Crow passed over their heads, swerving left and right as he struggled with Kale’s shifting weight. One of the Vangars noticed them. He stopped in his tracks and pulled a short-handled hatchet from his belt. “Look out!” I shouted, but they couldn’t hear me. The Vangar drew his arm back, took aim, and let fly. My breath caught in my chest is the axe spiraled through the air with deadly perfect aim.
Crow’s irregular flight pattern saved them, but just barely. As the hatchet found its target, the blade barely missed Kale’s thigh. It sliced into Crow’s cloak and made a clanging sound as it struck one of the steamjets. A wild burst of steam shot out and the two of them rocketed into the sky overhead. I could hardly watch as they spiraled out of control. Kale held on for all he was worth as the momentum spun his legs out sideways, until he was almost at a ninety-degree angle to Crow’s body. Then the broken steamjet gave out with one final burst. It died and they went into a freefall.
Nena gasped next to me and I gripped the rail with both hands, helplessly watching them hurtle towards the ground. I saw Crow twisting and turning, trying to do something with his cloak. He shouted something but I could only hear broken pieces of his words. Kale couldn’t do any more than hang on for dear life. At that point, he was probably wondering if it would be safer to let go. I assumed Crow was telling him not to.
I couldn’t think or even breathe as I watched them fall.
Half a second before they hit the ground, Crow managed to spread the wings of his cloak and it caught air. They swooped down within an inch of the ground and then arced back up into the air. The momentum carried them high over the heads of the watching Vangars.
Crow angled himself into a slow dive, taking advantage of the extra speed he’d gained. He hurtled past the Vangars, easily catching up with the train. At the last second, he twisted, dropping his passenger to the top of the railcar. Kale landing right in the middle of the fight between the slaves and the Vangars who had climbed aboard the last car. He let out a lusty war cry as he took up the battle.
Crow had just enough inertia to make it to the front of the train. He rocketed up to the locomotive and landed awkwardly on the pile of coal. He stood up, covered in black dust. He brushed it off the best he could and jumped up to the platform next to us.
“You scared the life out of me,” I said, throwing my arms around him.
He grinned. “I told you to trust me, didn’t I?”
I glanced at Nena and saw her breathlessly watching the fight at the back of the train. Kale drove his fist into a Vangar’s nose and Nena let out a cheer. I rolled my eyes.
Someone shouted and pointed back up the hill towards the camp. I looked up just in time to see a sentinel come plowing down the slope. He was bounding on all fours, like the ones who had chased me out of Avenston. I knew immediately that we only had seconds until he caught us. I gave Crow a look.
“We’re in trouble,” I said.
“Can’t this thing go any faster?”
“It would if the engine was hotter,” said Mal. “There wasn’t enough time to get the fire going.”
Crow reached into his cloak and pulled out another small vial of starfall. “Everyone get back,” he said.
I gave him a look that said “Are you sure?” and he motioned for me to get out of the way. I leapt onto the coal car, motioning for Mal and Nena to join me. After he was sure they were safe, Crow opened the burner, threw in the vial, and slammed it shut.
I wasn’t sure what would happen at first. A similar vial in the boneshaker had simply burned like a piece of wood. Crow had assured me that the vial would safely and reliably burn for years that way. It didn’t seem like that would be much help. To my surprise, the solution reacted in an entirely different way to the intense heat inside the locomotive’s furnace.
There was a roar like the sound of an explosion, and the pressure inside the furnace started building so fast that it nearly separated at the welds. I saw blue and green flames licking out around the corners and at the edges of the door, and the steel bowed outward as if it might explode. I jumped to open the valve, allowing the extra pressure out of the boiler. The effect was instant.
The power went straight to the wheels. The locomotive put on a burst of speed so fast that it nearly threw us off the car. An ear-shattering squeal erupted from the rails beneath us and I realized that the wheels were spinning, trying to push the train faster than it could accelerate. The wheels were spinning so fast that it was conceivable they could burn through the track. Or, the axle could break. Or a hub could come loose. If any of those things happened, the wheels might come completely off the rails. The train would jump the tracks and probably kill every one of us on board in the ensuing crash. I shot Crow a worried look.
“What is that noise?” he shouted.
“The wheels are spinning. We’ve got to slow it down.”
I latched onto the pressure-release valve, trying to release some of the energy from the engine. I cried out as my hands burned at the metal’s touch. The heat from the furnace washed over me in waves. I fought my instinctive reaction to let go. I forced my fingers around the valve. It resisted for a moment and then broke loose. A burst of steam went up the smokestack as the valve opened.
As the engine lost pressure, the wheels immediately regained contact with the surface of the tracks. The train lurched forward and then smoothed out, once again accelerating at a steady pace. I twisted the valve, carefully returning some of the pressure back to the engine.
I stepped away from the furnace, glancing at the blisters appearing on my hand. Crow reached out to touch me, and I immediately felt a cooling sensation move across my skin. I fought the urge to pull away from him. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with his gift yet. I knew that he was just trying to help his big sister and didn’t mean anything by it. Thankfully, it was all over in just a few seconds. The blisters on my hands vanished and the cooling sensation dissipated.
The sound of wrenching metal and a scream came from behind us. I twisted around to see what had happened. A shockwave rolled up the train, rattling the platform under my feet. I stepped past my companions and climbed to the top of the coal pile. I reached the top just in time to see a sentinel pulling himself up over the back railcar. The slaves scattered in front of him and he leapt forward, pouncing on the nearest person. The poor man fell hard, smashing his head against the roof of the railcar. I couldn’t tell if the fall had killed him, but the sentinel raised his fist to finish the man off.
Kale appeared out of nowhere brandishing a flat-nosed shovel. He hauled off, swinging it with such force that when it hit the sentinel on the side of the helmet, we heard the klang all the way at the engine. The sentinel dropped back on his rump, both hands going to his head as the steel vibrated like a tuning fork. Kale started to take another swing but then realized he’d broken off the end of his shovel.
The sentinel lashed out, taking a swing at him, but Kale danced back. The sentinel twisted awkwardly around to get back to his feet. “Run!” I shouted.
Kale must have heard me because he dropped the handle and broke into a sprint. He hurled himself across the gap between two railcars and landed on the next one still running. Behind him, the sentinel crawled to his feet and started chasing after him. Nena screamed.
“That’s not helping,” I muttered.
I stepped back onto the platform and scanned the engine room, looking for something to use as a weapon. We had more shovels, but I knew they wouldn’t do me any good. I needed something else. Something that could kill a sentinel. Unlikely, I thought.
I spied a lantern hanging from the ceiling in the corner and a grim smile broke out on my lips. My first encounter with the sentinels came to mind, and I thought of the hot oil spurting out of that hydraulic pipe. I wondered what would happen if those pipes got hot enough to melt. I snatched the lantern off the hook and handed it to Crow.
“Hit him with this,” I ordered. “Don’t miss!”
Crow leapt across the bed of coal, racing
back towards the sentinel. I watched as the slaves parted to make way for him. They were terrified. It was inconceivable to them that we might actually beat this creature. I set my jaw, determined to show them that it was possible.
Kale and Crow met halfway down the train. I heard Crow yell at Kale to keep moving. Kale did so, brushing past Crow with a confused look on his face. Kale joined us at the front, giving me a perplexed look as he arrived. “What is he doing?” he said. “That lantern’s not even burning.”
“Not yet,” I said.
We all turned to watch Crow confront the sentinel. I felt a little nervous as I saw him running towards that giant. I had just begun getting used to the fact that I had a little brother. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to seeing him in that kind of danger. To make matters worse, Crow pushed his luck farther than he should have. He ran right up to the sentinel and then threw the lantern as hard as he could. It smashed into a million pieces all over the sentinel’s chest, spraying him with kerosene. The sentinel laughed and took a swing at him.
Crow tumbled backwards, narrowly dodging the blow. He agilely leapt to his feet and broke into a run towards the front of the train. The sentinel dropped to all fours and pounced after him.
There was no time to warn Crow of the danger. I spun around, flinging open the door to the furnace, and reached for a shovel. I snatched up a load of fiery coals. The others made way for me as I climbed to the far end of the coal car. I could see the worry on Crow’s face as he raced toward me, leaping from car to car with the agility of a panther. Behind him, the Vangar bounded forward, the railcar roofs crushing under his weight every time he landed.
The freed slaves scattered, some climbing down the sides of the cars, others rushing forward, trying to get out of the sentinel’s path. I took a few steps and leapt onto the next car, shovel still in hand. Crow immediately saw what I was up to. He leapt in the air, vaulting over the space between two cars and then landed gracefully on the car behind me. I hauled back and let loose with my shovelful of embers.
The sentinel was in midair as I threw it, and he landed on the railcar behind us with a heavy crunch. The embers splashed over the sentinel’s armor as he landed, and the kerosene immediately burst into flames. The wind quickly whipped up the fire.
The sentinel twisted awkwardly as he rose to his feet, suddenly realizing the trouble he was in. He wrestled around, struggling to pat out the flames, stumbling erratically. He was so distressed that he lost his footing on the train and fell sideways over the edge of the roof.
As he fell, the sentinel reached out to catch himself and latched onto something near the bottom of the car. The train lurched for a second and I heard a snapping sound. Then the sentinel lost his grip and went tumbling away from the train, smoke and dust rising in a cloud around him. The train raced forward, still gaining speed as he disappeared behind us.
Nena threw her arms around Kale, squealing about how brave he was. Or something like that. I really wasn’t listening. The slaves climbed back onto the railcar roofs and began cheering.
Once I was sure we were safe, I climbed back down to the platform and turned the pressure valve down to make sure the boiler wouldn’t burst. The pressure gauge dropped, but only slightly out of the danger zone. Crow joined me, putting his arm over my shoulder.
“We did it,” he said, grinning.
“We did,” I said, glancing at Kale and Nena locked in a tight embrace a few feet away.
“You don’t seem very happy. Is something bothering you?”
I knew he was referring to Nena, but I ignored his comment. “We have a problem,” I said. “I can’t cool the engine down, and it’s not losing pressure.”
He frowned, and thumped the pressure gauge with his knuckle. “It’s not going to blow up is it?”
“I don’t think so. We’re safe for now.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
I reached for the brake handle and it flopped loosely in my hand. “We have no brakes,” I said. “The sentinel snapped the lines when he fell. And we’re still gaining speed.”
Crow shot me a nervous glance and then leaned over to look up the tracks. “What’s ahead?” he said.
“Avenston.”
“I see. And then what?”
“The end of the line. We’re going to crash.”
Chapter 10
After mashing lips with Nena for a minute, Kale joined us on the platform. He threw his arms around me, lifting me off the ground. “I can’t believe you came after me, River. You’re insane.”
“You may be right,” I said. “Put me down.”
He set me gently on the platform, noting my grim expression. “What’s wrong?”
I quickly explained the situation. There was no delicate way to explain that we were all about to crash and die horribly. His smile vanished as I spoke. “Maybe we could jump off the train,” he said.
“We’re already going too fast. We’d all break our necks.”
We turned to look at the slaves laughing, clapping each other on the backs, jubilant about their escape. They were completely unaware of our true situation. “What about the river?” Nena said. “The train goes right over the river outside of Avenston. Could we jump in the water?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Kale said.
I regarded the two of them, trying not to dismiss Nena’s idea just because it was hers. “That might work,” I said, “but we still have a few problems. The first is that we don’t know what’s waiting for us in Avenston. The last I heard, there was a full-scale uprising going on, and the overseer went there personally with two hundred soldiers.”
“Then we won’t go to Avenston,” Kale said. “We go north, make a run for the mountains.”
“Perhaps,” I said, glancing at Crow. “That does fit nicely with our original plan, doesn’t it?” He nodded quietly.
“What plan?” Kale said. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain later,” I said. “Right now we need to worry about this train. The sun’s already up so that means the factories will be full of workers when it pulls into Avenston. If we don’t give them some kind of warning, people will die.”
“We could blow the whistle,” Kale said helpfully and then added, “If we’re still on the train, that is.”
“I might be able to rig it open,” I said. “Let it blast all the way into town. That would at least give them some warning. I’m not sure it would be enough, though.”
“I could fly ahead and warn them,” Crow said, “if my wing wasn’t damaged.” He took off his cloak and flipped it around, showing me the busted steamjet under the fabric. I examined it.
“When the axe hit this and it broke, you shot up in the sky,” I said.
“Yes, it released the entire system’s pressure all at once. I can replenish the steam easily enough, but with no pressure I still can’t get off the ground.”
“What if we close off the damaged jet?” I said. “Will the others still work?”
“I suppose. But we’d need a smithy for that, or at least a good vice.”
I grinned. “How about a forge and a few shovels?”
He looked skeptical. “You mean the furnace? I can’t see how it will work, but I can’t think of anything better.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Kale said.
“Let’s do it,” I said. “Give it to me.”
As we readied for our experiment, I found a toolbox in the front corner that had a hammer in it. I held it up triumphantly. “Now we just need to heat the metal and bend it shut,” I said.
I handed the hammer to Kale and opened the furnace, grabbing Crow’s cloak. He winced as I pressed the edge of the wing into the furnace and the fabric immediately caught fire. I pulled it out, stomping out the flames.
Kale quickly struck the heated metal before it had a chance to cool. The tube collapsed partway.
“That’s not enough,” I said. “That stuff is stronger than normal copper. We’ll have to try again.”
“Try not to burn it,” Crow said anxiously.
I thrust the end back into the fire, let it rest for a few seconds, and withdrew it. Once again, I had to stomp out the flames. Before the metal cooled, Kale hammered the jet solidly shut. He stood back admiring his handiwork. After it cooled, I handed the cloak back to Crow and he woefully examined it. A few inches of material had burned away, but the rest of the cloak was intact.
“Either it’s fixed or I’ll crash straight into the ground and you won’t have to worry about me anymore,” he said skeptically.
“It’s not burned that bad,” I said. “I hope. Do you think you can still steer it?”
“There’s only one way to be sure.”
He donned the cloak, reattaching the fittings to his arms and legs, and then refilled the long pipe-like tanks with water from the train’s boiler supply. With his tanks filled, Crow activated the condenser, a device he said helped to compress the steam. After a few minutes, he said the cloak was ready. He test fired the jets, lifting himself a few inches off the platform, and gave me a satisfied look.
“That’s it then,” he said. “I’ll follow the tracks into the city. I’ll warn everyone I can.”
“Do your best,” I said. “And watch out for Vangars.”
Crow leapt off the platform and shot into the air. I watched him for a few seconds and noticed that he did seem to have some trouble controlling his direction. His flight wasn’t nearly as straight as before, nor as elegant. It didn’t take him long to adjust, though. He changed his posture, compensating for the change in thrust, and took off. Less than a minute later, he was out of sight.
I pulled my attention back to the train and found Kale and Nena staring at me. “I’d better warn the others,” I said. “At this speed, it won’t be long before we hit Avenston.”
“I’ll help,” Kale said. “Nena, you stay here. I don’t want you to risk climbing back and forth on the train.”
Blood and Steam (The Tinkerer's Daughter) Page 12