Steamscape

by D. Dalton

  The young woman’s stomach lurched. She swung the backpack off of her shoulders. “I think.” She licked her lips. “I think I know.” She brushed away the clock from the top of the backpack and revealed the metal canister.

  Jing stopped and let out a low whistle. Drina imitated, but watched the mechanic closely for cues. Finally, she asked, “What is it?”

  “Gas,” Solindra replied. “I saw it kill a dozen men in less than a minute. There are more soldiers with possibly hundreds of these already behind Codic’s force.”

  “And how did you survive if you saw it kill them?” Flame rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cool boilerbox of the titangle.

  Solindra snapped her fingers. Steam exploded from the box.

  Flame rolled away, simpering and poking at the fresh burns across his shoulder. “This was a new shirt, you know.”

  “Doesn’t smell like it.”

  Jing and Drina exchanged a glance and then looked back at Solindra, wide-eyed. The mechanic drummed his fingers on the canister. “Saturni said he had a plan to attack their economy. This gas wasn’t meant for the battle.”

  Solindra breathed out. “I think I have an idea. Adri knows where the Priory meets. Are they sending the gas there? To take out the whole Priory?”

  “Adri probably only saw what they wanted her to see,” Jing said. “And they’re not Codic’s economy.”

  Drina shook her head. “Can’t produce war machines if there’s nobody to work the factories.”

  “I don’t understand,” Solindra slowly said, a realization dawning but denied.

  Flame waggled a finger, new burns forgotten. “People can’t spend money if they’re dead.”

  Jing shook his head in disgust. “Gassing the other army, dishonorable, but at least that I can understand. But not Codic and probably Valhasse too. Those civilians didn’t choose to be involved, and they sure as hell can’t fight back.”

  Solindra clamped her hands over her ears. But the words echoed around, just as they had inside the children’s cave. No wonder why those parents had sent them to live in squalor – at least they had a chance to live!

  “We have to save them.”

  Flame hummed to himself and grinned. “You’re taking sides, little missy?”

  Solindra straightened her shoulders. “I am not fighting for one army or the other, nor for Saturni or the Priory. I’m fighting for those people who didn’t have a choice.”

  The arsonist laughed and clapped his hands. “And what is one lonely crypter going to do about it?”

  She narrowed her gray eyes at him.

  An orange flash hung in the air like a third moon for an instant. Seconds later, the boom of artillery ricocheted around the badlands. Shattered shouts and colored flares echoed around the Steampower army.

  “A battle in this territory at night?” Drina spat. “Codic’s got brass balls, I’ll give them that.”

  “I can’t think of a worse idea,” Jing concurred. “But if they maintain air superiority, then yeah, they’ll win.”

  Her smile curved into a smirk. “But all adds to the extra chaos.”

  Solindra pressed the stock of her rifle into her shoulder. “They made it here already?”

  Small dirt-caked rocks shook loose around them as more artillery echoed around the crevasses.

  Flame held up his hands and smiled. “And the skies rained down the fires of hell.” He stretched his face toward the aether bands. “They’ll be expecting us to make an entrance.”

  “We’ll be fashionably late,” Drina snapped.

  “I’d rather make an exit.” Jing placed his hand on Solindra’s shoulder.

  She pushed off his hand. “We’re not leaving, but I’m not fighting for the Saturnis!”

  Flame swaggered closer. “Battle’s begun and you’re in a Steampower uniform. I’m sure you’ll have an excuse to pick a side as soon as some Codic lad shoots at you. Maybe he kills Jing. He’s a big enough target.”

  “That’s enough, Flame,” Jing grumbled.

  Solindra turned to see dozens of soldiers gathering at the bottom of mound, both terrified and hopeful. Their black uniforms disappeared into the dark night, but their faces shone like gathering stars.

  “It’s never enough, Ghost.” Flame smiled and raised his hands. “Good men, do not fear. We have a plan.”

  “We do?” Solindra hissed.

  “Well, I do.” He winked at her. She immediately started to swing the rifle off her shoulder.

  “We need to go,” Drina said. “Before Adri–”

  Flame whistled. “Little late for that, Death.” He hooked an arm around the vessel’s throat, pinning the rifle uselessly to her chest. “Adri made me a better deal than the Hex ever could.” He yanked Solindra toward the door of the titangle. “Amazing. I get paid twice for the same kidnapping job.”

  “You used to be loyal,” Jing snarled, advancing.

  Flame laughed. “Yeah, when the Hex used to actually exist.”

  Drina started to slip around to the side. Ghost stepped up directly in front of them, like a personal lunar eclipse.

  But Flame knew this tactic and he just backed up to the open maw of the aircraft. “Not today. We’re just going to fly out of here.”

  “Not this time, Flame.” Solindra kicked his shin with the back of her heel. She ducked forward, which dragged the barrel of the rifle over her shoulder and along Flame’s chest. Her finger squeezed the trigger.

  Flame recoiled from the shot, grabbing at his armpit underneath his bandoliers. He withdrew bloody fingers.

  Solindra spun around and smashed her foot against his chest, knocking him off the hill. She pumped the rifle’s action and pointed it down at the careening arsonist. Fire outlined the air around her.

  Shadow and fire crossed overhead. A dirigible, raining flames and piceous oil from its guts, started its descent over the hill. Overhead, the skies lit up enough to see Codic’s biplanes flying in on the horizon. Rotating crank guns spat their deadly bullets and the air seemed to rumble and sizzle at their approach.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Dive!

  Theo slapped his hands over the back of his neck and plummeted forward. Dirt shot up into his nose, blocking his nasal cavities, forcing him to breathe through his mouth. The sharp curves of the crevasses had muted the whine of the biplane’s engine. It roared up and over the cliff behind him.

  Theo rolled over and couldn’t help but grin. The impacts of the battle were shaking the entirety of the badlands, but he had to smile.

  That sweet, dark voice was back, telling him how to survive. It was more than a spark – it was a tower of flame. Always alert, always burning. He wasn’t lost anymore. He had his anchor.

  Theo wiped his sweaty forehead, smudging dirt across it. He stared up at the sky, stealing a moment of peace. The moons were late in rising tonight, but the coiling, ever-changing pulses from the aether bands illuminated the badlands just enough. He watched the curling hues forever in motion, lighting the ground beneath his hands for just a few seconds.

  Theo pushed himself up on his elbows and twisted his neck around. He saw everything. Flame holding Solindra hostage and then stumbling away from her, clutching his armpit and crashing down the slope. The overhead dirigible tilted intentionally toward the earth as it vomited streams of fire onto the hill.

  His mouth dried. He clawed his way forward on the ground. He hadn’t come this far just to see it end. Not like this!

  The rain of fire moved off the mound and into the scattering herd of Steampower soldiers who had been crowded at its base.

  A black Steampower biplane twirled in the air overhead and dived at the dirigible, shredding the balloon with its bullets. The light from the plane’s rotating guns seared into Theo’s eyes. He just stared, watching men trying to outrun death and the flames on their own clothing.

  He could see the desperation etched across the dirigible’s crew as they sought to dump their endless stream of fire while they went down
. And then he saw nothing but fire as a spark caught the gas in their balloon.

  The fireball disappeared into a slender canyon.

  Theo’s jaw hung loosely. He rubbed his eyes. He’d come to find the Hex. They had been his only hope.

  Fires started to fade away with nothing to burn, leaving on blackened dirt tumbling down the hill’s sides.

  “What can I do now?”

  He stared limply at the blackened mound and its titangle. Its exterior had melted and the paint had curled completely off. The door kicked open and two women stumbled out. Jing followed them.

  Theo rubbed his eyes again and a laugh exploded from somewhere inside. He pushed himself up to his feet and half-slid, half-ran down an embankment toward hill where the Hex and Solindra stood. Shouting, he waved his hands above his head, but his voice was lost in the chaos.

  He bounced his shoulder off of a Steampower soldier and rolled into a knot of them. His fists snapped up; he’d learned to box from a carnival champion long ago. But these soldiers’ eyes were elsewhere.

  The ships raining fire dragged his gaze upward. He wasn’t armed, nor was he wearing a Codic uniform. He pushed through some Steampower soldiers, hustling to their own stations and orders.

  The bricoleur tripped over a body. At least he thought it was a body, until it groaned.

  Theo stared down at Flame. An explosion boomed like thunder several yards away, but he didn’t hear it.

  Flame’s eyes sprang open, the whites starkly contrasting with the dirt and blood that stained everything else about him. Theo’s hands clenched for weapons he didn’t have.

  There he was, wounded and sprawled out. Blood seeped through the crisscrossing bandoliers onto his grenades and pistols.

  Theo looked around for a weapon. He definitely had his choice with Flame’s bandoliers in reach. But how much time would that waste when seconds were suddenly worth hours? He spat and spun on his heel, poised to run. “There are bigger things than you!”

  ***

  Solindra shouldered her rifle and aimed. She didn’t move much, but the next fire-bearing ship was twisting into the wind and starting to hover. Her father could probably have managed a trick shot that both pierced that balloon and ricocheted off the metal to cause a spark. She, however, narrowed her gaze on the pilot. Her finger hovered over the trigger.

  The rifle went slack in her hands and she pointed it at the ground. She needed to be sure for her last bullet.

  She jerked the firearm back up against her shoulder as someone charged straight up the mound, waving his hands.

  “Theo!”

  Drina rose up behind her like a shadow. The vessel spun to see the assassin’s arm back in mid-throw and the flash of light off a blade.

  She didn’t have time to shout. Theo skidded to a stop and held up his hands. Drina’s hand shot forward.

  Solindra brought the rifle’s barrel up and smashed it into her arm. The knife flew away behind them, bouncing off the titangle with a metallic clang.

  “Drina, no!”

  “You don’t know what he did.” Another throwing knife appeared in the Death Spinner’s hand.

  “Wait!” Theo shouted, still holding up his hands. “I was wrong, but that’s not important right now! We’re all going to die.”

  “No, just you.” Drina lifted up the new blade.

  “Smith is going to explode Redjakel. The whole city. With an aether bomb.”

  The knife didn’t move. “Go on.”

  “What’s an aether bomb?” Solindra breathed.

  Jing came up behind them, carrying the titangle’s broken door as a shield. “A discussion for a safer place. Death, we can take care of him after he talks.”

  Solindra shook her head. “But what about Codic? Steampower will attack them.”

  Theo inched up the hill and stopped just short of its crest. He put his hands on his knees and panted. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what kind of demon Smith was.”

  “I’m not saying that we’re better demons.” Drina smiled tightly.

  Theo, still gasping, shook his head. “Maybe. I don’t know. But Redjakel needs the Hex. Please. All that aether stored underground. There’s more.”

  The ground rumbled underneath their boots as if in an earthquake. Overhead, a Steampower plane buzzed twenty feet off the ground and pulled up. Two Codic planes chased it. From below, Steampower bullets seared into the sky after the fighters.

  But Codic had ten men and ten aircraft for every one of Steampower’s shiny armaments. A Codic biplane with its rotating gun swooped out of the sky and screamed toward the solitary Steampower biplane, its gun spitting.

  The planes twisted around each other and spun up and over the nearest dirigible. Fire spilled over the airship’s side, ending the lives of a score of Steampower soldiers below.

  Codic commanded the air, and Steampower had terrible terrain in which to shoot into the sky. They scattered like ants through an unknown maze, only managing the occasional pot shot.

  Jing spat. “This was a bluff. Battle was to be real, but Codic got here before Steampower was ready.”

  Theo’s hands slackened at his side. “But what about Redjakel and Codic? What can we do? All of those people in both cities never caused this war.”

  Drina shrugged. “Which one do we have a better chance at succeeding at saving?”

  “Neither,” Jing snorted.

  Solindra planted the rifle on the ground. “Redjakel.”

  “You sure?” the mechanic prompted.

  She nodded. “Codic stands a better chance against men than the people of Redjakel do against the crypters.”

  She lurched at the sight of the pale faces of the Steampower soldiers still around the mound. Most of them were haggard and detached, but the worst ones were the hopeful countenances that kept staring up at them, waiting.

  Drina remarked, “We can’t do anything anyway. We’re not a flood by ourselves.”

  Jing surveyed the badlands. “Battle’s already over. They’re just not done dying yet. Better to just hide because Codic is in no mood for prisoners.”

  Solindra slung the rifle over her shoulder and stared down at her boots. “I wish… No, we have to go.”

  She mouthed, “Forgive us.”

  She didn’t want to look, but was helpless against staring back at those few hopeful faces. Boys her own age. When the Hex turned away, she could see they knew they were abandoned – betrayed to this hell by the company and by the Hex, their patron saints.

  Another explosion rocked the far base of the mound, vanishing the hopeless faces in dirt and fire. Solindra turned away and let gravity pull her down the slope, her boots skidding on the rocky ground.

  Jing pointed. “We’ve got our own ground transportation hidden away, just for us. Horses, but they’ll cover more ground in the badlands than an engine could.”

  Solindra stopped. “Wait. Where’s Flame?”

  “What? Why?” Theo demanded.

  “He’s Adri’s knight, and I won’t be her pawn. We have to–”

  A hand reached out from the mouth of a shadow-filled hollow and jerked her hair back. “I’m right here, darlin’.” Flame pulled her back another step and jammed a clockwork grenade into her mouth. “Thanks for askin’.”

  Jing and Drina brought up their guns.

  “No, no.” Flame jabbed his finger into Solindra’s shoulder.

  “Flame…” the assassin growled.

  He chuckled. “What do you want me to say? The Hex has been done for years.”

  Theo struck a fistful of matches against the coarse soil and held them up in front of Flame’s face.

  The arsonist’s eyes glazed over at the glow.

  Theo smiled benevolently and stepped forward. He launched the handful of burning matches up toward the sky. Most of them blew out immediately, but several kept alight through their arcs.

  Solindra jerked her weight forward. Flame’s grip tightened like a constrictor’s. Theo lunged, snatching one of
the flares out of Flame’s bandoliers, ripping one of the bands off completely. He struck the flare alight against the rock and held it to Flame’s back. His clothes, already so saturated with oil, took up the fire.

  The pyromaniac’s face seemed to melt. He dropped his grip on the vessel and started to claw at his back, spinning in rapid circles as the flames climbed higher. “Not fair, man, not fair!”

  Theo kicked him hard in the chest back into the crevasse. Meanwhile, Solindra spat the grenade into her hand. Theo snatched it up without dropping his rhythm, pulled its trigger and hurled it after Flame.

  It was the first of many explosions from the items on Flame’s remaining bandolier.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  The light from the diamond moon sprinkled through the aether bands, invisible now but for their ever-changing colors. The other moon was but a glowing crescent. If not for the jewel moon, the ground would have been a living prism in the lights of the aether colors. The wind picked up, lifting fallen leaves into the rainbow hues. Off the bark of a tree. Off the puddles in the mud.

  Off the flank of a cantering horse as it passed through the shadows. The rhythm of its hooves disturbed the still of midnight.

  Three more horses followed in its wake.

  Solindra furtively tried to massage her hindquarters. She’d never even ridden a horse before this. The rifle bounced along with its stride and knocked against the back of her skull again. There had to be a better way to carry that too.

  She groaned and tried not to imagine the leathery calluses forming on her posterior. The mental image faded to be replaced by those hapless soldiers on the battlefield again. Or the image of those regular people in Codic, also left to die.

  Jing called over. “Sit up, Sol, our ride ain’t over yet.” His gaze softened, as if he were reading her mind.

  Theo growled, “We grew up being told the Hex could do everything. Be anywhere.”

  “We were six people,” the mechanic replied, looking ahead. “Best we can do now is stay our course because it’s already too late to turn back.”

  “Couldn’t we telegraph Codic?” Solindra burst.