Leona and Larik were still waving goodbye to Tom, even as Rodney was pulling out the request. The papers would grant the party an expedited audience with a mage in the Baron’s employ.
“It shouldn’t be more than an hour before one of the mages can see you, but the Baron will be busy for the rest of the day. They’re having the final diet before winter.”
“We will wait as long as it takes, but it would help if we could do so somewhere with a fireplace.”
“That can be arranged, but why?”
“The creature we recovered is drawn to flames, so the fire should keep it out of trouble.”
“So it will be done. This maid is Penny, and she will be taking you to the sitting room. The firewood will arrive shortly after, I’ll send a footman.”
The walk to the sitting room was short, having entered the castle by a side gate, the halls they were led down brought them to a reasonably well appointed waiting room. As Rodney had requested, it was one with a large marble fireplace. Penny had closed the door behind them, having promised to bring refreshments. Larrik set the large backpack down on the table, he opened the flap on the top so the living metal could get out and stretch its legs.
“You sure we should let it wander around?”
“With how curious it is, we had better. If we don’t it might get antsy again, especially because we put it in the bag after it had behaved itself on the way here, sitting still and watching from on top of the stove.”
As all three of them looked down at the backpack, and it only took a second longer for a head to come poking out. It glanced at them only briefly before it went back into the bag, only to return pulling the bedroll out with it. The three of them were dumbstruck once again as it started kneading the blanket, and curled up on the bedroll. Just as it settled down, a knock on the door was followed by a footman with the promised firewood.
“Come in”
“Good day to you, this is the firewood you requested.”
Initially, the three of them were confused as to why the footman wasn’t reacting to the giant salamander sitting on the tea table, until they actually looked back at where the salamander was, and saw it had transformed once again, this time into an exact copy of the silver serving tray adjacent to it, one that was holding a tea set. Rodney only nodded, and the footman brought the wood over to the fireplace, dropping most of it into the empty rack, and putting four of the logs into the hearth.
“Would you like me to light it for you?”
“No, I’ll start a Manafire, thank you.”
“Will that be all?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Please ring this bell if you need anything else, the maid will be back shortly with refreshments, but if you need something, we are here to be of service.”
The footman exited the room, leaving the three of them alone again. Though they did not immediately start talking, as they were still trying to figure out just what the living metal was doing.
“Is it trying to disguise itself?”
“Maybe, but it can’t be trying to hide from us, it even made a big show of getting comfortable.”
“You told me they could be as smart as dogs, right?”
“No, I said they shouldn’t start any smarter than a dog.”
“I think that was more like a cat, really.”
“We don’t need to think about this anymore. In less than an hour that mage is gonna take custody of it and we’re going to get paid.”
“Aww, aren’t you gonna miss it?”
“No, I don’t think I’ll be missing it. Did you see how it kept looking at me?”
The conversation had fallen into a lull, so Leona got up to light the fire. It took her only about five seconds to cast Greater Ignite. Despite its ‘greater’ designation, the spell was simple, only ensuring that the flames would catch and that they would burn cleanly until extinguished. Ignite and Lesser Ignite both didn’t ensure a clean flame, and Lesser Ignite often needed to be cast multiple times to get damp or green wood to burn. There was one stronger version Leona knew of, Superior Ignite, that was basically just Greater Ignite with the added benefit that the fire was almost inextinguishable without magic, though only on whatever fuel you had originally targeted.
The noble atmosphere must have been getting to her, as after having sat down she saw and immediately grabbed for the expensive silver tray sliding off the edge of the tea table.
~~~
The ride was getting less rough. I figured that it was an indication we were now in an area that saw more traffic. The armored guy had been neglecting the fire and letting it die down for a while now, and I was debating on if I should get back in the backpack or to try and get him to put more firewood on. However he refused to work with me here, as even if I got his attention, he’d only ever glance at me briefly before turning away again.
With one big bump, we went onto a cobblestone road, as the cart suddenly felt like it was hitting a speed bump every second. The intensity died down as we got further into what must be a proper town, but I had already decided to jump down and force his hand when the gloves grabbed me by my torso. I was too long to fit in his hands anymore, and my tail could almost reach the floor.
One of the others was holding out the backpack, and they had left one of the pillows in the bottom of it for me to rest on, so I was quite content when they lowered me inside. Soon after that the cart came to a complete stop. Unlike last time, no one put the backpack on, and I just swung back and forth as they walked.
I couldn’t see much of the room they let me out in, but with only a little red mana I could make out I was on a table, and the other things that were. I wasn’t gonna leave the bedroll behind, and after getting settled I tried to turn myself into a copy of the serving tray on the table. A guy came in and put firewood down, and shortly after that the mage got up and used it to light a fire in a massive fireplace. The glow it gave off let me see much more of the room, and when I caught that clean laundry smell again I started moving to warm up.
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I had been assuming the fire they lit was for me, but the mage had grabbed me when I started moving. It really blindsided me, they hadn’t been touching me, probably because as she came into contact with my handle, her mana started rushing into me. It must have been like what an empty canister would feel as gas rushes into its vacuum. Even wielding all the mana I had saved up, I couldn’t stop it. I rushed to gain control over it, and as I did I turned it to help halt the rest of the flow. After I had stopped the deluge, I turned my attention to reabsorbing my handle, as she still hadn’t let go. When the last vestiges slipped from her grasp, I fell down the rest of the way to the floor. Looking up I saw she was cradling her right hand to her chest, and it was noticeably dimmer than the rest of her skin.
The other two had both jumped to their feet, but while the brawny guy seemed furious, the old man’s face was calm. Gaining distance as a serving tray was impossible, so I decided to turn into the least threatening thing I could think of, that being a sphere. While rolling away I grew to around the size of a basketball, and the young guy made to follow me. The other two stopped him, but with the way he was reacting, did they think I did that on purpose? And had I seriously hurt the mage?
~~~
Leona was burning with shame. She remembered having made fun of how likely it was she’d need to be the one prying Larrik’s fingers off the living metal if he touched it, but after what had just happened, and how the living metal had all but fled from her, she felt the absolute fool.
“I'm gonna call the maid so she can bring a doctor. You were only in contact with it for a moment, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Okay.”
Larrik was glaring across the room, and following his gaze, she saw the living metal had returned to its original, spherical shape.
“It’s not its fault, Larrik.”
“What do you mean? It was obviously trying to trick you! Think about how smart it’s been this whole time.”
“If it wanted to steal mana, why didn’t it try and take yours while we were on the way here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it couldn’t resist with how much more mana you have compared to me?”
“Then why did it leave on its own?”
“For all I know it didn’t like the taste.”
“I’m fine, okay? Look, I can already move my fingers again.”
At this comment, Penny, with her head poking through the double doors, Rodney, and Larrik watched as Leona’s hand opened and closed, something that, after being drained of mana, should have been excruciatingly painful and difficult.
“It didn’t take much mana from me at all, It wasn’t even as much as those two Lesser Alleviates cost. Based on how strongly it was pulling at first, it wasn’t a tenth of what it could have taken.”
“After you call for a doctor, can you please tell the mage what’s happened? I expect he will want to come straight here.”
“Yes, sir.”
The maid hurried off, leaving them alone again with the Living Metal. When the three of them sat down, Leona was the only one who took her eyes off it, but still their conversation resumed.
“You said that if I touched that thing with my bare hands, I wouldn’t be able to use the hand for at least a day.”
“If it was normal living metal, I’m sure that would be the case. It’s got as great a mana capacity as any mage, and it’s far more conductive to mana than the human body is. Archibald always stressed that it was like connecting a full barrel to an empty one. The alcohol would rush to fill the empty one, as fast as the connection you made would let it.”
“Is this more proof it’s already Soulsteel? When it started it felt like it was going to completely exhaust me, but the flow came to a stop on its own. Even if it hadn't withdrawn itself from my grip, my hand would have had enough control to let go in another five seconds.”
“I would say so, but from the stories Archibald had told me, Soulsteel was never docile like this. It would try to flee, or actively attack you just for approaching it. It shouldn’t be playing this nice, especially the way we’ve been handling it.”
“So it’s Soulsteel that isn’t afraid? Could it just be curious about us like you said?”
“That almost seems true, but if it isn’t afraid of us, why is it hiding in the corner right now?”
“Well, Larrik did just give it a death glare.”
“Should it be able to tell I was giving it a death glare?”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“Yeah, unless it’s been paying attention to the faces we’ve been making at each other.”
“The only thing that makes sense to me is that it learned to not try and forcefully consume mana when it put out the fire back in the tavern. So when it started absorbing your mana, it thought it was doing the same thing, just to you.”
“That is an awfully astute deduction, Mr. Rodney Baker.”
~~~
The man who came in after the maid left just stood there for a while, listening to everything the group was saying. He’s glowing even brighter than the mage does, so I’m gonna call him a wizard. The three of them must have been talking through what had just happened, as by the halfway point brawny did stop glaring at me. Just as I was wondering if the wizard was invisible, he said something, and they all snapped to look at him.
The first thing he did was check on the mage. Taking her right hand, what he did reminded me of an x-ray. It looked like he was emitting mana with his top hand and sensing something with his bottom. In less than a minute he was finished, and said something to the party that made them all turn to look at me. I was tempted to try and make myself smaller or hide, but decided it was better to face any consequences head on, rather than run away. Doing so would likely make them think I did it on purpose.