Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  Chapter 1

  I could hear angry elves close by, but I couldn’t make out much of anything else. My healing rune chanted louder in my ears, and it felt like someone had cracked my head open for me. Every inch of my body was drained of strength, too, and I groaned as I clutched the roots of my hair and tried to sit up. Then a gentle touch against my chest pushed me back down to the ground, and I felt soft curls grazing my cheek as the sweet scent of Shoshanne wafted over me.

  “Mason, are you okay?” the healer murmured.

  I nodded. “What happened?”

  “You fainted.”

  “I don’t faint,” I snorted as I tried to sit up again, but then Kurna’s voice rose up along with Defender Urn’s, and I held my head with my elbows propped on my knees while I tried to decipher what was happening around me.

  “Take him to the dungeons!” Urn ordered, and a scuffling of boots came shortly after, along with another string of angry Elvish.

  “Don’t touch him!” Deya screeched. “I will handle him myself!”

  “Deya, let’s calm down,” Cayla tried. “Mason is awake again, and he can fix this.”

  “Fix what?” I sighed toward the ground.

  My runes were quieting down as the aching in my head subsided, but my energy was still drained, and I could hear my women rushing over as Deya dropped to her knees beside me.

  “Mason, tell them Dragir didn’t harm you,” the beautiful elf begged as she clutched my arm. “Tell them this is all under control, please? They wish to take Dragir away for attacking you!”

  “Dragir’s here?” I asked in confusion, but a split second later, it all came rushing back to me.

  I remembered the fury in Dragir’s serpentine eyes as he glared at me from behind my automatons’ blades, and an image of Deya’s nervous smile flashed into my mind. She’d been standing in my clearing looking drop-dead gorgeous while she rubbed her little belly, and my brain stem had practically disconnected.

  My elven lover was carrying my child, and there was something else in the back of my mind that wouldn’t register just yet …

  I rarely fainted, but something Aurora had said pushed me beyond my capacity, and I must have hit the ground hard enough to knock the sense out of me. So, I squinted as I scanned my surroundings, and a third of my Defenders along with a good portion of Falmount’s mages were gathered in my clearing and on the other side of my moat.

  My women looked nervous, Dragir looked pissed, and Bom Two had his death machete swinging ominously behind my back.

  “Mason, are you okay?” Nulena asked with an anxious frown.

  “No, he’s not okay!” Urn bellowed. “Get this bastard to the dungeons immediately and take Miss Deya inside. This is clearly an attempt on Mason’s life, and she’s in danger on account of being a fugitive of Nalnoran law. Mason told me everything.”

  “I’ll take him to the dungeons myself,” Kurna said in a lethal tone.

  “Don’t --” I tried, but my women were all on their feet and grappling to get a hold of the brawny Ignis Mage.

  Well, except for Nulena. She just crossed her arms as grim satisfaction shone in her eyes.

  My head spun as I strained to stand, but Shoshanne was there to catch my weight and steady me while I swayed in place. My clearing looked like a crime scene from a bad TV show, and the nosy mages gathering in the lanes only made it that much more ridiculous to me. Only hours ago, they were all in the throes of a deadly battle against the Master’s forces, but somehow, me fainting with Dragir on my bridge was the most important thing happening in Falmount right now.

  “Everyone shut the fuck up,” I ordered, and silence finally fell in the clearing as the others froze. “No one’s taking anyone anywhere.”

  “Mason, this elven bastard attacked you,” Kurna informed me. “The mages saw it from the lane. He’s turned the automatons against you, and he intends to steal Miss Deya back to Nalnora.”

  “That’s not true!” Deya argued. “Mason, tell him it’s--”

  “Please stop talking,” I groaned as I rifled my hair. “I can hardly stand, and this isn’t helping.”

  “Mason, you should be resting,” Shoshanne warned. “You’re overtaxed after the battle in Serin, and this isn’t a good time to be addressing any of this.”

  “I agree,” I snorted and looked over at the cluster of furious Defenders who had Dragir barricaded between them. “Let him go. He didn’t attack me, and he’s not here to take Deya away. This is Deya’s brother. I sent the automatons to bring him here because he knows more about rune magic than anyone, so locking him in a dungeon isn’t going to help our predicament.”

  The Defenders shifted their weight as they eyed Dragir, but once they registered the look on my face, they finally backed off.

  Dragir cursed them in Elvish as he brushed his tunic off and grabbed his sword from the dirt, but Urn and Kurna held their ground with their revolvers cocked.

  “Do you want us to stick around and make sure this one doesn’t start any trouble?” Defender Urn asked as he sent Dragir a livid glance.

  “By all means,” Dragir shot back. “I’m in the mood to slit a few throats, and yours is--”

  “You guys should go,” I sighed. “We have some personal issues to address.”

  “I disagree,” Deya scoffed. “I think we have nothing to discuss, because it is none of his business if I am pregnant.”

  Dragir took off on an Elvish rant the moment the words left her mouth, and both Urn and Kurna’s brows shot up as they looked over at me. Then they casually holstered their revolvers and backed their way across my bridge.

  “We’ll just uh … give you all some space,” Kurna muttered, and he turned to usher the rest of the mages away.

  It didn’t do much good since the two elves were now yelling at the top of their lungs, and half the mages craned their necks to get a good view while they shuffled only a few paces back.

  I glanced at Aurora and Cayla to find them awkwardly kneading their hands and looking at the ground, and Nulena cocked an amused brow when she met my gaze.

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s see if we can move this inside. I really don’t want to be those neighbors who stand in their yard screaming about getting sisters pregnant. It’s a little too Jerry Springer.”

  “What is Jerry Springer?” Cayla asked in confusion.

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I chuckled, and I limped over to Deya with Shoshanne under one arm. “Can we discuss this in the house, please?”

  “I will discuss nothing!” Deya wailed, and she turned to bolt for the mansion.

  Dragir sprinted after her, though, while Cayla and Aurora hurried close on their heels, and I could hear the two elves screaming their way through the mansion from the yard.

  “You’re rather good at stirring up your own chaos, you know,” Nulena chuckled as she sauntered over. “I think I’ll make myself scarce while you attend to all of this.”

  I smirked as I pulled the ebony woman against me. “Come back tonight?”

  “If you want me to,” the Baroness purred, but I could tell by the glint in her two-toned eyes that she’d been hoping I’d ask her. “Good luck with the elves. Conflict is not something their kind settles well.”

  “You could stay and help out,” I said with a grin.

  “No, I prefer to start trouble more than resolve it,” Nulena sighed as she turned away. “Besides, I think you and your women might have a few things to discuss amongst yourselves.”

  I furrowed my brow as the Baroness sent a little grin to Shoshanne over her shoulder, but then she vanished into her shadows, and the healer was left blushing to her roots under my arm.

  The mages in the streets were gossiping to each other over the scene they’d caught in my yard, but
I was too busy studying the caramel beauty now to send them on their way.

  “Shoshanne, what did Aurora say before I blacked out?”

  “Um … ” the healer muttered, and she steered me toward the door. “Why don’t we focus on handling Dragir and Deya before we get to that?”

  Her blush deepened to crimson as we got to the entryway, and Alfred had Stan and the little dragon perched on his shoulder while he offered me a solemn bow.

  “Sir, there seems to be an uproar taking place in the dining hall,” the butler informed me.

  “Thank you, Alfred,” I chuckled. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Very good, sir,” Alfred replied. “Shall I refrain from serving the feast?”

  “No, I’m starving,” I sighed. “May as well get some food in me while they work this all out.”

  “Certainly, sir. I trust your battle went well?” Alfred inquired as he led us through the halls.

  “Yeah, it went alright,” I assured him. “Sorry we’re late getting back. We took down three fire titans, but then the capital was under attack as well, so we had to handle that. Now, the king’s declared war, Aurora and I have been promoted to heads of the Order, and the capital is safe. Our infirmaries are full at the moment, though, so if any of the healers come by looking for assistance, send them directly to Shoshanne. The troops are moving out in a few days, which means I have to focus on getting our giant metal dragon finished as soon as possible.”

  Alfred nodded as he stood aside at the entrance of the dining hall. “Well done, sir. I’ll prepare a generous glass of spirits in celebration of your victory.”

  “Thanks,” I chuckled, but my grin slowly dropped as I eyed the dining hall.

  Cayla and Aurora quietly sat on one side of the table while Deya stood beside them, and Dragir had his palms braced on the wood as he vehemently berated the beautiful elf in their native tongue.

  I offered them all a half-hearted smirk as I dropped into my seat at the head of the table, and while Alfred began laying out platters of steaming pheasant and boiled potatoes, I watched the two elves scream at each other without understanding a damn word.

  It was kind of funny considering how much they looked like one another when they were angry, and it was never clearer to me than it was now that elves knew nothing about handling disputes without a dagger. Dragir’s hand kept clutching the hilt of his sword, though, and my concern slowly increased while I tried to gauge how close he was to turning his anger on me.

  Then he literally turned to me, and my blood went cold under his lethal glare.

  “I know this is your doing,” Dragir said as he bared his teeth. “Did you refuse to let her have her Udagy? You did, you must have.”

  “Her what?” I snorted. “Is that some kind of elven Voodoo curse?”

  “Mason would never keep me from anything I wanted,” Deya informed her brother as she crossed her arms. “He’s a decent man who lets me do anything I like and doesn’t keep me locked away, or berate me like a child, or--”

  “Deya, can I get a word in?” I asked.

  “Please do,” Dragir answered for her. “I would very much like to hear what you have to say for yourself, because my sister had plenty of Udagy when she left Nalnora, and if you somehow tricked her into not taking it, then I will personally skin you alive.”

  “You will not!” Aurora snarled, and she rose to her feet with amber flames flickering across her palms.

  That shut the male elf up pretty fast.

  “Everyone, calm down,” I sighed. “Dragir, I don’t know what the hell an Udagy is, so whatever you’re accusing me of is over my head right now.”

  “Udagy!” the elf snapped. “The slugs she eats so she cannot become pregnant.”

  I raised my brows. “Okay, that helps. Look, I would never refuse Deya anything, but I have it on good authority she’s been drinking the tea like everyone else.”

  “What tea?” Dragir demanded.

  “The … you know, the tea,” I muttered with a pointed look. “Dallium tea. They drink it every day.”

  I sent my women an apologetic nod since I’d learned my lesson about mentioning a damned word about their tea, but Dragir had his hands firmly planted on his hips when I looked back at him.

  “Well, that would be fantastic if she has a sore throat, but I do not see how it is relevant to this discussion,” the elf replied.

  The room went quiet as we all furrowed our brows, and Deya looked at the ceiling, the food, the walls, and basically anywhere but at me.

  “Deya?” I tried. “You were drinking the tea, right?”

  “Of course, she was,” Cayla interjected as she blushed uncomfortably. “We all were until very recently, which is why I am extremely confused.”

  “Me, too,” Aurora agreed. “Shoshanne, do elves get pregnant faster than humans? Do they develop more quickly? Why does she already have a little bump?”

  “I have no idea,” the healer admitted. “I’m just as confused as you.”

  “Wait, you all stopped drinking the tea?” I clarified, and my heart leapt in my chest as my women blushed and tried to hide their smiles.

  For five unfathomable seconds, I felt like I was drifting in the clouds as a grin came to my face, but then Dragir let out a huffy snort and doused my moment.

  “Who fucking cares?” Dragir scoffed. “Deya, what have you done?”

  “Nothing!” Deya snapped.

  “Deya, sweetie,” Shoshanne interrupted in a forced calm tone. “Do you remember the conversation we had when you first began travelling with us, about our tea and its medicinal properties?”

  Deya shrugged. “Uh-huh.”

  “Do you remember expressing how grateful you were for my offer to brew you the same tea as us each day so that you could benefit from those medicinal properties?” Shoshanne continued.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Deya!” Dragir slammed his fist on the table. “Did you tell these women this silly tea would do anything for you?”

  This time, Deya didn’t respond, but she did turn beet red and began toying with a fork in front of her.

  I was so lost, I just sat there staring, but something about the looks on my women’s faces gave the impression they weren’t lost at all.

  They exchanged side glances while they raised their brows, and Shoshanne let out a barely audible sigh just before Dragir went ballistic. Then the healer decided to eat her dinner rather than continue her inquiry.

  The shouting match between the elves was at full volume for several minutes while I did my best to work on my meal as well, but when Dragir’s dagger suddenly unsheathed, my hand instinctively sprang to my pistol.

  I had it aimed at Dragir’s chest before I knew what was happening, and his serpentine eyes flared as I noticed he’d only impaled his dagger in the table top.

  “What do you intend to do with that?” Dragir asked in a low tone.

  “Nothing!” I insisted. “I just … I thought you were … I mean, you grabbed your dagger, and I … I don’t know what the fuck is going on!”

  I furiously holstered my pistol while Aurora tried to stifle her giggles, but Dragir was more than happy to fill me in.

  “I will tell you what is going on,” the elf said with a perilous look directed at Deya. “My sister is a lying, selfish, and mischief-making little heathen who has purposely endangered herself and all of House Quyn with no regard for your life or the future of your entire kingdom!”

  I blinked. “Mischief what?”

  “So what if I have?” Deya shot back. “I love him! I don’t care what any of those elves want from me! I want Mason’s baby, not theirs!”

  “Oh, shit,” Aurora snorted. “Deya, you didn’t.”

  “I did,” Deya said with a smug nod.

  “Did what?” I clarified.

  Dragir threw his hands up as he waited for his sister to answer the question, but the beautiful elf seemed much less smug now that she had to address me instead of her brother. She was pink all ov
er while she trembled and avoided my gaze, but when she finally looked over, her violet eyes betrayed how terrified she was.

  “I-I might have misled your women?” Deya stammered, and Shoshanne nodded. “I perhaps gave them the impression that their tea would work to prevent me from becoming pregnant when in actuality it cannot.”

  I furrowed my brow. “So … you knew you’d get pregnant?”

  “Yes,” Deya squeaked.

  “For how long?”

  “Um …” the beautiful elf hummed as she bit her lip. “I suppose … uhhh … ever since I stopped using the Udagy. The morning after we first slept together at House Aelin, I decided I didn’t ever want to eat them again.”

  My knees instantly went numb, and while Dragir went off on Deya again in Elvish, I sat there trying to recall how long ago we were talking about. I’d had sex with Deya almost every day since that first time at House Aelin, which definitely accounted for how pregnant she was now. Still, as I stared at the little bump on her belly, I realized the first time we’d been together was weeks before I asked her to leave Nalnora with us.

  I decided not to bring this topic to the table, though, because the walls of the mansion were beginning to shake as Deya’s fury mounted, and I eyed the chandelier above our heads while it trembled in its mount.

  “Deya,” I muttered, “I think your runes are starting to act up.”

  No one heard me on account of the angry Elvish being hurled back and forth across the table, but it didn’t matter.

  With the shattering of a dinner plate, Deya vanished, and Dragir sent his dagger soaring across the room with a furious curse. Then he stormed out of the dining hall, and my women and I were left in a severely strained silence.

  “Well,” Cayla finally muttered. “That’s handled, I suppose.”

  “Is it?” Aurora chuckled. “I couldn’t understand a word they said, but it didn’t seem like they ended on a truce.”

  “Mason, perhaps you should intercede,” Shoshanne suggested. “Dragir respects you, and if anyone can fix this, it’s you.”

  “I got his sister pregnant,” I reminded her. “I’m pretty sure he wants to kill me.”

  “I don’t think so,” Cayla countered. “He knows Deya did this on purpose, and that you believed she was taking care of herself like we were, so if anything, he probably only wants to kill Deya right now.”