Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  I could hear the fight in the marketplace heating up as the ground was torn open and flames began igniting in the streets, and Dragir sprinted past me as he headed for the market with his bloody flail held high.

  He left behind at least twenty dead elves who he’d managed to kill with the flail alone, but I couldn’t even focus on the sheer awesomeness of this because my heart was slamming like a jackhammer in my chest.

  I watched the mayhem in the streets while my palms began to sweat, and my breaths came heavy and ragged like I’d run ten miles. The problem was, Dragir’s words kept echoing in my mind, and I was only now processing what he’d said before the elves showed up.

  Not just Deya, but all of my women were out there facing off with these ruthless assholes, and every one of them could have my babies in their wombs. The thought shook me to my core as the generals’ orders echoed around Falmount along with the crack of revolvers, and as I realized how much was truly at stake, my rune flared with a vengeance. Then the same brutish possessiveness I’d felt earlier surged through my veins as my heart rate suddenly leveled out, and that’s when that unwavering part of me that usually kept my head on straight snapped.

  It was like no one was out here except my women and the possessed bastards hurling daggers at them, and without another thought, I raised both of my pistols.

  My legs moved of their own accord to carry me forward into the fray, and I didn’t hear a sound beyond the war cry of my rune while I just kept on pulling the trigger. One elf after another was engulfed in lightning while I steadily continued down the street, and I simultaneously scanned for my women as I picked the elves off with bullets right to their hearts.

  Then my eyes locked onto Aurora, and I felt a fresh wave of fury course through me as I saw her battling four elves at once. Her flames whipped around her as she dodged blades and ducked out of reach of the elves, but they all dropped in a twitching heap once I took my aim. The next three who jumped at her were dead before they hit the dirt, and I reloaded to take out another six as Aurora stood stunned.

  I could hear Shoshanne’s breath hitch as she dodged a blade and shot back, though, and I changed up my stance so I could take out her attackers as well. I started targeting the elves with my peripherals once I caught sight of Cayla, and as I reloaded once more, I summoned my Terra powers to drop the elves around her six feet under. Then I went right back to burying my bullets into their hearts instead, and I ignored the icy look in Cayla’s blue eyes when she saw me.

  All that mattered right now was that my women made it out of this without so much as a scratch on them, so as I fought to take down every one of their attackers as well as my own, I kept my rune warring at maximum capacity.

  I dodged blades, tore open pits, swapped out magazines, and generally embraced the killing machine in me as I tore my way through the town, and I barely registered the wide-eyed stares of the mages I passed. Everything was static to me with my mind locked on my women’s locations, and when Cayla positioned herself in the tower on Magehill, I kept right on killing anyone who set foot within five yards of the steps leading up to her.

  I was so caught up in my efforts that I hardly noticed the revolvers had stopped firing, and I almost killed off the last few elves as they began to flee. I came to just in time to stop myself from pulling the trigger, though, and I quickly bolted toward the western woods to trail the Master’s elves.

  “Dragir!” I hollered above the cheering taking place in the market, and I pumped my legs faster as the silver-haired elf caught up to me.

  “Is it Deya?” he demanded.

  “No, we need to track these assholes back to the portal,” I explained. “Pay attention to where they disappear.”

  Dragir nodded as he picked up speed, and the two of us sprinted through the woods and scaled the ravines as fast as we could manage. We were nearly a mile outside Falmount when the three elves ahead of us finally vanished, and we crashed our way down a steep slope to land in the brambles where we’d last seen them.

  “Check the trees,” I panted. “I’ll scan the boulders.”

  I summoned my Terra powers and began scanning the area for a whisper of a rune, but it didn’t take long before Dragir called me over to a mass of thorns beneath a tree.

  “Is this the mark?” Dragir asked, and I tore the vines aside to get a closer look.

  There was a single line carved at the base of the gnarled trunk that could have been a common notch to the untrained eye, but I could tell it was placed at the exact same angle as the others we’d found.

  “That’s the one,” I assured him.

  “Give me a minute,” the elf muttered, and he placed his palm against the mark.

  Then Dragir closed his eyes as he furrowed his brow, and I waited as the minutes ticked by without him moving a muscle. When he finally nodded and rose to his feet, he motioned for me to take his place, and I knelt as I pressed my palm against the mark as well.

  “Do you feel the heat this element gives off?” Dragir asked.

  I focused hard on the rough wood under my hand as I tried to sense anything, and after a minute, I noticed a subtle and peculiar warmth at the center of my palm.

  “I do,” I replied.

  “Keep your attention focused on this,” he instructed. “The longer you connect with it, the more complex its presence will become. It will spread through your arm next, and then to your mind. Remember everything you are noticing about it. This will help familiarize yourself with its call, even if you cannot name it.”

  I nodded as I returned my attention to my palm, and the longer I sat there, the more aware I became of the power of this tiny elemental line. It pulsed its way up my arm and through my sternum, and after several minutes, I could sense its presence seeping into my mind.

  The sensation was different than I was used to experiencing with rune magic, though, and I realized this must be the difference between wielding known elements, and not knowing their names. Unlike working with the various forms of lightning and fire, I couldn’t identify the specific power behind this line, but I knew it was there. It felt lighter than air in my mind as it drew me in, and it was as if some invisible vacuum was latched on to me through the woodwork.

  I stayed there for longer than I knew as I focused on this strange pulling sensation that bore no weight, and once I was sure I’d never forget the presence, I pulled my hand away.

  “Destroy it,” Dragir advised, and I nodded as I rose and stepped a few paces back.

  Then I swapped out my magazine for one with the fireball rune engraved on the side, and it only took one bullet to ignite the entire tree and burn it away to ashes. When it was done, Dragir and I turned and headed back toward Falmount, and the elf brooded in silence for most of the journey while I tried to keep the presence of the element in my mind.

  “If this Master is smart, there will be many of these marks in these woods,” Dragir muttered when we neared Falmount. “He will expect it to be untraceable, but if you can learn to sense its presence, you might be able to locate them before another attack occurs.”

  “This is the sixth or seventh portal we’ve found outside Falmount,” I told him. “The Baroness was able to locate a few in Serin so we could destroy them, but others are showing up as far south as Cedis and west in Rajeen.”

  “He has placed them in every region, I am sure,” Dragir said with a nod. “While you are dispersing your soldiers, I will do what I can to locate any others in these woods, but it would be wise to do the same in your travels.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I replied. “The presence of that mark is pretty distinct, but I don’t know how I’d locate it without having an idea of where to look first.”

  “Nor do I,” the silver-haired elf sighed, and he sent me a wry glance as we entered the clearing behind the mansion. “This attack was fortunate for us, though. Less elves for us to kill later, no? I will bring the flail for that as well.”

  I chuckled as Dragir perked up at the thought, and
he patted the big metal dragon as we passed by and made our way down the lane. The mages were gathered in the streets to clean up the bodies, and it looked like we’d only suffered minimal damage. The healers were working with the Terra Mages to bring the injured to the infirmary, and Defender Urn beckoned me over while Dragir began raiding the corpses to get his Halcyan blades back.

  The mages looked shocked as the silver-haired elf heartlessly stepped on the dead elves and cursed them under his breath, and I couldn’t help chuckling as I imagined how they’d react if they knew elves did the same thing with their comrades, too.

  “Did you locate the portal?” Haragh asked as I joined him and the other Defenders.

  “Yeah, we took care of it,” I replied. “How did it go in the marketplace?”

  “Not bad,” Urn said, but he was eyeing me with an amused expression while the others did the same.

  I couldn’t help noticing several mages near us were looking at me in awe, and I checked to make sure I was still fully clothed before I cocked a brow.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Urn chuckled. “I was just thinking, maybe you could leave a few for us next time.”

  “I counted fifty-three,” Kurna snorted. “And that was only after I noticed you standing in the street.”

  “Why were you counting my kills rather than leading the mages?” I asked pointedly, but the brawny mage burst out laughing along with the others.

  “Hey, I kept turning around, and there you were killing everyone in sight,” Kurna informed me. “Not my fault you stole the show.”

  “I told ye’,” Haragh said with a grin. “This one’s a damn killin’ machine.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen him battle his ass off before, but that was a little scary, even for me,” Kurna chuckled as he nudged me in the side. “I thought you’d gotten possessed for a second, but you were still killing the right guys, so I figured I’d let you carry on.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said as I cleared my throat, but I didn’t know how to respond.

  The truth was, I did feel kind of possessed at the time, but by some inner daddy demon I never knew I had.

  “It’s the dead eyes that really spooked me,” Urn continued with a glint of humor in his eye. “You gotta teach me that one sometime. It adds to the whole effect.”

  The men laughed in agreement as I rolled my eyes, but I was grateful to see Mina and Pindor pushing through the crowd. At least it would spare me from having to pretend I remembered shit about that battle aside from the sight of my women surrounded by ruthless elves.

  “Mason, that was so amazing!” Mina fawned, and I sighed as I forced a grin. “We saw you from the battlements, and I’ve never known anyone who could stay so calm in the middle of a fight like that. Not even Princess Balmier. You walked through those elves without even flinching! I bet you learned that in Nalnora, huh?”

  “Yeah, that was incredible,” Pindor agreed. “I knew you’d been practicing with Big Guy, but I had no idea you’d gotten that fast.”

  “Um … thanks,” I muttered as the Defenders chuckled at the look on my face. “Have you guys seen my women around here?”

  “Yeah, Aurora and Cayla were yelling about something over there,” Mina said as she pointed toward Magehill, and that’s when I caught sight of my four women coming toward me.

  My gut flipped with my relief as I headed straight for them, and seeing they were wholly unmarred brought a huge grin to my face as I spread my arms to bring them in for a hug.

  Then they stopped short of reaching me, though, and I realized how livid two of them looked.

  “What the hell, Mason?” Aurora snapped.

  My arms dropped to my sides. “What’d I do?”

  “You stole all of my kills!” Cayla accused. “I know you’re competitive, but that was underhanded. Get your own kills next time!”

  “I wasn’t competing,” I chuckled. “I was protecting you, of course.”

  “You were what?” Aurora screeched. “How dare you!”

  Aurora and Cayla’s eyes flared with rage, and Shoshanne stepped back to avoid getting involved as a goofy smile came to Deya’s face.

  “How dare I?” I clarified.

  “Mason, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m insulted,” Cayla said in an icy tone.

  “You’re so cute,” Deya giggled as she shook her head at me. “Why would you do such a thing to them?”

  I heard several mages around us muttering under their breath now, but I was too shocked at what I was hearing from my women to bother telling them to mind their own business. By all accounts, they had to be messing with me right now, but their body language suggested otherwise as they cocked their hips and crossed their arms.

  “Hold on,” I tried. “Now, I know you’re excellent fighters, that’s never been up for debate. But you could all be carrying very precious cargo right now, and as the father of these babies, it is my duty to--”

  “Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Aurora cut in, and she grabbed me by the collar to level me with a fiery glare. “Mason Flynt, if you ever defend me in battle like that again, I will … I will … ”

  The fury in my half-elf’s eyes scorched straight through me as I blinked in confusion, but to her credit, she didn’t seem to have any solid threats to shell out as she roughly released me instead.

  “She will be so mad!” Cayla finished for Aurora. “As will I. You have an entire town of mages and merchants to look after, and there isn’t a single reason you should be focusing on only us, even if we are pregnant!”

  “That’s actually the exact reason why I should!” I countered firmly, and I couldn’t believe I had to clarify this.

  “We like killing off your enemies!” Aurora belted. “You know that! How could you?”

  I clutched my roots while I tried to decide if I should laugh or tell them off, but mostly I just couldn’t process what was happening right now.

  “I don’t even … ” I tried. “Are you saying you expect me to just--"

  “Thank you, Mason,” Shoshanne interrupted, and I let out a tense breath as the healer curled her hand on my bicep to kiss my cheek. “It’s sweet of you to care, but I don’t want you to kill my attackers for me, either. I’ve been training to fight beside you for a long time now, and I enjoy it. We all do.”

  “Yeah!” Aurora huffed, and she was so wound up, she had to take a few flustered breaths as she flushed to her roots.

  “You are not allowed to do that ever again,” Cayla informed me. “I forbid it.”

  “Oh, you forbid me?” I snorted. “How about I forbid you!”

  Aurora and Cayla gasped so loud, everyone who wasn’t already eavesdropping turned around, but a sturdy hand locked onto my shoulder and dragged me away before my women could spontaneously combust on me.

  “Mason,” Haragh muttered. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  I ground my jaw when I saw Cayla and Aurora cross their arms again, but I let Haragh shove me back through the crowd. Then I stared past the mages while I tried to decide if that was an actual fight I’d just had with my women, or if it was opposite day in this realm.

  Neither option seemed possible, but there was no doubt I’d just gotten an earful over literally defending the lives of my unborn children.

  And it was their own mothers who were pissed about it.

  “What the hell just happened?” I scoffed when we made it to my moat, and Haragh let out a heavy sigh as he faced me head on.

  “Ye’ crossed a line,” the half-ogre informed me. “Didn’t know it was there, didn’t know it could even be crossed in a bad way, but ye’ did.”

  “Right?” I snorted. “I’m not the idiot here, that was … confusing.”

  “They pregnant?” Haragh asked.

  “Maybe,” I muttered. “Deya definitely is, but the others don’t know if they are or not. There’s a pretty good chance they are, though, and then I saw these elves all over the place trying to kill them, and I lost it! How co
uld I not protect them? I love them so much I’d make myself into a human shield for all of them if I had to. Now, they could be carrying my babies, and that only makes it twice as important that no harm comes to them.”

  “But these are your women we’re talkin’ about,” Haragh countered, and I furrowed my brow. “They’re cunning, versatile, skilled, and deadly, and if ye’ don’t let them kill your enemies, they’re gonna kill you. Ogres know how it goes, and I bet the elves know it as well. So, do yourself a favor, and let it go. Ye’ ever lose one of ‘em in a battle before?”

  “No, but there’s been a couple close calls,” I shot back.

  “Doesn’t matter,” the half-ogre assured me. “Let ‘em go out there anyway. It’s one of the things ye’ love most about them, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted as I glared at my eels. “It’s really fucking cool and incredibly sexy.”

  “There ye’ have it,” Haragh chuckled.

  I nodded. “Godsdamnit.”

  I took a few deep breaths while I tried to douse the side of me that wanted to point out how ass backwards this was, and by the time my four women came up the lane, I was fifty percent calmer.

  Dragir was furious, though, as he clutched a hoard of bloody Halcyan daggers in his arms, and he berated Deya all the way down the street. Then they got to me, and the beautiful elf simply held up her hand in her brother’s face to silence him.

  “No,” she said stiffly, and Dragir’s jaw dropped.

  Then he looked my way for some back up, but I just threw my arms up.

  “I know!” I assured him.

  “Mason, we have something we would like to say,” Cayla informed me.

  “Okay … ”

  “We’re sorry for being upset with you,” the princess said in a formal tone. “We were angry and feeling a lot of things, and it wasn’t fair to lash out at you without considering how you might be feeling.”