Stone Raiders' Return (Emerilia Book 6)

by Michael Chatfield

  Dave let out a laugh and smiled at Lucy. “Welcome to the truth—welcome to Emerilia.”

  “Holy shit, does anyone else know? What about the POE?”

  “My team knows. The POE were born and raised here. This is their land to them and it has been for generations. Players are grown, conditioned and allowed access to Emerilia once their cycle has reached maturity,” Dave said, eager to answer any questions Lucy had.

  Lucy looked around, her mind moving all over the place. Catching a glimpse of the boxes Dave pointed out earlier, she asked, “What are those big metal boxes with runes on them?” Lucy pointed in their direction.

  “One is a fusion generator prototype. The other is a system I hope to use to form Mana wells from,” Dave said.

  “And since this is real, you’re actually going to build a fusion reactor? Isn’t that really unstable?” Lucy said.

  “Yes, but we can respawn,” Dave said.

  “How does that work?” Lucy asked.

  “This is going to be a long night.” Dave sighed and smiled as he sat back in his chair.

  ***

  “Exiting slip stream,” Anders called out as the corvette Phoenix entered a new system.

  “Miko, check our stealth systems,” Adams said. It was the third system that they had entered and the first one that was supposed to have the Jukal Empire’s presence.

  Everyone was tense as Miko ran her tests.

  “All systems are functioning within reasonable tolerances,” Miko said from her station in the belly of the corvette around the reactor.

  “Quinn, Forsyth?” Adams called out to the two other members of her command team. There wasn’ta need for many more on such a small ship.

  “Sensors are receiving telemetry through passives,” Quinn replied.

  “Weapons are ready and waiting; shields ready to be deployed within a second,” Forsyth finished.

  “Immediate area for five light-minutes is clear,” Quinn said.

  “Good. Take us down to fifty percent readiness. We will wait for thirty minutes before advancing farther into the system,” Adams said.

  It was one of the longest half hours Adams had ever waited through, looking over her screens and fighting herself as she wanted to just rush into the system, gather the information and bug out.

  She had come to learn patience. When there was little to do but train and do more practice runs, sitting on her hands was an acquired skill. She started to read a book, waiting for the timer to go down and making it look as though she were absorbed in her screens.

  “We are clear up to one light-hour. Creating map of known system. Comparing to records,” Quinn said.

  Everyone looked to the main screen and the holographic representation that was growing between the front consoles and the screen. An image of the system, the planets, and different objects the sensors had picked up showed on the main screen. The hologram showed the same image, but presented in a full three-dimensional plot.

  “How are we looking on that comparison?” Adams looked at the map on one of her command screens. She observed the steady stream of trading vessels that were between four different planets and out toward two slip-points.

  Space stations covered the skies and planetary elevators stretched down to the ground.

  Looking for military vessels, Adams found them a few minutes later. They were attached to one of the stations.

  She hid her shock well. They weren’t just warships; they were flying cities. Four were a kilometer long and five hundred meters wide. They were more ovaloid, with smoother lines than rectangular shapes like Human ships. The fifth dwarfed them at two kilometers long and one and a half wide.

  They were much larger than most of the Deq’ual’s habitats.

  “Comparison complete. Eighty percent possibility. Given how old the information is, I believe it is correct,” Quinn said.

  Adams saw an incoming message through the Mirror of Communication they were using to communicate in real time.

  Without pause, she opened it. A message screen appeared on her station.

  Private Message: Commander Sato

  Sato> Put out some drones and continue on with the mission.

  Adams> Understood.

  “Miko, get some of our drones out and about. Anders, as soon as we’re ready, let’s head out of the system and move to our next confirmation point,” Adams said.

  “Yes, Captain.” Anders turned the ship around and pointed them back toward the slipstream they had entered. They would go around through supposedly uninhabited systems before poking in again to check out another outpost.

  Adams hid her inner thoughts well.

  They had finally found the Jukal once again and there was a good chance that the information that they had received was good. Adams had been excited to go out, to fulfill her purpose, and to finally be an actual ship captain. Now, she was thinking about the consequences for Deq’ual due to her actions.

  They were building a fleet; the war machine was turning once again.

  But do we even have a hope of defeating the Jukal?

  They were a massive entity and Humanity had already lost once against them. It wasn’t too hard to think that they might lose again.

  She cleared her throat, pulling on her uniform to set it straight. She had a job to do. Fears and worries weren’t going to get it done. Once they confirmed that the information they got from Emerilia was in fact real, then it was going to be her and her crew’s job to go and pay a visit to their planet.

  Adams’s universe and reality were changing, and she wasn’t sure what it would mean or where it would lead.

  Chapter 11: Testing Grounds

  “Dave!” Deia yelled, entering into the massive new smithy that he’d created.

  He was at a workbench, five vault-classed soul gems around him as he carved out coding on a band of ebony. He looked up from his work. His confusion turned to surprise as she rushed him. Barely slowing down, she hugged him. He barely grabbed the table in time so that he didn’t fall out of his chair and onto the floor.

  “I figured it out!” Deia said breathlessly, kissing Dave quickly.

  “Uhhmm?”

  “How to make the volcano explode. I was relying on brute force Mana over using what was at my disposal in the environment. It opens up so many new things to study!” Deia grabbed Dave’s hand and pulled him.

  “Where are we going?” Dave lurched out of his chair.

  “Densaou! If I don’t get it, I know you can figure out how to help me with all of your sensing abilities!” Deia pulled him to the teleport pads, and then out into Per’ush and toward Fire and Mal’s apartment.

  Deia made to charge in the door, but Dave stopped her from opening the door.

  Heat rose to his cheeks. “Best to knock first,” Dave said, knocking very slowly. “Hey! Just came by for a visit!” Dave checked the door and made it seem as if it were locked.

  Of all the things I want to see, it was not Mal and Fire getting it on!

  “Be there in a minute!” Fire said in a shrill voice.

  Deia looked to Dave with a questioning look.

  Dave shrugged. “Good manners. We wouldn’t want anyone barging in on us,” Dave said diplomatically.

  Mal opened the door a few minutes later. “Dave, Deia, good to see you. What brings you around here ten at night?” Mal’s shirt was half tucked in as he took his time in letting them in.

  “We were just about to go to bed,” Fire said.

  “I always sleep at my desk.” Dave gave Mal and Fire a look and then the door.

  Mal grinned awkwardly and scratched his head as Fire went a shade of red.

  Deia walked over to Fire, not caring for what they were talking about, as she was focused on her one-track mind. “Mom, can you take us to the Ring? I have a new idea I want to try out,” she said excitedly.

  “Next time, dude, lock the door,” Dave whispered to Mal.

  “Well, you get, umm, busy and you forget those things,” Mal mutter
ed, locking the door.

  “I haven’t forgotten to lock my door once when I’ve been preoccupied,” Dave rebutted.

  “That’s a mental picture I don’t need.” Mal shook his head.

  “How do you think I figured out we should knock!” Dave hissed, holding his forehead.

  “Let’s just make it a rule to always knock and never talk of this again?” Mal asked.

  “Agreed,” Dave said in a low voice. The two of them shook on it before they turned back to the conversation Deia and Fire were having.

  “Okay, gather around and we can head off to the Ring.” Fire waved for Mal and Dave to join them. As soon as they were close, Fire called up her spell. Dave used his Touch of the Land, looking around as he studied the ridiculously complex magical formation that Fire created as they disappeared from Per’ush and appeared in the Densaou Ring of Fire. Dave equipped his armor; he’d put in a new line of code that would regulate heat.

  Denar, who was sleeping on the cap of stone that lay over the heated magma, moved her head around. Her massive eyes focused on the group. She made a groaning noise, trying to recover her sleepy state. “What is it now? Some of us like to sleep,” Denar complained, yawning.

  “I have an idea of how to make the volcano erupt!” Deia said.

  “Hmm, so soon? I thought that it would take a few months, not a few weeks.” Denar rose from her position. “Okay, I’m going to go lie down in an alcove. Show me what you can do,” Denar said.

  “Good luck, babe. You’ve got this.” Dave gave Deia a kiss and a smile.

  “Thanks, baby,” she said, nervous, but clearly excited and driven to push onward. Fire used a spell, creating a pocket of heat under them that pushed them up and into Fire’s home. Mal, Fire, and Dave took seats facing the volcano. Deia was just a speck on the rough stone cap.

  Some of the Dragons came out of their homes from the sides of the volcano or flew in from their volcanoes around the ring of fire.

  Dave saw Deia’s Mana move out to gain control of the entire volcano.

  She rose into the air. Beneath her feet, a hole appeared in the stone cap as the air in the volcano started to rotate. Deia stood in the center of the swirling air as it picked up speed. As the room increased in temperature, Dave noticed the power on his armor start to increase its draw. Although it was so small that it barely affected his overall stores, the ability to increase the temperature over such a large area was an impressive feat.

  Deia’s reach extended into the stratovolcano, where the volcano broke through bedrock. She started to twist and turn it, much like the air that was creating a cyclone, in the volcano’s main vent. Deia looked like the center of an hourglass with two spirals above and below her.

  She then created another hole in the cap, breaking down into the stratovolcano, just using an increase in heat to cycle the magma there up and down.

  Dave watched; his senses allowed him to see everything. The chamber was heating up more and more. The cap broke in more places as the magma below it melted through, pushing out over the cap or breaking through it. The magma looked like an unsteady sea, starting to bubble and move as it started to rise slowly.

  Deia continued at her pace, keeping the two cycles moving and the constant relaying heating path that stretched deep down into the stratovolcano, under the magma heating cyclone.

  The magma started to move upward. It was slow and arduous as Deia kept several massive spells going: pulling in heat from the surrounding area, pouring it into her cyclones, and then heating up and cooling the vent she had created off to the side.

  Deia moved her hands, creating a complex spell. Suddenly, the volcano went from blistering hot to chilly. Deia had forced the heat down the side vent she had created, down underneath the running cyclone in the magma. The law of thermodynamics came into effect; the heat wanted to rise.

  Deia cast the biggest fuel air bomb, and cracked a hole in the vent at the top of the volcano’s throat.

  The fuel air bomb drew in the air from outside the volcano as well as the freezing air. Within the throat, it ignited, aiming the concussive force at the top of the volcano. It created a vacuum within the volcano, heating the air to throw it outward, pulling on the heated magma of the stratovolcano.

  The magma rushed upward in a singular moment. Deia burned runes into the walls of the tunnel, increasing the heat and forcing air upward.

  The volcano shook as the magma raced upward, threading through the various vents. The plug was blown free of the volcano’s top. Ash blew out into the sky as lava erupted fifty meters into the sky before coming down to cover the landscape.

  Deia floated through the volcano, letting her spells fall, her runes being eaten by the rush of magma. She crossed through the Mana barrier that kept the magma from entering Fire’s home. “So, what do you think?” Deia smiled.

  Fire let out an unintelligible squeal, hugging Deia. “Definitely my daughter! That was brilliant—creating heated currents in the magma and air, then forcing that heat under the magma cyclone to push it upward, then using your explosion to superheat the volcano in mere seconds and create a vacuum to decrease the resistance of the magma’s path, and create a heated chimney to increase the magma’s flow rate!” Fire stepped away, a proud look on her face.

  Deia latched back onto her mother, beaming with the praise.

  Mal gave her two thumbs-up, his face split in a wide smile.

  “I knew you had it in you, firecracker.” Dave grinned.

  Deia hugged him tightly.

  He hugged her back, happy and proud for her achievements as the magma flow slowed down and decreased after blowing off its magma and cooling down without Deia’s aid.

  They pulled apart Deia’s spells, talking about her strengths and weaknesses. None of them pulled any punches. In Emerilia, it was best to be on top of your game, rather than going into a fight thinking that you were all-powerful. There was always room to improve.

  That said, none of them hid their excitement from Deia.

  As the magma settled, the Dragons whooped and cheered, flying up to Fire’s house and creating an impromptu celebration as they changed into their Human forms. All were talking excitedly about their aunt’s abilities.

  They were genuinely excited for her, and Dave found himself bombarded by more than one Dragon’s questions as they asked about items that Fire, Mal, Malsour, Induca, Fornau, and Gelimah had been talking about.

  ***

  King Sigaird watched the arena in Haugr. It was filled with a number of challengers, people testing their mettle to be sponsored by the city to go and fight in the Dwarven tournament.

  A wizard with a Water Affinity was facing off with a barbarian using a two-handed hammer. To Sigaird’s eye, it was clear that the Water mage was going to lose. He had the skill, but he was cocky, underestimating the barbarian, who was exaggerating his fatigue and wounds even as he got closer.

  The Water caster started an incantation to bring down a pillar of water on the barbarian. In a sudden burst of speed, the barbarian closed the space and slammed his hammer into the mage’s barriers. It stopped the hit, but the kinetic force was too much for the barrier’s grounding. The mage flew off the stage as the barbarian continued to try to fake his injuries, being declared the winner.

  Sigaird rubbed his face, stood and headed out of his office and to the balcony that overlooked his capital. He had thought about not holding the tournament. He didn’t want to lose capable fighters when Lord Esamael arrived, though holding them back and denying them access to the tournament would turn public opinion against him and make it all the easier for Lord Esamael to take over.

  So, he let the tournament go on. He didn’t know how many Esamael had under his command, but they wouldn’t be inconsiderable forces if he was daring to start a coup.

  “I just wish we had more information,” Sigaird said.

  Lady Merguine was doing all she could to find out more on Lord Esamael and his forces. It was clear that they had plans for the Stone R
aiders in some way, from all of the actions that were being aimed at their guild hall in Verlun.

  After Lady Merguine’s talk, Sigaird wasn’t going to mess with them. He didn’t need more enemies, though he wasn’t going to ally himself with them either. They were a small group and their military strength wasn’t all that great. When faced with an army of POEs, it was likely that they would fall, much like they did in Selhi Capital.

  Sigaird shook his head and let out a breath.

  “While they might run, they don’t forget,” Sigaird said. “I wonder if Selhi will ever be forgiven for their trespasses. Cut off from all Dwarven mountains and the Stone Raiders taking out contracts for food in the area around them and not willing to trade with anyone who trades with Selhi. Sure, they didn’t go in there and wage a war, but they’ll gut the damn country. The government has been trying to shift the blame but the guards and people of Selhi Capital have had months to spread what they saw and their anger at having the Stone Raiders being kicked out. A country on the decline and the population is looking right at the government as the root cause.”

  Sigaird turned from the balcony and walked back into his office, looking at the paperwork and his interfaces that seemed to float above his desk.

  “God, I just want to go back to adventuring. This leadership crap is for the dogs.” Sigaird groaned and slumped into his seat.

  Chapter 12: Decisions and Movement

  Loughbreck looked over the forces arrayed in front of him. There were twenty thousand troops moving around an orderly camp. Each wore weapons and armor without emblems. Groups were off practicing their spells or their fighting abilities. Others were running around and completing different exercises. There was one group of ten who were stationed around the territory that Loughbreck was in command of.

  “So, what do you think, sir?” The commander of the forces sounded rather proud of his people and his accomplishments.