Deryn
My body starts to move before my mind catches up to things. There's a spare line of rope - I take it and secure it to a mooring hook at the head of the Leviathan. Then I freeze, looking down at the long drop to the freezing waters below. A Huxley was one thing. This is something else.
I did not pass myself off as a boy just to get scared of a wee little drop, I tell myself fiercely. And we're all going to fall, unless I do something.
So I hold my breath - unnecessarily, perhaps, but it makes me feel better - and jump.
Air rushes past me, ripping away the scream still unborn in my mouth. I'm afraid that the line's too long, but then I crash into the gondola, my metal arm absorbing most of the impact. I peer through the wide window into the bridge. The German pilot has a pistol to Captain Hobbes' head, and with the other hand has the ship steered downwards. He must be suicidal, I think, before realizing that's exactly what he is. But he's taking all of us down with him.
Hearing the thump I made, he looks up. His eyes, full of manic fire, widen.
I smile and wave, perhaps a little cheekily. Then I ball my metal fingers into a fist and punch through the window.
As soon as I hear shattering glass, I swing myself inside. There's a wrenching moment after I let go of the rope when I'm suspended in midair, then I land on blessedly solid floor. The German brandishes his pistol at me and yells in Clanker talk. I yell back.
"You bumrag! You're not hurting my airship while I'm alive!"
At the same moment, it occurs to both of us that he's a soldier with a gun, and I'm a wee middie armed only with my voice.
Perhaps I should have planned this a squick more thoroughly.
I back up, gulping, and he points the pistol at my face. I can only hope he won't shoot and risk a stray spark igniting the mass of hydrogen above our heads. But he wants the Leviathan destroyed, after all. It probably doesn't matter how.
He's tensing the finger on the trigger when Alek bursts in, green eyes blazing, fencing saber in one hand. He's angrier than I've ever seen him, and the pilot swings around ready to shoot. I won't let him be hurt on my account. "Hey!" I yell. "Don't forget me!"
The man's eyes flicker towards me, which gives Alek all the time he needs to cross the room and stab him through the heart.
I stare.
White faced, Alek pulls his saber out and lets it clatter to the ground, letting the soldier's body crumple. Blood spatters his hand and the front of his shirt. "It's different up close," he says, swaying on his feet.
I don't care if Volger would deem it inappropriate. I walk over and put my arms around him, feeling him shaking and knowing there's nothing I can say to make this all right.