Harold was pulling the wagons with his ability.  There were no ghostly horses or oxen or conjured vehicles.  The man floated along ahead of the carts and they followed him like baby ducks in a row.  They were making good time, fifteen miles an hour or so and they’d been on the road before the sun came up.


    “Anything nearby?” called Jonas from a perch on the leading wagon.


    “Nothing that’s worth worrying about,” replied Kev from where he was jogging along next to the lead cart.  Ryn was orbiting them in the sky in between taking breaks on the last cart to regenerate her reserves.  She didn’t need to but it helped maintain the illusion the team was a lot lower level than they actually were.


    “I will send out some summons to provide cover on the flanks, in case anything slips past Jim,” offered Armand.  Hundreds of pugs sprang up from the ground around him and began bolting into the scrub lining the road with happy yips.


    “A swarm of pugs?  Really Jean?” demanded Jumper as she watched the dogs scatter out to run along the road ahead of the carts.  “What could you miss?”  She was resting on top of a crate at the back of the leading wagon but keeping a vigilant eye out.  Her head was constantly scanning back and forth as she watched the horizon and any bush or tree that provided cover close to the road.


    Armand shrugged.  “They are cute, non?” he smiled as he ran next to Kev.  The woman snorted and resumed scanning the edges of the trees a hundred feet from the road.


    “We’ve got some critters coming up on the left.  Kat?” called Kev.


    “On it!” Ryn leapt down from the cart and into a flat sprint, outpacing the racing wagons.  As soon as she was far enough away from the cart she launched herself into the sky on columns of fire, shooting ahead of the group.  She found the monsters, little cockroach-like things that were swarming out of a hole in the ground, attracted by the rumble of the rapidly moving cart wheels.  She fell into a holding pattern, circling above the nest and raining fire down.  The beasts couldn’t reach her and her actinic flames cut through them, leaving them as carbonised shells that crumbled in the wind.  She paid some extra attention to the nest’s entrance, reducing the dirt around it to glowing magma before she was satisfied and flew back over.


    She landed gracefully a little ahead of the wagons and leapt up to resume her spot at the rear as the wheels clattered past her.


    “Sorted!” she said brightly.


    “You guys are wasted here!” chuckled Alex.  He was bounding along on strangely distended legs behind the last cart.


    “We’re worth the money,” called Andrea from the other side of the carts to Kev and Armand where she was watching their left flank.


    “Maybe.  What if we run into a Reaver?” sneered Harold from up front.


    “Depends on their level.  We’re not stupid.  Can’t spend the pay if you’re dead, ya know?” replied Kev.


    “So you’d run?” barked Jonas.


    “You aren’t paying us to die.  There’s no way we’ll run into a Reaver anyway.  This is Wayfaire’s territory after all.  They don’t fuck about when it comes to those bastards,” called Kev.  “I need a break.”  He leapt up onto the second wagon, landing on the bench the driver would normally use and stretched out his legs before pulling them in close and rubbing his calves.


    “You sure about that?” asked Jumper, still scanning the surroundings like an automated turret.


    “From what we’ve heard Wayfaire’s land is some of the safest on Earth as far as Reavers go.  They’re tied to the Beastfolk pretty tightly, right?” said Armand.


    “Those monkey-fuckers don’t like monster hunters!” agreed Jumper as she glanced down and clenched one fist.


    “Do you have a history with them?” asked Kev.


    “Not that they’d remember.  Watch your fucking section!” Jumper sneered.


    “Ok! Sheesh! Didn’t mean to poke an old wound!  Those pricks don’t like folks like us either,” Kev offered, although he knew exactly what had happened to the woman as well as what she’d done to warrant it.  “Kat and I did a fair bit of unsanctioned hunting last year down south in the UK.”  Jumper glowered at him before spitting over the side of the wagon, causing Alex to curse as he dodged the saliva.


    “I don’t trust your senses.  I’m going to have a look for myself,” she muttered, leaping down before hurling herself into the sky with a massive jump.


    “Guess we know how she got the nickname!” said Andrea as she watched Jumper bouncing along, leaping hundreds of feet into the air each time before slamming down and throwing up a cloud of dust only to erupt upwards again a moment later.


    “She’s good at her job,” barked Alex, his face slightly distended giving him the appearance of almost having a snout.


    “Can you do a full transformation?” asked Ryn, leaning back against a rattling crate.


    “No,” Alex replied curtly.  They knew he was lying, Kev had briefed the team on their “allies” capabilities.  “How the hell are your casters keeping up?” he asked suspiciously.  “I’m knackered after five hours and I’m a bruiser!”


    “We all took physical enhancement for the class one pick.  We’re a lot faster and stronger than we should be but we’ll need to rest soon,” said Armand.  “Speaking of which, I’m going to take a break and catch my breath!” He leapt up and joined Kev on the middle cart.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    “Something to eat?” he asked, offering sandwiches he pulled from his storage around.  He tossed one to Ryn who caught it deftly and began eating.


    “I’ll take one,” said Jonas from the front wagon.  Another throw and Jonas fumbled the catch, picking the wrapped snack up from the floor of the cart where it landed before unwrapping it and biting down.  “Good stuff!  Is this puck meat?” he mumbled loudly.


    “Oui.  No point slumming it if you don’t have to, correct?” Armand laughed.


    This was going too well, as far as Ryn could tell they had instantly inserted themselves into a criminal enterprise without any problems.  She was quietly convinced that Jumper and Harold being so stand-offish was a ploy by Kev.


    It is.  I’m limiting my influence.  If they all just started acting like robots with us they’d resist and maybe break free.  Mind control isn’t a straightforward process.  By letting Sarah and Harold act on their doubts, at least a little, it makes it easier to control all of them.  At this point I’m hardly doing anything.  You know the phrase ‘train of thought’?  People are like trains if their thoughts are on rails and most people, I’m sorry to say, are always on rails.


    Ryn blinked at the telepathic message and hurriedly finished up her sandwich.  The implications of Kev’s ability were terrifying to her.  If he went bad he would be incredibly dangerous.


    Then help keep me on the straight and narrow mate.


    The fact that he could hear her doubts and worries wasn’t making dealing with the new reality any easier.


    “How long until we camp?” called Armand.  Harold orbited back to hover over the lead cart, maintaining the pace despite no longer looking where he was going.  His face was lined with concentration but his eyes were arrogant as he looked down on his passengers.


    “Another couple of hours.  Then we should arrive sometime tomorrow morning.  No point pushing through the night for this gear,” he sneered.


    “If you’re ok to keep going we’re all good!” called Armand as he leapt down and began running along.  “I’ll lighten the load for you a bit!” he joked.


    “What’s up with your pug swarm?” demanded Harold.  “How do they help?”


    “They’ll get very noisy if they stumble on something dangerous, of course,” the boy replied.


    “They can’t fight?” asked Jonas.  “You can’t see through their eyes or any shit like that?”


    “Non.  Just distractions but very effective ones.  I know if one gets ‘killed’, that is all.”


    Let them probe us for information about our abilities.  We’ll be met tomorrow by the Cullers while we’re on the road.  This is the normal process for them,  Kev sent to them all.  Yes, the rest of the team is in position.  No, I don’t think the Cullers are going to be any problem.  We’ll have the drop on them.  Anything else?  Kev was clearly reading the questions in his friends minds and answering them as they were formed.  Ryn found that even creepier than the pseudo-telepathy of their implants or the teamchat function.


    “Where are we making camp?” asked Ryn as Harold spun to face forwards along the road again and moved back up to fly ahead of the carts.


    “Safe place we know.  A little off the beaten path but don’t worry about that.  We’ve got some monitors to keep watch over night so there’s no need to take shifts,” Jonas called.


    “Any objections to us keeping a watch anyway?”  asked Kev.


    Jonas shrugged.  “None at all.  If you don’t need the sleep you’re welcome to stay up.”


    The conversation lapsed for a while.  Ryn did the occasional orbit of their path while Armand and Kev continued to run.  Andrea took a break at the same time as Alex, sitting in the rear wagon and joking with each other.  Alex seemed like the most agreeable member of this gang, just a simple guy who liked to laugh.  His laugh had a chuffing sound to it that only reinforced his faintly canine appearance.


    Eventually Jumper came bounding back down the road ahead of them and landed near a cart that she jumped up onto carefully as it rumbled onwards.


    “Good trip?” asked Ryn.


    “Nothing ahead,” Jumper called to Jonas.  Ryn was confused by the woman.  She had seemed one of the more friendly people at the meeting yesterday, now she was tense and rude.  She was like claws down a blackboard personified, setting everyone else on edge by her presence.


    Ryn shrugged at being ignored and settled back to stare at the sky as the clouds scudded past above them.  Moving like this felt so antiquated.  The portals, the airship networks, people with storage spaces who could run at a hundred miles an hour… this was deliberately inefficient.


    You’re right.  They could do this a lot more efficiently.  Jonas has a storage space that could fit all three carts.  They do this run to hook people like us.  Or who they think we are, at any rate, Kev sent.


    How many times?  She thought back at him.


    On this run, we’re the third group.  They’ve done something similar in half a dozen places in the UK and across Europe.  Do two or three runs to feed some local Cullers then move on to avoid suspicion.  Most of the team changes when they move on.  Usually because they kill them.  Jonas, Alex and Sarah are the core team.


    They’re going to kill Harold and Shia?  What about Jake? Ryn thought.


    Shia, who has been sleeping the whole run so far, isn’t reliable.  Harold is a convenience but he’s unstable.  He wants to be a Culler himself but this shadow society doesn’t like wannabes.


    So you know where all the Cullers are and how they stay in touch?


    No Ryn.  Too many cutouts.  There are people like Jake in various places who know the local cult and serve as intermediaries.  I’ve got enough to wrap up half a dozen of the bastards but that looks like it’s a drop in the bucket.  The cults have had to adapt as a result of War and Life coming down on them.


    Ryn leaned back and thought about the implications.  This was the tip of the iceberg.  Dozens, hundreds of these psychos were getting smart and learning to operate their murder gangs in the shadows and avoid the consequences of a Monarch catching up with them.


    Not all.  Death and Magic have largely stamped the cults out.  Liberty has scared the shit out of them and they’ve bolted from North America.  Europe and South America are infested with them though.  Hopefully we can crack the organisation open and put an end to it, Kev sent from where he maintained a steady run that would have been inhumanely fast before the Advent.


    Ryn blinked slowly at the clouds.  She very much hoped they could make a difference on this job.  After France she had struggled with the idea of killing people.  Monsters were fine but having murdered, in self defence no doubt, so many people she had been left confused and conflicted.


    Even worse she had enjoyed it at the time, that sense of power and accomplishment as she had won.  That had left her sick to her stomach, rather than the act itself.  A thread of fear wormed its way into her heart as she began to understand why the Cullers did what they did.  Kev stumbled and cursed before catching his rhythm again and shooting his friend a worried look.