Chapter 26 What Are You?

Isaac turned to face the downed Fen while remaining on his chair-shaped magic. Isaac kicked the sorcerer in the shoulder hard enough to elicit a groan but clearly lacking the intent to do any real damage. ‘He might still get a bruise but he deserves it. Words of Power are cheating.’ Isaac grumbled internally. Isaac leaned down and rested his elbows on his knees.

Fen rolled over to face the ceiling, his straight black hair turned into a matted mess of blood reds and splashes of shadow. He turned his head to glare at Isaac. His mana reserves were the lowest they had been in a long time and he was feeling the fatigue deep in his bones. Oddly enough his body wasn’t even sore from the engagement. It was as if the man who had beaten him had undone all of the damage and left Fen with nothing but his loss of mana as evidence of their engagement.

Fen’s eyes flicked in the general direction of Jala. “You should have let him kill me. Who knows what layer of hell you have just condemned us to.” He scolded. His voice lacked any real bite and had no energy behind it but he had felt the need for his words to be heard.

“Us?” Jala asked defensively. “I only swore my own loyalty in exchange for your life. You don’t have to stick around.”

Fen’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Because of the exchange, how am I supposed to leave you alone?” He replied coolly. “That’s not even considering that you’ll be dead in a week from forgetting to eat you crazed, manic, old witch.”

Jala scoffed. “Old?!” She glared at him. “You are over two decades older than me!”

Isaac couldn’t help himself and chuckled at their antics. “Lenna?” Isaac asked without taking his eyes off of Fen.

“Yes?” She replied. She hadn’t left Jala’s side, partly to ensure that she didn’t try anything and partly because she hadn’t needed to.

“How much faith should I put in an oath of loyalty from your dear auntie?” He asked his question in total neutrality, clearly lacking any bias or assumptions. He wanted the truth and nothing else.

Lenna leaned back against the table closest to her and Jala. “She’s a V’Nova. Honor was beaten into her bones.” She took a long look at Fen L’Vore. “But, I cannot say the same for the L’Vore’s.”

Isaac nodded. “Trust but verify and trust but not completely.” He said more to himself than to her.

“It is as you say.” Lenna agreed.

Isaac’s eyes continued to borrow into Fen’s soul. The silver eyes seemed to see through the ancient elvish sorcerer. Fen fidgeted a little under Isaac’s gaze before straightening abruptly as he remembered that Isaac was around a third of his level. At the sudden movement Kahtesh jolted forwards and then abruptly stopped with his bony face a mere six inches from Fen’s. If Kahtesh still breathed then Fen would have gotten a face-full of rotting meat breath.

“Kahtesh really wants to eat this one.” Isaac said coldly. He hadn’t even flinched at the sudden movement from the two beings in front of him.

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Fen glanced back and forth between the two of them. Jala cleared her throat. “That would not be sparing his life, my Lord.” She reminded him cautiously.

Isaac sighed. “He is the one who cut off my poor dragon’s head and you are the one that turned him into a monster.” He replied and leaned back in his chair. Kahtesh snapped his jaws thrice in rapid succession in Fen’s face.

Fen audibly swallowed. He glanced at Isaac. “How much of this undead is still in there?” He asked with obvious worry in his voice. He knew that if he absolutely had to he had enough mana left for a medium range teleport but not an ounce more. He also knew that if he was going to do that then he would have done it a while ago. He just couldn’t bring himself to leave Jala behind.

“Not very much but enough to hate you in particular. I saw through Kahtesh’s eyes as you drug him out of his cage and cut off his head.” Isaac answered with just a hint of hidden wrath.

Fen swallowed again. “What are you going to do with us?” He asked.

Isaac ignored him and stood up. “Kahtesh, if he tries to cast a spell, escape, or enact violence against anything not trying to kill you, me, Lenna, or her,” Isaac gestured towards Jala. “kill him.” The dragon hadn’t moved at the command but Isaac knew that he had received the directive. He then looked at Jala. “Name?” Isaac asked directly.

Jala rose to her feet and bowed deeply. Some of her dark gray hair fell forwards out from behind her ears. “Jala L’Vore, formally Jala V’Nova.” She raised her head. “Level nineteen wizard, alchemist and necromancer.”

Isaac nodded to her. “How much control do you have over the currently active chimeras and the wards lining the way out?” He interrogated. He had switched to full business, all humor and jokes were left at the door and the sudden shift had caused Jala to partly slip back into her military mannerisms.

“I can give general commands or specific ones over any distance at a mana cost escalating according to distance and length of command.” She replied curtly. “The wards will have to be manually deactivated as, once cast, I have no control over them.” She took a short, well practiced, measured breath. “My Lord.” She finished with a nod.

Isaac smirked slightly. “Order every active chimera to do as much damage to Contantis’s walls and gates as possible. Afterwards let me know how many wards you will be able to dispel before you run out of mana.” He ordered.

Jala nodded and was about to comply before she stopped. She looked as though she wanted to ask a question but wasn’t sure how. After about ten seconds of her looking like a fish out of water Isaac finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Out with it. The more you do that the more you look like an Ori-Masa.” He told her. Fen snorted a laugh as he had seen a similar interaction plenty of times during his extensive time spent with her.

“Well, not that I’m questioning your wisdom,” Jala began.

“Answer me, don’t kiss my ass.” Isaac snapped.

Jala swallowed. “Yes my Lord.” She took a deep breath. “Why not wait as long as possible to send the attack? If the attack is sent right now then Contantis will know something has happened here immediately and you would lose any element of surprise.”

Isaac grinned. “Oh, I’m sure the human noble who rules Safeharbor would much prefer I did that but I have no interest in the larger conflict between Contantis and Safeharbor.” His eyes almost twinkled as he made eye contact with Lenna. “I just want to piss off a certain drow nobleman.”

Jala looked taken aback at the reasoning behind the strategic misplay and it took her a few moments to find her next thoughts. Fen spent those moments laughing. “Good. Fuck the bastard.” He chuckled. “I always hated him.” He shook his head and then looked at Isaac. “I hope you have more friends than just those in this room Lord of Darkness because otherwise Jallen will bury you in men, spells, and hired assassins.”

Isaac looked down at the sorcerer with a raised eyebrow. “I do.” He replied. “Feel like being helpful or did you forget who you are talking to?”

Fen shook his head. “I could leave if I wanted to and not even you could stop me. I’m a twentieth level sorcerer. I can bypass laws of spellcraft that I dislike. You just happen to have my wife as a hostage for the foreseeable future.” He explained. “I do have some comments and questions for you, Darkness.”

Isaac reraised his eyebrow that had been relaxed while Fen was talking. “Your words cost only your breath but don’t expect any answers.” He replied and then nodded to Jala. “Send the order.” He directed.

Jala nodded and closed her eyes. Her lips started moving without sound and mana started building inside of her as she readied the command to send forth to her minions. Fen took the time to begin talking himself into an early grave. “You’re not a real demigod.” He told Isaac simply.

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to make it difficult to keep you alive?” He asked simply.

Fen smirked and shook his head as he sat up. His robes peeled off the bloody floor and clung to him grossly. “A demigod can’t be under level twenty. That’s not how it works. If you truly are level seven, which seems to be the case by how easily you were affected by a Word of Power, then you can’t be a true demigod.” Fen narrowed his eyes at Isaac. “So what are you?”