But for somebody to have come up with something like that in 1860—and something that worked, no less—that was more than a bit remarkable. Actually, the whole thing was jaw-droppingly impressive. Nobody’d ever heard of a dirigible of that size and power before the turn of the century. The Huns, with all the hullabaloo about their Zeppelins, had been decades behind the ball. And this one had held up for sixty years without ever touching ground.
“Weather is always controlling us,” Jael said. “So now we could be controlling it instead.” She gestured to the brown hay field. “There would be rain when growers needed it. It was never meant to do what Zlo is doing with it.”
Hitch knotted off the last of the bandages and eased the arm back to Earl’s chest. “So what happens now?”
Jael looked at the sky. “I think he is wanting to take from your world what he thinks he deserves because he has never had it. I think he is making prison of your valley.”
“A barricade? With the storm clouds?”
Hard to see what was going on from down here, but it did kind of seem like the dark gray of the clouds was closing in from every direction. At least the clouds were drifting high enough that the visibility wasn’t too bad yet. So far, the rain was only a spattery drizzle.
“What about your pendant?” Hitch asked. “If you don’t have it, then there’s nothing keeping him right here.”
She handed him the other shirt. “That is maybe bad. Because he has no knowledge of that. If he has belief he cannot use dawsedometer anyplace but here, he will not stop harming your town.”
Hitch slipped the shirt under Earl’s arm and tied the sleeves around his neck.
Earl settled his arm into the makeshift sling and grunted. “I thought you dropped the pendant.”
“I think it caught on bottom of korabl.”
Hitch met her look. “Maybe it did.” He helped Earl scoot back into the passenger seat. “C’mon, let’s get you to a doctor.”
“And then what are you going to do?” Earl asked. “I reckon Livingstone’s competition is over now. If we’re going to try to fly through that storm to get out of town, we better do it sooner than later.”
“I’m not getting out. I’m staying.”
Earl raised both eyebrows. “You kidding me? Just like that?”
Hitch shrugged. It was hard to explain. There weren’t even really words for how he felt. He’d left before because it had been the best thing for everybody. But this time he might actually be able to do more good for Griff and Nan if he stayed. This time, he couldn’t just skip out. For once, maybe the skills of a wandering pilot might make the difference here.
He shut the door. “I need to stick around and at least see what happens. Then we’ll clear out.” He turned to Jael. “This could end up being a war, of sorts. You know that, right? A lot of your people could end up getting hurt.”
“If Zlo is glavni, they are already hurt.”
He pocketed his hands. This was dead serious, but he didn’t want her to think it was a threat: “I need to know what side you’re on in all this. Nobody’s going to blame you if it ain’t us.”
She was watching him, with that deep, searching look. “It is not just your home Zlo puts in danger. If only way to save Schturming is to bring it down”—she lifted a shoulder—“then I will stay with you and help you to first save your home. I think you will save mine too, if you can.” The steadiness in her voice held a daunting load of implicit trust.
Sooner or later, it seemed he always ended up letting down the people he cared about. But maybe not this time. Maybe this time, he’d not only stick it out, but actually do something useful in the process.
Take down the flying pirate and his crew. Save the valley. Make peace with Griff and Nan.
Sure. No problem.
He straightened away from the passenger door. “All right, then. Let’s go.”
Twenty-Seven
HITCH DROVE BACK to the airfield, towing the Jenny behind J.W.’s car. At the end of the runway, somebody had erected a big open tent against the spitting drizzle. Looked like half the town was crammed under it, all of them shouting and shaking their fists. In front of them, Campbell and Livingstone stood on top of something, head and shoulders above the crowd.
“Don’t know about you,” Earl drawled, “but them being in charge sure makes me feel a whole lot better.”
Hitch parked the car and helped Earl and Jael out. They all made their way over to the back of the jostling crowd.
Everybody was hollering at once.
“I can’t even pay part of eighty thousand dollars!”
“If they can send rain, they can send hail! My entire crop will be ruined!”
“They can’t hold a whole town for ransom!”
“They’ve killed people already! This is war, I tell you! They’re invaders!”
Campbell looked more like a granite crag than ever. He raised both hands. “Listen to me.”
The hubbub continued.
His blue eyes lit up. “Listen to me!”
Most sensible people would shut up when Bill Campbell talked like that. Most folks here were sensible. Their cries quieted to a murmur. They shifted their feet, restless and scared, but also expectant.
“That’s right,” somebody dared to say. “You been up there, Sheriff. What’s the score?”
Campbell kept his hands raised for a full second more. “You all just hold onto yourselves, and I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen around here. Nobody’s getting hurt. Nobody’s losing their farm either, you hear me?” He scanned the crowd, stopping to look a few men in the eye.
“But what about the ransom?” a woman shrilled.
“We’re going to pay the ransom.” He waited for the inevitable rustle of whispers, then nodded his big head. “Everybody pays just a little. I reckon we can pay it off without anybody hurting too bad. We’ll figure out what each household pays.” The muscle in Campbell’s cheek jumped, and his eyes flashed. “And if you can afford a little more, well, then maybe you can do that for your neighbors, huh?”
Must gall him to have to say that. Nothing got under his skin worse than somebody trying to strong-arm him. But he wasn’t an idiot.
People shifted. They had to know Campbell was right. At the moment, the only choices were pay or fight. Most folks here couldn’t even begin to fight a flying weather machine.
A man up front raised a finger to get Campbell’s attention. “And what about the rest of it? This thing he wants us to find for him?”
Hitch stiffened.
Beside him, Jael inhaled sharply.
He forced himself not to look over at her.
Campbell straightened, his wide shoulders spreading even wider as he drew them back. “This thing our friend Zlo wants, it’s some kind of pendant.”
“How are we going to find it?” the same man asked.
“Somebody took this pendant from Zlo. We find that person, we find the pendant. I expect we’re looking for someone new to the valley, somebody who don’t quite fit in.”
Of course, Jael fit in about as good as a coon in a henhouse. The hairs on Hitch’s arms stood up. Not too many people had met her, much less heard her talk, but there’d been enough. And probably at least one of them was rat enough to turn her over.