Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  “Hold on, is the rifle done?” Cayla asked as she eyed me eagerly.

  “No,” I muttered as I furrowed my brow at my sketch. “I’m trying to work something out that doesn’t quite apply to our design.”

  “The gun won’t work?” the princess gasped.

  “It will, I just need to make a few adjustments,” I replied. “Normally, this gun fires standard cartridges with gunpowder in them, and since gas pressure goes hand in hand with the function of this particular weapon, I need to find an alternative system. You see this long tube I drew, and the circular piece at the base of the front sight?”

  “Yeah,” Aurora said as my women leaned in to look.

  “That’s a gas tube and gas block,” I continued. “So, if we were using the intended setup, the gas that builds up behind the bullet from the gunpowder would move down the barrel and siphon through this gas port and into the gas block. Then it’s redirected to travel down the tube to the bolt carrier. We’re not using gunpowder, though. We’re using rune magic, so none of that can occur.”

  “Then get rid of the tube and block thing,” Aurora said with a shrug. “If you don’t need it, why worry about it?”

  “Because after the pressure’s redirected, it forces the bolt carrier back into the buffer tube,” I explained. “If it didn’t do that, the spent round wouldn’t eject, and the next one wouldn’t chamber, either.”

  Cayla furrowed her brow. “Why doesn’t the 1911 operate the same way? They’re both semi-automatic.”

  “Yeah, but a pistol like the 1911 uses the force of the blowback to chamber the next round.”

  “Why couldn’t the AR-15 do the same?” Shoshanne pointed out. “It would be just as powerful.”

  “Too powerful,” I corrected, “and the parts are heavier, so they are more difficult to move. That’s why the pressure system was implemented. It’s a really elegant design.”

  Cayla nodded. “I say adjust the runes to increase their strength and rig the gun to operate the same way as the pistol.”

  “I mean … that might work,” I allowed. “It just doesn’t seem feasible, but I’ll give it a try, and we’ll see how it goes. For now, I’ll finish the rest of the assembly, and then I can alter the … woah.”

  All of us stared at the windows as a wall of ice slid past on either side of the train.

  “I … thought Nulena just iced the tracks,” Aurora mumbled. “As in, blanketed a film of ice on the surface of the iron.”

  “Me, too,” I said as I leaned out the window and looked around.

  Then I couldn’t help laughing, because we were travelling through a solid chunk of ice that stretched sixty feet above the train, and I could have sworn I saw a deer frozen mid leap as I watched the ice ripple by. It went on for another five minutes even though Bagneera had us barreling ahead at top speed, and when we finally reached the other side, we all looked back and laughed some more.

  Nulena had basically dropped an ice mountain right on the tracks between Rajeen and Millia, and a lake was forming from the run-off as the sun beat down.

  “I love that woman,” I chuckled.

  “She definitely loves you,” Aurora mused. “That’s commitment right there.”

  “It’s more than that,” Deya sighed as we ducked back into the car. “It’s romantic.”

  I grinned at the dreamy look in the elf’s violet eyes as I headed back to work, and I skipped the gas tube and block to go ahead with the front sight base and hand guard cap. Then I compressed the delta ring of the barrel nut to secure the handguard before I mounted the foregrip, and by the time we pulled into the Millia station, I’d completed the muzzle and secured the rear sight, too, so all that remained was rigging the altered trigger and wiring system.

  Bagneera was so determined to make up for lost time that she planted herself beside the cargo car as soon as the train was stopped, and she called out the passing minutes while the generals and I scrambled to get the troops’ gear unloaded in half the time. The old Ignis Mage wouldn’t even allow my women to get off the train in case they walked too slow for her liking, and Aurora had to holler her advice to the Defenders from the windows while the cheering crowd drowned out half her words.

  Then Bagneera only let me exchange two sentences with the local vassal before she shoved me down the platform, and I half expected her to boot me in the ass when I jumped into my sleeping quarters, but she didn’t.

  I grinned as I watched Bagneera brush her hands off and storm her way toward the engine, and I decided she was the perfect woman to make sure I made it to Garioch within Nulena’s time frame. Shortly after, Kurna knocked on the door to report the old Ignis Mage intended to shave forty minutes off our travel time, too, and while my women went to get lunch for us all, I sat down at the table to finish the last few details on the AR-15.

  I rigged the trigger assembly the same as I had with my 1911s, but then I went back and altered the elemental lines on the rune to increase the power by a few degrees.

  Cayla was frothing at the mouth now that everything was assembled, though, and since we still had an hour before we reached Garioch, I decided we could test the basic functionality of the rifle from our car. I just needed to get a magazine formed and loaded.

  “Why are the bullets so big?” Shoshanne asked as she pointed to a cartridge with her fork.

  “They’re not,” I mumbled while I replicated a dozen more. “The casing is larger to accommodate a larger payload of gunpowder. I didn’t alter the basic dimensions of the other components on the gun, though, so I’m keeping with the proper cartridge length.”

  “I think they’re sexy that big,” Cayla said with a grin. “You’ll make sure I have plenty more, right?”

  “Always,” I replied. “I’m just making one magazine for the trial run right now. Eventually, I’ll rune a few different types of magazines so you have the lightning and fireball power, too.”

  The princess moaned as she shifted in her seat, and I smirked when I noticed her pupils had dilated.

  “Down, girl,” I muttered.

  “I can’t help it,” Cayla groaned. “Can we have sex while you test it?”

  “Sorry, but no. Trial runs are no time to fool around. You can sit on the bed and enjoy yourself from a safe distance if you want.”

  “No,” the princess sighed with disappointment. “It’s only fun if you’re inside me.”

  I grinned as I finished packing thirty rounds into the magazine, and when I headed for a window, my women hopped up from the table and followed inches behind me.

  “Farther away than that,” I chuckled. “I altered the runes on this, and we don’t know how it’ll function without the pressure system involved, so everyone get as far away from me as possible.”

  My women ended up piling themselves in the far corner of our bed while I posted myself on the opposite side of the car, and I carved a new window out before I took aim toward the hills. My gut clenched as I fingered the trigger, but I reminded myself I’d electrocuted myself plenty of times before, and this couldn’t end up going worse than that.

  So, I took a last steadying breath, and as I exhaled, I pulled the trigger.

  Then I cursed louder than I’d done in my life as my hand shredded into pieces, and my women screeched when my blood splattered the wall.

  They kept screeching like banshees, too, while I staggered and turned around, and when they saw what had happened, Shoshanne vaulted from the bed as Deya passed out.

  Aurora and Cayla screamed at each other to do something while the healer forced me onto a bench and grabbed her healing staff, and when Kurna began pounding his fist against the door, I unlocked it so he wouldn’t break any bones trying to get in.

  “What happened?” the brawny mage demanded, and he tore off the napkin he’d been wearing as a bib to help staunch the blood. “I heard some sort of explosion!”

  I had to order my women to calm the fuck down just so the man could hear me, but the moment he saw my disconnected thumb and the
muscle tissue hanging out of my palm, he hit the floor just like Deya had. Then more Defenders came pouring into the car over the commotion, and one by one they either ran back out or vomited out the windows.

  “Godsdamnit,” I growled. “Clear out, I’ll be fine!”

  “Give me a minute, I can help repair the damage faster,” Shoshanne assured me, and I nodded while my runes warred in my ears.

  The Defenders quickly cleared out with ashen faces, and Cayla was flushed to her roots as she slammed the door shut behind them.

  “I hate that gun!” the princess screamed.

  “You’ll love it when I fix it,” I managed through gritted teeth.

  “You’re not going anywhere near that thing,” Aurora informed me. “I’m throwing it out the fucking window.”

  “No!” I yelped as I tried to stand, but Shoshanne shot to her feet and turned on the other women.

  “Sit down, be quiet, and stop distracting him,” she ordered, and her tone was so sharp, Cayla and Aurora dropped to their asses right beside Kurna’s body.

  Then they clung to each other while Shoshanne healed my hand one bone at a time, and I let out a groan of relief when the blinding pain finally subsided. Within a few minutes, my hand was fully repaired, and after the healer checked my motor skills, she nodded curtly and wiped up the last of the blood.

  “Mason, I don’t want this gun,” Cayla whimpered.

  “Let me work on it some more before we scrap the idea,” I said, and I spoke as gently as I could while I headed over to pick up the rifle. “Every invention requires some trial and error.”

  “Please don’t,” the princess pleaded as she clutched Aurora’s hand. “I’ll use the pistols! They’re perfect, I love them, and they don’t explode.”

  “Cayla, just breathe,” I chuckled while I studied the rifle. “I’m not freaking out, so you don’t have to, either. It looks like part of the bolt exploded, which means the power load is too high.”

  “From the altered runes?” Aurora asked.

  “I guess,” I muttered. “The thing is, the rest of the rifle is perfectly fine, and if it was the strength of the rune, the trigger assembly would have been destroyed, too. So … it has to be the blowback system I was talking about with the 1911. It just won’t work with the rifle. Way too much power.”

  Deya moaned as she began to regain consciousness, and I had my women go check on her to keep them busy while I thought through the issue.

  First thing I did was consider the gas system I’d bypassed, and I realized the amount of pressure that would have been lost by rerouting the gas through a tube and to the bolt would mean there was a significant decrease in power. So maybe, without that decrease, the bolt would be thrown back too hard.

  “Aaand there’s the reason for no blowback action,” I muttered as I stepped over Kurna, and I pulled some copper out from the compartment under the bench.

  Then I sat down and put half my focus toward forming another spool of copper wire, and I repaired the damage to the rifle while I considered my options. My women got Deya up and let her know I was okay, and when they joined me at the table again, all of them had nervous creases on their foreheads.

  So, I calmly explained the issue while I ran a slim strip of wire down the inside of the barrel, and once I fused it flat against the edge, I ran it up and out where the gas port should have been.

  Cayla was pale as a sheet, though.

  “This is my fault,” the princess whimpered.

  “No, it isn’t,” I assured her as I looped the wire back to replace a gas tube.

  “Yes, it is,” she argued. “I told you to do it this way.”

  “Cayla, did you build the gun?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Did you pull the trigger?”

  “No,” the princess mumbled.

  “There you go,” I chuckled. “I agreed with your logic, and I carried through with it because I wanted to. Now, we know we can’t rely on the same system as the pistol, and I’m correcting the issue.”

  “How?” Deya asked as she nervously eyed the rifle.

  “By mimicking the original gas system,” I explained, and I finished securing the copper wiring at the chamber of the bolt carrier. “This way, the strength of the trigger rune won’t stop at the firing pin and blowback like the 1911. Instead, it’ll carry through the copper slip inside the barrel and reroute to the wiring I placed beneath the handguard. From that point of contact, it’ll react with the engraving I’m placing on a copper tab, and the power that travels through the wire to the bolt won’t be the same as what’s propelling the bullet.”

  “Why not alter the trigger rune you changed before?” Shoshanne asked.

  “Because we still need the extra kick,” I continued. “This is a larger weapon, and the bullets are intended to travel farther, faster, and with less drop off so Cayla can be more accurate at a distance. The engraving I’m placing on the copper tab outside the barrel will still be altered, only less so. This way, it’s strong enough to force the bolt back, but not so strong that we have a repeat incident.”

  “That does sound like it could work,” Aurora agreed as she patted Cayla’s arm.

  “I suppose,” the princess allowed, but her porcelain face was still marred with a frown.

  “Only one way to find out,” I muttered as I pulled over my engraving kit, and while Kurna began to stir on the floor, I quickly engraved a less altered version of the trigger rune on the tiny copper tab.

  Shoshanne got my general back to his feet by the time I finished, and I mounted the handguard again while he swayed a little on his wobbly legs.

  Then the brawny mage saw my women gathering on the other end of the car while I headed for the window, and he looked at me like I was nuts.

  “What are you doing?” Kurna demanded.

  “Testing it again,” I replied. “You should stand back just in case.”

  “Hell, no,” Kurna said as he vigorously shook his head. “If you’re blowing your shit apart again, I’m out. You’re crazy.”

  With that, the big mage fled the scene, and Aurora rolled her eyes while she let Cayla crush her hand some more in the corner of the bed.

  “Be careful,” Shoshanne said.

  “Whatever happens, it won’t be the same as the last trial,” I assured the women, but I was really saying this for my own sake, too.

  Then I steadied my stance, took aim, and pulled the trigger before I could cop out.

  This time, nothing exploded, but when I threw my arms up for a whoop of victory, my women still screeched.

  “Sorry,” I chuckled. “I’m fine, I promise. Just excited. It totally fucking worked.”

  “Really?” Cayla gasped.

  “Hell yeah. Watch.”

  I emptied the entire magazine one shot after another as a greedy grin spread across my face, and just the feel of the AR-15 kicking back made me miss Earth all at once. I was chuckling to myself through the last few rounds, and when I turned back to my women, Cayla was standing only a foot away with her lashes hooding her icy blue eyes.

  “I want it,” the princess said.

  Her velvety tone sent my brows up as I quickly handed the rifle over, and the way she sighed as she ran her hands along the steel made up for my shredded hand by a long shot.

  “Magazine,” Cayla ordered.

  I nearly leapt to the table as I summoned my metal magic, and in under a minute, I’d formed enough cartridges to reload the magazine casing for her. Then I immediately locked my hands on the princess’ hips to guide her toward the window, and yes, I did keep my dick flush against her ass for the entire demo.

  Cayla got the hang of the new weapon within four rounds, but even though she didn’t need any help from there, I stayed right where I was as I casually let my hands fall from hers and roam elsewhere instead. Her ass jolting against me was only slightly more enjoyable than the little moan she couldn’t stop making with each pull of the trigger, and when she’d emptied the magazine, she was trembling from her arous
al.

  My women weren’t the least bit surprised to see her changing her tune so quickly about the gun she hated only minutes before, and the princess made me spend the rest of this leg of the trip forming dozens of magazines for her.

  I didn’t mind in the slightest, though, because she rode my dick while I made all of them, and we both climaxed just as the last one finished getting made.

  I was droopy eyed with a lopsided grin when I tripped out the door at the Garioch station, and Kurna was anxiously waiting on the dusky platform for me while he eyed my hand.

  “It’s all good,” I slurred. “I fixed it.”

  “Yeah, he did,” Cayla murmured as she slapped my ass. “Mason, put me on top of the train, I want to play with my new rifle before we head in.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I chuckled.

  Then I boosted Cayla up so she could climb up onto the roof, and the last fifteen of our Defenders stopped and stared while the leather-clad princess shot through two more magazines in quick succession. Once she was done, she let out a moan that made every Defender abruptly avert their gazes, and when she mock-fainted her way off the train, I dove to catch her in time.

  “I love you,” Cayla sighed while she clutched the AR-15.

  “Are you talking to me or the gun?” I asked.

  “You, too,” the princess said with a wink.

  My other women laughed when they came outside to find the stoic woman draped in my arms like a genuine princess for once, and Cayla crushed the rifle between us while she kissed me until my lips were sore.

  “That was a thank you, by the way,” Cayla informed me as she got back to her feet.

  “Yeah, I uhh … I got that.”

  “I think everyone got that,” Kurna muttered.

  The platform was empty by now, but I could see the Defenders trekking across the barren terrain in the blue light, and I couldn’t wipe the silly grin off my face for anything while we followed.

  Even the howling wind didn’t dampen my mood as I eyed the five, fur-cloaked figures near the gates, and I recognized Krick’s crisp white furs among them. I’d learned a while ago that there were no lords this far north in Illaria, but Krick had built the loggers’ tavern, so it was him the citizens looked to for leadership.