The Republic of Texas, 1862: Fourteen year old Gillian Ward -- mechanician, horsewoman, and darned good shot with a rifle -- wants nothing more than to ride the range and care for the steam lines which power the Republic. When global war threatens, however, Gilly's parents are summoned to England. Soldiers from New Spain soon arrive in west Texas, intent on kidnapping Gilly. Chased across the Republic, Gilly and her friends team up with a wandering knight and discover a devastating weapon the Spanish have built in the Indian Territory. Threatened by hostile soldiers, enemy warships, and...