Devon Monk - Tin Swift

Wil lifted his head, held Cedar’s gaze for a moment, then dropped his head to his paws again.

“Then the captain is still alive?” Miss Dupuis said. “Are we going to leave him behind?”

“He told me to get you all out of here,” Cedar said, pulling a blanket from overhead and tucking it around Wil.

“Like hell we leave him behind,” Guffin said.

“He’d want the ship safe,” Ansell said.

Seldom reached up and pulled the line that set a bell ringing back in the boiler room.

Molly came stomping out just a moment later, her coat thrown off, in nothing but her breeches and short sleeves. “Can’t believe we pulled out of that one, boys!” she said with a huge grin. “Can this lady fly, or can she fly?”

Then, “Where’s the captain?”

“Jumped,” Seldom said. “We save the ship and save these people, or we go save his skin.”

“Why can’t we do both?” Mr. Theobald asked. “We can fight with you. We won’t be a detriment to your efforts, as you’ve seen.”

“There isn’t enough time for both,” Cedar said. “We don’t know where they’re taking him. Rose doesn’t have much time left. Neither does Mae, and the ship is damaged.”

“I’m not leaving the captain behind,” Molly said. “Rose is a lot tougher than you think she is, Mr. Hunt. She’ll weather a little longer.”

“You don’t know that,” Cedar said.

“Why don’t we ask her?” Molly said. “Let her choose.”

Cedar didn’t even know if Rose had come up to conscious thought since he’d carried her onto the ship.

“Now,” Seldom said. “While the Nine is still in range.”

“Ask a woman on the edge of death how long she can endure?” Cedar said. “There’s no reason in that statement. We take her and Mae to Kansas. Now. And pray we reach our destination while both women are still breathing.”

“No,” Rose said.

Even over the rush of wind outside, her soft voice carried.

Cedar moved to stand above her. He held his breath against the sound of surprise that choked his throat.

Rose’s skin had turned a pale silvery tone, like the satin shine of tin. Her lips were blue-gray with just a hint of blush to them, and her eyes, once blue and soft as summer, were dark as winter clouds.

It was the Holder; must be that bit of tin inside her causing the change.

But when she turned her gaze on Cedar, her eyes were very clear. Very sane. “I know I’m going to die, Mr. Hunt,” she said. “And I know Mae’s near out of her mind. But I won’t turn this crew from their captain on account of me.”

“Rose—” he started.

“I might live the day, or another. Or none. But Lee has years ahead of him. If we can find him.”

Cedar bit back his argument. He could overpower her. For a wild moment he considered overpowering every person on board, tying them up, and flying the ship to Kansas himself.

But going to Kansas wouldn’t be the same as finding the Holder. And if he didn’t find the Holder, Rose would die.

Rose gave him half a smile. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it, Mr. Hunt. You don’t have to look after me anymore. Please promise me you’ll look after Captain Cage. He risked his life to save us all. He risked his ship. More than once. It’s time we take a risk for him.”

Cedar put his hand around hers. She might look like she was slowly turning into cool metal, but her hand was warm, soft, and very human. “I will never stop looking after you.”

“We don’t know where the Holder is, do we?” she asked.

It pained him, but Cedar answered her true. “No.”

Rose knew, they all knew, that only the Holder would be able to remove the little tin key that was killing her. And they didn’t even know that for certain. But the Madders had said it would work.

With a world of maybes between them and finding the Holder, and still not knowing if it would do any good if they found it…he knew it made sense for Rose to accept she had little time left.

Cedar, however, wasn’t always a logical man.

“Can you find him?” Cedar asked Seldom.

“The captain?”

“General Alabaster Saint.”

“I can find him,” Mae said quietly.

“The general?” Cedar asked.

Mae cleared her throat and wiped her hands over her dress before grabbing on to the wall of the ship for support. Her eyes were glassy, unfocused, but her voice was strong. “Captain Hink. His heartbeat is in this wood, in this ship, in the binding I cast on him and cast on the ship. The Swift knows where Captain Hink is, and I can guide her to him.”

No one said anything. Too shocked at her admission, maybe not even believing that she had cast a spell and bound a man to a ship. Or maybe not believing that Mae was anything more than a woman gone mad.

But Cedar had seen the strength of her magic. He knew what she could do. Knew that though she might be losing hold of her sanity, she had not lost hold of what her magic had done to Hink. She wasn’t lying. If anyone could track the captain, it would be Mae.

“We’ll find him, Rose,” Mae said, though she was staring straight ahead, staring blankly at the middle distance. “You’ll see him again. I promise.”

“Perhaps you should sit yourself down, Mae,” Molly said.

“She can do it,” Cedar said.

“No one can do that,” Molly said.

Cedar gave her a look. The beast shifted just beneath his skin, its hatred and hunger threatening to swallow his reason. There was no time to argue with her. Rose was dying. And Mae was hurting.

“Yes,” Cedar said, knowing the raw power of the beast hovering just behind his eyes, just beneath his words. “She can. Follow, or get out of my way.”

Molly’s hand slipped down to the gun at her hip.

Cedar didn’t move. If he had the breath in him, the reason in him, he’d tell her Mae was a witch and damn good at magic. But it was all he could do to keep the urge for blood in his control.

“Stand down, Molly,” Seldom said. “If she can find our captain, we follow.”

Molly shook her head, switching her gaze from Cedar to Seldom and finally to Mae.

“Then let’s find the captain,” she said. “Before Alabaster hangs him up by his guts.”

Molly stomped back into the boiler room and shut the blast door.

“Ansell, see to the repairs,” Seldom said.

“Aye, Mr. Seldom.” Ansell picked up a toolbox and scrambled up the ladder to see what he could do above.

“Heading?” Seldom called out.

Mae didn’t say anything. Just stood, swaying slightly, breathing a little raggedly as if she kept forgetting how often she should be filling her lungs.

Cedar ducked under the line that held Rose’s hammock from swinging too hard. He stepped up to Mae, stopping just short of touching her.

He could smell the scent of the herbs she’d been using on Rose’s shoulder, a watered honey and green odor that blended with the fragrance that was all her own. A fragrance that stirred him to his bones.

“Mae,” he said, holding his own desires firmly in check, “we need a direction. Where is Captain Cage?”

“Flying.”

That wasn’t going to help much.

“Which direction is he headed?”

There was a long pause. Finally. “Southwest. Running fast. Above the ridge.”

“Southwest,” Cedar called to Seldom.

Mr. Seldom corrected course and brought the Swift around.

“A compass direction won’t be enough,” Guffin said.

“More west,” Mae said.

“More to the west, Mr. Seldom,” Cedar relayed.

Seldom corrected course again.

“Yes,” Mae said. “Steady.”

“Hold that heading steady,” Cedar called.

“Aye,” Seldom said.

Guffin took a reading of the compass. “Ain’t nothing but mountains and Indian territory that way. She know how far?”