Amaranthe dropped her smile. “Then we better plan to return here and maintain control at all costs.” She knocked on the back wall of the cab. “We’ll have a bargaining chip-the power to control the train-and, if need be, we can defend this position. It’ll be hard for them to get over the coal car and at us without exposing themselves.”
“If we aren’t going to shoot them, they won’t fear to expose themselves.”
Uh, yes, that was a good point. They needed a better plan.
Amaranthe grabbed the shovel next to the furnace. How were they going to defend a position when they couldn’t use their weapons? She stepped on the floor switch to open the furnace door. The fire had already burned low in the short time since Sicarius had taken down the fireman and engineer. She shoveled fresh coal into the furnace until the red embers along the bottom disappeared beneath leaping flames. Waves of heat flowed from within. Maybe they could do something with fire? No, she dismissed that idea as quickly as it came. She’d end up with the entire train on fire if they flung flames back toward the coal car. The mere thought made her glance about until she found a fire station: an axe, bucket of sand, and hose reel mounted on a narrow strip of wall behind the engineer’s chair.
Aware of Sicarius watching her, Amaranthe said, “Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.” She used the shovel to sweep the coals spilled on the floor back into the pile beneath the chute.
“Before or after soldiers are streaming into the locomotive?” Sicarius asked.
“I’ll let that be a surprise.” Amaranthe winked. If only she felt half as confident as she pretended.
“Quit pushing,” came Yara’s voice from outside. “Don’t touch me at all. Ever.” She came into view on the other side of the window, inching her way toward the door.
Wind gusted against her, flinging her short hair to one side, but Amaranthe didn’t think it was the source of her irritation. Maldynado came into view, crawling along the outside of the train after her. Ah, yes.
Yara lunged around the corner and into the cabin, grabbing the back of the engineer’s seat for support. Maldynado hopped in behind her.
“You can not be any fun in bed,” he told Yara.
“You’ll never find out,” she growled back.
Amaranthe was sweeping the last few coals into the pile beneath the chute. She was about to say something, but Maldynado spoke first.
“Boss, are you cleaning? In the middle of our train-infiltration mission?”
“No.” Amaranthe blushed and set the shovel aside. “I’m just tidying what may become a fighting area. I don’t want anyone slipping on loose coal.” Before he could make any silly comments, she added, “What are you doing up here, Maldynado? I told Basilard to get Yara, not you.”
“I figured that was an oversight on your part. You know you’ll need me up here.” Maldynado slid into the engineer’s seat and caressed a few gauges. “Nice, I’ve never driven a train.”
“And you’re not going to tonight either,” Amaranthe said.
“Thank the emperor’s ancestors,” Yara muttered.
“You’re driving,” Amaranthe told her.
“What?”
“Just for a few minutes while we retrieve the emperor. It’ll be easy.” Amaranthe pointed to the window in front of the engineer’s seat. “As you can see, being on a rail means there’s no steering required. You’ll just have to add more fuel when that gauge over there gets low, and, uh, that gauge looks important too. Watch that. That one too. It’ll be easy. You’ll figure it out.” Amaranthe had a notion that if she claimed the task would be easy numerous times and flew through her dubious instructions, they’d seem less daunting. “Oh, and you’ll need to keep an eye on those two men. Sicarius tied them up, so I’m sure they’ll find escape elusive, but you never know.”
Yara did not seem to be an easily flappable person, but something akin to terror was creeping into her eyes. So much for “less daunting.”
“I know it sounds like a lot, but the emperor didn’t promote you to sergeant for no reason,” Amaranthe said. “You can handle this.”
Maldynado slid out of the engineer’s chair, propped an elbow on Yara’s shoulder, and pointed to Amaranthe. “She’s like this all the time. She comes up with these ludicrous schemes and then expects other people to do crazy things they’ve never done before to make them happen. You’d think we’d all be dead by now, but oddly enough she’s usually right and people can handle the things she thinks they can. She’s sort of smart like that.”
That had to be one of the more convoluted defenses Amaranthe had ever received. If it truly could be called a defense. “Remind me not to ever have you speak on my behalf before the magistrate,” she told Maldynado.
“What?” Maldynado touched his chest. “I’m a fine speaker.”
Yara recovered from her stunned silence and glowered at Maldynado’s elbow. It was still on her shoulder. “Did we not just discuss touching?”
Maldynado lifted his hands skyward. “Apologies, my lady.”
Amaranthe removed a folded kerchief from her pocket and dusted off the engineer’s chair. “Ready?” She extended a hand, offering Yara the seat.
“No,” Yara grumbled. “But I’m probably less likely to get killed up here than if I assaulted the emperor’s rail car with you and your men.”
“ Exactly.”
Amaranthe turned to tell Sicarius they were ready-he wouldn’t appreciate this silly chitchat-but he had disappeared. “Emperor’s warts,” she muttered and grabbed Maldynado’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Maldynado went first, easing outside and onto the side of the locomotive. Amaranthe started to follow, but paused in the doorway.
“By the way,” she told Yara, “you’ll need to figure out how to use the brake. We should be back long before you’ll need it, but it’s possible there’s a small landslide burying the tracks at the top of the Scarlet Pass.”
“ Possible? ” Yara twisted her head around to stare. “What’re you-”
“Can’t talk now. Need to run!” Amaranthe gave her a short wave and slipped out the door.
She picked her way back to the coal car, wondering if Yara would try to flatten her with a fist when she returned. She was relieved when she found Sicarius crouching beside Basilard. The two soldiers were still bound and gagged, their feet visible behind one of the mounds of coal.
Amaranthe and Maldynado knelt beside Sicarius and Basilard.
“Has that first soldier been back out?” Amaranthe asked. “The one looking for the corporal?”
Yes, Basilard signed. He was with a second soldier and they were saying they’d have to inform the lieutenant of the missing man.
“We haven’t much time then.” Amaranthe found her rucksack and pulled out the smoke grenades and canisters of knockout gas. She handed a can of each to everyone. “Sicarius and Basilard will go in on the far side of the fourth car. I trust I don’t have to remind anyone that we have to cross the roofs with the utmost care, because if anyone hears us and looks outside, our infiltration will be over before it starts.”
“Stealthy like a cat, we can do that,” Maldynado said.
Basilard quirked an eyebrow at him but simply nodded for Amaranthe’s sake.
Sicarius took the canisters without a word.
“Maldynado and I will enter through the front of the fourth car. We’ll all have to be careful to drop down onto the balconies when nobody in the adjacent car is looking out the door. Once on the balconies, we’ll go in promptly and throw the smoke grenades and unleash the knockout gas right away.” She demonstrated pulling the tab. “Use the canisters at your discretion, but try to conserve what we have in case we need more later.”
Amaranthe looked at Sicarius. Given how important this was to him, she half-expected him to take charge of the mission and start issuing orders.
“Understood,” was all he said. The others nodded as well.
The way they were all listening intently, trusting her to know what she was talking about, made her nervous. Too late to doubt yourself now, girl, she thought.
“Everyone, get your masks out. We’ll put them on here and get used to breathing through them. Be careful inside. If anyone punches you in the face or otherwise knocks your mask askew, you’ll be on the floor, snoring with the soldiers.”
Hands delved into rucksacks to withdraw the gear.
“We’ll take everyone down as quickly as possible,” Amaranthe went on, “but I’m sure the soldiers in the
