The train left Platform Four at exactly eight in the morning.
Vale watched from the upper floor of an abandoned warehouse west of the terminus, where broken window frames gave him a clear view across the outer railway yards without forcing him anywhere near the military platform.
The armored locomotive moved first towing behind the reinforced vault car, followed by two guard cars.
Vale watched the final car clear the platform. Four units in total—exactly as their information had described. He didn’t like that predictability almost as much as he would have disliked finding an unexpected platoon.
Aldis crouched near another window with a small viewing glass pressed to one eye. "Still the same arrangement."
"Vault behind the engine," Vale agreed. "Two cars of soldiers protecting the rear approach."
"Sensible."
"Very."
Aldis lowered the glass. "You sound disappointed."
"I would prefer our enemy to be stupid."
"So would everyone."
Vale continued watching. Soldiers occupied both rear cars. Through the protected firing slits, he could see the weapons they had become familiar with over the last several days. Most were long guns and a smaller number carried shorter ones.
Vale still didn’t know much about either type beyond what observation had taught him. The long weapons seemed to be standard issue among Elarion’s soldiers. The shorter guns were less common and tended to appear in the hands of specialized detachments.
Another detail for later. Assuming there was a later.
The train crossed the western checkpoint and continued toward the open countryside. Vale waited until the last car disappeared behind the signal structures.
"Let’s go."
Aldis was already moving toward the stairs.Soon they left by separate routes.
Renna had departed well before sunrise. Ghara and Thorne were already positioned closer to the ambush position. Elenwe had chosen higher ground overlooking the tunnel.While Durn and Pib had spent most of the morning preparing the actual stop—the part that mattered more than anything else.
The railway west of Iron Junction crossed cultivated land before entering progressively rougher country. The fields eventually gave way to woodland and broken ridges, until the line curved through a narrow tunnel beneath one of the larger hills. Vale had chosen that location for one simple reason: once the train entered, its crew would have very few choices.
Their objective was not merely to slow it. They wanted it stopped—preferably intact.
If the crew saw the obstruction and braked, perfect. If the locomotive struck it after losing enough speed and partially left the rails, that was also acceptable. The documents were inside a reinforced military vault car; a controlled derailment might damage the train, but the contents should survive. What they did not want was the entire formation leaving the railway at full speed and burying the vault under twisted metal.
Durn had therefore designed the obstruction with considerable care.
When Vale reached the observation point above the western side of the tunnel, the dwarf was sitting beneath a stunted tree with stone dust covering both sleeves. Pib sat beside him on a flat rock, eating a pastry.
Aldis stopped. He looked at her, then at the pastry. His hand slowly moved toward his coat pocket.
Pib took another bite, her eyes fixed on him. "No."
Aldis checked his pocket anyway. His expression became deeply offended. "I was saving that."
"You were carrying it," Pib corrected smoothly.
"Because I intended to eat it!"
"You took too long."
Durn didn’t look up from his stone-chisel. "She stole it twenty minutes ago."
Aldis stared at him. "You saw her?"
"Yes."
"And said nothing?"
"You didn’t ask."
Pib finished the last bite and licked her fingers. "Excellent breakfast."
Aldis pointed an accusing finger at her. "If we survive this, I’m charging you for it."
"You’ll need proof."
Vale just sighed and walked past them to inspect the drop. Below, the railway line curved toward the tunnel opening. The obstruction waited inside the eastern approach—several large stones shifted directly across the line. Ghara and Thorne had been needed to move the largest pieces, while Durn and Pib had packed smaller rocks around them and disturbed part of the track bed beyond the blockage. Not enough to guarantee disaster, but enough to punish a driver who decided braking was optional.
"You changed the ground under the rail," Vale noted.
Durn stood, popping his back. "A little."
"How little?"
"If the train stops, irrelevant."
"And if it doesn’t?"
Durn looked toward the tunnel mouth. "Then the front wheels are going to have a deeply educational experience."
Pib nodded. "The idea is to make stopping seem attractive."
Aldis folded his arms. "And if the driver doesn’t find it attractive?"
Durn gave him a flat look. "Then I hope he has made peace with his ancestors."
Vale examined the line again. "The vault car?"
"Directly behind the locomotive."
"I know."
"If the engine partially leaves the track, the vault might stay upright," Durn explained. "If the whole train comes off at speed, then we have a problem."
"So we want braking."
"We want braking very badly."
"And if we don’t get it?"
Durn shrugged. "We improvise."
Pib offered a sharp smile. "Which is another way of saying everything has gone wrong."
Renna appeared from between the trees without making a sound. Aldis actually noticed her this time, looking briefly pleased with himself before her words hit.
"Train’s coming."
Every trace of humor vanished.
Vale turned. "Distance?"
"Several minutes."
"Anything ahead?"
"No."
"Behind?"
"Nothing."
Vale looked uphill. Elenwe stood on a shelf of stone, partly hidden beneath the trees. "Anything unusual?"
She shook her head. "Nothing I can identify."
That was good enough. Vale drew a slow breath. "Positions."
Everyone separated instantly. Durn and Pib remained near the western side of the tunnel, their job beginning once the train stopped. Ghara and Thorne moved downhill into the bush. Aldis took cover near the line, while Renna disappeared into the trees. Elenwe remained on higher ground.
Vale crouched behind a rock and waited.
The first warning came through the rail—a faint vibration traveling into the earth. Then came sound: a distant, metallic rhythm rolling between the hills. Birds rose from the eastern trees. The vibration strengthened into a heavy mechanical thrum, and a moment later, the locomotive came around the bend.
Vale raised his glass. The armored front caught the morning light. There was faint heat distortion shimmered above the engine as it advanced. Behind the engine came the vault car, followed by the first guarded car, and then the second. Rearward security, exactly as expected.
Vale lowered the glass slightly. Again, nothing was wrong. Again, that bothered him.
The train approached the tunnel. Durn shifted lower behind cover; Pib leaned forward.
Vale watched the locomotive enter the darkness. The crew would see the obstruction soon, and then they would brake.
Another section of the locomotive disappeared into the portal. Nothing happened. The vault car approached the tunnel mouth.
Vale frowned. Still nothing.
Durn slowly stood up, his expression changing. Vale noticed immediately. "What?"
The dwarf didn’t answer. The sound inside the tunnel didn’t dull—it deepened and expanded into a high-pitched roar. Pib’s ears lifted, her face shifting in shock.
Durn took one step forward. "No."
Vale turned toward him. "What?"
"No!" Durn shouted into the wind. "He’s increasing power!"
Vale looked back toward the darkness. "Can he clear it?"
Durn looked at him as though the question itself were insane. "Clear it? If he hits that without braking, he could throw his own wheels off the line!"
Pib stepped beside him. "Or maybe he apparently knows something we don’t."
The mechanical roar increased even more.The locomotive accelerated.
Then came the impact a heartbeat later.
The hill jumped beneath Vale’s boots. A tremendous crack exploded from inside the tunnel, blasting dust and shattered stone from both entrances. The railway track shuddered violently. A second impact followed, then another, as stone fractured inside the dark with the noise of a collapsing quarry wall.
Durn stared, at it shocked. "We spent two hours moving those!"
Another violent crash rolled through the ridge. Pib looked fascinated. "I think he’s moving them back."
The locomotive burst from the western mouth. Broken stone scattered from beneath its armored front, and dust covered its plating. Long scratches dragged across the leading surfaces, and one section near the lower nose had been visibly battered inward.
The engine rocked violently, its front wheels lifting dangerously close to the edge of the rails. For a second, the entire machine threatened to derail. Then it straightened out, slamming back onto the iron rails.
The vault car emerged behind it, followed by the first guarded car, and then the second. All four units remained upright. The train had lost considerable speed, but it was still moving—and recovering fast.
Durn stepped out from behind the trees. "The bastard drove through it."
Pib nodded. "He really did."
"I weakened the track!"
"Apparently not enough."
"He hit several tons of stone!"
"Yes."
"He should have dropped a wheel!"
Pib patted his shoulder. "You can file a complaint later."
Vale stood. "Move!"
That ended the discussion. The plan had depended upon a stationary train; they now had a moving one.
Vale ran downhill, mana flooding through his legs until the slope seemed to vanish beneath his strides. Renna appeared ahead, sprinting along the gravel. Ghara crashed through the undergrowth farther left without bothering to find a path, Thorne following close behind her. Aldis reached the railway behind them, while Elenwe descended from higher ground with wind curling around her coat.
The train was already recovering speed,withthe rear guard car remain several hundred metres ahead,Renna was closing fastest.
"Rear!" Vale shouted over the roar of the engine.
She raised one hand, matched the speed of the iron wheels for several strides, and jumped. Her hands caught the railing, the momentum dragging her sideways before she hauled herself onto the platform deck.
Vale reached it seconds later, jumping for the lower step. His boots struck metal hard enough to shake the frame. Renna caught his forearm, hauling him up.
"I had it," Vale grunted.
"I know," she said, releasing him.
Ghara came next, jumping directly onto the rear platform. The metal groaned sharply under her weight. Vale looked downward; Ghara followed his gaze.
"It held," she muttered.
"Try not to test that twice."
Thorne landed behind her. Four.
Aldis was still running, but the distance was starting to grow. Elenwe saw it, lifted one hand, and gathered wind around him. His next stride carried him much farther than expected, nearly causing him to stumble mid-air.
"What are you doing?" he yelled.
"Helping!"
"I was already running!"
"Poorly!"
Another gust struck him from behind. Aldis reached the rear of the train and jumped, his grip slipping off the bar. Thorne leaned out, caught the back of his coat, and hauled him onto the platform like a wet sack.
Aldis landed chest-first, gasping for air. "I hate magic."
Elenwe landed lightly beside him. "You’re welcome."
"That was not gratitude."
"Then keep hating it quietly."
Six.
Vale looked back toward the tunnel. Durn and Pib were still running, though falling far behind. Pib was faster; Durn seemed to have abandoned dignity entirely and was concentrating on continuing to breathe.
The train accelerated. Vale looked at Elenwe. "Get them."
She tracked their distance. "Both?"
"Preferably."
"And here I was considering leaving Durn."
Even at that distance, Vale somehow felt the dwarf would complain about that later.
Elenwe stepped off the platform, floating backward in a sudden draft of wind as the train continued forward. Pib saw her approaching and immediately raised both arms. Durn did not.
Elenwe reached them, wrapping them in a swirling updraft. Pib left the ground first, laughing delightedly. Durn followed, his expression pure terror.
"PUT ME DOWN!" his voice carried remarkably well down the track.
Elenwe accelerated toward the train. "Stop struggling!"
"I AM A DWARF!"
"I’m aware!"
"DWARVES BELONG ON THE GROUND!"
Pib spread her arms to the wind. "This is fantastic!"
"You have no dignity!"
"I’m a goblin!"
"THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE!"
Vale almost smiled, but the rear door clicked open. A soldier stepped onto the platform, his long gun rising.
Renna moved first, striking the barrel aside just as it discharged. The shot cracked beside Vale’s ear, shattering the roof trim. Renna drove her shoulder into the man’s chest, pinned him to the bulkhead, and struck him beneath the jaw. The soldier collapsed. Vale caught him before his head hit the metal floor, checking his neck quickly.
"Alive," Vale confirmed. "Keep it that way."
Renna nodded. "We need information more than bodies."
Another soldier appeared inside the door. Ghara slammed it shut, a shot punching through the wood beside her hand a split second later. She looked at Vale. "They know we’re here."
"That became obvious when Renna attacked the first man," Vale said. Renna looked mildly offended.
Elenwe landed on the platform, depositing Pib, who grinned from ear to ear, and Durn, who immediately grabbed the railing with both hands as if the earth were spinning.
"Never again," Durn wheezed.
"You survived," Elenwe noted.
"That doesn’t improve it!"
Eight.
Vale drew his sword, the edge humming with quiet mana. "Now."
Ghara kicked the door open, and they entered the rear compartment narrow, reinforced, and clearly designed for troop transport rather than comfort. Three men waited inside—two carrying long guns, the third holding one of the shorter ones.
Vale saw the shorter barrel rise. "Down!"
The weapon erupted into a rapid chatter of shots. Vale threw himself aside as rounds struck the wall behind him. Ghara ripped a metal bench from its mounts, flipped it over, and used it as a shield while heavy impacts hammered the metal.
Aldis dropped behind her. "That one is considerably faster!"
"Excellent observation," Ghara growled.
"I’m contributing!"
The men with long guns fired steady —shot, pause, cycle, shot. Vale noted the rhythm, pressing along the left wall.
Renna moved along the opposite side. The nearest soldier tried to follow her, but she caught his weapon, forced it upward, and drove a knee into his stomach. As he folded, she lowered him gently to the floor.
Ghara pushed forward behind her improvised shield. The shorter gun fired again, several rounds hammering the metal until one punched through a thin section, grazing her upper arm. Ghara glanced at the blood, then at the man who had fired. Vale almost felt sorry for him.
She reached the barricade, caught the front of his coat in one massive hand, and lifted him off the floor.
"Ghara," Vale warned. "Alive."
"I know," she grunted, tossing the soldier onto a wooden bench rather than the bulkhead. The bench broke beneath him.
Aldis winced. "Your interpretation of restraint remains as inspiring as ever."
"He’ll wake up."
"Probably."
Thorne dealt with the remaining soldier, pulling the long gun away and striking the man’s chest with the heel of his hand until he collapsed against the wall.
Vale moved past them into the second section of the car. Five more soldiers had overturned storage boxes across the passage, holding their ground.
Elenwe struck her staff sending a gust of wind through the narrow space, filling the air with dust and loose papers. Vale crossed the distance before the defenders recovered. A shot passed his shoulder; another struck his upper arm, the mana impact turning him slightly, but his reinforcement absorbed the brunt of it. He reached the shooter and delivered a restrained palm strike to the chest, sending the man flying backward over the crate.
Renna took the right flank while thorne took the left. Ghara headed straight down the center. A soldier tried using his long gun as a club against Thorne, but Thorne caught the barrel in both hands and snapped it in two. Both men looked at the broken pieces before Thorne politely set them down and knocked the soldier out with a stomach punch.
Aldis stepped over the collapsing man. "Very considerate."
Thorne grunted.
Within a minute, the car was cleared.
"Move," Vale ordered, leading them across the connection into the second guarded car.
Here, the defenders had prepared far more thoroughly. Benches and storage containers formed organized barricades across the car. Men with long guns occupied the front line; shorter weapons waited farther back where their users had clearer lines of sight. Nobody panicked.
Aldis looked past Vale’s shoulder. "They learn quickly."
"They knew we were coming."
"That isn’t reassuring."
A voice called out a command from behind the barricade in sharp.
Ghara leaned toward Vale. "Can I answer?"
"No."
"You haven’t heard my answer."
"That’s why I said no."
Vale picked up a discarded metal cup from the floor and hurled it into an overhead lamp. Glass shattered, plunging the passage into flickering shadows as Elenwe released another blinding gust of wind.
The team charged. Shots cracked through the dust. A heavy round struck Vale’s shoulder, driving a dull ache into the bone, but he parried a bayonet thrust and knocked the rifleman unconscious.
The shorter weapons opened fire, their rapid impacts splintering the wooden barriers. One round cut across Thorne’s side; another hit Ghara’s reinforced shoulder plate, tearing through her coat before spiraling away.
Her expression darkened. A soldier abandoned his long gun and drew a blade, but Ghara caught his wrist before he could thrust, disarming him with a twist. "That was ambitious."
Another soldier rushed from side, raising his weapon like a club. Ghara turned, her fist swinging in a wide, deadly arc aimed straight for his temple.
"Ghara—" Vale shouted.
She realized her mistake a fraction of a second too late, but her fist was already moving at lethal speed.
Something stepped between them.
*CLANG.*
The impact was deep, heavy, and resonant enough to freeze the entire compartment.
Ghara’s fist stopped dead. Not slowed—completely stopped.
The soldier behind the newcomer stumbled backward in terror. Ghara stared at her own hand, then slowly looked up at what held it.
A figure stood between her and the guard, completely enclosed in armor Vale had never seen before. There was no exposed face, no uncovered throat, no gap between the helmet and collar large enough to exploit. Broad, overlapping plates of dark alloy protected the chest and shoulders, while layered articulation covered the arms, legs, and hands.
The suit was massive—far too massive for standard infantry plate. A man wearing that much metal should have been slow, yet this figure had crossed the compartment fast enough to intercept a Grand Knight’s strike in mid-air.
Ghara pulled her hand back. Nothing happened. She pulled harder, straining her muscles, but a faint mechanical hum issued from inside the suit’s back housing, and the armored arm shifted only an inch.
Surprise faded from Ghara’s face, replaced by a dark, dangerous smile. "Oh."
The armored figure released her wrist—and pushed. The sheer kinetic force sent Ghara flying backward, shattering an overturned barricade as she landed.
Aldis stared. "That seems bad."
Thorne moved before Vale could stop him, driving a mana-charged fist squarely into the stranger’s chest.
The impact rang through the car like a cannon shot. The armored figure staggered back one step—only one—and straightened up.
Vale’s eyes moved over the armor in rapid analysis. The weight distribution was wrong. The armor wasn’t merely sitting on the wearer; internal mechanical linkages were answering his movements instantly, amplifying his strength and absorbing kinetic shock. The suit was assisting him.
A massive, thick-barreled weapon was slung along the stranger’s leg, far larger than the rifles carried by the infantry. He hadn’t even reached for it yet.
Behind him, the remaining guards withdrew to give him room, their discipline proving they trusted this armored juggernaut completely.
Ghara climbed out of the wreckage, wiping blood from her lip. "Again."
Vale’s voice hardened into steel. "Ghara. Stand down."
She kept her eyes on the stranger. "What?"
"We are here for the vault."
"I remember."
"Then stop enjoying yourself."
Her smile widened. "That may be difficult."
Vale looked past the figure. The forward door was only a short distance away, leading directly to the vault car. Durn and Pib were already inspecting the armored giant’s mechanical joints and exhaust vents with intense fascination.
"Focus," Vale commanded.
"I am focused," Durn grunted.
"On the vault."
"I can focus on two things."
Pib nodded. "I can focus on at least four."
The armored stranger took one step forward, metal moving with a faint mechanical murmur. He lowered his stance and raised both hands, leaving his heavy weapon secured at his side.
Ghara laughed softly. "Now I’m offended."
Then the armored man moved.
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