As the Stormwalker neared the gate, Alek wondered if the sledge behind them was straight.
Master Klopp read his mind. "Perhaps I should watch out the hatch, like Volger."
"No offense, Klopp," Alek said, "but you're a bit too sturdy to stand on my shoulders."
The master of mechaniks shrugged, looking relieved.
"Perhaps Mr. Sharp can help," Dr. Barlow suggested in German. She was sitting in the commander's chair again, Tazza at her feet.
Alek agreed, and soon Dylan was halfway up through the hatch, facing backward, his boots settled on Alek's shoulders.
"At least we know the sledge fits through the door," Klopp muttered. "Since it is the door."
After a few bumps and scrapes they were out on the open ice. But dragging the sledge was still like walking through molasses. Every step set the engines groaning. Annoyingly, Dylan stayed up top, his boots bouncing on Alek's shoulders.
"Be ready to speed up a bit," Klopp said as they reached the slope leading down from the castle. "We don't want our cargo sliding into us from behind."
Alek nodded, grasping the saunters tighter. Going down the hill, the sledge would build up its own momentum.
With a metal clang Dylan dropped back down into the cabin.
"They're here!"
They all looked at him, speechless.
"To rescue us!" he shouted. "Two airships, coming over the mountains ahead!"
Alek brought the Stormwalker to a quick halt, looking at Klopp. "Cut us loose. We need to get Volger back!"
"But they'll think we're attacking."
"Wait a moment, both of you," Dr. Barlow said. "According to the captain the Air Service shouldn't be here for a week!"
Master Klopp didn't answer, leaning forward and raising his glasses to his eyes. His gaze swept the sky a moment, then fixed on a single spot, a frown growing on his face.
Alek squinted out the viewport and saw them - two dots just above the horizon. He silenced the walker, listening for the sound of the airship's engines across the snow.
"Not airbeasts," Klopp said simply. "They're the kaiser's zeppelins, coming for the kill."
THIRTY-ONE
Deryn listened to the old mechanic arguing with Alek.
She didn't have to speak Clanker to know what they were saying - she'd heard the word "zeppelin" come from Klopp's mouth. So it wasn't rescuers coming ...
It was barking Germans!
She reckoned Klopp wanted to slink back to the castle and let the zeppelins do their work. The airships wouldn't have spotted the Stormwalker yet. So once the Leviathan was destroyed, Alek and his friends could go back into hiding.
Dr. Barlow was about to join the argument, but Deryn silenced her with a hand on one shoulder, knowing exactly what to say.
"Your friend Volger's out there, Alek. Because he traded himself for you!"
"I know that," Alek said. "But it seems Volger planned for this. He made Klopp promise to keep me hidden if the Germans came."
Deryn sighed. That count was a shifty one.
Alek switched back to Clanker-talk, ordering Klopp to disconnect the walker from the sledge. It was odd how many words in German were almost the same as in English, once you'd got your ear in. For once, though, Alek wasn't getting his way. The old man folded his arms, and kept saying nein and nicht, which any dafty could tell were Clanker for "no."
And it was obvious Bauer and Hoffman would obey Klopp, not Alek, however important the boy was back in Clanker-land. Without their help the Stormwalker was stuck here, like a dog tied to a stake.
Deryn drew her rigging knife, but reckoned that holding it to Alek's throat wouldn't work twice. Besides, she'd promised not to.
But it was time for this squabble to end.
With the hilt of the knife she thumped Klopp hard on his pointy helmet. It slipped down over his eyes, squelching his latest argument.
She turned to Alek. "Give me an axe."
Deryn was down the chain ladder in a squick, the axe thrust through her safety harness. The snow was deep here on the slope, filling her boots with murderous cold as she trudged up to the sledge.
She'd watched Klopp rig this contraption, so she knew its weakness. The ends of the chain were welded to two iron posts on the front of the sledge, the chain's length threaded through a steel ring at the Stormwalker's waist. If she cut either end, the chain would slide through the ring and out, freeing the walker.
But it was massive, each link as big as Deryn's hand. She chose the right side of the sledge. The welding looked hasty there, the wood of the sledge dotted with globs of metal. She scooped up snow in her gloved hands and packed it around a link of chain. Hopefully Alek was right and the freezing cold would make the metal brittle.
"All right, then," she said, raising the axe. "Break!"
Her first swing bounced limply back. The chain was too slack to take the force of the blow.
"We don't have time for this!" she cried, glancing at the horizon. The two airships were close enough for her to see their markings now - Iron Crosses on their tail fins, their skins silvery in the morning sun.
"Mr. Sharp!" called Dr. Barlow, her head sticking up from the Stormwalker's hatch. "Anything we can do?"
"Aye," Deryn shouted. "Pull it tight!"
Dr. Barlow disappeared, and a moment later the Stormwalker's engines surged. It took a shuffling step ahead, the chain snapping taut. The sledge shifted a bit beside Deryn as she packed more snow.
Her next swing hit the unyielding metal hard, sending a nasty shock up her arms. She knelt to look closer: The blow had left a notch in one of the metal links, and another in the axe. But the chain wasn't split.
"Blisters."
"Anything?" Dr. Barlow called.
Deryn didn't answer, swinging again as hard as she could. The axe bounced from her hands - she leapt back as it spun through the air, landing a few yards away.
"Careful, Mr. Sharp!" the lady boffin admonished.
Deryn ignored her, peering closer. One link of the chain showed a tiny fracture, too narrow for another link to slip through.
But under enough force the metal might bend.
She called up to the Stormwalker, "Tell Alek to pull - as hard as he can!"
Dr. Barlow nodded, and soon the Stormwalker began to roar again. The machine shifted from foot to foot, digging itself deeper into the snow. Sparks glimmered as its metal feet scraped bare stone below. The sledge crept forward a bit, nudging at Deryn's knee like some huge dim beastie trying to get her attention.