"So in summary, Carlos will stop in the city near an access ladder. From there Sente will warn his contacts. With their help, he will warn the clerics, using the relic as evidence if necessary," I said, after we had spent a few minutes sorting out the details of the situation. "Do the rest of us just sit here doing nothing?"
"Sometimes, doing nothing is the best option," Sente said sagely.
Skids shrugged. "And sometimes it's the worst option. That sounds like a wise saying but that doesn't mean it applies."
I nodded in silent support. I remembered my mother saying similar things when I was very young.
"What I mean is that your presence would only complicate matters. This is something I can do best alone."
"But..." I did not know what to say to that.
"Miss Wilison," Shenks said, in order to get my attention. "If we had not been in such a hurry to procure this train, I should have realised that there is no reason for you and your mage friend to continue on to Deepbloom."
I wanted to argue, but I knew he was right. I had demonstrated a clear pattern of getting involved in situations and making them worse. Except that if I had not been in the right place at the right time, perhaps no one would be warning Deepbloom about the horde of marching demons. Well, not marching. This was no war. This was a disaster, which we could only help to mitigate. "We may not be needed to deliver the warning, but we can help with the evacuation. We can help save more supplies. That matters."
"There is a whole city of people evacuating. Deepbloom has a population of about twenty-five thousand, right? What difference will two more people make?"
"A difference that will matter to someone. All those people will need to be crammed into other cities. There will be less for everyone. And that means less to trade too. This will not only affect the Pure," I said, considering the longer term implications. "With stores and crops gone, there will be a lot more hunting. That means less for the traders, right?"
"This is a big land," Sente said. "There is plenty, but we will need to travel much father from the cities to find enough. We will yet endure. Now, while Lu Shenks is correct that the difference may be small, even the smallest difference can make an enormous impact. By changing one life, you change all lives. So I will mention your offer of help to those I believe will accept it, once the warning has been delivered."
"Thank you," I said simply.
"No, thank you, Charity Wilison. You care deeply about people you do not know, many who would not be so kind in return."
There was one person in Deepbloom who I knew, and he actually was that kind. I wondered what Timothy Douglas would think of me now. Based on my brief interaction with him, I felt that he would not turn me away. He had not been overly concerned that Skids was a mage, and I did not think he would look down on me for being half-blinded. But that did not matter right now.
In any case, my offer of help had nothing to do with how others might treat me. "I am not going to let other people suffer just because I am suffering," I said. "What happened to me had nothing to do with anyone in Deepbloom. But enough about me. Skids?"
"Yeah, I'll do whatever you're doing. Helping to evacuate supplies sounds like my kind of thing. Moving heavy stuff is typical drone work. But we'll have to take care, because everyone will be half asleep. And it's dark."
That was a good point. "Right, most of the people evacuating are terrified of the dark. We have light sources but they are not anywhere near as brilliant as a magelight. So that will complicate the process." I turned to the fourth member of our little group. "Shenks, what will you be doing?"
"If I go along with Sente, I can quickly bring back word to you of what the clerics plan to do. So you will know where your help is most needed. Then I'll help however I can."
"Perhaps some residents may prefer to take refuge with my flock of traders, rather than fleeing to another Pure city," Sente said. "You and I could help gather and lead such people."
Shenks nodded more readily than I expected. "Yes, that will ease the burden on the other cities."
"You would lead the Pure away from the cities?" I asked, not quite believing him.
"To aid in the survival of those who are suited to such a path, yes. The Great Maker blesses those who help others. Doing this will help the Pure as a whole, and those who endure the challenges of the wild lands beyond the cities will be proven capable and worthy of much."
"Yeah, community first. I get that," Skids agreed. "That's how we do it underground too. We're not so different."
Shenks looked uncertain as to whether he should care. "So that's settled. Sente and I will inform and convince his contacts and the clerics. Miss Wilison and, er... Skids, will wait for my word as to how they should assist the evacuation. I will then return to Sente and we will guide those who do not wish to flee to a city. Is there anything else we should consider?"
I had not thought of Shenks as the sort who would be good at organising people or knowing what to say in a crisis, but he had patrolled with my father for many months. He must have picked up some things along the way.
Skids managed to grab the relic and dro's scryer back from Shenks. "What if the clerics don't listen?" dro wondered. "Thall might take the relic, lock you away, and do nothing." Dro tapped at the scryer as dro talked, evidently looking for something.
"I do not expect they would do such a thing," Sente said, dismissing Skids' worries.
"We should plan for the unexpected. The demons should reach Deepbloom in... Aha, that's how it works!" Dro held up the relic and I saw the map with the swarm of red dots displayed on it. "We'll be at Deepbloom in a couple of minutes, I think, and the demons are now... looks like a hundred minutes behind us. It seems this 'sprinter' is going faster and I'd allowed for the spinnerbikes, due to worries about the aetherbottles."
"If Shenks does not return to you before the 'demons' reach fifty minutes out, then you may assume that we failed," Sente allowed.
"And then what do we do? Other than panic."
"You'll have to do your best to warn as many reasonable people as you can find. I'm sure the two of you will find a way to do what has to be done."
"What if the demons change their course or speed?" I wondered. If we got the city fleeing from nothing... No, we had to be certain.
"That's a good point. Skids, if you will pass me those devices, I have a solution."
Skids relinquished the items, a little reluctantly. "Can we separate them now? I really don't want to give up my scryer."
"That is my exact intent, but with an important addition. If I remember how this works... Yes, now your scryer will show the demons' location on its map. Alas, it is limited to the colour green, but I think the approaching sea of dots should be obvious enough to gauge their progress. There, now I can safely disconnect, and the relic now has plenty of battery life for all our needs."
"Battery life?" I asked, intrigued by the unfamiliar term.
"I merely mean the time until the relic's supply of 'aether' is depleted. I believe it is called a battery because it is a storage unit made up of several cells," Sente explained. Having unlinked the two devices, he stored the relic in a pocket in the neck of his robe, and placed the scryer down out of the way, where we glance over and check on the slowly advancing swarm of demon-dots. "It's not alive, it merely has a limited lifetime until it is exhausted, much like the steam engine currently pulling us along at a rather terrifying speed."
"Oh," I said, disappointed. "I thought the relic might actually be alive." I did not really know what that would mean, practically, but it was a fascinating concept to consider.
"We put demon brains in our scryers," Skids offered. "I don't think they're really alive though."
We felt the railcar begin to slow, and the sounds from the clattering wheels drew further and further apart.
"It seems that we are about to part ways, and not a moment too soon," Shenks said rather impolitely. He was visibly disgusted by the concept of demon brains.
"Oh, I should have thought of this sooner," Sente said, looking pleased at his idea but embarrassed at having overlooked it previously. "I can use the relic to convey a written message to Skids' scryer. That will save Shenks the run back."
Skids looked uncertain about that suggestion. "Can the relic produce a message I can understand?"
"Oh. I suppose not. Can your scryer produce sound?"
"Not mine, no."
"How unfortunate. Perhaps an image? No, it would not be able to display old formats... or perhaps it would? Never mind, there's no time for that. I'll send Shenks back as planned, but I'll also try to find a way to send you a readable message," Sente decided.
Skids slapped dro's forehead, startling me. "The ventrils in our helmets! Shenks only has to get close enough to use the ventril to talk to us. I got so caught up thinking about the relic that I forgot the basics.
Shenks looked warily towards the pile of helmets which we had stashed in a corner of the railcar. "I suppose I can carry a helmet with me."
Sente reached into his voluminous robes and produced a woven cloth sack. "You can put it in this so the locals don't get worried."
"I'm the one who's worried," Shenks grumbled, but he picked up the helmet regardless.
The short train's brakes squeaked as it came to a complete stop. We heard a slight hiss of escaping steam, and after a few tense moments, the man known to us as 'Carlos' slid open the railcar's heavy door.
Shenks reached into the pocket of Cards' coat, under his robe, and drew out a small object. "Here, you should have this," he said, placing it in Skids' hands. He pulled away quickly once it was safely in dro's cupped hands.
Skids held the object in dro's left hand and used the magelight in dro's right glove to better examine it. "Oh, this is Cards' box of cards. Sa would never tell me whether the name came from the cards, or if sa got the cards because of the name."
Once my eyes adjusted to the brighter light, I peered closer to look at the box. It was the perfect size to fit in a hand or a pocket, and was decorated with red and white patterns. Some of the red was darker and not so well patterned. "Cards, in a box?" I asked, leaning closer. It looked like shiny cardboard, but it might be some mage material.
Skids lifted the box, revealing a few loose cards stacked underneath. "These are for games and such. Looks like sa had some out of the box when sa died."
"How do you..." I started to ask, but Skids held the loose cards up to the light and I saw that they were as smeared with blood as the box. "Oh. Are they ruined?"
"Nah, these are nearly indestructible." Dro held them up to dro's goggles for a closer look. "One's ruined. The edge is torn, somehow. I think a spear did it."
We stood in sombre silence for a little while. The moment ended when Carlos returned to the side of the railcar, having quickly directed Sente and Shenks to where they wanted to go.
"What are you two intending?" he asked, looking rather wild about the eyes.
"Er, we will be waiting here until we get word about what's happening in the city. If that's not a problem. Or is there some way we can help you?"
"Hmm... Well we are close to the loading depot. We might do well to see what supplies should be loaded or offloaded. If that is something you are able to help with. Actually, we will need all the help we can get. I can probably get the yardsmen to start spreading the word."
We should have thought of that, but we had not considered including Carlos in our plans. There had not been time for much conversation before leaving the depot. "Yes, that's a good idea, I think. I expect Skids here will be a lot of help, and I will do what I can." I turned back to speak more quietly with Skids. "Do you think the cards are important?"
"Possibly, but not in a way that's important now. We'll look at them later, if there is a later. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be," dro said with mock cheerfulness at the end. "Alright, let's go see what there is to move."
We stood back from the railcar's door and Carlos slid it shut. Skids shoved the box of cards into a jacket pocket and switched off dro's magelight. The enclosed space took on an eerie green glow from dro's scryer. "How are you feeling?" Skids asked, looking at my face with some concern.
"Like I was trampled by a mob of bounders. I could sleep for days, but I know I need to stay awake. It's best if I avoid thinking about it." There were a lot of topics I was avoiding.
"We've put ourselves right in the direct path of a whole mess of demons. There's about to be a lot to keep us occupied." As Skids spoke, our short train began carefully reversing.
"True. We should not need to worry about the actual demons though. So long as we stay out of their way and stay passive. They are not inherently agressive. They merely restore and preserve the land," I said, reciting from the Codex to reassure myself.
"That's all fine until thall decide yall's land is thall's land."
I nodded, though I found the grammar variations off-putting. Then I remembered that my speech was just as confusing to mages, and felt bad. And then I felt silly for worrying about insignificant words at a time like this. No one was calling me a 'sun-wit' and I was not calling anyone a fallen traitorous demon consort. "So... what is it like, not remembering who you are?"
"Hmm? Oh, I remember who I am. It's who I was that I don't remember."
"Sorry, that is what I meant. So how is it?"
Skids shrugged. "It is what it is. I had to do a lot of fast study in the first year, just to fit in. I grew good at pretending to be an insider. Actually, I learned so much that I probably overshare. At least about some stuff."
"But not magic."
Skids shrugged again. "I get the impression that only the seers begin to understand magic. And the hexmages, but they're basically just specialised seers, I think. Very different in practice, now, but with similar roots."
"Sente seems to have some idea of what magic really is," I said as the train slowed again.
"I have no idea what Sente knows. But I'm going to find out." Skids sounded oddly resolute about that.
"Oh?" Clearly, Skids had a plan in motion. "What did you do?"
"Well..." Instead of an answer, Skids gave me a teasing grin.
"Come on, tell me!" Now I had to know.
The train stopped, and Skids relented. Dro obviously wanted to tell me. "Remember what Sente said about duplicating information?"
"You can not mean..."
"Yep."
"But how?"
"The aether connection between the relic and my scryer went both ways, and it didn't only transfer power, but also information."
"Oh... I suppose that is logical?" I said uncertainly. "Well of course aether — whatever it is — can 'transfer information', otherwise how could a scryer work?" Some corner of my brain told me that my thoughts were almost making sense, but a lot of important pieces were missing. Pieces of the idea, not pieces of my brain. Although, I wouldn't be surprised after the hit I had taken yesterday, being blown right through a wall. "Transferring information without paper, when have I... Oh, when we were talking about the heliograph and resin recordings and sending voices and images. And a few minutes ago you and Sente were talking about sending a message or an image from the relic to the scryer! Flashes of light, tiny grooves matching the vibrations of sound, an 'aether connection', the ventrils... I'm sure there's a common thread."
"You'll have to save that thread for later," Skids said as Carlos reopened the door.
"Alright, you two. Who's up for moving some crates, and who wants to search through a thick stack of shipping manifests?"
Skids and I looked at each other knowingly.
The next twenty-five minutes were a mixture of frantic and boring. Shipping manifests made for rather dry reading, but we were in a hurry to determine what was the highest priority for removal from the path of the demons, and what would take too long to move out of the way. Carlos — he never offered any other name, so we kept calling him that — ducked out after getting us started, and returned five minutes later with a gang of equally wild-eyes friends. After a brief explanation and some puzzled glances at Skids' scryer, most of them joined the work effort while two more went off to spread the word.
More hands made for lighter work and more heated arguments. We were in the middle of a strong disagreement about whether a crate of potatoes should be removed in favour of one of smoked meats when the sound of a young man's heavy breathing filled my ears. We had kept our helmets on to be ready for this moment.
"They're... not... leaving," we heard Shenks say between deep lungfuls of air.
"What was that? Who's not leaving?" Skids asked, echoing my own thoughts.
"They're crazy. Deepbloom... they're going to... fight the demons."