Mana Soul: Chapter 39 - The Hotsprings - Tina

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Four days had passed and Tina still wasn’t sure how exactly Markus had managed to make the slime monster. He had explained his process, the meaning behind each glyph and rune, and even detailed how he extrapolated that information from a dungeon core. None of it helped her understand it any better. Tina even tried replicating the process on her own but failed due to lacking the synergy specialization.

Not being able to replicate the feat of another Artificer would normally drive Tina into a fit of innovative frenzy. However, this time she understood the underlying problem was not something she could overcome with sophisticated engineering, so Tina reluctantly let the issue be. Besides, given Markus’s eagerness for long term collaboration, there wasn’t really a problem.

That was what confused Tina most. Given how talented an Artificer Markus appeared to be, and how wealthy he had become, she couldn’t quite get her head around the fact that Markus was so eager to collaborate in the first place. Granted, Tina was a talented engineer, but there was no shortage of engineers he could patronise for their services. Even more strangely, when Tina raised this point with Markus he didn’t end their collaboration like she had expected him to. Instead, Markus had asked for the name of her teachers and any other graduates she would be willing to vouch for. He wanted to patronize a whole team to support the development of her inventions.

Given how wealthy Markus had become overnight after releasing his recharging station artifice, and his intentions of establishing other stations, Tina didn’t doubt he could tempt even the most ascetic of her former professors. In fact, she knew that a couple of the more eccentric professors would likely work for free if it meant access to a steady supply of mana to power their designs.

Tina’s family interests aside, Markus sponsoring the construction of her designs and providing the mana to fuel them was enough to seal her loyalty for the foreseeable future.

Case in point, Tina rubbed her hands together eagerly as she watched the local fishing boat she had procured now being refitted by a team of local carpenters. The fishing boat was the largest Tina could find on the nearby lake, and she had paid the fishermen handsomely to deliver it to the keep.

Most of the alterations were intended to add greater structural integrity so the boat wouldn’t slowly fall apart while elevated and straining against force provided by the ropes that would connect the envelope of floating gas. Other alterations were made to better allow Tina to attach the mana powered motor later. She had considered the idea of harnessing the wind by attaching a number of smaller sails to the bottom and sides of the boat but had ultimately decided against it for the time being. It was simply too complicated to implement so early in testing the prototype.

Satisfied with the progress being made, Tina returned to her quarters and eagerly reviewed her sketchbook of inventions. There were so many that she wanted to try and implement, but so little time before they would be on the move again. Her grandfather would be arriving sometime in the next couple of days, and Tina could tell Markus was anxious to move into his new castle. Not that she blamed him. The Chavare’s had been sorely testing Hilda’s sense of propriety with their indefinite stay and stressing Markus out by attempting to ambush him with conversation each time he left his room.

The whole situation gave Tina a smug sense of satisfaction in knowing she had beaten the powerful house of Artificers in securing Markus’s favour. It was painfully obvious that the older Chavare woman had intended to seduce Markus or otherwise secure leverage in order to gain his services, or perhaps ‘convince’ him to leave their near-monopoly on the golem market alone.

Tina was sorely tempted to inform the Chavare’s that Markus was already backing out of his golem deal with the Guild. She herself had only found out after an offhand comment from Phillipe triggered a scathing rebuke from Markus regarding the Guild Chapter-Master’s character. This in turn led to an explanation of what had occurred in Endem during his coma, and after hearing it all Tina didn’t blame him. The Guild had stood to make absurd amounts of money off of Markus, and they still would, assuming Markus continued contracting them to run the Artifice Reinvigoration Stations. But Tina was beginning to doubt that particular business arrangement would last much longer either.

The ins and outs of the merchant trade had never really interested Tina. Despite having a good grasp of numbers, she found most aspects of the profession downright migraine-inducing. Even so, Tina had a reasonably good idea of how much gold Markus was making and how much growth potential that artifice would have when introduced to the cities and capitals of the continent.

The world was only just experiencing the dawn of industrialisation driven by artifice. A lack of available mana to fuel the machines was the only thing holding the world back from an industrial revolution, and Markus’s artifice was the key to that. It was brilliant, and even if every other Artificer in the world decided to compete with him, it would only generate further supply to drive forward the mana starved industries.

Even if Markus hadn’t received the warrant of crusade, Tina knew her grandfather would have still wanted to meet with him. The old man liked to ‘invest’ in people early on and reap benefits years or even decades later. The Fighting Geese were just ten over the hill soldiers when her grandfather decided to invest in their mercenary company. Now the Fighting Geese was one of the largest and well known mercenary outfits of the southern Kingdom.

A knock came at the door. “Hello? Tina? It is Hilda. Can we be coming in?” Hilda asked from the other side of the door.

“Sure!” Tina called out without looking away from her portfolio, “It’s not locked, come on in!”

The door opened and Hilda let herself into Tina’s guestroom. Surprisingly, the chimaera Aela was only a half step behind her and invited herself in before closing the door.

“No Kass?” Tina noted absently. This wasn’t the first time Hilda had attempted to initiate ‘female bonding’ in the team. Not that Tina minded the well-intentioned northern giantess’s hospitality and overtures at friendship, but Tina didn’t really consider herself particularly feminine and being reminded of it usually made her frustrated.

“No?” Hilda blushed slightly, “Kass is being shopping with my Phillipe.”

“Mhm,” Tina was only half listening.

Hilda took a seat by the bed and motioned for Aela to take the other. “I was thinking that we could all be going to the hot springs for the day to relax,” she suggested in her upbeat awkward manner.

Tina almost refused out of habit but managed to stop herself in time. “Alright,” she agreed optimistically.

“Really?” Hilda seemed surprised, “Ah, good! Great! We will be meeting downstairs!”

Hilda and Aela both got up and left Tina’s room.

Tina stowed away her portfolio in her travelling chest and made sure to lock it securely.

Leaving her room, Tina headed downstairs to meet up with the others and then the three of them entered a carriage bearing Hilda’s house insignia.

The hour-long trip in the carriage reminded Tina of one of Markus’s latest suggestions. An enclosed horseless wagon with benches that could also serve as beds while travelling. Tina had been somewhat sceptical at the time, but slouching in her seat for a half-hour had changed her mind.

The hot springs were located on a nearby mountain and the last leg of the journey had to be made on foot. Five soldiers had joined them on the journey by riding with the driver and sitting on the luggage bench. Four of these soldiers remained with them to serve as Hilda’s protection while the remaining soldier would help the driver take care of the carriage.

The forested mountainside was colder than Tina had expected and she regretted not wearing a winter cloak as Aela had. It boggled her mind that Hilda was wearing little more than her finely embroidered tunic and pants, thick combat boots and a handaxe looped through her belt alongside a hunting knife.

After the incident with the ghuls, Tina had taken to wearing a knife on her belt too, but she doubted it would ever do much good.

The short hike up the mountain helped Tina warm up a little, but it quickly became redundant as they reached the warm humid air outside of the walled-off hot springs. A small staff greeted them and guided Tina and the others to the changing room while the soldiers took up posts outside the outer walls.

Getting undressed, Tina made sure to quickly change into a provided courtesy towel. It wasn’t that she felt particularly self-conscious, but given how brazenly Hilda was flaunting her own prodigious assets, Tina couldn’t help but cross her arms over the towel defensively.

To her surprise, Tina found Aela doing much the same as she was and they shared a knowing look with one another, forming a silent bond based on mutual understanding.

Tina didn’t remove her towel until she was knee-deep in the hotspring and managed to get a closer look at the extent of Aela’s mutations as she removed her own towel and hastily submerged herself neck-deep in the water.

Contrary to Tina’s expectations, Aela seemed just about covered in scales, although most were so fine they passed for skin. The extent of the thicker scales on her back was almost certainly formidable natural armour, and the ever-present threat of her claws and teeth served as a reminder that Aela was functionally a predator.

“Isn’t it just like I told you it would be?” Hilda breathed contentedly in the northern tongue. Likely commenting on the relief her back was feeling now that the hot water was supporting her ‘heavy chest’.

“It is good,” Aela replied with a lazy rumble, the sound causing the hairs on Tina’s neck to stand on end.

Tina helped herself to a long-handled scrubbing brush and gave her back a thorough scrubbing to distract herself from feeling left out by the language barrier. Tina had many talents, and she knew all too well that languages weren’t one of them. Learning the language of her ancestors had been a near-painful experience, but she had persevered for the sake of tradition. And her grandfather’s promised bequeathment upon proving her fluency had certainly helped.

Watching Aela’s thick scaled tail swirling beneath the water, Tina wondered for what felt like the hundredth time what exactly Markus saw in her. Was he a danger hunter? Or was it some sort of sicker fetish?

“You are staring,” Aela accused, narrowing her eyes suspiciously and drawing her arms defensively in front of her chest as her tail curled loosely around her waist and hips.

Tina felt a momentary flush of embarrassment, “I was just curious,” she admitted, “I have never had such a clear look at a chimaera before.”

“Oh…” Aela relaxed somewhat.

“What is it like?” Tina asked curiously, “Having a tail I mean.”

Aela considered the question for a moment and then shrugged, “What is like having arms? Or legs?” She flexed her arm and kicked a leg for emphasis, “It is just part of me,” she summed up succinctly.

It was an obvious answer that Tina should have expected. All the same, she still felt like there was more to it in spite of Aela’s claim to the contrary.

A half-hour passed in relative silence as they enjoyed the natural heat of the hotspring.

Tina had spent most of that time wondering if she could somehow emulate the effects of the hotsprings in a more convenient location. Heating water was simple enough but there was something else in the water that she couldn’t quite figure out.

Aela was resting her head and arms on the edge of the spring and allowing her body to float face down. Every so often Aela would flick her long thin tongue out into the air or thrash her tail before settling down again. Judging by the relaxed expression on her face Tina assumed she was either sleeping or so incredibly relaxed that she might as well be.

This gave Tina the opportunity to take a closer look at Aela and even lightly touch some of her thicker scales to sate her curiosity.

As Tina was running her fingers over the thickest scales on Aela’s back, the chimaera suddenly stiffened in alertness and sprang out of the water landing in a low crouch.

Worried that she had crossed the line, Tina’s voice caught in her throat as her eyes were drawn to the predator gleam in Aela’s eyes.

“I smell blood!” Aela hissed and tilted her head one way then another, flicking her tongue as she did so and settling on a section of wall on the far side of the hotsprings. “We are in danger, get out,” Aela waved instantly at Tina and Hilda to leave the water and head for the changing room, all sense of her own modesty and insecurities banished by a more immediate perception of danger.

Hilda took a moment to come to her senses, “What? Blood? Danger?” She slurred drowsily before suddenly becoming alert and springing to her feet. “Where is the danger?” Hilda demanded quietly as she stepped out of the hotspring. Just as brazen as Aela, Hilda showed no signs of modesty as she searched the area with her eyes for the threat.

Tina scrambled out of the hotspring and hurriedly draped herself in a towel before running for the nearby changing room. Unlike Hilda who could toughen her skin like steel, or Aela who had a natural armour of scales, Tina was incredibly exposed without her clothing and the enchantments Markus had provided through her brooch.

A few moments later Hilda joined her, hurriedly hiking up her britches, pulling on her tunic and tying them off with her belt before grabbing her handaxe.

“Where is Aela?” Tina demanded, a small wave of panic beginning to rise from the primitive part of her brain now that the chimaera was out of sight.

Hilda moved over to the door and peeked outside, “Aela is-” She was interrupted by a man’s terrified scream from somewhere outside. “-hunting…” Hilda finished quietly and gulped nervously.

Tina was momentarily stunned into inaction, her attention shifting from Hilda to the pile of Aela’s discarded clothes and hunting knives. A frigid shiver ran down her spine as she recalled that the chimaera had no need of knives in order to bring down its prey.

Another scream broke the silence, this time it was a woman, but it didn’t sound like Aela.

Tina hurriedly finished getting dressed and decided to ‘borrow’ Aela’s hooded winter cloak to buy herself some more protection.

Hilda had momentarily left the door and was now experimentally hefting one of the changing room chairs in her left hand, “Will have to do,” she grunted.

Drawing her knife, Tina felt woefully underprepared, “What are we going to do?” She demanded quietly, “Are we making a run for the carriage, or-”

A dozen or more different voices began shouting from the direction of the building used to enter the walled-off hotsprings.

Hilda shook her head, “Too much risky,” she then pointed to Aela’s clothes, “Uh crystal slab, call help,” Hilda explained distractedly as she grimly kept watch through the doorway.

“Crystal slab?” Tina muttered in confusion as she quickly began pawing through Aela’s belongings. Feeling a hard flat rectangular item in Aela’s pants pocket, Tina was profoundly relieved to find one of Markus’s multipurpose tablets. Unsure of how it worked, she felt a fresh wave of panic rise in her heart as the sounds of shouting soldiers drew closer. “How the hell am I meant to call for help on this thing?!” Tina demanded irritably as she did her best to stave off a panic attack.

After a few moments, the tablet quietly chimed and several messages appeared almost simultaneously.

[Peabody: “Are you in danger Lady Irongate? What is your location? Who is with you? Do you know the source of the danger?”]

[Hector Anxious: “How many enemies? Where is Aela? Can you confirm her safety?!”]

[Leona Irritated: “Distance deemed inadvisable for personal intervention, relaying distress to the Creator with the recommendation to deploy local assets.”]

[Dolly Supportive: “Stay hidden. Help is coming!”]

Reading through the messages from Markus’s business partner and golems, Tina was momentarily dumbstruck by their myriad of responses to her question. It only intensified when she realised that they had either been eavesdropping this entire time, or she had somehow accidentally activated the tablet and now had no idea if she might just as easily turn it off again. “They sound like soldiers,” Tina whispered urgently, “There are at least a dozen or more. We are at the mountain hotsprings. Hilda, heiress to the Jarldom of Skalisberg is with me, but Aela is...hunting…” Tina made a point of mentioning Hilda’s status in hopes that the merchant Peabody would take the matter more seriously and somehow materialise an army to help them. Given Markus’s backdoor access to the Guild communications network, it wasn’t an altogether unreasonable possibility.

A few tense seconds passed before another chime sounded from the tablet.

[Peabody: “Lady Irongate, I have contacted Skalisberg authorities and informed them of your situation. I am also attempting to establish contact with the Irongate Patriarch in the event that you are taken hostage and a ransom is offered. Please remain calm, I promise to provide assistance as best I can.”]

Hilda carefully closed the door, “Out of time,” she grunted and took a step to the side as she prepared for combat.

Unsure of what Hilda expected of her, Tina drifted to the left side of the room so she was on the same side as Hilda and a more difficult target for any potential archers amongst their assailants.

With hushed voices now just on the other side of the door, their whispers were suddenly cut short by a mournful and protracted howl of terror.

A half minute or so passed in complete silence before being broken by someone on the other side of the door.

“It’s that fucking chimaera! I told you! We need more than enchanted weapons! We need a fucking Warrior at the very least!” A male voice exclaimed fearfully.

“Shut it!” Another man snapped, “We just need to kill her and run. No way that chimaera can catch us once we reach the horses!”

A pained scream echoed over the hotsprings and brought the conversation outside of the door to an abrupt end again.

“Fuck this! The money aint worth it!” A woman shouted and was followed by the sound of something hitting the ground and fleeing footsteps.

“Boss! We don’t have enough men!” The first male voice from earlier complained fearfully.

“I SAID SHUT IT!” The second male voice roared in return, “WE JUST NEED TO RUSH IN THERE AND-” A woman’s scream of panic briefly eclipsed his words, “-THE DOOR!”

Hilda seemed to have changed her mind and dropped the chair as she moved to brace against the door, her eyes changing colour as she increased her strength and hardened her skin.

Hurrying forward, Tina quickly removed her brooch and managed to press it against the door just in time to feel a heavy impact land on the opposite side.

Hilda seemed surprised and there was a similarly confused expletive from the other side of the door.

Another blow struck the door, harder and louder this time.

“Not even a fucking scratch?!” A new male voice cursed.

“It’s that damn bitch of an Artificer!” Another joined in, “We spent too long with our thumbs up our asses and that bitch has enchanted the damn door!”

Hilda seemed relieved and decided to conserve her mana.

“Well, let’s just fucking cut down one of the walls then!” Another male voice suggested irritably, “We got time. All of the Jarl’s loyalists and the hotspring staff are taken care of, so no one is going to go for help except maybe for that chimaera. And if that monster leaves, we will have plenty of time to turn the whole building into kindling. Adventurers aren’t so tough! You just need to drain their mana!”

“Yeah!” Agreed another man supportively, his wavering voice now seeming to regain confidence.

“That monster is only picking off anyone who goes off alone!” Another joined in, “So long as we stick together we-URK!” His voice suddenly trailed off and a few moments later there was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

“OH SHIT! IT HAS FAFNIR’S CROSSBOW!” A woman cried out in panic.

“SHIELDS UP!” Roared the male voice from earlier, his composure now beginning to crack and give way to fear.

There was the muffled sound of clattering wood and panicked whispering.

A lengthy silence ensued.

“Do you think it's gone?” One of the men asked. Even though she couldn’t understand the words, Tina could tell he was terrified and may have sympathised with him were it not for the fact that he was trying to kill or kidnap her.

The sound of something striking wood broke the silence and was shortly followed by a cry of pain. “My arm! Fuck! It’s in my fucking arm! Get it out! Get it out!”

There was the sound of something falling to the ground, “Stay still! Let me...Oh fuck…” The male voice turned from supportive to horrified.

“H-help m-me,” the wounded man pleaded. A moment later something fell against the door and then didn’t move.

“What the fuck?!” Someone cursed.

“How did he even bleed out so fast?!” Joined in another.

“These shields are fucking useless!” Cursed another, “And whose fucking idea was it to ask for enchanted bolts?!”

“We need cover!” One of the male voices insisted and was joined by what sounded like muffled assent from the others.

A few moments later, Tina heard footsteps moving away from the door.

“FUCKING COWARDS!” The man from earlier cursed from just beyond the door, “GET THE HELL BACK HERE AND COVER ME WHILE I CUT DOWN THIS DOOR!” A heavy blow landed against the door to accentuate his words.

“What the hell is going on?!” Tina whispered, doing her best not to panic.

Hilda had to lick her dry lips and swallow before being able to talk. “It is sounding like Aela is hunting good,” she explained awkwardly, “These...bandits…” Hilda struggled to find the right word and didn’t seem to like her final choice but pressed on anyway, “They thinking they are safe by staying together so Aela no hunting them,” another heavy blow landed against the door and was followed by vitriolic cursing, “Aela has finding dead man's crossbow and hunting anyway.”

Tina was genuinely surprised by Aela’s resourcefulness. Not to put her down, but Markus certainly seemed like the brains of their partnership.

Another blow hammered against the door. “Break damn you! BREAK!” The man's voice demanded almost frantically. “AIIIEEEE!” His cry of fear and surprise was accompanied by a wet muffled crunch of breaking bones and tearing meat.

The crunching sound continued for a while before it eventually stopped and muted sounds of dragging came from the other side of the door.

A heavy knocking sounded against the door, “It is me, Aela. I have taken care of the bandits,” Aela called out tiredly and then yawned.

Hilda and Tina both shared a look of apprehension before Hilda waved Tina back and opened the door.

The open door revealed Aela, still naked, but now caked head to toe in blood and viscera. She even had what looked like a small length of torn muscle stuck in her teeth.

“Most soldiers are dead. I bound the wounds of the two I found alive,” Aela explained apologetically as she motioned to the outer wall. “The people who greeted us, I was too late to do anything for them. I moved them all just outside. I also took one prisoner, just in case.” Aela slouched and released a deep yawn. Blinking blearily, she shook her head to try and focus, “Tied her up by the others…” Aela yawned wider this time, her mouth opening wide enough that she could fit Tina’s neck between her teeth.

“H-help is on the way…” Tina stammered and awkwardly held up the tablet.

Aela blinked uncomprehendingly at her for a moment before suddenly becoming quite alert and self-conscious. “Ah! No! Markus can’t see me like this!” She hissed in a panic and attempted to wipe away the worst patches of her gore matted scales with the palms of her equally as bloody hands.

Hilda seemed equally as startled by her words and after a moment mutely pointed to the hotsprings and their discarded towels.

Profoundly relieved, Aela ran to the nearest hotspring and dove in, quickly sending plumes of crimson clouds out into the surrounding hot water.

While Aela bathed, Hilda and Tina both had plenty of time to take in the carnage she had left in her wake. True to her word, Aela had left a single survivor to serve as a prisoner. The woman was missing a leg below the right kneecap and had a bloodstained tourniquet above the grizzly stump, but what was disturbing was the near-immediate proximity of the severed portion of the leg and a bloody sword discarded only a few feet away.

Almost every bandit body bore claw or bite wounds to the head, neck or chest. In the instances of bite wounds, the missing chunks of flesh and shredded arteries went a long way to explaining Aela’s thoroughly bloody appearance.

Hilda’s surviving pair of soldiers were both in a poor state, having been run through from behind by swords or daggers of some description. The soldiers’ ambushers had missed their kidneys by less than an inch and that was almost certainly the reason they survived while the others did not.

Surprisingly, there were over a dozen horses tethered to the trees just across the path, explaining how the bandits had managed to come upon them so quickly out of nowhere.

Leaving Hilda to keep watch over her men and the prisoner, Tina reluctantly passed through the charnel house that had once been the reception building and made her way over to Aela.

Aela was frantically scrubbing herself down with one of the horsehair brushes. The deep sense of panic in her eyes belied the carnage she had wrought minutes earlier and left Tina speechless as she tried to understand what could possibly have her so spooked all of a sudden. There was absolutely no way she could be considered squeamish, not after a massacre like this.

“Oh no!” Aela had just noticed that her hair was plastered in as much gore as her face. Tearing the leather cord from her hair, Aela desperately dunked her head under the pink water and furiously ran her fingers through her hair. The effort was largely futile. Enough blood had dried that her hair had begun to stain.

Feeling bad for her, and knowing that she very likely owed Aela her life, Tina grit her teeth and reentered the charnel house. Doing her best to ignore the entrails spilled across the floor and the sticky feeling of the drying blood beneath her boots, Tina focused on the hotsprings reception desk. After crossing the room, Tina very carefully opened one of the desk drawers to check its contents.

As she had hoped, the drawer was full of strong-smelling vials that immediately drove back the otherwise pervading smell of iron and ruptured bowels. Nauseatingly intense, the vials were filled with scented oils and perfumes. One of the receptionists had left a vial on the desk when they arrived, but there was no sign of it now. Very likely, one of the now-dead bandits had snatched it shortly before receiving their comeuppance.

Sparing only a few moments to try and find the strongest smelling scented oils, Tina snatched up one in each hand and quickly left the building.

After waiting for her nausea to recede, Tina reluctantly made her way over to Aela who was now thoroughly distraught and sitting hangdog in the hotspring.

“Raaagh!” Aela thrashed her arms and tail sending water flying in sheets. Without her braid, Aela’s hair had been worked into a tangled mess and was dribbling red-tinted water down her face, shoulders and back.

Tina flinched reflexively and took three steps back, nearly tripping over Aela’s borrowed cloak and almost dropping the vials. Steeling her nerve, Tina cautiously renewed her approach. Even though she was almost certain Aela wasn't so much enraged as she was frustrated and upset, Tina still struggled to draw closer. There were a multitude of examples depicting just how quickly the chimaera could kill her and Tina’s only real protection was the brooch pinned to her jacket.

Feeling a newfound respect for Markus’s fortitude, Tina unclasped Aela’s cloak and hurried the remaining distance to the hotspring before she could fully consider what she was doing. As Tina stepped up to the edge of the hotspring, she caught Aela’s eye from beneath her tangled and dishevelled hair and bodily flinched.

Aela continued staring at her with frantic eyes, “I...I can’t…” She raised her clawed hands to her hair and clasped them stiffly before making contact, “I...don’t...want…” Aela’s shoulders sagged and her expression turned sorrowful, “I can’t let him see this…”

“What?” Tina was surprised.

“I’m not a monster!” Aela snapped and began rocking herself back and forth like an upset child.

Tina lost her nerve and backed away, leaving the vials of oil on the ground nearby. Not quite willing to pass through the reception area again just yet, Tina approximated Hilda’s general position on the opposite side of the wall and hurried over. “Hilda? Are you there?”

There was a long silence.

“I am here!” Hilda called back, “Is something going wrong?”

“Aela is...Upset,” Tina explained hesitantly, glancing over her shoulder towards the hotsprings and the irate chimaera.

“Upset?” Hilda asked with a sense of confused concern, “She is injured?!” Her tone turned deadly serious.

That gave Tina pause. “I...Uh...I mean...There was a lot of blood…” She hedged uncertainly.

“The..bandits…” Hilda still sounded dissatisfied with the word, “I found very strange bottles, poisons I think! You need to be checking her!”

“I…” Tina felt herself go weak at the knees, “I don’t think that is a good idea…” She deflected selfishly.

Hilda made no reply. A couple of minutes later, she passed through the reception hall and beelined straight for Aela with long urgent strides. Jumping straight into hotspring, alongside Aela, Hilda spoke urgently with her and immediately became even more concerned.

“RAAAGH!” Aela roared and viciously shoved Hilda away, sending the powerful northern woman flying backwards out of the hotspring and crashing into the stone wall ringing the enclosed area.

Now thoroughly terrified, Tina took advantage of her short stature and made herself seem even shorter, ducking down against the wall and hoping she remained unnoticed.

Hilda groggily got to her feet and began unsteadily stomping back towards Aela while holding a staying hand out in Tina’s direction, “Stay out! She is raving!” Hilda warned, the front of her tunic hanging in tatters from where Aela’s claws had torn through it. “Aela! It is me Hilda, your friend! I am here to help!” She jumped fearlessly into the hotspring again and waded towards Aela.

“HE CAN’T SEE!” Aela screamed and bared her teeth as her tail cracked like a whip and shattered the worked stone of the hotspring. Aela sounded positively unhinged and manic, and was visibly twitching.

“I am here to help!” Hilda repeated, “I believe you have been poisoned and are in danger!” She continued forward but was more careful this time, her stance reminiscent of a wrestler. “You need to get out of the water!”

“Poisoned?...” Aela seemed to momentarily come to her senses and staggered like she had suddenly lost her balance.

Hilda charged. Taking advantage of Aela’s distraction, Hilda bodily tackled her, took hold and leapt out of hotspring.

The pair landed hard against the exposed stone ground and fell away from one another.

Hilda recovered first but was hampered somewhat by her now thoroughly rent tunic. While she made to shed the torn sodden fabric away, Aela pounced.

Teeth bared and claws bared, Aela slammed into Hilda and they both tumbled over the ground again, only this time Hilda was desperately trying to hold Aela at bay as Aela in turn frantically sought to tear Hilda’s throat out with her bare teeth.

The telltale metallic sheen of Hilda’s skin confirmed she had activated her ability to take on tremendous physical toughness, and yet spatters of bright and dark crimson had begun appearing on her chest and arms. As tough as Hilda was, Aela was obviously proving more vicious and capable than expected.

Tina had seen Hilda block a sharpened blade with her bare arm and walk away with a scratch. Seeing that Aela was capable of bypassing that same insane level of defence was truly terrifying.

Desperate, Hilda drove her knee into Aela’s gut with enough force that Tina heard the blow from her hiding place. Hilda followed this up with a powerful shove that separated them and allowed her to regain her feet again. Panting heavily and bloodied all over, Hilda still showed no signs of backing down.

Aela was another matter altogether. Aela lay where she fell, clawed hands twitching and tail writhing as she slowly curled into the fetal position to protect her vital organs.

“Aela?” Hilda lowered her guard and quickly hurried over to Aela’s side. Kneeling down beside her, Hilda pawed at Aela’s back and neck with her hands. Apparently not finding what she was looking for, Hilda rolled Aela onto her back and pushed away her arms before repeating the same process on her front.

Aela’s arms hung awkwardly at her sides and her head lolled like a mannequin with half its strings cut.

Paying particular attention to an area of Aela’s chest between her right breast and collarbone, Hilda briefly turned away from the disoriented chimaera and looked to Tina. “She is cut!” Hilda called out with immense concern, “She must be colder!” She did her best to splay Aela’s limbs out and expose her to the open air. “TINA!” Hilda shouted exasperatedly, “HELP!”

The primitive part of Tina’s brain was screaming at her to run and not look back, but Tina ruthlessly beat it down with Irongate pragmatism. For whatever truly insane reason, Aela was the focus of Markus’s romantic affection, and Tina had no delusions about how quickly her family’s relationship with him would end if Aela were to expire on her watch. With her emotional blackmail thoroughly secured, Tina skittishly made her way towards the discarded towels.

Short of dragging Aela through the reception hall to the slightly cooler air outside on the mountain, Tina figured soaked towels given a good whipping through the air might be the coolest relief they could provide. So that’s what she did. After another hurried reminder to her subconscious of what was at stake, Tina stiffly made her way over to Hilda and all but threw the soaked towels at Aela before hurriedly backing away. Just being that close to the chimaera had very nearly caused Tina to faint.

Expecting Hilda to be upset with her, Tina was surprised when Hilda gave her a sympathetic look of understanding. Made all the more profound by the dozens of light lacerations covering her arms and upper body.

Hilda threw one of the towels aside and tore the other into smaller pieces before using a smaller piece to rest against Aela’s heaving chest.

As time passed, Aela’s breathing slowly returned to normal, but she made no signs of conscious movement.

Tina retrieved her own towel from the changing building and wet it in one of the clean hotsprings before insisting Hilda bind her own wounds and her exposed chest. Depending on how long it had taken to relay their distress, Tina figured a relief force could arrive at just about any moment.

As Markus came charging out of the reception hall with the Chavares hot on his heels, Tina realised she was half right.

“Aela!” Markus threw himself to his knees beside Aela and cradled her neck as his eyes were drawn to the small puckered cut on her upper chest. “Aela?” Markus shook her gently and lifted her closer.

Tina balked, the memory of her earlier actions still fresh in her mind. She couldn’t decide if Markus was the bravest man she had ever met, or the most insane. With Aela’s mouth so close to his jugular, he would be dead with a heartbeat if she had a mind to.

“Markus, please, I can-” Zoe approached Markus with the same trepidation Tina felt for Aela. He had done something that had profoundly shaken her, that much was clear.

“Just heal her!” Markus demanded, his sweet words for Aela turned to a bitter snarl towards the Chavare’s Scion. Eyes black as midnight and silver irises burning like molten silver, Tina felt her breath catch in her lungs and her heart stop beating until she managed to look away. Hilda was similarly affected, coming just short of collapse before managing to back far enough away to regain her strength.

Zoe timidly hurried the final distance and placed her hands on Aela. After a brief flash of golden and emerald light, the small cut on Aela’s chest began to rapidly close. Seemingly drained by the effort, Zoe Chavare staggered backwards into the arms of her aunt. Similarly cowed, the normally gregarious woman remained silent and kept a wary eye on Markus, her tight and protective grip on her niece betraying a certain level of fear.

As Aela began to stir, Markus’s eyes returned to normal.

It was only then that Tina realised she was positively drenched in an ice-cold flop sweat.

“Aela?” Markus gently jostled Aela again, his earlier bitterness completely replaced by doting concern, “Everything’s going to be okay now, I’m here.” He kissed Aela’s forehead and then hugged her close.

Tina no longer felt afraid for Markus and was surprised to find that she had a momentary concern for Aela instead. Markus’s earlier behaviour and sudden oppressive presence was something Tina had never experienced before. Was this another one of his abilities? Or was it just a manifestation of his collective specialties? Tina had no way of knowing for sure. While not a religious person per se, Tina observed the major seasonal services and holidays, if only to keep more devout believers of the Divines off her back. The concept of a soul had always been a sticking point for Tina and she had yet to meet a clergyman or devotee who could explain it to her satisfaction. But the unique fear Markus had brought out in her was the closest she had come to being convinced by a substantial margin.

Aela’s face twitched and her eyelids fluttered. As she inhaled, her tongue darted out and smacked Markus in the face, running along his cheek and narrowly missing his eye, not that Markus seemed to mind. The moment Aela’s tongue returned to her mouth, her body stiffened and eyes shot open. “Markus!” Aela wrapped her arms around Markus and buried her face in his neck.

When the Chavare’s made their retreat to the wall near the reception hall, Tina decided to try and investigate what Markus had done to so thoroughly disturb them.

Zoe’s aunt Adeline refused to say anything and was brazenly gulping down the contents of a silver-plated flask she had retrieved from her scandalously styled corset.

“He made a golem…” Zoe answered quietly, fidgeting her hands nervously, “Right there in front of us…”

“What?!” Tina demanded. So far as Markus had explained it to her, making his golems was a rather time-consuming process.

“He made a golem in front of us…” Zoe repeated and glanced towards Markus worriedly, “Just like-” She snapped her fingers, “-that…”

“You aren’t making sense,” Tina insisted, “Do you really expect me to believe he just made a golem on the spot? No prep work or anything?” She goaded derisively.

Zoe nodded.

Tina reflexively wanted to deny the claim further but was interrupted by a chime from the tablet still stowed in her pocket. Suddenly quite nervous, Tina withdrew the tablet and looked to see which of Markus’s golems intended to weigh in on the conversation.

[?: “Hello!”]

Tina felt her mouth turn dry as she looked over the contents of the message and realised its potential ramifications.

[?: “I travelled really fast! Just like the Creator told me to!”]

Tina’s knees grew weak, “This is a trick…”

[?: “Are we friends now? Can you give me a name?!”]

“Tell me…” Tina croaked, “What did Markus make into a golem?”

Zoe’s eyes drifted to the wall but said nothing.

Tina practically ran through the reception hall and nearly stumbled backwards as she recognised her horseless carriage parked nearby. It had branches and leaves lodged in the luggage rails and chunks of underbrush caught in the undercarriage. With no sign of her driver Ryan, Tina felt a fresh wave of unease as she slowly made her way towards the carriage.

The sudden chime combined with her mounting anxiety nearly gave Tina a heart attack. With trembling fingers, she looked down at the new message on the tablet.

[?: “Hello!”]

The carriage rocked on its suspension and flickered its lanterns.

Tina nimbly raised her free hand and waved.

[?: “I did a good job! Right?! I didn’t stop for anything! Just like the Creator said!”]

The carriage rolled back and forth energetically, the rear wheel gearbox operating independently of the momentum levels situated in front of the driver's seat.

[?: “Can I have a name now?! Everyone else has a name! I want one too!”]

“I...uh...I don’t think it’s my place to…” Tina was struggling to come to grips with the fact that Markus had turned her horseless carriage into a golem. Furthermore, she couldn’t figure out if the golem was being overbearingly aggressive or was just incredibly excited.

[?: “Please?!”]

[?: “Now you have to give me a name! The others say so! That’s the rule! When you say please people have to do what you want! And I Want a name! NOW! PLEASE!!!”]

Racking her brain for a name, if only to stop the golem’s badgering, Tina settled on the name of an annoying sprite from a story her grandfather had told her as a child. “Puck! Okay, your name is Puck!” Tina exclaimed irritably.

[?: “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!”]

Tina had half a mind to stop looking at the tablet. The more she thought about what Markus had done, the more of a problem Tina found with it. The horseless carriage had taken months of trial and error, and no shortage of crowns to pay for components. And now Markus had gone and turned it into a golem...Admittedly, Tina liked the idea as a concept, and if the golem was better behaved...

[?: “Can you tell the Creator to change my name now?! Please?!”]

[Dolly Apologetic: “Sorry...Puck isn’t listening properly...I said you MIGHT do what Puck wants if Puck asked nicely and said please...”]

[?: “Can you tell the Creator to change my name now?! Please?!”]

Reading the golem’s message repeated word for word, Tina decided it was time to return the tablet to Markus. As she placed the tablet in her pocket and turned to the reception hall again, Tina hesitated.

To Tina’s surprise, the carriage trundled past her and came to a halt by the wall.

The tablet chimed again and Tina reluctantly decided to check the message.

[?: “You don’t want to go in there, right? Just climb me!”]

Tina was momentarily stunned by the golem’s creative problem-solving skills. Markus had, of course, already explained that his golems were capable of creative thinking, but Tina hadn’t really believed it.

Climbing the carriage, Tina could see a ragged line of soldiers rushing up the mountainside in their direction. Deciding it would be best if everyone was aware of the development, but unwilling to forfeit her potential line of retreat, Tina opted for shouting a warning instead. Besides, with the prospect of sharing a carriage ride with both Markus and Aela, Tina wanted to make the most of their relative distance as long as possible.