Dragonseed

'It's okay,' said Filia. 'The healer has touched this loaf.' She tore off a palm-sized chunk and tossed it to the pig. 'It will never go stale. No matter how many pieces I tear from it, I've yet to exhaust it.'

'You'll have a chance to test its limits, I think,' said Zeeky. 'Follow me.'

Zeeky shifted in her saddle and Skitter understood her intention. The long-wyrm turned and moved back toward the bone field, pacing itself so that the horse and Poocher could keep up. Zeeky could have had Skitter stop to let Poocher back onto his saddle, but she thought her friend could use a little exercise. Burning off a bit of his restless energy could only do the pig some good.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

UH-OH

BURKE SLID OPEN the warehouse door and lifted his lantern overhead, revealing the Angry Beetle. Lamplight glinted on its spiky shell; dust swirled in the winter draft. He ushered Thorny and Vance inside and pulled the door shut. The air inside was cool despite the cast iron stove near the entrance.

Thorny let out a whistle of appreciation as he looked over the new war machine. 'You've outdone yourself,' he said.

'What?' Vance asked. His hand was on Burke's shoulder for guidance. 'What is it?'

'Remember Big Chief?' Burke asked.

'Of course,' said Vance. 'All them earth-dragons turned tail and ran the second Big Chief rolled into the square.'

'Not all of them,' said Burke, limping forward on his crutch. 'I've got proof of that every morning when I pull on my boot. The Angry Beetle is Big Chief's successor. One day it's going to be the most powerful war machine I've ever built.'

'One day?' asked Thorny, walking around the massive machine. 'It looks ready for action now.'

'Appearances can be deceiving,' said Burke. He leaned down before the pot-bellied stove and opened the door. He shoveled in more coal. He touched the pot of chili he'd left cooking on the stove. He'd forgotten all about it during the commotion at the well. The pot still felt warm. The meal could probably be salvaged. 'The Angry Beetle has some glitches that need to be worked out.'

'Glitches?'

'Outright failures,' Burke sighed. 'The extra weight of the armor has made a joke of my gears. Currently, it can only roll backwards. I've also got space problems. I can't carry enough coal on board to keep the boiler powered up for more than a couple of hours.'

'That's not so bad,' said Thorny. 'You could roll out a wall of these things a mile or so at a time. Wipe out anything in your way. Wagons could roll along afterward to refuel.'

'Maybe,' said Burke. 'It's not an elegant solution, but we need some way of pushing our force outward. Long term, the dragons can beat us with this blockade if we can't develop a way to take the battle to them. They can treat our rebellion like a brush fire-clear the area around it, deny it fuel, and eventually it will burn itself out. That's our fate, unless I can think of something clever and think of it fast.'

'I saw the shotgun in action,' said Thorny. 'That's pretty impressive.'

'It's only a toy compared to the cannons. I've got small cannons on the Beetle that can hurl a lead ball a mile or two. I've got big cannons rolling off the lines that shoot even further. I've spent decades imagining what I could do to dragons if I could learn how to make gunpowder.' Burke reached out and placed a hand on the barrel of the rear facing cannon of the Angry Beetle. He shook his head. 'Now I'm wondering if my dream isn't going to become a nightmare.'

'How so?'

'You saw what Ragnar did to Shanna. When he built this army, he marched from town to town shouting, 'join or die!' I've heard what happened to some of the men who refused to cooperate. Right now, I'm able to temper his brute force approach by constantly dangling the promise of more powerful weapons in front of him. But there's going to be a point where he thinks he's got enough. I'm not so much worried about what he'll do to the dragons as to what he'll do to the men who don't blindly obey him.'

Vance was moving around the perimeter of the Angry Beetle, feeling his way from spike to spike. Burke started to warn the boy to be careful but held his tongue. It was important to let Vance feel independent despite his blindness. For someone who said he couldn't see anything, Vance certainly was moving around the edge of the machine quickly enough.

'What's that weird smell?' said Vance from the other side of the Angry Beetle.

'It was supposed to be my dinner.' Burke lifted the lid of the iron pot on the stove and stirred the contents. The air filled with a pungent, spicy aroma, along with the scent of charred meat. The contents were sticking to the bottom of the pot.

'Oh lord,' said Thorny. 'Not your chili!'

'Chili sounds good,' said Vance.

'Burke's cooking isn't for the faint of heart. His chili has killed more people than his guns ever will.'

Burke chuckled as he used a ladle to scoop out a large glop of stringy meat into a wooden bowl. He handed it to Vance, who reached out and took it in a confident manner that made Burke wonder again if perhaps the boy could see more than he let on. 'Don't listen to Thorny. I still say most of those deaths were just coincidence. Besides, this is a new recipe. I'm currently limited by the items in the earth-dragons larders. They had some hot sausages I've chopped up and added to this.'

The wooden spoon stopped inches from Vance's lips. He said, 'I've, um, heard there were human bodies in the larder. You didn't… um…'

'Any human remains were turned over to Ragnar for proper burial. The man has his faults, but he's not a cannibal. I hope.'

Vance started to put the spoon in his mouth, then pulled it away again. 'I also heard there were jars of pickled earth-dragon babies.'

'Yeah. Some folks have been sampling them. I've not been that hungry yet.'

Vance looked relieved and popped the spoon in his mouth.

'Especially not with so much fresh meat from the adults lying around,' Burke continued. 'We had to cremate most of the bodies as a hedge against disease. But, we cut off the tails and have been curing them in the smoke house. Earth-dragon tails taste like gator. We used to eat those all the time down south.'

Vance chewed slowly, looking as if he might spit the chili out. Suddenly, his eyes bulged. He swallowed quickly.

'Oh my gosh!' he said, waving his fingers in front of his mouth. 'My mouth is on fire!'

Burke reached down beside the stove and picked up a clay jug. 'Take a swig of this.'

Vance lifted the jug, swallowed, and then quickly pulled it away from his lips. His face was all puckered for about half a minute before he could speak again.

'Have I done something to make you angry?' Vance asked weakly.

'Nope. That's goom,' said Burke. 'We've got about 900 gallons of it. The earth-dragons distill it from cabbage and chilies. Fortunately, it's so alcoholic that a few swigs numbs your mouth. Can you still feel your tongue?'

Vance's tongue flickered across his lips. 'Nothing. Guess it works.'

'Don't burp around any open flames,' Burke said. 'Goom ignites easily. It's the fuel for the Angry Beetle's flamethrower.'

Vance took another bite of chili. Sweat beaded his brow as he chewed the stringy meat.

'If you survive this meal, you'll have a good story for your grandkids,' said Thorny with a chuckle. Thorny then turned his attention back to the Angry Beetle.

'How many people does it take to run this thing?' he asked.

'A perfect crew would be four,' said Burke, lifting the hatch. 'But, it's a tight fit with two people, and three people need to be real friendly. If there were more women around, I'd recruit them for crew.'

Thorny peeked inside the open hatch. 'They'd need to be skinny.'