Nimbus: A Steampunk Novel (Omnibus) by Austin King & B.J. Keeton

Author:Austin King & B.J. Keeton [King, Austin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

***

An hour later, the Leaner toppled the rest of the way down to the fog. For an hour, Rucca had watched as frantic soldiers shuttled people from the skyport to the Fog’s Bane, while cogs and belts and pulleys plummeted toward the ground. Eventually, the machinery was unable to maintain the precarious balance the skyport required, and with an unceremonious creak and wheeze, the whole structure fell beneath the clouds and was gone.

Madeleine Doss stood beside Rucca on the deck of the Fog’s Bane and tapped her booted foot against the iron plating. Her expression was firm, and her goggles hid her eyes as she stared at the space the skyport had occupied.

“What is the nearest skyport from here, Ms. Doss?” he asked.

She looked down at him and laughed. “Are you asking me because you don’t know, or are you asking me to see what I say?”

“I’m just asking,” he said.

“Are you going to destroy it, too? Are you ready to run the trifecta, Captain Rucca, or have I missed a report in the past few weeks? Have you already hit that milestone?”

“I told you, Ms. Doss, I did not come here to destroy—”

“Stronghold,” she said, cutting him off. “The nearest skyport is Stronghold.”

“You’re lying.”

She smiled at him, but she couldn’t be happy. Not right then. But the smile looked genuine. Rucca saw something in it, in the way she looked at him, but he had no idea what it was. Hatred? Admiration? He wasn’t sure.

“I take it you’re familiar with Stronghold, then?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. My father took me there when I was a boy. It was unpleasant, to put it nicely.”

“Then you’re going to have a great deal of fun trying to unload a ship full of refugees there, aren’t you, Captain Rucca?”

“I don’t think that will be an option,” he said.

“I don’t think you’re going to have a choice. I’m sure you don’t have water and food to last this many people more than a couple of weeks, and the only other skyport in the vicinity is Angel’s Landing. Was.” She clapped her hands together once and interlocked her fingers. “I am so sorry. Was Angel’s Landing. Outside of that, you can hope to have strong winds behind you and make it to Thunder’s Echo or Casement within the month. You might even make it to the Spire if you’re up for letting most of these people go hungry.”

“You’re an evil woman, Ms. Doss, you know that?”

“I think your definition of evil is a little skewed, Captain Rucca.”

He nodded slowly. “Me, too.”

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