“Well, he was English. They’re proper, aren’t they? We can’t afford that kind of attitude up here in the North.”
“No,” Cedar said, pulling one of the rifles off his shoulder. “This is loaded. Don’t forget you’ll have to chamber it manually.”
Kali nodded. If her modified Winchester was still buried in the cave, she hadn’t been able to find it. More likely one of those scavengers had pulled it out and been delighted with the discovery.
“I’ll just club more fellows in the bear cubs with it if I can’t remember how the pump works.” She winked at him.
“Sometimes you’re a scary woman, Kali.”
“Guess that makes me lucky to have such a fine man as yourself loving me.”
He squinted suspiciously at her.
“What?” she asked.
“I was waiting for you to turn that into a joke. Seemed like some teasing had to follow such a statement.”
“I’m trying to be more demonstratively appreciative.”
“Oh. Guess I’m not used to that.”
“There’s probably something in the courting book about women keeping men on their toes, so they don’t get too settled and start having assumptions.”
“Seems likely.” More cannons fired, and Cedar tilted his head toward the hatch at the end of the passageway. “Shall we see if we can slip overboard while the gangsters are distracted by attacking the city?”
“Wait, are they attacking the city? I admit I was too worried about myself to wonder, but are you sure that American airship didn’t come back? They could be firing at it.”
“I was just on deck a minute ago. No other airships. And I heard them say they were going to drop explosives on the city unless the mayor agreed to hand over the gold in all of the bank vaults in Dawson.” Cedar shook his head. “I can tell Cudgel isn’t in charge anymore. His plans were always more diabolic and sophisticated. This is blunt, and there’ll be retaliation.”
“Maybe these people don’t care. Maybe they plan to split whatever gold they can get and run.” Kali rubbed her face. Dropping explosives on the city? That could kill hundreds of people. “Do you think there’s anything we can do from here?”
Cedar’s eyebrows rose. “I thought you just wanted to get the flash gold and get out of here.”
Kali reached for the spot where the folded paper still rested, then realized he might wonder why she was touching her nether regions and dropped her hand. “I care about getting it, but you were right earlier. It would be selfish not to help the city if we can.”
“I was right?” His eyes widened. “You’re saying I was right and that you appreciate me? What did they do to you in that closet?”
“Nothing.” She swatted him. She wouldn’t admit it was more her realization of how obsessively foolish she had been that had made her see her shortcomings.
“Well,” he said, the word punctuated with another round of cannon fire, “we can try to get to the engine room. I can watch your back while you see if you can disable the ship.”
“There are two other ships, aren’t there? If I crash this one, the others would still be a threat.”
“Well, isn’t solving a third of the problem better than doing nothing? We don’t have to fight the whole war for those Mounties, do we?”
“You tell me. Have they got any way to retaliate from down there?”
A loud crunch sounded as something blasted into the ship, and a scream of pain came from the deck above.
“Ah, it’s possible they’ve found a way,” Cedar said. “And if it’s an effective way, we might have less time than before to do something and get off. Maybe we won’t even need to do something.”
A distant boom echoed from the river below. No, from the town below. If the gangsters were dropping explosives, then people could be dying right now.
“We need to do something,” Kali said firmly.
Cedar nodded. “Engine room?”
“Navigation.”
He raised his eyebrows again, but he did not object. “Follow me,” he said and headed for the hatch.
Part 7
Cedar had an inkling of what Kali meant to do, and he wasn’t sure it was wise while they were passengers on the airship, but he led the way to the upper deck, fully intending to fight a way through to the navigation cabin if that was what she wanted. When it came to destroying machines, she was more of an expert than he, not that he hadn’t been moderately pleased with himself for effectively smashing that mechanical spider to pieces.
Smoke clouded the deck. Cedar did not know if it was drifting up from the city fifty feet below, or if the airship had been damaged, but its presence was useful since it provided camouflage. The rain had stopped, and the air smelled of wet wood and gunpowder. With the storm taking a break, he could clearly hear shouts and guns firing on the nearby airships. He could also hear cries of panic coming from below as more explosions sounded in the city. Cedar hoped the Mounties had more weapons like whatever had crunched into the ship a moment ago.
“Navigation is this way,” he said over his shoulder, not certain how much of the ship Kali had explored before being caught.
“Best hurry to it. Look.” She pointed through the smoke and toward a distant shape in the night sky off to the south side of the city.
At first, Cedar thought it was a particularly low cloud, but a few lights were visible through the dreary dark air. “That’s the American ship, I think.”
“Yes, and if they start firing at these ships, we’ll be in as much trouble as the crew.”
“Good point.”
Cedar stayed close to cover as much as possible as he headed for the navigation cabin near the bow. As far as he knew, nobody had seen him come aboard, and the gangsters should believe Kali was still locked up, so he hoped they would be looking outward for trouble rather than inward. Still, everyone on deck was armed, and there had to be close to fifty people manning the guns and shouting orders. It would take luck to make it across the ship without being noticed.
They reached an empty stretch that lay between them and the navigation cabin, the structure an island with decking on all sides. Getting to it without being seen would be a challenge. The smoke lingered, but men kept running past the cabin. Shouts came from the rear railing. The gangsters had noticed the approaching ship and were waving their firearms and pointing in its direction.
Cedar and Kali started across the open stretch, but they’d taken no more than three steps before a hatch banged open behind them. Wincing at the noise, Cedar spun, a revolver already in hand.
Amelia stood in the hatchway, the wrappings that she usually wore to hide her burn scars missing, replaced by a bloodstained bandage covering her head. An open satchel hung from her shoulder, one hand already dipped into it. Something else was already in her other hand, and she threw it in his direction. A vial.
Cedar had no idea what the dark liquid inside of it did, but he shifted his aim and shot as Kali barked, “Get back!” and tried to pull him away. Despite the distraction, his aim was true. His bullet blew open the glass vial. A purplish cloud erupted from it.
As Cedar spun to follow Kali, certain he didn’t want anything to do with that cloud, he glimpsed Amelia pulling a mask up over her mouth and nose and also throwing something with the hand that had been in the satchel. A metal ball twice the size of Kali’s smoke nuts rolled across the deck after him.
“Go, go,” Kali was urging, pulling him and running toward the navigation cabin.
Though he worried about what the woman had throw after them, he raced after Kali. A feeling of nausea assailed his stomach. Was that from the smoke?
The ball rolling after them caught up to Cedar, and he jumped to keep it from striking him on the heel. It tumbled a few feet farther, then sprang open.
He cursed, expecting shrapnel or more smoke, but a mechanical creature sprang from within. It looked like a metal scorpion, and it leaped toward Kali. Cedar kicked it in the side. It was heavier than he expected—ei
ther that, or it could dig into the wooden deck with those metal claws. His strike only sent it skidding a foot. Right away, it raced at her again. Kali danced out of its reach. It spun, trying to jab her ankle with its tail. Was it as venomous as the real creature? Or even more so?
Cedar fired at it. His boot might not have done much, but the bullet was another story. Dozens of metal pieces flew as the body exploded. A dark blue smudge remained behind, almost like blood on the deck. Blood or poison.
“Three more coming,” Kali whispered.
There was little point in whispering, since the entire ship had to know they were there, thanks to his shooting. Indeed, shouts came from both sides of the deck, men turning from the railings to investigate the interior threat.
“Trouble on board,” someone barked.
“The witch’ll get ’em,” came a reply from the other side of the ship.
With three more of those balls almost upon them, Cedar couldn’t argue with that statement. The first unfurled a couple of feet to his side, and another scorpion sprang out.
He lifted his revolver toward it as he resumed running toward the navigation doorway, aware that he was a target for more than Amelia now. He had barely taken a step before a bullet skipped off the deck behind him.
Kali reached the navigation door. It was a regular door with a latch, with glass windows to either side, but judging by the way she pulled without it budging, the pilot had locked himself inside.
A scorpion skittered toward Cedar’s boot, that metal stinger waving ominously. More firearms rang out from the railing. He sprang, half to avoid the metal creature and half to take partial cover by pressing his back to the door.
“Can’t open it with you standing there,” Kali barked, a hammer and chisel in her hand as she eyed the hinges. She had slung the rifle he’d given her over her shoulder. Where she’d found the tools, he didn’t know. He doubted the broom closet had come stocked with them, but maybe she had spotted them on the run up to the deck.
Cedar fired at the men who were firing at them, even as he watched the three scorpions skittering closer.
“Why don’t you take care of those creatures, and I’ll take care of the lock,” Cedar said. His revolver clanked, empty of bullets, and he threw it at one of the scorpions.
“Hard to take care of anything when I haven’t had time to make anything,” Kali said, but she scurried forward to intercept one of the fast-moving scorpions.
Cedar’s heart nearly stopped when he spotted a gangster aiming at her as the metal creature spun its tail toward her. He whipped his rifle off his back and chose to target the shooter—she must have a plan for the scorpion. The man got off a shot, but he mustn’t have expected Kali to drop to her knees in front of the creature, because his bullet went high, eliciting a shout from someone on the opposite side of the ship.
“You’re shooting into each other,” Cedar yelled, not because he cared if they hit each other but because he hoped that would make them pause. Before he finished the words, he fired at the man presumptuous enough to aim at a woman. A woman he cared about very much. Bastard.
His bullet took the gangster in the chest, and he tipped backward, falling over the railing. “Only fifty more to go,” he mumbled, guessing at the size of the crew.
Kali pinned the scorpion with her chisel and took a whack with the hammer, but the two other metal creatures scurried in her direction, waving those tails.
Forcing himself to stay calm, Cedar fired to one side of Kali, then the other. Both scorpions exploded. Her hammer and chisel took care of the other one, again leaving a blue stain on the deck.
Though aware of men threatening to come at them from the sides, Cedar next lifted his rifle toward the hatchway opposite the navigation cabin. Amelia might be the biggest threat on the ship, and who knew what she would send at them next?
But she had disappeared, leaving the hatch closed. He wasn’t sure if she had gone back down below decks or run around toward her flying contraption in the rear of the ship.
He fired twice more through the smoke and toward the men near the railings. Most of them had taken cover. Expecting more shots at any moment, Cedar spun back toward the navigation cabin door. Taking a step back to make space, he blasted a bullet into the lock.
“That’s unsophisticated,” Kali said, running up beside him, her hammer and chisel still in hand.
“Darn.” Cedar kicked open the door and leaped inside, another bullet chambered and ready to fire.
It was a good thing, because the pilot waited, facing the door with a six-shooter in hand. The man fired, and Cedar would have caught the bullet in his chest if he hadn’t lunged in so erratically. He returned fire, his shot wild since he was in the middle of flinging himself through the air. His bullet cracked through the glass in front of the wheel as the man dropped to the deck.
The pilot retained his wherewithal and aimed a second shot at Cedar. They fired at the same time. Pain ripped through the side of Cedar’s leg as the bullet grazed his calf. He saw his own bullet strike the pilot, but it was Kali’s hammer crashing into the man’s temple that caused him to drop his revolver.
Kali slammed the door shut behind them. Rifles fired outside of the navigation cabin, and more glass shattered, littering the deck of the cabin.
“Down,” Cedar said, ignoring the pain in his leg and hauling her to the deck beside him. “I’ll try to keep them back, but you’ll have to do whatever it is you plan from down here.”
“Piloting without being able to see. That always goes well.” As she complained, Kali scrambled across the floor, cursing when broken glass cut her hands. She reached the wheel, dropped her tools and her firearm on the deck, and risked popping her head up.
Cedar poked his head and rifle up, too, but with glass—or broken glass—on all sides, there wasn’t a safe place from which to shoot. He fired indiscriminately, barely aiming before he dropped back down again. Bullets whizzed overhead, shattering more glass on their way through. He alternated grinding his teeth and cursing Amelia. If not for her, Cedar and Kali might have reached this spot, sneaked in, and quietly subdued the pilot, taking control before anyone knew they were here. Now, their deaths seemed inevitable. And for what? The flash gold? Cedar didn’t give a damn about the flash gold. He’d only come up here to protect Kali.
The ship shuddered, and the gunfire outside the cabin stopped momentarily, alarmed shouts coming from the crew.
“That your doing?” Cedar asked.
“No, not yet.” Kali lifted her head, only for a second, then made an adjustment to the wheel.
Cedar risked poking his own head up again. He saw far more than he wanted to see. A team of four men headed toward the navigation cabin from the rear, revolvers in their hands as they crouched low, clearly trying to keep from being spotted. The hatchway leading to the main cabin area was partially open again, with Amelia’s bandaged head just visible again as she rooted in her satchel. Beyond the railing, the American ship was bearing down on them—for whatever reason, it had chosen this enemy airship to attack first. Further, the black hull of one of the other gangster vessels loomed directly ahead of their bow. Kali clearly meant to crash their craft into it.
As cannons fired on the American ship, Cedar hesitated, not certain which threat had to be dealt with first. He opted for the men trying to sneak up on the cabin while hoping Kali knew what she was doing. He stood and, using the door for cover, poked his rifle through the broken window beside it and shot the lead man approaching navigation. The team spotted him and fired back. Bullets further shattered the glass, and as Cedar put his back to the door, he felt more of them thud into it behind him. Silently thanking the makers of the airship for their love of solid wood, he loaded more rounds into the rifle he’d acquired. There weren’t as many bullets in his pockets as he wished. When he had been subduing men and taking their firearms and ammunition, he thought he’d acquired plenty of both. That had been before he’d known they would end up under siege in the center of
an airship full of enemies.
The group scattered as soon as he started shooting at them, but they weren’t ready to flee. The three remaining men dove for cover and continued firing at the navigation cabin. Cedar squatted low since two had circled around to the side and could see him beside the door. He managed to check on Amelia again and get a shot off before he dropped. She was stepping out of the hatch, raising something to throw.
A bevy of gunfire came from beyond the railing, from the American ship. Cannons blasted, thudding into the side of the ship Cedar and Kali were on. Behind those cannons, dozens of armed men waited, wearing a mix of blue and red uniforms. American soldiers and Mounties. The ship must have collected reinforcements from Fort Selkirk. Cedar shook his head, wishing those people were on the way to rescue him and Kali, but they would shoot him as quickly as they would shoot the gangsters. Judging by the grappling hooks a couple of the soldiers were swinging, the combined forces intended to board this ship. Cedar grimaced. He and Kali had nowhere to flee.
Something struck the back of the door. It sounded like something soft, rather than something hard, and he didn’t hear anything bounce off. Had Amelia thrown it?
He didn’t dare open the door to check and see what it was.
“Kali, is there any chance—” He didn’t get to finish the sentence.
Amid a great banging and snapping of wood, their ship crashed into the gangster ship in front of it with such force that Cedar was hurled onto his back. An explosion ripped the air somewhere nearby, and Cedar had no idea if it came from their ship or the one they had hit. He didn’t know if it mattered. Either way, he and Kali were doomed.
• • • • •
“I smell smoke,” Kali said, releasing the navigation wheel and kneeling back.
Gunfire rang out from all directions, and she did not know how she and Cedar would escape without being shot, but she had succeeded in crashing their airship into the other enemy airship, leaving two out of the three gangster craft in a predicament. With Mounties and U.S. soldiers starting to board, Kali trusted that the blackmailing criminals would soon be taken care of, but the fighting might be ugly with many deaths before anyone surrendered. The gangsters still had three ships to the military’s one and probably more armed people, as well.