Metal Mage 3

by Eric Vall

  Most of the damage to the roof was pretty superficial, and it only took a push of my power to mend it and bring back the shine. We were back in business … sorta.

  “Korion hasn’t come with the next load of rails and ties,” I said with a frown. “We have maybe five miles of material left.”

  “What do we do?” asked Cayla. “Wait for him?”

  I shook my head. “We have to keep going as far as we can until he catches up. I don’t want to sit here and wait for the next fire monster to show up. We’ll take a break to see to any injuries and rehydrate, but then we have to push onward.”

  Once we had regrouped, I led the mages back onto the train, and then I used a strong pulse of my metal magecraft to lift Bobbie 2.0 up and into the car. I helped Shoshanne settle Pindor in, and then we started again with the process we had before the giant fire scorpion so rudely interrupted us.

  Bagnera and Aurora started up the engine and used their Ignis Mage powers to destroy any trees in our path. The Terra Mages reached out with their power to smooth down the rocky path ahead of us and set a bed of crushed rock for me to lay the tracks and ties onto.

  We continued for several miles over the broken, rocky landscape, until we saw a tendril of smoke on the horizon.

  Chapter 11

  “How close are we to the border of Cedis?” I asked Cayla as I stared at the approaching column of smoke.

  “I’m not sure,” the princess admitted with a frown. “We may be right on it for all I know. I never traveled this way when I first came to Illaria, and I’d have to see a map to be certain.”

  As we drew closer, we could see that the smoke thankfully came from a bonfire in the middle of a rough little settlement, not from another beast wreathed in flame. It would be too generous to call it a village, just four little simple buildings and a dozen men and women who stood in our path, all eyes on our approach.

  That was the one thing when you traveled by rail, you couldn’t do it stealthily.

  We were down to our last few rails and ties, so we didn’t have much choice but to make this a stop. Aurora and Bagnera cut the power to the engine, and we let the train come to a slow halt. Then I jumped down from the locomotive, followed by Aurora, Cayla, and Haragh. Three of the group, two men and a woman, left the settlement and cautiously approached us.

  They all had a similar look. First off, they were all pretty dirty, but they had the same red-brown hair and dark green eyes, stubby noses, and strong jawlines. Clearly, they were all related.

  “You must be lost,” said the older man, who to judge by the lines on his face, must have been in his fifties.

  “Why do you say that?” Cayla asked as she came to stand behind my left shoulder.

  “No one comes to Durch unless they’re lost,” the woman replied with a sigh.

  “Durch is the name of this place?” I asked curiously. “You’re right though, we don’t exactly know where we are. We’re not even sure if we’re in Illaria or Cedis.”

  “You’re nowhere,” the younger man said. “We ain’t seen patrols from either kingdom in years. I don’t think they care enough to make a claim.”

  “That’s about to change,” I said with a smile. “Settlements near train tracks tend to get noticed.” I gestured behind me to the hulking shadow of the locomotive. “The thing behind me is called a train. It’s a mode of transportation we’re constructing for both the kings of Illaria and Cedis. I’m Mason Flynt, by the way, and this is Cayla, Aurora, and Haragh.”

  “Rumic Atway,” the older man replied as he reached out and gripped my arm with a strong, calloused hand. “This is my niece Lilys and my son Umor. Durch has been the Atway family salt mine for generations. Back when there was actually a decent amount of salt in it.”

  “I figured you were family,” I nodded, intrigued. “But I didn’t know you were miners. Definitely an interest of mine. Can I see your operations? It might be of use to our project.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Rumic shrugged as he eyed the train over my shoulder. “Ain’t got anything else to do, and you’re the strangest thing to happen around here in decades.”

  “I get that a lot,” I chuckled.

  He led us past the silent, slightly suspicious stares of the rest of his family to the largest of the structures in town. Upon opening the door, we faced a straight vertical shaft topped by a platform that hung from a heavy iron chain connected to a winch.

  Haragh looked at the platform with concern in his eyes.

  “I don’t think that thing’s gonna hold me,” the half-ogre grumbled.

  “It’s held tons of salt over the years,” Rumic replied. “I’m sure it could hold the lot of ya.”

  We cautiously stepped aboard the platform, and Rumic released the winch. With him on one side and his son Umor on the other next to us with the chains in hand, they slowly lowered us down into the mineshaft.

  There were flickering oil lamps embedded in the rough walls to give the dark shaft some flickering light, but Aurora still cast a ball of flame to let us see a little bit better.

  “Damn,” Umor whistled as he stared, wide-eyed. “Is that a trick or are you a mage?”

  “They’re all mages, except me,” Cayla said a slight smile.

  I took from that she didn’t want to say she was actually a princess herself and might one day rule this land if it turned out we were on the Cedis side of the border. I gave Cayla a knowing look, and she silently pressed a finger to her lips.

  “Haragh here is particularly skilled with gems and crystals, like salt,” I explained before I turned to the half-ogre. “Are you detecting much salt in the mine?”

  “There’s still some here,” Haragh replied, but then he shook his head, “unfortunately, not a lot, and it’s pretty far away.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Rumic moaned.

  “Here’s something I guess you don’t know,” I said with a cheeky grin as I sent out a little pulse of magic into the ground surrounding us. “Metal speaks to me, like crystals speak to Haragh. Do you know this place is filled with iron and copper ore?”

  Umor and Rumic stared at each other and then at me. As I suspected, they had no idea. There was too much of it all around us for it to be something their family had tapped into over the years.

  We eventually reached the bottom of the shaft, a big cavern with a network of tunnels linked together with pulleys and carts. It was clear this had been a successful mine for the family, but that had been years ago.

  I walked to one of the walls and concentrated my power to locate the iron ore not far from the surface. With a pulse of energy, I separated it from the rock and dirt around it, and then I pulled out a chunk of iron ore the size of a melon.

  “You find enough of these, learn how refine them, and you’ll be a rich man, my friend,” I said to Rumic as I handed him the ore. “People will be talking about fine Durch steel as the metal to be beat.”

  The man scratched his scraggly beard. “I wouldn’t even know how to start.”

  I pulled a dozen more similarly sized chunks of iron ore from the mine and passed them around. That would be enough to get us started.

  “Lucky for you and me, I have a little time on my hands for now until my supplies arrive,” I added with a smile. It would feel good to do something with my hands and distract myself from the Master’s shadow that hovered in the back of my mind. “Let’s head up, and I’ll give you a primer.”

  Umor and Rumic pulled us back up to the surface with more speed than they lowered us down. It was obvious they were excited, if maybe a little intimidated about this change in circumstance I offered. The younger ones had probably never even known a time when the mine yielded anything but disappointment.

  When we were out in the sunlight, I found the Atway family and the mages had all gathered around a new arrival. Korion was there with his two cars full of tracks and ties, and he raised his arm in greeting.

  “It looks like your supplies are here now,” Umor sighed,
disappointed. “I guess this means you don’t have time to teach us what we need to learn?”

  “It will be time well spent,” I said as I shook my head. “I need you as much as you need me. The distance to my own mine is getting further and further away, and I need to have my materials delivered every day so I can keep building the railroad. I’m counting on you and your family getting up to speed quickly. It’ll be a mutually beneficial relationship.”

  “You got a deal,” Rumic said with a grin. “Where do we start?”

  “I need some of your strongest boys to unload the tracks and ties from the new arrival and put them in my locomotive and car, half in each,” I explained. “Meanwhile, we’ll build you a forge, show you how to use it, create some molds, and show you how to create everything we need.”

  Rumic went to his people to instruct them while I turned to Aurora.

  “Let’s start refining,” the half-elf said with a grin as blue flames danced across her fingertips.

  “While we do this,” I said to Haragh, “get the Terra Mages to make a couple molds of the tracks and ties we have.”

  The half-ogre gave me a mock salute and left to talk to the mages.

  “Can I do anything to help?” Cayla asked, and I knew she was feeling a little restless with all the magery going on.

  “Will you check up on Shoshanne and Pindor?” I requested with a tired smile. “Make sure they’re alright? And I’ll need you to also keep an eye out for anymore attacks while we work. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of those fire-beasts.”

  “At least they won’t be hard to miss,” the princess quipped with a dry chuckle. Then she pressed a quick kiss to my cheek and sauntered off to go check on our healer and injured mage.

  Even though I was tired and on edge from the previous attack, I used my power to hold a big chunk of iron ore in the air while Aurora bathed it in flame. When the impurities had dripped out, and the metal was soft enough, I began to create a forge. It was much the same as the ones Ogder gave me, and I made some of my own in my workshops in Eyton and Magehill.

  Rumic joined us as I was setting the forge over the campfire, together with his niece Lilys and two boys who looked to be under ten. I turned to them with a smile and wiped the sweat and dirt from my brow.

  “Okay, welcome to Forging 101,” I began as I clapped my hands together.

  “Won a won?” the youngest boy asked as his brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Let’s start over,” I chuckled. “You need a really hot fire. My beautiful assistant over here--”

  “Assistant?” Aurora asked with her eyebrow cocked.

  “Sorry, my beautiful associate here,” I corrected with a grin, “can make a really hot fire with magic, but you’re going to have to do it by stoking lots of wood or coal, if you can find some of that.” I turned back to the campfire and summoned up a burst of magic. “Let me show you what that does to metal ore.”

  I floated another large chunk of iron ore into the forge, and Aurora blasted it with blue flame. The Atways watched enraptured as the metal glowed, showered sparks, and then melted.

  “We got your molds ready,” Haragh said as he tapped me on the back.

  “Your timing is perfect, bud,” I said with a grin. “Put ‘em right over here please.”

  With a push of my power, I lifted the basin of molten iron, poured its contents into the mold, and Haragh sent out his own power to clamp it shut. He then floated the mold to the pump, which was the settlement’s water supply.

  “You guys big enough to handle the handle?” I said with a wink to the boys.

  The kids eagerly ran over to the pump and dumped water onto the mold. Then they gasped excitedly as it hissed and let out a cloud of steam so big, they seemed to get lost in it. When it cleared, we joined them at the pump, and Haragh popped open the mold with a flex of his magic.

  “You guys have just seen how to make a track,” I declared proudly. “Any questions?”

  “Yeah,” said Lilys, puzzled. “What do we do with it after it’s done? How do we get it to you?”

  “And what are these for exactly?” Rumic inquired with a frown.

  “These tracks help that big benemoth over there run smoothly across the countryside,” I explained as I tilted my head to the train. “As for what you’ll do with them … ” I turned and called over my shoulder. “Bagnera! Korion! I need you over here!” Then I pivoted back to the others by the pump. “I have six cars and a locomotive built. Two of the cars are back at the existing mine, getting the next shipment loaded up. The trains are powered by an Ignis Mage who keeps the engine running. Aurora is coming along with me while I lay down the track with the locomotive and one of the cars. One car I’m sending back to my other mine to bring back what they’ve manufactured there. The other I’m leaving here along with another Ignis Mage to help you keep the forge hot and to transport a car’s load to us if you happen to get finished before the other mage returns.”

  Before I finished explaining the plan, Bagnera and Korion had arrived, so they understood what they needed to do.

  Lilys whispered something to Rumic, who shook his head and grinned in turn.

  “My niece has requested the young blond lad stay here in Durch,” Rumic chuckled. “if that is okay.”

  “Um, sure, happy to,” Korion replied with a blush that matched Lilys’.

  It was my turn to laugh. The young Ignis Mage might never end up leaving Durch, and that seemed fine with him. It felt good to laugh at something as carefree as young love. I needed some kind of reprieve after the day we’d been through.

  “Bagnera, that leaves you doing the run to Magehill,” I said as I turned to the middle-aged Ignis Mage. “Can you take one of the empty cars and deliver it to Magehill, and then bring back the two cars which should be full by the time you get there? Leave one car behind for them to stock and then they can fill up the warehouse. You got it?”

  “Certainly, dear,” Bagnera nodded with a smile. “I go back and forth between here and Magehill. One empty car there, two full cars back.”

  “Exactly,” I replied and turned to Korion. “If you have a full car before Bagnera gets here, drive it down the tracks and bring it to us so we can restock and keep building. If Bagnera shows up with two full cars before you have enough to fill your one, then give her the empty one to go to Magehill, and bring us the two cars.”

  “What if we end up with three full cars?” Korion asked earnestly.

  “Then we’re really cooking,” I chuckled. “Bring them all to us and I might just hug ya!”

  Korion laughed as well.

  It seemed we had a plan, and I was happy to have another group to keep us stocked up. Rumic practiced the art of forging and showed the others the process while the men of Durch finished loading up my locomotive and car while I rested and refueled. It was definitely a slower process without the use of magic, but it was obvious the Atway family recognized this as an opportunity they were lucky to have.

  When the last of the tracks and ties had been loaded up, it was time for us to go.

  “All right, I’ll be off then, dears,” Bagnera said as she headed for one of the empty cars.

  “Just a moment,” I called, and then I turned to Shoshanne who had just approached me. “How is Pindor doing? Would he better off in your infirmary than on the tracks with us?

  Pindor looked to the healer with pleading eyes as he tried not to lean on her for support.

  “There is no greater remedy than healthful rest,” the copper-haired Aer Mage replied before a smile slipped across her beautiful, cinnamon-colored lips, “except of course being inspired to adventure. I think young Pindor will heal just fine on the tracks, but I’d recommend he steer clear of any more giant fire scorpions if he can.”

  “Excellent,” I sighed in relief, and Pindor tried to fist-pump before he winced in pain.

  I waved on Bagnera, and the Terra Mages leveled out the rocky path through the settlement while I prepared to lay out tracks through
Durch. As an anticipated loading area for our materials, it would need a rail switch. It was the fifth one I had created, and now it was almost second nature.

  Once we had a clear path and strong tracks stabilized with ties, it was time to get back on the locomotive and continue on. Everyone except for Korion pulled themselves up into the locomotive and we set off, one full car pulled behind us, one empty car behind.

  Over the crest of the next hill, we could see the plains of Cedis to the east and the sea to the west. It was a spectacular sight for anyone with a pulse. The rolling farmland was a patchwork of different crops separated by irregular fences and dotted with farmhouses next to the wide blue expanse of water, but I knew that to Cayla, it was even more special. It was home. I gave the princess’s hand a squeeze, and she smiled at me with shining bright blue eyes.

  Knowing one of my girls was in her homeland made me pause to think of my other girl. Aurora’s feelings for Nalnora were more mixed, I knew, since she grew up in a border town, not really belonging to either kingdom until her mage powers revealed themselves. Hopefully, King Temin would soon receive word back from the elves about a meeting that was so desperately needed, but what then? The Master was a storm moving ever closer, and I feared if something wasn’t done soon, we’d all be caught in the downpour, mages and elves alike.

  I shook myself and pushed that thought aside for now. The tracks weren’t going to lay themselves, and that is what I needed to focus on.

  We followed the natural curve of the hill east with just slight adjustments to the terrain courtesy of the Terra Mages when the slope was too steep or rocky. Aurora powered the engine, but occasionally we still needed her to vaporize the odd tree in our path.

  My job as always was to use my power to throw down tracks and ties in our path, a task made more enjoyable when Haragh began to bellow one of his ogre work songs. Soon the whole train had joined in the chorus with growls and grumbles and snarls.