Yeger burst through a door into another narrow corridor barely wide enough for him inside the Alchemist airship. Still no one.

  He growled, a frown creasing his forehead. He’d agreed to this mission only because the Alchemists deserved to bleed for what they’d done.

  “Where is everyone?” Maria asked from behind, her thick and guttural Machtvoll accent making her words even harder to understand through her half-mask.

  “They’re in the mainframe drinking vloysh and playing cards,” Yeger snapped.

  “Are you sure?” Maria asked.

  Nika and Matvei both chuckled.

  Yeger turned, glaring down at Maria, who came up to his shoulder. “Of course. That’s where I’d be if I heard someone assaulting my airship.”

  Maria’s eyes blazed in the shadow of her hood. A frown undoubtedly lay behind the hardened leather of her predatory half-mask.

  “We’re wasting time,” Yeger said.

  “We should return to the exit.”

  “What?”

  “Clearly hearing was not what the Sovereign Sculptor blessed you with…” Maria muttered. Then, louder and slower, “We should return to the exit. We made enough noise breaking in. If anyone was here, we’d have found them already.”

  The veins on Yeger’s neck throbbed, and he clenched his jaw. Maria eyed him defiantly, waiting for him to obey her, like some stariki.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  So he hefted his gas rifle and continued down the corridor, listening hard for a hint of danger but hearing only Maria’s exasperated sigh.

  Yeger reached the end of the corridor and peered around the corner. Still no sign of life. There had to be someone, airships didn’t fly themselves. He growled. He had no intention of leaving without making the Alchemists bleed for murdering Irmina and Alarick out in the windswept channel of Veter River just weeks ago. Yeger could still see the white-coated wraiths as they descended on the hapless squad, unprepared for a lethal assault. Klara had fought like a demon that night, saving them all, then carrying the Machtvollian Sentinel, Irmina Meitz, through the night to Borovsk. He’d carried Alarick Folkner.

  Yeger stared down the empty corridor a moment longer as soft footfalls announced the others behind him. He narrowed his eyes. They should turn back, continuing on would put them all in danger. No. That’s what his brother would do. Anatoly was always playing it safe, which was why he was in Ledavsk of all the gate forts… “I’ll carry on,” Yeger said, “see what I can find. You three head back to the exit.”

  “We’re not splitting up,” Maria said. “We should all head back to the exit.”

  Matvei snorted, his ratlike eyes gleaming. “And miss out on the fun?”

  “Yeah, not happening,” Nika said, words clipped.

  Yeger glanced back at them. All three returned his gaze without wavering. A smile quirked his lips beneath his half-mask. “Let’s go find some Alchemists.”

  Dropping all pretence of stealth, Yeger marched around the corner, his boots echoing off the thin wooden walls.

  He’d never seen so much wood until he’d travelled on an airship. Serovnya’s tundras didn’t grow enough trees to build with. Here they built with stone, uzhasgart and steel.

  Airships like this one were built in Machtvoll. Maria had said they had forests so large they took weeks to walk through.

  He doubted that.

  At the end of the corridor, a narrow stairway rose, leading into the airship’s mainframe. Yeger shouldered his gas rifle and climbed the steep stairs and poked his head through the hatch.

  Four Alchemist soldiers stood arrayed around the stairs, gas rifles aimed at him.

  “Yutzi muck…”

  As one, they fired.