Tall buildings passed on both sides of the tracks as the locomotive moved forward at a steady pace, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. Jake tried guessing how fast they were going. He decided that they were traveling at the same pace his horse would at a quick trot.
This, however, was a much more comfortable ride than sitting in a saddle. There was no jerking side to side or bouncing up and down. On the contrary, the engine made for a smooth ride, far surpassing any horse or carriage Jack ever used to travel.
Soon the mage engine was breaking through an entrance in the city’s outer wall. New Hope was behind them. The desert spread out in front of them in all directions. The steady chugging heartbeats of the mage engine caressed the air.
“Hey, Jack.” Jack almost jumped from his chair at the mention of his name. He turned from his seat and saw Aareth looking down at him. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Want to go get our presents Edison left us? They’re in the last cart in the back.”
Jack smiled at the thought of getting his hands on the metal staff again, then hesitated at who he was going with. If his father was correct, and he usually was, Aareth was a dangerous man.
“I’ll go with you too.” Sloan stood up from a seat she had taken behind Jack and invited herself. “I think Edison said there was something for me as well.”
Jack, Aareth, and Sloan made their way past a lounging Marcus, who thanked them for the offer to tag along but reassured them he was very comfortable where he was. The trio passed through a small hall that connected each cart.
The first cart they entered was the kitchen, decorated in copper and steel. The second was the sleeping quarters, with bunk beds situated into the sides of the walls, and the last was a small lavatory and the supply closet.
The supply room was cramped, and shelves bursting with their contents lined every spare wall. Items like water, cooking supplies, cleaners, towels, and tools filled the racks. It was clear which items were meant for them. Smack in the center of the floor were three long black boxes stamped with a marker that read “D.P.S.M.”
Jack and Sloan stood admiring the boxes as Aareth eased himself past the two. He opened the first container. Jack was surprised to see the large man squat down with child-like glee. He went to work with all the enthusiasm a youngster would on a special birthday. That was when Jack began to wonder how old his traveling companions actually were.
Aareth’s unshaven face and long hair made him look like he was close to his thirties, while Sloan’s business-minded manner and uniform put her near the same age in Jack’s mind.
“Here, this one’s yours, Jack.” Aareth handed him the first shorter black box. Jack accepted the container and opened its hard, shell-like exterior. Inside, the box held the modified staff, a black belt with a holster for the weapon, and a thick book of directions.
Jack wasted no time in strapping on the belt over his own. The metal rod rested low on his right hip.
“Wow,” Aareth said as he handed the next box to Sloan. “Christmas has come early for the captain of the guard.”
Sloan raised her eyebrow, not sure how to take the comment, yet still accepting the chest handed to her. Jack saw her open the case. Her eyes immediately doubled in size. Sloan reached inside and pulled out a saber the likes of which Jack had never seen.
The sword was average in length, but that was about all that was average about it. The handle was thick and reinforced with copper plating. Coming up from the handle and midway up the blade were two thin copper pipes. There was a temperature gauge on the handle as well as a small lever near where the wielder’s thumb would rest.
“What does it do?” Jack asked more to himself than his two companions. “Is it powered by magic?”
“I’m not sure,” Sloan shook her head, “but it feels amazing.”
“Well, let’s see.” Aareth looked up from his kneeling position. “Flip the switch.”
“No way. You saw the explosion in the armory this morning. I’m going to read the directions twice before I point this thing somewhere and it does who knows what.”
Aareth shrugged, clearly not understanding the logic, and opened his own box. The last case was a little smaller than the other two. Inside were two grey steel gauntlets that resembled the ones Jack had seen in pictures of warriors in suits of armor.
Of course, these were no ordinary gauntlets. They had wires running to each knuckle from a small crank that was placed on the underside of each glove, where the wrists were. As Aareth turned the gloves over, Jack also saw one small button on the inside of each palm. Aareth wasted no time in placing the gauntlets on his hands.
“You should really wait and read the directions,” Sloan said as she took a step back. “You’re just asking for trouble.”
“No way. These things are a perfect fit. Let’s see what these babies can do.”
Jack took Sloan’s lead and took a step back as a grinning Aareth stood up, flexing his fingers.
“Look, see? Nothing to it. I wonder what the buttons on the palms are for.”
Aareth opened his hands, palms to the ceiling, and touched each button with the tips of his middle fingers. There was a crackling noise as the gloves began to glow. Thin lines of blue magic disappeared and reappeared just as quickly.
Jack didn’t know what to think. Never in his life had he seen anything remotely similar.
“Aareth, you should really—” Sloan took another step back.
“Captain, please. I know you’re in charge, but I’m not a child. I can think—” As Aareth said the word “think,” his right arm came up and his pointer finger touched the side of his temple.
There was a loud hissing noise followed by Aareth’s entire body being thrown into the side of the cart. His large frame collided with the rack of supplies. He fell to the ground, motionless.
Jack and Sloan looked at one another, taking a moment to try and process what just happened.
“Is he—is he dead?” Jack took a cautious step forward.
“No.” Sloan shook her head as she joined him. “His chest is still moving. But my gosh, did you see that?”
“How could I miss it? He must weigh over two hundred pounds and he was thrown across the room like a rag doll.”
As they bent down over Aareth’s body, the bright blue currents over his gauntleted hands dissipated.
Jack reached out with a tentative foot to prod Aareth. Before he could roll Aareth over on his back, the large man sat up with a scream more suited for a young girl than a grown man.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Jack and Sloan fell backwards as Aareth teetered in a sitting position. His hair was standing in all different directions. A line of spit fell down the left side of his lip. A piece of toilet paper from the rack he had fallen against wrapped itself around his head like a turban.
“What—what just happened?”
“I think you just knocked yourself out,” Jack raised a hand to stifle his laughter.
“I told you to read the directions.” Sloan coughed, trying to hide her own smile.
Aareth wobbled to his feet as he slowly took off the gloves.
“You have a piece of toilet pa—”
“What Jack’s trying to tell you,” Sloan interrupted with a wink, “is that it’s time for a meal before you decide to give yourself another concussion.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sloan
With the kitchen area raided, the emissaries to Queen Eleanor sat in the lounging cart as they shared a meal. Sloan was so caught up with the day’s events, she had neglected breakfast. Now as the afternoon approached, her stomach reminded her of how hungry she really was.
Lunch was a much simpler affair than dinner the night before; still, it seemed like a feast to Sloan. There were croissant sandwiches filled with meat and cheese, fruit, and water and beer to wash it all down.
Aareth had brushed his hand through his hair and found the rogue strand of toilet paper, giving Sloan a grin.
“What?” she asked. “I
thought it was an improvement.”
Over lunch, Sloan, Jack, and even Aareth opened the directions Edison provided with their new weapons. Sloan inspected his sword inside and out. On the butt of the weapon was a small indention imprinting the initials “D.P.R.M.” Both Aareth and Jack found similar markings on their own weapons.
Sloan took a moment to look up from her own reading. Aareth was slouched in a chair, nose deep in his own weapon’s manual. “Someone decided to come around and take the advice of a female captain, I see.”
“It’s powered by mage technology.” Aareth looked up from his thick manual, ignoring the remark. “At least that’s what I’m getting from this brick of a book. Something about stored mage energy that you get by turning these cranks on the wrists. The energy is released when I press the buttons on the palms. It’s only good for a few minutes at a time. It’s the equivalent fat being struck by a bolt of lightning.”
“Are you trying to tell us you have the ability of Zeus?” Marcus sat in his chair, amused.
“Well, I didn’t think of it that way, but yeah, I guess I do.”
“How about you, Jack?” Marcus chuckled and looked at his son. “Any other surprises with your extending wand?”
“It seems in its condensed form, the wand will help channel and direct my magic.” Jack drew the steel wand from his holster. At once, it glowed a bright green. A bolt of magic fire formed at the tip, ready to be released. “I’ll have to test it out and see if its more effective in long-range use, rather than simply shooting the magic from my hands.”
There were impressed looks around the room as all eyes turned to Sloan and her peculiar sword.
“Well, I read the directions front to back twice. It’s a heated saber. The handle carries a small amount of renewable mage technology. With the flick of this switch by my thumb, the blade is supposed to heat to an unnatural degree, giving it the ability to slice through almost any object.”
“Mage gloves, heated sabers, and wands that can extend to staffs. What will surprise us next?” Marcus asked.
As if on cue, the locomotive began to slow.
“Did we already reach the end of the track?” Jack looked at Sloan, worry written across his young face.
“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Sloan looked though the windows and the terrain beyond to try and get a bearing of where they were. “We should have had enough track to get us to the first city or close to it. My guess was that we would arrive after the sun set. Something’s wrong.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sloan
Sloan walked to the front of the cart. She pounded a gloved fist on the door leading to the engine. The door immediately opened. A short man with white hair and a white mustache peered out.
“Nemo, why are we slowing down? Have we arrived?”
“Oh, no, ma’am.” The small man blinked through spectacles that magnified his eyes to an unnatural degree. “There’s something you ought to see.”
Sloan followed the short conductor to the front with the rest of her party close behind.
The locomotive was nearly at a stand still when they entered the inside of the mage engine. It was a small room with a seat for Nemo and windows that opened in every direction. Black was the primary color decorating the interior with a few brown handles and whistles.
Sloan caught sight of a huge furnace with a lever nearby that opened a container suspended above the fire. The large container held a mass of swirling red magic.
“See, ma’am? I didn’t want to run them over. They haven’t said anything yet and, well, what are they riding?”
Sloan stopped, examining the inside of the mage engine. She craned her neck to see what Nemo was talking about. Just thirty yards from where the locomotive stopped, there were a dozen or more figures dressed in black.
Each figure was sitting on top of what looked like a large bicycle. The thing that separated the machines the strangers sat on from any Sloan had ever seen were the red plumes of smoke coming from large pipes under the contraptions. The machines grunted and hummed with dangerous intentions.
They were too far away to make out any distinguishable traits about the men who sat in their path. Still, Sloan had a feeling the men hadn’t come to share a meal.
“Run them over,” Aareth said through clenched teeth. “Kill them, now.”
“What?” Marcus gave Aareth a disapproving stare. “You don’t even know who they are or what they want.”
“Old man, they’re not here for social hour. You can trust me on that.”
“You do know who they are.” Jack let his hand drop to the wand at his side. “Don’t you Aareth?”
“While I was working in the Outland, I passed through villages that have been destroyed. Decimated towns whose survivors told stories of men on steel horses. I’ve never seen them myself, but what else could they be? Keep going and don’t stop this locomotive, no matter what.”
“Let me at least talk to them.” Marcus wasn’t ready to give in to violence just yet. “We owe them that much before we try to run them over. I mean—”
Sloan heard the shot and saw the glass shatter at the same moment. She hit the ground hard as small shards rained around the room. More bullets followed and pelted the steel engine like steel raindrops.
Aareth was the only one who hadn’t ducked for cover when the shooting started. He stood tall and straight, winding the gears on his gauntlets.
“With all due respect, sorcerer, you were wrong.”
“Nemo.” Sloan shot to her feet and flipped the switch on her sword with her thumb. “Full ahead and don’t stop, no matter what. Your one and only job is to keep this machine moving forward. Understood?”
The little man gave her a half salute and jumped in his chair, pulling brown handles and pushing large levers. The locomotive began to slowly move forward.
Adrenaline flowed freely through Sloan’s body as she witnessed their attackers charge.
Bullets shattered the stillness as loud cracks marked their exits from smoking guns. Bullet after bullet buried itself into the metal casing, protecting the mage-powered engine.
The men on the metal bikes were swarming around the locomotive. Sloan stuck a head out to see a handful of the men jump from their mage bikes onto the train itself. The dark figures pulled themselves on top of the roof and out of sight.
“Sloan!” Jack searched for the captain. “We have a problem.”
“I see them.” Sloan shouted over the noise in the engine room. “Jack, Aareth, get them off the roof. Marcus and I will stay here and keep them from destroying the engine.”
Jack moved to follow Aareth.
“Careful, son.” Marcus caught the underside of his arm before Jack left. “This isn’t going to be like killing shadow spirits.”
Jack nodded and his father released his arm. Aareth was already gone. Jack holstered his wand and prepared to go outside and ascend the roof.
Chapter Seventeen
Jack
The locomotive picked up speed. It was now moving at the pace of a sprinting horse. Jack felt air rush around his body at treacherous speeds. He gripped the metal exterior of the locomotive’s lead cart with all his might. His fingerless brown gloves pressed against the cold steel. Slowly, Jack placed one hand in front of the other.
Easy, you can do this. One foot at a time. Slow and steady, this isn’t a race.
It was while Jack was giving himself this internal pep talk that he neglected to remember the steel mage-powered bicycles roaring around him. A bullet buried itself in steel a few inches from his head. Jack lost his footing and hung from the small ledge by his fingertips. Jack knew he had only seconds before he fell. It was funny actually, the things you think about before you’re going to die.
This is it. You’re going to fall and probably get run over by this huge piece of magical technology. You didn’t even get to use your new wand.
Jack’s fingers slipped. As he began to fall toward the rotating wheels, he felt a strong
hand grab his own. The next second, he was vaulting up through the air. He landed next to Aareth on top of the locomotive.
“Easy there, Jack.” Aareth’s voice was calm. “This fight’s just getting started. Can’t have you falling to your death just yet.”
Jack tried to grin, but his whole body was shaking. He looked up to see four figures running at them from the opposite side of the locomotive. More men were jumping from their mage-powered bicycles onto the moving locomotive. As the first wave of attackers came closer, Jack was able to get a better look at his adversaries.
They were all tall men and women dressed from head to toe in black. Long trench coats streamed behind them and black masks covered their faces from the ridge of their noses down. Steel flashed in all of their gloved hands. They carried sabers that looked alarmingly similar to the one Sloan used to threaten Aareth in front of the Queen.
They charged forward. Before Jack could get his balance and stand on the moving locomotive, Aareth sprinted forward. His hands were blazing with the blue lines of magical matter that coursed over his gloves.
The first saber came down on Aareth in a high arc. Aareth caught the blade easily in his right gauntleted hand. There was a loud snap and the man carrying the sword was thrown off the top of the train with the force equivalent of a lightning strike.
The remaining three attackers paused for a moment as they lifted their own weapons at various angles. Every muscle in their body told them to strike, but after seeing what happened to their friend, they were taking a moment to gain their bearings.
Aareth didn’t need a moment. With each fist landed, there was another loud cracking noise and figures dressed in black flew off the moving machine at alarming speeds.
All four assailants were dealt with within the space of a few seconds. Aareth looked back at Jack with a devilish grin. Jack heard shots ring out from somewhere inside the carts underneath him. Fear for his father’s safety made him glance down. An unfamiliar voice made him look up just as quickly.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 7