I’m not fooled. I had options. My properly maintained sense of paranoia came up with several escape plans and I was sorely tempted to take them seriously. BUT I DIDN’T. But I could’ve.
Option one, dive into the river and vanish on down the way.
Option two, dive down into the earth and replicate option one.
Option three, fly away on my hoverboard or SAW like the devil’s on my tail back to the desert.
Instead, I froze awkwardly just long enough for the damn Aelves to catch on. Toreen and Kalderan stood next to me so close that I wouldn’t have been able to leave quietly. Their shoulders bumped into mine and one of them moved me forward with a hidden hand on my back. Only the fact that I was much heavier than the Aelves prevented me from stumbling in my forward movement.
“Does the great sorcerer I’ve heard so much about not have any manners?” The beautiful alien woman of obvious royal status asked with a haughty voice, one clearly accustomed to having people ask how high when she said ‘jump’.
“Maybe,” I said, arching one eyebrow, cracking my knuckles in a ploy to gain a moment or two. Standing up straighter, I took a deep breath and flashed a big smile. Not only had this woman brought a freaking luxury arcane yacht to town, but then wanted to flirt with me in a pretentious sort of way. I could be wrong but that face looked like flirting.
Playful but highbrow. Tempting.
I couldn’t prevent the errant thought poking through, [God, it’s been so long.]
So I played ball. I thought to myself, [Let’s see how she reacts to someone not following the rules of her society.] I grinned, took a side step so that I was standing on the surface of the river and used my Water Sorcery to raise a column of water to deposit me on the flowy railing of the boat. With one smooth motion, my casual act of silent magic let me stand far above everyone else. I held back a joke about having the higher ground but wasn’t able to prevent the smirk from creasing my face.
I gamely eased my way to the center of the yacht’s deck and took it all in. Shaking the water off my boots and stretching to take in as much sun as possible, I let out a sigh of relief before walking back to the railing, turning to look down on everyone so I could address the fifty old Aelves glaring at me as they stood around keeping the area secure.
“My name is Ben, but I bet you already knew that.” Every Aelf hid their cringing wince and the guards tightened their grips on their weapons. I could hear the creak of leather being compressed. “Sounds a little less than polite to be keeping tabs on someone you plan on allying with.”
My fair lady sauntered around her guards and then right up the gangplank like an actual princess, with poise and grace and all that other highbrow bullshit. She looked at me the entire time, carefully and in complete control of where her feet were landing without having to glance around. Grace, that’s the term for it. I knew full well that her mother made her do that exercise where you have to cross the room with books balanced on your head. And she did it in her spare time for fun.
I tried not to laugh. I didn’t even know the girl’s name yet but she didn’t leave me out to dry.
Toreen’s face alone made the whole trip of walking here worth it. He kept trying to communicate with me as if I could just easily read his mind even though Aelves practiced their own form of mental shielding discipline. The wide eyed stare meant ‘don’t fuck this up’, but the squinty glare was more along the lines of ‘I’ll kill you if you fuck this up’.
Matching my attitude with her own, the princess scrunched her face up and waved her guards down. “You call me rude but I prefer the term . . . prepared. Besides, I bring gifts. I hope you brought one, proper protocol is always important when starting new relationships. But that’s for later. Let’s at least get to know each other first.”
With synchronous exultation, all of her men-at-arms shouted to the heavens.
“”At arms!” Each guardian snapped to attention, gripping their spears with both hands. “Prepare! Make way for Princess Maevana!” As her dainty feet in slender boots touched the deck, the butt of every spear held by her men-at-arms slammed into the wooden floor creating a resounding BOOM! Her face resumed its imperious look, taking its usual expression of being on top of the world.
And I caught the hint. The very on the nose hint. I had been slightly misinformed. The Aelves who had taken human wives, from Kalderan to Umale to Kellurian, were all pointedly staring at me, trying to get me to acknowledge her in some way. It wasn’t the Queen comin’ on down to visit little ole me. The Queen, whatever her name is, was sending down her most eligible bachelorette daughter to secure new lands in the name of the Golden Expanse. As if the slinky undergarments weren’t enough. The wind caught her robe just right letting me see more than I should for less than a split second.
After sheathing knife-form Gungnir to my belt, I sat down and enjoyed the time where a magical foreign princess endowed with extravagant beauty wined and dined me on a goddamn Aelven yacht. The token facade was easy to peek through. Maevana was loving this, being on a new world, meeting new people, all while leisurely getting to take the resident sorcerer shopping all in a ploy to grab as much land as humanly possible.
Even with all of the politics bouncing around in my mind, it was impossible to ignore the sheer luxury worked into this damn boat that silently and slowly navigated upstream with nary a whisper. Every place to sit had a scarlet cushion with material so soft that freaking clouds would sue if they could. Any spray of water that somehow made it up here would roll right off any cloth and then magically be absorbed by the living deck. The boat had zero rocking. Stable as a mountain. If you closed your eyes, you would not be able to tell if you were out on the water. The deck was so smooth, so damn solid that it could have passed for well shaped bedrock that had been swept clean and polished. Not one speck of dirt or grease could be seen with my enhanced vision.
And so I thought, why not just charm the pants, errr skirt, off of this innocent thing and get what I’ve always been after. The real prize. Information.
But how could I? The day almost seemed primed for romancing, not business. Focusing on getting shit done would ruin the mood and worse, get in the way of putting these delectable hors d'oeuvres. The soft breeze was sweet, wafting in the scent of flowers from the passing grassy fields that just sparkled with lively carpets of wildflowers. Birds sang their contented greetings as if spring had arrived and even the clouds decided to just be out of the way on this idyllic afternoon. The weather couldn’t decide if it was a cool summer’s day or gorgeous fall afternoon as the boat itself seemed to manipulate the weather system of the area.
I felt a bit bad. Lovera, Cassandra, and all of the New Richmond residents stayed behind, leaving me here all alone with all of the Sun Aelves who cast the boat off with a quick chant infused with mana. I was the only human here and even then my new ties of friendship were probably more tenuous than the community lines binding all of the Sun Aelves together. These were Kalderan’s friends before he met me, and Toreen’s friends. They all knew each other and they all saw how weird this could be.
But the princess didn’t care about any of that. Instead, she seemed to find my lack of respect for her authority to be refreshing. Treating her like a normal ass woman seemed to be a new experience for her. Maevana tried to keep her royal bearing but little squeaks of joy slipped through when I accidentally touched her or did some inane little trick with magic. I didn’t bend over and scrape my forehead against the ground every time she looked like she wanted something. If anything, she seemed happy enough to sit next to me all happy with enough demure excitement that eating fancy Aelven dishes and drinking fancy Aelven tea was difficult. I let a little smirk out, not big enough to let her know that I was onto her game but more than enough for Toreen’s eyes to get bigger.
And I could say that it was miserable but then I’d be lying on multiple levels. And that last offhand remark by one of her supporters caught me by surprise too. They gossiped quiet enough that a normal human wouldn’t be able to hear but their machinations didn’t escape my notice. I heard everything from her guards, from the badmouthing to the overprotectiveness to the pros of having a new Queen on unclaimed land.
The tallest Aelf just shook his head over by the prow of the boat. He tensely kept examining his favorite dagger, sharpening it for a few seconds before wiping it down and sheathing over and over like a nervous tic. “What does she see in him?”
One of the Aelves, the oldest by far, grinned an evil smile. “I hope she does to him what she did to the last suitor, hehe.”
His buddy, the much shorter but far more heavily armed, waved his thick spear around. He didn’t have a belly per se but this dude clearly didn’t hold back on the wine. “That won’t happen, also, it’s not about our guest, it’s about the marriage itself. Being joined to one of potent magical abilities is just as good as being married to royalty but without all of the ties that go with it. It’s how my third cousin won a Dukedom back home, got so powerful he just swept the heiress off her feet and BAM! Richer than sin.”
I tried to hide my snort as the skinny one sharpening his arrows sniffed the air. “It’s about power. It’s always about power. If our king didn’t possess his current might, any of the twelve princes might have dueled him for the crown by now.”
The tall one leaned over, surreptitiously pointing in my direction. “But he’s so short, and none of his magic is light, sun, or wind. Ignore how he tries to brown his skin by the sun, that kind of pastiness can’t be a part of the royal line. We don’t care about power over dirt. He’d do better with the dwarves, I think.”
“Do you think he’ll fall for her?”
“I know I would . . .”
I returned my full attention to the princess’ delicate hands refilling my tea cup for the second time. She had clearly practiced dining with those of less refinement like myself. The dizzying array of a million different kinds of silverware and napkins had quickly been taken away until all that was left were small plates of little biscuits and cakes, finger food that I could appreciate.
One Aelven soldier, serving as the ship’s butler for the time being, hastily replaced my delicate tea cup with a much sturdier (less expensive) mug of wood. I inspected my replacement acting as if I were offended, just to watch the man hem and haw his way through the clear obviation of the teacup.
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“What?” I asked, turning my nose up. “I’m not good enough for a tea cup?” My pinky finger popped up. “See? I can do the fancy shit. Looky? I can even do it with two hands!”
He sputtered, trying to yet again replace my cup but I wouldn’t let go.
“No! No! Please!” I begged, clutching the full mug, sloshing the tea all over myself. “Leave me my dignity!” I leaned into the bit, infusing my voice with as much fake-fear as I could.
Lurching to the side, I dodged the poor guy’s attempt to snatch the mug and faked spilling tea on the princess. I caught myself just in time to not actually spill on her but in doing so I did barely bump her shoulder with my own. The tea barely touched the lip of the cup and receded just as a slight red blush colored Maevana’s cheeks.
Every male Aelf turned their furious glare on me at the exact same time but it slid off me like water off a duck’s back. What could they do? Interrupt their royal charge having a good time? If I suddenly lost my mind and tried to kill her, they were too far away to do anything about it. But that was the last thing on my mind.
As the yacht cruised around the bend, our true destination came into view. A massive stone arch covered with enough brass to mimic half of an oversized McDonald’s sign towered out of the river. The portal arch rested in the center of the river where the river greatly widened. It wasn’t floating up on a platform. I could see the pillars forming the sides extending down into the river and I’d bet my non-existent money that its roots were down deep in the bedrock.
The pieces began to fit together in my mind. It wasn’t an accident that this was here. Several more boats, a few decked out for war, lazily cut through the current that slowed down in this area. Some were anchored but the others patrolled the area in a clear show of force.
“Don’t tell me . . .” I said softly, feeling the growing presence of mana. I couldn’t decide if it was getting denser or if the atmosphere itself was getting heavier, not that that’s much different.
Maevana lightly sipped her tea. “A wonder is it not? One of several waterway portals wrought by our Queendom. Partnering with the Aquillians and Mer-Aelves has many benefits. All waters pour from the World Tree and from thence they all return.”
“So this will take us to . . .”
“Yes,” she answered. “From here, we portal to what I believe you refer to as ‘New Miami’.”
I watched breathlessly as the flows of mana rifling through the leyline under the river’s surface strengthened and then straightened out as the portal arch grew closer. My own wonder didn’t stop me from completely unveiling my own power, reaching out to the maximum with my magical senses to bring in as much input as I could handle.
Streaks of sapphire infused the massive white marble portal arches and spaced out every foot sat a thick green stone the size of a volleyball that looked like an emerald jewel but my Earth Sorcery confirmed definitely was not. The strange gem was not of this world, an element foreign to even my innate power. On both sides of the portal, the emerald-like gems lit up from the bottom going up to the top one at a time until they all glowed and a watery skin rose up in time with the gems like a thick film, a skin separating us from here and our destination. That blue and green film flowed up, a waterfall in reverse defiant to the laws of gravity as if the world of the portal itself was fundamentally flipped on its side.
Maevana clapped with great excitement, her eyes bright as the portal arch began to alternate between a deep throb and an even deeper hum. Both noises entered the subsonic, disturbing the water and causing the barest hint of discomfort.
The yacht plowed straight through the veiling waters twisted by a ritual greater than man’s most powerful achievement to date. And like that, the journey was seamless. One moment we were here in the middle of Virginia’s Rappahannock river and the next we were out on barely choppy seas right off the coast of Florida.
“How the?!” I almost shrieked. “Did we?” My sputtering was ruining the image I had built over the last two hours. I jumped up onto the railing and then dashed to the stern, staring at the portal arch we came out of. “That’s even faster than using Yggdrasil herself???”
“Magic!” Maevana laughed, sitting on her cushioned bench with perfect posture.
I wanted to kiss the smirk off her face. Instead, I turned to look at New Miami for the first time in a long while. The city had grown. The futuristic metropolis was nearly double the size it was from the last time I was here and their security had been beefed up to the max. Large patrols of Centauri soldiers wearing extra thick suits of futuristic armor glared at every single person who came just a hint too close.
Right now, I didn’t get to have the aerial view like I did last time when I flew over the city so I could only surmise from my viewpoint from the prow of the boat. Boats of a similar size cruised in and out of the long piers forming the docks. They waited to either unload supplies or further out to sea in a long line to exit from a much larger portal arch than the one we arrived in. I pivoted, taking note of two more portal arches spaced out a third of a mile from each other.
“The closest Dwarven plane,” Maevana said, pointing at the further portal arch to the left. “Our Sun Aelf entryway is the closest as you can see, and the other two are from the most remote Centauri staging planet and the Conglomerate. Each one requires vast resources and expertise to craft but they are fully stable. And now, with a fresh world added to the fold, is the best time to craft portal arches before the spatial temporal landscape has fully settled.”
Each portal arch was built with the same general ‘arch’ design in mind but the artistry of the different races or groups was apparent. The arch of the Sun Aelves was pretty and sleek, adorned with clear gems and smooth lines. The Dwarven portal-arch was sturdy, crafted from hewn blocks of dense stone that were molded together. The outer edges of their portal-arch featured depictions of hammers, shields, dragons, and mountains.
Looking at the Centauri portal-arch sort of made me a bit disappointed. Their grand work was blank as far as I could tell, the most bare bones plain arch with zero artistry. They just slapped the basic version of a portal-arch together and said, ‘good enough’. Further out to sea, the Conglomerate portal-arch was more bizarre, widely disparate materials fused together in an eye-catching tie-dye bonanza that was almost an eye sore if not for the beautiful rainbow glow that shot out of it like a laser light show.
I turned around to look Maevana in the eye. “Haha, I keep expecting you to quote Gladiator right now.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “I don’t know any prize fighters. Do you think I would know a slave on a personal level?” One of her guards as of yet nameless and unrecognizable due to the lowered faceplate whispered softly in her ear. “I see.”
The blush on her cheeks went away as she leveled a glare at me. “You tease me.”
I arched one eyebrow. “Look, it’s funnier in my head. I half-expected you to stand up and wave your arms about and say ‘ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?’ in the voice of Russel Crowe. It would have been hilarious and perfectly timed EXCEPT for the fact that you’re an alien to this planet with zero cultural references from here. It’s okay, it’s not your fault, it’s my own.”
“Princess, we have docked.”
A well timed interruption by yet another guard pushed the conversation off. Apparently, the Centauri ran a tight ship, keeping strict timelines and rules for arrivals and departures. Even royalty didn’t get a pass for being lazy or slow. All of Maevana’s guards piled off the boat and onto the dock with the exception of the captain and first mate. The princess walked off last as was her due.
I didn’t come up with these protocols, I did have a nice little Aelven birdy furiously whispering in my ear things I should do and some to avoid. Apparently, her being on a boat with no other non-military passengers other than myself was a sort of political ploy to announce intentions. So I had to acquit myself with manners that superseded what I’m used to.
Baloney.
Thus, I did my part. I made sure that SAW, Gungnir, and Svalinn were on full display as well as an overly charged mana-shield, courtesy of Svalinn, was ready to go. Nothing and nobody was going to get in the way of my shopping today.
I wasn’t sure if it was my clear indication that I was ready and capable of doing incredible violence on a short notice or if it was the fact that I traveled with royalty, but customs freaking just waved us in. I looked left and right as we walked as a giant party down the docks where they met the overbuilt wall and the Centauri just let us through.
And I’m not saying that the suped-up human Centauri didn’t have a right to feel comfortable, I mean, they did have giant yet sleek mechanical golems outfitted with daunting shields and dangerous weaponry standing at attention in their alcoves within the wall, but damn. I didn’t even warrant a second glance.
My little bird whispered more advice yet again but I didn’t hear him over the sounds of my own thoughts. [I’m going to have to get this helpful dude’s name at some point.]
Kraken, who had been eerily quiet for the past while, interjected down our mental link which meant I was paying even less attention than normal to my surroundings. [The guards think you’re the hired help. Who better to help assist guarding Aelven royalty than a powerful sorcerer that nobody’s ever heard of? Don’t forget, we’re here for a reason.]
I almost walked into the guard in front of me who had stopped along with the rest of the procession. Maevana chuckled, gliding around us and knocking on a thick wooden door triple the size it should have been.
Both Kraken and I extended our senses, taking in the area around us. The streets were large and well taken care of, magical runes set into the curb and in large blocks that formed the center of each road. Powerful durability enchantments resonated from there as well as small air sigils that lightly circulated the air keeping the streets clean.
Further down where the road cornered, I could see open shops with large glass windows showcasing their wares and a few with doors wide open. Ginormous battleaxes wreathed in orange flames, jewelry sang their tempting lullabies, luscious pastries and bubbly ales wafted their scents . . . .
[Your memories are weird.] Kraken said, rifling through them as if they were pages on a book. [Why do you keep thinking of street hawkers from India, or a dirty midwestern flea market? Is that really what you expected?]
Sending back a firm [No], I took a deep breath and went to take a step inside. One guard held a hand up, keeping me from entering.
Maevana gave a small apologetic smile. “Give us a moment, this is the Aelven Embassy. Non-Aelvens cannot come in but I shall be out in a few minutes. Please, wait for me.”
I disregarded the triumphant smile of a few of her guards, turning and leaning up against the stone wall of the building so I could people-watch. I didn’t really want to wait. So much to explore. So many different flavors of magic just called out to me.
Right in front of me, a veritable ogre of a Aelf plodded in front of a leashed tiger with its own set of golden wings. The collar around the magnificent beast had small spikes that dug into its neck, keeping it very complacent as its master parted the crowd walking down the road. Part of me wondered at the lack of mechanized transportation. Not one scooter, motorcycle, car, or anything of the sort as far as I could see. Everyone was walking.
Even stranger aliens that I'd encountered so far quickly shuffled past the more normal humanoids that I expected. Aliens with four eye-stalks and six hands puttered around in groups generally moving in one direction but their small legs didn’t let them move very fast. Larger beasts with all manner of boxes strapped to them huffed and resolutely parted the crowds, their size a force of nature that demanded respect. Creatures draped in purple and black robes rode the biggest creatures, wooly mammoths but without their tusks or trunks, turning them as they needed with thin sticks that spat arcs of electricity from their tips.
The lack of flesh for viewing was strangely disconcerting. Miami is prime beach territory and when I visited years ago, everyone was in bathing suits. Now, sleek suits of armor or full robes were the fashion of the day. I was showing more flesh than most and it was only my head that was exposed. Smelling the salty breeze coming off the ocean made me think of margaritas and sun-tanned senoritas but that atmosphere was long gone.
Giving in to my curiosity, I hefted my body off the wall from where I was leaning and followed my nose, eager to try out some new delicacies.