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The ene was closer to the rear of the ship, so Spoo was still unable to fire without risk to the Custard

Tasherit strode across the her up and visible to most of the crew This also put her away from the helium leak, the better to issue orders She would stay in hu as necessary, but that didn’t ht She was still an i One of the deckhands passed her a wicked-looking curved knife, likely purchased at one of the Egyptian bazaars

Rue joined Tasherit on the forecastle, deciding not to go to engineering It wasas an immortal than any courtesy to the tribe below

The ornithopters closed in on The Spotted Custard

Crossbow bolts flew

"Spoo, Willard, fire a volley," Tasherit ordered

"Yes, sir!" The voices, in unison, sounded normal The leak was fixed, but the Custard had lost a considerable a to replace than water or coal

The Gatling gun put a neat line of holes in the lower part of the balloon of an eneible That an to sink, much faster than The Spotted Custard They hit Lake Victoria, not too far from the fallen Drifter balloon

"One down!"

Rue’s supernatural eyesight couldmadly at the puffer, but The Spotted Custard was barely ured they couldn’t outgas enough air at this juncture to rise and still keep the balloon froet them up into the aetherosphere They were trapped, unless they shed a lot of weight

The decklings, ed to eliminate one of the ornithopters with bolts However, the three othersin to land – or more properly crash – one after another on the ibles as you like! Decklings, crossboards, watch for flames, and clean that codswattle off our decks!" yelled Tasherit "Mind your aim We can’t take another hit to the helium And I’d like to keep ave an animal roar and jumped off the forecastle into the fray

All was chaos The three invading ornithopters took up ood deal of wood, both Rue’s beloved ship and their own The ornithopters were light beasties, practically paperweight, but carried enough speed to do superficial da the deck, putting out fires, and tossing excess weight over the side

The six men who’d been inside the ornithopters were now on Rue’s ship They’d jus Two of the men carried weapons Rue knew all too well, a particular kind of gun that her father had once carried A particular kind of gun that was pointed at Rue and at Tasherit, to the exclusion of all others

Sundowner pistols