Metal Mage 3 by Eric Vall

Author:Eric Vall [Vall, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Not surprisingly, we were behind schedule.

It had taken some time for Aurora and me to develop a rhythm, after all, the perfect speed for her to keep the engine going while I used my power to throw down tracks and ties in front of us. And we had a history which included, besides battles and sex, the half-elf igniting the engine of my motorcycle for several days while I steered.

So I knew it wouldn’t be the same with relative strangers, even if Aurora had trained them a bit. Bagnera handled the ignition of the engine first, and she seemed to have difficulty with subtlety. We began the route south-west, through a field, the most direct route to Westrock. The Terra Mages flattened out the terrain in our path, and I pulsed my power to send out tracks just ahead of us. After a few miles of this, I decided we were ready to pick up the pace.

“Bagnera,” I called to her on the engine, “give her just a little more juice.”

Immediately, we surged forward at twice the speed and skipped right over the end of the track that had been laid. Bagnera cut off the power quickly, but we still hit the rock incline in front of us with a crash.

“Oops, sorry,” Bagnera apologized as I jumped out of the locomotive to try to right us.

As heavy as it was, it took a significant push of my power to lift the train up and back into position. Not to mention an additional trickle to buff out the scratches and bumps.

“Goddamn waste of time and energy,” I grumbled to myself as I got back into the train. Each of those tracks I tossed from the train to the ground weighed about a half a ton, and I could feel the strain each and every time. Aurora had made it seem so easy when she increased or decreased the spark intensity by tiny little increments. I had to remind myself that not every Ignis Mage had that measure of control.

The other Ignis Mage was a young guy with a mop of blond hair named Korion who had sufficient control to increase and decrease speed, but not enough to maintain the continuous stream of sparks the engine needed. We would seemingly be on a decent clip, the perfect pace for the Terra Mages to flatten the ground and me to lay out tracks when suddenly the engine would stall.

“Damn! Sorry!” Korion cursed yet again.

Despite all these hurdles, we were evidently still an impressive sight and attracted crowds who waved and chased after us as we went along. I think it did the mages’ morale good to see the enthusiasm of the non-magical people for our project.

The sunset was ahead of us when we ran out of tracks and ties at the edge of a field of lavender flowers.

“What do we do now?” Pindor asked.

“We make camp,” I replied as I pulled a dry sausage from my pack and took a bite, “and we hope we get a visit with a restock of supplies by morning.

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