But the cabin was already rising. Tolemek snatched up his tool, stuck it in his mouth, and leaped. He caught the edge of the cabin bottom with his fingers. For a moment, he stared at the cylinder, now dangling from a single nail and being battered by the wind. This would not end well.
He debated on grabbing it and simply trying to tear it the rest of the way free, but he dared not. For all he knew, that nail was snugged up against one of the ampoules, and jerking it to the side would break the glass.
Tendons straining, Tolemek pulled himself into the cabin by his fingers. He turned and flopped onto his belly, hanging halfway outside, hoping he could reach the canister. Now he could barely see it. The soft glow of the soulblade, still stuck in the dirt below, faded as the cabin rose, creaking and groaning on its cable. Not to mention that he had left Jaxi behind for any passerby to pick up.
Reason Number Two why nobody in your family will be trusted with a soulblade.
Tolemek pressed his feet into the sides of the cabin to brace his body, then folded himself in half, bending under the floor. He found the canister by touch, though without being able to see what he was doing, he was terrified he would detonate it. Or drop it. With the cabin being pulled toward the top of the cliff, the ground growing farther and farther away, it became a certainty that a drop would break the ampoules. Or maybe even detonate the dispersal mechanism. His father had once told him that men didn’t cry, but he was on the verge of tears of frustration.
You can do it. Also, Sardelle is coming.
I wish I knew how that could help me. Tolemek had levered the other nail out a millimeter or two, and he switched to the tool’s pliers. Keeping an iron grip on the canister with his free hand, he pulled at the nail, being careful not to wiggle it. Engines roared overhead as fliers landed on the top of the butte. Can you stop this thing? There was no time to try and explain to the soldiers up top what he was doing and that they had to let him continue.
The cabin lurched to a halt. Tolemek’s feet slipped an inch, and he almost lost his tool again.
Thanks. Hail beat at his face, and his leg muscles quivered from holding up his weight. He pulled the nail out, letting it drop, and lowered the canister. Carefully, so very carefully, he eased it and himself back into the cabin.
I can’t even see how much time is left on the clock. I need a light, Jaxi. Is there anyway—
Something blurred through the doorway, and a clank sounded on the floor beside him. Before he could guess what it was, the soulblade lit up, its glow a brighter yellow this time. He might have asked how she had levitated herself up here, but his eyes were riveted to the now-visible clock.
Sardelle is down there. She threw me.
Tolemek finished opening up the outer casing, but his shoulders were slumped. Two minutes. There wasn’t time, and the fat tip of the screwdriver wouldn’t work for the small, inner casing. He opened the knife blade. He would simply cut the wires holding the ampoules inside. If he lucked out and didn’t trigger the bomb, maybe he could separate the poison from the detonator.
She says she’ll teach your sister if we all survive this.
At another time, any other time, Tolemek would have found the news wonderful, but in his heart he knew there was no chance. Not enough time. Sweat dripped down his brow. His fingers kept moving, but they couldn’t move fast enough, not with the clunky multi-tool.
He glanced at the sword. It seemed magic should have some kind of solution for this. Had science surpassed the old ways and become the more powerful? If only—
Tolemek froze. “Jaxi, pyrotechnics.”
Yes…
Thinking of the explosion on the boat, he asked, “How hot of a fire can you make? And can it instantaneously be that hot? Or does it warm up slowly?”
No, I can burn something instantaneously. But the temperature? I don’t know. I’ve never measured it.
“I need hot. The melting point of iron. Can you do that?”
Easy.
Tolemek lifted the canister, the wires and half-removed ampoules threatening to spill out like fish guts. “You’re positive?”
There were only thirty seconds on the timer.
Yes. What do you want me to do?
“Burn these ampoules with as much heat as you can make.”
That won’t… release the toxin?
“Not at the melting point of iron. The gas will be vaporized. Hurry,” he whispered, his eyes like cantaloupes as he watched the clock ticking down.
A strange tickle went through his mind. Jaxi reading his thoughts? He hadn’t sensed her before, but maybe she was tearing through his mind at some deeper level, making sure he wasn’t lying. As if he would lie when he was fifteen seconds from dying too.
Can I just vaporize the whole thing?
“Yes!”
Throw it outside, so I won’t burn you.
Tolemek would gladly take some burns if they succeeded, but he chucked the canister into the storm anyway. It disappeared into the snow and hail, at least to his eyes. Just throwing it from him wouldn’t do anything to save him though. He needed…
“Now, Jaxi. Please.”
A small flash of orange lit the sky for a moment, then disappeared. Tolemek held his breath, not that doing so would make an iota of difference if he had been wrong.
Well, Jaxi said after a moment, during which nothing happened and Tolemek’s heart remembered to start beating again. That was anticlimactic.
Tolemek flopped back onto the floor and laughed. Magic trumped science after all.
The cabin lurched and started moving. His humor faded. He was about to be delivered to a pack of soldiers. After what he had just gone through, he supposed it didn’t matter much.
Sardelle was in earnest when she promised to teach my sister?
Yes.
If I am unable to do so, will she find a way to extricate her from the sanitarium too?
A pause followed, Jaxi relaying the message perhaps. Yes. Sardelle has been lonely for her own kind and had planned to seek out others with dragon blood, regardless. After this, she says she’ll even teach you.
Tolemek snorted. What would she teach me? I don’t have dragon blood.
Jaxi snorted back—an impressive feat for a soul without lips or a nose. Blood is hereditary, genius.
But I never—
Please, you think science accounts for all of the things you’ve made?
Tolemek found himself gaping at the ceiling in stunned silence when the cabin clanged to a stop.
*
Cas had never appreciated the feel of pavement under her feet more than she did after climbing out of her flier. Her landing had been better than expected, with the wind easing up for her, though she had chewed on her nails, watching some of her comrades land. Lieutenant Solk had nearly gone over the edge of the plateau, with one wheel hanging off when the craft came to a complete stop. Her face had been whiter than the snow around her when the ground crew had thrown cables around the craft, pulled it fully upright, and hauled her out of the cockpit.
Mishaps notwithstanding, everyone in Wolf Squadron had made it, though there would be drinking later to honor the fallen Tiger Squadron men. She had gotten the names. Both officers had been well-liked.
When Cas, walking beside Captain Blazer, Crash, and Apex, noticed a holdup at the top of the tram, she slowed down, a hint of unease returning to her stomach. Several people were leaning over the edge of the cliff and pointing downward. Had some airship slipped in to do some damage? Or… this couldn’t have anything to do with Tolemek, could it? No, she had left him at the other installation, chatting with Zirkander’s “archaeologist.” Of course, Sardelle had made that appearance to deliver the communications devices. What if Tolemek was around too? Around where people might spot his Cofah skin and pirate garb?
“What’s going on?” came the colonel’s voice from behind them.
“Unknown, sir,” Apex said.
Cas chewed on her lip. Zirkander fell into step beside her, and th
ey soon joined the group.
“It’s moving now.” The tram operator waved an apologetic hand. “Not sure what the delay was, but it’ll be up in a few seconds.”
“Good,” someone said. “There’s drinking to do.”
Cas would settle for a meal and a bunk with lots of warm blankets, though she did want to know what had become of Tolemek. She considered the colonel out of the corner of her eye. Sardelle hadn’t seemed alarmed by the pirate, but she also hadn’t seemed to know who he was. Zirkander would be a different matter. Even if Tolemek was hiding somewhere, Sardelle might have to do nothing more than describe him to the colonel for the recognition to kindle.
The tram cabin came into view over the edge of the cliff. The pilots, noticing Zirkander, stepped aside, offering to let him go first. Thus, since Cas was standing next to him, she had a clear view of the cabin interior when the operator opened the gate.
Tolemek sat on the floor, his arms draped over his knees, his cloak having fallen back to reveal his skin, his hair, and far too much of his face. A rather dazed face, as if he had been struck on the side of the head and was still trying to recover. A sword in a scabbard lay on the floor in front of his feet.
In the first second, Cas hoped nobody would recognize him. By the time the second second was upon them, no less than six people had their pistols out, including Zirkander.
“Wait,” Cas blurted, stepping forward. “That’s…” A retired pirate who isn’t a threat? A man not holding a weapon in his hands? Someone who looks like he needs a stiff shot of vodka? “That’s my prisoner,” she said.
“What?” Zirkander asked. He wasn’t the only one. But he was the only one who mattered, at least for the moment.
“Your prisoner is armed,” Crash said, waving to the sword.
Zirkander’s gaze followed that wave, locking onto the weapon. His face grew hard and unreadable as he looked back and forth from it to Tolemek. That wasn’t Sardelle’s soulblade or whatever it was called, was it? Surely he wouldn’t have stolen it, would he have?
Tolemek found her in the crowd, meeting her eyes. He didn’t say anything with so many people looking on, but he gave her a small smile and a shrug that seemed to say, “It’s a long story.”
“Yes,” Cas said, answering Crash’s objection, “because he gave me his parole. He turned on his own people to help me escape from the pirates. I didn’t make him any promises, in light of his past crimes, but I’d appreciate it if no one shot him full of holes until we figure out what’s going on.” She looked at the colonel as she said this, but his face hadn’t grown any more amiable. It was as hard and unfriendly as granite. An unusual expression for him. Cas had only seen it once before, when he had been defending her from that pompous, groping Cofah diplomat. Seeing it again now could not be a good thing.
Zirkander stalked into the cabin, his pistol still pointed at Tolemek, though Tolemek’s hands were clearly empty of weapons, and picked up the sword scabbard. “Get in, Ahn. I have to report to General Ort anyway. You can explain your story—and why you feel this murdering criminal shouldn’t be shot immediately—to him.”
In the minute it took the cabin to reach the base of the cliff? And here she had thought she had faced all of the tough challenges of the day already. She joined the two men inside, relieved when Zirkander didn’t invite anyone else in.
The gate clanged shut, and the cabin started descending. Cas opened her mouth, but she didn’t yet know what she intended to say. She wanted to ask what Tolemek was doing here, but at the same time, she wanted to try to explain everything to the colonel. If they took Tolemek to Ort, it would be all over. He would be in front of a firing squad by dawn, if not before. The colonel… he would be more reasonable. She hoped.
Before she got any words out, Zirkander grabbed Tolemek by his vest, hauled him to his feet, and shoved him against the metal wall. The cabin swayed and groaned.
“Sir,” Cas said, raising a hand, though she could barely see the men in the dark. The only lit lanterns were back on the butte and in the compound at the base of the cliff.
“If you’ve done anything to Sardelle,” Zirkander growled, “I’ll shove you out that gate right now.”
At a loss for anything intelligent to say, Cas went for the inane. “Colonel Zirkander, meet Tolemek, retired pirate. Tolemek, this is Colonel Zirkander.”
“Yeah,” Tolemek choked out, his airway restricted, “we’ve met in the air. He’s almost killed me a couple of times.”
A clang sounded—Tolemek being shoved against the wall again? “Sardelle,” Zirkander repeated. “Where—”
“At the bottom of the tram, waiting for you. Or so the sword told me.”
Cas stared at him. The what told him?
For a long moment, nothing sounded except the moaning of the wind and the creaking as the cabin swayed, descending slowly toward the bottom. Then Zirkander stepped back. They were the same height, Cas realized—a stupid thing to noticed then, but as the gas lamps of the base approached from below, she could make out their silhouettes as they faced each other.
“We’ll see what she has to say then,” the colonel said, his voice softer now, though the warning hadn’t disappeared from it. For Tolemek’s sake, Cas hoped Sardelle would appear as soon as the men stepped out of the gate.
The cabin clanked down on the landing pad. An operator rushed over to open the gate.
“Welcome back, sir. Great flying up there. You, too, L.T.”
“Thank you, Borscot,” Zirkander said, though his gaze was roving all along the lighted area in front of the tram.
Cas scooted forward, trying to see around the men. There was no sign of—wait.
Sardelle stepped out of the shack, her cloak wrapped around her. “Ridge.” She smiled, the expression full of genuine warmth. “Did the communication devices work?”
“Infallibly, but we have something to discuss.”
Sardelle’s smile turned dry as she nodded at Tolemek. “Yes, I imagine so.”
“Sir, ma’am?” The soldier frowned at Tolemek, not knowing how to address him. “I need to send the cabin back up for the next group.”
The colonel walked toward Sardelle. When she looked toward Tolemek again, he tossed her the sword scabbard. The tram operator jerked his arm up, looking like he meant to intercept the weapon, but it couldn’t do much damage while sheathed. He seemed to realize that, too, and lowered his arm, though he gave Sardelle an odd look when she attached it to her belt and draped her cloak over it. Civilian archaeologists probably weren’t supposed to have swords on base.
Cas stepped out of the cabin with Tolemek and drew him to the opposite side from Sardelle and Zirkander. She dared not drag him far until there was a modicum of resolution with the colonel, but she didn’t want everyone in the squadron coming over to interrogate him—or her—when they walked off the tram.
“Why do I have the feeling you two have had adventures?” she asked, deeming it a more tactful question than the what-by-all-the-gods-in-the-universe-are-you-doing-here one that was bubbling up inside of her.
“I hope you never know the details,” Tolemek whispered, then surprised her by drawing her into a hug and burying his face in her neck.
Cas was beginning to think he’d had a worse night than she. “I hope you’ll tell me a few of them at least. Or Zirkander if not me. I’m trying to figure out how to save you from General Ort and a firing squad.”
“You smell like engine oil, guns, and leather,” he said, sounding bemused—and not in the mood to worry about firing squads.
“Not the usual combination you get from women you spend time with?”
“No, but I like it.”
His lips brushed up her neck, to her jaw, and then to her mouth. The kiss he gave her made her earlier one seem chaste and sweet; this one was heated with passion and more… the sort of relief and fire one felt after saving something invaluable that had almost been lost. Cas was breathless by the time he lifted his mouth from hers, and she couldn
’t remember where she was, what she was supposed to be doing, and why they weren’t scurrying off to find a bunk to share.
“Lieutenant?” Zirkander asked from a few feet away.
Cas flushed, her cheeks so hot that she was sure she was melting snow for several meters in every direction. “Sir?”
A group of her fellow officers walked away from the tram cabin, chatting and trading shoves as they headed for the base gate. Fortunately, they didn’t look over to Cas’s shadows. She wasn’t even sure if that was the first group that had departed. She didn’t remember hearing the tram in operation. She touched her lips, blushing all over again. Tolemek stood at her back, his hand on her waist.
“I’m going to go talk to the general,” Zirkander said. “You… find a rack. Get some rest. Or… whatever.” He flicked his hand toward Tolemek. He didn’t sound approving, but he wasn’t threatening to kill her pirate, either. That was an amazing turn around.
“I wonder what Sardelle said,” Cas mused as Zirkander walked away.
“I don’t know,” Tolemek said, his arms wrapping around her waist, and his mouth returning to her throat, “but I vote for whatever.”
Cas shivered and leaned back into him. “My vote… depends on whether you’re taking those awful bracers off.”
He chuckled softly. “I’ll take off anything you like.”
“Enticing.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Epilogue
Tolemek shifted his weight in the saddle, wincing at sore muscles. Pirates didn’t spend a lot of time on horseback, and it didn’t help that Zirkander had picked the biggest, orneriest horse in the stable for him. Tolemek had been thrown three times during the two-hour trip, which had caused the women to look at him with surprise and concern while Zirkander apologized heartily for the beast’s temperament, then smirked into his scarf. Bastard.
At least they had turned off the road and, judging by Sardelle and Zirkander’s enthused chatter, come to their destination. Given the revelation that the cabin was someplace Cas had once dreamed of being invited, Tolemek was expecting a bit more. A quarter mile down the path, the log structure perching next to the frozen lake and blanketed with six inches of snow, scarcely looked big enough for two people much less four people. Four people who barely knew each other and two of them men who might come to blows at any moment.
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