He must have decided he couldn’t risk attacking the guards with the engineer at his back. But if he’d taken out the engineer, who was going to drive the train?
“Try to move them into one of the valleys we dug,” Amaranthe told Maldynado and Basilard, “so they’re not visible to soldiers peeking in from the other end. Someone will need to stay with them too. I’m sure they’d get out of those bindings without someone watching them.” She blew out a puff of air, feeling the weight of her decision not to harm anyone.
“Why don’t we just toss them over the side?” Maldynado suggested. “That’s what we did with those blokes traveling with the weapons.”
“You did what? I didn’t tell you to do that.”
“We didn’t have any choice. They were searching the train.”
“We’re going fifty miles an hour. I’d be shocked if throwing someone overboard wouldn’t break his neck.” Amaranthe closed her eyes, wondering if the men’s actions on the other train meant there were more deaths she was responsible for.
“Nah, look at how thick those necks are,” Maldynado said. “You’d be lucky to break them with a steam hammer.”
“Just… guard them, Maldynado. Basilard, come up front with me, please.”
Sergeant Yara was standing in the background, probably not certain what was expected of her. Amaranthe gave her a stay-there wave. She didn’t want Yara to feel she had to be a part of this. Once they got Sespian, that’s when she’d have a role.
Amaranthe and Basilard climbed over the front of the coal car and onto the back of the locomotive cabin. As they angled toward one of the side doors, wind scoured the train, railing against them. They had to claw their way from handhold to handhold, the cold iron icy beneath their fingers. Trees streaked by, their branches outstretched, scraping and batting at the side of the train. Movement at the corner of Amaranthe’s eye spurred instincts into action, and she ducked a branch before it swept into her head. She gulped. If a branch struck her while she hung on the side…
Basilard touched her shoulder, a questioning prod, and Amaranthe pushed on. She wasn’t about to let the men know she was nervous.
The bifold door was closed. Light glowed behind large windows on either side, windows that would allow the engineer a view of someone approaching the entrance. Amaranthe stopped before leaning out and reaching for the door latch. What if Sicarius hadn’t gone up there? She couldn’t imagine where else he would have gone, but she might stumble into an awkward fight if she simply pushed her way inside.
She poked one eye around the corner. She didn’t see anyone in the cab. No Sicarius, no engineer or fireman.
“What’s going on?” Amaranthe muttered.
She grabbed the latch. Not locked. Good. She pulled the door open and leaped onto the footboard before catapulting inside.
Amaranthe landed in a crouch, fists balled, ready for a skirmish. That was when she noticed two men in blue engineering overalls sprawled on the textured metal floor along with copious amounts of spilled coal. One man lay beside her, his face pressed to the back wall, his ankles tied and hands bound behind his back. On the other side of the cab, in front of the furnace, Sicarius knelt over the second man. He was tying that one as well, though he paused long enough to arch an eyebrow at Amaranthe’s overzealous entrance.
Basilard slipped in behind Amaranthe and also gave her a curious look. She noticed her hands were still balled into fists and raised one to cover a fake yawn, as if she hadn’t been concerned at any point in the mission thus far.
Sicarius manhandled the fireman into a position on the back wall next to the engineer. Both men were alive and glaring at him, though gags in their mouths kept them from voicing complaints.
“I hadn’t planned to take over the cab.” Amaranthe tucked stray strands of hair back into her bun. “Was it necessary to subdue them?”
“They would have grown suspicious when the guards left and did not return,” Sicarius said.
True, but inconvenient. Now someone would have to stay up there and drive the train. Maybe two people. She cursed under her breath. When they charged into the emperor’s car, she would need all of her men. That one fastidious corporal was spawning a lot of headaches.
Amaranthe eyed the front of the cab, wondering if there was a way to automate the train. The furnace was set into the left half with heavy cast iron doors that could swing open and closed again when someone stepped on a floor pedal. A shovel leaned to the side of it, beneath several wheels attached to pipes. Amaranthe had no idea what they controlled. All she knew was that shovel would need to be used again soon. A boiler capable of powering a locomotive would need heat applied constantly, lots of heat.
The engineer’s seat was on the right side of the cab, and all manner of gauges and levers adorned that station. The only thing Amaranthe could identify was the steam-whistle chain dangling from the ceiling. She leaned over the seat to peer out a vertical rectangle of a window. The long cylindrical engine took up most of the view, but she could see a little ways to the front of the right side of the train. She wasn’t sure what kind of lights were burning above the brush guard, but they didn’t illuminate as much of the rail as she would have thought. She hoped there’d be time to stop when they saw the landslide.
“We’ll be going slower when we start ascending into the mountains,” Sicarius said. “We can throw them and the other prisoners overboard without critically damaging them.”
“I’m glad you’re thinking of ways not to damage people, but what I’m really wondering is who’s going to drive this thing while we go after the emperor?”
Muffled words-curses most likely-came from the engineer. His shoulders flexed and strained as he tried to loosen his bonds. The fireman was glowering at her with eyes seething with hatred. She tried to offer them a disarming smile. They glared more fiercely. For all they knew, her team meant to assassinate Sespian and blow up the train, and she didn’t have time to explain otherwise, not that they would listen anyway.
“One of the men,” Sicarius said, ignoring the straining prisoners. His gaze shifted toward Basilard.
Basilard’s eyes widened. My people are simple nomads. I know how to hunt, fight, and put up a tent. He stared at the controls for a moment before adding, This looks a lot more complicated than a tent.
“Maldynado then,” Sicarius said.
“Dear ancestors, do you want us to crash?” Amaranthe asked. “Besides, we need everyone if we’re to have a chance against a car full of soldiers. How many people are in there with Sespian? Twenty?”
“Twenty-three soldiers and bodyguards. And the woman.”
Who might have skills as a practitioner. Lovely. And then there was the fact that there were more soldiers in the neighboring cars. If they didn’t figure out a way to retrieve Sespian quietly and quickly…
“We need everyone,” Amaranthe repeated.
“Talk the enforcer woman into doing it,” Sicarius said.
That… might work. As a rural enforcer, she’d know how to drive a lorry. How much different could it be? Amaranthe considered the furnace, the engineer’s station, and the prisoners. It was a lot to ask, especially when Yara hadn’t promised full support-or any kind of support-for the mission. Still, it would keep her out of the way of the fighting.
“Basilard, will you get her please?” Amaranthe unfastened one of the lanterns mounted on the wall and handed it to him. Maldynado would need to see Basilard’s hands to know what he was saying.
Basilard nodded and slipped back outside.
“You intend to defend this point until we reach the pass?” Sicarius asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’d be better off letting the furnace burn out while we’re getting Sespian. Then we can grab him, jump off when the train slows, and disappear into the woods. We can find a way to meet up with the others and…”
Sicarius was shaking his head. He pointed to a clock on the wall. “We’re two hours from the pass-nearly a hundred miles. It’d take us days on foot, and we’d have dozens of soldiers following us through the forest. Hundreds when word gets back to Forkingrust.”
Despite their predicament, Amaranthe managed a smile. “You say that like it’d be difficult for you. I thought evading soldiers was one of your favorite hobbies.”
“Not if I can’t harm them,” Sicarius said, gaze hard and unwavering.
