by Han Yang
“Why rush it?” I asked.
“The farming land and suddenly trees will be inside the city. I really want to give the steambots more meaningful work,” Duke said in a happy tone.
“What’s in my personal account? And we killed a silver bird thing and three swan hybrid things,” I said.
“Be right back and your accounts are at near zero. You emptied them in Hexpa.” Duke ducked out.
I’d never seen him run until now. He must really want to get the walls upgraded. I waited, studying the tablets on display.
I got to see what our trains were hauling in and exporting. Darden was paying ¼ cube per pound of wild’s meat where Hexpa was paying double that. Portin was paying less than Darden.
Delila was showing as an incoming arrival, scheduled for tomorrow. I’d kinda forgotten about her. When Duke burst in, he brought Ginli with him.
“That wasn’t enough?” She asked, pointing to the gem.
“Duke, Delila arrives tomorrow, tell her she has the job for now and to help with the arctic cubs.” He nodded. I turned to Ginli. “Six hundred cubes short and I’m broke. Well the city is broke. It was three thousand in debt.”
She let out a whistle. “I mean… Bradley, this is me… Yes, here you go. This is so… hard.” Ginli handed me the pouch around her neck. “For the better. Ah, yes that feels better. Doing good… feels validating.”
I patiently waited for her to finish. “Where’s the shapes from the silver ostrich and the turkey swans?” I asked and she bolted.
I set the sack onto the desk. “How many Gearnix cubes?”
“712.”
“Remove six hundred and start the upgrade,” I commanded.
“Yes, Baron Lord.”
Sirens split the air as they deafened the town. I stepped outside to see Ginli racing for the station.
The warning cry of the impending magic had the residents rushing for vantage points. I stood in the city center heading for a farm field to get a great view.
I handed Ginli her purse and she tried to hand me shapes. I shook my head, since talking wasn’t an option. Joana, Leon, and Lei joined us as we watched the west gate.
The siren’s wail halted.
Short toots blared.
Then blared some more.
The walls glowed a dull yellow at first.
Steam hissed out the bottom where dirt met metal. The warning blasts blared a final call, allowing me to pop my ears and hear again.
There was no more warning needed. Touch the wall and die from the heat.
The billowing increased as the wall hissed and flared an angry orange. That orange radiated heats so intense you could see the waves.
Orange glowed into a mix of red as the metal at the peak slowly morphed from the heat.
I was in dismay, the magic of Gearnix wowed me. The tip of the wall became slag, dripping down. The ten foot wall shortened with every second that transpired.
The metal slithered down and into the dirt. I watched the once tall structure decrease until it vanished in a final poof of steam laden air.
“That was so awesome!” Ginli blurted and we bobbed our heads in agreement. “I want to -”
Blaring sirens blasted her words into oblivion.
The gearnix beneath my feet quaked violently.
I saw frightened people clutching each other and an old woman fell over. Steambots helped her as the vibrations intensified.
In the distance, about twice as wide as the walls were before, metal slowly poked above ground.
Dirt cascaded from the tops of the newly hatching walls.
The shimmy abated as the breach completed. A minute later and there was a snap so loud that the air boomed.
When the dust, leaves, and debris cleared we had a new perimeter.
The new walls included a third gate that surprised me.
There was now a north, east, and western gate. Double doors for each with the Gearnix Stations still in place as where they used to be.
A final horn toot and there was silence.
“Wow!” Leon said. “Kid, that was… That was worth it. Talk about addicting. How much for the next upgrade.”
“Sheesh, we’ll get it soon enough. It’s a small number,” I said. I wasn’t lying. The number was but a sliver of the tier 10 upgrade.
Lei and Joana stuck hands on hips in mother daughter unison. They smelled the stink of my statement.
“That bad?” Leon asked.
“Five hundred thousand cubes. So… two thousand alphas. No biggie right,” I said and he gulped. “Tier five is stupid high. Look at all this space! We got work to do. I want an ocean view!”
There was lots of grinning, and one thing was certain more than ever. We needed ore. The question. How much fighting did it take to get to the mines?
That thought was dashed when Duke shouted, “Incoming attack! Get inside or fight at the city center!”
My jaw popped open in shock. What was happening?
CHAPTER 27
The siren from the city center wailed. Steambots rushed to setup defenses. A bunny came bounding out of the woods, the confused wild’s creature snarled. I flinched… those four buck teeth were freaky.
I couldn’t hear if it hiss but the animal darted back into the trees for the west gate. The excessively loud noise finally ceased.
“What is going on?” I asked Duke.
Corvo ran over, grabbing my arm, and pulling me back to the City Station. “No need to panic. All the extremely aggressive critters will rush the station in a suicide. Only read about it in books. Should be -”
A saber-tooth meowed out a shrieking roar.
“Okay, might be a challenge. Everyone on me!” Corvo bellowed, shoring up a defense.
Duke rubbed his palms together happily. He pointed to the distant west and east gates, both of which were open. Creatures of all types flooded out of the city, hurrying out of the now larger doors.
The saber-tooth lowered itself, bunching its muscles before bursting forward. I was astonished by how long those strides were. The speed was terrifying fast as the beast flung clods of exposed farmland.
ZING!
The shot spurred me into motion. I raised Darcy, readying for the attack.
I watch the bluish magic streak for the saber-tooth, plunging into the chest cavity. The big cat tumbled repeatedly in a flailing display of limbs.
There was a tense moment as we waited to see if the predator rose. Ginli blew on the end of her long rifle with a smirk, telling me the cat’s fate was already sealed.
Duke headed into the City Station, and the rest of us stayed alert. I didn’t see anything else charging us. Steambots flooded from the city and into the wood.
At the gates, the last of the fleeing animals left the interior to return to the wilds.
SLAM!
A person blowing into a mic jostled me from my observations. I frowned, noticing the big speaker rotation atop the City Station.
“Baron Bradley has done something no other city managed across all of Gearnix this year. You. The fine people of Norn have upgraded your walls. Your doubters, detractors, and naysayers have been proven wrong and for that I congratulate you.
“Right now, the city is displaying there are 82 animals inside the walls. The number of hostile animals is 0. That means there are 82 tamable young critters worth a small fortune in these woods with zero threats.
“Stop by a Gearnix Station first for a free taming skill. Let the great hunt of Norn begin!”
“Nice shot,” I said to Ginli who grinned. “We hunting or moving out?”
“Umm…” Corvo hesitated. Tessa went running off with Becky into the woods. The two had their skirts hiked up as they stomped over ruined farm fields. “I… I missed a lot of her life because of work. Let’s have some fun before we brave the mines.”
He bolted to catch up to his wife. Lei and Leon tipped their heads before joining the hunt. Three little bears joined us, with Ren rubbing against my leg. I saw the new male cub trying to fit
in. Jen left Joana’s side to tackle the newest cub. Atta girl.
“East side beach work? Worst case we walk on the rocks?” I suggested.
Joana crooked her arm for Ginli and when we passed the inn the bears gave up. That was a lot of walking and they were content.
Most of the city was heading for the woods excited for the sudden fun. A few had our idea to comb the beach expansion. A husband-wife team were trying to corral a variation of a baby hippo and their failure was hilarious to watch.
“You what? Just touch them?” I asked and Joana shook her head. “Alright, out with your secretive ways.”
“I don’t wanna tell. Kiss me -”
I swooped her up, planting a kiss on her lips. When I set her down, I pinched her butt, and took off in a run.
“Bradley, I’ll get you.” Joana chased after me with a giggle.
Even though the city was getting better each day, I couldn’t help but daydream of what it would look like. I had this mental image in my head of a better version of Langshire. More expansive docks, ships cruising the harbor, and people enjoying life.
Giggling from the couple trying to catch the baby hippo creature caught my attention. The duo were happy when I showed up. The triangle soon became a five person trap and the wife caught the animal.
She soothed the baby animal, humming with gentle petting strokes. A moment later and the nervous creature was content being held.
They thanked us for our help, heading for the city. We continued down the beach at a leisurely pace. Joana on my arm, Ginli on hers.
“Everyone is so happy,” Ginli said, talking over the noise of the lapping waves.
This section of beach was woods on the right, sloping rocks to the ocean on our left. Driftwood littered the shore and I tipped a few random logs with a boot.
“How about you?” Joana asked.
Ginli eyed us both with a warmth of love. She smiled and said, “I’ve never been happier. Today I did something I’ve never done before. Let go of wealth. Sure, I’ve shared. And yes, I’ve splurged on others. Never donated. It was… liberating. Not to mention super worth it.”
I cleared my throat. “Well, Leon caught me off guard earlier. I agree it is liberating and exhilarating to put others before yourself. I just… He said, giving your all to something for the greater good can lead to a form of slavery. Indirectly, at least. I took those words to mean, make sure you pay both, yourself, and your greater good,” I said, feeling like I sorta got the words out I wanted to.
The logs I turned over were not fruitful and by the tenth one I stopped.
“Sixty left!” Duke broadcasted.
“Yes, that is true. There are a lot of aspects we just haven’t encountered or given much thought to,” Joana said. “An alpha mammoth worth of wealth could have gotten our child upgraded starter parts. The kind that would forever change their lives.”
“I… that is kind of the point. Maybe we start taxing ourselves at a flat rate. Then if there is say the docks upgrade needed we do an investment round or something,” I said, giving the idea thought.
Ginli nodded. “Mother would do that. The trolley for example. Her steamboat another. The city upgrades were investment vehicles. Now that the city is debt free and there are taxes flowing, you could probably -”
Ginli paused, her eyes shot to the woods. A commotion was running our way from the brush and we tensed. A little piglet oinked as it rushed onto the rocks and right into Ginli’s arms.
Two brothers under ten arrived out of the trees. They heaved exhausted sighs with red faces. Ginli handed them the piglet and that made their day.
“What do we do with the animals?” Ginli asked.
“Delila gets her tomorrow,” I said. Both ladies shot eyes at me. I felt like a worm, fidgeting under their gaze. “She is young but should be a good farmer to -”
“Baron Bradley!” Joana exclaimed with widening eyes. “She’s cute isn’t she.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, looking for the right way to respond. I tisked my lovely white haired lover and said, “Your beauty makes her appear plain. Yes, she is young, unattached, and will probably find a good man here in Norn.”
“She better be nice and yet, stern. Else our little group of cubs will chew her up,” Joana said.
I kissed her cheek. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised how well you handle them. Far better than I could do. I’ll get better with my patience.”
“The wall is ahead, ya wanna turn around or dive into the forest?” Ginli asked.
I thumbed back the way we came, answering with a slow turn. We walked down the shore, heading for the docs. The cold wind didn’t remove the smiles from our faces as we held casual conversation.
After the docks we went for the inn to grab lunch. The bear cubs joined us, sort of. They tried to fit at our feet but they were already getting too big. Hopefully when the manor was completed, we could build them a den in a room or something.
Duke blasted out calls of decreasing numbers until he reached zero. I was stuffed with fresh mammoth meat, a big thing of milk, and sore cheeks from laughing so heavily.
When Tessa entered the inn her face was all smiles. Corvo and Becky trailed her and not far behind them was Leon with Lei. We sat through a second long lunch.
Becky found three baby rabbits and Tessa got a wolf pup that stayed in her lap the whole meal. They fit in nicely, and yet, we were still given the odd unwelcoming glance from the locals. Not much to do about that.
After everyone ate a nice meal, Duke visited us. “The route north is cleared inside the city. There should be a road straight to the mines. The old road inside the city is being cannibalized, unless you object?”
I shook my head. “Works for me. Fix what we have and then rebuild that road when we can. We should be the only ones using it. How did the great hunt go?”
“Everyone was able to keep what they caught. A few people headed to our little storage market by the train station to sell animals. We bought two snakes, a turtle, a sohips, and a kitten. The kitten will become a saber and I’m not sure what to do with it. They’re fairly rare and hard to maintain,” Duke said.
Tessa smiled. “I have to get things from Hexpa. I can take the kitten to an auction house. It is indeed a rare find that should go for a premium. Some former ladies I know would love a mighty beast on their estate.”
“When ya comin back?” Corvo asked.
She kissed his cheek aggressively. “I’m no fool. It’ll be a societal change for sure. But we got to where we were together, we’ll do the same here. I can actually do a bit of charity work on the clothing here too. It’ll be good and you get your hopeless cause with instant decisions.”
“Instant decisions?” Duke asked.
Corvo nodded. “Hexpa is a fine city with a fine council. I try not to speak ill of them. You tell em you need three blimp barrages and two steam tanks… well, you wait a week for an answer.” He turned to me. “Can Tessa build on an empty lot?”
“Yeah, why not?” I said with a shrug.
“Got it,” Duke said when Corvo smiled. “Good luck on your mission. I have a million things to do. Lady Tessa I’ll be by later with the kitten. Feisty tiny thing.”
We thanked Duke, cleaned up behind ourselves, and left for the wagons.
The wagon beds were devoid of mammoth chunks, but still dripped blood. An angry cloud from the north told me there’d be water or snow soon. I hoped for snow, freezing rain was the worst.
We loaded up and there was a new sixth venture bot walking the perimeter of the caravan when we rolled out.
A crack reverberated through the air and a tree toppled. Steambots went to work stripping limbs. We sifted by an old well with a broken circle wall. Remnants of prior Norn were evident when we crossed the tier 2 wall line.
Vines cresting over bushes revealed steel beams and sheet metal rusting with the woods fighting to reclaim the land. Duke was right, this expansion would give the steambots a whole lot to do. Our time away wou
ld have them occupied.
Hopefully the other adventurers would help keep the city’s hydrox coming in. I knew that mammoth meat would be elevating the people of Norn.
“You listening?” Leon asked.
I shook my head, thumbing the reins. “Apologies.”
“You care if Lei and I form an adventurer’s guild after this?” he asked and I frowned. “This is your and Joana’s thing. We… we’re her parents.” A deeper frown and a shrug this time. “We want to be us. Not over-protective parents. And if the tent is a rocking…”
“Blah!” I blurted with my tongue out and he chuckled. “Yeah. We’ll set some rules, a training area, a quest board and all that stuff when we get back.”
“Ya nervous?” Leon asked with a smirk, gesturing for the wall we were approaching.
“It’s what? An hour north for a tier five wall? How bad could it be?” I asked.
Two venturebots cracked open the gate for Ginli and Lei to take the carriage out of the city.
ZING! ZAP! BOOM!
“Shoulda keep yer mouth shut,” Leon said with a teasing elbow.
We stood as we rolled outside the city. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I hoped we didn’t have to turn around much.
CHAPTER 28
I used the flintlock tool again against the kindling. There was a snap of flame hitting the material I’d created during one of our many down times.
My hands shook from the cold, making the simple task a chore. Each breath created a misty plume of hot air battling winter. The gloomy gray day left me yearning for spring already. Big thick snowflakes had me thinking what a pain the trip out here had been.
Four flipping days. Four flipping days of killing mammoths, sabertooths, weird machine animal hybrids, and a collection of swamp hags near Rotten Lake. An aptly named lake if I do say so myself.
That is how long it took to get an hour north. We could have killed simply to push ahead, leaving the dead to be abandoned, but we chose not to.
The first day was basic. We would travel a few feet, become bogged down in a defensive formation. The dead from the first wave would trigger a second wave. The process became repetitive quickly.