Read Jani and the Greater Game (The Multiplicity Series Book 1) for Free Online Page B

to her palm.
    Then Jelch turned and in an instant was tearing away across the chamber, dodging debris with an alacrity she had hardly expected from one so seemingly feeble.
    He gained the outer wall of the chamber, leapt through a vertical rent in the metal, and was lost to sight.
    Jani found herself standing alone in a shaft of sunlight, her heart pounding.
    Then she recalled the thing Jelch had given her, and opened her hand.
    A coin sat on her palm, a small silver coin, no larger than a farthing and etched with a curious spiral of words in no script Jani had ever seen before.
    She slipped the gift into the tiny pocket beneath the waistband of her dress, then hurried across the chamber towards a gaping hole where the elevator shaft had once been. She stepped out into dazzling sunlight and picked her way up the hill through a scree of personal possessions, strewn clothing, books, and a teddy bear.
    There was no sound of any vehicle approaching, airship or otherwise, and she wondered if Jelch had been mistaken.
    Five minutes later she came upon the concertinaed remains of what had been the restaurant. Sandwiched between the engine-room below, and the cabin deck above, the contents of the restaurant and kitchen had spilled across the ground in a great wave of assorted food, glinting silver cutlery and shattered porcelain. Large birds with colourful plumage danced amongst the accidental feast, taking off in fright as she approached.
    She found three unbroken bottles of spring water, slabs of cheese still in their greaseproof wrappers, and a dozen loaves of bread strewn across the grass. She gathered up what she was able to carry and struggled up the hillside towards the remains of the observation lounge. She would attend to Lady Eddington first, and then attempt to find other survivors.
    Lady Eddington was propped upright against a cushion, her head tipped back; she looked for all the world as if she were taking the sun on the Brighton seafront. Her right leg was terribly swollen.
    “There you are, girl! I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever return.”
    Jani placed her finds on the grass. “I found one other survivor, and...”
    “Yes?”
    And a creature that I thought wasn’t human...
    “What a marvel you are, child, and you’ve found food! My word, but I am famished.”
    Jani passed the dowager a loaf of bread and a slab of cheese. “I’m sorry, I forgot knives, forks and plates.” She found herself laughing at her apology.
    “Do you hear me complaining, Janisha? This is a feast indeed.”
    While Lady Eddington broke off a heel of bread and nibbled at the cheddar, Jani unpacked the medical provisions. She found the diamorphine and a hypodermic and glanced at the old lady.
    “This might hurt a little,” she said.
    “Not as much, my dear, as the gyp my leg is giving me at the moment. You could say that I fell on my feet when I made your acquaintance.”
    Jani smiled as she drew the diamorphine into the chamber of the hypodermic and administered a small dose – 10 milligrams, she thought, would be adequate – to her patient. Lady Eddington winced, then smiled her thanks.
    Jani was eating bread and cheese – only then realising how hungry she was – when she heard the sound.
    She stopped eating and listened. The regular thumping thrum of an engine sounded faintly in the distance. The creature had been right; someone was approaching.
    “My word,” Lady Eddington said, “I do believe I feel a little better already. Do you know, I can hardly feel my leg. What is it, child?”
    “I can hear an airship.”
    Lady Eddington beamed. “Succour at last, and not a second too soon!”
    Jani kept her reservations to herself and stared down the valley. She recalled what Jelch had said about the Russians being ‘merciless with survivors...’
    She made out a tiny dot in the distance and wondered at the creature’s sense of hearing. He had detected the approach of the airship a good fifteen minutes ago. Oh, please, let