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By the time we had left the gate of Durem, Yama seemed totally sane and normal. He also seemed to like walking less then I do, and we rented two horses from a riding stable just ouside the gate. I love riding, and the lessons I took ages ago in Aekea had stayed in my mind, so I enjoyed the ride. Untill we got to Barton that is.
The first sign of things not being quite normal was a police car parked just outside the west gate. Much to my relief, it was only a traffic accident and had nothing to do with the trouble Yama had caused at the train station in Durem. However, we couldn't go in the gate, which meant either a long trip around to the north gate by way of the fields near Bass'ken Lake, or my "secret" path to the closed (but not locked) south gate by way of the train tracks. We chose to go by the train tracks route. As we got to the tracks, I saw somthing very out of place... The rails were missing!
We hurried onwards, hoping to be able to tell the Barton stationmaster before there was an accident. But at the point where the rails were there again was a partly derailed passenger train, blocking most of the way. We were too late! Or were we?
The train was deserted and there was no sign that anyone had been on it. As we carefully walked the horses past it, I recognized it as the same train that I had seen being pushed out of the station by another engine the day before. I had thought it strange, but not paid much attention to it. I asked Yama if it could have been pushed off the tracks by the other engine, and after examining the rear end of the train, he agreed that it looked like it had been. But why?
The answer became clear when we got into town. Angel's hotel was just across from the train station, but we didn't have to go looking for her there. A crowd of people, most carrying bags or suitcases, were clustered on the station steps, mostly arguing. Among them, looking very pretty in shorts and a tshirt and with two large suitcases and a cat carrier, was Angel.
I waved to her and she hurried over to me, looking as relived as I felt. "Thank goodness you're here!" she said. "I overslept, just like always, and when I came to get the next train, all the trains to Durem were canceled. I don't know what it's about, but I've heard that there was an accident of some sort..." Only then did she seem to notice Yama and the horses. "Looks like you found a better means of transport then the trains! Have another horse for me?"
I had been thinking quickly while she chattered on. "I'm afraid not," I said, "but... When are you going back to the Isle?"
"Today if you're coming with me," she said with a grin. "But you don't have your bags..."
"Why don't you go back to the hotel and wait for me while I go back to Durem and get my stuff? We should be able to get off before evening..." I had slid off my horse. "I just have to talk to the stationmaster for a moment, then I'll help you with your stuff."
Yama had already dismounted. "Permit me, milady," he said, as he took one of the suitcases. I went into the station, thinking about how strange he was...how he could be so sweet and kind most of the time, yet fly into a murderous rage at any sign of trouble.
I was glad he hadn't come into the station with me, since I had to argue with several apparently idiot porters and clerks before anyone would tell me where the stationmaster's office was. As I went up the narrow stairs, I heard voices. The stationmaster had left his door half open, and seemed to be arguing with someone inside.
"I tell you," shouted a loud, pompous voice "I want to know how that train got out of this station under your nose without being stopped! And I want to know now! Otherwise you won't find yourself stationmaster of this place much longer!"
Another, softer, voice, shounding just as angry as the first but also very frightened, said "I tell you, I don't know! If anyone saw it, they probably just thought it had broken down in the station and had to be moved... That happens a lot here, you know! We don't have enough money..."
"And you won't get any more after this," the first voice almost screamed. "This is so utterly humiliating to the company, tracks stollen, a train pushed out of the station in broad daylight and off the rails just outside town to be used as a barrier, another train stopped and boarded practicly just under our nose and all the passengers kidnapped... This is too much! Someone has to pay, and it's going to be you!"
The door banged all the way open and a large, white-haired man in a fancy red and black suit and red bowtie stormed out, nearly knockg me over. I tiptoed into the office, to discover that the other occupent was a young woman in worn grey denim pants and jacket, who had the huge ears of the fox-people sticking out of her messy blue-black hair. I felt rather sorry for her.
"Are you the stationmaster?" I asked.
"I prefer to be called the stationmistress, although I don't think I'll be that for much longer," she said with a sigh. "What do you want?"
"Well, the tracks are gone and..." I started to say, but she inturupted me angrily.
"I know that, that's what I'm going to lose my job for! Begone!"