Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 30

The trip to Glacia went smoother than last time. I figured clearing interplanetary customs would be harder without Cyra, but as soon as I flashed my jade medallion from the Dragon Lodge, they waved me right through. I was in the same city we were last time. The only question was where to find Cyra.

Was she already in Mucaria? Or was she shopping somewhere?

Now that I was here, I could only think of one shop that might have seen her or know where she went. Galbatorix’s shop. I probably should have knocked on his door back in Valkyrie’s Watch to see if he was there, but now that I was here, I could check this one. After all, in my rush to get to Cyra, I couldn’t drop off the usual batch of goods from Earth.

I made my way through the city. It had seemed so large walking the streets from shop to shop with Cyra, but alone, I strode from one side to the other in just a few minutes. As luck would have it, Galbatorix was in his shop, snoozing at the counter as usual.

“Hey, Galbatorix, I’ve got that batch of supplies.” I tapped on the door, and he woke with a snort.

“Ah, Carter, lad! There you are. I didn’t expect you over here.” Galbatorix rapidly ran his fingers through his beard to straighten it.

“Well, here I am. And here are the goods. Hopefully, I saved you a trip between worlds. What’s all that about, anyway?”

“Now now, lad. I wouldn’t be a wise old wizard if I didn’t have a few secrets, now would I?” Galbatorix chuckled.

“Oh, fine.” I set the goods on the table. “How about something else then. Did you see Cyra come through here?”

“No, she didn’t. But as it happens, I do know where she is. You’re looking for her, aren’t you?”

I leaned closer. “So?”

“She’s at the Samhain family estate on the outskirts of this planet’s capital city. Any teleportation array can take you there.”

My eyes lit up. “Got it. Thank you.” I turned to leave, but a question I’d been meaning to ask lingered on my mind. “By the way, I have to ask, why did you give me those spells from the Dragon Lodge. You must have known having them would get me into trouble.”

Galbatorix stroked his beard again, but it needed no straightening this time.

“I’m confident a resourceful young man like yourself could have made it work in your favor. And if it had failed... well, in that case, you’d have to accept my apologies. But everything worked perfectly in the end, didn’t it? So there’s no need for me to feel sorry about it.”

I chuckled. Perhaps he was right. Things had worked out well enough, and his motives mattered little now. Not when I had to figure out what was up with Cyra.

“In that case, I apologize for doubting your intentions. Thank you once again, Galbatorix.”

Soon, I was off, returning the way I’d come as fast as my feet could carry me.

“Please take me to the capital,” I instructed the technician on duty. The teleportation began, and once again, I was in a bustling metropolis in an unfamiliar world.

As with my first visit to Themyscira’s capital, the people here were higher level than before. There were even more C-Grades here than there had been on the streets of the college town I’d visited in the Mucaria pocket realm, and a decent portion of them even felt light fighters.

I would have to keep out of trouble. Without Cyra by my side, I couldn’t count on the Samhain Clan to bail me out. And the Dragon Lodge was far away. If I was arrested again, I doubted I’d be freed with a single flash of a jade token.

But I’d gone my entire life on Earth without getting arrested, and I’d traveled abroad with my parents as a child. How hard could be to stay out of trouble?

Harder than I thought, as it happened.

I spent a few minutes looking around, but after a bit, I realized that unlike storefronts, the Samhain Clan had no reason to advertise the location of their estate. If I wanted to find it and knock on the door looking for Cyra, I’d have to start asking locals. So I stopped for tea at a local storefront, paid in gold, and then asked the young woman behind the counter where the Samhain Clan estate was.

“All the wealthy families live on the west side of town. You’ll see an entire row of fancy manors there.”

I nodded my head in thanks and paid three times the cost of the tea in the tip. From there, I looked to the sun and tracked its arc, then followed its path westward.

Along the way, I spotted the most spectacular landmark I’d ever seen. A wizard tower shot from the ground to the sky and then straight through it until it pierced the moon. I gaped at it in awe for more than a minute, studying the rune-studded length. It took a while for me to realize the structure wasn’t really a structure at all. It was a massive cable as wide as a building.

The bulk of its length was strictly structural. This thing wasn’t a tower, though it was disguised to look like one. It was a space elevator leading directly to the moon. Perhaps it even served as a tether that kept the moon overhead tidally locked and in geosynchronous orbit.

“An impressive sight, is it not?” came a male voice from behind me. I turned to regard a youngish-looking man about my height. Initially, I would have pegged him as similar in age to me, but then I felt his presence. He was definitely somewhere in the B-Grade, which meant he could be anywhere from twenty to two hundred, and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

His hair was the same fiery red as Myrina and Cyra’s, and he had a regal look about him. Everyone with a decently high charisma stat looked good, but this man had a unique casual grace that would have pegged him as the prince in disguise in any movie or play I’d seen.

“It is. I’ve read theories about how such a thing could be done, but knowing and doing are two very different things.” I took an unconscious step back from the possible B-Grade casually chatting with me. The only time I’d stood so near someone this powerful who was the Samhain family ancestor, Grandma Luthrin.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and I still can’t fathom how the palace was made. But that’s why he’s the immortal god-king, and everyone else gazes up at his palace from below.” He turned to me then and took a step closer, reducing the space I’d just made between us. “I hear you’re looking for the Samhain family estate, yes?”

“You overheard that?”

“I did. And I couldn’t help but notice you were headed in the wrong direction. You’ll want to go that way.” He pointed in the distance. “Follow that street until you come to a loop, then turn at the big red building. You’ll come across a lot filled with foreign trees and shrubbery. If you stand at the gates, someone will receive you.”

“Thank you.” I bowed my head at the surprisingly helpful B-Grade.

“Safe travels, friend,” he held out his hand, and I switched from bowing to shaking.

We parted ways, and I followed his directions around the corner. From there, I spotted the big red building and was soon rounding the corner and looking for the Samhain family estate.

Given the chance to look around, I might have spotted it in the distance. But I never had the chance.

I felt a sudden pinch in my gut, and I knew that if I didn’t turn my head right then and there, I could kiss my life goodbye. Luckily for me, my unique set of abilities made me a very hard man to assassinate.

My response was instant, honed by training and reflex. Mana Bolts swirled around me as I called on my spells, and I slid into a defensive position. One hand went to my satchel. I hadn’t wanted to stand out by wearing my sword openly, so I’d put it in my bag. I paid the price for that now, as retrieving my weapon took a few seconds longer than drawing from my hip would have been.

“Damn, you missed!” said an unfamiliar voice. It had a snobbish pinch to it, like a spoiled child grown to manhood.

“Apologies, your highness. I should have gotten him there. This is a slippery one,” said another. This one seemed sterner and tougher, and his deferential speech suggested he worked for the snobbish man next to him.

I took in my two attackers and realized I recognized neither of them. The snobbish one was dressed in find wizard’s robes. The other wore a plain brown coat that concealed armor and a crossbow. The thing that had nearly skewered me through the back of the head was now embedded into the street behind me and was clearly another bolt fired from that very crossbow.

My fingers found the hilt of my new sword, and I activated the defensive enchantment, which projected a small buckler-sized shield barrier based on one of the spells I’d found in the Lich King’s collection. I retaliated with a steady stream of Mana Bolts. They wouldn’t win the fight on their own, but they’d keep my opponents off balance.

I deflected the next crossbow as I closed the distance. The coat-wearing assassin dropped his weapon and drew a sword of his own. I was going to attack him until I examined him and realized he was B-Grade.

The other was a high C-Grade. At level 185, he was a higher level than Morgathor had been, but I had more tricks now than I had against Morgathor, and I swept my sword at his neck.

“Ahh! Stop him, do something!” said the snobbish man.

I unleashed a series of frantic slashes. The snobbish man activated a defensive enchantment, but I smoothly transitioned to throwing out an enhanced Mega Mana Bomb. It was a little underpowered for use against high C-Grade enchantments, but I detonated it anyway and lashed out with an Arcane Blade.

The shield held, and I sensed the man behind it pouring more power into it. He was reinforcing his defenses by the moment, likely hoping his B-Grade companion would take me down. And it was a rather good plan.

The B-Grade was on top of me in an instant, fast as lightning. He lashed out with a hand coming straight for my throat, and I activated Shadowrealm Stride to get myself clear.

I vanished from sight. In the shadow realm, great and terrible shapes loomed all around me, similar to Morgathor’s shadow, but scattered all over. The nearest and greatest of them was that of the B-Grade I was slipping away from.

The big red building I’d just passed was empty, but next to it was a minor estate. Like most wealthy homes, it had a security system installed. I could tell the wards were strong and would detect my presence even in the shadow realm, but that was fine by me. I wanted to be detected.

I left the shadow realm within the range of the wards. Alarms started blaring from the building a moment later, drawing immediate attention. It was the middle of the day, after all. Not exactly ideal assassination time.

I re-emerged in normal space behind the protection of the manor’s defensive wards. Behind me, a half dozen guards were throwing down their playing cards and jumping to their feet. They had furious looks on their faces, right up until they spotted the B-Grade among my attackers, at which point they dove for cover again inside the manor.

That was alright, though. I didn’t expect there to be anyone who could stop someone like this on hand, but once this alarm spread, surely a city like the capital of Glacia had warriors who could deal with a rogue B-Grade. Now, my only problem would be explaining the situation when those people came.

Maybe I could use Shadow Realm stride to get to the Samhain estate before that happened? Cyra might better understand how to get me out of a sticky legal situation.

“We need to leave, now!” said the brown-coated man.

“At least take his bag! We need to intercept the Samhain Clan’s messengers!” the snobbish man snarled.

I was slowly putting a few pieces together. It seemed I was subject to mere bad luck. Asking for the location of the Samhain Clan had marked me as one of their messengers, and somebody who didn’t like the Samhain’s wanted to intercept me. I would need to warn Cyra that this was happening, but to do that, I’d need to avoid getting killed.

“It’s too late!” the brown-coated man said as he turned abruptly. Behind him was another B-Grade, the young man with fiery red hair. He drifted down as though buffeted by the wind. I hadn’t seen any sign of a weapon on him before, but now he hefted a rune-scribed weapon halfway between a staff and a warhammer.

“There you are, little brother. I’ve wondered who was intercepting our mail,” said the red-haired young man.

The brown-coated B-Grade tried to run, but he was too slow. The red-haired young man was too fast, and with a swing of a lightning-covered hammer staff, he smashed one of the other B-Grade’s legs.

“Brother Herius! This is a misunderstanding...” said the snobbish man, who was apparently the red-haired young man’s little brother. The red-haired one looked younger, but he must have reached B-Grade before the younger brother reached C-Grade for their appearances to clash so sharply.

“Messenger, continue on to the Samhain estate around the corner. I will ensure this trouble doesn’t follow you,” said Herius, the red-haired man hovering in the sky.

I bowed in thanks and certainly wasn’t one to delay when a quick way out of my current predicament revealed itself. I jumped out from the protection of the wards I’d been hiding behind and scurried down the street, leaving my would-be assassins in the hands of that Herius fellow. He seemed like a decent guy, but if the local guards came looking, I’d much rather let them grill him than me.

I’d been caught in a rather deadly case of mistaken identity. Under other circumstances, I would have stayed to clear things up. I knew when I was in over my head. First, Cyra. Then we would regroup, figure out what was going on, and then get her and me away from whatever political mess the Samhain Clan branch here on Glacia was involved in.


<Note>
Finally was able to commission some more art like I used to! We'll see how this one turns out, then maybe I'll go through requests. It takes a bit of time which is why I stopped when we going through chapters at high speed.

Now I have a little more time for art commissioning, though I may have to pick up the pace a bit. I'm somewhat settled in a new (temporary) location for the moment, so I'm running out of excuses for not publishing 7 chapters a week.