Airship Captain Adena Nightingale takes on a smuggling run -
and gets more than she bargained for. Out on the frigid desert of
BloodDark World's night side, she rescues Earthman Greg Cole, an escaped
slave from a Pure Blood mine.
Greg wants to rescue his friend, kidnapped with him and held somewhere in the City of Night. Adena's okay with that, but she doesn't know something strange lurks in the Oculus Nightingale's cargo bay.
When they reach the City of Night all hell breaks loose. Adena, Greg,
and the sentient brass parrot Mr. Phibuli find themselves caught up in
the aftershocks of an ancient war - and they have their work cut out for
them in order to survive.
Excerpt:
The open desert lay beyond the single track, the
sand and gravel waste looking cold, dark and empty. The heat on Greg's
back stopped as if a furnace door had shut. He trudged onward for
another hundred paces or so, wondering what to do next. The desert
seemed to suck at his soul. Greg shivered from fear more than from cold.
Who knows what's out there? The wild creatures of this crazy world could be far worse than Earth.
A blazing barrel dropped from the sky, slamming into
the sand and bursting a short distance away. Burning oil shot out in a
spray and spattered on his legs. Greg jumped and howled as he beat at
the stinging pain and tripped over a barrel stave as it skittered by,
one end burning bright. Cursing the burns, Greg picked up the stave.
With a last glance at the emptiness he turned and used the rudimentary
torch to light his way across the uneven ground.
He skirted the area of the mining compound, trying
to see past fires and roiling smoke to determine how the slaves were
doing. Occasional yells and cries sounded over the roar of flames. Once
an ogre bellowed, whether in pain or triumph, he couldn't tell.
Greg reached the foot of the crag. The locomotive
whistle shrieked, the banshee sound making him cringe. He heard the
sounds of the engine stirring to life, the heavy huff and puff of steam
at work. Greg stopped.
What the heck do I do now? I know that
damned city is back down the track. Do the silly beggars think they'll
escape if they go back? Are they going the other way, and to what?
He hesitated, caught between exhaustion and the need
to escape. The sounds of the locomotive increased in tempo, but
decreased in volume. It's moving away. They're getting away without me. He sagged to his knees, feeling like giving up and letting the cold or any surviving ogres find and kill him.
A soft puttering sound impinged on his hearing. At
first Greg put it down to the sound of blood surging in his head. The
sound increased in volume. Weary beyond belief he raised his head and
looked about, wondering if he heard an echo of the fast-retreating
locomotive. Some quality of the sound made him stare upward.
A huge shape blotted out the stars above. The fires
in the mining camp reflected off a long silver cylindrical form, and
Greg could make out the glint of glass and metal fittings and an array
of windows showing a dull ruddy light.
It's an airship! An honest-to-God airship!
