AO 7 Ch 21

Uncle Valken sat beside me as I hacked away at the logs of wood, enjoying myself far more than I had expected. 

"Arden," Uncle Valken's voice was oddly serious. 

"Yes, Uncle?" I paused mid-swing. 

"Defend yourself." He stated.

I blinked at those words, but I trusted him enough that walls of earth exploded all around me with a flick of my magic, just as several thrown weapons pounded against the walls. 

Lord Valken's eyes went wide, and he shouted, before rushing into the tavern.

“Really? Your first move is to warn me and run?” I huffed and turned towards where the weapons had come from. All four of my magic spheres were wide open pouring magic into the Ardenium Palace that was overflowing with magic.

Assassins were crawling out of the forest by the edge of the village. More than a few had drawn bows, strengthened by an anchor's magic, similar to what Zuri used. They pulled the powerful bows back and let loose arrows big enough that they might as well have stolen them from a ballista. 

If I were any other mage, this type of ambush would probably have been effective. But my stone walls gathered into a single solid sheet of stone to greet the massive arrows.

The arrows were nearly hard enough to punch all the way through massive stone. I whistled appreciatively as I moved the wall to the sided and caught another arrow. "Now that is impressive," I smiled at the Zenovian assassins as another wave of arrows was already flying in my direction.

Several of the attackers had launched themselves into trees or simply jumped into the air to attempt to find angles that my stone didn’t already cover. 

I watched their attacks, considering my godly power of chaos within me and wondering if I would just function better in a little more of a chaotic environment. I clapped my hands together and shattered the stone walls before sending them spinning around me. I couldn't control the wind directly, but I could manage enough stone to direct it.

A small twister sprang to life around me. It successfully knocked away any of the arrows as well as created a suction that was dragging the Zenovian anchors towards me.

I smiled, pleased with my idea and sinking my feet into the ground so I didn’t go flying.

"Ard, what the fuck are you doing?" Emlyn shouted as she raced out of the inn. 

I gave her a flat smile and gestured at several of the assassins currently being battered by the stones. 

"Do you want to tear Beth's inn down?" Emlyn yelled back.

I had to admit I had not considered Beth’s inn. All of my sudden control of the stones around me stopped, and the rocks came plummeting down to the earth in thunderous booms as they landed without regard to the safety of anything around me. 

"Whoops. Don't tell Beth it was me." I said, looking over the modified landscape and the busted out windows of the inn. The whole building settled like it had been about to be ripped out of the ground if I had continued.

Emlyn darted in front of me, her blade knocking aside an arrow that had fired when the wind had died down.

"Are you just going to let them shoot at you?" Emlyn scolded me.

"What? Do I get to use my magic or not?" I put my hands on my hips. "Besides, you're my anchor. Aren't you supposed to protect me?"

Emlyn let out a shout of frustration before turning her angor on one of our enemies. In a booming clap of lightning, she disappeared from where she was standing, only to reappear in front of one of the assassins. Her blade sliced him cleanly in two as there was a second boom with her sword stroke that blew the two halves apart. Emlyn grumbled and flicked her sword as lightning arced off the tip, stunning the others.

The assassins were rightly terrified, Emlyn was a terrifying sight when she was angry. Good thing she was focused on them and not me.

"Can you use magic, but dial it down a little? Or are you incapable of any subtlety?" Emlyn yelled over.

I nodded along. "I think I'm incapable of subtlety. Really, I’m more like a force of nature now."

Aurelia made herself known as one of the stones I had dropped earlier was suddenly hurled into the forest, only for a red explosion to follow, like someone had stomped on a cart of tomatoes. 

"Aurelia, stick next to Ard, please," Emlyn said, before throwing herself after the assassins that were attempting to flee. Her lightning magic, which was all thanks to me, powered her in an explosive burst that made me feel sorry for the assassins as she caught up to them with ease and diced them into tiny pieces.

“The kids are safe.” Aurelia confirmed as she stepped up next to me and rest her axe on her shoulders.

“Good job.” I nodded along. “Last thing we want is to bring trouble to those who were living a quiet life.”

The mantikitten bobbed her head in agreement. She was really concerned about the babies, if she had some of her own, I shuddered to think how much of a mom-bear she’d be.

I let out a sigh of relief as Maribelle appeared from the forest, untouched, save for what I assumed was someone else's blood all over her skirt. She cracked her neck, spotted me and beamed before hurrying over.

Emlyn paused as the anchors reassembled and Zuri stepped out of the tavern with Eva in tow. Lord Valken was hovering over Eva like an overprotective mother hen.

The goddesses probably went poof the second the fighting started. They had their silly god rules. Though technically Missy might be free of them now.

"All right." Emlyn crossed her arms and glared at all of my anchors. "Who fucked up? How did Ard get to be outside and alone?" She pointed at me. 

"Hey, wait a second. You make it sound like it's their fault that I was alone. I am an adult and capable of taking care of myself.” I asserted.

“Your life is incredibly important to each and every one of us.” Emlyn responded with a pointed look that said far more.

“But I had Lord Valken with me. Is that not enough? And besides, perhaps it's my fault for not bringing one of you. I thought Lord Valken was enough." I offered, using his title in hopes that it sounded more official.

Emlyn scoffed. "No offense, Lord Valken," she said to him, before turning back to me. "But you are our mage, and someone oathed to you should have been with you. There should always be one of us protecting you."

"I was only like 20 feet away," I said, stretching out my arm as if I could measure by staring down it, the distance from here to the tavern. 

"My stables!" Beth suddenly screamed from around the corner, and I cringed, suddenly wondering if it was time to call it a night and head off to our rooms.

"Err right. Should probably help Beth clean things up a little." I offered.

Emlyn sighed, looking around. “Fine. You need to fix her stables, and then one of us needs to be punished." She rounded on the other anchors.

I was hoping I could use Beth as a distraction, but apparently that wasn't going to work. Might as well go face the frying pan and deal with the other problem I could do something about.

"Hi Beth." I popped my head around the corner. "Oh, weird. Did your stables suddenly fall down? I've been trying to tell you for years that you need to replace that one wall."

The stables had collapsed, the roof had fallen in on the one rotten wall. Thankfully, it seems to have come down slow enough that the horses were pinned, but blessedly alive. I would have felt horrible if I’d killed one of them.

Beth glared at me balefully, "You did this."

"Me? What?" I said, putting on a face that was the picture of innocence.

"Oh don't give me that, Ard. I saw the magic, and the assassins.” She crossed her arms.

“Great! So you understand that there was a very pertinent threat that I had to use force against." I was glad that we could both agree my actions made perfect sense.

"You still knocked down my stables," Beth didn't relent and pointed at the structure. Thankfully, it seems the equine casualties were minimal. Two were trapped under the fallen roof and clearly not happy about it. The rest of the horses had bolted and were milling about nearby.

"You know what, Beth? This is a perfect opportunity." I grinned at her and waved my hands, pulling on the earth to grow four walls out from under the existing collapsing ones.

I was gentle and slow so as to not spook the horses too much and have them hurt themselves. Though, they were going to get a treatment of life magic when this was all done anyway.

The roof tried to crumble on me, but pillars jumped up to catch the roof.

Beth’s arms were still crossed as she watched me skeptically.

"Do you think just fixing this is going to be enough to suffice the damage? What about my customers?" Beth waved towards the inn.

I stared at her. "We are your customers right now. My group and the caravan all belong to me." 

Beth frowned at me. "The caravan's yours, too?" 

"Yeah, well, they're Viviana's, but she works for my noble family."

She grinned. "So I can bill the whole group for the damages you've caused." 

"I'm building you a new stable, that’s already enough of an upcharge ." I gestured wildly at the building that was quickly being replaced by one made of stone while I carefully created a giant's hand to pluck up the large pieces of wood and put them to the side. 

"Nope, not good enough," Beth said. "If you really are sorry, it's not about just replacing but going above and beyond. I think it's about time I got that attached building to sleep in so I don’t have to sleep under the same roof as my residents." 

I sighed knowing that she was going to be stubborn and I sort of wanted to help her while I was here anyway. But there was no sense in making it seem like she could get whatever she asked for. "Would you like me to make it soundproof? So that you can put your two boys there and not hear a peep?" 

"Are you a fucking idiot?" Beth spat. "No, I need to hear them when they cry. It fucking sucks, but it's the only way that they know how to communicate." 

"Oh, that makes sense," I said, and then began building a second attached building structure next to the inn while Beth hovered over me, demanding this and that, picking apart each and every detail. 

At some point, Emlyn slid up next to me. "You know, I think we've decided it's your fault after all, and this is a more fitting punishment than I could ever imagine," Emlyn giggled. 

"Oi, what are you laughing about?" Beth rounded on Emlyn, too. "I need to move my bed and all of my things from the tavern into here. Do you expect a woman still postpartum to take care of that?”

I chuckled, enjoying Emlyn having to join in. “Time to get to work, Em.”

Emlyn sighed, but she didn’t utter a single complaint. That’s how you know she was just putting on a facade to Beth. A few minutes later she was hauling out Beth's furniture, as well as the two cribs, and moving them into the building under the innkeeper's watchful eye and precise judgment about where things needed to sit in each room.

***

Somehow, three hours later, I was more exhausted from doing work for Beth than I had been fighting off assassins. 

"I completely forgot how much of a hard-ass she could be," Emlyn said as we snuck away with a bottle of Beth's finest tucked under my arm. She’d be pissed tomorrow but maybe I could do something else for Beth before we left in recompense. The woman would never take anything for free.

The sun was cresting down before the night and the light to see by was dwindling, but these woods were familiar territory for both of us.

"Well, it's just Beth's way of saying she cares," I chuckled as the two of us picked our way around the hill with practiced ease. We hadn't been in the village in a long time, but some things didn't change, at least not this quickly. 

"Yeah, well, I thought she was going to brain you with a frying pan after that stable fell down." Emlyn laughed.

"Isn't it your job to protect me? If you thought she was going to brain me, you should have been there to block it." I argued.

"But what if you deserved it?" Emlyn said.

"Well, if I deserved it, that's another story. And I may have deserved a good scolding, but I did not deserve a braining." I nodded at my assessment.

We found an old rock outcropping with a smooth face, thinking we could watch the sunset like old times. Only, it seemed, in the time since we'd last been here, water and time had passed on. What used to be a smooth rock face now had a large divot running down the center. Years of rain had worn away at it.

"Still works," I said, shrugging and sitting down in the dip. It forced me and Emlyn to be tightly pressed together as I pulled the cork off the bottle and handed it to her. "Ladies first."

"Ever the gentleman," she said, taking the bottle with a large swig before handing it back. 

It would be some time before the sun truly set. And to be honest, I was hoping it would take as long as possible. Life was moving faster than I wanted at times and watching the sunset was a luxury we didn’t always have.

"So..." Emlyn broke the silence. "This is really going to be your last hurrah? You've only just become a four sphere mage."

"I know, right? I really think I messed it up, Em. I did everything a little too fast. Rather than some slow, toiling climb of a mountain, since becoming a mage, it's felt like a boulder rolling downhill. Each second only seems to make the next faster.” I let out a heavy sigh. “So, is this my last hurrah? Absolutely not. I am sure there will be plenty of other fantastical things in my future. Is this perhaps the last leg of this journey before I start another? You bet." I took a drink.

"And what will be the next one?" Emlyn asked.

"A new phase," I smiled at her. "Most likely one I don't take alone. Did you see the way Aurelia was with Beth's boys?" 

Emlyn laughed. "Yeah, I think we all saw that."

"Yeah, well. If that didn't make it painfully obvious, then I'm sure the next time we meet children, Will, because in my eyes, not only Aurelia, but the rest of you, wanted to hold those little boys." I held up a finger. "But be warned, I want nothing to do with twins."

Emlyn laughed. "Fine, no twins. But you do realize there are enough of us, you'll practically have twins at some point anyway."

"Yeah, which is why I don't want to make it worse with actual twins." I rolled my eyes at her. "Emlyn, get with the program."

Emlyn tongued her teeth like she was debating whether or not to make me pay for that one. "You're lucky you're cute, Ard." Instead, she kissed me on the cheek.

"No, I'm just lucky you're a sucker." I winked at her. 

Emlyn surprised me, apparently not having enough and closed what little distance there was between us in the blink of an eye, and mashing her lips to mine. She took long, slow passes over my lips before breaking the kiss. Her cheeks were flushed as she stared into my eyes. 

"Yeah. I am a sucker for you, Ard." She admitted, her eyes softening.

"Wait, what was that? Could you repeat that again?" I said, holding my ear.

"Shut up, you are too greedy" she grumbled, and then smirked, kissing me again while I tried to talk around the kiss. She ignored my attempts to speak, continuing to kiss me until I gave up and returned the kisses.

After a few minutes, she let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back.

“At least you know I’m greedy for you, I can never get enough.” I teased, finally able to speak my piece.

"You make me work for every second, don't you?" Emlyn laughed.

"Is anything easy really worth it?" I countered, a smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.

"One of these days, someone is actually going to kill you over something stupid you say." She told me, taking another swig.

"Well then, Miss Anchor-Who's-Supposed-to-Protect-Me, you just have to stay that much closer to my side." I told her and tugged her closer.

"I guess, for now, you are just stuck with me." She smiled. "And I am stuck with you, so we just have to deal with each other's eccentricities if we want to get through it all."

"Emlyn, I hate to tell you this, but I'm not just getting through it all." I pulled her cheek tight against my chest and kissed the top of her head. "I'm loving every damn second of my life with you." I could feel her smile against me. 

"Yeah, me too, Ard. Me too. It's a good life. Even though I have to share you with a psycho, a manticore, and a brainiac. Not to mention three I have yet to fully figure out. Oh, and of course, you finally got your princess." Emly winked at me.

I smirked at her. "Let's be honest, this princess was a lot better than the first one that I almost fell for."

"Ugh," Emlyn groaned. "When you first mentioned it, I didn't see it. But especially this time, it was plain as day. She's really just her older brother's shadow."

I nodded. "Ditzy confirmed it for me. No love between her and me, even when she approached me herself. Ditzy said there was more of an obsession with her brother."

"Ew," Emlyn said. “You dodged a bad one.”

"I don't think it was like that. Or maybe..." I frowned, unsure and really not wanting to dive into that particular cesspool. "Doesn't matter, Em. What matters is decisions have been made. And life will move on. The important part to me is that you're still enjoying this. That despite any of my own eccentricities, you're still living the life you want to live. Something about being back here is making me nostalgic," I said, looking around at the landscape I had stared at for so many years of my life. 

"Of course," Emlyn kissed me on the chest. "You're at the perfect place to get perspective on how far you've come." She gestured at the sunset. "You've seen more than a few all over the world. How does this one compare?" 

I paused. "Honestly, this one is pretty damn high on the list. But I don't know if it's the sunset that makes it great or the people I'm spending it with." I nuzzled her and held her tight. 

"And there you go all sentimental on me. I suppose sometimes you will piss people off with that mouth, but sometimes that mouth of yours will get you something far better." She grabbed me by the face and pulled me down for a kiss as I pressed her to the stone and began searching for a way to get her damn belt off.