Stone Raiders' Return (Emerilia Book 6)

by Michael Chatfield

  He had three sisters and four brothers. He was the eldest and was fiercely protective of them all. He closed his mouth, hiding the anger welling up deep within him. I could take someone cursing at me, but saying such things about women…

  “I must be off. I have an early class,” Porz said.

  Selyin’s waved at Porz, dismissing him out of anger.

  Porz turned and walked away, his eyes deep and dark as he opened his interface. He had heard of the Human-Dwarf who had become a Dwarven Master Smith. From the man in the Xer shop’s aura, he was indeed a powerful person. And with the necklace he wore with various metals, he was pretty sure that he was that Dwarven Master Smith, David Grahslagg.

  He sent a message to his father. His father would know what to do.

  He hadn’t made it back to his dormitory when he got a message back. His father ordered him to do nothing and to support Dave Grahslagg in the courtroom, if necessary. From his words, he, too, didn’t hold Selyin in high regards. Friends could be made anywhere; friends who were as foul as Selyin were barely worth coming to know.

  Chapter 5: Consequences

  “What?” Queen Selhi demanded, looking to the Dwarven messenger.

  He cleared his throat. “For attacking a Dwarven Master Smith, we’re keeping our fucking mountains closed. Fer fuck’s sakes, you deaf?” The Dwarf growled.

  The guards moved forward, ready to take the Dwarf down a foot.

  He pulled out a blade of pure Mithril and released his aura. The guards fell to their knees and it was all Queen Selhi could do to stay upright in her seat.

  A Weapon of Power!?

  The queen looked over the Dwarf.

  Devos Markem

  Dwarf

  Level 439

  He must be one of the hidden experts of the Dwarves. A sense of dread filled her. The Dwarves were a secretive race. Sending out one of their experts armed with a Weapon of Power was a rather loud and firm message.

  “Should teach you lot a lesson for attacking the Stone Raiders. Heard from my grandson what they did at Boran-al’s Citadel.” The Dwarf’s hands opened and closed on his sword before he put it away.

  “Donsk and Zolu close their mountains to you.” Devos turned and marched out the door. As he exited the room, he suppressed his aura, letting the royal court recover from their actions.

  It looks like our actions against the Stone Raiders are finally coming to bite us in the ass.

  “My queen, we have just received word from the teleport pads. There are guilds pouring through the teleport pad from across Emerilia. They’re spreading out to every city to compete in the different guilds’ trials to compete in the Dwarven mountains,” an advisor said after a few moments.

  Queen Selhi rested her head on her hand. “Close off the Dwarven mountains to us, then have their friends and fellow guilds fight in our tournaments so that few to none of our people can make it into the Dwarven tournament, where the winners are rumored to receive Weapons of Power,” Queen Selhi said to herself. The disruption of trade, alone, would be immense. Having two Dwarven mountains to trade with and two port cities had made Selhi one hell of a trading hub. Many traders would probably move to other lands in order to survive. Shipments of foodstuffs and supplies coming from other lands would have to be diverted through the treacherous mountain paths that the Dwarves didn’t maintain or across the seas.

  The guilds friendly to the Stone Raiders would probably beat out the majority of the Selhi people who tried to fight in the government’s, mage’s and adventurer’s tournaments that would sponsor people to enter the Dwarven tournament.

  Queen Selhi had not gained and held her position by being an idiot. She could see what was coming and it wasn’t pleasant. Selhi didn’t have much land with which to grow food on. They made potions and remedies from their swamps, but their biggest thing was trade. With that now in peril, Selhi would need to adapt and quickly.

  The fact is that this will tear our country apart in months. Already, the guards of the cities have been talking to one another. While the Stone Raiders did their best to help them, the government threw them out and made the army hunt them down. The people see the Stone Raiders as champions for how they defended Devil’s Crater and are creating thousands of jobs.

  She hit the armrest of her throne in frustration. She couldn’t go to them and ask how she could possibly repair their reputation with one another. To do so would make her look weak to her political opponents.

  Instead, she opened up her interface, sending a private message to her spy master. She needed to know what the Stone Raiders were doing and try to figure out a way to repair their relationship. Or else, Selhi was doomed.

  ***

  Dave and Deia wandered through the Per’ush islands, looking over different magical displays and wandering the streets, taking in the vibrant mage’s college atmosphere.

  They were sitting down on a park bench, reading off their interfaces, with Deia using Dave’s lap as a pillow, when a dozen burly mages with an official-looking seal on their chests walked up.

  “Excuse me, sir, but we are going to have to take you into custody,” one of the men said.

  Deia looked over from her interface at the college police.

  “Hmm, what?” Dave dismissed his interface.

  “Please stand up. Place your hands behind your back and come with us.” Lightning gathered in the mage’s hand. The other mages had spread out, all of them using different enchantments or spells to gather electricity.

  “Ugh, Tasers.” Dave shuddered. “What is this for?” He looked to the mage who had been talking.

  “For assault on a minor,” the mage said.

  Dave frowned, thinking about it. He snapped his fingers together. “Ah, that little shit at the café? Are you kidding me? Screw that!” Dave opened his interface and went back to reading.

  “Dave.” Deia tapped his knee.

  He looked down at her as she gave him a look.

  Dave groaned and pouted at her. She gave him a stern look.

  “Fine.” Deia moved her head as Dave stood.

  “Okay, where we going?”

  “Due to the person in question, we are to take you to the courtroom immediately,” the mage said, all of them still with their magical tasers. “Please put your hands behind your back and don’t resist.”

  “Fine, but only because my fiancée said so.” Dave did as he was told.

  Deia trailed behind. A number of officers watched her as well. As they took Dave through the island, people muttered and whispered to one another as they passed.

  They were escorted into a drab but official-looking building, through a number of doors and finally a courtroom where there was a well-to-do family behind one table and a prisoner box opposite them. A judge sitting at the front of the courtroom slammed his hammer against the table as the people in the seats behind broke into whispers and talk.

  Dave burped as he was escorted to the prisoner box. The cuffs were left on as runes activated. They were meant to weaken the person inside and seal their magic.

  “Silence!” the judge said. The room’s noise dissipated.

  Dave looked back. Deia shook her head with an amused smile. Dave shrugged and grinned back to her.

  His eyes moved to the prosecution. There was the boy who had hit on Deia, as well as a strict-looking man who stared daggers at Dave. From his clothes, Dave pegged him as a noble. A crest of some kind was on his chest. Dave looked to the others behind them. Many wore that crest, sneering or looking at Dave in disgust.

  “This court has convened to hear the accusations of grievous bodily harm of Selyin Jakon by the accused,” the judge peered over to Dave, “Dave Grahslagg. If the prosecution could tell the court of the defendant’s crimes.” His tone dismissed Dave already.

  “The Jakon family are a pillar of the community and their son is one of the greatest magical prodigies of this island. The accused is an unknown man coming to this city with a lady of ill repute. When Selyin asked for the
defendant to leave with his prostitute, he turned violent, harming the boy both physically and mentally,” the family’s lawyer said.

  Dave’s eyes latched onto the boy, who smirked at Dave before his eyes drifted over to Deia and then back to Dave, his intentions clear.

  “You better think about your word choice about my fiancée,” Dave growled. His eyes started to glow.

  “Restrain the accused,” the judge said, flippantly.

  A charge ran through the box and shocked Dave. He gritted his teeth in pain. It went on for some time. Dave’s body locked up so he couldn’t do anything.

  “We do not tolerate whores in our cities, Mister Grahslagg. Arrest the whore, too.” The judge pointed to Deia.

  Dave saw the boy’s smirk increase. Dave started to laugh, embracing the pain as he stood up. His clothes smoked and burned away as his runes started to glow across his body. Gray smoke poured from his body.

  Using his soul smithing, his manacles fell apart. His magic and the box holding him warred with one another. Those closest to Dave rushed away as police sent spell after spell at Dave. He closed his eyes. His runes tore power from the world around him, as spells slammed into him, making him grit his teeth.

  Just a bit more...come on, trip the fail-safe. His clothes burned with the electrical current running over him.

  Dave’s armor, triggered by his decreasing Health, activated. Dragon scale armor grew across him; his breastplate and hood appeared over him, growing into the rest of his armor. Spells slammed into his Mana barrier as if they were nothing. People were running and screaming as Dave calmly stepped out of the prisoner box.

  “Shut UP!” Dave’s voice and aura sent people tumbling to the ground, all except for Deia.

  Just then, the doors slammed open, revealing Alamos, Jelanos, Mal, Fire, and a dozen other high-ranked mages by their aura.

  “Hold it!” Jelanos yelled.

  No one moved as Dave looked to Deia. She, too, wore her armor, her red eyes burning from under her hood.

  “Dave, please tell me what is going on.” Jelanos took a calming breath.

  “Hey, Jelanos. Uh, so, went on a date with Deia here. Grabbed Xer afterward. That kid hit on her, no biggie, but then he called her a slut. Pushed him to the ground with my aura.” Dave shrugged, admitting that much. “Now if anyone thinks that I’m going to listen to this fucking kangaroo court, where I’m being accused of giving the little fuck a beating and calling Deia, my fiancée, a whore—” Dave’s eyes locked with the boy’s and then his parents’, all who had gone pale as he released all suppression on his aura. “That’s something I won’t stand for.”

  An aura much more powerful than Dave’s extended throughout the entire room. Fire stepped forward, still in her disguise with a slight but visible bump declaring her pregnancy. Her red hair crackled like flames and her eyes were like the very fires of hell.

  “Who dared to call my daughter a whore?” Her voice ripped through the room, making people shiver at her bloodlust.

  “Honey.” Mal put a hand on her shoulder.

  She let out a growl, but lessened the pressure on people; a number had pissed themselves and a few had even passed out.

  Mal looked to Jelanos. “I ask that this trial be done with the Mage’s College Council,” Mal asked in a calm voice.

  “Oson’Mal, I agree. Dave Grahslagg is a Dwarven Master Smith and both he and Deia are part of Party Zero,” Jelanos said.

  The Jakon family’s faces were already pail but turned milky white. A few fainted from the information.

  “Thank you, Jelanos.” Mal smiled. His eyes took in the room. Dave and he shared a look before both turned their gazes on the Jakon family and, then, the judge. The judge appeared as if he had looked into the eyes of death.

  Jelanos and his people quickly convened the Mage’s College Council, bringing those who had been at the original trial to the new one, including the judge. Alamos had muttered something about an investigation and wandered off.

  Witnesses from the café were brought forward. They’d been rattled by Dave’s strength, but all of them told the truth of what happened.

  “So, in the end, you called a woman a slut, in front of her and her fiancé, after she refused your advances. He put a little pressure on you and you ran to your parents who, thinking this was a whole matter of great loss of face, set up a kangaroo court,” Jelanos said. He was not allowed to vote with the council, but he was giving his last remarks.

  “This is Emerilia. You might be powerful in social stature here, but out there in the wilds where this man and his fiancée thrive, you’ll get your ass kicked or killed. Think more with your head next time, you dumbass. As for the Jakon family—it seems that you think that you are the ones who run this college! This is a place of equality!” Jelanos’s gaze made his displeasure clear.

  “You have highlighted something to me. Next week, we will have magical trials once again. It’s been too long since the students of Per’ush proved their ability to stay on this island. Everyone will undergo a test to see what they are working on to improve. We reward hard work here, not back alley deals. If you can’t show your drive and progress, you’ll have to move to the other mage’s colleges. We will be having these tests once every year, starting next week!”

  Jelanos looked to Dave. “I am sorry to both you and Deia for what has happened here. The court rules you are free to go, with our apologies.” Jelanos bowed his head to Dave.

  “Thanks, Jelanos. There are always some bad apples.” Dave smiled and bowed his head back.

  “This case is finished.” Jelanos and the rest of the council filed out a back door as people erupted into talk.

  Dave was released. He found Deia and the two of them headed out of the courtroom. Fire and Mal followed behind. Fire muttered darkly about checking up on the families and alliances in Per’ush.

  They reached a teleport pad and took it back to Mal and Fire’s island. It took some time to calm Fire down.

  “Next time, try not to burn the place down,” Deia chided Dave.

  “I’d burn everything down just to get to you.” Dave kissed her.

  She gripped his hand tighter, a big smile on her face as they walked.

  Mal was also angry, but not enough to think about burning the Jakon house down.

  “Mom, can you take us to the Ring?” Deia asked as soon as they were in Fire and Mal’s apartment and the runes were activated.

  “Why?” Fire asked.

  “To show off, of course.” Dave smiled and kissed Deia’s cheek. She didn’t deny it, her cheeks turning red.

  “Okay.” Fire smiled.

  The room glowed before they disappeared and then reappeared inside a mountain. Dave put his armor on; the Mana barrier activated against the heat. Dave was a Master Smith—he’d spent days moving in front of and working with hot forges, but one could always escape the incredible heat by standing off to the side. The heat rolling around the volcano was oppressive and there was no way to escape it. Thankfully, his armor easily handled the extra heat.

  Dave whistled as he looked around the storied house that looked out into a dormant volcano. The top had been capped off, but below, there were red streams of magma running through the rock crust.

  Dragons wheeled around inside the volcano or disappeared into tunnels or landed on other houses built into the walls of the volcano. Massive wings flapped nearby, before something large gripped onto the side of the volcano and peeked its head into the house.

  “Deia! I thought that I sensed you. Did you learn what you needed to from the college?” The massive Dragon’s inciting eyes blinked at Dave. “Is that Dave?”

  “I didn’t find what I need yet, but Dave, this is my sister, Denar. Denar, this is my fiancé, Dave.” Deia held onto Dave’s arm tighter and smiled up at him.

  “Ohhh,” Denar said, looking amused and excited. She reached inside the house, her form changing and becoming smaller as she moved into the house until she was in her Human form.

/>   “So, you must be Induca and Malsour’s mother,” Dave said with a smile, talking to the legendary mother of Dragons.

  “They grow up so fast.” Denar smiled, an excited look on her face. “Deia has told me so much about you! This is so exciting; we have sooo much to talk about!” Denar sounded and looked like an excited big sister instead of a centuries-old legendary creature.

  Dave felt growing anxiousness, looking from Denar, Deia and Fire’s hungry looks to Mal’s sorrowful one. Why do I feel more nervous here with my in-laws than in that court? Dave gave Mal a pleading look.

  Mal started to study something on the wall.

  No! How could you? I’m never getting you Dwarven whiskey ever again!

  “So, when’s the wedding and how many children are you two thinking of pumping out? Are you going to build a house in the volcano or keep the place in Cliff-Hill?” Denar started.

  “What kind of wedding are you thinking? Temple, public? Something a little smaller?” Fire added in.

  Dave was dragged to the couch as Mal excused himself to make refreshments.

  Dwarf down! I say again, Dwarf down! Don’t trust the Elves!

  Chapter 6: Study and Progress

  “Come on, you lazy bastards! Git those damn shields up!” Esa yelled out, her words putting enough fear into the mixed POE/Player group as the skeletons rushed them, peppering them with arrows.

  Off to the side, Gurren, Lox, and Steve talked about where they wanted to check out on their next scouting adventure.

  Esa rolled her eyes as the wall of shields held against the attacks. The new Stone Raiders yelled their defiance as the mages and archers supported and fired over them, killing the oncoming skeletons. After a few minutes, the skeletons were down and the new Stone Raiders were celebrating.

  “Stow it! That wasn’t even hard; they were only level 120! Where was the communication? Communication is the most important thing. If you don’t have your shit together in these small groups, what’s going to happen when you’re with the rest of the guild?” Esa demanded.