by Eric Vall
Haragh glanced over his shoulder, and when he bared his teeth at the onlookers, they all hopped-to and made themselves scarce again. Then the half-ogre sighed and gestured toward the house.
“You really are a lucky bastard,” he muttered. “Those women could have had your head for that one. I kept thinking, any second now, they’re gonna walk out, but no … they’re giggling and feeling sorry for the silly girls ye’ left behind. You’ve got all the luck, you know.”
I smirked. “I never said I didn’t. I’m well aware I’m a lucky bastard, but I’m not sure Deya’s alright with this. Nemris means the world to her, and I feel like I just pulled the rug out from under her feet.”
“She’s a smart woman, especially for an elf,” Haragh said with a shrug. “She’ll come around. Hell, she followed you all this way and put her trust in you despite all those armies the Houses of Nalnora have on hand. That counts for something.”
“A lot,” I clarified. “That counts for a lot, so I definitely don’t want her doubting my sanity this late in the game. I love her and only wanted to be honest with her. I figured honesty is crucial with four women around the house.”
“Well, honestly? You’ll want to double the dose of tranquilizer if you’re thinking of using it on an ogre,” Haragh informed me. “I still can’t promise it’ll work even at that level. Might just make ‘em more violent.”
“Let’s find out where we stand before we worry about that,” I suggested. “I’ll talk to Temin tomorrow. Maybe some of his barons in the west can get us information about the status of the ogres out there. In the meantime, we need to get the snatcher into action before the Master gets any more of an upper hand on us.”
Haragh let out a deep sigh and nodded. “I can’t believe he’s had an entire fortress right there in Orebane all this time. The sneaky shit.”
“How have the dwarves not known about this?” I asked. “You’d think they’d notice a giant fortress in their own mountains.”
“Not that close to Nalnora,” Haragh pointed out. “The dwarves are better off avoiding the eastern foothills with that crazy bunch just over the border. I heard the elves used to pillage the mines in the east, and they’re swifter fighters than the dwarves. That’s why there’s not much mining being done out there these days. It’s not worth starting a war over.”
“Rhys mentioned a hideout of House Fehryn’s in the mountains just north of Nalnora,” I recalled. “He sent the women and children there when the Master’s army came for his House. That would have to be in Orebane, too, wouldn’t it?”
Haragh snorted. “There ye’ have it. It’s easy pickings out there. The Master knew it as well as this Rhys.”
“Either way,” I sighed, “we have to stay calm and focused, now more than ever. We’re too close to losing our mages and all of the ogres in one fell swoop to get distracted. We need clear and decisive measures without misplacing a single detail. Deal?”
“Fine,” Haragh grumbled, “but I’m finding a valley no one’s gonna miss and turning the whole damn place inside out. I’m too pissed to stand still right now.”
“That’s fair,” I admitted. “You’re fully entitled to the fury, just try not to send an earthquake through the entire ground or anything.”
“Fuck the ground,” Haragh growled, and he stormed off down the lane while I shook my head.
The ground didn’t really deserve Haragh’s rage, but it was better than having the giant half-ogre hurling boulders all over Falmount Rift and terrifying the younger mages. Plus, this gave me some time to get more details from Deya and try to come up with a game plan.
First things first, though, so I headed back into the house to find Cayla finishing up the last few darts. There was already a stack of over a hundred on the table beside her, and Shoshanne was carefully dipping the tip of each one in a questionable vat of dark red liquid.
“Is that the tranquilizer?” I asked as I took a sniff. It smelled like some sort of berry tea an old medicine woman would distribute, but there was a fermented undertone that made the bile in my gut churn.
“Yes,” Shoshanne said as she carefully tapped the excess off the tip of her dart and placed it aside to dry. “Don’t get a single drop on your skin. You’ll be out cold for hours.”
“That is kind of the plan,” I mumbled, and both of the women turned to look at me. “We can’t just send the snatcher out without testing him first. What if the dose is wrong, and we kill all the mages, or the runes for the blow guns don’t function properly?”
“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying?” Shoshanne asked with thorough disapproval.
“I might be,” I replied, “but before you get upset, I can assure you I have the best healer in Illaria on hand in case something goes horribly wrong, and I’ve even seen her bring a man back from the dead once.”
Shoshanne’s warm brown eyes narrowed. “You brought Dragir back from the dead. Not me.”
“No, I definitely couldn’t have done that without you,” I countered. “You’re the trained professional here, not me.”
I headed toward the kitchen before the healer could argue any further, and I found Deya and Aurora quietly muttering to one another. When I entered, both of the women abruptly shut their mouths, and I could tell from the fierce blush on the elf’s cheeks that they had been discussing me.
“Out with it then,” I sighed as I propped my elbow on the counter.
“Deya’s just processing,” Aurora said. “She’s had a long day and wanted to touch base on a few things.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Deya pursed her lips for a moment, but then she let out a huffy sigh and settled her violet eyes on me.
“Nemris is not a trickster, Mason, I wish you hadn’t accused her of such a thing.”
I grinned. “Alright, I take it back. Nemris didn’t trick me, she just knows me very well.”
“That’s better,” Deya said with a curt nod, “because it is disrespectful to imply it. It’s far more likely someone like Rekekis tricked you, and Nemris simply stood aside and allowed your fate to follow suit.”
I raised my brows. “Okay … who is Rekekis?”
“The god of destruction,” Aurora replied.
“Ahh.” I nodded. “So, Rekekis saw Aurora’s thighs and decided this would be the downfall of that random guy, Mason Flynt?”
Aurora tried her best not to giggle, but both of us were having too much trouble taking the idea seriously, and eventually Deya rolled her eyes and hopped down from her perch on the counter.
“Laugh if you like,” the beautiful elf sighed, “if Nemris has her eye on you then so be it, but Rekekis is not a god to tempt.”
Deya left us both chuckling in the kitchen when she stalked off and whistled for Ruela, and I sighed as I turned around to grab some dried venison.
“She doesn’t believe me.”
“She doesn’t know what to believe,” Aurora corrected, “and that’s fine. It shows how much she values your word, is all. This has given her a lot to think about, so let her have some time.”
“If you say so,” I mumbled.
“You’re doing well with everything, by the way,” the half-elf said as she sidled closer to loop her arms around my waist. “Between the Master’s fortress and the possessed ogres, I’m ready to curl up and go back to bed.”
“Not an option, sorry,” I told her. “This predicament calls for strict organization. Besides, I think Haragh is angry enough for the both of us.”
“I can understand why,” Aurora replied, and her expression sobered. “He must be so worried for his race and being alone here isn’t going to put his mind at ease. He’s the only half-ogre I’ve ever seen in Serin. What if no one will come to the aid of the ogres, and he’s left to watch helplessly as the Master possesses his people and forces them to slaughter the citizens of Illaria?”
“Haragh may be the only half-ogre in Serin, but he’s definitely not alone,” I assured her. “You wouldn’t stand
aside and let that happen, and neither will I. You know that.”
Aurora smiled softly, but her eyes drifted down as she fell quiet, and I reached out to tip her chin up a bit so I could study her face.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she replied. “I’m just a very fortunate half-elf, that’s all. You’re a good man, Mason.”
“Yeah, but that’s old news,” I teased.
“True,” Aurora said as she rolled her eyes, “but I never knew you saw me before you came to this world. You didn’t tell me that. Why?”
I grinned as another blush came to the half-elf’s cheeks, and I pulled her tighter against me as her emerald eyes started to glisten again.
“Maybe I didn’t want it going to your head,” I informed her with a cocky grin. “You already have me wrapped around that fiery little finger of yours. If you knew I literally jumped through a portal into another realm just to get a closer look at your tight ass, I’d be at your beck and call for the rest of my life.”
“You aren’t already?” Aurora asked as she cocked a sassy blue brow at me.
“Hey now, don’t abuse the power,” I warned. “Remember, I’ve got a goddess on my side to keep you in check.”
“Yes, but she isn’t here, is she?”
I narrowed my eyes at the beautiful woman’s taunt, but then Cayla strolled in and looped her arms around the both of us.
“Are we going to spend all day staring into each other’s eyes, or are we going to tranquilize Mason?”
“Tranquilize Mason, of course,” Aurora said with a smirk.
“See that?” I sighed. “It’s like I have no choice. Aurora tells me to go get tranquilized, and off I go.”
“You’re more excited about this trial run than any of us,” Cayla assured me. “Especially Shoshanne.”
“Hell yeah, I am,” I said. “This snatcher is going to be a huge game changer for us. If he can snatch me even with my runes and magery helping out, then we’ll be in business, and the Master will once again find himself outsmarted by his favorite Metal Mage. Tell me that’s not turning your day around.”
“It is,” Aurora allowed, “but the Master is going to be so, so mad at you about this one.”
“So mad,” Cayla agreed.
I winked. “Good. I’m not too happy with the guy at the moment either.”
The prospect of testing out the last of my latest inventions had me fighting the urge to sprint out of the house, but since I knew Cayla and Aurora were right behind me, I did my best to be casual about it. I thought I managed a mid-level strut all the way to the front yard, and when I found Stan and Shoshanne waiting for me, the little metal man looked as pleased with himself as I did.
“You ready for this one?” I asked Stan as he vaulted from Shoshanne’s shoulder onto mine.
Then he dropped into a one knee power pump before sending me a single affirmative nod.
“That’s the kind of energy I’m looking for,” I chuckled. “Let’s see what your brother can do.”
The automaton I’d designed with two blow darts and a double netting system had already returned from his first patrol around Falmount Rift, and he’d brought Big Guy back with him as he returned to his post at the northern edge of the house.
Big Guy’s indigo eyes were fixed on the western woods, and the pulse of his gem showed me he was feeling pretty good about his new brother. There wasn’t as much of a rivalry between these two as there was between Big Guy and his twin who was guarding the Oculus, and it put my mind at ease to see them getting along.
They were my giant, metal wingmen, and with Stan in the mix, there was a comradery amongst us that made my chest swell with pride. Now, I just needed to sort out the pesky bit of sibling rivalry going on with the twins, but that was the least of my worries at the moment.
“So, how did he do?” I asked Big Guy as I joined him and his snatching counterpart in the clearing. “Did you show your brother the ropes?”
Big Guy nodded his head, and I was a little caught off guard to see even this gesture was ominous with his stern blue eyes glowing from his new metal helm.
“At ease,” I muttered with a deadly grin. Then I turned to the snatcher. “Any questions?”
The deep green emerald in the automaton’s chest pulsed in a mellow rhythm as he stared back at me without moving, but there was the same distinct energy radiating from him that told me he was steadfast and wholly on board with our operation.
“Great,” I said as I clapped my hands together. “Now’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, boys. Let’s get those blow guns loaded and start the trial run. For this first try, just do your best, and be patient with yourself. Try to channel your intentions through your metal to connect with your rune, and the blow gun should respond accurately. I’m not gonna hold back on you just because it’s your first time, though, so stay sharp, stay fast, and show me what you’ve got. Remember, in this scenario, I am the possessed mage, and you are to stop at nothing to get me sedated and in that net of yours. Understood?”
The green gem continued to burn in a steady rhythm, and I sent the snatcher a thumbs up.
“Awesome. You’re a really easy guy to work with by the way, I have a good feeling about this.”
Shoshanne was biting nervously on her lip when I gestured for her to bring the darts over, and she hesitated for a few seconds before delivering. I could tell the worried crease between her brows wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, so I didn’t bother attempting to sway the woman. She hated when I risked my safety, especially when I did it at the hands of my giant automatons, but she’d worked hard to be accepting of the new protocol, and I was honestly proud of her.
It wasn’t every day a trained healer had to worry about accidentally killing someone she loved with a tranquilizer she brewed up in a pub kitchen from ingredients she’d never used before. This was probably the shoddiest thing I’d ever asked her to do short of helping me peel Dragir’s blood-boiling rune off, but here she was, being supportive and letting me go ahead with the test anyway.
Sort of.
“Mason, I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Shoshanne muttered.
“I know you don’t,” I replied gently. “You’re a healer, it’s your job to be more logical about this than me. Where’s Deya?”
“She went running with Ruela,” Shoshanne replied, “but if this goes wrong, I’ll never forgive myself.”
I quickened my pace a bit while I filed the new darts into the magazine on one of the snatcher’s arms.
“You’ll forgive yourself,” I assured her, “because this is my invention and my ill-advised trial run. Someone’s gotta do it, and that someone is me. Do you have your healing staff ready?”
“Yes, it’s in the workshop, but if--”
“Go get your staff,” I chuckled.
Shoshanne sighed and did as I asked her to, and I kept half an eye on her swaying hips as she went. Aurora waved reassuringly to the healer as she turned and disappeared around the front of the house, and a split second later, Cayla sent me a discreet nod.
“Time to go!” I hissed at the snatcher, and I bolted into the western woods like my ass was on fire.
The way I thought of it, this was like me pulling the band aid off nice and quick for Shoshanne, and by the time she returned to the clearing, I’d be long gone with Aurora’s keen senses carefully tracking my progress for her.
Big Guy stayed behind in case I needed a quick fix, and knowing he could bring Shoshanne to my aid in under two minutes eased my conscience entirely as I zig zagged between trees, leapt over boulders, and did my best to pull as many obstacles out of the ground as I could.
The whir of the snatcher’s treads was hot on my heels, but every earthen pillar and gaping trench seemed to buy me little snippets of time and provide enough cover that he couldn’t easily target me.
I made sure to test his maneuverability over rocky ledges and felled logs, and the automaton did me proud without l
osing too much ground. I’d been careful to give him a heavy core to keep him from keeling over from excess weight or tricky terrain, too, and it seemed to be working like a dream. I could hear when his treads rocked or lost their hold, but the automaton quickly corrected his balance to avoid toppling over every time.
Plus, his problem-solving skills were on point. He didn’t bother lumbering up ledges I scaled if he could circle around and catch me on the other side, and when I broke off a chunk of rock and chucked it down at his head, he countered the attack with one arm while already taking aim with the other. At one point, I dropped into my own trench and ran along the bed of rock to try and lure him in so I could crush him, but the automaton anticipated my ruse and stalked me along the upper ledge until I was forced to pull up a pillar and send myself flying into the air and back to higher ground.
My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I pulled out every stop I could think of, and while we tore our way through the western woods, we left rubble, trenches, felled trees, and deadly rock spikes in our wake.
Still, the snatcher didn’t let up for a second, and my endurance was finally starting to fail me after twenty minutes of intense pursuit. I had a giant grin on my face as I raised the ground in front of me and leapt from my ledge into the next valley, and by the time the ground bowled out underneath me to soften my landing, the snatcher was already coursing down the steep incline at mach speed. He dodged my flying boulders with tight precision, and when I ducked around a bend in the valley floor to take us up to a steeper grade, the automaton took a short-cut and forced me to retreat and change my course.
Then I heard a familiar heartbeat.
It was quick and fluttering like a moth’s wings, but it was always like that, even when the beautiful elf wasn’t running around like a sprite with her wildish beast of a dog.
I scanned the lower ridge as the thundering paws of Ruela drew closer, and just as I sent a jagged trench ripping across the terrain at my back, Deya appeared between the trees below.
