Henry Shepherd and the Rock of Ages
by Richard E. Salisbury 1
Chapter 1
Henry Shepherd sat transfixed as he watched the smokelazily billow from the stack atop the locomotive. As it did so, thelittle cloud assumed a delightful and ever-changing variety of shapes. The more intently Henry studied the cloud, the morefigures he saw. If he looked long and hard enough, perhaps hecould even discern a progression of shapes – a piece of theaterplayed out for him in the smoke. It so thoroughly engaged hisimagination that it forestalled the rational side of Henry’s brainfrom its parade of practical inquiries. Chief among these was thequestion of why an enchanted locomotive even needed to emitsmoke in the first instance. Or be driven by an engineer. Or runon a track as opposed to in the sky.For that matter, why should Henry (or any student) need theservices of a train (enchanted or otherwise) to reach the Hemlock School for Sorcerers and Apprentices? Why could Henry and hisfellow students not simply travel there instantaneously by means of a teleportation spell? Surely such magic would not exceed (oreven seriously tax) the abilities of Hemlock’s headmaster, theworld-renown sorcerer Apollonius. Or was there some otherlimitation to magic (even Apollonius’) that Henry was not yetaware of?Regardless, the Hemlock Limited was unquestionably animpressive machine that conjured up the Golden Age of steamlocomotives. It was a 2-8-2 “Mikado” type that thundered downthe rails with a brash, almost reckless assertiveness unknown toblandly utilitarian modern locomotives. In contrast to the banaldroning hum of modern trains, the Hemlock Limited emitted averitable symphony of sounds as it rolled along, from laboredchugging when it ascended steep grades to the rhythmic poundingof the rails when it reached top speed to a dinosaur-like groaningwhen it finally came to rest after a long journey. Both thelocomotive and its coaches were painted entirely in jet black, with“Hemlock Limited” appearing in relatively small but costly gold-leaf lettering on the sides. Watching the Hemlock Limitedapproach to pick him up at the station platform filled Henry with
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