Chapter 16: Uncaged
Three weeks of staring at the same view of Alexandria’s rooftops, and today, freedom.
Not that their suite wasn’t comfortable – they’d lived like kings. Well, probably not on the same level as King Armonde, but even then it wouldn’t change the fact that they had been birds in a cage. Outside was a real city, one that gave them exploratory blue balls.
Cole’s watch read 8:55, give or take. After three weeks around magic, baking in alien fields and being subjected to another planet’s magnetic field, it was anyone’s guess how far off it really was. Probably not that much, though, given the sunlight coming through the library windows. Should be about time for the 9AM bell to ring.
Of course, Miles couldn’t just wait patiently. He hadn’t stopped pacing by the window, until now. “Hey, there’s that car again.”
Cole leaned back in his plush seat. “Man, you’re tripping. Celdorne ain’t advanced enough to have cars. Besides, I’ve been staring out these windows every day. Nothin’ but carriages and those weird-ass horses.”
“Trippin’? Why don’t ya come see for yourself, then? Look – Warren’s getting out.”
Cole hauled himself up and joined Miles at the window. Mack and Ethan had their faces plastered along the glass as well.
Cole glanced down at the vehicle. Sure enough, it was a car. Not as pretty as a Model T, but getting there. It looked like someone had started with a horse carriage, stripped away everything unnecessary, and rebuilt it around a combustion engine. But unlike any engine Cole had seen before, it had wiring that snaked from a brassy – aerochalcum – container of mana crystals to runic arrays etched into the metal. Whatever the runes did, it probably replaced components, given the compact nature of the setup.
“Well, looks like you weren’t bullshitting,” Cole said. He turned to glance at the others. “You know what this means, right?”