Peacemaker

“Really.”

Kali shifted from foot tofoot and avoided his knowing gaze for a long moment before saying,“All right, I was thinking that if the pirates were all captured orarrested or otherwise incapacitated, we could relieve them of the airship. Thatwould destroy their ability to thieve from the air.” Yes, make itnoble, Kali, she told herself. Make it about helping the miners.She stifled a snort of derision for herself.

“You want to steal theirship?” Cedar asked.

“If they stole it first,then it’d hardly be called stealing, right? We’d just be liberatingit for a nobler purpose.”

“Such as?”

“Taking us around theworld. Or hunting slimy villains from the sky. It’d be easy to keepup with Cudgel if we had our own transportation, something that cango right over mountains and inaccessible terrain. And I wouldn’thave to booby trap all of my working and sleeping areas totarnation and back because I’m so paranoid that someone’ll sneak upon me and try to tote me off to Soapy Smith or the Scar of Skagway.Sure, the ship would need a lot of modifications, and it’d likelybe fall before we could take off, but we could get out of Dawsonthis year. It’d be-” she clenched a fist, almost tasting thetriumph, “-heavenly.”

Cedar, eyebrows raised, seemed bemused byher enthusiasm, but at least he didn’t laugh. He took her arm andmoved her out of range of the tied prisoner’s hearing. “I supposeit would be safer for you to be in the air where enemies seekingyour father’s secrets couldn’t sneak up on you.”

Kali barely heard him. In her mind, she wasalready picturing the ship and what might be done to it. It was alarger vessel than she’d thought to make, but she would have plentyof room for a crew, and maybe they could even pay for the expensesof maintaining an airship by taking on passengers. She’d end upbeing a captain with people under her. Huh. She’d have to thinkmore on that later, but now she imagined crawling around inside,inspecting and measuring every inch, sketching up schematics,planning her modifications. She’d clamber up in there right now, ifit weren’t surrounded by pirates.

“All right,” Cedar said.“I’ll help you, but let’s get the murderer first.”

His words catapulted Kali back to themoment. “First? But if he’s in Dawson, and we’re right here, surelywe could…”

“It’s only a few milesback to town,” Cedar said dryly, “and that won’t take long on yourbicycle.”

“True, but we don’t haveany idea where in Dawson to look for this man. He could be hidingout anywhere. It’s a big city these days. And if those men get theship fixed before we get back, we might lose theopportunity.”

“Kali, I know the airshipis important to you, but if another woman gets murdered tonight,will you be able to live with yourself, knowing you chose personalgain over helping out? Those are your people getting killed, whetheryou want anything to do with them or not.”

“What can I do? You’re thetracker. I don’t know how to hunt men down in the city.” Kalistepped back and stuffed her hands into her pockets. He wasn’twrong, but she didn’t care for having someone lecture her. And,damn it, she didn’t want to do the right thing, not if it meantdelaying her dream. She could be a do-gooder after she had her shipin the air. “Look, why don’t you go and hunt this Sparwood fellow,and I’ll stay out here and work out a plan to get the-”

“No.” Cedar gripped herarm so tightly it was almost painful. “They’re a danger, and thatPinkerton detective is a danger to you, if he finds you too. And Idon’t want to imagine what would happen if Cudgel knew about you,and found you, and-” He dropped his chin, staring at his hand wherehe gripped her. He loosened his fingers, but did not letgo.

Kali’s anger and irritation faded. “Is thatwhy you’ve been so scarce lately? Cudgel’s about, and you don’twant someone letting him know we’re…something?”

“I can’t let that happen,”Cedar whispered. “Not again.”

“Again?”

Cedar dropped his hand and walked a fewsteps away, turning his back to her. Was he talking about hisbrother? Or maybe the murdered girl from San Francisco? Had shebeen someone he cared about? But she’d been married, the articlesaid. It had also said he’d been having an affair with her. Shegrimaced, not wanting to think of Cedar doing something like that.Somehow cutting off heads seemed less despicable. More unsettlingperhaps, but given that they were the heads of murderingcriminals….

Kali shook away the thoughts. He wasn’tsaying anything else, and they shouldn’t stand up here, this closeto that pirate camp forever. One last idea came to her, one moreway she might be able to sway him.

“That man barely gave us adescription and didn’t give us any hint of where to look,” Kalisaid. “Maybe there are pirates in the ship who know more about thisSparwood. If we figure out a way to subdue them and question eachof them, maybe we can get more of a lead.”

Cedar had not turned back to face her, andhe remained silent for a long moment. The sun had set, finallybringing evening, and mosquitoes buzzed about, nipping at Kali’sskin.

“Do you believe that?” hefinally asked. “Or are you saying what you think I want to hear inan attempt to change my mind?”

Hands still in her pockets, Kali scowled andstudied a gnarled root at her feet. “Yes, I want the ship, butthere could be something useful to be learned there too. We don’tknow enough to pick someone out of a city of thousands.”

“There aren’t that many ofyour people living in Dawson. We can look them up individually.Maybe you can even name some.”

“Me?” Kali bristled athaving them called her people. As everyone on both sides was quick to point out, shewas a half-breed, some mongrel who didn’t belong to anyone. “Ihaven’t been living in Dawson any longer than you, and I pay lessattention to people than you do.”

“Why don’t you care moreabout this?” Cedar asked, facing her again.

“I don’tnot care. I just don’tsee why you careso much. The city is full of Mounties. Why do you have to be thegreat savior for this problem?”

Cedar seemed taller than ever as he stareddown at her, his expression as dark and craggy as the bark of thetree that was his namesake. He turned on his heel and stalked away,heading back downhill toward the river.

Kali kicked at the root. What was wrong withhim?

She gazed toward the trees that hid theairship from view, tempted to stay up there and scheme something onher own. Twenty people, he’d said. At least. She might be able tocome up with something to get rid of the pirates, but she might getherself killed too. And even if she did triumph, what then? Fixingthat fan alone would take time, and even if it was a quick fix,could she get such a big airship off the ground and fly italone?

Grumbling and kicking more roots, and a fewrocks for good measure, Kali stomped back down the stump- filledslope toward the river. She reached the SAB without spotting Cedar.Where had he gone?

“Here,” came his voicefrom somewhere nearby.

With dusk’s approach, shadows filled thevalley, and it took Kali a moment to pick him out of the gloom. Hewas leaning against a tall boulder overlooking the river.

Kali joined him. It was a wide boulder, andshe started to lean against it beside him, but he stretched an armout, caught her, and pulled her into a hug. It was a stiff hug, andshe could feel tension in his muscles.

“I’m sorry,” Cedar said,resting his chin against the top of her head.

Kali leaned against him. “Why? I mean,you’re not wrong. You’re just a pain in the caboose.”

He grunted softly and wrapped both armsaround her. “For not explaining…things.”

“Oh. Well, yes, you’retruly being a pain about that.”

She waited, hoping an explanation wascoming, though she admitted she appreciated the warmth of hisembrace even if he was being a pain in the caboose.

“The girl in the paper,”Cedar finally said. “She wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t forme.”

“Oh?”

“Cudgel found out thatshe…meant something to me and killed her, not only to frame me, butto hurt me.” His voice dropped into a husky whisper. “And hesucceeded. He’s taken not just my brother from me, but a girl- awoman-that I…”

“Loved?” Kali askedhesitantly. It was unrealistic to think she was the first womanhe’d ever cared about, but a selfish part of her wanted the answerto be, ‘no.’