I liked the idea of Saria having a suit that would make her virtually invincible, unless it was an instantly mortal stroke. In short, I was planning to make the three of us immune to any magic cast directly on us, immune to disease and most poisons, have it obey our desires for color and shape, and add in built in healing in the wearable creature similar to my talent, but restricted from making changes, only restoring damaged pieces of the body per the default DNA.

  That last was important for Saria, when she was away from me in battle and was wounded, but that could be important for me too. If the suit had a watered-down version of my talent, then I wouldn’t be so easily killed since it would work on me too, unlike my own power alone. Regina too, but she was usually at my side everywhere we went.

  So, adding four disparate things, and having them all work in harmony, was going to take some testing and time to figure out. Not too long, but several hours at least. Call me a hypocrite, but I had no reservations about making my own family as safe as possible, they were and always would be my priority. I could always add more things later, as they occurred to me.

  My musings and the council’s latest deliberation, whatever that was, was interrupted by two human guards walking into the room. Both of them looked grim faced, which drew my attention.

  Jaren said, “Report.”

  The guard said, “We’ve been tracking down reports of food not getting to some families, we’ve got a possible tip on underground rooms and tunnels beneath the city, where unsavory practices are taking place. Permission to check it out sir? It’s said the entrance is in the basement of the inn.”

  Coren growled, “A tip? From whom?”

  The guards face went stony, and he didn’t look like he was going to answer that question. Coren kept continuing to curtail the guard’s authority on what they could and couldn’t do to his citizens without a direct complaint, or obvious breaking of the law in the open. Normally, I would applaud that ideal, I didn’t want to live in a city run like the German SS, where people didn’t have rights and the government could invade homes and seize property on a whim, but I had my suspicions that Coren didn’t give a rat’s ass about citizen’s rights, and that he was hiding his own questionable operations in the city.

  That’s why I didn’t listen much anymore, it was an exercise in frustration at times. The effort to prepare for the arrival of the king’s punitive expedition was going very well, everyone was in agreement on that much at least, but the governing of the city was fraught with problems.

  Point was, the guard couldn’t search the basement of the inn without the approval of the council, since they hadn’t seen a crime in progress, or whatever. A good thing yes, but that was hard to agree with when abuses were obviously going on, and the victims were too afraid to bring accusations. Sadly, most of the kingdom wasn’t as abusive to those weaker to them as some of the men in Eastguard, so it was an uphill battle.

  The city was a strange conglomeration of the best of humanity, who’d fought against tyranny and had been enslaved, and the free side of the city, which had moved here to get away from even the minimal laws and protections for women and even weaker men elsewhere in Desal. We’d made progress in cleaning it up, but there were obviously still some hold outs.

  Jaren said, “Let’s vote on this, we can’t allow this kind of stuff to continue. What good is it removing the king from power over us, if we’re going to abuse each other anyway? All who grant permission?”

  The only one who didn’t raise his hand in approval was Coren, and he seethed at being outvoted and ignored by the guard who obviously wasn’t giving up a source willing to talk. I wasn’t normally a petty person, but I had to admit I was in a better mood after that.

  Karana waved at three of her warriors to follow the men. She’d taken to sending the female dark elven warriors with the guards when abuses of women were suspected. The women would be better than a male, when dealing with that sort of thing.

  At that point, they went back to their thing, and I got back to mine. I wanted to have a starting point later this afternoon for my ideas, when we returned to our suite.

  It was just twenty minutes later, when things got a little too exciting…

  The same guard, along with one of the dark elves who’d accompanied him, came running into the council room.

  Jaren said, “Report.”

  The guard said, “The tunnels below the city are quite extensive sir, including rooms and cells. There was a group of over thirty men down there, as well as whole families being held. We got some of them sir, but they fought back well, and some have strong magical abilities. We’re at an impasse right now, twelve men are holding several women and children hostage, and are demanding to be let go.”

  Coren looked angry, “Kill them all. We don’t make deals with cornered rats.”

  I frowned.

  Jaren said, “Hold. How did they manage that?”

  The dark elf’s voice was musical and sensuous, like Karana’s, but it was filled with anger as well.

  “We believe the children were all kept in that room, hostages against their parent’s behavior perhaps? We assume each of the men grabbed a woman hostage on their retreat from our men. All of them have battle gifts. I suggested we promise them safe conduct to leave the city in exchange for the children, and then ambush them with patrols when they got into the forest to save the rest of the hostages, but he wanted your approval before we acted.”

  Coren glared, “You would lie to them?”

  She bristled, “We would promise them safe conduct out of the city, I never said anything about after they’d left it. At least it would give the women hostages a chance at life, and we’d like to question them too, they are scared but fighting to the death, which tells me there is more to this.”

  Jaren interjected before Coren could snap back.

  “A clever plan, and I approve. We must root out everyone behind this. It’s been ten days and the king’s forces must be on their way here by now if not just days away. Vote?”

  Karana said, “I have a better idea, I’ll take care of it, with my people. If we want to capture and question I’m your best bet for that.”

  Saria asked, “How?”

  Karana smiled grimly, and still somehow looked seductive doing it.

  “I’m the only mage in the city. I’ve adapted the mage’s spell the human mages have been using against our people. If we move in there with our people and get the human guards out, I can paralyze every human down there. The children and women can be released unharmed, and we can throw the men in their own cells.”

  Saria said softly, “I’m coming,” and I was sure her soft voice was all about the impending violence this time.

  Jaren nodded, “Looks like we have a majority vote, I agree with Karana’s plan, and believe it will save the most lives. Let’s adjourn early this day, and get it done.”

  Everyone agreed, except Coren who was silent.

  “I’m coming, they’ll need healing I bet, will one of those charms work to insulate me from the spell?”

  Karana smiled, “Yes. You don’t have to put it in your ear, but it does have to touch skin, so don’t drop it.”

  She reached into a pocket and pulled one out, similar to the one she’d given Saria last week, and tossed it to me.

  I snatched it out of the air and held it in my hand. She tossed another one to Regina.

  Saria asked, “Are you sure this is wise?”

  I smiled, “I’ll stay behind all of you warriors until the fighting is done. I won’t put me and Regina in danger.”

  Saria nodded, but I could tell it still bothered her that I was going at all.

  From what I remembered, the spell took about twenty seconds to cast, and if the men were familiar with it they’d attack in an effort to stop it or might even harm the hostages. Lives might depend on me being close.

  Myself, my mates, Karana, and all the elven guards in the room headed for the door, both light and dark.

  Chapter Nine

  We moved out of the keep and toward the gate, about two thirds the length of the city. The inn was very close to the main gate of the small city. Several of the human men and women in the city moved quickly out of the way of our group, the humans here weren’t accustomed to so many elves walking through their part of town.

  The elves ignored the fear, and I took comfort that some humans weren’t filled with fear and prejudice, the humans that were freed by me nine days ago had all come to appreciate the elves that fought and trained by their side.

  There were six guards of each race, plus Karana and Saria, as well as myself and Regina. I wasn’t sure how many men there were with talents, but I wondered if fourteen warriors, and two bystanders would be enough if they charged out to fight.

  My worries were groundless however, as we approached the inn two elven scouting parties jogged through the main gate and moved to join us. Ten more of each race made thirty-four, a very solid number.

  I asked, “How?”

  Karana grinned, and winked salaciously, “I can communicate with the leaders of all of our scout groups through charms they carry. It’s more difficult than the communication spells for mage to mage, since I have to activate their side.”

  Maybe it was the pressure of impending violence, but I found myself flirting back as my eyes flickered down her body and back up.

  “Well, Saria did say you were the best,” I paused a beat, “Mage that is.”

  Her chuckle and the gleam in her eyes sent a pleasant shiver down my back.

  She said, “My parents make me look like a novice, but I appreciate the thought. As a rule, elven mages are better than human, but only because we have a lot more time to study the subtleties of magic.”

  There was truth in her words, but also modesty. Saria had said she was better a mage than Desirae, and Desirae was fifty years older than the dark elven beauty. Maybe she did have a lot more to learn, but she was also very talented if she was that far ahead of the curve. Saria had said her sister was above average as a mage of her age, which meant Karana must have been a savant.

  She said in a low voice that was extremely hard to make out.

  “My spell will take ten seconds, and they won’t fail to hear it. If they recognize it for some reason, or even if they don’t, they’ll try to break out. Fight defensively, take down their magical attacks, we want them alive and they have hostages. Go, relieve the humans.”

  The elves all ran into the inn and the four of us followed from the back.

  I asked, “The human mage took about twenty seconds?”

  Karana nodded, “Subtleties, I cut down the casting time and words used when I modified the spell to work against humans instead of elves. I imagine the human that created the spell probably could have made it shorter too, he was obviously a master of his craft, but he wanted lesser mages in the field to be able to cast it. Magic is complex, and there’s always a different way to the same results.”

  The inn looked like a typical inn, and we walked through the common room and ignored the silent room full of humans as we took the door that led down into the basement. One of the large beer casks against the wall was open, and was obviously a secret door.

  We followed the elves through the large rounded short tunnel, and through a hole in the wall that led to a stairwell down. The scent of fear, sweat, and blood was heavy in the air. My stomach turned as we followed a twisting tunnel. I glanced into the first few rooms, some of which were rude cells with straw on the ground. The last one I looked into had a blood-stained table with straps, there were whips hanging on the walls as well as blades, and it was obviously a torture room of some kind.

  My gorge rose in my chest, and somehow I managed to swallow it back down. There were other rooms after that, with similar restraining devices but for a different purpose than torture with knives and heavy whips, but torture nonetheless for the women chosen. My stomach broiled, and I felt angry by it all, what was the point of all this? Worse, I knew my old world was truly no better, sex trafficking was a reality, whether I understood how evil and depraved men could enjoy this sort of thing, or not.

  After seeing that, I didn’t peek into anymore rooms as we followed the twisting corridors. I was too angry, and I was too close to being sick to want to see anymore. I knew the truth of this place, and that was enough. It had to be stopped, and this evil needed to be ripped out root and branch before I felt comfortable calling this city my own.

  I wasn’t sure how the elves were tracking where we needed to go, but a few minutes later we ended up in a hallway that dead ended at a door, several human guards passed us on their way out.

  Karana looked at me, and I could see the same anger and disgust in her eyes, but no surprise.

  I exchanged a look with Regina while Karana and Saria moved to the front of the group. She also looked disturbed by this place, no one sane wouldn’t be. I took and squeezed her hand gently, not sure what to say, nothing would make something like this better.

  Just like last time I’d heard her cast, the normal seductive tones in Karana’s musical voice was absent. It finally occurred to me why that must be. Dark elves didn’t suppress their emotions and passionate whims like their light cousins, they channeled those emotions to control them, and added that passion to everything they did.

  But… magic must be an exception, I imagined a mage had to be very controlled and focused on intents, words, and rhythm when casting, they needed a clear and concise mind, and they couldn’t afford to put passion into their casting or it would destabilize the spell.

  Her musical voice was also sonorous, as much as a soprano voice could be at any rate, and it didn’t take long for the cornered assholes to respond. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to help with my own magic, I was about twenty feet away from the door.

  The door slammed open, and fire, wind, and stone flew out of the room.

  I acted quickly and turned my back to the door and pulled Regina close to me as I pushed her against the wall. I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder even as I protected my mate.

  The elves fought back with their own fire, air, and earth magical abilities, merely to block and push aside the attacks of the others, and I was sure Saria was using her telekinesis as well to knock aside thrown knives and pieces of Earth.

  In the craziness, ten seconds hadn’t ever felt like such a long time to me before. A lot could happen in ten seconds.

  I heard a scream of pain and sent my magic out into the elf with a blade in is chest. I used the control over his body to eject the knife and then restored the elf’s normal body. I let my magic guide the needed changes from my intent, and had barely looked over the suggested changes before committing, the blade had nicked his heart and I was coming to trust my magic. I’d never not found my magic to sort things to my intentions when I checked them over.

  Mercifully, Karana finished the last word and a wave of magic exploded out from her body. I felt my body tingle and the charm grow warm in my palm as it passed through me, and the sounds of battle immediately died.

  I turned my head back forward, looked into Regina’s eyes, and she didn’t look scared at all, nope, she looked totally pissed off at me for the first time ever.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She ground out, “We’ll talk about it later… in private.”

  Right, at least she wasn’t going to dress me down in public, but I was still confused.

  I let her go and moved through the elves quickly to get inside the room, somewhat relieved that Regina followed on my heels. Whatever was bothering her, would have to wait.

  I froze for a split second when I took in the room. There were sixteen men lying on the floor, over twenty children laying in a pile in the corner, they must have been huddled there, and lying among them were sixteen woman, all naked, all in their early twenties. It was like the men here had kidnapped new families, with very young children and more specifically women still in their youth. They all looked skinny and malnourished, both the women and children.

  Saria barked, “Get those men locked up in the cells, and find clothes for the women.”

  The nudity didn’t bother me, though I couldn’t fully remove the feelings of empathy for the women, and anger at the men, but I was a medical doctor and could divorce myself from any inappropriate attraction. The horror I felt on their behalf surely helped as well. I also stayed out of their line of sight, knowing the last thing they needed was to see me while they were paralyzed and helpless.

  I sent my magic out, and got started as the elves came in and started to carry the men away. I discovered what I’d assessed at a glance. The children came first, and I was sure their mothers would have agreed with that evaluation. They weren’t that bad off, they were a bit malnourished, some had signs of a broken bone or two, and injuries, but not consistent with abuse.

  No, the men had confined the abuse to the women, and I supposed that was one thing to be thankful for.

  The women all had weaker talents, most could remove bacteria, two could find a lost person or object, another two were empaths which must have been a nightmare in this place, and there was just one that could clean on the macro level, like people or clothes. I imagined it was a very specialized form of telekinesis, and useless for self-defense.

  They were all sorely used, and their bodies had multiple lacerations, signs of physical abuse such as broken bones, inflamed flesh and muscles especially around their breasts and sex, random scars on their bodies except their faces, and they were also malnourished. There was more, but I didn’t want to think of those things in detail.

  It was all I could do to not lose my mind and find where those men were locked up, for a little justice. Karana and Saria would make sure justice was meted out, turning into a monster myself wouldn’t help.

  By the time they came back with clothes, I’d finished repairing their bodies, erasing the scars, and otherwise making their bodies perfect inside and out. I just wished I could do the same for the scars in their minds.