Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (36 page)

The sentinels had spread out at the front of the building. I landed directly behind them, touching down as gracefully as a panther. I rose to my feet, glancing at the backs of their suits, wondering at the technological genius that made all of those gears and springs work together, meshing flesh and bone. I’m good with machines, but not that good. The half-breed engineers who created the sentinels were pure genius. Mad genius.

I heard the faint clicking and whirring of the machinery under their armor and noted the steady rattle of the steam condenser and boiler that drove it all. The boiler housings on the back of their suits looked like rectangular boxes made of copper-plated steel. Being an obvious vulnerability, the Vangars had gone to great lengths to protect their power source. I doubted even a high-powered rifle could puncture that boiler.

One of the sentinels noticed me. He turned, swinging his scattergun in my direction. I latched onto his arm and heaved myself upward. I moved gracefully, without hesitation. Before he even realized what I was doing, I had climbed his suit just like a tree. I stood over the Vangar’s helmet, straddling it with one foot on each shoulder. He waved his gun in the air trying to knock me off, but I easily dodged out of reach.

“Meva!”
he called out to his companions. “Help!” At the sound of his voice, the others ceased their firing and turned to see what was the matter. They raised their scatterguns to shoot me, but the sentinel cried out, “Naya, Naya!”

If they shot at me, they’d probably kill him, too. His armor could protect the Vangar from a weapon like that, but the steel mesh on his helmet was an obvious weakness when it came to scatter-guns. He didn’t want to risk it.

I smiled grimly. I noticed a latch on the side of his helmet and on a hunch, I pulled the linchpin. I bent my knees and yanked back as hard as I could, thinking that I might have found a way to remove the helmet. It moved slightly, but it was fighting me. I had missed another latch somewhere.

I stood up and kicked it. Instead of pulling free, the helmet twisted sideways, binding against the rest of the suit, leaving the Vangar inside half-blinded. He dropped his scattergun and reached up to straighten the helmet, but his large clumsy hands broke a piece of copper tubing in the process.

Hot oil spurted out of the tube, splattering painfully across my arm. I sprang backwards, deftly landing on the ground behind him. As my feet touched down, I heard the warrior inside the suit screaming. The hot oil was working its way through the cracks, burning his skin. I glanced down at my arm and saw a dozen small blisters beginning to form. I almost felt sorry for the Vangar. Almost.

The other sentinels had their scatterguns trained on me, but they didn’t dare shoot for fear of injuring their companion. Instead, they lowered their weapons and rushed me. I took a cautious step back, making some quick mental calculations, and then dashed for the hole in the wall.

I leapt through the opening as the heavy
kathud
of a scattergun went off behind me. I dove for the ground, hoping the stonework foundation might offer some protection. Projectiles riddled the wall above me, tearing holes through the tin siding and hammering into the brick building across the street. The pellets whistled as they ricocheted off the brick wall, sending puffs of dust up in the air.

The first shot was high. Luckily, I had gone low. I rolled aside as I landed and came to my feet at the corner of the building. Another shot went off, closer this time but still wildly inaccurate. I cursed myself once again for not bringing a weapon. I should have known better.

Standing at the corner of the building, I took a step back, positioning myself at an angle to the adjacent building across the alleyway. With a burst of speed, I ran straight at it. I had learned the trick from a Tal’mar thief when I was a child. He was the only full-blood Tal’mar I’d ever met, and he made his living picking the pockets of Vangars and other corrupt businessmen of Avenston. Unbeknownst to Tinker, I had followed the Tal’mar around for a while, learning his trade. I helped him occasionally, and for this he gave me trinkets and coins that I used to buy food. More importantly, he taught me certain skills that came in handy later in my life, especially at moments like this.

When I reached the corner of the adjacent building I leapt up, climbing the wall several steps, and then pushed away, twisting as I flew over the narrow alley. As I hit the outside corner of the factory, I curled my legs up like springs. The tin siding rattled noisily as I rebounded, pushing back toward the first building. Just like that, in two jumps I was within reach of the roof. Or so I thought.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something dark and massive hurtling towards me. I twisted awkwardly in midair trying to avoid the object. As I turned, a massive axe
whooshed
by my head, missing me by an inch. I contorted my body, struggling to regain my balance, straining to reach the roof of the building. As I reached the arc of my flight, I barely caught the ledge with my fingertips. I instantly knew it wasn’t enough of a handhold to support my weight.

Using my momentum, I swung myself forward, gliding along the side of the building, trying to bring my feet up to the level of the roof. I swung my legs up over my head, curving my knees back towards the ledge. I vaulted upside down and gently came to rest hanging by my knees with my back against the wall. My hair dangled down beneath me, my arms at my side, fingers searching desperately for a handhold. The hard cobblestone street stretched out below, taunting me.

I took a deep breath, analyzing my precarious situation. I had spent my momentum. There was nowhere else to go. I bent my torso, trying to reach up to the ledge of the roof. My foothold immediately started to give. I felt myself sliding away from the ledge and I quickly straightened out, pressing my back up to the wall. I turned my head to stare awkwardly at the sentinels as they stepped around the corner. They raised their weapons, training their sights on me. I closed my eyes, measuring, calculating.

 I couldn’t drop. Not that far and not at that angle. I’d never make it to my feet. I’d break my neck in the fall, and that was if I was lucky. If I wasn’t, I’d survive long enough for the sentinels to make me wish I
had
broken my neck.

I heard deep taunting laughter from below, and the unmistakable click of a scattergun round being loaded into the chamber.

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