The passenger car had been divided up, creating a small bedroom with a bunk on either wall. The rest of the car was a living area with some chairs, a table, and a tiny cooking area. While it was only a few thousand miles from Stormbreak to Sirelis, it would take them close to three days to make the trek.
Crossing Erya was completed in a day, but the train’s speed was reduced by more than half as they crossed into the Ordas. The no-man’s-land was filled with dense woods, steep mountains, and deep crags and crevices. They were crossing through the narrow, northernmost tip of the Ordas, where it was somewhat flatter, but it was still slow going. It would take nearly a full day to weave through the Ordas.
From there, they were scheduled to reach the capital city of Sirelis in the early evening. Caelan expected they’d make contact with the royal family, get rooms, and have a light dinner. The next morning, he’d be ushered off to tense meetings. If Caspagir’s need was genuine, he figured he’d be in the capital for one or two full days, and then he’d start the trip home.
Not that he expected things to pass smoothly. Something was going to go wrong. He just couldn’t imagine what it was, hence his inability to fall asleep despite getting no sleep the night before.
The only other people on the train were a couple of engineers in the steam locomotive and another pair in the caboose. The two pairs switched off every eight hours to give each other breaks. One man was a grizzled creature with tufts of white hair sticking out from under his worn cap. He’d come back near sunset to tell them they were getting ready to cross the border from Erya into the Ordas.
All four of them had gathered close to the window and peered out in the dim light, catching glimpses of the warning signs that they were headed into the untamed Ordas and that trekking into this land was done at their own peril.
Flying would have been so much better than going by train. The faster they were through, the better. But flying wasn’t an option since technology failed when it was too close or within the Ordas. They were lucky the steam engine could chug along with no problems on the steel tracks.
The old myths and legends told a tale that the gods had fought a battle in the Ordas and died there. The magic that didn’t form the Godstone had sunk into the dirt, rocks, trees, and animals that lived with the Ordas. It tainted the air and infected everything, twisting it into something that just wanted to kill anything that entered.
A few years ago, Caelan had gone south to Erya’s border with the neighboring Republic of Ilon. There, they’d fought wild animals and bandits troubling some of the smaller border towns. During the day, they’d brushed the edge of the Ordas but had never ventured in more than a few meters before turning around. By nightfall, they’d been well within the Erya or Ilon borders, safe from whatever had lurked in that untamed land, but he’d heard the screams from within the Ordas that didn’t sound entirely animal.
Never in his life had he gone this deep into the Ordas, let alone to the northern tip. He’d figured one day he might travel to Caspagir, but he’d thought he’d be doing it aboard the royal yacht. Travel by boat was safer, quicker, and allowed them to bypass the Ordas completely.
Across from him, on the opposite bunk, Drayce flopped onto his back and released what sounded like an irritated sigh. The beds weren’t great. He’d certainly slept on worse when on training missions, but that didn’t make this any better. The mattresses were thin and lumpy. The blankets were also thin, and they were scratchy, smelling a bit of mildew and wet dog.
The bigger problem was the size of the beds. He and Drayce were just under six feet, and neither of them could fully stretch out on the beds. Meanwhile, Eno was at least six two and Rayne stood a lofty six four. On the trip, they were hot bunking, with he and Drayce taking the first shift. In five hours, they would get up so Rayne and Eno could catch some sleep. Not that Caelan could imagine either of them curled up in little balls just to fit on the bunks.
“You asleep?” Drayce’s low voice cut across the thick darkness of the tiny room. The only light was a thin sliver leaking in under the door.
“Nope,” Caelan replied with a pop of the P.
“Because of the mission or the bed?”
“Yes,” Caelan answered with a smirk. The bed certainly wasn’t helping, but he should have been too exhausted for it to matter. It was probably more the mission than the bed chasing sleep away.