Dwarven Steel Read online

  Bryce replied, “The creature has strong magic, very powerful, but not as strong as we at first feared. It seems extraordinarily well structured and hasn’t decayed as quickly as a mage’s magic would. The residual magic signature from the last site where the murder took place two days ago was stronger than the first, but not as much as we would have expected it to be.”

  Sanath asked, “Will you be able to track it and find the one responsible?”

  Bryce said, “It’s a new kind of magic we’ve never encountered, which…”

  Holmarra interrupted, and I felt a surge of annoyance as she snapped, “Yes or no mage.”

  I bit my lip, again, to suppress the laughter at the shock on his face. Hadn’t he realized by now the dwarves didn’t like politically long-winded answers that didn’t actually answer the question?

  Lynn sighed, “The short answer is yes, but it will take time. It’s rather simple actually. But to track the new type of magic we’ll need to modify our spells carefully, we don’t have one made to track it, since it’s a new and unfamiliar form of magic to us. Detecting it and tracking it are two different things. We might even fail the first few times, if we don’t have it exactly right.”

  Bryce didn’t look happy about being rescued by Lynn. Actually, livid might be a better description.

  Holmarra asked, “How long?”

  Bryce said firmly, “As long as it takes. But we’ll try to be ready for our first attempt tomorrow morning. Can we visit the master smith and master rune-wright after lunch? Then we’ll spend the rest of the day on modifying the needed spells.”

  That threw me off a bit, was he checking up on them? Didn’t trust them to keep their end of the deal? Or was he just butt hurt for Holmarra cornering him like that for a real answer, and wanted to exert some pressure back? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t like that he was putting it off with dwarven teens dying.

  Sanath nodded tersely, “We can.”

  The rest of lunch was filled with a tense silence, so I focused on my plate and enjoyed my food. I didn’t enjoy Bryce’s annoyance at all, nope, not me, not even a little, because I wasn’t at all petty…

  The dwarven affinity with fire magic must be handy. After lunch, we were led back to the west, to a large smithy just east of the warehouses. It’d occurred to me that this cavern, even as large as it was, should have been an absolute sauna with all the smithies scattered around the city, all that heat had to go somewhere. Maybe they have runes for that, drawing the heat out of the air and into the rocks?

  Maybe they just have good airflow from outside somehow, but I doubted air shafts would be enough on their own. More questions I couldn’t ask, but could only speculate on as I stuck close to Lynn and was ready to defend her. I may have been burning with curiosity, and really missing my husband in bed at night, and felt a little closed in, but I wasn’t going to drop the ball and let her get killed.

  We walked into the large building, which seemed to have multiple forges inside of it, where an older dwarf watched over a bunch of younger ones. Apprentices to the master? I followed them over to the older dwarf.

  Holmarra introduced the four of us, and I felt the urge to kick Bryce again when she called me Katherine. Then she introduced him to us.

  “Bryce, Lynn, and guardians, meet Master Smith Skadic Firebrand.”

  Skadic looked us over, and then looked directly at Bryce, “What did you want?”

  Bryce said, “I wanted to meet you, and make sure you didn’t have any questions about our order. I also wanted to inquire on how long it would take.”

  What a jackass. He’d just emphasized the words how long, no doubt to make a point. Why the hell was he playing games? Ego?

  Skadic snorted, “If I had questions, I’d have come to find you. I’ll have the three hundred shields and swords ready for you, per the specifications your king sent with you, all within a week. That might sound fast to you, but we have all our smiths working on it, including the king and queen.”

  Bryce said, “Excellent, that is good news. We should be wrapped up with our end soon enough.”

  Holmarra asked, “The rune-wright? We should let Skadic get back to work.”

  Bryce nodded regally, what a jackass. Okay, I might have been a smidgen biased, but I really didn’t like the man. I kept my mouth shut though, paladins were supposed to stay out of politics, though how that worked when I was guarding a noble I’ll never know.

  We followed Holmarra this time, as Sanath took the rear of our little group. To my surprise, we went west from there, and into the middle tunnel where I’d felt a handful of dwarves earlier. This tunnel didn’t look mined at all, and went back about two hundred yards before the tunnel ended at a stone wall with a metal door.

  Holmarra pulled it open and we walked through and into a continuing tunnel. There were several doors on the right and left, and about sixty yards ahead, there was another wall with a steel door. I really wanted to know what was past that second metal door.

  Holmarra peeked into all the doors as we went down the hallway, and I glanced inside the rooms as well as we past them, they were filled with books, weapons, and other objects covered with runes.

  I knew when she’d chosen the right one, because I could feel the five dwarves inside the room. We went through the door, and I took a look around the room.

  Library was the first word that came to mind. There were several tables right in front of us, which the five dwarves sat at, each one working on a different object, presumably enchanting it with their scribed runes of fire and earth. Behind the tables, were rows of book shelves filled to capacity, with both scrolls and bound books.

  Holmarra led us over to a surprisingly young looking dwarf.

  Again, she introduced all of us, and I absolutely did not want to sink a hot hook into Bryce’s stomach and pull out his entrails when she called me Katherine again. Fortunately for him, there weren’t any of those handy, and I wasn’t a murderer.

  I knew I was overreacting in my mind, but the weight of the mountain over my head was still affecting me.

  Then she introduced him, “This is Master Rune-Wright Donack Lavahide.”

  Donack was four foot six, and had brown eyes, and light brown hair and beard. He looked at each of us curiously, and then asked, “What brings you here?”

  Bryce replied, “I just wanted to meet you, make sure there wasn’t any problem with building us siege engines that we can use.”

  Donack frowned in confusion, “If there was a problem, I would’ve contacted you.”

  I suppressed another giggle at the sour look on Bryce’s face as I looked around curiously. I wondered how much more time he’d waste today with this political nonsense while the dwarves were still in danger from a predator.

  Bryce nodded and turned to Holmarra, “Then if everything is well in hand, I think we should return to the inn where we can work on developing the correct spell to track and dispense of the creature.”

  Finally, although not much would change for me, I’d still just be guarding Lynn…

  Chapter Ten

  I’d listened half interested because it was magic, but Lynn and Bryce’s conversation was over my head. It didn’t even sound like magic, as they talked back and forth and modified their spell, which they’d cast the next morning.

  In theory, everyone magical left a trail through the world which could be traced. The key was they had to focus on the creature’s specific magic. The devices they’d used to detect the signature could pick up any magic, which was worthless when trying to focus on a specific one. I’d managed to piece that much together from their conversation, they’d cast the spell at the last death, and then follow the trail from there. It would also be sensitive enough to pick it up within fifty feet or so. Granted, that last would only be useful if it was somehow hiding in plain sight, but considering no one had seen the thing or had a clue what it was, that was a very good possibility.

  If they didn’t make any mistakes, and the spell worked.
r />   “I miss you,” I thought at my husband as I surreptitiously caressed his arm.

  Strangely enough, it was true, I was used to an easy dialogue and comfortable silence between us, filled with touches and smiles. Us playing grim and silent guards had put a distance between us that I knew was artificial and not real, but I felt it nevertheless. Maybe he wasn’t playing, but I surely was. I was an eighteen-year-old failed supervillain because of my conscience, what did I know about being a guard? My abilities may have overcome any deficiencies in that area, but I just wasn’t made for this kind of thing.

  He thought at me, “Behave.”

  I grinned at him, Bryce and Lynn were far too absorbed to notice the impropriety.

  “Make me,” I sent in a sultry mind voice, and then I sent him a few visuals that had him clenching his teeth, they involved several suggestions on how he could make me that were quite sensual in nature.

  But I think I teased myself by doing it more than I did him, and the tingles in my body quickly became little frustrations. I regretted it almost immediately, but I needed a break from this constant guarding, and some time alone with my husband. I’d have to suck it up. Even after this mission we wouldn’t get too much of a break, and we’d have to take stolen moments. There was a war after all, and I was sure the king had more plans for Gerard.

  I sighed and settled down to watching again, and sending out my three-fold mental scans in the area.

  Gerard thought at me teasingly, “The first chance I get.”

  I replied with a grateful smile, glad he wasn’t upset. This wasn’t easy for both of us and it helped to know that.

  “So even if we find whatever it is tomorrow, we’ll be stuck here for the week, right?”

  Gerard just nodded, we’d have to stick around for the weapons and take delivery. It was far too much for me to teleport, and I wondered if they’d use those magic wagons and we’d become an escort.

  We talked to each other while the two noble mages worked, I used telepathy to send to him, and read his public mind where he’d think back at me. We speculated a lot about my unanswered questions for this case, which I wasn’t allowed to ask anyone that actually knew the answers. It helped to at least talk to someone about it, even if he didn’t have the answers.

  He did have a point of view I hadn’t considered, if the dwarves already knew all the information, then perhaps magic was truly the only way to track the creature. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with that, I didn’t think the dwarves were stupid, no more than the elves had been, but sometimes it took an outside eye, perhaps one with empathy and telepathy to get to the bottom of things and put the facts together. Maybe I was a natural investigator, because I sure as hell hated an unanswered mystery.

  After we’d talked work to death, we talked about other things as well. We both wanted children, he wanted them as soon as possible, I was thinking mid to late twenties, so we’d have to compromise on that one, but eighteen was far too young to be married with children. I was still startled about the married part, happy, but startled. We also both wanted that house outside the castle, but it would have to wait until the whole Jendas thing was settled, neither of us thought we’d have any free time until then.

  I also grudgingly agreed to the servant thing, if only because both of us would be absent a lot, and we’d have to pay someone to maintain the property when we weren’t there anyway. Plus, I sucked as a cook.

  Once we’d wound down, and I did feel a lot better if still sexually frustrated, I pulled out my communications device and caught up with mom. I knew I wouldn’t get away with talking out loud, but I was pretty good with thumb typing on the small keyboard. She was still working on my education, but thought it would be done in a few days. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to go to virtual school with Sia, but I was sure I could steal a few hours a week at least. She also wanted to know when Gerard and I could come to breakfast again, but understood we were both on a mission.

  She was a bit worried too. It seemed that the GPS signals didn’t penetrate the mountains, so she didn’t know exactly where I was.

  It was rather late when Bryce and Lynn finally seemed satisfied with their new spell, and we turned in. We’d find out if it worked in the morning, Holmarra and Sanath would be back after breakfast to take us…

  The hot water and soap felt good as I soaked. I’d woken a bit early the next morning, and decided to sneak in another bath while Lynn slept, and cleaned my riding clothes as well, and since it was made of super suit materials it cleaned rather easily. I’d been soaking for a while after I got finished cleaning up, and when I heard Lynn stirring I stepped out of the tub, used aqua-kinesis to leave all the water behind, and got dressed.

  It had helped me unwind a bit, and relax. It didn’t take long for Lynn to get ready, and we went down to the common room for breakfast. There were very few dwarves here this morning, and they were all subdued, and probably had hang overs. We walked over to Gerard and Bryce who were already seated, and I gave my husband a wink as I pulled out the chair and slid into it.

  Then I stared at his face and felt my stomach sink.

  He was gorgeous, I loved my husband in and out, and he was a very sexy man, but that wasn’t why I was staring at his face, and I broke the look when the waitress came over with three times the helpings of anyone else. I thanked her under my breath and started to eat as my mind raced. My husband was very attractive to me, and though hardly old at twenty-eight, there was a marked difference in maturity of looks in a man of his age.

  Except, I’d just noticed this morning, that he didn’t look a day older than twenty-three, maybe twenty-four at the most. My mother had sworn she’d just given him health nanites, the same ones she used on her, dad, and me. It was also clear, that supervillains lied, even to their daughters. What did she do?

  I didn’t think my mother did anything bad to him, he was family now. No, my mother would have done it for his own good, whatever it was, just like she’d tweaked my DNA for my own good. Guessing from the conversation she’d had with Gerard about our future children, I’d also guess the changes were very dominant in the DNA, and my children would probably be as strong as I was mentally. I had to admit, being the strongest telepath and empath on my world hadn’t sucked, even if I was still sore for her not enhancing other things about me. Really, Gerard seemed to like them, a lot, but would it have killed her to make my breasts bigger? Never mind, got off on a tangent there.

  Point was, I was sure she’d meant well, even as she lied to my face about what was in Gerard’s drink.

  That… didn’t make it right. I don’t think he’d noticed yet though, it must have been a gradual change over the last week that I’ve been missing until now. I needed to talk to my mother, and find out what she did. But… I really didn’t have time right now, did I? It would have to keep, along with all our other life plans. Still, there was a small part of me that hoped, and feared, part of what she’d done would extend his life. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to live for centuries without him. I hated myself for it, because I didn’t want to approve of my mother’s meddling at all.

  But I supposed I could add selfishly hypocritical to being petty, at times. No one was perfect, and the goddess knew I had my faults.

  I ran another mental scan, and felt Sanath and Holmarra approaching, so I picked up speed and ate a little faster. I also felt guilty for not telling Gerard right away, maybe it was stupid, but I wanted to be able to explain exactly what my mother had done all at once. Then again, maybe he noticed and just hasn’t said anything, he seemed okay with all the new energy and feeling younger. I pushed it all out of my mind, put it with all our personal life plans, and my questions about this case. Something else I was getting too good at, though some would say I was just learning patience.

  Patience was overrated.

  I finished shoving food in my mouth right as our two guides arrived.

  Holmarra said, “Good morning.”

  Bryce and Lynn nodded in gree
ting, then Bryce said, “To the location of the last victim?”

  Sanath grunted in agreement, and turned to lead the way as we all stood up. Though by now we knew where we were going. Gerard and I fell in behind our charges, and we walked to the western wall. At least I was getting good exercise in this place, it was about a mile walk. The whole city seemed stragely quiet that morning, and I wondered if they had a day off or something.

  We entered the northernmost of the three western tunnels, and made our way to the site of the last murder. Bryce reached into his bag, and took out a small device and placed in the spot the body had been, and then started to chant the spell. It was long, complicated, and despite my dislike for him I felt a grudging admiration for the way the strange alien words rolled off his tongue without any faltering hesitation at all.

  He may have been an ass, but he was also a very good mage.

  When he finished, he bent down and picked up the device, it had a green circle, surrounded by an incomplete red circle that wasn’t quite closed in the direction further back into the mine, and he frowned down at it.

  Holmarra asked, “What’s the problem?”

  Bryce continued to scowl at it, and Lynn said, “The red circle is supposed to be a dot, the green circle is the cardinal directions with the top being north. We should be able to find the creature with it, but according to that the creature is in virtually every direction. I have no idea what that means.”

  Brice grumbled, “It means the spell must be wrong, because this is impossible, unless the creature is non-corporeal and standing in the device, this is impossible.”

  Lynn sighed, “Or, if there are many of them, and they’re all around us.”

  Oh gee, I could have done without hearing that theory.

  Brice snorted, “If there were this many, the dwarves would be facing an invasion, not a murder every few days. No, we had to have missed something. Can we test at the rest of the sites Holmarra? Then we’ll have to reconfigure the spell again with the more complete information.”