“I packed my own, thanks.” Hands on her hips, Zera surveyed the remnants of the crawler. “Any thoughts on how we do this?”
The crawler had cracked open like an egg, and the passenger compartment was unfixable. But the underside was intact, even though a few of the legs had snapped off.I could reattach them,Kreya thought.But we’d have to ride exposed.It wouldn’t be pretty, but it was possible she could get it moving again. “Plenty. I need you to be lookout while I work.”
“And if something comes to eat us before we finish?”
Kreya shrugged. “Eat it first. I could use some breakfast.”
She got to work, hauling the snapped-off legs back to the crawler body and lashing them together with vines. There was no shortage of materials in the sunken forest, which was a nice change from the mountain forest—she had access to an abundance of timber around her tower from the pines and spruce, but the myriad vines in the river valley made for excellent ropes. She also had her full array of tools. No respectable bone worker would ever be without them.
Or unrespectable, she conceded.
As she worked, she abandoned hope of manufacturing anykind of compartment for them to ride in and instead devoted all her attention to the floor and legs. It required her to use a bit of a strength talisman to rebend the metal back into the right shape, but in the end, it all fit.
“Almost done?” Zera asked.
“It won’t be comfortable,” Kreya warned. “We’ll feel every bump and bounce.”
“But will it go fast?”
Kreya eyed the fresh lizard bone with glee. “Let’s find out.” Measuring, she decided half would do. They could save the other half for later. With Zera’s help, she sawed the bone in half and installed one piece on the crawler’s underside, between its many legs. As she carved the markings, she felt it begin to hum beneath her finger. This bone, even halved, had alotof power.
Poking her head under the crawler, Zera asked again, “How about now? Almost done?”
“It’ll be done when it’s done.”
“Sooner would be better, dear one.”
Kreya paused, listening. “How many are coming?”
“Let’s just say it’s more than even Stran could fight with one of my best talismans.”
She carved faster. Spreading her palms across the bones, touching each of the marks, she said the words that would infuse the crawler with the power of the monster’s rib. “Get on,” Kreya ordered.
She could hear the predators coming: croco-raptors, from their cries. Smaller than river lizards, but known to be just as deadly. They hunted in packs.Shit, we’re going to cut it close.Their luck had run out. It was time to go.
Zera climbed on top of the crawler, and Kreya joined her. There weren’t seats—those had been smashed beyond fixing—butKreya had lashed on a log for them to use as a bench. She wished now she hadn’t wasted the time on that.
“Come on, bone, show us what you’ve got.”
As the cries grew closer, echoing on both sides of them as the croco-raptors surged to surround them, Kreya ordered, “Nacri-ze.”
The lizard bone hummed, the legs clicked, and the crawler moved forward. It crashed over bushes and rocks, and Kreya steered for the river lizard trail, using it as if it were a road.
Behind them, the croco-raptors gave chase.
“Faster,” Zera murmured in her ear.
“Raca!” Kreya commanded the bone. It threw more power into the legs, and the crawler raced forward. She clutched the steering rod, keeping it steady.
“One to our left!” Zera cried.
Gritting her teeth, Kreya concentrated on steering. She headed for a tree with a massive trunk, gauged the speed... “Raca!” And then veered at the last second.
They heard the cry of the croco-raptor as it hit the tree.
Branches crackled as they smashed through them. Ducking, Kreya steered the crawler along the path. It rattled so hard that she felt as if her bones were clacking against one another.
“Hold together, baby,” she said to the crawler.
