Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (24 page)

An hour later, I located the mines south of Anora. I pulled out my scope and tried to assess what was happening on the ground. Flying the gyro with one hand was tricky, focusing the scope at the same time was nearly impossible. With some patience, I finally managed to get a look.

The Vangars had blown a massive crater in the ground using some sort of explosives, and they had hundreds of slaves already working at the site. I was shocked to see several dozen Kanters -the tattooed giants from the Badlands- hauling rocks out of the pits. Apparently, the Vangars hadn’t been satisfied just to defeat the humans and the Tal’mar. They had even managed to turn the Kanters into slaves. That was no easy feet, considering the fact that some of the Kanters were fifteen feet tall. The Vangars were big, but not that big. I didn’t want to think about what they’d done to overwhelm the Kanters.

The scale of the work they were doing surprised me as well. It had only been one day since the Vangars blew that massive hole in the ground, but they already had expansive excavation underway. They were moving far more quickly than I or Tinker had expected. At this rate, they would probably be smelting their first ore within a day or two.

The Vangars had already built forges at the site. I thought of Tinker’s warning and realized that there were so many slaves scattered around the area that it would have been impossible to attack the place without catching civilians in the crossfire. I sighed heavily. There was no way we could attack that dig site from the air. We couldn’t risk the civilian casualties. And trying to attack from the ground would leave us exposed from every direction. Even with my small, elite group of fighters, we’d be in dire straits once the fighting began.

I supposed we could sneak in at night and rig up explosives to go off once we had left, but I knew that would be extremely risky, both for us and for the slaves working in the pits. And even if we managed to pull off a successful attack, I couldn’t imagine how we’d get away from the mines and back to the mountains. The Vangars would be after us in their gyros within minutes.

Having gathered what information I could, I headed north to scout out the situation at Anora. That wasn’t part of Analyn’s plan, but it had occurred to me that we would do well to know just how large the Vangar fighting force was. It was my intention to take a count of the dragon ships over the city and then head west to Avenston and count those as well, if my fuel held out. So far, I had barely touched my fuel supply, and I had an extra jug stashed behind my seat just in case. I was sure I could make the trip easily. Then, halfway to Anora, the Vangars changed my mind.

I had been cruising at a high altitude, doing my best not only to stay out of sight, but also out of range of the Vangars’ weapons. After leaving the mine, I soon noticed a dark shape on the horizon that I thought might be a massive storm cloud. I pressed on, planning to turn aside only if the weather became too rough. Then, as I got closer, I realized that the shape was not a storm cloud at all. It was a gathering of dozens of dragon ships.

They hovered over the city in a tight cluster, encompassing the area and spreading out so that their shadows covered the prairie like a dark cloud. I also saw several dozen more dragon ships on the ground. Watching through the scope, I realized that the Vangars were removing the wheels from the slaves ships and re-fitting them with balloons. My breath caught in my throat.

Why did the Vangars need so many ships? Where were they all going? And what were they planning to do with their slaves?

I turned back then, but not before catching sight of several dozen small gyros buzzing around the sky over the city, leaving black contrails in their wake everywhere they went. My mind reeled with the implication of it all as I turned back towards the mountains. The Vangars were up to something, but I couldn’t even imagine what. They’d brought all their ships together at once. Part of me was excited, because now we might attack them and do some real damage. We had a chance to take out their entire air force at once!

Another part of me was terrified by the sheer momentousness of it all. The Vangar fighting force was like nothing we’d ever faced or even imagined before, and seeing them gathered all in one place brought an uneasy thought into my mind: We didn’t stand a chance. Those ships had massive firepower. Any force that came against them would be doomed. The Vangars might as well have been gods.

I took a long route to the south and back up the mountains to be sure I wasn’t followed by any Vangar pilots. I landed at noon, and found a group of people waiting for me south of the camp. Analyn and Robie were there of course, along with the rest of my team and about thirty other refugees who were eager to find out what I had learned. Analyn must have guessed I had bad news from the look on my face. She told the others to wait and then took me to her tent where we could talk in private. I felt sick to my stomach as I described to her what I had seen.

“There were dozens of dragon ships,” I said. “Maybe hundreds. So many of them that they blotted out the sky and cast a shadow over Anora. I’m worried, Analyn.”

“Perhaps they have gathered to make Anora their new capital,” she mused. “This may not mean anything.”

“They were refitting the slave ships with balloons,” I said. “They wouldn’t do that unless they were planning a movement.”

“Maybe they’re done here,” she said hopefully. “Maybe the Vangars have gotten what they came for, and they’re ready to move on.” She smiled awkwardly as she said it, as if she already knew how improbable that was.

“No, they haven’t gotten what they came for yet,” I said. “Tinker was very specific that they came for our steel. They’ve hardly begun mining.”

“Then they must be moving, preparing to build more mines.”

“That would make sense. The question is
where?
”

Analyn frowned, chewing on her lower lip. “I wish Tinker were here,” she said.

“Tell me to go get him,” I said. “He has refused every time I asked him to leave, but he couldn’t refuse you. You’re his queen!”

She stared at me and I could see her gears working. “No,” she said at last, “I won’t force Tinker to leave if he doesn’t wish it, but I must seek his council. You must go back to him.”

“I’ll get my team ready.”

“No, not yet. Tinker said he was meeting with the others on the new moon, correct?”

“Yes, tomorrow night. He was going to tell them the same things he told me.”

“You will meet him then.”

“What about the rest of it?” I said. “What about his plan?”

“I don’t see how it does us any good now. We can’t attack the mines because they are fully operational, as you said, and there are too many consequential victims. We can’t attack the dragon ships now either because they are all back in one place and they would decimate us if we tried.”

Analyn stepped to the door and looked at me over her shoulder. “There is one more possibility we haven’t discussed,” she said reluctantly. “The dragon ships may have gathered to attack us. They may have discovered where our camp is, or they may have spies out searching for us right now. I can’t overlook the possibility. Not with so many lives under my care.”

“How would we know?” I said. “Do you want me to go searching for scouts?”

“No. We will break camp this evening, and move deeper into the mountains tonight. I want the tents packed by sunset. Help me gather everyone so I can tell them.”

There wasn’t much more to say. Analyn had made up her mind and I couldn’t think of a single argument against her. Even if our camp hadn’t been discovered yet, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time. Moving now made sense, even if it was a difficult and painful thing to do.

It was heartbreaking, watching all of those people tear their lives down once again. It was especially sad watching the families with children who had already been displaced from their homes and lost friends and loved ones. In the face of everything that had happened, it seemed that this was just another defeat.

My team and I helped where we could, but the truth was that so many of us had so few possessions that it didn’t take long to break the tents down and pack everything up. Later that afternoon, I took the gyro and headed north and east over the mountains, looking for a good place to relocate the camp. Analyn had a few maps, but they weren’t very helpful when it came to planning a massive movement through the mountains.

I eventually found another broad, grassy plateau to the north. It was much like the one we were leaving, with a nearby water source and passable access both to the plains and deeper into the mountains. I told Analyn all of this, knowing that she wanted a location that we could evacuate quickly if necessary. She found this satisfactory, and sent scouts ahead to clear the trail for the wagons.

While the others began their journey, I used the gyro to shuttle small cases of luggage and personal belongings up to the new campsite. Many of these items would have been left behind to make room for anvils and tools and such, but fortunately, I had enough fuel and cargo space to lighten the others’ burdens and relocate most of their personal belongings at the same time.

As the sun slid behind the mountains and the sky grew dark I knew it would be wise to land and continue flying in the morning, but having made the trip several times already, I wasn’t worried. I knew the terrain and the flight path well enough that I didn’t expect any surprises. I did ask Analyn to leave a fire burning at the old camp, so I could find it and reload my gyro in the dark. I built a fire at the north camp for the same purpose.

I kept flying until nearly midnight. In the process, I burned three full tanks of fuel and made at least a dozen round trips. By then, the last of the refugees had arrived and were well into the process of rebuilding their makeshift homes. In the midst of all this, it began to rain.

It started with a distant rumbling that I first thought might have been the Vangars excavating more mines. Then I began seeing the flashes of light over the western horizon, and the wind picked up. We were fortunate that the mountains to the west of our new encampment sheltered us from the worst of the storm, but the wind howling through the high mountain trees was an ominous warning for us all.

“That’s the banshee,” one of the refugees murmured as he fastened a tent to a pole. “She’s a-callin’ for us.”

The rest of us exchanged glances, but no one said anything. We knew it wasn’t truly a banshee, but we also knew that it was still a bad omen. The call of the banshee is an old superstition, supposedly an omen of death. If nothing else, it was a portent of bad weather. Before we were half done setting up camp, it began to rain. By the time we were done, it was pounding down furiously.

Many of the refugees had been sleeping under the open sky. Tonight, they crowded into tents, taking up every inch of free space, jammed together tight as bundles of grain at harvest. There were no warming fires, no big feast. We were all cold, wet, and depressed, and most of us went to bed shivering.

Robie and I took a bedroll to the mechanics’ area and we slept under one of the large work tables. In truth, it wasn’t enough shelter for even one person, but we made it work. When the cold and the wind began working their way into our blankets, we had each other to keep warm.

We didn’t speak much, though we shared the same worries. We didn’t know what to make of the Vangars’ latest actions, but we hoped we had outsmarted them by moving. Still, we were all worried about the rest of our families and friends trapped back in the cities. There was no telling what the Vangars might do to them.

Most of the refugees slept late in the morning. Even the children didn’t seem to want to get out of bed that day. The weather was cold and gray, and it matched our moods perfectly. The rain had gone but the sky rumbled occasionally, reminding us that it could open up on us at any moment.

I spent some time practicing with my new revolver, and I was pleasantly surprise to learn that I was an accurate marksman. Every time I hit my mark, I saw Robie beaming with pride. It wasn’t just the gun he was proud of. It was me. It was somewhat embarrassing.

There was an unspoken commitment between the two of us now. I didn’t feel so changed by our relationship, but it was clear that Robie did. The fact that Tam was gone and I had promised myself to Robie made him a different man. When he looked at me like that, it took all of my willpower not to blush. I hastened to remind myself that I shouldn’t let my emotions get in the way of my responsibilities. First and foremost, I was the commander and Robie was my subordinate. Until that changed, I simply could not let my guard down.

Early that afternoon, we left for Anora. We had a much greater distance to travel now. The new camp was almost twice as far from the city as the old one. That being the case, we were willing to spend some of that time traveling across the plains by daylight. We left Brand and Kale behind again, for the same reasons as before. That left the four of us racing out across the plains in our tiny steamwagon, desperately hoping we wouldn’t come across any Vangar patrols on the way.

By sunset, we had traveled two thirds of the distance and had yet to see one single Vangar. By that time, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Vangars had turned their attention elsewhere. As darkness fell, we found a thick stand of trees growing along the River north of Anora and hid the steamwagon there. We made the rest of the journey on foot.

When we finally reached the city, we were surprised to find that the Vangar dragon ships were gone. At some point during the day, they had moved on. That made us all a little nervous, and more than a little grateful that Analyn had insisted on moving the camp when she did. If she hadn’t, we could only guess what might have happened. For all we knew, those ships were scouring the mountains for our camp at that very moment. I just hoped they didn’t broaden their search far enough north to find the new camp.

“Wait for me here,” I cautioned as we piled into the alley. “Tinker isn’t expecting us tonight and I want to make sure we don’t surprise him.”