Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (8 page)

We followed Corsan out behind the barn. The early afternoon sun washed over us, and with my belly full of stew I was tempted to curl up on the ground and fall asleep right there. I sympathized with Robie. If I was that tired, he must have been exhausted.

Corsan led us past a woodpile and a barrel full of junk parts to an old steamwagon covered with a heavy canvas. He pulled the canvas off, revealing a machine covered in dust and cobwebs. “It doesn’t look like much,” he said. “Been rusting back here for a few years. It’s powerful though, if you can get it running. You’ll have to dust the cobwebs off.”

I walked around the vehicle, inspecting it slowly. The wood was old and rotting to the point that there was a hole in the floorboard. The leather seat had hardened and cracked, and at least one rusted spring was poking out through the material. Mechanically, it wasn’t much better. The brass and copper pipes were corroded and tarnished. Most of them felt solid when I tugged at them, but they needed a good going over. Even a small pressure leak can be extremely dangerous. The water tank had thankfully been sitting empty. A family of rats had nested in it at some point, but the metal seemed intact.

“We can push it out into the drive,” the general said. “You’ll get a better idea of what you’re up against.”

That proved harder than expected. The wheels had sunken into the ground over the years and the wild grass and wheat had grown through the spokes, virtually locking the wheels into place. Robie cut back the weeds with his dagger, but even with the three of us tugging at the old wagon, we still didn’t have the strength to break the machine free. After an hour of failed attempts, Corsan finally tracked down his horse grazing in a nearby field. He brought it back and hitched it up to the wagon.

At last, with a creak and groan, the steamwagon pulled loose and rolled out from behind the barn. As soon as it was free, the rear wheel promptly split in two and fell off. By that time, the sun had sunk nearly to the horizon and the shadows of the Blackrock Mountains were creeping across the plains like a living thing, moving so fast that I could actually watch it. It was a disheartening moment.

“Well, you’re not going anywhere tonight,” Corsan said. “I can fix that wheel but it’ll take a few hours. I have no idea what the engine will need. I’m no tinkerer”

“I’ll work on that,” I said, heading for the barn. I was already starting a mental list of the tools I’d need.

“What about me?” Robie said. “What can I do?”

“Go make dinner,” I said with a smirk, recalling the conversation we’d had the previous afternoon. He cocked his eyebrow at me.

“Plenty of stew,” Corsan said. “Why don’t you give me a hand with the axle, Robie?”

Chapter 8

I was unfamiliar with Corsan’s barn but it didn’t take long to find his hand tools. I can find my way around most workshops pretty well. I gathered up a few wrenches, a hacksaw, and the other tools I’d need, and I went back to inspect the plumbing on the steamwagon’s engine. It wasn’t long before I found a brass pipe with a crack in it. I wasn’t surprised. Brass hardens under heat and pressure, becoming more brittle with age. Steamsmiths, engineers, and mechanics all know it’s better to use copper or steel. Copper is best of course, as it stays strong and doesn’t easily rust, but it’s difficult to smelt and mine so it’s generally more expensive than brass or steel. Brass is an alloy of copper of course, but it’s cheaper because it’s alloyed with less expensive metals. It’s also more brittle, but mechanics and steamsmiths often use cheap materials if they can get away with it.

I pulled the pipe off and headed back into the barn where I’d seen a stack of copper lying in the corner. While I was there, Corsan came in. “It’s getting late,” he said offhandedly as he twisted the metal brace of a wheel spoke. “Gonna need a lantern out here pretty soon.”

“We’ll manage,” I said. I was distracted, digging through the pile for a piece of copper tubing that was the right size.

“I have an extra room. It’s not much, but you’re welcome to it.”

“That’s kind of you,” I said. “I think I can have the engine running tonight, but I suppose I should let Robie get a few hours of sleep.”

“Indeed. You’ll be joining him then, in the guest room?”

I dropped the pipe I’d been inspecting with a noisy crash and spun around, staring at him. “What? No, of course not! We’re not…”

“Ah,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “And why not?”

I felt heat warming my face and ears. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. I knelt down and began digging furiously through the pile.

“You know, most human women your age have already had several children.”

I kept digging, too embarrassed to look him in the face. “I’m not human,” I said flatly.

“Aye, and not Tal’mar either. Isn’t that right? Seems there was a time when you were both, rather than neither. Best of both worlds, we used to say. You remember that?”

I took a deep breath. “Don’t you have any pipe the right size?” I said, making an awkward attempt to change the subject.

“Like that one in your hand?” he said. “You just tossed three of ‘em on the pile.”

I paused in my work, staring at him. I looked at the pipe in my hand and then at the ones I’d just discarded. He was right. They were exactly the same size. I snatched one of them up and stomped past him without a backward glance. I was already out the door and around the corner before I realized I needed to use the pipe bender that was in the barn. I stormed back inside, throwing the pipes down on the workbench. Corsan stared at me, doing his best to suppress the ridiculous-looking grin that covered his face, which only served to make him look even more ridiculous.

“I’m taking a break,” I said, stomping out.

I heard him chuckling quietly as I stormed across the yard.

Back inside the cabin, I took a deep breath and settled into a chair. I watched the two of them work from a distance, wondering how it was that Corsan had affected me so. His question had caught me off guard, but it was more than that. It was almost like there had been an expectation, maybe even impatience. It was the same thing I’d seen in Tinker’s face a few times, but hadn’t realized what it was.

I thought back over the last few months, remembering all the times that Tinker had mentioned a young couple who’d just moved into a home in town, or another couple who were having a child. I suddenly realized that he’d been dropping hints for months. It was almost as if he’d been trying to plant the seed in my mind, encouraging me to develop ideas about a family.

And then there was the way that Robie seemed to show up everywhere I went. Every time I attended a party or a festival, Robie was there. I hadn’t even realized how suspicious it was until I thought back, remembering all the coincidences at once. It suddenly occurred to me that I’d been the victim of a conspiracy. Robie and Tinker had been working together, trying to wear down my defenses.

I glanced back through the window and saw Robie lifting the heavy rear-end of the steam wagon while General Corsan fitted the wheel onto the axle hub. Once it was in place, Robie set the wagon down. I heard their voices drifting across the property, but I couldn’t make out the words. They laughed. Then the general turned his head, nodding towards the house.
Nodding towards me.

I leapt to my feet, suddenly outraged. I instantly forgot my previous embarrassment. I stormed back out into the yard, intent only on interrupting their conversation. Neither of the men looked up from their work as I approached the wagon. I stopped a few feet away, my eyes boring holes into the back of their heads. Still, they ignored me.

“How is the wheel?” I said after a few moments.

“The hub is fixed,” the general said absently, not looking up. “I’ll need another hour, maybe two for the spokes.” He paused in his work and glanced at the sky. “Gettin’ dark out,” he said. “I’ll fetch a lantern.”

He wandered off to the cabin and left me standing there, staring at Robie.
Coward,
I thought, turning to watch Corsan vanish into the cabin. “I saw the two of you talking,” I said to Robie. “What was so funny?”

“Oh, we were just sharing stories,” Robie said innocently. “The general’s great, I’ve never really had the chance to talk with him before. I’m glad we stopped here.”

I frowned, distrusting his sincerity. “You were talking about me, weren’t you?” I said.

He was behind the wagon and he leaned forward against it, staring at me. “Maybe,” he said. “Why?”

“What were you saying?”

“I told him I’m going to marry you.”

“You did not!” I said, instantly blushing.

Robie smiled mischievously. “What if I did?”

“You didn’t. You wouldn’t make a fool of yourself like that.”

His smile vanished. “What do you mean by that?”

“Only a fool would tell the world he’s going to do something that will never ever happen,” I said.

“Oh? And why is it such a bad idea?”

“Because I have no interest in getting married, Robie. Not to you or anyone.”

His eyebrows shot up when I said that. “Anyone? You mean Tam, don’t you?”

“Tam?” I said, staring. What did this have to do with Tam? And then suddenly I understood. Robie thought I’d been interested in the young Tal’mar warrior. I sensed jealousy in his voice as he said Tam’s name. I tried to hide my surprise, but I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips.

How had Robie gotten that idea?
I wondered. There was no truth to it whatsoever, of course. Romance had been the furthest thing from my mind when I met Tam. I sensed Robie’s sudden discomfort and I smiled. I liked having him off balance for once. “He’s not unattractive, you know,” I said in a teasing voice. “I’m sure he would make a fine mate.”

Robie glared at me. “I wouldn’t know. When I first saw him, I thought he was a child.”

I cocked an eyebrow, still grinning. “And who’s the child now?”

He looked furious and I giggled because there was nothing he could do about it. I had never really put Robie in his place before and it felt strangely satisfying, especially after my recent revelation about him and Tinker. I decided it was time to let him know that I’d figured out what they had been doing.

“Maybe this will put an end to your conspiring,” I said.

“Conspiring?”

“Yes, you and Tinker. I know what you two have been up to.”

This time, it was Robie’s turn to blush. His face turned bright red, bright enough that I could see it even in the pale evening light. I turned away from him, not giving him the chance to think up an excuse. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he stammered.

“Of course you don’t,” I said, strolling back towards the barn with a smile across my face. “I’ve got work to do.”

After Robie and the general had finished putting the wheel back together, we all went into the house for dinner. Conversation was understandably muted, which made for a quick meal. When it was over, I told Robie I had work to finish on the engine, and that he should go try to get some rest while I did that. I promised to wake him when I was ready to leave. The truth was that I didn’t have that much left to do. I just needed to clean the steam engine out and give it a test run, but I wanted Robie to get some sleep.

There was no point in rushing off. It would have been dangerous to travel at night, especially with the possibility that we might run into the Vangars. And as much as I wanted to get south and survey the extent of the Vangar’s destruction, I had the good sense to know the two of us wouldn’t make much difference. If Riverfork or Anora were going to fall, Robie and I certainly wouldn’t change that fact. Based on what we’d seen so far, the two cities’ fates had probably already been decided. The Vangars were nothing, if not swift.

After dinner, I went back outside to remove the old rats’ nests from the water tank, and started pumping fresh water through the pipes. It wasn’t long before Corsan came out to join me. He had a big cigar dangling from his mouth, which he lit with a match as he settled onto an old stump to watch me work. He took a deep draw and then puffed out a thick, sweet-smelling cloud.

“What do you think?” he said. “Will it be ready by morning?”

“I believe so. I have to build a fire and pressure-test the pipes.”

“You should get some rest.”

I shook my head. “I don’t need it. Tal’mar don’t sleep that often.” I poured my bucket of water into the tank and turned the hand crank to flush the pipes. The water came out in a dirty, rust colored stream. Thankfully, there were no leaks. I went to the well to fetch another bucket and then proceeded to pump it through the system. After a third, it finally ran clear. General Corsan watched me silently through all of this. He didn’t speak up for several minutes, until I started building the fire.

“That young man cares about you,” he said finally.

“Is that a fact?” I said, not lifting my gaze from my work. “Are you in on the conspiracy too, then?”

“What’s that?”

“The conspiracy to marry me off like a human. To trap me in a farmhouse and surround me with pigs and chickens and screaming little children.”

Corsan puffed on his cigar, eyeing me with his one good eye. “It’s not always like that,” he said. “But then I’m not one to talk, am I?”

“Considering you’ve never been married, I’d say not.”

“Is that the path you want, then?” he said. “You want the life of an old man with a farm in the middle of nowhere and nothing to do but tend the animals and prune the vineyard?”

“It doesn’t sound so bad,” I said.

“It’s not, I suppose. But I do get lonely. Sometimes I wonder what the purpose of it is. Nothing changes here. Seasons pass. Years go by. I get a visitor now and then, or a letter. I don’t change anything. I don’t help anyone or teach… I just survive. Are you sure this is the way you want to end up?”

I watched the flames flicker to life inside the boiler and stood, feeling the heat wash over my skin. “You don’t understand,” I said at last. “Tal’mar live three hundred years. Maybe even more. If I did care about Robie, how could I watch him grow old and die? How can I let myself care about him?”