"We're at the avenue," said Thorny.
Burke turned the wheel sharply. The treads churned beneath the Angry Beetle with a satisfying rumble. The steering mechanism worked like a dream. If he had any real power getting to the treads, this might turn into an interesting ride. He disengaged the clutch.
"We're slowing down," said Thorny.
Burke was surprised that they were still rolling at all. But, the southern avenue did slope down slightly. He'd take whatever help from gravity he could get.
"We took off before the pressure was in the zone," Burke said. "Let's give the boiler another minute. I'm worried about the southern gate. You see it?"
"Yeah," said Thorny. "We're maybe two hundred feet away."
"Can you see down the shaft of the rear cannon? Does it look like we'd hit the gate if we fired on it?"
Thorny was quiet for a moment. "I guess," he said.
Vance said, "Burke, we worked hard to get that gate closed. Forget Ragnar. Do you really want to open that gate to the dragons?"
"It's not the gate keeping the dragons out," said Burke. "It's the sky-wall bows. No winged dragon wants to fly within a mile of the walls. Thorny, I know you don't have much grip, but triggering the flintlock fuse only takes a nudge. Think you can do it?"
"I'll try," said Thorny.
"Okay then. Cotton in ears, everyone. Thorny, on the count of ten, do it."
Burke shoved cotton in his ears. Thorny's countdown went by in silence.
The Angry Beetle trembled as the cannon fired. Burke's brain felt like goom sloshing around in a jug.
He pulled the cotton from his ears. Thorny's distant voice sounded panicked. "The gate's still there!"
"Did we miss it?" Burke asked, incredulous.
"No. We punched a hole in it. The left half looks tilted back a little."
"That's the part we'll ram, then."
Burke looked back out his own sighting window. The street was mostly empty. It was good this was happening at night. Here and there, faces peeked around the corners of buildings to watch the progress of the Angry Beetle as it rolled at its leisurely pace toward the gate.
What now? The cannons could be loaded from the inside, but it was a pain. Thorny definitely couldn't manage with his hands. He looked at the barrel of gunpowder beside him. He had a small spool of gunpowder-infused cotton to cut fuses from. Getting out of the Beetle to hop up to the gate and fashion a quick bomb didn't seem wise, however.
Did the Beetle have the speed and mass necessary to push open the gate?
He peered at the gauge. The needle hovered at the bottom edge of the green zone.
"We only live once, gentlemen," he said, and engaged the clutch.
The Angry Beetle's treads rumbled beneath the floor. On the incline, they quickly reached a speed that surprised even Burke. They might well be rolling at almost fifteen miles per hour. With a horrible crunch, they crashed into the gate. The Beetle felt as if it were going to tip over as the damaged gate fell from its hinges and one tread rode up onto it while the other stayed on the ground. Seconds later, the Angry Beetle shook violently as it dropped back to level and rolled on. Stunned guards looked down from the walls as the Angry Beetle roared away from the fort. The road sloped sharply downward toward the river. Burke disengaged the gears, allowing gravity alone to propel them so that they could build up enough pressure to climb the hill on the other side of the river.
"There's a bridge ahead," said Thorny.
"I know," said Burke. "It's going to be like threading a needle to cross it."
"Can the bridge even hold us?" Vance asked nervously.
"It's stone," said Burke. "The earth-dragons moved wagons loaded with armor and weapons across it. It'll hold."
He peeked back out the rear sighting hatch. His heart sank. There were a dozen men walking along behind the Angry Beetle, all bearing shotguns. They were spread out so that the rear cannon would never hit all of them. If they followed the war machine long enough, they'd be able to peel it open once it ran out of steam.
"Uh-oh," said Thorny.
These were quite likely the worst two syllables anyone could have uttered, given the circumstance. "What?" Burke asked.
"Earth-dragons," said Thorny. "They're climbing up from under the bridge. I guess they've heard the racket we're making. There might be fifty of them."
Burke barely had time to contemplate this news before a shotgun blast rang out. Then another, then another. No balls clanged off the Angry Beetle's armor. How could they possibly miss?
"That's about five fewer earth-dragons," said Thorny.
As the angry war-cries of earth-dragons at full charge filled the air, a faint hope suddenly sparked within Burke's chest. Sometimes, two problems were better than one. In the best case scenario, the men and the dragons would fight one another and ignore the Angry Beetle.
In the worst case scenario, the dragons would kill the men, capture their guns and the Beetle, and suddenly have over a dozen shotguns, two cannons, and a barrel of gunpowder for the biologians to reverse engineer.
The Angry Beetle lurched as Burke contemplated their situation.
"We just ran over a fallen dragon," said Thorny.
Shotgun blasts continued to ring out.
"The humans have to win this battle," said Burke, grabbing the shotgun. "Even if Ragnar's men kill us, we can't let the dragons get their hands on the gunpowder."
"Burke," said Thorny. "You might want to concentrate on steering. We're only fifty feet from that bridge."
Burke handed the gun to Vance. "Open the rear gun slit. Fire at will."
"I don't know if my eyes are good enough for me to target anything," said Vance.
"Let's find out," said Burke.
Vance nodded. He moved swiftly to slide the small hatches open. Burke craned his head over his shoulder, trying to see as much as possible through the tiny holes. He could see the edges of the bridge. It looked like he was on track. There were a half-dozen earth-dragons on the bridge. Vance fired the shotgun.
When the smoke cleared, most of the earth-dragons were running. There was now a huge shadow on the bridge. What was it? Burke squinted, trying to make sense. It was moving…
With a start, he realized that the biggest earth-dragon he'd ever seen was charging straight toward the Angry Beetle. He brandished a war-hammer that no human could ever lift. His jagged beak was open in a war cry louder than the rumbling treads on the stonework of the bridge.
With a horrifying grunt, the huge dragon swung his hammer. Burke's end of the Angry Beetle suddenly shot into the air. Shrill whistles rang out as jets of steam shot from the seams of the boiler. With a gut-wrenching chewing sound, Burke heard the left tread seize up.
"Reload," Burke shouted.
The Angry Beetle jumped as the war-hammer once more slammed into its leading edge. One of the exterior spikes suddenly punched down into the belly of the war machine, missing the back of Thorny's head by a fraction of an inch. Vance was thrown against the boiler.
"Aaaah!" he cried out, pulling back. The chamber suddenly smelled like burning hair. Vance's wispy beard was gone from the left side of his face, now a bright beet red.
The rear gun slot Burke had been looking through was crushed completely shut. He could barely see out one of the remaining holes. A wall of reptilian flesh rippled as the dragon lifted the hammer for another blow.
There was a rumble beneath the Angry Beetle. The dragon attacking them jumped backward. Dust shot into the air.
"Uh-oh," Thorny said again.
In a symphony of pops and cracks and groans, the bridge beneath them crumbled and they dropped twenty feet, landing sideways. The entry hatch snapped open, showing the river water rushing past only inches below. The Angry Beetle was precariously perched on the rubble of the bridge. The air was hot with steam.
Vance had his hands pressed against the roof, straining to keep from falling against the boiler again. "Y'all okay?" he asked.