He did not speak for a long moment, and shewondered if she should have kept the information to herself. Theexplanation for his middle name was cute and endearing. Herexplanation was… Well, it certainly made her childhood seempathetic.
“Did you ever know happiness growing up?”Cedar asked.
“Making things made me happy. Beinggood at making things. If you’re good at something you liketo do, it gives you the self-assurance and confidence to deal withthe world’s disappointments.” Mostly.
“Then I’m glad you had that.”
He kissed her again, though it had thebrevity of a goodnight kiss. She forgave him for not offering morewhen he slid his arms around her and snuggled against her back.
“I like Milos,” Kali said. “May I useit?”
“Yes.”
“What about Kallisto?”
“Not unless you want me to use your pliers topull your tongue out through your nostrils.”
She smirked. “Do you always threaten womenafter you kiss them?”
“You didn’t think I was a nice boy, didyou?”
PART IV
Kali woke to something pressing against hermouth. Her first thought was of Cedar giving her a kiss, but thatfantasy evaporated quickly. The pressure was too hard. It smotheredher nose as well as her mouth and cut off her air. Someone’s hand.She tried to unleash her teeth, to gnash down on it. The gripmerely tightened.
She tried to sit up, but failed to rise aninch. Hands forced her shoulders down, and something across herlegs pinned them to the ground.
Darkness still blanketed the forest, but shefigured out what was going on. Cedar had gone to investigate theother camp, and Sebastian was taking the moment to truss her upfor…whatever stupid plan he had now.
She writhed and bucked in the blankets,though only to disguise her real goaclass="underline" she found the two smoke nutsin her pockets and yanked them free.
“Hurry, pick her up,” Sebastianwhispered.
Trying to be quiet was he? He must fear Cedarwould hear and return. Good.
Now if Cedar’s fancy blanket weren’tconstricting her almost as much as her assailants, she might beable to do something. The men-at least four of them-hefted her intothe air with the Euklisia Rug still tangled about her. She grippeda smoke nut in each hand, thumbs poised to press up on the triggertabs.
“In the tent?” a man with a guttural accentrasped.
They started moving her, stumbling over therocky ground as they went. Maybe they would be more distractednow.
“No, we don’t want her lover to be able toget to her,” Sebastian said. “We need to-argh!”
Kali grinned fiercely as she bit down on hishand, glad he was the one who’d sport tooth marks. He snarled andlet go.
“Cedar!” she bellowed.
One of the hands gripping her shoulder let goto reach for her mouth. The maneuver dipped her down, so her headalmost cracked against the rocks.
Sensing she had her moment, Kali yanked herarms from beneath the blanket, flicked a trigger tab, and droppedone of the smoke nuts. She twisted and used her free hand to grabthe closest thing to her face. A belt. Perfect.
Something slammed into her back. She almostdropped her second smoke nut, but she managed to yank on the beltand stuff the device down the owner’s trousers.
Unfortunately, she was as close to the smokeweapons as the men. Kali burrowed back into the cocoon of blankets,squeezed her eyes shut, and dug for the knife at her belt.
“What did she-”
“Damn it, move!” Sebastian yelled. “It’s oneof her things!”
Whoever held her legs dropped them. Kalithrashed, though she made sure not to leave the padded shelter ofthe blankets. The last man with a grip on her lost it, and she hitthe ground, a hard nodule gouging into her side. She rolled away,not wanting to smother her own artillery.
She did not hear the click that heralded therelease of the metallic shards, but yelps of pain told the story.Though she was rolling away as fast as she could, severalprojectiles struck the side of her blanket. A couple burrowedthrough the material and her clothing, slicing into her skin. Itwas not as bad as it would have been if she had no padding though,and she scampered out of the blankets without permanent damage.
Smoke from the weapon stung her eyes. In thedarkness, she struggled to see what was happening, but angry shoutsof “It got me!” and “Get it out!” told her where people were.Agonized screams came from the man who had taken the projectile inthe pants. Given these thugs’ goals, she could feel littleremorse.
Kali patted about, looking for her rifle.They must have taken it. She could not find her packsack-hertools! — either. Damn Sebastian. He must have moved all herbelongings first. Damn her heavy sleep too.
Knowing the smoke nuts would not buy herindefinite time, she scrambled away from the camp. All the firesalong the shoreline had gone out, and clouds hid the stars and themoon. Only the sound of the river helped her navigate. Though shewas on the wrong side of the waterway, she headed in the directionof the Wilder camp, hoping Cedar had heard the commotion and wascoming to help.
“Which way’d she go?” one of the men behindher snarled.
Kali kept running, not bothering withstealth. The pained curses of the most injured man pierced thenight, and concerned calls from other claims covered herretreat.
“Get her, you idiots,” Sebastian yelled.“She’s worth a lot of money.”
That quieted some of the outcries.
A blocky shape loomed out of the darknessahead of Kali. She threw out her hands to keep from crashing intoit. Hard, cold metal met her touch. A couple of seconds of gropingallowed her to identify a steam engine and furnace. Had flames beenburning in the firebox, she might have come up with a creative usefor the machinery, but she merely noted it was probably used to aidin digging and that a mine shaft would be nearby. She skirted thearea.
“Sebastian?” came a man’s whisper from aheadof Kali.
She froze.
“I lost track of the big bloke with the gunskills,” the speaker went on, raising his voice. “Sebastian, isthat you?”
“Stay up there,” Sebastian yelled to the man.“She may have gone that way. Head her off.”
Boots crunched on river pebbles. Kali easedback until she bumped against the boiler. She hunkered in itsshadow, hoping it would camouflage her. A hint of dawn brightenedthe sky, and it would grow harder to hide soon.
“A hundred dollars cash to whoever finds thegirl,” Sebastian called.
At first Kali thought he was still trying torally his men, but an answering call came from a claim downriver.“What’s she look like?” That wasn’t one of Sebastian’s thugs.
“A woman!” Sebastian called. “There aren’tmany up here.”
“Oh, right. You want her dead or alive?”
“Women ain’t no good dead!” came a call fromacross the river.
Kali thunked her head back against theboiler. The entire Sixty Mile River was going to be after her in aminute. She glared down at the puny knife she still held. If shehad her pack, she would have tools and supplies and might be ableto build something. In lieu of that, her rifle would be handy justthen too.
“Anyone who touches the woman dies.” That wasCedar. Good. His voice came from across the river. Not good. Howhad he gotten over there and how long would it take him to return?She had not seen any boats.
“Says who?”
Kali had no idea who that was.
She patted around the dormant steam engine.Maybe this claim held something useful she could use. Since nobodyhad come out to check on the ruckus, she figured the owners were intown.
“The last man you’ll ever see if you hurther.” Cedar’s voice was closer. He must be on the shorelinedirectly opposite from her.
In the growing light, she thought she couldpick out his tall form over there, but she dared not call to him.She patted the ground, found a stone, and hurled it in hisdirection. The surrounding shouts kept her from telling if itsplashed down or clattered onto the bank next to him, but she hopedhe heard and guessed where it had come from.