Chapter 40: Transportation For All
Getting back to work was oddly difficult. After a week of either relaxing or doing diplomatic work, going back to a slow grind took willpower. As much as he hated to admit it, Wil was grateful that Bram hadn’t allowed himself a real break. When the time came to act, he was already in motion. The only thing he’d been waiting on was the shipment of faricite to come through.
“That’s…How much is this worth?” Wil asked, staring at the cart stacked high with the glowing green crystals. The fae had packed them in as tight as they could, and nothing had fallen out of place during the ride down the mountain and through town.
“You want actual numbers?” Thomas asked, staring at the pallet. “I could probably do the math with enough time, but the answer is a lot. If we went though all of this in a year, I would be surprised.”
Darlene walked up to it. The faricite was still piled higher than she was tall, and it cast her in a soft green light. “We already knew the fae loved Wil, but this proves it. With as expensive as faricite is, we’re going to need to find a way to make our products affordable. Or not need faricite. Is that possible?”
“Probably,” said Wil. “That’s what I’m working on now, with one of the cars. C’mon, let’s get all of this into the lab.” With a careful spell, he levitated the pallet and moved it to the back of Bram’s house. Thomas rushed forward to open the door, and then took half of the stack as well so they could fit it through the cellar doors.
With the faricite in place, their lab was more cramped than ever. At this point, they would need to take some of their projects outside and work on them out in the open. When Thomas said as much, Wil thought of their rivals building weapons off their work and shuddered.
“Only if we can close it in,” he said. “Maybe ward it further.”
“So we need our own garage,” said Thomas. “Kind of a problem if we want one fast, but we can throw something together that’ll be fine to work on the cars. Probably better than having them out in the open and begging people to steal them. I’ll get on that.”
Like they’d done many times over the past couple of months, they split the work up. Thomas and Darlene went into town to get a long overdue garage built, while Wil stuck with Bram and they worked on the cars together.
Every so often one of Bram’s employees would run in to ask a question, or a customer would venture up to the improved wards and call out distracting questions. A lot of people demanded their customary potions from Bram, who had to break several times to get something from his personal stores or even brew up some of the simpler medicines and tonics.
Out of all of them, Wil worried about Bram the most. He never slowed, never stopped, never did anything but work, read, work, pop his head up for air in the brewery, and work. It was much the same for Wil, but the wizard didn’t push himself as hard as Bram did. He at least had a girlfriend and had to make appearances around town. Nothing held his best friend back from dedicating everything to their various projects. No one but Wil and Darlene ever seemed to notice how much he threw himself into everything.
“Hey Bram?” Wil asked from underneath the car. They were in the back, a few hours later, and the other two still hadn’t come back.
“Yeah?” Bram had just come back from the brewery, and he slowed to a stop nearby, panting.
Wil continued etching out the finished part of the Feed rune on the underside of the car. It would join others and hopefully be their next big advancement. The more usable devices they had, the better. He needed to overwhelm and impress to get the government off his back. When he was done, he slid out from under the car.
“When the president and others come, there’s going to be representatives from Faerie. Do you want me to make sure Gallath is there?”
Bram’s face colored instantly. “That’s…not really necessary. He’s made it clear that things won’t work. Too much distance, too much responsibility. Just too much.” His hands twitched, like he wanted to crush something.
Wil nodded and sat against the driver’s door. “Sounds like he’s scared. And like you’re scared too.”
“Right, this was a good conversation, but let’s turn back to the car.”
“C’mon Bram,” Wil said, just a little annoyed. “I don’t say this to be a jerk, but you’re often scared of things and I don’t want to let you ruin a good thing because you think it won’t work out. If nothing else, we can get you a date with someone else.”
Bram growled and threw his arms up in the air. “What does it matter? We’re hard at work and --”
“Well that’s just it,” Wil interrupted. “You work too hard. And it’s great for us, but I want things to be better for you. More balanced, you know?”
“I took the damned break like you asked,” said Bram. “Mostly. I spent two entire days just reading and eating a lot and not doing any work. It was stressful.”
On the one hand, it was great to see Bram sticking up for himself and pushing back instead of backing down. On the other, he either didn’t see Wil’s point or deliberately ignored it. “And that’s great, but you jumped right back in. And you need something for yourself when you’re not working. It’s not like you care that much about the money, right?”
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Bram looked like he’d been slapped. “Of course I don’t really care about the money,” he said. “It’d be nice to have more and not ever have to worry about losing my home again, but I’ll be fine. I’m fine right now. Your last pep talk was great and all, but I’m okay. Just because you’ve been all goo-goo eyed over Darlene lately doesn’t mean…sorry, not going there.”
Wil nodded. “I appreciate it. That would’ve been some pretty crappy deflecting. But you’re not entirely wrong. I’m pretty happy, and I just want that for you too. You seem lonely. If not Gallath, then let’s at least set you up with someone. What’s your type?”
The summer heat could make any argument, no matter how big or how petty, flare up into something personal. Wil was glad it didn’t happen, but seeing Bram’s growing annoyance, he knew he’d best stop soon.
“Muscles, good sense of humor, and confident. Gallath, basically.” Bram sighed and sat on the ground next to Wil. “If it’ll make you feel any better, invite him. The worst thing that happens is he says no. Now, can we talk about the damned car? What else do we have to do?”
That would cheer up Bram’s mood. “I think we’re just about good to give it another go,” said Wil. “I just put the batteries in and we need to give them a test. I think my latest enhancement should make a huge difference.”
“What’s that?”
Wil grinned like a fool. “I put the Feed rune in a Thompson Configuration, and made sure it connects to all the moving parts. I think this might work.”
Bram grunted as he stood. “I’ll give it a shot. Still not that comfortable driving. They’re too small, you know? But I’ll give it a try if it means you lay off my love life.”
“For now,” Wil allowed, and then he too stood. He got into the passenger’s seat, motioning for Bram to go around and get in. He did so with a roll of his eyes and a lot of effort. Once inside, he had to hunch over the steering wheel and suck his gut in a little.
“So, I just turn the switch and…?” Bram’s eyes darted around nervously.
“And then you push down on the pedal when you want to go.” That had been one of the harder things to work on, and Thomas had put hours and hours into it. A wizard could control the speed of their car, but nonmagical people would need something special and familiar.
“Right, right.” Bram took a deep breath. He flicked the switch. Nothing happened. He flicked it back and forth, then raised his eyebrow, as if to say, ‘now what’?
Wil reached out with his wizardsense. No magic flowed through the car’s frame, although it should. On a hunch, he slammed his fist into the console. The circuit completed and the car came to life with a low, barely perceptible hum.
“Ahh!” Bram cried out as they started rolling forward, right for the fence. Wil grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it to the side. The car rolled around until it lumbered across the chaotic landscape.
“Ahhh!” Wil agreed, laughing with joy. “Guess what, Bram. I lied about putting the batteries in!”
“You what!?”
Wil pointed and Bram avoided driving right into his new lake. It was a missed opportunity to see if the amphibious mode worked as intended. “Yeah, this car is driving without faricite batteries. And it seems to be doing just fine. How’s it feel? Try any of the features?”
“Um…” Bram looked around the dashboard. He flicked a switch marked with an open eye. A second later he made a distressed sound and veered to the right. Wil turned it off.
“Yeah, the extrasensory setting is weird. It’s easier when you deal with a wizard’s extra sense.”
“This is incredible,” said Bram as he drove in tight, lazy circles on his front lawn. People in the brewery came out, as they often did when they did their experiments in public. “But what’s the point of doing it without batteries? Once we get out of the range of the leyline, it’ll be useless, won’t it?”
Wil shook his head. “Not if we can increase leyline coverage. Imagine a line going across the basin, powering everyone’s houses. And along that line is a train powered by magic that goes across. We get a couple of intersecting lines and suddenly you can get to anywhere faster. No need for a car or a horse anymore, and it leaves plenty of walking room around town.”
Bram inhaled sharply and pulled out of the circle. The car leveled out heading straight for the gate. Wil waved his hand and threw the gates open in time for them to go through and up the drive. “Are you serious?”
“We just can’t stop winning,” said Wil.
Bram laughed and continued away from his house. “You’re unbelievable. We’re unbelievable! We have to see how far this will work.”
“You read my mind!” Wil slapped Bram’s shoulder, then recoiled as the car swerved for a second. They both laughed and continued up the lane.
As timid as Bram could be at times, their continued success buoyed him up and before long he enjoyed driving. He gradually picked up speed until even Wil had to tell him to cut back. But before he could, the car naturally drifted to a lazy stop.
“Well,” said Bram, “I guess this is it. How far away from the leyline are we?”
Wil closed his eyes. “Just under a mile. Your leyline is pretty strong though, and we won’t know how much range any of them might have until we test it further. But it would cover a lot.”
“And there has to be a way to expand a leyline’s reach,” Bram said, a familiar mania entering his voice. “Like in that one book on Marlowe Manor you brought back. Those leylines are far off but still affect the property, right?”
Wil was taken aback. “That’s right. But to be honest, I have no idea how in the hell he managed that. Do you?”
Bram shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak when the honking of a horn made him jump and squeak. Darlene and Thomas were in a car right next to them. Bram lowered the window and said, “What was that for?”
“What’re you two doing out here?” Thomas asked. “We were on our way back. We’ve got someone who can build us a garage in just a couple of days.”
“Notice anything?” Wil called out.
Darlene groaned. “Just spit it out.”
“This car has no batteries, and I’m driving it,” said Bram. “We now know how to make things that don’t need a big battery attached to it if it’s used in a close enough proximity!”
Thomas looked impressed, but Darlene let out a frustrated cry. “Right when we get all that faricite. Great timing.”