Chapter 16

Edward and Deirdre were ready, along with a mountain of luggage.

Trae and Kat showed them the accommodations. To say they were shocked at the mobile home would be an understatement. Edward was more than pleased to have what appeared to be the bedroom in the front compartment.

Deirdre was amazed at having her own bedroom and a bathroom to use. Her only reservation was, having Kitty and Sampson along for the ride. Considering her experience with their cousins, this was understandable.

Kat informed her that Sampson and Kitty had promised to be on their best behaviour and they wouldn’t chew up her shoes. This had Deirdre giggling and Kitty gave her, her best winning smile. A cattail’s smile can be a bit disconcerting but once Kitty had rubbed against Deirdre and started purring she had won the woman over.

Sampson took a liking to Edward and they became fast friends. The fact that Edward would romp with him and Kitty and that he loved to play tackle, it made him a good sort as far as Sampson was concerned. He and Kitty elected to ride in the rear of the cab with Edward and Deirdre.

The cuttails had worked out that there was more than enough room under the seats for them to stretch out and sleep. Kat had found them some nice beds and Edward and Deirdre still had enough foot room. Kitty could even crawl through to Kat and liked to sit on the seat with her now and then to look outside. Sampson was happy to share with the other two and Edward even gave him the window.

Teal travelled at a fairly consistent speed of 60km/hr. Since it was already after lunch by the time they got going, they decided to stop in Kata for the night. It was close to 190km from Clawton. They expected it to take about six hours of travel since they had to stop every so often to let the cuttails out to stretch.

Edward mentioned that they often had to stop every couple of hours for an hour or so to let the batteries charge up. His father had also made the trip several times, and they often left around lunchtime one day to get to Hilton about the same time the next day.

Trae knew they could have driven faster and that he had spied several places they could have blinked the flatbed to cover even more ground. However, since he had never travelled this way before he was happy to poke along, see the sights and be considerate to his passengers.

He also expected to find trouble ahead. While at the auction, he had heard several people grumbling that the darn bridge this side of Kata was a mess. They’d had heavy rain in the area, and one of the large rivers between Clawton and Kata had burst its banks. The road and bridge had been impassable for several days.

While Kata was the only major town between Clawton and Hilton, quite a few small villages had sprung up over the years along the major road. While they made convenient places to stop they also slowed down the trip, as you were not allowed to travel through them any faster than 25km/hr. In some places, it was even slower.

While the major mountain ranges were further inland, the coastal road still had its share of steep hills, gullies and lots of rivers to traverse. Trae also made the trip slower since about every 20km, he pulled up, and he and Kat planted a few crystals and then did their road repair spell.

The road, for the most part, was in better condition than the road from Catton to Clawton but it still wasn’t up to their standards. The first time that the brother and sister saw them do their spell, they were amazed. “Wow, I wish I could do something like that,” Edward told them.

Trae smiled at him and replied, “You never know, someday you just might be able to.”

“I wish,” Edward mumbled. Trae wasn’t a hundred percent sure, why he was reluctant to give Edward a magical ring. He believed the boy was talented but something held him back. He would be interested in what results came back from the tests Edward said he had to do to get into the special classes.

Their longest stop was at the bridge the other people had complained about. Trae and Kat were both surprised that it hadn’t washed away. It was dangerous as far as they were concerned. They were just about ready to do their spells when a flatbed came hurtling down the hill on the other side.

“He is going way too fast,” Trae said. The others agreed. Suddenly the flatbed hit a pothole and they all heard the tyre blowout as it popped over the rim of the hole. The cab of the flatbed dropped down as the rubber ripped off and the rim of the tyre ground along the rough road.

The arse of the flatbed twisted around to pass the cab as the man tried to control the vehicle. Trae grabbed Kat’s hand and put up his other hand as if to stop the vehicle. Deirdre screamed as she saw the flatbed tip and covered her face.

Edward just looked on in amazement as the body of the vehicle tipped but didn’t fall as if it was being propped up by something. He felt a charge in the air and knew that Trae and Kat were doing magic. The vehicle, however, still slid to the side of the bridge where it would go over into the river 35m below.

He found his brain doing the calculations of the forces involved. He glanced at Trae and saw the strain on his and then Kat’s face as they tried to stop the vehicle. He thought about the forces required to stop the flatbed. Without thinking, he stepped over and touched both of them.

He felt himself gather and then push the moisture in the air at the flatbed but he directed it through Kat and Trae as he felt they were not pushing in the correct spot. The flatbed stopped a lot more suddenly than he expected and then rocked upright. It was only a metre from the edge of the high river bank. All three of them sighed out in relief.

Trae turned to Edward, “Thank you, if you hadn’t stepped in the flatbed would have gone over the embankment.”

Edward blushed, “Sorry, I’m not even sure why I knew that you also needed to push in that direction. My brain started doing all these physics calculations and I had to redirect you. I don’t know how I got the moisture in the air to move like that to help either.”

Kat chuckled, “Well someone with Lore and Physics skills and the science background to go with them must have some natural talent to put them together. While I have some Physics skills, it seems that I didn’t know enough. Pushing the moisture, so it formed a braking cushion was brilliant.”

Edward blushed even harder at the praise. He looked at the flatbed and suddenly he smiled, “I really can do it can’t I?”

Trae chuckled and looked at Kat, he winked at her and she gave him one of her brilliant smiles in return. Trae now knew why he had waited to give Edward a ring. The man didn’t believe in his own abilities. Trae didn’t know why he had self-doubts but the point was that when it came to the crunch, Edward had stepped forward.

They would need to have a chat later.

The man in the truck was very shaken-up.

He told them that his brakes had failed and he was sure he was going to die. He was still wobbly and pale, half an hour after the accident. Trae had started a fire and the girls organised some tea and cut up the nice cake that Deirdre had brought with them.

The tea and cake did a lot to settle the driver down. Trae went over to the man’s flatbed and did some major repairs. He added some crystals to the batteries and replaced the blown tyre with a spare before adding a general repair spell.

They asked the man about the roads to Hilton and he told them that of late, the road crews seem to have gotten scarcer, and the roads had deteriorated. He said a lot of the services normally paid for by their taxes seemed to have dried up of late and Hilton had very high unemployment.

He mentioned that he had no idea what was going on in the palace, as no one had had an audience with the Queen since the start of the winter season. There were a lot of unhappy people. Her grand-niece, Princess Martha seemed to be holding the reins since she was Princess Francine’s guardian and she was doing a piss-poor job of it.

One of the things that were stirring the people up was a rumour that the new Lord Guild Mage for Eagle Island had found Quaz crystals. It had the Palace and Lords in an uproar, as they feared that Queen Edwina would inherit Cuttail Island.

Everyone believed Queen Rowena was dying and they all knew she hadn’t declared a new heir. Her last living daughter had been murdered twenty years before. If the Queen died and the rulers’ items failed to pick a new heir, then Edwina had the right to claim the throne since she was Rowena’s oldest living granddaughter.

The Lords and Ladies were not happy to have their ruler based on another island. Even worse, was that Queen Edwina was just as likely to appoint one of her family members as the Viceroy to rule over them. They also worried that they would have to purchase the crystals from there, as the prices were sure to be very high.

Trae became worried that he had caused the latest unrests in Hilton. He was happy that at least with him and Kat heading that way they could distribute some of the crystals and hopefully quieten things down a bit. He wondered if he could help Queen Rowena but he wasn’t sure how. He knew that she was a lot older than Queen Edwina was.

He had to chuckle a little to himself. Queen Edwina would have had a fit if she knew that he had popped into her bedroom. He was glad he was able to cast the sleep spell before she woke. It had been a little tricky trying to replace the crystal in her crown.

In the end, he had just added two new ones and hoped they boosted the old crystal. Her entity had given him the impression that his solution was sound and she had promised not to mention his visit to the Queen when she awoke.

He had heard before they left Eagle Island that Edwina had been in fine form. She was planning to travel to each of her provinces with her new Lord Guild Mage to see for herself what her people needed.

He didn’t think Queen Edwina was interested in taking on Cuttail Island’s problems as she had enough of her own at home. She was currently looking for a new consort, as she still didn’t have any children. If a Queen didn’t produce a child after ten years of a union, she could put aside her consort and she had recently done this.

Her entity had given Trae the impression that his healing spell and the new crystals would help Edwina. She hadn’t been happy with the joining that had been arranged for her and she was now free to find her own consort. That was also part of the reason she planned to go visiting her Lords.

Trae knew that he would have to go visit Queen Rowena.

Once they got the flatbed driver back on his way, Trae and Kat fixed the bridge and the crappy bit of road.

The near accident had put them behind a little on their schedule but as they planned to stop for the night anyway, they weren’t that bothered. Sampson and Kitty had taken advantage of the break and had been more than happy to explore the forest near the road.

When Sampson pranced out of the forest with a huge longears dangling from his jaws, they were all amazed. Trae skinned it for him and the two cuttails settled down for an afternoon snack, while Trae and Kat fixed the bridge.

Trae had Edward touch him as he and Kat worked and passed to him mentally what they were doing and how. Edward even haltingly made a few suggestions, which Trae and Kat tried. All three of them were delighted with the outcome. They had produced a very handsome bridge that was high enough to not flood in future.

They were more than ready to get going again. They stopped at the Tavern on the other side of Kata and had a meal. They elected, however, to sleep in Teal. They all rested quite comfortably and were happy to get back on the road bright and early the next morning.

They had several more stops to plant new crystals and to do the repair spell as they travelled. All six were happy with the company they had and were surprised when the outskirts of Hilton were observed ahead, just before lunchtime.

They had to chuckle when Edward informed them this was the best road trip he had ever been on. Deirdre commented that it was a lot better than her last one. Sampson added his comment and went back to purring contentedly as Deirdre petted him.

He had managed to take over the middle of the back seat and had his head in Deirdre’s lap. Kitty was just as content as she had her head in Kat’s lap. The two cuttails had become seasoned travellers and they weren’t the least bit bothered anymore by being in the strange vehicle.

Deirdre had lost her fear of these two cuttails and Kat had found she was a lot nicer without Philippa around.

Trae followed Edward’s directions and soon had them at the University.

They did cause a bit of a stir when they all tumbled out of the flatbed. Sampson and Kitty accepted their leads without any qualms. They both knew their master used them as much for their safety as for the people around them. They also knew that without them the temptation to wander off would get them into trouble. They were young cubs after all.

The cuttails were fascinated with the new place, all the smells and the people who stopped to look at them in amazement. An old Master of Edwards’s came up to them as they walked to the Administration building. “Sir Edward, I wasn’t aware you were into the study of cuttails?” he said jovially.

Edward smiled and introduced Master Tate to his sister and their friends. He explained that he wanted to sign up to be tested for the advanced courses this year. Master Tate looked at him thoughtfully and then at the others. His eyes went back to Trae and he said, “Will he pass?”