Traveling By Train
The next morning they checked out of the hotel. On the entrance of the hotel, Karl saw professional women who work in beds usually, taking a drag of their smoke. The soldiers who got out of their hotel rooms or had returned from the brothel were having a much relaxed face. Some of the professional women even approached Karl, wondering why they hadn't seen him.
Thankfully for him, Lynda approached him with her brows meeting. Lynda studied the women around her, snorted, took out her smoking pipe, and lit the tobacco in it. Emil followed out of the hotel double-doors. She looked at the euphoric face of Emil and blew smoke on him.
“What’s with you?”
“Lecherous man.”
Emil looked at Karl.
“Don’t look at me. She probably is lacking as well. She should have enjoyed herself.”
Emil glared at Karl. Karl calmly returned the stare with a lackluster gaze. There was simply no stir on his face. It was so dispassionate that Lynda just looked away. She blew smoke out of her nose.
“We should go to the train. You can, Emil?”
“I can. I can.”
Emil said as he tapped the side of his hip. Lynda sneered before pulling her trolley luggage. The two followed Karl who headed to the train station located on the eastward side of the train. Upon entering the trance, the three spotted a big iron machinery spewing smoke. The water tower was inserting fuel into the train. The train station crew were placing charcoal on the back of the train. Karl went to the conductor, bought three tickets with a discount because of their outfits. He received the ticket and then went to board the train. Karl got a pamphlet schedule for any trips that they might offer after the inspector allowed them in the train car. They were assigned on the front of the train cabins. The three didn’t wait. They entered the train, passed through the carriages, and finally found the booth that they were going to sit on for the next hours.
Karl took the seat closest to the windows. Emil took the seat across from him while Lynda sat next to Karl with a grumpy expression. She placed her smoking pipe aside, took out a leather-bound book and placed it on the brown table. She flipped it open. She started reading solemnly. Emil started to take out a tabloid magazine while Karl was looking outside of the window. Outside the soldiers were lining up to board the train. The bookers were arranging goods and other things to be transported in the train’s boxcar. The rest were pushed up the boxcars.
The train whistle was deafening. It made Karl’s face scrunched up. Lynda was examining her leather-bound book while Emile didn’t leave his gaze from the tabloid magazine he had bought. The awfully refreshed face that Emil had made Karl wonder if sleeping with a woman had truly eased his nerves.
Minutes passed. The train started to depart the station. Karl examined the travel schedule that he had. From what he could recall the train was going to change its course. Apparently, there was a faster route than the route he chose previously. From Villen to Ripelfach then to Gutacher, the train would take a turn through this mountain pass, heading to Alburg. Once the train arrives at Schom, the train would stop at a water tower. There was a need for the train to replenish water every hour. The scenery from the blurring scenery was rather scenic. The train passed through a taiga and a tundra before passing in the mountains before Schom. Karl stayed on his seat most of the time, watching the scenery. When the train arrived near this elevated place, he caught a glance of the coastlines of Oberngenken where it was facing the Tides of Vauxford that separated the Old Continent to the tropical southern islands.
Schonach was the next stop of the train where some soldiers headed out of the train station to head to the beach town. The town had this rustic and slow feeling to it. The white adobe houses and the glimpse of the white beaches made Karl wonder if it would be quite nice to spend a time on a beach facing the tides of Vauxford.
Two hundred fifty miles, the train traveled. From Oberngenken, the train traveled for another two hundred, reaching the cliffside town of Weiler. Unlike Schonach, the town was facing an enclosed coastal water body containing freshwater from the river of Haswald and the saltwater of the Vauxford Ocean. There were also small streams coming from the Glotmosberg river.
White and gray sands were mixed together, forming this water formation that some would call a swamp. Karl had heard from his father that there were crustaceans living in the estuary of Weiler that could grow up to five feet tall. The white meat that these crustaceans produce was one of the most priciest meat in this side of the world.
“You want to stop here?”
Karl said to Lynda who was looking at the town of Weiler. Lynda shook her head with false energy. She leaned her elbows on the train’s booth table. A sigh came out of her mouth, eyes half-opened.
“No. I'd rather get to Hardt soon.”
One of the reasons why they took a stop in Villen was to make sure that they get enough rest for the long train travel. The train would stop once an hour, and although there were sights that they wanted to see. They didn’t have the time, money, and luxury to do so.
The train continued moving despite the disappointment that Karl’s companion had from leaving Weiler without being able to explore it or taste the delicacies. Emil, who still has his eyes on the tabloid, continued reading on as if it wasn’t his concern to begin with. The train moved out of Weiler, crossed the Glotmosberg river, and entered Schapen, one of the large cities found in the Bilertalian Region.
The city of Schapen was unlike the places they have visited. It was the first city that had been affected by the war. Unlike the towns that they had visited after Villen. The city of Schapen was worse for wear. The ancient battlements and curtain walls protecting the city were fallen and submerged in the moat that turned into a quagmire. The battlements were ill-maintained and destroyed with the rounded towers half-tilting from the clear lack of maintenance.
The chatter from the carriage died once the train entered Schapen. There were nine trains entering the station of Schapen, each train being replenished with water and refueled with enough charcoal to go on. Karl sat back, crossed his arms, and looked at the train station with a haggard stare.
“You’ve been here?”
“I have. Got myself into this mess. We were heading west of Villen where the Shrine was. Fought hard in this place. How the Imperial Scouts managed to go this deep was still a question to the military.”
Karl looked annoyed as he said that. Emil placed his magazine down. He took a look outside where the fallen battlements were. His eyes on the wheeled mortar that was just left hanging without anyone manning them. The guard tower had a machine-gun team looking down. Karl could tell that there was a sniper’s nest, the glare of their scope was so irritating that Karl wondered if they were making sure that their presence was known.
It was then that the carriage door was opened. A man in a red vest and black bowtie handed a menu to the passengers in this carriage. The man came to their table, had them pick their meals, and then left he had taken their order.
The train made a groaning sound before it started to move forward again. Karl had no desire to enter the city of Schapen. There was nothing for him in the city. He had no single intention of doing anything and he had no business. Lynda and Emil weren't going to stop here either. They sat still, and then found themselves back to do what they were doing. Lynda reading her leather-bound book. Emil reading tabloid magazines with his brows moving up and down.
The city of Schapen was gone before he knew it. The train started to take this long-winded path through the mountains, valleys, and even inside small mountains where a tunnel was built that allowed the train to enter instead of going around said mountain. The steam engine, the train, and the cabins were rather quiet. It was only when the train was idle that Karl could think of the engine as noisy. But with the train entering this tunnel, the isolated tunnel made it loud enough to bother him. He could feel his eyes dilate and heart palpitate. Emil, who sat across from him, had the same reaction. It felt like that two-minute quiet that a soldier could have before a whistle sounds out, ordering them to charge forward. Karl felt his breath halt, and when the light suddenly appeared. He let go of the awful feeling. The train entered this mountain railway that had the view of the mountains of the Bilertalian Region. Green grasses mixed with rock formations that had been coated with snow. The train would go down, and then up, sometimes passing through a stone arch bridge, allowing the train to cross distances. Once in a while, the train would descend down the mountain, crossing multi-arched water bridges, and truss bridges that overcomes the gap. As for the reason, there were many areas around the Bilertalian Region that are prone to accidents because of the altitude of the mountains.
So the bridges have to be built in specific locations. Which makes the uphill and downhill journey nauseating because of how the terrain was. There were absurd thoughts of the engineers such as creating massive landslides and detonating specific weak-points in the mountain faces to level the area. Of course, because of the dangers of it, these ideas never came to be. The construction of the Villen to Hardt Railway has always been one of the proudest projects that the Bilertalian Region had done. Journeys that should take weeks or months have become shorter because of the train connecting small areas to the large cities where most of the economic output was located. And because of these railways, exporting of local goods to large cities have also become easier. The train they are riding has three locomotive engines to handle the uphill and downhill travel. Only those who are trained in operating these engines were allowed to move them. Hence there was a good reason why the train needed to stop, refill the charcoal, and replenished water.
Ever since morning, the train has traveled seven hundred forty three miles as they approach the small city of Eisenfel placed in the middle of the river of Balldengen. The train crossed the steel multi-arched bridge and entered Ashford Station. Unlike the rather simplistic station, Ashford Station was bustling with civilians and goods being transported in the other eight trains that had entered the station before them.
The train conductor, who wore a gray tailcoat suit announced to them, that due to a problem with locomotive engine three. There was going to be a slight delay. The sun was resting and from the looks of it was better for them to stay in the train rather than depart here, wasting their ticket.
So since the train was not moving. The three of them went to the dining car where they ordered food for themselves. After dining, the three returned to their booth and waited as the train finally started to move. The train whistle made Karl sag his shoulders.
Waldrach, and then Embach. Emil’s destination seems to be Hardt, so we’ll part there. Karl looked to his side where Lynda was taking a nap. Lynda would have to ride the train to Kofengen, Sedendorf, and finally the Contelia Province.
The main city of the United Provinces, Avaios. The place where Karl had decided to go in order to take the exam which would hopefully allow him to be a physician.
