Soul Gem Collector 6 Chapter 3

Those are Iron Dwarves, Taslyn whispered through our psychic link, and though no one else could hear her words, I winced at the sound and then waited for the dangerous dwarves to turn around and see us.

We need to attack first, I responded, my tongue was thick in my suddenly dry mouth, and my heart pounded so loud that it was like the drums of war had taken up residence inside my chest.

There’s six of them against three, she said. We should call Noura to join us.

I’m not sure she’s recovered enough for that, I replied. I squatted down behind the tree I had hidden behind, and motioned for the girls to do the same.

We should leave it up to her, my sexy vixen girlfriend huffed. Whether we catch them by surprise or not, they’re going to be stronger than us. And what if this entire warband is made up of mages?

I shifted my attention to the giant axes that leaned next to them on their logs, it’d be easy enough to discover if they were battle mages. If their axes had gems of some sort, then they were probably all mages, and we would definitely need any backup that Noura could give. If they didn’t have any stones, then I was sure that the three of us could overpower them, at least if we took them by surprise we could take three of them out before the other three had time to react.

The axes were forged steel, the heads of the weapons were molded into the handle so they would be harder to break, and there was braided iron hammered in a spiral pattern around the grip that lined the sharp edges of the blade. There were three that were double-headed, two of them had a single head but had a long spike at the end made entirely of iron, and the last one was so large I suspected even Otso would have trouble with its size. Thankfully, only the massive weapon had any gems, but there were three of them, and they were all rubies so they would aid in whatever offensive spell the dwarf that yielded it would cast.

Only one of the axes has gems, so I doubt all of them are mages, I told Taslyn when I had ensured that I was right about the other weapons. But you’re right. It’ll be helpful if Noura was with us. Let’s go back to the camp and gather what we need. We can talk about our plan there before we attack.

Good idea, Tas said, and then reached over to squeeze Janel’s hand before she nodded back the way we came.

My wife bobbed her head in understanding as she turned and snuck back through the trees to the main road. She turned towards the camp, and her footsteps were almost silent despite the underbrush. She kept to the shadows so well that she almost became one, and I wondered how often she had snuck away from the Korlem estate when she was younger.

I followed the two women, though my own passing seemed infinitely louder than theirs, and I wondered if I could use the assassin’s power to soften the sound of my feet. I would have to do a quick test run when we got back to the camp, but I didn’t want to give the dwarves too much on the off chance one would wander away and find us, though by the bottles that were tipped over into the grass, I suspected they would be far too drunk to get far.

The clearing was empty when we entered it, without the teleportation directly into the camp it was impossible to tell that there was one at all, and I reminded myself to thank Noura for the shield that she had used.

“We should be able to just walk in, right?” Janel whispered as she stared at the spot that the fire should have been.

“I think so,” I said. “I think the barrier just keeps people from seeing it.”

“Well… here goes,” Tas took a deep breath and then marched forward, her body disappeared first, and then with one last flick, her bushy red tail vanished as well.

“Shall we?” I asked as I offered my arm to the beautiful elvenborn next to me.

“Always,” she grinned.

Once her delicate hand rested on my forearm, I led us forward, and together we passed into the camp. I looked for all three women just to make sure they were safe, Aylara was sound asleep on the bed, while Tas stood next to the couch and an asleep Noura.

“Masters?’ the gorgeous djinn mumbled as she pulled herself from her deep slumber. She blinked her eyes a few times, and then sat up with a tired grin as she looked at each or us. “I apologize for falling asleep.” She stood then stretched while another yawn tugged at her lips.

“It’s okay,” I told her with a smile. “You did a lot today. How are you feeling now?”

“Perfectly revived,” she said as she shook off the last dredges of exhaustion. “What’s wrong?” Her coal dark eyes searched each of us for injuries, when she found none her eyebrows drew together in confusion, and she tilted her head to the side as she studied us.

“We found a warband of Iron Dwarves,” I told her.

“Where?” she asked as her attention shifted to the shield to make sure that it was still intact.

“Not far,” I answered. “There’s six of them. All of them have battle axes but only one of them has jewels on, so I’m pretty sure that there’s only one mage.”

“We can take six dwarves,” the djinn said with a firm nod of her head.

“We can,” I agreed. “But, I noticed that the axes are all lined with iron. So… if any of you are cut, it’ll cause far more damage and maybe even interfere with your magic.”

“So we won’t let them hit us,” Janel teased with a wink.

“I wasn’t planning to let them get close enough anyways,” Tas laughed.

I stared at the two women, torn between amusement and frustration, but in the end I just shook my head and chuckled at their jokes. I knew they could handle their own, each one of them might be able to take down at least two dwarves on their own, maybe three, but the idea of them being hurt was almost enough to make me ask them to stay behind.

“Alright,” I sighed and shook my head. “We need to go back and take care of them before they attack a town.”

“Do you think they’d do that so openly?” Janel gasped. “That wouldn’t be very subtle. And I doubt they’re ready to start the war yet if they’re still trying to buy black powder.”

“That town we passed was dying,” Tas said with a small shrug. “I doubt anyone would even notice for months. And if they don’t leave any survivors, then there would be no one to tell the king’s men that it was the Iron Dwarves.”

“Exactly,” I said. “And if they don’t know that the bridge is gone, then that town is the perfect place to set up camp. It’s in between the capital and the Korlem’s base camp so they would be a great pit stop for moving troops.”

“We can’t let them kill those people,” Noura said while the flames underneath her skin began to pulse a little faster.

“We won’t,” I reassured her. “They were pretty drunk when we saw them. By the time we get back they should be passed out so we can ambush them. Everyone stay clear of the axes. And keep an eye on whichever dwarf picks up the giant war axe. It’s got rubies in it and its wielder is probably a mage.”

“Should we go then?” Janel asked as she ran her hands down her robes and then straightened her shoulders.

“Yes,” I nodded my head. “I’m going to use mama skelk to transport us right outside the camp.” I reached into the pockets of my jacket to pull out my bag of soul gems, the diamond ring was still near the top of the bag, and Mama Skelk’s power swirled brightly to show me that she was ready and recharged.

I checked the other stones, all of them seemed like they were fully charged, so I slipped them all back into my pocket. I still hadn’t been able to test the ice worm’s powers, but if I got desperate, I could clear the girls away from me and then try it. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an emerald, it had proven to be a versatile stone in terms of magic, and it was just as likely that it would be an offensive attack as it would be defensive.

“The mage might sense the magic,” Tas warned. “Even if he’s drunk, he might sober up if he feels us pop in.”

“That just means we’ll have to attack the second we land,” I said. “Janel, can you hum a song to bolster my magic? Tas, you can share the magic I use. I might shift through the powers quickly, it depends on what works best.”

“I can keep up,” the vixen said with a smirk.

“I’ll start singing as soon as we get there,” my wife said.

“And I will use my fire,” Noura added as her hair began to whip around her, the tips turned blue, and her coal dark eyes glowed with her rage.

“Okay,” I grinned at the three beautiful women who were ready to go into battle.

“Where are you guys going?” Aylara yawned as she sat up, she rubbed her eyes, and then swung her feet over the side of the bed before she hopped down.

“There’s a warband of Iron Dwarves nearby,” I told her.

“What!” She squeaked, and her bright red eyes widened. “And you were going to leave me behind?”

“Of course not,” I soothed. “We’re going to take care of them before they can attack that village we passed. We’ll be back.”

“So you were just going to let me sleep through it?” she put her hands on her hips as she glared at me.

“What magic can you do?” Tas rolled her eyes.

“I’m very good at hexes as a matter of fact,” the mouse-girl snapped. “Want an example?”

“Alright,” I said as I lifted my hands in surrender. “We should’ve woken you up.” I walked over to wrap my arms around her slim waist, but when she looked up at me, fury sparked in her eyes.

“Yes, you should have,” she huffed. “I didn’t go to a fancy academy to learn battle magic, but I did get a thorough education in street magic and I’m not afraid to protect my loves with it. So what’s the plan?”

“I’ll transport all of us to the camp,” I told her. “And as soon as we appear we’ll attack. They should be drunk. But they’re axes have iron so make sure you avoid them.”

“Got it,” Aylara nodded, and her platinum blonde hair bounced around her face. “Let’s get to it.” She reached up to give me a quick kiss. “I’m still mad at you. You’ll have to make it up to me later.”

“I promise I will,” I chuckled before I took a deep breath. “Okay, it’s time.”

I summoned the power from Mama Skelk, the ground disappeared beneath my feet, and I could feel the magic wrap around all four of the girls as well. In an instant, I was next to another crackling bonfire, and the ladies were right behind me. I reached for Valerys’s fire, and the flames licked my fingers then arced outwards eagerly, so I aimed it for the three men in front of me just as I heard Janel’s sweet voice begin to sing a battle melody.

The three dwarves in front of me were passed out, their axes next propped against the logs, and empty bottles scattered around them. Remnants of ale in the grass around them caught fire as soon as my fire raced towards them, and the heat ripped them from their slumber.

They cursed in a language I didn’t understand, grabbed their weapons, and then held them up to deflect my attack. The gout of flames hit the axes like they were a wall, but Taslyn cast from to their side, and the flames lit their beards in a fiery inferno. One dropped his axe to put out the rapid spread of flames, but I focused all of my attention on him as the other two were met with Noura.

The dwarf in front of me tried to stoop and pick up his dropped weapon, but I forced the fire to become hotter, and soon his clothes had become kindling that finally caught his tough skin on fire. When he had fallen to the ground, his body consumed and twitching, I turned my attention to the other two while I tempered my flames to my hands, though I could still feel the draw of power from Taslyn.

Noura danced around the pair of dwarves, her hips swayed out of the reach of their iron-laced axes, and with a flick of her wrist, hot wind blew at the weapons so hard that the dwarves had to adjust their grip or risk losing the only shield they had against the onslaught of her powers. She whipped her head around, and her hair lengthened to become ropes of flame that wrapped their necks in flames.

I spun around since the djinn was capable of finishing them both, especially with the rage that burned in her coal dark eyes. There were three others that I needed to watch out for, especially since none of the three on our side of the fire had been the mage, so that meant the toughest opponent was still alive, and I would not let Tas and Aylara fight him alone.

Janel’s song was fast and fierce, her voice was powerful as she flawlessly climbed the musical scale, and then dropped all the way down. She used the bangles on her wrists to keep a rhythm that sped or slowed to match her words. She had taken up a place just inside of the treeline, out of the way of harm, but still within sight of us so that she would know if she needed to change her song, her current melody sharpened my sight and my focus so that despite the flame and ash in the air, I could still see my target perfectly.

Tas and Aylara had already taken down one of the dwarves and were focused on another, and as my vixen girlfriend lit the dwarf on fire, the petite mouse-girl hexed him to lose his grip on his axe. They worked together flawlessly, but I realized that neither of the dwarves they had attacked held the enchanted battle axe that I had seen earlier.

I searched the flickering light cast by the bonfire, the ash and smoke stung my eyes, and finally spotted him at the edges of the trees. I inched closer to him as I let the flames start to gather around my fists, then forced them to become balls of fire that I planned to throw at him.

He was directly opposite of Janel, his dark eyes glinted like flint, and his large muscular arms swung his battle axe around in swirling patterns while he muttered a spell. He was so focused on his casting that he didn’t notice me as I approached, but the moment I released the fireballs, his gaze shifted over to me, and the rubies embedded into his axe glowed bright red.

Just before my attack landed its hit, the balls of flame shifted, and then sped back towards me.

I need to use stone, I shouted to Taslyn within my mind as I reached into the earth and yanked up a beige and green limestone wall.

Zayre! Taslyn’s voice screamed back through our bond as fear rushed and panic rushed through me from her.

What’s wrong? I whirled around to see that the first dwarf they had attacked had been faking his death, and had risen to try to eviscerate into the mouse-girl.

Aylara was nimble enough that she had dodged the brunt of the attack, but the sharpened iron had bit into the flesh on her side. She had doubled over, blood leaked over her fingers as she gripped the gushing wound, and her lips pressed together as she fought against the pain.

He would pay for that.

I reached into the earth to pull up a stalagmite from the ground, the sharpened spike pierced into the dwarf, and then ripped him into two bloody pieces that fell to the newly crimson grass.

“Aylara,” I said as I rushed over to catch the mouse-girl in my arms when she started to fall.

“I’m fine,” she said with a weak smile. “It’s just a scratch.”

“It’s iron,” I growled while I ripped open her shirt to look at the gash.

It had already turned black around the edges, the blade had been sharp so the cut hadn’t torn her skin, but the poisonous iron had done its job, and the poison already started to spread through her small body.

“Will she be okay?” Noura asked as she rushed over to us.

Her hair had lost its blue tint, and one glance towards the two dwarves she had fought revealed that she had managed to burn the fire-resistant skin so badly that they were unrecognizable husks.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “Tas, do you know any herbs that will stop the spread?”

“I do but--” her words were cut off by a deafening crack that filled the small clearing.

I had forgotten that there was one dwarf left when I saw Aylara injured, but the battle mage had not forgotten me, and with a glare that would’ve once terrified me, he swung his axe again to obliterate what was left of the wall that I had created.

“Noura, please summon whatever Tas needs,” I seethed. “Tas… I’m counting on you to save her.”

“Of course,” the sexy fox-girl reassured.

“Tas, I’m going to use all of my powers,” I warned my girlfriend as I stood. My worry for Aylara shifted into unbridled hatred, and I focused all of that energy on my new opponent.

I could barely hear the sound of Janel’s voice over the pounding of blood in my ears, but the notes that came through were filled with rage and vengeance. The song fueled my need for blood, and I smirked as I felt righteous fury fill every muscle in my body.

“You killed my brothers,” the dwarf said in a gravelly voice as he stepped over the rubble of the wall and swung his massive battle axe in an arc that almost reached me.

“And I’m going to kill you,” I snarled while I circled around to draw him further away from the girls.

“You?” he laughed. “A human? Against an Iron Dwarf Thaumaturge?”

“I’m a mage, trained in Battle Magic and Alchemy at the Astra Argent Academy, and you’ll soon be dead,” I snapped, and then pulled up a stalagmite to rip him in two like the other dwarf.

He dodged it easily, and his stocky limbs were surprisingly nimble despite the muscle that weighed him down. He whispered a quick spell that shot fire towards me from the head of his axe as he took an offensive fighting stance.

I pulled a limestone wall up, but it was fast and sloppy, and I could still feel the heat of the flames through it as it took the blow for me. I switched to Hawthorn’s vines, and thick, spiked ropes of living greenery shot out of the ground to encase the dwarve.

His screams filled the air as I stepped around the flimsy stone barrier, and I found him anchored to the spot with blood that dripped down where the giant thorns had pierced his tough skin. He grunted as he curled his fingers around his axe, and in a moment the vines went up in flames.

I glanced towards the girls and saw that Janel still stood sentinel while she sang, but Noura and Tas were treating and bandaging Aylara, and the mouse-girl was propped against one of the logs as she drank a dark blue liquid with a grimace. They were all far enough away that I could test the ice worm without them being hurt, and I was eager to see what it would do to the battle mage.

The dwarf rushed forward with his axe raised overhead, and the rubies glowed as he swung it down towards me. He stumbled forward when I ducked underneath his arm, and I pulled on the power of the ice worm in the emerald as I reached up to punch the dwarf in the gut.

I had hoped for a spike of ice, but as pure white crystals spread over the dwarf’s clothes, I realized that it would be even more satisfying than impaling him. I could feel the cold on my skin, it was like I was holding a snowball without gloves, but the bite was worth it as I reached up to punch the battle mage in the face.

He fell backwards as his jaw froze, and then shattered into small fragments of blast frozen flesh from the pressure of my sub-zero hit. The dwarf dropped his axe while he stared at the pieces of himself that had fallen to the ground. He was still in shock when I hit him again, and again, until all that was left of him was a pile of frozen meat-blocks.

I stood over him, my breath came out in gasps, but the dwarves were dead. The threat had been extinguished like the life of the battle mage that lay at my feet, and I watched as the sparks rose from the frozen pieces in search of the empty amethyst that I had stowed in my jacket pocket. Once every last piece of his soul had disappeared into my coat, I spun, and then rushed over to Aylara.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I knelt beside her and brushed the platinum blonde curls out of her face.

“Oh yeah,” she smirked. “Nothing but a scratch.” She shrugged then winced as movement pulled on her wound.

“Noura was able to summon all of the ingredients I needed for a healing salve,” Taslyn told me. “We’ll have to change the bandage every few hours… but she should recover by the time we get to the capital.”

“Good,” Janel said as she joined us.

“Your songs were exactly what I needed,” I told my wife while I reached up to squeeze her hand. “They gave me the speed and focus to counter his attacks, and I don’t know how I could have beaten him without you, my love.”

“Of course,” the elvenborn grinned, and her shoulders relaxed as the last of the fight left her.

“We should get on the road,” I said. “I don’t want to linger here any longer. We can sleep in the carriage.”

“There shouldn’t be another warband, though,” Aylara mumbled around a yawn.

“No,” I agreed. “But that battle wasn’t quiet. And if anyone saw or heard any of it, then it’s only a matter of time before the guards come.”

“I’ll summon the carriage,” Noura said.

“And my bags from the camp,” I added.

“Done,” the djinn said with a snap of her fingers. “I shouldn’t need any more sleep tonight. I’ll make sure that we don’t get lost.”

“Thank you,” I said as I scooped Aylara up into my arms. “No one else is injured?” I swept my gaze over each of the women just in case, but none of them had anything more than a few scrapes, and there were no black, oozing wounds.

“I’m fine,” Tas said while she stood and brushed herself off. “We need to get rid of the fire. And the bodies… and our camp. We can’t leave anything that they can track.”

“I will take care of that,” Noura said as she clapped her hands together, and the entire camp faded away until the clearing looked like it had been vacant for years.

“Thank you,” I said, and then shifted as Aylara reached up to wrap her arms around my neck. “Let’s get out of here.”

I switched to Tannow’s sight before we left the clearing, I checked the trails of magic, and watched as the lines from the battle began to blur. I didn’t have time to erase them, it would take spell components, and hours that we didn’t have. I would just have to hope that no one would stumble across the scene until after it had faded enough that they couldn’t track it.

“You can put me down now,” Aylara teased as we reached the carriage.

“I can climb stairs and carry you,” I told her.

“I’m sure you can,” she laughed. “But I don’t want to take the chance.” She stuck her tongue out at me, and then winked as she wriggled to get free. When she winced, I gave in, and set her down on the first step.

The others had already climbed in, and Janel reached out a hand to help her up. Noura had transformed the cabin until it resembled a bedroom, complete with satin sheets, and plenty of pillows. Taslyn was reclined next to my wife, and she patted the bed next to her to invite Aylara over to her.

“How far are we from the capital?” Noura asked as she sat on the only bench left inside of the cabin.

“A few days,” I yawned while I climbed onto the bed, and then collapsed onto the soft mattress next to my beautiful elvenborn bride.

“You know,” Janel said around a yawn of her own. “I think there’s a map of the kingdom in my old dorm room. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Noura… do you think you could summon it?”

“I can,” the djinn said before she snapped her fingers. “Done.”

She gave me a grin as the air around her shimmered and the map appeared in front of her. She studied the paper, ,nodded, and then glanced back up.

“I can get us there without trouble,” the lovely djinn guaranteed. “Now, you should all rest. I’ll make breakfast for you when you wake.”

The carriage started forward, the gentle rock of the carriage soon started to lull me to sleep, I sighed happily as I wrapped my arms around my elvenborn wife, and I grinned when I glanced at Tas and Aylara snuggled together.

In just a few days we would be at the capital, after we shared the evidence with the king, we will have saved the kingdom from the Iron Dwarves, and the Korlems.

The next few days were spent in relaxation and planning, Janel hunted in the evening, while Noura provided the rest of the food, and every night the girls danced around the fire and laughed as they let go of their worries. Soon we had passed through the rest of the kingdom, and when we set off in the morning, it was for the capital’s gates.

“We’re almost there,” I told the ladies as our carriage finally came into view of the capital gates.

There were more City Watch than I had ever seen before, it was like an entire army waited to check every person that passed underneath the massive iron arch, and they all held scrolls that I suspected had our faces on them.

“My sister should have the safehouse ready,” Aylara said as she opened her mirror. “It’s in the red light district. I don’t think anyone will be searching for us there. She said everyone thinks we’re part of a rebellion… ”

“Hello?” a high-pitched voice said as her sister answered, though the reflection in Aylara’s mirror was of a stained ceiling.

“It’s Aylara,” my business partner rolled her eyes.

“Obviously,” the other woman huffed. “What do you want?”

“Is the safehouse ready?” Aylara asked through gritted teeth.

“Of course it is,” the woman in the mirror said. “Just go straight into the red light district. You can’t miss it. It’s a few blocks in. Your place is the only unoccupied one. Key’s under a rock out front.”

“Are you going to meet us there?” my platinum blonde girlfriend snapped.

“Eventually,” her sister said. “Look… I have business. Talk to you later.” Without another word, the woman’s screen went dark, and I could see Aylara take a deep breath as she tried to hold back a scream.

“Well she’s friendly,” I muttered. “Okay. So we just need to get into the city and to the red light district. We’ll move forward from there. Janel, how is your contact in the bardic academy?”

“I haven’t heard back from her yet,” my elvenborn wife huffed. “But once we’re at the safe house I can call her again.”

“And Aylara,” I turned to the mouse-girl. “You’re sure that all of our mirrors have been hidden from searches?”

“Oh yeah,” she bobbed her head. “Contraband is my specialty.”

“Good,” I took a deep breath. “So how are we going to get through the city gates?”

“I can disguise us,” Noura said. “Who do you think we should be?”

“Diaflorian prostitutes,” Tas said with a swish of her fluffy red tail. “We’re going to the red light district in an expensive carriage. If we look like we’re a new product, Zayre can be our seller, and no one will suspect a bunch of women.”

“They’re already looking for a human and three women,” Aylara piped up.

“But they won’t be looking for a Diaflorian man and four Diaflorian women,” the red haired vixen countered.

“It’s a good idea,” I said as the carriage moved closer, and a guard started to walk towards us. “Noura, could you make us all look Diaflorian?”

“Yes,” the djinn said with a nod of her head. “But if they touch Tas or Aylara’s tail they’ll feel them. It’s just a glamour.”

“That’s fine,” I told her.

The gorgeous woman snapped her fingers and each of us were washed in the new disguises, complete with full Diaflorian clothes, but then my vision shifted, and I saw everyone exactly as they were before.

“Why isn’t it working?” I asked as I looked down at myself, Noura had never had problems with her magic, and a simple glamour should have been easy.

“It is,” Janel said as she looked around.

“Then why do you all look the same?” I muttered.

“Names and reason for visiting the capital,” a young man with a high-pitched voice said as he knocked on the carriage door. He wore the purple and red uniform of the Royal City Watch, though the elvenborn looked like he was just out of puberty, and his face was still covered in the acne of a teenager.

“My name is Nira,” Noura said with a smooth smile as she scooted over to the door. “My master and sisters are here to enjoy your… hospitality.” She looked the boy over slowly as she said the last word, and ran her tongue over her lips when she was finished.

“U-um,” the guard stuttered. “Um, how many of you are there?” He glanced behind Noura to see the others, and then looked down at the sheets of paper in his hand, while I wondered why he didn’t recognize us from the wanted posters he carried.

“There’s four of us,” Janel purred, and her voice mixed with a lilting tone laced with a charm I suspected was at least partly magical.

I watched in awe as my vision fluctuated again, I could see Noura in her female Diaflorian disguise, and Janel had been transformed to look like she could be the djinn’s sister. I blinked and shook my head, and then they were back to their normal appearances. I could feel something in the back of my mind, but it took me a second to realize that it was the Iron Dwarf.

He was in the amethyst, so I knew that our link would be a mental one, but I didn’t expect him to give me the ability to see through disguises. He had been annoyingly unresponsive during our trip, and I had given up trying to connect with him.

“A-alright,” the youthful guard was saying as I came back to the moment. “U-um… you all are uh… are free to go through. But… but be careful. There are some dangerous rebels trying to sneak into the capital. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You are so sweet to worry,” Janel winked. “I really hope you’ll catch the bad men”

“Ye-yes ma’am,” he nodded his head so hard that I thought it might break off. “This carriage is clear!” He stepped away before we started forward again, though he did steal one last look at Janel and Noura.

I held my breath until we had passed through the battalion of soldiers, sure that they would stop us to search the carriage more thoroughly, but at last we passed through the thick outer wall of the capital and into the city beyond.

The capital was organized in a grid pattern, like my old city, though on a much larger scale with buildings that stretched far off into the horizon. All of the buildings that our carriage passed were businesses, most of those were restaurants or tourist shops with brightly colored signs that welcomed the new visitors. The road itself was wide enough for four carriages to pass by each other without worry of running into each other.

“I think I know what the dwarf’s amethyst does,” I muttered as we rolled past an open market in a large city park.

There were vendors in pop-up booths, rugs were stretched out on the grass with different wares spread out, and people meandered through all of the offerings. A woman walked around one of the booths, my eyes shifted again like it had when I saw through our glamour, and I saw the young woman with beautiful red hair turn into an older woman with silver hair and deep lines that spread from her eyes.

“What does it do?” Tas asked as she followed my gaze.

“It lets me see through glamour,” I responded. “I can see what the glamour is supposed to show me for a few seconds, but then it shifts, and I see what’s underneath.”

“Interesting,” the redhead said as she pulled out her journal. She had retrieved it the day before when I had taken us all back to the house to gather our things. The house had been ransacked, probably by the City Watch, and I was grateful that the record of my powers had not been discovered. “Did you do anything to activate it or did it do it on its own?”

“It started working the second Noura put us in disguises,” I replied. “That’s why I thought they weren’t working.”

“Huh,” the vixen said. “Have you seen through any others?”

“I just saw a woman at that market,” I said. “At first she looked young, and then she shifted and I could see that she was older with gray hair and wrinkles.”

“Does the dwarf communicate with you like Ferox?” Janel asked.

“No,” I said. “It just changes from one moment to the next.” I ran a hand over my short brown hair and I noticed that it had gotten longer, soon I would need a haircut. Since I wasn’t in the lab with my experiences, I didn’t have to worry as much about it catching fire, so I could afford to let it grow out a little more.

“You’ll need to train with it so you can use it on command,” Tas said as she nodded her head, her tail swished behind her as she thought, and her pencil flew across the page as she wrote everything down.

“I should probably do that before we see King Sweyn,” I said. “Just in case there’s someone from the Korlem family hidden in his security or council.”

“When we get to the safe house, I’ll call my friend again,” Janel said as she smoothed her dress. “She should have had enough time to get in contact with her person inside the castle. We’ll probably have to meet with them before we can get in to see the king.”

“Definitely,” I agreed. “We’ll need to make sure they’re trustworthy. And we’ll need to keep our Diaflorian disguises when we go to meet them. I’m sure every citizen in this city knows what we look like by now.”

“There are posters of us everywhere,” Noura added. “But I can keep up the glamour when we’re out in public.”

“Good,” I nodded my head. “That’ll give me a chance to practice this dwarfish magic.”

“Do you think the dwarves can hide their appearance?” Aylara asked as she turned her attention from the road. “Would that be why you can see through a glamour?”

“They didn’t when they were at the meetings with the Korlems,” I said. “Though they did have hoods. And I’m sure they didn’t think anyone would realize they were Iron Dwarves. Or that anyone would report them even if they did.”

“It might be that only the mages have the ability to conceal themselves,” Tas supplied.

“Probably,” I agreed. “Their mages probably have as many specialities as our own do, so I would reckon that not every Iron Dwarf mage is master of disguise.”

“That’s absolutely terrifying to think about,” my elvenborn wife whispered. “But I’m glad that you’ll be able to see them now. Especially if they know we are… we can be prepared if they decide to attack us.”

“Hopefully they won’t be dumb enough to make a move in the capital,” I said. “I’m sure they have some spies in the castle, though. Probably just guards or servants that’ll go unnoticed so they can observe.”

“They would be foolish not to have spies near the king if they can disguise themselves,” Tas said.

“And they’ve been planning this for a long time,” I said. “Probably since they lost the war. So there’s no telling how many are actually in the kingdom, or in the capital.”

“We’re here,” Aylara said as the carriage rolled to a stop in front of a one-story building with only two small windows that looked out onto the street.

I pushed open the door for the ladies, and then waited for them to go ahead of me before I climbed out myself. I was surprised by the amount of people out and about during the daylight hours, but the capital was a city that didn’t sleep, so the red light district didn’t either. I wondered what kind of men would come to buy the time of a woman so early in the morning, and then saw a few guards stumble out of a house a few doors down, one of them was still in the process of fixing his pants, and his buddies slapped him on the back as they congratulated him.

“Come on,” the mouse-girl rushed us inside the empty establishment once she found the key under a loose brick. “We need to get inside.”

“Right,” I said, and pulled my eyes away from the guards as they walked in the opposite direction.

“My sis says this place has been up for rent for awhile,” Aylara informed us when we walked into an open area with dusty couches and a bar in a corner to the left of the room.

There was a hallway that led away from the main room, I guessed they were the bedrooms, and there were two doors marked clearly as bathrooms in the front corner near the first small window and opposite of the bar. The bar was a tall wooden countertop that stretched from the corner to the hallway, dusty blue, clear, and purple bottles lined shelves on one wall, and a long, grimy mirror covered the wall opposite of the counter so that the patrons would’ve been able to see themselves. A kitchen peeked out from the right side of the room, a small window would’ve let the cook look into the entertaining area to check on the girls, and from what I could see, the equipment was still in decent condition.

“Why has this place been vacant so long?” I asked. “It looks like it’s in pretty good shape.”

“Sis didn’t say,” Aylara shrugged. “There’s probably a lot of competition. And this place looked bigger than a lot of the other brothels on the street.”

“Whoever ran it would have to have a full house of girls working all day just to keep up with payments,” Tas said as she looked around. “More than likely it’s just too expensive.”

“At least no one will expect it to open soon,” Janel said. “We should be left alone during our stay here.”

“Right,” I said. “Well… we still need the place to be livable for the next few days. Noura, would you do the honors?” I waved my hands at the general dustiness and the djinn grinned in understanding.

“Anything for my masters,” she laughed. “Would you like me to redecorate?” She glanced around at the dated and worn furniture with distaste.

“If it makes you happy to do, it makes me happy,” I shrugged, and then chuckled when she nodded her head and rolled up her sleeves.

“Oh yes,” she said as she waved one arm at one side of the room, and then the other at the other side.

Dust flew up in a cloud before it rushed towards the back of the building, the bedroom doors burst open, and more dust joined the fast moving whirlwind towards a window that opened at the end of the hall. Once the offending particles were outside, the window shut itself, and then with a snap of Noura’s fingers, the grime that still clung to every surface was scrubbed away by some invisible hands.

“That’s a good start,” the gorgeous djinn nodded. “Now… furniture. I’m thinking of new beds in every room. Satin bedding, obviously. New couches out here. And… shields on the window so that no one can see in but we still get a little bit of natural light.”

“That sounds great,” I said as she began to wave her arms and snap her fingers.

“Do you think Zayre and I could use one of the bedrooms?” Aylara asked. “He still has repenting to do for almost letting me sleep through that battle with the dwarves.”

“There’s a master suite down the hall on the right,” Noura winked at the mouse-girl. “Do you need anything special in there?”

“Nope, just that thing I asked you for last night,” the blonde smirked. “And I’ve already got that on me.”

“You two enjoy yourselves,” Janel grinned. “If you want company later… just let us know.”

“Oh we will,” Aylara winked and then grabbed my hand to pull me down the hallway, though it didn’t take much effort, I looked forward to making it up to Aylara, over and over.

The master suite had no windows, but there were sconces on the wall with stained glass covers that shone blue, red, and green across the bedroom. The bed took up most of the wall opposite of the door, it was covered in a deep crimson blanket, and there were several colorful pillows arranged at the headboard.

Aylara threw me onto the bed, and as she took off her coat to reveal a tight, leather harness, I forgot all about the rest of the world.