Steamscape (25 page)

Truth is temporary.

She continued to stare at the engraved rifle. Her steady, safe life certainly had been.

That was what he’d meant. Life changes. Everything anyone knows changes. The truth is a rock, sure, and maybe clinging to it would help her survive the storm, but even rocks eventually weather away.

It was okay to change. Survival meant change. It was okay to be who she needed to be in the moment. Certainly, Cylinder wouldn’t have thought about throwing grenades at anyone, but Solindra would, and had.

She wanted to hug the rifle. Her father had certainly changed from the man she’d known from at home. She had never suspected him of being the leader of the Hex. Not once.

There was no permanent anchor to life, she thought. She had tied her foot to the boulder of truth about her dad, and had felt like she was drowning when it had rolled out to sea.

She checked the rifle’s load and discovered she was down to two bullets. All she owned in the world was this rifle, two bullets and a stolen sky-ship.

She checked over the railing and espied a dark mass moving portside on the boat. She squinted. The radar’s trinkets were all gathering in the corner of the display, rattling together like bones.

Airboats, tanks and ranks of soldiers marched through the forest fast fading to scrublands. The flag of Eliponesia snapped in the wind on tanks, on horseback and even carried by some foot soldiers.

Codic had sent their army.

Solindra kicked the ballonets lever fully backward, trying to hide her airship in night’s oncoming embrace.

She took one glance over her shoulder at the proceeding army. “I don’t think two bullets will be enough.”

Solindra ignored the whine of the whistle; she didn’t know its pattern. She picked at the Steampower uniform, walking here amongst all the troops. She ducked her eyes and kept moving. If no one looked too closely…

“Hey!”

She flinched and turned. A sergeant across the way pointed. “Sweetheart, mess tent is that way!” His nostrils flared.

“You’d better hop to it then.” She gripped the strap of her rifle and resumed walking, but she heard his rapid footsteps crunching across the rocky soil.

“Who gave you a gun?” The sergeant reached out to snag her shoulder and spin her around. He never got the chance. Instead, he got a rifle butt in his throat.

He dropped to his knees, grabbing at his neck and hacking.

Her shadow spread over him. “I’ve only got two bullets left, and you’re not worth it.”

“Not…ladylike!” he wheezed.

She shrugged. “No, but it is very human.” Then she leaned down over him. “Point to where the Hex is.”

Her motion brought the red sancta in front of the sergeant’s nose. She could see him thinking, his forehead creasing and his eyes widening as he wondered if it was what he suspected. He dropped his face, still coughing, and waved a limp hand to the east.

She spun around and walked on.

The vessel hoped he hadn’t seen her sweating.

She had attempted to land the stolen airship near, but not too close, to Steampower’s army. It had been an ugly walk from there. The Badlands looked pretty in the sunlight with its different colored bands of exposed strata in the light of the moons, but navigating its deceptive heights was hell. Suddenly, the next step would either be two hundred feet high or a thousand feet deep of sandy, crumbling, packed dirt. Or possibly one of the dozens of dead-end canyons that narrowed like funnels.

Finally, the Steampower uniform had come in handy. She’d mixed in easily enough. She had scanned the mass of soldiers. This was Steampower’s army, almost all of it. She had left Codic’s behind, but not far enough.

Solindra slipped around the tents and decided on the route with the most cover on her way to a miniature plateau.

Her stomach gurgled again.

She gritted her teeth. This time, it would wait. She started toward the helipad-shaped hill, having to dip into an icy stream and climb out the far side. There was no direct route in the landscape’s maze. If there was a worse place for an army to gather, she couldn’t imagine it.

Finally, she stood at the base of the hill and looked up. Drina was talking and Jing was working on the titangle in the center. Flame was smoking something and staring off at the horizon.

Solindra began to climb up the hill and then froze. What could she say now? The night’s wind nipped at the back of her neck, calling her away from the storm she knew was coming.

But she couldn’t turn away now. She cupped her mouth. “Drina! Jing!”

The sound of a wrench dropping inside the titangle was the only noise on the mound. She forced her feet to move, but she hadn’t made it to the crest when Jing reached down and plucked her up, trying to crush her in a hug.

“Cyl– Solindra!” Drina grabbed her from behind.

Flame waved shyly from around the titangle, and then leaned forward with a leer. “Well, well.” He licked his lips.

Drina took a step back to look the young woman over. Her face paled. “That’s Mark’s rifle!” Even Jing’s eyes widened. They both backed away at the sight.

Solindra gulped back her own tears and nodded.

“How did you get that?” the assassin demanded.

“Adri.” The vessel shrugged. “She tried to buy me with it.”

“Adri.” Jing frowned. “She doesn’t know where you are.”

She could only shrug again. “And I don’t know where she is.”

Flame checked his fingernails. “I doubt it will stay that way for long. So you made yourselves public to draw the little spark here, and you don’t think Adri didn’t work that one out too?”

Jing clenched his jaw and shook his head at Flame.

Solindra gasped. “But, but...”

Flame chuckled. “Can’t just run away neither. Would look like deserters.”

“What’s going on?” Solindra’s vision whirled between Jing and Drina. “I saw Codic’s army–”

“We have scouts and fliers too,” Drina said calmly. “We’re aware, but this is bad ground to fight on.”

Jing blew out a sigh. “This battle is just to draw Codic’s attention, but Steampower shouldn’t be camping out here tonight with Codic’s army drawing close. Alas, they’re not listening to us.”

“But I saw Codic’s forces! They’re marching through the night! And this is really Steampower’s army? All of it?”

“Couldn’t fake it, so they sent the real thing. Saturni has some other plan going on though. Won’t tell us, of course.”

The young woman’s stomach lurched. She swung the backpack off of her shoulders. “I think.” She licked her lips. “I think I know.” She brushed away the clock from the top of the backpack and revealed the metal canister.

Jing stopped and let out a low whistle. Drina imitated, but watched the mechanic closely for cues. Finally, she asked, “What is it?”

“Gas,” Solindra replied. “I saw it kill a dozen men in less than a minute. There are more soldiers with possibly hundreds of these already behind Codic’s force.”

“And how did you survive if you
saw
it kill them?” Flame rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cool boilerbox of the titangle.

Solindra snapped her fingers. Steam exploded from the box.

Flame rolled away, simpering and poking at the fresh burns across his shoulder. “This was a new shirt, you know.”

“Doesn’t smell like it.”

Jing and Drina exchanged a glance and then looked back at Solindra, wide-eyed. The mechanic drummed his fingers on the canister. “Saturni said he had a plan to attack their economy. This gas wasn’t meant for the battle.”

Solindra breathed out. “I think I have an idea. Adri knows where the Priory meets. Are they sending the gas there? To take out the whole Priory?”

“Adri probably only saw what they wanted her to see,” Jing said. “And they’re not Codic’s economy.”

Drina shook her head. “Can’t produce war machines if there’s nobody to work the factories.”

“I don’t understand,” Solindra slowly said, a realization dawning but denied.

Flame waggled a finger, new burns forgotten. “People can’t spend money if they’re dead.”

Jing shook his head in disgust. “Gassing the other army, dishonorable, but at least that I can understand. But not Codic and probably Valhasse too. Those civilians didn’t choose to be involved, and they sure as hell can’t fight back.”

Solindra clamped her hands over her ears. But the words echoed around, just as they had inside the children’s cave. No wonder why those parents had sent them to live in squalor – at least they had a chance to live!

“We have to save them.”

Flame hummed to himself and grinned. “You’re taking sides, little missy?”

Solindra straightened her shoulders. “I am not fighting for one army or the other, nor for Saturni or the Priory. I’m fighting for those people who didn’t have a choice.”

The arsonist laughed and clapped his hands. “And what is one lonely crypter going to do about it?”

She narrowed her gray eyes at him.

An orange flash hung in the air like a third moon for an instant. Seconds later, the boom of artillery ricocheted around the badlands. Shattered shouts and colored flares echoed around the Steampower army.

“A battle in this territory at night?” Drina spat. “Codic’s got brass balls, I’ll give them that.”

“I can’t think of a worse idea,” Jing concurred. “But if they maintain air superiority, then yeah, they’ll win.”

Her smile curved into a smirk. “But all adds to the extra chaos.”

Solindra pressed the stock of her rifle into her shoulder. “They made it here already?”

Small dirt-caked rocks shook loose around them as more artillery echoed around the crevasses.

Flame held up his hands and smiled. “And the skies rained down the fires of hell.” He stretched his face toward the aether bands. “They’ll be expecting us to make an entrance.”

“We’ll be fashionably late,” Drina snapped.

“I’d rather make an exit.” Jing placed his hand on Solindra’s shoulder.

She pushed off his hand. “We’re not leaving, but I’m not fighting for the Saturnis!”

Flame swaggered closer. “Battle’s begun and you’re in a Steampower uniform. I’m sure you’ll have an excuse to pick a side as soon as some Codic lad shoots at you. Maybe he kills Jing. He’s a big enough target.”

“That’s enough, Flame,” Jing grumbled.

Solindra turned to see dozens of soldiers gathering at the bottom of mound, both terrified and hopeful. Their black uniforms disappeared into the dark night, but their faces shone like gathering stars.

“It’s never enough, Ghost.” Flame smiled and raised his hands. “Good men, do not fear. We have a plan.”

“We do?” Solindra hissed.

“Well,
I
do.” He winked at her. She immediately started to swing the rifle off her shoulder.

“We need to go,” Drina said. “Before Adri–”

Flame whistled. “Little late for that, Death.” He hooked an arm around the vessel’s throat, pinning the rifle uselessly to her chest. “Adri made me a better deal than the Hex ever could.” He yanked Solindra toward the door of the titangle. “Amazing. I get paid twice for the same kidnapping job.”

“You used to be loyal,” Jing snarled, advancing.

Flame laughed. “Yeah, when the Hex used to actually exist.”

Drina started to slip around to the side. Ghost stepped up directly in front of them, like a personal lunar eclipse.

But Flame knew this tactic and he just backed up to the open maw of the aircraft. “Not today. We’re just going to fly out of here.”

“Not this time, Flame.” Solindra kicked his shin with the back of her heel. She ducked forward, which dragged the barrel of the rifle over her shoulder and along Flame’s chest. Her finger squeezed the trigger.

Flame recoiled from the shot, grabbing at his armpit underneath his bandoliers. He withdrew bloody fingers.

Solindra spun around and smashed her foot against his chest, knocking him off the hill. She pumped the rifle’s action and pointed it down at the careening arsonist. Fire outlined the air around her.

Shadow and fire crossed overhead. A dirigible, raining flames and piceous oil from its guts, started its descent over the hill. Overhead, the skies lit up enough to see Codic’s biplanes flying in on the horizon. Rotating crank guns spat their deadly bullets and the air seemed to rumble and sizzle at their approach.