Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1) (22 page)

"Oh look, one's getting close to a mine!" Kaine said, getting up and putting his face to the window.

The moving cloud of dust Kaine was looking at got closer and closer to the road. It surfaced violently and slammed down, bearing its mouth down upon the mine. Even all the way up on the train the resulting explosion was extremely loud. A big green sphere of witchfire explosion engulfed most of the worm and sent the rest of it all around in a giant shower of gore. The explosion was so powerful it created a shockwave that sent a wave of dust all around it, and as the fiery sphere rose it dragged up a cloud of dirt and dust, including what had returned after the initial shockwave, and created a mushroom cloud effect.

"Whoa, maybe we should get our hands on some of their explosives too," Kaine said as he watched the mushroom cloud dissipate.

"You might be onto something there, old friend," said Lucius. The path that they were all walking down would definitely require all the fire power they could get their hands on.

“A dangerous mix of Gloom magic and technology. Very interesting,” Alexander admired.

Veronica looked at Winston concerned and placed a hand on his head. “You’re looking a bit drained, sweetie. You should have something to eat.”

“Oh yeah, good thinking.” He got some chocolate out of one of the bags and ate it quickly. The only downside to feeling safe in the Gloom was that it was easy to get over-confident and forget that there was any risk at all.

As the journey continued, the edges of Pollutia became visible either side of the train's windows. Spanning far into the horizon, glowing buildings and smog spewing chimneys towered high into the sky. Like Exhaustown, its skies were filled with fluffy yellow, white and brown churning clouds of smoke, all enclosed behind tall thick brassy walls. Big searchlights lit up the sky and old looking dirigibles floated up on high.

“They look worse than ones we had at the beginning of the war, Alex,” Blake said as she stared at the dirigibles.

“At least they’re safer without you behind the controls,” Alexander joked.

Blake pulled a funny face and carried on looking out of the window.

“Have you met this Foreman before, Wayne?” Xavier asked. “Just want to know what we can expect.”

“I haven’t met him, Xavier, but I’ve seen it. It’s difficult not to. It’s big. Really big.”

“How big is big?” Xavier was concerned.

“If we could see out the front of the train we’d probably be able to see it from here. No exaggeration, I’m afraid. I know of the Sheriff though. He was a hard bastard to deal with before he could speak our language, but we’ll soon find out how he is nowadays I guess.”

The group was silent for the rest of the journey, their imaginations working away at what the Foreman would look like.

The train went through a pitch black tunnel in Pollutia’s outer wall and came out into an empty half-broken train station inside the city. They got out of the carriage, and the train blew his steam whistle in the sound of a goodbye.

A ticket master Alternative was waiting for them, wearing a black and red old fashioned train station uniform. “The Sheriff asked me to guide you outside to meet him. He’s not trusting of outsiders, I’m afraid.”

“Thank you, my good man,” Blake said, and gave the ticket master a boiled sweet.

He examined it carefully before carefully unwrapping it and putting it into his mouth. “Oh, my!” He became weak at the knees and staggered out of the station. “Sir is too…kind…”

They walked after the ticket master, through the old building and out into the vast industrial metropolis of Pollutia. The blackened and crumbling skyscrapers towered high above them into the yellowish sky. The air was thick with smog and the sound of machinery, and the streets were hectic with both worker Alts and vehicles who were so busy they paid them little heed. From the distance Kavarne and Lynette came riding along on Merv, and next to them was an Alt on a steam powered horse wearing a dark brown leather trench coat, cowboy boots, and a hat.

“Hi guys!” Lynette waved cheerfully as they approached. “That was an awesome ride!”

Merv revved happily.

“We found the Sheriff,” Kavarne said.

“Or was it who I found you?” The cowboy-looking Alt said. “I’m the Sheriff alright. These two said that one of you would be the Winston, and if they’re lying I got bullets with all your names on it.” He gestured to the weird looking rusty rifle slung on his back and twin revolvers on his hips.

“I’m Winston.” He stepped forward and raised his hand slightly.

The Sheriff looked him up and down slowly and carefully. “Hmm… you do look like the Winston we’ve heard about. I guess we’ll let the Foreman see for sure. You won’t want to lie to him. You all better follow me, and just keep in mind, if there’s any funny business I’ll blow a hole through you quicker than you can spit.”

The Sheriff walked them down the streets towards an even more densely packed industrial area. Winston was sure he could make out the head of a brassy and copper coloured statue every now and then in between the buildings and chimneys. They eventually reached a clearing in the factories and depots, and could clearly see a huge clockwork, steam-powered and Gloom magic fuelled colossus, bigger than most of skyscrapers and manufactories around them, seated on a massive throne.

“And that would be the Foreman,” Wayne said. “Apparently it used to be made of wood back in the day, but in recent years he’s had a bit of an upgrade…”

“Oh my…” Veronica said, as awestruck as the rest of the group.

"That's one hell of a thing!" Lewis gasped.

“Haven’t you seen a Foreman before? You people sure are strange,” the Sheriff said critically.

The base of the throne looked like massive power plants on thick spider legs, and it was hard to tell if they actually moved or were just for show. The armrests were two rectangular fortresses covered with a nasty array of guns, and the back of the seat was comprised solely of chimneys adding their share to the pollution above. The whole thing was covered in Alts who were maintaining, welding, tinkering, constructing,
and painting the superstructure.

The colossus itself was a terrifying sight. It was a rusty-coloured living image of an Alternative dressed in armour. Steam spouted from its massive joints as it shuffled in its seat, its mouth opened and closed showing a throat full of big speakers, and two angry burning Witchfire eyes gazed down threateningly below. A wide variety of guns and cannons protruded from its fingertips and large mortars sat upon its shoulders.

A crowd of Alt guards in ramshackle armour were armed with melee weapons made from bits of machinery, nail guns, rifles loaded with railway spikes, and glowing green energy guns. The best armed and armoured Alt out of the crowd rushed to meet the Sheriff and the group. He had a pair of green goggles on and a necklace made of clock gears around his neck.

“Is this the one known as Winston?” the Alt asked nervously,

“So he claims…” the Sheriff said dryly,

The Foreman's burning eyes glared at the group and its jaw creaked open. "Deputy Vice Assistant to the Foreman! Have you found the Winston yet?!"

"I think so, sir! Not long now!" it shouted back fearfully, before he turned to the group. "As you've heard, I'm the Deputy Vice Assistant to the Foreman. Call me DVAF – it's easier and more efficient! It's my job to do everything that the Foreman doesn't want to do! If you'll follow me inside we'll talk business. Quick, quick!"

The Sheriff spun his revolvers around on his fingers. "I dare you to try something inside the Foreman, I
dare
you..." he said menacingly.

The group followed the DVAF passed the armed guards and underneath the Foreman's throne. A large cargo elevator dropped down and they climbed on board. It slowly but surely elevated them into the superstructure.

Inside the Foreman was hot and filled with steaming pipes. The DVAF kept them moving quickly and guards opened rotating handled doors to allow them entrance from one section to the next. They went up metal ladders, spiral staircases, and finally another elevator which brought them to the inner workings of the Foreman's head.

It was a big oval shaped metal room. Its back half was filled with wires and cables that cradled, connected, and inserted into the torso and head of an Alt. It had glowing green goggles on and a more impressively full gear necklace than the DVAF had on.

"Welcome, strange people from the other world!" it chimed in a mechanical voice. "I am the Foreman, as I'm sure your squishy meat brains have already deduced. I hope you were all adequately terrified by my gloriously technologically polluting outer self! DVAF, you've done well, no punishments for a while!"

"Thank you, sir! You're too generous!" the DVAF said gratefully.

"Now, which one of you is the one named Winston?" the Foreman asked with a greed filled tone.

"That's me," Winston said. He felt like that line was becoming his catchphrase.

"And you can make portals to bring valuable sweet stuff from your world in exchange for the useless rubbish we have in our world, yes?" the Foreman inquired.

"Yes I can," Winston replied. "We are hoping to broker a similar arrangement between you and our colleagues, Kaine here being one of them."

"Yeah... nice to meet you, Mr Foreman..." Kaine said awkwardly.

"Good, good!" The Foreman smiled, showing a mouthful of silver teeth. "Then get on with it, open up some portals here in Pollutia and let's get trading!"

"There's a slight problem there, Mr Foreman," Lucius hedged diplomatically. "We don't currently have much of a presence in our world's version of Pollutia. We'll have to open the portals in places like Exhaustown and other neighbouring provinces for the mean time."

"Then I'll help you take over!" the Foreman said enthusiastically. "What do you need? Weapons? Tanks? Ironclads? Bombs? Oh, we make good bombs. How about man power? There's plenty of people here who would love a chance to get a break and do a nice bit of killing in your world!"

"Your offer is generous," Lucius began, "but we need to take the territory discreetly."

"Discreetly? Discreetly?! Oh my, how
boring
." The Foreman faked a yawn.

"Well, we are planning a big attack soon," Winston added quickly. "We just need to work out the details with the Mayor of Gloom City first."

The Foreman perked back up again. "That's more like it! My, you're just as awesome as everyone says you are, Winston! You've got a deal!"

Lewis sniggered and muttered, "Winston, the awesome lord of lollies..."

The Foreman continued. "Get old fatso to give me a call. Maybe the Commodore of the Colonies too, he'll probably want a slice of the action. Especially if there's a candy to be made out of it!"

"We will do. Thank you, Foreman," Winston said gratefully. "I will open some portals in the areas around Pollutia if you can begin arranging for your people to trade with us."

"Yes, yes, yes," the Foreman said impatiently. "DVAF, get on it, I can't be bothered!"

"Yes sir, will do, thank you sir!" the DVAF said.

"Before we go, we have some tokens of our appreciation," Lucius said while gesturing for the others to hand over the bags of sweets and chocolate.

"Oh my, thank you all!" the Foreman said, struggling to keep his mouth shut. "Show them out DVAF and get back here quick and feed me! If you get back fast enough I might let you share! Hmm... I should really get round to having some arms built for me inside here..." he added quietly to himself.

"Quick, quick! Follow me." DVAF hurried them out of the structure twice as fast as they had arrived.

The Sheriff was waiting for them at the base of the elevator. "So, you're all still alive?" he asked, sounding very disappointed.

"Sheriff!" the Foreman building boomed, "lay off the skin-bag guests and pull the stick out of your ass! We have a deal in the works! So be nice... or die!!!"

The Sheriff was clearly uncomfortable and managed a near silent acknowledgement back to his boss. He walked with them back to the train station in awkward silence and left without a word.

"We'll take the highway!" Lynette said chirpily.

"Don't I get to drive this time?" Kavarne asked.

"But you already have a nice bike in the real. I'll make it up to you, daddy..." Lynette pleaded seductively.

"Fine," Kavarne muttered.

Veronica and some of the other less serious members of the group giggled as the Werewolf couple rode off down the road in a cloud of smoke.

The ticket master ushered them back inside the train that had been turned around back in the direction of Exhaustown for them. They clambered on board, the train whistled happily, and they were back on their way.

"That went well, nice work everyone," Kaine said gratefully.

"Yes, we're one step closer to our goal now," Lucius added. "We've brought some battle potions to help you take Industria City, Kaine."

"Nice one, old friend!" Kaine said, clapping Lucius on the back. "I've got to say, I'm slightly jealous of the gang you've assembled!"

"Oh, thanks boss," Blake said feigning sadness.

"Yeah, way to hurt our feelings!" Wayne said, also faking a very sad tone.

"Shut up you guys!" Kaine said.

"With all of us working together we'll be a force to be reckoned with," Xavier said.

"Hell yeah, we will!" Blake cheered.

Alexander and Brooke both lit up a hand rolled cigarette and sat cuddled up to one another at the back of the carriage. Their relationship seemed to be going from strength to strength.

"The rich get richer, and more powerful," Lewis said to Winston cheerfully. "I never thought that when I first met you asking for an invite to the Shadow Circle that it would end up going this well."

"Yeah," Winston agreed, remembering back to his addition and how well it went. "It's strange to think how far we've both come since then."

"I've got a feeling that you're both about to advance a step further towards your fate," Veronica said strangely.

"Another vision?" Winston asked.

"Yeah... something's big is going to happen soon," Veronica said trailing off.