by Adam D Jones
“We can only hope to save a minute or two this way,” said Amelia.
“I hate waiting.”
The door opened atop the wooden stairs, and Isabel took the lead as the passengers shuffled onto the boardwalk. Isabel smiled at the sunshine and pulled Amelia’s hand to her body. “Don’t wander off.” She hurried away from the docks toward a thicket of buildings.
Amelia walked clumsily behind her. “I am quite competent. It is not at all necessary to―”
“Stop talking! You sound like an idiot.”
They ducked into an alley, where clotheslines ran from window to window, crisscrossing the sky above them.
Isabel finally let go of her hand. “It’s time to go over the details.”
“I know the details. I remember them well.”
“Yeah? Everyone knows a husk as old as you has got a lot of bolts loose, so repeat it back to me.”
This is a waste of time.
Amelia began. “We’re going to signal the others so we know everyone’s in place. Then we’ll ask people if they know where the Sovereign is so we can follow him,” said Amelia.
“No, we’re not just going to ask people—we have to be clever about it!” Isabel paced around her. “This is why you’re following me. We might have to canvas the city for a while. The Sovereign is tough to find. If we do―”
“I am to keep my eyes on him,” Amelia said proudly.
“One eye. We keep an eye...Amelia, we’ll try to keep him away from Marshal and that Lodi kid.”
“That is done with my eyes. I will keep my eyes on him. I was right.”
“Yes, but—oh, for...forget it. Now, who are you?”
“Amelia. I was a husk―”
“No, I mean, if someone here asks for you?”
“I am Amelia.”
“And?”
“That is all.”
Isabel tapped her foot. “What are you doing here?”
“Traveling. With my friend Isabel. In fairness, you did not ask that.”
“And who am I, if anyone asks?”
“A spice trader.”
“That’ll do for now. Come on.”
Isabel hurried away from the residential buildings and into streets filled with people.
“Will anyone recognize you?” Amelia asked.
“Maybe.” Isabel turned down a thin alley. The path narrowed, forcing them to turn sideways as they walked. “I haven’t been here in years, but...but Stripes might remember me.”
Stripes. Amelia’s mind recalled a distant memory of the law enforcement in Gamon who bore long yellow stripes on their pant legs.
“You know what to do if I’m caught?” asked Isabel. “What will you say to people?”
“Marshal gave me instructions to tell the truth if anyone asks.”
“Sounds like him. Isn’t he sweet?”
Amelia wasn’t certain she could come up with a lie, anyway. There were so many options.
“Here we are.” Isabel stopped at a tall building with a flimsy wooden door.
She pushed it in, and they walked through dim halls to a stairwell in the rear. It wound up and up, and they stepped over a few sleeping people on their way. Amelia recognized the calloused hands and wrinkled faces of shipwrights, seamstresses, and carpenters. The people who built the city and made it work, all shoved into one corner of Gamon where they could be hidden from the eyes of the elite.
The top of the stairwell led to a thin door; Amelia could see the rooftop through the cracks. There was a small lock, but Isabel slammed her forearm against the planks and the door split apart.
Atop the roof, Amelia remembered why this building had been chosen. From here, they could look over and beyond the eastern wall into the vast desert. Dawn will be able to see our signal from up here.
Isabel turn toward the city’s interior, away from the desert. She stood at the roof’s edge and stared into Gamon, hands on her hips, while the wind beat against her clothes. “Got the mirror?”
Amelia removed the oval mirror from her pocket. “I believe Raine said they would be waiting down there, in the commercial district.” She stood next to Isabel and raised the mirror high over her head.
“What are you doing?” Isabel snatched the mirror.
“Signaling Marshal and Raine, of course.”
“Not like that!” Isabel held it near her waist and titled the mirror up and down, like she was adjusting a belt buckle. “You want everyone to see?”
They watched. In between the buildings, several blocks away, a few flashes of sunlight flickered back at them.
“They’re in place,” said Isabel. “Now to see if Dawn made it.”
They turned around and walked to the opposite edge of the roof, facing the brilliance of First Light. It took half a minute for Amelia to find the outline of the Corsair ships in the distance. Anyone who notices them will think they’re Republic ships, until they fly closer.
Isabel moved the mirror again, keeping it near her belt. “See. It’s got to be real subtle.”
“I see. Because it is a secret,” said Amelia. “Are all Corsairs good at keeping secrets?”
“Did someone say ‘Corsairs?’” came a man’s voice.
The women spun around.
A uniformed man stood in front of the broken door while another stepped onto the roof behind him.
Stripes!
He strolled forward, slapping his palm with the club that had dangled from his belt. His eyes settled on Isabel. “I’ll be. You sure look like a Corsair. Folks downstairs tell us someone was tearing through here and breaking doors down. This might be the arrest of my career.”
“I am a husk,” said Amelia, remembering Marshal’s instructions.
Isabel closed her eyes. “Please stop talking, Amelia.”
Amelia bowed politely and continued. “I serve in the first desert patrol.”
“The Growlers?” He looked impressed.
“Yes.” She made a fist and raised it over her head. “Go Growlers!”
“And you followed her up here...to arrest her?”
Amelia thought about it out loud. “I came up here...to arrest her—”
“Thought so! Don’t worry, we’ll take it from here.” He turned to Isabel. “Put your hands behind—”
Isabel planted her feet apart and raised her fists. “You won’t take us alive—Amelia, what are you doing?”
Amelia grabbed Isabel’s arms and pulled them together behind her back. It was done in a fit of inspiration; something had occurred to Amelia and she just did it without thinking. It made Amelia stand tall with pride. She shoved Isabel into the hands of the officers. “She’s all yours.”
Isabel swore as they cuffed her.
“Thanks for the assist,” said the second stripe, tipping his cap. “Can’t credit a husk with an arrest, though. Besides, I’m sure your unit will be looking for you.”
“I’m only too happy to help,” said Amelia.
The Stripes dragged Isabel across the roof. When the men were not looking, Amelia shot Isabel a wink. We tricked them! Now only you have to get arrested while I stay up here and help Marshal. I figured it out!
Isabel screamed at Amelia the whole way down. Her voice was muffled while the Stripes carried her through the building, but when they emerged out front door, below, Isabel’s shouting was the loudest noise from the streets.
“I told them you’d ruin everything! I told them you were an idiot! I’m going to rip out your eyes and wear them! Do you hear me? I’m going to wear them around my neck!”
Smiling, Amelia scanned the desert for Dawn’s signal. I think the mission’s going real well.
33
“Keep the engines low,” shouted Dawn.
Behind her cruised the second ship, the one piloted by Captain Balen. To appear less threatening, they had agreed to fly single file, hoping to appear as only one ship in the distance. With the morning sun burning bright behind them, not one would easily notice they were not proper Republic sold
iers until they were nearly to Gamon’s gate.
The city waited for them. She could see to the far end of Gamon, to the Grey Quarter where she had spent years working on projects she didn’t understand, projects she now knew were helping the Sovereign live forever and do the impossible.
“There!” said one of the Corsairs at the front, holding a spyglass. “I saw the signal.”
“Send it back,” said Dawn. “We’re ready.”
And tell them I’m tired of waiting.
It unnerved Dawn to ride at the ship’s slowest speed, hoping no one at the gate noticed they were stalling. She was eager to get it over with. Live or die, this was worth it.
The scout held up a mirror and moved it back and forth.
There it is. Dawn stood and turned around. From the next ship, she saw Captain Balen looking at her. Gravely, like a statue that only seemed to move, he nodded and Dawn returned the gesture.
“Let’s go!” Dawn fell into the engineer’s chair. “Open it up, Winston.”
The tall man at the center of the ship pushed the rods forward and held tight, leaning into the new breeze.
Captain Balen’s ship flanked them, and they began moving apart as the city grew closer. Marshal, this had better work, because we have two broken ships against their whole city.
Balen lit one of his empty cannons with a match and winced at the satisfying BAM!
That’ll get their attention. At least we still have gunpowder.
She steered a bit to the right, letting the ships spread out, and then felt a rumble under her right boot that she didn’t like. That pipe’s loose again. While they traveled across the continent, Dawn had stopped the ships four times to make repairs. Since the others had gone by riverboat, which was slower than a sandship, there had been plenty of time for Dawn to stop and fix pipe leaks and loose bolts. But even her thorough inspections couldn’t manage to hold down every part of the ships’ dilapidated underworkings. Oil seemed to leak from mysterious places, and enough screws were missing that she’d had to take three from the pilot’s seat to make it so the fuel tank didn’t wobble.
“Everything alright?” asked Winston.
“Yeah. It’s fine. So long as we don’t have to turn right.”
He laughed, then sobered up quickly when he saw her face. “I forgot...um, they say you don’t make jokes.”
“Keep the lever right there,” she said. “That’s where our fuel’s the most efficient. Then get ready to punch it.”
No sandships were on the way to intercept them. Not yet. But as soon as they saw Republic ships leave the city gates, Dawn and Balen would start leading them on a chase. Balen had assured everyone that the Republic wouldn’t follow them far. By the time any Republic sandships were well past Gamon’s gate, the Corsair ships would have split up and gotten out of sight—and Raine would be in the city square holding a Dae stone.
So long as we can keep their attention out here, Raine and Marshal should have plenty of time to—
The ship started to fall.
It lasted only a heartbeat, but every hand on deck looked to Dawn when the sandship tilted.
Fantastic.
“Slow down,” said Dawn. “Pull back. Got to leave room.”
“Room for what?” Winston pulled the levers back a hand’s width.
“I don’t know. Anything. They’ll send some sandships at us soon, and we can’t be dead in the sand.”
She stood up from her chair and leaned over the edge, keeping a hand on the controls. Something was loose underneath. She could hear it.
I’ll probably have to go down there.
“Dawn!” A woman shouted from the rear of the ship. “Dawn, something fell off.”
You don’t say.
“What did it look like?” Dawn shouted back.
The woman shrugged. “Metal? It was thin and wide, like a belt, and...curved in the middle?”
“That’s a pipe brace.” Dawn slammed her fist down on the railing. “If this were a proper ship I wouldn’t worry, but that fuel pipe could come right off and leave us in the ground.”
She looked at the other ship. Captain Balen was signaling for them to loop around. Dawn sat down and slowly turned the controls. The two sandships flew in large circles away from each other, making wide loops that brought them back to where they had been minutes ago. Balen believed they could perform this stalling maneuver several times before they needed to turn tail and run, hopefully buying enough time for their friends in the city to complete their heist.
“Someone take the wheel.” Dawn waited for one of the Corsairs to run over and grab the steering wheel, then she dug a rope harness from under the seat.
“You can’t be serious,” shouted Winston. “We’re doing maneuvers out here! If you get near the engines—”
“They’ll grind me into the ground, I know.” Dawn tugged on her thick gloves, then cinched the ropes around her waist and checked the knots that tied her harness to the ship’s hull. She patted the woman on the arm who had taken the wheel. “What’s your name?”
“Mia. We met yesterday. And again this morning.”
Dawn checked her tool pack and slung it over her shoulder, then raised the goggles she’d kept around her neck. “Can you fly this?”
“A little,” said Mia, looking at the controls and dials. “I’m new to the Corsairs.”
She’ll have to do. Dawn climbed atop the railing and perched there.
“Wait, Dawn!” shouted Winston. “Someone’s comin’ through the gate on the sand roads!”
“No time to lose, then.”
Dawn hopped off the railing. Her body jolted when the rope went taught. She held tight and let it swing her out and then back, pulling her under the moving ship. Dawn reached out with her arms and legs and grappled a wide beam, holding on like a bug to the sandship’s belly.
Above her, thick pipes snaked back and forth from every part of the ship, carrying fuel and steam. One of you is missing your brace.
She looked up and down the nearest pipes, but each one she could see was connected to the ship with a solid brace. Further in, she could see a flexible pipe weaving its way from the fuel tank to one of the rear engines. It sagged in the middle where its brace had fallen, and it swayed along with the ship’s movements.
Dawn reached out, but the sagging pipe was well beyond her grasp. Can’t reach it from here. Naturally.
Dawn crawled along the beam, moving further under the ship, and didn’t stop until her harness tugged and she knew she had gone as far as the rope would reach. Dawn reached out was glad to see she could easily reach the sagging pipe.
“How are you doing?” shouted someone.
Dawn looked up and saw Mia. “Aren’t you steering?” she shouted.
“Winston wanted me to tell you we’re about to loop around again.”
“Fine.” Dawn had expected that. “Just fly like normal. I’ll be fine as long as we don’t land.” She kept her legs held tight around the beam, knowing they would drag on the desert floor if she let them fall.
“Here goes!” shouted Mia.
Holding tight to the beam, Dawn used one hand to open her dangling satchel and quickly grabbed two vials. She removed the stoppers with her teeth and then held them upright so they drained into her open palm. When both vials were empty, Dawn let them fall to the ground. She clenched her fingers tight, knowing the two ingredients would mix into something sticky, like sap, if she compressed them hard enough.
After holding it for a few seconds, she reached out and slapped the mixture onto the underside of the ship, just above the place where the pipe sagged. The mixture stayed put, clinging to the bottom of the ship like a stain on a ceiling. Dawn pushed the flexible pipe up against it and watched it take hold. As the sandship completed its maneuver, the flexible pipe held its place, no longer bouncing around with the ship’s movements. Fuel flowed freely to the engine now.
Mia’s head reappeared. “We’re losing speed, and the Republic ships are getting c
lose enough to start shooting. What did you do?”
“I fixed it! That’s what I did.”
“Well, we can’t keep up with Balen’s ship anymore. Something’s wrong.”
How is that even possible? Unless…
Dawn pulled her goggles down and squinted further down, where she finally saw the real problem: a deep, ghastly tear in the same pipe. Green fuel pushed through a small gash that was on the verge of tearing wide open.
It must have been torn by the brace!
Dawn pushed the goggles back over her eyes and stared at the damaged pipe. It could be repaired. Probably. But it was well out of reach.
Shots rang out. Dawn gripped the beam and made herself small as she winced and waited for the bullets to land. Nothing hit near Dawn, but two shots twanged off the side of Balen’s nearby ship.
“Time to move!” Mia yelled from the deck. “Hit it, Winston!”
Oh, no—don’t!
Fuel surged through the pipe and the small gash tore open. Green fuel sputtered through the hole, never making to the engine. Dawn held tight while the sandship lurched and swung left and people on deck screamed.
“We’re barely moving!” shouted Mia.
“That’s because you pushed the engines when you knew we were damaged!” Dawn shouted. “Doesn’t Balen teach you anything?”
Dawn tried again to pull on the rope holding the harness, but there was no more slack.
Mia’s face leaned over the side. “I think they’re reloading. What happened down here?”
Dawn pointed. “Fuel line broke.”
Somehow, she added.
“It doesn’t look like you can reach it!”
The ship kept moving, but it bounced and moved left and right when it wasn’t supposed to, and they weren’t even reaching half speed. Mia gasped when the ship momentarily fell, threatening to crush Dawn if it touched the ground.
“Of course, I can reach it.” Dawn grabbed her knife.
I’ll just have to do something incredibly stupid.
Dawn reached around and cut the rope behind her back, freeing her from the tether.
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