Liberty (Flash Gold, #5) (16 page)

There was definitely
smoke coming from somewhere nearby, and it wasn’t the simple
burning gunpowder scent coming from the cannons and guns. Wood was
burning, along with something else, something tarry and
pungent.

“I can’t imagine why.”
Cedar poked his head up enough to see through one of the broken
windows, but jerked it back down immediately. “That Commissioner
Steele is out there, leading the charge onto this ship along with
some army captain.” He clenched his fist around the revolver. “We
can’t
get trapped in here by them. We can’t shoot soldiers
and Mounties. They’re different from gangsters.”

The clash of
steel—swords?—joined the cacophony of noise all around them. Kali
suspected the soldiers were more interested in routing the
gangsters than in harassing her and Cedar, at least at the moment,
but black smoke coming from a hole in the door just above Cedar’s
head distracted her from saying so. As she pointed at it, flames
erupted, licking at the edges. The hole expanded with alarming
quickness.

“You might not want to
crouch so close to that,” Kali said.

Cedar glanced over his
head, cursed, then rolled across the small cabin. He came up beside
her, now facing the door. “I heard something hit that a minute ago.
I think your witch friend may have thrown something at it.”

“She’s my witch foe, not
my friend.”

Black goo dripped through
the hole, the flames licking hungrily at it. A few burning drops
hit the deck, wood sizzling when they landed.

“She’s a wart on a butt
cheek is what she is.” Cedar pointed his revolver at the door, but
didn’t seem to know what else to do. It wasn’t as if shooting at a
burning hole would keep the fire from spreading.

“Can you see her?” Kali
inched forward. “You might want to keep her from hurling more of
whatever that goo is at our cabin.”

Cedar gripped her arm and
maneuvered to move in front of her. “That’s spreading fast. We’re
going to need to get out of here. I’ll kick the door open, shoot
anyone giving us an irksome look, and we’ll run to the railing. I
doubt—” A round of coughs interrupted him—the black smoke was
particularly foul, searing Kali’s nostrils and making her wonder if
there might be some poisons or at least toxins burning in that
compound. “Doubt your rope is still dangling,” Cedar rasped, wiping
his eyes, “but if we’re still over the river, we might be able to
jump into the water and get out of this mess.”

“We’re going to run and
leave them to fight it out on their own? I thought you wanted to
help the town.” Kali pulled her shirt over her mouth and tried to
take shallow breaths. The flames and the tarry substance had
increased the hole from fist-sized to more than head-sized, and it
continued to expand. She glimpsed two men running past outside. And
was that Amelia still hunkering in that hatchway? What was she
going to do next to hassle Kali and Cedar?

“The town’s helping
itself just fine.” Cedar waved in the direction of the military
ship.

The cannons fired again,
nearly drowning out his words. He opened his rifle to reload,
dipping into his pocket and feeling around. “I’m out of
bullets.”

Kali pointed to the rifle
she hadn’t used yet—she preferred tools. “Take that one.” Their
ship returned fire, cannons booming nearby. “The gangsters are
putting up a fight, an ugly fight.”

She tried to edge around
him, to see what Amelia was doing, but Cedar deliberately blocked
her route—and blocked her from the fire. More flaming droplets fell
to the deck, which was also burning now.

Cedar coughed but grabbed
the other rifle and aimed at something through the widening hole.
Between the dark smoke billowing from the flames and his big
shoulder, Kali couldn’t see his target.

“Get ready to run,” he
ordered.

Before she could object,
he fired, then leaped to his feet. He kicked the burning door, but
it opened inward and hadn’t burned down enough to cave. A board
flew free, but the door itself held in the frame. He cursed and
kicked out more boards, hardly heeding the flames.

“Follow me,” he shouted,
then dove through the hole, fire burning all around him. A droplet
of black goo smacked onto his back as he flew through, and he
screamed.

Startled, Kali almost
fell over. She’d never heard such a pained cry from him.

That didn’t keep him from
rolling into a crouch as soon as he landed, then firing toward the
hatchway. Amelia? Kali couldn’t see around him to tell if she was
still there or had ducked back inside.

Instead of diving through
the hole—she didn’t want to take the same burn as he had—Kali
grabbed a hat on the deck under the control panel. The pilot was
either dead or unconscious. She doubted he would miss it.

With the hat in hand, she
edged close to the doorknob. It remained intact, though most of the
boards had been burned or kicked out. Tarry smoke assailed her
nostrils and her eyes, making everything water. She grabbed the
door latch, using the hat to protect her hand from the heat.
Thankfully, it still worked. She flung the burning door open, more
flame-eaten boards falling out as it struck the wall.

Cedar fired as she ran
out onto the deck next to him. She felt vulnerable out in the open,
even though smoke clouded the air and reduced visibility, but he
was still firing at the hatchway, and she didn’t want to run to the
railing without him. She didn’t want to run at all. As crazy as it
was to stay here, she wanted to crash these ships and keep the
gangsters from getting away. That third airship, wherever it was,
was probably still undamaged. It might even now be coming about to
help in the fray, to try and drive off the military craft
again.

Gunshots came from the
side. Cedar cursed, and rolled away from his spot, firing back in
that direction as he did so. Kali gripped her hammer and groped for
something helpful to do.

With Cedar distracted,
Amelia leaned out the hatchway again, her arm lifted to throw
something.

Kali reacted instantly,
hurling her hammer at the woman. She must have been focused on
Cedar because she didn’t see the spinning tool coming until it was
almost upon her. She tried to duck, but it clipped her temple. She
cried out and lost her footing, one boot sliding on the deck, the
boards still damp from the rain. Whatever that was in her hand—it
looked like a black rubber ball, but surely it couldn’t be anything
so innocuous—flew free from her fingers. First it sailed upward,
but it hit the jamb of the hatchway above her and broke open. Like
a balloon, it popped, and black droplets rained out, many of them
falling upon Amelia.

She screamed, the noise
so abrupt and alarming that all of the gunfire and shouts on the
deck fell silent. The black goo burst into flames, including the
stuff that had spattered her. Amelia screamed again and rolled
about on the deck. She flung her satchel off and tore at the
buttons of her clothing, trying to escape.

Kali raced forward,
though she had no idea how to help. Smother her with a blanket? She
didn’t have a blanket. She didn’t have anything anymore, not even
the hammer.

Amelia leaped to her
feet, flames eating at her even though she had torn off some of her
clothing. The black stuff clung to her skin even as it burned,
dozens of patches of flame smoking on her flesh and also on the
deck at her feet. Still screaming, she sprinted for the railing.
Nobody tried to stop her. She leaped over the side, not even
looking first. Were they over the river? The docks? The city? Kali
couldn’t tell from the middle of the airship.

Cedar grabbed her arm.
“Time to go,” he urged, jerking his chin toward the opposite
railing.

Commissioner Steele stood
there, a cutlass in one hand and a revolver in the other as he
stared at them, recognition burning in his eyes.

“Distract him,” Kali
whispered, her gaze latching onto the one thing Amelia had left
behind. Her satchel.

It was smoking, a tiny
hole burned in the side, but she ought to be able to poke inside
without being hurt. She lunged toward it, but Cedar, his gaze
locked onto the Mountie through the smoke, did not let her go.

“Kali, no. There are too
many.”

Steele gave an order to
his men, and several rifles lifted toward Cedar. Cedar could have
lifted his own to fire back, but he tried to pull Kali toward the
railing instead, in the same direction that Amelia had gone.

A yell came from the bow,
the end of the ship that had crashed into the other ship—the two
craft were attached, broken hulls stuck together, neither able to
steer and only their envelopes keeping them aloft. A group of at
least twenty gangsters charged toward the commissioner and his men,
all wielding guns, knives, and swords. Reinforcements from the
other ship.

Steele’s attention was
drawn from Cedar, and Cedar, watching it all, let his grip on
Kali’s arm lessen. She pulled away from him and lunged for the
satchel, careful to avoid the flames spreading from the spot where
that tarry ball had exploded. She snatched the strap of the bag
just as Cedar caught her again, pulling her toward the railing.

Twice as many gangsters
as Mounties and soldiers engaged in battle, and neither side paid
attention to Kali or Cedar.

“Wait,” she said, finding
a squishy but substantial ball in the satchel. It was the only
thing left inside, and it appeared to be identical to the device
that had burned Amelia. It felt strange in Kali’s hand, almost like
gelatin. She held it as though it was more fragile than an
eggshell.

Cedar growled in her ear,
the sound just audible over the clashing of steel and the firing of
guns. “Better throw that overboard right away,” he said. “Make sure
it lands in the river.”

“I have a better
idea.”

Without waiting for a
rebuttal, Kali ran around the burning navigation cabin, what
remained of it, keeping the structure between her and the battling
men. She reached the bow of the ship, cradling the gelatinous ball
in her hands, and looked up, gauging the distance to the envelope
on the craft they were attached to. She was fairly certain she
could hit it from here, but Cedar was the one with the stronger arm
and the crack aim. Thank his protective streak, he had run after
her.

“Here.” She held the ball
toward him.

“Are you insane? I don’t
want that.”

“Remember the first time
we blew up an airship together?” She tilted her head toward the
envelope.

He looked up, then down
at the ball, and seemed to catch on. That didn’t keep him from
grimacing.

“It might stop the
fighting,” Kali said.

Already, many men were
down, if not dead, over where the Mounties and gangsters were
clashing.

Cedar sighed. “Give it to
me.”

Kali laid the ball gently
on his palm.

“Do we have to light
it?”

“I don’t think so. She
didn’t.” Kali shuddered, remembering the way it had exploded all
over Amelia and burst into flames. She looked down, wondering if
the woman had made it to the water and if the river had quenched
the flames. With an alarmed jolt, she realized they weren’t over
the water. Wherever Amelia had fallen, it hadn’t been into the
river.

“Here it goes,” Cedar
said, drawing back his arm.

“Wait,” Kali said,
spotting movement behind the other airship. “There’s the third
one.”

“You want me to wait and
throw this at
it
instead? Kali, they’re arming their
cannons.”

She hesitated. While it
might be more desirable to take out the most mobile of the craft
before it could approach and disgorge any more soldiers, they might
get themselves shot if they waited. Alert men lined the railing,
gesturing and arming weapons as the ship drifted closer.

“No, you’re right. Just
hit that one. We’re close enough to it—” she waved at the bow of
their ship and how it was smashed into the side of the other ship
and stuck there, “—that our envelope might catch some of the flames
too.”

“And that would be good
because… why?”

“This ship would crash
too.”

“With us on it.”

“Just throw the ball,
Cedar. We’ll survive.” Maybe she shouldn’t be so confident,
especially since they weren’t over the river. Her thought of simply
jumping to safety in the water had been dashed.

Before she could
second-guess herself further, Cedar hurled the gelatinous ball.

It appeared
tiny—miniscule—as it hurtled toward the massive airship envelope.
Kali almost laughed as it disappeared into the darkness. It would
probably bounce off and do nothing. Or it would strike but be too
small to be effective.

Still, she remembered the
way the tiny hole in the door had become a large one. Maybe…

The ball spattered
against the side of the envelope. Flames burst from the substance
immediately, appearing like a tiny campfire burning on the side of
the dark oblong balloon. Kali gripped the railing, hoping that—

The substance burned
through abruptly, and a gout of flame spewed out of the side of the
envelope, like lava erupting from a volcano. The airship was
wrenched to the side with such power that the deck tilted. It tore
away from the craft Kali and Cedar remained on, the force making
their own deck shake. Flames spread along the balloon like a
wildfire out of control on a dry prairie, and the airship pitched
downward, crashing into the bow of the third airship as it dropped.
For a moment, the envelopes of the two craft were close enough to
touch, and the flames jumped from one to the other. An explosion
roared as the gas in that balloon ignited.

Kali clenched a
triumphant fist. She hadn’t expected that, but almost jumped,
excited that something had finally gone their way.

“Stay here,” Cedar
barked.