Raven worked her way through the wilderness. The tracks remained on her right

as she moved along with the help of the wood medallion. She had upped the ante

more than she had wanted.

If the Keswicks were willing to kill her over one medallion, there was no telling what

they would do now that she had three of them.

She should have brought a map with her so she could figure out where she was, and

if there was a shorter way to get to where she wanted to go. Following the tracks

seemed like a good idea at the time, but it also made it predictable where she had to

be when she jumped off the train.

Any Keswicks still on the train could just get off and walk down the tracks and look

for her.

Or they could just wait at the end of the line for her to get to the station and try to hire

the messenger service for passage.

Should she not even stop at the messenger service and just keep using the medallion

to cross the countryside?

She took a break about noon. The sun was over her head, song birds warned of

her approach, and she thought she heard something making a questioning sound

in the distance. She settled under a tree and took a moment to drink some water.

She had walked all over the city for the deliveries for Master Kobach. This jaunt

through the forest hadn’t worn on her near as much. And the wood medallion helped

her over the rougher spots with its vines, and wooden growths.

Maybe if she had some height she could see the end of the line from where she was.

Then she could figure out how long it would take for her to get to where she needed

to go. She was bound to run out of water before long. She was already out of food

except for whatever she could scavenge along the way.

She just hadn’t thought she would be stuck in the middle of the wilderness, carrying

her bag, walking most of the way to her destination.

She looked up at the tops of the nearby trees. She could climb one of these. Would

she be able to see anything? She didn’t have anything to lose at this point.

Raven took the last sip of her water and placed her bag under a bush until she could

come back for it. She stepped back to give herself running room. She charged a tree

and ran up its trunk just enough to grab the lowest branch before gravity took over.

She pulled herself up. She started up the tree, using the branches like a ladder, until

she was near the top.

She could see for miles across the top of the forest. A chain of mountains stood at the

other end of a flat plain. Behind her, the dirty stacks of Bern rose. Behind that sprawl

was the giant hometrees of the Alvas. Her left was nothing but more trees. Her right

was the coast. Something massive moved in the water but she couldn’t tell what it

was.

She put it down as a leviathan and decided that as long as it stayed out there, it wasn’t

her problem.

She could see the end of the line. It was a hole in the trees. She couldn’t tell how far

away she was, but now she thought she could make it that night, or tomorrow, if she

pushed.

Did she want to push? She could go a day without food, or water. It would just be

unpleasant.

She saw a dragon take off and nodded. So the messenger service was still operating

there. That was good.

She thought about things for a moment under the hot sun. She could use the wood

medallion to get there faster.

She needed to get her bag. Then she could run for the end of the line.

Raven looked down through the branches of her tree. She pulled out the wood

medallion and aimed it at her bag. A vine whipped out and grabbed the duffel and

yanked it in the air. She grabbed the bag and threw it over her shoulder.

She held the wood medallion up and hoped that none of the Keswicks could see her

on the top of the trees. A wood and vine bridge sprang up and carried her across the

forest as fast as a trotting horse. She smiled. This was what she needed.

Once she was in the air, and heading toward Baldwin, she was officially out of Bern.

She just needed to avoid whatever enemies were waiting on her at the station.

She started running. That forced the medallion to build its walkway even faster as she

charged toward the end. The speed she was moving would get her to the station in a

few hours if she was right.

She smiled. She had thought she would be stuck in the trees for days. Now she would

reach the outpost and be on her way before the sun went down. She would have time

to look for anyone waiting for her and come up with a scheme to keep moving.

She looked to her right. The train was already headed back to Bern. She could see the

trail of smoke rolling down the line where the tracks had been laid. She hoped the

Keswicks had decided to ride the tracks to look for her on the way back to the city.

The less trouble for her, the more she liked it.

She wondered what kind of excuse they would give the old lady for losing two more

of the medallions.

The old lady might have them shot if she was still on the Glow.

She slowed down as she came within sight of the station. She dropped on the bridge

and hugged her bag as she looked at the people around the small building. She

noted a water tower next to the tracks for the train. A bin for coal stood beside that.

Another smaller building and a few houses stood near the tracks, but separate. She

thought that had to be the office for the messenger service. Did she want to go there

right away?

A road led away from the clearing. It went to her left. She supposed that was for

passengers who lived near the train station, or had to travel in other directions than

north. If she couldn’t use the messenger service, she could maybe hire a horse, or cart

of some kind.

Raven let her gaze wander over the pedestrians below her. She was above them at the

edge of the clearing. She should be almost invisible unless someone walked into the

trees and noticed the bridge above. The people slowly cleared away by various means

from regular horses and wagons to powers of some kind. She noted the presence of

two men who could be waiting for her the way they watched the tracks to her right.

She could get around them if she was careful. They hadn’t seemed to have thought

she would just cut through the trees without using the tracks at all.

They might not be representatives of the Keswicks at all. They might be waiting for

the train to circle back from the city with whomever they were supposed to meet.

They would have to wait at the station if they were going to wait that long.

No one had built an inn at the station yet. So if you came on the train, you were

expected to move on in some way, or ride the train back to Bern.

She decided the best thing she could do was avoid the two lurkers and try to reach

the messenger service without being seen. Then she could try to get a ride to Baldwin

from the dragon riders.

If that didn’t work out, she could resort to the lightning medallion she was still

carrying.

Raven worked her way around the clearing with the wood medallion. She kept her

eye on the two stragglers. She wondered if they had eaten since they started their

watch. Sooner, or later, they would get tired of watching for her. How long would that

take?

She decided that she couldn’t wait on them to move out of position. It was better just

to ask for a ride and try to get away from the station as fast as possible.

She used the medallion to swing on to the roof of the Dragon Express building. She

waited for the vine to fade to nothing before she dropped down behind the building.

She sighed as she took a moment to breathe. She hoped she hadn’t been seen while

she had been maneuvering around the two watchers.

She went to the corner of the building and spotted one man still in place. She

frowned. Where had the other man gone?

She carried her duffle into the building while trying to keep an eye on the watcher.

He didn’t turn around to look her way. She closed the door so she could book passage

without a problem.

“How’s it going?,” said the fat man behind the counter. He gave Raven a smile with

a couple of teeth missing. She noticed a long scar along his arm. It had faded but she

could tell something had sliced that arm not so long ago.

“I would like to buy passage to Baldwin,” said Raven. “How much would that cost?”

“The going rate for a flight into the city is two gold,” said the Fat Man. “All of our

dragons are out right now so you will have to wait for one of them to come back.”

“I would like to do that,” said Raven. “Is there anywhere I can wait?”

“Amelia has a small diner behind us,” said the Fat Man. He pointed in the general

direction. “You can wait there, and I will send the rider over when one comes back

in. If you get something to eat, eat light.”

“Eat light?,” asked Raven.

“Have you ever flown at high speed before?,” asked the Fat Man.

“Not really,” said Raven.

“Some people get sick,” said the dispatcher. He pulled out a form and filled in the

destination and price with a quill. “I have had more than one faint in the sky. That is

not good at all.”

“I understand,” said Raven. “Thank you for the advice.”

“No problem,” said the Fat Man. “Are you in trouble?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” said Raven. “I have a letter to deliver, and after that I have

to think about doing something else with my time.”

“If you were a countrywoman with a flying beast, I would give you a spot here,” said

the Fat Man. “We always need messengers, and the train brings work for us until

the company can clear the land enough to run tracks all the way to Baldwin.”

“Why don’t they?,” asked Raven.

“There is some kind of wandering beast out there that likes to hunt people,” said the

dispatcher. “As soon as a crew goes out there to start surveying, it kills a few of them

to claim its territory.”

“I can see why no one would want to take on that job if it has a bad reputation

already,” said Raven.

“The train company will bring overwhelming force to bear at a certain point, and that

will be that,” said the Fat Man. “Go ahead and grab you a seat at the diner. Skipper

and Jade should be back in a few. I’ll send them over to pick you up when they get

in.”

“Thanks for your help,” said Raven. She handed over two gold from her messenger

bag before she checked outside. The watcher hadn’t moved. She skirted around the

corner and headed for the diner. She could see the sign for it now that she was

looking for it.