When Legends Rise

Mist and frost hung in the early morning air as I made my way through the docks, it had been a week, and other than trekking down to the docks to test the engine nothing of particular note had happened whilst we waited for the boat to be finished off; Autumn had threatened to clap me round the ears if I referred to it as a “Launch” any more. Regardless, it was powered by steam, which meant an early morning start to light a fire from cold to raise enough steam to depart on our journey at a reasonable time, though over the course of the journey I’d be making sure that a small fire was left burning overnight, just to keep the boiler warm. I’d let Tarn sleep in, having assured her that I could more than handle this myself, though her experience working an inland cargo ship would come in useful once we were underway.

Drawing close to the boat I couldn’t help but stop and admire it; some 40 ft long with a cabin taking up a third of the total length of the boat located about halfway along, at the rear there was a simple driving position sheltered by a simple canopy, with controls in the forms of levers within close reach of the tiller, this thing had to be steered like a canal boat, and not far in front of that was the boiler; a vertical barrel clad in beautifully varnished wood, out of which sprung mirror-polished copper leading to various gauges and levers, Tarn would most likely be keeping half an eye on the boiler whilst I controlled the damn thing, so at least I’d have some company as we ventured north. Turning back to the hull and cabin, they were painted in a rather attractive shade of green offset by cream highlights, towards the front of the ship was an open portion filled with enough seats for all of us to be able to lounge about in the lazy evenings, plus spare, for all we know we’d be picking up more as we went, if the addition of Tarn was any indication. Lastly the bow of the ship was adorned with the name “Defiance” done in immaculate signwriting.

The final visual inspection complete I nodded in satisfaction before climbing down into the boat and starting up the boiler, when I’d first tested it I was surprised to find that natural gas was used in abundance as opposed to coal or wood, but it certainly made things easier, all I needed to do was turn a tap and click a lighter switch, producing a muffled “whumph” as built up gas combusted through the fire tubes and up the chimney creating a spit of blue flame out of the top for a split second before it settled down into a quiet roar. With this done there wasn’t much else that I could do except sit back and keep half an eye on the boiler to make sure it didn’t spontaneously explode, so I made my way into the cabin, feeling my way through the gloom of the early morning dusk in search of the stove and a kettle.

As I let the kettle boiled I pondered on a few things, from what I’d seen so far Equestria, and Trottinghamshire’s, level of technology was...complicated. In terms of transport they seemed to be somewhere around 1860s at the latest, but with a few nudges into fantasy; rail transport was few and far between, with most lines being freight only, bringing coal and ores from the mines into the cities and other industrial hubs, but canals and rivers were by far the most commonly used method of transportation, seen as the “regular means” of getting around beyond walking distance akin to taking a bus, where as trains were like taking a jetliner by comparison, used for travelling from country to country in relatively short times, emphasis on relatively.

I’d seen the occasional airship, and whilst that would have been even faster, Octavia had explained that they were reserved for either military or the elites in society, extremely expensive if you were common folk, and whilst Octavia was a princess, she wasn’t comfortable with flaunting the fact. I had been left even more confused by the fact that the propulsion for these airships were like something out of science fiction, Twilight, via her little music box, had attempted to explain it, but the theory of it had gone over my head beyond being something to do with “Ley-line engines and thaumic repulsors”, and I thought I had a fairly good grasp on how stuff tends to work. Though on the flipside Twilight had looked similarly confused when I’d first tried to explain the laws of thermodynamics and how they relate to the fundamental workings of the universe.

Seems these lands had focussed on studying magic, whilst more traditional sciences beyond “heat water, you get steam, steam = harnessable power” very much fell to the wayside, on the flipside Twilight had said that I perhaps might have more luck among the minotaurs, they were very big on their “physical sciences” as opposed to magic, or “thaumic science” but then again some things seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Entertainment was one such area, they had portable radios I could effortlessly carry in one hand, electronic music (Vinyl pointed that one out to me), even hand held games consoles akin to a game boy, though that was cutting edge by their reckoning.

I’d yet to actually show them any games from my world which I had saved on my laptop, and come to think of it I’m not sure I wanted to, I don’t think Autumn, an ex-soldier, would be all too pleased by games like Halo, let alone Doom. I was contemplating letting her loose on a racing game, though, just to see how fast her reflexes were.

I couldn’t help but find my thoughts circling back around to thinking about Tarn, but not in a dopey crushing sort of way, more trying to make sense of her. She clearly felt something, even I wasn’t so blind to this, but I wasn’t sure if I could say I felt anything for her at this time, I’d only known her a week for christ’s sake, if there’s one thing I don’t do it’s “love at first sight”, the fact she was another species probably did something as well, heck, I’m not good with emotions full stop at the best times. Credit where it’s due, though, she appeared to understand that I didn’t feel the same way for her as she did me, she’s been clingy, no doubt about that, but she had yet to try any outright advances, and for the time at least I was willing to let this situation continue at this level

I was shaken from my musings by the kettle whistling as it began to boil and quickly set about making my morning refreshment, a nice cup of tea. With that done I made my way outside and after checking on the boiler to make sure it wasn’t doing anything unexpected I sat down at the tiller seat and turned my gaze out to the surrounding docks, occasionally. It wasn’t even sunrise yet, but even then I could see my breath condensing in the light of the few oil lamps that flickered along the walkways, I must have arrived in late summer or early autumn, with the weather beginning to turn colder for the winter. I noticed another figure walking their way up the docks, a stockily built Unicorn stallion I didn’t recognise, probably just a river merchant who had chose to stop the night in a hotel before continuing on his journey ferrying whatever goods he happened to be conveying. By chance his own narrow boat, a 70 footer with its load tarped over, was one docked next to my own boat. I half watched him go about readying the boiler of his own boat for the day, namely turn the heat up on the fire. I had been told it was good practice to leave a reduced fire burning at night, whatever additional costs were invoked by burning fuel were outweighed by the savings brought about from reduced metal fatigue on the boiler from a periodic cold-hot cycle. I noticed him stop and regard my and the craft with curiosity, before remarking dryly.

“Well theur certainly dooant fi’ i'” his accent was not unlike the local Yorkshire accent back home, but exceedingly thick, so much that I almost didn’t catch what he’d said. But when it clicked I couldn’t help but chuckle at his remark.

“Aye, my kind isn’t exactly well traveled” I said, being deliberately vague, better to leave my originins up to the imaginations of most passers by, saves needless prying. I then gestured to my own enamel mug before jerking a thumb inside “Hot water? I’ve got some freshly boiled” I warm smile came over him.

“'a' 'ood be reeight kin' o' theur.” I had no idea what any of what he said meant, but from his tone I took it as a “yes” and headed back inside and grabbed the kettle, pumping some some of my thermal powers into it just to make extra sure it was warm enough. Making my way back out I saw him waiting on the docks with a mug containing a teabag held aloft in his magic. I held out the kettle for him and he proceeded to take it in his magic, adding the water to his mug and passing it back. “Tah” I quickly puit the kettle back inside before returning.

“So, what you’re hauling?” I asked, gesturing to his own canal boat. He shook his head

“Nowt at momen’” he said “browt eur load o' anthraci' i' fra yarvik yestudi, ahl be 'eadin back today, 'n yursen?” he nudged his own mug towards my own boat.

“It’s complicated” I said “But short of it is I’m heading out to Westards with some friends, then back around into Yarvik, then up north”

“It wouldn't av owt ta doa wi' t' stirrings occurrin up north, 'ood it? wha' wi' thy get-up 'n orl” he gestured to my armour, which was clearly visible even beneath my cloak. I clicked my tongue.

“Aye, afraid so” I said “Already spoken to the king on the matter, he won’t send his troops to face Heimut, not yet at least, so myself and a few compatriots are making our own way there” I paused, staring off across the docks, before adding “I’m gonna rain the nine plains of hell on that Heimut bitch” the unicorn wrinkled his nose at this, taking a gulp of his tea. When he next spoke his face was a frown.

“Truth be towd, ah doubt tha'il gerr orl 'a' far, if ther's 'un thin those germanes av getten daahn ta eur t, it's thea defenses, tha'il be lucky ta step foot eur mile intoa thea borders wiyaa' gerrin shot, beleev uz, i've done frieght runs up theear” he said, before dipping his head to the side and finishing in a more cordial tone “bur, ah wish theur 'n thy'n jouce orl t' sem” again, I was stumped as to what half of what he said meant, but I nodded in silent thanks. and with that he returned to his own boat and began preparing to depart. Part of me thinks I probably scared him off, but I shoved that thought to one side as I returned to the boiler, checking up on how its was progressing. A tentative prodding of the chimney of the boiler revealed that it was nicely up to temperature, but alas the pressure gauge only read 10 PSI, and it needed to get to 150 before the boat would be ready to leave. My attention was momentarily diverted by a shrill toot of the whistle on the canal boat in the next berth and turned to see it slowly easing out, the unicorn giving a final wave before continuing on his way, the engine puffing quietly as it lazily moved away. Once more I was left alone with my thoughts.

Some hours later the sun had risen and the boiler was steaming nicely, I was stirred from my musings by the approach of a quartet of individuals and looked up to see Autumn, Octavia, Vinyl and Tarn walking up the docks. Autumn caught my eye in particular as she was carrying not only her own saddle bags, but a sizable amount of luggage strung across her back, apparently going from active military to a domestic peace keeper had not given her cause to slack off on her strength. This was without even mentioning the additional luggage that Vinyl was levitating in her own magic.

“What is all that?” I asked.

“Some of it’s food, we should be good for a week of so before we need to restock, which we can do at any town along the way” Octavia explained.

“And the rest?” I asked, only to have two sizable bags dumped in my lap.

“Tomes of magic, both light and dark, you can thank Octavia for that” Autumn huffed “plus a few things which might come in handy” I began rifling through the bag which hadn’t felt like books and scoffed in amazement.

“That looks like a small armoury in there” I said, noting that in particular there was at least one rather large shield and a number of arrows.

“For training your newbie flank” Autumn snarked, ducking into the cabin “I don’t wanna have to keep saving your backside from bandits” I huffed indignantly at that.

“We’re on a river, not the fecking highway” I shot back.

“And you don’t know my homelands like I do” she retorted from inside the cabin, a slight sing-song tone to her voice. “Now come on, get casting off you big lump! We’re burning daylight which could be spent travelling to my homelands” I turned to Tarn, now dressed in what could best be described as a loose and simple tunic which came down to her knees with a belt around the waist.

“Tarn, if you could be so kind as to get the forward mooring lines” I said, she simply nodded, hopped back onto the docks, and dashed up towards the front of the boat. Meanwhile I busied myself with the mooring up this end, before returning to the controls. I heard a shout from Tarn, announcing she had finished on her end, and responded with a toot on the whistle, first only half pressed, then pulling down on the lever fully, creating a shifting tone. I then clutched the reversing lever into full forward with a clunk and gently eased open the regulator, letting the engines slowly spin up as the boat eased out of the dock. Tarn walked through the cabin, a stringed instrument of some manner clutched in one hand, and regarded my ginger approach to piloting a boat such as this with bemusement.

“You needn’t be so cautious” She said, absentmindedly double checking the pressure gauges.

“I’d be lying if I said my instincts weren’t conditioned to handling something bigger than this” I admitted as I swung the boat around, angling it towards the westerly exit “each steam engine has its own quirks and mood swings, I'd rather take things slowly at first as I get to know her”

“Her?” Tarn asked in curiosity.

“Aye” I said, letting it cruise at a sedate pace as we moved through the docks “just a cultural thing back home, machines are referred to as female, something to do with them being in the care of men if I remember correctly” After a few minutes we left the docks and I opened up the regulator to increase the engine speed, before dropping the reverser back towards neutral a few notches to save on steam. Gradually we began to reach a fair clip, not blisteringly fast, but faster than walking pace and fast enough to be overtaking the freight hauling canal boats every few minutes. Despite the season turning towards autumn, the sun was beginning to warm the cool air into something which could almost be considered pleasant.

As we plied our way west through the outskirts of the city the chugging of the pistons leant a steady beat, roughly twice a second, which Tarn used to her advantage to play little ditties to time. After a few minutes she stopped, before turning to me, a hesitant look on her face.

“Do...do you know any songs?” she asked “anything that’d suit this sort of situation?”

“Have you heard to the rubbish he listens to!?” Autumn piped up, she was lounging about on the roof of the cabin “it’s all pounding drums and roaring vocals”

“When you assume, you make an *ass* out of *you* and *me*...but mostly you” I retorted, before turning back to Tarn “as a matter of fact I do, maybe not for canals, but I know a few folk songs and shanties”

“This ought to be good” Autumn muttered, but she turned to get a better listen all the same, likewise Vinyl and Octavia appeared out of the cabin with curiosity plain on their face.

“I’ll warn you, I’m not the best singing in front of people” I said, pausing, listening to the beat and using that as a judge for time. Then, I counted down and began singing.

“Plucked from the finest of hamlets and dales
From Sydney and Bristol and Yorkshire we hail
Riding the finest of summertime gales
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

Our wake it is bursting right over the pier
The engines do carry this bold chevalier
To face the brave Abdul Abulbul Amir
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's haul ‘er straight over and hard to the right
The waters are clear and the sand it is white
Old Mr. Stopford will set us alight
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

Well the wind it is fair and the stars have aligned
We'll sell our salt cod for sweet olives and wine
And string up the Kaiser by Thanksgiving time
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla

And it's away, Suvla Bay
Haulin' away to the Suvla Bay
Fare thee well my pretty young maids
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla
We're bound for the Bay of Suvla”

When I finished I noticed Autumn regarding me with a look which I couldn't quite place, but before I had a chance to question her about it my attention was diverted by Octavia.

“I take it your kind is quite the maritime species, then?” she asked.

“Maritime, aerial, you name it” I said “Where you folks have wings or magic, we rely on our imagination and inventions; ships which can hold more cargo than your biggest warehouses, trains of coal or ore stretching for miles, aircraft which can cross entire continents and oceans in mere hours. I suppose that’s one reason I’m somewhat excited about what lays ahead for me”

“What do you mean?” Tarn asked.

“Back home we’d already mapped every country there was to be seen, and dare I say it, people were too connected, the politics of a single nation could have ramifications the world over” I said “here things are different, life is simpler, like a step back in time two or three hundred years. The world feels larger, yet at the same time there’s less people, It feels like I have the chance to make a difference here should I choose to do so, back home I was just one nameless face in a crowd of billions”

“Sounds like getting taken from your home wasn’t all bad” Autumn said, for once her typical, almost taunting demeanor towards me was absent, replaced by what could be called compassion at a stretch.

“Maybe” I said, regarding her with a small smile, before it faded “doesn’t detract from the fact that the overall situation is still extremely shitty for me”

“Well, in that case then we best make the best of the days ahead” Tarn said, smiling at me warmly. I nodded in agreement.

“Amen to that” I said, as we slowly made our way west under the mid morning sun.