The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Some of the less squeamish students volunteered to help clean up the mess outside the walls of Garventon that afternoon and into the evening, but Larek and his friends had absolutely no desire to go out there. Not that they were completely opposed to helping, but by the time they arrived at the SIC building and had gotten something to eat, the lack of really restful sleep from the night before hit them and they went to bed in the relatively comfortable beds found at the top of the structure. For the others, it was quite pleasant, but since the beds were made for smaller people, it wasn’t any better for Larek than his own back at the Academy.

When he woke up before dawn the next morning, having gone to bed early in the evening, he felt so much better and well-rested. The same couldn’t be said for the others once he roused them to get up, mainly because none of them were morning people, but they were also cognizant that they needed to be up and alert for when the SIC Transportation Network carriages arrived. Because if they didn’t, then they would have to continue on with the caravan, something that he’d prefer to avoid if at all possible.

“They left last night just before we sealed the gates for the evening.”

“What? But they were supposed to bring us at least to the capital—”

The owner of the inn, which they had visited shortly after the town began to wake up and they had gotten breakfast from the SIC building, shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is that they mentioned something about being saddled with children that brought trouble down on them, before they left in a hurry.”

Nedira, being the ranking Mage student among the group, had wanted to ensure that they still had a place within the caravan that morning in case the Network carriages didn’t show up, but that obviously didn’t work out so well. As they left the empty inn, Larek saw the worry he now experienced showing on her face.

“That’s not good, is it?”

She shook her head, but as she opened her mouth to reply, she stopped as she heard shouting toward the town’s southern gate. It was still quite early, as the sun had just recently peeked over the horizon, so there to be such a commotion at that time of day was likely a bit unusual. Larek gripped the haft of his axe a little tighter as he pictured another attack by monsters, as he couldn’t rely on the feeling of a Scission opening up nearby to warn them all.

Thankfully, it wasn’t an attack of any kind.

“It’s the Network!” Nedira shouted, pointing with her staff toward the gates, where Larek could see something huge coming through. He stumbled in his stride a little as he looked in that direction, as he was greeted by something he could barely comprehend.

Based on the quick description of the Transportation Network he had been given, Larek had expected some sort of large wagon pulled by a team of horses; in essence, nothing he hadn’t seen before except on a bigger scale. Instead, the “carriage” that he had pictured to be simply larger than the caravan wagon looked more like a house on wheels. He estimated that it was approximately 60 feet in length, 20 feet in height, and at least a dozen feet wide; it appeared to be made of wide but thin steel strips connected to Rushwood planks, giving it both strength and durability, and it rested on 4 different steel axles, giving it a total of 8 thick wooden wheels covered in more thin steel strips that allowed it to travel with great stability.

Even from a distance, he could sense that the wheels and axles had Fusions on them, though he wasn’t close enough to see what they were quite yet. Based on the sheer size and weight of the entire vehicle, he could only assume that they were wood and steel strengthening Fusions, but he’d have to be closer to say for sure. There was a possibility that parts of the rest of the entire structure had Fusions on them, but he couldn’t see or sense them from his current distance.

What made him stumble a little wasn’t the size of the carriage, but what was pulling the 8-wheeled vehicle. Rather than a team of horses or mules, there was only a single beast pulling the extremely heavy carriage.

“W-What is that,” he asked, the appearance of the monstrous-looking creature causing Larek to stutter.

“What is what? The Cannik?  Oh, that’s right, you probably haven’t seen one before,” Verne answered from his side. “Canniks are normally gentle beasts that have been tamed by many people around the world; their enormous strength is utilized for many different purposes, the least of which is pulling the Network carriages. Don’t worry, they don’t bite – unless you try to hurt the driver to which it’s bonded. In that case, it’ll probably rip you apart.”

Larek could well believe that, as the giant, brown-haired, 15-foot-tall wolf-like beast had sharply pointed teeth that were as big as his arm. It had a tongue lolling out of its mouth as it quickly plodded along the street leading further into the town, and it looked around in curiosity as it moved, as if this was the first time it had been there and was trying to drink it all in. The harness that was attached to its upper body strained against the multitude of leads that led back to the carriage, but the Cannik didn’t even seem to notice it. Bulging muscles along its fore and back legs pulsed as it moved along, the weight of the heavy vehicle obviously of no consequence.

“Are those used to fight monsters, too?” Larek asked, still shocked at what he was seeing. He could well imagine how useful even a single Cannik would’ve been if it had been nearby at Crystalview Academy; the attacking wolves, bears, and Treedin would’ve been torn apart.

Verne shook his head. “No, they’re rather gentle, like I said. If the person it was bonded to were directly attacked during the defense against a Scission, then the Cannik would do everything they could to defend that person, but it wouldn’t seek out monsters even if it were ordered. From what I understand, it had been tried in the past, but the attempts were abandoned as it was too dangerous; if the bonded person were to die during a defense, the Cannik would go berserk, attacking anything and anyone nearby. Needless to say, it was too much of a risk, so they’re utilized for other purposes now.”

Larek just stared at the giant wolf with amazement and a little tingle of fear, given that he’d fought against wolves before. The more he looked at the beast, however, the more he began to lose that fear; when he saw it turn into the center of the town where there was more room for it and got a better look, he realized it appeared more like a big, fluffy dog rather than a deadly wolf. It’s jawline wasn’t as pronounced as he would expect with a wolf, and its paws – while large – didn’t have sharp claws that seemed capable of tearing through a person with a single swipe.

That’s not so bad, I guess. I wonder if I could bond with a Cannik one day? How does that even work?

Thoughts of having a large friend of his own were interrupted when he noticed that the Network carriage wasn’t alone. Behind it were two other Canniks pulling vehicles, their appearance very similar to the first but subtly different in coloring. When they finally pulled all the way into the town center, they practically filled it up entirely, like a miniature village coming to visit its bigger cousin.

As soon as they stopped, the Canniks laid down where they were, their length stretching out for dozens of feet. Larek saw the drivers jump down from the front of the carriages and quickly pull out what appeared to be huge chunks of meat from a satchel on their sides, before approaching the front of the beasts. With a few casual tosses, the meat disappeared within the teeth-filled caverns that the Canniks opened in their mouths, their stubby tails wagging so quickly that Larek could practically feel the air moving even from 100 feet away. The drivers then reached up to scratch behind the ears of their bonded Canniks, who all seemed to close their eyes in pleasure, which made Larek chuckle a little at the display.

Just like a dog, alright.

His attention was pulled away from the sight as dozens of people began to stream toward the carriages from around the town, appearing seemingly from nowhere, and at first Larek was worried they were going to attack the newcomers for some reason. Their reason for their presence was quickly revealed as they arrived at the back of each carriage and started to unload large barrels, crates, and bags of what appeared to be supplies for the town and the SIC, all of it being moved to a few different storage facilities that were out of sight.

“Look, there’s Gharina talking to someone from the Network,” Nedira said, pulling Larek’s attention away again, his curiosity toward everything going on causing him to focus on each element of the arrival one at a time. “It looks like Crester and Rheina are there, too, so they’re likely asking about catching a ride with them.”

Now that his focus had shifted, Larek also saw the two Martial graduates along with the leader of Garventon’s SIC defenders talking to a man dressed in all grey, an SIC patch on his chest.

“Let’s go see if they’re going to be able to take us, otherwise we’re going to have to find some other way to get to Copperleaf Academy,” Nedira said, leading the way. Larek followed after her, along with Verne and Norde, as the fourth-year Mage student took charge of their little group – for which he was grateful. Given his normal reception along the people of the Kingdom, of which the person Gharina and the Martials were speaking with seemed to be, it would likely be detrimental if he were to try and speak first.

As they got closer, he couldn’t help but overhear some of their conversation.

“…highly unusual, but I think we can accommodate the students. As we already have some other passengers, some will have to stay in the holds, which isn’t exactly comfortable,” the man they were talking to said.

“That’s not a problem,” Rheina said. “It’s much better than traveling with a caravan, like we did getting here.”

“Well enough, then. We’ll be leaving as soon as we’ve unloaded Garventon’s supplies and the Canniks are able to rest a little. We only started moving a few hours ago, so it probably won’t be more than 2 hours before we depart. Make sure everyone is aboard before we leave, because we’re on a schedule here.” With that, the man left Gharina and the pair of Martial graduates, heading toward where the supplies were still being unloaded.

With no reason to investigate anymore, even the others having overheard the man, they stopped and began to turn back to the SIC building, but Gharina caught sight of the quartet and looked at Nedira with an expression on her face that made them stop their escape.

Uh, oh. I wonder what she wants.

Book 2 Chapter 9: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-81622622