‘Liders dispatched announcing their imminent arrival, water tanks of the massive convoy engine filled, and runes checked for the seventieth time, Daisy and Ruler were prepared to travel to visit Saltfarm. They had no contacts there, no groundwork laid, but by virtue of leading the contingents of troops occupying Helland, they had authority. First Bishop Unity had no doubt intended this for them, but Daisy couldn’t entirely blame her. After all, they’d done a marvelous job of riling up Helland itself, to say nothing of Crafton. Then again, Crafton wasn’t entirely their doing, the work strike for unpaid rations had done much of the work for them. All she’d really arranged was to disarm the occupying military forces.
The train car had dials inside it, including an odometer marked in places with locations. Evidently they would be passing through the territory of dragon nephilim, with whom Helland had traded for copper. It was planned that they at least make a stop along the way to see if whatever passed for a nation wanted to join Tanith’s Union of States.
At first, the ride was dull. At Daisy’s insistence, Corrie and Irons had been left behind “where it was safe” and the only company was the slightly stuffy engineer. Her presence had a repressive effect upon Daisy and Ruler conversing, until they realized they could make do with their Draconic pidgin and not be understood, at which point Ruler began inventing malapropisms in Draconic off words esteemed by dragons. Gold became ghoul’d, the past tense of something having become an eater of flesh. Gold ate flesh. This was why when a dragon died, nobody could find the body. It was pure silliness, but it passed the time.
Before that had entirely palled, Daisy had the idea to have Ruler scry outside. Glass not being able to take the thermal stress, there were no windows in the train car. Daisy supposed that was the reason for the odometer with markings. They looked out on vast lakes of fire, presumably the source of the updrafts ‘Liders rode to get from one end of Marz to the other.
They saw something in the far distance as Ruler reoriented his light sorcery to look ahead, and saw distant towers. They were almost lost to the horizon, but it was different than lakes of fire or, terrifying to consider, lakes of molten lead. Daisy had asked they look ahead at that point because she was still awaiting the catastrophic failure of the car and their immolation. The towers were the first truly modern architecture Daisy had seen on Marz, and she had Ruler scry closer to see what they wrought. The towers glowed red in the heat, but they had clearly been grown with sorcery rather than built. Twisting, twining, they climbed up into the sky. Daisy wondered what metal they had been hewn from, for it did not appear that they were deforming despite the heat and their impressive height. The most temperature-resistant metal Daisy could think of was wolfram, but she had no idea how prevalent that was on Marz.
They didn’t have to rely upon the odometer, but the engineer nonetheless did, and with a screech they were assured was natural she pulled the brake while depowering the engine. As the ground to a stop, Daisy marveled at what she was seeing through Ruler’s sorcery. A small archway, clearly scaled to the train itself, admitted them to an enclosed space made of stone and actually coated in frost. It had a glass ceiling, somehow; upon closer inspection it was double-paned with runes on both the outside and inside. Within the compound itself were statues of dragons—not a promising sign—decorated with precious gems. Clearly, the nephilim were wealthy off their trade of vital metals to the people of Helland. It would need a new name, it occurred to Daisy. Only the donjons really seemed to take pride in their national identity. The statues bore especially large gemstone eyes, the two one found on any kind of lizard—a comparison dragons would find blasphemous—and the third eye on their forehead which was the source of their potent psi.
There were nephilim standing on the platform, watching the train, in red, gray, and purple. None of them had hair, but were instead covered in fine scales, with slit pupils. All were dressed in exquisite chainmail which otherwise resembled ornate robes, colored with what Daisy supposed must be metal oxides. Their ears and brows were pierced with iron rings, and they were elaborate headdresses of more chainlinks, flowing down their bodies like tresses. They had even braided some of the lengths of chainmail. Altogether, they made an impressive sight. The red and gray nephilim didn’t glitter with gold, but given the ambient temperature she supposed gold would have melted. Gemstones were in plentiful evidence, worked into the rings and piercings, as well as worn as parts of plaited metal necklaces. The purple nephilim, descendants of cold dragons, unless Daisy was forgetting her draconic lore, did wear gold and silver, both coated with a rime of frost.
Mistrust of the Powers That Be—yes, gutfish, you’ve worn that joke thin—made Daisy cautious, so while they opened the door, they walked from one end of the car to the other while Ruler projected a scrying such that they appeared to walk down onto the platform. Through a horn which projected from the side of the car for that exact purpose, the engineer announced, “Daisy and Ruler, leaders of the Tanith envoy!” Almost before she had finished, the nephilim drew weapons and slashed at the illusory doubles. Ruler let the illusion vanish and rushed to slam shut the train door. At the same time, with the gutfish’s help, Daisy cried to the engineer, “Back! Go back!”
The car rocked with impacts, Ruler resumed scrying upon the outside and they saw the gray nephilim were spitting jagged shards of metal at the train, fortunately not yet focusing on the water cars. The engineer was building up steam to get them moving, a fortunately fast endeavor. Daisy went to listen at the horn, curiosity consuming her. She could think of a dozen reasons for their reaction, but she wanted to know. She heard furious shouting. It amounted to their being traitors to dragonkind, and evidently they held Ruler in especially low esteem. He had betrayed his oaths, evidently, and was not worthy of his—oh dear—gutfish. They were becoming known quantities. They were also “human scum” and “deniers of the natural order.”
Daisy related this, and Ruler replied cheerfully, “Perhaps I-I-I am learning to inspire wrath with m-my message!”
With a horrible screeching noise from the direction they had come, Daisy had Ruler scry. He was sweating despite the temperate interior of the train car, and she wondered what kind of toll all his casting was taking upon him. She would give him a break, just as soon as they knew—the nephilim were tearing up the rails that would have allowed them to access Saltfarm. “I guess,” Daisy said, “the caravan routes are closed.” The engineer raised an eyebrow and resumed attending to her machinery. Ruler was—kneeling?
”D-D-Daisy, I-I-I had been waiting for a time when w-we hadn’t narrowly escaped death, but I-I’ve decided to let escaping from death be the occasion. Will y-y-you marry me?”
Daisy clapped her hands to her mouth and felt a flush spread from her face to her ears. Fishing around in his bag, Ruler got out a small pouch, and deposited a silver ring with a princess cut emerald of vibrant green. It had a single flaw that ran nearly from corner to corner, artfully centered in the cut of the gem. It was, in a word, gorgeous. And despite a sheen of sweat and his simple indigo robe, Ruler looked gorgeous in that moment too.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Not to validate your weird human mating rituals, but do you want me to relay any of these thoughts to my increasingly-worried host? You’ve been silent and staring for nearly a minute.”
“Ruler, this is… I guess it’s not sudden, we’ve shared a bed for weeks now, but… I mean, didn’t you want to propose in front of—I mean, Irons will be so disappointed to have missed this! But that’s not the important thing. The important thing is… yes! Yes I’ll marry you!”
Almost before she had finished, Ruler broke out in a broad grin. “W-w-we’ll have to find a minister w-we don’t object to.”
“Maybe on… well, not on Jupitre, but maybe when we make it to Satern.” Ruler looked just a bit put out at this, but he rose with a smile and embraced Daisy. “Oh Ruler, are you sure about this? We’ve been through a lot, but that’s just it, we’ve been through a lot!”
“That would have been a question for before y-you answered, D-D-Daisy.” Ruler laughed, but he looked uncertain.
“You’re giving my host the willies. Do you want to marry the poor man or not?”
“No, you’re right, I shouldn’t vacillate like this. Yes, Ruler, I want to marry you.”
Upon their return, they were greeted with much todo. They had exhausted their water tanks making it halfway and then doubling back, so they weren’t going anywhere for a while.
“You’re back early!” Irons declared. “What happened? Lose your nerve?” Daisy didn’t reply verbally, instead holding out her hand with Ruler’s ring on it. “Oh my… oh my One God. Where did he ever get the money to… oh my Lord!” Irons screamed and embraced Daisy with a great deal of hugging and bouncing. “Get on over here, Ruler, you’re getting hugged too!” Ruler took his hugging with good humor. By that time, more people were gathering; specifically, Corrie and the captains of the Tanith contingents. Corrie learning of Ruler and Daisy’s engagement occasioned another round of screaming and hugging and even a little crying tears of joy. Not just by Corrie, but by Daisy, touched at her followers’—no, her friends… that wasn’t quite right either. Touched by the obvious affection of others.
One of the Tanith captains approached as the screaming died down, saluting and inquiring as to the reason for their early return. Daisy turned to greet him. “The nephilim attacked as soon as they learned Ruler was on board, and they’ve torn up the rails. ‘Liders are the only route to Saltfarm for the time being.”
“In the long term, that won’t do. We’ll see about ordering a special force to capture the junction. And ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“Congratulations on your impending nuptials. Have you set a date yet?” He grinned a cocky grin and walked off, snapping orders to the other captains and their subordinates. Daisy knew she was blushing, but she didn’t particularly mind. It was nice to feel like this again, after the death of her husband she’d assumed she would be a geometer and proselytizer for the rest of her days. She hadn’t even—she had to tell Rose. She had to get back to Jupitre, and then move beyond it to somewhere free of death cults, with her family. Which would evidently include Ruler, now. It was funny, how that had happened. She’d felt like he was a bit of a sad puppy to start, hoping to learn wrath from her, but now he had demonstrated a great deal of talent, ingenuity, and bravery—
“Are you trying to talk yourself into what you’ve agreed to?” the gutfish asked. “Because it’s a bit late for second thoughts without making a fool of yourself. You even told your children. Except the one that isn’t here.”
“Children?”
“Sure. Hot Irons, Excoriate Error? Roughly post-pubescent? Look up to you as an authority figure? Recently did a lot of screaming and jumping up and down?”
“They’re not—are they? Ruler, Ruler, get over here! Your gutfish is making bold statements again.”
“I-I-I know. It-t’s including m-m-me.”
“Have I adopted Irons and Corrie?”
“That would be a question for th-them.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask them that. People at that age are so determined to be seen as adults, to put them in a childish role would hurt their feelings!”
“Then a question for y-y-you. Are y-you going to treat them like y-you’ve adopted them?”
“I don’t… I don’t know. And there’s so much else I need to attend to. We need to send another messenger by ‘Lider. I have to lend my seal to whatever it is the Tanites are planning. And we need to get to Jupitre. With Irons and Corrie, at least until I sort out what we’re doing with the two of them. Are you sure they couldn’t stay here, lead the congregation?”
Ruler smiled. “I-I’m quite certain either of them would be horrified by the suggestion.”
“I’m in people’s heads all day and let me tell you, those two are limpets to your rock.”
“Gutfish!” Daisy said reproachfully. “You will respect people’s privacy! Our thoughts are our own.”
“They’re really, really not. But if you want me to stop tagging hostiles in crowds, be my pincushion.”
“You mean guest.”
“I really, really don’t.”
It was some while before they could refill the train sufficiently to make the trek out to Watergate. In that time, special soldiers arrived from Tanith; two squadrons. One was covered from head to toe in indigo fabric, with glass lenses, and burned with a blue-hot flame in the fashion of Helland buildings. They would be combatting the nephilim. The other was an engineering corp, which would turn one of the passenger cars into a rolling fortress, from which they could encamp, defilade, and even fire mortars. Ruler had reminded Daisy that she had wanted a map of ley lines so she could conjure greater quantities of water, which reminded her of Retty and Minded. She hoped they were holding up okay in the face of the Waterborne stranglehold on the water economy. There was also the problem of the local water economy. With the loss of the local Waterborne, the loyalists likely having fled to Watergate, they had no source of water for a sizable city. Squash from Tanith were helping, and daily more people developed the knack of conjuring water, or at least drawing it pure from bodily waste.
Then it turned out that a squad of guards had grown curious what was in the room they were guarding, the one with the mural, and had walked through. This regrettable lapse in discipline was a blessing in disguise, as the mural was, as Daisy had suspected, soulcery. What she hadn’t suspected was that it led directly to Saltfarm. It wasn’t large enough to be a very efficient trade conduit, but it was sufficient for purposes of Daisy engaging in diplomacy with the fierce but friendly rebel leader, Delightful Potage. They had the resources to carry on independently for some time, and would answer to the authority of a ranking Tanite soldier going forward. A relief, to Daisy, who was since Ruler’s proposal, and remembering Rose, feeling a great deal of homesickness for a world that had never seemed like home.
