It felt like only hours ago that Klara had sat in the hold of Vera’s Revenge waiting to board an Alchemist airship. Last time, she’d been leading the squad. This time, her uncle was in charge.

  Eighteen people stood in the hold, all in heavy coats and equipped with grappling pistols, knives and swords.

  Yuri had grudgingly admitted to her that his crew had jumped at the chance of helping. Apparently they’d been disappointed he’d refused to allow them to fight.

  Like the last airship assault, the squads would go in in two teams. Yuri led one, while the equally short and broad-shouldered Timur led the second.

  Klara, Mikhail, and Ruslan were in Yuri’s squad. Elana was busy preparing what extracts she could for the final attack on the Alchemist factory.

  Vera’s Revenge floated just outside the Veter. One of the crew waited with Pavel in the control car using nightsight extract. As soon as the woman sighted the Machtvoll airship, Pavel would plunge them into the Veter, accelerating quickly to two hundred miles an hour to match the Machtvoll airship.

  When trying to rescue Dominik Pozharsky, they’d barely been travelling eighty miles an hour. Now they were over double the speed.

  Klara ran her tongue around her mouth, trying to coax some moisture back, secretly glad her uncle was leading this assault. Maybe he wouldn’t screw it up like she had…

  At least this time Voronina wouldn’t be there. And for that, Klara was grateful.

  Mikhail came over and sat beside Klara, pulling his half-mask off. “So, do you think we can do this?”

  “Honestly?” Klara said, rubbing the back of her head. “I don’t know. Uncle Yuri says we can, so we should be fine. If he’s to be believed, he’s done dozens of these assaults. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that idea, but right now? I guess it’s better than having done none.”

  Mikhail chuckled, a hollow, mirthless sound.

  Klara pulled her half-mask off its clip on her shoulder and slipped it over a face, fastening the buckles behind her head. Then she pulled her black hood up. “You ready?”

  Mikhail replaced his half-mask and also pulled his hood up. “What about the assault on the Alchemist factory? Do you think we have a hope?”

  Klara shrugged. “Maybe. Your plan is probably the best we could hope for. All we can do is fight well… and pray to the Sovereign Sculptor we live.”

  Just as last time, a whistle sounded from the speaking tube at the rear of the hold. Artur answered it, then turned to Yuri and gave a nod.

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  “Brace yourselves,” Yuri called. A moment later, Vera’s Revenge surged forwards.

  The airship crew shifted with the sudden motion as if nothing had happened. Klara caught herself and braced against the bench she sat on. Mikhail, however, slid sideways, bumping into her. He righted himself and sat staring ahead, fingers drumming a staccato rhythm on the bench. Klara could understand his nerves… she felt the same way.

  Yuri walked over to Klara and Mikhail. “The Machtvoll airship has been spotted and should reach us in five minutes. Don’t worry, this will go much smoother than last time. There’re unlikely to be many guards on board—which is why they’re transporting at night, away from prying eyes.”

  Klara nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The weightless terror as she and Mikhail had plunged to the air towards Vera’s Revenge still haunted her. If any of them fell tonight, it would be over. There’d be no diving through the air to waiting crew on the top of Vera’s Revenge. The ferocious wind would claim anyone who lost their grip.

  “All right,” Yuri said, turning to address his crew, “let’s show these kids how a real assault is done. We go in quick, and we go in efficient. At your stations!”

  The hold burst to life. Crew hurried to the doors by the side of the hold, nine heading to the front door, while Klara, Mikhail and Ruslan hurried to the rear door with Yuri.

  Vera’s Revenge shuddered as it slipped into the Veter, quickly gaining speed. The airship groaned and creaked as the wind thrashed its sides. Metal clanged against metal, and crates rattled against each other.

  Klara anchored herself against the wall and spared a glance at Mikhail. Her brother’s face was white above his half-mask while his eyes darted back and forth, never ceasing to move. He’d seemed so calm during the last assault, but something about this one seemed to unnerve him.

  “Open doors!” Yuri yelled

  The doors slammed open and the deafening roar of the Veter greeted them. The sound consumed Klara, reverberating through her body, filling her ears, filling her mind.

  Outside was only darkness with no sign of the Machtvoll airship. Klara assumed it would fly with lights on. Unlike them.

  Dragging her eyes away from the gaping hole of the door, Klara watched Yuri, waiting to see his commands. With this wind, there was no way she’d hear him.

  A flicker of light caught her eye, and she again looked out the door. Sure enough, in the distance—and quickly catching up with them—was a faint smattering of lights.

  The Machtvoll airship.

  This was it. No turning back. Once they took this airship, they would head straight for the Alchemist factory in the foothills below the uzhas mine. By dawn they’d have dealt a devastating blow to the Alchemist Guild.

  Or they’d all be dead.

  Or worse, slaves in the uzhas mine.

  The Machtvoll airship caught up with them. Vera’s Revenge continued to increase speed until they were flying abreast.

  Only now did Klara realise just how large the Machtvoll airship was. She knew Vera’s Revenge was small for an airship—she had seen the size of the other trading guilds’ airships in Kosgrad—but this monster dwarfed even them.

  And something about it felt… wrong. Klara couldn’t put her finger on it, but the way it moved through the Veter was too fast, too graceful. An airship that size should be unwieldy.

  Faint booms echoed through the hold as the harpoon cannons fired, drawing her attention away from the anomaly. The harpoons slammed into their prey and the cables wound taut, yanking the two airships together.

  With a signal from Yuri, both squads left the hold, scurrying across the ropes to the hapless Machtvoll airship.

  Klara joined the line and once again hung in open air while vicious wind ripped at her coat. Only this time, none of them had Trinity to aid them. They needed to save the precious extracts for the main assault.

  They’d have to rely on each other. Klara wasn’t sure if that was good or not.