by Eric Vall
Cayla sent me a wry glance out of the corner of her eye, and Aurora tried to hide her smile.
“I’m sure Shoshanne has something for you,” I told the old man. “We were just on our way to see her before we head out.”
“Out?” Hulsan asked, and he furrowed his bushy brows.
“Defender Flynt has been commissioned by King Temin to travel to Jagruel,” Kurna explained.
“The ogre region?” Hulsan asked, and his tired eyes finally opened a bit wider. “What the hell does he want you out there for?”
“Some ogres have been captured by the Master,” I told him. “Since they could become an insurmountable threat to Illaria, we’re going to check out the situation and see what we can do to prevent any more brandings amongst their race.”
“Should’ve guessed,” Hulsan muttered. “You get the feeling Temin’s forgotten this is his kingdom to protect and not yours?”
“I don’t mind handling things for him.” I shrugged. “Whatever’s most effective.”
“The fact that you’re more effective than Temin should tell you something,” Hulsan informed me, and Kurna raised his brows at the man’s brazen disapproval of his king.
“At least he has the sense to put his faith in Mason,” Cayla replied coolly. “I’m sure that redeems him of any minor flaws. By giving Mason the task of assessing Jagruel, Temin is acting in the best interests of us all.”
“He’s gonna get him killed is what he’ll do,” Huslen grunted. “I heard it’s a slimy mess out there in the west, though I have a hankerin’ to see it. The ogres are a real strange lot, brutal as they are.”
“Why don’t you join us?” I offered as I glanced over. “Haragh is coming along, too.”
“The half-ogre?” Hulsan clarified, and I nodded. “He’s a decent mage. I saw him tearin’ a valley apart yesterday. Not bad.”
“Yeah, he’s a little tense over the whole situation,” I admitted. “That’s why we’re going directly to the root of the problem. We just have to figure out how many ogres are missing, how they’re being captured, and what we can do to keep the Master from getting any more of them.”
“Sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than training mages,” Hulsan muttered. “I wouldn’t mind goin’ along.”
“How wonderful!” Deya said, and she leaned around me and Cayla to send the old man a sweet smile.
Hulsan just shrugged again rather than acknowledge her, though, and the beautiful elf awkwardly looked ahead instead.
The salty old mage kind of reminded me of Dragir before we’d removed his rune, and I couldn’t help chuckling lightly to myself at the sight of the same vacant shrugs and stoic demeanor in an old man like Hulsan. Hulsan was even extremely knowledgeable too, but in the ways of magery instead of rune magic. I still hadn’t forgotten the strength of his Terra magic from the first time I’d met him, and the presence of Hulsan’s powers had been so dynamic and extensive when I sensed them through the soil that day that I could kind of understand why he wouldn’t bother doing circuit training with the younger mages.
I still couldn’t help wishing he would, though.
Sure, it would probably intimidate all of them given how much they still had to learn, hell, I was intimidated after just ten seconds, but it would be incredible to see what he was capable of at his age. I was honestly itching to find out for myself, especially with the Master gathering our most lethal Defenders into his ranks.
A man like Hulsan could be one of our best secret weapons, or at least I assumed he could, based on what little I’d experienced of his Terra powers. I hadn’t met a mage as old as him since Abrus, but Raynor might have been around the same age, I wasn’t sure. Hulsan and Raynor were polar opposites, though, with the barkeep smiling and nodding all the time, and Hulsan constantly wearing a chip on his shoulder as he snorted exorbitant amounts of pollen. Either way, I was grateful to know both of the aged mages, and while Raynor’s presence at the infirmary eased my concerns about Shoshanne even more, having Hulsan along in Jagruel made me more excited for the journey, too.
It would be an excellent opportunity to learn a thing or two, and maybe even get a glimpse at what the old guy was really capable of.
I considered the possibilities while Kurna chatted with Aurora and Cayla on the way back to the house, and when we got to the clearing just outside the infirmary, Haragh was waiting for us with Big Guy and the snatcher.
“He’s back already?” I asked in surprise as I hurried over, and Haragh nodded.
“Not so big of a batch this time,” the half-ogre told me, “but Shoshanne says you’ll be happy with the wares. They’re in there on the tables right now.”
I furrowed my brow as I quickly headed for the infirmary, and I found about a dozen unconscious mages already chained to the tables.
“What’s going on?” I asked anxiously, and Shoshanne turned from her work with a bloody scalpel still in hand.
“Oh good, you’re back,” she said casually. “I was hoping you would arrive soon. I wanted to show you something.”
“What is it? Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?”
Ten different scenarios sprang to mind all at once as I followed the healer around the tables and to the far corner of the infirmary, and each one was more ominous than the last. Then she gestured to an unconscious mage much like all the rest, and I cocked a brow as I tried to find anything concerning about what I was looking at.
“Is it someone you know?” I asked.
“No,” Shoshanne replied, “but this man and the four others around him do not have a rune.”
“Shit,” I muttered, “I thought I told the snatcher not to capture anyone unless they--”
“Hold on,” Shoshanne chuckled, and she pulled the man’s pant leg up to expose a bloody gauze wrapped around the man’s calf. “Now do you get it?”
A chill ran up my spine as I finally caught on, and I could have collapsed with relief right then.
“These are the five who left earlier?” I guessed.
“Yes,” Shoshanne said with a nod. “The snatcher must have sensed that they were suspicious, because he recaptured them again and brought them to me. He even laid them out separate from the rest, but I didn’t catch on because I didn’t see them before. I didn’t know who they were until I chained them down, but once I started looking for their runes so I could prepare them for the procedure, I realized I’d already operated on them. You said there were five, right?”
I pulled the woman into a crushing hug as I let out a deep sigh of relief, and Kurna came over with Aurora to see what we were discussing.
“These are the same mages?” Aurora guessed the moment she saw the gauze.
“Yep,” I said with a broad grin, “which means the Master never got word about what we’re doing here. The snatcher got to them first.”
“Are these the five mages the Defenders were concerned about?” Kurna asked, and when I nodded, he turned for the door. “I’ll alert Defender Urn at once. He’ll want to transport them to Temin’s dungeons immediately.”
“See if you guys can’t get some clearer answers out of them while they’re down there,” I called after him, and the Ignis Mage nodded just before he headed back into the lanes of Falmount.
“Now, don’t you feel much better?” Shoshanne asked as she propped her hand on her hip.
“Infinitely,” I sighed. “This is a huge load off my chest.”
“Good,” Aurora chuckled. “So, no more delays or excuses. We leave for Jagruel tonight.”
I nodded as my half-elf sidled over, and she tipped onto her toes to leave a kiss on my cheek.
“We’ll begin packing,” Deya decided.
“Good idea,” I replied, and I glanced at Cayla in the doorway of the infirmary. “Would you mind stocking the arsenal in the trunk? And Deya, make sure you bring that book of runes with you.”
“Of course,” the beautiful elf said, but she furrowed her pink brows with some concern. “Will we be needing rune magic
in Jagruel?”
“I’ll be needing it on the drive there,” I replied, and I turned to Aurora. “You’re driving, by the way. I’ve got a project I want to start on, and I should have enough time to get it finished before we get there.”
“Project?” Cayla asked, and she strolled over with a curious glint in her eye. “Is it lethal?”
“To an unparalleled degree,” I assured her.
“Good,” Cayla said as a deadly grin curled at the corners of her lips, “I’ve been wanting a new toy to play with.”
Chapter 10
Within the hour, everything was set for us to leave for Jagruel, and it was hard to tell who was having more trouble saying goodbye to Shoshanne. Deya began trembling she was so upset, and Haragh asked the healer about ten times to come with us while he kneaded his hands nervously.
I could understand his trepidation, considering he’d been about ten seconds from death’s door when Shoshanne brought him back with her healing staff on our journey from Nalnora to Illaria, but after the healer packed an emergency kit for us to take along, he finally accepted there was no swaying her. She was up to her elbows in blood from the procedures already, and the stubborn crease between her brows showed she had no intentions of abandoning her post.
So, I reluctantly left Shoshanne to her work, and after I gathered some fresh steel, copper, and my engraving kit from the workshop, I joined the others at the Mustang. Ruela was nuzzling Deya’s thigh while they made their own goodbyes, and whatever the beautiful elf was murmuring in her native language made the wolf’s sable tail wag slowly from side to side. Then Deya pointed to the infirmary, and with a firm command, Ruela diligently trotted off to take her place at Shoshanne’s side.
I met Big Guy in the clearing to give him his orders for while I was gone, and once he understood what double patrol meant, I walked around the edge of the infirmary to study the lookout tower.
Only the silhouettes of the three burly Defenders Cayla had chosen for the post were visible in the dim light of a torch, but they all saluted when they saw me down on the ground.
I nodded my approval and eyed the deserted woods one last time, and once I scanned the entire perimeter of Falmount with my Terra powers, I finally decided everything was locked down tight.
When I got back to the car, Hulsan was already snorting a fresh batch of pollen he’d gotten from the healer while he sat beside Haragh in the front seat, and Aurora sent me an amused smirk from her place in the driver’s seat.
“Let’s try to avoid driving through trees or off a cliff this time,” I muttered as I dropped into the back seat with Deya, and my half-elf narrowed her emerald eyes in the rear-view mirror.
Cayla joined us in the back with her bazooka in hand, and I grinned as she sent me a small nod.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing with this?” she asked.
“Research,” I replied vaguely, and as Bobbie growled to life and headed out of Falmount, I summoned my metal magic to pull a chunk of steel into my lap.
Aurora sent a flame over her shoulder for me the moment she sensed my magic sparking, and while I started splitting pieces of steel off and forming them into springs, pins, and a trigger bar assembly, Haragh and Hulsan talked about the ways of the ogres. I kept half an ear on the conversation, but when Haragh mentioned their leader, I finally looked up from my work.
“You’d think so,” Haragh was saying, “after everything ye’ hear about us, but it’s not necessary for him to be the most violent in the bunch. Not when you see how the whole lot are together. He’s just gotta have a commanding presence, uphold the few standards we’ve got, and not get eaten.”
“You said he was violent, though,” I pointed out as I furrowed my brow.
“I said he has a bad temper,” Haragh clarified. “All ogres are violent if we’re bein’ technical about it. But Grot isn’t any worse than the rest. He’s just unpredictable, and once he’s lost interest in ye’, you’re supper.”
“Nice of the king to send you in his place,” Hulsan snorted.
“Better me than him,” I said with a shrug.
“What are the standards this Grot upholds?” Cayla asked.
“The basics,” Haragh replied. “If you’re amongst the ogres, you’ve got to kill for yourself, so no weaklings in the bunch. They become supper too. And you never ask a question that demands anything more complicated than a yes or a no for an answer. This applies to killin’ as well.”
“In what way?” Deya asked as a smile came to her face.
“Well, figure you come up against another creature, and you’re an ogre,” Haragh replied. “Now, in an ogre’s mind, killin’ them isn’t a moral dilemma, because morals go beyond a simple yes or no, most of the time anyway. So, it’s easier. Does that creature have the ability to fight against ye’? Yes or no. If yes, ye’ kill them to get rid of the issue. If no … are ye’ hungry? Yes or no. You see where I’m going with this.”
I chuckled as I shook my head. “Seems basic enough.”
“Almost elven,” Deya mused.
“Not quite,” Haragh clarified, “because, and correct me if I’m wrong, the elves have more of a reason to kill another. They gain somethin’ from it. Territory, superior numbers, obliterating Mason, and whatnot.”
“That’s true,” Deya agreed. “To show the superiority of our houses, we would kill another, but we wouldn’t kill a creature for simply existing near us.”
“Ah,” Haragh said with a nod, “we would. There’s the difference.”
“Is that why the emancipation happened?” I asked, but I was half focused on forming a fresh chunk of steel into the framing of a pistol.
“Yes and no,” Haragh chuckled.
“My father told me once that the ogres were a plague upon the kingdom of Illaria,” Cayla admitted. “When I asked him why he thought this, he only said they were too brutal to be borne.”
“Temin said something similar.” I nodded.
“What’d he say?” Hulsan asked, and the old man’s eyes were surprisingly challenging as he glanced back at me.
“He said the ways of the ogres went against everything the kingdom stood for.”
“And you’d take the word of a man who wouldn’t show his face in Jagruel even if you paid him?” Hulsan asked, but Haragh hummed before I could respond.
“Temin’s technically right there,” Haragh allowed, “but we’re not savages. We’re just a different sort.”
“Let’s say for argument’s sake that what the kingdom stands for is shit,” Hulsan suggested. “Who the hell are we to decide the ogres disparage our delicate ideals? That’s what Temin doesn’t get. He’s never understood it. He sits in that castle and acts in the interest of his own little corner of the world, but Mason’s got the foresight he’s been lacking all along. It doesn’t matter if the elves are ruthless, or the ogres are unbridled. What matters is how you work with these things, not against them.”
“I agree with this,” Deya said with a decisive nod. “We have some things in common with the ogres. Nalnora lives by a different code than Illaria as well. It isn’t a superior nation by any means, only different, which could offer so much perspective to others. Although, there are admittedly many elves who believe we as a race are superior to all others.”
“And what does your House believe?” Hulsan asked in a low voice.
I glanced over to see Deya’s cheeks were a little pink, but she responded honestly.
“My House is in a difficult position in my land,” Deya admitted. “Historically, we are beneath the Elite, but our contributions to our society set us apart from the rest. Because of this, we live in seclusion rather than seek a place of superiority. We know the value of what our House possesses could just as easily make us a target as secure us a higher rank. We could war against the others to gain stature, but my family do not value such things. We prefer to survive, rather than rise above the rest.”
“A respectable position,” Cayla said with a nod.
<
br /> “If you wish to remain obsolete,” Hulsan snorted. “Survival is a beasts’ game. Thriving is what all those contributions are meant to add up to. Your House is wasting your people’s potential.”
I exchanged a glance with Deya, but she seemed unconcerned with the old man’s opinion, and I could understand why. It was hard to appreciate the elf’s sentiment without experiencing the utter bullshit of the Elite in Nalnora firsthand. Personally, I’d rather remain obsolete in a nation like that. It meant less daggers, less ass kissing, and a way lower risk of being killed during a trip to the market.
“Are there any other ogre standards this ruler lives by?” I asked Haragh.
“Aye,” Haragh replied. “You’ve got to be able to hold your drink, otherwise, again … you become supper. So long as you uphold these standards, the ogres will respect you, and since Grot never wavers on one of them, he’s become the ruler of Jagruel. You can imagine why Temin and him don’t see eye to eye too often. Hard to imagine our king showin’ up and killin’ his own meat for the feast.”
“Or drinking as much as an ogre could,” Cayla added.
“Lucky he’s got Mason to do it for him,” Hulsan said with a smirk, and Haragh chuckled in agreement.
“This Grot guy doesn’t sound that bad to me,” I mused. “He sounds like he doesn’t put on many airs. I can respect that.”
“I’m curious to see if he respects anything about you,” Hulsan said. “Remember, a human is an easy meal for an ogre, regardless of standards. They’ve got more beast in them, but I wouldn’t be too surprised it you did catch his attention.”
“He doesn’t have to respect me,” I said with a shrug. “He just has to hear me out.”
“Is that all it takes to gain an alliance in arms these days?” Cayla asked with a smirk, and I glanced over before I gestured to the supple divet where her bare legs crossed one another. The princess nodded, and I lined all of my springs and pins in order of assembly from her knees all the way to the thin strip of leather at the apex of her thighs.
“It’s not all it takes,” I replied as I took my time getting the last few parts nestled into place. “I just think the ogres sound pretty cut and dry. Yes or no questions make my job a lot easier, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize there are two options in this. Either accept our help, or don’t. Considering they’d rather eat than be eaten, I’m guessing they’d prefer to go on living as they are rather than be enslaved by the Master. I’m the guy offering to make that happen. The creature with the superior fighting abilities, in this case anyway.”
