The moment Ethan woke up, I immediately said, “You’re not allowed to use your power.”

“What the fuck Karth? I’m going to have you killed for this! Soldiers, arrest him in the name of the Gods,” he shouted. He was blindfolded and could not see that it would not do him any good.

I had taken him, my bodyguards, Mina and Nathalie with me, ridden ahead and had stopped where I was sure the rest of the soldiers would not stumble upon us by accident. I pressed a dagger to his throat, and whispered in his ear, “Come now, don’t be like that. No one can hear you out here. I might even give you over to the orc Bakra. He takes great pleasure in fucking priests like you.”

“What the fuck do you want? What do you hope to achieve?” he asked with all the hostility he could muster. If voices could kill, I would be dead a hundred times at least.

“Let Mina read the truth. And don’t bother trying to subvert the truth as the Cardinal did. One, you shouldn’t be able to with those manacles unless of course, you lied. Two, I’ve learned how to do it myself, and can see when you use mana,” I explained to him.

“Bullshit, no fucking way an idiot like you could figure that out on your own,” he denied, but I detected a hint of doubt in his voice.

“If the Cardinal hadn’t sent that priest after me, I would never have learned it. However, if I hadn’t learned to see the mana, how do you think I managed to activate that collar around your neck?” I asked him.

His protest this time around sounded a lot less certain. “You’re lying, there must be a renegade priest, I—I don’t believe you.”

“What I really find amazing is how you guys managed to make a device that can break into the mana pool of anyone and anchor itself there. Even those without magic,” I said. “I’ve so many ideas going through my mind right now. However, I’ve to know. Are your mana without affiliation as well? Can your mana crystals be absorbed by anyone without loss?”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he protested too quickly and too loudly. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my manasight. I quickly found his mana pool.

“I could sit here all day and spill my guts about how many threads and so on goes from the manacles to your mana pool at this moment. Even now I can see how you struggle to break out of the confines, but the manacles destroy any thread of mana you create and try to send out,” I said as I observed his mana trying to escape. “Truly an evil device.”

“I—No it can’t be, you should’ve been convinced that you could only link objects, you should never be able to realize all these things,” Ethan said with a sob. “The Gods have truly abandoned us, you really are the agent of the Destroyer.”

“I want to hear about this, but first, allow Mina to read your mind because I’m tired of all the subterfuge, I want the truth,” I said and removed the dagger from his throat. Now that I had seen him struggle against it, I was sure that the man was not able to break it. Nevertheless, I kept an eye on his mana.

“Fine, I’ll let your whore read my mind,” he said sullenly. “I wish to see my children again.”

“Didn’t know you had kids, but I can understand that, however first,” I started to say and then slapped him hard. “Never call any of those working for me whores or other unkind things. You’ll not like it if I’ve to remind you of that fact often.”

“Sorry, Milord,” he said, though he did not sound contrite.

“Where are your children, maybe we can have them join us?” I asked.

“Not possible, they’re on the Isle of the Gods, both of them are being trained to be priests of Chostus, to follow in my footsteps,” he explained, but just made me have a lot more questions.

I indicated that Mina should approach. “Go ahead Mina, it’s time to find out what’s going on.”

“Milord,” she said and got on her knees next to Ethan’s head. She hesitated to put her hands on him though. I could understand that since he was after all a priest, or at least a former one of the kind, and the priests had a lot of power in this world. She finally did it, and I made sure to follow her magic in so I could keep an eye on things. Both on her reading and on his mana.

“First question, can you remove collars or manacles?” I asked

“No, no one can. Well maybe the Gods, but they never told us how,” he answered. I did not need Mina to tell me that it was the truth. I had gotten familiar with her magic and saw it myself.

“Second question, why the fuck do you roll over so easily and start spilling the beans? I would’ve thought you would put up more of a fight.”

“The damn collar, Milord. It’s infused with mind magic, making whoever wears them more susceptible to commands and subservient. The manacles strengthen that effect,” he said with anguish in his voice.

“Truth,” Mina said with a trembling voice. She had not known that, but she had grown up wearing one. Which reminded me of something.

“Damn, this is even worse than I thought,” I mumbled. I could see the looks on my bodyguards’ faces that told me this was not something publicly known. “If the collars can’t be removed without killing the wearer, how can kids grow up wearing one?”

“They change as people grow up, get thinner or get fatter. They always fit snugly but comfortably. We don’t know how the collars work, it was given to us by the Gods. We just follow instructions on how to create them, anyone trying to investigate how they work dies.”

“How would they know?” I wondered out loud.

“All priests give up a part of themselves, most priests choose to give up a vial of blood. They’re placed at the Inner Sanctum on Isle of the Gods if one of us breaks a vow of secrecy, or if one of us tries to harm another priest, they get smote by Gyzbohr,” Ethan explained. His voice dripped with hate. Most directed at me.

I had to know. “You telling me all this is not breaking a vow?”

“No, this is all stuff told to the common priest, little of it was ever thought to need a vow to keep it secret, no one ever imagined someone collaring a priest. I love the church, but I love my two children more.”

“Okay, moving back to questions about security,” I said. “Can you communicate with the other priests?”

“No, not unless you allow me to use the magic to do so. I will receive the messages they send me though,” he said.

“Okay, and what will happen if you don’t answer?” I asked with a bit of worry. I would not mind killing Ethan, but he was a good source of mana crystals and answers.

“They will try again a few times, if no answer is forthcoming within a day, they will assume the worst.”

Next up was an important question. “I’ve figured out that human priests don’t have the power to perform magic on their own as such, we can just create links. The reason why the priest could use magic against me, is because he was linked to an ignimancer somewhere, correct?”

“Correct,” he said with a growl.

The next part was very important. “Are you connected to someone?”

“Yes.”

“Can you contact them, or in any way send messages to them?”

He hung his head. “No, but I can glean impressions of strong emotions from them if we’re close enough. Or if we got a deep enough emotional connection.”

With a frown, I asked, “Why can’t I see the connection, and why isn’t it suppressed by the manacles?”

“It’s a connection of the soul, what we like to call mana. When we send a message, we briefly touch and deliver it to their mana pool. But with a bond, it’s the connection of two souls.”

“How many bonds can you hold at the same time?” I wanted to know because it could mean I could potentially learn all kinds of magic.

“It takes training, and usually you can only do it with someone you’re strongly connected to,” he said. “I hold five connections, but someone like the Cardinal will probably hold double that or more.”

“Can you teach me how to do it?” I asked eagerly.

“No, it would kill me,” was the disappointing answer he delivered, and unfortunately, it was a truthful answer. “It’s one of the secrets.”

“Okay, but can you confirm that I’ve got the same abilities as a human priest?” I needed to know for sure.

“Yes, the junior priest, all of us, were surprised that one with priestly abilities, but no connection to one of the Gods appeared,” he replied. “The junior priest took the most benign of the abilities a priest has and said you had that ability. Normally you would’ve been whisked away, but the Kings were there.”

“The Kings don’t know what your abilities are?”

“Noone outside the priesthood should know.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why aren’t you bursting into flames or something then?”

“Because it’s clear that you already know. I can’t divulge the information to you, but I can confirm it,” he answered. The answer was truthful as all his answers had been so far.

“Okay, so you knew about my abilities. Why subterfuge, why not approach me?” I growled.

“I was going to, but your blatant disrespect, anger, and propensity for violence changed my mission from approach to observation,” he said, staring back at me.

“Looking back I’ve acted out of character, someone must have been messing with my mind, and I know you, as in the Church, or the Gods did that. Why did you do it?” I demanded an answer with all my anger showing in my voice. It had become clear to me that someone had been messing with my mind, subtly so, and that I had not been aware of it until just recently. It was like a fog had lifted from my mind.

“The Gods put a mind-numbing effect on all of those summoned, making you pliant and willing to serve. A temporary one, which should have been made permanent on touching the device, but somehow it did not work on twenty-six of you, but you’re the only one that acted that violently, we would never make you act like that!” he said frightfully.

I took a deep breath. It was true that I had acted with uncharacteristic anger, and let it control me, however, I still had a lot of anger in me and a history of anger issues, which I could normally control. I had to focus on the next question: “Why were we summoned?”

“I can’t say, it’s one of the secrets,” he mumbled.

“But it’s not because you’re pressed by the elves, right?”

With a frown, he answered, “Right.”

“Why summon more than the thirteen heroes the prophecy talked about?”

“Secret,” he replied.

“Secret that would kill you?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Fuck,” I grumbled. I could see that Mina was getting drained. Even if I had provided most of the mana for the truth reading, she was still the one who had been channelling it, which was tiring.

I turned my attention to something more domestically than the fate of mankind. “If you wanted my cooperation, despite my anger issues and all, why in the Gods’ name did the Cardinal and High Lord try to fuck me over?”

“The Cardinal was tasked with trying to find a way to indebt you to the church. He’s only Cardinal because of who his father is, not because he’s well suited to the job,” Ethan said with a sigh. “He lacks the subtlety of a real Cardinal, so his attempts were—crude.”

“Well, that’s just great. Should’ve guessed, there's not that much difference between nepotism and corruption,” I said with a sigh. I turned my attention to Mina. “Mina, could you handle a few more questions for me?”

“Yes, Milord,” she said with a bit of a slur. Fatigue was setting in.

Turning back to my newest serf, I said, “Why did you call me an agent of the Destroyer?”

“Some of the priests have taken to calling you that because of your wanton displays of violence and disrespect,” he answered in an accusing tone.

“What about the thing about the Gods abandoning you?” I asked.

“The consensus is that one of the Gods must have turned traitor since there are twenty-six of you that are not influenced by the mind magic.”

I cocked my head at that. “So why one, not two or more?”

“Because the Whore is surely influencing thirteen of you, while the other traitor is influencing the rest,” he spat. Then screamed in pain as flames sprang up around his feet. They lasted just for a second.

I could not help but smile. “Got a little too close to revealing a secret there?”

“Yes,” he sobbed.

“Okay. That’s enough for now,” I said and stood up. “We’ll rest for two glasses to let Mina rest, then we ride home, no stopping. Two of you keep an eye on Ethan at all times.”

“Milord,” the bodyguards said in synchronisation.

Looking at Ethan, I knew he had to be guarded at all times. “If someone tries to contact you, you’re to tell me immediately. You’ll be randomly spot-checked by a fideomancer in my presence. If you fail to do so, I’ll make sure that I’ll find your children, even if it’s the last thing I do. Do you think they’ll like to be collared like their father?”

“Don’t!” he screamed and tried to swing at me, but the manacles prevented him from doing so.

“Then be a good boy, and I won’t go out of my way to find them,” I said with a smirk. Ethan hung his head in defeat.

I looked at Kiril. “Kiril, we got some extra muskets, I want you to take the four best marksmen from either Platoon and transfer them to the bodyguards. Male or female doesn’t matter to me.”

“I’ll see to it as soon as we get to the Hall, Milord,” he said.

“Good man,” I said. “Let’s talk frankly and openly about what I just did and you just heard.”

That was the first of five conversations with my men I had to have.

It was late in the evening when we got back. After stabling the horse, I left the men to take care of Ethan. They had to wake some of my tailor mages, so they could whip up some new clothes for the man. Clothes that would cover the collar and the manacles. Afterwards, they would bring him to Lily’s old room. He would be staying close by my side for the rest of his life. He was a liability, which I needed to control.

I opened the door to my room and quietly went in. To my surprise, Lily was up. She was sitting in the bed with Emma in her lap and Yathanae was sitting in a chair nearby, a scene I had seen a lot since the first attack at the lake. I dropped my saddlebags next to the door and was closing it when a thought struck me, ‘They aren’t moving.’

Hand on my shortsword and one on an axe, I whirled around drawing the weapons, only for my body to lock up mid-motion. I still had momentum, so I fell to the ground, unable to move. Well almost unable to move, I could still breath.

“Finally back, I’ve been waiting for days, skulking around unseen, waiting for you to come back,” a familiar voice said from next to the fireplace, but no one had been there. “I was so happy when you finally returned tonight, I had to come straight up here and tell your lovely wife the good news.”

The paralysis stopped, and I was able to move again. I had just gotten to my feet and started looking around for the intruder, when a figure appeared out of thin air next to the circular fireplace in the middle of my chambers. It was the fucking Cardinal. I attempted to flick my dagger at him, but I found myself paralyzed again.

“No, no, no. No playing with weapons. I’m going to release your head so you can speak. Don’t bother screaming, I’ve put a cone of silence on the room,” the Cardinal said in a mocking tone.

“So, come to finish the job yourself?” I asked. “I guess good help is hard to find, but you could always buy your son from Lord Terud. Got glowing review as a serf I hear.”

“You impertinent whelp!” the Cardinal roared and went up to me. He slapped me hard. Though it looked like it stung his hand harder than it did my cheek, the way he was nursing it.

“Come now, Cardinal, you should be careful, it didn’t go as well for the last few people who did this to me,” I said with a hard glare.

“You think your whore kitten can help you?” he guffawed. “I got her locked up right there in the lap of your wife. To think that I was handed such a prize. I came here planning to assassinate you, blame it on the harpies or something. Instead, I find you colluding with the enemies. And your wife knows about it, talking about this and that with the cat. Even saw her transform after Ethan left. Should’ve killed the lot of them then and there.”

He walked over to Yathanae and stroked her hair. “However, it will be so much better when you get to watch them suffer. And really, I must congratulate you on your victory against the longears. Did you take any trophies?”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I’ll take that as no then, don’t worry, we got some right here,” he said and pulled a dagger. He must have released the paralysis on Yathanae’s head as well because she tried to get out of his grip when he grabbed one of her ears. “Sit still bitch, but do scream for your master.”

With that, he cut off her left ear. He held it up so I could see it. “Look at this, a nice trophy. And there’s one more.”

“Fuck you, you bastard. You want to kill me, go ahead and do it. Don’t fucking touch them,” I growled. Yathanae had become if not a friend, then something more than a casual acquaintance, and I did not want to see her hurt. I tried to make my mana break out of the cage of his mana, now that I had developed my skills, I could see it was suppressing my mana much as the manacles would do.

“Oh, but you must suffer before I kill you. For what you did to my son,” the Cardinal screamed and proceeded to cut off her other ear. His hands glowed for a moment. “There, can’t have you bleeding out, I need you to see what I’m going to do with your master.”

He then approached Lily. I lost it and started cursing him out, “Don’t you fucking touch her you coward! You fucking insignificant dickhead! You wouldn’t even be a high priest if not for Daddy helping you out. You incompetent fuck. Do you know what they call you behind your back? Daddy’s Little Cocksucker. Yeah, that’s right. Or is it Vernon who’s Daddy’s Little Cock—urk.”

I got interrupted by a searing pain, as the Cardinal stabbed me in the stomach. When I had started in on his Daddy, he had gone completely still, as if he had been struck by this paralysis. However, when I mentioned him being a cocksucker he got pissed and stormed over to me, leading to me being stabbed. Or maybe it was insinuating his son was.

“Shut up!” he screamed into my face.

He let go of the dagger in my stomach and started pacing. “No, this was not how it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to beg for your life. Grovel before me, repent your sinful ways, as I repay you for the pain and humility Vernon went through. Yes, you must suffer the same. A hundredfold! It’s just and within the law, yes. It’s Gyzbohr’s demand that I teach you humility and punish you. Because you’re certainly an Agent of the Destroyer. It’s the only explanation why you would not obey the Gods’ will.”

As he was manically rambling, I tried to fight through the pain and focus on the one thing that could save our lives. Somehow breaking the stranglehold he had on my mana. It was hard concentrating with a dagger stuck in the stomach though. Fucking paralysis spell made it so I could not move my muscles, but I could still feel things, and it fucking hurt.

“Yes, you must pay a hundredfold what you did to my son,” he said from behind me. I was suddenly lifted into the air and he came around to my front again. He pulled the dagger out, and I felt he healed it once. Before I could say anything, he cut my belt and pulled my pants down. “You’ll suffer a hundred castrations for your insolence.”

“Wait, you’re not—argh!” I had started to protest, but it morphed into a shriek as indescribable pain soared through my nether region. I passed out.

I found myself in the clearing I had dreamed about before, it was dark and the forest around me was dying. I looked around for the lady to find her sitting right behind me, on her knees. I was about to say something. When I woke with a scream.

“Found some salt to rub in the wound,” the Cardinal said smugly, waving my dick around. Tears were streaming down both Lily’s and Yathanae’s cheeks. If Emma could shoot laser with her eyes, the bastard would be dead.

“Don’t worry, let me heal you,” the Cardinal said, and relief washed over me, as the wounds closed. “There, good as new, which means I can do it again. We still got ninety-nine times to go.”

“Wait,” I croaked, my voice sounding hoarse from screaming.

“You don’t think I’ve mana enough to do this? Don’t worry, I got plenty of mana,” he said and threw two large pouches on the bed next to Lily. They spilled open and large mana crystals rolled onto the bed. “See, plenty of reserves right there.”

“You don’t have—argh!” I tried to stop him, but he proceeded to do it again.

I found myself back in the clearing, sobbing in pain, my head lying in the lap of the lady. She looked at me with worried eyes. “You’ve to break that which binds you.”

Once again, I found myself waking with a scream. The Cardinal grinned viciously as he slapped me a few times with my own dick. He looked at me, and asked, “Should I go fuck a pig with your little friend here? I wonder if that would make you a pigfucker?”

“Just kill me, let them go. They’ve done nothing to you,” I sobbed.

“No, no. That won’t do,” he said. “Let me fix you again. Only ninety-eight times more.”

The night continued like that for a long time. I sorta became numb to the pain, but I did not give up. I threw all of my mana against the cage time and time again. Every time he castrated me, I fainted and found myself back in the clearing. It looked like it was becoming more and more dead each time. However, it all just started to become one big blur.

I had asked her who she was a couple of times, but she never gave me an answer. Just kept repeating the same thing.

“You’ve to fight, don’t give up,” the lady said time after time. I tried, I really did, but there just seemed to be nothing I could do. Whatever I tried, it was useless.

“Wakey, wakey,” the Cardinal said. I had woken up but refused to open my eyes. “Don’t give up on me yet. We’ve still got seventy-six times more to go.”

My voice was gone, had screamed so much there was nothing left. I was sustained solely by the healing magic he poured into me. I just looked blankly at him, gathering my mana for another push against the cage of mana that held me.

He had just finished healing me, when he said, “You’re right, this is becoming boring. I can always have someone else castrate you time and time again. However, you’ve to see this one thing I’ve planned.”

He walked over to Lily and pushed her down on the bed. I tried to look away, but he had paralysed me again completely, I was unable to look away or close my eyes. He looked back at me with a manic grin. “I’m going to cut her open and tear out your child. I’m going to take one of your children away from you without you being able to do anything. Gyzbohr’s justice is really pure poetry, don’t you think?”

“No!” I managed to croak out and started to struggle even more. Both physically, mentally, and magically. I took hold of my entire mana pool and rammed it at the cage, but it fizzled out.

“Oh, found a little backbone, did you?” the Cardinal grinned. “Doesn’t matter, no one can break a cage once in place. Not unless they’ve Ascended.”

Screaming hoarsely, I looked as he slowly and carefully cut off her dress. “Maybe I’ll fuck your wife as she bleeds to death. Give her something to compare to before she dies. Heard her talk about only being bedded by you once. With your brutish behaviour, I would think you would be rutting her all the time, maybe even lending her out to the serfs.”

‘Ascend,’ I thought I heard the lady from my dream’s say in my mind. My mana was almost gone, I had used it all trying to break free. All that was left was a single percentage of maximum, the few pieces of the barrier, which surrounded all mana pools, that I still had and the Cardinal’s mana boxing me in.

Barrier. The word stuck with me. The higher your rating, the less barrier you had. Somehow I had to remove the barrier, I had to Ascend as they called it.

“Lovely tits on this one, you really haven’t played with them? A harlot as fine as this should be rutted at least once a day,” the Cardinal said. I could see him fondling my wife, the dagger resting against her stomach.

I pulled at everything I had left and then some more, somehow I was able to pull on mana reserves that were not mine, from somewhere else. Not from Emma, but someone else. The almost empty mana pool became a vortex, began sucking in everything, including the pieces of barrier that were left.

“What?” the Cardinal asked dumbfoundedly.

A scream tore from my throat as the pieces of barriers came loose, even though I should not have been able to produce a sound. As soon as they were ripped from their place, the pieces started to dissolve, and mana rushed in from somewhere else. Not where I had pulled from just a moment ago, that connection had closed.

No this seemed to come from all around me. In a matter of a heartbeat, my mana pool was filled to the brim, larger, stronger, and more vibrant than ever before. I took every little piece of mana I could scrounge up and hurled it at the cage.

“Impossible!” the Cardinal screamed as my mana broke the cage. He turned the dagger around, to stab down, but my mana was faster than his. With a thought my mana crashed into his mana pool, clamping down on it hard and his entire body, as I was starting to faint again from mana exhaustion.

With a roar, Emma shifted into her giant panther form and I saw Emma tackling the Cardinal away from Lily, maw around his throat, as I collapsed on the floor. In the distance, I heard worried shouting.

My body started to flood with pain, every single nerve ending in my body screamed in pain, I felt liquid pouring out of my nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.

“He’s bleeding, do something!” I heard Yathanae shout as her blurred form appeared above me. Moments later she was joined by Emma in her humanoid form.

“Shit, this is bad. Mana combustion,” she said.

“Can you do something?” Yathanae urged.

“What’s going on?” Lily asked confused. “By the Gods, Karth!”

In the distance, I heard thumping footsteps approaching. Gathering the last of my will, I said, “Emma, shift.”

“No,” she said with tears in her eyes. “There’s nothing anyone can do.”

“You’ve to, he’s dying,” Yathanae hissed, as her bondmate did as I had said and shifted to her cat form again.

Hovering behind Yathanae’s, and now Lily’s, worried face, I saw the lady from my dream hovering in an incorporeal colourless form, like a ghost or something.

“Take care of our child,” I mumbled and tried to reach up to touch Lily, but I could not muster the strength.

“No, don’t leave me,” Lily sobbed.

The incorporeal figure floated down, passing right through both of them, and placed a finger on my lips. Reminiscent of the first time I had seen her, she said, “Not yet.”

And then everything turned black.

I found myself in the clearing again. It looked just as bad as before, however, a bush nearby had new shoots appearing. I saw the lady sitting nearby, looking weak and drained.

“Am I dead?” I had to ask.

A tired smile played on her lips. “Not yet.”

“Who are you?”

This time she frowned. “Not yet.”

“Can’t you say anything but not yet?” I growled in frustration.

“Of course I can,” she said. “It taxes me to be here, we don’t have long.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Your tore through the barriers and Ascended before you were ready, your mana was consuming your body. I replaced the barrier, though fewer than before,” she said.

“So you’re a Goddess?”

“All women like to be treated like one, now and again,” she answered.

“Are you Ghidana?”

“Maybe,” she said with a smile. “You should go back. A lot of things need fixing. Remember to balance hate with love, anger with understanding.”

As she finished speaking I found myself waking up to look up at the worried face of Nathalie. She smiled when she saw that I was awake. “Milord, would you stop trying to get killed all the time?”

“How long?” I asked, amazed that my voice worked.

It must have shown on her face, because she said, “We healed your throat as well, got some liquid into you. You’ve been out for only a couple of hours, Milord.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“That’s what we like to know, Milord,” I heard Kiril say. Turning my head, I saw that all of my bodyguards were in the room. Several of them with bloody clothes. Mina was standing with them, while Lily and Yathanae sat on a couch that was new to the room, hugging each other. And Emma. They looked a bit scared, but I saw that Lily was clothed.

“Tell me what you think happened, and I’ll fill you in,” I said with narrowed eyes. I cast a look around and saw that my weapons were behind my bodyguards.

Kiril answered for the group, “We heard a roar, like some kind of wild beast. At first, we thought it was from outside, but then we heard struggle upstairs, so we came up here. When we got in here, your wife was naked, and so were you. Or half-naked. The elf was missing her ears, the cat was bloodied, and the Cardinal dead. His throat ripped out. Like that other priest, according to what Caspar told me.”

“Where’s the body?” I asked, deciding to step out of bed, even though I was naked. If it was coming to a fight, I had to be prepared.

“We moved it into one of the other rooms, waiting to hear your explanation before we decide what to do. No offence, Milord, but we deserve to know the truth if we’re going to be your bodyguards. That’s a high ranking member of the Church who died in your bedroom,” Kiril said. “If you don’t mind, let Mina here read your thoughts, so we know if we get the truth.”

I looked him up and down. “That’s fair, but you would be wasting your time with Mina.”

“Why?” Kiril asked with narrowed eyes.

“Mina go ahead and tell them,” I said.

“The lord has learned to trick my magic,” she said demurely.

“Bullshit,” one of the guards said.

“No, it isn’t. The priests can do it, you heard me when I was interrogating Ethan, he confirmed it,” I pointed out.

“That’s true,” Kiril said.

“So I’m going to give you the truth. This was a personal vendetta, the Cardinal came after me because of what happened to Vernon. Besides trying to kill Lily at the end, torturing Yathanae, he also tortured me,” I said.

“You don’t look hurt, Milord,” Kiril pointed out.

I shuddered at the thought of what had happened, but told them anyway, “Because the bastard kept healing me after he castrated me. Over twenty times.”

“Really?” one of the guards asked, looking a little green around the gills. When I nodded he looked like he threw up a little in his mouth.

“How did you kill him? We found you several metres away,” Kiril asked.

“No drawing your weapons, if you do, I’ll attack,” I said seriously and looked each of them in the eyes. When they nodded, I said, “I made an ally here in Camcesa, who’s not human.”

“An infiltrator?” Kiril asked guardedly.

“No, more like someone following after their soulmate who was taking prisoner,” I said. Then I switched to elvish, “Emma, please change.”

She meowed questioningly, but I just gave her a firm nod. She sprang out of the arms of Lily and padded over next to me. Then she shifted into her humanoid form. She gave a wave, and in broken human, she said, “Hello, pleasure to formally meet you.”

All of the guards, except Kiril, stepped back a step or two, their hands going for their weapons. However, they did not draw. I gave them a smile, and said, “Emma has taught me many things. Sorry to tell you, but the Church is corrupt. That being said, I’ll do my best to keep this Hold safe, which includes fighting against the elves and putting my life on the line for all of you.”

“We’ve begun to suspect that. There are many people unhappy with the Church these days. It’s why most of us requested a transfer out of the Unifiers when it was possible,” Kiril explained. “We’ll support you, as long as you don’t turn against humanity.”

At his words, the other gave nods. I looked at them. “I’m probably going to end up clashing with the Church at some point again, but I’m not going to turn mankind over to the elves or any other race, just because I disagree with the Church.”

“Then none of us will tell about what happened here, Milord. I just worry that if we get read by a fideomancer that we inadvertently spill your secrets,” Kiril said.

“I’ll try to figure that out, I’ve learned a lot about magic,” I said, adding yet another thing to my evergrowing list of things to do. “What do we do about the body?”

“We’ll take it out tomorrow night and bury it somewhere, Milord,” Kiril said. “Sorry we questioned you, but we needed to know where we stood if we’re supposed to protect you with our lives.”

“I can respect that,” I said and meant it. “If any of you feel that I’m moving in a direction that you can’t support, be free to tell me. I’ll consider it, and if we can’t agree on it, we’ll part ways as friends.”

“Sounds good, Milord,” Kiril said. The others bowed and started filing out of the room. I stopped Nathalie.

“Nathalie, I’m going to need your help in a moment, and I want you to start healing Yathanae’s ears,” I said.

“Milord, I don’t have enough mana for that.”

“Then use some of all the crystal the Cardinal donated to us,” I said and pointed to the two pouches next to my weapons.

Emma looked at me, and asked in elvish, “How did you survive the mana combustion?”

“I honestly don’t know, help from a goddess I think. Maybe Ghidana,” I said with a shrug. “I need to talk to my wife. And your bondmate needs new ears, or at least to have them reattached, so go talk with her and Nathalie.”

“Yes, Milord,” she said in her broken human tongue.

“Minx,” I groaned and walked over to the couch. Yathanae moved over to Emma who was beckoning her, so I could sit down next to my wife. As soon as I sat down, I had a crying woman hanging around my neck.

Carefully I enveloped her in a hug. It felt good. With a sob, she said, “I was so scared.”

“I’m sorry you had to experience that,” I said. “I don’t know why I’ve been so reckless since I got here, I suspect interference from the Gods or something. Nevertheless, the actions were mine, and something I might have done anyway, so I’m to blame.”

“I don’t care, that man was evil,” she hissed. “He’s not representing my Gods.”

I was not about to start a religious argument. “He’s gone, and hopefully no one like him will come looking for trouble. I want you and our child to be safe, no matter the cost.”

“Don’t speak like that, I thought you were going to die.”

“Honestly, I almost did, but some Goddess or something intervened,” I explained.

“Good, that means it was righteous and we’ve at least one God on our side,” she said and hugged me even more fiercely. “I don’t want you to leave me alone ever again.”

“I have to. I’m leaving in ten days, and I’ll be gone for five months,” I said with a slight hitch in my voice. To be honest, I did not want to leave either. I could not protect my child and her from behind enemy lines.

Her crying rose a pitch or two, and I could just pat her on the back. When she calmed down a bit, she raised her tear stricken face and looked me into the eyes. Then she leaned up and tentatively put her lips on mine. I could feel her lower lip tremble a bit at the contact. It was progress in my book, so I returned the kiss.

It ended soon enough, but Lily had calmed down. She looked at me and said, “I want to give you something to return to.”

“You don’t have to, I’ll do that anyway. You’re carrying my child, I’ll always come back for that,” I said.

“I wish it to be more than that,” she countered.

“So do I, but not right now, not after what we had just been through,” I said. Just the thought of someone touching my dick had it shrivelling up, and felt like a punch to the gut. I wondered if whoever the Goddess was, was using some form of calming mind magic on me because I should be freaking out after what I had just been through.

“That’s probably for the best,” she said.

“How about we cuddle?” I suggested after a moment.

“I’d like that.”

“However, there’s something I need to do that involves Nathalie,” I said. Lily shot me a glare. I gave a laugh, and said, “I’ll explain.”

We walked over to the bed and laid down to cuddle, me still being naked. Seeing that she was taking a break from healing, I said, “Nathalie, I need you over here for a moment.”

“Milord?” she asked confused. Looking away from Emma for the first time. She was clearly wary of her.

“You know most of my secrets, I’ll let you in on another. The priests can form bonds to other mancers, and through them acquire access to their magic,” I explained. “For example, I’ve got a bond with Emma, which lets me shift just like she does.”

I changed my eyes, and after she had calmed down. “And you want to learn to heal, Milord?”

“Exactly,” I said.

“How does it function?” she queried.

I patted the bed next to me. “Lay down here and hold my hand. Just like when I’ve fed you mana, but I’ll be creating a connection between us. When I do, I’ll become drained of mana, and fall asleep pretty quickly.”

She just nodded and did as I had asked, but she looked worried. The moment her hand clasped mine, I sent my mana questing forth to find her pool. It was pretty empty since she had been using her mana to heal Yathanae.

As I formed the bond, I filed the images of her essence away for another time, because I felt something worryingly. As I was forming the new bond, the bond I had with Emma started breaking apart. I concentrated everything on trying to keep both bonds at the same time, but in the end, I failed. The bond with Emma broke, as the new one between me and Nathalie settled in place. It was weaker than the one I had with Emma.

Drifting off, I figured I would be busy for the next ten days before I had to leave. Reorganising the military after our loses, training this new ability to form bonds, find a way to utilize all the new things I learned about magic. However, most importantly I had to shower Lily with what care and love I could because I had a sense that I might not be coming back from the war. I wanted her to have a good impression of me so that she could tell our child about me.