Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2)

by Sedgwick, Jamie

  “I scouted further south than I had planned,” he said. “I hadn’t realized how close we were to Anora. When I saw the city walls, I wanted a closer look.”

  “You’ve been to Anora?” Robie said.

  “Within a few miles, but I’m afraid I have no good news. The Vangars have locked the citizens inside the city. It will be nearly impossible to get in or out without being seen, even for a Tal’mar.”

  “There must be a way,” Robie said. “I’m not going to just give up.”

  “I haven’t told you everything yet,” Tam said “After I returned to the mountains, I continued to scout out your path. I knew that I would have to return to the queen soon, but I wanted to help you find your way south, should you choose to do so. While traveling, I caught the scent of fire and tracked down a group of humans in the mountains east of Anora.”

  My jaw dropped as he spoke. “Is this place a plateau, surrounded by maples and aspens? With a waterfall to the northeast, facing a deep canyon?”

  “It is the very same,” Tam said. “You know it, then?”

  I stared, not even seeing him. In my mind’s eye, I was already there. I saw the trees, the grassy sloping mountainsides, the steep ravines leading down into the trees… I turned to look at Robie. “Do you remember it?” I said.

  He shrugged, looking at me as if I were crazy. “Should I?”

  I smiled. “It’s where you first volunteered to be a pilot.”

  It was his turn to look stunned. I saw the memories washing over his face. “The camp!” he said at last. “That’s where my parents took me when the Kanters invaded Riverfork. I was so young then. Hardly a teenager.”

  “Yes,” I said. “And ready to lead my team of pilots to the end of the world, as I recall,” I said teasingly. I think he actually blushed.

  Tam rolled his eyes. “I’m glad you remember the place so fondly,” he said in a tone that contradicted his words. “Shall we go there, or do you still insist on going to Anora and getting yourselves killed?”

  “We will go to the camp, of course!” said Robie. “Let’s go!”

  Of course, there was no arguing with him after that. Not that I really wanted to. If Anora was in the condition that Tam had described, I could see no use in the three of us trying to get inside. If anything, what we needed to do was take stock of those who were still free and see if they could be made into a fighting force. If so, we might still have a chance at turning the Vangars aside and driving them back to the sea.

  Deep in my heart, there was one more reason that I had to go to the camp first. I had to look for Tinker. I had to make sure he’d escaped the city with the others.

  Robie frequently paused to throw rocks at squirrels or gather wild berries from bushes along the path as we traveled south. Tam tried to chastise him for this, reminding us both that Vangar scouts might very well be patrolling the mountains as well as the plains, but it didn’t go very well.

  “Any Vangars that came this far from their army are asking to die,” Robie boasted. “And I plan to help them.”

  Tam pursed his lips and shook his head, but decided not to pursue the argument. Instead, he leapt up into the branches and disappeared ahead of us. Robie gave me a cocky grin and I rolled my eyes at him.

  “You might pay attention to what Tam says,” I warned. “The last time, they weren’t traveling alone.”

  That quieted him down, but not for long. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter anything more dangerous than a young black bear foraging for food. The creature took one look at us and decided we didn’t look edible. The beast nonchalantly turned its attention back to the berry bushes and ignored us entirely, as if we weren’t even worthy of a snarl.

  At last, early that afternoon, we reached the encampment. It had grown from the way I remembered it. It was more like a village than a camp. Dozens of families from Riverfork and Anora had fled before the Vangars. I saw at least two hundred refugees wandering around. They must have received enough warning to pack before they fled, because they’d brought tents, food, and other equipment, but I saw evidence everywhere that they didn’t have enough. I noticed campfires and bedrolls scattered across the clearing and in between the tents, proving that there simply wasn’t enough shelter for everyone. I also saw a small hunting party organizing at the edge of camp; further evidence of inadequate supplies.

  Robie and I recognized many faces among the crowd, including Analyn trader. I’d known Analyn most of my life. She had been my schoolteacher once, but only for two years. My father and Tinker had taught me to read before I even started school, but Analyn helped my studies greatly. After she had accepted me for what I was, we became great friends. It was during that same period, in the midst of the war with the Kanters, that I learned Analyn was actually King Ryshan’s daughter. She had eloped with her husband Daran to live in Riverfork, where they opened a mercantile and she went to work as a teacher.

  A few years later, after the war had ended, Daran died while hunting in the mountains. It was winter, and apparently, he slipped on the icy rocks along the edge of a mountain cliff. The physician’s best guess was that Daran had damaged his spine in the fall, and then froze to death the following night. I couldn’t help but wonder if his death had been related to his injuries from the war, when the Kanters broke his neck. I’d done my best to heal him at the time, but I had no guidance or training and I could only follow my instincts. I hoped his death hadn’t been due to some failure on my part, but I would never know for certain.

  After Daran’s death, Analyn sold the mercantile in Riverfork and moved to Anora where she returned to teaching. I visited her there as often as my schedule permitted. Analyn was happy to see me of course, but I could tell from her face that she wasn’t hopeful about our situation. She took the three of us into a mess tent where a group of elderly women were busily preparing kettles of stew for dinner.

  “You’ve been busy,” I said, noting the tables made from freshly hewn timber.

  “We have tools and manpower enough,” Analyn said. “I’m just worried about what will happen when winter comes.”

  “Do you think you’ll be here that long?” I said.

  “Winter comes early in the mountains. We have two months, perhaps,” she said distantly. “I don’t dare imagine what might happen between now and then. Here, let’s get the three of you something to eat.”

  I tried to protest, knowing that there wasn’t enough food as it was, but Analyn wouldn’t hear of it. Admittedly, I didn’t protest too much. I was starved. Analyn served us plates of cooked venison and freshly baked bread. I was salivating before we even sat down.

  While we ate, we traded information. Analyn was heartbroken to hear of General Corsan’s death. “He was a good man,” she said. “I will send a party out tomorrow to find his remains and give him a proper burial... I can’t believe the Vangars moved north so quickly. Silverspire has fallen as well?” She finished this last statement with a glance at Tam. He dropped his eyes.

  “They hit the palace first,” he said sullenly. “All the royal family were murdered, except for the queen. Most of the common folk were taken prisoner in one of those blasted dragon ships.”

  Analyn watched him speak, nodding along. “They landed some of the ships,” she said. “They attached wheels to them, and have been using them to gather up families from around the countryside.”

  “We saw one of them,” I said. “I can’t understand though, how do they power those machines? We’ve never built anything nearly that big. Steam couldn’t do it, and it would take all the Blackrock steel in the city to build one motor that size.”

  “They use something else,” Analyn said. “A type of oil that looks and burns like tar. They burn it in their machines. They belch that cruddy black smoke out day and night. In two days, they’ve managed to cover Anora in a fog that won’t blow away. The fumes are horrid to breathe. They burn your eyes and your nostrils and make your lungs ache horribly. My heart weeps for the people left there.” Her gaze dri
fted away from me. “I hope Tinker is well…”

  I dropped the mug I’d been drinking from, spilling water across the table. I hardly noticed. “Tinker is in Anora?” I said, searching her face.

  “Oh poor child, you didn’t know? Alas, we tried to bring him. I begged Tinker to come, but he refused. He said he was too old to go hiking through the woods and sleeping on the hard ground. He said the Vangars would need a knowledgeable mechanic, and that we would need a good spy.”

  “A mechanic?” I said. “That’s ridiculous!”

  “I know that dear, but the Vangars don’t. Tinker should be able to do quite well among the Vangars if he can convince them that he knows enough, but not too much.”

  “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”

  She gave me a patient smile. “The Vangars are quite clueless about our technology. The militiamen in Anora gave them quite a fright when they started firing their rifles. The Vangars had never seen powder charges before. I daresay our soldiers took a good number of them to the grave.”

  I stared at her, absorbing that. “That doesn’t make sense. How could they build those dragon ships if they didn’t even know how black powder works?”

  “Actually it makes perfect sense,” Robie said. “This fuel they use, this black oil is probably all over in their land. I’ve never seen it here, but where they live I imagine there’s enough to power as many ships as they like.”

  “So it would appear,” Analyn said.

  “Then what do they seek here?” Tam said. “Have they come for slaves?”

  “We don’t know yet,” Analyn said. “That is the sort of thing we need Tinker to learn for us.”

  I leaned forward, pressing my head into my hands. I thought about all of the farmers who had escaped the Vangars and found their way into the mountains. I thought about the many thousands who hadn’t escaped and had been forced into those mighty black ships that fanned out across the continent. I wondered how far north and south the Vangars had gone. Had they followed my grandmother into the northern wastes, beyond the Borderlands? Had they pressed south into the Badlands, and washed over the Kanters the way they had the rest of us?

  Mostly though, I wondered about Tinker. What had he been thinking, staying in Anora like that? The old fool was trying to get himself killed. And Analyn… I hardly dared consider the fact that she’d let him do it. The mere thought made me want to reach across the table and throttle her.

  At last, I raised my eyes and locked gazes with her. “I’m going to see him,” I said. “I have to find out what’s going on.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Analyn said. “You could be caught. We can’t afford to lose you, Breeze. You’re the best pilot we have and you’re the only person who knows as much about building planes as Tinker.”

  “Planes?” I snorted. “Why bother? The dragon ships can blast our planes right out of the sky. We wouldn’t stand a chance against them. And even if we did, we couldn’t build enough planes or train enough pilots to make a difference.”

  She considered that, watching me thoughtfully. “Well, if that’s the case, then all hope is lost,” she said. “The Vangars overpower us on the ground easily enough. They are fearless, bloodthirsty in a way that I’ve never seen. If we can’t attack from the air, they have no other weakness.”

  “Yes they do,” I said. “I don’t know what it is yet, but they do have a weakness.” I rose from the table and met their gazes one by one. “I’m going into Anora tonight,” I said. “I have to find Tinker.”

  Analyn shook her head, but didn’t argue.

  “I’ll be ready,” Robie said, rising up next to me.

  “No,” I said. “You’re a brave fighter Robie, but you don’t travel quickly enough and you’re far too noisy. I’ll be better going in by myself. The Vangars will never see me.”

  “That’s crazy!” he said. “I can’t let you go alone, that would be suicide!”

  “I’ll go with you,” Tam said. “I too can travel swiftly, like a shadow across plains.”

  I sized him up. “I thought you would be going back to the Tal’mar now,” I said. “The queen will be eager to hear what you’ve learned.”

  “Not yet. There is more to learn about the Vangars, and if they have a weakness as you believe, I would like to know of it. I will learn what you do, and I will take this information back to my queen.”

  “Fine,” I said. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him and the truth was, I thought he might come in handy. He possessed Tal’mar skills that I had never learned. He was a good fighter and an excellent marksman, and his senses were far more trained than my own.

  Robie gave me a desperate look as I turned away, but I ignored him. It wouldn’t have done any good to explain that I was just trying to keep him alive. All he could see was that I had accepted Tam’s offer and declined his. Anything I said beyond that was simply going to invite argument, and I wanted none of it. I wanted to find Tinker and get him out of Anora. And if Tam or I had to die in the process, so be it. At least Robie would still be alive.

  Chapter 11

  I hadn’t realized how badly I needed rest until my eyes snapped open just after sunset and I realized that I had fallen asleep. I was on a cot in Analyn’s tent. I bolted upright, instantly focused on locating Tam and taking off on our mission. I straightened my skirts and stepped through the door flap with that one goal in mind. Instantly, Robie assaulted me. He must have been lying in wait for the entire afternoon.

  “Breeze, I wish you would rethink this. I know I’m not as quiet as a Tal’mar but I can fight like a bear. Tam may be good with a bow, I’ll give him that, but inside the city you’re going to need someone with a strong arm.”

  I sighed. “Robie, my mind is made up. If you won’t listen to me as a friend then take my order as your commander. You’re not going with me.”

  I turned away from him and almost ran into Analyn. She was holding a sheathed cutlass with a belt in one hand, and a good quality revolver in the other. “Here, take these,” she said. “We don’t have a lot to spare but I won’t send you into the vipers’ nest unarmed.”

  I accepted the cutlass, and belted it on. “Keep the gun,” I said. “I couldn’t hit the broadside of a Vangar dragon ship if it was right in front of me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” I have an awkward relationship with firearms. I’m completely awed by their power and by the art and craftsmanship that goes into making them, but I hate the noise. I hate it. I think it goes back to that day in Tinker’s barn when I was very young. It was just a few days after I’d met him. He had left a tray of explosive charges set out on the table, and I came across them during my explorations. I threw one at the wall, thinking it was a rock. That “rock” blasted a hole in the barn a yard across and threw me back against the table so hard it nearly knocked me out cold. Since then I’ve had a healthy respect for anything related to black powder. Not fear, but respect.

  Tam appeared next to us. “The shadow of the mountains has already fallen across the plains,” he said. “Time leaps ahead of us.”

  “Right,” I said. I turned my gaze on Analyn. “Robie is staying here. Make sure of it.”

  Analyn crossed her arms and gave Robie a firm stare. His shoulders sank. I followed Tam to the edge of the clearing and we leapt up into the branches of an evergreen. I glanced back over my shoulder. Robie looked miserable, pathetic, staring after us like an abandoned child, and it made me want to weep for him. I understood how much it meant to him to be part of this. He wanted to fight the Vangars and save his people. He wanted to feel like he was doing something, not just hiding in the mountains. And he wanted to be by my side.

  Perhaps that was the part of it that pained me most. For years, I had convinced myself that Robie’s feelings for me were no more than a crush. I realized now that it was more. This wasn’t a crush, it was devotion. It was love. And regardless of what I said, I was beginning to appreciate the depth of his feeli
ngs for me. It was good to know that someone would love me unconditionally. I just wasn’t sure I deserved it.

  I pulled my gaze away and saw that Tam was already moving. I jumped forward and raced after him.

  After we left the mountains and headed west across the plains, Tam and I encountered several patrols of Vangar horsemen. The first time it happened, Tam had to warn me that they were up ahead. Then as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found myself noticing them faster than he could point them out. Our senses were far superior to the horsemen. We could have slain each and every one of them, had that been our goal. As it was, we were pressed for time and there was no logical reason to go indiscriminately killing every Vangar who crossed our path. Such an act would have escalated tensions among the Vangar and quite possibly led to retaliation against their captives. The last thing I wanted to do was give them a reason to kill more innocent civilians. What we needed was to exercise caution. That was the reason I’d left Robie behind and that was the reason I stayed Tam’s hand every time he knocked an arrow to his bowstring.

  It was easy enough to slip between the patrols and get within sight of the city, but what I saw when I got close caught me by surprise. Analyn’s description of the acrid black smoke had been accurate. It was an affront to my senses even from a distance. The smoke covered the city, laying across the land like a dense fog, burning my eyes and my lungs before we even got close. Then, as Tam and I crept noiselessly over the rolling hills east of town, we found that the Vangars had anchored several of their ships around the city, just outside the perimeter. They had landed two more on the ground, apparently to be retrofitted with axles and wheels by Vangar mechanics.

  South of Anora, near the bridge at the front gates, the Vangars had built a tent city among the sparse poplars and low-growing sage. The light of dozens of fires illuminated the blackened sky, casting an eerie red glow about the place. Tam and I watched briefly, taking note of everything. It was impossible to get an accurate accounting of the Vangars but I guessed that nearly a thousand were in the encampment. We had no way of knowing how many more were in the city or how many thousands more might be spread out across the rest of the countryside.