Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “It needs to be under moonlight.” Midori tells me and Rin frowns.

  “That sounds like imperial magic.” Rin says thoughtfully.

  “It’s based on imperial magic.” Midori says very carefully. I get the impression she is hiding something, but she wasn’t lying. There’s no time to worry about it now though, so I put it to the back of my mind.

  “I didn’t really think we’d be able to sneak our way out of here anyway. There are too many prisoners even with just the people we’ve freed so far. Rin, how long until the mages here can help us fight?”

  “I’ve given them all healing potions so their physical wounds are gone. It’s really just a matter of resting their bodies and recovering their mana. Some could probably fight already if it came down to it, but it will be a good few hours before they are going to be worth much in a fight.” Rin tells me.

  “How long was I asleep?” I ask.

  “About two hours.” Rin says tiredly.

  “Thanks for handling everything whilst we were all asleep.” I tell her gratefully.

  “I did what I could. Hermes exhausted what was left of her mana making those robes.” Rin says, pointing at the robes that most of the prisoners are wearing.

  “The enchantment on those robes was a very good idea.” I say with a weak smile.

  “Anyway, you weren’t sleeping. You were knocked out by mana loss.” Rin reminds me.

  “I don’t understand how I managed to free everyone. I felt like I was about to run out of mana before I got rid of the goo from the two women I was trying to free. Then I felt a huge rush of power.” I tell Rin who frowns.

  “That doesn’t make sense, but I suppose we can’t complain. Not about that anyway. There are plenty of other things to complain about. You should probably rest a bit longer to recover some more mana, but there’s no reason for Midori to stay there.” Rin says.

  “I’m still low on mana.” Midori complains.

  “We all are, but I need some help.” Rin sighs.

  “I’m going to get up and check on the other rooms.” I tell Rin.

  “You’re too low on mana to free anyone else yet.” Rin reminds me.

  “I know, but I can still check out the other rooms. There could be supplies or weapons in one of the other rooms rather than just more prisoners. It would also be good to find out if there are any more mage prisoners.” I tell her.

  “Hilda was only able to talk because she had only been here a few hours, so even if there are mages how will you know?” Rin asks me seriously.

  “I don’t know. I suppose I won’t.” I admit.

  “The best thing you can do right now is recover your mana.” Rin tells me but I shake my head.

  “Midori, get up and help Rin. I’m going to check out the other rooms.” I say firmly and Midori grudgingly sits up and gets out of bed. I get up too.

  “I’m only helping you because Peter told me to.” Midori says with a glare at Rin.

  “I don’t care. Help me get her up into the bed.” Rin says, pointing at a young woman lying just a few feet away. She doesn’t have robes but is instead wearing a white shirt and white panties.

  “And Peter, don’t look at her underwear.” Rin says with a blush.

  “I wasn’t looking.” I say quickly and make a hurried exit from the room. There’s still enough light to see by up to the point where the side tunnel meets the main tunnel, but only just and certainly not much further.

  In the main tunnel I open my senses wider and check for approaching enemies. There aren’t any, which is very fortunate. It does make me wonder whether the goblins haven’t been missed yet or whether the enemy just haven’t sent anyone to investigate yet. I was unconscious for two hours. It seems a long time to simply not notice thirty or so missing goblins even amongst the huge number of goblins we saw. Surely they must work with other goblins? The longer they aren’t noticed though, or at least not investigated, the better.

  I ignore the room opposite the one I just left, because I already know what is in there. I walk to the next pair of tunnels, which are about twenty feet further along. By the time I reach them I am relying entirely on my senses because there is no light to see by. These tunnels slope gently upwards and are about a hundred feet long.

  I pick the tunnel to the left and walk slowly up it, because I’m really nervous about what I might find inside. I can barely sense the auras of the people inside the room so they can’t be in a good state. Not that the auras of the any of the prisoners were strong when they were in that goo, but this is much worse.

  In fact everyone seems much worse than when we first arrived and I am closer to them than I was then. Were the goblins supposed to feed the prisoners? If they were supposed to and that’s why everyone is much weaker, I’ll have to find the food and feed everyone myself. I can’t let everyone die because we killed their jailors!

  I enter the room and create a small flame in the air to light the room. This room is far bigger than both the other rooms I’ve seen so far and is filled with about a hundred young men. There’s actually space for three times as many people in here. Like the other prisoners they are of course encased in goo and hanging upside down from the ceiling. Thinking about it, how could they eat whilst upside down? Did the goblin lower them all whilst they ate or have the goblins been starving the prisoners?

  I look closer and realise that the goo seems to be squeezing these men much more tightly than it was squeezing the women I freed and the prisoners we followed here. Perhaps this is why their auras seem weaker.

  Other than the prisoners there is nothing in here so I quickly leave and check the opposite room, taking my small flame with me. It is very similar here except that this room is full of young women instead of men. Again the goo is squeezing them very tightly.

  I return to the main corridor and move onto the next pair of tunnels. These are both about ten feet long again and the rooms they lead to are about the same size as the first two rooms we found rather than those two larger rooms I just looked in.

  I go down the left side tunnel first and look inside the room. It is filled with about eighty young men hanging upside down in the goo, just like the prisoners in the previous rooms. Most of these men are catmen though. To my shock, I see at least one face that I recognise. It is Ara Kii, but his aura is so weak that I doubt he can even see me, let alone recognise me.

  I have a feeling some of the other men here look familiar from the Kuroneko’s people that I helped free. Given the mix of humans and cat people I am certain that at least some if not all of the other people here are followers of the Kuroneko. Their auras are so weak that I couldn’t tell the difference until I saw them.

  “Peter.” Ara Kii whispers and I almost jump out of my skin as I realise that he can not only see but even recognise me despite the state he is in.

  “Ara Kii. We’re going to get you all out of here, or die trying.” I tell him. He smiles and all of a sudden a white energy surrounds not only his goo but the goo of every prisoner in this room.

  A moment later the goo is gone and everyone has not simply fallen to the ground but landed on their feet with a quick backflip. What’s more, by the time they land on their feet they are all fully clothed. Their clothes are full of aura. In other words they are spirit clothes.

  “You kept the Kuroneko waiting.” Ara Kii says weakly and a little accusingly.

  “Was that why you were captured?” I ask guiltily.

  “No. We fought the goblins and lost.” Ara Kii admits.

  “I will take over from here.” A black catman says, roughly pushing Ara Kii back.

  “Who are you?” I ask him with a frown.

  “Who I am is unimportant, human. I lead our people in the absence of the Kuroneko.” He says disdainfully.

  “Where is the Kuroneko?” I ask worriedly.

  “That is no concern of yours. She will see you when she is ready, if she wishes to see you at all.” He tells me with a glare.

  “So if you could fre
e yourselves like that at any time, why wait until I got here.” I ask him.

  “Do not be so arrogant human. We were not waiting for you. It simply took a while to build up enough spiritual energy with that foul substance suppressing our souls.” He tells me.

  “So it was just coincidence I happened to be here when you freed yourselves?” I ask, a little dubious. It doesn’t help that his aura suggests that he is trying to deceive me.

  “Yes.” He shrugs.

  “The goblins are your enemies though, right?” I ask.

  “Yes and they will pay dearly for this insult.” He growls.

  “Then we are allies.” I tell him and he nods grudgingly.

  “For now we share a common foe and you have helped us before so we are allies for now, but do not expect me to bow down my head to a human.” He tells me with a glare.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t expect or want that. I just want allies to help me defeat the goblins. There are probably tens of thousands of goblins between here and the exit. They are also building a weapon, which we must destroy if we are able to.” I tell him and he laughs.

  “Tens of thousands sounds good, because I am hungry!” He booms. There is a roar of approval from the other catmen in the room.

  “Can you help me free the other prisoners before we try to fight the goblins?” I ask him nervously.

  “Have the humans help you. We catmen will rest until we are ready to fight the goblins. We will not eat though, because soon there will be a feast of goblin flesh.” He bellows and every catman in the room roars in approval. He then sits where he was standing and crosses his legs. The other catmen follow his example. Their auras are rapidly strengthening even without sleep or food.

  “Let’s go.” Ara Kii says to the other human men. They nod in agreement and follow him out of the room. I lead the way first to the rooms I checked with the male prisoners.

  “How long will it take to free them?” I ask.

  “Perhaps ten minutes.” He tells me and then begins to give instructions to his comrades.

  “I’ll see if we can get some clothes for them.” I tell him and leave him to concentrate on his work. It isn’t far so I am soon back in the room with Midori and Rin. Hermes is awake and up now too.

  “Any luck?” Rin asks, not sounding very hopeful.

  “Yes. I found us some very useful allies. They’re busy freeing the other prisoners at the moment. We’ll need clothes for everyone though.” I tell Rin.

  “Were the people you just freed male or female?” Rin asks suspiciously.

  “I didn’t free them. They freed themselves.”

  “Male or female?” Rin asks icily.

  “Male.” I tell her.

  “That’s good. Hermes and Midori can help you. I don’t have any spare clothes but they’ll just have to do the best they can.” Rin tells me. Hermes blushes and Midori looks at Rin angrily.

  “I don’t want to see a load of naked old men. Why don’t you help instead, since you think it’s so good that they’re male?” Midori asks Rin furiously. Midori seems to have gotten a lot more relaxed about expressing herself around me. In a way it is quite nice but having Rin and Midori arguing like this is also a bit of a pain.

  “I just meant that it wouldn’t be right for a young boy like Peter to see a load of naked women.” Rin says with a blush.

  “But it’s ok for a young girl like me to see a load of naked men?” Midori asks indignantly.

  “They’re not naked.” I say quickly to defuse the situation. “They’re wearing spirit clothes. The men they are trying to free will be naked, but that’s why we need clothes for them. If you can make lots of them here I can just take them to them. You don’t need to see them.”

  “Are all the prisoners male?” Rin asks suspiciously again.

  “In the room we’re working on at the moment they are. The next room has female prisoners in it.” I tell Rin carefully.

  “Then we need to make sure there are enough clothes for the female prisoners before we worry about the male ones.” Rin says.

  “The male prisoners will need them first because they are about to be freed.” I protest.

  “We can help.” Hilda says tiredly. She is sitting up and so are ten of the other women. “We’ve recovered enough of our mana to make clothes, as long as they don’t need to be enchanted. This isn’t work for children. I’m sorry you had to see us like that.”

  “Peter was all too happy to see you like that.” Rin mutters quietly.

  “What was that?” Hilda asks, as she and the other ten women get up. I am relieved she didn’t hear, because I am blushing bright red already.

  “Nothing. Thank you for your help. Please take care of it.” Rin says with a grateful smile.

  “Of course. Everyone who is up to it, please follow me.” Hilda calls out and a couple more women force themselves up before following Hilda. As Hilda passes Rin though, she whispers something in Rin’s ear. Rin blushes and her aura shows both shock and embarrassment. Rin recovers quickly but not before Hilda has left the room with a dozen of her mages.

  “So who are our new allies?” Rin asks.

  “Some of Yu Kii’s people.” I tell her and Rin frowns.

  “Are they any good?” Rin asks dubiously.

  “They seemed eager to face tens of thousands of goblins.” I tell Rin who laughs nervously.

  “Are there really that many goblins?” Hermes asks.

  “Probably.” I admit.

  “The goblins aren’t our biggest problem.” Midori warns me.

  “What is?” I ask curiously.

  “The goblins are just foot soldiers. Our real problem is if we have to deal with their elite forces.” Midori tells me.

  “So the human mages?” I ask. There didn’t seem to be many of them.

  “Most of the humans are just foot soldiers too. A small number of them are very, very dangerous though. They also have demon allies, but I doubt we’ll come across any of them in here.” Midori tells me.

  “How do you know this?” Rin asks accusingly.

  “Why does it matter?” Midori asks angrily.

  “You clearly aren’t of Contractian blood, given your green hair and purple eyes. I’m beginning to wonder whether you’re from the empire.” Rin says accusingly.

  “I hate the empire.” Midori says furiously and from her aura I can tell that much is true.

  “That’s enough, Rin.” I say pointedly and Rin glares at me.

  “Why are you on her side?” Rin asks angrily.

  “Because we’re all on the same side, or we should be.” I tell Rin firmly.

  “Well don’t come crying to me if she betrays you.” Rin pouts.

  “That is one thing that I will never do.” Midori says with an icy tone that reminds me of Rin when she is at her angriest.

  Chapter 26 (Peter)

  I am in the large room opposite the one in which Ara Kii and the other followers of the Kuroneko were held prisoner. All the freed prisoners who are not able to use magic are gathered here. There must be about five hundred people here. Hilda stands beside me and she seems as nervous as I am. Over a day has passed and still the goblins haven’t come to investigate. I am grateful, but I can’t help feeling something isn’t right.

  The prisoners’ auras have strengthened thanks to rest and food. It seems the goblins did keep a store of food here and whilst it wasn’t tasty it was much better than going hungry. We saved the food that Rin has in her bag, because there simply wouldn’t have been enough for everyone. Also, assuming we are able to get out of here alive we will need it again on the journey to Utopia Camerona.

  The Kuroneko’s followers are waiting impatiently for us in the main tunnel. The catmen are eager to sink their fangs into goblin flesh and the human followers have a quiet fury in their eyes. Some of the Contractian mages, including Rin, Hermes and Midori are waiting there too but most are waiting in the side tunnels. The side tunnel to this room is empty, but about half of the other side tunnels
are full. Mostly the ones nearest to the enemy and the exit.

  There simply isn’t space for everyone in that narrow part of the main tunnel, which could prove dangerous when the tunnel widens. The enemy will have a much easier time sending reinforcements than we will. Of course that is also because of their sheer numbers. The Contractians seem strangely calm and not just outwardly but in their auras. There are over two thousand mages, but most of them are inexperienced. The best mages are at the front, but many of our mages have only used magic to cook, craft or perform alchemy. At least half have never fought with magic.

  Unlike the mages who will soon be fighting for their lives, the prisoners here in this room are anything but calm. There is pure terror in the aura and eyes of some prisoners. Others show complete abandonment of hope that goes beyond fear. They are not afraid because they have already given up hope. Without hope there is nothing left to fear. There are a few who are angry rather than afraid, but their anger is directed at each other rather than the enemy.

  I take a deep breath and nod to Hilda. The idea of addressing the prisoners gathered here is far more nerve wracking than the idea of fighting the horde of goblins. I am grateful that Hilda is here to do it for me.

  “Everyone, listen to us!” Hilda calls out.

  “Why should we? You let us get captured by filthy goblins! Our children were eaten because of you!” One woman yells with tears in her eyes.

  “Because we will be fighting to save you.” Hilda tells her, obviously trying to remain calm but having a hard time doing so.

  “With a load of alchemists, cooks and craftmages? Even the mages capable of fighting are the losers who lost to the goblins already.” She laughs miserably.

  “And why bring a little boy with you to talk to us?” Another woman asks with a sneer.

  “Because Peter here is going to take mana from everyone gathered here.” Hilda says and the people’s expressions range from incredulous to pure horror.

  Remembering how I lost control when I took too much power from Elucia in Nirvali I am nervous about taking so much power, but the power of everyone gathered here combined is less than the power I took from Elucia back then. Five hundred mages would be a different matter, but most of the people here have a low mana capacity.