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"Another close one, but they missed!" Deryn cried down to the rook men, but as she turned back to the , her eyes ide

One of the sputtering tendrils was reaching up froht toward the rookery!

At the last ht eine pod by its whirling propeller Fire struck ine ground to a halt, spilling a cloud of smoke into the ship’s wake

The Clanker airship was losing altitude quickly now, its shredded gasbag fluttering in the breeze The other zeppelin wasover the Kaiserin Elizabeth and raining metal darts onto the frenzied kappa

The Leviathan was safe fro smoke and flame Deryn spun about and called to Newkirk, "We’re hit! I’ for an answer, she hoisted opened theand looked down A stabilizing booh to walk on in a pinch But it was a good ten yards below the rookery, and Deryn didn’t fancy ju would stop her fall but the open sea

Luckily Mr Rigby had made her draw the ship in profile a hundred ti the rookery to the booh to reach

Al froine pod, this was no ti out the , she saw a set of handholds leading up to her goal - soht="0em">

Deryn grabbed the nearest hold and swung off into the air She pulled herself hand over hand up to the cable and threw out her legs to wrap the down fast, the steel cable as hot as a teakettle in her gloves Half a ain, but the rocket burst uselessly low, sending a dozen sizzling threads into the sea

Her boots landed with a clang against the booine pod were all thrown open, and s back into the Leviathan’s wake She entered through the nearest hatch, her eyes stinging

"It’s Middy Sharp Report!"

An engineer appeared froht suit "It’s bad, sir - we’ve called for a Herculean Grab on to soan, her voice fading A rushing sound was building overhead She stared up at the belly of the airbeast, and saw the ballast lines swelling

She’d never seen a Herculean inundation before They were called only when the ship was in serious danger of burning, because they were barking dangerous the!" Deryn cried, pushing into the pod to look for a handhold

The engineer turned and stepped through the thick sineering patches stood Deryn knelt behind thehold as the first spuine pod The inundation caut, briny and fouled with the clart of a hundred species The torrent grew, the burning engine spitting white steale with the smoke and brackish water

The inundation lifted Deryn fro to sweep her out the open hatch and into the void The water filled her boots, churning up to force itself into her nose and eyes But she held fast until the last sparks in the engine sputtered out and the flood finally began to slacken The briny water slowly drained fro below her waist, then her knees

One of the engineers let out a sigh of relief, letting go to take a step toward the blackened ears

"Keep hold, rabbed the rack again just as the ship began to tilt With thousands of gallons of ballast gone fro the airship into a steep dive

"A HERCULEAN INUNDATION"

The re out the forward hatch She heard the creak of the ratlines overhead as the airbeast strained, bending its nose upward against the dive But out the nearest porthole she saw the glittering sea rushing toward the bears - the Clanker engines shifting into reverse The whole ship shuddered, its descent slowing to a crawl The Leviathan hovered aslant in the air for a ain ater puine pod leveled off

A lizard popped its head froe tube and spoke with the captain’s voice "Ventral engine pod, help is on the way Please report your status"

The two engineers looked at Deryn, perhaps a bit nervous that they’d just sent the whole ship plu toward the sea

She cleared her throat "Middy Sharp, sir, just arrived here froineers called for a Herculean The fire’s out, but by the looks of things, on’t be giving you any power for a while End e"

The lizard blinked, then scampered away Deryn turned to the men This was her station for the rest of the battle, it seemed

"Don’t look so sheepish," she said "You may have saved the ship But if you want to be proper heroes, let’s get this engine running again!"

Chapter Sixteen

"Hard to starboard," the captain said, and the pilot sent the

As the Leviathan turned, the deck shifted beneath Alek’s feet, but it was nothing like the sickening dive of a moment before The ocean had filled the front s of the bridge, and he and Mr Tesla had skidded forward on their dress shoes Not for the first time Alek was envious of the crew’s rubber-soled boots Bovril was still clinging tight to his shoulder, scared into silence

The zeppelin that had fired at the Leviathan swung into view below, still falling A swaren from a thousand cuts, and the German airship settled on the ocean like a feather on a pond As the Leviathan’s shadow passed across it, a pair of canvas lifeboats eht occurred to Alek "Will the kappa attack those lifeboats as well?"

Dr Barlow shook her head "Not unless the sub pulse"

"And we’re close enough to shore," Dr Busk added "Those chaps should be fine, as long as they don’t ," repeated Dr Barlow’s loris fro, and had a chuckle Bovril looked up and joined in, relaxing its grip on Alek’s shoulder a little

"The others aren’t so lucky," Mr Tesla said, staring at the Kaiserin Elizabeth in the distance She looked like a haunted ship Her decks were aith blood and were glittering with spikes, and kappa roa for prey If any crew had survived, they must have hidden belowdecks behind metal hatches