by Logan Jacobs
Chapter 1
We hadn’t seen any red robed mages since we’d helped the town stave off the berserkers, and it was a good sign that the local mage had succeeded in redirecting our pursuers southwards toward Philly. Still, I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that we were being watched, and I kept looking over my shoulder every few minutes.
It was almost a relief when the first snow started to fall, since that meant the mages would probably scale back their searches. Everyone in our little party grinned as we watched the first powdery flakes drift downward, and I even daydreamed about making a snowman like we did with the first snow every year when I was a kid. It was one of the things I loved best about September, and I used to scoff at my parents’ stories about having to wait until November or even December to see snow.
Despite the snow, we managed to put some more distance between us and any Magesterium controlled areas, at least for a little while. But the soft white snow that left a pretty coating along the road soon turned wet and heavy, and a growing wind whipped the flakes into a blinding squall. The horses snorted unhappily while the ATV slid through patches of ice, and we all knew that we needed to find some shelter to wait out the storm.
We spotted a small caravan working its way up an incline. Normally, we would have ridden on by, but odds were good that these were regular travelers on this road and they probably knew all the good spots to stop and shelter. Darwin swung the ATV behind the last wagon after he and I shared a nod, and we followed the group of three ox wagons, two dogs, and ten people up the slope. At the top, we found a long abandoned, pre-magic tunnel. A few other travelers were already huddled up inside around a fire that someone had built at the midpoint.
“Glad we saw you folks,” Darwin declared as we all shook off the layers of icy snow and moved closer to the fire.
“Surprised the snow picked up like that,” one of the wagon drivers replied. “Doesn’t usually turn that fast this time of year. We would have stayed put for another day or two if we’d had any warning.”
“At least we were near the tunnel,” one of the men who had been walking next to the wagons added. “Trying to find shelter in these conditions can be impossible if you don’t know the area well.”
“Do you folks travel these roads a lot?” I asked as we nodded to the small group huddled around the fire. With the addition of the extra animals and people, and the wagons now positioned to help block the winds, it started to feel toasty in this small section of the tunnel.
“We do,” the walking man replied as he nodded to a few people he recognized.
The walking man took off his hat and scarf to reveal a round face, a pair of blue eyes and a headful of dark red hair. His beard and moustache were a slightly lighter shade of red, probably because he wore his hat whenever he was outside.
“What about you folks?” someone else asked. This was a woman in a long, quilted coat with short russet hair who had been sitting by the fire when we first arrived.
“Yeah,” the walking man added. “We know most of the regulars on this route, and we’d definitely remember a vehicle like that. So what are you folks doing out here, so far from any mage protected area?”
“We’re heading toward the Great Lake,” I supplied.
“Oof, that’s a long haul,” the woman in the quilted coat commented. “Not too many people willing to make that trek, especially with winter closing in.”
“Well, I’m not a fan of traveling in a blizzard,” Darwin agreed. “But family is family.”
That non-explanation explanation seemed to satisfy the group, and no more questions were posed about our reasons for being on the road. We settled in and everyone added what they could to the fire, while others worked on putting together a meal. Two more travelers straggled in, a pair of men who had been caught in the sudden storm while hunting. They offered a pair of ducks they had shot with their bows, and soon the scent of roasting fowl began to permeate the air.
“So, you’re really trying to get all the way to the Great Lake?” the woman in the quilted coat asked as we watched the ducks roast over the flames.
“We are,” I replied.
“Well, we just left Scranton-Barre a week ago,” she continued. “We like to do a lot of trading there because they draw a lot of people in from different parts of the mountains, and then we can catch up with the other herb collectors on the way back.”
“I’ve heard you can find some pretty rare herbs there,” Sorcha noted. “They’re supposed to have one of the best markets for healers on the east coast.”
“That they do,” the woman agreed with a nod. “I’m not a healer myself, but I’ve got a nice little business selling supplies to healers and doctors. Some of my most popular items come from the Scranton-Barre area.”
“Huh,” was all I could think to say.
“Anyway,” the woman laughed, “that’s not what I wanted to tell you. The thing is, there’s a group of businessmen who are trying to rebuild one of the old rail lines. They’ve even got one of the old coal trains running again. If you get there soon enough, you can be on the train when it leaves for Willsport. That won’t get you to the Great Lake, but it will get you closer. Unless it derails and kills everyone.”
“Which is probably what will happen,” the red-headed man added. “Don’t know why you’d want to mess around with any of that pre-magic stuff.”
“I didn’t think mages approved of trains,” Darwin remarked. “Isn’t there a mage in Scranton-Barre?”
“There is,” the woman replied. “But the local mage hasn’t had much success at shutting down the plan. Everyone is very excited at the idea that they could hop on a train and travel safely as far as Willsport. And then, of course, they would add even more rail, so you could go further.”
“The local mage is a coward,” the red-headed man asserted. “He basically lets the businessmen run the city. And they’re determined to go ahead with the plan, even though the mage keeps warning them that it won’t work.”
“I take it you’re not a fan of the train,” I laughed.
“Won’t catch me on it,” the man asserted.
“And you?” Sorcha asked the woman in the quilted coat.
“Well, if it doesn’t topple off the tracks, I might think about it,” the woman replied. “It would be nice to find herbs from further out. But they’ve got a long way to go to prove to me that it’s safe.”
“But you’ll tell us about it,” Freya pointed out.
“You do have a pre-magic car,” the woman laughed. “You seem like the type of people who might be interested in a train.”
“We might be,” Darwin sniffed.
“So, why not just build a track all the way to the city instead?” I asked as I remembered the short train rides offered at Grand Central. “They could connect it to the trains that the museum runs.”
“And let the Magesterium know what they were up to?” the woman said with a shake of their head. “So far, the only mage who knows is the local guy, and he’s too cowed by the businessmen to report what they’re up to.”
“That won’t last long if they get the train running,” Freya noted.
“Well, by that time they hope to have enough local support that the mages won’t dare to shut it down,” the woman replied.
“Except the Magesterium won’t care how much local support there is,” Sorcha pointed out.
“That’s why you should get there soon,” the woman laughed. “Otherwise, it will be just a pile of rusting rails in the middle of nowhere.”
“It might be worth a shot,” I said as I gave Darwin a questioning look.
�
�Might be,” he agreed. “And Scranton-Barre’s on the way, so it’ll be easy to stop off and see what’s going on.”
“So why are they trying to restart train service?” Sorcha asked.
“Well, they’ve sold the idea to people as a faster and safer way to move between the two cities,” the woman explained. “You won’t have to worry about raiders or mutants stealing your cattle or killing the people in your caravan. Just load them up onto the train, and they’ll be carried safely to their destination. That’s the claim, anyway, but you’d have to be an idiot to believe that. I’m pretty sure mutants and raiders would still find a way to steal everything. And how would you escape if you’re trapped on a train? No, it doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“So I’ll guess there’s another reason they want to do this,” Darwin suggested.
“They’ve started digging a lot more coal,” the man with red hair said when the woman didn’t respond right away. “And they have a lot of ideas about what they can do with all that coal, but first they need to find a way to move it around the continent.”
“I thought the Magesterium kept tight restrictions on how much coal could be dug and what it could be used for,” Sorcha mused.
“Lord knows, you wouldn’t want people to start making steel again,” Darwin muttered.
“Or guns,” Freya added, which drew looks from everyone gathered around the fire. The bunny mutant, though, kept an innocent look on her face, and only shot me a smirk when everyone else finally turned back to the fire.
“Well, I don’t know if they plan on making guns,” the red headed man stated. “But I’ve heard rumors that they want to build tall buildings again, and walls that can’t be penetrated by scavengers and the like.”
“That sounds like something that would be good to have,” I replied. “Especially in areas that don’t have mages.”
“Just think,” Sorcha mused, “one day, you could travel from one coast to the other without a portal mage and without risking life and limb.”
“That would be amazing,” the woman sighed. “My mother still has old pictures of the west coast from the pre-magic time. I’d like to see it someday myself.”
“Mages won’t like it,” Darwin pointed out. “What the hell would all those portal mages do if everybody started to take the train?”
“I’m sure plenty of people with money would still use portal mages,” Freya replied. “As would the Magesterium.”
“And it’s not like the trains would siphon that much business from them,” Sorcha added. “It would just open up travel to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.”
“Sounds like you’re hoping they succeed,” I snickered.
“Well, it would be helpful to a lot of people,” Sorcha mused. “If they can deliver on their promises.”
“That’s a big if,” the red headed man said with a shake of his head. “You don’t have to be a mage to know that the odds on that are pretty slim.”
“I think a lot of people want them to succeed,” the woman added. “There’s just too much danger out here and not enough mages to go around, so if you can find a nonmagical way to protect yourself, well, why not go for it? The problem, though, is that you start rebuilding a lot of the technology that destroyed the world in the first place, and once you do that, you’re on that same road to destruction. So as much as I would like to see the west coast for myself, I’ll be staying away from trains.”
No one bothered to point out that it was the meteorite that had laid waste to the world, and despite the Magesterium’s claims, there really was no way to know whether the old world had really been on the verge of collapse. I glanced at Darwin, the only man around the fire who had been alive during the pre-magic era, and saw the angry look that passed across his features at the woman’s accusation.
“But maybe it’s worth it,” another man added. This one was thin, with a wispy mustache and sad brown eyes. “I mean, it just gets even more dangerous the further west you go. I can’t even imagine wanting to travel all the way to the Great Lake.”
“Want and need aren’t always the same thing,” Darwin replied quietly.
“Amen to that,” the red headed man said heartily. “Well, I’d say those ducks are just about done.”
We passed around the food, then, which included the duck, plenty of jerky and beans, some cabbage and dried tomatoes, and the box of candies that Sorcha had bought in Motown. It was an odd hodgepodge of a dinner, but the company was good, and the duck and candies, at least, were delicious.
The storm raged on while we ate and talked, and long after we’d finished, the snow still came down. It started to pile up at either end of the tunnel, and I noticed that the regular travelers along this road started to look worried as they took in all the snow.
“It’s really bad out there,” I commented when I saw the red headed man frown.
“Really strange this early in the season,” he replied. “But it’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”
“We usually know it’s coming, though,” one of the hunters added.
The others all nodded in agreement, and I cast a quizzical look at Sorcha. She watched the snow for a moment, then stood up casually and walked toward the horses.
“Well?” I asked when I joined her.
“I do think magic is involved,” she replied. “But I’m not sensing a mage. I’m not sure what’s behind this.”
“What’s up?” Freya asked as she bounded up next to us. “Are you two getting the heebie-jeebies as well?”
“Sorcha thinks magic is involved in the storm, but she’s not sure it’s a mage,” I said quietly.
“What else could it be?” Freya asked in a more serious voice.
“I don’t know,” Sorcha replied. “And I’m not sure I want to know.”
“We may not have a choice in the matter,” I pointed out as I glanced toward the end of the tunnel where the snow was high enough to block off an easy exit.
“I guess we’re not getting much sleep tonight,” Freya remarked.
“What’s going on back here?” Darwin demanded as he joined us.
“You know, it really doesn’t take four people to check on two horses,” I pointed out.
“I’m checking on the ATV,” Darwin retorted as he started to rummage through the gear on the back of the machine. “But seriously, what are you three discussing back here?”
“This mysterious and sudden storm,” Sorcha replied. “It’s not natural.”
“Won’t argue with that,” Darwin agreed. “That’s why I’m sleeping next to the ATV tonight.”
“You’ll freeze, gramps,” Freya protested.
“I’ll be fine,” he insisted. “But the rest of you should return to the fire before everyone else wonders what you’re doing back here with the horses.”
“We’ll set up a watch of our own tonight,” I suggested. “That way, at least one of us will be awake when we find out who’s behind this.”
The rest of the team nodded, and then I returned to the fire with the two women. Most of the talk had died down by then, though the caravan team was setting up a watch of their own. One by one, the travelers hunkered down to catch whatever sleep they could before the dawn rose.
Sorcha and I snuggled together while Freya took the first watch. I observed the rabbit woman for a few moments and was fascinated by how much her behavior mimicked a hare in the wild. Her nose twitched, though the rest of her remained still and alert, and she watched the snow pile up near the edge of the tunnel with a focus that most humans would have a hard time maintaining. When she did move, it was sudden and fast.
And yet, no one else paid much attention to her and I realized the only reason I was interested was because I knew she was a mutant. Without that knowledge, she was just another traveler who knew how to keep a good watch.
“Your turn,” Freya whispered into my ear a few hours later.
I opened my eyes and found the rabbit woman leaning over me with a grin on her face.
“I’m awake,” I said quietly as I eased my body away from Sorcha.
“So, what do you think?” Freya asked when I was upright and reasonably alert.
“About what?” I asked as I nodded to the caravan guard who was on duty.
“I saw you watching me before you fell asleep,” she replied with a grin.
“Oh-h,” I stuttered. “Um, yeah, I was just... curious.”
“About?” she pressed.
“Well, you know, like how you would handle watch duty,” I said lamely.
“Uh, huh,” she mocked. “And did I do okay?”
“You did great,” I said quickly. “And, yeah, I was interested to see how you did it. I mean, I’ve seen lots of rabbits in my time….”
“I’ve found it can be helpful,” she sighed.
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I added. “It was just so interesting.”
“I’m glad you think so,” she replied. “Most people would take off as soon as they realized how different I really am.”
“But you’re not really,” I insisted. “And I think it’s wonderful.”
“You do?” she asked in surprise as she turned her lovely, large eyes on me.
“I do,” I declared as I took her hand in mine. “And I’m glad you’re traveling with us after all.”
“Um,” Freya murmured as a slight blush crept up her cheeks, and I saw her glance over at Sorcha’s sleeping form. “Are you and Sorcha... you know…”
“We have, and we are,” I replied. “She’s scared a lot of people away with her gift as well, but I found it was really amazing.”
“Huh,” Freya pondered as she turned her gaze back toward me. “Well, it’s something to think about.”
I leaned in closer and ran a finger along her cheek. She smiled, then looked away, and I could tell she was trying to decide how she felt.
“Get some sleep,” I suggested.
Freya nodded and started to stand up when a wicked wind suddenly blew through the tunnel, cold enough to freeze me in my spot. It smelled putrid and vaguely sickening, and I placed a hand over my nose as I tried not to react. The fire flickered, then died out, and I could just see the outline of the caravan guard as he leapt to his feet and started to rouse the other members of his group.