A Cart Built for a Dragon

Now that the plan for the houses had been set in motion, with the demon builders and Arista's crew working steadily through the details without needing her constant supervision, Arista found herself with some free time on her hands and decided to make good on an old promise.

"...I believe I still owe you a cart," she said, catching Thoth mid-orbit near the loop section, his dish angled toward the coaster with the quiet, patient interest he had never quite managed to hide around her.

Thoth slowed and turned toward her. "I recall the offer. I did not wish to press the matter while more important construction remained outstanding."

"That's not you saying no."

"It is not," Thoth confirmed. "I would still like to ride it."

"Then let's build you a cart. Small side project, purely mine. It won't touch the Pilgrim School timeline at all. The houses don't need me hovering over every detail right now."

Thoth tilted his dish. "The existing carts are not sized for my dimensions. My wings alone would not fit within the standard harness configuration."

"I know," Arista said, already reaching for a blank sheet. "So we're not using a standard cart. We're building you your own."

Thoth watched the first lines appear across the page. "...Why?"

Arista glanced up.

"I could simply fly the route myself," he continued. "I could remain beside one of the carts and observe the sensation through proximity."

"That's not the same thing, and you know it."

"I am aware it is not identical," Thoth admitted. "I was uncertain whether the distinction mattered enough to justify the additional construction effort."

"No complaining, young man," Arista said in a mock-stern voice. "Listen to your creator. We're going to build this, you're going to ride it, and you're going to have fun. Understood?"

Thoth regarded her for a moment, his dish tilting slightly. "...Understood."

Arista had the design finished by the end of the day. There were no seats and no padded harnesses shaped around a humanoid frame, just a wide reinforced floor plate large enough to accommodate Thoth's body with his wings folded close. Four locking restraints sat around its edges for his claws, with a separate reinforced brace positioned behind him for his tail.

Thoth studied the finished blueprint. "...Explain the restraints."

"You secure yourself," Arista said. "I'm not going to force your body into a human riding position when you're the one who knows how you balance and where you need support. Four restraints for your claws, one for your tail. Once you're locked in, you decide how hard you need to brace."

"This is far more minimalist than the standard carts."

"It's a stripped cart. Floor plate, restraints, catch bar underneath for the lift hook, nothing else." Arista tapped the drawing. "I didn't build you a proper seat because you don't have proper seat-shaped anatomy. I built what you need."

"...Efficient."

Arista looked up at him. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said about something with no gears."

"I do not believe that is true."

"Let me have it."

The first prototype failed within an hour of testing.

Arista had assembled a small load rig beside the workshop, using a winch and load cell to pull against each restraint at the same angle Thoth's body would during the ride. She gradually increased the force until it matched the highest load she'd calculated the cart should experience. The four claw restraints held without complaint.

Then they tested the tail brace.

Arista repositioned the cable against the rear restraint and began increasing the load in measured steps, watching the gauge climb.

"Coming up on full load," she warned.

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"I am prepared."

The winch pulled harder.

There was a sharp metallic crack, and the rear mounting plate tore free from the cart before skidding halfway across the workshop floor.

Thoth stared after it. "...That appears to require reinforcement."

"Yep." Arista crouched beside the sheared bolts and picked one up. "You're a mechanical dragon. Your tail is obviously stronger than a human arm, and I still sized the hardware like I was securing luggage."

"I do not resemble luggage."

"No. Luggage would've been easier."

She reinforced the tail brace that afternoon, doubled the bolt count, replaced the mounting plate with a thicker bracket, and added support beneath the floor to distribute the load over a wider section of the cart. Thoth helped test every adjustment, and this time the restraint held through the full calculated load and several increasingly excessive tests Arista added because she no longer entirely trusted her first estimate.

Two days after she'd reminded him of the old promise, the cart was ready.

They waited until the coaster had closed for the day before preparing the first real run. The regular carts were diverted onto the maintenance siding in the Demon Realm, a short service track the dwarves had added near the base of the lift cable so damaged carts could be taken off the route and repaired somewhere considerably easier to reach than the Celestial Realm. Once the last regular cart was safely on the siding, they rolled Thoth's custom cart through the switch onto the main track, reset the points behind it, and let the lift cable carry him toward the summit.

By the time he reached the top, a small crowd had gathered. Bram, Claire, and Colm had all found reasons to be nearby, and even Beelzebub, visiting for his usual twice-weekly indulgence, had refused to miss the spectacle.

"...Nervous?" Bram asked as Thoth studied the cart one final time.

"I do not experience nervousness in the conventional sense," Thoth replied. "I have, however, run this exact scenario through simulation forty-seven times, and I find myself, for reasons I cannot fully quantify, wishing to run it several more times before committing."

Claire smiled. "That's nervousness."

Thoth paused before stepping onto the cart. "...Noted."

He lowered himself onto the reinforced plate, folded his wings tightly against his body, secured each claw into its restraint, then wrapped his tail into the reinforced rear brace. After testing each point twice, he raised his dish toward Arista.

"...Structural integrity confirmed. I am secure."

"Ready when you are," Arista said, standing beside the release mechanism.

Thoth looked down the eighty-nine-degree drop stretching away below them, then back toward her. His dish made one small adjustment.

"...Proceed."

Arista released the catch, and the cart plunged.

The crowd at the platform's edge watched the descent unfold exactly as it always did, through the steep drop, the corkscrew's dizzying spiral and the loop carrying the cart through a full inversion. Except this time, somewhere inside the familiar roar of wheels and displaced air, something entirely new rolled across the mountainside.

A dragon roared.

There was nothing threatening in it. No warning, anger or challenge. It was simply loud, unmistakable delight, carrying so far across the mountain that Bram started laughing before the cart had even cleared the loop.

Several minutes later, the lift cable hauled the cart steadily back toward the summit. Thoth's wings remained folded safely against his body, but the dish above his head was turning in quick circles, over and over, in a motion so absurdly similar to a dog's wagging tail that Arista had to bite the inside of her cheek.

"...Well?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

His dish completed another rapid circle. "...Again."

There was no pause, qualification or analysis. Just again.

Bram grinned. "...Did Thoth just say 'again' exactly like every human who's ever gotten off this coaster?"

"I believe I did," Thoth confirmed as he secured himself for another ride, his claws finding their restraints much faster than before. "I would like to experience that again. Immediately."

Beelzebub raised his glass in approval. "A mechanical dragon, thoroughly converted. I find this deeply satisfying."

"...Ready," Thoth announced.

Arista laughed and released the catch a second time. The cart disappeared over the drop, followed several seconds later by another delighted roar echoing across the mountain.

By the fourth ride, Thoth had stopped announcing the cart's structural integrity altogether, simply securing himself, checking the restraints and calling "ready" as soon as his tail locked into place. By the sixth, the timing of his roar had begun to change.

The first came slightly earlier through the corkscrew. The next came later. On another run, he remained completely silent through the opening drop before roaring at full volume while inverted in the loop.

Colm watched the cart disappear around the next bend. "...Is he experimenting with acoustics?"

"I would not put it past him," Claire said.

When Thoth returned to the platform, his dish was already circling before the cart had fully stopped. "...The inversion produces a noticeably different resonance."

Arista stared at him. "You are doing experiments on my roller coaster."

"I am collecting observations."

"You're screaming upside down."

"Those statements are not mutually exclusive."

Bram snorted.

Apparently deciding that another data point was required, Thoth secured himself again and called for the next release. His roar echoed across the mountainside once more, this time somewhere between the corkscrew and the loop.

"...I think we're going to be here a while," Bram said as the cart eventually began its climb back toward them.

"Good." Arista watched Thoth's dish start spinning in quick circles the moment he came back into view. "Let him have as many as he wants."

Beelzebub drained the last of his glass as the cart reached the platform again. "I confess, I did not expect the day's finest entertainment to come from an ancient philosophical dragon shrieking with delight, but I am not remotely disappointed by the outcome."

Thoth was already securing himself again, his dish still turning faintly above his head. "...Eighth ride. My earlier calculations appear to have significantly undervalued this experience."

"Nobody's calculations ever do," Arista said, already reaching for the release lever again.