Orders of Magnitude (The Genie and the Engineer Series Book 2) (27 page)

“I, uh, don’t have an exit plan, uh, yet,” he admitted
sheepishly to the mirror.

Ariel-Leira stared at him in disbelief for several seconds
then began laughing in a very irritating manner—what most folks would call a
donkey bray. Very annoying. Worse than squealing brakes, in Paul’s opinion.

“There was no time!” he protested feebly with a small shrug.
“Capie’s life was in danger! I had to move fast!”

The woman in black waved a negligent hand. But she at least
stopped laughing—although her condescending smirk was nearly as bad.

“Can get you out of here, I can,” she told him. “But higher
is the price.”

“And what would be the price then?” Paul cautiously asked.

“What no other mirror has seen, to see. Sights, people,
places. The price this is.”

A vision of the mirror taking a grand tour of Mars flashed
suddenly into Paul’s mind and it was his turn to smile.

“Granted. A place I guarantee that no other mirror has ever
been to before or seen,” he explained, feeling a bit better about the
situation.

“Excellent! Start, shall we? The Great Hall, first. Of this
room, sick I am!”

Paul nodded and waved a hand, levitating all the bodies in
the room including Capie and Daneel. A flick of his finger took the mirror off
the wall, floating it forward to the center of the room.

“Point the way,” he said, with a small bow.

• • • •

With the mirror ‘leading’ the way, Paul carefully guided
everybody and everything past the debris on the floor of the tower room and
through a more or less undamaged modest wood-framed door. Merlin followed along
quietly while Daneel hummed an odd tune. Their path took them down a stone
corridor lined with tapestries and oil portraits of various people dressed in
old clothing. A sharp bend at the far end dropped them into one side of the
castle’s massive Great Hall. Paul was taken aback at the size of the room with
its high vaulted ceilings, huge arched windows, ostentatious furnishings, and
subdued indirect lighting. He frowned in consternation, and sent the mirror
down to lean against a small table, while simultaneously lowering Capie to the
floor. Then he plopped himself down into a gothic wooden chair to think. Daneel
touched down on an end table next to Paul’s side, his humming more noticeably
ragged than before.

“I dare say, young man, that you get yourself into more
situations and in even far less time than Arthur,” Merlin sadly noted, from his
position a few feet away. The specter took a moment to glance around the Great
Hall and sniffed in disdain. “Must be the maid’s night off. And the interior
decorator’s century off. Most of this stuff was out of date during Queen Victoria’s
reign.”

Paul leaned forward, looking at the mirror. “Okay, we’re
here now. What’s your plan?”

“I too can’t wait to hear your plan,” Merlin declared with a
snide sneer to Ariel-Leira. “You can’t ask Paul to portal us out of here, not
with all of this mass. The energy signature would linger for hours. Much too
easy to follow.”

Merlin looked downward with a thoroughly sullen look. “Paul,
even that trick you used under Lake Michigan wouldn’t work here, due to the
amount of energy you would have to use for your portals. Of course, levitation
is an option. Less energy required for that and the spell would dissipate
before morning. But, ah, levitating this much mass for even a hundred miles
cross-country would exhaust any wizard, even with two wizard talismans. And
even that’s not far enough to help us in this situation. We need to get a
hundred and fifty—or even better two hundred miles away.”

With a thoughtful nod, Paul said, “I agree with all of that.
I suppose I could build something to use as transportation,” he muttered.
Another quick glance around the room revealed several medieval heater shields
hanging on the stone walls, each decorated with crosses, dragons or some form
of coat of arms. “A huge sled, perhaps? Using the front doors and those shields?
We are on a mountain so we could slide downhill—”

Merlin was slowly shaking his head. “You could build a sled,
yes, and before daybreak, yes. But it would only take you to the foot of the
mountain and there it would leave you stranded as well as exhausted. Try
again.”

“If only I had an airplane—” Paul started to say.

Merlin was still shaking his head. “The nearest airport is
hundreds of miles away. And building an airplane would take you a minimum of a
day to carry out, probably more like two. Do you really want to hang around in
Romania that long?”

“Not really, no,” Paul muttered unhappily, looking back at
the woman in the mirror.

“If the two of you finished are, tell you, I will, of my
plan. But a suggestion, first. These creatures, bind their hands, gag them, you
should do. Too, the wizard. Regret it otherwise, you will.”

Merlin grimaced and actually seemed to pout. “A good idea,
that. Oni have a remarkable constitution. Any of them could wake up at any
time.”

It seemed like a good idea to Paul too. But what should he
bind them with? Shredded tapestry? No, not a good choice. Ah! Those shields!
Some of them were obviously made of wood but others appeared to be of steel.

With a flick of a wrist, one of the metal shields, a red
griffon painted on the front of it, broke loose from its mount and flew through
the air towards Paul. Another flick of the wrist and, with a horrid shriek, a
strip of metal two inches wide tore off one edge, followed by others until the
shield had been turned into confetti. Each strip then wrapped itself around a
set of Oni wrists or ankles. Two more shields were sacrificed in the same way
until all the Oni and Hamadi were bound tightly. A lace curtain from a nearby
arch window suffered the same fate to serve as gags.

“Done,” stated Paul with smug satisfaction. “Now, how do we
get out of here?”

The mirror woman smiled insolently. “Simple. Stables there
be, in the center of the royal courtyard. Awaiting there, transport is. Portal
there, introduce you, I will.”

“Introduce us?” Paul asked, his voice rising a bit in pitch.
Just what kind of transportation was she talking about?

• • • •

With an incredulous stare, Paul studied the—well, there was
no other word for it—creature in front of him.

It—he—whatever, more or less resembled an old-fashioned
delivery wagon, a large box with big black spoked wooden wheels, brightly
colored paneled sides, and a flat top. However, in the front, in place of a
driver’s bench was a face.

Paul knew it was a living creature for two reasons. One, the
face had eyes (large, with black pupils and white irises), a thick hooked nose,
a crooked mouth with wooden teeth, a chin and eyebrows. The sight of it
strongly reminded Paul of some Disney character.

And second, the creature spoke to him.

“Hello, wizard. Nice to meet you,” it said in a mildly
pleasant voice.

Paul’s skin tingled from head to toe in an emotion
remarkably similar to alarm and he could only produce a timid nod in response.

Ariel-Leira was doing that funny weird laugh again as she
watched Paul’s reaction.

They were in the stables, not far from the center of the
courtyard. The stalls here—indeed the entire building—were all larger than
necessary to stable horses, or so Paul thought. Ten feet tall, each stall was
lined of gray wood slats, the dirt floors padded with fresh strewn straw.
However, all of the stalls were empty so there was no telling just what sort of
creatures had been housed in them in times past.

All except this one stall, of course, the one with the, uh,
transport sitting in it.

“Oyaji, night carriage, this is. Paul Armstead, young
wizard, this is,” said Ariel-Leira, as she performed the introductions. “The
special transport, Oyaji is called, of which I spoke. The night winds, he
rides. Can carry, you and your, ah, cargo. Out-of-range of the castle by
morning can be. From there, you can portal undetected.”

Merlin was rubbing his jaw while scowling. “It might work.
I’ve heard of night carriages, of course. Japanese in origin. A
yokai
or
supernatural being. They travel only at night and must bed down during the day
in a dark place.” And he glared around at the stables. “Which this place
definitely qualifies as, even during the day.”

“How do you do?” rumbled Oyaji amiably. “I like my digs
here. They’re quiet and comfortable. But the wizards that come to the castle no
longer take me out anywhere. They say I don’t fit into the modern world
anymore. Say, is that why you’re here? Do you need a ride somewhere? I can take
you anywhere, as long as I’m back in a dark place by sunrise. What do you say?”

“Merlin?” Paul asked, walking around to the back of the
“vehicle” and checking out the accommodations from there. There was no rear
door, just an open framed interior with padded benches on each side. “What do
you think?”

“It should work,” Merlin reluctantly admitted. “The energy
signature a night carriage leaves is not a significant one. By morning, it will
be too weak to track. Of course, this mode of travel isn’t very fast. But if
you leave right away, you might get 150 to 200 miles from here by sunrise. Far enough
by that time that you can portal away in short jumps from that location. You
might be able to reach a monolith and from there back to Australia in a day or
so.”

“What about the night carriage, after he…it, drops us off?”
Paul asked, coming back around to the front of the creature.

“I’ll sleep wherever we land during the day and then come
back here at nightfall,” answered Oyaji.

“See you?” asked Ariel-Leira. “Midnight tomorrow or later,
it will be, when he returns. You long gone, you will be, at that time. No trail
to follow.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Paul conceded that the plan
did have merit, however unenthusiastic he was with the approach. Indeed, the
whole idea of riding inside a magical creature(?) made him downright squeamish.
He would much rather have designed and built something such as another racer!
Or just an ordinary jet plane!

But he made himself shove those thoughts aside.

“It’s a deal,” he dolefully declared. “Merlin, we need a
destination. Let’s take a look at the possible escape routes.” And he waved a
hand to create a holographic display of Google maps in midair.

“Nice map!” cooed Oyaji with sincere appreciation.
“Topographical features too! I like a wizard that carries decent maps. This
sounds like fun already!”

• • • •

It was only the work of a few minutes to open the stable
doors, extract the night carriage and then load up all the “cargo” via portal
from the castle’s Great Hall. With Paul on board, the interior was a little
cramped for space, even with all the Oni stacked aboard like cordwood.

Satisfied that everyone was ready, Oyaji chuckled in glee
and lifted ever so gently into the night air. As he sailed out over the outer
castle wall, he banked gradually to the left and assumed a north-northeast
course, ascending at a steady rate of climb at the breathtaking speed of 40
miles per hour.

“Not feel-feel-feeling g-g-g-good, Pops,” Daneel said,
slurring his words. The image on his monitor screen was quietly sitting
cross-legged on the floor of a grey room. His ashen face did not bode well and
Paul was deeply worried about him.

“Just hold on, Son,” Paul said, encouraging him. “As soon as
we can reach a secure network, we’re going to find out what’s wrong with you
and get you all fixed up.”

“Thank-anks-anks, Dadadadadada,” the Scottie replied.

Despite himself, Paul found the gentle swaying of the night
carriage to be mesmerizing. Combined with the exhausting events of the day, he
was unable to keep his eyes open. He leaned back against the padding of the
seat and was, within seconds, sound asleep.

• • • •

An easy shake of the carriage and the bumping of the wheels
on solid ground again woke Paul out of his troubled sleep. The five hour nap
had been of considerable benefit to him. He felt stronger and more alert.
Stretching, he pulled himself to the rear of the vehicle and looked out.

They were indeed on the ground again. And the night sky was
considerably lighter than before. Sunrise could not be far off now.

However, it was raining. Hard too. In the distance, Paul
could hear the growl of thunder rolling across the hilly terrain.

The night carriage was moving slowly along a dirt trail that
was barely wide enough to allow its passage. The area held a number of trees
but Paul could see an open field off to the east.

“Here we be, at the place of your choice,” the mirror woman
said. “Glad I will be, off this carriage! Tired I am, of being smack up against
Oni!”

The night carriage came to a full stop.

Hopping out, Paul stomped around to the front, casting a
quick spell to keep the rain off of himself.

“There is an entrance to the gypsum cave system you told me
about,” rumbled Oyaji. “It is over there a ways, to our west. You must create a
break through the trees and then widen the entrance with your powers. But the
inside of the cave will be more than adequate for me to spend the day out of
this rain until nightfall again.” The creature paused. “I want to thank you for
this trip. Best fun I’ve had in decades and a chance to get out, tour the
countryside again. Thanks.”

Paul leaned up to pat the carriage on one side. “And thank
you, for getting us out of the castle and to safety. One day, I will come back
again and we will take more trips like this one.”

Oyaji beamed with pride. “That would be wonderful! I look
forward to that day!”

Paul nodded, turning to head towards the tree line. Time to
clear a path for the carriage.

• • • •

Unloading everyone from Oyaji was the work of only a couple
of minutes. Since Paul had nowhere else to put everyone, he simply laid them on
the wet ground, exposed to the heavy rainfall. Well, not Daneel, no. To keep
the rain off the Scottie, Paul formed another invisible umbrella.