Read Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3) Online

Authors: Lindsay Buroker

Tags: #fantasy, #steampunk, #fantasy adventure, #historical fantasy, #ya fantasy, #fantasy novella, #ya steampunk, #ya historical fantasy, #flash gold

Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3) (14 page)

BOOK: Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3)
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Though she didn’t lift her head, the girl
stirred at Kali’s cursing. Strange. It had been in Hän, not
English. Was it possible she understood? Kali didn’t think any of
the dancers were from her mother’s tribe, but the northern
languages did have a lot of similarities.


Do you understand me?”
she asked in Hän. “I’m…Kali. Tsul Gäh,” she corrected, using the
name her mother had given her.

Finally the girl looked up. And stared.
“Tsul Gäh?”

Kali almost stumbled. Though blood smeared
the side of the girl’s face, and her lip and cheek were swollen,
Kali recognized her, not just as a Hän, but as someone from the
tribe she had grown up in. Kéitlyudee, the name came to her, a girl
that had been a couple of years older than she. They hadn’t been
friends, exactly, but Kéitlyudee hadn’t been cruel either. She
surely didn’t deserve this fate. She—

The cabin door slammed open.

Kali jumped, whirling in the air to land
with her flame weapon pointing at the man in the corridor.
Cedar.


What’re you…” Kali
started, but stopped and grinned. She couldn’t imagine how he’d
gotten up there—she wasn’t even sure where the ship was in relation
to the city and the saloon any more—but she was relieved to see
him.


I’m here to rescue you,”
Cedar said, raising an eyebrow at her modified shotgun. “Though it
seems that, as usual, you don’t need my help.”

Kali didn’t know about that—she had locked
herself in a tiny room with no escape after all—but Cedar’s
attention shifted before she could think of a good response. His
eyes grew grim, his face somber, as he looked around the cabin. He
noticed the girl, who was still huddled in the corner. She had
buried her head in her arms and wasn’t moving.

Cedar winced. “Is she…?”


She’s alive,” Kali
said.

Shouts and heavy footfalls sounded from the
direction of the stairs. Cedar lunged into the cabin and spun to
lean back out into the corridor, a six-shooter in his hand. Kali
skittered back. In his other hand, Cedar gripped his sword, and
rivulets of blood ran down the long blade to drip on the wooden
floorboards.


Problem?” Kali
asked.

Cedar fired the revolver twice. A salvo of
return gunshots thundered through the corridor. He ducked back into
the cabin a split second before a bullet hammered into the
doorjamb, sending shards of wood flying.

He slammed the door shut. “I thought
shooting that giant burned man and decapitating a couple of others
would make them pause. Not long enough it seems.”


You killed Sparwood?”
Kali asked.


Is that who that was? I
wondered. Yes, shot him square between the eyes.”


Good,” Kali said
grimly.

Cedar took a closer look at the modified
shotgun in her hands. “Are you the one who…”

Kali swallowed and forced herself to nod and
acknowledge her actions. Admittedly, she didn’t feel that bad about
causing Sparwood such pain. The other pirate…. She hoped he had
committed heinous crimes of his own, so there might be some
justification for torching him. Her insides still twisted at the
memory of that flesh, seared and melted like candle wax.


Good work,” Cedar
said.

Kali winced, not wanting praise for
mutilating people, but Cedar had turned toward the corridor and
didn’t see her face. He yanked the door open, leaned out for a
heartbeat, fired twice, and ducked back inside. A scream and a
string of curses bombarded the corridor. Return fire came, but too
late. Cedar was already back inside, though he left the door open
this time. He fished bullets out of his ammo pouch and reloaded the
six-shooter.


They’re on the stairs,”
he whispered. “I think I can hold them at bay, but only if there’s
not another way down here and they can’t come at us from both
sides.”

At that moment, clangs came from the hatch
in the corridor floor. Eyes wide, Cedar started to lean out, but
Kali caught him before he could risk his head.


After I escaped from the
boiler room, I left a couple of men down there,” Kali said, “but
the hatch is locked. I don’t think they’ll be breaking out any time
soon.”


Ah. Excellent.” Cedar
grinned and grabbed her for a one-armed hug made awkward by the
weapons in his hands. He planted a kiss on her temple, surprising
her, mostly because that was the last thing on her mind, but he had
an adventurous gleam in his eye again, like he was having a good
time. Crazy man.


There’s a pirate in his
cabin a couple of doors down though. I convinced him to go back
inside—” Kali twitched her flame weapon, “—but he might decide to
check on things at some point. I suppose there could be others
cowering too.”


Understood.”

In the corner of the cabin, Kéitlyudee
stirred, peeking over her shoulder to look at them. Cedar lifted
his hand, as if to tip his hat, but seemed to remember he had a
sword in it. He lowered his arm and simply said, “Ma’am.”

The girl shrank back into herself. Kali
couldn’t imagine that she’d want anything to do with a man for a
long time. “That’s Kéitlyudee. She’s Hän. I want to drop her off at
Moosehide after we take over the ship.” Kali glanced at the girl,
but she had her head buried again. “I reckon her kin will take best
care of her.”


Take over the ship?”
Cedar asked. “When did that become the plan?”


Recently. I was thinking
I’d just grab her, and we’d escape, but then the reinforcements
burst in.”

Cedar’s eyebrows rose. “Should the word
reinforcements be plural when there’s just the one of me?”


There’s you, the
six-shooter,
and
the sword,” Kali said. “If you and your team of weapons there
managed to cut off the captain’s pants, then taking over the ship
should be a simple matter.”


I see. What do you need
me to do?”

Something in the corridor drew Cedar’s
attention, and he went down on one knee and leaned out to shoot
twice. The return fire came instantaneously, but it pounded into
the jamb where his head had been the first time. He’d thrown them
off by firing from a lower position, and he withdrew before they
could hit him.

Gasps of pain followed the gunshots along
with the sound of someone tumbling down the stairs.


Is there any chance I can
get to navigation without being shot?” Kali said.


It’s out in the open, in
a little room with windows on all sides.” Cedar leaned out and
fired again.


Oh, so even if I could
get inside up there, I’d be target practice for pirates on account
of all the windows.”


Essentially.”

Kali drummed her fingers on the barrel of
her weapon. If not navigation, maybe she could take control from
the engine room. If she could manually control those fans, the
pirates would be at her whim. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to
see where they were going, but—


Can you do anything from
that machine closet at the end of the hall?” Cedar
asked.


The what?”

He waved toward the corridor, at the end
opposite from the stairs. “I took a wrong turn during my previous
visit and ended up in there. Had to fight my way out. There were a
bunch of pipes and controls.”


What’d they say?” Kali
asked.


There was a passel of
people shooting at me. Perusing the wall literature wasn’t foremost
in my mind.” Cedar leaned back out, pistol at the ready, to check
on the situation.

Kali chewed on her lip. Pipes leading from
the bowels of the ship to somewhere up above. Could they be
hydrogen and pressurized air lines that fed the balloon? If so, she
might be able to force the ship to land.


He’s just one man,” came
a voice from the top of the stairs. “If you don’t get your blighted
asses down there to shoot him, I’ll have you walk the plank on top
of Mountie Headquarters.”


He’s got a gun,” a
dissenter cried.


You’ve
all
got guns. He’ll run
out of ammo eventually.”


I have
plenty
of ammunition,”
Cedar called back. “I came prepared. Show your heads down here only
if you want them blown off.”

He ducked back inside before the answering
shots were fired.


Are we still above the
city?” Kali asked.


Yes, above the Trapline
Hotel when I came up. I ran into Lockhart and almost didn’t make
it. I was busy looking for
you
, and he caught me by surprise.”
Cedar gave her a significant stare, and Kali lifted a hand in
apology.


Sorry about that. I
shouldn’t have gone off without telling you, but I was hoping I
could explain things to Lockhart and that he’d realize you weren’t
responsible for those murders.”


Yes, and how’d that go?”
Cedar asked sarcastically.


Poorly. He waved his gun
at me and told me only your death would bring peace to those who
were murdered.”

Guns fired, though they sounded far away.
Down below them somewhere. Cedar cocked his head but dismissed the
noise. It filled Kali with hope. Maybe Mounties were even now
trying to figure out a way to eliminate the pirates. If she could
bring the craft down, there might be an armed force waiting to take
on the criminals that had been plaguing the claims along the Yukon
River. Of course, landing in the city would be a problem,
especially if she was steering from a closet. The citizens might
not be happy with her if she crashed the ship into one of the
popular saloons.


Wait until you see what’s
in the closet before making plans,” Kali told herself.


What?” Cedar asked. He
was checking the corridor again.


Nothing. Just thinking.
How’d you get from the hotel onto the ship?” Kali didn’t see any
special climbing gear on Cedar.


After I evaded Lockhart,
I circled back to the saloon, grilled some of the patrons, learned
about the kidnapping and that you’d been there. I saw the ship and
had a hunch you’d be up here too. I made a grappling hook, ran
across the rooftops until I could get close enough, threw it over
the railing, and climbed up.”


Sounds like a lot of
work. I appreciate you coming.”


I figured you could use
me for…. What’s the plan again?” Cedar pressed his ear to the door.
“They’re being quiet. That can’t be good.”


I’d like to check that
closet you mentioned, see if I can give the pirates some trouble to
deal with. Can you distract them long enough for me to run to the
end of the corridor and shut myself in?”

Cedar frowned at her. “That door won’t stop
bullets. I don’t want you running for it if they’re still shooting
in this direction.” He thunked the tip of his sword onto the
floorboards thoughtfully. “Though if you had some of your smoke
nuts or some such, I reckon I could charge on up there and keep
them from looking down here for a while.”

Kali deposited her lone smoke nut in his
hand, then handed him her flame weapon. “I expect you can make a
lot of smoke with that. Just don’t burn anything important. I still
aim to claim this ship for my own.”

Cedar frowned. “As much as I’d be tickled to
put your latest invention to use, I don’t want to leave you without
a weapon.”

There wasn’t time to go into why she didn’t
particularly want to use the deadly flame-maker again herself, so
she simply said, “I’m sure we can find something here.” Kali gave
him a quick demonstration on how to use the weapon. Between it, the
sword, and the blood spattering his clothing, he would look like
some hell-spawned demon bursting into that group of pirates. If
they were smart, they’d jump overboard while they could.

A concerned furrow crinkled Cedar’s brow,
but Kali gave him a firm it’s-settled wave, then pulled open a sea
chest and threw out clothing that stank of sweat and blood. She
shoved candles and matches out of the way and, at the bottom, found
a pair of six-shooters and ammunition. She stuffed one revolver
into her overalls and held the other out. “Kéitlyudee, can you
shoot?”

The girl lifted her head and stared at the
weapon without answering.


Look,” Kali said,
switching to Hän, “if we don’t get out of here, you’re going to
suffer more torment at the hands of these pirates. We all will. I
need your help.”

Kéitlyudee closed her eyes, took a deep
breath, and stood up. She turned her back to Cedar and wrapped her
arms around herself. “I understand,” she whispered, also in Hän,
though she surely had to understand English if she’d been on the
road with that dancing troupe.

Kali gave her the gun.


I need…” With a shaking
hand, Kéitlyudee waved to encompass her naked state.

Kali looked away from the welts and blood.
Seeing what Sparwood had done made her want to fry him again. “Lots
of clothes to pick from.” She kicked the heap of shirts on the
floor.

Kéitlyudee’s back stiffened. “I will shoot
his gun, but I will not wear anything that monster touched.”


They’re planning
something,” Cedar said after another corridor check. “I can hear
muttering at the top of the stairs.


You’ll have to go naked
then,” Kali told Kéitlyudee, this time in English.

BOOK: Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3)
11.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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