A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2

by Justin Woolley

  She looked up and saw Melbourne fighting with the pirate. When Melbourne had first appeared she hadn’t been able to believe how lucky she was. But he had left her. He had run away just as he had run from the Diggers. Finally, here he was doing the right thing.

  Rabbit lunged at Melbourne but Melbourne was too quick. He spun, twirling a full three-sixty before bringing his blade around and slashing at the back of Rabbit’s neck. The pirate’s disgustingly greasy and twisted ponytail dropped to the floor. He looked down at it and then back up at Melbourne, who smiled. Rabbit snarled and launched himself forward again. Lynn watched, noting that Melbourne never seemed to be the attacker and yet held the fight completely in the palm of his hand. Every time Rabbit struck he dodged, parried, twisted, and turned. She could see what he was doing. He was wearing the pirate down, tiring him, trying to manipulate things so that Rabbit would make a mistake that would cost him his life. As she watched Lynn had to admit it: Melbourne was the best fighter she’d ever seen, better than any of the Diggers she’d trained or fought with.

  She felt her muscles instinctively flinch in fright as the door beside her creaked open. She spun to look, clambering to her feet, ready to run, suspecting another pirate had come in to finish what Rabbit had attempted to start. Instead she saw another unexpected face.

  “Squid?” she said.

  Sure enough, moving through from the darkness of the doorway into the light of the gas lamp was Squid. She lunged at him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.

  “You came for me, you maniac!” she said. As she pulled away she saw his face growing red. He was embarrassed. Ancestors’ sin, he was a strange boy, but it was so good to see him.

  Of course she’d hoped they would come for her, but she hadn’t really thought she’d ever be found. She’d thought she was going to be alone here forever, that no one would ever know what her fate would be, but Melbourne was here and now Squid had arrived.

  “Of course,” Squid said. “I told you, I’m not doing this without you.”

  Lynn pulled away from Squid, looking over his shoulder into the darkness of the rear hold.

  “Where’s Nim?” she asked. She didn’t want to seem too keen, but she could hear the concern in her own voice. The last thing she’d seen as that brute had dragged her away was Nim on the ground, a sword at his throat.

  “It’s just me,” Squid said.

  Lynn felt a chill fill her bones. “Is he all right?”

  “Fine,” Squid said. “He’s waiting.”

  “You came alone?”

  Squid nodded. “I’m the only one who could.”

  “What do you mean?” Lynn asked, suddenly wondering why Nim hadn’t attempted to rescue her. She wished she didn’t need to be rescued, it made her feel weak, but if someone had to save her then she could imagine Nim carrying her to safety, her arms wrapped around his neck, and instead of making her feel weak and stupid that thought was exciting. But then here was Squid, weird, reliable Squid. He was the one who had always been there when she needed him, and he was showing her, yet again, that he always would be.

  A shout of pain pulled Lynn’s attention back to the fight. She turned to see Melbourne’s dagger plunged hilt-deep in Rabbit’s thigh. The leg gave out from under the pirate and he dropped awkwardly to one knee, slashing his own blade wildly at Melbourne’s stomach.

  “Melbourne!” Lynn gasped.

  Melbourne arched his body back and Rabbit’s blade sailed through nothing but air, no more than an inch from opening Melbourne from one hip to the other. Like a whip crack Melbourne’s boot struck out and collided sole first with Rabbit’s face. The blow was sickeningly hard and the pirate rag-dolled to the floor as if his bones were jelly.

  Melbourne came toward her. He was puffing, but only a little. “I’m sorry, Lynn,” he said. “I should never have left you. I should never have done a lot of things.” He lifted his head to look at her. “I … Who on the red earth is this?”

  Squid was looking at Melbourne, a dumb smile on his face. Lynn almost laughed.

  “This is Squid,” she said. “My friend. Squid, this is –”

  “Melbourne,” Squid said, sticking his hand out. Melbourne took it, the confusion plain on his face. “Lynn’s told me about you.”

  “Only good things, I hope,” Melbourne said.

  “Not really,” Squid answered before turning to Lynn. “Come on. We can use the cargo cage to get out of here.”

  Lynn watched Melbourne’s brow furrow at Squid and she almost laughed again.

  “Well,” Lynn said. “You always have been an arrogant arse, and you did abandon your patrol to die.”

  “It was the only –” Melbourne began, then stopped. “Yes,” he said. “I did.”

  “But you’re here now,” Lynn said, seeing the way his eyes had gone distant. There was real remorse behind that stare; something had changed within him, she could see it now, and in that moment she felt proud of him. After what he had done it wasn’t at all how she had expected to feel, and yet there it was. He was fulfilling his true potential, the potential her father – No, she thought, our father – had seen in him.

  “You’re here now,” she repeated, “and that’s what matters. Father would be proud of you.”

  Melbourne stared at her. She could see his eyes glaze over. He was fighting to hold back his emotions, but as she watched him Lynn saw his face harden, not with anger but with determination.

  “Come on,” he said, “Squid is right, the cargo cage is through here. We should hurry.”

  Lynn and Squid followed Melbourne back through the forward bulkhead door. The next room was dark but Lynn could see the cargo cage in front of them. It had already been lowered a few feet down below the floor. Melbourne hurried to a handle nearby, winding it and raising the cage back to level so he could open the wide door on the side.

  “Get in,” he said. “Quickly.”

  Lynn followed Squid as they stepped into the cage and watched as Melbourne closed and latched the door behind them.

  “What are you doing?” Lynn asked. “You’re coming with us.”

  Lynn felt Squid’s hand on her arm. He squeezed it gently. She turned to look at him.

  “Tell him, Squid,” she said, knowing the fear and pleading was evident in her voice. “Tell him to get in here with us.”

  “Someone has to stay behind to lower the cage,” Squid said. He turned to Melbourne. “I should do it. You get in here. I can lower it to the ground and then climb back down the anchor chain.”

  “No,” Melbourne said. “There isn’t time. I’ve got to get you to the ground.”

  Melbourne moved to the handle and began to turn it. Lynn felt the floor jolt under her as the cage began to descend.

  “No,” she said, grabbing the bars and looking up at Melbourne as they began to move. “No!”

  He couldn’t do this, not now. She had only just got him back. She had thought him annoying or arrogant or lost in the desert or a deserter or a coward and maybe he had been all of these things, but he had finally shown her who he really was. Her face was suddenly wet with hot tears. He had shown her that he could be who she always wanted him to be. He was not her foster brother, not some marble-carved athletic boy her father had taken under his wing to replace her. He was her brother. The only family she had left. She couldn’t lose him.

  “Listen,” Melbourne called down to them. “If you’re going out beyond the fence, there’s something you should know. The pirates said there are towns out there, other places, we’re not alone.”

  “Melbourne!” Lynn yelled back, desperate for him to stop lowering them. “Melbourne, no!” She cried again, “Come with us!”

  Above them Lynn could hear the rattling and spinning sounds of the pulleys. As the cargo cage was lowered below the bottom of the dirigible she lost sight of Melbourne. She looked down, knowing it was a bad idea but unable to resist. She felt her legs weaken. There was nothing below them but empty air. She didn’t
like the feeling at all. She slid her suddenly sweaty palms down the bars as she dropped to her knees. Being closer to the floor felt safer. She crawled on hands and knees back toward the center of the cage.

  “What’s wrong?” Squid said.

  The whole cargo cage swayed as he moved toward her. Lynn, still on her knees and staring down at the wooden floor raised her hand toward him.

  “Just stop,” she said. “Just stop moving.”

  “Lynn,” Squid said.

  “I don’t like heights, that’s all,” she said. “I never have.”

  “But you’re not scared of anything.”

  “Well, obviously that’s not the case, is it!” Lynn snapped.

  The cage stopped with a jerk. Lynn let out a reflexive gasp. “What was that?”

  She looked up but remained on her hands and knees, as if being close to the floor would somehow protect her if the cage did happen to plummet mercilessly to the ground. Squid was looking up at the taut rope connecting them to the dirigible above.

  “He’s stopped lowering us,” he said.

  “Can you see anything?”

  Squid shook his head.

  “Ancestors’ sin,” Lynn said as the wind picked up, causing the cage to rotate slowly.

  “Squid!” Nim’s voice shouted from below. “What’s happening?”

  Lynn forced herself to move toward the edge of the cage. The space between the bars was just wide enough to fit her head through, so she looked slowly over the edge until she could see down to the ground.

  Nim was standing below them with two men she didn’t recognize. She and Squid weren’t really that far above the ground anymore – just a little bit further and maybe they could jump the rest of the way. Nim smiled when he saw Lynn’s face. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled up at her.

  “Lynn! What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know,” Lynn managed to call back, her hands white-knuckled on the bars either side of her exposed head. She held on as tightly as she could with the broken fingers of her right hand.

  Squid moved over to the same side, causing the cage to tip. Lynn let out a small squeal.

  “Squid!” she said, her voice panicked. “I told you not to move!”

  “Squid?” Nim called up from below. “If you’re in the cage too, then who’s lowering you down?!”

  *

  “Digger.”

  Melbourne let go of the handle and turned toward the voice. It was Yellow. He was standing in the bulkhead doorway, his fingers moving over each other, clicking his rings as if playing some strange musical instrument.

  “What in the red hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Yellow was flanked by Yokel, a monster as tall as a water tower, and Rabbit, who was leaning against the doorframe. Rabbit had removed his shirt and tied it around his leg. The already soiled cloth was soaked through with blood. Melbourne knew he should have killed Rabbit when he’d had the chance. Behind those three was Gunter, probably annoyed about having his pistol stolen.

  Melbourne didn’t know how far the cage would be from the ground, but judging by the amount of rope left wound around the spool they probably weren’t even halfway. He had no doubt that more of the crew would be arriving soon. He would have to dispatch all four of these pirates quickly, and then get the cage the rest of the way down.

  Melbourne turned to the pirates and drew his dagger. He considered drawing the gun still stashed in the back of his pants, but it was an old Dunder-style pistol, a single-shot weapon. If they charged him he could put one of them down but would have to be fast to switch back to his dagger. Despite being outnumbered four to one it was still better to use the knife.

  Yellow pulled a shortsword from his belt, Gunter did the same, and Yokel was already holding an enormous wooden club, a weapon so big that Melbourne wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been carved from an entire tree. At least Rabbit was wounded. He was holding his dagger, but with that sliced-open leg, broken nose and possible concussion he wouldn’t be much of a threat.

  “I’m getting my sister out of here,” Melbourne said, buying himself time to size up his opponents and decide on a plan of attack.

  “Captain’s not going to like that you turned traitor on us,” Yellow said.

  “Traitor?” Melbourne said. “I was never one of you.”

  “Told ya,” Rabbit said. “Digger all along.”

  Yellow held up a hand, the rings glinting in the light of the gas lamp in the room behind him. “That’s even worse, you see,” he said. “You know how the captain likes us to be honest.”

  Melbourne scoffed. “Honest thieves.”

  “Oh yes,” Yellow said, his voice dripping with disdain. “So you’ll know I’m being honest when I say we’re going to gut you like a roo and then pull your little sister back up here and do the same to her. Maybe we’ll make you watch.”

  Melbourne felt white-hot anger like he’d never felt before. It almost burned his insides. He was going to destroy them for threatening Lynn. But he kept calm. He remembered his training. That anger was fuel he could harness; he could use it to fight but could not let it control him. “You can try,” he’d said.

  Yokel growled something, an almost dog-like sound. He seemed more animal than man, a great beast wanting to be let off the leash.

  “Kill him,” Yellow said.

  Melbourne felt his heart pounding in his ears. He was sweating. There was a voice in the back of his mind telling him that this was useless, that with Yokel’s strength and Yellow’s speed, and their sheer advantage of numbers, he would never get out of this alive, he had to run. He heard that voice and for a moment he believed it, but then he remembered, that was the old him. Lynn was all that mattered now. He remembered her voice as he’d begun lowering the cage. It had been laced with such pain, hurt and fear. He hadn’t known she felt so strongly for him. She had certainly never shown it before. But then, that was her way. Their father had been much the same. Colonel Hermannsburg had only ever showed his feelings toward Melbourne through a firm handshake and a Digger’s stare. Melbourne’s eyes grew hot. If he managed to live through this he would find his sister and he would help her with whatever crazy quest she was involved in. The new Melbourne, the Melbourne he should always have been, prepared to fight.

  And Yokel the monster moved forward.

  “Gimme back me gun,” Gunter snarled as he pushed his way past Yokel. Melbourne was pleased to see the man come at him first. He held his shortsword too stiffly and his stance was short and unnatural. He lunged at Melbourne with a forward thrust, certainly the right move to take advantage of the extra reach of his sword. It was the correct attack and it was forceful. Yet it was so poorly executed that Melbourne saw his opportunity to end the man right then.

  Melbourne spun to his right, away from Gunter’s lunging blade. He continued to turn, rotating through three hundred and sixty degrees, and transferring his weight to his left leg he struck out with his right, kicking Gunter’s front foot as hard as he could from behind. Gunter slammed backward into the wooden floor.

  Gunter’s sword was knocked free of his grasp. He tried to scamper toward it but as he reached to close his fingers around the hilt Melbourne threw his dagger. It entered the back of Gunter’s hand, passed cleanly through, and drove into the wood beneath with a hollow thunk. Gunter howled as his hand was pinned to the floor.

  Melbourne scooped up the shortsword and turned just in time to duck below the wild swing of Yokel’s enormous club. The momentum of the swing carried it through a nearby stack of barrels, blasting the top barrel into a spray of splinters and an explosion of off-white flour.

  Yellow struck while Melbourne was still rising. The sound of clashing steel filled the hold as Melbourne managed a clumsy parry. The pirate was fast. He attacked again with a low strike that almost put Melbourne off- balance as he rose to his feet. Yokel swung his club again. Melbourne lifted his sword to block the club but as soon as he felt the impact he knew it was a bad idea.
The power of Yokel’s club tore the sword from Melbourne’s hand. Melbourne managed to duck below the path of the club as it passed through the air, carrying his sword away with it. The sword clattered into the corner of the hold. Melbourne grimaced and cursed himself for an uncharacteristic mistake.

  Yellow came at Melbourne again and Melbourne dived, landing and rolling to where his sword had fallen. He picked it up and rose to one knee in a fluid motion. Both Yokel and Yellow were coming at him.

  Yellow’s speed meant that he was slightly in front of Yokel. He had his sword raised ready to strike, expecting Melbourne to be defensive, but he wasn’t going to be. Melbourne charged, meeting Yellow midway through his downstroke. He blocked and pushed himself close to the pirate, their swords locked in a cross in front of them.

  “You can’t beat us all,” Yellow sneered, the words coming slowly as he pushed his blade against Melbourne’s, trying to get the upper hand. Melbourne could smell the stench emanating from his black teeth.

  “I don’t need to.”

  Melbourne waited. He needed Yokel to take just half a step more. As the big pirate readied to swing his club Melbourne turned his blade to slip off Yellow’s. He dropped one hand from his sword and grabbed Yellow’s wrist as he turned. The smaller man’s balance was thrown off and he had no choice but to spin in the direction Melbourne pulled him, right into the path of Yokel’s lumbering club.

  Melbourne let go of Yellow and launched himself backward just before the club impacted. It hit Yellow in the shoulder and immediately sent him airborne. The Blessed Mary’s first mate was knocked into the air, directly over where the cargo cage had once been. He disappeared screaming through the hole.

  Yokel, momentarily surprised by this dramatic turn of events, stared wide eyed at where he had just sent his superior officer plummeting to his death. Melbourne launched at him, burying his shortsword in the man’s leg and then swiftly pulling it out. Yokel dropped to one knee but didn’t cry out. He simply growled and wildly swung his club at Melbourne. Melbourne, not expecting another counter attack, turned, and the club caught him a glancing blow on the left arm. Melbourne heard the crack of bone. He grunted and bit down on his lower lip. He lunged forward and without remorse stuck the blade into Yokel’s throat, removing it and letting the giant flop to the floor.