Ruby Mage Read online

  “Your body is awesome. So awesome that I wouldn’t want to stop but it doesn’t mean we can't have fun,” I said. She turned her head sideways with a confused look. “You’ll wear me out and we have lots of walking.”

  “Oh… your experience is lacking, Master. You fear we will have to lay together a long time before you explode?” she asked in excitement.

  “Well, I’d do my best to ‘explode’ quickly but it wouldn’t mean we would only do it once. It has been a long time for me since I had… my fill,” I said with a snicker.

  “And if I lay down here, Master?” she asked.

  Of course, it couldn’t be simple. “You get one reward for the trip, but that removes the sex reward. You’ll have -”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Another gold star. I picked a winner.

  While I was completely willing to bring her to climax on my terms - right here and right now - keeping her waiting only further affirmed my status as Master. Something that would slip in the public parts of Lornia as he went from servant to guard.

  I tossed her the gold back. “You need a weapon, and we need a ride of some sort.” I twisted my face when she scrunched hers.

  Susanna asked, “May I ask where we are going, Master?”

  “We’re close enough, and call me Mage Trevor, or no title every time you talk. We’re heading to Clruss. I’m going to walk around that shit-filled town to avoid the vileness of it. Perhaps kill some animals to raise my energy,” I said, shuddering at the thought of Riverten.

  “You want me to meet you on the other side, Master?”

  “I do, now down on your knees you hussy,” I commanded with a finger pointed to the dirt.

  She knelt, allowing me to loom over her. I kissed her, letting her feel my desire for her. A hand snuck between my robes, seeking my half erect cock. I broke the kiss right before she could work us both up any further.

  “Hurry along, it shouldn’t be too long before I get around these walls,” I said in a husky voice.

  She hustled for the entry to the town that we could barely make out through the woods.

  I headed into the bushes with my much smaller bag on my back, my sword on my hip, and my walking staff in my hand. The ruby in the staff and around my neck were just as ready to go as I was.

  Watching the staff dazzle against the bland backdrop was beautiful. The gem bristled with restored energy creating a distracting walking companion.

  Spare rubies with no charge were inside my bag, and I wanted to test some things. Learning how to fill them would be a boon.

  Everything was about maintaining power in Lornia, and that was connected to wealth. Same with status. Reading about a place and experiencing it were very different feelings.

  If you had magic, it seemed you weren’t feared unless you were a Master Mage and proved that power. Maybe a minor magic was easier to defeat, or had weaker power, and therefore less status. Which kinda made sense, because I did burst a man to bits.

  The trip through the woods was boring at first with nothing close to slay besides chipmunks and squirrels.

  About halfway around the town's perimeter I ran into a foul, lingering odor. The stench was so strong I had to stop walking in that direction. I peered around, seeing a swarm of flies hovering over objects directly ahead of me.

  “Head toward the wall. There’s traps this way,” a voice said from a tree perch.

  I held in my startled reaction, finding a lad in a tree watching over the fly filled area.

  I went close to the wall and was ignored. When I was closer I saw the dead were piled high here. They were of all ages, proving yet again Lornia was a hard place. I wished I’d never looked, and wished these barbarians buried their dead.

  At the wall I saw an open door exposing an interior that was not far from the fairgrounds. From the opening there was a worn trail to the pit. I studied the lad up high and it dawned on me.

  He wasn’t protecting the dead. He was hunting what came to eat them and I almost walked into traps. I shivered, picking up the pace to be rid of this vile place.

  With my hunt coming up empty I reached the road into Riverten. I tapped a foot on the uneven terrain while I waited. Based on the map we should head northwest for a few days until we hit Trimi, and then southwest for Clruss. We used the detour to avoid the Filheim Mountains.

  There was a dragon symbol for that region, telling me all I needed to know. Avoid them and take the safe trip to Trimi.

  Torgrin, not Susanna, found me waiting impatiently. When he approached, I mentally snapped. His very presence bothered me.

  “Why do your residents not shit in the woods? You’re a bunch of animals. You do realize you could use the river to dump feces?” I demanded.

  At least I could fathom the dead. As horrible as the thought of using your dead sibling to be bait for your prey was, it was a survival thing. But the shit in the streets was awful and pure laziness.

  He opened his mouth and closed it. Smart. After fidgeting up a proper answer he said, “I do.”

  “What do you want?” I asked, hoping Torgin would get to the point.

  “We have no oxen for sale. Your woman is raising a ruckus and will need to be removed,” Torgrin said with wince.

  I cupped my hands around my mouth, sucking in all the air I could, and screamed, “Susanna! To me!”

  Birds from nearby perches fluttered from trees, startled from my manly voice booming over the area. A minute later Susanna came running out of the toilet bowl known as Riverten.

  I let her catch her breath when she arrived. “You stirring up trouble?” I asked.

  “They’re holdin’ out. Got four dozen prime—”

  “They belong ta Clruss. Not ta us,” Torgrin argued. “Oxen breeders are havin’ a good year. Noble crib making and white posted beds even better. So we get oxen they immediately get stuck into—”

  I cut him off. I understood economics. “If I buy a hundred oxen in Clruss and send them here?” I asked.

  “They’ll sell under value. Ya could hire crews ta drag the wood to Crimm though. Some’d do it. Won’t make much gold but ya’d please the crown,” Torgrin said and I sighed, biting my lip in frustration.

  Instead of being around the man for a minute longer I just headed down the road. Susanna caught up, jogging while she stuffed the purse of gold into the sack.

  “I need the sword, Master,” Susanna said.

  I nodded, handing her the blade from my hip. The fine elven sword looked large in her hands and yet, she twirled the blade with precision. Her moves were far better than I could manage.

  “Susanna, why do you speak so much like a noble, while these ruffians speak like…?” I said unable to think of a good term.

  “Peasants, serfs, workers, and trash to some. Grandma married below her station for love. She was a lady that went to the front lines at the tail end of the ratkin war. She met my grandfather and the rest is easy ta figure out. Yeah, I can talk in almost two languages. Street and noble. She was our teacher,” Susanna said.

  “Alive?” I asked.

  She winced. “I hope. Not many humans escape dryad servitude. A few of the clans are known to prisoner swap. Part of my eventual goal was to raid the dryads to get them back in prisoner trades. However, that feels like ages ago, and it’s about four months just to get up there.”

  “They sure sent you far from where they locked you up,” I said with a grunt. “And if you disobey. Who do I give you to?”

  She glared at me unhappily. “You didn’t set the binding, the crown did. Where is the document?”

  “Being studied by my team on Earth.”

  “It’s all about the binding terms.” She kicked a tuft of grass growing in the middle of the road. The pain on her face was evident. “I went to Baron Lemi, knowing I could swing a sword and he needed swordsmen.

  “He offered good pay, though I should have realized why. I saw that I must obey orders even if they put my life in harm’s way. That kinda contract is stan
dard. A breach of contract meant I’d become a King’s servant. Being a King’s servant means I go to auction or a working pit. If I find a new person willing to hire me, they paid my contract that I had remaining,” Susanna said.

  The cleared fields around the main road were coming to an end in a few hundred feet. The road shifted from stone to dried muck with big wheel indents. The trees ahead reminded me of the cedars at home. Birds flew over the tree tops, and the sun was already fading on the western horizon.

  “So, I hire an employee here in Lornia. Which I need some. I have to ensure I have them in a contract to the point they will obey. If they rebel, I turn them in where they get handled by some prison exchange system. They don't want to do that because the servitude contract becomes longer. If you were to disobey the next employer, then what?” I asked, avoiding a pile of oxen shit.

  “There are a few rules. I can’t kill you and you can’t kill me.” She twirled the sword with deft hands. “Part of the binding is magic to protect both parties. However, if I fail again, it is like you mentioned. You can take me to any city. The crown has magistrates which are king appointed who handle repeat offenders. My second strike would be hard labor somewhere many people never leave unless a big fee is paid. Third and I hang,” she said with a shrug.

  “You gave up everything to not have that boy use you,” I muttered with a shudder.

  “Aye, that is why you need to not be desperate and ensure your contract states things you’re not willing to do. Like no sexual favors unless consensual. Which... our contract is different. You were given the standard contract from the King’s Magistrate. It says I don’t have to perform sex acts for you… and yet I dove right onto my Master’s impressive member. Sometimes fate leads you to where you want to go,” Susanna said with a wink.

  I cleared my throat, stiffening my spine. “Susanna, I enjoy your company, and value your protection. On Lornia does a Master Mage restrict his love interests?” I asked and she shook her head. “Will that bother you?”

  “I’m confused,” she said.

  “I want to reward my toy,” I said and she grinned. “But I will have more than one toy.”

  She shrugged and said, “Oh, I understand. I grew up with three mothers. It’s completely acceptable here and even common for people that hold such power to sate their desires however they wish. I’d still get pleasurings?”

  “Yes, I like to keep those close to me happy and rewarded. Lornia seems like the place where sex is only after marriage, supposedly. I don’t want a marriage, to anyone,” I said in direct tone. “And Susanna, I like to screw a lot. That is normal here, right?” She nodded with a smirk. “No jealousy or drama from you then?”

  “I understand, Master. It is okay to have multiple partners. I’ll be there to make you happy, Master. Orgies are fun and I hope we get to have many,” she said, and I smiled. I loved Lornia. “Assuming we don’t die to bandits or a dragon,” she continued. “Or some noble demands you be his mage since you’re an outsider.”

  I loved Lornia a little less.

  My pace was set by my thoughts of idiotic young men trying to foil my plans, further fueling my drive to make it to Trimi by foot.

  Stupid shitty gateway sticking me in the middle of nowhere.

  The only bonus was, walking from our arrival spot directly to Riverten only took a fraction of the time it did before. Marking trees seemed silly, but we did it anyway. And now, we were going to be walking for Trimi.

  What could go wrong on a strange road with no wagon, no oxen, and chafing thighs?

  CHAPTER 14

  Lornia - Outside Trimi

  215th day of the 1st year of King Partel’s Reign

  Relief washed over me when we stepped onto a road with stones again. The three days of walking through a forest had not only been excruciating, it had also been tediously boring.

  The first night we slept for only a few hours on the side of the road. There was a quick camp, a minor fire, and then back into a march before the sun even rose.

  I found out journeying through the dark near looming trees was spooky. To combat the encroaching mystery in the woods we used bits of magic to brighten the night with torches. Even though I thought they were always around the corner, there were no crazy bandits, insane fey, or natural starving predators who ventured near us.

  Instead, it was an endless forest on a worn road. I stopped feeling antsy on that second day, somewhat acclimating to Lornia.

  We refilled our water skins in a fairly clear stream I figured was okay.

  Note to self. Always boil water, because I shit my brains out that night.

  Where Susanna’s guts were used to the filth of the water, I wasn’t.

  Luckily, we stumbled upon a family’s farm with a loft in a barn we used for a single silver coin. I made that family’s day because I didn’t have anything small enough, giving them a single gold instead, forcing me to realize I needed more tin coins.

  Even though I was ill, Susanna asked for a pleasuring. That was the first time I wanted to scold her. We were in rat filled hay above snorting pigs with my stomach grumbling so loudly it would be hard to sleep. Who knew women could be so unromantic.

  After a third day of hard walking my feet had blisters, my thighs screamed with each step, and I was almost out of toilet paper. Leaving Earth certainly had its disadvantages.

  When those smooth stones told me we were near, I peeked through the canopy of trees covering the road to see smoke stacks. Not one or two, but many.

  About bloody time I saw civilization. Well, what amounted to it here in the nasty world.

  “Susanna, why is Riverten so small?” I asked.

  That woman was a natural on a long march. She never grumbled, never complained, always had a fire pit built quickly, and when we were set for a rest, she’d massage my stinky feet. I knew she was trying to ensure I was happy, and it was super endearing. Still wasn’t fucking her on top of hay covered in rat shit.

  “The south lands are home to two very dangerous threats. The dragons and the elves. I had a cousin who went down here to Filheim.” She hopped a divot to walk next to me. “An energetic young Count came through, assembling a hunting party, and paid a full gold coin to anyone willing to go. I was tempted. Cris went, filled with hope of fancy treasures and endless riches. Never saw him again,” Susanna said without any emotion.

  The woods ended to reveal a massive swath of farm fields around the stone walls of a city that was at least tenfold larger than Riverten. Trimi had an actual river running through it. Along the water were boats, mills, and bridges to connect farm land.

  In the fields, which obviously were outside the walls, were tiny shacks for the servants to live in. This space was expansive, with much larger ones stretching as far as the eye could see on the other side of the city.

  Workers toiled the fields with tools, animals, and carts. Huge crops sprouted, and low to the ground bushels displayed fruits. I was no farmer but it was clearly harvesting time. The seasons were reversed here, our arriving spring meant their coming fall.

  “So, there is a fright of a dragon burning your hard work to cinders. Riverten is still untouched?” I said and she shrugged. Yeah, I doubted she was a dragon expert. Books. I needed books. “What about the elves?”

  “Never seen one besides a half elf,” Susanna said with indifference. While she looked in her late twenties with a shapely body worn with age, the test results pegged her at nineteen. Crazy how a hard life aged you. “I do know they are lethal in the woods. Giving them space is best with dragons.”

  “Wait, there are no laws mandating you can’t go into elven woods?” I asked, astounded by this revelation.

  “Huh? No. If someone is dumb enough to die, they die. The elves and men work together in Clruss from what I hear, more fey there too. Do you get angry at all dogs if one barks at you, Master?” Susanna asked and I gave up.

  This was a different place. Enforcing frontier law was clearly not a priority to King Partel in C
rimm.

  Nearing the gate, I noticed metal spikes sticking below the stone tunnel’s ceiling. A metal barrier jutted above the wall. Behind the spikes were three metal doors that were secured wide open. Clearly, defense was important here.

  The smell of Trimi was rancid and yet nothing compared to Riverten. If I had to guess I was smelling more animal shit in the fields than anything else. Gate guards waved people forward to inspect them and wagons were pulled aside for detailed checks.

  We both wore dirty, but wearing finely crafted clothing. Susanna said to just walk in like we were above being checked. A guard eyed us as we stuck to the middle of the road, entering the city. After an inspection of the fancy sword, staff, and robes, we weren’t questioned.

  The inside of Trimi was vastly different from Riverten. This city was more organized for one thing. It felt like a certain type of OCD planner laid out the foundation of the city. Up ahead and about every few hundred feet were crossroads with statues in the middle of the intersections. Vendors sold their wares around the structures.

  The spaces that filled the sections between the roads were chaotic. I noticed bare plots with for sale signs, stone homes, wooden hovels, and a literal chicken farm on one plot. Clearly there was no HOA here to say houses went here, small farms there, and a business section in the back.

  A shriek from a girl being chased by a boy in a playful manner drew me from my inspections, causing me to smile. The toddlers were still thankfully innocent in this world. I exchanged friendly smiles and found the noises… of people chatting, loud clomping of hooves against stones, and general town noises soothing.

  My nose was already set to off somehow not smelling much. I saw guards at every intersection, their eyes were darting everywhere as they vigilantly ensured laws were followed. A horse in front of me by a few hundred feet dropped a big shit in the road. Children with pans and brushes swept it up as the light crowds maneuvered around the workers.

  Sanitation seemed more of a priority here. A woman with a fox tail and second set of red ears with white tips carried a bucket for the river. Big wheels spun in the distance, indicating the waterway. I’d told Susanna to take me to the finest establishment.