by Eric Vall
“Poor Deya,” Shoshanne sighed, and I cocked a brow. “What? She’s so sweet, and you know she only wanted to be with you.”
“She could have been forthcoming about it,” Aurora mumbled.
“I’m not upset with her,” I assured the women. “I’m just very, very confused. And a little afraid Dragir’s gonna kill me regardless.”
“Okay, so maybe you should start with finding Deya,” Cayla decided. “Imagine how she must be feeling right now. She was mortified to admit what she’d done, and she probably thinks you’re upset with her. That’ll give Dragir time to cool off, as well.”
“Yeah, I should find her,” I sighed before I shoved another lump of pheasant into my mouth. Then I heaved myself up on wobbly legs, and I was turning for the door when Dragir stormed back into the dining hall with his serpentine eyes locked on me.
My hand shot right back to my pistol, but before I got it raised, Dragir leveled me with a stern finger.
“You are handling the elves right this moment,” he informed me, and I could have sworn he was foaming at the mouth.
“But … no?” I tried.
Chapter 2
“What do you mean, no?” Dragir challenged. “You got my sister pregnant, you took her from her home, and you gave me your word you would do anything to keep her safe. Now, she is carrying a halfling child in her, and you will kill as many elves as it takes to ensure no harm comes to her, because the Elven Houses will stop at nothing to punish us all for this heinous act. Unless you are prepared to suffer the same losses I have, I suggest you get your weapons and your Mustang. I will be waiting outside.”
“Hold up,” I said as I holstered my pistol. “Let’s get on the same page here. I can’t take care of the elves right now because Illaria just declared war against the Master, and I’m in charge of all our troops. We’re moving out in three days.”
“No, you are not,” he countered. “You are keeping your word to me, or you are dying right here, right now.”
I heard all three of my women draw their pistols as their chairs scraped across the floor, but I quickly waved them off.
“Ladies, will you excuse us for a minute?” I muttered over my shoulder. “This is a delicate matter, and I think it’d be best if Dragir and I handled it in private.”
“Mason, if he’s talking like that, there’s no way we’re going anywhere,” Cayla informed me.
“Agreed,” I replied as I headed for the door. “Stay right where you are and enjoy your dinner. It’s been a long day, and I want you all recovering after that battle. Dragir and I will be in my shop.”
“Mason!” Aurora argued, but I didn’t hear any of her other rebuttals, because I’d already sealed off the entrance to the dining hall behind me. The effort of using my Terra powers made my head spin all over again, but I nodded to Dragir without swaying on my feet.
“Follow me,” I said and did my best not to limp just in case he really was ready to kill me.
I kind of doubted it since we’d become good friends before I left Nalnora, but I’d never gotten such a violent guy’s sister pregnant before, either. So, I didn’t want to give him the impression it would be an easy task by any means. This was half the reason I was leading him to my shop. At least with my metal magic and racks of weapons around, I’d have some advantage over the elf.
When we got to the atrium, I posted myself on my stool as I motioned for Dragir to take a seat on the fountain’s edge, but the elf seemed determined to lord over me instead. Then his serpentine eyes suddenly narrowed at the stonework, and he swiftly crouched down to run his fingers over the rune Nemris had installed on my fountain.
“This is impossible,” Dragir gasped as his eyes went wide. “How did you form this? No one know the elements of Nemris’ mark. Not even me.”
“I didn’t do it,” I told him bluntly. “Shortly after we returned from Nalnora with your sister, Nemris blessed us by placing this mark in our home.”
Dragir stared at me as he slowly rose to his feet, and I could tell his anger was already easing thanks to his shock.
“Look,” I sighed, “I know this is dangerous for everyone, but there’s nothing I can do to change it. Deya made this decision herself, and I honestly support her in it. From the looks of it, Nemris does as well. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep my word to you. I just can’t go running back to Nalnora when everything with the Master is coming to a head. The way things have been going lately, he’ll conquer us all if I don’t keep at him with everything I’ve got, and if that happens, we’ll all be dead regardless.”
“The Elven Houses will do more than destroy you and your women,” Dragir informed me. “What I did many years ago was bad enough, but this is Deya, and the law dictates she is the legal property of the Houses. They won’t stop until all of Illaria suffers for what you have done, and my sister most of all. You would let that happen?”
“No,” I replied, “but as of right now, they have no idea about Deya. Right?”
“I do not know,” Dragir admitted. “House Quyn has suffered more than twenty attacks since you left Nalnora, and I cannot decide if this is on account of our allying with you, or if they suspect that Deya has gone.”
“How are your defenses holding?” I asked as I furrowed my brow.
“We are okay, for now.” Dragir shrugged. “Our numbers exceed several of the other Houses’ armies because we do not waste our warriors on useless battles, but should the other Houses join together against us, we will fall.”
I nodded. “I won’t let it come to that.”
“Won’t you?” Dragir challenged. “You’ve already broken your word to me once, and now you refuse to deliver on your promise to protect my sister.”
“I am not refusing,” I shot back. “I’m saying this isn’t the right time. There’s little reason to believe the Elven Houses are on to us, which means we have time to come up with a solid plan. If you really think me killing off a bunch of elves will protect Deya, I’ll gladly join you in it, but not without cause, and not at the risk of depleting your army or mine. Too much is at stake.”
Dragir ground his jaw as he thought over my words, and while he paced around my shop, I couldn’t help noticing the sweat beading on his brow. I knew he’d spent his life protecting his sister from the Elven Houses, so I could understand his frustration was directed at them more than me. Still, we needed to play it safe, because if there was anything I’d learned in Nalnora, it was that the elves were ruthless and backstabbing fighters. They numbered thousands and were more skilled in combat than any race I’d come across in this realm, so taking them all on wasn’t something I could accomplish on a weekend trip.
“Okay,” Dragir finally agreed as he came to a stop in front of me. “What you say is logical. For now, we continue as if nothing has transpired between you and Deya, but at the first sign of retaliation, you will join me in this fight. On my terms.”
I cocked a brow. “Depends on the terms.”
“I have trained my whole life for Elven warfare,” Dragir said with a smirk. “You have not. When the time comes, we join forces and enact my plan to ensure Deya and this child will never be at risk. Deal?”
Dragir extended his hand, and I scruffed my beard while I thought carefully about this, but the man had a point. His knowledge of the elves vastly outweighed my own, and I didn’t doubt an elf like him could coordinate a solid means of achieving the goal we both had in mind.
So, I nodded as I shook Dragir’s hand.
“Deal,” I agreed. “You give the order, and I’ll bring my whole army and any of my allies we need to make sure it’s done.”
“Your mages would fight on behalf of an elf?” he clarified.
“I’ve already addressed the matter with my generals,” I assured him. “I have their word they’ll stand beside me if Nalnora discovers she’s missing.”
Dragir raised his brows, and I could tell he was impressed to hear it, but he just shrugged and walked off. Then he began taking stock of
the ten racks of weapons lining the atrium walls while I finally relaxed.
“So, how have you been?” I chuckled.
“Not too bad,” Dragir replied, and he ran his hand over one of the glaives he’d given me. “My father is stepping down from his position as head of our House, so I will be taking his place very soon.”
“No shit?” I asked. “I hope his health isn’t declining again.”
“No, he is more energetic than ever,” Dragir informed me with a wry look. “With Deya gone, he seems to have found a new passion in his life. Now, he spends all day behaving like a tyrant. Even the warriors avoid going near him. I suggested he spend some time at the caves by the sea to recollect himself, and he barred me from my own home for opening my mouth. It is of no concern, though. I prefer the caves anyways.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “He’s pretty pissed at me then?”
“Yes and no.” The elf shrugged as he came over and sat on the fountain, and he braced his elbows on his knees while he held my gaze. “I believe he understands why I let you take her away, but he is not a man who handles fear well. He fears for her, and he fears for our House. The threat of this Master has shaken him after House Syru and House Kylen came for us that day, and although he knows you are a capable leader, he feels this Master will succeed in destroying us all. Nothing I say can dissuade him from that. In terms of Deya, I know he can see the sense in this, and part of him appreciates that she is far from the reach of the Elven Houses for now.”
“He probably wouldn’t appreciate the pregnant thing, though,” I guessed.
“No, he will order me to bring our army here and slice you open from head to toe,” Dragir assured me. “Luckily, he will not be in a position to give that order soon.”
“That’s … good, I think.”
“Perhaps,” Dragir allowed. “As long as you keep your word to me. Now, what is it you summoned me for?”
“I’ve got a question, first,” I chuckled. “What’s up with the elf ears, and why are my automatons wearing them around their necks?”
“Is that what you call those metal men?” the elf asked.
“Yes, now answer the question.”
Dragir smirked as he looked down at the many bloody ears dangling on a string around his neck. Then he grabbed one and held it up for me to see.
“They are trophies to signify our victory,” the elf said as he sat a little taller. “Your metal men are incredibly effective, and they assisted me in destroying my enemies while we crossed Nalnora. This trophy you see here, this is Oryk.”
“You killed Onym’s brother?” I clarified, and I thought back to the sinister cast of the elf’s murky blue eyes the last time he’d tried to ambush me. “I let him go.”
“I don’t know why,” Dragir chuckled. “He was a piece of shit. Now, he is a dead piece of shit.”
“But aren’t you concerned about the wrath of House Natyr?”
“No, that is precisely what I just told you,” Dragir said with a deadly grin. “Your metal machines assisted me in destroying House Natyr. By the time I was finished with the head of their House, there wasn’t enough left of him to make a trophy out of, but it was a good time either way. Now that I think of it, this is convenient for us. One less Elven House to worry about.”
Dragir held up his hand, and it took me a second to realize he was looking for a high five.
“This is when you do that, yes?” he asked.
“Um, yeah,” I managed, and I delivered a very confused high five. “I just kind of thought removing that rune might make you less confrontational, is all.”
“Why would it?” Dragir asked as he rose to admire more of my weaponry. “I finally have silence in my mind, and now, when I choose to kill a man, I know it is of my own accord. I know without a doubt they deserve to die, and I no longer question if my rune is forcing my hand. It is a great relief to me to feel like myself again. I have never taken such joy in killing my enemies as I do now. I have you to thank for that.”
The amount of calm assuredness he said this with sent a chill down my spine, but he held his palm against his chest as he offered me a grateful nod.
I nodded right back while I eyed the blood all over his clothes, and I tried to process the fact two of my best killing machines just took down an Elven House at another man’s command. Then I remembered I’d told them Dragir was my ally, and I decided I’d have to be a little more specific about protocol next time I used Big Guy and Big Red for things like this.
At least it was only one Elven House, though. Unless …
“It was just the one House you took down, right?” I checked.
“Yes, just the one,” Dragir replied. “There were several minor battles, of course, but nothing of consequence. So! What is it you wished to discuss with me?”
“Right,” I mumbled while I refocused on the task at hand. “I need your help with some rune magic.”
“You are still obsessing over this rune magic?” the elf sighed heavily, and he dropped onto the fountain’s edge. “I gave you everything you need to continue your studies on your own.”
“And it’s going great,” I assured him. “Check out this pistol I’ve been working on.”
I pulled out my 1911 and handed it over for him to see, and then I gestured to the empty wall beside the doorway.
“Go on, try it out. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“This bit of metal here?” he checked as he rose to his feet and eyed the trigger.
“Yeah, just hold your arm out straight and flick that little knob on the side to release the safety,” I explained. “Then pull the other lever. It’s called a trigger.”
Dragir shrugged and did as I instructed, but when the lightning laced bullet fired from the barrel, he leapt several feet off the ground and tripped backward into the fountain. He managed to keep his eyes on the bullet, though, and when it impaled the wall and set off a web of lightning all over the stonework, the elf didn’t seem to notice he was sitting in three feet of water anymore.
He just gaped while I chuckled merrily at my electrified wall, but before I could ask him what he thought, I caught the distant screams of my women as they pounded their fists against the barricade I’d left in the doorway.
“Shit,” I muttered, and I carefully summoned a sliver of my Terra powers to unseal the entrance for them.
Dragir was still sitting dumbfounded in the fountain when the three women barreled into the atrium, and when they saw the cocky grin on my face, they all froze in confusion.
“Are you okay?” Shoshanne panted. “We heard your pistol go off.”
“I’m great,” I assured them. “We worked it all out. I’m just showing Dragir my latest weapon. He’s still processing.”
Cayla giggled as she eyed Dragir, and the elf stared at the pistol in his hand while the water slowly seeped into every fiber of his bloody tunic.
“What is this weapon?” he finally asked. “It is glorious.”
“It’s called a 1911,” I told him, and I came over to haul him up to his feet. “It took me a while to get the charge of lightning just right, but it was worth the effort. I’ve got a different kind of ammunition for the same gun that has a similar effect, only with enchanted flames. Kind of like what we did with the rockets.”
Dragir stumbled out of the fountain as he continued staring at the 1911 in his hand, and when I took it from him, his eyes followed longingly while he stood there dripping water all over my shop floor.
“You know, Mason’s the only man in the world who can create a weapon like that,” Aurora bragged. “I hope you feel like a fool for threatening his life.”
“Yes,” Cayla added, “and all of his women carry the same pistol, so I suggest you choose your words more carefully where Mason is concerned.”
“You don’t have to threaten him,” I chuckled, “but I appreciate the gesture.”
“Just making sure he understands the way things work around here,” Aurora said with an innocent
shrug.
“You’re not in the jungle anymore,” Cayla informed Dragir in an icy tone. “This is Mason’s town.”
Dragir shifted uneasily as my three women sauntered out of the shop, but I just grinned at the sassy sway of their asses while Shoshanne let out a huffy “hmmph.”
When I glanced back at Dragir, he was a little paler than usual, and he cleared his throat as he wrung the water out from his sleeves.
“Your town?” he clarified.
“Yeah, I’m a baron now,” I told him. “The king gave me quite a bit of land, and Falmount Rift is at the center of it. I’ll show you around tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve got some issues I need your help with.”
Dragir nodded and sat on the stool beside mine, but I could sense him studying me while I sketched out the degree map he’d taught me.
“Elves do not own towns,” the elf said after a moment. “How did you manage that?”
“I built it,” I chuckled. “Then I left for Orebane, and when I got back from Nalnora, I found out I’d been knighted, and the residents expanded the town for me. Once the Master began targeting our mages, I used these new weapons to protect the Order and the capital, and now I’m a baron and own it all. It’s pretty cut and dry.”
“And you are in charge of an army?” Dragir asked.
“Yeah, that, too,” I said with a nod. “The king made me and Aurora heads of the Order of the Elementa after the battle today, so I’ve got my own army, but I’m also in charge of the defenses for the whole kingdom.”
Dragir nodded blankly. “Does your army wield this new weapon?”
“Not yet,” I replied. “That’s one of the issues I need your help with. Do you remember the rune you engraved on the bazookas to ensure only we could use them?”
“I do.”
“I was hoping you could do the same thing with the 1911,” I explained, “except this time, my whole army should be able to use them. It’s crucial that the pistols won’t function for anyone else before I begin distributing them, and since the mages leave for their posts in only a few days, we have to get on this fast.”
