Engines of Alchemancy (The Alchemancer Book One)

Chapter 12. The Four Elements

CONTRARY TO WHAT ERLEK HAD told Shanna earlier that morning, the savant never did call for her. It wasn't until mid-day, when the wagon finally stopped, that she was allowed to vacate what had in just a few bumpy hours of travel become a sort of home to her. It was Mirna who parted the curtain separating Shanna from the outside world and, with her head bowed, said, "Please, milady, we have arrived. Master Nee has requested you and your belongings be transferred to the airship."

Shanna didn't like Mirna. It wasn't because the woman was unfriendly, impolite, or disrespectful. It was just the opposite in fact. She was friendly, polite, and cordial to a bothersome extreme. No one had ever treated Shanna so well. Somehow it just felt wrong. The oppressiveness of the woman's cordiality had finally boiled over when, before they'd departed, Mirna had brought her clean water and food, laid out clothing she thought might fit Shanna well, and, finally, offered to remove Shanna's tattered garments and bathe her. It was the last which had caused Shanna to chase Mirna from the wagon, for she was neither a child nor a lady and could do such things herself. Shanna had gone so far as to tell her to never return, something she mildly regretted, for she'd not meant to sound so harsh. Now, she hoped to make amends.

"Mirna," Shanna said, "come in."

The woman stepped into the wagon's interior instantly. Her gaze remained fixed on the floor.

"Can you look at me and not the floor?"

Mirna's head came up. Her eyes met Shanna's, but only for an instant.

"Look at me," Shanna said again.

Their eyes met. This time the woman's gaze did not falter.

"I wanted to apologize—"

A look of horror overcame Mirna. "Oh, no, milady—"

Shanna stomped her foot on the wagon's timbered floor, more out of frustration than anger. "Mirna, please! I was rude and mean and... I'm sorry."

"Please, milady, there is no need—"

"Yes, there is, and please stop calling me 'milady.' My name is Shanna."

"As you wish, Lady Shanna." Mirna bowed, her gaze fixing on Shanna's dark boots, which she'd found amidst the other belongings. They were a size or two too big, but they were better than nothing.

"No, just Shanna. I'm not a lady. I'm just a girl, one who really just likes to be called by her name, and that's all."

"Yes, mi— Shanna." Mirna paused, uncertain what came next. She retreated to the task that had brought her here. "I was sent to fetch you, milady. The master regrets not calling for you earlier, but wishes to speak with you once you are onboard the airship."

Realizing it might take more than one session to alter the relationship between them, Shanna let out a deep breath and said, "Lead on, then."

Mirna bowed her head in deference, then she parted the wagon's curtain for Shanna to step through. The ladder was there as before. Shanna ignored it, leaping from the wagon so that her new boots sank into the grassy mud. It was cold enough that Shanna was immediately thankful for the dry clothes. While Mirna descended the ladder, she eyed the line of wagons and carts, relieved when she spotted the prison wagon still at the rear. The moment she'd felt her wagon lurching forward, she'd poked her head outside, concerned she might leave the others behind. But she'd watched the prison wagon, pulled by its own team of oxen, wheel round the encampment and join the line of transports as they rolled out. Not all the dwarves had come with them. Unbidden, Shanna strode toward the rear of the train, spotting only about a dozen of them along the way. Several glanced her and Mirna's way, but it was a fleeting gesture. She did nothing to tempt their ire, but even innocent glances were not met in kind. Not a single one of them held her stare for more than the briefest of moments before their faces, marked by a varied display of fear, loathing, disgust, or pity, turned away. She'd done nothing to elicit such reactions from them. She didn't know a one of them, nor had she done anything, good or ill, to them personally or to their kind. She'd never even seen a dwarf until they'd been captured. If anything, she should have bad feelings towards them, after all they'd done to her. Tying her up and dragging her through the night, then locking her in a cage and making her watch while those horrible snakemen... She shook the memory of that experience from her mind.