Metal Mage 13

by Eric Vall

  “Yeah, we don’t have enough time,” I countered in a harsh whisper. “Cayla has to be at the station in the next ten minutes, and more importantly, Alfred is right down the hall. I can’t have him thinking I’m a caver. I put the utmost faith in him, and I’d like for him to be able to put the utmost faith in me.”

  “Then shut up and don’t get caught,” Aurora growled as she finally cornered me against the crates, and her hand closed around my shaft.

  Then her teeth latched onto the sweet spot at the nape of my neck, and the damn woman always knew how to bite me just right. So, it was no surprise that I instantly went rock hard in her grip despite my determination not to, and as my palms slid beneath the crook of her perfectly sculpted ass cheeks, I knew I was done for.

  “Okay, just a quickie,” I relented, “but you better not make a sound.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Aurora purred, and I swiftly hitched her legs up around me before I pinned her back against the shelves and slammed my cock deep inside of her dripping wet tunnel.

  Chapter 14

  I could hear Cayla and the others trying to find Aurora, but I just kept pounding into my fiery half-elf while I held my hand clamped over her mouth. I could tell she was purposely holding back on her climax to keep me to herself a little longer, but I couldn’t muster any irritation about it.

  Her pussy was so hot, I thought my dick might blister inside her, and she’d managed to hitch a leg up over my shoulder so I could get even deeper. The shelves rattled ominously with every thrust while I bit at the woman’s shoulder to make her squirm, and as her moans got too loud for me to muffle them, I took her harder so she’d climax before we got caught.

  It wasn’t my women I was worried about, though, since I could tell by Deya’s distant giggles she was hearing all of this and saying nothing about it.

  Alfred catching me with my pants around my ankles was out of the question, though.

  The man was reinventing the burger for me, and after he’d declared his dedication to helping me make it through this week alive, I knew I owed it to him to keep up my end of the bargain.

  So, while I did the exact opposite, I furiously berated myself in my head as every muscle in my lower extremities began to burn from how hard I was fucking Aurora right now. My mounting tension only made me more determined to get a hell of an orgasm out of this, though, and as my half-elf shook from the power of my thrusts, I brought my lips to her ear and ordered her to cum for me.

  Aurora’s instant orgasm coaxed a torrent of semen gushing from my shaft as I drove into her as deeply as I could, and the heated pulsing between us overrode my senses so much, I almost didn’t register every glass vial on the shelf toppling over.

  Then I lurched to try and catch them so Alfred wouldn’t hear, but I lost hold of Aurora’s ass in the process, and the two of us crashed to the floor as we took three crates of vegetables down with us.

  “Shit,” the half-elf snickered while she crawled off my dick, and I was chuckling about the stream of cum spilling down her inner thigh when I heard Alfred call out to Ruela like she was the one destroying his storage closet.

  Aurora froze inches above my cock, but as soon as we realized the butler was leaving the kitchen, both of us jumped up.

  “Go,” I ordered as I chucked a crate off me, and we ducked out the door with my pants still around my ankles.

  I managed to get them back up without face planting while Aurora hopped on one leg to get her skirt back on, and then I dragged her around the corner of the entryway with me seconds before Alfred neared the storage closet.

  The half-elf tried so hard not to giggle while she snuck out of the house, and I made sure to close the door before Cayla’s “what the hell” could carry into the hall. Then I checked to make sure the butler was in the closet, and as Bobbie peeled out from the lane, I lunged across the gap between me and my shop.

  I was out of breath when I squeezed between my automatons and dropped heavily onto my stool, but when I snatched a pile of magazines to make sure I looked busy, I found Stan with his hands propped on his hips.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I muttered as I got to work securing magazines on my automatons’ chests. “I’ve been in here this whole time. Also… it was Aurora’s idea.”

  Stan shook his head at me when I peeked back at him, but then he carried on doing walking lunges across the work table. Once he reached the other side, the little metal man switched to squat jumps, and I grinned when he finished his set by jogging in place while he stared at an invisible watch on his wrist.

  “Gearing up?” I asked as I finished securing the last magazine.

  Stan nodded before he dropped into a plank pose, and his little dragon tapped her wing on the table to count the seconds for him.

  “Looking good,” I chuckled.

  Then I summoned my metal magic while I took a turn around each sentry to make sure I had everything in order, and I began transporting them to the clearing outside. As soon as they were situated with the other four, I immediately began forming magazines for my troops’ pistols, and I was so determined to make up for the storage closet fiasco that I got more than a thousand made in under ten minutes.

  Sweat beaded my brow as I jumped into engraving them next, and while I painstakingly replicated one rune after another, I scanned the perimeter of Falmount, checked in on my allies, and went over my numbers three times to be sure I had everything in order.

  Then I focused on taking deep breaths so I wouldn’t panic over my shitty odds, and I connected with my automatons’ gems to help me stay on track with the day.

  Big Guy and Bom Two were sharing the patrol of Falmount at the moment, but I made sure Bom Two knew he’d be leaving with the rest of us soon before I gave Big Guy the all clear to take over watch of the village for the foreseeable future. Then I gritted my teeth as I worked to send my magic all the way to Serin without messing up my engravings, and I managed to reach Big Red at the gates of the Oculus. Once I delivered his orders to take Bom One’s place inside the underground city, I alerted him to the possibility of the Master’s mass attack so he’d be on high alert.

  The last thing I did was summon Bom One back to Falmount so he’d be here in time for me to wake up the rest of his fleet, and when Alfred arrived to let me know another thirty minutes had passed, I was already started on Cayla’s AR-15, with twenty crates of magazines stacked and ready to go.

  “No word from the generals yet?” I checked, and the butler shook his head.

  “Shall I send for them, sir?”

  “No, they’ll get here,” I muttered as I turned back to my work.

  I wasn’t as sure about this as I sounded, though, so while I secured the buffer spring and completed the lower receiver, I listened in at the pub for a sign of my generals. For once, none of them were there, but that could have been because the place was packed with dwarves, so I scanned the rest of the village twice over.

  Then I scanned it again as my anxiety heightened, because there was no sign of Kurna or Urn anywhere within the bounds of Falmount.

  The possibility of my top generals bailing on this plan at the last minute sent me to my feet as my stomach nearly dropped out my ass, and I paced the entire shop with long, anxious strides while I slammed the AR-15 together with only a third of my attention.

  The rest of my attention was split between panic-forming more magazines and attempting to register every sound within the bounds of Falmount all at once, and I kept telling myself my generals just nipped off to Serin for a minute.

  Then I heard Urn’s voice coming from the western woods of all places, and I halted all production while I strained to make out his words.

  He didn’t speak again, though, but as I caught the sound of two other heartbeats with his, I quickly dropped down at the table to engrave Cayla’s rifle. By the time the heartbeats were at my moat, I was completing the final stroke on the rune that replaced the gas port, and I was so relieved when Urn knocked on the door that I made it the
re before Alfred.

  “You alright?” Haragh snorted while I steadied myself on the doorframe. “Ye’ look like death. Still.”

  “I’m fine,” I lied. “You guys good?”

  Kurna snorted rather than respond, and he led the other two generals past me while Urn just nodded a greeting. All of them were battered from the brawl earlier, but judging by the heavy silence they brought with them, I had a feeling they had more on their minds than injuries.

  “Look, I know things have been getting a little out of hand around here,” I said as I joined them in the shop, “but this is the final push, alright? Everything’s nearly set up, we’re on schedule, and no one died during that brawl.”

  Urn shook his head as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms, and Kurna slumped on the edge of the fountain like he’d already given up on the whole day. Haragh was the only one who stood tall without any concern, but he eyed the other two generals in a way that made me wonder what they’d been discussing so far from Falmount.

  “If this lot keeps it up, we’ll lose our Defenders at those tunnels over their shit,” Urn told me.

  “And our lives, as well,” Kurna muttered.

  “Shoshanne will be travelling by dragon between the posts once the attack begins,” I told the men. “She’ll have her healing staff to help recover as many soldiers as she can, but at this point, we need as much help as we can get. Maybe our allies don’t blend well, but they all showed up for this, and none of them want to die. When it comes to it, they’ll get their heads out of their asses.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Urn snorted.

  “I don’t have another choice,” I admitted. “I have to count on it.”

  Kurna straightened up a bit, and he eyed me closely before he nodded. “It’s looking bad, then?”

  “No,” I allowed, “but it’s not looking as good as I want it to. The Master’s shelling out attacks in the south every few hours, so there’s a good chance the nobles’ armies are too busy helping our Defenders to join us at the tunnels. That leaves us down by a hell of a lot.”

  “Where’s he hitting the hardest?” Haragh asked.

  “Limont, Yerich, and Tellish from the latest report,” I replied.

  Urn stroked his moustache as he thought about this. “Not Rainard?”

  “I haven’t heard from that area, so I can’t be sure,” I said with a shrug.

  “Might send for the Knights of Rainard,” the burly mage mused. “They’ve only got the steel of their blades, but they fight like hell, and the earl did offer them to you.”

  “He did,” I realized, and the knot in my gut eased by a degree. “I forgot about his knights. They could be at the southern tunnel in under an hour if they were ready. Then I could shuffle the other troops and increase our chances.”

  “By how much?” Kurna asked, and I didn’t miss the challenge in his tone, so I met his gaze directly.

  “That’s not the question you really want to ask, is it?”

  Kurna shifted in his seat, but then he owned up. “Alright, it isn’t. Are you marching us out there because you really think we can beat this bastard, or are you doing all this just because you think you should?”

  “Little bit of both,” I answered honestly. “I know what our mages are capable of, and I know what our weapons can help us achieve. Our allies all come with their own contributions, as well, and despite their differences, all of them are invested in destroying the Master. That being said, no, I don’t think this ambush will end things for us or him. It’s just the beginning.”

  Kurna ground his jaw as he considered this, and Haragh grunted in agreement.

  “It’ll determine a lot,” the half-ogre muttered.

  “I agree,” I replied. “Either we’ll find out this Master’s smarter and better prepared than we could have imagined, or we’ll find out we are. Regardless, those tunnels are his best chance at winning out over all of us, so we have to try.”

  “There you have it,” Urn said as he looked at Kurna.

  The brawny mage nodded. “Alright. Then what are we working with?”

  “Bunch of pissed off allies,” Haragh snorted, and I grinned.

  “That, and a few other things,” I chuckled. “I just finished the last of the automatons, so we’ve got ten of the larger models moving out with us. Two at each tunnel in the south with six hundred rounds a piece, and one for the two northern tunnels with runed bullets. I’ll have two thousand more magazines completed as soon as I finish the engravings, and Cayla’s army have their own revolvers.”

  “Cayla’s got an army?” Haragh asked as the three men furrowed their brows in unison.

  “Yeah, it turns out Cedis has been training knights with my weapons for the past couple months,” I told them. “Her dad handed them over to her this morning, so she’s General Balmier now.”

  “How many soldiers?” Urn asked.

  “Two hundred.”

  Kurna was the first one to let out a low chuckle, but Urn joined in shortly after, and Haragh shook his head at the ground while he cursed me under his breath.

  I cocked a brow. “What’s so funny?”

  “You,” Kurna snorted. “The best shot in town just came to the field with a full army. You could’ve fucking led with that.”

  “I don’t know anything about these soldiers,” I told the man. “Cayla’s out there now assessing the situation, and my women are with her to help get the knights into shape if need be.”

  “Oh, hell,” Urn scoffed. “With your women out there, we’re not so bad off at all.”

  “They only have revolvers,” I clarified. “I’m not doubting my women’s abilities, but we have to be realistic because you saw how the Master’s ogres took our mages’ bullets before we advanced to the runed pistols. They’ll be at worse odds down there, regardless, and Cayla’s biggest concern is them blowing through their ammunition without making enough of a dent.”

  Haragh nodded in agreement as he sobered a bit. “Who are ye’ sendin’ to join ‘em?”

  “That depends on a few things,” I replied as I came to the table, and I pulled some paper over to begin mapping out our platoons for the generals. “The dwarves have three hundred soldiers standing by in the north, and they’ll split between the two tunnels there. One troop to Rausch Loch over here, and the other to Vasdor on the other side of the peak. I’m sending a hundred ogres to split as well, along with fifty elves, and sixty mages. Aurora’s leading the fight at Rausch Loch, and Dorinick’s taking Vasdor.”

  “Shit,” Urn snorted. “Looks to me like they’ll be fine up there with troops like that.”

  “Then we get to Nalnora, and things are less fine,” I admitted. “Between both Elven Houses, they’ve only got about a hundred and ninety elves to span the three tunnels. I’ll send sixty dwarves to each one, plus thirty ogres, thirty-five mages, and all three of you. That still leaves us under two hundred soldiers per tunnel, though, and considering how much the Master can gain from Nalnora, he’ll probably send his strongest attack there.”

  “Godsdamnit,” Kurna sighed. “See, this is my point. I’m not looking to die in a jungle. I’m really not.”

  Urn shot the brawny mage a callous glance. “What about the Illarian tunnel?”

  “Cayla’s bringing her two hundred soldiers, like I said,” I continued, “the last forty of our Defenders will join her, along with ten ogres, thirty elves, and twenty dwarves. She’ll be just shy of three hundred, but with revolvers as their primary weapons, I don’t like her odds.”

  “Me, neither,” Haragh agreed. “If ye’ send for them other knights, though, she’ll be close to breakin’ four hundred at least.”

  “That could make the difference, but it still leaves the Nalnoran tunnels too light,” I pointed out as I got up to call for Alfred, and the butler appeared with speckles of tomato juice on his apron. “Could you please summon a mage named Pindor? It’s urgent.”

  “Certainly, sir,” the butler said with a bow, and whe
n I got back to the table, my generals eyed me with confusion.

  “What do we need Pindor for?” Urn grunted.

  “It’s a long story,” I muttered, “but you might have hit on something with the dwarven tunnels. I’m sending extra ogres there since the dwarves are slower and smaller fighters, but they’ve still got better chances than all of Nalnora right now. So, if I relocate ten of their ogres to Nalnora, and take the ten ogres from Cayla as well, that alone improves our chances in the jungle.”

  “I wouldn’t leave Cayla without the ogres,” Haragh countered. “Better take her dwarves instead. Then ye’ve got an extra ten ogres from the north, plus twenty dwarves to give the jungle. We’ll send Grot out there among ‘em, too. He’s fierce as ten ogres on his own.”

  “True,” I agreed. “Cayla will need the ogres more than she’ll need the dwarves. That still leaves her with mages and elves, too.”

  “And the machines, right?” Kurna asked.

  “Yeah, you’ll all have two Boms with you, and they have the same weapon Cayla shot the street up with earlier.”

  My generals didn’t respond, and when I glanced over, they all looked equally pissed and concerned.

  “Sorry about that, by the way,” I muttered. “She was just trying to break things up, but to be fair, getting you guys to help was our first idea.”

  Kurna awkwardly rubbed his neck while Urn looked away, and I could tell by his two black eyes that the Terra Mage had been in the thick of that brawl way longer than I had been.

  Haragh just shrugged. “I had fun.”

  “Me, too,” I chuckled as I summoned some more steel for magazines, “and I don’t know if you guys noticed, but our allies still helped us out despite everything.”

  “I’ll give them that,” Kurna muttered, “but they better straighten up in time to move out. We’ve busted our asses getting all these Defenders ready, and they’ve proven what they can handle. So far, I haven’t seen much to be impressed with among these allies you’ve brought out.”