Steamscape Read online

  The vessel craned her neck. Codic soldiers had popped open a hatch on the roof. More rifle barrels poked through the portal and more gunshots resounded.

  Solindra covered her head and ducked. More people went down, some clutching arms and legs. Others were gone before they fell.

  Theo slid sideways and tucked the cipher medallion in between his gloved fingers, avoiding looking at it again. He gasped as a ricochet bounced off the back of his leather jacket.

  The gunmen stepped back and other soldiers leaned in over the hatch.

  One of them slid on massive thermal gloves, and then tossed a handful of burning coal down into the boxcar from the boilerbox.

  “Fire!” Theo covered his face with his hands, heaving for air.

  Solindra slammed her hand over her nose. She still could not hear anything. She could smell it, though. The smells of burning clothes and hair instantly overwhelmed her.

  The train shuddered beneath their feet, and she bobbled for balance. “We’re braking!”

  Theo grabbed her shoulders. He shoved the sancta into her hand. “Get the door open!”

  She cupped the medallion in both hands. “I can’t! There’s no steam!”

  “What?” He turned his back to the hatch and spun in front of Solindra just as the soldiers tossed more coal and it bounced off his back.

  Her boot slipped on an ember. “I think this thing only works on steam!”

  Theo cursed under his breath. The train shuddered again. His eyes flashed back up to the open hatch. The soldiers were pointing to the front of the train and shading their eyes against the desert sun.

  The train’s whistle screamed in sharp bleats. In response, the soldiers shouldered their rifles and moved out of sight.

  Theo shoved several moaning people out of his way and pushed Solindra ahead of him. He interlocked his fingers on his knee. “Go!”

  Solindra stared at him and then looked up. “But…”

  “Now!” He eyed the Steampower soldiers marching forward, shoving bystanders aside.

  She placed her boot into his gloves and then she was flying up toward daylight. Her knuckles banged against the hatch’s edge, but managed to grip the sides. Theo pushed; she pulled. Suddenly, she was up and through the hatch. She crashed down onto the train’s roof and rolled to the side.

  The train was sliding forward on momentum alone now. At the front of the car, the Codic soldiers were gripping onto whatever they could while staring and pointing at something ahead. Her head was too low to see what, and she didn’t have time to worry about anything else – those guards could turn around at any moment.

  She rolled back to the hatch and threw down her hand.

  Theo jumped. His leather gloves slipped against her sleeve. He started to slide back down, but his hand clenched around her wrist.

  Solindra grimaced, but didn’t complain. She let Theo climb up her arm until he could grip the edges of the hatch.

  He kicked a prisoner that had grabbed at his boot in the face, and pulled himself through.

  Wheels squealed against the tracks beneath the car, shooting out sparks.

  “Down!” one of the Codic soldiers hollered to his fellows.

  Theo glanced up past them just in time to see the first telegraph pole shoot up past the locomotive’s engine, spraying sand as the train pulled it out of the ground.

  “Get down!” Solindra covered her face with her hands and dropped.

  The train’s motion ripped more poles out of the ground like a tornado in a grain field. The poles, still tethered by the wires, were helpless against the engine’s power.

  Theo flinched and flattened himself just in time to see the wire flash in the sunlight as it passed inches above his nose. He felt a brief, striking wind with its passage.

  He rolled his head back to see the flying wire finish cutting through the neck of a prisoner just pushing his way up through the open hatch. A thin trail of blood opened up along his trachea, and then the head rolled forward.

  The man’s disembodied head blinked at Theo, then its eyes widened in horror and recognition before going finally still.

  The train finally jerked to a halt.

  Solindra squeezed out a laugh through her dry lips. She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. She was in shock, but she couldn’t stop laughing.

  The Codic soldiers spun at the sounds behind them. Two of them started raising their rifles.

  “Come on!” Solindra grabbed at Theo’s arm and swung over the edge of the boxcar.

  Theo was already moving. Sparks from bullets pinged past him as he fell. Both of them crashed down onto the sandy soil below in a heap. He tried to snort out the sandy grains that flew into his nostrils.

  Solindra bounced to her feet and beat a fist against the padlock on the bar across the boxcar’s door. “Help me with this!”

  “What?” Theo leaned back, trying to see the soldiers on the top of the car. “They were going to kill you, crypter!”

  “I am not–”

  More shots kicked up sandy dust at their feet. Solindra and Theo slammed their chests against the boxcar, squeezing out of the line of fire, at least until the soldiers moved directly overhead.

  Theo growled. He glanced at the tracks. They could crawl under there and that would last until one of the soldiers climbed down. He craned his neck out toward the vast wasteland.

  He shook his head. That option would only make them into target practice.

  That vicious, survivalist corner of his mind started to caress his shoulders. Do what she wants. Let them out. His left hand found the lock picks in the hidden pocket along his sleeve. Let the soldiers have too many targets.

  Another bullet bounced off the sand next to his feet. Theo dropped his hand away from the picks. He wouldn’t have time anyway.

  Solindra clawed at the bar beside him. “Come on, come on!”

  More gunshots retorted, but no extra craters opened at their feet. Theo, with his back still against the boxcar, looked up. He couldn’t see anything, but the acrid smell of gunpowder drifted down from above.

  A feral roar rolled down from the top of the car. “The prisoners! They’re escaping like we did.” He grabbed her arm. “Run!”

  “Cylinder!”

  Solindra and Theo whirled. The young man stared. A woman, wearing trousers, had just appeared like a ghost. Thick, long black hair curled in a crowning braid around her bronze face.

  “Drina!” Solindra broke into a smile.

  “Where…?” The question died on Theo’s lips.

  “Get down!” Drina pressed down on Solindra’s shoulder. “How did you escape?”

  A Codic soldier crashed down from the boxcar roof. His skull cracked open on the car as he rebounded off the metal. Above, the shouts of the escaping prisoners roared louder.

  “Like that,” Solindra replied. They saw the flashing shadows as the escapees leapt onto the next car of prisoners, pushing back against the few remaining soldiers. The guards fired their guns, but they were too few to stop the tide of prisoners.

  Drina put a hand on Solindra’s back and pointed toward the emergency dinghy. “Run!”

  Theo wiped the sweat from his forehead and jumped after them. The dark-haired woman paralyzed him with a look. He froze, unable to move. It was such a look of controlled, even calm, hunger. He gulped and felt like a fly caught in a web, just watching the approaching spider, unable to do anything but squirm deeper into the net. His mouth dried.

  Then she turned away from him and ran after Solindra. The Killing Train erupted with more people as the first escapees fished up the prisoners from the next car’s top-hatch.

  Theo lurched into motion. He weaved around a falling Steampower soldier. The boxcar roofs swelled with sudden overcrowding and shouts louder than thunder peals.

  He charged straight toward the dinghy, gaining on Solindra.

  ***

  Ahead in the dinghy, Jing easily picked out Solindra’s fiery hair. He breathed out in relief, but kept h
is eyes trained on the front of the train, down the shaft of his steam rifle. The weapon’s hose was plugged into the dinghy’s boilerbox, and it was better suited for night shooting, since it had no loud retort or revealing flash.

  It fired bundles of long, thick needles at once, each dart equipped with fins to stabilize its flight.

  He squeezed the trigger.

  The two Codic soldiers standing on the boxcar nearest to the engine never turned since there was no thunder from a rifle.

  A spread of heavy needles slammed into their backs, driving deep into the bones and lungs.

  Jing lifted the barrel up when he saw Solindra and Drina nearing. “Come on!”

  Drina chased the girl like a mother hen. Behind them followed a brown-haired young man that looked familiar. He lowered the barrel and idly moved the gun in the boy’s direction.

  Solindra clambered over the edge of the airship. She beat her hands against its side. “Come on, let’s go!” She waved at Theo and Drina.

  Jing swung the rifle into Theo’s face. “You can join back up with the rest of them, boy.”

  “He saved my life!” Solindra leaned over the dinghy’s railing.

  “After he put it in danger in Valhasse,” Drina said quietly. “I recognize him now.”

  “He comes with us!” Solindra swung a leg back over the railing.

  “Uh, please?” Theo slowly raised both his hands, staring cross-eyed at the steam rifle.

  “No!” Jing and Drina snapped in unison.

  Theo glanced over his shoulder at the locomotive, and the last block of Codic soldiers mounting a rotating gun. The metal bulk could fire nonstop as long as someone kept turning the hand crank and someone else kept feeding bullets into its guts.

  The Killing Train would complete its mission right here if they had enough ammunition for that thing. The tide of people flowed away from the soldiers as they started to crank out its unending firepower.

  “I can get you out of Eliponesia!” Theo grabbed the sides of the airboat. “You’re trying to run, right?”

  Jing and Drina exchanged a glance.

  “I know a bricoleur smuggler. She’s the best.”

  “We can’t trust him,” Drina said to Jing.

  “Hey,” Solindra called.

  The mechanic shrugged, also ignoring Solindra. “Recall the boiler. He’s no friend to Codic.”

  The cook turned back to the bricoleur. “Are you a Steampower spy, boy?” Her scowl fell back into the approaching spider look.

  He shivered. “No, ma’am.” He all but saluted.

  He and Solindra both flinched at the booming of the repeating gun. It spit out bullets with unending ease into the mob of fleeing prisoners.

  Solindra grabbed at the steam rifle in Jing’s hand, turning it away from the bricoleur’s face. Theo hardly noticed. The shooting Codic soldiers stole his attention. All he could see was the fire from their gun muzzles. Endless fire.

  Solindra pulled the rifle into her own hands and tugged the hose around behind her. She snapped it up to her shoulder and tried to focus on the backs of the soldiers operating the crank gun. They bobbed in her vision.

  “Cyl, no!” Drina yelled.

  The girl yanked on the trigger.

  The soft “phoot” of the rifle was lost in the chaos. The expanding packet of large needles rattled against the train car. Two Codic soldiers shrieked in surprise as a couple of needles bore into their ankles. They whirled in the direction of the dinghy. More soldiers crowded around them.

  Jing snatched the gun back. “Okay, it’s time to go.”

  “What about me?” Theo grabbed at the railing of the sky-boat.

  “Fine, get in!” The mechanic handed the steam rifle to Drina. “But you’ll help.” He bent low and started to heave out the rock ballast holding down the dinghy. Theo and Solindra quickly jumped in to help.

  The Codic soldiers tugged and heaved at the crank gun, trying to move it into position to face the dirigible.

  Drina’s balance never wobbled as the airship started to rise, and she coiled the steam rifle’s hose at her feet with practiced ease. Two Steampower soldiers charged for their ship. She kept her arm steady and gently tightened her finger around the trigger. They collapsed with a line of needles across their throats.

  “Get us away from that crank gun!” She looked pointedly up at their huge target of a balloon.

  Solindra chucked out the last rock and collapsed back to the center of the boat. She clutched her chest and swallowed her vomit back down at the realization of being off the ground again. “I hate sky-sailing!” She ducked back down to the deck while the ship drifted into the glare of the noonday sun.

  ***

  With the sun setting at their backs, the remaining Codic soldiers limped down the tracks across the desert. The water tower had come into their field of vision long ago, but it only now had stopped wavering long enough to become solid. The wind teased the hose that fed the steam engines, waving it around the desolate tracks.

  “Water,” the smallest soldier muttered as he stumbled forward. He dropped his rifle and continued to plod down the railroad ties.

  A man in black waited on the tiny platform below the water tower. He brushed a few errant sand grains off his sleeve as the soldiers hobbled up to him.

  “Need water, sir,” the corporal slurred.

  Smith twiddled his mustache. “How many ambushed the train?”

  “All of them,” another soldier groaned. “They escaped. Ran away. Even the one with the metal leg, for the Hex’s sake.”

  “Tall fellow?” Smith raised his hand. “Black hair?”

  The corporal nodded. “And the lines are shot. Telegraph’s down, can’t even splice in.” He pushed past Smith. “Excuse us.”

  They limped up to the spigot at the base of the tower.

  Smith arced his glass cane across the spigot’s switch, locking it into a closed position. “Tell me about the train.”

  “Nothing more to it. An airship, I guess.” The corporal steeled his gaze. “Pardon us, sir, my men need water first.”

  Smith sighed. “As you wish.” He lifted the cane and backed away.

  The soldiers jostled each other, every one vying to be under the open spigot. The clear water splashed up against their hands and faces.

  Smith pulled out his blue cipher medallion. None of the soldiers glanced back at him. He leaned against the base of the water tower with his hand pressing the sancta against one of the pipes.

  He strolled away after a few moments, the glass cane clicking against the rails of the tracks as he began his trek toward the train wreckage.

  The soldiers didn’t notice. They didn’t even pay attention to the groaning of the tower until it suddenly collapsed on them.

  Chapter Six

  Theo glanced over his shoulder. Drina glared at him while holding a coppery-colored metal crossbow. He looked beyond her to Jing and Solindra. The young woman was staring at his feet.

  He looked down. Blackened wood crackled underfoot when he shifted his weight. The scent of seared wood rose up from the ground like the souls of the dead.

  He didn’t know whose house this had been, but they didn’t have a use for it any more. Theo nudged aside another piece of scorched wood to uncover a burnt human femur.

  “Hey,” Drina called sharply.

  He jerked his vision back to the air-dinghy. They’d landed in the middle of the rubble, and it sat with its nose rising into the air against the house’s chimney. The mostly-deflated balloon shifted with the wind like an old sack.

  “What are you waiting for?” Drina yelled. Beside her, Jing shaded his eyes at the sky, watching for more airships.

  “Are you sure you can hit this?” He held up the white phosphorus capsule. “It’s a small target.”

  She swung her crossbow at him instead.

  “Drina!” Solindra snapped.

  She lowered the weapon, but winked at Theo.

  He spun around to the airship’s boilerbo
x.

  Jing whistled. “I cannot believe that those soldiers took out my matches. I mean, they couldn’t hit me with a bullet, but they could hit a box of matches inside the boat.”

  “Why don’t we just chuck the phosphorus into the boilerbox?” Solindra pointed at the dinghy’s stern. “It’s gotta still be warm enough to melt the gelatin.”

  “Um.” Jing glanced at the sky.

  “Oh.” Drina briefly lowered her gaze. She brought up the crossbow to her shoulder. “Well, we’re already here.”

  Theo dropped two more gelatin capsules onto the deck and listened to them roll across the solid boards. He wedged a third onto a wooden support for the balloon’s ropes. He raised his hands and backed away from the dinghy. “Okay!”

  Drina narrowed her eyes and slowed her breathing. “Just like shooting an earhole.” She pulled the release. The string snapped forward and the bolt hummed at the airship.

  The metal-tipped bolt cracked open the capsule like an egg. Fire fountained up as the phosphorus ignited on contact with the air. The spitting capsule rolled off the support onto the deck before it disintegrated into fire.

  Drina elbowed Jing and said in a stage whisper, “If he hasn’t been honest with us about where we’re going, we’re stranded.”

  “Codic soldiers could identify the dinghy and you know it. What? You’re worried about some kid, Drina?”

  “No.”

  Theo covered his nose from the smoke and tried not to close his eyes. He knew he would see those memories. Instead, he looked at the etchings on Drina’s crossbow, glowing in the firelight.

  “Where did you even find such a barbaric weapon?” he coughed.

  She flashed him a grin. “What? Don’t tell me you’ve never been outside the Steamscape before.”

  Theo glanced back at the fiery dinghy. “What other things were stashed in there?”

  Jing patted him on his shoulder. “Do you truly want an answer to that, son?”

  He threw up his hands. “Between ancient illegal weaponry and cipher medallions, I don’t know what else you could have!”

  “We should go.” Solindra pointed at the flames where the treated canvas of the balloon was starting to smolder. “I don’t think all the hydrogen has had time to–”