Gun Mage 4: Surviving a Post Apocalyptic Magic Earth

by Logan Jacobs

“I killed Hank,” Gerald admitted.

  “Why?” Audra queried. She sounded really angry, like the death of Hank was somehow a personal affront to her.

  “Because they promised to help my wife if I stopped the train,” Gerald huffed. “And Hank caught me. I already told all this to these guys. Why do I have to repeat it?”

  Audra tapped a finger impatiently against her thigh and her frown lines deepened. I really wanted to move out of her line of vision, but that would require brushing past her, and I was quite sure that wouldn’t be allowed.

  “I need to hear the whole story from you,” Audra insisted. “And then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

  “Well, you seem to have this well in hand,” Darwin announced as he stood up. “We’ll leave you to it.”

  “You’re the ones with the guns,” Audra declared as she sized us up. “The ones Mr. Riley added to the list at the last minute.”

  “He did add us at the last minute,” I agreed quietly.

  “Are you working for Mr. Riley?” Audra demanded.

  Darwin and I exchanged glances.

  “An offer was made,” Darwin finally replied. “Based on how today’s trip went.”

  “It went horribly,” Audra snorted. “Except that almost everyone made it here alive, which was due in no small part to you and your guns.”

  “I guess that makes it a success,” I suggested.

  “We still have the problem of Gerald,” Audra pointed out. “And I still haven’t heard his story yet.”

  “There’s no story,” Gerald sighed as he turned his face back to the glass. “My wife is dying and no one can tell me why. A man said he could provide the cure if I would stop the train from reaching Willsport. It didn’t matter how, just that the train failed. He even gave me a gun to use as a last resort. When we stopped to fix the rail, I thought I could unhook the last couple of cars. That would make the train company look bad without anyone getting hurt.”

  “But?” Audra prodded.

  “But Hank caught me, and we had a fight,” Gerald replied. “I never thought I would use the gun, but I just got angry and scared, and he kept taunting me. I finally just pulled it out and fired.”

  “Who hired you to stop the train?” Audra demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Gerald insisted. “But that banker seemed to know the name.”

  Audra looked at me and Darwin then, and we both nodded.

  “Ahmed,” I explained. “His family is supplying most of the money for the train.”

  “I know him,” Audra noted. “I’ll talk to him just as soon as we get Gerald here somewhere where he can’t cause any more trouble.”

  “You and Armin can handle that?” I suggested.

  “I have a couple of men on the platform,” Audra replied as she squeezed between Darwin and I and pulled Gerald up to his feet. “And we have a cozy spot back at the offices where Gerald can wait for word on his fate.”

  Gerald sagged as the security chief started to drag him from the bunk room, but Audra carried a lot of punch for such a short woman. She held the one-time lineman up by his scruff and frog marched him down the aisle and out the door where two large, bald men who looked like twins waited to lift him onto the platform. The three of us watched as Gerald was led away with only a few of the loaders there to watch.

  “What will happen to his family?” I wondered.

  “I don’t know,” Darwin replied. “But I would guess there was never any plan to help his wife, and they probably would have killed Gerald, either here, if the train made it, or wherever he managed to stop the train.”

  “No loose strings,” Armin mumbled. “Well, I’m sure the company will take care of his wife and children.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, though if Joker Riley learned enough to turn the tables on his competition, the businessman might do something for the family.

  “Shall we find the ladies?” I suggested.

  “And probably someplace to stay for tonight,” Darwin added. “It’s getting a bit late to start out on the road.”

  “You’re really going to keep heading west?” Armin asked in surprise. “You’re not going to take Mr. Riley’s offer?”

  I looked at Darwin and waited for the older man to speak.

  “Well, I’m not sure if it still stands after today,” the ex-trooper chuckled.

  “Oh, I’m sure it does,” Armin insisted. “And I think today just proves that we could use people like you, especially as the railroad expands.”

  “No argument there,” I snickered.

  “And if Mr. Riley has his way, you’ll make it to the west coast faster if you stick around with the railroad than if you try to make it there on horseback,” Armin added. “Just imagine being able to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time from the comfort of the railroad.”

  “I think we need to talk first,” Darwin replied. “We can let you know in the morning.”

  “The train is scheduled to leave again the day after,” Armin noted. “I’d feel a lot better if you were making the return trip with us.”

  “We’ll let you know,” I pressed as I nudged Darwin toward the exit.

  The ex-trooper nodded to Armin, then followed me onto the platform. Like the station in Scranton-Barre, this one was still closed off from the public, though an iron gate stood open at the far end. Two of Audra’s security guards were on duty, but the crowd that stood just outside didn’t appear as angry as the protesters at the other end.

  In fact, when Darwin and I stepped through the gate, we were greeted with cheers and a carnival-like atmosphere. People laughed and chatted, mostly about how much easier life would be once the railroad made regular trips. A few sharp eyed individuals who had seen us emerge from the station tried to ask us questions, but we fended them off with bland responses about how easy the trip was. As we moved deeper into the crowd, though, I didn’t spot any of our fellow passengers. Apparently, even the linemen had decided to call it quits for the day.

  We finally found Freya and Sorcha, along with the horses and the dog, on the fringes of the crowd near a man selling hot funnel cakes. There were still revelers about, but it was hard to miss the less enthusiastic folks who stood at the edge of the crowd and watched everyone else with anger and suspicion. I wondered if they knew any of the people who had tried to stop the train with the cannon and if they had any idea what had happened to their fellow protesters.

  “Billy safely tucked in for the night?” Darwin asked as we stopped next to the women.

  “He is,” Sorcha replied. “Turns out the railroad owns the hotel and railroad employees stay there for free as part of their contract.”

  “Nice perk,” Darwin observed, though I noticed he was watching the people around us as well.

  “I wouldn’t mind getting away from this crowd,” I commented as a surly looking man walked by us and spat on the sidewalk.

  “So are we staying overnight?” Freya asked.

  “I think we should,” I replied. “And I think your grandfather agrees. It’s a little late to be starting on the next leg of our trip, especially when we’re not sure what route to take.”

  “The man at the hotel who helped us get Billy to his room said there was a place near the main gate that was comfortable,” Sorcha noted. “And we could probably find a caravan heading out in the morning that we could join.”

  “That sounds like a place we should check out,” I agreed.

  “Come on,” Freya urged as she started to lead the horses away. “It’s not that far.”

  Away from the station, where we were merely visitors and not people who had arrived by train, we were greeted more warmly. The town of Willsport wasn’t as large as Scranton-Barre, but there was certainly plenty of money, to judge by the stately homes and the number of private clubs we passed. Coal and cattle couldn’t be the only businesses around, no matter what Joker Riley believed.

  The people hurried along the streets, but there was none of the anxiety that had started to fill t
he streets of Scranton-Barre. At least, not yet. Though it was clear that even here the railroad had its doubters as well, and I wondered how long Willsport would remain peaceful. The world was changing, and despite their power, I doubted the mages would be able to keep things how they were no matter how hard they tried.

  As we moved closer to the wall, I noticed that the buildings were newer, and packed closer together. There were fewer trees and green space as well, though we walked by a fenced off field that Darwin told us had been there for over a century.

  “The birthplace of Little League,” Darwin mused as we tried to peek through the slats. “Wonder if they still play or if this is just some sort of memorial to the old days.”

  “Little League?” I asked as I stared at the snowy field.

  “Baseball for kids,” Darwin explained. “This is the field where it all started, and where the Little League World Series was played for years.”

  “Baseball?” Sorcha asked. “I don’t think I know that one.”

  “You have to hit a ball with a bat and then run around the bases,” I explained. “Right?”

  “Right,” Darwin agreed.

  “How do you know about baseball?” Freya teased.

  “There was a story Papa Reese used to read to us,” I explained. “The boys in the story were on a baseball team.”

  “It seems like it would be hard to run in all that snow,” Sorcha mused.

  “Baseball was a summer sport,” Darwin said. “Of course, these days that means there’s barely any time to play, but there was a time when baseball season ran from the end of March all the way to October.”

  “Wow,” Freya declared. “I can’t even imagine a summer that lasted that long.”

  “And those games in August,” Darwin continued. “Even the people just sitting in the stands watching would be sweating because it was so hot. And at some of the stadiums in places like Arizona or Florida, sometimes it would get so hot that they would issue heat advisories.”

  “Can you imagine?” Sorcha asked with a note of envy.

  “Well, we won’t be getting any heat advisories today,” Darwin sighed. “We should probably find this hotel before we all freeze to death.”

  We reluctantly stepped away from the fence and Freya took the lead once again. As we moved closer to the far gate, the apartment buildings gave way to businesses and stores, and the pleasant scent of wood fires was replaced with a mix of odors that ranged from the sharp bite of lye to the tear inducing smell of cut onions. The streets were busier as well, though most of the snow had simply been piled on the corners instead of hauled away to the river.

  Freya led us past a few smaller inns, all of which looked comfortable enough, to a place just off the main road. It sat further back from the road than its neighbors so there was room for a curved drive that led to a tall portico where guests could step down from their carriage without getting wet. There was a small plaque by the door that identified the place as Holiday Inn and a man in a long green coat with gold buttons and gold trim on the collar, but otherwise it looked like any other office building along the road.

  “Holiday Inn, huh?” Darwin laughed. “I didn’t think there were any left.”

  “You know this place?” Sorcha asked.

  “There used to be a chain of hotels called Holiday Inn,” Darwin replied. “I’d guess they just borrowed the name when they rebuilt the town.”

  “Checking in?” the dark haired man in the green coat asked with a smile.

  “We were hoping to,” Freya replied with a sunny smile of her own.

  “You’re in luck,” the man replied as he took the horses’ reins. “We just had a caravan check out so there should be rooms available.”

  “Just what I wanted to hear,” Freya declared as she patted the horses then moved toward the doors.

  “Ummm,” the doorman stuttered when Barnaby started to follow us into the lobby.

  “Oh, he’s been trained,” I quickly assured the doorman. “Trust me, he’ll be much less trouble if he stays with us than if you try to put him in the stable.”

  Barnaby wagged his tail and gave the doorman his best dopey dog look.

  “Well, I’m not the one you’ll have to convince,” the doorman replied. “But Bea is on the desk right now, and she loves dogs, so you’ll probably be okay.”

  I thanked the doorman, then Barnaby and I stepped into the lobby with the rest of our group. It was large, with walls painted the same green as the doorman’s coat, and a vast expanse of white tile floor that led to a long desk where two women watched our approach with smiles that never left their faces. A round table in the middle of the floor added the only other burst of color in the shape of a clear glass bowl filled with a rainbow of glass marbles.

  “Welcome to the Holiday Inn of Willsport,” the shorter of the women recited as we stopped in front of the desk. “How may we help you today?”

  “We need rooms for tonight,” Sorcha replied with a stunning smile of her own. “Four rooms if you have that many, though we can make do with two if you don’t.”

  The two women, both young with dark hair that just touched their shoulders, consulted their ledger and had a quiet conversation. After several rejected possibilities, the shorter one finally looked up and smiled at us again.

  “We can do four rooms that are on the same floor but they won’t all be together,” the desk clerk offered.

  “That’s fine,” Sorcha assured her.

  “And the dog…” the shorter clerk started to say.

  “Is staying with me,” I cut in.

  The two clerks looked at each other for several moments, and I would have sworn that some sort of communication had taken place even though neither one spoke out loud.

  “We’re really not supposed to allow large dogs in the rooms,” the taller clerk said in a breathy voice.

  “Only small dogs and service animals are allowed in the rooms,” the shorter clerk added.

  “Service animals?” I asked as I stared at the Weimaraner.

  “Oh, he’s a service animal,” Darwin said quickly. “In fact, he’s specially trained to recognize whenever Hex is about to have one of his epileptic seizures.”

  I had no idea what an epileptic seizure was or what it would look like, but I nodded in agreement as I patted Barnaby on the head.

  “Wouldn’t know what to do without him,” I agreed.

  “You just never know what will trigger them,” Darwin added in a confidential voice. “But dogs are very sensitive to our heart beats and such, and Barnaby always knows when one is about to happen. He can tell Hex so he can take his medicine and prevent an attack.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard about dogs like that,” the shorter clerk said as she bobbed her head. “And you’re so right about dogs being able to sense things about us.”

  The taller clerk looked less convinced about Barnaby’s seizure sensing skills, but she didn’t want to be the one to ask for proof of the dog’s abilities. She scowled at the Weimaraner, but didn’t stop the shorter clerk from handing out key rings with two keys while Darwin signed the register and Sorcha paid for the rooms.

  “You’re all on the third floor,” the shorter clerk declared when the transaction was complete. “Three of the rooms are on the east side and one room is on the west side. The stairs are just through the double doors and to your right.”

  Having made it past the clerks, we walked toward the double doors and found ourselves in a hallway with conference rooms and a ‘business center’ along with the promised stairs. We climbed to the third floor, where entry into the rest of the floor was guarded by a heavy steel door. Darwin tested both keys on one of the key rings and the door finally creaked open with a groan.

  The hallway we stepped into was lit by mage lights, one of which had started to sputter. The walls and the carpet continued the dark green theme, as did the framed, pre-magic pictures of other hotels called Holiday Inn.

  “So who wants the room on the west side?” Darwin aske
d as he sorted through the keys.

  “I’ll take it,” I volunteered quickly.

  Darwin handed over a set of keys and pointed toward the right.

  “Looks like you’re down that way, and we’re this way,” Darwin noted.

  “I can’t wait to take a bath,” Freya declared happily. “And then have some food.”

  “I didn’t see a dining room,” Sorcha mused. “But there were certainly plenty of restaurants along the way.”

  “What say we reconvene in the lobby in an hour?” Darwin suggested. “See if we can find a decent restaurant?”

  We all nodded, and while the other two humans and the bunny-girl turned toward their room, I led Barnaby down the dark hallway to our room. It was clean and bright, with a view of the street, and a bed big enough for both me and the dog. Barnaby sniffed around the other furniture, which was little more than a chest of drawers and a rocking chair, before he settled onto a throw rug at the foot of the bed. I was happy to see that each room had their own toilet and sink, though baths, according to the sign above the toilet, were still located at the end of the hall. I could imagine Freya’s disappointment when she read that and chuckled at the vision of the rabbit woman striding to the shower with the furry hat still on her head.

  There was a knock on the door, and I exchanged a surprised look with the Weimaraner. Barnaby stood up and moseyed toward the door just as I reached for the handle. He sniffed around the edge of the door, then returned to his spot on the rug.

  “I guess that means you’re not worried about who’s knocking on the door,” I remarked.

  Barnaby thumped his tail once, then closed his eyes and started to snore. I opened the door and was surprised to see Darwin standing in the hallway.

  “Charles,” I said in surprise as I stepped back to let the older man in.

  “Do you mind if we talk for a few minutes?” Darwin asked. “The girls are in the tubs, which means we won’t be able to use them ourselves for a while.”

  “Sure, what did you want to talk about?” I prompted as I took a spot on the edge of the bed.

  Darwin looked around the room, then finally sat down in the rocking chair.

  “Well, this seems appropriate,” he chuckled as he rocked back and forth for a moment. “An old man in a rocking chair.”