Steelforged Legacy 2 - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Casey lay sprawled on Maude’s bed, his lover in his arms, while the two of them savored each other’s presence in the wake of their furious lovemaking. He had no idea how long they’d spent with each other, but Casey wasn’t really all that concerned. If anything happened outside of his trance that needed his attention, he knew that Magnus would wake him up.

The thought that he was trusting the cantankerous elk to be responsible was just so ridiculous that he snorted in laughter. The gesture stirred Maude’s raven-black hair and made the woman grumble quietly from where she was using his shoulder as a pillow.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice a little rough from exertion.

“Nothing really, just amused that I am relying on Magnus to disturb me if something occurs while I’m meditating like this. My legs are going to be sore from holding that pose for so long, but I’m in no rush to step out of this, despite needing sleep.”

Maude shifted to smile up at him, the fingers of her right hand tracing the outlines his muscles made on his chest.

“You won’t have to worry about soreness, Casey. And you’ll still get a full night’s sleep,” Maude said quietly, the warm breeze of her breath tickling his chest hairs.

Casey shifted as well to run his right hand down Maude’s back, tracing the muscles there and making her shiver in delight.

“Does that mean you are kicking me out to go sleep?” he asked, tilting his head to smile down at her.

“Not at all, Casey. We still have another hour of relative time before you should get to bed.”

Something about how Maude said that piqued Casey’s curiosity, and he quirked an eyebrow down at her questioningly. The smirk that grew on Maude’s face told him she had done something, but he wasn’t sure what yet.

“Well? Are you going to explain?” Casey said after another handful of moments, waiting.

“Do you want me to? Or would you rather try to force the information out of me?” Maude crooned, turning to kiss his chest lightly.

“As much as I’d like to, Maude… There is only so much blood you can get from this stone. If you really wanted, I could probably find a way to get you off again, though.”

Casey’s response got a bright laugh from Maude and she lightly slapped his chest before snuggling back into him.

“I’ll just explain. I can tell that I’ve worn out my poor man and he needs his rest,” Maude giggled, her eyes dancing in amusement as she got comfortable once more. “The actual mechanics are complicated, but to put it simply, time does not pass nearly as fast in here with me as it does out there.” Maude made a gesture towards the thick stone ceiling that hung over them.

Casey blinked in surprise at that, his head tilting as he turned over what she’d said to make sure he’d heard it correctly.

“So that means—”

“That the last few hours of you screwing my brains out has only seen a handful of minutes passing in the waking world, yes.” Maude’s grin grew wider at his surprised expression before she sighed cutely through her nose. “It’s unfortunate, though, that I can’t do it too often. A few extra hours a day is the most that I can do. Any longer than that, and your mind will struggle when you wake up and everything has to catch up.”

“That is… amazing Maude. How are you able to do that?” Casey didn’t bother to hide the wonder in his voice, nor did he doubt his partner’s words. Maude had absolutely no reason to lie to him, after all.

“Steel endures, but this is an effect earned by the powers that dwell within the depths between stars. That meteorite we claimed provided enough of that timeless energy that I was able to incorporate it into my Legacy. It has the effect of improving my blade’s strength, its resistance to heat and corrosion, as well as allowing me to slow time within myself. Depending on how things progress and my own power develops, my Legacy may change to incorporate more of that timeless power. I won’t know until that moment comes though,” Maude said, giving a little shrug.

“Well, that still sounds outstanding. It means we can spend more time together and just relax,” Casey said, only to cut off his statement when Maude began to giggle at him again.

“Hah, you wish, partner.” Maude snorted. “As much as I love our brief interludes, there are far more important things we could be doing inside here than just trying to… what was the phrase?” She tapped her lips with one long finger before smirking up at him. “ ‘Fuck each other bowlegged?’ I think that was it.”

Casey stared at her in surprise for a moment before breaking into laughter himself.

“Okay, so what do you think is more important than ‘fucking each other bowlegged’ then, Maude?” Casey asked with a smile once they’d both calmed down.

“Mostly training you. While you are coming along nicely with using my seax form, not all of it will carry over to my sword body. The weight will be different and so will the reach, so you need to learn how to handle those differences. Also, you need to start sparring with someone, as the forms are only going to help you so much.”

“So sparring matches in here with you? Can you create weapons here?” Casey asked, smoothing one hand over her long hair. Maude hummed happily at the attention and nodded into his chest.

“Yes, I can create temporary weapons while we are here. They will just be simple qi constructs, but it will allow you to start building your knowledge and reflexes. You’ll still need to go through your practice forms in reality, though.”

“Awww,” Casey protested playfully, getting another open-handed slap to his chest for his troubles.

“Hush, you. Your muscles still need to be trained so that you can put to use what you learn here.” Maude scowled up at him for a long moment before her features melted into a devious expression and she ground her hips into his thigh while her hand drifted down below his waist. “Now, you may have to return to sleep soon, but I can tell you have at least one more go in you.”

“As you wish, love,” Casey replied with a grin as his lover got a ‘grip’ on him, bending his neck to kiss her full lips once more.

<><><>

True to her promise, when Maude finally ejected Casey from her spiritual center, barely any time had passed. His legs didn’t even feel stiff and the fire he’d set in the cauldron was still burning away at a low flame.

He estimated that he’d lost less than half an hour in his meditation and spent several hours making love to Maude before returning. He curled up to sleep while turning over in his mind all the different ways that they could make use of this new power.

Casey woke the next morning when Magnus stirred. Neither of them really wanted to rise, but the day was beginning and there was ground they needed to cover to continue to put more distance between them and any pursuers or patrols that might be in the area.

The last thing that Casey did before leaving the ruined remains of the town was to check on the elemental cores. The two acorn-shaped ones were gone, while the last one that Maude had told him was likely for a stone elemental remained on the rock, though he noticed a faint line scratched into the rock that it rested on. Leaving that core there, he checked the offering that he’d left in the tavern as Magnus led him past it towards the road.

On the mantle where he’d left half a loaf of bread, Casey found a small pile of seeds.

Collect those and give them to Magnus, Maude urged him, so Casey carefully scraped the seeds into his palm. As soon as the tiny grains touched his skin, Casey felt the slight zing of qi in them.

“What are they?” Casey asked, walking back out of the ruined tavern to where Magnus waited.

They are seeds for qi herbs. Magnus, these will do you the most good. I wish that we could plant them, but it is impractical at this point. We don’t have anywhere safe to do so and cannot wait long enough for them to grow.

Magnus huffed, his broad nose twitching curiously as Casey held his hand out flat towards the animal. It took Magnus less than a second to lip the little pile of seeds off of Casey’s hand and swallow them.

“And I take it that we couldn’t have just… saved them for later to plant them?” Casey asked dryly, wiping the elk slobber off of his hand and onto a patch of grass by the road.

We could have, but the longer the seeds go without planting, the more qi leaches out of them. Give it long enough, and they will return to being normal seeds at best, or become unable to grow at worst. Qi plants can be temperamental at the best of times, Maude answered dryly.

“Fair enough. Shall we get going? I haven’t heard an airship pass overhead in a while, but better to stay under cover. Right, Magnus?” Casey asked, turning to look up at the elk. Magnus grunted in agreement before turning to trot off the low road and into the trees to one side.

Always better to be safe about it, especially now, Maude sent him sagely as he pushed into the forest as well.

<><><>

Maude? Casey sent to his partner as he followed after Magnus through the trees. The day wasn’t even half done yet, and Magnus had led them over a dozen different trails at this point. He could still hear the rushing of the river on his right, but that was the only sound besides the wind in the trees and his own footsteps on the dirt of the game trail.

Yes Casey? His partner answered sweetly and he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his lips. He couldn’t put into words how good it felt to know he had a partner he could actually trust right now.

Wanted to ask you something about the time delay thing you can do. I know you said we could train in there, but will it just be weapons? I know I have so much left to learn in this world and it worries me.

That is a fair question… Maude murmured thoughtfully and Casey could just imagine his lover tapping her chin in thought. I think we can work something like that in. I would hate for you to make a mistake on something that I just consider common sense, but isn’t common due to the changing environments from your world to this one. Hmm…

Doesn’t need to be much, but maybe we can discuss stuff like etiquette or other social things while we train? I know it’s going to distract me from the sparring, which might be handy, but I need to know this stuff. Casey sighed through his nose at the thought but soldiered on. I hate diplomacy, and I hate having to conform to social expectations, but it’s going to be part of getting by. I’ve dodged it this long since we have spent so long in the wild.

You are right, Casey. It’s something we can start going over. I have been able to prompt you so far, and you’ve gotten by on being a drengr too. But it is still better to know. You don’t want to end up like my uncle, making a mess just from disregarding politeness and then having to get others to bail you out. Half of the trouble my father was blamed for ended up being my uncle’s fault that he helped cover for. Mother Angrboda was not happy when she learned that, and it was amusing as hell to see her bawling uncle Thor out.

Casey nearly tripped on a tree root at the thought of anyone yelling at the god of thunder. Then he actually did trip when he remembered who Angrboda was.

“How the hell did she—” Casey began to ask before Maude interrupted him with a laugh.

Remember, my partner. Mother Angrboda gave birth to my half-brother Jormungandr, who was destined to slay my uncle Thor. So despite being a jotunn herself, uncle Thor knew better than to try and do anything.

Not to mention that, by that time, all three of my mothers had made peace with each other and the divergence had occurred. So while it was no longer their fates to clash, the family knew what was supposed to happen and had been avoided so they did their best to not cause problems.

We had enough issues dealing with the Fomori waging war and attempting to invade Asgard, or at least that’s what my mother told me.

How strange was it growing up with three mothers? Casey asked, ducking under some hanging moss as Magnus lead him through a stand of ancient pine trees dewed with the stuff. The moist scent of rotting wood filled his lungs and Casey was briefly reminded of hiking in the Colorado mountains before he turned his attention to Maude once more.

Strange, but good. I was the baby girl, and given the situation with my birth, everyone was very kind to me, Maude answered with an audible sigh. My mother was injured by Fomori during an engagement only days after I was conceived, she didn’t even know it at the time. But the poisons of the Fomori weapons were what led to the complications around my birth. All three of my mothers worked together to keep me alive when it was discovered, so I call all of them my mothers, but only Sigyn is my mother by blood.

Maude’s normally happy voice had dropped down into depression now as she remembered the events leading up to her situation being stuck in the form of a weapon. Casey grimaced, knowing it’d been his question that had pushed her down that road of thought. But before he could find something to distract his partner, he felt her emotions shift to teasing amusement and she continued.

Anyway, that was just some of it. And since I called each of them ‘mother’ without hesitation, they all recognized me as a daughter equally too. Which means—despite the fact that most of my immediate family are only half-siblings—I got the dubious joy of having not just two older brothers from my mother Sigyn, but a total of four older brothers and three older sisters.

I know Hel was at least impressed with you, which should win you some points with brother Fenrir and brother Jormungandr. Though, though it’ll help that they’ll get to vent their anger on father some before they get to you.

The prodding and teasing made Casey snort and roll his eyes. He worried some at he statement about needing to impress her brothers—he knew enough about the Norse mythology to be aware of how dangerous those two were—but was content at the moment that Maude’s mood had turned up.

I’ll just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing. If I can make sure their baby sister is as happy as can be, what more can they want? Casey shot back, getting a light giggle from Maude in response.

Nieces and nephews, Maude said. Casey tripped again, this time nearly slamming face-first into a tree as his partner laughed even louder. But that’s something they’ll be waiting on for a while. Though don’t doubt that they’ll use it to poke at you, love.

“Great,” Casey mock grumbled.

He couldn’t hide the envy he felt at Maude talking about a large family, but from the loving affection in her voice and the talk of children, Casey realized that family might very well include him in the future, and he couldn’t help but daydream like only an orphan could about what having that might be like.

That and I will find a way to get even with that orange-suited bastard for stealing away the opportunity for it all. That monster said he manipulated my life to prevent me from having a happy home to make me into his tool, so I intend to put my boot so far up his ass, he can taste my shoelaces, Casey thought with a determined growl.