AO 7 Ch 9

Somehow, my mother had convinced me of this, and I still wasn't entirely sure how that had happened. Perhaps some of my anchors’ fear of my mother was justified.

The carriage bumped along the cobblestone road. I had my cheek leaning on my fist as I gazed out the window at everyone living their own lives, unshackled by a noble house.

"Are you pouting?" my mother asked from the other side of the carriage, which was specialized to fit her wheelchair.

I glanced over at her. "You know, you should get out more. You're looking a little pale, Mom."

Elle Aldis scowled at me. "If I do or don't, if anyone does or does not appeal to your personal aesthetics, I would please ask that you keep your mouth shut. I am tired of your pouting," she said.

"I got all the pout out of me yesterday." I straightened up and glanced over at Maribelle.

She was the only one that had followed me. The others had all raced off to buy dresses for the ball. I had no idea what she was going to wear. It wasn’t as if she could wear any dress off the shelf. Her chest wouldn’t fit into anything that wasn’t tailored.

My eyes roved over her curvaceous form.

"Don't worry about me, sir," Maribelle said, as if reading my mind. "Your mother has tasked several maids with getting me a House Aldis maid uniform modified for the ball."

"Ah, yes, of course," I said, focusing forward, which, unfortunately, meant staring at my mother. Behind her, massive square walls seemed to grow out of the city as we grew closer.

My mother checked over her shoulder. "It's been a while since you've been to the Enclave, yes, Ard?"

"Not long enough." I gave her my finest smile.

"And here I thought you enjoyed your time in the capital."

"I did. I enjoyed my time with my anchors. I don't recall the Enclave doing much when Carmilla practically forced me into the castle. Too bad, I barely spent any time in the Enclave amongst my fellow mages and nobles."

My mother pursed her lips. "Only more reason for you to understand the power of the royal family and what we can potentially obtain for the house, should it become ours."

"Yes, yes," I waved my hand in the air. "Ever more exciting new potential. I am happy for you and House Aldis," I said.

"Arden, the power at play is significant enough that whoever takes it will likely remove any threats that they think could even possibly put it at risk. It is not simply because I desire power."

"Whatever you want to tell yourself," I said, still only half-believing that answer. It was hard to believe after everything I'd seen that people weren't power-hungry enough to, well, do a lot of horrible things. After all, King Martin was a lingering reminder of what happened when people sought power and savored it too much.

The carriage rolled smoothly into the enclave. The transition off the cobblestone to the mage smoothed slab was obvious.

The guards didn't bat a lash at my mother's carriage. A small glance at her, and they all stood up straight, each and every one of them an anchor. Given their youth, I suspected more than a few of them were going through the same training program that Imlin and the others had once experienced.

"Welcome back, Miss Aldis," one of the guards bowed to my mother before his eyes shifted to me. I gave him a passing nod. There was no reason to be rude to the guards.

"Gentlemen, please keep up your work," my mother said, dipping her head in their direction, showing respect to the guards.

"Doesn't it feel like home, Arden?" my mother asked, turning to me as I struggled to remember the names of all the different sections of the Enclave.

"Not really, no," I admitted, doubting that it ever would. The chance for me to be a student, learn and grow here had long passed.

"Well then, we'll have to fix that," she said swiftly, always having an answer.

I could only grunt non-committally. I had very little intention of sticking around long enough for that. However, I was certain my mother could dream, and I wasn't about to squash those dreams, at least not right now.

"And pray tell, where are we going today?" I asked, keeping my best smile on my face.

"Well, since you have such little interest in the mages of the kingdom, I decided to drag you out and have you meet some of them. They've been dying to meet you, especially after the stories your grandfather has told."

I glared at my mother, wondering what horrid stories he’d told after yesterday.

"Oh, don't give me that," she said. "You promised to be sane and reasonable, to present yourself as such until the ball is over. So, here before the movers and shakers of Avente, I'm going to give you a chance to make a coordinated and blessedly short effort to convince them of both your power and sanity." She smiled at me. "No, none of them will be putting a crown on your head. Do you think you can manage?" 

I let out a deep breath and somehow managed to resist rolling my eyes. "Somehow in this wonderful world, I will find the strength."

"Perfect." My mother pursed her lips and gazed back out of the carriage. "Because we're here." 

I squinted at the motifs of stone wolves that were everywhere. Right, one section for each of the elements and a center one that I’d assume once represented soul magic.

My mother stepped out of the carriage and there was a small line of equally fancy carriages nearby. No doubt the other elders. My mother moved swiftly and a rather rugged-looking anchor swept in behind her. 

"He's new," I said.

I didn't really mean anything by it, but my mother paused, raising an eyebrow. "Just that, he's new. No comment for your potential stepfather?" 

I nearly choked. "I'm a little old to get a new father. If you'll forgive me." I smiled at her and then smiled at the anchor in turn.

He looked like he had been caught completely off guard by our conversation, only for my mother to begin laughing. 

"It was a joke. My son's in a bit of a mood," she said, moving swiftly through the office. No one dared bar an elder's path. And she took full advantage of that, moving her wheeled chair forward with a block of ice resting against the back.

Soon we managed to climb two floors. Maribelle kept close to my side the whole way as if we were in some enemy’s keep.

My mother opened the door to a large but not opulent room. For a meeting with the Elders I expected a little more. It was actually dimly lit with a rather unremarkable stone table in the center and wooden chairs that each seemed to be different, perhaps brought in by each of the occupants.

In fact, it was rather cozy in a drab sort of way. 

"Elle, and I see you managed to convince your son to come. Regis Virel smiled at me. “Do bring Aureliaby when you get the chance. I know the family would love to see her.”

"Of course, Uncle," I said, nodding to him and acknowledging that I was keeping Aurelia now and forever. He gave my mother a look with a raised eyebrow, only for my mother to shrug helplessly and roll her eyes. 

"For those of you who aren't aware, this is my son, Arden Aldis. However, here within these chambers, I am an elder mage, and he is an adept, one who is claiming substantial bounties during the war." 

I raised an eyebrow at ‘bounty’. It sounded like it involved some money. Not that I really needed that much. Technically, I could probably make gold if I tried hard enough. 

"Ah, yes, the boast that you killed King Martin," an elder I didn't recognize scowled at me, and I quickly decided I was going to forget him as soon as this meeting was over. 

"Arden Aldis, at your service." I performed a small bow for the group.

There were nine mages in total, and even without testing the waters with my magic, I knew each and every one of them was a power in their own right. Stronger than the chancellors of Garrish, though unlikely to be as strong as King Martin.

Three seats sat empty and while I was going to enjoy myself, I wasn’t about to sit down in one of those, lest they actually let me keep it.

"Flippant," the elder who I was hoping to forget snorted. 

"Did I do something to you?" I asked him, frowning. "You seemed to hate me right off the bat. Was your daughter one of my suitors, and I ignored her?" I asked, earning a glare from my mother and a chuckle from the old lady of Virel. 

"All of you do forgive him. This wouldn't be my first encounter with Arden, and I must say he is rather brash with his tongue."

A couple of the elders snorted at that. Both those that I figured were allies and enemies in this particular exchange.

"I can see why you didn't want him to represent House Aldis here," another of the elders said with a sneer at my mother.

"Regardless of his rebellious nature, which I should add is age-appropriate," she said to the group, "Arden certainly has enough power that, even as the new matriarch of House Aldis, my ability to curb him is quite limited." 

She glanced over at Anadonis, who had not traveled with us and had refused to look at me. "Yes, well, all of that aside. I think perhaps we should move on with the agenda. Please," my mother emphasized.

"If you take too long, he's liable to fall asleep. He has enough anchors that I'm sure he doesn't sleep a wink." Another elder commented with a wink and a nod of some strange solidarity.

"Right, so, would you like me to recount my heroic deeds in excruciating detail? Is that what I have been called forth?" I asked, summoning a stone chair for myself before flopping down in it and another hunk of stone rising to catch my feet and give me a very comfortable recline.

Anchors all around the room tensed at my use of magic. The only one who remained calm was Maribelle, who had chosen not to situate herself directly behind me, but instead behind the backs of the first elder to make it clear I was not entirely welcome here. 

"Of course, let's get you out of here as quickly as we can," Anadonis finally spoke and looked at me. "Several of us here, myself included, witnessed your fight with the King of Avente.”

“Yes, before we consider that matter solved, I would like to hear from Arden himself." Another elder interrupted my grandfather. "What were you relying on for the power during that and what was the King of Avente using as well? According to the reports we have received, he was donned in," the man put a monocle on his face and read off a sheet, "ornate golden armor and wielding a spear, of which you took both," he said, removing his monocle as if his glare would be any stronger with it gone. 

"Well, I'm pretty sure you get the spoils from your own fights, don't you?" I said, glancing around the room. "I froze him solid, which didn’t kill him," I held up a finger. "Which means that I won. And so I decided to take his armor. Which does not work as advertised, unfortunately," I gave a rueful shake of my head. "However, the spear is still connected to a god of thunder and war and maybe a few other things. Anyways, I have that chained up somewhere as a way to leech godly power from said god." I smiled at the room, continuing to relax as they all stared at me like I had grown a second head and that was the one that had just been talking.

"I'm sorry, there's a few details that need to be clarified," one of the elders scoffed. "You're claiming that the King of Avente used a spear that a god gave him and that you were able to restrain said spear and take power from said god." 

I bobbed my head. "Congratulations. Your comprehension is fantastic," I gave him a flat smile. "Does anyone else need me to repeat that?" 

"Mage Aldis," my mother scolded me. "You've been brought before the elders to give a recount of your exploits during the war, not to put on a show nor to perform a debate." 

"Right," I let out a heavy sigh. "The King of Avente had powers granted from him by a god related to the one causing trouble in Garrish. I was dodging chancellors and hiding in the badlands which for the record has an absolutely massive monster on the destructive scale of the wyrm that I experienced in the Leviathan's Spine mountain range. Anyways, I used that monstrous crab to catch a few of the chancellors. I caught a few of my own. Then I went north and even triggered the barbarians to raid what remained of their fort after I turned it into a smoldering pile of ruins."

“Of course, I mucked about in the country itself funding rebels as well as fighting these new strange monstrous creatures that King Martin spawned with the help of a big titted goddess.”

Even Regis Virel gave me a look for that particular detail.

“But it's important! It is a very large differentiating factor among the gods I encountered." I said smiling.

None of them decided to comment.

"Anyway as I was saying." I turned back to the group. It became clear that there was godly assistance behind King Martin, both with the transformation of several serpent mages and himself. I then managed to find my own godly support. This one having a grudge with the other.”

Before I could continue, I was interrupted.

"Ah, so your ability to defeat King Martin and to beat the king of Avente was you utilizing this other god's powers for the fight. Funny how you have not mentioned that yet." The antagonistic elder sneered.

I gave him a thin smile. "No, I have not because though I have received some moderate help from her, the power is all mine." I said, almost about to go into the whole pendant dipping in blood and sucking their souls out while a goddess processes them and eats the nasty bits, meanwhile giving me lovely minty soul juice to increase my soul magic and soul guard.

However, I was intelligent enough to realize that talking about killing other mages to grow stronger could very quickly make my life significantly more difficult. If I made the Elders afraid, it was just going to bring them together to go after me.

"And this goddess's support was free?" He pushed sounding reasonably skeptical while making eye contact with other elders in a silent bid to turn them against me.

I frowned at him. "Not entirely, I did have to help her in several ways." This smile on my face grew larger as I realized I was fucking brilliant. "Which is going to take some of my attention away from Avente and quite frankly all of the things you are doing in order to repay this goddess for her help in killing both kings. I'm going to be busy," I said, instantly realizing there was a fantastic excuse right in front of my eyes.

Several of the mages, several of the elders blinked at this new information. I checked to see the mood from my mother and grandfather, however both of them are wearing unreadable expressions.

"Ah so you won't be staying in Avente?" An elder asked, sounding a touch too excited.

"I'm terribly afraid that I won't be able to." I shook my head, fairly certain I was playing my cards perfectly. "But I will return eventually." I perked back up. “And of course, I'll return to House Aldis because that's where I belong.” I met the eyes of every elder in the room making sure they understood that to go after my house would inevitably lead to ruin upon my return.

"And how long will you be staying?" Regis Virel asked.

"Unfortunately, only until this ball. That's as long as I can delay. These goddesses are demanding.” I barely managed to stop the smirk that tried to sneak onto my face.

"Goddesses?" One of them picked up on the plural.

"Right, you could say there's a small team of goddesses and while they managed to take out King Martin and disrupt the plans of the other goddess, they now went to pursue said large titted goddess and put an end to her for good. Which means, unfortunately, I have to pop on a ship and go on an adventure." I decided at the last possible moment that mentioning going to Zenovia was unlikely to be my wisest decision.

"That is terribly unfortunate,” my mother said expressionlessly. 

“While all this is well and good, why are we all so simply accepting of this strength that he borrowed?" The elder that had confronted me first tried to rally them against me.

"Well, I mean. You don't have to trust me. I can simply give you an example." I said.

Giving him a cold, lifeless glare as purple ardenium erupted from around his chair wrapping him and locking him in place. Even as the Elder Mage called on his magic, it failed to respond as my chains simply sucked it from him before he could push it into any sort of mental image.

The Elder Mage's face went pale as he was suddenly without his magic. Without it every person in this room was nothing but a normal citizen. Their power, political and personal, would be completely gone without their magic.

An anchor rushed for my neck, sword drawn.

Only for another chain of the purple metal to leap out from underneath the ottoman I was resting my feet on. It wrapped around the neck of the anchor and suspended her in the air as she went limp like a helpless kitten.

"Fun isn't it?" I said, having not sat up from where I was lounging only to rake my eyes through every elder in the room. “Would you like to explain to them what you're feeling right now?"

The antagonistic elder scowled. "You've somehow locked down my magic," he said simply. "However I will find a way around it and prepare for next time, making this a useless gimmick."

"Oh trust me, it's far from useless." I beckoned with a finger and one of the Ardenium chains stabbed into his forehead only to scoop out two floating orbs.

It took everyone in the room less than a second to realize what they were.

"Even the elder whose magic was being suppressed knew exactly what he was seeing.

“My spheres," he gasped and he lunged forward even as my chains restrained him.

"Lovely things aren't they?" The chain brought them all the way over to my hand where I played with them like some sort of meditative tool. "Though they're a little lumpy, according to what I've learned. Our spheres were actually once the seeds of monsters. 

One was clearly the Raven Sphere split into white and black halves and the other, the Fox sphere red and blue.

After playing with them for a moment, I tossed them in the air and I could see every mage in the room tense like they were terrified they would shatter. “Anyway, it's not important and while they can be fun things to play with, I'm not King Martin nor the King of Avente who were only interested in power and threatened by everyone else.”

My chain brought his spheres back and pushed them into the mage's forehead. The Elder slumped in relief before his eyes burned with anger born from his helplessness.

“You see,” I held my hands out. “I have more important things to do than to sit in a stuffy room with a bunch of old people. After all, I'm still young and you're were right," I looked at the elder who had winked at me. "I have far too many anchors to satisfy, to spend all my days in business meetings and,” I shuddered, “reading contracts.”

Regis Virel clapped his hands. "Such a young man, still willful and hungering for adventure. I don't think that's a bad thing at all."

Nearly every elder in the room was rapidly nodding along with his assessment.

"Yes, you should enjoy life and not be contained with such responsibilities." Another said, "though you are a mage of Avente which means we should have some method to contact you and understanding of your movements."

I snorted, they wanted to track me, my mother glanced at me meaningfully and I cleared my throat. "Of course, I am a mage of House Aldis and communicate with my family constantly over my journeys." I smiled at my mother, realizing several hints she had laid out before this, but let her take the floor.

"Yes well, House Aldis is honored to have such a distinguished mage as Arden here. It is simply a shame we can't keep him in the capital and have him at work solely for the house but it has become abundantly clear that he's made deals that even House Aldis cannot interfere in."

There were several relieved sighs around the room while I resisted the temptation to give my mother a thumbs up.

"If I may ask which sphere do those chains come from?" My grandfather asked.

"Oh these?" I pointed to the ones still holding the anchor aloof. “They don't come from a sphere at all. Truth be told, the spheres are a shortcut to magic. At least the way the goddesses explained it to me. The people long ago were given magic but traded a part of it for the spheres to use as a magical shortcut." I gestured to the chain again, "this is real magic."

And with that, the chain disappeared and the anchor dropped to the floor.

I cast a gaze at him for just a moment to see if he was going to make an unwise decision. Thankfully, for his sake, he retreated quickly sheathing his sword and giving his mage a wary look.