Read Online Blood Red (9781101637890) by Mercedes Lackey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mercedes Lackey
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train all the way across Germany, and arriving in Munich in the morning. From there, she would take a train to Stuttgart, then a local train to Freudenstadt, and someone from the Bruderschaft would meet her at the station with her horse. She would be home, and everything would go back to normal again. Meals at the proper time, not the time these people took it. Meals that would be simple, not ones that left you groaning.
Of course, nothing was straightforward in these journeys. Vienna had more than one railway station. She would arrive at the South Railway Station, and would have to leave from the West Railway Station. When she had made the outward trip with Hans, it had involved the scramble of two modestly dressed peopleâin Hansâs case, a man dressed in rustic clothingâtrying to compete for taxis against people who were . . . well, not ârustics.â It was a good thing theyâd made sure to have plenty of time to make the exchange; in the end they had gotten a tired looking old man with an equally tired, old horse and a shabby thing that could barely be called a âtaxi,â and they had clomped along at a snailâs pace.
But ah, today . . .
She alighted from the train carriage, and was directed to a railway employee whose sole job, it seemed, was to get taxis for the first class passengers. She joined the small group of her fellow âelite,â who followed him, and were in turn followed by no less than five porters pushing giant trolleys of baggage.
It seemed that there was even a separate class of taxi for the well-to-do. She told their guide where she wanted to go, and he grouped her with others who were also going to the West station.
In almost no time, Rosa and three other travelers from first class were seated in a spacious vehicle. Their luggage was piled up on the top with great efficiency, and they were off. They arrived at the Western station in half the time it had taken her and Hans to get there. When all the little details of paying were taken care of, a porter appeared for her luggage and it was whisked away, leaving her to have a leisurely cup of coffee and a slice of
Sachertorte
before getting to the Munich train.
It would have been wonderful, and she would have enjoyed playing the
grande dame
to the hilt, if she hadnât been forced to expend so much energy on keeping her shields up that she was
starving
by the time that
Sachertorte
arrived. And rich as the decadent chocolate cake was, she could tell it was barely going to hold her until dinner in the dining car. But it did give her the energy to send a telegram, and it was with glee that she did so, because Gheorgheâs bounty made it possible to send such things. Vati would be very surprised to get such a missive, but he would take the news of her arrival to the Bruderschaft, and she would not have to linger in Freudenstadt, waiting for them.
By the time she was seated in the dining car, she was very, very glad of the rich menu on offerâthis was Vienna, after all, the culinary capital of Central Europe, and the railroad felt impelled to offer its first class passengers the equal of any meal they could get at any of the cityâs most luxurious hotels.
Using magic took energy and strength. This was one reason why she preferred to use physical weapons against monsters, rather than magical ones. Or rather, she kept the magical ones in reserve . . . And if she were in farmland or forest, she could draw on the energy of the Earth to augment her own. But not in a city.
Now, she did know of some Earth Mages who
could
workâif handicappedâin a city like Vienna at least, where there were islands of green to keep the Earth from being completely poisoned or shut away, but she was not one of them, and neither was Hans. So they had been forced to keep solid shields up the entire time they were in Vienna, and the hours they had spent there had been an ordeal.
I think we ate
Of course, nothing was straightforward in these journeys. Vienna had more than one railway station. She would arrive at the South Railway Station, and would have to leave from the West Railway Station. When she had made the outward trip with Hans, it had involved the scramble of two modestly dressed peopleâin Hansâs case, a man dressed in rustic clothingâtrying to compete for taxis against people who were . . . well, not ârustics.â It was a good thing theyâd made sure to have plenty of time to make the exchange; in the end they had gotten a tired looking old man with an equally tired, old horse and a shabby thing that could barely be called a âtaxi,â and they had clomped along at a snailâs pace.
But ah, today . . .
She alighted from the train carriage, and was directed to a railway employee whose sole job, it seemed, was to get taxis for the first class passengers. She joined the small group of her fellow âelite,â who followed him, and were in turn followed by no less than five porters pushing giant trolleys of baggage.
It seemed that there was even a separate class of taxi for the well-to-do. She told their guide where she wanted to go, and he grouped her with others who were also going to the West station.
In almost no time, Rosa and three other travelers from first class were seated in a spacious vehicle. Their luggage was piled up on the top with great efficiency, and they were off. They arrived at the Western station in half the time it had taken her and Hans to get there. When all the little details of paying were taken care of, a porter appeared for her luggage and it was whisked away, leaving her to have a leisurely cup of coffee and a slice of
Sachertorte
before getting to the Munich train.
It would have been wonderful, and she would have enjoyed playing the
grande dame
to the hilt, if she hadnât been forced to expend so much energy on keeping her shields up that she was
starving
by the time that
Sachertorte
arrived. And rich as the decadent chocolate cake was, she could tell it was barely going to hold her until dinner in the dining car. But it did give her the energy to send a telegram, and it was with glee that she did so, because Gheorgheâs bounty made it possible to send such things. Vati would be very surprised to get such a missive, but he would take the news of her arrival to the Bruderschaft, and she would not have to linger in Freudenstadt, waiting for them.
By the time she was seated in the dining car, she was very, very glad of the rich menu on offerâthis was Vienna, after all, the culinary capital of Central Europe, and the railroad felt impelled to offer its first class passengers the equal of any meal they could get at any of the cityâs most luxurious hotels.
Using magic took energy and strength. This was one reason why she preferred to use physical weapons against monsters, rather than magical ones. Or rather, she kept the magical ones in reserve . . . And if she were in farmland or forest, she could draw on the energy of the Earth to augment her own. But not in a city.
Now, she did know of some Earth Mages who
could
workâif handicappedâin a city like Vienna at least, where there were islands of green to keep the Earth from being completely poisoned or shut away, but she was not one of them, and neither was Hans. So they had been forced to keep solid shields up the entire time they were in Vienna, and the hours they had spent there had been an ordeal.
I think we ate
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