Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 by Galvin, Aaron (top 5 books to read TXT) 📗

train car and repetitive noise from the wheels threatened to lull him to sleep. Lenny pinched himself awake, his mind and body wiped of any reserves that the strength of adrenaline had provided when fighting for his life and freedom against the Orcs in Røyrkval. Both mattered little to him now, each clacking sound beneath him a reminder of the added distance put between him and the cost incurred to safeguard his freedom and his life.

Dolans don’t leave others behind.

Lenny winced at the thought, his father’s voice as clear in his memory as it had been in life.

I didn’t leave ya, Pop. Lenny reopened his eyes to face reality, the darkness he and the others had escaped from due to his father’s final plan and sacrifice. Told ya before, he imagined himself arguing with Declan Dolan just one more time. I’ll carry ya with me forever.

The train whistle sounded again, the shrieking call living on long past its normal life.

Lenny swore under his breath when those inside the train car cheered alongside the whistle. Idiots, he thought to himself. We’re not outta this yet. Lenny knew, staring into the darkness, thoughts of his father swirling in his mind. There’s nothing but more Orcs and fighting ahead of us. Lenny scowled, thinking on the stopping point that lay ahead in the newly freed Selkies’ shared journey upon the railway. What do I do, Pop? He wondered, remembering the cavern staging point, Bouvetøya, where the Orcs had stopped for supplies and further slaves when Lenny and Declan had been brought down from the capital of New Pearlaya. Neither the Dolans, nor his father’s friend, Jemmy T, had been removed from the train cars in Bouvetøya. Still, Lenny recalled the brief stop well enough for the memory of the slaughter there. The Orc soldiers had been positioned outside the train cars, all waiting to kill any Selkie prisoner attempting to escape for want of clean air and water the moment that the doors were opened.

So, how do we stop the Orcs from killing us this time, Pop? Lenny wondered, over and again. The idea of escaping one forgotten city only to be overtaken in the next needled at him, as did the notion that Declan would have held all the answers for the coming problem and seen still more issues that Lenny could only guess at. Worst of all the questions, doubts, and problems plaguing Lenny Dolan’s mind was the notion that his father’s sacrifice would be in vain if Lenny and the other Selkies could find no solution to their upcoming problems.

What would you do about the Orcs we’re soon to meet, Pop? Lenny wondered, watching the continuous, chalk-like trail of steam that both followed and vanished in tandem. How would you keep these other idiots here all joined for what comes next? How do I focus them so that we keep each other safe until we can all get to New Pearlaya and go our separate ways?

The darkness held no answer for him, nor did any of his father’s frequent lessons return to the forefront of his mind with any hope of guidance.

When the train whistle signaled again, Lenny came alive. For a moment, he thought to reenter and march through each and every train car on a direct path for the main engine, all to throttle the fool who continued signaling to anyone up ahead that a train was on its way. Lenny was reaching for the door handle when it opened from the inside instead.

A red-haired giant filled the door frame. His bulky, Southern Elephant Seal suit hung off him like a collection of tattered rags that had been hastily sewn together. Tom Weaver’s face was beaten and bruised from his time as a hostage among the Orcs, but his hard eyes shone with resolve when they looked on Lenny. “You heading in, Dolan?”

“I was gonna,” Lenny admitted. “But only to tell whoever’s blowing that whistle to pipe down. They’re gonna let all the Orcs in Bouvetøya know we’re coming.”

Tom Weaver snorted. “Great minds think alike,” he said, pushing through the door, joining Lenny on the caboose. “Which is why I sent Brutus on up there to take over.”

Lenny stepped back to the caboose’s rail when Tom closed the door behind him. “You ran things in Røyrkval,” he said. “Wouldn’t whoever’s running this train listen to you before Brutus?”

“Might be they would,” said Tom. “But Brutus has a way about him that people tend to heed when he’s of a mind to make them listen . . . and we’re not in Røyrkval anymore, Dolan. Thanks to you, that is.”

“My Pop, you mean.”

“Aye, and him too.” Tom’s expression softened. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“What’s a matter, Tommy? You don’t wanna party with all the rest in there?”

“Hardly,” said Tom, settling down in the eave of the train car doorway. “My wife always used to go out and try to meet new people. Wanted to make new friends once we got ashore and settled in to our new lives there. I used to frustrate her when I said that I had all the friends I’d ever need. Didn’t see much point in making any new ones.” He glanced to the door behind him. “Can’t say as my time in Røyrkval has changed me much.”

“Why you coming to sit out here with me, then?” Lenny asked.

“You’re quieter than most,” said Tom. “Definitely smarter than the lot back inside these cars. Thought I might sit and talk with you awhile, at least. Better than suffering through the rest of those fools inside celebrating one battle won when there’s still a war out in front of us.”

Lenny shrugged. “I don’t got much to talk about. Least of all a war.”

“No?” Tom asked. “I figured that’s why you came out here. Gather your thoughts and plan out our next move.” He chuckled. “That, or think up a way for you to slip off alone the moment we stop in Bouvetøya, no? Maybe