The stall we found for lunch was beside a park whose greenery looked out of place amongst the stone and timber houses. A group of mages were growing new trees and fresh fields of flowers on one side. It looked like a job I would enjoy.
More families were walking about here compared to the rest of the city. Small domesticated animals roamed around at the heels and on the shoulders of their presumably owners. Most of the dogs and other walking animals had harnesses and leashes but seemed content with them.
The few pets I’d seen around town hadn’t had them but I conceded it made sense with so many people around as I watched a small child narrowly avoid getting bitten after he yanked a dog's tail. Maybe the children were the ones who needed leashes if that's how they behaved.
The mage behind the stall had a floating flame searing a slab of meat that he was carving pieces off of into flatbread. I went with the charred vegetables by themselves and so did Alisa, which I found strange.
A few off-duty officers of The Watch had set up an area in the park where people could pay to have horses, carriages, belongings and even children looked after while shopping. I still insisted on sitting close and within sight of Missy and Apple.
Alisa didn’t seem to understand that I wouldn’t trust them to do their job. I was starting to see that the officers in the city were more relaxed and kind—so far. The ones in the town had been quite rude and unlikable whenever I or others interacted with them.
Just as I was taking my first bite a loud whistle sounded from far away and then again. I frowned, Martin had tried his best but I didn’t think there was any chance I’d ever be as loud as that.
“Train’s here,” Alisa said.
“Oh. We don’t have to hurry then?”
“It’ll take some time for them to unload supplies and for everyone to get theirs on.”
The flatbread and vegetables started to drip down grease and sauce as I chewed into it. I quickly leant forward so none of it got on my clothes. I noticed Alisa wasn’t eating as I tried to bite off all the areas the dripping was coming from.
“I wanted to…apologise,” Alisa said while I turned to look at her with stuffed cheeks.
After chewing through most of it I answered, assuming she was talking about earlier. “It’s okay, you had to go get your boots and nothing bad happened.”
“No, not for that but yes I’m also sorry for leaving you alone. For the other night, when I used that same spell the guy is using to cook the meat to…hurt you. I deeply apologise for what I must have put you through.”
I shrugged and took another bite. What was someone supposed to say to an apology?
Saying it was okay about the cobbler thing was easy because I didn’t care and while I didn’t remember much from the courtyard I did remember the pain, vividly. I was annoyed at myself for not being more upset about what she did. Even more so for letting Daral threaten me and for giving up the sliver of loathing that I had felt for Barick.
I still didn’t like him very much but they had been nice otherwise, helpful even, like Alisa had been today.
“Thank you.”
Alisa nodded and went to eat her lunch. Saying my first thought that it was fine probably would have extended the awkward affair. But it did feel nice that she felt bad for what happened.
“I’m sure in his own weird way Barick also regrets hurting you.”
Somehow I couldn’t imagine him saying that.
I didn’t have an appetite anymore but I chewed through the last few bites and got some water to clean off my hands. I looked around and pointed off to another stall selling fruit. “Can I buy the horses some apples?”
“Sure, here.”
I held out cupped hands for her to tip a bunch of bronze coins into and walked out of the park. The lady at the stall brought out a few bruised fruit I could get for half the price once I mentioned they were for horses. I left with three apples and two bananas stretching out my fingers as I tried to hold and balance all of them.
The officer at the gate let me through with a nod and smile that I was happy to return. The four horses near the troughs got excited when I approached them with my treats. Missy behaved and Apple attempted to but the other two were a bit much before I threatened to withhold said treats if they didn’t relax.
I split one of the apples almost perfectly in half and held out a piece in each hand for Missy and Apple first. Then repeated that for the other two who gently took the offering. I bit into my own apple and avoided the bruise other people spent double to avoid.
The bananas were next to go once they started to get huffy about me taking too long to eat with my ‘baby human teeth.’ I almost wanted to peel them for myself after that thought. I did end up eating some of Missy’s half as tax since she wanted me to peel it for her after I had put that idea into her mind. They were apparently too bitter for her taste.
Alisa finished and we started making our way towards the train station. I was quite excited to see what this thing was that could take hundreds of people across the duchy in a matter of days.
We had to cross through Old Town to get to the station in the south. The streets there were more winding and worn with the remnants of the original wall still around from when they knocked it down to make way for more buildings. I could see the top of the castle where the Baron stayed in the distance. One of the towers had the receiver that had been described to me and I wondered what kind of information I could get from being near it.
We passed the edge of a gated district with larger houses and private gardens. There were almost no people walking or carts but a lot more closed carriages. The few people that were on foot had similar uniforms that Alisa called servants. I wondered if I’d have to wear one of those at the duke’s estate. Brief plans of taking the doll and running flittered into my thoughts but it felt too tiring to think about.
We crossed over a set of tracks for the train on our way to the station. Two lines of steel stretched out until it curved out of view with wooden beams placed between, all sitting on a bed of gravel.
“And that goes all the way from Riker's Bay to Drasda?” I asked, stunned. “And that’s meant to be a few days' horse ride either way?”
Seeing the amount of material used and how long it would have taken to make it was astonishing.
“It then goes to connect to the other main cities in each duchy. Give it a week or two and we could be all the way in the south on a beach.”
She spent the rest of our ride trying to describe what a beach was and then the sea and why people found it enjoyable to be there. As soon as she described some of the sea's inhabitants having rows of serrated teeth and others being as large as a castle, I decided I did want to visit.
The station was a large complex surrounded by a smaller version of the sandstone walls with an out of place metal sheet as a roof. Large wooden doors were swung open with the steel tracks leading into them.
A few Watch members sat atop the wall while some of their colleagues were positioned by a smaller gate with a line of people filtering through them. They waved us through without fuss and directed us to the third platform where the train was waiting.
The train was as described, metal and wooden boxes all connected together. Some with windows and others with large metal doors that I could see other horses and crates being loaded into up a ramp. The tracks looped back and forth in the station with more of the engines and carriages off to the side under the large roof.
A small group of people with bags and other luggage waited off to the side while more trickled out of one of the carriages. The others were already waiting on the platform with a bunch of other knights all in their full insignia, Ian was by himself with Potato and workers loaded and unloaded bags into the train.
Daral and Barick were off to the side with a group of six other aspirants who had no insignia on their hats. Missy spotted Annalise and started to canter over to her. I quickly got over the shock from the sudden movement and tried to bribe Missy into slowing down. The banana tax almost cost me but I told her Annalise wouldn’t be happy if she rode into the people moving crates onto the train.
Missy slowed down but Annalise had already turned from her conversation with three other knights. Two with silver bands and another with the same gold as her. Missy snorted as she got to her rider and lowered her head to be pet. Annalise happily complied and ran her hands up and down the horse's neck.
“Oh, I missed you too girl. How was she, Valeria?”
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“Ah…” I turned to see Alisa dismount and start to walk towards us. “I think you should ask Alisa.”
Annalise narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“Because she wanted to have a chance to explain things before I made them sound bad.”
The chuckling coming from the men and woman behind her didn’t give me much confidence that I was succeeding.
Alisa stopped with Apple, palm over heart. “Captain Riker, Captain, Knights.” Each group got a nod and returned it.
“Val was just telling me how she wasn’t supposed to make something sound bad. What is that something, Aspirant?”
“Might I first say I completed the task you set for me, doesn’t she look cute?” Alisa said and gestured to me. “But during the accomplishment of that task a few lowlifes accosted Valeria and the horses but there was no theft or injuries—except for one of them who's in custody after taking a set of hooves to the chest.”
“I think next time you should just let her tell the story and not make us all worry someone got kidnapped,” the other captain said with a laugh.
“The worker outfit is a style choice then?” the male knight asked.
“It actually works quite well as casual clothing, better than these capes they still have us wear,” the female knight said.
“We ran into some construction workers and I think she might have taken a liking to them. May I ask why we have so many Knights here?” Alisa asked while glancing over at the eight other apprentices.
“Knight Damof is here for normal guard duty for some of the train’s cargo while Captain Leonarda and Knight Bowfore are here to escort a potential cure,” Annalise said.
“For...?”
“Yes.”
“What about the garrison and Ian’s task?” Alisa asked.
“I was just about to tell the others about the first part but it can wait till we sit down,” Annalise said. “Can you unsaddle these two and get the belongings inside? We have the fourth carriage to ourselves.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I held out my hand for Annalise to help me drop down and wasn’t sure where to go after that. To Daral, Barick and their group, unpack heavy satchels with Alisa or Ian who looked like he needed help with Potato. I was about to go with the latter when the other captain held out his fist to me.
“I’m Captain Leonarda or just Aaron. Captain Riker was just telling us about you. I was sceptical on why she'd think to send a young civilian for information gathering but I think I understand now.”
I looked to his outstretched fist and then to Annalise for help.
“It’s a mage’s handshake, take your first and hit the top of his and then let him do it back. You can’t cast spells well like that compared with a normal handshake.”
As she said, after softly tapping the top of his fist with my own he did it back. The captain’s hand could easily engulf my whole fist and I was sure his hairy forearms were thicker than my legs. He had his dark hair shaved on the parts uncovered by his floppy hat and facial hair that looked prickly on his darkly tanned skin.
“It’s fascinating,” Knight Bowfore, the female knight, said. “I can’t sense she’s there even when looking right at her.”
“How can she free cast without pronounced mana reserves?” the other asked.
Aaron put a hand on the younger knight's shoulder. “Sorry it’s just interesting to us, I’m sure it feels differently for you since you can’t use spells. We were also sorry to hear about your captivity and glad to see that you seem to be in good spirits. I think we’ll have to thank you as well if the alchemist can make a cure with the information you provided”
It sounded like Annalise had kept the description of me helping the witch short. Also, two apologies in one afternoon was a bit much.
“Thank you?” I said while trying to figure out which bit of information it was that Ian had found useful. There were still a few books left but they were all boring to him and like the others, didn’t have a cure different to what I had told Annalise.
Potato looked to have gotten away from Ian and came up to our group. He nudged at me with his nose and snorted, pleading with me to convince his rider not to make him get into the metal box.
I gently shushed him and ran my hands down his neck.
“He seems scared of going in there.”—I pointed towards the ramp—“Is there another carriage horses can use?”
“Sadly not I’m afraid, the poor chap will just have to be sedated if we can’t convince him to get it. It’s specially designed for the horses as well, nothing to be afraid of once he gets in.”
It’s my first time on a train too, I’m sure it’ll be okay. I’ll make him get you all of the fruits when we get off.
Potato huffed and tried to chew on my clothes but I pushed him away and shooed towards the ramp.
“I was already convinced about her being good with horses after she came in riding a war horse so casually but that sealed it,” Bowfore said.
…
I was draped over Annalise’s lap with my eyes squeezed shut and feeling abhorrent for the disgusting lies I had told Potato. It was not okay. Nothing was okay.
It felt like someone had forced a barrel of wine into me, spun me around and then thrown me into a wall.
I’d thrown up all my lunch and more in the carriage’s bathroom at the start of the journey. Annalise said it was normal for some people to feel sick and got me to sit facing forward, focusing only on the people in the carriage and breathing deeply.
It didn’t help. She tried healing me but the spell found nothing to latch onto.
I could feel every bit of ground race past us and disappear before my mind could fully comprehend it. The mana just kept coming and going endlessly. The faintest words and shallow emotions touched my mind as the animals they belonged to were left behind.
I wished for nothing but the silence that…that mana shield had provided.
“Shield,” I mumbled while patting Annalise’s leg.
It wasn’t nearly quick enough but one appeared around us and I slowly opened one of my eyes.
“The shield makes sense if you consider she might have a severe case of city rush,” Aaron said.
All I could see from under the table were three sets of legs probably belonging to Aaron, Damof and Bowfore who I think I had replaced by lying next to Annalise.
The carriage we were in had sections with two long plush seats near a bolted down table with a large window spanning the whole section. This repeated three times for one side of the carriage with a narrow corridor on the other, leading to doors on either side. The apprentices and I had initially taken up the two other tables with the knights and captains in the middle. All of us were eager to hear what news Annalise had about the village.
I ruined that when we started gaining speed and I needed to scramble out of my seat, over Alisa, to get to the toilet we had walked past when boarding. I initially stumbled the wrong way as only one of the sides contained a lavatory and then spent a long time over the toilet with, I think, Alisa holding my hair.
“We’re not in a city though and the worst that gets it is a mild headache even for mages who can’t limit who they’re sensing,” Bowfore said.
“We know nothing of her disability, it could be more susceptible to ambient mana,” Damof said in his deep voice.
“It can hardly be called that and let’s not use that word with her being right here,” Annalise said as she ran her hand through my hair.
“Agreed. The apprentices aren’t going to be happy about missing out on the rest of the story,” Aaron said.
“Probably for the best, by the sounds of it we don’t want the whole school to know by the time classes start,” Bowfore said.
“Is it okay for her to?” Damof asked.
I didn’t want to hear anything at all but as long as she kept the shield up around me I would suffer through their conversation.
“She did get the information to begin with,” Aaron said. “Go ahead, Annalise.”
“I went to see the general of the Kiteer garrison, he already knew about the Oclaran mages out in Tamil, just not exact numbers and the transmitter was news to him,” Annalise said. “They said the Baron is also aware and they’re coordinating an effort to send real sympathisers as well as our mages to eventually take them all down.”
“Sounds smart,” Aaron said. “But?”
“But he wasn’t aware of any payment being sent over and the Baron wants to send The Watch in and not the military since they’re still Werl citizens.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a political win,” Bowfore said. “Especially with everything that can go wrong, Watch officers aren’t meant for mage versus mage engagements.”
“Unless you consider his nephew is a chief of one of the precincts,” Annalise said. “A nephew he’s positioned as his successor.”
“Welp sounds like the real mages need to come in and sort it all out,” Aaron said while cracking his knuckles.
“We’d need my father's permission for that.”
“And we’ll get it once he’s cured,” Aaron said. “And don’t worry about these two, the other captains and I have cleared them.”
“They’re knights, I trust them. But we should still keep it from the other aspirants. Mine know but I've told them not to say anything about it.”
“How did they find out?” Bowfore asked.
Annalise’s hand stilled on my head. “They got Valeria to translate some of the witch’s books since she was using her as a servant and scribe. I was in a meeting with the Mayor and didn’t know Val existed when I tasked them with sorting through all the cursed stuff.”
“I’m sure the school will love it if you hand over all the cursed items afterwards, they’re always running out of training aids,” Aaron said.
“I’ll see if Ian will get another set printed for the alchemy department as well, they were a lot of books he seemed very interested in.”
“Does he think his cure will work?” Bowfore asked.
“It’s a long shot, but I’m hopeful. We’re missing a key ingredient but Ian doesn’t see how it could be important, Valeria says it is but we’ll see what he can do. He’s got a trace amount of blood from the axe that was only washed with water and a few drops from the execution site.”
I hadn’t realised Ian had found some blood. Maybe he could find a way to bypass the willingness aspect of the cure or maybe the blood would be enough on its own. It made me feel better that I might not be expected to help directly. The longer I was too scared to tell the truth the worse it would be to eventually reveal it.
I bolted upright and whacked my head on the edge of the table as my thoughts inevitably went to the doll before my mind caught up. I'd meant to check where it was and had forgotten but It had to be on the train otherwise I would be suffering—more than I already was—by now. I could hear the others grimace as Annalise held my head.
“That was loud.” “Ouch.” “Are you okay?”
“No,” I said and laid back down.