Peacemaker by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, fantasy novella, steampunk, historical fantasy, fantasy adventure, ya fantasy, ya steampunk, flash gold, ya historical fantasy
Publisher: Lindsay Buroker
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part VII

A breeze scuttled down Main Street, swatting at a newspaper page too mired in the mud to escape, though it rattled and whipped in a valiant effort to do so. Kali leaned against a support post on the covered boardwalk outside of the RCMP station. A single whale-oil lantern burned on a desk inside, and the voices of Cedar and a Mountie he had roused from sleep floated through the open door. Cedar was relaying the pirates’ location, a description of Sparwood, and trying to get a list of tribal women living in the city, something the Mounties apparently didn’t track. With so many new people flooding into Dawson each week, it must be impossible to keep an eye on everybody.

Though midnight approached, raucous voices and music filled the street. Candelabras and lanterns burned behind the windows of many hotels, bit houses, and the popular Main Street Dancing Hall. Nearby, a man lay on his back, snoring, in the spot where he’d been thrown out for not being able to pay.

Kali leaned away from the post and peered up the shadowy street. Electricity had not yet come to Dawson—indeed, electric lights were something she had only read about—and there were no gas lamps at the intersections; but the northern sky was not entirely dark, and she could make out people stumbling out of bit houses. She could also make out the Aurora Saloon sign, only a few buildings up the street.

Kali glanced back through the RCMP window, decided Cedar would be another fifteen minutes at least, and left the post to stroll up the boardwalk. Given everything that was going on, wandering the streets alone at night was probably not a good idea, but she couldn’t very well go see Agent Lockhart with the man he wanted to shoot at her side. It was worth taking a risk if there was a chance she could convince him of the truth and get him off Cedar’s back. Besides, nobody was likely to attack her, or try to kidnap her, in the middle of a crowded saloon. If someone did, she had two smoke nuts stuffed into her pocket, and an ugly little pistol Cedar called a “man stopper” jammed into the front of her overalls. He’d insisted she carry it around town. She wasn’t much for shooting people, but she could do it in self-defense.

“Sure, tell yourself things like that,” Kali muttered to herself. “Maybe it’ll make them true.”

Kali paused to adjust the cuff of her overalls, making sure they hid the bulge in her sock—she still had the vial of flash gold tucked in there—then stepped over the snoring man to push open the Aurora’s front door. She crinkled her nose at the stench of sweat and tobacco smoke, and she had to blink a few times to get her eyes used to the smoky haze that filled the air. One would never know how late it was, going by the amount of activity in the large main room.

Lively fiddle music bounced off of the dark timber walls.

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