Chương 133: Off My Land

Rain hammered the magi-car hard enough to drown the crystal drive's rising whine. Water sheeted across the front glass. Beyond it, the forest rushed at us in black walls. The road was barely a road at all. Mud swallowed the iron-banded wheels. Every turn threatened to throw us into a trunk. Every downhill stretch became a controlled fall. Henrik pushed harder. He sat hunched over the controls, both hands locked around the steering bar. Mana Blood circulated at full force beneath his skin.

Each heartbeat forced mana into his eyes, hands, and muscles. His reactions had crossed beyond human. The rear wheel struck a buried rock and kicked sideways. Henrik corrected before the car had moved more than a finger-width off line. A branch snapped toward the front glass. He ducked, turned, and sent the magi-car sliding beneath it without losing speed.

"Left!" I shouted.

"I can see it!" A fallen tree filled the road ahead. Henrik wrenched the steering bar. The magi-car carved through the mud and missed the shattered trunk by less than half a meter. Branches clawed across the bodywork. One punched through the canvas side panel beside my head and showered the rear compartment with leaves. Henrik dragged us back onto the road.

"Still alive?" he called.

"For now." I braced one boot against the seat opposite me and looked through the fractured side window. The second magi-car appeared whenever the road straightened. Dorn drove it. I could see his silhouette bent over the steering bar. Lena occupied the rear compartment with a portable comm array strapped across her knees. Four more magi-cars followed. Every driver was an Iron Cross Knight.

Mana Blood circulated at maximum output through each of them, granting the reflexes needed to maintain near-top speed through a storm. I pushed open the side door. The cold soaked through my coat in seconds. I wrapped one arm around the frame, planted my feet, and leaned half my body outside.

"Lena!" The second magi-car surged closer. Dorn saw me and matched our line, bringing the vehicles within four meters of each other.

"Anything?" I shouted.

"Any contact?" She pressed one hand against the receiver crystal cupped over her ear. The transmission loop flashed, sputtered, and died.

"Nothing!" she yelled back.

"The storm is disrupting the connection to the nearest relay array." Lightning split the sky. Lena shielded the array beneath her coat.

"What do we do when we arrive?" I wiped water from my eyes.

"Act as if everything is already settled." Her expression tightened.

"And if Hexenzeit command refuses to recognize it?"

"Then we bluff until they do." She gave one sharp nod and dragged the window closed. I hauled myself back into the magi-car. The forest thinned ahead. The dense ranks of trees ended in a ragged black line. Beyond them lay open ground, hidden beneath rain and dusk. Henrik leaned closer to the front glass.

"Forest boundary!" he shouted.

"Faster."

"We're already one bad root away from dying."

"We need them to hear us coming." Henrik smiled without humor.

"Hold on." Mana surged through his arms. He drove the control lever forward until it struck the housing. The crystal drive screamed. Blue light flooded the glyph channels beneath the floor. The entire magi-car lurched hard enough to throw me against the rear seat. We hit the last incline at full speed. The road rose over a low mound where storm runoff had carved away half the earth. For two seconds, the magi-car left the ground. My stomach rose into my throat. Then we landed. The impact slammed through the chassis.

The rear suspension bottomed out. One side panel tore loose and cartwheeled into the undergrowth behind us. Something beneath the floor began clattering. The drive gauge on the front panel flickered from blue to amber. The thin crystal needle dropped toward empty. Henrik struck the casing with the heel of his palm.

"The drive crystal is almost dead. At this output, we have three minutes before it becomes decorative glass."

"Don't stop." We burst from the forest. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The town was still standing. But an army had surrounded it. Soldiers filled the open ground between the forest and the walls. Hundreds at first glance. Then the next flash of lightning showed companies arranged beneath waxed canvas shelters, artillery wagons sunk deep into the mud. Hexenzeit banners hung sodden from tall poles. Command tents occupied a rise north of the road.

Lines of soldiers faced the town. Too late to stop the deployment. A horn sounded. Heads turned toward us. A mounted patrol broke from the nearest formation and galloped across our path. The officer at its head raised one arm.

"Halt!" Henrik didn't slow. The officer hauled his horse sideways.

"HALT! Identify yourselves!" We tore past him close enough that the magi-car's wake snapped his cloak across his face. More soldiers spilled into the road ahead. Some waved their arms. Others drew weapons.

"Stop the vehicle!"

"Military cordon!"

"Turn aside!" A mage stepped into the center of the road and raised his hand. Three luminous rings formed around his forearm.

"Last warning!" Henrik lowered his head.

"Oh, fuck."

"Keep going." The mage fired. A lance of compressed blue lightning ripped through the rain. Henrik turned the steering bar before the spell had traveled half the distance. The magi-car slewed sideways. The lance missed the front compartment, struck the rear corner, and exploded. Wood burst inward. The impact spun us halfway across the road. One rear wheel left the ground. Henrik hauled the steering bar against the rotation, flooding more mana into muscles already pushed beyond their limit.

The vehicle slammed back onto all four wheels. The crystal drive screamed louder. Soldiers scattered as we charged through their line. One threw himself into the mud. Another lost his helmet beneath our front wheel. A third released an earth spell too late, raising a jagged ridge behind us that nearly overturned Dorn's car when it followed. I looked back. The second magi-car punched through the ridge in a storm of dirt. The other four emerged from the forest behind it. Officers poured out with wands raised.

"Take us close," I said.

"How close?"

"Close enough that they can't pretend they didn't hear." The drive gauge dropped into red. The magi-car crossed the final hundred meters with the shattered rear panel flapping behind it. A line of command guards formed across the road. Henrik hit the brakes. We slid through the mud sideways, throwing a brown wave over the nearest soldiers. Men leaped away. The magi-car rotated once, struck a supply crate, and stopped less than ten paces from the central pavilion. The drive crystal went dark.

Then I opened the rear door and stepped into the rain. Mana Breath filled my lungs. When I shouted, the sound struck the camp like siege artillery.

"HALT THIS OPERATION!" Tent canvas snapped. Rainwater jumped from puddles. Horses reared against their handlers. The command pavilion's hanging lamps swung on their chains. Every face turned toward me. I took one step forward.

"Every soldier standing on this ground has entered the barony of Lord Kaspar without his consent. Every weapon raised against that town is raised without his authority. This operation ends now." For one second, the army obeyed through shock alone. Then the camp erupted. Soldiers closed around us from every direction. Wands rose. Crystal staves ignited. Luminous rings formed around forearms. Henrik climbed out of the ruined magi-car and rolled his shoulders. Mana Blood still darkened the veins along his neck.

Five engines roared behind us. The rest of the convoy tore through the outer cordon and entered the command camp. Dorn's vehicle arrived first, braking hard beside ours. Lena opened the rear door before it stopped moving. Four more magi-cars skidded into position around the pavilion. Doors opened. Iron Cross Knights stepped into the rain. Every one of them carried steel. Mana pressure spread through the camp. The Hexenzeit soldiers noticed. Their line stopped tightening.

A captain with a hooked nose thrust his wand toward Henrik's chest.

"What in the Emperor's name do you think you're doing?" I rested my right hand on the pommel of the sword at my waist.

"Lower the wand." His eyes flicked toward me.

"You are in no position to issue commands."

"I am giving you one opportunity to correct that mistake." Another captain laughed. Rain ran down his shaved head and into the collar of his crimson uniform.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be? You ride through a military cordon, nearly kill three soldiers, and announce that the Archduke's army requires your permission?"

"I said lower your weapons." The nearest spell rings brightened. I slid my sword an inch from its scabbard. Steel whispered.

"If one more wand rises," I said, "or one more spells forms, I will cut the arm holding it off. After that, we can discuss jurisdiction." Henrik drew his sword. Dorn did the same. All around us, Iron Cross steel cleared leather by a few inches. The hooked-nosed captain looked at my wet white hair. Recognition almost surfaced, then contempt buried it.

"White hair," he said.

"Hexenzeit features beneath it. I know you." The bald captain barked another laugh.

"The abandoned heir." A few soldiers joined him.

"The Archduke threw him away years ago." I let them finish, then stepped closer.

"My name is Kaspar von Hexenzeit." The laughter weakened.

"I am a commissioned Knight of the Iron Cross, operating under direct Crown authority. I am the Crown-appointed Baron of these lands. The town behind you stands within my territory. So does the road under your boots, and the trees you cut for this camp." I drew the sword another inch.

"You entered without summons and built an armed camp. You raised spells against my citizens, then fired on my convoy." The hooked-nosed captain's wand lowered by a fraction. The bald officer's face had gone carefully blank. I looked across the ring of soldiers.

"If any of you believe House Hexenzeit's banner gives you the right to ignore Crown law, take one step forward." The rain filled the silence. I gestured toward the Iron Cross Knights surrounding the dead magi-car.

"Every one of them crossed your cordon without losing a man. If you believe you can kill us before we reach your officers, then stop whispering and prove it." The nearest soldiers looked toward their captains. The captains looked toward the command pavilion. At last, the central tent opened. The field commander emerged beneath the tent's awning. He descended the short wooden steps. Soldiers moved aside. The commander stopped in front of me.

His gaze passed over the white hair plastered to my face, the Iron Cross insignia beneath my soaked coat, and the sword in my hand.

"Lord Kaspar," he said. He managed the title without respect.

"Commander," I replied.

"You have made your point theatrically."

"I needed to be heard over an army trespassing on my land." His jaw tightened.

"This operation was authorized by Hexenzeit command."

"It was not authorized by me."

"House Hexenzeit does not require the permission of a newly appointed provincial Baron to answer the murder of its soldiers."

"Murder?"

"Twelve of my men are dead." The commander stepped closer.

"They were ambushed by Harpies during a reconnaissance mission." Behind him, several officers murmured agreement.

"We will not withdraw while their killers hide behind those walls." I closed the remaining distance until our coats nearly touched.

"Twelve of your men died trying to cross into my town," I said. His expression darkened.

"Choose your next words carefully."

"They invaded." The rain ran between us.

"My people defended their homes. Your soldiers crossed a territorial boundary without consent, approached an armed settlement under Hexenzeit colors, and expected the population to kneel."

"They are revolting against the Empire and the Empire's law."

"They are my citizens."

"They killed our soldiers."

"They killed armed trespassers." The commander's hands curled into fists. Mana gathered around him. I felt the pressure before the first visible ring formed. Behind me, Henrik shifted his stance. I felt the other Knights spread by instinct, widening their angles so no single spell could catch all of us. I looked directly into the commander's eyes. The first ring of fire flickered around his right forearm. I drew my sword halfway.

"Careful." The ring held. Neither of us moved. Then I spoke quietly enough that only the officers nearest us could hear.

"Take your dead. Pack your command tents. Pull every soldier, every mage, and every artillery wagon back across my boundary." The commander's mouth twisted.

"You think this ends with a threat?"

"No." I pushed my face closer to his.

"It ends with you leaving."

"You do not command the Hexenzeit army."

"But I command this territory." His fire ring brightened. Dark blue mist escaped my mouth.

"If you have complaints about the soldiers you lost while violating my border, go cry them into Roderich's lap." I slid my sword fully free. The blade came out with a clean metallic rasp.

"Then get the fuck off my land."