The gentle knock of his father on his door woke Eric from a fitful sleep.

Eric had intended to wake with the sun and start out this new journey on the right foot. Unfortunately, his regular routine was to wake later in the day. For almost any other villager, rising with the sun was the norm. Eric, though, was usually the last to clean up the taproom and stoke the fire in the main hall. His day often started at the second crow and went late. This was just one more adjustment he would need to make.

Wiping morning crust from his eyes, he reached for the small bowl of water on his dresser, the wet rag dabbing at his face before he scrubbed himself with the towel. Once a week, he would have gathered enough water from the well to have a bath, but on other days he had to make do with a morning scrub. His Ma and Pa insisted that being clean was a requirement for running the inn, something he had fought as a child. But now he felt human only after his morning ablutions.

Pulling on his burlap shirt, he grabbed his pack stuffed with spare clothing and a sheathed knife. It was worn and sharpened so often as to be half gone, but it was his prize possession. Bought with his own meager funds. Eric had spent years of tips, the rare few that he had earned, and it had barely been enough to buy the knife second hand from a local hunter. Beyond his clothes, it was the only real item of worth he owned.

More awake now, he stomped down the stairs and dropped his pack onto his usual stool. Smiling at his dad, he scooped up the eggs and bread that had been placed on the bar for him. Shoveling the eggs into his mouth, he dipped the bread into the gooey yellow mess, wiping around the plate to gather every last morsel. Making short work of his meal, a meal which would have to last him all day, he left his pack with his father and stepped out the back door of the inn. Making quick use of the outhouse, he was surprised when the large manservant to Lord EarthScorn surprised him as he was leaving the toilet.

Backing up in surprise, Eric stepped off the beaten trail to the outhouse, the muddy path being stomped flat from years of miners traveling to unload their drink.

“Sir,” Eric said as he dipped his head, not knowing the man’s name or even his job, only knowing that the large man was offputting, “my name is Eric.”

“Mallow. Get back to the inn now you hear?” the man said curtly as he stomped past and slammed the outhouse door.

Shaking his head, Eric returned to the inn and scooped up his pack. To his surprise, laying out on the bar was two of the inn’s ‘Miner’s Special’, a loaf of stale bread hollowed out and filled with meat and eggs. With a grin, he reached for one, intent on scarfing down the food.

Eric’s father poked his head out of the kitchen just long enough to dissuade his son, “Don’t you touch that. Ones for EarthScorn’s man, and the other is for a fellow apprentice. Apparently, EarthScorn had him sleeping out in the wagon last night. I’d assume that’s where you will be sleeping tonight as well, so you better not mess with the food of the boy you will be sleeping next to. Bad idea that, yes?”

At the sight of his son’s frown, the large innkeeper laughed and pulled a wicker basket from around the corner, the smell of a third meal wafting out. Stacking the two other meals into the basket, Eric pulled his pack onto his back and stepped out of the inn. In front of him was the sight which had frightened him since he was a kid and when he had first seen it rolling through town.

As wide as a carriage but twice as long, built of metal and marble, was Lord EarthScorns carriage. The wheels were made of stone wrapped steel, the axle’s as thick around as a man’s thigh. The gigantic boxy contraption was entirely enclosed except for the front face, which was built of clear quartz. There was no entrance, no opening, and nowhere for a horse to hook up. Behind it was attached another wagon of similar construction built of stone and steel with four sets of wheels. Covering the hard stone surface inside the cart was hay, and laying within was a boy of a similar age to Eric.

“Hey, you just going to stand there or what?” said the young man with a broad smile, his dark hair pulled back into a fashionable ponytail. Laying back in the hay, his head resting on a pack, his arms and legs jauntily crossed, he was the picture of relaxation.

“Oh, sorry. Here, my Da made us food for the road,” Eric said as he leveraged his pack off his back and into the wagon.

“I knew we would get along!” the boy said as he scrambled over to the back of the wagon and helped Eric up.

“I’m Terry, and by the look of it that makes me your half brother,” the young man said in a friendly manner, his hands already deep into the wicker basket, “So, what’s your name?”

Eric hesitated for a moment, the idea of having a half-brother causing his chest to tighten oddly, “I’m Eric.”

Terry opened his mouth the say something, a Miner’s Special unwrapped in front of him when he noticed Mallow heading for the carriage. His manner changed at that moment, eyes down, hunched shoulders. Quickly wrapping up his meal, he held it out to Mallow as the man stuffed a weighted strop of leather into his back pocket. Tucking the leather away, he snatched the wrapped meal up and climbed onto the leading wagon.

Leaning towards Eric, Terry whispered, “That’s Mallow. Lord EarthScorn’s man. Don’t get on his bad side. Rumor is that he is a by-blow of EarthScorn’s that never developed a Knack. Took after his mother instead. Still, old man EarthScorn has a use for him, so he isn’t doing to bad for himself, you know?”

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Leaning back, Terry smiled wide before asking, “Speaking of Knacks, what’s yours? Mines Candle, not that useful, but pretty.”

So saying, Terry held out his hand and artfully snapped his fingers, a small flame appearing to float above his hand.

“I can light a fire with it or just use it as a candle when I need it,” Terry said before sticking his tongue out and concentrating on the flame, “and if I focus, I can make it do this.”

The flame in his hand swayed and danced, the color-shifting from a light red into orange, on to yellow and blue. As the flame started to shift into a violet, it flickered then sputtered out, Terry gasping at the strain.

“Can’t do it long, though, but the girls think it’s pretty, so that’s great,” Terry said as he wiped the sweat from his face.

Mallow shouted down from the top of the carriage, “Stop playing with fire in a pile of hay, you idiot.”

Ducking his head, Terry turned to Eric, but the grin on his face said he wasn’t sorry in the slightest.

“So, brother, what can you do?” Terry’s smile and friendly demeanor had the familial term bring a smile to his face.

Eric’s smile at being called brother faded a bit, “I can see in the dark, Lord EarthScorn said it was Darksight or maybe something else?” Eric questioned himself as he tried to explain it.

“Mostly, I just see like normal, so it’s not like I can see anything that isn’t normally there. It wasn’t until I was ten that I figured out that people couldn’t see like normal in the dark,” Eric said as he gently scratched at his cheek in embarrassment.

“Oh, so you’ve had your Knack since you were young. I hear that means you could be-” Terry started then stopped and ducked down into the hay when he heard the inn door open, and Lord EarthScorn began to walk towards the carriage.

To Eric’s wide eyes, the side of the carriage seemed to liquify, the stone bending down to create stairs as the wall folded away. Stepping up the now formed steps, EarthScorn ducked his head slightly even as there was more than enough room for his tall form to enter his carriage. After his entrance, the stairs melted again and returned to the solid marble wall of the carriage.

“Better grab on, when we get going, it can get bumpy,” Terry said as the carriage started to roll forward.

Eric grabbed onto the side of the wagon, the stone lip around the edge more than enough to provide an anchor point for him as he was seated. Looking back to the carriage, he watched as Marrow loaded a crossbow and sat on a throne-like chair mounted on the top of the transport.

“How does it move? I’ve never figured it out!” Eric said in a loud voice, the sound of the carriage and wagon ramping up to a racket as the stone wheels rumbled down the road.

Terry laughed as he stuck his head past the side of the wagon, the wind blowing into his face and trying to unbind his hair.

“EarthScorn is just turning the wheels himself. He is smoothing out the road ahead of us and driving us forward. Rumor is he is a bit of a cheapskate, it’s why he flattens the road and does the rounds himself. Well, beyond other reasons,” Terry said, his smile slipping away before it returned to enjoy the wind.

It was difficult to talk with the wind blasting past, the carriage and wagon maintaining the speed of a galloping horse for hours. The two managed to discuss their daily lives. Eric was surprised to learn that Terry was from the county capital, Lord EarthScorn’s castle, in fact. His mother worked as a maid there. He had been on the road for the last two days and had fallen into a routine. According to what he had heard from Mallow and EarthScorn, there were only two other boys scheduled to be picked up, one of which was probably going to be a problem. When he said the last, his face darkened in worry, but he didn’t explain.

Eric discussed his life working at the inn in the mining town, enjoying the fact that he could make the other boy laugh from some of the stories he had heard the miners tell. Twice, the carriage stopped at towns along the way, allowing the two boys to take time to stretch, get water from the city well, and relieve themselves. Despite the enjoyment of the ride, the nature of the journey was apparent. Mallow and his crossbow watching as only one boy at a time were allowed to leave the wagon. His hand resting on his crossbow said more than words what would happen if they failed to follow instructions.

At each stop, Lord EarthScorn would retire to the inn for an hour or so, then return. At one stop, a crying young woman was escorted into the inn. Eric and Terry both looked away with stony expressions while Mallow smiled his cruel smile.

Finally, after a full day of travel at a pace that would have taken a week typically, they reached the last town for the night. Terry had explained the routine while they had traveled. They would be left in the wagon to sleep and be fed in the morning by the innkeeper, and then they would be off again in the morning.

When they pulled up to the inn, the carriage’s side melted away and turned to steps as Lord EarthScorn exited. Mallow hopped down from his seat above, his large frame moving nimbly as he circled around behind the inn. Terry was sitting up and watching for something to happen, but after a while, he shrugged and laid back in the wagon.

Eric gave him a questioning glance, but Terry just shrugged, then turned over and pushed his pack behind his head to rest. The wagon was large enough for plenty of room for both boys. Piling more hay up to comfort his back from the stone and steel wagon bed, Eric put his head on his pack and stared up at the sky and wondered what the academy would be like as he drifted to sleep.