Lindsay Buroker: Beneath the Surface

Maldynado ducked and skittered back. At least he didn’t seem predisposed toward attacking old women, even in self-defense.

While they were busy, Evrial gave the machine a heave, trying to redirect it. It proved heavier than expected and kept bumping against the workstation.

“ Ouch, listen, ma’am,” Maldynado tried again. “We’re just-”

Glass shattered. The broom going through the window, or perhaps the woman had hurled something at Maldynado’s head?

Evrial’s fingers bumped against a wheel. Ah, that was for steering. She rotated it, and the contraption spun in a new direction. She gave it another heave, and it clink-clanked around the corner and started down the long aisle by the windows. The cleaning supplies rattled in their cart, and the paint cans banged and clanged.

On the docks, someone had lit lanterns, so Evrial had no trouble making out the enforcers. The two men had climbed of their boats and were squinting toward the cigar factory.

“ Don’t touch me. Molester!” Another window succumbed to the cleaning woman’s misdirected ire.

“ Woman,” Maldynado growled, finally slipping past the flailing broom to grab her by the arms. “Stop-”

An eardrum-piercing shriek escaped the woman’s lips. That did it.

“ The enforcers are coming,” Evrial said, wondering if Maldynado would hear her over the continuing shrieks. “We have to go now if we’re going to get-”

“ Right behind you.” Maldynado, still gripping the woman with both hands, jerked his chin toward the alley door.

Evrial hesitated, wondering if she should be concerned that he’d do something untoward to his screaming prisoner, but, no, she didn’t believe Maldynado had an old-lady-mauling streak in him. She raced out the door and into the alley. Instead of heading for the street, she crept around the waterfront side of the building, pushing through weeds and dead leaves. She would have been visible from the docks, but the enforcers were pounding up the road at that point. The shrieks from inside halted, though the clanks continued as the steam-machine clattered about, bumping into things.

When the enforcers disappeared around the front of the cigar factory, Evrial continued through the tall grass, hoping Maldynado would catch up. He better have gotten out before the enforcers charged in… All this had been his idea. She had no urge to steal a boat by herself. Or at all, for that matter.

She ducked under the first dock and, after making sure the enforcers truly had gone inside, hopped onto the second. Unfortunately, the noise had drawn curious pedestrians as well, and more than one eating house door stood open with people peering outside. Fortunately, they were looking toward the cigar factory, not the docks. Evrial ran to the end, glancing back to see if she could spot Maldynado and grimacing when she couldn’t. The shadows had deepened along the waterfront. Maybe the weeds were camouflaging him.

Smoke wafted from the vents of both boats. Evrial untied the first craft from the dock, hoping it would float away on its own. The enforcers ought to be able to catch up to it eventually, but not in time to use it to chase their other boat. As Evrial hopped onto the deck of the second craft, the shrieks resumed in the factory. Good. The woman wasn’t dead or unconscious-and she certainly hadn’t suffered any injuries to those powerful lungs.

Evrial climbed past weapons mounted on the deck and into the covered navigation cabin. She halted in the middle, frowning at all the levers and gauges. In her rural district, she’d never had occasion to pilot anything fancier than a rowboat, and she didn’t know where to start.

“ Check the boiler,” she muttered and rotated toward the back half of the cabin. Even the boiler had a complicated-looking wall of gauges and displays. “Is that the pressure? Or that? Maldynado, blast you, where are you?”

What was she supposed to do if he didn’t show up?

Something struck the boat, tossing Evrial against the wall. “Emperor’s balls,” she growled and stuck her head out of the cabin, fearing the enforcers had already returned and launched some attack. It was the other boat, though, the one she’d untied. It scraped against hers as it floated past.

Up on the street, the enforcers jogged out of the factory. One promptly spotted Evrial-or perhaps the boat drifting away from its berth. He raised a hand and shouted, “Stop!”

“ Emperor’s balls,” Evrial repeated, tempted to fling harsher expletives, except she was too busy lunging for the rope tying her boat to the dock. If she floated away, that’d give her time to figure out the controls, so long as she wasn’t swept downstream to crash into a log first.

The enforcers sprinted down the street toward the docks. There wasn’t going to be time to simply float away.

“ Curse you, Maldynado. Where-”

Something bumped against the boat.

“ Now what?” Evrial demanded. The other craft had drifted into the river. It couldn’t be that.

A dark form slithered over the side of the craft not three feet away from her. If Evrial had possessed a sword, she might have skewered it.

“ Hullo, my lady,” Maldynado drawled, rolling onto the deck at her feet. “Thanks for waiting. Shall we get going?”

“ Go!” Before he’d found his feet, Evrial shoved him into the cabin.

She hoped he had a better idea as to what to do in there than she had. Meanwhile, she finished untying the rope as the enforcers rounded the corner and ran onto the dock. Evrial tried to shove off with her boot, but the heavy craft scarcely moved an inch.

One of the enforcers stopped, raising a crossbow.

Evrial dove into the cabin with Maldynado. He sat in front of the wheel, whistling as his soggy clothes dripped puddles of water onto the floor.

“ Some alacrity here would be good,” Evrial said. “Those enforcers are going to be on top of us any second.” A crossbow quarrel whistled into the cabin and into the glass viewport. A crack sounded as it shot straight through, leaving a fractured web in the glass. Evrial jumped away from the entrance. Why weren’t there any cursed weapons inside the cabin?

A surge coursed through the boat, and hope filled her. “Are we moving? Is that the propeller?” She grabbed the jamb and peered outside.

They were indeed pulling away from the dock, but only a few feet separated them from the end. One enforcer, the crossbowman who’d fallen behind to shoot, stopped to fire again. Meanwhile the other fellow reached the end of the dock and leaped off without hesitation. The quarrel skipped harmlessly off the cabin’s roof, but the leaping man had the momentum to reach the boat. They’d have to fight after all. Evrial almost stepped outside, hoping she could knock him away before he landed, but the other enforcer had the crossbow raised for another shot. He must have a quad-loader.

Maldynado brushed past her and flung something. A wooden life ring spun through the air and hammered the enforcer in the chest a heartbeat before he would have caught the edge of the boat. He grunted, and his arms flew out. He smacked into the side of the boat and bounced off. Maldynado disappeared back into the cabin, shoved a lever, and white water churned in the propeller’s wake. The enforcer came up, sputtering and cursing. The man left on the dock loosed a last crossbow quarrel, but it flew wide. Maldynado steered into the center of the river, and they were soon cutting through the current, heading upstream into the growing darkness.

“ If you’re so inclined,” Maldynado said, as calm as a turtle basking on a log, “you could search for some dry clothes. Think there’s any chance we borrowed those men’s travel kits as well as their boat?”

“ I’ll look,” Evrial said. “What took you so long?”