A brash bell rang outside. A couple of minutes after the ringing, a louder whistle harassed the air. Keeping with the theme of gaudy noise, something hissed in the same general area as the bell and whistle. A clanging of metal reverberated the compartments. As the clanking continued in this steady, beating pattern, the metal beast lurched forward. The heave transitioned into a faster and faster forward motion. It wasn’t long before we looked to be traveling near or at the speed of a swift horse, and while not without its bumps, it felt far smoother than being on a galloping steed.
“Is this the fastest the train can go?” I asked Eric.
“It can probably go faster, though that’s not always the safest thing to do.”
“And for how long can it keep going?”
“Depends on how much coal and water is on board. This one is going about eighty miles north, so it should have at least two hours’ worth. Perhaps twice that if they can afford it, but I’m no engineer. All trains are built a little differently, so some are better at different things.”
The view out the window hastily became nothing more than a flat plain of whitish gray dirt one might mistake as fresh snow at first glance, though mounds and splotches of darker colored rock broke the horizon’s levelness on occasion. I was glad my first train ride did not stray into slopes and dips. The monotonous sight made it easier to watch what I really needed to watch—the outlaws.
Discussing our options beforehand led us to conclude that the best time to gain an upper hand was on the train. Bornhagen would undoubtedly give Matias another batch of men to reinforce his numbers, and the small town likely acted as a personal haven where he could get away with anything he wanted without causing a fuss. We presumed Matias would use such freedom to do everything except help us, so we came up with several plans to eclipse their favorable odds over us.
Of course, their greatest advantage lied in their guns. As soon as they realized anything was amiss, they would fire upon us, and with their weapons already drawn, they could do so faster than my allies. So as I saw it, the key was to make certain none of them gained the chance to act. That hurdle was something Alex’s paralysis technique could clear.
However, due to the hazy cloud cover, the shadows inside the train were rather faint. Not to mention most of the outlaws’ shadows failed to reach Alex’s range. If this world’s sun broke through, I figured Alex would have plenty of shadow to work with, but without foretelling when such an event would happen, I knew I needed to create the appropriate shadows for him. As thorough preparedness would have it, we included such an option already.
I summoned a dragon stone into my right hand, the train’s cacophony easily subduing the trifling “snapping” sound the displaced air produced. To inform my brother I was about to send shadows his way, I leaned a little closer to his ear and bluntly said, “Here are your shadows.” As I spoke, I flicked the dragon stone under my seat and toward the benches.
The rock rattled near the last outlaw as it sparked to life, darkening and stretching the shadows of both the outlaws and benches. Much of the conjured shade made it to Alex’s feet. Even without knowing precisely what was happening, a few lawbreakers raised their guns, but Alex’s spell reached them before they aimed their barrels at us.
However, the greater reach of the shadows worked against us with the two outlaws sitting on their bench ahead of my brother, making Alex blurt out, “I don’t have the first two!”
One of them, unsure of what to make of his compatriots staying motionless and soundless, asked them, “Hey, what the fuck is going on?”
The other unaffected man started to aim his shotgun at us, but that’s when a different gun’s blast hurled its projectile at his neck. A gashed throat forced the instantly dead enemy to slump in his seat and drop his weapon. Given the puff of delicate smoke rising in front of her, Isabel seemed to be the cause of the discharge.
A second blast came from right next to me when a standing Eric fired his revolver at the outlaw who asked the question. The projectile struck the top of its target’s head, but a flailing arm did not prevent him from getting off his own bullet at the same time. The enemy bullet smashed itself right above a window. For good measure, Isabel impaled another bullet in the man’s chest. I took note that even the element of surprise and a direct hit did not eliminate the chance of a counter attack, even if it lacked accuracy.
Assuming the pandemonium attracted the attention of the men in the wagon behind us, Bregman leapt over his seat and ran to the side of the back door.
“How long can you hold them?” the major asked Alex.
“Don’t worry about it. They’re not resisting much. Just don’t cross their shadows or the spell will break.”
To avoid the shadows, Isabel and Eric scrambled over their seats to help Bregman, who yelled out, “They’re coming!” The soldier used his revolver’s barrel to shatter the door’s window. He fired through the aperture.
Getting himself opposite Bregman, Eric said, “Stop shooting! Let them get closer. As soon as they get to their door, Mercer will trigger his distraction!”
In preparation for that event, I moved closer to the back, all while keeping my flame under the bench lit and avoiding being down the line of sight of the smashed window. The enemy bullets flinging from the last section either dented the train’s frame or tore down the walkway. Indeed, their immobile cohorts were in greater danger of being hit than those in my group.
A few seconds later, Eric opened the back door. “Now, Mercer!”
I set off the dragon stones in the crates. It was difficult for me to tell what effect that had. Nevertheless, I seized and fed what embers I could and tried bringing them to myself. To any outlaws staring, they would see an expanding fireball rushing toward them. At least one of them fired at the flame. Confirming that their bullets could not kill fire, they jostled toward the door to escape a heat already consuming many of the seats. The instant one of them opened it, Eric, Isabel, and Bregman exploited the diversion by shooting at anything that moved.
I repealed the sidetracking flame when the echoes of gunfire receded. Preferring not to evaporate the last section of the train, I also sent out a pulse of prana to extinguish any errant embers still burning.
Free from the threat of bullets, the major told Isabel, “Go to the first car and tell everyone the Vanguard have everything under control.”
To Alex, I asked, “Can you take away their weapons without releasing them?”
“Yeah. Wait, shouldn’t we kill everyone but Matias and be done with it?”
“They’re not a threat. Now, if they try anything after we let them go, that’s a different story, but we’re not executioners right now.”
As my brother searched the paralyzed men for their weapons, I could see in detail for the first time how immobilized Alex kept them. They all had their eyelids closed, for it seemed they did not have the strength to lift them once they shut. They breathed incredibly slowly and shallowly. Their jaws and tongues must have been too heavy to move, and I wondered whether their capacity to hear had also been mired.
With Eric and Bregman telling Alex where to check, my brother soon took away all the guns, knives, and projectile cases the outlaws carried. Deprived of their weapons and having little useful prana, these once dreaded men of the criminal underworld were now as intimidating to me as cross children, though children I would have no qualms striking with fist or boot. Nevertheless, the major waited for Isabel to add her gun before requesting Alex to slacken his hold on them.
Using nontrivial effort, their eyelids rose and their necks turned. Their movement freed droplets of sweat that had collected on their brows. Mouths unclenching, they groaned.
Turning his grumbles into words, Matias asked, “What… the fuck… is this?”
“A Vanguard mission,” said the major. “We’ve been tasked to find turncoats in the Ruts. We would like for you to give up everything you know about them.”
“Fuck… your asshole.”
“What’s that now?” asked Isabel. “You want to protect turncoats? You one of them?”
“It ain’t about… protecting anybody… bitch. You come into my territory… lie to me… kill my men… you’re not getting shit from me.”
“Right, because you totally trusted us and were going to give us what we wanted without any strings attached.”
“We’ll never know now.”
“I regret it had to come to this,” said Eric. “It’s simply a matter of taking the higher ground. We really aren’t interested in your gang, and as far as I can tell, your presence is keeping things peaceful enough back in town. Work with us and there will be no reason to detain you and your men for long.”
“You think me a fool? I know how… this works… You’ll keep me detained until you catch the next convenient dupe.”
“That’s how the law works, but we’re not the law. We’re charged with catching those who want this world’s end to come sooner. You can’t make things worse for yourself by cooperating. We don’t want information concerning your own offensive activities, only that of the turncoats. They aren’t worth acting spiteful for.”
“I’ll act the way I want to act, shit-sucker. I have people expecting me in Bornhagen… If you don’t let me go and jump out this train, they’ll shoot you all on sight… Your ghoul friends can’t do shit about that.”
“You say that without seeing all my tricks,” I said. “Listen, Matias, this mission means far more than you know. If the major here will allow me, I’ll show you what I mean.”
Foreseeing where I was going with this, Eric nodded and said, “Go ahead.”
“We can get a better view on the roof. I’m going to put out my flame, which will free you and your men. I recommend not doing anything more than breathing deeper if you don’t want one of those bullet things in your head or chest.”
My small flame shrank and shrank. The fading shadows and Alex’s relaxing spell permitted greater movement among the outlaws, though none took too much advantage of it. On becoming fully unconstrained, I clutched Matias’ coat and forced him on his feet. I next got hm to walk ahead of me. I obliged his steps to head for the back door and the ladder embedded to the last train car’s external wall. After getting him to start his short climb, I leapt up to the roof.
The boreal air rushing past clenched my skin, but felt ten times as tolerable as the night’s calmer air mere hours ago. While slightly curved, I did not have a problem keeping my balance on the roof. Matias’ also looked unfazed by standing on the fast moving machine.
“Gonna threaten to push me off?” the outlaw asked.
“Maybe later. First, I want to show you that some things are bigger than your self-serving ambitions.”
I lifted my arm halfway up to the sky. The pattern of prana that linked me to Aranath deftly informed the dragon that I aimed to summon him in the sky, so that’s where he appeared. Before hitting the ground the train rolled across, Aranath spread his wings to lift his mass back up. Spotting me on the moving mechanism, Aranath flew faster to keep up. Not seeing or sensing any threat to my physical form, he did not proclaim his presence with any roar or flame. He flew behind the train and above its dark gray smoke, making it unlikely any of the passengers spotted him, not that it mattered to me whether they did or not.
Matias certainly saw him. His mouth went agape, and if it wasn’t for my helping hand, his flinching step backward may have started a tumble down the ladder. With his left eye on Aranath and his right on me, Matias asked, “You summoned that, that beast?”
“Aye. I’m what’s called a dragon knight. I came from Orda not too long ago, and I’m looking for a way to get back. Maybe I can even bring some people along with me. Of course, thanks to my corruption, not everyone trusts my words. To gain what trust I can, I’ve been tasked to go after the turncoats hiding in the mountains. If your group was really the one we’re after, do you think I’d bother showing and telling you this?”
“Hard to tell with a known liar and ghoul.”
“Perhaps. Either way, you can see how in over your head you are if you choose to deny us information. Through the fault of the gods, you’re now between me and these turncoat traitors. Like the gods, I can’t promise things will be smooth sailing if you assist me, but I can promise a churning, boiling sea if you don’t. So help us and be let go, or…” I shoved Matias. His floundering legs would have taken him off the edge if I did not catch the scruff of his coat. “…find out how far I’m willing to go before I deem you a better snack for my dragon than a useful informant. It’s truly that simple.”
“Ahh! Fine! Fine!”
I chucked him to the center of the roof.
Matias stared at the dragon for a long moment, the guise of a hard-bitten criminal falling away to reveal an untraveled boy born in a cave seeing the sky for the first time. Even if he wanted to, how could such a boy struggle against the vast blue now far above his mind? Finally, after a grumbling sigh, he stood up. With a resigned expression, he said, “As far as I’m aware, most turncoats in the Ruts hang about under the Toothed Bowl.”
“Where’s that?”
“Um, somewhere in the northwestern zone of the Ruts. It’s a circle of peaks surrounding a depression of some sort. Never been there myself, so I don’t exactly know which cave or whatever will actually get you in. I’d normally think it’d be difficult to find them without being detected yourself, but if you can come from the air… Can you ride that thing?”
“I’ve been known to.”
“Then I guess they might not see you comin’. Unless they look up.”
“Do you have any idea how many we’ll find?”
“Nope. Their members don’t like advertising themselves, so maybe there’s a couple dozen or a couple thousand. Fuck if I know. As long as the freak worshipers pay their rent and don’t encroach on the rest of us, we let them be.”
“And a bunch of outlaws agreed to that?”
“Heh, now you’re diggin’ deeper than turncoat dealings. If you really don’t care about us innocent delinquents, you won’t ask that again.”
“Fair enough. Other than this Toothed Bowl place, do you know of anywhere else the turncoats like to base themselves?”
“I think there are a handful of smaller hangouts scattered about the Ruts, but they ain’t gonna be worth it. They’re too close to outlaw camps and only act as go-betweens. They’re empty most of the time.”
I nodded. “Let’s get back inside.”
The outlaw boss and I jumped down to the short walkway between the train segments. Inside, I found the other outlaws trying to get a glimpse of the flying beast outside. Since even the best angle only showed a wing or tail, one of them asked us what was outside.
“A dragon,” I answered. To Eric, I said, “We got what we need.”
“You sure?”
Directing the professed delinquent to take his former seat, I asked, “Am I sure, Matias?”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re sure.”
“Hear that? I’m sure. Now, how do we get off this thing? Can it stop anywhere? Or do we have to wait until we get to Bornhagen?”
“We can probably get the driver to stop for us,” replied Eric. “Or at least slow down so we can jump off.”
“Wait,” said Isabel. “Are we thinking of going back to Noxward on the dragon?”
“Unless you want to stick around here the entire ride. If you don’t, get to the locomotive and tell the engineer there to slow down or stop for us.”
“What about the crates?” asked Bregman.
“We’ll carry what guns and ammo we can. We’ll have to push the rest off the train.”
Eric went to the crates himself to begin gathering what he could. He returned a few minutes later to hand over belts and little boxes of bullets to me and Alex. Bregman received several rifles, which he slung over his back. Isabel also acquired rifles when she returned.
The train soon started slowing down. After a couple of minutes waiting for the metalli
c behemoth to reduce its pace, the major told Alex and I to push the crates not so damaged by my prior flame out the back door, letting them break and scatter their contents on the tracks. Not expecting a similar fate for our bones, we hopped off next. Even at its slowed speed, the rumbling train and its smoke trail was quick to leave us behind. If it were not for Aranath’s flapping wings circling my group, our flat, empty environment would have become eerily quiet. The appropriate hand gesture had the dragon landing nearby.
“What’s happening now?” asked Aranath.
“They got me going after strife worshipers to earn their trust. We think we found a nest to the north, but first we have to, uh…” To Eric, I asked, “What’s the plan, exactly? Where do we go first?”
“The Orkan. We can sail nearer the western Ruts before taking the dragon the rest of the way.”
“Ah. All right, then let’s get going. I can’t keep him here forever.”
“Right, but first, I’d prefer to not leave all these guns and ammo lying around. Can you ask your dragon to pick up what he can before we take off?”
To make it easier for Aranath, Bregman used his elemental magic to gather dirt around the guns and roll them into two round piles, one for each hind foot to grab. In the interim, I took my place on the end of Aranath’s neck. Alex took his place behind me. For the sake of his role as a leader, the major pushed through any apprehension he experienced in his gut or head by strolling up to the dragon and taking my offered hand. I pulled him up so that he had an easier time getting to the saddle.
Shoving past her apprehension in a more obvious way, Isabel came up to me next. As she settled in, she asked, “How often does someone fall off? These straps don’t look too sturdy.”
“I’d be more concerned about anything in your stomach,” I replied, pulling up Bregman.
The Dragon Knight and the Steam World Page 18
