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Grant rolled his eyes and dragged him down the hall. “Only if you stop being an idiot, and that isn’t likely to happen.”
Ben and I left the inn and climbed aboard our carriage. Chase came by and stopped beside our vehicle. “It was rather kind of you to help us out back there.”
Ben shook his head. “We were glad to do it.” Ferox threw his head back and snorted.
I laughed. “Most of us, anyway.”
Chase nodded his head at us. “I hope to see you around.”
“So do I,” Ben returned before he looked to our steed. “Home, Ferox.”
Ferox turned around and trotted out of the cul-de-sac. Ben and I leaned back and enjoyed the ride as we drove back into the bustling burb that was the city of Validen.
I cast a curious and slightly bemused look at my companion. “So you were a thunder driver, huh?”
Ben smiled. “In my younger years, after I had acquired the ‘gift’ of the dragon. It was a much-appreciated distraction from my other worries.”
“Is it hard to drive one of them?”
“That would depend on the type of thunder,” he pointed out as he folded his arms over his chest. “I have driven ones so easy a child could handle it, and so difficult that I could never master the controls.”
“What happened to those ones?”
“I generallylostcontrol and wound up in like our new acquaintance. In a ditch, if I was fortunate.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “And if you weren’t?”
“I made use of my wings and claws to get me out of the trouble.”
I grinned. “Sounds exciting.”
A smile touched his lips and a faraway look slipped into his eyes as he stared ahead. “It was. I occasionally looked into the goings-on of the tract, but I haven’t done so in a few years.”
“Hence why you didn’t know who they were any more than me,” I guessed.
He nodded. “Precisely, but their vehicle intrigues me. The thunder came out of nowhere with nary a sound.”
“Why is that so important?” I asked him.
“Many cities and towns have banned the use of thunders because of their impressive noise,” he explained as he cupped his chin in one hand. “It’s why the races take place outside cities such as at the emperor’s stables. If we could make them quiet there would be no need for those bans.”
I thought back to our strange new acquaintances and their little quirks. “Are all thunder drivers are superstitious as them?”
Ben chuckled. “Unfortunately, they are. The first men bold enough to drive the vehicles were sailors, and their lot have always been known to try anything to improve their chances of survival. The same can be said for their successors.”
“I’m guessing the first designs weren’t that safe,” I mused.
He nodded. “Their early name was the ‘horseless hearse,’ and some of the older citizens with less affection for the vehicles still call them that.”
I craned my neck to look around us. “So where are the emperor’s stables? I mean, I know where theyusedto be.”
“They’re to the south between the city and the coast,” he told me as his eyes took on a faraway look. “I recall in my youth riding my horse there during the competition days and watching some of the first models be showcased. That was long after their competitor days, of course, but they were still operated by their bold owners. I expect there will be a showing of the old thunders during this tract. Many of the first drivers came from Validen’s own port.”
My eyebrows shot up. “How big is its port?”
“One of the largest on the Coerulus Sea, and thus one of the busiest. Goods from all over the world arrive there by ship and are driven up the March-”
“The what?” I asked him.
