Prisoner of Fate Read Online Free PDF Page B

discover that the Ranu dragon eggs had suddenly accelerated and were rapidly bearing down on Dafyd’s vehicle.
    ‘The bastards have hitched a ride on a tailwind,’ Adwyn observed and he hoisted his peacemaker to his shoulder, sighting along the grey metal barrel. ‘Five more lengths and I can make them change their minds.’
    ‘But they haven’t attacked us,’ Meg argued. ‘Shouldn’t you wait to see what they want?’
    Neal turned to Adwyn. ‘She has a point.’
    Without shifting his attention from his target, Adwyn growled, ‘The last time I saw anyone try to talk to the Ranu they cut off his head.’
    ‘We’re at war,’ Bryon said in agreement as he clipped a fresh magazine of bullets to his peacemaker. ‘They aren’t coming over for a friendly visit.’
    ‘You can be sure of that,’ Adwyn muttered. ‘Four more lengths.’
    ‘Can’t we go any faster?’ Meg appealed to Dafyd.
    The young man with the sandy hair shrugged. ‘This is as fast as she’ll go,’ he replied. ‘The breeze they’ve caught will be—’ and he stopped as the wind ruffled his hair and made the red-and-yellow canvas overhead shake. ‘One more chance,’ he said and he pulled a lever, emphatically willing the dragon egg to pick up speed.
    ‘Three lengths,’ Adwyn called. ‘I can see the bastards.’
    Neal fell backwards onto the basket floor and Adwyn swore. Meg stared at Neal’s wide-eyed and open-mouthed face, a face with a bewildered expression, and she saw the ragged hole in his forehead, just above his right eye. Blood was pooling on the basket’s wooden planks beneath Neal’s head. ‘Get down!’ Bryon yelled. Something zipped past Meg’s shoulder. Bryon grabbed her waist and dragged her to the floor, snarling, ‘Down, damn you, woman!’ She vehemently fought off his grip and glared at him. ‘I just saved your life!’ he snapped before she could complain about his rough handling. ‘They’ve got long range peacemakers. Stand up and you’ll be dead like him,’ he warned as he nodded at Neal’s body.
    Wood shattered on the basket railing, showering Meg and Bryon with splinters, and Dafyd crouched beside his burner, firing a long burst of flame. ‘We’ll climb to make their shots harder,’ he explained.
    ‘One length,’ Adwyn called, still positioned to shoot. Bryon eased up to peer over the railing and set up his peacemaker. Meg heard more bullets zip overhead. Dafyd swore and looked up. ‘They’re puncturing the canvas to slow us down.’
    Adwyn’s peacemaker cracked. Bryon fired. A bullet punched through the basket wall an arm’s length from Meg and smashed into the steam driver with a metallic ring. Another bullet ricocheted off a lever besideDafyd’s hand and he winced, pulling his hand away. ‘Are you hurt?’ Meg asked. He shook his head and grinned unconvincingly before he turned his attention to the damage to the driver. Steam hissed from a hole in a small pipe. ‘Can you fix it?’ she asked.
    ‘Easy,’ he assured her, and he set to tearing a strip of cloth from a rag beside the driver.
    Adwyn and Bryon fired again, and Bryon remarked, ‘Nice shot,’ before more bullets crashed into the basket, scattering splinters.
    ‘Get that burner going!’ Adwyn yelled. ‘Get us higher!’
    Dafyd finished wrapping the strip of cloth around the punctured pipe, winked at Meg and fired the burner. ‘Going up!’ he cried and kept a continuous stream of flame roaring into the heart of the dragon egg. Meg felt the basket rising as Adwyn and Bryon fired in rapid succession at their pursuers, but then she flinched and scrambled to her feet as two bullets punched holes through the basket floor, one narrowly missing her left leg. She grabbed Neal’s discarded weapon and leaned against the railing beside Bryon. ‘How do I use this thing?’ Bryon looked at her in surprise. ‘Show me!’ she demanded.
    He took the peacemaker from her, checked the magazine, pushed it back into her hands and said