Chapter 10
TEN
JACK
The four members of the New Order traveling by carriage stood stunned for a moment longer. The battle they knew was coming was much closer than anyone had thought.
“Elizabeth is Leah’s greatest weapon.” Saber took a seat at the top of the carriage. “She’ll be coming with the mage engine.”
Jack knew what Saber was saying was more than likely true. He just hoped that Abigail would feel the same way. If she didn’t, then it would be a long walk back to New Hope for them.
“We have to take her alive.” Abigail didn’t merit Saber’s words with a response.
Her eyes were still on the track as she, too, took a seat on top of the carriage.
By the light of the stars and the moon, Jack saw her turn her eyes to his own.
“Promise me you’ll do everything you can to capture her alive. ”
“You know I will.” Jack sat beside her as he turned his gaze back to the tracks.
It was strange to think that their small worlds would be entirely connected to one another soon. If Leah was successful in bringing her mage engine to Azra, there would be no stopping her. She would be able to ship soldiers and supplies back and forth in a single day.
“Up ahead.” Sasha’s voice reached them at the same time. “God, help us.”
Jack looked down the black railway, where a red glow shone from somewhere up ahead.
Sasha maneuvered their carriage farther off the path and to the right. The landscape in this stretch of land was mostly long, lonely hills full of thick grass. The carriage rolled over the terrain like a ball rolling over a stone floor.
Jack didn’t know if he had enough strength in him, if the red light meant another fight.
As the seconds ticked by, the macabre flickering red light became clearer.
It wasn’t just one light; it was a city of torches.
A traveling city of makeshift tents and lean-tos traveling with the construction of the mage engine tracks.
Jack thought back to the time when he traveled to Burrow Den. They had come across something very similar, the main difference between what he was seeing now and what he saw then was this traveling tent city was three times as large.
Sasha pulled even farther away from the tent city, allowing the horses to edge by at a comfortable pace.
Black tents supported flapping flags too distant to see in the night.
Large fires and braziers supported light for the camp.
The dark shadows of men at work could be seen.
The distant calls and clangs of workers under hard labor drifted to Jack’s ears.
When they came parallel with the massive gathering of men and equipment, Jack saw it.
His mind couldn’t comprehend what his eyes were seeing. The new mage engine had been painted a dull black. He didn’t know how he could have missed seeing such a massive machine, but somehow the night had camouflaged it … until now.
Gone was the mage engine he and his father had used to travel to Burrow Den. In its place stood a weapon of warfare. A thick, iron engine pulled a single compartment behind it. The compartment was nothing special, nothing more than a plain, steel box.
The mage engine, on the other hand, had what looked like two pointed ears sprouting from the front. Yellow magic burned somewhere deep in the engine, showing through two yellow slots that reminded Jack of eyes. A thick plume of smoke rose from a stack sprouting from the top of the quiet engine.
It was too dark to make out what twisted face had been used as decoration at the front of the mage engine, but whatever it was, wasn’t pretty.
“I just want to make sure everyone’s seeing what I’m seeing.” Abigail’s voice was low, still in awe at what they had just passed.
“Did you see a traveling city of slaves working to bring that battering ram to Azra?” Saber picked up the question in stride.
“You think they’re using slaves?” Jack looked over at Saber. “Slavery was abolished hundreds of years ago.”
“We have a new queen now, kid.” Saber’s single orange eye seemed to glow in the darkness. “Who knows what she’s capable of? But I have a hard time imagining those men are volunteering to work through the night and bring a weapon of war to Azra’s gates.”
Jack turned back to see the fading tent city. The last thing to be lost to sight were the two yellow eyes that decorated the front of the machine.
“We still have a while until we reach Azra.” Sasha’s calm voice drifted over to the three warriors still riding on top of the carriage. “You should get some rest if you can, riding inside the carriage like normal people.”
“I’m not going to be able to sleep.” Abigail stared off into the distance.
“How long until we reach Azra?” Saber picked up a pistol and began reloading it in the dark. “Can we push the horses any faster?”
“These poor animals have been through enough,” Sasha chided her brother. “We’ll give them a breather before we force them on again. They deserve that much. Besides, our fellow New Order members who get to Azra first will have seen the same thing we did. Those who survived the night, I mean.”
“Sasha’s right.” Saber holstered the pistols he had finished reloading. “Let’s see if we can get some rest.”
“Go ahead.” Abigail didn’t move from her position next to Jack.
Saber didn’t bother asking his sister to stop the horses so he could jump off and enter the carriage. Instead, he lowered himself over the side of the carriage and through a window. In a few moments, he disappeared from sight.
Jack moved to a lying position on the top of the carriage. His muscles were still aching, his brain exhausted. Now that he was free from having to try to rally for another fight, Jack thought he could fall asleep right there.
“I’m sorry.” Abigail cuddled up next to him on the carriage roof’s hard wood exterior. “I’ve been so preoccupied with my sister that I haven’t been the most fun person to be around lately.”
Jack ignored the jostling that shuddered through the carriage wheels and up through the frame of the carriage to the roof. His eyelids were so heavy. “You have nothing to apologize for. We’ll get your sister back, I promise.”
Jack couldn’t remember falling asleep, but what he did remember was waking up. Voices woke him from his slumbering state. He blinked open tired eyes, recalling the very edges of a dream where people traveled in the sky on steel birds.
AHHHHH!
Jack jumped to his feet at the sight of what looked like a demon in the dark.
“What, is it Christmas already?” Abigail jolted to wakefulness beside him.
“Easy friends.” The gargoyle lifted her empty hands in a sign of peace. “I am not your enemy.”
“Her name’s Cherub,” Sasha shouted from the seat at the front of the carriage. “She’s Azra’s military leader. She’s come to help.”