Peacemaker (The Flash Gold Chronicles, #3) Read Online Free PDF

see.”

Part IV
     
    Low clouds hung over the Yukon River as
Kali’s self-automated bicycle—SAB for short—rumbled along the muddy
road, heading toward Moosehide. The fat, reinforced wheels
navigated over and around roots, puddles, and horse droppings
littering the trail. Kali curled a lip at the latter, not wanting
excrement smashed into her treads.
    Cedar sat behind her, and behind him smoke
from the stack rose into the air, mingling with a morning fog that
hugged the banks. Summer was still in hiding, but at least it had
stopped raining. That meant a lot of prospectors were boating along
the river, to and from Dawson. All of those people gaped at the
strange bicycle when it passed.
    Kali barely noticed. Her mind was focused
inward, dwelling on the upcoming meeting with people she hadn’t
talked to in eight years. Though she didn’t expect a physical
confrontation at the camp, she’d brought a vial with a couple of
her precious flash gold flakes anyway. They had proven useful to
have on hand in the past, when she’d made numerous tools and
gadgets, using the alchemical ore as an easy energy source.
    Cedar touched her shoulder and pointed to a
rowboat aground ahead of them. A few shards of wood floated nearby
in the river. Nobody stood near the boat, but the grass and foliage
along the riverbank obscured the view.
    “ Problem?” Kali peered up
and down the river. At the moment, no other boats were
visible.
    “ Perhaps. Perhaps
not.”
    Figuring he wanted to investigate, Kali
slowed the bicycle. Cedar hopped off and jogged through the
undergrowth to the boat. He stared down at something inside for a
moment and then slung his Winchester off his back.
    “ Problem,” Kali
confirmed.
    She veered off the trail and set her machine
to idle. Over its rumble, she almost missed the fact that Cedar was
talking to someone. She jogged over to join him and found him
crouching to help an older man lying in the bottom of the boat.
Blood streaked his weathered face, and a bulbous lump rose from the
crown of his bald head.
    “ Don’t need no help!” The
man pushed Cedar away when he tried to help and clambered out of
the boat by himself. “That boodle of mother-kissing lickfinger
pirates got all my cussed gold. Shot my partner and knocked him
into the river. Lowdown, thieving cutthroats.” The man clenched a
fist and snatched a shotgun out of his boat. “Let them come back
out of the clouds, and I’ll fix them. Pirates!” He spat, barely
missing Cedar’s boot. “Got me wrathier than a treed
coon.”
    The old man took a step and tilted sideways,
like he might topple back into the boat. When Cedar reached out a
hand to steady him, he growled, “Don’t need no help,” again.
    “ Out of the clouds?” Kali
asked.
    “ Air pirates,” Cedar said.
“Must be a new ship. The Mounties said they shot down the last
outfit preying on successful miners.”
    This was the first Kali
had heard about it, but it was hardly surprising. Not all of
Dawson’s swelling population could strike it rich legitimately. She
gazed skyward. Though pirates might know about the reward for her
capture, and could be a lot of trouble, she found herself wishing
to glimpse the airship. A completed, working airship. They were so rare
in the Yukon. The last one Kali had seen, she and Cedar had been
forced to destroy, and she’d never gotten a chance to view the
engines up close.
    “ It’s not appropriate to
look wistful right now,” Cedar murmured to her.
    Kali blushed. The old man was still stomping
about, cursing over his losses. The missing gold seemed to be
upsetting him more than the dead partner.
    “ I’m not wistful,” she
said. “I’m just being observant…checking to see if it’s still out
there. That’s all.”
    “ Uh huh.” Cedar raised his
voice for the old man’s sake. “Are you sure there’s nothing we can
do to help you, sir?”
    “ Don’t need no help,” the
man repeated.
    Cedar shrugged and waved
for Kali to lead the