Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  “That was a tube with a handle!” Dragir scoffed.

  “Okay, it was a little more complicated than--”

  “This, though,” the elf continued as he snatched a pistol. “This is little pieces and gadgets just forming and flying around magically assembling themselves in a neat little line without you lifting a finger! This is … this is … ”

  Dragir tossed the pistol on the table as he failed to find the words, and he chucked his soggy lump of bread as well while he slumped a few inches on his stool.

  “What am I doing with my life?” the elf mumbled.

  All of us exchanged glances over the sudden shift in Dragir, but Deya just looked a little nostalgic while she smiled sadly at the silver-haired elf.

  “Dragir, have you been drinking Rosh?” Deya asked.

  Her brother shrugged. “Yes.”

  “Okay,” Deya sighed, and she came over to pat his shoulder while he scowled at the pistols. “Dragir gets a little vulnerable when he drinks Rosh.”

  “I am not vulnerable, I am pissed,” Dragir clarified. “Do you know how many years I have spent painstakingly forming one blade after another to carry grandfather’s legacy forward, but this mage just sits there and--”

  “No, hey, man, what you do is an artform,” I firmly countered. “It’s the most classic and historically--”

  “Do not patronize me,” Dragir said with disgust.

  “No, I’m serious,” I assured him. “I could never form glaives like you do, that’s so impressive! Everyone who comes here makes a beeline for your pieces, not mine. Sure, firearms really change the game in terms of warfare, but sparring is some serious shit, and your weaponry is fucking lethal. Not to mention, you’re the only man in the world who works with Halcyan. I’ve tried to alter it with my Terra powers and nothing happened.”

  “You what?” Dragir gasped as he clutched his heart. “Do you have any idea how long it has taken me to forge each of these pieces? Do not alter my weaponry!”

  “That’s that point, I can’t,” I admitted. “It’s completely out of my skill set, and my magery has no effect on it, but they are beautiful pieces. The subtle variances between each one … I mean, it’s clear you’ve really put in the time to up the gruesome factor for every blade you bring to the table. The ones with the three reversed hooks, and the serrated needle are my personal favorites. Trust me, replicating a bunch of pistols is nothing compared to--”

  Dragir raised a hand to silence me. “I need some time to process.”

  “Do you … wanna process while you engrave all these pistols for me?” I tried.

  “Are you sure you cannot just wave your hand to have it done?” the elf shot back, and I looked at Aurora out of instinct.

  “You’ve never tried that before,” the half-elf muttered, and her eyes narrowed with intrigue. “I wonder … ”

  “Leave,” Dragir ordered. “I will toil my hours away like a common fool. Go.”

  Deya sent me a look like I should probably give her brother some space, and I nodded as my women headed for the door. I paused beside Dragir before I followed them out, though, and Deya hung back to pat her brother on the head with a sweet smile.

  “Thanks for helping with this,” I muttered as I clapped the elf on the shoulder. “I really appreciate it. All of Illaria appreciates it.”

  Dragir just shrugged in response, and I left him slumped on his stool to work through things while I led Deya out of the shop.

  Aurora was filling Cayla and Nulena in on what had happened when we got to the clearing beside the mansion, and I handed Deya her book of dragons so she could help the others sort out the confusion with the pelvic area.

  Shoshanne sat cross legged in the dirt while she sorted through her healer’s bag to prepare for our journey, and I eyed the layout of the dragon bones while I prepared to get to work.

  “I want to get this dragon flying before nightfall,” I told the women.

  “Okay, but I’m so confused,” Cayla muttered. “I’ve seen Dragir slit more throats in one battle than all of us combined. How is he so defeated over a few pistols?”

  “My brother may be a savage, but at heart, he’s a very sweet and sensitive man,” Deya sighed as she flipped through her book. “I’ve missed the way he is when he’s drinking Rosh. He really lets his guard down. It’s like he is a boy again.”

  “I just hope I didn’t break him,” I muttered. “I was only trying to get that chip off his shoulder, but I didn’t think he’d end up spiraling so fast.”

  “No, Dragir doesn’t spiral,” the beautiful elf assured me. “He feels strongly for a brief time, and then he remembers how fantastic he is. You’ll see.”

  “I get that.” Aurora nodded. “Mason’s abilities are staggering these days. If I wasn’t so attracted to him, I’d probably be more intimidated.”

  I smirked as Aurora sent me a wink, and she posted herself on the skull of my metal dragon before she began shuffling her papers around in her lap some more.

  “Is it really true your powers can’t influence Halcyan?” Shoshanne asked. “How could that be possible? I thought it was a kind of stone Deya’s grandfather located.”

  “Not necessarily,” Deya replied as she looked up from her book. “My grandfather was the only elf who knew where to find it before he shared the location with Dragir, but he always said the Halcyan wasn’t of this world. That it was gifted to us by the gods. Much like Mason.”

  The beautiful elf trotted over to kiss me, and as she proudly snuggled under my arm, I checked over my shoulder to make sure Nulena hadn’t heard her. The Baroness was now the only one amongst my women who didn’t know I wasn’t from around here, but she didn’t look like she’d heard since she was busy helping Cayla rearrange the pelvic bones of the dragon.

  “I wouldn’t say I was meant as a gift,” I muttered under my breath.

  “I would,” the beautiful elf purred, and I totally failed to remain calm as Deya brazenly grabbed my cock.

  My lips found hers like a magnet as I locked her in my arms, and in less than two seconds, the book dropped to the ground as the elf hitched her slender legs around my waist. I didn’t know if it was the pregnancy, but Deya had never clawed at me with so little warning before, and I would have gladly fucked her right there in my yard if Cayla didn’t intervene.

  “So, Dragir is still an elf with excellent hearing, right?” the princess asked.

  My libido deflated at the subtle warning.

  “Good call,” Aurora chuckled.

  I cleared my throat and reluctantly lowered Deya back down to the ground, but I had to brace my hands on my knees while I tried to regroup.

  “Fuck,” I sighed. “I’m gonna need a minute alone with you later.”

  “Better be more than a minute,” Deya giggled, and she shamelessly bent over with her ass right in my face as she grabbed her book from the ground.

  At least Dragir couldn’t hear that view, though.

  “Like I was trying to say before,” Aurora pointedly began, “we have a lot to go over now that we’re in charge of the Order.”

  “Let’s hear it,” I replied, and I kept my eyes on Deya’s creamy backend while she headed over to help Nulena.

  When the beautiful elf turned around, the light hit her just right so the tiny bump on her belly was more prominent, and my blood heated to a scalding degree all over again. I stared without blinking while I tried to process that my baby was in Deya’s womb, and I suddenly became overwhelmed with an oddly animalistic sense of possessiveness.

  I was torn between having crazy hot sex with her for the rest of the day or murdering every elf in Nalnora with my bare hands, and the combination made my heart pound heavy in my ears as my hands slowly balled into fists. I watched the gorgeous woman giggle with Nulena as her pink hair glowed like a halo in the sunlight, and I was eventually kneading my knuckles while I willed Deya’s clothes to just rip themselves off and spare me the effort of trying to see through them.

  “Mason
,” Aurora sighed.

  “Yeah!” I blurted. “Sorry. I’m listening.”

  “Is it going to be an issue having Deya around now that she’s pregnant?” Aurora asked, and I grinned as I dragged my eyes off the elf.

  “Maybe, but I’ve got this.”

  “You’ll be able to work?” Aurora clarified.

  “Absolutely,” I assured her, but when she crossed her arms and cocked a brow, I realized I was still standing around getting nothing accomplished. “Oh! Right.”

  I quickly summoned my metal magic to get to work on the dragon, and once I had the vertebrae all fused together, I sent Aurora a nod, and she smirked as she continued.

  “Thank you,” the half-elf muttered. “Now, Temin’s sent over a pile of parchments for us to read through about protocol and regulations, and there’s an extensive section here that breaks down the laws of defense put into place by the previous heads of the Order to be followed in times of war.”

  I nodded as the bones in the front left arm of the dragon slowly fused into place, and I moved on to securing the serrated claws into their sockets while Deya and Nulena continued fussing with the pelvic bones.

  “As it stands right now,” Aurora continued, “Abrus arranged for the majority of our Defenders to be sent to the posts we have in the far south.”

  “Wait, what?” I interrupted. “If we follow that, our soldiers will be too far from the Master’s fortress to do anything about--ah. That makes sense.”

  “Yeah, Abrus was thinking ahead,” Aurora snorted. “He signed it into an official order, too, and from what I’ve read of the regulations so far, it looks like we’ll have to submit a petition of annulment to the royal court, and once they’ve approved it, there’s a three-week holding period to--”

  “Here,” I muttered as I came over, and I pulled a pen from my pocket. Then I snatched the paper, found the article in question, and drew a giant X over it.

  “Those are official documents!” Aurora gasped.

  “Not this section,” I muttered. “We’ll just void that and add an asterisk here on the side … ”

  I set to work correcting Abrus’ orders before I signed my name at the bottom, and then I handed it back to my gaping half-elf.

  “That should do it,” I said with a smirk.

  “Mason, just because we’re heads of the Order doesn’t mean we have the right to side-step--”

  “Aurora,” I cut in, “Abrus signed these orders for the sole purpose of fucking Illaria over, and Temin hired us to do the opposite. That means fixing shit as quickly as possible, not sitting around for three weeks with our heads up our asses.”

  Aurora furrowed her brow. “You have a good point.”

  “I do,” I agreed, and I handed her the pen. “Fix it up, and we’ll send it straight to the castle by the end of the day.”

  “Gods,” Cayla moaned as she bit her lip. “You’d make the sexiest king.”

  I winked. “I’ve been told I look pretty good in a crown.”

  The princess whimpered as I headed back to the dragon, and her cheeks were pink when she dropped down on her backend beside Aurora to watch me work.

  “You really think we should leave half our Defenders behind when we move out?” Aurora asked as she scanned what I’d written.

  “Quarter in Falmount, quarter in Serin,” I confirmed. “The very opposite of Abrus’ order.”

  “Will that leave enough Defenders to fill the posts, though?”

  “How many promotions are we expecting?” I asked as I moved on to assembling one of the wings, and I carefully suspended the bulkiest portion of the upper ridge while I worked to get the webbing secured.

  “The count I got from Kurna yesterday was around one hundred,” Aurora replied, “and Urn mentioned adding more to his own list after the battle. Before that, he was at about sixty, and Cayla’s list has another eighty or so.”

  “Plus the thirty-ish we’ve got already,” I mused. “Let’s keep the order as is for now, and that should be enough to ensure we can handle an offensive attack against the Master’s fortress without leaving the rest of the nation unprotected.”

  “Good idea,” Aurora agreed, and she flipped through another couple pages as she furrowed her brow. “So, if there’s also an order in here declaring the remaining students of the Oculus are barred from defending the capital in the event of a siege … ”

  “Scrap it,” I replied. “I want them under the command of their instructors, and the instructors are to be directly informed of any attack by the king’s guard. That way, if our troops are sent outside the gates of Serin to head off any attacks, the mages from the Oculus can still protect the citizens if more portals show up, and Temin’s not left without his own guard.”

  “What about the Falmount mages?” Aurora asked as she began correcting the documents.

  “Same applies,” I decided, “but they’re not to abandon their posts here unless the Defenders in Serin send for them. The last thing we need is every mage in Falmount running straight into a trap and leaving us with no back up for the capital.”

  Aurora looked up. “And if the Defenders misjudge the situation, and there’s no time to send word?”

  “We should form a scouting troop,” I said after I thought about this for a moment. “Ten mages who ride out regardless of a summons and keep an eye on the situation. After that, it’s their call whether to send a third of the Falmount troops just in case.”

  “Okay!” Cayla exclaimed as she got to her feet. “I can’t do this.”

  “What’s wrong?” I chuckled.

  “You’re being all authoritative, and I’m sopping wet, and I can’t do this,” Cayla huffed. “I need something to keep me busy. This is way too much for me to handle if I can’t have sex with you while you do it.”

  I raised my brows as I realized how flushed she’d gotten since I last looked over, and Shoshanne giggled while she came over to take the princess’ hand.

  “Here, come with me to check in at the infirmary,” the healer offered. “You can listen to me be authoritative for a while.”

  Cayla nodded desperately as she fanned herself, and I couldn’t resist cracking a devilish grin as the princess passed by. That only made Cayla whimper again as she clutched Shoshanne’s hand for support, and I chuckled when I heard her muttering under her breath about me wearing a crown and nothing else.

  “I can save some of these documents for the bedroom if you want!” I called after them, and Shoshanne sent a warning look over her shoulder as Cayla began to wobble on her heels.

  “Don’t say that,” Aurora hissed. “Cayla will have us working all night.”

  “That I’d like to see,” Nulena murmured as she and Deya came over. “We finished adjusting your pelvis for you. Is there anything else you’d like us to adjust?”

  The two women looped their arms around my waist and smirked up at me in unison, but Aurora was already on to them before my palms made it to their asses.

  “Hands off,” the half-elf ordered. “If either of you turn him on one more time before we finish this, then I’m hiding Deya’s scales for a week.”

  Deya gasped. “But I’m pregnant!”

  I groaned as my eyes dropped to the elf’s pillowy cleavage, and it took Nulena dragging Deya out of my arms to finally loosen my hold on her.

  “That’s just fine,” the Baroness chuckled. “I brought a few things to spoil Deya with before I leave, anyways.”

  “You did?” I asked in shock. “As in … thoughtful gifts for the sake of showing how much you value someone else?”

  Nulena sent me a mock scowl as her ebony lips twitched at the corners, and she chose not to respond while she led Deya back to the mansion. The beautiful elf was already prattling off a list to try and guess what the Baroness brought her, and I noticed Aurora had a hint of a smile on her face as she watched them go.

  The half-elf quickly forced an all-business look when she noticed me watching her, though.

  “What?” Aurora m
uttered. “They’re cute, okay?”

  I grinned. “You know I’m gonna spoil you like crazy, right?”

  “But what if we’re too busy being heads of the Order?” the half-elf asked as her brow crinkled.

  “We’ve been working for less than a day,” I reminded her. “You’re already regretting it?”

  “No,” Aurora mumbled. “It’s amazing having this much power, it would just be more amazing if I had your baby in me, too. Then I’d feel twice as powerful and kind of like a queen.”

  I smirked as I came over to kneel in front of the half-elf, and she blushed when I settled her thighs around me to pull her closer.

  “Say the word, and I’ll get right to it,” I murmured.

  Aurora’s blue lashes fluttered at the words, and she caught me by the neck to delve her tongue into my mouth. Her powers collided with mine to make my lips tingle and my chest surge with heat, and she kissed me like she wanted me to possess every inch of her.

  I could feel her silky skin heating in my grip as the king’s documents crumpled between us, and when Aurora had to resurface to catch her breath, I slowly began working my way down her slender neck and across her breasts. The red velvet against my lips made it that much more enjoyable to tease her nipples for her, but I couldn’t resist blazing a trail south as my fingers slipped along the edge of her panties.

  “Mason!” the half-elf suddenly gasped, and I laughed heartily as she shoved me back. “You’re purposely distracting me from these orders!”

  “Hey, you want to be distracted,” I tossed back. “I could tell by that little smile you got. Besides, if we’re in charge, doesn’t that mean we get to decide how many breaks we’ve earned?”

  Aurora giggled as I trailed my hands up her legs to casually part her thighs, but she batted me away and waved the crumpled pile of parchment in my face instead.

  “Illaria is counting on us to fix this,” the half-elf laughed. “What happened to being professional and getting everything to the castle by tonight?”

  I sighed as I realized how extensive the stack really was, and then I held my hands up in defeat.