Cedar gave her a blank stare.
“Never mind. I’m getting an idea. Come drive. Let me see if I can rustle up something.”
Despite his pessimism thus far, Cedar took the steering controls without comment. Kali climbed past the steam engine and clambered onto the cargo area up front. She dug into their supplies. Her knuckles brushed a lumpy bag. The sugar. Yes, that would help. She nodded to herself as her idea solidified.
More cannons boomed. The sled lurched, nearly flinging Kali from her perch. She caught a strap in time to keep from falling off.
“What’re you doing?” she yelled.
A cannonball slammed into the ice a yard to the right.
“Zigzagging our path so we’ll be harder to target,” Cedar said.
“Warn a girl next time, will you?” She’d make a damned easy target if she fell off and got herself run over.
The sled lurched again.
More prepared, Kali clung to the packs and wedged her boot into the gap between the smokestack and the engine casing. She dug into the supplies again, this time pulling out her jar of kerosene.
“If my idea works, we won’t have fuel for a lamp tonight,” she announced as she poured sugar into the jar to thicken the liquid. The wobbling and veering sled made it hard to keep her hand steady, and kerosene sloshed over the edge more than once. Wind whipped hair into her eyes, adding to the challenge.
“What idea?” Cedar called. “What’re you making?”
The sled swerved left, and she almost lost the jar. A cannonball slammed into the ice where they would have been if Cedar had not turned in time. She gulped and decided not to yell at him.
“I can’t dodge these indefinitely,” he added.
Kali tore the empty sugar sack into strips and dampened one with kerosene. She stoppered the jar, leaving her impromptu fuse dangling. The roar of cannons was much closer now, and the booms came more frequently. A ball pounded down ahead of them. A jagged fracture formed in the ice, quickly turning into a fissure dozens of meters long. Maybe longer.
“Stop!” Kali cried.
Cedar cursed, but figured out how to throw on the brakes. “We’re sitting ducks now. Unless we can go back.”
The airship blotted out the sun as it drew closer. For the moment, nobody was firing. Why bother? They could surely see the fissure blocking the path.
“No,” Kali said. “We’re surrendering.”
“What?”
“They want me alive, I’m told.” She scrambled off the sled, skidding when she hit the ice, and thrust the jar into his hands. “Can you throw as accurately as you shoot?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll try to get them to come lower. When you think it’s time, light that and hurl it against the balloon. Uhm, you might need to shoot the jar right before it lands too. I’m not sure it’ll break on impact against a balloon.”
Cedar stared at the jar. “You want a lot from me.”
“You’re very good, remember?”
Kali left her weapons and walked away from the sled, away from the black smoke she hoped would hide Cedar’s movements. She spread her arms to show her hands were empty.
The airship hovered, the rumble of the engine audible even dozens of feet below. Numerous faces peered over the black rail at her. A dark-haired woman wearing a British admiral’s bicorne hat strolled into view, her hands clasped behind her back.
A female captain? That had to be rare, but, from the stolen hat and the way others watched her for cues, she must be in charge.
Behind Kali, Cedar muttered something to himself. She wondered if he recognized the woman.
The captain leaned against the side of a harpoon launcher, and Kali looked closely at the person manning the weapon for the first time. It was the female bandit who had ambushed the sled the day before, the one Kali had dismissed as unlikely to trouble them again. She snorted. That woman now had a harpoon aimed at her chest.
Kali resisted the urge to skitter back and take cover behind the sled. The female bandit would not do anything without an order from the captain. Probably.
“You folks looking for me?” Kali called.
“Reckon so,” the captain yelled over the thrum of the engines. “You’re Ezekiel McAlister’s kid, right?”
“What if I’m not? Would you feel bad for shooting at some innocent sled racer?”
“Nah. As you can see, the boys need target practice.”
“They were good enough to mess up the race route.” Kali considered the airship, wondering how she could convince the captain to lower it. Even if Cedar had an excellent throwing arm, the balloon was a hundred feet above the lake at the moment. “What do you want?”
“You. Care to make things easy on yourself? We can lower a rope, so you can climb up. Might even spare your partner cowering behind the sled there.”
Kali did not look behind her. She did not want to draw attention to Cedar. “I could make things that easy, but only if you agree to spare him
“Is it now?” The captain stroked her chin.
“I mean, it might be valuable to some people in the business,” Kali blurted, as if she knew she had said too much and wanted to cover her words. “No use for pirates. And it’d be a pain to tote out of here. Best to let my colleague finish up the race with it, and I’ll go peacefully with you.”
The captain had already turned her back to the rail. She waved a hand, and a coal-smeared man came into view. The engineer, Kali guessed. They had a quick conversation, which involved frequent gesturing at the sled and the airship.
The female bandit pointed Cedar’s direction, and Kali grimaced. Having someone who had seen him fight could ruin everything. But the captain merely waved for the bandit to pay attention to the harpoon launcher.
“New plan,” the captain said to Kali. “We’re taking the sled too.”
“What?” Kali yelled. “You don’t need to-it’s of no use to you. It’s-”
“Mine now.” The captain rested a hand on the harpoon launcher. “Shoot the man if he tries anything.”
“The sled is heavy,” Kali said, continuing to argue to keep their attention focused on her. “Are you sure you’ll be able to fly with so much extra weight?”
Nobody was paying attention to her. The ship drew lower and lower, then angled toward the sled. Men threw ropes with grappling hooks over the sides.
Kali crossed her fingers inside her gloves. The ship floated closer.
Just as she feared Cedar was waiting too long, the jar flew over her head, a flame dancing along its fuse.
“Look out!” someone shouted.
“Attack!”
“No, it’s a-what
A rifle cracked behind her. The jar exploded against the balloon.
Flames burst to life. They licked the balloon walls, burning the kerosene concoction, but they did not pierce the material. The fire would die quickly without access to the hydrogen inside.
“Damn, damn.” Kali spun and ran for the sled. “Cedar, you need to-”
A foot in front of her, a harpoon slammed into the ice. She lunged to the side to avoid the quivering shaft, but slipped. She flailed, trying to catch her balance. The ice thwarted her, and she landed on her back. Hard. Air whooshed from her lungs, and the blow stunned her.
“Get her!” someone cried.
A rifle fired again. Certain someone was shooting at her, Kali buried her head beneath her arms.
An explosion ripped across the frozen lake. Wind blasted Kali’s hat from her head. The ensuing jumble of shouts and screams were too tangled to decipher.
Kali peeped between her arms.
