Need a Ride?

Uncle and I continued sparring for a little while together with our respective weapons, learning how to wield them without hurting ourselves in the process. In my case, I could hardly hold it up, let alone swing it.

“Make sure you're using your combat systems to calculate strikes.” Uncle told me. “It will strengthen your muscles and show you the most effective attack at the moment.”

If my systems weren’t under 30% efficiency, that might be great. But they were in bad shape. While explaining that to him, he told me that in time it would recover, but only if I didn’t keep burning myself out.

I felt like I didn’t make much progress in actually learning to use my weapon better, but Uncle told me I did pretty well considering my weakened state.

“The best thing for you is to get a little more rest,” he told me. “Recover your strength. You’ll need it for tomorrow. I guess the next thing to teach you is how to use your powers without burning out.”

He was right. Letting my systems recover a little bit would be best. I just couldn’t help but fear for the worst if I couldn’t keep myself going in a fight.

-☆☆☆-

The boat arrived on the mainland island very early in the morning. This was my first look at the Kingdom of Erdreich. A place that I feel I’ll get to know very well.

The southern end of the sky was growing cloudy, black with tints of red threatening to take over even more. A clear sign of the way we had to go to find the demon threat.

We didn't have much time to reach Verrenvill, but we had to find transportation, otherwise we'd be walking all morning.

"Blue Boy, got anybody we can contact?" Indena asked.

"I already informed the Army about the situation," Marek answered, "but when they sent scouts, they didn't see anything wrong with the town."

Crud! Did that mean that nothing was going on at Verrenvill after all?

"That's a load of bull." Indena remarked. "You and Yamin both said there were demons there. And look at that storm!"

"You seem to be forgetting that most people can't see demons." Uncle said.

That was right! I don't know why, but some people can't see demons or the things they do. The world around them could literally be reshaping and they wouldn't bat an eyelash.

"I told them that info, but the scouts were adamant that they'd done enough work, and that nothing was wrong."

So, it looks like we were going in without any help from the Army. That wouldn't be good at all, but we had no choice.

"There's gotta be a way to prove what's going on," Indena said. "Can't we do something here?"

It was possible for me to show them the data I recorded from our previous battles with demons. There was plenty of proof in that, but we'd have to get in touch with someone who'd be trustworthy, and we'd also have to actually meet with them in the first place.

We didn’t know how long we had before the demon's power became too much to handle, and judging by how the sky was being overtaken by thunderous red clouds, things weren't looking so good.

"Marek," I started, "isn't there someone who'll believe us?"

He nodded. "Commander Zachery Travis," he answered. "He's an occasional church goer. Those scouts weren't his men, and knowing him, those findings won't be enough to convince him that there're no demons."

"Is there a chance he'll personally investigate?" Uncle asked.

"If he does, he'd have to find a way around the bureaucracy. Since the scouts found nothing at all wrong, that's what the general of this region believes. If he can't convince him that it's worth the resources to investigate again, it's all dead in the water."

"Damn it all!" Indena shouted. "Whatever. I hate politics. How are we getting to Verrenvill?"

Nobody wanted to walk there. Even though we were in a port town, there weren't any busses or trains available till about an hour from now.

Apparently no trains were going to Verrenvill today either, since all the lines through there were stopped.

"Gee, that's convenient isn't it?" Indena said, sarcastically.

"It's probably like that because of the demon problem," Uncle suggested.

That made sense. The demon wouldn't want people going in and out of there easily. You'd think the Army would take note of that.

If Uncle and I were to fly there, Marek and Indena would still need to find a way too. So that wouldn't work.

“Marek, do you think maybe your family might be able to send someone?”

He was wealthy, I think, so he might have had servants to come and pick us up.

But he shook his head. “My father and I aren’t really on speaking terms at the moment. And it would take too long for servants to come anyway.”

That’s no good…you know, speaking of servants, I did have someone who might be able to help. I had the phone number of a private contractor. She could help us out, right? She was on daddy's payroll.

I twisted my left ear clockwise, a small antenna popped out of the top of my head. It sounded a little like a toaster popping up, which prompted Indena to ask…"Did somebody just make toast?"

"No." I pointed to my head antenna. "I'm making a call."

"A call, to whom?" Uncle asked.

"Emily Wolfstone. She's a private contractor." I said to the others.

"When the hell did you get a private contractors number?" Indena asked with sass.

"Back at Urnan." I replied. "Daddy hired her."

Uncle was skeptical if she could help us, but he said it was worth a shot.

"Is nobody going to question the metal rod sticking out of her head?" Marek mumbled.

…

…

Okay, dialed up and ready to call!

*Ring ring!*

*Ring ring!*

"Hello. This is Ms. Wolfstone-"

Good! She picked up.

"Miss Emily! I need you're…"

"I'm not at the phone right now. Please leave a detailed message of your inquiry after the tone."

Oh great. It was just her answering machine. What a bait, am I right?

*BEEEP*

"She didn't pick up." I said. "I have to leave a message."

Clunck! Crick!

"Hello?"

Uncle shook his head. "I knew it wouldn't work."

"Hello? This is Emily speaking."

Either the answering machine was really impatient, or she actually was on the other line now.

"Hello?! Is this Miss Emily?"

"Sure is! May I ask who's speaking?"

"I'm Yalda! Do you remember me?"

I heard her snicker on the other side.

"Of course I do. How many seven year old's do you think I give my number to?"

She must have been teasing me. That's not funny!

“Miss Emily!” my voice dove into a panic. “We need your help! We were just in Blue, and then we went to a big mana tower where pirates and an evil actor guy was…”

While I was speaking in a single breath, Uncle put a hand on my shoulder and said something. “She doesn't need to know everything. Just ask her for transportation.”

“Oh, right.” I nodded. “Sorry, I don’t need to tell you everything. Can you come pick us up and drive us to Verrenvill from port…” I looked at a sign next to the dock, it said we were in Northport, “We’re in Northport. Can you do that?”

Emily was quiet on the other end. I could hear blinds open on her end and she took a deep sigh.

“Absolutely. Are you in any danger?” Her voice turned serious.

“No, but there’s a lot of people who are.”

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Hang tight. Lucky for you, I’m in a town not far away."

"Thank you. She said we have fifteen minutes." I hung up the phone and retracted my head antenna.

Given the alternatives of either walking, or trying to find some other transport, this was great.

In the meantime, Marek suggested we hunt down someplace to quickly get a bite to eat.

“We don’t have time for that, idiot!” Indena barked. “Yeah, why don’t we hit up a buffet while we’re at it? A nice, fancy one where they serve fish eggs and crap.”

“When was the last time we ate anything? Yesterday, no?” Marek turned to me. “My mother used to say, ‘a little food brings up the mood.’ So let's keep our spirits up, and bellies full.”

Come to think of it, I was getting a little hungry.

GURGLE!

And it sounded like Indena was hungry too…

“Fine. But good luck hitting up a fast food joint this early in the morning.”

She had a point. It was way too early. No way anyone would be up and cooking food.

“Young Mistress, open up your map for a moment.”

I pulled up my LOCATION menu and zoomed in on our current position. A message appeared in my field of view, asking for my permission to let Uncle make changes to my hard drive. I gave him access.

Suddenly, two small icons appeared all over my map. They looked like crescent moons and apples.

With my video game knowledge, I knew exactly what those were. Crescent moons on maps usually indicated inns, and apples, or similar food items, indicated places where you could get food.

“This info will only appear when you're in a town or city. If the icon is lit up, that means the place is open. Otherwise, it will be closed.”

A really neat addition to my map! By my count, Northport had forty different food vendors, and ten different inns.

Just our luck though, most of them were closed. Only one food vendor was open, and it was a few blocks down in a park.

-☆☆☆-

My map led us to a vending machine in a big park. It had mostly candy and treats, but with some small sandwiches mixed in.

“I want that chocolate chip cookie!” I pointed to a cookie about the size of my head in there.

“You’ll get a sandwich.” Uncle slipped in a few coins and out came some wrapped up sandwiches.

Darn! I really wanted that cookie! Doesn't he understand that girls need their daily sugar intake to keep going? We’re 1/3rd the stuff, after all!

Actually, I’m made of Ferronium. But that’s beside the point.

The sandwiches that came out were random, so everyone got something different. Mine was eggs and bacon. I guess if you’re going to get anything, it might as well have bacon in it. Right?

-☆☆☆-

As promised, Ms. Emily arrived to pick us up in a windowed van. She pulled up in the parking lot next to the park.

“Need a ride?” The door in the back shot open on its own like a taxi. “I just got my license back, so let's race!”

“I hope that’s a joke,” Uncle said.

“It sure was, handsome. Now get in. We’ve got a nice long drive ahead, and I have some questions.”