Vera’s Revenge, hydrogen cell now patched, descended toward Ledavsk’s barren airfield at the edge of the Veter River. Klara stood, feet wide, arms folded behind her back, in the control car with Yuri, Pavel and Alyona. The pilot and first mate brought the airship down with practiced ease.

  Klara saw several ropes drop from the side of the mainframe while several of Yuri’s crew rushed out to to secure them on waiting iron rings imbedded into the cleared patch of tundra.

  The red glow of the setting sun cast long shadows ahead of them, and already the frost was racing across the tundra toward them.

  “You better go now,” Yuri said, his voice gravelly. “We’ll secure Vera and wait.”

  Klara grabbed a rung of the ladder with her good hand, then hesitated.

  Yuri noticed her waiting and said, “We’ll decide what to do when you get back. Don’t worry, I’m not going to abandon you here.”

  With a nod, Klara ascended into the mainframe to collect 24th squad.

  She found Yeger, Nika, Matvei, and Maria in the lounge of the main gondola, seated around the table. None wore coats, just their thick roll-neck shirts and trousers in the warm air of the lounge. They watched her as she entered and stopped at the end of the table and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “We’re not going,” Yeger said, his deep voice quiet.

  Klara cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “You don’t need us to talk to the Sentinels,” Yeger continued. “So we’ll wait here with Trubnikov Captain.”

  “Since when do you call him captain?” Klara asked.

  Maria and Nika exchanged a glance, and the Machtvollian spoke up, “We’ll hear your plan, but Yeger has already spoken to the Captain and he’s agreed to take us on.”

  “You what?” Klara stared agape at Yeger, her collar growing hot. “What happened to your loyalty? What happened to your decision to follow me as squad leader?”

  Yeger held her gaze, his face flat. “We’re not sure you have the squad’s best interests in mind.”

  “Oh, that is pathetic,” Klara said. “We’re here not for our own sakes, but for the sake of Serovnya. If you were so desperate to have your own skin protected, you should have joined the Alchemist Guild. You’re exactly the kind of soft-skinned coward they love.”

  Yeger’s face burned deep red and his heavy brow sank deep over his eyes. Before he could explode, Maria cut in, “Insults won’t help. Tell us your plan, Klara.”

  Klara and Yeger glowered at each other a minute longer before Klara threw her hands up. “Fine! The Alchemists are going to destroy the Sentinels, so we need to warn the Sentinels of the danger so they have time to prepare. Then we lend a hand however we may. This war is in part our fault—”

  “Your fault,” Yeger growled. “Yours and your worthless Alchemist brother’s. We were at Borovsk—under arrest because of you two—while you messed everything up. Remember?”

  “Enough, you two!” Maria said, standing and shooting a glare at each of them. “What’s happened has happened. Can we please focus on solving the problem?”

  Klara turned her attention to the Machtvollian. “You just said you were abandoning Serovnya with my coward of an uncle. Now you want to help?”

  “You know cursed well that’s not what I said,” Maria said. “We talked to Trubnikov. But maybe we can still help before we leave.” She stared at Yeger. “Right?”

  Yeger narrowed his eyes at the small woman but grudgingly settled back in his chair. “Fine.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Klara watched the exchange with interest. He listened to the woman and apparently respected her opinion.

  “All right,” Maria said, “how are you planning on convincing the Sentinels that the Alchemist Guild really will betray them?”

  “If anyone has family in Ledavsk, that would be a good place to start. Someone trusted within the fort itself to vouch for us before the Eagle-Eye Keeper would help.” Klara glanced around the table. “Anyone?”

  Maria, Nika and Matvei all shook their heads. After a beat, Yeger sighed. “Older brother,” he ground out.

  Great, another Blinov. Oh well. “You’ll come with us and talk to him then.”

  “Not on your life,” Yeger said.

  “Yeger,” Maria said, her tone icy, “I think the least we can do is talk to your brother.”

  The giant man’s jaw tense as he faced down Maria. Despite being half his size, Maria held the gaze until finally, to Klara’s amazement, Yeger threw up his hands in surrender. “Fine. I’ll talk to my brother.”

  Maria smiled and turned to Klara. “Lead the way.”

  Thirty minutes later the six members of 24th trudged across the airfield, their boots crunching on the frost covered ground. Klara led them toward a long, low building set on the edge of the cliff that marked the bank of the Veter River.

  No water filled this river, however. Instead, its current was a vicious torrent of wind miles high that cut its way across the entire continent of Vlanovia. The wind had carved deep gauges into the land over hundreds of years and now marked the northern boundary of Serovnya, and to the west, Machtvoll’s northern border. Beyond the twenty-mile-wide river lay a wasteland claimed by permafrost that made Serovnya look like a lush wonderland.

  Klara shivered, her tan Air Trader coat struggling to fight back the chill air as the temperature plunged far, far below freezing. Last time she’d been this close to the Veter River, they’d had extracts to keep them warm and heavy duty Sentinel Coats tailored for surviving Serovnya’s harsh nights.

  Air Trader coats lacked that frost fighting power.

  They reached the building, the howl of the Veter drowning out all other sounds. Klara cocked an eyebrow. No sentry had met them at the door. Were they hiding from the night inside? But no light glowed through the thick glass panes of the windows set into the concrete bunker of a building.

  Klara grabbed the door handle and yanked at it, there was a faint crack as the frost let go and she shunted the door open and stepped into the unlit room.

  The last fingers of sunlight cast ghostly light through the ice covered glass of the windows, revealing a small, barren room. No guards waited for them.

  A frown creased Klara’s forehead as the hair on her nape stood on end.

  The rest of the squad stole inside. From their silent movements, Klara knew they felt what she did.

  Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

  At the rear of the small room stood a wide, open cage elevator. To its left, a door plunged in darkness. Stairs. Both led down to a coil train which carried cargo and personnel from the airfield to Ledavsk, which lay beneath ground several miles into the Veter. Without a word, Klara led them to the stairwell.

  Far below, yellow light flickered, coating the wide concrete steps in a faint glow. Only the distant roar of the Veter filled the space. No voices, no footsteps. Nothing.

  Klara slipped a knife from its sheath. She left her father’s knife alone, though she still carried it. Whispers of steel on leather sounded behind her as the rest of the squad followed suit. She could feel their tension as they descended into the depths of the earth.

  A minute later they reached a door and Klara peered around the doorframe.

  Beyond lay a giant underground coil train station. Gaslamps hung along the ceiling, flickering weakly. A long platform ran beside the glossy black corkscrew track that plunged into a dark tunnel which travelled beneath the Veter for several miles until it reached Ledavsk.

  Piles of pallets of supplies sat on one corner of the platform, and Klara felt the blood drain from her face.

  A pool of red soaked the ground around the pallets, oozing from between two where a pair of boots protruded.'

  What the depths happened here? On instinct, Klara reached for her belt and the vials that usually hung there. Her fingers found nothing, and she grimaced. She’d not even thought to bring Trinity.

  After a minute more of scanning the platform, Klara saw no movement and stepped out of the stairwell.

  Still nothing moved, save the light from the flickering gaslamps. Klara crept across the platform toward the pallets. A stifled gasp sounded behind her as someone else noticed the body.

  Her twin hearts hammered in her chest as she approached the body. A hint of dark green caught her eye. Sentinel colours. No… Not possible.

  Bile rose in her throat as she reached the pallets and she swallowed. Not one but three bodies lay crammed between the pallets, dead eyes staring up at the rough stone ceiling.

  All wearing Sentinel coats.

  Yeger swore softly behind her, and Klara couldn’t help but agree.

  They were too late.