by Eric Vall
Before I returned to work myself, I went to visit Shoshanne and the injured mages. She had wrapped linens soaked in ointment around the broken leg of one mage and fastened on a splint. The mage with the head injury was also wrapped up in healing cloth. When Aurora and I joined her, she had the shirt off the mage with the crushed ribs and gently touched his black and blue torso.
“I didn’t think to build you an infirmary,” I said apologetically. “Now I can see we need one.”
“Yes, somewhere with cots so the patients can rest and some storage for the tools of my trade would be nice,” Shoshanne replied, her eyes still on her patient. “Your breath is very shallow. Is it painful?”
As Shoshanne continued the examination, I tapped into my power and summoned granite to rise up around us as walls. With another push, I brought the four walls together to form a pointed roof, and then I lifted up simple boxes into the floor the shape and size of twin beds. It was only when the mage she examined began to rise up that Shoshanne looked around and found she was now inside the infirmary. The stunned expression on her face was absolutely priceless.
“Anything else you need?” I asked with a big grin.
“Um, no, this is perfect,” the healer replied as she tried to stifle a giggle but failed. “Are there any more people with injuries?”
“No, but I will need to talk to you when you’re done,” I said as I stepped out the door. “But no hurry.”
I spotted Haragh as he came out of the mine, a ball of shimmering sapphire dust in front of him while he pushed a mine cart filled with ore and made his way to the forge factory.
“You’re ready to start making my windscreens?” I asked after I ran over to join him.
“I’m ready to start making your windscreens,” Haragh chuckled, “and I got some ore for your train, so you don’t have to hang around and watch.”
Aurora was already in the forge room when we entered. Behind her, the gray-haired Ignis Mage had the forges ablaze with her flames.
“All right boys, get in line,” the half-elf said with a smile.
“The gems are going to require a hotter flame than the forges can give me,” Haragh said. “You know the drill.”
“Good point.” Aurora nodded and headed for the door. “Let’s take this outside so that we don’t burn this place down.”
After Haragh and Aurora left, I used my power to levitate the iron ore into the forge, and a few minutes later, I had liquid metal to mold. I flexed my power again to lift it up and form it into a glowing ball before I let it float outside just ahead of me.
In the open air outside the foundry, I let the ball stretch and expand to the shape I had envisioned for the framework for the locomotive. I originally had a modern Chicago “L” train in mind as inspiration, but somehow that didn’t capture my imagination so much as the old-time coal trains I had only seen in cartoons, old movies, or museums. I felt it needed the iconic cylindrical smokebox and chimney in front, even if it wasn’t strictly needed for a train with a Stirling engine powered by an Ignis Mage. It just felt right.
I made the cab of the train car one hundred and fifty feet long, which seemed a good size to use as a sort of mobile workshop and warehouse for the train tracks I’d need to store.
As I worked, more ore was brought up from the mine, so I didn’t have to take a break except to go to the forge, melt more ore, and float it outside in little balls I could craft.
Using the same design, over the next week, I crafted six more smaller cars, each with its own modified Stirling engine complete with transmission so they could be independent as well as linked together.
I just fitted them to the tracks by the depot when I heard a familiar voice.
“You don’t do things halfway, do you?”
I turned and watched as Cayla walked toward me from the stables.
“When did you get back?” I asked as I gave her a kiss.
“Just now,” Cayla replied with a smile. “What’s been going on?”
“You first,” I chuckled. “My update’s a little long.”
“Well, I met with a dozen different area farmers over the last couple of days, and we should get our first shipment of produce in a few hours,” Cayla said, pleased. “It was pretty easy to get them excited when they heard about your project for helping them transport their produce. Wait until they actually see these trains of yours.”
“That’s excellent news,” I said with a broad grin. “Just what we need around here.”
“What do you mean?” Cayla questioned with a frown.
I sighed. “I guess I better fill you in on what’s been happening here.” I paused and ran a hand through my hair before I reluctantly continued. “We had a cave-in in the mine.”
“What?” Cayla gasped as her ice blue eyes went wide and immediately started combing over me. “Are you alright? Is everyone all right? What happened?”
“Calm down,” I chuckled as I took her hand and put it over my heart. “I’m fine, and most of the mages are, too. We had a few injuries, but Shoshanne is here treating the injured. The rest of the mages are back at work, though, finding ore for the train. Fuck knows why they didn’t pack up and leave.”
“Because you inspire them,” Aurora said as she returned from helping Haragh. “The mages of the Oculus sorely lack leadership, and they’ve found it in you. They know you can’t avoid danger, but when you find someone worth following, you don’t let go of them.”
A lump rose in my throat at Aurora’s words. In my wildest fantasies on Earth, I had never imagined myself a mage, let alone a respected one, a leader of other mages.
“Thank you, dear,” I said to the half-elf with a grin.
“Don’t let it get to your head,” she replied with narrowed eyes, and I held up my palms and laughed.
Then I turned back to the princess, and the smile slowly faded from my face.
“There’s more about the cave-in you should know,” I said to Cayla. “I found the Master’s rune in the debris. He must know what we’re doing and sent an agent to sabotage it.”
“That is troubling,” Cayla said with a sharp frown. “We haven’t heard anything from him since Camus Dred died.”
“May he rest in pieces,” I grumbled under my breath.
“But,” Cayla added after a thoughtful pause, “we must be doing something right if he’s poked his head out again.”
“That’s what I said!” I laughed.
Aurora rolled her eyes at both of us.
Just then, Haragh approached us with a huge, sparkling sapphire glass window strapped to his back.
“Before you ask, yes, I did the windshields on your precious metal steed first,” the half-orc said as he grinned. “These are for the trains.”
They were the final touch the train cars needed, and they fit perfectly.
The six smaller cars were boxy and functional, but the main locomotive was truly a work of art. The refined iron and steel had a burnished smoky glow all along its lines and curves which suited its masculine, muscular look better than any paint job ever could. I thought back of the cartoons I watched as a kid of a steam engine with a cute face drawn on the front. With the sparkle of the windows for its eyes, the long smoke box for its nose, and the pony truck and coupler that almost touched the ground for its jaw, this was no cute kiddy train. It looked angry. This was a motherfucking monster.
And it was my monster.
“By Pallax,” Shoshanne suddenly said, her warm brown eyes wide as she came around the side of the train. “I was looking for you, but I didn’t think to look around these enormous metal things. Are they done?”
“They are,” I said, and my cocky smile grew on my face. “Now I need to start laying down the tracks.”
Shoshanne looked down at the tracks which ended at the station and continued south several meters. Then she looked at the train which faced north towards the station and frowned.
“Are you going to turn it around so that it faces the right way?” the healer
summoned up the courage to ask after a few moments.
“Unfortunately, we’re going to have to drive the train backward so I can have a straight shot when I lay out tracks in front of us from the door,” I explained with a sigh as I opened the back door of the locomotive for her to see.
“Oh,” said Shoshanne and pursed her lips.
“What?” I asked defensively. “Go on and say it.”
“Say what?” Shoshanne replied innocently.
“Say that I’m going to look ridiculous driving a train across the land ass first,” I grumbled.
The image of it bothered me more than it should. I even tried an experiment where I pushed my power harder and flew a rail out of the back of the car, flipped it over the top to the front of the train, and laid the track down. It looked pretty cool, like a wave in reverse, but it took too much time and energy. No, I had to go with the practical solution so I could levitate a track right in front of me through the back door, even if it wasn’t the way I wanted my train to look on her maiden voyage.
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” The healer grinned. “Something about the trains?”
“No, not about the trains, it’s about the mines,” I explained as I put my pride aside for now. “Specifically, about the possibility of natural gas pockets in the mine. We have mages down there using open flame to light their way, and I don’t want to have any more accidents like today.”
“You think that’s what happened?” Shoshanne asked. “They hit a pocket of this explosive gas?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then Haragh shot me a look and shook his head. My brow creased in a frown. What did he know?
“It’s … possible,” I said carefully as I turned back to the healer. “Even if it was something else, I just want to make sure it doesn’t have any possibility of happening. But my question for you is whether your Aer magic is developed enough to try taking the gas out of the mine.”
“Yes, I can,” Shoshanne said confidently as she pulled something out of her robe. “I’ve been studying different kinds of gas and how they can be merged and separated after you asked me to see if I can dry out fruit and vegetables to preserve them. Look, this used to be a grape.”
I took the dried grape from her hand.
“Well done, you’ve invented raisins.” I smiled and popped it in my mouth. “Now, let’s go to the mine and test you out, yeah?”
“I’m ready to go,” Shoshanne replied, a slight bewildered smile on her lips. “Raisins, eh?”
“Of course, we’ll have to invent chocolate to dip them in next,” I teased since her confusion was adorable.
“Mason, stop making things up,” Aurora said with a grin.
As we crossed our little village, I managed to pull Haragh aside.
“Go ahead,” I told Shoshanne with an encouraging nod. “I’ll be right behind you.”
The Aer Mage nodded in response, and then I turned back to the half-ogre beside me.
“You don’t think it was an accident?” I murmured.
“No,” Haragh growled. “Do you?”
“No, I don’t,” I whispered glumly. “Do you know who did it?”
Haragh shook his head. “Nah, all I know is the tunnel didn’t fall down on its own. I was the one who reinforced it. It was solid. It had to be a Terra Mage that tore it down. Your turn, Mason. What do you know that I don’t?”
“Just be on the lookout for a rune like a Mage’s Mark but with tree roots running through it,” I said in a low tone. “It’s a kind of evil magic we’ve seen before. I’ll tell you more about it later.”
“I will look out for it and anything else that’s not right,” the half-ogre nodded grimly, his green brow furrowed.
We had arrived at the mine, so our whispered conversation ended as the five of us entered. Shoshanne held out her hands and concentrated, and as her power was unleashed, a gentle breeze blew her curly hair and her robe back and forth. It intensified as we reached the first cavern, and I felt it all around us as the air was drawn to the Aer Mage.
A small cyclone enveloped Shoshanne just as a couple of mages emerged from the next tunnel with a cart full of ore. They stared as the wind increased before suddenly it dissipated. Floating in the air in front of Shoshanne was a large ball of gas, six feet around, nearly invisible but with a rippling, shimmering quality.
“That’s all the gas in the mine?” I asked.
The copper-haired Aer mage nodded. “There was a lot. It could have been another disaster.”
“So it’s safe now?” one of the mages, a tall olive-skinned man, asked excitedly.
“It’s safer anyhow,” I said cautiously, “but that doesn’t mean we can afford to get careless.”
The mages nodded seriously, and we followed them up and out of the mine. The moment we reached fresh air, Shoshanne released the gas she had trapped underground.
“I should go check on the patients,” she said as she lowered her hands, “and then I should take a horse and return to the Oculus. There’s still so much more I need to study.”
“Leave the horse at the Oculus,” I agreed. “Pick up your books, and I’ll pick you up tomorrow in Serin.”
“On Bobbie?” Shoshanne asked.
I shook my head, smiled, and pointed at the train in the depot.
“You think we’re going to have all the rails from here to Serin laid in twenty-four hours?” Aurora said as she raised a doubtful eyebrow.
“Past Serin I hope,” I said as I straightened my back. “Remember what we discussed. Sixty miles a day is what we promised the king.”
Cayla said and gave me a wink. “Better get on it, honey.”
She was right. Maybe I could lay out the tracks that quickly, but they needed to be made first.
“We better pack up supplies if we’re leaving soon,” Aurora said to Cayla, and my two beauties headed toward our home.
“Haragh,” I said to the half-ogre, and then I clapped my hands together. “Come with me, I’m going to show you how to mold tracks without being a metal mage.”
“Sounds like fun.” Haragh grinned back.
We went to the forging room, and I reached out with my powers to pick up one of the railroad tracks I had already crafted. As I held it aloft in the air, I summoned my Terra power to make dirt fly up and cover the rail completely. With another flex of magic, a wave seemed to go through the dirt, and it transformed into solid rock around the tracks.
I couldn’t help but think of the first time I did that trick as one of Abrus’s tests to see if I was worthy of training. The only way I could do it then was to take my time so as not to pass out from overexertion. Every once in a while, I needed to stop to recognize that my powers had grown stronger with use. It definitely kept me going.
“Ah, I see what you’re doing,” Haragh grunted. “Can I finish it?”
“Be my guest,” I said with a smile as I felt the half-ogre’s Terra energy join with mine. A fissure grew along the stone lengthwise, and then the two halves separated before Haragh gently levitated them to the ground. Then he pulled the rail out with his hands and revealed a perfect mold.
“So it goes like this,” Haragh said thoughtfully. “Tell me if there’s anything I’m not doing right.”
I watched him as he went to the forge and lifted up a bucket of molten metal. He poured it into the mold and used his Terra power to lift the other half of the mold, and sealed them together. Then the half-ogre looked at me, as he bit his lip, puzzled.
“Can I give you a hint?” I asked.
“No, I got it,” Haragh grinned toothily, and then he used his Terra power to lift the steaming mold up and into the fountain that Quidnu had added. A billow of steam erupted up, and Haragh floated the mold out and onto the floor. He sent another surge of his power out and opened the mold up.
The rail within was perfect.
I sent forth a wave of my own metal power to pick the rail up and whirl it in the air before I sent it to the stack with the others.
“Of course, if you’re not here to float them rails around, it’s gonna be up to me and my muscles,” Haragh grumbled.
“A little exercise is a good thing,” I said with a laugh.
That earned a half smile from Haragh as he went back to the forge to start the process all over again. I took that as my cue to get started myself, and I let out a surge of power to lift up a whole stack of tracks and float them out the door. I followed them down to the depot and laid them out in quick succession in a southerly direction.
The great Illaria railroad was officially in business.
It took several more trips back and forth to the foundry to empty out all the stacks of track I had made so far and fill up the workshop train car I made. As I laid out the last stack, Haragh came out to shake my hand.
“Looks like you’ve got enough to make it to Serin and then some,” the half-ogre said, impressed “You’ll leave one of the train cars behind so we can bring you more along the way?”
“Yes,” I said. “The Ignis Mages know how to power the engines, so just follow the track until you find us wherever we are.”
“You got it.” Haragh nodded. “I’ll keep my eye on things here. Do you think you’ll need anyone else to go with you along the way? Might be good to have a couple Terra and Ignis Mages.”
I frowned. “Well, it would be, but I don’t want to take the risk if there’s a saboteur in the group.”
“Right.” Haragh frowned too and then nodded. “Okay, here’s what you do. When you get to Serin, go to the Oculus and talk to a guy you’ll find at the library by the name of Tzko. I told him to keep track of any other mages who might be interested in your project. At least you’ll know anyone he knows isn’t the one who caused the cave-in at the mine.”
“That’s great,” I said with a smile. “I’ll do that.”
“Better be on your way, boss,” Haragh said with a wave as he headed back into the foundry.
I booked it to my house only a few yards away to find Aurora and Cayla with the supplies we needed all packed up. Stan sat on Cayla’s shoulder and waved at me when I walked in.