Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  Then I heard my women approaching, though, and I released the dragon to find the four of them with their hands clasped over their mouths and their eyes wide open.

  Aurora was so excited she couldn’t stand, and she wobbled her way to her knees before she crawled over to us with her lip quivering.

  “He’s … so … cute!” the half-elf whimpered. “Look at that little monster face! Mason, he totally loves you!”

  I grinned and nodded as the dragon let out a puff of green smoke in agreement, but I didn’t mention the part where he’d almost melted the skin off my bones.

  It hardly seemed important anymore.

  “Can I pet him?” Aurora squeaked.

  “Sure,” I chuckled. “I told him about you girls.”

  My other women immediately rushed over and dropped to their knees beside Aurora, and while they all fawned over the dragon, he gently nuzzled his snout against their palms. Every time they giggled, I could sense how much he enjoyed their attention, and when he started playfully nibbling on their hair, it was clear he was already attached to them.

  Then the dragon turned to Deya, and he nudged her belly before he let out a soft metallic screech.

  The beautiful elf gasped as she clutched her belly bump, and her violet eyes lit up with surprise.

  “How did you know?” Deya asked.

  “Oh, I might have mentioned a few things to him,” I mumbled. “Just general stuff. Individual quirks, situations we’ve been through together, the baby thing …”

  Cayla grinned. “Our individual quirks? How is that relevant?”

  Then the dragon locked his teeth on Shoshanne’s skirt to tug it off much like I’d done the other night, and the healer blushed as she batted him away.

  “Mason, how much did you tell him about us?” Shoshanne asked.

  “Um … only the basics.” I cleared my throat. “Anyways!”

  I abruptly got to my feet, and I ignored the skeptical looks of my women as I motioned for the dragon to straighten up.

  “We should find out what this guy can do,” I decided, “but I want to clarify a few things with his gem first. It’ll only take a minute.”

  I summoned my powers and connected with the channeling gem again, and now that I wasn’t fearing for my life, I was able to keep my intentions more directed. The first thing I clarified was that all the personal shit I’d shared with him should be kept strictly to himself, and then I covered the threat of the Master.

  I made sure he had a clear understanding of who he was allowed to kill and who he should protect, and I took a minute to transfer all the information I had about the various dragons in Mors Pass so he’d know what to expect when he got there.

  When I was done, the dragon cocked his head to the side like a puppy, and I grinned.

  “All good?” I checked.

  Another soft metallic screech echoed in the clearing as the dragon nodded, and Aurora whimpered as she clutched her braids.

  “Did you see that nod?” the half-elf squealed. “That was the cutest nod! Mason, that nod!”

  “I know,” I chuckled. “Should we see how he flies?”

  “Yes!” Deya and Aurora answered in unison.

  “We should probably stand back for this,” Shoshanne cautioned, and she herded the women toward the bridge while Aurora did her best to stay put.

  “But I wanna see,” the half-elf insisted.

  “You can see perfectly fine from over here,” the healer muttered.

  “Mason gets to stand closer,” Aurora argued. “If I’m the girl version of him, then I get to stand there, too!”

  “If you’re the what?” Cayla snorted, but the half-elf ducked under Shoshanne’s arm and sprinted back to me before they could catch her.

  Aurora was grinning from ear to ear when she slammed into me, and her emerald eyes shone like it was Christmas morning while she panted and clutched my arm in her excitement.

  I didn’t have the heart to send her away when she was looking so cute, so I just chuckled and let the half-elf cling to my arm as I turned my attention to the dragon.

  “Okay, buddy,” I said, and the dragon shifted on its feet like it couldn’t wait to get started. “You’re technically built to fly, but we still need to see if that’s physically possible. I want you to take it easy at first and start with a few gentle flaps. Then--”

  I locked my jaw when the dragon’s attention derailed, and his stance was suddenly as predatory as it had been when he first woke up. His gaze was intense as he turned toward the entrance to the mansion, and I’d only just caught sight of Dragir when the dragon parted its fangs.

  “Shit!” I belted as green flames flashed over my head.

  The elf’s serpentine eyes were bugging out of his head when I sent up a shield in time to engulf him, and the women’s screams were almost as loud as the dragon’s screech.

  The women knocked into each other while they attempted to get to the lanes, but Aurora outpaced them all as she sprinted over the bridge and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

  My jaw was unhinged while I watched the green flames spew from the demonic skull to ignite everything in its path, and the blaze built itself higher in a way I’d never seen before. The hefty flames undulated slowly like Nulena’s shadows, but the frenzied crackling sound they made sent my mind into a state of panic as my adrenaline surged in my veins. Whatever Dragir had created with his runes seemed to spread three times faster than regular fire even though the flames flickered in slow motion, and everywhere they burned, the ground turned black and began to melt away.

  I was so mesmerized by the sight that I didn’t know how long Dragir had been screaming in his hovel for, but when I realized he was probably about to melt into a puddle, I quickly connected with the dragon’s gem and ordered him to cease his attack.

  The dragon’s predatory stance relaxed at once, and as he looked over the flaming mess he’d created, the flames vanished wherever his eyes were directed. The molten ground turned to black ash just as quickly, and when the last flames disappeared, we all remained in silent shock as we stared at the dragon.

  I eventually remembered to let Dragir out, though, and once the shield lowered, the elf sat there with a look of sheer wonder on his face.

  “Are you okay?” I checked.

  “Fantastic,” Dragir breathed with wide pink eyes. “That was … fantastic. The flames, the ferocity of his gaze. He wanted to kill me.”

  “Sorry about that,” I muttered.

  Dragir smiled lightly. “I felt it in my soul. This dragon is perfect.”

  “Mason?” Cayla managed, and I turned to see the women all clutching each other on the other side of my moat.

  They were white as a sheet and looked much less excited about my latest invention, but I sent them a reassuring smile to try and ease their concerns.

  “Don’t worry, I just forgot to teach him who Dragir is,” I called out as I patted the dragon’s arm. “I think I’ve covered everything now, though.”

  “Double check,” Shoshanne said through gritted teeth.

  “Yeah, okay,” I muttered, and I turned back to my machine.

  Then I connected with his gem and did a quick recap of the dragon’s duties, who was on our side, and how to behave around visitors. Once I finished specifying every individual I could possibly have missed, I repeated my mention of Stan, Solana, Alfred, Haragh, and Taru to be sure no other misunderstandings could take place.

  “There,” I said with a nod, and I turned to my women. “All good! You can come back over.”

  “No,” Shoshanne said firmly. “We’ll stay right here.”

  “But he likes you,” I tried. “Remember? The cuddles, the nod … it was a super cute nod!”

  The women all shook their heads in unison, and I sighed as I shrugged it off. The dragon looked a little crestfallen, though, and I sent some silent praise into his gem to cheer him up a bit.

  “Don’t worry,” I cooed. “They still love you.”

  At lea
st Dragir was fully recovered, and he was already back on his feet with a smile as he headed over.

  “Can you make him do the flames again?” the elf asked.

  “Better wait until later,” I muttered. “We were just about to test out his flying abilities. Have you finished the pistols yet?”

  “No, I came to see the dragon,” Dragir said with a shameless grin. “The flames were so good!”

  I hid my own grin from the women as I lowered my voice. “Right? That was crazy! How the hell did you make those?”

  “Figure it out yourself,” Dragir snorted. “This is my masterpiece.”

  “Our masterpiece,” I clarified.

  “Either way, he is magnificent,” the elf snickered. “You should build more of these beasts. There should be many.”

  “Oh, man. Ten of them flying in one giant flock!”

  “Twenty,” Dragir decided with a devious smirk. “They will burn Nalnora to the ground for us.”

  I chuckled in agreement, but then Deya’s breath hitched, and I realized we hadn’t filled her in on our agreement yet.

  “What?” the beautiful elf gasped. “W-Why would you do such a thing?”

  “We wouldn’t,” I lied. “He was joking. Right?”

  “Yes,” Dragir muttered. “Only a joke.”

  The two of us turned our backs on the women as we exchanged side glances, and then I cleared my throat and addressed the dragon.

  “Alright, buddy,” I sighed. “This time, we’re staying focused on the task. No one is under attack here, so let’s calm down and put all the flames aside for a minute. The objective right now is flying. Why don't you give your wings a little flap?”

  The dragon did as I asked, but one flap of his massive wings created enough of a gust to throw Dragir and me off our feet, and black ash blew up into our faces as we hacked and rubbed at our burning eyes.

  My women couldn’t help giggling at the sight, and their reaction made the dragon hop on its feet a bit as it wiggled its haunches. Then it gave another flap just to send us rolling across the ground, and as my women burst out laughing, I choked on the ashy air and ordered him to stop flapping.

  “Mason, I think he likes when we giggle!” Aurora called out across the moat.

  “You think?” I croaked as I squinted up at the dragon. “Come on, buddy, let’s not worry so much about what the women think. The objective is flying.”

  The dragon nodded its skull, but the moment my women let out a collective “aww,” his attention was on them once again.

  “Dude, focus!” I scoffed. “I get it, I really do, but there’s work to be done. What do we do when there’s work to be done?”

  “Distract Mason so he’ll have sex with us first!” Deya declared, and Dragir glared at me as the dragon let out a metallic screech of approval.

  “Nope,” I quickly countered. “No, that’s definitely not the right answer. You know what? Just fly, buddy. Go on. Let’s see what you can do.”

  I quickly formed a few stone grips in the ground so Dragir and I wouldn’t get blown around too much, and the dragon flapped its wings with so much determination I had to duck and close my eyes as black ash covered everything. I could feel from the shaking of the ground that the dragon wasn’t taking off, though, and after he tried for a while, I waved my arm to calm him down again.

  “Okay,” I coughed. “That didn’t work.”

  “I will fix this,” Dragir rasped. “I have a rune for this.”

  I nodded as I brushed the ash from my face and hair, and the elf did the same before he headed toward the dragon. He started murmuring to the metal beast in Elvish as he came closer, and the dragon cocked its skull to the side when he heard the man’s soothing tone.

  Then the dragon crouched down as if he was following a command, and I furrowed my brow.

  “He speaks Elvish?” I asked.

  “I do not know, you are the one who made him,” Dragir chuckled.

  “Crazy,” I muttered. “I guess that makes sense, though. I’ve never taught my other machines how to understand my language, but they always have.”

  “Perhaps this has to do with the magic of the gems,” Dragir mused as he began engraving something on the dragon’s ribcage.

  “Must be,” I agreed.

  “Mason, we want to ride the dragon!” Cayla suddenly called out, and I turned to see my ashen women all nodding in agreement.

  “I thought you were too afraid to come over,” I teased.

  “No, we want to ride him,” the princess assured me. “Make him fly, please?”

  “Working on it,” I chuckled.

  “Then we can ride on him?” Aurora asked.

  “If you promise to be nice,” I tossed back. “I think you kind of hurt his feelings before.”

  “We’ll be so nice!” Deya promised. “We love the big scary dragon, don’t we?”

  The women all began shouting lavish compliments across the moat, and the dragon was so happy he reared up and knocked Dragir onto his ass.

  “That is not helpful,” the elf informed me.

  “Yeah, ladies, let’s not distract the dragon,” I hollered to the women. “We need to get this done, and you have a strong effect on him. He honestly can’t help getting excited about it.”

  “And whose fault is that?” Cayla asked as she cocked a brow.

  “Yes, sounds a lot like someone else I know,” Aurora mused.

  I flipped back around before they could see I was blushing, and as Dragir coaxed the dragon into a crouch once more, I casually summoned my powers.

  Then I did my best to alter some of the information I’d transferred to the channeling gem when I’d thought I was about to die, but it didn’t seem like I could take it back now. The dragon kept his amber eyes on my women while they twiddled their fingers and blew him kisses, and I made a mental note to be a little more reserved with my future inventions.

  Apparently, this one loved my women as much as I did.

  He did hold still for Dragir, though, and once the elf made an engraving on both sides of his ribcage, all four legs, and the tips of his wings, he gave the metal beast a pat and jogged over to me.

  “That should help,” the elf told me.

  “What did you do?”

  “I adjusted his weight,” Dragir explained, “and I added two runes to his wings to summon a current of wind. It is multifaceted, though, so the rune will behave differently depending on the angle of his wings during flight.”

  I grinned. “Awesome.”

  Then Dragir and I crouched to grab a hold of the grips again, and I gestured for the dragon to give it another go.

  I could tell Dragir’s runes were already working because the gust of wind didn’t come straight at us this time, and the dragon managed to make it a few feet off the ground. He couldn’t do much more than waver in the air after that, and he let out an irritated screech while he stubbornly tried to take flight.

  Then my women began cheering him on and giving him pointers, and as the dragon kept his amber eyes on them, he steadily gained a little altitude. His flapping became less rocky the more they cheered, and I was laughing in approval when I turned to look over my shoulder.

  Honestly, the sight of my women jumping up and down with pink cheeks and bright eyes probably could have gotten me to fly if I tried hard enough, and it seemed to be working pretty well for the dragon, too. He was several feet above our heads now, and the women threw their arms up as they raised their voices even louder.

  “You’re so handsome when you fly!” Aurora yelled.

  “The most handsome!” Cayla added.

  “And you are the best flier in the world!” Deya sang. “Look at how high you are!”

  “I believe in you!” Shoshanne assured the dragon, and that seemed to do it.

  The dragon let out a metallic shriek as it vaulted above the treetops, and my women whooped and whistled for him as he soared over the village. Dragir shot to his feet and applauded while he added his own Elvish praise, bu
t I was so proud I could only kneel there and watch as the metal dragon coasted above the trees.

  Holy shit. I’d built a flying metal dragon.

  The sunlight glinted off his steel frame as he flew higher with every beat of his wings, and then he began looping and diving through the clouds while he reveled in his accomplishment. I could hear the mages in town running out of the shops to watch him now, and they gasped as they marveled at the sight of the steel dragon.

  Every time he looked down, the glow of his amber eyes sent a chill through my veins, and the sight of his jagged shadow rippling across the ground was enough to make even my knees shaky. Everything about him gave the impression he was the last guy you’d want to piss off, but more than that, his hardware was undeniably of my own creation.

  Part of me wanted to send the dragon right to the Master’s fortress for a fly by, but as much as I wanted to make sure he understood I’d just upped the ante, I knew it’d be so much more satisfying to keep this one under the radar until the perfect moment.

  When the dragon coasted down in wide circles above the mansion, most of the town came running down the lane, and they arrived in time for him to make a flawless landing in the clearing.

  The mages gathered on the other side of my moat to get a closer look at my latest creation, and the drunker of my new Defenders were raging in their amazement while the merchants looked shell shocked.

  I only had eyes for my dragon buddy, though, and I was grinning my ass off as he bounded across the clearing. Then he stepped right over my head, and I turned to see my women running across the bridge to meet him.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “That makes sense.”

  Dragir and I smirked while we watched the dragon soak up my women’s attention, and after they covered his demonic skull with kisses, he ended up rolling onto his back so they could pat his belly and scratch his chin.

  “It is more impressive when he does the flames, but this is okay, too,” Dragir decided.

  “Yeah, I’ve got no complaints,” I chuckled, and Aurora sent me a glittering smile as she draped herself over the beast’s massive ribs.

  “Thank you for the dragon, Mason,” the half-elf purred, and my women all added their own thanks as the dragon’s tail beat heavily against the ground.