I climbed over the coal to the next car and Kale joined me. I glanced over my shoulder at Nena. “So how did you two meet?” I said casually.
“There weren’t many women at the mines,” he said with a grin. “I made it a point to meet them all.”
“I bet you did,” I said cynically.
“I know what you’re thinking but it’s not like that. One of the Vangars tried to rape Nena but she stabbed him in the eye with his own dagger. Dropped dead on the spot. That’s why they sent her to the mines. I guess nobody else wanted to chance it.”
My eyebrows went up. “I didn’t know she had it in her,” I said.
“You’d be surprised,” he said with a wink.
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the group that had gathered nearby. “Listen up!” I shouted. “We’ve got a situation.”
I explained about the brakes and about our plan to jump into the river. I asked them to pass word along to the others who weren’t in earshot. “Anyone who doesn’t jump will die,” I said, turning away. “You must jump when we say it’s time.”
I didn’t bother telling them they might die anyway. At the speed we were going, I wasn’t sure the river would make such an easy target. Even if we all managed to make it past the riverbank and hit the water, there was no telling how shallow it might be. The river always runs low in late summer. It’s also well known that the river bottom is covered in sharp rocks. Every year when it floods, the river changes course, pulling earth and rocks along with it. Assuming everything else went right, those rocks could still kill us.
It wasn’t long before we saw the ever present smoke in the sky over Avenston. There was no cheering at that point, no more jubilation. We all knew what was coming, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the odds. As the city grew visible in the distance, I noticed a speck on the horizon. It was Crow. Less than a minute later, he landed on the train.
“The workers are spreading the word,” he said. “They’ll be watching for the train. I couldn’t do more than that with the Vangars watching over them.”
“It’ll have to do then,” I said. “What else did you see?”
“There was fighting, but not much. I saw fires near the northern end of the city.”
“The rebels have probably gotten themselves backed into a corner,” I said. I looked down the rails and noticed that the sky had grown considerably darker. We were moving into the smoke. We only had minutes until we reached the river.
I climbed to the top of the coal and called for everyone’s attention. “It’s not safe to go into Avenston,” I said. “The overseer is there, and the sentinels are watching for us. After we jump off the train, follow Kale. He will guide you all into the mountains, to a safe place.”
I climbed back down to the engine platform and Kale whispered, “You want them to follow me, that’s the plan? What about you?”
“I have to get the overseer’s attention,” I said. “I need to pull his fighters away from the others, or they’ll all be killed.”
His eyes widened. “You’re using yourself as bait?”
“Something like that,” I said. “They need our help. They wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for us. They risked their lives so that Crow and I could get to you. I have to try to help them. I owe them that much.”
He took a deep breath, swelling his massive chest and then released it slowly. “I don’t suppose I can talk you out of this.”
“Not a chance.”
“Fine. Say it works. You get their attention and you draw the Vangars away from the fight. Then what?”
“If my plan works, I’ll meet up with you tomorrow.”
“Meet up with us?” he whispered. “What if the Vangars follow you? Look around you, River, these people can’t fight. They’re half-starved. They’ll be destroyed.”
“We’re not going to fight. Crow and I will make sure that doesn’t happen. We just want the Vangars to follow us, not to catch us. I need you to take the others and move north as fast as you can. I’ll give you until nightfall.”
“And then what?”
“And then the Vangars will be on your trail. You’ve got to move fast. Steal some steamwagons or horses, whatever you can manage. Just get moving and don’t look back. Along the way, leave tracks. Make fires. Make sure the Vangars can follow your trail.”
“All right,” he said reluctantly. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Where will we meet?”
“I’ll find you.”
I turned my attention to Crow. “I can get back into the city and get Rutherford’s attention, but once I have it, I’ll need your help.”
“I understand. What do you want me to do?”
“There’s an old abandoned factory south of Dockside. Inside you’ll find ammunition and explosives…”
The sleepwalkers had been hoarding supplies for years, waiting for the chance to use them against the Vangars. I couldn’t think of a better time than the present. I told Crow how to find the supplies, and how to avoid the sentinels on the way there.
“Wait until sunset before you move,” I warned him. “That will give Kale and the others the time to get away from the city. If our plan is going to work, we have to time things perfectly.”
“Sunset then,” he repeated. “And what of you?”
“I’ll move at the same time. Rutherford won’t have any idea what hit him.”
Crow smiled as he stepped off the platform. He rocketed ahead of the train and disappeared into the west. The rest of us climbed up along the ledges of the railcars, watching the horizon as the bridge appeared in the distance. We were moving fast, and it was growing larger by the second. In my mind, I calculated the speed of the locomotive and the width of the river, trying to time my signal so that no one would be hurt.
I glanced at the ground flying by, fixing my gaze on a large rock as we hurtled past. I picked out another, and then another. I had no idea what speed we were actually going, but I knew that we’d have to jump before the train hit the bridge. If I was right and luck was on our side, the momentum would carry us to safety.
As we grew closer I saw that the river was still running wide, but the waters were low. That wasn’t a good sign. I glanced at the others and saw the worried looks on their faces. “Watch me,” I shouted towards the others. “Jump at exactly the same spot!”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In my mind’s eye, I took it all in: the river, the bridge, the low sloping angle of the embankment. I could see us hurtling along the tracks at more than one hundred miles per hour. I could see the bridge looming in the distance, the deep blue water rolling by below. I saw the boulders and sage bushes flashing by, the light dancing across my eyelids. I could hear the roar of the steam engine; feel the pumping movement against the heels of my boots. And then, instinctively, I knew we were there. I opened my eyes just as we reached the embankment, and yelled for everyone to jump.
I experienced a moment of breathless terror as I leapt off the train and saw the hillside and riverbanks spanning the view below me. With crystal clarity, I took it all in: the hard-packed, rust-stained earth, the scrub brush and sage, the gravel along the banks and the large rocks scattered here and there along the water’s edge. Then I could see the water, deep blue and sparkling like the sky at midnight. And suddenly, I could see everything under the surface.
I could see the boulders lying submerged, almost perfectly placed to break the bones of unsuspecting divers. I could see shadows of the banks stretched out here and there, the glint of the sharp stones at the bottom of the river. In one long sweep, I passed it over, and suddenly the deep blue water filled my vision.
I hit the river going fast. It felt like going through a wall. I was instantly submerged, sinking into the icy cold depths, my body reeling with shock from the impact and the cold. For a few moments the darkness closed in around me and I couldn’t tell which way was up. Then I felt my feet pressing against the stony river bottom, and I pushed away from it. My ears po
pped painfully as I rose toward the surface.
I broke through and sucked in a deep, gasping breath, water splashing out around me in a broad circle. I turned slowly, treading water as I scanned the surface for the others, ignoring the shivering cold and sharp pain. One by one, they began to appear, bobbing up and down in the waves, calling out to one another as they surfaced.
Satisfied, I turned against the current and swam to the far bank on the west side of the river. As I climbed out of the water, I heard Kale calling out to me from the other side: “Be careful, River!”
I waved. “Move fast!” I shouted. “You have until sunset.” As I turned away, I heard the rumble of thunder in the west. A breeze washed over my wet body, and a shiver crawled up my spine.
The train was already a mile down the tracks by the time I got up the embankment and started walking. In the next few minutes, it completely vanished from sight. Ten minutes later, I heard the crash. I was too far from the city to see it happen, but the sound echoed out across the plains like a wagonload of cannon charges exploding all at once. I saw a column of smoke rising into the sky and I stared at it for the next two hours as I followed the tracks into Avenston.
The wind picked up as I walked. I leaned into it, blinking against the dust. I could smell the smoke of the city and the fires burning in Dockside, and I noted the acidic tinge of electricity in the air. Lightning arced across the western sky and a few seconds later, thunder rumbled across the plains. My clothes were dry by then, but the air had grown decidedly cold and a shiver swept over my body. With nothing else to do, I pressed on, moving towards the city.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I reached Avenston, so I took my time, carefully avoiding the busy streets and those I knew were frequented by Vangars and sentinels. Fortunately, time was on my side. I had told Crow not to make his move until dusk and that was still hours away.
I went down into Dockside first to get a look at the damage. It was spectacular. The train had continued accelerating all the way into the city. The depot at the end of the line was a large building filled with heavy steam-powered machines and empty railcars. When the train crashed, it hit the steamshovels first. The momentum of the train had pushed the railcars off the tracks and they scattered throughout the building, knocking down support beams and tearing down walls. A massive load of steel and timber scattered out along the tracks and spilled out into the streets beyond the depot.
Then came the fire. When the locomotive’s furnace spilled its contents all over the ground the combination of lumber, coal, and the collapsed walls made quick kindling. The vial Crow had thrown into the mix probably exacerbated the problem. Between the massive crash and the ensuing fire, the damage was spread out over more than a quarter of a mile. Thankfully, Crow’s warning had gone out fast enough that the pedestrians knew to get out of the way.
The unintended consequence of the crash was that Overseer Rutherford came into Dockside with several sentinels and fifty Vangar warriors. He was still screaming when I arrived, a full two hours after the crash. Rutherford wanted to get to the bottom of it. He wanted to know what had happened and why it happened. Naturally, the poor citizens didn’t have a clue and wouldn’t have told him if they did. That only served to aggravate Rutherford even more.
It was about that time that a Vangar pilot flew a gyro into the crash scene and landed next to the wreckage. He leapt out of the seat and raced up to Rutherford. “What happened?” the overseer screamed at him.
“There was an uprising in the mines,” the pilot explained nervously. “Two dozen slaves escaped. They stole the train-”
“And you couldn’t stop them?” Rutherford shouted. “Not one sentinel could catch the train before this happened? Do you know how much this wreck is going to cost me?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know-”
Rutherford silenced the man with a punch to the face. Unfortunately, the overseer’s anger got the best of him and he struck the pilot so hard that it crushed the poor man’s skull. He dropped to the ground, dead as a doornail. I saw the other Vangars exchanging dark looks as this happened, and I realized that they were running out of patience with Rutherford. I wondered how much more it would take before they turned on him. Rutherford didn’t seem to notice.
“Clean this mess up!” he shouted. “Get those fires out, you worthless wretches!”
The Vangars went back to work, muttering quietly amongst themselves. Rutherford stomped back across the tracks to where his carriage was parked. It was a gorgeous steamcoach, finer than any I had ever seen before. The carriage itself was made of elegant hand-carved hardwood and decorated judiciously with brass fittings and gold filigree inlays. Like a traditional coach, this one had a driver’s seat located at the front, but the reins had been replaced with steering controls and the cargo area to the rear of the coach now held the large steam-powered engine.
A Vangar driver in a suit of dark blue and gold waited patiently at the controls. Rutherford crawled inside and ordered the driver to take him back to the fighting. After he left, I heard several Vangars start plotting to kill him. I snuck away with a smile on my face.
I patiently made my way north, hoping that the train crash had given the rebels some breathing room. What I found didn’t leave me with a lot of hope. I climbed the roof of a building near the fighting and saw the rebels occupying the narrow stretch of plateau on the far side of the city wall. The wall itself had provided them with a barrier, but they were holding back a tide of well-armed Vangars.
I saw sentinels there too, at least five of them, though they seemed to be staying out of the fight. That was probably for safety’s sake. The sentinels’ destructive tendencies often do more harm than good. It only took a few moments to confirm my worst fears. The rebels’ situation was hopeless. The Vangars outnumbered them ten to one, and they were armed to the teeth. When the time came, the rebels would have to choose between leaping over the cliff into the sea or face a slow death at the hands of the Vangars. That time didn’t look too far off. It was a miracle that they’d managed to hold the Vangars off as long as they had.
I silently cursed myself for telling the Woodcarvers about my plan. If I hadn’t gone to them, if I hadn’t given them some hope, this might never have happened. And Crow wouldn’t have gone to them and incited this unlikely scheme in the first place. What on earth had I been thinking? If they died because of me, I’d never forgive myself.
I rolled away from the ledge, lying on my back to stare up at the churning, smoky sky. Just a few more hours, I thought. Hang on just a few more hours.
As I lay there, the sky broke open and rain came pouring down in a torrent. I climbed back down from the rooftop and hurried back to the footbridge where I’d left the boneshaker. I was dripping wet by the time I got there, and I had to keep wiping the rain out of my eyes to keep my vision clear. I felt a nervous fluttering in my stomach as I approached the hiding spot, and I couldn’t help but fear for the worst.
What if someone had found it? What if the boneshaker had been damaged, or stolen? What if the Vangars had discovered it and they were hiding there now, patiently waiting for my return? I threw a quick glance up and down the street before I slipped down the side of the bridge and disappeared into the shadows below. I pulled back the branches and cautiously stepped inside.
There she was, waiting for me just as I’d left her. Not a soul had been under that bridge. I shook the rain out of my hair and off my arms. It was still pouring outside, but at least I could dry off under the bridge for a few hours.
I picked up my revolver, examining the barrel and fittings for signs of rust or other damage, and found it good as new. I spun the cylinder, counting how many shots I had left. Ten. I silently berated myself for not bringing an ammo bag, though I don’t know where I would have found one.
The boneshaker’s burner was still warm, thanks to Crow’s vial, but the boiler was empty. The stream under the bridge might have provided an ample water source earlier in the year, but
it had gone dry under the late summer heat. I was going to have to sneak to the nearest well and collect a pail of water. It was too early for that, though, too bright. I was going to have to wait a while. I didn’t feel like going back out into the rain yet anyway.
I settled onto the seat and saw my face reflected in the brass and copper plumbing. I couldn’t help but think of Tinker. The boneshaker had been his last great invention. Just like the plane he’d made for my mother, this was something that might have changed the world. The boneshaker was a cheap and efficient method of travel that anyone could appreciate. All of that notwithstanding, I almost felt like he’d designed the boneshaker just for me. I wondered if my mother had felt the same way about her plane. Perhaps someday I would get to ask her.
I had too many things on my mind. I had too many emotions trying to surface about my mother and Crow, about the death of Tinker, even the somewhat unexpected tinge of jealousy I’d gotten from seeing Kale and Nena together. Most of all, I was tired. I wanted to sleep. My body craved sleep. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to take a quick nap. I couldn’t do anything else until sunset.
I crawled off the boneshaker and stretched out on the ground, trying to get into a reasonably comfortable position. I didn’t really manage it, but I quickly fell asleep anyway. I don’t remember what I dreamed, but I woke with a feeling of despair and the certainty that I had forgotten something important.
The rain had stopped and the first thing I became conscious of was the steady dripping sound of water falling at the edges of the bridge. It was quite dark under the bridge, and I immediately thought I had overslept. I heard the distant crack of muskets and explosions to the north, and felt panic rising inside me. I slipped out between the lilac bushes and found to my relief that the sun had just set. I hadn’t overslept by much, but I had to move fast.
I made my way to the nearest well and found the usual group of women there, finishing up the day’s laundry and filling their cooking kettles with the water they’d need to get through the night. They were running late because of the rain. Otherwise, they would have headed home already.
Blood and Steam (The Tinkerer's Daughter) Page 13