Mana Soul: Chapter 41 - The A~W - Markus

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Waking up on his side and with Aela’s back pressed into his chest, Markus involuntarily took a deep breath to take in her scent. A strange combination of lavender with undertones of blood, it was a reminder that they still needed to give her hair a thorough scrubbing and a soak to remove the final traces of the deserters from her hair.

The thought of the deserters drew Markus’s attention to the thin pale scar on Aela’s chest. Leaning somewhat awkwardly over her shoulder, Markus brushed his lips over the scar and then pulled Aela closer, wrapping his hands protectively over her stomach. It had taken Aela’s injury for Markus to realise how much he had grown to rely on her for emotional support. Markus couldn’t remember a time where he had felt so alive without his own life in imminent danger. Aela had changed him and the way he viewed the world, and for that, he would always be grateful.

After about an hour of lightly dozing with Aela in his arms, Markus was awakened by a quiet knock at the door. Recalling that Tina had requested to speak with him privately the previous evening, Markus reluctantly disengaged himself from Aela, doing his best not to wake her in the process, and then walked barefoot to the door. Still wearing pants and one of his spare tunics, Markus quietly opened the door and slipped out into the waiting room outside.

As he had expected, Tina was the one who had knocked on the door, but she was also accompanied by a well-dressed manservant that bore her house insignia. Quietly closing the door, Markus gingerly padded over to the ring of lounging sofa's and sat down before helping himself to a small roll from the table.

Taking his lead, Tina followed Markus over to the sofa’s and took a seat nearby.

The manservant stood at attention behind the sofa, staring fixedly at nothing in particular while also giving the impression that he was also giving everything that transpired his utmost attention.

Tina wrung her hands somewhat nervously, “Ah, is Aela doing alright?” She asked awkwardly.

Already quite aware that Tina did not enjoy or was particularly good at emotional subjects, Markus nodded and decided it would be a good idea to cut to the chase. “Aela is doing better, but what did you want to talk about?”

Tina relaxed slightly but was still quite nervous, “Well, my grandfather wants to speak with you. He is actually staying in guest apartments in the lower section of the keep right now…”

“And this is about the warrant of crusade?” Markus asked, recalling their conversation back in Endem.

“The warrant and the deadlands,” Tina agreed with visible relief, “Our family, and others, used to be part of the old kingdom before…Well, you know…And it’s been an ongoing goal to take it back…”

“So your grandfather wants to borrow my warrant to legitimize claiming land of his own?” Markus asked curiously.

Tina wavered her hand, “Sort of…” She agreed, “Except it's more of a partnership kind of thing…”

Markus frowned.

“Nononono, maybe that’s not the right word?” Tina panicked, “Gramps will explain it so much better, but basically we just want to team up and live in our ancestral homeland again.”

“Alright,” Markus agreed.

“What?” Tina looked surprised, “Alright? Alright, what exactly?”

“I’ll meet your grandfather,” Markus explained somewhat coolly, “You said he can explain things better, so I want to hear what he has to say.”

Tina seemed thoroughly relieved, “Ah, Bertrum can take you to-”

“No,” Markus interrupted and got to his feet, “I will meet him here when he is ready to talk.”

The manservant, Bertrum, looked to Tina for her permission or confirmation of the demand. Tina nodded and followed the manservant from the waiting room.

Markus quietly returned to his room and changed clothes, laying those he had just removed onto the bed beside Aela, hoping that the lingering warmth and familiar scent might help her sleep.

Fully dressed and with tablet in hand, Markus quietly left the room and sat down on the sofa again. Placing the tablet on the table, Markus was anticipating Peabody’s involvement in the meeting so he linked the tablet to the armoured wagon’s mana core down in the courtyard.

While this meeting place would almost certainly be less private than the one the Irongates had intended, Markus didn’t want to stray far from Aela’s side. To say nothing of how vulnerable he was without her protective presence, Markus couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to Aela again and not being there to prevent it. Not that Markus had any delusions about being able to protect Aela from anything or anyone capable of harming her so much as being unable to stand the thought of not being there to try.

The sound of the far doors opening withdrew Markus from his musings and grounded him once more in the present.

The manservant Bertrum was holding open the doors for an elderly man of similarly short stature as Tina and wearing rich yet understated crimson silks. Giving off an air of repressed boundless energy, the eighty-year-old positively bounced along with his polished walking cane. Taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, the old man continued twisting the handle of his cane one way and then the other.

“Hello,” Markus raised a hand in greeting, “You are the Irongate patriarch? Tina’s grandfather?”

The old man’s bushy waxed white beard and moustache waggled as he smiled, “Yes, quite right. I am Robert, senior executor of the Irongate Merchant Consortium, and I must say it is a pleasure to be meeting with you today, Lord Farus.”

“Markus is fine,” Markus replied congenially. In spite of his earlier mood, Markus found himself warming up to the eccentric old man.

“Mr Markus,” Robert Irongate acquiesced without skipping a beat, “My granddaughter has nothing but high praise for your accomplishments! And I must say I share those same sentiments if even half of what she has told me is true!”

“I am more surprised that you aren’t as impressed with her,” Markus replied honestly, “I would have thought artifices like hers would be worth the interest, let alone investment. Why have you not done so? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Robert’s eyebrows fell somewhat, exaggerating his otherwise seemingly genuine expression of regret. “My granddaughter is indeed talented, and has a keen mind for innovation, this is true…” He admitted ruefully, “But the nature of our family enterprise does not allow for unsubstantiated speculations. You must understand that a merchant’s profits are found in the margins. It is where we live, breathe and die. I must have you understand that I provided what support I could without compromising our family’s position. But the nature of her experiments…most are ill-suited for returning investments…”

“Is coin all that matters?” Markus asked coolly, “If so, then I sincerely doubt there is much reason for us to continue speaking further. I have plenty of wealth now to get by and will soon have much more besides.”

Robert's expression took on a self-deprecating air, “Yes, of course. Anyone who is anyone is quite aware of your revolutionary Mana Reinvigoration Artifice, and it does not take a banker in order to determine that you will earn coin hand over fist by providing such a niche service to the nobility. But my family can provide the established connections that would otherwise take you generations to cultivate, as we have done. Wealth means precious little when jealous rivals bar you from the markets to spend it,” he added shrewdly.

“That is a sound point, my benefactor,” Peabody’s disembodied voice interjected, momentarily startling the elderly Irongate and his manservant. “Ah, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr Peabody, executor of Lord Farus’s mercantile interests.”

Robert energetically looked around the room before settling his attention back upon the tablet, “Long-distance spoken communication! How wonderful! My little Tina told me of this!” He crowed appreciatively. “This is Robert of the Irongate Merchant Consortium speaking, and I must say it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!”

“Think nothing of it!” Peabody replied with similar enthusiasm, apparently overjoyed at having found a kindred spirit. “Please, tell me more of these connections so I can better advise my benefactor on the most prudent course of action.”

Close to an hour passed as Peabody and Robert actively tested one another’s knowledge of the continent’s trade concerns and rival merchant interests. Another hour and a half were spent debating the precise value of the Irongate’s established networks before Peabody seemed satisfied in rendering a verdict.

“You will require merchants and administrators to supply and order the deadland territories, and the Irongates are probably the most unlikely to betray you due to their own vested interest in reclamation,” Peabody summarised, “And their established trade networks can accelerate my original estimates quite considerably, assuming Endem remains compliant.”

“You are too kind!” Robert Irongate replied with feigned humility but all too genuine appreciation, “It has been a pleasure conversing with someone who appreciates the importance of healthy margins!”

“If Peabody vouches for you, then that is enough for the time being,” Markus declared gratefully, thankful that the long meandering discussions over spring fur trade and seashells were over. He pushed the tablet across the table towards the elderly Irongate, “You can keep this so you can better collaborate with Peabody,” Markus explained while getting to his feet, “Peabody will also determine what your family’s contributions are worth in terms of land rights.”

Wide-eyed, Robert nervously wet his lips as he reached for the tablet with a thick knuckled and all too bony hand. “I…I am truly humbled by your confidence in me. I will see to it that I prove worthy of this most valuable gift!” The eccentric elderly man bowed deeply at the waist and was followed by his manservant who managed to dip his head slightly lower.

Markus gave them a somewhat puzzled expression, unsure of what exactly he should do in response. Nodding stiffly, Markus walked back to his room to signal an end to the meeting.

Aela was awake but remained in bed, her face buried in his discarded sleeping shirt that was now draped over her pillow. Hearing the door open, she turned one large reptilian eye in Markus’s direction before closing it again after confirming it was him. “You were gone a long time,” Aela commented neutrally.

“Just a meeting with Tina’s grandfather,” Markus reassured her while kicking off his boots, “Peabody’s handling it now, so there is nothing to worry about.”

Aela nodded slightly, rubbing her face into his shirt. “When are we leaving?” She asked somewhat nervously.

Sitting down on the bed, Markus gently moved the hair from Aela’s face and stroked her cheek, “I don’t know,” he admitted, “Sooner would be better given the danger we might be in, but that might be what Hilda’s uncle wants…”

Aela reached up and held Markus’s hand in place, affectionately rubbing her cheek into his palm.

“We won’t leave until I have had a chance to wash your hair again,” Markus promised and scratched her behind the ears, causing small scab-like flakes to peel away and scatter across his shirt.

Aela’s cheeks flushed and her grip on his hand tightened, “Okay…” She agreed demurely. Rising from beneath the blankets, Aela revealed she was still just wearing her underclothes. Stretching her arms and arching her back, Aela released a deep guttural growl and energetically waved her tail.

Already quite accustomed to Aela’s morning stretches, Markus scratched the scales in the small of her back the way she liked, eliciting a pleased drawn-out hiss in response. Draping her in a large towel, more out of concern for conserving her body heat than modesty, Markus went to go see if the bathing room was currently unoccupied. While Markus himself had no problems bathing in the same room as Phillipe or even Hilda or Tina, so long as there were adequately placed privacy screens in place. Aela was far more reluctant to bathe in mixed company. Considering what had happened at the hotsprings, Markus was fine with letting the matter go.

Vaguely noting Tina’s return to the lounging area, Markus continued to the far end of an adjoining hall and opened the bathing room door. Containing two smaller baths of cast iron that could comfortably hold one person each, the third was a considerably larger slatted wood tub large enough for four or five people. Markus knew from experience that Aela would want to use the larger bath, so he primed the water pump and slung the attached oilskin hose over the edge of the bath.

Aela peeked around the edge of the door before making her way over to the large bath. “Are you sure your arms are strong enough?” She asked cheekily, “That is a lot of water…”

Under normal circumstances, Aela would be right, but Markus was intending to approach the matter somewhat differently. “We’ll see,” he replied mysteriously. Removing a glass bead from his pants pocket, Markus tied it to the pump lever and applied an enchantment so basic that he was genuinely surprised no one had done it sooner.

Aela had deposited her towel and underclothes on a bench by the wall and was sitting in the bath. With Aela’s arms tightly crossed and her tail wrapping tightly around her legs to retain warmth, Aela was actually far more covered than she had been in her underclothes.

“The water will likely be quite cold at first,” Markus warned as a reminder.

Aela nodded stiffly and wrapped her arms and tail tighter.

Feeling sorry for her, Markus removed a small handful of beads and carefully dropped them into the bath. Giving them a rough and ready heating enchantment, Markus made sure not to give them much mana. While Aela’s comfort was important to him, her safety was far more so. Markus knew he shouldn’t just waste his limited mana on frivolous things, because there was a very real possibility that it might be needed later.

Activating the intermittent weight enchantment in the arm of the pump, Markus was pleased that his calculations had been correct. With the weight enchantment driving the pump arm downward and the large steel spring returning the pump arm to a readied state each time the weight waned, the pump was now independently filling the large bath full of water without Markus’s immediate intervention.

Aela narrowed her eyes and flicked her tongue out at him, “Cheater,” she accused with a smile.

Markus shrugged and fetched a wash bucket and a set of scrubbing brushes and one of the combs that were so popular in the north. With long hard teeth, using the combs was actually growing on Markus. They were much easier to quickly drag through his hair and bring it to a rough semblance of order.

Making sure to grab a chair and one of the dishes of southern soap, Markus set the seat down outside of the tub and behind Aela. Untying her braids, Markus carefully dragged the comb through her hair to remove any tangles. Taking up a bristly horsehair brush, Markus vigorously brushed along Aela’s hairline to remove as much of the dried blood flecks as possible. “You need to start wearing a helmet,” he sighed exasperatedly.

Aela murmured something non-committal in reply, the steamy water already having reached her waist.

Letting out another sigh, Markus vigorously brushed at her scalp as best he could manage through her thick forest of hair.

When the water reached the right height, Markus drained the mana from the bead attached to the pump and those scattered at the bottom of the bath, directing it all into the brooch pinned to his shirt.

Washing Aela’s hair was actually quite straightforward, so Markus finished after a couple of minutes. However, since Markus basically had nothing else to do, he spent the rest of Aela’s bath helping her bathe. As much as she enjoyed hot baths, Aela was prone to becoming lethargic and just sitting or lying motionless until the water grew cold.

Retrieving his beads with the help of the long-handled scrubbing brush and the bucket, Markus spent the rest of Aela’s bath dozing while lying down on the bench.

Once Aela was finished, she bundled herself up in her towel and then they headed back to their room.

Pinning Aela’s enchanted brooch to her towel, Markus went looking for Hilda. Despite the objective simplicity of the task, Markus had discovered that he should not be trusted with braiding hair.

After directing Hilda to Aela in order to help her braid Aela’s hair, Markus sat down in the lounging area with Tina, Kassandra and Phillipe. “Any progress with the airboat?” Markus asked conversationally while helping himself to one of the sweet rolls on the table.

“Hrm? Oh! Sort of?” Tina replied with a shrug, “I was thinking that maybe having a big rudder on the back and the propelling blades hanging off the sides of the airboat might make steering easier. But depending on when we are leaving, I probably don’t have the time to get more components made.”

“Fair,” Markus agreed and took another bite of the sweet roll.

“When are we leaving?” Philipe asked anxiously, “Hilda’s mother, the Jarl, won’t be back for over a month or more, and in the meantime, there is no telling what that bastard Dolf is planning.”

“I want to finish the last of the prosthetics first, but I can finish that today assuming another Artificer can be arranged to actually recharge the prosthetics after I am done enchanting them,” Markus offered thoughtfully.

Phillipe nodded, “You can set a bounty for that sort of thing, and given the amount of coin involved, I would be seriously surprised if we couldn’t find someone to accept the offer.”

“Alright, I’ll do that then,” Markus agreed, “I’ll get started once Aela is dressed.”

Phillipe smiled gratefully, “I’ll start packing our things. Thanks for helping us Markus, I won’t forget this.”

Markus smiled back and shrugged self consciously, “Just returning the favour is all…”

Tina snickered but didn’t look up from her sketchbook.

A short while later, Hilda left Aela and Markus’s room, signalling that at the very least Aela’s hair was now sorted.

Returning to their room, Markus pulled on his boots again and helped pick out some clothes provided by Hilda for Aela to wear. Since they had first met, Aela’s limited wardrobe had grown quite stained and tattered with the exception of her formal jacket and pants. Hilda’s gifted items were all roughly the right size but would need alterations to accommodate Aela’s tail properly.

After doing some rough and ready stitching on a tunic and some trousers, Markus and Aela headed to the barracks and spent the rest of the day chatting about nothing in particular while Markus enchanted and paired the prosthetics with their new owners. He made sure to leave an identifying mark on each of the prosthetics to both identify the prosthetics and mark them for fully subsidized recharge once Peabody began releasing the recharging artifice to the public.

Markus had to take special care to warn each of the soldiers’ relatives to try and limit the wounded soldiers’ movements and use of the prosthetics until the prosthetics were fully charged by the Artificer contracted to the job through the northern Adventurers Guild. It seemed like an easy enough request at first, but it quickly proved difficult in practice. Those who had lost an eye, or an arm were easy enough to convince, but those who had lost a leg almost immediately wanted to run in order to prove that they could.

Although Aela’s presence had initially made many of the soldiers and their families uncomfortable, her association with Markus seemed to change their opinions and behaviour rather quickly once Markus began making progress through the barracks.

Since Sven and his family would be coming with them, Markus left Sven’s prosthetics until last and arranged for them to take quarters in the same section of the keep as himself and the others. It would make leaving tomorrow that much easier, so Markus was glad when they agreed.

Quite low on mana, Markus found himself leaning heavily on Aela as they climbed up the stairs and returned to their quarters. Stopping just long enough to let Phillipe know that everything was finished, Markus and Aela retired to their room.

Kicking off his boots and shrugging off his coat, Markus lay down on the bed and released a deep sigh. With no more loose ends, they would be leaving for Arngier castle sometime in the morning.

Aela snuggled in beside him, firmly pinning Markus’s right arm to the mattress, not that he minded.

After falling asleep, Markus woke up sometime later to the evening dinner bell and a tentative knocking at the door.

Shaking Aela awake, they both attended dinner barefoot, not that anyone seemed to mind.

Having now moved into their temporary apartments, Sven and his family were also attending the dinner. Seemingly intimidated by the difference in social standing, they didn’t really talk all that much, content with eating their food and quietly asking for different dishes to be passed along the table.

As something of a farewell to her home, Hilda had insisted on a relatively lavish feast of boiled sausages in vinegar sauces alongside mashed and boiled root vegetables.

Somewhat surprisingly, Aela seemed quite happy to eat the mashed root vegetables, breaking from her near exclusively carnivorous diet. Trying some of the fluffy mash himself, Markus had to admit that Aela had chosen wisely, the mash was delicious and very filling.

Making sure to eat enough to replace the mana he spent earlier, Markus chatted with the others and confirmed the final travel arrangements.

Because we couldn’t be absolutely certain that any of the Skalisberg soldiers hadn’t defected to Hilda’s uncle and would act as a saboteur, everyone agreed it would be better to go without the escort and make sure to leave the city as early as possible.

Tina volunteered to make the trip in the airboat, confident that she and the golem Puck could make the trip with mana to spare. Given she would be ignoring roads and just flying straight to the castle, Markus agreed so long as she made sure to top up her crossbow.

Everyone else would take the armoured wagon, which presumably would have sufficient mana to make the trip by road. Worst case scenario, Markus figured he could recharge the primary power crystal as they travelled. All told, the prospective travel time was estimated at around a week and a half assuming the roads were in usable condition.

After confirming the departure time, everyone saw themselves to bed. Since Markus and Aela had brought so little with them, they hardly had to pack anything at all and just went straight to bed.

Waking up before sunrise, Markus set out Aela’s clothes and then got changed into a fresh tunic and pants before pulling on his boots and a hooded cloak. There was a decent chance that Dolf may have a surprise or two waiting for them in the keep itself or on the way to the stables, so Markus made doubly sure that both his and Aela’s protective brooches were working correctly. As an additional safety measure, Markus wrapped a scarf over his nose and the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes and forehead exposed.

Helping Aela get changed, Markus made the same suggestion to her, and then they both carried their bags into the waiting room outside.

Sven’s family was already waiting anxiously by the sofa’s and seemed to have just as little as Markus and Aela did in terms of luggage.

Tina on the other hand had two large sacks packed full of artifices besides her own modest bag of clothes and a large leather satchel that contained her sketchbooks.

Kassandra was next to join them, erring on the side of caution and wearing her armour in addition to a hooded cloak. With two large bags of luggage, Sven’s sister volunteered to carry Kassandra's bags for her.

When Phillipe and Hilda came out a few moments later with five large bags between them, a quick but serious talk had to take place to organise who would be carrying what and where.

With the luggage distributed, Hilda loosely strapped her shield to her arm and led them through the keep.

With soldiers posted at regular intervals and at every set of stairs, it was impossible to go undetected, so they just did their best to seem inconspicuous and unworried. Phillipe even made a point of loudly whispering how they were headed for Endem to spend time in Markus’s holdings there. It was a pretty clever idea and would probably confuse anyone that had only partially overheard the group's departure plans.

Entering the open courtyard, Markus felt quite vulnerable in spite of the fact that he was both centre mass of the procession and shouldering two large tightly packed bags of clothing that he figured would soak anything short of a ballista bolt under normal circumstances.

The group escorted Tina to the airboat first, securely loading her luggage and tying it all down and waiting for the airship to clear the wall before hurrying to the armoured wagon and piling inside. The plan was to tie the luggage to the roof later during a rest break. For now, they just wanted to minimize their exposure to danger. Still, Markus cringed a little at the fact that Tina had apparently commissioned one of the craftsmen to carve A~W on the rear of the armoured wagon.

Fully intending to convert the armoured wagon into a golem during the trip, Markus took the driver’s seat and once everyone was on board, he quickly experimented with the levers that controlled the armoured wagon’s movement.

Although the means of control were simple, Markus already recognised that this was one of those skills that would take a great deal of time to master. Pushing one lever forward would see the A~W begin moving in a wide circle, while pulling the other lever back at the same time would tighten the turning circle to the point that the A~W was practically rotating on the spot.

With a decent feel for how to make the A~W move how he wanted, Markus proceeded to drive it to the bailey gates. As expected, they needed Hilda to confirm that the A~W was in fact authorised to use the streets and leave the grounds of the keep. Thankfully, between her shield and the limited profile afforded by the door, she was in very little actual danger. With their departure confirmed, the gates were opened and the portcullis was lifted.

With their path now open, Markus gingerly set the A~W in motion again, directing it onto the main road leading south out of the city. Since their vehicle would risk becoming stuck in the side streets and other meandering roads, it really only left them the option of the main roads anyway, so Markus figured they might as well support Phillipe’s earlier efforts at misdirection by taking the south gate.

Growing more confident as he made minor adjustments to correct their course, Markus had almost forgotten why they were so set on using the A~W in the first place. A sudden impact on the crystal panel in front of him served as a telling reminder. Enchanted beyond the hardness of steel, the crystal viewing panel was unharmed, but an oily streak had been left in the projectile’s wake.

Before Markus had time to consider what the oily substance could be, a veritable hail of projectiles began skittering and shattering against the crystal viewing pane, causing no damage, but leaving more and more of the same oily streaks as they ever so slowly drained mana from the A~W’s mana reserves.

Increasing the A~W’s speed, Markus caused a second barrage of projectiles to impact against the roof instead, giving him a clear line of sight on the previously hidden crossbowmen skulking on the far rooftops of the market square.

Even as distracted as he was, Markus recognised a familiar glow from the oily streaks. Whatever it was, it had mad mana inside of it. Trusting in Tina’s locking mechanisms to maintain their current speed and heading, Markus quickly altered the enchantment on the viewing pane, allowing it to absorb the specific strain of mana in the oil being left on the viewing pane.

Almost immediately, a brief puff of thin black smoke erupted from the different oily marks and left the crystal viewing pane almost completely unblemished again.

As another hail of projectiles crashed into the viewing pane again, they left similar trails of smoke but no oil.

Quite pleased with himself, Markus increased their speed again, leaving the market square before their would-be ambushers could fire another volley. Aware that the others were having frantic conversations of their own, and had been since the first projectile struck the A~W, Markus was too focused on staying in the middle of the winding road to listen to what they were actually saying.

The rhythmic clatter of the studded wheels on the flagstones and the vibrations coming through his seat was already proving plenty distracting for Markus as it was, let alone driving by the pre-dawn light alone. Aware that he could use the light mounted on the front of the A~W, Markus decided against it for the time being on the grounds that it might make them too easy to find once he turned it on.

On the final stretch to the southern gate now, Markus could see that the silhouettes of both ballista batteries were aimed in their general direction. However, neither one of them had fired.

Pushing the knob to activate the light, Markus was surprised to see a vicious melee taking place in the street around the gatehouse and even up on the battlements. Masked men were fighting the city’s soldiers and guards, who seemed woefully outnumbered but fought on with fierce determination.

The light revealed that although the gate was open, the portcullis was only partially raised. The good news was that the portcullis was still rising, albeit slowly. The bad news was that a fresh wave of masked combatants was headed for the gatehouse.

“HOLD ON!” Markus barked, the noise from the A~W’s wheels leaving him unsure if the others had even been able to hear his warning. Adjusting the levers, Markus skidded the A~W in a wide arc around a cluster of besieged soldiers, the wide side of the A~W impacting heavily against the masked men's bodies and striking them down.

Losing most of his speed in the process, Markus found he had to lower the forward momentum of the A~W’s wheels so he could gain traction and build speed again.

Ignoring the impacts against A~W’s exterior, Markus continued building speed and headed straight for the group rushing the gatehouse. With the lower halves of their faces concealed by cloth bandanas and scarves, all Markus saw was the looks of terror and surprise in their eyes as the A~W ploughed straight through them.

Losing enough momentum, Markus was able to arrest his collision course with the gatehouse and begin charging towards another beleaguered formation of soldiers.

Seeing the A~W approach, the masked men bolted for cover, some of them being struck down by opportunistic or quick-acting soldiers as they fled.

Mostly playing for time, Markus spun about and checked on the portcullis. It was nearly raised high enough for them to escape now, and the soldiers that had been fighting out in the street were now hurriedly gathering their fallen and wounded comrades while rushing to reinforce those already inside of the gatehouse.

A shuddering impact rocked the A~W.

Looking up at the battlements, Markus cringed as he saw movement from one of the ballista batteries. Setting the A~W into motion again, Markus tried to make it as difficult a target as possible. Unlike the crossbow bolts and arrows from earlier, the ballista’s javelin had bitten a sizable chunk out of the A~W’s limited mana reserves. They could not afford to just let themselves be hit like that. Running down so many of the masked men hadn’t been great on the mana reserves either, but it had been a necessary expenditure in Markus’s eyes.

Doing his best to move unpredictably, Markus was able to avoid a second javelin from the ballista, unfortunately, the second ballista seemed to be in enemy hands now as well and narrowly missed the A~W. Seeing no real alternatives left, Markus sped towards the gate to avoid another round of fire from the ballista teams.

Slowing at the last moment, Markus cringed and clenched his teeth as they passed beneath the portcullis. Having expected the teeth of the portcullis to bite down on the roof, Markus released a deep sigh and very nearly forgot about the ballistae. Pushing both levers forward to their limits, the A~W raced out the gate and down the road.

Bucking and jolting in his seat, Markus felt certain they would have crashed if the levers didn’t have locking mechanisms to maintain their fixed positions. Unsure if the ballistae had fired at them again or not, Markus was more interested in what looked like an improvised blockade up ahead.

A wagon had been overturned in the middle of the road, and masked men were taking cover behind it.

Markus could also see riders on either side of them now through the side viewing ports. Knowing he couldn’t just ram the overturned wagon, Markus decided that he would attempt to leave the road and plough through the underbrush instead. They really didn’t have much choice besides pulling to a halt and fighting it out. “This is why I wanted that ballista,” Markus sighed to himself as he lowered speed and took an opportunistic swing at a nearby rider while shifting direction.

Feeling an impact, Markus had no idea if his improvised attack had been successful or not, unwilling to waste mana accessing the remote viewing mounts.

Moving much slower now, Markus brought the A~W off the road and into the brush. Where the cobblestones and pavers had been jarring on his backside, Markus now felt thoroughly assaulted. However, the A~W ploughed through the brush just as he had hoped it would, losing small amounts of mana as dense shrubs and stray branches smashed into the front of the A~W. Markus made a mental note to suggest better suspension, something to tie him to the seat, and a sloped front to the A~W in order to angle direct impacts into glancing blows instead. That or some sort of bladed ram to shear away obstacles.

After passing the wagon blockade, Markus gratefully brought the A~W back onto the road. Activating the remote viewing crystal on the rear of the wagon, Markus afforded it a small portion of the large crystal pane in front of him. Assigning the central third of the topmost quarter to the remote viewing space, Markus struggled initially with dividing his attention. Even so, he could generally make out the forms of about a dozen riders giving chase.

With a little trial and error, Markus managed to match the pace of the horses. His assumption was that if they could match the pursuers’ pace, they would know when it would be safe to escape properly when the enemy's horses began flagging from exhaustion. Otherwise, it would just be an assumption.

Within approximately a few miles, the riders had broken off pursuit and were soon left behind. Markus would make sure to remember that it had required about half the A~W’s levers’ full extension to match pace with the horses. It would almost certainly prove useful to know for later.

After continuing at the same speed for close to an hour, Markus slowed the A~W to a crawl and centred its progress on the middle of the road before bringing it to a full stop.

Collective groans of relief came from the rear cabin, in addition to some very unladylike expletives from Kassandra.

“Anyone else want to take a turn?” Markus offered with a grimace as he stiffly leveraged himself off the driver's seat.

Sven raised his hand weakly, “I don’t need to go as fast as you did, right?”

The mounting tension of the flight from Skalisberg burst as Phillipe began to laugh, then Hilda, and soon everyone was joining in. Unable to see what had been going on, the group had been skating the razor's edge of hysteria for over an hour. Thankfully, Sven’s objectively earnest question had been taken as a joke and cleared the collectively poor mood considerably.

While Markus showed Sven how to work the levers and the light, everyone else took the opportunity to stretch their legs and firmly secure anything that wasn't immediately useful to the roof, making sure to keep armour and weapons inside the A~W. The seats had small drawers to stow clothing, so only a couple of bags made it onto the roof and beneath the tarpaulin.

Knowing the A~W was definitely going to need extra mana in order to make it to their destination now, Markus was about to begin emptying his mana into the primary power source but stopped when he had an idea. Tina had included a trapdoor on the rearmost seat that had a ‘waste disposal hole’ for emergencies. The hole led directly to a box-shaped hole under the primary A~W. Assuming they could get some supplies from a village or town on their way to Arngier castle, Markus was confident it could save him a great deal of mana and stress.

After Markus sunk half of his available mana into the A~W’s and Sven had thoroughly double and triple checked his maps, they set out again at roughly a fifth of the A~W’s maximum speed. No more uncomfortable than a regular carriage ride, Markus found he really appreciated the addition of the cushioned benches.

With his legs hanging into the entry doorway and his head resting on Aela’s lap, Markus did his best to get some rest.

Woken up by the others, Markus was glad to see they were stopped outside of a small village. Sven’s father, Torvald, had volunteered to go to a supply run so the group could try and remain inconspicuous. After providing the rough dimensions and description for what he required, along with a small list of extra food supplies, and the coins to pay for it, Markus patiently stretched his legs and took in the fresh air.

Removing his carving tools from his pack, Markus carefully etched a small bead to permanently serve as a small slime core. Knowing he had a fair bit of time, Markus took particular care not to make any mistakes.

A couple of hours later, Torvald returned with a sack of food and the two clay pots Markus had asked for.

Markus had actually asked for either clay or anything metal, but this was fine. The larger pot was roughly a foot in diameter and a foot and a half tall. The smaller pot was a little less than a foot in diameter and only a couple of inches deep with many small perforated holes in the bottom. The lipped edge of the smaller pot stopped it from falling into the larger one, making it close to perfect for Markus's purposes.

After etching sigils to make sure the slime would remain confined in the lower confines of the larger pot, Markus deposited the bead in the pot and fitted the smaller pot on top. Using some cord to bind the two pots securely together, Markus then etched both pots with standard protective enchantments to make sure they wouldn’t break and then added a comparatively weak heat enchantment to the top pot.

Reasonably satisfied with his work, Markus retrieved his requested parcel of lard and animal fat and then retreated outside to perform his experiment.

Activating the enchantments on both of the pots and the bead inside, Markus then deposited a half-pound of lard into the top pot. Within a few seconds, the lard began melting and dribbling through the perforated holes and into the lower pot.

Seeing signs of the slime's growth, Markus smiled. The key here would be making a small but efficient slime that could turn fats or processed goods into mana for the A~W without revealing the process to the others. With the slime quite thoroughly concealed in the lower pot, Markus figured he would be able to trust the others with helping refuel the A~W without explaining how he had created and controlled a slime.

“Why lard?” Aela asked curiously, running her finger along the large portion still contained the cloth parcel and then licking her finger clean.

“Fats melt,” Markus explained cheerily, “Which makes it easier to keep the secret.”

“And it has lots of mana like marrow,” Aela agreed, licking her lips as she swiped her finger through the lard again.

“It does?” Markus wasn’t particularly surprised, the bone marrow had seemed rather oily. It was a shame both weren’t available in greater volumes. It was a similar problem to sugar, which most of the more powerful noble houses use to quickly regain mana. There just wasn’t enough of it to go around and cost a premium as a result.

Aela nodded and with visible effort stopped herself from reaching for a third ‘sample’.

Emptying the last of the lard and animal fat into the top pot, Markus felt relieved that the A~W’s primary mana source was slowly recharging.

Picking up the pots, Markus carried them into the driver’s cab and stored them in the chest alongside the large quartzite prism that served as the mana source for the A~W. Likely intending to install additional prisms later, Tina had left two additional housings for securing Quartzite prisms. The pots were roughly the same size, so they were able to be strapped into position with little difficulty.

After explaining to Sven how the A~W could be manually recharged by a non-Artificer, Markus scarfed down some food before the group set out again.

Sven seemed incredibly capable when it came to avoiding other travellers on the road. However, this often seemed to come at the price of leaving good roads and travelling through winding dirt roads instead.

As night fell and Sven pulled the A~W to a halt, a small fight nearly broke out over who would be next to have a chance to drive. Phillipe called leader’s privileged to quell opposition, and then Hilda summarily swept it out from under him with a weighted look.

“Alright!” Hilda cried excitedly and clapped her hands as she sat down in the driver’s seat, “Much more simple than that last one,” she muttered appreciatively after Markus explained the basic rules for steering.

While everyone else relieved themselves, Hilda practised slowly moving backwards and forwards and turning on the spot.

With everyone refreshed and just about ready for sleep, the floor and benches were divided between everyone under the assumption that Phillipe would be staying up with Hilda and helping out as a navigator.

Being the only couple that would be sleeping, Markus and Aela got the thin floor mattress. The loss of additional comfort was a decent price to pay for the space, as they easily had three times as much room as the others who would be sleeping on the benches.

Expecting the worst, Markus was pleasantly surprised when he woke up and found the A~W still intact and presumably still on course for Arngier castle.

At some point during the night, Hilda and Phillipe had swapped places and Phillipe was now the one driving.

As everyone began waking up, Phillipe smoothly brought the A~W to a halt and let out a long drawn-out yawn as he stretched and made his way towards the right-hand side door with a self-satisfied grin on his face. “That was actually pretty damn fun,” he chuckled, “Definitely better than being thrown around in the back.”

Stifling a groan as he sat up on the thin mattress, Markus honestly felt inclined to agree. To add insult to injury, everyone else who had slept on benches didn’t seem nearly as worse off.

Aela woke with a cute yawn and then gave Markus an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

“Maybe it’s not so bad…” Markus admitted and kissed Aela back. There were far worse places to wake up, and much worse people to wake up next to…