Dinner was a leisurely affair that lasted almost two hours. It wasn't because everyone ate that slowly. It was because there was nothing else to do after the meal had been consumed.
The group remained seated at the table and chatted amongst themselves about everything under the sun. Jana and Theo added a few words here and there just to keep from sticking out like the sore thumbs that they were.
Soon enough, the serving staff announced to everyone that they would be shutting down the kitchens and the dining car would not take any more orders for the night.
This only applied to those whose head did not have a crown. For Queen Mira or Prince Erick, should there be an emergency hunger which could strike at any moment of the day or night, the serving staff would fire the burners back on without hesitation and magically make food appear.
Jana and Theo followed Mira and Erick towards the central car where their bedrooms were located. Theo and Jana had the end bedrooms while Queen Mira and Prince Erick took the ones in the middle.
There was a bath already drawn for the Queen and as soon as she signaled to Jana that she was ready to take her bath, Jana left the room, closing the door behind her. Then she stood in the hallway with her back to the Queen's door.
The bedroom she had been assigned was mostly for show and to stash her few pieces of equipment. Her real assigned area was here, in front of the Queen's door.
A few yards down from her, Theo was also taking up his position in front of Prince Erick's door. He nodded to Jana once in acknowledgement and returned to staring vacantly at the wall in front of him.
Any day now.
THUMP!!!
Jana was startled out of her reverie. The loud thump was coming from above. Someone had landed on top of the Queen's sleeper car.
In seconds, Erick's door had opened. He had also been waiting for this moment.
"You two go up top. I'll stay with the Queen."
Jana and Theo nodded and ran to the exit.
Erick began muttering the incantations that would release some of the power he held within.
"Baohuwuomen" he commanded the air around him.
The power words swirled the air into action building a strong bubble of protection which extended around himself, reaching into the interior of Mira's bedroom. He could hear the sounds of water splashing within.
She was taking her nightly bath.
Erick reinforced the barrier so that not even sound waves could get through. The noise level was beginning to rise all around them as the fighters began to engage with the intruders.
He could not allow Mira to run helter-skelter out of her safe room wrapped in nothing but a towel just to see what was the matter. She needed to remain in her safe sleeping chamber while the rest of the Royal Guards and special forces did their jobs.
Meanwhile, above the moving sleeper cars, Theo and Jana were wrestling with a dozen Primate Warriors. There were no dolmia spheres illuminating the tunnels this far from any city depots.
It was a good thing both of their eyes were superb when it came to night vision. The slits of her pupils had opened wide. She could see just as well as if it was daytime.
This was a good thing because gorillas could not see in the dark. They had obviously planned for this however, because their black warrior suits had been equipped with slots that were filled with a multitude of the same dolmian discs that Ziggy and Daran had used as gambling chips earlier.
The Primate Warriors were all around them. Theo and Jana had their backs to each other, facing outward. This needed to be done quickly or they would soon be overwhelmed.
Theo whistled once, catapulting them into action. They cartwheeled away from each other and began attacking the gorillas on either end of the train.
Enclosed as they were within the tunnel, there was no way they could jump high enough to attack from above. It was a two edge blunted sword because this height limit also kept the gorillas from being able to attack them from above.
There was also a secondary restriction that was helping Jana maintain her fighting stance. The narrow train surface allowed only a certain number of Primate Warriors to be able to engage with her at once. This meant she only had to deal with six to eight gorillas at the same time.
Jana clawed and kicked within the circumference, keeping the attacking gorillas always a hair's breadth away from slicing her skin. There was not much room to maneuver on the train's surface which meant she was fighting at close range, rendering her whip and projectile weapons virtually useless.
The only action came from her twin knuckle blades which, when fully extended gave her an extra foot of reach. The blade points of her shoes were also extended and she took advantage of her long legs, wielding them like malleable spears with their deadly toe blades.
Spinning in a circle, she kicked the shins of every gorilla that stood around her. Momentarily off-balanced, they were knocked to their knees. Another round of kicks from her and they were thrown from the train.
The tunnel was filled with screams of those who had fallen off the train. As quickly as she kicked them off, more from behind came to replace them.
As Jana continued fighting off the attacking gorillas, she could hear screams coming from all directions. The gorillas were on top of every single car of the Princess Train.
Jana hoped and prayed that those were gorilla screams and not that of the Royal Guards and dwarves that came with them.
She also sent a special prayer to keep Theo safe. She could no longer see where he stood, mobbed as she was with the large dark gorillas surrounding her.
Up and down the train's length, Jana could also hear the sounds of dwarves and Ashryan Royal Guards, yelling out their attacks. Their bodies were also dotted with glowing dolmian discs. On their arms were glowing bands of green, signifying that they were the Jade Royal Guards.
It seemed like the fight lasted forever. In reality, it was less than fifteen minutes of skirmish. As Jana kicked the last remaining gorilla over the side of the train, she looked up.
Theo was running towards her.
"Are you ok? Hurt anywhere?" He called out to her even before he had reached her side.
"I'm fine. You look ok too." she visually inspected him. No blood. No wet matted fur. No projectile or swords sticking out of his body.
She let out a shaky breath.
"No worries. I'm ok." He grinned.
"I wasn't worried." She turned away.
"Everything is cleared Captain." A voice called out from one of the train roofs.
"Check every single car. There may be hidden Primate Warriors." Daran's voice could be heard issuing various commands.
"Yes sir."
Theo cleared his throat. "Well, I was. Worried I mean."
"Why?" Jana retracted her blades from her knuckles and toe shoes.
"Because you're a woman surrounded by vicious Primate Warriors."
"I am ALSO a vicious warrior."
"Yes. And a damn good one." Theo breathed a sigh of relief.
Jana looked at him curiously. "Was there ever any doubt?"
He regarded her with his light amber eyes. "Not any more."
They made their way back to the sleeper car to find Erick still standing there, supporting the protection bubble around Mira's sleeping quarters. Although he stood still for the duration of the skirmish, Theo knew it was a herculean effort.
It took a serious amount of mage power to be able to create and maintain a bubble of that size and magnitude for any length of time.
Theo was duly impressed.
Erick was a Warrior Wizard. Furthermore, he was in a class all by himself. There was no Warrior, wizard or otherwise, that had the level of power that Erick commanded.
"All intruders have been cleared, Your Royal Highness." Theo gave a quick curt bow.
Erick gave a quick flourish of his fingers and the bubble evaporated. "How many squadrons?"
"It looks to be around four squadrons, Your Royal Highness."
"That's close to what I was projecting."
Theo heard Jana's sharp intake of breath.
"Was this an expected attack?" Jana asked.
"Yes," Erick rubbed his jaw. "The velocity of the train was at the optimum range."
"Excuse me?" Jana asked again.
Prince Erick grinned. "We kept it as steady as possible just in case the Overlord who calculated the portal was an idiot who couldn't adjust his mathematical formulae to account for the variances to maintain a steady portal onto a moving train top."
Theo nodded and whistled his appreciation while Jana pursed her lips.
"How did you know they were going to attack?"
"We didn't." Erick tapped his forehead. "But I had a plan to draw them out. We simply hoped that they would be stupid enough to take the huge bait."
"So this train was the bait?"
"Oh yeah. Did you see all the colorful stuff I painted on the train's surface?" Erick laughed. "I spent a whole day doing it with all the brightest invisible colors I could scrounge up."
Jana closed her eyes, shaking with disbelief. Meanwhile, Theo was laughing softly to himself.
Suddenly, the door to the Queen's chamber opened.
Mira's tiny head peaked out.
"Oh hi! You're all out here in front of my door. Is everything ok?"
Jana opened her eyes and looked upon the tiny frail woman that the entire train had been protecting the entire time and smiled.
"Everything is under perfect control, Your Majesty." Jana nodded her head.
Erick silently reached out and touched her cheek.
Queen Mira smiled. "That is a huge relief, coming from all of you."
"We are at your service, My Queen." Theo bowed.
"That's great to know." She looked back and forth at the small group outside her door.
"Ummm...can I have a glass of tea?"