…fun, but very messy
The Doclopedia #3,022
366 Days, 366 Paragraphs: #261
Chapter Thirty Five: Hadolfus Gets Lucky
Hadolfus and Padro had just stopped to rest their horses when the comslate buzzed. It was a message from Seeker Ahng, who, with two other Seekers, had located the Maneeli caravan on it’s way south. The message read, “Unable to find boy Carso. Family insists he ran off two days ago. Questioning has determined that he was “playing with something in the woods” not far from Long Bay. General area description coming in next message.”
The next message did indeed give a very good description of the place the Maneelis had been camped at on the night in question. Hadolfus whooped in triumph, which caused both Padro and the horses to jump.
“Good news?” Padro asked. It would be good to have the big fool in a good mood for a change.
“The best, Padro, because now we have a specific location for the relic. I’ll relay the good news to Porcero. With any luck, he’ll calm down.” They had received messages from a couple of the Seekers traveling with Porcero and they hinted that his anger over something might be driving him to madness. Although he would never have said it aloud, Hadolfus thought that would be a short drive.
Very soon after he filed his report, Porcero sent him new orders. Hadolfus was not pleased by them.
“Proceed at top speed to site. All Seekers in area to do the same. Museum agents on trail and traveling fast in some unknown manner. Do NOT attempt to claim relic without backup, Hadolfus. Keep me posted hourly on your progress.”
So much for getting sole glory for the find. Ah well, he would still get great rewards and recognition for his part in things, once he was back at the Museum. Idly, he wondered how the revolution had gone. Quite quickly, no doubt, since Porcero’s plan had been a very good one. Odd that there had been no news of it yet, but he figured Porcero had his reasons.
Leaning back against a tree, Hadolfus wondered what form of fast travel the Museum agents were using. Something faster than quadcycles, obviously. Perhaps something powered by clockwork or steam? He had seen a steam powered sawmill out west in Sattle a couple of years ago. It looked dangerous and, in fact, the first two versions had exploded, killing several people. If the enemy was using steam for power, maybe they would get blown up and save everyone the trouble of killing them.
After an couple of hours of resting, Hadolfus and Padro mounted up and started heading northeast along a fairly heavily used stretch of Road. They would purchase another pair of horses as soon as possibly, so as to have fresh mounts to switch onto. They’d be riding at least 14 hours a day until they got to the relic.
When this was all over, Hadolfus promised himself a full week of nothing but sleeping, eating, drinking and women.
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