The driver took his seat with a polite nod to the rest of the group, and began to eat with such enthusiasm that the server was beaming at him like her child had just won an award.
"We don't have long to sit around today. There have been issues along the road thanks to rain, and there is more bad weather set to roll in later tonight." The driver explained as he ate.
"Alright then. We won't hold the process up. Everyone, be ready to finish your lunch by the time that the driver is done. If you need more snacks, perhaps this lovely lady would pack us some sandwiches for the road." Karl agreed.
She began calling back to the kitchen to get sandwiches made for the travelling Elites, and the driver smiled.
"It's likely the most business they've seen all week, other than the morning coffee crowd. Farmers love to come in and chat in the mornings, it's how they pass the news around to those who don't live in town." The driver quietly explained.
The group finished eating as quickly as they could, and then walked back to the bus, which was just finishing receiving fuel.
"At least this stop is along the pipeline, so there is no shortage of fuel. The bus holds over a thousand litres, so it takes some time to pump." The driver explained as the students headed back for their seats.
The waitress had mentioned the same thing, and that their pumps were slow, but the driver quickly paid for the fuel and got them on the road.
But their good intentions didn't help for long. No more than an hour down the road, they turned off the paved highway to start heading for the Academy, and the skies opened up with rainfall so heavy that they could barely see where they were going.
The driver slowed down to under fifty kilometres an hour, as the rain got worse, pounding on the bus roof in a pattern that was starting to sound more like marbles on a tin roof.
"Can the mages keep a barrier up over the bus? It's starting to hail, and the windows aren't armoured. If we don't have something, we will have to find cover and stop until it passes." The driver asked.
"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. We can shield the bus while you drive." Dana agreed.
They worked out a plan to each take a turn so that nobody got too exhausted, with Dana going first, as the hope was that the hailstorm would not last long. She had the best barrier out of all of them, and once it was up, the bus returned to silence, though they could see the hail landing all around them like tiny snowballs.
"That weather is crazy. Is it always in the prairies?" Karl asked Betty, hoping that she would know the answer.
The cleric shook her head. "No, only a couple of times a year. But if you get hit by it, then there is a good chance that your crop is ruined for the year, so everyone hopes that when the storm hits, it doesn't hit their home."
That made a lot of sense. This hail was brutal. They had seen a few hailstorms at the mining town in the past, but usually never with hail larger than a pea. These stones were larger than golf balls, and even Dana was beginning to grimace at the level of continued power that it was taking to keep the shield up.
"This is a natural phenomenon, right?" One of the warriors asked as he looked out the window at the trees with their leaves gone and branches broken off.
Some were lying in the road, but the driver wasn't about to get out and try to move them. He just carried on, driving over them and hoping for the best.
After a few minutes, the hail turned back to a driving rain, and the driver breathed a sigh of relief.
"You can let the barrier go for now. If the hail picks back up, just bring it back. A bit of water won't hurt the bus any." He instructed.
But when they got another few kilometres down the road, they realized that the bus wasn't the only thing that was in danger from the weather.
Large chunks of the road had washed out, forcing him to slowly weave his way through the remains of the road, until they reached the river, which was running much higher than normal, and about to reach the deck of the bridge.
"Think light thoughts, folks. If this bridge dips into the river, we're all in trouble. The pillars will hold, but if the water hits the bridge deck itself, it will get washed away before you know it." He warned them.
The options were going now or never, as the rain wasn't getting any lighter, so the bridge was almost certainly going to be gone in an hour, but the students' nerves were frayed as they reached the far side just as the water began to splash up and onto the bridge deck.
"Just in time. Now, we follow the railroad for a few hours and we're home. Easy-peasy."
The road led up to a ridgeline, and the bus came to an abrupt stop, just sitting at the top in silence as the students wondered what was going on.
Karl moved to the front, so he could use his heightened eyesight to get a better idea of the problem, but what he found was far worse than he had imagined.
The river had flooded, and it had uprooted a number of trees, which had formed an improvised dam in the gully up ahead.
That had diverted the river's route, and now the road, as well as the railroad, were under an unknown amount of water for at least the next four kilometres, before a hill rose out of the muddy rapids.
"Looks is where we sit for the evening. The rain isn't going to stop for a bit, and it will take a day or more for the water to go down enough to know the extent of the damage.
The Academy will get the road fixed up as fast as they can, but unless it is urgent enough that they send a helicopter for you, we will be sitting right here until they do."
One of the warriors gave a rueful smile as he watched the rain fall. "And we can't even start a campfire to roast meat. I guess it's diner sandwiches and ration packs for dinner."
Betty wiggled her fingers as if casting a spell. "Don't forget that I know how to make food. Plus, I've got cooking utensils in my bag, including a magic burning stove. It's a real fancy item, but I was gifted it for helping with a dungeon raid at the end of last year, and it's been a lifesaver more times than I can count."
The warrior smiled. "Well, the rice and beans are likely better than what is in my ration pack anyhow. It's nutritious, but too salty for my taste."
Betty kindly didn't mention that the ration packs were designed that way so that they limited the number of times you had to use the toilet when you were in the field. The new students would learn that soon enough if they had been eating them all week.