Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  “What are you talking about?” Aurora asked as she batted her eyes over her shoulder. “I always stand like this.”

  “No, you don’t,” I laughed.

  “Shh,” the half-elf hissed. “The people should know how good you have it, Mason. I want them to be jealous of you.”

  “I thought we agreed to be professional about all this,” I muttered.

  “Says the man with a pair of panties hanging from his shoulder,” Aurora said as she turned to show off her other side.

  Then I glanced down to find she was right, and I tore the scrap of lace off me and chucked it back into the crowd.

  “Am I the only one who’s taking this war seriously?” I sighed.

  “No,” Shoshanne assured me, and she mussed her curls so they’d look a bit wilder. “You’re just the only one here who isn’t a Flynt Fan.”

  “A what?” I snorted. “Where did you get that term from?”

  “The group of little boys over there,” the healer replied, and she pointed toward some kids who looked nine years old.

  They all had the same haircut as me and wore makeshift Defender gear, and when they saw me looking, they began begging me to make them some revolvers while they mimed shooting down the people beside them.

  I smirked as I headed over to the boys, and when I crouched down at the edge of the platform, they all began talking and asking questions at once. From what I gathered, they were dying to know how many weapons I owned, how they could join the Order if they’re not mages, and what battles I’d been in that were the most intense. I did my best to answer all their questions, but when I told them only mages joined the Order of the Elementa, they looked crushed.

  “I’ll tell you what,” I chuckled. “Any of you boys wanna serve in the king’s guard one day?”

  “I do!” a young boy with ruddy brown hair gasped, and the rest all threw their hands up as they began telling me all about their uncles, fathers, or grandfathers who had been knights.

  “Well, then, as soon as you’re strong enough to swing a broadsword, come on up to Falmount,” I offered. “I could use a few more squires, and you’d be training with the best.”

  “Will you show us how to use your revolvers, too?” one of them asked as he clung to the edge of the platform.

  “I’ll show you everything I know,” I assured him. “By the time you’re done in Falmount, you’ll be the best damn knights Temin’s ever had.”

  I laughed as all the boys’ jaws dropped, but the tallest of the bunch shoved his hand out to shake mine.

  “That’s a deal, Defender Flynt, sir!” he told me.

  “Good,” I chuckled, and I shook the boy’s grimy hand before I rose.

  The boys were all talking at once again as they wished me luck in my next battle, and I nodded my thanks before I turned to head back to the train.

  Then Aurora gasped at the same moment Shoshanne shrieked, and I jolted as searing pain shot through my shoulder.

  The musicians in the crowd dropped off key as everyone panicked, but I just braced my hand on the side of the train while the group of boys dropped curses that would make their mothers faint. Then the Defenders swarmed around me as they drew their pistols, and Urn gripped my arm to steady me.

  “Mason, there’s a dagger in your back,” the Terra Mage said.

  “Yeah, it feels like it,” I grunted. “Do me a favor and take it out.”

  “Me?” Urn asked uneasily, but Cayla pushed through the Defenders and wrenched the blade free.

  I cried out from the pain as warm blood dripped down my back, and Shoshanne ducked under my arm so she was between me and the train.

  “Mason, if you hadn’t turned, that dagger would have hit you right in the heart,” the healer said as quietly as she could. “We need to leave.”

  I nodded in agreement, and I braced myself on Shoshanne’s shoulder while my healing rune chanted in my mind.

  “Get Deya,” I said to Urn, but Cayla and Aurora appeared a second later, and they had Deya blocked between them as they shuttled her back into the train.

  Shoshanne laid me out on the bed before the door was closed, and she pulled her healing staff over even though I told her I would be fine in a minute.

  “Hold still and take shallow breaths,” the healer ordered, and I did as she told me to while the vibrant purple glow of her staff drifted over my right side. “This blade pierced your scapula.”

  “It went through the bone?” Aurora gasped.

  “It’s already healing,” I assured the women.

  “I know, I see it,” Shoshanne said as she bit her lip. “Can I do anything for you? Do you need anything?”

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” I chuckled, and I wasn’t just saying that to calm her down.

  The pain was subsiding quickly, and I could rotate my arm without too much discomfort, but Shoshanne’s words were more concerning than the injury itself.

  I could tell by the placement of the blade that her estimation was correct. If I hadn’t happened to turn at that precise moment, the dagger would have pierced my heart, and that would’ve been the end of it. Even my healing rune couldn’t reverse a hit like that.

  “Godsdamnit,” I sighed as I sat up.

  My women were crouched on their knees around me with worried frowns, but when the door of the train was suddenly thrown open, Haragh looked twice as worried as any of them.

  “Is he alive?” the half-ogre demanded as he jumped into the car.

  “I’m fine,” I assured him. “The dagger only got me in the shoulder.”

  “A very unimpressive dagger, too,” Deya sniffed as she tossed it into the corner. “No embellishments, no artistry. What a boring weapon to kill someone with.”

  “It wouldn’t have killed me through my shoulder,” I reminded the elf.

  “But it was aimed at your heart,” Shoshanne argued.

  “Which is a relief if you think about it,” I muttered, and everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Only because Deya was ten feet down the platform. That means this dagger was definitely meant for me, and the arrow yesterday was meant for me, too, not her.”

  “How is that any better?” Haragh shot back. “You’ve got Aer Mages and all else tryin’ to kill ye’!”

  “The Aer Mage wasn’t trying to kill me,” I clarified. “She was incapacitating me to deliver me to the Master. This dagger and the arrow probably were supposed to kill me, though. Which means whatever’s going on doesn’t have to do with the Master. So, I guess the elves?”

  “Why would the elves go after you and not Deya?” Aurora asked. “I thought Dragir said they’d kill her for letting you defile her.”

  “You mean bless me,” Deya corrected, and I couldn’t help smiling at the haughty tone in her voice.

  “Aurora has a good point,” I admitted. “The elves coming to Yerich to kill only me makes even less sense.”

  Cayla groaned. “How many people want to kill you?”

  “I don’t know,” I snorted. “Apparently more than I realized.”

  “Shit,” Haragh growled. “It could be anyone, what with you being a new head of the Order. Then there’s the fact ye’ cozy up to a half-elf, plus the elf you stole from Nalnora. Her dad didn’t seem too fond, that’s for sure. Not to mention ye’ rubbed quite a few of them lords the wrong way, and that old elven bastard you pissed off. Plenty of people would hate ye’ just for allying with us ogres, too, but you’ve got that scary Tenebrae Mage who murders just about anyone, and I know you say she loves--”

  “Not helping,” I cut in.

  “Sorry,” Haragh muttered. “It’s just a hell of a list with nothin’ to go off of.”

  “Mason, you should let me handle the posts from now on,” Aurora decided. “We’re in this together, and if you’ve been targeted, there’s no reason I can’t step in to keep you out of the line of fire.”

  “No fucking way,” I snorted. “I’m not sending any of you out there if I’m not with you. Whoever wants t
o kill me could just as easily go after you.”

  “They’re not going after us, though,” Cayla pointed out. “If someone were after us, you’d say the same thing, so I’m--”

  “We don’t know that no one’s after you,” I interrupted. “Two random attempts doesn’t tell us shit.”

  “I don’t want to go out there without Mason,” Shoshanne mumbled. “I don’t think any of us should be separated.”

  “I agree,” I said with a nod. “I think we’re all jumping the gun on this one. The best thing we can do is to stay sharp and carry on like we always do. Let’s just get to Fraling and--”

  “Fraling?” Haragh asked, and when his voice cracked, I glanced over to see the half-ogre looking a little pale.

  He was also awkwardly shifting his weight as he propped his hands on his hips, shoved them into his pockets, and eventually decided on a weird mix of the two.

  “Why we goin’ there?” the half-ogre asked.

  I cocked a brow. “Because it’s our next post. Why?”

  “Is it?” he checked.

  “Yeah,” I slowly replied. “You alright?”

  “Oh, sure.” Haragh shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll just, uh … I’m great! I’m gonna get back. You’re all good, and the train’s leavin’ soon and all that. I’ll uh … I’ll see ye’.”

  The half-ogre turned so quickly he smashed into the wall, but then he got to the door and left without another word. I was staring at the open door when he suddenly returned, though, and he mumbled a harried apology as he made to close it.

  Then he slammed his fingers in the steel, cursed, and finally got the door shut.

  “I don’t think he’s okay,” Deya decided.

  “Do you guys know anything about Fraling?” I asked in confusion.

  Aurora shrugged. “Only that it’s a village of Zaeliks.”

  “What’s a Zaelik?”

  “A group of people who live separate from the rest and devote their lives to one god above all others,” Cayla explained as she turned to Deya, “but not in the same way as House Quyn. I got the impression your House simply honors Nemris without holding her above the rest.”

  “Yes, a Zaelik is very different,” Deya agreed. “Their residents make sacrifices to their god and are known to commit terrible acts against others in their name.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Like a cult?”

  “I don’t know what that is,” Aurora said, “but why would a few Zaeliks bother Haragh? He’s an ogre. Their race doesn’t care about any of the gods, and they wouldn’t be victim to the kind of violence the Zaeliks commit.”

  I shook my head as the train pulled out of the station, but I’d never seen my half-ogre friend so befuddled before, and no one had said a damned word to me about sending my Defenders to a murderous cult.

  What the hell was waiting for us in Fraling?

  Chapter 15

  We were miles deep into the pine forests of Illaria before Bagneera brought us to a stop, but there was no station or anything beside the track to indicate where we were. The generals and Defenders filed out of the train anyways, though, so I figured this must be the stop for Fraling.

  After the dagger incident, my women insisted I wear my armor from here on out, and once I was suited up, we left the car to join the rest of our troops. We were in the middle of a grassy meadow surrounded by endless pines, and crates of provisions and ammo were being stacked beside the tracks while the Defenders led their horses into the clearing. I scanned the tree line for a footpath or a road that might tell me which direction we should go from here, but the area was so overgrown, it looked like no one had ever occupied it.

  “Are you sure this is the right spot?” I asked Urn as I joined him at the cargo end of the train.

  “Positive,” the Terra Mage said with a nod. “You wanna head directly north of here, and in a mile, you’ll hit Fraling.”

  “You’re not coming with us?” I asked.

  “I could, but it’d be best to leave the train as well guarded as we can in these woods,” Urn explained. “Fraling’s the settlement of some pretty violent Zaeliks, and they’ve been known to raid just about anyone who comes within five miles of their village.”

  “I see,” I muttered. “And why am I sending my Defenders to guard these guys?”

  “Because Fraling’s a tricky business,” the Terra Mage answered. “This lot of Zaeliks only answer to Siraos, and they stirred up quite a bit of trouble for Temin before they built their settlement out here.”

  “Who’s Siraos?”

  “The God of War,” Cayla replied. “I’ve heard stories about his followers since I was a young girl. These Zaeliks terrorized Cedis for years before they moved north, and they used to decapitate entire towns in the far south. Then they would mount their victims’ heads along the roads to try and claim the land for themselves.”

  “They skinned the people on our islands and left their corpses in the market,” Shoshanne added.

  “Yeah, they’ve been everywhere,” Urn informed me, “and that’s how Fraling came about. Too many mass sacrificial slaughters, too much running people out of villages for being on sacred ground. So, the king made them an offer. Either he’d send his whole army after them, or they could live out their lives here in Fraling and remain barred from the rest of the kingdom. Now, they’re free to do as they please in this area, but they’re considered prisoners of the crown, which means like it or not, they’re under our protection in times of war.”

  I stared. “They’re not gonna sacrifice our Defenders, though, right?”

  “No, that would breach their agreement with Temin,” Urn assured me. “They know we’re coming, too, so you shouldn’t get attacked.”

  “This sounds so fascinating,” Deya mused. “I cannot wait to see how these Zaeliks live.”

  “I’m sorry, but you’re not going to find out,” I informed the beautiful elf. “All of you are staying here. These guys sound like murderous lunatics and--”

  “And we just agreed we should stay together,” Aurora cut in. “If anyone does come to raid the train, you’d be leaving us behind to handle it ourselves, which I’m sure we wouldn’t mind doing, as long as you can stomach the idea of--”

  “No, never mind,” I sighed. “We’ll go together, but stay by me at all times, and get your weaponry from the car.”

  My women didn’t move an inch.

  “Only if you swear you won’t lock us up in there the second we do,” Cayla countered, and Urn looked at me with concern.

  “Of course, I won’t,” I chuckled uneasily.

  Urn kept eyeing me as my women walked away, but I waved the subject off rather than go into details.

  “Anyways,” I muttered. “I’ll lead the troops, but I want you and the other Defenders standing watch along the tracks until we return. If I can borrow one of you to help get everything set with the local vassal, that’d be good, since I know nothing about them.”

  “No vassals in Fraling,” Haragh sighed as he shuffled up. “Just the warlord. I’ll go with ye’.”

  “They have a warlord?” I asked as I rifled my hair. “What the hell am I doing here? They’ll be fine without our Defenders.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Haragh grunted. “I say let the backstabbin’ murderers fend for themselves. We should just get back on our train and leave.”

  I raised my brow at the hint of disgust in his tone. “Do you know some of these guys?”

  “No.”

  Haragh turned to walk away, but he motioned for me to follow him back to his train car, and his stony response only made me more curious about the sudden shift in my laid-back friend.

  “I need ye’ to seal our car off,” the half-ogre said as we came to the door of his sleeping quarters.

  “With Taru inside?” I clarified.

  “Aye,” he said with a nod. “I’ll not let this crazy bunch get within a mile of Taru. I explained it all to her, though, don’t worry. I wouldn’t lock her up against her will or an
ything.”

  “Yeah, that wouldn’t be cool,” I muttered as I shifted awkwardly. “Couldn’t Taru handle these guys if they did attack? I know she’s pregnant, but she was at peak mauling performance in Tellish.”

  “Don’t matter,” Haragh countered firmly. “I don’t need any of these Zaeliks knowin’ I’ve got a beautiful and brutal woman about. It’s none of their business, to tell ye’ the truth. It’s my life, ain’t it? Warlord or not, it’s about respectin’ boundaries, and I’m a grown ass man. What I choose to do with my time isn’t any of her concern.”

  “Ahhh…”

  “And I shouldn’t be needing to explain my life decisions to anyone, should I?” he continued. “It wasn’t any of her concern then, and it shouldn’t be now.”

  “Whose concern?” I asked in confusion.

  “No one. Lock the car. Let’s get this over with.”

  I saw the muscles in Haragh’s green jaw begin to twitch, so I quickly did as he said while my women came down the tracks. They had their bows over their shoulders with several daggers sheathed on their belts beside their pistols, and Shoshanne’s case of shuriken was strapped to her thigh as well.

  “This will be so much fun!” Deya sighed as she pranced over to give me a kiss. “I’ve never met any of Siraos’ devotees. We should bring Taru! She loves slaughtering, and I am sure this group of Zaeliks will fascinate her.”

  “No,” was all Haragh said, and he turned on his heels to mount his dark bay horse.

  I shrugged to my women before we followed, and Kurna handed off the reins of four other horses he’d saddled for us.

  “These are the only ones that don’t mind strange riders,” the brawny mage explained. “Two stallions, and two mares. Mind the gray stallion, though, he’s a biter.”

  “This will be fine,” Aurora assured him. “Deya can ride with me. We don’t know how these Zaeliks feel about elves.”