Metal mage 5, p.22
Metal Mage 5, page 22
“Deya!” the old elf growled. “Go inside.”
Deya’s smile fell as she turned. “Go inside, Deya,” she sighed. “Is there nothing you like to say more than this?” Then she walked slowly toward the elven man, who I assumed must be her father, and came to a stop in front of him.
The elf didn’t respond to her words. His deep, pale purple eyes narrowed menacingly at the woman, but she didn’t seem very intimidated by the gesture. Instead, she grazed her delicate hand softly along the elf’s bristly cheek and sent him a soft smile, before she brushed past the two elves and their guards and disappeared into the house without another glance.
Once the doors had closed behind her, the glare of the leader flashed with disgust as he eyed Aurora, and he didn’t look away as quickly as most of the other elves had. He let his disapproval burn into her before he finally settled his sights on me.
I gritted my teeth as I forced my legs to get moving once more, and I managed to stand on wobbly legs with a little effort. Then I helped the three women stand as well before I casually put myself in front of Aurora and turned to address the head of House Quyn.
“I didn’t come here to disturb you,” I started, “but I can’t allow the Council to dismiss my errand completely. The safety of Nalnora, as well as the other kingdoms, rests on my getting some answers. Dragir said that you do not wish to speak to me but--”
“He is correct,” the elf growled. His bristly jawline was as sharp as a razor, and he glared down his aristocratic nose as he spoke. “I have no answers for you, Mason Flynt.”
“I only need your vote in favor of my errand in Nalnora,” I told him, and I held his sights steadily as I continued. “The goddess Nemris guides me in my quest to protect these lands, and I won’t abandon this errand for anything. I must continue, whether the elves wish it or not.”
The deep purple eyes of the elf narrowed, and he studied me for a long moment. “You expect me to believe the goddess Nemris would charge a human with such a task?” he asked snidely. “If this Master you claim the existence of is indeed in possession of dark rune magic, a mere mage is hardly a force to be considered a threat to him. You play on the loyalties of House Quyn, and it’s a deceitful means of gaining our allegiance.”
“Doubt me,” I told him plainly and shrugged. “It doesn’t change the truth of it. I haven’t come here to deceive you, and I am no mere mage. I’m not leaving these lands without your allegiance. The goddess wills it, so it will be.”
The head of House Quyn bristled at my words, and I waited while he sifted through his irritation for a while. I could tell I’d hit on an angle that had some influence over him by mentioning the goddess, but he clearly warred against it.
Then his eyes suddenly shot to his son who stood at his side, and he gruffly muttered something in Elvish before he turned his back on us and firmly shut the doors of the house behind him as he went.
Dragir and the two guards positioned themselves like a blockade at the entrance. “Go now,” Dragir ordered.
I shook my head to myself as I considered what to do next, and Shoshanne touched me lightly on my arm as she stepped forward and spoke to Dragir.
“How long has your father been ill?” she asked gently.
“He is not ill,” Dragir snapped. “Leave these lands.”
The Aer Mage took another small step forward. “Pura Rubrum is lethal, you know,” she continued.
I exchanged a look of confusion with Cayla as the caramel beauty addressed the elf, and I noticed his own eyes flicker with something like fear at the words, but he didn’t respond.
Shoshanne continued. “How have you contained it?” she asked.
“What is it to you?” Dragir demanded.
“I am a healer from the Order of Pallax,” the Aer Mage informed him. “Are you using naticea?”
Dragir shifted uncomfortably, and he briefly glanced to the door at his back. When he turned back to Shoshanne, his eyes were unguarded, and he lowered his voice.
“Sparingly,” he said. “It does not grow here.”
Shoshanne nodded. “You should move to the eastern lands,” she advised. “North east, near the border of Illaria, you will find--”
“House Quyn will never move,” he assured her. “We are safe in the west.”
“But your father will die,” she told him, and the words seemed to slap the elf across the face as his expression darkened.
“Yes,” he said thickly. “We know this.” Then Dragir seemed to remember himself, and his hostility returned as he tightened his grip on his glaive and glared at me. “Leave these lands, we want nothing from you. You can leave now of your own accord, or you will be dragged and left for dead in the forests.”
I looked around uneasily as I remembered the darts that had flown out of nowhere, and I stepped forward to take Shoshanne’s hand. “Come on,” I muttered, and the Aer Mage reluctantly turned away from Dragir.
The four of us made our way back along the winding path toward Bobbie, but we didn’t mount up when we came to her side.
“Godsdamnit.” I sighed as I scruffed my beard and turned my head up to the hazy blue fog above us. “That guy’s not going to hear me out.”
Shoshanne had sat down on a felled log, and Cayla came to her side. “How did you know he had Pura Rubrum?” she asked the Aer Mage.
I turned at the question, and I registered the crease of concern still etched on Shoshanne’s forehead as she answered.
“The skin beneath the collar of his shirt,” she explained. “I saw it when he turned to talk to his son.”
“What’s Pura Rubrum?” I asked curiously.
“A horrible disease,” Cayla replied. “There was a man in my father’s army many years ago in Cedis who suffered from it as well.”
Shoshanne nodded. “My mentor was one of the healers who brought naticea to him. There hadn’t been a case in several decades.”
“How have the others not caught it from their leader?” I asked.
“Pura Rubrum isn’t communicable,” the Aer Mage explained. “It’s very rare, but unfortunately incurable. It blooms in the gut and slowly spreads through the entire system, and it causes a very distinct pattern of blotches on the skin. Five red dots that form in a circle. Ancient healers discovered a daily dosing of an herbal remedy called naticea can keep the disease from spreading, but without the proper dose prepared in a specific way, the disease will slowly eat him alive.”
“Holy shit,” I said as I cringed at the idea of it. “Is it painful?”
“Very,” she assured me. “And it slowly drains you of your energy as it feeds on the various systems of the body.”
“That’s probably why he was resting,” I mused.
The Aer Mage nodded, and her warm brown eyes looked deeply saddened. “If they’re using naticea only sparingly, they’re prolonging the slow death, that’s all.”
“Can you help him?” Aurora asked.
“Not if they won’t leave,” she replied. “Naticea doesn’t grow this far south, and he would need a fresh supply for the proper potency for the rest of his life. Given that he’s an elf … ”
“Shit,” I said as I caught on to her predicament. “He could live for a hundred years more.”
“But he won’t,” Shoshanne assured me. “Not the way they’re caring for him.”
I furrowed my brow. “There has to be something you can do.”
The Aer Mage shook her head again. “They need naticea. Lots and lots of it, and it simply doesn’t grow anywhere near this part of the jungle.”
Cayla and Aurora exchanged sorry glances as the princess rubbed the healer’s arm. “It’s a shame they won’t leave, even to save him,” she offered.
Shoshanne sighed in disappointment. “It’s so frustrating not to be able to help them,” she muttered. “These elves clearly aren’t as horrible or heartless as House Natyr. They want peace and to be left alone. In a place like Nalnora, I can certainly understand that. I just wish there was something I could do.”
“I’m sure there’s something,” I tried, and the Aer Mage looked up, but she didn’t look convinced. “Between the four of us, we can help them. We’ll take a little time and think of a way, don’t worry.”
“And what do we do in the meantime?” Cayla asked.
“Make camp,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll find a place near the water and try to figure it out. There’s no way Deya and Dragir are alright with the fate of their father. We have to find a way to get them to see sense about moving north. Maybe we can provide them a safe passage. We’re sure as hell armed for it.”
“That might work,” Cayla replied as she nodded. “If we could get them settled safely in the northern lands, and ensure their father lived, they might be more inclined to give their vote in our favor as well.”
“It’s worth a try,” Aurora agreed. “We can come up with a plan tonight and present it tomorrow. Hopefully, it’ll be hard to say no to.”
We mounted Bobbie and dodged the biggest birds as we made our way back beneath the willowish grove and toward the crystal bridge. Once we’d crossed to the other side of the raging river, we drove downstream until the rush of the waterfall was less deafening. There was an outcropping of river rocks along the bank, and I started on a structure for a house as soon as we’d dismounted. I used my magic to stack the river rocks and secure them into the walls of a small hut, and I left the colonies of mushrooms that sprouted along their surface where they were.
The fog faded to a deep blue as evening came, and a damp chill settled in the jungle. The women each caught a bird with their bows, and they sorted the tail feathers on the moist dirt in front of the hut while the meat sizzled above Aurora’s fire.
Shoshanne was distracted with worrying over the leader of House Quyn, and she toyed absentmindedly with a magenta feather as we talked about the many options for moving the elves north.
It had seemed like an easy prospect when we first thought of it, but as we ate, more and more details came to mind, and the task seemed less possible by the hour.
There were no horses in the wilds of Nalnora, and so far, we’d only known the elves to travel on foot. I didn’t have enough metal to create anything like Bobbie or the train for the transport, and that still left the difficulty of crossing through the other Houses’ territories without being detected.
Shoshanne explained to us about the debilitating effects of Pura Rubrum, and although the naticea would halt the progress of the disease, he would be weakened by the extent of the damage already made.
“Are we just prolonging his suffering by doing this?” I asked uneasily, but the Aer Mage shook her head.
“With the proper dosage, the pain would be gone, and the bloom would starve to the point that it couldn’t sustain itself actively,” she explained. “It’ll be dormant in his body, but it won’t correct the damage done. Whatever systems are weakened by the time he begins his treatment will remain as they are. It’s like having scar tissue on the inside.”
“But he won’t be in pain,” Cayla clarified.
Shoshanne nodded to her pile of magenta feathers. “No pain. He’ll be able to enjoy his life again, and he’ll live into old age. Still, I can see why they don’t want to move north. They’re well secluded here, and if the other Houses knew, it would make him and all of House Quyn an easy target. Especially if House Natyr are trying to overthrow the others.”
I scruffed my beard and sighed. There wasn’t much of a point to moving them north if it only exposed them further. We’d have to do it without drawing any attention to the disease the leader suffered.
“The second we cross near Rhoemir, they’ll know something’s up,” I pointed out. “They know I’m trying to gain the favor of the Houses, and if they follow us, they’ll easily figure out what we’re doing up there.”
“Maybe they could settle somewhat near the naticea groves, but not directly by them,” Aurora offered. “They can travel a little ways to harvest what they need and--”
“And be followed and found out,” Cayla finished.
“Shit,” the half-elf sighed.
I looked around at the hazy jungle as the last light of day faded. It was truly ideal for them to live in this part of Nalnora, and I could see now why the leader had chosen to quietly suffer in the western jungles. It’d be hard to leave a place that felt so safe in such a turbulent society, especially with a beautiful daughter like Deya to look after. I furrowed my brow as I thought back to the ethereal elven woman.
“Did you notice something strange about his daughter?” I asked the others.
“She didn’t hate me,” Aurora mumbled, and she looked over at me uneasily. “I saw in her eyes she didn’t.”
“That might be a good sign,” I pointed out. “Maybe she could help us with her father, since she’s not as hostile as they are.”
“Oh, her father hates me plenty,” Aurora assured me.
“True, but still, it could help in some way,” I said with a shrug.
Then Cayla spoke up. “This might sound silly but … is it possible for an elf to be a mage?”
“I was wondering the same thing,” I admitted, and I turned to Aurora with a questioning look.
“It’s impossible,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m half human, and that’s the only reason why. Elves can’t be mages.”
“But she seemed to have some sort of power,” Shoshanne said. “I felt it in the air when she got angry with her brother.”
I nodded my agreement. “Me too. The leaves in the trees were affected by it. I thought maybe she was an Aer Mage or something like it.”
Aurora frowned. “I honestly didn’t even notice. I was too shocked she didn’t hate me.” Then the half-elf let out a loud yawn, and I glanced once more to the blackened jungle before I suggested we call it a night and try for a plan in the morning.
The women agreed, and Aurora doused her fire as we all settled into the mushroom covered hut for the night. With the last rock in place and the hut closed up except for a small window, the women drifted into a quick and heavy sleep, but I laid awake for a while.
I racked my brain for an invisible means of transporting an entire House at least ninety miles north, but I eventually fell asleep with absolutely nothing accomplished on that front.
As I drifted into a dream, I felt the familiar presence of Nemris near, and I let myself ease into the comfort of her. I was sure she would reveal some way of dealing with the leader of House Quyn, so I let the dream carry me onward into a void that seemed infinite.
I was somewhere in the middle of a spiraling galaxy when my peace of mind suddenly shifted into restlessness, and I must have tossed and turned in my sleep, because I woke up with a jolt.
The waterfall roared in the distance as the river bubbled outside of the hut, and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I tried to settle my nerves. I was agitated in the strangest way, and my skin felt itchy all of a sudden.
It was a sensation I hadn’t quite experienced before, and I got out of bed simply because I couldn’t stand the feeling any longer. I felt around all over my arms to be sure I wasn’t being eaten by some crazy jungle bug, but there was nothing on me. Through the small window in the hut, I could see the yellowish moon illuminate the heavy fog, and judging by its place, I guessed the morning was still a few hours away.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I tried to steady my nerves once more, but I didn’t find any relief.
The agitation was only heightened, and I finally realized the itching sensation was actually my Terra magic crawling across the surface of my skin. It must have sparked as I slept, and I figured this was why it felt so uncomfortable. I’d never pulled my magic to the surface in my sleep before, and certainly never in this new dimensional form. I took a few more steadying breaths as I worked to calm it back down, but it didn’t work.
The magic pressed in around me, and it seemed to pad quietly across my skin, like something walked along my body.
Or walked along the ground.
My eyes snapped open.
Chapter 15
I noiselessly shook Aurora and pinned a hand over her mouth before she could grumble. Her emerald eyes went wide, and an instant later, she twitched her head as if she heard something. I nodded curtly and released my hold, and then I turned to grab up my crossbow from the corner of the hut.
The half-elf did the same and pointed to the eastern wall of the hut as she stood. We silently woke the others, and the moment their eyes saw the bows in our hands, they rolled to their feet and armed themselves without a word.
Shoshanne quickly slid her thigh strap on, and Cayla strapped the rifle to her back before they each took up their own bows and turned to face me in the darkened hut. The eerie light from moonset cast a yellowish glow through the small window, and I motioned for no one to make a sound. In the dim light, I saw the three women nod.
Then I let my magic crawl through the surface of the earth, and I could discern the hurried footfalls that silently crept through the jungle from the east. They moved swiftly, and I held up five fingers to the women as I measured the number of elves who tread across the ground. Aurora nodded her agreement, but her brow crinkled as she studied me carefully.
There were five of them headed our way, and they were only about fifty feet from the hut now. I turned to the eastern wall of the hut and held my free arm extended as I readied myself to blast the wall apart, but just as I was about to, the footfalls came to a sudden stop about twenty feet away.
Aurora tilted her head as she strained her ears, and I did my best to quiet the pounding in my chest as my adrenaline heightened for battle. None of the five who’d approached moved another inch, and from the look on the half-elf’s face, none of them said a word either.
We waited without so much as moving a muscle, and then a heavy crack came, and the hut collapsed in around us.
The women shrieked as the rubble crumbled in from above, but before we could be crushed beneath them, I threw the rocks apart and sent them flying into the jungle.
Nothing moved in the black that surrounded us, and Aurora flipped around as she quickly ignited the undergrowth in a wide berth. In the light of her flames, I saw an arrow soar from the eastern trees, and I took my aim.
