by Eric Vall
“Thanks, sweetie,” Haragh grunted. “Don’t suppose ye’ got an idea of how to handle this without killin’ the dragon? Mason’s women are uh … well, they’re attached to the thing.”
Taru considered the dragon for a moment while everyone in the streets stood stock still, but when the ogre woman shrugged and shuffled forward, I furrowed my brow.
“I wouldn’t get too close if I were you,” I warned. “It’s a firebreather.”
The ogre woman ignored me, though, and she circled around the side of a smashed house while she clutched her ruby. The dragon sent out another jet of flames that made the crowd jump a foot in the air, and as soon as it finished, Taru strolled over, raised her fist, and punched the dragon right in its snarling face.
Then the thing was out cold, and Haragh let out a booming laugh as he broke into applause.
Taru shrugged once more and shuffled back toward us, and the other mages eventually joined in with their own cheers while I just stared at the unconscious dragon until Haragh began shaking me by the shoulder.
“Hell of a woman, ain’t she?” he hollered above the cheers.
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Taru, you’re the most amazing ogre in the world!” Aurora squealed, and when she and Deya leapt up to throw their arms around Taru’s hulking shoulders, the tiniest smile came to the she-ogre’s face.
Urn just sighed and sent me a pointed look, though, and I turned to Shoshanne.
“You got this?”
“Of course,” the healer said at once. “I’ll get my equipment and remove the rune as quickly as possible. Should I have the snatcher drag it back to the east for us?”
“Yeah,” I said blankly, and with that, I turned to push my way through the crowd of mages.
“Where are you going?” Aurora demanded above the cheers.
“I need a drink.”
I didn’t acknowledge a single other person until I was sitting at the counter of Flynt’s Pub with a mug of ale in hand, and even then, it took three refills before I glanced at the Defenders quietly seated beside me.
“Don’t say it,” I muttered as I beckoned for Raynor to bring me another pint.
“I know it’s your town now,” Urn replied, “but you have to understand that bringing a damn dragon--”
“Totally,” I interrupted, and I drained my pint in three gulps. “I’ve got this.”
“Do you?” Kurna chuckled. “That woman of yours is about as unruly as the dragon.”
“Noted.”
“Are you at least going to address the fact that Temin offered you a hell of an opportunity?” Urn sighed and swiftly ordered another pint.
“Nope,” I replied. “I haven’t decided if I’ll accept the job yet, and clearly, my hands are already full. Now, I’ve got possessed dragons to add to the list of crazy shit the Master’s up to, so Temin’s offer just got knocked down another few pegs.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Kurna admitted. “Funny, we were just talking about shock value, eh?”
“What are you talking about?” Urn asked as he furrowed his brows.
“Mason captured some strange creatures the other day with powers that could burn all of Illaria down in less than a day,” Kurna told the man. “Plus, the mages who attacked the castle all had revolvers on them, and apparently they can vanish into thin air and then reappear, too.”
Urn sat in silence while I forced another pint into my gullet, and I let out a loud belch as I finally felt the tension in my shoulders unwind a little.
“And we still have no idea how they’re pulling off these attacks?” Urn checked.
“Yep.” I nodded.
“Shit,” he sighed, and he ordered himself another pint.
“I still think the Master’s just trying to show off,” Kurna insisted.
“I wouldn’t count on it,” I muttered.
“Why?” Kurna asked. “Did something else come up already?”
I sighed as I rifled my hair, and then I finally turned to face the two men beside me. “I’ve been studying the schematics for the Master’s fortress, and he’s got underground tunnels leading miles into both Nalnora and Orebane. I have no idea what he’s planning to do with them, but there’s at least seven of them as of a couple days ago, and still, somehow, none of this gives us any answers because they don’t lead toward Serin.”
“Not one?” Kurna asked as his eyes went wide.
“None of them,” I repeated. “Unfortunately, though, one of the tunnels does lead dangerously close to an army of Wendigo one of the elven leaders keeps on hand, and the same elven leader wants to murder me.”
The color slowly drained from both men’s faces while I ordered all of us another round, and even Raynor was frowning as he listened in.
“Wendigo,” Urn said with a blank nod.
“An army,” Kurna mumbled. “A whole fucking army of them.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “So … maybe the Master is trying to rile me up, but ultimately, I’m riled enough regardless because clearly, he’s got huge, underground, absolute decimation type plans. And we don’t.”
“We have to get into that fortress,” Kurna decided. “We have to get on the offensive.”
“That’s my point,” I agreed.
“We must be overlooking something,” Urn muttered as he stared into his pint like it would hand up the answers to him. “They’re getting around somehow, we’re just missing something. It has to be staring us right in the face. We just have to figure it out.”
“Fast,” Kurna added.
“So, how can we somehow scout them without risking any more lives?” Urn mused. “We need a stealthy, untraceable means of finding out how these mages are traveling by untraceable means.”
I snorted as Kurna let out a groan of defeat already, but then I furrowed my brow as something occurred to me.
“Actually,” I muttered, “I might have a way.”
“How?” Urn demanded.
“I know someone who sort of makes it her business to find out things like this,” I admitted.
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” Kurna asked flatly.
“Because I’m not really sure if she wants me dead or not,” I replied, and Urn shook his head.
“How many people want to kill you these days?”
“I don’t know,” I snorted. “A lot, a few, hundreds, who cares? I have possessed dragons being dragged into my town, and a girlfriend who just runs up to them like they’re puppies! Doesn’t matter that she means the world to me. Nope. Dragons are here so … ”
“Your house is looking real nice, though,” Kurna pointed out. “I saw that moat you’re working on. Impressive.”
“Thanks,” I chuckled, and this actually did cheer me up a bit. “I kind of want to put eels in it, but I need to get a Flumen Mage to help fill it first.”
The two men nodded in approval, but then Deya burst into the pub and began shoving past the packed tables to get to me. I wasn’t remotely buzzed enough to hear another damn word about dragons, though, so I furrowed my brow as I stubbornly focused on my pint.
“Mason!” Deya gasped as she crashed into my arm. “I need you to ride me! Now!”
Urn and Kurna spit ale all over Raynor while I spluttered and tried not to choke, and half the pub was chuckling at my back while Deya clung desperately to my arm.
“Deya,” I croaked, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m really not in the mood.”
“Not like that,” she sighed as she rolled her violet eyes. “Like a dragon!”
Now, Urn did choke, and ale spewed from his mouth while he struggled to catch his breath.
I tried to ignore the whistles of support coming from every corner of the pub, and Deya shrugged and waved to the mages while they nodded in approval.
“Do it!” someone hollered, and I glared over my shoulder.
“Deya, is it possible to discuss this another time?” I muttered.
“No, it’s important!” s
he hissed. “Mason, I transmuted with the green dragon, and I think something’s wrong at Mors Pass. The black dragon the snatcher brought in is the female I was telling you about, and she’s the fiercest one I’ve seen out there. If the Master runed her, then he could have easily runed others, and there’s several missing from their nests. The babies don’t have anyone to care for them! You could ride on me to go see for yourself, and then we can find out how to help them! Please? I’ll never ask for anything else in my life!”
I rubbed my temples while I processed this. “You want me to go to Mors Pass and kill no dragons again? We’re back to the baby dragons?”
“Please?” she begged. “They need us!”
“Do they, though?” I muttered, but when I chanced a peek at the elf beside me, her brows were pinched together while she pouted and bit her lip, and judging by the looks on Kurna and Urn’s faces, they already knew what my answer would be.
“Godsdamnit,” I groaned, and I chugged the last of my pint. “Look, I have to take care of something in Serin so we can finally figure out how the mages are getting around. Then I’ll fucking ride you and save the fucking dragons. Shit!”
“Thank you!” Deya squealed, and she covered me in kisses while I tried to resist the urge to slam my head against the countertop. “You’re the most wonderful man in the whole realm, do you know that?”
“I do, actually,” I informed the beautiful woman as I stood, and Urn clapped me on the arm.
“Don’t get killed, Mr. Wonderful,” he chuckled.
“If I die, Kurna, you can have my mansion,” I told the brawny Ignis Mage. “Do not let Haragh touch my flail, though. He’s not allowed to play with my stuff anymore.”
“Understood,” Kurna said with a broad grin. “I’ll put eels in your moat for you, too. Honor your memory and all that.”
“Thanks, man,” I sighed, and I led Deya out of the pub to another chorus of goading whistles.
“Are you leaving straight away for Serin?” the beautiful elf asked as we hurried down the lane. “Because I think we should fly to Mors Pass as soon as possible. The poor babies will be hungry!”
“No,” I replied. “We’re having a family meeting because there are so many things that need to be said right now. Then I’m going to Serin, and the baby dragons can sit in their nests and wait like everyone else until I have time to save them.”
“Mason, why do you sound so upset?” Deya asked with a frown. “We’ve spent such a lovely day together, and with so much sex.”
“I know,” I admitted, “and I was feeling great an hour ago, don’t get me wrong. A lot of awesome things happened today, but now there’s possessed dragons, and Aurora’s almost dying right before my eyes, so yeah … perspective.”
“True, but dragons are so exciting!” Deya replied as we crossed our bridge. “Get excited!”
“Sure,” I muttered.
“Wait,” Deya said, and she flipped around before I could push through the doors. She had her pink brows crinkled with concern again, and her violet eyes were searching as she gently placed her palms against my vest. “Mason, I know you care about the baby dragons.”
I shrugged.
“What if they were our babies, though?” she persisted. “Think of it. All together in a little nest, but no one around to care for them. Wouldn’t you do anything you could to help them? I know you would.”
I ground my jaw as her words sliced straight through me, and her expression made a strange warmth begin to bloom in my chest as she waited so anxiously for me to defend our hypothetical babies.
“Of course, I would,” I told her. “I’d probably slaughter whole villages and melt people’s faces off if our babies were in danger. Except our babies would never end up alone in their nest to begin with, because there’s no way I’d let that happen. I’d build an entire army of automatons just to make sure they were safe at all times. And a moat.”
Now, Deya giggled as she pulled me closer, and her cheeks were a soft pink.
“See?” she whispered. “You care very much. Now, just pretend the baby dragons are our babies.”
“Absolutely not,” I chuckled. “If I do that, Aurora’s gonna make me bring them all here.”
Deya let out an exasperated sigh as I brushed past her and entered the house, and I could hear my other women laughing together in the training hall. So, I headed straight there, but the second I walked in, I almost forgot how tense I was.
Aurora and Cayla were stroking the six-foot-tall penis I’d built in the corner, and Shoshanne had somehow managed to climb nearly to the top. Then they saw me standing stone faced beneath the arched entrance of the hall, and they laughed heartily as they waved.
“Mason, there’s no way Aeris’ penis is this big,” Shoshanne hollered, and her words echoed all around the chamber while Cayla lovingly stroked the veiny shaft of my penis statue.
“Yes, and I could never fire on a masterpiece like this,” the princess informed me.
“I vote we put it in the entryway instead,” Aurora giggled, but when my half-elf turned her careless grin my way, I locked my jaw.
“Is the dragon gone?” I growled through gritted teeth, and Shoshanne abruptly slid off the penis with a diligent nod. “Great. Family meeting.”
Then I turned on my heel to head for the atrium because I needed something to keep me busy at the moment, and I could hear Deya excitedly going on and on about me agreeing to save the baby dragons. She definitely oversold my “defending our babies” speech, but I studiously focused my attention on threading the last bit of netting into one of my automaton’s shoulders rather than correct her.
I had four blow guns formed and mounted with a furious wave of my hand, and I’d mostly made up my mind to be very calm about our family meeting, until Aurora pranced into the shop still half covered in soot.
“Mason, can I go with to ride on Deya?” the half-elf asked eagerly. “I’ve never ridden a dragon before!”
“No,” I replied. “You’re staying here and never moving again.”
“What?” Aurora asked in complete confusion, and my other women casually tinkered with a few lumps of gold as they raised their brows. “But Mason--”
“No arguments,” I cut in, “because I had to just watch you run straight toward a fucking dragon and almost die, so you are no longer allowed to move unless I say so. Ever.”
“I kind of agree with Mason,” Cayla admitted with a long-suffering sigh. “I thought you were dead, and I hate fainting like that. It’s so degrading.”
“I’m an Ignis Mage,” Aurora chuckled. “I knew I’d be fine.”
“Yeah, well, it took me a little longer to catch on to that,” I shot back, “and in the meantime, I realized I can’t actually live without you, so no! You can sit at home and just … never move.”
Now, Aurora’s cheeks blushed as her eyes welled with tears. “Aww, Mason!”
“Don’t you ‘aww Mason’ me!” I scoffed. “This is not an ‘aww Mason’ moment.”
“I love you so much,” the half-elf murmured, and she sent me a smile so beautiful, I could have puked.
I dropped onto my stool instead, though, and I buried my face in my hands as I tried to come to terms with the fact my Ignis Mage was entirely out of my control. Normally, this was something I loved about her, but those ten seconds when I thought she was dead were still twisting a knife in my gut.
“Obviously, I love you, too,” I mumbled against my palms.
Then Aurora wrapped her arms around me, and she refused to stop hugging me no matter how much I tried to shake her off. So, I finally just let her cling to me while she giggled in my ear, and when she snuck around my side for a kiss, I kissed her back. Angrily, at first, but it was impossible to stay mad when she did that thing with her tongue that made my spine tingle. Eventually, I was chuckling while she intentionally did it over and over again just to cheer me up, and I finally shoved her off me as the other women giggled at her shameless maneuver.
“The ne
xt time you run at a creature that deadly, I’m building that dungeon you wanted and chaining you up in it,” I informed the woman.
“And you won’t be pleased while you’re in there either,” Cayla added sternly. “No sex for you.”
“Deal,” Aurora agreed at once, and she turned back to me looking as unconcerned as ever. “So, do I get to ride a dragon? Pleeease? You could sit behind me like when you first built Bobbie and tease me all you want.”
I grinned. “Yeah, okay, that does sound kind of fun.”
Aurora threw her arms around me as she giggled like a maniac, and Deya looked nearly as ecstatic as her at the news.
“I’ve never been ridden before!” the elf sighed. “This will be so much fun!”
“And important since the fate of the baby dragons is in our hands,” Shoshanne reminded everyone, and the women sobered up as they nodded in agreement.
“Was that the family meeting?” Cayla clarified.
“Not all of it,” I chuckled. “Second topic is … ummm.” I trailed off as I tried to decide how to approach the subject delicately, and part of me just wanted to shrug it off, but I knew I needed my women’s input because I was out of ideas and it definitely concerned them. “So, I was wondering, hypothetically … well, not hypothetically, more realistically--”
“Please tell me this is about the Baroness,” Cayla said with a grin.
“How do you always--nevermind,” I sighed. “Yes, it’s about the Baroness, because I need to find out how these mages are getting around if I’m going to block their attacks, and the Baroness is starting to look like the only person who can find out for us.”
“Then what do you want to talk about?” Aurora asked, and she hopped up to sit on the table beside me.
“Honestly? I’m ninety percent sure I can’t go within ten yards of that woman without wanting to fuck her.”
“Well, you have essentially done as much to her face,” Cayla muttered.
“And she clearly can’t keep her eyes off you,” Aurora added.
Shoshanne nodded. “So, what’s the problem?”