by Eric Vall
“I understand,” Bromweg replied with a nod of his head. “I hate to ask, but could I ask for an additional feature on the wall, if it’s not too much work? It would be great if there was a secret back entrance to get in or out of Tasson.”
“That’s actually a great idea,” I said with a grin.
As we walked, the Terra Mages and I raised up stone walls wherever there was enough of a space between trees or where the trees were small enough for us to easily unearth them. The wall formed a twisting zig-zag circuit around Tasson to avoid some high trees we didn’t want to knock down. When we pulled up a wall with a long, naturally occurring vein of iron ore within, I knew we had found what we were looking for.
“Give me a moment,” I said as I placed my hand against the stone wall.
With a pulse of my power, I could feel the iron from within, and I slowly began to manipulate it. I carefully formed a thin cylindrical iron barrel that ran three feet from the ground, and then I crafted the iron to encase it in a sheath. It was in effect a hidden hinge. I called on my Terra magecraft to crack through the stone in an irregular pattern along the existing grooves and ribbons of darker material, just enough to create a nearly invisible seam along the top, sides, and bottom of the rough rectangle. It took a while, but Bromweg and the Terra Mages waited patiently, until I stood back, satisfied.
“Give it a push,” I said with a grin.
Bromweg gave me a quizzical look and then shoved hard against the wall. It was heavy, but the door opened with barely a creak.
“Thank you,” the young man said excitedly, “It’s perfect!”
“Just put a little mud around it from time to time, and it should be pretty much impossible to spot,” I said, satisfied, as I signaled for Jovion, Zerla, and Pindor to join me.
We continued to slide walls of stone up to complete the circuit in front of the depot, so we were sealed within. With our combined power, the Terra Mages and I then pulled out a solid block of stone to create a tunnel where the tracks had been set up in a loop.
I reached into the locomotive with my power and lifted out what I needed to build two winches: gears, hooks, platforms, and long lengths of chain. The first winch I constructed on the platform next to the warehouse to move merchandise. The second I placed next to the gate and attached it to the block so the gate could be raised or lowered.
“I’d recommend keeping it down most of the time,” I said seriously. “At least until we know the bandit threat is gone.”
Bromweg gave the chain a pull and lowered the gate. The sun had set, but the people of Tasson lit torches on the platforms above us to show us the way to the rope ladder. It was time to eat and get some sleep.
We were greeted at the top of the rope ladder by the townsfolk, including Aurora, Gaveedra, and Nieryl. At the smell of food, it was all I could do to keep from drooling. They had prepared a simple feast of tea, roasted meat, fruit, and a paste that tasted like corn meal and honey.
The moment I tasted a spoonful of the paste, I had an idea and turned to Cayla with a grin.
“I’m about to meet your challenge,” I chuckled and stood up.
“What challenge?” the princess asked, confused.
“I need some oil, salt, and the corn meal,” I asked one of the women of Tasson who served us before I turned back to Cayla to explain. “It was a while ago, when we first started the railroad. You were talking about some of the food I’ve created, like chicken wings and ranch dressing.”
“Oh yes,” she giggled as she remembered, “you’ve thought up another treat?”
“Come and give me a hand,” I said and pulled her to her feet.
We followed the woman across a rope bridge to the open fire where they did all their cooking. A pot of water simmered over the fire, and I quickly gathered up the tools and ingredients I needed.
I poured about an equal amount of fine cornmeal and hot water into a bowl with a generous sprinkle of salt. Then I handed it to Cayla with a spoon.
“This is your treat?” the princess asked with a disappointed frown.
“Those are only the ingredients, but you need to stir it into a batter,” I said with a grin, “if that’s something you’re capable of.”
“Oh please,” Cayla giggled as she began to scrape, fold, and whip the mixture. “What are you going to do?”
I poured a couple inches of oil into a pan and set it on the grill above the fire. With a push of my power, I lowered the metal grill so it was just over the flame. Then I grabbed a large platter and a knife.
“That’s good,” I said as I took the bowl from Cayla and poured the batter onto the platter.
I began mashing it all down until it was flat, and then I used the knife to score small rectangular shapes in it, just an inch or two in length. Cayla came over to watch, fascinated.
“The oil is starting to smoke,” the princess said with a smile. “Is it supposed to?”
“Yeah, it needs to be spittin’ hot,” I assured her, laughing. “The next part we need to do together and really fast. You ready?”
Cayla nodded, her blue eyes sparkling. I grabbed a large bowl, two spoons, and then carried the platter to the pan.
“Give ‘em thirty seconds in the pan and start scooping them out,” I explained and handed Cayla a spoon and the bowl.
I quickly began to drop each rectangle of batter into the pan with my spoon, and the moment one turned golden brown, Cayla scooped it up with hers and dropped it into the bowl. We had to work really quickly, it was like a frantic conveyer belt, and we broke down in laughter as she lifted the last golden brown curl out of the pan and into the bowl.
“Done?” Cayla giggled.
“Almost,” I replied with a grin and sprinkled salt over the bowl.
“They’re going to be really greasy and salty,” the princess observed with a raise of her eyebrow.
“Oh yeah, that’s why they’re good,” I said enthusiastically. “Give it a try.”
Cayla picked up one, not quite sure, and popped it in her mouth. As she crunched, her pink lips rose in an almost orgasmic smile.
“Oh gods,” the princess moaned, “what do you call these?”
“Corn chips,” I replied and helped myself to one. “Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Better than you’d get at any gas station.”
“Whatever that is,” Cayla said with a giggle as she took another one, “you have definitely risen to the challenge, Mason.”
“We made enough to share with everyone,” I said with a slight smirk. “Don’t have too many more or you’ll be busting out of your bustier.”
“Like you’d mind,” the princess teased back, and together we took the bowl back to the feast.
The mages, traders, and townsfolk looked at the bowl of salty, glistening, crunchy chips with suspicion, but once they had tried one or two, eyes rolled and their lips smacked. The acclaim was universal.
“These would be really good with that ranch dressing you invented,” Aurora said with a contented sigh.
My mind reeled as I thought of all the dips I would need to invent if corn chips really became a thing. Clam dip. Salsa. French onion. Between wings, dips, and corn chips, damn, I could create a real Superbowl feast.
“You truly must have come from the gods, for this is a delicacy from the gods,” Bromweg said with a wide smile. “Thank you for it, and for everything you have given us. I can speak for the entire community when I say tonight, knowing that wall will protect us from bandit raids, we’ll sleep more soundly than we have in months.”
“Where do you sleep around here anyway?” Cayla asked as she stifled a yawn.
“Unless things have changed around here,” Aurora replied with a smile, “everyone sleeps under the canopy of leaves.”
“That hasn’t changed,” Gaveedra said with a nod. “Of course, we do have shelter in case of a bad storm, which you are free to use if it would make you feel more comfortable.”
“Speaking for myself, I could go to sleep right here,” I chuck
led.
The rest of our party gave signs of agreement, but Bromweg shook his head.
“We can do better than that for our important guests,” the young man said as he walked over to a rope ladder attached to a higher platform. “Please follow me.”
One after another, all ten of us climbed the ladder after him, up to a wide platform where circles of soft mattresses and warm blankets had been arranged. The tree boughs were only a few feet over our heads, and the leaves gave a spicy, floral scent. We were outside, but we could have been in some kind of fancy spa.
“I knew I smelled veridianix,” Shoshanne said as she gently touched a vine that draped through the bough. “It’s famous for its medicinal value. I can only imagine the benefit of inhaling it all night long.”
“We have a number of other herbs and provisions you might find useful,” Bromweg replied, pleased. “I will make sure you have some packets ready tomorrow morning. For now, good night.”
Everyone found a mattress and settled down. I slept soundly, the scent of veridianix in my nose, and the gentle sound of rustling leaves as a lullaby.
The sunrise filtered through the branches when I opened my eyes, and I felt like a million dollars, ready to get on with our journey. As I roused the others, they clearly had experienced the same healing night’s sleep that I had. The first thing Shoshanne did was examine Jovion’s shoulder. Only a few hours before, it had been an ugly puncture wound, black and crusted with dried blood, but now it was little more than a bad bruise. The skin had completely healed.
As we climbed down the rope ladder to the main platform, we could see the community had also woken before the dawn. Bromweg and Gaveedra were among those who greeted us, and the elderly lady handed Shoshanne packets filled with herbs. I could see from the healer’s expression how excited she was about these rare medicines.
“The next time I visit an Order of Pallax temple, I’m going to ask them to send you an order,” Shoshanne said with a big smile.
“We could use the business,” Bromweg admitted before turning to me. “Where are you heading to next, friend?”
“The next important trading center within sixty miles of here, north along the Nalnora border,” I said with a shrug. “I think we’re open to suggestions.”
“Toroth is only about sixty miles away,” the young man replied thoughtfully. “They’re definitely a focal point for trade in south-western Illaria. After that, about another forty miles, there’s Howleigh. It’s smaller. Not as small as us, but nothing compared to Toroth.”
I looked to Aurora, as I remembered what she had said about her experience as a little girl in Toroth. The half-elf gave me a smile, but there was still a hint of wariness in her emerald eyes at the mention of the name.
“You okay?” I whispered so only she could hear me.
“Let’s be on our way to Toroth,” Aurora said with her cockiest smirk as she pushed the painful memories away.
Within a few minutes, the ten of us down at the depot boarded the locomotive. Of our four cars, two were empty. With no additional supplies of tracks and ties from the mines, we didn’t have enough to reach Howleigh, so the truth was we didn’t have much choice but to set our path to Toroth. Like it or not.
Bromweg pulled up the gate as Aurora fired up the engine, and then we slowly pulled out of Tasson. Beyond the walls, I was relieved to see that the previous day’s fog had not returned. It still required slow movement and plenty of coordination between the mages to navigate through the trees, but it was not nearly as treacherous.
Mina used her powers to incinerate the trees in our path, while the Terra Mages flattened the way and churned up the earth to form a substrate for me to throw the tracks onto. In less than a mile, we had our pattern down, and I could let my eyes occasionally wander to take in the change in scenery.
To the east, I could see the land dipped down into a great forested ravine. Sunlight burned bright over it, so it seemed, or the trees were different, in lighter shades of yellow and green.
“Is that Nalnora?” I shouted to Aurora at the engine.
“Yes, land of the elves,” the half-elf replied after she took a minute to look out the window.
I told myself I’d go there someday, but not this way. The dip into the ravine looked treacherous. Anyway, we already had a date with some dwarves in Orebane.
We continued for hours along the edge of the ravine, and passed not only trees and bushes, but animals as well. At first, little creatures, birds, squirrels, and the occasional rabbit, but as we moved on, we saw larger, more exotic creatures, some of which I’d never seen before.
A family of some kind of primate, a monkey or small ape, leapt from tree to tree, as if curious to watch us pass by. Another creature, a huge blood-red deer with a ridge of horns up its back to the crown of its head, ran across our path. It stopped when it reached a crest overlooking the ravine and turned to look at us. There was some kind of large bird I had seen before, flying in a circle in the sky above the ravine behind the deer. It shot like a lightning bolt at the distracted red deer, and that was the moment I realized it was no bird.
It had enormous wings, at least twenty feet from tip to tip, a powerful, muscular tawny body, a huge mane of hair on its head, and a mouth full of long, sharp teeth. No other way to describe except that it was a winged lion.
“By Pallax, what is that?!” Shoshanne screamed.
By the time anyone beside Shoshanne and I were able to look, the creature sunk its four inch long claws into the deer’s back. The prey made a terrible noise, an almost human shriek, as the predator pulled it up off the rock and into the air.
“That’s a sphinx,” Yaxin yelled, excitedly. “A big ‘un too!”
“They usually avoid people,” Aurora added with respect, “unless, of course, they’re very hungry.”
As I watched the sphinx disappear with the deer into the ravine, I couldn’t help but think about my half-elf as a scared little girl alone in this wilderness. She had grown up tough, but it was a hard childhood, not something I’d wish on anyone.
“As long as that thing doesn’t come back, this is a good place to reload our tracks and ties,” I said as I kept one eye on the sky.
Aurora nodded and cut the engine so we came to a slow halt.
“I think it’s got more than enough now to eat to bother with us,” Aurora reassured us as we jumped down from the locomotive. “All the noise we made coming through the forest is probably scaring most of the bigger predators away.”
I could only imagine the beasts in the forest that watched the strange metal machines rumble along. No doubt a few of them were ones I wouldn’t want to run into, but I did feel a little disappointment that they remained hidden. I would have to revisit the border forest sometime when I could be less obtrusive so I could really see all its wonders.
With a strong pulse of my powers, I reached into the last car that was stocked with tracks and ties and began to pull them, stack by stack, into the locomotive. It was the single most exhausting part of the process. Throwing down the tracks was an invigorating exercise, but not this. It was like the difference between a good wrestling match and a deadlift.
After I dropped the last stack of ties into the locomotive, I took a small breather and scanned the terrain ahead. I noticed a tower on the horizon, just over the trees, which overlooked the ravine.
“We probably have enough tracks to make it to that structure,” I said after a moment spent on calculations.
“Well, that’s been our target,” Aurora said as she joined me. “That’s Toroth.”
A cloud had passed the half-elf’s face as she looked at the tower. I touched her arm and felt an involuntary tremble.
“It will be fine,” I assured her as best as I could.
“I know,” Aurora said with a brave half smile. “It’s been a long time, maybe it’s changed. Let’s get this over with.”
We climbed back aboard the locomotive. Aurora started up the engine, and we started off again thr
ough the forest, closer hour by hour to our target. It loomed large on the horizon, about a mile away, when we ran out of tracks that afternoon.
“I guess we hoof it from here,” Yaxin grumbled.
Everyone gathered up their supplies, and we jumped out of the train. I noticed right away Aurora pulled on her cloak and put up the hood. It fell low, so it covered her hair and ears. It was a warm day, but obviously she wanted to hide any hint of her elven heritage.
The ten of us trudged through the underbrush, and as we got closer, we could hear the sounds of civilization. In a half mile, the forest thinned out to an open field, and the vista of Toroth could be seen.
A fifty foot wall of tumbled field stones framed the town up to the open gates where two roads, one from the east and one from the north, converged. Wagons and horses passed one another on the road. Even from a distance, I could smell the distinctive mix of smoke, spices, and livestock that reminded me of every bazaar I had ever been to. It was clearly a bustling market town.
We walked along the side of the road to avoid the traffic and in through the gates. My first impression of Toroth was of its energy. It assaulted the senses as every merchant competed for attention with colorful tents, loud music, and dancers, while they shouted out what they carried and at what price. I was literally stunned by it all for a moment.
“Is there anyone in charge?” I muttered.
“Absolutely, no one is allowed to trade without permission from the head of the merchant guild,” Yaxin replied under his breath. “Follow me.”
We had to squeeze between tents and zig zag through stalls because it seemed no one considered roads anything other than open space for more commerce. Finally, we reached the imposing guildhall, a dark citadel topped with the tower we’d seen from miles away.
“Do you actually know the guy in charge?” I whispered to Yaxin as we walked up the steps into the building.
“Not personally, but his name is Qarlinder,” Yaxin hissed back.
