Klara peered out the wide windows of the airship’s control car at the fir trees sweeping below them and the wide clearing in the distance. Maria badly wounded. Mikhail and Uncle Yuri somewhere below. The Alchemist Guild hunting Mikhail. But one thing cut through the chaos in her mind, loud and clear. The Warrior Guild had joined the Alchemists.

  Not even her worst nightmare had included the Warriors turning against the Sentinels. The Alchemists now had an overwhelming force to challenge the Sentinels with. Klara knew that somehow they had to even the playing field, but first, she had to get her family out of the middle of a Warrior encampment…

  Beside Klara, the snub-nosed Alyona stood in her customary spot by Vera’s pitch controls. Pavel stood draped over the helm, directing the airship to the clearing the gate occupied.

  Suddenly, a ball of fire and smoke billowed into the air from the clearing.

  The blood drained from Klara’s face. They were too late.

  “What the depths was that?” Pavel said, straightening.

  “How should I know?” Alyona said. “Losing altitude to stay out of sight for longer.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Pavel said, his eyes locked forwards.

  As they approached the clearing, Klara’s eyes widened. This was definitely the right place. A shimmering emerald gate hovered in the middle of the space… dwarfed by a humanoid monster.

  Pavel opened his mouth, a question on his lips.

  “No, I don’t know what it is,” Alyona said before he could speak.

  They studied the monster. Whatever it was, it was under attack. It staggered as an invisible force slammed into it. Craning her neck to peer over the treetops, Klara just made out the grey coats of Warriors swarming the ground around the monster.

  “It’s from the gate!” Klara said. “It must have just come through, we have a chance to get my family while it distract the Warriors.”

  “Pavel,” Alyona said, “hold us at the edge of the clearing—and keep an eye out for the captain.”

  At the opposite end of the clearing, a smouldering crater scarred the ground, the sole indicator of the explosion. Klara ransacked the control car and found a telescope. Focusing it on the crater, she gasped. The bodies of a dozen Warriors lay shredded around it.

  Why had the tent exploded? Was it the monster? She swung the telescope to look at the giant. It didn’t appear to be fighting the Warriors much, just staying between them and the tent. It was still a good fifty yards from the tent, though.

  “Something’s wrong,” Klara muttered.

  “Speak up, girl,” Alyona said.

  “It’s not right, the fight,” Klara said. “The explosion killed a dozen Warriors, but I don’t think the monster caused it. And if it didn’t—”

  “Then who did?” Alyona finished, thoughtful.

  The airship came to a stop at the edge of the clearing, floating just above the dense forest.

  Klara swung the telescope around the clearing. No sign of Air Trader coats anywhere. “Come on, Mikhail, where are you?”

  “Whoa!” Pavel exclaimed.

  Lowering the telescope, Klara saw what Pavel noticed.

  The monster had turned to them. She stared at its featureless head and the uncanny feeling it was watching them crawled up her spine. She shivered.

  Another shock wave rocked it, but it ignored the Warriors and lifted its arms.

  “What’s it doing?” Klara asked, glancing at Pavel and Alyona. A frown creased Alyona’s forehead. Then her eyes widened.

  She sprinted to the back of the control car and snatched up a sheet of paper and pen, returning to the front a moment later, furiously scribbling on the paper.

  The giant monster continued to swing its arms, interrupted every few seconds by a shock wave that ripped chunks of rock from it.

  Finally it stopped swinging its arms and faced the Warriors.

  “Could someone please tell me what just happened?” Klara asked.

  “ ‘Warriors turned,’ ” Alyona read, continuing to scribble on the paper. “ ‘Monster good. Meet us treetops NE of clearing. Repel for three. Capt. T.’ ” She locked eyes with Klara.

  “I’ll tell the crew,” Klara said, turning to the ladder.

  “Pavel,” Alyona said as Klara disappeared into the mainframe, “get us to the northeast edge of the clearing. But keep us out of range of those weapons, I don’t want to find out what they’d do to an airship.”

  Klara’s boots rattled the narrow catwalk as she sprinted through the belly of the airship. Warriors turned. So she was right.

  She skidded to a halt at the ladder dropping into the gondola and slid down, landing with a thud on the thin wooden decking.

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  A crewman stared at her in surprise.

  “Prepare for assault and repelling for three,” Klara said, pushing past him. “Captain Trubnikov’s orders.”

  “Yes, Ma’am!” the man said, taking off at a sprint, yelling.

  The gondola burst to life. Crew tumbled out of doors and hurried back and forth the narrow passageway.

  Yeger poked his head out of the small surgery and Klara skidded to a halt by him. “Trubnikov and Mikhail need us. You in?”

  Yeger gave a curt nod and withdrew. A moment later he returned, Matvei in tow. “Nika’s going to stay with Maria,” he said.

  “Good,” Klara said, running for the hold. “How is she?”

  “Golubski says she’ll be live. He’s removed the bolt and healing extract is working quickly.”

  Klara nodded as they clattered down the steps into the hold. That was one less thing to distract her. And the Sculptor knew she’d need all her focus for the crazy stunt they were about to pull…

  A young man, Artur, Klara thought his name was, was already in the hold, dragging a huge spool of rope towards the very doors they’d assaulted the Alchemist airship from the night before.

  Yeger hurried over and helped him, and soon they had the spool on a bar set into the wall above the door. The rope ran through a series of pulleys and hung down above the door.

  Klara headed to a second spool, Matvei joining her.

  Soon all three side doors had ropes hanging from the wall above them.

  “There are harnesses here,” Artur said, rummaging through a cupboard that a minute ago had looked like part of the hold wall. “You three going down?”

  “Yes,” Klara, Matvei and Yeger said in unison.

  “Good,” Artur said, relief on his face, “I hate repelling.” He handed them a bundle of leather straps each. “Slip your legs through the loops and buckle the larger loop around your waist.

  While they donned the harnesses, Artur deftly tied the thick rope to shackles and tested the knots.

  Another three crew rushed into the hold, helping Yeger, Klara and Matvei properly attach the harnesses and helping Artur prepare.

  Taking a deep breath and trying to still the pounding of her hearts, Klara fixed her half-mask in place and stepped up to the first door. Artur hurried over and handed her the rope with the shackle, showing her how to attach it to her harness.

  Then he threw open the door.

  The roar of engines and the distant thhhoooms of the strange weapons the Warriors used filled the hold. Towering trees rushed by just yards below them as Pavel guided Vera’s Revenge around the outskirts of the clearing. Her vantage point gave her a clear view into the clearing. The stone monster fought the Warriors with reckless abandon, throwing itself at them, limbs flailing, sending men and women flying. But the Warriors weren’t defenceless. A constant barrage of shock waves hammered the monster, tearing chunks of rock off it with every shot, slowly whittling away at its indomitable mass.

  Soon Vera’s Revenge reached the northeastern end of the clearing, and the airship shuddered as it slowed. Directly in front of Klara lay the smoking ruins of the tent—

  —and a swarm of Warriors charging across the clearing towards the forest line.

  The stone giant was little more than a mound of rubble now, huge gouges in its torso, one arm gone. But still it fought.

  “Keep your eyes on the treetops!” Klara yelled over the wind as she grabbed the doorframe and leaned out the door.

  The tips of the fir trees swayed only a dozen yards below her. She squinted, trying to pierce the dark canopy. For a moment, all she could make out was the deep green of trees.

  Then a flicker of blue caught her eye to the left.

  Sure enough, thirty yards to her left, a white-haired woman in blue Alchemist coat pulled herself up the thin branches of a fir. Just above her climbed Mikhail. Yuri followed behind them.

  “There!” she yelled, pointing.

  Behind her, Artur shouted into the brass speaking tube connected to the control car, alerting Alyona.

  Yeger and Matvei took up positions by their doors and waited.

  The cool air washed over Klara, chilling the sweat slicking her brow. Her arm still ached where Voronina had kicked it, a reminder of the last time she’d jumped from an airship. Ten years in the Warrior Guild and she had not imagined this would be the culmination of her training.

  Vera’s Revenge surged as it turned and slid through the air towards the giant tree containing Klara’s family.

  “Koskova, go!” a voice yelled from behind and Klara leapt.

  She forced herself to breathe as for a moment she was weightless. Then the harness dug into her thighs as she slowed, coming to a halt a few feet above the trees.

  Yells filtered up through the canopy. Klara could just see the grey coats of Warriors crawling like ants up trunks, closing in on Mikhail, Yuri and Elana.

  Klara looked up. Yeger and Matvei hung out their doors, watching. In the door she’d just vacated, Artur stared at her. Klara pointed down, and he nodded and yelled something to someone behind him. The bellow of Vera’s Revenge’s engines muted as she sank below the trees near her family.

  “Mikhail!” she called as she dropped closer to her brother, wrestling his way through the branches.

  Mikhail spared a glance up and gave her a half smile before returning his attention to the climb.

  Klara grabbed the tip of a branch as she passed, pulling herself closer. The branches were far too thin to support weight up here, and the trunk of the tree was a good yard away. Mikhail would have to jump.

  Thunk!

  Klara jerked back, letting go of the branch as a crossbow bolt smashed into the wood, sending splinters lashing against her coat. She cursed, swinging back, flailing.

  Another bolt whispered by as she swung back towards the tree and grabbed the branch again, trying to swing around the side, keeping herself moving and trying to keep the rope free of the branches.

  Branches snapped above her and Yeger appeared ten feet away, a gas rifle in hand, its black, uzhasgart barrel glittering in the dappled sunlight. Before he even stopped, he brought the weapon up and a sharp crack ripped through the air as he fired.

  From the scream below, his shot found its mark.

  While Yeger covered her, Klara pulled herself as close as she could to the tree trunk.

  Mikhail drew level with her and reached out. His fingers closed around her wrist and, eyes wide and face white, he nodded.

  He pushed off from the tree, and Klara yanked him towards her, wrapping her other arm around him. The momentum knocked them well clear of the tree.

  Klara swallowed, her stomach churning as they swung back. But before they could get tangled in the branches, they lurched into the air.

  As they launched into the sky, Matvei shot past them on his rope while Vera’s Revenge moved to put him beside the tree Yuri and Elana clung to.

  Seconds later, the stout Timur pulled Klara and Mikhail into the hold.

  Mikhail let go and staggered to safety as, without a thought, Klara threw herself out the door.

  Her stubborn fool of an uncle needed her.

  As she plunged below the trees, Klara’s eyes went wide. Four Warriors leapt from a nearby tree and slammed into the trunk of Yuri’s tree.

  Directly above him!