Cogheart

Cogheart — page 3
PROLOGUE Malkin pressed his forepaws against the flight deck window and peered out The silver airship was still following gaining on them The purr of its propellers and the whoosh of its knife-sharp hull cutting through the air sent a shiver of terror through his clockwork innards The fox tore his eyes away and stared at his master John’s ship Dragonfly was fast but she had nothing in the way of firepower The silver airship by contrast bristled with weapons Sharp metal spikes stuck out from her hull making her look like some sort of militarized porcupine Just then Dragonfly’s rudder shifted and she pitched as John twisted the wheel into a one-eighty turn to swoop back past her pursuers The silver airship shrunk away but within seconds she’d swung around to follow She began closing in once more her propellers chopping through the clouds throwing dark shadows across their stern When the two airships broke into a patch of blue she fired A harpoon slashed across the sky and thudded into Dragonfly’s hull the point piercing her port side Thud Another harpoon speared into the stern Malkin let out a bark of alarm as the stench of burning gas filled the flight deck and the needles in the rows of instrument panels flickered into the red danger zones Over the whine of their stalling engines the crackle of straining