Chapter 1669 (2/2)

“A horse. Like Hank Howard has. Or like Alana’s dragon. Or Kayle’s Paolo.” Sunan said proudly. Then he made to hurry past again, but Sam snagged his son’s shoulder.

His mouth continued to spasm. “You… want to be a mount?”

Sunan had short hair and dark eyes he had inherited from Regina. He nodded seriously to Sam’s question. “Everyone wants to be the Rider. But won’t that mean there are more Riders than Mounts? Mom says I should think about how my skills make me employeeble. I gotta train now while no one else realizes how cool being a Mount is.”

“Employable,” Sam corrected absently. Then he picked his son up around his waist and carried him back toward the house. “And I think your mother also says you need to eat dinner regularly.”

“Mom says we need to eat dinner regularly.” Sunan countered from Sam’s armpit.

Sam rolled his eyes and carried his son back to the house. When they walked into the house and wiped their shoes on the carpet, Regina appeared in the entrance to the kitchen and looked them up and down. She saw how soaked Sunan was and how Sam was dusty and covered in dried sweat. She didn’t say anything, just looked at them.

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ahem. I was hoping that we could push back dinner a little more so Sunan and I could wash up…”

“Well, since you requested it,” Regina clicked her tongue and turned away. Under his arm, Sunan giggled and began to squirm.

Sam let the boy down and his son bounded quickly up the stairs to the bathroom. Sam reached up again to rub his sore neck and went to the downstairs bathroom He turned on the shower and quickly rinsed himself off. Then he went into his bedroom and obtained a clean cotton shirt and jeans.

Sam was somewhat surprised when he returned to the kitchen and found that Sunan was already there, staring greedily at the plum pork and sweet potatoes on his plate. Sensing Sam’s quirked eyebrow, Sunan spoke in his trademark serious tone. “A Mount must be very quick in all things.”

After rubbing his son’s head affectionately, Sam sat down at the table and dinner began. Regina regarded the two men coolly at the beginning of the meal, but as Sam prodded their son to explain his newfound training regimen, Regina soon had to bring a hand up to her mouth to hide a smile.

When the meal was finished, Sam picked up the plates and carried them to the sink to wash them. Regina moved to help and spoke over her shoulder. “Sunan, make sure you pack up clothes tonight. We are heading to Kharon tomorrow for the auction.”

Their son shook his head. “I can’t make it. It will interfere in my training.”

The two parents exchanged a look. Sam shook his head and returned to scrubbing plates. “Do you remember Kharon? It’s called the Wandering City. In a way… Kharon might be the greatest Mount in the world.”

Sunan considered this. “...okay I’ll come. But we cannot play around too much, okay?”

“I promise,” Sam replied solemnly. Regina snorted.

Early the next morning, the trio gathered up and bundled themselves into one of Sam’s homemade hovercrafts. When the Engraving’s activated, the sleek, matte-black machine lifted off the ground and then blasted through the air. Secondary runes deployed, projecting a barrier in front of them that dealt with the wind resistance. In the next instant, the vehicle accelerated forward, piercing through the sound barrier and shooting off into the distance.

For this auction, Kharon had settled itself South of the original Zones, nearer to the equator than any established territory. With Sam’s powerful vehicle, they only spent about four hours shooting through the sky before they approached Kharon’s resting place.

Already, Kharon had unfolded its mechanical fair and created a festival-like atmosphere on the ground near where the city settled. Portable food stalls and stages were in abundance. But Sam’s eyes swept through the broader surroundings. Small portable dwellings dotted to the tops of the surrounding hills, evidence that the rich and affluent of the various Zones and Orders had already arrived and staked their claim on the premium areas.

Sam didn’t bother with bringing a portable residence; the family would be staying in Kharon proper, as Tatiana’s guest. So he brought his vehicle down in the massive sprawl of other hover vehicles that had emerged to the west of Kharon, squeezing between a flying speedboat and what looked like a heavily armored tank.

“Look at all of these mounts!” Sunan was practically bouncing as he hopped down out of the vehicle and examined the surroundings.

Regina clicked her tongue and dragged the boy after them as they wound their way out of the impromptu parking lot and to the base of Kharon. There, Sam intended to lead his family directly up into Kharon but he paused slightly when he saw a group of protestors standing to the side of one of the largest ramps up into Kharon.

The angry group held up signs that said quite a few innocuous phrases, but the most common one was “Whole and Human”.

“Who are those people?” Sunan asked.

Sam pressed his lips together. Regina patted Sunan’s back. “No one worth mentioning, honey.”