Metal Mage 14

by Eric Vall

  Once the shops resembled shops again, and the battlements were restored, we got rid of the various erotic statues dotting the lanes next. I couldn’t help admiring the creativity as I removed the three-headed horse woman from the platform at the train station, but the decapitated ogre statue she was trampling was in poor taste.

  Then a few Flumen Mages from the Oculus helped redirect the new rivers so they flowed through the woods, instead of directly through homes, and I was churning some burnt landscape into the soil when I heard Pindor awkwardly clear his throat.

  I glanced over my shoulder with a broad grin. “How’d the cuddle session go?”

  “It went good,” the kid mumbled as his ears turned pink. “I, uh… I just wanted to apologize if I made a total ass of myself last night. I think I talked to you, but I don’t remember anything I said except something about miracles.”

  “Only the one miracle,” I clarified, and he furrowed his brow. “Me. I’m the miracle. And apparently, if anyone has anything to say about that, you’ll be kicking their asses for me. Thanks for that, by the way.”

  “Then it was embarrassing,” Pindor decided.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said with a shrug. “You were having all kinds of epiphanies, and everyone’s been there. I’m glad you’re feeling better about being an earl, though. In all honesty, I know you can handle it.”

  “Thanks,” the kid muttered. “I think I was just intimidated because I was really cocky about the idea at first without processing how much work it would be. Rainard’s huge, and my uncle has kept it thriving for decades, but my dad was only a farmer. I’m his average offspring who got handed the responsibility out of nowhere, so if I walked in and ruined it all, I’d feel like such an idiot.”

  “I get that,” I snorted. “I felt the same way when I realized I had to save the world.”

  Pindor smirked. “Well, thanks for not acting like me about it. It took me a while to realize I was the only one who could make sure I rose to the challenge. Seeing you just… kick everyone’s asses cleared things up a bit. You tackle anything no matter the circumstances. Even when you have no idea where to start, you start anyways. Not many people do that.”

  “I know,” I chuckled. “You mentioned that, too.”

  “No one heard all this, right?” the kid asked as his ears turned a blistering red.

  “Not many people,” I lied. “Kurna and Haragh were there, but that’s probably it. They might not even remember.”

  “Good,” Pindor sighed with relief. “Do you need any help with the repairs?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “Someone took the eastern wall of the training field and transformed it into an enormous sign that says, ‘Temin’s the squire,’ and then they changed the western wall to read, ‘Flynt’s the king.’ If you want to fix that, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Yikes,” the kid muttered. “Yeah, I’ll change that right now.”

  “Thank you,” I chuckled.

  Then I finished turning the large slide on Magehill back into steps, but since I couldn’t get much more accomplished with so many passed-out bodies around, I decided to work on my preparations for the siege until the town regrouped a bit.

  I still had to make sure Dorinick secured our catapults, so I made a mental note to politely ask Mage Hellia to bring him out of sedation for me. I also needed to restock the ammunition my fleet of Boms blew through doing gods knew what last night, and I wanted to talk with Aurora about instilling our own silencing runes at the fortress. Then I decided I’d fly to House Quyn after lunch and update Dragir on the Master’s booby-traps, too, and with any luck, the elf would be ahead of schedule on filling our rockets, and we’d be able to start situating our troops in another day or two.

  I was crossing my moat and considering how to alter my branding irons when three of my women hollered my name from the lane, though. Then I waited for them to reach me while Deya giggled over four pretty mages who’d passed out with pistols arranged in a heart shape between them. I could tell by the funny smile on Aurora’s face that she’d seen the altered walls in the training field, but Cayla had her arms piled with new weaponry as she trotted across the bridge.

  “Mason, look at this!” Cayla panted, and she held out a small iron clamp for me to see. “Isn’t it just the most darling thing? The dwarves made it for us!”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a miniature torture device,” the princess said with an eager grin. “You clamp this part on the tongue, and when you turn this lever, it gradually compresses--”

  I snatched the device away as I leveled the princess with a stern look. “Why do we need a miniature torture device?”

  “So our children can torture their miniature enemies,” Cayla said like I was an idiot.

  I stared at the woman as she snatched the clamp back and rolled her eyes, but I couldn’t think of anything I could possibly say to that. I was still trying to decide how to approach the situation when Aurora let out a sound I’d never heard before, and when I looked over, the half-elf had dropped to her knees beside my moat.

  “M-Mason,” Aurora whimpered. “The eels… ”

  “What happened?” I gasped and darted over. “Are my water spawn okay? If some drunk fuck messed with them last night, I swear to the gods… wait. What are those?”

  “They’re… they’re… babies!” the half-elf squeaked, and my other women ran over before they also crumpled to their knees.

  “They’re so cute!” Deya breathed. “Look at their little red eyes!”

  “And their translucent skin,” Cayla sighed. “Have you ever seen anything so adorable in your life?”

  “Never,” Aurora assured her. “These are the cutest little water spawn in the world. Mason, they had babies to honor us!”

  I didn’t respond because I was trying to blink back tears, and when my women looked up at me, I had to take a deep breath before I could speak through the lump in my throat.

  “I told you we bonded,” I managed. “I spawned, so they spawned. They joined the party.”

  “I’d say so,” Deya giggled. “There must be hundreds of little eel babies down there, and I want to name every one of them.”

  “Me, too,” Aurora quickly agreed. “That one with the blue organs will be Asphyxia, the one with the weird red vein on his back is Thrasher, and the one with the yellowish skin is Carcass.”

  “Wait, you really like my water spawn now?” I clarified.

  “They’re adorable,” Cayla assured me. “The babies are, anyways. The big ones still make my skin crawl.”

  “But so much more likable now that I know how cute they are when they’re tiny!” Aurora added. “Look at how fast the babies squiggle around! They’re like little water maggots!”

  “No,” I firmly countered. “They’re not maggots, they’re precious eel cargo, and--”

  I didn’t get another word in, though, as a thundering clap broke out above us, and in a flash of purple light, a torrential downpour dumped itself down onto Falmount.

  My women screeched as they leapt up from the ground, and we all squinted into the pounding rain while another crack of thunder rattled the sky. In seconds, the day had gone from sunny to ominously green as stacks of rolling clouds enveloped the treetops, and we were already drenched to the bone while two inches of water swelled around my boots.

  “Seriously?” I scoffed. “What the hell is up with these storms?”

  “Mason, I know Shoshanne said to ignore all this, but this can’t be a normal storm,” Aurora decided. “This makes no sense. I am positive there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but somehow--”

  All of us jumped as a billowing curtain of shadows appeared beside us, and when Nulena rushed out, she already looked worn out with bags beneath her two-toned eyes.

  “Everyone, get inside,” the Baroness ordered, and a jagged bolt of lightning struck the bridge of my moat. “Quickly.”

  Chapter 12

  “Seal off all the windows!” Nulena pant
ed out.

  The Baroness had hustled Deya into the mansion ahead of her, and even when we reached the training hall, she kept the elf in a vise grip.

  I did as she asked, though, while my women and I dripped puddles all over the place from the sudden downpour, and once I sealed the house off, Aurora ignited the chandeliers, too.

  “What is all of this about?” Cayla demanded as she turned on the Baroness, but the ebony woman bit her lip and risked a glance at me.

  “Don’t be mad,” Nulena tried. “That works, right?”

  I furrowed my brow. “Depends on what it is.”

  “Fair enough,” the Baroness muttered.

  Then the ceiling cracked open as a deafening blast of thunder broke overhead, and my women shrieked while I scrambled to catch the shards of debris in time. I managed to get the break repaired before too much rain poured in through the ceiling, but when I looked back at Nulena, she was clinging to Deya while the elf trembled from head to toe.

  “Nulena,” I growled, “nearly every person I love is in this house, so I’m gonna have to insist you tell me what the hell is going on. Now.”

  “Okay,” the Baroness whimpered, and she pointed to the ceiling. “That’s my brother.”

  I nodded slowly. “And he’s a mage?”

  “Umm… no,” Nulena admitted. “H-He’s my only family, and his name is Rekekis.”

  “Rekekis?” Deya breathed, and she turned a sickly gray hue as she pulled herself out of Nulena’s arms. “As in… the God of Destruction Rekekis?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow, that makes so much sense,” Aurora mused.

  “What?” I bellowed, but my shock was drowned out as the wall to my right broke open from the force of a lightning bolt, and my women sprinted to the other side of the room while I hastily caught the stonework flying at us.

  As soon as I had the wall repaired, I sent my powers surging through the entire mansion, and I made sure I had a firm hold on every inch of the place before I reformed the infirmary as well so the windows and lookout towers were all sealed off as well.

  Then I turned back to Nulena. “Explain.”

  “I don’t want to,” she whimpered. “You already look furious.”

  “I’m not furious,” I lied. “Just wondering why there’s a god trying to bring my house down. That’s all.”

  “Remember when I said my family would be very displeased if I did certain things, like get pregnant, and then I did it anyways?” Nulena asked, and Aurora nodded for me. “So, my brother very recently discovered that I utterly betrayed him and is beginning to understand the multitude of things I’ve done to affect his plans. As a result of this, and because I love you, he tracked me here to try and kill you.”

  “Why would Rekekis want to kill Mason just because you love him?” Cayla asked.

  “Because I wasn’t sent here to love Mason, I was sent here to trap him,” Nulena admitted, and my legs went numb as she turned to me. “Rekekis found out Nemris sent you, and since he’s been waiting lifetimes to achieve a certain fate for you, he summoned me to ensure he succeeded this time.”

  “What… the fuck?” I managed.

  Nulena’s brow crinkled under my gaze, but then her eyes flared as Aurora’s hands locked around her throat, and the half-elf had the Baroness pinned against the wall before I could blink.

  “You have five seconds to convince me not to kill you,” Aurora warned, but Nulena did nothing to fight back.

  “You can’t kill me,” the Baroness croaked. “I’m immortal.”

  “What?” I bellowed once more, and I closed the gap between us in five long strides to pry Aurora off the woman.

  Then another jolt of lighting struck the mansion, though, and I gritted my teeth as I forced my magic to hold out against the surge of electricity shooting through my veins. My women lunged to my side as I nearly keeled over from the effort, but when Nulena tried to grab me, too, Cayla pulled her rifle out instead.

  “Get back against the wall,” the princess ordered as she cocked the handle.

  “Lower the gun!” I cut in, and Cayla glared at the Baroness for a long moment before she finally obeyed the command. “If she is immortal, there’s no use threatening her, and either way, no one is permitted to attack anyone until I understand what the hell is happening. Nulena, are you telling me you’re a goddess?”

  “Absolutely not,” the Baroness replied in an icy tone, and she looked insulted by the question. “I am a spectra, but more importantly, I meant what I said. I do love you, Mason. You have to believe me.”

  “Of course, you love him!” Cayla huffed. “That’s perfectly clear. What is not clear is how any of this leads to the God of Destruction wanting to kill him today!”

  “He wasn’t going to kill him at first,” Nulena muttered. “Mason wasn’t supposed to be here, but when Rekekis realized his soul was in this realm, everything changed. It’s been hundreds of Elysian years since my brother tracked Mason down, and he didn’t want to lose this opportunity.”

  “Elysian years?” Aurora asked.

  “It’s how immortals measure the passing of their own time,” the Baroness quickly explained. “With me working for Rekekis’ cause, he could have succeeded at last, but I prevented him from finding Mason ever since the first time he came to Rajeen. I… I’ve been shielding all of you from my brother’s gaze. That’s why I began following you. I pretended to try and track you for him, when really, I was ensuring my powers could hold out. Then Vasdor happened, and Rekekis began to suspect me.”

  “I don’t understand,” Deya mumbled in a shaky voice, and I rifled my hair because I was right there with her, and I couldn’t wrap my head around half of what Nulena was saying. “Why is Rekekis hunting for Mason? And why would Nemris send him to the God of Destruction? Did she know what she was doing? What is this fate Mason is meant to achieve? What does Vasdor have to do with Rekekis, and w-why did you not tell us? I tell you everything. I… I thought we trusted each other.”

  I could see Nulena crumpling under the elf’s penetrating gaze, and when she looked at me next, her eyes welled with tears before she let out a furious huff and turned away.

  Then Nulena began muttering to herself in a language I didn’t recognize, and a strange force coursed through the air around me while the storm raged on outside. The ebony woman’s tone was low and demonic as she kept her eyes tightly shut, and the words she spoke sounded like something formed in the bowels of hell.

  The hair on my arms had just risen, though, and as another bolt of lightning struck the mansion, I staggered back while I tried to focus on everything happening at once.

  Aurora had her powers sparked in agitation as she ran over to steady my balance, and I was about to pull my other women away from Nulena when the force in the air heightened all at once.

  Then a pillar of billowing shadows appeared that rose several feet above my head, and when the black mist began to clear, Nemris was standing in front of me.

  The goddess looked as surprised as I was to find herself in my mansion, and my women gasped as their jaws went slack at the sight of the gorgeous woman gleaming in front of us. Even in the dim light of the chandeliers, Nemris emitted a glow of her own while her glittering hair cascaded over her shoulders, but for once, I wasn’t distracted by the mind-bending beauty of the goddess.

  My gaze immediately locked on my pregnant elf instead because Deya had gone rigid where she stood, and her lips drained of color as her fingertips trembled against her belly bump. Then I saw her violet eyes go wide in sudden recognition, and Nulena and I both dove just in time to catch her before she hit the ground.

  “Deya,” the Baroness murmured as she stroked the elf’s cheek.

  “Deya, wake up,” I tried.

  Cayla and Aurora were at our side in an instant while they did what they could to bring the elf back around, but her eyelids only fluttered without opening again as I held her in my arms.

  “Let her be,” Nemris said, and her soft tone brou
ght all our attention to her face.

  The planes of her cheeks and the pout of her lips were undeniably identical to Deya’s, and while my women became entranced by the starry orbs of the goddess’ eyes, I gently laid Deya down and rose to my feet.

  “She knows what she has seen,” Nemris told me, “and she will need you to help her understand this when she awakens, but Mason, I must take you from this world before Rekekis brings harm to you all.”

  “You’ll let me come back?” I asked as my heart rate shot up, but then the goddess nodded, and I took a steadying breath.

  When I looked at my women, Cayla managed a distracted shrug of approval while her eyes raked across the goddess’ flawless form, and Aurora was too busy staring back and forth between my elf and Nemris to respond.

  “Give me a minute,” I muttered as I turned toward the arching entrance, and I made a beeline for the atrium.

  When I unsealed the entrance, water cascaded across my boots from the flooding taking place in my shop, and Solana jetted over my head with Stan kicking her sides with all his strength. I focused on summoning metal, though, as I stood in the flooding hall, and I began forming braided copper cables and bi-metal ground rods before I started braiding aluminum cables as well.

  The sky was a dense gray-green as I watched purple lightning jet directly overhead, and while I swiftly sent eleven aluminum spires to the roof of the mansion, I could hear Cayla nervously inquiring if Nemris wanted something to drink.

  I focused on getting everything rigged as quickly as possible, though, while I mounted the spires and ran the aluminum cables down the house. Once they were clamped in place, I fed the ends of the cables into the bi-metal ground rods before I fused the copper cables in the other ends, but I could already feel the air beginning to surge with electricity again.

  So, I ran the copper braiding directly into the ground and abruptly broke my connection, and a split second later, a jagged bolt of lightning split from the sky to strike five of my aluminum spires at once.