Metal Mage 14

by Eric Vall

  Then I opened the door for her, and she looked guilty all over again as I nudged her inside.

  I was pleased to see the rebuild was completed, though, and it was finally possible to walk through the place without getting crushed by the patrons. The upper railings of the second-floor seating area encircled a new vaulted ceiling that was studded with tiny orbs of fire, and with plenty more torches having been added along the support beams, it wasn’t the same dim and musty pub it used to be.

  Flynt’s Pub was looking a lot more like a saloon capable of accommodating ogres and dwarves alike, and the tables dotting the floor or lining the walls were packed with allies and mages everywhere I looked. The generals’ table was right where it always had been in the far back corner, though, and I smirked when I saw Urn had his crew strategically situate the place so no one could sit within feet of our usual spot.

  The elves had a much longer bar to hog now, too, and they seemed determined to fit all eighty of their warriors around the freshly polished wood where Raynor hustled back and forth filling one frothing pint after another.

  “Good to see you, miss,” Raynor rasped as we came over. “Defender Flynt. What’ll you have?”

  “Hey, Raynor,” I replied. “Nothing for me, thanks. We were actually wondering if we could have a quick word.”

  “Sure, sure,” the barkeep said with an expectant smile. “How can I help?”

  Then the elves at the bar turned curiously, and Shoshanne blushed as she sent me a pointed look.

  “A private word,” I clarified. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  “No trouble at all,” Raynor assured me. “Got some nice and quiet seating out back. Just put it in today.”

  “Perfect,” I replied, and once the barkeep called for a cook to take over the bar, he led us through the back room and out into a quaint courtyard.

  The same enchanted orbs of flame were strung overhead while only two young mages sat at one of the iron tables, but they looked fully absorbed in flirting their asses off, so I helped Shoshanne into a chair near one of the garden walls enclosing the space. The healer’s posture was rigid as a rail while she twisted her fingers together in her lap, and Raynor seemed to pick up on the tension, because he looked concerned as he sat across from us.

  “Everything alright at the infirmary?” the barkeep checked.

  “Great,” I assured him. “Yeah, thing’s are all squared away out there. We were just wondering if you could weigh in on a topic for us since you studied at the Order for so many years.”

  “Certainly, sir,” Raynor agreed.

  I turned to Shoshanne, but when the healer didn’t say a word, I took the cue and cleared my throat.

  “So, it’s about Aer Magic,” I told the man. “We’re having some trouble recently, and we’re not really sure what’s going on. I would say it’s a control issue, but it seems to be more than that.”

  “With you, miss?” Raynor asked, and Shoshanne averted her gaze as her blush deepened.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “Shoshanne’s been making incredible advances lately, and personally, I’m so impressed. She really is coming into her craft and exploring new outlets, um… but we’re getting concerned her progress is heading in a nonideal direction.”

  Raynor nodded in understanding. “This about that cyclone I heard about?”

  “Yes,” I sighed. “It started with the cyclones.”

  “That’s no easy feat,” the barkeep admired. “Never heard of one that big before, but it’s certainly evident your talents are becoming a remarkable force, miss.”

  “It is,” I agreed, “but, you know, it’s just the darndest thing… they uh… they keep getting bigger.”

  I offered a careless chuckle to try and lighten the mood, but Shoshanne was beet red as she kept her gaze buried in her lap, and Raynor’s wiry eyebrows furrowed deeply.

  “Bigger?” he clarified.

  “Waaaay bigger,” I assured the man, “and with no effort on her part. Then it turns out she’s having trouble with all of her skills, which was never an issue before. For example, she barely moved her hand, and a minor tornado situation kicked up, but no matter what she tried, it didn’t calm down. From where I was standing, it seemed like the wind was feeding off her emotional state, and she was definitely a bit upset at the time, but she couldn’t calm down, either, so… yeah. I’m not sure how to proceed from here.”

  Raynor nodded, and I was glad to see him looking professional about the topic rather than alarmed. “How long has this been going on?”

  “Only recently. The first attempt at a cyclone was, what, two weeks ago?” I asked as I turned to Shoshanne. “Maybe a few days more?”

  “Yes,” she mumbled.

  “Is it only when you’re upset that you’re struggling to control your powers?” Raynor asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Shoshanne admitted. “I’ve been anxious all the time lately, what with Mason running around nearly getting killed, and my new duties within the Order.”

  “You don’t lead a very carefree life, that’s for sure,” Raynor agreed with a gentle smile.

  “Plus, I can’t stop worrying this bitch, Aloshi, is going to steal Mason from me,” Shoshanne added, and her brow furrowed severely at the mention of the other Aer Mage.

  “I see,” Raynor mused.

  “Every time I think about it, I just get so furious,” the healer growled. “Even right now. I hear her name, and I want to tear her face off, strip the meat from her bones, boil her innards, and serve her to our dog!”

  “Woah, hold on,” I tried. “I should clarify--”

  “My powers getting out of hand is only adding to how anxious I already was,” Shoshanne insisted to Raynor. “Because of all the times for this to happen… now? Really? Aloshi is an extremely powerful Aer Mage, Raynor, and I can’t mutilate her for having the nerve to come after Mason if I can’t build up my powers enough to counter her!”

  Raynor nodded once more. “Sure, sure.”

  “Then I find out I’ve got a baby on the way, and what if this bitch steals Mason from both of us because I can’t control my powers? Breaking my heart is one thing, but I swear to the gods, if she breaks Mason’s baby’s heart, too, I will fucking combust!”

  Shoshanne slammed her fist on the table so hard, the couple in the corner jumped in their seats, and she was breathing heavily as a dewy sheen glistened across her cleavage. She’d gone from zero in sixty in about three sentences there, and the way her eyes flashed with acute fury was a little unnerving.

  Raynor and my eyebrows were stuck up in our hairlines now, and I reminded myself to blink while the two of us considered the normally sweet and docile healer.

  I’d noticed Aloshi seemed to be a trigger word lately, and Shoshanne did tend to look worried even in her sleep, but I really hadn’t comprehended how wound up she was getting. Now that she was seething and ready to boil a bitch, though, I realized there was a lot more going on here than I thought.

  “Shoshanne, you’re gonna worry yourself sick if you keep this up,” I tentatively pointed out. “Why didn’t you tell me you were so upset?”

  “Because I’m not upset,” the healer huffed. “I’m blistering with rage, and I don’t do rage. I do healing.”

  “But--”

  “Don’t but me,” Shoshanne scoffed. “Aloshi could show up anywhere at any time, and am I prepared? No. I want to be prepared, but my stupid fucking powers won’t get their shit together! If I’m not prepared, she’ll abduct you, and if she abducts you, the Master will be the least of our worries, because I will kill every person who comes within a fifty-mile radius of me!”

  I shifted in my seat. “Alright, so you do want to use your powers, but you’re frustrated they’re not working, and so… I’m confused.”

  “Me, too,” the healer exclaimed as her fist pounded against the table again. “I can’t let her abduct you, Mason, you’re the most wonderful, talented, sweet, sexy, handsome, loving, and supportive man in the universe,
and no one will ever know how to fuck me as good as you! They don’t even deserve to, damnit!”

  “Okay, that’s… sweet, but--”

  “And you’re our demon daddy!” Shoshanne stubbornly continued. “Our babies need you, Mason, and we need you! Do you know what I would become if you died at the hands of that asshole Master? Me, neither! But it will be terrifying! So, of course the solution is to blast a hole through Aloshi’s chest the size of Bobbie, but can I do it? Fuck, no, I can’t! I can’t do anything anymore! I have no choice, no matter how much I want one. I can’t be a mage!”

  I was completely lost for words by this point, and I stammered while I tried to come up with a sensical response. The whole conversation took a rapid turn I wasn’t prepared for, though, and the thought of someone going about a day with this jumble of manic panic in their head was staggering.

  I honestly didn’t know if I should hug the woman or take her out to the woods and set her loose on anything she felt like slaughtering for a few hours.

  Luckily, Raynor interjected before I had to make up my mind.

  “You said you and Mason are expecting a baby, miss?” the barkeep asked, and Shoshanne’s expression instantly relaxed as her hand slid to her belly.

  “Yes,” she said with a shy smile. “We’ve been trying for a few weeks now.”

  “Okay,” Raynor chuckled lightly. “Then I think I can help clear a few things up for you two.”

  “Thank the fucking gods,” I sighed as I rifled my hair.

  “It’s not so common of a thing, mind,” the barkeep continued, “but it’s common enough to recognize the symptoms.”

  “Symptoms?” Shoshanne gasped. “I have symptoms? Of what? Am I possessed?”

  “Slow down, it’s probably fine,” I said as I looped my arm over her shoulder. “Right, Raynor? Please say yes.”

  “Yes, it’s just fine,” Raynor assured me. “Frustrating as all get out, I’m sure, but it’s nothing we can’t work with. This kind of reaction is known to occur on occasion when particularly powerful mages conceive a child. In such a circumstance, the resulting offspring bears a rarer element that influences the powers of the mother during pregnancy.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Rarer element?”

  “That’s right,” the barkeep said with a nod. “It sounds to me like you’ll be welcoming a little Lux or Tenebrae Mage into the family is all. I’d wager it’s a Lux on account of the early onset of symptoms.”

  “W-What?” Shoshanne gasped, and as we looked at each other, every thought in my mind came to a screeching stop.

  There was only Shoshanne’s big brown eyes and the pout of her lips as she stared at me, but the two of us processed Raynor’s words after a moment of silence.

  Then the caramel beauty burst out into happy tears, and I chuckled in bewilderment as she threw her arms around my neck. I could hardly grasp what all this meant from how caught off guard I was, but Shoshanne was beside herself for minutes while she vacillated between kissing me and trying to blot her tears up as fast as they were coming down.

  “S-So, the little baby’s playing with my powers?” Shoshanne croaked, and Raynor nodded. “W-Well, I don’t mind if they want to play with my powers. It’s okay. Really, I don’t mind!”

  “That’s good you feel that way,” Raynor chuckled. “The baby’ll keep this up for quite a while, but like I said, it ain’t nothing we can’t work with. Takes a rigorous training regimen, consistency, and a whole lot of patience. If you don’t mind me saying so, it’ll be good practice for the both of you. This little baby’s gonna be a powerful one.”

  “Of course, it is,” Shoshanne sniffed. “Mason made it.”

  “We made it,” I corrected as I tucked a kiss into her copper curls.

  “Gods, I’m gonna destroy Aloshi,” the healer sighed, and she patted her belly as she looked down with teary eyes. “That bitch has no idea what baby she’s messing with, does she? No, she doesn’t. Belly high-five!”

  So, yeah, my heart exploded into oblivion right about then, and I tried to process the most adorable thing I’d ever seen in my life while Shoshanne giggled and took all of Raynor’s advice. She was bursting with pride over the news, and now that all her frustrations were doused with excitement, she kept sending me dimpled smiles as her brown eyes glittered adoringly.

  The caramel beauty clutched my arm with one hand and held her tummy with the other as she asked a couple hundred questions of the man, but all I could really do was nod along, stare at Shoshanne, and will my dick to keep its cool until we made it to our bed.

  My own stupefied pride kept a lopsided grin on my face throughout the lengthy conversation, and when Shoshanne finally let Raynor get back to work, she jumped into my arms and covered me in kisses as I stumbled into the garden wall.

  Then she dabbed more tears from her eyes while I led her back to the lane, and she spent the entire walk home detailing everything she needed to get started on to prepare for our Lux baby.

  “Not to mention, a mini Mason with Lux powers is going to need the most capable and level headed mage mother in the world,” the caramel beauty decided. “But don’t worry, Mason, I am on this. I’ll go to the Oculus first thing tomorrow and get the books Raynor recommended, and then I’m going to hold Wyresus at gunpoint if I have to in order to figure this out in time for the siege. Barnik’s my new mentor, too. He has exactly the kind of crazed energy I’ll need to pull this off.”

  “Whatever you want,” I chuckled as she sent me another blinding smile. “Do you really feel better now, though? I don’t want you worrying so much all the time, especially over me. You know I can handle anything the Master’s got, and Aloshi’s just another minion to pick off.”

  “Oh, she’s not just another minion, she’s my fucking prey,” Shoshanne countered, and she clutched her tummy as she giggled once more. “Isn’t that right, little Lux baby? We’ve got a bitch to murder, don’t we? Yes, we do!”

  I grinned from ear to ear as the caramel beauty skipped across our bridge and up to the house, and I could hear her hollering for my other women as I chuckled my way through the door. Then I joined everyone in the training hall for the announcement, and my women sat in a cluster with anxious crinkles on their brows as Shoshanne opened her mouth and burst into tears instead.

  “It’s really not bad news,” I assured them above her sobs. “She’s just happy because, well, Raynor told us--”

  “Mason gave me a Lux baby!” Shoshanne blurted out, and my women gasped their brains out as they shot to their feet.

  “I knew it!” Cayla bellowed.

  “What?” I snorted.

  “Didn’t I tell you?” the princess demanded as she turned to Aurora. “Mason gave us super babies!”

  “He did!” Aurora agreed, and she cradled her own belly lovingly. “I can feel it already. My baby is exploding with super powers just like Shoshanne’s!”

  “Definitely, even your hair is glowing,” Cayla assured her. “Your baby is glorious.”

  “Look at your tits, though!” the half-elf countered. “Tell me your baby isn’t going to take over the world with tits like that.”

  The princess gasped as she clutched her breasts. “You really think so?”

  “There’s a decent chance,” Nulena said with a nod. “Only the mother of a child who strives for utter dominion would have breasts that perfect.”

  “Super babies sound so fun!” Deya giggled, and she ran over to hug the healer. “Is this why your powers have been so ravishingly unbound?”

  “Yes!” Shoshanne squealed. “My super baby is making me super powerful because it wants to avenge its daddy!”

  The collective aww that followed this statement pushed me beyond my cuteness limit for the day, and all I could do was laugh while my women began prancing all over the training hall.

  “I wonder if my baby is twice as powerful as Shoshanne’s,” Aurora sighed. “I bet it could be.”

  “Impossible,” the healer giggled. “My baby is the
baby to end all babies.”

  “And all bitches,” the half-elf added.

  “Well, Mason probably gave me a baby who will revolutionize the art of war for the next ten thousand years,” Cayla challenged.

  “He certainly did,” Deya heartily agreed, “but my baby feels very cunning. Look at this bump! This baby will be the baby to win every war your baby starts.”

  “What about Nulena’s baby?” Aurora laughed, and we all looked over at the sultry woman with the shimmering cheeks.

  Then Nulena sent me a wicked grin. “My baby will prowl the world like a gorgeous plague as it leaves a path of immeasurable destruction in its wake.”

  My women broke into cheers as Nulena sauntered over to me, and they carried on in their delirious happiness while the Baroness slid her arms around my waist and tilted her chin up for a kiss.

  “You really think one night did it?” I murmured against her lips.

  “Of course,” Nulena purred. “You know that as well as I do. You and I never fail at our quests.”

  My spine rippled at the words, and as the Baroness melted against me, we watched my women twirl Shoshanne around while the healer sent me blushy little smiles every chance she got. Their daydreaming only got more elaborate as they tried to decide whether I’d given them metal mage babies with Tenebrae powers, or half-elves who could control all six elements at once, but when Alfred cleared his throat, they came to a breathless stop as we all looked over.

  Haragh stood in the archway beside the butler with a broad grin on his green face, and when he waggled his eyebrows at me, my intrigue peaked.

  “Hate to break this up,” the half-ogre chuckled, “but there is an urgent situation takin’ place in the market, and it’ll be lastin’ all night.”

  Chapter 10

  The cheers began the second we walked out the door of the mansion, and my women lit up on the spot. I’d nearly given up on making it to the party after they’d taken so long to decide on the proper attire, but now that all five of my women were all clad in scandalous black leather designs, we stood on our bridge in shock.