Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (32 page)

I lost sight of the dragon ship as it vanished behind the buildings to the south, but I heard the sound of the massive hull splitting apart like so many toothpicks as it struck the ground. A series of explosions followed immediately after the crash, and then one more massive explosion as the flamethrowers’ fuel tanks ignited. The fireball lit up the entire sky. Only after that pale orange light had faded did I turn to see the grim expression on Tinker’s face.

“That’ll make ‘em mad,” he said, pushing back to his feet. “Let’s move before they break through the front line. It won’t be long now.”

“Are you sure?” I said. “We just took out a dragon ship! What if we can destroy more of them? Tinker, I should go help-”

“Don’t even think of it!” he snapped. “The only people out there who’ll survive this will be the ones with the sense to surrender.”

I cast my gaze back in that direction and a wave of anxiety washed over me. I thought of the people I’d come to know in the last few days, of Cabol and Brand and the others, and realized that many of them might already be dead.
Analyn,
I thought. What had become of her? Had she gone to the front as well?

And Robie. My heart caught in my chest as I thought of him and it was all I could do not to get sick. I felt Tinker’s hand on my shoulder and I turned to gaze up into his saddened face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for everything.”

I searched my mind, confused. “What are you talking about? You didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Not intentionally, no,” he said. “But if I hadn’t set the gears in motion… if I hadn’t started with my steam engines and my airplanes, it never would have come to this. The Vangars only came here for one reason, and that chain of events leads directly to me.”

“Nonsense,” I said, brushing past him. “Let’s get moving.”

Tinker had no right taking the guilt for all that had happened. In a way, I was at least as much at fault as he was. I’d been there right beside him, encouraging him. In fact, without my help his airplanes would probably never have flown. I didn’t bother to point all of this out to him, though. Every moment I spent arguing with him was a missed opportunity to get out of the city.

Tinker took a few steps to catch up with me and I began helping him. We’d gone ten paces when a steamwagon came roaring up next to us. I glanced up to see Analyn and Kale in the driver’s seat. “Help him up, quickly!” she told Kale.

I didn’t waste time asking questions. Kale and I got Tinker up on the bench and then we piled into the narrow space between the seat and the boiler. Analyn released the brake and we were off, flying up Main Street. There were no pedestrians this time, no reason for Analyn to slow down, so she didn’t. She didn’t ease back on the throttle until we were well out of the city and the road had ended, leaving us nothing but rolling mud-soaked plains. The carriage bounced jarringly as Analyn slowed down and I reached up to steady Tinker in the seat. He moaned, holding his bruised ribs.

“Go easy,” I said to Analyn. She didn’t respond. All of her concentration was on the dark, rugged prairie under our wheels. It was dangerous driving at night, and we didn’t even have a lantern on the wagon. One large rock or a good-sized mud hole would be enough to do us in.

“We’ve got company,” Kale said. I turned to follow his gaze and saw three Vangar horsemen riding up on us from the south. They were running at a full gallop, ignoring the dangers of sprinting across the open prairie in the darkness. Their fearlessness gave them an advantage.

“Let’s hope they catch a hoof and break their necks,” Analyn said. Tinker turned on the seat, wincing as he stared at them. He shot me a worried look. My hand went to my belt and I pulled the revolver Robie had given me. I had loaded it fresh that morning. I just hoped the rain hadn’t gotten inside the cylinder and washed the oil out of the springs. If it had rusted, I might as well throw it like a rock.

“That’s my girl,” Tinker said, grinning. I grinned back at him, though I didn’t feel very confident.

I waited for the Vangars to come in range and then I leveled my revolver. All three were riding abreast so I had my pick. I chose the middle. It seemed sensible because if I my aim was off, I still might wing one of the others. I grimaced as the steamwagon bounced jarringly across the uneven terrain, throwing my aim off. It seemed that every time I lined up the sights, we hit a bump or rock and went bouncing all over the place. I lost my aim and realigned my sights three times before I finally just squeezed off a shot.

My patience paid off. Kale let out a cheer as the middle horseman fell out of his saddle. Unfortunately, I had also lost precious moments and now they were practically upon us. I leveled my revolver at the next horseman just as a spear flew past me, impaling the boiler. Kale screamed as a burst of hot steam struck him on the side of the face. He pushed himself away, tumbling backwards over the seat and right into Analyn. The steam carriage took a sudden turn to the right as Analyn lost her grip on the controls, and we went up on two wheels.

My first response was to reach out to Tinker to keep him from falling under the wheels. Because of that, I lost my grip on the revolver and it tumbled into the bed of the wagon. The entire vehicle lifted sideways and I was sure we would roll, but Tinker managed to grab the controls and right us just as the Vangars caught up with us.

 The wheels crashed to the ground and I heard the disconcerting sound of something metal breaking underneath us. For the moment, the wagon kept rolling, but Tinker was already slowing the vehicle down in an attempt to keep it under control. Analyn twisted awkwardly, trying to help Kale get upright. He was lying halfway across her with his head down by the floorboards. He was probably in shock after the scalding he’d just received.

I turned, scanning the bed of the wagon for my revolver. One of the Vangar horseman caught up to us and leapt from his mount onto the back of the wagon. My hand instinctively went to my sword as I struggled to get to my feet, but the Vangar saw what I was doing. He backhanded me so hard I twisted in a circle and nearly toppled out of the wagon. Tinker reached around to steady me. I saw stars flashing across my vision and felt numbness slowly spreading out from my jaw. In the corner of my vision, I saw the Vangar stepping over me.

Somehow, Kale had managed to get to his feet. I saw him leap at the Vangar. The massive warrior took the brunt of the impact in his gut, but it didn’t even phase him. He lowered his stance and threw his arms around Kale, lifting the young warrior into the air. And then he threw him off the wagon.

Chapter 30

I screamed as I saw Kale’s body disappear over the edge and vanish in the darkness behind us. I leapt to my feet, ignoring the blood trickling from my nose, and locked my hand around the grip of my sword. I drew it in a fluid slicing motion that swept across the Vangar’s chest. He danced away, the edge of my sword sliding across his tunic. I had cut through the rough leather, but only barely scratched his skin. The Vangar snarled as he reached for his own massive sword.

I took another immediate swing at him, but the Vangar easily parried my blow. He countered with a heavy swing from his shoulder that could have decapitated me if I hadn’t ducked out of reach. I thrust up with my sword, hoping to gut him. The Vangar twisted aside and lashed out with his left hand, striking me full on the side of the head. I saw stars, and a ringing noise filled my ears. Dizziness washed over me and I fell back. Tinker must have caught me, because I lost consciousness for a moment.

I sucked in a deep breath and then pushed myself up, my eyes fluttering as the Vangar’s massive shape filled my vision. He stood over the three of us, his sword raised, a wicked bloodthirsty grin cutting across his face. I stared at him helplessly, completely aware of the fact that I was going to die, but unable to do anything more to stop it. Strangely, I didn’t feel afraid. I was simply disgusted by the fact that the last thing I’d see was his hideous face.

Then a massive shadow appeared behind him and I heard the rush of wind and the roar of an engine. A gyro came into view. The front wheel slammed into the warrior’s back. The impact lifted him out of the wagon, hurling him forward through the air. He let out a shriek as he somersaulted over our heads and crashed to the ground in front of us.

Despite the loss of boiler pressure, the steamwagon was still moving. Analyn hit the brakes and twisted the controls, trying to avoid crashing into our fallen enemy. I slid back across the seat, taking the place on the floorboards that had recently been occupied by Kale.

Analyn somehow managed to swerve around the Vangar, once again nearly toppling the steamwagon in the process. The only thing that saved us was that we’d lost most of our steam by that point, and we were mostly just coasting. I pulled myself around, trying to get back to my feet without hurting Tinker too badly. The moment I could, I launched myself back over the seat and frantically began searching the floor of the wagon for my revolver. For a moment, I lost sight of the third Vangar, but I knew he was still there. A second later, I heard a guttural roar behind me and I spun around to face him as he landed on the back of the steamwagon.

He threw his head back laughing, and pulled a massive axe from a baldric across his shoulder. His matted blond hair billowed like straw in the wind, his blackened teeth shining in the starlight. He took a step forward, raising the axe to finish me off just as my fingers closed around the grip of my revolver. I leveled it at his chest and squeezed the trigger.

Once again, my aim was off. I shot him in the face. The sound of his laughter vanished with the click of my spring-loaded revolver and he fell backwards, toppling off the end of the wagon. I pushed myself up, scrambling to see him, trying to make sure he was dead. It was only then that I realized we weren’t moving anymore. The Vangar’s body lay twitching on the ground before me.

I turned to see Analyn and Tinker watching me. We all stared at each other for a moment. Then I heard a noise up ahead and saw Robie running towards us, appearing out of the darkness.

“Are you all right?” he said breathlessly. “Is anyone hurt?”

“Kale,” Analyn said. “We lost him over the side.”

I leapt off the back of the wagon, my eyes scanning the darkness. Robie was right on my heels as I took off running. I cut back and forth across the wagon’s path several times before I finally made out the dim glow of Kale’s body in the distance. I made a beeline for him with Robie right behind me.

When I found Kale, he was lying on the ground, unconscious. I knelt down, laying my hands on him, and closed my eyes. My vision went dark. Gradually, Kale’s internal organs came into focus. I saw a mass of pink flesh steadily rising and falling, and the rhythm of his heartbeat filled my ears. I pulled back, spinning, searching. His bloodstream coursed through my vision, round, globulous molecules hurtling in and out of my path, racing past me with determined intensity. I moved my consciousness back and forth through his body, following both intuition and the rush of chemicals in his bloodstream until I found two broken ribs. Upon closer inspection, I realized that one of the ribs had punctured his lung.

I heard Robie say something in the background, but I missed the words. I was too busy trying to save Kale’s life. I pressed against his torso, physically moving the bone aside as I willed his lung tissue to meld back to together in a tight seam. It took a lot of energy, but the mend held, and I increased the speed of this process by causing the tissue to soak up the blood and fluids surrounding the wound. Kale’s breathing immediately became less laborious and the death rattle faded away. His chest rose and fell with an unconscious rhythm.

I spent a few more minutes pulling Kale’s ribs back together, but the repairs were weak. I couldn’t do any better without pulling materials from somewhere else in his body, and Kale was too young for such a procedure. Not only that, but I had a sense of urgency about our situation. I knew we needed to move and that I couldn’t do any more than what was absolutely necessary. I pulled away and the
sight
faded from my mind.

Cool night air washed over me, filling my lungs with the scent of the earth and the vague scent of smoke. For a moment, I almost forgot where I was. Shakily, I rose to my feet and turned around, looking for Robie. Instead, I found Analyn watching over me.

“Where is he?”

“Robie left,” she said. “We have to move.”

I frowned. “You let him leave?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “Look behind you.”

I turned slowly and raised my eyes to see the horrifying shape of a black dragon ship in the distance. It was moving steadily in our direction. “They’re not letting anyone escape this time,” Analyn said. “Not if they can help it.”

I turned to look at her. “What are we going to do?” I said. “We can’t carry Kale! And Tinker can barely walk…”

A gyroplane roared past us, just a few yards overhead. I turned, watching Robie bear down on the dragon ship. My heart sank in my chest. “What is he doing?”

“I don’t know. He said he could stop them. Come, we need to move.”

I heard Analyn’s words but they didn’t even register. I stood there, watching in horror as Robie circled the dragon ship firing his last few rounds, trying to get their attention. I heard the crack of cannon charges, the echoing report, and I saw the Vangars’ answer his attack with a flamethrower. I almost cheered as Robie
whooshed
out of reach and then circled around from the other side, pounding at them again.

“We need to move,” Analyn was saying in my ear. “His rifle won’t do much against that ship. He won’t hold them off for long.”

“No, he won’t,” I said distantly. I had a curious thought as I saw Robie circle the ship once more and then vanish in the air to the south.

“Breeze move now!” Analyn said.

I turned to stare at her and realized that she was carrying Kale. He was nearly as tall as she was, but Analyn had managed to get his arm over her shoulder in the same way I had done with Tinker. Only Kale wasn’t conscious, he was dead weight, and she was dragging him. I rushed up to her side and caught his other arm.