Had Mari ever flown on a Roc? It seemed unlikely.
Alain dreamed of flying above the clouds, looking down on toylike cities, Mari by his side. He felt…what was this? Like when he had qualified to be a Mage, passing all tests. Better than that, though. Much better.
But the clouds darkened, forming into the storm of his vision, towering thunderheads filled with rage rising higher to threaten Alain and Mari.
The Roc screamed and they fell…
Alain woke to hear the screaming still in his ears as a huge, invisible hand grasped Alain and hurled him against the seat in front of him. It held him there while the shrieking of tortured metal continued and the view of a rock wall outside the windows on one side showed the wagon was slowly rapidly. The sense of great danger, of something being very wrong, was so strong that Alain felt a momentary sting of panic despite his training.
Chapter Twelve
The screaming of metal came to an end, and the mysterious force holding Alain against the seat before him released its grip, allowing him to fall to the floor.
Alain blinked in the darkness, wondering what could have happened. All around, the shocked silence was starting to give way to cries of alarm and, in some cases, cries of pain.
Still bemused by the sudden waking from his dream, Alain sought to feel for the presence of Mages and the drain on the power in this area as they cast spells. He felt nothing, though. Whatever had caused the Mechanic train to screech to a halt, it had not been the work of Mages.
If it had been bandits again, they were now silent. No crashes of Mechanic weapons broke the night, no thump of crossbow bolts striking home, no shouts of battle. All that Alain could hear outside were the voices of a few commons who had already spilled out of the wagons and were loudly speculating on what had happened.
Checking himself for injury and finding none, Alain followed the rest of the travelers as they filed out of the wagon. The Mechanic train had stopped along the face of a high cliff, with only a small shelf of land to stand on next to the metal lines the wagons ran along. A three-quarter moon cast an icy light across the area, revealing a view of remarkable but cold beauty as it sparked silver from froth thrown by angry waves crashing in endless array against the cliff face below. Unfazed by the sheer drop, Alain looked down on those cliffs forever standing sentinel before the waters of the Sea of Bakre.
He was still taking in his surroundings when there came a rumbling sound from the rear of the train. Alain looked back that way, seeing that the last and grandest wagon had been separated at some point. Mechanics were now rolling it back into contact with the rest of the train. The Mechanic wagon struck with a crash that bounced from wagon to wagon past Alain, then the Mechanics began walking forward, the commons scattering hastily to clear a path. Alain watched the Mechanics approach, not even realizing he was acting like a Mage in robes, before he recalled in the nick of time that he was dressed as a common person and had to likewise get out of the way. He hastily stepped back against the wagon he had ridden in, just in time to avoid being shouldered aside.
Alain fought down a wave of un-Magelike emotion, of irritation, gazing after the Mechanics. Arrogant, the elders had said. They think they rule the world. He had forgotten that advice, which seemed accurate enough in the case of these Mechanics. Mari did not show that arrogance.– But these Mechanics even walked differently than she did.
He heard the word “accident” being repeated as the commons around him talked. They seemed content to wait on whatever the Mechanics decided. Those who had received broken or sprained arms and legs in the sudden stop were being tended to by other commons, the Mechanics ignoring them.
I can wait as well, thought Alain. But if I go ahead after those Mechanics, I will see whatever creature pulled this train and learn more of it. Did it die, or did it rebel against the lash of the Mechanics? Trolls and dragons can slip their control if the creating Mage loses his concentration. Is that what happened here?
And Mari was up there, the thread told him.
Why not see? Alain began working his way forward through the crowd, finding himself disconcerted by the need to avoid commons who did not shrink away from him as usual. Appearing to be a common was not without its disadvantages, but at least he had some practice with threading through crowds because of his occasional use of the concealment spell.
When he finally got close enough to the front, Alain could see the groups of common travelers came to an end at the last wagon, leaving a good-sized gap before the group of Mechanics standing near a hulking shape from which smoke rose into the sky. Alain could not make out details in the moonlight, but he could feel the heat radiating from the creature, and hear a low, steady rumble which might be its breathing. None of the Mechanics appeared worried at being close to the creature, which sat unmoving before the wagons. If it had slipped its bonds before, the creature was surely under control now. Why had not the train begun moving again?
A hand fell on his shoulder, surprising him doubly: no one touched a Mage, and he had grown unused to unexpected physical contact. “Praise the stars we stopped in time, eh, lad?” a bluff voice remarked.
Alain looked back at a large, older man as the common pointed forward past the Mechanic creature. “That’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it? See? The rails just stop at the edge there.” Following the man’s gesture, Alain could see that the metal lines indeed seemed to vanish as they reached a place where the strip of land on the cliff came to an end. “If those Mechanics hadn’t gotten this thing stopped in time we’d all be at the bottom of the cliff right now,” the common continued.
Another man spoke, his voice harsh but low to keep it from carrying to the Mechanics. “It’s their bridge! Why did it fail? We pay a lot to use their trains, and a safe journey is the least we expect for that.”
“It’s not the Mechanics’ fault,” a third man interjected. “Not this time, anyway. It’s the dragons. We’re near enough Dorcastle. It’s got to be them.”
The first man nodded in agreement. “Like as not. Them blasted Mages— ”
“The Mages claim the dragons aren’t under their control,” the second man insisted.
“And what’s the word of a Mage worth?”
Murmurs of agreement came from those around Alain. “There are dragons near Dorcastle?” Alain asked, realizing too late that while it was too dark for the commons to see his Magelike impassivity, they would be able to hear the lack of emotion in his voice.
But the commons assumed there was another reason for his stiffness. “Relax, lad, you’re fine now,” the first common said. “And the dragons haven’t killed anyone yet. That we’ve heard of.”
The third man nodded. “Aye, boy. Dragons. They’ve been threatening the city and doing harm to force Dorcastle to pay enough to get them to leave. But Dorcastle won’t pay.”
“It can’t,” a woman protested. “Those dragons want enough to beggar a city twice Dorcastle’s size.”
“Dragons are greedy, they say,” another added.
Alain listened, his puzzlement growing. Dragons wanting money? How could that be possible? “Are the Mages in Dorcastle doing nothing to stop these dragons?”
“Relax, buddy. The Mages say they are,” the first man replied. “And maybe they are, because it’s bringing them no profit. Dorcastle’s been screaming to the Mage Guild leaders and threatening to sanction every Mage and break every contract. They’re trying to get the rest of the Bakre Confederation to back them up, and I hear the Confederation’s likely to do so for fear another city will be targeted by these dragons next, or by the Mages controlling them, more likely.”
The travelers began arguing among themselves about who or what was responsible for their near disaster. Alain stared forward again, thinking.
A smaller figure walking with a familiar gait came back from the ranks of the Mechanics. One hand reached toward the train creature as if running a calming touch down its flank. Was Mari its creator and controller?
Sh
e paused at the end of the creature, speaking, and Alain saw another Mechanic leaning out from what he had thought the back of the beast. Her conversation done, Mari turned back, but then halted again. As if sensing his gaze, she turned and stared toward him.
He inclined his head toward her. She stood silent, then walked quickly up to him, he walking forward a couple of steps too so that they could converse quietly without either Mechanics or commons overhearing. “Are you all right?” she asked. “I need to know.”
“I am not injured. Are you well?”
“I’m fine.” Mari shuddered visibly. “I was riding in the locomotive. We came very close to going over the break.”
“Locomotive? That is the creature’s name?”
“Creature?” She hesitated. “It’s not alive.”
Alain nodded. “Like a troll.”
“A what? No.”
“Did you create it?”
“Me?” Mari shook her head. “This locomotive is well over a century old. It’s been around a lot longer than me. I just know how to run them, to operate them. Do you understand?”
“No. Whoever creates the creature is the only one who can control it.”
“I can’t explain now. It doesn’t follow Ma— your rules.” She looked forward past the locomotive. “The Mechanic who runs the engine on this shift told me he usually gets bored along this stretch and has trouble staying awake. But I was assigned to ride with him because of my specialty in steam. I was nervous and looking forward, and thank the stars above I saw the break just in time. Otherwise we’d all be dead.”
“Perhaps you have foresight,” Alain remarked. “But not all would have died. Your fellow Mechanics in the last wagon would have survived.”
She looked startled. “What do you mean? Not about that foresight thing. The bit about the last wagon.”
“The last wagon was separated from the rest of the train. I saw it being brought up to rejoin the other wagons.”
“You saw that?” Mari paused. “Did you see or hear anything else?”
“The commons say this was caused by dragons.”
Mari stared at him. “Dragons?” she finally asked.
“Yes. Everyone thought so. It surprised me to hear it.”
“You don’t sound surprised. But then you never sound like anything. It’s kind of creepy.” The Mechanic glanced back at her fellows, who were still conversing among themselves. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. My nerves are still shot. I shouldn’t be talking to you. But— We were heading for the edge, and slowing down, and I couldn’t tell if we would stop in time, and it wasn’t that long but it also seemed that time was moving very slowly, and—” she looked at him, “and I was less worried about dying myself than I was about you dying.”
“Why?” Alain asked. “Because you are a friend?”
“Yes. No. Maybe. Maybe because I had suggested that you take this train and I had bought the ticket. If you had died or been hurt, it would have been my fault.”
Alain considered that, then shook his head. “My decisions were my own.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say in that emotionless voice of yours, but I’d feel guilty.” Mari hesitated. “It really focused my mind, watching the edge getting closer and closer, thinking about you the whole time. And I realized something else, that running away from something was wrong. That’s not how you solve a problem.”
“What were you running from?”
She stared at him before answering. “A problem. A really big problem. Something that needs to be fixed. But if you stay with a problem long enough, instead of running from it, you’ll learn more about it, and then you’ll realize its, uh, flaws, that it’s really not all that…wonderful a problem. And then it won’t be a problem, because once you understand what is wrong, you can fix it. I hope.”
Alain looked back at her, trying to comprehend her words. “Which problem is this? The dragons?”
“Right. The dragons. Of course.” Mari turned quickly to point toward the chasm ahead. “We were thinking maybe a washout of some kind caused this, though that doesn’t seem likely. This is a very old line, but the engineer told me that trestle was replaced only a few years ago. No one mentioned dragons,” Mari continued. “Dragons? Do those really exist?”
“Nothing really exists.”
He heard a strangled sound come from her, then Mari spoke heavily. “Just tell me about dragons.”
“You know nothing? They are created, which requires a Mage of great strength and an area with substantial power to feed the spell. The more power that can be put into the spell, the more skilled the Mage who creates it, the larger the dragon. But like all other spells, they fade. I do not know how Mechanics could keep this locomotive creature in existence for so long.”
“It takes a lot of work,” Mari whispered. “What else?”
“Dragons are not very intelligent. Like trolls, they exist only to destroy, and like trolls they must obey the commands of the Mage who created them. This is what I do not understand. These travelers all spoke of dragons acting on their own, outside the control of the Mages in Dorcastle.”
“Why are they destroying train trestles?” Mari asked.
“There is some sort of ransom being demanded. A very large sum. The city will not pay, and the Mage Guild Hall in Dorcastle is attempting to deal with the problem and failing. All this according to my fellow travelers. I have not heard of this from Mages.”
Mari nodded. “How strong are they? Could a dragon have pulled out the supports from a trestle like this? Wooden supports bigger around than I am?”
“It depends on the dragon. But, yes, they can be very large and very strong.”
“I’m asking about dragons. This is crazy,” she muttered, just loud enough for Alain to hear.
“They do not act like the dragons I know of,” Alain repeated. “Could they be Mechanic dragons?”
“Mechanics don’t have dragons. I need to check on this and why the last wagon was detached from the train before we stopped. Wait here. Please,” she added hastily, then walked back to talk to her fellow Mechanics.
Alain waited, aware that he was standing out from everyone else and thus the object of attention from both the Mechanics ahead and the commons behind. That felt odd, too. Normally everyone tried not to look at a Mage. Now everyone seemed to be looking at him.
The voice of the large man who had first talked to him came from the commons. “Hey! You know one of the Mechanics? On speaking terms?”
Alain considered the best way to answer. He needed to maintain the proper illusion. “I was able to do some services for her in Ringhmon.”
“You’re not free and easy with them, that’s for sure,” the man commented. “Don’t worry, we don’t think you’re one of them. Try to calm down. You still sound like you’re in shock.”
“Maybe he’s really a Mage,” another common joked, and several other commons laughed.
Mari came back, her face troubled, and the commons hastily backed away again. “We’ve contacted the Guild in Dorcastle to come get us, but it’ll take until morning for a train to get here.” Almost immediately she flinched enough for it to be visible in the dark. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Why not? Do Mechanics not have something like message Mages?”
“Message Mages?” Mari blew out an angry breath. “One more thing my Guild claimed wasn’t real. For now, just don’t mention what I said to anyone.” She looked at the other Mechanics. “They said the two Senior Mechanics in the last wagon were able to open the coupling to the train and set the brake when we started the emergency stop. One single wagon was able to stop a lot faster than the entire train could.”
“I understand very little of what you said, except that it seems fortunate these Senior Mechanics were where they needed to be.”
Mari looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“When your train began stopping,” Alain explained, “some force held me in place. Are Mechan
ics not affected by it?”
“Yes, of course they are. It’s called momentum. It—” Mari stopped speaking. “They had to be exactly where they needed to be when we hit the brakes on the train. One at the coupling and one at the brake. Those are real close to each other, but…”
Alain studied her expression. “You are concerned.”
She took a deep breath. “Is that what it seems? It’s just…the last car would’ve survived even if the rest of the train had gone over, and if we had seen the break just a little later the locomotive would have gone over even if the wagons were able to be saved.”
“You said you were in the locomotive.”
“Yeah.”
He saw her emotions change, fear shifting to anger, then to resolve. “I need some answers. Some of the Mechanics are going to go down and look at the wreckage of the trestle to see what we can discover. I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to go with them.”
“Why would you not go?” Alain asked.
“If it’s dragons, what could I learn? I’m an engineer. I work with facts.”
Alain pondered that. “Then why do you not seek facts about dragons?”
She did not answer for a moment. “Very good point. All right. I’ll go, too. Now, this is going to sound weird. I can’t believe that I’m saying it. But…you’re the only person on this train that I trust.”
Alain felt his lips twitching, as if the sides wanted to curl upwards. But that would form a…smile? Unthinkable. He had to work to avoid showing his reaction. “You trust me?”
“I told you it was weird. I don’t know any of these other Mechanics. That shouldn’t matter, but there’s been some strange stuff happening.”
“It is not weird,” Alain objected. “You do not know the Mechanics. I am a friend.”
“Yeah.” He could see the flash of teeth in her smile. “Would you come along? Down to the wreckage?” Mari added quickly.
“Me?”
“Yes. Because I trust you, and because you actually know stuff about dragons, and, heavens above, if you’d told me a month ago that I’d be saying this I would have— Well, I wouldn’t have answered, because I wouldn’t have talked to you.”