“And they might work,” I offer. “There wasn’t an aurora tonight. No ribbons, no curtain. Nothing but stars. Like that short break in the storm when the Reaper oversaw the mag-rifle training. Reed probably noticed that break, too. He knew that if we left immediately, we’d have a window when the weapons would function. So he sent the falcon and blew the powder.”

“We’re going to hang everything on a maybe?” Asher says.

“The wastes are nothing but a giant maybe,” I argue. “Maybe there will be enough water. Maybe a dust storm won’t level my home. Maybe my pack won’t die. We gamble daily, and we stay alive by finding the situations where the maybes lean closer to will pan out than won’t. And this looks like it will work. This is as good as we’re going to get.”

The Prime presses her palms to the table. “Tender, wake your crew and ready the completed wagons immediately. I want the fleet moving at first light. Reaper, I know you’ve selected troops for the fifteen wagons, but as we’ll have only nine, you need to whittle that number down. Choose carefully. Arm them with mag-rifles, but have them bring their preferred weapons of choice, too. And Chemist? Load our black powder and balls for the blast barrels. We sail at dawn.”

V

The Verdant

Chapter Forty-One

The sky is just beginning to lighten when a fleet of nine wind wagons rolls through Powder Town’s main gate, one after the next, sails filled with wind, flags flapping. The wastes are bruised and purple in the early dawn. I stand at the bow of the foremost wagon, a hand on the side rail, breathing deeply.

I am dressed for battle, which isn’t all that different from any day on the wastes. My scarf over my head, goggles pulled into place, and a leather jacket the Prime lent me to replace the one I sent to Bedrock with Reed, buttoned high beneath my chin. A mag-rifle is slung across my back, the shoulder strap cutting from one shoulder to my opposite hip. My bone blade is sheathed at my waist.

The Prime shouts orders from the tiller. We’ll cut south of Burning Ground, avoiding the worst of the dangerous land. Then, staying well out of view of the Barrel, we’ll swing north and approach Bedrock from the southeast.