1
This is the perfect train! Arkayna thought. She almost clapped her hands in delight, but she suppressed the urge. Instead, she patted her tiara to make sure it was sitting straight atop her long red hair, squared her shoulders, and nodded in what she hoped was an approving yet dignified manner. She wasn’t just an excited fifteen-year-old girl, after all. She was Princess Arkayna Goodfey. And today all eyes were on her, her sister, Zarya, and her friends Piper and Em as they arrived at Drake Central Station for the maiden voyage of the Kirin Train. The newly finished platform was packed with Drake City’s wealthiest and highest-class citizens, waiting to board the luxury train. So it wouldn’t do to seem too—
“Wowie kazowie!” shrieked Piper. She turned a cartwheel on the spot, her pigtails flying. “Just look at all the shiny on that thing!”
“You said it, girl,” laughed Zarya. She shoved her fists into the pockets of her hoodie and gave a low whistle. “Scrape the gold off just one of those cars, and everyone in the Undercity eats free for a month.”
Arkayna winced. Does Zarya have to say those things so loudly? she thought. She reminded herself that Zarya was still new to being a princess. The twin girls had been separated when they were newborns. Arkayna grew up in the palace with her mother and stepfather, Queen Goodfey and King Darius, surrounded by royalty and their staff. Even her closest friend, Em, a dwarf about her age, worked at the palace as Arkayna’s personal griffin wrangler. Zarya, on the other hand, had lived a much harder life, first in an orphanage and later on the streets of the Undercity. Zarya grew up scrounging for change and looking after her pet foz, Choko, and an elf girl she rescued. That little elf turned out to be over a hundred years old, had a name too long to pronounce and a memory full of holes, and became Zarya’s best friend, Piper.
Long before Zarya and Arkayna knew they were twins, they, along with Piper and Em, were secretly chosen to be the latest incarnation of the Mysticons. Powerful heroes responsible for protecting all of Gemina, the Mysticons had recently defeated the evil lich Queen Necrafa and her loyal minion Dreadbane. But earlier—on the first day the girls became Mysticons—Dreadbane used his powers to turn the king and queen to solid bone. That meant the only way Princess Zarya knew her parents was as life-sized statues—a tragedy that the Mysticons, Arkayna especially, were determined to fix.
So Arkayna understood why Zarya wasn’t as conscious of the need for restraint and dignity here. Maybe all it would take was a gentle reminder. Arkayna leaned close and murmured, “Zarya, careful.”
“What?” Zarya replied at her normal volume. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re wrong,” Em said.
Arkayna and Zarya looked down at her, surprised.
Em shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. It’s just, no way that’s gold.”
The four girls turned to examine the double-decker train. It hovered several inches above its monorail track, so the view of its freshly polished exterior was only blocked by ramps leading up from the platform to top-deck doors in the four main passenger cars. The morning sun danced off thousands of glittering yellow scales lining the top deck of each car, while the bottom decks were painted a shade of rich lavender. The last and shortest car was different, painted in swirling white lines and shaped like a billowing tail. The first car, the engine car, was topped with a twisted golden horn. The entire effect was that of a gigantic, charging beast.
“Gold is way too soft,” Em continued, motioning toward the scales. “You’d have to hand-coat it with transparent lacquer if you wanted it to last more than a week outdoors, and the lacquer would just make the gold look dull.” She shook her head. “Nah, that’s probably a custom alloy. Still expensive, just … not actually gold.”
Piper tipped her head to the side, staring at the lower deck. “Are kirin bellies really purple?” she asked. “I’ve never seen one.”
“I don’t think anyone has, Pipes,” said Zarya. “Kirins might not even exist.”
“Aw, I bet they’re around somewhere. They’re too fab-tacular not to be! Look at that thing!” Piper swung her arms wildly in front of her, her gesture taking in the entire train. “Like a unicorn and a dragon had a baby! A really big baby.”
Zarya snorted with laughter. Piper snorted back, and the two girls dissolved into a fit of giggles. Unnoticed by either of them, a woman in a tall feathered hat raised her lip in a sneer as she passed.
Arkayna flushed with a mix of defensiveness and shame. On impulse, she took a breath to speak. She didn’t know what she was going to say, or even whom she was going to say it to.
“Now I really wish we were coming with you!” came a voice over her shoulder. Arkayna let out her breath in a sigh, feeling relief at the excuse to avoid a confrontation, then immediate guilt at that relief. She smiled at Doug as he stepped up next to her, looking over the gleaming train with his one huge eye.
Malvaron joined them, putting an arm around Arkayna’s shoulders. “You know we can’t,” the young Astromancer told Doug. “Today it’s all ‘riding in the lap of luxury,’ but once this train gets where it’s going…”
“I know, big retreat,” Doug replied. “Mysti—I mean, uh, girls only.”
Arkayna sighed again. Nova Terron, Star Master of the Astromancers and Malvaron’s boss, was sending the Mysticons for a week of intense training at Mosswold, a secluded site far outside Drake City. After the battle with Necrafa, Nova had argued, the girls could use a break from their routine and some time to “attune to their magical roots.” Arkayna wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but what it sounded like was a week of hard work, no scry-fi, and no Malvaron.
The bright side was that Arkayna had convinced everyone the Kirin Train was the best way to get there. Mosswold was on the far side of the Shivermist Mountains, farther from Drake City than any previous train had gone, and much too far for a griffin to fly in a day. Besides, the Shivermists were exactly the way they sounded—cold and damp—and none of the girls felt good about making their griffins endure hours of that. The Kirin Train was the perfect solution. It ran on the latest in magical monorail technology, making the ride super-fast while still being smooth. And the Kirin ran straight through the Shivermists to Firbolg’s Bluff, a posh seaside resort town within hiking distance of Mosswold.
The owners of the Kirin had been thrilled to hear that the princesses and their friends were interested in the trip. The most expensive seats, in a private car called the Aerie, had been reserved, and the girls had been promised a personal tour of the train once they were on board. All they needed to do was enjoy the ride. And, of course, represent the royal family in the diplomatic, genteel way that was expected of them.
“Whoa, that’s extra-flashy,” Zarya exclaimed. Arkayna followed her glance and saw four of the train staff wheeling a gilded escalator with a tasseled sunshade along the platform. Zarya shook her head. “Someone’s too good for the regular ramps?”
Arkayna felt her stomach tighten as the escalator was rolled into place in front of the second-to-last car. “That’d be us,” she said, a little edge to her voice. Why am I embarrassed? she thought. Of course they’re treating us like royalty. We are royalty!
Zarya huffed in disbelief. “Well, I’m glad it’s covered,” she said sarcastically. She fanned herself dramatically with a hand and affected a posh accent. “This sun is just too harsh for my delicate skin!”
Arkayna heard a sniff and turned to see a man in a brocaded vest giving them a sideways glance. Ugh, that’s enough, she thought. She turned her Haughty Princess Stance up to eleven, squaring her shoulders and straightening her neck, and gave the man a dazzling smile. “Good morning, sir!” she said pointedly. “Lovely day for a ride, isn’t it?”
The man shrank a bit under her attention. He coughed and muttered, “Yes, Princess. Please excuse me, I have to meet, erm…” then hustled off down the platform.
“Ooh, I heard the princess voice,” Zarya said. “What’d that guy do?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” replied Arkayna. “Look, about the escalator and all that. They’re just showing us respect.”
Zarya raised an eyebrow. “By acting like we can’t walk up a ramp on our own?”
Chuckling, Arkayna shook her head. “I know the royal treatment is a little overdone sometimes. But just go with it, okay?” She glanced over Zarya’s shoulder and pointed. “Besides, it could always be more overdone.”
Coming down the platform were four attendants in fancy dress, carrying a tall display case among them. The case was made of elaborately carved gold. Four rearing dragons stood at its corners, claws extended at right angles toward each other, and their coiling, looping tails formed its base. Thick glass panes filled the spaces between the dragons, giving a clear view of the treasure suspended inside the display: a perfectly faceted diamond that was almost a foot wide.
“Okay, now that thing could feed the whole city for a year,” muttered Zarya, her eyes wide.
“Only if you could get close enough to spend it,” replied Arkayna. “That’s the Draco Diamond.”
“Wait, isn’t the Draco Diamond … cursed?” asked Em, a nervous squeak in her voice. “They’re putting a cursed diamond on our train?”
Copyright © 2018 by Liz Marsham
