Even as sunlight crept dangerously across the mountains, Deryn made no attempt to shield her eyes as she watched the enemy bound towards them. Was that a canon on the front of that contraption? With all the hydrogen in the air just one shot would…
"What do you mean- a stormwalker?"
Deryn snapped out of her thoughts to glance at Alek. He was squinting into the dawn as well, even as his eyes were nowhere near strong enough to see from that great a distance. After a whole night of being jumpy and terrified the boy didn't seem frightened at all. Deryn supposed that made sense- poor lad must be exhausted, but…
"Is that…" Deryn said, "Is that your family?"
Alek pushed away from the window with a sigh.
"Ah," he said, sounding more disappointed than anything, "As I expected."
"Expected? Expected?!" Deryn cried, "They've sent a bloody war machine!"
How many of the crew had entered the hive since the sighting? How many were blacked out, or near blacking out? Even with full staff the Leviathan itself was pure dead hopeless, a ship of flechetts and strafing hawks had no leverage against an attack from the ground. The only thing keeping her home from going up in flames was Deryn, and she was stuck between a direct order from the captain to return to hive and a boy with every intention of getting her staked.
But none of that mattered now- Deryn searched for some way to get down. She had to stop this now!
"I thought Volger might take a more direct approach," Alek said, his voice almost mournful, "We've run out of time."
Deryn whipped around to face him, still shocked at how calm he was.
"And speaking of direct," She said, "Why, in all your insistence that we get you home as soon as possible, did you neglect to mention that the consequences involved the barrel end of a walker?"
"I did say you'd all die. You just made a joke about it."
"And you let me?"
Looking again out into the snow, Deryn could see it was no mistake. It was a stormwalker, and it wasn't taking its time getting here.
"Come on, we've got to do something."
Alek didn't need to be told twice. Even as Deryn wasn't as slow or careful leading him Alek managed to keep up in his own right.
The remaining crew left on the ship were scattered and disorganised, all clustered together when they reached the gangway. The crewman who were trained and equipped to handle the ship's defences were the first to enter the hive, leaving clueless riggers and officers to carry large crates labeled 'high explosives' to the spine.
"Watch it!" Deryn hissed to Alek, "Aerial bombs, and those men aren't used to handling them!"
Alek's eyes widened, his pulse jumping again. The surrounding crewman flinched and looked up. That didn't help Alek's nerves.
It's never good idea to allow a hungry dog to handle explosives, but if one does, it's a worse idea to do so with a bone in the room. Deryn turned away from the crowd and dragged Alek in the opposite direction.
"We'll have to find a window."
Deryn had been hopping on and off the ship like a flea all night, but Alek might not make the jump so easily. Luckily the middies' mess had taken the most damage in the fight and was close enough to the ground thanks to the loose harness.
Arriving sent a pang of anger through her – The windows were shattered and chairs flung about in disarray. Aside from her little crate the mess had been her safest refuge on the ship. Long hours spent learning about the ship, practicing her Mesmer on the other boys, crowding around the window to peek at the normal human cities whenever they passed over them. Seeing it so trashed twisted her guts. The enemy always shot at the Leviathan, that's what enemies do, but in all her years she'd never seen the mess so defiled.
Wherever those bastards landed, they'd best hope they were already dead.
Wasting no time, Deryn jumped up to the nearest windowsill and looked down. Even with the gondola at this angle, it was a farther drop than she might have hoped.
Alek climbed up beside her, looking down dubiously.
"I do it all the time," Deryn said carefully, "Constantly, since we've crashed."
"That's not very encouraging."
"Snow's dead soft."
"Perhaps the gangway has cleared…"
"No time!" In a quick movement Deryn grabbed Alek's shoulder with one arm whilst the other swept up his legs.
The jump was as easy on her as it always was, though she had to worry about the way the boy rattled in his arms when they landed. But he seemed fine enough when as he cursed and tried to wriggle free. Happy to oblige, Deryn dropped him with a crunch onto the snow where he scrambled furiously to his feet.
"That was hardly necessary!" he said, his face flushed from more than just the cold.
"You were hesitating!" Deryn said as she patted the snow off his shoulders, "And look- you haven't even broken anything. Now come on, no time to dawdle!"
Alek bit down his response and they resumed their hurried pace across the snow.
As they ran, Deryn could feel the machine's footsteps rumbling beneath her now, and the roar of its engines shaking the air. Its huge feet thrashed the snow, raising white clouds in its wake.
"At least they aren't shooting yet."
"They're well within range," Alek said. "But they don't want me getting hurt."
"That's what I'm counting on." She pulled him across the snow, past the crewmen arrayed to defend the ship.
Deryn could see the plan the captain had slapped together. A second ascender was in the air—Newkirk aboard, clutching an aerial bomb in his arms. More bombs lay half buried in the snow ahead, wires running to them. If the walker stumbled too close to one, maybe they could blast it off its feet.
As she and Alek ran through the defences, someone called after them. But Deryn pretended not to hear. She had to get Alek out in front before the shooting started.
"Do you reckon they can see us yet?" she asked.
"Let's make sure." Alek slowed, waving his arms.
The walker thundered toward them for another few seconds, then suddenly tipped backward. Deryn thought for a moment that it was going to fall. But then one steel leg stretched out in front, plowing through the snow and bringing the machine to a sliding halt, an icy cloud drifting up around it.
"Nicely done, Klopp," Alek murmured, then turned to Deryn, "They see us."
"Brilliant! Oh, and sorry about this." Deryn yanked Alek's head to the side as she held him in a death grip, mustered all her will to pull the most vicious monstrous face she could manage, and flashed her fangs near his neck.
"What- but you… the rules-" Alek choked out.
"Don't struggle or I'll nick you by mistake," she hissed, "Your family doesn't know about the rules. I'm just making sure no one gets hurt."
"You could have used your knife!" Alek growled through gritted teeth.
"I lost it."
With her head bent like this, all Deryn could do was roll her eyes up at the walker and hope it only served to make her more intimidating. It was awkward baring her teeth like this, she wasted no time in shouting her demands.
"Hey in there!" She shouted up at them, "Don't take another step or your friend here is…"
She wavered, feeling a bit dizzy at the mere thought of her threat. "Don't take another step!"
"Brilliant delivery," Alek snarled, "You look like you're about to faint."
Deryn rolled her eyes and ignored him. You'd think the daft boy would be less judgmental in his position. But Deryn's plan had worked, the machine's head began to move. Two sets of steel slowly opened, revealing a pair of faces inside.
"Hah," Deryn said, "They seemed to believe it!"
Alek snorted. "Yes, but now what? You're not exactly endearing yourself."
Deryn frowned. "I'll come up with that bit I'm sure."
Alek twisted his head in her grip to glare at her. "You are an idiot."
"Me, an idiot?" Deryn cried, "I just saved us all from being blown up!"
"They wouldn't have just…" Alek began, then sighed in disgust, "Just yell for Volger to come down under truce. He'll know what to do."
Deryn thought this sounded sensible, whoever Volger was. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Attention, Clankers! Send down Volger, under truce."
There was a long wait. Deryn looked over the Walker, wondering if the time was spent loading a canon or searching for a rifle. What's more, morning light slowly crept up the mountains and in the rush Deryn hadn't the time to assemble her day uniform.
Might end up a bit counter-productive, coming all this way to save the ship only to go up in flames herself.
Behind them the airship's crew was silent, the wind almost still. The only sounds were ticks and pops from the war machine as its engines cooled. Deryn wondered how many of the officers were up and about and if any could see how close her fangs were to a forbidden slaughter.
Of course, once the ship was saved she'd have the time to explain her rouse, wouldn't she?
A soft metal groan pulled her eyes back to the walker, her grip on Alek tightening. Some sort of hatch was swinging open between the walker's legs. A ladder made of chains spilled down from it, jangling wildly for a moment, the sun flashing from its steel rungs.
A man climbed down then, slowly and carefully. Deryn noticed a sword swinging under his fur coat.
"Is that Volger?" she whispered.
Alek nodded. "I just hope your captain honours the truce."
"Aye, me too," Deryn said. One shot from that cannon could still destroy the Leviathan where it lay.
The man named Volger made his way towards them, careful on the ice. For all his kin seemed in deathly peril at the hands of a monster, he didn't seem too concerned. Perhaps it was a fancy clanker thing.
Deryn heard Alek swallow hard, an embarrassed flush coloring his face again. By both of their behaviour, it seemed more like Alek had been caught with his pants down at a village dance.
But Volger seemed to respect Deryn's fangs at least. He stopped a few meters from them. Even underneath those bushy brows Deryn could see his gaze darting between her and the ship behind her. He had the kind of face that looked like it was stretched over a clock, its gears whirring as he considered the situation.
Alek said something in clanker talk, and it didn't carry 'frightened hostage' tone Deryn had hoped for. That was a bit irritating, just seconds ago he was the one critiquing her acting!
The man looked at Deryn again and she almost dropped her snarl under his glare. He had the same authoritative air as Mr. Rigby, even without the undead aura of bloodlust. His voice was low and steady when he spoke, and even in clanker talk Deryn knew a scolding when she heard it.
Alek wilted at his words- more so than he had when Deryn threatened to bite him, and answered shyly. Still speaking bloody clanker.
"Hey!" Deryn said angrily, "Stop all that Clanker-talk!"
Volger only offered her a bored look, and continued as if she hadn't said anything. Alek did so as well, and Deryn was getting rather fed up of the treatment. She might have no intentionof hurting him, but that didn't mean she'd stand to be belittled!
"What are you two saying?" Deryn barked, her grip on Alek tightening.
"My friend does not speak your language, I am afraid. He would like to meet with your captain- I mean- he'd like to speak with someone who speaks German and your captain…"
Perhaps Deryn's threat had worked too well, Alek's words sounded stiff and awkward. Blisters, she didn't mean to scare the poor boy that badly…
Deryn looked up at Volger, then up at Newkirk in his Huxley.
"All right," she said, "But no funny business."
Alek coughed politely. "If I promise to avoid funny business perhaps you could let me go?"
Deryn's eyes widened and she dropped him as if he'd stung her. "R-right, sorry."
Alek stumbled away and rubbed his neck. For an awful moment she thought he'd move his scarf enough for anyone to see to the two pinpricks that were already there, but his hand dropped and he dutifully moved to follow her.
"I wouldn't have actually bitten you," Deryn whispered when he was close enough.
"Again." Alek said flatly.
"Aye," Deryn coughed, "I'd never bite you again."
"How kind of you."
For a moment Alek seemed to consider.
"…And I suppose that was quick thinking," His voice was noticeably softer, "Getting me down here."
Deryn choked out a nervous laugh.
"It was!" she said, "Pure dead brilliant, me. I just hope the officers don't think I've done anything er… impolite."
Alek sighed and fell back to resume his muttered conversation with Volger. So much for gratitude.
Chewing her knuckle, Deryn sheepishly lead the clankers to the ship.