by Eric Vall
“And I brought over my bread,” Tilly nearly whispered as she gestured over to the baskets.
The mouse Demi-Human owned the bakery in town, and her honey bread was the kind that melted on your tongue and filled your mouth with flavor. She’d also been on the Council of Magistrates under Whitaker’s leadership, and I had relieved her of her position until Mateo decided to reappoint her as a magistrate. I trusted his judgment, and Tilly’s timid demeanor told me she wasn’t going to make the same mistakes this time around.
“Thank you both,” I said after I swallowed a hunk of bread. “We’re going to miss your food when we leave.”
“I thought you might say that,” Aggie chuckled. “So, I made a double amount of this meal and put it in knapsacks for each of you.”
“Yes!” Aaliyah purred as her tail swayed happily behind her.
“You’re awesome, Aggie,” I praised her.
The pig took a bow before she hustled back into the kitchen with Tilly on her heels.
“We can eat her other meal on our way to Kana,” Alyona suggested. “Lord Nikolaus said it wasn’t far, right?”
“Yes, milady,” Nike confirmed. “We should be able to get there this evening if we leave soon.”
“I had fun here, but one thing is missing,” Polina said and laid a dramatic hand over her forehead.
“What’s wrong?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We didn’t get to bring any new women into our harem,” Trina sighed.
“Ah,” I chuckled. “Believe me, I love adding women to our family, but we were pretty busy this time.”
“What about Leilani?” Marina asked with a wink.
Leilani was the beautiful, chocolate-skinned mermaid who worked in the water district as a mechanic. She’d helped us figure out where some of the Green Glass Sect members were hiding.
“She was gorgeous,” Polina gushed. “But there would have been one problem.”
“What’s that?” Trina wondered.
“Well, you noticed her tail only turned back to legs when she was dried off, right?” Polina said with a wicked smile.
“Yeah?” I replied, and I was curious where she was going with this.
“So, it would be really hard for her to walk with us if she was always wet because of Lord Evan,” Polina giggled.
“Oh!” Alyona stifled a laugh at the dryad’s dirty joke.
Within seconds, the rest of my women were laughing uncontrollably, and I was wondering what it would be like to try to get past Leilani’s scales.
“We’d better get going,” Nike said as the laughter died down. “We still need to get all the wagons out.”
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Let’s finish up here.”
We cleaned our plates as Aggie strode out of the kitchen and began to gather them.
“Leaving already?” the Demi-Human asked with an easy smile.
“Yeah, we need to get moving,” I replied. “Thank you for letting us stay here and taking such good care of us.”
“It was an honor, Lord Evan,” Aggie said and bowed. “I look forward to your next visit.”
“As do I,” I agreed.
“I’ll walk you to the entrance,” Mateo offered.
The dwarf had been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Thanks, Mateo,” I answered as I stood up from the table. “Everything okay?”
“I am nervous,” he admitted and led us out the front door. “I hope I do well once you leave.”
“You will,” I said in a firm voice. “Everyone believes in you.”
“I’ll try my best,” Mateo vowed.
“And that’s exactly why you’ll do better than Whitaker did.” I smirked. “He only cared for himself. You want what’s best for everyone.”
Mateo grinned as we walked along the main road toward the entrance, and several people were lined up along the road to wave at us as we left. Fiona and her family smiled as they waved, and I noticed several other families gathered together to see us out.
Within a few minutes, we’d reached the mouth of the tunnel that would lead us back up to the surface, and I turned back to face Mateo.
“If you need anything, just find a cultivator and send me a magical messenger,” I advised him. “I’m always here to help, but don’t discount how much you can do or how much your people can help you. They look up to you.”
“I will keep those words in mind,” Mateo replied and reached his arm up to me.
We clasped forearms, and everyone else smiled and waved goodbye. Then we turned and climbed the winding path up to the Sentinel post on the landing just below the surface.
“Will we be seeing you again, Lord Evan?” Antonio asked as he rose from his position.
“I’m sure you will,” I answered with a smile.
“Then, until next time,” the Sentinel leader said and gripped my forearm.
I returned the gesture, and we started up the steps.
When the sunlight hit my face, I was momentarily blinded. While the magical orbs in Colaruma had mimicked the sun, it was not the same as the bright, hot sun above us now. I blinked a few times as I clambered out from the city’s secret entrance and then reached back to help my women climb up.
“Oh, my,” Alyona murmured as she covered her face.
“Yeah, it’s a bit brighter than I remember,” I joked.
As everyone readjusted to the outdoors, we pulled the wagons out from our spatial storage, and Alyona called for the horses that had been spelled to remain close by while we were underground. Nike and I loaded up the wagons, and Laika pulled herself up onto the lead wagon and grabbed the reins. The dryads hopped onto the second wagon, while Ravi and Aaliyah climbed in behind them. Then Nike gave me a nod and swung himself onto the next one, and I lifted Alyona into the lead wagon with Laika.
I took one more look around the land that hid the underground city of Colaruma, and then I pulled myself up next to the princess and sat down.
Laika coaxed the horses, and we set off for Kana.
The path wound and twisted through more of the grasslands that surrounded Colaruma before the grasses faded into patches of sand. Within a couple hours, our wagons were trudging through the sand, and the horses were getting exhausted out in the hot sun.
“Let’s take a lunch break and water the horses,” I suggested, and Laika pulled up on the reins.
The rest of the wagons in our caravan were under Alyona’s spell, and they stopped as soon as our lead wagon did.
I slid off the wagon and reached into my spatial storage for my knapsack from Aggie. Then we all stood around the wagons and chowed down on our lunches as the sun beat down on us. I heard a caw and looked up to see three birds with long necks craned down to watch us as they flew overhead.
“Maybe we should have brought Aggie with us,” Aaliyah mumbled as she wrapped up her empty knapsack. “She would have made a great addition.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “It was tempting.”
We finished our food and tossed the rolled-up cloths into our wagon.
“Only a few hours more,” Nike said. “It’s mostly desert ahead.”
“So, we should take our clothes off to stay cool?” Polina waggled her eyebrows at me, and her sisters giggled.
“If you were on my wagon, yes.” I smirked. “But for now, just stay in your shade.”
“Fine,” Trina pouted.
We climbed back into our seats, and Laika sent the horses forward again. A few minutes later, Alyona pulled one of the nexus books from her spatial storage and spread it open onto her lap.
“What do you think?” I asked as I leaned over and attempted to decipher the information from the Green Glass Sect’s book.
“It’s a brilliant plan,” she murmured and turned a page. “I only wish it wasn’t so evil. If the Sect uses these spells to open the portals or the Breach, the demons under their control could destroy everything and everyone in Rahma.”
“I’ll kill them all,” I growled. “N
o one hurts my people.”
“I know, my love,” Alyona assured me. “We just have to keep fighting. We can stop them together.”
I nodded and looked out on the desert sand.
I hated the Green Glass Sect, and it seemed they now had a hatred for me, too. We’d stopped several of their plans to release the demons from the underworld, and I knew we would fight until every last one of those bastards were dead.
After what felt like days in the sultry heat, Laika pulled up on the reins again.
“Uh, what’s up?” I asked as I looked around the empty desert in confusion. I could see nothing but sand dunes and an occasional palm tree in the sandy terrain.
“This is where Lord Nikolaus said to go,” Laika replied, though she looked confused as well.
“The map says it should be here,” Nike said as he walked up next to us, and he held the map out in front of him and scrutinized the details.
“Yes, I remember,” Alyona agreed and squinted at the desert ahead of us. “It was somewhere around here when I came with my father a few years ago. I can’t imagine it has disappeared without a trace.”
“I don’t see anything for miles,” I said. “I doubt the map is wrong by that much.”
We all hopped down from the wagons and circled around Nike and the map as we tried to figure out what was going on.
The map was clearly marked, and we were standing in front of what should have been the front gates to the city of Kana. Yet we couldn’t see a single sign of civilization around.
Then the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I looked up to see a hooded figure standing about twenty yards in front of our caravan.
“Get back!” I ordered everyone as I strode forward to face the stranger.
As I walked closer, I realized the figure was a woman. I couldn’t make out her features, but I could see the curves of her hips and the swell of her bosom at the apex of her robes.
“Who are you?” I demanded as she watched me walk forward.
The woman stood in silence and made no effort to respond or cower away from me. She simply stared, and I thought I could catch the faintest glimpse of golden-colored eyes before she looked past me at the rest of my group.
She seems scared, Miraya murmured in my head.
I could sense the spirit of the Sword of Hatra’s intense interest, as though she was trying to read the mysterious woman before me.
“Listen, we don’t mean you any harm,” I called out, and I was now within fifteen yards of her. “We’re looking for Kana. That’s all.”
I continued walking as I spoke, and then I stood about five yards away from her. I could just barely make out wisps of dark blonde hair that fell next to her face, but her features remained in the shadows of her hood.
Maybe she doesn’t know how to speak, Miraya suggested. I don’t know. Something is odd here, my lord.
“Do you know where Kana is?” I prodded. “The map says it’s here. If it’s wrong, just let me know. Give me a wave or a finger or something. We have no intention of hurting anyone. I just want to speak with the leader of Kana.”
Suddenly, the woman lifted her right hand and extended her palm. At first, I thought she was going to answer me, but then a black fireball appeared in her outstretched hand. The dark flames flickered and danced in the sun, and my anger flared at the open threat.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned, and the heat built up in my own hand as I prepared for an attack.
Then, as the woman threw back her hood, she smiled and launched the fireball directly at me.
Chapter 2
The black fiery orb whizzed toward me like a missile, and it screamed through the air with wicked speed.
Luckily, I was faster.
I pushed my fire magic into my hand and wrapped it around my fingers like a glove as the incendiary attack approached. Then I raised my hand in front of the fireball and absorbed the mage’s black flames.
Good to know I wasn’t limited to absorbing my own fire.
The woman stared at me in shock, and her amber eyes widened as her black flames were engulfed into my own red ones. Her magenta hair was cut in a blunt line at her chin, and matching maroon scales peeked out of the sleeves and collar of her black robe. Her golden skin was marred by a single scar, and it ran from her forehead through her eyebrow and down to her cheekbone.
This woman was a lizard Demi-Human, so she had to be from Kana.
“Keep them back!” I called out to Nike over my shoulder before I turned back to my opponent. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
As the woman’s face contorted from shock into a sneer, I conjured a fireball in my palm and hurled it at her chest. The mage dove to her left, and my fireball soared past her. Then it stopped in mid-air and fizzled out, and the desert on the other side appeared to ripple and become distorted.
What the fuck?
I didn’t have time to think about what I’d just seen, though, as the mage stood up and dusted the sand from her robes. Then she lifted her hand and blew across her palm.
Suddenly, black smoke poured from her hand and surged toward me.
Another nexus spell? Was she part of the Sect, too?
I formed a fire shield and held it in front of me as the smoke crashed into the shield and pushed me backward.
I could feel my feet sliding in the sand beneath me, and I grunted as I leaned into the shield. The smoke slowly dissipated into the fiery surface, and I heard the flap of wings overhead.
Then I looked up to see Ravi in her phoenix form. The orange and gold bird glided above me and dipped her head in my direction before she circled above the mage. Then she hovered above the woman for a moment and rubbed the feathers of her tail together.
A shower of sparks dripped from Ravi’s wings onto the mage’s head, and she hissed in pain as she lobbed another ebony fireball at the retreating phoenix.
Ravi quickly barrel rolled away from the projectile, and I growled at the close call.
Something about this woman was different than the Green Glass Sect mages we had faced. I didn’t have time to figure it out yet, but it was time for me to take control of this fight before she hurt one of my women.
So, I shifted into my dragon form, and the black scales on my forearm extended as more scales stitched themselves into my skin. The bony spikes of my spine swelled and poked out of my back, and my wings bulged out on either side of the spikes. My body began to double and then triple in size until I stood over the mage and roared, and then I kicked up a pile of sand as I took flight above her and circled over her head.
“Don’t make me hurt you!” I bellowed down to her.
The woman’s face flickered with disbelief before she shook her head and clasped her hands together.
As she began to murmur a spell, I called on my lightning magic and sent an electrical bolt into the ground next to her. The lightning sparked as it crashed into the sand, and the woman hopped to her right with a gasp.
“That is your last warning!” I called out as I hovered above her.
The mage raised one magenta eyebrow as she pulled her hands apart and shouted the last words of her spell.
Suddenly, a horde of large scorpions emerged from the sand in front of her. They were the size of small dogs, and their dart-like tails coiled over their black bodies as they prepared to attack. Their skeletal legs scuttled across the sand, but it seemed like they only moved at half-speed.
Then I realized they were headed toward the caravan and my women.
I growled, flapped my wings, and barreled toward the line of scorpions as they gained speed. Next, I cut across in front of the scorpion colony and blew a line of fire onto the sand ahead of them to block their path.
The beasts’ screeches echoed across the sand, but a handful of them made it through the fire and continued toward the wagons to attack.
I hissed and veered back toward them.
“Go stop her!” Aaliyah called out as she lengthened her claws to their full si
ze. “We can handle these.”
Laika nodded and drew her broadsword before she stood next to the lioness and faced off with the scorpions.
The first one to get within Aaliyah’s reach was quickly stabbed through its hard shell as her claws pierced its torso with a crunch. Laika followed suit and swung her sword like a pro as she sliced another bug in half.
As the two hunters stabbed and sliced the venomous creatures, I looped back around to the mage.
Before she could start another spell, I opened my maw and bellowed another line of fire. This time, I focused the flames on the sand in front of her before I circled overhead.
The woman grunted as she realized my plan, but she had nowhere to go. With each step she took, the flames licked at her robes until she let out a frustrated scream.
As I finished my circle, I flew closer to the ground before I shifted back into my human form and plopped down on the sand in front of her with a smirk.
The mage crossed her arms and glared at me through the ring of fire. The flames danced in her amber eyes, and I chuckled at her annoyed expression. She hissed as I walked closer, and I saw a tiny forked tongue poke past her pink lips.
“Can we talk now?” I asked as I mimicked her pose and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Fine,” she muttered. “Talk.”
“All we want is to reach Kana,” I explained. “We wish to talk to the lord there, by order of King Rodion.”
“The king?” The woman’s eyebrows shot up her forehead.
“Yes.” I nodded. “So, will you help us, or are we going to stand here all day?”
The woman narrowed her amber eyes at me before she exhaled sharply. “Alright. I’ll take you to Kana.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I chuckled. “Why the change of heart?”
“You didn’t give me much choice.” The mage gestured to the fire around her. “Besides, you seem like someone Lord Vallen would be interested in meeting.”
“Oh?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
“You’ll see,” she replied with a smirk.
I looked over my shoulder and saw the rest of my group had killed the last of the scorpions and waited for me. So, I waved them over to join us as I turned back to the woman.