Kali climbed on top of the SAB seat. Though the bicycle was a broad, sturdy contraption, it wobbled under her weight, and she kept a hand on the smokestack for balance. She peered inside it. And froze.
“What the blazes is that?”
“What?” Cedar strode over.
Something dark and lumpy nestled inside the smokestack. It lacked the clean lines of the booby trap from the trail and did not appear mechanical—or explosive—but Kali stared at it for a long moment before reaching an arm inside. Her fingers came up a foot short. Her own body blocked the daylight when she leaned in farther, and the bicycle seat wobbled beneath her toes.
“I need help,” she said. “Can you hold me, so I can lean in farther?” She must sound ridiculous with her head stuffed in the smokestack.
Hands squeezed her waist, and she squawked when Cedar lifted her off the seat so her feet dangled in the air. His firm grip had the steadiness of steel, though, leaving her more secure than when she had been relying on her own balance. Thanks to his height, Cedar could also boost her entire body above the smokestack without trouble.
“Thanks,” she called, her voice supremely muffled now. “I appreciate your strength and—” She inhaled soot and broke into a coughing fit. The stuffy, hot environs pressed in from all sides, and she could see nothing. Lingering smoke made her eyes tear.
“My strength and what?” Cedar asked, his voice distant to her ensconced ears.
When she tried to speak, she ended up coughing again.
“Ah,” Cedar said. “I’m to guess at the rest. I see. You appreciate my strength and...masculinity?”
The confines of the smokestack made movement awkward. Kali had to wriggle and twist to loosen a shoulder enough to extend her arm to touch the obstruction. It was hard, lumpy, and faintly sticky. It did not tick or whir or do anything to suggest moving parts or a timer set to spark an explosion. More likely it was there to stuff up the smokestack, which could cause an explosion of its own volition if built-up exhaust could not escape.
“Strength and virility?” Cedar asked.
Kali felt around the edges of the obstruction, hoping she could remove it, but the solidified mass stuck to the inside of the stack with the tenacity of a badger. She scraped a sliver off and held it to her nose. Though the sooty smokestack made it hard to put her olfactory organs to satisfactory use, the gunk had a pungent identifiable scent. She groaned.
“No? Strength and good looks?”
“Pull me out,” Kali said.
“Not until you finish that sentence.”
“What?” She had barely been paying attention to him.
“You appreciate my strength and what else?” Even though the smokestack dulled the nuances of his tone, she had no trouble imagining the amused smirk on his lips. Better than the sarcasm, she supposed.
“Strength and willingness to grab my hindquarters and hold me aloft,” Kali said. “Now get me down.”
“Hm, I doubt that’s a trait unique to myself.” Cedar lifted her free of the smokestack and lowered her to the ground. The smirk she had anticipated rode his lips, and it transformed into a full-fledged grin when he saw her face. “You look like one of the black gang on a steamship.”
“What?” Kali wiped her face. Her already sooty sleeve grew sootier. “Ugh. I’m losing my love for this woman. She’s starting to vex me.”
“Did you get the...whatever it is you sought?” Cedar asked.
Kali scowled. “No. It’s just pitch glue, but it’s wedged in there good. We can’t use the bicycle until I can get back to my workshop and find some turpentine or something suitable for breaking the bond.” Kali jammed her hands against her hips. “We shot this woman, Cedar. How could she possibly be spry enough to perform all these pursuit-delaying feats with blood gushing down her arm?”
“Human beings are resourceful and dangerous, doubly so when they’re desperate. Which is why tracking them is always perilous and takes experience and expertise.” Cedar folded his arms over his chest. He must be employing great restraint not to add, “I told you so.”
“All right, I apologize for belittling tracking,” Kali said. “I know your work is dangerous and hard, and I know a dog couldn’t do it. I was just...irked about the money, even though I knew you were right and I hadn’t done anything to contribute, much as I haven’t done anything today.” She curled a lip at herself. “I’m not...good at patience. I had hopes of getting my airship together this summer and escaping this place before I was stuck here for another dark endless winter of being haunted by memories that are impossible to forget when you face constant reminders.”
Cedar lifted an arm and stepped forward, as if to hug her. Her eyes widened. She was just letting loose some steam; she didn’t need a hug. What kind of female meltdown did he think she was having?
He must have read her expression, for he dropped his arm before touching her. He clasped his hands behind his back, and she wanted to kick herself. No wonder he had no interest in going to the dancing hall with her. She was as warm and inviting as a glacier.
“We better go if we want any chance of reaching Sebastian’s claim before it’s completely dark out here,” Kali mumbled. “Especially since we’re walking.”
“Do you want me to go after the woman? I can deal with her and meet you at the claim.”
“No, it looks like she’s heading back to Dawson. Her annoying booby-trap skills aside, she’s still human, I assume, and she’ll need time to heal and recover. I bet we can find her there when we’re done up here.” Besides, as good as Cedar was, Kali worried this woman might have tricks up her blood-saturated sleeve that could thwart him. “And,” she added, “if I show up alone with my bedroll forgotten, Sebastian might think I want to reunite with him.”
“I assume you would be quick to disavow him of that notion,” Cedar said, but he was already heading up the trail.
She caught up and walked beside him. “With my Winchester if necessary.”
“Good.”
PART III
Though long days graced the Yukon in May, Kali and Cedar still did not make it to Sebastian’s camp before nightfall. The faintest hint of twilight lightened the horizon, but full darkness blanketed the forest. Fortunately, a well-used trail ran along the Sixty Mile. The sound of rushing water guided them further, though they had to step carefully when they reached the claims. Sluice boxes, pans, and mining tools littered the rocky bank, and in places water flowed over the trail. With the snow melting, the river ran wide and high. One might stand on one side and shoot a critter on the other, but swimming would be a tricky endeavor. Since Wilder’s claim lay on the far side, she assumed Cedar would have to borrow a boat to investigate.
“Are we getting close?” Kali asked softly, aware of men nearby.
The claims were long and narrow, each with a small piece of waterfront, so numerous camps were visible along the shoreline. Cedar and Kali had already passed through several without the prospectors noticing.
“Yes,” Cedar said.
Campfires burned at intermittent spots, most near the water. Men’s voices rose and fell in conversations and sometimes song. Drink gave some of the voices a boisterous slur. Kali doubted there were many women out here, if any, and she was glad to have Cedar at her side.
She tapped a pocket where she carried two smoke nuts. Her Winchester, fastened to her packsack, was within easy reach as well. She trusted Cedar still had her two vials of flash gold flakes; they were not weapons but, given time, they could be made into useful tools.
Kali picked out a familiar voice, fortunately not singing.
“That’s him,” she murmured to Cedar, who walked quietly, even with no light to brighten the trail. She reached out to brush his arm now and then to make sure he was still there.
Sebastian sat with five other men around a fire pit. All had the bearded, grizzled appearance of veterans, and more than one sported a scar on his face. A fellow with a greasy beard dangling halfway down his chest scratched be
neath an eye patch with the stumpy nub of a half-missing finger. Rifles and shotguns leaned against logs or rocks, no more than an arm’s length from their owners.
Rectangular shadows behind the men delineated tents. The claim farther up the bank from Sebastian’s lay dark, its prospectors either gone to sleep or perhaps into town, but a fire burned at the one diagonally across the river, the one that supposedly belonged to Cudgel’s crony. Nobody sat around it, though a tent and the beginnings of a log cabin rose near the flames.
“Doesn’t look very active,” Kali said.
“Your old beau?” Cedar asked. “Well, he has a flask of whiskey in his hand. That slows a man down.”
“I meant the camp we’re here to spy on.”
“Ah. I’ll sneak over tonight if I can find a way across the river. Let’s get settled in here first. Those men look rougher than I expected based on my initial encounter with your Sebastian.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop calling him my this-or-that,” Kali said. “And just because he’s a dandy doesn’t mean he’s not a fine flannel-mouth. I’m sure he talked these fellows into helping with promises of riches, and they believed him. As for their roughness, Sebastian probably picked them for that. It’s dangerous up here, and you’re like to have your claim jumped if anything shiny comes out of it.”
“Understood.”
When they were within a dozen meters of the fire, Kali called out, not wanting to surprise anyone with twitchy reflexes. “Sebastian?”
Sebastian bolted to his feet, eyes larger than Francis Barton’s prize nuggets. “Kali?”
“Yes.”
Despite Sebastian’s acknowledgement, the man beside him grabbed his shotgun. He raised it to his shoulder and Kali tensed, ready to throw herself to the ground. A rifle thundered a foot away from her ear. The shotgun flew from its owner’s hands. Cursing, the man flung himself behind a log even as the rest of Sebastian’s cronies lunged for their weapons.
Cedar fired two more times.
“Sebastian!” Kali ducked and scrambled behind a stump. She found her own rifle, but she did not want to fire, not if this was a misunderstanding. “What’re you—”
“Stop!” Sebastian called. “Everyone stop grabbing for your firearms.”
None of his men had managed to fire a shot, not with Cedar preempting them, but they had all found cover, and irritated snarls came from behind the rocks and logs.
“I invited her up here,” Sebastian went on. “She’s the one I told you about. Albeit, I wasn’t expecting her so soon.”
A twinge of irritation ran through Kali. Why had he expected her at all? Did he truly think his offer that irresistible? If not for Cedar, she would not have taken a single step in Sebastian’s direction.
A shadow moved at her elbow, Cedar joining her behind the stump.
“Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying the enhanced chambering speed your modifications have granted my Winchester?” he asked while Sebastian calmed down his men.
“Not since Thursday. Do you think that one was going to shoot me?” Kali asked, already unimpressed with Sebastian’s comrades.
“If I thought that, I would have shot his chest, not his firearm.”
“Ah, so that was merely a warning for an ambiguous action.”
“Precisely.”
“Kali?” Sebastian called. “Who’s with you?”
“Cedar,” she said. “The, uh, fellow you met at my workshop.”
“He wasn’t invited,” Sebastian said.
“He’s willing to work too. Why turn down an extra hand? He’ll take a cut of my share. No need to pay him.”
“That so?” Cedar murmured.
She elbowed him.
“He willing to take a cut of your rations too?” Sebastian asked. “Because we don’t have enough to feed someone that big.”
“We brought our own food,” Kali said.
“You didn’t even bring a blanket,” Cedar whispered.
“Sshh.” She could see nothing of his features in the dark, but sensed his humor was tickled by the situation. Or maybe gun-slinging put him in a good mood.
“Come in,” Sebastian said. “We’ll work out the details in the morning. It’s late. Long past when respectable folk ride up on a camp.”
“Yes...we were delayed.”
Kali stood and walked toward the fire, arms spread to show she had no weapons in hand. She supposed the courteous thing to do would be to mention that a dangerous woman might be about and that Kali’s presence could bring danger to the entire camp.
“Getting sexed up, probably,” Sebastian muttered to the man at his side who snorted and nodded.
Kali narrowed her eyes and reconsidered the level of courtesy she would show the man. Such as, maybe she would warn him if she saw a grenade plummeting toward his head.
Cedar did not stray from her side as she approached, and she admitted a smug satisfaction at having him looming there. She knew Sebastian would not be jealous—that would have required him to have had an actual interest in her—but at least Cedar’s presence proved she was not so undesirable as he believed. Except, she reminded herself, Cedar was not her beau and she had lied to Sebastian. Her smugness faded.
“You arrived sooner than I expected,” Sebastian told Kali. “The steam equipment isn’t here yet. We’ll be bringing it up on a raft from Dawson soon.”
“That’s fine. We can help with the sluice box or whatever you have set up so far.” Kali glanced around. Though she and Cedar had passed numerous claims with such equipment, she had not noticed any on Sebastian’s land. Maybe she had missed it in the darkness.
“Good. We have lots to set up,” Sebastian said. “We’ve barely got the tents pitched.”
“Is there room for us in one?” she asked.
“Sorry,” he said in a tone that assured he was not. “They’re already claimed. You can bed down over there.” He smiled and pointed to rocky ground near the fire.
“Thanks,” Kali said, glad the air did not smell of rain.
The men watched Cedar as he moved farther away from the fire than Sebastian had indicated. He ignored them. Well, Kali doubted that, but he acted as if he was ignoring them. The way nobody introduced themselves struck her as odd, but the gunfire greeting had probably set the men on edge. Thus far, the night did not hint of future friendships, so she hoped Cedar could complete his business with John Wilder within a day or two.
She laid down her gear and, under the guise of performing her nightly ablutions, checked the two smoke nuts nestled in her pocket. She decided to sleep with them and the knife on her belt as well. While she doubted anyone would bother her with Cedar around, she did not like the camp atmosphere.
When she returned from washing at the river and saw Cedar’s all-in-one bed-blanket-pillow stretched over the rocks, she remembered she would be expected to spend the night tucked into it. With him.
Though the rest of the men had disappeared into the tents, Sebastian sat on a log by the fire. He probably wanted to see if another man would actually share a bed with her. She glowered at Sebastian and stalked over to join Cedar.
He crouched beside his blanket, waiting for her. He lifted a hand, perhaps asking if she wanted to get in first. She waved for him to go. Sebastian glanced their way, and she dropped her hand. Presumably people who shared beds worked these details out early in their relationships, though she supposed she could claim this was their first night on the trail together if anyone voiced suspicions.
Cedar removed his boots, though thankfully none of his other clothing. A part of her would not mind seeing him sans garments some day, but not with an audience nearby. He slid between the blankets and laid his rifle close by.
“Not sleeping with it tonight?” Kali sat down to remove her own boots.
“I didn’t want you to get jealous.”
She snorted.
“Will you be all right here if I leave later to scout Wilder’s claim?” Cedar whispered.
“I th
ink so,” Kali said. Thus far Sebastian’s story had panned out, though admittedly coming in at night meant she had seen little of his claim and his operation. “But on the chance he’s planning something squirrelly, when would you be back?”
“Morning. Early.”
“I suspect I can keep myself out of trouble until then.”
“Hm.”
Kali poked around for a way into the cocoon-like bedding. Cedar lay on his side to provide more room for her. Her options were facing him or not. The former seemed far too intimate, so she laid on her side with her back to him. Hard, lumpy stones pressed into her ribs, and cold seeped through the blanket. Spring might have come to the Yukon, but all that meant was she probably wouldn’t wake with ice crystals freezing her eyelashes shut.
“Can you slip me one of my vials?” she murmured. “Just in case I can’t keep myself out of trouble while you’re gone?”
The blanket rustled. The small container he pressed into her hand was warm, and she wondered where he had been keeping it. Kali wriggled about, finding space to draw her knee up, and she slipped the vial into her sock. She pillowed her head with her arms and closed her eyes.
“Does this mean we’re not putting on a demonstrative display to convince him of the veracity of our relationship?” Cedar asked, his words tickled with amusement.
“You’re my beau,” she whispered, “not my husband. For all he knows, we’ve just begun our courtship and haven’t had, er, you know, yet.”
“Ah. No kissing either?”
“Are you just teasing me because it’s fun and you can right now without risking a punch in the belly, or are you implying that you’d actually like to do...stuff?”
Long seconds passed without a response, and she winced. Had she implied she wanted him to say he wanted to do ‘stuff’? Because if he did not want to do ‘stuff,’ she certainly didn’t want him to think she wanted him to do ‘stuff.’ She closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. When had she become such a...female?