Fields of Iron: A steampunk adventure novel by Adina Shelley

Author:Adina, Shelley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-939087-60-7
Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc.
Published: 2016-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

There was no better way for a nation to isolate itself than to make travel so dangerous that no one would come to visit.

Gloria gripped the wooden bench in a first-class compartment that made train travel not only beastly uncomfortable but downright painful, and watched in suspense as the soldiers that traveled with every train dealt with a band of mounted brigands. The latter had dragged a wagon across the track, forcing the train to stop, but clearly had not counted on the passengers being at least as well armed as the soldiers. Two or three of the desperadoes lay abandoned where they had fallen off their horses, while their companions pounded across the desert and up into the barren hills, followed by parting shots. Her husband and some of the other men dragged the wagon aside so that the train might get back underway with no further loss of time.

They were scheduled to arrive in San Luis Obispo de Tolosa tomorrow before sunset. Though the captain had assured her there would be accommodation in the town, Gloria fully expected that they would be locked out of the mission’s gates and left to fend for themselves if they arrived after dark. For all the monks knew, they could be brigands themselves.

How did any civilized person live in such an archaic society? How was it possible it had survived for two hundred years without falling apart from the sheer weight of inconvenience? Perhaps she would ask the Viceroy when she was finally able to speak with him.

Captain Stan fell into the seat beside her, wiping the sweat from his face. “Are you all right, Gloria?”

“Of course,” she said. “I was not the one running off bandits and dragging wagons from railroad tracks. Are you hurt?” His shirtsleeve had been torn partly out of the arm’s eye, and his waistcoat was soaked with what she devoutly hoped was sweat.

“Not at all. I tore my sleeve trying to make my tussle with José look convincing.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “From your tone of wifely concern, I gather I succeeded.”

“My concern is very real. What on earth do you mean? Who is José?”

He leaned against her and whispered in her ear, “The attack was very real, too, except for José’s and my little tussle. He had news for me and that was the only way he could convey it—while I had him in a head lock.”

Gloria got her mouth closed with difficulty. “You mean—you mean those poor men died for nothing?”

“Oh, no. They were dead set on robbing the train. Their families are starving while the men are forced to join the rancho musters of soldiers and dam builders. The caravans, at least, provide a temporary means of getting food and coin.”

“Barbaric,” Gloria whispered. “But what news could possibly come at so high a cost?”

“The Viceroy is on his way south,” he breathed, his lips practically touching her ear.

She shivered and moved away just enough to let him know she would not permit such a liberty.

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