“Kali!”
Hope stirred. It was Cedar. But his voicesounded far away, and flames leapt all about Kali. Could he reachher in time?
She tried to lift her head, to use the lastof her air to cry out, but she couldn’t budge her cheek from thedeck.
Boots came into view, not one set but two.Cedar and…Lockhart?
Kali couldn’t tell. Everything was sobright, so hot. Pain stabbed her head and her eyes.
Scrapes sounded, and she sensed the menpulling wood off of her. The great weight shifted on her back,lessening, and she finally gulped in a breath of hot, smoky air.She’d lost her kerchief. Dumb thing to notice.
Hands gripped her beneath the armpits, andmore rubble fell away from her as someone pulled her free. Cedar.She could barely make him out through her bleary eyes, but he swepther up in both arms, carrying her against his chest.
“Take her somewhere safe.”That was Lockhart. He stood amongst the burning debris, both handson the wheel.
Confusion swarmed over Kali. Had they madepeace? Or perhaps declared a truce until the city was safe?
Before she could ask, Cedar rushed out thedoor. In long running strides, he carried her to the railing wherehis rope was tied, the end dangling into the darkness below.
On her back in his arms, Kali had a view ofthe balloon, of the way the flames flickered all about it, burninginto the material, compromising its integrity. She stiffened.
“The balloon!” she triedto shout. Her voice came out raspy and weak. “Get out of there!”she yelled as loudly as she could.
Cedar leaped over the railing withoutslowing. Wind whistled past her face, and she thought they’d fallall the way to the ground, but he twisted in the air and caught therope. He shimmied down it and landed lightly on-a dock? Had theymade it to the river? Kali twisted her neck, trying to see.
Before she got her bearings, a massive boomshook the earth, and the sky exploded in flames. The power of theshock wave knocked Cedar down, and Kali fell to the dock on top ofhim. He rolled over her to protect her, but she still saw theairship, a great fiery ball, plunging into the Yukon River.
It was the last thing Kali saw before herworld disappeared in blackness.
Epilogue
Kali woke in a bed in a log room withdaylight streaming in the window. It was a real glass window, and ablack doctor’s bag sat on a nearby stool. Doc Morgan’s place, sheguessed. Conversations drifted through the open window, and voicesof teamsters managing horses came from farther away, so shegathered the city hadn’t burned down.
Taking a deep breath evoked pain on thebackside of her ribs, and she decided shallow breaths had moreappeal. She turned her head to find Cedar slumped in a chair nearher bed. His eyes were closed, his head was thrown back, and hismouth hung open. Kali smiled, tickled by the idea of the deadlybounty hunter in repose. She was reluctant to wake him, but shewanted to know what had happened in the end.
“I hope-” Kali’s voicecame out hoarse and scratchy, and speaking hurt. She lowered it toa whisper to finish. “I hope Cudgel doesn’t stroll by when you’resuch an easy target.”
A single eye opened. “My back is to thewall, and I can see the door and the window from here.”
“Is it hard to see withyour eyes closed?”
“Not if you’regood.”
As hard as talking was, Kali couldn’t resistthe urge to tease him. “Someone been filling your head with notionsthat you’re good?”
“Not often enough.”Cedar’s other eye opened, and the pair swiveled to regardher.
“Not my fault you haven’tbeen around much.” Kali eyed the hand-hewn rafters in the ceiling.“I suppose that’ll continue now that you’re certain Cudgel’shere.”
“Well, I was staying awayso he wouldn’t learn that I had feelings for you, but it soundslike he already figured out that we’re…something-” Cedar lifted hiseyebrows, and Kali nodded, “-so I expect that’s a good reason forus to stick together. Then he’d have to go through me to hurtyou.”
“I can take care ofmyself,” Kali said, more out of habit than any objection tospending time with him.
“Oh, I
He must wonder if she forgave him, if shestill accepted him now that she knew about his not entirelyhonorable past. Kali twitched a shoulder. It wasn’t like she wasperfect either. Tarnation, she’d slept with that weasel, Sebastian.For all she knew, he had a wife or three down south somewhere.
Kali lifted her hand and brushed her fingersalong his jaw. “I see you’re stubbly again. Didn’t we talk aboutyou adopting shaving on a more regular basis?”
His eyes crinkled, and he kissed her. It wasa might more chaste and gentle than she would have preferred, butshe supposed a woman with broken ribs ought not to have too muchexcitement in her day.
When Cedar drew back, Kali settled againstthe pillow again and said, “That was nice, but don’t think I’ll letyou loiter around me if kissing is all you’ve got in mind. As Irecall, you promised to put blade to board and help me build myairship.”
Cedar smiled. “You’re still a hard woman toimpress, I see.”
“Indeed, I am, sir. Whathappened to Lockhart?” Kali wondered if the detective wouldcontinue to be a problem, though she couldn’t imagine someonesurviving that explosion.
Cedar’s smile faded. “He’s dead.” He drew aColt from a holster in a belt hanging over the chair, and shegathered that he had gone to check for himself. He turned theweapon over in his hand, studying it, or perhaps not seeing it atall. “I ran into the cabin when I saw the ceiling fall. I wasn’tpaying attention to anything but-” His voice grew tight, as if hewas working around a lump in his throat, and he had to clear itbefore he could continue. “I would have been an easy target. Iguess he figured that at that moment saving you and the city wasmore important than shooting me.” His voice grew soft. “I don’tknow if I’d have been able to get you out of that cabin if not forhis help.”
Kali closed her eyes. It was strange anduncomfortable to be beholden to a dead man. How did one repay adebt like that? “He seemed like a decent fellow,” she said. “Justtoo stubborn to listen to the truth, but I reckon that’s a lot ofmen.”
“Most.”
If Cedar was relieved that the detectivewouldn’t be following him any more, he did not show it. But then,the Pinkertons would probably send someone else when they learnedof Lockhart’s death. Perhaps he had only traded a known enemy for anew, unknown one.
“It’s wrong, isn’t it?”Kali asked. “Decent people trying to kill each other, not evenknowing they are more alike than not, not realizing they got norightful reason to be enemies.”
Cedar offered a neutral grunt. Maybe hestill felt a measure of guilt for the role he’d played in thatwoman’s death. He returned the revolver to its holster.
Kali watched it. “He told me he wanted tobring peace with that.”
“I know.”
“They say the Pinkertonsare supposed to be the righteous hand of the law, but it’s foolishto think you can make peace if the only tool you have is agun.”
“Is that comment supposedto apply to me too?” Cedar asked. “Because I also have asword.”
Kali snorted. “The tool I’m really lookingforward to seeing you handle is a saw.”
“Ah, yes, aboutthat-”
Footsteps sounded on the wooden sidewalkoutside the window, and a knock came at the door. Cedar did nottense or reach for a weapon.
