Kali did not hear the clack of Cedar loading a new round, not with the man hollering, but the expelled shell glinted, reflecting moonlight, before it hit the snow. His sword quivered where he had thrust it downward, pinning the leader to the ground.
“Shit.” The man she had clubbed grabbed his wounded comrade. “Come on, Ralph.”
The pinned man squirmed too vigorously for the sword to have pierced anything vital, but his curses promised he did not appreciate his helplessness.
Cedar yawned and pulled his blade free. The leader rolled away-far away. He made no move toward his rifle. He and the others scurried away, heading into the trees instead of toward the camps on the beach. Maybe they did not want Cedar being able to identify them the next day. Somehow, Kali doubted he would have a problem.
He joined her by the sled. Her teeth were chattering, but she refused to go into the tent until the last man disappeared from view.
“Thanks,” she said. It sounded inane, too small a modicum of gratitude for all the help he had given her, but she still had too many questions about him to offer him more.
“So,” Cedar said, tone light. “You think I’m ‘very good,’ eh?”
“I just wanted those dunderheads to believe they were swimming in water too deep.”
“Hm, then youdon’tthink I’m very good?”
“You’re decent.”
“My ego is in danger of wilting under your unrelenting lack of appreciation.”
“This is the Yukon. Women here are hard to impress.”
“I’ve heard gold usually does the job.”
“You haven’t offered me any gold,” Kali said.
“Somehow I suspect you’d prefer a tool set.”
True, but gold would get her out of this frozen hell sooner. “Make the tools gold-plated, and I might swoon.”
He chuckled. The men had disappeared, and Kali could barely feel her fingers. Time to go inside.
She lifted the tent flap, but paused when something blotted out the moonlight. She expected a cloud, but no. The dark silhouette of an airship rode across the sky, its great hull and oblong balloon creating distinctive shapes against the stars.
Kali’s gut twisted. Airships were almost as rare as palm trees up here, and she would normally love to see one, but she doubted that crew had come to offer her a tour. At least not the type of tour where one got off at the end.
“Pirates,” Cedar said.
He drew her into the shadow of the sled as the ship sailed overhead. Lanterns burned on the bow and deck, revealing several men peering over the side with spyglasses. Kali barely breathed as they passed. Though the shadows might hide her and Cedar, her sled was unmistakable.
The airship disappeared behind the hills. She and Cedar stood in silence for several moments, breaths frosting the air, but the vessel did not return. The soft chattering of her teeth must have drawn Cedar’s attention for he gazed down at her, then gave her a gentle push toward the tent.
“They probably won’t bother us with so many others around,” he said.
Kali shoved aside the flap and ducked inside. “Others that would be happy to help them on their quest if it meant getting rid of me.”
“Perhaps.” Cedar followed her. “But the pirates don’t know that.”
“Lucky me.”
Kali laid on her side in the dark. She pulled her knees to her chest and shivered, as much from the situation as the cold.
The insults from the superstitious townsfolk always gouged her soul, but she had grown accustomed to them. Being stalked by bounty hunters and airship pirates? That was new and depressing. If she won the race, she might escape the town, but would gangsters continue to send minions after her? How far would they follow her? Across borders? Over oceans?
She closed her eyes. She could not hate her father for inventing flash gold, but she did hate him sometimes for leaving her alone. Moisture pricked her eyes. She blinked rapidly. She had not cried since her mother died, and she would not start now.
Clothing rustled behind her as Cedar settled down. The fact that she had company-a witness-was another reason to hold herself together.
A hand rested on her arm. “You all right?”
“Fine,” Kali said, torn between being annoyed that she appeared to need comfort and appreciating that someone was bothering to give it.
He draped a blanket over her and laid behind her, his back to hers. The warmth was…not unwelcome.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome.”
“This doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“Naturally.”
She smiled faintly and closed her eyes.
Part V
The cold afternoon sun offered little warmth, but Kali did not care. They had reached the top of the ridge first. Three sleds trundled up the switchbacks below, dogs huffing and straining. For her steam engine, the incline had been no trouble.
She patted the side of the boiler. “Good girl.”
“Does it perform better if you speak to it?” Cedar lowered a spyglass, a spyglass that had been turned not toward the mushers behind them but toward the sky ahead.
“You’re not teasing me, are you?” Kali arched an eyebrow. “Because I found you cuddled up with your rifle this morning.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t speaking to it.”
“Just snuggling?”
“Precisely so.”
“Uh huh.” Kali eased a lever forward, and the sled chugged into motion.
They followed a broken-in trail leading down a slope toward a long, narrow lake. The path weaved through evergreens and around hills, terrain that could hide an army. Cedar checked the spyglass often, though they had not glimpsed the airship, or anyone except other mushers, since the night before.
“See anything?” Kali asked for the third or fourth time.
Considering how often Cedar had the spyglass to his eye, she wondered how he kept from tripping over a low branch or stumbling into a snow drift. More than the average share of dexterity, she supposed. He would be a good man to have around, especially if her life continued along this new path, which included far too many people attacking her for her tastes. But what reason did he have to stick around? Hell, she still did not know why he was in the race with her.
“Nothing yet.” Cedar lowered the spyglass.
“It’d be convenient if anyone else who wants to harass me would wait until after the race.” The smokestack brushed the bottom of a branch, knocking snow onto Kali. She brushed it off and glowered at her surroundings. Even nature was conspiring against her.
“It would be smarter for your foes to kidnap you out here rather than in town, where you’ve a measure of protection from the security you’ve built into your workshop.”
Kali considered him out of the corner of her eye. “Should I be alarmed that you’ve been thinking that over?”
Cedar’s gaze had turned skyward. “Just be ready for more trouble.”
They neared the shoreline of the long lake. Snow and ice, glinting like a thousand candles beneath the sun, coated every inch of the surface. Kali stopped the sled, so she could pull tinted goggles out of her gear.
“We’re not going across the ice, are we?” Cedar asked.
The lake stretched a couple miles to the north and south, but the trail led straight across, where less than a mile separated the shorelines.
“Fastest route,” Kali said. “It’ll be thick enough to support us.” She hoped.
The river had been no problem, but the ice might not be as dense in the center of the lake. Numerous scrapes in the snow from sled runners proved many dog teams had traveled this way, but her steam sled had more mass.
“That’s not my concern.” Cedar stretched a hand toward the bare, open expanse. “There’s no cover. If we are attacked, we’ll be vulnerable.”