Chapter 1

“Have a care who you choose as friends, Madlin. They are the ones who will come for you in times of need.” -Cadmus Errol, the Mad Tinker

“This is bad. They should’ve been back by now.”

“Cap it, Hayfield, you’ve been saying that for half an hour,” snapped a grease-slicked scamp who leaned against a column of grime-crusted pipes.

There was a click, and a snock sounded against the wall. A ball bearing bounced to the iron plate floor and rolled around, seeking the lowest point on the warped surface. A delicate hand scooped it up before it fell through drainage grate.

“Not good, Pick,” Hayfield muttered. He crouched with his back pressed against the door, his weight acting in place of a lock or bolt. The gaunt stoop-shouldered giant of man dug a three-fingered hand into his pocket and drew out a pocketclock. He flipped it open, gave it a glance, and shook his head. “It ain’t five minutes from Porter’s Crossing to here.”

A scrawny waif of a girl looked up from her work, but said nothing. Cradled in her lap she held a curious rifle. It was wrapped all down the barrel in copper wire, and a bulbous protrusion hung just in front of the trigger guard. That protrusion was metallic, carved with strange symbols, and had wires running from it. The girl twisted the bottom of the protrusion. The strange symbols glowed a pale blue, barely visible in the light of the bare bulb overhead. She dropped the ball bearing into a hole at the back of the barrel, and took aim at the far wall.

…

These are the opening paragraphs of The Mad Tinker’s Daughter. Readers of the Twinborn Trilogy will recognize the world of Tellurak, but will be introduced to the world of Korr for the first time: a world of steam and spark, underground cities and great works of mechanical ingenuity. A whole new set of plots and schemes are about to be set into motion. The new adventures will begin in 2014.