Steamsworn (Steamborn Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the inside out!”
    “That is why I would advise you to keep an eye out,” Drakkar said. “They are not so aggressive as Sky Needles, and this is not the time of day they hunt.”
    “Just don’t step on one,” Charles said.
    Jacob spent the rest of the hike up to the waterfall staring at his feet. He knew the Emerald Needles would be obvious if he saw them. Miss Penny had told them stories of the beasts. Smaller than a Sky Needle, but infinitely more terrifying in what they could do. At least a Sky Needle would just kill you.
    “Relax, Jacob,” Charles said. “Emerald Needles aren’t out much past noon. Most of them will be underground at this time anyway.”
    “Underground like where we have to go in Dauschen?” Jacob asked.
    Samuel burst into laughter.
    “No,” Charles said with a smile and a shake of his head. “It’s too cold for them up there. They stay in the Meadow and the lowest of the foothills.”
    The thought made Jacob feel a little better as he thrust his canteen into the smaller stream of water running off the cliff face. The water was ice cold. The ringing of droplets splashing against the exposed metal grew deeper as his fingers grew numb. After what seemed like an hour, water splashed out the top of the last canteen and Jacob screwed the cap back on.
    He slid the canteen’s strap over his shoulder and shivered, exhaling into his cupped palms in an effort to warm himself up.
    Charles closed the lid on his second canteen after Drakkar and Samuel had finished, and they started back for the crawler. “Let’s get this over with. We’re only an hour or so away from Dauschen. Once we’re through the gates, we can set up with the refugees.”
    “We’re not going to the last safe house?” Samuel asked. “I don’t want to sleep in a damn tent.”
    “Not at first,” Charles said. “Second or third night, we can convincingly appear to be fast friends with some of the other spies and assess the situation.”
    They walked in silence for a while until they climbed back into the crawler. Drakkar threw a lever that released the engine’s flywheel, and steam once more billowed out the back of the contraption.
    “Do we start on the bombs tonight?” Jacob asked.
    Charles took a deep breath. The crawler lurched forward and splashed through a ford in the river. “Some preliminary assembly would go unnoticed. I think we can start with that. I don’t want to assemble any of the detonators until the day we go underground. It’s not safe, for one,” Charles said, answering the question Jacob hadn’t asked, “and it’s more likely to be recognized by someone who knows a little about explosives.”
    There it was, Jacob thought as the crawler zipped through the Meadow, leaving a trail of crushed grass behind it. The time for doubt and fear was past; now it was time to put their plan in motion. He took a deep breath and hoped Alice was having a better time of it in Bollwerk.
    *     *     *
    The next morning on the docks, Alice rolled her shoulders and winced at the soreness training had left behind. She stared up at the massive warship. Alice could scarcely comprehend the size from the ground, and now that she was close enough to touch it, it seemed even more impossible.
    One of the dockhands walked up beside Smith and said, “She’s all locked in, sir. You should be able to mount the cannons in the gun pods.”
    Smith nodded. “Thank you. Can you tell the other towers to begin?”
    “Sir,” the man said before marching off to the glass cabin at the end of the dock.
    “Why all at once?” Mary asked as she flopped onto the bench beside Alice.
    “We are anchored,” Smith said. He ran his hand across the massive barrel propped up along a series of sawhorses. “I want to keep the weight even. The Midstream tinkers do not think it will be an issue, but I would rather not take chances with the frame.”
    “You think adding more weight at the same time will help the frame?”
    “It