Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (33 page)

“By the flame of Fiol!”

A burning spear flew through the air and stuck Eric in his
side. Eight more quickly followed. Eric roared at the nine spearmen and charged
them. Four guards slipped into his path and projected their barriers against
him. In response, he lowered his head and ran faster. They met his charge, gave
a little ground, and then flipped him onto his back. The nine spearmen raced
forward and impaled him with their melee spears.

“The Fire of Ataidar shall incinerate the wicked!”

All nine spears released Flame Waves from their tip. It
was impossible to see the grendel through them all. Although the beast howled
and thrashed, the spearmen held it in place. Their commander praised their
efforts and then turned his attention to Gruffle.

“Stay calm, sir. I’ll get you a healer right away.
Johnson, get your pixie butt over here!”

A fairy in royal livery floated over to Gruffle and doused
the troll-wolf’s wounds with pink dust. Then he gave orders to other fairies to
recover the victim’s arms. They did so and shoved them back into Gruffle’s
shoulder sockets. He winced and curled his toes as the healing process began.

 “I realize you must be in excruciating pain, but I need
to ask you a few questions. Do you know how a grendel got into the city?” the commander
asked.

Gruffle shook his head. “It appeared out of a portal from
somewhere.”

“Captain!”

“What is it?” he asked without turning around. “Can’t you
tell I’m debriefing the victim? There are protocol that need to—”

“It’s doing something weird!”

“What could a gre—Holy Fire!”

His subordinates’ spears were blade deep into the grendel’s
bulk and yet it was standing up as if they didn’t exist. Then the flames that
should have been roasting it turned back into mana and gathered in the
grendel’s hands, which the creature fired back as a Mana Barrage. The nine
spearmen flew backwards down the street, into buildings or into the moat.

 “What kind of a monster are you?!”

The grendel faced the captain and the human felt the Universal
Dread. Clapping its hands together, it pulled them apart to reveal a staff with
a crystal arrowhead attached to one end. It brandished this weapon and ran
forward shouting,

“
Gruffle!
Gruffle!”

The captain set his stance and raised his barrier, but
when he expected the grendel to strike, the beast jumped over him instead.
Gruffle was already running away. He had quite a head start so Grendel didn’t
bother chasing him. Instead, he threw his staff after his fleeing prey. It went
through his back and halfway out his stomach. Then a compressed mana bolt fired
from the crystal back at the wolf-troll’s head. It detonated and spread Gruffle
all over the street. Grendel roared in triumph.

Recover
from THAT, troll!

“This is Captain Tezuka requesting backup. I have a
grendel outside the castle. It just killed someone. I repeat, a grendel just
killed someone outside the castle.”

Grendel was no longer fighting Gruffle. Now he was
surrounded by a mixture of royal guards, outlaws, and concerned citizens that
thought they were containing a threat to public safety. All of them had weapons
drawn, spells charged, and a desire to kill him.

THREATS! ALL OF THEM! EAT THEM!

Meanwhile in the castle dungeon, Tiza fought a losing
battle against the sedation spell. Despite the wards in her hair protecting her
from magical incapacitation, she couldn’t move. The Order Domination Field was
too powerful. She was at Dosh’s mercy.

“I won as soon as you fell out of that portal,” Dosh said.

He crossed her hands behind her back and cuffed them. Then
he wrapped a chain that connected to the cuffs about her waist to secure her
arms to her back.

“The Order Domination Field leeched your personal mana to
weaken you spiritually and my Fatigue Cloud drained your stamina.”

He crossed her ankles and cuffed them as well. Then he
clipped a chain onto each set of cuffs to connect them.

“It’s a complicated process; a dirty-nailed tramp like you
wouldn’t understand.”

He folded Tiza’s legs until the points of her shoes touched
her rear. Then he pulled all the slack out of the connecting chain and locked
it. As bad luck would have it, she felt the effects of the sedation spell wear
off seconds after he finished the hogtie.

“Do you have anything to say before I gag you? I bet you do,
but I don’t care.”

Tiza clenched her mouth shut as tightly as she could. She
refused to be humiliated in such a manner. Dosh forced her mouth open
regardless and wedged a rubber ball inside. He clipped the straps shut behind
her head, cinched it tight, and Tiza’s self-control broke.

Sathel warned her not to use Videlicet Mens; trained her
to control the emotions and instincts that brought it out. Reckless use could
kill her. The last time she used it, she suffered monsanity and almost killed
Nolien. Now, she had no other option.

With a shout of “Light Come Forth!” a pillar of blue
energy exploded from her body. It blew Dosh away with its force. She thrashed
like a monster; yanking on the cuffs, bucking against the chain, and twisting
this way and that, desperate for freedom.

“Go ahead! Waste your energy! It will only make you easier
to handle afterward!”

Tiza’s aura diminished as the Order Domination Field
drained its energy. As the Fatigue Cloud continued to weaken her, her struggles
became less powerful and more frantic. At last, she ran out of energy. The two
together reduced her to fitful squirming. Dosh cautiously approached her, and
when he was sure she could no longer fight, slipped a hood over her head. She
sobbed as he laced it at her neck.

Several floors above the dungeon, Nolien was locked in
combat with the Anti-Magic soldier. He was so busy avoiding slashes, thrusts,
and kicks, he didn’t notice the soldier steering him toward the maid. She stuck
out a leg and tripped him up. He fell on his back and the soldier plunged a
sword into his chest. The soldier pulled his sword out and then back in three
more times in quick succession.  

None of them were instantly lethal, but they were beyond
what Nolien could heal before he bleed out. Even his divine magic from Wiol
couldn’t save him in time, and that was if Order would allow it in his
territory. He was going to die.

The world discolored and a hole in reality opened before
him. A pale lady in a black gown stepped out and knelt at his side. She held
his hand with two gloved ones and smiled beatifically.

“It doesn’t have to end this way. I can save your life if
you make a contract with me.”

“Go to the Abyss, reaper; rather, go
back
to it.”

“That was rude, Second Duke of Heleti.”

“I don’t care!” He winced. That outburst agitated his
injury. “I’m a healer from a long line of healers. I’d never be so desperate
that I’d turn to
you
for help.”

Samael sighed and stood up. “If that is your decision, then
I will respect it. However, you may find that you will regret it. There are
worse fates than eternal hospices.” She glided back into her portal and, before
it closed, she said one more thing. “I may not see you again.”

The portal closed, but time did not resume and neither did
Nolien continue dying. A new presence appeared, but this one did not take such
a pleasing form.

It was formless. It all around him; everywhere and nowhere
at once. It was a cold and unfeeling authority. It was a parasitic desire to
devour all life. It was the unflinching presence that maintained the structural
integrity of all life. It was a spirit whose immensity could not be grasped by
mortal minds, only suffused with dread. It was the judge who sat on high.

It could be no one else.

Fear not,
Nolien Heleti. I am not speaking to you directly but through the Order
Domination Field. The phenomenon is more complicated than that, but it will
suffice for our purposes.

 “The reaper already came and left. I’m not interested in
selling my soul.”

Nor am I
interested in buying it. I offer Equivalent Exchange: one quick favor for
another quick favor. Are you interested?

“I’m listening.”

I will
prevent your death by granting you a one-time boost to your healing spells, and
providing you with all the mana you need to save yourself. In return for these
boons, at some point in the future, you will do something for me to achieve a
result that I desire. It will not be a long quest, but a simple and singular
action. As I said, Equivalent Exchange. If I do not achieve results through no
fault of your own, then I will not hold it against you and instead consider our
contract fulfilled.

“Order, you are obstructing the natural progression of Life
and Death. There is only reason you would do such a thing—The First War. Thus,
you wish to use me as pawn against Lady Chaos, which leads me to believe that
you want a sleeper agent in Eric’s inner circle because he is The Trickster’s
Choice. Am I right?”

Clever
mortal. Yes, you are right.

“Then you must want me to sabotage Medical Mana Mutation.
Am I right?”

It is one
possibility. Before you disagree, I want you to see something.

A viewing portal appeared before Nolien. Within it, he saw
a masked man attaching metal cuffs to Tiza’s wrists and ankles followed by a
gag in her mouth. She invoked Videlicet Mens and writhed helplessly on the
dungeon floor while her captor taunted her.

This is a
live feed and that masked human is your brother. He seeks to use her to coerce
you into revoking your claim to the dukedom. If you die, she will have no
further use as a bargaining chip and you fear what your brother would do to a
pretty girl who has no other use.

Memory of the Fear Field returned and more vivid than
before: sweat, blood, tears. A new scene where Tiza was helplessly restrained
in a dark box and fed through a tube until Dosh wanted to play with her. A
third scene saw her sold to one of the countries still practicing human slavery
and the horrors she would endure there.

The last
time Tiza was kidnapped, Sathel could not find her until the damage was already
done. This case may be different, but I know you will not take that chance. She
means too much to you. Do we have a deal?

If he accepted this deal, he would be responsible for
whatever harm Order caused through him. The talks were fragile enough already;
anything could ruin them for ages to come. Then he thought of Tiza and all she
had suffered and how much she might suffer in the future. He thought of all
they shared and the future they could have together.

I shall
include a portal to her location. You have my word as The Inventor and Guarantor
of Promises.

“Order, I accept the terms of your contract.”

Power flooded his body and soul. More than mana; this was
sheer spiritual fortitude. He didn’t expect to feel so mighty until he was an
old man. Healing four critical wounds would be trivial with so much power! They
closed up as if he were an elf and he was ready to fight once more. By then,
the maid had stolen his medallion.

The maid and soldier were looting his supposedly dead
body, and the first thing they took was the medallion signifying that he was
the heir to the House of Heleti. It took all Nolien’s self-restraint not to
grab her wrist. He needed surprise for this to work. The maid placed the
medallion on her own neck and clung to the arm of her soldier.

“Where to next, my love?”

He stroked her cheek with his free hand and gazed
adoringly down at her. “I hear Logou is nice this time of year; lots of
tourists.”

Nolien sprang into action, grabbing the maid’s braid with
both hands and yanking her backwards. She was so surprised, she let go of her
soldier’s arm. Before either of them could counter, he twisted one arm behind
her back and placed a mana scalpel at her neck. The latter was generated from
his fingernail. Normally, something like this would be difficult to create and
maintain, but right now, it was simple.

“I thought you were dead!” the maid shouted.

“So did I. Anyway,” he twisted her arm and she winced, “I
believe you know what happens now.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” the maid said. “You almost fell for
my ‘decoy damsel’ routine. You’re not going to kill me.”

“Maybe, but I doubt your knight over there is going to
take that chance.” He nicked her neck and a trickle of blood stained her
ruffled maid collar. “Are you?”

“Go to the Abyss!”

“Thank you for confirming that you’re not automata. If you
were, then you would have killed her to get to me. Now, if you would be so
kind, please disarm and dis-equip.”

Piece by piece, the soldier obeyed. He put his sword down
and kicked it away. He did the same to his second dagger. Then he unbuckled the
various pieces of armor. Nolien watched him carefully for signs of trickery;
instant spells or thrown objects. This meant he paid less attention to his
bargaining chip, and she used the distraction to stomp his foot and remove the
scalpel from her neck with her free hand. Then she blew him away with a mana
bolt from her snared hand.

Nolien grabbed his staff and jumped to his feet.
Brandishing it, he said, “So then, round two is two on one.”

The maid ran into her soldier’s arms and they closed
protectively around her.

“On any other day, I’d slice your neck open for nicking
hers. But you have your own girl waiting for you, so I’ll let you off with a
warning.”

“How do you—”

Two portals appeared, one behind each combatant. The
soldier jumped backwards and it closed behind him.

“Abyss take it…”

Nolien grabbed the discarded Anti-Magic equipment jumped
into his own portal. He came out at the entrance to the dungeon. The door was
locked.