Dragon's Tale 13 (Patreon)

I sat down on the opening, my eyes closed, forcing my magic to flow. I couldn’t help but frown as I realized that it had already regressed significantly since my tempering session on the boat, but whether it was the new normal or happened because I had followed my instincts during my steamy encounter with Lillian. 

Then, the first lightning left my fingers to stab my other hand, the painful jolt distracting my thoughts, and soon, the rest of my attention was grabbed by the flow of my magic. I let out lightning bolt after lightning bolt, bright explosions filling my vision even through my closed eyes. Still, I had more important things to focus on, such as how my new magical core —my savior and my curse at the same time— was reacting to my forceful tempering. 

The answer turned out to be not as bad as I feared. Compared to the first time, it was more malleable, responding to my pushes after a brief struggle, so much that I managed to attain my previous peak in just a few minutes. For a moment, I hoped that things would be easier. 

Then, reality hit back once more. The resistance bounced back to its dangerous points when I tried to increase my command on my magic further, kicking like an unruly stallion. My new core started pushing more and more magic to my body without my explicit command, as if it was trying to make me fail. 

“I’m going to show you,” I murmured as I opened my eyes for a moment, and used magic to set up a shield around myself, enough to hide both my magic and the flashes of lightning from outside, as well as any sound I might make. Then, I raised my hands in front of me once more, and conjured a lightning bolt with all the magic the dragon heart was forcing in my body. 

It wasn’t the smartest idea, I realized even before the lightning bolt left the source hand, burning my skin in departure. On the contact side, it was even worse, charring the surface of my skin. A cry filled the opening. Only a second later I realized that the cry belonged to me, but I couldn’t do anything, because I was busy falling to the floor, shivering. 

The pain disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, my palm started recovering at a surprising speed. The charred pieces turned to dust and flew away with the wind, already replaced by soft and healthy skin. But I wasn’t able to examine the effect, because my new core decided to flood my body with magic once more, threatening me to be poisoned by my own magic. 

“I need a better tempering method,” I murmured as I let the lightning free once more, this time from my right hand to my left. It ended the same, with me crying and falling on the floor with a burnt hand, only to recover a minute later. I repeated it once more… Then again… And again… 

As the minutes turned to hours, the dragon heart still belching magic despite my attempts to resist, out of control. However, it wasn’t all bad, because all that painful attempts to purge and temper that excess magic finally allowed me to get a better sense of how to control my changed magic. I was yet to tame it by any sense of the word, so complicated spells such as runes were still an impossibility, but at least I had the confidence to cast targeted elemental spells without leveling the surroundings. 

More importantly, I could feel that I was determinedly eroding the divide between mage and sorcerer. I was still far from deserving to be called a full-fledged, but I had also surpassed the limits of a mage. Even as my new core started to accept its situation —though that was hardly an accurate description for a mindless organ— and started abandoning its attempts to flood my body, I still continued my tempering forcefully. 

With the enemies on my back, I needed my control to survive. 

I continued my tempering session until the sun reached the apex of the sky, shining with an annoying brightness despite still being in North. I decided to stop, not wanting to delve too deep into my magical reserves just in case. I still had the raiders on my track, and more importantly, there was no guarantee that my tribal opponents would continue to be tricked by my strategy. They were the more dangerous opponents, as not only they had a larger army, but they had a much better understanding of the surrounding geography, meaning a lot of possible ambushes. 

That in mind, I stood up, intending to walk back to the camp. Interestingly, despite the significant magical drain, once again I was feeling refreshed rather than exhausted, and stronger than ever. Curious, I decided to grab a nearby large stone, far heavier than anything I had managed to lift in my life. Much to my surprise, it was a bit difficult, but I managed to raise it. How interesting. 

As I walked through the forest, I realized that my strength wasn’t the only thing that changed. I wasn’t feeling any pain from the stones on the ground or the scratch from the occasional bush, the marks they left disappearing in an instant. I had a better balance. Even my senses were noticeably sharper. I was pleasantly surprised at the changes, as while some sorcerers had mentioned such changes, none of them mentioned a change in such a high level. 

Rather curious. 

When I got nearer to the camp area, however, my attention shifted to something more immediate, Astrid’s angry shouts. I was still too far away to understand her words, but it didn’t feel like a war cry, nor I could feel any magical fluctuation from there. Since there was no immediate danger, I continued my leisure pace. Soon, her words started to become discernible. 

“No, you dumb rich bitch, it still doesn’t fit,” shouted Astrid, her tone tinged with fury. Luckily, despite her anger, she wasn’t shouting as loud as she could, which would have pulled unnecessary attention to our location. 

Unlike Astrid’s clear shout, I had to strain myself to hear Lillian’s response. “Let me look,” she answered, and continued a few seconds later. “Are you sure it’s smaller? I think we’re getting close.” I couldn’t help but smirk as I noticed the artificial tone Lillian was using. It was the perfect simulacrum of sincerity, something Lillian had only used when mocking her targets back in the school. 

It was nice to see that despite everything, somethings never changed. 

I had a good idea about what was going on, so rather than walking toward them openly, I sneaked forward, wanting to watch the amusing show that was happening, though entertainment wasn’t my only objective. I wanted to observe Astrid without my intimidating presence hovering over her like an ever-present threat. 

Unknowingly, Lillian was helping me on the subject as well. Nothing like a bit of pointed needling from a bitchy blonde to make someone forget about the bigger picture, focusing on momentary annoyances instead. I used a particularly bushy tree as a cover to sneak into the opening, only to meet with a rather interesting view. 

Astrid was standing dangerously close to Lillian, her posture threatening, her flame-red hair dancing in the wind. It would have been an intimidating sight if it wasn’t for the fact that she was dressed like a streetwalker, her body on display, her tight top barely more than a bra and her tiny skirt strained to the limit to contain her voluptuous body. Her skin was beautiful, even when colored with a number of tattoos that resembled runes, probably working as a focus for her magic. 

Lillian had really pulled all the stops to mess with her. 

Truth be told, Lillian’s clothing didn’t cover more than Astrid’s amazing ensemble, but unlike hers, Lillian’s lithe body wasn’t straining her new clothing as it would snap in a wrong move. And, considering she was completely naked before, even that was a huge improvement in terms of concealment. 

And while I missed the sight of her naked body, after our last encounter in the water, I had all the confidence to divest her of her new clothing. Everything was well, or at least, I thought so, for a moment forgetting the trend my life was following 

I was listening, entertained, as Astrid heaped insult after insult on Lillian’s incompetence while Lillian listened to her with an amused expression, enjoying her revenge. I didn’t get bothered by her relatively loud tone, trying to decide the best time to involve myself to the discussion to impress my new redheaded companion —the sight of her amazing body worked wonders in forcing me to update my plans— when suddenly, five men stepped into the opening, weapons drawn. 

Tribals, I realized as I recognized their symbols with dismay. They were from the same group I had dealt with earlier today. I had assumed that they were properly convinced of my death after all the effort I had gone through. My fingers stiffened around my spear, about to dash forward, when one of them spoke. 

“Astrid, you’re alive,” he said with glee, though his expression left no doubt about his darker intention. He wasn’t being happy because he was feeling friendly. However, the fact that he was surprised was telling, as if they knew about my ruse, they wouldn’t be surprised about Astrid being alive. 

Maybe I should stay hidden a bit more to understand their aim, I decided. The girls weren’t combatants, but even then, they would be enough to keep such a small group at bay until I could rush to their rescue. 

“Mani, that’s the girl, right?” said one of the others. 

“Yes, she is exactly like in the painting,” the leader of the small group said as he looked at Lillian in appreciation. “We earned ourselves a big reward, guys.” 

“Can we enjoy her a bit before-” one of the others started, only to receive a slap on his mouth. 

“Idiot, you heard the orders. She is to be delivered a virgin,” whispered the leader, but my enhanced senses were ready to catch it easily. “And we can’t waste time. If we come across these sea worms, there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t ambush us for the reward.”

I couldn’t help but frown as I listened to them, their words changing the landscape of the situation quite a bit. Not only they knew about Lillian, but they were also coordinating with the sea raiders that I had clashed with earlier, and they had orders to keep her virginity. 

There were two probabilities, though I didn’t know which was worse. Either that the elusive captain of the pirates had strong alliances with the tribes in Germania, or there was a mysterious third party giving orders from the background. 

It would be a lie if I said I didn’t consider silently pulling back and leaving Lillian to her fate, but it was just an idle consideration. After all, it wouldn’t have helped much. I had killed the captain’s familiar, a formidable dragon serpent, ruined his ship, stole his treasure, rescued his victim, and slaughtered his allies. 

Feuds had started for much less. 

“Do the smart thing and surrender, Astrid,” called the leader as he started walking toward the middle. I decided to interject, just in case one of the boys gets a lucky strike or so. 

“Just what I was about to say,” I said even as I stepped into the opening. 

“Who the fuck are you,” tried to say one of them, but the leader looked at me with suspicion for a moment, before his expression melted into fear. “You - you’re alive,” he stammered. “But the chieftain told me that you’re dead!” 

“It’s good to be recognized,” I murmured with a dark smile even as I waved my hand, wanting to start the combat with a simple opening to disrupt their organization, and if I’m lucky, kill one or two of them. A wind blade appeared in the air, sailing in the air with an eerie silence. Their eyes grew, and they tried to raise their weapons to block. Unfortunately for them, it was the wrong choice to defend against it. 

Unfortunately for me, I miscalculated the strength of the spell, so all of them died, leaving no one to interrogate, which was a pity because I would have liked to know whom they had received their mission from.  

Also, I took note not to train with anyone until I could get better control of my magic. 

“Marcus,” Lillian exclaimed, shock and relief mixed in her tone as she dashed forward to hug me. She was rightfully scared, as the idea of being imprisoned by a bunch of primitives while she was unarmed and scantily dressed couldn’t be pleasant. Astrid, on the other hand, stayed locked in her position, her eyes wide with shock at my magical display. Unlike Lillian who had watched me kill a dragon serpent and breakthrough a sea blockade, Astrid only watched me defeat a bunch of overgrown idiots, nor did she know about the ease I had defeated the bear. 

I let Lillian hug me for a moment, enjoying the pressure of her barely-dressed body on my naked one. I even leaned down and stole a quick but heated kiss from her ruby lips. When I pulled back, her eyes were shining with worship and excitement. After saving her once more, I didn’t doubt that I could push her down and steal her virginity without arousing the slightest complaint from her. 

Pity that we were facing a bigger issue. 

“Astrid, go over their items and see if there’s anything useful. Food, utility knives, bandages, money if they have any,” I said, then, after a moment’s thought, added. “And also check if any of their clothes would fit to me. Maybe a pair of shoes as well.” 

“On it,” Astrid murmured, still in shock, but she walked toward the bodies, starting to work on them. 

While she was busy with that, Lillian turned to me, but her expression was serious despite our proximity, alarmed by my call to action. “What’s going on, Marcus?” she murmured. “Why were they looking for me?” 

“I don’t know,” I answered back. At this point, I didn’t even a guess about their identity, let alone how Lillian could work in their plan. “It's like a puzzle with half of the pieces missing, but it’s too far-reaching to be some kind of attempt toward your family. They are employing too many resources and have too many allies outside Britanium for it to make sense. There’s something dangerous afoot,” I explained even as I patted her shoulder kindly. She earned a bit of gentle affection after everything, I decided. 

The way she melted against my body left me with an inconvenient boner. Pity that we didn’t have time to indulge that…