Ravish Me, Oh Great Wizard King!!!

Mira rose from the table. "Alfric, could you help me write the message?"

"Most certainly, Your Royal Highness." He took over the desk and poised the quill. "What would you have me scribe?"

Mira scratched her head. "I need Daran to join me at Diamond Palace as soon as possible. And bring Carol with him."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness." Alfric began writing. Suddenly, he stopped. "Pardon me, Your Highness, what is a 'carol' and how do you spell that?"

Mira laughed. "Just tell him to bring his woman with him. He will understand."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

Alfric finished his message, folded the parchment and handed it to Victor. Then he turned back to Mira. "There will be a train leaving for Diamond in one hour. I will make arrangements for us to be onboard." He looked a bit embarrassed. "My sincere apologies, Your Royal Highness. The accommodations will not be adequate for your status, but I will do my best to make it as comfortable for you as I can."

"Alfric, I am eternally grateful for everything you're doing. Please don't apologize. We are in the midst of a war. As long as we survive, we will be fine." She looked around at the men. "I will also try not to be a burden to you and your men. If needed, I can also defend us from attackers."

"Yes! Our Wizard Princess, the Glockomancer of Death and Destruction! Glockomancer of Death and Destruction!" The dwarfs began chanting, much to her chagrin.

????????????

The subterranean Diamond Train normally took two days, but that was with the various pauses included along the way to let passengers off at various junctions, plus a lengthy stop in Sapphire City for food and breaks.

On Alfric Hobart's orders, the train had been commandeered by his team, which had grown by now to a squadron of about fifty men. There would be no stops and no breaks other than to refuel. This would cut travel time in half and they would arrive in Diamond City by the following morning.

The sleeper cabin Mira was given was actually the train conductor's private quarters. This was truly one of the most comfortable cabins on the train. There was a comfortable bed on one side, and a long table with a cushioned bench on the other.

Ziggy had placed inside the cabin, a basket of fruits and a jug of water for them. He also found from somewhere, a baby bottle which he had filled with milk for Felix.

Traveling with a baby was normally a difficult situation at best, but Felix was no ordinary baby. He was an especially non-fussy baby. After all, he had to survive by clinging onto his mother's fur while she ran around Tourmaline Bog. After having eaten his full of Nonna's tasty gruel and warm milk, he settled down and in no time, was fast asleep between them.

The toilet area was one car away, through a small walkway that linked the trains together. When Mira went to use the toilet to strap her gun holsters back on, she saw the rest of Alfric's men sitting in small groups on the rows of chairs that the passengers normally occupied. They didn't seem bothered at all from sitting on the hard chairs, and were chatting amongst themselves to pass the time.

Once the train departed from the station, there was nothing to see out the windows. They were traveling in perpetual darkness, through the tunnel system that zig-zagged underground.

Although it wasn't that cold in the cabin, she and Nonna Pearla sat on the bed with their backs propped up on pillows against the wall. They had blankets covering their legs as well as most of Felix's body. His breathing was regular, and once in a while, he kicked his legs and moved his arms, as if he was running through the fields in his dreams.

The steady rhythmic rocking of the train as it moved on its tracks was downright sleep-inducing. There was also the constant THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP sounds that were not that loud, but loud enough that it made talking a chore, so she and Nonna mostly kept quiet.

It seemed to Mira that ever since Nonna Pearla had found out she was Zander's wife, there was a large unspeakable gap between them. When Mira was just a young runaway with a bogwarg puppy on her shoulder, Nonna was warm and chatty, treating her like a daughter or a niece.

After she found out that Mira had married Zander, although she was not cold or distant, there was a definite withdrawal. Gone was the light banter, and the general camaraderie. She was now in some type of work mode that was all-professional, and no-nonsense.

She wondered what this woman used to do for a living because 'housewife' was definitely not on the list, with the way she handled herself.

Mira was in a state of half-dreams when the train pulled into Sapphire station.

"Princess, would you like to get off the train and walk around for a bit? It would help your circulation, and we can get you some real food." Nonna patted Felix on the back as he began to awaken and squirm about.

He opened his large amber eyes and looked around. Upon seeing Mira, he ambled over to her and crawled onto her lap, burying his face into her chest.

"How long do we have before the train departs?"

"It takes them less than thirty minutes to refuel, but the truth is, the train is running on YOUR schedule, Your Royal Highness. It has been appropriated for your personal use. It goes when you tell it to go."

Mira pressed her lips together. How could she possibly respond to something like that?

They got off the train and found themselves in another station very similar to the previous station. There were people carrying luggage and carts, looking as if they were busy going somewhere, doing something.

Alfric's men meandered around her, trying to look as if they were not her personal bodyguards, but there were too many of them, and they were all around her, so it was almost impossible to keep a low profile. She tugged her cap lower. This crown needed to stay hidden for a while longer.

Mira followed Nonna Pearla to a colorful stall where some food was being cooked on a small grill by a chubby dwarf with a friendly smile. At the smell of meat cooking, Felix began to squirm. He put out his paws, waving about and looking as if he was starving.

"Ooooeee...gagaroooo...waaahaaeee..."

"Looks like he's hungry for real meat." Nonna laughed and set a chair out for Mira. She ordered some of the grilled meat for herself and Mira, and some raw ground meat for the boy.

"He can eat that?" Mira gasped. "Won't he get a stomach ache?"

Mira was disquieted by the fact that had she not won the death match and killed Felix's mother, she herself would have been the fresh meat that Felix would have been fed. She intellectually understood that she had no choice in killing the female bogwarg, but the guilt she felt every time she looked at Felix was real, and did not seem like it would ever go away.

She was spooning small bits of the fresh ground venison into Felix's eager mouth when she heard a commotion coming from behind.

"Who let that bogwarg cur in here?" A voice shouted, and footsteps rang on the paved floor of the station.

Mira's head whipped towards the sound. A large portly dwarf wearing the maroon and grey outfit of the station master was making his way towards her. His eyes were filled with hatred and his arm was raised above his head.

In his hand was a cudgel.

"Damn nasty fleabag! Get that dirty animal out of my station!"

Nonna Pearla stood up, placing herself between Mira and the station master.

Mira unzipped her leather jacket and wrapped one flap around Felix, hiding him within the soft warm interior. Her arms wrapped protectively around his little body, shielding him from the rage that was aimed at him.

Her other hand was on the pink Victoria Glock. She was poised and ready to feed some bullets into the man's open, enraged mouth.

The women did not even have a chance to respond. Immediately, he was surrounded by four of Alfric's men.

"Stay back," one of them warned with a low hiss.

"Who the hell are you people?" The large dwarf growled, swinging his cudgel at the nearest man.

CRACK!

The man had caught his cudgel with one hand and pushed forward with one decisive move, cracking the large dwarf's wrist.

AAAHHHHHH!!! The dwarf cried out, holding onto his wrist.

With one drop of his elbow onto the stoutly dwarf's shoulder, the man had snapped his collar bone.

The station master dropped to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain.

"Take him away." The one who broke his wrist said.

Within a few minutes, the station master and the four men who surrounded him had disappeared, and all the commotion had died down. It was back to business as usual.

The chubby dwarf who had been serving their food continued to grin as if nothing had happened, but Mira could see in his eyes, a strange alertness, as if he had realized something important.

Once their meal was done, she and Felix were escorted back onto the sleeper cabin, and the train continued on its way. It would not stop again until it reached its destination.

Diamond City.