Flying Fancies Episode Three

By Odette C. Bell

Darian has lost Beatrix. But no good thief can be kept down for long.
When the dirigible crash lands in a vast desert, he’ll be forced to make his own way forward. But what, pray tell, lies forward?
In one word – war.
...
Flying Fancies follows a charming thief and a runaway princess as they take to the skies to save the lands. If you love your historical fantasy with magic, heart, wit, and a smattering of romance, grab Flying Fancies Episode Three today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Flying Fancies is the fourth Trapped by Your Side series. In this world, witches can be indentured by strong wizards - if the wizards are stupid enough to try. Witty, fun, and fast, they'll appeal to fans of light historical fantasy and cozy mysteries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Apr 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215932513

Book preview

Chapter 1

Darian Gram

There was no way I should have survived the fall into the dirigible, but I did. For desperation is an amazing creature. Find yourself possessed of it and never let go, and maybe, just maybe, you will manage a miracle.

But even a miracle wouldn’t save Beatrix Fontaine, the most coveted princess in the land.

As the black, particulate smoke broke around me, as my burning lungs threatened to give up, and as my weak hands forced themselves into fists, I saw everything. The moment that treacherous mechanical Royal guard grasped Beatrix and pulled her toward the massive hole in the side of the ship.

My heart stopped working. I swear it froze then fractured in my chest. Little bits of it probably erupted out and pierced the rest of the ship. But it still couldn’t stop what happened next.

I watched in utter terrified amazement as Arnold stopped just before the hole, his naturally magnetic feet locking down against the crumpling floorboards.

I couldn’t even hear what Princess Eileen said to him. My heart knew this was the last moment it would ever get to clutch at Beatrix. But the moment was not to be.

Right in front of my eyes, that treacherous guard pulled her through the hole. I tried to grasp at Beatrix, but my fleeting fingers weren’t fast enough.

Her own hand brushed my thumb but only just. Then she was… gone.

I thrust toward the hole, throwing all caution to the wind, but it was pointless. By the time I got there, Beatrix and Arnold had already dropped out of sight, plunging through the tumultuous clouds and far, far down to inevitable death.

I wasn’t the only one to try to clutch them back. Princess Eileen had been there in the doorway, grasping hold of it and blocking people from desperately seeking safety. But now she thrust her way forward, and I heard something click between her boots and the floor. I should’ve appreciated that nothing Eileen wore was simple. For nothing Eileen ever did was simple.

Now I saw her expression as her usually pretty face appeared through the billowing smoke clouds. The alarm still pitched and shrieked above us, so very loud, it would crush anyone’s bones if they were close enough. All the fine parts of your ear would become dust if you were stupid enough to place your head against the devices creating that noise. But I wasn’t stupid. And neither was Eileen. Bring her back, she roared. But Beatrix was long gone. I was not.

Eileen turned to stare at me. And I watched the exact moment she recognized who I was. Her face compressed like somebody had squeezed it and intended to remove every single drop of blood. I saw her already pale cheeks becoming even paler.

It was only then I realized in the explosion and the resultant tumbling that my prosthetics had been ripped off my face.

In my head, Eileen would never recognize me. She hadn’t seen me since childhood, for the love of God. And she had dismissed me back then, treating me as nothing more than trash to be thrown out.

And yet I still saw as her lips spasmed wide, as she hissed, Darian—

Her revelation could get her nowhere.

For the dirigible, which had leveled out, suddenly went into a nosedive. It was so very sharp and unstoppable, there was nowhere for me to go but forward. Ironically right into the arms of the woman who had once thrown me away.

I’d already told you that Eileen had magnetic boots. She locked them down harder against the floor, and when that became a vicious incline, she lifted one foot up and pressed it against the wall next to the hole.

At the same time, she grasped me. Grasped me with arms that could not let go. I wondered if I could even hear gears spinning near her elbows. Before I could conclude that she too was some kind of mechanical woman, I saw a flash of gold bands visible just underneath her rumpled silk blouse.

She clenched her teeth at the effort of holding me still. But the effort was about to get even more intense, for the section of wall she braced against was suddenly ripped out of the side of the dirigible.

I was certain it was over. There was no way mere machines could withstand the ferocity of nature. And yet somehow Eileen’s lock on the floor with her foot was sufficient to hold the both of us in place. Then with a mighty grunt that echoed up her chest and into her teeth, she pulled me around. She walked me down over the plummeting floor toward the doorway.

All of the other guests had smartly left already. I thought I could hear screams from further into the dirigible, but it didn’t sound as if the side of the ship ruptured again. Yet. I might not be a man of machines, but I did think I had a good grasp of physics. As this ship lost integrity and as it plunged nose-first toward the ground, the resultant pressures would rip it apart. But perhaps I was forgetting something. This dirigible was ultimately a weapon of war, and it was not built for mere pleasure.

It also had access to a fabulous magical crystal. And while it had not feasted upon all of the clueless witches and wizards aboard, that was quite irrelevant. It clearly had its own power source to begin with.

Eileen got me to the other side of the doorway, then forced her hand to the left. I was aware of the fact she had no magic. Aware in that way you are when you have grown up in a house your whole life and you know its layout. It’s not just a fact – it’s almost formed part of the architecture of your mind. So why, then, a fraction of a moment later, did her spread fingers create force? It rippled out, connected to some hidden element in the door, and created a shield.

I didn’t have the time to assess if this was really magic or some other trick of Eileen’s machines. There was a telephone to our left. She lurched over to it. She finally let me go, but in that way someone does when they are just opening their arms for now. They will keep you in their sights, and if you dare move even a centimeter, they will trap you again.

I was the one used to kidnapping people. All right, let me caveat that. I had taken Beatrix, and she was the only person I had ever kidnapped. What I was trying to say was that the tables had turned completely. But they weren’t done turning yet. For it wasn’t just this dirigible falling out from underneath me.

I sealed the hole. Level off. I don’t care how much power you have to use from the battery, and I don’t care if you have to pull from the guests while they’re awake. Just do it, she spat violently. Spittle splashed over the brass receiver of the phone. And I thought I heard somebody speaking from the other side.

Though I desperately wanted to take this opportunity to run from her, I wasn’t that stupid. As I’d already told you, her look had confirmed I would stay where I was, or she would break this ship apart to get to me again.

Perhaps there was another reason for my reluctance to flee. Where would I go? Wasn’t it over? Wasn’t Beatrix dead?

In the ferocity of the last minute, I had failed to realize something. Regardless of how high up we were, Beatrix had likely already struck the ground.

I squeezed my eyes closed and grasped my wrist as hard as I could. I could be thankful for one fact. Even though most of the rest of my bellboy outfit had been ripped from me – by Beatrix, no less – my sleeves still functioned relatively fine, and the back section of my jacket and vest kept them together. All of that was a fancy way of saying that there was something covering my indenturing mark. But nothing covered it quite as much as my clenched fingers and stiff palm.

I waited for the moment it would blink out. While I had never had an indenturing mark before, I had studied them. I knew upon the death of one of the parties, the marks would erase themselves. So tell me this? Tell me why my mark was still there?

And tell me how exactly I could distract myself with that fact when I finally heard the first mate roaring from the other side of the telephone. It doesn’t matter. We’ve already tapped the crystal. It’s given us a little structural integrity, but we can’t get the engines back online. We are going to crash land.

I would’ve expected Eileen to start screaming, but she wasn’t that kind of princess. She thrust a hand out and slammed her palm into the wall just by the telephone. She either had to possess strong magic or machines that gave her similar power, for I saw a few crackles of blue-white lightning escape.

They did not interfere with the quality of her communication, however, for once more, I heard the first mate screaming, We’re going down.

No, we will land. There will be no crashing. I will not fail. It took most of my life to design and build this ship. It will do what it must.

With that, she let the phone drop. It swung on its cable until it smashed into the wall. She turned. She looked at me, and what a mighty sight it was. Her short hair was plastered over her face, held there by sweat and some sticky substance that must’ve been created after the explosion.

I thought I saw little particles of fine yellow magical substrate. No, catalyst, correct?

What a time to note them. I should really have paid attention to the exact dire quality of her stare.

With one hand on her hip – and don’t ask me how she found the time to do that – she squared off in front of me. This is all your doing, isn’t it, Darian? Well, you will fix it. You have no other option.

She reached over, no doubt ready to grasp me up by the shoulder and drag me away.

But my hand was still on my indenturing mark. How many minutes had passed now? How long did it take somebody to fall out of the side of a dirigible and land on the ground below? Once terminal velocity was reached, surely it would be a perilously quick trip?

There were no two ways about it. Beatrix would have landed by now. But she wasn’t dead.

I did not begin to know what Arnold was capable of. I only appreciated he had been created by apparently the finest scientist in the land, and there was no other machine man like him.

All of that meant one thing. Beatrix still had a chance. And so did I.

I pushed my back carefully against the wall behind me and walked my shoulders up it. The entire time, I kept my head in the same position, my chin half tilted to the side, my gaze staring down my nose at perhaps the most dangerous woman I had ever met.

"Come with me. Maybe you can use some of that secret magic of yours to help the battery. It’s time you