“And the trolls in the Blackrock mountains, if there are any left,” Analyn added. “And probably other races too, that we haven’t found yet. You see, the stone changed us all, and it did so in different ways depending on certain characteristics we had within us. The Kanters were probably remarkably tall already, and the stone simply encouraged that natural tendency. And obviously, the Kanters experienced more exposure than humans, probably because they traveled along the northern edge of the Blackrock Mountains as they migrated towards the desert.”
“Their water sources were likely contaminated for decades,” Crow added. “It’s reasonable to assume that the water carried the liquid to many unexpected places.”
I shook my head, marveling. “I don’t know what to think about all of this,” I said. “Is it really possible that the Kanters and the Tal’mar came from the same ancestors?”
“It’s a fact. They were once as alike as you and Analyn,” Crow said. “The stone changed us all, in our own ways.”
“And ironically we’ve been fighting each other over those differences ever since,” said Analyn. “That’s where the hatred between humans and Tal’mar began. It’s what turned the Kanters into giants, the Tal’mar into magic users, and the Vangars into perfect warriors.”
“It’s so much to digest,” I said. “It’s hard to believe all of this actually happened.”
“There is one more thing,” Crow added.
“There is?” I said, suddenly unsure if I wanted to know what he meant.
“Yes. There’s Blackrock Steel.”
Chapter 5
I stared at him, puzzling out that statement. It was a well-known fact that ore mined in the Blackrock Mountains produced steel of special quality, but I had always assumed that it was just different. It had never occurred to me that there might be a scientific reason for this difference.
“Are you saying the ore in the Blackrock Mountains was changed by the liquid?”
Crow smiled knowingly. “Iron ore soaks up the element like a sponge soaks up water. In doing so, it changes. Just the way our ancestors did. The city’s builders took advantage of this when building Sanctuary. They could use the steel to make many new things-”
“Wait!” I said. “Tinker once told me that pureblood Tal’mar can’t touch iron. Does it have something to do with that?”
“Yes, you understand perfectly,” said Crow. “Plain iron or steel that has not come in contact with Starfall will drain the energy right out of a Tal’mar. This is because of the changes that element has made to their bodies. The Tal’mar still possess some of that energy, and the touch of ordinary iron sucks it right out of them. Obviously, Blackrock steel came into contact with the element as well, and still possesses some of that same energy.”
I was astounded. The powers of the Tal’mar and their aversion to iron were the stuff of legends. Their powers and weaknesses were as mysterious as the workings of the universe itself. My own mother’s ability to touch steel because of her human ancestry had seemed miraculous to the Tal’mar of her generation. Now that I knew the truth, it all seemed so simple.
“Amazing,” I muttered. “But how did the liquid get into the Blackrock Mountains? The stone must have landed miles from there.”
“When it first struck the earth, the stone dug a massive trench all through the northern line of the Blackrock Mountains, deep into the area that became known as the Wastelands. The land wasn’t covered by snow yet, so the trench filled with water and became a massive inland sea. Then, when the containers broke and the water was contaminated, it leeched into the sea and eventually found its way to the ore in the Blackrock Mountains.
“Gradually, the ice crept further south until it covered everything, all the way into the mountains. All along, the liquid was seeping into the mountains, drawn to the ore like a magnet. There the secret lay hidden until Tinker began his work with steam engines and springs. It was by mere chance that Tinker happened to be using mountain ore rather than the stuff in the plains. If he hadn’t been such a hermit, Blackrock steel may not have been discovered for generations.”
I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling. “Then it’s all because of that stone. Our entire history is based on that stone.”
“If it hadn’t fallen onto our world, none of this would have happened,” Analyn agreed. “And most likely, none of us would exist. We would never have been born.”
I was dumbfounded. In just a few minutes, Crow had laid bare the entire history of our world, explaining every great mystery with such simplicity that I could only accept it as fact.
Lies are complicated, but the truth is always simple, Tinker used to say. Everything Crow had just told me was easy to believe because there wasn’t any room in it for a lie. In my heart, I knew that this was what had happened. This was how we had become what we were.
I had never cared much about history. I knew about the Great War between the Tal’mar and humans, and Tinker had told me countless stories about the Kanters and the Vangars, but to me they were like fairy tales. It was hard to imagine the old world he described. Dockside was my world. The city was what I knew, and Tinker’s old stories hadn’t ever seemed relevant.
As I got older, I saw what the Vangars were capable of. I had seen them take my friends off to the slave mines. I had seen them hurt and kill innocent people. I had learned to be strong; so strong that eventually all I cared about was killing Vangars and making them pay for all they had done to us. My life became defined by that dream of violent and bloody revenge.
Crow’s story was a revelation to me, but ultimately I decided this knowledge didn’t change anything. Not really. Regardless of how we’d gotten where we were, we were still in the same mess. And for the moment, my priority was still the same.
“I have to go back for Kale,” I said. “I don’t know what to think about the rest of this, but what I do know is that he’s still alive and he needs my help. I’m sure of it.”
“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Crow said. He gave Analyn a look and she pursed her lips.
I arched an eyebrow. “You have a plan? What scheme have the two of you concocted?”
“It’s not us,” Analyn said, waving her hands in the air. “It’s your mother.”
I felt a strange stirring in my chest. I still hadn’t fully digested the fact that my mother was still alive. Our mother.
“What is it, then?” I said. “Tell me Breeze’s plan.”
Crow took a deep breath. “The defenses of Sanctuary are formidable,” he said. “When our mother found the city, she stumbled upon a technologically advanced society. There are weapons, things you couldn’t even imagine. Things far more sophisticated than what the humans and Tal’mar created.”
“Then we could defeat the Vangars,” I said. “Is that her plan? To use all of this technology to win the war? That’s what she went there for in the first place…”
“We would,” Crow said, sighing, “but we can’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
Analyn spoke up. “Your mother hasn’t been alone in Sanctuary. There are other Tal’mar with her. Hundreds of them, along with the queen, your great-grandmother. They have become isolationists, cutting themselves off from the outside world. They refuse to have dealings with humans or anyone else. In fact, your brother just barely managed to escape.”
I stared at him, stunned by the idea that he’d had to escape from his own people. “Why would they do that?”
“The Tal’mar blame humans in a way,” Crow said. “They also fear the Vangars. Mostly, they want to rebuild their society and their culture without outside influence. And they have found the perfect place to do it. Nothing can harm them in Sanctuary.”
I felt my fists clenching up as he spoke. “We have been suffering, living with the Vangars’ boots at our throats for all these years and the Tal’mar could have stopped it at any time! They’ve hidden themselves away, ignoring the fact that their own people are dying in Vangar slave mines?”
“You’re right,” Analyn said. “It’s unforgiveable, and regrettably, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Then what was your plan?” I said, the irritation clear in my voice.
“I was supposed to bring you home. Mother sent me to find you, as well as Analyn and Tinker and anyone else willing to join us. I’m supposed to bring you to Sanctuary where you’ll be safe.”
I shook my head, staring at the table. “I can’t do that,” I said. “I won’t just leave like that.”
“I didn’t expect you to,” Crow said. “The truth is that I had something more… impressive in mind.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Let me put it this way,” Crow said. “If three of us return, we will be safe from the Vangars. If three hundred of us return, then we can make the whole world safe.”
My eyes widened. “That’s your plan? To bring so many?”
“If we can, yes. But that is dependent on us. The plan won’t work unless we return in significant numbers. The Tal’mar will have to know they can’t keep their secret anymore. We have to expose them in such a way that they are forced to recognize the outside world.”
I considered that. Gradually, a smile came to my lips. I could see my mother’s wisdom behind this plan. If the Tal’mar were exposed, they’d have no choice but to defend themselves from the Vangars. And their only defense would be a good offense. They’d have to attack the Vangars while they had the element of surprise on their side. And if their technology was as impressive as Crow had described it, the Vangars would be in for a surprise.
“I’ll do it. I’d give anything to see the Vangars crushed like the vermin they are. But first we have to get Kale. I won’t leave without him.”
“You’ll have to find others,” Analyn said. “And you’ll have to find a way to get them out of the city without the Vangars knowing. It won’t be easy.”
“First things first,” I said. “When I know Kale is safe, then I’ll worry about the rest.”
“As you wish,” Crow said quietly, sharing a glance with Analyn.
I started working on the boneshaker the next morning, with my vision bleary from lack of sleep and my senses dulled by exhaustion and emotional overload. I’d spent most of the night talking with Crow and Analyn, and I had far too much to think about. My thoughts were muddled, dull, and congested. I couldn’t think clearly enough to use the right wrench to pull a broken pipe off the carburetor, much less absorb everything I had learned and make sense of it all. My entire world had changed. It was going to take some time to get used to.
Crow showed up and offered to help. I noticed that he had no problem fetching pieces of pipe or tools made of brass and copper, but he flinched at the touch of steel. “The element has affected you, too,” I noted.
“I’m a lot more like a Tal’mar than our mother,” he explained. “Physically, they say I look human, but the rest of me is Tal’mar.”
“You have the sight then? You can see into things?”
“I can, but not so readily into a machine. As you have observed, touching steel is uncomfortable for me.”
“But your daggers,” I said, nodding toward his belt. “They’re steel, aren’t they?”
He drew one of them and held it up, smiling. I watched as he twisted his hand and sent the blade spinning into the air. It flipped half a dozen times and then landed, perfectly balanced on the palm of his hand, the blade still rotating. He flicked his hand again and the dagger danced across his wrist, rotating end over end until it slid down out of sight, somewhere up his sleeve. It reappeared as he raised his hand and closed his grip on the blade. He handed it to me, handle first.
“Not bad,” I said, admiring his skill. “You should see what I can do with my revolver.” I examined the dagger, noting the fine balance and perfect craftsmanship. I’d never seen a weapon so flawless. I also noticed a slight tingling feeling in my fingers as I held it, like tiny jolts of electricity. I quickly handed it back to him.
“As you can see it is steel, but it is more. Like Blackrock steel, this dagger has absorbed energy from the element. It has simply absorbed a great deal more.”
“I don’t like it,” I said. “It feels strange to me.”
“And now you understand my aversion to untreated steel,” he said. “We are opposites, you and I, and yet of a type.”
A slight grin turned up the corners of my mouth. “You talk like our mother.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh? And how do you know that?”
“Because I’ve been reading her journals.” I turned my attention back to the boneshaker. “This isn’t going to work,” I said, frustrated. “The engine and carburetor are destroyed. I’ll have to find another way back to Avenston.”
“Steam!” Analyn called out behind us. We both turned to see her making her way slowly down the street. “I told you already, oil is for Vangars. Steam is better.”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s better doesn’t matter. I can’t convert the boneshaker to steam without a steam engine and a boiler.”
Analyn waved her walking stick in a broad arc. “Oh look!” she said in a sarcastic voice. “It’s a whole city. I wonder if there’s any steam equipment there.”
I looked at Crow and we both started laughing.
Despite her sarcasm, Analyn was actually quite helpful in locating parts for the boneshaker’s conversion. She had spent a lot of time wandering around the city over the years, more time than she’d initially led me to believe. She led us to an old steamsmith’s shop, still full of useable tools and parts. She also knew where to find a good anvil. What she couldn’t do was help. She had no knowledge of such things. Unfortunately, Crow couldn’t help much either. Even though his head was full of strange esoteric knowledge, he didn’t have the slightest idea what I was doing. Crow had never touched a steam engine in his life. At one point, I asked him to hand me a pressure release valve and he just stared at me. I shook my head.
“Sanctuary must be quite a place, if nothing ever needs to be fixed there,” I said.
“Oh the machines take care of all of that,” he said.
I paused and twisted around to stare at him. “The machines?”
“Yes. When things break, the machines repair them. That is their… it’s their fulfillment, their purpose. It’s what they were designed to do.”
“But if the machines break, then what?”
“Other machines repair them, of course.”
I could only shake my head. It was just one more crazy story about Sanctuary; one of dozens he had already told me. I didn’t bother asking him to explain because I knew he’d just confuse me trying to put it into words.
I stepped into the steamsmith’s shop to find the valve I was looking for. I located it in one of the toolboxes and brought it quickly back outside. I had been working in the street for fear of the building collapsing on top of my head. Crow quietly watched as I went back to work installing the valve.
I worked late into the night, until Analyn insisted we douse our lantern and get back into the tunnels. “Vangars do still come around here from time to time,” she warned us. “Considering you just barely escaped them, I would think you’d be more cautious. And there are other things out in the darkness to worry about as well.”
She was right, and I was too tired to argue about it anyway. Crow helped me cover the boneshaker with an old canvas sheet. We returned to Analyn’s tunnel for a quick meal. While we were eating, I noticed that at some point during the day Crow had located another cot for me to sleep on. I noted that he hadn’t found one for himself. I asked him why.
“I don’t sleep often,” he explained. “Once or twice a week. While you rest, I’ll go hunting. We’ve almost used up the venison.”
“Venison?” I said. I shot Analyn a glare. “I thought you said we were eating rats.”
She smiled wickedly. “Only a city girl wouldn’t know the taste of real venison stew.”
I glared at
her as I took my bowl to the washbasin. She and Crow shared a laugh at my expense, which I didn’t find amusing at all.
After dinner, Analyn went to her chair by the fireplace to do her knitting and I curled up on the cot Crow had found. I turned the lantern down low and opened my mother’s journals. I began reading at the page where I’d left off.
The stories kept me up later than I should have, but I was riveted. I’d never known my mother. The insight into her life and personality was more than I ever could have asked. Somehow, as I scanned those faded yellow pages, I almost began to feel that I actually knew her.
The following morning, I went right back to work on the boneshaker. The process of restoring the old steam engine I’d located only took until midmorning, and then it was just a matter of installing a boiler. The old steamsmith’s shop had a good supply of copper boilers, somewhat tarnished but all in good shape. I had my choice of sizes, so I picked the biggest one I could fit inside the boneshaker’s frame. At last, I stood back surveying my work, a satisfied grin on my face.
“What now?” Crow said.
“Now we start the fire and test it out. We’ll need to find some coal.”
Crow reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a small glass vial full of phosphorescent blue liquid. “Try this,” he said, offering it to me.
I took a nervous step back. “Is that the… is it the element?”
“Yes, we call the liquid form starfall.”
“You used that word last night. I wondered if that was what you were talking about.”
“None other. Don’t worry, a very small amount like this won’t affect you. It takes prolonged direct exposure to cause any harm.”
I cautiously took it from him and looked it over. “What do I do with it?”
“Use it for fuel.”
Frowning, I knelt down and placed the vial into the firebox. “What now?”
“Light it,” he said, grinning.
Reluctantly, I pulled a match out of the tool bag and lit it. I took a step back and tossed the match into the firebox. There was a flicker as the vial caught fire, and dark blue flames danced up. I winced, expecting some sort of explosion or a powerful release of energy. Nothing like that happened. Not so much as a crackle. Just smooth dancing flames.
Blood and Steam (The Tinkerer's Daughter) Page 6
