by Daniel Ruth
They each pulled swords from... well, I am not positive where. Perhaps the dresses and suits were illusions and they wore them all along. Perhaps an unknown magic elf ability was to pull weapons from various bodily orifices. Frankly, none of these super elves were in my inherited memory, so who knew?
Since I was playing at being a shifter, I pandered to the crowd and changed in the hybrid bear form I was known for. I twinged a bit as I pushed my runic bindings. Almost immediately afterward the constructs tackled me.
The first thing I noticed was the tentacles were real. The second thing was that grappling with multiple creatures with tentacles was awkward and pretty creepy. I was pretty sure they were leaving slime trials on me.
Roaring in displeasure I formed extra sharp claws and started to try my best to disembowel them. To be honest I don't think it was very effective, however, the force was enough to knock them back into the 'invisible' elves. Even though it wasn't as effective as I had hoped, they did move significantly slower.
The remaining elves reached me, their glowing swords whining in anticipation. I had some trepidation about that. The magical swords I had encountered in the past had been higher tier artifacts. The couldn't kill me in a single strike but massive injuries were likely.
Therefore I may have panicked a tiny bit and activated my psionic force field. I grabbed a tentacle beast near me and blocked several elves with its body. The remaining two struck my back with their swords, the silver metal striking sparks as they slid across the barrier.
The tentacle beast almost came apart as three weapons sliced across it. My shield held up better, only a third of it was lost. This made me happy. They were definitely magic weapons but they weren't artifact level weapons. Unfortunately, it meant I had to dig a little deeper in my bags of tricks.
A sweep of my hand and spat a short mnemonic and the tentacle beasts and several of the elves were stuck to the ground. I picked up a long table in my clawed hands, not a simple task in itself, and swept it against the incoming elves. Their enchanted weapons and greater than mortal strength made short work of it but I cast Silence on the downed elves as fast as I could.
I wasn't really sure how great these creature's spellcasting abilities were. So far, I had seen illusions, magic items including lesser enchanted weapons and some sort of elemental necromancy. All things I could counter fairly easily. However, the greatest danger in fighting magic users is how easily it can escalate, especially when you have no idea of the other's capabilities.
Therefore, I wasn't really happy fighting two dozen elves with unknown magical abilities, especially since only a half dozen had actually rushed me and the rest were standing well back, watching the events. That gave me a bad feeling.
Then one of them in the back started waving their hands and muttering. My instinctive knowledge of magic came to the foreground. A curse. Eyes widening, I waved an articulated claw and spat out Counterspell.
"The damn beast is a caster of some kind," the elf whose spell I had nixed yelled out.
"It has some sort of barrier around it," one of the closer elves shouted. "Change the ground to swampland."
While I didn't appreciate the sentiment, I did like the advance warning. Fighting in an indoor bog would not be good. So far, I hadn't done anything too lethal. Neither had they, though I was unsure if it was a lack of ability or that they simply hadn't escalated yet.
Glancing around I tried to come up with an alternate plan. If I started popping people's head off things could go bad fast. The one woman that stood up first and spoken to me was still standing there. Now that I was looking for it, I could see the tables kind of centered on her. The other elves were also glancing at her on occasion seeming to gather cues.
Another elf cast a spell, I gestured and disrupted it. Unfortunately, while I was doing that another sidhe got off a spell and I was suddenly waist high in a bog and sinking. Disgusting. The spell even formed the muck and odor of the true environment.
"Bring out the polearms," commanded the woman. I missed fighting mindless mobs.
Locking my vision onto the woman I triggered my short-range teleportation and in the next instant was behind her. I quickly wrapped one massive hand around her head and one around her waist.
"Ah, ah, ah," I clucked in a guttural voice. "I don't know exactly who you are but this little lady appears to be important to you. It would be a shame if I slipped and she lost her head."
"I'd rather die than surrender to a filthy shifter," croaked the rather stressed woman. I looked at her in chagrin. Really? That was the issue. With a growl, I shifted closer to my true dragon form. I groaned in pain as the rune on my chest burned, yet there was still a bone-deep satisfaction at being closer to my true form.
"What is that," asked one elf in fear and confusion.
"It's some sort of lumpy lizard," another whispered back.
"I think it’s a dinosaur," a third said. "I visited the mortal world and they are infesting the corners of it."
"Are those lumps tumors," another asked.
I was getting angrier and angrier as these whispered comments went back and forth. I was so close to getting to my true form, yet the rune kept me from achieving it. Furthermore, it forced me to appear like a half-formed dragon. One made of lumpy clay barely massaged into shape. I was mortified and almost furious enough to bite the little she elf's head off.
"Wait," cried the little wench in question. She might have sensed my rage. I doubt I was doing much to hide it at this point. "I surrender to the dragon. We will swear an oath of fealty to you. Until my grandmother comes back to claim her land."
"That’s a dragon," one final questioning mutter drifted to my ears before I heard a slap, followed by silence. One by one the elves admitted defeat. I heard unsteady footsteps behind me and the first elf I met could be seen staggering down the spiral stairs.
"I admit defeat as well," he wheezed. "The dark court has always acknowledged strength before all else. We follow you until Queen Madb returns."
I hesitantly returned to my human form, releasing the elf. "I am glad we got that straightened out. We can discuss the details of your what your surrender means over some real food. I can't believe you eat illusions."
Chapter 25
Thankfully they had real food. We all sat back down at the tables. The waiters returned to their normal state. I didn't ask whether this was merely an illusion. I don't think I wanted to know.
The mire in the middle of the room was also dispelled, although there was a lingering unwelcome smell. I wasted a bit of energy cleaning up the place with my magic, but I really didn't have a choice unless I wanted to suffer all night.
"So, what brought our new master to our... his domain," Ciarra asked. We had already gone through a round of introductions, though I only paid attention to the first few. Ciarra was the leader and apparently the granddaughter of Queen Madb.
"I am purchasing the land," I stated while tearing into the food. Without the illusions, the meat was a bit gamy and the bread stale, but it was real. I looked up as the silence dragged onwards. They were all staring at me. "What? It's on the city records. How long did you think people would ignore it?"
"The humans can't even get close to the entrance," Ciarra spat in disgust. "Why would we expect anything to change after ten years?"
"Seriously, how can it stay the same," I asked in bewilderment. "You have groups of superheroes roaming the city. The city almost got invaded a few months ago by a demon lord and will likely be invaded again within a few years."
The collected elves stared at me blankly. "Okay. I suppose with all of that happening it isn't unreasonable to expect to be ignored." I shrugged and went back to eating.
"D...demon invasion," a timid voice asked from the side. I looked up. It was the human singer. I had called her over to sit next to me and eat some non-illusory food. She was skin and bones but had an excellent voice. It was why the sidhe kept her. Her name was Karen something.
"Yeah, a Rakshasa
demon lord named Vatapi chained ten dimensions together using circles to tie them together and block them off from the surrounding multiverse," I paused to look at Karen. I couldn't help have a vague feeling of déjà vu. I examined her carefully to ensure she wouldn't turn out to be a demon in disguise about to spring her trap. It could happen.
"So that's why..." Cunobelinus muttered. He was the first elf I met
"Shhh," Ciarra snapped. "Why isn't the world outside flooded with demons then?"
"I killed the Demon Lord," I said, tearing another bite from the meat. "Unfortunately, the barriers had already gone up. You know how demons are. He's now some ectoplasmic sludge and has to re-form his material body but he'll be back."
"This means..." Cunobelinus started before being cut off by Ciarra.
"We are cut off from the other dimensions?"
"Yep, all dimensional travel is cut off unless you manage to have a key to the master circle. The gods have been cut off unless they were already in the ten worlds." I paused as I thought of something. "How well do sidhe get along with demons?"
The elf woman glared at me balefully. "About as well as the entire rest of creation. Not at all."
"Good," I nodded as I grabbed more stale bread. "Yo, elf boy. Make this taste better. I am glad we can all agree that demons are bad. Maybe when the demons start their invasion again, we can hack them up with your silver swords."
"We are not cannon fodder!"
"Well, I'll be busy with other things like exploration and research," I said with a shrug. I took another bite of the bread. Ah, warm and fluffy with a hint of sweet butter. Nice. Every kitchen should have a dark elf to perk it up. "If you want to hide in this hole of a sub-dimensional pocket it's no hair of my chest. However, your queen isn't ever coming back as long as the demons have these worlds turned into prisons. These last few months probably haven't been the best. Imagine hundreds of years doing this." A thought occurred to me. "Of course, demons aren't idiots when it comes to dimensional tricks. They are going to notice a pocket dimension in their back yard eventually."
The sidhe looked at each other. Their stares seemed to hold some significance that escaped me.
"That reminds me," I said with a snap of my fingers. "What's up with this place. I mean it was obviously created by Sulayman. But he's gone and you’re here instead."
"I don't know what you're talking about," one of the nameless elves objected. I stared at him skeptically.
"Come on," I cajoled. "I am going to buy the place, I conquered you and everyone here swore fealty to me. What's left to hide?"
They all stared at me silently. Great. More secrets. "Keep in mind that I am not going on a slaughtering spree despite the no doubt horrible things you've done to the humans. And the shifters too, probably." I glanced at the gaunt and weary human at the table with us. "By the way, don't do that anymore. I'm not that kind of dragon and I don't want to have to kill you all to get my point across."
"We do know of the demigod," Ciarra proudly stated. I nodded in encouragement. "He wanted to build a pleasure resort and contracted with the sidhe to create this realm. After a time, he couldn't meet his contractual obligations and the queen decided to reclaim the land."
"No geas," I asked in surprise. The sidhe had a reputation with geas and mind control.
"He was powerful enough to avoid any bindings and fast enough to escape the Hunt," she said with a lip curl.
I was surprised he hadn't activated any battle circles. With his skill, it shouldn't have been too difficult to create a circle matrix the size of this entire domain and simply bombard everyone except himself with death magic until even the most resistant succumbed or ran for their lives.
"And he just left quietly," I asked skeptically.
"The Unseelie had a large number of mortals as hostages," Karen said, a shadow of horror in her eyes. "He couldn't strike back without killing everyone else first. Most of them died anyway. Eventually." She glanced sideways at the waiters.
I looked at her with some sympathy. If she knew this, then either she had been here for decades or she had kept her ears open.
"Okay, next question," I said moving on. "Why is there so much energy here? I only saw one ley line passing over the entrance but there seems to be a lot more free power just floating around." I did certainly appreciate that. It would make charging my storage trinkets far easier.
They exchanged more long stares at one another. I sat with my hand supporting my chin. The time stretched awkwardly. "Alright. We can work up to that one."
"Next on the agenda," I said with a lazy wave of my hand. "I have a meeting tomorrow with the Leopard Clan. With luck, they aren't Rakshasa in disguise. Just in case they are, I will need to pull up the standard wards and demon binding circles."
"Sulayman already has those type of circles set up," Cunobelinus replied.
"Excellent, I can use those as references," I said with a smile. I had always wanted to simply park in Sulayman's circle room and study all the unknown circles to my heart's content. Just the Resurrection circle was something I coveted. My own approach using the Regeneration circle was haphazard and prone to some unwanted side effects. That whole flesh zombie thing was a barely tolerable workaround.
"However, there's still going to be a lot of hairy people stomping around and I need a large area that doesn't have glowing circles of magic scattering on the floor." I tapped on the table thoughtfully. "A subfloor would be perfect. I could make the circles below them and the people or demons above should still be within the area of effect once they are activated."
Another elf replied. I think his name was Brann the Bloody. "There is the arena."
I looked at them in exasperation. An arena? That was so stereotypically evil. If I had come here with Jeremy or Beth, I would have been almost obligated to kill them all for being so unoriginal... er, I mean evil.
"We don't use it anymore," Ciarra said defensively, seeing my unhappy gaze.
"Because everyone is already dead," Karen muttered sullenly.
"Alright, I sense some hard feeling," I said, earning a glare for Karen and even the elves. "In the spirit of starting anew... do you still have the bodies of the slain humans and shifters and... whatever else you killed..."
Karen looked at the constructs serving us and the band playing a soothing tune on the dais beside us.
"Ah, right," I cringed internally a bit as I looked at them. I was not sure a basic Resurrection circle could bring back 'processed goods'. "No promises but I've worked with Sulayman's Resurrection circles in the past. I think, combined with my own circles, I may be able to bring back the humans and whatever else. It won't be tonight though. I'm going to have my hands full creating the right circles under the arena."
"Wait," a nameless elf protested. "No servants?" This earned him a subtle but desperate hand wave from Cunobelinus and an exasperated look from Ciarra.
"No, this means no recycled humans. No mortal or shifter slaves," I clarified, enumerating on my fingers. "No vampire slaves, fae, dwarves... if it has a soul... or something resembling it, then no."
"What about demon slaves," the same elf asked.
I paused in thought. "Hmm, good question. I suppose this is pretty much a war of extermination. And they are trying to exterminate or enslave everyone on the ten planets." Surely my humans would be okay with that? "Okay! Enslave the demons if you can. Be warned they are terribly messy and have horrible hygiene. Also, if you kill them, their souls go to their own plane to reform a body. You have to make sure they can't carry intelligence to the enemy."
The sidhe universally looked at me in disdain, as if I had questioned their professional skills. "We have dealt with demons before. We can bring them to submit properly," Ciarra said disdainfully.
"Alright then," I nodded happily. "Remember to address me as Arbitrator tomorrow. The shifter packs have accepted me in that role. If anyone asks, I am a werebear."
"Thus, your original guise," stated Cunobelinus.
I
nodded again, a good deal less happily. My disguise fell apart fairly quickly when the battle started to escalate even a little bit. A baseline shifter fighting multiple spellcasters was a joke. I shouldn't have even bothered with the charade.
"I've had enough food," I grunted as I finished off the final bit of bread. Take me to Sulayman's workshop. It will be nice to use some premium ingredients and tools."
The uncomfortable stare between the sidhe was becoming distressingly familiar. "What's the problem now?"
"When the demigod left, he left his private workshop and circle room warded," Ciarra reluctantly said. "Without the circlemaster himself or his key, anyone that enters these locations will die within a minute."
I took a deep breath and nodded to myself. This changed nothing. I wasn't any worse off than I was a few hours ago. I simply wouldn't be able to study all of Sulayman's wonderful circles or make use of his private stockpile of tool and reagents.
Later, I may have to go talk to Sulayman and get a 'key' from him to access his circle rooms. That was a conversation I wasn't looking forward to having
"Then why did you even mention his circles?" I asked in exasperation. I only received smug looks. "Fine. Take me to the arena and the arena subfloor. It's going to take me a while to set this up."
"Can I come with you Arbitrator," the timid human asked. She was probably scared of spending even a moment in private with a possibly vengeful magical elf. This was undoubtedly reasonable. While I was trying not to judge, they did seem a bit on the evil side of things.
"Sure, but you better bring a chair or a cushion," I advised. "This might take all night. I'll probably have to come back during the day."
It followed that a few hours later I was in a crawl space under the arena. I didn't have a lot of experience in these things but this one seemed pretty good. It had track lighting, which I didn't really need, but I am sure Karen was grateful for and a few feet of height.
Karen was almost crawling on all fours; however, I simply changed my height to match the ceiling. This drew stares of amazement from the human. They are easily impressed.