window before he changed form. The eyes were the first to shift, the pupils turning a lambent greenish yellow and immediately adjusting to the darkness. His feet and hands widened and extended into claws, which made little shrieks as they ground against the cab’s metal roof. His body thickened and sprouted a wiry coat of green hair; his skin darkened to match. Bone spurs burst from his spine, and his face hardened, taking on an angular, lizard-like appearance. Finally, he crouched down and braced himself, and in a spasm of pain, wings burst from his back, stretching to a span of over twelve feet.
He caught the wind and let it lift him off the car. Despite his weight, his wings beat the air gracefully, carryinghim easily. Below him, the train wound through the darkness like a mechanical snake. He flew up and down the line of cars, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Not that he expected to see anything. The mountains were too distant to hide ambushes or sky raiders. Besides, they hadn’t taken on enough cargo yet to make an attack worthwhile. Jeyne was right. Cutting Gap would be the real test, but they were still several days away from that obstacle.
Gee found himself hovering over the private car where the stowaways were probably asleep by now. No matter what Jeyne said, Gee knew trouble when he saw it, and those two had it pouring out their ears. Especially the older one, the scrapper. She had something inside her that burned. Gee had seen it in her eyes. He might have admired her passion if it wasn’t obvious that she and the other girl were hiding something. They were both on the run, and odds were that whatever was giving chase would follow them onto the train.
Into his home.
Gee had spent nearly his whole life on the 401, working one job or another until Jeyne gave him the security chief spot. But he had always protected the train, its passengers, and crew. They all knew him and trusted him. Jeyne and Trimble were his family, the only one he’d ever known. And he wasn’t about to let anything threaten his home, whether it was marked by the Dragonfly or not.
Since when had Aron ever cared about the 401anyway? To Gee’s knowledge, the king had never even traveled on the train. He was too busy holed up in his estate in Noveen, running his factories and building his steamships to conquer the oceans and the skies. Everything had to be bigger, better, more efficient. If Aron had his way, someday soon the 401 would be obsolete, abandoned.
Gee rose higher into the air, releasing a howl of frustration and anguish that echoed back at him from the mountains. Why couldn’t the factories just stop and the train keep moving, traveling forever? He wished for it, but deep down he knew things weren’t that simple.
Aron might have planned to blaze a path to the uncharted lands with his ships, but it was the Merrow Kingdom’s aggression that had started all the trouble. They’d spent their iron developing weapons and war machines, building up their military to the point that King Aron’s people whispered that an invasion was coming, that the Merrow Kingdom was looking to expand by conquering the Dragonfly territories.
To protect his kingdom, Aron halted the iron trade with Merrow and accelerated his own shipbuilding to get his plans for exploration under way, but Gee wondered how much that would really accomplish in the long term. Merrow was furious over it all, and if trade wasn’t restored soon, war would come anyway. Thousands of people had already suffered because of the rivalrybetween the two kingdoms; war would make the suffering a hundred times worse.
But there was nothing Gee could do about any of that. All he could do was protect the 401 and its people.
The wind buffeted him. Gee smelled snow in the air. The cold didn’t penetrate his tough hide, but the struggle against the wind was beginning to tire him out. He drifted down and landed on the roof of the stowaways’ car. He didn’t bother to soften
He caught the wind and let it lift him off the car. Despite his weight, his wings beat the air gracefully, carryinghim easily. Below him, the train wound through the darkness like a mechanical snake. He flew up and down the line of cars, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Not that he expected to see anything. The mountains were too distant to hide ambushes or sky raiders. Besides, they hadn’t taken on enough cargo yet to make an attack worthwhile. Jeyne was right. Cutting Gap would be the real test, but they were still several days away from that obstacle.
Gee found himself hovering over the private car where the stowaways were probably asleep by now. No matter what Jeyne said, Gee knew trouble when he saw it, and those two had it pouring out their ears. Especially the older one, the scrapper. She had something inside her that burned. Gee had seen it in her eyes. He might have admired her passion if it wasn’t obvious that she and the other girl were hiding something. They were both on the run, and odds were that whatever was giving chase would follow them onto the train.
Into his home.
Gee had spent nearly his whole life on the 401, working one job or another until Jeyne gave him the security chief spot. But he had always protected the train, its passengers, and crew. They all knew him and trusted him. Jeyne and Trimble were his family, the only one he’d ever known. And he wasn’t about to let anything threaten his home, whether it was marked by the Dragonfly or not.
Since when had Aron ever cared about the 401anyway? To Gee’s knowledge, the king had never even traveled on the train. He was too busy holed up in his estate in Noveen, running his factories and building his steamships to conquer the oceans and the skies. Everything had to be bigger, better, more efficient. If Aron had his way, someday soon the 401 would be obsolete, abandoned.
Gee rose higher into the air, releasing a howl of frustration and anguish that echoed back at him from the mountains. Why couldn’t the factories just stop and the train keep moving, traveling forever? He wished for it, but deep down he knew things weren’t that simple.
Aron might have planned to blaze a path to the uncharted lands with his ships, but it was the Merrow Kingdom’s aggression that had started all the trouble. They’d spent their iron developing weapons and war machines, building up their military to the point that King Aron’s people whispered that an invasion was coming, that the Merrow Kingdom was looking to expand by conquering the Dragonfly territories.
To protect his kingdom, Aron halted the iron trade with Merrow and accelerated his own shipbuilding to get his plans for exploration under way, but Gee wondered how much that would really accomplish in the long term. Merrow was furious over it all, and if trade wasn’t restored soon, war would come anyway. Thousands of people had already suffered because of the rivalrybetween the two kingdoms; war would make the suffering a hundred times worse.
But there was nothing Gee could do about any of that. All he could do was protect the 401 and its people.
The wind buffeted him. Gee smelled snow in the air. The cold didn’t penetrate his tough hide, but the struggle against the wind was beginning to tire him out. He drifted down and landed on the roof of the stowaways’ car. He didn’t bother to soften
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