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But it wasn’t any of those reasons that had set her on this course, Deryn knew Alek was here in this city, and needed help Perhaps it was daft to risk everything for soirl But it was no lacier to assist a wounded enemy airship, was it?

When the water had turned into a black expanse, an upside-down sky shi place She stuffed the stolen unifor over the gunwales, she descended the anchor chain hand over hand, then slid into the water without a splash

She crawled ashore in the shadows beneath a long pier Even at night,about beneath huge o frohts cast hard black shadows that jittered and swung

Deryn stole into a maze of off-loaded crates and metal parts, and quickly found a dark spot where she could strip off the Spottiswoode suit Pulling on her borrowed German sailor’s slops, she felt a squick of vexation - demoted from an officer in the Air Service to a coht her like this, out of unifor suit had to disappear, so Deryn stuffed all but the boots and her rigging knife into a towering coil of copper wire She reckoned le of turtle shell and salamander skin, except to wonder if athe endless piles of crates - enough mechanical parts to rebuild Istanbul from scratch, she reckoned They were all labeled in Gerhts and the proe of the warren, however, she found herself facing a chain-link fence It was sixteen feet tall, with three coils of barbed wire glittering along its top side The only gate in sight ound shut with a massive chain

"Just my luck," Deryn muttered She’d come ashore at a top secret section of the waterfront

It would’ve been sih to swier The thought of plunging back into the cold, dark wateri the fence, looking for an unlocked gate, she took a closer look

It wasn’t just iant rolls of rubber insulation, and a row of glass jar batteries, the sahts used But these were the size of outhouses! Deryn reo ship Were the Ger a power station somewhere here in Istanbul?

She heard voices, and ducked lower into the shadows It was a dozenin his hand Perfect - they were headed out

Deryn crept behind theh and out into the darkness As their leader unlocked it, the th They pulled it open, e and restless waited beyond the fence, huffing and steaan to ine at its front took the foro ars White clouds of stea spiders," Deryn said softly, realizing that she’d seen pictures of this contraption in the penny newspapers

It was the Orient-Express

The great train eased forward, forcing Deryn farther back into the piles of cargo But she was unable to take her eyes froe crossbreed of Ottoon’s face, with a great lolling tongue spilling from its jaws But the o cars were unadorned, andhawk

The ar lass insulators shaped like huge translucent bells The train began to load itself, like so a treasure trove

Suddenly the dragon’s single eye burst to life, a blinding headlight As brilliance spilled across the darkness, Deryn stu place ripped away

A cry sounded above the huffing engines of the Express - "Wer ist das?" - and Deryn understood enough Clanker to knohat it meant

Someone had spotted her

She turned and ran, half blinded, stu The tubes skittered underfoot, and Deryn hit the ground hard She rose painfully to her feet and staggered into the darkness, where she curled up behind a large spool of wire

Her knee was throbbing, her hands cut and bleeding fro her fall Dizziness swept across her, twenty-four hours without proper food taking its toll The pounding in her chest felt thin and weak, like a bird’s heart instead of her own

There was no way to outrun the nored the pain, crawling back toward the Express on hands and knees, keeping low in the cargo stacks, squeezing through the narrowest gaps she could find She hoped they hadn’t got a good look at her, and wouldn’t realize they were chasing a skinny wee slip of a girl

Their voices surrounded her, echoing through the piles of crates and hts of the train The shoutingaway

Then a shadow spilled across Deryn - a hugedown for her She dropped flat, and the claw’s three rubber-tipped fingers closed around a coil of wire as big as a hippoesque

Thearound the coil, and Deryn saw her chance She scampered up and climbed inside the cylinder of wire

With a lurch the claw hauled it - and her - up into the air

She looked down to see the ground sliding past, the electric torches of her pursuers spreading out across the o passing overhead

The hter for a moment, and the wire pressed inward around Deryn Had the arm’s operator spotted her and decided to crush her?

But it was just the giant claw adjusting its grip Soon she was being gently lowered, the coil of wire settling in aain, then cliht car The side walls were only a bit taller than Deryn was, and she scrambled up and peered out