The Stained Glass Heart

By Caitlin McColl

The lives of four groups of people are intertwined and connected in ways they are not even aware.

An unlikely trio: a poetry teacher, a mad-scientist and a former thief turned doctor, are unexpectedly thrown back together and return to the United American Empire upon hearing strange rumours of a group planning to over throw the Empire.

The Empress has been ruling the Empire 15 long years since the tender age of sixteen with the help of her long time servant and most trusted advisor.

A group of men who call themselves The Elders can see the future, and it is not bright. A storm is brewing.

A motley crew of inventors, all members of the Society of New Alchemy, plot a visit to the Empress that she can't ignore, after their livelihoods are turned upside down when she enacts a new law.

They all have secrets...Secrets that can shatter lives in an instant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caitlin McColl
• Release date: Sep 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463229866

Caitlin McColl

Since childhood, Caitlin has written mainy fantasy - with dragons, wizards and other fantastical monsters. But now she writes Steampunk, stories that makes our world just a little bit more interesting, with the ability to mask the humdrum days we all have - those cold, grey, rainy, depressing days. The days you accidentally sleep in, lock yourself out of the house, battle morning rush hour and realize your still wearing your slippers. Caitlin lives in beautiful Vancouver, Canada with her husband and her dog.Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/caitlinmccollInstagram: instagram.com/caitlinmccollauthorSeptember 2020-Published The Clockwork Universe and The Stained Glass Heart, follow ups to Under A Starlit Sky. Also re-did covers for books.-Published All That Remains - a free short story collection from 2017-Republished The Diary of Dr Jekyll that was published by a Seattle based publisher that is no more2015-Released a free ebook compilation of stories from her short story blog, Under A Starlit Sky, collectively called The Dark And Shadowy Places.Hope you enjoy!

Book preview

The

Stained

Glass

Heart

Caitlin McColl

THE STAINED GLASS HEART

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright © 2016 Caitlin McColl

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copy-righted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my husband for all his support. I would also like to thank all my friends who were supportive of me and especially Marie Land. Disclaimer: The quote in the book ‘Between two worlds life hovers like a star’ is from Lord George Gordon Byron’s epic poem Don Juan.

Chapter 1

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

~ Elisabeth Kubler Ross

‘This is New London.’ Gideon swivelled his head around slowly, gingerly. ‘Or I guess I should say, was.’

Reluctantly, Gideon moved his legs slowly, stiffly and gritted his teeth in pain as the wound in his chest that was occupied by a bullet moved fractionally this way and that.

‘That way.’ Gideon pointed down a corridor as they came to the end of the enormous space. There were four other corridors, three narrow and one fat. Jason could see Gideon was pointing to the largest one and they shuffled and stumbled their way down the rock and rubble strewn tunnel.

‘I was here with my mother when I was fifteen. It’s one of the underground cities of the United Kingdom. All the native inhabitants of the UK…’ Gideon stopped and his face screwed up in pain.

Jason stopped and looked at Gideon, concerned etched across his face.

Gideon smiled half-heartedly and waved his hand at Jason. ‘Not to worry. I’m okay,’ he said, starting to pull ahead of Jason and walking quickly with an uncomfortable looking gait. Ahead of them, Jason noticed the corridor ended and opened up into a circular space. He could see a rusted ladder bolted to the wall.

‘So, the people of the UK were sent underground,’ Jason repeated, trying to get Gideon to continue.

‘Yes, when the French took over the country and overthrew the monarchy, they banished all residents who didn’t want to leave the country below ground. And those who wanted to stay above became their slaves. And of the Romans, who moved in and started to rebuild after the Napoleonic wars.’

They had arrived at the end of the corridor and Jason noticed that there wasn’t just the one ladder leading upwards, but four. He looked up and was surprised to see natural light. Muted, yet harsh, light of an overcast sky, a strange bright greyness of clouds scudded their way across the massive circular opening fifty feet above their heads. Jason headed to a ladder and put his hands on the bottom rung. ‘So why is it all empty now? You said all the residents lived down here, so there must be many hundreds or thousands. But it’s entirely abandoned now.’

Gideon looked at Jason, his eyes returned to their normal, but still strange, golden colour, and shrugged, and then screamed in pain, doubling over, with his hands on his knees.

He sucked in ragged, deep mouthfuls of air, and exhaled unevenly. ‘I don’t know,’ he rasped, still trying to catch his breath after the spasm. ‘I don’t know what’s happened to everyone,’ he whispered.

‘Okay, well we still need to get you seen to and get that bullet out,’ said Jason. He could see, even in the dull brightness of the clouds, that the dark colour of Gideon’s three-piece suit was stained even darker by blood around his chest, but was surprised to see that the wound seemed to be higher up, nearer his collarbone, than over his heart.

Jason’s hand went to his own scar in that same area, just below his left collarbone, in his left pectoral. He could feel the lumpy ring of scar tissue and the indent in the middle – like the crater of a volcano. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop the memory coming back but saw in a brief flash the silhouette of Remy Holbrook above him, and then shuddered as he remembered the excruciating pain as Remy stabbed him below his collarbone with a thick pen.

He shook his head to rid himself of the memory and opened his eyes. Gideon was staring at him with an odd look. ‘Can you climb?’ Jason asked, ignoring the strange look that Gideon was still giving him.

‘I-, I’m not sure,’ Gideon said, hesitantly. ‘I’ll give it a go.’

Gideon put his hands on the bottom rung of another ladder and reached up to the next with his un-injured side. He put the foot from the same leg on the bottom rung, which was a few feet off the ground. He pulled upwards with his right arm, and pushed up with his right leg against the bottom rung. His scream rang through the circular chamber and bounced off the walls, echoing down the corridor from which they had just come. Gideon fell backwards and collapsed in a heap on the ground, tears streaming down his copper tinted skin. Jason rushed to his side and helped him to his feet, lifting him up underneath his arms. Gideon stood panting for breath and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. Jason moved forward to help and Gideon waved him away. ‘I’m okay, really,’ his slight southern drawl coming through.

‘No, you’re not, and we both know it.’ Jason took off his jacket and the vest underneath – he was too warm with his shirt, vest and jacket – and tore the silk back from the grey wool vest until he was holding a square of plain black silk. He tossed the wool parts of the vest to the ground and began rolling the piece of silk up into a long, thin, cigar shape. ‘Here,’ he said handing the tightly rolled material to Gideon. ‘Put this in your mouth.’

Gideon gave Jason another strange, shocked look. ‘What?’

‘I mean bite down on it. Like a horses’ bit.’ Jason demonstrated by opening his mouth and putting it inside long ways, but not biting down on it himself. ‘It’ll help with the pain. Just bite down on the material as hard as you can.’

Gideon didn’t look convinced but took the wad from Jason and placed it in his mouth. He clamped down on it.

‘Okay,’ said Jason going back to his ladder and putting his hands on it again. ‘Just take your time,’ he admonished, as he began to climb. He tried his best to block out Gideon’s muffled screams and just concentrated on putting his hands and feet securely on the rungs. As he reached the top he slowed, and looked across at the next ladder. Gideon was a bit of a ways down, but he was slowly moving upward. Jason could see veins in Gideon’s forehead from the effort of his climb. He turned and looked up again at the exit; the clouds above seeming as if they were right on top them. He slowly peeked his head over the rim of the circle, unsure of what to expect and was relieved to find that they were in a large grassy area. Small colourful wildflowers interspersed with the tall grasses that had begun to go to seed, and were dry and yellow and brittle. In the distance, he could see buildings, and his heart sank. The buildings were stocky and ancient, made of thick, dark stone, not the tall slim glass and metal of modern skyscrapers of London. Of course, London still had many older, period buildings, but the city that was in the distance – as big as it was – was not the London he had been to.

A loud grunt from his left brought him out of his reverie as Gideon flung himself out of the metal ringed hole in the ground and onto the dry, sharp grasses of a field they found themselves in the middle of. Nearby a cow lowed.

Jason pulled himself up and out of the hole himself and stumbled as he pushed himself up off his knees.

Jason walked over to Gideon who was lying on his back gasping for breath and staring up at the sky. Jason thought he looked oddly like a fish out of water. He knelt down. ‘We have to keep moving, we should head to the city over there. Ask if anyone knows where we can find a doctor.’

Gideon shook his head, so slightly that Jason wondered if he imagined it, but before he could question it, Gideon spoke. ‘But we’re not allowed up here in the city.’

‘Well the people underground certainly went somewhere. Maybe they went into the city too. It’s been awhile since you were here, maybe things have changed.’

He helped Gideon climb awkwardly and uncomfortably to his feet, and then hitched arm around his back and under his far arm, acting as a crutch and together they hobbled their way towards the first of the outlying buildings surrounding the city.

‘Hello!’ Jason yelled out into the muggy air as they neared the first house, a somewhat run-down low stone cottage, its whitewashed walls peeling and exposing the dark bare rock underneath.

Jason left Gideon and walked quickly up to the narrow wooden door sunk into the side of the building and rapped on it. ‘Hello!’ he repeated for the benefit of any inhabitants. ‘If anyone is home, we need some help!’

What seemed like an age later, the door moved inwards a sliver and an eye peeked out the crack.

Gideon rose up behind Jason like a ghost and put a hand on his shoulder to steady himself.

‘Hi there, my friend here needs medical help. He has been shot and he needs a bullet removed. Is there a doctor nearby?’

The eye grew into a face as the person opened the door wider, turning into an elderly gentleman with a mane of wild white hair and crooked yellow teeth when he spoke. ‘There is a doctor down the street.’ The man spoke with a broad English accent. ‘I’m sure you would have noticed his signage before you got here,’ the man said giving the two of them an odd look.’

Jason looked embarrassed. ‘We didn’t come from the direction of the city.’

The elderly man looked shocked. ‘But then…’ he paused, trying to sort out his thoughts. ‘Where else did you come from?’

Jason pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the airlock that they had just crawled out of – its massive iron cover lying flat on the grass.

‘From there.’

Shock flashed across the man’s face, and stayed as his eyes widened. ‘From the Underground?’ He shook his head, bewildered. ‘But how? And why?’

‘We don’t really know,’ admitted Jason, ‘but we don’t really have time to stand here and talk about it. So, if you could point us in the direction of the doctor it would be greatly appreciated,’ he said trying to keep the sarcasm and anger from his voice.

A gnarled jaundiced finger pointed out the door and down the nearest street that turned sharply to the left from where they stood. ‘You can’t miss the sign. It’s a giant copper cross tacked to the wall of a small wooden building – one of the ones that had to be rebuilt after the war,’ said the man, his accent blurring his words into an almost incomprehensible muddle.

Jason nodded his thanks and glanced at Gideon who was looking more peaked than before.

‘Thanks,’ Gideon managed before Jason steered him towards the first of the main thoroughfares.

The long grasses of the farmland quickly turned into the uneven worn cobblestones of the street. Jason groaned when he saw them and Gideon shot him a look of sympathy.

They limped past a stunted two-story apartment and past just a slightly taller hotel freshly painted white and trimmed with pine green, whose door was propped wide open and the chatter of patrons inside at the drinking lounge wafted out the door. Beside the hotel was a narrow wooden structure that seemed to be squeezed in between the hotel and the neighbouring four storey residences. As foretold, there was a large cross, hammered into the wood, dented and scratched with its installation, the one thing marking it as a medical institution. The watery light from the gas lamp on the street in front of it caused the cross to burn with a burnished bronze fire.

Jason pulled opened the glass-fronted door, greeted by the light tinkling of bells overhead.

Memories flooded back to him of a small, white shop, with tarot cards, crystals and other occult miscellany displayed in its front window. There was a similar set of chimes above the doorway to that shop as well, and the familiar tinkle brought back a flood of memories of Eve, the ephemeral psychic back home.

A large and empty front room greeted them, along with a lone lantern perched on the corner of a small podium like table, its feeble flame not lighting the waiting room sufficiently.

Jason glanced over his shoulder at the sky outside. It was still light, so it couldn’t be that late in the day. ‘Hello?’ he called out to the empty room and his voice bounced back to him off the walls.

‘Coming!’ said a harried voice, that was quickly followed by the source of the voice itself – a man with dark, shoulder length hair, held back by the presence of large brass goggles positioned over most of his face. The man wore thin clothing. The bottoms of the pants were frayed and Jason noticed immediately the state of the person’s shoes, the colour and sheen worn away to a patchy white, and layers of shirts underneath a worn, faded jacket the colour of ash.

‘We need help. This man has been shot and the bullet is still lodged in him. He’s lost a lot of blood,’ said Jason, speaking for Gideon.

‘Okay, come on through.’ The man gestured and stepped back letting them in. He led Jason and Gideon back past a warren of rooms jutting off on either side – surprising considering the size of the building.

‘Sit,’ said the doctor, pointing to a thick wooden chair, shaped more like a throne with a high back, made of wide, thick planks of wood.

Obediently, Gideon sat, and the man got to work removing Gideon’s outer jacket, his vest and then opened his button-down shirt, exposing the hole in his chest that was ringed by blood that had turned a dark cherry colour.

The doctor removed his own outer jacket and rolled up his sleeves, turning toward a rolled-up leather case and unrolling it, exposing a variety of knives, scissors, and other tools. He chose something that looked suspiciously like pliers. Next to the leather carry case was a wad of white material and a large dark coloured glass bottle. He unscrewed the top of the bottle and poured liquid onto a wad of the material, that Jason noticed didn’t seem entirely clean.

The man leaned toward Gideon who had put his head against the tall back of the chair and closed his eyes. The doctor adjusted the goggles over his eyes and turned a large knob on one side. He looked up before he started. ‘It’s a magnifier,’ the doctor explained, before wiping the liquid-soaked material over and around Gideon’s wound. Gideon breathed in sharply and his eyes flew open.

‘Sorry.’

Jason realized that the doctor wasn’t English and spoke with a North American accent. Or rather, he corrected himself, United American Empire.

‘You’re not from here,’ Jason wondered aloud as the doctor continued to swab at Gideon’s wound.

A shake of dark hair was the response as the doctor threw the wad of material into a basket on the floor, before grabbing the large pliers.

‘No, I’m not.’

The doctor leaned back to the array of tools and grabbed a thick hardened piece of leather. ‘Here,’ he said, offering it to Gideon.

Gideon simply nodded, understanding what he was meant to do and placed it in his mouth, between his molars, biting down.

‘Now remember to breathe.’ The doctor spoke in as soothing tone as he could manage. ‘Breathe through your nose, in and out.’

Something struck Jason as odd about the doctor. It was more than the non-British accent but he couldn’t place it.

‘Practice breathing through your nose,’ the doctor continued, as Jason wracked his brain as to why the doctor seemed so familiar.

Gideon did as he was told, and suddenly, unexpectedly the doctor leaned in, placed a steadying hand on Gideon’s shoulder and plunged the pliers into the wound.

Gideon’s face contorted in pain as he screamed and bit down on the leather at the same time, snorting like an angry bull. He twisted and wriggled, trying to free himself from what was being done to him.

‘Don’t move! It will only make it worse!’ He paused and a moment later pulled back, removing the tip of the tool from inside Gideon’s chest and Jason could see a lump of metal – covered in blood and tissue, but it was the bullet none-the-less.

Gideon spat the leather bit from his mouth and screamed loudly, like a caged bear.

‘Shhh,’ the doctor soothed. He grabbed another piece of white material from the pile and pouring more yellowish liquid onto it. ‘It’s not done yet. I need to put this inside the wound briefly, to cleanse it, and then remove it and bandage it up. Otherwise, it could become infected. As he spoke, the doctor wadded the material into a ball and stuffed it into the hole made by the bullet causing Gideon to scream like a banshee again.

‘Breathe,’ reminded the doctor, as he reached behind and removed yet another instrument, this time a smaller pair of pliers from the array of tools, and used it to remove the material from the wound. It had turned a brilliant red with blood.

‘There,’ he said, satisfied, taking yet another square of material and placing it over the hole. ‘Hold this,’ he instructed. Gideon did so, glaring at his saviour with his strange golden eyes which made him look more demonic than not, Jason thought.

The doctor cut strips of adhesive material, sealed the bandage, and leaned back. ‘There you go.’ He removed his large goggles, pushing it on top of his head and Jason let out a small scream.

The doctor turned large bright blue eyes toward him. Jason stared and felt the colour drain from his face. He tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come.

A look of concern passed over the doctor’s fine features. Her feminine features. And Jason realized the doctor was a woman. Her dark hair was tied back in braids, held in place by the thick straps of the goggles.

Even in the dim light of the room, Jason could make out the smattering of freckles that hadn’t entirely faded with age. He opened his mouth again, and closed it. And then opened it. He realized he was looking a lot like a fish, and that he was just staring at the woman.

‘Are you okay?’ the woman asked, leaning towards Jason, placing a gentle hand on his knee, concerned.

‘You…’ he managed. ‘You look really familiar…’ he breathed. ‘But you can’t be who I think you are. You’re much older.’

The woman laughed. It wasn’t the most feminine sound, and she gave a playfully wounded look. ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever met someone where the first thing they say to me is, ‘you look old!’ She laughed again.

Jason looked over at Gideon trying to catch his eye, to ask him silently, telepathically, if he thought the woman in front of him was who Jason thought she was.

‘I don’t mean to be rude,’ said Jason, suddenly becoming nervous, ‘but could I ask your name?’

The woman looked shocked to be asked such a blunt question, and Gideon looked confused, looking from Jason to the doctor and back again. And then understanding seemed to dawn and Gideon turned his wheat coloured eyes to the doctor and the two men stared at her.

She pushed her chair back slightly away from them, clearly uncomfortable. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you’re wanting-‘.

‘We don’t want anything,’ interrupted Jason. ‘I just think you look familiar that’s all. I think I might know someone…’ he trailed off and then began again. ‘I might know a relative of yours.’

The doctor breathed an audible sigh of relief. ‘You sound like you’re from the UAE too.’

Jason smiled, ‘Well, yes and no,’ he said, referring to Gideon being from there, but not himself.

‘Okay….’ The woman said, again confused. ‘In any case, my name is Ruth.’

Jason suddenly lost his voice again and couldn’t speak. He looked to Gideon for help and saw his colour seemed to be returning – a light dusting of bronze, like a permanent tan.

Then Jason realized that Gideon wouldn’t know Rue’s last name. He took a deep breath and the words tumbled out with his exhale. ‘Are you related to Rue…’ he paused, and then remembered Kieran’s last name. ‘Rue Carter? Kieran’s adopted daughter?’ His words hung in the air; unclaimed and smothered by a silence so heavy it seemed to suffocate the three inhabitants of the room.

As Gideon was regaining his colour, Ruth lost hers. ‘Kieran,’ she whispered so quietly that Jason could barely hear her. ‘Rue,’ she repeated. ‘I haven’t heard that in years. But…’ she turned and leaned forward elbows on knees, staring at Jason. ‘J-,’ she breathed. She opened her mouth to try again. ‘Ja-‘

Jason decided to put her out of her misery. ‘Jason?’ he said, filling the gap as a question.

Ruth pushed her chair back further away at the same time as a silent scream erupted from her open mouth.

‘Jason!’ she screamed. Her blue eyes grew almost impossibly larger. ‘Jason Calvert,’ she screeched.

Jason broke into a wide smile and nodded. ‘Yes!’ Then confusion clouded his face. ‘But how…?’ he asked, wondering how the woman sitting before him could be the same Rue that was the fifteen-year-old girl he had just left when he went through the old rounded door in the Tower of Knowledge with Gideon, just before they had appeared in the Underground.

Ruth launched herself from her chair and wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck in a hug. ‘I can’t believe it’s you!’ she said into his ear. I didn’t recognize you; it’s been so long…and you look the same,’ she said leaning back to look at his face, her hands resting on his shoulders.

She scanned his face. ‘Yes, you haven’t changed one bit from what I remember when you first arrived from your layer to ours all those years ago.’

She turned and looked at Gideon and for the first time she really looked at him. ‘But how is it…’ she paused. ‘Aren’t you Janus?’

Gideon nodded, acknowledging his pseudonym.

‘But when you left us, you’d just been shot by the Emperor and you were going through the door back to your world,’ she turned back to Jason and looked at him as she said those words. ‘Have you been injured again? And why have you come back?’

Jason shook his head, a strange, muddled fuzzy feeling washing over him. ‘No, you don’t understand. The bullet you just removed is the Emperor’s. From the Emperor shooting Ja-, I mean Gideon. We went through the tower door and we ended up here, just a little while ago. And we came straight to the first doctor we could find. You.’

‘But…’ Ruth shook her head in disbelief, shaking loose her tied back hair. She removed the bulky goggles and placed them on the table. ‘I don’t understand. So, you went through the door and just ended up here? Back in our layer?’

‘Yes. But I’m confused why you’re over here in the