278 278 Fan Boat
The trip across the Frozen Wastes was a relatively quick one today, following the ridgeline from the town all the way to the northwestern edge of the Fae Forest, where the river exited.
That would let them ride downstream to the Garage, and then they could walk to the Den itself. The banks were wide for most of the distance, and there were plenty of trails that they could follow to avoid getting wet while heading home.
But first, Wolfe called for some more assistance.
[Snowman to the Den. Can we get a cargo transfer to the river mouth entrance to the Forest?] He requested, using the handheld radio from his pack.
[We can have a ride there for you in an hour. We are looking forward to seeing what you brought back.] One of the witches answered. It sounded like Alice, but Wolfe couldn’t be completely sure over the static that the abundance of magic caused in the radio communications.
“So now we just wait for them to send someone to pick us up?” The Engineer asked.
“Exactly. It will be easier than carting all this through the woods on our own. If we’re lucky, they might even send a larger team here, and we won’t have to carry anything at all.” Wolfe joked.
Wolfe turned to the driver and pointed to a spot off to the side of the river where it was obvious that travellers had been setting up camp in the past.
“If you need to find us, come by here and wait. Someone will come to find you soon enough. Even if you try to follow the river, the Forest will get you lost before you find the Den, so it’s best to just wait.” Wolfe explained.
“Got it. This is an easy spot to find, and being next to the river, it’s obvious when you’ve got the right spot, so I will tell the others to come to this point when they demand answers from me.”
He waved goodbye and turned to follow his tracks back to town, hoping to get out of the Wastes and past the defence checkpoints before it got dark. At the worst, he should be able to make the front-line camps, which were two-thirds of the way home, and he would be safe enough for the night there.
Wolfe and his group heard the pickup team coming long before they could see them, a laughing and splashing sound that suggested they were making a trip down the river at a high rate of speed.
What came into view was not what Wolfe was expecting. The witches had made a large, flat-bottomed barge with a fan on the back that was being propelled by Air Magic.
“Do you like it? We thought it would be easier to get goods in and out of the forest by the river, and nobody wanted to volunteer to carry boxes of books all day long.
Oh, you got a trailer for the bike. That would have made things easier, but who are all these people?” Ella asked as she cut power to the fan and let the boat glide to a stop on the shore near Wolfe.
“I am Janet, and I’m a magical items engineer. I asked to come here so that I could work with Witches who had the power and vision to make my ideas come to life. It looks like I was right. The riverboat is a great invention. Where did you come up with the idea?” The chocolate-skinned young witch introduced herself.
“The villages in the south, throughout the rural areas of Morgana Coven, use them to navigate the swamps and rainforests. I had seen pictures of them before, and they’re actually really simple to create and operate if you use magic. You see, it’s just air Magic turning the fan, and the fan pushes the boat forward while the large flaps in the back steer it.
It’s far from perfect, but it’s really fast on flat water, and it can carry quite a bit if you strap the cargo down well.” Ella explained.
Janet’s smile was so wide that it looked like it might crack her face as she shook Ella’s hand with both of hers. “That’s amazing. You see, I have an idea for a magical airplane that works nearly the same way. The magic turns the propellers, and they are mounted on adjustable pedestals so you can lift off straight up in the air without a runway.”
Wolfe stepped between the two witches and gestured to the trailer behind the bike.
“How about we get all that back to the Den first, and then you can nerd out about designs?”
“Sure, that’s not a problem. Who might these five be?”
“Junior volunteers for Witch Training. I will cleanse the Bloodline Curse on them and awaken them once we are back at the Den, and then they can start school tomorrow.” Wolfe told her with a wink while the girls looked at him in confusion.
“What’s that about awakening us? Even if we have the talent, we won’t awaken for a few more years.” One of the young witches informed him.
“I don’t have the patience for that. I prefer to cleanse your systems and give you your maximum potential for growth right now. Don’t worry, it’s no risk, and there are other witches your age with auras in the Den.”
None of the girls wanted to talk about their past, so they simply kept silent and decided to go with whatever the Demon had in mind for them.
The witch from his village didn’t seem like a bad person, and everyone seemed sincere about taking them in without questions. That alone was better than expected, much better, really. If they could also become real witches early and start training right away, that was even better than they would have dared to dream about.
They loaded everything, including the bike and trailer, into the riverboat, and Wolfe shoved it back into the deeper water before taking a seat at the bow.
“Alright, let’s see how this thing does with a full load on it. I can use some gravity magic to lighten it up if you think we’ve overloaded it.” Wolfe offered.
“It will be slower this way, but we made it with higher sides in case we were going to send out a lot of bulk products. Some of the villages are along the river, and they will need lots of food soon. They have plans to grow more in the forest and find what is edible, but until then, they need more than ration packs from the army.
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The smile was mostly for the boat, though, and it only grew as she powered up the fan, and the boat began to lift up to glide along the surface of the water as the speed increased.
Ella was right, it was slower this time, and it took an hour and a half to get home, but they made it well before dark, which gave Wolfe time to finish awakening the new witches, and Cleansing Janet, their new engineer, so that everyone would be ready for their first full day in the Den.