected me from trouble outside of the docks. My gaze met the gaze of another masked worker, the urgency in her voice evident through the bird-like mask that was all I knew of her.
She stepped closer to me. “It’s the Tetrach sailors again. Do you think you can tell me—"
“I’ll go over and talk to them, Kinnese.” I stood straighter.
It wasn’t difficult to find the sailors Kinnese was so worried about. It was the time of day when most of the ships docked still forced their crew to stay on the ship to work, so the tavern was only half-full, and there was only one table that acted rambunctious.
“Did they cross any lines?” I asked.
“No wait, you don’t need to do that.” Kinnese rushed to get in my way and put her hands in front of my chest, careful not to touch me. “I just need your advice, they kind of hit the table really hard and I can tell one of the legs broke, should I have them move before they notice? I think they’ll complain if they figure it out, and I don’t want them to get angry.”
I had almost forgotten, Kinnese was new to the way things worked. She had only worked at the tavern for a little less than a week, and my boss, Lilith, had told me Kinnese hadn’t worked on the Docks before.
“No, what you do is have me go over there and talk to them,” I said. “And go back and tell the boss that we’ll need to fix it.”
I was an Enforcer. That was the title I had held in the dingy tavern for almost two years, and in my mind, the most important role on the Docks. It was my job to protect the Docks from trouble and uphold the power the string of businesses had in the city. Sometimes, that meant dealing with people who decided to get a little too rowdy.
Being an Enforcer was the one thing I took seriously in life.
“But—" She tried to protest, but I just waved her off and felt for the dagger that I always had at my side, just in case.
“Just go to the back,” I said. “These sailors need to remember where exactly they are.”
The Docks. That’s where they were. And just like life, the Docks had rules and boundaries.
My hope was that I could get the rowdy sailors to back off before they completely shattered one of those boundaries.
When I walked up to the table, the four sailors who sat around it didn’t notice me at first, and instead laughed at some joke I hadn’t gotten to hear. Three of the sailors wore the type of old, stained garb that signaled to me that they didn’t have much money or power. Likely just simple sailors, though it was a surprise to see them off the boat at that time of day.
The last sailor, though, wore an opened frock coat and full-length pants. Under his frock coat was a nice-enough waistcoat and green cravat. His clothing may have not been as fine as the suits of the men on the balcony, but it was enough to make me tense.
“Hello there,” still, I directed my words toward the nicer-dressed sailor and tried my best to keep my head up, “I must request that you please calm yourselves a little. You’re disturbing the other guests.”
Did my voice show the same level of respect as my words? Not at all.
Did I care? Not at all.
“Disturbing the guests?” The finer-dressed sailor laughed at the idea and turned around dramatically like it was some sort of joke, though there were clearly other people in the establishment. “What guests are even around to bother? Just get me another ale.”
He leaned back and dangled his ale mug on his fingers.
“That’s not my job, sir.” I folded my hands against my stomach to emphasize my point. “You'll have to wait for Kinnese to come back.”
“Is that any way to treat a paying customer?” The way he feigned offense disgusted me, but thankfully, he couldn’t see the face that I made underneath my mask. “After all the money that my ship has been bringing in the past few days, I would expect you to be a little nicer.”
“Money isn’t the most important thing right now, what is more important is that you are disrespecting the people who are trying to get a meal before the lunch rush.” As I spoke, a smile crept across my face. “And that poor, innocent table.”
“What do you mean, the ta—" He slammed his hands down on the table one more time, but when a beautiful cracking sound cut him off, his face changed almost immediately. “I—"
“So, since your ship gives so much valuable money to our humble establishment, maybe you should spare a little more for the table you just broke, right?” I had to breathe deeply a few times in order to not laugh.
Was it terrible that the table just broke, as that was one less place to seat people during rush? Of course. But, in a field where I could get threatened at any moment, I needed the laughter where I could get it.
And just maybe, I could get something else out of the finer-dressed sailor before I kicked him and his group out.
Money wasn’t worth much in the tavern. There, and on the Docks in general, information was the most important commodity.
“Excuse me,” the finely dressed sailor stood up, as if his barely-superior height would make me back down, “I hope you know this, you over-glorified security guard, whatever you are. I am the purser of the Tetrach, which means that if you keep playing this little ‘oh money isn’t that important, but you should give us some’ game, I have the power to personally make sure your business will never have another customer from the Tetrach again.”
“Oh, really? So, you have a lot of power, right?” I took a step forward and brought my shoulders back. Honestly, with the amount my boots raised me by, I was about the same height as him. “You do know, power means you have responsibility. You have a reputation to uphold, right?”
“Are you trying to say something here?” he asked.
“Maybe I am. At least, I’m saying that it might be best for you to take your leave now, quit before something comes out to your captain that might spoil your appearance.” My hand started to inch toward my knife, just in case the man made a sudden move.
“You don’t have anything that could do that.” The purser scoffed. “Give me a threat that would actually scare me.”
The other sailors that were with him grew a bit pale and sunk into their seats.
“Then how about this?” The sweat that pooled in my glove just made me grip the handle of my knife tighter. I pulled my knife out of its sheath and held it by my side. “You’re no longer welcome at this establishment.”
Now, it wasn’t like a customer that broke one piece of furniture would just be kicked out forever. Even if they were as obnoxious as the fancily dressed man that stood in front of me.
He asked for a threat, and I gave him one.
If he really cared about having a good reputation on the Docks, he would be allowed to go to the back and spill everything that he could possibly know.
If he didn’t care, it was one less person for me to deal with.
“Oh, you really want to keep trying me like that?” He lunged forward at me, but he was slower than he likely believed.
Even through my mask, the stench of alcohol on his breath was enough to make me wince. It was almost surprising that he only stumbled a little.
As the purser turned back to me, I caught sight of another Enforcer walking toward us.
“Scared now?” The purser grinned.
“Scared for what’s going to happen to you.” I did everything I could to keep my emotions from showing in my voice, with a mixture of amusement and slight embarrassment welling up within me. “One last chance: your choices are to ask for forgiveness, or to leave this establishment.”
“And your choices are to apologize to me or face the wrath of my captain.”
And some people who observed the docks from the outside wondered why many of the employees, especially the Enforcers, hid their identities through rules and masks and false names.
I rolled my eyes underneath my mask and locked gazes with the other Enforcer through the bear-like visage of his mask.
The purser stepped closer to me. “So, what will it be?”
“We’ll take the wrath, sir,” I said.
The other Enforcer grabbed the purser’s shoulder from behind him. He whipped around and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but the other Enforcer didn’t let him and chose to punch him in the face instead.
I raised my knife then. After darting a glare over at the purser’s companions, I focused my attention back on the man himself. “Now, let’s head out, shall we?”
The purser stammered and tried to get something out, but the voice and the attitude that he had beforehand was now lost. Maybe the alcohol had finally gotten to him.
Without a word, the other Enforcer turned him around and shoved him toward the door.
I lingered back for a moment, just long enough to make sure his companions would follow without complaint. Thankfully for me, they did, and not even the purser said a word until we got to the door.
“You’ll regret this one day.” Even when the purser spoke, it was barely more than a mutter. As he trudged outside with a bit of a wobble, he only half glanced back at us. His companions followed like dogs with their tails between their legs.
I quickly lost him in the crowd that thickened by the second, but I still stood by the door for the moment and observed the area.
Surprisingly, the balcony was empty, the pastel dresses and stuffy suits long gone. As I tried to peek through the darkened windows, my shoulders dropped.
Something in my gut told me that the group on the balcony was a charity party. If that was true, they had just scoped out somewhere on the Docks as their next target.
“Valgesmok, go to the back.” The Enforcer with the bear mask came up behind me.
Startled, I tried to gauge whether or not I was about to get in trouble. After all, the Enforcer, Ursa, was my superior. He would certainly have known what I was sent back for.
But of course, he kept any knowledge, any emotion hidden in his body language, and simply looked at me and tilted his head. “Now, before the rush gets in.”
“Fine.” I turned away from the window and finally secured my knife in its sheath and then took the short, silent walk to the back door.
While I had gotten compliments from both Ursa and my boss about my ability to read body language, they were part of the few I couldn’t crack.
Well, at least if he mentioned the rush, that had to be a good sign, right?
I swore that the knock of my fist on the door vibrated every surface in the tavern.
On the other side of the door, my boss didn’t waste any time letting me into her small office before she spoke. “Having a nice morning?”
My only response was to groan. I stepped inside and waited for the door to shut. I needed permission to take off my stuffy mask for even just a moment.
The door softly clicked behind me.
“Go ahead, dear.” She casually walked over to the worn leather couch that took up the bulk of the room.
“Thank you, Lilith.” As I pulled my mask off, the rush of slightly less humid air was almost intoxicating to me. I took a deep breath and pushed a stray section of curls back behind my ear.
As I took a moment to relish some time without my mask on, Lilith silently watched me and combed her almost snow-white hair with her fingers.
I avoided her gaze. “So, is this about me dealing with that sailor?”
“Oh, not really,” her soft laugh gently rang in my ears, “Ursa told me most of it already. Unless you think you’ve got anything else?”
She gestured for me to walk over.
“Purser. The Tetrach.” When I realized she wouldn’t reprimand me for anything, I relaxed my shoulders.
I had the job for almost two years, and Lilith had become a sort of mentor to me. Yet with the string of short-lived jobs that I had before the one at the tavern, I couldn’t let myself get too comfortable.
Knowing better than to disobey Lilith, I walked over and sat next to her on the couch. “So why would you call me back here?”
“To let you hear some information from me before you go off and find out about it on your own.” She grabbed my arms and rubbed them just slightly with her thumbs.
Her pale hands reminded me of just how dirty my uniform always was, the once-white fabric of the sleeves almost beige. Not to mention the couple of blood stains from when I was still a little too ready to fight at any given moment.
“Melandra, have you heard from your father yet?” she asked.
Melandra. Even though I knew the back was safe, as Lilith said my real name, my shoulders tensed.
Melandra Godfrey. The name I was born with, and a name that I sometimes wanted to shed over the past few years.
Not only that, but I had almost managed to keep my worried thoughts about my father out of my head. The annoying purser had definitely helped.
Lilith gave me a moment to relax and looked at me with the same calm expression that she had when I first met her.
“No, not yet.” I pushed down the emotions that came with the thoughts of my father, including the guilt that I had broken one of his many rules when I told Lilith that he had left on a business trip. “He’ll be back soon, though, he never likes staying away from the house for too long.”
“Well, while I was coming here this morning, I ran into someone reading one of the newspapers.” She wrapped her arm around me. “I will say, I always have bothered you for not reading any of the papers, but maybe it was good that you didn’t this morning.”
My stomach dropped, and for just a second I wanted to throw my mask back on and bolt out to the front.
It would’ve been an understatement to say that I prepared for the worst.
Fighting the urge to scream, I held out my hand. “Let me see.”
Lilith picked up a newspaper that she had tucked into her bag, which as always had been left on the corner of the couch. Thankfully, she handed it to me without another word, and it didn’t take me long to find the story she spoke of.
String of murders on the Steel Road spark fears, disrupt trade
It was the front-page headline.
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