Machinist of Mana

The carriage rocked and swayed with the time. I of course wasn't allowed in the back with the goods, but I'd at least managed to rate a seat inside rather than outside. Maybe because the two in charge liked me, maybe because I was young, maybe just because they expected something and didn't want me in the way.

“Should I prepare for an imminent attack?” I asked, hoping to get some information.

“Be ready, but we're not expecting one,” answered Walter. “Nobody should be after a standard delivery of magic items.”

I looked back at the large crates, maybe I'd never seen what a standard one was, but that didn't look anything like standard.

“Standard?” I asked incredulously.

“You're too perceptive for your own good kid.”

There was silence for a time, just the noise of wheels on the stone cobbles and the slight shake of the vehicle as we passed through streets. Outside people moved about, our guard before and behind kept people at bay, but no more than someone carrying a bank's money would.

“Don't suppose you'll tell me where we're going?” I asked, I'd pointedly not been told.

“Suppose I can. The first stop will be the Ducal residence, then we're heading northwards. The location doesn't have an address, and isn't really near any cities, but it's between two little hamlets called Riverside, and Old Hill.”

Much like in my previous world a lot of people named towns after local formations. However in this one, and this island in particular since it was so newly settled, the language hadn't drifted far enough to make those names no longer common words.

“And what are we doing there?” I inquired.

“You're doing nothing but guarding and keeping an eye on things. Well, not even that, you're just watching,” he answered. “We will be doing some work that you don't need to know about. I'd suggest getting used to that too, because if you ever become a soldier you'll get a lot of missions that you'll only be told what you need to know about.”

“Fair enough.”

His partner was outside with the rest of the guards, doing... whatever it was she did. Many of the mages had their own spells and abilities and while there was some attempt at standardization most people supposedly found them difficult to reproduce time and time again. This meant that each mage had their own repertoire, and while some might be similar many of them, like the nice lady with us, did things their own way.

Minutes rolled by, the city bustling outside, and I took up a spot by one of the windows, looking out. This went on for minute after minute, dilapidated buildings slowly passing us by. I could have fallen asleep had I not been a 'guard' but as my mind wandered something occurred to me.

“Hey Walter, we're going to the ducal residence right?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why is our route taking us halfway across the city?”

His eyes popped and he began to sing without answering, crap, that was an answer itself. I tried to get into a fighting position as half a dozen spells flared to life around us and he smashed some button on the seat before him. As far as I could tell that didn't do what it was supposed to though, because of what his song became.

“Oh bugger all, oh bugger all!” he loudly proclaimed, melodic in the local tongue.

The carriage, which had until this point been moving at a rather sedate pace lurched and sprung forwards. Whoever was driving was pushing the horses hard and I had to alter position to grab the singing/screaming mage and keep him from being thrown about too roughly.

As we did though I could hear things going on outside of our little enclosure, shouting and multiple explosions. Those were met with a stream of gunshots, the screams of horses and humans. On and on as we were tossed through the echoing panic seeped through the carriage walls and whatever spells Walter was trying to throw up.

I was still trying to assess threats, almost blind as I was and stuck in a box when there was a series of thumps and the carriage began to quickly slow itself.

“The horses were loosed and brakes put on, get ready kid!”

No argument there I did exactly as he said, my sword slipping from the sheath with a hiss. Seconds ticked by and I had no idea what was going on. There were people all around us, I could hear them, in front, behind, but the windows were facing nothing but what looked like an alleyway. There was a lot of movement at the back, near the cargo doors, so I tensed ready for when they opened.

They didn't open, they flew away. Some enterprising person had hooked a chain up to them and ripped them off, that shouldn't have worked. I wasn't an expert on carts like this, but I did know they were supposed to be hard nuts to crack.

Then it all clicked, the weak doors, the failed emergency button, the fact that we were where they wanted us. We'd been betrayed, by someone with quite a lot of access. This was only confirmed when I saw half a dozen men in the open space in a form of rudimentary gas masks.

Drugs had long been a way to disable enemy mages. For as long as anyone could remember, just about the only way to bring down a mage without killing them, and often one of the more convenient ways anyway, was some form of toxin. I had to assume that was what was in the canisters the masked men were now tossing about contained.

Sealing my nose and mouth I charged. Could I have cut through some, or maybe even most of the canisters? Sure, but it would have been a waste, instead I went after what looked like the leader of the group.

“Damn!” I heard the familiar voice of the man I'd met earlier say. What was his name? Grimclaw? Grimaw? Something like that, didn't really matter at this point.

A blast of noise came from behind me, slamming into some of the others as I flew like a rocket, blade leading. The traitor tried, and failed, to move some weapon before himself, but he was too predictable, half a year ago that might have stopped me, but with a tiny adjustment to the angle I delivered a crippling blow to his chest, cutting right through his leather armor like butter.

Turning I saw one of the men raise and fire a shotgun-looking implement at Walter, though I didn't see the result he simply had to go. Sadly as I leapt for him one of the others, close enough and fast enough kicked me hard into the door edge of the carriage.

The door hinges may have been weakened, but the structure was most certainly not, and I hit it hard. That along wasn't enough to stop me, but it did make me gasp instinctually, filling my lungs with whatever poison they'd concocted.

Kicker stepped up to the plate again, sadly for him even the best and strongest of drugs took time, enough time for me to slice up and into the meat of his calf and send him screaming backwards. Some people had to learn to play nice the hard way.

I tried to rise, but there was a 'BOOM!' and I felt myself pushed back, back and falling again. As I lay there one came above me with another weapon, before his fellow pushed him.

“Forget the kit, get the portals you idiot!” he said, keeping his compatriot from fishing me off.

Pain flared in my stomach, and the world began to spin. I tried to get up, tried to raise my sword, but my muscles just wouldn't respond. As they pulled the box from the carriage I could do nothing, nothing but watch helplessly from the pavement.

Time seemed to go a bit wonky, and I knew not if I lay there for seconds, minutes, or hours before something descended from above. Immediately I recognized her, panic across her face, a very cute face. Her hair was everywhere, dress stained with red. How odd, I wondered if she'd gotten paint on it somehow.

“Walter!” she creamed, looking about before seeing him in the carriage then looking to me. “Kid, it's gonna be alright, I'm going to get a healer.”

“You're cute,” I responded drunkenly, the only sentence that my brain was forming at the moment.

She rose to do something, who knew what, and my head lolled to the side. There was another girl there, in a drain opening of all places. She was also cute, if kind of green looking, and wearing the silliest big red goggles with lenses all over them. They looked like part of a steam-punk outfit, like something from a movie. I wanted to ask her if she was a cosplayer or going to a convention, and tried to wave, but my noodle arms wouldn't move. Sadly it was rude to talk to girls you weren't introduced to, my mother had told me that a lot, so I just smiled for a moment before falling to sleep.