Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (21 page)

This was what mattered, I thought.
Only this moment.
I knew it could all be gone in an instant. Tomorrow, everything could change again. In a heartbeat the world might turn upside down. But tonight… tonight I had someone who loved me more than life itself. I had a full belly and a warm tent, and though it didn’t seem like much, it may have been more than I had ever known before.

Chapter 20

Our adventure had taken a toll on the steamwagon. Analyn had mechanics working on it when I went to see her the next morning, and she informed me that we had warped a wheel, burned out the bearings in a hub, and destroyed most of the floor. I apologized of course, but she just laughed.

“I’d pay far more than a steamwagon for the supplies you brought back,” she said. “I’m just glad you came back safe. And honestly, the damage is minimal. The mechanics will have this machine back in order by the end of the week. In the meanwhile, we have another wagon that will suffice.”

When we were ready to leave, Analyn sent us out with a smaller steamwagon (one of the two that remained) and told us to make a note of anything important that wouldn’t fit. “You can always go back,” she said. “For now, just focus on basic supplies.”

We traveled further south this time, avoiding the area where we’d run into the Vangars on the previous day. We visited two farmsteads, collected a few supplies from each, and made it back to the camp unmolested. We were back by nightfall with a wagonload of blankets, a small barrel of black powder, and two barrels of good aged whiskey. The next morning we went out again, this time returning with half a barrel of good raw steel from a blacksmith’s shop.

So it went, day after day for almost two weeks. We found that the further south we traveled, the less we saw signs of the Vangars. This emboldened us to take our ventures further from camp, until we finally reached Riverfork.

I wasn’t prepared to find the ruin that my hometown had become. The Vangars had burned the city to the ground. Almost nothing remained but the burned timbers and charred shells of buildings. A thick coat of ash lay across the whole town like a layer of fresh snow. It puffed up around our ankles as we walked and then seemed to hover there, drifting lazily in the summer heat. The acrid scent of fire was thick in the air and it made my eyes water.

We rooted through the ashes for a short while but found little worth salvaging, and we had no desire to remain long among the ghosts that we sensed all around us. This was where Robie’s parents had died, and many other good people alongside them. This was no longer Riverfork. It was a graveyard. We moved on.

A few days later, we were on our way back up the mountain road with a wagonload of coal, oats, and a good supply of carpentry tools when we heard a thundering explosion coming from the west. I braked the wagon and we all craned our necks around to peer through the treetops. In the distance, I saw a flash of light, quickly followed by another thundering
kaboom
and then a third.

We sat there for some time, watching and waiting, not knowing what to make of it. We discussed the different possibilities. The explosions could have been anything from some sort of accident to an actual uprising against the Vangars. Or it may have been the Vangars carrying out some other nefarious plot that we hadn’t even considered.

More explosions came as we waited. By the time it was over, there had been at least a dozen. The best we could judge was that they had originated somewhere south of Anora and north of the Riverfork. As soon as we pulled into camp, I reported what we’d witnessed to Analyn.

“You say this happened on the plains then, not in the city?” she said.

“I think so. It was south of Anora, though I couldn’t guess how far.”

She gazed at the sky for a moment, staring at the slim crescent moon climbing up from the horizon. “We have two days until the new moon,” she said. “Tinker won’t be expecting you to return this early, but perhaps it would be wise to go now.”

“To Anora!” I said. “You want me to go now?”

She pursed her lips, considering the situation. “It’s so risky, running back and forth to the city, especially when Tinker isn’t expecting your arrival. Yet, it does seem the most logical course, all things considered. There’s a chance Tinker knows what’s happening. Whatever that is, if we wait too long it may be too late.”

“What about my team?” I said. “They will want to go with me.”

She sighed, staring at me. “Five of you at once,” she muttered. “That number is bound to attract attention. But if I send any less, how can I expect you to fight free if you’re caught? We don’t have Tam anymore. If we did, I’d just send the two of you.”

“I know the way into the city,” I said. “Once we’re inside, the Vangars won’t pay any attention to us. They’ll think we’re captives like everyone else.”

“All right,” she said. “You may take your team, but not the whole team. Brand is too old. I don’t want him sneaking around in the dark. And Kale is too young. I know he could manage it, but I won’t be the one to tell his family that I sent him into the heart of danger. It’s bad enough having him out scavenging with the rest of you.”

“Fine,” I said. “The three of us, then. Me, Wil, and Jenna.”

“Four,” Robie’s voice said behind me.

I spun around to face him. It had been almost two weeks since the contest, and his injuries had healed quite nicely. He had been helping out around the camp, working with the mechanics and the carpenters. His natural vigor had returned, along with his strength.

“I should’ve known you’d try to weasel into this trip,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at him. I wasn’t about to let him know he had actually surprised me.

“Good. Then you must have also figured that I wouldn’t let you leave me behind this time.”

I gave him an exasperated eye roll and turned back to Analyn. “Well?” I said, placing my hands on my hips.

She grinned. “It’s your team, Breeze. Your decision.” She wandered away from the circle and left the two of us standing there. With an exaggerated sigh, I turned back to Robie.

“Well, it seems I have no choice then,” I mumbled.

He stepped forward, putting his arms around me. “You never had a choice,” he whispered in my ear.

I smiled. “Uh-huh. You just keep thinking that.”

When I broke the news to my team in the mess tent, Brand didn’t have much to say. He was wise enough to know that this journey was better suited to younger adventurers. “In that case, I think I’ll catch up on some sleep,” he said, grinning. “Best of luck to the rest of you.”

Kale on the other hand, was heartbroken. “This isn’t fair!” he said “You know I can do this!”

“I know, as does Queen Analyn,” I said, reminding him of her authority. “However, it would not be right to risk your life unnecessarily.”

“But the Vangars killed my mother! They killed my uncle.”

“All the more reason to keep you here,” Analyn said, stepping into the tent. “This is not Breeze’s decision, Kale. Your father is waiting for you at the south end of camp. The two of you will be going hunting at dawn.” He sighed heavily and left the tent with his shoulders slumped.

“I didn’t know his father was a hunter,” I said.

“He’s not,” Analyn said with a wink. “But he knows how to use a bow, and frankly they need the family time anyway.”

I nodded. Kale’s father was getting on in years. He was close to the same age that General Corsan had been, and that was a bit old for hiking up and down mountainsides. I suspected they would spend more time talking than stalking deer.

“The rest of you, get ready,” I said to the others. “It’s going to be a long night.”

They agreed, and headed off to fill their canteens and sharpen their weapons. It was still early evening. I didn’t want to rush my team, so I went for a walk in the woods. My thoughts had been much clearer since I sent Tam away and started my relationship with Robie, but that had left me with an entirely new set of worries. I knew that Robie would inevitably start pushing to join my team. He’d been sitting on the sidelines this long, but with his health back, my worry-free days were ending.

I knew it would be a waste of time to refuse him because Robie had already shown he wouldn’t think twice about risking his neck to follow me. But if I did let him join the team, I would have to be very careful about making him accept my role as the team leader. It was a role that he’d been willing to accept in the past, but now our situation was different. In addition, I would have to go to great lengths to make sure the rest of the team didn’t feel I was giving Robie special treatment. That meant I might have to be harder on him than the rest of the team, and that wasn’t going to be good for the team or for our relationship.

While walking, I found a nice stream about a mile north of the camp and I settled down to rest on a mossy old log. The tree branches creaked overhead and moaned in the wind, and the water bubbled along down the mountainside. I saw a few squirrels and birds, and even a fox. I listened to the voices of the trees, which is the way of the Tal’mar, but I didn’t hear much. They were enjoying the late summer weather, peacefully slumbering under the sun with their roots buried in the cool damp earth. They had no concern over matters of humans and Tal’mar. They didn’t know me in the way that the trees in Tinker’s valley had when I was a child, and speaking with them was no longer effortless for me. My senses seemed to be dulling with age and with lack of use, which left me frustrated, particularly because I knew it was mostly my fault. I had turned my back on that part of my life.

At some point, the noise of the stream lulled me into a light sleep. I had a disturbing dream about fire and explosions, and I saw Tinker’s face over and over again. For some reason I couldn’t talk to him, I only saw his face. I woke with my heart racing and my gut churning. I knelt down and drank from the stream, my mind whirring with quickly fading images. I told myself that the dream meant nothing; that I’d dreamed of fire and explosions because of the sounds I’d heard that afternoon, and I had seen Tinker’s face because I was going to visit him. I put the disturbing images out of my mind and headed back to camp.

We left just before sunset in the small steamwagon. We didn’t speak on the way down the mountain. I concentrated on driving and Jenna watched the woods around us for signs of trouble. Wil and Robie sat in the back, Wil sharpening his many knives and Robie reading some old book that he’d found in the mess tent about a horse thief and a court jester. Less than an hour later, it was full dark and we had abandoned the wagon to go racing across the plains on foot as fast as we dared in the poor light. I took the front, picking out a path with my sharp Tal’mar vision and the rest of my team followed, doing their best to match my pace and maintain their footing on the unstable terrain. Three hours after we’d left the shelter of the woods, we reached the outskirts of Anora.

I guided the group into a small ravine at the edge of the swampland north of the city. I told the others to wait for me there. I took a few minutes to scout ahead, taking note of the Vangar patrols in the area and calculating the time of their circuits. When the path was clear, I summoned the others and we slipped across the river and made our way into the back alleys of Anora.

I led the team on the same route I’d taken with Tam. Before we slipped into the crowd on the street, I instructed everyone to leave their weapons in the alley. “You can wear your knives as long as you can keep them covered,” I said, “but no bows or swords. Remember, the citizens here are captives. None of them are armed. Many of them don’t even have shoes, so don’t attract attention to yourselves. And if you see someone you recognize, don’t speak to them on the street. Go somewhere safe.”

I slipped into the crowd first, making my way down Main Street towards the
Flying Pig.
Robie and others followed, carefully timing their entrance into the pedestrian traffic so that none of us would attract attention, and so that if one of us was caught, the rest wouldn’t be implicated. As before, the streets were crowded with thousands of captives. Hundreds of citizens had gathered in the town square to quietly play cards and board games, especially the board game
Gather,
which can last for hours.

Gather
is played on an octagonal board of multicolored tiles. The pieces are divided; one player takes the role of royalty while the other plays the role of the merchants. The rules differ depending on which side you choose, and the game involves a lot of time and strategy, which is probably why it’s mostly popular with the elderly. At the moment however, the game seemed to be popular with just about everyone, probably because there wasn’t much else to do.

I reached the inn first and I rushed upstairs to knock on Tinker’s door. He answered immediately and quietly invited me in. He was alone this time.

“You came early,” he said in a low voice. “I wasn’t expecting you for two more days.” There was a knock at the door and his eyes widened.

“I’m not alone,” I said. “There are four of us.” Over the next ten minutes, the others arrived quietly, unnoticed by the Vangars patrolling the street outside. Tinker filled his percolator with fresh water and coffee grounds, and set it on top of his small wood-burning stove.

“I’m sorry about the timing,” I said. “A few things haven’t gone according to plan. When we heard the explosions today, we didn’t know what to do.”

“They’re mining,” Tinker said.

“Mining? For what?”

“Steel,” he said, grinning slightly.

“Steel?” I echoed, confounded by his statement. “Why would they mine steel so close to Anora? Don’t they know the ore here is worthless?”

“No they don’t,” he said, winking. “And let’s hope they don’t find out for a while yet.”

I laughed aloud. “Tinker, you deceived them?”

“No, not in so many words. I simply didn’t give them all of the relevant information.”

“But why?” The percolator started humming on the stove, the water inside hopping up into the cap with the steady beat of a drum.