Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (37 page)

 The hood blocked her physical eyes, but there was
nothing stopping her Third Eye. It was a spiritual power. She used her spirit
barrier to see the world around her. Since Evil Eye was also spiritual in
nature, could the two combine into one power? With nothing to lose, she
projected a lifetime's worth of suffering through her barrier.

 Dosh didn't move. He didn’t budge a single muscle.
Tiza would have beamed if not for the ball in her mouth. Now she had all the
time in the world.

 No more wild thrashing. Sathel taught her to be
cautious and methodical. Sathel also hid spiders on her person because she knew
how passionate her daughter could be. The effortless thought gave her new
confidence.
That's right! I'm The Spider's daughter! I can do this!

 She wriggled and twisted in the wrist cuffs. Little
by little, she felt the one on her right wrist begin to slip. Then it was
sliding down her fingers. To her great surprise, the smooth silk of her gloves
eased the process. They also prevented her wrists from chafing in her
struggles.

Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad to be Lady Tiza of
Heleti...
She blushed and shook her head.
I can't think about that now!

 Her left wrist was next and then both her arms were
free from the waist chain. Reaching behind her neck, she untied the hood's
laces and pulled it off. Then she took a deep breath through her nose. It was
suffocating in there. Next, she unclipped the ball gag and pulled it out.
Sending a new wave of hatred and fear in Dosh's direction, she said, "I'm
gonna stick this in your mouth. See how you like it."

 At this point, she could have searched Dosh's
pockets for a key, but her pride demanded that she escape all the way on her
own skills. Besides, he might not have the key on him anyway. She unstrapped
the kitten heels she had borrowed from Mia and kicked them off. Instead of
slipping her ankles free, she tried picking the lock with a tool Sathel told
her to carry at all times. On this occasion, it was stuck into her bodice near
her waist. The lock clicked and she stretched her legs. Finally, she stood to
face her former captor, now paralyzed like she was earlier.

 "My, how the tables have turned."

 First, she twisted the thumb on his right hand until
he dropped his staff. Then she attached one cuff to his right wrist and
maneuvered it around his back along with his left. Even with Third Eye, it was
difficult to cuff the left one. She would have turned him around, but she was
afraid of releasing him. Unlike him, she was not going to take unnecessary
risks.

 "Do you know why this is happening?" she asked.
"You had me right where you wanted me and yet here you are now."

 She wrapped the connecting chain around his waist once
and secured it.

 "You may think I'm trash because I grew up on
the streets, but it made me strong. I persevere, I adapt, and I survive. I make
myself the best I can be, every day, because I might not see the next day if I
don't. You, on the other hand, are a tent."

 She pushed him to the ground and pulled the
connecting chain forward. The ankle cuffs were still attached to it and she
secured them to his ankles. She folded his legs and pulled out the chain's
slack.

 "You are pampered, and as the baby of the
family, spoiled as well. Yet you consider yourself the unfavorite. Your rivalry
with Tenderfoot is little more than a temper tantrum."

 Rage built within Dosh. As consciousness left him
due to oxygen deprivation, he gathered it together with his indignation and
shame. Then he shot it at Tiza with all his might. She shrugged it off. All it
did was give her goose bumps.

 "Your Evil Eye doesn't work on me. It's too
immature. It lacks true hatred and true fear. It is nothing but self-righteous
entitlement."

 She forced his mouth open and wedged the ball gag
inside. When she clipped it shut, she pulled it as tight as possible. Then she
dangled the hood in front of him.

 "You're already wearing one of these, but why
not go all the way?"

 She put it on his crown, paused to consider, and
stopped.

 "Now if only I had a marker, I could write 'dunce'
across this thing."

 Only now did she search his pockets. She turned her
back on him, but her Evil Third Eye was still in full effect. He didn't have
the cuff keys after all, but she did find the key to the exit. After collecting
her heels, she opened the door.

 Nolien was on the other side.

 "Tenderfoot! What are you...?” Noting his expression,
she said, "Don't worry. There's no damsel in distress here."

“Wonderful.” The word was an exhale of relief. Then
he looked past her and asked, “Then what's that in there?"

 "An idiot."

 Nolien chuckled and strolled in. "What's that
Mom and Dad always tell us about achievement? Oh yes, 'pride before the fall.'"

 Dosh didn't react. He poked Dosh's head and he
didn't react. He placed his ear to Dosh's chest and he didn't hear a heartbeat.

 "Tiza, what did you do?"

 "I used Evil Eye to freeze him while I escaped
the cuffs he's currently wearing. Technically, I'm still using it now."

 "Evil Eye can stop the lungs!"

Tiza clapped her hands to her cheeks. "Oh no!
There's one less asshole in the world!"

"Tiza! He may be an asshole, but he's still my
brother!"

 “Fine."

 She blinked to dismiss the Evil Eye and Nolien
checked again. He breathed a sigh of relief to hear a slow but steady beat.
Then he chanted Scanning Staff to check for any injuries Dosh might have. All
this baffled Tiza.

 "You know he tried to kidnap me, right?"

 "Yes, and I'm furious about it, but it doesn't
mean I'd resort to vigilante justice. However, if you were in trouble when I
arrived..." He caught her eye. "…I'd do whatever it took to save
you."

 "Tenderfoot..." Then all of a sudden, she
did a half turn and crossed her arms. "Words are cheap. I bet lots of guys
say stuff like that to impress girls.”

In the Royal Mage Tower, Sequitor felt the drop in
orderly power instantly. Unlike Dosh, he didn’t worry because he truly didn’t
need to. He was a greater mage on the verge of becoming a sage. He could
teleport on his own, and now that he had his bladi samples, he would do so.

“Chief Bladi, I’m aware that you don’t approve of my
work and I respect your dedication to your values. However, I still recommend
pushing boundaries in regards to Zettai. If you don’t, you will lose her, just
like I lost my Pluma.”

With that, he ascended the back stairs to the top of
his former tower. There a teleportation arch was waiting for him. A few moments
at the console was all he needed to disappear from Roalt.

Outside Royal Town and the curtain wall, Eric snarled
at the crowd and lunged forward to swipe with the right hand of the grendel.
Turning on a dime, he tried to bite the arm off someone who strayed too close
without backup. His sister pulled him back just in time and held Eric at bay
with a Flame Wave. Then someone else threw a Bolt of Judgment from his
blindside.

He utilized the full range of his grendel body’s
physical strength and his own spiritual power, but anything less than an
instantly fatal wound was healed by the many mages in the group. He had yet to
retrieve his staff because they blocked his access to it. They kept him
corralled in a circle.

Despite the many threats in the area, Eric had only
killed one of them so far. The general competence of the royal guards, outlaws,
and civilians was such that, together, they made an effective fighting force.
The sole fatality was due to an oversight that the guards made sure they did
not repeat.

While the woman lay dying, Suriel contracted the
woman into becoming a sower like herself. Then she stuck her tongue out at
Samael, who was too slow on the uptake.

“If Eric Watley loses himself to his monster
instincts, then
he’ll
contract with you. There’s no reason you can’t
enforce that wager here and now.”

“That’s a good point. Without his elf girl to keep
him in check, there’s nothing to stop his monster instincts from taking over
completely.”

Eric stomped the ground to create a shockwave and knock
several fighters off their feet, only to be discouraged from crushing them by
archers from rooftops. The arrows couldn’t kill them; even if they could pierce
his skin, the Seed of Chaos would mend the damage, but they still distracted
him. He roared at the annoyance and then licked his lips at the thought of
eating them, which led to him eating the arrows they shot at him. This included
the poison ones.

“This is not the picture of a demon fighting superior
numbers,” Samael continued. “This is a monster cornered by an adventurer party.
Soon they will kill him like any other and I will have Reno Grade’s replacement.”

Am I a mercenary or a monster? Kill for food; kill
for food; kill for food.

Eric stopped. His mind and spirit had finally fully recovered,
and the first thing that came to mind was the poem. Nunnal taught to Kallen and
Kallen taught it to him. With clear and focused eyes, he looked around at the
attacking warriors in amazement.

“
What
have I been doing?
I killed someone. Kas-Kallen is going to be upset.
It’s all that troll’s fault.
It’s
a good thing I blew him up.”

“Why’s he talking to himself?” one warrior with a
sword asked.

“Monster, duh,” one of the archers replied. “I
wouldn’t be surprised if it started singing.”

“I know I know!" a healer said. "He must be
talking with his spirit advisor, which is telling him to follow the righteous
path while undergoing a split personality takeover. He’s not really fighting us
as much he’s acting out a free-for-all inside his mind and spirit!”

“That is patently absurd,” said a mage. “The planes
of the ethereal and physical are separate in such a way that the carry-over of
bodily motion is impossible. Only a child; nay, not even a child would believe such
a thing.”

“Screw it! Let’s just kill the thing!” said a cat
beastfolk with an axe

A bearded human man nodded but said nothing.

Eric, still in grendel form, knelt and put his hands
on his head.

“I
apologize for my aggression. I was attacked by someone and he said things that
angered me. I did not mean to attack any of you.”

“Okay, that counts as a surprise,” said the archer.

 “Bubble of Uranus!” the mage chanted. “Gaia’s Jail!”

A bubble made from wind currents formed around Eric
and created a containment field. This was followed by prison bars arising from
the ground and then expanding horizontally to create the cell’s ceiling.

“Now that the beast has been contained, I recommend
that we continue our journey.”

“Yes. We finished our side quest, so we’re done here,”
said the swordsman.

Roalt was peaceful again. There were a few monster
stranglers, but it was nothing the royal guard (or the servants) couldn’t
handle. Kasile, however, was not ready to rest easy just yet and sent her
servants scattering to find any lingering problems. The Summit was not over.

She put a hand to her forehead. Now that the battle
was over, adrenaline was leaving her system. She was feeling weaker by second.

“Fairtheora, you are in charge for the next hour. You may act with my
authority for sixty minutes. At that time, you lose my authority and you must
report to me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will not let you down.”

“Siron.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“I’m about to faint. Take me to—”

Now only did Siron catch her, he had a cloak ready.
When she lost consciousness, her fire clothing disappeared, but no one save him
saw anything. With his queen bundled up, he carried her out of the courtyard.
An anxious Ponix stopped him from reaching her room.

“I can’t find either of my daughters!” he screamed at
the sleeping Kasile.

“Ambassador Ponix, the queen is sleeping,” Siron said
with forced politeness.

“But I can’t find either of my daughters!”

“Talk to Fairtheora.” Siron jerked his head in the
sentinel’s direction. “He’s in charge right now.”

The elf man grew cheetah legs and ran straight into
the orc. He bounced off like a rubber ball slamming into a steel wall. With, in
Fairtheora’s opinion, shameful panic on his face, he exclaimed for the third
time in one minute, “I can’t find either of my daughters!”

“I’ve heard.” He tapped a scry and said, “Calling all
units, this is Fairtheora Lawkeeper, Royal Sentinel and temporary Royal
Champion. Ambassador Ponix is unable to find Kallen or Annala Enaz. Does anyone
have any knowledge of their whereabouts?”

He listened to the feed as reports came in from all
sectors of the castle. Ponix tapped his feet, patted his knees, cracked his
neck, and stuck his tongue in and out. The orc shook his head at the elf’s
strange behavior. Having received the information that he required, he then
spoke with the necessary search groups, departments, and offices to accomplish
the needed task. Then he said, “I have good news, Ambassador. Kallen was
spotted in the airship dome shortly after the obelisk was destroyed. I have
someone confirming that she’s in
Albatross IX
right now.”

“Great! What about Annala!?”

“Also good news. She’s being dragged through Southern
Ataidar by Nulso Xialin.”

Ponix assumed his giant head form and bellowed, “HOW
IS THAT GOOD NEWS?”

Fairtheora was indifferent. “We know where she is,
and it is within Ataidar’s territory. The Royal Ordercraft Security and
Compliance team is boarding a high-speed craft as we speak.”

In the plains south of Roalt, a dot of otherworldly
nature appeared. It changed into a ring and then expanded into an opening sixth
feet in diameter. It was stable and geometrically perfect, yet the surrounding
area protested its eldritch presence. The border between the ring of ordercraft
and general reality flickered golden-brown. Nulso stepped through this ring and
set foot on the snowy ground.