by Eric Vall
We heard footsteps behind us, and I turned. It wasn’t Wyresus as I expected, but a mere boy with white hair nearly shaved to the scalp. He wore white robes with brown edging, a Terra Mage, and his hazel eyes brimmed with admiration.
“I’ve been wanting to tell him to fuck off since I came here to study seven years ago,” the kid said, obviously still stunned. “C-can I come with you?”
“Seven years ago?” I asked, surprised. “How old are you now?”
“Fifteen,” he said with a little more confidence. “My name is Pindor, a-and I hope to be a Defender of the Realm one day.”
“Today is that day, Terra Mage Pindor,” I said as I shook the young man’s hand.
“I meant what I said,” Aurora said seriously, and her face was creased with a frown. “We need to go.”
“Yeah,” agreed Cayla. “You probably can’t tell the head mage to fuck off and hang around to chat.”
I didn’t regret my words at all, but they had a point. So we climbed up two steps at a time until we reached the main corridor.
Tzko waved us over to where he stood with a half dozen mages, four Terra Mages and two Ignis Mages.
“These were the only ones I could find who were available immediately,” the mage said apologetically. “There’s about twenty more who are definitely interested, but they need a day or two before they can leave. Daibusu himself seems to be particularly interested in your project. Apparently he had heard about it before, but obviously, he’s very busy.”
The name Daibusu obviously meant something to Aurora based on her wide eyes, but there wasn’t time to dig into that.
“Can you tell them and anyone else who is interested not to wait but to head up to the mine?” I asked quickly. “They can talk to Haragh. He’ll tell them what needs to be done and where they can stay. We’ve basically made it into a self-sustaining little village. I may not be back in the Oculus for a while, and you should probably not tell anyone you don’t know and trust that you even talked to me today.”
“By the gods, Defender Flynt,” Tzko groaned. “What did you say to Wyresus?”
“You’ll hear about it soon enough,” I chuckled with a wink. “It probably wasn’t wise, but it sure felt good.”
“All right, if you’re coming with us, come now,” Aurora addressed the mages Tzko had recruited with authority.
Nobody needed to be told twice. Together, we all quickly left the library. Then, as Aurora, Cayla, and Shoshanne got onto their places on Bobbie, I turned to Pindor and the rest of the mages.
“Get your belongings and meet us at the train at the front gates as fast as you can,” I said as I got onto the motorcycle myself. “You got it?”
“Got it!” Pindor replied with a wide grin, and the rest of the mages nodded in agreement.
Bobbie didn’t have to be told we wanted to move quickly. She sensed it. We all four had to hold on tight as we hauled ass down the rock streets, through the dark tunnel, and into the castle courtyard. She didn’t slow down as she peeled down the cobblestone streets, through the two gates that separated the quarters, and out the main gate. A crowd of townspeople was still out front, and they parted quickly at our loud approach. Bobbie squealed to a halt just a few feet shy of the train.
Cayla, Aurora, and Shoshanne took a moment to get their windblown hair out of their faces, and then they each looked to me.
Aurora was the one who laughed first. I had never seen her nearly fall over with laughter like that. Instantly, Cayla also burst into laughter, tears on her face. Shoshanne’s hands covered her shaking face, and I thought for a moment she was in tears before I heard the sound of her almost hysterical giggles. That was what finally set me off, and I laughed until I almost couldn’t breathe.
“You know,” gasped Aurora as we all recovered. “Wyresus is probably exactly in the same position with the same look on his face right now as when Mason said that. Maybe it will take another hour for him to shut his mouth or blink.”
“I was about thirty seconds from stepping in and telling him to fuck off myself,” Cayla confessed with a giggle.
“But you’re a princess!” Shoshanne exclaimed, equal parts shock and amusement in her big brown eyes.
“Yes, I had a thorough education in diplomacy.” Cayla grinned and added a wink. “And that includes knowing when you just have to say fuck off and move on.”
“That is not a lesson I learned in the Order of Pallax,” Shoshanne replied and returned Cayla’s grin.
“Well, what’s done is done,” I said after a deep breath. “By the way, who the hell is Daibusu?”
“One of the most powerful mages in the Oculus,” Aurora replied thoughtfully. “He would definitely be a good ally. Maybe he’d even talk some sense to Wyresus.”
“It doesn’t change that we’ve got a lot of work to do,” I said as I rolled up my sleeves.
I turned to the crowd of townspeople who had come back together after they scattered when we approached. Their faces still shone with a mix of fear and excitement.
“Everyone, I need you to back up to the gates!” I shouted. “We’re about to build the Grand Central Station of Illaria!”
Of course, no one knew what the hell I meant, but they understood well enough to get out of the way. I began, like I had in Magehill, with the footprint for the platform. Pushing into my power, I raised the rock beneath the dirt to an area three times as big as the one I had created before. Then I held back as soon as the platform was six inches off the ground. My goal here was to create a footprint for the other Terra Mages to follow, not a complete station.
I sent a wave of my power into the ground to construct the outlines for the waiting room and warehouse on opposite sides of the platform. The warehouse was an enormous room, twenty thousand square feet at least, and I crafted multiple steps and ramps as entrances and exits so it would be easy to both fill and evacuate. I made the waiting room nearly as big with spaces for two grand entrances, one to the platform, and one which would face the gates to Serin. I also left plenty of room for a wide staircase that would give a rather dramatic view.
I had just finished the footprint when I saw the seven mages we had recruited from the Oculus arrive. They had made pretty good time, and were out of breath, each with his or her belongings packed in hand. I turned to them and followed their eyes as they surveyed the outline of the structure I had created in stone.
“I don’t have the energy to create this station myself,” I said to the Terra Mages as I wiped the sweat off my brow, “especially since I’m the only one of us who can lay the tracks. I need you to link your powers and raise up these platforms and walls. I’ll join with you to help guide you, but you’ll have to provide the muscle. Ready?”
“We’re ready.” Pindor nodded seriously, and the other Terra Mages agreed.
The six of us knelt in the dusty ground and put our hands to the earth. I remembered the resistance I felt the first time I did this to build the village at Magehill. That feeling was fainter now, but not completely gone. It was still pretty damn weird, this connection that made us more powerful than the sum of our parts, but it kind of reminded me of a time I fell in a swimming pool as a little kid. As soon as I stopped struggling against it, I found I could float, and I was all right.
I just had to keep that in mind. Just relax and float.
The connection to our element sparked a charge between us, and I opened my mind to share the vision of the station. The stone rose slowly at first and then faster as our energy grew. We held the train platform at six feet but kept our linked power focused on the walls of the warehouse and waiting room. Twenty feet, fifty, and at eighty feet, we stopped.
I looked away from the stone and to the Terra Mages. Everyone had a sheen of sweat on their brows, some gritted their teeth, others were breathing hard. Pindor and a young woman in braided pigtails who couldn’t have been more than twenty shook and swayed as if they might faint from the exertion.
“You’re okay,” I said quietly as
I met their eyes. “You’re doing great.”
The two young Terra Mages nodded and doubled down with their energy.
To top off both the waiting room and the warehouse, we pushed up steep gables to meet, so there were four triangles exposed to the open air.
“What are you going to put in there?” Pindor asked, curious.
“King Temin’s artisans will know an opportunity for stained glass when they see it,” I grinned. “The best stations always have plenty of light.”
I took a moment to survey the building before I signaled the mages to follow me around to the front. Everything was from the local rock just under the surface, so the design was a fortunate luck of the draw. It was primarily a honey-colored limestone with striations of marble of blue, black, and rose that formed swirls and patterns throughout. It was stunning.
Now, all it needed was a truly grand entrance.
We six Terra Mages knelt between the depot entrance and the gates to the capitol and tapped into our group power. I focused our energy on the ground below the entrance to the waiting room, and together we pulled up a wide platform to be the floor of the grand foyer. In the middle of the foyer, we let the stone rise up in a thick column until it was fifty feet over the top of the roofs. Then we turned our attention to the internal structure of the column, invisible to our eyes but something we could reach with our connection to the stone. In our combined mind, we carved into it. First, we created a steep spiral tunnel and let it corkscrew up almost to the top. That was where we broke open a hollow space and burrowed out open spaces for windows. Then we let our focus roll back down the spiral and made the ramp into steps.
There it was, our turret tower, complete with a stone spiral staircase.
With the tower in place, we could create a dome under it to cover the foyer. We sent up columns beneath the dome and then began to send up a series of narrow walls in front of the foyer floor, each five inches shorter than the one before until the last one reached the ground level.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen a grander staircase and entrance in my life. Looking at my fellow Terra Mages, I saw the same expression of pride that I knew reflected mine. Pindor actually had tears of joy in his eyes.
“By the gods, did we really just do that?” the young Terra Mage gasped, a wide smile on his face.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid,” I said and clapped him on the back. “Come on, let’s go to the train and be off.”
“It looks like a palace!” Cayla exclaimed when I came around the station with the five Terra Mages. “You have really outdone yourself, and that’s saying a lot.”
“We won’t be building depots like this at every stop,” I said modestly, “but I figured the capital deserved something big.”
“Where to next?” Shoshanne asked enthusiastically.
Of course, she was eager to see more of the mainland, given that before recently, her whole world had been one small island. I hated to disappoint her, but there was no other way.
“Well, the next stop will be somewhere called Westrock, but you’re going back to Magehill,” I said gently. “Don’t forget, you’ve got patients in the infirmary.”
The copper-headed Aer Mage’s face dropped. She bit her lower lip while she tried and failed to think of an argument.
“You’re right, that’s where my responsibilities lie,” Shoshanne sighed at last. “But after they’re on their feet, if there aren’t any others, then maybe I can come to join you? You might need a healer yourself or some Aer magery?”
“I don’t like the idea of leaving Magehill without a healer,” I said thoughtfully, “but I agree that we can probably use you on this project as well. Tell you what, while you’re treating your patients, see if you can’t find an assistant among them or from somewhere else in Serin or the Oculus. Teach them what you can about treating most common injuries and illnesses, and then …”
“I’ll take the next train to wherever you are!” Shoshanne interrupted eagerly and held out her hand to shake on the deal.
I took her hand. It was quite an exquisite hand, soft but strong, the color of cinnamon like the rest of her. I couldn’t help myself, so I raised it to my lips and gave it a kiss.
Shoshanne had the same expression of shock and delight as when I told her teacher to fuck off. As she withdrew her hand, she let her head drop down so that her thick, curly hair fell over her face.
Aurora gave me an amused look before she said, “I’ll take her back.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” the half-elf insisted. “While you were building your palatial depot, I was showing the other Ignis Mages the tricks to powering the engine. You’ll be fine, and I’ll follow the track back to you once I’ve dropped her off.”
I frowned. “I was hoping you would show me the way to Westrock.”
“Oh, I know the way to Westrock, dear,” one of the Ignis Mages, a middle-aged woman with white hair tied in a topknot, interrupted us. “That’s where I’m from. I still have family there. My name is Bagnera Glaive.”
She had the kind of face that reminded me of my favorite aunt growing up. Always cheerful, funny, more than a little weird, but in a nice way. She would make a fine if quirky guide to and in the city.
Suddenly, I felt something wriggle in the pocket of my tunic, and before I could react, Stan had climbed up my shirt and jumped over to Aurora. He perched on her shoulder protectively and nodded resolutely at me.
I guessed he was going to be her bodyguard.
“Okay, that convinced me,” I said with a chuckle as I turned from Bagnera back to Aurora. “Deal. Come on.”
Aurora, Shoshanne, and I walked down to the intersection between cars and disconnected them. I gave Aurora a kiss and helped them both aboard. Then I flexed my power and began lifting the tracks and ties stack by stack out of the car and into the main locomotive to fill it up. We now had enough for another thirty miles, which would take us a quarter of the way to Westrock.
Aurora went to the engine of the smaller car, sent a steady spark into its ignition, and it lurched to life with a rumbling growl.
“Hurry back!” I shouted to Aurora. “And bring a load of new tracks with you!”
“Fuck off!” Aurora shouted back with a big smile as her train left northward on the tracks we already laid to Magehill.
I laughed out loud and went back to the bigger locomotive to begin the journey toward Westrock.
Chapter 8
Not surprisingly, we were behind schedule.
It had taken some time for Aurora and me to develop a rhythm, after all, the perfect speed for her to keep the engine going while I used my power to throw down tracks and ties in front of us. And we had a history which included, besides battles and sex, the half-elf igniting the engine of my motorcycle for several days while I steered.
So I knew it wouldn’t be the same with relative strangers, even if Aurora had trained them a bit. Bagnera handled the ignition of the engine first, and she seemed to have difficulty with subtlety. We began the route south-west, through a field, the most direct route to Westrock. The Terra Mages flattened out the terrain in our path, and I pulsed my power to send out tracks just ahead of us. After a few miles of this, I decided we were ready to pick up the pace.
“Bagnera,” I called to her on the engine, “give her just a little more juice.”
Immediately, we surged forward at twice the speed and skipped right over the end of the track that had been laid. Bagnera cut off the power quickly, but we still hit the rock incline in front of us with a crash.
“Oops, sorry,” Bagnera apologized as I jumped out of the locomotive to try to right us.
As heavy as it was, it took a significant push of my power to lift the train up and back into position. Not to mention an additional trickle to buff out the scratches and bumps.
“Goddamn waste of time and energy,” I grumbled to myself as I got back into the train. Each of those tracks I tossed from the train to the ground weigh
ed about a half a ton, and I could feel the strain each and every time. Aurora had made it seem so easy when she increased or decreased the spark intensity by tiny little increments. I had to remind myself that not every Ignis Mage had that measure of control.
The other Ignis Mage was a young guy with a mop of blond hair named Korion who had sufficient control to increase and decrease speed, but not enough to maintain the continuous stream of sparks the engine needed. We would seemingly be on a decent clip, the perfect pace for the Terra Mages to flatten the ground and me to lay out tracks when suddenly the engine would stall.
“Damn! Sorry!” Korion cursed yet again.
Despite all these hurdles, we were evidently still an impressive sight and attracted crowds who waved and chased after us as we went along. I think it did the mages’ morale good to see the enthusiasm of the non-magical people for our project.
The sunset was ahead of us when we ran out of tracks and ties at the edge of a field of lavender flowers.
“What do we do now?” Pindor asked.
“We make camp,” I replied as I pulled a dry sausage from my pack and took a bite, “and we hope we get a visit with a restock of supplies by morning.”
The mages were mostly city folk, not accustomed to the concept of camp, so they ate and prepared their sleeping arrangements in the now empty train cabin. Cayla had other ideas. She may have been born a princess, but she was not spoiled. She grabbed a blanket and some food, and then she took my hand.
“Let’s get some fresh air,” the long-legged, raven-haired beauty said with a grin as she led me into the lavender.
The perfume in the air was a balm to my tired body and mind. As I lay down with her on the blanket and shared a dinner of bread and sausages, it felt like we were in a dream a million miles away from anyone else. I fell asleep with Cayla in my arms.
It was still dark when I heard a distant roar. Now I knew what the simple people of Illaria experienced when my trains approached. I stood up in the field and saw two of the cars linked up as they chugged down the track from the east.
When the train was fifty meters away, it slowed to a halt, and its occupants disembarked. It was Haragh and the chubby, brunette Ignis Mage who I had made blush.