by Eric Vall
“Y-yes Defender Flynt,” the mage gasped as he clutched my arm to try and spare his neck, but my blade remained firmly in place as another bead of blood bloomed against it.
I glanced up at the other two mages next, and only when they nodded fervently in understanding did I finally drop their friend to the dirt beneath me. Then I brushed the bit of his blood from my dagger and returned it to my sheath.
The mage on the ground scrambled over to his two friends and righted himself, and when they all just stared at me in shock, I cocked a brow.
“What’d I say about those eyes, boys?”
With a jolt, all three mages quickly turned toward their targets instead, and I left them frozen where they stood as I made my way back across the field.
Deya was smiling from ear to ear by now, and she hopped right into my arms to kiss me when I reached her.
“I know you said it doesn’t matter to you,” I said as I held her gaze steadily, “but it matters to me. I told you I’d make sure you were safe in Illaria, and I meant it, so you tell me if anyone says a word to you.”
“Only if you’re going to do something as sexy as that every time,” the beautiful elf giggled. “I like when you threaten mages for me. Do it again.”
I sighed and set Deya back on the ground. “Alright, now you’re just causing trouble.”
“Please?” she giggled once more. “You could stab one of them a little bit.”
“Let’s see what you can do with that dagger,” I chuckled.
Deya gave me a demonstration of her throwing skills, and after she made her mark dead on ten times in a row, Cayla sent me a wink.
I was beyond proud to see the princess’ skills rubbing off on the beautiful elf, and after watching the two women in a brief hand-to-hand face off, I decided Deya could graduate to swords.
She moved with the telltale swiftness I’d seen in the elves in Nalnora, and even though Cayla had more experience, Deya nearly caught her in the gut three times. The beautiful elf used distinct maneuvers I recognized from Aurora, but a couple of her turns were identical to Shoshanne’s, and knowing all of the women had been dedicating their attention to Deya’s training made me grin with pride.
She’d be as deadly as her brother within a month.
Two young mages ended up watching with wide eyes as the two women exhibited the elf’s progress, and when I finally called off the sparring session, I heard them clapping enthusiastically.
“Will we be able to do that soon?” one of the girls asked Cayla as they came over.
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Cayla replied with a smirk.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” I told the two girls, and I gestured to Deya who hadn’t even broken a sweat. “She only started training yesterday. You think you can beat her time?”
“Yesterday?” they gasped as they gaped in unison.
Deya blushed and nodded, and the two girls promptly returned to their targets.
I left the women to their work as I headed over to the magery field to check on the progress over there, and I could hardly believe it when I found Defender Kin’s Flumen Mages pulling full geysers up from beneath the ground.
Kurna managed to get his Ignis Mages to project their flames with one hand, while simultaneously dousing their neighbor’s attack with the other, and Aurora was overseeing everyone while she made the rounds between the different elements to give instructions here and there.
Defender Barnik’s end of the field was throwing dirt up all over the place while their circuit held their palms toward the sky to form a cyclone around them, and as I registered the nervous looks on their faces, I directed my hearing toward their instructor.
“Not a hair beyond this line,” Barnik barked above the howling wind, and he dragged his boot across the dirt to circle the Aer Mages. He had a fresh mug of ale in hand, and the streaks of white in his hair blew free from his braid in a way that made him look like a crazed scientist. “If I see one speck of dirt shift out here, I’m gonna strangle the lot of ye’ until your veins bulge from your heads. I battled a mage once who did the opposite. He filled my lungs with air until they were ready to burst. Now, I’m not gonna do that to you lot just yet because I have a feeling you little dears would take to crying, but if you keep rustlin’ those trees over there, I’ll do it. You mark me on that one. Not a hair beyond this line, ye’ got it?”
I raised my brows and scanned the rest of the field, and as I realized this was only the first session of the day, I began to feel like we might actually give the Master a run for his money. With progress being made at this pace, the mages would be able to begin dueling against differing elements within a few days.
Then I caught sight of Defender Hulsan sleeping against the wall, and I let out a heavy sigh as I headed over to the Terra Mages.
To their credit, they kept up their practice with forming trenches, but the work wasn’t nearly up to par in my opinion, so I had them join in pairs and try it in circuits that way, and when they started making progress, I instructed them to move onto walls while I headed back over to the weapons field.
Cayla was just finishing handing out guns to the few mages who didn’t have any yet, and when I joined her and looked out across the field, the three young men in the far corner abruptly set their gazes straight ahead of them as they clamped their jaws shut.
I smirked and turned to Cayla. “Ready?”
After I split the mages down the middle and formed a stout wall at the other end of the field, Cayla and I took turns demonstrating how to load and fire the rifle and revolver. Then I sent several chunks of rock up into the air for the princess to shoot down in order to show the mages what I wanted them to work up to, and when the last bits of rubble cascaded to the ground, I realized it had suddenly grown quiet in the next field.
I glanced over my shoulder, and the three Defenders Kurna invited had abandoned their groups at some point during the demonstration. They formed a rigid line of scowls now, but I could tell by the look in their eyes that they were mostly just shocked.
Barnik was the first to snap out of his state, and he briskly stormed over to me and Cayla with a severe expression.
“What the hell is that?” he demanded as he snatched Cayla’s rifle right out of her hands.
The princess tried not to laugh. “It’s called a rifle. Mason makes them.”
“You made this?” Barnik clarified.
“I did. You wanna give it a try?”
Even beneath his beard, I could tell his grin was a deadly one.
“Hell yeah, I do,” he growled.
Cayla swiftly knocked his boots to get him in the right stance, and then she leveled his arms to show him how to aim properly.
“Deep breath, and both eyes open,” she instructed. “Keep your shoulder firmly in place when you pull that lever, too. It kicks back when it fires, and you’ll lose your aim if you don’t hold it steady.”
The burly mage followed her advice to a tee, and the wall at the other end of the field cracked with another direct hit.
A guttural laugh immediately followed, and Barnik glanced at Cayla with a look I recognized. To be fair, it was nearly impossible to ignore how fucking sexy she was with a rifle.
“What is your name, lovely?” Barnik asked with a sly grin.
“Princess Balmier,” she replied pointedly.
“Princess, is it? Well, Your Highness, I like a woman who knows how to kill a man swift,” he informed her. “Teach me to do the same though, and I’d be hard pressed not to love ye’.”
Cayla couldn’t help but giggle, but she sent me an amused glance.
“I can’t take the credit,” she assured Defender Barnik, “Mason taught me everything I know.”
“Mason, is it?” he said as he furrowed his wiry brows. “Don’t tell me you’re on a first name basis. It’d break my heart.”
“I’m sure you’ll recover,” Cayla replied coolly.
I chuckled and sent the mages to their posts to get t
hem started practicing with their guns, and while Cayla showed Defender Barnik how to load the rifle, I walked among the others to be sure no one shot their fingers off.
The mages handled the weapons gingerly at first, but once they practiced loading and unloading a few times, they gained enough confidence to keep from trembling as they took their aim.
I couldn’t help but laugh as yelps of shock kept rising up all over the place whenever they pulled the triggers, but by the end of the session, they were mostly just jumping without yelling out.
We dismissed both groups right at the two-hour mark with instructions to swap fields at the same time tomorrow, and while they chattered excitedly together and filed back into the village, I began fixing the damage to the fields for the next round.
Defender Hulsan remained posted against the wall while I worked, and he didn’t lift a finger to help me out, but I didn’t mind, really. After sensing the man’s abilities through his presence in the soil earlier, I was more intrigued by him than anything. Given that the old mage didn’t take his eyes off me for a second, I got the impression I might have intrigued him as well.
Defender Barnik headed straight for the pub to pass the thirty-minute break before the next group of mages would arrive, and I was glad to see Aurora and Defender Kin deep in conversation about magery again. Cayla and Deya took advantage of the clear field to begin practicing with a sword, and I was just about to head to the pub myself when Hulsan beckoned me over.
Then he snorted a bit more Aldrin pollen while I came to his side.
“Those weapons,” he said between a couple hearty coughs, “you use that Metal Magic to make them?”
I nodded. “Sure did. I have a couple other designs, but they’re for long-range attacks. I’ll be leaving to work on a more advanced project in a little bit. It’s sort of like a giant metal guard, but they’re armed with similar mechanisms for defense measures. I’m trying to guard the village and the Oculus with them.”
“You ever consider not wasting your time with the Oculus?” Huslan asked, and the question caught me off guard.
“Not at all,” I said after a minute. “I don’t see defending the kingdom and the mages of the Order as a waste of time.”
“What do you see it as?”
“A challenge,” I replied with a grin.
Defender Hulsan furrowed his black brows and nodded again.
“You go and work on that project of yours,” he finally said. “I’ll teach the Terra Mages for you.”
“Only if you’re up for it,” I offered. “I know working with the younger mages is probably redundant for you, but as they improve, you might enjoy passing on your knowledge a bit. I sensed your abilities in the soil. You have the kind of experience that could really change the way these Terra Mages connect with their element.”
“You have the kind of experience a man your age doesn’t usually possess,” Hulsan informed me as he sized me up from the corner of his eye.
“Thank you,” I replied earnestly. “I’ve worked hard to get here.”
The compliment meant twice as much coming from a mage with his type of connection to his element, and the fact that he’d taught himself as well gave me the sense we were a bit alike.
Aside from the pollen addiction, but then again, I was probably addicted to my women.
I was about to ask him how old he was when he learned how to sink into the soil when someone cleared their throat lightly, and I turned to find Jenik nervously waiting at my back.
“You did well today,” I told him as I clapped him on the shoulder. “Looks like you and Malika are the top of your class.”
“Yes, sir,” he said as he straightened up a bit. “We tried to do our best today, sir.”
“It’s Mason,” I reminded him.
“Actually, sir,” the kid tried, “I was wondering if I could talk to you about that.”
“About my name?” I asked in confusion.
“No, sir,” he said with a nervous laugh. “A-About your knighthood. I was just wondering … I mean, if you don’t mind, umm, it’s just … ”
Huslan and I exchanged a glance, and I tried not to smirk at how frazzled the kid had suddenly become.
“Go on,” I led.
“Well it’s just, I-I was wondering if you needed a squire, sir,” he said in a rush.
That I hadn’t expected.
“A squire?” I clarified. “You wanna be a knight one day?”
Jenik nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“I would’ve thought you wanted to be a Defender,” I pointed out.
“I want to learn about my magery, sir, but I’d rather join the King’s guard one day,” he admitted. “My father was knighted by King Temin, and he left me his sword when he died. I want to fight for Illaria like he did, but I don’t have anyone to train me. I just thought, m-maybe you might need a squire?”
I was still getting used to the whole idea of being a knight, but I knew the concept well from my life back on Earth, and the custom of a squire training under a knight had always seemed dignified to me. I already had my hands full with everything I was trying to accomplish in Illaria, but it was hard to pass up the opportunity to train a young man to be a hell of a knight.
So, I decided I’d give it a try, even though I didn’t know the first thing about having a squire.
“Alright, Jenik,” I told the kid with a grin. “If you wanna be a knight, I’ll do what I can to see you get there.”
Jenik gaped. “Really?”
“Yeah, sure,” I chuckled. “You start tomorrow.”
“Th-thank you sir,” Jenik said as a giant grin came to his face. “I won’t let you down, sir. I’ll be here bright and early.”
Huslan chuckled to himself as the kid tripped over his feet on his way back toward the village, and I shook my head as I wondered if I was out of my mind. It seemed like I couldn’t help but take on more and more responsibilities lately, but Jenik was a decent mage with solid dedication, so I hoped the work would go along seamlessly.
When I turned my attention back to Huslan, the old mage was grinning at the ground.
“I’ll help you with the mages,” he said with half a chuckle. “Won’t do any circuit training when they’re this new, but maybe when they advance a bit.”
“Thanks.” I headed for the village once the fields were fully reformed, and I found the marketplace buzzing with mages eagerly discussing what they’d learned. Those who were arriving for the next session listened attentively to everything they had to say, and from the conversations I picked up, it sounded like the younger mages were finally dedicated to their craft.
Kurna caught me on his way into the pub to say he expected the Defenders from the Oculus to stop by later that day to meet with me, and I let him know I’d be at the shop working if he needed anything.
Before I left the village, I grabbed a few of the more enthusiastic mages, and I sent them to the lookout towers along the edges of the training fields. If I wasn’t there to scan the area, I wanted to be sure the mages were safe in the walled in clearing, and once everything was arranged, I finally made my way back toward the house.
I was buzzing off the success of our first training session with the mages, and the prospect of a full day of building ahead of me made me practically giddy. The house was quiet when I arrived except for the padding of Ruela’s paws as she came into the atrium to greet me, and after I scouted the entire village to find Shoshanne’s voice in the training fields with the others, I finally sat down to begin my work.
The snatcher machine would be first, and since he would be dealing with all kinds of terrain, I decided to give him triangular tracks like Big Guy.
I formed the outer treads of the track out of malleable steel plates so he would move more quietly over the ground, and once these plates were linked into a continuous chain, I moved on to the rotational axis that would turn the treads. This automaton would need to keep his balance while supporting the weight of any mages he captured and stowed in
the netting, so I formed this part to be about twice as big as I’d tried last time.
With three wheel-gears mounted in a triangular shape to spin on cohesion with one another, I tested the rotation of the mechanism for both tracks. Then I secured the malleable treads around them and used my Metal Magic to set the wheels in motion and move the independent tracks around the room. They moved fluidly both forward and backwards on the first try, so I moved on to securing these two tracks to the base of what would essentially be the automaton’s body.
I wanted his upper body to have full rotational ability not only to simplify storing the mages in the nets, but also in case he was tracking mages who were on the move or fleeing from him.
With this in mind, I formed a sturdy square base and fused the central mount of the two tracks to either side, and then I began to create what resembled a giant bearing with a gaping hole in the center where the upper body would be mounted. This way, the bearings would allow for clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of the torso, and nothing would keep the snatcher from having the ability to swivel all the way around if need be.
The giant bearing had about thirty hefty steel balls within the casing, and after a few minor adjustments to be sure none of them would stick and interrupt movement, I grabbed a chunk of iron and formed a solid cylinder about a foot in diameter.
The snatcher’s center point would steady his balance more than anything, so I fused the giant cylinder directly to the inner ring of the bearing, and I grinned as I sent my magic into the steel to test how quickly the torso would be able to change directions.
A few of the balls in the bearing crunched to a lock on the first abrupt change, but once I made the outer ring of the bearing slightly more malleable, the shock was absorbed better and allowed the cylinder to switch directions without any issues.
This meant I could move onto the torso, and I knew I would need plenty of copper wiring in order to direct the power of the gem more directly to the proper outlets.
I pulled a chunk of copper from the shelf, and then I began slowly reforming the metal into solid twelve gauge wire. With about two millimeters of diameter, the wiring would be sturdy enough to withstand a hard hit if the automaton was attacked, but not so stiff that the movement of the arms would be hindered. The channeling gem would be mounted at the central wiring hub on the snatcher’s chest, and I wanted the gem to remain in contact with every point of mobility if anything like that happened.
