Flash Gold - Hunted Part 3

"While I'd enjoy driving this," Cedar said, "I'd prefer you be conscious at the time in order to give me instructions. Can we go around the clearing and stay under the cover of the forest?"

She eyed the shrubs and brambles growing between the trees. "Not unless you want to cut a path with your sword."

"I don't cut vegetation with my blade. It would take an hour anyway. It's not that big of a clearing. We'll chance it."

"If you say so." Kali eased the SAB into the meadow. "I suppose if you're wrong, there's always the chance an a.s.sailant will target you first. You are larger and more menacing."

"I prefer I be conscious for my first driving lesson as well," Cedar said. "And I'm dangerous, not menacing."

They had traveled less than a third of the way into the clearing when the clanks sounded. Kali should have groaned and sent an irritated eye roll to the heavens, but her curiosity distracted her. She wanted to see the source.

She did not have to wait long.

A metallic...contraption with giant mesh b.u.t.terfly wings bobbed over the treetops. The clanks grew louder as it approached the meadow, and moving machinery came into the view. The wings flapped in synchronization with the clanks. Kali craned her neck, searching for another source for the craft's propulsion. The large wings might keep the flying machine aloft once it gained momentum and found a place in the air, but they could not provide enough thrust to carry it into the skies. Could they? The metal frame appeared too st.u.r.dy to be light, and a compact furnace and copper boiler behind the pilot's seat must add significant weight. Could magic be involved? Or even...flash gold? Was it possible there was more out there?

Kali's fingers twitched at the idea of clambering about the thing, investigating every inch. The rider sitting at the controls might object. Wrapped in brown, head included, the figure was impossible to identify, though from the slightness of the form, Kali guessed it might be a woman. The one who had eavesdropped on them? Goggles covered the person's eyes, making it impossible to read her face, though Kali had a sense of determination.

"...faster?" Cedar was saying.

"What?" Kali had been so focused on the air vehicle and its pilot she had missed his words.

"Can't you go faster? She's aiming for us!"

Before she could answer, a rifle shot fired behind her ear. She flinched and nearly lost grip of the handlebars, a calamity that would have pitched them over sideways.

She glanced back as Cedar fired a second shot. "What are you doing? She hasn't even-"

Something thumped to the earth ten meters before them.

Cedar grabbed Kali's arm. "Veer away. Veer away!"

More on instinct-and his orders-than out of understanding, Kali pulled and pushed on opposing handles and leaned into a hard turn. They skidded as wheels ground on old snow, but they caught, and the SAB sped to the side.

A concussive roar filled the clearing, and realization pelted Kali. No, that was shrapnel. It clanged off the SAB and hammered against the charred side of the log cabin.

Kali turned again, figuring the structure could provide cover. "She's hurling grenades at us?"

"From a launcher in the front," Cedar said. "It appears to be some sort of crossbow-like device, loaded with-"

Another grenade hit the ground, this one exploding right away.

Kali sped behind the wall of the cabin and yanked on the braking mechanism.

"-multiple projectiles," Cedar finished.

Rifle in hand, he hopped off the SAB. Kali hesitated, reluctant to leave her vehicle for fear it would make an easy target if it was stationary. She probably ought to be more worried about being a target herself, but the idea of losing such a recent invention...

Cedar leaned around a corner of the cabin to fire again. Kali nudged the SAB into motion, rounded the other corner, and found the doorway. She considered the width. Could she fit her vehicle inside? Probably not.

Above, the flying contraption tilted, circling the end of the meadow to come back at them.

Cedar grabbed Kali's arm. "Inside!"

"I don't think it'll fit," she said.

"I meant you!"

The flyer flew closer, and Kali hesitated again, fascinated by the wings, the construction, and even the pilot. Was she the creator? Or had she merely purchased it?

The projectile launcher fired again.

"Kali!" Cedar pulled her toward the door.

Kali barely had time to grab her packsack and rifle.

An explosion rocked the earth, and she grabbed a log wall to keep her feet under her. Metal clanged as shrapnel hit the SAB. She growled, her awe over the steam flyer tamped down by her concern for her own vehicle. She dropped her packsack and readied her rifle.

Shadows danced on the earthen floor of the cabin as the flyer soared overhead. Rhythmic clanks echoed from the log walls. Though the fire-damaged roof held copious holes, the vehicle sped past too swiftly to target.

"We need a plan," Kali said. "She'll be coming around again." And she would probably hurl the next grenade right in the cabin.

Cedar loaded a fistful of bullets into his rifle. "Yes?"

"The wings seem a potential target, but their surface area is great, so I doubt even a couple of dozen bullet holes would cause them to falter. A catastrophic boiler explosion will derail any steam engine, but engineers are well aware of that weakness and build them soundly. I doubt a bullet would pierce the plating, but it may be the most vulnerable part of the machine. Perhaps we should target the boiler and hope for the best."

"I was just going to shoot the pilot," Cedar said.

"Oh. I guess that could work too."

When the clanks of the flyer grew louder again, Kali and Cedar stepped outside. She dropped to one knee and leaned around the corner of the cabin, rifle to her shoulder. Cedar stood above her, his weapon poised as well.

Something that looked like gla.s.s provided protection for the pilot, probably a deterrent to bugs and rain, but surely it would not stop a bullet. Kali eased her rifle up and placed the woman's head in her sights. Her gut lurched at the idea of shooting at someone with the intent to kill-especially if that someone had invented that fascinated machine-but the woman was trying to blow them up.

Her finger found the trigger, but Cedar, doubtlessly with fewer qualms, fired first.

The bullet struck the protective shield in front of the woman's eyes, and her head dropped out of view. The flyer lurched sideways and dipped toward the trees.

"Bulls-eye," Cedar said with grim satisfaction.

But the flyer did not crash. Its nose elevated, and the craft skimmed the treetops. It knocked branches free with cracks that rang through the forest, but it soon flew higher again, out of danger. The flyer banked and turned back toward the meadow.

The pilot's head was visible again through the clear shield. Concentric cracks ringed the spot where Cedar's bullet had struck, but it must not have penetrated.

"Amazing," Kali breathed. "There's no way that's gla.s.s. Unless it's extremely thick, but the weight would be ridiculous, and a flying machine would need to be light, like an eagle's hollow bones. It'd..."

She trailed off when she noticed Cedar's glare. He seemed less amazed at the invulnerable shield and more irked.

"Sorry," Kali said.

"Let's go back to your idea," he said as the flyer drew closer again. "You said I should aim at the boiler?"

Kali eyed the shield again. It protected the pilot to the front and the sides, but it was open on the top. Presumably the woman entered and exited the control seat from there. It left her no protection from projectiles from above, though she had no reason to antic.i.p.ate weapons fire from overhead. Air vehicles were rare, and the flyer was quicker and far more maneuverable than an airship, so it could easily evade balloon-based transport.

When it came in for another pa.s.s, Cedar loosed a few ineffective rounds at the boiler. Kali considered the structure of the craft, especially the supports for the wings, supports that angled upward behind the pilot. She closed her eyes, remembering problems she had worked through in her father's mathematics books. At the time, she had been trying to win his favor by showing interest in his studies. He had been too busy to notice, but she remembered many of the lessons, and a chapter of geometry problems involving b.a.l.l.s on a billiards table came to mind.

"Same principle for bullets, right?" she murmured.

"What?" Cedar asked.

"See that support beam behind her?" Kali pointed. "You're a better marksman than I am. Can you see if you can hit it...hm...about a foot above that joint?"

Cedar threw her a bewildered look, but he raised his Winchester and aimed when the flyer came into range. It bobbed toward them, a grenade ready in its launcher. Cedar grew still, then fired.

The bullet ricocheted off the angled support post and slammed into the back of the pilot's shoulder.

This time she screamed-the first sound she had voiced-and the craft lurched. It sped off, wobbling as it skimmed the treetops. The nose came up briefly, but it dropped again, and Kali lost sight of the flyer. A thunderous crack sounded in the distance.

"Crash," Kali murmured, imaging the twisted wreckage. She wished they could have downed the vehicle without destroying it.

"Crash," Cedar agreed without any of her regret.

Kali leaned her rifle against the logs, jumped, caught the corner of the roof, and wriggled herself up top. Conscious of the fire damage, she stayed over the stout support beams as she crept to the peak. Though the trees still towered over her, the added height let her see smoke wafting in the distance. Definitely a crash.

Had it killed the woman? Her shoulders slumped with regret at the thought. It was silly, given the pilot's inclination toward killing her, but Kali hoped the woman had survived. She ached to talk to her, to find out more about the craft.

A touch on her shoulder brought her attention back to the cabin. Cedar stood beside her.

"Good thinking," he said.

"Er, yes, sorry it was slow to come. I wasn't expecting to come face-to-face with..." Kali groped for a way to describe her feelings. Would he understand and forgive her for being so distracted? Or would he, the professional bounty hunter, believe there were no acceptable excuses?

"Your mechanically inclined twin?" Cedar asked. "Yes, that must have been surprising. And intriguing."

Kali let out a sigh of relief. He did understand.

"Intriguing, yes." She wanted nothing more than to hop down from the roof, sprint into the forest, and find that woman. "Any chance you'd like to delay our trip to Sebastian's claim to go check on that smoke and question this woman if she's still alive?"

Cedar gazed into the woods, not toward the smoke, but upriver, toward the claims. With one of the Cudgel's allies nearby, he must feel the pull of his quest more than ever. But someone who had staked a claim was not going anywhere any time soon.

Perhaps the same thoughts spun through his head, for he sighed and said, "Yes, we should check the wreckage. If the woman recovers, she may come after you again."

"Me? Are you sure she's not after you? Perhaps she's some ex-lover you irritated, and she's been planning for years to take her revenge."

"I don't irritate my lovers." He hopped off the roof.

"Just business partners?" Kali climbed down after him and gave him a smile to let him know she was joking.

Cedar did not return it. He looked...glum.

"Maybe there'll be a bounty on her head, and it'll be worth the side trip," Kali said.

Cedar grunted and pointed at the SAB. "There won't be a trail to the crash site. Think that can maneuver through the forest?"

"It'd probably get stuck in the snow or undergrowth," Kali admitted, feeling a twinge of envy for the flyer. If she had an air-based vehicle, she wouldn't have to worry about such pesky things. Someday, she promised herself, thinking of her airship design, though she was already wondering if the flyer might inspire modifications.

"Let's walk then." Cedar shouldered his packsack, and they set out.

A branch swung back and smacked Kali in the face. She grunted and sc.r.a.ped spruce needles out of her hair. They, along with twigs, leaves, and sap, already provided her braid with more decorations than a totem pole.

"I know I mentioned this before," Kali said, "But you could cut some of this undergrowth with your sword."

"One does not use a high quality, imported j.a.panese katana to whack weeds," Cedar said.

"It came all the way from the Orient? You must have paid a fortune for it. Perhaps, to justify that substantial investment, you should use it for more than slicing people's heads off."

He slanted her a dark look over his shoulder. "I got it from Jiro, one of my early mentors. We were hunting a fellow who'd ma.s.sacred a family in Florida when Jiro got shot in the leg. He said I wasn't experienced enough to go after the man on my own; I was sixteen and figured I knew plenty. I left him to a doc and tracked the cutthroat all through the swamps. Nearly lost a leg to an alligator, but I got my man. Jiro said he'd been wrong, and I was ready to hunt on my own. He retired and gave me the katana to put to good use."

Kali knew Cedar had traveled, but she had not realized how much. Even though a sane person would probably not be excited by stories of swamps and alligators, her heart ached with longing to see such places.

"Alligator tussle, huh?" she said. "Must have left a giant scar."

"Yup."

"Can I see it some time?"

"Reckon so." Cedar glanced back, his expression lighter this time. A glint in his eyes suggested her interest pleased him. Men always liked to show off war wounds.

Kali dodged another branch whipping back in the wake of his pa.s.sage and resolved to stay farther behind. Smoke thickened the air, though, promising they were close. She had to squash an urge to lean to the side or bounce up and down so she could see around Cedar. At one point, she tried to slip past him, but he blocked her with a gentle nudge. Being protective, was he?

Flames came into view, licking bark and nibbling spruce needles high up in trees. Broken branches hung from several trunks, but metal glinting on the forest floor drew Kali's gaze downward.

She could not muster caution, and she darted past Cedar, this time evading his protective grasp.

Less wreckage than she expected scattered the forest floor. The vehicle's wings drew her eye first. The fall had mangled them, warping the framework and tearing holes in the membrane. Kali rubbed the unique mesh between her fingers. Though cool and sleek like metal, it had a lightweight, sinuous nature unlike any alloy she knew about. She wished she could talk to the maker, discover what exactly this was and how to make it. Already, she could think of dozens of uses for it.

She slipped her knife out and cut a sample to take home.

A shadow fell over her shoulder, and Kali jumped. But it was only Cedar, rifle at the ready, guarding her back.

Still crouching, she surveyed the rest of the wreckage. "Where's the furnace, the boiler, and the entire bottom of the flyer?"

"Where's the woman?" Cedar asked.

"Yes, that's a useful question too. Maybe the bottom half broke off from the top and landed somewhere else?"

He left her side and scouted the crash site. Only a few seconds pa.s.sed before he stopped, pointed at the ground, and said, "No."