The Elemental

by Whiskey Flowers

  “That is because I am getting more men” Captain McDonald replied. “Most of the enemy dies along with my men when they try to ambush us so the attacks are consistent but they are not as coordinated. The mage is still a problem but I am getting three more mage killers. All experienced men to replace you. Eight mage killers to take on one mage, I like my chances.”

  “To replace me?” Allen asked.

  “I received missives asking about you” McDonald said. “I told them you were take charge and put the mission above everything. When they asked about the enemy mages I told my superiors the mages try to be places that you are not. They want you and some others to attack a nasty bunch of mages. They are believed to be the strongest mages in Atropia.”

  “I am up for it” Allen replied. “I want to ask you a favor Andrew. I want you to either send Valerie with me or keep her out of trouble.”

  “I don’t have that kind of pull” McDonald replied. “I can keep her safe now that I am getting more people, I can’t send her with you though.”

  “That is fair enough” Allen replied.

  EPILOGUE

  Allen was a little nervous as he saw the palace, it had been a long time since he had seen Mary. The Gorgans had moved him all over the place and even back inside their kingdom to fight the remnants of any resistance and possible spies but now everything was finished. Allen knew he was lying to himself, he could have seen Mary two years ago but became nervous and wanted a reason to not see her. He knew she was married and had two children, twin boys who would become the future rulers of Atropia. He also knew that the people of Atropia lives had changed, more taxes had been levied on the rich and the poor was forced to work or go to prison for hard labor. Overall the kingdom’s economy was a lot better than it had been. Allen didn’t want to announce himself, part of him thought Mary would refuse to see him so he would surprise her.

  Getting into the palace was a lot easier than it should have been, memories from Allen’s childhood came back to him as he closed the wall behind him. Allen looked around the palace, while the grounds were familiar to him he had never actually walked around the inside of the palace. Allen was brought in through a side entrance and taken straight to the room where all of the experiments were done. Now though he was inside and wondered what he would do if anyone caught him. Allen walked around to where he thought a king or queen should live, upstairs in some grand room. As Allen walked around the palace the lack of security made him frown, Allen had seen a few servants rushing around but no one who looked like they could challenge him. Someone should have stopped him, he had his sword strapped across his back and had a breast plate on. Random strange armed men should always be challenged, if Mary had any real enemies they could have found a way to get inside of the palace and could have killed everyone before back up could get there. Allen could finally hear the sounds of a party or something going on and followed the noise, he saw a girl, no he saw a woman that had to be Mary talking to two guards standing outside. Allen walked up from behind and heard Mary talking.

  “Tell your King he needs to come and take care of his sons, I have work to do” Mary said.

  “The king will be with you when he is with you” the guard on the left said as he looked annoyed.

  “I need him here now” Mary said raising her voice. “You know what, just move out of my way and I will tell him.”

  “The King said no one comes into the room without his permission and said you especially cannot come in” the guard said as he stuck his hand out. “And if you attack me the King has given us permission to defend ourselves.”

  “They are his sons too” Mary said as she sighed. “How about you move out of my way or I will come back here with men to remove you.”

  “The last time you did that those men were executed” the guard said. “Now get lost.”

  Allen already was reaching for his sword when Mary pulled out a dagger and stuck it in the guard’s eye socket. The move caught the man by surprise as Mary had another weapon out and backed the guard up against the wall with the dagger just under his chin.

  “Tell the king I need him” Mary said. “Don’t and you will die, right here, right now.”

  “Y-yes” the guard said. “He is with his lovers though, he will kill me.”

  “I don’t care” Mary said. “Now go.”

  “Things not going well” Allen said as the guard disappeared.

  “Whoa Mary, I am not your enemy” Allen said as Mary swung around with her dagger poised to strike.

  “Allen?” Mary said as her eyes searched his face.

  “It’s me and we can catch up later” Allen said. “What is going on here.”

  “You don’t want to get involved” Mary said. “Theodore is a horrible man that cares nothing about anything except himself. I have to run the kingdom and undo stupid laws he keeps trying to pass, take care of our boys because he refuses to have anything to do with them and meet with his father since he would rather lay around and fuck anything that moves.”

  “Mary your mouth” Allen snapped. “You are the Queen of Atropia, not some tavern wench.”

  “I am the Queen and I will curse whenever I damn well please” Mary said.

  “That’s my girl” Allen smiled. “The republic is truly dead then, long live the Queen. Why don’t you just hire someone to watch after the boys when you are busy?”

  “Because Theodore has to approve every servant here” Mary said shaking her head. “They all have to be young, male and willing to fuck him and be fucked by him. We have only had sex a handful of times until I got pregnant then never again. It was not an enjoyable experience so I guess I shouldn’t complain. It is an open secret about his preference.”

  “Then find you something on the side” Allen replied. “If he can have his slice of pie then so can you.”

  “Theodore, I mean the King would have them killed as soon as he found out” Mary said as Allen notice her eyes start to water.

  “So let me get this straight” Allen said as he wiped the water from Mary’s eyes. “This Theodore ignores his family, barely runs the kingdom and fucks anything around and has his men talk to you like you are some servant. And if I am correct, he has had men loyal to you killed.”

  “What do you want woman?” Theodore said as he came to the door naked. “Can’t you see I am busy and why did you kill David? Is this the man responsible? Didn’t your last helpers teach you a lesson?”

  “Allen don’t get involved” Mary said as she held up her hand. “I can handle this.”

  “I don’t doubt you” Allen replied. “But I can end it.”

  “Another stupid man wishing to die” Theodore said right before Allen fist slammed into his face.

  He king went flying backwards through the door as Allen was on him. Allen kicked him hard in the ribs as the guard from earlier flew towards him. The floor flew up to meet the man like a wall, the guard stumbled backwards as the wall disappeared and Allen’s sword flashed across his throat. Allen looked around at the room and saw three naked men trying to cover themselves. Allen showed no mercy as he cut them down one by one. Blood was everywhere as the King got to his knees, Allen kicked him hard in the face and sent him crashing back to the floor. Allen reached down and grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him up.

  “You called me stupid” Allen said as he headbutted the king hard in the face. “Now apologize you piece of shit or I will beat on you some more.”

  “Guards!” Theodore screamed just as Allen buried his fist in the man’s stomach. Theodore vomited all over him as Allen tossed him to the ground and kicked him hard in the ribs, sure that he cracked a few of them.

  “Now listen to me little Teddy” Allen said as he squatted down to talk to the king. “Things are going to change here fast or I will kick your fucking teeth down your throat. First, any man that runs into this room to help you I will give you five blows for each one right after I kill them. Do you think I am fucking around with you?”

  “Y-
you’re dead” Theodore said shakily staring at Allen. Allen reached back and slapped Theodore hard across the face. The king collapsed as Allen rolled him over and slapped him a few more times.

  “Here is how this works” Allen replied. “I ask a question and you answer it. Answer anything else and I will beat the shit out of you, do you understand.”

  “Yes” the king said meekly.

  “Good” Allen replied. “Now then things are about to change. First off you are going to help raise your own kids and help Mary find suitable people to watch them as well. If you think this means hiring a bunch of fuck things I will be back here to beat some sense into you. Secondly, I don’t give a shit what your preference is. If you don’t want to be with Mary that is fair enough, but all of these little fuck things you have running around are gone. Find you one maybe two little concubines and be discreet. Mary is going to do the same thing and she is going to be discreet as well. If I hear that you have your little side piece before she has hers I will kill them and make what happened here seem like a tickle fight with your favorite lover. If I find out you killed the man then I will be back here to see you again. Finally if you tell anyone what happened here between us I will be back and I will not be happy. You can have as many men, women, mages, mage killers or anything else protecting you. I will kill them all and make you wish you had died. If you are wondering where your guards are, so the fuck am I. Mary are you behind me?”

  “Y-Yes” Mary said as Allen could see that she was shocked.

  “You need to hire some real guards” Allen replied. “I want you to personally spar with them, if they can’t at least give you a decent match then they have no business being here, like the two idiots outside the door.”

  “Allen you know he will have you killed” Mary said.

  “I know if he tries then there will be a lot of dead people and I will take it out on him” Allen replied. “And if he is stupid enough to do anything to you then I will bring it back a hundred fold on him.”

  “He is a king Allen” Mary said.

  “He is not of House Godfrey” Allen replied. “I pray that Teddy here will listen to me. Mary do you think I will not kill him.”

  “You would” Mary replied.

  “Pit yes I would” Allen replied. “I put you in this life to give you your birthright back, to give your children back their birthright. Not to be mistreated by an idiot, not even his father takes him seriously. I am sure King Wayne is happy you are as capable as you are so he does not have to worry about Atropia as well as Gorgas. I better leave Mary, somebody will be here soon.”

  “What are we going to say about all of these dead people?” Mary asked looking around.

  “One of his lovers was an assassin and killed many people” Allen began. “The assassin began torturing Teddy here but he was able to get ahold of a dagger and killed the man. You are going to dismiss the worthless guard force as a result of the attack and get new men in here.”

  “That is a shaky story” Mary replied.

  “No one would question a king and queen” Allen said as he started walking towards the window. “You take care of yourself Mary and I hope the next time I see you is under better circumstances”.

  Allen made the wall part for him as he walked through. The ground rushed up to meet him and he rolled into the fall then dropped underground. Allen covered any sign of his passing as he moved underground, like an air bubble in a glass of water. Soon he was outside of the palace walls and moving through the street. Allen doubted Theodore would listen after that first beating, in two months Allen would back to beat Theodore senseless and kill a bunch of people. Nothing Allen did to Theodore would be permanent, it would take him a few months to be good as new but the next time he would take a finger. If Mary was hurt he would take the young king’s life without thinking twice, hopefully the man was not that stupid.

  Allen walked through the streets and wondered where he was going to stay, he had spent his time learning from Bingley how to fit in and be someone else. He could pick any small town and settle down and be a laborer. Then again he could go back to the home he and Mary built and evict anyone stupid enough to live there. The more Allen thought about his old home the more he wanted to go back. If he was attacked then he would go get Teddy and beat on him some more since he would know the man told.

  ~

  Allen laughed to himself as the men in his thorn patch ran in terror as flames erupted around them. He had killed at least a hundred men before they decided to just rush into his field, one arrow set the whole thing on fire and now they couldn’t get out. Theodore was stupid for challenging him, since Allen left the palace he figured he had killed almost three hundred men, some indirectly. The first hundred belonged to some idiot that settled into his home, Allen told them to leave or die and they didn’t believe him. Allen then closed off every exit and let the men sit inside for a few weeks, when he finally opened the door the men Theodore had sent had caught up to him. It was easy to make the men attack each other, Allen made it seem that the squatters were his men and the Theodore’s men tried to slaughter them. Allen had gotten around behind Theodore’s men and conducted night time attacks from the rear, the small army followed him only to have Allen go underneath them, close off his property and kill everyone he found inside. They realized the trick quickly but it was too late, Allen had most of them kicked out and killed off anyone still inside at his leisure. The enemy grabbed more men and wanted to fight, the problem they had now was that the former traitors who had holed up in Allen’s keep wanted revenge. They were men who had killed the old king of Atropia and had fought Gorgas tooth and nail, their friends were behind the men Theodore sent and were now attacking. They tried running into the thorns but Allen had dried them out then set them on fire, this victory would get back to Theodore and he would be angry. Not as angry though as he would be once Allen went to see him, he would be beyond pissed.

  Allen waited for the action to die down and closed off his keep. Anyone trying to get inside would find out it was hard to do so and would probably leave after a while. Allen went underneath the enemies he had at the gate and went back to see Theodore. The trip was easy and Allen didn’t have any problems going through the kingdom, he rented a carriage and pretended to be a wealthy businessman. When Allen reached the capital he went to a middle class inn and rented a room, he figured he could get information about Theodore by just asking around.

  “You know if anyone in this town is hiring?” Allen asked the barkeep. “I was told I could make a lot of money here working for the Queen.”

  “The Queen?” the barkeep laughed. “I don’t think you are pretty enough to work in the palace.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Allen asked.

  “The king likes other men and you are not pretty enough for him” the barkeep said.

  “Why would you say such a thing” Allen replied. “Are you telling me the guards in the palace are a bunch of…”

  “I am telling you the guards in the palace have more than one duty” the barkeep said.

  “Don’t listen to him” came a voice from behind. “I used to work in the palace, no way the king picked out any of the men there now. After the attack the Queen has been vetting the men personally.”

  “You just don’t wanna admit you were a plaything Alex” the barkeep said. “Then explain all of the fresh faced young men I see wandering around the place.”

  “Everyone of them knows how to fight” Alex said. “The only reason the guards there are young is because that is all that signed up. My brother works there, he says the king mostly keeps to himself.”

  “Well good for him then” Allen replied. “Won’t make a bit of difference though.”

  “What are you talking about stranger?” the barkeep asked.

  “Oh nothing” Allen replied. “It seems like Teddy took me somewhat seriously but I think after our talk tonight he will take me very serious. You have a good night gentleman, I have a meeting with your King.�
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  Thank you reader for going on this journey with me. Allen was a joy for me to write about and was actually named for one of my fans who helped me out with a little proofreading. Allen Mary I think you did a job better than I ever could and you have my thanks. To the rest of you I am holding a contest of sorts, a contest that I do not think will ever end since I enjoy writing these cheap books for you all to read. All you have to do is make a youtube video explaining who you are, where you are from and which of my books is your favorite and why. Send me the link and the most creative of the bunches I receive will find themselves the main character in one of my books. Even if making videos are not your thing I would still love to hear from you all, feel free to email me at Flowersnovels@gmail.com. I would also appreciate it if you left a rating or review on either goodreads or amazon. I do read all fanmail and email, it is the sole reason Mage of Mages received a sequel. Have a good one and if you are reading this on a weekend, nothing beats a good shot of whiskey.