AO 6 Ch 1

"You never wake up early," Emlyn groaned, shielding her eyes from the incoming light. 

"I'm not up early. You're sleeping late," I retorted from the desk, where I'd cracked the blinds so that I could read Eva's book. I was enthralled with my father's tales. A week after getting it, I was pretty sure I could recite some of them by heart. But that didn't stop me from reading it again. 

"Is it late?" She squinted. 

I threw the blinds open further, only for them to pierce the room and illuminate the naked brunette beauty on the bed.

For my efforts, I got a pillow soaring across the room.

I shielded the book to make sure the pillow didn't ruffle its pages. "Watch it," I snapped. "You could damage the book." 

Emlyn groaned, but then with the grace of a dancer, somersaulted out of bed. She picked up the garb she used to pretend to be a mercenary before squeezing herself into the brown leather pants.

She was the first woman I’d ever had feelings for growing up in the same village together. Not to mention she really turned into a beauty as she matured. Emlyn had the body of a dancer, toned yet soft in just the right places with legs that could go on for days.

Even the book didn't hold enough appeal to stop me from watching her body as she swished her hips back and forth, working herself into her pants. Her round rear vanished from view, only to be made more spectacular in her pants. She glanced at me over her shoulder, a smirk on her face as she worked her long brown hair into a familiar  long braid, her blue eyes glimmering with mirth. 

"Enjoy the show?" she teased. 

"As always," I replied. I had no shame around my anchors. All four of them were also my lovers, and there was no reason I couldn’t admire them. They certainly didn’t hold back when the shoe was on the other foot.

Emlyn rolled her eyes and snatched up a threadbare tunic, finishing getting dressed and the poor clothes did little to dampen her beauty. "Where's everyone else?" She asked, snapping a simple sword to her belt and casting a longing look at the trunk that held her blue steel blade.

A normal merchant's guard didn't carry such a fancy weapon.

"Downstairs. Come here, let me fix your face," I offered. 

She glowered at me. "You're not fixing it. You're making it worse." 

Still, she came close enough for me to activate my serpent sphere, drawing on my life magic as I ran a thumb over her face, squaring out her nose. Then I made her face slightly less even before adding a distracting scar that crossed over one of her eyes. I knew her face by heart and certainly well enough to change her back every night.

We were still in Garrish territory, even if we were well out of the way by that point and we needed to not stick out.

After meeting back up with Eva, we had gone off the beaten path, trying to stay away from the big towns, much less the cities.

Instead, we were rolling ourselves through farmlands and villages, trying not to draw too much attention, which was difficult given that my whole entourage were each so eye catching that if they were to walk through town, everyone would have them etched in their minds.

I lived a rough life. One that I wouldn’t change for the world.

"If you head out, I'm sure you can send Maribelle back in," I offered. 

"No, you always have one of us," Emlyn held firm to her duty as an anchor. Though I had made them all swear Ard's oath—an oath of equals rather than the anchor's oath—they still took protecting me more seriously than I would have liked.

With a thought, I sent a message to Maribelle, tugging her by the soul, which she had quite literally shoved her soul into mine when she realized it would make us inseparable for all of time.

Thankfully, I had been able to put her soul back in place, but a connection had formed, one that caused her soul to snap back to my own should her body ever perish. At this point I had mended her body and stuffed her soul back into it more than once.

She didn’t concern herself with her own wellbeing when mine was at risk.

I could feel that she quite literally dropped what she was doing to come.

"All right, she's coming. What are you going to do?" I asked.

Emlyn groaned, moving towards the door.

Just as she reached it, the door shot open. A woman who didn't even come up to Emlyn's chest barreled through in a flash of frills and golden curls.

Emlyn ignored Maribelle’s antics and slipped out the door, closing it behind her. 

Maribelle came to a stop in front of me and curtsied low, her spiraled locks of blonde hair brushing against the floor. Where the others could hide as guards or other martial professions, Maribelle was the perfect maid and so had continued in that role. Rather than her normal kingdom blues inspired maid outfit, she wore a simple one of maroon and yellow to go with my cover identity as a member of House Shalman.

After all, I couldn't travel Garrish as a merchant without having a merchant family behind me. 

"Do you need something, sir?” Maribelle purred, her eyes smoldering.

The curtsy she performed caused her magically transformed and enhanced breasts to hang low, stretching the less resilient cloth to its limits. She had used life magic to draw more attention to them. Life magic wasn’t uncommon amongst the nobility or anchors to shape themselves to whatever perfection they pursued.

I cleared my throat and looked back up into her sapphire blue eyes. “Emlyn needed food, but she wouldn't go until I brought someone else to watch me.”

"I'm happy to be the first on your mind," Maribelle grinned, straightening back up. She began to move around the room, fluffing pillows, remaking the bed, and actually working as I watched.

At the same time, she lingered close to me. Each pass she made around the room caused her to draw near and walk right past my chair, brushing against me distractingly. She was like a cat that wanted attention but refused to outright demand it, instead hoping I'd get the hint and eventually pounce on her.

When she brushed against me once more, my arm snapped out, grabbing her by the hip and pulling her into my lap. "Is that better?" I asked.

Unfortunately, the way her chest stuck out made it quite difficult for me to look around them to see the book on the desk. 

"Much better," Maribelle made herself comfortable, wiggling into my lap. "Like I was saying, I'm happy to be the first on your mind," she grinned, her soft rear molding to every inch of me before she swayed slightly. My reaction, of course, was completely normal for a man, and I squeezed her hips to stop her from making my body too excited. 

"Have we gotten any more information from Uncle Valken?" I asked, deciding I wasn't going to be able to focus on reading the book. 

"No new news," she sighed wistfully. "The old man isn't due back for two more days. Even then, it's getting harder to send messages. Nearly every road has blockades that are checking people. There's some debate amongst our group about where it is best to hide on the road. Are these small villages best, or could we bury ourselves in a city such that no one could find us?" 

I grunted, not committing to either.

The fact of the matter was that none of us had been prepared for the overreaction from King Martin. He was scouring his entire country, and losses be damned, they were taking no chances to try and root out any and all spies amongst their ranks. If I had to guess, the death of Carmilla had really set him off. He wanted to know who and how his newest toy had been destroyed.

I assumed others like her were going to play an imminent and impactful role in the ongoing war between the three kingdoms. I shuddered to think what a team of them would do to the current war efforts.

She could have likely matched an Enclave Elder or even a handful of Vel’shae. Though Avente and Zenovia had deep reserves of power, the war still relied on the masses.

Not to mention if she was like Colin, then she would have grown more powerful if allowed to feast on the souls of lesser mages first.

"Well, good thing we have Avente's greatest tactical mind with us," I said, referring to Zuri. "We should leave this village and figure it out along the way. It feels like we've stayed here long enough. Any longer and people will start asking questions I'm not particularly good at answering." 

Maribelle nodded in agreement. "Where will we go, sir?" 

After a moment of thought, I decided, "Out of the towns, if a decision needs to be made. I don't know if the towns or even the cities are safe. We should leave it all behind. Go find somewhere to lay low. It's not like we'd have any problem living off the land for a week or so. If King Martin is still keeping up the pressure after all of that, then we're doing a good job wasting all of his resources that he should be putting towards the war." 

I leaned back, staring at the ceiling for a moment before nodding to myself. "All right, off my lap. We need to get moving Maribelle." 

"Of course." She jumped off, her skirt twirling and her hair flowing. She somehow moved with more grace than anybody would expect given her top heaviness.

"Do me a favor and pack us up. I will meet the others downstairs. And don't be like Emlyn and assume I need a guard. I have Cyam with me at all times. Don't I, boy?" 

I held a hand out and a horse head made of shadows came up to nuzzle my hand. 

"You have ten seconds to get by your other anchors," Maribelle said without looking up from her task as she quickly began packing the room. That was about the longest reprieve any of them had given me lately. 

I hopped to it, nearly sprinting out the door and down the steps to the common room of the tiny village entrance. The area was so rough and rustic that it brought back sweet memories of home, of the inn that I had worked at nearly my whole life. Only instead of a grumpy woman pregnant with twins, this one featured a surly old man. 

The glare from Emlyn as I raced down the steps alone was enough to stop the innkeeper from even saying hello. Emlyn had a way with glares. She could freeze even fire with them, I swore. 

"Emlyn," I waved overly cheerily as I sat down at the table.

She was accompanied by Zuri and Aurelia, as well as Eva, though she wasn't one of my anchors. No, she was the princess of Zenovia and a mage like me. 

"Maribelle let you come down on your own?" Emlyn raised an eyebrow. 

"I wasn't going to die on a set of stairs," I said. 

"You could have," Eva added unhelpfully. "It would be a real shame to survive everything else, only to die on a set of stairs." 

I shook my head in mock sorrow. "But thankfully I have all of you. And also, I'm making Maribelle pack because we're getting out of here." 

"We are?" The dark-skinned Zuri dabbed at her lips as she asked with a raised eyebrow. She was pretending to be my accountant as I pretended to be a merchant of modest means. Thankfully, I did a fantastic job of pretending not to be nobility. Pretending to be nobility was far harder. 

"I think we've probably spent more time here than any merchant should. It's about time we go on to the next town and talk about some of our bigger plans." I didn't get too into the details.

While I don't think the old man wiping down his counter to a smooth polish had any stake in anything, one of the unsaid business activities of taverns was gathering gossip and rumors. I'd rather not add our discussions to his portfolio, especially when we were laying low.

"Well, if we're leaving, I need to know where, either side, so I can leave our uncle a note." Eva said.

My eyes suddenly lit up. "Can I do it? Pretty please?”

“I'll check it.” Eva conceded far too quickly. “And you should probably let Zuri or Maribelle pass the note along."

It wasn’t perfect, but the stories of my father’s spycraft were rippling through my mind fast enough to push out any disappointment. I reached over into Zuri's satchel and got a small scrap of paper. I began to scribble on it, using the encryptions I had been studying as I began to write a message. 

"Zuri, do you have a map?" I asked partway through writing. She fished it out of her satchel and laid it out on the table.

We were nearly off the map at the moment. The eastern side of the Garrish Kingdom was mostly barren land. Not many people lived in the area, and even farmers struggled. 

It only got worse the further east you went until it was a complete no-man's-land. It became increasingly inhospitable, too arid to plow, and even the animals seemed bent on driving humans out. The area had a penchant for monsters, but what was worse were normal scorpions and spiders that could kill a man in their sleep.

Apparently where terrifyingly dangerous eight-legged critters lived, even more terrifying creatures preyed on them. 

There was a type of  incredibly poisonous bird where, or at least I was told, a brush with its feathers was almost as bad as death magic, causing horrible necrosis. A mage was required to heal it, and loss of limb was common.

And so, I decided to chart our path directly to the edge of that area. Between my anchors and my own increasingly powerful magic, I didn't think these dangers would actually threaten our lives, though we may be terribly inconvenienced by them.

Yet, that’s where no one would look for us.

Checking the map, and then scribbling on my scrap of paper, I finished, and handed it over to Zuri. "There are only two stalls, so put it in the second. At the top, where the pillar meets the roof." I said as Eva sparked up a louder conversation with Aurelia.

Zuri snatched it up and stated more loudly, "I'll get the horses ready."

True to any innkeeper, he perked up, "Oh, I can do that." He'd at least been giving us half an ear.

"It's fine. The horses are more comfortable with my team.” I replied.

“Really, sir, it was a waste to come out here. At least let me make it more comfortable for you." The innkeeper offered, not really the greatest of salesmen.

It most certainly was, if I were a real merchant. I thought to myself.

"Now, now, it has its own beauty," I argued and smiled at the innkeeper. I knew that some people failed to see the charm beneath the windblown dirt. But to me there was beauty in the little village.

At least the innkeeper smiled before Zuri marched off, none of the anchors cared for my appreciation of the rougher life.

"Well, it's time for you and me to get a breath of fresh air and stretch our legs before we get going." I glanced over at Emlyn, who was still eating, before turning my attention back to Aurelia and Eva. "Coming? I'd like to stretch my legs. We both know you and I won't be getting out of the carriage until nightfall." The anchors never let us mages out for very long.

Eva got up and made a show of stretching her arms high above her head before releasing the tension with a drawn-out sigh.

Aurelia was already on her feet, her bluesteel axe strapped to her back, but covered to the point that no one could tell that she was carrying a weapon that could cost a small town on her back. She was already on guard, stepping ahead of us to make sure nothing outside the door would threaten us as we exited.

This was just my normal life now. The anchors were always vigilant even if it chafed at me sometimes. 

"What is an anchor doing all the way out here?" A voice asked with mock curiosity as Aurelia stepped out.

I froze partway to the door, leaning carefully around the frame to see what we were up against.

A small row of guards sat astride horses in the middle of the village. The small patrol astride their mounts was honestly a surprise this close to the Badlands.

This village reminded me of mine. It was in the middle of nowhere without much support. It was rare to get patrols, even rarer yet to get people like this who looked like they had seen their fair share of action.

I immediately got the sense that we were not dealing with green recruits. 

Rather than hide, I poked my head out to be less suspicious. "Well, gentlemen, how do you do?" I gave them a small bow. "Name's Trevor. House Shalman. Merchant. It's a pleasure to see that the roads are being patrolled. No wonder I had such little issues traveling lately." I beamed at them. 

"You're her mage?" Their eyes raked over me.

I responded with my most polite smile, particularly at the sight of more soldiers coming down the road. "Of course, just the wolf sphere. And to be honest, my talent is lacking. Or at least, that's what I've been told." I clicked my tongue. Mages were expected to have an ego, even if they were the worst of the bunch.

One of them pulled out a mage's testing device, which sent warning signs throughout my mind. The little glass sphere was not common and would not normally be carried by an average patrol. They were expensive.

The device was worn and chipped, but with the way he held it, I knew he thought it would still work. 

"Oh, okay," I said with surprise. "I haven't been tested in a while, but give it another go. Maybe I'll have a better showing than the first time." I grabbed a little glass sphere and with all of my control, held back my serpent, fox, and raven spheres before squeezing open my wolf's sphere as little as I could and letting a drop of magic out.

The light was so dim the man had to hold his hand over it to block the sunlight and peer close to see the barest of flicker. 

"I don't know if calling you a mage is even accurate," he grunted.

I gave him a weary look in return. "Don't we both know it, but I got myself one hell of an anchor." I pointed at Aurelia. “She’s made it all worth it.”

Her hair had been dulled to a strawberry blonde rather than her flaming Virel red.

I had to stop myself from smiling at the fact that they were casually looking at a woman who was essentially a manticore in a human body. So close to possible death and they had no idea.

The Virels had a long legacy of powerful monster hunters and even the royal family of Avente fought to get Virel anchors for their mages. So when she flashed a cocky smirk at the soldiers, it was certainly worth its weight.

Yet they laughed, giving her a once-over. "Yeah, I'm sure she's really great at swinging those heavy weapons around," one of them rolled his eyes, not taking Aurelia very seriously, assuming she was mostly for my entertainment. 

"All right. Well, thank you for the introduction, but we'll need to see some papers.” The head guard stated.

“My accountant's with the wagons if you'd like," I gestured to the side only to see soldiers coming down the other side of town.

"You bring a whole company?" I asked, staring at the soldiers. 

"You wouldn't know it, but our place is riddled with Avente spies and Zenovian creatures. We're doing a big sweep, pushing them into the Badlands. Hopefully the monsters there can deal with them." 

"Oh, Zenovian creatures? Did they send manticores up?" I asked, thinking of the beasts being the first ones that came to mind. 

"Worse, they're Vel'Shae. We've gotten the reports from the attack in Fargo. I've heard that's rippled all the way up here," He answered.

I nodded my head. Word had already reached this area independently.

"Well, apparently Vel'Shae was responsible for all of it. People saw the monster tear through the lord's estate. We're checking anyone and everyone we come across. Which means," he held up the crystal, "everyone in your group needs to be brought forward and tested for magic as well. Can’t be too careful.”