บท 71: Onward to Faria
"That fucking bastard!" Talia hissed. "You mean to tell me we gave him and that nastyass woman each, a room at the inn while three-hundred of us squeezed into three tiny rooms and a barn?"
She clenched her fists and gave a dark thundering scowl.
"I can't believe he didn't even use his room and just left it empty, leaving everyone else crammed into tiny rooms, with barely enough space to lie down!"
She gave a deep growl and went to sit down at the table with Vander.
"Next time I see him, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" She raised her fists and pounded the air.
Vander laughed. "He's the King of Faria. Whether he uses his room or not does not matter. He will be given a room no matter what."
"But—"
"Countess Larabee will also be given a room if it's available since she is a noble woman traveling alone.
"But I—"
"You and Cedric were also given rooms. The fact that both you and he decided to share your rooms with your people has no bearing on the fact that you had been accorded the same regal treatment."
"But—"
Vander held up his hand. "Wait. Let me finish. I do agree with you that for them to leave a room empty and not share when the need was so desperate was highly selfish and completely reprehensible."
"I also agree that for Cecil to be sleeping with Cedric's fiancée right in front of his face is a very ballsy thing to do, but given the circumstance, I can't say I blame the guy."
"What do you mean?" Talia raised an eyebrow.
He laughed. "It's cold outside. He has a willing bed partner to keep him warm. And the best thing is that Cedric doesn't care. He doesn't even like the woman."
She gave him a dry look. "I'm sure that's what all you guys think. Cold weather. Warm bed partner. Doesn't matter who that bed partner is."
"Hahaha." Vander laughed. It was not actually true for so many men he knew, including himself and most likely Cedric also, but men always seemed to get a bad rap based upon a small number of the less savory fellows out there.
He turned to look at Talia with sparkling eyes.
She was so cute even when she was pissed. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought she was jealous of the attention Cecil was giving Evelyn.
"Talia," he shrugged. "What's the worst that will happen?"
"I don't know. Maybe she will get pregnant and try to pin it on Cedric?"
Vander nearly doubled over with laughter. Talia was such a funny woman.
"This is Faria we're talking about, not your world. You can't pass off a child on someone here. The genetic signature won't match."
"But they're brothers."
He shook his head. "Unless they are identical twins, they're different enough that you will be able to tell who fathered the child. But that's besides the point."
He sobered up as he paused for a moment, trying to figure out a genteel way of explaining birth control to someone virginal like Talia.
"Cecil and Evelyn are both very worldly and experienced. There won't be unwanted pregnancies no matter how much they sleep together."
"In that case, he should take her as consort instead of pressuring Cedric to take her as wife."
Vander shook his head with a weary smile.
"They are royalty, Talia. Marriages to them are tools used to retain and strengthen power. It has nothing to do with what the heart wants to do."
"You are royalty too, aren't you?" Talia cast him a dry look. "Is it the same for you?"
His smile died. "Yes."
She was about to respond when she heard a loud BANG! followed by crashing sounds and what sounded like metal crunching and thumping.
"What in the world?"
Vander held up his hand. "Stay."
He went to the doorway and slipped outside. A few minutes later, he returned.
"The train staff just unhitched your burned railcar. They hoisted it off the rail and it rolled into the ravine."
Talia jumped as a loud clang rang out and sounds of metal on metal.
"And now they are hitching the two adjacent railcars together so we can keep moving." Vander explained
Suddenly, there were shouts and calls from the men outside.
Talia ran to the other side of the rail car and peeked out. Vander immediately followed behind her.
A group of men were carrying what looked to be body bags and placing them within the burned out railcar that had just been rolled over into the ditch.
"Are those all the people who just died?"
"It would seem so. The ground is frozen solid. They can't bury the bodies so they are putting them temporarily inside the burned out railcar."
"Are they going to wait until spring to come back and collect the dead?"
Vander shook his head. "I don't know. If they wait too long, the bodies will have decomposed or carried off by carrion to be eaten."
Their questions were answered when several people threw fuel into the overturned railcar and someone set the railcar on fire one more time.
"Well that answered our question." Vander shrugged. "Funeral pyre."
Talia sighed and close the curtains. She did not need to see that the railcar she had spent time in was now a funeral pyre for dozens of dead bodies.
As the railcar began to burn, the men trooped back into the train. They were so close to the pyre that if they didn't leave soon, the smell of the burning bodies would permeate through the entire train.
In quick time, they could hear the sound of the train whistle sounding out its intent to continue its journey.
With a lurch, the train began to move forward once more.
"And we're back on track," Vander sighed. "Minus an entire day of delay along with about thirty dead people and a badly injured Grand Duke."
"How much longer till we reach Faria?"
Vander shrugged. "If we don't get ambushed again, it will be another two days by rail."
"So Primrose Village is the midway point between New Orleans and Faria."
"New Orleans?" Vander raised his eyebrows. "There is nothing in the other direction except the wastelands. The last train terminal ends in nowhere."
Talia narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I just came from there. And besides, why would anyone want to go to a terminal that ends where the wastelands begin?"
Vander shook his head. "It hadn't always been a wasteland. It was once quite beautiful."
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