Sense: A Fantasy LitRPG Saga (A Touch of Power Book 3)

by Jay Boyce

  Her attention was diverted when she noticed a puddle forming by Will’s feet, and he took a hesitant step back as she jumped, landing with glee in the puddle. The water rushed up, spraying both her and Will, much to her delight. “Hey, would you stop that!? We’re about to meet the delegations! Can’t you jump in a puddle later?” His voice was pleading.

  Sticking her tongue out at him briefly, she pouted. “Spoilsport! This is my first time feeling the rain! Just let me enjoy it.” He looked shocked, but she turned and started dancing in the rain again, enjoying the cool feel of the water on her face, though she shuddered a little when it got inside her shirt and ran down her spine. Her cloak was getting heavier as the thick wool absorbed the rain, and she pulled at it a bit so it wouldn’t choke her. She figured with the hood up, she’d have been fine, but without that extra anchor, the weight was slightly uncomfortable.

  “Jade, we’re supposed to be at the portal, remember?” Will cut in again a minute later, watching her play in the rain as she jumped in all the puddles in the now-empty road. She glanced back at him with a sigh, then down at her pocket watch. It was 7:30.

  Sighing again, she nodded, then sent her magic into the rain, immediately forming a water bubble around her. “Fine, fine; let’s go. We might as well fly.” She opened her bubble so he could come in, and as he stepped into her boundary, she called the water from their clothes and heated the air with a little fire so that they were warm and dry once again. He looked surprised at the ease with which she did it, then shook his head. Deciding that the water would be her transportation method of choice today since it was so prevalent, she looked at him pointedly and instructed, “Don’t think you’re off the hook. I want you to practice your wind magic. You’re not allowed to touch the water barrier.”

  He looked nervous, then a little relieved as she lowered his gravity. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook completely, but she would at least help him last the whole way there. “Okay.” He concentrated for a moment before he started to lift up, floating just off the bottom of the water bubble that crept beneath them, enclosing them. As soon as he was airborne, she truly lifted them above the ground, sending them rocketing into the clouds. She giggled a little as she went into the cover, even as they lost all visibility outside of their little bubble in the dark mist.

  Will glanced around in awe, shaking his head. “I never really thought about what the inside of a cloud looked like.” They were zooming along the darkness as she silently agreed, knowing she’d need to dip back below the clouds soon in order to see where they were going. She wanted to go above the clouds, but that wouldn’t help her navigation. She’d heard that above them would be all sunshine, and she absolutely wanted to see the difference. Maybe after she greeted the delegations…

  “How are y-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Jade’s voice broke into a wrenching scream as the clouds lit up from within, the lightning striking her water bubble and sending electricity straight through her. She could only be thankful that she was wearing leather boots, which stopped it from conducting too much into her even as her knees buckled and she hit the water that she was barely keeping in place. That was her only saving grace until she had the presence of mind to absorb the energy in a panic, feeling the buzz in her blood.

  “Jade! Jade, are you okay!?” Will was panicking, though thankfully, he’d been spared the bolt by the sheer dumb luck of her insisting he not touch the water. Meanwhile, Jade eschewed her water bubble in favor of wind once more. She took a deep breath, sending a healing jolt through her body to fix her fried receptors. Her boots were slightly charred, but as they were already black, she figured she’d be able to hide the damage.

  Or…she held the bubble in place as she pulled out a new pair of boots from her ring, sending the charred ones back into it as she rigidly pulled them on, one foot at a time. Will was hovering over her nervously, and he seemed slightly calmer now that she was moving more normally, but he still asked again, “Jade, are you okay?”

  Taking in a deep breath, she nodded. “I think so.The shock didn’t get much further than my legs before I absorbed it, so I should be fine, but I’ll have a healer check me out as soon as possible, just in case.” He seemed to breathe easier at that, though she didn’t stand up.

  “There should be a healer at the gates. If we hurry, we can get you checked out before the delegation arrives.” She nodded, sending them below the cloud cover and shooting a baleful glare up at the dark mist. Stupid lightning had to go and rain on her parade. Spark on her parade? Whatever.

  Below the clouds, visibility was only marginally better, as there were still sheets of rain pouring down. With her heightened senses, she could make out what was beneath them well enough, though she’d needed to lower them further to do so. She gave a little sigh of relief when she spotted Taistill Square and the waiting crowd.

  She observed with interest that a bubble of water and air covered the inner square from wall to wall, shielding everyone beneath it from the ravages of the storm. Landing right outside the gate, she put her feet down so she touched the ground, but she covertly supported herself with wind, feeling that her legs were still a bit shaky. Will held out his arm, and she grabbed it gratefully as they walked past the guards who were staring at them in reserved awe.

  “Jade, Will, we were beginning to think you wouldn’t get here in time!” Queen Ashanna was the first to greet them, having obviously been waiting as a lookout for them.

  Will smiled hesitantly at his mother before he leaned in to kiss her cheek, whispering in her ear, “We made it, but Jade needs to see a healer.”

  Ashanna pulled back from her son to stare at Jade, obviously looking for what was wrong as Jade leaned in, kissing her cheek as she whispered as well, “I may have had a small encounter with a lightning bolt.”

  Stiffening, the queen pulled back, looking at Jade with concern before she linked her arm through Jade’s free one and turned, pulling Jade towards a few people she recognized. The queen called out softly, “Viscount Cody, have you met Lady Jade?”

  Of course he had, but very few people other than her close friends and the Elliot family would know that. Raising a brow, Cody grabbed Jade’s hand as he replied, “I’m afraid we haven’t. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Jade.”

  Feeling the rush of healing energy wash through her, she saw Cody’s brow wrinkle for a moment before her legs once again began to feel normal and she replied, “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Viscount. I’d love to compare notes with you at some later point.”

  Smiling wryly as he stood up and released her hand, he nodded. “I’d like that. I’m sure we have quite a lot to discuss.”

  Yup, she was in trouble, but at least he and her friends who’d been watching the conversation closely knew to hold their questions until later.

  After all, there was no point in airing her dirty laundry or recklessness among the general populace, even if she was going to get chewed out, no doubt...

  Chapter Thirty – Delegations

  After a few minutes of idle chatting, everyone began to gather in front of the gate. Realizing that the last time she’d been here, she was looking at people instead of the gate itself, she activated her mana sense to study the structure. It was an interesting mix of brown earth magic, the orange of life magic, and the bright violet of spatial magic. Wasn’t hard to figure out where it all came from.

  When Dukes Liam and Donnelly were about to open the gate, she realized she hadn’t looked at the crowd for any incongruencies, so she quickly scanned them, breathing a small sigh of relief when she noticed that nothing was out of the ordinary. Sure, there were a lot of people with different magical auras around her, but everything looked normal. She was about to drop mana sense when she realized that she should keep it active to check out those coming through the gate.

  “Opening the gate.” Duke Liam’s voice made the people around her tense slightly. The dukes began pouring magic into the gate and the shimmering portal came into being once more.
It was only a few seconds before the first man emerged. He stepped through the portal, instantly alert as he moved forward, seeming to make sure there was both no danger and enough room. She frowned slightly when she noticed he was covered in a slight violet haze, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that just yet.

  As the man noted there was both room and no danger, he bowed to them as he spoke in a booming voice, “I present to your majesties A’Udar Jamil Faris and his entourage.” Looking at his clothes, she was instantly tempted to sing Arabian Nights, but that urge was quashed by the thing that came through the gate next, and she understood why he made sure there was enough room. There were a few suppressed chuckles around her, because she’d let out a muffled squeak and taken two steps backwards as soon as the thing started coming through.

  She’d have called it a scorpion, but only if a scorpion was the size of a horse. It was almost beautiful in color, with the black carapace gilded in swirling patterns. However, the claws looked like they could crush her head easily, not to mention the tail that was lashing back and forth was streaked with a deep purple. Only the light pink glow covering the creature reassured her that it wasn’t going to attack. Well, either that or the sultan-looking guy sitting on a cushy saddle on its back.

  He moved the animal forward, allowing those behind him to come through. To her relief, while they were still on animals, they were mostly some mix of camel and antelope, which allowed her to focus on the man on top of the scorpion. His clothes were a base of white, with gold and purple accents to match his scorpion. It was obvious someone put a lot of effort into making his appearance as regal as possible.

  Derrick took a step forward, putting his right hand on his heart before sending it forward in a welcoming gesture as he spoke, “A’Udar Faris, welcome to Caoi.”

  Returning the gesture with a tiny bow, the A’Udar replied, “It is my pleasure to be here, King Derrick. My father sends his respects.” Jade was watching his eyes more than anything, which meant she noticed when he took a moment to study Camille and Tisha, then settle on her. He caught her staring and his grin widened, obviously taking in her appearance and somehow knowing she was the traveler. Looking back at Derrick, he nodded respectfully to him as he said, “I know the other delegations are coming, so I will look forward to talking more with you at a later time. Perhaps at dinner, tonight?”

  “That would be wonderful. We will save that time for you.” Derrick nodded again respectfully, and Jamil seemed satisfied. He turned his beast to get out of the way, but paused right in front of Jade, who took another two steps back when he did so.

  The frown on his face was readily apparent as he watched her do that, but it was pure instinct to stay away from the giant scorpion. “Is there something wrong, traveler?” His brow was raised and he was obviously trying to...flirt?

  She managed a faint smile back. “Not so long as you keep your beast away from me. Also, my name is Jade, not traveler. Though I’m sure you already knew that.” There were a few sharp intakes of breath from people around her, and several of his delegation growled at her lack of respect. The most unnerving thing was the way the scorpion thing looked at her, like it understood what she’d said and she realized it was a true bonded beast. That was comforting. An intelligent giant scorpion. Yay.

  He waved his people down with the tiniest motion, then made a bow to her. “My apologies, Lady Jade. I will keep Shazim away from you, though you’ve nothing to fear from him. However, I was hoping for a chance to speak further with you.” The scorpion shifted slightly, its eyes staring at her eerily as she tried to ignore it and instead look at its master. Unsurprisingly, her own bonded chose to remain elsewhere for the whole confrontation.

  Her fake smile was plastered on her face as she replied gracefully, “Of course. I’ll be attending the dinner tonight.” He frowned again, obviously not pleased with her answer. He’d been wanting to get her on her own, and she’d made it abundantly clear that wasn’t going to happen. All within one tiny staring contest and polite words.

  Recovering his composure, he nodded. “I’ll see you then, Lady Jade.” He finished turning his beast– Shazim, she reminded herself–and she took another step back when the tail waved slightly in front of her before he moved further away. His servants were taking the animals out of the gate, led by a platoon of guards. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched them.

  None of them gave off the magical wrongness of a monster, but almost every single person in the entourage was covered by a thin violet and pink haze. The prince and two of the higher ups were the only people who weren’t. She turned to Ashanna as she hissed softly, “Almost all of his people are being compelled and are under extremely binding contracts, from what I can tell. What’s going on?”

  Ashanna and Derrick both winced, but Ashanna shook her head. “We always suspected, but there’s not much we can do, save keep a close eye on them here. But now that we know for sure…” She paused, looking at Derrick, who nodded, “We’ll make sure you check out anyone who comes into contact with them, as much as possible.” She didn’t add that this was probably how spies were created in the past, but she didn’t have to.

  Jade was silently fuming, though she schooled her face to remain completely calm. If the prince tried anything on her or the royal family, he had another think coming. Still, watching those people file out of the square gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. Sure, the kingdom she was in wasn’t like that...but what if she could do something to help those people? She’d thought the treatment of the servant or working class was below her equality stance, but the flat-out slavery she saw in those people? That crossed her bottom line more than she’d realized.

  Fists clenched, she vowed to keep a very close eye on the delegation...while still keeping as much distance from them as possible. Should be fun. She was distracted from her thoughts by the next portal arrival.

  White body, black limbs, and adorable black eyes...what she saw was a panda that was the size of a brown bear. The creature plodded forward, and she took note of the person sitting on its back, saddlebags bulging beneath their legs as they half bowed to their majesties and spoke, “Your majesties, may I present Prince Lochlann and the Saibreh delegation.” More giant pandas, who sported wickedly sharp claws, were walking through the portal. Strangely, as the last one entered, they nodded to the dukes, who closed the portal. She didn’t have time to ask why though, distracted by what was happening in front of her.

  Several of them came forward to the royal family, but the guy who looked the most regal surprised her by patting his panda on the head and sliding quickly out of the saddle to walk forward to greet them. He was wearing an intricately embroidered dark green shirt and black pants, while his hair was a beautiful chestnut brown that accented his dark green eyes, almost a match for her own. He and many others of the delegation glowed with magical auras, and the beasts all carried the light pink of contractual magic.

  However, as he bowed to the royal family and greeted them, her attention was on the tiny panda cub cradled in his arms. “Hello, your majesties. It’s great to see you again.” Victor stepped forward and clapped Prince Lochlann on the back enthusiastically, the boys exchanging one armed hugs. They were obviously old friends.

  “Lochlann, welcome back to Caoi! Also, who’s this little rooda?” Victor deftly plucked the tiny panda from Lochlann’s arms, cuddling it and petting its head to cheerful little purrs. Glancing over at her, he nodded his head for her to join them, so she stepped forward and he held out the ball of fluff as he spoke, “Liam, this is Lady Jade. She’s rather fond of tiny animals.” His eyes were twinkling as he teased her, but she laughed and took the tiny panda from him, cuddling the baby creature close.

  “He’s so soft…” the whispered words barely escaped her lips before she heard a few chuckles, which made her remember where she was and not to get distracted by the tiny fluff in her arms. Smiling, she curtsied slightly to Prince Lochlann as she spoke to him, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, P
rince Lochlann. Does this little one have a name?” She indicated the ball of black and white cuteness that was crawling up on top of her shoulder to play in her hair.

  He reached out, taking her free hand and bending to kiss it before straightening as he responded, “The pleasure is mine, Lady Jade. That little rooda is named Umeru. His mother, Hana,” he reached over to pat the panda he’d ridden in on, “didn’t want to leave her children behind, so we brought them with us.”

  “There are more babies?” Jade’s eyes lit up, much to the amusement of the royals around her.

  Grinning, Lochlann nodded. “Yes, we’ve got her three cubs here. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the litter this afternoon.” He paused, looking back at Victor and his parents, “That’s if we’re still having tea this afternoon?”

  Ashanna stepped forward, hugging Lochlann with affection as she replied, “Of course; it’s tradition.”

  “Good. I’ll see you then. Umeru, come on.” The baby panda lifted its head at Lochlann’s call, and she could have sworn she heard the little thing huff before it obediently crawled off of her shoulder and back into Lochlann’s hands. Hana chose that moment to move her head over, headbutting her little one gently and then licking his face. Jade giggled as Lochlann shrugged helplessly and then bowed slightly to them. “Until later!”

  Hana bent slightly as Prince Lochlann adroitly hoisted himself back up into the saddle, Umeru held against his chest by his free hand. He waved, turning to follow his counselors and the guard troop assigned to them out of the gates like everyone else. Jade and the royal family waved back, and Jade couldn’t keep the smile off her face. Baby pandas were adorable! It was also nice to know that Minister Castillo’s truncated introduction of the Saibreh delegation really was all she needed to know. It was good to have solid allies, rather than worrying about a misstep. It was one delegation she’d have no trouble spending time with.