Chapter Nine

Anne climbed aboard the carriage, then adjusted her apron and cloak as she sat down. Elain’e followed her in, then Newt stuck her head into the compartment and looked around. There was a small slit open on her head, and a small antenna dish stuck out of it while spinning. “Interior secure. I will sit at the front of the carriage to observe and protect,” she said before moving back and shutting the door with a heavy click.

“Where are we going, exactly?” Anne asked.

“There are five clans that make up the leadership of Not Evilia,” Elain’e said. “The necromancers are one of those. They’re the newest of the five major clans. A bit brash, but I think that’s just part of their nature.”

“Necromancers,” Anne repeated. “As in, scary people with skeletons and ghouls and such?”

Elain’e shrugged. “I never found them scary. A bit socially awkward, if anything. And yes, they do like their ghouls and zombies and the like. Skeletons are more of a M’ango clan thing, actually. As well as vampiric thralls.”

“Um,” Anne said.

Elain’e reached over the gap between them and patted Anne on the knee. “Don’t worry. We just need to warn them. I don’t know what kind of army the Dark Lord sent here, but it can’t be all that numerous. With the necromancers and the warewolves alerted, they’ll find it a lot harder to take the city that they think.”

“I hope so,” Anne said.

She leaned back and then raised up her chat to read it. There really wasn’t much else to do in a cramped little carriage, even as it started to rumble out of the castle with a small squad of lantern-carrying undead around it.

Twinge Chat! Gabriel Minoru says: join the m.i.l.f. initiative! Phantomxz says: I can’t believe people spent money on an apron Xxcoder says: yeah, try to herd the cats to get something useful Haduka dakokty says: Mommy poggers Jake Mania says: Hey mom! I’m still watching you.

Anne smiled. Her little Jake was still looking out for her. “Oh, poor thing. I wish I was back home with you,” she muttered. “But I’ll be back, one day. You take care of yourself now, okay? You should be heading to bed soon, it’s getting late, I imagine.”

Twinge Chat! Jake Mania says: Mom! He who travels the stories says: I was a fool to expect anything decent in this chat. DieOfSanity says: Mom looks good in that apron Jagartha says: lol mom’s boy is talking Bradyman50 says: next time we should buy her chocolate chips Jake Mania says: don’t worry about my sleep schedule when you’re going to this whole war thing. Stay safe.

Anne nodded. “I’ll do my best,” she said.

“Talk to your... otherworldly watchers again?” Elain’e asked.

“Yes. They seem like a very unruly bunch, but I think they’re mostly nice kids. The apron was a nice gift, and Newt seems very kind too. I... won’t pretend to really understand how all of this is working though.”

“Magic is often like that. The more esoteric kinds moreso.” She smiled at Anne who smiled back. “Get some sleep, Anne. We won’t arrive anywhere until morning.”

“Alright,” Anne said. But she couldn’t just fall asleep.

She was certainly tired. Nearly exhausted even. She hadn’t had a day this exciting in years. But still, for all that she felt safe in the carriage with Newt and Elain’e, her heart was still thumping along as if the next great adventure was right around the corner.

Anne shifted on her seat, legs folding up before her and cloak wrapped around like a big blanket. She stared at the chat, moving up in starts and fits. The numbers had dipped just a little bit. Probably the late hour, she imagined. Or people losing interest in her strange little adventure.

Twinge Chat! Kotekj says: Mom has a good sense of humour The God-Emperor says: Hi mom. I’m a naughty boy. Daystar1998 says: I don’t know what to say to help. This is interactive, right? ChristopherCraven says: Yeah Phantom says: The world avoided death by mountain because someone bought a flying android. The graphics are too good for it to be a game. What is this? MC of my World says: Mom got cockblocked by the dark lord! Zilfallion says: We should get some AA guns Legal Ruler says: lol hoduka dakokty says: lol Xxcoder says: lol

Anne sighed. The chat was moving along, but it wasn’t being terribly helpful.

“Boys,” she said. The chat started to move a little faster, though they were mostly saying that ‘mom’ was paying attention to them. “Boys, we need something to take care of that fleet.”

That sparked an argument, one that she saw Jake valiantly trying to moderate with mild success. At least he was trying, even if he should have been in bed already.

“Do you think they’ll find a solution?” Elain’e asked.

“I hope so,” Anne said as she leaned back. “I can’t for the life of me think of a way to deal with a whole fleet. It’s just... so much. Too much, even. And at this kind of hour.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Elain’e said. “The people of Not Evilia have faced plenty of challenges in the past. We’re a tough sort of people.”

“You certainly are,” Anne said.

Elain’e reached over to one of the books in the middle of a bookstack, turned it into a card, then cast the card the moment it was clear of the stack. She opened the book up and flipped through it. “Right, a small primer on local history then. Not Evilia was founded with the backing of five clans.”

“Yours was one of them,” Anne filled in. It had been a long time since she had a history lesson, let alone one taught to her by someone who had a hard time holding up a tome.

“Yes. The M’ango family was part of those five. The others are the Necromancer’s association. They’re more of a guild, really. The warewolves, a mercantile group of werewolves who were exiled from Generica. The kobold clan, who serve under the great Pear, and the under-mountain minotaur clan, who escaped from the Drylands. Five groups, five very different backgrounds. They came together here and founded a new city, a new civilization.”

“Why did they leave their old homes?” Anne asked. She glanced up as she heard a tap against the wooden roof, then another and another. Soon there was a light drizzle coming down atop them.

Elain’e snorted. “Religions, and humanity in general, tend to not be tolerant of anyone that isn’t just like them. The elves are, if anything, worse.”

“Oh,” Anne said. There was something uncomfortable about having someone so young be so nihilistic. “Should we get a cloak for Newt? She’s going to be cold out there.”

“If she’s truly a golem of one sort or another, then she’ll be fine,” Elain’e said. “Though I wouldn’t begrudge her staying in here with us. I’ve never seen an automaton quite so well articulated, and while it’s not my area of expertise, I wouldn’t mind see how she works.”

“We’ll see how she feels,” Anne said. She made a note not to leave the two girls in the same room together while alone. She could vividly remember a smaller Jake taking apart her alarm clock.

The air before her twisted, and Anne gasped as a card appeared out of thin air. She caught it in both hands, then squinted at it. “The Weatherator,” she said.

“The what?” Elain’e asked.

“It looks like something from a cartoon,” Anne said. The image was of a large, boxy device with a handlebar on the side covered in whirly thingamajigs. It reminded her of some of the ‘mad science’ things from Jake’s cartoons. The front of it had a screen next to some dials.

“May I see it?” Elain’e asked.

“It looks pretty small,” Anne said. She frowned, then cast the card.

The weatherator landed on her lap, and she picked it up before a bounce on the road could send it tumbling to the floor. The machine had a few lights on it that started to flicker, and a the vacuum tubes jutting out of its side started to glow.

“What is it?” Elain’e asked.

“I think,” Anne said as she turned it this way and that. The screen read ‘currently cloudy with a chance of rain.’ “I think it’s a machine to control the weather?”

“Truly?” Elain’e asked.

Anne grabbed the biggest knob on the device, then twisted it a little. The screen clicked through a few options before she settled on ‘cloudless.’

It took all of twenty seconds for the rain to stop and for the world outside of the carriage--which was turning darker as night approached--to brighten. “Oh my. This would have been very handy back home. What with putting the laundry out to hang.”

***

The audience has: 127 Points!