Lindsay Buroker - Hunted

“Blazes,” Kali said. “That woman again?”

Why couldn’t she have gone back to Dawson torest, like a normal just-shot person?

Cedar left her side to follow the tree linetoward Sebastian’s claim. The spring foliage soon hid him. Kalitook a few steps from the hole and put her back against a spruce.The undergrowth should hide her from anyone who came out of themine.

She closed her eyes for a moment, bothbecause looking at the bodies made her uncomfortable and becauseshe wanted to listen for suspicious noises.

Kali did not have long to wait. In the woodsbehind her, a soft click-whir grew audible. It repeated, steady andregular, like the ticking of a clock. Oddly, the sound seemed tocome not from the ground but from the trees, perhaps ten or twentyfeet in the air. It couldn’t be the flyer; she and Cedar hadcrashed that. The noises were not the same either.

She craned her neck, her eyes probing thecanopy. Though birds should have been chirping to welcome the dawn,no animal sounds drifted from the woods. Water rushed by in theriver, and a soft breeze rattled tree branches, but nothingwarm-blooded stirred.

Click-whir, click-whir, click-whir.

It was definitely coming from thetreetops.

Movement rustled a clump of needles high upon a spruce. Kali squinted. Another breeze? No. The other branchesremained still.

She chomped down on her lip, tempted toinvestigate, but she should wait for Cedar’s return. If that womanwas responsible-and who else would be out here with things thatclicked and clanked? — Kali would need help against her.

She checked on Sebastian’s camp and did notspot Cedar, but his packsack had disappeared. The first man wascrawling out of the mine entrance. Time to get going.

Something sharp stabbed Kali in the butt, andshe gasped in pain, almost dropping the drill. She glared behindher, thinking Cedar was playing a joke. The pain had been enough tobring a tear to her eye, and she planned to give him a mouthful ofvitriol.

Nobody stood behind her.

She patted her rump, expecting shrapnel or adart protruding from it. That had been too powerful to be a bugbite, especially given the thickness of her trousers.

Cedar slipped out of the foliage to her side,glanced at her hand placement, and raised an eyebrow.“Problem?”

She yanked her hand away from her backsideand glowered suspiciously at him, but the angle of his approach waswrong. Whatever had attacked her had come from behind. Behind andmaybe above.

Click-whir.

Kali lifted her eyes. Leaves shuddered.“Something’s up there.”

Cedar knelt beside her and plucked somethingfrom the mud. A tiny metal sphere, perhaps a third of the size ofan old musket ball, glinted in the palm of his hand.

Low voices came from the mine entrance.Another man had crawled out. Blood stained his sandy hair andsaturated his shirt.

Weariness dragged Kali’s shoulders down; shehad grown tired of this adventure and wanted to go back to the citywhere she could rely on the defenses in her workshop to protecther. And where no one need be injured. Or killed.

“We can go back to town,” Cedar said, perhapsguessing her thoughts. “Wilder…isn’t going to pan out. He isn’twith Cudgel any more.”

“Didn’t you say his head is worth money inits own right?”

“I’m not collecting on it. He says he’s gonestraight, and I believe him. He’s up here with his pregnant wifeand one-year-old son. They’re hoping to find enough gold to make afresh start.”

“Oh.” Kali did not know what Wilder had doneto earn his bounty, but she could not argue for killing a man witha new family to provide for. “Sorry the trip was a waste foryou.”

“Not a total waste. I got kissed.”

“By Wilder?”

Cedar snorted. “By you .”

“I know about that . I was just makingsure I didn’t have competition. This Wilder might be a looker.”

He waved away her goofy comments. “Wilder didsay he agreed with me in that Cudgel was probably on his way up toDawson. He’s too greedy to miss an opportunity like this.” Hespread a hand to indicate the river and the claims.

A thud sounded beside Kali’s ear, and shardsof bark flew off the tree beside her. A gouge appeared in thetrunk.

“Time to go,” Cedar said.

“Do we face the angry humans by the river orthe unknown somethings in the forest?”

“Your choice. I have ammo now.

“We can cut back to the trail through thetrees.” Kali glanced at Sebastian’s injured men. “I’m tired ofhurting people.”

“You want to hurt machines?” Cedar led theway into the forest.

“No, but I want to see them up close.”

“Even if they’re shooting at you?”

“I’m odd,” Kali said. “I know.” She wanted toknow what powered them and what directed them to move-and shoot.Nothing natural. That much she knew.

Something glided out of the branches. BeforeKali got a good look, burning pain lanced into her abdomen. Shehunched over, clutching her stomach. Again, the wound was notenough to break skin or rip clothing, but she would have a bruisebefore long.

“You all right?” Cedar gripped her shoulder.“I saw it. It’s a foot long and looks like a big butterfly withwings made of the same mesh as the flyer.”

“If you saw it, why didn’t you shoot it?”

“Don’t we want your friends to believe wewere caught in the cave-in?”

Right. Weapons fire would give them away.“All right,” she said, “let’s get out of here. That thing is aimingfor me.”

They broke into a jog with Cedar leading theway. Though no trail meandered through the forest, enough peoplehad clomped around their claims that Kali and Cedar could maneuverbetween the trees, following paths of trampled foliage. Theirfootfalls drowned out the click-whirs of the mechanicalcreature, but she feared it was not far behind. Between thepacksack bumping on her back and the drill snagging on branches,she was not moving quickly. More than once, Cedar glanced back andslowed his pace for her.

Without warning, another tiny projectilehammered Kali in the jaw.

“Tarnation!” she blurted, grabbing her chin.Without the protection of clothing, that one hurt more than theothers. Warm blood dribbled through her fingers. “How’d it get infront of us?”

“I don’t know. Another quarter mile, and I’llrisk a shot.”

They kept running. Though the balls did notcause overbearing pain, the face shot made Kali aware of thepossibility of getting one in the eye.

The next stab of pain came from the side. Shegrowled in frustration and gritted her teeth.

Sword in hand, Cedar darted in front of herand crashed into the undergrowth. He leaped into the air andwhipped the blade upward so quickly Kali could not track its path.Metal clashed against metal, and something slammed into a treetrunk. Her eyes finally caught up with the action when thecontraption clattered to the ground.

“Keep running,” Cedar said. “There’s morethan one.”

But she sprinted over to check out thedevice. It was worth a few more balls in the butt if she could takeone home to study.

The winged, bronze and steel creature had afinely wrought carapace, and Cedar’s blade had sliced its body inhalf. When she picked up a piece, its lightness surprised her.

“Go, go.” Cedar pulled her to her feet andgave her a shove.

He was staring past her shoulder, and sherisked a glance before running the direction he indicated. And shegulped. No fewer than ten of the flying creatures were descendingfrom the trees and angling toward her, like a swarm of bees.

Still clutching the broken one, she tookCedar’s advice and ran. There were no clear trails, and shestumbled on roots and rocks. Branches whipped her face and snaggedher hair. She almost dropped the drill, but she did not have timeto dig the flash gold out, and she refused to leave a piece of that on the forest floor.