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nodded toward the axeman. The bandana hid her lips, but creases at the corners of her dark eyes signaled a smile.
    “ I’d be happy to show you around,” Kali said, thinking of the various booby traps she had around the shop, “ after the race. Why don’t we meet in town?”
    “ With all the people hunting you? I’ll not have you out wandering around where someone else can lay a claim.” The woman gestured for her men to come closer. “Time for a hike back to town.”
    “ I’m not leaving my sled,” Kali said.
    “ Yes, you are.” The woman nodded toward the bleeding man. “Big Rock, you want to convince her?”
    “ You people certainly have colorful names.” Kali backed up until she bumped against the furnace door. She slipped a hand into her pocket.
    “ You’re the one what’s going to be colorful soon,” Rock said. “All blue and black and bumpy.” He chuckled at his own wit as he approached.
    The third man stood back, keeping a rifle trained on Kali. It was not an ideal chance, but she might not get a better one. And she had no desire to be made colorful.
    Rock reached for her. Kali yanked a sphere out of her pocket, twisted it, and threw it on the ground. Smoke spewed out, and ticks sounded—a countdown timer.
    “ What the Sam Hill?”
    Kali used the distraction to grab her rifle and lunge around the sled.
    “ It’s just smoke,” the woman growled. “Grab her. Don’t—”
    The countdown finished with a hollow clank.
    “ Yeow!”
    Kali was charging away from the sled, slipping and sliding on the icy patches beneath the snow, and did not see the smoke nut in action. She had designed it, though, and knew its operation well. The spring-loaded cache was shooting out metal needles excellent at piercing layers of clothing and gouging holes in tender flesh, especially flesh located waist level and lower.
    She reached the snowy bank without any rifles firing behind her and scrambled up the slope into the trees. Climbing the hill was no easy feat. Her snowshoes were on the sled, and her boots sank into deep powder with each floundering step. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to hide her tracks. Though the idea of killing made her stomach churn, she would have to find a good spot and pick them off. Otherwise, they would keep hunting her. And there was the matter of her sled. She was not leaving it there for them to mess with.
    Kali spotted a thick copse and squeezed into it. Anyone following her tracks would have no trouble finding her, but at least she could use the trees for cover. She wriggled deeper. Snow dumped from the branches, pattering onto her head. An icy clump slithered past her scarf and invaded her shirt. She grunted and worked it out. That unpleasantness summed up the day so far.
    She paused in the middle of rearranging her clothing. Her shoulder blades itched, as if someone’s eyes were upon her. Kali peered through the brush behind her. Nothing stirred.
    Shouts came from the river below. It sounded like the pursuers had not started after her yet. Then what—
    Something touched her arm.
    Kali jumped. Cedar. He squeezed in beside her.
    She cursed in her mother’s tongue, a chain of expletives that would have embarrassed most men in the tribe. She had not heard anyone crunching through the snow. It was as if he was a ghost, appearing from nowhere.
    “ I took care of the other two.” Cedar put his back to a tree and lowered a branch so he could watch the river.
    “ Took care of?” Kali asked. “That lady down there was sure they were taking care of you.”
    “ Not likely.”
    In the tight space, she could smell the scent of gunpowder clinging to him. He slid a collapsible spyglass from a pocket and studied the river.
    “ What is that thing you threw at them?” he asked.
    “ I call them smoke nuts.”
    “ Because they make smoke and...?”
    “ The needles they expel tend to land about, er, nut-high.”
    Cedar’s eyes widened. “Ouch.”
    A gust of wind rattled the