Chapter 2 WIP
1842 - Swindon
The hulking iron dragon loomed in Emilie's peripherals. A monster of steel and steam, its iron claws ripped through the landscape and left nothing in its wake. Its breath was a heavy chug, bearing down on the back of her neck. Onwards she pushed the velocipede, as fast as it would go. She felt the muscle burn from her calves all the way to her thighs and droplets of sweat formed on the back of her neck, dampening the fabric of her bonnet. She concentrated on nothing but the sway of her feet. Back and forth, back and forth the velocipede's pedals went, propelling the wheel behind her into an impossible speed – so fast that her mother would have a fit if she knew how reckless she was being. Emilie only needed to make it to the fence post and then she would win! She was barely an arm's length away when the metal giant caught up and preceded her, the chug chug chug of its steam engine and the screech of steel on steel deafening as it barrelled on past. A glance to her left and she noted the faces of passengers sitting in the open carriages, watching her with a mix of curiosity and horror. 'What in the world is she riding?' 'I can see her stockings!' And then as quickly as the locomotive had approached it was gone; nothing but its black chimney and plumes of smoke visible on the horizon before even they disappeared.
Emilie kept on riding the two wheeled contraption, perhaps not as vigorously as before but fast enough to overtake a farmer with his horse and several gentlemen hand in arm with their ladies, yelling "Excuse me!" and "Sorry!" as she passed. Their tuts and gasps of alarm, while not lost on her, were of no bother. Especially on this of all days.
The morning was crisp and blue - a perfect summer day. Even the humidity which was common in these parts of Wiltshire was barely noticeable as they had not seen rain in days. With rolling hills as far as the eye could see and a sleepy town behind her, the laneway zigzagged along the railway perhaps even all the way to London. Though she would dare never dream of going that far for it was at least a day's journey away on horseback. She would sooner collapse from exhaustion. Her velocipede, whilst faster than walking, required too much foot power to actually be any better than the steady gait of a horse.
Gifted to her by her favourite brother, Caleb (who himself had won it in a bet with a blacksmith he met in Scotland), the device attached two wheels to a frame and a seat not unlike a dandy horse, though it had the remarkable exception of having two pedals added, thus allowing her to ride swiftly with no need for her feet to touch the ground. Though getting it to stop was still something she was yet to master.
She approached a grey stone wall looming along the railway track, the length of several blocks. Having only been built the year before, what resided behind the wall was soon to be the new rail works where father had focused his most recent investments. What they did there, she wasn't entirely certain but she knew it involved locomotives.
Slowing only to check for trains, she crossed over the track and detoured past the old church, waving a hand at Mr. Woodman the groundkeeper as she passed. He glanced up at her from his plot of dirt. He was planting bulbs.
"Miss. Wickham, good day to you!"
"And you, Mr. Woodman. How is your wife?"
"Very well. Send my regards to your father."
"When I eventually see him," she said with a laugh then rode out of hearing range.
She continued to pedal along the smaller laneway, riding slower this time to avoid rattling too much on the bumpy ground. Fields of green whizzed by to her left and a thick line of trees to her right, offering her much needed shade from the hot sun. The air was thick with the smells of summer as well as a symphony of birdcalls too numerous for her to identify every species. Tiny dragonflies buzzed about the laneway, glistening neon blue in the sunlight as they darted about the green foliage. If she could sum it up in one word, the day was perfect!