Soul Gem Collector 6 Chapter 10

“Zayre!” Taslyn shouted as I flew backwards towards the fading bonfire.

I reached into my powers, to the wind sylph I had caught with Janel and Tas, and used the air currents to stop myself from landing directly in the hungry flames. The fire still licked at my clothes as I landed, but I took a few steps forwards so I wouldn’t catch fire.

“I’m okay,” I said with a reassuring smile as I raised my hands.

The five remaining council members walked around the couches, the sleeves of their robes pushed up past their elbows, while their hands began to glow with their magic. Each of them stared directly at me as they advanced, though my girls moved to stand between us like they would protect me.

“Noura,” I said. “I need you guys to get back. Make them a shield.”

“No,” my elvenborn wife said as she straightened her back and lifted her chin in the air. “I’m not going to let them kill you.”

“Neither will I,” Aylara said in her airy, squeaky voice.

“We have no grievance with you,” the middle-aged elvenborn with dark hair said. “But he cannot be allowed to live.”

“He’s an abomination,” the balding council member growled again. “Humans should not have magic. Especially not soul gems.”

“Noura,” I called to the djinn again, her flaming hair curled into the air, the tips were bright blue with her growing rage, and she didn’t even bother to look my way. “Noura, please.”

Her coal dark eyes turned towards me, they softened as she met my eyes, and after long, agonizing breaths, she snapped her fingers and transported herself and the other girls out of range. They all surged together like they were one, but Noura sealed them in with another shield, and they could do nothing but bang their fists against the boundary.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I said as I lifted my hands in the air. “I just wanted to reveal the traitors in your midst.” I gestured to the bodies of the two Iron Dwarves who had hidden themselves on the Council of the Illuminated Ones.

“Those are nothing but an illusion,” the gray haired council member sneered without even a glance at the imposters.

“I don’t have that kind of power,” I said and then I glanced behind me and saw that the fire was lower, but it still blocked my path, and though they hadn’t attacked yet, they had spread out in an arch in front of me so I couldn’t escape that way either.

“How can we possibly believe someone like you,” said a blonde elvenborn who looked a little less angry than his comrades, he was younger than the others, but blue sparks still licked the tips of his fingers as he readied himself for an attack.

“Why would I lie?” I asked. “What could I possibly have to gain?”

“Enough of this,” the balding man snapped. “He doesn’t deserve to live. The law is clear. He has created soul gems and must be punished.”

Before any of the others could respond, the balding elvenborn raised his hands, and a waterball shot towards me to become a thick wall that forced me backwards.

I lunged to my right, but the wall of water curved around to force my back towards the fire. The flames seemed to have grown larger, and as I looked through the wavering water in front of me, I could see the dark haired elvenborn had fire in his hands. He was reviving the bonfire while the balding man threatened to drown me if I didn’t back into the bonfire.

Tas, I called out to my vixen girlfriend through our link. I need you all to get out of here. Have Noura take you somewhere. Anywhere but here.

That’s never going to happen, the fox-girl snarled, her frustration came through our emotional link, and her anger made it clear that she would not be going anywhere.

Heat burned into the back of my calves, and I winced as I jumped towards the left, only to be greeted by the wall of water. The liquid barrier touched the fire on the other side of the bonfire, and smoke began to fill the area to choke me.

I had to get out of the trap they had created, I took a deep breath, and then pictured the other side of the clearing, behind the council members and out the way of their attacks. The water, fire, and steam disappeared as I transported myself to safety, but I didn’t wait for them to realize I had moved before I pulled up the thickest, strongest vines I could to bind them.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I shouted as the five of them struggled.

Two of them had already begun to decay the living ropes, one lit the others on fire, and the last two used wind to rip the vines to shreds. The once green binds fell to the earth, and the council members turned to find me again.

“You don’t have a choice,” the balding man said.

“Maybe we should hear him out,” the blonde elvenborn suggested. “He’s powerful. And if the Iron Dwarves really are-”

“Those were our friends,” the dark haired elvenborn snapped. “And now they are nothing but illusions that serve to distract us from what we must do.”

A ball of flame flew towards me, I pulled up a quick wall of limestone, but it was thinner, and after one impact it already had cracks that splintered through it. The wall also blocked my line of sight so I couldn’t attack without the risk of a serious injury to one of the council members.

I thought fast, I needed to lure them away from the girls, but I saw the blonde haired elvenborn had pulled the other council member, an older brown haired elvenborn, towards the bodies of their fallen comrades, and closer to the girls. The strong women were still behind the barrier, and the council members didn’t seem to pay any attention to them, or me, but I couldn’t let them be hurt.

Another strike to the wall, a tunnel of water like I used, pierced through the wall, and the limestone wall cracked and crumbled. As the stones cascaded to the ground, I used Mama Skelk to transport to the treeline furthest away from the girls, while the two angriest council members spun to find me.

“You can’t escape us,” the balding water mage warned as he stretched his neck from side to side.

“I’m not trying to get away,” I shouted back as I summoned my wind to carry my words on a gentle breeze, while the rest of it became a funnel around me to block any of their attacks.

I wasn’t sure how long they could cast, they were the most powerful mages in all of the River Kingdoms, but if I could get them tired enough that they might listen, I might be able to explain that the dead council members really were Iron Dwarves. The bodies of the dwarves had begun to reknit themselves together with the help of the younger council members, neither of them had even glanced towards the girls, and the gray haired elvenborn had left me to his two friends in favor of the reconstructed bodies.

Janel has started to sing again, Tas said. Is it helping?

I don’t feel any different, I told the vixen as I braced against a ball of fire that struck my wind vortex, the flames consumed the air, and I found myself trapped inside a fire tornado.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered as I tried to release the twister, but the thing had taken on a life of its own, and I had no choice but to transport out of it.

If I couldn’t wear them out soon, then I was going to have to start to fight them for real, and the last thing I needed was to have the deaths of the Council of Illuminated Ones on my conscience. They also had to be alive if they were going to help me stop the invasion of the River Kingdom’s greatest enemy, though that was assuming I could take all five out. I was in enough trouble with just the two that continued to attack me.

I reappeared behind the two members, my back to the other three, though they were still focused on the Iron Dwarves as they recreated the imposters. The dwarves flint black skin gleamed in the light of Noura’s shield, the damage I had inflicted was gone, and I almost believed that they would start to breathe again.

We have to open the top of the shield, Taslyn said, her tone was tight, and I could tell it had taken all three of the other girls to convince Noura for even that concession. It’s the only way that Janel’s song can help you.

If you see any sign that they are coming for you, you shut up the barrier again, I responded.

The sound of my wife’s sweet voice rose into the night air, her song wove its way into my muscles, and strength coursed through my veins to push back the exhaustion that had begun to settle in my bones.

“You cannot outrun us forever,” the water mage snarled when he found me again. “You should accept your fate and maybe we’ll allow the women to go.”

His dark haired companion glanced towards the shield, and then back towards the balding council member with a dubious look on his face. His eye twitched as the middle-aged elvenborn looked over to the two Iron Dwarves, and I could almost see him begin to doubt their attacks on me.

I was so distracted with the other council members, I missed the funnel of water that the balding mage shot towards me, but my beautiful elvenborn wife changed her song as she pulled forward my fire to turn the attack to steam. The heated air washed over me, and I jumped back as I refocused on the council member who still seemed to be focused on killing me.

“The women have only been helping to expose the Iron Dwarves and the Korlems,” I shouted in hopes that the water mage would finally start to listen to me.

His forehead was covered in sweat, there were splotches of red across his pale skin, and his hands shook as he held them up. He was tired, he wouldn’t be able to continue to attack me, but as he squared his shoulders, I knew that he was not about to stop.

I closed my eyes as I tried to think of something, anything, that I could do to incapacitate him without permanent damage, but everything I came up with would either kill him or injure him enough that it would make the other council members come to his aid.

Tas, I said. Can you suppress his powers enough that he wouldn’t be able to break through the vines?

Yes, the vixen replied. He’s already exhausted. But he’s so angry that he may fight against it anyways.

It’s my only option, I responded. The others are paying attention to the Iron Dwarves. I think they realized that it’s not an illusion. They might be willing to hear us out. But this guy just won’t stop.

Okay, my redheaded girlfriend said. Just be careful.

I watched the man in front of me as he staggered, and then shook his head. He glanced towards the shield as if he realized what Taslyn had done, but before he could take a step towards her, I used all of my power to pull vines up, and I wrapped him up over and over until the straps of living rope were thick enough to hold him for at least a little while.

“Please,” I said to the man as he struggled, but the exhaustion had taken over him, and he couldn’t cast a spell strong enough to break the vines. “Just hear me out.” I risked a step closer to him. “I have no intention of hurting any of you. But there’s a war coming and if you won’t help protect the River Kingdoms… well… then I’ll do it without you.”

“Liro,” the gray haired elvenborn said to the balding mage. “Liro, those really are Iron Dwarves.”

“You can’t believe anything that you see, Sorn,” the balding water mage snapped.

“We’ve all seen it Liro,” the blonde mage said. “We double-checked the magic. It’s really Iron Dwarves. On the Council of the Illuminated Ones… right next to us. For how long?” The young mage plopped down on one of the couches, he ignored the scorch marks and the water logged fabric as he put his head in his hands, and his shoulders sagged under the weight of the new information.

“Who knows?” the gray haired mage, Sorn, asked. “How did you find out?” The man asked as he focused his attention on me.

“I will be happy to tell you everything, but I need to make sure that I will be safe until after I’ve explained everything.” I looked towards the balding mage, Liro, but he seemed like he had started to believe his comrades, and for the moment he seemed like he was calm. “I also need to make sure that my girls will be allowed to go. They’ve done nothing wrong.”

Sorn glanced over to the shield that the strong, beautiful women were still protected behind. They all watched me, and after a few very long seconds, the gray haired mage sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m sure that will be fine,” he said as he looked towards the other council members. “They have no soul gems on them. And none of them seemed like they were involved in the collection of the Iron Dwarves.”

“They weren’t,” I reassured him. “They have only been trying to help me expose the Iron Dwarves plan to attack the River Kingdoms… and the Korlem family’s treason.”

“I don’t see why we should hold them,” the brown haired elvenborn said. “We will keep an eye on them, though. No matter what we decide to do with you.”

“That’s fair,” Taslyn said as she stepped through the fading shield.

“I would expect nothing less,” Janel added as the noble elvenborn smoothed her robes. “Noura, would you mind helping to clean up the camp? We may need new couches.”

“I am happy to help my masters,” the djinn said with a wary glance to the council members. “I will also protect them.” Her words came out like a warning as she snapped her fingers.

The camp was remade and the fire relit, the warmth of it reached over to me, and the back of my calves reminded me how close I had been to the flames earlier. The fire was not just high enough to light all of our faces, though it didn’t quite reach into the forest that surrounded our clearing.

All of the couches were dried, the fabric cleaned, and five plush chairs were added so that everyone could sit comfortably in a circle to talk. The circle was to one side of the fire rather than around it a perfect way for us to see each other, and the bodies of the dwarves had been moved closer to where the fire was.

“Thank you,” I said to Noura as she and the other girls took their places on the couches.

“You have your own djinn slave?” the blonde council member asked, his blue eyes swept over Noura, and he seemed impressed as he nodded his head.

“She is bound to me,” I answered with a frown. “But she is free to do as she pleases.”

“Really?” Sorn said as he smoothed back his dark gray hair. “That’s not how most masters bind their djinn. Why do you have her in the first place?”

“Zayre saved me and several other djinn from the Korlems underground ring,” Noura answered as my rage flared, she walked over to wrap a hand around the fist I had clenched, and I flipped my hand over to intertwine my fingers through his.

“Is that true?” Liro asked from his cocoon of vines.

“Yes,” I replied. I sighed and ran my free hand through my short hair as I looked at the bound water magel. “If you promise not to attack me… I will release you.”

“I’ll allow you to explain yourself,” the balding council member said.

“That works,” I said as I recalled the vines into the earth.

The girls took a seat on one of the couches, all three of them held each other’s hand, and after a kiss on my cheek, Noura went to join them. They looked sweet and almost helpless, but I knew well enough that any one of them could put up a very good fight, even against the Council of the Illuminated Ones.

“You said the Korlems have been working with the Iron Dwarves?” the dark haired elvenborn asked after the other council members had taken a seat, and I had perched on the arm of my girl’s couch.

“Yes,” I said. “I have proof.”

“And how did you get this proof?” Liro asked from a white chair that was directly across from me.

“That’s not important,” Tas responded, her ears were back, and she seemed like she might bear her fangs at the mage.

“I’d say that’s fairly important,” the brown haired mage said. “How you got the information is as vital as the facts themselves.”

“I worked for the Korlems,” I said. “They wanted me to make some black powder for the Iron Dwarves.”

“And did you?” Liro narrowed his eyes as his fingers drummed on the arms of his chair.

“I did,” I answered, and then took a deep breath as I readied myself to explain. “I made them twenty barrels of the black powder. Then we followed the Iron Dwarves back to the mountains to make sure that they didn’t plan to use it right away.”

“But they were bringing it back to their base camp,” my wife said as she reached up to put a hand on my knee.

“So we blew it up,” Noura grinned. “Well… I blew it up since I’m immune to fire.”

“How did the Korlems react?” Sorn said with a smirk. “I can just imagine Lem’s face.”

“You know the Korlems?” Taslyn’s voice was steady though her ears twitched with irritation.

“Oh yes,” the gray haired mage said. “They are well known aristocrats.”

“Yeah, and Sorn’s been suspicious of them since they started to gain power,” the blonde chuckled with a shake of his head. “He has a strong distrust of noveau riches.”

“And it looks like I was right, wasn’t I?” Sorn retorted. “I told you to respect your elders.”

“If you suspected they were up to something,” I said. “Why didn’t you do something?”

“Because we believed the imposters,” the dark haired fire mage replied, his dark eyes shifted to where the bodies of the fake council members had been moved, and his lips tugged down into a deep frown.

“I still can’t believe we didn’t realize it,” the brown haired elvenborn sighed as he ran his hand over his face. “How could we have been fooled?”

“And how did a human see through it when the most powerful mages in the River Kingdoms didn’t?” Liro muttered.

“I have a soul gem with a dwarven wizard,” I said. “Actually… I guess I have three now.”

I stuffed my hand in my pocket to where the bag of gems was hidden, there was no point trying to pretend they weren’t there, and I wanted to see which of the three stones the two souls had chosen. The ruby and sapphire that had previously been empty now swirled with the brown magic of the Iron Dwarves, and I had to push back my curiosity as I wondered what new magic they would offer.

“How did you get the soul of an Iron Dwarf?” Liro asked as he sat forward.

“We ran into a warband on the way to the capital,” I said. “We couldn’t let them attack a town… so we took care of them.”

“How noble of you,” the dark haired mage muttered.

“It was,” my wife retorted, her green eyes narrowed as she glared at the council member, and her hand on my thigh tightened as she took a calming breath. “He took on a warband of our greatest enemies to make sure our people were safe.”

“I had help,” I reminded her with a warm smile. “Anyways… one of the dwarves was a mage. And when he died his soul went into an amethyst.”

“And he just told you that there were dwarves on the council?” the blonde asked with a shocked expression.

“It doesn’t work like that,” Liro huffed at the younger man. “You said he went into an amethyst?”

“Yes,” I said. “It usually gives me a mental link… in this case I started to see through any glamour that I came across.”

My nerves were on edge as I answered all of their questions, these men held my life in their hands, I had made every effort to keep myself away from them, and there I was telling them everything. I checked with Ferox, but the little chamrosh had grown quite since the fight had ended. When I asked him to check for any threats, he just lifted his nose into the air, sniffed, and then put his head back down on his paws.

“And you saw them when you came to talk to the king,” Sorn said with a nod of his head as he started to put the pieces together.

“Were you there to kill the king?” the dark haired mage asked.

“Lan,” Sorn sighed. “You really think he’s dumb enough to attack the king in his court… with all of the soldiers around him?”

“He’s human,” the dark haired fire mage shrugged. “And he did decide to take on the Iron Dwarves and the Korlems without help.”

“I had help,” I reminded Lan. “I wouldn’t have survived this long if it wasn’t for the amazing women in my life.” I looked over at the powerful, beautiful women on the couch and gave them all a smile that I hoped would express my love and appreciation for them.

“Obviously,” Aylara flipped her platinum blonde curls.

“So why did you try to see the king?” Lan brought the attention back to him.

“I wanted to show him the proof we had about the Korlems, the Iron Dwarves, and the Chief Constable,” I answered.

“Ah yes,” Sorn said. “The man you killed. I assume you’re not trying to start a rebellion. But you say that you have some kind of proof against him?”

“He was working for the Korlems,” I explained. “We brought him the proof we have but then he called Kay Korlem to tell him about us… I had no choice but to kill him. I have his black book that shows all of the criminals he let loose, the deals he made, everything.”

Ferox doesn’t seem worried, I said to Tas through our link. But can you check their auras for me as well? I need to make sure that I can trust them with everything.

They all seem okay, the vixen responded, her pupils were already dilated, and she smirked as she caught my pride that she had already started to monitor them. I trust fewer people than you, my love. But other than the usual distrust, anger, and confusion… they all seem fine. Nothing to make me think they’re trying to hide anything. I do think Sorn has a grudge against the Korlems. His aura spiked with joy when you said you had proof that they were treasonous.

“And the Korlems set you up as a rebel to cover their ass,” the young blonde mage said. “So you tried to sneak in to see King Sweyn.”

“And saw the two imposters,” Sorn said again. “Which explains why you ran.”

“To be honest it was both seeing all of you and the Iron Dwarves in your midst,” I admitted. “I figured I would be killed on the spot and then there would be no one to stop the invasion.”

“I would have,” Liro said.

“We know,” Sorn rolled his eyes at the balding mage. “You tried to kill him five minutes ago.”

“His magic is an abomination,” the water mage huffed. “I’m still not entirely convinced that we shouldn’t destroy him now and move on against the Iron Dwarves on our own.”

“Maybe we should ask how he came to make the soul gems,” the gray haired mage countered, they were the oldest members of the council, and I had no doubt they were friends despite their obvious differences.

“So… how did you?” the blonde asked as he brought his feet up underneath him in his oversized chair. “Did you find the spells at Argent Astra?”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “The first soul gem was a complete accident. There were some battle mages in my alchemy lab when I was fixing a mirror for one of the professors. I had stuffed a loose amethyst into my pocket so I would remember to fix it later… and then one of the guys started messing with the mirror. I warned him no to but he tried to scry on the broken surface and it exploded. It killed his pet chamrosh and the thing’s soul went into the amethyst.”

“You didn’t cast a spell?” Liro said, his dark gray eyes darted over to Sorn, and something passed between them that made my heart pick up.

“No,” I said. “I never have. If someone or something with magic dies near me, and I have a free gem, its soul just comes to me, like some… innate ability.”

“You said that the amethyst gives you a mental link,” the brown haired mage spoke up. “What about other gems?”

I looked around at the mages, and I bit back my nervousness as I tried to remember that the more they knew, the less likely they were to kill me. Though, I wasn’t sure how many of them were still on the fence like Liro, and they may decide that the death sentence would have to be carried out either way.

“The rubies are offensive spells, the sapphires are defensive, and emeralds are a toss up,” I said.

“How many do you have?” the blonde gaped at me.

“Enough to help me fight our enemy,” I said. “I collected most of them from fighting magical creatures that were killing or hurting people.”

“Are they all creatures and dwarves?” Lan asked as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair.

“No,” I confessed. “But I have never killed anyone except for self defense.” I glanced around at the men who held my fate, and was glad that they didn’t look angry at the moment. “And I have already given my word that I would not make any more after the war is over.”

“And who did you promise?” Liro sneered.

“Me,” Noura said with a lifted chin, the ends of her flaming curls turned blue with her anger, and she dared the mage to say something else.

“You made a vow to your djinn?” Sorn asked with a bright grin as he glanced from me to Liro, and then over to Noura.

“Yes,” I said, my shoulders tensed as I tried to decide what he meant with his question, but he lifted his hands in the air and shook his head when he saw the set of my jaw.

“I don’t mean anything by it,” the gray haired council member said. “But… well… did you know that a vow to a djinn is unbreakable?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said with a glance to the beautiful, flame haired woman. “I keep my word.”

“Zayre is the best man I have ever met,” Janel said.

“He is,” Noura agreed.

“He’s meant to bring down the Iron Dwarves,” Taslyn added.

“Oh?” the blonde mage said, his interest peaked, and he gave me a once over as if he could see something new in me.

“I read his tarot cards after we first met,” the vixen said, her tail swished behind her, and her amber eyes met with the young mage’s in challenge.

“And did it show that the Korlems were behind all of it?” Lan, the dark haired fire mage questioned.

“No,” I answered as I felt a surge of irritation through my bond with Tas. “It just said I would take down a patient enemy. Everything else kind of fell into place. It was as if Luna herself had guided us to where we needed to be.”

“Such a grand fate for a human,” Liro laughed.

“I guess she just likes me,” I responded, I held back my irritation at the obvious snub, it wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to already, and it was clear that the moon goddess had been a guide on my journey.

“Naturally,” Sorn said as he leaned back in his chair. “You’ve managed to win the hearts of four beautiful women. And it is unheard of for anyone, nonetheless a human, making soul gems without a complicated spell. One that would have left a taint on your soul that any one of us could have sensed.”

“But you did notice his soul gems,” Tas said.

“The… Iron Dwarves… noted it before any of us did,” Lan said. “We just believed them. You have none of the usual signs of evil that would accompany such… magic.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Liro said as he pushed himself up out of his chair, and then motioned for the others to join him. “You will stay here while we make a decision.”

The men all strolled closer to the fire, away from us, and closer to where Noura had moved the bodies of the Iron Dwarves.

“Of course,” I said, though I did wonder if I could transport all of us far enough away that the council couldn’t follow us, but they had resources we didn’t, and if we had a hope of defeating the Iron Dwarves, we needed to work together.

As the council members talked, I saw a bright light emanate from the pocket of one of the fallen dwarves, and I barely managed to jump over the furniture to knock the mages out of the way before the device had a chance to explode.