Hunted by Lindsay Buroker

glanced up. “What?”
    “On account of people shooting at me, I had
to choose between your pack and mine.”
    “So...no fresh smallclothes until we get back
to town?” She tapped a pickaxe leaning against the wall. Maybe she
could dismantle it and—
    “No fresh ammo ,” Cedar said. “I have a
box on me, but I won’t be able to hold an advancing army off for
long if they’re enthusiastic with their siege.” He leaned her
Winchester against the wall. “I don’t suppose you have any?”
    Kali fished in her pack, groping around the
bottom, and pulled out a fistful of cartridges. “Sorry, I’d usually
have a full box, but I had to make room for my pliers. And my
wrench set. And—”
    “Never mind.” Cedar grabbed the cartridges
and shoved them in his pocket. His gaze fell upon the potatoes.
“Too bad those can’t be used for ammo. They’re probably frozen
harder than cannon balls.”
    “Technically, I suppose you could make some
sort of spud launcher.”
    His eyes brightened. “You could? Now?”
    “No, not now. I don’t have time to do that and get us out of here.”
    “Oh.” Disappointment tugged down the corners
of his mouth.
    “Just do the best you can with the rifles,
huh?” Kali grabbed her wrench and tore into the piping on the
ceiling to rip a segment free.
    Sand and rock dribbled into the hole that
marked the entrance to the mine. Cedar whirled, raising his rifle
and firing before Kali spotted anyone.
    A yelp came from above.
    “Yup, they’re down there,” a man called.
    Kali grabbed one of the pickaxes and kicked
the iron end off, figuring she could turn it sideways to use as the
bit in a hammer drill. The tool she had in mind would be clunky at
best, but it only needed to work long enough to dig a way to the
surface, preferably from the end of a tunnel far from the entrance,
so the gunmen waiting outside would not hear her.
    The drill would need a lot of power, and she
did not have the time to build a steam version. She pulled out one
of the vials in her sock and eyed the glowing flakes.
    Cedar fired again. “I better go up front and
see if I can discourage them from getting so close. Sooner or later
one of them will think to try and smoke us out. Kali?”
    She lifted her eyes from her growing pile of
tools and salvaged equipment. “Huh?”
    He hesitated. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.
I’ll keep them away as long as you need.”
    Jaw set with determination, he strode toward
the entrance. Kali worked. Much to do, little time.
    Shots fired while she twisted metal and
hammered her casing into shape. Cedar shot at anyone who came
within his field of vision, but she knew he could not poke his head
out of the hole, lest someone shoot it off. The gunmen could creep
dangerously close, as evinced by more than one bullet ricocheting
into the tunnel. One bounced off the rock-hard floor, hit a wall,
and skidded all the way back to her chamber. Any one of those
bullets could hit Cedar. Or her.
    “Work,” she told herself. “Focus.”
    While thumps, groans, and gunfire continued
at the mine entrance, her fingers flew. The drill itself was easy,
but the motor took a steady hand and a lot of squinting, given the
poor light. More than once, she fumbled a small screw, and it
bounced onto the uneven floor to hide in a crevasse. At least she
had all the parts she needed.
    A clash of steel announced the end of Cedar’s
bullet supply.
    Kali lunged to her feet, remembering he had
taken her cartridges but not her rifle. She grabbed it and darted
to the front of the mine. She almost stumbled over an inert body on
the way. A bullet had taken one of Sebastian’s men in the eye. She
gulped and stepped over him.
    Cedar stood a few feet from the hole, his
back toward her, his sword poised and ready. Blood spattered his
shirt. Not his, she hoped.
    “Cedar,” Kali said, not wanting to startle
him, not when he held that sharp blade. “Here’s my rifle.”
    Before he even turned around, she was