Skies of Steel: The Ether Chronicles by Zoe Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

mountains and scooping out oceans with his bare hands.
    Grabbing her tray, she walked it back to the galley. It took several tries for her to find it, but at last she did, and a wary-eyed boy took the tray from her. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen. The impulse to ask him about his history felt like an itch beneath her skin, so she quickly left the galley.
    Bracing wind met her as she reached the top deck. Full night had fallen, and with it, the temperature likewise dropped. The idea of going back down to her cabin to retrieve a coat didn’t appeal, not when she could fill her lungs with the cool, fresh, evening air, and take her fill of the jeweled night sky. Flying during the daytime was wondrous, but being airborne at night was a waking dream. One she was determined to savor.
    She walked further onto the deck, passing a few members of the crew but not, thankfully, Denisov. She wanted to enjoy these moments, and his presence deeply unsettled her. For so many reasons. Now, she could relish the unique experience of flying at night. Its lulling peace.
    A burst of fire a mile away on the starboard side tore through the stillness. And then another. The airship rocked slightly from the concussive blasts. What were they?
    Crewmen suddenly swarmed the deck. Yet none of them spoke. Eerie, how there were so many of them but they kept silent. Many of them were extinguishing the lamps and dimming the illumination devices in the panels lining the hull. Plunging the ship into utter darkness.
    But the explosions on the starboard side continued. The fire flared, and half a moment later, she heard and felt the jolt. The flares of light dazzled her eyes. She couldn’t make out what was causing the detonations.
    “British and Russian airships,” said a deep voice behind her. “Another territorial pissing match.”
    She whirled to face Denisov. In all the controlled chaos, she hadn’t heard or felt his approach. He came to stand beside her and together they stared out into the darkness.
    Naturally, he could see what she could not. But in a moment, her vision adjusted, and she could just make out two British airships facing off against three Russian vessels. They unloaded their ether cannons on one another, lurid blossoms of fire bursting in the night sky. Ether-enhanced Gatling guns made rough, choppy sounds. The noise of wood shattering apart also tore through the air.
    Something on one of the British ships caught fire. Crewmen seemed to work fast to put out the blaze, but it was clear the airship had suffered a bad blow.
    Men were out there, dying. She couldn’t see them, or hear them, but no crew could take that much bombardment without suffering loss of life.
    Daphne’s heart pounded in time with the ether cannon. Her mouth dried.
    “I’ve never observed actual warfare before,” she croaked. Oh, there had been some local tribal leaders’ disputes that had resulted in spilled blood, but nothing on this industrialized scale.
    Though she couldn’t make out Denisov’s expression, his words were flat. “It’s just a skirmish. Hopefully, it’s enough.”
    “Enough for what?” she asked, appalled.
    “To get away unseen.”
    Thus the reason why all the lights aboard the Bielyi Voron were extinguished. With the British and Russians engaged in combat against each other, the rogue ship would appear to be nothing more than a patch of darkness in a cloudless sky, and not worth noting.
    Not so cloudless. The formerly clear sky was rapidly dotting with gray, billowing clouds.
    Which, to a sharp-eyed observer aboard one of the other airships, would throw the Bielyi Voron into perfect silhouette.
    Denisov seemed to know this. When Levkov appeared, the captain ordered, “Get us out of here. Fast. But don’t fire up the turbines too much, or they might spot us.”
    “Aye, Captain.” Gone was Levkov’s typical surliness as he hurried to obey Denisov’s command.
    The turbines whirred faster, and the wind picked up as the