Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (26 page)

“So
that’s
why
Gruffle is following Nulso.”

“Of course. Arresting a
mana mutation pioneer who turned to ordercraft is also bad press I can’t handle
right now, so I assigned someone to watch his movements.”

“You trust him to do
that?”

“Of course not. That’s
why I placed a Fire Blood spell on him. If he breaks his parole, then his blood
will turn into fire. This means he can’t leave Nulso behind or work against my
interests.”

“Couldn’t Nulso negate
it with his own power?”

She tried to smack him
a fourth time, but Eric caught her wrist. Then, noticing that the biscuits were
gone, he moved her fingers into his mouth and mimed chewing them. She made a
face and pulled her hand back, wiping it on a napkin.

“I am a divine being. I
have divine blood, which means I use divine magic. Furthermore, I am the
lawfully designated authority in this country and I administer punishment for
crimes occurring within my own home. Put these two facts together and Nulso
cannot touch my spell.”

Until the meeting of
the Noble Council, they spoke of other things. There were other knight
departments giving her grief, nobles that hounded her with proposals, the
Summit projects, and the soon in-coming suitor line. This led to talking about
Siron and his honoring ceremony that very night. He was a brilliant hero during
Tasio’s prank and she wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

“Thus my excuse for why
I summoned you: I need your opinion on the Tazul attack.”

“Here's my opinion:
'Tasio is a pest and I had nothing to do with it.'”

Kasile smiled warmly
enough to melt anyone's heart. “Thanks for coming, Eric. I didn't mean to pull
you away from your training, but the knight made me so mad I was about to
ignite again.”

“Don't worry about it,
Kas.” A mischievous idea spread a smile across his face. “Now, about my payment...”

Her face clouded.
“Payment?” The chilled hurt in her voice made him wince.

“Yes, payment. For my
payment, I want...your laughter.”

Her face cleared and
she stepped back. “Don't you dare!”

Eric wore pants and
flat work shoes. Kasile wore heavy layered skirts and fashionable heels. It was
no contest. The mercenary grasped her waist and tickled his payment out of her.
She put up a brave resistance but ultimately gave up and laughed out loud. The
guards outside did nothing but smile.

As usual, Eric woke up
the next morning to the sound of traffic on the bridge above his house. What
was unusual was the roar that jolted him out of his covers. He reached for his
staff on instinct and raced to the front door's peephole. A giant eye stared
back at him. It retracted to reveal a giant serpent and opened its jaws wide.

“Oh, bugger.”

The beast enveloped
Cutlass Bridge with its mouth but failed to break its connections to the
streets. It chewed and pulled, but the bridge remained intact. Safe inside his
shell, Eric yawned and looked for an energy shot. If this was how his day was
starting, then it was going to be a long one.

He changed out of his
pajamas, munched an energy bar, and stretched to limber up. All this time, the
giant serpent roared in frustration because it failed to reach him. He chanted
a spell involving gas, smoke, and nausea until he carried a sickly green sphere
in his hands. Then he opened his mail slot and chucked the magical sphere down
the serpent's throat.

 It reared and choked.
Its skin turned from green to purple and it sagged in weakness. This made it
easy prey for other early raisers in the warrior community. When one of them
struck the killing blow, it collapsed into the alley on the warrior side of the
bridge, right on top of someone's roof.

“Abyss take you,
Trickster's Choice!” shouted the owner of said roof.

“It's not my fault it
attacked me!” Eric yelled back.

“Thanks, Trickster's
Choice!” the victorious warrior shouted. “This thing will feed the neighborhood
for a week!”

“This is great
leather...!” her husband, Ax, mused. “And these teeth are just what I need…”

“It's not my fault it
attacked me!” Eric repeated. Tasio was waiting for him at the top of the
stairs. “This is your fault, isn't it?”

Tasio put his hands on
his hips. “Look at the leaf calling the grass green. I had as much to do with
that as you did.”

“Then why are you
here?” Eric walked past him. Tasio followed.

“I wanted to say good
morning.”

“Anything else?”

“Now that you mention
it...” A warrior girl walked past them both, holding a piece of leather and
fashioning it into a purse shape. She paused to smile at Eric before moving on.
“Being my choice isn't all bad, now is it?”

“I guess not, but I
still don't want you hanging around me every morning.”

“I know... I
know...baby steps.”

He disappeared before
Eric could say more. It was Shadow Dengel that accompanied him to the Dragon's
Lair and he taunted him about his status the rest of the way. He did his best
not to respond because too many people were looking at him.

Inside the Dragon’s
Lair lobby, Mia stared dreamily at her computer screen.

“Mia!” She jumped,
startled. “You're watching Siron's honoring ceremony again, aren't you?”

“Yeah,” she admitted
sheepishly. “Wanna watch it with me?”

On her screen was a
video of Kasile standing before a kneeling Siron. A cleric stood to Kasile's
left and showered him with praise for his heroic deeds the other night. The
list included: fighting fires, rescuing civilians, administering first aid,
organizing a volunteer rescue team, shielding a family from debris, taking a
shit...At this point, the cleric paused to double check if that item was truly
on the list and a peal of laughter rang from an invisible somebody that
everyone nonetheless recognized. Kasile spoke as if she hadn't noticed.

“Lord Siron Esrah,
First Duke of Esrah.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“I commend you for
these deeds. Your bravery and noble spirit have brought honor to your house and
to your country.” 

She extended her right
hand. He took it in both of his and kissed the back of her palm.

“I live to serve,” he said
with his head still bowed. “Your Majesty.”

Mia sighed. “I wish I
had a knight like that...”

Eric smiled.
This
will certainly improve Siron’s reputation. Was that Tasio’s plan all along?

The doorbell dinged and
Basilard walked in. He looked the same as always and he greeted student and
niece as usual. His fortune didn’t appear to be overturned yet. Figuring out
what that could mean had been a fun puzzle for Eric thus far.

The doorbell dinged
again and Nolien walked in with a backpack full of supplies. It was lightweight
and fit snugly about him, but was easy to remove. The young healer explained
that Tsilear had advised him on the equipment he should bring to a place like
Ceiha.

“It’s not crazy
prepared, but reasonably prepared with an eye to encumbrance.”

The doorbell rang a
third time and Tiza walked in, followed closely by Sathel. With all the fawning
and cloth, the older mercenary looked like a mother hen and Tiza an annoyed
chick. On the latter's back was a pack bulging with miscellaneous items.

“– memorized it.”

“What about your mana
juice? It's empty there.”

“Yes, Spider Daylra, I
have it.”

“Remember to keep all
three eyes open, but don't rely on any one of them.”

“Yes, Spider Daylra, I
know.”

“Do you have the earth
amplifier ring and wind negator ring? I know you think they’re useless and you
don’t like jewelry anyway, but it’s really important that you –”

Tiza waved her hand to
show that she had them.

“I’ll keep them out of
sight but always within reach and especially in an emergency. Spider Daylra,
you’ve checked four times since I left.”

“They’re
that
important!
And if Professor Haburt does anything suspicious...” For just a moment, her
eyes turned red and fangs grew in her mouth. “
Gut him like I showed you
.”

Tiza shivered at the
name but nonetheless said, “Yes, Spider Daylra, I will.”

Suddenly, Sathel
grabbed her dominant hand, placed a dagger into it, and posed as if to throw
it. “This is the proper form when –”

“Mom, no matter how
many times you put a dagger in my hands, it won't improve my aim.”

Sathel froze. Tiza tilted
her head.

“Wh-what did you just
call me?”

Tiza looked genuinely
confused. “‘Spider Daylra.’ What else would I call you? Other than your name,
of course, but I like the nickname. Don’t you?”

It was heartbreaking to
watch Sathel's face fall. Eric looked to Mia, who put a finger to her lips and
shook her head. They didn’t like to talk about Tiza’s amnesia. Her memory only
extended a month or so before she joined the Dragon’s Lair. Everything before
that was fuzzy or blank. Naturally, this included the identities of her parents.
Thanks to Sathel, Eric knew more about Tiza’s past than Tiza herself did.

Basilard and Nolien
gave Sathel a reassuring smile. All of this annoyed Tiza. It was also thanks to
Sathel that they didn’t say anything. She wanted Tiza to remember on her own.

“Why is everyone acting
like I pointed out the elephant in the room?”

“Mia,” Basilard said, “do
you have the official mission bill for round two?”

Mia reached into her
coffee cup and pulled it out. “Here you go. Professor Haburt says you'll be
taking
M.S. Margret
to the port of Yebo.”

“We're taking a boat?”
Tiza asked. “Why aren't we flying?”

Her teammates made to
swat her, but Sathel was faster.

“You're going somewhere
you know nothing about?! I was worried enough before and now my Tiza is going
to Ceiha without Retina?”

A fifth ding announced
the arrival of her husband. He walked in and pulled her into his arms. While
appreciating the affection, she was still confused as to why he came. He didn't
want to say goodbye.

“Mia called,” he said
while stroking her shoulders. “She said you were being an ‘obnoxious,
overbearing, over-worrying, obstruction.’” She glared. “Her words, not mine.
Her teammates can explain it to her; they're bookworms and Basilard will be
with her.”

“But what if –”

Retina kissed her. Then
he picked her up and carried her out. Tiza pulled her helmet over her eyes in
embarrassment.

“Alright then, about
Ceiha...Tenderfoot?”

Ceiha was an island
nation southwest of Roalt, past the Latlis Ocean on the Haton Continent. It was
infamous as the only area on the planet where magecraft and magitech did not
function. Ten of the Eleven Mana Gates were closed to it due to an event that
took place at the start of the Avatar Alliance. Because of it, there was
precious little mana to be found in its territory and this was why airships
could not fly to it.

All the airships of
Tariatla flew by drawing energy from the mana-rich air of Tariatla. They would
fall out of sky if they flew near the Ceiha dead zone. The only way there by
sky was to climb on a dragon’s back. The only way by sea was by boat. For the
mission, they would use a fishing vessel because passenger ships would not take
them. No one in that industry would face sea monsters for such paltry profit.

Mia waved them to as
they left.

“Good luck out there!”

Backtracking from the
Dragon's Lair to Cutlass Bridge meant passing by the giant serpent corpse.
Gathered around it was a crowd of young and old picking it apart and fighting
over it like high schoolers at a sale. Those that noticed him waved as he
passed.

“Wow, that's a big
snake,” Tiza said. “Don't tell me you killed it.” Eric grinned sheepishly. “Not
bad, Dimwit.”

“A creature of that
size would be a challenge to any warrior,” Nolien said. “How'd you do it?”

“I thought to myself 'what
would Tiza do' and then 'how would Nolien do it?' The first answer was 'attack'
and the second was 'complicated poison spell.'”

“I'm more concerned
with why it attacked,” Basilard said. “Something that size would never slip
past the gate and, when we get there, you'll see it has no vulnerabilities.”

They crossed the
Cutlass Bridge and only faint indentations could be seen on its surface. Acid
stains were also present, but they made as much of a difference as a splotchy
paint job. Basilard stopped to examine these with a fond smile on his face, as
if he were the architect who designed such a sturdy wonder. The Trickster's
Clean-up Crew moved up and down and around the underside of the structure,
looking for weaknesses, but found none. The Bladi mage sighed in contentment
and continued to the harbor with a hand on his hilt.

“Hey, Trickster's
Choice!” one of the crowd shouted. “How about a bear next time?”

Sailor Town was a
community of boardwalks, as it extended over the coast and into the sea. The
smell of saltwater and brine and fish was strongest here. The only people that
lived here were sailors in their boats, so the only buildings that lived here
were restaurants, fish markets, and a customs office. Team Four pushed their way
through the crowd to reach the wharf.

As the ocean entrance
to the nation's capital, it was appropriately fortified. The city's wall ended
with the land itself, but a separate section extended to the end of the harbor.
Royal soldiers patrolled on both. At regular intervals, they passed wide
merlons, ten-foot signal crystals, and mana cannons large enough to make a
whale's head explode. Built into the wall were sluice gates that controlled the
influx of naval traffic and above each gate was a tower with a mounted canon
and arching roof.

“Either that snake was
sentient or was brought here by something that was.”