AO 6 Ch 22

Aurelia was high on life. Her entire family emphasized martial and magical prowess as a daily part of their life. The fact that she wasn't a mage was, in some sense, always weighing on her. She felt like a failure to the Virel family for not continuing their prestigious lineage. Though she understood, on a logical level, that not everyone born into the family would be a mage, on an emotional level, it always hung over her like a disappointed parent.

Yet now, bonded to Ard, she was essentially a mage. The fact that she was able to already shape a spell into the signature Virel Fangs of Flame was like a dream come true for her.

Part of her wanted to run straight back to House Virel, jumping up and down and showing off to Uncle Silver. But that was the small, childish part of her. She was quickly outgrowing that version of herself under the experiences of being Ard's anchor. She had lived a more exciting first year as an anchor than most. Ard seemed to always find himself in the thick of danger. 

Enjoying the magic roaring through her body, Aurelia landed next to a nearby mage, hurling her bluesteel axe down with enough force that even the small earthen wall the mage flicked into existence completely shattered.

Fire magic spilled off the edge of her axe, and another maw of flame appeared, chomping down on the mage and surprising him.

His anchor cut through the spell before it could kill him, but the mage had lost an arm.

His hair and robes were alight as Aurelia spun, using the weight of her axe to carry her through, and lifting it with the swing where it had been low after the high chop she had performed.

This kind of move would dislocate a normal soldier’s arm, but there wasn’t even the itch of strain with the power flowing through her.

The anchor moved to block her, only to stagger backwards as she put her full force into the attack. A row of half a dozen cloaked mage-forged rush through the smoldering flames right into Aurelia's spinning form.

She paid them no heed, leaning harder into it, as she chopped the first at the waist, only for the second to bury a dagger in her shoulder. She ignored the pain, her family's training kicking in, as she gripped her weapon tighter in response. She knew how to use pain to hold onto her weapon. It was taught to Virels at an early age. 

As she spun back around a second time, two more daggers managed to find their purchase in her back.

Fire magic spilled out of her hair, making a cape of flames that protected her for a moment until her axe had come back around. She spilled fire out into her surroundings, pushing back the mage-forged and the anchor who was hesitating behind them, it was enough for her to not fall prey to their momentum. 

"Do something," the mage screamed at his anchor, holding his stump of an arm, while still concentrating and trying to hold the crumbling fortress wall.

But he needed time, and Aurelia had no intention of giving that to him. All of the fire spilling out around her rushed towards him as she tried to gather the spell once again. 

"Fuck," the mage screamed. "Is she an anchor or a mage?" 

A shell of stone managed to come up and protect him in time. The fangs made of fire were solid enough to cut flesh, but not enough to break through stone. The other anchor dove under the stone, coming quickly for Aurelia, yet she didn't have an ounce of fear.

As Ard had promised, they weren't fighting with their lives on the line. He would bring them back from even death.

So when the anchor swept in to run her through, she roared defiantly and slammed the butt of her axe against the earthen shield around the mage.

It shattered much like a struck egg, cracks spider webbing across the surface to reveal the mage underneath.

Having used the base of the axe, the blade was already back over her shoulder, the blade swinging down and cutting the mage shoulder to groin. She pulsed fire around her, trying to ward off the others, but she knew this enemy anchor wouldn't give up just yet. 

As lightning crackled off his blade, he ran her through, only for her axe to split the head of his mage.

Aurelia grinned, already feeling blood well up in her throat, staining her teeth as she turned to the other anchor. She seized his wrist, stopping him from pulling away. Fire rippled off of her. 

"Do you know what my mage calls me?" She asked, even as she felt blood trickle past her lips. "He calls me the Manticore, and you always have to watch out for the tail." 

As she spoke, a barbed red tail made of flames jutted over her shoulder, moving faster than the other anchor could react. It stabbed into his chest, and the entire spell inverted, pouring flames into him. His chest blossomed with fire and burnt to coke.

In an instant he was dead and Aurelia let go of his wrist, letting him collapse, and grunted as she eased his sword out of her chest.

The amount of life magic that Ard was currently pumping into her was unbelievable. She parted the fabric of her kingdom blues just to watch that lethal wound heal before her eyes.

She had felt a slight call of death, an inevitable feeling to close her eyes, knowing she would never open them again. Yet at the same time, there was pressure from her mage on her own soul, telling her to stand fast and deal with her enemies. 

Aurelia chuckled, feeling more than a little crazy. The chuckle turned louder and she tilted her head back, laughing atop the ramparts.

Ard palled around with gods, and with the power he had given her, she suddenly didn't feel that Ard's casual address of gods was that crazy anymore. He had literally pulled her back from the brink of death, while transforming her from anchor into mage.

She was more akin to a Vel’Shae at this point, able to cast spells and influence her body. 

If Ard could ever figure out a way to pass this skill along to others, she was sure the entire Virel family would bow down and call him grandpa if that's what it took.

Aurelia was still riding her newfound high as the wall that the Garrish mages had been trying to stop from collapsing gave way in a thunderous crumble. 

The destruction roared through the battlefield and deafened Aurelia to the point that she felt some of the life magic in her divert to her ears to repair her hearing. She turned around, scanning for Emlyn.

But she quickly realized that the other anchor was gone. Aurelia shrugged, disappointed nobody had seen the way she had fought.

"Oh well," Aurelia shrugged. "Someone will see it next time." 

She was giddy with the idea of Ard seeing her manticore tail spell for the first time. She wondered whether he'd love it or hate it.

***

I was having the time of my life. I stood on the ground, watching the battle through the flickering souls above and gleaning what information I could from my earth magic about the shifting terrain.

Emlyn and Zuri were atop the central keep, while Aurelia was rushing around the wall. It seemed the newest anchor to bond with me was breaking in and testing her new abilities. I was having to give her quite a bit of life magic as she fought recklessly.

Emlyn, on the other hand, had earth to protect her and Zuri, always fought cautiously despite what she might say. 

It was most surprising that Maribelle wasn't requiring a dousing in life magic. But she’d used a different strategy. She was skulking about in the shadows, pulling heavily on death magic as she quietly took out officers in the keep above.

I began to gather more earth magic because Emlyn wasn't using too much of it for a spell of my own. Right now my biggest problem was having four other people all pulling on my magic at once.

"And what are you doing?" Eva asked through shadowed eyes while she was reaching out with her own magic to watch what was happening above. She felt me pulling on the magic around us. 

“I’m gonna collapse the outer wall and give the barbarians a nice path straight in.” I moved my hands as if to demonstrate.

"Well, not the worst idea," Eva said, "after all, you're currently working like a mage sapper." 

"Exactly," I flashed her a smile. "I too have read some…” She turned to regard me with an expression of doubt. “A few. Fine, okay, a single military magic book," I corrected myself several times under Eva's judgment. 

"I'm surprised you read a full one." Eva teased.

"It had pictures," I smiled at her, "which are really nice in explaining all of the things so that when Zuri would talk my ear off on dates back in the capital, I understood at least half of what she was saying." 

"Ah, there it is," Eva grinned. "The real reason." 

"Yes, well. Unfortunately, it does take work to keep seven women happy," I said smugly. 

"Two of which you left back at your family estate," she added. 

"They're pregnant, and both my family and theirs very much want more little Ards," I gestured at myself. "I mean, who wouldn't?" 

"True. If you come back to Zenovia with me, there's a good chance that the ladies of Zenovia will do everything they can to help you sow a few new fields," she said, squinting at me. 

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer not to become a stud horse. If needed, I could do it from time to time," I said hesitantly, "but it needs to be for a really, really big favor." 

"Uh-huh," Eva said, unimpressed. "I'm sure that would be such a burden for you." 

"It is. I really don't want to not be there for my kids," I said, a hint of melancholy entering my voice.

Eva clearly picked it up by the way her expression softened. "Right. I forgot you grew up without your parents. For some of the noble houses, arrangements like this aren't uncommon, particularly for anchors or mages that take more scholarly routes.” Eva told me.

“Because they're scholars, they have to have more babies?" I asked, frowning at her. 

"Because they're home, away from danger, and likely benefiting greatly from their family's wealth and prestige? Yes, the family can very easily ask them to be an incubator for a more prosperous generation. That guilt and weight that’s been put on them since childhood is something you don’t have, Ard. Nobles are raised to feel the debt they owe to their family for all the wealth they revel in.”

It took me a moment to understand what Eva meant. The idea that noble children would receive significant help from their families, only for the family to turn around one day and ask them for help, made sense at least logically.

It made even more sense that they would call that a debt when it was something the noble child didn't necessarily want to do. I could already imagine nobles in the capital who may have married for love suddenly being called upon by their families to help breed more powerful mages. A noble family's power and prestige was directly connected to how many mages they had, or more aptly, how many spheres of magic were in their family. 

"Well, I think the studding fee just went up," I grumbled. 

"Your studying fee has already been sky-high, Ard. You know, Uncle Valken briefly discussed it with me," she said. My head whipped back towards her, and she held a hand up before continuing. "And then I told him to shut his mouth and never say that, particularly not around you, as it would cause misunderstandings that I did not want," she said firmly. 

"Right, right. No misunderstanding here," I confirmed for her. "But, where were you going with this?" I urged her on. I mean who wouldn’t want to know their price? 

"Studding fees. Uncle Valken had at least a few ideas as for what the price would be," she said hesitating.

I opened my eyes wide to show that she had my full attention. "And out of curiosity, if one were to assign fees?” It seemed she was going to need more urging.

“Let's just say, even for the wealthiest houses in either of our countries, they would be looking for payment plans rather than any outright payment. Also, it would probably require several contracts as to how the child is handled. Things like twins or triplets would need very clear clauses. And there would also be favors or other beneficial deals tied up into the contracts. Raw money alone is simply not enough, Ard," Eva explained. 

A giant grin spread across my face. "Damn. I'm a pricey man-whore." 

Eva smacked her face. "Do not call yourself that, Ard." 

"Well, I am," I said as I released a large amount of pent-up magic that I had been gathering the entire time I had been conversing with Eva.

The ground underneath one of the walls gave way, the remaining wall was also filled with cracks. Parts of the wall directly dispersed into sand. Meanwhile, pieces of metal that bound the giant bricks together were severed.

Several other mages reached for the same stone I had a lock on, trying to grip and twist it, hold it aloft, and prevent me from tearing down one of the fortress walls.

"'Ard, what's wrong?" Eva asked, worry lacing her previously amused tone.

"Oh, nothing," I said, frowning as I continued to push.

"Doesn't look like nothing," she commented dryly.

"I might be bringing down the wall for the Northmen. But in doing so, I'm currently locked into fighting over the stone with at least four other mages," I grumbled. "They're really putting up quite the fight."

I squeezed my magic until the spheres didn't have enough pouring out of them, then I pushed soul magic into them. And when the wolf sphere wasn't putting out enough earth magic to make it all up, I visualized hooking it up to the palace in soulgard. Using all the stubbornness I could muster, I tried to dump every ounce of magic that I could into powering myself. It was both very effective and what Emlyn might refer to as a ‘stupid’ idea.

Magic ripped into the wall and I felt one of the mages that had been helping resist me give up in the same moment, leading to the wall coming crumbling down in a satisfying collapse. 

What was most interesting was that I felt a strange connection with the stone briefly as I poured so much into it. As the wall tore apart, it felt like it was tearing at me. I gasped and held my chest, Eva rushing to my side.

"Whatever you're doing, just stop." Eva instructed me.

"Oh, trust me, I'm trying," I wheezed and slowly disconnected my magic and the whole chain between my soul, the sphere and the palace. When it came off, there was a sort of mental pop, and I gasped, sitting back.

“Whew! Well, that wasn't so bad.” I waved off Eva's concern.

"Uh-huh. I feel like I should tell Emlyn about this." She gave me a concerned look.

"No need. There's no reason to give Emlyn any worries. She's kind of a worrywart." I shook my head. "So then, do you want the good news or the bad news?" I smiled at Eva next to me.

"I thought we just got through whatever you were doing, Ard. Don't tell me there's bad news to go with this." Eva watched me closely.

"Well," I hesitated, "I just got more attention than Emlyn or you would prefer that I get right now."

Eva put her forehead in her hand, looking at me between her fingers. "Are they coming right now?"

"No clue." I flashed her a smile. "That's the best part."

"Ard, one of these days, we're going to have to talk about the way you make decisions. I’m not sure how you think about good parts and bad parts matches with the broader world."

"One of these days, the gods will be around when we actually need them too." I shrugged, glancing up to see if I was about to be smitten by a god. 

But since nothing came, it seemed today wasn't the day they were going to barge in and save the day. Then again, they were fairly helpful during the whole Freya debacle.

"Hah, nothing. Well, guess we are on our own. In good news, Thor isn’t here at the moment trying to flatten me into a puddle of handsome." I offered.

"I swear to Missy, if you don't take this more seriously," Eva paused as I gave her a deadpan expression. 

"First off, did you just swear on Missy? Second, at this point we just need to move forward. At the end of the day, I might make troubles, but I also solve them. Case in point, the wall's down, and I can feel a bunch of barbarians rushing into the fort. So, my plan worked. I helped the battle. I also exposed myself, but I helped the battle. And it's not like this thing is going to crumble or something." I tapped on the blue steel bolt that I essentially sealed the two of us in with, leaving only a few air holes so that we didn't, of course, asphyxiate inside the space.

Eva’s reply was cut off as a bluesteel sword stabbed right through the metal and began cutting a doorway.