Ace of Spades- 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝖔𝖋 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘

8] The Fold

The train engine was chugging as they went, and the metal was clanging. Diena had her eyes shut, trying to think of happier times when she wasn't almost on the edge of dying. There weren't many of those times but there were enough to keep her brain somewhat positive.

She wasn't always a Barrel Boss, everyone knew she had come from Noyvi Zem but they weren't sure of what she did in Noyvi Zem. If she had told them it would have been hard for them to believe that she came from a farm.

And Saints that farm was the place she was the happiest, rivalled second to the Hide which made her surprisingly happy. Being surrounded by people that she called her family, people that she knew would take a bullet for her and vice versa.

The sound of metal clanging made them all look up, "What was that?" Jesper asked

"I've erected a system of timers along the line. Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised of out pace." Arken explained raising his eyes from his watch

"How did you know where to put the poles?" Kaz asked

Arken looked over to him, ""Physics and engineering account for...most of my success."

"And the rest?" Inej asked

Arken paused before he said, "What we might call divine intervention. What others might call luck. And after all, the Fold is thick with Volcra, and the tracks are not complete. Coal please."

Jesper and Diena looked at each other to make sure they had heard the last piece right, when Diena nodded, Jesper spoke up, "I'm sorry, did you say the tracks weren't complete?"

"I said they aren't complete." Arken corrected him

Diena made a move to stand up, "You little shit!"

"Ah, ah, ah. No moving, Snake."

Diena raised an eyebrow as Jesper grabbed her sleeve, part to keep her with him and part to stop her killing Arken, "Someones grown some balls in the Fold. Just wait till we get on the other side."

Arken ignored her entirely as he continued, "We're a tad late. More coal."

"Back to the real issue." Jesper interrupted, sounding incredibly tense, "We're on tracks that don't connect to other tracks?"

"There's a gap but-"

Kaz cut Arken off, "You said you could get us through."

"How much of a gap?!" Jesper and Diena shouted at the same time, getting to the more important question.

Once again Arken ignored the siblings, "I built slats on the car. They roll into place under the wheels. The turbine generates enough wind to push us all the way to the Eastern Track...as long as we don't shift our weight."

There was another sound of metal clanging, Diena knew that noise attracted Volcra so this wasn't going to end well.

"Now, the noise may attract the Volcra but it's the only way across. There's a nest nearby but we'll be fine if they haven't attacked us in-"

Growling cut off Arken's explanation or rather his persuasion to them that they weren't going to die. Diena stiffened at the sound of the Volcra, it was worse than she could have imagined

"Well now we've got a problem." Arken sighed

Diena glanced up at Kaz, "I'm going to strangle him, bastard."

Kaz acknowledged Diena before turning to Arken, "How do you fight them off?" He urged

"I outrun them. Open the throttle and toss in all the coal, which works when there's 20 pounds of it."

Jesper then tensed and Diena put her hand on his leg, the snarling of the Volcra continued and then blood started dripping from the ceiling next to Inej, "Damn it! the stupid thing impaled itself on a spike."

"We need to get it off. The others will stand on it!" Kaz said urgently

"More coal!"

Kaz tossed the bag into the furnace, "We're down to fumes! We won't make it with this extra weight."

"This is how we die!" Jesper wailed

Arken looked up from his papers, "Jesper, grab the goat."

Jesper looked like Arken had just asked him to commit murder, "I'm not throwing out the goat!"

"Grab the damn goat! It's not bait. It's for you!" Arken shouted, "I need you to calm down. Hug the goat. Shut the hell up!"

Jesper picked up the goat and put him on his lap, just as there was another metal clang. Diena truly didn't know what emotion she should be feeling right now she didn't know if she should cry, scream or laugh it really was a strange situation

"We should have hit that 20 seconds ago." Arken muttered

Kaz raised an eyebrow, "20 seconds is?"

"My timings are precise to get us outside. Even 20 seconds behind means the train stops inside the Fold and...that means we die."

Diena was not about to die inside the Fold. This was not how the Snake of the Barrel was going to go out.

Kaz looked at Diena with a knowing look, if it came to it then Diena would able to get them out, it might not be pretty but she could do it all the same, "No." Diena said quickly, "No. Don't even think about it."

"If it comes to it." Kaz reasoned

Jesper then stood up, still with the goat in his arms, he span his gun around before shooting up and hitting a Volcra. He kept shooting until there was no more growling come from anywhere around them.

"Are they all dead?" Inej asked when silence fell on them

Arken screamed as the ceiling cracked open and a Volcra tried to get in, Diena saw Jesper close his eyes and he fired his pistol, the shot clearing the Volcra straight off.

Then there was the sun, with all the smoke and the smog in Ketterdam, seeing the sun in the Barrel was quite rare, it almost always looked like it was night, the clouds always covering the sky as if the weather knew that the people who lived there wanted to be kept in the shadows.

Back in Noyvi Zem, Diena loved sitting in the top of one of the barns, sitting at the top window watching the sun. From up there it felt like nothing could touch her.

Sunlight filled the carriage through the cracks of the train. Diena smiled and laughed as she stood up, immediately being met by Jesper grabbing her and pulling her into a hug.

Even Kaz seemed to be slightly happy that they weren't dead. As they all climbed off of the train, Diena stooped to a new low, she grabbed Kaz's arm, ignoring the panic that she could see in his face, she knew why he was panicked, why he didn't like people touching him but at this point with the panic, the fear and the anger she was feeling, she didn't care, "Never...ask me to do that again."

Kaz pulled himself out of her grip and the pair locked eyes for two seconds before Kaz walked away.

Thank you for reading

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