Spellheart 9: Chapter 25 (Patreon)

As the Satyr Demigod stumbled into the distorted space of The Wanderer, he panicked. He first tried to flee the way he had come, but he was too slow.

His steps were dull, plodding things. I positioned myself between him and the area where the opening had been, spear held aloft.

The Satyr Demigod looked like he wanted to swat me aside, but he pulled his hand back before he did so.

“Uh... let me out! Or else!” the Satyr Demigod demanded. But his words lacked threat behind them. When combined with his complete lack of aura, he hardly even seemed there at all.

“And if I don’t?” I asked, my voice tense and ready for a surprise.

“I’ll crush you!” The Satyr Demigod growled. But once again, it lacked the sense of pressure I expected from someone of his level.

“I don’t believe you,” I replied as the Demigod shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, glancing around the passageway nervously. “What was that you said earlier?”

“Nothing! I said nothing!” the Demigod shouted.

I let out a probing jab with Melancholy. The tip of my spear dug into the Demigod’s belly and drew blood.

“Huh...” I muttered to myself. The Satyr Demigod’s reaction was surprising.

“By the Great Grove!” He screamed in pain and clutched his belly. It was gushing blood, and he fell to his knees. His face started to turn pale, and he lost all the arrogance he’d worn moments before.

“What happened to you?” I took a step forward. If he was faking his wound to create an opening to attack me, he was a far better actor than I thought.

“Fuck... I’m bleeding!” The man yelped in shock at the sight of his own blood, as though it had been years since he’d seen such a wound.

He was either ignoring me or going into shock. I wasn’t sure which yet, but I leaned toward the latter. I needed to get his attention.

“You’re going to tell me everything you know, why you were sent here, who sent you here, and what you were supposed to do when you got here...” I thrust Spell Eater forward. I had a pretty good idea of the answers to those questions, but I wanted to hear it from the Satyr’s mouth. It would confirm what I already knew and maybe even give me some extra ammunition for dealing with the Satyr King.

“You bastard!” growled the Satyr Demigod. He reached up to grab Spell Eater’s shaft and tear it from my hand. But his actions were pitifully slow. I pulled my spear back just enough to dodge his probing hands, then twisted it over his head and brought the butt of my spear around to slam into his jaw.

He spat out a mouthful of broken teeth as his face collided with the ground.

That had been far too easy. Even a demigod faking their injuries to create an opening would have been able to take that blow with a little more grace. The Demigod before me looked as though he’d been caught entirely off guard by nothing more than a little twirl.

“Hey. Get up...” I kicked him with my shoe, and he groaned in agony. “Well... damn. I didn’t even hit you that hard...”

“Pfffuck.... youuuu...” his words came out strained, accompanied by a mouthful of blood. That was going to make getting him to answer my questions a bit harder.

“Mac, please ready the Medical Bay. I think you have a patient.”

***

While Mac saw to the Satyr Demigod, I ran out to help Tivana and the others deal with the remaining sorcerers. The fight was still intense when I arrived, with my allies having a slight advantage. But I had a secret weapon on my side now.

“Theo! You’re back!” Tivana yelled. “Where--“

“Neutralized. Just like the rest of these guys are going to be. I’ll help!” I opened another Pocket World Passage. With me back in the fray, the tide quickly turned in our favor. Especially now that I knew I could deal with the Satyr Sorcerers permanently just by pulling them into The Wanderer.

After they realized what I was doing, a few of them fought too hard to be brought in alive. But I took out the first two in short order. From there, we had a decisive advantage and the others stood no chance.

“Don’t let any escape!” I shouted. I didn’t want word of what was happening here to get back to the Satyr King. Not yet, at any rate.

Soon enough, we’d taken our prisoners, and I thanked my allies and companions for coming to the aid of the Hearthwood on such short notice. I promised them anything they wanted from the Hearthwood Clan’s personal treasury as a reward.

To my surprise, a few of them actually brightened at that. Apparently, I was sitting on more valuables than I thought if even Sorcerers were envious of the clan’s resources.

Once they were taken care of and city repairs were underway, I returned to The Wanderer to check on the patient.

Sam arrived shortly after my return. Mac was still fixing up the Satyr Demigod, and I was looming over the operating table in the Medical Bay with my arms crossed.

“I’m impressed, Theo!” Sam applauded slowly as he entered the room. “The number of Sorcerers who can beat a demigod can be counted on one hand. Thanks to Prince Tivar, you were already on the list, but beating a second one? This time without any special tricks? Unless some of the other ancient elf clans are hiding a dozen Sorcerers with lost ancient spirit cultivation arts, you’re probably the most promising Sorcerer in Sanctuary and Serenity.”

“I appreciate the flattery, Sam. And if I’d really beaten him, I’d deserve it. But the fact of the matter is he became powerless as soon as I lured him into The Wanderer.” I shrugged my shoulders in baffled confusion.

Sam brightened. “You mean to say you didn’t know beforehand? That makes your victory even more impressive. I figured Dean would have told you. He must have forgotten. This secret was hard-won, and he likes to brag about it to those who’ll listen. This is one of their most highly guarded secrets and something they don’t want to spread because it exposes the biggest weakness of Sacred Grove cultivation. It doesn’t play well with alternate spaces.”

“So luring a Satyr into The Wanderer would completely wipe out their cultivation?” I asked, my face brightening. Maybe these Satyrs wouldn’t be so tough to deal with after all.

“If you break the connection between a Satyr and their Sacred Grove, they’re helpless.” Sam grinned. “It’s the reason the Satyrs can’t explore the Primordial World. Despite their regional power, they’ll never be one of the great civilizations of the Ten Thousand Worlds because of that limitation. It’s the major disadvantage of keeping your power entirely external. The primary advantage of having it external is that you don’t have to do any genuine work. The Satyrs have the fae they captured generations ago do all their cultivation work on their behalf since the fae have their own type of cultivation that makes them well suited to tending the gardens of the Satyrs. They used elves too, but elves are just as much part of the grove as its keepers.”

“Tragic...” I shook my head.

“Well... the Satyrs weren’t exactly willing servants for the elves of the Elven Star Dominion. Supposedly, the Elven Star Dominion created Sacred Grove magic. Originally Satyrs were the gardeners. But when tragedy struck the Dominion, the Satyrs overthrew their former masters and quickly reversed the roles.”

I sighed. The Elven Star Dominion had really made a lot of enemies in their day. And I could tell why after meeting a few of their members in the Primordial World. Elves of old thought they were better than everyone and loved to pick fights over even the smallest valuables, like a pile of Kun Peng dung.

“These elves of the Satyrs on the Worlds of Woods and Wilds. Are they the same as the elves we know here?” I asked.

Sam shrugged. “Kind of. The elves of the world of Sanctuary and Serenity received a lot of... attention from Grognak and the orcs. Also, from the Witch of Frozen Blood and a few other major powers among the Ten Thousand Worlds. The Satyrs didn’t have that kind of influence, so mostly, they just kept their elves the way they were. Just ignorant of the powerful Spirit Cultivation techniques their ancestors used, that way, they would be weak enough to control.”

“Very interesting...” I wondered if there were more fragments of elven history to be found in the World of Woods and Wilds. Despite their many flaws, the Elven Star Dominion was an incredibly powerful force among the Ten Thousand Worlds. Gaining even a fraction of their old power for my family and me would make me feel much more secure. And as long as my children behaved, we wouldn’t run into the same kinds of enemies that elves of old ran into.

I had to scrap the idea, though. After all, the Satyr King already had it out for me. Exploring his home world would only give him the opportunity to make trouble for me. I couldn’t send people either since most of my subordinates were elves. Being a servant-class there would limit their ability to explore. Maybe Yorik could go, but that was it.

“Anyway, when I had to fight Satyrs in the past, I always had to set up an elaborate spell that would twist the flow of time around them before their Sacred Grove existed. Or at least when it was a little weaker.” Sam gestured to the comatose Satyr sitting on the bed before us in the Medical Bay. “Just being able to bring them here makes things a lot easier.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “The only question is, what will I do with him?”

Sam shrugged. “After you’re done with him, I’ll take him to the Primordial World. He’ll be just as helpless there, and you can rent space in one of the local prisons in a few towns. They have better security than anything we could create. It’s even run by elves from the Elven Star Dominion. Those who know their empire’s eventual fate might be particularly eager to teach this Satyr a lesson.”

I let out a brief, amused snort. “Nothing less than he deserves for throwing rocks at my city and trying to kidnap my woman. But I do want answers out of him first.”

***

The Satyr Demigod revealed exactly what I’d expected.

“His majesty, the Satyr King sent me. This was supposed to be an easy mission. I’d destroy those tower things, then collect as many elf wisps as possible. Hopefully, the one I was supposed to return would be in that batch. Afterward, I’d return home and be rewarded with an additional plot of forest to expand my Sacred Grove,” the Satyr Demigod said on his knees with Spell Eater pressed into his throat.

I let out a long breath. “Just what I thought then. But how did you know about the Level-Reducing Sentry Towers? And what did you do to take out Mac, my AI?”

“We saw the towers when his majesty looked in on the last moments his son experienced before he died. I’m not sure what an AI is. Still, we have found that exerting our Sacred Grove’s influence can banish Dungeon Cores’ influence for a short period,” the Satyr Demigod answered. “Now... uh... you’ll let me go, right?”

I chuckled grimly. “Sure. I’ll let you go with Sam here.”

Sam smiled, and it looked more than a little sinister. “The Fateweaver Society could use someone like you. I think you’ll be an... adequate bargaining chip the next time we need a concession from the Satyrs.” He turned to me. “Whatever arrangement you end up coming to, I bet we can get his majesty to reduce it after the fact in exchange for his vassal here.”

Sam dragged the Satyr Demigod away, and I went to retrieve Sava from the capital. She was a bit shaken but none the worse for wear. She grimaced at the damage to the Hearthwood, but I held her tight.

“Don’t worry about this, Sam already resurrected everyone who died. And the damages will be fixed before nightfall.”

Sava shifted uncomfortably in my grip. “Still... what if this happens again? It’ll all be my fault.”

I shot a dark look into the sky. Somewhere out there lay the World of Woods and Wilds. “Sava, I promise you this isn’t your fault. And one way or another, I’ll make sure to put a stop to it.”