A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2 (9 page)

Squid had no idea what was happening. Only a few minutes before, six loud booms had filled the air, followed almost instantly by the smashing of wood and the shattering of glass. Mr. Stownes’s grip on Squid had tightened while Mr. Stix had gone to investigate.

“Blasted pirates,” Mr. Stix said as he returned from where he’d been peering around the corner of a building toward the main street.

Mr. Stix bent down and laid his black case on the ground. He flicked open the clasps and lifted the lid. Inside, packed snugly within purposefully cut wood lined with soft cloth, Squid could see a mechanical handgun and a metallic tube. Mr. Stix lifted both out of the case and began screwing the metal tube onto the end of the gun’s short barrel. Squid tried to struggle against Mr. Stownes but it was pointless. Squid had never seen a gun that small, and while it might not be as powerful as a full-size mechanical rifle, he was quite sure it would be more than powerful enough to kill him from two steps away.

Squid panicked. He tried to call out for help but Mr. Stownes’s hand, which covered almost the entire bottom half of Squid’s face, allowed nothing but the faintest of mumbles to escape.

“I do wish you would remain calm, Master Blanchflower,” Mr. Stix said as he checked his weapon.

This is it
, Squid thought,
I’m going to die. I’m not going to make it to Big Smoke, I’m not going to find the weapon to destroy the ghouls and I’m never going to see Lynn again
. Squid felt a sudden choking feeling rise in his chest. Where was Lynn? Where had she been when the town was bombarded with cannon fire? He had to go back for her.

“This is a silencer,” Mr. Stix said. “It helps deaden the sound of the gun firing. We prefer to avoid unwanted attention, don’t we, Mr. Stownes?”

The big man didn’t answer, he just nodded. Squid wasn’t sure that Mr. Stownes was capable of speaking at all. Perhaps it had taken so much effort to grow as enormously large as he was that he’d never had the energy left to learn how.

Mr. Stix held the pistol up and pulled back the slider that ran along the top of the weapon. There was a click. It was loaded and ready to fire. Squid squeezed his eyes shut. If this was really going to be the moment it all ended then he wasn’t going to watch.

“Now,” Mr. Stix continued, “you had better bring him this way, Mr. Stownes.”

Squid opened one eye, hazarding a peek. Mr. Stix had already turned and was walking along the back of the general store away from the pub and the main section of town. Mr. Stownes lifted Squid off his feet, tucking him under his arm as though he were a sack of flour. He maintained the position of his other hand over Squid’s mouth as he followed after Mr. Stix. Squid realized he was being kidnapped.

Suddenly Squid heard footsteps approaching from behind. He turned his head as best he could and saw a man dressed in a baggy silk shirt and cut-off pants running toward Mr. Stix with a sword raised, the curved blade shining in the morning sunlight. A pirate, he had to be. The pirate roared as he attacked, a bloodthirsty shriek that would have caused Squid to curl back in fright. Not so Mr. Stix. He lifted his pistol, calmly aimed and shot the pirate right between the eyes. The gun hardly made a sound as the pirate’s head snapped back. He seemed to hover there for a moment, as if shocked, before he fell backward and landed with a heavy thud on the ground. Squid gasped into Mr. Stownes’s palm. Mr. Stix had shot him, just like that. Is that what was going to happen to him?

“Blasted pirates,” Mr. Stix said again. He turned to Mr. Stownes and Squid. “Now, Master Blanchflower, if I tell Mr. Stownes to put you down, do you promise not to yell or attempt to flee?”

Squid stared at Mr. Stix and then nodded. Mr. Stownes lowered Squid to the ground and removed his hand from over his mouth. For a moment Squid did nothing, letting Mr. Stownes take half a step away. Then he spun on his heels and ran. He ran as fast as he could and didn’t look back. He waited for the sound of a gunshot, but then remembered that Mr. Stix had that silencer, so he supposed he wouldn’t hear anything at all. He tensed as he ran, waiting to feel a bullet strike him. But the shot never came.

“You had better give chase, Mr. Stownes,” he heard Mr. Stix say behind him.

Squid rounded the corner and ran back toward where he hoped he would find Lynn and Nim. Then he spotted them. They were some distance away. Lynn was hanging limp as if unconscious, being dragged along by a large pirate. Nim was on the ground nearby, and a pirate with a long ponytail held a sword pointed down at him.

“Lynn,” Squid called. “Lynn!”

As Squid ran, he nearly collided with a woman and two children who were being chased by three pirates. The pirates were laughing and hollering after the family as they fled away across the red dust. Squid stopped. The three pirates turned to look at him. Beyond them he could see Lynn disappearing around the corner of a building, but no matter how much he wanted to chase after her he had no choice but to turn his attention to the three pirates who were now converging on him.

“What have we here?” one of them said, a man whose nose was bent one way and then back the other as if it had been broken multiple times.

Squid gripped the key around his neck and then instantly regretted the subconscious action as the pirate’s eyes were drawn to his hand.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” he said in a nasal snarl. “Let’s see it.”

Squid shook his head. It wasn’t really bravery. It was just that no matter what happened, he knew he could never lose his mother’s key. Just as it had driven him to dive head first into a clutch of ghouls during the Battle of Dust, it now demanded he hold his ground against three pirates when it was the last thing he wanted to do. The pirate pulled his sword from where it hung loosely at his side and approached. It was only then that Squid realized he’d left his own shortsword on the bio-truck. It would be gone now, not that having it would have done him any good. Lynn had helped him learn how to avoid injuring himself while wielding a sword but he knew he still wasn’t proficient enough to injure someone else, at least not on purpose.

“Hand it over, kid.”

“And who’s this lumbering oaf then?” another of the pirates said, looking past Squid and drawing his sword. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a long black beard that seemed to grow almost at right angles out of his face. “Looks like ’e wants trouble. ’E ain’t even got a sword.” The third pirate drew his sword as well.

Squid looked over his shoulder to see Mr. Stownes running toward him. Mr. Stix was walking casually after him, mechanical pistol in hand. There was no escaping them now, then. Squid was trapped between pirates on one side and Mr. Stix and Mr. Stownes on the other. He wondered who would kill him first. Squid braced himself. Then, with his feet thumping against the dusty ground, Mr. Stownes ran past him. Despite the way the large man puffed and grunted and how inelegant he looked as he moved, Squid was surprised by his speed. He launched forward with a powerful fist that slammed right into the first pirate’s crooked nose. The pirate’s eyes went almost completely white as they rolled back in his head and his legs went to water beneath him. In a smooth motion Mr. Stownes had the pirate’s sword in his hand as if he’d conjured it from the air.

The other two pirates shook away their surprise and came at Mr. Stownes simultaneously. Mr. Stownes blocked the blow from the black-bearded pirate and turned sideways just in time to dodge the blade of the other. With their swords locked together Mr. Stownes turned his sword in an arc, tearing Black-beard’s sword free from his grip and leaving him unarmed. That was a trick Squid had seen the Diggers practicing in the training yard of the Academy. He spun to defend himself against the next attack from the third pirate, a high strike that, given his height, Mr. Stownes blocked in front of his chest. The big man lashed out with a front kick, landing a boot directly in the pirate’s stomach and sending him sprawling backward as if he’d been kicked by a horse, or maybe ten horses. The black-bearded pirate hurried to collect his sword from where it had landed on the ground, but as he rose Mr. Stownes brought his elbow down hard on the back of the man’s head. Black-beard went face first into the ground and didn’t move.

Ahead of him Squid saw the pirate with the long ponytail raise his sword at Nim. Mr. Stix, who’d arrived beside them, lifted his pistol and fired. Squid heard a metallic ring as the bullet struck the blade of the ponytailed pirate’s sword. He stopped, looked up at his sword and then looked toward Mr. Stix. His eyes narrowed but he turned and hurried away in the direction Lynn had been taken.

“Whoa,” Squid said, astounded at Mr. Stix’s shooting.

Mr. Stix made a dismissive grunt. “I was aiming for his head.” Mr. Stix turned to Squid. “Is that a friend of yours?”

Squid looked toward Nim, who was hurrying to his feet. Squid shrugged. “Sort of.”

“They got Lynn,” Nim said as he ran toward them. “They took her.”

“I saw,” Squid said. “We need to go after them.”

“Obviously,” Nim said.

“Yes, obviously.” Squid felt anger and jealousy flare within him once again. He was the one who needed to worry about Lynn, not Nim.

Mr. Stownes placed his thick-fingered hand on Squid’s shoulder.

“I’m afraid,” Mr. Stix said as he reloaded bullets into his gun, replacing the two shots he had fired, “we can’t let you go after her.”

“What?!” Nim said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Mr. Stix and this is my associate, Mr. Stownes. As I was just about to explain to Master Blanchflower, we’ve been sent by interested parties to take care of him.”

“Who?” Squid asked. “Who’s sent you after me? Why do they want me dead?”

Mr. Stix smiled. “I’m afraid you may have misinterpreted me, I do mean take care of you in the good way. We’ve been sent by Chief Minister Knox Soilwork. He wants us to help you. You see, High Priestess Patricia has seized control of the government and is intending to let the ghouls destroy all those who live outside the walls of Alice. She considers it something of a service to the Territory. Chief Minister Soilwork does not intend to let this happen. He requires that you reach Big Smoke, find the vaccine and destroy the ghouls before everyone outside the city of Alice falls victim to the horde. I apologise for our somewhat clandestine approach. We thought it best to operate in a low-profile manner. Our orders are to take you into custody and get you east. You are necessary to fulfil the prophecy, but how you get there is not a concern.”

“I need to find Lynn,” Squid said. He didn’t care about anything Mr. Stix had just said. All he really cared about was Lynn. Those pirates had her and he had to get her back.

“I’m afraid the Hermannsburg girl is not part of our mission. We are to ensure you reach Big Smoke and fulfil the prophecy. Our responsibility is to you and you alone.”

“Well, I’m going after her,” Squid said, beginning to move away, but he felt Mr. Stownes’s enormous hand tighten on his shoulder.

“As I said, we are going to get you to Big Smoke whether you wish to come with us or not.”

“Well, I’m going after her,” Nim said, “and you can’t stop me.”

“No,” Mr. Stix said. “I can’t stop you, and nor would I try. I’m afraid, Nomad, that I don’t even know who you are.”

“My name is Nim. I’m searching for a way to stop the ghouls, same as you, but first I need to save Lynn.”

“I’m afraid you misunderstand, Nim,” Mr. Stix said. “I do not know who you are and I do not care. Our mission is to take Squid east. You may go and get yourself killed pursuing pirates if you like.”

“
I
need to save Lynn,” Squid said, casting a quick sideways glance at Nim. “She’s my friend and I need her help.”

“No,” Mr. Stix said. “You do not need her help. As I keep informing you, we will take you east whether you wish to go or not. There is much more at stake here than the life of one girl.”

“Well, I’m not going with you unless we get her back,” Squid said.

Mr. Stix nodded to Mr. Stownes, who grabbed Squid and picked him up again. Squid kicked his legs as he struggled. Mr. Stownes simply held him at arm’s length, letting his legs kick around as if he were running in mid-air.

“Good luck, Nim,” Mr. Stix said. “Come, Master Blanchflower, you have a date with prophecy.”

Mr. Stix turned and began walking back the way they had come.

“No!” Squid yelled as Mr. Stownes began carrying him away. “We need to get Lynn!”

“Stop!” Nim called after them. Squid was a little surprised to hear the passion in his voice. He didn’t think Nim cared that much about him. “Stop. Just wait. Won’t it be easier if Squid goes with you willingly?”

Mr. Stix turned and looked back at Nim but he didn’t say anything. Squid couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Squid,” Nim said. “If they help us rescue Lynn you’ll go with them, won’t you? You’ll let them take you east however they want?”

Squid nodded. “If you help get Lynn away from those pirates I’ll do whatever you want. We all will.”

“That offer is not as appealing to us as you might think,” Mr. Stix said. “More of you will just slow us down. Come, Mr. Stownes.”

“You’ll just have to carry me the whole way then,” Squid said, hoping that this small act of defiance might convince them. It didn’t.

“Very well,” Mr. Stix said as he began walking away again. “It won’t bother Mr. Stownes too much.”

“I can’t rescue her alone,” Nim said.

“No,” Mr. Stix replied without turning back. “I don’t imagine you can.”

Squid’s mind raced. What was he going to do? He couldn’t let Lynn be taken by the pirates. No matter the argument they’d had, no matter whether she cared for him in the way he cared for her, Squid knew that if he was the one who’d been taken she would find a way to rescue him. He had to do the same for her. There had to be something he could use to make Mr. Stix and Mr. Stownes rescue her. There had to be something. As he was carried away between Mr. Stownes’s two ham-sized fists, Squid realized what it was.

“You don’t even know where to go once we get past the fence,” he said. “You don’t know how to get to Big Smoke.”