Morgan floated along, following the railroad tracks again. Halfway, as far as Sophia could estimate, he could see the smoke plume of a train heading along the tracks towards him. The captain coming back like he said he would, no doubt. The train was moving steadily, but not quickly. Morgan landed lightly and put away his glider, standing just to the side of the tracks. They drifted past him at the speed of a fast jog, brakes screeching on the metal wheels. Captain Hernandez stood on a long, flat cargo train car. He was waving energetically as they passed. Morgan hopped onto the moving train, landing lightly next to the startled captain.
“It is much easier to hear each other in here,” he shouted, motioning him to the passenger car. Inside, the train had been refitted to hold row upon row of bench seats, which were now full of Soldiers. The front seat had an empty spot next to Master Sergeant Martins. The short man nodded approvingly as Morgan entered. Behind him, the Soldiers were not the young men Morgan had seen the day before. Most of these men had grim, hard features and eyed Morgan skeptically as the Captain closed the door. The faint scent of lavender drifted on the air. Mara had been in this train car recently?
“Is it done?” the Captain asked hopefully in his soft baritone, breaking Morgan from his thoughts.
“It is. I killed a minotaur shaman in the dungeon, and then the dungeon collapsed after a few minutes.” Morgan attempted to downplay the events in front of the audience of Soldiers. Looking down at his shoes, shifting his weight from side to side. “There could still be other rifts and stuff in the city, but the dungeon is gone,” Morgan finished.
“Well, I am relieved,” the captain said, reaching out his hand. “The Colonel would have chewed my ass if I had left you and you had died.” Morgan shook the hand. Then the captain continued proudly, motioning at the sitting soldiers, “We reorganized our company and teams based partly on your recommendation and divided up the trainees with experienced Soldiers.”
There were barely audible murmurs and grumbling, and Morgan received more than one hard look from some men.
“And we don’t even get to go into the dungeon?”
“That kid got my team torn apart?”
“Doesn’t look like much.”
“At ease,” Martins said sternly, and the car went quiet.
“Ehh,” Hernandez faltered, “Not everyone was thrilled about leaving some of their squadmates during the re-org.” Hernandez stood straight and tugged at the front of his shirt. “Anyway, we are heading to Mount Hope to salvage the area. You are welcome to join us and return to the Citadel this evening if…”
Morgan held up a hand, interrupting the man.
“I appreciate the offer, sir. Just in a hurry to meet my friends. I was hoping they would be on the train with you.”
Hernandez leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “I know there was a large argument about this being a military-only expedition. Colonel Burns convinced the group to wait one more day. Just in case the town was left crawling with monsters.”
“You mean, in case I failed, and the dungeon was still filling the town with monsters?” Morgan asked.
“Well, yes,” Hernandez said, straightening. “If I am being one hundred percent honest. I didn’t think you could do it,” he said, a touch of red rising in his cheeks. “But I stand corrected, and happily so. Not only do I not have to do all the paperwork, we also don’t need to fight hundreds of orcs and goblins to take the city’s resources.”
He turned toward Martins sitting on the bench and opened his mouth. Then stopped when Martins held out a small envelope.
“Ah yes, thank you, Master Sergeant,” he said, turning to present Morgan with the envelope. The scent of lavender was heavy on the note. Mara hadn’t been here. Morgan resisted the urge to open it immediately and instead placed it in his storage. There were a few gasps, and even Hernandez’s eyes widened a bit. Morgan cursed himself inwardly.
“And I have this for you. It is a letter of introduction to Colonel Burns,” Hernandez said, taking a small leather satchel from Martins and presenting it to Morgan. “She should be expecting you, or a report of the status of Mount Hope this evening.”
“Thank you,” Morgan stammered. He was vibrating with anticipation. “I am gonna head out to the citadel now, meet up with my friends. Good luck in the town.” Morgan finished the sentence, already opening the door and stepping out into the chugging sound of the steam engine.
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“Let me signal for a stop,” Hernandez said loudly, walking out behind Morgan.
“No need. It will just slow you down,” Morgan answered. With a glance in front of them, he flickered and disappeared, reappearing beneath a tree just down the tracks. He waved as the train sped past, Hernandez slowly shaking his head as he reentered the train car.
The note was from Mara. It was scribbled in an excited and haphazard order. They had heard the news about Morgan being in Mount Hope. Mara wrote about her and the other Academy people fighting to escape on the train, and their arrival in the Citadel. She was hopeful of seeing him and was upset that they would not allow them on the train.
Morgan stood, heart swelling in his chest, eyes watering. He got his glider on and then soared into the air, only about 25 miles to the coast. He could be there in less than an hour.
Hundreds of feet above the trees, Morgan could see the outlines of a city take shape on the horizon. Following the tracks, he passed beside a large city. Below, there were scorch marks and large burned areas. Tall buildings jutted up from ruined blocks. High up, he could barely see the unmistakable white shapes of skeletons as they roamed through the streets. Other dark shapes moved in the windows of the skyscrapers. Far in the distance, Morgan saw an enormous winged shape flapping between two buildings.
He dove, deciding that jogging in along the tracks was better than attracting the attention of anything watching from the city. Sophia estimated just under three miles to the coast. A mile later, Morgan arrived at a switchyard. A massive sprawling yard filled with train cars and the convergence of dozens of train tracks. There were Soldiers working on refitting train cars, and a few small groups patrolling the fenced perimeter. He jogged toward the yard when a voice called out from a squat building beside the tracks.
“Halt! State your business.” A large, hairy man emerged from the building. He was followed by a group of four other Soldiers. Their eyes darted into the bushes near the tracks.
“Sorry,” Morgan said, stopping on the tracks. “Didn’t mean to run into you guys. Was looking for the citadel. Captain Hernandez said it’s just down the tracks.”
The man focused on Morgan for a second, blinked twice, and pointed to a building just like his on the other side of the yard. “Line 47. It is posted on the sign,” The man pointed to a small diamond-shaped sign on the fence beside the gatehouse. The one here said 22. “Have a good day, Sir,” he finished with a salute, stepping off the tracks and backing into his group.
“Thank you,” Morgan replied, then shrugged and jogged across the yard toward the exit to the citadel. Behind him, he could hear the group arguing.
“Fuck no!” The large man exclaimed. “I saw three skulls.”
“What? Even the dragon was only one skull.”
“Why do you think I didn’t stop him?”
“But what will the commander…” The rest trailed off as he moved.
The tracks were guarded on the way out as well, but the guards were still in the shack as Morgan jogged out, not slowing. He thought as he ran, Frank had given him some good advice about not trusting people. Now he had to think about his skills and what that might mean. He had messed up and showed everyone on the train that he could make things disappear. With all the craziness going on, maybe that didn’t matter so much, but maybe it did.
Morgan nodded as she explained. He expected that. Morgan’s eyes widened a bit at this.
Morgan asked, probing.
Morgan’s thoughts were racing. Did she really not know, or was she only telling him that? Loki made her after all, and she had mentioned stuff earlier. His thoughts were interrupted as a massive quarry opened up in front of him. The tracks ran alongside the expansive hole in the world. The sides of the quarry were cut into the earth for a hundred feet, the striations in the earth clearly visible in dissection. Jutting from the middle of the quarry was an imposing structure of red granite. Crenelated walls at least 40 feet tall encircled a towering square fortress.
Below there was a large group of shapes running at the walls. There were tiny figures on the walls, shooting down fireballs and other spells. The quarry surrounded the citadel and had flat open ground for hundreds of feet in every direction. The train yard for the quarry was just ahead. A large group of Soldiers stood nearby, watching a small group of goblins coming from the forest, weapons ready.
Seeing the Soldiers could easily handle the goblins, Morgan drove off the ledge and flew toward the citadel. Getting closer, he could see how massive the structure was. It could easily hold most of maple creek inside its walls. The area inside the walls was divided into roughly square-shaped sectors. A large purple banner flowing from one drew his attention. Without knowing why, he drifted toward it. He caught sight of a woman with red hair as she entered the main building of that sector. A huge smile broke out on his face. Then, the ballista bolt slammed into his chest, collapsing one wing of the glider, and Morgan plummeted.
