The hull rang out again from another blow of a sledgehammer. He wondered how long it would be before one of the Mighty Men was clever enough to wheel a big cannon out of the foundry and use the Angry Beetle for target practice.
'Thorny, the Beetle can only roll backwards. I designed all the controls to sit up front. You need to look out that little hatch in the back and tell me what you see.'
'Got it,' said Thorny.
'Don't open the hatch until we're moving,' said Burke. 'The Mighty Men might be smart enough to poke a shotgun inside.'
Burke looked around at the mention of a shotgun. He had one shotgun inside, which he'd been using to test the visual span of the various gun slots. He had plenty of shot, and two barrels of gunpowder. The Beetle also had fixed cannons at the front and back, and there was the goom-powered flamethrower, with maybe thirty gallons in the reserve. He also had a sky-wall bow and a quiver of arrows. He'd wanted to test if there was enough space to actually use a bow at one of the slots. There wasn't.
Burke wiggled his way past Vance to reach the driver's seat. Burke calculated the odds of escaping and frowned. Sometimes it was a curse to be good at math. He was certain he hadn't killed Ragnar. Stonewall probably wasn't permanently blinded. Was it too late to find some reasonable way out of this? Or was he going to have to kill a lot of people?
All this time, he'd been worried about what Ragnar might do to his fellow men once he had guns and cannons. Now he was in a situation where he was going to be turning his weapons against humans, and for what? So that they might die a mile away instead of here in the warehouse?
He realized that nothing had hit the hull for at least a minute. He cracked open the sighting hatch at the forward cannon. He was facing the open doors leading to the street. The Mighty Men were now milling about outside. Ragnar and Stonewall were nowhere to be seen. Burke watched through a slit only an inch high and six inches long. It was hard to say what he might be missing. Why had they stopped trying to get in? The Mighty Men stood back as a new group came onto the scene, straining as they pushed one of the newly forged wheeled cannons into place and turned it toward the warehouse.
Burke looked at the pressure gauge. They needed more time.
People were going to have to die.
'I'm going to fire the cannon,' he said, reaching into one of the many pouches on his leather tool belt. He pulled out a clump of cotton wads and leaned back in his seat, stretching out to Vance and Thorny.
'Stuff these in your ears and cover your ears with your hands. Keep them covered until I've taken my shot.'
'With cotton in our ears, how will we know?' asked Thorny, as Vance helped him jam cotton into his ears.
Burke smirked. 'You'll know.'
He stuffed cotton into his own ears as he looked back out into the street. They were still ramming gunpowder down the shaft of the cannon. A five pound keg of black powder sat on the street. He couldn't have asked for a better target.
Burke spun the sighting wheels for the forward gun. The Angry Beetle's cannons weren't as big as the one in the street, but it would get the job done. Unlike the Mighty Men, he'd loaded his cannon in advance.
'Hands over your ears!' Burke shouted, as he pulled the flint trigger.
He squeezed his hands over his ears and closed his eyes, his jaw clenched as tightly as possible. The seconds passed with unbearable slowness.
The noise hit him in the chest like a hammer. The Angry Beetle lurched as the five pound charge in the street exploded.
Burke pulled his hands away, yanking out the cotton. His teeth felt loose.
'Everyone all right?' he asked. There was no answer. He could barely hear his own voice over the ringing. He tried again, shouting, 'Vance? Thorny?'
'You're right that we'd know,' said Thorny.
'I should've used more cotton,' said Vance.
'Keep pumping the bellows,' Burke said. 'The pressure is almost in the zone.'
He slid the sighting hatch open once more. The front wall of the warehouse was gone. There was a crater where the cannon had been a moment before. Unidentifiable lumps of meat were scattered in all directions. He slid the hatch shut before he had a chance to identify any of the chunks.
'Gentlemen,' he said. 'It's safe to say we've worn out our welcome. I'm sorry you got swept up in this.'
'You apologize too much,' said Thorny. 'Let's roll.'
'What's it look like behind us?'
Thorny pushed the rear sighting hatch open with the back of his twisted hands. He shook his head. 'The doors are closed.'
'I don't think that's going to matter,' said Burke as he let out the clutch and engaged the gear. The Angry Beetle shuddered as it crept backward. It took a surprising length of time to cover the short distance to the rear door. Fortunately, when it finally reached the barrier, the war-machine pushed through the wood as if it were a paper curtain.
'Since we can only move in one direction, it's important we don't hit anything the Angry Beetle can't push over. I'm going to follow the southern boulevard to the city gate. Let me know if I'm getting close to any buildings.'
Burke leaned over to watch out the sighting hatch as they rolled away from the warehouse. He knew the layout of Dragon Forge as well as anyone. He just might pull this off.
'We're getting close to a big building on the left,' said Thorny.
Burke turned the wheel.
'No!' said Thorny. 'My left!'
Burke hastily steered the other way.
'We should be coming up on a big broad avenue now,' he said. 'See it?'
'Yeah,' said Thorny. 'People are moving fast to get out of our way. A lot faster than they need to, honestly. Pokey Turtle might be a better name for this contraption.'
'Duly noted,' said Burke. 'Keep shoveling, Vance. We need to build up more pressure if we want to get up any kind of speed.'
'We're at the avenue,' said Thorny.
Burke turned the wheel sharply. The treads churned beneath the Angry Beetle with a satisfying rumble. The steering mechanism worked like a dream. If he had any real power getting to the treads, this might turn into an interesting ride. He disengaged the clutch.
'We're slowing down,' said Thorny.
Burke was surprised that they were still rolling at all. But, the southern avenue did slope down slightly. He'd take whatever help from gravity he could get.
'We took off before the pressure was in the zone,' Burke said. 'Let's give the boiler another minute. I'm worried about the southern gate. You see it?'
'Yeah,' said Thorny. 'We're maybe two hundred feet away.'
'Can you see down the shaft of the rear cannon? Does it look like we'd hit the gate if we fired on it?'
Thorny was quiet for a moment. 'I guess,' he said.
Vance said, 'Burke, we worked hard to get that gate closed. Forget Ragnar. Do you really want to open that gate to the dragons?'
'It's not the gate keeping the dragons out,' said Burke. 'It's the sky-wall bows. No winged dragon wants to fly within a mile of the walls. Thorny, I know you don't have much grip, but triggering the flintlock fuse only takes a nudge. Think you can do it?'
'I'll try,' said Thorny.
'Okay then. Cotton in ears, everyone. Thorny, on the count of ten, do it.'
Burke shoved cotton in his ears. Thorny's countdown went by in silence.
The Angry Beetle trembled as the cannon fired. Burke's brain felt like goom sloshing around in a jug.
He pulled the cotton from his ears. Thorny's distant voice sounded panicked. 'The gate's still there!'
'Did we miss it?' Burke asked, incredulous.
'No. We punched a hole in it. The left half looks tilted back a little.'