“Sentinel,” I said, pointing. Several sentinels were walking across a massive bridge that connected two sections of land on either side of the mines. A sharp cliff cut into the mountain at the edge of the ravine next to the bridge, making it otherwise impassible. Without the bridge, the only other way around was to walk the entire perimeter of the mines. Even from that distance, we could hear the sentinel’s heavy thudding footsteps.
“What are they?” Crow said. He had never seen a sentinel up close before.
“The Vangars use Tal’mar magic to meld warriors’ bodies with machinery. They are as strong as twenty men. They are the reason the uprising in Avenston will fail.”
Crow nodded, taking it all in. “I understand now,” he said. “This does complicate matters.”
We withdrew from the bluff into the shelter of the trees to formulate our plan. Crow insisted that the best way to find Kale was from the air. “I won’t recognize your friend, but I can easily teach you to use my wing,” he said. “You can circle the area out of reach of their lights, and they’ll be none the wiser.”
“Not a chance,” I said flatly. “There’s got to be another way.”
He considered this for a while. “I suppose I must do it then. But how will I be able to identify your friend among so many?”
“Look for his scar,” I said. I explained about the boiler accident that had scarred Kale’s cheek when he was young. Crow nodded.
“That might suffice,” he said, opening his cloak. “I’ll take a look. Wait for me here.”
My heart skipped a beat as he leapt over the edge, swooped up into the heavens, and disappeared into the darkened sky. I took a deep breath. “I’ll never get used to that,” I mumbled.
I moved back to watch the camp from the safety of the shadows under the trees. While I waited, I quietly watched all the work going on in the mines. I hated the way the Vangars had leveled the mountains into empty craters and clear-cut the trees, but I couldn’t help being somewhat awed. The Vangars had used their technological powers to create machines that could lift a ton of earth in a single scoop, and others that could crush and smelt the rock into pure ore in minutes. The Vangars’ efficiency of industrialization was breathtaking, if not exactly friendly to the environment.
On the eastern end of the camp, the Vangars had built a sawmill into which they fed full-sized trees using a steamshovel fitted with some sort of grasping claw. As I watched, the machine lifted an entire tree from the back of a steamwagon and loaded it onto the mill. At the far end, another machine hoisted the sawn lumber onto the freight cars. From what I could tell, this process was nonstop, day and night. I could scarcely imagine where it all went.
That wasn’t true, though. I knew that most of the materials the Vangars processed went straight into their dragon ships and back to their homeland across the sea. I had seen the ships coming and going for my entire life. The materials that didn’t go offshore were processed by slaves and factory workers into usable goods like lumber, clothing, and weapons.
I truly understood the Vangars now. I had always known they were using our resources to sustain their kingdom, but now I could see the big picture. Eventually, when the trees were gone and the mountains had been mined away, they would move on to another kingdom, and then another until they had consumed everything that the world had to give. They were voracious, tireless. They truly were like locusts swarming across the world, so fast that we couldn’t stop them no matter what we did.
This was due to the fact that their own land, by its very nature, was deprived of natural resources. So they set out in search of more and just happened to find us. It wasn’t personal to them. They just happened to be very good at finding resources and consuming them. If it hadn’t been the Vangars, I supposed it would have been someone else eventually. Even us, given enough time. How else could King Ryshan have continued to feed the needs of our quickly growing nation? In time, we might have become very much like the Vangars, if they hadn’t come first.
That knowledge didn’t make me feel any better, though. I didn’t like the idea that no matter who won the war, we would all end up the same way. I had to believe that there was a better way if we could just find it. I couldn’t examine the thought any further because Crow swooped down out of the sky and landed next to me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I’d expected him to be gone for a while. It hadn’t been fifteen minutes since he’d left my side.
“I found your friend,” he said with a stone-faced look.
“I see. And what’s the bad news?”
“I also found three sentinels within shouting distance. I’m sure we could overcome the Vangar guards, but the sentinels present a problem.”
I moved forward, gazing out over the precipice. “Where?” I said. He pointed. Kale was at the far end of the mining encampment, near the loading platforms for the locomotives. “What’s he doing?”
“If I’m not mistaken, he operates a machine that moves timber from the carts onto the locomotive train.”
I blinked. “They captured him with stolen machine parts and then gave him a job running a steamshovel?” I said in disbelief.
Crow shrugged. “He seems to perform well. The guards weren’t paying any attention to him at all.”
I sighed. “All right. Show me how to get there. I want to see with my own eyes.”
Crow gestured down the side of the mountain. “It won’t be easy,” he said. “They put the bridge there for a reason.”
“Of course not,” I muttered.
Chapter 9
With Crow’s help, I managed to navigate my way down the mountain and around the southern end of the camp without being noticed. My eyes weren’t as sharp as his, but at least I managed to make the journey without breaking my neck. When we came creeping up the hill behind the locomotive platform I could see the red light of dawn breaking across the eastern sky. I hoped it wasn’t an omen.
Crow and I hid in a stand of quaky trees on the hillside behind the platform. I saw a handful of guards looking over the workers from the tops of the railcars, and a few more scattered around the area. I noticed that many of the Vangar guards were actually working alongside the other slaves. That surprised me. I hadn’t witnessed this behavior before. In Avenston, the work was all done in factories and the Vangars lorded over the workers like tyrants. Here, they actually took part. It was another aspect of their culture that was completely strange to me.
“What shall we do?” Crow said after several minutes of watching them. “The sky is growing light already.”
“We can’t get to Kale without being noticed,” I said. “We need to do something about those sentinels. We need a distraction.”
He considered that. “I did see something that might help. I saw a cart of explosive charges going down into the mine when I was flying over the area. I believe they keep more in that building.” He pointed to a wooden shack just beyond the lumber mill to the northeast.
“Can you get in without being seen?” I said, a smile playing across my features. I was getting an idea.
“I believe so. Do you have a plan?”
I looked at him and suddenly had a change of heart. “No, I suppose not.”
“River, what aren’t you telling me? What are you thinking?”
“I can’t let you do it,” I said. “You’re my little brother. It’s too dangerous. I’ll figure something else out.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and stared into my eyes. “River, trust me. You know I can get past those guards. How do you think I got in and out of the sky city?”
I sighed. “It’s too dangerous. Even if you get the explosives and manage to kill one or two of the sentinels, what about the rest? Every Vangar in the area will come running. They’ll overwhelm us so fast-”
“Not if they can’t,” he said slyly.
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Stay here, sister. I have a plan.”
He rushed down the hillside behind the trees and leap
t into the air. “Wait!” I called after him in a loud whisper. “What are you doing?”
“Keep watch,” he said. “You’ll know when it’s time.” He swooped up into the air over the eastern edge of camp and disappeared into the treetops.
I stomped back up the slope and knelt down under the trees, frustrated. It was bad enough knowing we were in a hopeless situation. Crow taking off on his own made me feel absolutely helpless.
I watched the shack intently, hoping to catch a glimpse of Crow so I’d know what he was up to. I never saw him. The workers came and went, the guards paced back and forth across the railcars. Then, a few minutes later, I heard a shout. I glanced up and saw one of the guards on the railcars pointing. He quickly climbed down and took off at a run. The others followed after him. As they gathered and began running to the north, I realized that was my signal.
I hunched down low, trying to blend in with the grass as I raced down the slope and across the clearing to the backside of the locomotive platform. I paused there, making sure I hadn’t been noticed, and then quietly slipped into the shadows between two cars. From there, I could finally see what was happening.
To the north, I saw the guards chasing Crow across the camp and towards the bridge. He had a dozen of them on his tail, not counting the three sentinels that had pulled out ahead of the group. My heart nearly froze. What was he doing?
Trust him, I reminded myself. Trust him and keep moving.
I threw a glance around the area to make sure the guards were all gone, and then broke into a run towards Kale’s steamshovel. The slaves had all stopped working to watch the excitement. A few of them noticed me as I raced across the clearing. “Hey!” one of them said, pointing at me. I ignored him.
“Kale!” I called out as I reached the shovel. “Hurry!”
He didn’t hear me over the noise of the steamshovel, but he looked down as I came running up. His eyes went wide with recognition. He glanced around nervously, looking for the guards, and then realized that they were gone. He quickly jumped down to join me.
“River, what are you doing here?” he said, throwing his arms around me.
“There’s no time to explain,” I said. “We have to move before the Vangars notice you’re gone.”
He frowned, looking around nervously. “How? Did you bring horses or a steamwagon?”
I bit my lip. “Not exactly.”
Kale looked at me like I was nuts. “River, how are we going to get away from a hundred angry Vangars?”
“I, uh… I don’t know. I hadn’t actually planned that far.” I’d been hoping to sneak Kale out quietly under the cover of darkness, but that plan had proven impossible. Now that my brother had taken matters into his own hands and we had the Vangars’ full attention, that wasn’t going to happen. And it was nearly daylight. I suddenly realized we had a problem.
“Oh boy,” Kale muttered, shaking his head. “Did you come here to get me out or to get us all killed?”
At that moment, I heard the hissing sound of Crow’s wing in the distance. I jerked my head around to seem him flying into the air at the far end of the bridge. A sentinel leapt after him just as Crow soared just out of reach. He swerved around in midair and went soaring back across the bridge, over their heads. The Vangars tumbled into each other as they tried to reverse course.
Halfway across the bridge, Crow reached into his cloak and produced two cannon charges. He threw them down and swooped into the air before they exploded. The charges hit the wooden deck of the bridge just ahead of the Vangars. They exploded simultaneously with a walloping sound that got the attention of the entire camp.
Timbers flew apart, twisting into the sky, flames licking at them as they spiraled back down into the mines. The heavy frame of the bridge shuddered, swaying precariously back and forth. The initial explosion threw several Vangars off the bridge. They didn’t even have time to scream as they disappeared into the abyss below. The rest of them turned to make a run for the northern embankment as the bridge rocked underneath them.
Crow landed just south of the bridge and turned back to survey his handiwork. Just then a sentinel came roaring through the flames, hurdling across the gap in the bridge. He cleared the breach and landed heavily on the far side, a few yards in front of Crow. The weight of the sentinel’s landing was too much for the already stressed wooden beams. He took one step before the support beams snapped violently under his weight.
As the floor gave out, the sentinel reached out, clawing wildly at the collapsing timbers. He managed to grab onto a section of beam. For a moment, he seemed to have found a handhold. Then the entire bridge gave out beneath him with a groaning sound. The beams pulled out of the ground and tumbled inward as the bridge collapsed in on itself. The sentinel let out a scream as the burning structure went plummeting into the darkness, taking him along for the ride. Crow smiled and leapt into the air.
I pulled my gaze away from the scene, trying to clear my head. Crow had bought us some time by trapping the guards on the far side of the ravine, but what now? We couldn’t make a run for it. Not in broad daylight. Kale was right. We need a steamwagon, or…
“The train!” I said to Kale. “Can you operate it?”
“I can figure it out,” he said. “But I won’t leave without Nena.”
I blinked. “Who?”
“Nena… I’ll explain later. He turned to run back towards the mine. I stared after him with an odd feeling in my gut.
Crow landed on the ground next to me. He shot me a perplexed look. “Where is your friend going?”
I shook my head. “Help him,” I said, turning toward the locomotive.
“What are you doing?”
“The train,” I said over my shoulder. “We’re taking the train. Help Kale. Hurry!”
Crow leapt into the air and vanished into the mines. I broke into a full out run towards the train platform. The slave workers cheered as I ran by. They didn’t know what I was up to, but they seemed to be under the impression that I was going to rescue them. I considered that as I reached the engine. I couldn’t see any reason why not. The more of us, the better.
I caught the handrail and swung myself up onto the engineer’s platform. I was standing on a grated metal floor in front of a large coal-fired furnace. I noted steel and copper pipes winding back and forth along the engine, connecting with the large boiler up front.
“Simple enough,” I mumbled. I’d worked with enough steam engines to recognize how they worked. I located the pressure lever and closed it, allowing the boiler to build up enough pressure to operate the engine. Then I opened up the door to the furnace and saw a thick bed of deep red coals.
“Stand aside!” someone yelled behind me. I spun around and saw that one of the slaves had climbed on top of the coal car behind me. He was a tall, thin man, built a lot like Tinker had been, but he had a beard and a head of thinning gray hair. I moved to the side of the platform, and he threw a shovelful of coal into the burner. I crawled up next to him, snatched up a second shovel, and started helping.
Together, we quickly filled the burner to capacity. I watched the flames licking up through the coal and then closed the door, forcing the acrid smoke up the chimney. “It ain’t gonna work,” the man said, coming down next to me. “We won’t build up pressure fast enough.”
I craned my neck around, looking past the railcars and saw a horde of Vangar warriors making their way out of the pit. Ahead of them, dozens of slaves were piling onto the train, calling out for the others to join them. I looked at the man next to me. “What’s your name?”
“Mal Tanner.”
“Mal, is there any other fuel here? Oil or kerosene maybe? We need something to heat this fire up.”
“Sure, we got lots of oil, but they keep it locked up in the shack,” he said.
I clutched the handrail nervously, calculating the distance. The Vangars were getting closer by the moment. I could make it to the shack, but I doubted I’d make it back. Even if I somehow managed it, I k
new the fire wouldn’t heat up fast enough. Of course, there were explosives in that shack as well…
“No, that’s crazy,” I mumbled.
Just then, Crow came flying up out of the pit. He was carrying a young woman with dark hair. She was clinging to his back. The tattered remains of her dress revealed most of her smooth, olive-colored skin. Somehow, she seemed to have managed to keep the important parts covered, but that was about it.
The extra weight gave Crow a little trouble flying, but he managed. He whooshed over the Vangars’ heads and landed next to the locomotive, setting her gently on the ground a few yards away.
“Go!” he shouted at me. “I’ll be right back.”
Mal swung around and pulled the lever to release the brakes. “Pressure valve’s right here,” he said, reaching out to twist it, forcing the boiler’s energy into the engine. “With the brakes off, she’ll start rolling.” The massive pistons began to cycle, and the steam engine chugged slowly to life. Like a raft drifting across a slow-moving river, we began to move. “Easy as that,” he said.
I spun around to get a look at Crow and found the girl standing behind me. I’d been too preoccupied to notice her climbing onto the platform. “I’m Nena,” she said, smiling
“So you are,” I said, arching an eyebrow. I looked her up and down, taking in the olive-dark skin and crystal blue eyes, the perfect thin waist and generous proportions. I decided she wasn’t nearly as attractive as she looked.
I leaned past her and saw the Vangars flowing out of the mine to chase after us. Several of them caught up to the last car and climbed aboard as we rolled away from the platform. A group of slaves armed with shovels and picks went rushing back to the last car to fight them off. Crow appeared behind them. This time he had Kale with him.
As the train picked up speed down the hill, I realized that Crow was having a hard time keeping up. Kale was considerably heavier than Nena, and Crow’s wing was having trouble supporting the extra weight. I resisted the urge to pull the brakes, knowing that if I did we’d have a hundred ruthless Vangars swarming over the train.
Blood and Steam (The Tinkerer's Daughter) Page 11