God of Magic 4

by Logan Jacobs

  “Thank you, sir,” Aerin said. The healer’s eyes glittered at the mention of the reward.

  I expected Maderel to take his leave then, but instead, he turned to Outen with an expectant look.

  “Well, councilor?” the mage prompted. “You have yet to even congratulate the Shadow Foxes on their success. I can imagine you must be very grateful for all the trouble they went through on your behalf, especially after you were so cold to them.”

  Outen’s face turned so red it was a wonder steam didn’t start pouring out of his ears, but then he turned to me.

  “Thank you, Shadow Foxes,” the councilor said in a stiff voice. “Your service is greatly appreciated by all of us on the council.”

  I gave him a cool nod in response, unwilling to show him the politeness that he couldn’t even bear to extend to us.

  “I should think some sort of reward is in order as well, councilor,” Maderel commented. “They did save you quite a lot of money in damages, after all, not to mention your reputation.” The mage gave me a sly glance. “It would be rather embarrassing, I should think, if it got out that you had brushed off this guild’s legitimate concerns regarding the security of the city. People might even wonder if you weren’t a co-conspirator yourself.”

  As nervous as Maderel made me, I couldn’t help but be impressed. I understood now why people said that he was the one who was really in charge of Ovrista, rather than the council. He was playing Outen like a fiddle, and the councilor knew it.

  “Of course,” Outen said through gritted teeth. “I will personally see to it that a matching sum of five hundred gold is delivered to you, Shadow Foxes.”

  Aerin looked as though she might faint, and even Lavinia, who didn’t usually care about money, looked excited by the prospect.

  “Well, I should be going.” Maderel smiled as he pushed himself up from the table. “I have some business of my own to attend to. Good day, councilors, Shadow Foxes.”

  Outen glared openly at the mage as he swept from the room, and when Maderel was gone, he turned his glare on us.

  “Is there anything else we can help you with?” he asked in a clipped voice.

  I supposed there wasn’t, and at that moment, Councilor Barnet returned with the city guard to arrest Adler. The nobleman didn’t resist as the guards cuffed his hands behind his back and led him from the room, and satisfied that our business here was done, I stood as well.

  “That’s all for us, Councilor Outen,” I said. Outen didn’t respond, and none of the other six councilors had a mind to speak up, either, as we excused ourselves and left the room in chilly silence.

  “That was fucking incredible!” Lavinia said with a grin when we got outside again. “Oh, man, the look on that snooty bastard’s face was absolutely priceless!”

  “Sure, that part was great, but think of all that reward money!” Aerin replied. “We’re going to need to get a new strongbox just to store it all!”

  “Forget storing it, Aerin,” Maruk groaned. “We’re rich, let’s actually spend some of our money for once! We should all have new uniforms made to celebrate, and we should go to that restaurant on--”

  “We can finally install a weapons range in the guild hall!” Lavinia interrupted.

  “I wouldn’t mind a workshop, if we could spare the money,” Lena put in.

  “Or a library,” Emeline suggested.

  “Since we’re so damn rich, maybe we should install a swimming pool,” I joked as I caught Yvaine’s eye and winked. The marchioness rolled her eyes.

  “Yes!” Emeline gasped. “I want a swimming pool!”

  “Hey, hey, hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Aerin insisted nervously. “You know what’s way more fun than a swimming pool?”

  “What?” Emeline cast the healer a skeptical glance.

  “Investing!” Aerin answered.

  “Oh, don’t start with that,” Lavinia pleaded.

  “We can all decide what to do with our fabulous wealth later, when we’re rested,” I said. “Let’s just get home.”

  Chapter 18

  A few hours later, after I’d cleaned up and changed, I went down to the sitting room with a book to take advantage of the quiet while everyone else went to sleep. We were going to go out to dinner later, as Maruk had suggested, to celebrate our successful mission, but for now, the guild hall was peaceful.

  I was surprised when I got downstairs to find Dehn in the sitting room. The halfling was back in his old spiked armor, and he was pricking holes in the upholstery as he rocked back and forth on one of the armchairs and cradled his trusty flask.

  “Hey,” I greeted him as I sat down on the couch. “I thought you’d be back at the HQ, telling everyone about the heist.”

  “Did you?” the halfling asked. He seemed strangely subdued, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought he was nervous.

  “Is everything alright?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Dehn scratched at the back of his neck. “I was just meanin’ to ask you something.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I really liked going with all of you on this mission, and I was thinking... well, I was thinking maybe it’s time I left the guard. Don’t see a lot of action there, you know? And I was wondering if maybe you’d let me stick around here.”

  “You want to join our guild?” I asked.

  Dehn gave a shrug. “I mean, it’s alright if you can’t handle me. I know I’m so strong and handsome, and that can be kind of intimidating.”

  “I think I can manage,” I replied with a grin. “You’re welcome to stay if you want, Dehn.”

  “Haha! Fuck yeah!” The halfling grinned and passed me his flask.

  I laughed as I took the flask then took a drink. The alcohol burned like nothing I’d ever drunk before, and I winced as I swallowed and handed the flask back to Dehn. “What is in that?” It tasted like rubbing alcohol and lighter fluid.

  “It’s a personal brew,” he replied with a touch of pride. “Made it myself!”

  “Ah.” I coughed. “It’s uh, it’s really something.”

  Dehn’s grin faded slightly then, and he took a drink from his flask. “There was actually one other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” he said after a moment.

  “Yeah?”

  “Back in the caverns, I noticed the magic you were doing,” Dehn said. He didn’t meet my eyes. “You’re one of those manipulators, aren’t you?”

  My mouth was dry, but I forced myself to swallow. “I am.”

  The halfling did meet my gaze then, and I was surprised by the look of concern in his eyes.

  “Well, you'd better be careful. The Mage Academy’s been telling the city guard to keep a lookout for mages like you. Have been for quite a while.”

  “I know,” I said. Then I ventured a question. “It doesn’t bother you, me being a manipulator? I mean, you’re a guard, and you seem to take that pretty seriously.”

  Dehn shrugged. “That’s a Mage Academy law, not a city law,” he replied. “It’s not my jurisdiction. And besides, you’re doing good things around here. You've done more in the last twenty-four hours to keep the city safe than most of those stuffy pricks up in that tower have done in their whole lives. Doesn’t seem right that you should be punished for it.”

  “Thanks, Dehn,” I said with a smile. “I appreciate that.”

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t get all sappy on me,” the halfling replied as he jumped down from the chair. “I’m gonna go pick out a room before you start crying or something.”

  “Have fun,” I told him with a chuckle as he made his way up the stairs.

  I read a few chapters of the history book I’d brought with me before Yvaine came down. The noblewoman had on a new dress of flowing pale blue fabric, and her dark hair was still slightly damp from her bath. She glided over to the couch and sat down next to me where she leaned her head against my shoulder to see what I was reading.

  “Mm,” she murmured, “handsome, valiant, and
a scholar. You’re really the whole package, aren’t you?”

  I grinned as I turned to face her. “That’s what they tell me.”

  “Well, they’re right,” Yvaine replied with a little smile.

  “So,” I started as I closed my book and gave the marchioness my full attention, “how was your first time adventuring with a guild? Was it everything you had hoped it would be?”

  “That, and more,” Yvaine answered. “Thank you again for letting me come with you.”

  “You’re always welcome,” I told her. “I know that you have your estate to look after and people to charm, but you should know that you have a place here if you want it.”

  “Why, Gabriel, are you inviting me to join the Shadow Foxes?” she asked with feigned surprise as she placed a hand over her heart.

  “Yes,” I answered seriously as I took her hand and held it. “I would like that a lot. We’d get to see a lot more of each other, too.”

  “I do believe you’ve won me over,” the marchioness replied. “I graciously accept your invitation.”

  “Good,” I murmured, and I leaned in to kiss her. Yvaine made a soft sound in her throat as she leaned into me, and her fingers brushed against the back of my neck.

  The moment wasn’t to last, however, as just then, Maruk and Lavinia came down the stairs. Yvaine cleared her throat as she sat back against the couch.

  “For the last time, I don’t want to wear that stupid thing!” Lavinia insisted.

  “But it doesn’t fit me!” Maruk protested as he trailed after her with some sort of frilly garment in his hands. “And it would look so nice on you.”

  “No way,” the ladona ranger said firmly. “I don’t do lace. Or ruffles.”

  “What is it this time?” I asked as Lavinia dropped into one of the armchairs.

  “Maruk wants me to wear some ridiculous shirt he got out of Cygne’s closet to dinner tonight,” the ranger explained. She threw a glance to the orc. “I don’t know why you even took it if you knew it wasn’t going to fit you.”

  “I was hoping the fabric might stretch a bit,” Maruk replied defensively.

  “Yeah, you’re gonna need more than a bit of stretch to fit into that,” Lavinia told him. “Maybe you forgot, but you’re seven feet tall.”

  Maruk frowned down at the shirt in his hands as he sat in the armchair next to Lavinia. “I just don’t want it to go to waste.”

  “See if Lena will wear it,” Lavinia suggested. “She likes weird stuff.”

  “I do like weird stuff!” Lena confirmed enthusiastically as she, Aerin, and Emeline made their way down the stairs and joined the rest of us in the sitting room. “What is it?”

  “This shirt I got from Cygne’s wardrobe,” Maruk said as he held it up for the alchemist to examine. It reminded me of a pirate shirt with wide sleeves and a ruffled collar, and it had a sort of pearlescent quality. It definitely wouldn’t have fit Maruk, but it would look cute, I thought, on Lena.

  “Oh,” Lena murmured as she took the shirt and held it up. “This is very nice.”

  “Isn’t it?” Maruk sighed wistfully. “It’s yours if you want it, there’s nothing I can do with it.”

  “Thank you!” Lena said as she hugged the shirt to her chest. “I love it.”

  That seemed to make Maruk feel better, at least.

  “Are we all ready to go?” Aerin asked as she looked around at each of us. “I’m starving.”

  “Yvaine and Dehn are coming, too,” I told her. “They’ve decided to join the guild.”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming!” the halfling called from upstairs, and a moment later he appeared, decked out in what I assumed was his casual wear. It was more or less the same as his armor, but it had about thirty percent fewer spikes, and he was only carrying three knives in his belt.

  Our destination for the evening was one of the fancier restaurants in the city with a name that only Maruk and Yvaine were able to pronounce, and we arrived there just as the sun was sinking below the horizon in the west.

  Strangely enough, the interior of the restaurant looked rather similar to Cygne’s palace in the Sunken Caverns, which was to say that the designer had overdone it a bit with the fancy moldings on the ceiling and the gilding on everything else. Maruk swore that the food was excellent, though, and I knew I could trust the orc’s taste, so I decided to suspend my judgment on the place until after we’d eaten.

  Given the circumstances and the small fortune that we’d just earned, even Aerin didn’t object to some lavish indulgence, and we resolved as a group to order the most expensive items on the menu as well as a bottle or two of champagne.

  We spent the next few hours telling stories, making jokes, and stuffing ourselves with the richest food any of us had ever tasted, except for Yvaine, of course. It was the most fun I’d had in a while, and to make the night even better, when our server came over to bring us our bill, she informed us that our meal was on the house. Apparently, word of what we’d done had already gotten around, and the owner of the restaurant was one of the targets of the heist. Aerin, in particular, was thrilled, and she ordered another bottle of champagne to bring home with us.

  We took the long way back to our guild hall as none of us were very keen on letting such a great night come to an end so soon, and as I walked with the rest of my guild through the nighttime streets of Ovrista, I felt good. The tensions and anxieties of the past few days evaporated like mist, and my spirit was as light as the bubbly champagne that we’d been drinking.

  I was happy here, and these people were the greatest friends I’d ever had. I knew that whatever challenges lay ahead for us, we could take them. Eamon Maderel had said we were the best guild in Ovrista. I wasn’t completely sure if he really believed that, but I didn’t care what he thought.

  I knew that we were.

  End Notes

  Hey guys- question for you. I was thinking about having Gabriel get the women in his harem pregnant. What do you think? Should I not do that? Should I do that but only with one or a few of the women? Should he get them all pregnant? Leave me review and let me know your opinion!

  So here is the deal: Amazon doesn’t update readers when an author comes out with a new book… UNLESS you follow that author on the store. Click here to go to my author page, and then click on the “FOLLOW” button on the left side.

  You should also join my Facebook Fan page or follow my Facebook Author page. If you don’t follow me on Amazon or join my Facebook page, you’ll never get alerted when my next book is out. So do it now!

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Logan Jacobs