William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I. Aik Iskandaryan

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СКАЧАТЬ first slightly, then more and more, and then the whole platform was shaking, as if it was an earthquake. Soon the sound of hooves coming from underground turned into real thunder, followed by even heavier shaking of the ground.

      «The Six O’Clocker is coming!» Nymus had to all but shout to be heard. «I wish you an unforgettable trip, my Master! Have a good journey!»

      «Thank you, Nymus!»

      The moment he said that, the thunder of hooves coming from deep under deafened all the other sounds. A part of the path not far from the place he and Nymus were standing, suddenly rose up. Small pieces of soft ground flew into the air and it seemed like someone large was making the way through the thick ground, struggling to get to the surface. And a moment later, the shovel-like powerful horns showed from under the ground and rushed forward, followed by hump-nosed heads, necks and, finally, white bodies of blue-eyed elks, pulling the legendary black carriage!

      This process lasted for a while and soon, when the carriage was fully on the surface, it turned out that the Six O’Clocker had the same size as ordinary trains. It consisted of an endless row of connected cabins. Each cabin looked like a miniature cab. William suddenly realized he had no idea which cabin he was supposed to take. He turned to ask Nymus, but the mailmage was gone. There was an old wizard instead, who was holding his granddaughter’s hand.

      «I must have missed the sound of him peregrining because of that racket!» William thought. «Well, now I’ll have to think on my own!»

      He saw the enrolees taking seats in the cabins quite chaotically and he headed towards the one right opposite to him. But as he approached it, he saw through the round window on the door that all the seats inside were taken. The cabins were for four people each, with seats facing each other. William moved along the «train’ until he found a cabin with only one passenger. William opened the door and asked:

      «Excuse me, are other seats taken?»

      The passenger just lazily turned his head, gave William a look and said as lazily:

      «Nah!» after which he turned to the other window again.

      Then William jumped inside the cabin. Once inside, he looked around. The cab inside was rather tall, even an adult could sand here without touching the ceiling. It was rather roomy as well, to stretch out the legs. Round windows on the doors on both sides reminded illuminators in a ship cabin. The cabins had pillows and other necessary things to make the journey comfortable for the passengers. There were black hooded robes on the seats, neatly folded. After glancing at his travelling companion and seeing that he was already wearing the prepared garment, William took the robes and, following the example of his companion, threw them on. There was a letter «E» encircled by a feather embroidered on the chest. Finding his new outfit quite comfortable, he finally sat down, noticing how comfortable the seats were. Now William’s eyes focused on the companion sitting opposite him. It was a rather chubby pink-cheeked boy with tousled hair, about the same age as William. It seemed that the boy wasn’t interested in anything. He was staring at the trees in the forest and seemed to be lost in his thoughts. But William wasn’t too happy at the thought of spending the whole journey in silence. Besides, it felt like the right time to start making friends. So William decided to show initiative and start the conversation.

      «A bit gloomy around here, isn’t it?» he said with irony.

      The pink-cheeked companion didn’t even move after being talked to. Only after a few seconds, he turned his head lazily and looked at William:

      «Only don’t think that if we’ve happened to be in one cabin, we can get to know each other, become friends, and die best friends in the old age!» he grimaced and turned away again.

      William was speechless for the moment, taken aback. That was some damn luck! He thought that if somebody wasn’t going to opened the door of the cabin and seat with them, the journey would be a complete disappointment! But his thoughts were interrupted by a strong push that threw him back in his seat, followed by the sound of hooves. The Six O’Clocker started to move.

      Slow at first, then faster and faster, they were moving forward. William couldn’t see how going faster and faster the blue-eyed elks thrust their hooves deeper into the ground until they started to submerge. Following the example of his unfriendly companion, he was staring out of the round window and he suddenly noticed that with each second the ground outside the window was going higher until it covered it completely. The carriage went underground.

      «Oh no!» William thought. «However, I should have guessed that our journey would take place underground. Because if the cab came from underground when it arrived to the station, it means that it should continue its way underground as well!»

      It became rather dark in the cabin, making it hard to see anything. Suddenly the light was lit, revealing the round face of his companion, who’d just added the brightness to the oil lamp that had been barely burning. William turned his head, saw a similar lamp to the right of himself and adjusted the flame in it. The next moment, the cabin was brightly lit by two lamps on both sides of the cabin. But William thought that this light made the atmosphere in the cabin even gloomier.

      The cab was already underground completely, but William could feel the cabin dashing forward at great speed. At the same time, the Six O’Clocker wasn’t moving along the tunnel, it was digging it as it went with the horns of the elks. Fresh ground beating against the windows of the cabin was a witness to that. Frankly speaking, the sight wasn’t only rather unpleasant, but also quite scary. «Will they have to move underground all the way?» he thought. The journey by the Six O’Clocker didn’t seem such a safe activity anymore. His companion continued staring through the window, which didn’t show anything but the dirt, and it seemed that he was deeply indifferent to anything happening outside. William was going to take a nap to make the journey seem less scary and monotonous, when there was a slight difference in his companion’s behaviour. His hands, calmly lying on the seat just a moment ago, were suddenly holding on very tight to it. And he started sweating profusely, staring at the round window. But these weren’t the only odd things. As William followed his look, he noticed that the dirt on the window started disappearing, making way to water drops. There were more and more of those drops, and it was enough to make William’s heart sink. He immediately remembered the walls of the Cabstation Waiting Hall, and he clearly understood what was going to happen next. He was staring at the eerie window in fear, unable to tear his eyes away from it. And then the familiar thumping of hooves coming from up front stopped. The Six O’Clocker had come out of the gloomy dungeon and changed the nature element, now going at an incredible speed along the ghostly ocean bottom to the silent hooves thumping of its elks. Frightened sea creatures scattered away from the horrifying gloomy carriage and its just as gloomy helmsmen. Neither it was calm inside the cabins! Round windows showed wide-open frightened and excited eyes of young passengers watching the mud rise up from the bottom from under the wheels of the mysterious cab. William’s heart was all but jumping out of his chest and he turned to his companion to share his impressions from the eerie seascape. But as he looked at him, he was not less horrified to see that the boy had gone red in the face and was struggling for breath, as he attempted to undo the button under his neck.

      «Can’t… breathe!» he managed with difficulty.

      Reacting instantly, William rushed to his side and started slapping his cheeks, trying to bring him back to his senses.

      «What’s the matter with you?» he asked quickly.

      «My…» he pointed at his backpack, «…inhaler…»

      Realizing at once СКАЧАТЬ