It took Law a moment to realize why Bare Snow doubted the move. The female was sure Law would fall. “Look, there’s a wide lip at the top of the cowcatcher. I can brace myself against it when I kick.”
“I see no cows. Why would they even be catching cows?”
“It’s just a name for the nose guard thingy. Don’t worry. Ready?”
“Go.” Bare Snow vanished from her side.
Law slid down the left windshield to the snub nose. She caught hold of the five-inch-steep lip of the cowcatcher. There were three elves in the engine wearing Wind Clan blue. The one in the engineer’s chair was pointing at the sudden fracture in the right-hand windshield. The one directly behind him shouted in surprise and dismay when Law appeared on the nose. She kicked hard at the cut glass.
The windshield shattered into pieces that cascaded into the cab.
Bare Snow killed the engineer before he could touch the controls; he jerked backward, blood spraying from his throat. The elf behind him had an assault rifle that he aimed toward the falling engineer.
“Down!” Law pulled her pistol and fired desperately. The gunshots thundered in the tight confides of the locomotive. Bullets ricocheted off the edge of the windshield by Law’s head and smashed through the left side window. The elf went down, Law’s three shots hitting him in the chest.
A third elf came running from the back of the locomotive and went down as if clotheslined. Law held her fire.
“Bare?”
“Clear!” Bare Snow called from somewhere far in the back of the engine. “Is this what makes it go?”
Law slipped through the window, careful not to hit any of the levers or buttons on the front dash. The floor was slippery with blood and the coppery smell mixed with hot diesel fumes.
Law stepped over the bodies to glance into the next section of the locomotive. The massive diesel engine took up most of the space, rumbling loudly. “Yes, that’s what makes the train go.”
A heavy latch had been installed on the metal hatch to the gangway connection. Through the window, she could see the first passenger car. Disguised oni warriors jerked open the opposing door. They obviously expected a passageway; the lead warrior fell out of sight.
Law ducked down. “We’re going to get company. That door will only slow them down for a while.”
An alarm sounded on the console. Law swore and dashed back to the engineer’s chair.
“What is that?” Bare asked.
“Dead man’s switch.”
“They have switches for dead men? But he’s an elf.”
“It’s a safety feature. Every fifteen minutes the alarm sounds and the engineer needs to indicate he’s awake at the console by pushing the button.” She hunted for said button. Luckily everything was neatly labeled in Elvish. She punched the button. “If he doesn’t respond, the train will stop. We’re lucky it’s not every ninety seconds like on Earth or we’d be screwed. The elves didn’t want the switch installed; they wanted to know if humans had attention spans of gnats.”
“Don’t we want to stop the train?” Bare Snow asked.
Law glanced up. They were passing the tall waterslides of Sandcastle. The South Side Flats started in five miles. “We’re too close to the festival. We need to keep the train moving; we can’t let the oni get off. Between Fort Pitt Bridge and West End Bridge is the Elfhome Freight Yard. The main line ends there. There’s three sets of tracks out of it, but half a dozen switches need to be in the right position for a train this size to clear through it safely.”
Bare Snow understood immediately. “Smash! In the name of the moon, I punish you!”
Law eyed the throttle housing. “We need to get this rigged so they can’t change the speed, and then we need to get back to the hi-rail before the train hits the freight yard.”
“Rigged?”
Law tapped the throttle as she examined the control. “This lever controls the speed. I want it so they can’t move it.”
Bare Snow sliced off the lever.
“Um.” Law eyed the remains. “Well.” She poked experimentally at it. She could see the shaft inside the housing, but she couldn’t get her fingers onto it. If the oni could find a pair of needle nose pliers, they might be able to shift it, but they probably wouldn’t have time to find a pair. Law pointed at the brake lever. “Do this one too.”
Hot Metal Bridge appeared, marking the start of South Side Flats. They had ten minutes before the train hit the freight yard. She wedged the two sheared off levers onto the console so the horn blew in a continuous blast. “We have to go!” She shouted over the blare.
They scrambled out of the broken window.
Luckily, the oni had extended the gangway connection and Law crossed to the passenger cars unseen. She focused on moving as fast as she could, trying to ignore that they were speeding toward destruction with oni hot on their tail. South Side Flats was flashing past on the right as she ran. Twenty-first Street. Nineteenth Street. Thirteenth. Under the Tenth Street Bridge. Over the level crossing at Ninth.
She risked glancing behind her, knowing that Panhandle Bridge was coming up. While light-rail crossed high enough to let barges travel up the Monongahela River, its on-ramps started at street level. Did they have clearance?
No.
“Down!” Law shouted, hoping that Bare Snow heard her over the screaming train horn. She dropped down to all fours.
They flashed under the bridge, the steel support beams just a foot above her head.
A chaotic sea of bodies surrounded Station Square. Stone Clan black filled the Hooters parking lot. Alton had somehow roused the Harbingers. Humans fled in all directions, trying to leave the area before the fighting started. Where were Usagi and the kids? Had they gotten to someplace safe? Why was anyone still at Oktoberfest? Hadn’t Alton warned anyone?
The trapped oni smashed out the windows of the passenger cars. They recognized shit hitting the fan when they saw it. Instead of bluffing it out while disguised, they’d decided to fight. Rifles bristled from the openings. The oni opened fire on the elves. The bullets came ricocheting back as they hit the Harbinger’s shield wall.
With a sudden roar of deafening noise and searing heat, the first passenger car exploded into flame.
Windwolf was in the house.
Law ran faster as three more passenger cars erupted. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”
This was going to give new meaning to “hit by friendly fire.”
Law reached the last passenger car. Bare Snow was somewhere ahead of her, still invisible. Smithfield Bridge rushed toward her, too low to clear. Three more cars erupted into flame. She couldn’t duck down and wait for the bridge—she might become toast on the other side. She risked everything to dash forward and fling herself off the end. She felt the steel girders brush the spiked tips of her hair as she fell. She hit the white canvas of the tents stacked on the flatcar. There was another deep “whooof” as the last passenger cars went up in flame. She scrambled forward. Smithfield Bridge passed overhead, a momentary shield against the elf lord’s power. The flatcar was only eighty-some feet but it felt like miles long as she stumbled over the bloody canvas, dodging dead oni bodies, trying to get to the safety of the hi-rail before the next flame strike landed.
She hit the end of the flatcar and leapt, landing on the hi-rail’s hood. The windshield was gone; she had no idea when and where they’d lost it. She slid across the hood and into the passenger seat. “Bare?”
“Here!” Bare Snow called from driver’s side.
“Brakes!”
Bare Snow stomped on the brakes. Law nearly flew back out the windshield. She caught hold of the dashboard and Bare Snow grabbed her. The steel wheels screamed in protest, metal against metal.
“Sorry!” Bare Snow cried.
The flatcar went up in flame. The fire licked the hood of the hi-rail.