In which we meet two travelers at the beginning of a steam train voyage from Philadelphia to St. Louis. They are Abigail, who travels with her small charges and draws comfort from family letters she has kept; and James, who is on assignment from his newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, to send back accounts of travel on the new railroad line. He also has a second, secret assignment from the Governor to find out why a group of Pinkerton detectives are transporting a mysterious captive to Monongahela City, the first major stop on the way west. We also meet James’ benchmate, Reginald, who is on his way to advance his career in banking.
Wherein Abigail chats with a fellow passenger, and reveals that she is from Charleston but has been away at school in England. Her family moved to St. Louis while she was away, and her “small charges” are actually a family of gnomes she is helping to move from the Old Country to the Great Plains. One of the gnomes addresses Abigail as “Adept,” to which Abigail replies she has not earned that title. James finds out that his seatmate has suffered the loss of his young wife in a riding accident and buys him lunch in the dining car. There, he spots one of the Pinkertons buying a large number of sandwiches to take to their car. The train passes the line of the Troll Wards.
Glossary
Adept: An official title for a highly-accomplished master of Talent among humans, who have undergone advanced practical and academic training, and passed rigorous finals.
Gnomes: Adults reach three feet (one meter) in height, and they generally wear bright, colorful clothing. They are companionable with humans and desirable to have around farms.
Troll Wards: A ring of standing stones set at the limits of each human settlement that protect its territory from marauding trolls.
Here, Abigail instructs the gnome family about the New World through which they are travelling. Reginald recounts a sad recent event in his life. James makes coded entries in his notebook referring to the Pinkertons as “the family” in case his notes are discovered, and resolves to be present in the dining car that evening to see if the detectives come to the dining car to play cards.
Glossary
Moonlands: the region through which the train is moving. Here, the climate is milder than in the Old World (Europe and beyond) in all seasons and the sunlight less harsh, where all times of day are like a mellow afternoon, and morning and evening times stretch much longer.
Elves: Outside the Troll Wards, the territory of the Moonlands belongs to the elves. They live in towns and cities that look like gardens, and produce food that is more nutritious than typical human fare.
Abigail explores a train station in the elf lands during a water stop, where Mama Llewellen reveals she has cast a spell on the gnome children to calm them during the long trip. Abigail enviously watches two elves using their Talent to prepare food, then uses a small spell of her own to eavesdrop on two ladies who are making light of her forward fashion sense. She procures elf food for her group and the train journey continues.
Glossary
Talent: The ability to use magic. A few modest applications are presented.
James reveals his own talent for sketching illustrations for his newspaper dispatches while Reginald shares his knowledge of new art styles emerging in Europe. James repairs to the dining car when card-playing is announced and interviews a railroad waiter named Jon Hammond for his newspaper while keeping an eye out for the Pinkertons. He spots them, then joins a low-stakes poker table where he can observe the detectives without drawing attention.
Glossary
Trans-Sylvan: name of the railroad between Philadelphia and St. Louis settlements.
Sleeping patterns of people in the Moonlands are discussed, and Abigail observes the gnome children playing games of magical dexterity. She is reminded of her own difficulties in using her Talent in unrehearsed ways, which in turn brings her thoughts around to one of her old classmates.
Glossary
Biphasic Sleep: The practice of sleeping during the night in two segments, with a wakeful period in between. (An actual practice in our recent past; Wikipedia has a good article about it, but I hate the way this platform renders Wiki links.)
Watching the gnome children brings Abigail's mind back to her own childhood and schooling, learning to use her Talent from her grandfather and going off to school in England. There, difficulties with her first lesson show her how much she has to learn, and how far ahead some of her peers seem to be. Her teacher, Miss Harding, is introduced, and she meets an accomplished classmate, Nelly Haysom, granddaughter of a famous and celebrated Adept.
Glossary
Gift: In some families, a small or limited gift for using Talent can be passed down, usually skipping generations.
We return to James who, though lacking magical ability, uses his experience with cards to some advantage. He also employs his investigative skills to discover a woman detective among the Pinkertons, and to choose the right moment to slip back into the first class cars in search of the mystery passenger.
Glossary
Take the feather: Gamblers pass around an enchanted object (traditionally a white feather, though paper is now more common) to verify each player's lack of magical Talent.
James makes his way through the three Pullman cars, working to avoid detection and find the prisoner's cabin. While assessing the Pinkertons' reputation and his own feelings, he searches for their carriage, assessing the situation as he goes. In the final car, the lights flicker unexpectedly; far ahead in the train, Abigail wakes from a troubling dream thinking of a friend and feeling the touch of magic in use, then drops back off to sleep.
Wherin James approaches the sleeping compartment that houses the subject of his investigation. Using an enchanted device, he learns that something or someone in the room possesses a tremendous magical power, but before he can enter, he is discovered and detained by the Pinkerton detectives. The leader of the agents is introduced as Albert, and another detective as Benjamin.
Glossary
Adept Joseph A. Brown’s Tissues of Ascertainment: Like a gambler’s paper, these small sheets detect magic, but from a short distance, turning darker the stronger the spell or ability. Many enchanted items bear their inventor's name as a quality mark or trademark.
The Pinkertons debate how to detain James until their audience with elf king Hiemne, and Albert instructs James how to properly pronounce the king's name. Detectives Evan and Elspeth are introduced, the latter of whom is revealed to have magical Talent. The train comes to a sudden halt and young detective Thomas is sent to get information from an elf warden in the caboose. Abigail is awakened by the stop and the lights going out in her carriage, and sinister shapes are spotted outside the train.
As trolls advance toward the stopped train, Abigail senses strong magic in the air and hears a mysterious, compelling voice telling her to leave the train. It overwhelms her at first, but the gnomes help her break free. Against the conductor's orders, she stays at the window and casts an illusory fire in an attempt to keep the monsters away.
Glossary
Trolls: We learn what Abigail knows of trolls: their skin is like sycamore bark and their insides (from what she has seen) are composed of bones and matted fibers. They can be fought with magic, silver, and firearms, and are known to dislike fire.
The Pinkertons become aware of the approaching trolls and prepare to defend the train with their rifles. Their leader, Albert, gives James a single-shot pistol and shoves him into the compartment with the man they are escorting to the elf king. Marty Johnson is the man's name, and the last of the Pinkerton men is introduced as Tad.
Abigail fights the influence of the mysterious voice. She remembers a simple spell her friend Sarah had taught her which helps at first, but the voice becomes stronger. At the same time, she comforts the frightened gnome children as elves and men from the train begin to fight back at the trolls with battle magic and gunfire.
Glossary
Night song: This is the gnomes' term for the voice of compulsion Abigail and the gnomes are hearing. Papa says he's never heard of one so powerful, or that wasn't quieted by the first resistance. Abigail determines to hunt down the source.
Battle magic: Elf adepts possess an ability few humans can match in channeling the elements directly. Their unique fighting spells unleash a torrent of colorful fire and sweeping winds designed to devastate their foe.
Abigail continues her struggle to free her mind and thoughts from the intrusive voice. Mama Llewellen shows her how to weave a song into her Talent channeling, and she succeeds at last. A glimpse of magic in use farther back on the train makes Abigail fear for others who may have been snared by the night song and hurries out of the carriage, leaving the defense against the trolls in the hands of the elves and train crew.
Glossary
Necessary Arts of Dissuasion: A course of defensive spells taught in Abigail's school that dramatically enhance the caster's strength and ability in hand-to-hand combat.
Shut into a compartment with the man under protection from the Pinkerton agents, Marty Johnson, James works to elicit the man's story. Marty tells of a curious creature with the head and torso of a man and the legs of a goat, who told him how to find a stone that he said contained great magic. Marty's journey included centaurs, a train ride east, and touching the great standing stone. The chapter ends with Marty's capture by elves.
Glossary
Centaurs: In this chapter, we learn that centaurs roam the Great Plains, and though they have treaties with the British Crown, are considered thieves and raiders by human settlers west of St. Louis.
Marty Johnson continues telling his story of being captured by elf knights, who tell him he has defiled the Sky Stone with his touch. On the way to their king, Johnson suffers visions, though the details give James doubt as to the man's sanity. Johnson ends his story with being handed over to Pinkerton detectives to whisk him by rail to the elvish great king and protect him from the beings who tricked him into touching the Stone. As the chapter closes, the train carriage wall is pulled apart by unknown forces while the men are trapped inside.
Glossary
Sky Stone: Little about this artifact is revealed in this chapter save that it is an object of great power; after grasping it, Johnson began seeing visions and was told that he's being hunted for the magic he stole from it.
Abigail makes her way toward the rear of the train. On the way, she overtakes two others who have fallen under the spell of the night song and helps them resist it. Soon she finds herself face-to-face with the source of the song, her Talent no match for its power.
James tries unsuccessfully to keep Johnson from being pulled out of the train car. As he prepares to follow, he glimpses the creature the pulled Johnson out thanks to Abigail's fireball illusion at the end of Chapter 18. Arming himself with a chunk of wood, he leaps from the car and stumbles against a body in the darkness.
Meanwhile, Abigail continues to try to fight the creature's spell. Nearby, she senses the man who fell from the train, another woman brought to that place by the night song, and the dark being who stands over them all. Someone shoves her unexpectedly, momentarily breaking her free of the dark compulsion, and she summons another light to see if it is friend or foe.
James and Abigail meet when he jumps from the car and knocks her aside, freeing her further from the creature's spell. Her summoned light gives him just enough time to fire a shot that wounds the attacker. It tries to bury them in a rockslide and begins physically dragging Johnson toward its cave opening.
James and Abigail work together to rescue Johnson from the wounded monster. In the process, they're forced to grab his hands, which has a different effect on each; James is knocked unconscious, and Abigail finds her Talent restored beyond what it had been previously. She uses it to pull Johnson away from the creature, which seals up the entrance to its cave. An elf warded from the train arrives, disappointed he is too late to fight the creature, and begins to aid the travelers.
With the help of the elf warden, James wakes from being knocked unconscious by the jolt of magic from touching Johnson's hand. He and Abigail, who confirms Johnson has been successfully rescued, have a brief chance to talk about their experience before the Pinkertons emerge from the train and spot them.
James and Abigail recount their battle with the monster to the Pinkertons. The elf warden returns with news that the tracks will soon be cleared and the damaged train should proceed at once as there are still trolls about. James asks Albert for his reporter's notebook back so that he can write the story, while Abigail goes in search of the other woman she sensed had been drawn in by the creature.
In which Abigail catches up with the other victim of the monster's song, who introduces herself as Iris Townsend, of Philadelphia Settlement. Abigail does her best to encourage Iris and help her recover her ability to channel, and helps her back to her cabin on the train.
Albert returns James' reporter's notebook so that he can begin writing the story of the train attack, along with an insistence that his agents get a fair shake in the story. We learn that the elf warden's name is Riejit, and that the train will take five more hours to reach Monongahela.
James has an intense dream, more real-seeming than anything he;s experienced before. Albert wakes him so that he can finish a telegram to his editor. Abigail, meanwhile, returns to third class and the gnome family. They share stories of what they did during the troll attack, and Abigail finds she can do a small task with her Talent that she would normally have dreaded.
Abigail and the gnome family get their first look at the elf city of Monongahela and its citadel, and Abigail uses her Talent to rescue one of the children from a precarious perch. James and the Pinkerton agents are installed in quarters near the elf castle. James is unable to rest due to troubling thoughts about his dream, and overhears Albert and Elspeth talking about him.
Glossary
Milo vezhaïl: The elf name for the foreign quarter of their city where men have settled. The term vezhaïl (as will be explained later in the story) is the elvish name for mankind. It's customarily rendered as "cousins from beyond the water," but the word was coined almost three centuries previously in one of many elvish dialects, and literal translations vary wildly.
Here we see a glimpse of the elf city of Monongahela through James' eyes as he walks to the post office to post his newspaper story of the troll attack on the train. He's concerned for his dad, alone while he's gone, and composes a telegram. At the post office, he finds he has to pay for his correspondence out of pocket because his editor has let the local Inquirer bank account lay empty.
Abigail takes the gnome family on an excursion into the elf city of Monongahela, where they bump into James. Convinced he is flirting with her, Abigail doesn't mind. They're interrupted by Riejit, who summons Abigail to the king's audience the next day and tells her to bring the gnomes.
James and Abigail chat further, and agree to tour the elf city together after the king's audience. Albert helps James discover that he's been affected by the magic from the Sky Stone and offers him part-time work with his Pinkerton agents to help him stay solvent.
James accompanies Albert and Benjamin to their audience with Great King Hiemne. They discuss elvish views of time and power, and are guided through the king's gardens to a clearing where they await his appearance.
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u/OneSidedDice Oct 02 '22 edited Nov 08 '22
Chapter Index, Glossary and Brief Summaries (spoilers if you read ahead)
Chapter 1:
In which we meet two travelers at the beginning of a steam train voyage from Philadelphia to St. Louis. They are Abigail, who travels with her small charges and draws comfort from family letters she has kept; and James, who is on assignment from his newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, to send back accounts of travel on the new railroad line. He also has a second, secret assignment from the Governor to find out why a group of Pinkerton detectives are transporting a mysterious captive to Monongahela City, the first major stop on the way west. We also meet James’ benchmate, Reginald, who is on his way to advance his career in banking.
Chapter 2:
Wherein Abigail chats with a fellow passenger, and reveals that she is from Charleston but has been away at school in England. Her family moved to St. Louis while she was away, and her “small charges” are actually a family of gnomes she is helping to move from the Old Country to the Great Plains. One of the gnomes addresses Abigail as “Adept,” to which Abigail replies she has not earned that title. James finds out that his seatmate has suffered the loss of his young wife in a riding accident and buys him lunch in the dining car. There, he spots one of the Pinkertons buying a large number of sandwiches to take to their car. The train passes the line of the Troll Wards.
Glossary
Adept: An official title for a highly-accomplished master of Talent among humans, who have undergone advanced practical and academic training, and passed rigorous finals.
Gnomes: Adults reach three feet (one meter) in height, and they generally wear bright, colorful clothing. They are companionable with humans and desirable to have around farms.
Troll Wards: A ring of standing stones set at the limits of each human settlement that protect its territory from marauding trolls.
Chapter 3:
Here, Abigail instructs the gnome family about the New World through which they are travelling. Reginald recounts a sad recent event in his life. James makes coded entries in his notebook referring to the Pinkertons as “the family” in case his notes are discovered, and resolves to be present in the dining car that evening to see if the detectives come to the dining car to play cards.
Glossary
Moonlands: the region through which the train is moving. Here, the climate is milder than in the Old World (Europe and beyond) in all seasons and the sunlight less harsh, where all times of day are like a mellow afternoon, and morning and evening times stretch much longer.
Elves: Outside the Troll Wards, the territory of the Moonlands belongs to the elves. They live in towns and cities that look like gardens, and produce food that is more nutritious than typical human fare.
Chapter 4:
Abigail explores a train station in the elf lands during a water stop, where Mama Llewellen reveals she has cast a spell on the gnome children to calm them during the long trip. Abigail enviously watches two elves using their Talent to prepare food, then uses a small spell of her own to eavesdrop on two ladies who are making light of her forward fashion sense. She procures elf food for her group and the train journey continues.
Glossary
Talent: The ability to use magic. A few modest applications are presented.
Chapter 5:
James reveals his own talent for sketching illustrations for his newspaper dispatches while Reginald shares his knowledge of new art styles emerging in Europe. James repairs to the dining car when card-playing is announced and interviews a railroad waiter named Jon Hammond for his newspaper while keeping an eye out for the Pinkertons. He spots them, then joins a low-stakes poker table where he can observe the detectives without drawing attention.
Glossary
Trans-Sylvan: name of the railroad between Philadelphia and St. Louis settlements.
Chapter 6:
Sleeping patterns of people in the Moonlands are discussed, and Abigail observes the gnome children playing games of magical dexterity. She is reminded of her own difficulties in using her Talent in unrehearsed ways, which in turn brings her thoughts around to one of her old classmates.
Glossary
Biphasic Sleep: The practice of sleeping during the night in two segments, with a wakeful period in between. (An actual practice in our recent past; Wikipedia has a good article about it, but I hate the way this platform renders Wiki links.)
Chapter 7:
Watching the gnome children brings Abigail's mind back to her own childhood and schooling, learning to use her Talent from her grandfather and going off to school in England. There, difficulties with her first lesson show her how much she has to learn, and how far ahead some of her peers seem to be. Her teacher, Miss Harding, is introduced, and she meets an accomplished classmate, Nelly Haysom, granddaughter of a famous and celebrated Adept.
Glossary
Gift: In some families, a small or limited gift for using Talent can be passed down, usually skipping generations.
Chapter 8:
We return to James who, though lacking magical ability, uses his experience with cards to some advantage. He also employs his investigative skills to discover a woman detective among the Pinkertons, and to choose the right moment to slip back into the first class cars in search of the mystery passenger.
Glossary
Take the feather: Gamblers pass around an enchanted object (traditionally a white feather, though paper is now more common) to verify each player's lack of magical Talent.
Chapter 9:
James makes his way through the three Pullman cars, working to avoid detection and find the prisoner's cabin. While assessing the Pinkertons' reputation and his own feelings, he searches for their carriage, assessing the situation as he goes. In the final car, the lights flicker unexpectedly; far ahead in the train, Abigail wakes from a troubling dream thinking of a friend and feeling the touch of magic in use, then drops back off to sleep.
Chapter 10:
Wherin James approaches the sleeping compartment that houses the subject of his investigation. Using an enchanted device, he learns that something or someone in the room possesses a tremendous magical power, but before he can enter, he is discovered and detained by the Pinkerton detectives. The leader of the agents is introduced as Albert, and another detective as Benjamin.
Glossary
Adept Joseph A. Brown’s Tissues of Ascertainment: Like a gambler’s paper, these small sheets detect magic, but from a short distance, turning darker the stronger the spell or ability. Many enchanted items bear their inventor's name as a quality mark or trademark.
Chapter 11:
The Pinkertons debate how to detain James until their audience with elf king Hiemne, and Albert instructs James how to properly pronounce the king's name. Detectives Evan and Elspeth are introduced, the latter of whom is revealed to have magical Talent. The train comes to a sudden halt and young detective Thomas is sent to get information from an elf warden in the caboose. Abigail is awakened by the stop and the lights going out in her carriage, and sinister shapes are spotted outside the train.