At Least He's Not On Fire: A Tour of the Things That Escape My Head (25 page)

Howard let loose a short laugh, “Crowns? Yeah I’ve got some. You want Crowns? They’re almost worthless you know? You can spend them here, and in the Empire, and that’s it. I mean I’ve heard some places honor their value, but that’s few and far between.”

Malwynn nodded, knowing the truth in Howard’s words.

“Wait a second.
 
Which direction is that train going you’re headed out on tomorrow? What are you and your sister planning?” Howard asked, suddenly serious, and worried for the young people in his care, even if only for the night.
 

Malwynn pushed the coins toward Howard as his response, “Eighteen and a half Marks Howard. Can you give me Crowns for this?”

“The Empire will chew you two up and spit you out, you know? It’s the place where dreams go to die. You should get on that southbound train in the morning and forget about all this.” Howard stared at Malwynn with cold eyes. Mal saw some kind of sadness in Howard’s eyes, and had to look away.

“Howard, we need Crowns please. If you can’t do it, I understand, but our path is already laid for my sister and I.” Malwynn summoned the strength to look the old man in the eye again.
 

Howard looked very unhappy with that reply, but turned and reached under the counter, rummaging a bit before finding a small wooden box. He opened the thin lid and then dumped out the contents. Dozens of metallic coins with a purple sheen spilled out. He started to count them out, but stopped abruptly.

“Just take them all. You’re going to need them where you’re going.”

“Thank you Howard. My sister and I will remember you. One day I’ll settle this debt, you’ve my word,” Malwynn extended his hand and Howard took it.

“You own me nothing. Take care of yourself Malwynn, and your sister.”

Malwynn let go of Howard’s hand, and filled his empty coin bag with the tainted purple coins of the tainted Purple Queen.

“The tanner says the hide will be ready in a week for me to work. I think I’ll make it into some kind of studded leather, but nicer than this Amaranth armor we have. That stuff is decent, but I think I can make better,” Umaryn said as the twins rode out the gate towards the Artificer rail station. Both were wrapped from head to hip in blankets they bought from Howard. In truth Howard let them have the blankets when Umaryn asked for them, but Malwynn left two Crowns on the table in the room they’d rented as remittance. He already felt in debt enough to the man.

The two were wrapped in such fashion because underneath the blankets they wore the Amaranth armor. Fearful of the eyes of the Ockham locals, they wanted no part of being seen wearing the armor. So instead, they suffered the midday summer heat wrapped in wool blankets. They sweated profusely.

The gate guards bid them farewell with more enthusiasm than they’d greeted them with the night prior, and the twins made their way to the platform. Two artificers were on the raised stone platform, taking tickets and managing the handful of people getting on the train. At each end of the train and spread along its length on the ground were numerous Guild warriors. Like their grey robed leaders the security forces wore light plate armor fashioned from steel, and enameled in the same shade of grey as the robes of the Guild. The Artificers employed hundreds upon hundreds of warriors to ride with the trains as they crossed the wild expanses between towns, villages, and cities. It looked to Umaryn that only five people would be boarding train, including them. Bramwell and Tinder were hitched off the platform near a ramp that led up to the freight car they’d be riding in. The brother and sister went up to the artificer taking the tickets so as to board the train.

The man taking the tickets was tall, a full hand higher than the duo. He was thin, and wore the grey hooded robe of the Artificer Guild. Malwynn felt a little nervous as he looked at the blood red trim that advertised to all those gathered that this man could wield The Way. Mal was afraid to lie suddenly.

“Sir, we’ve tickets for the midday Graben departure,” Malwynn said, handing the tall man the scripts of paper detailing the conditions of their journey.

The tall man had short, well trimmed bright blonde hair, and eyes almost as bright blue as theirs. He scanned the two slips and started shaking his head negatively, “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you to ride with your animals. That’s against Guild policies.”

The twins looked at him incredulously. Their bad fortune seemed never ending. Just as they were about to let in on a tirade to save their trip, the tall blonde Artificer added to the conversation.

“The passenger cars are nearly empty today. I can simply allow you to ride with the passengers. When we arrive at the Graben rail yard, you can leave the train and clean the car, as per your agreement with the station here. I hope that’s acceptable.” The Artificer watched as their expressions changed from exasperation to gratefulness.

Umaryn nearly embraced the man, “Oh that’ll be fine sir. Sorry for our response, we’ve had a quite difficult week, and we thought you were about to make it much worse.”

He nodded, seemingly understanding, “The Guild made an agreement with you to ride this train. We’ll honor that agreement, though clearly not in the way you’d expected. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”

“It’s alright. Quite fine really,” Malwynn said.

The blonde Artificer smiled again, “Enjoy your trip. Despite what everyone says, the trip north to Graben can be very breathtaking.”

The twins nodded, gathered what they needed from the saddle bags of their mounts, and boarded the trains, still wrapped in their blankets, and still sweating heavily in the north Varrland sun.

Once inside the train they shed the blankets. Normally leather armor is uncomfortably warm when the weather is hot, but removing the blankets made both of them feel as if they were running practically naked through their parent’s backyard. Air flowed into the seams and sleeves of the leather and allowed their skin to breathe once more.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Umaryn looked back and forth to the two passenger cars they had to choose from, “Which one?”

“Um, this one I suppose,” Malwynn chose at random, and the two slid open the finely crafted car door. After they walked by the lone grey guard inside the door, they assessed where to sit.

The car was long, likely fifty feet from where they stood to the front door that led to the locomotive powering the train. The seats and couches were old plush leather dyed a rich green, and the woodwork a rich cherry. Inlaid into the fine carvings were intricate laces of brass and tin, giving the compartment an ancient, and classy feel. Umaryn wondered if this was one of the rail cars that pre-dated The Fall.

The seats were arranged in two sections. Running the entire length of all four sides of the car were the green leather seats. In the center of the car, cutting the compartment in half were two more seats, almost creating two entirely separate areas to sit in. The closest section of seats had six souls resting in it. At first glance it looked to be two families, both reasonably well-to-do, and both with a single younger child. Alone in the far end of the other section of seats sat a lone, tall figure.

Almost alone, that is.

The tall figure was garbed head to toe in a rich purple hooded robe that obscured his face. His hands were deathly white and the skin tight and shrunken. His nails were vaguely yellowed and a bit too long, giving them a sinister appearance. Sitting to his left and right were two zombies.

The undead were both large males wearing simple trousers and plain white shirts. Their flesh was grey and sunken, the rot of death arrested through The Way. Both wore no signs of a violent death, though they were both in their prime. Malwynn and Umaryn each felt their stomachs twist and churn looking at the drained expressions on the faces of the deceased men. Sitting just a few feet away was pure heresy against the ancestors. Around their necks they wore purple ribbons that supported a purple medallion, signifying that they were undead in the service of the Purple Queen. That could only mean in some fashion that the purple robed man directly served the Queen.

Malwynn debated where to sit in an instant. If they crowded into the nearest section with the two families, the entire journey would be cramped and uncomfortable. They would also be tipping their hat to the robed man that they were potentially afraid to sit near him. Malwynn felt the best course of action was to appear confident, and wear their armor like a soldier of the Amaranth Empire would, and sit near the man who they so badly wanted to stay away from.

Malwynn walked past the families, Umaryn at his side with purpose, intentionally seeming disrespectful to their presence. Not one of the six family members looked up to make eye contact as they passed. He reached the two green leather couches that sperated the train’s space and addressed the robed figure sitting at the end of the train, “Sir is this seat taken?”

Malwynn’s heart froze solid when the hood of the purple man titled up ever so slightly, allowing the eyes covered in shadow underneath enough of an angle to look directly at him. Malwynn couldn’t see the face of the figure through the blackness, but he heard the voice loud and clear, “No. Please rest soldier.”

The voice was chilling. The tone was low, and sounded as if it began deep in the belly of the man inside the robe, and rattled upwards and out, wheezing through a missing nose in a baritone that seemed to emanate from beyond death. It also had a strange whimsical quality to it, striking Malwynn in a way he couldn’t describe. Both he and his sister kept their faces stone-like, and took up seats on either side of the rail car.

It would be a very long seven hour trip.

The man on the platform had exaggerated the beauty of the Amaranth Empire’s terrain greatly. Looking out of the windows in their rail car the only thing they saw for the first four hours of the train ride was flatness. Impossible flatness as far as the eye could see. The only hint of a change in the world was the faint irregularity of hills or mountains far to the north, very far away. As the afternoon began to wane and the sun dipped down close to the horizon the clouds darkened, and thickened. It seemed to Umaryn that the world had been split in two; the flat ground on the bottom, and the dark grey rolling bulges of a storm head moving to the southeast above.
 
She wondered if the storms had anything to do with the presence of such evil in the Amaranth Empire.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the Snake Ridge Mountains again. It’s been many weeks since I’ve laid eyes on them,” the purple robed man said unexpectedly. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end at the low raspy voice. Umaryn looked across the car to Malwynn, seeking his support, but his head had tipped back, and he had drifted into deep sleep. She was on her own for this exchange.

“Couldn’t agree more,” she said confidently.

“What’s your name soldier?” He asked her.

She couldn’t think of a reason not to offer her real name, “Umaryn sir.”

“No last name Umaryn? Strange.” The robed man uncrossed and re-crossed his legs. She watched as his fine black leather boots slid in graceful movement. It didn’t help his aura of fear any, she thought.