by Eric Vall
“Well, yeah, I didn’t have them travel all this way to babysit them,” I snorted. “They’re waiting to move out for the attack.”
The generals exchanged a glance without responding, and I chuckled as I clapped them both on the shoulders.
“It’ll be fine, don’t worry so much. Just focus on getting everything else handled, and I’ll be back in a couple hours. Oh, and maybe stay out of the woods if you can help it. I don’t want to lose any mages to some hungry ogres.”
Kurna and Urn blinked at me, but I only flashed them a quick smile.
Then I left the pub at a clipped pace, and I could already hear Haragh leading Pindor and a dozen other Terra Mages in building a series of earthen caves in the northern woods. Grot and several other ogres were grunting their own recommendations here and there while they worked, and I grinned as I realized everything was coming together nicely so far, and it was only seven hours after I’d left the Oculus with Dragir.
If I kept this machine churning at top speed, everything could be organized by tomorrow, and with a little luck from the gods, we might just decimate the Master’s forces by the end of the week.
My heart leapt at the thought of living out the rest of my days in this realm without any mortal enemies, and I decided if that were the case, the first thing I’d do was build a palace for my women. Then I’d have sex with every one of them in every room, every day to celebrate, and I’d build a whole amusement park in our backyard for our kids to go apeshit in. If I had spare time between all the sex, and making new babies, and being an amazing father, I’d even build Alfred his own biplane so he could take vacations wherever he wanted, and maybe a few more metal dragons could join the flock as well.
And a submarine. Aquatics were a little out of my knowledge base, but who knew what kind of creatures existed in the oceans here if they already had sea dragons? With a lifetime to figure out the technicalities, I could probably become the first man in the realm to explore the depths of the magical oceans, and my murdery kids could grow up like pirates who owned it all.
“Yeah, a submarine is happening,” I muttered to myself as I wove through the lanes, but then I noticed the mages I passed didn’t look as carefree as usual.
They had tight frowns and furrowed brows, and they kept looking over their shoulders toward the mansion like they expected to see an ogre lurking behind them at every turn.
I tried to offer as many reassuring grins as I could while I made my way home, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. The mages returned the gestures with uneasy nods, and they clustered in groups of three or more like they had when the Oculus was targeted by the Master.
Still, I knew this whole arrangement was only temporary and completely in control, so I focused on my next task rather than worry about my residents. In my opinion, these mages had seen enough weirdness around Falmount to cope with some new neighbors for a couple days.
At least my women were handling it all well, and I smiled as I came across the bridge to find them cuddled against the metal dragon’s side while they told him about their recent trip around Illaria. They looked like they were in their own world despite the eighty or so ogres still mulling around in the clearing, and Deya had her claws tucked under her as she let her head rest on the dragon’s back.
The metal dragon actually nodded along with all the stories my women told him, too, and based on the way he looked at them, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he started braiding their hair in a couple minutes.
“Alright, time to break up the party,” I chuckled as I joined the group, and my women immediately begged me to let them have another ten minutes with him. “Dragon babies are depending on the dragon guardian, remember?”
“Yes, Mason,” Aurora mumbled.
“Good, so get your goodbyes handled, and then we’re heading to Aurum.”
“I think I’ll stay behind for this trip and begin preparations at the infirmaries,” Shoshanne said as she snuggled her cheek against the dragon’s sternum.
“Good idea,” I agreed. “You can take Bobbie to the Oculus, and if the healers’ stock is running low, use our gold to replenish it in Serin if you can.”
“But that’s our gold,” Aurora countered. “Shouldn’t Temin supply what’s needed for the Oculus.”
“Aurora, we have more than enough gold,” I reminded her. “I don’t care who’s paying for what, so long as our infirmaries are fully stocked to handle the fallout from this.”
Then I left the women to finish up their goodbyes while I checked on Deya one last time, and even though I had no idea how to tell if she was in poor health, I felt better giving the dragon a once over before her next flight.
Deya eyed me over her shoulder as she tried to nudge her ass into me every chance she got, but she still let me lift her wings and nod at her scales like I knew anything about dragons.
“Looks good,” I announced, but when the dragon snorted some smoke out, I knew she was calling bullshit. “You’ll thank me one day. Alright, ladies! Let’s wrap it up.”
My women shifted aside as I motioned for the metal dragon to stand up again, and he lowered his head in front of me so I could pat his demonic skull.
“Thanks for helping out, buddy,” I muttered. “I heard you’re pretty popular out at Mors Pass, too. Hope you’re having fun out there.”
I could tell by the glow of his gem that he was, and when he let out a soft screech and looked at my women, I nodded in agreement.
“I’ll bring you back every now and then to see them,” I assured him, “and once this is all over, we’ll make you your own cave right here in Falmount. How does that sound?”
Green flames spewed from the dragon’s skull as he roared with approval, and I frantically doused my singed vest as I stumbled back.
“Okay, great, so don’t burn anything on your way to Mors Pass,” I chuckled. “I want you to try delivering some orders to the snatchers for me, too. Send them into the foothills so they can get back to work, and I’ll check later to make sure it all works out. I may end up summoning you back here in the next couple days, though, depending on how everything goes, so pay attention to your gem, alright?”
The metal dragon let out a last metallic screech before he launched into the air, and the nearby ogres marveled at his glinting wings while my women clutched each other and waved with tears in their eyes.
“We love you!” Shoshanne croaked.
“We’ll miss you!” Aurora added, and the dragon hovered above the clearing while he looked down on the women below.
“Let him go,” I sighed as I headed for Deya.
It still took several minutes for the women to stop fawning over the metal beast, but eventually, they let him fly away, and then they just stood there staring at the empty sky like sad mama birds.
I slumped on the back of Deya while I waited for them to recover, and the minutes seemed to crawl by as I considered how packed my day was. Still, I knew it was painful for my women to part from my dragon doppelgänger, so while they dabbed at their eyes and sniffed their way through the moment, I scanned the town to keep myself from getting antsy. I also made a mental note to find a name for the dragon before he was christened as Mason Jr. for life.
Then Ruela came prancing in from the western woods, and I chuckled when I saw the severed deer head clamped in her jaws.
“Good dog,” I said as she dropped the head and sent me a gaping smile, but then I heard a low snarl coming from the group of ogres near the moat.
Two of them were prowling forward with their teeth bared, and when I recognized the predatory hunger in their eyes, my heart nearly stopped.
“No!” I gasped, but it was too late.
Both ogres pounced at the same time, and Ruela let out a pained yowl as they caught her in their claws by the scruff of her neck.
My women screeched while Deya reared up and roared with fury, and I crashed to the ground before I whipped around and saw both ogres yanking the dog back and forth to try to ge
t a bite in.
Before any of us could save Ruela, though, another pained yowl rent the air, and my blood turned to ice.
Then one of the ogres staggered back while he clutched his oozing wrist, and I’d only just furrowed my brow in confusion when Ruela tore the second ogre’s jugular out. My jaw dropped as I watched the wolfish beast rip his face off next, and as soon as the ogre hit the ground, she lunged to clamp her jaws in the other ogre’s bulging gut.
Blood splattered across the ground while she ripped into the giant green beast with a vengeance, and the nearby ogres could only stand by and stare while Ruela mauled both of her attackers until their insides were on the outside, and their faces were shredded pits with mushed brains in the middle.
When it was all done, I finally remembered to blink again, and Ruela snorted some green flesh from her nose before she shook herself off, stepped in the ogre’s guts, and retrieved her severed deer head.
Then the wolfish beast trotted toward the mansion with her tail held high, and every ogre turned toward me in silent, furious shock.
“Okay,” I muttered as I got up on wobbly legs, and I nodded like everything was still under control. “So… now you know not to eat my dog, but let’s lay out a few more ground rules before I head out.”
Chapter 4
My jaw ached from clenching it so hard while we flew north to Aurum, but I tried to look at the Ruela incident as a minor hiccup. Worse could have happened, and for the most part, things were still basically under control while the ogres knew they shouldn’t hunt within the bounds of Falmount. As long as their lair was finished soon, they wouldn’t have much of a reason to come into the lanes, and the Defenders could calm down and focus on their preparations instead.
Shoshanne would hopefully have our infirmaries ready by the end of the day, too, and I still had at least five hours of daylight left. With Aurora determined to do whatever she could to help me carry out this attack, and Cayla joining us as well, I felt like we could be finished with our visit to Aurum in only an hour. So, as long as my talk with the dwarven Elders went off without a hitch, I’d reach Nalnora within my time frame.
I ran over my discussion points in my mind while Deya soared over rugged, snow-capped peaks, and the heat of her scales beneath me fended off the chill in the air as my women clutched their fur shawls around their arms. Once we neared the first mining operations, though, the view of Orebane’s rail system from above distracted me from most of my concerns.
The dwarves had outdone themselves since I first brought the tracks into the Draconis Mountains, and they’d devised a few different suspension systems that allowed them to extend the railway to every mine and miners’ village despite the perilous terrain.
Viaducts crossed mile wide valleys to suspend the tracks from one mountain to the next, and while some rail lines tunneled through smaller peaks, others were anchored to the edges of precarious cliffs with iron support beams. The dwarves were even producing their own transport cars for their goods now, and from my vantage point, I could see four trains operating in different parts of the region.
Then I realized there were shafts of steam billowing out of the engines, and my teeth froze over from how huge my grin got.
“They figured out steam engines!” I hollered above the howling wind.
“What’s a steam engine?” Cayla yelled back.
“It’s an external combustion engine like the sterling engines I built, but it uses steam pressure to power the pistons,” I explained. “There are higher risks with them, but my world used the same invention for years to power our trains! The dwarves fucking figured it out in months!”
“Thanks to you, I’m sure,” the princess chuckled as she sent me a smug grin over her shoulder.
“That’s not really how inventions work,” I laughed. “To study my engines and convert the concept to steam power, then create so many in such a short time is incredible! It just goes to show how advanced dwarven innovation is.”
“Well, don’t tell Bagneera about this,” Aurora yelled from her spot behind Deya’s spines.
“Definitely not,” I agreed. “Baggy’s a boss engine driver, I couldn’t take that away from her. Plus, using Ignis magic makes our engines safer to operate. This whole setup must increase productivity by at least seventy percent, though. The railway leads to all of their mines from what I can see.”
“Do any of these tracks reach the area where the tunnels are located?” Cayla asked.
“Let me check.”
I could already see the towering gates of Aurum off in the distance, so I quickly summoned my metal magic to follow the easternmost rail I could find from up here. It was difficult to get a clear idea of how far it went, though, with so many peaks intercepting my powers, but from the general direction the tracks travelled in, it didn’t seem like a convenient route to take.
“I can’t tell for sure from up here,” I told the women. “I’ll need to study the layout of the mountains once we get to Aurum. Deya, you wanna aim for the fortress you see built into the rockface. The one with all the gabled towers and silver spires. There’s a large courtyard just outside the fortress gates where you should be able to land, but once you drop us off, wait on the mountainside until we call you back. I don’t want to frighten the dwarves too much.”
Deya let out a screech as she coasted toward the gates of Aurum, and I grinned when I looked down to see the guards were too shocked at the sight of us riding on the black dragon to do much more than remove their helms for a better view.
I waved as the citizens in the streets dropped their baskets and almost crashed their carts over it, and I could hear several of them muttering my name in wonder while they barely managed to wave back. We soared over domed rooftops with golden rods while more dwarves came running out of the stately buildings, and when Deya came in for a soft landing in front of the Elders’ fortress, there must have been a hundred dwarves gathered in the street.
“Hey,” I said as I slid off Deya with a grin. “Good to see you all again.”
A few dwarves nodded blankly, and one gruff old man stammered a “you, too” as I helped my women down from the dragon.
Then I patted Deya before she took flight, and with the citizens all staring at our backs, you could have heard a pin drop while I led my women to the finely wrought silver entrance of the fortress.
The guards’ jaws were slack as they fumbled to grab the ruby handles and open the doors for us, and I was pretty sure they were supposed to make me state my purpose for visiting, but I could understand how they’d forget.
“Are the Elders in the throne room?” I asked while I passed.
“Y-Yes, Defender Flynt,” a dwarven guard hastily replied. “Straight ahead.”
“Thanks,” I chuckled.
Then the three of us admired the gilded columns of the entryway while we made our way to a pristine marble staircase, and Cayla nudged me in the side before she pointed to the large rubies circling each buttress.
I smirked as I recognized the look in her blue eyes, but I shook my head.
“I think our mansion has enough rubies,” I muttered.
“Not even close to enough,” the princess retorted.
Aurora’s giggle echoed around the immaculate hall while we scaled the steps, and once we passed down a long hall lined with fierce statues of armored dwarves, we came to an arched golden doorway guarded by ten men on either side.
“We’ve come to speak with the Elders on a matter of national defense,” I told the nearest dwarf, and he bowed his head before he motioned for two guards to part the gilded doors for us.
Then we crossed the threshold into a lofty room as gilded as the entryway had been, and the five dwarven Elders looked up in shock from their high-backed thrones when they saw us.
“Defender Flynt?” Foreg said in bewilderment, and the three of us bowed low when we reached the half-circle of thrones.
The white-haired dwarf returned the gesture while the others stared with confus
ion, and Dogra began fiddling with his dense black beard as he eyed me curiously.
“Elders, forgive me for the sudden arrival,” I began, “but we come on a matter of urgency.”
“No forgiveness necessary,” Dogra announced. “What brings you to us this day?”
“We’ve reached the point where we can deliver an offensive attack against the Master,” I told the Elders, and all of them shifted in their seats. “My army is preparing in the south, and I’ve come seeking soldiers of the dwarven army to join us in this fight.”
“You have our alliance,” Foreg assured me with a nod. “I take it you’ve found a means of infiltrating the headquarters you mentioned?”
“No,” I replied, “but we’ve located a series of underground tunnels that branch out from the base of The Master’s fortress, and two of them extend to the far north beneath your mountains. Three more travel deep into Nalnora while a fourth reaches all the way to Illaria, and we have reason to believe the Master is about to use these tunnels to send his possessed army out for a mass attack across the regions.”
The Elders’ hands stilled against their beards as they paled by a few degrees.
“They… he… now?” Foreg finally managed.
“We don’t know when he’ll be launching this attack,” I answered, “but Dorinick’s crew have been scouting his fortress, and based on what they’ve seen out there, as well as the pattern of attacks taking place in Illaria, the Master seems to be prepared to take drastic action. If we move fast enough, we can assemble a series of ambushes at the head of these tunnels and wipe out the majority of his army before it’s too late.”
The white-haired dwarf nodded shakily as he began anxiously stroking his beard, and he raised his wiry brows at the Elders surrounding him. Dogra just mirrored his expression while Killick tugged at his ruddy red beard with a troubled scowl, but Agrokea stared straight ahead as his milky blue eyes narrowed.
“What can we… offer to your cause?” the age-addled Elder asked.
“I require soldiers who can assist our defenses at the southern tunnels, but the majority of your army will remain in the north, and they must be prepared to head east and station themselves at the two tunnels of Orebane within the next day.”
