Elevation of Mana Chapter 214 Destruction at the Doorstep

Isha

“Are they gone?” I asked the assistant as she returned.

“Yes ma'am, what did they want?”

“Materials and items, immediately and at a discount due to the crisis.”

“Why didn't they speak to your husband before he left then?” she asked, both irritated and slightly surprised.

“Because he would have told them to go away and shut up,” I informed her with a snort, he would have been far less polite than those words would imply.

“As he should, he's put enough into this city, and they wait until he's gone for this.”

“Yes, I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he returns.”

“Did you tell them as much?”

“Oh no, without him or Chien around we're a bit lower on muscle than I'd like to be. I did tell him that it would have to wait, after all my husband put into his flying machine I couldn't possibly get him anything right now. No, he'd need to wait and sit on it.”

“It seems coordinated ma'am,” she observed.

“It is, they're hoping either Justin won't be able to do anything about it when he returns, or he won't at all, bastards. I'd hate to be them when my husband gets back. Until then though... have our guards increase the security around the compound. I don't think they'll try anything, but...”

“Better safe than sorry?” she asked, quoting my husband.

“Yes. If anyone needs me I'll be in the workshop.”

This was something new for me, not a task I normally took up, and she still gave me a questioning look. She'd have to wait though, they all would. My discovery wasn't ready for her yet, or anyone else for that matter, it wasn't even all the way there quite yet.

Justin, bless him, had been trying to make a non-living thing think; to use magic one had to. However he didn't understand his issue, not properly. Sure, dead things might channel magic, or be magic, or effect the magic around them, but they couldn't use magic, using magic was something only living things did. No, his approach would never work, it was never going to.

The things around that bit though... He'd given me notes and books, and explanations, but much of it was still a bit beyond me. I understood what he was building was a mass of switches on and off, that when all coming together could do wonderful things. I even understood some of the basic things he was trying to do with it, and it did work, when it had power.

Oh when it had power the things he managed were art. Years and years he'd spent on this, going through iteration after iteration, looking for problems, working out exactly what he wanted each bit here and there to do. Did he even see the depth of it? No, I wagered he didn't yet, but he had the time to, and I'd have to talk to him about it. He'd told me of his dream, of a place where we could live safely, happily, and it was possible, and so close.

I'd hardly even sat down to start working before the alarms started going off. There were bells down here for just this purpose and all of them were ringing seconds after one another. I jumped from my seat, running towards the door and back to the main part of the building, running smack into the woman I'd been conversing with earlier, panic on her face clear.

“Did they do something?” I asked coldly.

“No, reports of some monster heading toward the city fast!”

I rushed to the rooftop, we were higher than anyone else in the city, with a view well out beyond the wall. It was relieving to see that I wasn't the first one there either, not the first to make it so high.

“What's happening?” I asked around, finding one of our guards, a man named Poken, looking through one of Justin's inventions.

The tube had carefully made glass lenses in it, angled with just the right way to make what you saw through it appear much larger than you'd normally see. Neither Justin nor Chien normally bothered with it, but the man here didn't have their ability to make these from magic alone, so he used what he could.

What I didn't need that for though was to see the black cloud rising from the forest. It was still a ways out, but it was moving this way and fast. I could even see people fleeing back along the streets, though sadly I didn't have a view of anyone far away. Were the gatherers making it back? A few streams of color lancing into the sky told me the warnings were going out to them, but would they have time?

“I think it's one of the fire beasts,” he said, using the name that had become popular among some circles in the city.

“One or many?” I asked.

“I think just one, but I can't even see it yet. The smoke is so bleeding thick. Should we send out men to support the fight?”

“All of our families are at the compound right?” I asked.

“Most of them are,” Poken replied.

“Send people out to get the ones who aren't. Also, get whatever you have from the armory up here quick as you can. We don't have the weapons to oppose a beast like that right now, but with our defenses it should be able to be held off.”

“Right, what about the rest of the city though?”

“There are still members of the council around they should be able to handle it... If it makes it through the wall though, we let people into the compound. Wouldn't be right to leave them to those things.” I hesitated to allow it, to put our families and friends at risk, but I couldn't bear the thought of children burning on our doorstep either. “We protect what we can.”

“Right then.” Poken began to give orders to the others, snapping things this way and that.

We really didn't have much in the way of heavy weaponry, just a few ballistae from the workrooms, not even the armory. They'd been ordered by a village further afield, but not yet delivered. None of them were even the size of the ones on the city walls here, but we'd make do.

Even as they were put into place the beast reached the wall, and the battle began. We hung back, waiting, sweating as the magic the city could spare was hurled at it in waves, along with spears, arrows, bolts, stones, and everything else that could be brought to bear in short notice. It wasn't going well at all, even though the creature had come alone.

“How strong are these things?” I whispered.

“I don't want to find out,” Poken said beside me. “Ma'am, you should get with the women and children down below.”

I bristled at the suggestion. “Go and hide? We don't have anywhere near enough combat mages.”

“No we don't, but you're not one of them. The boss will also lose his mind if anything should happen to you, and the men here know it, it's a distraction.” It hurt to hear, but it hurt more for how true it sounded. “And anyway, my daughter's down there, and I'd feel better if I knew someone strong was with her. So please miss Isha, it'll help.”

The suggestion made me want to scream at him. A good leader should be with their troops, should show by example what was expected, should do what was best for them... but what was best for them wasn't me here was it? No, a good leader should know to trust their subordinates too, to listen when they're told things that they don't want to hear, but are right. He was right, I wasn't combat trained, and the combat magic I did have wasn't particularly good.

“Alright Poken, I'll go keep them safe. Just make sure to come back to your daughter for me okay?”

“That's the plan. Thank you.”

I gave him a pat on the arm and turned, heading for the stairs just as the top of the wall began to crumble. Claws ripped and tore at the old construction of stone and mortar, scraping and screaming as they raked across the hard surface.