The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 26 - On the Road Again! Oh, I Can't Wait to be Attacked Again!

All in all, it took about an hour for the what was left of the engine to grind to a halt but when it came to actually leaving as soon as humanly possible, well...that might take a while. Reason one was down to the fact that we were trying to desperately find a doctor as my hand was burned to a bloody crisp and second of all we now had about three hundred angry people trying to tear the train apart to get their precious jewels out which of course was turning into a small riot.

The three of us watched in alarm as a tiny old grandmother swung a rock the size of a cannonball at three young lad's heads, knocking them all to the ground arms and legs akimbo, just because they were trying to sneak off with a diamond necklace. I winced in pain, though that might have been due to the fact that the doc, the same guy from our original carriage, was applying layer after layer of bandages and healing salve to my burned hand.

He was muttering something under his breath that followed the lines of, "Impossible, utterly impossible."

"What's up doc?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes like he definitely hadn't heard that joke a million times before. "Your wound, its not like any burn I've ever seen."

"Is that a good thing?" Sheira asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. The fact that you held onto that thing with your bare hands and didn't die is a miracle all on its own, but your burn...You should have lost your entire hand, maybe even your arm, but this is only a skin burn and the fact that it didn't reach your nerves and muscles is practically unheard of. You shouldn't be able to move your hand and yet you can. Its utterly bizarre."

"Well I'm right handed so lucky me." I wiggled my fingers, "It doesn't even hurt."

"Still, don't strain it until the redness goes down, doctors' orders."

I clicked my heels and saluted, "aye, aye captain!"

At that exact moment a fistfight broke out. It was to be expected though, big pile of shiny things plus people with the morals of sewer rats and hey presto! You've got a riot. The four of us sighed and exchanged looks. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we ended up spending three hours playing the wild equivalent of Bargin Hunt. Finding genuine owners was a pain in the ass, until Crash popped out of thin air and suddenly when started down by a tank with a face they were a lot more truthful.

I suppose the gratitude was worth it as people were reunited with their valuables and ancient family heirlooms. The tears of joy made the effort seem not as great, even though we were wasting precious time and now only had six days (At most mind you) to get to Dunloch Castle. To be honest I'd rather get there as soon as humanly possible for obvious reasons, what if Maxie got sick? What if they hurt Lilah? What if Molly...no I did not want my mind to even go there.

Naturally the topic of the crowd was the Vulcan Star. At this point we were distributing the stuff that hadn't been claimed (While also pocketing a few stones ourselves) and someone just had to yell, "Oi! Where's that rock you nicked?" Hundreds of eyes fall on the three of us.

Once again, Shadow made sure we didn't die. "Threw it over the cliffs, you're welcome to go get it."

Unsurprisingly the guy didn't seem to fancy a quick swim.

That was a few hours ago. The sun was now high in the sky and the unbearable heat was beating down on us relentlessly. Apparently this was going to be the hottest summer on record because of course it had to be. Any other human life had fizzled out except for a few stray hikers on the hill trails and the charred remains of something that we stumbled across about an hour into the hike. All features had been burned away but judging by the remaining wisps of white blonde hair and the tattered blue strips of fabric clinging to its blackened frame it was Miles, or what was left of him. So, where the hell was Scarlett? We kept walking.