“Well,” Nicholas begins slowly, dragging the moment out. The lady facing him has an anxious, drawn expression that contrasts ill with the jewels with which she is practically dripping. “I will not levy any official sanctions against House Deepdelve,” he decides, with reluctance curling in his breast. “The ills that have befallen Zlona are not entirely to be laid at your door.”

  Lady Deepdelve sighs in relief, the lines on her face relaxing. Nicholas thinks, perhaps a little uncharitably, that given what he had found, such relief is a little unwarranted.

  Just because he didn’t find enough evidence of mismanagement to sanction the city lady didn’t mean that she had made a laudable effort. Quite the reverse, really. Nicholas eyes the jewels that Lady Deepdelve is known for and wonders whether they were financed with the city funds that should have been dedicated to ensuring that the city defences were kept in excellent condition.

  Individually, the cost-saving measures shouldn’t have had a noticeable impact on the failure of Zlona to defend against the beast wave without loss to their population – registered citizens, that is. However, the combination of fraying enchantments, supplies containing aging and almost ineffective potions, food on the edge of being inedible, and an unexpected and unusually strong beast wave were all ingredients that created the disaster currently assailing Zlona.

  “However,” he continues, and sees Lady Deepdelve’s expression tighten again. “I have been…displeased by the state of preparedness of Zlona.”

  “My lord, with all respect, a beast wave like this is almost unprecedented and–”

  “Lady Deepdelve,” he cuts her off with a forbidding note in his voice. “Almost unprecedented means that it has happened before. That gives a strong likelihood that it will happen again. Your city only barely met the preparedness standards required of all cities with a lord – or lady – in residence. Even if it had been a normal beast wave, you would have suffered more losses and more damage than you should have.”

  Lady Deepdelve lowers her eyes and stays silent. Sensibly – Nicholas finds himself out of patience for her. Especially when sirens wail again, announcing a new wave of beasts approaching the city.

  Nicholas stands decisively.

  “I must go to the walls. I suggest that you make an appearance to assure your population of your sincere desire to prevent any more of them from losing their lives.” He gives her a meaningful look.

  “Of course,” she agrees hurriedly. “That was in my mind also.” She gives him a strained smile. They both know that even if Nicholas cannot levy an official sanction, he can still make life more difficult for her.

  With a barely courteous nod, Nicholas strides out. As soon as he exits the main doors and enters the courtyard, he calls for Attis. The lightning-affinity griffin appears in a cloud of smoke.

  Another battle, Binder? he asks, his tone slightly fatigued.

  Yes, Nicholas confirms flatly, swinging himself onto Attis’ back. The griffin leaps up into the air and soon spirals above the city. Zlona spreads out below him, circling an artificial mountain that the original Deepdelves created. They like to pretend it was intentional, but Nicholas has evidence in his family grimoires that makes it very clear that the rise was actually all the earth and stone the Deepdelves dug out of the surrounding mountains in search of precious gems and metals. Kings of the refuse heap – not much has changed there, Nicholas comments sardonically to himself.

  A cursory glance identifies the battlefield. Not that it takes much – the beasts have been focussing on two spots in particular, unerringly striking for the weakest points on the section of the wall closest to the forest. If the city did its job properly, there wouldn’t be any weak spots, Nicholas grumbles mentally.

  Land briefly to allow the others out and then we’ll focus on the fliers, Attis, Nicholas instructs and feels the griffin’s agreement. Despite the great beast’s increasing fatigue, the predator in him is eager to rip and tear.

  Attis soon swoops towards the earth, only Nicholas’ firm grip with his legs keeping him on the griffin’s back. Mentally, the lord directs his Bonded to land near his heir’s forces. Markus’ ex-slave quickly hurries to meet him, bowing deeply.

  “I leave my ground Bonded with you,” Nicholas tells him shortly. “I will deal with the fliers.”

  “Yes, my lord,” the ex-slave replies. Nicholas pays him no more heed, instead summoning all the Bonded he’s willing to bring to battle – twenty-six in total. Not all of his Bonded are particularly effective in combat, and there are some who he doesn’t want to risk – their future potential is far greater than their present.

  Nicholas quickly gives his instructions. Malaya leads his Bonded in his absence and the motherly, hard-shelled estian gets on well with Markus’ manservant, though she towers over him as she does Nicholas – another reason she’s never stopped treating him like her cub. Nicholas was wary the first time he gave his Bonded’s wellbeing over to Markus’ servant, but he has proven himself suitable. He is no general, but he is good at paying attention to who is in trouble and needs support.

  Additionally, through his Dominate Bond with Markus, Loran can touch his own Bonded and command them. The discovery was more than a little discomforting – at least Nicholas’ high Willpower prevents Loran from doing so without his permission.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Frankly, Nicholas itches at every reminder of the Bond that sits so heavily upon his shoulders. He looks forward to the day when it will be broken.

  Climbing onto Attis’ back once more, Nicholas is joined by the Tier Three Calista, her horse-like front legs stamping at the air, acid flying from her muzzle as she tosses her head, Lithos the winged serpent, Arman, a high Tier two giant roc with powerful Air abilities, Selena, an immature wind sprite, and Rithal, a Tier Two firebird.

  Soaring into the air, they begin targeting the fliers that are already beginning to dive upon the city, allowing the ground troops to concentrate on the other attacking beasts.

  The fliers are called kzil and are almost like wyverns, only with shorter tails and necks. They don’t seem to have control over magic, but they can boost their speed unpredictably, almost seeming to teleport between one spot and another. Along with their venomous fangs and tendency to swarm, it makes for a fight that requires focus, even if it’s not one they’re likely to lose.

  Calista flails out with black acidic tentacles, each contact making a kzil shriek and wail. She targets their wings where she can and soon dark red bodies are falling out of the sky like flies.

  Arman is doing almost as well with a controlled mini tornado, the whirling air sucking up kzil one at a time, mashing them together with each other, and then spitting them out to fall to the earth behind their own lines.

  As for Attis and Nicholas, they’re both wielding lightning, Nicholas choosing to duplicate his mount’s attack. Together, their strikes enhance each other, and instead of a single target, their lightning forks to attack multiple at once, kzil burning up from within or plummeting to the ground with their muscles locked. And, as an added bonus, Nicholas doesn’t suffer the painful discharge from Attis that he might have if he’d used a different element. Though Mitigation reduces damage from his Bonded almost entirely, that ‘almost’ is what hurts.

  Lithos and Selena are working well together, the wind sprite isolating targets while Lithos dives in to constrict and bite. Rithal is struggling more – he can’t kill or damage his targets quickly enough to prevent them swarming him. But the firebird has learned from previous battles and uses his flames to teleport out of the swarm when it becomes too much for him to manage.

  Attis, they’re attacking the healers again, Nicholas warns as he observes where the kzil are swarming. The griffin immediately dives towards the vulnerable magic-users. Everyone else, continue here. Don’t let the ground fighters become overwhelmed.

  Together, he and the griffin deal with the kzils harrying the healers moving the wounded. He thinks uncharitably about the Deepdelves’ cost-cutting measures that have meant few weapons or enchantments protect the non-combattant healers.

  Once the immediate swarm is dealt with, Nicholas takes a moment to judge if it’s better for them to remain to guard the healers as they work, or to seek out more enemies elsewhere. The swarms of kzils are beginning to thin.

  Down below, those holding the wall are doing well – there don’t appear to be any Tier threes in this wave, at least.. The fighters he brought with him have bolstered the numbers of the existing guard. Markus’ human fighters are doing surprisingly well too. Nicholas was concerned that putting in a slave – and a recently purchased one at that – in charge of citizen volunteers would be too much to ask, but he’s been pleasantly surprised.

  Nicholas notices that a section is beginning to struggle and directs Attis down to help – together, they thin the crowd of beasts swarming up the wall. Though there are local species such as helvens and mila that have joined the wave, most of the beasts are some sort of large rous-like creature called ithans that, like their smaller counterparts, excel at climbing and jumping.

  If the enchantments were as effective as they should be, this wouldn’t be a problem! Nicholas thinks angrily to himself as he sees the undulating mass swarm up one section of wall, the mounted siege weaponry barely managing to thin the numbers. Enchantments that were fraying at the beginning of the fight have already failed – the walls will most likely need to be fully rebuilt after this whole situation is dealt with. He feels a little dark satisfaction at the thought of Lady Deepdelve’s face when he insists that the funds come from her own pocket. A fitting punishment for her mismanagement.

  Swooping close to the beasts on the other side of the wall, Nicholas and Attis target the biggest and strongest of the attackers, wanting to lessen the pressure on the defenders while not stealing all of the kills – several of the defenders have Classes and will grow by making the kills themselves.

  By the time Nicholas rises to the height of the wall again, Markus’ Bonded have responded to the emergency. He watches as the four larnatis work together to isolate and kill ithans very efficiently; the young white dragon guards them from above. The four humanoid lizard-kins are absent from today’s battle, however. Knowing how important they are to his heir, Nicholas is about to ask after them when suddenly a summons makes him stiffen.

  Markus is tugging at the Bond between them, the Dominate aspect of it urging the lord to submit. Wielding his own Willpower as a knife, he cuts through the command, the need to obey dying away as if it had never existed.

  Though he’s capable of wielding a summons at a distance, his heir’s range is not as wide as it will be when he’s grown more, but much can be divined from the emotions behind the command. Markus is frantic, and grimly determined. He must have encountered a foe too strong for his party, Nicholas concludes, his mind racing. Perhaps the rift is controlled by a Tier four – or even a mated pair of them.

  Below, he sees that his heir’s emotional state has washed over his other Bonded. The larnatises falter briefly, failing to make their kill. And the dragon flutters back and forth in the air, as if uncertain of whether to go or stay. The ex-slave is gazing out to the forest, his body language tense. But none of them appear to have received the same kind of command – that seems to have been reserved for Nicholas alone. His mouth set in a grim line, the lord can only take that as a worrying sign.

  He flicks a measuring glance around the battlefield. This wave is under control. He even sees evidence that the Deepdelves have joined the fight. His absence will not doom Zlona, and his heir needs his help.

  Stay here, Nicholas orders Loran sharply, uncertain about whether the young man would attempt to plunge into the forest in search of his Binder, for all its dangers. I will go and investigate what troubles my heir.

  Directing Attis to the ground where his Bonded are collecting, he summons Callista and Arman to him. Taking his cues from Markus’ emotional state, he takes only his most powerful fighters, leaving the others to guard Zlona against any other attack that might take advantage of the tired warriors.

  Malaya–

  I’ll watch over them all, she reassures him, not even needing his verbal command to know what he needs. Be careful, she warns him and he gives her a flat look but accepts the concern in the spirit it’s meant.

  Leaving only Attis and Arman out of the tattoos, as his fastest Bonded, it’s only a couple of flames after Markus called for help that Nicholas is in the air, flying as fast as possible in his heir’s direction.

  He activates every Skill he has to enhance Attis and Arman’s speed – if Markus is in a battle, flickers could count.

  Binder, let me get there in time, he prays.

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here!

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