Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (40 page)

Red in the face, Eric said, “Yes, I do.”

“Also, you will be one hundred percent liable for Miss
Enaz during this period because she will be less able to defend herself and
unable to refuse any orders you give her. Do not worry about watching your
language: figures of speech, rhetorical questions, etc. do not count as ‘orders.’
For instance, if you say ‘paint the town red’ she will not grab a paintbrush
unless you say ‘I order you to paint the town red.’ Do you have any questions?”

Eric shook his head.

“I have a question!” Tiza said. “Are you done yet? I’m
bored and I’m hungry and I want to fight something.”

“One more thing. Mr. Watley, because this is a formal
event, you must dismiss Miss Enaz from your presence. If you want to share
company later, as friends, then a dismal is not needed.”

“Annala, you….Wait, couldn’t I say ‘dismissed from my
service’ to unlock the collar?”

“No. It is understood that the owner would have a key,
passcode, or some other secure means if they wished to free their slave. We
will utilize enhanced interrogation techniques to persuade Nulso to share such
knowledge if it exists.”

Eric recognized that “enhanced interrogation techniques”
referred to “torture” and that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Nulso was a
threat to himself, to his girlfriend, to his country, and to other
ordercrafters because he made them look like crazy power junkies. Thus, according
to his monster morality, torturing him was justified, but he didn't think it
would work. Even on normal people, torture wasn’t likely to work, and Nulso was
a nigh invulnerable super human.

“Okay, then. Annala, you are dismissed from my presence.”

Annala smiled puckishly and curtsied unnecessarily deep.
“Thank you, my Lord Eric. I shall await your next command with an eager heart.”

She twirled around and sashayed out of the castle. Eric
watched her go.

“Maybe I should escort her home…Just in case.”

“No,” Basilard said. “You are going home as well.”

His mentor bore a resemblance to a chicken after it was
chewed up by a dog. He assured them that he was fine and explained the
mechanics of Bladi biology on the way back to the guild. Eric summed it up as “vampire
healing” and asked Nolien if this made sense.

He had to repeat himself before Nolien heard him. The
healer was too lost in thought to respond the first time. On the second time,
he answered and then returned to his own world.

His younger brother made a deal with Order and likely
Prince Lunas to kidnap his best friend. If he was right, then Dosh was also
behind the attempt on his own life and his own debt to Order. While their
rivalry had been intense, it had always been between them. The exception was
school crushes, but even there, he wouldn’t stoop to sabotage.

He dearly wanted to warn his teammates about his
compromised nature but a
geis
silenced
him on that subject. He couldn’t even plan a way to bring up something related
because the
geis
was smart
enough to tell what he was planning. For now, he was happy that Tiza was safe.
He was happier still when Mia gave them their payment: castle missions paid very
well.

Training came next, as always. New spells, new techniques,
and new formations to deal with new enemies were the subjects of this session.
The only difference was Fairtheora watching them. Eric transformed during
sparring and he didn’t blink. Al and Meg stepped in to tickle him and he didn’t
react, not even when they stuck their fingers up his nose. They were about to
doodle on his armor when he released a low but potent killing intent. They wet
themselves and scurried out of the training hall.

After training, Fairtheora followed the mercenaries to the
mess hall, but he refused to eat or drink anything given to him by the cook. He
just stood off to the side of Eric’s table. After dinner, Eric parted with his
teammates, but Fairtheora followed him all the way home. There he stopped and
stood on the bridge above Eric's house. For all Eric knew, he was going to
sleep up there, if he did indeed sleep. After such a long day, Eric was glad to
fall on his bed.

Riding a horse across a prairie: grass, trees, celery, and
other things. He wasn’t wearing his usual mage armor but plate mail and he
carried a broad sword instead of a staff. His horse galloped towards a mountain
in the distance and arrived far too soon. He dismounted without difficulty and
said, “Thank you Magic Bullet. I must do the rest alone.”

He marched up the mountain with ease despite his heavy
armor. Every living thing fled in fear at the sight of him. No matter how tall
the mountain, he climbed without difficulty or strain for he was empowered.
Falling rocks smashed themselves to pieces on his head and arms. At the peak of
the mountain, he found his destination.

It was cold inside the cave where the sun did not reach.
His metal armor chilled him despite padding, but his heart warmed his spirit in
opposition to his body’s frailty. When he came to a door marked by the Eye of
Order, he kicked it off its hinges and the heavy oak crashed to the stone
floor. The clatter startled the room’s two occupants: a humanoid monster with
metal skin and an elf in a pink gown. The latter was tied up and on a leash
held by the former.

“
Grendel,
release Princess Annala and
you might live to see another day!”

“I will not do that,
Tahart,” the monster
replied. “Outside, she has been attacked by orcs and trolls and evil sorcerers.
Only here, in my lair, will she be safe.”

The lady looked from the monster to the
human with the same fearful eyes. Then she stepped back as far as the leash
would allow and watched them fight. The monster refused to let go and so she
was yanked back and forth as he dodged the human’s sword. Her neck was already
rubbed raw and now it was beginning to bleed.

“Release her, Grendel!” Human demanded. “Do
you not see how your selfish actions cause the princess to suffer!?”

“You’re the cause of her suffering,
Tahart,”
Monster replied. “You started this fight.”

The lady did not cheer for the human to come
to save her. Instead, she whispered her hope that they would kill each other.
It was a whisper both of them heard and ignored. When the human finally
triumphed over the monster, he took the leash into his own hands and tugged
twice. She did not resist but instead meekly obeyed.

“You belong to me body and soul.”

The lady stiffened and, suddenly, she
thrashed in her bonds. “No I don’t! Let me go!”

“Silence! I order you to be silent and
still.”

The collar on her neck forced her to comply.

“I think I deserve a reward for freeing you
from that monster.” He grabbed her chin and made her look at him. She glared at
him. “I order you to tell me that you agree.”

“I…I…” The collar flashed. “I agree. Do
whatever you want with me.”

He did.

Eric woke up in a cold sweat and spent five
minutes trying to rid his mind of the dream.
Just a nightmare; fear made
manifest in my subconscious. I would never ever do that.
Casting aside his
blankets, he got out of bed and grabbed an energy shot from his desk.
Unscrewing the top, he downed it and checked his stash. He would not get any
more sleep tonight.

When morning came, he ran to the public
library instead of the guild. There was no way he could focus on his missions
until he made sure that his nightmare would never happen. He waited outside
Annala’s apartment until she walked out. When she did and she saw him, she jumped
and touched the collar. Then, just as he feared, she narrowed her eyes.

“You’re not turning into an abusive and
controlling boyfriend, are you?”

“
No.
I came here to make sure that
never ever happens. Annala, I order you to refuse any and every order I give
you, including an order to ignore this order, except for this order. The end
result will be that this order is the only order you ever have to obey. No
matter what the order is, I want you to refuse it. Understand?”

The collar flashed. “Yes, Master Eric.”

“Okay, let’s try it out. Annala, I order you
to….strip naked right now.”

“No.” She smiled. “No!” She hugged his neck.
“Thanks. Oh, and while you’re here, I should tell you the good news! I spoke
with my mom last night and she’s already making something to nullify the
tracking function.”

“2/4 is progress.”

“In the meantime, I have class and you have
guild work.”

“How about a date afterward?”

“I’m afraid there wouldn’t be any dates as
long as Lawful Scary is around.”

Fairtheora
was standing behind Eric and cast
a dark and intimidating shadow as always.

“Pretend that I am not here. It will make my
task easier.”

In the Dragon’s Lair, Mia gave Team Four their latest
mission while Fairtheora stood in the background. She lost focus because she
was distracted by the large orc in armor standing in the corner. This happened
three times before Basilard said, “Mia, focus.”

“That guy’s scary. He’s scares me. I think he’s going to
jump over my desk and eat me.”

Without change in posture or demeanor, Fairtheora reached
behind his back, pulled out a pair of pink bunny ears, and placed them on his
head. Mia giggled.

“I assume this is better, Miss Bladi?”

“Yes…tee hee…thank you.”

A mana storm touched down to the northeast of Roalt the
other day and the Royal Department of Trickster Management and Maintenance
determined that precious minerals were generated by it. Ax from the Arsenal
Lodge bought a claim to this lode and hired Dragon’s Lair Team Four to retrieve
it for him.

“The area has been classified a Class F Chaos Zone, so it
won’t be
too
dangerous, but the fact that it is a Chaos Zone at all
means this mission is a Rank C. Be careful out there.”

At the exit to the guild lobby, a noble stood in their way;
a noble about three years younger than Nolien. Like Nolien, he had dark blue
hair but unlike Nolien, he had glasses below them. He wore a silk shirt under a
sweater vest with the crest of House Heleti sewed in, a jeweled belt whose
buckle was another crest, and over his back was a cape with a third crest. In
one hand, he held an ornamental rowan staff. On his neck was a red and black band
bearing the insignia of the Crowned Tiger holding a mouse by the tail. He was
surrounded by five attendants: Two wore the livery of the Royal House of
Ataidar and the other three were Heleti.

"What are
you
doing here!?" Nolien
shouted, bird poop on his pants. "If you want to apply for membership,
then you have to start as an apprentice like everyone else."

"No thanks," Dosh said. "Apprentice would
be a step down for me."

He made a show of appraising the lobby.

"Since the day you disappeared, I wondered what could
possibly delude you into giving up your place in the illustrious House of Heleti."
He looked over Nolien to Eric. "Now I realize that he was so desperate to
get out of my shadow he'd hid in this hole."

Nolien's fists clenched. "It is clear that
you
are the one hiding. At the Spring Joust, I was healing the wounded. When Duke
Selen of Esrah attempted his coup, I was the one who healed Her Majesty. At the
Mana Mutation Summit, I defeated a rogue healer who infiltrated the castle and
attempted the kidnapping of a guest. At none of these events did I see
you."

Dosh's stance tensed. "I assume you also didn't see
me at Isle of Tsiaq collecting poop, nor knee deep in the Patling Swamp
gathering moss nor
failing
to rescue a co-worker." He raised his
chin slightly. "Speaking of absences, I don’t see your ‘Heir of Heleti’
medallion. Instead, I see the ‘spare heir’ medallion that used to be on my
desk. Do you wish to be like me so much that you resort to stealing my
possessions?”

Nolien took the medallion out and dangled it before his
brother. “This thing? I recovered it from the rogue healer. He was about your
height, used your spells, sounded like you…If I didn’t know better, I’d think
it
was
you.”

Dosh snatched it back and placed on his own neck. It hung
below the mark of shame tracker. “More likely it was The Trickster teaching you
to place more trust in your family.”

“Back off, Brat Brother!” Tiza said. “Leave Tenderfoot
alone.” She poked him hard enough to knock him back. “Got it?”

“You’ve found a girlfriend, I see,” Dosh muttered, rubbing
his chest, “and she’s quite protective of you.”

Tiza blushed. “I-I'm not protecting Tenderfoot! It’s
ah...force of habit because he's some squishy healer I have to take care of!”
She punched Nolien's shoulder. “See!? No muscle at all!”

Dosh laughed. “If there’s one thing you and father have in
common, it’s your weakness for
tsundere
.” Suddenly, he became sinister.
“And your failure to protect them.”

Everyone knew that Nolien wanted to attack him then; Mia,
Eric, Tiza, Dosh, Dosh’s guards—everyone. With tranquil fury, Nolien said,
“That’s what Father wished for us, isn’t it? To find a girl with strength,
loyalty, and beauty that we could love enough to consider breaking the
Griffocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’? Have you come to congratulate me on my good
fortune?”

Dosh was silent.

“Well? A noble should not be flat-footed in speech or in
battle.”

Dosh grit his teeth. Then he cleared his throat and said,
“I came for no reason other than to deliver an invitation."