The children and elderly couple swarmed Abigail and Danny as they exited the fort. I watched from within, and felt a gentle squeeze on my hand. I looked down and saw Katarina’s hand holding mine. She was smiling at the family.

  “Good job, lute boy,” she whispered, laying her head on my shoulder for a moment.

  “You too, sensei.”

  She snorted, releasing my hand and walking out. I followed. It was incredibly bright outside, compared to the faint magical illumination within the fort. Abernathy had the cart turned around and was feeding the donkeys when the two of us walked up, giving the family some space for their reunion.

  “Be good now Cap, don’t go bitin’ the kiddos.” Abernathy was saying to one of the donkeys as he clipped a feed bag to its halter. Abernathy sniffled, turning toward us. “Gonna miss them. Fine donkeys.”

  I patted him on the shoulder. “Some of the best. They’ll make sure the family gets to Moswynd safely.”

  Abernathy nodded, patting the donkey on the neck gently. “Yeah, they will.”

  “Love what you did with the wagon, Abe,” Katarina said, stepping back to take it in. “Why didn’t you do this sooner?”

  “Thanks mate, took some time to get the right alloy. Just cracked it a few days ago. Other versions I had were too heavy. Had to be light, but strong.”

  I nodded, looking it over. Two foot tall metal panels had been welded up the entirity of the cart, making it almost like a tank. A large crossbow was mounted to the front, above the driver’s bench. Another was mounted to the rear. Both had belts of bolts affixed to them.

  “Do these crossbows auto-reload?” I asked, looking them over.

  “Yeah, they do! Its easier to do for the bigger ones, but I should be able to whip up a smaller, hand-held version soon. Still working on it.”

  “How quickly can they fire?” Katarina asked.

  Abernathy went into a long explanation involving tension-based energy recirculation or some such. It went over my head, but what it boiled down to was that it could fire a bolt every two seconds, and each ‘belt of bolts’ held a hundred bolts.

  “Gonna send a few hundred with’em. Should be enough. Hopefully they won’t need any.” Abernathy was watching the donkeys eating while he talked. A voice spoke up behind us and he jumped in surprise.

  “Thank you. Again. For everything.” Danny spoke, standing with the rest of his family. He carried a baby in one arm, and one of the younger children in another. Abigail held the other two babies, and the other two children held on to her tunic.

  “Yes, thank you so much. Here, Gretchin.” She handed the two babies over to the old woman, who took them with practiced ease. She stepped forward, taking the greatsword from her back and holding it out. “Please, take this as a token of my thanks.”

  “You will need that to protect your family,” Katarina stepped forward, placing a hand on Abigail’s arm. “Please, you don’t have to give us anything.”

  “But, I —” She started to reply, but her husband stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “They’re right, Abs. There is no telling what we may encounter on the road to… Moswynd, is that right?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, stepping up to them and removing the Brooch of Moswynd from my lute strap. I held it out towards them. “Show them this. Tell them you are a friend of Chanter. They’d probably accept you without it, but this will guarantee it.”

  “Another gift. For what? Why do you help us so?” Danny looked at the Brooch, turning it in the light of the late morning sun.

  We were quiet for a moment. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” Abernathy intoned after a moment. Katarina and I nodded.

  “Yeah. The right thing to do.” I smiled.

  “We should go soon,” Katarina looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun. “Daylight is wasting. How long of a journey was it to get to the other side of the mountain pass?”

  “Two days. there is a resting point half way, though you will want to keep watch. There are wild beasts and worse in the pass.” Abigail shifted. “I wish we had something to give you. A gift of some kind. We sold everything, other than Dragonslayer, to pay for passage on the caravan.”

  “We thought there would be safety in numbers.” Danny continued, when his wife trailed off. He twisted a ring on his left hand a few times, looking down at Abigail. She glanced to his hand and nodded. He removed the ring.

  “This is a Sigil of Pyroclasm. It marks me a graduate of Talir Academy, and grants certain rights and access. It isn’t much, but if you ever make it to Heithwyn, it will open many doors for you. Doors that closed to me.” He looked sad as he said the last part, placing the ring in Abernathy’s hand.

  “Tell us another story!” One of the girls said to me with a laugh.

  “Oh no, dear,” Gretchin said, lifting the girl and placing her in the cart. “They aren’t coming with us.”

  “Aww, Gram! Please!”

  “There is a camp by a broken watch tower about two days from here. I wouldn’t camp there, we were attacked by gnolls. It might not be safe.” Katarina said to Abigail as Danny helped the other children up into the cart.

  The next ten minutes were a flurry of activity. Abernathy introduced the parents to Copernicus and Galileo, then walked all four adults through how to operate the mounted crossbows. The little girl got her wish, as I entertained the children with illusions and storytelling while this was happening. Encore supported me and Katarina listened in, just as transfixed at some parts of the stories as the kids.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  I was finishing a very abridged story about a little lost fish whose father went searching for him when Abernathy concluded his instructions.

  “One more, please!” The little girl pleaded.

  “Now now, they need to be on the road. As do we.” Gretchin chided.

  The girl pouted. “Okay, gam-gam.”

  Abernathy pulled a rolled parchment from his inventory. “Here are instructions for the crossbows. If you forget the specifics of their maintenance, or what to do if they jam up or have other malfunctions, you should be able to find information within.”

  Danny took the parchment and stepped forward, wrapping Abernathy in a big hug. Like the first stone in an avalanche, we were overrun with hugs and thanks from the family.

  We laughed a minute later, extricating ourselves from the embrace of the older children.

  “It was wonderful meeting you all!” I called out as Emrys clicked and flicked the reins. One of the donkeys looked around, eyeing Abernathy.

  “Don’t worry, Cap! They’ve got your food! You’ll be okay!” Abernathy’s eyes welled with unshed tears. The donkey brayed in response, and the tears began sliding down Abernathy’s furry cheeks.

  “I’ll miss you too, mate,” he said softly, rubbing his eyes.

  I patted Abernathy’s back as Emrys clicked and flicked the reins. We watched as the cart slowly rolled away, Katarina and I on either side of Abernathy with a hand on his back. He sighed.

  “Well. I guess now is as good a time as any to try this out.” He turned and pulled several large metal parts from his inventory. “Can you help me with this please? It’s really heavy.”

  “I got you,” Katarina lifted a large metal frame slightly off the ground while Abernathy slid a smaller piece in place, screwing a thick metal bolt to secure them.

  “Would you mind having a quick look around?” I asked Encore as they continued assembling Abernathy’s vehicle.

  “Sure,” Encore responded, stretching on my shoulder a bit and extending his wings. “I will stay small. It has helped me avoid notice thus.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.”

  I felt a gentle pressure on my shoulder as he leapt up , extending his wings and soaring away. His small white form was difficult to make out in the mid-day sun.

  “How can I help?” I asked.

  A few minutes later Abernathy twisted the last nut in place, affixing the fourth wheel to the construction. A notification appeared when he did, allowing me to examine it.

  Abernathy’s Micro Ute

  Powered by a medium-sized mana core, this vehicle utilizes a clever combination of hydraulics and internal combustion to move. Capable of carrying up to two hundred pounds without significantly draining mana, this most-terrain-vehicle can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour before causing a significant drain on mana core.

  “Micro… Ute?” Katarina asked, scratching her head. “Abe, that seems like a… deeply personal thing to just put out there…”

  Abernathy flushed, the skin around his eyes and nose darkening as he waved his arms. “Ute, like utility vehicle. I dunno how the system knows Aussie slang, but I didn’t choose the name. Means a small utility vehicle, not that!”

  Katarina laughed. “I’m just joking. I don’t need to know how your quokka anatomy works.”

  I fought back a laugh as Abernathy spluttered, looking over the vehicle. It reminded me of a go-cart, with plating similar to the modifications he had made to the cart. There was a seat with a large section missing out the back, presumably for his tail. It had a half-circle steering wheel and a small sheet of transparent material for a windshield.

  “Is this glass?” I asked, tapping it. It wasn’t. Abernathy confirmed my suspicions.

  “Nah mate, its a plastic I figured out in the crafting table. Harder than glass, more impact resistant, but also more susceptible to heat.” He hopped into the vehicle, fitting snugly in the seat.

  “How do you start it?” I asked, seeing no ignition switch or button.

  “The mana core is bonded to me. It is a requirement of the item, can’t just have an unattuned mana core. They are just tools, like a sword or…” he trailed off, looking around at me and eyeing my lute. “Or like a lute. It’s an instrument, not smart. I channel mana into it. It circulates the mana through the system and stores it, compounding it and making it more efficient, but I guide the mana.”

  “That sounds similar to what I do with chi,” Katarina walked around Abernathy’s Ute, looking it over. “I circulate it through my body and direct it to use skills.

  “There is a core, here,” she placed her hand just below her navel. “The chi is generated and stored there. I wonder if it is like a mana core.”

  “Do you put mana into it?” Abernathy asked. “Like this?”

  He held one of his hands toward the dash of his ute. Tiny blue particles drifted from his outstretched palm and entered the vehicle. It strengthened into a narrow beam of mana as the core syphoned from his supply of magic points for several seconds. The vehicle hummed to life, much softer than I expected. It sounded between a gas and an electric engine, producing a muffled growl.

  “No, I generate chi through meditation and training.”

  “Then I guess it would be a chi core?” I asked. “How’d you get one of those? Do you have a chi core, Abe?”

  He shook his head, looking over several radials on his dash, a series of green lights. I assumed that was good as he was smiling and nodding.

  “It is an aspect of the monk class type, I think,” Katarina replied. “Maybe if you practice long enough, you can unlock one!”

  “Oh man, that would be cool.” I closed my eyes, trying to picture some kind of chi core in my stomach, which rumbled. I didn’t feel anything else. “Anyone else hungry?”

  Abernathy shifted in his seat and his vehicle surged forward. He cried out, stopping abruptly and smacking his head against the half-circle steering wheel.

  Katarina and I both called out in alarm, running after him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, at the same time Katarina called out.

  “Abe!”

  “Ow, yeah I’m alright, no worries. Hit the gas a little too hard there. Ah. Need to craft a harness of something.” He sniffed, squeezing at his nose. “Am I bleeding?”

  I jogged around and looked as he angled his nose towards me.

  “No, you’re good.”

  “Good, good. Alright let’s give this another go.” His ute jerked forward again, though not as fast as before. He stopped again, gentler this time, then crawled forward at a slow, steady pace.

  “There we go,” he murmured, concentrating and speeding up slightly. We walked alongside the vehicle with ease. “A little faster now.”

  He sped up incrementally, until we were at a light job. With the additional points in Endurance, I was able to keep up easily. Katarina maintained the pace as if it were a casual stroll.

  We travelled along the mountain pass for several hours like that, slowing slightly so I could maintain Cahl’s Tatsu. Encore continued scouting ahead for us, and we didn’t encounter anything.

  Until we got to the aftermath of a rockslide. Stones and debris varying in size from pebbles to boulders taller than me and twice as wide littered the path. Abernathy stopped his ute about ten feet shy of the debris.

  “They didn’t say anything about a rock slide coming this way, did they?” Abernathy asked, looking up the mountain.

  “No, they made it all the way to the old fort no problem,” I replied, looking around.

  Encore: Back! Now! Back!

  The message had appeared for less than a second when a deafening roar sounded from the mountain above, punctuated by a shower of small stones.

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