Wild Dragon of Rome 15 (Patreon)

I woke up to a stirring in my arms. Exhausted, I tightened my arms reflexively, trying to remember where I was, and who was the woman in my arms. A gasp reminded me exactly who. 

I let her go and she moved away. Meanwhile, I tightened my grip over the dragon heart, wondering if it was too early to start working on my cores. The strain of my cores was intense, but using the mana for multiple drops worked as intended. 

They felt strong enough to handle the strain of a breakthrough … hopefully. Unfortunately, I could already see a glimpse of the dawn, which was bad for two reasons. The rain had finally stopped, and it was the best time for scouts to explore the island. Reaching the realm of the mage was hardly subtle. They wouldn’t be able to detect it from the cove, but any magically sensitive scouts they sent would be able to detect it. 

Of course, there would be no problem if they sailed away during the night, but I didn’t consider it a reliable possibility. Since, for some reason, they valued Lillian enough to fight against the pirates led by a very strong and very skilled water mage, they wouldn’t just depart. 

The best case was that they would find the scraps of her dress and believe that she had died. 

“How are you feeling?” I asked Lillian. 

“Worst I ever felt, yet better than I expected,” she answered. “Is that weird?” 

“Not at all. Unfortunately, I know it from experience, and they are never fun,” I said. “My old man trained me well, but it was often painful.” 

“Your father?” she asked. 

“No, my grandfather. I never knew my father, actually. The old man raised me, and while he had done his best … let’s just say he believed in tough love, and his perception of tough had always been warped.” 

“Is this why you chose to path of four elements?” she asked. “It’s not exactly an easy route to take.” 

“Certainly. He had a force of personality that made it impossible to fight against, particularly as a child. I had always thought that it was a stupid path once I was old enough to understand the full implications.” I found myself chuckling. “Who knew the old bag of bones actually had a dragon heart hidden with him?” 

She looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but I felt like walls were tightening around me. It was the first time I actually talked to someone about him after his death … and I didn’t like the sensation. “I’m going to go scouting,” I said. 

“I can come with you. I’m feeling better.” 

“No, I need you to stay in the cave. If you’re in, if another beast arrives, you can kill it easily using the tunnel to your advantage. If you come with me, other beasts will come looking for prey, and we’ll lose our food,” I added. Both excuses were flimsy. The real reason was that I could move far more easily without her presence, but I didn’t want to tell her that. “Meanwhile, I want you to work on your aim,” I said. “Use the far wall as a target, and try to make sure you can hit from the other end with water blades.” 

She nodded, not particularly enthusiastic, but there was a limit I could cater to her feeling. Instead, I moved to the possum we had slain, and pulled two of its bones. “Can you use your water blades to cut them from here,” I said. 

“I can, but why?” 

“They will make decent daggers,” I said as I swung them testing their balance to determine the best spot to cut them. Not exactly great weapons, but much better than the spear. 

She followed my directions and used her magic to cut them. “Good. Just focus on your training, but pay attention to the entrance. I will be back soon.” 

With that, I locked the dragon heart back into its box and climbed the steep entrance. I could have left the dragon heart with her, but with her mana renewed, there were few immediate benefits for her. And, I might face a danger that would force me to use all four elements at the same time. The ability to replenish my mana would likely be the distinction between life and death. 

I would need the mana because the inner parts of the island had much thicker vegetation. The concealment would allow me to deal with several mages with relative ease as long as they decided to split for faster searching, provided I could use dragon heart to replenish my mana in between.

I wondered if anyone else decided to use a dragon heart as a battlefield supplement rather than a very precious training tool that they could use to raise sorcerers, or if I was the first one. 

Once I walked out, I was met with the bright morning sun, with no clouds in sight. Not exactly good news for me. I would have much preferred an overcast sky, maybe even a fog. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as lucky. 

“At least it’ll make it easier for initial scouting,” I muttered as I looked around, searching for a heightened spot with some concealment. There was a large rock cropping at a distance away, with no beasts around. 

I flipped my bone daggers as I walked toward the cropping. A nervous tick. I took a deep breath, trying to stay focused. I didn’t have the luxury of making mistakes. Missing the presence of just one beast might alert the enemy to my existence, which would be deadly. 

“Please be gone,” I wished as I climbed the rocks, despite knowing it was an empty hope. An empty hope that had dashed the moment I managed to get a glimpse of the sea, and noticed a small fleet. Three ships, each as large as the pirate ship I had been hijacking a ride. However, what I noticed was their sail…

All three carried a familiar sigil. A snake. The same symbol that was on the blade of the mage I had killed raiding my grandfather’s house while his body lay discarded… 

“What a nice surprise,” I muttered casually as I climbed down, though my own voice felt weird. It was cold, and foreign at the same time, and my fingers were trembling. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. 

The moment I climbed down, I sat down, my back against the rock, breathing hard, trying to control my fury. It was hard. I was looking at the people who were responsible for the death of the only family member I cared about. I hated my uncle even more, but that did nothing to abate the red-hot fury I felt against them. 

“Never try to take revenge while feeling anger,” I said, repeating my grandfather’s words he loved to utter as I lay down, trying to get up after his painful training sessions. It was one of the lessons he was most insistent. I always felt that there had been personal reasons for it. I always thought that it had something to do with his injury, but he never shared. “I would be a bad student if I reject your most repeated lesson, old man,” I muttered and I stood up. 

Instead, I started thinking about the coincidence of encountering my enemies in such a random spot. What were the chances of encountering them on an abandoned island… Then, I started to analyze it. It was a good way to distract myself from my anger. 

First, their identity. I didn’t know what that black snake represented, but since they were displaying it proudly, it was obvious that they were not an illegal organization. Either an obscure religious order or a well-known mercenary group. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have flaunted their identity to the point of stamping their sigil on their weapons. 

I was leaning toward the former, as they wielded a strong influence on the provincial governor, easily starting an island-wide manhunt on false pretenses. The mercenary groups strong enough to wield such power might have been tolerated at the border, but not in the core territories. 

Their strength was another obvious feature. A scarily obvious. I had already killed two of their mages, which, for any ordinary organization, would have been enough to force a serious reorganization, yet they didn’t even skip a beat. 

They were rich, easily able to pay ten thousand denarii just for the news about my location. It was not a small amount. 

Altogether, it was obvious that they were not from Britannia. If they were, with their influence and the ease they wielded their power, it was impossible for me to miss them. They were from the mainland, and considering the influence they had wielded over the provincial governor, it was a safe bet to assume they were linked to Rome itself one way or another. 

Of course, none of those details was as important as one spectacular one. They were led by a sorcerer. Even without a mysterious organization of significant political influence, filled with mages, a disciplined military, and incredible riches, a sorcerer was a deadly threat… 

Luckily, he wasn’t here, or we would have been already caught. Nothing on this island could even slow down a sorcerer. He clearly had a more important task.

Then, I chuckled as the realization hit. “Oh, the irony,” I said as I realized there was a good chance he wasn’t here because he was looking for me. I would have loved to say there was no desperate, hysteric edge to my laugh, but that would be a lie. 

Three ships filled with an unknown number of mages and soldiers were threatening enough without adding a ticking deadline for a sorcerer’s arrival. 

A sorcerer with a personal grudge.