AO 4 Ch 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

“Yep, just waiting here like the rest of you.” I flashed a smile at the latest beggar to come over. I gestured for the man sit down before I started healing him.

“Ard Aldis.” I introduced myself to the next beggar and put a hand on the elderly woman’s arm before infusing her with life magic. First I tackled the woman’s lungs before scouring her joints and restoring what he could.

Old age wasn’t something you could heal, and using too much magic on non-mages or anchors did not go well.

“Thank you.” She let out a groan as the pain likely dissipated from her hips. “Never before am I happy to be told to wait here.”

“He has that effect on people.” Maribelle offered her some crackers and water.

The woman had somehow pilfered a simple set of plates and cups from one of the maids in the manor.

Not that I minded. Maribelle could rob the Brighthaven’s blind and I’d be fine with it. They displayed an uncomfortable amount of wealth.

“Where is he?!” A familiar voice shouted as a mage stormed into the lobby. Silk clothes caught the light reflecting off each surface and made him almost blinding.

Given the owner was Maximilian and his importance in the city, everyone froze and looked towards him for clarification before jumping to any conclusions.

“There you are!” His eyes snapped right to me as if he’d already known where I was in the hall before he stepped foot inside.

And my guess was he’d had plenty of reports that had informed him.

I’d been in the same place for most of the morning, healing anyone and everyone that I could just to pass the time.

That I used it as an excuse to rub in the fact that he had a four sphere mage sitting idle was just an extra perk.

I didn’t give House Brighthaven a lick of credit for my deeds.

“What are you doing? You were supposed to see me first thing this morning so that you could start rebuilding the city! Instead, it’s nearly noon and you are just showing up for duty?!” Apparently, his vector of attack was just as ostentatious as his show of wealth.

He was going to verbally lash me publicly while trying to tarnish my image. It was unfortunately effective most of the time. Making my life harder by turning people against me diminished what I could accomplish in the future.

Part of me wanted to snap at him and correct him, yet I knew that would just be like trying to wrestle a pig. I’d just end up covered in filth.

Instead, I crossed my legs and sat in my marble chair with a bored expression before looking over my shoulder and loudly asking Maribelle. “Does anyone else coming in need healing? Pretty sure I’ve gotten everyone who’s passed through these doors for the last several hours while I’ve been asked to wait.”

Confronting him directly was unlikely to be successful. Thankfully, I had a host of people waiting with me and very much on my side after being healed.

“That’s right!” A man stood up for me shoving a finger towards Maximilian. “Your clerks made him wait here. His anchor even checked in several times while I’ve been here.”

I tried to keep the smile off my face as two more stood up in my defense before a wave of outcries defended me. Thankfully, the situation was serious enough that I managed to maintain a pensive frown.

“Well done.” Maribelle whispered amid the growing chaos.

“Thank you.” I nodded in the direction of Maximilian. “He’s having fun.”

“Doubt he thinks so.” Aurelia commented from my other side. The fiery haired anchor was beyond bored. Probably wanted desperately for something to stab, hack or smash.

“Enough!” Maximilian summoned an orb of light so bright it blinded the peasants. They shielded their eyes before backing away. “Arden Aldis! I demand you answer me.” You could hear the click of a pen as it clattered to the floor across the lobby.

My voice rang out in the quiet hall. “You might want to check with your clerical staff then. Because according to all of these people, they made me wait. Perhaps you have some members of your house that can’t put aside petty noble feuds to rebuild the city.” I narrowed my eyes at him. By ‘members of your house’ I actually meant you, but I think that was clear to everyone here.

Clamor rose up in the lobby again as those present shouted at Maximilian.

The gilded peacock of a man appeared to be about to throw a tantrum in the lobby before he summoned two walls of light to open a path between himself and me. “Come!” He barked like he was ordering a dog.

I rolled my eyes but got out of the chair. Even if it was rude beyond belief, I could only get away with so much. After all, I had my orders. But I was leaving the chair I’d formed out of his home.

“Calm down everyone.” I patted the air as I moved through the corridor of light, garnering more attention. “It seems that my waiting is done, and I’m off to get orders to fix the city. Let’s calm down and let me get back to work.”

My words had a greater effect than Maximilian’s. Having spent the morning healing everyone, I controlled his lobby.

I smiled at the satisfying turn of events.

The angry mage led us out of the lobby and into the halls of the manor. His beautiful anchor trailed behind him. “Your insubordination will be noted.” He snapped at me.

“Shame such a mix up is going to become a black mark. Aurelia, would you go back out there and take the statements of a dozen of the people. I’d love to send that in, along with the note of my insubordination.” I didn’t think it possible to put more sarcasm into that word, but I even surprised myself.

“Already done.” Maribelle handed me a stack of papers.

I stared at them for a moment, wondering when she had gotten them.

“Some of them were saying lovely things about you.” Maribelle explained. “I just wrote them down and had them signed. The idea was to make a small art piece in your room to encourage you.”

“Nevermind.” Maximilian waved his hand and used light to grab hold of and open a door.

I glanced at the stack of blank papers again and handed them back to Maribelle with a smirk.

This woman was too crafty.

The room he brought me to seemed to be a more exclusive gathering place for nobles and he marched to the side, taking up his post behind a table and using it to speak to me from. “Given that you seem willing to work with dirty things, I have desperate need of someone to clear out the sewers of the city. There are several backups already reported, with a collapsing building blocking everything. The Graystones tell me they need more magical power to clear everything. That would be you.” He smiled.

I stood there, unimpressed. “You threw that fit up front and then walked me back here to tell me to go fix the sewers? Talk about a waste of time. Just send a letter in the future.”

He scowled at me. “You will follow protocol and return here as soon as you finish for your next assignment.” His voice rose so that everyone in the room could hear me.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t surrounded by peasants that loved me this time.

The nobles whispered to each other in the room.

“Understood. I’ll skip the clerical line next time.” I was really bad at being a subordinate. It wasn’t my fault that my life had nurtured a fierce sense of independence.

“You’ll do what I tell you, and checking in with my clerical staff is vital to keeping everything organized and flowing.” He snapped.

I shrugged. “Am I dismissed to throw myself into the sewer? I promise to make a big splash.”

He rolled his eyes. “Get going.”

I stepped away, already tired of today and ready for tomorrow.

As we moved through the city to the area needing help, I spotted a few Graystone mages present. One of which was a lovely sight to wash away the disgust from having to stare at Maximilian for as long as I had.

He actually hurt my eyes with how much brilliantly shining gold was on his person.

Instead, I rest my eyes on Sienna. Technically we were married, provisionally. Did that make her my provisional wife? It had a certain charm to it.

“Ard.” She was the first of the group to notice my approach. There was a knowing smile on her face. “When we requested more magical muscle from the Brighthaven’s, I couldn’t imagine they’d put a certain four sphere on sewer duty.”

I chuckled and nodded to the two other mages. “There’s no way he’d miss the opportunity to throw me in the sewers. You knew that though.” I hooked my arm with hers. “So, shall we call this a date and have some fun with it?”

My mood was instantly buoyed. Sienna had tricked Maximilian into sending me off to work with her for the day. The sewers were likely unpleasant but her company would more than make up for it.

Sienna went on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my cheek, her emerald eyes pulling my attention as she settled back down on her heels. “Happily.” Her hot breath washed over my ear and ignited another warmth in me.

I took in the beautiful mage once again. Raven black hair fell down to her jaw line. She kept it short to keep it out of the way. A passerby wouldn’t guess she was used to hard work with her slim, lithe frame, but Graystones were the mages that kept the kingdom running.

They managed many administrative functions as well as kept buildings standing and managed the sewers along with other vital systems.

I didn’t think they got the credit that they deserved.

Like most mages, Sienna was stunning. But unlike many mages, she didn’t have that overly sculpted look of someone who’d been to the life mages too much. Instead she had a square nose that I found charmingly normal.

Today she was dressed in trousers and jacket, ready for dirtier work.

“Let me introduce you to Miles and Karen.” She gestured to the two older Graystone mages. Both of whom looked to be in their late thirties. For a mage to look that old meant they were likely double that age.

“Pleasure. Sienna won’t stop talking about you.” Karen shook my hand. “I’d love to get to know you before we get started, but the longer we wait, the worse it’s going to be.”

Sienna held up a pair of tall boots for me that looked like they were heavily coated in wax. “You’re going to want these.”

“Lovely.” I took them knowing she’d come prepared. “Don’t suppose you have any for my anchors?”

“They can follow us above ground.” She offered. “No need to bring them down into the muck if we don’t have to.”

“I’m okay with that.” Aurelia raised her hand a touch too quick to agree. “We can follow your magic just fine.”

I narrowed my eyes on my anchor that typically would never leave my side.

“And you can open up a hole in the ground above us if we need them.” Sienna said while the other two Graystones nodded. It seemed it was unusual to need the anchors.

“Boots now or later?” I asked.

“Later.” She said and Maribelle swooped in to take them from me.

Sienna used the opportunity to hook her arm in mind. “No time like the present to get going.”

“You read my mind.” I winked and kissed her hand.

The joke went a little close to home, but she relaxed against me. “So, I haven’t been able to get much time with you lately.” It seemed she had really gotten over the whole incident of me reading her mind.

“Busy. Way too busy. Hopefully you’ll join me for the trip back to the capital?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it. I won’t be able to follow you to the front lines.” She shook her head. “Despite how incredible I am, Graystones are kept back to maintain the cities.”

I nodded along with that. “Glad they have some sense. You are far too valuable to waste on the front lines.”

Her fingers trailed up my arm giving me goosebumps. “Which means I’d really like to exercise a few clauses of our marriage contract before you run off.”

I froze at the mention of those clauses, because I was certain which ones she meant. “Oh.”

“That wasn’t an excited noise,” She gave me a searching look with those emerald orbs.

“Kids are not even on my horizon.” I let out a sigh as we continued. Some of the heated mood had washed away with the thought of kids.

“I would point out that they are a large part of why my family agreed to the contract.” She didn’t let up.

“Yeah. I get that.” On one hand, children would be great. I’d do great things with kids. On the other hand, I didn’t want to be an absent father. My own had died shortly after I was born and putting my own in a similar position was… painful to say the least. “Maybe wait until after the war?”

She sighed and stared off into the distance down the street at nothing in particular. “I don’t want to pressure you, yet I want to be honest. My mother might not let me wait that long. She’s more likely to try and hand me off to another mage if you are gone for a prolonged period.”

I swallowed. The idea of losing her was even worse. “Alright, thanks for being honest. In return I’ll tell you that I really want to be there for my kid. So it’s hard to think of putting one in the oven and then heading off to war… it's… a little like what happened to me.”

Sienna gently pushed my face to the side until our eyes were locked. “You will be coming back from the war, so there’s no need to have such thoughts.”

“Ah. Right. How could I have been so mistaken.” I let out a dry laugh.

“If you always worry about tomorrow, you’ll never enjoy today.” Sienna intoned.

“Because diving in the sewers is so much fun?”

“Because diving in the sewers with me is so much fun.” She smirked and intertwined our fingers. “You get to swing around the big magic of yours and make the other Graystones jealous that I have you. Then word will spread around and that provisional contract might not be so provisional soon.”

I squinted at her. “Wasn’t I supposed to swing around something else of mine to change it?”

“Why not both?” She stopped and held out her other hand.

Selina rushed up with a pair of boots and Maribelle did the same.

“This is it?” I looked down at the street.

“Yes, this is the last branching point before we have issues. Down that way.” She gestured down the street to a section of the city north of the docks. “We have two venting shafts that are overflowing and nothing coming out the ports at the oceanfront. There are a few sinkholes that we think are responsible, but we won’t know until we get into it.”

“Wait, this all dumps into the ocean?” My mind hung up on that part.

“Where did you think it goes?” She smirked as she pulled on the big boots.

“Not where I eat! Or where my food eats.” I made a face. “You know, it’s probably crabs that eat it all. I don’t much care for crab meat. Too much work to get it out.”

She rolled her eyes. “The area by the port is full of algae, snails and seaweed. We actually have to clear the seaweed because it gets dense enough to clog things up.”

I looked at her in horror. “I ate seaweed.”

“Poop, seaweed, Ard. It’s the circle of life. I could probably come up with a clever song about it, but I'm not much of a singer.” She pointed at the ground. “Make us a path down pretty please.”

I only did as she requested because she batted her eyelashes at me.

Otherwise, I would have been too caught up in the circle of life song that was slowly being built in the back of my head. “I’ll just have to cut seaweed from my life. Never liked snails either. At least that gives me two layers of separation.”

“That’s enough?” She asked.

“It’ll have to do. I like food too much.” I lamented.

“What’s wrong?” One of the other mages asked and handed Sienna a tube of wax.

She rubbed it under her nose before handing it to me.

I did the same and it was so pungent I lost the ability to smell. “Whoa.” I blinked away some tears that came out.

“You’ll thank me for it.” She laughed and was the first one into the tunnel that I’d made down to the sewer.

“I think I will. Can’t even smell the shit.” I had absolutely zero sense of smell right now. Given that I was going into the sewer, that was fantastic.

“It wears off in a little bit, but it's slow and you’ll be nose blind to the stink as it comes back.” Karen informed me.

“Even better. So, blockage. What are we looking for?” I walked with them.

The waste of the sewer ran down a central channel while we walked on walkways. There was a two foot drop into the water if you were unlucky enough to stumble. I was very thankful for the fact that we weren’t walking through the central path, but they’d given me boots, which told me walking deeper in the muck was a definite possibility.

“Probably a collapsed drain.” Sienna said. “It can take a few mages to work out since it’s a lot of earth to move, but that’s why we have you. Because there might be more than one.” She saw a crack on the ceiling and waved her hand, filling it with sand and then turning the sand into stone.

The move was one of the techniques she taught me to fix a road before. Sand was easier to fill the crack before converting it to stone. Otherwise there was the risk of cracking the surrounding stone by summoning more into the crack than could fit.

There was a swish of water below us and my head snapped to it. “Are there things living down here?”

“Every now and then fish or some other ocean life tries to swim up the pipe.” Miles Graystone grunted. “Poor things die.” He was a thin man, the kind that didn’t see much physical work. His hair was black with a light peppering of gray in it.

There was another swish and a splash in the water. It sounded far bigger than a fish.

I pulled on my earth magic and sealed two cracks with a wave of my hand, but my eyes kept darting back to the channel of water. It was only a few feet deep. Nothing too big could hide in there.

More splashing occurred, and this time I saw a long tail in the water it almost looked like—

“Crocodile!” I shouted and a dozen spikes of earth erupted from the bottom of the channel, impaling the crocodile and lifting its body out of the water with a murky splash.

Somehow the eight foot long beast had hidden itself in the shallow water.

Sienna stepped back as waste water lapped at the edges of the channel. “That’s… the crocodiles from the pirate?”

I had the same thought as more splashing caught my attention. I made spikes jut out, killing two more. “My thoughts exactly. I would hazard to say that one is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but three? That’s a pattern.”

And I was fairly certain I knew what that pattern was telling me.