02 Wrath of Flames

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “So Ethan, what are you up to today?” Ellen asked on the magically extended bench to take up her and Vitalli’s bulk.

  “Haven’t measured.” He simply announced and took a seat beside Magnus who had Nell’s sleeping head in his lap. “Rough night?”

  Magnus nodded and sipped on freshly brewed coffee, much like everyone at the table did to nurse a throbbing hangover. “Can’t remember much more than drinking and eating.”

  “And a promise to have a good brawl.” Vitalli’s brown eyes glinted at the Elemental. “The stakes are still good, no?”

  “I’m looking forward to you teaching me about Lamia tracking.” The stallion grinned evilly. “By the way, did you all know King Grayback is here.”

  “He is?” Blake voiced as most stared in silence. “Wonder why he came. We best keep our distance.”

  “You two have history?” Ethan asked, hearing deeper meaning behind those words.

  “You can say that. Last we met face to face a century ago I kicked him square in the face when he forcibly grabbed Reevy for speaking first, but to ask me a simple question. We aren’t big fans of him.” Reevy’s scaly head nodded along.

  “What is his kind fearful of?” Ethan asked, knowing each being had some form of weakness.

  Blake grinned fully, all his small sharp teeth showing. Whatever popped in his mind first really made them happy. “They have a sharp sense of smell so if you light shit on fire it’ll send them running.”

  Reevy backhanded his muscled chest as she laughed.

  “Hey, what do you have there?” Ethan asked as he noticed the busty female Naga containing something in a white cloth.

  “Something I made for you, but in a choice.” Reevy said, coming into the group dynamic.

  “Clarification would help my head from hurting further by thinking.”

  A lizard’s soft smile was gifted to him as Kanade bounced the young Pixie on a knee after finally getting her out from her cleavage. “Blake took claim on your behalf of a Dragon you felled. As a member of your team, he can do it if you are incapable of doing so at the time the spoils are divided among the warriors. Blake claimed the biggest Dragon found, a large gray Demon Lord called Vagiek. He’s currently cutting the horns and will take a few weeks to get through, but I have something for you now.” She unwrapped the cloth. “It will take three years to make a proper weapon from its horns. As a trade, I made you gauntlets out of its nether scales and small tail spikes so when you make a fist to punch something, it’ll do massive damage.” In both clawed hands came out fingerless gray gauntlets made completely of small gray scales sewn for a human’s hand without any obvious seams. From afar it might look like chainmail due to the color. Gray spikes three quarters of an inch long stood out perfectly where a human’s knuckles would be.

  “They are so evil looking their awesome!” He took them both and felt the smooth as glass Dragon scales stronger than steel. Before putting them on he asked “And what would you like to trade for them?”

  Directly is how all Nagai made conversations and propositions. They had no patience for finery. “For the gauntlets I want the rights to the carcass. Blake can have the horns, but I want the rest.”

  “Counterproposal.” Kanade inserted herself. “Ethan doesn’t know all that can be harvested from Dragons or certain high level Demons. In exchange for the gauntlets, let Kira get first pick of any potion applicable essences.”

  “I never pegged you for being a shrewd woman, Ka-na-day.” Reevy pronounced slowly, eyeing the Enchantress closely. “How about a compromise. Kira and my team’s Witch share right down the middle what hasn’t been collected yet. My squad mate already drained most magical ingredients and stored them. Half of it. How does that sound?”

  At Kanade’s nod Ethan said “Agreed.” and then realized what Reevy said the gauntlet scales were made of. “Uh, Reevy, you said nether scales right? Like in nether region? As in these are scales from a Dragon’s balls?”

  His expression had the Naga woman hissing a laugh. Blake fought hard not to laugh like everyone else. “Scrotum scales. Yes. Most scales are too large for armor for the arms, fingers and feet. Nowhere near supple enough. My normal armor is from chin scales while shields are made by four body scales melded together. After cutting off its balls I took the scales, cleaned them, treated them with special salves to hasten it’s flesh into firm leather and used a copper needle to hand sew the most supple material in a Dragon’s entire body into gauntlets and sewed in the knuckle spikes with strong padding so you’ll barely feel anything in a punch. No other metal will soften a Dragon’s scale and it still wasn’t easy.”

  “Please don’t say ‘cut off his balls.’” He cringed along with all other males. “I know how valuable this is, but still… I feel bad now. I’d hate someone wearing my ball-sack.”

  She shrugged. “You wear treated cow hide for light armor and…”

  “I know, but a man’s pride and joy…” He shook his head. Better to not think about it. He thought. “Oh well.” He slid a hand into the cavity and pulled on ingenious straps worked right into the forearms to tighten or loosen them. He then said “They are kind of tight between the webbing of my fingers.” He said while making a fist, seeing how the sharp knuckle spikes moved straight each time he made a fist and knew any punch would now make serious damage.

  “Let me see them, Darlin’.” He stripped them off and handed them to her as Blossom crawled under the table and into her mother’s lap. Kanade looked at them carefully before her eyes glowed entirely blue and her finger began tracing symbols along the seams of the forearm.

  Cook showed up a few minutes after the entire castle gave off its usual chime at six in the morning to hover over an empty plate and say “How are you feeling today, Ethan?”

  “Not too bad all things considering. My aches aren’t too bad and my appetite is better. But do you mind if I can have an extra ten pancakes on top of what you usually make with two dozen sausage patties and a tall glass of iced coffee.”

  “Sure thing, but drink the potion first. Coffee will not leave a good taste if you do so after. Kanade? How about you?”

  “I’d like the same thing.” She said absently while working.

  “Coming right up!” A flash later, four stacks of sixteen large golden pancakes smothered and covered in buttery maple syrup sat on the plate with a second having a platter of sausages steaming from warm freshness.

  Ethan quickly chugged the tasteless potion before digging in and moaned “Cook, I’d give you a kiss if you could be touched. This is scrumptious!”

  “Don’t give your mate any jealously.”

  “Ha! I’d kiss you too.” Kanade said after putting down the gauntlet and took a first bite. “Delicious… By the way, Cook. Tonight if I get some spare time can I visit you and learn a few trade secrets.”

  “Why?” The Will-o-wisp sounded simply curious.

  “Hopefully soon, Ethan and I are goin’ on a belated honeymoon and won’t want to be disturbed. I need to know how to feed my man and not just open a can of beans or package and be done in a few minutes. Y’all ladies know what I mean?”

  Ellen nodded and used her tail to playfully swat Vitalli while Nell, awakened with Vina at the smell of fresh fruit, said “Nope! Magnus is a better chef than me. I just kick back and enjoy the show. Besides, Vina loves helping her daddy make us meals when we decide to stay in. She makes a mess, but is too cute crawling around after him.” She tickled the naked toddler Nymph and basked in the laughter of babies.

  A satisfied groan came from the Fire Elemental when all the TV’s broadcasted an important announcement and changed to a view of all the leader’s at the house. Odin stood and his voice carried. “My family, these past few days have let us have the first real breather in centuries. Lads and Lasses, it was a short break.” Silence came after that, but not by shock. Merely acceptance it had to eventually come to an end. “In the wake of having their arses set on fire… literally…” many chuckled or turned to
Ethan and his team if they were near. “a power struggle of the Demons has allowed us a much needed rest. But reports from the houses say new Demons have come from Demon World in droves, some being lesser powerful Demon Lords to stake claims where those killed left an area vacant. Some aren’t abiding by the Accords and need to be hunted down. But for those of you who do not yet know, a certain pain in my arse has reared her ugly head. Sheedan is capitalizing on expanding her influence. King Grayback told me this morning the Agas Demon is on the move.” His lone blue eye was blazing with uncontrolled hatred though his tone was schooled. Odin moved aside as the Nependis king came forward, his facial features were mostly gorilla-like with tusks and a slight boar’s muzzle and flat nose.

  “Reevy, wasn’t your team trying to track down Sheedan?” Ethan asked quietly. Memory of the powerful illusion Demon came back as his eyes turned to Vina who Nell clutched tightly to her breast, likely also expecting an Elf to take her away again.

  “We certainly were. But if she is on the move all our work just became useless. We narrowed down her lair to a sixty square mile stretch of mountains down in Romania. Now it makes sense King Grayback is here. His kind were at the front lines in tracking her after she ate the soul of one of his great grandchildren. He has hatred for Sheedan more so than even Odin. Nependis never lose a grudge, especially that ancient brute.”

  By the time Ethan turned back, Floa was gone from the table, but was seen barely on Odin’s shoulder rubbing his cheek, hidden by a loose mane of blonde hair. King Grayback snorted “All A Class team leaders and above will meet in the council chambers at fifteen hundred hours for a full debriefing. From latest intelligence Sheedan will be available to be killed in a six hour window. Leaders, this is a priority assembly.”

  Eyes fell on Ethan who shrugged. “Let me guess, after my display we are now an S Class team?” Heads bobbed at the table. Teams were classified from E Class to S, going from E, D, C, B, A and then S. The lower classes were for young and inexperienced teams. S Class take on only the deadliest missions with worldwide dangerous implications no normal humans or government knew about anymore. “I’ll see what Morgane has to say. Until we figure out what is going on in me she might take me off the roster for medical observation.”

  “If she hasn’t already, Boyo.” Kira said after taking her last bite. “But just in the event we don’t get an option, Reevy, please show me to the materials so I can get an idea of what potions I can whip up quickly… And thank you, Kanade, you saved my account quite a bit in the trade. I’ll get started right away.”

  Kanade smiled as Reevy swallowed a piece of honey ham and stood with her dirty dishes too. “We go immediately, but I need to tell my leader where I’ll be and hopefully my Witch will come too.”

  “Ladies.” They stopped and turned to Ethan. “Kira, as a member of my team, see if Reevy’s leader will be amiable to combining talents. I know two Witches are better than one when making potions. Work together and come up with ideas.”

  “Aye, I can do that.” Kira Penbrook nodded. “Reevy?”

  “You can ask, but my leader is an Amazon. Any truce will be temporary, but my Witch is quite knowledgeable and works well with others. Let’s go.” The two soon vanished from sight.

  “Here, try this, Darlin’.” Kanade handed over one gauntlet and as he put it on he blinked.

  “A perfect fit?! How?” he said, making a fist that was easy and made not a sound as freshly stretched leather would.

  “I applied a size adjustment spell to it so no matter how large you get, these will always fit. And if you get too large it will extract your Spirit Energy and create more mass. Since your energy is so powerful you’ll likely not feel anythin’. I made it seem like Mjonir, Thor’s hammer. As Thor grows, so does his weapon. This works on the same principle. It is why his hammer is so heavy. It has more mass due to added Spirit Energy when he gets so huge. When he shrinks the weight remains the same. You like?”

  “Do I?” he got up and gave a sudden punch. “Hell yeah I do.”

  “Ethan, you need more training.” Blake suddenly said.

  “Huh?” he sounded like a fool and felt it for the lame response.

  “The right straight you threw isn’t as crisp as you used to do. Your new size has thrown off your timing. You have strength, but have lost the precision I taught in Krav Maga. You will need to adapt quickly. As a master, I cannot allow you out in the field with such a sloppy move.”

  “Blake, you can have him after the swim lesson, after he gets another checkup. I saw it too, Ethan. I was surprised at the speed of the punch, but you didn’t stop as perfectly when you punched my husband in the shoulder several times. All it takes is the most minor change to throw off your timing… and with your growth spurt I’m not surprised.” Nell said as she propped Vina on a hip. “Ethan, meet me out by the training lake after you get scanned again. We’ll get started on overcoming your fear.”

  “Sure thing, Nell. See you in a bit.”

  Floa popped in saying “Morgane wants to see you a bit early, Ethan. The info on Sheedan has prompted the heads of all fifty houses as well as all the leaders and royalty to be present for a meeting that will begin at eight forty this morning… what did I miss this time?” she groaned at how everyone looked to one another and him.

  “Nothing whatsoever.” Ethan said, acting as if she missed another juicy moment. Floa’s violet irises narrowed before she clapped her hands, shrunk and poked him right in the eye with a fist. “Ow!” he roared while falling back, clutching his left eyeball that began watering. “Damn, Floa! I was kidding.”

  “I’ll poke you in the other eye if you do it again!” she huffed and instantly appeared in her five and a half foot tall form, standing on his chest. She skipped off and came up to the Centaurs. “Vitalli, you ready to go back to your stable?”

  The stallion shook his head. “I’ll not leave such an interesting group or be skeptical of Ellen again. You were right, Love. Tis a relief to find joy in a group as unique as this. Perhaps I’ll transfer to this squad.”

  “Tis not a good idea. Your personality will clash with Ethan’s and I’ll not see him burn you into seeing who is the more dangerous stallion. You have enough wounds to worry of. Tis best we isolate hunts from stable. We tried once before to work in a team and you know how well that worked for us.”

  “An errant whimsy, My Filly.” To Floa he said “I do need to rest more. Thank you for allowing me out for this meal, Floa. I will send the funds till I can move under my own power, three times a day.”

  “Will do.” Floa clapped and the Centaur vanished back home.

  “You charge him to Translocate?” Ethan asked.

  Floa gave a cheeky grin, seeing him still rubbing a sore eyeball. “You better believe it. It takes a lot of energy to open portals and use Translocation. Only my team gets a free ride. Anyone else gets a standard charge of a thousand points per instant movement, but I’m giving Vitalli a break. I’m counting bringing him to the meals as a single round trip. Now get going you two.” She gestured in a ‘Shoo’ motion.

  “Mind if I accompany you?” Blake asked as Ellen, Magnus and Floa got together to figure out what went down in the night. The Naga got a nod from the Elemental who tossed the dishes to be carried away and cleaned.

  Upstairs in the healing wing waited Morgane Le Fay who got up as they exited. In Kanade’s hands were the gauntlets she wanted to work on while Blake fingered his katanas at either hip. “This way. We’ll use the same room since Kanade gave quite a few enhanced enchantments.”

  Back at the same exam room, but was cleaned of all ash and was as if occurrences from last night had almost never happened. The only oddity was a cold storage cabinet stocked with the potion he had to take. “Blake, you can wait outside?”

  “It’s alright, Lady Morgane.” Ethan stood up for his mentor. “He needs to talk to you anyway.”

  “Very well, but sit for a few minutes.” Blake took a nearby chair without saying a word. Morgane put
on latex gloves and grabbed a needle and more vials. “Ethan, I know I said I’d draw blood every other day, but I need a daily draw of…”

  “Do what you need. If a baseline can be made, my condition will have a more accurate data and graph. By the way, look at this.” He took his plaid shirt off.

  Morgane came right up and used gloves to touch the crescent bite marks. “Astounding… completely healed without any signs of bruising.” After a slow headshake she took more blood samples, poured one of the six in her machine and put the others in a container that smoked like dry ice after writing on the cylinders. “Go ahead and strip, Love. Just like yesterday.”

  He got naked and laid flat as the large dome settled in. He became completely still as soon as the dome stared emitting a light hum while runes began glowing.

  Kanade meanwhile sat in a brand new chair, replaced after her grip destroyed the armrests of the last, working on the gauntlets and keyed them to respond only to her man. Being so busy at work she didn’t bother listening to Blake and High Witch Morgane discuss taking him off the active duty roster for the time being, which was settled quickly. From her tablet she requested Tattoo take Ethan’s team off the roster and got a reply minutes later that said it was done yesterday and won’t be lifted till Morgane, as medical director, gives the clearance to go back on duty.

  Both too soon and an eternity later the tablet beeped and Kanade sat down the gauntlet to give the High Witch an anxious look. “How did the blood test come out today?”

  Far too busy to answer, Blake spoke in her place. “If you paid attention you would know she will tell us as soon as his scan is complete. She doesn’t like repeating over and over.” Morgane simply offered a casual nod, green eyes glued to the device in her possession.

  More beeping preceded the dome over the exam table lifting off the naked Elemental. Ethan crawled off and got dressed quickly, keeping an eye on the Witch who hadn’t look up once, using a level of concentration close to his own at times. Just as he was tying his boots on she cleared her throat and Kanade tentatively claimed his hand. “What’s the news?”