Lightning Wolves is the second novel in my Clockwork Legion steampunk series. It continues where the first novel, Owl Dance, left off. In the first novel, we met a Mexican professor who had built a wolf automaton with a camera in its head. In the second novel, the professor, along with a young assistant named Larissa uses the wolf to track down a mysterious ghostly camel that’s spooking miners and Apaches in Southern Arizona.
One of the inspirations for this novel was my fascination with Tombstone, Arizona. That said, the story of the the Gunfight at OK Corral has been told many times and I wanted to tell a different tale, so I focused on the early history of the miners and ranchers in the area. Anyone who leaves a comment here or in my earlier post about the novel Owl Dance will be entered to win the Owl Dance ebook. Be sure to let me know how to contact you if you win!
To learn more about Lightning Wolves, including all the places where you can obtain a copy of your own, visit http://www.davidleesummers.com/lightning_wolves.html
Larissa dreamed about Christmas.
The aroma of roasting goose wafted through the homestead. Her young cousin, Alethea, sat on a wooden chair cradling a porcelain doll in a beautiful red dress.
“What’s her name?” asked Larissa.
“Her name is Lyssa. I named her after you.” Alethea never quite managed all the syllables in Larissa’s name. “I call her Lyssa Crimson because of her crimson dress.”
The next thing Larissa knew, Alethea and the chair had vanished. The doll wafted toward the floor like a feather. Larissa tried to catch it, but the air around her was like molasses. When the doll reached the floor, it shattered. Porcelain shards rose through the air in slow motion. Larissa sank to her hands and knees, desperate to repair the doll, but knew there was nothing she could do. The crash and tinkling continued to ring in her head until her eyes flew open and she realized she was hearing the alarm clock next to her bed at the Hotel San Xavier in Tucson.
She reached over and shut off the clock, then took several deep breaths to still her heart and calm her trembling.
The sun had not yet risen. Professor Maravilla wanted to get an early start. He planned to make some changes to his mechanical wolf, then start their ride to the last place the phantom camel rider had been seen. Reaching for a match, she lit a candle by her bedside.
Larissa stepped over to the pitcher and basin that sat atop the room’s dresser. She washed her face and ran water over her hair before brushing it out. The routine actions calmed her after the unsettling dream. The night before, she’d availed herself of the hotel’s bathhouse. For the first time in several weeks she felt truly clean.
After dressing, she straightened her bed, then went next door to the professor’s room. When she tapped on the door, it fell ajar. From the glow, Larissa could tell the professor had already lit the room’s gas lamps. Tools and mechanical parts clattered. She also heard the professor speaking.
“This would be so much easier if you could just persuade someone to give me the money for my research.” There was a pause, as though someone responded in a voice too quiet to hear. “I thought you said you influenced the minds of the Russians.” After another pause, Maravilla continued. “Yes, it’s true I gave my ornithopter design over to the military, but I didn’t feel I had a choice. I don’t dare return to Mexico.”
Larissa’s brow furrowed as she listened to what seemed like one half of an exchange. She knocked louder. The professor fell silent. A moment later, he appeared at the door and smiled. “Good morning, Miss Crimson. I trust you slept well.”
“Aside from a bad dream, yes. Thank you.”
The professor stepped aside and allowed Larissa to enter. She gasped and reached for her pistol when she saw the wolf in the middle of the room. The professor put his hand on her elbow and she looked closer. The wolf stood absolutely still with a hatch open on its side. She walked around the animal and saw gears, rods and a strange, spherical whirligig inside. The clockwork mechanism had been removed and now sat on the writing desk. On the floor sat a steam engine from one of the professor’s ornithopters.
Larissa crouched down next to the engine parts and peered around the room, paying particular attention to the curtains and the bed.
“Are you looking for something, Miss Crimson?” asked the professor as he crouched down beside her.
She shook her head. “No. I just thought I heard something is all.”
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