A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2 (12 page)

He had lowered the cage only a few feet when Squid heard a scream from the direction of the bulkhead. At first he started winding faster, trying to get the cage down as quickly as he could, but when he heard the second lot of shouting he stopped.

“Get away from me!” the voice cried. “Get away from me, you ugly oaf!”

Squid would recognize that aggressive shouting anywhere. It was Lynn. He looked at the cage. It was still a long way from the ground.

“No!”

Squid looked in the direction of Lynn’s screams. She needed help right now. He couldn’t wait until the cage reached the ground and then came all the way back up with Mr. Stix, Mr. Stownes and Nim inside. He hesitated only a moment longer before he let go of the handle, drew his dagger and headed for the door.

Melbourne lay paralysed in his hammock. He had been unable to sleep since he’d left Lynn, left her to have Yellow break her fingers. But now he’d heard new shouts. Lynn was calling out again. A torrent of rage suddenly boiled through him.

Melbourne rolled out of his hammock, landing with a thud on the wooden floor, not caring about the noise he made this time. He grabbed his dagger, the fierce serrated thing he’d used on that innocent deckhand, and headed for the door. He noticed a belt slung over the end of the bottom bunk nearest him, a mechanical pistol in its holster. The pirate in the bed, Gunter, was rolling over drowsily, roused by Lynn’s shouts. Melbourne ignored the man’s protest as he stole the pistol, slipping it into the back of his pants and pulling his shirt down over it. Others in the crew were rising to see what the noise was about, but none of them moved with much purpose. Most of the pirates gave a snort, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. They didn’t care what happened to the girl they’d dragged aboard. Melbourne, however, was out the door and running through the hold. He cared. That was his sister. It had been coming to terms with the death of Colonel Hermannsburg that had driven him to action now. That news, like the news of the Diggers’ fate, had left him cold and numb, but it struck him now with the full weight of emotion and anger and guilt. Alfred Hermannsburg had always tried to do the right thing. He was a man who acted. Melbourne should have been more like his late foster father. He should be more like him now. He’d been wrong to leave Lynn in that cage. He had to act. He only hoped he hadn’t waited too long.

Melbourne jumped over floor beams and knocked aside barrels as he hurried toward Lynn. Light flickered below the door in front of him. He held the dagger in his right hand and slammed into the door, shoulder-charging his way through. The gas lamp on the wall of the hold had been lit, and in the light Melbourne saw a pirate dragging Lynn from the cage. It was Rabbit. Even in the dim light Melbourne knew he would recognize that hanging rats’ nest of a ponytail anywhere. He was dragging Lynn by her feet face down across the wooden floor. Lynn’s legs kicked in violent protest but Rabbit showed no mercy. Melbourne could feel the mechanical pistol against his lower back. He could end this quickly by shooting that monster right now, but he knew that wasn’t a great idea. His rage and guilt had turned into cold, hard purpose. A plan was forming in his mind and for that to work he knew he couldn’t attract too much attention.

“Rabbit,” Melbourne called. “Leave her be.”

The pirate turned to look in Melbourne’s direction. The shadows cast by the gas lamp made his scowl all the more menacing.

“Get lost, Digger,” Rabbit growled. “This ain’t no concern of yours.”

Melbourne hesitated. If he did this there was no going back. He had integrated himself into the crew as a matter of survival, and even showing support for Lynn – let alone attacking Rabbit – would likely get him killed. He took a deep breath. Ever since he’d been with the General’s Guard and that first ghoul had broken into the light around the campfire, he had thought of no one but himself. In fact, he’d been that way his whole life. Lynn squealed as Rabbit pulled forcefully on her legs. It was time Melbourne lived up to the legacy of his foster father and put someone else first. He stepped forward.

“I’m not going to stand by anymore,” he said. “That’s my sister you’ve got your stinking pirate hands on. Now let her go.”

Rabbit stared at Melbourne for a moment before dropping Lynn’s arms and turning to face him. “I knew it,” Rabbit said, his voice a forceful mix of loathing and glee. “I knew you were still a Digger.”

“Once a Digger, always a Digger,” Melbourne said. “Just like once pirate scum, always pirate scum.”

Lynn was crawling away toward the far bulkhead door. Rabbit almost laughed as he watched her. “And this is your sister?” he said, a chuckle finishing his words. “That’s better than I could have imagined.” He pulled a long dagger from his belt and pointed it at Melbourne. “When you die it will be knowing what I’m about to do to her.”

Rabbit cried out, a guttural roar that reverberated up his throat, and charged at Melbourne. Feeling oddly calm, Melbourne waited for him to come.
It’s just like training
, he thought,
just think of it like that
. When Rabbit was mere steps away Melbourne raised his own dagger and took a fighting stance. He was the Academy’s greatest graduate. He had to fight.

Lynn cowered in the corner, her heart racing as she took gulping breaths, but it was difficult to breathe through the shuddering sobs. She picked at the splinters of wood that had lodged in her arms as she’d been dragged across the floor. Her fingertips burned from where she had tried to stop her slide out of her cage, and she could still feel his grip around her ankles. The two middle fingers on her right hand were broken and had swollen to more than twice their original size. She had never been so frightened in her life. Even the room of Ancestors’ eyes in the cathedral in Alice hadn’t scared her as much as this. She had never felt so helpless, so weak and unable to defend herself.

She looked up and saw Melbourne fighting with the pirate. When Melbourne had first appeared she hadn’t been able to believe how lucky she was. But he had left her. He had run away just as he had run from the Diggers. Finally, here he was doing the right thing.

Rabbit lunged at Melbourne but Melbourne was too quick. He spun, twirling a full three-sixty before bringing his blade around and slashing at the back of Rabbit’s neck. The pirate’s disgustingly greasy and twisted ponytail dropped to the floor. He looked down at it and then back up at Melbourne, who smiled. Rabbit snarled and launched himself forward again. Lynn watched, noting that Melbourne never seemed to be the attacker and yet held the fight completely in the palm of his hand. Every time Rabbit struck he dodged, parried, twisted, and turned. She could see what he was doing. He was wearing the pirate down, tiring him, trying to manipulate things so that Rabbit would make a mistake that would cost him his life. As she watched Lynn had to admit it: Melbourne was the best fighter she’d ever seen, better than any of the Diggers she’d trained or fought with.

She felt her muscles instinctively flinch in fright as the door beside her creaked open. She spun to look, clambering to her feet, ready to run, suspecting another pirate had come in to finish what Rabbit had attempted to start. Instead she saw another unexpected face.

“Squid?” she said.

Sure enough, moving through from the darkness of the doorway into the light of the gas lamp was Squid. She lunged at him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.

“You came for me, you maniac!” she said. As she pulled away she saw his face growing red. He was embarrassed. Ancestors’ sin, he was a strange boy, but it was so good to see him.

Of course she’d hoped they would come for her, but she hadn’t really thought she’d ever be found. She’d thought she was going to be alone here forever, that no one would ever know what her fate would be, but Melbourne was here and now Squid had arrived.

“Of course,” Squid said. “I told you, I’m not doing this without you.”

Lynn pulled away from Squid, looking over his shoulder into the darkness of the rear hold.

“Where’s Nim?” she asked. She didn’t want to seem too keen, but she could hear the concern in her own voice. The last thing she’d seen as that brute had dragged her away was Nim on the ground, a sword at his throat.

“It’s just me,” Squid said.

Lynn felt a chill fill her bones. “Is he all right?”

“Fine,” Squid said. “He’s waiting.”

“You came alone?”

Squid nodded. “I’m the only one who could.”

“What do you mean?” Lynn asked, suddenly wondering why Nim hadn’t attempted to rescue her. She wished she didn’t need to be rescued, it made her feel weak, but if someone had to save her then she could imagine Nim carrying her to safety, her arms wrapped around his neck, and instead of making her feel weak and stupid that thought was exciting. But then here was Squid, weird, reliable Squid. He was the one who had always been there when she needed him, and he was showing her, yet again, that he always would be.

A shout of pain pulled Lynn’s attention back to the fight. She turned to see Melbourne’s dagger plunged hilt-deep in Rabbit’s thigh. The leg gave out from under the pirate and he dropped awkwardly to one knee, slashing his own blade wildly at Melbourne’s stomach.

“Melbourne!” Lynn gasped.

Melbourne arched his body back and Rabbit’s blade sailed through nothing but air, no more than an inch from opening Melbourne from one hip to the other. Like a whip crack Melbourne’s boot struck out and collided sole first with Rabbit’s face. The blow was sickeningly hard and the pirate rag-dolled to the floor as if his bones were jelly.

Melbourne came toward her. He was puffing, but only a little. “I’m sorry, Lynn,” he said. “I should never have left you. I should never have done a lot of things.” He lifted his head to look at her. “I … Who on the red earth is this?”

Squid was looking at Melbourne, a dumb smile on his face. Lynn almost laughed.

“This is Squid,” she said. “My friend. Squid, this is –”

“Melbourne,” Squid said, sticking his hand out. Melbourne took it, the confusion plain on his face. “Lynn’s told me about you.”

“Only good things, I hope,” Melbourne said.

“Not really,” Squid answered before turning to Lynn. “Come on. We can use the cargo cage to get out of here.”

Lynn watched Melbourne’s brow furrow at Squid and she almost laughed again.

“Well,” Lynn said. “You always have been an arrogant arse, and you did abandon your patrol to die.”

“It was the only –” Melbourne began, then stopped. “Yes,” he said. “I did.”

“But you’re here now,” Lynn said, seeing the way his eyes had gone distant. There was real remorse behind that stare; something had changed within him, she could see it now, and in that moment she felt proud of him. After what he had done it wasn’t at all how she had expected to feel, and yet there it was. He was fulfilling his true potential, the potential her father –
No
, she thought,
our father
– had seen in him.

“You’re here now,” she repeated, “and that’s what matters. Father would be proud of you.”

Melbourne stared at her. She could see his eyes glaze over. He was fighting to hold back his emotions, but as she watched him Lynn saw his face harden, not with anger but with determination.

“Come on,” he said, “Squid is right, the cargo cage is through here. We should hurry.”

Lynn and Squid followed Melbourne back through the forward bulkhead door. The next room was dark but Lynn could see the cargo cage in front of them. It had already been lowered a few feet down below the floor. Melbourne hurried to a handle nearby, winding it and raising the cage back to level so he could open the wide door on the side.

“Get in,” he said. “Quickly.”

Lynn followed Squid as they stepped into the cage and watched as Melbourne closed and latched the door behind them.

“What are you doing?” Lynn asked. “You’re coming with us.”

Lynn felt Squid’s hand on her arm. He squeezed it gently. She turned to look at him.

“Tell him, Squid,” she said, knowing the fear and pleading was evident in her voice. “Tell him to get in here with us.”

“Someone has to stay behind to lower the cage,” Squid said. He turned to Melbourne. “I should do it. You get in here. I can lower it to the ground and then climb back down the anchor chain.”

“No,” Melbourne said. “There isn’t time. I’ve got to get you to the ground.”

Melbourne moved to the handle and began to turn it. Lynn felt the floor jolt under her as the cage began to descend.

“No,” she said, grabbing the bars and looking up at Melbourne as they began to move. “No!”

He couldn’t do this, not now. She had only just got him back. She had thought him annoying or arrogant or lost in the desert or a deserter or a coward and maybe he had been all of these things, but he had finally shown her who he really was. Her face was suddenly wet with hot tears. He had shown her that he could be who she always wanted him to be. He was not her foster brother, not some marble-carved athletic boy her father had taken under his wing to replace her. He was her brother. The only family she had left. She couldn’t lose him.

“Listen,” Melbourne called down to them. “If you’re going out beyond the fence, there’s something you should know. The pirates said there are towns out there, other places, we’re not alone.”

“Melbourne!” Lynn yelled back, desperate for him to stop lowering them. “Melbourne, no!” She cried again, “Come with us!”

Above them Lynn could hear the rattling and spinning sounds of the pulleys. As the cargo cage was lowered below the bottom of the dirigible she lost sight of Melbourne. She looked down, knowing it was a bad idea but unable to resist. She felt her legs weaken. There was nothing below them but empty air. She didn’t like the feeling at all. She slid her suddenly sweaty palms down the bars as she dropped to her knees. Being closer to the floor felt safer. She crawled on hands and knees back toward the center of the cage.

“What’s wrong?” Squid said.

The whole cargo cage swayed as he moved toward her. Lynn, still on her knees and staring down at the wooden floor raised her hand toward him.

“Just stop,” she said. “Just stop moving.”

“Lynn,” Squid said.

“I don’t like heights, that’s all,” she said. “I never have.”

“But you’re not scared of anything.”

“Well, obviously that’s not the case, is it!” Lynn snapped.

The cage stopped with a jerk. Lynn let out a reflexive gasp. “What was that?”

She looked up but remained on her hands and knees, as if being close to the floor would somehow protect her if the cage did happen to plummet mercilessly to the ground. Squid was looking up at the taut rope connecting them to the dirigible above.

“He’s stopped lowering us,” he said.

“Can you see anything?”

Squid shook his head.