AO 4 Ch 28

Chapter 28

After a night of Maribelle going absolutely wild while I chased her down and pinned her in the basement storage closet for the night, I finally fell asleep.

But rather than dream, I found myself drawn into Soulgard by something.

“Oh. Ard.” Emlyn wandered around the castle. “It’s going to be one of those dreams.”

“What kind is that?” I raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t a dream, but it seemed that Emlyn wasn’t aware of that fact.

“Let’s skip the stupid stuff and give you something else to use that tongue for.” Emlyn wasn’t gentle and grabbed me, shoving me down onto my knees. She frowned. “Normally this is the part where things just change.”

“Like this?” I nibbled at her thigh.

“Yeah. Just like that, only a little more tongue and a little less clothing.” She rubbed my face against her crotch.

“Em. This isn’t a dream.” I told her.

“Of course it is.” She continued.

“No. Em, you’re in my soul. I’m going to make fun of you thinking this is a sex dream for the next few days.” I teased.

Emlyn frowned and stared down into my eyes before her own went wide and she poofed from where she was.

I chuckled and sat up, walking through Soulgard and checking my connections to both of them. It seemed that my attempts at bonding were going to come with side effects, but I’d figure out how it all worked eventually.

***

Missy hadn’t answered any of my calls for the past few days. I could only assume she was hiding, not wanting to tell me more about whatever she had done to Maribelle and my bond.

In better news, Emlyn was mortified and Maribelle was so completely content that it was hard to be upset at all.

Two days went by as we prepared for the worst and planned for the best.

Events started to fall into place.

Today was the Virel funeral, and in two days the King would arrive. A ball would be held that night in his honor, and the next day the Elder trial would commence.

I was dressed in a black robe while Aurelia wore a very conservative black uniform. We were walking down the street between our two houses.

“So, this Uncle Silver?” She’s mentioned wanting to introduce us. “He’s a big deal?”

“He’s a retired Elder.” Aurelia tried to inject as much caution as she could into her words. “He might be the strongest mage in House Virel. My grandfather got his seat before I was born. That’s how old and powerful he is.”

“Yet he keeps the library?” I asked.

“It is an honor to manage the knowledge of our house. He’s also always here. Should anyone ever attack House Virel, he would be here to defend it.” She explained.

Her house was far more martially inclined then even I realized. Their strength was deep, yet waning. Her mother’s generation never produced a mage powerful enough to vie for an elder’s seat.

“Well then, I’d love to meet him. Maybe we could swap some old stories of how great the old days were.” I chuckled.

Aurelia narrowed her eyes. “Just don’t upset him.”

“Can’t promise that.” I smiled as we were greeted by her mother at the gate.

“Welcome Arden.” She dipped her head. “Daughter.”

“Mother.” The two had a momentary stare off before a suited Sean smashed into the conversation and picked Aurelia up for a hug. The hug quickly turned into him swinging his daughter around.

“My daughter hasn’t forgotten about me!” He laughed while trying to sound sad.

“Dad.” She pushed herself out of his grip. “I’m a grown woman now.”

“You’ll always be my daughter.” Her father shifted his attention to me. “Hello.” He spoke curtly.

Louise slapped him in the back. “Do you want him to keep our daughter away? Be nicer.”

The two of them were already acting like they’d given her away.

I dipped my head to both of them. “Sorry for your family’s loss.”

Louise waved it away. “It happens. They went down swinging at least. Most any of us can ask for.”

Sean shrugged. “Did my daughter tell you what to expect?”

“Come in, be somber, and she speaks on their last acts?” I walked with them.

“Then. We drink.” Sean smiled. “And tell all the stories about them that we remember to anyone who’ll listen. History is important to the Virels, and remembering their great deeds is the best we can offer them.” The big man led us away from the front gate back into the family manor where there were more red haired people than I’d ever seen in one place.

Most of them had a guest without the signature Virel hair and mingled in low tones.

I wondered if I’d ever be back here preparing to give a speech on Aurelia.

She squeezed my hand. “Em said you’d get moody.”

“How does she know me so damn well?” I huffed.

“I think she’s loved you for a long time. When you love someone, you just pay a lot more attention to things like that. Thanks for the help with the speech.” She changed the subject.

“Not a problem, I’m good at talking.”

“You managed to make it very serious.” She held my arm as we broke off from her parents and drifted through the crowd.

“This is important to you, so I had to take it seriously.” I kissed her on the cheek and let her still her nerves by greeting some of her House.

The affair was slow and methodical as people dipped their heads and her grandfather came out to talk about the deceased.

Aurelia went up and gave her speech to soft, appreciative applause, only to hurry back to my side.

What happened next shocked me though.

Several Virel men came in carrying kegs with a loud, boisterous song and laid them down, starting to pour out dozens of glasses and pass them through the crowd. The older generation pulled out nice bottles of liquor from every nook and cranny, adding it to the beer and drinking it straight.

In short order, the whole violent House Virel was well on their way to getting drunk. More than a few dragged each other out to the fighting pits in the back, loosening up their suits and dusting off their knuckles.

“They fight?” I watched with fascination.

“We always fight.” Aurelia handed me her glass and stepped up to another woman who was perhaps ten years her senior and bumped fists like friends before the fight started in a flurry of blows.

At least I could heal everyone after they were finished.

Virel funerals were wild.

“Takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?” An old man leaned on his cane next to me. His once red hair was a glossy gray, perhaps a silver if you wanted to call it that.

“I thought I finally got used to my manticore’s aggression, only to find you are all the same way.” I said. “I’m Ard, nice to meet you.” I had a feeling I was in the presence of the man Aurelia had talked about like he was some sort of legend.

“Silver.” He shook my hand. “Manticore?”

“Ah. I compared her hair color to a manticore. She’s certainly as fierce as one. It’s stuck a little.” My attention turned back to Aurelia beating the crap out of the other woman. “This is okay?”

“It’s just them letting out a little tension.” Uncle Silver shrugged. “She’s a manticore after all. Good beast to compare her to. I’m afraid in my old age I have gotten rather direct. Why don’t we cut through the chatter and you come with me?” Some of the jovial uncle persona melted away into a hardened mage.

“Sure.” I caught Aurelia’s gaze and waved. There were enough mages around. Someone could put them all back together.

The fighting pits were getting busier as we walked by. There were even a few mages throwing their fists around.

I followed after the old Virel in silence as he went back into the manor and through the halls to a library. There were two dozen or so shelves, each stuffed with books to the point a few piles lingered on the floor.

“Those not of the House don’t often get a chance to come into this room.” He broke the silence.

“I’m suitably impressed and honored.” I said dryly.

The old man pursed his lips. “What do you think of being a four sphere mage?”

“I think everyone expects me to snap my fingers and fix the world while no one can tell me how to take the first step.” I was being a little flippant with him, but I didn’t much care for the tone he’d taken with me.

He blinked and then really stared at me. “The four spheres were killed for good reason.”

“Going to finish the job?” I stared back. “Because I grew up in a village and ran an inn for most of my adult life. The whole politics, cloaks and daggers really doesn’t suit me.”

“No. Aurelia has only great things to say of you. You solved the wyrm issue with healing rather than violence. That at least tells me you aren’t a lost cause yet.” He ambled through the library to where a massive book that looked like it was made of twenty different types of paper sat and a smaller book rested on the pages it was opened to.

“Yet.” I echoed.

Uncle Silver opened the book and thumbed to one of the first sections. “Marcus Zenov, approximately five thousand years ago. The man altered people’s personalities with a touch, turning four of the kingdom's most beautiful women into his sworn anchors. Including one of our own. Over the years her personality became wicked and she forgot her family. One day she transformed into a monster and destroyed a village fifteen miles from the capital only to return to the palace with a beautiful young woman who similarly had her personality changed.

“When confronted, she did not recognize her extended family and slaughtered a party of Virels.”

He flipped a little later.

“Lily Zenov. By all accounts she’s a beautiful person. However, there are distant rumors in the kingdom that she flits across the land faster than any bird. In the northern region she’s known to capture barbarians and set them free for her dogs to hunt down. In the southern region she takes men and women alike only for them to never return. Yet, all attempts to catch her have failed as she’s in the palace by the very next morning.”

He flipped again.

“Zacharia Zenov, he’s twisted his several dozen anchors into inhuman monstrosities. One of which was hunted down and killed. During its death, the once man begged to be released from this nightmare.”

I cleared my throat. “Got a point, or are we here to just tell me horror stories of assholes who clearly have too much power.”

Uncle Silver closed the book and turned back to me. “What? Do these disturb you? I haven’t even gotten to the best parts.”

“Look, I’m aware that Zenov himself went down the wrong path and his family did too. Even amongst the current Royalty, I’m sure we can find a few who are vile human beings. Just take Carmilla, for example, and her hunting down one Elder Brimsam. It isn’t news to me that power corrupts.” I sighed. My thoughts of Valerian trapping Emlyn while working with Garrish came to mind as well.

“Zenov himself? How could you know anything about him?” Uncle Silver rested his hands on that cane, yet it was an oddly threatening gesture.

I felt that lying would be a very bad move at the moment. “Zenov, the very first mage of this world? The one granted magic by a Goddess only to sell her gift to another goddess for what we now call the four spheres. I know, because said goddess has spoken to me.”

“Spoken to by a goddess.” The old man echoed. “Interesting. You aren’t lying. I wonder if the others had the same.”

“They didn’t. She… she seems to have been quite upset with Zenov and his line for quite some time. I think she likes me because I broke the line, not raised by anyone with preconceived notions of how to use my magic.” Perks of growing up in a village.

The old man stared at me for a long while in silence. “Interesting. It seems that Aurelia isn’t a bad judge of character. When I heard that she’d suddenly become willful…” His gaze trailed over the book. “I was concerned.”

“That’s nice. So, are you done thinking about murdering me in my sleep? I can only imagine what a family of ‘monster hunters’ is doing with a book on the bad deeds of past four sphere mages. Especially with your choice of passages, you think four spheres are all monsters?” I opened up my sphere of the raven, thinking that I’d need the speed of light magic if the mage in front of me did anything.

“Many have become monsters.” Uncle Silver studied me.

“Great. Now I’m just trying to figure out if I need to run.” I gave him a fake smile.

“You couldn’t if you wanted to. Well, I can’t speak entirely for your capabilities.” He opened another book. “This one details many interesting feats that four spheres have accomplished in the past.”

“Ah. So four sphere mages don’t go in the bestiary, but their own special book? I’m happy to be considered such a fearsome foe by the Virels.” My posture was as relaxed as I could manage while my mind tried to find a way out of the current situation.

The man in front of me was a retired Elder. Once he had been considered the strongest mage in the nation and from everything I knew about magic, that meant he was likely even stronger now.

I held my hands up. “Can we stop the staring contest? Pretty sure how this works is you either kill me instantly or I end up trying to use my special four sphere magic, which I have terrible control of, and I probably kill myself and ruin your library.”

“How did you kill the creslin?” He asked.

“Oh, that. I tried to levitate it. Just tried to lift it up in the air.”

“That killed it?” Uncle Silver asked.

“I told you, I’m really bad at this magic. When I tried to lift it into the air, instead I… uh… inverted it? Pulled its stomach out through its throat, broke every bone in its body and peeled its skin back and into the center of it before compressing it all. When I let go, the thing exploded into a shower of viscera all over the sewer and us.”

The old man stared at me in disbelief. “How can you be so bad that you achieve that when you try and lift it?”

“This stuff is hard. Even the goddess says my magic is extra special and hard to use. That’s a big part of why she talks to me.” I rambled to save my life.

“She has spoken to you multiple times?” The old man shifted and pulled out a quill before opening the book to blank pages in the back.

“Well, I guess giving you more information might make you feel like you could solve the problem that is me later. How about this, I answer your questions and you don’t kill me.” I offered.

“You were never going to die here. The child hasn’t had her mind altered, she’s just fallen in love.” The old man huffed.

“Phew.” I sat down on a stack of books. “Really thought I was going to have to do something stupid. You have no idea how much of a pain soul magic is to use.”

“Soul magic?” He asked.

“That’s what I call it. Rather than use the four spheres to use magic, I use my soul. Which comes with consequences. My soul and the world duke it out a little when my soul essentially tries to change the world. If you aren’t good at making defenses, then you could end up with a really messed up and cracked soul. Actually, there’s a decent chance some of those Zenovs cracked their souls a few times.” I continued.

“Start from the beginning. When did you meet the goddess for the first time?” He asked.

“Oh. I found an old temple when hunting manticores. A little statue spoke to me, told me she was a forgotten goddess. I picked it up and she’s grown since, offered me some advice and told me stories. As for your stories of forcibly changing someone’s personality… I could probably do that if I had them physically with me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Not from afar?”

“I’d need physical contact, the more intimate the better. Haven’t done that. One of my anchors is a little screwy in the head.” I twirled my finger by my temple. “She used some of my soul magic to make herself pretty much immortal. It was an accident as we tried to explore how to bond. Guess I made an immortal murder machine. She’s fine though. Well, as long as nothing happens to me. You said that wasn’t happening.”

I figured it couldn't hurt to make Maribelle’s craziness help keep me alive.

He stared back at me. “She used your magic?”

“Yeah. Sort of. Hard to explain exactly without getting down into the nitty gritty of it all. Suffice to say that in trying to bond, I gave her full access to my magic. I’ll do the same for Aurelia eventually. It offers protection from some nasty things that Carmilla can do. Might be how she got Brimsam. Oh, Carmilla isn’t a four sphere but can do a little soul magic because she actually has some records left by those Zenov monsters you’re so worried about.” I pointed to the book.

“Those records were all burned.”

I frowned at him. “Do you really think Thyrendor let go of all the books that could give them more power?”

“It was a condition for the Virel House to stay. My ancestor watched the burning.”

“Don’t know what to tell you. I’ve seen her use soul magic. She tried to attack my soul directly which is not something that would exist outside of there. Actually…” I trailed off. “She’s probably altered people’s personalities. I’d wondered how she had so many people working for her so devoted that they throw themselves away. It would make more sense if she’d managed to sway their souls. Who knows, absolute certainly is unlikely to be a luxury that we’ll enjoy.”

“Back to this goddess.” The old man urged me.

“Right. She gave me an axe. Wait.” I felt Maribelle pick up my desire and her presence rushing this direction. Probably any excuse to come to me was enough. “The axe is now on its way. Anyway, it’s made by the goddess and I intended to make it Aurelia’s courting gift.”