20. Sloan
TWENTY
SLOAN
It was the shouting that woke her. Men were yelling and running outside of her steel coffin. Sloan opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the horrible pain shooting through her right arm and head.
She was lying against the cold steel of the mage engine cart. The cart was lying on its right side. Sloan looked up through the opening on the left side at the darkening sky outside.
“Hello? Hello? Is anyone in there?”
“I’m here!” Sloan shouted as she fought to stand. A wave of dizziness attacked her. She wobbled on her feet. Sloan steadied herself and took a long, deep breath. She looked around the dark interior of the steam engine. Marcus was nowhere to be seen.
A head she recognized popped over the edge of the cart door. The foreman that was hired for the job of laying the track looked at Sloan with an open mouth.
“Captain Sloan! Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll get you out of there in no time. Are you hurt?”
Sloan looked at her bloody right arm and hand. She gently touched her left temple with the fingers on her left hand. Her fingers came back sticky with thick crimson red. “I’ll live, Christopher. I can climb out.”
“We’re bringing a rope now, ma’am. Maybe you should wa?—”
Sloan was already searching for foot and handholds in the steel structure. In another minute, she was up and waved away the helping hand Christopher offered. Standing next to him on the toppled mage engine, she had a better view of what damage the runaway locomotive caused.
The machine had obliterated everything in its path. All five carts were strewn across the desert floor in a zigzag pattern. The locomotive’s final resting place was a few yards from where the track came to an end.
“There were three men with me, two with brown hair and one with long black hair. Have they been found? How long have I lain unconscious?”
“Not long, Captain Sloan, maybe a few minutes. My men are searching for survivors. What—what happened to the locomotive?”
“We were attacked.”
“Attacked?” The foreman looked up at her, wide-eyed and worried. “By who?”
“I don’t know. There will be plenty of time to figure things out later. What’s most important is that we search for survivors.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Christopher bobbed his bald head. He took in Sloan’s cuts and bruises with wide eyes. “We should really get those wounds taken care of, though.”
“Later, I’m fine. I’ve had worse.” Sloan cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as she heard shouts. Two men ran toward the locomotive with a figure supported between them. Sloan jumped from the locomotive and sprinted to meet them.
Marcus was slumped between the two workers, his body limp, his face covered in blood. The workers tried to do half salutes still carrying their load as Sloan approached.
“Is he all right?” Sloan voiced the question she knew she had to ask. She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
“Unconscious, ma’am, and he’s lost a lot of blood,” one of the workers said.
“Take him inside a tent. Have the medic tend to him right away.”
The men nodded and were off again toward the encampment’s tents. Sloan put Marcus and his well-being out of her mind. There was nothing she could do for him now.
She wiped the blood coming down from her head on the back of her sleeve. Sloan began searching the other carts for Jack and Aareth.
After an hour of searching with Christopher and his crew members, all they found were the bodies of their attackers and the locomotive’s driver.
Six bodies were laid out together and positioned under a sheet.
Nemo’s limp corpse was counted separately.
Out of respect, his body was separated from the others.
Sloan bit her lip in thought. She walked toward the medic tent to see how Marcus was faring with the foreman at her side.
“What should we do first, Captain? I mean, do we continue with the track?” Christopher was rattling off questions so fast, it came out like one long sentence. “Get the locomotive salvaged and restored? Send a messenger to inform the Queen?”
“Things are getting a bit complicated, Christopher. Something much larger is at play here. It bothers me that it’s happening now. Is there someone here you would trust with your life to take a message to Queen Eleanor?”
Christopher thought for a moment and nodded.
“Are we in any danger, Captain?”
“I think we are all in a very great deal of danger, Foreman. Send a messenger. Instruct him that he is to talk to the Queen and only the Queen. He is to tell her what happened here. Tell her that I have gone on to Burrow Den, on my recommendation, ask that a regiment of soldiers under Lieutenant Baker be sent to guard the track while it is being laid.”
A wide-eyed Christopher saluted then turned to fulfill his orders.
“Oh, and Christopher, in the meantime, right the locomotive. Get it back on the steel rails, keep laying the track. Whoever this is, we aren’t going to let them intimidate us. If they want a fight, then we’ll give them a fight.”
Christopher nodded then left. Sloan entered the traveling city of tents that followed the working men as they laid the track. All the tents were brown, and most of them were deserted. All but a few of the men still searched for bodies among the wreckage of the locomotive.
One of the tall brown tents sported a crimson red cross. Sloan ducked as she entered. It was dark. Inside, candles were lit to fight back the night. A doctor sat by a conscious Marcus. Both men looked at Sloan as she walked in.
“You’re awake, sorcerer. That’s a good sign.”
“I would have to agree.” Marcus gave Sloan a tired smile. The doctor finished wrapping his head with a white bandage. “Just a scrape and a minor concussion. Have you found Jack and Aareth?”
“Not yet, but we will. They probably saw what was going to happen and jumped off the locomotive in time. There are men out searching for them now. I just wanted to come in and check on you before I go out myself to help with the search effort.”
“I’m going with you.” Marcus pointed to the dried blood on her head and the fresh blood that still ran down her right arm and fingers. “Before we go, you need to get looked at.”
“I’m fine; there’s no time.”
Marcus looked over his shoulder at the elderly doctor who still sat by the bed. “Doc, may we have a moment, please?”
The doctor stood up and left the tent with a bow.
“Sloan, you need medical attention. Stop acting like you’re invincible. It’ll only take a few minutes for the doctor to stop the bleeding and disinfect your wounds.”
“I told you, I’m fine.” Sloan wasn’t used to being questioned. The only thing holding her tongue back now was the degree of genuine concern she saw in Marcus’ eyes. “Your son and Aareth are still out there. Let’s go find them.”
Sloan turned to go, her blonde hair flying behind her. After a few steps, she realized Marcus wasn’t following.
“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, Sloan. All the men respect you. You know you’re tougher than any one of them.”
Sloan spun around, her left hand resting on the hilt of the mage sword that lay in the sheath around her hips. “Sorcerer, I?—”
“I grew up in the Outland, just like you.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“That chip you carry on your shoulder. I had one just like it when I was your age, when I first moved to New Hope. I wanted to prove to everyone I was just as good, even better than they were. I grew up poor in the Outland, where I had to fight and claw for everything I had. I even went so far as to keep my upbringing a secret. I was ashamed of it, in a way. I know exactly what you’re going through. ”
“Not exactly, even if we do share the same origin. You aren’t a woman or captain of the Queen’s personal guard.”
“You know what? You’re right.” Marcus took a brief moment to think.
“I’m neither of those things. But I do know that true strength lies within and isn’t dependent on whether it’s proven or not.
Your strength and determination is your own.
You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
You should be proud of where you come from and how far you’ve progressed. ”
Sloan’s first response was anger, but she held it back. Marcus was looking at her like she had seen him look at Jack.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-six.”
“That’s even more impressive than I thought, Sloan.” Marcus’ eyes widened. “What you must have had to endure and accomplish to be in the position you are in, in such a short time.”
“Okay, okay. All right.” Sloan’s walls she had built around herself were beginning to crumble as this father-like figure continued to talk. She didn’t like the feeling.
Marcus stopped as he was about to open his mouth again.
“I’ll see the doctor for ten minutes, but then we’re gone. Just stop making so much sense.”