The Storm King

Chapter 689: A Wager Between Hands

Leon was excited, for in his ten years in the Ilion Empire, this was to be the first time he’d ever ridden in an ark before. Not even as a Hand of the Director had he had the privilege before now.

After he touched base with his retinue following the creation of his armor, he quickly packed up what he felt he’d need for the wyvern hunt—and there was quite a bit he wanted to bring with him. The first and most important thing was a weapon that he’d had in his workshop for a long while covered with a sheet to keep it clean. He’d built it after long lessons with Nestor and the Thunderbird that greatly expanded his knowledge of lightning magic, and while he’d never quite gotten around to testing it, let alone giving it any proper use, he decided to bring it this time.

Then, he made sure he was stocked up with all the spells, food, and clean clothes that he felt might be necessary. The last thing he readied—it already being in his soul realm—was an entire house.

When Leon had first seen such a thing, he’d been flabbergasted that such a thing was possible, but after building one himself, he had to admit he’d been not only been cheating himself by not looking into such things before, but being extremely shortsighted in his application of enchantments.

The last time he’d gone wyvern hunting, he’d seen the Imperial hunting delegations set up temporary housing within large camps for their people to use. Given the nature of the Scorched Fields, there were precious few permanent settlements, so the hunters had to bring their own, and of course, the Imperials weren’t going to slum it while on such a prestigious hunt.

To solve this issue, they’d developed modular housing—essentially houses, or even entire palaces, that could be disassembled into much smaller pieces, stored in soul realms, and then reassembled in a matter of hours, if not less, upon reaching camp.

There wasn’t typically a limit to how large or small something had to be to fit into someone’s soul realm, but Leon had never really considered an entire palace before. Upon returning to Occulara and experimenting with the modular constructions a bit, he thought it would be a long time before he would consider a palace still, but a fairly large house was well within his range of possibility.

When he’d tried to explain why he didn’t want a palace in his soul realm to his retinue, he hadn’t quite been able to put it into words. Alcander, however, gave him those words when he said it sounded like ‘trying to physically shit out a house’, only through his soul realm.

Of course, the modular construction made things much easier, but it was still exhausting moving so much material into and out of his soul realm at any one time. Still, Leon had enough in his soul realm to ensure his family’s and his retinue’s comfort while they were out in the brush. And what made it even better was the fact that the modular construction that Leon had learned meant that pieces of the home could be added or removed at will, giving the house the versatility it needed to be set up on the side of a mountain or in the middle of a wide, open plain. It didn’t matter where Leon might find himself, he’d be able to conjure up not only comfortable, but secure housing thanks to his increased skill in the arts of enchanting.

All of this Leon had ready when he made his way to Heaven’s Eye. Accompanying him were his entire family and his retinue. Elise hadn’t come with him on his previous wyvern hunt, but after a month forging his armor, and another month before that working on Sunlight, Leon had been rather distant recently.

For his part, Leon relished his wife coming with. He didn’t like leaving her behind, and it was hardly like she needed protecting when Heaven’s Eye was heading southwest in force. Besides, they’d only be gone for a few weeks, and the household staff was more than capable of functioning without either of them around for a little while.

Their destination was an arkyard not too far from the Hexagon. Heaven’s Eye didn’t have many arks, so the arkyard wasn’t large, and to Leon’s disappointment, didn’t have any facilities that could construct the flying machines. Their arks were also fairly small, but more than large enough for their purposes.

The ark Leon’s party was shown to was on the larger end of what Heaven’s Eye had, with seating for about thirty or so people to travel in typical Heaven’s Eye luxury. Ten of those seats were already taken by Penelope and her personal retinue of serious, hard-eyed men and women ranging from fifth to seventh-tier. The ark itself had the arrowhead shape of the other arks Leon had seen and had been built entirely from some kind of black metal. The main compartment was in a triangular chamber nestled within the arrowhead-shaped machine, close to the rear engines where the vehicle was thickest.

Upon entering, Leon saw that the roof of the compartment was much the same as the windows of the Hexagon: completely transparent from the inside, while completely opaque from outside. The five people required to pilot the ark were in an adjacent compartment in the back, leaving the passengers largely to their own devices.

“Leon Raime,” Penelope drawled as Leon led the way inside. The interior of the ark was essentially a lounge in the same vein as what lay on the ground floor of Heaven’s Eye Towers, and she and her retinue had occupied three of the tables, the curtains between the tables that would give them some measure of privacy pulled back. “You certainly took your time.”

Leon shrugged. “There’s on time and there’s late. I’m not late.” He didn’t miss a step as he walked in with his family close behind, and his retinue just behind them. Anzu brought up the rear, but Anna’s Attican Snapper was a bit too much and had to be kept back in Leon’s stable for the time being.

“Goodness, it looks like you’re bringing your entire household with you,” Penelope replied as Leon’s people filed in. “Are you that nervous about this hunt?”

Leon didn’t rise to her bait, merely stating, “Those who don’t respect the power of wyverns are going to die. I saw that plainly enough in the piles of mangled and burned corpses last time.”

Penelope merely smiled derisively, but her one seventh-tier retainer, a young-seeming man with classical good looks murmured, “Weaklings who overestimated their power. They shouldn’t have gone on the hunt if they couldn’t handle the heat.”

Leon glared at the man but decided it would be best to ignore Penelope and her people entirely. He took a seat at a table, at which Elise, Maia, and Valeria joined him. Anzu curled up between them and the slanted walls of the triangular compartment, while Leon’s retinue sat at two adjacent tables.

It was with a modicum of amusement that Leon noted Anshu didn’t seem at all put off at sitting with Helen and Anna—he was actually staring daggers at Penelope’s retinue, and Leon guessed in the face of their warm welcome, had stowed his usual attitude to help present a unified front among Leon’s party.

“Are these all you’re bringing, Leon Raime?” Penelope asked, her tone one of the utmost innocence, yet Leon didn’t believe it for a second. “As numerous as they are, they’re still…”

As Leon sighed, Elise turned and sweetly asked, “Is there something you’re trying to say, Lady Penelope?”

Penelope just smiled. “No, of course not, Lady Elise. You’re just travelling with some very young companions, is all. I hope they can protect you if things get hairy over in the Scorched Fields.”

With a low, predatory growl, Leon responded, “Is that a threat?”

“Why ever would you think it was?” Penelope innocently asked.

Leon glared at the Director’s daughter. This woman had never liked him, and he’d never really liked her. He supposed his success with the flight suits and the dull tau pearl the Director had sought grated on her. She hadn’t wanted him recruited at all, and yet here he still was, ten years later, thriving in the Ilion Empire and Heaven’s Eye.

But he didn’t immediately respond. Instead, it was Alix who shouted, “He thinks that because you’re being a catty bitch!”

Three of Penelope’s retainers shot to their feet, killing intent suddenly pouring out of them as their fifth and sixth-tier auras focused in Alix’s direction. Alix, Alcander, Marcus, and Gaius clearly anticipated this response, and rose in response, their own auras spiking enough for Leon to know that they were perfectly willing to throw down if things got violent.

But things weren’t going to get violent—not for them. Leon, without rising from his seat, reached out with his magic power in the same way that he used it in his new flying technique. His magic wrapped around Penelope’s retainers like a glove in only an instant, and their auras were greatly constrained. He wasn’t powerful enough to completely freeze them in place with his power, yet, like Anastasios had done during the duel with the Forest Watchers, but the simple act of laying his power down upon them had the desired effect: Penelope’s three retainers didn’t take another step, and after less than a second, looked near collapse under the weight of Leon’s magic.

“There’s no need for this to get ugly,” Leon said threateningly as the rest of Penelope’s retainers rose, fury in their eyes.

Penelope herself, just as Leon and Elise were doing, remained seated. However, he caught a quick glance the Director’s daughter sent Maia’s way, as the river nymph had risen as well. Maia alone could probably deal with Penelope’s entire retinue, and she had Valeria and the rest of Leon’s party at her back.

“Enough!” Penelope shouted. “We’ll revisit this another time, Leon Raime.”

As Penelope’s people returned to their seats, Leon graciously released his hold on the initial three who’d risen. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Leon replied with a vicious smile. Then, after a moment’s thought, added, “How about this, Penelope? Let’s have a little wager.”

“A wager, hm?” she said, looking mildly interested and not the least bit perturbed at the fight that nearly broke out between their groups, or at Leon’s retinue who were a little slower in taking their seats as her own retainers had been. “And what kind of wager might this be?”

“Just a… friendly competition,” Leon explained. “Let’s see who bags the most wyvern heads.”

“What do you suggest we wager?” Penelope inquired.

“What are you willing to lose?” Leon shot back, confidence written in every tiny detail of his face.

Penelope grinned back at him and conjured from her soul realm a bright blue diamond that sparkled like the clearest of water. The diamond was set in a frame of gold, with both stone and frame cut and shaped to look like a flat blue rose. The diamond was large enough that it just barely fit in the palm of her hand.

It was an expensive piece, to be sure, but it was utterly mundane. It held no magic power whatsoever. However, Leon still smiled in appreciation. It was a valuable piece, and from the way Elise’s eyes suddenly darted first in its direction, then in his, and then back to Penelope, he guessed it was probably more valuable than he realized.

In response, Leon pulled a gorgeous agate from his soul realm and laid it on his table. The gemstone was black, white, and gold, the three colors spiraling and emanating from the center in long, irregular waves. It was beautiful, but not nearly in the same league as the diamond. However, this was one of the stones that Leon had practiced his modular enchantments on, and as such carried quite a few runic glyphs. This particular stone could call a lightning bolt down from the heavens, but only during a naturally-occurring storm, and even then, the bolt wouldn’t be particularly powerful—about on par with an attack by a sixth-tier mage, if he had to make an estimation. However, in terms of value, he’d rank the agate as higher than the diamond, if for no other reason than it had a practical purpose, even if that purpose was below Penelope’s level.

Still, it was clearly enchanted, as Leon showed off when he channeled a few sparks of magic power into it, just enough for the otherwise completely unnoticeable runes that covered its egg-shaped surface to glow with golden light for a couple of seconds.

“Interesting,” Penelope breathed. “I’ll accept your wager, Leon Raime. Whoever brings in the most wyvern heads by the end of the hunt will be the winner, and will take the other’s item, is that right?”

Leon shook his head, and bartered with the Director’s daughter a bit more, each making more specific rules for their wager, all of which Talal quickly wrote down, and each signing their names to the paper once he was finished. Their wager was to be based not only on number of wyvern heads, but the power of those wyverns, too. If any of them brought in any freshly-hatched wyvernlings or wyvern eggs, then they’d receive points for those, as well. However, in the interest of fairness, their wager would be mediated by a third party they could both agree upon before the hunt began.

When everything was signed, both sides calmed down significantly, though neither side interacted any further aside from a few venomous looks. It seemed that with the wager in place, both sides had silently decided not to screw with each other anymore.

Leon sighed in relief, and then summoned up his darkness magic. It still didn’t feel quite natural, but he had to admit that he liked the ability to speak directly into people’s minds, if he wished.

He said to his retinue, [If we lose this wager, we’re all going to pay for it. So don’t let me down.] He capped his statement off with a smile of challenge, which Alcander, Marcus, and Valeria returned with burning smiles. The rest of his retinue was a little more circumspect, but he could tell that they were just as motivated.

Talal returned to his seat, and Alcander immediately began teasing the man about his fighting prowess—he’d risen with the others and seemed ready to fight, but Leon knew that Talal wasn’t much of a fighter. Still, he appreciated the gesture, even as he tuned out his retinue’s more raucous bonding.

He was about to turn his attention to his armor, wanting to head into his soul realm to run it through some tests, when Elise rested her hand upon his thigh. He looked up, his golden irises meeting her glittering emerald eyes.

“You’re not thinking of just leaving after all that, are you?” she asked, sounding a little aggrieved.

“No,” Leon immediately replied, though guiltily looking away.

“Of course he was,” Valeria chided. “He just finished building a bunch of new toys, it’s too much to expect him not to want to play with them…”

Leon glared at her, though he wasn’t seriously angry, and she responded with a cheeky wink and a smile.

[Stay with us a little longer,] Maia requested, though it didn’t quite sound like a request, more like an order. [You’ve been gone too long.]

“I agree with Naiad,” Elise responded. “We need some time together. There’ll still be time enough to play with your toys when we reach the Scorched Fields, don’t worry…”

Leon smiled at his wife, then at his lovers. There was only one answer he could give, and only one answer he wanted to give in that moment. “My time is yours…”

—

While Leon had intended to spend some time testing his new gear during the flight to the Scorched Fields, in the end, he didn’t spend a single second doing so. He wasn’t worried; they’d reach the Scorched Fields with probably days or even a week or more to spare. He was far more concerned about Penelope and his family.

So, for the half hour or so after the exchange and bet with Penelope, he quietly chatted with Elise, Maia, and Valeria.

And then it came time for the ark to take off, and all talking between Leon’s people ceased.

It started with a low rumble from down below, and Leon sensed a huge pulse of magic travel through the ark’s frame. The magic engines roared into life, though only some of that sound managed to pass into the compartment. Then, slowly, the ark began to lift into the air, borne aloft on a combination of fire and wind magic from its wings. After it reached about a hundred feet in the air, the rear engines fully engaged, and the ark began to advance at a snail’s pace.

However, the ark then tilted backward slightly, pointing its nose into the air, and started accelerating. It rapidly built up speed, and its rate of acceleration increased to the point where all the passengers were thrown backward slightly. All were powerful mages, so losing their balance wasn’t the easiest thing, but their seats helped out greatly, even when those seats weren’t braced against the forward motion.

Through the transparent compartment roof, Leon could see clouds whipping past the ark faster and faster, and when he projected his magic senses, they went through the roof easily, and he could see that they were moving at an incredible speed already, and they were still accelerating.

It took several long minutes for the acceleration to stop, leaving the ark at a constant speed, but Leon estimated that they’d reach the Scorched Fields thousands of miles away in less than a day—a mind-blowing speed given what he was used to.

What was even more mind-blowing was the magic flowing through the ark. There was so much of it feeding the ark’s enchantments that his estimation of the amount was probably in the quadrillions of aetoi. To put it even more simply, if the ark were powered in a manner consistent with what he’d seen of the Thunderbird Clan, then it would probably take two or three eighth-tier mages in their prime being constantly drained of magic power to maintain the ark’s flight.

[Nestor…] Leon breathed into his soul realm. [Xaphan…]

[Hm? The fuck is it, human?] the demon responded immediately, sounding mildly irritated at Leon’s interruption of the, no doubt, tremendously important business he was taking care of.

Nestor was quieter, merely pulsing his magic senses to let Leon know he had his attention.

[I want one of these. Teach me how to build one of these…]

Unfortunately, the response to Leon’s desire to learn how to build an ark was disappointing. While he was making great progress in his efforts to learn the art of enchanting, his skills were still below what they needed to be to accomplish such a complex feat as the creation of an ark, even one that was only capable of intra-planar travel. One that was capable of inter-planar travel, meanwhile, was so much further beyond his capabilities that his expression of desire to Nestor and Xaphan was almost laughable.

That didn’t stop him from dreaming, though.

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