Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (26 page)

I raised my revolver and emptied it into the Vangars’ shields. The bullets shattered as they hit the hard wood, tearing massive holes in their defenses and peppering the Vangar warriors with lead shrapnel and splinters. I heard screaming, and two more of the Vangars fell to the ground.

For the next few moments, I lost all sense of what was happening. The battle surged forward into the gates and the Vangars vanished up ahead, some of them running for the mansion, others falling into the hands of the insurgents.

Wil appeared next to me and began cutting the bonds of the other captives. I looked around, scanning their faces, and realized I had forgotten about someone. “The mayor!” I said. “Where did he go?”

“He ran up to the mansion as soon as the fighting began,” the sheriff said. “Took off like the dirty mongrel he is, with his tail between his legs.”

Robie joined us and I saw fresh blood running from a slice on his cheek. Other than that, he appeared to be in good health. “Are you well?” he said.

“I’ll be fine. We have to get to the mansion. The mayor can tell us where Tinker is.”

Robie raised his sword over his head and shouted, “LISTEN!” at the top of his lungs. “LISTEN! Everyone to the mansion!” The crowd took up his cry and pressed forward, their voices shouting in unison, “To the mansion, to the mansion!”

As we surged up the drive, I noted the bodies of the Vangar soldiers lying across the road. The citizens had killed many of them. As we reached the top of the drive, I paused to look back toward the city and saw a massive crowd flooding the streets. Hundreds of human and Tal’mar captives were joining the fight. Those who had been afraid before had taken courage from the mob. As I watched them, I also noticed that most of them were either old or very young. Wherever the dragon ships had gone, the Vangars had taken the best workers with them.

I hurried forward with the rest of the crowd for fear of being knocked down and trampled. Another twenty Vangars met us at the front of the mansion. They fought bravely as Vangars always do, but their sacrifice was in vain. The Vangar leaders had made a massive strategic error by leaving so few warriors behind to guard the city.

We searched the mansion, killing the few remaining guards who hadn’t already fled, and at last found the mayor hiding in the wine cellar. Robie picked up him by the collar and hauled up to the main floor. We stood in the kitchen, surrounding him as Robie shoved him into a chair. The sheriff punched him in the face twice before I could pull him off.

The mayor’s gaze drifted around the room but he refused to look us in the eyes. His cheek was swollen and turning purple, and blood streamed from his nose. “Why’d you do it?” the sheriff said. “What was it worth to you, selling us out?”

“Does it matter?” the mayor spat. “Do you really think you have a chance of fighting them?”

“Take a look around you,” Robie said. “We already have.”

“Ha! You think you’ve beaten them? They’ll be back. Within the month, you’ll all be lying dead in the streets. The Vangars will skin your bodies like animals and hang you from the street lamps as a warning.”

Wil’s hand flashed out, a knife appearing in his grip, and he pressed it tightly against the mayor’s throat. A trickle of blood appeared. “Don’t!” I shouted. “We need him.”

Wil smiled wickedly. “We don’t need him. He’s just a stinking Vangar. Aren’t you, mayor?”

The mayor winced, his eyes rolling in fear. “Please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you want!”

My fingers inched down to the revolver in my belt, dancing across the grip as I eyed him up and down. “You were quick enough to sell us out to the Vangars,” I said. “Now it’s your turn to sell them out. Tell us everything we want to know, or I’ll let Wil have his way with you. And when he’s done, I’ll throw you to that mob outside.”

The mayor was hyperventilating. He appeared to be on the verge of passing out. I reached down, touching his arm, trying to sense what was going on inside his body. His skin was cold and clammy. His muscles twitched erratically. His heart thudded in my ears like a Kanter war drum. I heard something else there, too. An unusual
whooshing
sound that I traced back to his heart.

“I should have known,” I said, looking at him. “You have a weak heart.”

He looked horrified, as if I had just spoken aloud his innermost secret fear. I pulled away, watching the look of terror wash over him. “Where’s Tinker?” I said grimly.

“They took him on the ship.”

“Why?”

“Because they knew he was the leader of the rebellion.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Is that so? And why did they think that?”

He cast his gaze helplessly around the room. “I told them,” he said quietly.

Robie’s hand went for his sword and I saw Wil tensing up. He was ready to slit the mayor’s throat. “Hold!” I said.

“You don’t understand,” the mayor said in an anguished voice. “They told me they would kill me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“You could have let them kill you,” Robie said.

Wil snorted. “It’s the same either way,” he said. “You sold us out so now we’re going to kill you.”

I sensed the mayor’s heart rate spiking again. “Where did they go?” I said desperately. I had to keep pressing, trying to get the information out of him before his heart gave out. “Where did they take Tinker?”

“To the mountains. They’re moving the mining operations into the Blackrock Mountains. I’m not sure where. The gyro pilots found a place.”

“You told them about Blackrock steel, didn’t you?” I said. He guiltily averted his gaze. I turned to Robie. “It’s a good thing we moved the camp,” I said. “He probably told them about that, too.” I turned my attention back to the mayor. “Where will we find Tinker?”

“I already told you, I don’t know!”

“You’re lying,” I said, leaning down very close to his face. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

Wil moved his blade against the mayor’s neck and a streak of blood ran down his throat. “All right!” the mayor said desperately. “I told them about Tinkerman! I told them about his planes and his steel. They know everything. They know what he can do, the things he can make.”

I stood up, satisfied. “That’s why they took Tinker instead of killing him,” I said.

Robie nodded in agreement. “They won’t kill him for a while then,” he said. “They’ll have to get a mine running in the mountains. They’ll need him for that, and they might want to see what else he can teach them.”

“Then we have time to save him,” Jenna said. “Maybe we can even rally an army.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m not waiting that long,” I said.

“What about him?” Robie said, nodding at the mayor. “Should we kill him?”

I looked into the mayor’s terrified eyes and felt pity and disgust mingling in my gut. The miserable greedy wretch had nearly destroyed us. There was no telling how long he’d been betraying our trust, or how many lives his intrigues might have cost. Still, I couldn’t bear the thought of killing the helpless, defenseless fool.

“Let him run,” I said. I pointed toward the back of the mansion. “The door is that way. You’ll have to get through the orchard and climb the wall at the back of the estate. Then you’ll have to cross the river. The mob will be right behind you.”

I nodded at Wil. Reluctantly, he pulled his blade away from the mayor’s neck and stood back. The mayor rose out of the chair, rubbing the cut on his throat. He eyed us suspiciously. “Are you serious?” he said. “You’re letting me go?”

“I’m serious,” I said. “You just have to outrun the crowd outside. They know what you did and if they catch you, they’ll put your head on a pike.”

He stumbled backwards, towards the back of the kitchen. Then he turned and ran. Wil turned to glare at me. “You should have let me kill him,” he said.

I watched the mayor lurch down the hall and heard the back door slam in the distance. “He’s dying,” I said. “His heart’s bad. I’ll be surprised if he makes it to the wall. If he does, he’ll never get across the river.”

“Good riddance,” Robie said. “A quick natural death is more than he deserves.”

Chapter 24

Standing on the front porch a few minutes later, I looked out over Anora and for the first time in weeks, felt hope rising inside of me. I saw skirmishes here and there, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until the Vangars were vanquished from the city.

“What now?” the sheriff said next to me, voicing my own thoughts. “We have the city now, but what are we going to do with it? These people can’t fight the Vangars without support, and we surely can’t lead them up to your camp in the mountains.”

“He’s right,” Robie said. “These people are sitting ducks when the Vangars return. They have to be ready to fight, or the city must be emptied.”

I considered that, and a feeling of apprehension washed over me. The people out there on the streets were not a fighting force. They had overwhelmed a few Vangars, but they couldn’t fight a real army. And the sheriff was right about taking them back to camp. It just wasn’t practical. We couldn’t move that many people, nor care for them, especially considering the fact that half of them were elderly.

“It’s not our decision to make,” I said at last. “The queen must decide.”

The sheriff stroked his long whiskers thoughtfully. “Half of these people don’t even know she’s still alive,” he said. “That might put some fire in their bellies, seeing their queen alive.”

“It might,” I agreed.
But would it be enough?

A deputy came running up to us and saluted the sheriff. “Sir, the Vangars abandoned three dragon ships at the north landing strip. They left some of them gyro contraptions, too!”

I arched an eyebrow.
Why would the Vangars leave airships behind?
“Are they guarded?” I said.

“Just a handful of Vangar mechanics. They didn’t stand much of a chance. We did manage to keep two alive, in case you wanted to question them.”

It was a quick hike around the mansion and down the hill to the landing field. A few citizens were there. They had tied up the captured Vangar mechanics and were taunting them, throwing dirt in their faces and spitting on them. “That’ll be enough of that!” the sheriff called out in an authoritative tone. The citizens backed meekly away, but continued to hurl insults at the Vangar captives.

As we approached, I gazed up at the dragon ships and again felt that overwhelming sense of vertigo. I couldn’t understand how a society so advanced that it could build ships like that would use their power for such wicked ends. I wondered if it had ever occurred to the Vangars to come to us in peace… or how we might have reacted if they had. Would King Ryshan have treated with them and shared our technology and our resources? Or would he have shown them the same apathy and disdain he’d always shown the Tal’mar?

One thing was certain: the Vangars hadn’t given King Ryshan the chance to turn them away. They’d slaughtered him and hundreds of other people just to make sure they got what they came for.

As I examined the ships, it became clear to me why the Vangars had left them behind. All three were in need of repairs. Only one of the three had been reattached to a balloon; the others were still resting on wheels. One of those clearly had a broken axle. The Vangar mechanics had leveled it using scaffoldings and braces.

“What do you think?” Robie said.

“They must have had engine trouble with that one,” I said, pointing to the one with the balloon “It looks like they had it ready to go otherwise. I’m guessing all three had mechanical failures, or they would have taken them.”

“They didn’t look so big, up in the sky,” the sheriff said, staring up in awe. “I had no idea.”

“Sheriff, while I’m gone, gather up all the mechanics and engineers you can find. We need to know everything about this technology, especially about the Vangars’ weapons.”

“Of course,” he said absently.

“What about the gyros?” Robie said.

I glanced at them, wondering if they had mechanical issues as well. “Let’s look them over,” I said. “If we can get one of them running, then we can get news to Analyn much faster.”

“Ah, and that’s why you’re in such a hurry?” he said in a curious tone. “To update Analyn on the situation?”

“Well, it is important. She’ll have to decide what to do with the city before the Vangars return.” I glanced at him and saw the smirk he was wearing. I sighed. “Okay, you’re right. I’m planning to go after Tinker. You knew I would.”

“Of course. Just making sure you know that we know.” I glanced at him and then noticed the rest of the team standing around behind him, staring at me.

“You’re all determined to go with me then?” I said.

Their eyes lit up and grins broke out across their faces. I sighed again. I had been hoping to sneak off without them. It would have been much easier to get close to the Vangars in the mountains if I was alone. Going in with an entire team was going to require a good deal of strategy and planning.

“All right,” I said at last. “Get to work on these gyros. We have to go back to camp first so I want to be in the air within the hour.”

“Yessir!” Robie said, grinning. Suddenly he looked just like the young boy who had begged to be one of my pilots and who had always insisted on calling me “sir.” His ability to completely change from a grown man to a child in an instant astounded me.

As it turned out, only one of the gyros had major problems. Three more had minor issues and two were in perfect running condition. Apparently, the Vangars had left those behind for the warriors who stayed in the city. The four of us repositioned the seats slightly in order to make room for a second passenger behind the pilot. Robie and I were the only ones who actually knew how to fly, so he took Jenna as a passenger and I took Wil. That arrangement left the weight distribution fairly even.

“Be careful,” I warned Robie before we took off. “You won’t gain altitude very quickly with a passenger. And watch out for wind currents over the mountains. These gyros don’t handle turbulence well.”

“Great,” he muttered. “Any more good news?”