by Eric Vall
Markus stayed frozen like a crouched statue, but once Pindor pried the watch out of his hand for him, he only laughed harder until he was red in the face.
“How long?” I snorted while I continued drawing a steady stream of lava up through the ground.
“Thirty-two minutes,” Pindor croaked.
I couldn’t help laughing now, either, but it took the kid a while before he could breathe regularly again. By then, Markus had decided to sit down all the way instead, and every now and then, he muttered his observations to no one in particular while he kept one palm glued to the ground and the other raised toward the river of lava.
The young mage stayed in the same absorbed state for so long, Pindor finally convinced me to help him learn to withstand the energy of lava, so while we waited for Markus to resurface, the two of us headed over for another lesson.
At first, Pindor couldn’t even connect with the molten rock for longer than a few seconds, and he ended up hissing in shock. Then he’d swiftly pull his powers back, and his abilities only became shakier by the tenth try. Once he described the tingling in his skin and the way the heat overwhelmed his focus, though, I smirked as my mind caught onto a familiar notion.
“My senses just keep going all over the place,” Pindor sighed. “Every one of them! I can’t think straight when one touch overpowers me completely, and it’s cool in a way, but also impossible to get an upper hand over.”
“Alright, so, uh… you ever notice a similar reaction when you’re with Mina?” I casually tossed out.
Pindor furrowed his brow. “Wait, that happens to you, too? Like… in… more intimate situations?”
“When I have sex with Aurora,” I bluntly replied. “Yeah. It’s the Ignis Magic interacting with your Terra powers. I recommend you approach the energy of the lava in a similar way. Lean into the positive aspects a bit. It’s jarring, sure, but not as uncomfortable as it initially seems. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Pindor promptly turned back to the lava flow as he raised his palms, and I tried so hard not to laugh when the results were instantaneous. I could tell by his expression that he fully understood where I was coming from now, and I decided it was fortunate both of us happened to be crazy about fiery women.
Then I glanced between Markus’ shell-shocked stare and Pindor’s gaping grin, and I sighed as I realized the young mages would need some time to absorb the lessons of the day.
“Alright, I’ll just let you guys work on this,” I muttered as I clapped Pindor on the shoulder. “Meet me at the edge of the forest, though. We’ve got work to do once you’re done here.”
Neither of them moved a muscle as I continued into the woods, and when I glanced back a couple times, they were still right where I’d left them.
I was honestly nearly as stoked as Pindor right now, though, because exploring the delicate balance between the minerals of my element and the heat influencing them had been like splitting my brain into particles and learning how to put them back together.
My magery was still vibrating across my skin from the experience, and the potent energy of the magma left a buzzing in my veins. I felt supercharged and ready to break a few more mountain ranges open, and the realization of how much power I’d gained since coming to this realm made it hard to tell if my feet were still touching the ground or not.
Not only had I sent my magic upwards of two hundred miles beyond myself, but I’d harnessed the heat of the planet itself to create lava, and the rush of this alone made finishing off the Master feel like a walk in the park.
In fact, I was chomping at the bit to see the bastard handled so I could spend the rest of my life delving into every possibility this realm had to offer, and even the view once I arrived at the edge of the dense forest didn’t faze me.
The towers of the Master’s fortress were billowing with the smoke of his forges once more, and I didn’t doubt his minions were working double time to replace the revolvers I’d watched them chuck into the mud. Ultimately, though, the Master could muddle his way through as many replications of my work as he wanted if he thought it’d save his ass.
He still had no idea what he was really up against.
Granted, I technically didn’t have a full idea, either, so I tried to throttle my power-high down as I sent my Terra powers across the rocky terrain, but I did notice this task was twice as easy with the energy of the magma coursing through me.
The same enchantments that had barred my powers from accessing the fortress walls continued to permeate the ground, but I was relieved to find they still only repelled my powers from the slate down. The boulders riddling the surface of the land were still accessible like they’d been when we first scouted the area the night we went to Mors Pass, which meant the Master hadn’t expanded his defenses as much as he could have.
Then I caught the whisper of a rune through a nearby boulder, and I ducked behind a twenty-foot embankment to carefully make my way over. As I got closer, though, I noticed an overlapping sound, and the striking difference between the two brought my full attention back around to the task at hand.
Because there was definitely more than one type of rune in these foothills.
I recognized the delicate chanting of the silencing rune from the first time I’d found it in the foothills, but this other rune sounded distinctly volatile. The elements jangled around in my head in a way that grated on my every nerve, and while some of them brought a sizzling sound with them, others gurgled in an almost putrid way.
Then I came to the boulder the voices were coming from, and I stooped to crawl my way over out of sight of the fortress.
My blood went cold when I finally got a glimpse of the runes, though, because I recognized both of them, and I knew exactly why the one had been added.
The Master had embedded his own rune beside the silencing enchantment, and if there was one, there was sure to be many more littered across the entire expanse of land surrounding his headquarters.
“Well played,” I muttered under my breath as I listened to the grating balance of his elements.
Then I studied the silencing rune more closely, and a smirk had just begun to twitch at the corner of my mouth when I heard Pindor and Markus approaching. The two young mages were rambling enthusiastically at breakneck speed, and I swiftly grabbed a stone and chucked it in their direction.
Markus halted at the tree line as he saw me motion for them not to make a sound, and when they snuck over to join me, they ducked below the boulder in a much more sober state.
“Should we use the same technique to scan for runes?” Markus asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Change of plans,” I replied as I pointed to the Master’s rune.
Pindor’s eyes widened. “What’s that doing out here?”
“I’ll explain on the drive back, but this silencing rune only works one way, so let’s get out of here as quietly as possible.”
Markus nodded before he retraced his route to the tree line with Pindor close behind, but I lingered at the boulder for a moment as I sent my powers through the foothills one more time.
Despite the grating presence of the Master’s elements, their collective chanting was prominent enough to keep track of, and I studiously scanned every inch I could access of the vast terrain separating me from the looming fortress. I continued into the jungle floor to the south and the ridges at the base of the mountains while I memorized the schematics down to the smallest detail, and when I finished, I broke the connection and looked down at the boulder in front of me.
Then I imprinted the silencing rune in my mind, and a shrewd grin came to my face as I turned to sneak back into the dense cropping of trees.
I’d found another way to kick this bastard in the dick.
Chapter 8
It was late afternoon when I finished updating my generals, and since Flynt’s Pub was still under reconstruction, Dorinick lent us the barracks above the dwarven shop. Markus spent the meeting staring at the corner while he rarely b
linked, and I smirked every time I caught the slightly crazed look of him out from the corner of my eye.
The young mage was still reeling from his time investigating the magma chamber I’d formed, but Pindor was so amped after learning about lava, he seemed to have forgotten how long it was since he’d last slept. The kid listened intently to every word while I went over the runes I’d found in the foothills, and the layout of the land, and once I dismissed my generals, it took both of us shaking Markus’ shoulders to bring him back around.
“You should get some rest,” I chuckled as Markus jolted back to reality.
“No, I’m going to the Oculus,” the mage decided. “I have a lot of notes to make, and a few books I want to go over, and I think I’ll visit the other Terra Instructors, and…”
I shook my head as I watched Markus wander off into the market, and he was still tapping his to do list off on his fingers as he crossed under the barbican and headed for the stables.
“He’s gonna be buried in notes for a week over this,” Pindor sighed.
“I don’t blame him,” I snorted. “Every time I talk to that guy, I learn something that completely blows my mind. I mean… the fucking sun! Can you imagine being able to tap into an energy like that?”
“I bet Mina could get there,” Pindor mused. “She hates studying, but she learns fast with a hands-on approach.”
I smirked. “Aurora’s definitely gonna get there. She’s the most talented Ignis Mage I know.”
Then the two of us glanced at each other, and I recognized the competitive glint in the kid’s eye.
“I should probably get home,” I said in a forced casual tone. “Check up on my women… ”
“Yeah, me, too,” Pindor agreed.
Then the two of us promptly parted ways, and I could tell he was trying to power walk his way through the crowded square without looking obvious about it. Being the baron in town had its perks, though, and I reached the lanes in half the time as my residents jumped out of my way.
The second I was out of sight of the kid, I broke into a run, and I almost flattened Alfred when I burst through the door of the mansion and hollered for Aurora.
I found my half-elf in the training hall with my other women, and as I stopped in the archway to catch my breath, they sent me confused smiles.
Deya and Cayla paused their combat training while Shoshanne looked up from the seven books she had surrounding her on the floor, but I had no idea what Aurora and Nulena were doing as they knelt in the center of the chamber.
“What… what is all this?” I panted as I gestured to the tufts of shadow dotting the air in wide, concentric circles.
“Nulena’s teaching me about sending my magic outside myself to multiple points,” Aurora replied. “Why are you panting and screaming my name?”
“Because he missed you so very much,” Deya giggled.
“That, too,” I chuckled. “I was just out at the fortress with Pindor and Markus, though, and holy shit. We have stuff to talk about.”
I closed the gap between us in four long strides, and I dropped onto my ass beside the two women as Aurora smirked in amusement. Then I filled my women in on everything I’d done, learned, and seen since I left our bed, and when I finished, the five of them were seated around me with their other tasks long forgotten.
Well, except for Nulena. She was lounging with her head in my lap as her fingers traced numbing circles across my arm, and despite how caught up I was in talking everyone’s ears off, I couldn’t help noticing the ebony woman’s cheeks hadn’t stopped shimmering since I walked in.
“And you’re certain you can recreate the silencing rune the Master’s using?” Aurora clarified.
I nodded. “Positive. All of the elements required are on the mapping Dragir showed me, so as long as I position the rune along the tree line at precisely the right angle, no one within the Master’s grounds will hear our troops moving into the forest. My snatchers can stand guard against anyone coming and going from the fortress who might give us away, and we can get the catapults situated, the Boms distributed, everything.”
“I love it when you strategize,” Cayla sighed, and I sent the porcelain beauty a wink.
“I do not understand,” Deya admitted. “How can the Master’s special rune be a weapon if it is not on a live being? Can he possess the stones?”
“I don’t know the full extent of what his rune is capable of,” I replied. “It’s too complex and riddled with unknown elements, but I do know the last time he engraved it on stone was right here at my mine, and he managed to collapse the place.”
“So, we can’t set foot within that area?” Shoshanne asked with a worried frown, but I grinned as I turned to the healer.
“Not yet,” I clarified. “From what I gathered, he’s got it rigged out there with about forty of his engravings, and I have a couple theories about their uses. For starters, I could only read the ones on the boulders, but there’s a good chance he’s got them engraved in the sheetrock of the ground, and if he does, he can utilize them as traps for anyone that enters the area. But I think it’s more than that.”
“I do, too,” Aurora agreed. “He must know how you’ve been locating his portals.”
“I thought the same,” I replied, “which tells us a few things. Namely, he can connect to his rune wherever it is, in the same way he’s tracked us by watching through his minions’ eyes before. So, if I go out into those foothills and summon a dust storm, he’ll know I’m out there the moment he senses the particles physically interacting with the engravings.”
“How is that useful to him?” Deya asked.
“Several ways,” I assured her. “Although, the Master’s underestimated me, so he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. The issue in his part of the foothills is there’s nothing but stone to work with. Even the sparse bit of brush that’s broken through the cracks in the sheetrock aren’t stout enough to engrave adequately sized runes onto. So, if he puts his rune on the boulders and slate, not only will he know the moment I try to alter his exterior enchantments, but he’ll be able to retaliate against anyone in the vicinity without sending out his troops.”
“I thought you’re incapable of influencing the stone in the area,” Cayla pointed out.
“Right now, I can’t influence all of it,” I allowed. “The boulders are accessible, but if I alter them, his runes would sense the attack against them just like removing them from the mages. Unfortunately, I’ll have no way of stopping any of the runes he could have on the slate from retaliating. When I scanned what I could of the area, though, I only picked up the presence of the silencing rune and the Master’s rune out there.”
“Then the runes inside the fortress must be powerful enough to expand into the foothills,” Aurora decided. “If they’re all as large as Stan says, it makes sense they would have that kind of reach.”
“But there’s very little chance the enchantments for the grounds are in the upper portions of the fortress since they don’t affect boulders,” I added. “So, if Stan starts in the caverns below ground and works his way up, the grounds should be accessible before we even show ourselves.”
“Can we destroy his exterior enchantments quickly enough, though?” Shoshanne asked. “If there are hundreds--”
“It would take under a minute for me to wipe every rock within miles clean,” I assured the healer. “The moment I alter his runes, the Master will know I’m out there, but it’ll already be too late to rely on booby-traps. He’ll have to send his beasties after me, and he’ll have no idea what’s hiding in the trees thanks to the silencing rune he assumed I would have no means of wielding myself.”
Nulena let out a lusty sigh in my lap, and I looked down to see her two-toned eyes were hooded with arousal.
“Will you butcher his filthy little minions until every inch of that barren wasteland is caked with their mangled remains?” the Baroness purred.
I grinned. “Would you like that?”
Nulena nodded as she
bit her plush lip.
“Then I’ll make sure I butcher a few for you,” I chuckled, “but I’ll be doing a hell of a lot more than just that.”
“I can’t wait to see,” the Baroness murmured.
Deya gasped with delight. “Does this mean you will fight alongside us at last?”
“Yes,” Nulena said with a shrug, and my jaw dropped. “Someone has to make sure Mason doesn’t get any chivalrous ideas that could get him killed out there, and all of you will be too engaged in your bloodbath to remain persistent. So, I will help, but only to ensure Mason and yourselves survive. I will not lift a finger for anyone else, and I don’t want to hear a single request while we’re out there.”
“Aww, Nulena!” Shoshanne moaned. “You’re such a sweetheart.”
“I can’t believe you’re gonna help me destroy my enemies,” I teased. “You do realize the world will benefit, right? You might even get recognized by the king for your efforts, and--”
“Don’t make me nauseous,” the Baroness groaned. “Go back to your plotting.”
“With all of us out there, the Master’s forces will be gutted and gunned down within an hour,” Cayla chuckled.
“Or swimming in lava, apparently,” Aurora said with a smirk.
“No, I don’t think I could fill a space like that yet,” I snorted, “but can you believe that shit? The magma supercharged my powers entirely. It was like all that effort to create it paid off in spades.”
“Why am I not surprised Abrus never mentioned a word to me about harnessing the power of the sun?” Aurora sighed. “He probably resented how my element made me capable of achieving something he couldn’t.”
“Do you think you could do it?” I asked. “If so, I’ll put a thousand gold against Pindor right now.”
“Since when are you placing bets about my magic?” the half-elf clarified.
“Since he obviously thinks Mina can pull it off first,” I told her, and Aurora’s emerald eyes flared at the challenge.
Then she tipped her chin in defiance. “There’s no way in hell Mina’s getting there before I do.”